A/N: And we're back! Two quick things before we begin so bear with me! The first is that I've acquired the services of my first ever beta reader! Thanks, kudos and cookies to Renting for her mad editing skillz!

Second is that i've analyzed the data provides for authors and only about 2.7% of the actual visitors are reviewing the story thus far...and two people have reviewed twice. I write this for you guys' entertainment and enjoyment, and now Renting is editing for your ease of reading and we'd greatly appreciate it if you let us know what you think of our hard work.

Even if you just review once, just stop by and leave a few words. Praise, Flames, critiques or just a thank you. And now for your reading pleasure...

Chapter 4

Sewing Seeds

The three Doki appeared in front of Shikamaru once again. They swung clubs and crashed into trees, trying to kill him for no reason other than the fact that a flute was telling them to. Frankly, it pissed him off. He didn't get angry much. It usually took a lot of time and energy, but there were quite a few things right now that were pissing him off. He hadn't slept all day, his precious few hours of rest coming before they had discovered the forest fire and he rather liked sleeping. As a matter of fact, I'd rather be back in Konoha, laying on my hill and watching clouds.

CRASH! A hundred year old tree splintered into mulch and Shikamaru leapt away, barely escaping harm. I can't even watch clouds here! Its completely overcast twenty-four seven!

BLAM! A club missed him by bare inches, gouging a furrow a meter long into the cold ground. But what does the Hokage have me do? Make me go on some over-hyped mission I'm under-qualified for. I don't even want a promotion! Now some dead bitch is chasing me around and trying to pummel me because she's not really dead.

Shikamaru kept thinking of a strategy, trying to figure out a way to beat her, but the same result kept coming to mind no matter how he played his pieces. He needed a different approach, one that not only would defeat her, but also push his luck in a new direction.

As he dodged another earth-shattering strike, the beginnings of a plan began to form in his mind.

"Hey!" he called out to Tayuya, making a capital 'T' with his hands in the universal 'Timeout' gesture. To his immense surprise, the Doki attacks actually halted.

"What?" she asked from her position somewhere above him. If she was going to hand him an opportunity to execute his strategy, he wasn't going to refuse. He fell to the forest floor and landed in a soft pile of snow.

"Haven't we done this before? I mean, I'll think of some strategy you can't possibly have anticipated, you'll counter it because Kage Mane isn't quite as strong as it really should be for a hidden jutsu, and we'll end up at a stalemate. Then a blonde kunoichi will come out of the blue and kill you 'cause she's already finished with her fight."

And here was the wild card. Everything else that would happen depended on how she reacted right now.

Tayuya laughed shortly, then it became a sustained bellow: hearty, rude, and every bit deserved. But the red-headed ninja leapt from her perch and landed in a tree just out of range of his Kage Mane. "I suppose we have. What do you propose?"

Shikamaru smirked at the kunoichi. "Actually…I just want to talk."

...

The man's cursed seal glowed heavily, giving power to him that she probably wouldn't begin to fathom. Once he reached his full potential, he'd kick her around like a rag doll. She didn't want to see his level two curse seal transformation. It was the power that had turned Uchiha Sasuke into a crazed monster, turning his back on his friends and enemies alike in the pursuit of something like it. So she didn't wait for him to finish. She tugged the kunai, and the garrote tightened instantly on his neck, slicing into his vital arteries and windpipe. Within a minute, the curse seal was completely irrelevant because its host had bled out.

Shaking her head, Ino threw the kunai into another tree as a sort of stake in case he wanted to make another heroic comeback. It was stupid ninjas who were held in awe of power that gave everyone a bad name. If you start off better than 'em, why wait for them to power up?

She thought she'd done quite well in disposing of her opponent. It was something Shikamaru likely wouldn't be able to match, so her astonishment when Shikamaru returned after his bout was palpable.

Her jaw nearly hit the frost-laden ground when Tayuya walked back to their camp, calmly following Shikamaru at a respectful distance. Her head was bowed slightly in deference until she set her eyes on Ino.

"You! Inferior warrior!" she called out. "Inform Shikamaru-sama of your battle's conclusion."

Ino blinked stupidly. Had she heard that right? Shikamaru-sama?

"Don't call me that," the genius muttered to Tayuya. "And whatever you do, don't talk to Ino-san like that either. Her name is Ino, but 'Yamanaka-san' does just fine too."

"As you wish, Shikamaru-sama." The redhead turned back to Ino, apparently noticing neither her dead partner behind her nor the gaping surprise registered on the blonde's face. By Ino's definitions, that qualified her as dense. Obtuse even!

"Shikamaru-sama would have me apologize to you, and I do so out of deference to him." She didn't add, 'Not out of respect to you', but Ino heard it in her body language.

"Shika-kun?" Ino said, holding on to her consciousness. The urge to faint was growing every second.

"Yeah?" he replied, checking on the children to make sure they were unharmed.

"Can I talk to you? In private? Away from your little mind-slave?"

Tayuya hissed like the snake she used to serve. Shikamaru stepped between the two.

"Tayuya, watch the children, and please do something about your partner. We can't be found here. If you're going to come with us, you have to remain under the radar."

"As you wish, Shikamaru-sama." And she moved off to dispose of her former partner's corpse.

"Yes, Ino?" the genius said a little too casually.

"What…" That word took a lot out of her. She had to brace herself for his reply if she couldn't get the question out. "What is going on here?"

Shikamaru sighed heavily. "It's a lot to explain, but basically she wanted to kill us - well, me - because her orders to destroy Konoha stand until she dies, not Orochimaru. So I used a little jutsu I picked up ICOS to put the curse seal into remission, sort of like Anko's. She figured having Snake Eyes out of her head was worth eternal loyalty. Especially since I told her I probably have to reapply the same seal every week or so."

In her mind, Ino was struggling to swallow the information. Did he really just use an abbreviation that Sakura and I came up with in the academy? In Case Of Sasuke? Has he read my DIARY?

Her anger and surprise had begun to mix in her emotional combustion chamber, and the results were going to be catastrophic. But she had to temper her…temper. They had a mission to fulfill and that mission had already involved children somehow. "Shikamaru, we've already picked up two tagalongs with these kids. What part of a plan could she possibly fulfill?"

And then he uttered the words she never thought she'd hear him say. "I haven't thought that far ahead."

Shikamaru's light mood had begun to fall back into his normal lazy drawl, and Ino felt frustration creeping in. For eighteen years he hadn't let her understand so much as a smirk without hours of research, investigation, and brainstorming. Now he'd been transparent with her by comparison for nearly a day. She would be damned if he was going to shell up again.

I keep asking why you care so much, her inner self wondered.

Shut up you! Shikamaru is…my friend!

Really? So why do you never tell him about the things you and Neji used to do? Why do you always hide your relationships from him? If he's 'just a friend', then you should be open with him.

Ino silenced her thoughts and focused on the spiky haired genius in front of her. Why hadn't she told him? She had always brushed those questions off whenever they were raised. Sakura knew everything, as did Choji. Even Kiba was privy to some things. So why was Shikamaru always kept out of the loop?

Resigning herself to answering that question at a later date, she stared curiously as he bent to pick up her discarded hairbrush from the soggy ground. He turned it over in his hand, examining it as if it were a murder weapon before he plucked a single strand of hair from its bristles and held it up in the light. What in the world is he doing?

Ino stood and turned around to face him. "What in the world are you doing?" She said it in an accusing tone, trying to force an embarrassed confession.

She should have known better than to force anything from Shikamaru. His voice betrayed no guilt as he said quite evenly, "Measuring its peak opacity."

As if she understood or cared how to measure the opacity of blonde hair. The only uses Ino ever found for her hair were as a paralytic agent to use her mind transfer jutsu and to use as a paralytic agent on teenage boys. Sad really.

"Riiiiight," she drawled, turning back to the children. She checked the girl's vitals before picking absently at the tears in her ragged sleeve.

"I still need to report, Shikamaru."

He shook his head slowly, dropping her hair into the snow. "If we report now, we'll look like a bunch of chunin in over our head. I'll go search the rubble in town for our target's body. The fires should have gone out by now. I'm taking Tayuya with me."

Ino frowned but nodded. "I'll stand guard, I guess. Should I set the usual traps?"

He nodded once before leaping up into the nearest tree. "I'll be back soon."

But that was a lie. It was nearly evening when they finally returned, his face covered in ash and soot and wearing a disheartened expression to boot. Clutching a hitai-ate in his hand, he flopped down in the snow next to Ino. She looked down at the item in his grip, noting the symbol to be of the Earth country. Tayuya merely stood beside him, stoically awaiting his every command.

"I'm not going to order you to sit down," he said. He sounded annoyed. "At ease, or whatever."

Ino pointed at the head guard in his hand. "Was that…?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. Iwa nin. There were four of them, and now they're all dead. Our target wasn't among the dead. Either he wasn't home or he got away somehow."

Was that why he was gone all day? Had they been overturning every dead body in the village in search of their mark? If so, she felt useless. He'd been out after not sleeping at all last night and fighting all morning. Where she had killed her opponent, he had converted his into a useful - if annoying - ally. And while she could only set traps to protect two children who may or may not live to see daylight again, he had successfully reconnoitered their destination and gleaned useful intelligence.

"I cooked dinner!" Ino said eagerly, reaching over to the small campfire she'd made and shoveling his portion onto a travel plate. He looked at the pile of food in front of him as if it was alien and she cringed, crestfallen. Even her one small contribution was being looked down on.

She vividly remembered his criticism of her cooking from a week ago and made sure his portion couldn't be considered elderly. He stared at his hands, covered in soot, grime, and day old dead people, not wanting to eat before cleaning them somewhat. Ino realized that a moment too late, snatching his plate back and digging in her pack for a handkerchief to wipe with.

"It's fine, Ino. I'll just-"

"No, hold on, I know it's here somewhere!"

"But I can-"

"No! I've got this! I just have to find-"

"Ino, really." He sat up, wiping his grimy hands on his equally dirty pants in a vain attempt to clean them.

Why was he determined to make her feel useless? It was bad enough that she wasn't suggested for the mission. But now when they were finally out, her own partner wouldn't even let her clean his hands! She turned around, fire in her eyes and finger aimed menacingly in his general direction.

"Shut it, smarty! You've been out all day. Just relax."

Tayuya's eyes flared, still standing over him, but he closed his mouth obediently and began fiddling with the snow in front of him. The sound nin took the cue from her new master and sat, fiddling with the snow as well. Most of the clearing had melted since Ino started her fire though, and he quickly ran out of entertainment.

She was on her third search through her pack when he stood and put a hand on her shoulder gently. "Ino, I'm hungry. I'll just eat it. It doesn't matter."

She sat back, torn between being helpful and accepting his gentle touch without even knowing what was really going on in her head. If she wasn't sure she was making a judgment error somewhere, she would've been sure she was getting overly curious about her lifelong friend.

Shikamaru dug into the plate, dirty hands and all as Ino absentmindedly kept up her search. Finally prying the cloth from her spare equipment pouch, she hurried over and knelt eagerly in front of Shikamaru, who promptly stood up.

Alright, that was funny earlier, but now it's just annoying, she thought acidly.

Tayuya looked at Shikamaru's empty plate with a curious expression somewhere between longing and fear. "Shikamaru-sama. I apologize for bothering you, but I have not eaten in days…"

The two of them looked at the girl, who in turn was looking pitifully at the empty plate. Ino felt her stomach wrench.

"There's more food," Shikamaru said evenly. "Ino, would you mind getting her some?"

Her stomach un-wrenched.

"Hell no I won't feed your new servant! She can get the food herself!"

But Tayuya wasn't in a mood to argue Ino's degrading tone. At the first hint of Ino's permission, she snatched up the plate and began heaping food atop it. Ino blinked, surprised as she watched her and wondered briefly what kind of life she had suffered to be acting this way. If she knew Shikamaru - and Ino knew Shikamaru - he wasn't in any way obligating this girl to tag along. He probably would rather that she not, but the tactical advantage another chunin level ninja deep behind enemy lines provided was too great to pass up.

The first vestiges of compassion had begun to form themselves in Ino's mind when Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts.

"It's time to report," he said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. His dirty, ragged, Ame-costume sleeve. Yuck! No matter how much I'm around them boys are always so gross! At least Neji was neat, though he took it to the extreme sometimes.

Regardless of how difficult and gross Shikamaru was, he was still in command of this mission, so she knelt in a meditative pose and closed her eyes. Leveling her breathing and invoking her clan's hidden jutsu, she sent her consciousness out to find her father. Inoichi's voice sounded much too relieved to hear hers.

Ino! Thank kami, you've been gone nearly a week already. What happened?

We've hit a road-bump here. We got in fine, but the village the gang leader was in was destroyed and his body was not recovered. Shikamaru thinks he escaped.

She tactfully omitted the Oto-nin attack, since that appeared to be strictly Shikamaru-related and he hadn't instructed her on how they would proceed with Tayuya. If she told them now that an unrelated ninja knew where they were, they'd probably scrub the mission entirely.

Inoichi was silent a long while.

Oto-chan*?

Yes, Ino. I'm with Tsunade. She says to pursue this guy with everything you've got. He's our only lead to finding Kabuto and Zetsu. Shikamaru likely has a plan in place already, so Tsunade's giving him full discretion under the circumstances.

Full discretion? But Shikamaru's just-

She trusts him, Ino. You should too. I had to learn to trust Shikaku's intuition as well.

Ino neglected to tell him of Shikamaru's slip-up at the border. Or his acceptance of a former enemy into their midst because she added some honorific to his name. Or the fact that he'd risked both their lives to save some little kids that were entirely unrelated to the mission. Trust his intuition. Right…

Hai, oto-chan. I'll be in contact.

Ino?

Yes?

Be safe. I love you. Your mother sends her wishes. She says bring back any interesting flowers if you can.

Ino smiled inwardly. Her mother had never been a Shinobi, but being raised in a prominent clan of them meant she had to understand that there was no time to be picking flowers on an S-rank mission.

Love you guys too.

She terminated the link and sat up, blushing. Sometimes fathers were so…embarrassing.

"Well, daddy says Tsunade gave you full discretion, so what's our next move, almighty strategist?"

...

Shikamaru frowned at the title, but ultimately ignored it, like he did with most things Ino said. She had never deferred to him as the impromptu leader of Team 10, and she didn't believe the words she was saying now. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, she held a slight grudge against him for being in Asuma's unit when he died. As if his strategies were the reason their sensei had fallen.

Brushing aside the distaste in his mouth and the guilt in his heart, he turned to her anyway, careful to keep out of Tayuya's earshot. He didn't trust the sound nin in the slightest yet, despite the fact that she appeared genuine. She was busy stuffing her face with the rest of Ino's cooking, however, and wouldn't bother them.

"Our next move is to interrogate these children and learn what they know," he said. "We'll never be able to find this guy without clues and they might just have a few. After that, we'll find out what Tayuya knows. I want her to think we trust her more than we do at first, so I have a little something planned."

"I don't care for Tayuya, but…" Ino looked over at the sleeping children, a protest forming on her lips.

"Don't argue," Shikamaru said quickly. "It has to be done."

Ino set her hips and placed her balled fists on them. "I was going to say-"

Ino only put her hands on her hips like that when verbal abuse or physical violence was about to commence. Maybe it was a female thing because his mother, Temari, and Anko Mitarashi all did the same thing. It didn't matter; it was unavoidable at this point. Troublesome.

"We just saved these children's lives from a very traumatic experience. They might not be strong enough to resist just asking them simple questions. There's no need to interrogate them! You and your worst case scenarios are always what get us in trouble! Maybe you should start seeing the good in people every once in a while!"

Thankful that he had somehow avoided a physical confrontation, Shikamaru was nevertheless sufficiently reprimanded. Despite her usual dislike of any harsh methods of dealing with almost anyone, she actually had a valid point.

It bothered him that he had automatically dismissed a compassionate solution simply because of their situation and being deep behind enemy lines. He could not be so closed minded if they were going to survive.

He peered at the sleeping children. They would have to wake up soon. With their injuries long past and nearly twenty four consecutive hours of sleep under their belt, it wouldn't be too much longer. The young boy proved him right one quiet hour later, fidgeting more and more until he finally sat up.

The child instantly cringed in pain, clutching his left shoulder briefly before realizing that his wound was no more. His breath picked up, panic setting in until he saw Ino kneeling near his feet with a ration bar - Tayuya had eaten the remainder of the cooked food - and a skein of water.

"Kaa-san*?" he croaked out. His throat was parched dry from the fires and his voice cracked heavily.

Ino only shook her head slowly, a tear forming in her eye and she gently poured water into his waiting mouth. "I'm not your kaa-san," Ino replied. "But I'm here to take care of you. We won't hurt you."

The boy only looked more panicked at the revelation, but her gentle words and gentler touch kept reassuring him of her honesty. He finished the water quickly and tore into the ration bar.

Kid must be really hungry, Shikamaru remarked to no one but himself. Between him and Tayuya he'd need a local job just to feed them all.

Indeed he was. He finished more than one of their limited supplies before finally settling his mind around the obvious questions. "If you're not my kaa-san, who are you?"

Ino balked at that question, looking hopefully at Shikamaru. He understood her quandary without her saying a word. She didn't want to expose anything this child might later relay, and with the mission solely in his hands, it was up to him to disseminate information.

"We're just travelers passing by," Shikamaru opted to say. No use telling him more than he'll comprehend anyway. "We saw you get hurt and we had to help you. What is the last thing you remember before you were hurt?"

He only had a brief period in which a child would actually be malleable. If he wasn't able to form a positive opinion of themselves, he would have to extract what information he could forcibly before the child locked up.

"I was with my parents," he began, straining his memory. "And a man attacked. He was strong. He did something to my parents…hurt them. And then…nee-chan! Where is nee-chan?"

Shikamaru's eyebrows shot up. He had been coughing up valuable information before changing topics in the blink of an eye.

"She's right here," Ino cooed, moving aside to show his sister, unharmed and breathing deeply. "We were able to save her too, thanks to him." She smiled and pointed at Shikamaru, who sighed heavily at the unwanted attention.

"You saved my nee-chan?" he asked, eyes betraying a mix of awe and appreciation.

"More or less," Shikamaru grumbled. "She did all the real work."

Ino rolled her eyes and returned to questioning the boy. "You said there was a strong man. What do you remember about him?"

The child's brow furrowed and he began to wail loudly. "Blood! There was blood! He killed everybody!"

Shikamaru knelt in front of him, shushing him. "Hey, you have to stay quiet. You'll bring him back if you're too loud."

Instead of having the desired effect, this only seemed to make him cry louder. Kami, he was terrible with kids!

Ino reached into her bag. "Baka! Why'd you have to go and say that? He obviously doesn't like that guy!"

"How was I supposed to know he'd cry louder? I'm not a nurse!"

Ino finally pulled something out of her bag as Tayuya looked over to see what the commotion was. "Shikamaru-sama, would you like me to silence the whelp?"

It was now Shikamaru's turn to roll his eyes, annoyed. "No, don't silence the whelp. I mean the kid! Ino, shut him up!"

"On it," Ino said, and rammed a candy bar into his open maw. It was like plugging a leaky faucet.

Silence settled so quickly Shikamaru thought he heard an echo. The three ninja peered around, waiting for someone to burst from the trees. When no one appeared to be forthcoming, Tayuya resumed to her smashing of their foodstuffs and Ino returned her attention to the child.

"What else do you remember about your village? From before the attack?"

The boy looked eager to answer a question he understood. "I went to school at the school, and played at the park, and I peed in the fountain."

Making a mental note to avoid the land of Frost's water fountains, he took over the questioning. "Is there anywhere you weren't allowed to go in the village?"

Maybe his parents would have known about the gang leader. It didn't appear to be a well-kept secret, and it was dubious that they would let their children visit his house on weekends to pee in his fountains. It was as good a question as any other he had.

"Yes," the boy said, looking sheepish.

Now we're getting somewhere.

"Kaa-san said I couldn't go to the park anymore."

Ino slammed her palm in her face. "This is getting us nowhere."

But Shikamaru shushed her, listening as the boy continued. "And then Kaa-san said I couldn't go near the bad man."

Both the Konoha nin perked up at this. "The bad man? What does he look like?"

The kid shrugged. "Nee-chan saw him once, but I only know he has a scar."

The boy mimed cutting his face in diagonally from his chin to his hairline.

Shikamaru grinned slightly. That made him quite distinctive.

Tayuya spoke up once more. "Shikamaru-sama, I met a man like that."

He contemplated drawing a line between what she could and couldn't listen in on but his curiosity got the better of him. "When and where?"

"In the destroyed village. My contact spent several minutes talking to him in one of the abandoned houses."

The wheels churned in Shikamaru's head. If the person who was supplying Tayuya with information knew their target, he likely had some involvement with the man and possibly knew of their mission. Was it a coincidence that the village was burned down just before he'd gotten there? It seemed likely. He needed to think, and luckily, he had all the time in the world to do it.

Sitting down in a cross-legged pose, he joined his fingers together in the eternity symbol his father had taught him. All things are connected. All life flows within the circle. It was a trite phrase and he thought it more out of habit, but it helped him focus. He put all the pieces he knew into place, considering where the connections were.

Tayuya attacked. Met gang leader beforehand. Village destroyed in the battle with Iwa-nin. Met Tayuya five years ago. Ino used quotations when she said troublesome for the first time right before I left for that mission.

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance as that particular memory found its way into his meditation. He forced the blonde kunoichi from his thoughts and continued.

Iwa nin are dead. Hitai-ate recovered. Her contact probably informed her of us. 'Bad man' left just before attack. Too convenient. A ruse?

He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something right in front of him. Opening his eyes, he glanced around the camp for the hauntingly obvious observation. Come on. What is it?

Rucksacks, trench knives, children, Tayuya, second Oto-nin…Ino. And it was on. A hundred thousand images of Ino flashed through his mind at once and he rocked back from the intensity. He'd purposely avoided thinking openly about her and this was why.

He was subjected to images of his favorite moments with her, his least favorite moments with her, and things that he only wished would happen that made his cheeks burn with shame. The fact that she arranged flowers as her day job, her smile, her clothes…

ding! A small light bulb went off in his head and he reconstructed the clothing she had been wearing the day before he'd fought Tayuya. Purple shirt with white half sleeves, bandaged shoulders, waist and legs, skirt, sandals. Hitai-ate at her wonderfully slender waist.

Ding! Bigger light bulb. Her waist? He secretly hoped for an excuse to stare at her hips now.

Nothing. Damn.

Hitai-ate? She's not wearing one now. They took it at the-

DING!

Shikamaru's eyes snapped open. "Tayuya, your mission was to kill me?"

"Unofficially only, Shikamaru-sama. I apologize for any-"

"So your contact is still around waiting for you to return?"

She nodded.

Shikamaru leapt up turning to Ino. "She and I are going to capture her contact. We'll bring him back. You'll mindswap and tell us why the bad man left before he destroyed the village."

He grabbed his kunai pouch and Tayuya leapt to her feet, ready to obey any order.

"Wait, Shikamaru!" Ino said, exasperated. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Can't wait," he said, giving her his default brush-off. His face was probably still red from his earlier revelation of exactly how far ahead his mind could plan their relationship going. He needed space from her to clear his thoughts and conveniently, he didn't trust Tayuya to stay with the children.

What he said was, "We have to get to this guy."

Without another word, he leapt away and Tayuya followed. Ino flopped back down with no one around to see the hurt expression that only he could seem to coax from her.

Well, almost no one.

"Is the Pineapple Man chasing the bad man?"

I'll try to get the next chapter written up ASAP, so once again, take a few seconds and let us know what you think!

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