January 3, 1941: The Horrors of War
Shikamaru grunted as yet another person bumped into him. He roughly pushed his way toward the boat ignoring the scathing looks that people gave him. Leaving the giant mob of assorted workers, family members and protesters he lethargically weaved up the path toward the S.S North Carolina, the ship that would carry them for sixteen days across North Atlantic sea from America to England, from there they would board another ship to carry them across the English Channel that separated them from France. From there- well they would be in enemy territory, everyone would have to be on guard and ready to fight at a moments notice.
As Shikamaru continued his trek to regroup with his comrades he heard Kiba's stifled but distinct snicker. As he walked further Shikamaru understood why he had, standing right beside Kakashi and Shino were two young women, probably a year or so older than Shino, but years younger than Kakashi pressed up tightly against their arms.
They were pretty Shikamaru supposed, each were tall- taller than most girls at least- with long dull colored blonde hair. The one pressed up against Kakashi had her hair curled with so much jewelry on her arm Shikamaru was surprised she could lift it, her dark brown eyes were lifted up searching Kakashi's mask covered face. The other leaching herself onto Shino had long, pin strait hair with too much makeup on her face. She didn't wear any jewelry, but the coat she was wearing didn't seem to be protecting her from the stiff cold, and Shikamaru was wondering how she wasn't shivering yet, nor was her dress, not that he could see it. But as the coat wasn't even knee length which was definitely not long enough to even be thought of as respectable, and her shoes looked custom made as they were way too high for them to be made in factories or sold in stores. Her green eyes were dark and dull not anything like the shining emerald that Sakura held.
Looking at Kakashi and Shino he couldn't help but laugh. Shino- never being close to a girl that wasn't his mother or Sakura was as stiff as a board- and despite uncharacteristic the stoic young man looked ready to bolt. Kakashi used to being chased by annoying girls stood lazily on the dock, burying his nose in his book. But held his arm far away from the rest of his body.
Popping a cigarette into his mouth he slowly lit it and approached. Ignoring the way the girls eyes traveled from their chosen hosts to him. They didn't matter to him anyway merely nuisances. Taking in a drag he pulled out one of the cigarette packages and handed one to Shino. The goggled man gave him a thickly veiled facial expression that looked like thanks.
"Might as well enjoy it while we can eh Shino? After all Sakura and Naru will have our hides if they figured out we're smoking again." He intervened not even looking at the blonde latched to Shino's arm, like a leech.
"What are they your sisters or something?" It was the brown eyed one that had spoken, she talked slowly almost too slowly and elongated her vowels and consonants unnecessarily. Her voice traveled through her nose like a severe nasal. Shikamaru thought she brought all blondes to shame.
"No." Shino growled forcefully removing his arm from the blondes grip, Kakashi did the same.
"We just want to show you our appreciation for protecting our country." The green eyed female whined annoyingly. Her heavily applied make up shining like a lantern, she jutted out her ruby red bottom lip in an ugly pout.
"Yes well we'd appreciate it if you'd appreciated someone else." Shikamaru rebutted.
"Why?" The brown eyed one stomped her foot childishly on the wooden pier, the red heel of her shoe clacking noisily.
"Because we already have women in our lives, we don't need you two." Kiba snapped. The two girls were caught off guard momentarily, but quickly caught their bearings and continued their assault.
"They don't have to know." The green eyed one-who Shikamaru had dubbed as Thing One- said sultrily a lone finger rubbing circles across Kiba's chest, giggling incessantly. Thing Two followed Thing Ones example and latched her thin twig like frame onto his, her skinny bone like arms wound around his waist. Shikamaru glared at the girl in disgust and roughly pushed her off, not caring anymore if it was ungentlemanly, having her so close to him like that made him want to retch.
"Unsurprisingly I don't care. I have a beautiful fiancée and I don't need wanton girls telling me how much better she is than the general women population. I already knew that, go away." Without saying another word the two girls ran away tears in their eyes.
"Geez man harsh." Kiba stated a smirk on face, "not that I'm complaining."
"They were getting on my nerves and she was touching me."
"Yes and Naru is the only female allowed to touch you." Kiba rolled his eyes.
"Exactly." Shikamaru smirked smoke billowing from his nostrils.
A loud horn shook the pier the deep sound causing everyone to flinch and the pier to sway dangerously. The sounds of waves crashing across the harbor and yells from the ships crew rang out on the foggy morning. A decent sized ship well used and cleaned so well it shined in the in the sunlight approached, the water parting and falling over itself as the ship drew closer. Another loud blast from the horn was heard and the ship finally made it way into the port. A fuzzy shadow dangled over the edge of the boat and dropped in making a large splash. A large wooden plank was thrown down and fell onto the pier wiggling and waggling unsteadily. Standing on the edge was a man of average height and build with a a large beard growing from his chin. Deep wrinkles sagged from his face with dirt and soot smudges wiped on the skin.
"All from the 107th infantry hop aboard!" He yelled loudly. Without missing a beat Kakashi stepped onto the termite eaten unstable platform and walked up. Sighing Shikamaru took a deep drag of his cigarette and followed his commander toward certain doom.
Naru groaned painfully, her back creaked and screamed at her from its current position. She was leaning over a small area in the large plot of land, laboriously pulling out the pesky weeds that had festered and grew like a colony. A wicker basket sat innocently beside her filled to the brim with dirt and weeds. Standing shakily Naru stretched her back reveling in the painful crack it gave. Puffing she rolled shoulders and grabbed the wicker basket hauling it off the ground and down to the compost bin. Midori sat on a stool milking a cow that they had transferred from the Hatake farm.
The curly haired maiden rushed over to help and grabbed the bottom of the basket. Together they hefted the great thing high up in the air and poured the plants into the bin. Naru coughed plugging her nose from the odd smell of the decomposing ingredients for fertilizer. "Ugh, I kind of forgot how horrible it smelled."
"Not becoming a pansy on me now are you Fox?" Midori teased.
Naru jumped and punched her older sisters shoulder playfully. "You wish."
"We're all very glad that you two are getting along but could you please either move or help because this is very heavy." Naru's and Midori looked over to Ino and Sakura hoisting a giant basket of weeds in a basket on their hips. Naru moved over to Ino grasping the basket her spine screaming in protest. Waddling to the bin they threw the contents in and heaved a great sigh at the relief of the lessened weight. They moved away letting Sakura and Midori dump their portions into the box before they headed off inside Midori grabbing the two buckets of milk she had procured from the cow and hauling them off.
Slamming the door open Ino walked in making her way into the kitchen where Hinata dutifully chopped away at onions adding them to a broiling pot. The radio boomed Jimmy Dorsey's Amapola Pretty Little Poppy the swinging tune jumping throughout the house.
"Hey sunshine what's for lunch?" Ino danced over to the kitchen her hips swaying to the swinging tune.
"Stromboli." Hinata replied gaily laughing as she swung to the song. Akamaru lifted his large head and barked happily, Hinata threw him several slices of the small round meat. Naru breathed through her nose savoring in the smell of baking bread, cheese and pepperoni.
Minato and Sakumo clapped their chubby little hands together in rapid succession as they played together on the rug of the floor. Minato's blue onesie clashed horribly with his deep red curly locks, while Sakumo's emerald green made him look like a girl as it matched his emerald eyes despite the silver hair standing up like a clowns. Naru snickered at the two.
"Midori," she called, "are you trying to kill these boys masculinity before their even able to wield it?"
Midori trotted in, her Crimson curls cropped to grace her shoulders looked down at the boys and laughed. "Oh dear, I hadn't even noticed I was so busy."
"We can tell." Sakura choked. Midori glared at Sakura.
Naru sighed exasperatedly at the two women glaring at one another, though it was humorous if it got of hand it became explosive. She sometimes wondered how she dealt with them, but then she would immediately think of them being family and if no one could deal with them then they always had family. But it really was troublesome dealing with them sometimes. She backtracked, had she just mentally said troublesome about her family. Her hand hit her forehead smacking loudly against her tanned skin.
"I'm spending too much time with Shikamaru."
"How can you be spending too much time with him? You're going to be marrying him." Ino snorted.
"I said troublesome in my mind Ino, in my mind! If that's not proof enough than I don't now what is." She huffed back.
Ino rolled her eyes but didn't reply. The house grew to a comfortable silence then a soft melody replacing the bouncing tune from the minute before, the clacking of the boys toys were muted to her ears in her musings. It had been months since Shikamaru had been deployed yet it felt like years and if she remembered her dates correctly he would be on the boat this very morning heading toward Europe. But it had been getting easier, whenever she thought of her fiancée she didn't feel this colossal black hole in her chest where heart was supposed to be. She shook her head, She had always criticized women for exaggerating love stories and saying love conquers all. She was a lot like her father, may he rest in peace in that respect. Her mother was the hopeless romantic reading sappy love stories about how a woman finds strength in her soul mate and the power of love at first sight.
Naru and her father always felt that you were never strong because you had love as her mother and many other women like her so often believed. But rather that love was a way to live your life without being lonely. When she had first told Shikamaru this he had jokingly remarked if her love for him was a scam, which she had vehemently denied and told him in complete seriousness that she wanted love not that she needed it. She was strong and didn't need a man to have it, but she wanted that security that someone would be with her no matter what.
But now look at her, she flopped onto the couch. She was acting like her mother, a love sap that couldn't do anything without her husband and father of her child, Minato. When her father had died on the border of the German lines twenty years after WWI Kushina had been useless. Naru had been only eight when her father had died and found that after the funeral the red haired Uzumaki had fallen to a steep depth of despair. Naru had allowed her mother to grieve in her own way as she had understood that losing the one person you cared about lost and shared more than ten years together would feel a substantial amount heartbreak.
Before Naru had known it days, turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into a year. Kushina had refused to go into work, and instead reverted into that of a child that could have alcohol. During that period of time before her grandparents had taken her away she had to learn to cook and hand feed her mother as she wouldn't leave her bed except to get more whiskey from the cellar but would then proceed to resume her position on her bed in the fetal position sucking her glass bottle of the toxic drink like a baby. Naru had to clean the house and even get a job at a small bakery.
When her grandparents had seen the damage Kushina had done to her childhood they had refused to let Naru stay in the house and took her in acting more like the parents than Kushina ever had. She only said Kushina because she had adored her father when he was alive. She looked exactly like him and they shared the same interests and he had always supported her when her mother insisted her to learn more lady like house keeping abilities instead to letting her play in the mud with the boys.
Naru had told herself that she would never become her mother, that she would even after decades of her spouses death would become a child and allow another to care for her. But after months of not having one of the few people to mean more to her than the world after her father's death and her grandparents rescue she realized that she was more like her mother than she had originally thought. She shook her head inwardly, it was alright to feel pain about her loves safety and have the loss debilitate her for a time but she could not allow it to completely take over her life. She was stronger than her mother, and as she had said before she didn't think you needed your spouse to survive. And she didn't.
She had lasted longer than her mother had, the sadness of not seeing Shikamaru hadn't crippled her. To her that was a huge step in leaving her mother's shadow. And even…she choked…even if Shikamaru didn't make it, she would continue to be stronger. Her fingers dug into the faded red fabric of the lumpy ripped couch, it wouldn't do much for her to speaking like this. Only make her more irritable.
Naru looked lovingly at Minato and Sakumo, they were so different both in personality and looks. Minato was a clone of Midori, but already she could see Kakashi's gruff countenance shining through. Sakumo, acted sunny and bright and happy, with the occasional whirlwind temper tantrum that screamed Midori despite him being a Kakashi duplicate. They were playing now rolling round on a bright yellow blanket that rested on the floor, discarded toys made a cluttered circle around them. It would defiantly be a disaster to clean them, yet the boys didn't seem to mind the claustrophobic conditions. They slapped and clanked wooden toys and tin jeeps from Naruto's own youth.
"Hey Naru?" Naru's head snapped to attention, Ino stood near the doorway and large basket of gardens tools in a whisker basket hung on her arm. She was bundled in several small cardigans and her largest coat. The royal purple scarf billowed behind her, she looked like a bloated purple clown.
"Yeah Ino?"
"I have to clean out the shed and reorganize everything, well at least the small indoor stuff so that we're not tripping over anything in the spring. Midori is over with Sakura and Hinata and the Hatake farm bolting everything down for the large storm that's been brewing for the past couple weeks, and now we're not to sure that it's gonna curve around us. And I looked in the fridge and pantry we need a couple things, do you mind taking the babies and heading down there and grabbing them really quick. It probably won't take more than an hour there and back."
Naru groaned inwardly but complied to Ino's request anyway. She hadn't been to the market in so long, she'd stopped going after Sasuke had assaulted her. But now that most of age men had been deployed or are in training she really had no reason to ignore it anymore. With another heaving sigh Naru trudged over to the stairs and clambered into the boys room. It was the height of winter, and much to Naru's anger they had been a bit lazy this past season getting absolutely nothing done to hunker down the two areas they were in charge of.
She grabbed multiple small coats, and two large coats with blankets to swaddle the boys in. It took many minutes with Minato and Sakumo squirming in discontent but they were finally prepared for the outside. Naru headed over to the coat closet and layered herself in a way that made her look like a large lumpy orange. When she looked in the mirror adjusting her hat and scarf she could hear at the back of her mind tickling her ears with the loud baritone of Shikamaru's chuckle. The same one he would use when he saw how she looked at this moment. He always did think she looked like the yeti during Christmas time.
Naru gathered the twins up pressing small little kisses to their cheeks and marched out in the u forgiving wind and snow. Her beat up red truck, resting under a little awning protected it from the snow. Naru gave herself a little pat in the back for her unknowing forethought. Naru clicked the twins into the small little seats that kept them still and situated herself inside the car. With several failed attempts, the ignition finally caught and the engine spluttered to life, groaning and whining as it woke.
Naru patted the dash board lovingly. "I need to take you to a mechanic before you die on me." Slowly Naru drove along the slippery slopes of the crystalline ice laying across the road with snow-lying innocently white protecting the ice in a beautiful safety blanket. The road to the market wasn't very long, but it was old and shaky with potholes that made earthquakes look small. The market was the same as the road. Small and decrepit and decades past its due date to get safety checked, it held everything that you would need during the long and harsh winter months. The outside was dingy with grime splattered cement walls and dangling letters that once said Ichiraku, but now said Iraku.
Naru gathered the boys and hustled into the warmth of the store, without preamble Naru grabbed a cart with the boys tucked into the seats behind the handle bars and walked hastily up and down the aisles throwing in everything Ino put in the list into the cart. It really wasn't a lot, just six or seven things that were needed in abundance before the great winter rush came and got everything's restore the stock.
Things like; eggs, toilet paper, soup cans, and other various canned goods.
As she pushed the cart Minato and Sakumo were squealing and playing. Their coat swallowed small bodies jiggering excitably. Naru chuckled, even when they were so different sometimes they acted so similarly.
Deep thundering booms wrecked the underground railway. Small pieces of the cement ceilings crumbled down covering the occupants huddled together. Another horrendous boom shook the earth a small child cried in her others arms. Two boys sat huddled together, several adults swarmed against the children covering them with their bodies. A resounding crash, and the small tinkling of shattering glass could be heard above them. Angry buzzing of planes that flew over head at random glared at the back of Shikamaru's head.
Shikamaru sighed, their first day locked in port and their stranded underground as the Germans bombed the countryside. Out of the corner of his eye Shikamaru saw a small boy, about four or five sitting by himself squatting by a small trash can. He walked over to the child and sat on his haunches. It was then that he noticed how small the child true was. His hair was a messy brown laying on his head in an untamable wad. His arms were thin, and his eyes were somewhat sallow. His clothes were mismatched and frayed, covered in dirt and grime as was his frail little body. His teeth were chattering, the small jacket obviously did nothing to warm him up.
"Cold?" His brown eyes wide and frightened searched his, he nodded slowly. Shikamaru undid the stiff buttons of his jacket and draped the scratchy fabric over the small child. "It's not much for comfort, but it should warm you a bit." The boy wrapped it tighter around herself folded it in a way that his scruffy brown hair was barely visible. "Where's your mom?"
Surely his mother wouldn't let him be alone. But Shikamaru wasn't too sure, if she allowed I'm to walk around in the winter with moth eaten clothes covered in soot. His shoes looked to be three sizes too big as well.
The small boy hesitated. "I'm an orphan. Momma and Dad died a couple years ago and Uncle Asuma can't take care of me. You have a strange accent, where do you come from?"
That would explain his mother nor other family members being there. But would the orphanage really let him walk around like this, obviously hungry and in jeopardy of dying from the cold? He thought if the boys small question, it reminded him so much if Naruto that he had to shake his head. He chuckled lowly, "I'm from America, and to me you have a strange accent, everyone in America thanks the way I do."
Shikamaru sighed seen the kid still shivering despite the heavy fabric of his coat. Shikamaru reached out of the small boy ignoring the small flinch and gather him into his arms. He leaned against the cracked tile of the wall. "How old are you kid?"
He held up four pudgy fingers, holds them out high for him to see. "I'm four!"
Shikamaru hummed, the kid was energetic. If he was female with blonde hair and blue eyes he could practically see Naru. Just ask thought that the photo tucked in his pocket fell out. The small child picked it up and held it up. "Who's this?"
"Naru, she's going to be my wife."
The boy held it carefully and looked over the small photo. His fingers traced the breezing trees and grass. "It looks peaceful." Shikamaru didn't give the boy an answer, he had his own opinion and didn't need Shikamaru's commentary.
Suddenly the frame shaking bombs stopped. Everyone held their breath. No one could know whether the bombing had stopped. But there were no angry propellers heard from above. The child squirmed in Shikamaru's arms. He looked down and saw the boy glancing at the cracked ceiling fearfully. The silence tore through the heavy tension, everyone's fear had skyrocketed. No one was safe until the bell rang again and it hadn't yet. For another stiff few minutes the tension grew as everyone sat stiffly waiting to hear for another dropping bomb or the loud siren to go off. Suddenly a loud piercing shriek that sounded like a horn blew ahead. The bombing was off. The small kid put the picture back in its safe spot in his jacket and handed it back to him. "Hey mister," Shikamaru looked down at the small boy, "what's your name?"
"Shikamaru Nara. You?"
"Konohamaru Sarutobi!" And he sprinted up the steps into the open.
Shikamaru walked back over to his comrades some huddled into the railway to make room for the pedestrians. They were all staring at him, some had small smiles, others were laughing. Kiba snickered, along with Chouji. Kakashi and Shino were the only ones silent, but he noticed the small quirk of their lips.
"Oh Shut up."
