Life

Disclaimer: This is a purely fan-made piece that is using the world and characters from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and is made entirely for enjoyment. No financial gain has been made in the making of this piece.

Summery: It's been a long day for Shikamaru, but life doesn't always have to be troublesome

Author's Note: Written for Zhem, who wanted a ShikaCho fic. Short. Fluff. Possible out-of-characterness, as I've never written these two before.

Constructive Criticism is always welcomed.

Published: 18 July 2007

Rating: K

Life was being troublesome.

This is not to say that life wasn't usually troublesome; in fact, life seemed to be determined to be so, as much as possible. And today was no exception. The only difference was that life had decided to be more bothersome than usual.

Shikamaru sighed woefully and looked that the dripping window. Not only were the kids brattier than they normally were and the coffee was more rancid than it usually was, the rain had started moments after class was out. It was as if the weather wanted to spit on him as well, seeing that he was already down.

So much for cloud watching on Chouji's warm stomach to unwind.

And he didn't have an umbrella.

Troublesome life.

With a doleful look at the clouds who were betraying him, Shikamaru hunched up his shoulders and prepared for the cold, wet walk home.

Only when he got outside, Chouji was standing there, holding an umbrella and a bag that looked like it held food. He smiled, a bit shyly.

Ignoring the small happy upwards twitch of his lips, Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled under the umbrella.

Chouji, he acknowledged, was the most un-troublesome thing in his life and was always there when life got trying again.

The two walked along the dreary streets in a companionable silence. It was like Chouji's presence alone could calm him and force tension out of his life.

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked a moment later when Chouji started to turn when they should have continued going straight.

"We're going to Asuma-sensei's. I know it's raining and wet, but you wanted to watch the clouds earlier." Chouji glanced over at him, slightly nervous. "And Asuma-sensei has a skylight in his apartment and he said we could…you know…borrow it."

Shikamaru nodded slowly, then reached over. He pulled the umbrella out of Chouji's hand, and replaced it with his hand. Holding the umbrella with his right hand instead of his left meant that he had walk closer to Chouji than he had before, but since it was Chouji, it was okay.

Life may be troublesome, but Chouji made life less so.

x Fin x