Chapter one: Broken

Breathing was becoming difficult for Chouji; he was choking and coughing up his own blood. He could feel himself growing weaker from the loss of blood; if it was not for the tree he was sitting against he would just be lying on the ground. He slowly opened his eyes to see the two holes in his chest and one in his stomach.

'I thought I would be bleeding a lot worse then this,' Chouji thought, 'just my luck to die slowly.'

The rush of a new emotion rushed over him and he was confused by the feeling, until his memory from that day raced into his mind.

---Flashback---

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk ignoring the ten people she had summoned standing before her. Slowly she raised her head to look at the group of Sakura, Ino, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, Temari, and Chouji. All of them at least Chuunin level.

Tsunade smiled as she looked from Temari to Shikamaru freshly back from their honeymoon. She can still remember a year ago when Chouji and Kiba dragged a panicking Shika into her office and then to their wedding a little over a week ago. Both of them seemed happy and smiled. This for Shika was a big improvement because he just thought those things to be too troublesome.

Ino, her latest apprentice behind Sakura. She had grown into quite a beauty. Ino could grab any man she wished, as she often did. Currently, she was dating some wealthy merchant's son. Tsunade did not really know if she had truly fallen for any of them, but she just guessed that she just took after Anko that way.

Tenten and Neji, the perfect couple if you had to as Tsunade. Both are reserved for the most part but had an undying passion for each other. Tsunade had often seen them walking through the park, Neji would have is arm around Tenten's shoulder's and she would have her head against him. Neither of them would say a word as if all of their feelings were just instantly understood by the other. But the one thing that Tsunade noticed most was that they always smiled at each other while alone.

Now comes the most uncommon of couples, Kiba and Hinata. They got together purely on accident if you did not count the fact that Akimaru got in the way. As it turns out, the reason Kiba was always so laud and annoying was that he was just trying to impress his teammate Hinata. Kiba was actually just as shy as she was but just showed it a different way. But one day when they were walking through the park, Akimaru got sick of waiting for Kiba to make his move and tripped them so that when Kiba caught Hinata, their lips had met for the first time. Both blushed and after a few minutes of stuttering later they decided to go on a date together.

Tsunade glanced at the green suit of Lee and wondered just how he was able to end up with a beautiful girl like Ayame, daughter of a ramen stand owner. If she would have to guess, it would have to be about the time where she was attacked by some foreign ninja when she was beyond the walls of Konoha collecting flowers. Four men had decided to kidnap her and would have succeeded except for the fact that Lee had stepped in. Lee fought while she ran for help. When she returned with some ANBU, Gai and Kakashi, they had found that the ninja were defeated but Lee was in a bad way. It took him two weeks to recover from his injuries. Ayame visited him every day.

Tsunade was caught of guard with the sneeze of a pink haired girl Sukara. Sukara and Naruto were finally dating after the fall of Danzo. It had taken Sukara a while to get Naruto to forget about the promise he made to her when he was only 13 years old. Tsunade had a vested interest in this one particular couple and talked to Sukara whenever she could. She had found out that Naruto was an excellent kisser and despite his antics, was a hopeless romantic. But these thoughts just made Tsunade want to bring Naruto home sooner from his recent training session with Jaiyra.

Last, Tsunade's eyes fell upon the red hair and big body of none other than Chouji. Tsunade felt a bit of sadness wash over her face when she looked at him. Unlike every other person in the room that she had summoned, unlike every other person whom he had graduated with at the Academy with, Chouji was still single. In fact, Tsunade could never remember a time when Chouji even had a girlfriend, he was always alone and the only true friend that he had was Shikamaru. Tsunade knew why no girl would want to be with him, he was stocky and overweight, and only had average looks. But why could girls not see him for what he truly was. He was a kind, loyal, trustworthy friend who would lay down his life to save the others. The only reason Chouji was overweight was that he needed the large amount of chakra reserve to perform his clan's jutsu.

Tsunade sighed. She was once like that too, vain and selfish, just like all girls at that age. She would not be with a man unless he was handsome and popular. How stupid she felt herself to be. If she could go back in time when she was 16, she would look for the first guy that was like Chouji and ask him to marry her. Youth is definitely wasted on the young.

"Ahem." Tsunade looked up to see Sukara looking at her, "You summoned us Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes, I have a unique b-ranked mission for all of you if you are willing to accept. This mission is basically a scouting mission on the border of the land of lightning. We do not expect much danger but you are going to drifting in and out of a foreign land. But for the most part it is going to be like a vacation."

"Why us?" Neji inquired.

"Because all of you have been going non stop for too long. Even you Shikamaru did some data analysis for me on your honeymoon. You guys need to slow down and have a little bit of fun. Temari I am putting you in charge."

"Why her?" asked an enraged Ino.

"Because, I know Temari will take this job very seriously but at the same time will want to make up for the lost time on her honeymoon."

Both Temari and Shikamaru blushed at the statement while the others just began laughing. Tsunade could not help but chuckle at these turn of events. "Dismissed."

The summoned group began to file out of her office when Chouji and Ino accidently walked into each other. "Watch it Chouji you need to pay attention, you could her me."

"S-s-sorry Ino," Chouji whispered," it won't happen again."

"While as long as you are careful in the future, I can forgive you," Ino said flatly as if a monotone response.

Ino left the office a proceeded down the hallway. Shikamaru looked at his best friend who was just staring down at the floor as he walked away. Shika noticed his eyes, the sorrow and the pain, the loneliness and the longing. Shika only noticed that much hurt once before, from Naruto, but that look had almost but disappeared after him and Sukara started to date. The look in his friend's eyes left a pain in Shika's chest that just could not be ignored.

"Chouji wait up," yelled Shikamaru as he ran to catch up with is friend, "what is bothering you so bad?"

"Nothing, why would you say that something is bothering me?" Chouji replied automatically.

"Come on Chouji, how long have I known you? I can tell when you are happy or sad but as of late all I see from you is pain and hurt. What is wrong Chouji? Speak to me."

Chouji sighed as he looked around until he found an empty room and signaled for Shikamaru to follow. Chouji closed and locked the door behind Shikamaru. He made his way over to a chair and sat down looking thoughtful as he attempted to gather his thoughts. Shikamaru had seen this before and just let Chouji think about how he was going to express his words, until finally, Chouji spoke.

"You know all my life I have never really been the social type. You're the only friend I had growing up. When we got older, I never really worried about finding a girlfriend, mainly because in my clan everyone has and arranged marriage within the population of the clan. I did not think that this would be a problem for me since my father is the head of the clan you know."

"Wait you said you did not think that it would become a problem, what changed?" asked Shikamaru.

"Everything changed. You are married to Temari now and need to spend more time with her. I am not saying that I think that this is a bad idea; I mean you are husband and wife now; it is as it should be. But …I know now that I will not find a wife and I will be doomed to a life of loneliness. It is just a very hard thing to bear with."

"What happened to the arranged marriages?"

"I am big even amongst my own clan. The father of every girl of the appropriate age for me to marry declined to any form of arranged marriage stating that their daughters did not have the dignity to be by my side." Chouji chuckled, "It is more like their daughters begged their fathers not to arrange a marriage with me and soon I was the only one without someone."

Damn thought Shikarmaru that has to be a lonely existence to believe that you will be the only one left without someone. Brushing the thought quickly from his mind, Shikamaru had to clear his thoughts and find a way to comfort his best friend.

"You know, life is like a winding path, sometimes you see the sharp turns and all feels lost but then something comes along the path to help show you the way. I know your life may seem a little dark now but you will find the right girl for you. Plus you should really abandon those thoughts; we have to leave for the mission in ten minutes."

"Thanks Shikarmaru," sighed Chouji, "your right as always. I need to go pack to get ready for this mission."

With that, Chouji left the room and disappeared down the all being watched the whole time by a blonde girl with four pig tails. Slowly, the form of her husband appeared out of the room, his eyes fallowing in the wake of his best friend, a thoughtful look upon his face.

"Shika," Temari started wondered if she should probe, "what was that about? Why did Chouji look so sad?"

Shikamaru sighed when he looked to his wife, "I am not sure if it is my place to tell you." Seeing the look in his wife's eye, he knew that he would have to take this further. "I cannot tell you what Chouji just told me, if he wishes to reveal it to you then he will but know this, Chouji has lead a hard life, rivaled by only that of Naruto. Now it seems that is life has only gotten worse. I know that this is supposed to be like and extended honeymoon but I cannot help but to worry for him. I have not seen him this down since we were kids and I fear that he just broke."

A small tear began to appear in his eyes as Shikamaru looked down at the floor.

"Shika don't worry. Chouji is your best friend and I know that you care for him. If it makes you feel any better then there will be two sets of eyes watching over him."

"Thank you" he replied as he reached out and placed a small and tender kiss on his wife's lips.

---------Time skip-----

The group of ninja jumped gracefully from tree branch to tree branch, speeding along to their destination. Night time was closing in on them. The golden hews of the sun began to give way to the orange and red of the sunset. Darkness began to settle in Temari leap down to a small clearing. Chouji being last, like he always was, landed next to Ino with his eyes on Temari.

"I guess we while have to stay here for the night. We will be able to reach the cabin that Tsunade has set up for us by mid morning," Temari said in her controlling tone.

"We would have already been there if Chouji could move faster," growled Ino in frustration at the slow pace of the group. She turned her head and glared at Chouji, "Could you please move faster tomorrow or we won't reach the cabin until noon."

"Sorry," stammered Chouji with his sorrow filled eyes turning to the ground.

Rage began to swell deep within Shikamaru. It was a rarity for his to let his emotions get the better of him but how could she say that to Chouji, her teammate. She was supposed to be his friend.

Seeing the events about to unfold and the rage in her husband's eyes, Temari knew that she had to speak up before things got out of hand, "Shut it Ino, this mission is not really that important and plus we made good time today."

Seeing a retort coming from Ino, "Ino and Sukara go collect firewood. The rest of us will set up camp for the night, now move."

After a growling response from Ino, she and Sukara went off to collect firewood for the evening. Everyone else began to pitch tents and they dug a small fire pit which they lined with stone. Given the amount of teamwork they had, it was not long before everything was finished.

Shikamaru spotted his best friend at the edge of the forest and decided that now was the time that he needed to say something to Chouji, to let him know that Ino was out of line with what she had said earlier. Step by step, he slowly made his way over to his troubled friend.

"Hey Chouji."

"Hey"

"Listen, Ino was way out of line bac……."

"Stop," interrupted Chouji, "she was right I am always holding everyone back. I am just too slow."

"Don't get down on yourself, your doing your best right?" replied Shikamaru.

Silence impregnated the air as tense seconds passed. "I think I just need to talk a walk to clear my head," Chouji finally said, "I just do not feel like talking."

"Mind if I come along?" asked Shikamaru knowing that it would be a mistake to have him go off alone. Thankfully Chouji just nodded and headed into the forest.

Minutes seemed to pass and the light from inside of the forest began to fade. The only thing that Shikamaru heard was the slight inward and outward breaths from both of them. I wonder where Ino and Sukara at Shikamaru thought I hope they collected some firewood because soon there will not be enough light to collect any.

Shikamaru was thrown out of his thoughts when he started to here yelling. Slowly, Shikamaru and Chouji crept in between the undergrowth towards the sound of the commotion, careful not to be seen. Suddenly, there came a great crash of wood on wood.

"I know" Shikarmaru heard from a femanine voice. Peeking over a bush he saw the forms of none other than Ino and Sukara.

"But he is your teammate Ino, you should be nicer to him," stated Sukara.

"I know," replied Ino, "but he does this all the time. He is just too slow." Shikamaru knew that they were talking about Chouji and wondered if he should have just stopped it right here by making himself known. "Every mission he holds us back, he doesn't do anything. If it was not for the efforts of the rest of us he would probably be dead right now. People that big have no right to be a ninja."

"Ino that was just…" was all that Shikamaru heard Sukara say as he looked to his left where Chouji had been. He watched as Chouji made his way back to camp, his head was down and his shoulders were slumped forward. Every action Chouji took, every step, every breath screamed as if he was being tortured. Shikamaru knew that even if he was not broken before, he is now. All he could hope for was that Chouji would not do anything drastic before they headed back to Konoha.