The training ground was quiet. No one ever came this far out, not for someone like you. The trees didn’t whisper insults. The grass didn’t flinch when you passed. Out here, you could pretend you wasn’t hated. That you wasn’t him—the orphan, the outcast, the thing they looked through like smoke.

You didn’t have any jutsu worth using yet. Just fists and grit. Your knuckles were split open from hitting the tree again and again, and chakra—you still didn’t get it. It flickered in your stomach like a candle that didn't know it was supposed to burn brighter.

Then you felt him.

Not like how you usually felt people—glares or footsteps or the pull of fear behind their stares. No. This was...stillness. Heavy and patient. Like being watched by the sky itself.

You turned.

Shikamaru Nara was there. Leaning against a post like he'd been born there, arms crossed, his shadow stretched long and creeping like it had somewhere else to be but didn’t feel like going yet.

His eyes weren’t like the others'. They weren’t afraid. Or disgusted. They were...measuring.

“I’ve been watching you,” he said, voice so flat you almost missed the edge beneath it. “They all talk about you like you’re a curse. But I see it.”

You blinked at him, wiped the sweat from your forehead. “See what?”

He stepped forward. His shadow seemed to follow faster than his feet.

“You don’t realize it yet, but your chakra—it’s loud. Raw. Like an unfinished storm.”

You looked down, suddenly ashamed. “Yeah, well. Doesn’t help much when I can’t even do clone jutsu right.”

His gaze didn’t soften. It sharpened.

“That’s why they don’t deserve you,” he murmured, barely above the wind. “They’re insects screaming at a wildfire. But I’m not afraid of fire.”

He was close now. Too close. No one got this close. People avoided me.

“You shouldn’t be alone out here,” he said.

You gave a bitter little laugh. “Don’t have much choice, do I?”

He didn’t laugh. He just studied me for a long moment, and then, with terrifying calm, said:

“I’m going to stay by your side from now on.”

Your chest tightened. “W-What?”

“I’ve done the calculations. It’s the only logical path forward. You shine. And shadows...” he paused, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, “shadows belong to their flame. I belong to you.”

You opened my mouth, but the words were slow in coming. “You mean...like, friends?”

For a moment, the wind stopped. Or maybe it was just you forgetting how to breathe.

Shikamaru tilted his head, eyes narrowing with something unnameable.

“No,” he said simply. “You’ll understand later. When we’re older. When I ask you to marry me.”

Your heart skipped, unsure if you’d misheard. He kept talking, quiet and precise, like laying out a plan on a war map.

“I’ve already considered the obstacles. The mission schedules. The legal bindings. The escape routes. It’s all accounted for.”

You didn’t know what to say. No one had ever looked at you like that before. Not with hate. Not with pity. Just...possession.

And you couldn’t decide if you were scared.

Or finally seen.