This was a request, and as such, is dedicated to L'Arc Hyde. I, myself, don't know how it's going to end up, so let's find out, shall we? Enjoy!
It wasn't supposed to have gone so wrong, but somehow Shikamaru had judged things poorly. It rarely happened, but when it did, and when everyone else was going on his word, it could be fatal. He, Chouji, and Hinata had been assigned a simple enough mission. It was only scouting an area out for Orochimaru's lackies. Despite rejecting Naruto's request to go searching for Sasuke, the Fifth had once again sent a team out on a mission for that sole purpose.
Flashback
"So that's all?" Shikamaru asked, looking to the blonde sitting at her desk.
"Yes." Tsunade spoke, interlacing her fingers, "I know it seems a simple enough task, but Orochimaru's men aren't to be taken lightly." She warned.
The brunette sighed, "I know, I know." Why did everyone think it necessary to warn him about common sense things? He'd already faced one of the ninja from the hidden village of sound, and knew that they were formidable opponents. "And if the girls are that tough, just think of the guys." He thought, sighing again.
"I'd like you to take two others with you, make sure they're reliable and can keep discreet." The Hokage continued, "In other words, not Naruto." She didn't necessarily want the blonde boy going on any other missions to rescue Sasuke, anyway. Not until they'd actually found the Uchiha.
"You won't have to worry about that." The slacker ninja assured her; Naruto was the last person he'd choose, if possible.
"You're dismissed, then. Go recover as much information as you can about Orochimaru's location, and if possible, how many and how strong his forces are."
Shikamaru yawned, agreeing, and turned, leaving the office. He knew, immediately, that Chouji would be one of his comrades on the mission. It was rare that Shikamaru wouldn't choose his close friend for a mission, and so he set out to find said fat boy. Not surprisingly, he found the boy eating. "Chouji." The chuunin spoke as he stopped a couple feet away from the table, as to not get attacked for getting too close to the dish of food.
The reddish-brown-haired boy looked up and grinned to his best friend, "Hey, Shikamaru." He greeted, shoving another piece of barbecue pork down his throat, "What's up?"
"Got a mission." The lazy ninja explained, "To track Orochimaru."
Chouji nearly choked at the mention of the details, "I thought the Hokage was against us going after Sasuke."
"Seems she's just against Naruto going after him." Shikamaru shrugged, "Anyway, I'm supposed to bring two others with me."
The larger boy nodded and stood up, having finished his meal, "So who else are you bringing?"
"Hinata." The darker-haired one said simply.
"Hinata?" the genin repeated, following him out of the shop, "Why her? If you're looking for a Byakugan-user, why not get Neji?"
"If I wanted someone who could detect the enemy from a distance, I would have chosen Kiba and Akamaru." Shikamaru explained.
"Then why go with Hinata at all? She's not exactly...well, I mean.. she's kind of... not really fit for this type of mission." He didn't want to say that Hinata was unskilled, she was very talented, but she was rather timid and usually just got in the way.
"Hinata's grown, especially during her past mission." Shikamaru explained, "Besides, Neji is off on another mission."
"Well, if you're sure." Chouji conceded, grinning and opening a back of chips, "I can't argue with the genius."
The brunette just rolled his eyes and continued on his way, "Being a chuunin is really troublesome."
End Flashback
After having Hinata in tow, the three set off through the forest, heading toward where they had last seen Orochimaru. The sound nin had apparently been aware of their presence, though, and had ambushed them. The fight had barely begun, though, before the Konoha ninja had been separated.
Shikamaru glared slightly at his opponent, Tyuya. The Sound Four member smirked slightly to herself, "So we meet again." She said, "Going to need your little friend to save you again?"
Her taunting words flew right in one ear and out the other. Shikamaru had never been one to get angered by other's words, or affected by them at all. So he just shrugged the mocking words off, "Just concentrate." He told himself, though knew that he might be in over his head. It hadn't been that long ago that he'd faced Tyuya, and hadn't developed much since. He might have been in over his head, but since running wasn't an option, he knelt down and closed his eyes, turning his fingers into a square shape as he always did when planning an attack.
"If you're just going to stand there," the sound ninja spoke again, "then you can die now!" With that said, she quickly raised her flute to her mouth and began playing an intricate and complicated tune, but one Shikamaru knew very well.
"That trick again?" he thought to himself. Perhaps if the girl hadn't learned anything new, he'd have a chance.
Just as he was about to make his move, Kankuro dropped from the trees next to him and glanced to their opponent before muttering under his breath, "We were called to stall the enemy." He explained, simply, "You're to go on ahead and continue with your mission."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He would rather not bother with the girl anyway, she was way too troublesome. He quickly jumped down and continued on the path he had taken before he was stopped, glancing back one last time.
It wasn't long before he ran into another of the sand ninja, Gaara to be exact. He paused before the redhead and looked to him out of the corner of his eye, "Not helping the others?"
"I've already defeated my opponents." The stoic boy informed him, giving as monotone a look as his voice was.
"And you're injured." The brunette noted, motioning toward the sand nin's stomach where he had clearly been badly injured by one of the Sound Four. A hand was placed over the wound and the aqua-eyed boy shrugged it off. Shikamaru really didn't want to deal with it, "But if they hadn't come, we might be in serious trouble." Sighing, he grabbed the pale wrist, earning him an unreadable stare. "Come on." He offered, pulling Gaara deeper into the forest and further away from the battle scene.
"I don't need your help." Gaara informed him in a smooth voice, not accepting nor protesting the assistance.
"Too bad." The chuunin replied, stopping suddenly, "You're our ally, no different than comrades from our own village."
Sea-foam green eyes flashed with a hint of emotion at the words, "His...comrades?" The silent ninja thought, contemplating the word and the things Naruto had said and done previously. "Do you really believe that?" he asked, not sounding as condescending as he might of in an earlier meeting. It didn't have that 'what a fool' tone about it; if anything, he sounded more like he wanted to be reassured.
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't." Shikamaru confirmed. He rarely said anything he didn't have to, seeing it as too much work to talk more than necessary. Gaara offered a silent nod in acceptance and watched, hesitantly, as the chuunin removed the straps attaching the gourd to his back and slipped his shirt down off his shoulders in a better attempt to asses the damages. "I don't have any medical equipment, and he's hurt pretty bad." Brown eyes scanned over the slash across the sand ninja's abdomen.
The two nearly jumped as a small medical kit was tossed next to them. Shikamaru immediately went on the defensive, though it was rare that an enemy would give them such a thing as a medical kit if they were just trying to kill them. Sure enough, as Shikamaru glanced up to where the white box had dropped from, he saw Kakashi perched on a branch.
The copy ninja raised a hand and smiled, "I was told to come and make sure everything was alright." He explained in a carefree tone.
The other Konoha nin nodded and grabbed the box, opening it and pulling out a few bandages, "Did the Fifth really send Kakashi-sensei and the sand ninja? She must not have much faith in us." He thought as he properly wrapped Gaara's wound. The latter watched him with a bit of annoyance at being cared for like a child laced with a hint of curiosity at why a ninja from another town would be tending to his wounds. Especially this boy, who always claimed things were too troublesome, yet he was going out of his way to aid the wounded boy.
"Tsunade-sama was just being careful." The eldest spoke, as if reading his comrade's thoughts. He joined the other two on the ground, "You should hurry ahead and finish your mission, though." Another smile. "I'll make sure Gaara gets back alright."
Said boy stood up with that comment, "I'm not a helpless child." He reminded both of them, "I don't need to be cared for, I can do fine on my own."
Shikamaru sighed in annoyance at the troublesome boy, while Kakashi took on a more serious expression, "You don't need to be cared for." He agreed, looking to the redhead, "But as Shikamaru said, you're our ally and comrade. It's our responsibility to watch out for you like you were one of our own."
Those words again. Gaara visibly tensed at the too-kind words, emotions he was unfamiliar with daring to break loose. He was damned if he was going to show them to these two, though. Why did they deserve to see what no one else did? He knew, though, that he might not mind completely. The things Naruto said had softened his heart just a bit, and with every sentence speaking of comrades, every word of friendship, he grew just a bit closer to the leaf ninja that spoke them. Still, he wasn't quite to trust status with them. "Our mission is finished." He spoke, his words directed to Shikamaru, "Yours is not. Go prove the meaning of your existence." With that said, he dashed off as if he had never been injured.
Now alone with the younger one, Kakashi glanced to Shikamaru. He saw annoyance in the chuunin's eyes, but also a hint of desperation. "It's not like you to bother so much with... well, anything." He pointed out.
"Who says I'm bothering with him?" came the quick, and almost defensive, reply.
"Well, you bothered to stop and tend to his wound." The copy nin remarked, "Even though the task of dealing with Gaara alone seems... troublesome."
A tiny scoff left Shikamaru's throat as he turned once again on his path, "Like I said, as you did, he's our comrade. Friends come before missions, no matter how troublesome."
Kakashi chuckled as the brunette disappeared once more into the forest, "Friends, huh?" he asked the trees, "Seems a bit more than that." An idea formulated in the man's head and a smirk formed under his mask. Perhaps he could get Shikamaru to say what he really wanted.
This was only supposed to be a oneshot, but...well... it was taking forever to do, and I wanted to get something out. Next chapter, we'll see just what Kakashi's plan is... and how it goes oh, so wrong. Hey, you can't plot against a genius and expect to get off free, right?