He sighed, laying back in the lush grass as he watched the clouds roll through the sky, cotton on pure blue cloth, the green blades bending to the all-too-familiar contours of the young chuunin's body. Feeling the breeze pass over his still body, making the blades rustle and tickle his motionless, relaxed form, smelling the newly blooming flowers around, just enjoying the calm moment... He just loved the...unbroken peacefulness of it all... The feeling that, for one moment, the world had come to a complete halt for him to forget all the cares he had-- if any-- and let them melt away, carried off in the scented breeze...

...but of course, unfortunately, it didn't last very long.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" he heard a familiar voice yell out, the loud kitsune's exclamation rolling and bounding off the surrounding hills, breaking the fragile peace in seconds. Shikamaru gave his usual exasperated sigh, rubbing his temples with one hand as he closed his eyes, trying to contain the annoyance that was suddenly beginning to rise in him like bad food that one felt was about to be wretched up. Quietly cursing his luck, he wracked for something in his mind to calm him once more.

Remembering the deep-breathing excersises that had been taught to him long ago, he took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, repeating this simple procedure over several times. Count to ten... one... tw--

He didn't even finish the word 'two' in his mind before Naruto reached him, whiskered face grinning cheekily down at him, face hovering a few feet over his own. As usual, the kitsune was in his energetic, trickster mood. Why must the blonde always come and wreck the peace? Most times he visited the lazy genius, he ended up leaving a few seconds later, complaining how boring he was.

Sighing, Shikamaru gave in. "Hello, Naruto."

"Watching the clouds, as usual?" Naruto flopped back, staring up at the sky. "What's so interesting about them, anyway? They're just clouds. They float through the sky and block the sun."

For once, Shikamaru felt like doing something. Laying one hand under his head to comfort it, he raised one hand and pointed at a random cloud. "Tell me. Do you see anything in that cloud?"

Naruto blinked a bit at the seemingly off-topic question, before peering closely at the accusing fluff ball, cobalt eyes narrowing in concentration. Rubbing the back of his slender neck, the blonde kitsune blinked... Once more, surprise dawned over his tan, boyishly-innocent face. "Hey, it kinda looks like...a fish!"

Shikamaru gave a slight smile, nodding as he pointed to another cloud. "And that?"

"A shuriken!"

A laugh. "Indeed..."

Sasuke, passing by on his way back home from training, blinked in surprise as he heard two familiar voices talking nearby. Drawing quietly nearer, the Uchiha prodigy peered out from the cluster of trees that he hid safely in. He was quite shocked to find Naruto and Shikamaru laying on the grass, side by side, competing to see who could find more shapes in the white cotton candy in the sky than the other.

"A kunai! A dolphin! A sword! A--"

"Your Sexy-no-Jutsu form!"

"...that's not what I was gonna say, but...that's oddly true!"

Shikamaru laughed, and Naruto, after a moment of surprised silence, soon was laughing too. Sasuke let the tiniest of smiles appear on his pale lips, walking away as he continued along the winding, dusty path towards his empty, desolate home.

Well...I guess they found quite a common ground after all.

Owari...

A/N: ...well, I guess you could say this is a ShikaNaru, but I seriously only meant it as a friendship fic. If they were able to spend more time together, I think this might actually occur. Can't you see it in your minds? Or maybe it's just me... Hopefully it's not just me... TT