Chapter 1: Second Chances

People who are meant to be together find their way back, they may take a few detours, but they are never lost.

-Unknown

7 years ago

What a drag…

For everyone, but Shikamaru, it seemed that life happened as it should. You turn 14, you display your secondary gender, and then get lumped into nice, pretty categories. Ino, to no one's surprise was an alpha. It fits rather well with Sakura's secondary gender: Omega. And to no one's surprise, the two were one of those special cases of 'fated mates.' The kind where as soon as they touched, it was instantaneous. They fit, and it was beautiful.

Choji became a beta. Calm, sweet Choji was balance and everyone of the Ino-Shika-Trio expected Shikamaru to become an omega. And yet, nothing happened. Two weeks after his 14th birthday, Shikamaru was still just a teenage boy who preferred looking at the clouds and was too smart for his own good. There were jokes of course. 'Shikamaru is so lazy, that's why he hasn't expressed yet,' It might have been funny if it hadn't caused concern in his own parents.

A month after his birthday, Shikamaru found himself in a private room at the hospital with both the Hokage and her apprentice. He couldn't look at Sakura, whose bright, green eyes shined at him with pity. At least Tsunade seemed to hold some air of professionalism.

"It's rare, but there are some cases in which someone never expresses." She said, her blond brow furrowed in concentration. The rest of the room fell into silence. "It happens often enough that they're filed as a neutral." Another pause as Tsunade looked around the room. "It's a benefit for shinobi. Their biology doesn't plot against them and they're not influenced by hormones. It's not a bad thing, Shikamaru. At least you won't have to buy scent blockers."
"Of course, Hokage-Sama, Thank you," Shikamaru replied thickly and pushed himself off of the bed. No one really stopped him as he left the room, though he knew his parents and the Hokage would continue to talk. Before he reached the stairs, he felt a smaller hand around his wrist. He didn't turn. Her chakra signature was familiar but she was foreign enough that she didn't know he was on the verge of breaking.

"It's far less troublesome this way, Sakura, trust me. This is the best I could hope for," he laughed and felt the light squeeze on his wrist. "Being driven by hormones would cut into my cloud watching time."

"Okay Shikamaru. Ino and I are going to eat barbecue later. You should join us. I think Choji will be there."

"Yea, okay," he shrugged and she finally let him go. He didn't see them that night and his friends accepted the excuse that he fell asleep.

Contrary to what anyone else would say, Naruto knew that Shikamaru Nara was going to be an important person in his life for a long time. Afterall, it had been Shikamaru and Choji who were the first to treat him as a friend. At first, Naruto hadn't been sure what to think of the lazy boy who complained more than even the adults who hated him, but after a while, he came to realize that Shikamaru wasn't complaining about circumstances, but how he felt about them. He'd realized it during the disaster of his first chunin exams when Shikamaru, Sakura, Pakkun and he chased after Sasuke, when Shikamaru had told them neither of them were anything special and it would have to be him.

"The Shadow Jutsus were originally delay tactics anyway." He had said and it took years for Naruto to realize what that had meant at the time. Shikamaru hadn't expected to live past that day, but to go after Sasuke, to help his friends, he had been willing to do whatever it took. Luckily, Asuma had been there that day to save him, something Naruto would only be grateful for after they got Sasuke back to the village, but then, Sasuke was taken and Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and Neji were once again by his side and Shikamaru was leading.

Then Naruto had left for three years, presented as an Alpha and he didn't get a chance to look at his friend for a while. And then, they had gone after Sasuke again only for the blond to realize that his Rival, His Best Friend, His Mate, was also an alpha and destined to be his. How could he focus on Shikamaru when Sasuke was meant to be his?

It had been when his mentor, Jaraiya, had been killed that Naruto found reason to look deeper at the Shadow-user. Of all of the people who had attempted to give him a pep-talk to cheer him up, it had been the silence that Shikamaru brought with him that spoke the loudest. A kindred spirit, someone who had felt exactly what he had felt, and in the same way. Shikamaru's sensei and mentor had been taken from him only months prior and the Nara just knew what he needed, it seemed. Even the metaphorical kick after they had spoken to Kurenai helped spur him into moving on. Yes, he was still sad over Jiraiya. Yes, he still mourned him, but knowing that his sensei had given him building blocks for the future made it feel like he was still there with him.

Watching Shikamaru after that had begun to let Naruto read him. The Nara genius had always held his emotions close to his chest, adopting bland expressions only tainted with boredom most of the time. He rarely got angry, his smiles seemed few and far in between, and if it required effort, Shikamaru was likely not to be found. Lazy, they had all said, including Naruto. Emotionless was another term, and Naruto might have agreed had he not been looking.

For the longest time, everyone believed Shikamaru to be a beta. It wouldn't be until later that Naruto found out that only a select few knew differently. Shikamaru didn't give off emotional scents because he didn't have a secondary gender or the pheromones that everyone else did. A neutral, Shikamaru had informed him one evening with a small shrug. His organs didn't work the way everyone else's did because he had both Alpha and Omega. They cancelled each other out. He could be happy, angry, or sad and no one would ever know unless he displayed them on his face and the Nara never portrayed anything but boredom, not unless you were looking. Naruto finally did. He noticed the softening of his eyes when he fondly called him an idiot, or when Naruto did something to make everyone else laugh. Naruto noticed the clench in Shikamaru's jaw when someone insulted one of his friends, and he noticed the downward tilt of his lips when someone brought up Asuma or Shikaku. They were subtle, but they were there, and Naruto found himself looking for those just to know what the genius was thinking.

Naruto knew Shikamaru was going to be an important person in his life, but he didn't know he was going to fall in love with the shadow user. It wasn't instantaneous and Naruto wasn't sure when his feelings went from friendship to something deeper, but by the time he finally realized he enjoyed those small smiles, the warmth he felt in the other man's presence and the conversations that were both teasing and informational, he was head over heels.

For Sasuke, caring about anything other than getting power and revenge didn't matter until after the war. Orochimaru had been his path and even when he'd run into Naruto again, he didn't care that the part of his soul that he had buried with everything else called out to the blond. When the blond wouldn't give up, and Sasuke found himself dying on a battlefield with his mate by his side, The Last Uchiha realized he might have made some mistakes. If it hadn't been for Sakura, he never would have been able to make things right.

Sasuke started by letting himself be imprisoned in Konoha. He even let his eyes be covered and his body bound though he had no desire to be too far from his mate at this time. It was then that he took notice of one Shikamaru Nara.

It was the smell of cigarette smoke that alerted Sasuke that someone was in the cell with him. The Uchiha's head raised in response, even as he took a deeper breath. Odd… There were no other defining characteristics other than that smell. It was…unnerving.

"They're letting you out today." The voice was soft, spoken just loud enough to be heard. It prickled in familiarity, but the Uchiha couldn't place it until one side of his bandages was removed. "I want you to turn on your Sharingan for this because you're not going to forget my face." The pineapple hair was as telling as his lazy stance. Nara. Sasuke remembered one being in his class. Shikamaru. The teenager in front of him was about his age.

In school, Sasuke had no use for the Nara Heir. He was lazy and slept in class. How the man managed to become a ninja and the first chunin in his class was beyond him. Sure, the guy was smart, but his taijutsu needed work and his chakra reserves were low. Intelligence didn't make a ninja, or at least that was what Sasuke had thought until he heard of the Nara killing the immortal Akatsuki member. It wasn't until his one exposed eye shifted to red that he finally understood how dangerous Shikamaru was.

Shadows danced in what little light was in his prison, yet Sasuke's attention was focused solely on the teenager in front of him. At first glance, it was hard to believe this was a threat. Shikamaru seemed bored with his hands thrust deep into his pockets, his body leaning against the only exit, and his feet crossed at the ankles. He didn't seem prepared to fight but the intensity in his gaze seemed to take Sasuke apart piece by piece. Finally, Shikamaru broke the silence between them, the intensity of his soft voice breaking into the tension like a sharpened kunai.

"You're going to be on your best behavior when you get out of here. Don't talk-" he barked, causing Sasuke to snap his mouth closed, and finally he moved. The brunette's gait was that of a predator as he stepped closer to him, the threat imminent though as Shikamaru continued to talk, the Uchiha could detect a waver in his tone. "You're not going to hurt him again. If you do, you won't live long enough for the bond to burn you alive."

Sasuke inhaled sharply and for once believed that this man would be capable of finding a way of beating him. His sharingan captured the Nara's resolve as clearly as it captured his face. "You love him, too." The wave of desperation in Shikamaru's told him that.

"Impossible. I'm incapable of it, but he is the future of the Hidden Leaf, and I made a vow to him."
"What do you mean incapable of love? If you were incapable, you wouldn't-"

"Do not mistake loyalty for love, Uchiha. Enjoy your freedom."

3 years later

"You're staring again, Dobe." Naruto blinked away, feeling a flush on his cheeks that he had been caught.

"Maa, Maa Sasuke, Sakura's all grown up, don't you think? She looks so pretty." In fact, their pink-haired teammate looked beautiful in her wedding dress with her alpha, Ino waiting for her at the altar.

"We both know you're not staring at Sakura. Or Ino," Sasuke quickly added when it looked like his mate was going to argue. Naruto followed Sasuke's gaze to the man to the right of Ino. Shikamaru Nara hadn't grown much in the last three years. His face had become more angular with the loss of baby fat and his hair had gotten longer, but Naruto had grown taller than him, as had Sasuke. However, despite the fact that Naruto could not take his eyes off of Shikamaru, the Nara Head had a different blond on his arm. Temari of the Sand had followed him to the Land of Silence six months ago and the two had been dating ever since.

"You know it's not abnormal for two alpha mates to find someone who balances them out, Naruto." It was a talk they had had before but it had come too late for either of them to make a move on the Nara.

"It is when he's already dating someone, and he's not an omega. What if it happens again? What if I-"

"What if you never try?" Naruto's mouth clicked shut, his blue eyes traveling from Shikamaru to Sasuke. Onyx met his and the blond alpha huffed, his lips forming into a pout. "Doesn't have to be an omega, Dobe. Just needs to balance us out."

"You barely know him. What if I like him, but you don't?"

"We could play the what if game all day, Naruto."
"He's still with Temari."

"And did you smell her earlier when you went to say hi? She's full of anxiety and we can both smell that she's been mated. The only one who can't is Shikamaru, though with the looks he's sending her, she's going to spill soon."

Naruto sighed and looked down because he knew Sasuke was right. From the moment Temari had stepped into the wedding reception, Naruto had known. Hell, everyone had known judging by the looks that were sent her way. She belonged to someone, and it wasn't Shikamaru. He wanted to hurt her for what she was going to do to him.

"Hey," fingers snapped in front of his eyes and pulled his attention back to his mate. "You're growling out loud. Do you really think that's a reaction for a friend?" Sasuke turned back to watch the Nara and inclined his head. "He's very protective of you, you know. He threatened me when I was cuffed in T & I." The blond alpha raised a brow, waiting for Sasuke to go on. "Said if I tried to kill you again, he'd kill me and you know what? I believed him. If anyone could find a way, it's him. 'I've kind of wanted to get to know him ever since."
"I wouldn't let him hurt you."
"No, probably not, but I have no doubt he could. We should try. With him, I mean. I think he might be our missing part."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because ever since you told me about him, and he threatened me, I can't help but imagine how much I want to see you hold him, how much I want to come home from a mission to see you two curled up on the couch or in bed together."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say because he wanted that too. "Okay, so we're both wanting this then? With him? If he lets us." Sasuke inclined his head before nodding.

Naruto looked back to Shikamaru who stood next to Temari and smiled. Second chances were few and far in between in their world, but he wasn't going to take this one for granted.