Chapter Text
The glow of the early morning light shone in through the windows of the Nara compound. Yoshino travelled the halls with a basket of laundry tucked under her arm. When she made her way to her son’s bedroom, she popped her head in with a frown on her face, dreading the impending fight to wake him.
“Shikamaru!” she called, voice stern, but any pre-meditated irritation melted from her face when her son sat up like a shot, eyes wide as if waking from a nightmare.
Yoshino wavered for a moment before she set down her basket of laundry and came to sit on the edge of her son’s bed. Her hands found his shoulders and concern found her eyes as she looked over him. “Shikamaru, are you okay?”
Shikamaru looked past her with vacant eyes before casting a confused glance in her direction.
“Shikamaru!” she said again, shaking him gently. He grunted and shook the sleep from his head.
“I’m fine,” he told her, words carefully measured, as if he weren’t sure how they’d come out. He pushed her away gently, and Yoshino frowned, fear for her son written plainly on her face. She fought the urge to needle him, instead moving to push a hand across the top of his hair. He seemed out of it, as if his mind was drifting somewhere else.
“Well, if you’re sure,” she said, her voice as careful as Shikamaru’s as she hesitated to stand. “Why don’t you get ready for your day and come down. I’ll have breakfast ready for you.”
He nodded, eyes far away. She nodded back, picking up the laundry basket from the floor and backing out of the room, unwilling to take her eyes off of him.
-
Temari watched the older woman leave the room, head still wrapping around her situation. She moved the body that was not her own to climb out of the bed that did not belong to her, and searched for something distinctive from her surroundings that could tell her where she was. There was nothing, she thought, huffing. Whoever lived here didn’t decorate at all at all, but there was a large window out into a lush green courtyard. She certainly wasn’t in Suna, nor the dense forest she’d fallen asleep in the night before. However, she assumed she wasn’t in any danger, considering the way the woman rushed to her aid when she woke with a start. The woman was probably her soulmate’s mother.
She spotted a mirror in the corner of the room and made a beeline for it, but her bubbling eagerness settled as she surveyed what she saw there. The boy in the mirror had a squat face with big ears and a disappointed expression. Well, she supposed the disappointed expression was her own. She took a deep breath and let it go slowly. You could do worse, she thought to herself, twisting in the mirror.
She pulled gently at the tall, spiky ponytail sitting on the back of his head. Did he really sleep like this? She pulled a face. In any case, she pulled his hair out of its ponytail, running a hand through it to test its texture. It was thick and wirey, but it felt nice to comb her fingers through. Would it be a crime to leave it down? she wondered, tucking it behind her ears.
It was considered bad form to be too obvious when you had swapped with your soulmate, and even something as simple as doing your hair the wrong way could be enough to tip off the wrong person. Temari decided to put it back in its ponytail. It would be difficult to blend in seamlessly, but it would be worth the effort to make a good impression on his family and friends and she could hone her infiltration skills.
Her mind brushed over her village’s true intent in visiting The Leaf -she must be in the Leaf Village, right?- and quickly buried it in her excitement at getting to look through her soulmate’s clothing.
She moved to the closet and flipped through the different items. It was mostly the same, saturated colors, but she was grateful that there was color there at all. She took out what seemed to be the least offending items, a mesh shirt and something plain blue with long sleeves, and traded his sleep shirt for it. He could look nice, with a bit of effort, she decided, admiring the silver earrings he wore. It was actually pretty fun playing dress up in someone else’s closet.
“Shikamaru! Breakfast!” came the call from down the hall. This was a man’s voice. She assumed it was his father, though she supposed they could be an aunt or uncle who had taken him in. In a world where so many children were orphaned, she didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Her mind wandered to the woman’s hands on her shoulders and she took a long, deep sigh.
There wasn’t time to unpack all of that. For now, she needed to focus on assimilating to her situation. She strapped on her kunai holster and looked around the room for any specialty weapons she might need. When she found none, she decided to wrap his hands too, in case she was deceived by his small frame and he was secretly some kind of brawler. In any case, it was a good look on him. With that, she headed down the hall from which she heard the voice come from.
“You’re up early,” said the man sitting at the table. Temari blinked at him for a moment, suddenly pleased with her luck. The man was almost certainly his father, and if he grew up to look anything like the man in front of her, she was a lucky girl.
She cleared her throat. “Yeah,” she said simply, moving to sit. She tried to sound noncommittal and tired, hoping any inconsistencies would be written off as Shikamaru still shrugging off sleep. The older man looked her over as she sat across from him, a small smirk on his face. He seemed to be thinking something, but he kept whatever it was to himself.
“You look nice today. You don’t usually put so much effort into your appearance,” he said, moving to drink the tea sitting in front of him. The woman was moving anxiously around the kitchen, but she poked her head into the dining room to look at her son. She had a harder time masking her delight, and Temari had the sneaking suspicion that they had discussed the possibility of a soulmate transfer while she was dressing. She certainly seemed less concerned.
“You do look nice. I haven’t seen you wear that in awhile.” she said brightly, moving back into the kitchen.
Oh no, Temari thought to herself. Of course, it was a little too late to change, she thought with a sigh. She picked idly at her breakfast. She wasn’t usually especially hungry in the mornings, but she felt bad thinking about the effort that Shikamaru’s mother had put into cooking for her. Her appetite was challenged even more by the man’s eyes, seeming to watch her every move. He knew, didn’t he? The stress was beginning to pile up. She didn’t know how she was supposed to do this for a week without the merciful distraction of the chunin exams.
The older woman set a hand on her shoulder, gentle and affectionate, as she placed a lunch box beside Temari’s breakfast. Temari looked up at her, surprised, blinking.
“Today’s a big day. Your last day before the beginning of the Chunin Exams. I want to set you off on the right foot,” she explained, turning away before Temari could see her expression. Temari glanced over at the man, now clearly recognizing the knowing smirk that he gave his wife. Her cover was blown, she thought to herself with a small smile.
“Good luck, Shikamaru, this is going to be a week you won’t forget,” said the older man with a smirk.
-
Shikamaru didn’t wake up in his bed. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but usually he could remember where he’d fallen asleep instead. Here, he could feel the heat of the sun against his skin battling against a crisp breeze. Somehow, he’d made it outside. Had he been sleepwalking? That would be a troublesome development. He kept his eyes closed tight, still unwilling to face the morning. Whatever it was could wait five more minutes.
He could hear two unfamiliar voices talking over him. That was concerning, he decided as he began to weigh his options. If he’d been taken from his bed, he wouldn’t have any of his weapons on him, but trying to use jutsu would give away that he’d woken up. It would be better, and probably easier, to keep up the act as long as he could and learn more about the adversaries.
He wished he could make out what they were saying, but they were whispering, probably trying not to wake him. He couldn’t understand them at all until a low, raspy voice raised above the whispers. The voice was worried and cautious, nearly spurring Shikamaru to break from the ruse to warn him away, but he didn’t know how strong his enemy was. He didn’t have enough information, and jumping straight into battle was the kind of thing idiots like Naruto did.
He heard the concerned voice approach and steeled himself as he was gently shaken.
“Miss?” asked the soft rasp. Shikamaru’s eyes nearly snapped open so he could lean up and correct him, but instead he tightened his eyes and curled tighter in on himself. What the fuck was going on? Did they really think he was a girl? He felt a cool breeze against bare legs, but shoved it all aside. They were yelling now.
“Get your hands off her!” the voice was older, but not by much and certainly not as mature by the one that answered him.
“Enough Kankuro. Your...brother is just concerned for Temari.”
Temari? It took longer than Shikamaru would admit for the pieces to come together. He was in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and they were calling him by someone else’s name. Either they were very confused or Shikamaru was about to have the worst week of his life.
A soulmate swap? Really? Right before the chunin exams? What a drag, he thought to himself, ears still acutely tuned to the conversation above him. If that was the case, he really had to pay careful attention to the things these people had to say. He wondered if this was common, with the sudden influx of new people coming into the village, but quickly shoved the thought away as the men above him continued to speak.
“Ahem, yes. I am simply concerned for Temari, brother,” answered the rasp. His voice was filled with confidence, but it didn’t come out naturally and the younger of the other two made a noise that was thoroughly unconvinced. There was more going on, Shikamaru considered.
“I must say, Gaara,” came the older voice, “It does seem quite odd for you to care this much about your sister.”
Well, that was depressing. Whoever she was seemed to have rotten luck when it came to family, but he still couldn’t decipher who exactly they were. Maybe they were on their way to the village as spectators? Of course they were a month away from what would be the main event for non-shinobi. They must be a four man squad, he decided, and foreigners to boot. What a drag.
“Baki!” Kankuro sputtered.
“To what do we owe this change of heart, Gaara?” the older man, Baki, continued despite Kankuro’s protest. Was there another swap going on? Shikamaru asked himself, starting to get restless in his pretend sleep. He had questions he wanted answers to.
“...The Chunin Exams,” the boy’s answer was stiff, and Shikamaru felt more sure of his assumption. “We, uh, need three in our team to take them, yes? If Tem-Temari is ill, we won’t be able to...proceed.”
“All right then, Gaara. But I think she’s just more tired than she thought,” said Baki.
It was quiet then. They seemed to accept ‘Gaara’s’ answer and allowed him to walk off to...Shikamaru didn’t know. Maybe he would start picking up camp. Shikamaru considered waking then, but just as he was starting to shift out of his curled position, the other two began to speak again in hushed tones. This time, he could make it out.
“Gaara has a fucking soulmate ? Gaara? ” Kankuro hissed, confirming Shikamaru’s suspicions. The older man didn’t answer. He was likely their Sensei, Shikamaru decided, and he was far more skilled in keeping his composure than Kankuro.
“How the hell does Gaara have a fucking soulmate ? And from the Leaf? We’re about to at-”
“That’s enough, Kankuro,” Baki said, cutting the other off abruptly. Shikamaru’s throat went dry. About to… what? About to attack? These weren’t just foreigners, they were enemies, Shikamaru realized as their Sensei continued, “It may be a shinobi of a different Village coming for the exams.”
“ That doesn’t make it better, Baki. ”
“Just go wake your sister and catch her up on what she’s missed,” Baki replied, dismissing him. Shikamaru forced his body to relax as Kankuro huffed and turned towards him. This time he wasn’t surprised when he felt calloused hands move to shake his shoulders. He let his eyes blink open and grimaced as they adjusted to the sunlight.
“Hey, Temari.” Her brother’s voice was far gentler now that it was turned towards Temari. They must be close, Shikamaru thought to himself, moving to sit up.
“Kankuro?” he asked, internally cringing as the wrong voice struggled to come out. “How long have I been asleep?”
“You must have really worn yourself out yesterday. Travelling can be pretty rough, huh?” Kankuro asked. Shikamaru smiled a bit, and nodded. They were sand shinobi, he thought, looking over the boy’s headband and the markings on his face. He had a kind face underneath his tough exterior, and Shikamaru wanted to like him, but from what he heard, he wasn’t out of the woods. He couldn’t trust them.
“Yeah, but we should get going. I want to get to the Leaf sooner rather than later.” Shikamaru said, voice darker than he intended. Kankuro didn’t seem to notice.
“Yeah, we’re heading out now, but wait until I tell you what’s going on with Gaara.”