"Naruto's my friend. That's why I was brave. " -Shikari Nara

Chapter Three:

Outcasts

Shikari, with the ease of something akin to a growing habit, scratches a straight line on a wooden table. The new line was barely noticeable among the other thirty four ones. The Nara heiress had been in Winterfell for five weeks now. In all those five weeks, she had only interacted with Maester Luwin whom was teaching her the Common Tongue among other stuff, Eddard Stark whom she had found out was the Lord of Winterfell and Benjen Stark, who had left around four weeks ago.

"Lady Catelyn will not be pleased," Luwin neutrally pointed out, as he had been doing for the past five weeks.

"What a drag," Shikari yawned, absently noting she would have to find out how to say her favorite word in the Common Tongue. "Lady Catelyn has not even come to meet me yet."

Luwin smiled at her as he flipped through his book. "Soon you will be formally introduced to Lady Catelyn and her children."

"Why now?" Shikari asked while writing down words from the Common Tongue in a book she had been given to improve her grammar and vocabulary. Learning the Common Tongue was arguably one of the most challenging things Shikari had and was still going through. After all, her mother tongue consisted of kanji, which didn't exist in the Common Tongue.

"Because you have reached a certain mastery of the Common Tongue, enough to hold conversations with others. I must applaud you for learning so quickly."

"All I do is learn words, write, eat and sleep. Definitely I would know to talk now."

"Obviously," Luwin corrected. "Obviously I would know how to talk now."

"Obviously," Shikari repeated, adding the word to her growing vocabulary. "How many children does the Lady has?"

"Five. Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon."

"How clarity," Shikari sarcastically said.

"How enlightening."

Shikari rolled her eyes at the correction, already used to constantly being corrected. She couldn't even be annoyed anymore. Though now, she could say that she understood Naruto's frustration at constantly being corrected. Unlike Naruto though, she knew it was better to be corrected than to keep making the same mistakes.

Naruto...

She wondered if Choji still hung out with the blond idiot, considering one of the only reasons Choji did so was because Shikari did. She hoped so. She hated seeing Naruto all alone, that's why she started hanging out with the energetic blond. She wondered, did the idiot blond miss her? Choji probably did. Ino too, even though the blonde probably wouldn't admit it. Did her family think she was dead? Did they already have a funeral for a living person?

"...are you thinking about your family again?"

"Yeah."

Luwin was giving her a sad smile now, one full of pity, reminding her of when she had basically cried when the man had showed her a map of the world. The world she didn't belong in.

"You miss them a lot."

"Obviously," Shikari gritted out. "Missing them will not help me."

"Do they know where you are?"

Shikari closed her book, in an unnecessarily loud way. She shouldn't be pissed, no one but her knew that her family didn't exist in this strange world she was in. However, Shikari Nara, despite her usual aloofness, couldn't just act nonchalant after basically losing everyone without even knowing why or at the very least who was responsible for her situation.

"It is time for me to retire."

Luwin nodded in acceptance. "Shall I send you food?"

Shikari shook her head, knowing that she wouldn't have an appetite, and then she left the library. The way from her room to the library and back was basically the only route Shikari knew. The walk was troublesome, considering her room was far away.

:::

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime for Shikari, she had reached her room in the Stark house.

However, she didn't immediately enter her room, despite how much she wanted to just go sleep. She couldn't go to sleep right now, not when she noticed something off that was happening in front of her.

Her two neighbors, two boys who she assumed to be 'wards' just like her, were in what appeared to be a heated argument.

"Lady Catelyn will be happy about my absence," the dark haired boy gloomily told the other boy.

"Your brothers and sisters will not."

"It is better this way, Theon. Today marks the ten years since..."

Shikari didn't even bother turning away as the dark haired boy stared at her in surprise. Slowly, the other boy, Theon, turned to look at her as well. If she had to guess, perhaps they were surprised she was in their presence for longer than the usual five seconds before she entered her room.

"We, uh, did not see you standing there, m'lady," the dark haired boy shyly uttered.

Shikari gave a decidedly not ladylike snort. "I am not a lady."

"She can speak..." Theon loudly muttered, more surprised.

"Thought I was mute?" Shikari asked, knowing all too well that the servants were spreading rumors about her being a mute since she never breathed a word around them when they were in her room.

Theon slowly nodded, before perking up. "It is nice to know you can talk. I am Theon Greyjoy, a ward here in the North."

Shikari raised an eyebrow. "You are the boy born from Iron Islands," she noted, recalling Luwin's lessons and brief mention of Eddard bringing a Greyjoy boy here as a ward, or hostage depending on one's point of view.

She didn't bat an eyelash at the brief strain to Theon's friendly smile and instead focused her eye on the dark haired boy whom she would often share greeting nods with whenever she saw him. "And you?"

"I'm Jon Snow."

"He's Lord Eddard's bastard son," Theon added, his words making Jon grimace slightly.

"Bastard son?" Shikari repeated, not familiar with the concept. "What does that mean?"

"Lady Catelyn is not my mother," Jon explained. "My mother was someone else."

Though not satisfied at the explanation, Shikari nodded. "Bastard or not, you are Lord Eddard's son." Her words earned her a grateful smile from the boy and she decided she would ask Luwin more about 'bastards' instead of the boys in front of her.

Now, at least, she knew why she and the boys had rooms far away from others. They were all outsiders.

A yawn escaped her and she decided she would talk to the boys some other time.

"I am tired," she casually informed as she walked to her room.

"What is your name?" Theon boldly asked.

"Mendokusai."

That was all she muttered as she closed the door, not caring to reveal her name to the boys just yet. From what she had gathered, people would know her name soon enough already.

"Mendo...what?" Theon asked, loud enough for her to hear.

"Mendokusai," Jon answered.

Shikari was slightly surprised that Jon heard her muttering.

"What a weird name," Theon commented.

Wait...

They thought troublesome was her name? She was the least troublesome person she knew! And she wasn't even being arrogant, it was a fact. But it would be too troublesome to correct them.

"What a drag," she sighed as she dropped onto her bed, not even caring to change from the plain pastel colored dress she was forced to wear. She'd rather wear trousers like the boys do, but it would be troublesome to hear people nag at her.

Soon enough, sleep overcame her.

"Hey Shika?"

Shikari didn't bother tearing her gaze away from her beloved clouds. "Yeah Cho?"

"How are you so brave?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Shikari turned a confused look to Choji.

Choji wasn't looking at her, no instead he was looking sullenly down at his bag of chips.

"Yesterday at the Academy...you stood up for Naruto against our sensei."

"So? The way he was treating the idiot was troublesome."

"It was, but no one else stood up for him. Not even Ino. But you did. You're brave."

Shikari snorted in disagreement. "I'm a coward Cho," she contradicted. "I run away from problems, not face them."

"But you weren't a coward yesterday."

"...no, I wasn't."

"Why?"

"...Naruto's my-"

Shikari's eyes opened, her ears straining with the small amount of chakra she was adding to them. The sound that had jolted her awake was now easier for her to hear. It was the sound of a sobbing boy.

'It isn't any of my business,' she told herself even as she got out of her bed and got outside her room.

The sound was coming from the room to her left, which meant it was Theon who was silently crying. Shikari muttered a troublesome under her breath as she quietly entered the boy's room. Usually, she was annoyed at the fact that her and the boys' rooms didn't have locks, but for once she was grateful for this.

Slowly, and with silent steps, she made her way over to the Greyjoy's bed.

"Theon," she calmly uttered, knowing she would have to be gentle for once as she brushed away the boy's hair from his sweaty face. "Why are you crying?" Ouch. Even she felt she wasn't being tactful. Naruto was a bad influence on her.

Thankfully, it seemed the boy was merely crying in his sleep.

'Nightmare then,' Shikari concluded. She felt bad for Theon, because she got nightmares too.

"My family, I...miss..."

Shikari's heart definitely went out for Theon at the boy's unconscious rambling.

Wordlessly, she climbed on the boy's bed and stared at the ceiling while playing with the boy's hair in an attempt to sooth him.

As if reacting to her comforting presence, Theon curled up to her.

Shikari allowed him to.

'Winterfell is cold, so it's nice to have some warmth.'

The fact that it was from a fellow outcast made her not feel pathetic.

:::

Chapter End.

:::

Author's note: I wanted this chapter to be longer, but I didn't want to immediately jump to Shikari speaking fluent English just yet. Although she's got a grasp of the simple words or phrases, she still has no idea how to say words like 'troublesome' 'precious' 'illuminating' etc. Also, wanted to use this moment to explain some important stuff to y'all.

Why is Shikari learning the Common Tongue so fast?

To answer, she spent roughly 5 weeks only learning the Common Tongue. Not only that, but Shikari's is a female Shikamaru. And let's be honest, Shikamaru is basically a genius. Female or not. I'm planning to extend more on the 'learning a language fast' bit later on, but for now be patient and know that I have my future in-story explanations.

When in the story are we?

I'd say we are six years before Season One Episode One takes place.

How old are the Stark children at the moment?

Jon- 10 (same as Shikari)

Sansa- 7

Robb- 11 (same as Theon)

Arya- 5

Bran- 4

Rickon- not born yet.

Note: In the previous chapters Shikari has been stated to be 9, but I have decided to change it to 10.

Why flashbacks and will they continue?

I use the flashbacks to highlight that Shikari, despite how emotionally mature and nonchalant she seems, does indeed miss her friends. Also, the flashbacks will give some more insight to Shikari's character. Because by simply being female, Shikamaru/Shikari has altered her own world a bit before she ripped away from it. Flashbacks will continue, but they won't take up half of a chapter.

What jutsus does Shikari know? Will she learn more?

Currently, Shikari knows the basic Three Academy taught ones. (substitution, clones, transformation.) She also knows some of her basic Clan Ones, such as the trademark Shadow Possession. I believe that Shikari has the mental prowess to help herself learn other jutsus or techniques later on, such as perhaps the Tree Walking, Body Flicker or even an elemental jutsu. (Suggestions are welcomed.)

What's the pairing?

In the summary, I said this is a "fem!Shikaxmany" which means what I wrote. Shikari and many. Meaning, multiple love interests. Now, I don't know if I'm gonna let it end with a real harem ending or have her choose one person in the end. But for heaven's sake, this is Game of Thrones! Shikari will have her harem! (Because honestly, I see her potentially hooking up with a lot of people.) As of now, the list I have of her love interests' is still open for suggestions. Note: if you do give a suggestion, please state why.

Who is currently on my list of Shikari's harem?

Starks, Lannisters, Baratheons, Greyjoys, outcasts, bastards, cripples, broken things, girls, boys, etc. Have fun guessing~!