Unsuspected Allies
Chapter 1: The Murasama Blade
Shikamaru's mission
Disclaimer: Naruto is an anime/manga by Masashi Kishimoto. I claim no rights to the characters or original story line.
It was approximately midnight, as Shikamaru made his way to the village gate. His mother had awakened him with instructions to meet Tenten and Hinata there.
He walked leisurely, admiring the silence of the night. The streets weren't crowded with people and he didn't have to worry WHERE he waked, just the direction in which he was walking. Not to say that he staggered down the street. He just wasn't paying much attention. He walked through the streets of Konoha by memory. His attention was focused on his thoughts.
He would get there when he got there. It wasn't like they would leave without him. He looked up at the moon, which shone full and bright against the darkened sky. The illumination of the moon, shining with golden light, showed a ring of the blue sky around it. The golden light and blue color of the sky combined to show a teal colored ring around the moon.
His thoughts wandered to another night, when a teal colored ring had surrounded the moon. It had been the night before Temari and her brothers returned to Suna, in the Wind Country. He had dreamt about it tonight. The Sand ninja had left Konoha a year and a half ago. Shikamaru had not thought about it in a few months. He had been too busy.
"Come on Shikamaru! Get a move on!" Yelled out Tenten's voice from a distance. "I hope you're not sleep walking!"
Shikamaru was brought out of his thoughts to find himself about 150 meters away from the city gate. Damn….I'm almost there already? He wondered about how quickly the time seemed to pass.
"You are late…" the Fifth stated matter-of-factly when he finally joined the group. "You guys don't have any time to waste," she told them, while escorting the trio through the gate. "I accept nothing less then your success!" She stated and motioned for them to be on their way.
"What a pain…" Shikamaru muttered and leapt off in pursuit of the two female shinobi that made up his team.
"Our mission is to the west, close to the boarders of Wind Country," Tenten briefed. "The village is remote and run by the founding family. The family and villagers consider themselves to be a part of both the Fire and Wind countries and cross between the two often," she continued to explain. "Recently the village elder died, leaving the head family divided. There is a family heirloom, originally kept by the elder, called the Murasama Blade."
"This sounds troublesome…" Shikamaru replied. "The Wind and Fire countries are allies. This can cause a lot of trouble."
"Which is why we have been sent to protect the blade," Tenten concluded. "Tsunade-sama did instruct mediation once the thieves are caught…" she paused, reluctant to say more. Thankfully he seemed to deep in thought to notice. "We will receive more information when we arrive at the village of Ise."
At dawn the shinobi stopped to eat. Each pulled out a homemade breakfast and enjoyed their break from travel. Hinata sat quietly, eating her rice ball, which was made to resemble Naruto's appearance. Tenten took note of it with a little smirk. Naruto had left the village a little over a year ago now to train. She found Hinata's show of affection amusing.
Averting her attention elsewhere, Tenten noted Shikamaru's vacant expression. Geez…was she the only one who stayed alert? Shikamaru was supposed to be the leader of the mission, not her.
With a sigh, Tenten stuffed the last bite of her rice ball into her mouth and began to pack the remainder of her rations away. Shikamaru usually stepped up to the position when the situation called for it. For now, she supposed she could use the practice. Pulling out the map provided to them by the Fifth, she began to plot out the rest of their journey to the remote village of Ise.
"If I remember right, the Murasama Blade is believed to be cursed," said Shikamaru, breaking the silence. "I am sure that there is some legend about it," he concluded.
Both of the girls looked at him in surprise. They blinked in unison and froze in motion. The trio stare at one another for a moment in silence.
"Yeah…" Tenten exclaimed with sudden recognition. "Wasn't there a story about it in Ninja Mythology?" She questioned.
"Was that the story about the star-crossed lovers?" Added Hinata quietly.
Shikamaru and Tenten stare at her blankly, until her cheeks turned the color of red-bean paste.
"I thought it was very romantic…" she defended, almost in a whisper.
"What's so romantic about some guy killing himself?" Questioned Tenten.
"He killed himself in order to same the woman that he loved. The curse of the blade is that once it has been unsheathed, it must spill blood." Shikamaru remembered suddenly.
"Don't tell me you find it romantic too?!" Tenten grumbled.
"It's not a romance," he stated. "It is a tragedy…" he trailed off into his thoughts. Weren't the "star-crossed lovers" each from a different country. On from Fire and the other from Wind?
"We need to get going," broke Tenten's voice into his thoughts. "We still have some ground to cover in order to be there before dusk."