Resolve and resiliance
Chouji’s first clear memory of his cousin Lambo was of a tiny little scrap of a toddler, with a personality ten times too big for his body. He was only a year younger than Chouji, but he was barely half his size, and the adults talked in hushed whispers about him when they thought the children weren’t listening. They’d both been young then, Chouji three, and Lambo only just turned two, and Chouji had been captivated by idea that such a tiny human being could really be his cousin. He had adored Lambo.
As he grew older Chouji began to understand that cousin Lambo was sick, was fragile. That the very smallness that had so fascinated three year old Chouji was a sign of something wrong, and no-one could work out what it was. The adults always warned him, to look out for his cousin Lambo, to make sure he ate, and wrapped up warm, and didn’t gt hurt, that he had to be careful when he played with him, because he didn’t have the size, and strength, and resilience that was an Akimichi’s birthright. And it hurt to know that because Lambo was so bright, so alive, so full of energy, and imagination, and it hurt to know that he would never be able to learn their clan jutsus, never grow up big and strong like an Akimichi should, might not even grow up at all, some whispered sadly. It hurt to think a life so bright might be cut short.
The clan as a whole didn’t expect that Lambo would ever become a ninja, too sickly, too fragile. They’d thought he’d take up a safe civilian role in the village, a chef maybe, or a resteraunt manager, something his body could handle, that would keep him close and safe, where his condition could be monitored. Chouji could have told them differently, if they’d ever thought to ask him. Lambo never had much of a concept of his own limitations and he wanted to be a ninja. And what Lambo wanted, Lambo eventually got.
Because Lambo might be small, and skinny, and frail, but even as a scrappy little toddler he’d had a will that could shatter steel, the kind of determination that burned and couldn’t be denied. Lambo was a fighter, and there was no way he would ever have settled for a civilian life, burning bundle of energy, and excitement, and constant motion that he was. Civilian work would have driven him man with boredom within a day.
The temper tantrum he’d thrown to be allowed to attend the academy had been truely spectacular. Windows were shattered, walls were destroyed, and some cousins insited they’d seen an eerie green glow appear around him at one point. For once it had been Chouji taking refuge at Shikamaru’s clan compound while he waited for the chaos to die down. And it did die down eventually. Once he’d got his own way. It was probably bad discipline, but the clan weren’t used to saying no to Lambo, and so when he dug his heels in and demanded to go to ninja school like his cousins did, they had, against their better judgement, agreed. And against all expectations he’d flourished, that tenacity, and devotion, and boundless energy suiting the academy lessons well. The academy had been good for Lambo, he had friends, and was learning fast, and while he was still small, he was proving that he was tougher than he looked, and Chouji wondered if the clan had been doing Lambo something of a disservice, treating him like glass when clearly all he wanted to do was be like all the other kids. He was doing well at the academy, well enough that he was unlikely to just drop out the way Chouji had suspected the clan’s adults had half expected him to, and Chouji couldn’t help but think of that as a good thing.
The clan worried about that he knew, but Chouji was glad. So what if Lambo was sick, there were other sick ninja, like that swordsman that coughed all the time, or Yamanaka Inori who had epilepsy. Just because Lambo was sick, and couldn’t learn clan jutsus didn’t mean he shouldn’t live the life he wanted, and so when the clan elders muttered about pulling him out of the academy, Chouji spoke on his behalf. He liked to think it made a difference. In any case Lambo stayed in the academy, and seeming, him wild and boisterous with his friends, it was hard to even remember he was ill.
The first time Lambo brought little Ipin home, half the adults in the clan nearly went catatonic at the cuteness. She called him broccoli monster. Even Chouji could admit that was pretty cute and she was only a year younger than him. Young love was so adorable. Apparently she was a budding taijutsu expert, and judging by the way she managed to throw cousin Chokichi who was four years older and about twice her weight, she was pretty good at it. Judging by his expression, cousin Lambo was very impressed by that. Chouji had suspicions that his mother was already planning the wedding.
Of course Ipin wasn’t the only friend that Lambo brought home from the academy. She was his best friend, but there were plenty of others. There was Nara Hayato who spent most of his time acting as though he wanted to strangle Lambo, but kept coming by to help him practice his aim, there was Sasagawa Ryouhei, who was as loud as Lambo himself, and just as enthusiastic, there were a good dozen others of varying degrees of closeness. And of course there was Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Sawada Tsunayoshi, who Lambo called Tsuna nii, who was the first person Lambo ran to when he was upset, who had his whole class hanging on his every word and yet always made time for Lambo, who Lambo quite clearly adored, and looked up to, and listened to in a way he did for no-one else. Chouji knew that Shikamaru had certain… suspicions about Sawada Tsunayoshi, and Chouji could see where they were coming from, really he could. There was certainly something odd about Sawada. But no-one who was that good to Lambo, who had that much time and care for a sickly child with a personality ten times too big for his own body, could really earn Chouiji’s suspicion. There were enough cruel people in the world to be suspicious of, without adding people who had only ever tried to help. So Chouji did his best to distract and defuse Shikamaru when the paranoia started to overcome his laziness, it was the least he could do for someone who had been such a good friend to his cousin.