It was a somewhat peaceful day at the Konoha war camps. The evening sun was hanging like an orange orb, its aura painting the sky with a lighter hue.

Shikamaru stared at his son - the younger man was buried in heaps of maps and papers.

"Something has been on my mind, dad." Shikadai raised his head from stacks of papers in front of him.

"What is it?" Shikamaru arched an eyebrow; his son was studying the maps. He stroked his goatee, as he leaned over and glanced at the map.

"I don't understand. Our armies moved like we are giving concessions to the Suna armies."

"Oh?" Shikamaru looked at his son – the young man's brows are furrowed, his eyes bore into the papers in front of him. He does look like her in some sort of way, Shikamaru tried to shake it off his mind.

"I mean, look at the records from … 3 months ago. Look, we should have take back the fort with this regiment, but we ended up retreating." Shikadai looked puzzled. "This is strange."

"Well, son." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "It will be way to troublesome to explain the whole plan to you, I think you will figure it out somehow by yourself." He patted on Shikadai's shoulder. "How was your patrol today?"

Shikadai shrugged. "Nothing much when our party went out," he replied.

In a sudden, he turned around, his teal eyes were alerted, as his hand rested on his sword.

A scout barged into the tent; Shikadai immediately pulled out his sword and pointed it at the intruder. "This is the Chief Advisor's tent, how dare you barge in without permission!"

"My apologies, Lord Nara." The scout was panting; his clothing was covered in dirt. "We… we have discovered the missing Captain Inuzuka."

"Go on." Shikamaru signaled his son to put the sword away. "Someone fetch this man some water."

The scout nodded. "Thank you my lord. We saw them at a Suna camp, just a few dozen miles from here. He was relatively unharmed, but the other two men …"

"Hmmm." Shikamaru stroked his goatee as the scout drank the water greedily.

"How many men were there at the camp?" Shikadai asked.

"Around a hundred."

"Father, we could try to sneak in there at night to rescue uncle Kiba." He felt a vein popped at the side of his head when his father sighed.

"I suppose we could, but we need more information." Shikamaru turned to the scout. "Send two other men and spy on the Suna camp. Provide us with updates whenever you can."

"Yes my lord." The scout went out of the tent.

"Father, but it is possible for them to move the prisoner! They only have a hundred men…"

"Shikadai." The older man patted his son on the shoulder. "We don't know what exactly happened, so it's best for us to wait for more information."

"Hmph." The younger man went out of the tent.

Shikamaru said nothing, and went back to his stack of papers.


"So, have you decided to talk today?" Temari smiled at Kiba, who was strapped to a chair.

"Go fuck yourself." He spat onto the ground.

Temari smirked and sat down in front of him. She poured herself a cup of tea.

"Honestly, I don't think anyone back in Konoha would trust you when we return you back, relatively unscathed." Temari shrugged. She knew which buttons to push to irritate Kiba. "I mean, as the leader, you should be the one who shoulders all the beating, right?"

Kiba growled and glared at her. "Go ahead and kill me then! You devil, I dare you!" He bellowed, struggling to get out of the chains binding him onto the chair.

She took a sip from her tea, arching an eyebrow. "Well, I said I am not going to kill you – I didn't say I won't torture you for the information I need."

She nodded at the man next to her, the man had white milky eyes, and suddenly the veins near his eye began to pop.

Kiba felt as if someone was seeing through him.

The man held a bunch of needles in his hand – slowly he took one of them and jabbed the needle into his shoulder blade.

"Urgh!" Kiba yelped. The man did not stop but inserted a second needle in between his middle and ring finger. Kiba flinched and bit down on his lip, almost drawing blood. A third one was jabbed into his elbow – and he lost it; he threw his head back and screamed in pain.

Temari sat there and watched. "Speak and I will have the needles removed from your pressure points."

"Never- Arghhh!" Kiba yelped as the man shoved another needle. Temari took another sip from her tea, as Kiba roared in pain.

"Stop." She ordered. "That would be enough, Hyuga-san."

"Your Highness." He muttered before taking his leave. The man left the tent.

Kiba was left alone with her, needles sticking out from different spots of his body.

"Now, you are a reasonable person, I could tell that even years ago when you captured me." Temari lowered herself in front of him, her eyes staring straight into his. "You ought to realize, and you do realize that they would not trust you, right?"

Kiba panted in his agonized state, he said nothing in return.

"I am sure you would like to return to Konoha, perhaps you have someone else waiting at home for you?"

She fished a tiny scroll out of her pocket – and opened it in front of his eyes.

"No." He whispered almost soundlessly.

"Ah, that is what I would expect." Temari smirked. "So this is your woman, I see."

"Don't you dare…"

"Oh, you are tense, like someone has brushed your hair the wrong way… hmmm she likes cats huh?" Temari looked at the painting, a woman with waist-long brown hair, topaz-coloured eyes. She was holding a tiny kitten in her arm and smiling at the fragile creature. "Tamaki, is that her name?"

"Don't you say her name with your foul mouth." He gritted his teeth and glared at her.

"What can you do to me? Jump at me and tear out my throat?" Temari grabbed his chin with her hand, pressing hard on both cheeks. "Listen up, since you like dogs so much, I will put this to you this way: you don't have any power here, you are just my bitch. I can deal with you or your precious Tamaki in anyway that I want."

She let him go, and took a step back. "Now, spill, before I send our assassins to Konoha, and make Tamaki disappear from the face of the Earth."

Kiba gritted his teeth. "No."

"Really?" Temari frowned. "Very well then, I give you three seconds." She held out three fingers.

"I won't tell you anything!"

"Three."

"Not in a million years!"

"Two." Two fingers left. She stared at him with a blank expression.

"Go fuck yourself, fucking Sunanian whore!"

"One." A tiny smirk appeared on her face. "Hyuga…"

"STOP!" Kiba was panting, as his eyes glared at her single finger in desperation.

Temari looked at him with sick satisfaction. "Well, well, aren't we the tough alpha male." She sneered at the man, who was slumping against the back of the chair.

"I will tell you what you want to know." He said, almost soundlessly. "Just… don't hurt her."

"Aren't you a good boy?" Temari ruffled his brown hair mockingly. "Now tell me, where is the closest military camp?"

"East. Around a dozen miles that way." He looked down at his feet in defeat.

"How many men are stationed there at that camp?"

"Around a hundred." Kiba replied.

Suddenly something struck his mind.

Perhaps he could turn the situation around.

Perhaps he could get the gift he so desired.

He turned his head up and sneered in a confident tone. "Shikamaru should be stationed there for these couple of days."

Shikamaru. Temari thought to herself. Never had she expected to hear his name out of this man's mouth.

Naturally, they were probably friends since childhood.

"He means nothing to me." Temari spat, she was visually irritated. She could not help but darted her eyes away from the chained man in front of her.

"Heh, what about that kid? What's his name again? That brat you bore for Shikamaru." Kiba snarled. "So he is nothing too?"

Temari flashed a dagger and put it next to his throat. "Shut up."

"I thought you wanted me to talk." He smirked, he thought he was staring death straight in the face. And he is going down with a smile.

"Another word and I will cut your throat." The cockiness in her voice disappeared and was replaced by something stone cold. The cold steel blade pressed against his neck. Kiba took a gulp.
"So you can't resist the urge to kill me eh?" Kiba laughed a little, leaning towards the blade. Sweet salvation has come. He closed his eyes, and waited for the killing blow.

Temari shook her head and lifted the blade away from his neck, regaining her poise. "Of course not, Captain Inuzuka. Apologies to my sudden outburst." "I would make sure that the Konoha army have you back, but before that, I would make sure they know of your great deeds done for Suna." She grinned at him hauntingly. "Escort Captain Inuzuka back to his quarters." She made an exaggerated bow with a sarcastic grin. The man growled as his immobile body was dragged out of the tent.

Kiba thought he saw a watery glint in her eye as the soldiers dragged him out of the tent.


Shikadai panted as his father placed his sword back into its sheath.

"You have improved, Shikadai." Shikamaru smiled at him. "Your skills with the shadow – impressive for your age."

"Not enough," he said, gasping for breath, kneeling on the ground, using his sword for support. "My shadows are not reaching far enough." As his father walked towards him, he involuntarily stood up and started to move forward.

Their shadows were connected – a shade of black closing in between them, until there are around ten steps between them.

The shadows rescinded and returned to Shikamaru's feet.

"The white stag of the Nara clan would be pleased." Shikamaru smiled at him.

"Pack your things, we would be leaving tomorrow at dawn."

"Why?"

"We need to mobilize the city's resources," said Shikamaru. The smile faded from his face. "The end is approaching soon."

The end.

Shikadai ran and stopped his father in his tracks.

"What about uncle Kiba?"

"He should be fine, if everything goes wrong, he will fulfill his duty as a loyal Konoha officer."

"He will die."

"That is the worst case of the twenty scenarios."

"He is in the hands of the enemy! How could you leave a comrade, a friend!"

Shikadai was roaring, his fists clenched tightly; his eyes almost teary.

Shikamaru looked at him; pain crept up to his face.

He does have your temper Temari.

"Listen son," said Shikamaru, staring straight into those teal eyes of his.

Those eyes that were only possessed by the ones he loved.

"I am going to save him, no matter what. Because … he is my friend. You are absolutely right, we do not leave our comrades alone – but we have to plan the rescue wisely."

Shikadai said nothing, and walked away.

His father may have 20 scenarios planned, but he had already narrowed it down to five.

It is a pain, but there is only one left in his mind.


"This is such a bad idea, and for that to come from you, Shikadai." A pale young man whispered, his beautiful face covered with a worried expression. He sighed exaggeratedly.

"Shut up, Inojin," replied Shikadai, glaring at his friend. "I told you it is a pain and you don't have to come with me."

"You'd better treat me food back at Konoha city tomorrow." A chubby girl muttered, her amber eyes staring at the soundlessly bickering boys.

"Enough," Shikadai hissed. "Here's the plan, we would sneak in to the prisoner's cages, and save uncle Kiba. So, Inojin, Chouchou, are you going with me?"

"Didn't your father say he had a plan to do that?"

"It might be too late, another day here meant that there is a chance for him to be killed." Shikadai drew his sword from its sheath. "We leave no one behind."

"Alright then," Inojin drew a short katana from his back. "Mother is so going to kill me."

"It's not like we can chicken out right now," Chouchou shrugged. "So let's do this."

The three disappeared in the darkness.

Swiftly but silently, they advanced towards the Suna camp.

The trio could feel the tension in the air - one wrong move and this would be the end of their short lives.

"I had a bad feeling about this one." Inojin muttered.

"We go that way," Shikadai ordered and the trio managed to climb over the walls, unnoticed.

Hiding from tent to tent, box to box, they searched around the campsite.

"Jackpot," said Chouchou, signaling her two friends to move towards her.

Inside a rusty iron cage, sat a man, his head lowered in defeat. He slumped against the bars of the cage, ragged and tired.

"Uncle Kiba!" Inojin whispered, the man raised his head – his eyes widened in bewilderement.

"What on earth are you doing here? Leave, get the fuck out!" He tried to lower his voice, but he was agitated. "You kids have no place here."

"We are here to rescue you." Shikadai headed over to the lock. Almost effortlessly, the lock surrendered with a click.

He headed into the cage and held out a hand to the older man. "Can you move?"

Kiba shook his head, "they stuck these goddamn needles in me," Shikadai noticed the tiny spikes protruding from his skin.

"Chouchou," he called the girl's name.

The chubby girl reached in and pulled the older man out of the cage, placing one of his arms over her shoulder. Kiba yelped in pain.

"Sorry, uncle Kiba." Chouchou muttered, as she roughly adjusted his position.

"Alright, let's go." Shikadai turned around, only to notice the fear in Inojin's eyes.

"Hold it right there." He heard a voice, a proud voice of an older woman.

"Well, well what do we have here?" The voice continued. "You kids should not be snooping around and trying to take what isn't yours."

Shikadai turned around.

Temari saw a pair of teal eyes that she had only saw in the mirror.

"Shikadai," she whispered almost soundlessly, her expression covered with shock and confusion.

"You …" Shikadai looked equally confused, but he furrowed his brows and stared at the mysterious woman in front of him with dire determination. "Go Chouchou, Inojin, I will stall them." He shouted, holding up his sword.

"But Shikadai!"

"JUST GO!" He yelled. The three took off, leaving him face to face to the mysterious woman.

"Go after them," she ordered the soldiers behind her.

Shikadai took a gulp and stared at this woman in front of him.

The mysterious woman he saw in his father's paintings.

He knew who she is.

She is his mother.

"So, why have you wandered here?" Temari signaled the soldiers to leave her alone with this familiar intruder.

"I came to save Kiba." Shikadai clutched his sword in his hand.

"Oh, and you thought we didn't notice those scouts? And that we don't know that you are coming?" Temari smiled, and opened her battle fan.

Shikadai stayed still, he was not sure what move he should use.

"You are my mother." He tried to observe the look on the woman's face.

Her eyesbrows furrowed, and she bit her lip – She was thinking.

"I don't have a son," she bellowed, as she lunged forward, closing her battle fan and using it as a baton. Shikadai dodged the attack, leaping away from his attacker. The baton hit the ground and created a crater from its impact.

She turned around and stared at him.

He had grown up so much, for a second she thought he was Shikamaru.

She felt her vision blurring a little.

"I saw you in my father's paintings." Shikadai observed their distance, thirty steps.

The campsite was dimly lit - he took a gulp. I can hold her shadows with this.

He could try to use that.

He closed his eye and concentrated his mind, the shadow beneath his feet began to stretch.

"Who taught you to close your eyes when you are fighting?" She sneered, as she charged towards him, he opened his eyes and saw the baton above him.

He did not realize that the baton was only a distraction, and that another hand was reaching for his neck to knock him out.

It is too late. Perhaps she really was not his mother – and she is going to kill him right here.

Shikadai stared in horror; his tried to raise his sword to parry the attack.

He heard a large clang. The sound of clashing metal.

A man stood in front of him, raising his sword and blocking the attack.

On his back he saw the crest of his family. Another of his hand held the woman's hand, firmly but gently.

The woman's eyes widened.

"It has been a long time, Temari." The man's voice was different from his usual lazy tone – it was coated with sadness and seriousness.

"Shikamaru." She said calmly, her eyes staring at the older man.

"It's a pain, but I would not let you hurt him, although I doubt that you would."

"Shut up," she bellowed, leaping away from the two men.

"Go Shikadai, my men are fighting with the Sunanian soldiers." Shikamaru ordered his son. "Head back to camp, we will talk later."

Shikadai took one last look at the woman and ran away.

"Well," Shikamaru looked at her. "It has been almost eleven years now." He lowered his sword. "You don't look a day older."

Temari smirked. "I can't say the same for you, you look more like your father now."

"It is troublesome, but still, it happens." He shrugged and scratched the back of his head.

He spoke to her as if they were meeting at a casual event, a party or a banquet.

But they were not, he was an intruder at her military camp.

"Since you came here already, don't think of going so soon." Temari opened her battle fan again.

Then suddenly it caught her. She felt a wave of weird impulsion moving through her body as his shadow took over her.

He lowered his head and showed her – their shadows were connected.

Her eyes – rather than being filled in horror, there was some sort of calmness in her eyes, apart from confusion and anxiousness.

Slowly, they walked towards each other, her feet moving against her will.

One step, another and another.

She stood in front of him, just inches away.

She stared at him. She stared at him and waited for the killing blow.

"Go ahead, I owe you this for that slash ten years ago." She said, her voice was calm and composed. She even smiled a little, as she awaited death's arrival.

She closed her eyes and bit on her lip.

But he did the unexpected.

He wrapped his arms around her.

Involuntarily, her arms did the same.

Unknowingly, the shadow has rescinded. Their arms remained wrapping around each other.

"I have missed you." Shikamaru whispered into her ear. "It has been too long"

Temari said nothing, but buried her head onto his shoulder. It was wider and harder than she remembered.

"Soon, this will be over." He continued. "It is the biggest pain in the world but I would end it."

"Then I will die, or you will. Or we both will."

"There is a better way."

"Impossible."

"I will make a way." She felt his arms squeezing her, tightening his embrace.

Temari thought of something to retort but she stopped. She lifted her head and stared in his dark brown eyes – they were filled with sadness, and tiredness.

But there was something above all else – hope and determination.

"Promise me, take care of him." There was no coldness, no hatred in her voice.

"I am trying my best." He replied with equal warmth.
"Keep him away from this war." Temari tightened her wrap around him, burying her head into his chest. "Keep him safe."

"That I cannot promise, but I swear on my life I would protect him."

She looked up. He saw something that he had not seen for a very long time.

She grinned at him, like a radiating sun in the middle of the night.

"Well, I should get back to my men." He withdrew his arms from her reluctantly.
"I guess I will see you later." He turned around.

"Wait!" She shouted. He looked over his shoulder. "If we both survive this war, there is someone I would like you to meet."

He smiled. "Sure, troublesome woman." He would take the same risk a million times to see that grin again.

He ran off back to his men, who were retreating from the camp, acting as a cover for the three youngsters.

"See you later," she whispered to herself. "Crybaby."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

It has been a long time since she felt this way.

She felt … loved.

The chains of her past has crept towards and wrapped around her. Once again.


Author's note:

Hi! Here is another chapter - guess you really couldn't help when ideas keep on popping up haha

I hope you enjoy this family moment! Also, I decided to include more skills for the characters to make the story more interesting. (Hopefully not more confusing)

Anyway, enjoy! Do read and review! :)

V.S.V

xoxo