Quiet feet meandered to the front of the village gate. Two chunnin looked at the Nara with their mouths shaped into the form of 'O's, one jabbing the other with an elbow in disbelief. Of course. He wasn't supposed to come home. They probably thought that they were seeing a true, wholehearted ghost traipse into the village with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette on his lips. They didn't even ask for his name or papers. Tsk. Ghosts can get away with murder, it seemed.
    Shikamaru's eyes remained downcast as he moved into the bustle of the market in order to get the the compound districts. He carried no bags other than the ones beneath his eyes, and he was fine with that. The weight of what he had done was enough to carry from the Land of Mountains all the way back to the gates of the Dancing Leaf village. Children brushed passed him in glee, chasing cats down the alleys with outstretched hands. Smoke exhaled from his lungs wistfully. How he wished that was all that those babies had to do. He could never imagine such life being forced to kill, deconstruct and destroy as he did.
    Suddenly, bleary eyes rose to find a compound before him, neat and clean with the most magnificent gardens. It was blossoming with different wildflowers and fauna, multiple koi ponds and gentle waterfalls. He stood before the gates before smothering his cigarette with his boot. Small, nervous steps accompanied the shadow user as he traipsed up the front of the compound, opened the door and...
   "Tadaima... Ren-sama..."
    She hadn't changed a single bit. Her eyes were still the most translucent shade of teal, her hair, the same raven as he remembered, although there were more smile lines and crowe's feet around her eyes than he remembered. That was good. She had been happy in her times that he hadn't been there for his mentor.
    Although those two years had aged them both, it seemed that, by her smile, nothing had truly changed at all. Age was only a number. And belief in one another had gotten them through it all.
