Sunlight Casts a Shadow

6

When Shikamaru woke up, he found himself in his own bed.

At first, he thought everything that had happened the day before had been just a horrible nightmare. That was, until he looked next to him and found Naruto laying there beside him, fresh bandages wrapped around both his wrists and his abdomen. The sheets had been changed sometime while he was asleep as well.

Shikamaru slowly climbed out of the bed, not wanting to disturb his crush who needed as much sleep as he could possibly get. As Pineapple left the room, he heard voices coming from downstairs. He couldn't hear what all was being said however.

He slowly made his way down the stairs, avoiding the creaking steps as he went. Shikamaru reached the main floor, and could hear the voices a little more clearly. He still couldn't tell what they were saying, but he could definitely recognize the voices of his parents, as well as Asuma-Sensei, and... was that the Hokage's voice?

Pineapple made his way toward the kitchen, the source of the voices, trying to hear what they were saying. Outside the room, he heard little snippets of the conversation.

"I'm sorry that your son had to bear witness to such a horrible scene, Shikaku, Yoshino," the Hokage was saying, clearly having been informed of what Asuma-Sensei had found at Naruto's house.

"He fainted when he heard the Medic Nin mention the injury that was missed prior as well," his mother replied, sounding concerned.

"I can understand why. Nobody should have to see their friend in such a state, nor have to hear what caused it," the Hokage replied.

"I told Shikamaru that training and missions were on hold for the next few days, while he took care of Naruto," Asuma-Sensei mentioned. "Hearing this news, I might extend that time a bit. They both need some time to get over the shock. Shikamaru, the shock of learning that such a close friend was violated in such a horrible manor, and Naruto of course, being that friend. I feel that Shikamaru may be the only person who could possibly help him cope with it, having seen firsthand just how serious it really was. I will attempt to get in touch with Kakashi also, to inform him of his student's current state."

"I agree," Hiruzen said. "I will remove Team 10 from rotation, until further notice, and await Kakashi's verdict on how to proceed with his own as well. Now, I think we have a young man who is awake and may be able to give us a new perspective on what exactly was found. We heard how Asuma came upon the scene, but hearing exactly how Shikamaru came upon it, and his feelings toward it might make it a little clearer still."

Realizing he had been found out, Shikamaru joined the adults in the kitchen, sitting next to his mother, across from Asuma-Sensei and Hiruzen.

"Ohayō, Shikamaru-Kun," Yoshino greeted.

Shikamaru tried to maintain his lazy demeanor, but everyone could tell he was concerned for the blond.

"Ohayōgozaimasu."

"Shikamaru-Kun, as I'm sure you heard, I was hoping you could give us some insight into what happened yesterday, when you found Naruto-Kun," the Hokage said.

Shikamaru nodded. "Naru and I had agreed to meet up and go cloud watching yesterday morning. When he didn't show up by noon, two hours after we were supposed to meet, I knew something was wrong. He does show up late on occasion, but most of the time it's only a few minutes, at most it was an hour, when we'd set the time earlier in the morning, so we moved it to ten.

"I hurried to his apartment, and something didn't feel right. Of course, seeing the door wide open, and not hanging quite right, my concern seemed justified. I ran into the apartment, sandals be damned, (sorry Kaa-San) and called out for him. I ran room to room, not getting any response whatsoever.