Day 1

The Decision, The Bet and The Deadline

--

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura grimaced, keeping her head down as she made her way to the hospital. She clutched her books a little closer to her chest, hoping that the effervescent blond would just leave her alone, she was too busy to deal with him.

"Sakura-chan!" he caught up to her side, giving her a winning grin.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" She said with a glower. The urge to smack him over the back of the head was strong, but it had been years since she'd been able to do that. Years of training meant that she would do real damage with her playful punches, and as tempting as it was, she didn't want to genuinely injure her old teammate. "I'm due at the hospital."

"I'll walk with you," he said, falling into a bouncy step beside her. The slavering grin on his face told her what his next question was going to be.

Sakura sighed, tired. "Tsunade-shishou hasn't told me who the next Hokage is going to be."

"She doesn't have to," Naruto announced proudly. "It's going to be me for sure."

She gave him a sly smile and then turned her face away smugly. "I don't want you to be too disappointed, but it's going to be me."

"Sakura-chan! Don't say that!" Naruto cried, thrown off balance by the statement. He ran a few steps to catch up to her, his amphibious eyes narrowed in poor humour. It made Sakura giggle, bumping him with her hip. Still as gullible as when he was twelve years old.

"Shishou hasn't decided who it will be yet," she admitted, taking pity on him. "But she'll never pick a baka like you."

"You're so mean, Sakura-chan," Naruto grumbled.

"Maybe I wouldn't be," she raised a menacing fist, "If you'd stop calling me that!"

He leapt back, holding up his hands to placate her. "Yes, yes, sorry, Sakura."

She turned and continued walking, noting dryly that it was a pity that such a good looking guy was such an idiot. He'd been a stumpy little sprout when they had first been assigned together, but now his stringy blond hair had grown into a golden mane, his pudgy little body into a mass of rippling, well trained muscles, and his sage features gave him an air of dignity that she considered outright deception. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he was still the overexcited fool that she first met many years ago.

They passed Icharuka Ramen and Sakura saw another candidate sitting inside with his old team. "Shikamaru!"

He turned lazily to face her, giving a wave. "Morning, Sakura."

"Tema-chan's in town," she said with a grin. The shadow-nin sighed a long suffering sigh.

"Thanks for the warning," he drawled, his shoulders slumping.

"Tema-chan's in town?" Naruto asked. A smile brightened his face. "Does that mean Gaara's here, too?"

"No, she's here on business." Sakura felt relief at seeing the front doors of the hospital. It was going to be hell until the festival, he'd be grilling her on Tsunade's decision until it was announced. "I have to go, it's a busy day today."

"Wait, when're we going to find out who the Hokage is?"

"Don't you know anything, baka?" She thumped him with one of her books, leaving a bruise on his arm. Naruto jumped back, rubbing the sore spot. "It's being announced at the Hinokami Festival."

"Yeah, but when's that?" he moaned.

Sakura sighed, turning into the building. "39 days from now."

--

"Shikamaru!"

He turned, seeing Sakura walking with Naruto. He offered a wave. "Morning, Sakura."

"Tema-chan's in town." Her grin was just the perfect mix of smug and unsympathetic. Shikamaru sighed. They all loved to watch the Sand kunoichi torture him.

"Thanks for the warning," he grumbled, turning back to his ramen. Ino smirked, looking at him out the corner of her eye, and Chouji grinned into his bowl. Great, perfect, this day was starting out so well. He glanced at his old teammates. "What?"

"Nothing," Ino said, barely containing her grin. She buried her nose in her ramen. "Just wondering if that means you're getting another tattoo."

Chouji's laughter boomed through the stand and Shikamaru scowled. They were never going to let him live that down. Chouji slapped him on the back, making him cough. The big man only got bigger with every year. He grimaced at his friend. "Shut it."

"Who's Tema-chan?" The squeaky voice next to him reminded him that Shiho was with them. Her bug eyed glasses peered up at him and he almost laughed.

"An old friend," Chouji replied for him. "Ask to see what happened last time she was in town."

Shiho looked at him curiously, obviously not wanting to ask but dying to know. Shikamaru cursed under his breath, rolling up his sleeve. The cryptologist blushed bright pink when she saw the tattoo on his upper arm, three purple suns. The symbol looked oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

"Tema-chan," Shikamaru huffed, pulling his sleeve back down, "is someone you shouldn't make bets with. Let's go before she finds me and forces me to spar until she breaks my arm or something."

He tossed a wad of bills on the counter and nodded to the owner. Shiho turned on her chair and lost her balance. She fell forward on her knees with a yelp, feeling the skin scrape off her legs. With a soft grumble, she looked up, bracing herself to stand. She stopped as she came eye-level with a pair of long, smooth legs. A whimper escaped her lips unbidden as she looked up at the owner of the exposed thighs, who peered down at her. Shiho jumped back, cracking her head against the stool she'd been sitting on.

"You wouldn't get hurt if you practised your taijutsu, crybaby," the newcomer said with a cocky tilt of her head.

"I wouldn't get hurt if you didn't hurt me, troublesome woman," Shikamaru growled back.

"Tema-chan is Sabaku no Temari?" Shiho choked out, letting the Nara help her to her feet. She trembled a little looking at the Suna-nin. She realised where she'd seen the three purple suns before, at the martial demonstration a few years back, on the Sand princess's tessen.

Shikamaru leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms. He appraised the blonde in front of him, ignoring the snickers from his friends. "It's been a while, Temari."

"Three years," she said with a nod, hands on her hips. "I heard what happened, I'm sorry."

He knew that she was sincere, but something about the way she said the words was sterile, definitely not comforting. All he could do was nod his acceptance of the condolences. "You're hunting someone in Konoha?"

"I hope not." Temari tossed her hair, which had grown longer since he had last seen her, the ponytails now flowing with the movements of her head instead of sticking up akimbo. "Let's walk."

Shikamaru nodded, but Shiho caught him by the elbow. Her cheeks turned pink and she was flustered as she spoke, her eyes furiously avoiding his face. "Shikamaru-kun, could you come to the cryptology unit today? There was a message intercepted from Wind that we can't decipher and I was hoping..."

Her voice trailed off as a hand clamped down on her shoulder, just a degree shy of painful. Shiho froze, feeling Temari's fingertips dig into her upper arm. Fear gripped her coldly and she heard the wind-nin's sacharin voice. "He'll have plenty of time for your errands when I'm done with him."

"I'll be over there this afternoon, Shiho," Shikamaru assured her, walking out of the stand.

Temari nodded to the other shinobi. "Nice to see you again Ino, Chouji."

They fell into step together and Shikamaru chuckled wryly, shoving his hands in his pockets. He let her lead the way, not sure where she was planning to lead him. "Did you have to scare Shiho like that?"

Temari smirked. "I didn't ask you to walk with me for fun. I need your opinion on some matters in Konoha, she shouldn't have interrupted me."

He looked her over again, noting her stupidly short skirt, but more importantly she wasn't carrying her tessen anymore. Now two smaller versions were strapped to her back. Other than that she hadn't changed a bit. "New weapons."

"Yes," she answered monotonously. "I'd show them to you, but I'm forbidden from drawing weapons in town. If you'd like to go to the training fields and spar..."

"No," he said firmly, scowling at her. She grinned childishly, showing a thousand white teeth. "Do you have something to say or are you just trying to talk me back into the hospital?"

Temari's face turned grim and her eyes scanned the streets, watching the people pass by. A few shinobi, mostly civillians. She turned her eyes straight ahead. "My mission can't be discussed in public. It took a lot of negotiating for me to be able to tell you about it, but I'll need you to come to the embassy to discuss it."

"That serious?" Shikamaru saw the look on her face and didn't need an answer. He scowled, looking at his feet as he walked. He licked his lips, glancing over at his blonde companion. After a moment's hesitation he spoke. "I didn't know that you made hunter-nin."

"You're still not supposed to know," she said with a quirk of her eyebrow. A frustrated pout crossed her face. "I couldn't tell you."

He supposed that was as good as an apology, and as close as he'd get from her. "I understand. It's a shame you weren't around."

"I've been needed in Suna too often to be travelling back to Konoha. It's nothing personal."

"Sure it's not," he ribbed, a smirk crawling onto his lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eyes narrowed playfully. She stopped walking, cocking her head and glaring at him accusingly. "You think I've been avoiding you?"

He knew he was asking for trouble, but it had been three years and he loved to see her feathers ruffled. With a shrug he looked away from her. "It's okay. If you needed to run to Suna to lick your wounds it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know I'm a hard guy to get over."

Temari laughed derisively, tossing her hair. "Nara, you couldn't get me if I gave you a step-by-step manual and a thousand years to try with."

"A thousand years?" Shikamaru leaned against the nearest wall, appraising the hunter-nin. Thirteen years ago she had wriggled under his skin, forced him to rise to the challenge. She hadn't lost that talent over time. Just hearing her say that he couldn't do something was reason enough to object. "I'll do it in 39 days."

"I have to see this," she said smugly, crossing her arms. "Any particular reason for that amount of time?"

"The Hinokami festival. By midnight that night you will kiss me." He held something in his hand, offering it out to her. She reached out and took the shougi piece he offered, turning it in her hand thoughtfully.

"39 days?" she repeated, toying with the piece.

"39 days," he confirmed with a confident nod.

Temari laughed and pocketed the pawn, accepting the bet. She turned and continued toward the embassy. "Keep dreaming, Nara."

--

Kakashi unfolded a set of blueprints, setting them on his desk. He pinpointed his objective and paused, looking for an easy access point. No matter how he considered this it was very inconvenient. He should have retrieved it years ago, before it was in use, but he had hoped that this day would never come, and now he'd need the help of his team.

His brush flicked, drawing a dozen possible routes on the blueprints, anything to show his teammates when they arrived. This was borderline suicidal even with a good plan. There was no use complaining, Seiya had apparently paid dearly for her scroll, and he would have to, as well.

A foreign chakra signature made him stop his drawing. "You should be masking your chakra."

"I didn't want to surprise you, Kakashi-taichou." Okama Seiya lay on his sofa, stretched out with her eyes closed. Lying on the floor beside her was an enormous scroll. He relaxed as he felt her chakra disappear.

"You won't be surprising Sabaku no Temari." He gave her a smile, easing up on her. "It's good to see you here safe."

Without opening her eyes she rolled the scroll toward him. "A miracle, I assure you. The Godaime inherited that."

Kakashi picked up the scroll, examining its seals. The genuine article, stolen from the Kazekage's household. "How long until they realise it's missing?"

Seiya shrugged, "Hard to say. It wasn't being used and I left a replica. Knowing Gaara-sama he'll figure it out in a few days, but he can't do much worse than sending Temari-chan after me anyway. Uruhana should be here in two days and Mist hasn't figured out that he's gone yet, so we're about as poor for luck as we're going to get."

"That's good to know," he nodded, feeling no humour at the situation. They only had so much time before Konoha figured out that he was hiding two missing-nin, then he'd become one himself.

Seiya sat up, running her hands through her shock of hair. "Have you retrieved your scroll yet, taichou?"

"Not yet," he replied, turning back to the blueprints. "I'm working on the infiltration plan right now. We may have to wait for Uruhana, it's going to be difficult."

"How difficult? Is the Hokage's office investigating you?" Seiya sat bolt upright, her eyes narrowing in panic. "I thought that you had this under control, you should be able to just walk in and take it."

"No, it's fine," he held up a placating hand. "The Hokage doesn't suspect me. The scroll isn't with the Godaime, it's in a clan hall."

"So?" She stood up, beginning to pace. "Just slip in there in the night and grab it."

"That's the problem," he presented the blueprints to her and she leaned over his shoulder. "It's in use, and going in there at night would be a very bad idea. It's holding up a very powerful seal over the surrounding forest, one of the clan must be sealing something in there."

"I still don't understand," Seiya shrugged. "What's to stop us going in there while they're asleep and grabbing it? Whatever they're sealing can't be as important as our mission."

"The problem," Kakashi said, meeting her eyes evenly, "is that you don't go into the Nara clan area at night if you want to walk out again."

Seiya snorted, tossing her hair and slinking back to the other side of the room, her imposing figure blocking out the light from the window. She stretched, impressive muscles rippling down her back, the fell back into a familiar hunch. "If we can't pull this off we should send these Naras out there instead of us. More importantly, the bitch will never let us forget it."

"You don't have to call her that," Kakashi reminded her politely.

"Probably not," she agreed, looking out the window. "But it's more accurate than her name."

"Mei's not so bad," he murmured, still concentrating on the blueprints. "If you'd stop aggravating her you wouldn't dislike her so much."

"Can't help it, she gets under my skin." Seiya turned back toward him. "I guess I'll have to get used to it, we're going to be spending a long time together."

"We're going to need Uruhana for this," Kakashi said with finality, dropping his brush. "We'll have to leave quickly after the theft, let's wait until they're both here."

Seiya shrugged again. "The ritual itself won't take too long, we have time."

"A week to formulate the plan, a month to execute it. It has to be done by the festival." Kakashi examined his work again. "39 days."

--