DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I got some inspiration from the story ARVUM. I desperately tried to get permission to continue that story, etc., but received no response, sadly.

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Naruto opened her eyes slowly. The sun was coming in through the blinds and her senses were off. Everything was too bright, the strong smells from the hospital she was in were nearly overpowering, and the feeling of muck in her mouth told her that she had probably been asleep for a long time. Birds chirping outside were distracting and she heard people talking outside along with equipment and carts being moved along the hallways.

"Troublesome," a voice stated beside her head, making her jump. Naruto reached up to hold her head: she had a headache, although it wasn't terrible, and was happy to find that she didn't have bandages or anything on it. She looked down at her body and tried not to flinch at the sight of her small hands. They weren't marked or anything. Her skin looked fine - like always, whether or not she had been attacked or after attacking - but her body looked so small and child-like. Did I have a weird dream?

"So, not going to call me Iruka-sensei today, or tell me that I really need to go get laid?" Naruto looked to her side again and flushed a dark red as she noticed the oh-so-satisfied smirk on Shikamaru Nara's face. She tried to speak and when her voice barely came out the young Nara offered her a glass of water.

"You're lying," she whispered. "No way."

"It's too troublesome to make up something like that. And anyway, who but you would say something so unpredictable and perverted? It was quite entertaining for Genma-san, though, and those guys with him." Naruto sunk down in her blankets in embarrassment. She'd definitely be hearing more about this, as would probably everyone if that goof heard her say something like that. "And the nicknames, Naru-chan… Calling the ANBU Senbon-kun. Sooooo inappropriate," he teased.

"What are you doing here anyway? Aside from giving me shit?"

"Language, hime," Shikamaru shot a challenging eyebrow towards her as he pulled out a backpack and a very full folder within it. "Got your schoolwork right here. You've got so much makeup work to do…"

What an actor this guy has always been. He was trying to be obvious about something, and being his damn contemplative self, too. And what's with calling her "princess?" Yeah, she's technically a princess but no one knows that. Hell, I'm not even supposed to know that. Oh right. Isn't he supposed to think I'm a boy? Meh, whatever, he's always been too smart for his and my own good anyway. Good thing we're on the same side. "Er, yeah…" she didn't like that returning smirk of his. "So you gonna help me with it or what?"

"Well, I don't know, Naru-chan. I mean, with us being the top two students in the class, why wouldn't I take this opportunity to finally best you?"

Naru quickly glanced around the room. "What the heck are you talking about, Shika-kun? Since when are we doing anything other than sleeping or skipping - basically dueling for the title of dead-last?" Naruto asked conspiratorily, a frown on her round face.

The look of victory that overtook the Nara's face nearly made her face-palm. Obviously, she had fallen into some kind of trap he laid handily. Great, just great. Damn Shikamaru Nara! Damn him straight to some kind of hell where the sky was always clear and he had to work all day long at a tedious task and got no breaks.

"What do you remember?" the damned asked, leaning forward and speaking softly.

"About what?" the blonde answered seriously.

"Naruto, you've been talking nonsense for the past five days. You've been seriously out of it. From what I assessed," and here, the boy looked behind him to ensure the door was closed, "you gave some kind of report or something around a week ago, but I didn't learn what it was about." He gave her a moment to respond but she could only shake her head: she really had no clue as to what he was referring. "You know, you're being pretty damn friendly right now, especially considering that Kiba, Choji, and I have been trying to get you to hang with us since the beginning of the Academy. Makes me wonder." His left eyebrow was up in that infuriating way that told her that he was waiting for her to answer. Jerk. She wasn't falling prey to one of his little games again!

He waiting for a minute before sighing drowsily. "Another troublesome blonde," he said, shaking his head ruefully at her. As she glared at him he only looked amused. Bastard. "Well, since you've been running off at the mouth about how SCARY Ino-chan is, you'll be coming to live with me, imouto-chan," he drawled with too much sarcasm at her expense.

"What?! What the hell do you mean I'll be coming to live with you? I've been emancipated since I was like 4 or something!" Naruto was outraged. Who came up with this idea? Sure, her place totally sucked, but she absolutely required her independence!

"There you go again, Naruto. Another clue in my favor: see this is why we need to stick together, especially now." He leaned over her, looking serious, but caring, his voice quiet. "You have NOT been emancipated since you were four. This time, the Sandaime is your guardian."

"Bullshit!" she all but yelled.

He placed his hands up in surrender. "You don't live with him - you've had your own place and all - but he's still legally your guardian until you get your hitae-ate." Naruto was sputtering. "There's more, too. You're going to be so pissed. That's why we're going to work together." Slowly the girl took in all of this information and nodded her head. If she trusted anyone, she trusted the slacker in front of her.

"Man, this is such a drag. You know, Naruto, I know you'd say the air on The Mountain would change my tune," Naruto's eyebrows flew up. He could only mean one mountain: Mt. Myobuki! "But at a time like this, I could really use a smoke." He looked at her pointedly.

Naruto eventually smiled in that foxy way of hers. "So we might have to lift a pack off Asuma-sensei, ne Shika-kun? Grab some porn off Kaka-sensei, steal Baa-chan's sake… henge and go karaoke it up in times of duress?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Leave it to Naruto to go from understanding the clue he was trying to give her, to rolling it into one big prank or party. "Fuck me. What was I thinking when I told Tou-san 'yes' about the number one knucklehead ninja living with us?"

Said ninja smiled widely. "Maybe you were thinking you wanted life to be interesting instead of such a drag?" He gave her a deadpanned look. "Or maybe you were thinking you wanted to save…"

"Everyone," they said together. "Everyone we can," he agreed. She nodded, believing it whole-heartedly.