At first he didn't believe it. Couldn't. But their expressions were so grim, so completely humourless that it made his world shake into comprehension. Of course he knew from the beginning that no one would make that sort of joke to him, but he couldn't stop himself from denying it instantly even as their manner was very serious.

He rushed out of the building, leaving paperwork scattered all over his desk and around the floor in his wake but he didn't care if he got lectured or even fired for leaving his post. All he could think about was getting to the hospital as fast as he could. When he arrived, his lungs aching for air, he cared not that he ran into people.

As he barged into the room, meeting Ino's watery eyes, he fell down on his knees as he looked upon his best friend thin and lying so still on that distasteful hospital bed.

Chapter 1

Chouji was alive. He was broken, missing some parts, but alive and that was the only thing that would have mattered except his mind no longer worked like it had. It broke Shikamaru to millions of pieces seeing the dumb blank expression, drool dripping from his best friend's mouth, not recognizing him because he'd lost the capacity to.

Reaching for Ino's hand, they watched as the doctors tended to him, waiting, dreading for the medical conclusion. Before they were told, he already knew that nothing could be done. He could tell just by looking that Chouji was gone forever. His grip on Ino's hand tightened so much that it became painful for her, but she only winced and said nothing as they silently wept together.

Chouji died three days later.

The sadness of parting killed him. He still breathed. He could move and he could think and he could talk, but all he wanted to do was spend his days in his own mind, wallowing in his enormous loss. He tried to go to work, acted like he was fine, pretended everything was normal but once on his desk he only broke down and kept weeping while everyone in the room could only look away with a silent sympathy.

He couldn't stay that way forever though. Two weeks wasn't enough to grieve for a great guy like Chouji, but it was a long time to remain stagnant. Life went on. Chouji wouldn't like it if he abandoned living and everyone else because he was no longer there. He knew it to the very core of his soul because he had known his best friend so well.

It was time to move on from that agonizing pause and allow his emotional wound to heal. It was also time to face her, and he wondered what his feelings would be.

"You really don't know what happened," he asked for what seemed to be a hundred times. In reality, it was only the twenty-second though. His mind had kept up with the interrogation despite how unstable he still felt.

Sasuke said nothing, eyes without a shred of warmth as she looked at him.

Shikamaru sighed, not knowing what else to ask. He felt so drained, asking over and over and getting relatively the same answers. Her answers sounded sincere, and he wondered if she had learned to become so good at lying in her time away. He couldn't think of a single sensible reason why she would lie about what happened to Chouji if she really did know.

Then again, he couldn't think of a reason why she would make the effort to hand his best friend back over to them. A lone missing-nin willing to approach her enemy and bring him back to his team seemed odd. His sharp eyes watched her intently, looking for signs on her expressionless face that may betray her words. But there were none. She was as emotionless as he last saw her six years ago.

Sighing again, he opened the folder on the table between them. The mission report stated the team had been ambushed near the country's northwest border as they were heading back. They got separated in the confusion and just as they were about to give up on searching for Chouji a noise led them to Sasuke. She was carrying Chouji who was thin and barely conscious on her back. Recognizing her, they pursued as Sasuke attempted to escape despite their wounds and fatigue.

According to Sawa Akira, one of Chouji's companions on that mission, the Uchiha did not engage in combat at all. It didn't seem like she was trying her best to get away. She came willingly when they had her cornered.

He cut his eyes toward the girl sitting in front of him, so many questions in his mind, wondering if there was still a part of her that still cared for Konoha and its people. It was her home once, and she grew up in it, and her family's history intertwined deeply with the village's origins. She must still care somehow, because why else would she concern herself with a nearly dead shinobi whose loyalty was to a village that considered her a traitor and show herself so openly when the world was out for her head? It didn't make much sense to him.

She would have known what was involved, Sasuke wasn't stupid. Why did she risk her safety, when there was nothing rational to gain for her? As the result here she was, bound, currently under confinement, and it need not be said that she is headed toward execution.

What were you thinking, Sasuke?

Perhaps there was the tiniest bit of emotion when she saw former comrade who she once had some sort of interaction with back during the Academy. There must have been some longing for a reconnection with something or someone from her past, and that's when Chouji appeared, weak and defenceless, and she just had to protect him out of maybe an unexpected sense of duty or sudden sense of attachment.

It was all hard to believe, with what he knew of her, or what he at least believed he knew.

As he stared at her, he could not help but let his eyes wander from her face, down to her elegant neck, and to the full breasts that was hidden in a layer of cheap, generic kimono that was only a few shades paler than her skin. Despite the unsightly attire, she was beautiful, maybe even more so because of it. Realizing where his thoughts were heading, he cursed himself quietly. He shook his head and groaned, closing his eyes, not caring that she was looking at him as if he was a strange creature. He would have been pleased since he finally garnered a new expression from her, but he wasn't. He may have been letting his emotions get to him.

Deciding not to look at her again, he stood from his seat and walked toward the only window in the small room. A full grown man could fit into it, but it was now fitted with thick steel bars. The room had once been a storage room, he'd been told, but several incidents led to necessary relocations and conversions for the department.

Being in this small room with her, he couldn't help but become frustrated at how absent she was of emotion while he was nearly bursting with it. The urge to scream at her was so strong he clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached. After a deep breath, still looking away, he asked, "Did you attack him?"

He crossed his arms stiffly, waiting for the response that he'd already predicted.

"No."

"Why did you help him then?"

"I don't know," she said after a long silence.

When he looked back, her face remained the same. He said nothing for many minutes, and finally, he pushed himself away from the wall.

"I'll be back," he said to her as he closed the door behind him.

'I think I like Sasuke' he said one time after school. He suddenly felt like saying it out loud even though he'd always found it troublesome to tell anyone.

Although little Chouji's eyes widened, his surprise was brief and he replied 'ok', smiling as he returned to eating his barbeque flavoured chips.

They never talked about it again.

Lying in his bed that evening, Shikamaru closed his eyes at the childhood memory. It wasn't something he had intentionally kept a secret, but no one ever asked, and it would have been so troublesome if anyone found out.

They would probably be very surprised, he thought, finally smiling a little as he found humour in his imagination of Ino's most probable reaction.

He dreamt of being six years-old again as he slept that night. Chouji was there too, eating his potato chips as he led Shikamaru to the lonely little Sasuke sitting away from everyone else.

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