Hello again my readers! Sorry it took me a month to finish this. But it's finally done! :) I hope you all enjoy it!

Overall, this was just a take on how I'd see Sakura and Shikamaru interact when in the face of a huge cruise ship. Hehe.

"You leave tomorrow." The Hokage said with a slight annoyed expression on her face. Her eyebrow was twitching as she saw the two shinobi in front of her grinning widely at each other.

It was the mention of cruise ships that did it.

"I trust that you won't fool around while on this mission?" She asked as she saw them straighten their bodies and put their arms by their sides.

"No ma'am!" Sakura and Shikamaru replied with serious expressions in their eyes.

"...good. Now go!" She ordered, seeing them flinch before bowing and exiting her office.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair as they left, sighing. As much as she liked the two of them, she knew that they wanted to have fun sometimes.

"They better thank me when they get back." She muttered under her breath as she looked for the bottle of sake that was underneath her desk.

Slamming it on to the table, Tsunade let out a hearty laugh as she put the cork between her lips and pulled it off.

"Even if they fool around, they should be able to finish the mission cleanly. I hope that Sakura doesn't break the ship though." Tsunade said before she took a long swig from the bottle and took a glance at the night sky out of her window.

-.-

"I can't believe this! We're going on a cruise!" Sakura excitedly cried as she literally grabbed Shikamaru by the shoulders and shook him. When she let him go, he had a dizzy look on his face.

"We're going on a cruise to stop those thieves. So yes technically we are." Shikamaru replied with a small smile on his face. It had been a while since the both of them had any time to relax.

"I've never gone swimming on a giant ship before! I wonder what that's like?" Sakura asked to herself as the wide smile on her lips only grew.

Shikamaru glanced at her for a moment, his hands in his pockets.

"Don't forget about the main objective of the mission." He said as he saw Sakura roll her eyes.

"Right. See you at the gates tomorrow morning?" The kunoichi said as they both stopped at the intersection they usually parted ways at to get home. They faced each other with the shadows of the setting sun around them.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said with a light laugh. His hand pressed behind his neck as he looked at Sakura who stood there grinning. "See ya."

They both gave each other a slight wave before turning away from each other, heading home.

When Sakura arrived at the gates in the morning in casual clothing, she was surprised to see Shikamaru munching on something. When he saw her, he pulled out a warm bean bun from his pocket and tossed it at her. Catching it, Sakura smiled at the warmth that spread throughout her palms and thanked Shikamaru before taking a bite.

"Let's get going. We might miss our ship for all we know." Shikamaru said as he turned to head out. Sakura jogged after him, the bun in her mouth as she caught up with him.

"Do you get seasick, Shikamaru?" Sakura said after a while. They were on their way to the village with the cruise ship in question.

"I don't think? I haven't been on a boat or anything that moves across the sea in a long time so I can't really remember."

"What, have you been asleep for a thousand years? You've had to have ridden a boat sometime? Please tell me that you've thought about how many people are gonna be on this huge ass boat?"

There was a minute of silence.

"Shikamaru..."

"What?"

"You're kidding me! Were you too focused on the pools, food and fun that you forgot to think about the people that will be there?" Sakura gaped at him in shock, astonished that this was a first.

"Yes, exactly that." Shikamaru replied with a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks. Sakura couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or for thinking some weird ass thoughts. He wouldn't meet her bewildered gaze.

The kunoichi let out a soft sigh before giving the strategist a side glance. "Are you gonna be okay? It'll probably be 'troublesome' like you say." Sakura tried imitating the way Shikamaru says his phrase and broke into laughter after failing, seeing her friend splutter in embarrassment.

"W-well, as much as I don't like a lot of people I'll deal with it somehow." Shikamaru grumbled in response, leaving out the "troublesome" unconsciously.

Sakura noticed this and pointed it out, only to chuckle at Shikamaru who dashed off in front of her, his ears turning red.

As the two of them reached the village and began to board the giant ship, Shikamaru could only heave a huge sigh at the sight of the hundreds of people going on board. He shifted closer to Sakura subconsciously and could hear her giggle beside him.

"Come on, don't worry you'll be with me the whole time! Nothing should separate us while we're here." Sakura reassured as she threw Shikamaru a smile, seeing a slight relieved look in his eyes.

"That's good to hear." He replied as he gazed up at the enormity of the cruise ship.

How could anyone hijack such a massive vessel?

-.-

After countless hours of eating, going down water slides, swimming, chatting, and getting tanned, Sakura and Shikamaru lay face down on individual benches. They had towels draped over their backs and a pillow under their heads. Around them was the sound of endless chatter of the other passengers accompanied with the waves and seagulls crying out.

Everyone was having a wonderful time and it wasn't even sunset yet.

Sakura opened her eyes as she woke up from her nap and saw that Shikamaru was drooling on his pillow, an arm dangling over the edge of his bench. Watching him sleep, the kunoichi noticed how toned his arms actually were and caught herself mid-checking-Shikamaru-out.

Blinking away her actions, Sakura tried to place her attention somewhere else like the people or the slides by lying on her back—but her gaze slid back over to Shikamaru's toned body without her permission. She couldn't see how his back looked with the towel but from what she remembered when they went on the slides together and grabbed pool noodles and fought each other with it in the pool—the guy had a hell of a lean body.

Of course Sakura knew that Shikamaru worked out at times, and she knew that he had inherited his leanness from his family line but she hadn't really pay attention to it until now. When she had just woken up from a nap.

Sakura's cheeks warmed at the realization and she pressed her hands to her face at it, groaning internally. It was obvious how everyone would look at Shikamaru like this, especially with his physique, so why couldn't she? Maybe she just hadn't noticed? Had she been oblivious to his damn physique the whole time they've been on missions together?! She wanted to punch her brain in for noticing only now.

"Sakura?"

She jumped at the sound of Shikamaru speaking, her name caught in his drowsy and slightly husky voice. She slid her hands away from her face and turned her head to meet his sleepy gaze.

"Yeah?" Sakura asked, seeing Shikamaru's stare shift from her eyes down to her cheeks and then back again.

"You good? Your cheeks are pink." Shikamaru said with a light smile, a hand coming up to rub the sleep away from his eyes.

Sakura sat up in her bench and pulled on her sunglasses. "Yeah! Just got a little too hot that's all." She replied as she let out a breath, fanning herself.

"Heh I see. Wanna head in and change? We could see what else is around besides the pool, slides and all the food. Maybe do some scouting while we're at it." Shikamaru suggested as he sat up, pulling the towel over his neck.

"Sure, let's go!" Sakura replied as she pulled on her bathrobe.

As they walked across the huge deck, Sakura felt an arm fall around her shoulders and immediately stiffened. Shikamaru wouldn't do something like that. He would've let her know or something at first before doing anything. After the few seconds it took to process, Sakura whirled out of the person's grip to not see Shikamaru anywhere near her. And it looked like the people on deck just doubled the amount.

"You looked a little lost. Do you want us to guide you back to your room?" The person who said it looked foreign, his Japanese was a little clipped as if he only learned it yesterday. The way he dressed made him look wealthy too.

Did he say "us"?

Sakura surveyed the people around her to see some people making eye contact with her, some dressed in casual clothing others in uniforms for the staff.

This can't be. They could've have been caught already!

"No, thank you. I'll be fine on my own." Sakura replied smoothly, giving the man a slight bow before turning on her heel and hightailing it out of there. She didn't wait around to see the man's reaction. All she knew was that they might have already found out about their mission here. But how? How would they have known?

A pair of hands landed on her shoulders as she made her way back to the room and she stopped to see Shikamaru standing in front of her with a plain sea foam tee on. He had a look of confusion in his eyes as he lifted Sakura's sunglasses from her face.

"Hey, where'd you go? I lost you when all the families came out to meet the dolphin mascot out on deck." Shikamaru greeted, his hands pulling away from Sakura's shoulders. He handed her back her sunglasses.

"Shikamaru, I can't shake this feeling that we've been found out." The kunoichi began, meeting his perplexed stare.

When the two of them returned to the room they shared, Sakura finished explaining what had happened as she changed out of her swim suit in the restroom. After a quick shower, she pulled on a vibrant red dress that flowed at the bottom and barely pulled the zipper up. Putting on some light makeup, she tousled her hair a bit and looked at herself for a moment before opening the door.

"Mind helping me out?" She asked as she saw Shikamaru immediately stand when she stepped out. Sakura turned around and lifted her hair, indicating that she needed help with the zipper.

"Yeah. No problem. That's so strange though. How would they have found out?" Shikamaru said behind her as he pulled the zipper the rest of the way up, his fingertips ghosting across her skin.

"Beats me. We should just be on our guard for now. Who knows what could happen." Sakura replied as she grabbed her purse with her weapons inside, pulling it across her body. She grabbed her red heels and slipped them on, standing up to see Shikamaru looking incredibly handsome in the black suit he was in.

It was charming. The tie fitted him more than a bow tie would and the slim fitting pants clung to him.

"You look quite dashing, Shikamaru." Sakura observed with an amused smile, seeing him clear his throat awkwardly.

"Ah, this is nothing. You on the other hand look quite lovely." He replied with a smile.

Sakura beamed at his comment, seeing him also smile wider in response.

"Let's go." He said as he extended an arm.

-.-

It turns out there was a mini dance/formal kind of event just for the parents and couples on board. The kids could tag along, but the event was mostly for couples who didn't have children.

Arriving back on deck with her arm looped through Shikamaru's, Sakura gaped at the sight before her. Fairy lights were everywhere with tables and lit candles. There was a table of snacks and main courses and bottles of unopened wine. With the sun setting in the background, it made out to be a really nice setup.

"Wow," Sakura breathed as Shikamaru led her to one of the tables.

"They sure put in a lot of effort." He said beside her as he unbuttoned his jacket and draped it over a chair. Shikamaru grasped the back of the chair as he gazed down at Sakura who was sitting.

Seeing her stare at everything with marvel, he got a chance to really take her appearance in. Not that he didn't have the time back in the room, but here was nice too. All he could say was that she was unbelievably beautiful. What he said before–lovely–didn't even cover it. That red dress of hers clung to her slim form and although it wasn't revealing, it still left a lot to the imagination.

"Let's grab some food?" Shikamaru suggested, shifting his gaze to the other couples.

"Yep!" Sakura replied as she stood up and grabbed his hand.

She held his hand and dragged him over to the table of delicious aromas.

-.-

"Don't let them out of your sight, got it?" The foreign man ordered as he overlooked the deck. His eyes were set on a couple that was dancing.

"I don't want them messing up this mission." He added as he glanced back at the men he hired, seeing them in the suits. It was unusual to see them in different outfits other than their shinobi ones.

"Split them up if you have to. Just make sure they don't interfere."

"Yes, sir." The shinobi said before heading to their positions.

"Boss, we're ready." One of his henchmen said to him, a remote in his hand. He handed the remote to the man in front of him.

"Good. Let's begin."

And with that, the foreign man pressed the button.

-.-

As Sakura and Shikamaru were dancing, one minute it was slow vibe music, the next it was a mic screaming into the speakers. At the sudden sound, Shikamaru's hands jumped against Sakura's waist and pulled away.

"What in the–" Sakura said as her hands hovered over her ears, her eyes looking above her.

"I think it might be starting." Shikamaru said as the other couples around them began wondering what was happening.

"Attention everyone. There will be a mild intermission."

Sakura lifted her head at the sudden foreign accent, knowing that she'd heard his voice somewhere before.

"For now, please remain to the sides as we get rid of some pesky bugs."

"Bugs?" Shikamaru and Sakura said at the same time, looking at each other.

The next thing they knew, they were being pulled apart from each other. It took a few seconds for Sakura to register what was happening and struggled against the grips around her arms.

The smooth jazz music that suddenly played wasn't helping.

"Get off me!" She barked as she threw a glare at one of the men in uniforms. Sakura slammed a heel into one of their feet, resulting in them crying out in pain. This gave her the chance to slip from his grasp and grip his wrist and throw him over her shoulder.

As she whirled around to meet the other assailant, she froze when the point of a kunai touched her neck, her intense glare meeting the now revealed ninja.

So that's how they found out. They had realized that Sakura and Shikamaru were somehow shinobi as well.

As if encountering other shinobi would keep her from completing the mission.

Pulling back, Sakura ducked under the knife and slammed a palm into the man's stomach, throwing him across the deck. Righting herself, she saw Shikamaru throwing the others guys off of him and was about to go join him when she saw figures make their way over the rails of the ship. She narrowed her eyes when she saw that they were other ninjas, completely garbed in their gear.

Somehow in between the enemies rushing at her, Sakura managed to make eye contact with Shikamaru. They shared a look and nodded to each other, giving each other a signal.

With that, Sakura took off the side of the ship, moving away from the deck with her heels in hand. The ninjas behind her stuck close by, persistent in taking her out.

"Damn, I guess that foreign guy hired them, huh?" Sakura muttered to herself as she turned around and chucked her heels at the ninjas, seeing some of them fall from the force they had hit. "And none of these people suspect at all that the cruise they're on has been officially ruined?" She asked as she dodged a barrage of kunai, rolling on to the wood.

Noticing how her dress provided not much flexibility, Sakura pulled one of the kunai's out of the wood and shot straight for the door that led to the rooms. Moving down the hall, Sakura found the nearest unlocked door and stepped in, shutting it quickly behind her. Holding her breath and masking her chakra, she heard the footsteps of the ninjas come close and then fade out.

Sighing, Sakura bent down and cut the dress, the length now at her knees. She inwardly wept at how much the dress cost her but immediately cast the thought aside. Rescuing this ship from being taken who knows where is much more important than the cost of a stupid dress.

She thought back to the look she shared with Shikamaru and pressed her lips together.

While they were dancing, they had come up with a backup plan in case they were to be separated.

"Should anything like that happen, try to meet back at our room." Shikamaru began, his lips hovering next to Sakura's ear. They were slow dancing, which gave them a good time to talk. "If that can't work, then I'll meet you where the leader of all this is."

Sakura pulled back at his statement to see him with a look of distaste in his brown eyes.

"Not that I like the idea, but I can at least assume that you can make it to him?" he said in a low voice with an eyebrow raised, his height making it that he had to bend his head slightly to meet Sakura's leveled gaze.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Sakura replied as she rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips.

"Just don't break the ship." Shikamaru said, earning him a smack in the arm.

Sakura now scanned her surroundings in the room she slipped in to see that she made it inside a storage room.

"Let's see…now what can I do with these?" she said as a light smile appeared on her lips.

-.-

"You sure are a troublesome bunch." Shikamaru muttered under his breath as he controlled his attackers with their shadows. Thank goodness for the fairy light display.

As soon as he Sakura bolt for it, his first thought was that she would head for their room first. But then another thought stopped him: what if the shinobi were already by their door? That'd be even more of a hassle for the both of them.

So Shikamaru figured that she would try heading for the leader of this whole game.

He tossed a few enemies over the ship with some life preservers with one of the people he was controlling and proceeded to incapacitate the rest of them when another wave of them appeared. Seeing them approach, he sighed heavily and scanned his surroundings.

It would be better just to head straight to the man himself than deal with these guys.

Breaking his Shadow Possession, Shikamaru leaped from the deck and onto the rail of the upper deck, instantly breaking into a run. It's possible that the leading man himself was somewhere in a fancy room, waiting for things to die down while swirling some fancy ass wine in a glass.

But before Shikamaru could even conjure the thought of "is he even a threat?" the door he was heading for literally flew off its hinges and shot his way.

Barely dodging the heavy steel door, Shikamaru looked back at the person who could do such a thing and pressed his lips together at what he saw.

It was a bald man, with muscles larger than Shikamaru's own head. He had on a collared shirt and a blazer but that alone didn't seem to contain the pulsing strength of his muscles…no wait, his entire body. Standing at a staggering height as well, the strategist inwardly sighed at how complicated things just got.

The man before him grinned at the sight of an opponent and cracked his knuckles, making Shikamaru wince. Those could be the sound of his own bones breaking in a few minutes.

"I was told to take care of you." The man said in a deep hearty voice, clearly underestimating Shikamaru as he stood before him.

"Sorry, but do you think I can pass?" Shikamaru began, giving it a shot.

The sound of footsteps behind him alerted him to the other ninjas' presence. He was surrounded.

"No can do, party wrecker." The bald man replied back, clearly seeing that the situation was to his advantage.

Shikamaru hummed under his breath and glanced around him for his shadows when he heard a snap of fingers.

His head shot up when the lights around him blew out and the upper deck descended into darkness.

So much for shadows.

Shikamaru noticed that those around him had night vision goggles on and inwardly cursed, realizing that they probably got the new tech from their employer.

"A precaution I suppose," he mused in a whisper as his mind ran a million miles an hour trying to find a way out of the situation.

"Let's go, boys!" the man in front of him roared as he charged forward in the dark.

Shikamaru thought it couldn't have gotten any worse.

He got caught within a second.

-.-

Sakura pushed the door of the storage room open slightly and peeked out, scanning for any incoming enemies. When she saw that she was clear, she stepped out carrying her makeshift weapons in a bag and shut the door of the storage room softly.

Everything was eerily calm which made her tense up.

Of course there was still the jazz music playing overhead.

But she paid no attention to that.

Instead she walked forward quietly, mulling over what plan of action she should take next. It's possible that Shikamaru had made it back to the room. But it's also possible that he reached the leader of the group. There was also the chance that he got caught, given the numbers that were after the both of them.

Sakura clicked her tongue to herself at the thought of that as she realized she could be completely alone in this operation. Not the best feeling.

She clenched the fabric of the bag tight as she rounded a corner and carefully scanned her surroundings. According to the blueprints she had stumbled upon in the storage room (for some odd reason they were in there), the most likely place the leader of the group would be at one of the bigger rooms. Some place he could patiently sit it out and wait.

With the map of the cruise ship clear in her mind, Sakura created an image of the path she would take and envisioned what the room below her destination would look like.

That's when her makeshift weapons could come into play.

When she came upon the large ballroom, she saw that there was no one in sight. Where were all the civilians? Had they returned to their rooms?

As she approached a table filled with food, the jazz music suddenly stopped and the tone of a bell filled her ears. Perking her head up, she tensed when cameras and other electronic gadgets slid out from the ceiling.

Damn, they had this area bugged!

"Do not even try to struggle, ninja. I've got your partner here with me and if you move even one step, he'll die. You will come to us by my instruction." The foreign clipped voice said over the intercom.

Sakura said nothing as her gaze looked at the cameras that were pointed at her. Instead she unzipped the bag she was holding and grinned, a fire in her emerald eyes.

"Alright." She replied as she gave the cameras a cooperative look.

Then the smirk slid on to her lips.

"Instead…" Sakura trailed off as her hands grabbed the items inside the bag and threw the bag aside.

"…why don't you…come to me!" Sakura yelled as she pushed herself off of the floor and towards the ceiling, the bombs she had created close to detonating.

"Wait! What are you-"

Sakura stuck the bombs into the ceiling and fell back just as the lights reached the end of their line. With a grin, Sakura leaped away from the blast as the bombs detonated from the ceiling and those above came crashing down.

The floor beneath her shook as those who fell settled and the smoke began to dissipate. The clump of bodies groaned in unison and slowly picked themselves up off the ground. The blast had gotten rid of the weaker enemies easily. All that was left really was a huge buff man, the foreigner himself, and Shikamaru bound over to the side.

Sending him a flash of a grin, she turned her attention to her opponents when she suddenly realized.

Where were all the other shinobi?

Meeting Shikamaru's wide eyed gaze, Sakura pressed her lips together and bolted towards him just as the wave of ninjas exploded around her. She saw Shikamaru push himself to his feet and look at his surroundings with an overwhelmed look on his face.

How the heck were they going to get out of this one?

Sakura reached Shikamaru and untied him, noticing how battered he looked. His cheek was swelling and by the way he held his torso with one hand, something must've happened there too.

"How the hell are we going to leave now?" Shikamaru said in a low voice, the expression in his eyes clearly agitated.

"All I know is that we have to at least stop him." Sakura growled as her piercing gaze landed on their target. The man behind the hijacking and all.

"How? Look at our situation, Sakura."

"Here's how."

A voice they didn't expect spoke up, making them meet each other's gaze.

"Naruto?" They said at the same time.

"Naruto?" The foreign man and his buddy uttered in confusion.

Suddenly, the huge amount of shinobi surrounding Sakura disappeared into smoke, leaving only a few figures standing.

When she saw who they were, she let out a light laugh.

"I can't believe this!"

Naruto stood on one side with the rest of Team Kakashi beside him. He had that dorky grin on his face. On the other side stood Team Asuma, Ino and Chouji grinning wildly.

"Good thing we made it on time." Kakashi greeted as he met Sakura's and Shikamaru's gazes with a smile.

"What a relief," Shikamaru breathed as he let out a sigh.

-.-

Needless to say, after that ordeal, Shikamaru vowed to never go on a ship ever again.

And with the success of the mission, Sakura and Shikamaru earned a chance to wind down and relax once more. By that, Tsunade made them both run errands for them because "they already had their vacation."

Oh the irony.

So with the sudden change of the title I'd like to ask for suggestions for future missions! If you're all up for that, that is. I actually find writing the missions between Sakura and Shikamaru quite fun and fascinating! So throw me some ideas that you'd like to see!

I'd be happy to pick a few and see how they play out. Thank you for reading!

-FallenWing21