[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]

Nill hadn't really felt like cooking that day (or attempting to cook, as she still often let things cook for too long. ...or the one time the food had been undercooked and everyone got food poisoning, but that was another story.) or having Yosuke or Shikamaru order take out for the three of them, so when she'd left earlier on her initial plan had been to stop someplace and make it one of those icecream-for-dinner sort of days. Half-way through this plan, however, she'd changed her mind and decided on a much better course of action.

After all, Naruto really did make the very best ramen.

And that was how she'd managed to convince Naruto to come back to the apartment with her, because Nill hadn't really had a friend over before and Naruto was as good a friend as any to try this out with. She didn't have to worry about not being able to talk too much on the way, because Naruto talked quite a lot, so she just grinned and nodded or shook her head at him as they went

[pogromanate]

As much as disliked touch -- in spite of the scene in which both blondes had walked in on -- the faint tugging at his sleeve did not show as discomfort in reply, all it did was it brought him back to reality as his thoughts drifted off to more pressing matters that concerned the Uzumaki (Who had suspiciously disappeared, a matter that Itachi had concluded that the idiot had gotten himself killed and that was that). Instead the Uchiha opened his eyes as fingers coiled around the cup in hand and let fingers tuck back the wayward strands of black hair before red hues settled on Nill’s motioning lips

[silencedbird]

The girl gave a slight nod in reply to the Uchiha’s dismissive attitude towards what had happened with Naruto, and made a mental note that if she ever brought the boy over again, she’d have to check what was going on inside the apartment before she let him see what was going on. (no matter how shocking it might be, or... ‘innapropriate

[lazyish]

Shikamaru's lips twitched as he watched Naruto run around frantically. When he finally got his answer, he just gave a slight nod. "Made a good choice," he said. A light compliment. Naruto's ramen was a meal he wasn't going to get tired of anytime soon, even if they had it several times a week.

At that point, Itachi reentered the room. Shikamaru turned to face him, noting his expression. Not angry. Not even irritated. At worst, it looked like Itachi just wanted to get back to sleep, which made it odd that he was calling Shikamaru over instead of slipping off quietly to his bedroom to take advantage of Yosuke's absence and get some rest.

"Hey, Naruto," he said, glancing back to the blonde. "You can clear the board off the coffee table and set up the food there. I'll be a second."

Slipping his hands in his pockets, Shikamaru strode into the kitchen. His face reassumed its usual serious expression. This seemed like something important and he was ready to pay attention. He acknowledged Nill with a nod before uttering to Itachi, "Yes,

[unfeasible]

Naruto just blinked stupidly between Itachi and Shikamaru, finally smiling and nodding. "Okay."

He frowned and considered Itachi again, before the frown deepened in thought and conflict and he stared at the floor. When he looked up again, he had a wide, slightly apologetic grin.

"My bad."

[pogromanate]

It was when Naruto faced Itachi with the sort muttered words that Itachi had let out a soft amused sound before he turned around and headed within the kitchen once again. The fact that Nill was still there didn’t bother the Uchiha in the slightest; he knew she wasn’t going to parade around in an urge of suddenness at what Itachi had to tell Shikamaru

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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.