It All Started With A Smell

History Reflected

Running his fingers through Naruto's hair, he looked around, noticing that everyone else was asleep, sprawled out throughout the room. With a small chuckle, Shikamaru looked down at the blonde in his arms. Naruto looked up at him with half lidded eyes.

"Looks like you're having a big sleep over tonight."

"Hmm," Naruto agreed before slowly rising to her feet and walking into her bedroom.

Getting up, Shikamaru followed, pushing the door closed so there was only a crevice of an opening. He stopped short though when he noticed Naruto removing her shirt.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelped.

With a jump, the blonde looked over her shoulder, one hand already pulling at her chest binds. She stopped when she saw him. "What are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to talk to you without waking the others. What are you doing?"

"Taking off my chest binds. I can't sleep in them." Naruto tugged at her binds again, only to groan. "I can't remember where these ended. I wasn't really paying attention when I put them on."

"Hang on." Shikamaru walked closer. He noticed where the end of the binds tucked down into the rest of the cloth on Naruto's back. He pulled the end free and let it go, the cloth tumbling down and around Naruto, exposing her back.

With a yelp, Naruto holding her shirt to her chest.

"Sorry." Shikamaru quickly turned his back to Naruto, allowing her to change.

Naruto touched his shoulder before climbing onto her bed, lying down. She looked up at him with large, blue eyes and a small, almost amused smile on her face. Her bare legs were curled up, close to her chest.

Shikamaru wondered if the smile was because he could see her long legs, or the fact that he could see some of her orange underwear where her oversized shirt had bunched up. Shaking his head, he laid down, facing Naruto. Once his head was on the pillow with Naruto's, he took a breath.

"We have to talk about what happened today?"

Naruto sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped at your friend. I'm sorry."

"My friend? Oh, Shiho. I don't care about that. We need to talk about what you said about yourself."

"Shikamaru, it's not important."

"Yes it is." He grasped her face. "Is that how you see yourself? As a monster?"

With a heavy sigh, Naruto replied, "Sometimes. It's hard to remind myself that I'm a person whenever I get even a little bit angry, or when I'm fighting, people look at me in this way, like they're scared. It makes me feel like a monster. For so long I thought that they were right, and that I was just pretending to be human. But then you, Choji, and Kiba treated me like just some other kid in the class, and then as a friend. Being around you reminds me I am human but the Akatsuki make me feel like I'm just a monster. All that matters to them is what I hold, not who I am."

"Well, one day, I promise, you will only see yourself as a human. As it should be." Shikamaru pulled Naruto closer. "You are easily the strongest person I know. And I don't mean physical strength. The amount you have gone through to become the person you are now must have taken more strength than I could even comprehend. I admire you for that. And for a lot of things."

Naruto straightened her legs, moving into Shikamaru's arms. "Thank you for being here for me. And bringing the others."

"I didn't bring them. They just came here on their own. They care about you. Though Kiba might have just been looking for an excuse to show off his knitting skills. I refuse to believe tonight is the first time he ever knitted something." Shikamaru pouted, making Naruto laugh. "Shh. You don't want to wake the others. What would they say if they saw us lying on your bed?"