AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic is going to contain plenty of action, but also drama. It'll have both ShikaIno and ShikaTema moments; I think it's good to explore both sides of the pairing war, heh heh heh! But who will Shikamaru actually end up with? You'll have to read to find out! Temari and Ino will clash with Shikamaru as well as each other; I think poor Neji will end up getting tired of the lot of them... xDD; Don't forget thet they'll have to battle Sasuke- How will that work out? He's deadly... Can Shadow overcome Lightning?


The Darkest Shadow

Chapter One: Shikamaru's Intervention

Battering down from the heavens came a downpour of torrential rain, heavier than it had been in almost a year. The clouds seemed to contain a force of fury not unlike the many gods of nature. Watching it from the shade of the ancient, twisting tree with leaves that were broad and in the full green of summer, Shikamaru could not help but feel a certain dread steal over him. It had been a little over a month since the death of his beloved teacher; Asuma, and now with the initial fire of vengeance truly dampened by the summer rains he was feeling the weight of what he had taken on. Not only did he have a sacred duty towards Kurenai and her unborn baby but he also had a responsibility to lead his precious team mates, Ino and Chouji. He sighed heavily and twisted the cigarette that he held in his hand, watching the smoke dance lazily in the shade of the tree to dissipate into the grey afternoon sky. Life was not going to be easy, he knew it… And the rising of tomorrow's sun would only bring more burdens… He stubbed the cigarette out on the damp bark of the tree, watching the ash tumble down into the grass.

Stretching his arms up behind his head, Shikamaru leaned back against the mossy trunk of the tree, closing his eyes to listen to the tender rushing sound of the rain against the treetops. The air was cold and clear, perfectly calm with only a little wind. Tomorrow he had a mission to attend to; one that would no doubt be dangerous and had a huge potential to go wrong: A couple of days ago, Sasuke… had been spotted near Sunagakure, and the Sand Village had sent a messenger to the Hokage straight away. Temari herself had reported that a whole squad of Sand ninja had been killed. The high ranking Leaf ninja were worried that Sasuke was after his old team mates, or that he might be gathering followers for an attack on Konoha. Tomorrow's mission was strictly intelligence gathering, and he was to avoid fighting at all costs. Sasuke was too dangerous. It was Shikamaru's job to lead a squad there, try to figure out what his aim was and report back to the Hokage. It sounded simple, but of course it was going to turn out to be extremely complicated. He had chosen his squad carefully… And he only hoped that he would be able to protect them, if necessary… he would defend their lives with his own.

A small rustling made him sit up straight and open his eyes, spotting a girl clad in a black raincoat and carrying a large umbrella over her head to protect her long, blonde hair from the heavy rain. She made her way towards him through the wet grass as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Ah, Ino" he said, "You're earlier than I expected, what gives?"

She took down her umbrella as she stepped under the wide canopy of leaves and shook it out gently.

"Chouji told me it was important and that it was a secret… So secret he didn't even know himself". She looked at him expectantly with barely concealed excitement in her eyes.

"Ah, you wanted to be in on the secret, your curiosity was so strong that it sprung you into action right away!" He laughed softly. "Well I'm sure you won't be disappointed. This is an extremely important and top secret mission that I'm leading, and I need you in my squad".

Ino gave him a sunny look, looking very pleased and a little surprised.

"Shika-kun, you really think that I am so important to the success of this mission?"

Shikamaru took a few steps towards her away from the trunk of the tree, and regarded her with a very serious expression on his face.

"You must promise me that you will not repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone, nobody but the squad allocated to this mission can know what it concerns, do you understand?"

His face was stony, and that saddened her; recently she had too often seen Shikamaru with such a cloudy aura about him. She knew her friend was burdened by the weight of his position as an elite Konoha ninja, sometimes she wished she could help him with that, but she knew he would share the weight with no-one else, not even his best friend Chouji. However, he obviously felt that he could trust her, and that in itself was something important. She nodded solemnly and looked Shikamaru in the eyes, her own reflecting his serious look.

"I promise, Shikamaru".

"This is an intelligence mission; your jutsu will come in handy for this… And it will be difficult; your medical skills may be needed to save lives…." Shikamaru took a deep breath, and broke his eye contact with Ino, instead looking out over the Leaf Village. "Our mission is to figure out the intentions of a dangerous foe; and that foe… is Sasuke".

Ino gasped loudly, and he turned back to her, his face as cold as before. He could see her struggling internally to come to terms with the prospect of seeing Sasuke again, and this time seeing him as a threat to the Village. Ino leaned down, her hair throwing a shadow across her eyes and began to twist her hands together in agitation.

"Shikamaru… you're saying he is our enemy? Sasuke is a shinobi of the Leaf Village… He is our ally, our fr-"

"No", his voice cut across hers, sharp and frosty. "Sasuke is a threat to the lives of our comrades. The lives of too many have been endangered because of him, including Chouji and I; and yet he has no conscience about that… He does not care. He does not have mercy. He attacked his own team mates with the intention to kill! He is not our friend".

She looked up at Shikamaru with a glint of anger in her eyes, and she clenched her fists, stepping towards him.

"How dare you! You hypocrite! You said two years ago that the way of the Leaf was to bring back our comrade who had strayed, you said-"

"I also said that I did not care for Sasuke" he said coldly. "And obviously he has no care for any of his fellow Leaf ninjas who have risked their lives for him".

"He never asked you to!" she shouted, her voice becoming more enraged. She could hardly believe her ears, what he was saying now was completely contrary to what he had said before; he was being unreasonable… Shikamaru took hold of her wrist firmly and stared her down.

"Ino… It's time to let go of your stupid, girlish fantasies. We're not in school anymore; we're talking about life and death situations. Sasuke has never cared about you and he never will". She stared at him, her blue eyes wide with shock.

-SLAP-

He made no move to avoid the strike; Ino yanked her arm out of his grip and struck his face again, and again, and again. She felt a momentary hatred for the boy in front of her, who had shattered her dreams of the past and threw them back in her face; she had known Shikamaru since childhood and he had always been a friend to her, to comfort her, to protect her and to guide her. He was lazy at times and annoying too but she had loved him in a way. Now, he had turned her heart cold. She pummelled his chest, and began to sob with anger and despair.

"Shikamaru… how could you…?" she sobbed, pain evident in her voice. Suddenly his arms came up around her and he pulled her roughly to his chest; causing her to struggle furiously for a moment.

"That's it" he said, his voice soft. "Take out all your anger and pain on me".

Ino shuddered and fought against him for a moment, then gave up, leaning against him and let herself cry. Shikamaru was right, though she was too proud to admit it; all the years of fighting for Sasuke's attention had been in vain, and knowing this left her feeling hollow and wasted. She gripped Shikamaru's vest tightly, and wondered why he'd said this to her now, perhaps he had grown tired of waiting for her to realise the facts for herself… Even so, she still felt love for him, a strange, twisted love that stabbed through her heart and twisted it like a bitter needle.

She felt Shikamaru's hand on her spine, and the other on the back of her head; it was a scene she had often imagined with Sasuke… And yet it was not Sasuke whose arms were wrapped around her now, she had never hugged Shikamaru like this before and she was surprised and confused by his gesture. Perhaps it was to restrain her from further bouts of hitting; yes… that sounded just like him; utilising an action that was both advantageous to him and comforting to her. Ino sobbed forcefully into his chest, mourning her love of Sasuke and even the hurt that her friend was putting her through by making her face up to the reality of it... Eventually, her sobs were quieting down and she could hear the rush of the rain against the leaves again; she buried her face into his chest a little, leaving teardrops on the fabric of his vest; for the first time she could hear his heartbeat. It was slow, and steady… she couldn't help but think that it felt relaxed… if heartbeats could have such characteristics, she would almost call it lazy.

Shikamaru was relieved that Ino seemed to have calmed down; that woman could hit like Hell, in fact he could feel his face stinging on both sides where she had slapped him. He wasn't quite sure how he had ended up in this position, he'd expected her to kick him in the balls and storm off like usual but maybe she finally understood. It was highly embarrassing though, to hug her like this… and he was just glad that Chouji couldn't see; he knew what kind of assumptions he would make! This was too close, dangerously close in his opinion… though she did smell quite pleasantly of jasmine…

"Ino, you're so troublesome…" sighed Shikamaru.

"I… I'm sorry Shika-kun…" was her muffled reply, she felt him move and he took hold of her shoulders, pushing her gently away from his body. His eyes watched her carefully for any sign of another attack, but she no longer looked angry, just defeated.

"Listen, I'm sorry for being so harsh with you; it's just that this is so important. I need you to be at your best. Nothing can distract you from this mission, okay?"

Ino wiped her eyes and nodded towards him, noting that he looked rather tired now; there was an apologetic tone in his voice which she suspected meant that he hadn't intended for her to react so badly to what he had to say about Sasuke. Ino stepped back from him, her head bowed meekly as she sat down at the foot of the tree trunk in the place that Shikamaru had previously occupied. He was a little concerned, he had to admit, and had never seen Ino so passive… However she would need time to get over Sasuke, though he hoped not too much time. It was better not to tell her the fact that if they discovered Sasuke did indeed intend to attack the Leaf, and ended up getting caught in battle with him; the Hokage had ordered him to attempt to kill Sasuke.

"Who else is going with us on the mission?" asked Ino suddenly, looking up at him once more, her eyes mercifully absent of tears. Seizing the chance to keep her in a more upbeat mood, he plonked himself down next to her and smiled.

"Ah yes, well I will be leading the mission of course"

"Thought so"

"Then there's you, Ino. Medical ninjutsu is a must in case one of us gets caught up with… the wrong person"

"You're only telling me things I already know, who else is going?" she demanded, looking irritated.

"… Hyuga Neji will be joining us. His Byakugan will locate Sasuke easily; plus he has excellent close-combat skills… should it ever come to that"

"I don't need a big explanation about everything, jeez Shika-baka…"

He sighed. "Temari"

Ino looked around at him quickly, her eyes narrowed in confusion; now she was truly interested. "Temari what!"

"Oh, so now you want explanations?" he smirked.

She elbowed him forcefully in the ribs, causing him to slip over and stick his hand in the mud to keep himself upright.

"Urgh, Ino!"

"Shikamaru, answer me! Why is she coming along with us?"

Scraping the mud off his hand onto the bark, he looked at her, a slightly defiant expression on his face as if he was daring her to challenge him.

"I specifically asked for her to join us once I knew she was in Konoha… She's got damn good long distance fighting skills, plus she's pretty smart… which, along with Neji and I boosts the brainpower of this cell to above genius level…heh! What…? Don't you like her?"

Ino glared at him as if she wanted to hit him again, it seemed that his tactic to make her forget about Sasuke was to enrage her into distraction. She had already almost forgotten their tender moment earlier. Choosing to ignore his question about Temari, she leaned her head against the great tree trunk.

"… So, we're supposed to figure out what …Sasuke's… aim is" she said, her tongue stumbling over the name slightly.

"Yes" Shikamaru replied simply, looking up at the sky which was now a shade or two darker than when Ino had arrived, but still awash with heavy rain. "It's going to be an early start tomorrow so I suggest you get a lot of good sleep tonight"

"Mmmm" she mumbled, seeming distracted.

Shikamaru stood up, stretched his arms and then turned to face her, holding out his hand. "Ino, I need you to stick with me 'til the very end. That's what it means to be a team; we're gonna try our best to complete this mission for the protection of Konoha… The Will of Fire is ours now, right?"

She smiled sadly, picturing the ghost of Asuma standing behind Shikamaru; and extended her own hand to take hold of Shikamaru's. He pulled her to her feet and she studied his face for a moment; his eyes had a hint of hard determination to them and his mouth was a grim line.

"It is" she said proudly. "But you've got to smile a little more, you know? Asuma- sensei did it often…"

"I'll try" said Shikamaru, the corner of his mouth twitching. He realised that he was still holding Ino's hand, and let go immediately as if she were an exploding tag.

"Sorry, I've got a lot of things to go over tonight; I'll see you at dawn tomorrow at the gates" he spoke rather quickly, and Ino thought that he really must be in a hurry; because he immediately sprinted off in the direction of his house without even pausing to navigate the many puddles; leaving Ino standing alone under the tree.

Her heart was heavy with thoughts of Sasuke... Despite what Shikamaru had said she couldn't help but hang on to the faint hope that if he saw her again... Ino shook her head sadly, and an image of Shikamaru suddenly popped into her head, laughing with her at a stupid thing Chouji had done. Those carefree days were behind them now, and she mourned for them too. At least Ino knew that she, Chouji and Shikamaru would continue to be together as a team, although she was very dissapointed that Chouji wasn't in their cell for this mission, at least then she'd have someone else to talk to. After all, Shikamaru could get tiring sometimes, that Neji just plain creeped her out... And she felt a somewhat surprising dislike of Temari that she couldn't quite place. She sighed and put up her umbrella again as she began her slower paced walk back to her house, watching Shikamaru's outline become less distinguishable against the grey sky until he disappeared completely. For some reason, she could tell that tomorrow's mission was not going to be an enjoyable one…

***My first Fanfiction on here :3 Will write more Chapters once I see if people actually like it...I hope you guys like it though! I love Shikamaruuu! Still not sure whether I like the idea of pairing him up yet, heh heh... Let's see how he gets on with Ino and Temari... PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW! I would like to know if what you would like to see in the next Chapters!

I don't own this series or any of the characters; 'Naruto' and all characters from that series are (c) to Masashi Kishimoto.***