written for Day Six: Safe Bets/Risks for ShikaSaku week. this is set post third shinobi war. I fucked around with Shikamaru and Sakura's ages, pls #justaccept, it's for the setting and the plot. shikamaru and shikaku are brothers, sakura and shika are same gen as kakashi.
Mochigoma: a capture piece in shogi that can be reused
"This is a risk you're willing to take?" Shu Yamanaka, head of T&I asks him. His gaze is serious, piercing to Shikamaru's very bones.
He nods. He doesn't hesitate, doesn't show any sign of doubt in his decision, even if a part of him is still wondering if this is a good idea.
"Hmm," Shu hums and eyes him. Shikamaru keeps his back straight and meets his gaze steadily. "Come with me, then."
Starting today, Haruno Sakura, former shinobi of Sunagakure, was now underneath Nara jurisdiction. His to do as he wishes.
He owes her this much.
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"I hope you know what you're doing," Shikaku says dryly. Shikamaru exhales and looks up to face his older brother, his eyebrows drawn together as his hand hovers the shogi piece in front of him.
"She saved my life," he grumbles in annoyance, and it's the same words he's repeated over and over today to friends, to the ones at T&I, and he didn't think he'd have to repeat it to his own family too. "Suna is an ally." With a click, he moves the piece decisively, his jaw tight. He loves his older brother, he does, but he is far too troublesome at times. He's 22 to Shikamaru's 11, and the future heir of their clan while Shikamaru is just the spare, and a part of Shikamaru thinks that he'll never be able to surpass or better him.
"Are they?" Shikaku asks, and his tone is airy but it's anything but. Shikamaru doesn't answer. His brother sighs and then moves a piece, Shikamaru following with his own move.
"Let Suna have her back then." Shikaku's words are carefully chosen but prodding, clearly seeking out answers without asking for it and Shikamaru's lips thin.
"They left her for dead," he replies darkly. "They chose the mission."
Shikaku is silent at that, but the click of the board as he moves his next piece is telling. Sakumo Hatake's abandonment of his mission for his comrades was 7 years ago, but the wound was still fresh. It was his choice, after all, that had pushed the war they both had just fought into happening. Shikaku wouldn't say anything negative about Sakura's teammates because at the moment, even with Konoha's nice reputation, he would have been tempted to do the same.
"Besides," Shikamaru says casually, "she'd rather stay here."
He brings out a mochigoma piece and places it on the board. It's not a checkmate, that's not allowed after all, but in the next few moves, he would be able to checkmate his brother. Not with the mochigoma, but because of it.
His brother blinks down at the piece and then he smiles in resigned acceptance.
"Aa," he says simply.
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"Why?" Sakura asks him quietly when she's settled down in the Nara guesthouse. She's playing with her hitai-ate, staring blankly at the engraving of Sunagakure's symbol. There's no use for it now.
"You saved my life," Shikamaru is about to reply, but something in him holds back. He bites it back.
"It would have been a waste," he instead says quietly. Sakura frowns.
"Am I an investment then?" Her tone is odd and very, very hesitant. "My teammates thought I was pretty useless." She says this matter of factly, as it was something she was far too used to hearing or saying.
Neither of them mentions just how useless they thought she was, how they left her unconscious and bleeding out in the middle of nowhere. Even Suna, when informed about Konoha's possession of Sakura, had told them they were welcome to keep her, albeit much more formally. She wasn't from a prominent clan, after all, she was just a first generation ninja who showed enough capability to do Academy basics and was thus thrust into a war she had no place in.
"I hear that chakra strings take extreme chakra control," Shikamaru offers lamely. He's supposed to be smart, but he feels very dumb talking to this pink haired girl.
Her lips quirk at that, and in mere seconds, chakra strings connect their hands. Her fingers twitch and Shikamaru's follows. It reminds him of his family's jutsu, and this connection with her, albeit small and superficial, makes warmth bloom in his chest.
"I'm good at poisons too," Sakura says shyly and gives him a tentative smile. She reddens a bit and then looks back down at the glow of her chakra. "Puppetry doesn't agree with me, though," she continues, a hint of self-deprecation in her tone, and raises a hand to brush back her chin-length hair. There's a thin scar near the back of her ear, probably a few months healed. There's a story behind that statement, he's sure. Shikamaru gazes down at the blue strings in between them. His mind races with the possible applications of chakra strings aside from puppetry along with poison and a part of him lights up with excitement.
"I think we can work well together," he says carefully. It's peacetime now, supposedly, but damned if Shikamaru doesn't keep himself ready in case of another war.
"Is that a promise?" Sakura asks as she cuts off the flow of chakra, the blue light of the strings dying, and goes back to twisting her hands around her hitai-ate. Shikamaru shrugs in response.
"It's a bet."
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He knows that Kakashi doesn't quite know how to deal with her. The first time they meet, she gives him an odd look and then whispers behind his back to Shikamaru that she didn't know the White Fang had a son. Kakashi's father was as infamous in Suna as he was in Konoha, but Shikamaru is respectful when he replies.
A few years ago, Kakashi would have treated her with disdain. He would have claimed that she deserved to die because she couldn't keep up and that her teammates were in the right for choosing their mission over her.
But now Obito is dead and Kakashi has his friend's eye in his head and a very, very different view on what it means to be trash. Instead, Sakura is the very epitome of everything he used to believe in.
And so he treats Sakura with an odd mixture of indifference and twitchiness, and Sakura shrugs and bears with it. She sticks with Shikamaru, mostly, although she gets along well enough with Genma and Kurenai.
Most of the shinobi treat her with barely hidden suspicion, but her big green eyes and cotton candy hair are helpful at easing their concerns, especially when they see how far behind she is in terms of basic shinobi arts. She's an 11-year-old child fresh from the war, and it shows if you look hard enough, but to civilians, it's enough to look at the surface level.
She starts to improve though because she has to. Konoha took a chance on her, after all, more so Shikamaru. It would be an insult to both if she didn't make an effort. (Sakura doesn't care much for Konoha, but she's unhealthily attached to proving her worth to Shikamaru.)
And so she improves.
Shikamaru and her experiment on her chakra strings, on manipulating weapons and people and fix her up with a short sword. It's a lot like working with a Yamanaka when a shinobi suddenly finds themselves unable to move, or their arm slowed down enough by Sakura's strings, just in time for Shikamaru or someone else to slip in and finish them off.
She makes a name for herself among the Konoha ranks, the Sand turned Leaf girl who thinks like a Suna nin, feels like a Konoha kunoichi, and fights with a bastardization of Suna's and Konoha's techniques.
Shikamaru is damn proud of her.
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It takes 2 years before Sakura puts on a Leaf headband. She's 13 years old, still a little bright-eyed, and a little obsessed and obvious with her crush him, but she's proven her worth to Konoha.
Shikamaru blinks in surprise the first time he sees her in the green Chuunin vest of Konoha, red headband on top of her head, the swirl of the Konoha leaf engraved on it. It looks like it belongs on her.
"You look good," he says. Sakura beams. He scratches the back of his head and sighs, almost to himself. "Do you want to go out?"
Her smile falters before it comes back in full force. Shikamaru reddens and looks away.
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Life goes on.
Another year passes by, and then 5, and then next thing Shikamaru knows, it's been 16 years since she's last worn the symbol of Suna, 14 since she replaced it with Konoha's, and 5 since she's married into the Nara clan.
At 27, she's no medic ninja, but she is the premier poison expert of Konoha. She forms a close friendship with the Yamanakas and she's frequently in their greenhouse. It's no trouble for them. She wears the Nara clan symbol on her back more often than she wears Konoha's, and she's a Nara in name, in wit, everything but blood, and the Yamanaka and Nara clans along with the Akimichi are practically sister-brother.
He knows her almost better than he knows himself.
And so when the Chuunin exams come along and the Suna delegation comes to town, Shikamaru understands why she's on edge. She knows some of these people, but she avoids them like a plague with bitterness and pain clear in her eyes.
She hasn't forgotten how they had left her for dead and left her for Konoha to do as they wished. It's impossible to forget when Shikamaru knows she still has nightmares about it every now and then, the only thing that can bring her out Shikamaru himself and his gentle reminder that they were both alive and breathing.
A few of them try to approach her, obviously recognizing her too, but Sakura doesn't give them the chance. She pretends like they don't exist.
When the preliminary stage before the third round of the Chuunin exams come up, Sakura stays by his side as they watch from the top. One of the Sunagakure genin, the oldest son of the Kazekage, reveals himself to be a puppet just before "he's" almost strangled. Sakura makes a soft sound of surprise from beside him.
Shikamaru glances at her and raises an eyebrow.
"I know that puppet…" Sakura murmurs. Her hand lifts and touches the ends of her hair, tracing over the thin scar behind her ear. "It was Sasori-senpai's."
Shikamaru frowns. "Akasuna no Sasori?"
Sakura nods and doesn't expound, but Shikamaru notes the troubled pinch of her forehead.
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When the feathers start to fall, Shikamaru wonders if he can get away with pretending to be asleep. He's a jounin now though, and despite all of his laziness, he's immediately up and battle ready.
"What a drag," he grumbles. The shinobi from Suna who Shikamaru had just been making small talk with an hour ago suddenly strikes out. Shikamaru avoids the hit, his eyes narrowing.
He disables him, thinking for a moment that he must simply be controlled or under a different genjutsu, but once he has the chance to look up and around, his heart drops. Oto and Suna are fighting against Konoha, and they're far too many for them to simply be under a genjutsu.
He has a moment of absolute fear, and later he'll be ashamed of it, but his first thought is Sakura.
Did she know? Did she help?
His senses alert him a little too late to the blow coming behind him and he raises his arm if only to protect his head, but the Suna shinobi about to attack him is suddenly yanked away by chakra strings. There's a crash as he hits the wall, the hit on his head knocking him out.
He follows the blue lines and his eyes widen when he sees Sakura. She looks angry, furious even, as she shunshins to his side. She's in a loose brown shirt, her Jounin vest missing, and Shikamaru realizes that she must have come from the compound.
"Damn it, Nara," she curses him out, "Watch your head."
He stares, and she looks up. Her expression falters for a moment, fear he guesses, at him doubting her loyalty against those wearing the very same hitai-ate she used to wear. He hates the look on her face. He decides then and there. He turns, a slight tilt to his lips as he gives her his back to guard, a blatant display of trust even as his shoulders tense and every inch of training in him tells him not too, tells him that the risk is too great. He's bled and fought and loved and lived with Sakura for years, and he trusts her with his life.
"Good thing you're here to watch it then."
Sakura shifts and easily falls into battle formation alongside him, her sword in hand. The Nara crest on the back of her shirt touches his back. Shikamaru smiles grimly and directs his attention on the Sand-nin racing at him.
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"How are you feeling?" Shikamaru asks, his eyes roving over Sakura's tired features. Sakura exhales shakily and closes her eyes. The light from the moon washes out her color, her bare shoulders unnaturally pale and the pink of her hair washed out.
"I'm fine."
He hums in response. There's a click as he lights up his cigarette and Sakura's eyes open. She watches him inhale, the cherry red end lighting up before he exhales the smoke outwards. She reaches out and Shikamaru hands the cigarette to her, eyes soft as he watches her inhale and exhale.
She's quiet for a moment, features drawn. Troublesome, Shikamaru thinks.
"Did you think I was going to turn on you?" she blurts out, eyebrows furrowed. She sits up, and his sheets fall to her lap and leave her bare before his very eyes. Shikamaru eyes her. He's always been a logical sort of guy, mind over heart, and he loves her, he does, but a part of his mind couldn't help but consider the possibility of Sakura turning back to Suna.
"If I had time to really think about it," he starts, and pauses to inhale and then blow out smoke, trying to give himself time to think, "I know you wouldn't." And still, he chose his heart over his mind when he had given Sakura his back to guide.
She looks away and then smiles sadly to herself. Her shoulders are tensed, and the dark circles under her eyes speak of how exhausted she really is. Konoha has had to rebuild after the invasion, and Sakura has thrown herself into the work. She couldn't afford not to. Some of the civilians, even some of the shinobi who had remembered just where exactly Sakura came from started to treat her with suspicion once more. Once a Suna shinobi, always a Suna shinobi, they whispered, close enough that Sakura could hear.
Sakura had taken it with her shoulders back and her head held high, but Shikamaru knows that the mistrust is weighing her down. This time, she didn't have the benefit of her innocent eyes and her ridiculous hair to lower her perceived threat level. It did no good when they knew exactly what she was capable of.
Shikamaru hates it. If they know what she can do, then they should know what she's done, how she had fought alongside him against the Suna invaders, how she's served Konoha for years. She wears the Nara crest proudly on her clothes and the Konoha hitai-ate on top of her head. They should know better.
"Ignore them," Shikamaru says, his lips thin. "All the people who think you're not loyal to Konoha will eventually see." She's done far too much and she's already proven her loyalty. She didn't deserve this. She's worn the green of Konoha for far longer than she's lived in the sands of Suna, and still, people doubt her. It's been 20 years since Shikamaru had dragged back a broken and bleeding Sakura when they were just 11 and fresh Chuunin, and never has Sakura ever hinted at a desire to go back to the village that abandoned her.
Sakura's eyes dim and she looks away. She hasn't mentioned the increasing vitriol that people have been directing her way, but she should know by now that nothing misses Shikamaru's sharp eyes. Hesitantly, she speaks, "I wasn't...not for a while."
He turns his head, his expression carefully blank and void of emotion and the cigarette hanging loosely by his fingers. Sakura's lips purse, before they relax into a soft smile.
"I wasn't loyal to Suna either," she says quietly to appease him. He blinks at that, surprise breaking through his facade of impassiveness.
There's silence, Shikamaru thoughtful as he stares her. She knows she doesn't have to say it. He's a smart boy, he'll figure it out.
A touch on her hand breaks her from her reverie and she looks up. Shikamaru gives her a serious look, but he can't hide the undercurrent of affection and fondness in his eyes that Sakura basks in. He grasps her hand and raises it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
"Thank you," he says quietly.
She was loyal to him, and him alone, and maybe that was dangerous, but again… Shikamaru would take that risk.
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Shikamaru is with Sakura when they see his niece and Temari approach them. Temari is Suna's newest ambassador, and she has formed a close friendship with Shikaten. It's no surprise that they're out and about together, even if Temari is 19 and Shikaten only 16, but it is a surprise for her to approach Sakura.
Sakura tenses.
There's an awkward tension as Temari and Sakura stare each other, neither of them backing down. Sakura's shoulders are strong, her chin jutted out even as her hands rested deceptively gentle at her sides. At any hint of conflict, she would be able to pull out the sword hanging at her waist. Suna and Konoha are allies again (if they ever really were before), and all because of Uzumaki Naruto and the Power of Friendship.
"We will make sure that no Sand nin will ever turn out like you," Temari says quietly. There's an honest gentleness that belies her words, so unlike the fierce persona she frequently plays, and Shikamaru can't help but eye her with interest. Sakura, usually, is quick to notice things like that, but being in front of a former comrade has set her on edge, and the words make her bristle.
"What?" Sakura says snidely, "A turncoat?"
Temari doesn't look away, and instead merely tips her head. Respectful, but still appropriate for her stature. She has a political grace that comes from 19 years of navigating the minefields of being the Kazekage's daughter, and a part of Shikamaru admires her for it.
"No," she says clearly. "Abandoned."
Sakura's rage falters, dying quickly as she stares in shock at Temari, a girl 11 years younger than her, born a little just before Sakura was sent to war with the expectations that she wouldn't make it out of alive. 11 years younger than her and worth so much more in the eyes of Suna because of her heritage, and yet… Still looking at Sakura in the eye and promising that no Suna shinobi would ever be left behind in another Hidden Village again, not if she could help it.
"I wasn't alone," Sakura murmurs. She very carefully doesn't glance at him beside her, but when she reaches out, Shikamaru is there to meet her hand with his.
Their fingers interlock.
this was... supposed to be much longer... there was a whole plotline there with sakura and sasori, but it distracted from sakura and shikamaru so i just... let it... lie there... eh, basically, 11 year old sakura and 15 year old sasori had a senpai kohai thing, and sakura has mixed opinions about kakashi and the white fang, and then during the gaara retrieval arc she's sent to help kankuro bcos she's a poison expert, and there's a scene with her and chiyo and then her and sasori and shrugs.
hope u like this anyway!