DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

"THEY'RE GOING TO MAKE ME DO WHAT?! THAT'S BULLSHIT! THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO…" came a scream from deep within the Nara forest. Shikamaru Nara jumped on top of his blonde new housemate, his new imouto - as he was so fond of calling her - placing both of his hands over her big mouth and shushing her furiously as all nearby wildlife fled the scene.

"Do you want Ma to hear you, dumb ass?"

"I don't care! They can't make me get…" Shikamaru covered her mouth again and gave the girl a furious glare. She rolled her eyes at him as he climbed off of her. He grabbed her by the hand and both took off running into another part of the forest, both knowing of his existential fear of the boy's mother.

Finally stopping when he felt it was relatively safe, he turned toward her. "Naruto, I'm not supposed to know this at all. No one is! Ma sent me to take Dad his bento at the Tower and for some reason, I lucked out and heard the end of the conversation when they had taken off the privacy seals. I just walked up on the whole thing! And yes, I'm sure! I know I didn't hear it wrong. I was channeling chakra to my ears." Seeing her about to question that, he answered, "because I'm me, and because there's so much that will be happening, ne?" Naruto nodded her head in agreement, although she still looked pissed off. "The Sandaime said it: the best way to assure your protection will be to marry you off before you officially become a kunoichi."

The blonde stood before him with her mouth hanging open, her arms waving widely. "The fuck! The fuck, Shikamaru?" Naruto turned around in circles, frantically pulling at her blonde hair. "Why? Why would that even be true? Wouldn't it be better - oh I don't know," she drawled sarcastically, "to train me properly like mad so that I can handle myself and maybe not need a man to handle things for me? What a bunch of bullshit!"

"You'll be saying deer crap before long." She looked at her friend with no amusement on her face. "Gomen," he sighed. "Maa, you're not even going to remember this troublesome conversation in a few days from now - if it even takes you that long to forget it." The boy sat down heavily, looking defeated.

Naruto looked at him sadly, frowning. "This is big, Shika. I've gotta remember. I'll write it down and we'll put it somewhere for me. Maybe we'll have to do that with a lot of stuff for a while." She sat on the forest floor alongside him, taking his hand.

Thank goodness Shikamaru was with her. He remembered everything important going back to when he was a toddler or so, and he also remembered the same past that she did - from his point of view, of course. That's why he had been so persistent in pursuing a friendship with her at the Academy from day one. He said he had even looked for her beforehand, but couldn't find her. She was wary of him even after what he'd said in the hospital until he asked her straight out if she'd been in contact with Kurama.

The truth was, ever since she woke up in the hospital she had been forgetting what had been happening the hours or days beforehand. "Major head trauma," they called it. She had no idea of what caused it, and more worryingly, neither did Kurama. She remembered the fact that she even had it because Kurama reminded her of it in that kind way of his, (always something like, "We'll eventually find the fucker that knocked your square head sideways and did this to us! Then his innards are mine! And so are his eyes, because you know it was probably a fucking Uchiha!")

It was always the Uchihas with that guy.

Although Kurama had occasionally messed with her, telling the Uzumaki that he didn't know what she was talking about when she thought about her past life. The second time she freaked out about him doing it, though; she apparently made him feel so bad, he admitted he was just kidding and looked quite sheepish about making her cry. He didn't even complain when her tears got on his snout. As soon as snot got on him, though, he threatened to eat her. She probably would've done the same to him, or anyone for that matter should they get snot on her. Well, if she was a big furry monster, that is.

This is digressing, though! Whaa! This is how I end up forgetting stuff! Well, that and I just blank it out!

Married?! What a concept! Although she couldn't remember jack crap about the past seven-plus years of this life, she remembered most of the life she had before that. She kept thinking she was crazy - coming from some other life where there had been these crazy Akatsuki people and her best friend/rival Sasuke went nuts - until Kurama told her that he remembered it, too. Anyway, she hadn't thought about marriage in either life, she was pretty sure of that. From what Shikamaru had told her about how she acted in class this time around, she was a serious girl. And last time? Forget about it. She was too busy trying to stay alive and to get recognized. Screw getting recognized this time.

Hokage? That goal didn't matter as much, if at all. She just wanted to be strong enough to protect everyone. At least this time she'd have the Naras with their strategic minds helping her, right by her side - and she knew that Shikamaru held the keenest intellect of all of them.

How the two of them, plus Kurama, came to be in this position they didn't know. They had theories but chose not to worry about them at this point. Plus Naruto would most likely just forget about them anyway. What they decided to do was work on their strengths: body, mind, chakra, skills. They had to become more than what they were before and hopefully inspire others to do the same. It was already working to some extent, Shikamaru said. Both Naruto and Shikamaru were at the top of their class before Naruto's incident. Shikamaru was still at the top of the class, but he now had Choji actually doing taijutsu for fun, with Kiba, too. And Kiba, of course, was reportedly still the competitive wild-man he had always been.

"I thought that Ino-chan was coming along, too. She and Sakura-chan had been inseparable until just recently. Troublesome. I'll keep working on her," Shikamaru said.

"What changed?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke finally came back after the massacre," the boy responded sadly.

Blood spilling down a teenager's unusually white cheeks from Mangyeko Sharingan eyes. "Don't come out, Naru-chan. Stay right there please! I'll get you help!" His head turns, messy ponytail swishing as a lid drops in front of her and everything goes black.

"Naruto! Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled, shaking the girl as her blue eyes stare wide up into the sky, unresponsive. "Shit! Ma! Help!"