Shadows and Fangs

Chapter 25

Shikamaru clucked his tongue as he reviewed Gaara's schedule for the day on his way to his office. As usual it was shaping to be quite the busy one, although to compensate, he'd been able to arrange a quiet morning the next day – both for the Kazekage's sake and his own, in all honesty. And even if 'quiet' didn't mean completely off but more along the lines of 'we can start a bit later and then actually take a real break for a change', it was rare, and ever so enjoyable.

So naturally, since things could never just simply proceed as planned, a courier hurried to him with an urgent message and he almost groaned as he read it. So much for that quiet morning.

"I swear to you Gaara, one day I will manage to plan you some quiet time and stick to it," he promised Gaara as he walked into his office.

"That bad?" Kankuro asked with a raised eyebrow, letting out a huff at his nod. "Tomorrow morning?" he then asked half-hopefully, already figuring what the answer would be.

Shikamaru shook his head as he held the recently received message and read it over out loud. "The Raikage addresses his respect and warns that an envoy will be reaching Suna on the morning of the 5th – sadly, tomorrow – there to request an urgent audience to discuss enemy movements and possible inside assistance," he finished as he handed Gaara the message.

"Are you positive he meant the 5th of April? Could be May," the puppeteer noted with a shrug as he moved to read over his brother's shoulder.

"It's clearly dated, and it's the 5th of April," Shikamaru assured him patiently. "Why don't you write him back saying May would be more convenient if it's so important to you?" he teased back all too easily.

"Hey, I just might do that! But to be on the safe side, I'll sign with your name!" Kankuro replied brazenly.

"To send this message so tardily, he must have feared interception and wished to ensure the messenger could not be stopped," Gaara noted seriously, interrupting their banter although he was always amused by it. "The Raikage is a careful man, I'm sure this isn't without reason."

"It better be, I had plans," Kankuro muttered as he mentally reviewed who should be reassigned to the Kazekage's protection squad in the morning.

"Oh? What's his name?" Gaara asked him with interest as he turned his head to him. "I liked Tsuneo," he then added because he never passed up an opportunity to let his brother know he let a good one get away in his opinion, even eight months after the fact.

Shikamaru snorted in amusement as the puppeteer crossed his arms over his chest.

"Gaara, that's not an appropriate question to ask me at the office!" Kankuro playfully chided him, pointedly ignoring his reference to his ex.

"Then I'll ask you again at home," the Kazekage declared simply as he turned back to Shikamaru. "As for today?" he prompted, purposefully ignoring his brother's embarrassed huff.

"Ah, yes—today," Shikamaru replied as he returned to business.

This last-minute secret messenger from Kumo had him thinking though. Gaara was right: the Raikage was a careful man, but he was also still fairly distrustful; he didn't ask the other villages for assistance or favors if he could avoid it. The Nara however forced himself to push it out his mind to focus on the tasks at hand.

It wasn't until Gaara took a break – read: took a seat at the mission assignment desk instead of remaining holed up in his office – that Shikamaru and Kankuro had a moment to themselves and used it to get much needed nutrients. (Gaara, as a rule, seemed to not require as much food as most people, so it sometimes made it difficult to fit lunch breaks into their busy days.)

Food generally had to be eaten quickly, but since the Kazekage usually stayed at the mission desk at least a couple of hours every time and therefore likely wouldn't need them, they weren't in a hurry for once. The roof of the Kage's building was deserted enough at this hour, except for the odd sentry or two, or every so often, someone on their cigarette break. They were now in spring, but spring in Suna was at times warmer than summer in Konoha, which was why he'd kept his hair short again. There were no clouds about, either, so Shikamaru wasn't distracted and found himself growing curious about his colleague.

"Did you really have plans with someone new?" he wondered as he opened one eye to look up at him from his resting place.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow and turned to him, wondering what to think about the question.

"Take it as it is – it's a fairly simple question, I don't have any ulterior motives," the Nara added (almost) smugly as though reading his mind.

"You always have ulterior motives, it's why you're so good at your job," Kankuro commented matter-of-factly with an amused snort. "But if you must know, yeah."

"Anyone I know?" the Nara asked airily as he closed his eyes to enjoy the sunshine.

"No idea," Kankuro replied with a shrug. "Doesn't really matter anyway."

Shikamaru opened one eye to glance up at him at this, frowning slightly. "Not planning on introducing your boyfriend to your friends? That's cold, even for you!"

Kankuro chuckled and mock-punched his chest at this. "Yeah, I've realized that doesn't really work for me – the whole 'boyfriend' deal."

"Bullshit. Tsuneo worked well enough!" the Nara commented with an unimpressed look.

"Tsuneo was a fluke," Kankuro replied with another shrug as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're the fluke," Shikamaru retorted easily.

"Nice come-back, genius!"

"I mean it, Kankuro," Shikamaru interrupted him quietly, raising an eyebrow in silent challenge. "Don't say anything if you don't want to, but don't feel like you have to put up a good front – I think we're past that." Or at the very least he liked to think they were past that.

The puppeteer studied him in silence for a moment – a short one that felt much longer before uncrossing his arms. "I absolutely and completely suck at relationships," he eventually laid out the simple truth.

"And that's an excuse to stop trying, because…?"

"Because it's easier," Kankuro replied simply. "Not glorious, I know, but it works for me."

Shikamaru held his look as he mentally debated whether he should call him on his bullshit or look the other way. The confrontational side of him won that argument. "If I really thought you actually believe that, I'd be shutting up right now."

"But you're not shutting up," Kankuro remarked more than asked, not annoyed despite what his tone might suggest.

Shikamaru shook his head at that. "Unfortunately not – undoubtedly your bad, bad influence. At the risk of sounding like Gaara, I really think Tsuneo was good for you. And you weren't a complete jerk to him because it's obvious from the way he looks at you he'd take you back in a second. So what are you doing with a random guy?" he asked him point blank.

Kankuro huffed at this, more amused than aggravated, in all seriousness. Even Temari hadn't called him on it like that – but it was true that the person he spent the most time with every day wasn't his sister, but the Nara, in the end. "Wanna know why I broke up with Tsuneo?"

"Please. One less mystery for the ages."

"You're really not as cute as you think you are when you're being a smartass," the puppeteer informed his friend with a sorry sigh.

"Kiba thinks I am."

Kankuro paused at this, visibly surprised he'd bring Kiba into this himself, but didn't say a word.

Shikamaru's smirk diminished and he had to fight the urge to sit up as he didn't want to appear defensive. And he had been wondering about that one for a few years, to be perfectly honest… "So?"

"I fell in love," was the simple reply. "Really, deeply in love."

"With someone else?" the Nara tried to clarify with a frown – and mentally trying to figure out just who it could have been.

"No, with him."

"Eh?" Shikamaru tried very hard to make sense of this, but it just wouldn't compute. He had to sit up. "Wait—you broke up with Tsuneo because you fell in love with him?" he reformulated dubiously.

"Yeah, that's the long and short of it," the puppeteer had the gall to confirm with a shrug.

There was silence for a moment following this as Shikamaru did his best to stop looking at the other shinobi as if he'd sprouted a second head. "I'm trying very hard to understand your way of thinking, right now," he informed him honestly.

Kankuro chuckled and shrugged at this, not offended. "I know I'm not exactly doing things in the right order."

"You think? At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, please allow me this one question."

"Shoot."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked in absolute bewilderment. "Weren't you happy? Tsuneo's obviously crazy about you, so what's your issue with it being mutual?" he wondered as this felt like a mystery he had to get to the bottom of.

Kankuro just looked back at him tranquilly, trying to find the right words to explain it and going for simple. "My issue is it's terrifying."

"Being in love?"

"Yes. I find being in love terrifying – I told you I was weird. There's just...so many things that change! Priorities, cares, feelings...I don't know how you guys deal with it...!"

How did Kiba ever agree to break up because of such a stupid-sounding reason? Not that Shikamaru wasn't happy about that, of course. It was just mindboggling. "You do realize that's normal, right? And that it gets better? And easier? With something commonly referred to as 'time'," he explained slowly, as though doubting his capacity to understand his words.

Kankuro sighed at this, absently reaching to move his protector and run a hand through his hair. "Look, I hear you, okay? I see you guys, or other people, and I think to myself, 'damn, that must feel great'. But then when it happens to me all that I can think is 'mission integrity compromised, abort'! As if it's inevitably going to blow up in my face, so I should end it before it hurts too much."

Wow. Shikamaru had honestly rarely wanted to use his shadow to control someone as much as he did at that moment. It would be so easy to force him to face Tsuneo, too.

"I'm not even going to pretend I understand. I guess in the end, whatever makes you happy, right? I personally believe it takes two, but your life's up to you," he finally declared as he dropped back down on the ground.

"But you think I should try to get Tsuneo back, don't you?" the puppeteer asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You still love him, right?" Shikamaru asked back instead, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the other's reluctant nod. "There's your answer, then. Besides, what are the odds of you meeting someone who gets along so well with Gaara again?"

Kankuro didn't say any more, just gently punched his chest again.

The shadow-nin huffed slightly as he contemplated whether he should keep talking, but after all, they'd gone this far, right? In a sense, he had to know what he owed his current happiness to. Just a quirky trait of character? A…what would Ino call it? A commitmentphobe? Was that even a real word?

"In the interest of putting it behind us and because it's the logical follow-up, I'm going to ask you one last thing."

"Breaking up with Kiba wasn't exactly for the same reason," Kankuro replied without needing him to ask the question. "Back then I needed a friend a lot more than I needed anything else," he explained, turning to him. "You've probably noticed, but all the people my siblings and I call 'friends', we've met in the last few years, and in other villages at first. To me, having someone that I could lean back on and trust felt too important to risk on a relationship."

Shikamaru nodded slowly at this, remembering that Temari had confided in him something similar, a long time ago. That growing up, people were either scared of them, or bent on using their station to further their own needs. As she'd said, their first real friends were from other villages. Hearing those words from Kankuro's mouth made him feel like the other man really was her younger brother after all. He briefly wondered whether Gaara felt the same – and then promptly realized that yes, because it was Naruto's genuine offer of friendship that had first reached his heart.

"Hey, good for you, right? Maybe I'd be the one engaged to Kiba right now if I wasn't so weird!" the puppeteer continued with a smirk, obviously aiming to lighten the mood.

The Nara glared at him and then shook his head as if to dissipate the mental image this evoked – okay, so despite their friendship, perhaps it was still too soon to make 'I could've married Kiba' jokes.

When Kiba got home that night, Shikamaru held him slightly tighter than usual. "For the record, I love you, and I believe that my happiness is in direct correlation to you being there," he told him simply.

Kiba chuckled fondly and nuzzled his cheek at that. "I shouldn't ask, right?"

"It's a weird story," Shikamaru replied very truthfully with a frown. "I don't really get it myself."

And he didn't. He really didn't.

The next morning, when the guards posted at the gate contacted the main office to advise them that Samui and Omoi of the Cloud had arrived and were requesting an audience, Shikamaru definitely didn't like the sound of it, because few shinobi held the Raikage's trust the way Samui did, so for sure her presence did not bode well. "Long time no see," he greeted them as he waited for them by the entrance.

Omoi waved tiredly, and Samui nodded curtly as was her usual habit. "Hello, Nara. Will the Kazekage be able to meet with us shortly?" she asked him with a frown.

He nodded at her and motioned for them to follow him inside. "We received your coded message yesterday, so we've been expecting you," he informed her as they navigated the corridors to the highest office. "The messengers from Kumo are here," he told the brothers as they all walked in, and then nodded at the guards posted outside. "No one is to interrupt this meeting until further notice, nor to wait around this corridor," he instructed before closing the door.

Samui nodded respectfully at Gaara and then stepped closer to place a sealed scroll on his desk, making a few signs with her hands to break it. "Lord Kazekage, we have reason to believe that separatists from Kumo have been operating from a small cell here in the Land of Wind," she began without further ado. "The individuals we managed to capture revealed to be quite resilient to interrogation, with one of them going as far as killing himself before cracking. But one element we have been able to verify is that some funds are coming from here."

Gaara frowned as he picked up the report, his eyes quickly going over it before he handed it to Shikamaru. "While this is unfortunate, from what I've just read I don't get the sense that the Sand is really threatened by this faction; the Cloud is the real target," he noted seriously. "What is the Raikage's request?" he asked her sharply.

"There is only one place a foreign shinobi could be operating from," Samui noted before briefly turning her eyes to Shikamaru. "Well, in theory," she conceded.

"You mean the Allied division headquarters," Shikamaru said with a raised eyebrow. Actual transfers to another village's authority, independently from the Allied division, were still rare – he was still part of the exception, not the rule.

"Yes," she confirmed with a nod before shrugging her head back towards Omoi. "With your permission, we'd like to temporarily place Omoi there, so that he can conduct his own internal investigation on Cloud shinobi active in the Sand," she requested formally.

"I've got an official transfer request and all, to keep up with appearances," Omoi added as he stepped forward, standing straight for once.

"And if possible, we would request that the real reason for his presence doesn't leave this office," Samui added as she held Gaara's look.

"Wouldn't it be more productive to involve Temari and Kiba as well? They're the ones handing out the assignments after all," Kankuro noted with a raised eyebrow.

"It is our assessment that the less people who know, the better our chances of success are," the kunoichi replied firmly. "If alright with you, naturally," she deferred to Gaara.

The Kazekage shared a look with his brother and his advisor, who both nodded imperceptibly, and then nodded his head as well. "As long as our own operations are not disrupted, I do not see a reason to deny your request. Provided, naturally, that Omoi report to one of us – or Temari and Kiba, if time is truly lacking – before attempting any capture within our borders," he stipulated clearly.

"Of course. He will not be attempting any solitary operations," Samui confirmed practically.

"Yeah, he won't!" Omoi added, visibly not looking too keen at the suggestion.

"Then we are in agreement," Gaara concluded, placing his signature where indicated on her scroll before handing it back to her – upon which she promptly sealed it once more. He then wrote a quick note on a piece of paper that he folded and handed to Omoi. "Add this to your application. Shikamaru will show you to the headquarters," he instructed.

Shikamaru almost smirked at the Kazekage gratefully for this excuse to visit Kiba (since of course everyone present knew that Omoi knew where it was), but simply tilted his head and motioned for Omoi to follow him. "Fair warning: Gaara will get Temari to sign your transfer orders, but you'll be on your own when she and Kiba pester you for more details on why you didn't follow the usual procedure," he told him seriously with a raised eyebrow – Kiba, in particular, complained very loudly when people ignored procedures, thereby giving him more paperwork.

Omoi sighed deeply, shoulders slumping at the prospect. "I figured…" he muttered before turning to him with a raised eyebrow. "So how's it going for you guys? Still happy living here?"

"Kiba's naturally adaptable, and the Kazekage knows how to make work interesting, so yeah, we're still happy," the Konoha shinobi replied honestly with a lazy grin. "What about you? That's a pretty daunting task you've been given," he noted as they walked out on the streets.

"Yep…" Omoi agreed distractedly as he looked around, taking in his new daily sights. "But I'm pretty adaptable, too!" he then added with a confident grin. This was nowhere near his first visit to Suna, but he'd never stayed there long before, and he was actually looking forward to it.

Shikamaru chuckled at this, not adding anything more. Once they reached the headquarters, he stopped just past the entrance and said, slightly louder than usual, "The commander's office is still that way, last door on the right."

"Thanks for showing me the way, it was nice seeing you again," Omoi replied as they shook hands, having caught up on his play. Shikamaru nodded back at him and walked his own way, towards the last door on the left – likely the deputy commander's office, he figured.

Temari was surprised to see him, and even more so when he handed her his transfer application. The note from her brother – which simply said 'sign it, please' – further convinced her that something more was afoot, but she trusted she'd be included in the loop if the situation demanded it, so she signed his papers, handed them back to him and moved to one of the piles on her desk.

"Kiba will set you up with a timetable, appropriate credentials, and lodgings," Temari informed him summarily, raising an eyebrow as she heard laughter coming from her deputy's door – one really did hear what went on it the other's office, she hadn't exaggerated that fact. "Is Shikamaru in with him?" she asked him with a frown. "Then knock before going in," she simply advised at his nod before returning to her work.

Omoi still waited for a good ten minutes before knocking on Kiba's door and even though Shikamaru was just leaning back against Kiba's desk he felt like he was intruding. The Nara nodded at him and then took his leave, muttering about getting back to his no-so-quiet-anymore morning.

As forewarned, Kiba tried to get more information out of him, but Omoi just held on fast, and before long his transfer was officially completed.

For the most part, his assignment went rather well. He was quickly able to clear certain shinobi, and he was confident that his cover, so to speak, hadn't been blown.

And he had to admit, despite the heat (in Kumo, April was still 70% winter, here it was already the end of spring), Suna really wasn't so bad. Sure, the scorpions were a pain and so you had to be careful where you stepped, and every time you opened your mouth too wide – say, to yawn innocuously – you risked getting a mouthful of sand, and apparently cacti shouldn't be touched, and not only because of their needles, and who knew there was a 'cacti' plan in their health insurance? (And more importantly, why hadn't anyone told him about it?)

But yeah, aside from that it really wasn't bad.

The first significant wrench in his plans came exactly three weeks later, although in all fairness, it wasn't even related to his assignment at all: Tenten arrived in Suna with a team from Iwa's HQ.

Kiba grinned widely as he saw his fellow Konoha shinobi walk into his office, with Akamaru immediately going to her with a happy bark. "Tenten, you're late, I was getting worried!" he chided good-naturedly.

"Sandstorm," she replied matter-of-factly as she rubbed Akamaru's sides. "Aw, Kiba, look at you! It always brings a tear to my eyes to see you at your desk, Mr. Deputy Commander!" she cooed as she gave him a mock-salute.

"Aw, Tenten, look at you! It always does something to my heart to see you with your insignia, Ms. Captain!" he teased her back easily. "And still as cheeky as ever!" he added with a sigh, shaking his head in fake resignation.

Tenten smiled self-consciously, resting a hand on her hip. "I guess we're both boring grown-ups now, huh?" she lamented with an exaggerated sigh.

"Speak for yourself," he muttered with another grin, avoiding the scrunched up paper ball that she threw his way – and not even being surprised when it bounced off the wall and into his bin, proving she'd accounted for his evasion and was still the best shot around. "Papers please," he asked as he held out his hand.

The weapons specialist hummed as she reached for them and handed them over. "As planned, we'd like authorization to use the village as our base of operations while we explore the surrounding areas for weapons smugglers' hideouts," she requested formally.

Kiba nodded as he quickly looked them over, finding everything was in order as expected. "Okay, I'll get the commander to sign it by this afternoon. In the meantime, you and your team can report to the accommodations desk," he instructed as he handed her four temporary badges.

"Thanks!" Tenten replied brightly as she reached for them and returned to her team who was seated in the break room – a samurai, a kunoichi from Iwa and a medic from Suna. She handed them their passes and together they then made their way to the accommodations desk to get settled – except for the Suna shinobi, who used this time to drop his bag home. That part was barely done when she walked into Omoi, opening round eyes at seeing him here. "Omoi! Are you also here on a mission?" she asked him brightly.

The Kumo shinobi blinked as he looked at her, truly caught off guard – had it really been almost a year since they last saw each other? She looked as prett—as lively as ever. "No I…transferred here. Recently—very recently. What about you?" he wondered with a frown.

"I'm here with my team," she replied easily.

"Your team?" he repeated, tilting his head sideways as he noticed the insignia on her flak jacket. "Ah, that's right! You're a captain!"

"What, did you forget?" she asked with a pout. "It's not like it's a recent thing limited to Iwa," she noted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Omoi inwardly wondered if there was a safe way to reply to that, quickly coming to the conclusion there wasn't and he should just be honest. "I'm sorry—of course not, I knew that! I've been really busy, so my brain's been a bit…scattered, recently…" he offered sincerely. It seemed to placate her and he sighed in relief. "So…will you be here for long?" he wondered conversationally.

"A couple of weeks, at least," Tenten confirmed. "We're searching the area for weapons smuggling rings," she then said, since her mission wasn't classified – and the more people who paid attention on deployment, the better. "Let me know if you spot anything out of the ordinary, would you?"

"Will do," he confirmed, frowning as he thought about it. It would definitely be worth it to pay attention to how her mission unfolded – it might end up overlapping with his, you never knew: smuggling did yield decent funding.

When Kiba later handed her the duly signed mission order, Tenten sulked at him. "You could've told me Omoi was here!" she accused.

Kiba just raised an eyebrow, wondering what he'd done wrong. "Why? You obviously found out on your own…"

Tenten frowned at him in disbelief before throwing her hands up in the air. "Men!" was all she declared before leaving his office.

"Was it something I said?" the Inuzuka asked his nin-dog with a confused frown.

Akamaru simply whined. Females were too hard to understand.

"Yeah, you got that right…!"

Kiba sighed as he tried to concentrate on his work – but it wasn't easy when he could hear Temari and Tenten laughing from the commander's office. "Keep it down, I'm trying to concentrate!" he called loudly, rolling his eyes as they naturally took it as their cue to be even louder. "Women…you'd think after a week they'd have caught up already!"

But no, Temari and Tenten never ran out of things to discuss!

Akamaru loyally agreed from where he lay on the ground, ears perking up as the sound of dashing feet could be heard until a familiar person stood in the doorway.

"Kiba, I have to know what mission Rema was assigned to!" Omoi asked hurriedly as he walked to him.

Kiba merely raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed by his sudden entrance. "Hello Omoi, nice to see you too! Why yes, I did cut my hair, thank you for noticing! How are you doing today? And why are you asking me about other people's assignments?" he asked back as leaned his face in his palm.

"Kiba, I mean it, please! That's my real mission, finding a mole from the Cloud – and I know it's her!" Omoi stressed seriously as he handed him his official credentials and rested his hands on his desk.

"So Gaara's in on it," Kiba noted as he the Kazekage's seal was also there.

"Yes!"

The deputy nodded as he turned to grab one of the large folders behind him, looking for that particular kunoichi. "Okay so…she was assigned to a supply run yesterday evening – solo. She should have returned this morning," he informed him as he looked up.

"Except she didn't," Omoi noted with a sigh. "She must've figured I was onto her…" He really should've acted sooner, even if he wasn't 100% sure yet – playing it safe obviously wasn't always the best answer.

"What do you need?" Kiba asked him seriously as he put the folder back in place.

The Kumo shinobi closed his eyes for a second to gather himself and then looked back at him. "I don't have time to ask the Kazekage, so I need your approval to mount a tracking mission to apprehend her," he replied.

"So let's go get you that approval," the other shinobi said as he walked to Temari's office, clearly not feeling bad about interrupting her – besides, Rema, the kunoichi Omoi was chasing, was a poison specialist, so a long-range fighter like Tenten would actually be an asset. Without wasting a second, they brought the two up to speed.

"Omoi, I realize this is a mission from Kumo to hunt down a Kumo nin, but you're still in Suna and Rema's still one of my subordinates, so Kiba's in command," she noted seriously, naturally not having to think long about appointing the Inuzuka – this was a tracking mission after all.

"Alright," Omoi readily agreed – he'd never really enjoyed being in command, in spite of everything.

Kiba nodded at them and then turned to Tenten. "Get Yuoh and meet with us at the barracks, we'll be there to get her scent," he instructed.

"You won't find anything there," Omoi intervened with a frown. "She knows that's your specialty, she won't have risked anything. But I anticipated this," he noted as he rummaged through his pockets to hand him a small bag, revealing a piece of fabric within it. "I hope my own scent hasn't cancelled hers…" he mumbled with a frown.

Temari chuckled at this, looking at her deputy with nothing but the utmost confidence. "Kiba, Akamaru – fetch!" she said simply.

"Yes Commander," he replied with a salute as Akamaru barked. "Just meet us on the roof, Tenten, we'll get her direction!" he threw over his shoulder as he made his way to the stairs.

Tenten nodded back at him and promptly left to go get her medic-nin – as he was from Suna, it was logical that it would be best to bring him, in addition to having a healer along.

"I suppose simply assuming that she's just headed for Kumo would be naïve?" the tracker asked his friend as he glanced towards each gate in turn.

"I think she's headed towards Oto, but it's likely she has other ideas in mind as well, we're not sure yet how deep their organization runs – I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she returned here at some point, but it's a risk I can't take…" Omoi replied seriously.

"If Temari or I had been warned, she wouldn't have been given solo assignments and running away might not have been so easy," the Inuzuka noted with a raised eyebrow.

"I had my orders," Omoi muttered, visibly agreeing on the principle.

Kiba simply shrugged as he and Akamaru concentrated on the smell, on separating it from Omoi's – as indeed, carrying the sample around in his pocket had somewhat altered it. Each searched a different direction, and as the nin-dog barked he turned his head to him. "Where?" he asked, sniffing the air a few times at the response. "Good boy, Akamaru!" he praised with a grin.

"Perfect timing, it seems!" Tenten noted cheerfully as they joined up with them. "Yuoh's briefed!" she then added as the shinobi next to her nodded.

"Then let's go catch ourselves a deserter, team!" Kiba declared simply as he motioned for them to follow him.

Growing up in a clan of shinobi, befriending other aspiring ninja and eventually becoming one yourself, not only did you have to be prepared to risk your life at all times, you also had to learn to get used to seeing your loved ones risk theirs. Those who couldn't handle it simply weren't meant for that kind of life.

Until the moment Tenten ran through the doors to the Kazekage's office calling his name in obvious apprehension, Shikamaru had honestly thought he'd be able to cope with anything, that he'd learned his lessons and life had prepared him and hardened him.

Yet his blood still froze in his veins at her words.

"Shikamaru, Kiba's hurt!"

TBC

I think that in a story with shinobi and whatnot, I did well to get to 25 chapters before hurting one of them...