Ha! Earlier than usual huh? Well, this chapter is a little shorter with mostly side-characters, but it's needed for now. As I said before, this part of the story will be easy-breezy to write for me. Woo-hoo!
For other things, I want to say if anyone has any questions about the plot of the story they're more than welcome to ask me. :D I will do my best to answer. Also, to the review that said you think you love me, thank you. o-o I think I love all my readers. xD Oh yeah also yay for 70 reviews! It's on a roll.
Terms to know:
Tai Yi: The royal family's selected group of doctors, highly skilled ones. Their job could be very dangerous at times, if they were to treat a high status person and could not do much of their condition, heads might go off. The proffesion however was still well-respected.
Shikamaru Nara walked through the crowd busy preparing for the grand wedding coming up soon, trying to be unobtrusive as possible and not to bump into people carrying heavy boxes or yahuans panicking. The bucket of clean water he held was up to the top, spilling a little. Everywhere in view were filled banquets of flowers, flashing red fabrics sewed with exquisite patterns of dragons and phoenixes, the sign of married ones, probably by skilled craftsmen working all-nighters to get it done on time. After all, the date the wedding was set on was ridiculous - in five days. Actually, three days now. One would think at the very least to wait a month or so for all the Dachens and family members or friends of the royal family to present a gift, and also with the preparations for a grande wedding like this - the Tai Zi's. The pain was the gift from the families, for others, that is. It had better be a expensive, dazzling, glorious and most importantly, expensive gift. That is exactly how the system worked. The one that presents the most gracious gift shall win the battle, and that victory means the favor of the royal family, the Huang Di. The Nara clan at the moment is in a cluster of mess, digging through old warehouses for a treasure appropriate and good enough for a wedding gift. As they worked, a brand new never used mansion is being swept up dustless clean, moving in new furnitures for the Fei Zi to-be. For Shikamaru, all of this is damned trouble. Damn formalities. Damn weddings. Especially damn preparing for weddings. His mother is being quite lovely these days, intervals between fits has shrunk down to every two minutes, the knot between her forehead looks as if it will never untied, the volume in the Nara's household rising outrageously - he might as well throw his head against the red paint walls of the palace, it's just going to add to the color, and all this redness madness going on.
He walked slyly through, even escaping from his mother's hawk-eyes. But if she had caught him walking out, he would just tell the truth: The second Huang Tai Zi had him on an errand. No details will be spilled, for the man had ask him to keep it secretive. Shikamaru walked with his head held high. He knows it's always when you dart your eyes around that is the sign guards look for. Of course, they could not arrest him for any treason, unless they wanted to pay. Still, good to keep it clean and be out of such unneeded trouble.
The place he was asked to go was an old-run-down-abandoned house built very long ago, haven't been in use for quite a while now. Few knew the existence of this building, in fact he has just learned about it today. As soon as the busy working people were out of sight, he took out the map he had carefully tuck into his sleeves, given to him by the Tai Zi's first-hand servant Suigetsu. He was told that there was a wounded person currently residing in the house, to bring medicine and white gauze for wounds to heal him. He checked his bamboo basket one more time to see if he had everything.
Private errands like this were common but usually not known to the public. The Tai Zi knew he had certain skills in medicine, beside the fact that the Nara clan was well known for their medicine discoveries. To be clear, he had two choices for the day: do the errand or help with the wedding planning. The decision's reasonings were rather self-explanotary. Though he did wonder about why this errand was made and especially when Sasuke Uchia should be busy with the wedding, he thought not too deep into it. Things like this are things you just do, even if you do not know the reason. If this person was some rich scholar educator, great. If he was a serial killer, you better do it too. Sometimes, no, most times, ignorance in this era means happiness.
The map, by the look as a whole, seemed to be drawn rather rushed and the scale was rough and inaccurate. If it were any person, it would take them a while to find the house. But Shikamaru is not known to be a genius of nothing. He scratched his hair a little, remembering the sensation of a yahuan trying to brushing his hair into a neat ponytail this morning, and winced. Ugh. He didn't care much about looks, as long as it is clean cut and appropriate.
The sky was in a unpleasant gray shade, heavy layers of cloud blocking out the sunshine. He quickened his step, his robe rustling a little. The house was in view now.
Shikamaru pushed through the door of the crippled walls surrounding the house(usually buildings in loyal areas all have walls surrounding them, but often gives a spaces for gardens and chairs). The place seemed so dull and lifeless, the whole feel was lacking of care like a untaught child, going wasted. He didn't like the gloomy aura, the trees still grew tall, branches outside the walls as if trying to escape. The wood door made an odd and low sound as he pushed it open. Feeling as if he disturbed another silent world, Shikamaru walked step by step on the weed-flourished grass that covered the stone pathway to the house, the stone chairs and table off to the side. He gulped a little. Hopefully this won't be very awkward, he's not exactly the socialize type, unless the other person is chatty.
He reached into the room, windows taped shut, the light dashing through by the door, hitting the bed in the very center. Shikamaru's feet dragged across the ground, seeing that there was a figure of a person lying on the bed.
"Um..." He opened his mouth, unsure of what to say at all.
The dark-brown hair boy settled his basket on the bed and put down the bucket of water of the floor. The person who was covered in a blanket still didn't budge. Shikamaru hoped this wasn't a corpse by the Tai Zi's sense of humor.
In seconds that seemed like a century of time, Shikamaru made himself remove the blanket. He lift up the top slowly, revealing the person's head. Blond hair.
Surprisingly the face was extremely familiar, he definitely seen it somewhere before. The three scratches on each side of the face, messy hair and that carmel skin... What was missing...
Azure eyes. That's it. That was the Sun Shine Boy he saw at the brothel with Neji, Hinata, and Lee, also having an unknown connection to the Tai Zi. His thought process is going fast, trying to fit pieces together. But before that, he told himself, he has to take a look at this boy's wounds and wrap them up. He put his fingers by the blond boy's nose. Still breathing, but so faint he almost didn't catch it. It's obvious that the boy was in a weak state, and unconscious. Shikamaru carefully lift off the rest of the blanket, and winced when he saw the naked body full of bruises and scrapes.
For some moments all he did was kind of stared into nothing. The exposed skin was nicely tempting, but that's for people who actually cared to look for. Shikamaru examined the wounds. Not healed up yet, some are still bleeding. It seems the wounds were treated by weak medicine but opened up again later. The skin around the blond boy's wrist and knees were red and raw, by the looks of it, this guy went through some rough chaining. He wasn't exactly someone easily fazed by the sight of blood, though this was really making his stomach churn a little.
Shikamaru pulled the blanket up covering the lower body, and started working. Reaching for a clean cloth from the basket he bought and soaking it in the water, first off is cleaning the wounds. He dabbed it carefully around the bleeding part, the water is hot to kill germs. As he worked he thought to himself that this boy should be thankful he's unconscious, because this would've hurt. More though he wondered how this all happened, and why. He remembered this guy looking like the one too-nice-for-his-own-good type, and besides, an innocent peasant that can do no harm to be beaten up this badly was very rare. There were dirts in the wounds, and he carefully removed them all. He felt his face warming a little. Not all of this were... wounds.
He ignored the thought and continued working, putting on special creams and bandages. All of this were royal family used, very rare and good medicine, so it's assured that no scars will be left when all is healed up. The boy's body however was heating up. Probably has a fever. He will have to take some medicine when he wakes up.
Shikamaru recalled his name was Naruto. It just suddenly came to him, the name just floated from the bottom of his memories. Naruto, 鸣人, Naur 鸣 of the birds' chirping, To 人 of person. An unique and hard to forget name. Represented his persona well, cheery like the sun.
The dark-brown hair boy worked fast and efficiently. Water filled with tints of red fall to the blankets as he worked.
The upper-body was done. Shikamaru sitting on a chair by now. He pulled up the blanket from the boy's feet to his knees. A trail of blood ran down to Naruto's feet. He cleaned it while trying not to make a big deal out of it. Quickly he started to clean up the knees, the metallic smell still lingered on the skin. He bent the knees a little, checking for any internal injuries. Itmoved freely, and he sighed in relief that no bones were hurt, or it could get messy. The rest of the leg and feet are treated, all the bruises and scratches. He worked fanatically and kept busy, but all the more that just makes him seem to run away.
After the last bruise was treated two times again, he fell still. Just still, stiffly still. He told himself to ease up. This person cannot see or feel at the moment. They're both males. Why are you getting so worked up. Fool.
He took a deep breath and raised his arms to reach for the blanket. His fingers an millimeter away, but then he withdrew it again.
That's not it. That's not it at all. Not because he's shy to see some goddamn body part, damn it.
He sighed and slouched back on his chair. This is such a drag. If he knew the situation was like this, he would've never accept this job.
But Naruto is still hurt. And if it's not treated and gets infection, especially at those places...
He shut his eyes for a minute or so, balancing his embarrassment to his righteous conscience. It was like what Choji told him, think about it through your mind, then your heart. Are you sure now? He suddenly sat back up, so violently the chair almost fall over.
"Real smooth..." He muttered under his breath, bumping his fingers to the bed. Shikamaru shuts his eyes again, and pulled off the blanket completely, as if trying to prove something.
He took a deep breath and found the source of that trail of blood exactly where he had thought. He hesitated, but that was the last time. He can't ignore this. Shikamaru opened up Naruto's legs. And saw it. That blotch of dark red blood, dried up, sticky white cum lingering on, that place rippled and so obviously forced into roughly, all those love bites over his body, this body violated...
Disgusting.
He hated to use that word, because he knew all too clear this boy wanted none of this and deserved none of this. He bit his lips, his stomach having a storm. This is cruelty, whoever did this. They always say a woman must value their virginity and their dignity is lost will be lost when that loses to a man they never wanted. Why hadn't they say something like that about men? They have it worse. What kind of world is this, really? This will surely change the boy inwardly, if not drive him to insanity and fall into a downward spiral of despair. The memory will always be with him, burned to his soul.
The most and the only thing Shikamaru could do is to erase that proof on the body.
He cleaned it gently. Though he didn't know Naruto very well, he knew for someone like Neji to take affection in someone, that person must be overly kind. He knew for someone like Hinata to love someone, that person has to have the cleanest of hearts. He knew for Lee to be best buddy with someone, he takes in respect to that person, and to earn his respect meant a good hearted man. Besides the fact when he first met he thought Naruto was too smiley, he's sure this guy can't be a bad person. So he cleaned it, though he needs special treatment medicine for this, because he was not expecting this part at all.
His fingers shook a little when he figured he had to go inside to clean it off so infection would not occur. His forehead wrinkled and he bit his lips, shut his eyes and with the cloth wrapped around his fingers and slide in. It was too easy. That was bad.
He breathed in and out, hoping that Naruto wouldn't mind this. It had to be cleansed or it could go bad. He would need to go the storage room to grab some special meds and come back later...
As he went on so, his mind drifted off of things, making it easier. He would likely have to report to the Tai Zi about this person's condition later. The Tai Zi made him come and do this but not the Tai Yis, probably because he wanted to keep it secretive and quiet. But that answer led to many more questions: Why he would need to do that, how he found Naruto, what kind of connection he has with him, and even the impossible - did Sasuke do this?
Such thought was thrown away quickly. There is no way. The Tai Zi was known for his ways with women, and just about to get married in a couple days time. Everyone sees the years of devotion that Sasuke put in to see Sakura in the brothel. From the very beginning of time, he thought. It was delirious to even have such thought. Shikakmaru shook his head as if throwing that thought away. It's highly unlikely that Sasuke is the one that found Naruto and carried him here. Anyone could've done it for him. Maybe he isn't even aware of Naruto's body's state right now. Maybe he just happen to know Naruto. He knew that the last thought didn't make sense, considering that Neji and Hinata had been warning Naruto that Sasuke was in the brothel last time, but he ought to not dig too far. Truth can bring pain and means dirty businesss nowadays.
He thought about it carefully. As he threw away the dirty cloth, now sticky and white with hints of blood everywhere. Should he inform that Naruto's body has been violated? Such a thing could cause dreadful rumors and maybe Naruto could even be sold into prostitution, for a good price too.
After everything was done and he dumped the dirty water outside the walls, he decides to see how Sasuke's attitude was on all of this first and then see if it could be said.
He went back in one more time, checking if everything is okay. Naruto looked more peaceful now, some bandages on his face, covered by blanket, and the breathing was heard a little easier. Shikamaru nodded to himself, and strode off for more medicine.
Let him call himself a doctor, one that knows the healing arts.
- - - - - = = = = Scene change = = = = - - - - - -
Kiba Inuzuka is walking with Akamaru, who was happily woofing and wooing at every single person that passed them. The Inuzuka was well known for loving dogs, such tradition passed down the whole entire family. If one were to enter their household, they will be greeted not by guards, but well trained large dogs, making even better guardians.
"Arr-arr!" Akamaru jumped happily on top of Kiba's head again.
"Ah you little fur ball of a-" Kiba almost feel, laughing loudly. He brought down Akamaru and held him in his arms. They been growing up together ever since Akamaru was a baby puppy, their bound deeper than usual dog and dog owners. Right now it's one of the usual routine of walks they take everyday, and today they had their on-and-off companion - Shino of the Aburame family, wearing his usual outfit that gave him the mysterious look and things he called "shades". Supposedly it was a fashion statement in the Country of the Earth and protects the eyes under the blazing sun, and this trait runs through the whole family. Personally, Kiba didn't really see the point of that in this gray sunless weather.
Now, to look at their relationship status is like looking at the relations between their very own favorite things: bugs and dogs. It's those kind of you happen to be here, and I happen to be here too, hey you wanna talk or what. It's not exactly the fluffy friendship you get like when he's with Naruto or maybe even Choji, when it's all laughing and chasing ladies and wild dogs and acting like idiots. He did known Shino since he was young, even before he met Naruto or Choji. Always the quiet, stoic guy, and occasionally sarcastic, Shino wasn't exactly your favorite person to be around. Still, in the grand palace, his family had power, and was a one of the few very good and straight backed branch. The Inuzuka was not all mighty though they had their place, and Shino didn't say anything about Kiba at all like other kids of his age. Things like your family includes dogs(considered major insult in the old time point of view) or look down at him. Perhaps it's because Kiba knows that even behind the sometime kind of a gloomy-bump person Shino was, he had a kind heart. Probably if he had to place Shino on his social chart, he fits best in the best friend location. But just thinking of Shino with that title gave the boy goosebumps. Shino was just.. Shino. He was always there, and Kiba takes at least some appreciation into it.
"..."
Shino merely watched Kiba battling with his dog on the ground, laughing and rolling around. Which made Kiba felt like a retard, but at least he was having fun.
"Man, I haven't been catching up with Naruto lately." After few minutes of struggling, they now sat on the garden's stone bench, Akamaru sleeping on Kiba's lap. "And that little bastard hasn't been looking for me either." He pouted a little. He tells Shino practically his whole life, and all Shino did was listen and sometimes have a say or two. It was like Shino was the secret bank because he barely talks at all, and the place Kiba can whine to without being told shut up to. "Say, you don't think he ran off with a girlfriend right? Or went suicido over Sakura?"
"...Is that something you should really be talking about lightly?" Shino spoke, his deep voice a little raspy. Kiba always secretly liked that voice, but by that comment, he sighed.
"Man, life is just going kinda downhill, isn't it?" Kiba's feet was kicking the air. "Damn, the wedding coming up and all.. Thank god my mom kicked me out. She said I was no help 'cuz I ran over an vase. And just saying, I did that on purpose." He smirked a little, chuckling. Shino just shrugged, meaning unknown.
"You think I should check out how Naruto's doing with Choji soon, after the wedding?" Kiba asked, his gaze on Shino's face. Shino nodded slightly in approval.
"Alright, that's decided. Wanna tag along later?"
"...No thank you." Shino said, voice quiet.
"Choji's nice guy, you know, easy to talk to." He paused, waiting for a reaction. None. "You sure? I think Naruto might actually get you talking, he's like, even more talkative than me." He might have saw an look of disbelief on Shino's face, but he didn't know for sure. "Oh, fine. Whatever."
Akamaru growled, Kiba sighed. Sometimes, even after all those years, he just doesn't know how to deal with this guy. But you know, he's always there, and he can always lean his head on his shoulder when he needs to.
Shikamaru comes again! Kiba appears! Shino appears! Akamaru appears(should that count)! Suigetsu was mentioned! I'm really trying to put all the characters in there man. These days I was reading through Narutowiki and found that I forgot about Shizune! Shame on my head, honestly.
So like I said soooo long ago, this story has a lot of pairings. You can count ShinoKiba as one of them right now. . It's one of my many interest to have a picture-perfect-everyone's-got-someone story, hehe. I thinks it adds more depths to the story with more complexion relations between characters. I'm also considering about ShikamaruNeji or vice versa as I was reading through fanfics yesterday. Tell me what you think and other pairings you want to see, I'm going to try and fit them all in there.
Next chapter Naruto comes back again :D Please look forward to it.