Chapter 2

In A Pool of His Own Blood

"We'll rest here and set up camp for the night." Shikamaru suggested once nightfall hit. The estimate traveling time between both Suna and Konoha is three days and Shikamaru can already tell; everyone was exhausted just traveling one day. Naruto, Chouji and Sai ran off to gather firewood while Temari, Ino and Sakura went to go fetch some water. Shikamaru ran off to scout the area for enemy ninja…

Or in this case; Sasuke…

"Stupid Sasuke…getting mixed into something like this. Abandoning our village, your classmates but most of all, your friends!" What the fuck is your problem you miserable piece of-"

As if someone answered his question, Shikamaru felt a sharp pain in his back and four knuckles implanted into his stomach that blew all the air out of his lungs. "Ugh!" He fell forward and landed on his stomach. As he reached for his back to see what was the cause of his pain, he felt a hand grab his hair and entangle their fingers into his hair. Before he could think, he felt a small painful snap to his neck as the figure pulled him up and whispered into his ear, "Hey there Shikamaru…miss me that much that you wanna look for me?" To his horror, Shikamaru looked into the dark eyes of Sasuke.

"Shit!"

Meanwhile…

The fire was finally finished and everyone rested by the fire. As everyone sat around talking about "random" topics, Temari looked into the distance, worried and a dark look on her face.

"What's taking him so long?" She thought…"He's smart and he's a Jounin, he won't get into trouble…" but the longer she asked herself this, the more she got worried, "…Or did he..?"

She began to bite her lip even more when she was startled by Ino's tap on her shoulder, "Are you ok Temari-hime? You seem lost in thought with a worried face."

Temari turned to face her while placing her hand over Ino's. "I'm alright, just wondering if that lazy oaf got lost or decided to lay back and watch the stars or something." She said as she gave a weak smile.

As if something hit her on the head, Ino replied, "Now that you mention it, he has been gone for a while now. How long as it been said he was gonna go scouting?" with a worried tone in her voice.

"About an hour now…" Temari answered with a more a serious look on her face. Now she was worried.

She grabbed her fan in hesitation and looked back at the others, "We need to head out and search for Shikamaru. We're all going to split up and look for him!"

She pointed to Ino and Chouji, "You two head towards the east where the lake is…" she then pointed to Naruto and Sakura, "…you two head west…" finally she looked at Sai, "You'll stay here and watch the camp. We'll all meet up back here in an hour. If you find him or any clue leading to him, send out a signal."

"What about you Temari-hime?" asked Sakura as she and Naruto prepared to head out.

"I'll head alone more south to where Suna is. I know for sure that was the direction I saw him head towards." Once she finished her sentence, they all vanished out of thin air.

"C'mon lazyass, what're you waiting for; get up and fight!" Sasuke smirked as he gave a powerful kick to Shikamaru's stomach. "What's wrong? The village genius has given up? Well, it's no surprise to me…" Sasuke leaned towards Shikamaru and with little effort, pulled Shikamaru's face off the ground making eye contact with him"…since you were always the laziest among my classmates." Sasuke finished with a grin on his face.

Shikamaru was covered head to toe in blood and his hair was no longer in its usual ponytail but almost touching his shoulders. Despite the pain he was in, Shikamaru managed to face Sasuke and let out a very weak laugh.

"What's so funny Nara?" Sasuke asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"You're what's funny…" he began "Poor little Sasuke…sneaking up…on someone on a night like this…sneaking up on them…while their back is turned…what's wrong Sasuke? You became that much of a pussy that you can't face a real man face to face…?"

Sasuke was quite annoyed by this that he punched Shikamaru in the face, sending him hard to the ground.

"Don't go off…" Sasuke yelled as he constantly sent powerful kicks to Shikamaru's stomach. "…talking to me about real men and pussies…" as he pulled Shikamaru by his hair and proceeded to deliver several punches to his face.

"…when it's little bitches like you…" he threw Shikamaru to the ground, making him land on his face.

"…that fall to their knees…" Sasuke continued the torture as he stomped Shikamaru's face harder to the ground, causing a small pool of blood to form.

"…and beg for mercy from guys like me." Sasuke finished as he watched Shikamaru get on all fours and coughed out blood.