Mask Boy

further

Shikamaru continues meeting up with Naruto after that.

A few times a month turned into once a week.

Once a week turned into every few days.

Every few days finalized to everyday.

Shikamaru only been able to figure out small things about him. Like the way he talks is loud, his likes for flowers, his fear of fictional creatures, stuff like that. But one of the main thing that kept Shikamaru wanting to see Naruto was how much positivity he radiates.

No matter how bad the weather is or when Shikamaru wasn't having a good day, Naruto would always manage to see the bright side towards anything. Always trying to cheer him up and bring out the best in situations. It's like he never had a bad day in his life! Such a kind soul, Shikamaru wonders how someone like this exist in this world.

Curiosity aside, Shikamaru overall enjoys Naruto's company.

Even though it's been two, close to three, years since this outcome, Naruto still hasn't opened up to him fully about himself. Shikamaru's fine with that since it takes time for someone to fully be comfortable with another but he often hears his stomach rumble and sees dark marks on his skin.

Every time Shikamaru points it out and ask about them, Naruto would just brush it off and change the topic. It honestly worried him a bit but tried to dismissed it into "Maybe he just accidentally skips meals" and "Accidentally tripping himself or training"
He is kind of a klutz so..

Anyways, here they are, Shikamaru had recently finished his class and is now making his way to their meet up spot. When he arrived, the first thing he saw was Naruto chasing a butterfly around.

Naruto was too occupied to capture the butterfly where the point he wasn't fully paying attention to his surroundings and ended up falling, front faced.

"Ooowww.."

He slowly raised his head up from the ground and rubbed his forehead under his mask. After he soothed down the pain, he saw the butterfly right in front of him.

He readied his hands around the bug aaanndd...

"YATAA"

He finally caught it! Opening his hands slowly, he sees the pretty blue shade of the wings and he smiled big.

"Cough*"

Naruto snapped his head towards the noise and see Shikamaru leaning against one of the trees with his arm crossed.

"Shika! You just got here? Look what I caught!!"

Smile still presented, he ran up to his friend with his hands closed. Shikamaru rested his face back to his usual, acting like he didn't watch the whole thing and leaned down a little.

"Hm~? What is it?"

Naruto opened his hand and presented it to him. Mouth wide and smiling, he shoved it closer to Shikamaru's face.

"Isn't it beautiful?!"

Shikamaru let out a small smile, Naruto is just a bundle of joy in a small body. Raising his hand up, he wiped off the dirt that was on the smiling blonde's cheeks and patted it before letting his arm rest on his side.

"It is, you look proud of yourself" Shikamaru said.

Naruto shakes his head up and down fast. He admired the butterfly some more before releasing it back to nature.