Habits
folder
Naruto › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
6
Views:
1,135
Reviews:
9
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Naruto › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
6
Views:
1,135
Reviews:
9
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 3
A/N: Thanks again everyone for your wonderful reviews, and for the number of people who’ve
put this on fave/alert! As I said before, this is my first Naruto fic, so I’m glad that I seem to have
captured everything so well already. There’s at least a couple more chapters after this...
and I could really use a beta for it, since my current beta has no Naruto knowledge! If anyone’s
interested, drop me a message or let me know in a review. I’m okay with my current on
spelling/grammar, so I just need someone who can monitor my characterization.(If this or any other A/N seems weird to you, it’s because this is being posted on FF.net too)Habits - Chapter 3After depositing their gifts before his photograph, Ino and Chouji fell in line beside their last
teammate. They were all in the second row of the small gathering; his few living family
members comprised the first. They were surprised to see Temari alongside Shikamaru in their
row, but guessed the reason without question. The rest of their row held Kurenai and some of
Asuma’s closer colleagues, while the remaining rows were made up of the rest of the “rookie
nine”, their teachers, and Gai’s team.The funeral was overall much the same as Sandaime’s had been, though on a smaller scale, as
Asuma had been a lesser ninja than his father. It passed uneventfully underneath a defiantly
sunny sky, as the priest gave the ceremony and each person attending came up to give their
regards in turn.As the crowd began to disperse, Shikamaru wordlessly slipped away into a nearby alley, wanting
to escape from his friends for the time being. Part of him still blamed himself for his teacher’s
death, and that part needed to grieve, alone - just him and another cigarette from that last pack
that’d been in Asuma’s pocket as he died. He held the lighter tightly in his fist, both concealed
within his pocket, as he stared off into space again. He knew it would be only minutes before
Temari found him and started trying to console him, and he wanted to savor the peace between
now and then.When he heard footsteps approaching, he turned his head to (likely pointlessly) ask her to go
away for the time being, only to find the large figure of Chouji filling the alley instead of the
kunoichi’s equally-familiar one.“Ino and I were going to go out to dinner,” he explained, motioning to the girl standing behind
him, “and we thought you’d like to come. I’ll pay.”Shikamaru thought for a moment, using one sleeve to wipe the smoke-induced water from his
eyes. “...Where’d Temari go?” he asked, having last left her talking with his teammates.“Back to your house to wait for you, since I told her about our plans.” He noticed Shikamaru’s
uncharacteristically puzzled expression and added, “I gave her my key. I thought that, since
she’s your girlfriend, you wouldn’t mind.”“I see... how troublesome.” He let out a rough sigh, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall
again. He silently hoped that his mother wasn’t home right now; he knew his father was out of
town on a mission, but even if he’d been around, the worst he’d have done upon seeing the
blonde breaking and entering was congratulate both teens on their choice of lovers. His mother
was an entirely different story.A small smile crossed his lips as he replayed Chouji’s words. He’d never told anyone, not even
Temari, that she was his girlfriend, and yet his best friend had figured it out so readily, despite
their lack of public affection. He was one of the only four people who’d ever even begun to
really figure Shikamaru out, and now... one of those people was gone.At least the two who knew him best of all were still here in front of him.He dropped the cigarette, to lazy to smoke it and walk at the same time. “All right,” he said,
showing his half-a-smile to his teammates, “let’s go.”Even though they’d been Team 10 for nearly five years, it still felt odd to all three chuunin to be
walking down the street together. Perhaps it was the fact that their time together had become
more and more infrequent since Ino and Chouji’s promotion a year earlier. Perhaps it was the
haunting silence that had fallen over the three, threatening to deafen them despite the usual
Konoha din in the background.Most likely, it was just the large empty space where Asuma usually followed behind them. Their
usual banter seemed pointless without their sensei there to stop it. Anything else that’d happened
since they’d last gathered together seemed insignificant in comparison to that one, overwhelming
fact.So it was a combination of factors: his absence and the silence it caused.Barbeque was out of the question.It went without saying that Ichiraku should be avoided right then as well; with Ayame out of
town, the ramen stand was in an intolerable state of disarray. No one involved wanted to deal
with that chaos tonight.In fact, every place they passed seemed off-limits, either because someone didn’t like it or
because there were too many memories involved. Chouji’s insatiable appetite meant that he’d
been to every restaurant in town at least once, and most of those he’d taken his team to for one
celebration or another.Which is why, eventually, the trio found themselves at Chouji’s house. He was the only one of
their team to already have his own house, and that was simply because Akimichi tradition
dictated all shinobi get their own dwelling within the clan’s district upon becoming a chuunin. In
all reality, he only stayed there often enough to make it look lived in - the rest of the time, he still
lived with his parents, and he had no plans to change that. Otherwise, the house was only used
when their team (and any additional friends/dates) wanted to spend some time together free from
authority figures.Meaning that Shikamaru spent more time on the house’s roof than its owner did inside the house.For a few minutes, Ino tried to help Chouji make dinner, only to realize that she had no idea how
to cook what he was cooking. She settled instead on setting the table and trimming the plants he
kept around the house to keep herself busy. Shikamaru was content to just lay on the sofa and
stare at the ceiling, one hand idling flicking his - no, Asuma’s - lighter. He had too much respect
for his friend’s house to smoke inside.Dinner was delicious, as food made with love always was, despite being simple. Rice, a sweet
type of chicken that must have been his own recipe, and wonton soup. The meal went by quietly,
with few words spoken aside from compliments about the cooking, and things only got quieter
once they realized Ino was eating the most out of all of them.For once in his life, Shikamaru couldn’t stand the silence. Things weren’t supposed to be quiet
between him and his friends; they were loud, energetic, always squabbling over something while
he watched, pretending not to be amused. He took one last bite and then dropped his chopsticks
and stood.“I should go make sure mom hasn’t killed Temari,” he muttered, his eyes fixed on the wall
farthest from his teammates. “See you round...”There was a minor ruckus as both of the others rose to their feet and rushed to cut him off, Ino
attaching herself to one of his arms and Chouji wrapping his arms around them both. Shikamaru
closed his eyes, taking a moment before putting one hand on each of their backs. They all stood
in silence, heads bowed and resting on each other for a few minutes, before he finally spoke
again.“You two have to promise me you won’t die until I’m waiting for you in the afterlife,” he
whispered, earning weak chuckles from them both.“Only if you promise not to die till you’ve lived out your life’s plan,” Chouji countered,
squeezing them both a little tighter for a moment.Shikamaru nodded, letting them go. “I’m working on it. I’ve got it all planned out.”Ino glanced between the two, unsure of what the two boys were talking about, but deciding that
if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for her. She released her grip on
Shikamaru’s arm, allowing him to escape out the front door.Truly smiling for perhaps the first time since their sensei’s death, they both returned to their
dinner... And Chouji had seconds.