What A Drag... || Shikamaru x reader

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Edited: 30/05/24

Reuploaded: 06/06/24

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Honoko's PoV

"On the water," I tell y/n bluntly, "show me what you've got."

I was surprised to see y/n at my door. Alone. So I was even more surprised to hear she wanted me to train her.

She's grown up a lot since she was 7 though. Everyone changes, she must be 12 or 13 years old now? It's been five or so years so must be around that age. I can't be sure, but she's determined anyway.

Y/n walked onto the water, moving up and down as the waves moved gently back and forth off the shoreline.

She closed her eyes and then opened them again, a snowflake covering her iris. The air around us chilled and the water below her feet begun to freeze.

She lifted her hands and balls of ice formed. Little flakes of snow hovered around her delicately.

"Is that it?" I asked, incredibly unimpressed, "you want me to train you, yet you can only create a few balls of ice and freeze water?"

"You know, knowing things theoretically and being able to do them are two different things," she snapped back, everything returning to the state it was before. No ice, no snow, just water and the salty breeze.

"Ok, so we need to work on putting theory into practise first?" I asked, "you're already a pain in my ass. I hope you know that. Has your Father taught you nothing?"

"I'll have you know, my Dad's taught me a lot. It just that I've not been able to put it into practice until recently," she just brushed it off before walking back onto the sand.

"Make those ice balls again," I told her, she looked confused for a moment but moved to return to the ocean, but I stopped her, "without using the water."

"That makes no sense," she sighed.

"Ok, lesson number 1: there's water everywhere," I start, "there's water in the air, in the earth, the trees, the plants, the people, and the ocean. You don't have to use the ocean as a direct medium. You can use the air, or the earth, or if you're so desperate, then you can use the plants, trees, and people."

"I understand that but..." she trailed off.

"You don't know how, right?" I finished her sentence, she nodded, "those eyes of yours. Did you know that they have a snowflake in them?"

"I didn't."

"Well, now you know. Anyway, that snowflake allows you to see the water flow wherever it is," I told her, "if you don't know how to willingly bring the snowflake out then you're not going to get very far."

"How do I do it then?" she asked, I could see she was getting annoyed with my lesson.

"It's obvious isn't it? Why do you think your family need a trigger and not chakra to use this jutsu?" I asked her, "well, of course you need a little bit of chakra, but it's more concentration and the trigger than reliance on chakra."

"I...—"

"Really? Seriously, I am doubting that your Father taught you anything? I'm truly disappointed," I sighed, "the trigger is like a hand sign. It might be easier if I use an example. Your Father's trigger was your Mother. Instead of having to use a hand sign, all he had to do was think about your Mother, something that he favoured about her or a memory. That was, theoretically speaking, the hand sign to triggering the jutsu. Hence why the person is called the trigger."

"I see... So if I think about him... Then it will unlock everything?" she asked me, I shrugged.

"Not quite as simple as that, but it is like a key to the first gate blocking your way," I told her. She nodded and seemed to fall into a sense of deep thought.

I wonder who she's thinking about.

Who is her trigger, hm?

Your PoV

Do I have a fond memory of Shikamaru?

What makes him my trigger?

...why is he my trigger?

Well, it's quite apparent that I'm his pillow. He seems to always be complaining. He's really laid back, perfect company when I just want to read in silence. When he's motivated enough, he's quite smart, considerate, strong.

"He was my first friend," I whispered, my eyes twitched slightly and then I could see it. Once again, like last time, I could see the water in the air, the ground, the ocean definitely. It was everywhere.

"I see you've figured it out, huh?" Honoko asked, "now focus on that water, wherever it is you're focusing on and make those lovely ice balls you were creating before... as pathetic as they were."

I shot her a glare before taking a shallow breath and looking forward at the water floating around in the air right in front of my face and then focused a little bit of chakra into it, the water turned into ice and fell into my hand.

"Seems they're pretty useless at the moment," Honoko mocked, I just threw it at her and frowned.

"Mocking me isn't going to get me very far, you know," I told her as she caught the ball of ice. She threw it into the ocean, and it melted back into its liquid form.

"I know, but it's a start," she smiled at me, "I know just how to work this training in your benefit. But first, how do you want to hold it? To hurt someone? Defend someone?"

She paused.

"... or both?"