☀️Shikamaru definitely realizes his feelings first and it is 100% an "oh, shit" moment.
☀️I imagine the Nara clan to love not as angrily as the Uchiha, but just as obsessively. Where the Uchiha seek to almost possess, the Nara clan covets knowledge. In this case, Shikamaru wants to know everything about Naruto— no detail is too small.
☀️ I'm not saying Shikamaru is stalking him, but he'd definitely follow him everywhere. Like, he's not trying to hide. Naruto just hasn't noticed because it's... Well, it's Naruto.
☀️And the few times he does notice him it's just— "Wow, what're you doing here Shikamaru? 😀" baby you should be asking why you've seen him ten different times this week and it's only Monday.
☀️Nara Fixation Nara Fixation Nara Fixation Nara Fixation Nara Fixation Nara Fixation, did I say Nara Fixation yet?
☀️Naruto wants for nothing because somehow, Shikamaru always knows exactly what he needs and is able to predict exactly when he's going to need it.
☀️ Naruto never quite realizes the depth of the obsession/love. He's just completely oblivious to the fact that Shikamaru is kind of, slightly, a little bit (maybe a lot a bit) insane. With a cherry on top.
☀️ Lowkey, I am a huge fan of crazy Shikamaru. Like, not outwardly crazy, but "I know your height, weight, regular resting heart rate, wrist diameter, and how many times you've said 'believe it' today" crazy Shikamaru. Knows too much Shikamaru.
☀️Naruto 100% just assumes they're dating after a while of certain details accumulating. Shikamaru feeds him like, daily. Shikamaru has shared a bed with him several times. They spend a lot of time together. They hold hands. Shikamaru knows like, everything about him somehow.
☀️ Naturally, they must've been dating this entire time and Naruto simply didn't notice until now. And because Naruto has zero experience with healthy relationships, he just accepts this as fact and moves on with his life.
☀️ Shikamaru when Naruto grabs him by the face on day, plants a huge kiss on him with no context, and then skips off: 👁️👄👁️
☀️ Come on, it'd be so funny.
☀️ Insert Naruto also knowing a surprising amount about Shikamaru, because he's more attentive than people give him credit for. Shikamaru follows him around so much, of course he learns about him over time. He may be an idiot, but he's not a moron. Or... something like that.
☀️ Naruto is just happy someone actually wants to be around him. Sasuke is Sasuke, Sakura constantly yells at him, Kakashi literally runs, Yamato is only around for training, and Sai just insults him in increasing intervals when they're together.
☀️ Touch-Starved! Naruto vs. Can't get enough of touching him! Shikamaru! Go! Fight!
☀️ Shikamaru "he's never going to love me" Nara and Naruto "I wonder when Shikamaru is gonna propose" Uzumaki
☀️ Naruto just goes to the court house and files the documents himself. Surprise, Shikamaru. Not only does he love you, you've been married for the past four months.
☀️ Alternatively, Shikamaru could pull the same move. Oh, you kissed me on the mouth? Sounds like a proposal to me.
☀️ For a certified genius, Shikamaru would absolutely be the kind of idiot to assume Naruto couldn't ever return his feelings. There could be so much evidence to the contrary and it really WOULD take an entire kiss to the lips to convince him.
☀️ No worries, Naruto is more than willing to oblige.
☀️ Basically um I love them, they're both smart AND stupid in different ways, but they make it work. And nobody can change my mind.
i just love the thought of naruto getting cornered as a young kid and only having bare innate instincts on how to fight back against fully grown adults, so shikamaru's first glimpse of him is just seeing this kid biting and clawing the absolute crap out of these people while cursing them six ways to sunday and just gets point-blank slapped in the face with his first taste of the Nara Fixation
Contents:
Green flag yandere, puppy love, sociopathic behavior, canon-typical child soldiers, mentioned child on child violence.
The Nara were more similar to the Uchiha than they’d like to admit.
More secretive than the Aburame, more obsessive than the Uchiha, and as loyal as any Inuzuka. The Nara didn't like to advertise their predisposed intensity, preferring to be kept off any political radar. Geniuses willing to go to any extreme for loved ones? They’d never be left alone by the village elders.
And speaking of hiding things from the Hokage, Kagemane no Jutsu is, on paper, a hiden technique. Passed down through knowledge and clan teachings.
It’s not.
Knowing that foreign villages such as Kumo seek to steal unique and powerful kekkei genkai, the Nara reclassified their genetically inherent shadow symbiosis as an average teachable technique a long time ago.
This should have been easy to hide, but when you deal with letting shadows into your body, you also let them into your heart and mind.
Fifty percent of those with the Nara’s kekkei genkai suffer racing thoughts, headaches, fatigue and last but certainly not least, obsessive hyper-fixations.
Whether it’s on a book series, a certain branch of science or an obscure hobby, Nara are known around the village for finding something that piques their unending curiosity and diving into it unrestrained by social norms.
At least that’s what it’s like when it’s not a person.
Among those fifty percent of Nara, there has always been a rare chance, mostly among main branch members, that a Nara would develop a fixation on a human.
It could be platonic or romantic, or a queer combination of the two.
No matter who it is or what their relationship evolves into, they are always classified as their Sunlight. The shining force of warmth and energy that darkens their shadows and soothes their chaotic minds.
This phenomenon isn’t usually talked about with clans other than the Akimichi and the Yamanaka, who know only the basics of what a Sunlight means to a Nara.
All the other clans know is that the Nara are weird. They don’t know the specifics, nor do they really care to know. After all, what did those lazy brainiacs even have to hide?
A whole lot more than you’d think.
You see, every few generations, a recessive quirk emerges within a main branch member. A mutation of the mind, predisposing them to the eventuality of fixating on a Sunlight so precious and all consuming that they even have a different label for it.
A Moonlight.
Whereas a Sunlight brings out all the repressed positive aspects of a Nara, a Moonlight shrouds a Nara in a darkness so deep and dreadful that it makes the long term “guests” in T&I sound sane.
In the past, if a Nara was found to have fixated on a Moonlight, they were culled no matter the age. It was merely a matter of clan safety and security. If set off in any way, even an untrained Moonlit Nara could decimate squadrons of Shinobi.
They were just unwilling to risk the spotlight on their clan.
So when their normally lethargic five year old Shikamaru just would not shut up about the tiny girl in his class with skin as soft as mochi, hair light as the moon and eyes like chestnuts, his parents sighed good-naturedly and assumed he had developed an exceptionally early fixation on this poor girl.
Darling thing had no idea what being a Sunlight entailed. They should really invite her over for dinner sometime…
Then one day, not even a month into his first year in the academy, Yoshino Nara got a telephone call from his teacher to inform her that he would be staying late that day for detention.
Shocked that her unmotivated little boy would ever do anything extreme enough to warrant staying after class, Yoshino asked what could have possibly happened.
“Shikamaru-kun got in a fight.”
Well, was it really considered a fight when it was a one-sided beat down?
Nara children aren’t known for their strength, stamina or passion, so fights among them are almost unheard of.
And little Shikamaru for all five years of his life had fallen into that exact stereotype. Too lazy to bother, too physically weak to win.
All that caution and carelessness however was thrown out the window when tiny Tomoko-chan’s braid was chopped off by a jealous girl with a kunai.
A girl?! Yoshino was shocked. Not only did her baby boy start and win a fight, but he beat up a girl too?!
That’s when Shikaku and Yoshino knew that something was wrong with their son.
Deeply, profoundly wrong.
Her child had been acting in ways very unusual for a Nara youth, the teacher explained further.
He’d been caught spacing out in class, which he normally wouldn’t have blinked an eye at, except for the fact that Shikamaru had instead been staring unblinkingly at Tomoko the entire time.
When tasked with pairing up for projects, Shikamaru would always choose Tomoko, even turning down the Akimichi heir! And when someone had already chosen Tomoko, the teacher noticed that said child would suddenly freeze before stiffly walking away from the confused girl, leaving room for the young Nara to take their place.
Then weirdest of all, during taijutsu practice, when Shikamaru was matched up with those that had gotten a hit in on the smaller girl prior to sparring the Nara heir, they were viciously beaten down both verbally and physically. Even without the use of his shadow!
“He’s unusually strong for a child from your clan, I-I mean, no offense to the Nara! It’s just so out of the ordinary for them to, well, apply themselves so effectively in taijutsu!”
Unusual physical strength. Signless Kagemane. Unwavering hyper-fixation on a human.
And at such a young age?
Yoshino paled.
Sunlights inspired loyalty, protectiveness and jealousy. This however. This was more.
There was an emergency meeting of the Nara elders called that night. One that would decide the fate of Shikamaru Nara’s life.
Spare the child, in this era of peace and prosperity?
Or extinguish the boy’s life out of tradition and fear?
Of course, his parents advocated for his continued existence.
He’d been such a good child up until now! Sure he complained, but he never once failed to clean his room or do his chores when asked.
He got above average grades, his Kagemane was proficient for his age group and he made fast friends with the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho!
Some elders argued that none of that mattered if it would draw attention to the clan’s true power and proclivities.
Others stated that they’d like to see how an adult Moonlit Nara would behave. They were curious to know of Shikamaru’s future power.
But the argument that won the minds of the meeting was this: Shikamaru’s inevitable value as a potential weapon for the clan.
“Nara protect their own.” But the Nara were still a shinobi clan, and an old one at that.
There would always be a fascination with power among ninja. It was practically written into their DNA.
And who knew when there would be a need for a terrifyingly fierce Nara on the field? Hints of unrest and whispers of disloyalty spread throughout the clans like wildfire these days...
Wouldn’t it be better to have a Moonlit on their side?
Shikaku and Yoshino left that meeting simultaneously relieved and unsettled.
Whatever they knew of their son, his personality, his character, his relationship with them as his parents? It was no longer relevant.
Little Tomoko’s desires and ambitions now defined their son to his core.
The unbreakable leash that encased Shikamaru’s neck was wrapped snuggly around Tomoko’s dainty little finger.
And she didn’t even know it.
Moonlit Nara were rumored to have drastically changed personalities after meeting their Moonlight. The growing darkness in their mind suppressing their principles of right and wrong.
Yoshino cried that night, mourning the loss of her son as she knew him. Shikaku cursed the Nara genes for choosing his child to grow into an unrecognizable monster.
But surprisingly, Shikamaru didn’t seem all that different, even weeks after his first outburst.
He complained about chores, he did well in school, he was kind to the deer.
The only difference was that he was with Tomoko at every possible opportunity.
He walked her home everyday from the academy. They would go hang out with other children and grab ice pops on the weekends. He cloud gazed with her during recess, taking the opportunity to nap on her lap.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop was driving Shikamaru’s parents crazy.
When would they finally lose their baby?
Finally, as Shikamaru announced his arrival back home, Shikaku had decided that he’d waited long enough.
“Shikamaru, come, have a game of Shogi with me.”
As his son sat across from him, Shikaku noticed a few things.
Firstly, Shikamaru’s eyes seemed dull and unfocused. Not like how they were when he was with Tomoko, alive and engaged.
His eyebrows were pinched too. At first glance it just looked like he was focusing on the game, but Shikaku knew his son. He was in pain. Was it a headache? From being away from Tomoko? But it had only been a couple of hours?
Thirdly, Shikamaru was already closer to beating him than Shikaku was comfortable admitting.
“You don’t have to pretend right now. I’m your father, you can let go.”
Shikamaru’s relaxed posture tensed at that.
“How?”
“How, what?”
“How did you know there’s something wrong with me?”
Shikaku sighed and began to explain the concept of Suns and Moons and their Shadows. Things they don’t normally teach Nara children until they’re much older.
Shikamaru listened politely, only interrupting a couple times to ask clarifying questions.
When it came time to explain the Nara elder’s decision on what to do with him, Shikamaru merely nodded.
“It’s the choice I would have made.” He shrugged.
Shikaku didn’t show it through his poker face, but he was honestly surprised at how well the conversation had been going so far.
“So what’s the real reason you dragged me out here?” Shikamaru drawled, placing a piece on the board.
Shikaku’s move.
Shikaku withheld a nervous swallow. Time to talk emotions.
“Why? Why are you acting like this?” Why are you still acting like my son?
“Acting like what?”
“Like a normal kid.” Shikaku wasn’t very religious, but he prayed in that moment that Shikamaru would respond like a normal child and that all this Moonlight nonsense was just an abnormally strong Sunlit reaction.
Shikamaru’s placid expression turned blank.
“Cause Tomoko-Chan likes me like this. If I’m not, I scare her. I don’t wanna scare her anymore.”
Shikaku’s heart dropped. He placed his last piece in the winning position, but still felt like he had lost something irreplaceably important.
In reality though, nothing was lost that day, as there was never anything to lose.
They were far too late to do much more than hope and pray that Tomoko would be a good influence on Shikamaru’s newly rewritten psyche.
Maybe it was time to meet the girl that now owned their son.
Tomoko, Shikamaru’s parents found out, was a well mannered civilian-born child.
She was exactly how Shikamaru described her. White hair, brown eyes, pale skin. Her hair had been cut into a bob, in response to the impromptu haircut she was given a few weeks ago.
Shikamaru made sure she sat next to him at dinner, chairs close, but not unnervingly so. Even then, he focused entirely on her the whole event. Sweetly asking her questions and gently teasing her about things that happened at school that week.
He was acting like how he always did, at least before he discovered Tomoko.
It was only after seeing the difference between his recent behavior at home and how he acted with the girl that Yoshino and Shikaku truly realized just how empty their son was without her.
The girl ate neatly in front of them, despite Shikamaru pointing out that she was normally a messy eater at school lunch. She playfully shoved his shoulder whining about making good first impressions.
At the casual touch, Shikaku noticed his son’s pupils dilate wide and blown out, a sleepy smile graced his round cheeks as he gazed happily at Tomoko.
Neither Shikamaru’s mother nor father had planned on getting in between their son and his Moonlight. Not only was it sacrilegious to do so, it was basically suicide.
But, even if they had been, any thoughts of wishing for separation dissipated when Shikamaru made Tomoko snort so hard milk came out of her nose. He laughed loud and genuine at her giggling whines for help, tenderly dabbing her face with his napkin.
The boy was genuinely smitten.
He might claim to only be pretending for her sake, but deep down Yoshino and Shikaku knew that he would be okay.
As long as Tomoko was at least.
Inspired by a combination of my ongoing 16 year long Naruto phase and the Nara Fixation Ao3 tag. Specifically inspired by the concept of "Lights" and the possibility of Light fixated Nara going insane instead of growing stronger in Sealed by DeerHarts on Ao3. I wanted to see what would happen if both happened at the same time, muahahaha.
If there is anything that motivates a Nara, it’s curiosity. What’s more curious than the person that sparked such an intense reaction in their future leader?
Basically the premise is that Shikamaru’s clansmen/friends/cousins want to find out what’s so special about Naruto.
That one Naruto AU that I call Shadowed Sun AU where I've placed my favorite tropes of Naruto one after another and hit them with the que ball and scattered them so chaotically that one has to stick around to see how they come together.
Yet my favorite part of this au is the Nara Fixation rayshippou made that haunts me because it isn't a main part of the fic but is important.
More Nara Fixation Headcanons (ShikaNaru edition) 🦌🍜
-Shikamaru doesn't even try to hide it. He doesn't see the point. Every time he pushes a little further, Naruto gives way with a big smile. He's rubber, malleable and easygoing, and nothing Shikamaru does fazes him. As long as he has a friend, he doesn't even care.
-Is it a little weird that the first time Shikamaru comes over, he goes into the bathroom and sniffs every bottle of soap, shampoo and conditioner? Checks his toothpaste brand? Opens all his cabinets and digs through his dishes? Looks at every single article of clothing in his closet and dresser, and unscrews the cap of his detergent just to sniff that too?
-Like, yeah. But Shikamaru is his friend, so obviously it's fine. He probably has a good reason
-His good reason is a slowly rising obsession that gets worse and worse. Because at first, there's plentiful information to be learned. So many new things to find out and discover, but what happens when that starts to slow down? When he kinda knows everything? When he picks apart every piece of Naruto's life and existence?
-He still wants more.
-So then it moves into wanting to know the shape of Naruto's teeth, and the best way to know that would be to trace them with his tongue. He wants to know what he tastes like all over. He wants to know the feel of his skin. What do his muscles feel like when they ripple? How far can he bend? What noises would be make if—
-The point is, Shikamaru starts to run out of things to learn. And he wants to know it all. Happy Naruto, sad, angry, hurt, overjoyed, emotional, confused, pleased. Every facet of him, Shikamaru wants to swallow it whole and commit it to memory.
-He brings Naruto new foods just to see how he reacts to them, what he likes, doesn't like, the faces he makes as he considers it. Naruto thinks it's a bit weird that Shikamaru wants him to describe what the food tastes like to him out loud, but he does his best to explain anyway.
-Shikamaru buys him new clothes in a million different colors too, all to see what Naruto looks like in them, what he thinks of the fabric, how they flow on his body when he moves. He has Naruto describe that too.
-Naruto never even really asks why. Just kind of squints at him and is like "well, if you insist. Anyway so these shorts like—"
-It helps that Naruto can talk for hours upon hours nonstop. Shikamaru wants to hear everything he has to say, no matter how mundane. Anything Naruto wants to jabber on about, Shikamaru is right there ready to absorb every word.
-Naruto going about his life while Shikamaru is just there, shadowing him every step of the way and watching his every move.
-Naruto's friends listening to Naruto talk while Shikamaru casually pokes, prods, tugs at him, runs his hands through his hair, etc: 🧍
-And Naruto is just like "Oh, don't worry! He's just putting his hands on either side of my neck so he can feel the way it flexes when I pronounce words!"
-Like... baby, that's freak behavior.
-Naruto thinking this is normal best friend behavior because he has absolutely no good frame of reference for what a best friend is aside from Sasuke, who he now admits is a pretty shit example.
-It doesn't help that Naruto is like "isn't that a little weird?" and Shikamaru just straight up lies and is like "Nah, all really good friends do this."
-If Naruto needs something, Shikamaru already has it. He's so in tune with Naruto that he can just predict and tell.
-A few people ask Shikamaru's parents if they're concerned but they just shrug it off like ah, Nara Fixation. What can you do?
-Shikamaru is always wary of taking it too far but also, in his head he and Naruto are already married.
-Basically just Shikamaru being weirdly obsessive, borderline stalkerish (but with boundaries?), and wanting that cookie. Thank you for coming to my TED talk 💖
Okay guys I do have an unposted Shikamaru fic in my drafts but let's be so fr right now, it's sort of a copy-paste of A World Without You, as many of my fics are. Idk let me know what you think of this premise:
-The world ends. Shocker. I know, you guys never saw that coming from me.
-They time travel, only when they do it, they end up in their past bodies (I have two versions-- one where they're sixteen, one where they're twelve post travel)
-Shikamaru is full in the Nara Fixation-- if you don't know what this trope is, basically Nara's have a "fixation" that they dedicate their lives to and obsess over. Maybe it's gardening, maybe it's shoji, maybe it's puppies. In Shikamaru's case, it's Naruto.
-Honestly, they fuck more up than they fix. They're also very, very bad at keeping their time traveling a secret. Naruto and Kurama being friends doesn't help. Naruto just ripping his own seal off as soon as he's in the past also doesn't help.
-Shikamaru is Whipped, capital W intended. He just does anything Naruto says, at any given time, and he needs to explanation.
-Shikamaru does in fact follow Naruto everywhere. He does not care that he's really not supposed to. He doesn't care if he technically will lose his headband if he keeps skipping out on team trainings and meetings.
-Shikamaru thinks Naruto is in love with Sasuke. Naruto is 100% under the assumption that he and Shikamaru have been dating for the past year or so, and that Shikamaru has just been too shy to make any moves. Thus, he's been waiting until Shikamaru "feels comfortable enough to make the first move."
-Like Naruto, baby, he wants to eat you alive.
Would anyone read this uh, vague outline, if I wrote it? Idk. Is anyone even going to read this post? I also don't know. I'm shouting into the void, unwitnessed, unheard, and I'm fine with that. Normally my anonymity gives me silence anyway so it's fine tee hee
An Au where Naruto is a Prince from another land and Shikamaru is tasked with guarding him.
Love at first sight.
Its been forever since I've drawn Shikamaru. I didn’t spend a lot of time on him compared to Naruto. Might redo him at a later date. Edit 07/21: he’s a lot better now.why is he so hard to draw….it’s the hair.
Really this was just an excuse to draw Naruto in prince/knight attire. Long haired Naruto because why not.
Inspiration Song: Cody fry - I Hear a Symphony
==========================================
Shikamaru yawned. Ignoring the glare Ino sent his way.
He'd rather be relaxing under the clouds right now. Instead their team was waiting for the dignitaries from uzushiogakure to finish up their meeting with their own.
Then they were to escort them back to the Whirlpool country.
Which would take a month, at least. A groan threatened to leave him at the thought.
Shikamaru understood the importance of strengthening the relations between the two. That didn't mean he wanted to be here though. He certainly didn't want to spend a month protecting and listening to the inane requests of his clients who often didn't understand the danger they were in.
He should be doing more important things...like sleeping.
Another yawn left him. Quickly followed by a grunt.
"What if the prince sees you!" Ino hissed, removing her elbow from his side.
Then there was that.
A prince. The first and only child of Uzushio’s Daimyo and her husband.
Just great.
He dreaded escort missions. Nobles were by far the worst. He could take a guess at how spoiled the royal likely was.
"Here they come." Asuma announced.
A sigh left him as the door to the meeting room opened.
----------------------------
Like something from the romance novels that Ino or his mother and her friend’s always went on and on about. He had always scoffed at the ideas. They had seemed so ridiculous.
Yet, when sapphire met hazelnut. The world had stopped.
Everything had faded away and all he could focus on was the blond before him. The smell of flowers, warm sand, salt and sea had been nearly overwhelming. All the while the sound of some distant melody had drowned out all other noise.
It had seemed like they were the only two people that existed.
Then the spell had been broken as Asuma stepped into his line of sight to greet the foreign dignitaries.
"I trust your team will see that his highness arrives home safely. " An older voice said stiffly.
"You needn’t worry. His highness's safety is our top priority." Asuma's voice barely registered.
His hearing focused only on the Uzushio natives. Only to disregard the ones he deemed not belonging to the prince.
For some reason he couldn't explain, he found himself growing antsy the longer he couldn't see the prince.
Shikamaru found himself trying to peer over Asuma's shoulder, only to find an elder dignitary in the way as well.
His fists clenched.
He didn't know why but he wanted to see the blond, he wanted...he wanted...No! He needed to.
He wasn't even listening to the conversation anymore.
Shikamaru found himself glaring at his sensei's back before he realized what he was doing.
In the back of his mind, he distantly wondered what was overcoming him.
He’d never felt so...
Just when he thought he couldn't handle it any longer. His sensei and the other dignitaries took a step back to allow his team to introduce themselves.
His breath nearly stopped when sapphire landed on him again.
“Choji Akimichi.”
“Ino Yamanaka, we’ll do our best.” Ino bowed.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, heir apparent of Uzushio." Naruto frowned looking away. The blond scratched at his cheek, suddenly looking embarrassed. "But you knew that already." He added softly.
Shikamaru drank in every action. Before those blue, blue, kami they were so blue eyes were back on them again.
Back on him.
"Shikamaru Nara. A pleasure to meet you." He wanted to pat himself on his back for keeping his voice steady.
A blush seemed to appear on Naruto’s face. Before a laugh left the prince that had the Nara's heart racing. "I’ll be in your care then.”
Then Naruto stepped forward and held out his hand.
Shikamaru never wanted to let go of it.
“I hope we can be friends." The blond’s smiled and it was blinding, like looking into the sun itself. The shadow user’s entire body tingled at the sight.
