Meat and Steam
The flames shimmered, flickering and swaying from side to side.
I wonder why people always find it so calming to watch fire?
That curious thought suddenly entered Nara Shikamaru’s head.
It was probably something that had started generations ago, back when people were still waiting on civilisation to happen. In those days, fire had always been a constant companion to people.
Fire had illuminated their surroundings and held the darkness of night at bay. It protected people from both the cold and foreign invaders. It had also been used as a signal, to find the location of your comrades, and the way back home.
Years and years of those activities had bled into people’s genes, and surely been passed onto Shikamaru himself. That was why, sitting in front of the warm flames, he felt such a soothing feeling.
That feeling was passed on in Konoha’s ‘Will of Fire’.
From parent to child. From child to grandchild. From teacher to student. From friend to friend.
Your feelings were tied to each other. Connected.
Maybe that Will of Fire had started out as a small flame that anyone could easily put out.
But it hadn’t disappeared. Even now, it was still being passed on, from person to person, and still burning bright.
It was those connections spanning generations that made fire so soothing. No matter how much time passed, every single cell in Shikamaru’s body was marked with the memories of those who had come before him, and found fire to be such a comfort.
People would use fire to cook food and sit around it, gazing into the flames as they ate. Before they realised what was happening, they’d gather around it in groups of loved ones.
Back then, and now, that was a sight that never changed. In fact, in this moment, Shikamaru was sitting in front of a warm fire and eating a meal with his best friend, Akimichi Chouji.
Chatter. Laughter. The sound of clinking tableware. Most of all, the sound of sizzling meat as it cooked.
Yakiniku Q.
It was the usual place for Shikamaru and the rest.
When it came to barbecue restaurants like this, people usually expected them to be crowded at night only, and not be all that busy during the day. Yakiniku Q was an exception, always bustling with people during noon and the night. Their meat was cheap, and on top of that high quality, so the restaurant was very popular.
And that meant that right now, at this very lunch hour, Yakiniku Q was no different from a battlefield.
Orders were being called out from seats on every side, calls for beer or oolong tea or utensils all being met by the hurrying restaurant workers. They were hurrying around the store, circling around all the customers in a rush. The place was hectic.
Shikamaru was watching the frantic state of the workers out of the corner of his eye as he put a single piece of meat onto the grill.
The deep red colour of the meat almost seemed to shine, the fat glistening like a pearl. Proof that it was fresh. The mouth-watering sizzling sound mixed in with the delicious smell wafting through the restaurant.
Shikamaru and Chouji had decided to have lunch here at the usual place.
The decision itself had happened just a while ago.
Shikamaru had headed out to do some shopping, and bumped into Chouji in the middle of the road. They’d gotten to talking.
Then Chouji said, “It’s about to be lunchtime anyway, so how about eating some meat together?” and here they were at their usual hangout of Yakiniku Q.
Shikamaru had entered the shop with the intention of stopping by briefly, like one would do at a tea shop, but Chouji always did this.
‘Some meat’ he’d said– as if! Chouji never sat down without the intention to dedicate himself to eating all he could.
Shikamaru’s piece of meat on the grill was starting to get nice and juicy. He reached out with his chopsticks and flipped it over. The underside had been grilled beautifully.
If the meat got grilled for too long, it’d get too hard. You had to keep careful watch to make sure it didn’t get over-cooked.
Most people liked to let their meat cook for a period of time decided by instinct alone, but a recent research study had concluded that those people usually ended up cooking their meat for too long.
…Or at least, that was what Chouji had told Shikamaru while they were talking.
Chouji himself, right in the middle of criticising those over-cookers, ate a piece of meat off the grill that didn’t look anywhere near cooked yet.
Chouji had a tendency to eat meat when it was still too close to raw for comfort. Shikamaru thought it was better to grill meat a bit more.
His piece on the grill looked like it was about ready to eat. Just as Shikamaru reached out with his chopsticks, his meat was snatched away before his very eyes.
Chouji. He had grabbed the piece and stuffed it into his mouth with a large sound of content.
“That was…my meat…”
“Huh? Ohhhh, sorry Shikamaru. I saw it was ready to eat, and before I even realised, my hands just…” Chouji looked apologetic as he realised he’d snatched up the wrong me