"Sirius!" yelled a youth of about fifteen, with tacky looking glasses, green eyes and messy hair. He was wearing some sort of dress...and he was running right into a jutsu that was meant for the man with blue eyes and the same air as Naruto when he was planning a prank.

The jutsu hit dead on, and the youth fell into some sort of odd drape thing...and then everything went blank as the blue eyed man screamed his name. But he was beyond hearing at that point.

There was another, more pained scream before everything went silent.

He shot out of bed. Again with that damn nightmare? It was the third time this week!

He got up and went to the bathroom to get a glass of water. As he did he looked in the mirror. These nightmares were seriously cutting into his naps. It was even affecting his sleep during classes. Naruto didn't mind him helping with pranks, but even the oblivious blond could tell something was up.

Sighing, he decided to just lay in bed and hope to fall back asleep. It wasn't the first time the Nara heir had trouble sleeping because of a nightmare that made absolutely no sense at all.

Shikamaru got up and dressed and headed to the tabl y. He, like many Nara males, hated to do anything. However he did help with the dishes occasionally, just to annoy his father. Every time he did, his mother got onto his dad about not helping out around the house more.

Once he ate breakfast he headed to the Academy after he went to see Chouji. His best friend liked the fact Shikamaru went out of his way to walk with him to school, no matter how troublesome he claimed it was. Chouji had become an expert in Nara-speak.

He once explained it to a rather amused Shino Aburame about how there were actually varying levels of troublesome and it took skill to discern which one a Nara was speaking about.

Shikamaru slept through all his classes, barring the physical ones. His sleep was rather troubled, because the odd dreams kept coming. Chouji was rather worried, because he noticed it.

"Jeez...this is such a drag. With these weird dreams I can't get a good nap in!" complained Shikamaru.

"What are you going to do Shika?" asked Chouji.

"The only thing I can think of is hypnosis," said Shikamaru.

"Hypnosis? What the heck is that?" asked Naruto.

"Someone puts you under and pretty much allows your subconscious to take over. It's sort of like meditation, only you're asleep the whole time," said Shikamaru.

"Oh? And where would you have learned about something like that Shikamaru?" asked his father.

"Hey dad. What are you doing around here?"

"You've been making breakfast three times this week. Usually that means you can't sleep," said Shikaku.

Shikamaru winced. It was true that whenever he couldn't sleep and it was close to morning he made breakfast. It was an odd quirk of his that he cooked whenever he was really bored. The weird thing was that his mother had never taught him, and yet every time he did it was always delicious. After the third time it happened, Chouji's mother gave him lessons and some recipes.

As a result, Shikamaru quite often came to school with three bentos. One for him, one for Chouji, and after hearing Naruto's stomach rumble several times a week during lunch, one for the blond.

Shikamaru had a sneaking suspicion that Naruto had trouble getting food during the week, which was why he always brought extras.

"I think I read about it somewhere," said Shikamaru.

Considering how much he read during the week, it was entirely possible. Shikamaru had a set of dice that he would throw once a week to determine what subject he would read during class.

Sometimes it was fuinjutsu, elemental jutsu, or even the medical arts. Occasionally Shikamaru volunteered at the hospital, though the most he could do was basic first aid and possibly a few broken bones. Still the fact he volunteered had originally surprised his father and made his mother very happy.

"So how exactly does this hypnosis stuff work?" asked Shikaku.

"I can't remember exactly, but I'm fairly sure I know where the book I found it in was," said Shikamaru.

Shikamaru lay down on the couch, not really concerned. One way or another, he had the feeling that his nightmares might finally be over. Though he was a bit concerned about what would come out of this.

Watching the Western clock move back and forth, he fell asleep without realizing it.

It wasn't until he heard someone snapping there fingers close to his ear that he woke up.

"That's really annoying," he complained.

"It was either that or allow Naruto-san to throw water on you. I find snapping works a lot better for those under hypnosis," said the doctor.

"So what's the verdict?" asked Shikamaru.

"Past life regression, apparently. From what I can tell you have a ghost inside of you, and his memories are bleeding into your dreams."

"How bad is that?"

"While he seems very surprised to be in you, he doesn't appear to be harmful. In fact compared to most ghosts, he was rather polite and apologetic."

"Does he have a name?"

"Hari. Though from what I can tell he's from the West, so it would be Harry."

"Huh. So what do I owe you?"

"For the hypnosis? 1,000 ryou. I must admit, this was the first time I've had it succeed before."

Shikamaru paid him, and went on his way with Naruto and Chouji. They were still a little freaked out that he was possessed by a Western ghost. Particularly Naruto.

So your name is Shikamaru Nara? Sorry about possessing you...

Shikamaru nearly shot out of his bed.

Who's there?

Ano...my name is Harry.

Why are you in my head?

The hell if I know! The last thing I remember was falling through the Veil in the Ministry!

So why can I hear you now?

I...I think your spirit is starting to become in sync with mine.

Those nightmares...they were of you falling?

Yeah. I took the place of my godfather and fell into the Veil from the momentum. Next thing I knew I was reliving the moment while lying here. I had no idea what was going on until you went under.

...Any chance I could convince you to leave?

I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do it. I've been trying ever since I became aware I was possessing you, but I can't seem to at all. If I really have died, then I would like to meet my parents.

That's odd. Well, you haven't really caused any trouble for me, so I don't think I need to exorcise you. But if you start causing problems...

Fair enough. If I ever figure out why I can't leave I'll tell you. I'll try to keep my memories from keeping you awake though.

Shikamaru was just about to fall asleep...when Harry asked him something that made him immediately think of Naruto.

So...since I'm stuck here is alright if I prank the teachers?

Naruto was still freaking out about the whole possession deal...until Shikamaru mentioned that the spirit was a prankster.

It didn't calm him down, but it did get his mind off the fact Shikamaru was possessed.

Shikamaru fell asleep during history...only to be awoken by the sound of the girls screaming.

He opened his eyes to find the chalk hovering in the air, and spelling something out. Unseen by everyone was a boy with messy black hair, green eyes with glasses, and grinning like a prankster. He was holding the chalk up in the air and spelling something on the board.

Harry? Is that you?

Ah, so you're awake. History always put me to sleep too. Check out Naruto's face!

Shikamaru turned slightly to find Naruto pale as a ghost. Dead spirits always freaked him out.

Would you mind not freaking him out anymore? He looks ready to pass out.

Spoil my fun will ya? Can I at least freak out the fan girls?

...Give me time to cover my ears first.

Chouji spotted Shikamaru covering his ears, and did the same.

Suddenly Sakura started shrieking, claiming that something touched her shoulder. Shikamaru could see Harry poking her shoulder...and grinning evilly.

And there goes Naruto.

Oops. I suppose I overdid it. My bad.

Whatever. Can you just go back already?

Sure. You think anyone would notice if I possessed the other classes?

Do it out of earshot if you don't mind. I don't want my hearing to suffer.

You got it!

Naruto was practically jumping at shadows all day. Finally Shikamaru had enough and paralyzed him with his family jutsu.

"Would you relax already? He said he would leave you alone since you're so freaked out about it," said Shikamaru.

"You means it's that ghost possessing you that's doing this?!" said Naruto in horror.

"Hari said he was bored, so he decided playing poltergeist would liven up the school."

"What's a poltergeist?" asked Chouji.

It means Noisy Ghost. It can be caused by children and young teens sometimes, but mostly it's caused by ghosts.

"A noisy ghost. He's just playing pranks out of boredom," Shikamaru explained.

"You seemed surprisingly well informed," said Shikaku.

"Hey dad."

"I take it this Hari is the one who's been giving you nightmares?"

"Not on purpose. He wasn't even aware he was dead until a few days ago. Why are you here anyway?"

"I heard about an incident in class where the chalk started writing on it's own," said Shikaku.

Harry appeared behind Shikamaru and snickered. He knew the real reason because he had popped over to the Nara estate for fun. The deer didn't seem to mind him that much.

He whispered something to Shikamaru who looked at his dad with an amused expression.

"Mom's giving you a hard time. You only came here because you were avoiding her and heard the ruckus from the street," he said flatly.

"How the hell did you find that out?" complained Shikaku.

"He told me. For some reason I'm the only one who can see him right now," said Shikamaru.

"...I know a few priests who do exorcisms," said Shikaku.

"You mean other people have been possessed before?"

"A few jounin. There's a reason why ANBU wear masks other than to keep their identity a secret. Sometimes after an assassination ghosts will possess the ANBU to make their life hell. There was even one Jounin who jumped off the Hokage mountain in an attempt to get rid of them. It didn't work but eventually the Hokage sent him to a specialist. He went through a bit of financial difficulty for a while but at least he doesn't have ghosts hanging off him."

"Mah, Hari doesn't seem to be that problematic. He doesn't know how he got stuck to me, but he has tried to leave. He just can't at the moment."

"What about the panic in the classroom?"

"He was bored."

"This is beyond troublesome. Are you sure he won't try to harm you?" asked Shikaku.

OI! I may be a prankster but I would never try to harm someone!

"No. Hari has no interest in harming others. Pranking them out of boredom, maybe, but not harm. He really took offense to that by the way," said Shikamaru.

I am so going to try that ghost paralysis on him when he's trying to sleep tonight! If you mention anything I will keep you awake all during class tomorrow!

Shikamaru hid a wince.

"Can you ask Hari not to do that touching thing like he did to Sakura?" asked Naruto.

I hate fan girls. They're so damn annoying. I like Naruto too much to freak him out like that.

"He said he likes you too much to do that to you. Fan girls are another story."

Shikamaru thought back to how Harry looked, and realized why.

"Considering he looked like a green eyed Uchiha with slightly paler skin, it's not to hard to understand why."

Oi. Just because I look like a damn Uchiha doesn't mean I act like one. That Sasuke kid is such a damn jerk!

"This is so damn troublesome..." complained Shikaku.

In less than a week, the Hokage sent a exorcist to get rid of the ghost haunting the Academy. Harry had been causing all sorts of chaos out of boredom. On the plus side, Naruto was no longer freaked out by him, because he always pranked the teachers who harassed him.

Shikamaru still didn't know why Harry kept an eye out for Naruto when he was possessing him. When he asked the teen why he wasn't possessing Naruto when he was so interested in him, Harry gave an odd answer.

I can't. That kid has something inside him that would make possessing him extremely dangerous, and I'm not stupid enough to piss it off...no matter how cool looking it is.

After that odd comment Shikamaru did some researching. What could possibly scare a ghost? Since Harry had given him a bit of a bookworm appearance, no one looked twice at the amount of books he checked out.

That was how Shikamaru learned the truth about the Nine Tailed Fox. At Harry's urging he confronted the Hokage who was very surprised that he had figured it out.

At least Shikamaru was allowed to discuss it with his father openly in the house. Shikaku confirmed his suspicions, and then surprised his son when he said Naruto was allowed around so long as he gave the compound a prank free guarantee.

The second Naruto heard that he quickly gave them a promise of at least giving them a week's warning before any prank on their members, and was soon a common sight at the Nara house. He was almost there as often as Chouji was!