Painfully Aware with So Much to Learn

Chapter One: Getting Up

Nara's are a quite scarce clan. Gifted and yet pained with advanced learning, suicide was a frighteningly common thing. A people forced out of happy ignorance had little left. Until a celestial being felt pity for the overly aware clan, they evolved a 'Fixation'. A simple thing really, a hobby almost, but so much more important. A Nara who finds their fixation will relish in it, cherish it, enough to even clear their despair filled heads. A Nara's life is agony without a fixation, a purpose tuned just for them, a gift. Luckily the vast majority of Nara's find their fixation by the time they hit 6. Shikamaru Nara was not the vast majority.

A raven haired boy was woken up by his mother's bellowing. The boy replied by rolling over to not face the door. It had been 2 weeks since this particular raven had turned 13, and he's barely left his bed. A Nara living so long without a fixation hadn't occurred since before the second hokage, and being the lone clan heir left many worried for the fate of the clan as well as the blood brother clans, the Akimichi and Yamanaka. Shikaku had insisted on therapy for his son but the idea was quickly scrapped after Shikamaru had told him it was "Too much of a drag". This seemed like a weak argument but Shikaku knew his son, and that he could and would sleep through every session he was dragged to.

Suddenly Shikamaru's door slowly creeps open, revealing a concerned Yoshino. Yoshino worried for her son dearly (lol) and hated when he started being more distant, but it seems his emotions plummeted further when he turned 13. The woman went to her son, who was still curled away, before taking in the sight. He was pale and boney, he still had his muscles from his year as a shinobi, but his cheekbones jutted out and he seemed so cold. He had refused to eat for days. She went to wake up what was left of her son when he abruptly turned to face her. His eyes were distant and hollow. 

"I feel sick today, let me sleep, troublesome woman." The boy spat, while turning back to face the wall.

Yoshino was a bit disappointed at the lack of manners and told him as much.

"Manners are troublesome, what's the point?" The young Nara groaned as he shuffled further under his blankets.

Yoshino hated pulling the mom card when Shikamaru was feeling like this, but he wouldn't get out of bed otherwise. "Its laundry day and your bedding is dirty, get up, take a shower and go out for a few hours while I clean the house, you'd just get in the way."

Yoshino did not mean that last part like it sounded.

Shikamaru was silent.

Yoshino began to correct herself as to not sound like her son was an inconvenience but was cut off.

"Fine" was all the young Nara said before leaving to take a shower.

Yoshino couldn't help but tear up at her own implications. She loved her son, more than life itself, but he was a Nara and one made to suffer. She hated it, and she hated being so stupid compared to her husband, son and clan. She would say things without meaning and she hated it, being in the presence of such smart people constantly made her feel weak. That is until her own son was struck hard with the curse of the Nara's. The curse of awareness.

Shikamaru swiftly left the bathroom with a new set of clothes on. A dark green long sleeve shirt and some dark jeans. He would usually need his chunin vest and weapon pack but the hokage gave him time off due to his mental state. He left the house at a fast pace, he was out of the house and down the street before Yoshino could talk to him. Shikamaru wasn't an idiot. He knew every second he was alive was an inconvenience to his clan. He once overheard that some Nara parents had completely given up on him. They said that it was "Only a matter of time" and were trying to convince his father to make their son clan head. Shikamaru wasn't surprised. He had given up so why not others? He sighed as he left the Nara gates. The guards were quite surprised to see the young heir out and about, as well as his physical condition.