Peer Counseling is Too Troublesome

Chapter 1

A/N: There are only three grades at Konoha High School-10th(freshman),11th(junior), and 12th(senior).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Shikamaru had always thought of his life as troublesome. Going to school was troublesome. Having friends was troublesome. Just living was troublesome. But peer counseling? That was way past troublesome. He'd probably kill himself at that point.

And yet, here he was, signing up for the Konoha High School Peer Counseling Program.

He thought back to yesterday, when his life struggles first began. 

Flashback

It was the third day of school and Shikamaru already wished that summer break was back(don't we all wish that?). His homeroom teacher, Asuma-sensei, was droning on about the stupid programs and clubs Konoha High School offered. He then began to walk around the classroom, handing out flyers for each and every program and club. When Shikamaru lifted his head from the desk, he found a high pile of papers stacked in front of him. He groaned as he sat up straight. He couldn't even see the whiteboard because of the flyers. He grabbed a select few from the top, stuffed them in his bag, and threw the remaining flyers away so that he wouldn't get yelled at for not taking any flyers home. He laid his head back onto the desk and continued his interrupted sleep. 5 minutes later, he heard the bell ring, but he didn't bother getting up. After all, his first period class was Precalculus with Asuma-sensei. They were still going over review in that class so there really wasn't a need to participate yet.

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He kicked his shoes off at the entrance of his house and set his bag down. He heard a woman's voice call out to him as he walked back to his room."Welcome back, Shikamaru," his mom said as she peeked her head out from the kitchen door. "How was school today?"

"Troublesome."

Yoshino walked out of the kitchen completely and faced him with her hands on her hips. "Don't give me that," she reproached. "You're the one who asked to go to Konoha High, you should appreciate that you're able to go."

"That doesn't make it any less troublesome. Besides, I only asked to go to Konoha High because the only other option for me was Suna High, which would be even more troublesome."

She gave him an exasperated sigh. "Well, have you decided which club or program you want to join at school yet?"

He was already halfway up the stairs, but he stopped to answer her question. "No, I'm not going to join any of them. They're too troublesome." When he heard silence, he turned around to see why Yoshino hadn't replied. He almost sprinted to his room from the sight. She was so mad, he could almost see steam coming out of her ears. She marched up to him and dragged him downstairs.

"I DON'T KNOW WHY EVERYTHING IS SO GODDAMN TROUBLESOME FOR YOU! YOU NEED TO JOIN A CLUB OR SOMETHING OR ELSE YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GO TO A GOOD COLLEGE AND GET A DECENT-PAYING JOB! COLLEGES WANT PEOPLE WHO ARE PRODUCTIVE AND HELPFUL, AND ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO SHOW THAT IS TO DO EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES! I TRIED TO GET YOU TO DO SPORTS AND MUSIC BUT DID YOU TRY AT ALL?! NO! MANY OF THE CLUBS AT KONOHA HIGH AREN'T EVEN THAT DEMANDING! HOW IS IT TROUBLESOME TO JOIN ONE STUPID HIGH SCHOOL CLUB?! YOU NEED TO HAVE A MORE ACTIVE LIFE!" she screamed at him at the top of her lungs. Shikamaru just calmly covered his ears the whole time.

"Are you done yet?" he asked her in a weary voice.

She let out a whole stream of incoherent words, but she wasn't screaming at him anymore so he began to walk back to his room.

"Wait, I'm not done with you yet," she said, chomping on a Snickers bar. Where did that even come from?! "I'm serious, you are going to join a club or program or whatever this year. I don't care if it's 'too troublesome'. If you don't, I'm going to burn your entire shogi(Japanese chess) collection. And transfer you to Suna High." With that, she returned to the kitchen, only now eating a Kit Kat bar. Where were all of these candy bars coming from?!

"She must be on her period or something," he thought before going to grab his bag. Shikamaru let out a sigh and went to his room. He was going to one hell of a time going through the flyers tonight.

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Shikamaru scratched his head in exasperation. All of the clubs were just too troublesome. Student council, basketball, peer counseling, drama club. There was even a ramen-eating club. Who the hell would do that?

He looked up as he heard a knock from his door. "Come in," he said, looking back at the flyers in despair. Or was it boredom?

"Your mother told me that you were going to join a club at school." Shikamaru didn't even need to look up to know that his father, Shikaku, was standing behind him. "I'm glad that you're actually going to get out and try something new."

"I don't really want to," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "Mom threatened to burn my shogi collection and transfer me to Suna High."

Shikaku chuckled. "I figured that was the case. But I'm still a little surprised that you wouldn't have just joined the shogi club."

"I've played against all of their players. Beat every single one of them. Didn't even take 5 minutes."

"Really?"

"Yep, and they're supposedly the second best team in the area."

"Who's the best team then?"

"I think they said it's Iwa High. But the shogi club told me that they almost beat them last year so they're probably really not that great."

"You shouldn't look down on people like that, Shikamaru."

"I'm just stating facts."

Shikaku sighed at Shikamaru's response. "Well, I just came in here to give you a little advice. When choosing your club or program or whatever, while it is better to choose one that will look good on your college resume, you need to think a bit about yourself as well." He picked up one of the flyers on Shikamaru's desk. "You should choose one that you will enjoy. Don't choose one only because it benefits you, but because it may make your life that much brighter. I know you're still a freshman, but joining a program like this one may make a huge difference to you and the people around you someday. Think about it, alright?" He placed the flyer back down onto the desk and left.

Shikamaru looked at the flyer his father had picked up and read the top. KONOHA HIGH SCHOOL'S PEER COUNSELING PROGRAM! JOIN NOW!

Grabbing a thumbtack from his drawer, he pinned the flyer onto the wall and threw the rest into the trashcan.

End of flashback

'Dad influences me way too much when it comes to these kind of things,' he grumbled in his head as he continued to fill out the sign-up slip.

First name: Shikamaru

Last name: Nara

Grade: 10

Age: 14

Contact Info: narashikamaru@khs.hnk.5gnn

555-0197

Medical concerns: N/A

He handed the slip to the lady who was working at the front office before lazily walking away. As he stepped outside, he yawned and looked up at the sky.

'Man, I wish I was a cloud.'