Naruto and Shikamaru walked the streets of the Konaha the city in which they resided, the wind blowing briskly against their faces. Naruto clad in baggy jeans and bright orange tee shirt shivered.
" You do know it's the middle of April, you should have brought a jacket" Shikamaru noted in a matter of fact tone
" I did but I gave it to a homeless person I saw sleeping on the road last night when I was walking home" Naruto shrugged.
" That was awfully nice of you Naruto, don't you have a second jacket ? " Shikamaru asked with a note of concern in his voice.
Naruto turned redder then the stop sign they approached "no" he said meekly.
Shikamaru moved faster than Naruto thought possible, and in one swift movement Shikamaru removed his jacket black leather jacket and handed it Naruto.
"Here wear this " Shikamaru handed his jacket to a surprised Naruto.
"uh thanks Shikamaru " Naruto was still surprised but his tone was sincere
Soon the pair arrived at the arcade. Naruto always the little kid at heart raced no one to the exchange machine. As Naruto flattened out a crinkled five-dollar bill Shikamaru approached the machine to his right and inserted a ten-dollar bill. As the coins noisily dispensed from the machine Shikamaru turned to see the back of Naruto already at a Skee Ball machine. Shikamaru watched in admiration as he sank a ball into the hundred-point hole with ease, and then another and another. Shikamaru watched the blonde play, the more he played the more the tickets the machine spit out. Naruto ripped the stack of tickets from the machine and started folding them up.
" Did you sink every ball you tossed " Shikamaru asked already knowing the answer.
"yup" Naruto shrugged scratching the back of his head.
"Where did you learn to play skee ball like that "
"Here, my dad used to take me here when I was younger before –" Naruto broke off mid-sentence distraught.
"Come with me " Shikamaru grabbed the blond boy's arm and tugged "let me show you my favorite game here"
The pair twisted and turned navigating the labyrinth of arcade games till they arrived at the back of the arcade. Where a large neon colored, and stainless-steel machine emitted music.
"Dance Dance Revolution ?" Naruto questioned immediately
"absolutely" Shikamaru replied instantly
"And we will both be playing" continued to a shocked Naruto.
"why don't I watch you play a round and then I give it a try.
Shikamaru inserted four tokens into the machine navigated the menu so quickly Naruto didn't register anything the boy selected. The screen went black and music started playing. Its was fast and had a nice beat to it. As the music progressed arrows started moving up the screen and Shikamaru moved with speed and grace and perfectly landed all his steps. Naruto was astonished, not only was Shikamaru smart and good looking, the boy could dance well at least with arrows. The music continued and Shikamaru turned and winked at Naruto and continued dancing to the beat. The song ended, and the grading rubric appeared on the screen, AAA landed and Shikamaru turned to the blonde boy with a grin on his face.
"you're not the only one with arcade game skills Naruto " Shikamaru teased .
" I see that, didn't think you had that kind of stamina" Naruto said.
"Your turn, get up here, let's go " Shikamaru has started tugging on Naruto over the support beam to come up on the machine. Naruto relinquished control and stepped onto the arrow step pad.
"I've been coming here for years and I've never played this game before ya know " Naruto stated shyly
With a smirk barely revealing his incisors Shikamaru said "try and keep up "
The music started and Shikamaru feet began to move in conjunction with the arrows on the screen. Meanwhile Naruto looked at the screen while his legs clumsily stomped on what he thought were correct arrows. The screen went black and the word failed in big red letters appeared on the screen.
"I guess this is like math class " Naruto shrugged scratching the back of his head sounding defeated as he stepped off the metal mat.
"and just like math class all you need is some time to study" Shikamaru stated before extending his hand to Naruto's.
Naruto let himself be pulled back onto the DDR machine and the pair danced guided by the beat the arrows flowing up the screen. Time seemed to slow , the pair existed in a space untouched by time or outside influence. In this space Naruto forgot about all the dread and sadness that usually gripped his mind and for the first time since his parent's death felt pure happiness.