Moments

Extra Chapter: Puzzle

"I'm home."

"Where've you been?!"

"Inojin's."

"Do you even realize what time is it?" His mom was angry. That much Shikadai could tell from her ice-cold glare. Dad wasn't home again. He'll probably come back late at night, as usual.

"It's half past nine."

Sometimes he hated it here. No matter how he looked at it, his family did not seem happy at all. Compared with Inojin's home - always full of warmth, happiness and love - Shikadai's place seemed cold. There were days, when Shikadai didn't want to go home, to hear his dad's complains and mom's scolding. It would be nice to be born in a normal family. Just like Boruto, Shikadai kind of wished for his dad to do some boring job and come home more often. That way even his mom would probably soften up and lecture her kid less.

This particular lecture Shikadai heard many times already. By now he already learned, that if he were to interrupt, leave or complain, it would be ten times worse. Sometimes, he even suspected that his mom can read his mind. The word 'troublesome' even pronounced in his head could bring upon his head a storm heavier than an actual hurricane. At this point, all Shikadai's strength went to hold back that one word. He had to listen.

No matter how troublesome that was.

He saw his mom's eyes narrowing down.

'Oh, crap!' he thought in panic. 'Did she notice?'

His mom sighted.

"Go eat now. And then finish your homework."

The storm avoided him somehow.

"Did that."

"Fine."

To tell the truth, Shikadai didn't want to eat at all. Spending time with Boruto always meant eating hamburgers whenever they feel hungry. Even after all these years Shikadai didn't mind that, since junk food was so much tastier that anything they can eat at home. The only minus was that unlike Hokage's son, he didn't have enough room in his stomach to fit in proper supper afterwards. Which will also mean making his mom angry.

"The food will go cold if you don't eat." There was no hiding it.

"I'm not hungry." Shikadai said standing up from the table.

His mom gave him her favorite look, that usually made him shiver with fear.

"You ok?"

"Y-yeah… I'll go to my room."

He escaped before the storm started.

'Inojin wouldn't probably run away from his mom like that…' he thought falling down on his bed.

Even if trading families would be possible, Inojin would never agree to it. They were a happy family. Unlike his own.

With this thought Shikadai fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes it was already dark outside. The clock showed two in the morning. 'What a drag' he thought, standing up to go to bathroom. On his way Shikadai saw the lights in the kitchen. 'So he did come back tonight after all.' His dad was sitting near the window and smoking.

"Mom will kill you if you do that. And me too for covering you." The boy said.

His dad just laughed.

"Why don't you sleep?"

"Bathroom. You?"

"Your mom kicked me out from the bedroom." He laughed again.

How can he laugh at this?

"Dad." Shikadai went for the question that was bothering him for years now. "Why would you be with someone as troublesome as mom?"

"She IS troublesome, eh?" Dad was still smiling. "Well, that was because your mom was the hardest puzzle I've got to solve."

"People don't marry each other because of that. They marry because they love each other." Shikadai didn't even realize, that he sounded just like his mom right now. "Wasn't your marriage for the purpose of maintaining alliance with Hidden Sand?"

"You're wrong here." Dad put out his cigarette. "I've asked your mom to marry me because I never wanted her to leave."

"What's with that?" Shikadai felt kind of disappointed.

"Let me ask you one thing." His dad moved closer, so their eyes would be on the same level. "Do you love your mom?"

Shikadai didn't answer. It's not that he didn't, but...

"Then, do you hate her?"

Shikadai didn't answer this one too. She was annoying sometimes, but that doesn't mean...

"Ok, now try to imagine, what will happen if your mom is not here."

Shikadai started thinking. If mom wasn't there he would... he would... he would be able to play games as much as he wanted. He would be able to eat junk food all the time. Nobody will scold him when he comes back home late, when he throws his things around, when he doesn't clean his room or doesn't wake up on time. The picture didn't seem tragic at all.

"You don't get it, do you?" His dad laughed and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Sleep."

"Mom will kill you."

"If I gave up every time she promised to kill me, we wouldn't be together."

Shikadai looked at his dad's back.

His parents were weird.

Inojin's family seemed so much more normal.

"I totally understand ya!" Boruto exclaimed. Out of all people in Shikadai's class he was dissatisfied with his family the most. "I mean, me too! If I could, I would totally trade families with Sarada. Her dad is so cool!"

"Your dad is Hokage, and her dad is a creep." Shikadai's words were as cold as his attitude.

"He's not!" Boruto started to shout louder than Shikadai's mom. "It's just he's always wearing black that..."

"Yeah, yeah..."

He didn't listen.

"Which family would you want to trade for?"

"Inojin's, probably. They always seem happy."

"Hmm... I guess you have a point." Boruto thoughtfully said. "Wanna hang out to play again?"

"Mom will kill me if I do that two days in a row." And that was troublesome. "Wasn't your mom angry at you yesterday?"

Boruto remembered something and twitched as his face went pale.

"Yeah, very angry."

"I'm home."

There was no reply.

'Huh, nobody's here?' thought Shikadai entering the house. Well, his dad must be at work, but it was unusual for his mom to be out when he comes back from school. 'Groceries, probably.' He went straight to his bedroom. 'I could have totally stayed to play with guys today.' Shikadai thought turning on his game.

He managed to clear five whole levels, before is tummy started to grumble. It was quarter to seven now, but he never heard anyone come in. 'That's strange.' Shikadai thought, looking out from his room.

The house was just as empty as it was couple of hours before, when he came back. The hallways were dark and quiet. Shikadai didn't remember his house to ever look that scary, since his mom was always there. Well, he actually hardly remembered his house without mom at all. It's like she was always there. Sometimes Shikadai would even feel annoyed about that.

But, when he thought about it more carefully, his mom was even scarier than the empty house.

"I'm home." He heard door opening.

The switch went on in the hallway, blinding Shikadai for few seconds.

That was his dad. He came earlier today which was already unusual, the worst thing is that dad was carrying takeout with him. Out of all possibilities the boy could think of…

"Where's mom?" Shikadai said instead of greetings. "Did you have a fight?"

Somehow he remembered the words his dad said at night. Maybe, by that time they've already quarreled and then in the morning after seeing them off mom left…

"No, there was an urgent business in Hidden Sand to attend. She'll be gone for few days." His father seemed very surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"Is that so..." Shikadai didn't reply to the question. 'See, there's a reasonable explanation, there was no need to panic!'

His tummy grumbled again.

"You hungry?" Dad asked.

Shikadai nodded.

"Go heat this up." His father gave him food and went straight to the living room.

'So, if mom's not here, I can...' Shikadai smiled, imagining himself playing games whole night.

He fell asleep an hour later his usual bedtime.

When Shikadai opened his eyes, is was already bright outside. The alarm didn't go off yet, which meant that he had some more time to sleep. He lifted his head just to look at the clock.

It was noon.

He was supposed to be in school four hours ago.

"Oh, crap!" He left his bed and rushed to his parents' room. His father was sleeping too.

"Dad! Wake up! We're LATE!"

"Temari, just five more minutes..."

"DAD!"

He finally opened his eyes, looked at his son, then at the clock.

"Oh, crap!"

Fifteen more minutes of total chaos and they've finally left the house.

When Shikadai came to school, he was immediately taken to the principal's office. Long lecture and an explanation letter he had to write were far more humiliating than any of his mom's scolding.

His classmates were laughing at him too.

"It's not usual for you to be late." Inojin said smiling. "You couldn't wake up without your mom?"

"Sh-shut up." Sitting through the remaining two classes was a torture.

"Hey, since your mom is not home, how about we play till late today?"

"Oh, great idea! I'm in!" Boruto exclaimed. Whole class was staring at him now.

"Boruto…" Aburame-sensei looked like he's going to lose his cool anytime soon. "You're staying here after classes for cleaning duty."

"No waaaaaay…"

Not having to listen to a troublesome lecture first thing after entering the house this late in the evening was certainly a new experience for Shikadai. He stood there for a moment staring into a dark hallway. Having nobody to wait for you wasn't actually as refreshing as he thought it would be. Instead it felt kind of lonely. Just like saying something like "I'm home" into the silence of an empty house would be meaningless without reply.

Shikadai turned on the lights. The house was in total mess, just like they've left it in the morning.

'If mom saw this, she'd kill us...' Shikadai thought and started cleaning up.

He gave up, after he realized that he had absolutely no idea where half of the things belonged to. It was already past nine in the evening. Shouldn't be dad home by now? Well, since he was this late for work, staying there till late would be expected.

'I'll wait for him. Just a little.' Decided Shikadai, turning on his game.

Somehow new levels seemed so boring, that he fell asleep.

Shikadai woke up feeling cold. Sleeping at random places around the house was something usual to him. And yet, every time he woke up, he'd be covered with a blanket. Shikadai never remembered waking up in this house to be this cold.

It was half past one.

And nobody was still here.

'How come the house feels so different without mom around?' He asked himself.

Shikadai heard front door opening.

"Sorry, I couldn't leave earlier today..." his dad said breathing heavily. Seems like he ran home from work.

"Welcome home."

"Did you eat?"

"Yeah, at Inojin's."

"That's good. You should go sleep now. I promise to be home early tomorrow."

"Yeah."

No matter how early his father promised to be home, that's still going to be late. The best choice would be to hang out with his classmates for a time being and then head home in the evening.

That was the best strategy, and yet…

"Sorry, not today." Boruto said shivering a little. "My mom was... super angry yesterday, she said one more day like this and I'm grounded…."

'Hmm... So Boruto is a no too.' Shikadai thought.

Inojin's training with his father today. Asking ChouChou would be just too weird, even though their parents are best friends.

"Don't worry about it then."

"Is your mom still not back?"

"Not yet."

"Must be nice without parents at home. I mean, you can do anything! Play all day, stay out whole night and eat just hamburgers all the time!"

Somehow Boruto's words seemed way too familiar, to the point of deja vu.

"I'll be going then." Shikadai waved him goodbye.

Boruto couldn't possibly understand. Even Shikadai himself finally got it only after these couple of days. Being home alone didn't feel good at all!

In the end he'll have to wait for his dad in that empty house again. Since playing games was way too boring there now, Shikadai started to think that he should cook dinner tonight.

'That doesn't sound too bad.' The boy concluded. 'Maybe this way our house won't be this cold anymore.'

With this thought he rushed home.

It wasn't Shikadai's first time cooking. He spent a lot of time helping out his mom in the kitchen after all. In the end, mixing right ingredients wasn't that hard, so he could cook quite a few dishes by himself. In theory, of course. It was his first time in the kitchen on his own without mom's supervision.

It wasn't as easy as he thought. Although the pieces he cut weren't as beautiful and whole room ended up dirty, he didn't mess up.

Cleaning turned out to be harder.

And his mom's cooking tasted so much better.

When Shikadai finally finished, it was half past eight. And his dad hasn't come back home yet.

Waiting was the worst. Does it always feel this lonely waiting for someone? Shikadai hated every last minute of it. But then again it actually felt, as if the time itself was mocking him by slowing its flow drastically. It wasn't rare for his dad to be late even after he promised to come earlier. In fact, he was late every time he promised that. And every time mom would still wait for him to return just like this. 'Does she feel this lonely too?' Shikadai wondered still staring at the clock. 'Does she feel this way every day?' This couldn't be right, since most of the time Shikadai was here too. But then again, what about those days when Shikadai himself stayed out till late? Right now the lectures he had to listen after coming home late kind of made sense to him.

Shikadai even felt like scolding his dad himself.

He touched the bowl prepared for his father.

It was cold.

But no matter how long she's waiting for the both of them, the food is always warm.

When clock showed nine in the evening Shikadai felt sudden stinging in his eyes.

Waiting home alone wasn't fun at all.

Not at all what he had imagined.

"Sorry, Shikadai." The boy never heard his dad coming back. "I know I promised, but there was this this we had to figure out right away..."

"Yeah."

Dad sat down the table across from his son.

"So you get it now, huh?"

"Yeah.

Clock showed half past ten.

They were late again.

It wasn't even funny anymore. Maybe, he should just sleep then? What's the point going to school now? After these couple of days Shikadai realized he won't be able to wake up on time, no matter how many alarms he'll set.

Hearing somebody opening front door made him jump up on his bed. Can it be...

Expression on his dad's face, when they've met in the hallway, was the mirror image of Shikadai's.

She saw them first.

"I'm home." She said with her usual serious face.

"Mom!"

Shikadai was probably even more surprised than his mom, when he suddenly rushed to hug her.

"What's wrong, Shikadai?"

"Mom, no matter how mad you are at us, please, promise you would never leave us!"

"Why so sudden..."

"If you leave, we'll die!" He exclaimed. "I'll be expelled from the Academy, and dad will lose his job, because we will never be there on time! We won't be able to make any money this way and die!" The serious expression on his face was just like his mom's.

"Pfft." He heard. His mother started laughing.

Shikadai looked back at his dad.

"Of course I won't leave you, silly." His mom said still laughing.

She was smiling happily, when she hugged her son back.

"Wait..." her voice suddenly became cold. "Why exactly both of you are still here?"

"You've heard the kid. That's exactly why." His dad was the one laughing now.

When ten minutes later both Nara men were thrown out of the house, they were still smiling happily.

"Hey, let's play?.." Boruto approached as soon as the last bell rang.

"Sorry, not today!" Shikadai stormed out from the classroom. "Gotta go home!"

For once he actually found himself running. When he opened the front door, the same house that he once used to call 'cold' was warm again. The lights were on, the mess was gone, and he could hear his mom cleaning the living room.

Shikadai took a deep breath, put on his usual indifferent face and called out:

"I'm home."

And for the first time in these few days, he actually heard the reply:

"Welcome back." Nothing really changed, not in his mom's voice. "You're early today."

"I'll be in my room."

When the door closed behind his back, Shikadai had a broad smile on his face.

"So, do you still think your mom is scary?" His dad asked with a grin. Even he was home early today. If Shikadai were to guess, Lord Hokage just threw the responsibility of scolding father on his mom. But even while listening to troublesome lecture he still seemed happy.

"Kind of."

"Hmmm, alright, I teach you one little secret about her." He moved closer so his son could hear him whispering. "You see, she's just like your uncle Gaara. They both have zero resistance for affection."

"What does that mean?"

"Try this: go to the kitchen, hug her and say you've missed her."

"Huh?"

"Just do it. You'll see what I mean."

'This is kind of troublesome...' he thought, but still stood up. It wasn't that he hated this idea, it was just kind of embarrassing. But if dad is completely serious, then it must be worth is. After all, Shikadai started to feel curious himself.

"Mom?"

"Mm, what is it?" She turned around. The same strict look on her face.

'This is going to be hard.' Shikadai thought to himself trying not to back off. If dad did that, then he should be able to do it too.

Shikadai stepped forward and hugged his mom.

"Nothing... I've just... kind of... missed you..."

She was surprised for few seconds, but then startled expression on her face was replaced by a gentle smile. Shikadai's heart skipped a beat when he realized, that he hasn't seen that smile of hers for a long time. 'Why is that?' he thought, trying to remember. He used to see it a lot when he was a kid. 'What had changed since then?' he never asked himself that question before. But the answer appeared to be very simple. He grew up. Started to come home late and hang out with his friends all the time. Is it what they call 'rebellious stage?'

"What's with that?" his mom laughed. "Go back, dinner will be ready soon."

She was still smiling when he left the kitchen. But seeing her like that again made this place whole lot warmer.

"So?" Dad was waiting for him.

"I'm... not sure anymore."

He laughed.

"Hey, dad. How do you know this?" Shikadai asked.

"I told you, she was the hardest puzzle I got to solve." He sounded kind of proud of himself. "One warning, though. That won't work when she's angry."

"Was it that bad?" Shikadai tried to imagine this scene.

"Haha..." dad forced himself to smile. "But…" he said after a pause. "It might actually work for you, after all."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, that's because…" dad smiled again, looking at his shocked son. "You make her happier than I ever could. After all, when you were born, she was smiling all the time."

"That's not true." They never heard her coming. "It was you who gave me a baby."

His parents were looking each other in the eyes, not a single word was said. While his mom still has her usual serious face on, his dad looked completely astonished. That was the moment when Shikadai figured it out. It didn't matter, what kind of faces they usually show, or what kind of words they say. Because it never mattered to them, what was on the outside. Appearances are deceiving, and so were the words. The happy family act was never played here, but if Shikadai would interpret his mom's words, they would probably mean "It was you, who made me happy."

His father smiled.

'A puzzle, huh?' Shikadai thought to himself looking at his parents. Maybe, that actually wasn't the worst way to think about it. If he were to equate in his mind any person as a riddle and try to solve it, that would make it a lot easier to pick even the hidden signs. Shikadai's initial theory was crumbling into pieces. For some days now he had this tiniest hunch, that there was a lot more to his family's relationship than he ever imagined. And that was worth investigating. 'So, if dad's puzzle was mom, then for me it would be the both of them!' he decided.

The rest of the dinner went on in silence.

As soon as it was over, Shikadai left to his room.

The first step would be to spy on them.

He's never moved this quietly during the practice in school.

Shikadai felt himself as an actual ninja, sneaking around the house, until he heard his parents' voices.

"Let me go, Shikamaru."

"Nah."

"You're in the way."

"So?"

"I'll get angry."

"No, you won't."

"Shikamaru!"

It was Shikadai's first time seeing his parents actually act like Inojin's. 'So that's how it is…' he thought, realizing that all this time he himself chose not to see any of this.

"How I'm supposed to let you go when you suddenly say something like that." His dad stubbornly said, hugging mom from behind.

"You have problems with that?" she really tried to sound angry.

"Not a single one."

She sighted and gave a faint smile.

"I still can't believe you couldn't manage on your own these couple of days." Teasing notes in Shikadai's mom voice were something new to the boy as well. "Are you really cut out to be Hokage's advisor?"

"You've heard the kid." Dad was smiling. "We need you here."

She laughed.

"Come on, let me go already." She tried to break free. "I have to clean this up..."

"It'll wait." Dad never let go of her. "Hey, it's been a long time since you've been to Hidden Sand."

She turned around to look at hm.

"Kind of."

"I've missed you, Temari." Same words he made Shikadai say, but this time accompanied with a kiss to a forehead.

She probably knew what this all was about. There was no way, that Shikadai's mind-reading mom won't figure this out. And yet, her reaction was still the same. She couldn't hold back a broad smile.

"What's with you two today?"

"Hmm, I wonder." His dad was smiling too.

Shikadai quietly returned to his room. Pieces of his own puzzle started coming together. And somehow those were the exact same ones missing from the picture of his world. Slowly it started to make sense to him that quite a few pieces were placed wrong from the very beginning, that's why the picture never made any sense to him. If he was to replace duty with love, appearance with happiness, and coldness with warmth, the picture of his family would be complete.

Although, the perfect family did sound nice to Shikadai, but in the end his 'perfect' wasn't Inojin's home after all. No matter how ideal his family seemed, no matter how much love his parents show to each other, that wasn't all to it. As Shikadai saw his parents just now, he realized just how wrong he was about them. In the end, surface didn't matter at all, when they would look this happy when nobody's around.

Even though it wasn't obvious from the beginning, but his family was perfect after all.

And he actually preferred it this way.

Now it's definitely

The End

Author's note: Now it's definitely the end. I kind of enjoy writing my stories in the same format as the manga itself, haha. But this has to be the end… Although I'm saying this now, my mind is still occupied with some story pieces that I might end up putting together, haha.

'Moments' was a good run. I probably enjoyed writing it too much. This particular extra chapter I originally planned as an epilogue, but then again couldn't pick a single idea to write about, so i gave it up. But in the end, I managed to finish it in time. Heartbreaking and heart-warming at the same time. Don't we all went through that stage as teens? The other family better that yours is just classic one. Thinking about that time makes me feel like an old lady xDD.

Anyways, I found it surprising that after all this years of writing romantic stories (mostly in my native language on different resources) I still go all shy while writing lovers' dialogues and interactions. What the hell is wrong with me.

And so, with my final words here I want to express my gratitude who was with me till the end. I'll miss posting everyday, I really would. Since it's my first time writing in English, I'm actually thankful to everyone, who went through even one line of this story. All of you woke up one ambition of mine, that I almost gave up upon. So yeah, thank you everyone! I'm glad I got the chance to meet you all. I'll definitely feel a bit lonely afterwards, haha.

That would be all! Bye-bye!