That Nara... | Naruto Fanficiton

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I heard Ren sigh.

"Next question," Choro spoke up, "what were the results of the war?"

"The ten tails was taken down. The war was won by the shinobi," Karia replied, "though it got a bit crazy. It still was won by the allied shinobi forces."

"That's it? That's all we're going to get?" I asked.

"That's it," Karia confirmed, "I'm running out of time, so hurry."

"How long have we been sleeping?" Ren asked.

"Three months so far, but who's counting?" Karia replied, I could sense her shrugging despite her lack of form, "that's all. I can't stay much longer. All of you must wake up and live your lives to the best of your abilities from the moment you open your eyes again."

"We will," Choro confirmed.

"Thank you for saving us," all four of us thanked Karia (and the others even if they weren't here) and then the light disappeared.

"Karia can go but we can't?" I grumbled, "I want to get out."

Ryuzo's PoV

I sighed as I sat beside Shikarei's bed.

Three months.

Three months of nothing. No movement, not even the twitch of a finger. Nothing.

"This is infuriating," I sighed as I held Shikarei's hand and looked over to her, "come on, Shikarei. Don't you think that you've slept long enough? I know you Nara are lazy, but this is going just a bit too far, right?"

Though it's not your fault.

3rd Person PoV

Then it was right then. In all four hospitals where the teammates laid, a surprise and a moment for celebration happened.

Shikarei, Ren, Inoiché and Choro all woke up.

Inoiché and Shikarei, upon awakening, broke down. The loss of their dad's drowned them.

Ryuzo stood up, panicked as Shikarei sat up, holding her head, and crying loudly.

"Shikarei?" he reached out for her before shaking his head and sitting on her bed, pulling her into a hug, "cry it out. It's ok..."

Meanwhile, halfway down the hallway.

"Do you hear that?" Temari asked, forcing Kankuro to stop blabbering to Shikamaru and Gaara who really didn't care even a little bit about the topic of conversation that they were being subjected to.

They all fell silent and listened before Shikamaru spun around.

"It's Shikarei," he exclaimed before running down the halls. He was so excited to see his older sister awake again. He clutched onto the pendant he has that matches her. The one she gave him before she left for her year of training with Karia and the others.

"Shikarei!" he basically shouted as he threw the door open to see Ryuzo calmly rocking himself and Shikarei side to side as Shikarei sobbed into her hands, not even budging from the contact. Shikamaru gave him a confused look.

"I think she knows about Lord Shikaku," Ryuzo announced, that was all the four who'd entered the room needed to know and Shikamaru slowly walked over to his older sister. Ryuzo moved out of the way so he could sit with his sister.

"Shikarei?" he reached out for her hands as he sat down crossed legged on the bed in front of her, "Hey..."

He gently pried her hands away from her face just too stare in surprise at the milky brown orbs that stared at him back.

"Y-your eyes--" he reached out and held her face for a moment before sighing, "looks like you're no longer cursed, big sis."

"S-Shika..." Shikarei reached out for her brother before dragging him into a hug, "Pa is... Why'd he... This isn't f-fair--"

"I know," Shikamaru hugged her back, running one hand through the ends of her now messy hair let lose around her shoulder blades, "I know..."

"Ah the love of siblings," Shinso gave Kankuro a heart attack.

"Whoa-- when did you get here?!" he exclaimed.

"I was here the whole time," the bug loving boy stated, the disappointment wasn't exactly detectable, but he was disappointed at proof of, once again, his lack of presence around some people.

"I'll go get a medic nin," Ryuzo stated, moving to the door, "be right back."

"We shouldn't overwhelm her right now," Gaara said, turning to his siblings and Shinso, "we should leave this to Shikamaru for now."

They all nodded in agreement and then left the room.

Shikamaru and Shikarei were the only ones left.

The black-haired boy now had his own tears spilling.

"I-I thought you were dead," he cried out as his grip around his sister tightened slightly, "p-please never leave again. Please n-never do anything so reckless ever again. Please don't leave us, Shikarei!"

Shikarei managed to compose herself as she listened to Shikamaru and smiled weakly.

She had to be strong for her brother. Just as it always had been.

"You can't kill me that easily," she declared, though her voice betrayed her strong statement by wobbling and becoming a quivering mess.

Shikamaru stared at her for a moment before crashing his head into the crook of her neck.

"I missed you so much, Shikarei!" he exclaimed.

"Missed you too," Shikarei smiled as she patted his back.

She didn't really know how to react; it was uncharacteristic for her brother to act this way. She didn't care... She just found it slightly strange and foreign.

"I love you Shikamaru and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," she managed to say before the door was thrown open again, a team of medic nins filled the room and Shikamaru was ushered out along with Ryuzo (who'd brought them in the first place).

°🥢°
A week later_

"And?" Gaara and the rest of the group looked to the head medic nin watching over Shikarei.

"She's steadily regaining strength again. Her diets gone back to normal, she's able to walk and her chakra is finally filling back up," the nin told the group, "however, it's stopped at not even half the capacity that she usually has. I think that that'll be the most she gets, a side effect of whatever the hell actually happened to her."

He shook his head and sighed.

"She's lucky to be alive so her lack of chakra won't be a problem. Or at least it shouldn't," he said, "that's all. Excuse me."

He turned and left.

"Well, if we're basing the recovery speed... Then I should be able to take her back home in a few days," Shikamaru said.

"The sooner she returns to the leaf, the better," Gaara nodded, "she has family and friends who are waiting for her."

"Yes! Adorable little Himari!" Temari exclaimed happily. Gaara shot her a look before shaking off her enthusiasm.