Chapter One
xxx
The temperature dropped after the sun set below the mountains; Shikamaru was glad of the heat from the campfire. Their mission was in the Land of Fire, so they could afford the risk. Even with the shinobi world at peace, it was dangerous to announce one's presence with a campfire. They'd camped for the night in the mountains in the northernmost corner of the Land of Fire. The Gokayama region was known for its harsh winters and heavy snowfalls.
During the spring, Ainokura was a five-day journey through the steep mountain passes to the post town of Aizo, where one could take the highway to Konoha or Kyoto, the capital of the Land of Fire. When winter set in, closed off by the mountains and the heavy snowfall, the journey was rarely attempted. The harsh cold and dense snow made the mountain passes near impassible.
The man who had hired them for the mission, Taira Masa, had sent his trained hawk to deliver the mission request to Konoha. Masa was very wealthy merchant. Only a man with his resources could afford to pay the price of an A rank mission for a group of Konoha jonin. The Hokage had been surprised to receive the mission from Masa in the winter because the man had a standing B rank mission to transport the Taira family's washi paper from Ainokura to Aizo and Kyoto during the spring. Considering what this mission entailed, Shikamaru thought they were being overpaid for what seemed like a simple task.
Ino sat down next to him, handing him a bowl of stew. Steam rose off the bowl, mingling with the puffs of her breath in the cold air. She'd pulled the collar of her winter coat up to her jawline and wrapped a scarf around her nose and mouth. Her cheeks were bright from the cold and her eyes sparkled in the light of the campfire.
She was so beautiful it took his breath away sometimes.
The bowl warmed his cold fingers through his gloves. "Thanks," Shikamaru muttered through his scarf.
Shikamaru glanced over at Neji and Kiba. Like Ino and himself, they were wrapped up in their winter coats, with the hoods pulled up over their knit caps. Instead of ninja sandals, they'd worn leather boots, which were better for trudging through the deep snow of the Gokayama region.
The steam from the broth warmed his face. The meat was mild tasting and had a pleasant texture.
"Snow hare," Ino explained, "Akamaru killed them for us."
"Mhm," Shikamaru muttered around the stew.
"I don't see why you had to ruin those perfectly good snow hares by turning them into a stew," Kiba groused. "You should have roasted them over the fire."
Akamaru whined next to Kiba. Ino had fished out the bones of the snow hares that she had used to season the broth for Akamaru to chew on. They'd joined the pile of bones from the brace of hares that Akamaru had saved for himself.
Ino snorted. "Why don't you cook next time, smart ass?"
"We arrive at Ainokura tomorrow," Neji cut in, to avoid the inevitable fight between the two hot heads on the team. "I trust that you will behave while we're traveling with our clients."
Kiba grinned, showing his fangs. "We'll be the personification of good behavior, right, Akamaru!"
The ninja hound barked in agreement. Shikamaru heard Ino mutter under her breath, "I'd have to see it believe it."
He shared an amused glance with his teammate.
xxx
When she woke up in the morning, she found herself wrapped around Shikamaru for warmth. Even under the blankets that they'd piled high last night, the chill penetrated the tent. Her leg was thrown over his hip, pulling her body closer to his. Her hand had slipped under his shirt during the night seeking the warmth of his skin.
She needed to maintain more focus so she wouldn't find herself spooning with him again. She didn't want to give him the wrong impression. She'd been forced to deceive him once and she couldn't do that to him again.
She'd promised herself that she wouldn't do that to him again.
As she extricated herself from her mission leader and the pile of blankets, Shikamaru stirred. She straightened her thermal leggings and tugged on her skirt. Shivering, she rummaged through her pack for the linen wrappings to bind her breasts. When she pulled her arms out of her long sleeve shirt and lifted the shirt to her shoulders, her nipples hardened in the chill of the tent. Untangling the linen in her fingers, she bound her breasts and then tugged down her shirt and slipped her arms through the long sleeves.
Shikamaru groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. She rubbed her upper arms to warm herself up as she picked up their flak jackets from the ground. She threw Shikamaru's over to him. Even half asleep, his reflexes were still sharp. He grabbed the jacket out of the air and flopped back against the sleeping mat.
"I hadn't expected it to be this cold," she said as she sat down by the entrance of the tent to pull on her knee high leather boots. She fiddled with the zipper of her winter coat before zipping it up over her flak jacket. "It's much colder here than in Konoha."
"We're farther north and it's usually colder in the mountains," he reasoned, stretching his arms over his head. He rubbed his eyes. "Is it morning already?"
Brushing her hair back from her forehead, she put on her knit cap. She took her gloves out from the pockets of her coat and slipped them on. With a wry grin, she strode over to where he lay on his back under the blankets. Leaning down, she ruffled his loose hair fondly. "Rise and shine, sleepy head."
A pair of peevish dark eyes greeted her sunny smile. She squeezed his shoulder before heading out of the tent. As the cold air blew in, she heard Shikamaru call out from inside, "Kami, close the flap, Ino. It's freezing out there."
It had snowed again during the night. A layer of the powder that she'd dislodged when moving the tent flap slid down the side of the tent. Neji looked up from where he crouched near the pile of wood that had been their campfire. He was trying to coax flames out of the damp wood. Putting her gloved hands into the pockets of her winter coat, she walked over to Neji.
The mission was billed and rated as an A rank mission, but the level of danger made it a C rank as far as she could tell. The client had requested that a kunoichi be on the team because his son and daughter would be traveling with them during the course of the mission. She'd expected him to go with team 8 – Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. They seemed best suited for the mission. He said that he'd selected her because he believed that she would be best suited for managing the daughter.
Sitting back, Neji sighed, "It's no good; they're too damp. I suppose I could pull the water from them with a suiton jutsu, but that'll take forever."
"I think I packed a camp stove with me," she said, unzipping her winter jacket down to her waist to get at the scroll pockets of her flak jacket. "That should be quicker."
"Hey, I'll get it," said Shikamaru as he stepped out of the tent behind her. Striding over to her, he zipped up her winter coat and pulled her collar up over her chin. She convinced herself that her flushed cheeks were from the cold and not his proximity. "No sense in going to the trouble of setting up a camp stove when a katon jutsu could do the trick," he reasoned.
"Secondary affinities are useful things," Neji observed.
"I know, right," Ino beamed putting her gloved hands back into her pockets as she slouched over to the campfire with Shikamaru.
Shikamaru breathed out a katon jutsu onto the wood that Neji had stacked up over the remnants of their fire from last night. The wood smoked and cracked before catching.
"I untied the traps around the campsite," Neji continued. "Nothing for miles except those snow hares that Akamaru caught for dinner last night."
Taking her hands out of her pockets to warm them by the fire, Ino snorted. "That's 'cause any sane creature would be hibernating through all this."
"Thanks, Neji." Shikamaru nodded rolling his eyes at Ino. "We should reach Ainokura in a couple hours."
Neji had just put the kettle over the fire for tea when Kiba walked out of the other tent, stretching his arms over his head. Akamaru trotted out behind him, stretching his front limbs. Ino smiled to herself as the pair both scratched behind their right ear and then their left in perfect unison. They probably didn't even realize. When two ninja had been on the same team for so long, they started picking up each other's habits.
xxx
The village of Ainokura was in the mountain range in the northernmost part of the Land of Fire. They reached the viewpoint overlooking the village at noon. The remote farming village was set into to a ravine between two mountains. The untouched snow lay like a blanket over the steep roofs of the town. From this distance, Shikamaru could make out about forty homes tucked under the blanket of snow. Tiny pinpricks of movement through the village were people shoveling walkways into the snow.
It had started snowing again as they strolled into the village. The thatched roofs of the homes looked like two hands pressed together in prayer. The steeply slopping roofs had been cleverly constructed to withstand and shed the weight of the heavy snowfalls of the Gokayama region.
Even so, Shikamaru spied a boy standing on one of the roofs nearby shoveling snow off. Pulling down the scarf from across his face, the boy greeted them warmly. His breath puffed out in front of him as he called down to the group of ninja. "Good afternoon! You must be the ninja from Konoha! We didn't expect you for days yet."
Cupping his gloved hands over his mouth, Shikamaru called up, "Yes, we're ninja from Konoha. We're here to see Taira Masa."
The boy indicated the largest home in the center of the village. "I can take you there."
Climbing nimbly down the roof to reach the ladder on the other side, the boy scampered down. He placed his shovel by the ladder before walking over to them. The only thing visible over his scarf and hat was a pair of dark eyes. He was a four to five inches shorter than Shikamaru and looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years old. Shaking the snow off his hands, he shook Shikamaru's hand warmly. His voice was muffled through his scarf. "My name's Taira Masaichi. Taira Masa is my dad."
"Nice to meet you, Masaichi," said Shikamaru.
"I've never met a jonin before," the boy said excitedly. "I bet you guys have some impressive ninjutsu!"
Kiba took a step forward and patted Masaichi on the back heartily. "We've got some ninjutsu that would knock your socks off, kid."
Akamaru barked in agreement.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes exaggeratingly at Ino. She put a gloved hand over her mouth to cover her giggle. He smiled to himself as they continued to the largest house in the center of the village.
Masaichi slid open the door to the big house, bracing himself against the blast of wind. The snow spiraled into the house in a mad eddies. Shikamaru and his team hurried inside so that Masaichi could close the door.
Removing their shoes by the entrance and hanging up their winter coats, they stepped into the pairs of guest slippers lined up on the mat. His face ruddy from the cold, Masaichi waved them into the main room.
A wood fire crackled in the sunken fireplace in the middle of the main room. A cast iron pot rested on an iron base, suspended over the muted flames and a kettle hung from a hook next to it. The smoke billowed up through the beams of the ceiling and into the attic, where it fumigated the ropes, beams, and thatched roof.
A man and his wife knelt in front of the fire sipping tea. The man looked a great deal like his son, with the same dark eyes and hair, though his was streaked with gray. The man's wife had thick dark hair and intelligent hazel eyes. Their daughter sat in the corner weaving at a loom. She stood as they entered, her deft fingers stilling the shuttle. She looked to be a year or two younger than her brother, Masaichi.
The man stood as they entered and bowed to them. "Welcome to my home, my name is Taira Masaichi. I see that you have already met my son Masaichi. This is my wife Sayuri and my daughter Masami."
"Thank you for your hospitality, Taira-san. My name is Nara Shikamaru," Shikamaru began. "These are my teammates Yamanaka Ino, Hyuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and his ninja hound Akamaru."
Masa nodded them, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nara-san, Yamanaka-san, Hyuga-san, Inuzuka-san." Turning to his daughter, he continued, "Masami, please prepare tea for our guests."
The girl startled when addressed. She'd been staring at the shinobi intently and turned bright red when they turned their attention to her. Putting a hand to her flushed cheek, she stood up and said, "Yes, father."
Masaichi nodded and knelt back down in front of the fire. His son sat next to him. The family resemblance was clear. They had the same dark eyes, distinctive nose, and straight brown hair. His wife, Sayuri, went to help her daughter with the tea.
Sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, Shikamaru began, "We received your mission request last week and traveled in haste to complete it."
Masa nodded. "The Taira clan is renown throughout the Land of Fire for our washi paper. The diamyo himself prints his edicts on it. This skill has been passed down through my family for generations. This village is our base of operations, but it is a perilous journey to our shop in Aizo during the winter."
"Your clan is renown as far as Konoha for your washi paper," agreed Neji as he sat down to Shikamaru's right. "My clan, the Hyuga clan, greatly prizes your paper. As so do the Nara and Yamanaka clans."
"Yes," Shikamaru nodded. "Our most important documents are printed on your washi paper."
Sayuri and Masami walked in with the tea. Sayuri set the tray with tea cups onto the ground in front of her before kneeling down to join the others at the fire. Her daughter, Masami, poured the cups of tea for everyone. Her cheeks flushed and her hands trembled imperceptivity, but she managed not to spill the tea.
Shikamaru thanked the girl and took a sip of the tea. It warmed his chest; the pleasant aroma of tea leaves and the hint of jasmine tickled his nose. After a beat, he asked, "With the journey being so perilous, how do you conduct business during the winter?"
"We supply our shop in Aizo during the autumn to handle the small orders made during the winter months. My younger brother, Masaji, runs our shop in Aizo during the winter months. During the months of the summer, my family and I travel to Kyoto to complete the diamyo's annual order."
"I see," said Shikamaru. "So why have you requested Konoha's assistance?"
"I received a missive from my brother that the diamyo requested a large order of very intricate washi paper that we cannot complete from our stock in Aizo. It must be delivered from our home in Ainokura to the diamyo's palace in Kyoto with haste."
His son Masaichi spoke up for the first time. "No one can travel from Ainokura during the winter. The mountain passes are much too dangerous. We can't do it without your assistance."
His daughter Masami interrupted her older brother, saying, "The only passable route takes travelers too close to the witch's house for their safety."
"Witch's house?" wondered Shikamaru.
Masa shook his head. "It's merely a legend of our village. There is an abandoned house deep in the mountains. No one has lived there in recent memory."
Masami continued, "Some of the bravest young men of the village visit the witch's home during the summer to bring back her spell book. Masaichi's never…"
His older brother snapped, "The few who go never return and those who did were never the same. Why would I risk my life for…"
"Enough," said their father sternly. "Do not quarrel in front of our esteemed guests. You must behave yourselves better than this during the journey."
"Yes, father," said his daughter.
"Sorry, father," his son apologized. "I was out of line."
xxx
They stayed the night with Taira Masa's family and left the next morning at first light. The steep and winding mountain passes were too narrow for an ox cart to pass through, so Taira Masa had loaded one of his daihachiguruma carts with the washi paper for them to pull up the mountain. Shikamaru sealed it away into a scroll.
Ino smiled to herself. Shikamaru would often turn his laziness into an advantage. If she had been leading the mission, she would've had one of her teammates haul the cart up the mountain, probably Kiba or Choji if he'd been on the team.
It was a five-day journey through the mountain passes for a civilian, but a much shorter journey for a group of experienced jonin. Masaichi and Masami would have slowed them down if Shikamaru hadn't had the brilliant idea of having them ride on Akamaru.
A snowstorm erupted as they reached the narrow path cut into the mountain. Visibility was low as the wind whipped around them in furious eddies and the snowflakes stuck to their eyelashes. They made slow progress even with Neji leading the way with his byakugan. They had to walk in pairs as the path narrowed. Neji and Kiba were the front guard. Ino and Shikamaru served as the rear guard with Masaichi and Masami riding on Akamaru between them.
"This is too dangerous," Masaichi called, his voice a faint echo over the howling wind.
Kiba and Neji turned back to Shikamaru and Ino. Ino could only see their silhouettes through the swirling snow.
"We're almost clear," Neji called over the howling wind to Shikamaru.
Ino rubbed her gloved hands over her upper arms to warm herself up. She was glad that Neji was leading the way.
"How much further?" Shikamaru hollered over the wind.
"It's not far," Neji called back. "There's an abandoned house in the woods up ahead. We could sleep in the house or in our tents outside."
Masaichi blanched. "We can't stay there. That's the witch's house. It's much too dangerous, even for jonin ninja!"
Neji raised his eyebrows. It was hard to read the expression in his milky white eyes even without the veil of snow. "I can assure you that it's perfectly safe. It's abandoned."
"We'll have a guard during the night," Shikamaru agreed.
The sun dropped behind the mountain as the last rays of light fled from the horizon. The full moon provided some light in the darkness. The frigid wind whipped through the branches. The only sound besides Masaichi's and Masami's steady breaths and the crunch of their footfalls was the wind moving through the trees. The sound was eerie, almost like the moaning of the souls who had lost their lives to the witch.
A pair of eyes gleamed in the darkness. Ino narrowed her eyes; she hadn't sensed any other presences besides their own. A vixen stepped into the moonlight. It was a beautiful beast with gleaming crimson fur and eyes the color of the forest. She scarcely blinked and then the vixen was gone.
Had she imagined it?
The house was derelict. Snow had settled onto the roof, but the steeply sloped wooden roof helped shed most of the weight. A chimney poked out from out of the dense snow on the roof. The construction of this roof was very different from the thatched roofs of Ainokura. Ino was surprised that it hadn't collapsed into the house. The shudders creaked and groaned against the wind, hanging from the boarded up windows on rusty nails. The ivy that had crawled across the side of the house hung dead in the chill of winter.
Ino didn't doubt that superstitious villagers believed a witch lived here. Ino felt a chill that wasn't only from the cold. There was no other presence here, but a darkness hung over the place. It was strange that she wasn't able to feel the chakra of any animals nearby. Throughout the day she'd been able to sense snow hares in their warrens, red foxes in the lairs, and black bears in their dens.
The floorboards creaked in protest as Shikamaru and Neji walked up the stairs. Masaichi stood outside in the cold with Kiba and Akamaru while his sister ventured inside with Shikamaru, and Neji. Masami stuck her tongue out at her brother before following the ninja up the stairs. The front door swung open suddenly as a gust of wind blew through the house. Masami shrieked in alarm. Ino ran up the stairs after them.
Neji grabbed the side of the door before it could slam shut. "It's just the wind."
Inside the house was a single room. A cot rested against one side of the room with a threadbare quilt tossed on top. The giant stone slab of the hearth took up most of the room. Ash and pieces of charred wood was piled in the grate and rusty pots hung suspended from the iron hooks nailed into the brick side of the fireplace.
Ino moved to the chest of drawers near the cot. Taking off a glove, she ran her finger along the thick layer of dust. She opened the drawers one by one to find them empty. She lingered on the top drawer. There wasn't a sound or a speck of dust out of place, but she sensed something there, something important. When she put her hand down onto the bottom of the drawer, it shifted. There was a false bottom.
Inside was a wide and narrow box.
Shikamaru strode over to the hearth and put a hand above the ashes. "Cold as ice," he said. "Neji, could we get a fire going in here?"
Neji walked over and examined the chimney with his byakugan. "The chimney's in decent shape. We'll just need to open the flue."
Masami walked over to Ino. The girl had her arms wrapped around herself. Her face was pale with fright. The only color was the flush of red from the cold. "I don't see the witch's book," the girl noted.
Ino glanced back at box in her hands. "Maybe she took it with her," she quipped.
When Ino opened the box, she was astounded to see five blood red jewels set into the velvet bottom of the box. There were the four empty indentations in the velvet. Masami gasped out an exclamation of wonder and awe. They shone with a startling clarity. However, the beauty of the jewels seemed a shallow veil for the wrongness that Ino felt deep in her gut. There was something unnatural about these precious stones. It was almost as if the darkness over the house originated from these five jewels. But that hardly seemed possible.
"Should we take them with us?" Masami wondered. "They must be worth something."
Ino closed the box with a shiver. "I think it would be best if we left them here. Our mission is to deliver the washi paper and you and your brother safely to your uncle in Aizo, not to pillage abandoned homes in the mountains."
Masami's eyebrows drew together. "The place is abandoned. What harm could there be?"
Ino raised her eyebrows and put the box back in the drawer and replaced the false bottom. "You said yourself that this is the witch's house. Don't you fear retribution if you take something from her home?"
The girl's hazel eyes flashed with greed. "I don't believe in witches."
Ino turned as Shikamaru and Neji walked over to them. Her mission leader, sensing the tension between the two girls, put a hand on Ino's shoulder. "Everything alright?"
Ino nodded and closed the drawer. "Everything's fine."