Chapter 4 of Thunderclouds

Disclaimer: I continue to own nothing.

And with one last look at her former idol, she stepped out into the hallway and into her future.

The sunset was beautiful that night, a reflective canvas of vermilions and corals, highlighting the prominent features of the past and present hokages. The clouds were only shining the most vibrant yellows back to the earth. Konoha looked like a dream and Shikamaru was strangely glad that's how he was to leave the Leaf village.

After one last look at his previous home he turned to his mission partner. Tenten looked like she had just lost her best friend, Shikamaru tactfully remembered, she had. They both had. His chest flinched. It was hard to cope with the idea of not seeing his troublesome mother again, and his whipped father.

So he contented himself with the clouds. But as they faded into the night he realized there were no more clouds to distract himself with.

"Tenten-" Shikamaru started.

"No, I'm sorry, Shikamaru-san, but I'm not in the mood to talk, right now," She interrupted quickly.

"Tenten-" Shikamaru started, again.

"What! What more could you possible want?" She finally cried, "It's all your fault! If you hadn't "checked" my stupid neck, if you hadn't brought me to the hokage, I would be finishing a shift as a guard today!"

Shikamaru had never felt so insulted in his life, his fault? His fault? If it were anyone's fault it was Orochimaru's for being too stupid to solve a problem. If they had to blame themselves, it was their own unsightly lack of skills that gave them the marks. There was plenty of blame to go around but not all of it was for Shikamaru.

Tenten was hysterical. She was banging her fists against an insignificant looking Shikamaru. He grabbed her wrists, opting not to use his jutsu, and in the pale glare of the moon attempted to calm her down wordlessly. It didn't work. She struggled fiercely against his hold on her wrists.

The Nara kept his voice low, "It's Orochimaru's fault. If I hadn't taken you to the hokage we would probably both be dead soon, or worse, killed our fellow villagers. Remember, what happens to me, happens to you. If I lose memories of people, you do too. If I die, you do too. I saved your life."

He felt Tenten slump against his hands. He didn't let go until he heard the words come out of her mouth as she whispered contemptuously at him, "I wish I didn't save yours."

I wish I didn't save yours. The words washed over his consciousness as he walked silently after her. Women are so troublesome, first they're quiet and then they explode nonsense. Tears built up in his eyes as he remembered his mother yelling at him, three hours after being happy for his promotion.

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks. Why should he stay with a woman who clearly hated him? All that would happen was she would kill him in his sleep. No she wouldn't, the seal. He took another step forward and halted again. Tenten was a perfectly capable kunoichi; she could take care of herself. She's still a woman, I can't just leave her alone… but they couldn't be partners in this if she hated him and he, personally, didn't care left or right about her. Right?

The male chuunin held back a while longer, waiting for a logical decision to come to him. Finally he decided and sped off in the direction that, for reasons he couldn't place his finger on, made sense.

Tenten shook her head. She truly shamed herself. That was the rudest thing she had ever said to a person she should have been thanking. The worst part was she hadn't even turned around yet. To take back her words would be even more humiliating than saying them in the first place.

Was she being honest though? Tenten sifted through her various opinions on the matter. In a sense she wasn't even sure she saved him. Clearly the enemy didn't want him dead, anyway, so there was no reason to get worked up about her throwing a shuriken in the foe's general direction.

Tenten hadn't saved his life at all, come to think of it. But the laziest man in existence still found the effort in himself to find her and bring her with him to keep them both alive. Her ego snapped in two as she thought of this. Until now, she had thought herself a fairly kind person.

She had to apologize to him. Her face worked itself into a frown. Shikamaru's presence wasn't anywhere to be felt. That's strange… wasn't he just there? Tenten noticed something else. Chakra! But it wasn't Shikamaru's, someone was there. Deftly she leapt off her tree branch in the reverse direction.

Or at least that's what she tried to do. In mid leap Tenten noticed a thin and barely visible string attached to her leg. Had she been so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice a trap? Without thinking she whipped a kunai out of her sleeve and flicked it at the offending rope.

The kunai bounced off without even leaving a mark. Her eyes widened, I just sharpened that yesterday! Not defeated so easily she threw two shuriken at a branch higher up and strung a chakra rope around them. She hung off her own rope and fought unsophisticatedly with the twine imprisoning her foot.

It was hair! But it wasn't normal hair. The hair looked as though it was camouflaged to look like a log. It was razor sharp next to her sandal, which she assumed was for cutting her foot off if given the chance. It was stronger than anything she had ever dealt with.

Tenten groaned loudly. In order to escape she would have to perform her greatest technique. It would rob her of nearly all her chakra and if that happened she could be easily killed by the enemy. If I die, you do too. She shuddered as she remembered Shikamaru's cryptic words. Wasn't the whole point of them traveling together to prevent their deaths?

She had no choice. She would have to use her forbidden technique if she had any hope of saving herself and Shikamaru, who she realized still hadn't found the decency to show up. So with her right hand hanging desperately onto her chakra rope and her left hand fumbling for the scroll she begged every god in the heavens to let her survive this, as an apology to Shikamaru.

Tenten bit her thumb and wiped the blood across the scroll, "Leg katana no jutsu!"

She shivered as the unpleasant sensation of her leg turning into a chakra infused katana took place. Her toes hardened into a tough steel with her blue aura coursing through it. Tough enough to cut through anything…

Even hair! A joyful battle cry erupted from Tenten's lips before she passed out and dropped to the forest floor.

--:--Author's Note--:--

Gah! I'm sorry for the extremely short chapter and the cliffhanger. I just… I just… had to. I'm also sorry I won't be able to update as frequently. Summer school really is a bitch.

Please review, for the sake of my ego and sanity.