Fingers around My Toes

By Lapiz Liberty

Summary: Everyone thinks Inoichi erased Shikamaru and Sakura's memories to end the rebirth case. Little do they know that the fight is far from over, and this unlikely couple is at the heart of manipulating the people they love the most in order to protect them.

Chapter Ten

Kiba:

I could still be in bed cuddling with Ino. She would go on and on about her belated realization of the impact Sakura's work in the hospital left her, but at least I got to press my nose against the smooth skin of her warm, bare back.

Breathing out to my freezing fingers, I scanned the area and couldn't help myself but frown deeper. Instead here I was, on the outskirts of Konoha in the freezing dawn, waiting for Hinata to arrive.

Shino stepped closer to me with an inquiry as to Hinata's tardiness, but I knew he just wanted to get close for warmth. Akamaru, sensing this as well, stretched on the ground to cover mine and Shino's exposed toes.

I sneezed, bending forward with the force. When I raised my head, Hinata had surfaced from the cluster of trees and was jogging towards us. Unlike Shino and I, she was smart enough to wear gloves and closed shoes.

"I'm sorry!" She bowed twice. "Something came up with my clan and I was worried for Neji so I waited for him but he hasn't returned yet."

"Neji?" I asked. "What's up with him?"

She blushed and shook her head thrice, the swaying of her hair exaggerating the effect of the action. "N-nothing! Nothing serious. You don't know Ayano Hyuuga anyway."

Shino sneezed. He rubbed his nose. "I've seen her in the hospital before, but I haven't encountered her recently."

"Anyway…" Hinata turned towards the estate ahead of us. "Why do you think they keep on having us monitor this place? It bugs me when a part of the mission file is stamped as confidential. I can't stop guessing."

Shino stretched both hands and released his insects. The first step was always to get a general feel of the place and detect danger should there be any. I shuffled my feet in impatience, knowing based on experience that the estate's sheer size made the initial scrutiny through the insects last for a good five minutes.

"Who knows?" I said. "Maybe they categorized it as such because they didn't want to appear like a pushover. From what I heard, the owner won't stop nagging. It's kinda embarrassing for the Hokage to admit that something so petty has her sending an elite squad like us to monitor this stinking place."

"Wouldn't you be nagging if it were Ino who blew up in your house?" Shino asked.

I grabbed him by the collar. "Hey! Don't say things like that."

Hinata inserted herself between us. "Shino, that's mean. But he has a point, Kiba. The owner's not just nagging because of the place. His wife and daughter died here."

"An investigation was already made and it was his fault they blew up," I said. "The man's trying to put the blame on someone apart from himself."

The insects returned to Shino. He pushed his sunglasses further up his nosebridge and led the way to the estate. Hinata activated her byakugan.

Akamaru and I smelled everything. From the strong scent of the flowers in the garden to the most miniscule trace of potassium chlorate in the wood. I took a cautious step into the hallway, I felt a chill run through my spine at the remembrance that the Hokage only nodded when I made that report. If the owner was correct and he was innocent of any fault in his family's death, then whoever did this could not be underestimated.

Potassium chlorate was the after-scent released by anybody who was smart enough to cover up his chakra signature when performing a large-scale attack such as an explosion of a house this big. I didn't see the use of it when I received orders from the Hokage to train under Kakashi in differentiating the scent of ninjutsu from chemicals, but as shinobis became more creative in their crimes, this skill was becoming more and more an advantage for Akamaru and me.

I sidestepped to avoid the wood dangling from the roof. Akamaru trotted ahead. Past a long corridor submerged in gloom was an open space punctuated by a crater. The remains of what used to be the roof, the floor, and the walls were either obliterated or shoved towards the remainder of the house like a pile of wreck washed ashore.

Hinata circled the crater. Shino crouched beside it and sent one insect into the hole in the ground. This was supposed to be the basement where the father kept a collection of explosive tags.

"Anybody been here recently?" Shino asked me.

"Nope," I said. "No one and nothing new here."

"What's that you've got there?" Hinata knelt on one knee.

I turned to where she was looking and saw Akamaru emerge from the adjacent corridor with an antler in his mouth. I stood beside Hinata and reached down to take it from him. "Deer antler, huh?"

Nohara:

I pulled my chair next to the window and sat there with my cup of tea. I had hardly slept since returning from my mission. The steady flow of work as ANBU and the persistent need to find new leads in the rebirth case kept my mind preoccupied in the ungodly hours I couldn't slip a wink. It was also during one of those nights, while the world around me lay in silence, that I examined Anko Mitarashi's apartment – this very place the Hokage had rented out for me – and I found something useful at last.

The crevice on the window's side casing had been so carefully made that I had to pass my fingers across the surface several times before I confirmed it was unlike the deformities of the rest of the wood. Peeling off layers at a time, I fished out a worn paper bound by a string. I unrolled it and saw a drawing of a rectangle with two squares sitting on either ends of it. It had only been about three seconds since I set eyes on the sketch when the paper caught fire.

In the gloom of the apartment, the tiny blaze had appeared like a bursting star. I let go of it and the breeze from outside scattered the ashes across the floor.

Anko had left a message, and I wondered whether or not this was for Lady Tsunade's team or Orochimaru.

Finishing my cup of tea, I dressed in my ANBU attire complete with the mask and ventured north of the village. Something about the thought of delivering Kakashi this lead made me slow down.

Anko and him had been an item, and the necessity of her death must only worsen his sinking feeling that everybody he loved were destined to die before his very eyes.

Letting him into my life as my only confidante allowed him a chance to redeem himself, I knew, and if he found comfort in that, I would gladly indulge him.

His silhouette on the tree branch made ma swallow hard.

The only thing holding me back was the erratic beating of my heart as I closed the gap between him and me. My affections for him had fluctuated drastically from my childhood up to the time we were assigned to the rebirth case. What platonic feelings for him that I had schooled were quickly slipping into something more – something I wished it could avoid falling into altogether.

And it was more than his touch.

I was no longer a silly girl wanting to hold hands with the village prodigy. Kakashi and I had both been through enough in our respective pursuits to know that physical pleasures couldn't compare to comfortable silences and knowing glances.

I wanted him to be happy. Whatever happiness there was available for shinobis like us, I wanted it for him. If the prerequisite to that opportunity depended on solving the rebirth case and, as a by-product, casting behind him the loss of Anko Mitarashi, I would stay by his side through it all.

I landed on the tip of the branch he was reclined on. The leaves barely swayed at my arrival. The question that lingered in my resolve was how I could possibly do that without falling in love with this man all over again.

I took three steps towards him and sat. "Somehow, it worries me that you're not late," I said.

"It must interesting news if you were up late at night to send me a message." He pocketed his Icha-Icha book and sat up. "Did something happen?"

"Anko left something."

"Oh?"

"In her apartment. Hidden within the window frame." I produced a paper with the copy of the shapes as I'd seen them before it lit up. "There was an invisible seal that caused it to burn seconds after it was opened. Does this happen to be familiar to you?"

He scowled at the paper. "She's never used shapes for code before."

"Not with you, maybe." The words came out before I had the mind to stop them, and I shook my head. "I didn't mean it that way. There's no evidence that she's been spying for Orochimaru before the rebirth case started."

"There's no evidence to the contrary, either." He slipped the paper into the front pocket of his flak jacket. "I'll get this sorted in Intelligence where I can hopefully find reference for this style. In the meantime, you might want to keep an eye out for Sakura. Shikamaru brought her to his house yesterday to be treated. She accidentally injected herself with his medicine, according to Lady Tsunade. Neji is there, but we'll be needing additional security since they're all under one roof at the moment."

I pulled at his pant leg to see better the reddish marks on the black cloth. "You watched over them from the roof across their house, didn't you?"

"It was chilly but pleasant enough for a quick doze come dawn."

"Get proper sleep when you have the time. Exhaustion shows in your face worse now that you're getting old." I rolled my eyes. "But of course, why would you care? I'm the only one who gets to see your face lately."

"If you weren't wearing that mask, you wouldn't be so confident in accusing me of looking worn," he said.

"This is the only silver lining in my job."

Kakashi laughed. "Well, I suppose not seeing your 'I-told-you-so' look makes it less difficult for me to admit that my joints are killing me."

I brought out a round, metal container from one of my pockets and handed it to him. "Apply this every hour. It will help."

He placed one hand above mine and the other beneath the container. In a solemn voice, he said he owed his life to me, and then vanished in a veil of white smoke.

Sakura:

I woke up knowing something was not right. I had been half-awake during my entire ordeal, and the conscious part of me did the math. While I could no longer feel the sting beneath my skin, I was fatigued from fighting the overflow of chakra in my channels. For a medic of my calibre, my recovery time should've been at least a quarter less of the normal rate. But no, I had taken as long as though I'd shot myself the drug twice and my body had never before coped with any strong dosage.

I pushed myself up to sit. The kimono lent to me by Mrs. Nara hugged my body as though it had always been mine. Touching my skin underneath the robe, I probed my channels through my chakra to check for damages. I had burned up and it should've torn some lining, but nothing seemed amiss.

"Does something hurt?"

I yelped and fell to my side.

Neji inched backwards. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you had at least sensed my presence."

I touched my chest and sighed in relief. Naruto would pay for this. The last thing I needed was to be drugged and later treated in my ex-boyfriend's house. "I'm still in a bit of a haze."

"You should lie down and rest some more."

"I'm stiff. I'd rather walk."

"Here. Let me help you." He took me by the shoulders and hefted me to my feet. The swiftness of the motion caught my strength unaware, and I hadn't regained feeling in my legs when he set me on my feet. Realizing this, he put his arm around my waist to keep me standing. I clutched his clothes, unused to this weakness, and told myself to calm down. I had not been incapacitated. I was only recovering.

"Deep breaths," he whispered. "You're going to be okay, Sakura. It's just the drug wearing off."

From the corner of my eye, I noticed shadows on the fish paper. I buried my face against Neji's chest to feign dizziness. This was enemy territory as far as I was concerned. Shikamaru, Shizune, and the Hokage must've done their part by veiling Shikamaru and me from Shikaku's watchful eyes, but there was no such thing as being too cautious when it came to war.

"Good, you're up." Shizune's footfalls were light on the tatami mat. "Faint, is she?"

"Give me a moment," I mumbled.

Neji brushed my hair away from my face and felt my forehead. "She's not feverish anymore."

The two of them exchanged their observations about the effects of the drug while I wished with all my might that somebody from the Nara family would walk in on me practically draping myself over Neji.

My mind had already gone as far as to note the texture of Neji's clothes and the scent of his laundry soap, and there was still no sign of anybody else approaching. Although I was dying for Shikaku to see me cling so to Neji, I couldn't stick to him like a leech forever in hopes of avoiding suspicion. I untangled myself from him, suppressing guilt at having to use him again to fool Shikaku, and arranged my hair. "I'm better now."

That wasn't a statement that would stay true for long.

Mrs. Nara demanded Neji and I stayed for dinner. Shizune excused herself to return to her hospital duties, and whatever I was about to say to escape this nightmare was never voiced.

Neji had that intimidating way, as he always had, of relaying his expectations without uttering a word or changing his expression. He made me understand without saying anything that regardless of the circumstances that brought me here, we were intruding and we had to be respectful to our hosts.

We sat abreast in the dining hall, waiting for the family of four to arrive. The servants, which I overheard were only present to help in the engagement ceremony, set the table and brought in dishes one by one. Neji sat still on the cushion throughout the wait, and Makato's accusation flooded me again.

I did not belong to their kind of clan to understand what this all meant to them.

A man's laughter woke me from my trance. He said something about the engagement feast before parting the sliding doors for them to enter. As Neji and I were about to stand, Shikaku motioned for us to stay seated. He introduced me properly to his wife, Yoshino, and to her brother, Toya, and to his little princess, Yutsuki.

The siblings made me promise to call them by their first names as though we were of the same age group, and Shikamaru begged them to please be normal in front of his peers. Yoshino smiled at him the way only mothers could, relenting if only to keep him from getting stressed.

I tried to say something. Compliment the baby, apologize for my intrusion, thank them for their hospitality - but none of the right words came. It dawned on me that this dinner could have been my first meeting with them as Shikamaru's girlfriend. That he could be sitting next to instead of opposite me, and the engagement they were preparing for would be mine and his.

Neji squeezed my arm. "Sakura, did you hear me?"

I blinked twice and looked around. "Sorry, there was..."

"Maybe you should be resting some more." Yoshino made a move to stand. "Should I have the guest room prepared for you again?"

"No, please don't trouble yourself. I'm perfectly fine. I was just faint and distracted for a second."

Shikamaru topped his bowl of rice with grilled meat and said, "It's the effect of the drug. Keeps you too slow to think."

Shikaku glimpsed his son from the corner of his eye, refusing to comment. It had been a predicament he had shut off the first time Shikamaru brought it up, and it seemed they had yet to settle it between them.

Toya broke the settling awkwardness by forcing a laugh. "I should get you high on that drug sometimes, Shikaku. The world knows your brain needs to slow down sometimes."

Shikaku filled his cup with sake. "And the world knows your brain needs the exact opposite of that drug."

The conversation between family members gained a natural momentum from there onwards. Neji served me food first before helping himself, and I noted the frequency of his glances if only to make sure I wouldn't suffer from any unknown side-effect of the drug.

Toya, half-drunk already from drinking more than he was eating, teased Neji about the rumored prank we played on him while on the road from Suna. The casualness with which he, along with Shikaku and Yoshino, addressed him made me shoot a questioning look in Shikamaru's direction.

He had once mentioned that Shikaku was fond of Neji, but I didn't expect that fondness to extend to him being a familiar presence in his household. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, signaling me that this was something he considered too troublesome to explain.

"My pay for that assignment was used to reimburse all the damages the inns incurred." He tipped his head towards me. "Sakura, surprisingly, was responsible for seventy percent of those damages."

I dropped the fish back on the plate and gawked at him. "No way. There were dislocated doors and punctured walls but those are nothing compared to what Kiba did."

"Kiba broke down two doors and several ornaments while wrestling with Choji that one time," he said. "You, on the other hand, have no control over your strength. I had to follow you to keep on aligning windows and doors. That's not to account for when you threw a tantrum in the clinic."

I put down my chopsticks and turned towards him. "They wanted to put me to sleep while they stitched my wound. It wasn't practical. I could've healed it by myself."

"So you broke their machineries on purpose?"

"My fists landed on them by accident. They should've just let me handle myself."

"I wouldn't have handed you over to them if I knew they were only going to harm you, Sakura."

That shut me up. Yoshino and Toya sneered at us, and their resemblance then was undeniable. Shikaku, who had been preoccupied with feeding Yutsuki, handed her over to a maid to be put to bed and prevented the impending teasing by telling Neji that Lord Hiashi left him a note. He nearly forgot there was a Hyuuga messenger by the front door waiting for him.

Once Neji had excused himself, Yoshino refilled my cup with tea and said, "That was a sight. I've never seen him be that way towards anybody before. Let alone a girl."

"Yeah, Sakura." Shikamaru had stopped eating. He rested his hands near his hips and he looked at me with drooped eyes. "When did that happen?"

Toya whistled. "Is that jealousy I smell?"

I wrinkled my nose, both alarmed and guilty at this confrontation. He couldn't be thinking straight if he planned to do this right here and now. "What are you talking about?"

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. "Had I known you were together, I wouldn't have brought you here in the first place. For all I know, Neji's the jealous type."

"The Hyuugas are a possessive bunch," Shikaku said, mostly to me. "But decent enough. Although I have to admit I didn't think neither Neji nor you had time to date."

Yoshino swatted Shikaku's hand. "Don't go prying on a young lady's love life! I don't think it's something Neji would appreciate too."

Shikamaru chewed on his food thoughtfully. "Once news of your relationship gets out, no guy would want you to treat him in case Neji's watching."

I picked up on his ploy, but the hint of genuine annoyance in his intonation irked me. Really, Shikamaru? I wasn't the one getting married so soon after breaking up. I straightened my back and leveled my chin. "There's no reason for Neji to ever be jealous of anyone. He knows I have eyes only for him."

The sliding door closed behind me. A shiver crawled up my spine at the waft of wind that blew in. Neji returned to his place by my side. I lowered my head and hoped my hair would hide my reddening face.

Neji announced that he had to leave. There were conundrums he had to address within the higher ranks of his clan. A long pause later, he shifted on the cushion to face me and cleared his throat. "I'll see you tomorrow and we'll discuss how your eyes shouldn't be on anywhere but your promotion right now. Is that clear?"

I nodded and held my breath until he left. If only there were nobody else in the room with us, I would've confronted him about his surliness. He must be partly convinced that Suna's charges about my taking enhancement drugs held a bit of truth if he was being this way.

Shikamaru faked a cough. Behind his fist against his mouth was the amusement of avenging his ego.

Toya clinked his cup against Shikamaru's. "Was I seeing things or was Neji really blushing?"

Shikaku smirked, but I noted the hint of worry in his expression. Whatever romantic affection I was faking towards Neji could be overcast by my supposed memory loss so there was no problem in that. His worry must be in the fact that I had involuntarily murdered Neji's fiancé over a year and a half ago, and there was no denying that he indeed cared for me.

The scream from upstairs wiped all amusement off our faces. Shikaku nearly overturned the table as he dashed out calling after Yutsuki. The rest of us followed suit with me on the tail, having only a general idea of where the cries were in this maze of a house.

I stumbled into the room next to Toya who, upon seeing the situation inside, exited and made sure the other servants would be kept out. Shikaku carried Yutsuki away from Yoshino, who begged him to please tell her what was happening.

Shikamaru called me over to the maid half-sprawled across the floor. Instinctively, I reached for her bruise-covered feet. The deep purple and green marks were receding, but the pain was causing the maid to call out for help. I reached around Shikamaru and pressed hard at her nape. Her entire body trembled, and then she lost consciousness.

"It's not a permanent trauma to her body," I said to Shikamaru. "She'll be fine. But what...?"

Yutsuki's cries drowned out all other sound in the house. Yoshino stood at a distance from her and her husband, her hands overlapped over her mouth to quiet her sobs.

I had taken only a step towards Shikaku when Shikamaru grabbed my wrist. "It's dangerous. Let dad handle her."

"Dangerous?" I flailed my free hand towards Yutsuki. "She's an infant!"

"She's a Nara," he said, tightening his grip on me. "And she's sick. We all knew her sensitivity to shadows was abnormal, but we never knew...how can it get this bad?"

I couldn't grasp what he meant. Never had he mentioned any such thing to me and no book in the hospital's library had specified a disease in their clan. "Mr. Shikaku, sir, if Yutsuki is in as deep a pain as I think she is, I have to do something."

"She won't open her eyes!" Shikaku turned to face us. "I can't put her in a genjutsu to distract her. Shikamaru, call Toya. Yoshino, you'll have to do it."

Toya entered the room and barred the sliding doors with a seal from the inside. I realized belatedly that no one could hear what was happening inside as he had put up a barrier that made the room sound-proof.

Yoshino bit her thumb and wrote the element of fire on the floor. Once she had backed away, Shikaku put Yutsuki at the center and stepped behind his wife. Toya nodded at Yoshino. They did a series of hand formations and flattened their hands on the ground.

Shikaku cautioned them to be careful as they wouldn't want to absorb too much of the heat in Yutsuki's body. Yoshino told him to shut up.

The written element of fire on the floor slipped beneath Yutsuki and formed a circle around her. Toya warned us that it was going to grow so we better get out of the way.

Shikamaru and I cleared the tabletop at the farther end of the room and transferred the maid there. He half-carried me to get behind him at the first sign of expanding heat. "That much?" he asked.

"What are they doing, Shikamaru?" I peered above his shoulder. Yutsuki's cries grew fainter by the second, but she was still too flushed for my peace of mind.

"Mom's clan specializes in the absorption of elements. Mom and uncle are manipulating the fire element to absorb, seal, and later release it," he said. "Since Yutsuki involuntarily tried to steal her nanny's shadow, she's feeling a rush of chakra her body isn't prepared for but her skills can handle."

It was just as Shikaku said during his check-up. Shadow-binding used shadows as instruments, but the manipulation was possible after the person was bound. The binder's chakra would overtake the victim's modulators that were located outside the channels, therefore enabling them to synch their chakras and control movement with ease. "But Yutsuki's not even supposed to be able to lengthen her shadow yet," I said.

"She didn't need to know shadow manipulation to do what she did," he said, forcing me to take another step back as he did. "The size, pattern, and number of modulators vary per person and change as a shinobi grows stronger. Her nanny isn't a practicing shinobi so in her basic twenty-four modulators, Yutsuki was strong enough to copy a quarter of her modulators and apply it to hers."

Yoshino summoned wind. Toya summoned water. At their command, the heat mingled with the other two elements to create steam equally spread throughout the room. I covered my nose and gagged at the density in the air. Shikamaru fanned the steam away from me. "Once dad says so, you have to check if Yutsuki is okay. The excessive chakra you suffered from last night is nearly the same thing she's going through. But we can't approach so simply because she might still be attracted to shadows."

Shikaku knelt beside Yutsuki and touched her forehead. He whipped his head in search of me. "Sakura!"

Shikamaru, who had been holding my wrist the entire time, let me go. I glimpsed him over my shoulder and saw his eyes fixed on his sister.

The weight of this incident crashed on me that moment. It took a moment too long but I realized it. While Shikamaru was explaining the situation to prep me for any necessary medical procedure, he must have been pushing aside any thought of her possible misfortune.

He'd always been so proud of how strong and capable Yutsuki was, and once he said as he was about to fall asleep next to me in an underground bunk that at least if things went downhill, his parents would still have her to look forward to.

I rushed to Yutsuki and hovered my hand over her body. Yoshino nearly collapsed next to me. "Please tell me my daughter's fine."

I pressed my trembling lips together and nodded. "She's alright."

Shikaku kissed the crown of Yutsuki's head and held Yoshino's hand.

I picked her up from the floor and wrapped her in the cloth that had been discarded early in the commotion. "But if I'm correct and none of you can predict the extent of it and when it will trigger, I'll have to arrange an appointment with the Hokage now."

Setting them up to meet with Lady Tsunade in the hospital past midnight was both easy and difficult. Yoshino strapped Yutsuki against her chest and hooked arms with me as we went to the hospital first. Shikaku and Shikamaru left their house ten minutes after we did, with Toya volunteering to oversee the household during their absence.

Yoshino walked with grace in spite of the urgency of the appointment. All her strength went into keeping up appearances, though, because I had to steer her in the right direction all the way to RB4A. As we crossed the bridge - the same one where Shikamaru and me were attacked by a possessed Sand shinobi - she patted my hand twice and thanked me.

I offered her a feeble smile. "You'll get through this. Everything's just happening all at once but it's nothing your family can't solve."

"Will you stay with us throughout the check-up?"

We stopped in front of the RB4A. I opened the door and stepped in first. "I plan to stick around to make sure Yutsuki's fine."

I had just finished reporting the situation and my medical analysis of Yutsuki when Shikaku and Shikamaru arrived. They greeted the Hokage and expressed their apologies for requesting her at this hour.

As Lady Tsunade inspected Yutsuki's body, Shikaku relayed all the information he had about her disorder. Apparently, it was something inherited in the chief's line. Inter-marriages with other clans was agreed upon in an attempt to saturate the Nara with foreign genes, therefore decreasing the chances of its reappearance.

"The reason shadow and light are such rare jutsus to manipulate is because it causes a corresponding reaction to the user," Lady Tsunade explained to me. "The modulators that enable our shell - the human body - to cope with the immense power of the chakra within us are tricky and exhausting things to manipulate. Shadow manipulation in itself is okay, but binding for complete control of another animate being takes its toll. Stealing, on the other hand " - tickling Yutsuki's belly so she shrieked in laughter - "means she'll mimic the modulators and her body would operate either with her original modulator pattern or with the copied modulators."

"No," I said, looking wide-eyed at Shikaku. "Her chakra would escape her. It's like breathing with five mouths. Her channels will deflate and she'll..."

Shikaku lowered her eyes to the recovery bed. "She can't control it. Her hyper-sensitivity to shadows makes it an obsession."

Shikamaru wrapped his arm around his mother. "My great grandfathers coped with it before. How did they do it?"

"All of us in our bloodline, Shikamaru, have this tendency towards stealing shadows if and when our power can handle it," he said. "Our choice to remain sane and serve the village meant foregoing whatever immense power our shadow jutsus hold. Yutsuki's case in itself is rare. The longest-living survivor of this disorder had all but one of her chakra channels blocked. It was the first step to prevent stealing shadows at a young age. When she was older..."

Yoshino covered her eyes with her hand. "When she was older she killed herself. The disorder affected her psych. She couldn't help her obsession."

Lady Tsunade turned Yutsuki on her side and listened to her heartbeat through a stethoscope. "Her case has never been studied or treated by a professional medic before. If we pursue a remedy, I can't guarantee we will succeed or that she won't end up being like that girl."

"Why?" I looked from Shikamaru to Shikaku. "Why does it sound like it was kept a secret? A life isn't something to be gambled."

Shikamaru went to Shikaku's side. "There's a jutsu to be found somewhere in her disorder, isn't it?" he told him. "If the wrong people find out and tweak the process of how she steals shadows and creates the correct hand-formations for the commands, others will know how to make living puppets." When Shikaku wouldn't confirm, he added, "Did you know about this?"

"Not for certain, but I understood the great likelihood of it materializing."

Shikamaru looked as though he would punch his father, but then he turned to Yoshino. "Mum?"

"We were taking measures towards controlling her sensitivity to shadows, but we did not expect her to be already so sick at this stage and age."

He fell on the edge of the bed, his back turned to me. His parents stood before him like criminals in question. "When were either of you planning to tell me? When I'm married and my position was secure?"

Shikaku brushed Yutsuki's cheek with his forefinger. "When we knew for certain what was happening to your sister. You could hardly take care of yourself, Shikamaru. I couldn't afford to burden you further with the uncertainties of her health. But what are you mad for? We were all caught by surprise tonight."

Shikaku's breathing grew faster. "Did you decide to make me marry within the clan for this purpose? Can this clan guard get you something from the inside that you couldn't risk getting by yourself?"

"I never expected this, Shikamaru. And I have not made plans for your sister yet." Shikaku craned his neck to look down at his son. "But now that we're here, you can be glad you agreed to this marriage. That might just be the course we'll have to take."

Shikamaru walked out on us.

I bowed my head and busied myself with the medical paraphernalia Lady Tsunade would need assistance with, but then Shikaku asked me to please pursue Shikamaru.

I looked up at him, not bothering to hide my confusion, and he explained that he was worried Shikamaru would go where he shouldn't go or do something reckless. "And just in case the stress takes its toll on his body."

Lady Tsunade nodded her permission, and I went after Shikamaru with all the energy I had been holding back since he left.