Well here it is the sequel! Lots to happen, its going to be another long journey so hope you're ready! :)

Expect the unexpected!

Yamouri had set off on her adventure rather unexpectedly. It was right after her miracle happened, and her vision was returned after she was temporarily blinded. It was a result of an epic battle with Kento that was meant to be to the death. Kento had become her only reason for continuing. To end what he started, by taking his life even if that meant taking hers as well, was her only goal. Even though Kento had a chance to end her life again, he couldn't finish the job, yet to reasons which still remained unknown.

Anyways, Yamouri went off with Baku, who became her main trainer and who was once her father's friend. Along with him was Takami, an older girl with red hair who became one of her trainers as well, due to her specialty in lightning abilities. They were accompanied by another girl, Akahana, who Yamouri first met in the leaf village, and who had left a bad impression. They reunited when Baku came to get Akahana, and it was revealed that she was his niece, of all people, and would be accompanying them. Though they got off on the wrong foot Akahana, and Takami both became good friends with Yamouri.

After being gone a year and having little progress, Yamouri returned only for the Chuunin exams which were being held there again. She reunited with her team Lee and Neji, but did not see the others, and became a Chuunin. After it became official, instead of celebrating with her team, she set off again for another two years or so. A lot of progress was made in that time period. She was only able to master the sword partially, however, for Baku wanted to focus on other jutsus. He constantly reminded her not to rely on her sword, for it would cause damage to her system. The time was soon up and Baku insisted Yamouri head back to the leaf village. She hesitated at first and even took two whole days to contemplate her decision before coming up with that she would do it, but would have to leave again later on when the time to find Kento would come. As for the Kento situation they figured out that he was also a roaming ninja, therefore would be hard to find. They learned he had created his own group of other rogue ninja which explained the mysterious ninja that were with him the night his battle with Yamouri took place, after she was kidnapped.

…...

"Are you excited Yami-chan?" Akahana called coming up next to her and adjusting her backpack. Her appearance hadn't changed much, she still had her long green hair and her outfit was a bit different but with the same colors. Yamouri herself had a tremendous hair growth on her head. Her brown hair that once went to her shoulders when down, now went to her waist and was in a side braid. Her outfit appeared more sophisticated, and still managed to compliment her shape, but not over doing it.

"I guess…" Yamouri replied. "I don't know how I feel yet," She added and looked back at Baku and Takami who were walking close behind looking energetic still, besides the fact that they'd been traveling all night.

"Let me know when you confess to you know who…" Akahana added with a dreamy sigh then put on a smirk waiting for Yamouri's reaction. Yamouri ignored her. She had been putting up with the same thing for awhile now and was able to tune most of it out when regarding Shikamaru, or any other boy for that matter. Akahana liked to tease Yamouri about it thinking it had some truth behind it. But in the end, no one really knew that answer anymore except Yamouri herself, and she tried to avoid the subject altogether.

"At this rate we'll be there in a few hours," Baku commented, and brought the girls back to focus. Yamouri stared blankly at the trail in front of them, having walked them many times before. She looked over at Akahana who was twirling her hair in her finger, a childish trait she owned. Yamouri's butterfly appeared from some bushes and flew a few times back and forth in front of them as if sending a signal.

"You guys go on ahead…I'll meet you guys up later…" Yamouri suddenly blurted out, staring intently at it.

"Oh…uh…. Alright," Akahana responded.

With that being said, she started to sprint into the woods after the butterfly, which was going off to a completely different direction. Usually it would lead her to someone in need or a bush full of berries, and Yamouri didn't really know which to expect.

"Where are you taking me?" She called to it as it continued to speed on. "Silent as always…"

Before she knew it, she was in the middle of nowhere. Rather agitated, she began to look around and sighed when she noticed the butterfly disappeared. Yamouri started to push through some bushes and soon came across an open area, and saw a tall buff man with white hair standing in the middle. He appeared to be standing still, like some sort of statue. He started to rant about something to someone who was in front of him, which raised her curiosity. Yamouri moved a little over and felt herself go still. Out of the shadows, they stumbled, with a trail of blood, coming from an injured arm.

"Shikamaru….?" She mumbled quietly, that feeling in her stomach was back; in fact maybe it was possible it never even left. She leaned against a tree with her back to them and looked around for the hell butterfly, finally realizing where it was leading her to and what that little sneaker was intending.

"It led me to this… but why? This is Shikamaru's fight," She said under her breath. She began to fidget on her clothes and couldn't help but feel guilty for taking off the bracelet he last gave to her and leaving it behind like she did. She was sure that he found it. After all, she left it in the place they always used to hang. On top of that she hadn't even talked to Shikamaru in over two years and was afraid things would be awkward, or worse.

With all Yamouri's thinking to herself, Shikamaru's opponent had managed to break the shadow jutsu by triggering one of his traps. Shikamaru was critically injured and cried out in pain, while his opponent let out a laugh of amusement. He proceeded with drawing a sword and began to run towards Shikamaru with the intention of cutting him to pieces. Shikamaru was worn out and had become noticeably slower and only watched as his opponent came right at him. Yamouri no longer able to just stand by rushed from where she was. In a blink of an eye, she landed with sickle and chain in hand, just a few feet away from the mysterious ninja with her chain wrapped tightly around his weapon. Shikamaru too surprised and puzzled, remained speechless and was only able to stumble back as if he himself had been overtaken by his own jutsu.

"Yamouri…?" He stuttered.

"It's been awhile," Yamouri added. A slight smile smeared on her face as the wind blew her hair back, and her green eyes captured by the sunlight, shined. Her whole face seemed to glow. He remained silent as if he couldn't even think of what to say and only stared at her strangely. The mysterious ninja was angered by the sudden interruption and ran his finger along the chain.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you… you should never interfere into someone's fight," The ninja's voice was deep and malevolent. He fidgeted with his sword, trying to break it free and this made Yamouri turn her head to look back at him. He met her eyes as if he was trying to pierce right through them with his own.

She now wore a blank expression and tightened her grip, breaking his sword in half. Then she retrieved her chain and it landed in her other hand. He stared at his useless sword lying on the ground before him, and began reaching for a bag tied to his waist. He soon took out a small white box containing pills. Yamouri watched, assuming they'd be like pills Choji took and took a step back, as if ready to attack at any moment. He swallowed three, and smiled before standing back up. The wind around him increased, making her braid whip against her shoulder. Her blank stare turned into a glare as she looked back at Shikamaru who appeared to still be in a state of shock or even possibly was inflicted with some sort of poison that had immobilized him.

"I'll need to finish this quickly," She told herself knowing if it was some sort of poison Shikamaru's life could be in grave danger.

She turned back to the ninja whose hair was now longer, and had muscles twice the size of before. He started to boast about his clan being the strongest in the ninja world and started to do hand signs for a fire jutsu. She'd seen this technique before with Sasuke, where he made fire balls come out of his mouth. Only this guy produced more and began shooting them recklessly. She moved Shikamaru out of the way as quickly as she could and avoided several that could have been a devastating blow. Once Shikamaru was safe, she threw her sickle and chain around him once again, only managing to slow him down for a second then he broke it and tossed it aside. She increased her speed and jumped from tree to tree, to see how far he would take it. He tried to follow her rapid movement with his jutsu while still standing in the same place. Flip after flip, until finally she flashed by and cut his right side with her sword, before landing on one foot behind him. To her surprise he turned his head laughing.

"He didn't even flinch…. What kind of pills are those?" She thought to herself before dodging some kunai knives. It had become evident that he was purposely trying to come off as a weak opponent.

"Feel the true power of the Igarashi!" He shouted before stomping his feet on the ground and making it shake violently. Yamouri looked over at Shikamaru who was leaned up high against a tree branch and holding on tightly.

"Pay attention!" The ninja shouted and turned his fire ball jutsu into a wave of flames coming rapidly at her. She began to jump around again and knew that she couldn't waste anymore time and she needed to end the pointless battle. She hadn't even had time to ask Shikamaru where this man came from and what had happened, but knew that it wouldn't matter.

"I didn't think I was going to use this… but it's a fast method…" She mumbled and took out five tags from her pocket. A slight smile spread across her face, before she landed back on the ground. She placed a tag on the ground, and dodged his same attack, then continued placing the tags until the five tags made a pentagon around him with him in the center. He stopped and looked down while she made her hand signs for a barrier jutsu.

The five tags began to glow and then a line ran through all five before shooting up and creating walls. They covered him up like a toy in a box. Yamouri stood at the top and pushed herself off of it and into the air before finishing her signs and letting an electric charge run through it, followed by his yells. Finally she finished it off with an explosion coming from the inside which made the walls collapse from pressure, and then they released a strong current of wind. She landed in front of Shikamaru and formed a shield as the strong current made trees and rocks fly everywhere. She looked back at him calmly before giving him a thumbs up like how Naruto would do it. Finally the smoke cleared and revealed the ninja's still body.

"Well now that wasn't so hard," Yamouri said sounding a bit sarcastic. She placed her hand on her hip and looked around, as Shikamaru struggled to stand. She quickly grabbed onto his shoulder and then placed her arm around his waist to support him.

"Shikamaru…" She said worryingly.

"When did you get back?" He stuttered and attempted a smile. She was gone longer than she told him she'd be, and was actually glad he wasn't scolding her for it.

"Today," She said plainly, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. "Let's get you to the village."

He looked at her silently as if thinking something to himself. And Yamouri began to feel dizzy. Perhaps, running into him like that was too overwhelming.

~::.::.::.::.::~Flashback ~::.::.::.::.::~

"So are you going to confess once we get back?" Akahana had persisted.

"Would you drop that already…we're just friends and that's all we'll ever be…." Yamouri had scolded her, tired of the same subject always being brought up. She told her the same thing every time, but she just wouldn't drop the subject completely.

"I get it you have other things to worry about…when are you going to try and live a normal life? You know you could be a ninja and still have feelings like other girls…." She added.

"Coming from the girl who scolded me before to focus on not showing people emotions? Instead of butting into my life do something useful for yourself…" Yamouri snapped.

"Who said you're the only one that's hurting…" She cut in. Yamouri stared at her puzzled. "Never mind." For what seemed like the longest time she didn't say anything else until finally she sighed before adding that Yamouri was as stubborn as a mule. She clenched her fist before laughing slightly. Akahana simply stuck her tongue out at her before getting back into a serious mood.

"You know… the more you try to push it away the more bothersome it will become… I know that you're determined to reach your goal after working so hard, but you should really make time for yourself to enjoy yourself. Because one day your life might flash before your eyes and you have to make sure it's worth watching. You can't decide when to fall in love…it happens without a plan and you can't just keep pushing it away…" She continued. By then Yamouri's face was as red as a tomato.

"Love? Are you crazy?" Yamouri huffed.

"You'll realize it eventually…and when you do you'll feel so stupid for wasting so much damn time…" Akahana added before walking off. Shortly after Tamaki had shown up for their training session.

~::.::.::.::.::~End of flashback ~::.::.::.::.::~

As soon as Yamouri arrived to the village to catch up with the others, Shikamaru insisted he could walk on his own feet. Yamouri refused and they began to bicker softly about it. Yamouri hadn't realized Takami was making way towards them and suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. She introduced them to each other, not aware of Baku's mysterious expression towards Shikamaru. Shikamaru himself noticed it and looked away not wanting to assume things right away. Akahana soon came and wore a grin that Yamouri knew well. Yamouri asked Takami for help to bring Shikamaru to the hospital and she helped by taking his other arm.

"You have to learn to depend on yourself and only yourself… So cutting ties with others would probably be best…" Baku's words suddenly swirled in her mind as they walked through the streets of the leaf once again. She turned to study his face as he made small talk with Akahana.

"Then why did you insist I come back Baku?" She thought to herself as the wind picked up and ruffled her bangs.