After breakfast the next morning, Shikamaru walked up to Hokage tower to get the scroll about living arrangements, as well as their traveling papers
"You and Ken'ichi will be met on the Land of Fire's border by a team of Kiri-nin, just to avoid trouble getting into the village." Tsunade said, as she handed the scroll and papers to him.
After leaving the tower, he walked over to Kurenai's apartment. She invited him inside, they sat at the kitchen table while she boiled water for tea, and he started explaining the mission.
"So you'll be gone for a while then." She said.
"Yes, but I'll keep my promise, I'll be your child's sensei, and teach him how to use chakra blades." Shikamaru said.
The tea kettle started whistling and Kurenai got up to set up the pot steeping. Shikamaru noticed that she was starting to show her pregnancy a little.
"Asuma would be proud of you." She said. "Getting such a high-ranked mission at chunin level, your parents must be as well."
She placed two full teacups on the table and sat back down. After chatting for a bit longer, Shikamaru left to buy some things that he would need; unscented soap, hair ties, and unscented deodorant; typically he used the unscented kind, but the last time Ino had been at his house she'd snuck upstairs and replaced it with a stick of Old Spice; club scent, and it had been too troublesome to replace it. But on missions it was best to use things that would be as undetectable as possible. He picked up the things he needed and decided that he should talk with Ken'ichi. Lady Tsunade had given him a slip of paper that had his address on it, after deciphering Shizune's handwriting he started making his way towards it. Ken 'chi's apartment was just off of Tea Avenue and had a lovely view of the river where the cherry blossom trees bloomed in the spring. He knocked on the door and waited for five minutes before Ken'ichi answered.
"Hi, Shikamaru was it? What brings you here?" He asked.
"I thought we should go over the packing arrangements." Shikamaru said. "I'll have the food we will be eating until we reach the coast."
"That's fine; do I need to bring anything except my things?" Ken'ichi asked, as he adjusted his glasses
"No, just keep your luggage light; you need to be able to carry it yourself without trouble." Shikamaru stated, he was trying to be polite, but it was hard when he saw this man as the person who caused his entire world to fall apart.
"Of course, I've already finished, we're leaving on Saturday, what time?"
"It will take us about a two days to reach the coast. So I would like to leave around six in the morning." Shikamaru said.
"How long do you think the entire journey will last?" he asked.
"If it was just the two of us, and we were walking, about six days, but when we reach the coast we have to meet a team of Kiri ninja from there we'll be taking a boat. So it could end up be more like eight to ten days, accounting for when we join the team from Kiri and how clear the weather is while we're on the water." Shikamaru replied.
"Okay, thank you for speaking with me. I have things I need to take care of here." Ken'ichi said.
Shikamaru left and was on his way home, when he got ambushed by Ino.
"Hey Shikamaru!" Ino said cheerfully. "Are you busy?"
"Not really, why?" He asked.
"Good!" She said as she steered him back towards the downtown area.
She dragged him along until they came to the barbeque place that they usually ate at. When she walked in the hostess asked if they needed a table, and Ino said they were with the Yamanaka party, then brought him to the back of the restaurant where everyone from the Konoha eleven was waiting.
"We thought because you're leaving in two days that you might want to eat here one more time before you go." Ino said, sitting him down at the head of the table.
Shikamaru spent the rest of the afternoon at the restaurant chatting with his friends, Kurenai even made an appearance to say goodbye, because she would be busy with doctor's appointments and making room for the baby over the next few days. Many people said their goodbyes as well because they would be leaving for missions the next day and would not be in town Saturday morning, though Lady Tsunade had given Ino and Choji missions that started later in the day so they could see Shikamaru before he left.
When he finally made it home, both of his parents were out of the house, so he decided to take the time to pack while it was quiet, his mother had this habit of interrupting every fifteen minutes or so while he was getting ready for missions. It took him a lot longer than usual, partly because he didn't like packing and partly because he didn't want to go. It would be his first time living somewhere other than Konoha, the only three people he knew of that had actually live outside of the village other than on missions were; Naruto, his sensei Jiraiya, the toad Sage, and Sasuke Uchiha, though he didn't really count because he wasn't going to be coming back. When he finished packing and had sealed up the food they would need, he went out on the porch to watch the clouds.
Shikamaru closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was lying on a beach, he got up and looked around, and there were no familiar sights or land marks. Water washed over his feet when the waves came in, as he tried to find his bearings the water started rising higher and higher, soon it was up to his waist. Even though he was confused and worried he wasn't scared, he was pretty good swimmer, when the water reached his chest he started to tread water but soon found that his legs were unbearably heavy and he couldn't stay afloat. He went under and started running out of oxygen. Just when he thought he would drown he felt a splash from the surface of the water, looking up he saw a woman swimming towards him, her red hair floating gracefully under water. She pulled him up to the surface and onto the shore, after getting the water out of his lungs she hummed a lullaby that his mother sang when he was very young, and he drifted off to sleep.
Shikamaru woke with a start, gasping for breath, he sat up and looked around he was still on the porch, though some time had passed, the sun had started setting, he heard his mother in the kitchen. He made his way inside and saw his father sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea.
"Are you alright Shikamaru?" He asked. "You look a little pale."
"I'm fine, I just fell asleep on the porch, and I must be a little cold." Shikamaru said nonchalantly.
Dreams never really bothered him, but this one was too real, he woke up with the feeling that he had actually been drowning, and he didn't want to worry his parents, especially with him leaving so soon. The Nara family discussed their days over dinner, avoiding Shikamaru's mission on Saturday, things seemed almost normal in the house other than the stress Shikamaru felt from his mission, and his dream.
Hello again! I hope people are still reading this, maybe I'm fueling someones OTP, or maybe this is just floating around the internet. Maybe I'm in the Matrix, would I be Trinity or Oracle? I could be in a coma in the hospital and this is all a dream. Or Maybe I should just lay off caffeine for a while -.-
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the third installment of 'Doing no, harm feeling no pain'
Should I update my profile so it actually says stuff? what would guys (and girls) like to see? or maybe I should leave it blank and be a mystery. *Evil grin*
TTFN
Writing Impasse