He came to Konoha from the East; a dark-clad figure with a walking stick and a mask that obscured the face below empty eye sockets almost completely in the old fashion, sinister way. He approached slowly, with a limp, raising heaps of fallen leaves of off the ground with his awkward right foot. Oily aura of unease draped him like an old blanket; being on a worst side of bad more than once Shikamaru sensed the suppressed hostility seeping through the holes; felt the hatred in the marrow of his bones rolling of off the stranger in waves.

It seemed the man did not try nearly hard enough to appear anything rather than what he truly was – trouble. Trouble like Shikamaru had never seen before.

His fingers clenched around the soft pack of smokes, but he decided against it and in the end. Jammed a blade of yellowed grass in his mouth, and shot Chouji a warning look.

" Do not. " It signaled in a language only the two of them understood:" Let him pass. "

"I am here to see the Hokage."

One of the man's sockets seemed deeper probably due to the infection that had eaten the remaining flesh inside the cavity a very, very long time ago, - a hollow cavern layered with fleshy, thick scar tissue. Shikamaru willed away the feeling of dread that sparked in the pit of his stomach and traveled quickly upwards to take a chocking hold on his throat. Man, he hated the Gate Duty. He would rather be out on the field with a mission. He would rather be at home waiting for Chouji to bring some deep fried snacks so they could play shogi and pretend that there was not anything strange about Shikamaru coughing up blood and occasional chunk of lung tissue every fifteen minutes; he would rather be getting a new tattoo or enjoying the sticky darkness of the dingy little place on the outskirts of Konoha where he came too often of late, for a quick , semi-satisfying hook up.

Visitor's voice, much to Shikamaru's surprise, rang like a clear spring creek on the hottest of summer days, and just as young. He could be anywhere from thirty to eighty years old. He could be as young as Shikamaru, or as old as Tsunade; His age, however, did not change the underlying fact that his intensions were anything but good.

"Is he expecting you?"

"He had been expecting me for a very long time, I would think." Visitor rested wrinkled eyelids over the mass of old scar tissue and regarded Shikamaru with silence that spoke of imminent victory. "Here." After a few seconds of rummaging in the breast pocket oh his black, loose tunic and he produced a scroll with Naruto's signature scribbled at the bottom. Great. What did this idiot get himself into now?

"All right." Shikamaru granted handing the letter back without taking his time to examine the signature. He would recognize that chicken scratch anywhere.

Man accepted it with his gloved fingers and carefully put the scroll back where it came from. Shikamaru still did not move aside from his spot at the post.

"Let me pass, boy."

His voice this time took a slightly more dangerous quality; it seemed to be a warning in itself.

"I need to see your face."

"Are you sure about that?"

He leaned close towards Shikamaru to allow the two of them grater privacy.

"I've been through two wars. I survived. There is very little left in this world that can scare me."

"I've heard that before."

Man replied and let the mask drop. Shikamaru swallowed. He did see many things – he was not lying about that. But never before had he looked in the very face of evil and voluntarily allowed it entrance inside his village. He hoped Naruto knew what he was doing. His gut, however, told him otherwise. They went a long way back, the Rokudaime and him.

"I don't like it." Chouji echoed his thoughts following the hunched figure distrustfully. "I don't like it at all."

"I am surrounded by idiots." Shikamaru agreed lighting up. Smocking did not help as much with nerves as it did when he just took on the habit after Asuma's death, but it still gave him a clearer perspective of things. It only seemed too bad that the same could not be said for his lungs.

" It's practically a given, man. You should've gotten used to it by now. " Chouji smirked and spit on the ground carpeted in fallen leaves in disgust. That familiar concerned look began to creep back into his eyes. Shikamaru felt guilty for making his friend worry – for not being able to make him worry less. "Just make sure you don't let yourself get involved with this, whatever the hell this is. You have your own problems to think about. "

Good old Chouji. He always did have Shikamaru's best interests at heart. But.

"I'll do my best." He assured, knowing that from the point the man entered the gates of Konoha dragging his lame foot, Shikamaru had no real control of things. Nor did he have a choice of not getting involved. Some things were just that – predestined. And fighting them only made it so much harder to cope with the consequences.

"You gonna talk to him?"

Shikamaru could not help but wonder sometimes if Chouji's concern went just a tad farther than mere friendship, yet he discarded the notion as silly every time.

"I am."

"Not the best idea of yours."

"You have a better one?"

"You are not his keeper, Shikamaru. Let him deal with his mess himself."

"I am not his keeper, but I am still his friend." Shikamaru said lightly, with that diffusing dangerous discussion to a simmer. " We are all …friends."

"Speak for yourself." Chouji gave him a tight smile and a nod. " And be careful, yeah?"

"Ok." Shikamaru sighed." Ok."

"

"So what exactly am I agreeing too?" The sharp of Naruto's pen hovered over the cream sheet of paper with innocent looking black letters.

"Just what we discussed. Nothing more, nothing less. "

"My eyes for the map to Sasuke's prison."

"Oh, I've no use for your eyeballs, honorable lord Hokage." Man replied, malice in his voice masterfully concealed by indifference. "Just your eyesight."

In the corner by the window, Shikamaru smoked like a chimney having long figured out who the hell they were dealing with. The warden of the Prison Hidden in the Snow; A shaman; once a rogue ninja who struck a deal to guard the Tower of Despair to avoid prosecution and the loss of his own freedom; A man of a thousand and fifty jutsus and very, very, dangerous enemy to have.

He darkly observed the scene unfolding in front of his eyes in Hokage's office, still seething from earlier conversation with Naruto.

"So, who is he?" Naruto accused brimming, brimming, brimming with tension behind his desk piled with scrolls, papers, unfinished tea and double dipped chocolate cookies. Cookies and candy everywhere. A true sign that Hokage was going through a rough patch.

Shikamaru frowned, hands crossed over the uniform clad chest. For the first time in two years they were alone – like that. No friends, no wives, no advisers whispering into Naruto's ear, no Chouji or Sakura nearby.

"Who is who, Naruto?"

Give it to Naruto to throw him out of balance in a span of two seconds.

"They guy you are fucking. Does he even know what he is doing?"

Oh, for the love of…

"What makes you think he does not?"

"Oh, I don't know. The finger shaped marks on your wrists. Your throat that is black and blue below the collar, Shikamaru. I did not think you were so trusting with this type of stuff before. With just anyone."

When truly angry, Naruto was a frightening sight to behold. Shikamaru reddened and instinctively reached to cover the bruise on the side of his neck.

"It's none of your business."

Naruto eyed him, unhappily. Took an angry bite out slathered in chocolate pastry, chewed it like it was his worst enemy. If he enjoyed the taste, it did not show. On the contrary he seemed to be more pissed then before – like Shikamaru was the one who summoned a suspicious man of questionable morale to break an A list criminal out of prison. After all these years of seemingly peaceful coexistence they were back to square one – or maybe never left it to begin with.

"Look." Shikamaru approached the desk, planted both hands on the clattered surface hovering slightly above Naruto's face. "While it may be none of your business who I am fucking, since you are not my… anything anymore… It's still my business what stupid things you getting yourself into, because I am, first and foremost, your friend. Always will be. Better discuss this new acquaintance of yours…. and what you are getting into."

"Are you gonna try to talk me out of it?" Naruto asked reaching to trace the largest bruise below the collar of Shikamaru's uniform shirt in a soothing motion meant to pacify, blue eyes as hypnotizing as any python's. "I will kill him if he hurts you, you know." He continued, suddenly gripping the back of Shikamaru's neck, bringing their faces close together no more than half an inch apart. Shikamaru winced when Naruto's fingers probed the tender flesh of a mark from the night before, the minty chocolate breath face making him dizzy and sickly hot. This side of him, the crueler, angrier, colder, - grown up side of Naruto, Shikamaru was pretty sure, was rarely flaunted to anyone in such brazen fashion. "Whoever the fuck he is. But it better not be Chouji. Because I would hate to hurt him."

Shikamaru jerked free and took a step back making a distance between himself and the desk. Naruto only laughed, that bastard.

"It's not Chouji. Get your mind out of the gutter, Naruto. And tell me about your new friend." Promise

"

So Naruto found a way to find Sasuke after all; the boy was nothing but resourceful. Stubborn, too. Still in love with that idiot who will never fully appreciate the full extent of Naruto's sacrifice. The last thought sent a hundred shurikens inside Shikamaru's heart and sprayed acid over the fresh welts. Not the jealousy – he was long past that – but the anger laced with disappointment. He hated to see a good man go to waste.

"How the hell will I get there if I can't see anything?"

He looked wholesome and entirely too impervious to the hardships ahead - and the nostalgic echo of old longing worried the edges of Shikamaru's soul before letting go. He did not like to dwell on the past, usually – at least not much – but the past had a nasty habit of sometimes sneaking up on him without warning. If Naruto experienced any sort of torment over his decision, or regret, it did not show. There stood the man who made his own destiny, and nobody in the entire world, not even Sasuke who he was willing to sacrifice so much for, could change his mind at this point.

Shaman shrugged, indifferently, pulling on the end of black scarf that worked as a makeshift mask for him today. Shikamaru again wondered how on earth the bastard could still speak, missing the whole jaw and a working mouth.

"Having gone to such lengths to obtain this map, I am confident your resourcefulness won't fail you this time around, Naruto Sama. You will find a way. " He offered after few moments of silence. The sound of his voice, too bored to be sincere, gritted on Shikamaru's nerves. "I suggest bringing a loyal seeing guide dog with you. But really….it's not my problem. I don't have all day. Your village does not want me here; I am tired of fighting it."

"All right." Naruto's eyes fell over the backdrop of the Hokage Mountain outside the grand window, fizzing blue and purple clouds crowding the etched in stone faces. "All right. You've got yourself a deal."

"Let me see this again." Shikamaru growled snatching a paper away from his hands.

"Nothing new has appeared in there since five minutes ago." Shaman began to sounding annoyed. "Like I said – am not making you do anything, Lord Hokage. You are the one who found me. So if you please just make you decision so that I can be on my way."

"He is giving you his eyes." Shikamaru snapped. "The least you can do is to sit quiet while I make sure you don't take anything more than he is willing to give."

Startled, Naruto looked up at him signaling to shut up; but strangely enough, the shaman listened.

Naruto wanted that map more than anything in the world – Shikamaru could see it clear as a day. He would trade more for it if asked, not just the eyesight. But he could also see how much the maimed warden needed Naruto's eyes – and that desire went even further then Rokudaime's desire for the map.

"I am coming with you."

Was all he said when the door closed behind the man and Naruto sat motionless and blind behind his desk, pale from shock of suddenly losing his eyesight. He looked like he wanted to vomit, and Shikamaru gently placed a glass of water inside his half opened hand. Sighed when Naruto did not drink it, put it back on the table next to half eaten bag of double dipped chocolate cookies. They had to be baked to order; no respectable baker would put such abysmal amount of chocolate on any pastry, let alone rice cookies.

"If you only had half as much determination to save me." he wanted to laugh, or to cry, he was not really sure which. "I would live to be two hundred years old."

In a silence of the room, wet sound of Shikamaru's cough sounded ominous and unmistakably incurable.

"Is that ever going away?" Naruto instantly asked turning his head towards the sound. "You need to get it checked out again."

"It's nothing." Shikamaru said shortly and tossed the bloodied napkin in to Naruto's bin. The boy was either an idiot, or unrelenting optimist, or both.

"Just because we are not fucking anymore." Naruto narrowed unseeing eyes." Does not mean I don't worry.."

"Worry about yourself, Naruto." Shikamaru interrupted ignoring the whole subject of fucking altogether." And let me come with you.'

Shining over the Hokage's desk, spread light of the moon in the shade of palest yellow coming through the window from outside illuminated Naruto's face, gliding gently over the blond fringe and the slightly upturned nose. Brat. Almost twenty five years old and still an insufferable child with a heart on his sleeve. If not for his innate laziness, Shikamaru might have tried – a long time ago – to stop have these feelings for him; now, it was too late; and to be perfectly honest with himself, it probably would not have worked in the first place;

"I will love you." He though in a in a moment of weakness that passed through his soul like a quickening of emotion before he was able to flatten I down to a dull ache." – Until the day I die. But I can't be… your second best… no matter how much I might want too."

"Why?" Naruto still sounded suspicious. " Why do you want to come with me?

"To row your boat. To read that map of yours, and not let you step into the dog's shit too often. If you thought you could do it alone, and blind, you are a bigger idiot then I imagined. And after all…" Shikamaru hesitated, slow smile animating tired features at once." I am the most loyal seeing guide dog that I know."

Sensing the subtle change in his mood, Naruto too, smiled. To avoid the sight of him, Shikamaru turned to face the wall that had not been repainted since Tsunade's times. A boy just did not have enough sense in him to let go – or maybe nobody ever showed him how.

"Fine." Naruto uttered after a while, worrying the inside of his cheek – old habits die hard. " Fine. You can come. But you have to promise one thing. "

"Anything."

"Once we reach the Tower – you have to turn around and go back home. No questions asked. I don't want to have another fight with you – especially over this. You have to promise me you will leave me, and you will return home the minute I say that you must."

"If this is what you want, this is what you are going to get."

What Naruto did not know, did not hurt him, and Shikamaru did not feel the least guilty for lying.

"

"Two years." Tsunade said, while stifling unwelcome moans Shikamaru waited for old hag to finish examining his lungs. It hurt. Her cold fingers; the series of flashes of probing blue chakra light above his ribcage inside the throbbing chest cavity; the resolute expression on her face when the examination stopped.

"That's it?' he could not help it but to feel somewhat.. cheated.

"You asked." She shrugged, droopy eyelids hanging over watery, washed out gold of her eyes. " You should 've known better, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru scowled, kneaded burning chest out of habit – and allowed himself few minutes for the news to set it.

"Why does everyone always assume that I know better?"

Tsunade smiled placing a steaming cup of tea on a timber tabletop in front of him.

" The Nine Tails… he would of protected Naruto … you knew that, did not you?

"I did." Shikamaru admitted. He traced a delicate flower pattern on the rounded side of a dainty tea cup with his fingernail, deep in thought.

" Then why still go after him?"

" I just was not hundred percent certain."

"People rarely ever are, Shikamaru." The old woman suggested in a gentler manner than usual. "Living a life is not the same as playing shogi. Sometimes you have to take the chance and let the fate do the rest."

"Not with Naruto's life. I could never take a chance with that."

"And now you are paying for it, boy. And this is only the beginning."

"

"We live tomorrow morning, then."

"The sooner, the better."

He had some time left, Shikamaru thought mulling over the fact, blueprint of a plan materializing inside his head like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. And even though not unexpected, piercing pain that shot through his right lung still came as a huge disappointment. Oh, goody. Less time than he originally counted on, but some. After Sasuke was free… once Sasuke was free once again… it would be his job to keep Naruto happy.

TBC in Part Two.

P.S. I realize that this might not be the most popular pairing out there… but I don't think Shikamaru is getting the attention he deserves, and I am absolutely besotted with him… so here we go

If you did not completely hate it - any feedback in appreciated.