“Hm.” Shikamaru grunted as he took the folded piece of paper from his mother and shoved it into the pocket of his trousers. He was wearing dark blue slacks and a short-sleeve mesh shirt underneath a dark blue jacket with three-quarter length sleeves, his usual casual get-up when he wasn’t working or on call.
“Later…” He mumbled whilst he stepped into the entrance hall, pulling on a pair of sandals.
“Wait just a second!” His mother called, storming after her son whilst he groaned.
“What now, mum—Ow!” He cried out as she slapped him across the side of his head with a heavy envelope.
“What was that for!?”
“For trying to sneak off when I’m not done talking to you! How on earth do you expect to pay for the groceries if I don’t give you the housekeeping money!?”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry, geez…” Shikamaru replied as he held his throbbing ear, going red from his mother’s abuse. As he reached out to take the envelope, Yoshino held it away from him, before using it to point directly between his eyes, waggling it excessively while she lectured him.
“Now listen here, young man. Just because there may be change left over, and there will be change left over, does not mean you can go and spend it, alright? You will bring it back and you will give it to me so it can be put towards other things! Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.” Shikamaru growled as he near-snatched the envelope from her, shoved it in his pocket and began to walk out the house.
“I’m going.”
“And don’t dawdle! I know how you are. You better make it back before dinner—“
“Alright!” His screeching mother was cut off as he half-slammed the front door shut, sliding it with as much effort as he could muster. Which was a little more than usual, due to the barrage of provocation he had received from his mother since the moment he had failed to get up at a ‘decent’ time.
“Damn woman…” The Nara boy grumbled as he let out a sigh, slouching with his hands in his pockets as he walked. People greeted him as he made his way out of the Nara compound and even into town, but he just nodded back in acknowledgement. He wasn’t in the mood for being sociable.
“Nag, nag, nag… All the damn time.” As he grumbled he fished the shopping list out from his pocket and unfolded while he walked. The list was written with black in his mother’s slightly cursive but legible and block-like writing, the same hand-writing she had perfect in the academy and had used ever since. It was practical, slightly hurried and no-nonsense, just like her. Two columns ran the length of the paper, fitting approximately fifteen items per column.
“What a pain in the ass…” Shikamaru mumbled before lowering the list away from his gaze, lifting his free hand to cover his mouth while he yawned. Already in his head he was thinking what he should buy first, what would need to be home the quickest so his mother didn’t scold him about something breaking in transit or going off in the heat. It was while he was developing a strategy when a sudden thought occurred to him and he stopped dead in the middle of the street.
Wait a second…
He looked down at the list, counted off the number of items his mother wanted altogether. He looked up down the alleyway, peering at the stalls of the grocery side of the shopping district. A combination of a groan and whine came from him and he looked towards the sky, smudged with a few white clouds. Shikmaru immediately became envious of their untroubled existence, imaging the momentous task he had before him.
How exactly did his mother imagine he was going to carry all that shopping back by himself?