For the record, I have nothing against yaoi. I think it's cute. :) But this story just didn't work out that way.
I also apologize for the length of things. I'm normally a much longer writer, but again, this story just didn't work that way. Sixteen tiny stories, somehow covering a time in the life of two ninjas, somehow managing to be only sixteen pages long. To make up for it, I'll try to update daily until the series is complete.
These Memories:
A Series About Friendship and Forgetfulness
: Before all things / I had a name / I think it left me long ago / Why can't I remember / Today I have another chance / to step out / I will not rest / until I know / what it all means / I will not give in / until I have you back / where you belong / I will not stop / because this is who I am / Maybe in time / these memories will fade away :
Before All Things
Memories are the hardest to let go.
These Memories; Part I
Chouji set the lamp down on the dusty floor. How long had it been since he'd last been up here?
Tenderly he brushed the dust and cobwebs off the small box in front of him. Freed from its dusty cover, the familiar carved symbol of the Leaf stared back at him from the wooden lid. Chouji gently removed it and set it aside.
There wasn't much inside. An empty spool of thread used to sew up rips and tears…a piece of stained glass from that window the kunai had gone through…a tiny wooden turtle that Naruto said had to go in there because it was just like Shikamaru.
Slow. Could be called lazy. Steady. Loyal to a fault. Proud, though he'd never admitted it, to wear that "useless piece of metal" around his arm.
His forehead protector was the first thing in the box, reminding Chouji that before all other things, Shikamaru had been a ninja of the leaf.
Chouji missed him so much.