#the silhouettes are very similar with only a few exceptions (nifty) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

endowrites · 7 years

Note

D for Shikamaru and Neji. Doesn't have to be romance. I would like it any way you write. Thank you.

[REFERENCE POST]

D. Subtle kindnesses.

Homecoming

Neji is dead, and then he isn’t.

He’s running, jumping, leapingthrough the air, heart pumping in his chest and eyes scanning the world forany viable alternative. He finds none,takes a moment to collect himself, and then stands sturdy and tall as he staresdown the reaper and faces death with a smile.

He’s gone a moment later, the seal on his foreheadevaporating but the smile on his face doing no such thing, and he watches Narutoand Hinata stand together, tall and united and fierce and he realizes he’s made the right choice as the lightfades from his eyes.

…

And then he’s alive, breathing, and standing in the livingroom of a suburban house.

“Welcome back,” Shikamaru says with a small lopsided smile,except it’s not Shikamaru, it’s Lord Shikaku,and Neji takes a moment out of his dumbfounded silence to wonder, marvel at how the man could haveeviscerated the scars that ran across his face like they had never even existedto begin with.

“What?” is all he manages at first, before he stumblesforward like a newborn lamb, unable to find his footing.

“Careful,” Shikaku says, grabbing him as he falls. “You’llput your forehead through my coffee table if you do that, and Temari won’t betoo happy.”

A name, and Neji connects the dots. He turns, eyes wide anddisbelieving, and looks the Nara in the face. “Shikamaru?”

“Yo,” the man waves, as if they had just seen each other forlunch the day prior, and they were meeting up for lunch again that very moment.

“You’re…” Neji gulps, unable at first to determine if he’sdisturbed more by the lack of saliva in his mouth or by the fact his body doesn’tseem to care, and reaches forward. He pokes Shikamaru’s face, frowns. “You’re old.”

Shikamaru laughs – a breathless, quiet laugh that has thehollow scratchiness of years of hidden cigarette smoking laced within it - andshrugs. “Yeah. Tends to happen.”

Neji stands, feeble at first but growing in strength witheach moment, and looks around. “Where are we?”

“My house,” Shikamaru says, shoving his hands in his pocketsand twitching his toes in the carpeting beneath him. “Sorry it’s not much tolook at – that’s Temari’s doing. Prefers the more minimalist style, or so shesays.”

Neji looks up, down, and spins in place, taking a few feeblesteps to the wide window the stretches lengthwise across the far wall ofShikamaru’s living room. “Is that…”

“The Leaf?” Shikamaru finishes for him, as if he anticipatedthe question long ago. “Yup.”

He traces the tall, golden-speckled silhouettes of theskyscrapers on the horizon with his eyes, ogling at the sheer size of it all. “It’s…”

“Massive?” Shikamaru supplies again. “Yeah. If the trendscontinue, we’ll be hitting one million citizens by the time the next censusrolls around. And it’ll be even higher the census after that.” He chucklesagain. “Can’t really call ourselves a ‘village’ anymore, can we?”

Neji spots the Hokage monument a moment later, lurching atthe site of seven heads instead offive. He traces the outline of the Sixth from the left, recognizing the face ofKakashi Hatake with an unsurprised ease, and moves on to the next.

He jumps, pressing his hands against the glass in surprise. “Isthat—”

“Naruto Uzumaki,” Shikamaru says, with a sense of finality. “SeventhHokage of the Hidden Leaf.” Neji turns around in shock, and the Nara nods witha small smile. “And you’re looking at his assistant. A lot of work, but I getpaid well. And someone’s gotta keep the dead-last in line.”

Neji takes a deep breath, looking around more, before hisgaze finds itself meeting Shikamaru’s again. “Am I… dead?”

Shikamaru frowns at this, chewing on his lip, before heshrugs again. “You died in the Fourth War.”

“I see.” Neji raises an arm, looks at his skin, is surprisedto see it isn’t cracked and frayed with the telltale inaccuracies of the EdoTensei jutsu. “How am I here, then?”

“Many, manysleepless nights,” Shikamaru says with a low groan, and scratches at his eyeswith a yawn. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to reinvent a jutsu likethe Edo Tensei so it works without a human host?” He slouches, grumbling. “Troublesome.So much chakra. I had to hoard it away for weeks. The jutsu works for a fewhours, then it’s gone for good. And no repeats, either – this is a one timedeal.” He flicks a small purple crystal – not much unlike the one that laid acrossTsunade’s forehead – between his fingertips. “The things I do for people.”

Neji smirks, shaking his head. “But why?”

“Easy,” Shikamaru says, pocketing the crystal, running aweathered hand across his rough beard. “A birthday gift.”

“The jutsu?”

“Well, yes,” the Nara agrees at first, “but I didn’t summonyou back just so you could demonstrate a nifty little parlor trick in front of halfa dozen Leaf scientists.”

He pauses, looks over his shoulder, clears his throat. “Alright,kids! Come on in.” He turns, looks back at the Hyuuga for a moment as an aside,and says, “their parents are out right now, but they’ll be back in a few.Hinata’s the only one that knows about this, but this was all Naruto’s ideaanyways. Even if he had no idea.”

Neji follows Shikamaru’s eyes to a door at the end of thehall.

“Had no idea?” Neji repeats, frowning. “How does that makeany sense?”

“Naruto says a lot of things hypothetically,” Shikamaruanswers with a nonchalant wave. “This time, I don’t think he realizes just howpossible some of his ideas are.”

Neji blinks, one word in particular sticking out in his mindlike a bird flying in a cloudless sky. “Children?” He takes a moment andswallows a mouth full of spittle-less anxiety. “How… how long has it been?”

“Too long,” Shikamaru answers with a small, sad smile, andthe door clicks open.

“Boruto, Himawari, Shikadai,” he says as three smallchildren walk into the room, and Neji can’t help but let out a quiet gasp ofsurprise at how similar they looked, orthe way they looked at him like he was some sort of god, “I’d like you to meetyour Uncle Neji.”

When Neji sacrifices himself, he worries about an afterlife.He worries about heaven, and hell, and whatever may lie in between.

And then he wakes up in the future with his friends andfamily surrounding him, and his worries are laid to rest.

Sorry for how long this took, but here you go! I took a bit of liberty with this prompt and did something… probably unexpected.

(This is also my first time writing in present tense, so let me know what you think!)

#my writing #Naruto #Neji #Shikamaru #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #writing #asks #ask meme #havuclumilkshake #I'm working on the other prompts as well so hang tight!

10 notes · View notes