AN: Well, crap. This should have been posted over a week ago, but it somehow managed to escape my attention until I went to start the next chapter and saw this in my documents. -_-' Oops. In any case, I found it and promptly moved to publish, so hopefully Sabaku no Shiaki will be kind and still let me have some cookies to fortify myself for the next chapter. ;)

Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows! They delight me to no end, and are always encouraging. :)

Another, quick word before we start: I am not a troll. I swear, I've had this planned from the beginning, honest. You'll just have to see what I'm talking about, but I'll elaborate further in the author's note at the end of the chapter.

Dear Journal:

I'm starting to see what Shino ment by poor judgement calls.

Not but an hour after I told Gaara about Sai, I ran into Naruto and Sakura while I was walking with Choji and filling him in on what had happened.

Well, I say I ran into them, when it was the two of them that literally ran into me, both looking sweaty and winded.

"Have...you...seen...Sai?" Naruto managed to gasp, bending forward with his hands on his knees. Sakura was bracing an arm on Choji, and seemed unable to form words yet.

"Nope. And that's probably a good thing." I muttered darkly to myself.

Naruto gave me a blank look. "What?"

"Uh, why are you guys looking for him?" Choji asked, looking from Sakura to Naruto and back.

"Because he told us he'd meet us an hour ago, but he never showed up and we can't find him!" Naruto snapped. "He said he figured out who was leaving Temari those gifts, and we just found out Gaara's MIA, too. Knowing Sai, he's gone and said or done something stupid and is getting himself castrated by Gaara right now. Have you seen either of them?"

Choji and I looked at each other, his face holding a slightly alarmed expression. "Uh, I did see Gaara," I said. "But wait, did you say Sai figured out who the admirer was?"

Sakura nodded quickly. "He said he saw something strange a few days ago, and it reminded him of something that happened while you were still in the hospital, but he had to go check it out first. He may be proficient in espionage, but you know how his people skills are." she said, shaking her head. "Like Naruto said, knowing him, he said or did something stupid to either Temari or her brothers and gave Gaara the wrong idea."

I don't know how long Tenten and Lee had been standing there, or if they just happened to be passing by or were looking for us. Either way, they chose that moment to make their presence known and join the conversation, and I wasn't the only one who seemed surprised to see them.

"Why would you assume the Kazekage is torturing Sai, just because you can't find him?" Tenten asked. "Maybe he's just, you know, taking some personal time or something. From what Temari says, he works a lot in Suna."

"But Sai-"

"Perhaps he is just late?" Lee suggested. "Or maybe he had something urgent he had to attend to?"

"Maybe we're overreacting after all, Sakura." said Naruto, who seemed to have calmed down now that he wasn't running. "They've got a point. Just because they're both missing doesn't mean anything. It's probably just a coincidence." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed a little. "I mean-Hey, what's with you?" he asked when he saw my face.

"Uh, well..." I began, feeling a little ill. "Yeah, I think they're together. And, uh, I think Sai's in trouble."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I may have told Gaara that Sai was the guy we were looking for."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Naruto finally yelled.

"W-well, he was acting suspicious!" I snapped defensively.

"It's SAI! He ALWAYS acts suspicious!" Naruto shouted.

"But he's been hitting on Temari! And several of the signs pointed to him!" I protested. "Frankly, I still don't think it isn't him!"

"He was probably just trying to talk to her! And what signs?! GAH! I don't have time for this-!" he fumed, turning around and bolting. "Sakura, come on! We've gotta-"

"I know I know!" she cried, running after him. She got about halfway up the street before she called over her shoulder. "Hey, Lee! Can you-"

Lee took off without having to hear the rest, leaving me, Choji, and Tenten behind.

"Um, Shikamaru? Think we should help them?" Choji asked timidly.

I groaned and nodded.

"Why would you think it was Sai?" Tenten asked conversationally as Choji jogged off, presumably to get more help. "I always assumed the guy played for the other team, myself."

"It just fit, okay." I snapped, feeling tired again. "I still think it fits."

She shrugged. "If you say so. Think he really figured out who the guy was, though?"

She saw the look on my face and held her arms up. "Yeah, guess we'll have to ask him. You know, if they find him in time and he lives. But I really can't see Sai figuring it out when the rest of us couldn't, you know? It would have had to be blindingly obvious for him to pick up on it, and if that's the case we would be able to-hey, are you listening?"

"Yeah, I'm listening." I said, snapping out of my thoughts. "Hey, can you go get Neji and see if he can help them find Sai?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure." she said, frowning. "Though at this point I think we're milking a dead cow. What are you going to do?"

I waved her off. "I need to do some thinking."

"You sure? You haven't been doing a very good job of it lately."

"Just go find Neji!" I snapped. She grinned and jumped up to the nearest roof top.

I then found the nearest bench and relayed all of this to my journal.

Which now leaves us to the present.

Reading it all over again, I feel worse than when it happened.

I really, really hope they find Sai.

And I really, really need to stop jumping to conclusions.

Guilty as hell,

Shikamaru

AN: Yeah, yeah, I know; another dead end. I swear, I'm not trying to troll you - from the very start of the admirer storyline, I had it in my head that both Naruto and then Sai were going to feel Shikamaru/Gaara's wrath. In fact, I have a battered notebook page I wrote way back that basically summarizes the whole story - and thus far, I've followed it to a 'T'.

Special shout-outs to almostinsane, Sato-San, and Akiko for all seeing through the whole 'Sai-as-admirer' thing - I'm glad you feel that way, Sato-San, but this will be the last time any wool is pulled, so to speak, and we're winding down to the final stretch. Which leads me to one more thing...

If anyone can guess who the actual admirer is (via review), they'll get their name posted on the 'reveal' chapter, as well as bragging rights. Keep in mind, I'm not telling you if you get it right or not until then, because that would spoil the fun. ;)

Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated - they're like food to an author's soul. ^_^