From the Abstract to the Practical

Chapter = Shopping Gone Wild aka To Chicken Out or Not

Three days had passed and Naruto had done a very good job of avoiding Shikamaru. Of course that meant avoiding almost everyone else too, since they were all so wrapped up in planning for the young Nara’s eighteenth birthday. There was going to be a celebration in a small village outside of Konoha that night and Shika’s parents were making arrangements for all of Shika’s friends to go and stay the night.

Everyone in the group was excited about getting out of the village for something other than a mission. There was always the possibility of a mission taking precedence over the festivities for one or even all of the teams, but they were all feeling pretty optimistic. Ino and Sakura had been planning their outfits for weeks. Naruto was sure that Ten Ten and Hinata were doing pretty much the same thing.

Naruto still had to go shopping. He had to get at least one sort-of dressy outfit, just so the girls wouldn’t kill him. Sakura and Ino had offered to help him shop. When he turned them down, they had threatened him. “There is no way I am walking around with you in that dumb orange jumpsuit! Do you hear me, Naruto?!” Sakura had bellowed, fist raised and everything. “And no orange. Absolutely NO Orange.” Ino hissed between her teeth.

Naruto looked in the window of one of the shops. Jeez, what a pain: he thought and then really wished he hadn’t. Any reminder of Shikamaru brought back a very vivid memory of sensations that Naruto was trying very hard to forget. It wasn’t working. If anything, things were getting worse. Just thinking about the “experience” caused strong physical reactions. Naruto pressed his head against the cool glass and tried to think calming thoughts.

Bang, Bang, Bang. “Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei, you home!”

Iruka rushed to the door, not certain it could withstand a second assault. Naruto beamed at him and pushed past him into the room. His arms were loaded with packages. Somehow the boy managed to get his sandals off without setting even one box or bag down. Iruka was a little impressed.

“What can I do for you, Naruto?”

“Man, I need help.” The boy said sheepishly.

Iruka was tempted to ask his favorite former student when he didn’t need help, but stopped himself, just in time. “What do you need help with?” he asked with more than a little trepidation. With Naruto, one never really knew what to expect.

“You know about Shikamaru’s birthday right?” Naruto didn’t wait for Iruka to answer, he just barreled on. “I have to look good or Sakura and Ino are gonna kill me. I think they might just be serious this time.” He paused for a quick breath. “I went shopping and Man, there are way too many clothes out there, ya’ know?! Anyway, I had no idea what I was doing and the sales lady kept making me try stuff on and asking what I thought. Like, I have a clue. So I got sick of trying stuff on and just bought all the stuff she had me try on. Now I have no idea what to do. What goes with what?! And I can’t wear orange, ‘cause Ino’ll completely explode. Please Iruka-sensei, help me. Paahleeeeeeze.” He ended with a pathetic little huff as he and his packages collapsed on the floor.

It was moments like this that Iruka could clearly remember a much younger Naruto. Sometimes the boy was way too cute to be seventeen. “O.K., we need to start by looking at what you have here. Let’s start categorizing, there’s a lot of stuff here.” So much for grading papers tonight, maybe, we’ll just have a pop quiz tomorrow and I can make up the rest tomorrow night….

Shikamaru had been miserable for a week. There was no way he was going to enjoy tonight.

“Hey, Shika! Over here!” Kiba’s voice carried almost as well as Naruto’s. Shika waived and started to make his way through the crowd to the front of the theater.

“So, Shika. Big plans for your birthday, eh?” Shino managed to get right behind him, without Shika even noticing. He appreciated the other boy’s skills, but had to admit, Shino creeped him out most of the time.

“Neh, you already know all the plans, going to that festival thing with you guys and my parents.”

“Not what he meant, dunce. Boy, for a genius, you aren’t real quick sometimes.” Kiba snickered and Shino chuckled.

Shikamaru’s heart almost stopped. There was just no way. No way would Naruto tell these two about what he’d done…..what he’d said. Suddenly his head hurt and he felt sick to his stomach.

“Hey here comes Ino. So, you gonna make a move tonight or what……..Hey, you don’t look so good. You O.K.?”

Shika didn’t look up at Kiba. Afraid the relief he felt would be too clear on his face. They meant Ino. I almost had a heart attack! he screamed in his head.

“I am not up for this today. I’m going home.” he said aloud and turned without looking at either of them or towards the approaching Ino. He moved away as quickly as he could without actually running away.

Naruto finished up at the Mission office later than expected. How the Hokage could stick him with filing duty, was beyond him. He was starved. Anko had been in a hurry to get out of the archive room, so she’d suggested that the two of them skip lunch. It was past supper time now. Oh, well; at least I won’t have to spend tomorrow with that witch too. Anko really knew how to push Naruto’s buttons and enjoyed it immensely. Psycho cow!

“Hey! Naruto!” Man, Kiba’s voice could really carry over a crowd. Naruto looked in the direction of his bellowing friend. “Oh, crap!” He’d forgotten all about the movies. He’d been so distracted that he’d taken the wrong way home. It was his usual route, but he’d planned on going the long way home, tonight. He’d wanted to avoid the monthly movie outing with his friends. He’d wanted to avoid Shikamaru. At least until the festival. He couldn’t get out of that, not without a lot of questions from the group. Not unless a mission came up and things had been slow for the Chuunin ranks lately. Almost all the missions had been Jounin level.

The crowd outside the theater was larger than normal. Naruto remembered that the movie opening tonight was supposed to be a really good action flick. “Hrrrrr,” he groaned. “I really wanted to see this one.” All the guys did. The girls were probably just coming for something to do. Naruto started thinking up excuses as he walked toward the small group. He didn’t see Shikamaru and that was just fine. Naruto really didn’t know what he would say when he did see him.

“Kiba, could ya’ be any louder?” Naruto asked forcing a relaxed looking smile on his face. The next step was an over exaggerated stretch, followed by a big yawn.

“Don’t tell us, you’re going to pass on the movie too, Naruto.” Neji’s cultured voice always seemed out of place when he spoke in this group.

“Huhn…wha? Who isn’t coming?” Naruto could see Lee standing next to Sakura, who was talking heatedly with Ino. Ten Ten, Hinata, and Choji were already inside the glass doors, in line at the snack bar. Ten Ten and Hinata had gotten to be pretty close lately. Naruto thought it was a good thing, ‘cause sweet unobtrusive Hinata wouldn’t have stood a chance with Ino or Sakura as a best friend. Shino stood in between Neji and Kiba. The only person he didn’t see was…..

Shino interrupted Naruto’s thoughts, “Shikamaru showed up, but he wasn’t feeling well, so he went home, rather quickly.”

“Oh, yeah. In the time it took me to say hello to him, he turned white, then green, then bailed on us. It was weird, man. I hope it’s not contagious.” Kiba shivered a little.

“He prob’ly just got a whiff of you. We’re you down wind or what?” Naruto couldn’t resist the jibe. He still owed Kiba for the knots.

“Naw, I’m not bailin’ on ya’. Just a little tired after all that filing. I could use a good movie.” Naruto felt a lot more relaxed knowing that he wouldn’t have to deal with Shikamaru yet. He wasn’t being a chicken, no not at all. He just wanted to have a little more time to sort stuff out. Yeah, that was it.