Cloudless Sky
When Shikamaru is blackmailed into joining the Akatsuki, and the others don't know what happened, they began to come to the conclusion that Shikamaru is a force to be reckoned with now. Only one person believes he wouldn't do this of his own accord...
(Takes place DURING the 2 year period between the timeskip and the place where they left off.)
Chapter 1: A Pawn in the Game
"You're a worthy opponent." Smirked a narrow-eyed Shikamaru Nara.
"Same to you." Replied a certain aggressive blonde kunoichi, although on the inside she was struggling to think of a move. 'Damn, what do I do? He's gonna kill me!' She thought in her head, mind racing for a solution. Her hand reached and...
Set down the Shougi piece.
Temari smirked, blonde hair bouncing as she tilted her head to look at Shikamaru. "Your move, crybaby." She grinned, pretty sure she had him this time. He smiled, his eyes showing a certain type of concentration only a few could achieve playing the skill game. His hand slowly moved to the board, and he placed his piece easily. She stared for a while. Then frowned, realization dawning on her. Her fist slammed to the board, and she shifted her head to look at him in astonishment.
"You...you...!" She gaped, unable to find the right words. The lazy genius awarded himself with a proud smirk, closed his eyes, and lifted his arms behind his head. He was every bit the picture of an accomplished lazy smartass.
"Checkmate." He smirked, opening one eye. Temari felt her face growing red from anger bubbling up in side of her.
"You used my piece to trap me! That's, that's..." She gaped, looking from him, to the board, to him again.
"Did no one tell you that I've beaten Asuma five hundred and forty seven times? How troublesome." He said, though by the smug grin, you could tell he was immensely proud of himself. He got up, and straightened out his Chuunin vest.
"But that strategy...in a game like Shougi, no one would have ever been able to assess that direct situation! I made a perfect plan. And you still found every hidden loophole in it within a few seconds of thinking." She said, obviously frightened at his well-known intelligence. He grinned at her.
"You were just a pawn in my game." He said curtly. She sighed, shaking her head. Shikamaru Nara was an enigma; He was not a force to be reckoned with. She pitied the poor unfortunate soul who tried to play strategy in war against him.
"Alright, so you win, I'm buying for lunch. Then a meeting at four, correct?" She asked, strapping her fan onto her back. He glanced at her, then back at his watch.
"I guess. Man, dragging you to meetings and back is always so troublesome." He sighed, staring up at the sky. The clouds danced across the sky, and for a moment he became lost in them, until that same certain kunoichi growled at him.
"What's that supposed to mean? You only have to walk around! I mean, you say you want no missions, and then you complain about just taking me to meetings as a liaison from the sand! I mean, honestly, how could you BE so lazy?" She cried. He rolled his eyes and resisted the strong urge to moan and grumble about how troublesome women were with their constant need to nag.
"Alright, alright, let's—" He started, until a loud bell rang. Temari turned her head towards the Hokage's Tower. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "Emergency." He breathed. He took off running towards the tower. Temari ran after him, screaming for him to wait up. She caught up with him, quite out of breath.
"Oh, so NOW you run." She glowered, still panting. She let out a few dry coughs as they skidded to a stop in front of the tower. Many Chuunin, Jounin, and ANBU were gathered in front of Tsunade, who looked quite shocked. Two ANBU whispered something into her ear, at which her eyebrows lowered in confusion, jaw clenched, and eyes closed. She nodded ever so slowly in reply. She turned to the people.
"Akatsuki have been identified in the forests. We need a team to go out their and stop them." She said firmly. Sakura, who was beside her, turned to her.
"Tsunade, but, they can't all go." She gaped. Tsunade turned to the crowd, ignoring her slightly. They were all whispering, mothers clamping hands on their young ones. Shikamaru was looking up firmly.
"What's with you? It's like you WANT to fight!" Temari whispered to him. She didn't want to admit it, but she was worried. Shikamaru never volunteered for fighting willingly. He turned to her slowly.
"I'm the best strategist in this village. Tsunade needs to put me on the team. She always does—she tells me it's for my own good." He muttered, rolling his eyes. They turned back to the place where Tsunade stood.
"Alright, Asuma, Kakashi, Sakura, Ino, Temari, and Shikamaru, also." She said, calling off names. A team of a few people Shikamaru didn't particularly know and the ones called along with him stood up and walked. Temari stood by him the whole time. Kakashi and Asuma turned to each other.
"Who's the Akatsuki sighted?" Shikamaru asked. Temari glanced at the other members of the team: a healer, and mind-jutsu switcher, the copy nin, and Shikamaru's old teacher. The rest she didn't know well.
"Itachi and Kisame." Asuma said curtly. They took off for the forest, and the others followed. "Standard procedure, I'm sure—here for Naruto most likely. What they don't know is that he's not here." He added. He turned to Shikamaru. "A plan?" He asked as they ran through the trees. The whole teams' eyes were on him. His fingers formed a cube-like shape, and they waited patiently. 'They obviously have some sort of respect for him...' Temari thought, staring at him. His eyes closed, and a few minutes later, opened again.
"Split up into teams of long-range attackers and close-range attackers based on jutsu. That way if you run into them, or both of them, you have a varied range of attacks. Healers should tag along in teams of people with the strongest jutsus here that will be able to hold them off the best. Where were they last spotted?" He asked. Some nodded, while others began to assess their best partner. Temari quickly grabbed onto Shikamaru. Seeing as this action seemed somewhat possessive, she blushed, and glowered as he sent her an amused look.
"What? You have a good closer range attack and I have long range attacks. We're a good team." She said in response to his look, quite defensively. He puts his hands up in the air, trying to hide the smile that was sneaking on to his face.
"I didn't say anything. This is why women are so—" He said, smirking as he caught her look. It seemed to be an inside joke to both of them, a secret laugh when they began to bicker at each other. Suddenly they stopped, an ANBU pointing to the left. Asuma glanced at them.
"Are you sure they went that way?" Kakashi asked them. They nodded and replied that this was the spot they had seen them in earlier, and that they were headed due east. They nodded. Asuma looked behind to the others.
"Alright, split up." He said, darting off with Kakashi and the two ANBU in the most likely direction. Everyone one else ran off separate ways, determination and fear creeping into their hearts. Every time that a shinobi goes on a mission, a fear of death lingers, but the strong spirit of protection lay as the top priority, and as a part of their way of the ninja, they had become accustomed to this: the give and take of protection and life. Shikamaru gave a sidelong look to Temari.
"Ready?" He asked, eyeing her closely. She nodded, the top priority working its way into her mind. She smirked slowly.
"Always." She answered, and they shot off into the northeast. They climbed trees, and looked down at the forest floor. For hours, they came across nothing but blood red leaves scattered across the almost black dirt of the forest. Shikamaru tried to look for any signs that people may have been this way, but found nothing but animal tracks and their own footsteps. Temari sighed, and rested against a tree.
"Maybe they already found them?" Temari suggested putting a hand up in the air as the other rested across the cool bark of the tree she leaned on. Shikamaru jumped down from a tree he was looking off of and shrugged, shaking his head slightly, his expression unreadable.
"No. They're still here." He said, as if it were easily known. These were the times Temari was most exasperated (and sometimes frightened) of him. The immense burden of knowledge on him caused him to come to conclusions fast, sometimes on no evidence at all...and they were always right. So, she did as all did, and took his word for it. She pushed herself up, straightened her fan, and they took off again. A single leaf fell as she left her position on the tree, adding to the pile of red at where their feet were. A few hours later, the sun began to set, clouds turning pink, and the sky highlighting them. Temari was exhausted. They had stopped to rest again.
"Guess at least we missed the meeting." She said, trying to lighten the mood. Shikamaru didn't acknowledge her, just set his fingers back into his thinking position, obviously pondering something. Suddenly a small crack was heard. Shikamaru was jolted back into reality, and looked around quickly.
It was all a blur; the swift motion of the kunai headed straight for the tree she was leaning on, the quick shove of Shikamaru to save her from a certain death, then the darkness as her head hit on the forest floor, her body idle.
Shikamaru glanced up, to see two dark-robed people in straw hats. The shark shinobi grinned to show glinting pointed teeth, bloodstained a strained pinkish color. He gaped, heart beating in his chest. He wanted to reach for his kunai, but obviously he wouldn't make it in time before they killed him. He closed his eyes. The give and take, the top priority, it dawned on him that it wasn't just nonsense said to seem more heroic. It was a way of life, or for him, now a way of death. He sighed, and looked up, frightened, but ready to meet his fate halfway. Itachi looked down at him, showing no emotion on his stone set face.
"Itachi, he's right here. Let's bag him before his girl wakes up." Kisame said, talking as if he weren't there. He was still squatting down, too frightened to move, but trying to come to grips with the fact that this was most likely his final hour. He looked down, blinked a few times, then looked up, struggling to show no fear.
"I'm not dying without a fight." He said, determined, although it came out as hoarse words of a frightened boy. Kisame sniggered as Itachi showed that Uchiha smirk, that smirk that showed he was superior, to be feared, a cold-hearted fighter.
"You are said to be smart, but you've come to unrealistic conclusions." Itachi said as if it were the most well-known fact in the world. His robes wavered in the now night wind, and Kisame turned to his partner, who was obviously the brains of the two.
"You do know what we're here for. So enough talk, Itachi." Kisame said, sending him a sideways sneer. With a quickly of his wrist to Kisame's neck, and in what seemed like a millisecond, Kisame was on the ground, becoming passive to his superior, Itachi. Itachi turned back to Shikamaru, who had beads of sweat pouring down his face. He wished so much to look at Temari, to help her up, to see if she was at least alright, but he couldn't move yet, not with two Akatsuki that could overtake him easily only inches in front of him. He assessed the situation: he had exhausted himself with the running, and they were powerful. They might be able to overcome his shadow techniques, and shadow sewing would only stall them for a minute, and brought a most certain demise. He looked up at them.
"Since you are just going to kill me, you should tell me what your motives are." Shikamaru said, meeting the stony faced Uchiha's gaze. That smirk came back, and seemed to intimidate him well enough.
"As I said, unrealistic conclusions. We are not here for a demon, but a prize unto itself." Itachi spoke in an eerily calm voice.
"Just cut the troublesome wording and tell me what you want!" Shikamaru growled, although he knew it had something to do along the lines of 'demon' and 'Naruto Uzumaki'. Itachi kept his gaze.
"You think we are here for the nine-tails, the demon. I can see it. And, for once, your intelligence fails you. We're here for a far more important person." He said easily as another breeze passed through the forest. Kisame got up, glowering at Itachi. Itachi didn't notice him at all, his eyes boring deep into Shikamaru's.
"The Hokage, or the leader of the ANBU? A commander?" Shikamaru guessed, trying not to let out a gasp at the fact that the Akatsuki was not after a demon of any sort. But then again, the Akatsuki was full of surprises. Itachi grinned, a bloodthirsty cold-hearted grin.
"On the contrary. We're here for a person of immense use to our cause. A strategist." Shikamaru's eyes bulged open, his heart stopping in his throat. Itachi's throaty laugh was one of barely any emotion except for hatred. Kisame showed his teeth again, and their robes billowed in the wind as the moon shadowed them against the dark trees of the forest. "We're here for you, Shikamaru Nara. And you've fallen into our own trap." Itachi said quietly, leaning closer into him.
It was too fast to see, another quick technique that caught him off-guard, sending an expert strike on the back of his head, setting him off, balance, throwing him into darkness. With his last thoughts, he wished that villains weren't so damn smart.
A/N: Alright, end of the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated. Thanks.