Thanks so much for the reviews! I appreciate it!
Hm..but now, I'm confused. It was mentioned that making Shika the main character was a good idea, I should focus more on Shika and Neji than Naruto and Sasuke, and also, that I should focus on all 4 equally. I'm not so sure what I'll do now.
Anyway, this chapter ended up being a little more focused on Shika.
Last time: Shika, Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke are sent on a mission to search for the missing Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, and Ino.
So..enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Neji didn't hear an answer from Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru…" he continued. "What's going on?" Neji crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow. Why wasn't he answering?
"I said, we have to leave now," Shikamaru finally said. His voice was tense, and Neji knew that he was serious.
Suddenly, he grabbed one of the cuts on his stomach in pain. He bit his lip, then, took his eyes from the ground to Neji. "We….ha…ve..to hu..rr…y…"
He winced in pain with each word. He struggled to keep himself up.
Neji stared at him, now worried. "Shikamaru, tell me what's going on. What's up with you all of a sudden? Why are you hurt?" Shikamaru kept silent.
Neji uncrossed his arms and walked towards him. "Hey…"
He looked closer.
Shikamaru was breathing heavily. He had one eye closed and was struggling to keep the other one open. He was drenched and was shivering as his breath appeared in the air. Neji backed away from the window as he felt the freezing mist and heavy wind from the storm.
Shikamaru struggled as he stood up straight. "Are you coming?"
"Shikamaru, answer my..." Neji began. "Ah, Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru dashed off as Neji began his sentence. "Hurry!" he told Neji.
Neji poked his head out the window as he saw Shikamaru's image slowly disappearing. He quickly went back into his room, and slipped on his shoes. He had to follow Shikamaru, even if he didn't know what was going on. He slid out of the window, and onto the muddy surface beneath him. The sudden intensity of the rain made him back up under the roof. It was freezing, and it was coming down hard.
He then looked down towards the ground and saw rain washing away a puddle of blood where Shikamaru was standing. What happened?
Braving the weather, Neji quickly moved to the top of his roof. He looked ahead to see Shikamaru waiting for him on a neighboring rooftop. Shikamaru moved from his knelt down position. As he stood up straight, he motioned for Neji to follow.
Neji began to follow after Shikamaru, still confused. He looked ahead of him and tried to examine Shikamaru's condition, but couldn't because of the rain. He hurried his pace to keep up.
Neji began to worry though. Shikamaru was in bad shape. And the weather He thought. It's the reason we didn't leave in the first place. The rain continued to pour.
He was taken from his thoughts as he came to a sudden stop with Shikamaru.
"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled as he pounded on the window.
Naruto opened his window slowly with a yawn. He rubbed his eyes then glanced at Shikamaru and Neji. Shikamaru gave an impatient look. "Hurry Naruto," he told him. "Change quickly. We need to get moving."
"Huh?" Naruto replied. He brought his eyes to Neji who looked away with a shrug, signalizing he had no idea what was going on either. He brought his attention back to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, are you crazy?" Naruto asked him. "The rain, it's…"
"I know," Shikamaru replied. "But we need to go now." He began to tap his foot as he crossed his arms. "Hurry or we'll lea…ve yo..u.." he then bent down suddenly as he held his stomach. He took deep breaths, as Neji and Naruto watched the rain pour into his wounds.
"Shikamaru…" Naruto began. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." he replied. "Hurry, now."
Shikamaru motioned for Naruto to head back into his room. Naruto could tell he was struggling. "You said yourself Shikamaru. You said the rain would only hinder us." Naruto told him. "And you can't leave in a condition like that! What happened? Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru stared at his friend with a stern look. "Hurry now, or we'll leave you." He repeated.
Naruto turned to Neji who seemed as puzzled as he was. He then sighed as he began to close his window. "I'll be out before you know it."
-
Sasuke stood by the tree that he had rested on the night that Sakura disappeared. He was drenched, but didn't care. He slammed his fist into the tree's trunk. I should've stopped her. He told himself. "Heh, this is all myfault isn't it?" Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets and turned away from the tree. "I'll confront Orochimaru on my own…or whoever is behind this."
He started off towards Konoha's front gate.
-
"He doesn't seem to be home," Naruto said as he glanced around Sasuke's room. "He left the front door unlocked too."
Naruto turned to Neji who was bandaging Shikamaru's wounds.
"Great." Shikamaru mumbled. "We'll have to leave without him."
Shikamaru stumbled as he stood up.
"Woah, Shikamaru. Slow down. What's the rush?" Naruto said as he put his hands behind his head.
Shikamaru shot him a glare. "Our friends are in trouble."
Naruto sighed. Shikamaru was being oddly stubborn. Why was he in such a hurry?
Without saying another word, Shikamaru headed out Sasuke's front door, and dashed off towards the gate. Naruto and Neji followed.
"Shikamaru…slow down!" Neji called to him as he struggled to keep up. Naruto ran beside Neji and was also calling out.
Shikamaru didn't hear a word they said though. He kept thinking about what had happened.
Flashback:
Shikamaru was just about to drift to sleep when he heard a loud thump on the roof.
"Huh?"
He sat up quickly and looked up towards the roof. There were thumping noises traveling across it. He tried to follow them with his ears. He slowly got out of bed, and went down the hall.
He took a quick glance into his parent's room and saw that they were asleep. He scratched his head, confused. He sighed then headed back to his room. He got back into his bed as he realized the thumping noises were gone.
Then, as he was adjusting the sheets of his bed, he heard the noises again. He glanced towards his window as he saw a shadow pass over the top of his roof. He then jumped out of his bed cautiously. What's going on? He thought to himself. He tiptoed towards the window, and looked up towards the roof, trying to listen for more noises. He saw the shadow pass again.
He had no choice. He slowly unlocked the window, and opened it as carefully as he could. Trying not to make any noise, he crept out of the window, closed it, and stayed close to the wall. He held out his hand towards the rain, and watched as the droplets crashed against his palm. He shivered, than placed his hand next to his side. Running his fingers against the wall, He made his way across the side of his house. When he made it to the corner, he took a quick glance to the next side of his house. He turned the corner, and started to make his way across the next wall.
He felt his heart beat faster as he saw the shadow once again pass quickly over the roof of his house. He began to think of what he should do.
Just then, a hand equipped with a kunai swept at him from the top of the roof. He flinched, and was relieved that it missed him.
Than He jumped away from the wall of the house, and turned towards the roof. He was surprised to see no one there. He quickly moved to the top of the roof, and looked around in each direction. He panicked as he saw no one.
"Looking for me?" a muffled female voice said as she jumped up on the roof. She was about Shikamaru's age, he guessed from her build and height. She was covered in a skin-tight black outfit which covered all of her body. The only skin exposed was the skin around her eyes from her mask. She pointed the kunai at Shikamaru. "Hm..haven't left yet?."
Shikamaru's eyebrows furrowed. "Haven't left yet?"
The female looked at him. "It would be useless anyway. You can't save them."
He felt his heart sink. "What?"
"You'd better be careful Ino."
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you can worry too much."
Shikamaru felt tense.
The female glared at him. Then, she quickly launched an attack at him.
Shikamaru tried to dodge the attack, but found himself holding a deep cut on the side of his stomach. Before he knew it, the female was throwing kunai after kunai.
He dodged a few successfully, but the ones that hit cut deeply into his skin. He breathed heavily. He was without kunai, shurikens, wire, flash bombs, explosive seals, anything. The moon was shining brightly, but not enough for him to use his Kage Mane no Jutsu. He fell to his knees as the cold rain water soaked his body.
The female stopped. As she put her kunai away, she walked towards him. When she got to him, she bent down to his level. She slowly got close to his face as she said, "Give up Shikamaru. Stay here in Konoha."
Shikamaru struggled with his words. "Why did Orochimaru take Sakura in the first place? You know something about this, don't you? I want to know what's going on!"
The female backed away slowly and stood up. "Orochimaru?" She asked, confused.
"This has nothing to do with him."
"What?" he responded. "Then where are they, and who are you?
The female ignored the questions. "They're already dead, all four of them. Just give up."
He became uncontrollably angry, but as he tried to stand up, he found himself back on the ground from the sudden painful feeling that shot throughout his body. "Wait, that can't be true!" he clenched his fist tightly. "I don't believe that."
The female laughed. And after a wave, she was off. Shikamaru watched as she leaped across the rooftops, until she was out of sight.
Summoning all of his strength, he slowly stood up.
"Hm?" he suddenly remembered something.
"Give up Shikamaru. Stay here in Konoha."
She knew my name. Shikamaru thought as he headed towards Neji's house.
End Flashback.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled to him. "Slow dow…" he slipped, but caught himself before falling into the mud. He watched as Neji and Shikamaru went further and further into the woods.
"Shikamaru!" Neji yelled. Shikamaru stopped suddenly.
Neji stopped too, and Naruto caught up soon after.
Shikamaru turned to them, and laughed. "I've never acted so rash in my life." His face then became solemn. "I'm sorry. I was so worried I acted impulsively. I guess when it comes to In..." he stopped himself. "I don't even know where to look."
Neji closed his eyes. "We'll search for Orochimaru."
"No." Shikamaru said. "Orochimaru isn't the one who took Sakura."
Neji gave Shikamaru a questioning look. "What? How do you know?"
"Somebody told me. " he mumbled.
Neji raised an eyebrow.
Naruto wrapped himself in his arms as he shivered. "We need to find Sasuke."
"We need equipment." Shikamaru said. "We also need to find out where we're going. We probably should let Tsunade know were leaving, and my parents…and…I'm sorry…" he repeated. "We shouldn't rush into this."
"And you're hurt Shikamaru." Neji told him.
"Yeah, you mind telling us what happened?" Naruto questioned.
Shikamaru looked down at the blood soaking through the bandages. He suddenly became light-headed and the two images of Naruto and Neji standing before him became blurry.
"Woah, Shikamaru, you okay?" Naruto then said as he approached his friend.
Shikamaru fell to his knees. "I..I'm fine.." he placed one hand on his eyes, as he felt his head throb.
"Shikamaru?" Naruto knelt down beside him.
Shikamaru looked up then fell to his back, as Naruto caught him.
"Hang on Shikamaru..Hang on!" Naruto gently shook him.
Shikamaru fell unconscious.
Neji then clenched a fist.
"Let's hurry him to a hospital."
"Yeah, then we'll search for Sasuke." Naruto began.
"That won't be necessary."
Naruto and Neji looked up to see four female figures standing on a large branch of a tree ahead of them. Naruto scowled as he saw the limp body of Sasuke over one of the female's shoulders.
I hope you liked the chapter. I'm sorry it took me awhile to get it up.
Yes, I know it's obvious who the girls are! I meant it to be that way.
Oh yes, I'll also be sure to put lots of NejiTen in future chapters since I was asked too.
Another chapter will come soon!