Running his fingers through Naruto's hair, he looked around, noticing that everyone else was asleep, sprawled out throughout the room. With a small chuckle, Shikamaru looked down at the blonde in his arms. Naruto looked up at him with half lidded eyes.

"Looks like you're having a big sleep over tonight."

"Hmm," Naruto agreed before slowly rising to her feet and walking into her bedroom.

Getting up, Shikamaru followed, pushing the door closed so there was only a crevice of an opening. He stopped short though when he noticed Naruto removing her shirt.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelped.

With a jump, the blonde looked over her shoulder, one hand already pulling at her chest binds. She stopped when she saw him. "What are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to talk to you without waking the others. What are you doing?"

"Taking off my chest binds. I can't sleep in them." Naruto tugged at her binds again, only to groan. "I can't remember where these ended. I wasn't really paying attention when I put them on."

"Hang on." Shikamaru walked closer. He noticed where the end of the binds tucked down into the rest of the cloth on Naruto's back. He pulled the end free and let it go, the cloth tumbling down and around Naruto, exposing her back.

With a yelp, Naruto holding her shirt to her chest.

"Sorry." Shikamaru quickly turned his back to Naruto, allowing her to change.

Naruto touched his shoulder before climbing onto her bed, lying down. She looked up at him with large, blue eyes and a small, almost amused smile on her face. Her bare legs were curled up, close to her chest.

Shikamaru wondered if the smile was because he could see her long legs, or the fact that he could see some of her orange underwear where her oversized shirt had bunched up. Shaking his head, he laid down, facing Naruto. Once his head was on the pillow with Naruto's, he took a breath.

"We have to talk about what happened today?"

Naruto sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped at your friend. I'm sorry."

"My friend? Oh, Shiho. I don't care about that. We need to talk about what you said about yourself."

"Shikamaru, it's not important."

"Yes it is." He grasped her face. "Is that how you see yourself? As a monster?"

With a heavy sigh, Naruto replied, "sometimes. It's hard to remind myself that I'm a person whenever I get even a little bit angry, or when I'm fighting, people look at me in this way, like they're scared. It makes me feel like a monster. For so long I thought that they were right, and that I was just pretending to be human. But then you, Choji, and Kiba treated me like just some other kid in the class, and then as a friend. Being around you reminds me I am human but the Akatsuki make me feel like I'm just a monster. All that matters to them is what I hold, not who I am."

"Well, one day, I promise, you will only see yourself as a human. As it should be." Shikamaru pulled Naruto closer. "You are easily the strongest person I know. And I don't mean physical strength. The amount you have gone through to become the person you are now must have taken more strength than I could even comprehend. I admire you for that. And for a lot of things."

Naruto straightened her legs, moving into Shikamaru's arms. "Thank you for being here for me. And bringing the others."

"I didn't bring them. They just came here on their own. They care about you. Though Kiba might have just been looking for an excuse to show off his knitting skills. I refuse to believe tonight is the first time he ever knitted something." Shikamaru pouted, making Naruto laugh. "Shh. You don't want to wake the others. What would they say if they saw us lying on your bed?"

"That we were discussing your appalling knitting skills?" Naruto giggled again, only to be silenced by Shikamaru's lips.

"I was thinking more that we were trying to make Kiba's eyes pop out of his head," Shikamaru chuckled before kissing the blonde again, pulling her close. He slid his hand up the back of her shirt, holding her closer as Naruto rested a leg over Shikamaru's hip. When Naruto reached up and pulled out the elastic holding his hair he couldn't help but smirk. "You seem to like letting my hair down."

"Hmm. I like some of it being around your face." Naruto played with his hair before smiling at him. "Much better."

"Remind me to keep it down from now on." Leaning in, he kissed her again, pressing her momentarily into the mattress before pulling back, his forehead against hers. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto sighed. "Tired. I haven't slept since they told me… and I didn't really sleep on the mission either."

"Sleep now. I'm here for you." Shikamaru sat up, removing his shirt to sleep more comfortably.

With a chuckle, Naruto rolled onto her back. "You'll actually let me sleep?"

Leaning over her, Shikamaru gave her a devilish grin. "I won't say no to making sure it's a pleasant sleep."

Naruto snorted, covering her mouth to try and stifle her laughter. Although he wasn't sure what was so amusing, he couldn't help but join in, trying to be as quiet as possible. When their laughter turned into sporadic giggles, Naruto grinned, looking up at the ceiling.

"Pervy-Sage would have loved that line. He would have added it to his next book."

"I feel honoured." Shikamaru's words made more pearls of laughter issue from Naruto's mouth.

"Good night, you giant pervert!" Naruto turned so she was facing him on her side again, smiling at him.

Shikamaru pulled her close, whispering in her ear, "good night, the victim of my perversions."

He felt her shake with barely suppressed laughter. When the shaking eventually stopped, Shikamaru looked at Naruto's face, noticing her eyes closed, and the faint smile on her lips.

/ / / / / / /

Waking slowly with a sleepy moan, Shikamaru pulled the warm body closer to him. Peeking an eye open, he moved to bury his face in the crook of Naruto's neck. He sighed when Naruto wiggled closer to him.

"If we keep this up I'm going to get used to this and have to move in." He felt Naruto give a laugh against his shoulder. "I'm serious. Sleeping next to you is the best thing in the world."

He pulled back to see Naruto's face before pulling her closer, so that they were chest to chest. He draped an arm over the blonde's waist as she threw a leg over his hips. It was hard for Shikamaru to believe that Naruto effectively passed as a boy to the world when he could feel every feminine curve. His brain was able to calculate that Naruto had a similar build to her mother, who was quite beautiful.

"I do like it when it's just us. I never feel scared with you." Naruto blinked slowly, obviously still fighting sleep.

"I'm glad. I never want to hurt you," Shikamaru whispered as he ran his fingers through Naruto's hair, watching as she moved into the touch. "Tell me something about yourself that no one knows."

Naruto looked at him in surprise and amusement. "When we sat the written in the Chunin Exams, and were told we had to have at least one right answer or we'd never be more than a Genin… I had nothing written down. I was banking on the tenth question."

Shikamaru took in what she said before snorting. "Figures."

"Your turn," whispered Naruto.

With a devilish smile, Shikamaru leant in closer, making sure his voice wouldn't travel. "Ino and Choji will kill me if they find out but you remember me telling you how Choji knocked Ino into the river and accidentally kissed her. Well, Ino had been annoying me all day, talking about Sasuke, calling me lazy, being a pain. So I grabbed Choji with my Shadow, only for a second, to direct him towards Ino. I had intended for him to just knock her into the river as he came out of bolder form but well he took a moment longer than I expected to come out of the form."

Naruto laughed, covering her mouth to muffle the noise. "You are the reason your two friends lost their first kiss to each other!"

"Hey, Ino should be happy, it means she doesn't have to living with the haunting thought that Sasuke was her first. Oh, wait!"

He chuckled when Naruto playfully hit him.

"Not something I wanted. And who, pray tell, was your first kiss?" Naruto asked with a roll of her eyes.

"You."

"What?"

"You," Shikamaru repeated. "I've only ever kissed you."

"I see, I'm that fantastic no one else can live up to your standards now."

"Let's go with that." Shikamaru kissed her, cutting off her laughter.

"Hey, Shikamaru," Naruto started, suddenly serious, "I have to tell you something important."

"What? What is it?"

"Your breath stinks."

Shikamaru couldn't stop the laughter that erupted from his mouth. He must not have been quiet because next moment the bedroom door was pushed open.

"You guys are awake," Kiba commented in a chipper voice. He looked at the two, only for a shocked look to come over his face. The shock quickly morphed into rage. "What the hell is this?"

Shikamaru was yanked off the bed when Kiba grabbed his arm and pulled. Naruto quickly rolled off the other side, curling up next to the potted plant she kept in the corner. He was able to get a glimpse of her face, which was covered in terror, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks, before Kiba punched him in the face.

Naruto gave a yelp as Shikamaru landed. From his place on the ground Shikamaru saw multiple pairs of feet run into Naruto's room.

"What's going on?" Ino said as Shikamaru pulled himself to his feet. The moment he was standing though he doubled over from the punch Kiba aimed at his stomach.

"You're a sick bastard!" Kiba yelled. The brunet moved to walk around the bed, only to have his legs knocked out from under him.

Shikamaru pinned Kiba to the ground, punching him in the face when he tried to throw him off. The black haired man shot a look Naruto. She was still in the corner, trying to move away from Ino who was speaking softly to her. He wondered why Naruto was reacting like she was, more than he wondered where Kiba's violence came from. A sickening feeling dropped into his stomach when he noticed how she held her head, her knees drawn up to her chest to hide her breasts. She was back to being a terrified seven year old, woken in the middle of the night thanks to a traitorous friend.

"Stay the hell away from her!" Shikamaru growled to Kiba, his forearm pressing into Kiba's collarbone.

"Naruto's a boy, you twisted son of a – " Kiba groaned when Shikamaru applied pressure.

"STOP!" Choji yelled but his words only succeeded in making Naruto flinch.

Ino softly shushed Naruto, like a child. She moved her hands slowly towards Naruto, letting her see every movement. When Naruto didn't move away and instead tucked her head down, Ino drew her into her arms.

Shikamaru felt an arm go around his throat before he was forcibly pulled off Kiba. He could barely breathe and pulling at the arm did nothing to help.

"Thanks, Shino," Kiba growled, jumping to his feet.

"What is stopping me from holding tighter? You deserve it for what you've done," Shino hissed in Shikamaru's ear just before Kiba punched him in the stomach.

"Kiba, Shino, stop!" Hinata tried to grab Kiba's arm as he pulled back for another punch. The man shook her off, making her fall against the wall, and hit Shikamaru in the ribs. "You're scaring Naruto."

"I'll deal with Naruto after," Kiba panted, landing another punch.

Over Kiba's shoulder, Shikamaru watched Hinata push herself off the wall, recovering from her shock. With determination in her eyes she poked Kiba in the back multiple times, making him drop to his knees, falling face first onto the floor with his rear in the air. As he did, Shikamaru heard Choji's voice, a dark tone resonating through it.

"Let Shikamaru go, or I cut your throat."

Next moment Shikamaru was pushed away from Shino. Turning around he found Choji with a kunai to Shino's throat. Rubbing his own throat, he limped around the bed to Naruto and Ino.

"It's alright, Naruto, I won't let them hurt you." He crouched in front of Naruto, who instantly threw herself into his arms. He ignored the pain that radiated through his chest at the contact, holding her tighter instead.

"We won't hurt him. You are!" Kiba barked, his words coming out half muffled against the carpet.

"What are you talking about?" Choji snapped as Ino pulled the blanket off the bed, wrapping it around Shikamaru and the trembling Naruto.

"Shikamaru is twisted. Why are you defending him?" Shino asked in a surprisingly calm voice. "He can't handle being attracted to a male so he has manipulated Naruto into changing into a female when they are alone. Isn't it obvious?"

"You're both idiots!" Ino shrieked, making Naruto whimper in Shikamaru's arms. As the man whispered calming words into Naruto's ear, Ino went on. "Naruto was born a girl. Shikamaru hasn't done anything to her."

Kiba scoffed. "If Naruto was a girl, we would have noticed."

"In…Ino's right."

Everyone in the room paused, looking at the blonde whose face was almost completely covered in a blanket.

"I w…wanted to tell you."

Shikamaru rubbed Naruto's back as he frowned at Shino, and Kiba's behind, which was all he could see of him. "So all this was in defence of Naruto?"

"Of course," Shino scoffed.

"How could you think Shikamaru would hurt me in any way?" Naruto asked, her trembling finally starting to subside.

"I just came in and…" Kiba stopped. "Hinata, can you please release me?"

"If you start throwing punches again I'll put you right back where you are," warned the girl before she poked Kiba a few times, watching the man turn jelly.

Slowly the boy rose to his feet, rubbing his face. "I just saw you like that and freaked. Shino and I have wondered for a while about your relationship and we noticed that you looked… girly around Shikamaru. We feared, just for a moment, that Shikamaru encouraged you to dress like that. But we realised it was a stupid thought. But when I saw you two lying there… I got mad."

Choji moved the kunai from Shino's neck with a warning look.

"We are sorry," Shino said, stepping away from Choji. "It was irrational of us to assume the worst but, we honestly never contemplated that you were a female because what reasoning do you have for hiding it."

Shikamaru growled, moving to block Naruto from the others. "Because ten years ago people attacked her for looking like a girl. Why do you think she's so scared?"

Both males looked like they had received the punches to the stomach instead of Shikamaru.

"Ino," Naruto started softly, "how did you know I was a girl?"

"I noticed that you buy feminine products, and chocolate around the same time every month, and you wonder into my store more often than too." Ino smiled softly, running her fingers through Naruto's hair. "You suit being a girl."

"I'm really sorry, Naruto," Kiba said, sounding meek.

"You were trying to defend me. No matter how misguided… I can't hate you for that." Naruto slowly rose to her feet, wobbling slightly. "I'm gonna wash my face and change. I have a feeling you guys have questions."

Shikamaru put the blanket back on the bed as Naruto walked out of the room. Running his fingers through his hair, he looked for his shirt. It was as he was putting it on that Kiba spoke again.

"I'm sorry for hitting you."

"I'm not sorry for hitting you back," Shikamaru replied with a shrug that turned into a grimace. He had no doubt that bruising would be appearing soon.

Kiba gave a bark of laughter before Hinata started ushering them all into the lounge room. They situated themselves around the coffee table when Naruto walked out of the bathroom dressed as a girl. Shikamaru quickly took occupation of the bathroom, finding some mouthwash to rinse his mouth with. When he came back out and sat next to Naruto he noticed Ino pick up a knitted doll that looked astonishingly like Asuma-Sensei. He watched the blonde girl lift it to her nose and sniff.

"It smells like him," she stated in surprise.

"It's a jutsu, using an item with the person's scent on it. Konohamaru provided me with one of Asuma-Sensei's shirts. I thought his child might like it." Naruto shrugged, accepting the cup of tea Hinata handed her.

"That is really sweet of you. I'm sure they will love it." Choji took the doll from Ino, giving it a sad smile before putting it on the finished blanket that was folded on the coffee table. "So… who knows that you're a girl?"

Naruto thought over the answer for a moment. "My six healers, Old Granny, Shizune, Kakashi-Sensei, Captain Yamato, Pervy-Sage knew, Izumo and Kotetsu, Shikaku and Mrs Nara, Shikamaru's cousins, since one of them is married to my Healer, so I let her know. Umm, a fair few people from the orphanage, Konohamaru, Sasuke, Sai… I think that's everyone really."

"Wait, if people in the orphanage knew you were a girl how did it get around the village that you were a boy?" Shino asked. It looked like he was frowning but it was hard for Shikamaru to tell.

"The old Bat below us. Mrs Huruma ran the orphanage when I was put in it. She didn't like me… doesn't like kids in general from what I can tell, but she hated me. She would tell me that I was a boy, and I had to repeat it to her over and over. For years I didn't know what gender even was really so I thought I was a 'boy' whatever that meant. But whenever I did something girly I was punished. I went without food, she hit me, she locked me in 'The Box' which was this iron box she kept in the basement. I wasn't the only one who ended up there. Varric used to slip me food through the little window when I was in there, and I'd return the favour." Naruto's eyes had taken a distant look to them, and she spoke plainly, as though she didn't care.

"Why would she do that?" Hinata gasped, her jaw hanging open.

Naruto sighed. "She told me that I was a monster. That I was a killer. I didn't know she was talking about the Nine-Tails. The worst thing she could do to me, that didn't leave a physical mark, was tell me I was something I wasn't and make me believe it. She knew if she actually hurt me that Uncle Inoichi would make her suffer. You have no idea what it's like to have someone tell you that everything you are, everything you find natural is wrong and you should hate yourself for it. I thought I was free when I left the orphanage. Choji, you'd remember how I dressed and looked like a girl, but then I was punished for that too. People attacked me in my own home because they hated me and Varric was a coward. They ripped my hair out, destroyed my apartment, and when they were stabbing the mattress I was under, they stabbed me in the shoulder. If Shikaku hadn't saved me I would have bled to death. The village wasn't going to let me be who I wanted to be."

"You know my dad?" Ino frowned, looking confused.

"Of course. One of the best people I know. He's always looked out for me." Naruto gave a sad smile. "I never had the heart to tell him that the moment he was out of the village the villagers would make me suffer. When I was attacked he got back from a mission and came and saw me. He told me that the only one who could put me in the hospital is someone I put in the ground. He said that if I didn't have the strength he would fight my fights for me. I asked him to sign me up to the academy. He still had to authority to do that, even though the Old Man didn't want me to become a ninja. He was worried it would make the village see me as a threat. Old Man also asked me to hide my gender from everyone until I was older, or until I trusted the people." When Ino went to say something, Naruto cut her off. "Your dad had the authority because he was my foster father for my first year of… life. I became a jinchurikki on the day I was born. My parents died the same day. Because no one knew how the seal would hold on me, a ninja had to look after me. From what the Old Man told me Uncle Inoichi was the one who found me next to the Fourth Hokage's body. He decided to take me in."

"Uncle Inoichi…" Ino muttered. "I remember a little girl saying that. I used to call dad that at times too cause I heard her say it so much, but I could never remember her face."

"Now you know. Your dad and mum wanted to tell you. Apparently we were close when we were little but then I had to be put in the orphanage. Then when the village started treating me so badly, especially Mrs Huruma, and Aunt Momiji became sick… I didn't want the village targeting you and Aunt and Uncle as well."

"You let me be horrible to you to protect me?" Ino choked out as Choji put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You weren't that bad. More like an annoying sister." Naruto shrugged.

"Does Sakura know?" Choji asked, rubbing Ino's back as she took calming breaths.

With a dark look, Naruto snorted. "I tried to tell her once, before Sasuke left. I thought she wouldn't believe me so I showed up to training as a girl, no chest binds or anything. Sasuke had known since the academy, so I didn't have to worry about him." At the questioning looks Naruto rolled her eyes. "Years of fighting each other before I wore more than a baggy jacket to hide my gender meant that Sasuke noticed I wasn't built like a guy. I thought I could trust Sakura but she went off at me. She thought I was playing a trick, or something. When she hit me I ran. I used a transformation jutsu to make me look like a boy and I hid at Iruka-Sensei's house for the rest of the day… oh he knows too. I told him when I graduated."

"So Sakura rejected who you really were… and then Kiba and I became violent on seeing it as well," Shino contemplated. "No wonder you reacted as you did. I can't express how sorry I am that we put you through that."

Naruto shrugged. "It's alright. I should have told you all. I do trust you after all. I was just scared."

"So do you wish you could always dress like a girl? Cause we can make that happen. We'll set right anyone who tries to hurt you." Kiba looked earnestly at Naruto.

"I appreciate that but I like dressing like a boy too. One advantage of the way I grew up is I don't really care about gender. I do wish I could walk around in more girly clothing when I want to but I'm just not ready for that."

"Well when you are, we're here for you. I can even do your make up if you want," Hinata offered with a kind smile.

"Thanks… Though I don't own makeup. I'm glad you all know. And I'm kind of glad you all just found out. I've been trying to work out how to tell you all for ages now." Naruto turned her eyes on Shikamaru, making him squirm and then flinch. "Ino, can you heal Shikamaru, please?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. No wonder you haven't pulled your hair back yet." Ino moved to Shikamaru's other side, putting her hands on his side.

"Nah, I just decided to leave it down." Shikamaru shot Naruto a discrete smile, taking her hand. It was certainly a mess of a morning but Naruto had faced something that terrified her with more strength than he thought anyone was capable of. She not only talked about her past pains but forgave her friends so easily. There didn't seem to be a day that she didn't impress him.

Long day, it's now 5:30…am but the chapter is done and I had to cut three scenes that wouldn't have worked. Instead they will be in the next chapter. And you see more of why Mrs Huruma is an epic bitch.

R and R.