So, so sorry! Hehe, go ahead and yell at me if you want. I know that it took forever for me to get this chapter up. I don't really have an excuse either except for school.
Hm….well, nothing much more to say except for a million sorrys.
Last time: Shikamaru figures out the identities of the females!
Enjoy!
Shikamaru sighed as the nurse adjusted his sheets. He wasn't as eager to let the secret be known anymore; he had been in the hospital three days since he saw Ino alive, since he figured out the identities of the four females.
He decided it would be best if he told Neji, Naruto, or Sasuke. They were the ones who deserved to know the most, but he hadn't seen any of them since those three days ago.
The nurse smiled at him, and he wasn't feeling in his best mood, so he pretended not to notice. The nurse stood where she was for awhile, than moved to the windows which she opened.
Sunlight poured into the room, and Shikamaru turned his face away from it and closed his eyes. He than heard the door quietly close and when he opened his eyes again, he was alone. He let out another sigh. At least he would be released soon.
He continued to look around the room as something caught his eye. It was the red flower that Ino had given him when he was unconscious. It was starting to wither now as a few of the petals had fallen off and lay beside it on the hospital table. Shikamaru sat up slowly and picked up the flower along with the petals. He slowly made his way to the open window and took a last gaze. He then let go and watched as the pieces slowly drifted away in the wind.
He was a little angry at her he admitted to himself. He still didn't understand why she was doing what she was doing. Everybody was grieving over them. But they weren't really dead.
He made his way back to his bed and lay down. The same thought kept coming back to him. He just couldn't get it out of his head.
Today was Ino's birthday.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sakura unwrapped Ino's arm and leg where Naruto had stabbed her. "It looks a lot better now," she told her friend as she smiled. Ino smiled back, or at least tried to, as she went to the river and began to wash her healing wounds.
Tenten walked towards Ino and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"
Ino kept her eyes on the rushing water and sighed. "Yeah…I'm really sorry though." Tenten moved her hand from Ino's shoulder as she sat down next to her, letting her legs wade in the river, though her shoes were on. "Sorry for what? You don't need to be apologizing."
"Shikamaru's going to tell everyone you know." Ino turned her face away from Tenten, as if she were ashamed. Sakura then moved from where she was and moved towards the river. "Maybe we should ask him how many people know."
Hinata was being quiet as she sat under a shady tree, but now she spoke. "But than…"
"Yeah, I know." Sakura bent down and let her fingers trail across the water. "We'll just have to come up with something new."
- - - - - - - - - -
The four girls hid in some trees as they watched people pass them by. Konoha seemed to be no different since they were last here; even though they had caused two explosions. "Maybe we should take off our masks?" Hinata asked as they still hid.
"Well, we still aren't sure of who already knows." Sakura stated.
"Look!" Tenten said abruptly as she pointed her finger. "It's Naruto."
"Where's he going?" Sakura led the way as they kept themselves hidden while they followed him.
Naruto made his way towards a graveyard, and when he got there, he stopped to look at a tombstone.
The four saw Naruto shake as he tried to hold in tears. He began to speak. "They finally got their tombstones done…"
There were others there; others that the four girls knew and they all had flowers in their hands. "Here you go…" Naruto walked as he put down four flowers. "For Ino, Tenten, Sakura, and Hinata…." He sighed, than kneeled down. There were so many, and they were all there for them.
The four turned toward each other. "They think we're dead…" Ino began. "…which means Shikamaru hasn't told anybody yet." They stood quiet as they realized how much people were worrying about them. "This is horrible," Hinata started as the others noticed she was beginning to cry. "We don't deserve tombstones or flowers…or everybody's tears."
"Let's go…" Tenten started back through the village as they kept themselves hidden. Ino was comforting Hinata as Sakura trailed in the back. They noticed Naruto was heading back too, and he was crying. They tried to ignore him, as they just wanted to be out of there now. They were out of the village and were making their way through the forest when Ino suddenly stopped where she was.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked as she hurried to catch up. Ino fidgeted with her fingers than looked up. "I think since Shikamaru hasn't told anybody yet, than maybe we should talk to him, and convince him not to." Ino paused for a little bit. "But…I don't want to be there. It would be weird."
"Okay, we'll go." Tenten said as she stepped forward. "You sure you don't want to come?"
"I'm sure…" Ino turned away.
"I guess we should go tonight?" Hinata questioned.
Nobody said anything else. They just gave a nod to confirm the plan. The four continued to walk and Sakura walked up to Ino.
"Hey, happy birthday…" She smiled and Ino looked at her surprised. Sakura continued. "I know it's not really the best day…"
"It's okay, I didn't even know." Ino replied. She didn't keep track of the date anymore. It was already her birthday? That means…Shikamaru's birthday was yesterday. She realized. She still couldn't believe that they were only a day apart. Ino suddenly felt gloom as she thought about it. She had missed it.
Ino was brought out of her thoughts as she realized Sakura was still speaking to her. She just smiled and told her it was okay again.
After it was silent again for awhile, Ino spoke. "I change my mind. I'll go." The other three turned to look at her.
"Great!" Hinata said. Though she still wore her mask, Ino could tell she was smiling.
- - - - - - - - - -
Naruto sat and waited as he looked to the night sky. Konoha was now quiet and dark, but the full moon shown brightly and Naruto couldn't help but admire it and the stars. He heard a noise behind him and stood up as Neji opened his door. "Alright, we can go now." Neji sighed and began to walk and Naruto followed. They were meeting Sasuke at the hospital. Naruto had told Shikamaru's parents he would help him home now that he was being released. Bringing along Sasuke and Neji was just his own idea. He thought maybe they should talk about what they would do next.
The past few days had been hard. Naruto wondered what Sasuke and Neji had been doing. He couldn't imagine them crying. They were always so serious. He knew he had promised himself he wouldn't cry, but he just couldn't help it. It was almost all he had been doing the past three days.
Naruto and Neji continued to make their way towards the hospital.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sasuke waited by the hospital and let out a sigh. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten there so early. He was going to sit down when he heard something. He recognized the sound as voices. He hid himself, and looked for where the noise had come from. He couldn't believe it. He kept himself hidden as his eyes came upon four silhouettes that he recognized as those four females. He felt himself become a little angry. So they decided to show up again. But what were they doing?
The four were trying to keep quiet as the made their way to the rooftop of the hospital. Sasuke was hiding in between the hospital and the neighboring building and he crouched down to make sure he couldn't be seen. He knew they were on the roof, but he couldn't see them anymore.
He stayed in his position and listened carefully. He heard nothing. The four must have gone inside. Sasuke remembered that Shikamaru was in the hospital. He suddenly stood up and decided he couldn't wait for Naruto and Neji anymore.
The four must be there for Shikamaru.
He ran inside and asked the first nurse he saw where Shikamaru's room was. The nurse told him to hang on as she slowly moved to the desk and began to sort through some papers. Suddenly, another person came up to the nurse and started to talk to her as the nurse stopped flipping through her papers and began to talk. Sasuke became angry as the nurse had forgotten about his request.
He went up to the nurse and interrupted her conversation. "I need to know a room number." The nurse raised a brow at him. "Well, first young man, you need to calm down." She turned away from him and started to speak to the other person again.
Sasuke needed to hurry. He made his way into the hall and hoped he could find Shikamaru's room on his own.
- - - - - - - - - -
Shikamaru sat on his bed as he put on his shoes. So, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji were going to come get him. He sat in his dark room with the moon giving him light through the window and also a little from the hall outside of his room. Shikamaru stood up and paced around the room with his hands in his pockets as he tried to sort through his head the way he would tell the three about what he had found out.
He heard a knock to his window and was surprised as he turned to see Sakura, Tenten, Hinata and Ino. They had seen Sasuke and waited on the rooftop until he had gone. They then went to Shikamaru's window.
He opened it slowly and looked away as he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words. "Can we come in?" Sakura whispered and Shikamaru moved so they could step inside.
The four took off their masks. Sakura and Tenten stood on front of him, while Hinata stood behind them, and Ino stood in the back. Shikamaru was the first to speak.
"Do you guys need something?" He didn't mean for it, but the question came out in an angry tone.
"You haven't told anybody yet, right?" Tenten asked him, though she already knew the answer.
"No, but Naruto, Sasuke and Neji are on their way." He replied. "I'm going to tell them."
"Please don't Shikamaru." Sakura began. "Ah…uh…" She didn't know what else to say. How could they convince him?
"Give me a reason not to." Shikamaru replied as he put his hands into his pockets. He felt a little awkward.
"We could make a deal," Ino made her way to the front. Shikamaru realized she was looking to the ground.
"What…kind of…deal?" It was even more awkward to talk to Ino.
"Um…" she began. She still was looking to the ground. She just couldn't make eye contact with him.
"One of us will come back." Hinata said as all head turned to her. "One of us will come back to Konoha and stay. You have to make up a story though. You also have to not say anything about our identities."
Shikamaru stopped. A lot of people would be happy if one of them came back. Many would continue to be devastated, but still…
"Why not all of you come back? What is this about in the first place?" He was tired of the mystery. What were they trying to accomplish?
"We can't say, but it's a good deal isn't it?" Tenten asked. "We have things to take care of, and we can't let anybody know our secret."
Things to take care of; that was it? Pretending they were dead and fighting against Neji, Naruto, Sasuke and himself; what could they be trying to take care of?
The four waited for an answer, but suddenly heard footsteps and voices in the hallway.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sasuke ran into a nurse and asked if she knew where Shikamaru was. She told him the room number and Sasuke realized that he was close. It had taken him forever to find it. He hoped that he wasn't too late.
He hurried down the hall and swung the door open when he got to the right room. He looked around surprised as Shikamaru sat on his bed. He was the only one in the room.
Sasuke looked around. Where had the four gone?
He looked towards Shikamaru. "Did you see anything suspicious?"
Shikamaru shook his head. He realized that he had just agreed to their deal. So they had something to take care of. I guess I'll just let them take care of it…
Sasuke looked confused.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sakura felt relieved as Shikamaru decided not to tell Sasuke. She watched from her place underneath Shikamaru's bed as Sasuke walked around the room a little bit. It was cramped for the four of them, but they would only be there awhile.
Sakura felt a nudge to her shoulder as Tenten who was right beside her pointed to something. Sakura looked and suddenly felt her heart race as she realized she had left her mask on the floor where Sasuke could see it if he found it. Hopefully it was dark enough for him not to notice.
Hinata who was on the other side of Tenten, was closest to the mask that lay on the open floor. Sakura watched as Hinata slowly let her hand out to grab the mask.
She quickly pulled it away when Sasuke's foot almost stomped on it.
"Who's under there?" They heard him say, and they realized they had been caught. Shikamaru stood up from the bed, and the girls heard him say nothing. What could he say? Sasuke knew they were there.
The four realized the room was blinking with light. Sasuke was just about to do a jutsu.
"Wait, stop!" Shikamaru tried, but Sasuke continued.
Ino came out from where she hid and stood where Sasuke could see her. He started to lighten his jutsu as Hinata and Tenten stepped out to. Sakura stepped out last and Sasuke completely stopped his jutsu.
He stood silent.
"What's going on in there?" voices were saying outside the room.
Nobody said anything else as the four girls put on their masks and began to go out the window. "What's going on?" Sasuke finally spoke.
"Please don't tell anyone, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said as she headed out the window.
A doctor and a few nurses came into the room and saw the four leaving. "It's the girls that attacked Konoha a few days ago!" one of them spoke.
"You can't Sasuke." Shikamaru began. "It's a deal. I'll tell you about it later."
Sasuke was in shock and stood saying nothing. There were a lot of voices going on around him as people were saying to get help and such. The four girls left the room and began to run.
- - - - - - - - - -
They ran together until they heard a yell. It was Naruto as they were just a little ways from the hospital and Neji was with him. They both ran towards them as other cries from the hospital were heard.
The four girls continued to run together, but Tenten stopped and fell when she felt a kick to her stomach. They stopped and Tenten looked up to find Kakashi. The other girls looked around them as Gai had arrived along with Lee. "We know about all of you." Kakashi started. "You've been causing a lot of trouble."
Naruto arrived along with Neji. The four were surrounded and realized that others were probably coming.
Kakashi, Gai, Lee, Naruto and Neji were ready to fight and attack. Naruto started first and Lee followed. The other three stood for now. Naruto and Lee attacked while each girl tried to put up defense. They heard footsteps of others coming.
Shikamaru yelled stop from his hospital window, but nobody seemed to have heard. He stepped outside of his window and began to run to the fight as Sasuke followed behind him.
Okay, I hope that this chapter was alright. I rushed through this and wrote it really quickly. Tell me if it wasn't good! I don't feel satisfied, but I don't think I'll have time to put a chapter up for a long time.
Um…oh yeah, isn't it pretty cool that Shikamaru's and Ino's birthdays are right next to each other? I realized that while looking at profiles a long while ago, so I just kinda put it in there.
Hm…and yeah, I decided that Sasuke would be in on the little secret. But now I'm not sure which girl will come back. I'm also doing this for more coupling. I know it was mentioned before to put some more in.
Well, sorry again for the long wait.
I really really really really really really appreciate your reviews. For my first fic, I'm very surprised about all of them.
THANK YOU!
YOU GUYS ARE SO GREAT!
