At the height of her competition with Sakura, Ren is always in a bad mood.
As protégées of renown medics, it was only natural that Sakura and Ren be at each other's throats, trying to see who was the best. They both had their own talents: as far as physical healing went, Sakura was much more efficient, much faster and practical in her approaches, but Ren had the upper-hand when it came to neurology, thanks to her vibrations and study under the Hyuuga.
Shikamaru knew nothing good would come of the competition since the moment Ren cornered him a few weeks ago and demanded he give her unlimited access to the deer antler stores his family kept. Upon protesting, he was silenced by her eyes narrowing to slits and her statement of, "Shikamaru, you don't want to get in my way."
He relented.
Today, Ren sits with him in his office as she makes notes on the composition of deer antler. She taps her pencil against her chin, muttering under her breath. On occasion, Shikamaru catches her looking at him, but then she just glares and turns back to her notes.
He is curious to know how she is progressing, but the last time he had asked, she scowled and held her notes to her chest, saying, "Sorry, Shika. In this climate, I can't trust you. You're too close to the Hokage, who's too close to Sakura. It's for your own protection, anyway, that you don't know."
Shikamaru is able to determine, however, that the current contest requires that Ren make a poison that Sakura then tries to find an antidote for. After all, during the Second Shinobi World War, their respective mentors had had a similar showdown with, apparently, Tsunade-sama coming out the winner.
Judging by Ren's increased haggardness, history seems to be repeating itself.
It's as he's thinking this that Ren stands, her chair squealing behind her. Shikamaru blinks at her, waiting for her to proclaim her revelation of a new poison that Sakura would never be able to counteract, but she only frowns, turns with a huff, and leaves.
Shikamaru stares at the door as it closes, puzzled.
The next morning, as he is leaving his apartment, he sees Ren at the end of the road, leaning against the fence. She looks up as he approaches and straightens, saying, "Good morning."
He acknowledges her with a nod and, together, they start toward the administration building. They walk in silence until they reach the administration building doors, when she says, "I made another poison last night. I want you to be with me when I present it to Godaime and Sakura."
At this Shikamaru furrows his brow. With all the secrecy lately, this is the last thing he expects her to ask of him. "Why?" he says as they stop just before the turn that splits his department from the Hokage's offices.
She shrugs, reaching into her hip pouch and extracting a small vial full of golden liquid. "Of everyone," she says, swishing the vial back and forth, "you're the one who has helped me the most with this."
"All I did was give you deer antler," he says, but she just waves him toward the Hokage's offices. He follows.
Sakura is already there, speaking with the Hokage, when they arrive. The pair don't seem to have been expecting Ren, but they smile anyway, with much more friendly condescension than Shikamaru has ever seen.
He is already regretting his decision to come along when Ren says, "I have your next challenge right here, Sakura-chan. And no asking Godaime for help this time."
Sakura laughs, catching the vial that Ren tosses to her. "How many times do I have to tell you: Godaime hasn't helped me with a single antidote. Just admit it, Ren-chan, I win this one."
Despite their teasing tones, Ren doesn't smile. She doesn't bat an eye. She merely bows her head. And then she leaves.
"Hey, wait," Shikamaru says, but Ren is already gone down the corridor. He scowls, rubbing the back of his neck, as Godaime says, "What are you here for, Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru turns back to the Hokage, bowing his head. He says, "Ren brought me along. She just told me I'd helped her a lot with her poisons and she wanted me to be here when she presented it to you, but all I've done is give her access to the surplus antler storage my family has."
"If you've helped anyone," Sakura says, leaning against the Hokage's desk, "it's us. You know all the antidotes I've come up with to counter her poisons have had deer antler as the key ingredient? All of them," she says with a nod when Shikamaru blinks at her. "I think, when she makes poisons, she subconsciously keeps antler as a safety net at the back of her mind. After all, if you make poisons and it's somehow used against you, you want to have the antidote on hand right away, and she always has deer antler on hand somewhere."
Godaime purses her lips, rubbing her chin. "Sakura," she starts, and the girl shakes her head.
"I can't get help from you, Shishou. Anyway, I think I've figured out what you have. If she brought Shikamaru with her," Sakura says, holding the vial up to the light. "She must have found a way around her deer antler weakness."
And that does seem to be the case. Gossip starts up around the office as Sakura struggles with finding an antidote for Ren's poison. Normally, Sakura would have her antidote done within the day, but it has been a week and, according to one of the shinobi in Shikamaru's office, Sakura has had to ask Ren to provide her with more of the poison for testing.
Eventually, Sakura begins to hover outside Shikamaru's office during her lunch break. She never comes in. She only scowls at him and then walks away. But she comes by often enough that Shikamaru becomes unnerved and takes to leaving his office for lunch.
He visits Ren at the Academy and eats with her instead. After two weeks since Ren first gave Sakura the poison, Shikamaru asks, "So does this mean you win?"
Ren shrugs. Shikamaru had expected her mood to improve as the days drew on and Sakura still had not conjured an antidote, but she remains uncharacteristically taciturn. "She hasn't given up," Ren says, flipping through papers detailing the year's students. "Until she admits to me that she can't figure out an antidote, I won't count this as a loss on her part."
"That poison," Shikamaru says. "What is the cure for it?"
Ren stops, then, in the middle of turning a paper over. The way she looks at him makes him hold up his hands, say, "I know, I can't be trusted. Sorry I asked."
But Ren only pushes her papers aside. She scoots her chair around her desk so that she sits on the side adjacent to him. "I'd tell you anyway," she says, reaching into his boxed lunch and stealing a dumpling, "but since I don't know, I guess we're both out of luck."
It takes Shikamaru a moment to process what she says. Then, "What do you mean you don't know?"
