The Red Thread of Fate

Chapter 15: Intuition and inquisition

Nara Shikamaru is well known for his intelligence, as well as his idleness that calms anyone's presence around him. The Nara clan being one of the prominent ninja clans of Konoha, specialises in the manipulation of the shadows, Shikamaru's father, Nara Shikaku is a highly intelligent and capable man, balancing the responsibilities of being a clan head as well as a Jounin commander. The father and son duo share many common qualities, one of them being their silent observation of their surroundings that allows them to make effective judgment as well as predictions of the future.

The academy was adequate. Shikamaru would put it that way, nothing more, nothing less.

His squad. He already expects it to be Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji.

Today's sky has lots of clouds, he pursed his lips together as he walked towards the classroom. But something felt off.

The ruckus he expected to occur every morning in the classroom, happened. Of course, it is basically impossible for his peers to have a quiet morning with Uzumaki Naruto around.

He sighed. He enjoys the company of the loud ninja, Naruto's high energy compliments his own serene quietness. However, the rest of the town didn't seem to agree with his opinion of Naruto, they often looked at the boy with disdain. There were only a couple of children in the academy who did not isolate the blonde and treated him like a normal young boy. Sasuke, Choji, Hinata,

And Sakura?

Shikamaru blinked, this is what he felt off about. The petal-haired girl sat contently next Naruto, not making a single squeal, no blushing cheeks towards the Uchiha. Shikamaru blinked again, Naruto now stood on Sasuke's desk, their faces now inches apart, it really doesn't take a genius to figure out what would happen next.

However, Sakura's reaction was unexpected. She was laughing, she radiated joy through her bright green eyes. His eyes flicked towards her forehead, a small hint of purple.

Something clicked in his head, a fleeting thought.

How troublesome. He walked towards his seat and napped.

***

"Sakura."

Kakashi casted a downward glance at the girl, whose hands were shaking uncontrollably. Her large, doe eyes darted frantically up and down. He held his hand out and placed it on her shoulder.

"Sakura, look at me. I need you to give me a plausible explanation regarding this. Because this is not something I can ignore." She seemed to calm down a little at his action and took a small breath.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura clutched her hands into fists.

I have been careless. She thought. Recently she had been overjoyed, and over exhausted but most of all, traumatised by this brand-new timeline unblemished by the war. The urge to change outcomes have been the main thing driving her away from the edge of going completely insane.

It's not everyday where you wake up and come face to face with people whom you have witnessed their gruesome deaths just recently. Especially the deaths of her close ones that completely devastated her.

So, watching them living on happily as if nothing happened distressed her. It often made her question that if everything in her past timeline, like the Fourth Shinobi war, ever happened.

This thought constantly suffocated her, maybe she is the one going delusional. Her past was merely a dream. Of course, someone would have picked up my odd behaviours, as I have not considered that aspect at all. She only focused on changing the outcome, instead of acknowledging the consequences.