(A/N) Hello! Happy New Year! We can really only hope that this year is far better than the last, haha. Although considering how bad last year was… *shrugs* We can start the new year with a cute fluffy chapter about the academy, lol.
Shikamaru couldn't say he was glad to wake up, mostly because he never was, but he certainly wasn't annoyed about it. He started the academy today, he'd be able to check in on the tiny versions of all his classmates.
He knew Choji and Ino were fine, he saw them a lot, just because of his father's closeness with the Akimichi and Yamanaka clan heads. As for the rest of his classmates, and Gai's team, he didn't know. He'd seen Naruto around the village of course, Sasuke was with his brother and cousin sometimes. He'd seen Tenten a few times, often walking with Lee or playing with weapons.
"You're ready?" His mom sounded surprised, and Shikamaru would have been offended if he didn't distinctly remember dragging his feet when he'd actually been a kid.
"Yeah, troublesome woman," Shikamaru said, huffing slightly. He had to admit to being almost excited to see everyone again, even if they weren't going to be the ones he remembered. Hopefully, he could steer some of them on better paths. Like breaking Sakura and Ino out of their fangirlism sooner.
That'd definitely be something on his to-do list. It'd be better for everyone in the long run. Including Shikamaru's sanity.
He checked the scroll as he left, smiling ever so slightly at the encouraging notes everyone had left.
"Have a good day at school!" -Karin
"You'd better actually try this time!" -Ino
"Do try and bolster little me's confidence? I don't meet Ino for another year or so, maybe try and either get me to meet Ino sooner, or better, befriend me yourself." -Sakura
"It'll be better for my confidence." -Sakura
Shikamaru had known Sakura had been far from confident before Tsunade got to her, but he hadn't been aware Sakura had met Ino and that was the cause of some of her confidence.
Oh well, if Sakura thought it was important, he might as well.
"One other thing, if you can, try and get me to open up about my home situation. It'll also do wonders for my confidence. I won't say anything here, just nudge her into telling someone please." -Sakura
Shikamaru had to admit that didn't bode well. He knew Sakura had moved out the second she made chunin and could support herself, but hadn't known there was a reason behind it other than just wanting to be independent. It seemed there was another thing behind it. He'd have to warn his dad at some point. Or maybe Inoichi.
He sealed the scroll away as he approached the edge of the compound. Just had to get to school and see what happened from there.
He was greeted by chaos when he opened the door, Ino and Kiba quarreling over something while Choji tried to stop them, Naruto and Sasuke yelling at each other, Shino and Sakura sitting relatively quietly together while the girls around them shrieked their heads off about the bugs on the desk, Hinata trying not to cry, and Iruka or any other teacher, nowhere to be seen.
Honestly, Shikamaru didn't want to know. So he sat down at his desk and put his head down on the desk to sleep.
He actually did sleep, despite the racket the girls were making with their screeching. He was almost impressed with himself. Almost. He'd be more impressed if he hadn't managed to sleep through Gai and Lee going through a screaming match in his previous timeline.
Class, as always, was boring, but he hadn't really expected anything else. He was going through this for the second time, and the first time had been boring enough.
"Have a good day at school?" -Ino
Oh he could see the cheekyness dripping from that. He was lazy, not blind.
"You and I both know it was boring." -Shikamaru
"Oh I have no doubt." -Ino
"Have fun with homework!" -Ino
"We don't have any for the first week and a half." -Shikamaru
He would say that she should know that, but well, not everyone remembered everything. So he'd let her off the hook this time.
"DId you manage to talk to me?" -Sakura
"No, you were busy talking to Shino." -Shikamaru
"Oh yeah, I think I did that, then told my parents about him, then they forbade me from talking to him. I probably won't be talking to him tomorrow, corner me then. And get me talking to Shino again, I think we could've been good friends." -Sakura
"I've talked with Shino more during our poison lessons, and he's mentioned being hurt by your immediate dismissal of him that second day. It really stuck with him." -Ino
"I'll get right on that tomorrow then." -Shikamaru
Shikamaru sighed. He could see Sakura waiting for something nearby, so he stored the scroll for the moment and walked over. "Sakura Haruno, right?"
She startled, spinning around. "Ah! Yes, that's right. You're a Nara, right?"
"Shikamaru," he agreed. "Y'know, parents aren't always right. And they don't control who you make friends with."
She gave him a confused look, but he could live with confused looks if it spared poor Shino a bit of childhood trauma. They had enough trauma, he could at least get rid of some of it. And this wasn't too much work.
"If you say so," she said hesitantly.
"I'm sure," Shikamaru assured her. "Have a nice day."
"You too," she mumbled, waving half heartedly.
Success. Tomorrow he'd see how well it worked. He hoped it'd worked right.
(A/N) One note, it's Maito Gai, Azumane Asahi, and Nezu's birthday. So happy birthday to our favorite green beast of Konoha, gentle giant ace of Karasuno, and eldritch god who knows everything. Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day! (And year)