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Nara Shikamaru wakes up as usual, after five snoozes and just enough time to sit down to eat breakfast after dressing himself. He grunts as he puts on the bandage on his legs, and ties his hair absentmindedly in a black tie as he walks down the stairs.
“Morning,” He yawns as he sits down.
“Good morning, have you had a nice sleep?” Yoshino asked him, sending a bright smile only mothers could have this early.
He yawns out the answers, and a “And you?” As an afterthought. He’s not impolite towards family.
“I slept well! You missed your father by an hour, though.” She cheerfully responds. Huh. He’ll ask him if he’s home tonight, then.
Today was the day of the essay, and he did hope Sakura had some good paper that he could read and discuss with his father later in the evening. Shogi games were fun, but Sakura’s essay seemed more entertaining to discuss than play another shogi, or go.
Morning in the academy was always noisy, but this morning it was more than ever. Everyone is screaming for the others to last minute read their text and fix mistakes. The last row was quiet as per usual.
Shino Aburame, always on time. He’ll leave an essay on some bugs; their pro’s and con’s, without dividing into too much. An easy A.
Hinata Hyuga sits next to him: heir to heir. Shikamaru can’t fathom what’s written, so far the heir has only shown weakness and the heiress is to lose her title to her younger sister if she continues on. She probably wrote why kunai is better than swords- the default. Or one of her clan members wrote. It matters little-- everything is to make her safe from another Kuma attack.
Hyuuga Hinata is to be safe from everyone, and everything.
The Kumo attack caused more damage to the clan than anything else. Caged birds' seals were given out left and right as they weren’t a pure member.
It’s a civil war in the making, father grumbles.
Hyuuga Hinata stays pure, and her essay will get an A.
Making her strong- that was never on the Clan Heads agenda. They’ll protect this pure blood daughter, and the second daughter and cousin should work like pigs.
Then it’s him- Shikamaru Nara. Enough to get by.
Beside him is a civilian- Sakura whom he never looked twice at before. The one he taps different- switch it up, codes.
After all, she held the flower name.
She’s a civilian sitting in the last row of heirs- of course he’s intrudged.
Did you know, I fucked one of them flowers too hard-- broke her ribs -crusched it- he shouted like a medal.
Ain’t nothing, he snorted, broke her god damn pelvic bone. When you wanted it rough.
Laughter.
And they used to fix it right up before.
Fucking bullshit that we have to suddenly take care of whores.
Sakura is one of the last to enter, a habit from her bullied days, and leaves her scroll at the desk and then makes way towards her seat.
“You got a copy for me?” Shikamaru ask, he was interested in her theme.
Sakura fidgeted with her hair, long pink locks falling down from a bun with white pearls, “I didn’t submit my original plan on medical jutsu: I got too distracted and… And I just made a stupied essay about swords and kunai like everyone else.”
Shikamaru could hear the but in her tone so he silently beckoned with his hand.
She twisted her hair more, a nervous tick, “We’re friends right?” She asked so earnestly with her big green eyes.
He nodded.
“And friends don’t tell on eachother,” She made a pinky finger in front of her.
“‘course,” He linked their pinkies together. He has seen other civilians do this, it’s a sign of trust, he supposed.
As a flower, nothing was worth more than trust. And with sisters backstabbing; and having the same madame and bouncers, a pinky trust meant the literal way. Break the trust, and the other had the right to take your eye. Mostly settle for a pinky nail.
Sakura smiled, “It’s ROT8, vowel backwards,” and gave him the scroll. Shika was smart so he should be able to decipher it without a manual in front of him.
When there was only ten minutes left on the lesson, he tapped back ‘ this is absolutely crazy. Good thinking not sending it in.’
Sakura shrugged, ‘Medic jutsu is like Suna fashion, nothing to look too closely at, just acknowledge that it exists.’
‘Should I tell my dad?’ he tapped back.
‘Why get a Jounin commander involved?’ she once again tapped out three dots, ‘I don’t think we should even touch the subject at all, after this. It makes me nervous.’
‘You were the one that started this, and now I’m intrigued. Way more interesting whatever’s happening at the hospital than this class,’ Shikamaru doodled something in his writing book as he looked up at sensei, pretending to follow the class.
Sakura mimicked his action, ‘Perhaps nothing is happening at the hospital. Just clean good people wanting to help; and don't understand the law.’
‘That would be the most boring end to this,’ Shikamaru ended with.
Sakura continues to write down notes from Iruka. Boring end . He had so much time on his hands, to look at this as a game. To look for clues of adventure. She was enraged- the little freetime she had, she helped her sisters. She studied.
A natural born genius that’s just bored. Like Tsunade.
What a disappointment.
It took Shikamaru two weeks to notice that Sakura was ignoring him. The first week he could just pass it off as she was actually listening to the lessons, but later she just full on ignored him when he talked to her.
It was hurtful, he finally had someone that he could have a good conversation with; that played shogi at lunch, and now nothing.
He could probably ask his parents, but they would just ask troublesome questions. Or he could ask Iruka for her home address… which they obviously couldn’t give out. He sighted as he looked up on the clouds, “Bothersome.”
Shikamaru went to the Nara library and picked out a book on ethics, and one of medic chakra. All very basic, a surprisingly good read.
“Mom, can you help me gift wrap these? And can I take them from the library?” Shikamaru asked as he went to the kitchen, and did a double take as his dad and Yamanaka Inoichi were at the bar table drinking and having fried dishes his mother was currently batching up.
“Son! Come greet Inoichi and eat some fried shrimp,” His father called out happily. Shikamaru grunted as he took a seat at the bar table, his father was only in a happy mood with his genin teammates and mom.
“Hello dad, Inoichi-sama,” He greeted as he sat down the books on the barstool next to him.
“Good evening to you, Shika-kun. Ino sends her regards.” Inoichi smiles, a reminder to visit his daughter more. Ugh. She was a Sasuke fangirl at the moment, and he’ll come back in a month's time when she found something more interesting.
His dad laughs, understanding his blank stare at his former genin team mate. “Don’t worry, Inoichi! They’ll be a great team in two years time,” He slaps the blonds back as he chokes on the sake.
“Now tell me, what is this about gifts from the library, hmm?” His dad's eyes grow sharp. Shikamaru wishes to hide, but his mother already had the books in front of her, “ ‘The diabolic of ethics, a study from Ice to Sand’ and ‘Medic Jutsu’ . Huh, that’s two basic books, on widely different subjects, and you said it was a present?”
Shikamaru groaned and put his head in his arms. “Please drop it, it’s just for Sakura so she will stop ignoring me.”
“Ignoring you? Already such love issues at this age, my, my, Shikaku - what are you teaching your son!” The Head of Yamanaka teases his team mate.
“Gotta teach them young!” He roars with laughter, clinking glasses with the former. “A present, huh, son?” He leers.
“No!” He sits up and takes some tempura, “I don’t know, she’s been ignoring me for the last two weeks, and she likes to read so this should be good, right?”
“Ignored, like my Ino-chan has been! A beast is what you’re raising!” Inoichi sobbed out, dramatically.
Shikamaru looked at his mom, who rolled her eyes and made a shoo wave with his hand. She’ll handle the drunk seniles.
Their sharp smiles went unnoticed.
Haruno Sakura had dressed before her battle. Gone was her all black assembly academy uniform. She’d borrow from all the girls, a jade green kimono that reached just above her tights with a black obi and some two inch geita and a hairdo with more slick than normal.
“Hello, madame,” She bowed down, her head hitting her fingers on the floor.
“Pink hair, Sakura.” She greeted the child.
“I have healed all the girls that come to me- and I might say that I have been training, but as I can heal them easily now…” Sakura looked away, a hand covered in deep green fabric covering half her face.
Madame smiled, “I knew you’d come. You don’t have to negotiate, yes, you’ll become our house medic. Yes we’ll pay you well as my flowers get more energy by being treated by you, and therefore more customers.”
She was here to negotiate, not given what she wanted so open, as a first move.
Sakura stilled her glance. She became cold. This was the …but… She was short cutted. She pierced eyes with the madam, willing her to act.
Still like a knife, and just as cold were her gaze. Killing intent, chakra control came hand in hand. And Sakura, who could wield medical jutsu to her whim, did not recognize the difference between life and death.
The bouncers bowed down.
“I fear, a ‘but’ ,” Sakura said, ten years old, and smiling.
Madame smiled back, she's served anbu’s before. She needed new guards. “Stay in the Flower district, I’ll give you a big apartment as soon as you graduate. And raise the morales of the girls, they adore a heroine to worship.”
And Sakura smiled crueler, “Aside from a hero? Who was that pale boy, eyes like a snake, that escaped some forty years ago?”
And the pressure was gone as she walked out. Madame lit a cigarillo, what a fun little youngster.
Shikamaru gives his gifts, and Sakura hugs him.
They’re friends,
even if one is too privileged to realize what he said was wrong,
and one too pessimistic to know what a nara’s interest means.
‘This history lesson is horseshit, yet they feed the heirs of Konoha it ’ she pokes with her pencil, as she writes down useless notes about their brave Senju’s Hokage one and two.
‘This lesson is propaganda,’ He pretends to be asleep but she can see the finger against the table.
‘Why would both first and second be senju, Uchiha discriminated, hyuuga have slave seal? Nothing about clans makes sense, ’ she boldly sends back.
He’s quiet for ten minutes.
‘nothing makes sense’
‘nothing’ , she taps, and continues to write notes like a good student.
Between two child geniuses, it doesn’t take long to track down one of his labs. “So what do we do now?”
“By the law, we do not have to report our findings as it is in a training field, mostly owned by the state, and fixed by taxpayers,” Sakura says back.
“Finding a human experiment lab shouldn’t be under the law,” Shikamaru says back. He should fix that when he’s older. Or maybe talk to his dad.
“Or we sneak a peak on all the knowledge, all the notes he must have left behind.” Sakura says back.
Shikamaru stares back at her, “You’re the one with the medical chakra. I don’t gain shit.” All within the ethics of a ten year old.
Sakura pouts. “I read that he wanted immortality, and stole all of the Second Kage’s notes on it. Come on, can you imagine if your clones could use shadows? You could send out shadow clones wherever and they’d use their shadow jutsu, while you could chill, regroup and strategies.”
Shikamaru froze. That. Was an attractive offer.