Troublesome Woman

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All rights belong to their respective owners.

So, one of my favorite Naruto-characters is Shikamaru. And I adore Fem!harry. However, I cannot seem to write anything coherent with the two of them together. If you want, you can adopt this snippet. Just send me a PM or drop a review.

Enjoy yourselves!

W

Prologue

Cho Chang sighed as she contemplated the parchment lying innocuously in front of her. The young Ravenclaw felt tears welling up behind her eyelids, straining against her resolve to fall.

Only a few days ago, the Asian teen had lost her boyfriend to the ambitions of an insane Dark Lord. She could still see the utterly still, unmoving form of his body whenever the teen closed her eyes. It provoked fresh tears every time.

Cho couldn't imagine what Lily Potter must suffer at this moment. The poor girl had witnessed Cedric's murder, had been kidnapped and forced to live through whatever torture Voldemort or his lackeys could devise.

Cho had sneaked into the hospital wing after midnight, reading through her file. It shocked and horrified her to the core. All those rumors about fighting for her life each year, the Basilisk - they were actually fact, not fictional lies spread by enthusiastic fans. Not to mention what Madam Pomfrey suspected to be behind Lily's lithe frame...

All in all, Cho felt as if she didn't have any other choice in the matter. At least none which would allow her to live peacefully with a clear conscience.

So the pretty witch resolutely dipped her quill into the inkwell on her desk, beginning to write a long-overdue letter to her mother's family. They were the Gatekeepers, the ones who tried to balance the universe, and she would do her duty as was expected of her.

Chapter 1

Lily Potter sighed as she sat herself down on the only non-vandalized swing in her favorite park. It was her go-to place to escape the oppressive atmosphere of Number Four aka Her Personal Hell On Earth.

She didn't mind the suspicious glares of various house-wives or their daughters nor did she notice the leering gazes of several boys her age which had both followed her on the way to the park like a lost puppy. At least the teen didn't mind as much as in her younger years, when all she had to worry about was the impossibly long list of chores the Dursleys expected completed or how much food she'd receive today.

No, Lillian Dorea Potter worried about much more serious things these days such as Dark Lords out for her blood, her irresponsible escapee godfather and the strange silence from her two best friends.

They still wrote her, sure, but nothing useful beyond missing her. However, the summer was only beginning, so the teen figured they might be too busy reuniting with their own families at the moment to sit down and write her about anything other than how much they worried about her.

Lily sighed deeply once more, noting the height of the sun. Aunt Petunia doubtlessly had prepared a delicious lunch for her 'Dinky Diddidums' and impatiently awaited the young girl's arrival so the vile woman could boss her niece around some more.

Usually, it served to improve Aunt Petunia's confidence before she left to one of her knitting groups. Those vultures always quipped maliciously at each other until one of them broke, leaving in tears. Often, due to her 'delinquent'-reputation among the neighborhood, these barbs were aimed at Lily's maternal aunt in lieu of the teen herself.

Therefore, the young girl decided to stay where she was at the moment, deeming the loss of one measly meal worth some peace of mind.

For Lily Potter was not a normal girl of fourteen years. It began with her wild, messy red hair, over her almond-shaped hazel eyes flecked deliberately with emerald to the unusual scar adorning her forehead. The strangest thing about the teen though, was her ability to use magic, which enabled her to call herself a witch.

For the last four years, the redhead had learned how to transfigure matches into needles, how to brew potions both to heal and harm - even to fly on a racing broom. In short, Lily was a witch in training.

Feeling a different set of eyes on her, the young girl opened her own to survey the near-empty park. Her gaze landed on a brunette boy about her age who stood several feet away from her, surveying the cloudless sky.

Curious, because she hadn't seen him anywhere near Privet Drive before, Lily scrutinized the other teen from her perch on the swing. He had long-ish hair pulled back in a ponytail (which was shaped like a pineapple of all things), his eyes were a dark brown color and his body betrayed a lot of activity, although his posture seemed lazy. There was an air of self-confidence, boredom, laziness and well-concealed danger around him which Lily couldn't shake off.

She narrowed her eyes at the brunette stranger, wondering if he wanted the same thing all of those brainless idiots who had propositioned her before tried to get.

Before either of them could open their mouths to say anything though, Dudley and his posse strutted over to them, piggy eyes fixated on the lonely witch sitting on the swing. Dudley stopped a few steps in front of her, next to the new guy. He mock-jovially swung an arm around the stranger's shoulders, attempting to seem like a well-meaning kid. "Mate, you shouldn't talk to her. Don't you know who she is?"

However, to everyone's surprise, the brunette stranger shook Dudley's sweaty, fat arm off his shoulders in a lazy, clearly deliberate move. "No."

"Then let me tell you. That's the Freak, Lily Potter. She's a no good-"

It seemed the temperature dropped several degrees. The stranger narrowed his eyes further in Dudley's direction. Frightened, the idiot posse dispersed relatively quickly.

Lily knew they'd be back soon though. "Come on. We better disappear from around here. They'll get reinforcements," the only female teen present sighed.

The stranger muttered something in another language, but followed her after releasing a sigh himself. Resigning herself to some company, Lily led the new guy to her favorite tree, climbing it until they were out of sight of anyone on the ground looking up. It surprised her a bit that the other teen could keep up with her, but then she reconsidered his muscles.

"So, who are you?" Lily asked curiously. No one had ever defended her against Dudley before - without caving in under peer pressure later on or wanting something in return. Understandably, she was a bit more concerned about this stranger's intentions.

"Shikamaru Nara."

She nodded tensely at him, figuring that was a nice enough response. "Lily Potter. But you already knew that."

Wondering what someone so obviously against everything Privet Drive stood for was doing here, Lily contemplated if she should ask him more questions.

"Who were those guys?" her new acquaintance questioned deceptively lightly.

Sighing, the redhead leaned back against the tree-trunk. "My cousin Dudley and his minions. They're pigs, as you might have noticed. Since Dud's the worst of them, he's the leader. They beat up little kids or otherwise terrorize the neighborhood. Unfortunately, you're on their hit list, too, now, for defending me. In case you hadn't known, I'm supposed to be the easy weirdo delinquent around here."

Another sigh was her only reply. For a long moment, the two stared at the sky in silence. Lily wrapped her arms around her knees, wishing for the hundredth time she knew what was going on.