Rapunzel shit
(Sakura)
Sakura hadn’t realized life could feel so full.
She’s spent every afternoon with Shikamaru for the past 4 days. they talk about themselves, and about classes and hobbies, Shikamaru even asked about one of the books she had rambled about, and now he said he would start reading with her! Kind of like a book club!
Sakura doesn't think she’s ever been so happy, so fulfilled, and so, as she makes herself some rice and canned tuna for lunch (she had to use some of the money allocated to the electric bill for school supplies and clothes so right now she’s running on nonperishables and candle light until she gets next months check from her parents.) she decides she needs to do something for Shikamaru, to show her appreciation.
Her first thought is a baked good, he grandmother always said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Sakura is definitely trying to reach his heart so he knows how appreciated he is, but this thought is quickly discarded when she remembers that the only sweet Shikamaru really likes is chocolate and Sakura doesn't currently have milk or eggs due to the no fridge situation (she has eaten so much spinach in the past week so that she gets as much calcium as the “EAT LIKE A NINJA” book said she should, maybe she should look into supplements?)
Her next thought is to buy him a gift but she’s already so low on non-emergency money that this idea is trashed the moment it's formed. Maybe she could make him a picture? Sakura’s not particularly artistic and doesn’t remember if she even has any art supplies but maybe it could still be nice? She could write him a letter. (But Sakura doesn't like letters. They’re only fun when you get one back and he has no reason to think to write her back when she’s right in front of him).
“OH! What if I made him a bracelet!” , she’s just overheard Ami bragging about getting new jewelry made with chakra so it won't break when the thought occurs to her. She has plenty of string at home from when the teachers recommended that they practice braiding to increase finger dexterity and it doesn't even have to be anything big or fancy, she could braid it together and take apart one of her mom's earrings to add beads. But what if it breaks? Academy students are pretty active so maybe she should get some really strong string or something, but then again the point of making him something is so that she won't have to spend any money.
She supposes she could just make him another if it breaks but what if she could figure out how to infuse chakra like how Ami’s was made so it'll last longer? She’ll look it up in the library later.
Sakura only has 10 free minutes for lunch as opposed to the 40 minutes most kids get so when the lesson ends Sakura woofs down her food and heads over to the library to see if there are any available books on chakra infusion.
There aren’t many but she still ends up leaving for her extra taijutsu training with 3 new books, one on the basics of puppetry and chakra strings, another on chakra infusion into the body, and lastly, a sage green book labeled “Make em grow” about how infusing small bits of chakra into plants might help them grow stronger, she doesn't think the last one will help all that much in her jewelry making endeavors but shes been considering planting a small garden so maybe it'll be useful anyways.
Its as she’s dropping her books off at her desk that Mizuki-sensei finds her for her extra taijutsu training.
She had thought she was doing pretty well, being more flexible than all the other kids in her class and picking up the Kata sequences quickly but apparently Mizuki-sensei thought she could be doing better because earlier that week he called her over before lunch ended to offer her 30 minutes of his time during lunch and Sakura was never one to refuse extra learning (Though she later regretted accepting when Shikamaru asked if they could eat lunch together and she had to refuse).
They hadn’t really done anything new yet, the sessions mostly consisted of her running and doing pushups until she dropped but Mizuki-sensei said it was necessary to build a proper foundation before they started on Katas so she wasn't going to complain.
(even if the sessions left her too tired to do her best during actual taijutsu class. She’s sure she’ll get used to it)
Hopefully, they'll start on something more interesting soon. Sakuras getting bored of planks.
When Sakura got home that night (at 6 instead of 7, Shikamaru had a clan thing that night and had to leave early) she decided to get a start on the bracelet.
She had asked Shikamaru what his favorite colors were earlier (“Pink” he seemed to blurt out without thinking, “but uhh, I guess green and brown are fine as well”) and was a bit surprised he liked pink so much since he never wore any, but she guesses it's not a very popular color for boys, maybe he just can't find any clothes in pink? She hoped his parents didn't have anything against the color, she had been planning to add some to the bracelet.
As she gets the materials out of her closet she quickly finds a flaw in her plan to make Shikamaru a cherry blossom-themed bracelet, she doesn't have any pink string. There had been some in the pack she bought but frankly, she doesn't like the color all that much so in the same way she eats broccoli (her least favorite vegetable) first she used her least favorite color of string first in her finger dexterity training. She has purple, but it's not even a purply pink shade it's just dark purple.
She glances at the window to see the sun just about to set, “ If I leave now I might be able to make it to the store but-” her train of thought cut off as her hair tie broke bringing all her hair down for the neat ponytail it was in and made her wonder.
What if she used HER hair in the bracelet?
She has plenty of it and probably won't even need to use much because Shikamaru’s wrists are so small, plus Shikamaru stares at her hair all the time so theres a good chance he likes the color (or he thinks it's really weird).
Really the only downside she can think of is the fact that hair is far more breakable than string but if you can enforce string with chakra, why can't you do the same with hair?
Answer: you can and it's much easier than infusing chakra into string.
The book she got on chakra enforcement in the body was incredibly useful for figuring out how to implant chakra into her hair to make it stronger. Actually, it was incredibly useful in general, Sakura now knows how to reinforce her hair, nails, And teeth, and make them all grow stronger and longer if she wants (she briefly fantasies having fangs but figures she should probably speak to a dentist before she makes any teeth modifications.)
The process itself was surprisingly easy, first, she grows her hair a little (a lot, she used too much chakra, it's down to the ground now and she’ll have to cut it before bed) then she just had to mold her chakra into teeny tiny little strings and slit them into her hair and think of what she want’s it to do, This procedure is generally used to make hair stronger, longer, and shinier (it can't change the color though, she tried) while it's still attached to her head but Sakura played around a bit and found a way to “harden” her chakra so that when she plucks her hair from her head it takes the hardened chakra with it, therefore, keeping it super strong. She thinks. (she’s actually not quite sure what she did but the hair she plucks isn't breaking when she takes one of her training Kunai to it so whatever she did it works)
The string on the other hand was much harder to strengthen. The puppetry book she got, while interesting, wasn't very useful and talked more about how to make chakra strings than putting chakra IN strings.
The gardening book was more useful and explained to her why she couldn’t just do the hair trick with the string. It said that since all living things contain their own chakra, when infusing chakra into wildlife to promote growth you need to match your signature to the plant’s chakra signature so it doesn't just reject it. Unfortunately for Sakura, string isn't alive and therefore does not have a chakra signature to match.
She ends up coating the string with her chakra the same way it says to coat a plant stem or seed and instead of slowly integrating and matching up the two energies she just sort of forms her chakra into a million microscopic needles that poke into the string and spread out in between all the little fabric particles connecting them before once again hardening them. It takes a LOT of chakra, and Sakura’s not sure if that's how it's supposed to be done but the string doesn't break when she tries cutting it with a kunai so Sakura’s going to call it a win.
Now she just has to pick a pattern. *sigh*
(Shikamaru)
Shikamaru’s not really one for gifts, unless it's his family he doesn't really bother with them, picking out and giving them was a drag, and receiving them left him unknowing of how he should react.
But that's fine, his family was more of an unsaid words of affirmation and quality time type of family anyway (except for his dad, that man was an octopus, once you say yes to a hug he’s not letting go for the rest of the night) so really he only has to worry about receiving gifts when Ino decides to be generous and his birthday.
This is not true anymore.
Because apparently, after 5 days of knowing him, Sakura has deemed him fit to receive a gift.
He feels a moment of dread as she goes riffling through her bag because what if he doesn't like it? What if he does and doesn't know how to express it? Does he just say thanks? Does he get her a gift as well? Was he expected to already have a return gift? Is this some friendship ritual he didn't know about because all his relationships were formed via his parents?
All these worries are dashed from his head when Sakura presents him with a bracelet, it's small, delicate looking with cherry blossoms the same shade as her hair and brown and green knotts in between them to imitate leaves and branches and Shikamaru is kind of stunned that she apparently MADE this for him because the detail is amazing.
He takes the bracelet from her hands and all his anxiety over thank you’s evaporates as he brings it closer to inspect and finds that those small cherry blossoms, the ones he’d immediately noted were the same shade as her hair, are in fact, MADE OUT OF HAIR.
Shikamaru feels dizzy, almost heavy, because Sakura has just gifted him a few strands of her perfect cotton candy locks and Shikamaru did not know that that was something he needed in life before now. Hadn’t realized how necessary it was to always carry a piece of her around with him, to have her with him at all points. They already spent a good amount of time together but now? They would basically never be apart.
He has a piece of her hair now, his own little piece of Sakura that no one else has, it would never belong to anyone else and Shikamaru doesn't think he’ll ever receive a gift as good as this one.
He’s roused from the emotional override of mine mine mine by Sakura (beautiful perfect amazing Sakura) touching his shoulders and asking if he’s alright and the realization that everything around him is blurry.
He’s crying.
Well that's embarrassing, see this is why he should be receiving gifts
He’s quick to rub the tears away, “Ya I'm fine Sakura, just happy, this is a really great gift”, at his response she practically beams and Shikamaru has to avoid the urge to shield his eyes, one does not look away from a fairy as it blesses them after all. “Oh good! I figured you wouldn’t mind a bracelet, and I reinforced the string and hair with chakra so it wouldn't break easily!”
And just as quickly as he’s elated he is baffled because how on earth did she do that??? Sure it's possible to put chakra into inanimate objects (it's hard as heck but definitely possible) but everyone knows that once a body part has been removed from the body it can't contain chakra so how did she do that?? Shikamaru’s not doubting her, Kami knows the girl’s only become more incredible since he’s started learning about her and hanging out (like how she’s for some reason able to recite every village in The Land of Fire alphabetically and backward, or how she can write perfectly with both hands and memorize everything she reads) Sakura is incredible and capable of a lot of weird and awesome things but how on earth did she strengthen her already dead unconnected hair? “Really? How did you manage that?”
She’s still smiling when she shrugs and states, “It wasn't really that hard, I just pushed my chakra through and made sure it stayed there when I plucked my hair out that's all.” she says it in such a nonchalant way that Shikamaru can't really push her on it without being weird. He goes to thank her again when he notices, “Wait is your hair longer as well?”
“Yup, and my nails, want me to teach you?”
“...yes please.”
That night when Shikamaru went home his hair was a foot longer and he cradled the wrist holding his brand-new bracelet thinking about ways to keep the bracelet on him when he grew bigger, maybe he could turn it into a hair tie?
(Ino)
Ino's not stupid, in fact, from what her mother says it's the exact opposite. She says that sometimes Ino’s too smart, notices too much, that she knows more than most little girls should know (like how Mrs. Nana from down the street is in love with her husband's sister, or how Mr. Fukoshi from the market is kind of racist towards Kumo travelers.)
So ya, She’s smart, maybe not necessarily book smart, but people smart for sure. She notices things. Picks up on people's feelings and emotions.
Well, she picks up on most people’s emotions, there are some clans that are really hard to figure out, like the Huyga who are trained from birth to hold a straight face (except for Hinata for some reason), or the Aburame who she doesn’t even think feel emotions (maybe their bugs feel it for them?). Or even the Nara, but that’s mostly because most of them are too lazy to express their feelings externally.
But over the years she’s had plenty of time to observe a Nara and while he’s still harder to read than Chouji, she at least knows what he’s feeling most of the time. Which is why Ino is so creeped out right now.
Because for the past 4 days, Shika has been in a state of near bliss (she just learned that word from her cousin Inahara), not just happy, or excited, but elated. Her best friend is practically floating even if he’s just slightly more awake than usual from most people's eyes. (Which is also weird?? Since when does Shikamaru not sleep in his spare time? He’s even started READING?!) which is WEIRD.
Shikamaru doesn’t do bliss, he doesn’t do excitement, and he barely does regular old happy. He’s generally content with his boredom and cloud-watching.
So seeing him having to repress a smile while reading a garish-looking pink and yellow book about “The Intricacies of Shrine Maidenhood” (???) is slightly alarming. Actually, it's extremely alarming.
At first, she just lets him be, so what if he’s got a new hobby of reading weird books and smiles more, if anything that's a good thing right? He’s happier now, and more social (he said hi to someone other than her and Chouji today which is crazy), even participates in conversations sometimes. So she decides to ignore the weird looks he’s giving the teachers and the way his clothes have more grass stains than usual (he was roughhousing with Sakura after they got into an argument over which fruit would win if fruit were sentient and fighting) and how she’s caught him staring at her pink bookbag 4 times in the past couple of days.
She ignores it.
That is until 2 days later when he comes to class with a PINK bracelet on that he practically hoards to himself and won't let anyone else get a look at.
Then she can’t ignore it. Something must have happened, is it an assignment from his dad? Did something traumatic happen? Is he being controlled by a foreign nin or Is he a foreign nin?? Ino doesn't know, but she’s going to find out.
(Shikaku)
Shikaku doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve the small Yamanaka in his office during his lunch break, but whatever it is he regrets it.
It's not that he doesn’t like Inoichi’s spawn, she’s fine as far as kids go, even somewhat enjoyable to be around (or she will be once she gets a handle on the whole “personal space” thing and grows into her brain to mouth filter) its just that he can really only handle seeing one child consistently and that’s his child (the best child in his opinion) and he just saw Ino like 2 nights ago and has had his fill of non-Shikamaru children for the week.
He takes a glance down at the food his wife so lovingly crafted for him and tries to keep the long-suffering out of his voice as he asks, “Shouldn’t you like, be in school or something” he fails (pity).
Ino’s standing in front of his desk with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face, “what's going on with Shikamaru!” it isn’t so much asked as it is demanded ( or shouted, his poor ears) and Shikaku raises an eyebrow before lifting the lid of his bento and answering, “I have no idea what you're talking about, does your dad know you’re here? Or your teacher maybe?”
Her glare falters and she starts to look a little nervous so Shikaku takes that as an obvious “no” and sighs, he's going to have to return the wayward blond, isn't he?
“There's something wrong with Shikamaru, he’s reading books and smiling and he came to school today wearing a pink bracelet that he wouldn't show me.” is harumphed with a little (slightly adorable) foot stomp at the end.
Ah, yes he does know what she’s talking about, he hadn’t known Shikamru was reading more, or even about the bracelet, it must be new, he got home late last night and wasn’t able to see Shikamaru before he went to bed. But he does know why his son is acting differently and why Ino is here.
Shikamaru seems to have not told Ino and Chouji about his new friend and now Shikaku needs to assure Ino that his son hasn’t been harmed or probed or something, “Ahh, right, Shikamaru is fine, he’s just made a new friend, a very special friend. He’s a bit excited about it right now but should mostly go back to normal in a few weeks… maybe..” lord know Shikaku didn’t, Yoshino’s still got him doodling pictures for her, even after 17 years of marriage and he definitely wasn’t a doodler before he met her.
Ino is turning a very interesting shade of pink now, “What do you mean Shikamaru made a friend?! Why didn't he tell me?! What makes them so special huh?!” and Shikaku really doesn’t know what to do because now she’s not just yelling she’s crying and Shikaku does Not know how to deal with crying little girls, he doesn't know how to deal with crying kids in general, if he hadn’t seen Shikamru scream his head off at birth he’d probably think the kid lacked tear ducts or something.
He gives up on eating his lunch and rounds the table to where she’s now crumpled on the ground sobbing and kneels next to her with the intent of giving her a good ol’ shoulder pat but the moment he enters her vicinity she launches herself at him and well, Shikaku’s never been one to say no to hugs.
He spends a good 5 minutes comforting her and repeating that “No Shikamaru will not stop being your friend.” and “Yes he is still your future teammate” before she finally calms down enough to pry herself off Shikaku and sit on the chair in front of his desk.
Once Shikaku is seated she pipes up again, “So I guess I probably shouldn’t follow him after school to see who he’s meeting up with right?” he snorts, “No probably not”
They sit in silence for a moment, “Shikamaru will introduce you to them eventually, I don’t know when, but it will happen.” he paused to seal up his uneaten bento, “You and Chouji are very important to Shikamru, but so is this new friend, you need to respect that at the moment he wants to keep you guys separate-”
“-but-” she goes to interrupt, “no, you need to listen. He hasn’t been ignoring you has he?”
She sighs, “No”
“And he hasn’t been making you feel bad or being mean.”
“No”
“Then what's the problem Ino, you have other friends as well you know, far more than Shikamru ever will.”
At this, she blushes and pouts, “Well ya but…” she drifts off, “He's MY friend.”
Ahh, he sees the problem now, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji have been best friends for years now, she’s gotten used to him not having other friends and probably assumed it would always be this way, “and he still is your friend Ino, the same way he’s also Choujis friend, and now this new person.”
She sighs and grumbles something about “stupid naras” before looking him in the face, “Ya I know” she glances at the clock, “thanks.”
Shikaku also glances at the clock and finds that he’s only got 5 minutes until his lunch break ends and Inos got 10, time to either get her back to school or get her home. “Alright, kid. Home or school?”
“School” is mumbled as she avoids eye contact, “you’re uh, not going to tell my mom are you?”
He snorts, leaning down to pick her up for a piggyback, “Of course I am.”
“Ugggghhh”
here's a picture of how I imagined the bracelet Sakura made and some art I made! It's not amazing, I don't usually do animated art but I tried.