Narumi was sitting in her office, busy with a pile of paperwork when she sensed his approach. She put down her brush when she heard him knock on the door. She flickered her chakra in response to permit entry; too distracted with the paperwork as well as the seal she simultaneously working on. Shikamaru entered her office with a pile of forms that immediately captured her attention and she groaned at the thought of more paperwork.
Shikamaru placed the papers before her and opened his mouth but seemed to hesitate, which immediately drew her complete attention. She looked at him warily, noting that his eyes were expressing the discomfiture that he was carefully concealing in his body language. Unable to stay silent, she burst out, ''What's wrong? What happened?"
The past few years had not been kind to her, Shikamaru mused as he wondered how to break the bad news to his friend. He had been there to witness her hurt and pain as she lost most of her precious people one by one to the Fourth Shinobi War. He had seen her grieve for every death she felt responsible for bringing upon her soldiers. It was hard for one to appreciate her physical beauty when it was marred by the crumpled expression on her face at the funerals and the sense of burden imposed on her spiritually which was evident in her eyes that looked like they belonged on an older face.
He had watched the brilliant smile recede from her face, replaced by a frown. He had stood by her side as her boisterousness turned into silent thoughtfulness. Even so, she still lost her temper from time to time, and that was truly a sight to see. It probably had something to do with the genes she got from her redheaded mother, which granted her the nickname 'the deadly beauty' among the male populace.
Standing in front of her at that moment, Shikamaru wished he could give her some news that would incite her violent fury, for even that would be preferable to what she was going to experience when he told her about this particular loss. He had stood beside her as life dealt blow after blow to her heart, and he knew that her normal state of cheeriness was just a facade. She had not experienced real happiness in years and he knew that her mask would crumble soon. A part of him feared that this would be the last straw.
He braced himself and began to report, ''The second recon mission team was ambushed on the way back and two members that made it back are in critical condition. The member who helped them back is alive but was treated too late and will never be able to fight again. The last two members died holding back the attackers." He paused to sigh and gently broke the news, '' …one of the K.I.A. ninjas was Konohamaru."
To anyone else, her face would have seemed expressionless. She could have been carved from stone like her face on Hokage monument, for she looked as expressive as a ROOT ninja in that moment. She tilted her face downwards, and her bangs obscured her eyes as Shikamaru winced internally. He did not need to look at her eyes to guess what she was feeling.
The genius almost wished his previous deduction about her emotional state had not been so accurate. It seemed that his prediction about her having reached the breaking point was also going to come true as he watched her reel back, trying to comprehend the meaning of his words. He was not startled when her knuckles turned white from the pressure they were applying on the armrests, which creaked and broke promptly. He looked away respectfully and did not move as she stood up stiffly, facing away from him to hide her face. It appeared that she was still in shock as she muttered in a confused, almost detached tone, ''I…sent him….ambush…he's dead now….I told him to go on that mission….my orders…."
Narumi turned to face the Nara, her eyes widening and filling with tears as she concluded, ''I sent him to his death, Shika!" Her lips trembled and she looked down as she continued in a small voice, ''I killed little Konohamaru…."
Looking at the pained visage of his kage, Shikamaru found himself unable stick to the proper code of conduct that all shinobi should follow concerning their behavior towards superior officers. He was a little astonished at the strength of all the tumultuous emotions he experienced in a single moment. There were so many that he couldn't even begin to name them all so it was not so strange for him to lose control.
He really could not help himself. When he saw her blue eyes lose the last spark left in them, he abandoned all of his lazy composure and uncharacteristically yelled at her, ''Stop blaming yourself for everything!" He stepped forward and shook her shoulders to emphasize his words as he spat out, '' Every ninja in this village would gladly sacrifice his or her life for this village and goes into every battle knowing that it could be his last. Konohamaru knew that too. Don't belittle his death by taking the blame upon yourself. You didn't kill him so stop feeling guilty."
His expression softened as he looked at her wide, tear-filled and vulnerable eyes. His grip on her shoulders loosened and became as comforting as his gentle expression as he softly but firmly told her, ''It is NOT your fault." In that moment, they were not kage and commander, just two friends, one comforting another and treating her like the fragile piece of breakable glass that she truly was, in terms of her emotional state.
Perhaps they had acted too differently from the norm- Shikamaru actually expressing his agitation by yelling and Narumi's display of vulnerability. Perhaps it was necessary for natural order to be restored. The only way that could happen was if Narumi acted in a way that was completely unpredictable, even to the genius, living up to her title of 'Number One Surprising Kunoichi'. That is the best way to explain what happened next. Shikamaru gently squeezed her shoulders and was just about to step away from her when a tear rolled down her cheek. Her shoulders shook and just as his hands were releasing her shoulders, her hands came up to clutch his Jounin vest tightly. His eyes widened and his face became visibly shocked as she buried her face into his chest and wept.
His astonished look melted into an expression of sadness laced with pain as he was forced to put his upraised arms around her to support her when her knees buckled from the force of her body wracking sobs. He mentally panicked a little as he realized that he was supposed to comfort her. He sighed and clumsily but gently began to stroke her hair with one hand, patting her back with the other.
The whole situation was extremely troublesome but strangely enough, the word didn't cross his mind even once in conjunction with the blonde. Lying on her desk a few feet away from them, a paper with the diagram of a seal fluttered as if it was moved by an invisible breeze.