A sleeping form stirred at the announcement of a newcomer. Groggily, Shikamaru picked his head up to ritually greet Yuhara Midori and her cat to the class. Then, thinking a review a perfectly good excuse to fall back asleep, Shikamaru set his head back down.<br/><br/>"Wow, a new student. Don't get many of those, do we Shikamaru?" Choji asked, interrupting his friend's first silent mental steps into dreaming.<br/><br/>"Nope," Shikamaru agreed.<br/><br/>"She has a cat, too. Like Kiba's dog. Do you think that'll make them opposites?"<br/><br/>"Maybe." Shikamaru didn't think it worked that way, but he wasn't going to try and explain that to Choji when he himself was so close to sleep. Why go to the effort?<br/><br/>"That'd be bad. They'd fight, if they were opposites."<br/><br/>Choji's fears washed over a sleeping Shikamaru, who grunted absently.<br/><br/>------<br/><br/>Choji attacked his food with his typical enthusiasm. Standing next to him, Shikamaru watched, amused. He himself had eaten a small portion of his food; having slept through most of the lessons, Shikamaru knew he wouldn't need much. If Choji asked, as he sometimes would, Shikamaru would hand over the rest. He simply couldn't be bothered to finish it, or keep it to eat later. Choji was a simple solution to the problem of carrying around half a lunch all day.<br/><br/>"Hey, Shikamaru," Choji began, putting a halt to his meal for a moment. It must have been at least marginally serious.<br/><br/>"What?" Shikamaru asked, letting his head recline back against the wall of the school so he could look up at the clouds.<br/><br/>"That new girl. Yuhara-san." Choji looked over at the lonely girl, adopting his slightly worried expression.<br/><br/>"What about her?" There was a cloud that looked a bit like the Konoha leaf.<br/><br/>"She's alone."<br/><br/>From anyone else, Shikamaru would have simply dismissed the statement of the obvious. With Choji, however, Shikamaru knew it had special connotations. Before Shikamaru had abandoned a game for Choji and their subsequent bonding, Choji had been alone. It was only the first day, but Choji may have feared a little for the girl; was she alone as he had been? Maybe she was like him, and they could be friends like he was with Shikamaru? Shikamaru could read his friend easily. He decided he feared a little for the girl's social life too, since his friend was so concerned. Still, he would poke at Choji, even while helping him satisfy his need to be kind to the newcomer. "What, do you like her or something?"<br/><br/>Shikamaru didn't need to look at his friend to see him blush and begin to form firm denials. "Whatever. Let's go talk to her," Shikamaru said, standing.<br/><br/>It was such a bother. Couldn't the girl get up and speak for herself? What was her name again? Yuhara. Yuhara Midori. She must have been shy, like some other girls Shikamaru could think of. Shy didn't mean she would be outcast, but if Choji wanted to go through the trouble of meeting and greeting, Shikamaru figured he would tag along, annoyed as he was.<br/><br/>"Hey, Yuhara-san," Shikamaru said. "I'm Shikamaru. This is Choji," he jerked a thumb.<br/><br/>"Hello, Yuhara-san. Welcome to the school!" Choji produced a bag of chips from<em>somewhere</em>and offered it to her. "Here. Have some. Shikamaru and I like to eat and look at the clouds, and..." Choji blushed. "You can join us, if you like?"<br/><br/>"Not everyone likes looking at clouds," Shikamaru observed. "Maybe when your finished, we can pick up a game of Ninja with the other students. They usually try to have a quick game before class starts again, so you just have to finish eating a bit sooner. It'll be a bother, but we can do either."<br/><br/>That said, Shikamaru sat down next to her, and watched Choji sit on her other side inclusively. That easily, Shikamaru and Choji insinuated her into their little "group", and it was up to her if she wanted to reject their offer of friendship.