Oh... wow... that... just...
That was utterly awesome, completly depressing and... very well thought out.
I love the concept and your charcterizations are wonderful. Writing Shikamaru doing all those things and making it sound CONVINCING is no small feat. If this wasn't so coherent and well written, I'd be tempted to call it out of character. But you handled it well. And you have awesome prose. Great job.
I particularily like his scene with Chouji... The way you portray their friendship rings... very true.
This was a very gratifying read. Thank you for sharing.