Four years later

Shikamaru was sleeping peacefully until his younger —"By four minutes Shika"—brother interrupted his sleep.

"Troublesome," he muttered rolling over to get away from his twin's nudging.

"Come on Shikamaru. Today is our first day at the academy," Shikaoi whined, trying to pry the warm blankets off his brother.

"Five more minutes," Shikamaru intoned gripping the blanket harder and trying to curl away from his 'troublesome' brother's intrusion.

"Kaachan! Shikamaru-nii is..." Shikamaru jumped out of bed slightly more alert and cutting his brother off.

Eyes warily glancing at the door where their mother had appeared with her trusty frying pan in hand.

The brothers gulped in tandem. They've seen the things the Nara matriarch could 'convince' their father to do by holding up that frying pan and Shikamaru looked at his brother with wide eyes as Shikaoi cleared his throat nervously.

"What were you saying Aoi-chan," his mother asked sweetly, while twirling the frying pan.

"Shika-nii was telling me that it is 'troublesome that I forgot that he, Ino and Choji will be at the academy with me, so I shouldn't worry about not making any friends," Shikaoi innocently finished with his blue-grey eyes widened into his trademark 'doe eyed' expression.

Yoshino put down the frying pan squealing at the "cuteness of (her) baby boys' brotherly affection for each other."

She hugged them tightly and Shikamaru wondered not for the first time how his younger brother always managed to wrap everyone around his little finger with just a look.

Shikaoi always brought out the overtly protective qualities in everyone.

'What a drag,' Shikamaru thought looking at his twin.

Shikamaru internally swore that his brother's eyes should be classified as an S-class weapon, although they may not contain a dojutsu they are probably -if not- more destructive.

Okay, so maybe he has a brother complex, but who could blame him?

At the academy...

After the too long speech, about the "will of fire" from the third Hokage, the twins managed to meet up with Ino and Choji.

Their academy teacher, a young man named Iruka, escorted the class to what would be their main classroom for the next five years.

The classes seemed boring to the Nara twins.

Shikamaru sleeping through most of them in typical Nara fashion, while Shikaoi was barely able to pay attention, instead choosing to daydream while their teacher droned on at the front of the class.

Shikaoi was startled out of his musings by a rambunctious blonde boy bursting in and causing a ruckus that also awoke Shikamaru from his nap.

Shikaoi's eyes narrowed in thought as he came to the realization that things were going to start soon and it may very well be the death of him, but as he noticed the loneliness that followed the jinchuriki and the ignorance of not just his brother and classmates, but the entire village.

He found himself not minding as long as he could protect the people he cares about and that now included the whiskered blonde.

In the words of his twin, "troublesome."

Shikamaru felt a shiver along his spine, but shrugged going back to his nap after a quick glance at his brother who was deep in thought about things to come. None the wiser.