Disclaimer: I do not anything from Naruto nor did I make any money off this chapter. All credits goes to the author.
A/n: So I have been rereading most of my work so that I can get back into the groove of things. I realized I made Tayuya a bit too skittish, I am going to try and move out of that corner. I know I said I would have something for Christmas (that didn't work) I really really appreciate the reviews, I look over them often and it really motivates me, so thank you. I hope these two chapters are still good, enjoy.
Last Time: "This curse mark proves that you are Tayuya of the Sound Village, who is responsible for crimes that you haven't been held accountable with." he said
Aya replied angrily, "What curse mark?" "If you are talking about that weird symbol on my neck..." Shikamaru intervened "That "symbol" is enough proof for me to escort you to my village and have you charged." After answering, Shikamaru looked at the back of Aya's neck closely again to make sure he saw what he saw. Her pale neck (which never seems to see the sun) has the three hooks-like shapes that seem to spiral on the middle portion of her neck. Aya feeling a bit tense after having him look at her neck for so long struggled. Then she said, flippantly "Do you want a picture?" Forgetting how long he was looking at her neck, he released her hair and watched as the braid fell back into place covering her "symbol".
"I don't want to hurt you, but I still want some answers" Shikamaru said while turning to face her. Looking into her eyes nervous sharp eyes, "If I allow you to move, will you not run? he asked.
Aya turned away from him eyes and replied, "Ye…"
"Listen, even if you think you can try and pull a fast one, it just means I can go to the Leader and have him and his men question you" Shikamaru said before she could finish replying.
"I won't run…so long as I feel like I don't need a reason to" she replied giving him a firm look.
He released her from the shadow technique, but still had his hand in position just in case he had to do it again. All Aya did was turn around facing him with an unsure face, while putting some distance between them. Shikamaru was not sure what he wanted to do now. The girl in front of him was without a doubt Tayuya; the mark on her neck was proof enough. However either she is a very good actor or maybe she has no idea what he is talking about. Looking at her carefully he noticed she didn't look like the Tayuya he fought years ago, her hair was braided all the way down to her mid-back, and she dressed in a simple tan and brown dress, and it wasn't exactly like a potato sack bag on her. She did grow in the last few years; at least now he could tell she was a female. While looking at her he noticed that she wouldn't have stood out if it hadn't had been for her hair, she wasn't very eye catching but I guess that could have been the purpose.
She was still short probably didn't grow much over time and her body wasn't slim and toned like he remembered, probably from a lack of training, but she didn't look like she left herself go. He had some many question running through his head, all dealing with why is Tayuya here, why the charade, why no one else seemed bothered, and why he sent on this mission?
All while Shikamaru was standing there, staring at her while in his train of thought, all Aya could do was just wait until he said something, which didn't seem to be happening soon. Staring to feel incredibly uncomfortable she tried break the silence. "Is something wrong?" she asked breaking Shikamaru's train of thought. Shikamaru looked at her and replied "No, I am just thinking".
Aya looked at him and asked "Listen I don't know who this Tayuya is, but something tells me she wasn't a saint, right?"
Shikamaru chuckled, "So far from sainthood."
Unsure of whether or not he was actually going to ask question or not Aya just thought maybe to relieve the tension in the room she should just start up a conversation. However the thought quickly left her when she thought about the fact he may be in some way connected to Kabuto (the man who still gives her nightmares). Shikamaru noticed that the food she left on the stove was starting to boil over.
"You might want to do something about the food." he said
Aya looked toward the stove and completely forgot about the food she was supposed to be preparing for the inn stayers. The food was starting to boil over so she quickly moved it to another eye on the stove while putting it on a low heat. While moving it with haste some of the soup spilled on her fingers, leaving leaving ugly red welts and burns all over.
" Ouch!" she cried.
Aya raced to the sink to relieve the burning sensation of her fingers. Turning on the sink to the absolute cold she signed as the cold water was still adding some pressure to her hands. Shikamaru walked to the sink, grabbed her wrist and removed her hand from the water, not without protest from Aya.
"What are you doing? She cried as her eyes glistened from the pain.
Shikamaru ignored her cries while turning the knob to warm the water some.
"I need cold water for the burn!" she yelled.
"Well unless you want to make things worse I suggest you start off with something not so cold. Obviously you have never learned first aid, or else you would have known that when you burn yourself with hot water you don't add ice or extremely cold water to your hands. Now where can I find a small cloth?" he replied.
Aya was shocked that he knew that, I mean she never burned herself before. But she always believed that if you get burned you use anything cold for a remedy. She kept watching him turn the knob and put his hand in the water to check to make sure the temperature was right.
Shikamaru looked at her and repeated his question, "Where can I find a small cloth?"
Getting out of her train of thought, she pointed to a cabinet where they hold their cloth napkins (but those are reserved for special guest and special occasions). Shikamaru went to the cabin and pulled out a two napkins and put them under the warmer (yet still cool) faucet. Turning off the faucet, he rang the two napkins.
Reaching for her hands, he gently grabbed her wrist bring it towards him. While gently putting pressure on her hand, he put the lukewarm cloth on her hand gradually moving to other parts of her hand. All while Shikamaru was giving equal treatment to the other burns on her hand, Aya was blushing like it was 90 degrees. She doesn't remember ever being this close to a guy before, sure she is close to her father but this guy was a complete stranger. She looked back and forth from her and to his eyes noticing how relaxed he looked. He didn't look too focused but looked firm and attentive to what he was doing.
After a while of dabbing her burns with the cloth, adding more water, then repeat Aya started to relax and not feel so unsafe….at least not at the moment. Shikarmaru didn't have to look at Aya to notice her behavior, and boy was it unexpected. He could feel her heartbeat rise every time he touched her burns. At first he thought it was because of the pain, but surely the former (or current) Sound Nin could handle a few minor burns, right? He noticed she kept looking back and forth at him, and not with a scowl or mean face, but just looking at him. He racing heartbeat and not-so-evil stares were starting to make him a little nervous so he made sure he looked as composed as possible.
When Shikamaru noticed that she wasn't flinching and wincing when he was dabbing her burns with the cloth he asked her to show him the first aid kit. After lightly wrapping her hands with the bandages he heard a small whisper.
"Did you say something?" Shikamaru asked.
"I said thank you." Aya replied.
Aya feeling more comfortable decided she would be the one to start asking questions.
"So who are you?" she asked.
Shikarmaru ignored her question, not really wanting to believe that she was as innocent as she claims she is. For all he knew she could be playing with his head and this whole burn accident could be a façade. Finishing her hand he gently dropped her hand and walked to the other side of the room next to the stove, trying to find some comfort in the chair next to the wall. Noticing that Shikamaru wasn't going to answer her she went to finish preparing the meal for customers who may want to eat for the afternoon.
After she finally finished making the meal, she was putting the meal on plates, ready to place them on the tables. Before she put her big dipper spoon in the soup pot the sound of Shikamaru (who hadn't spoken for the past hour) made her stop in her tracks.
"…" Shikamaru didn't speak
Putting the soup in its own bowl, veggies in theirs, and the stew in the last bowl she placed all the bowls on a tray ready to take them out. Before she could turn around to leave the kitchen, she felt a tug on her braid from behind, she noticed that Shikamaru was starting to unravel her braid.
"What are you doing?" Aya asked both shocked and curious at the same time.
Shikamaru finished unbraiding her hair; he split the hair so he could get a clear view of her neck. The curse marks stood out more since her neck was pale, "could she possibly be someone who looks like Tayuya and has the same curse mark". Orochimaru was a sick man, he wouldn't put it past him to possibly clone his minions in case they no longer held any value…perhaps Aya could be just a clone and the real Tayuya died. The more he thought about it, the more it could have been the case, but if she as just a clone how and why is she still alive. How did she manage to find herself in this village of all villages?
"Well since you messed up my hair, do you think you could fix it so it doesn't get into the food." Aya asked as nice as she could.
Growing up with a "troublesome" mother Shikamaru knew how put up her hair, since the times that his father wasn't around his mother would ask him to do it if her hands were busy. Although his mother had short hair, which he could easily put into a small pigtail. Aya had long hair, so braiding it would probably be the best option.
Starting from the hairs behind her ears, he gently pulled them toward the center and began the braiding process. All the while, Aya couldn't help but get goose bumps feeling his hands in her hair. When he was half-way done she turned her head to say thank you…..
"Hey, what's taking so long with the….", before Ino could finish she looked at the scene before her. Shikamaru was putting Aya's hair in a braid, and Aya was flushed in the face while looking back at him.
"What is going on?.
Finishing what he was doing Shikamaru replied,"Ino, do you remember that mission Chouji and I went on to try and get Sasuke back?"
"Yes, what does that have to do with this?" she asked confused how a two year old mission has to do with Shikamaru braiding the Inn daughters' hair.
"Well, what hindered us from getting him was a special elite team that Orochimaru had used to assist Sasuke as he left the village "said Shikamaru
"Yes, but the elite team was killed off, at least that is what you told in your report?" Ino replied
Turning aroun to face Ino while holding Aya's braid in his hand, Shikamaru commented, "I would like to introduced Tayuya of the Sound village, one of Orochimaru elites."
Ino couldn't believe what she had heard, she remembered the day they had all come back and she worried if Chouji was going to make it. On top of that their Hokage had died because of Orochimaru. Ino looked at the girl who she thought was Aya and wondered and hoped that Shikamaru must have been mistaken but knowing on things normally work he was probably right. "So what are we going to do?" she asked.
Shikamaru released Aya's braid while Aya took as liberty to leave. Ino was going to block the doorway if Shikamaru hadn't shaken his head at her. Ino let Aya walk out of the kitchen, and then looked at Shikarmaru getting ready to start asking questions. "Don't bother, all we need to do is tell Kakashi and the leader of this Village what is going on, it shouldn't be too difficult to explain this situation" Shikamaru said as he left the kitchen with Ino following behind him.
Walking out of the Inn, Shikamaru found Chouji on the sidewalk eating what looked like what was supposed to be every ones dinner. Knowing he was caught red-handed Chouji stood straight up and tried to explain himself but was cut off by Shikamaru who told him they were trying to find Kakashi.
Arriving at the towards to Leaders HQ, they find Kakashi talking to a man who has dark hair and tannish skin so they walked toward them in hopes of finding the village leader. Kakashi noticed Shikamaru and his group come towards and asked the Leader if he could join them. After being properly introduced Shikamaru look Kakashi and asked "Do you know the real reason why we came here?" "Maybe", Kakashi said with a sly smirk (or what sounded like it could be a smirk). Kakashi noticed Shikamaru was hardly in the playful mood (in fact when is he ever) We...well you are here to confirm a rumor if someone is or isn't here." said Kakashi. "The Hokage must have given you a name or some indication of who we are looking for, why it had to be us that came here right?" replied Shikamaru.
Kakashi looked at the Leader and says "They know and judging from his reaction I assume our suspicions were correct." looking at Shikamaru, "Yes, we had business here a while back and we got news from a source that there was a suspicious villager who not only wasn't a native but also part of Team Sound."
A/N: Well I will leave it here, I hope you guys like it. I am so sorry this took so long to post but I finally found my drive so you can expect more stories at least once a month (that is my goal). Please leave reviews and comment on what you liked and maybe something I should have worked on.
