Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto
Note: Yay! Fourth Chapter up! Srry, this is a little shorter. Also, i wont be posting a chapter tmmw. (hides from reviewers) I have to go to a football game, so i'll be posting the fifth chaper friday, srry:(
The air was way more than tense.
Akina and Temari stood a few feet apart. Both looked calm and confident. They were about to spar, only stopping when the winner drew first blood. Akina had her light blue hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail. Temari's ash-blond hair was in its usual style.
Shikamaru stared up at the clouds.
The past two weeks had been more than interesting.
Especially since Akina had been harder to figure out than he thought.
Sometimes the girl was happy. Laughing and teasing, she was just like any other girl her age. Other times, she seemed to shrink into her shell, as if willing herself to be invisible. This often happened around kids her own age. Then, she was the model of confidence, tending to be quite sarcastic. This was usually around adults.
But then, there was the anger.
One night, Akina was furious. It was like she couldn't control herself. She activated her Keikke Genkia, her eyes becoming a bright, shining purple. She'd raged, tearing down multiple trees and crystallizing half the forest floor. He and Temari had barley managed to get her under control.
After her rampage, she passed out for a day and a half. When she did eventually wake up, she refused to come out of her room for another day, not even coming out to eat.
Only after that had Shikamaru remembered Tsunade's warning about Akina being the death of them.
Now, it seemed all too real.
In any case, it was Temari who suggested the sparring session.
For more reasons than one.
:oOo:
"I think we should enroll her in the Academy."
Leaning against the living room wall, Shikamaru frowned at her.
"She's too dangerous, Temari. The situation isn't plausible. Think about it." He shook his head. "What if what happened yesterday happened at the Academy? She could kill all of them. Easily."
"Which is why I mentioned the sparring practice." She replied calmly, clearly having thought about the conversation. "If we can better understand her fighting jutsu, then we can understand how to discipline her into controlling, or even suppressing, her fits of rage." She shifted to a comfortable spot on the couch.
Shikamaru paused, as if to think, but he wasn't. His eyes traveled to Temari's right shoulder. It was tightly bandaged, but blood was seeping though again. He'd have to redress it.
Temari followed his line of sight. "It wasn't her fault." She reminded him. "She couldn't control herself."
Akina, in a state of rage, had created hundreds of crystal spikes, sending them all flying at Temari at the same time. Luckily, her fan managed to blow most of them away, but Akina hid one away, sending it shooting towards her when Temari had her guard down. She dodged, but not before the crystal spike had planted itself firmly in her shoulder.
It would take Shikamaru a while to get the sound of Temari's bone crunching as it broke out of his head...
Shikamaru shrugged, secretly hating this conversation. "You're being surprisingly lenient." He murmured, shoving his hands in his pocket.
"And you're being surprisingly strict." She retorted, looking surprisingly comfortable for someone with a hole in her arm.
He rolled his eyes, and was silent. After a moment, she turned her head toward him and said, "Come on, Shikamaru. They won't even let her go to school. How cruel can you get?" Temari had a brief flashback of going to school without Gaara. Watching him watch her and Kankuro leaving, not understanding why he couldn't go…
"There's a reason for that."
"Yeah. Fear. And that's a great reason to shun a seven year old."
She has a point. Shikamaru thought. Still, he shook his head. "This is too troublesome. And it isn't a part of our mission."
Temari stared at him, a little surprised. "You can't seriously not want to help this girl."
Shikamaru held up a hand.
"It's not a part of our mission." He continued. Then he shrugged. "But I don't see anything wrong with helping her control herself. As for her going to school…we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Temari's eyes relaxed and she smiled.
For some odd reason, Shikamaru couldn't breath when she did that.
:oOo:
"Hey, Nara!"
Shikamaru lowered his head and focused on Temari. She had her hand on her hip and she looked annoyed.
"You're suppose to be watching, not daydreaming."
"Get off my case, woman."
She rolled her eyes and turned back to Akina. "Ready?" She asked the younger girl. Akina smirked and nodded.
"Right." Shikamaru said. "You both know the rules. The match doesn't end until one of you draws blood or forfeits-"
"Which, Akina, is why you aren't fighting Shikamaru." Temari snickered.
Shikamaru glared at her. Akina looked confused.
"Or someone forfeits the match." He continued. "Understand?"
"Hai." They replied.
"Okay, begin."
Immediately, Akina's eyes turned purple. Shikamaru's mind began to spin. Either she was like Neji, and used her bloodline trait often in battle, or she was a seven year old girl who, not knowing any better, always used her most powerful attack first. Either way, it would be interesting to see what she had in mind. And he knew she had something planned.
Two days ago, he'd been locked in a heated battle of chess with her. (Much to Temari's annoyance and insistence that the two of them were boring.)
He'd won, of course, but just barely (Akina couldn't believe it when she lost. She never lost...). The girl was beyond smart. So it was probably a good idea to believe she had something up her sleeve.
They'd been fighting for about ten minutes when Akina rushed at Temari, throwing three, strangely clear, kunai at her. Temari, her fan showing only one purple dot, flicked her wrist, sending the kunai flying straight to the ground with a burst of air. Akina dodged, shifting into super speed. Temari grounded herself and flung another burst of wind at her.
Akina dodged widely, her speed bringing her closer and closer to the long distance fighter.
Again, Akina threw the strangely clear kunai at Temari.
Temari only repositioned her fan to dodge it.
But when the kunai it, her fan went spinning uncontrollably out of her hands.
Shikamaru's jaw dropped. That's impossible… He thought as it landed firmly in the ground.
Apparently, Akina thought so too. She stared after it, clearly confused. Then, something dawned on her face.
At the same time, it occurred to Shikamaru.
We're surrounded.
A thin, solid wire spun quickly around his body, pulling him forcefully to the ground. He fought against the bindings, instinctively looking for Temari. The wires had her face down against the dirt. She was twisting to position herself better. Akina, like him, was face up, struggling to release her hands and feet.
Three figures strolled out of the shadows.
How did I not sense them? Shikamaru and Temari thought at the same time.
They were each holding a wire curled around their hands. The tallest one snickered. "This was easier than I thought it'd be." He walked over to Temari. "I thought you Sand-nin were suppose to be strong. Ha. Well, I guess it's just because you're a woman."
Then, he did something that made Shikamaru want to rip him to shreds.
He kicked her, first in her stomach, then in her right shoulder as she curled away from the pain.
She didn't cry out, he knew she wouldn't. But Akina did. "Get away from her you bastard!" The girl tried to worm her way over to Temari. Another one, with dark blue hair, tugged hard on the wire connected to her. Akina winced against the pain.
The tall Rogue Ninja laughed, pressing hard on Temari's shoulder with his foot.
Shikamaru's mind twisted uselessly. He couldn't think of a single thing to do as he watched the third one wordlessly walk up to Akina and shove the heel of his hand into the back of her head, instantly knocking her out. He then picked her up and the three of them(after yelling at the tall one to quit playing around) jumped into the trees, out of seeing distance.
For a moment, the wire remained taunt. But they then crumbled to the ground, allowing the duo to get up.
Well, allowing Shikamaru to get up anyway…
He was at her side in a second, bending down to help her.
"I'm fine!" She gasped. Her face was pale.
"You have to get inside." Shikamaru insisted. "You need to lay down or your bleed to death." From the look of her swelling shoulder, Temari was suffering from internal bleeding.
Temari shook her head, blood dripping down the side of her mouth. "No time. Got to go after Akina…" With Shikamaru's help, she managed to push herself up with her left hand, grabbing her shoulder with her good arm.
"Try to get inside. I'll go after Akina."
"No." She snapped. She breathed deeply against the pain for a moment. "We'll go together. No discussion." On her knees, Temari pushed against the ground and was off before Shikamaru.
He jumped after her, following closely, and made a secret vow.
When he caught that ninja, he was going to kill him.
Will they get there in time? And what will happen to Temari's arm? Guess you'll have to wait and find out...
Plz review! And tnx for reading
Time for:
Review Thank You's
ForgottenLovedOne: thank you!
Iwannabeamongoose: lol, i know. It's surprising he still has a 200 IQ after all that, huh?
ThisIsntClaire: lol, tnx for reviewing :)
Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: glad you like it, tnx for reviewing
jimu: i dont plan on stopping anytime soon (though certain siblings of mine dont think i'm going to finish it) lol, tnx for reviewing
SaraDJ: glad you like the notes! i didnt think people would really like them, but i'm glad you did!
ShikaTema.rox.like.hell: i dont know...she might... :)
beerbelly: yep, she's a little jealous... lol, tnx for the review
Haileyamandar: aww, i'm glad you think so! i hope you liked this chapter
Shiva-wolfsbane: glad you like the letters too! nd i hope you liked this chapter, even though it was short too
ForgottenLovedOne: tnx for reviewing