Chapter two.

Shikamaru woke only to realize that everyone was already packing up the tent,

'how long was I asleep?' he questioned himself as he quickly jumped down from the tree he was in and continued the journey through the forest when they could already see the village?

"How is that possible? It's only been one day and one night? How can be this close already?" Shikamaru asked aloud as he stopped and crouched into his usual thinking position making that open circle with his hands hoping to come up with a reason as to why they were so close already.

Before he could even come up with any sort of strategy Neji answered his question,

"You tried not to show how worried you were about the fact it was Temari calling for our assistance but throughout the day you got faster and faster and we covered about ¾ of the distance in just one day leaving only the short walk just this morning..." Neji answered in a sort of monotone, trying not to contribute to annoying or confusing Shikamaru leaving him with more numbers to think about this early in the morning.

"Okay well then, let's get going..." Shikamaru said a slight bit of doubt in his voice... He was happy to be seeing Temari and Gaara again but given the amount of time that has past, would she even remember him? Would she be happy it's him who was sent? Would she be annoyed it was him? Had she replaced him while they were apart? Only one way to find out...

They entered the village, they expected people to be everywhere or at least some sort of signs of life but instead there was the complete opposite! It looked like no one lived there. Shino's bugs had already located the Kazekage building at the centre of the village so they cautiously made their way to building.

When they arrived there was definite signs of life because he could already, without even entering the front doors heard all three of them arguing in the main room.

They went up the stairs and made their presence known to whom he believed was Temari, Gaara and Kankuro. Neji had already made it clear that despite the fact Shikamaru was the chounin and the leader, he would do most of the talking as he gladly admitted that Lady Tsunade had withheld certain information from him.

AS they entered the room it was less than 10 seconds before Temari threw something at Shikamaru and stared mouthing off at him and his team for taking so long!

" What took you guys so long? It's not that far away and we need you here when we ask for you here! Got that crybaby? Get here faster next time the Kazekage is leaving tomorrow morning and I wasn't sure how much longer we could last without you!" Temari screeched in Shikamaru's face rather loudly, causing him to cover his ears with both hands.

"Same as ever you troublesome woman, always giving me a hard time for something I didn't have control over..." Shikamaru answered her back in a slightly sloppy tone.

" HEY! Temari? It isn't fair that you go ranting off at Shikamaru when it clearly wasn't his fault and anyway he might not even be head of the mission or whatever you wanna word it like! NEJI actually happens to be leading us right not so stop giving it all off on Shika-chan or you'll have me to deal with!" Ino yelled at Temari while sort of hugging Shikamaru's arm rather cutely he had to admit to himself.

"Why would Neji be in charge of the mission? MY Shika-chan is the only chounin in the group and I specifically asked and requested he was on this case!" Temari answered her back in a slightly more calm tone this time.

" Whatever you could have requested all you want but you haven't seen Shikamaru for years so you don't have the right to call him YOUR Shika-chan any more!" Ino said to her still hugging Shikamaru's arm!

"Don't mean to interrupt but now I know they are here I need to talk to Shikamaru alone so can you two girls go bicker in the streets and after Shikamaru I take Neji or Shino you are second in command?" Gaara said to them in such a bored tone you could watch a documentary on how to make ramen and have a more positive tone in your voice after it...

"Yes I'm second in command after Shikamaru but given the conversation just there I think I should have put in command in the first place..." Neji said mumbling the last bit under his breath making sure Shikamaru didn't hear him.

"Okay, here are you're rooms in the hotel for the night you can arrange among yourself who is sharing a room with who..." Gaara said whilst handing the papers over to Neji, who then bowed and left the Kazekage's office.

Temari and Ino decided to continue bickering all the way down the hall until finally they cam outside the building all together and Chouji tried calming Ino down but since that clearly wasn't working and no one was even going to risk talking to Temari after what happened last time someone talked to her when she was on a rampage... So instead Chouji just took Ino out to get something to eat and drink and talk to her about why she was so worked up about it and Shino being rather confident decided to talk to Temari about it and then left Neji to get the hotel sorted out because none of them wanted to have to deal with that on a hot day! Plus they wanted to know what was going on with Shikamaru and the two girls...

Review and let me know how I'm doing! \(•_•)/