Trust || Narushika

Permanent

A year had passed since then and the two of them continued to grow together as best friends, although Shikamaru still hadn't been able to question Naruto properly, puberty hitting the two like a truck as soon as they reached the age of nine. Together, they went through Naruto's sickening crush on Sakura, his constant arguments with Sasuke, on some days, his tardiness alike with Kakashi's and his conflicting emotions. Currently though, the two of them were lounging around in Shikamaru's room, the owner of the room taking a nap as his energetic friend tried his best to sit quietly, failing ultimately since he couldn't help but start touching the shogi pieces beside the window; his best friend had been playing before taking a nap. "What the hell" he mumbled out of confusion as he moved the pieces around without understanding a single thing about the game.

"Naruto, you know- if you wanted to know how to play then you could've asked me, I would've taught you" a voice, coming from behind him, said before yawning tiredly.

"Really?! Could you teach me then?" he asked excitedly, practically sprinting over to the bed and kneeling down beside it, looking at his friend- best friend expectantly.

"Nah, too late, you didn't ask before" Shikamaru answered, turning over onto his other side and ignoring the frown that took over his best friend's face.

"But!- That's just an excuse! You're being lazy" Naruto whined, jumping onto his best friend, forcing him onto his back so he had to look at him.

"And you're being troublesome, let me sleep" the brunet fired back, not bothering to try get Naruto off of him, closing his eyes and attempting to sleep. He was a fool for thinking that he could even try to get a wink of sleep around his hyperactive friend.

"I'll tell your mum, she'll kill you if she knew you were saying no to me" Naruto replied, sporting a cheeky grin as he started down at his best friend expectantly.

A groan slipped past Shikamaru's lips while he rubbed his face, weighing his options: either die having lived only nine years and a few months or, hopefully live the rest of his life. Screw it, if he died, he died "tell her whatever you want" he said, deciding his fate as the blond boy slid off of him and ran out of his room, practically bouncing downstairs. Letting out a sigh, he turned onto his side and attempted to go back to sleep, enjoying the silence for a while before he heard a shout of his name. He sighed yet again as he got out of bed and exited his room "Coming, mother!" he shouted back, walking down the stairs and making it to the living room, seeing Naruto all comfortable and snuggled up next to his mum on the couch.

"Naruto here told me that you won't teach him how to play shogi, is this true?" she asked, looking straight at him with a slight twitch of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, it is, I was trying to sleep" he answered, looking away so he didn't have to see his mother angry- she had a soft spot for Naruto and would get angry for his sake over the stupidest reasons. One time, Shikamaru beat him at a game and Naruto went running to his mother, that ended up in Shikamaru being banned from cloud watching for a whole two weeks- two whole weeks!

"Don't be mean, he's all upset now-"

"Fine, i'll take him out for ramen, come on Naruto" he said, interrupting his mother, so she didn't give him a task, and quickly walking away to put his shoes on. He heard Naruto's shout of glee before a stampede of footsteps made their way towards him. Looking over, he saw Naruto quickly slipping on his shoes and running out of the compound "Naruto, wait for me!" he shouted, closing his front door and strolling to where Naruto was, since he was obviously not going to run just to bring this guy to eat ramen. Just because Naruto insisted, on the way to Ichiraku's, the two of them held hands while walking down the street.

Well, it was more like Naruto dragging his best friend along; the real reason as to why they held hands though, was some sort of coping mechanism for all the stares and looks that civilians gave to Naruto; the blond would always squeeze Shikamaru's hand when we had started to get overwhelmed, not used to it as of yet. The walk was short and soon enough, they were walking through the curtains into the small, makeshift restaurant and they both took a seat beside each other. "Order anything you want, just don't rinse me dry, I don't have as much money as a working adult, it's just my pocket money-" he said, knowing that he would have no money left over after this anyways.

With a nod, his best friend started to order bowl after bowl of ramen, not stopping until he was full; he had quite an appetite for a measly nine year old genin. The reason they were genins at nine, was because their class was excelling at everything quite well so they tested them all early, even though they can't really be sent out on missions just as yet, since the parents wanted to wait a while. "Thank you, Shikamaru!" the blond said, practically shouting after they exited Ichiraku's, their hands slotting together naturally while they walked down the street yet again.

"It was hardly a problem, at least you've had your fill for the day, I don't want to have mother shout at me again, it's such a drag having to deal with it all" he replied, not mentioning that he literally had no more money in his pockets; he wouldn't want to ruin Naruto's mood, he wanted to keep him happy. No matter what it took, even if it cost him his fortune, he was going to make sure that carefree smile, on his best friend's face, was going to be permanent.