Day 7: Sister

A crime alert alerted Shikamaru to the problem; this time, it was a high-tech company that's sensors were momentarily tripped, then restarted. Nothing that would alert the police, but he was more wary; with this string of robberies, 'nothing' could very well turn into something.

Unfortunately, most of his team was celebrating.

"Lighten up, Shika," Sakura had told him earlier, waving a pink banner around, "Valentine's day is supposed to be fun."

Even Chouji had managed to find himself a date; Naruto's mentor had stopped by a few weeks ago, and his present charge, a redhead martial artist with a knack for swordfighting.

The only ones left were Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru himself.

The poor girl, Shikamaru thought, she just can't get Naruto to see her like that, can she. Well, at least he's not pining over Sakura, anymore.

At the moment, though, the skilled strategist was grateful that the shy girl hadn't managed to secure a date with the blond, since they were the only ones available to answer the call.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto said as they made their way to the scene of the (possible) crime, "Looks like we're gonna be spending our Valentine's day together."

She blushed a crimson red, and squeaked an unintelligible response.

Shikamaru smirked. Obviously, the blond didn't realize her feelings towards him. Oh well, he wasn't one to meddle in those sort of things, as it was too troublesome.

"We're here", Shikamaru spoke, halting them.

"Hinata, check to see who's there."
"There are multiple heat sources. But, this building is supposed to be open now, isn't it? Today being a weekday and all."
"I'm not sure," Shikamaru postulated, "but I distinctly remember seeing on the news that this company was letting their employees off for Valentine's Day"

"There's only one way to find out for sure," Naruto quipped, then he charged the building, as always, not waiting to hear out the plan.

So it's Naruto's fault that we're in this situation now, Shikamaru thought bitterly. With no choice but to follow the dobe, they walked straight into a robbery. From the reactions, Shikamaru figured out it was the same two that had been in charge of the distraction while the third villain stole something from right in front of him. This time, though, it seemed as though they had replanned their strategy- all three villains were there today. So were three unconscious bodies- apparently only these three workers decided to come in today.

Now, the fight was about evenly matched.

Hinata and the villain from the other day were in hand-to-hand combat, while the dobe took on the redhead, an earth manipulator with an affinity to the sand collected in a jug strapped to his back. And he, Shadow, was stuck with a drama king with a creepy puppet.

"Give up now," the puppet guy was monologuing, "for there is no defeating The Puppetmaster,"

Shikamaru scoffed. It's not like I'm actually trying to defeat you. I'm a strategizer, not a brute force type.

Before he could retort verbally, though, Hinata's fighting partner spoke up. "Just shut up and get the thing, Puppetmaster" she shouted.

"Whatever, Phantom," grumbled the puppetmaster.

A thud drew everyone's attention. The sand manipulator had managed to temporarily stun Naruto by slamming him against the wall with a sand hand.

"Nine-tails!" Hinata cried, distracted by his fall.

Phantom took the opportunity to gain the upper hand. She pulled out a gun from her holster, holding it up to Hinata's ebony hair. It didn't look like an ordinary gun to him, and he sensed her hesitation to use it.

"Don't move." Her voice was steady, however, and she backed towards her team, keeping the blaster pointed on the heroine.

Shikamaru wasted a second on Phantom's emotions, before realizing that his powers wouldn't be enough to overpower her heightened emotions.

He turned his focus to Naruto, trying to convey what they should do.

Suddenly, he sensed Naruto's frustration overflow.

"Naruto no!" he shouted, turning as the blue eyed idiot charged at the woman with the unidentified weapon. Phantom switched targets, aiming at the charging hero.

As she pulled the trigger, Hinata shoved her elbow up. The charge, a bolt of blue power, barreled into the roof, creating a shower of dust and debris.

The dust settled to reveal a dangerous scene. The empath was the only thing supporting the roof from collapsing on top of him and three workers, who were still lying unconscious from the initial battle. A red light was flashing, and every masked man knew what that meant- the police were on their way

"Are you okay, Shadow?" Hinata cried.

"Yep," he breathed, struggling. Was it his imagination, or could he already hear the sirens of the police. They would love that- three masked villains and three masked vigilantes. At least Shikamaru was in a better standing, ironically, than the others; Shadow hadn't yet made a public appearance, as he preferred to work in the sidelines. However, it would be pretty hard to deny the superhero costume he was wearing

"Police. How far away?" He gasped, barely getting enough air for complete sentences.

The raven-haired super activated her super-eyes. "At their speed, about five minutes away."

"Hurry up and get those people out of here!" He shouted, shouldering the rubble on one shoulder for a moment to swat at Naruto and Hinata. The blond superhero scooped up two of the workers, and the raven-haired got the last one.

Naruto stopped. "I'm not leaving you here, Shadow." The girl nodded with him, and they both dashed towards him.

"NO! Get those people out of here. The police are coming any minute and you know how much they'd love to get their hands on you two. They don't know me, much."

His friends ignored his logic, so he was forced to play his last hand. He knew it would leave him even more tired, but there was no way that the two idiots would willingly leave a man behind.

He gathered his energy, then with a growl coming from his gut, let out a fierce mind wave that all but pushed his friends out the door. He didn't stop until he couldn't sense their presence in the building, then dropped to his knees, still struggling against the weight of the roof.

What a troublesome situation he was in now. He couldn't even assume his urgent thinking position.

A noise to his side alerted him, but he was to tired to even turn his head to see.

A black figure stepped into his line of sight. It was that girl. Phantom.

Even without his empathic powers, the wrinkle on her forehead, the hesitation in her step told him that she was very unsure at the moment.

"Phantom," the puppetmaster called urgently, standing with the sand manipulator at the window. "We have to go. Now."

She glanced over to her team, then back to the figure struggling under the weight he took on to protect those strangers.

"Phantom. Now."

She still made no move, either to help or to leave.

"Sister!" The puppetmaster's eyes widened, and the sand manipulator slapped his hand over his mouth.

So they're related, Shikamaru thought, storing the information away for later. If there was going to be a later. The force of the roof was pressing him down so heavily, and the loss of energy he expended by getting his friends out of there, made him wonder if he could even hold on until the police came.

Shikamaru looked up to the villain's face, and saw the resolve solidify in her features. She pulled out the energy blaster, and leveled it straight in his direction.

"Get ready," she said harshly. The barrel wasn't pointed at him, thought. It was pointed at the rubble...

She shot the blaster, then so quickly that he couldn't follow the movement with his eyes, she whipped the fan off her back and blew the debris away from Shikamaru, who had rolled away once he realized what her plan was. He picked himself up from the dusty floor, staring at the debris that would have crushed him.

"Thanks," he croaked, turning around. But no one was there. The three villains had escaped again.

The police sirens echoed, much closer this time. Shikamaru grinned, and ran out of the window. He figured he had just enough time to escape successfully.

AN: I'm so sorry it took so long to update. In my defense, it was a 30 day challenge, not a 30 consecutive days challenge. Sorry. Thanks for the reviews; they mean so much to me.

Next: Drunk