The car stopped and Naruto step out of it. Walking straight to the house Naruto see someone she hasn't seen in a few weeks. There standing in all his glory is her older brother talking to their father with Menma.
Naruto decided to just go to her room since her family doesn't seem to notice her. Well aside from Menma that is. Walking straight up the staircase she entered her room and change her clothes to pink crop top hoodie, a high waisted pants and a pair of white sneakers.
Coming down the stairs Naruto noticed that Menma is sitting at the couch with their brother and father on the living room talking to each other rather seriously
Kakashi noticed her just as she was about to go to the dining room to eat and call her asking her to join them.
"Big-brother, father, Menma-kun " Naruto said while curtsying
"It's good to see you once again Naruto" Said Kakashi in acknowledgement
"Like wise brother"
"How are you doing in school Naruto" Minato ask without even glancing at his only daughter as he continued reading some papers
"I'm doing good father, thank you for asking"
" Big-sis, are you okay?"
"Hai, I'm just exhausted but I'll be fine" Naruto said smiling slightly at her little brother. No one did say that she can't at least appreciate her brother's kindness.
After talking with them and talking with Kakashi about their upcoming movie Naruto excuse herself and decided to go to their library and study some more. In all the years that Naruto go through there is one lesson that she took by hearth, and it was to only speak when you are spoken to specially when talking to someone with a status higher than you.
_
Once Naruto is out of sight Menma decided that it was time to ask his father a question that he's been wondering for a very long time now.
"Father. May I ask you a question?"
"Yes Menma?"
"Do you care about big-sis? Do you even love her, or do you perhaps hate her?" Menma ask while looking at his father straight in the eyes
"Why are you asking such question like that of course I care about her, i care about all three of you" Answered a rather surprised Minato
"Then why don't you show it to her? I mean I know big sis is thinking that if she didn't meet your expectation you would disown her immediately"
That of course shock both Kakashi and Minato I mean wouldn't you be surprise hearing something like that from a thirteen-year-old boy about how his sibling think about her parents.
"Why would she even think something like that?" Ask Kakashi
"Well, you and dad kept on ignoring her whenever she doesn't get the top spot whenever the school released our grades that is" Menma answered making Minato and Kakashi felt guilty by each passing minute
"How do you even get that conclusion in the first place anyway?" said Minato looking at his son curiously
"She would lock herself in the library to read multiple books that may contain some things that their teacher might teach them the next few years and then she would just walk around the house like a lifeless doll while memorizing everything in the book she has. That and she seem to ignore me when that time comes if I get better grade that her" Menma said before stopping to take a breath
Before either Minato or Kakashi could respond they hear the piano playing. Knowing that it's his big-sister Menma ask one of the maids to ready a tub of ice cream and a box of tissue hearing this Kakashi ask him why he needed those things and Menma answered
" Big-sis usually plays piano whenever she's upset and if she feels really happy She would play the flute but from time where its nearing my birthday and moms death anniversary she would mostly play violin at night before crying herself to sleep"
"H-how did you know all that?"
"She's been doing that for as long as I can remember" Menma said while looking at his father like he thinks that he's an idiot before continuing
"But then again. You would never really know since you never spend time with her" he said before leaving. Menma was pretty sure that he's going to get nagged at by Naruto later on for being rude to their father, because no matter how she kept on avoiding Menma knows that by the end of the day his sister would be the one to make sure that he was alright just like when she slips up and yell at him for their mother's death when he was eight years old. It really upset Menma that he cried for a few hours in his room with his personal maid trying to calm him before Naruto decided to come and apologize to him and then a few minutes later the two of them were already in Menma's bed with Naruto singing lullaby to him. He knows that even if his sister blames him from time-to-time she would always be there if he needed some assistance. Getting the ice cream and the tissue he walked to the study telling his maid to wait outside the door while he comforts his sister, I mean he did this almost every year whenever she is feeling emotional enough to cry. He silently shuddered as he remembers the time when his sister first started having cramps.
He still get scared seeing his normally calm yet energetic sister having mood swing with her hands waving her katana around while demanding to let her have some ramen which their father banned for the month since she manages to eat the months' supply in a few minutes
After Menma leave the room Kakashi look at Minato and ask him if the two of them are really doing the right thing considering that they already distanced themselves from Naruto and they know that its not going to be easy reconnecting with her.
The Next Day Shikamaru POV
Hearing Naruto saying that I like Temari is just plain weird I mean it's obvious that I was looking at her heck the whole class knows that I was looking at her, yet she doesn't and here I thought that she is the observant one I guess I just have to double my effort. Ones I get to my house at 8:15 in the evening from my part time job work which started at 3:20 five minutes after school ended. I go inside and greeted my father who is sitting at the couch while listening to my seven-year-old sister Sumire singing a song for him.
"Tadaima!"
"Nii-san your home!" Sumire greeted before looking back at our father helping him to stand up and walk towards me
"Dad you can just seat there you know; you don't need to come to me you can just call me if you need something"
"I know I just want to get up from the couch. How is work?" He ask me after hesitating for a while.
I know he felt guilty letting me do the work while also studying but even if my father is blind he can still do a lot of things it's just that we also learned a few months ago that he also have a much more pressing illness turns out that dad have a heart disease more specifically a Coronary heart disease and since we can't have a surgery right now because we have to pay for a lot of medicine and the tuition fee for both me and my sister one of the reason both me and my mom are currently taking turns while I work at night she would work at days while he take care of both his father and his sister. Their grandparent also helps from time to time too, so everything is currently going well.
After eating dinner with the family and making sure he's father need everything he might need for the night with his mother assuring him that she would just help him if he needed to and tell him to do his homework and get some sleep.
Going to his room he started to do his homework and plan on how to win Naruto's heart which is by the way hard since she's too stubborn and obliviously in denial to even consider it.
He started on planning multiple ways to make her realize that she is the one he likes and called Temari to tell her about the plan for tomorrow.
The Next Day Naruto POV
Temari and Tenten are acting weird today and I really have no idea on why. Maybe it has something to do with what happened yesterday. Speaking of yesterday some weird things happened in the house not just because Kashi-nii and tou-san is home but also because they kept on looking at me as if they feel bad about something. Then a few hours later that day before we eat dinner a creepy guy with bowl cut hair suddenly came to challenge Kashi-nii, I don't even know how he manage to bypass the guards or that Kashi-nii have friends!
Time Skip
Its lunch time and Shikamaru came to me asking if we can have lunch together and since Tenten and Temari suddenly vanish when he came near us, I decided to agree with him, and we walk to the garden to eat lunch. Not once noticing Temari and Tenten giving Shikamaru thumbs up behind a wall with the other students around them just sweat drop and walk a few steps away from them.
At the Garden
Before sitting down at the grass Shikamaru put down his school blazer to the grass and sat down on the grass before telling her to sit down. Naruto blush before sitting down on his blazer and decided to eat shyly while stealing a glance from him from time-to-time which Shikamaru notice and found cute. Eating their lunch at silence Shikamaru decided to get to know Naruto.
"So, you and your brother have a new movie, right?"
"Hmm yeah. It's kind of like the Disney movie Cinderella with a different twist"
"A different twist?" Ask a confuse Shikamaru
"Yeah, unlike the original Cinderella where she became the maid and being basically locked in her own room. This Cinderella basically runs away and start a new life, meeting a girl she started seeing as a sister who turn out to be the young sister of the prince teaching her how to fight. It's basically an action, fantasy, romance, comedy and drama all at the same time" Naruto explains waving her hand around amusing Shikamaru who is watching her fondly
"You know my sister is a kinda fan of yours" he said surprising her
"Really now" she said with an eyebrow raised
"Yeah, she have seen a poster of one of your movie that is ninja related and ask dad if we can watch it before the incident and she like it, well all of us like it too but she might forget that since that happened when I was twelve. Though right now she like the picture a family friend of us let her see it's the one that you are dressed in a gown she thought you're a princess and she put it in the wall of her room" He said greatly surprising her since that movie four years ago is actually the first movie that his brother directed written by their grandfather Jiraiya Namikaze and no one seem to like the story until being turned into a movie. And to hear a little girl put a picture of you in her wall let her smile and ask him question about his sister and him. He also makes sure to tease her with every question she ask
"What do you like with a girl Shika-kun?" She asked before realizing what she called him causing her to blush
"You know you're really cute without even trying" He stated causing her cheeks to heat up more.
"N-no I'm not!"
"Yes, you do"
"J-just answer my question Shikamaru-san" she said looking embarrassed which just push Shikamaru to tease her more
"Why do you want to know if you can pass it?" He said with a smirk on his face
"N-no o-of course not!" Naruto said looking down with stream coming out of her ears causing Shikamaru to chuckle and then he decided to stop waiting and just straight out confess.
"Don't worry Naru-chan you have all thing I like on girl no need to worry"
Naruto look up at him so fast that it shocks and worry Tenten and Temari who are both behind a tree watching their friend with a camera at hand
"What do you mean don't you like Temari-chan? and don't call me that!" She said
"Well, Naru-hime I-"
"Stop calling me Naru" Naruto said looking down. That name just bought back bad memories
"All right fine then Nana-hime" Shikamaru said with a determined expression not listening to Naruto ranting on how he shouldn't give her nicknames when she doesn't allow him to.
"I don't like Temari like that" he said cutting her ranting
"Eh?"
"She's like an annoying older sister anyways" Shikamaru continued with Temari getting annoyed at what she hears
"So, you don't like her like that?" Naruto said sounding relieve from something which just brought back the smirk on his lips
"Why you jealous?" He teased and laughed when her cheeks heat up again
"No why would I be"
"Hm, I don't know you tell me" Naruto just give Shikamaru a deadpanned look before turning her head away
" Then who do you like " she said lowly hoping that he wouldn't hear which he did
"You" he said looking at her eyes seriously when she look up
"What do you mean me?"
"I mean it. I like you Naruto Namikaze"
