"Laziness is the mother of all bad habits. But ultimately she is a mother and we should respect her." -Shikamaru Nara
Chapter One:
A Cloudless Sky.
Shikari Nara, nine year old daughter of Shikaku and Yoshino Nara, heiress of the Nara clan, was a smart girl.
Though, all of her peers, with the exception of her childhood friends Choji and Ino, thought she was simply a loser like her fellow classmate Naruto. Shikari didn't care that people saw her as a loser, in fact she actually enjoyed being seen as a loser.
Why?
Because no one expected anything of her.
Which meant she was free to just waste her years watching clouds and taking naps.
More often than not, Ino or Yoshino would interrupt her lazy habits, but all in all Shikari Nara was content with her life. She was content with just graduating the Academy, becoming a shinobi, reach Chunin and serve her village for until she got married. Then, she'd just raise two children, a girl first and then a boy, while supporting her husband and playing board games, taking naps and watching the clouds.
As the heiress of the Nara clan, she knew her life wouldn't end up being so simple. She was cynical like that.
She was right, because everything changed when she woke up freezing and laying in the snow in a place she didn't recognize. Quickly sitting up, the nine year old girl hid her arms in the modest green kimono she had worn to bed the night before.
"K-kai," the girl uttered, releasing a little bit of her chakra.
Unsurprisingly, her surroundings didn't change. She hadn't really expected it to work either way, because no one would have placed her under a Genjutsu in her own compound while she was sleeping. It was a known fact that Genjutsu on an unconscious person could have dire effects, and no one would dare do it to her, lest they wanted to see why her father was named the commander of the Jonin force.
"T-troublesome," Shikari sighed as she looked over her surroundings.
Snow? Check.
Trees? Barely visible, but check.
There were no footprints in the snowy ground, which Shikari deduced must mean that she had been sleeping (or knocked out) long enough for whoever had kidnapped her to vanish without a trace.
She uttered a curse under her breath, wishing her mother was there to scold her.
Instead, she was meant with the eerie silence of the snowy forest she was it. At least she thought she was in a forest. She was from Konoha, which meant she rarely ever really saw snow. And when her village did experience snow, she'd spent it inside more often than not, seeking warmth from her bed.
Shikari shakily pushed herself up, painfully aware that if she didn't find any shelter, she'd freeze to death.
She didn't fancy sleeping forever just yet.
The cold wind blew right into her, causing her to wince in pain. It was so cold that it actually hurt her. But she forced herself to move her legs anyway, to blindly walk into the woods, picking up sticks and stones for fire along her way.
She wasn't sure where she was.
But she had to make sure to survive.
Otherwise she'd never see her troublesome parents again. Or Choji. Or troublesome Kiba. Or troublesome Ino. Or troublesome Naruto. Their smiling faces was, surprisingly enough, a good enough motivation for the Nara to pick up her pace.
She arranged her gathered materials into a proper bed for the fire, all while playing her Academy teacher's instructions in her head. Finally, after she was sure that the sticks she had gathered were properly placed, she tried starting a fire with two sticks. Her teacher had taught her and her classmates how to start fires with either rocks or sticks for their survival training, promising to teach them basic Fire techniques during their last year.
The Nara really wished Sasuke was here to help, considering the boy already knew quite a few Fire techniques. Shikari didn't really like the boy at all, but she knew surviving the cold would have been easier with Sasuke around with his fancy Uchiha techniques. Don't get her wrong, Shikari knew how to spit fire out of her mouth in theory, she just didn't fancy burning her tongue.
She'd rather stick with her Clan techniques and the basic Three she learned from the Academy.
The lazy girl smiled in satisfaction as a fire started to emerge.
'Ha, guess I'm not as much of a loser as Naruto...' she thought to herself, sighing in relief at the little warmth her fire had to offer.
She wouldn't be able to last in her clothes, she knew. She didn't have any equipment on her either, not even her hair tie.
Pursing her lips, she eyed the green wood near her which would cause excessive smoke if she placed it on the fire. If she was lucky, someone nearby might see it. Or unlucky, if someone dangerous saw it.
"I..might end up dead either way," she muttered the reality of her own situation to herself.
There was nothing she could do.
She was barefooted, clad in her night kimono, unarmed and surrounded by the cold.
Her chances of survival was very minimal, even if there were people searching for her.
"Troublesome," she closed her eyes, ignoring how her heart beat in fear.
She didn't want to die.
Taking a chance, she threw the green wood onto the fire, hoping there were people nearby.
Her eyes never left the fire she had built, even when she lay in the snow, too cold to even move.
'I can't close my eyes...troublesome...can't...'
Her eyelids dropped anyway, welcoming sleep.
Surviving the cold sounded too troublesome anyway, she coaxed herself in a typical lazy manner, accepting death.
Death, however, would not be accepting her.
For she jolted awake when she felt someone lifting her up.
Her eyes opened, her body tried to move but the cold had already numb it enough. The sound of a neighing horse registered in her ears and her eyes caught the dark hair of her savior.
"Father...?"
"I'm surprised you're even alive, girl,"
Not her father then.
A stranger.
Despite how weary she felt, Shikari's eyes closed again.