Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did. Christmas anyone?

Prologue

Shikamaru cracked open one eye. Seeing that the coast was clear, he let out a giant yawn before pushing himself up. He looked out the window to check approximately what time it was, and his large, childish eyes grew even wider as he saw that the sun was already high above the trees of the Nara compound. That didn't make sense. His mother always woke him hours before then.

He stretched, and swung his feet off of his bed and onto the floor. Standing up with a small groan, Shikamaru slowly walked over to his closet to change into his clothes. He decided to go with a dark olive green shirt and dark grey pants. He thought the colors suited his personality: physical, but not present.

After looking longingly back at his bed, Shikamaru started trudging down the stairs into his house's living room. Odd, his parents definitely should have been up and about at this time. His father sitting on the couch, trying to look busy, while his mother cooked or cleaned, while at the same time chastising his father for not being more involved in the shinobi lifestyle, or the Nara clan, or their house, or whatever else was on her mind at the moment.

Whatever, if they weren't here it just meant he didn't have to give any effort to pretend to be active. He stopped suddenly. If his mother wasn't here, then that meant he could go back to sleep! Giddy with excitement, and nearly tripping over his still slightly pudgy toddler feet, Shikamaru nearly sprinted up the stairs and back into his bedroom, climbing into bed and beneath the covers. With a smile he rolled over, ready to continue his favorite past-time.

It really was odd. Shikamaru hadn't seen anyone else since the day before yesterday. Maybe this was a test from his mother? She might be trying to trick him into panicking, or even more likely, leaving the house. As if. All Shikamaru needed was the bags of chips his father had hidden away for when the Akimichis came over.

Actually, if that were the case his father would have been back by now. He wouldn't go without the comfort of sitting on the couch for hours on end just for the schemes of his crazy wife, and her ridiculously high expectations for activeness in her household. Shikamaru didn't understand it. He walked down the stairs every morning, and back up to his room every night, surely that was plenty of movement for one day.

After grabbing another handful of chips, Shikamaru stowed the bag back where he found it, and shuffled back in the direction of the living room. He hadn't quite made it through the doorway before he heard a peculiar sound. It seemed to be a shrill buzzing, and it was steadily growing louder. Moving slightly faster, Shikamaru made his way to the window, peering out to observe what this new sound might be. At the exact moment he peeked out, he managed to make out the words. He paled suddenly, backing away from the window, glancing over his shoulder before moving faster than he had ever moved in his life, across the room, up the stairs, through a door, and safely in his bed, under the covers. He waited. Any moment now...

CRASH!

The front door slammed open, and the screaming, now impossible to ignore, filled Shikamaru's ears.

"- BELIEVE YOU LEFT HIM ALONE THE PAST TWO DAYS! AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A PARENT! NO DOUBT CHOZA OR INOICHI WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE! HE'S ONLY ONE SHIKAKU, AND YOU LEFT HIM ALL BY HIMSELF, COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE!"

His mother's rant subsided, and Shikamaru pushed his head farther into his pillow. He could already imagine his father's reply, something along the lines of 'he's almost two', and he knew it would probably make the yelling match continue. Thinking that over he changed his mind, a match had to have multiple contestants, this just had one, and a target. He toned out the rest of the argument, and opted to catching up on the sleep he had lost by going to get some food.

All too soon, Shikamaru was being shaken awake. He correctly assumed it was his mother. Sighing, he opened his eyes, and took in the sight of his mother smiling down at him. He felt his bed sag suddenly, and looked over to find his father had collapsed down onto it. It made since to Shikamaru, the climb up the stairs always took a lot of energy out of HIM, so it made since that his father need to rest a little.

"Shika," his mother said in a gentle tone. He looked up at her as she continued, "your father and I have been thinking for a long time, and we've decided that we want to have another baby." She smiled like this was the greatest thing in the world. For the life of him, Shikamaru couldn't understand why. That would just mean one more person to take care of, one more person to provide for, cook for, and clean up after. It would take so much time and energy!

Frowning, he opened his mouth, trying to ask the question he had about this sudden decision. Then he suddenly closed it, as a new thought occurred to him. If his mother had to take care of a baby, then she wouldn't be able to harp at him as much. With this new realization, he looked at his father, understanding why he would have agreed to such a seemingly troublesome request. Troublesome, that summed it up pretty well.

But if it let him sleep more, and made the house more peaceful, at least for him, then it would definitely be worth it. "I like that," he said simply, before asking the important question. "When?"

His mother glanced at his father and said, "Your new baby brother will be born in a little over 3 months." She sounded pleased with herself. She had probably expected him to object, since he always objected to everything. But maybe she hadn't thought it out like he had, or hadn't thought that he would think it out like that. Or maybe she had wanted him to come to that conclusion all along in order to get him to agree to something she wanted. If that was the case, she deserved more respect than he had given her. He had never thought that she might be as sneaky and roundabout as his father. Actually, she might have even tricked his father with it too! Shikamaru looked at his father's face, and found that it was blank, but behind that veil he knew his father was thinking hard. Shikamaru would have laughed out loud then, if it wasn't so troublesome to do so. Instead, he allowed the corners of his mouth to raise slightly, the only sign that he found something amusing.

With that in mind, he turned back to his mother and said, "I can't wait," before rolling onto his side, with his parents at his back, and promptly fell asleep.

It had been almost the three months allotted time for the baby to be born, and Shikamaru was getting impatient. His mother seemed even more testy than usual, and his father had taken to hiding at work in order to not be caught in the crossfire. Shikamaru, however, didn't have that luxury, and was constantly the one who played target to his mother's complaints. All he really wanted was for the man he called 'Dad' to come home, so at least he would be able to share Shikamaru's misfortune.

When he heard the door open, Shikamaru bounded downstairs as fast as he ever did anything, meaning it took less than double digit minutes to go the 20 feet down to the living room.

When Shikaku saw his son 'hustling' down to greet him he couldn't hide a smirk. It must have been really bad today. Maybe it was time he introduced him to Choji, the Akimichi heir, and Ino, the Yamanaka clan heir. It had been a while since he saw his two best friends and partners, and this would be a good excuse. Even better, he would be able to avoid his wife and her temper for several more hours, and who knows, by then he might have to go back to work, the Hokage was always happy to have help with his paperwork.

So when Shikamaru stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his father suddenly said, "Shika, I haven't introduced you to Ino and Choji yet have I, would you like to meet some other kids your age? Their fathers are good friends of mine, so you will probably be hanging out with them a lot as you get older."

Shikamaru just shrugged, "So we leave home? Good."

Shikaku grinned at his son and gestured towards the door. "We should go before your mother makes us do more chores." Shikamaru shuddered, and stumbled forwards, then caught himself. "Whoa, don't get too excited there Shika, you might make some noise," Shikaku started nervously.

"Right," Shikamaru mumbled, and turned towards the door. This was going to be a long walk.

Choji and Ino weren't that bad, at least in Shikamaru's opinion. They both seemed fine with him just lying on his back watching the clouds. Ino talked a lot, but her sentences were fragmented and hard to understand. It seemed to frustrate her. It frustrated Shikamaru too; it disrupted the peace and quiet. Choji just sat there munching on his chips, nodding as Ino talked.

Choji was wearing long khaki shorts and a small, dark green jacket with a light green coloring across the shoulders. He had short spiky brown hair, in a contrast to Shikamaru's black hair that was longer and coarser and fell almost to his shoulders. Ino was wearing a bright orange tank top and maroon pants. Her light blonde hair was cut short, her bangs held out of her eyes by a small purple clip.

Shikamaru sighed suddenly, stopping Ino in her monologue. The other two looked at him, surprised that he chose to make a noise. Shikamaru ignored them. He had payed attention to them at the beginning, but that was just because the grownups had wanted to see them get along, and they were still watching them. Now though, they were long gone, and Shikamaru didn't feel as though there was any need to continue exhausting himself like that for no reason.

But now they were expecting him to say something. He hoped they would just go back to whatever they were doing before, but as the silence continued, he regretted that sigh. Slowly, as if it pained him, Shikamaru raised his hand to point at the sky, "The clouds are nice. All they do is float all day, no responsibilities, nothing they have to do. It must be nice to be a cloud." He looked over at them, Choji still eating and bobbing his head in acknowledgment.

But Ino looked confused. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she opened it again, as if planning what she was going to say in her head. "What's a 'sponsibility?" she asked, finally putting words to what was troubling her.

Shikamaru sighed again. Then he was angry at himself for sighing again, when it was the reason for this predicament in the first place. Almost immediately, he stopped being angry. It took way to much energy. "A responsibility is something you have to do because someone else is relying on you to do it," he said slowly, making sure that she could follow. Ino's face screwed up tightly, trying to process what he had said. Then her face cleared.

"'Kay," she said, smiling radiantly, before going back to telling Choji about the flowers in her mother's shop.

Shikamaru looked over to the other side of the clearing and observed the three grown men sitting there. He had never seen his father look so happy or comfortable, or ACTIVE. Shaking his head, Shikamaru turned his attention back to the clouds, content that they at least, never used any energy they didn't have too.

While sitting with his friends Shikaku was having a great time. They didn't have the chance to get together often, and he missed the old days when they would come out to this training ground together just to do something in their boring lives. Now they didn't have the time, making this meeting all the sweeter.

He was glad that Shikamaru had the chance to meet other children. He rarely got out of the house, and only left when Shikaku made him come feed the deer with him. Otherwise he would just go back to bed. Sometimes Shikaku couldn't be prouder of his son. He seemed like he would become even smarter than Shikaku himself, and also knew how important sleep was. But at the same time he wished Shikamaru had a little more motivation. He had definitely been more active than his son when he was young, hadn't he?

"Choza, Inoichi, we've been friends pretty much forever right?" Shikaku paused, and continued when he got nods of confirmation from both men, "When we were young, I wasn't THAT lazy, was I?" he asked, pointing out Shikamaru lying on his back, staring up at the clouds. Inoichi and Choza shared a look before they both burst out laughing. Shikaku turned away, his pride slightly wounded. He looked at his son again and shook his head. He knew it was true, he never did anything if he didn't have to.

"Well, at least I had a boy, so I won't have to be very hands on as he grows up." Shikaku stated, trying to push the attention off of him. Inoichi suddenly stopped laughing. "It'll be fine," he said stiffly, "I'm a great father."

"Is the next one a boy too, Shikaku?" Choza asked his friend. Shikaku nodded, and then smirked, "And I'm not trading Inoichi."

The byplay continued for a while longer, but as it grew late they realized that while they could stay out all night, their kids needed to go to sleep soon before they fell asleep in the field. Well, before Ino or Choji fell asleep in the field. Shikamaru had no qualms about such a thing, and had done so soon after he went back to cloud watching.

Ino was still talking, not aware that no one was listening, when Inoichi swooped in and picked her up. She screamed, then tried to hit her father, "Don't DO that Daddy," she whined as he settled her at his shoulder.

"Say goodbye to your new friends, tulip," he laughed.

"Bye Choji, bye Shikamaru," said Ino, still a little indignant at her treatment.

"Bye Ino," Choji replied, while Shikamaru just grunted. They turned to their respective parents as the two Yamanakas walked away, Choji standing before the two adults, and Shikamaru sitting on the ground, not moving until he had too.

"Well Choji, we should-," Choza started, but the messenger arriving in a plume of smoke cut him off.

"I have a message for Shikaku Nara," the messenger stated abruptly.

"Yes?" Shikaku questioned, resigned to having to do more paperwork. At least the Hokage is fun, and it allows me to get updates on all of our shinobi so…. He suddenly snapped back into focus when he heard the messenger's next sentence.

"You are required in the hospital immediately."

"I…. I see…. Message received, you are dismissed." The messenger nodded before disappearing in another plume of smoke. "Choza, could you take Shikamaru home with you tonight? I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon."

"Of course, I understand. I'll see you later then, Shikaku," said Choza. He turned to the two kids, and held out his hands, allowing a smile to cross his face, "Grab on, we don't want to be late for dinner, right?"

As they walked along the path to the Akimichi clan compound, which was very close to the Nara clan compound, Shikamaru considered all the possibilities that could have called his father away. His first thought was that someone important was injured, but his father's two teammates had been in the clearing with him, and if it was anyone else then he wouldn't have needed to be in the hospital right away.

It wasn't until they were at the door to Choza and Choji's house that Shikamaru realized what must have happened. Immediately he felt bad. All day he had done his best to avoid his mother, when today was the day she must have needed him the most.

"It's today isn't it."

Choza and Choji looked at him, startled. His voice sounded quiet and empty, even to himself. "That's why Dad went to the hospital. Mom is there, the baby is coming today," he continued, trying to explain himself. His voice still sounded hollow, but it wasn't important to him. He wished he hadn't been so lazy today of all days, when it was necessary that he be there for his mother.

Choji still looked confused, but Choza's face softened, "Yes, it's happening now. But we really don't want to miss dinner, so, you know, we should get moving."

Choji nodded, "Yes, dinner," he agreed, his ever-present bag of chips somehow not yet empty.

But Shikamaru still felt bad, felt like he had let his Mom down. He sat down at the table, planning on brooding all throughout the meal. Until he tasted the food. It was some kind of stir fry, but it was easily the best food he'd ever tasted. His eyes widened, as the spices hit his mouth, and he gulped it down so fast it burned his throat.

"It's good isn't it," said Choza, smiling. "My wife always cooks the best when we have guests. If you come over sometime you can have this again."

Shikamaru nodded, past his self-pity. "I'd like that," he said simply. He dipped his spoon back in the broth, blowing on it to cool it. He took another bite, this time it wasn't so hot. He closed his eyes, allowing the sharp flavor to roll across his tongue so that he could enjoy it as long as possible.

"It's nice to meet you Shikamaru," said the smiling woman sitting across from him. "You are always welcome here whenever you want to stop by."

Shikamaru finished up his bite, slurping the broth out of his spoon. "Nice to meet you too, thank you for the food," he said, looking up at her. They finished the rest of the meal in silence, no one wanting to stop eating long enough to hold a conversation.

After he finished, Shikamaru walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch, content to stay there for the rest of the evening. Choza had spent enough time with Shikaku so that when he saw Shikamaru collapse there he immediately said, "Choji, you should show Shikamaru your room." It wouldn't do to have the guest do nothing but sit on the couch by himself for hours, and this way they could get to know each other more. It was a win-win.

Choji nodded and trotted over to Shikamaru. He grabbed Shikamaru's wrist and dragged him down a hall before stopping in front of a door. The Akimichi's house had a very different setup than the Nara's house, but it was made out of the same wood, the same wood that was used in all of Konoha's buildings. Choji pushed open the door and went inside. When Shikamaru didn't follow right away, Choji walked back and gestured towards the room, as if to invite him in. Shikamaru hesitated for a second, before stepping into Choji's room. He looked around him. It was smaller than his own room, but big enough that it wasn't cramped. Choji had his bed opposite the door, with his closet to the left and a box of toys on the right. Beside the door was a trash can piled high with empty chip bags. Choji added one more to the pile already towering above the floor, before sitting down by the toy box. He pulled out two cars and held one out to Shikamaru. Shikamaru took it without a word. This didn't seem too bad. The Akimichi's were all nice to him, and Choji seemed like he would make a good friend. Ino too, if she ever stopped talking. It had been a long day for Shikamaru, he hadn't slept nearly as much as normal, and after a hot meal, in the warm home of the Akimichi's, he quickly dozed off in the middle of playing with Choji.

"Right through this door Shikamaru, and remember, you have to be quiet because they might be sleeping," Shikaku reminded his son. It was the day after he had disappeared to the hospital in order to be with his wife while she gave birth. He was still relatively in shock that all of a sudden he had a new son. There wasn't any warning either, the baby was two weeks early.

Shikamaru let out a grunt to show that he heard, and Shikaku opened the door to allow them both to enter the room. Shikamaru crossed the room next to his father. He looked up at the bed where his mother was asleep. And then up at the small bundle in her arms.

"Is that him?" he asked, gesturing towards the bundle.

"Yup," his father replied proudly.

"What's his name?"

"Well, we haven't decided on one yet, but it will most likely be a name beginning with 'Shika' like mine name and yours."

Shikamaru thought for a moment. Shika…. Shika…. Shika…. Shika….

"What about Shikai? Would that work?" Shikamaru asked thoughtfully.

"Hmmm, it might, but we can't name him until your mother wakes up. If we did she would go crazy. And I mean off-the-rails crazy, not just normal crazy," the elder Nara replied. Shikamaru nodded in understanding. It was definitely safer to wait until Mom woke up. For both of them.

They sat down in the chairs by the bed, neither saying a word as they looked at the mother and her newborn child. It might have hours that they sat there, or just minutes, Shikamaru couldn't tell. All he saw was the rise and fall of his little brother's chest as he breathed in and out.

Eventually, his mother awoke, and when she saw her husband and eldest son sitting there, she moved to sit up, disturbing the small bundle in her arms, and causing the baby to wake as well. She scooped him up to her chest, smiling down at him.

"Would you like to hold him, dear?" she asked her husband. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He stood up and took his son in his arms, cradling him tightly, as if he might jump up and run away at any moment. Shikamaru too had his attention fixed on their newest family member.

Shikaku held out the newborn for Shikamaru to see. "You're going to have to help us raise him Shikamaru, it's your job as the older brother to guide him until he's old enough to go off by himself. You'll be able to do this, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, reaching out to touch his new brother's tiny hands. They were so small in his own toddler hands, but now he felt like a giant next to this new life. Shikaku looked over at his wife, who still looked tired, but was refusing to go back to sleep until she was sure that her men wouldn't manage to hurt the new baby before he was even a day old. "Shikamaru came up with the name 'Shikai' for him, does that work for you? I have no objections to it," he said softly.

His wife shook her head, "Shikai, that's perfect."

Author's Note: I didn't ever plan on doing a story, but this just kind of happened. I got too bored I suppose. Anyways, let me know if you like it or have any suggestions. This is going to be an OC story, semi self-insert, and we'll see where it goes. Oh and there won't be that many time skips in the actual story, I just wanted to set it up.

Updates should be fast for a little while because I'm on break, but once school starts again I don't know how often I'll be able to update. I'll try to be consistent though. Maybe I'll just stock up on a bunch of extra chapters this week.

Reviews are always helpful, I want to know if y'all have anything to say about this story so far. Constructive criticism is great too, as long as its constructive, I don't really want to read about how it sucks if there aren't suggestions on how to make it better. Anyways, I hope y'all liked it.

TBC