Chapter 4: Adopting
(Alternatively, I Was Adopted Once. Now I'll Be the One to Hold Out A Hand to Someone Lost and Lonely)
Notes: Time skips ahead from this point on. I'm not yet sure how many there will be in this story but I do know that there is one in this chapter. As cute as baby Hyo(Shikamaru) is and as much as I adore him, I can't really keep focusing on that part of his life because the story needs to progress. I'd be here forever if I just focused on his infant years. I may write some snippets, later on, to go with the story that delves deeper into parts of his life that I don't write into the story. I hope that doesn't bother any of you, but, if it does, I'm sorry. The story must go on!
(Shikaku's POV)
Shikaku sighs morosely as he stares up at the sky. It's a nice day. The sky is clear and there is a cool breeze gently wafting over the playground. It's the kind of day when parents are more than happy to let their kids out to run around and tire themselves out. It's just the fact that…Shikamaru still hasn't let go of his hand. Hasn't let go of it since they arrived thirty minutes ago.
Don't most kids like to play with other kids? He knows that Shikamaru is a quiet(he still doesn't talk yet. How weird is that?), smart(the boy is already reading books meant for preteens), and serious boy. Oh, he's prone to laughter there is no doubt about that, but he's also prone to moments of utter silence. Moments where it is clear that the boy is thousands of miles away from where he's sitting even if he's right there. The four-year-old has moments of such intense concentration that Shikaku wonders just what, exactly, is going on in his son's little head. It's worrying, to be honest.
But, for all that his kid can be so far away at times, he is also here. Here, in this time and place, with such a startlingly steady and grounded focus that Shikaku wonders, if his son isn't an old soul made new(he will never ask Inoichi to look because Shikamaru is his son, even if he is an odd child. He knows that doing such a thing will be a betrayal of the worst kind and it will break the trust between them just as surely as a knife to the back would). Even so, is it too much to ask for his son to at least try to make a friend today? Yes, the Nara are lazy but this is a little ridiculous.
Suddenly, Shikaku gets his wish and his son lets go of his hand. But it isn't to go play with the other youngsters. No, instead his strange little boy makes a beeline for a blond haired little boy crouching by himself at the edge of the playground. A child whom he immediately deduces to be the little Uzumaki boy that everyone has turned into a pariah(how sad and narrow-minded people are). What happens next will change everything. Even if Shikaku himself doesn't know it just yet.
When Shikamaru(he's gotten so used to hearing the name, so used to referring to himself by it that it is instinctive now. He is still Hyo Strife(he always will be) but he is also Nara Shikamaru and he wants to live this life to its fullest) arrives at the playground his mother has forced him and his father to got to today he isn't expecting much. Most children are so loud. He may not have his enhanced senses anymore but their squealing still hurts his sensitive ears. He certainly doesn't want to be right in the middle of the troop of howler monkeys that the crowding children make(it's rude to think that way, he knows, but he can't help it when they are so loud). He grimaces as he looks around, trying to find something to do, to find someone who appeals to his quieter nature. He isn't very lucky.
Then, on the periphery of his vision, a small blond boy comes into view. Their eyes meet and Shikamaru feels his breath catch because he knows the look in that boy's eyes. He's seen it in his own eyes before. Loneliness – the kind that is felt even when a person is surrounded by others. The kind of loneliness that threatens to swallow a person whole. Shikamaru's world freezes and narrows down to that point of contact... The other boy's eyes are blue but so very dark instead of the sky blue that he somehow knows they should be.
It doesn't even register that he's released his father's hand or that he is moving until he is right there in front of the blond. He crouches down in front of the shocked and wary child and he speaks for the first time in this life. "Why are you lonely?"
Those blue eyes widen, even more, stunned now, and then, "No on' wans to play wif me."
"Where are your parents?"
The boy frowns and looks down, "Mons'ers don' have parens."
Shikamaru(Hyo) feels rage well up and it turns his blood into liquid fire. He tamps down on that fury before it can show on his face. His voice is calm as he asks his next question. "Who told you that?"
"Ma'ron of orphanage. She says I don' 'serve no parens."
Hate rears its ugly head(he'd thought he'd dealt with it and ripped it out by the roots long ago. But hate is a cunning beast and he feels it prowling in his chest, waiting for his guard to slip ever so slightly so that it might attempt an escape) and Shikamaru decides that he won't tolerate this situation. Not this type. Never this type of situation. Children don't deserve to be treated this way. He knows this. He may not have ever been a parent but he'd been an uncle and he'd loved(still loves, no matter what happens or how much time passes) his niece and nephews.
Shikamaru makes a snap decision and holds out his right hand. "Then how about I share my parents with you. My okaa-san can't have any more kids. It's not her fault she can't but I've always wanted a brother or sister."
The blond-haired child looks up with wide, startled, and wary eyes but hope is blooming oh so fragile underneath the disbelief. "Me?"
Shikamaru nods once, decisively, "Yes, you. My name is Shikamaru. You may call me Shika-nii from now on. But first, what's your name? I can't keep calling you otouto for the rest of your life. That would get annoying to you really quick, I think."
"Naru'o."
"Naruto – Maelstrom. That's a good name, a strong one."
Naruto's face lights up slowly like the sun is just starting to rise, and Shikamaru knows that he has done the right thing. It won't be easy convincing his parents(but nothing right or worthwhile ever is and he's always preferred to do what is right rather than what is easy). Shikamaru doesn't hesitate to take that little, dirty hand into his own(he never will), pulls the boy up, and starts walking back the way he came with Naruto right behind him(the grip on his hand is tight, desperate, and he swears to himself that he will be the best Aniki he can be because Zack and Cloud had been his big brothers and they had always tried their best for him. He can do no less now for this lost and lonely boy). "Come on, Naru. My otou-san's this way."
(Shikaku's POV)
Shikaku knows, the moment his son turns around with the Uzumaki boy's hand held firmly in his own hand, that life is about to get troublesome. He doesn't know what has happened over there, nor has he heard anything from them over the shrieking laughter of the other children, but his boy has that look in his eyes. That determined and steady and grounded look that he always gets when he makes a decision(like every decision is important – even if it is only about some silly thing his mother has asked him to do. Like every decision he makes holds a weight that the rest of the world will never understand. Shikaku wonders why his son seems to carry such a weight on those small shoulders as opposed to the light burdens the rest of the children around him carry). So Shikaku gives his full attention to his little boy when the two children stop in front of him. This close, he can see the hardness in his son's eyes and knows that Shikamaru won't back down from whatever decision has been made.
"Made a friend, Shika-chan?" Shikaku asks, voice deceptively light. His son's eyes narrow suspiciously and he shakes his head. Then he does something that shocks the ever living hell out of him. Shikamaru speaks.
"Naru is all alone. He doesn't have any parents, so I promised him that I'd share you and okaa-san with him 'cause I've always wanted a sibling."
He is hearing Shikamaru's voice for the first time and it is a quiet but steady thing(just like the boy himself). It rasps slightly from disuse and Shikaku can already hear the first and tiniest hints of the Nara rustiness that will eventually mature in his boy's voice. And he can't help but think that his son has always seemed to be smarter than most people would think. But this? This is the final nail in the coffin, the proof he's been looking for. His son has inherited the Nara intelligence they are so infamous for. "A sibling, hmm? Why didn't you just ask your okaa-san and I?"
Shikaku gets a cutting look(holy shit, he looks like his mother) in return and his son says firmly, "I'm not stupid, otou-san. I read a lot and I know what it meant when okaa-san told Shio-oba-san she can't have any more children 'cause she got hurt really badly before she had me. Naru doesn't have any parents and he's lonely. And the lady at the orphanage calls him a monster and says he doesn't deserve to have parents! That's wrong. He shouldn't have to stay in a place where he isn't wanted. Not when there are people who will want him to be part of their family."
"Like you?"
His son's eyes harden further and Shikaku knows he will loose to this determination before the boy even says what he knows will be said. "Yes."
No hesitation, no second guessing. Shikamaru has made his choice and the rest the village will just have to live it because Shikamaru is a Nara. And a Nara will never make a promise they can't keep. His son will bring the full force of his determination against anyone who tries to make him change his course(and, somehow, Shikaku knows that no one will win if they pit themselves against this boy(perhaps warrior is a better term because that is what he sees as he stares down into his son's eyes)).
Author's Note: So what do you think? Do all of you think this chapter captures the tone I tried to set? I know it doesn't have much of Shikamaru's point of view but I wanted people to see him from another person's view.