It All Started With A Smell

Revelations

He shook Naruto awake when he spotted she was still lying beside him. Instead of opening her eyes though, she buried herself deeper in the blankets. Shikamaru laughed, kissing her on the top of her head.

"If you don't get up now you'll never be able to sneak back into your room."

"Don't care," Naruto muttered, wrapping her arms around Shikamaru's waist. "I'm still sleepy."

Shikamaru started running his fingers through her hair. "You've been tired a lot lately. I think you've been working too hard. The village is doing well, so you can relax."

Naruto gave a grunt, letting Shikamaru go and pulling the blankets up to her chin. Her eyes had taken on a hollow look before she blinked and instead took on an exhausted appearance.

Shikamaru felt his heart drop. He had noticed Naruto's eyes losing their spark a bit more each day. In retaliation to this many of those in the Nara Clan had taken to making sure Naruto took breaks and smiled or laughed at least ones a day. Shikamaru had noticed Naruto returning to the estate at the end of a long day with a few Nara clansmen, all of them chatting comfortably with the blonde. Shikamaru had a feeling that their desire to get to know Naruto had something to do with Yoshino or them picking up on Naruto's close ties and importance to not only Shikamaru but the Akamichi and Yamanaka Clan heirs. Either way, Shikamaru was glad his clan had taken to protecting Naruto in any way they could. Some villagers who wanted to find out if the rumours about Naruto were true had tried to spot her walking around the estate. This was problematic because she had taken to dressing how she wanted whilst in the estate so spent most of her time in the estate out of chest binds and even wearing dresses. Shikamaru had developed a fondness for a blue one she owned that often made him forget what he was doing the moment he saw her.

For those that were simply curious about Naruto the Clan turned away politely, often asking if it truly mattered what gender the blonde was. Those who clearly had some hostility towards Naruto or something to gain from finding out were not treated so kindly. Shikamaru had had to break up a fist fight between a Clansmen and a village civilian. From what he had gleamed as the two fought against his shadow binds the civilian had been one of the ones who was against Naruto's long haired look when she was young. When he connected that with the way Naruto had ran and hid in Shikamaru's house at the mere sound of the man's voice Shikamaru had been forced to fight the urge to kill the man. Shikaku had come out of the house, a dark glare on his face. Shikamaru knew his own face was showing the same expression. He had smirked darkly when his father had walked over and punched the man square in the face. Shikamaru let the man out of his shadow binds at the right time so the man toppled painfully to the ground.

"You are not welcome in the Nara Estate. If you come here again, I will have you arrested."

"So you're choosing that freak to protect? Just like last time," The man sneered.

"Do you mean will I choose the kind, caring, and powerful ninja over the man who is too much of a coward to face a child when they're conscious? Because, yes, I will choose Naruto over you, and so will the rest of the village. Naruto has made your kind a minority. You're only choice is to grovel at Naruto's feet and beg for forgiveness. But you'll have to do that out of the Nara Estate."

The Nara who had been fighting the man before Shikamaru got there pulled the man to his feet by the back of his shirt collar, shoving him over the estate line with enough force that the man went sprawling in the dirt.

Shikamaru had than spent an hour convincing Naruto it was not only safe to leave Shikamaru's bedroom but the house too. Although what had happened to Naruto wasn't well known, the Nara Clan clearly had picked up on there being something violent alluded to by the intruder and Shikaku's interaction. Because of that, the Nara's closed their gates and made sure to not surround Naruto and instead giving her space.