Hey everybody! Link Ragnarok here with chapter 12 of Love's such a drag! Yes! I know, been a year and almost a month since I published this story.

I figured I should finally update this. All my watchers and those new to the story deserve to have to know the ending to this story. Not sure how many of you enjoy long chapters, but these chapters that I'm writing up, as they stand now with what goes on within them, are going to be pretty long chapters. I believe that this chapter, Plans, is about 8500 words. (That's not counting this extra stuff) Not as big as my last chapter, but it works for me.

Please, for those that know how much this story is OOC, ignore the fact that I made a crucial mistake with the characters. I realize that I DID mess up with what they are (Chuunin, Genin, Jounin). I meant to make all them, even Naruto, Chuunin and above I just, as I have stated before, never saw/read the Shippuuden arcs before chapter 7, so I made a large mix up. In my mind, and imagine in yours that these characters are wearing all of their Shippuuden clothes and have those Jutsu.

Also, this is definitely an AU, so as a side note Sasuke never went to Orochimaru, that idiot doesn't even come in period with this AU. Yeah, he did mess up Konoha and kill the Third, but he didn't try to take Sasuke. Sasuke just found those clothes... and liked them along with that sword... That's my excuse.

Thank you if you are still continuing to read this even after how long it's been, all the mistakes I have made, and any confidence you had lost in me a year ago. It means a lot to me if you still comment too, helps fuel my spiders to work faster ;_;.

Please enjoy! Any questions, just ask.

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo- -oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

Kankuro, Naruto, Temari, and Hinata, Time: Mid-Morning, Place: Céleste

Temari

"Stop!" Kankuro suddenly commanded out. Naruto, Hinata, and I stopped directly behind Kankuro. Kankuro teetered over slightly at us stopping so close to him; Naruto grabbed him and pulled him up.

"Why did we stop?" Naruto asked Kankuro as he steadied him back to his feet. Kankuro sighed at him and gestured over the edge of the building. He raised an eyebrow at Kankuro before walking to the edge and looking over. His eyes widened in surprised and he jumped back. "Ooh... A cliff..."

I came up next to Kankuro, placed my fan next to me, and glanced down. "What cli-." I stopped in mid-sentence as I stared down at the open chasm below me. "What the?" I looked left and right to notice that the chasm wasn't just in front of us, but it lined the entire area to the east and west.

"You're kidding right? What kind of thing would make this...?" Naruto asked as he approached again this time with Hinata to his right.

Kankuro shrugged, "how should I know the answer to that? It looks like it ripped out a lot of the buildings whatever made this though..." He glanced down and stared. "Looks pretty deep too, even the sun doesn't shine all the way down into it." I crossed my arms and frowned then looked at Hinata who caught my eye. She placed up her hands and shook her head.

"I... I didn't know this chasm was here..." She looked to her left and pointed. "That is the water source I noticed." We all glanced to our lefts as well and frowned. There was water alright; it was a giant waterfall that fell straight down in the chasm though. I trailed my eyes down the waterfall and continued to frown when I couldn't reach the bottom of it.

"It'd be bad if one of us fell down this, let's back off and think of what we can do." Kankuro suggested. I nodded to him as he jumped off. Looking at Hinata and Naruto I placed my fan on my back and jumped off toward Kankuro with them behind me.

-oO0-o)

"There is another water source; it's more to the northwest of our location now." Hinata reported to us as she sat down next to Naruto. I glanced at her then looked down sighing.

"This is ridiculous." I mumbled, "we are not getting anywhere. And although it's morning, I'm a bit edgy to be wandering around almost aimlessly." Kankuro's hand clasped my shoulder and I looked up at him.

"Temari. First off, we do need to find water. We won't survive on food pills alone, and we also need food. Where water is, plants are likely to grow." Kankuro glanced to his left and made a face, "or I hope so. Nothing seems to grow around here..." I sighed again and shrugged off his hand, that didn't make me feel any better at all.

"Eh, well how far is it to the water?" Naruto asked Hinata who glanced at him then looked up thinking.

"It's not as far as last time. We could probably reach it by afternoon..." Hinata looked uncertain and I had a feeling why. All of what had happened to us recently made things a bit unsettling. Hinata fiddled with her fingers and stared at the ground. I glanced at Naruto to see he was looking around, but something troubling seemed on his mind. I wasn't about to ask though, no one could probably ever figure out what was going on his numskull brain. My eyes traveled to my brother who was staring toward the northeast.

Everyone's mood was in a low, but of course it would be. We were separated from everyone who had come with us on this ridiculous mission, and in an unknown world. I curled up, placed my head in my knees, and stared down. All of what had happened had been the fault of Kumo Konjou, and why did it have to happen to Shikamaru of all people? This, of course, wouldn't have been any different if this had happened to someone else, but it was so heartrending to me.

I love Shikamaru, and I always think that if I had been there when he had fallen into that hole a year or so ago, could I have prevented this? I shook my head slightly, the answer to that was no. This was bound to happen one way or another, but if I had known the situation ahead of time could I have prevented us from coming to this wretched place? That answer I would never find because that could be a maybe or a maybe not.

Sighing, I stood up and glanced at the others. "Let's go toward the water source that Hinata saw. Better than staying here after all." Kankuro smiled at me and stretched.

"Yeah. Temari's right. We could find some other clues too, or even a way out of this damn city." He motioned to Hinata who nodded to him and got up. "You lead Hinata. Naruto you're behind her, I'll be behind you, and Temari you're in rear."

"Understood!" We all said then got into position and took off toward the northeast.

-oO0-o)

Finally arriving at the source it was near afternoon just like Hinata had predicted. It wasn't snowing and we could just see over the large walls. There was nothing except for a very large river that circled itself towards the northwest. Vaguely in the distance looked to be a building, and maybe a forest. This river seemed to be the main source of the water that Hinata had found. We jumped off the building and landed near the river. Hinata and Naruto bent down as Hinata started to test the water source. Kankuro walked around to see if he could find any living thing. I looked to where the water was streaming from to see a large break in the wall that the water probably caused to flow in.

"Ah, looks like there are small wild vegetables and plants here that we could use to create food." Kankuro concluded waving over at us. I waved back and smiled slightly at him then Hinata stood up and came up to me.

"The water is also good. Nothing has polluted it and the rest of the stream seems to go underground from here." Hinata told me as she handed me a vial of water. I nodded to her and drank the vial then nodded again.

"Yeah, seems all good. Alright let's get a fire started and get this food cooking."

-oO0-o)

"What's the plan from here?" Naruto asked placing his empty bowl of food down. I glanced at him then looked at Kankuro who was drawing in the dirt with a stick.

"Eh, since we can take some of the vegetables here with us, it'll be good to pack them." Kankuro pointed with his stick. "Let's assume that this position here is us. As we noticed earlier this river seems to flow northwest." He indicated that by moving the stick in a wavy motion.

"Should we follow the river?" I asked him. He shook his head at me. "Why not?"

"It might be a good idea to follow the stream, but I'm not sure it will lead us anywhere. There seems to be another settlement to the northeast. I think we should head in that direction." Kankuro scribbled in the dirt again and I noticed that he was drawing an outline.

"Do... do you want me to look in that direction, Kankuro-san?" Hinata asked shyly. Kankuro looked at her and nodded. Hinata then stood up and went to the edge of the city walls and looked out across the blanket of snow.

"Byakugan!" I watched her as her eyes gained the veins around them. A minute passed before she turned back to us. "There is a settlement like Kankuro-san said. It is a far northeast, but does not seem to be as large as this place.

"Hmm, that'll be good enough. I'm sick of this creepy city anyhow." I stood up and stretched. "Well since our destination is set. Let's pack up and move out! Formation will be the same as before."

"Okay." Hinata and Naruto responded at the same time then they looked at each other and smiled. They gathered up water and the left over food bowls. Kankuro glared slightly at me that I was giving the orders. I stuck my tongue out at him then kicked him, and pointed toward the vegetables and plants. He growled at me before rolling his eyes and gathering the food supplies.

I jumped over to the city edge and held my fan close to me. Somewhere out there Shikamaru had to be, and I had to find him. I nodded to the others when they were ready and we moved out. I glanced up at the sky and sighed.

"Shikamaru..."

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

Kiba, Shino, and Gaara, Time: Afternoon, Place: Morton

Kiba

A wet feeling went across my face making me mumble. I lifted my hand up and tried to swat away whatever was doing that. "Go away..." The lick came again making me open my eyes this time. I blinked several times when I noticed that it was just Akamaru. "What, Akamaru?" He whimpered slightly then nudged my head. I growled slightly getting up feeling groggy then my eyes opened wide, and I got up looking around.

Where was I? Gaara was up staring at me with a confused expression on his face, while Shino, to my right, looked as if to be sleeping. I stared over at Gaara then my stomach growled and food filled my nostrils. I sat down slowly sighing; now I remember where. We, Gaara, Shino and I, were at this weird place where Kumo Konjou "lived". We'd overheard a conversation between Kumo Konjou and "Temari" who was Gaara's sister's clone in this strange place. After that we found some food and decided to stay. I guess we must have drifted off to sleep.

Akamaru dropped food at my feet and I petted him before biting into it.

"Are you alright?" I looked up and over at Gaara. He still had a confused expression on his face. I placed a hand behind my hand and sheepishly smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I responded to him. "Just got confused to where I was for a second." He nodded to me then bent over and held up a piece of bread.

"It... it is odd isn't it." He started to say. I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "There is loads of food here, even food for Akamaru."

"Yeah, so? We got food; I don't see a problem with that." I crossed my arms confused.

"Kiba, he is saying that it is strange we happen to find it." I jumped and looked to my right to see Shino sitting up, awake, and next to me. He was staring down at the food that lay out before us. Gaara nodded to Shino and placed the bread he was holding down.

"Why have it here? This place, if I were to conclude correctly, is where Kumo Konjou lives. No reason to keep this food here, I doubt he eats this." I blinked then slowly nodded understanding what they were talking about.

"You think they, those clone dudes, wanted us to find us?" I asked.

"Perhaps." Shino responded.

"Very likely, but all the same, even if they hadn't we need this food." Gaara placed out his hand and started to form his sand. It formed into a large bag then hardened. "We shall take this food and place it in here."

"Okay, but that's a big bag. Who do you expect to carry that?" I watched as Gaara and Shino started to fill the bag. Shino pointed at Akamaru. "Oh... right, of course." I glanced at Akamaru who found a piece of meat to chew on. "That's okay, right boy?" He barked in response, wagged his tail, and then continued to eat. I nodded to myself and started to help Gaara and Shino.

-oO0-o)

Out into Morton again. We were heading northeast because of large walls that we saw in the distance. The snow had settled down when we came out of the building which allowed us to notice our surroundings more. We noticed the large walls and figured that it was probably a city.

"You think anyone lives there?" I asked gesturing towards the walls. Shino shook his head and Gaara said nothing. "Humph... I'm guessing that's a no. Sigh, we'll find out sooner or later won't we?" I sighed and patted Akamaru before checking to make sure the food was still there. I grabbed a few pieces and threw some to Shino and Gaara who both caught it. Then I grabbed some meat and handed it to Akamaru who gladly munched on the food as we ran.

Stretching and munching on the bread in my hand I looked around at the surroundings. Not much difference from what we had seen from before, but I did notice that the layout of the snow was different. It wasn't as smooth as it had been near where Kumo Konjou's building was. Perhaps we were leaving this snowy desert, and entering new grounds that could have been grassy before the snow. Of course, there was no way to tell since there was snow everywhere, but I was glad that there was no wind and that the sun was in the air. It made the chill of the snow seem much less cold with those two factors.

As I gazed around, Gaara came to a halt making Shino and I come to a halt as well. "What's up?" I asked him. He glanced at him me and pointed toward his left. I followed his eyes and perched up slightly at what could be seen.

Water! There was a river like object flowing in the distance just north of us. "Wahoo!" I shouted. Shino shook his head at me probably thinking how much of an idiot I am. "Ah, I don't care, there's water and where water grows, so do plants!" I grinned to myself. Akamaru seemed just as happy as me. Sure there was technically "water" everywhere. Snow, but I wasn't about to melt that and drink it unless I absolutely had to.

"Shall we head there, Gaara?" Shino asked. Gaara glanced between me and Shino before nodding his head.

"Wahoo!" I shouted again as Akamaru rushed forward.

"Ah, Kiba!" Shino shouted after me, but there was no way I was stopping. After a few seconds I heard them run after me, and I grinned to myself and looked ahead. "Water here we come!"

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

Tenten and Choji, Time: Afternoon, Place: Agana's abandoned house

Choji

"Tenten-san do you think there is anything else in this home?" I asked Tenten-san as I came into the house. I had just went around and looked to see if I could find any source of food, which I had found a small garden with vegetables and plants that were surprisingly still alive. I set the food on the table in the kitchen as Tenten-san entered the room.

"Not that I can find Choji... I can't enter the other rooms no matter how much I try." She sighed and sat down. "Can't use paper bombs without the roof collapsing on us." I nodded to her as I looked around the kitchen.

"Want me to make food, Tenten-san? Some of things in here look like they may still work." I went over to the sink and glanced at the water faucet. "Though... I think the pipes for water are broken." Tenten-san made a small laugh.

"I guess we can just melt the snow. I'll go get some, you start to get those vegetables you found ready for cleaning." I smiled at her as she stood up.

"Okay." She smiled back then grabbed a small bowl on the ground and went outside. I rolled up my sleeves and began to work.

An hour or so later we had a fire going and food preparing. We were sitting down as I stirred the food around in a pot I had found. On the table were also empty cans of food that we had found in the cupboards that still smelled good.

While it was cooking I happened to glance to my left to see a darkened area. "Hey Tenten-san... Over there," I pointed in that direction and she looked over, "seems to be another room of some sort."

"Hmm... Yeah, looks like it. Let's check it out after we finish eating." I nodded to her then checked on the food.

-oO0-o)

"UGH!" Tenten-san shouted as she sat down, exhausted. I, too, was sitting down exhausted. "This door just doesn't want to open."

"Should I use a jutsu on it?" I suggested. Tenten-san shook her head then stood up and leaned on the door.

"No, but I do wish that Neji was here-" The door suddenly opened and Tenten-san fell forward. "AH! Oof!" I stood up and knelt next to her gently helping her to her feet.

"Are you alright, Tenten-san?" I asked, concerned. She nodded to me.

"Yeah, fine, but why did the door open?"

"I do not know." I looked up and around. Another room that wasn't burnt. "This room seems to have not suffered damage either." Tenten-san looked up and around as well and nodded in agreement with me.

"Yeah, you're right. That's weird though. Why only these two rooms? Does this one have a nameplate?" She stood up and looked at the door, rubbed her sleeve on the burnt parts then frowned. "Nope... no name." I sighed and looked around carefully. It was a little bit smaller than the other rooms and seemed to have different things in it.

"This is almost like a guest bedroom..." I commented.

"Reminds me of the Hyuuga household actually." Tenten-san replied as she knelt down in front of a bookcase.

"How so?" I asked coming next to her.

"Looks just like one of their guest rooms, like you thought, I stayed in a couple of times. Although..." Tenten-san trailed off. I blinked at her and looked to see what she was holding. It was a book of some sort

"What is it, Tenten-san?" She didn't answer so I looked at the book and began to read it aloud.

"Recent information from Kumo Konjou-sama has come in. Alysa has gone out to the temple to go to that world. She is bringing back Shikamaru-sama's double, and all the other doubles as well. It seems the waited day to travel to that world is finally coming to. I have waited for this day since Kumo Konjou created me. Thanks to him, I have been able to get close to Alysa's family without her knowing of the true intentions until the last moment. The burning of her home was successful, unfortunately her younger brother, Itzal, has escaped. To where, I do not know. He could not have made it far. Most of his puppets were left behind, although he did take his crow and spider puppet with him. No doubt he will use the crow to fly. Most likely place he will head towards will be towards Cyth. Fortunately, I was able to turn both his parents into harvestmen. ((Another name for Daddy-long-legs)). Their change aren't complete, but it will just be all like the others soon enough. With this, I am ready to take out those who stand in our way to our Master's goal.

Neji."

I blinked. The name was Neji, but how could that be? And this seemed to be a journal from Neji. I looked at Tenten-san as she stared at the book biting her lip. She seemed just as confused as I was. Looking from the book I looked at the shelves and saw similar books as well. Carefully I took them down and started to place them in my bag. Tenten-san watched me and said nothing as she held the same book in her hand. Once I was done taking those books out I glanced at other ones as well. A couple of them were just reading material, but one of them was a map.

I took a few steps back and placed the decrepit map on the floor. It showed a geological area of the place we were in. In the right hand corner was the name "Chaos". I assumed that that was the name of the entire area we were in. Scanning it I looked for an area that looked similar to a forest, when I found it I gently gestured to Tenten-san.

"I think this is where we are, Agana." I told her. She glanced at it then nodded before going back to the book in her hand. She flipped through the pages scanning it.

"This journal, Choji, seems to have what "Neji" and some others that have planned out with Kumo Konjou." She handed it to me, and I placed it in my bag. "I think from that page and this picture," she took out the picture we had found in Alysa's room, "we can assume that the Neji who wrote this journal and is in this picture is the same person."

"So, when he mentions doubles, he is referring to... us?" Tenten-san smiled at me.

"Most likely. Who else could have the same name as us, and look like us? He said he was created, and mentioned Shikamaru. I'm thinking there are others just like us too. There has to be right?" She looked at me hoping I would agree, and I did with a nodding of my head.

"He said 'all the other doubles as well'. That means there are." I stood up straight and looked towards the kitchen. "Tenten-san, we have just found valuable information. And I think we can conclude that that kunoichi who took Shikamaru, Alysa, isn't bad. Let's go back to her little brother's room."

Tenten-san got up and frowned at me as I walked out of the room. "Why?" She asked following me.

"Because, it sounds like he could be in trouble. The date in that journal is very recent compared to the date we left after Shikamaru." I went into Itzal's room and knelt down grabbing the puppets. "We should head to Cyth and take these to Itzal. That way, he can better defend himself." Tenten-san nodded.

"I see. Then let me get some food prepared for this journey. With that map we have a better idea where we are going." I nodded to her and smiled. She smiled back then ran out of the room.

We were good to go and now we knew exactly what was going on. Well, almost. We hadn't read through the other journals, but when we do I bet we would know what was really happening.

Grabbing our things and supplies we headed out of the home and toward the east with the sun shiny brightly overhead.

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

Ino and Lee, Time: Late Afternoon, Place: Angra Mainyu

Ino

I looked over at Shikamaru, Neji, and Lee who were making a small fire. I came up and stared down at their attempts while holding my arms tightly. It was cold and I hadn't realized that it was snowing out here too. I thought it had only been snowing in the bog, I hadn't known that there was snow EVERYWHERE. I sighed and shivered again.

Shikamaru stood up and pulled off his jacket and gave it to me. I blinked in response. "Th-thank you, Shikamaru."

"Welcome, Ino." He knelt down and cleared a spot off the ground so I could sit on a dry surface. He did the same for himself and sat down. Lee and Neji were already sitting; they had started up the fire. I sat down next to Shikamaru and wrapped his jacket around myself.

"Well, that was mighty generous of him." I thought to myself. "More generous than usual... And this jacket looks like it was meant for this kind of weather... Hmm..." I sighed and looked at Shikamaru. "Hey... Shikamaru?"

He looked at me, cocking his head slightly. "Hmm?"

"I was thinking... Why don't we check out that temple? Maybe it will give us some clues to of what is going on here..." I asked carefully. He frowned at me then looked away mumbling.

"I don't know, Ino... I don't think I want to be near that place ever again...Remember what happened when we were in there?" I nodded. "Of course I remember, how could I forget that..." "What if something like that happens again?"

"Sigh, I guess you're right, but I still think we should go there." He sighed again at me then looked at the fire.

A few seconds later he looked over at Lee and Neji. "Neji, Lee. What do you think?"

Neji and Lee glanced over then looked at the fire. "I think we should do what Ino-san says." Lee responded first. Neji nodded in agreement.

"It only seems right Shikamaru... that we should investigate that temple. When we first entered there were only many bugs and spiders across the walls..." Neji pointed at. I frowned. There was that pause again after Neji said Shikamaru's name. It was as if he was holding back saying something after Shikamaru's name. Perhaps -san? No, I don't think Neji has ever addressed Shikamaru in any polite way except just his first name. Then what though? It was really strange and I was starting to think that there was something very wrong with both of them.

"Alright, fine. But let's do that later. We need to find food and water." Lee nodded in agreement and so did Neji. I stared at the fire thinking to myself.

I really did think that there was something very strange about them. I knew that Lee felt the same because I could see him constantly glancing at Neji from the corner of his eye. I wanted to find out more, but I had no idea how to do that without getting too suspicious. Unfortunately, I yawned and laid my head against Shikamaru's shoulder and fell asleep.

-oO0-o)

"Hmm..." I mumbled opening my eyes and yawning.

"Awake now?" I blinked up at Shikamaru's voice. "You know it's not good to fall asleep when it's cold, Ino." A frown was on his face.

"I fell asleep?" I asked yawning again. He nodded and gently placed me on my feet. I blinked again, why was I in the air? "Huh? Did you carry me? Wait, where are we?" I looked around to see that we were near what looked like a lake.

"That's right Ino-san. You fell asleep, but Shikamaru-kun didn't have it to wake you up so he just carried you!" Lee grinned. "That's amazing." I made a face at Lee, twitching then waved him off.

"Sure, sure..." I stretched some and knelt down in front of the body of water. "I wonder where this leads to?"

"Who knows. It's water, that's good enough for me." Shikamaru mumbled kneeling down next to me with a bottle in his hand. He scooped up some of the water and tested it. "Seems good. Doesn't look bad either." Lee and I nodded and scooped up water with our bottles. I looked around as I placed mine in my bag.

"Where's Neji, Shikamaru?" I asked. He looked at me then pointed. I followed his finger and saw Neji a little bit ahead of us. "What's he doing?"

"Not a clue, he seems fine on his own, so leave him to his business." I frowned at Shikamaru then glanced at Lee and gestured him away. I got up and Lee followed me as I walked off.

"We'll be right back, okay, Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He said turning around. "But, meh, since we're in an unknown area I guess I better check up on Neji." He placed his hands in his pockets as he stood up and walked up towards Neji.

Lee and I walked off a bit and stopped kneeling down when we were a good distance away from Shikamaru and Neji.

"Lee, now I'm sure that there's something different about them." I whispered as I glanced in Shikamaru's and Neji's direction.

"Yes, Ino-san. I am certain about it too. There is something definitely different." Lee placed his hand on his chin. "I can't quite place what is going on, but it does not seem like Shikamaru-kun and Neji."

"Yeah, Shikamaru's attitude is really different. He can be a lazy ass sometimes and not seem to care, but he's doesn't act like this." Lee nodded in agreement.

"It is the same for Neji. He is very calm about things, but he seems a bit jumpy. His hair is what made me think about this at first." Lee glimpsed in Neji's direction. "He was shocked for only a little while about his hair, and then it seemed as if it didn't matter at all."

"Yeah..." I looked down at the ground thinking. "What if... they're not really them? Didn't the spider say something about this before we entered that temple?" Lee looked at me confused. I frowned at him and made a face.

"Oh yes! The spider that spoke to our minds. Yes, I believe he did. Let me see if I can remember." As Lee looked down to think and stared off in the direction of Shikamaru and Neji. They were talking now, but in a way like we were, in secret. I frowned, when were those two so close anyway? Now I was definitely sure that this wasn't them. "Ah! I remember Ino-san." I looked back at Lee.

"What did the spider say?"

"He said that we were going to be sent to a parallel universe."

"Pa...rallel universe...?" I stared at him strangely not understanding. "What's that...?

"Let me explain. A parallel universe is a place, another world that looks exactly like ours. I'll use an example. We live in Konoha, correct?" I nodded to him, rolling eyes. "Well the lives we live are different if we went to a parallel universe. If we were sent there we would see ourselves, but living different lives. The place would be the same, but not the person. Even sometimes if it's the same place, it could have different circumstances such as if where we stood now the deserts of Suna. Do you understand what I mean?"

I slowly took in the information then nodded. "So you mean... this snowy wasteland is what used to be..." Lee nodded to me. "No way... So those two aren't who we think they are... But they're still good right?" Lee looked down.

"Perhaps not. They may be living different lives, but their intentions aren't always good. Their souls are the same so they might not harm us as if they were the real Shikamaru-kun and Neji, but yet they still might." I bit my lip. I didn't like that response at all, it was a bit scary, and sounded very true to what was going on right at this moment. I stood up as Shikamaru and Neji came over.

"Looks like Neji found some food. I guess all we need to do is cook it then we could head back to the temple like you wanted to, Ino." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know why you're so desperate to go there though, it creeps me out just thinking of that place..."

"Ah, I want answers! I think the temple would hold lots since, you know, it brought us here and all." Shikamaru sighed and shrugged then gesture to follow him. Lee and Neji walked behind him, but I came slower thinking again of what Lee and I had just talked about.

All that had happened, and all that would happened had to link into it. This was definitely not the Shikamaru and Neji that Lee and I knew. But if these two weren't them, where were the real ones?

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

Shikamaru, Neji, Alysa, Itzal, Sasuke, and Sakura, Time: Late Afternoon, Place: Nereza

Sakura

"Is everyone feeling alright?" I asked as we were heading out of the mountain cave and back toward the town at the edge of the mountain which was called Cyth from what Alysa and Itzal-san had told us.

"I think so, Sakura-san." Alysa answered me as she stood up slowly. Neji came up next to her and gently helped her to be steady on her feet. Clash squeaked at my feet and I picked him up examining him again.

"You look fine now, Clash. You'll just be a little swore." I smiled at him and he squeaked again. He hadn't spoken in our minds since the temple, but I wasn't sure I wanted to hear a voice inside my head besides my own again. I looked around at everyone as I placed Clash down on the ground. Itzal-san was kneeling next to Shikamaru who was looking at a book which Sasuke-kun and I had learned was the book of this world.

It was the book that Shikamaru and the Sand Siblings had found in the Konoha library. It detailed much about this world, Chaos, and also had a map in the back. Apparently the written information that dealt with the kidnapping of Shikamaru, when he was younger, was written by someone who had lived in Chaos then went to our world and became part of Konoha.

I looked to my left as Sasuke-kun came up to me. "How are your shoulders, Sasuke-kun?" He tested them out, winced a little but gave me a small smile.

"They're fine now, Sakura. Much better thanks to you." I smiled back and nodded.

"That's good to hear." I looked over at Shikamaru as he got up and strolled over to us with Itzal-san behind him. "You have an idea where we are headed, Shikamaru?"

He nodded to me and opened the book to the back and pointed at something. "Yeah, here, towards the city Céleste. Itzal says there is probably not much there now, but we could find some of our friends. We got nothing else to lose anyway." I nodded to him and turned to look outside.

"Anywhere else we could head after Céleste?" I heard Sasuke-kun ask.

"Meh, well near here? Not really... The forest isn't the best place to go to and there's probably no one at the Lake. I won't assume that, but I'd rather not go there, and if we went southwest, we'd just run into the swamp." I heard Shikamaru shift around before continuing. "That's were Neji, Alysa and I came from. Our doubles are there, and there is no way I want to run into them again right now."

"I see..." Sasuke-kun sighed and came up next to me looking out as well. "So to Céleste... What is that place?"

"It's a great city." Alysa answered coming next to us with Neji at her side. "It has very tall buildings that tower over even the clouds." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's quite impressive." I commented as she nodded to me, but in a sad motion.

"It's not that great of a city anymore. Harvestmen roam it now, and the city is full of dead people." She sighed and looked down at the ground.

"Wait a minute, Harvestmen? Now what's that Alysa...?" Shikamaru asked standing next to Neji with Itzal-san next to him and Clash on his shoulders. Alysa looked up at Shikamaru and bit her lip then looked away sheepishly.

"Ah, I apologize, Shikamaru-kun. Harvestmen are the creatures you saw in Cyth."

"Oh, they have a name now do they?" Sasuke-kun mumbled. "Great, we just escaped from these Harvestmen and now we're going to go head-on into them?" He sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry..." Alysa responded looking down.

"Let's just go." Sasuke-kun mumbled again as he started down the mountain. Neji and Alysa followed after him then I took behind them. Shikamaru and Itzal-san came behind us and our trek down the mountain began.

-oO0-o)

We started across the desert plains of Morton, which was the name Alysa called it, towards the direction of Céleste. We didn't go through Cyth, too afraid we'd run into Harvestmen. If we had to deal with them in Céleste, there was no point in dealing with them here. Besides, if they took forever to kill we could end up being chased all the way to the city by them. Not something I find particularly fun or something I want to do.

I looked behind us as the sun began to set. It made me shiver as cold air began to blow across us. It had started to snow again too, which made the cold worse. We walked close to each other to hopefully keep warm. Sasuke-kun held me close with his arm and rubbed my arm with his hand to help from my arms freezing.

"How far is it, Neji?" Sasuke-kun asked Neji as he glanced back at him. Neji stopped and closed his eyes.

"Byakugan!" Neji's kekkei genkai appeared in his eyes and he stared off into the distance then he closed them and sighed. "A good distance. At the rate we are walking, a day or two away." Sasuke-kun sighed as well and we continued to walk.

"I could summon one of my spiders that we may ride upon, if you do not mind." Alysa asked us. I frowned thinking about that.

"I say, we go for it. I was on it once, wasn't... too bad." Shikamaru mumbled. "It's better than freezing our feet off and we can be a little bit warmer."

"... Okay." Sasuke-kun and I turned to Alysa and Neji. Everyone stopped as she bit her finger and started the signs.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Alysa placed her hand on the ground and smoke went into the air. After it cleared a giant spider stood before us with its many eyes blinking and its two large outward fangs twitching. I jumped back slightly from it shivering from how creepy it was. Alysa, Neji, Itzal-san, and Shikamaru got onto its back. I was more reluctant, and was about to say I'd rather walk when Sasuke-kun grabbed me and jumped up there.

"You weren't about to walk, now where you, Sakura?" A small grin on his face as he placed me down almost practically in his lap. A small blush came to my face and shook my head. "Good, cause you wouldn't get to anyway." I sighed and leaned backwards against him.

"This is Lindal; he's very gentle and won't hurt you at all." Alysa told us as she moved up toward Lindal's eyes. "Okay, Lindal, use your webs." The spider nodded making its entire body move then webs shot out from nowhere and wrapped around our bodies almost as if they were seatbelts. As soon as we were secure we started to move. I tensed up slightly, but relaxed when Sasuke-kun wrapped his arms around me.

"I hope this doesn't become a routine thing." Shikamaru commented. "Spiders are starting to seriously scare me..." Everyone made a small laugh at his comment even Clash could be heard "laughing" in a creepy, squeaky kind of way. I smiled then hung onto Sasuke-kun's arms and stared off into the distance.

-oO0-o)

Shikamaru

I stared up at the sky as we rode Lindal for the long distance to Céleste, which I was not looking forward to. If we were going to run into more of those creepy things with spider arms, Harvestmen, I'd rather just avoid the place, but if it was a chance to find any of our friends I'd take it. Especially if Temari could be there.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip. Temari. I missed her dearly, and thinking of her out there by herself broke my heart. Alysa had said she would be with someone, but that didn't help my feelings at all. What if she ran into some kind of trouble? I wasn't worried about her not being able to defend herself, but what I was worried about is what if she ran into her other self? Our copies were pretty strong, and they were used to this place.

My mind drifted to something that made me think of this. The dream of myself came forth, the one where myself was killing her who in result killed me. It started to haunt my thoughts.

Alysa had said that we, and only ourselves, could kill our copies, and I believe the opposite had to work as well. But this gut feeling I had made me think that my copy would end up... killing Temari.

What if my gut feeling was right? What if my copy killed Temari before my eyes then ended up killing me? I shook my head. "No, don't think like that you idiot. Only way out of here is to kill our copies. Alysa believes we can and I gotta trust that belief. Besides, I can prevent this! I can definitely prevent my dreams from becoming reality." If I kept thinking that then I could give myself confidence to put those dreams aside.

"Shikamaru-kun?" I blinked and looked over when my voice was called.

"Huh?" I asked to whoever had called my name.

"Shikamaru-kun, are you alright?" I looked toward Itzal whom had a concerned look on his face.

"Am I alright? Yeah I'm fine, just spacing." I smiled sheepishly at him and he smiled back then curled up in my lap and closed his eyes. I sighed and placed a hand to my face mumbling.

"You sure you are alright, Shikamaru?" I looked up at Neji who was frowning at me.

"I'm positive, Neji. No need to worry."

"Kumo Konjou isn't trying to..." I shook my head at Neji.

"No, Kumo Konjou hasn't tried recently..." I placed my hand to my head. "Ugh... why does..."

I stopped, eyes widening, left eye in pain, forehead hurting, hand twitching, breathing becoming rapid, mind becoming fuzzy. "Oh great, another memory. Why here, why now? Please don't let it be long." And with that last thought, I fell unconscious.

-oO0-o)

Splash, splash, splash.

The sound of splashing filled my ears. Cold, wetness drenched down on me. "Where am I?" I thought to myself. "Did daddy leave the window open in my room?" I felt cold; I could feel water rush down my spine. I opened my eyes to see what was going on.

I was running. No, that wasn't right. I felt my feet move, but it wasn't like running, they were swishing back and forth. I tried glancing around; I looked down to see the feet of an adult person. "Someone is holding me?" I glanced up and saw a masked face of a man. He glanced down at me with a wicked grin coming forth from the mask, and eyes that reminded me of bugs, which sent shivers down my spine.

"Hehehe, dear little Nara boy, Kumo Konjou-sama will be pleased with me for this." Kumo Konjou? Who or what is that? It didn't sound like anything I remember, but Kumo stands for Spider, and Konjou means Spirit. So, Spider Spirit? A spider spirit is going to be pleased with this man?

"Wh-where are we going...?" I asked hesitantly. The man stopped, and looked around nervously, but the wicked grin never left his face.

"We're going to Kumo Konjou-sama, dear Shikamaru." The man knew my name, I didn't like him. I started to struggle. "Now, now don't struggle. There's nothing to worry about." I struggled more. "I said stop that!" His voice was so fierce that it made me stop. He placed me under his armpit again, and started to run off.

I heard shouting; it was coming closer, closer, closer. The man sped up, splash, splash, splash. The man began to mumble something, his mumble ended, I heard a voice, it echoed in my mind.

"Dear Shikamaru... You do not know of who I am, but in time you will. I am Kumo Konjou." The spider spirit the man spoke of was talking to me! "You are a great asset to my survival, come to me when I call to you again. Don't be afraid, dear Shikamaru I am not here to hurt you..." Laughter erupted in my head, made me scream out, voice disappeared.

The man stopped, I looked up. Others had surrounded him. He tried to do something, but they don't let him. One of the others grab me from him, while the others take him down. That person held me gently, and jumped out of the way of the attackers.

"Shikamaru-kun, are you alright?" The person asks me, all I can do was nod. He sighed relief then nodded to the others. "To the Hokage-sama." We jumped off, I held onto the person tightly.

Splash, Splash, Splash.

-oO0-o)

"Shikamaru!"

"Huh?" I mumbled at hearing voices. I groaned and sat up opening my eyes. "What... happened?" I asked looking around at the worried faces.

"That's what we want to know." Neji said staring at me with concern. Sakura was looking toward me ready to jump from Sasuke's lap in case I needed healing.

"I... I think I had a memory. It... was weird memory though."

"What was it about, Shikamaru-kun?" Alysa asked me. She was sitting in front of me, which is when I realized that the spider wasn't moving anymore, and that there was no webs laced around us.

"Ah well..." I pulled out the Myths of Kumo Konjou from my jacket and opened it up to the page that was written by Yuki Aizawa. "I think this event." I turned the book so that everyone could read.

"When you were kidnapped?" Sasuke asked me. I nodded to him.

"Yeah, I think so." I said placing the book back into my jacket. "I was a little kid, and someone was running with me in their arms. He kept talking about how he was going to take me to Kumo Konjou, so it had to be this event."

"Did you learn anything?" Neji asked, I looked toward him and shook my head.

"Not really, only the fact that Kumo Konjou had contacted me even before I lost my memory." I sighed and leaned back.

"You feeling alright, Shikamaru?" I looked over at Sakura and nodded.

"Just a headache and feeling hella cold." I shivered to verify it. She smiled at me and shook her head.

"We can go off again then?" Alysa asked. Everyone nodded to her and she was about to move Lindal, but she stopped and stared into the distance. I frowned and sat up straight.

"Nee-chan?" Itzal looked at Alysa with concern. I looked forward and wondered what she saw then I heard running in the distance. Everyone tensed up at hearing that, and brought out a weapon. Neji mumbled and used his Byakugan to look. His eyes widened in surprise.

"It is four people, the snow makes it hard to see who they are, but I do not think they are enemies." Four people who aren't enemies? Then they must be friends. I slid off of the spider, walked forward, and stopped a few feet in front of the spider. "Do not walk too far from Lindal." Neji told me, I nodded and pulled out a weapon.

The crunching noise got closer, closer, and closer. Then my heart started to beat faster, I was starting to make out who the four were and I couldn't believe it.

"Te... Temari?" I said barely above a whisper. My heart jumped when the four came into view completely. It was Kankuro, Naruto, Hinata, and, "TEMARI!" I shouted and raced forward. When she heard me yell out my name all of them stopped, but when she saw me running towards me I saw her face blink to surprise then joy.

She ran towards me and when we almost reached each other she jumped forward, and glomped me making us both fall onto the cold, wet ground. She hugged me so tightly that I thought I would suffocate, but I didn't care I held her back just as tightly. I heard the others come up around us and the chatting of noise, but I didn't care. The only thing I cared about right now was in my arms.

"Temari..." I whispered her name as she sat straight to look me in the face. Tears were beginning to stream down her face, and I had ones doing the same too.

"Oh... Shikamaru..." And without warning, I grabbed her face and kissed her passionately. Man, I wanted to do that for who knows how long.

-oO0-o)

After the "ahem" show, which everyone called what Temari and I did, we learned that Temari, Kankuro, Hinata, and Naruto had just came from Céleste. Kankuro said that there was definitely no one else there besides them, and no reason to go back there.

Man, what a drag. They were already coming out towards us. Well at least we didn't have to go to Céleste. I sighed as Temari held me not wanting to let go. Probably afraid that if she let go I'd disappear again.

It looked like half of us were together, the other half were still out in Chaos wandering aimlessly. We headed back towards Cyth and Nereza. It was the only place we knew of that would have a place to stay, and it was the only place that could have food. We were definitely all starving, and I doubt the food Temari and the others found would help all of us.

Well, we found each other, I'm happy, but now what? That question was still unanswered. What were we supposed to do now, go hunt down our copies and kill them? It was a good plan, but the real question was:

Were we ready for it?

-oO0-o)0(o-0Oo- -oO0-o)0(o-0Oo- -oO0-o)0(o-0Oo-

And there you have it, then end of chapter 12! The chapter that took me an entire year to write. ;_;