"Is Lee meeting us there?" Yamouri questioned as they neared Lady Tsunade's door.
"No he left this morning on a mission with Guy-sensei, I don't know if there is a third person going with us, Lady Tsunade didn't tell me," Neji said calmly. They proceeded down the hallways and knocked before hearing Lady Tsunade's voice give the ok. Yamouri froze as soon as Neji opened the door wide open. Lady Tsunade was sitting behind her desk with Shizune standing by her and facing them, and then slowly turning their head back was Shikamaru.
"What is he doing here?" Yamouri blurted out, she quickly covered her mouth as Neji turned to look at her not understanding. Shikamaru getting just as awkward turned to face the Hokage again.
"That's strange…" Lady Tsunade thought to herself and observed how Shikamaru and Yamouri both suddenly put on serious faces with Neji in the middle. "Alright well as you know this is the busiest time of the month so we don't really have many people available, but two Chuunin and one Jounin will do just fine. The mission is rather a complicated one…" She said oddly.
"How so?" Neji questioned. Yamouri straightened herself, only thinking of the fact that the next few days she'd be stuck on this mission with Shikamaru, of all people. It always seemed like she couldn't quite get away from him for something like this had happened before. It just seemed as if Lady Tsunade knew, but without actually knowing. Yamouri thought back to the incident again and than shook her head and looked out the window.
"Well, some scrolls were stolen from these two noble families in the grass village and they seem to continue in this long held grudge and are blaming the other for being responsible. The problem is we have a treaty with this grass village so we mustn't offend them. Not only that but this mission requires you to work with both families separately yet at the same time…" Lady Tsunade then took out a map of the grass village and it branching into several smaller ones. She pointed out which one had the Suguwaras and which had the Masatos, the two families they'd deal with.
"These scrolls are very important and they had witnesses report that the person responsible belonged to the grass village because of the sign they had on their arm. In all reality they shouldn't have gotten far anyways, you are to leave immediately and report back as soon as anything new is discovered."
"Alright," Neji answered and then looked at Yamouri and Shikamaru who were both being strangely quiet. They excused themselves and began to head out with Yamouri ahead and Neji and Shikamaru being left behind. Neji was never the type to question other peoples business, but knew something had happened. He also knew that Yamouri was at a delicate state since only less than a week ago Takami was murdered in front of her.
~::.::.::.::.:: A few hours later::.::.::.::.::~
"Let's stop here. We've made great progress and at this rate we should arrive there tomorrow afternoon," Neji requested and checked the area before placing his backpack down. Yamouri placed hers down before she began picking up sticks nearby to start a fire. Shikamaru and Neji began discussing the mission and what they should be expecting. Yamouri tried to tune them out and once she was finally done collecting sticks, she used a fire jutsu she learned to start the fire. She then reached for her backpack and took out her beloved sketchbook and walked off into the woods. There was a cliff nearby and since Yamouri hadn't drawn in a really long time she went and sat underneath a tree and looked beyond the edge. Before soon her imagination began to flow and she was beginning on a new drawing.
"Don't look down Yamouri!" Kento shouted.
"I'm not!" Yamouri had shouted back.
She stopped drawing and looked up at the tree she was sitting under and how familiar it was to the one she and Kento once tried to climb. That one incident where Yamouri almost fell off to her death, and the one when Kento first started acting strange. She looked down at her sketchbook and sighed before hearing footsteps coming towards her. When she saw it was no one other than Shikamaru, she quickly rose and began to walk off.
"Yamouri wait. We need to talk!" He said rather seriously. Yamouri turned to face him with an agitated expression. "For the sake of the mission let's at least pretend to get along. Neither of us wants to fail this mission and have to go back and explain it was because we couldn't work as a team."
Yamouri stared at him than at her feet before agreeing and walking off back to their camp site. Shikamaru stared at her sketchbook in hand and fought back the urge to ask what she had drawn before she was interrupted. But knowing that their friendship was slowly crumbling, he knew better to keep his mouth shut. He never wanted things to be this way. Yamouri had been his close friend for so long, but all of a sudden it was like she was moving forward, and wanting to do it alone. Shikamaru hadn't understood why he felt the way he did and what it meant, but knew that Hikaru was bad news and had to figure a way to tell Yamouri and for her to listen.
"You're in love with her?"
Shikamaru quickly shook Hikaru's words out and than looked at the sky before whispering to himself that he wasn't.
~::.::.::.::.:: Later the next day::.::.::.::.::~
The team had met and discussed with both families. Though what were in the scrolls wasn't mentioned they knew they were worth killing for. Well for the families that is. They had listened to both families rant about the other and how they must have hired special ninja to do it, but the strange thing was that both were saying the same thing. Yamouri sensed something off about the situation, but decided to keep it to herself until she had evidence. They began searching the village for anyone suspicious looking and had already spent half a day in the grass village. Yamouri took a sip from her bottled water before turning to face Neji when he began speaking.
"I think its best that we split up. We'll cover more ground that way and increase our chances of finding something, quicker," Neji added. Yamouri said she'd start then, but was stopped by Neji who said that we'd have to split by two of them working with one family and the other working with the other. Yamouri quickly knew were this was going and volunteered as the one to go alone. Neji shook his head and said he'd work with the Suguwaras and she'd have to go with Shikamaru to work with the Masatos. Yamouri felt her stomach sink, but remembered the agreement that for the sake of the mission they'd have to pretend to get along. Shikamaru placed his hands in his pockets before Neji explained where they'd meet later and then walked off his direction.
"Great…" Yamouri thought to herself before walking off. Shikamaru soon followed and for several minutes it was absolutely silent.
"I think we need to…" Shikamaru started and was quickly interrupted when she turned around and told him to stay quiet. Soon several ninjas jumped from trees and bushes and attempted to ambush them. Within seconds Yamouri managed to take most of them down as Shikamaru watched. It had happened so fast he didn't even register what was going on. The rest of the ninjas disappeared and Yamouri quickly walked over to one of the fallen ninja to check for any hints of why they were targeted.
"I think we might be getting closer," Yamouri suddenly said. "And someone doesn't like that." Shikamaru observed her calm expression and couldn't believe that it was the same girl from before. Yamouri slowly went back to her feet before a kunai knife grazed her side. It was attached to a string and she quickly grabbed a hold of it and yanked the person on the other end to fall forward. Shikamaru watched as the ninja was suddenly trapped by one of Yamouri's barrier jutsu and she began to walk towards it. Blood was dripping from her side, but her calm expression didn't change.
"Alright so you think you could kill us off silently and that you'll be able to get away with it huh? Sadly you have underestimated us," Yamouri paused and stood in front of the barrier facing the ninja who was standing inside it. His face was covered and he appeared as if he was in a hurry for something for he was attempting to escape. "Don't even bother. I'll give you two minutes before I destroy you inside. I want to know who sent you and why."
The ninja stayed silent and looked at her then at Shikamaru who was now walking towards Yamouri. The ninja slowly lifted his hand to his face to remove his mask and revealed to be a kid at least twelve years of age. He appeared frightened before speaking in a frantic manner.
"I… I the Suguwaras sent me…. I was only doing what was asked… please don't kill me… my little brother will have no one," He pleaded.
"I don't have pity. Sorry. Now why would the Suguwaras send you to kill the very people they hired? That makes no sense. You have forty seconds to tell the truth," Yamouri said coldly.
"That is the truth! Please! I beg of you! They want to frame the Masatos so they can rule over the village and be the only noble family. That's the whole reason behind their feud. They are rivals and they both only want to be the only noble family left. The scrolls were stolen, but by the group I belong to!" He shouted and was nearly about to cry. Yamouri took a step closer and stared at him right in the eyes, which made him freeze. Then she looked back at Shikamaru who didn't know whether to believe him or not either.
"If I find you're lying or you even think of trying something, I won't hesitate on killing you. You got that?" Yamouri snapped and released the jutsu. The boy fell on his knees and nodded his head as he quickly rose. Yamouri crossed her arms while Shikamaru walked closer to the boy.
"You better explain things," He said.
~::.::.::.::.:: A while later::.::.::.::.::~
Yamouri and Shikamaru waited at the place Neji said too. Shikamaru occasionally glanced at Yamouri's side seeing the blood stain, but knowing that she was trying to appear tough and didn't want any attention. Yamouri placed her hand against the tree as if she was beginning to lose balance and than took an antidote Sakura gave her incase she were to be poisoned. She than bandaged her side while Shikamaru went to see if Neji was coming. Before long, Shikamaru and Neji appeared, and Yamouri felt a wash of relief before taking a seat.
"Not like you to be late Neji," She smirked. Neji then began to explain that he was ambushed too, but the only difference was that they had claimed the Masatos sent them to frame the Suguwaras, the exact opposite the boy said. "It's pretty obvious there's something odd going on. "
Yamouri then explained how the boy said the villagers didn't like either of the noble families because they were con artists and ripped people off and stole money. That's why a group of villagers got so fed up and formed a ninja group and stole the scrolls, but in order to be able to get access pretended to work for them first. They hadn't attempted to do anything bad with them, just merely believed they were in the wrong hands.
"So you think the Masatos and the Suguwaras are actually working together?" Neji questioned. Yamouri shook her head than looked at Shikamaru.
"They both sent people to attack us, but only the very group that they had working for them also betrayed them. They were just trying to frame each other," Shikamaru added.
"That makes no sense. Why hire us then try and kill us if we were helping them?"
"Because they believe we have taken sides when we split therefore we were seen as a threat to the opposite family. Its all very complicated, but in all reality they have broken the treaty and I already sent word to Lady Tsunade," Shikamaru replied then took a seat next to Yamouri who had suddenly grown quiet. "The important thing is we have the scrolls now, but this situation is rather delicate and so now we have to wait for Lady Tsunade's word. If we do any sort of retaliation then we could start a Shinobi war. The noble families will claim we betrayed it first, and it'll be their word against ours. And since they are an important aspect, though hated, they are apart of this village."
Neji took a seat across from them and sighed, not understanding how things got so weird. Suddenly Yamouri cried out in pain as she held on to her side that was now releasing some strange yellow liquid. Shikamaru caught her and quickly stood carrying her bridal style. Her eyes had closed and her breathing had become faint. Shikamaru and Neji agreed they needed to get back to the village and it couldn't wait.