Hello! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update my fanfic but college was crazy and I barely managed to keep my own life together... I hope you keep enjoying my story. It's getting really messy now! Temari and Shikamaru are captives and they are going through hell!
I hope you like it!

Kisses**

*10 months passed*

"We made it!" he said gasping for air.

"Yes we did..." she took a deep breath. "We need to find shelter. I'm so tired..."

"It's because we walked too much..." he said. She was losing to much blood but she didn't seem to noticed and he didn't want to scare her so he didn't tell. "Let's go!"Shikamarusaid putting her arms around his neck to lift her."Upsydaisy!" he picked her up.

And he carried her through the woods.

(...)

"Hello! How are you?! You're trespassing! How do you think you are?!" said an old man.

"Hello sir, we're very tired and she's losing to much blood... Can we stay here for the night?"

The old man frowned.

"We'll work for you"Shikamarusaid.

"Shiraaaaaa~" the man called. "Prepare the bed and hot water!" He yelled while turning away.

*3 more months passed*

The sun was already up in the sky when he arrived to the gates. Once again, alone. A nostalgic feeling was taking over him, a deep sadness and a sense of loss, he was feeling like his heart was ripped out of his chest. The gates were open, he missed the smell of the trees, the heat of the village, he missed everything, but what he missed much was her. Her scent, her naked skin, her lips, her touch... He entered the village and started heading home. He was not living with his mother anymore. After the war his mother left to stay with a cousin in another village. He arrived to his house and everything was so empty, all the plants were dead, the garden was full of weeds and everything was covered in dust.

"OH MY GOD! SHIKAMARU! IT'S YOU!" he heard Ino yell at the door. "I was passing, I saw the door opened and I thought it was some thief!" she said, tears were scrolling down her face. "I can't believe your alive!" She entered and hugged him crying.

He didn't say a word.

"I though you were dead! Everyone did!" She kept crying.

I am dead... He thought while starring at the door.

"Ino, sorry. I need to rest." he said pulling her apart. "Please, leave..."

She looked at him, his eyes were blank, no feeling was shown, he looked tired.

"Ok..." she said. "I'll go..." she turned back at the door "Everyone thought you dead, you should go to Tsunade..." and she left and closed the door.

Shikamaru went to his old room, took of his shirt and laid on the dusty bed. His head was hazy and he felt like a train wreck.

What's wrong with me... he thought.I can't believe I'm back.

Awful images filled his mind. He couldn't forget all the pain they went through when they were captives. All the things those guys did, they destroyed the last piece of innocence in them. He was jumpy, nervous, he was having cold sweats and everything seemed hard. It was hard to breath.

Shikamaru heard something outside and his heart failed a beat. Was it a cat? he thought. His heart continued to pound heavily and it was very hard to breath. He started sweating more and he was shaking. He was trying to stop but he couldn't, everything was hazy and he started losing sense of space.

It was like the air was crumbling around him and he couldn't stop it.

"I can't control this..." he mumbled. "I can't control anything..." and the more he thought about it, the more it crushed him. I couldn't even take care her... he thought.

Tears start rolling down his cheeks, he couldn't breath and the more he tried to stay calm the more he felt incapable of doing so. Panic was taking over him, his heart was pounding so hard it felt like coming off of his chest. He couldn't control the tremors and as much as he tried to breath calmly and deeply the only thing coming of his mouth was hiccups. He started getting nauseous, he couldn't even think straight and barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up. He laid there, in the bathroom floor hoping for it to pass. Shikamaru was unable to control his body, his hands were extremely cold and his face extremely hot, he started feeling his ears burning and he couldn't see straight, he was seeing stains of several colors in the air, purple, yellow, blue...

Shikamaru blacked out.

He waked up the next day with the sun hitting his eyes. Geez... He thought How many hours did I slept? He got up and washed his face, his head was pounding and his eyes were swollen. He lit a cigarette and went barefoot to the garden.

"Smoking is pathetic you know?" he hear behind him.

"Shut up you trobl-" he started turning around but then he realized no one was there.

It's all in my head! he thought I need to go on with my life...

Shikamaru took a quick shower, got dressed and left the house. He tried to go as fast as he could and he wanted to go as unnoticed as possible, not that he didn't wanted his friends to know that he was alive, but he was not ready yet to face all the questions and noise.

When he arrived to Tsunade's office without seeing anyone a feeling of accomplishment filled him. He entered the building and knock on the door of the office.

"Come on in!" he heard.

Shikamaru opened the door and closed it behind him, Tsunade was at the window cloud gazing.

"Tsunade-sama." he greeted.

She turned to him and her coffee mug fell from her hands.

"Oh my god!" she said "You're alive!" she reached him with long steps and hugged him. "We thought you were dead, son!"

He was still feeling very detached of any empathetic feeling.

"Yeah..." he said. "It was a trap..."

"I know it was! We realized that we had some kind of spy among us, after intense collaboration with suna we found inside men. Three here and two there. We manage to capture them, all of them. But what happened?!" Tsunade rushed, she had spent the previous year moving mountains with searches to found them but no team had results or leads.

"We were captives. I don't know where we were and I don't even remember how did we managed to escape. They were so many and there was this girl. Ruthless. Cold blooded..." He was staring into oblivion.

"How's Temari?" Tsunade asked looking at him.

He didn't look back.

"Fine... I guess." he put his hands in his pockets "She returned to Suna."

"We don't have death sentence here, so we'll banished the prisoners once we're done getting information. Ok?"

"Ok..." he said I don't care anyway... he thought.

"What did they do to you, Shikamaru?" Tsunade was worried, he looked distant and empty.

"They destroyed us..." he mumbled "They almost killed us... And then they tried to extract information about things. I don't even remember." he looked at Tsunade with tears in his eyes. "I was useless!" he screamed angrily "I couldn't even protect her from them!"

Tsunade turned away and searched for something in her cabinet in the wall.

"Take this!" she tossed him a container with little pills "It will help you sleep"

He looked at the container and then looked at Tsunade.

"I don't want them" he said still pissed.

"Take them you stubborn child!" she raged. Shikamaru ended up saving them in his pocket.

"I'll go now." Shikamaru sighed.

"Time to face reality, hm?"

"Yeah... Let me know when you have another mission. I don't wanna stay still."

"Ok! I'll let you know!"

Shikamaru left. Tsunade was right. It was time to face reality, he had to talk with Ino, it was the only way to get things straight. He went to see her. After a while walking, where everyone looked at him with surprise and confusion because he was supposedly dead, he manage to find her in the flower shop.

"Hey!" she greeted happily and tried to kiss him in the mouth but he turned the face away.

"We need to talk, Ino..." he said.

"We can talk, no one's here and we have plenty of time... What's wrong?" she knew what was going to happen, he was going to break up with her... She was sure about it...

"I don't want to hurt you Ino... Before I left for the mission we had a fight and I should have settled this with you that very day." he said staring her without any emotion showing in his eyes.

She gave him a bitter smile. "You want to break up, right?" Ino looked away to hide the tears.

"Ino I-" Shikamaru started.

"Right?!" She yelled "I don't know what happened to you and I don't know what you've been through but at least be honest!" she kept yelling "I'm tired of this! Just say it..." she was already crying and that was breaking Shikamaru's heart.

"I don't want to break your heart..." he truly meant that. Ino was very important to him, they grew up together but he couldn't see her as a lover, it was a mistake to think that... She was more like a sister to him, and he just couldn't hurt her like that.

"You already did Shikamaru..." She mumbled cleaning the tears from her face.

"I thought we could work it out." he started, even thought she already knew he was breaking up with her, he owed her at least an explanation. "But I can't do this. I should have told you back then, in that day we argued, that it was best for both to break up and lead separate lives..."

"Best for both?" she said amazed by how cold and pragmatic Shikamaru was being.

"I'm not the man you think I am, Ino..." he continued. "I never forgot Temari and it was always stuck in the back of my mind."

"So why didn't you go with her when she left back then? Why did you stay?" she was feeling disappointed, everything she believed was crushed, for one tiny moment in the past she really thought that he had grew to love her. Ino didn't even bother hiding the tear anymore.

"I..." he didn't know what to say to her, he was just to tired of everything.

"You what?" she leaned against the wall, her heart was hurting so badly, every word he was saying was like a needle trespassing her.

"I just- ... I...I'm sorry Ino... It's really best for both, I don't want to hurt you..." he said again.

"I mourned you..." she muttered looking at the floor and taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry..." he added.

"Just... Shut up ok? Go! Shut up... and go..." she manage to say after a long silence.

Shikamaru turned away and left, he kept on walking through the streets and couldn't help but wonder when did his life became so messy, he lost the one, he hurt one of his best friends... It was like life was a burden to heavy to carry and he didn't want that. He didn't want to carry the burden.

After a long walk he arrived to the river near the village, he remembered all the training he had there with his comrades, they were so lazy, especially him! Shikamaru laid in the grass contemplating the clouds. That freshness brought back a memory of Asuma yelling at him for being too lazy, for staying too comfortable in a training field. Asuma was yelling at him because he was wasting the intelligence he had.

I think he would have been proud of us... Shikamaru thought closing his eyes.

He was enjoying all the peace that place was bringing him. The smell of the trees made him feel like a child again and then, suddenly, he was feeling like he was being watched, he opened his eyes again.

"Naruto..." he sighed closing his eyes again. "Why did you keep staring at me and didn't say anything? Geez man that's creepy!"

"I'ts nice to have you back man!" Naruto said with a big smile. "I never believed that you two were dead! You would trick them into some mastermind strategy!"

"Actually, that's exactly what I did! But it took me ten months of excruciating torture to realize their weaknesses." Shikamaru smiled back.

Talking with Naruto was stressful but somehow very liberating. He didn't bother asking him what happened or why he was looking like hell. He had conscience it was awful enough without people asking questions.

"Tsunade told me a while ago you were in Konoha again so I was looking for you!" Naruto said.

"She did?"

"Yeah yeah!" he added. "Look, she said something about you wanting to have something to do and I think she has work for you. She told me if I saw you to tell you to pass by her office.

"Ok ok, I'll go there later." Shikamaru nodded.

"Let's go and grab a bit together! Kiba and Sakura are at Ichiraku waiting for us"

"Hm..." Shikamau thought twice about it. He was enjoying the peacefulness of that place but his stomach was already growling. "Ok! Let's go!" he said finally.

Seeing the gang again... Shikamaru thought.