'How the fuck did I get here?' he thought, as his vision faded in and out of focus. One second he would be looking at a barely lit room, with a doorway in front of him, and to his right was a man dressed from head to toe in black and wearing a white mask, like an Anbu agent, standing at a table with his side turned to his captive and running a wet stone down the length of his katana, and the next second he would see only black. The sound of the wet stone running down the length of the blade sent chills down his spine, and into his very bones…his vision faded, but had it not, he might have noticed a brief flicker of a shadow just outside the arched doorway.

He tried to move, and found that he couldn't. Something was restricting him and looking down he saw the ropes that bound his arms to his mid section. He also noticed, just now, that there were others tied to him. He was weak, and could barely feel his three comrades who were tied to him. One tied directly behind him, and one tied at each side. It was just now that just how tightly they were tied became apparent as he felt his shoulders being crushed, and a sense of claustrophobia swept over him…but his vision faded again, and once again, a shadow flitted ever so briefly on the floor just beyond the doorway.

He tried desperately the reach the kunai holster on his leg, but the bindings were too tight and the ropes dug into his wrist, but he kept struggling. He could feel one of his wrists open up, and a warm liquid began to slowly ooze out of it, dripping down his hand and forming a neat little puddle on the floor. Another shadow flickered beyond the doorway…this time he saw it, but his vision faded a second later.

He knew not how long the darkness that plagued his sight lasted, but it felt like an eternity. He pulled at his hand and was surprised to feel it start sliding out of its binding. The blood continued to drip from his wrist and it might have lubricated his hand just enough to pull free…he pulled desperately, silently, and the darkness began to close in from all sides, but he fought it off with renewed strength as the shadow he had seen and the new chance of freedom sent a rush of adrenaline though him…but it was too late. The shinobi set the wet stone down on the table, turned to face his captive and came towards him. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' he thought as the enemy placed the tip of his blade against his throat. The darkness threatened to move in on his eyes again, and he was tempted to submit to its cold grasp…but he desperately fought it off hoping, no, praying that he hadn't imagined the shadows flitting across the floor just beyond the door, praying that they had been real and they hadn't just flitted across his mind, praying to what ever god there may be that this wouldn't be the end and that by some incredible amount of luck there really was someone about to save him…

The blade pressed against his throat a little harder and a thin line of blood ran down his neck. He dare not even swallow, for fear that he would invite the katana to taste more of his blood, and he waited, with bated breath, for the sword to plunge into his throat. 'This was supposed to have been a routine mission' he thought 'why did this have to happen?' The enemy ninja said something, but it was lost on his captive. For his captive was lost in a dreamlike state………..

"Uuuuggghhhhh…" Shikamaru groaned as he heard the beeping of his alarm clock. He threw his hand down on it from his bed, without really aiming at anything, and shut it off. He let his arm fall down to the floor beside his bed, and lifted his face from his pillow. He was greeted at once by sunlight streaming in through his window, and bashing him in the face. He squinted, and returned his face to his pillow, allowing himself to drift off once again to sleep…some number of hours later Shikamaru was awoken by a sharp knock at his bedroom door. "Shikamaru, wake up!" came the shrill voice of his mother. Shikamaru groaned and slid out of bed, keeping his eyes shut to prevent the sunlight from stinging them, and he got washed up, dressed, and left without even looking at his alarm clock.

He headed downstairs and joined his father at the table, "Afternoon son," he said without looking up from his paper.

"Morning dad" grumbled Shikamaru. He plopped himself down in front of the table, dropped his head in his arms, and groaned; "Mom, could I get some cereal?" Shikamaru heard no response.

"Ya know," said his father, "Lady Tsunade sent someone by earlier to say that she wanted to see you at 1."

"Oh, really? And what time is it know?" inquired Shikamaru, still holding his head in his arms.

Shikamaru's dad folded his newspaper, and looked pointedly his watch and hesitated for a few seconds… "It is now 12:55".

Shikamaru jumped out of his seat, smacking his knee on the table and stumbling across the kitchen before regaining his balance, and ran out of the house, muttering a stream of curses as he went. His dad smiled. "Damn kid…"

Shikamaru sprinted down the street, almost knocking several passerby's over, and headed for the building at the far end of the village. It was the Hokage's office, and it loomed over the rest of the village, not as a threat, but as a kind of guardian. The stone faces above the building peered down at the leaf village and even in death the past Hokage's watched over the village and all of its people. Shikamaru kept running, and the sun, which was just starting its long descent from the apex of its rising, beat down on Shikamaru. Sweat dripped from his brow and stung his eyes as he pushed himself to keep running, because if he was late to a meeting with Tsunade…he dared not imagine what might happen.

At last Shikamaru reached the Hokage building, and run up the stairs at the back of building, stumbling near the top, and still stumbling once he unceremoniously burst into Tsunade's office.

Tsunade glared at Shikamaru, who stood in front of her desk, doubled over and trying to catch his breath. Tsunade sat with one leg resting on top of the other, and she tapped a pencil on her desk as she glared at Shikamaru. Her long blonde hair flowed down to just past her shoulders, and the curious teal colored mark on her forehead gleamed in the light. She wore a white shirt that barely contained her large breasts, and a loose fitting green vest emblazoned with her clan's symbol on her back.

Shikamaru suddenly noticed that his Chunin vest was unbuttoned and hastened to button it while he straightened up and looked Tsunade in the eyes for a moment before diverting them down to her desk. 'Shit…I shouldn't have done that' he thought.

As Tsunade's face changed from his usual milky pallor to a fantastic shade of red Shikamaru noticed the others in the room with them. To his left stood Hinata, a shy girl with long black hair and bangs that reached down her forehead. She wore a purple and white sweatshirt, with her clans seal on the shoulders, and standard issue shinobi slacks. Her eyes were all white. She possessed a powerful ocular technique that allowed her to see almost three hundred sixty degrees around her for a great distance when it was activated.

Tsunade's face grew redder still, and to Shikamaru's right stood Sakura and Shino. Sakura was a pretty girl with pink hair that went down to the top of her neck. She wore a pink kunoichi outfit and shinobi slacks. Shino was a rather quiet guy, but despite that, Shikamaru liked him. He was easy to get along with, loyal, and a strong fighter. Shino wore a big grey jacket, with the hood up, and a pair of sunglasses. Shino also wore an abnormally long pair of shinobi slacks. He kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

There was another person in the office, someone that Shikamaru didn't recognize. She wore civilian clothes and had brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail with two black sticks protruding from it. She wore a pair of glasses and was tall. Her posture was flawless and she had long legs. The woman nervously pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and looked down at her feet as Tsunade stopped tapping her pencil.

Shikamaru brought his attention back to the Hokage, and he instantly wished that he hadn't. Her face was a scarily deep shade of red, and her eyes locked with Shikamaru's in a cold, hard stare. It wouldn't be accurate to say the Lady Tsunade had a short temper, because even that is too long. To put it simply, Lady Tsunade had a detonation button, and Shikamaru had a dreadful feeling that he had just pushed it…