- At the gates -
"You're late," Temari called to Shikamaru simply as he arrived eleven minutes later.
"By…" He looked at the nearest clock, "Oh come on, one minute won't hurt,"
"Hmph!" She turned to face the other way, "Come on then, lets go."
"Sure, but first at least tell me where this place is,"
"Err… it's here." She pointed to a large clump of trees on a map.
"In the middle of a forest? How strange… Why would there be a mansion there?"
"I was told it's because the Lord doesn't like visitors, unless they are entertaining, nobody has ever managed to entertain him, and so he tends to ask them to leave as soon as he greets them. He lives in the forest, so that visitors are discouraged from going there, or even finding the place."
"So why are you needed?"
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
"Whoa! Calm down, I was merely wondering why a ninja is needed, if the place is that hard to find, and he doesn't like visitors," Shikamaru hid his sighing.
"Oh, I see, well, I've err… been asked to learn a song, and then perform it for him, in the hope that he can be entertained." She looked very embarrassed.
Shikamaru burst out laughing. He actually had to stop walking to stop himself from falling over. Clutching his stomach, he mocked,
"You? Sing? Sorry, but I really can't stop myself." (One deep glare later)
"I'm sure you're a great singer Temari, please excuse my rudeness," he sarcastically apologized. Temari ignored the sarcasm,
"Anyway, now that you have the mission briefing, we need to get going." Temari pinched his ear so that he got up, off of the floor (on which he had been rolling around with laughter) and they continued to follow the path that lead out of the village, and towards the sound country, which they would have to sail round, in order to avoid it.
- Mid evening -
They had been walking towards the Northeast for about three hours of silence, and it was beginning to go dark. They both decided that it would be good to find a place to sleep for tonight, and then in the morning they could set out shortly after breakfast.
Shikamaru pointed to a large tree with thick low branches covered in dark green leaves, and they set up their sleeping bags under that. Temari threatened to kill Shikamaru, or leave him here if he dared wake her up in the night. About an hour later, Temari was fast asleep, and Shikamaru was still awake, which was very unlike him, but he found it very hard to sleep, knowing the long mission ahead. He had already wanted to go back after just one step outside the village, and now he was stuck under a tree with Temari, hours away from home. He yawned and moaned,
"Why me? Someone please tell me." He rolled over from his back, to face away from Temari, and closed his eyes.
Just then, he heard a low, trampling noise, coming from the other side of the tree. He heard it again. It sounded about thirty feet away. Something was coming towards them. Shikamaru carefully sat up, and peered around the side of the tree, just enough, to see a large bear coming towards them, and it looked hungry. Shikamaru wasn't too worried at first, until he realized that his weapons were right where he couldn't reach them; underneath Temari. She didn't trust him enough to let him keep them with him while she was asleep,
"How am I supposed to guard anything without my weapons?" He moaned at her. She snuffed loudly, but just turned over, still asleep. His weapons still out of reach. He couldn't use his any of his shadow techniques, because the sun had gone down, and the moon was not creating enough light for a shadow to appear. His only remaining option was to try and move Temari without waking her. "Easier said than done," he muttered. He carefully knelt beside her, and put his hands under her side, and slowly began to shove her away from her sleeping bag. Then things got worse, at this; she rolled back onto her right, and caught both of Shikamaru's arms under her, with her head now in his lap,
"Great! What now?" He groaned hopelessly.