Unstable Shinobi, Helplessly In Love

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.

Single-minded devotion. Compulsive possessiveness. Unnatural obsession.

Her son had found his Moonlight…

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.