Chapter 4

Harī frowned as the wish to flee made itself known again once the gates of the compound came within sight.

'Don't be such a coward.' He told himself.

It's not that he didn't want to be there; he was just worried about how he would be received.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself and gather his courage, he walked the distance left to the gates.

The Nara Compound looked exactly as he remembered it, with its plain grassy gardens, a few scattered houses in traditional style and the looming forest at its back. The whole place exuded calm and a kind of lazy vibe, just like its inhabitants.

Reaching the door of the main house, he took one last deep breath and knocked three times.

When the door opened, both the woman on the other side and he froze.

"Yoshino-san." He greeted after a moment.

"I'd heard rumours that you were back." Said the woman with clear distaste, not even bothering to return the greeting. "But I didn't think you'd show up so soon. Shikaku is not here."

Harī schooled his face into a perfect mask of politeness; he wouldn't give her the pleasure of having anything to hold over him. He never had, and he wasn't starting now.

"I was actually looking for Shikamaru."

"He is not here, either." Answered the chūnin coldly.

Harī blinked, wondering for a moment if she'd go as far as to lie to him on the matter, but it's not like she'd really get anything out of doing so.

"May I know when he will be back?"

"I do not know. He's busy training."

Since she obviously wasn't going to invite him to wait ―not that he would've wanted or accepted― he just nodded.

"Thank you, Yoshino-san. I shall take my leave."

With a respectful bow and goodbye, Harī left. He was almost to the edge of the compound when he was stopped by another Nara.

The young man was familiar, but it took him a second to place him. He was a cousin of Shikaku, he'd talked with him a few times in the past when he came over and even gone on a mission with him once.

"Harī-hiko, I'd heard you were back."

"I am, Suzaku-san. I just got here this morning." He answered with a polite smile.

"Well I'm sure Shikamaru-kun and Shikaku-dono will be glad to see you." Said the Nara.

He didn't bother trying to hide how his smile trembled at their mention. It would be futile with a Nara. Thankfully, Suzaku didn't mention it.

"Were you looking for them?"

"Uhm, I was, eh, I was looking for Shikamaru but Yoshino-san said he wasn't home so..."

After so many years, he realised he still knew how to read a Nara's expressions as he didn't miss the small narrowing of his eyes at the mention of his Clan Head's wife. Or the way his eyes flicked towards the house Harī had just come from.

"Yoshino-sama said so? Hmmm, well, if he isn't home, then maybe you should look for him on the roofs, somewhere calm."

"Yoshino-san said he was off training…"

Suzaku snorted, seeming amused.

"Well that just goes to show how much she actually knows him." Muttered the man with a small shake of his head. "Shikamaru-kun is probably off cloud watching. It's his favourite pastime after all."

Harī blinked before a small smile worked its way onto his face. Cloud watching, eh? The memory brought him back so many years…

"Thank you for your help, Suzaku-san. I won't hold you back any longer, I'm sure you have better things to do." Said Harī rubbing the back of his head.

The Nara smirked at him, a fond sounding 'troublesome' leaving his lips before they both said their goodbyes.

Eager to get away from the Nara Clan Compound, Harī missed the frown on Suzaku's face as he looked between him and the Clan Head's house.

HPNHPNHPNHPN

It hadn't been long after introductions were over that someone else appeared, perched on top of a nearby tree branch. It was a teen a couple of years older than them, with white hair, pale skin, red-rimmed green eyes and two red dots on his forehead.

"Kimimaro, what are you doing here?" asked Sora.

"I was searching for you. Dad said dinner is almost ready." Said the teen in a voice that came across as rather cold.

"Then we better head back home." Answered Haku in a soft voice. "We'll say our goodbyes and return."

Kimimaro nodded and jumped from the tree branch to the floor next to them before leaving through the labyrinth of streets.

"Who was that?" asked Kiba, miffed at having being ignored so rudely, in his opinion.

"That's our brother, Kimimaro." Answered Haku. "I'm sorry, but we have to go now."

"It's okay, we can meet another time, right?" asked Naruto looking rather hopeful.

Haku gave him a pretty smile and a nod.

"Of course. And thanks for showing me the village today, Naruto. I had a great time."

And after finishing their goodbyes, Haku and Sora left together.

HPNHPNHPNHPN

Upon arriving home, he was greeted by shouting. Which sparked his curiosity, since his mother was supposed to have left that afternoon and especially so when he heard his father's voice rise too. His father never raised his voice.

Shikamaru quietly opened the door and stepped into the main foyer, but stopped to listen there.

"-casualty that he showed up just as we're getting divorced!?" shouted Yoshino.

"None outside the Nara Clan know of it, so of course it must be a casualty." Answered Shikaku.

Shikamaru was confused. Who was getting his mother so railed up over? And what did it have to do with their divorce? It'd been months since they'd started the process and the only thing left was finalising all the paperwork. Hence his mother being supposed to be leaving the main house for an apartment in the village.

"You really expect me to believe that? I'm sure as soon as we started to get the divorce you wrote to that bitch to ask him to come back…"

"Don't call him that!" said Shikaku raising his voice, commanding.

Shikamaru started to put the pieces together soon. But that meant… that Harī had returned!

He supressed his elation at the thought in order to listen in to his parents

It didn't take long for Shikamaru to follow where this was leading and so he slipped up the stairs, knowing his father must already know he was there and he wouldn't want him to listen in on this.

Despite that, he couldn't help but feel his chest tighten at the thought that Harī was back. How long ago had he arrived? And why hadn't he let him know?

HPNHPNHPNHPN

Famil dinner at the Kuro household was a lively affair. Sora was in the middle of explaining how Haku had been confused for a girl by several genin ―which he seemed to find endlessly amusing, despite the fact that he'd made the same mistake the first time they met―whilst Haku himself tried to defend the kid boy that had shown him around the village.

"…and he has the blondest hair I've ever seen, almost as bright as the sun." was saying Haku.

That caught Harī's attention quiet firmly. Blonde wasn't so unusual in Konoha, but bright blonde? That wasn't the typical Yamanaka blonde and Harī could count the number of Konoha citizens he'd met that matched that description with the fingers of a hand ―and still have three to spare.

"What was his name, Haku?" Harī asked.

"Naruto."

"Uzumaki Naruto?" checked the jōnin.

"Yes, do you know him?" asked the ice-user with a curious look.

"I do." Answered Harī softly. "He is a war orphan that I tried to adopt before I left Konoha, but certain interested parties wouldn't allow it."

There was a second of silence ―even Sora stayed quiet at the war orphan bit― where only Zabuza munching on some dango was heard.

"You should invite your new friend over for dinner next time." Harī old Haku, who nodded determinedly.

Kimimaro started to talk next, telling Harī in his soothing tone of voice all about a plant he'd been able to find in the property's forest, only to end up being interrupted by a coughed 'boring' from Sora before the brunette launched into a tale about how he'd ended up fighting an Inuzuka and an Akimichi.

Unfortunately for him, it only served to have them all receive a reminder lecture on what not to do to avoid offending the different clans of Konoha.

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It was the morning after his parents' row when Shikamaru left his home with an unclear purpose only to almost bump into his father's cousin.

To the untrained eye, Suzaku ould appear unbothered and uncaring in his lazy Nara slouch. But Shikamaru could tell he was hesitant and looked as if he was wondering why he was even there in the first place.

"If you're looking for otou-chan, he left already." Said Shikamaru, not beating around the bush in true Nara fashion.

"I actually came looking for you." Replied the man before sighing and looking up at the sky. "I just came to let you know Kuro Harī came looking for you yesterday."

Shikamaru paused. He had…?

"Thank you, Suzaku-ojisan."

As his purpose in leaving became much clearer, Shikamaru felt the tightness building in his chest since the night before start to recede.