"The Mouth of Justice is meditating wisdom, and his tongue is speaking of a sign. A happy man who suffers temptation, since he is with approval, they recieve the crown of life. Oh Lord, Fire by divine power, have mercy! Oh, how holy! How serene! How kind! How pleasant, oh Lily of chasitity." - English translation of first chorus of "Lilium", dervived from Latin.
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The forest was carved from Temari of Suna's slashing winds. Trees were scattered in chopped pieces, all littering the ground as Shikamaru Nara and Temari surveyed the wind sorceress's work. "Not even a sneaking Sound ninja could have dodged that attack," the pigtailed blonde girl smirked and she folded her fan and set it heavily beside her. Her navy eyes glittered teasingly as she looked behind her to the shocked Shikamaru. "How was that, slacker?" she grinned.
Shikamaru was sort of frozen in suprise. As subtle as a rhino... he tried grimacing but it turned into a small smile. She might be scarier than my mom. The lazy Nara genius started to open his mouth to suggest heading back and checking on their teammates. He was deeply worried about Chouji and the rest of the team that'd dropped behind to fight, and concerned for the loud Uzumaki idiot(who was kind of his friend, but he wouldn't say that.) That's when Temari started. "The hell...?"
"What's the matter with you?" asked Shikamaru. He felt very tired and drained, and his body itched from phantom wounds inflicted by the sharp-tongued Sound girl's genjutsu. He was still rather jumpy.
Temari's hand curled around her large iron fan again, hefting it up above her shoulder and unsheathing it so that two purple moons showed. "Stay cautious," she ordered in a tight voice. Her dark blue eyes narrowed, rolling across the mutilated landscape that left little to hide. Shikamaru had tensed at these words, knowing he wouldn't be able to put up any struggle at all if the enemy was planning another attack. As allies who had found equals in each other, he trusted Temari's skills more than his own tired senses and so with a kunai gripped firmly in his hand, Shikamaru craned his head to look around them.
"Your reserves are low, aren't they?" Temari asked in a much lower tone to stave off eavesdropping. Shikamaru quirked his dark eyebrows. "What reserves?" he asked. "I've reached my limit. Troublesome as it is, you are the only one of us who can fight right now. I could only offer strategy."
The pigtailed girl didn't look back over her shoulder but her hand tightened more over the fan. A sardonic smile unfurled across her face. "And how would that be helpful?" she asked. "I'm already a master strategist."
Her senses were frantic, scanning for anymore signs of the red-haired girl but while they turned up no evidence she was around them, Temari didn't doubt what she'd seen. However, waiting for the first move to strike her had never been to her tastes and so she grinned terribly. Sliding her fan into its sheath across her back, she turned back to Shikamaru, who eyed her doubtfully. "And now you what are you planning? If you haven't noticed, I'm no help, and I doubt anyone will send reinforcements after the reinforcement," said the genius. Temari snorted. "Please. As if they'd think I couldn't handle a puny little Sound girl. It's obvious you're too weak to move stealthily and I don't want to turn around and see you've been charmed by that damn flute if I leave you by yourself. Konohagakure's ninjas don't appear all that intelligent."
Shikamaru sort of deadpanned, though he knew they had to move fast and so conceded. "A bunch of touching talk. All right, fine. But your weapon will be too difficult to carry if I get on your back."
Temari grinned even wider and now offered her arms to him. Shikamaru looked caught between irritation and embarassment as he got the meaning.
"I never said anything about riding on my back, princess."
Shikamaru decided a couple moments later, that he could understand why women acted so bitchy all the time. If all newly-married husbands scooped their brides into their arms as insecurely as this, he better knew why they were so picky. Temari moved much quicker than he could and watching the ground whip by under him without actually in control, knowing that she could tip him over and let him drop like a stone if she chose to go back on Konoha and Suna's pact... Well, at least he kept a calm expression on his face. Temari didn't seem to be thinking of flinging him. Shikamaru figured there was a bit of clingy mothers in all girls, because the way she was holding him was vaguely reminescent of hot summers he spent in his mom's arms when he was too lazy and sweaty to move on his own.
"Enjoying yourself, slacker?" Temari asked above him dryly.
Shikamaru, who'd never liked summers anyway, responded in a thorough negative. His eyes fell to the ground again and this time, a blur of hot pink snagged his attention. Temari noticed it as well. She landed on a neatly-sliced tree stump, dropping Shikamaru uncerimoniously and whipping her fan out, sliding it open to two purple dots that symbolized moons. "Just won't die, eh flute gi-" She had started bringing the fan around as if it were a sword, to send sharp winds at the girl. Shikamaru stopped her and after studying the girl closer, she understood why.
The girl, while alive, was obviously unable of dealing out any harm. Pinned under the heavy debris of sliced trees, her head flopped back, letting hair a few shades darker than that Haruno's in Leaf Village stream down, uncapped by the black hat she'd worn so firmly before. The corners of her mouth leaked thin dribbles of blood and her sleeping face scored with many small scratches and a few deeper ones across her cheekbone. Unconscious, her crushed chest rose and fell feebly below the trees. Shikamaru walked closer to examine her and Temari tagged behind. He hesitantly pressed his fingers to her exposed neck. Under his fingertips thrummed a strong clear pulse.
Shikamaru lifted his eyes to Temari's and both saw the utter shock freezing the other's face. How could she have survived? It's obvious from the damage done to the area that even a capable ninja would have died, and from the expression on her face, this has never happened before, Shikamaru puzzled.
Breaking the stunned silence, the girl startled them again(Temari's hand flashed back to her fan)by giving a soft cough. More drops of blood dripped from her mouth, running upside down her face. Temari and Shikamaru locked their eyes again over her with a look.
"We were under orders to kill Orochimaru's subordinants," Temari said hesitantly. "But any information she could give us when awake could benefit both our villages easily. Especially if she was his confident."
You just want to find out how she lived through your attack so you can perfect it. "Also, it obvious like she got some internal injuries, at the least cracked ribs," Shikamaru added. "If she wakes up on the way back she won't be in any condition to fight or run away."
Temari smiled grimly. "Right. We could just knock her out again. We can pick up your teammates on the way back; Gaara and Kankuro-baka are with them still, most likely. They could guard her while we go on ahead."
The two agreed and started unwedging trees trapping the girl. When they pulled her out, Temari was irritated to learn she would be the one carrying her again and so shoved her(very heavy)fan into Shikamaru's arms, claiming they should carry similar weights. On the way back, they collected their unconscious/injured allies/friends/brothers and shifted their burdens into the others's hands and backs. Kankuro noticed two gleaming chips of bone tangled in the girl's long red hair. If he'd looked closer, he might have said they looked like broken horns and if they'd looked at the girl's scalp, they'd see two deep bloody gouges in her skull.
Unfortunately, Kankuro had never heard of a diclonous and none of them would understand its signifigance until much later.
(1) Of all the Elfen crossovers I've read with Naruto, it's always Sakura who's the diclonous, and I find that repetitive and boring. It also doesn't make that much sense; green eyes and no horns? But I wanted a xover between these two, so I dug a little deeper and found Tayuya. Why has no one thought of this? The color's down pat. She has eye color around the general pigament. She seems to hate everyone. She wears a hat and when it's off we see HORNS. When Shikamaru was trapped in her genjutsu she uses ghostly hands in the illusion to torture him!(I think -sheepish smile- Haven't seen that episode in full.) I think she even resembles Lucy a little!(But that might be wishful thinking...) But henceforth, I decided in my own mind that Tayuya was a diclonous.
(2)Similar to Lucy, I'm going to have Tayuya adopt a second conscious. I'm stuck between having her revert to a childish personna(as in her child self), a Nyuu-like one(with no grasp of language, very trusting and helpless)or a different personality all-together. Like an Ino/Sakura one or something... Hmm...
(3)Unsure of pairings. I want Tayuya to get attached to someone. Personally, I'm thinking of Naruto, but he might be too angry and frustrated at losing Sasuke to let her make a connection when they interact. Perhaps Ino or Hinata, but I'd like it to be her love interest she bonds with and while I happen to like yuri, I don't know if you guys would...
(4)Don't anything, by the way :D
(5)Please review. I lose all motivation without support ; . ;