To the guest reviewer who called me Black-Sand-Sama… awesome!
It seemed as though his parents had worked out their issues. His mother was back cooking dinners for them all and his father was actually spending time at home. It often confused him, their relationship. His father was a high ranking Jonin, whilst his mother was only at Chunin level. Not only that but she hadn't gone on missions in a number of years, making his father the stronger one. Shikamaru had often wondered if his father had consented to marriage out of fear. When he was younger he had even asked his dad if Shikaku wished Shikamaru didn't exist, so that he wouldn't be stuck with Yoshino. His father had informed him that even if he had never been born Shikaku would still be with Yoshino simply because he loved her. Shikamaru found that hard to believe at times. His mother was a scary woman. She had however hugged him tight after the invasion.
He had returned home after taking Naruto to the hospital and had collapsed in bed. It wasn't clear if he fell to sleep or fell unconscious, either way he was lost to the world. He had only been asleep for what felt like minutes before something lifted his top half off the bed. Instinctively he threw a punch. His attacker grabbed his wrist, pulling him into their body and holding them tight. They made shushing noises in his ear, stroking his head as their other hand held him in place. Slowly his eyes adjusted; using the light from the hallway he noticed long brown hair and fair skin.
"Mum?"
"I'm sorry I woke you up." His mother sniffed.
Is she crying? He thought, his arms coming up to hug his mother back uncertainly.
"Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" she asked, continuing to stroke his head.
"No. I'm fine. Just exhausted from the fighting."
He felt more then saw his mother nod before she let him go, lying him back down. Running her fingers through his hair she smiled down at him.
"Look at you, my handsome little boy is almost a full fledged man. You look so much like your father that if I hadn't given birth to you I wouldn't think there was any of my blood in you. If you wake up needing anything just yell out." She ran her fingers through his hair one more time before getting up, kissing him on his forehead and leaving the room.
He couldn't recall a time he had seen his mother act so gentle but perhaps the attack had shaken her more then he thought it would.
His mother hadn't mentioned her visiting him that night and neither had he. It wasn't so much that he was embarrassed, or annoyed, it was the fact that his mother had always been strong, frightening even. To see her worried like that had shook him. He worried that if he brought it up maybe she would return to that state and he wouldn't know how to help her. Instead they continued on as though nothing had happened.
"Dad, why did you wake me up so early?" Shikamaru complained as his mother put breakfast on the table. At least, he was fairly certain she was. He was having trouble opening his eyes. Word had reached his father that Jiraiya had been attacked whilst retrieving the Fifth Hokage. Shikamaru wasn't privy to the details but he did know that Naruto was travelling with Jiraiya. This had resulted in him getting little sleep the night before and now his father had dragged him out of bed at seven in the morning.
"We have to go to the Hokage Tower," his father replied, smirking when Shikamaru cracked one eye open in suspicion. "Jiraiya has returned with the Hokage."
"Naruto is back?" He did not suddenly look and feel awake, and he definitely added Jiraiya's name into his question. He absolutely did! Oh who was he kidding? Even with his sleep deprived mind he knew he sounded too eager and had only mentioned Naruto. His father raised an eyebrow, which wasn't good for him. The last thing he needed was for his dad to study him. So far he had kept his feelings a secret and he wanted it to stay that way. "It's good to know the idiot didn't get himself killed."
Shikaku chuckled. "You two have an odd friendship. Anyway, I have some errands to run before going to the Hokage Tower. I want you to come with me."
He almost asked his father why, but realised that if his father wasn't giving him a reason then it was probably simply training for when he became Head of the Nara Clan or some other type of training. He had noticed that his mother had taken on a ridged form since Naruto's name had been mentioned. There would come a day when he would have to confront her about her negativity towards the blonde but that would have to wait until he had had more sleep... and perhaps when he wasn't so terrified of her. He knew he was no match for his father, and yet his father bent to his mother's wishes. Part of Shikamaru was sure that was because his father was just pathetic when it came to standing up to his wife, but Shikamaru wasn't certain and definitely did not want to learn the hard way.
It took them over an hour to reach the Hokage Tower. By that point Shikamaru had woken up enough to actually notice what was going on around him. He noticed that there were two ninjas carrying boxes out of the tower. They stopped to mention to Shikaku that Konohamaru did not take them moving the Third Hokage's things well. Of course the poor boy was still suffering from the loss of his grandfather. Everyone was still grieving the loss of their Hokage but the village knew they had to have a new Hokage to be able to last. Walking up the stairs to the Hokage Tower Shikamaru heard Naruto before he saw her panicked face.
"COME ON! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Naruto yelled, stomping her feet. "WHAT ABOUT KAKASHI-SENSEI AND SASUKE AND BUSHY BROW?"
"Oh, yeah," a blonde woman replied breezily, walking away from Naruto. "I did forget about them."
Naruto growled, grinding her teeth and looking ready to hit the woman. The dark haired woman with them looked as though she was just watching everything play out, not knowing who would win.
"Well, if it isn't Naruto," Shikamaru said as he reached the top of the stairs. He could tell that if Naruto wasn't distracted soon she would do something stupid. She always did.
The angered look instantly left the blue eyed girl's face. "Hm, Shikamaru."
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be somewhere stuffing your face?" He tried not to smirk at the little crease that appeared between Naruto's eyebrows. He also noticed that she was pouting.
"How about you? You're usually still asleep this time of day."
"Very funny!" He stopped in front of Naruto, his hands in his pockets. She wasn't wrong, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "My dad asked me to come along with him but don't ask me why."
Naruto opened her eyes looking around Shikamaru to Shikaku and the two women. "Hey, do they know each other?"
Shikamaru looked over his shoulder to see what Naruto was getting at.
"Greetings, Lady Tsunade," Shikamaru's dad started, bowing his head, "it's been a long time."
"You're that kid from the Nara family!" the blonde exclaimed, hand on her hip. "Hope you're still taking good care of the deer. I made a lot of good medicine out of those antlers."
Kid? Shikamaru wondered why a woman who looked younger than his dad acted as though she watched him grow up.
"Oh, yes," Shikaku chuckled. "The deer are fine."
Shikamaru brought his hand up to hide his mouth as he leant closer to Naruto. He tried to not inhale too much since Naruto's scent had a habit of fogging his thoughts. "Who's the blonde girl? And why is she talking to my dad as though she's his boss?"
"Didn't you hear?" Naruto whispered back. "She's the Fifth Hokage."
"Huh?" Shikamaru leant back in surprise to look at Naruto, not believing her. How did someone so young get the job?
It was Naruto's turn to cover her mouth as she leaned towards Shikamaru, her breath brushing his ear as he turned his head to listen to her. "And she's no girl! She's actually an old lady in her fifties."
His eyes widened. Scrutinising the woman's appearance he couldn't see any wrinkles at all. She looked as though she was in her mid to late twenties. The woman walked away, saying goodbye to Shikamaru's dad, the dark haired woman following after her.
"So long!" Naruto grinned. "We're going to the infirmary." She ran off only to stop at the step down, turning to look at him. "I'll see you later, Shikamaru. I'll show you the killer new technique I picked up." With that she ran off down the stairs.
He honestly couldn't read her at times. He couldn't tell if she just wanted to show off her new technique or if she wanted to spend time with him. He supposed that if she did show him the technique she might want to go get lunch with him afterwards. He sighed. Yeah, only if she wanted someone to pay for her. With a little shake of his head to push those thoughts away he turned to his father.
"That's really the Fifth Hokage?"
"Watch it, Shikamaru," his father warned, walking closer to him. He put his hands on his hips and leant forward, a smirk on his face. "That woman is one of the strongest ninja you will ever meet. Don't let her good looks fool you."
"Yeah?" Shikamaru turned to look more easily into his father's face. He realised then what the smirk was about. Shikaku thought that Shikamaru found Lady Tsunade attractive. He supposed she was pretty but he had more just been surprised with the information than anything else.
"After all there's a reason she's the only female among the Legendary Sannin."
"Oh-kay," he sighed, realised that the Fifth Hokage was on the same level as Naruto's pervy new sensei. "But I mean a woman Hokage? Not to sound prejudice or anything but is that such a good idea?" His dad grumbled in annoyance at Shikamaru, giving him a disapproving look that was almost comical. "C'mon. You know what they're like. You can never figure them out. You never know where you stand with them. The smallest things could put you on their bad side." He couldn't help but think of Naruto, who always seemed so friendly towards him, only to insult him and yell at him. Then there was the incident in Choji's hospital room where she held his hand and was caring about his injury. That moment came to mind often. "Always playing little mind games with you. Trying to make you do what they want. They're just a big pain basically."
His dad straightened up, releasing air through his nose in a grumble before slinging an arm over his son's shoulder. "Listen, Shikamaru, keep in mind that without woman you and I wouldn't even exist."
He really did not want to have the talk on the Hokage Tower, in the open, with his father giving him that amused smile when all he wanted to do was sleep and maybe have lunch with Naruto. He wasn't stupid; he knew how babies were made.
"And take my word for it, they make men better people than we ever would be without them." Shikaku removed his arm from Shikamaru's shoulders moving to walk into the building. "Unlike us even the strongest of them isn't afraid to be gentle with the man she loves."
It's funny to hear him talking like this, tied to mum's apron strings the way he is!
Shikaku laughed. "Someday you'll understand what I'm talking about." He suddenly seemed to remember where they were. "Oh, wow, we better hurry up. Let's finish up our business here and get back. You know how your mother will chew us out if we're late. Come on, Shikamaru."
"Well if a woman made him a better person I'd hate to see what he was like before."
It turned out that he was not able to meet with Naruto for lunch or to see her new technique. His dad kept him busy seeing what it took to be the Head of the Nara Clan and the Jonin Commander. It was an exhausting day, resulting in Shikamaru having no time to relax until after dinner. There was still some dying light from the sun hovering in the village but a chill was setting in. Taking a lazy stroll by the lake he simply enjoyed the quiet. Looking around, however, he saw a young girl, around eight or nine, with two orange ponytails standing up on her head and big black eyes. There were two unusual things about her appearance. One was that she was wearing goggles on her forehead exactly like the ones Naruto used to wear, and the other was that she was walking on the lake. For someone so young it was impressive that she could maintain the chakra in her feet whilst on water.
Scratch that! She fell, flailing her arms and appearing to be having trouble swimming fully clothed. Shikamaru ran into the water, diving under once the water was deep enough. He reached her quickly, surfacing next to her and wrapping an arm around her tiny waist.
"Calm down," he said, holding her tight. "I've got you. My name is Shikamaru."
The girl finally stopped fighting him, looking at his face. She must have been cold, since her face turned red. "Moegi," she muttered back, letting him pull her to shore.
She was still very timid when she was standing on the grass, hugging herself. He decided to walk her home, not wanting her to wonder around alone when she was cold. He barely caught her address when she told him it. The walk was silent, making him feel uncomfortable, especially since he was starting to realise that the red to her face was not from the temperature.
"Why are you wearing goggles like Naruto's?" he finally blurted out, watching as she smiled.
"You know big brother Naruto? He is our boss! He teaches us some things, especially Konohamaru. We wear these goggles because we want to be just like him. How do you know him?"
It took Shikamaru a moment to realise what Moegi had said, since she spoke so rapidly. "We went to the academy together and we're friends. I saw him earlier today." He ignored the cold that was starting to make his body shake.
"Wow, I was saved by a friend of big brother Naruto? You must be a powerful ninja too! Naruto's best friend is powerful! He's from the Uchiha clan. I see them spending time together a lot." Moegi blushed harder. Shikamaru hoped it was because she was turning her affections towards the idea of Sasuke instead of him.
When they finally reached her house her mother thanked Shikamaru and told Moegi that she was not allowed to practise that technique again without supervision. By the time he returned home he was shaking uncontrollably and starting to get a runny nose. Taking a hot shower he went straight to bed.
It wasn't until dusk the next day that he got to spend time with Naruto. He had walked to the store to get some tissues, since he had used the ones they had at home already. His nose was both blocked and running, which annoyed him to no end. To make matters worse he couldn't stop shaking and his body ached, his head was foggy and in pain, he couldn't stop sweating and simply breathing was exhausting. He could have gone to the hospital to get healed to at least lessen his pain but the hospital was still busy from the invasion. He would only feel guilty for wasting their time on something he could handle on his own. As he walked though, he spotted Naruto sitting on a bench, leaning against a shop wall with her head tilted back and her eyes closed. She looked both relaxed and exhausted at the same time. He didn't want to disturb her. Unfortunately he sneezed, making her look over.
"Shikamaru… you look horrible."
"Thangs," he replied as he collapsed next to the blonde, "Wha'da goo doing?" He already missed his k's, r's and t's.
Naruto took a deep breath, a small smile on her face. "Nothing much. I've spent all day trying to get Konohamaru out of Old Granny Tsunade's office. I should not have taught him so many pranks. But when he was finally out he said how he thought everyone was forgetting the Old Man. I told him we would go up to everyone in the village and make them promise to not forget him but after we found Old Granny he decided he didn't need it. But at least his happy."
"So goo spen'd all dae maging him happy?"
Asuma-Sensei's nephew was a nice boy but Shikamaru hadn't realised he was so close to Naruto. The blonde had a soft smile on her face and although she was clearly tired he had no doubt that she would jump up and run a kilometre to do it all over again. She seemed gentler, much gentler than she had ever been with him.
"Why wouldn't I? It's Konohamaru! Even if I think it seems silly it makes him feel better. That's what's important." She raised an eyebrow when Shikamaru blew his nose. "You really do look bad."
She reached out, her cool hand touching his cheek. He sighed, moving into the touch. He whined when she removed her hand from his skin. Opening his eyes he noticed a look of concern on her face. She brought her face close to his, searching his eyes.
"You should go home. I don't think people should be that warm. And you're really pale."
"Id jus' a colda." He stood up, spots appearing in his sight. The world spun as Naruto jumped up.
"SHIKAMARU!?"
Everything went black as he felt himself being engulfed in something warm and soft. Naruto calling his name rang through his head, lessening the pain if only for a moment before everything melted away.
I have two assignments due in the next two weeks, one 2000 words and one 4000 words so I won't be updating until after I've finished them. I've put myself on a ban but I almost had this chapter finished so I figured I would finish it off first. R and R.