Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. There is no intent of infringement. No money is being made by this.

Strategy and Go

"I can't believe that Shisou gave us a week off," Sakura said with a soft sigh and a smile as she rolled her head across her back and stretched feeling the tension in her neck and shoulders loosen slightly. She took a deep breath and looked back at the go board in front of her. She deliberately picked up a black stone and placed it on the board. She leaned over to pick up her cup of tea and took a sip as she waited for her opponent to make his move.

Across the room, Neji Hyuuga bit back a smile. "It is not as if she sent us here with nothing to do," he said indicating the pile of books and scrolls strewed around him. He was engrossed in a scroll of tactics that Shikamaru had given him earlier in the day. They were revising some of the ANBU training texts and although Shikamaru had complained about the troublesome task as he tossed the scrolls to Neji, Shikamaru had made detailed notes and outlined teaching scenarios that Neji was editing and fine tuning, as well as adding comments of his own. He had, however noticed Sakura's stretch and lean and he well knew the effect that those two actions would have on her opponent. She must be pretty close to winning and was trying to stack the stones on her side.

"Still," Sakura practically purred, "it's not like we are out on missions." She casually leaned back on her arms and stretched her legs out at an angle to the board bending a knee and trying to look innocent and provocative at the same time.

Shikamaru concentrated on . . . not concentrating on Sakura. He narrowed his eyes at the girl across the go board and at their third across the room and seeing the Hyuuga smirk, caused even more irritation to the shadow-nin. He returned his focus to the board and the remainder of the game. They were evenly matched, even with the koma (additional six and a half points for the white player in a game of go), it would be a one point one point game. He closed his eyes and touched the tips of his fingers together.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Shikamaru. Blast, she thought shifting to sit up straight, he's tying to strategize. The stretching and leaning and posing didn't work. She now huffed in aggravation. She heard Neji snicker and she shot a scathing glace at him which he blithely ignored, although he could not keep the grin from his face. Sakura knew that she would have to go to extreme measures if she wanted to win this game. She loosened the top of her uniform exposing the tops of her breasts and a hint of the bandages she used to tie herself in. Not that there was much, but Ino always said she should use whatever she had.

She quickly dug into one of the many pockets of her current uniform and came up with the scent she often wore in a small perfume vial. Quickly dabbing the scent onto her pressure points on her wrist and her meager cleavage, she sent a tiny bit of chakra to the areas, heating the skin to enhance the scent. She waved her arm in front of Shikamaru and watched his nose twitch in response.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and smirked at the kunoichi sitting in front of him with an innocent look on her face. He breathed in her scent, apples and vanilla, distracting him from planning his moves. Well, when he could not come up with a plan all on his own, he turned to his second. Shikamaru looked over at Neji and quirked an eyebrow at him. Neji just shook his head and flapped an absent hand at his partner, more amused at what the two would do.

"So after I win this game of go, Neji," Sakura said rolling to her stomach and propping her head on her hands, crossing her legs at the ankles, "Want to go to the hot springs with me?"

That was it, Shikamaru thought as he watched Sakura's legs waving about in the air as she crossed and re-crossed her ankles. She well and truly knew that he was a leg man. He would not put it past her that she used some kind of jutsu to cause the shorts to shorten to expose more leg. His eyes narrowed, and she had better not be using that jutsu to flash her legs at anyone else.

Before Neji could respond, a loud clack resounded through the room as Shikamaru placed a stone quite forcefully on the go board. Sakura immediately sat up and grinned. She triumphantly picked up a black stone and froze. He had placed his stone exactly where she had wanted to place it. It was not even a good move for him, if he went there, he was going to lose.

Shikamaru sat back smugly as he watched a variety of expressions flicker over Sakura's face as she sputtered in shock. He could see Neji across the room stand to come over and see what Shikamaru had done to cause Sakura's face to contort and change colors. Neji looked over the board and could not help from keeping his lips from twitching.

"Sakura," Neji observed casually, "It seems as if you have won."

"I . . . he," Sakura stammered as she waved her hand, still holding her little black stone in her fingers. "He . . . I."

"You won," Shikamaru said.

"But, you, I-."

Shikamaru smirked as he looked at Neji and in a flash, he stood and scooped up the still stuttering kunoichi, throwing her over his shoulder.

"So, Neji, hotsprings?"