Chapter Text
In hindsight, Shikamaru knew more than he not only should, but more than other people gave him credit for. One of the Nara’s inside jokes was that they learned secrets that could get them accused of treason for fun. But Shikamaru, from a very young age, saw more than others thought he did.
The energy didn’t help either, he hadn’t told his father because it was more trouble than it was worth half the time. Sometimes when he set his head into his hands, it was just to close his eyes and try to stop the constant awareness of chakra in his own brain.
He had already concluded he was a sensor; it wasn’t the most impressive range either. Despite his limited range, it was overwhelming. Almost everything had chakra, everything. The little bit of chakra he found around him was enough to overwhelm him. As he grew older, and with his clan's guidance he was able to control himself.
It was also so unnecessarily beautiful. Shikamaru was young, but he was also a bit of a romantic at soul. Every single person had a chakra that slightly shimmered and moved depending on their mood. It was interesting to watch, to even comprehend it. His father’s chakra was steady, steadier than his mothers who whispered of the earth. His father’s had a void in it, one Shikamaru knew was something that he should never touch. The intimacy of that void belonging to his father unnerved him to a degree he couldn't put it down.
The village was full of the chakra during the day and sometimes people were so bright with it that Shikamaru had to squint when he saw them. Each chakra he sensed was like its own fingerprint, its own place in the universe. Some chakra signatures he had memorized on the back of his hand. For instance, some of his classmates by association and his friends, and also his parents. The elders who took daily walks in his clan. The Inuzuka boy that helped them tend some of the garden lands by the Naka river was distinctly flighty.
Chouji and Ino he knew almost like kin, and their chakras felt as much as his at this point. Ino was cold, most of her clan was cold to his surprise, but it was also wild, like a storm. Chouji was warm, and kind, like a pool in summer. Being by them was like freezing in a snowstorm that only resulted in exhilaration and melting into a body of water that felt just right every time they had a sleepover. Sometimes their chakra would die down into a cool dip and a warm sponge, when they were asleep, and that was the best chakra feelings in the world he had yet to date.
Shikamaru could never say that, of course, in fear of making himself look rather pathetic about it all.
Chakra was one of the most unreasonable things about humans, or animals, or fuck it, just about anything. That factor was a strength on its own, but more distracting than Shikamaru would like.
He always calculated everything, the distance between him and objects, or maybe even the chances of certain deer showing up when it was his turn to feed them. Chakra-sensory helped him realize to always have more than three plans and to always expect the unexpected. How to feel and watch to fully understand other's motives. It was like a constant reassurance that his observations were correct. Sometimes, that led to boredom in of itself.
It also helped him learn a lot more than he should.
He knew secrets that would probably get labeled as treasonous, just for piecing together rumors or watching jounin, and that was when he realized that his knowledge was dangerous. Normal people don’t run possibilities through their brain for the simplest of things. Sometimes he longs to just be impulsive, maybe he wouldn’t get so many headaches. He could look at the warmth from someone’s chest and tell if they were lying for Kami’s sake.
He could have his ideas. He could give people notes and details in his head to describe their behavior and break down their personality, but there was one thing that he sometimes couldn’t account for, and that was what he called the Stupid-Syndrome. Sometimes people are just irrational and stupid. It was a rather childish and benign title, but who else was going to know his name for it?
One of the things he tried to do after all, was not be part of the Stupid-Syndrome. It was purely logical to think things through, especially when his upcoming profession is as dangerous as it is. A slip up could kill you, or call things to you that were worse than life.
Here Shikamaru was, the kid people whispered 'lazy genius' about in hushed voices about and praised his critical thinking skills, being exactly what he pledged not to be, caught red handed in a lapse of judgement.
It wasn’t like he was outright digging his own grave or anything, but skipping class and following his obnoxiously loud classmate was not one of his best decisions.
Sometimes Naruto reminded him of the deer his family took care of, somewhat skittish. He also had the same deer-caught-in fire-jutsu look to him.
He was surprised when his classmate, notorious for not doing his homework, was skipping class to do his homework. Shikamaru usually avoided Naruto like the plague sometimes, his classmate’s chakra hanging off every part of him like a constant light, one he didn't think darkness could ever touch. Shikamaru barely peaked through a crack in the door he was watching the other through, the light from the window casting shadows with sunlight cast through them in webbed lines on him, and Naruto seemed to glow.
The Stupid-Syndrome pushes him to go forward in the room, sunlight addictive on his tongue, chakra so consistent he could taste it. Shikamaru loves the feeling of the sun. Maybe it is the sight of the shadows draped on the Uzumaki that draws him, calling out to him.
The Uzumaki felt proud of himself in the swirl of his massive chakra pool, and that was drawing Shikamaru in like a dog to a slab of meat.
Naruto startled at the sound of someone opening up into the room he was in and covers the paper in front of him like it was a crime. He seemed to turn around to defend himself with only smiles as a weapon. Somehow, that disturbs Shikamaru than he would like. He knew Naruto had been dealt a shitty hand in life, and was rather neglected, but he had told himself it truly was not his business besides lending Naruto his distanced friendship.
He let the blonde have his lunch sometimes. Helped him with homework when the boy didn't give him a headache. It was nice to sometimes look at Naruto, but the boy was simmering in anxious self-doubt and misery and loneliness that it clouded his chakra.
"Shika? I- aren't ya' supposed to be in class right now?"
Aren't you? Shikamaru thinks sardonically.
Shikamaru snorts and doesn’t bother to answer, plopping on the desk next to him, and just nods at Naruto’s greeting, documenting every little thing about the Uzumaki in front of him. Naruto seems to be in slight turmoil as Shikamaru just raises his eyebrow at him when they sit there in silence for a moment.
“What are ya’ doin' here Shika?” Naruto’s chakra is so bright it is flashing his eyes raw, but he doesn’t care. Sometimes you had to be burned by the sun, and he could handle spots in his vision. Naruto’s little nickname for him made him wish he would tolerate the amount of chakra his friend had more so they could hang out longer. The Nara felt his parent's judgement of not being a good friend hanging over him like a kunai. Maybe he was just being too sentimental.
“Do you need help?” Shikamaru doesn’t usually bother asking, but he feels a little less lazy today, or just overly excited for a Nara. Naruto’s eyes widen like a sunrise over trees and Shikamaru only slightly feels like an asshole for not asking before.
He looks over Naruto’s work, silently looking at what has already been done. Before he realizes it, he starts to explain the essential message of the homework to the Uzumaki, which was how the border patrols were run or operated. Everytime Naruto seemed to be dozing off he switched how he explained it, trying to add an element of surprise so the explosion of chakra would listen.
Naruto smiled every time he got a question right, and his chakra shone. Shikamaru couldn’t help but stare, and tried to not to when he saw Naruto get sheepish under it. A guilty sensation filled him, was he really helping someone he considered his friend just because he liked the feeling of his chakra? Wasn't Shikamaru Naruto's friend?
There were more selfish reasons, he decided.
By the time they were almost done, Naruto seemed deep in thought. Shikamaru stopped talking, and almost smiled at the fact that the blonde was thinking about something so hard he didn’t even notice that he stopped.
“Wah, Naruto, are you still here?” Naruto blinked at him, his expression switching to determination so fast that Shikamaru almost fell over when Naruto grabbed him.
The first thought to hit him is that Naruto is warm, and the second is that the other had so much chakra that he could feel it. Suddenly all of his plans, his thoughts of how to escape the grasp on him, the distance between him and the door, and just what to do if someone walks in, goes out the window- impossible, foreign, gone-with the fire of Naruto’s chakra.
He has never felt Naruto happy before. Oh gods.
“Why're ya' helpin' me?” Shikamaru is as Nara as they come. He should come up with a plan. Thread details together and answer the best way he could. He should see the best outcome, the calculations should come to him-
“Because you are my friend.” He said with a brutal honesty, with no thoughts behind it. Naruto explodes right in front of him.
In any other eyes, in the eyes of the ANBU watching Naruto, they see a boy smile brightly and the kid in front of him look in awe.
In Shikamaru’s eyes, he watches a supernova form, having no idea what a supernova is. Naruto’s chakra wraps around him from where Naruto has grabbed him, and it feels like the ocean. Riding on calm waves with the knowledge of the danger in them. Like a gentle patch of sun filtering through the leaves to land on a deer in the middle of the woods, Naruto felt like he could cover the world in his light.
He wanted to be able to see this his whole life.
And suddenly it was all around him, all encompassing and so true, like nothing else could be honest again. Did he have no idea the power he had?
When his heart skips a few beats when Naruto pulls away from, a smile still on his face like the only truth. The Nara stares at it, fixating on the way the Uzumaki’s whole face lifts to show his joy, almost like this one detail will be vital to his survival. Shikamaru swears he felt like his skin was melting, knees weak and, oh. Oh. Oh.
“Yer are so smart Shika. Imma make ya' my advisor one day, believe it!”
This was going to be a problem, he thought as he stared at the person who just tore his world apart in front of him. He places a hand to his overheating face and curses the fact he went into that classroom with a chaos magnet in it.