[Thread] You got me off the sofa, just sprang out of the air.

[lazyish]

Who: Shikamaru, Itachi, and later Nill and Naruto.
Where: Terra; Yosuke's apartment.
When: Friday the 13th..! After the sky turns yellow.
Summary: A little student-teacher bonding is misinterpreted. Maybe..?
Rating: PG-13?
Other: Oh sensei~~

Comments

[silencedbird]

It was a bit of surprise that neither Itachi or Shikamaru made an attempt to usher Nill out of the room, so instead of leaving to help Naruto the blond-haired girl just gave the boy a smile in return to his own apologetic one-don’t worry, Naruto, it’s okay-and instead moved further into the kitchen, taking a seat once more and turning towards Itachi to listen to what he had to say. She hoped it wasn’t rude, or that she hadn’t misunderstood or something, but... well. She deserved to know a few things, once in awhile. Even if it was only a few things.

She didn’t show any signs of unpleasantness or unhappiness at the Uchiha’s words, though her expression twisted into mild confusion every so often- of course Shikamaru hadn’t told her anything about Chakra or anything like that, so most of the phrases the man used meant absolutely nothing to Nill, and she felt like she had before starting school all over again; like a little kid, listening in on other peoples conversations but only understanding half of what was being said. She didn’t like it at all. Akatsuki, Charka, whatever requirements were needed... Nill didn’t know about any of it.

But there was at least one thing she understood out of it all that stood out, and when Itachi said it the girl immediately shook her head in disagreement. She reached for a pen and piece of paper that was nearby-it seemed like she had a few stashed around the place, just in case-but thought better of it after a moment and instead turned to Itachi, mouthing out the words ’Naruto isn’t dangerous. He’s our friend.’ (she was getting better at that, at least.)

[lazyish]

Shikamaru's eyebrows shot up skeptically when Itachi revealed all of this to him. Naruto, a member of Akatsuki? He had seen the kid fight and it'd been sloppy. Akatsuki's standards had to be higher... They were elite assassins, weren't they? Unless, of course, Naruto was faking his ineptitude. Or could he really have forgotten all of his training, along with everything else about his experiences with Akatsuki?

Shikamaru's mind went back to the incident at the yakuza lord's house. He'd trapped Naruto with his shadow, but it had been difficult to hold. More difficult than when he trapped ordinary people. Even if he'd had reason to think Itachi was lying to him (and he didn't, really), he'd experienced for himself Naruto's elevated chakra levels.

Even more worrisome was the news of this second source of chakra. A "being" within Naruto, lying latent and likely to be triggered in the event of an emergency. He wasn't like Itachi, he couldn't see just what kind of chakra they were dealing with. But if his sensei was concerned, then so was Shikamaru. "I understand," he answered at last. "I'll be careful with him."

He glanced at Nill, frowning. She didn't understand any of this and he'd never found it necessary to explain what he was, what Itachi was... What Naruto apparently was. "Even friends can be dangerous, Nill," he uttered softly. Hadn't they both suffered when they came in contact with Yosuke's hidden side?

[unfeasible]

Ramen doesn't exactly take long to set up, especially when it's been delivered. So Naruto had unwrapped the saran covers and set them all on the table, and left with nothing to do, he stared at them. Then curiously back to the doorway of the kitchen. And back.

He wanted to know what was going on. Naruto was dumb, but he wasn't completely stupid; whatever was being said was just for their little family. But he hated being left out, even though it had nothing to do with him. There was no use dwelling on it; he'd been invited as a friend and Shikamaru would probably tell him later anyway, right? Because they were friends. Naruto grinned.

"Hey, genius, your food's getting cold!" he yelled after five minutes, which he figured was long enough for whatever needed to be said.

[pogromanate]

All it took was the softest of nods to assure himself that Shikamaru knew what he was doing. And still, it may have been a leap of faith that Itachi placed trust in Shikamaru’s hands. Although, there was no doubt in his mind that the teenager was not stupid, or as idiotic as the perfect example in the living room, to risk anything that provoked harm.

Red hues flickered over to the small girl, but Shikamaru had spoken for him. His movements neglected the abandoned cup still half-empty with tea and made his way to the freezer, picking out a small carton of half-full deliriously sweet ice-cream before reaching over to pick up a spoon. And such motions, even if they were to complete a daily routine, were almost graceful.

There was some thought as he made his way to the living room to continue his sleep, but his steps seemed to betray his exhausted-induced mind and instead he sat back on the couch. One leg was folded horizontally over the other and the joint of his knee met with his elbow, a coiled fist propped languidly at the side of his features as the other was placed on the top of the still closed carton of ice-cream.

[silencedbird]

Probably for the first proper time since she’d met Shikamaru, Nill narrowed her eyes at him in something close to a glare, and she stared at him like that for a good while before mouthing, with a more grave, serious expression she ever wore and with absolute certainty, “No.”

Because as far as she was concerned, Naruto was dangerous, not even a little bit. (she honestly felt like going over to the door and pointing at him, because honestly, how could the blond boy in the living room possibly be a threat to anything? For god’s sake, look at him!) Itachi had already said that something inside Naruto was the dangerous thing, right? So why was Naruto the dangerous one? After a moment though the expression faded into a slightly unhappy one, and she just let out a sigh and looked down at her lap, tangling her fingers in the fabric of the skirt she had on. Maybe she was wrong, though. After all... it wasn’t like anyone had told her about any of this stuff, not properly. Without knowing, she couldn’t really be sure, not about anything, but it just didn’t seem right.

But at the same time, if Naruto was dangerous for them, wasn’t Itachi? And wasn’t Yosuke? Even Shikamaru-didn’t that mean they were all dangerous? ...Shikamaru would probably say yes to that, though, so she’d never voice that thought t him-and even after what had happened, Nill had never once thought of Yosuke as dangerous. He’d hurt all of them-broke her ribs and stabbed her in the wing, stabbed Kazama, even attacked Shikamaru-but Nill could never see the persona that had taken her in when Spanner had left as dangerous. (And besides; he hadn’t killed any of them.)

Giving her head a final shake, Nill stood from the seat she had taken and wandered into the living room to join Naruto again after Itachi had left, never once trying to ‘say’ anything else to either of them.

[lazyish]

Shikamaru sighed at Nill's reaction, lingering in the kitchen for a moment after she was gone. He rubbed the back of his neck, exasperated. She'd gotten the wrong idea. He didn't intend to do anything to Naruto. He didn't even see the point of forbidding Nill from going near him. If anything, Nill would be good for Naruto. She had a calming power of her own, whether it was magic or not. And Shikamaru himself was now basically assigned to watch Naruto.

Because if there was a dark power within Naruto, and that power had previously been in Akatsuki's hands, then Akatsuki would want it back when they found where he'd gone to. Itachi wanted to make sure that didn't happen. If that was what Itachi wanted, Shikamaru would keep Naruto safely away from the organization.

He grabbed a can of iced tea from the fridge to give himself an excuse for delaying, then walked back out to the living room. "Sorry," he said to Naruto as he settled onto the couch beside Itachi. "Man, that smells good."

[unfeasible]

Naruto smiled as they all filed in to eat, finally. It only spread at Shikamaru's compliment.

"I added something kinda special this time! Looklook--" He rushed forward and grabbed Nill and Shikamaru both by the wrists, dragging them forward to the table to show them his handiwork. He let go when they were able to see the contents of the bowls clearly; and pointed at them with a proudly outstretched hand.

"Check it out! Specially aged beef, fresh mushrooms, chicken, shrimp--" His speech sped up as he excitedly rambled. "It's a little more expensive for the ingredients, but I call it the 'Everything or Nothing Special'! If the old man'd be willing to shell out for the stuff, I bet we'd make a killing for this one! It's AWESOME." He nudged Shikamaru roughly with his elbow. "Hurry up, try it!"

[pogromanate]

If anything, Itachi would only observe. But even with the reason he had given himself not to have the sudden urge to succumb to his exhaustion he did not even open his eyes -- nor did his frame seem to falter at the explosion of self-boasting of the display that laid before the teenagers.

It was a slow moment, painfully slow, the way that Itachi let his eyes half open in rhythm of a barely-there exhale that finished with Itachi’s position resembling that of a gentle slump. And even with the coldness of the object in hand, Itachi made no effort to remove the lid from the container.

Neither did he make a effort to prevent him from closing his eyes once again. Or to have him so very slowly and so very inconspicuously lean to the heaviness of his coiled fist produced from the weighing of his visage. But the will to consciously sleep slipped away, and he only slept when it was of absolute need. It must have been unfortunate really, that after the extravagant forming of words that spewed from the blonde’s mouth and himself slowly tilting to one side of the couch (unaware himself) was one of those times.

[silencedbird]

Nill’s expression almost immediately shifted from the slightly glum once she’d been wearing to a near exuberant grin when Naruto rushed over and all but dragged her and Shikamaru over to the table, where he’d set up the food just as Shikamaru had told him to; and, of course, Nill listened quite intently as he listed off all the various ingredients and all the reasons it’d be a huge seller from now on.

Naruto was sort of infectious like that, Nill thought, staring down at the noodles for a moment. Being around him, he just... he was the type of person that made others happy. At least, he seemed to be, and that was all that really counted in the end. (there was no way he was dangerous.) She had to admit, though, the food looked and smelled great; leave to to Naruto to know his ramen. She hadn’t even known it could be made that way before meeting him.

She didn’t move to try and, since he’d nudged Shikamaru and probably wanted his approval before anyone elses, so the blue-eyed girl shifted her gaze over slightly to Itachi to see if he’d be joining them or not. She blinked, tilted her head to the side for a moment, looked at him and blinked again. She’d never seen Itachi just... sleep like that before. Never. She contemplated that thought for a moment before reaching a hand out to tug on Naruto’s sleeve, before lifting her other hand and holding her pointer finger up over her lips in the universal signal for “please be a bit quieter” before gesturing with that same finger towards the Uchiha. If he was sleeping, then... they definitely shouldn’t have woken him up.

[lazyish]

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at Naruto's enthusiasm. Just a little. Barely. Who the hell could get so worked up about ramen? Although that was probably to be expected from someone raised into the ramen business. At least he loved his work?

Normally he would've waited for Nill to try some first, as she was the lady here, but since she nudged him he shrugged and helped himself to the bowl presented to him. Ramen wasn't his favorite food but after a taste his eyebrows raised in appreciation. Rasen's noodles were normally good but this was really delicious! "Whoa," he uttered. "Just... whoa."

He raised his chopsticks for another slurp when he felt a light weight rest upon his shoulder. He glanced over... Oh, not again. Itachi was really intent on sleeping on him today, wasn't he? His face flushed again but he didn't shove his sensei away. Instead, he went back to eating with movements careful enough to avoid disturbing the sleeping man.

[unfeasible]

Naruto beamed. By now he knew that for Shikamaru, just those few words were the equivalent of a parade and fanfare. He made sure not to neglect the small, quiet one of the group, and smiled widely at her.

"C'mon Nill, you gotta tell me what you think too!" He pulled back an empty chair for her to sit in, a steaming bowl awaiting its occupant. And then she saw her put her finger to her lips and motion to Itachi. Naruto blinked and saw that the person in question had, indeed, passed out. ...Huh. He nodded dumbly at Nill in response, then looked at Shikamaru. ...Why was he red?

Naruto waved frantically at Shikamaru to get his attention, and mouthed dramatically, "What did he fall asleep for?!"

[silencedbird]

Itachi really worried Nill sometimes. She could tell he didn’t take proper care of himself, that he seemed to forgo eating entirely at times (except ice cream, apparently, which was still very unhealthy on most levels other than ‘dairy’ consumption...) and just didn’t sleep at other times. She couldn’t really fix it or help much, though, so she contented herself with keeping an eye on the man and trying to get him to be more careful when she could. Shikamaru probably would’ve had better luck, being the closest to Itachi, but... she doubted he wanted to question his sensei.

So instead of bringing up anything on the matter of why the Uchiha had fallen asleep for (no doubt seemingly, to Naruto) no apparent reason whatsoever, she smiled somewhat cheerfully-it was hard to imagine the conversation from just moments ago had occurred, really-and gave a short nod before taking the seat that Naruto had pulled out for her. She looked at the food set out before her for a moment, not entirely sure she’d gotten to actually try some of the ingredients up until that point (the shrimp looked kind of funny, she thought.) before pulling the bowl a bit closer and eating some of it. No one would ever be able to say that Naruto wasn’t a good cook; the ramen was really tasty! The blond-haired boy was really good at his job, and pretty enthusiastic about it, too. Spanner would’ve probably liked him.

Lifting hand and grinning, Nill gave a somewhat awkward looking thumbs up to her friend, a gesture she’d never really tried before but figured conveyed fairly well that it was delicious without her having to pull out a notepad.

[lazyish]

Shikamaru snorted quietly as Naruto suddenly switched from shouting to mute communication. "Idiot," he muttered. "You can talk, just stop yelling." If that were even possible for Naruto. Maybe his volume really was just an on-and-off switch.

With another glance at Itachi, he could tell the man wasn't going to be waking up so easily anyway. Someone would really have to try to disturb him. So Shikamaru relaxed a little and went on enjoying his ramen even with Itachi resting on him. "He's been working hard lately," Shikamaru answered vaguely, "so he hasn't been getting much sleep at night. You guys interrupted his afternoon nap, so..." He shrugged and tipped his bowl, slurping down more noodles.

[unfeasible]

"Oh."

Naruto blinked at Itachi, then shrugged. He could be quiet, right?

Having helped Nill into her own seat, Naruto plodded quietly to the empty seat and sat down with a graceless thunk, looking expectantly at Nill. When she gave her silent approval, he chuckled and started eating his own bowl, slurping noisily.

This was...nice. That wasn't quite a big enough word for it. Even if they had to be quiet, it was a much friendlier atmosphere than mealtime at Rasen - where he and the old man had to takes turns eating. And Sakuma wasn't exactly a warm person.

"What does he do? For work," Naruto managed through a mouthful of broth and chicken.

[silencedbird]

At the mention of having interrupted Itachi’s afternoon nap, Nill paused in eating to give Shikamaru a slightly apologetic look, but soon resumed slurping up her own noodles; she was a bit quieter about it than Naruto and her senpai were, (-come to think of it, was Naruto her senpai, too? Nill wasn’t really sure-) though whether or not that just kind of figured or if she was purposely trying not to make much noise for fear of waking Itachi up, it was hard to say.

The winged girl looked at her senpai out of the corner of her eye when Naruto asked what Itachi actually did. It seemed like he didn’t want their friend to know-and, considering all that Itachi ahd been through (though she didn’t know most of the story) maybe it was for the better. But even so, she couldn’t really bring herself to lie to Naruto. Especially not when she joined Itachi on a somewhat regular basis.

So instead she shifted her gaze upward, line of sight lingering on the ceiling for a moment as though in thought, before mouthing out ‘a lot’, attempting a bit of vagueness herself- though she doubted if it would really work.

[lazyish]

Shikamaru cast a sidelong glance at Nill, watching her reply while he finished off a mouthful of noodles. He hadn't expected her to answer truthfully, but he also hadn't expected her to answer at all. She wasn't the lying type. Although vagueness, he supposed, wasn't exactly a lie.

Naruto was the type to ask more questions though, so Shikamaru took it upon himself to elaborate just a little more, in the most boring way possible: "He's a consultant. Contracted third-party work." Not exactly a lie either, was it?

After a sip of broth, he changed the subject, "You should come over for dinner more often, Naruto. It's probably boring to eat at the stand all the time, right?"