!*!*! PAY ATTENTION... ATTENZIONE DI PAGA... ATENCAO DO PAGAMENTO !*!*!
Disclaimer: As I have proclaimed before, I do not own Naruto. If I did, Sakura would have gotten eaten by rabid platypuses in the first few episodes, and Shino would be a kick-ass gangster. Enough said.
Shikamaru opened his eyes when he felt a small amount of killer intent and his cigarette being plucked from his lips, and looked straight into the face of a pissed off and very male Naruto. This was the Naruto he knew, short blonde hair, masculine features, blindingly orange clothes.
"Don't smoke! Especially not in my house. Don't you know that these things can kill you?" Naruto said, incinerating the cigarette in a ball of scarlet flame conjured in his hand.
Shikamaru's eyebrows raised minutely; He hadn't known Naruto could do that.
"Naruto," he said slowly, looking up at the man, woman… he didn't know quite what to label Naruto at this point, "Is it really the smartest thing to do to steal the cigarette of, and yell at, the person who knows your secret?"
Naruto looked shocked, and then the shock faded away into panic. "Oh, crap! I'm sorry Shikamaru! I wasn't thinking."
Shikamaru sighed again. Figures, he thought, he forgot about that, and instead tried to save him from smoking himself to death. He – she, really was an idiot, but at least an idiot with a good heart. Okay, now it was just getting annoying. He needed to figure out what Naruto was. "Could you please drop the henge?" he asked. It was getting unnerving, and, quite frankly, female Naruto was easier on the eyes.
With a faint poof and a cloud of white smoke, Naruto turned back into a girl, curves still evident through the baggy jumpsuit.
They sat in silence for a little, Naruto fidgeting in the chair across from Shikamaru, and Shikamaru staring at Naruto.
Finally, Naruto burst out, "What are you going to do? Are you going to tell anyone?" She looked desperate.
Shikarmaru reached down to grab another cigarette, but stilled his hand. He was pretty sure that Naruto would just burn this one up, too, and that was… troublesome. He leaned forward and put his fingers together. "Naruto… why don't you tell me what this is all about."
Naruto looked at him, and then suddenly all of the tension went out of her shoulders and she slumped forward. "It's all Kyuu-chan's fault," she muttered.
Shikarmaru nodded. He understood she was talking about the Kyuubi, but how exactly was it… Wait, Kyuu-chan? As far as he knew, chan was a prefix that denoted that you were friendly with the person, and that that person was a female, that is, unless he was losing his mind and this was simply a hallucination, which seemed to be getting more probable by the moment. "Kyuu-chan?" he didn't realize he said it until the words were past his lips.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Kyuu-chan. She wanted me to call her Kyuu-hime, but I am not doing that. You know that the Kyuubi is sealed in me, but you might not know that Kyuubi is a woman, well, a female at least. I'm not entirely sure what female demons are called…" her voice trailed off.
"Naruto, get back on topic."
"Oh, right! Umm… I was a boy, but – " Naruto said, but then stopped at the expression on the Nara's face. It was a once a year occurrence. Instead of there being indifference, annoyance, irritation, sleepiness, laziness, or just general lack of emotion, Shikamaru looked slightly startled.
In fact, Shikamaru was. He stared at Naruto. What does he mean he was a boy? The whole thing was just getting weirder and weirder with each passing moment, but he waved for Naruto to continue.
"Right, well, as I was saying, I was a boy, but things kind of changed when I hit puberty. You see, like I said, I was a boy; that part is true, but Kyuu-chan is a female, and a little after I turned thirteen, when I hit puberty, I kind of… merged on a deeper level with Kyuu-chan. I could talk to her in my mindscape at will, and use her power, and, in return, she can experience everything I do. She didn't tell me that I would turn into a girl overnight, though," she finished on a grumpy note.
Shikamaru whistled lowly. He had heard of puberty being an awkward and hard time for kids, but not like this. Imagine changing sex overnight. Now that could be hard to deal with. He winced at the idea of your manhood disappearing and growing breasts instead. It was a man's worst nightmare. But, as disturbing and weird as this was, it didn't explain some things.
"I can understand how…," he stopped and clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "I'm sorry for what you went through, man." Apologizing just seemed like the right thing to do.
Naruto snorted, "Thanks… You have no idea how it feels to wake up as a girl."
No, Shikamaru didn't know, and he didn't want to imagine it. But they were getting off track, and there were still questions that needed to be answered. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Or did you?" he asked.
Naruto ran a hand through her now long hair, "I – I… When I woke up and found out that I was a girl, I had a long talk with Kyuu-chan. We thought it would be best not to tell anyone what had happened. The villagers… and some of the other ninja… they don't like me, because of the Kyuubi."
Shikamaru snorted inwardly. That was an understatement. A large percentage of the population, ignorant as they were, hated him, or rather, her, and all because they thought that Naruto was the Kyuubi.
Naruto puffed out her cheeks, which, on Naruto as a guy had just looked ridiculous, but now as a girl looked adorable. Shikamaru pushed that unwelcome fact into a dark corner of his mind and focused on what Naruto was saying.
"Those people might get freaked out in they knew that I was closer to Kyuu-chan, and they might think that the seal was breaking."
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Naruto was leaving something out. "And?" he prodded.
"And Kyuu-chan thought that I would be safer if I continued life as a boy. If they knew I was a girl, they might try to… they might try to," Naruto couldn't get the last word out, but Shikamaru understood, and what was worse, was the fact that the men of the village might actually have tried. "That's not the only reason, though. Life as a kunoichi is more dangerous, and…" he paused and then said in a rush, "I thought that the council might try and force me into an arranged marriage to cement a peace treaty!" She continued before Shikamaru could say anything. "Think about it. If you wanted to join alliances with another village, what better way to do that then giving them a human weapon? If a village has a jinchuuriki, it's like added protection and a warning to other villages. And females are much more likely to be forced to do that."
Shikamaru grimaced. Naruto was right. No matter how distasteful, it was actually something that the village might do. By some, Naruto wasn't even considered human, but Shikamaru could definitely see some some the more… unpleasant council members thinking of Naruto as a bargaining chip. But what amazed him the most was that Naruto had thought this all through. Maybe he was dreaming. He could hope at least.
Almost as if Naruto knew what he was thinking, he said, "I'll put a rumor of the village to rest, Shikamaru. I'm not that stupid, at least, I'm definitely smarter than Kiba."
Shikamaru shrugged. That wasn't really saying much. Most of his questions had been cleared up, and he didn't like the answers. They were making his over developed brain hurt. He knew he shouldn't have shown up for work today. Staying home and playing shoji sounded so much less troublesome. There was one little thing that he was curious about, "Are you good… friends with the Kyuubi?"
Naruto did something in between a nod and shaking her head, like a head bobble. "Well, I guess you could say that. We don't hate each other anymore. I mean, I don't blame her for being sealed in me, and she doesn't hate me for being her prison. I was kind of pissed at her for a while for not telling me that I would turn into a freaking chick, but I'm okay with that now. She says she could have been sealed into a worse human, though not necessarily more retarded. It's a love hate relationship. If you want to know the truth, she's a bit of a bitc-" she broke off, her face turning a lovely shade of pink, and her eyes became unfocused.
Shikamaru leaned forward, trying to figure out what was happening. He supposed she was talking to the Kyuubi.
Then, Naruto let out a shriek and clamped her hands over her eyes. "Ahhh! Don't show me that! My brain! It's burning my brain!"
Shikamaru sweatdropped. He had the idea that nothing life-threatening was happening, but something potentially disturbing was.
A few seconds later, Naruto slowly uncovered her eyes, cheeks still pink. "Sorry," she murmured, coughing slightly.
"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, although not entirely sure that he wanted to know.
Naruto hesitated, and then answered, "Kyuu-chan is a complete pervert. Think Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin wrapped into one and then to the eighth power."
Shikamaru's eye twitched. He had a collection of Icha-Icha at home, but he wasn't obsessed with it and had trouble dealing with Kakashi's perversions sometimes. The great Toad Sage was a completely different story… super pervert and a self proclaimed one at that.
"She likes you," Naruto added, almost as if in explanation, and Shikamaru suddenly had an idea of what the Kyuubi had shown Naruto. He felt his cheeks heating up and coughed into his hand.
They drifted off into extremely uncomfortable silence, and Shikamaru went over what he had learned in his head. Naruto had been a boy, and now was completely a girl, was very close to the Kyuubi, and was hiding her true identity for very reasonable reasons. He, on the other hand, had discovered her secret, and now had to decide what to do about it. This whole thing, he thought, annoyed and still a little flustered, was a complete mess. Only Naruto could have made something like this, and now he was involved. He didn't suppose he could just pretend this never happened? He threw that idea away. That was wishful thinking, and it would come back to bite him in the end.
"Are you going to tell?" Naruto asked suddenly, looking at him with big, liquid, sky-blue eyes.
Shikamaru took a breath, let it out, and then slouched back into the couch. "No, I won't tell anyone. It would be too much work."
The next second, Naruto launched herself forward, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Really? Thank you! I swear, I will treat you to ramen for this! Thank you!"
Even though Naruto was almost choking him, he couldn't stop the jolt of pleasure that flashed through him. Naruto was hugging him tightly, and was obviously not wearing a bra. Soft, warm mounds pressed against him, and he pushed Naruto off hurriedly. Even if Naruto was now a woman, she had no idea the effect she was creating, and he didn't feel like enlightening her.
She stopped hugging him, but still beamed at him, huge grin spread across her face.
He looked away from her face and glanced at the clock on the wall. It had been an hour since the Hokage had sent him to fetch Naruto. He was so dead. With a groan, he stood up. "We should get going, I suppose. Lady Tsunade is going to murder me, and I plan on using you as a shield," Shikamaru said flatly. Usually he was all for chivalry, but in this case, he could forget about it.
Naruto pumped her fist in the air, all melancholy about him finding out her secret gone.
She was about to stroll out the door, but Shikamaru stopped her. "Shouldn't you henge yourself into your guy form?"
"Right!" With another poof, Naruto stood in front of him as a guy… again. He had to say, he really was starting to prefer Naruto's true form.
As they passed out the door, Shikamaru said, "You should probably fix the doggie-door."
"Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to design a seal to put on the flap to allow only foxes to pass."
Shikamaru shook his head. Figures.
Naruto bounced down the path, a ball of inexhaustible energy, "Let's go!"
"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru lazily followed. He had a feeling that life was going to get a whole lot more difficult. His hand strayed to the pouch with his cigarettes and he held it to his lips. He also had a feeling that he was going to need a lot more cigarettes to get through what was going to happen. He lit it and took a drag, inhaling deeply.
"Hey! Put that thing down!"
Yes, life was getting more troublesome already.
I didn't exactly expect my first chapter to get three reviews, but that's great. It's way more than I expected, so I wrote this chapter quicker than I was originally going to. Hope you liked it.
Ja ne,
Rumer
Ice Cold Steel: Well, since you don't usually review, I'll just say thank you for reviewing. And I know what you mean, barely anyone writes female Naruto and Shikamaru fanfictions. I mean, why not? Shikamaru is a completely awesome lazy bastard. About the summary, thanks again. Some people just write anything out for the summary, but I think you should actually think about it. It's the summary of your entire story. As for Naruto's name, I'm either going to keep it as Naruto or shorten it to Naru, but since you asked, Ice, I will probably keep it as Naruto. I've read a bunch of fanfictions that make Naruto dark, and I mean freaky, licking blood, psychopathic, suicidal, just plain creepy, dark. I wanted him... her... it... Whatever, to be the same cheerful blonde we know, just maybe not quite such an idiot. I swear, you must be psychic. I was just thinking about posting the first chapters of two more fanfictions, but, I will take your advice and wait until I am well into this story. Tell me if you liked this chapter, yeah?
hypersreak: Glad you like the story. It's my first time writing stories based off of other peoples' stories and using their characters, so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it's cool, I like it. Now, you know why Naruto didn't want anyone to know that she, I'm pretty sure I can call her a her now, was a girl. Hope the reason(s) made sense to you; they did to me... sort of. Whatever. Anyway, here's the next chapter of the series. Tell me what you think of it.
arettig: Ah, you think it's wonderful story? Sweet. That's a good review if anything is, and, since you can't wait to read more, here's the next chapter, more of Naruto being... well, Naruto, and Shikarmaru being the lazy bastard we all know and love.