"Just one more stop Shikamaru, then we can go play shogi," Asuma told Shikamaru as they approached Kurenai's house.

"Why are we stopping here?" Shikamaru asked. What a drag, having to stop at Kurenai's house after all the errands they had just done.

Asuma went to open the door, almost running into the girl who was walking out of the building. "Oh, hello there Lucy, I didn't see you there."

"Hello Asuma," Lucy replied, smiling. She looked to be about Shikamaru's age, with curly blue hair tied back into a ponytail and bangs covering half of one of her eyes, a leaf headband tied like Sakura's. Shikamaru hadn't seen her before, so she had to have graduated the academy before him. "Are you here to see Kurenai?"

"How'd you know?" Asuma asked, laughing.

"Well, I happened to notice that your ring changed," Lucy mentioned with a smile.

Asuma blushed and scratched his head. "Yeah. It was about time." Shikamaru hadn't noticed it before, but Asuma's bronze ring on his left ring finger had changed to a silver one.

"It was. Congratulations. Have a good visit, I'm off on a mission," Lucy said as she walked past them. She paused as she saw Shikamaru. "I'm Lucy," she said to him, holding out her hand.

"Shikamaru," he replied, hoping he wasn't blushing. As he shook her hand, he couldn't help but notice how cold it was.

"Nice to meet you, Shikamaru," she said, smiling.

"Be safe!" Asuma called after her. She waved as she walked down the road.

Shikamaru followed Asuma inside the building, his hand still cold from her touch.

"Who was that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Lucy is Kurenai's niece. She lost her mother when she was young, so she often looks to Kurenai to fill that mother role. She's about a year older than you, but she graduated early. She's already a chunin. She'll probably be helping out at the exams next week," Asuma answered.

Shikamaru sighed. He had forgotten about the dumb exam he was being forced to do. "Is she a gen justu user too?"

"She is, but in a different way than most," Kurenai answered as she stood in her doorway. She must have heard them come up.

"How?" Shikamaru asked.

"She's a psychic," Kurenai said before turning to Asuma. "There you are, you guys took a long time."
"Sorry dear," Asuma said. He walked in the door, the two of them talking to themselves. Shikamaru couldn't help but smile as he followed. He was still confused over Lucy, he had never heard of a psychic in their village before. But, it gave him something to research and think about while he distracted himself from the idea of the chunin exams.

"These battles are always…interesting," Lucy said suddenly. Shikamaru looked up to see her approaching him and his team. They were standing around the area, the third stage of the chunin exams just beginning.

"Aren't you supposed to be working Lucy?" Asuma asked, smiling.

"Na," she shrugged. "I'm supposed to be in the medical department, but I'm honestly no help there. They said I could come out here and be extra security, so I figured I'd come and see how good your team is."

"Oh! Saskue's up first! Go Saskue!" Ino cried out. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and he heard Lucy sigh.

After talking to Asuma for a few minutes, she came and stood by Shikamaru. "So, what's your game plan?" she asked.

"Don't have one," Shikamaru replied. "I'll think of one when I get down there."

"You must be a quick thinker," she said. Shikamaru couldn't help but look down at her hands as she held onto the top bar of the fence. She only had three rings; a gold one her left middle finger for her mom, a silver one on her left middle for being her squad's leader, and a silver one on her right pointer for her rank as chunin. He looked at his own, only having the bronze one on his right pointer for his rank as genin. The rings were supposed to tell their stories as ninjas, yet he didn't have much of a story on his hands yet.

Shikamaru didn't know how to reply, but she stayed by his side in silence as the second battle began. They didn't say or move much until Temari and Ten Ten's battle.

"Well this is embarrassing; another win for the sand," Shikamaru said with a yawn as he leaned his head on his arms.

"What are you talking about? The match just started!" Naruto shot back.

"It's over," Shikamaru replied.

"I have to agree with Shikamaru." Lucy said, frowning. "Poor Ten Ten."

A few minutes when the match was over, Naruto was still confused.

"Too bad, that sand team is something," Shikamaru said.
Temari looked at Ten Ten, who was collapsed on her fan, and smirked.

"Got her!" Lucy called out suddenly, flinging herself over the rail and into the arena. As she did, Temari flung Ten Ten off her fan. Lucy was able to land and catch her before Ten Ten hit the ground. With a glare to Temari, she walked her over to the medical ninja and handed her over.

"I have a bad feeling about those sand ninja," she said as she returned to stand next to Shikamaru. Shikamaru looked at her, amazed at her psychic abilities, and also curious to what she had meant. He never got a chance to ask her, because it was finally his turn to fight.