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Chapter Text

1.

The Nara compound was eerily quiet. It was too early for the members of the main house or the outer family to be up and about, much less awake. Yet the clan heir, Nara Shikamaru, was the exception to this rule. The young genius was awake, his brilliant mind tormented from the shadows that stayed with him after he got back from his first C ranked mission with Asuma and the rest of the team. Shikamaru was not blind to the darkness that existed in the word, but the eleven year old Genin was still shocked by what he and his team mates encountered. Before the trip to Rice Country, the Nara heir had never seen torture. It took one trip, one particular mission, to take that innocence away. He still recalled the small form of the eleven year old boy with the green eyes and the cuts and burns on his body. There had not been a spot on his arms and legs that had not been bleeding and his neck... Shikamaru shivered. The bruises had been a dead giveaway; the boy had been choked, someone had tried to strangle him. And they had failed, because despite everything, the boy was alive, barely but tangibly so.

They had been returning to Konoha and there had not even been a question of whether they would be helping the child. Shikamaru had been able to merely watch while Asuma bent down and gathered the injured kid in his arms. Choji had stopped eating after that, the blood turning him off the mood for it. That was saying a lot about the situation. Shikamaru, when Asuma grew tired had asked to step up, help carry the precious burden and Asuma had briefly hesitated before he acquiesced to this. Shikamaru doubted he could ever forget when the broken body was eased into his arms ever so carefully and gently. The first thing the Nara heir noticed was just how thin his burden was, how fragile the bones felt. Then he held his breath, afraid that if he touched the boy a bit more, he would break him. There was a faint heartbeat but Shikamaru felt better once he saw it, much better. Then they started walking again and during that time, blood seeped through the bandages they had wrapped around the worst wounds and into Shikamaru's clothes, permanently staining the preteen held on, despite the rising panic he felt. Asuma had been shooting him worried looks when after a couple of hours Shikamaru had not protested. But when the Jonin took on carrying their foundling again, Shikamaru then and only then allowed his shock to show, his hands to tremble. They had made it to the hospital of Konoha but just barely.

When he had returned home, his mother had taken one look at him and she had gone pale. It had taken a long while until Shikaku got her to calm down long enough for Shikamaru to get a word edgewise with the upset woman.

"Not my blood," Shikamaru had managed to say and Yoshino's sigh of relief did not last long when he described just how the blood got onto him. By the end of it, Shikaku looked quite thoughtful.

"If he survives, we'll know," he had told his family grimly.

Now, hours later, Shikamaru could not forget those words or the brief look he had gotten of the boy's eyes; Greener that the forests surrounding Konoha and lidded with pain, before the boy passed out again on the hospital bed.

Shikamaru sighed when the first rays of light hit his face. It was dawn and he had not slept at all.

"Troublesome," the Nara muttered, sounding exactly like his father. He shot a disinterested look at his bed and with a final shake of his head, he stood. Somehow the urge to sleep was avoiding him that day and it bothered the Genin. If he was unable to get back to bed, he might as well do something productive. Fifteen minutes later he was outside Konoha's hospital where Sarutobi Asuma was reclining against the door smoking. From the buds on the floor, he had been there for a while now. The Hokage's son noticed his least motivated pupil but he did not say anything until Shikamaru approached him.

“What are you doing here? I would have thought you would be sleeping or lazing around by now,” Asuma remarked.

Shikamaru scowled at his instructor, shoved his hands deep in his pockets and hunched his shoulders a bit. “What difference does it make where I take my nap?”

A mocking smile spread on Asuma’s face. “Is that so?”

“Tch,” Shikamaru said and passed by him and into the hospital in a snit.

2.

He stared. Really, there was not much else he could do the moment he saw the child's eyes open. There had never been anyone with eyes so bright, anyone Asuma had met in his life. The boy seemed to be drowning under the blanket and sheets that covered him. He was mostly healed by now, weeks after they had found him. He still was entirely too pale for him to be healthy and rather thin and short, almost like a famine victim. Asuma guessed he was more likely abused, the bruises around the boy’s neck had been telling.

He realized he had been staring when the kid noticed him and curled up further under the covers. Next to him, Shikamaru gave an exasperated look at his jonin instructor and approached the hospital bed. If Asuma had to guess what emotion the kid was feeling, he would bet it was anxiety. But when Shikamaru approached he just looked apprehensive, but not afraid. And the way he kept studying the Nara... It was like he was expecting an attack ad weighting his options against the Genin. Asuma subtly prepared. His paranoia that the kid could be a plated agent, wanting to kill the Nara heir was not all that outrageous.

Shikamaru ignore his instructor's inner struggle and came closer to the bed, not taking his eyes off of the boy on the bed. His mind flashed back when he had carried the slim boy, when the smell of blood was so thick he could taste it.

"Hello", the shadow user greeted.

The boy blinked.

Shikamaru watched as the mop of hair on the boy, wild and messy and thick, fell to the side as the boy cocked his head sideways, reminding the Nara about does she had seen, and newborn ones, around the clan properties. He was not emotional or a person to be attracted by cuteness, but at that moment he found the lost look on the green eyed boy endearing. Then of course his genius mind studied further clues like the fact that the boy was squinting, which meant that he could not see properly. Also, the look on his face when the doctors had spoken earlier, when Shikamaru himself spoke.

"Can you understand me?" Shikamaru asked, ignoring the look Asuma gave him.

The green eyed boy still looked confused and a tad bewildered, like he could not understand what was happening.

The Nara tried again, asking his age, what happened to him but and he got was silence, which was odd, because it was obvious the boy was not deaf. That meant his original suspicion was correct, there was a language barrier.

Shikamaru did the only thing he could right then. He pointed at himself.

"Shikamaru," he said. Then he pointed at Asuma. "Sarutobi Asuma."

The boy seemed to catch on quickly after that, green eyes widening and a timid smile appearing on his face. "Harry," he said and the name even sounded foreign.

Well, it sounded similar to other words the two Konoha shinobi knew, but the accent and everything... Yes, a whole different language. Asuma had seemed to catch on right after the green eyed kid, because he turned to a smug looking Shikamaru.

''He speaks another language?''

The Nara shrugged. ''Seems that way.''

Asuma groaned. ''Just great," he muttered.'

Shikamaru shrugged. He knew there was nothing to be done now. He lifted his head and once again was met with green. He wondered how it would be, to not understand anyone around you. This boy was alone; compete alone, in a foreign place, hurt and stuck in a hospital and unable to cloud watch, unable to do anything. He sighed. ''Asuma sensei, I'm staying here today,'' he announced. ''You can tell the team I´m not going to be at practice.''

Asuma sighed as well as of sensing the reaction of one third of his team before he nodded, accepting what Shikamaru had decided for himself. "I'll tell Choji and Ino," he promised and inside he felt a little bit proud that his most lazy kid actually thought of another person without being prompted.

3.

That day Shikamaru had been weird. Medics and nurses kept coming and going from the room they were in. At some point Shikamaru noticed that the green eyed boy had all the awareness trained shinobi had of their surroundings. Despite the initial feeling that he was comfortable around Shikamaru, the bedridden boy did not seem to trust the nurses or the rest of the medical personnel that visited the room, regarding all of them through weary eyes, even when they were there to bring him a meal. And the way the boy, Hari Shikamaru reminded himself, ate reminded him of Naruto. While he was eating a nurse had come in, an older one, about his mother's age and not one of the young trainees. She had frowned at the way her patient had wolfed down his food and the Nara heir had made note of it and asked her out right why this fact worried her. She had stared at him with something between hesitation and pity.

"Well?" Shikamaru had rudely demanded trying to ignore how 'Hari' was looking at their every move even though he had no idea what was being discussed. Though, if Shikamaru had to guess by what he saw in his green eyes, the injured boy was smart and would probably guess that he was the subject of their discussion.

"Nara-sama," the nurse hesitated, using the 'sama' because he was a clan heir and she was a mere chunin even at her age.

"I can ask another and eventually I will learn," Shikamaru pointed out. "I just thought you'd save me the hassle," he muttered, trying to look his usual disinterested self.

"The subject is rather... ugly," she tried.

"He bled all over me," Shikamaru stated, eyeing her through dark eyes.

"He was starved," was the explanation he got, blunt and to the point. "Systematically denied food and probably water too. He's gone for a long time without proper nutrition although his body seemed to be recovering slowly but steadily. He has low blood sugar, low calcium, low iron reserves... Frankly, I've seen war victims with better health. And we got all that from the physicals we gave him. If we ask him we will probably learn more."

She refused to say more after that and Shikamaru did not ask her. He let her leave only asking her to bring extra food to the room. It earned him a small smile from her as she hurried away.

Then Shikamaru turned to the boy on the bed and the empty plate in front of him. He felt angry that someone had done this to a kid (because Hari truly was a kid). It also explained the frown on Asuma's face and why he had felt so light when he was carrying him. He knew intellectually that there were all sorts of people out in the world and that during his shinobi career he was bound to meet the worst sort of the worst of them. It was the first time he both dreaded that future and looked forward to it, because if nothing else, he did not want another child to go through what Hari had.

4.

They were one man short that day and Ino noticed. How could she not when she spends half the time trying to motivate her comrades into training, especially with the Chunin exams on the horizon? She wanted to show a stellar performance and she was willing to whine enough to make Asuma cave. She had a hunch that Sasuke would join and she wanted the Uchiha to notice her.

"And what does he have to do that is better than training?" she demanded of the Third Hokage's son.

Asuma exhaled a cloud of smoke, skilfully ignoring her frown at his smoking habits. "He's at the hospital," he replied and watched as Ino made the connection between Shikamaru being at the hospital and the boy they had found battered and bloody on their way back to Konoha. Ino deflated quite spectacularly.

"Oh!" she whispered.

"Is he better?" Choji asked when Inoichi's daughter was left speechless. "The boy I mean."

"He's awake," Asuma told the Akimichi boy. "And his name's Hari, well thereabouts, he can't speak very well," he revealed. "Shikamaru decided to keep him company since he seemed so scared of adults."

"Why was he scared of adults?" Ino asked and the Jonin sighed.

Sometimes Asuma hated just how sheltered kids in Konoha were. They were hardly any kids that recalled or even knew what death and destruction could bring upon a hidden village, a blessing and a curse really. He knew that Inoichi, while he used to head the Torture and Interrogation's division, was a loving father and there was no way for Ino to know what abuse was, aside from the abstract meaning of the world. He pondered how to breach such a subject and apparently he took too long because Ino huffed in annoyance. She really was a little brat, Asuma thought. Choji and Shikamaru were also little brats, but less so than his nephew.

"The boy… he had it rough in life," Asuma settled on saying. He guessed the boy (when he learned to speak their language and if the T & I division cleared him) would not want everyone and their summon to know that he had been abused. It was a private thing and Asuma was going to respect that. Already he had revealed a lot to his team and only because Shikamaru was being altruistic that day.

"Why does he get to skip practice though?" Ino asked.

"Just start running laps," Asuma said. "I'll be the one to worry about Shikamaru."

He received a glare for his troubles from the kunoichi. Choji on the other hand just shrugged and hid his bag of chips as he got prepared for the work out. Asuma watched them half heartedly while inwardly thought that it was indeed odd that Shikamaru had stayed behind. He would get to the bottom of that later, much later, for now he had genin to torture… train, he corrected himself with a half smile on his face.

5.

Shikamaru noticed the way the green eyed boy perked up when he walked in. It was the second day in a row he had visited the injured kid in the hospital and this time he came prepared. He had brought his shoji board along, determined to at least find a plausible way to pass the time. Harry (after several tries he could pronounce the name well enough that it earned him a beaming smile from the other kid) was often too tired to stay up all day and Shikamaru was left with little to do.

"Good morning," he said when he walked in.

He received a sweet smile in return and an attempt to copy his speech. He butchered it spectacularly but Shikamaru made him say it again and again until he got it right.

"Good," the Nara told him. He walked up and started setting the board. Harry seemed to recognized it for what he was and he actually looked interested, always a plus, the genius thought. An hour later he was still thinking this as the bedridden boy was surprisingly good at the game. Shikamaru had a ton of questions to ask about how and where the green eyed patient had learned to play but the language barrier was still going strong. He pondered on this even after he beat Harry, after he went back home and missed the speculative looks his family gave him. Well, his father mostly since Shikaku had no idea what to do with his son now that Shikamaru apparently had another interest other than cloud watching and complaining about having to train, and of course, napping.

The next morning Shikamaru woke up and he had exactly the idea he wanted. At first, he thought it outrageous but the longer he thought about it the more he thought the idea had merits. So at breakfast he decided to ask his father for his opinion. The silence that followed was rather telling.

"Mind repeating that?" Shikaku asked.

"You know about the boy we rescued," Shikamaru said.

His father nodded. As the head of ANBU, there were few things Shikaku was not aware of. He knew the only reason Ibiki did not have that boy in the dungeons to interrogate him was the Sandaime had stepped in after he had seen reports on the boy's condition and especially after Asuma had reported to his father and Hokage that the green eyed boy did not speak their language. They had been planning to make a Yamanaka, preferably Inoichi, mind walk through the boy's mind and learn everything. After that the boy would probably end up in an orphanage where he would possibly learn the language and perhaps, eventually find a way to earn a living. There were a lot of maybes and variables and until the boy got clearance to be in the village, the future was not set in stone.

"You want to teach him how to speak?" Shikaku asked. "That will be hard you know, more troublesome than it's worth."

Shikamaru shrugged and ate some more rice. His mother stared from her husband to her son.

"Why is it so hard?" she asked of them. "It's actually the nice thing to do. That boy is probably worried and scared and no one can understand him, the poor dear. How old is he?"

"The medics say he looks like an eight year old but the medic Nin said it was because he… he was apparently denied food. All the signs of abuse they wrote in the file," Shikamaru reluctantly muttered.

It all made his mother more eager to help the boy. Shikaku stared from his wife to his son.

"You can start," he finally told his son and heir. It would not hurt if they got a head start with this. And if the boy was cleared by the T&I, well, all would be perfect.

6.

The lessons started easily enough. Shikamaru had walked into the bookstore and went to find a children's book he recalled having back when he was three. He had hidden that book when his mother realized he could easily solve the puzzles and pictures in it, not wanting the drag of doing any of those exercises but now he knew this was the way to get Harry to learn the language, baby steps.

They started by saying their name, age and then moved to telling various food items, apples, oranges, rice and whatever was on the boy's tray when breakfast and lunch came, they also covered some animals as well, colours too. And Harry during the whole lesson was cheery and eager and quick on the uptake. He was also stubborn in a way that reminded him of Naruto when the blond would try a Jutsu only Harry was less obnoxious about it and listened to Shikamaru when the Genin told him not to tire himself out reading or doing physical therapy to help his limbs get mobility and not atrophy while he was bed bound.

It was one of those days Shikamaru hardly looked at the clock and did not care whether he missed a nap or not. It was also the days that Asuma had told him that he could no longer skip his team meetings days on end. He had made the shadow user attend training and D-Rank missions, mostly to stave off nagging from Ino. Shikamaru had agreed on certain conditions. One was that training would begin earlier in the mornings.

"Hari eats breakfast on seven to seven thirty. I can be at the training grounds by eight until one and then from three until seven. The rest of the hours I need to be at the hospital," Shikamaru had explained to Asuma in front of a surprised Choji and a shocked Ino. The blond kunoichi had been about to say something to him but Asuma had cut her off, agreeing readily to the terms. What Shikamaru had asked for, not only was much better than the schedule they currently followed, but it also motivated his least motivated student.

"But sensei!" Ino had spluttered.

"And Shikamaru," Asuma paused smoking long enough to pin the shadow user with a serious look. "You will train and you will not complain about the training or the missions. You want to nap, do it on your own time or else the deal is off and you will not be allowed the time your requested. Am I clear?"

7.

"Chicken."

"And this?"

"Umm… Apple?"

"Good," Shikamaru said.

Harry grinned and moved to the next object. "Lemon."

The list went one and the nurse that came to take the green eyed boy's blood pressure smiled.

While she was there, fussing over him, Shikamaru moved on to numbers and the nurse paused.

"Can you ask him how old he is?" the nurse suddenly asked and the Nara heir considered it.

"I can try," the shadow Nin said and turned to Harry. He pointed at the number twelve and his age a couple of times and then asked quite clearly, "And you?"

"Me… eleven," Harry replied and the nurse gasped in shock. Shikamaru was no less affected when he saw just how much smaller and thinner than him the other boy was.

"I have to tell the medic Nin," the nurse told the Nara heir, who nodded reluctantly.

"Could you bring more fruit?" he asked her.

She winked. "I'll throw in two portions of dessert as well." The nurse sauntered out and Shikamaru smiled and turned to Harry.

"Let's get you started on writing as well," he said and took out pencils and papers.

8.

Ibiki stared at the green eyed boy in front of him. He hated situations like this, when his principles were shot to hell because the good of the village called for it. Next to him, Inoichi was of the same mindset, more so because he was a father himself. Inoichi hated interrogating children. While he had never needed to actually torture a kid, he had not been above using emotional torture and blackmail. Worst of all, his former team-mates' kid was present because Shikamaru was the only one who could make the boy not cringe away from adults. He had no way to explain to the boy that he wanted to … well, read his mind. And he was not looking forward to explaining himself to Shikamaru, because the boy looked like he would demand explanations.

The boy was seated on the bed, propped up on pillows and covered firmly to keep warm. Shikamaru was in the room, seated near the window, while Ibiki was near the door, not quite towering over the boy; he had guessed that his horrific looks were enough to scare the unknown boy. Strangely, the child seemed unfazed, something that both bothered him and made him feel approval.

Inoichi took the lead. He called the boy's name and when he made eye contact, he was in. there was a bit of resistance, or more like it a foreboding feeling and then he found himself inside a kaleidoscope, where memories upon memories swirled around, like colourful water. He delved inside. The very first one was of a tall, dark haired woman towering over a toddler, yelling at the boy as a blond boy much fatter than Akimichi Choji laughed in the background. Going further back he saw the obese boy tripping the dark haired, green eyed child, and making him drop the glass he was holding, later getting the blameless child guilty for the damage. Going forward to other memories, he began to see a pattern. He could understand the emotions behind the actions and he did not like it one bit. The boy was not just abused, but treated like a slave and from the look of things, the abusers were family too. The boy apparently had natural genjutsu because when he was upset or in danger he could use a Jutsu much like Shunshin... No, it looked like the Hiraishin the Fourth Hokage used. It was impressive really. He moved forward again and the scene he stumbled upon was odd. There was no mistaking it really, the boy had watched a dragon (an honest to life dragon!) hatch from its egg. The details were very interesting and very confusing too. And before Inoichi had time to swallow the thought of actual dragons existing, he moved forward again, time was pressing and he did not want to cause damage by staying to long in the child's head.

The next scene he happened upon was that of a nasty experience. There was the green eyed boy in a chamber surrounded by fire and darkness. There was a mirror, a decidedly old one, in the middle of it. There was a man that had an added face in the back of his head. The added face looked disturbingly like Orochimaru. The man was over the boy, hands wrapped around the child's neck, trying to squeeze the life out of him. Inoichi was worried, the choking was too much and the man could break the boy's neck, but then all his fears alleviated because the boy, brave that he was, tried to fight back, he pushed and kicked and while he did that, the man's skin started flaking, like coal falling off a log. It was fascinating in a morbid short of way. The man's skin smouldered in such a way that he fell into ash, nothing left of him but the dark dust. And then a wraith, much like a ghost rose from them and headed from the boy. Then there was an explosion, a powerful one that turned everything dark, in a blast of shards from the mirror and fire and screams.

9.

"You want us to do what?" Yoshino asked her son, frankly feeling bewildered. Her husband however made no such exclamation and knowing of his brilliant mind she thought he might have guessed or at least considered this might happen. Shikamaru, her beloved lazy son, stifled a yawn and she resisted the urge to scold him about his awful manners when there were more pressing things at hand.

"I asked whether it would be possible to keep Harry," Shikamaru repeated. "I had a talk with Naruto and…" The young genius shrugged. "I don't like the idea of him ending up in such a place and we have the room and the money to feed one more person. He hardly takes up space."

"Shikamaru! We're talking about a living, breathing human being, not a dog!" Yoshino yelled.

Shikamaru scrunched his chin. "I know that," he said completely unconcerned.

Yoshino, exasperated, turned to her husband but the man just stared at their son, having the best poker face possible. "Shikaku…"

"Why?" the Jonin asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I need a reason?"

"Yes," Shikaku stated.

"Well, I don't have one," the Nara heir replied, making his father stare some more.

Finally, after a long stretch of silence, Shikaku nodded. "Fine."

"Fine?" Yoshino asked, shocked.

Shikaku sighed. "Well, won't hurt any, will it? And you can coddle him all you want," he told his wife, who spluttered.

"If that's all, I'm going to bed," Shikamaru announced and stood.

"And I will copy him," Shikaku said after a yawn, leaving the mother and wife staring after them.

Alone, Yoshino shook her head. "What am I going to do with those two?" she asked the empty room. Still, she considered how willing Shikamaru was to help the child and how Shikaku was not opposed to the idea. And finally, what her husband had mentioned about the child needing coddling. It would be nice, having someone to care for. She could not have more children and with Shikamaru being a Genin now the boy was no longer at home and even less likely to accept her attentions and affection. Really, she had known that shinobi were tough ones, but this was too much. She only got six years with her son and the moment he joined the Academy he was lost to her. Yoshino gradually started liking the idea of a child in the house and by morning she was quite eager to meet with the green eyed child that was deemed by her son 'Not troublesome at all.' A hefty endorsement from a Nara. She herself was of Chunin level but not active, not since she decided to hang up her headband in favour of having children, even though she had only managed to have one, Shikamaru. Yoshino regarded her son and husband as lost cases since they needed a drill master, not a mother and a wife respectively. She would meet the green eyed child and then she would see. With that she stood and joined her husband in their bed.

10.

Harry stared at the clothes Shikamaru had brought him. All the clothes had been worn by the Nara heir when the youth was six or seven and the young Genin had felt a sense of anger about this situation. He stood silent and supportive and helped the green eyed boy whenever he could, still finding it hard to believe, even with the bruises gone, that this was an eleven year old boy. He could count the boy's ribs and worse yet; he could feel how frail the boy was whenever he touched the raven haired boy.

Green eyes searched for Shikamaru's dark ones. "Me doing well?"

"You're wearing it fine," the genius assured the other boy, who beamed at the obvious sign of praise. Shikamaru resisted the urge to pat Harry's head as if the boy was a dog.

There was a knock on the door and one of the nurses that treated the boy popped her head inside. Harry subtly hid behind Shikamaru.

11.

Shikamaru blinked as he woke up. He felt the warmth coming from his side and he turned his head a bit. He blinked for a second time that day when he found Harry's sleeping form laying right beside him. He shifted carefully and turned on his side, watching the slim boy sleeping. He looked even smaller like this. The dark hair and pale skin made him look so much like an Uchiha, even more so like Sasuke, yet his face was softer, more childish and somehow equally tormented with the last survivor. He worried about what Harry had seen, what he had lived through.

Apparently he had been staring too long because Harry stirred, sleepy green eyes staring at the Nara with wide eyes.

"Morning," Shikamaru said.

Harry nodded. "Good morning," he replied.

"Come on, we better get up, Asuma said we would be training today and mother will have breakfast ready by now, you do not want her to come wake us up."

Harry was up in a flash, so fast that Shikamaru absently thought that with some honing, Harry's skills at speed could become the best. Too bad he would not become a shinobi. He shook his head and stood as well, yawning and stretching as he did so and cursing the fact that he was a genin now, with responsibilities and Ino nagging at him to train.

Harry had paused at the door, looking up and down.

"The bathroom is on the left," Shikamaru said, rightly guessing what the other kid wanted.

"Thank you," Harry shot at him and dashed off.

Shikamaru shook his head, feeling the ponytail in which he usually held his hair up, loosen. He was about to move when his mother knocked once on the door and entered.

"Oh! You're up. Where's Harry?" she asked her son eagerly. "Breakfast is ready. You better come too."

Shikamaru sighed. "I know, and Harry's in the bathroom."

She nodded and left and her son sighed yet again and got up. "Mornings are troublesome," he muttered as he started preparing for the day.

12.

Harry washed his face, still feeling off kilter. A month. That was how long had he had been in this strange place. It had an Asian feel, all of this. A mix between Muggle and wizarding world or what could have been but never was possible back home. Because Harry suspected that he was no longer at home. When the darn Mirror of Erised broke when the green eyed wizard smashed against it from the backlash of power.

He still shivered at the memory of Quirrell, with Voldemort piggybacking on his head, the challenges that he had to overcome to get to that hellish room. He had expected Snape, but never the man who had murdered his parents. His blood ran cold whenever he thought about that monster, the wizard whose name his friends could not even utter, the monster that had no body yet could still make evil happen. In a way, smashing into the Mirror and ending up in the middle of nowhere had not been that bad. He could not remember much, but he did recall seeing Shikamaru's face when he had a rare moment of lucidity while he was racked with pain from the glass shards digging into his skin and the fire that had burned him and the magical exhaustion he had felt while he was struggling to survive. He thought that was one of the reasons he felt so safe around the boy that was his age. He had never felt safe, not even in Hogwarts, with the moving staircases and the thousands of portraits and the forbidden forest and the dreary corridors with the ghosts and the trolls and the dragon eggs and the monsters drinking unicorn blood… Harry still felt a shiver. He had thought, hoped desperately, that Hogwarts would be a shelter away from the Dursley’s. He knew that logically, the castle was a school, but he had been naïve and desperate. He had not been ready for the fame and the Boy-Who-Lived and so many eyes to be focused on him, that bit was worse than the negative looks he got back in Privet Drive.

This place was different from Hogwarts and Privet Drive together. He was starting to get hopeful that this place could be better from his past life because frankly the young wizard dreaded going back to the castle and the Dursley’s, back to being the Boy-Who-Lived where everyone stared at him like he was an exhibit of some sort, where everything that went wrong was his fault and no one really saw him. He stared at his hands, mind briefly flashing to where he had caused Quirrell to crumble to dust. The thin lines littering his skin were still visible from where the mirror fragments had dug in his skin. He still got phantom pains and the scars would never truly fade away due to the magic the mirror had. There were similar very thin lines over his hands and legs, but thankfully not on his face. A couple were on his neck as well, Harry realised. He was still inspecting the changes on him when the gentle knock on the door and Shikamaru's voice reached him, asking him whether he was fine or needed anything. Harry answered back, few words messed together. He felt silly, speaking worse than a baby. A flush of shame overcame him but he squashed it because Shikamaru was always kind and truthful with him, praising him and his fast progress. He pushed dark thoughts out of his mind and got ready to face the day.

13.

Yoshino was fidgeting though Shikaku knew that his wife was trying not to show just how nervous she truly was. The head of the Anbu division eyed the spread she had produced for the breakfast table; it truly was an impressive display and he knew most of it would end up as leftovers since she made enough for ten people when neither he nor Shikamaru’s liked heavy meals. She was trying to impress and he had still to make up his mind about how he felt about that. Shikamaru rarely asked for things growing up and when he asked for that one favour they had caved relatively easily, even Shikaku could admit that. Had anyone else asked, he would not have opened his home and the clan compound but his son had and, after Ibiki cleared the boy, the foundling of team Asuma had spend the night among them.

Fine tuned senses heard soft footsteps before his son and their new houseguest entered the kitchen. Almost in synch with his wife, Shikaku's eyes fell on the green eyed boy that had managed to garner Shikamaru's interest and even he fought down any reaction he wanted to make. The boy was tiny, tiny and frail and pale and he had shadows in his eyes... Shikaku forced a pleasant look on his face and Yoshino smiled brightly.

"Shikamaru," she approached her son and kissed him. "Did you sleep well?" She then turned to the other boy, and her husband could she how she ached to hug the green eyed boy as well but not dared to approach him; Shikaku knew their guest could do with a hug at the very least. Yoshino settled for a warm smile and an encouraging prompt at them to sit with them for breakfast.

The Jonin watched as Shikamaru helped the green eyed boy take a seat and started explaining the foods at the table, encouraging Harry to pronouncing the names and insisting the smaller boy repeated them until he got them right. It was a touching scene and from the look on Yoshino's face, she too liked the change in their usually couldn't be bothered attitude Shikamaru sported. Breakfast was both long and insightful that morning in the Nara main house. Shikaku's analytical eyes took in every move, every word and every look exchanged between his son and their new charge. He was not going to fool himself that the boy was now part of their home. Shikamaru already was smitten with Harry and Yoshino...

A humming noise the boy made at her food had Shikaku hiding his smile. Yes, apparently they were keeping him.

14.

His chunin jacket was dirty, just like the rest of him. His bones were aching, joints were sore, he had developed facial hair that badly needed shaving, and he had not eaten a decent meal in days and slept for longer than that. Not just Shikamaru but his team-mates as well. Ino had been complaining for a while now about the bad conditions and at one point it was Choji who quite pointedly told her to 'shut up'. The young Akimichi and Yamanaka were only Genin while the Nara heir had grown in leaps and bounds since he was promoted to Chunin during the invasion of Konoha by Orochimaru and Sand. During the exams he had fought hard, not exactly for the rank itself (the jacket that came with the promotion he knew it would bring more responsibilities, more missions and even more danger) but it also brought more money, more power and put him in a better position than before to do one thing; protect the green eyed boy he had taken under his care.

His parents had not said much when he started spending more time with Harry, not only teaching the boy the language but also how to wield a kunai and fight if need be. Yoshino had been hesitant at first about Harry learning to fight as the boy, in her eyes was rather frail. But the child did not complain and Shikaku had remarked just how quickly he took to everything he was shown, displaying all the signs of a prodigy. It was a pity he could not join the ranks but also a blessing in disguise because the Nara Clan Head knew that Shikamaru did not want Harry to become a warrior. If anything, Harry turned into the daughter Yoshino had wished to have. Harry, as soon as he got more confident in his surroundings, started following Yoshino around while she did her chores around the house, helping with the housework and especially in the kitchen, almost taking over breakfast and half the dinners after a six month period of staying in the house. Spending so much time with Yoshino had also improved the youth's vocabulary since whatever time he spent with Shikaku, the Anbu Commander just preferred to play shoji with the boy and listen to him babble about the skies and the various stars that shone up there.

Asuma could pin-point the time Shikamaru turned into a dedicated shinobi down to the moment they came across the wounded boy. Shikamaru's motivation to protect the kid was both admirable and worrying for the T & I department as the Nara exhibited unusual loyalty to someone not of Konoha. However most fears and negative voices were quelled by the simple fact that the foundling was adopted into the Nara clan and was never seen walking the streets unaccompanied. One rare, very rare, occasions the Nara heir would walk alongside Harry and through Konoha's busy streets, along with his team-mates but no one else. Apparently the green eyed teen was still shy among strangers and felt more comfortable when surrounded by the people who had rescued him.

"Shikamaru?" Choji asked when the Shadow User tugged at his collar with distaste. Blood and dust clung to him.

"Break time's over kiddies," Asuma said in an entirely fake cheerful voice.

Ino gulped down the last of her water and refilled her bottle from the stream. "We can take it slow you know."

Shikamaru shook his head, "No," he stressed. "We were supposed to be back in Konoha four days ago. We're late," he stated with a scowl.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Take it easy lover boy; he's probably fine, busy cooking or something. Maybe he's found someone else to play the dutiful wife to." Her teasing comment was met with a glare from Shikamaru and a gulp from Choji who hurried to calm Shikamaru down.

"Ignore her, she's just tired and not controlling her mouth, you know how Ino is," the young Akimichi hurriedly said.

Asuma arched an eyebrow, fearing that the kunoichi's mouth might spark another argument. While they were usually a tightly knit group, Shikamaru had changed his attitude where Harry was concerned. Ino on the other hand was still prone to gossiping and teasing and could not understand that Harry was the one subject you did not tease Shikamaru about, not ever. Choji had to mediate on average two such fights every three days when the blonde did not know when to refrain from teasing. Asuma flicked his cigarette away and stepped up. He was tired and as much a mess as his team and he wanted to get back to Konoha fast. Everything else could wait.

15.

The smells reached him before he even stepped foot in the main house. The entire compound usually smelt good but when the meal was to welcome Shikamaru back to Konoha then the green eyed went all out. In the two years he had spent in the Nara household Harry had learned to cook the foods native to Konoha but every time there was a special occasion he would cook the cuisine of his own home country, foods unlike anything the Nara clan was used to, all to show Shikamaru how glad he was that the teen was coming back. Yochino would smile and let Harry have total control of the kitchen those days and Shikaku would loiter around, trying to steal a few bites or perhaps taste the dessert before his son. One time, the third time Shikamaru went on a mission outside Konoha with Harry staying with them, the green eyed youth had started the tradition. Shikaku had snuck into the kitchen during a short break he took from playing shoji with Harry and trying to teach the boy about Konoha's history, basic geography and the like. He paused at the door before walking in and sitting at the table, leaving Yoshino and Harry to carry the plates and set the table.

"So, Shikamaru's coming back today?" he asked, a teasing lilt to his voice that had the green eyed boy they welcomed to their home blushing to the tips of his ears. His wife shot him a warning look that he had half a mind to ignore but wisely reconsidered when Harry looked uncomfortable at the teasing. Despite everything the kid still followed whatever rule they told him to, like he was afraid they would kick him out at the slightest step out of line. Little bits like this rekindled Shikaku's hatred for Harry's previous residence (he would never use the word home) and made him glad his son insisted so much to have him with them.

"Ignore Shikaku Harry," Yoshino said in a soothing tone at the embarrassed teen. "I'm sure Shikamaru will be just as happy as you are about coming home. That boy likes your cooking more than mine."

"That's not really true," Harry refuted, "You're a great cook."

Yoshino smiled at the boy and decided not to press the issue. She knew that her son would rather have Harry's cooking than hers. It was cute how Shikamaru was crushing on the green eyed boy and vice versa. Shikaku had noticed as well and if she knew her husband, he would be plotting to help their oblivious son get a clue because otherwise it would take those two forever to acknowledge their connection. Of course, it could very well be that she and her husband were reading too much into it, projecting their own wishes onto the boys. Any other Clan and the members would not want the Clan heir to be homosexual but the Nara Clan never had such hang-ups. There were plenty of other solutions, from surrogacy to adoption and to naming an heir for Shikamaru from within the Clan but that was far into the future. Still, Yoshino could hope for grandkids.

16.

It was the smells that made a smile break out on his face, despite the fact that his joints hurt and his body was one huge bruise. The debriefing he has to his superiors and the quick visit to the hospital to get him checked for poisons and internal bleeding. He had given the slip to the nurses and checked himself out; ignoring the indignant looks his team-mates gave him as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop until he reached his clan compound. He saw the lights were on in the main house; he was expected it seemed. His father came out to meet him, shot him a look and shook his head.

"Go get changed," Shikaku muttered. "If Harry sees you in this mess..."

"It's mostly dirt," the younger shinobi told his father.

"Yes well, there's blood too, I can smell the copper from over here. Burn those."

Shikamaru nodded. He knew how Harry insisted to help around the house, sometimes aiding the servants and housekeepers and he did not want the green eyed boy to come across his bloody clothes. He hated making Harry worry over him.

"And Shikamaru?"

The teen paused. "Yes?"

"Do something about him. I hate seeing him pine over you. Or vice versa. I hear the rumour mills, you know. It's how I always know what's happening around Konoha. Like for example how that lumber merchant's son had an unfortunate accident with a sign post just a day after he asked our little one out for a date."

Shikamaru sighed. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied, managing to keep his pulse steady and his looks nonchalant. He had done this much and a lot more to others who had noticed Harry's beauty and his kind mannerisms. Some who wanted heirs were willing to disregard that bit when they came calling for Harry's hand in marriage, thinking that concubines were acceptable on the side and only seeking to use Harry for his looks and connections to the Nara clan. A couple had been genuinely attracted to the younger teen but the Nara heir had been subtle with them as well. He could strategize and manipulate with the best of them and so far he had succeeded keeping Harry safe. He had no idea that his father had known about all this.

Shikaku continued grinning. "The Kyuubi festival is just around the corner. Ask him. Or I will find him a suitable date." It was a valid threat, coming from his father and Shikamaru took it to heart.

17.

"I like you."

He blinked slowly, using the time he closed his eyes to imagine it was another saying those words. When he opened them, seconds later, it was still Yuu Hajime, in front of him. His family were merchants that dealt with fabrics. Apparently the tall teen with the brown-red hair and black eyes had spotted the young wizard at Yoshino's side and then later had seen him around Konoha's market and asked about him. He was the second son in his family. The oldest was twenty and already married with an heir on the way so there would be no problems from his family to sire his own offspring.

"Would you go out with me?" Yuu asked.

Harry took in the eagerness and earnestness on the older teen's face and nodded, however reluctantly. The way Yuu's whole face lit up and the dark eyed man smiled at the Nara protégé had Harry gulping with guilt. Was it really the right choice? Should he have turned the offer down like he had ignored similar offers he had been given? Because every time he was asked all he could see in his mind's eye was Shikamaru's face and immediately he would start to feel a weird emotion deep in his belly. Other times, when Shikamaru was around, his heart would skip whenever the Chunin would smile at him, or hug him or tease the ends of his hair, right at the nape of his neck. Once or twice Shikaku had even teased him but for a while now, the Nara clan leader would keep quiet and observe. It was Shikamaru's father that one day told him to go ahead with this.

"Go for it," Shikaku said.

"Go for it?" Harry repeated timidly.

The Jonin nodded. "You are young. One date does not mean you end up married to that person. Just that you get to know them. Who knows, maybe you'll make a friend. You don't have many of those. Promise me you will try at least once?"

And the green eyed teen had agreed to this yet now that he was doing this, more out of curiosity and in order to keep a promise, he felt awkward and uncomfortable. He agreed to meet with Yuu Hajime at the gates of the Nara Compound, and then they would watch a movie and maybe eat something.

When the actual day of the date came, Yoshino had been at his side to help him out. Harry had always wore a mixture of kimono and shinobi casual wear but for the day he went with the former, favouring a mint green kimono with dark green patterns depicting trees in a vague way.

"And remember Harry, he tries anything you don't want to do and you can stab him as much as you want. Then you tell me and I'll get Inoichi to punish the brat."

Harry blushed. "I don't think he's a pervert," he said and she sighed, muttering under her breath about 'how innocent her Harry-chan was'.

Yuu Hajime came to the Nara Clan's compound five minutes before the set time, and took Harry with him after greeting Yoshino. For the next three hours Harry spent with the older teen he had a nice time. He let the Yuu boy take the lead, appreciating how the other teen deferred to him about the movie he liked (it was actually an action film with a dragon quest that Harry very much enjoyed mostly because he found the exaggerated faux ninja techniques hilarious) and then to a sushi restaurant. They talked a lot and he got to know his date better. Yuu Hajime was smart and kind but he was not sarcastic enough, he had not seen or experienced violence, he was too... innocent and it unnerved the green eyed wizard. He had not considered it before because he too was technically a civilian, but in the past few years he had been brought up in a ninja clan that specialised in assassination techniques and strategy (Harry knew Shikaku was ANBU captain and Shikamaru was groomed to eventually succeed him), not to mention his previous life, when he had been used and abused and fought for his life. Yuu was not someone who could understand that Harry was not just quiet and meek. He had no idea that the youth had killed (self defence was just semantics) and he would probably be horrified by the sheer abilities Harry had at his disposal. No, Yuu was fine as a friend or a distraction, but he lacked what Harry needed, what the teen knew he had spotted in another. But he would try to keep this first date perfect, try to make new memories and experiences like he had been advised.

It was that resolve and blatant curiosity on his part that made him at the end of the night accept Hajime's request to kiss him. It had been timid at first, the merchant's son careful and gentle with him. Harry liked the warmth, how he felt being held and the sweetness he felt that was mostly due to the dango they had indulged in. Neither noticed that they had a witness in their exchange or the high rise in chakra in the area.

18.

"Where is Harry?"

Shikaku leaned back in his seat, pouring sake in his cup before looking at his son. Shikamaru was back from training, he had been practicing with Asuma so he had not been there to see the frenzy in Yoshino about Harry's date or to see Yuu Hajime come to pick up the green eyed teen. A good thing too because this way Shikaku's plan was coming into fruition in the best way possible.

"Huh, I think I saw him leave a few hours ago," Shikaku muttered in bored fashion.

The Clan Heir frowned. "He just went to the market yesterday. Why would he go out again?"

"He did not go shopping, he went on a date," the teen's father revealed, watching with carefully concealed glee at how his son froze at the nonchalant admission.

"What?" Shikamaru repeated.

"Harry went on his very first date, Yoshino was bursting with pride and worry all day, it's like he was her daughter or something," Shikaku drawled.

"And you let him leave the house just like that?" Shikamaru demanded. His voice was kept even but his hands were both curled into fists and his chakra was fluctuating.

It was amusing just how affected his usually aloof son was over the whole matter. It was also the definite proof Shikaku needed to confirm that his son had feelings for their protégée. Yoshino would be glad to know that since she really wanted Harry to stay forever with the. Shikaku sipped his sake slowly.

"Who was it? Who was the one to ask Harry out?" Shikamaru asked in a low voice.

"Hm, I think a merchant’s son? Too troublesome to remember the name?" Shikaku feigned to have forgotten it even if he practically had someone from the clan to follow around the couple, with discretion, just to make sure Harry was safe and enjoying himself. When he turned to glance at his son again, Shikamaru had already disappeared with a burst of Shunshin and the ANBU captain allowed himself a smile.

Shikamaru was furious as he escaped his father's knowing gaze. Furious at both his meddling old man and himself for allowing his father to manipulate the whole situation. Shikamaru's father had probably nudged the green eyed teen into dating just so that he could spur his son into action and any other day Shikamaru would be offended that his troublesome father thought to use one of Yoshino's best tactics - manipulation- to get his son in gear and get him to pursue that which he desired. Honestly he had hoped that his father would chose to sit this one out and not try and orchestrate anything but in hindsight he should have known and planned accordingly.

For a while now Shikamaru had been teased about various people about what they suspected of his emotions towards the boy his family had welcomed. His parents more vocal than even Temari's knowing smirk or Ino's comments about the green eyed youth. The 'I should have known', 'I should have acted', 'Harry's first date was supposed to be me', all clustered in his mind.

"... movie and dinner with me."

"Harry-kun... a date with you was simply a pleasure for me; I enjoyed it as much as you did."

Shikamaru stopped short as his sensitive hearing picked up the conversation. It was easy to spot the pair returning from their date and even easier to hide and observe them. He heard and saw everything. Especially what made his blood boil.

"... May I kiss you goodnight?"

That punk! That upstart! Who did he think he was...?

"Yes."

That simple word, that blush on Harry's face made Shikamaru's ears pound and his chakra flare. He wanted to do something, anything but next thing he knew, his father was there, holding on to him, his superior strength stopping Shikamaru, preventing the genius from doing or saying anything he might regret.

19.

Shikaku knew exactly when to find his son when the younger shinobi stormed out of the house early that morning. Shikamaru had not said a word since he came back from seeing Harry's first kiss. He knew his son was hurt and angry and in need to let some steam out and knew just the place he would go to do just that. It was a Nara property, just outside the village near the farmlands they had for the deer they kept close by. His son, even with his emotions getting the better of him, would not seek out a comrade to vent like any other of the Rookie 9 were most likely to do. He was probably letting his anger on some poor unsuspecting tree.

True enough, as he approached, he could hear the sounds of flesh meeting tree bark and said tree bark shattering under muscles combined with chakra. The ANBU commander stepped forward and silently approached his son and heir, only to be nearly decked by the still angry genius. Dark eyes met his and his son glared up at him. Shikaku absently thought that his son had gotten taller again.

"Shikamaru," he greeted even as he looked at him over his raised arm. His now smarting raised hand because that blow hurt something fierce.

The teen pulled away. "I don't need another lecture," Shikamaru told him.

"I'm not here to lecture you," Shikaku retorted. "I am your father and I do care for you." At the baleful look he got he decided to elaborate a bit, "I care for you but Harry is also under my protection Shika. I have to think about him and his future. Tell me, do you honestly want him or have I been reading you wrong? My gut and the results of the little scheme I cooked up tell me I'm right."

"... You're not wrong," his son admitted.

"Hm, so?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Tch, you're so troublesome. What do you want me to do?"

"Show him your interest. He's a catch as shown and another could very well step up and snatch him away."

"Like the Yuu brat?"

Shikaku shrugged. "You’re not in a position to call anyone brat as you’re still one yourself. And that guy is not going to be a problem, not really. Harry... he likes another."

The Nara heir rolled his eyes. "I know it’s me he likes, old man."

"Then get up and make your move. I want you happy Shikamaru, but I want Harry to be happy as well."

"Always nagging me," Shikamaru muttered without any heat in his voice. "I'll be there," he added and Shikaku smiled and vanished after that now that his job was done.

20.

Every now and then he would lock himself in his room and do this when he knew he would not be disturbed. He started as soon as he got the idea and had not stopped since. They only thing Harry James Potter missed of his old life was the magic, the sheer wonder of it being all around him, from floating candles to dancing pineapples. The green eyed teen did not want to forget everything about the past, like the image of how his parents looked when he saw them in the Mirror of Erised or how it felt to do magic.

The idea about keeping up with practicing said magical skills came to him when he thought back of how he turned a teacher's wig blue. And he thought I could try and do similar stuff again. Like move things, banish them away, anything to give him an edge if a shinobi attacked him. It was not an unrealistic thought that one. Konoha had been invaded once before and the Nara clan were all shinobi which meant plenty of enemies in the shadows trying to make a move against them. Harry was not willing to become a liability for them and so he trained to the best of his abilities a skill that might just become his trump card if anything happened. That is aside from the self defence and martial arts training he was getting from the family that took him in and cared for him. Which led him to a pleasant memory he had, that of making a friend all of his own.

Harry had been training near the stream when a voice he heard cut him off.

"Spread your legs a bit further apart and bend the knees a bit more. That way you'll not lose your balance as easily."

The green eyed wizard had looked up at that and met with pale white eyes. "Um, thank you...?"

"Hyuga. Hyuga Neji."

"Harry. I'm..."

"A protégé of the Nara Clan," Neji commented. "I'll leave you to your kata."

"I don't mind the company of you wish to stick around," had been Harry's hurried response.

It was what got him to make a friend out of Hiashi's nephew.

End of chapter 1

Chapter Text

21.

"I'm home."

Harry looked up from his book when he heard Shikamaru's unmistakable voice reach his ears. He lifted his head, prepared to greet the other teen when his eyes widened at the messy state of the shinobi’s hands. "Shikamaru! What happened to your hands?" he cried out and got to his feet before the other teen could say a word.

"It's not as bad as it seems," the Nara heir said but under the hard look Harry gave him, he caved in. He allowed himself to be ordered around as Harry got everything together to patch him up, not wanting to point out that he could just go to the hospital or seek out Sakura to work on him because in all honesty, he wanted to have Harry fussing over him.

Shikamaru carefully watched as Harry cleaned away the mess before patching him up in an expert manner. It brought unwanted reminders of Harry's past circumstances and he pushed it in the back of his mind because currently, all he wanted was to bask in Harry's presence.

"So... I heard you went out on a date?" Shikamaru asked just as Harry was finishing bandaging his knuckles. Even with chakra coating the skin he had done a number on himself.

Harry's hands stilled. "Oh, you heard about that."

"Did you have fun?"

A shoulder shrugged. "It was fine."

"Fine?" Shikamaru prodded.

"Fine," Harry repeated.

Shikamaru sighed as he took in how nervous Harry looked. He really was an idiot, he decided. Then he voiced this out loud, making Harry's head snap up to look at him.

"Harry," he said, leaning closer to the teen, "If you hate it, pull away, or you can slap me, that works too," he instructed the green eyed youth before he brought his face closer to Harry's. He got bolder when he realised that Harry was not pulling away from him, but on the contrary he was staying still, looking at Shikamaru expectantly. It was then that it got through to the young genius that he really had a chance for a future with the teen. And then their lips touched and all other thoughts disappeared.

A soft gasp came from Harry's lips but the teen did not pull away. Shikamaru gently pulled the green eyed teen closer to him, almost on his lap, as he deepened the kiss until he got a soft moan from his kissing partner. Then he pulled away with a soft smile.

"Took you long enough," was Harry's sullen comment that made Shikamaru snort.

"You have no idea how much I agree with you. Forgive me?"

Harry worried his kiss swollen lip. "Convince me?" he challenged and it was all Shikamaru could do not to lose control. Instead he did the next best thing and kissed the slim youth again.

Unknown to them, Shikaku witnessed the whole exchange with a smug grin and later on when he met with his team-mates from his genin days he bought them all a round of sake when they gathered for some ramen, not their usual place to eat but it was Choza's turn to choose a place and he had heard from his son that Ichiraku's ramen stand.

"What's the occasion?" Choza asked even as Inoichi shot an inquiring look at the Nara.

Shikaku just told them to drink up.

"You are awfully cheerful," Inoichi said. "You did something. You had that same look on your face when you set me and my wife up for a date."

Choza started. "Don't tell me... You were playing match maker again?"

"Who's the unlucky sod?" the Yamanaka asked.

"My son," Shikaku replied.

"Oh, it's about Harry-kun then?" Inoichi asked.

"Are congratulations in order then?" the Akimichi queried.

Shikaku nodded and his team-mates decided to join him in his joy.

22.

Their first date was not an actual date really. Harry wanted more things for a meal, Shikamaru was unwilling to let his side and after a bit of whining to stay home and let Yoshino do the shopping ("Come on, Harry, we can cloud watch together."), the genius was finally strong armed out of the Nara compound and towards Konoha's busy market. Before that though, Harry had met up with Yuu Hajime and gently turned the teen's attentions down and explained that he had been in love with Shikamaru and how that one date got the Nara heir to finally act. Hajime had been disappointed but understanding and wished them the best of luck. It was only when Yoshino found out what those two considered a date that she took her son aside and gave him a very long lecture about treating his partner properly that an actual date took place, one that involved Shikamaru wearing something other than his Shinobi uniform and escorting Harry to a nice restaurant after a long walk.  And the Nara heir had not minded one bit, not when he got to kiss his Harry again or when he got to hold the green eyed teen intimately. Soon enough in the coming months the young couple were often seen around Konoha, holding hands, or Shikamaru helping Harry with his shopping without the typical complaining he did when another sent him on errands.

It was getting serious, their relationship. And it was at that point that Harry decided not to keep any secrets from the young man he was in love with. Telling Shikamaru about magic was both the easiest and hardest thing he did in his life.

“The Nara Dojo?” Shikamaru asked when the green eyed youth. “Why should a date happen there?” his natural suspicion was active since the moment Harry asked him that favour.

“You’ll see,” Harry replied.

“Secrets are troublesome.”

“That’s why I’m going to tell you my secret,” Harry replied and Shikamaru’s eyes widened.

“Harry! Now I’m going to keep thinking about it! Just tell me now. Harry!”

But the green eyed teen laughed and slipped away and Shikamaru let him, because he liked seeing his love so carefree.

23.

Butterflies in the stomach were the most tame way Harry could describe his nervousness when the day of the big reveal came. It was just the two of them. Harry had prepared tea and snacks just in case, but those were more distractions and excuses than anything else. Shikamaru was there, shooting him looks that were not as sly as he hoped. Harry had let him stew in his curiosity for two days and even Shikaku had remarked on how jumpy Shikamaru was being or how, at random times he tried to guess Harry’s secret.

“You’re a spy from Iwa.”

“The lost grandson of the Sandaime... or even Jiraiya’s offspring?”

“You have a twin brother.”

 “You are some sort of demon that took human form.”

“You’re Shino’s illegitimate brother lost at birth?”

“You used to be a girl.”

That had made Harry slap Shikamaru.

“It’s possible!” the genius had cried out but then produced a very nice case full of chocolates to earn the green eyed teen’s forgiveness.

But now, he was about to find the truth and he thought he had not seen Harry look more afraid.

“What is it?” Shikamaru asked. “You know I was teasing you all those times I was trying to guess... Unless I did guess right. You don’t look like a spy though.”

“No,” Harry allowed a small smile,” I’m not a spy.”

“Good to know,” the Nara heir replied.

Harry sighed. “Well, I guess there’s no helping it.” He took a deep breath. “Shika, I’m a wizard.”

Utter silence as the genius stared at him for several minutes.

“Shikamaru?” Harry prodded.

“I can’t see you as a wizard, sorry,” he shook his head.

“Ah, you need proof,” the once Gryffindor said. He nodded. “I can do that, give you proof I mean.”

Shikamaru cocked his head to the side, a non-verbal sign for Harry to do what he wanted, but the disbelief was still there. After all, by regular civilians, shinobi techniques were a kind of magic.

It was easy doing that. Harry had practiced after all. He tapped a finger to the tray and suddenly they teacups came to life, hopping to rest in front of the two of them. Then the teapot rose and started serving them, Shikamaru first and Harry second.

“Sugar?” Harry asked, as if he was doing this with his own two hands.

“Neh, Harry?”

“Yes Shikamaru.”

“You can stop showing off now. I believe you.”

Harry smiled and ended his little show, sneaking glances at Shikamaru as he did that.

“Is that all you can do?” Shikamaru asked, looking serious for once.

If he was curious he was not afraid, Harry thought at first before he recalled that the Nara was usually lazy but a good mystery was enough to kick him into gear. So the green eyed wizard shook his head and started talking, explaining to the young genius about his life, how he was raised, how his parents were murdered, about Hogwarts, the classes, how he thought he ended up in the Elemental Countries in such a state those years ago. And Shikamaru listened, not frightened, but genuinely intrigued. 

“It’s still you,” he later told Harry. “Magic or no magic. But it sure eases my mind knowing that you can keep safe,” Shikamaru after a while.

Harry smiled. “Thank you!” he told the teen and kissed him.

24.

Harry and Shikamaru had been a couple two years and the Nara heir a Jonin for half that time. There was relative peace across the nations, no plans for an all out war. Shikamaru both liked and hated such times because it meant that he had to assume responsibilities he did not like, such as the Chunin Exams. It was Konoha’s turn to host them but the Kazekage was expected to attend so the red head’s sister was roaming Konoha’s streets, alongside Shikamaru, poking fun at her once opponent for the Chunin title. Temari, despite her teasing, was a good friend to the Nara and she enjoyed making him mutter ‘Troublesome’ whenever possible, just as much as she liked teasing him about Harry.

“You keep teasing me about him,” Shikamaru muttered as they crossed the main street market of Konoha. “I think it’s because you’re jealous that he’s better looking than you,” he quipped and then had to dodge a fist. “Che, he definitely looks better in a kimono.”

Temari lowered her fist and considered the times she had seen Harry dressed in silks. “Yes, he truly does,” she admitted. “So, two years. It’s serious between you two.”

“Always was,” Shikamaru replied.

“What about your ambassadorial duties in Suna?”

“I’ll still have that task but Harry said he would like to travel with me.”

“The trip is not an easy one, despite the peace.”

Shikamaru grinned. “Harry can take care of himself,” he said confidently.

25.

Shikaku frowned as the shinobi that delivered the news disappeared without a noise. The letter from the mission office was crumpled in his fist but the contents had been memorised the second Shikaku read them.

“Dear, what is it?” Yoshino’s voice reached him and he turned, knowing he was going to meet his wife’s concerned face and Harry’s fearful eyes.

“Is it Shikamaru?” Harry asked and next to him, Yoshino gasped.

Shikaku slowly nodded. “The team heading to Suna was attacked. We suspect rogue Sound Shinobi but we can’t be sure.”

“Is my son..." his wife’s voice was surprisingly steady for what was taking place. Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and he could feel her trembling.

“Missing, presumed dead,” Shikaku said and caught Yoshino just as her legs gave way and she started sobbing. Shikaku held her and tried to offer comfort. Harry slipped away, not wanting to intrude. He did not cry, barely though. But he did bite his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

26.

He tracked him down easily. Since two months ago he and Shikamaru had dropped pretences and started openly sharing a room at the main house. Harry was sitting on the bed, a book open in front of him but his eyes locked on the sky he could see from the open doors. He did not immediately notice Shikaku.

“Harry.”

“How is Yoshino?” the green eyed man asked in a low voice, focusing on Shikamaru’s father.

The youth was pale, and his hands were shaking, the Nara clan head noticed. His eyes saw the still raw lip and he frowned. HE was already worried about his son and his wife and seeing Harry in this state, trying to put up a brave front... His fondness for the boy was swelling in his chest. His son had chosen well.

“Asleep,” Shikaku told the other male as he lowered himself to the floor, “I’ve asked Inoichi and Choza’s wives to come over tomorrow. They’re good friends.”

Harry nodded. “You know Shikamaru is alive.”

“Yes, that’s what I’d like to think so.”

“Shikaku, I know he’s alive. It’s not a belief. It’s not a feeling. I know it,” he stressed and the Nara Clan Head really looked at the boy that his son had brought in.

The ANBU captain knew that however Harry came to them, it had not been by normal events. The jumbled mess Yamanaka Inoichi had discovered in his head all those years ago still bothered Shikaku from time to time. He knew that Harry was no mere ordinary civilian. It was true, he had no chakra, but he had strength in him. He knew that the green eyed youth had plenty of secrets and he suspected that recently Shikamaru had found out about the biggest one, if not all of them.

“Can you truly know? Can you truly help?” Shikaku asked.

“If I’m within a certain range, I can,” Harry replied.

“How?” Shikaku demanded.

Harry did not hesitate. His secret for Shikamaru’s life was a fair trade in his opinion. “Let’s say magic,” the green eyed man replied.

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“Neji already offered the same.”

“The Hyuga?”

Harry nodded. “He’s a friend.”

“I’ll put a team together, the Godaime won’t refuse this. Can you be ready to leave tomorrow?”

“I will be.”

“And Harry? Not a word to Yoshino. I don’t want to give her false hopes.”

“Of course.”

27.

There were nine of them in the team sent to recover Shikamaru, including Shika’s team-mates and Kurenai’s team and Harry. Shikaku had spoken with Tsunade and Harry had been granted special permission to follow the two teams and managed to get himself included as well. The group set out from Konoha following the route the Nara heir was supposed to have followed. Every once in a while they would stop and Harry would mutter a few words in a strange language, shake his head and they would start all over again.

“What are the words you say, I can’t understand them,” Aburame Shino asked during a break they took. Harry was able to keep up with them when they were running on the ground but tree climbing was beyond him. For a civilian he had good stamina and they had made progress. When they had to cover more distance Harry had accepted Shikaku’s offer to be carried on his back while the shinobi strove to cover more ground faster.

“The words?” Harry repeated. “They are short of like the Jutsu you shinobi use.”

“W-What do they mean?” Hinata asked, not as shy around.

“’Point me’ means point me and it can be used to seek out a location or a person,” Harry said.

“A tracking Jutsu?” Kiba asked, Akamaru resting at his legs.

“That is brilliant, Harry,” Akuma told the green eyed teen who just shrugged.

“Could you teach us to use it?” Shino asked.

Harry shook his head regretfully. “I’m sorry, only my family can use it.”

The shinobi deflated but did not seem to mind much.

28.

It was the next day, around eleven that they stopped again and Harry stood on shaky feet next to Shikaku. They were in a more rocky terrain with various trees.

“Let’s try once again,” Shikaku told Harry who readily nodded.

The youth took a deep breath. “Point me Shikamaru,” he intoned and for the first time he could feel the spell take hold and tug him towards the east. His eyes widened and he started walking, letting the spell guide him.

“He found something!” Kiba cried out needlessly.

“Harry?” Shikaku asked.

“This way,” was all the green eyed wizard said.

The shinobi followed him with little fan fare.

29.

They found the battle ground.

Basically it was a clearing where Shikamaru had faced his opponents. All the trees were decimated. The ground was scorched and upturned. There were four bodies scattered around and weapons embedded on trees and spread out around the clearing.

“Harry, stay next to me,” Shikaku told the youth, taking out his kunai, just in case. Around them the rest of the shinobi were taking weapons out.

“He’s not here,” Harry said, still feeling the pull of the spell.

“Sound ninja,” Asuma said from where he was crouching next to a body. “We need to take care of this,” he added, looking at Shikaku. “Take the kids and go, Kurenai and I will catch up.”

“I know you need to take the heads,” Harry said, looking at Asuma.

“Shikamaru?” Shikaku guessed.

Harry nodded. “He always talks to me,” was all he said.

“Let’s hurry with this,” Asuma concluded and got to work.

Harry carefully averted his eyes.

30.

The tag from the ‘Point me’ spell faded about three hours worth of distance from the spot the skirmish had taken place. On the way to the new spot there had been more signs of altercation taking place but no new bodies. There had been blood though. Lots and lots of blood and they had all turned pale when a solemn Kiba had translated Akamaru’s bark to them: the blood had been Shikamaru’s. The group stopped when Harry’s footsteps ended near some rocks, not far from a stream.

“What is it?” Ino asked the green eyed wizard.

“This is the place,” Harry announced.

“There’s nothing here,” Choji frowned.

Hinata shook her head. “Byakugan!” she intoned and her kekkei-genkai activated. “There’s chakra strewn all over the clearing,” she announced and that prompted Shino to scatter his bugs.

“There are remains of a body not seven minutes from here,” the Aburame said and Kurenai vanished fast only to return five minutes later, looking grim.

“Sound ninja,” was all she said.

Harry frowned and repeated the spell. “Point me Shikamaru,” he repeated and the spell fizzled. “That’s odd,” he muttered to himself.

“These rocks look out of place,” Shikaku remarked.

“Not a genjutsu,” Hinata quickly supplied.

“No,” the Nara Clan head said, “But they are blocking an entrance to a cave.”

His deduction was met with shocked looks and a renewed hope about finding his son.

31.

The cave opening was large enough to fit even Asuma, height wise and Choji, width wise. Harry was left up on the surface to wait, in the company of Kiba and Akamaru, with Kurenai and Choji while the rest of them entered the below ground formation, trackers like Shino and Hinata first.

“He’s going to be fine, we practically found him,” Choji tried to soothe Harry’s nerves. “And you helped plenty with that. The shinobi previously dispatched found nothing.”

“I just... He’s got to be fine,” Harry stressed. “I know he’s alive. He might be lazy but he’s equally stubborn.”

Kurenai smiled at him. “Ino and Hinata both are capable of first aid and Ino had more medic training. Shikamaru is one lucky shinobi to have all of you so worried about him.”

“They’re coming back up,” Kiba said when Akamaru stood and left a soft low wine near the entrance they had earlier cleared.

Harry’s breath caught when the first thing he saw was Shikaku and gently cradled in his arms the barely recognizable form of his boyfriend.

“He’s alive,” were the first words that came from the elder Nara’s mouth. Within seconds Ino was next to him, hands glowing with her chakra and the kunoichi was back to treating her team-mate.

Hinata was next, supported by Shino and looking exhausted.

“He’s going to be fine,” Harry told himself out loud, mostly to convince himself. Choji grabbed his shoulder and squeezed but did not pulled back, offering whatever comfort he could.

32.

Three cracked ribs.

Left hand broken.

Right hand slashed heavily by enemy blades.

Right leg injured with shurinken on the thigh.

A mild concussion and numerous bruises and scrapes.

There was also blood loss, chakra exhaustion and dehydration.

Harry listened with growing dread at the list Ino gave of Shikamaru’s injuries. Shikaku was next to him now. They were moving fast, trying to get back to Konoha and the hospital. There was only so much Ino could do while on the field. They had no idea if the Nara heir suffered from any internal injuries and that was the Yamanaka girl’s biggest worry.

“I’ll do everything I can to stabilise him,” she had declared before the teams set out to return to Konoha, looking both at him and Shikamaru’s father.

Her words turned out to be the truth. Because Shikamaru himself was as stubborn as he was lazy. Three days after they returned to Konoha, he regained consciousness, much to the relief of the people who loved him. Only then was Harry able to get a full night’s rest.

33.

A Nara Shikamaru on the mend was a curious person indeed. For one, he was restless, like most shinobi and he hated being confined to the hospital on bed rest, a fact he made sure that all his doctors and nurses, family and friends knew. But whenever Harry visited him, and he was at his side a lot, his mood would change. The unease for the bed rest was there but the prickly mood (he could rival an Uchiha if he wanted to) would disappear, making everyone wish that Harry could spend all of his time with the difficult patient that was Nara Shikamaru.

Harry entered the room of his boyfriend carrying a portable shogi board just as a nurse fled the room, looking near tears. Instead of being curious or angry, the green eyed teen was exasperated.

“Again, Shika?” he asked the bed ridden shinobi, who gave him an unrepentant look even as he eyed the shogi board.

A smile appeared on Harry’s face. “Your mother dug it up from somewhere and gave it to me just as I came to see you. She said it would keep you from tormenting the medical stuff, somewhat,” he added that last word as if it where a direct quote and if Shikamaru knew his mother, it was.

“I’m not that bad,” the genius protested but it was feeble at best.

“I don’t really mind,” Harry told him in a matter of fact tone of voice. “I’m just glad to have you back in Konoha.”

Shikamaru smiled. “Harry?”

“Yes?”

“Come closer.”

The wizard complied and the genius used his mobile hand to pull the other teen to him and mesh their lips together in a kiss.

34.

Neji was slowly sipping his tea, shooting amused looks at the green eyed civilian across from him.

“What?” Harry demanded, cheeks puffed and tone defensive.

“You are amusing when you get all jealous,” the Hyuga commented.

Harry rolled his eyes. “It was my right you know. Those fan girls had no business going to the hospital to harass Shikamaru.”

Neji gave a bit of a shudder. As a shinobi with a fan club of his own he understood the horror the Nara heir must have gone through when the fan club managed to enter his hospital room. Usually Hanabi and Hinata would take turns keeping vigil by his side whenever he was incapacitated at Konoha’s hospital. Most shinobi with fans used the practice after too many shinobi snapping at their adoring stalkers (and they were the most disturbing stalkers out there) and nearly killing the (mostly) civilian girls that fought for their attention. As it was, Harry came to Shikamaru’s room just as the five most prominent and rabid members of his club managed to slip in unnoticed. Currently two of them were receiving medical care and the others would look at him from across the street, pale, screech in fear and flee.

“You are a hero in my eyes,” Neji told the green eyed teen. “And I’m sure Shikamaru appreciated the intervention.”

Harry flushed a bit, ”Yes, he thanked me,” he replied and sipped some of his tea.

A teasing smirk appeared in Neji’s face. “Oh, I bet he did.”

“Neji!”

35.

Shikamaru became a Jonin at age seventeen after a particularly gruesome mission. Harry never asked the details as he knew from whispers around the Nara’s comrades that out of the team of six Shikamaru was in charge of, three died on the mission. It was a field promotion but the genius asked to take the tests as well. The reason for that was that the Godaime’s successor, one Uzumaki Naruto, had suggested him for promotion and the Nara heir wanted no one second guessing his skills and aptitude and right to rise in rank. The fact that he passed and was a given. The party his team-mates and Harry threw for him afterwards was an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise.

36.

“Hyuuga Kirito, Kiryu Mamoru and Aburame Yumi, you are Team 4 and your Jonin Instructor is...” a small smile played on Umino Iruka’s lips as he read the list. “Nara Shikamaru.”

There was a groan from his students who belonged to shinobi clans and knew the reputation of the Nara Clan and more specifically the Nara heir.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Kirito muttered.

Iruka smirked at them. “You will have to find him yourselves as I doubt he will be turning up at the Academy. Why don’t you try ‘Yakiniku Q’ or the training areas near the South district’s river, particularly the bridge,” he advised, recalling all the places he had had to chase the young prodigy from when he had been in the Academy and skipped to go cloud watching. He saw the disbelief on the kids’ faces and chuckled. “Well? What are you waiting for? Go hunt him down,” he said and shoed them out of the classroom, enjoying their grumbling and the promise of retribution in the young Hyuuga’s eyes in the case their Jonin was as bad as the rumours said.

37.

It was embarrassing when Shikaku walked in on them. They had not planned it or anything but Shikamaru had to take Team 4 for training near the preserve the Clan kept their deer and Harry woke up to make him breakfast and keep him some company. Somehow that got a bit out of hand and the Nara heir cornered his lover near the kitchen counter in a heavy make out session that was about to become a whole lot more, when they heard a choked sound and Shikamaru retrieved his hand from where he had sneaked it inside Harry’s sleeping robe. He scowled when he saw his father, blush on his face and eyes straying all over the room and refusing to focus on his son and the green eyed man with him.

“Father,” the Nara muttered.

Harry flushed red. “Um, Sh-Shikaku...”

“I’ll just go and... lots and lots of paperwork... Right! Goodnight!” Shikaku said and backed out of the room.

Shikamaru and Harry looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“Now... Where were we Harry?”

“No!” the green eyed man said, placing a hand on the Nara’s chest and pushing him for good measure. “Not in the kitchen, anyone can walk in. Your father was bad enough as it is. Now go, you have the duckling to teach right?”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and then he sighed. “How troublesome, I just wanted to cuddle with you,” he smirked at Harry and swooped in for a kiss that left the green eyed man weak in the knees and his eyes glazed. “That will tidy me up for a bit,” he muttered and left with a smile on his face. “When I get back tonight we can finish what we started,” were his parting words.

38.

“ANBU?” Harry tried the word with some distaste on his face. He knew what ANBU were, their job description and their value to the village but he did not like it, he never really got used to just how violent this world that was his home was. The constant need for Konoha to be strong enough to fend off their enemies and the shinobi that it took for that to be possible... But that was all logistics. This, what was Shikamaru telling him that very moment had made him feel faint.

The Godaime Tsunade was retiring. Uzumaki Naruto was scheduled to take the hat from her in two months time, when his official inauguration would take place.

Most of the old Shinobi Clan Head’s council were stepping down, letting the new generation step up. Neji had told Harry that Hyuuga Hinata, his cousin, was taking the mantle of the Hyuuga Clan.

Shikaku was retiring from his position and he had recommended Shikamaru to succeed him as ANBU Commander. The catch? He had to join ANBU for at least a year on missions, get a feel on how they operated. To do that, Nara Shikamaru would have to vanish and his mask to take that place. For that one year he had to belong to ANBU alone, stay at their headquarters, meet with only his comrades and have no contact whatsoever with the regular ranks. At the end of the year, should his performance be exceptional and should he be alive by then, he would be eligible for the position. Usually, one had to be in the ANBU corps for at least three years but the Hokage did not was to break her new ANBU commander to the extent the regular ANBU members suffered during their tenure.

“Shikamaru, are you sure?” Harry asked. He was in Shikamaru’s embrace, in the safety of their bedroom.

“Twelve months, no more, no less,” the Nara Heir said without inflection in his voice. “Twelve months away from you, surrounded by death and madness that is the ANBU lifestyle.”

“Shika...”

“I need advice Harry.”

Green eyes went wide. “Shikamaru!”

“Tell me, should I pursue this?” he asked his lover. “If you tell me you want me here, by your side, I won’t ever leave you. Just say the words Harry.”

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. They had discussed it, long ago. When Harry had been with the Nara Clan for about a year. Harry and Shikamaru had been talking about their plans for the future. They were lying on their backs on the soft grass right outside the main house of the Nara Clan Head after watching the clouds and napping that lazy afternoon.

“Neh Harry? Do you ever think about the future?” a younger Shikamaru had asked the green eyed boy.

“The future?” the raven haired boy asked.

“Yes, about what job you want to do when you grow up?”

Harry had grown quiet after that. “I... I never thought about it, not really,” he had replied. “What I truly want, what I’ve always wanted is a family and friends of my own and a place to call home,” he truthfully admitted somewhat bashfully. He knew it was not usual for a boy to have these thoughts. He never thought about being a policeman or a soldier or an astronaut or having powers like magic. But he had longed to be normal, to have people who cared about him and even loved him.

Shikamaru had not commented on his pause. Instead he sought to fill the silence. “I... Don’t tell my dad, or mom, because they won’t leave me alone after that but...” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’d like to be in ANBU one day.”

Green eyes blinked. “ANBU?” he tried the word. “What does that mean?”

And the Nara heir explained them to him.

Currently, that’s what bothered Harry the most, the fact that Shikamaru was given the chance to make his dream come true and he was second guessing it for him, because he loved Harry and did not want to leave him behind. The green eyed wizard turned to his lover, the decision made for him.

“Shika... You should do it.”

The Nara stared, surprised by this. ”Harry... Are you sure?”

“One year,” Harry stated. “You’re allowed to leave my side for this one year but after that, you won’t leave me ever again. I don’t want you to get hurt or take unnecessary risks. Just give it your all and make your dream come true. I don’t want you to resent me, Shikamaru, so I won’t be selfish. I can live apart from you for those twelve months,” he declared.

“Harry...”

The wizard kissed the genius, effectively shutting him up.

“One year,” Harry repeated, breaking a kiss. “So you better give me one hell of a ‘Goodbye and see you in twelve months’ parting gift,” he warned the Nara heir who smiled.

“What a troublesome man you are.”

“No more than you, Shikamaru.”

“Harry... Thank you.”

“Idiot.”

39.

Yoshino was quietly standing next to Harry, both helping to make breakfast. The house was quiet now and the green eyed man was prone to bouts of solitude but not for long. They were all worried, even Shikaku, but each and every one of them pretended it was nothing at all. Life went on for them and the village. It was not easy for Harry. At first he was uncomfortable spending a lot of time alone in the bedroom he shared with Shikamaru and the house felt even emptier. Yoshino at first said nothing but after two weeks of restlessness she had enough.

“Why don’t you get a hobby, or even some kind of work, anything to take your mind off from what’s bothering you?” Yoshino remarked one day during breakfast. “Shikaku, what do you think?”

“It’s a brilliant idea, really. And it will keep you out of trouble,” Shikamaru’s father mused.

“But what hobby?” Harry wondered. “And what kind of work? I’m good with household chores and Shikamaru and Neji usually spar with me but...” he trailed off. “I could go for a walk,” he muttered to himself.

“Want some company?” Yoshino asked. “Oh, but I had promised Kaoru that I would visit the nursery today,” she visibly deflated.

“Nursery?” Harry asked.

“Yes, where children of Jonin shinobi and kunoichi go when the parents are away on missions,” Yoshino explained.

It took him a moment to decide.

“Could I come along with you?” the green eyed man asked.

Yoshino smiled and nodded.

40.

The nursery was colourful and loud and had around thirty kids under the age of five, all of them offspring of Konoha shinobi and kunoichi. At all times there was an ANBU standing guard nearby, just in case someone decided to get back at one of the prominent Jonin by kidnapping their family members while they were off defending Konoha’s interests. People from various clans visited on rotation, willing to play the part of nannies to the children. They were usually assigned one or two brats per person so the kids could be familiar with them and not get too confused. And if the shinobi parent was not from a clan then said clan would sponsor the kids for their shinobi career and usually in the event of the parent dying, said clan would adopt the kid and not let him or her end up in the orphanage. Yoshino explained all that on the way there and Harry was quite eager to see the kid Shikamaru’s mother was in charge of. Azami Akimichi, Choji’s mother, was a plump, jolly woman who was in charge of a four year old girl and Hiyori Yamanaka, Ino’s mother, was in charge of a baby around nineteen months old. Each went off to see their respective charges the moment they were cleared by the Jonin that manned the front entrance.

“Nara Yoshino with Nara Harry for Higashiyama Seiya,” Yoshino told the Jonin who after a while told them they could enter.

Harry followed Yoshino in a room with soft floor and squishy toys and playpens all around. Yoshino went straight for a little boy around two years old, with hair the colour of rich chocolate and olive green eyes. He was dressed in a one-piece outfit with little duck on it and was currently playing with a stuffed puppy but the moment he saw Yoshino his eyes lit up and reached towards her, begging to be picked up in a hug. Shikamaru’s mother did not hesitate for a second and complied with a smile. Harry did not blame her, Seiya was simply adorable.

End of chapter 2

Chapter Text

41.

Blood was everywhere, splashed on the walls, pooling across the floor, drenching the cloth of his uniform, dripping from his kunai. Left over fumes from burning opiates was everywhere but the masks blocked the brunt of the smell and did not cloud their senses. Scattered around the room and, through the grounds and corridors and across two floors and many rooms there were approximately fifty bodies, dead upon orders of the Fire Daimyo himself. From behind the mask of a jackal the Nara heir watched as the human trafficking ring, some missing nin from Kumo and a former noble from the Land of Fire had set up, was finally obliterated.

This specific assignment was Shikamaru’s sole responsibility. After six months of missions were he followed the lead of others and used his blade and clan abilities to kill, this was the first mission he had been tasked to lead, a test to evaluate what he had learned in his training so far and how much his genius mind and tactical skills could benefit the ANBU corps. The Nara heir had planned this raid to the last second, to the slightest detail, with enough back up plans to make sure the guilty parties were apprehended or killed, the victims released and the detestable trading company was destroyed and no one could trace it back to Konoha.

Near him, hidden behind the Badger mask, Hyuuga Neji flexed his sword, getting rid of the blood that had stained the blade. They did not speak and Jackal had no idea if he could as the stench of death was getting to him. It did not matter how many times he encountered it or how much of it was caused by his own two hands, he was unable to stay unmoved in the face of so much death all around him. But he had to. He had six more months of this left before his evaluation and he was determined to persevere. Using the ANBU signs he gathered intelligence from the rest of his team on who was dead, who was remaining alive, how many prisoners they found and whether the safe had been breached yet. They were on the clock after all and had eight more minutes to clear the premises before setting the whole tomb (because the opulent house that served as base of operation was now nothing more than a tomb for the traffickers) on fire and heading back to Konoha to debrief and then take up yet another mission.

42.

This one was a success; he did not need the debriefing to tell him. And the cause was a noble one too, but Jackal still detested the carnage they had brought. He knew without a doubt that as soon as he was in a safe enough location to actually sleep and not the cat naps he was taking during missions to keep his strength up, then and only then would the memories come to torment him. Neji had been doing this for two years longer than him and he had been quite supportive when he saw Shikamaru the next day they were back in Konoha, after the Nara’s first mission.

“Find an outlet,” the Hyuuga told him. “Everyone needs one. And don’t let it be aggression, violence or sex. It helps but not for long and certainly not in the long run.”

“Never was aggressive or violent,” Shikamaru had answered him. “And sex... Well, I can’t see Harry. The alternative, meaning choosing another partner is unthinkable. My father is in charge and he might be fair in everything else but he won’t tolerate me hurting Harry just to get rid of my unease.”

“And I’d help him castrate you if you had agreed to it,” Neji supplied. “Take a hobby, it’s easy enough.”

“What do you do?”

Neji’s lips had quirked. “Manual work, usually involving water or earth. I do laundry, tend to plans, things like that. Hatake reads porn, Yamato carves figurines, Mitarashi has her dango...”

“I see the pattern,” Shikamaru said. “And I’d like to try my hand at literature.”

The Hyuuga choked. “What?”

Shikamaru grinned deviously, “I have plenty of time away from Harry, I need inspiration on what to do once we’re reunited.”

“That’s...”

“Brilliant?”

“Evil,” Neji muttered.

Shikamaru hummed. “Basically the same thing then.”

43.

“You need to get out more!” Asuma told the green eyed young man as he led the way to the dango stand usually frequented by one Mitarashi Anko.

Harry was the only civilian among them, which was not rare these days. Shikamaru’s friends had sought him out (with and without Yoshino’s prods) forcing him to become a bit more social because if it had been up to Harry, then he would not have left the Nara Compound and spend an unhealthy amount of time pinning after his lover.

It was the Akimichi heir that had orchestrated the get together and he was now trailing behind Harry and Sarutobi Asuma with an indulgent look on his face and the rear was brought up by Ino, who was blushing furiously at what Sai was telling her. The usually blank faced shinobi had joined Asuma’s team when Team 7 official dissolved. Naruto had been wearing the Rokudaime’s hat for a while now and Sakura was hardly ever out of Konoha’s walls. Yamato had gone back to ANBU while Sai was reassigned and usually worked with Choji and Ino and seldom with Kurenai’s former team. Harry had been spending enough time with them ever since Shikamaru left to achieve his dream career. It was through the young Akimichi that he got introduced to the professionals of the food industry and now the wizard had a budding idea for a restaurant of his own. He wanted to start with something small and then, if the restaurant took off, only then he would expand. Already Shikaku was encouraging him to go ahead with his plan and Choji was eager to help him refine his technique and expand his palette. When the youth learned that Harry had never tasted dango, he told Asuma and they went ahead and arrange a visit to one of the best stands Konoha had to offer.

“... and there’s Chadango and Mitarashi and Bocchan dango and Chichi dango... Oh and hanami dango...” Choji started listing and Harry’s eyes went wide as the list continued. The Akimichi heir informed him that not all dango was sweet and some varieties depended on the season. By the end of it Harry knew a lot more about dango and he had a new sweet to indulge his sweet tooth with.

44.

He was taking flowers to the Stone dedicated to those killed in action for Konoha, when he came across the new Hokage. Well, he had met the man before, usually around that ramen stand Choji liked visiting. Harry recalled goggling at the sheer amount of ramen bowls the blond shinobi had consumed. Blue eyes peered at him and green stared back with the same curiosity. The wizard bowed appropriately in front of Konoha’s Hokage and the blond sighed at the “Hokage-sama” that came from the raven haired man. It made Harry’s lips quirk a bit.

“You’re Shikamaru’s partner, right?” the number one surprising shinobi of the Leaf, recognised. “We’ve met... Um...”

“Akimichi Choji’s birthday party and then again when the Kazekage arrived in Konoha and again when Yamanaka Ino threw a party for her birthday,” Harry said. “But we’ve never really talked.”

Naruto bobbed his head. “Shikamaru is quite stingy, never lets us see you,” he remarked and it made Harry smile.

“I guess he is.”

“So... How come you’re here?” the Hokage asked. “I mean I know that you don’t have people here, certainly not dead one.”

Harry shook his head. “No, I don’t really, but back home... When I was younger I did have a mother and a father and they died protecting me. I’ve never seen their graves and I thought that this was a good place to remember them. It’s quiet and the cemetery just did not feel right the best place to do that.”

“So... The flowers are for them?”

The wizard smiled. “Sweat peas and syringas, the meaning escapes me right now but Ino’s mother suggested them to me.”

“What are their names?” Naruto asked.

“Potter James and Evans Lily,” Harry said and watched the blond wonder at the foreign sounding names.

“I visit my parents as well,” finally the Hokage said and pointed to the red carnations he had brought. “They died shortly after I was born. I better go now, give you some space.”

“I don’t really mind the company,” the wizard replied.

Naruto grinned. “Me neither but paperwork waits for no man.”

Harry chortled. “Yes, Shikamaru’s father often tells me something similar.”

“Neh, Harry? Just so you know... He’s fine.”

Naruto seemed like he wanted to say a lot more but at the same time he was sad that he could not. He was a really compassionate man and the wizard knew that Shikamaru was lucky to serve under him. So he smiled, accepting the small revelation like the gift it was.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the blond said, embarrassed at the gratitude.

45.

Shikamaru hissed as the wound on his upper left arm was dabbed with alcohol. He did not let the pain he felt escape him, both due to pride and due to the fact that they were being pursued and the last thing they needed was for the enemy nin to know of the location. It was bad enough they had landed a hit on him, one that gave them a trail to follow in the first place. The only thing Jackal was glad for was that none of his men (for this team were his men, they trained together, bled together, fought together) were compromised. He also knew that the moment they stepped within Konoha’s walls and into his Rokudaime Hokage’s office, the blond would scold him for being so reckless (a regular mother-hen that Naruto).

“It will scar,” Owl remarked once it was safe for them to converse.

“One more for the collection,” the ANBU Jackal returned.

Two days later, in Naruto’s office, that excuse did not fly. The Hokage, meeting the Nara’s expectations, had been angry and worried about Shikamaru. The dressing down took place after the blond shinobi dismissed Shikamaru’s team and activated the privacy seals around the office.

“Shika! What the hell were you thinking!”

“The team’s optimum chances to complete the mission with as few casualties as possible. My injury does not constitute a casualty.”

Blue eyes rolled in exasperation. “I’m not an idiot you know, and I have every right to worry. Not just because you’re my shinobi but because you’re also a friend and that’s not me signalling you out by the way,” he warned. “I met with your partner, Harry at the KIA monument.”

That comment garnered Shikamaru’s attention.

“He was there to pay respects to his parents,” Naruto revealed.

“They were murdered when he was not even a toddler,” the Nara muttered.

“Yes, I gathered something like that,” the Hokage was rather solemn when saying this. “I slipped him a bit of information about you. A simple ‘He’s fine’ went a long way for him. Don’t you dare make me a liar Shikamaru. I hate lying!”

The genius smirked and nodded. “I won’t,” he vowed.

46.

“Are you sure?”

Shikaku sighed and pinned the green eyed youth with a pointed look, extending his arm. “Just hand over the plans Harry.”

“But...”

“I’m sure everything is perfect dear,” Yoshino remarked.

Harry pursed his lips. “I know you want to front the money for the restaurant and it’s a big deal to me so I need to make sure everything’s...”

“Harry,” Shikaku cut him off, “The plans please.” They were at Nara Clan’s porch at the main house. He and Yoshino, along with Choji and his father were gathered. The two Akimichi’s were looking at Harru with fond exasperation, while Shikaku and his wife with expectancy.

With a sigh the wizard handed the papers over and watched through nervous eyes as his plans for the restaurant were evaluated. Shikaku had initially wanted to give him a free pass and do whatever he wanted. There had been no budget, no limit. Yoshino had told Harry that they viewed him as family and if Shikamaru had asked to open a shop, any shop, they would have done the exact same thing. But Harry had never wanted to be a burden or be seen as taking advantage of them. Choji had remarked that Harry was being ridiculous but the green eyed man was nothing if not stubborn. If something did not work out he did not want to lose everything. In the end he had forced Shikaku to a compromise. The Nara could give him the money, but only after Shikaku and Choja (who had several businesses in the food industry) evaluated his proposal for the restaurant.

“It’s my first job and any input will be beneficial to me. I’m not just doing this to deny money,” Harry had protested when Shikaku wanted to just approve the whole thing.

Choji’s father had backed the green eyed man and remarked positively on his stance. He had helped him compose the proposal he had now presented to Shikamaru’s father. The plan explained everything, from colour schemes and china patterns to menu and uniforms and prices, everything a restaurant needed. Chouza had brought Harry into contact with some of his suppliers and the green eyed man had his own greenhouse on Nara grounds for those hard to find ingredients he wanted.

After a twenty minute perusal of the whole proposal, Shikaku put it down with a smile on his scarred face. “Harry... I have no idea why you worried.” Yoshino shot him an impatient look and he got to the point he was trying to make. “It’s perfect,” Shikamaru’s father told Harry. “You can go ahead and start the whole thing.”

“Really?” Harry asked, excited. “You’re not just saying that?”

Shikaku shook his head. “No, and I already know you’ve got the talent in the kitchen but this... you really are a mature young man. I’m proud of you.”

Harry blushed at the praise.

“Now all we’ve got to do is gather everyone,” Choji remarked. “Ino’s genin team and Shika’s old genin team are going to come and help for free,” he raised a hand to stave off any protests Harry might make. “All you’ve got to provide for them is the meals, Harry and that’s going to be plenty expensive as it is. Ino herself had roped Hinata and Sakura into helping with the fabrics and the like and Sai will make the menus. He even got Yamato to make the sign for the restaurant. We’ve got the spot ready already in one of the Nara owned buildings down town and we just need to order the equipment and furniture. Once everything is ready you can hire people. Naruto already had the permits signed. As it is a shinobi endorsed establishment it will definitely have shinobi clientele hence the need for at least one retired shinobi there, jsut in case anyone wants to tamper with the materials.”

Harry smiled at the red head. “You know, I could not have done all this without help.”

“That’s why you’ll give me a ten percent discount for every meal,” Choji teased.

“Believe me that’s the least you could ask,” the green eyed man replied. He looked at the smiling faces all around him and felt excited at how busy he was going to be.

47.

At some point or another, the very top, the elite fighters of the main villages, were bound to attract attention, or rather their achievement did that. Namikaze Minato had not worn a mask when he got the nickname ‘Yellow Flash’, but at some point he too had donned the porcelain face and fought within the ranks and earned the nick name ‘Sudden Death’. Hatake Kakashi was another prime example of elite shinobi with a reputation, only this particular man’s ANBU identity was strategically leaked to suit Konoha’s purposes. There were others of course and as of two months ago, the ANBU with the Jackal mask got a reputation as well. It started due to a mission in Kaminari no Kuni. It was missing nin that were trying to fill the power vacuum Orochimaru’s death had left. Konoha had the information and the chance to nip a new missing nin organisation in the bud so they took the chance. The Kage of Kumo had been unaware of Konoha operating within their borders.

“It could be taken as a declaration of war, me sending you over there,” Naruto had sheepishly admitted. “Bur our spy intel is rather worrying. They have the making of another Orochimaru, management wise at least. Gaara informed me that at least five members come from Suna and well...” here the blond Kage frowned. “Two are chunin from our ranks.” Next came something that Naruto had to utter with great difficulty. “We take no prisoners,” he stated, “We want them annihilated, bases razed to the ground, funds recovered if possible, all information you can find about contacts, possible allies and whether the Kumo really had no idea about them or whether they were using them as bait or even as scapegoats. Any bounties are to be collected personally by allies and not be traced to Konoha. Do whatever you think necessary,” he had ordered Jackal.

By the end of that mission there was one less criminal organisation rising close to the borders of the Land of Fire and Nara Shikamaru’s ANBU persona earned a Bingo Book page under the moniker ‘Savage Jackal’ and a ‘Approach with Caution!’ comment under a blurry picture of him. When he got back to Konoha from that mission, his Hokage (prankster blood still strong within) had unabashedly shown him the newest entry in the Bing Books. The groan that escaped the Nara heir was telling.

“Not quite a ‘Flee on Sight’ yet but you’ll get there,” the Rokudaime told him.

“Tsk, so damn troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered as he took the book.

Naruto grinned. “Are you going to take that and taunt Neji? I believe there’s a betting poll going on?”

Shikamaru smirked. “The only good thing from all this, yes. I best get going... My Lord Hokage.”

“Gah! Shika! Take that back! Naruto! It’s Na-Ru-To! I’m not an old geezer like the Third and the drunken Hag!”

But Shikamaru was already out the door.

48.

The name of the restaurant was ‘Harry’s Dishes’, simple and to the point. It was at the corner of a building not far from the Hokage’s offices. The kitchen even had a built in oven that used firework and access to a grill outside just in case Harry would need to grill meats. There was an inner garden available, one that Harry asked the Yamanaka women to decorate before setting a few tables there for about ten people, most of them able to seat two people. He made that spot romantic but not cheesy. The inside of the restaurant was elegant with browns and beige hues and golden trims. He had not opted for oriental style but instead described what he wanted and the shinobi that were helping him, managed to find exactly what he asked. By the end of it, Harry had a restaurant the likes of which he had only seen on the telly when he was younger. He recalled his aunt fawning over such restaurants and her husband making promises of extravagant dinners and meals. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and only had eyes for the fruit of his labours. It was big enough now, designed to cater up to fifty people but no more. Perhaps, in the future, Harry could teach all the recipes of his homeland that he remembered to another. But for now he could manage on his own just fine.

“So, how do you like it?” Choji asked the green eyed wizard.

“Well, it does look rather elegant, if I say so myself,” Ino voiced. Her opinion found many agreeing with her.

A shinobi wearing a green spandex uniform with an odd haircut and even odder eyebrows screamed something about ‘Youth’ and ‘Flames’ but Tenten, a girls with her hair up in twin buns, shut him up rather effectively. The nine people Choji and Ino had managed to gather together had been of invaluable help.

“Well, don’t keep us waiting,” Sai also stepped up, looking in Harry’s eyes like an eager puppy.

“I love it,” Harry told them. “It’s better than what I imagined it to be so... thank you!” he told them and received many smiles.

“And you know the best way to help us, right?” a young man with face markings and a huge dog (Harry had asked him to make the white canine wait outside as he was too big to roam free and he hindered rather than helped with all the moving around of furniture and equipment.

“Already thought of it,” Harry replied. “Go, wash up and freshen up and come back here in about two hours. I’ll have your reward waiting then. And... Kiba was it?”

The Inuzuka nodded.

“Your canine partner is welcome to eat inside,” the wizard told him and received a loud whooping sound of joy for this.

It was a month before Shikamaru was scheduled to return from his ANBU service that the restaurant officially opened. The very first customers included Shikaku and Yoshino, Choji’s family, all the shinobi that helped with the setting of the restaurant, several older Jonin as well as the Yamanaka’s and last but not least the Hokage himself. After that the restaurant had a steady clientele that was mostly shinobi with a few civilians here and there.

49.

It had been quiet, Shikamaru’s homecoming to the Jonin ranks. He was still ANBU, and a commander at that, but no one knew or suspected, like it was tradition. He just crossed the doors to the Nara Clan Compound, headed straight for the house he and Harry shared, kicked off his sandals. It was well after midnight and he was tired. He wore a standard Jonin outfit, mask and back at headquarters and his hitai-ate back to being proudly shown on his left arm. For a while he just stood there, taking in the familiar walls, the smell and feel of the home he had missed the year he was away.

Then a door opened and a green eyed man that had not been as tall as the last time he had seen him, came out, towel hanging low from his hips, another drying a wild mop of raven black hair.

“I’m home,” Shikamaru said in a low voice.

A smile spread on Harry’s face and he stepped forward and hugged his lover. “Shikamaru!” he cried out with joy.

The shinobi spun him once before clutching onto him tightly, head burying in the juncture of his throat and breathing deeply the scent of the man he had missed for twelve months. For a while they just stood there, holding each other was seemingly enough. But the moment they stepped back and enough to view each other’s eyes again, Shikamaru’s mouth was on Harry’s in a desperate kiss. Longing and lust and sheer relief at being together again, it all came out and before they both knew it, hands were undoing the towel that allowed Harry some modesty and the civilian used his unique gift to cheat and rid of Shikamaru’s clothes faster. It was not long before they tumbled into their bedroom and on their shared bed letting need, want and love guide their actions. It was neither gentle nor refined, their reunion, but it was just what they both needed. For the rest of the night they just reaffirmed what they had. Shikamaru did not mention how clingy Harry was being and the wizard did not remark on when his lover woke up from his dozing due to a nightmare. They would have plenty of time to exchange tales much later.

And the next morning they did not join Shikaku and Yoshino, though the first would have told his wife that their son was officially back by now. No one bothered them or asked for them and Harry did not even think about his shop while he was lounging in bed, watching his other half sleep, bared naked in all his glory. The remainders of their year apart were visible on Shikamaru’s body with the morning light on them. Some thin scars and many thicker ones betrayed that the year had not been easy for Nara. The ANBU tattoo that Konoha operatives used was obvious on his shoulder. It was the first thing Harry’s fingers traced gently enough. If Shikamaru woke due to it, he gave no indication to him and Harry did not let that deter him. Slowly his fingers touched all the scars he could see. The old ones he recognised and bypassed. The newer ones he lingered on. They were on more dangerous spots, closer to vital organs, some too close for Harry’s comfort. A couple looked like close calls and some of them where on spots that were not life threatening but they were deep enough that they had to have hurt a lot. There were of course the other changes. The genius was a bit taller, his hair a fraction longer and thicker. He was more tanned as well and his muscles were firmer than before, his hands more calloused. There lines on the fringes of his face that sleep smoothed somewhat.

“I’m so happy you’re home,” he whispered and settled back on the mattress, trying to fall back to sleep. He already knew that he would not ask any questions about the scars and mostly because the answers were unavailable to him. Shikaku had explained early on, back when he first entered the clan that shinobi business was secretive. Yoshino had also spoken to Harry, shared her own opinions about ANBU and a few pearls of wisdom that she had gathered over the years she had been married to a shinobi with Shikaku’s rank and genius. And he took all of them to heart.

50.

He did not ‘play dead’ per se, but he did keep his eyes closed and let his lover take him in. He enjoyed those soft touches and even softer kisses that were lavished all over his skin. The intimacy he had missed a lot during the months away from home. He was not sent on any seduction missions (he was not trained enough in those arts to pull such a mission off). All the contact he had during that year were claps on the back from comrades and the blades of his enemies or the bruising from spars. He had missed this, the familiarity, the safety and the knowledge that he was among people he loved and loved him. So he let Harry show his affections without telling him he felt and heard everything. He had half a mind to open his eyes and feel much more of his green eyed lover but at that moment he had no desire for sex, just for comfort.

When Harry did fall asleep again he stopped pretending and opened his dark eyes to study him. He had changed, he realised. And not in the sense that he had just gotten taller, filled out a bit as well. He had more defined features, more masculine too. But Shikamaru was still taller between the two of them and with more muscles. Harry’s hands were still soft, certainly smaller than Shikamaru’s. But there were changes. Small scars that had probably been cuts or small burns from his work. His skin was sun kissed from his walks across town. He had lost what little baby fat he had on him and he looked more grown up. None of the changes were as radical as those portrayed across the ANBU’s body and for that Shikamaru was glad. So he stayed up, as long as he was able and drink his fill. It was truly good to be home. He was unaware that on other nights, Harry kept the same vigil, wanting to observe the changes in the other man and reassure himself that Shikamaru was truly back.

Chapter Text

51.

They met at the Nara Greenhouses on one of the early dates they go. Shikamaru had not visited the grounds for years but he knew that Harry loved taking long walks amongst the trees. The young Shinobi heeds the advice Yoshino gives him and packs a picnic lunch. He takes care to include dango for dessert, several flavours worth of dango. He even asked Chouji what the top favourites were in order to include them all.

They end up spending hours curled together underneath a tree, laid out on the soft blankets Shikamaru had packed, staring up at the clouds on the clear sky, surrounded by the smell of flowers and each other’s scent.

What Shikamaru will remember for years afterward will be Harry’s fingers combing through his hair.

52.

He should have seen it coming really.

They were after all sharing their rooms and Harry was the one to mostly do the house work as Shikamaru only bothered to do so when the chores took time from his thus dubbed 'Harry Time'. So it was natural that when Harry tried to short his papers and books and scrolls in some order he stumbled across his 'hobby'. The one Neji had all but order him to find (not that the Hyuga had been impressed that the Nara chose writing smut as a hobby).

Still, Shikamaru was proud that at least his books were better than Jiraya's, held more variety and could boast a better plot and fewer spelling errors. Shikamaru was on the porch, wondering where Harry had disappeared to when he decided to look for the green eyed man. He found him three minutes later holding his first book, "Date Series Volume 1: Blind Date with a Prince".

"Shikamaru… Is this…"

"I can explain!" Shikamaru hurriedly told him.

"It does not look like porn," Harry stated matter of fact-ly.

The Nara heir spluttered. "What do you know about porn!?"

Harry levelled him with an unimpressed look. "Well, I am a man," he hissed, feeling quite a bit insulted. Sometime he felt like in Shikamaru’s eyes he was still the small child he had picked up on his way back to Konoha. The Nara heir was extremely protective of him, all the Nara clan was. It would at times get suffocating.

Harry ignored those thoughts for a while, in favor of watched Shikamaru splutter.

"I did not… I only meant…"

"Neji showed me Jiraya's books and a couple of magazines," Harry rolled his eyes. "I was not really all that into the 'Icha Icha' series. I don’t understand why everyone is exalting those books this much, the plot was not that good anyway. Not to mention that seeing Hatake walking around with his orange copy and giggling all the time… I'm not that much of a pervert."

"Neither am I," Shikamaru grouched. "That book…" He sighed. "You know about ANBU corps, right? I know dad spoke to you."

"And Neji," Harry admitted.

Shikamaru fought against rolling his eyes. On one hand Harry being friends with that particular Hyuga was good, but on days like these he wanted to choke Neji with his own long hair. "Well, the issue of stress relief came up and…" Shikamaru cleaned his throat.

Harry was smart and he caught on fast. "So," he stared at the book he was holding,b "Is this how 'Date Series Volume 1: Blind Date with a Prince' came up?"

"Partially," Shikamaru agreed.

Harry raised an eyebrow and opened the book. The shinobi only had to glance at the page number to figure out with page his boyfriend was looking at. With reflexes honed by his profession he had that damning book out of the wizard's hands.

"That was a very intimate and descriptive chapter for this being a mere hobby, Shika."

"Alright," the shinobi sighed, muttering about troublesome boyfriends under his breath. "It's also an outlet." At Harry's lost look he elaborated. "For all those things I would like to be doing to you, with you," he reluctantly admitted, feeling his face heat up.

He was treated to a very amusing sight of seeing a blush blossoming on Harry's pale face. Suddenly Shikamaru did not feel all that bad about having broached this subject.

"Oh!"

Shikamaru rubbed at his neck, feeling self-conscious. "Yeah."

"So... what you are saying is that you wrote this book with me in mind."

Now the red color on Shikamaru's cheeks deepened. Put like that, it was like he had aired what they did (or would be hopefully doing) in their bedroom all over the Elemental Nations. He could not really speak so he just nodded his head.

"Oh!" Harry repeated, feeling self-conscious. What Shikamaru was admitting was not something that had crossed his mind before. It was an interesting concept, something he both dreaded and looked forward to. "I… It's not all that bad, then?"

Shikamaru shrugged, avoiding direct eye contact.

Harry sighed. "It's just one book."

Shikamaru blanched, just a bit. "Mmm."

"Shikamaru…"

"It's not just the one book. It's more like an entire series?" he trailed off reluctantly.

"Shika… How many?"

"Seven."

"Seven!?"

"…"

"Harry?"

"Shika?"

"Yes?"

"Run."

53.

Harry was humming as he threaded his fingers through Shikamaru’s hair. They were sprawled on their bed, trying the escape the chilly evening of Fire Country, snuggling each other and just enjoying their nearness. The dark haired Shinobi was half asleep while the green eyed man was playing with his hair.

"You keep doing that," the Nara heir commented.

"I love how it feels in my hands," Harry replied. "And I like how I can relax you so thoroughly with such a simple thing. You must know by now that I like taking care of you."

"I like it when you take care of me," Shikamaru replied.

There was silence for a long while.

"I wish we could always be like this," Shikamaru commented.

"You like me touching your hair that much?"

"I always love it when you touch me. But I meant not just this, you touching my hair, but all of this… Us spending time together. Talking or in silence, it does not matter. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Everything else is just details."

Harry blinked. "You are a romantic at heart, aren’t you?"

Shikamaru hummed, admitting to nothing. He stayed that way for a while longer before he asked Harry to trade spots.

54.

Their wedding ceremony was a small, private affair. Just the happy couple and Shikamaru’s parents. It was all the family Harry needed.

For a very, very brief moment when Harry was getting ready, he thought back to the Mirror of  Erised and the image of his parents and how they would feel to see him on a day like this. Would they approve of Shikamaru? The fact that he was male? The fact that he was a professional killer? Would they care that he was in loved with a Shinobi? Would they understand? Harry had no idea and he would never know.

For e second he had even spared a thought for Petunia and her family but he pushed those thoughts violently away.

But then Yoshino popped in, all excitement and happiness and any moroseness Harry felt was left behind. He was exactly where he wanted, surrounded by people he loved. And more importantly, they loved him back.

55.

Naturally the party that followed after the private wedding ceremony was huge, involving all of the Nara clan. Added to those numbers were Shikamaru and Shikaku’s comrades and year mates, several Clan Heads, including the rowdy Inuzuka clan and their four legged companions. Naturally, the Hokage attended and there was even a delegation from Suna, with Temari leading it.

It was a big even, the biggest party since Naruto’s Hokage inauguration really. The clan compound grounds of the most laid back Clan in Konoha were filled with noise, music and people as they celebrated the wedding of the Clain Heir.

Shikamaru planted himself right next to his husband, hardly leaving Harry’s side the entire night. He had a huge smile stretching across his face, so wide his cheeks hurt. He ignored Ino’s good natured ribbing well enough, and Chouji’s silent support as he kept sneaking food at him while the rest of the guests tried to get him drunk.

Finally, Harry decided to take pity on him and with a soft smile informed their parents that they were bowing out of the party in the late hours. Most of the guests were drunk by then and no one missed the happy newlyweds.

Shikaku just took the opportunity to hug his new son tightly.

"Thank you for everything," Harry told the man.

"We’re family Harry. You could say it was practically my duty to see you happy," the Nara Clan Head said.

"That it’s with our Shika, is just double the happiness," Yoshino agreed as she hugged him one last time and released him to her son’s eager embrace.

56.

No one noticed, amidst the fireworks and lanterns and the rowdy crowd as a flash of fire Fawkes appeared briefly and flew over the. Most people thought it was part of the fireworks show and just clapped and whistled at the show. After all, fire birds were things of legends, even in a land were Chakra monsters used to roam.  

So the Phoenix names Fawkes, flew over the wedding celebration, just barely spotted one Harry Potter, happy among his new family before disappearing again.

57. Eleven Years Later...

Shikaku and Yoshino had waved goodbye from the porch as the small family of three made their way out of the Nara compound and towards the Academy Grounds.  

Nara Shikadai, had just turned six and he had wanted to start classes along his friends, the children of his father’s former teammates, Akimichi Chocho and Yamanaka Inojin.

His fathers were content to walk him (half drag him really because half way through he decided that he would rather they carried him there) to the Academy and listen to him alternate between chattering and mumbling how tiresome the whole thing would be. The little boy boasted the Nara physical appearance, character and manners, but he had Harry’s vivid green eyes and his magic (though the last one was a Nara Clan secret so far).

When they reached the Academy Gates, they noted all the other familiar parents bringing their kids to school.

Shikamaru walked over to where Ino and Sai, Chouji and Karui, stood with their offspring. Off to the side several other kids, boasting familiar features.

"Harry."

The green eyed wizard grinned at his spotted Neji walk up to him, along with his daughter Hyuga Ran. The girl, upon noticing Shikadai beamed and run to his side.

"Shikadai!" the girl that looked so much like her mother practically hugged the boy, clutching his arm.

A brilliant blush formed on Shikadai’s face. "Good morning Ran."

A flurry of noise followed as the children greeted each other.

"Shika, you and your friends better go. Classes should be starting soon. And you don’t want to miss the Hokage’s address of the Academy students,” Harry remarked.

His son nodded, and without disengaging Ran from his arm, led the way to the Academy door at the slowest pace known to man. With an eye roll, Inojin and Ran, followed by Chocho, pushed the boy in order to get him to go faster.

"The coming years should be interesting," Shikamaru commented. Then he turned to Harry. "Are you sure you want us to go for a second one?"

Harry stared after his son’s back, seeing the boy surround by friends.

"Yes, I’m sure. I want our family to grow," he admitted with a smile.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.

The green eyes wizard shot his husband an amused look. "Is it, really?"

Shikamaru returned the amused look. "Nah, not at all. Let’s go home?"

Harry smiled and reached for his hand. "Yes, let’s go.”

The End!