A/N: As promised for my 75th review, a new chapter is up! Yes! It would have been up earlier, but Fan fiction didn't want me to upload any documents for about a week. But, it is now, so I'm giving you all an update! Thanks for all the hits and reviews, everyone! I never thought I'd have this successful of a story. I love you all for being so great! Remember: More reviews gets faster updates.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto.

"Shikamaru! SHIKAMARU!" The pink haired girl chased after the retreating Nara. But it seemed that he was intent on getting rid of her, losing her somehow.

"I've screwed it all up. He's going to hate me forever." Sakura sighed, and gave up. There was no use trying to follow him. When Shikamaru wanted to get away, he could lose anyone. And Sakura had found that out the hard way.

Hearing her words, the Nara, who was disguised as a shopper on the street, frowned. 'Not forever. But it's going to take time.' His heart ached seeing her kissing Uchiha, and the sight kept replaying in his head. He just shut his eyes, and went home.

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Tsunade sat at her desk, staring down at the request on the page. She was going to need a four man cell for this mission. And she only had four chuunin left to call. What was with this influx of missions this week, anyway? Was it like bother Konoha by giving them missions week? If it was, she had been left out of the loop on that one.

The Hokage sighed, a deep long sigh. "YOU BETTER NOT BE PLANNING TO GO TO SLEEP, HOKAGE-SAMA!" Shizune's voice blared in her ears from the next room.

"I'M NOT!"

The black haired assistant walked in, huge stack of papers in hand. "Good, because you've got a lot of paperwork to be doing."

A pair of amber eyes started twitching nervously at the sight. So. Many. Papers.

"Right, I'll get to that right after you call in these four for this mission." Glad that her boss was finally going to get some work done, Shizune happily took the mission report. "You're going to have to brief them, since I've got all this paperwork to do." Her assistant nodded again. If it meant Tsunade-sama was going to get work done, she'd brief all the teams.

When she saw Shizune leave the Manor, Tsunade made a run for her life. She barged through the door, out onto the street, and ran far far away. It seemed as though Shizune was just too naive.

The black haired woman knocked on the door of her fellow apprentice. "Sakura-chan, you are needed for a mission."

"Coming, Shizune-san!"

"Actually, meet me up at the gates in 10 minutes. I need to go get everyone else."

"Hai!" Was the response.

Shizune continued her search for the three meaning chuunin on the list. She came up to the next door. Knocking, the blond girl opened the door. "Ino-chan! You're needed for a mission!"

"Right, Shizune-san."

"Meet me up at the gate for the briefing in 10 minutes. I need to go get your team mates."

"Okie-dokie." Ino smiled, and shut the door. Shizune continued on her way. The next house came into view. She had to wonder why they all lived so close to each other. It was taking her like less than a second to get from place to place. Weird.

She knocked politely on the door. "Lee-kun, you're needed for a mission." The black haired boy opened the door, fully dressed and backpack on. "Wow... that was quick."

"Hai, Shizune-san! I like to challenge myself by trying to get ready as quickly as possible."

"Well, that was pretty quick. Um, meet me by the gate in about 10 minutes, okay?"

"Right! I'll be there in ten minutes, after finishing my 10 laps around Konoha!"

"Right... Well, bye, Lee-kun!" She smiled, and slowly inched away from the door, heading for the next person on her list. Who was the last person on her list, anyway? She looked down. There were tons of pen lines all crossed out over the page. Tsunade-sama had done some serious thinking on this!

Shizune smiled, and then realized Tsunade had been playing tic-tac-toe with herself to pass the time she should have been working. Shizune's eye was sent into a furry of twitching.

"Shizune, are you okay?"

The voice calling to her made her turn around. Standing behind her was none other than Shikamaru Nara. "Ah, Shikamaru-kun! Perfect. I need you to lead a team for me, okay? I was actually heading out to your house to find you, but it's a good thing you're here. We've got to get to the gate quickly!" Compared to the rest of them, the Nara household was way out there. While it had taken her the blink of an eye to get from Sakura's to Ino's to Lee's houses, it had taken her nine just to find the chuunin standing before her.

"But, I didn't have time to pack anything."

"Oh well, I'm sure someone will have over packed. You know how girls are!"

Yeah, right. He had never known anyone other than Ino and Naruto to over pack for a mission.

When they arrived at the gate, Sakura, Ino, and Lee were already there.

"How troublesome..." was all Shikamaru muttered. He had been avoiding both Sakura and Ino for a couple of days, ever since the kiss.

"You all are going on a mission to Takigakure to retrieve some information on mysterious happenings there. Tsunade-sama also wants you to get some money that a ninja there owed her. She doesn't have many people in debt to her, so she's charging outrageous interest. The ninja's name is Jiraiya-sama."

"Why does Jiraiya-sama owe Tsunade-sama money?" Sakura asked.

Ignoring the question, Shizune continued. "Shikamaru-kun, you're the leader. Well, that about sums it up. Bye!"

With a shake of his head, Shikamaru looked up at the sky. What he wouldn't give to be watching the clouds in a field somewhere. If he had known being a chuunin was this much work, he would have given it up a long time ago.

"Well, lets get going." And he took off in the direction of Takigakure, his team following behind.

After two hours of Ino talking, Shikamaru turned to Ino with an exasperated look on his face. "Ino. Shut. Up."

"Awww, but Shikamaru-kun!"

"Yes, Shikamau-kun! I think Ino's voice is quite youthful!

"No one asked you, Lee."

"You're just jealous your voice isn't youthful, Shikamaru!"

"My voice could be youthful if it wanted to. But my ears, on the other hand, can't take much more." Shikamaru couldn't help but notice that Sakura hadn't said a thing on this mission. He knew it was his fault, and he felt really bad about it, but he felt even worse every-time he saw her kissing Sasuke in his mind.

Why do I even care? I don't love her. She can do whatever she wants to. The only reason I liked her is because we spent so much time together to try and break up Ino and Sasuke.

But long after they were broken up, you still hung out. And you really enjoyed it.

Nyaa, just shut up. Sakura doesn't like me, she likes Uchiha.

Oh? Is that why you two had so mcuh fun together? Is that why you would think of her even when you were apart? Is that only you could make her smile when she was sad?

I did not!

Don't try lying to your mind. It doesn't work.

Shikamaru shook his head. He really needed to stop talking to himself, it was starting to get creepy. Really creepy.

"Shikamaru-kun, we're there."

And it was taking longer to argue with himself every time.

"Right. Well, you know the mission. Lee and Ino will look for Jiraiya. Once you find him, Ino, take over his mind, and give Lee the 1,000 yen owed. Sakura and I will try to gather as much information as possible on these mysteries."

"Okay, Shikamaru." Ino jumped down onto the ground, and ran to the gates.

"Hai, Shikamaru-kun." Lee nodded, and followed Ino.

Sakura said nothing. She just looked at him with sad eyes.

"Sakura..."

"No, it's okay. I'll get over it." Eventually.

Shikamaru didn't want her to get over it, though. He wanted her to love him. But... that would never happen. He had blown it by ignoring her.

Sakura didn't want to get over it. But she new she had blwn it by kissing Sasuke. Having Shikamaru ignore her was a dead give-away that he didn't want her anymore.

The two looked away nervously. Then Shikamaru spoke.

"Well, we still have a mission to carry out."

"Right."

With that, the two set off for Kumogakure, neither wanting to make eye contact with the other.

A/N: I bet you guys expected this. XD Read, and review. More reviews gets faster updates. Once I get 90 reviews, I'll update again. 15 more, just like last time!