Disclaimer
Nope, I don't own Naruto.


Chapter Twenty-One: The Plan Unfolds
'
Finally, things are back to normal…' Shikamaru sighed to himself, looking up at the fluffy white clouds. That was how he liked life; nothing to do. No jobs, tasks, assignments, paperwork, missions, or Genin-training. Simply watching the sky when the weather's perfect and the temperature not too hot and not too cold.

But of course, such a wonderful day couldn't last forever.

As soon as Shikamaru had decided to rest there for the entire day, a shadow crossed his face and immobilized itself. Sighing in an impatient fashion, he lightly turned his head to look at the person standing beside him in irritation. Though when his eyes met a figure with red hair and black-lined eyes, he jumped up and scrambled to his feet while brushing the grass and dirt from his clothing.

"Good morning, Kazekage-sama," the Leaf Jounin stammered, nodding uneasily at his interlocutor.

Gaara nodded back at him, though his face was devoid of any emotion. Keeping his voice as cold as his appearance, he said, "I received a note. In fact, I was reading it yesterday when Mitsuo barged in my office boasting about how he loved my sister. Do you know how contradictory that was?"

Shikamaru shrugged, uncaring if the Kazekage received a note. His lazy attitude was obvious as he shoved his hands in his pocket, waiting for Gaara to continue.

Pulling out a small square of paper, the redhead read out loud,

"Gaara,

I just wanted to inform you of a Sand shinobi, Mitsuo, who has been boasting around the village. Apparently he plans on leaving your sister and I quote, "for another woman without jerks as brothers". If you are unsure about the truthfulness of this message, just ask any women in Konoha. He's been hanging around them quite a lot these last few days. "

Raising his eyes to meet Shikamaru's, Temari's brother asked, "Is this true?"

Strangely able to look at him in the eye despite the nerve-racking situation, Shikamaru shrugged again and said, "I'm not a woman. Why are you asking me if it's true?"

"Because you wrote it, Nara!" Gaara spat back, the concealed anger now filling his face. "Do not try to toy with me. I want you to tell me the complete truth about what's happening with my sister."

"How should I know?" the shinobi sighed, "You interdicted me to see her, remember?"

Gaara took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "I have spies around the village, Nara. They tell me everything that's been going on, plus I deduced that if you were observing Mitsuo's actions, you were also observing my sister's."

'Well he's pretty smart…' Shikamaru sighed, allowing his eyes to drift towards the sky. "With all due respect, Kazekage-sama, is there something you needed? I have… things to do back at home."

"I'm sure you're busy," Gaara sneered back. "I request something of you, Nara, and it wouldn't be wise for you –and your health- to decline…"

Shikamaru knew well enough that Suna's Kage wasn't someone to mess with him. He nodded in answer, but the ocean-eyed shinobi waited an entire minute before continuing. "Does my sister love Mitsuo?" he asked stoically.

The shadow-wielder wasn't surprised at the question; in fact, he had even anticipated it. To answer, though, wasn't something that was easy to do. Not that he didn't know the answer –he knew well enough she had no feelings for him-, but the question was rather: should he reveal it to Gaara or not?

'I'm sick of this… it shouldn't be happening! What happened to the days where I could just be lazy and watch clouds? When I could nap for hours on ends in the park and no one would bother me? When I didn't have those troublesome people to come bother my life…' That troublesome woman. She was the reason why he couldn't relax anymore, but he hadn't really thought about it in that angle. He loved her, that was sure, but was she worth all that trouble?

"No, she doesn't," he answered brutally, lowering his eyes to meet Gaara's proudly. "But I love her."

"So do I!"

Both boys turned around to notice Mitsuo a few feet away from them. He crossed the remaining distance quickly only to pull his arm back and forcefully project it towards Shikamaru's face.

Thankfully, the Leaf Jounin anticipated the move and jumped out of the way, careening into Gaara as he did. But he didn't have time to apologize since Mitsuo jumped at him again, with an almost murderous look in his crazed eyes.

"Troublesome," Shikmaru muttered as he did a few hand seals. His shadow instantly grasped Mitsuo, who growled when he found out his limbs had been restricted. "Now we can talk like civilized men, can we?" he sighed, letting his arms drop as he threw a look at Gaara.

The Kazekage was glaring down at Mitsuo in an angry fashion, completely ignoring Shikamaru. "I've had about enough of you," he growled, shifting the thick strap that held the gourd to his body. Just as the gourd fell into place, though, it opened and sand spilled out, quickly wrapping itself around Mitsuo as Gaara commanded Shikamaru to cancel his Jutsu.

Quickly doing so, Shikamaru took a few steps back as Gaara approached Mitsuo. "You don't love my sister, liar…" the Kazekage hissed angrily.

Now struggling futilely against his prison, Mitsuo angrily spat out at the Sabaku boy, "You useless, poor-excuse of a man! Let me out and fight me hand to hand, loser!"

Shikamaru blinked as he crossed his arms, looking at Mitsuo through interested eyes. The only person who had called Gaara those names to his face and had survived was Naruto. Anyways, why wasn't Mitsuo calling him 'Kazekage-sama' like anyone else beside Gaara's own family?

Surprisingly calm, Gaara turned to Shikamaru and told him one word, "Leave."

Nodding politely like he had done in greeting, he turned on his heels and left the area without looking back. As he stared up at the clouds while walking back home, he wondered if Mitsuo would survive Gaara's wrath. Suddenly, a smile erupted in his face.

'Take that, bastard...'

----------

"Temari's daydreaming? Wow, that's rare…"

The blonde kunoichi looked up at Kankuro, then sighed with a shrug as her gaze returned to the sky through the small window. Somehow, she knew he was looking at the clouds right now and she was hoping that he was thinking of her also. Whatever he had done, whatever his plan had been, Mitsuo was sure to suffer.

"Hey, talk to me at least!"

"Kankuro…" she said quietly in a voice that suggested that she wanted to be left alone.

But of course, brothers were meant to be annoying. Sitting down beside her, the puppeteer picked up an apple from a basket of fruit and looked around the kitchen. "Hm, thinking about your lover?" he mumbled while biting into the sphere.

"Tch, why do you want to know?" she snapped at him, crossing her arms as she gave up on being left alone. "Last time I tried talking to you about him, you wouldn't listen!"

For a few seconds, her younger brother examined the piece of fruit in his hand carefully, thinking. After his short reflection, though, he returned his attention to Temari and said quietly, "Because you weren't talking about the right guy. You were lying to me."

Furious, the kunoichi jumped up, upsetting the table and sending a few items scattering to the ground. "Am I that transparent?" she groaned, strangely wanting to whack Kankuro with her fan.

Smirking at her moody attitude, Kankuro replied, "Yeah, you are."

Docking the plate being hauled violently at him by his own sister, he allowed it to shatter against the wall before looking up at her again. "You love shadow boy, I could see it in your face. Do you really think I'm that cruel, Temari? I wouldn't dare to be uncaring towards you. I still think you can manage to kick my ass, or even kill me. For example, let's say I go punch shadow boy again, will—"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence since Temari's iron fan struck him harshly in the head, knocking him into a state of half-consciousness.

A/N: My dearest readers,

I promise you guys one more chapter and then it will be time for me to close this story. My flow of ideas has diminished and it had its few minutes of glory. I'll write an epilogue also, so it's another 'chapter'. Then if I reach the 250-300 reviews, I might write a sequel since I really loved this fic.

Please review anyway,
Take care!