Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this plot was based loosely *very* on an anime I saw “Brave World”. The concept anyway. I found the anime a bit childish but in a moment of impulse, I bought it and I never regretted it although the incorrect subtitles irked me, I enjoyed it. The general mood of the anime depressed me but then ending was worth it. Please enjoy.

Chapter Two:

“I’ll say it straight and plain

I know I’ve made mistakes

I’ve always been afraid

A thousands nights are gone

I’ve traveled east and north

Please answer the phone

Can you tell me?

They say that love goes anywhere

In your darkest time,

It’s just enough to know it’s there”

Jimmy Eat World – Polaris

Shikamaru felt the world slowly swimming back into view as he opened his eyes slowly, groaning at the dull pain at his shoulders.

What the hell happened?

Recalling suddenly the events that had taken place in the past hour, he stood up with a strangled yell before promptly falling down, knees thudding painfully on the ground.

“You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t calm down,” a calm voice said from his side. Jumping onto his feet, he stared confusedly at his ‘rescuer’, a wave of disorientation nearly overwhelming him. A cold can was thrust into his hands. Gratefully, Shikamaru opened the drink and gulped it down, grateful for the biting fuzziness of the drink as it went down his throat, burning soothingly.

A burp was ripped out of him as he finished the drink in one go. For a moment, he stood there astonished at the loudness and the suddenness of the burp. A stifled giggle was heard from his side and Shikamaru glanced at his side. The blonde was clutching a similar can in his hands and he was giggling helplessly (achingly sweetly), his fringe falling in his face, a slight blush covering his cheeks as a tanned hand tried to muffle his giggles. Shikamaru felt a blush creep onto his cheeks as he huffed and tried to pretend that he did not just let a loud one rip. But his facial muscles twitched as the blonde tried to muffle his giggles and a giggle gurgled out of his throat. He saw the blonde look at him, astonished. The expression on his face must have looked like he was in the throes of constipation for another giggle hiccupped out of the blonde.

Looking at the blonde painfully giggle, he couldn’t stop the flow of laughter which finally managed to make him gasp.

And the two boys innocently laughed, the hilarity of the situation not escaping the two of them.

…………………….

“So what were you doing there?” Shikamaru asked after the two of them had calmed down, breaking the comfortable silence that had hung over them as Naruto slowly sipped on the canned drink.

Shikamaru watched as the boy looked up, frowning slightly, contemplating. Faint whisker marks that ran across his cheeks wrinkled as he broke into a wide grin.

“Searching.”

“For what?”

The blonde looked at him, looking troubled for a split second, the emotion flashed by so suddenly that Shikamaru wondered if he had even seen that emotion. The boy raised his index finger to his lips, leaning forward as if to whisper and Shikamaru found himself leaning forward as if to catch the faint secret that would pass between them.

“It’s a s-e-c-r-e-t,” he whispered, azure eyes wide and serious.

Shikamaru snorted and leaned back again against the hardness of the bench, letting his head fall back, taking in the view of the stars that sprinkled above them.

For a moment, he had really thought that he was going to be told a huge secret but it seems like the blonde had a sense of humor that far surpassed his own. What a minute?! Stars?!

Yelping as he stood up in a hurry, shocking the other boy too, he grabbed his bag, “Sorry, but my mum is going to kill me. She doesn’t let me stay out past seven. I am so dead meat! I’ll see you around?”

At the boy’s nod, Shikamaru waved goodbye and he started dashing towards the direction of home, allowing himself to take one last look at the mysterious boy. His head was tilted all the way back, eyes wide and blank, the drink forgotten and Shikamaru found that he had only one word to describe the expression on his new friend’s face; Lost.

…………….

Shikamaru’s mood darkened as he walked, slouching through the hallway, letting the noise of his school mates wash over him. Walking outdoors, he spotted his traitorous friends and felt his mood darken. They waved towards him and he reluctantly made his way over, throwing his bag to the ground and slouching himself down on the bench.

Noticing Shikamaru’s mood, his friends shared a nervous look, Chouji taking a huge blind leap in trying to explain themselves.

“Uh, when did you get home?”

If possible, Shikamaru’s mood got even darker as he recalled what had happened when he had reached home two hours past his curfew. His mother had been ready to chew her way through the carpet in worry and when he had shown up, she had wasted no time in ripping into him. The end of the huge one sided brawl had been that he was grounded for two weeks. Shikamaru had not dared to even to protest in the face of his fire breathing mother.

“Nine,” he curtly grunted, taking a small bite of his sandwich.

“Man, that was late. What were you doing?” Kiba broke in, his sense of doom being impaired as he dug his elbows into Shikamaru’s side teasingly.

“I WAS STUCK IN THAT STUPID PLACE AND NONE OF YOU EVEN CAME IN! LUCKY-“Shikamaru yelled, his friends utterly shocked by his yells but he broke off, suddenly not wanting to mention his new friend. Nor did he want them to realize he had fainted, he admitted sullenly, picking his sandwich back up again.

“We’re really sorry we left you but that place was really creepy. We were trying to squeeze Chouji through when there was this weird noise, like someone laughing or something. We got so freaked out that we pulled Chouji out and yelled like crazy for you to come out,” Kiba started explaining, waving his hands wildly.

“You yelled out?” Shikamaru asked, puzzled.

“Yeah! But you never answered! It was like totally silent and then there was a freaky wind blowing and before we knew it, we kinda ran away,” Kiba finished lamely, rubbing his hands behind his bowed head.

Shikamaru grunted and turned towards his sandwich, frowning. He had not heard them yell out. The distance from the fence to where he was standing had only been a couple of meters away and he didn’t doubt it when his friends said they had yelled out for them. So why hadn’t he heard them? Maybe it was because he had fainted?

Feeling a slight nudge, he turned to see Chouji offer him his bag of crisps in an offer of peace and Shikamaru accepted, smiling slightly though he was still troubled.

………………….

Shikamaru reached for the book, using his left hand to brace himself against the shelf. Fingers brushing past the spine of the book, he let out a whoosh of breath as the book fell neatly in his hands. Turning to go back to his table, he saw a flash of blonde pass one of the shelves.

It looked like the blonde boy he had met almost two weeks ago. Curiosity overcoming him, he walked in the general direction of where he had caught a glimpse of the boy and found himself looking at empty rows of bookshelves. Shikamaru looked through all the rows and was puzzled at not finding anyone in that section. He swore he had seen the blonde pass him, through the corner of his eyes.

“Looking for something?”

Yelping, Shikamaru jumped around, scowling to face a familiar blonde.

“How do you manage to always sneak up on me?” he accused, sounding petulant even to his ears.

The boy simply grinned and shrugged. Shikamaru scowled for another moment before simply deciding he was no longer in a mood to be petulant.

“Hey, I never did catch your name!”

The blonde looked puzzled, cocking his head to the side as if it was Shikamaru’s fault that he had not been introduced.

“My name’s Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto.”

“Nara Shikamaru.”

Looking at Naruto’s hand, he saw a book clutched there.

“Legends and Tales of Konoha,” he read out, tilting his head to get a better look. Naruto grinned and righted the book to allow him to see the title and the cover page better. The front page was a simply design of a leaf embalm that usually could be found all over town.

“I didn’t know you were interested in these things. Was that why you were in the compound that day?” Shikamaru asked.

“You could say it’s something like that,” Naruto hummed, lightly caressing the book. Watching the blonde, he felt like he was always missing something about Naruto’s mannerism.

“In the legends of old, it was said that Konoha had been attacked by a fox spirit when humans started to be get too overconfident. The fox spirit had always been a gentle spirit but it could not stand the humans as they started to encroach on its sacred grounds, disregarding the laws of the forest and all that fell under its protection. It attacked Konoha and in the battle, a lot of human lives were lost but finally a priestess managed to seal the fox in a shrine. Her life was lost in the process of sealing the fox. Upon seeing that the priestess was selflessly sacrificing her life, the fox began to understand that while most humans were by nature selfish and cruel, there could also be some humans that would sacrifice themselves to protect their precious ones. Before it was sealed, the fox spirit feeling great regret for the priestess, allowed for the priestess to make a wish. The priestess refused, claiming that she did not want to disrupt Fate. This was her destiny and she had no regrets in embracing it. Her only regret was that she would never be able to raise her only child.”

Naruto let his fingers trace the spine of the book, eyes cloudy as he recalled the legend. Looking up, he shrugged as he finished his tale, “No one knows what happened to the shrine where the fox was sealed and there have been no records of the priestess only child. But it has been speculated that the wish that the fox left has been sealed within the shrine too but only the descendent of the priestess can harness the wish provided the shrine can be found.”

Shikamaru listened, entranced with the tale, noting the wistfulness in Naruto’s voice.

“What was the name of the priestess?” he asked.

“Shikamaru! What’re you doing? We’ve been waiting for you to grab your books and you’re standing there, loitering!” Ino scolded as she hastily walked towards him. Shikamaru scowled, folding his arms in annoyance, “I was talking to Naruto when you-“

“Who?”

“Naruto!” he exclaimed, exasperated, turning to face his friend. No one stood there, only a fallen book on the floor. Shikamaru felt his mouth go dry as he stood there in disbelief. He had only been talking to Naruto only moments before! Shikamaru felt dizzy, looking at the book lying innocently on the floor.

“Shika, you alright?” Ino’s worried voice came as though from a distance. Shikamaru forced himself to nod, crouching slowly to take the book lying on the floor. Tracing his fingers through the index, he found the page he wanted, ignoring Ino’s worried voice behind him.

The book flipped easily and he traced the words with his fingers, silently mouthing the words, the legend that had just been narrated to him. His mouth traced the name of the priestess, “Uzumaki.”