The Uncertainty of This Life(But Maybe It's Better That Way) Chapter 19: Zen, a Final Fantasy VII + Naruto Crossover fanfic

Chapter 19: Zen

(Alternatively, A Place of My Own)

Author's Notes: I have Internet again! Now I don't have to Bluetooth my chapters from my tablet to my phone so I can post them. I want to run around my house screaming in happiness. Instead I've started working on this chapter.

Also, *squees in fangirlish glee* For those of my readers who have read Okami-Rayne's Break to Breath, Akumisan on Tumblr has started to turn it into a Podfic. Head over to her Tumblr: akumisan . Tumblr

Just take out the spaces and you're good to go! I very much recommend going to read Break to Breath and the rest of the series if you haven't read it yet! The writer is a lovely person and her writing is absolutely amazing! You won't be disappointed if you love Neji/Shika/Neji.

(Shikamaru'sChapter 19: Zen

(Alternatively, A Place of My Own)

(Shikamaru's POV)

Shikamaru sighs as he stares up at the sky from where he is standing in the middle of a clearing. The eleven-year-old male has his hands wrapped over the top of a shovel and is standing in a rather large hole. When he'd asked his parents if it was okay for him to have his own space in the forest they had been very accommodating. Unfortunately, they'd also made it very clear that they expected him to do most of the work on his own. Something about not letting him get a swelled ego.

He laughs to himself quietly. He supposes that it would look that way, especially since he's gotten a bit more anti-social with his increasing age and the things he's experienced in this life. He can't really blame his parents for thinking that way, but Shikamaru had gotten so used to being on his own when he was Hyo that he really can't make himself be any more different than he already is. Change is difficult for him and he's already made so many changes just to be able to stay with his family. But now he needs one thing that is his, solely his. A place that he can run to when his need for space, peace, and quiet becomes too much. Shikamaru has never lied to himself or to his parents about his need to run at times(he never will, not when he'd been honest about it in his past).

Shikamaru lays the shovel down and carefully climbs out of his hole so as to not displace any of the loose dirt. The hole will eventually be his own personal hot spring with the help of fuinjutsu. He also plans to build a cabin out here. And maybe, if he has the time, he will plant a garden. This place will be his true home. No matter how much he loves his parents, his brothers, the house they live in, he will always need his own place to return to. His own little piece of Zen, so to speak.

Shikamaru stoops down after he reaches the top and picks up a bottle of water. He pours some over his head and scrubs his face with one hand before taking several deep pulls from the bottle. He recaps the bottle and sets it down. He stretches with a low groan as his back pops in several places. He winces at the sound. If his mom had heard that she'd have blown a gasket. She's gotten a bit troublesome in the last year. Perhaps it is because he and his brothers are getting closer to graduation. Or maybe it's due to Sasuke's more moody nature. Ever since the boy hit puberty he's gotten to be a bit of a brat. Oh, not anything bad, but just enough that people think he has a smart mouth.

Shikamaru snickers, his eyes creasing at the corners as he remembers Sasuke sassing that bastard, Mitsuki. None of their group likes that man. Kiba is always saying that the man smells like lies, anger, and snakes. That is never a good combination in Shikamaru's mind(snakes always bring to mind Midgar Zoloms and those things had been downright nasty). It doesn't help that his anger seems to be directed at Naru. Sasuke takes great pleasure in throwing people's' actions back in their faces when it comes to the blond.

There's also the questions that the Uchiha has been asking. None of the adults seem to know the answers to those questions or don't want to answer them if they do. So Shikamaru has done some very discrete digging on his own into Danzo. What he's found so far isn't much, but he's beginning to see a pattern and it doesn't look good. It seems that whenever the Hokage would try for peace, Danzo would undermine his efforts by going behind the man's back and creating more conflict.

He's fairly certain that the man was linked to a lot more conflicts than was stated during the trial. Case in point, lately, things have been better between Hinata and her immediate family. Apparently, her cousin is much kinder now then he had previously been. He hasn't met the other boy properly so he can't do anything but take Hinata for her word. Her grandfather, however, is still a pretentious prick, but Shikamaru is glad that her situation is looking up now after so long.

Shikamaru stops his musing on the past and turns his attention back to his plans for the future. He climbs down the sides of his new embankment to start packing the dirt down. He wants to get started on the finishing touches before a storm can pass through and ruin all his hard work.

It's three weeks into the summer break and Shikamaru is laid out on the ground wishing that his parents would just give him a break. He already does his own training on top of the building and construction work he's been doing. It's a real pain in the ass to have them on his case to do even more training. He may be strong when compared to new Genin, buy he does have a breaking point(if they don't lighten up soon he'll reach that point fairly quickly). He doesn't even open his eyes when his dad prods him on one side of his rib cage with a toe.

"You alive there, kiddo?"

Shikamaru snorts and says, "No, I died. Did you really have to ask me such a stupid questions?"

"Well, you're mouth is running, so I guess you're good for more training."

"I swear to gods, I will put Shinobi Grade itching powder in your bath gel if you don't leave me alone with my bruises," Shikamaru sharks.

His dad chuckles, "Maa, maa Shika-chan, you know as well as I do that your kaa-san will kill me if I come home without you slung over my back."

"Good luck," Shikamaru muttered as he rolls over with the intention of taking a nap. He knows he'll be sore as hell later, but right now he couldn't care less. Suddenly, there are arms under him and pulling him up and Shikamaru lets out a startled grunt. He growls, "Oi, what the heck are you doing?"

"Taking you home since you refuse to walk back. Are you seriously going to complain about a free ride?"

"Ugh, whatever, Oyaji. Do what you want. You're going to do it anyway."

His father chuckles again and Shikamaru yawns as he lays his heads down against the older man's shoulder. His eyes slip shut and the last thing he remembers is the tender and warm, "Sleep well, little fawn."

(Nibelhiem)

A blue-eyed, blond-haired thirteen-year-old boy opens a coffin lid and stares down into glowing red eyes, "Sorry it took me so long to get you out of here. I'd forgotten how protective my Ma can be… Vincent, is this as weird for you as it is for me?"

The red-eyed male gives the boy a bland look, "We appear to be in the past. I don't think it gets any weirder than that, Cloud."

Cloud cringes, "Yeah, I guess that's true."

"So what now, oh great leader?" Vincent snarks.

"You've spent way too much time with Zack…"

(In Midgar)

A fifteen-year-old black-haired, violet-eyed teen sneezes and his green-eyed girlfriend giggles."Someone must be talking about you!"

Zack grins and says, "Want to bet that it's Cloud?"

"No bet. I'm certain that it is our way ward missing love who's talking about you," the girl says sweetly.

"I can't wait to see him again! It means we'll be one step closer to fixing this mess and beginning that family we all wanted. Say, Aerith, why did the Planet send us back? Why didn't the Lifestream just migrate like it should have?"

"Because the Planet was too weak to recreate Omega. When Hojo started having Deepground kill all those people, Omega was awakened early and then destroyed by Vincent and Chaos. That threw a wrench in the Planet's ability to protect the Lifestream. It's not AVALANCHE's fault, though," Aerith says softly. She continues, "Hojo is the one at fault and this time we can stop him before he can hurt anyone else ever again."

"Like Seph and Angeal! You know, I'm really glad that Genesis is on our side this time around. Things will be so much easier with him helping us."

Aerith nods in agreement with him. Then her eyes go distant, "But we might not see him ever again because of the changes we're making."

"We'll see him again, Aerith, even if I have to travel the whole world to find our little brother. That's a promise! The Planet told you that the whole group was sent back, so that means he's out there somewhere. I just hope he's not alone," Zack says.

Aerith smiles sadly, "So do I. But if he is we won't let him stay that way. And if he's not, well, I doubt he'd say no to more family members."

"Hyo? Say no to family? Hah! That guy would sooner chew off his own hand then walk away from family! Hyo's just that loyal a person. I sure do miss him, though," Zack grins sadly. Then he says, "it's just not the same without our little brother being here. I mean, yeah, we know he's out there somewhere, but Hyo isn't here with us. It's kind of sad because I could really go for one of his little shoulder bumps right now."

Aerith giggles and rests her head on Zack's left shoulder. "He's always so awkward when it comes to showing that he cares, but I think that is one of the best things about him. We've always known when he's being genuinely affectionate because he doesn't often go out of his way to leave his comfort zone. Though, I do hope that, if he's got people who care now, they show him that they care. He deserves the best after the life he led last time around."

"I know and I agree," Zack says. He continues on grimly,"you know, back when we were still in the labs - Hyo, Cloud, and I - I used to hope that whenever poor Hyo would flat line on that damn operating table, he'd stay that way. It's harsh, I know, but Hojo...he did horrible things to Hyo. Hyo lost his memories the last time he flat lined because of Hojo. That's how bad it was in the labs.

"I can still remember the way he looked at me as he was bleeding out that last time before Hojo finally stopped torturing Hyo with the worst of his experiments. He looked so relieved, like he was so ready for it to all be over, for all of it to end. Like it didn't matter that he was dying so long as he didn't have to wake up in that place even one more time. Of course, Hojo just couldn't let go of his newest lab specimen.He just couldn't leave well enough alone!

I didn't see the kid again for a few weeks. And when I did, he couldn't speak -Hojo probably did that so Hyo couldn't cuss him out in his own language anymore since the guy didn't speak Midgarian Standard and he definitely didn't understand it. He didn't recognize me either. He kind of went feral after that. The scientists had to drug him pretty heavily to do anything with him or he'd kill them.

Not that I blame him for any of it. None of those people cared that we were human beings and the few that did? They never lasted long with Hojo as their employer. He'd nab them up for his experiments if they displeased him, so they learned fairly quickly to never show their emotions. The ones that died quickly, they were the lucky ones."

Author's Notes #2: So we have another time skip and things are fairly tame in the beginning. The ending sections are where the story really starts to pick up.

We're going to be seeing more of AVALANCHE from now on and you also get a bigger glimpse into Hyo's past in the labs. POV)