AN: A lot of people will probably like this chapter. It deals alot with Shikamaru and Shikadai especially, but there are also a few parts that include Temari and Mirai as well.
I should also mention that I'm sorry for being so late on the new chapter. I'm going through a lot of tests and examinations right now, so I literally forgot when my update date was supposed to be. I'll try not to let it happen again. Thank you very much for your patience, and you don't have to worry. I fully intend to finish this story, and I'm working on trying to have it done by next Summer, but as I said we'll see. The only time I delay chapters is to make sure that the quality is good.
Once again, I do not own Naruto.
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Day three, upside down. It took me six... seven... six minutes to return to my cell. Outside, the sky looked cloudy...
Day four, headache. It took me nine minutes to return to my cell. The steps changed, it's seven hundred and fifty nine steps to my cell. I couldn't get a glimpse of outside.
Day five, I think they broke my right femur. Doesn't matter, it'll heal after a while. It took me eight minutes to get back to my cell. The steps were slightly different now, seven hundred and sixty.
Shikamaru took a deep breath in, and then slowly exhaled. There it was, the pain in his chest had returned. But despite all of this, he still kept himself quiet. He kept himself calm. He flattened himself out on the ground beneath him, and he continued to recollect.
Day six... I think they broke something else. That might be why my chest hurts. Ino always said that torso pains were worse than broken legs. It took me ten minutes to get back to my cell. It took…. seven hundred and fifty nine steps to get back to my cell.
Day seven… I couldn't feel what they broke, if they broke anything. Ah well. Eight minutes to get back to my cell. Seven hundred and fifty eight steps.
He heard a series of footsteps approach his cell, and Shikamaru took in another breath. He didn't want to open his eyes, but he knew that he would eventually be forced to if whatever was happening turned out to be important.
The footsteps continued to increase in volume, but unlike every other time he had been taken from his cell, Shikamaru could only detect only one pair of them. But, oddly, he couldn't be arsed to care about who the mysterious visitor was…
… Day eight. I go back to my cell with bruising around my eyes. I'm warned that next time will be different, and if I don't begin to talk they'll begin to give me more permanent scars. I could care less. Six minutes to return to my cell, seven hundred and thirty nine steps-.
"Your 'tough guy' attitude wont get you anywhere but the grave, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru growled weakly in irritation. The voice, and likely the steps, belonged to the Fifth Kazekage, and the words were similar to the ones that he had been taunting him with ever since he had been brought here. The same words. The same negativity. The same doubting and the same put downs.
...Day nine. The bruising around my eyes gets worse, and I feel as if they're going to take it too far. I can't care about that, however. The moment I was taken in was the moment I died. Seven minutes to return to my cell, seven hundred and fifty steps.
"I know you can hear me, Shikamaru."
The head of the Nara clan sighed softly, before slowly opening his eyes, and then turning his head towards the bars of his cell. His health was causing his vision to have an unnatural, blood-red tint, and his lack of energy made it so he barely was able to open his eyes in the first place. But he was able to see what he needed to, the giant glass and iron bars, the plate of bread that he hadn't eaten yet, and Gaara standing on the other side of of his cage, in his Kage robes. Looking regal as a king whilst Shikamaru laid as a peasant on the ground.
Once their eyes met, Gaara narrowed his eyes.
"It's been barely a month and you're already like this. How much more can you take, then?"
Shikamaru coughed, and then slowly moved his eyes away from the man, and instead decided to focus on the ceilings above him. Gaara didn't deserve his answers, he didn't even deserve to be in the same room as him. He didn't even deserve to be alive.
"...Ignore me all you want. But you know and I know that you can only take so much of this."
"...And?"
Gaara raised a brow, and then looked towards Shikamaru's form on the ground. The man had this mouth hung open now, finding it too much effort to properly close it after his one-word sentence. Other than his mouth, the rest of his face was sickly, the area around his eyes were a ruddy red, and his chin was an unusual yellow. His hair hung over his face and fell a bit into his open mouth, but if Shikamaru was bothered by this he didn't show it. He didn't show any emotion, but a blank face.
Gaara waited for Shikamaru to continue, and when he didn't, his brow returned to it's normal position, and he continued.
"… And when you've reached your limit… you'll die-."
"I'm not… scared of..."
Shikamaru began to cough harshly, all while Gaara kept his eyes set on him. When he was done, he slowly and finally began to move himself, pushing himself onto his side, and balancing himself on his right arm. His hair shifted so that it hung over his face, but Gaara could still see that he was looking at him.
"...I'm not scared of dying."
"You keep on saying that, but we both know-."
"No… I know… You… don't know. You don't know a damn thing."
Shikamaru then moved himself to lie on his stomach, and then finally attended to his stray hair, taking it out of his face and away from his eyes. He sucked in a quick breath, before feeling the pain in his chest return. He visibly cringed, sucking in a breath.
"You're an idiot," Gaara spat. "We've interrogated men like you before. They spend most of their time here resisting and acting brave, taking in all the pain we give them." He paused.
"They all end up the same way. They reach a breaking point, and that's when everything comes out. That's when every little secret, every conservation, every little detail comes out, all in an attempt to save their lives. You'll be no different."
He spat onto the ground in front of the cell. Shikamaru's eyes slowly narrowed, although it wasn't clear if he did so in emotion or in weakness.
"Keep believing that. You know I'd sooner die than betray my… vill- AGH"
He collapsed entirely onto the floor, and his eyes shut in pain. While he writhed on the ground in front of him, Gaara simply watched, taking in the scene in front of him. Shikamaru struggled to even turn himself over, trying desperately to find his balance again, his arms and legs shook, and his hair soon fell back into the front of his face. Finally, finding the ground again, he reached into himself to push himself over again until he was on his back, and then sighed deeply and loudly to celebrate his achievement. As the pain in his chest began to subside, Gaara found himself speaking more.
"You'll be no different."
Shikamaru didn't bother to respond to him, and instead simply focused his eyes on the wall above him. Gaara had done this before, gloated towards him after a torture session, and at this point he had gotten used to it. He didn't let it bother him, he couldn't. He couldn't let any of it get to him.
He felt an ache in his right leg, and then sighed. Speaking of sessions… he hadn't had his today yet. He mused on Gaara being part of his "welcoming" committee, perhaps all of this was just another form of intimidation. Over time, however, he found himself being used to this. This hadn't been the first time he had gloated to him, and it wouldn't be the last.
However, instead of continuing his conversation, Shikamaru instinctively raised his eyebrows as he heard Gaara's footsteps move away from his cell. Refocusing his eyes, he watched as the red haired man turned to leave the area, slowly walking up the steps that led out of the dungeon that he was kept in. Once he was gone, Shikamaru let out a loud and dramatic sigh.
He wasn't out of deadly waters yet, but the fact that Gaara was gone now gave him a valuable chance to rest himself, and to continue his thoughts…
Day… eleven. Day ten I was given a break. Day eleven it takes me, no, them eight hundred steps back to my cell. They had to be extra careful with me that day. I had a head injury, after all…
Day twelve. Typical session, full of taunting and goading. "You'll die here if you don't speak up." I haven't spoken once. I've screamed a bit, though. Seven hundred steps back to my cel-.
And then suddenly, Shikamaru felt a bit of water fall onto his face.
He blinked, and then slowly brought a hand up to his right cheek, which was now wet. Afterward, his eyes slowly moved from his cheek back towards the wall above him…
In time for him to see that there was a leak.
If he had been strong enough, he would've pushed himself off of the ground and stood up to get a closer look. The ceiling was already low enough as it was, but the inclusion of the dripping water was now making his position unbearable. And, he couldn't help but let himself feel a little slighted. The man was a notorious war criminal in this country, yet they placed him in a cell that was vulnerable to leaks.
He felt another drop of water fall onto his face, and growled.
I guess this is one of the many ways they're trying to make me give in, he thought, idly taking some of the water into his mouth. It tasted grainy and rough, just like the desert that surrounded him, imprisoned him. Soon after doing this, he felt another drop fall onto his face. And another, and another. Eventually, the bruised man rolled himself over and out of the direct path of the falling water.
Rolling towards the only window in the area, he looked up to it's bars. Through the small view that he could see, the noticed that the clouds were prominent, and he could faintly hear a rainfall begin. As the pieces came together, he realized why there would be dripping from his cell, and he took a deep breath.
Temari… had once told him about how Sunagakure reacted during a rainfall. Water was so rare in the desert that when it did rain, barely once every few months, it was truly a spectacle. The way that the sun reflected off of the rain drops, the way that they fell upon the ground. The way that the village smelt afterward, everyone's reaction to it. According to her, it never got old, even the elders seemed to be utterly amazed by the sight of rainwater.
Shikamaru sighed. It would've been quite the sight to see if he wasn't locked up. Of course, that wasn't the most important thing that she had told him, all those times before-.
"It's…. defenses… from what I can remember defenses were down… are down… more when it's raining o when there's a sandstorm..."
Shikamaru took a breath, and then slowly pulled himself until he was sitting up, his torso no longer touching the ground. She'd never give him a useless piece of advice, and definitely not while she was on her own deathbed. As the memories of his failure returned to him, however, he found himself more intrigued with the path of sand beside him where the rain had begun to accumulate. He idly placed a finger into the small puddle to find that the sand beneath it was getting soft.
He suddenly realized why he hadn't seen any guards today, and why Gaara had come to taunt him all by himself.
Groaning, he slowly moved himself towards a wall, and let his back slack against it. The information he remembered now would have been perfect, if only he knew a way out of his cell. Water had no affect on glass nor steel, and the only way that the bars opened was when someone from the other side opened them manually. Until, or unless, the rainfall was harsh enough, he had no true way of escaping, not with his weakened body. However, the good news was that, according to Temari, if the village was truly less guarded during this time of year, there was no doubt that he would have someone sent to him soon enough.
But for now, all he could do was wait. As he watched the roof of his cell become damp with water.
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Shikadai, on the other hand, was tired of waiting.
By now, it had been over two weeks since his father had disappeared, and he had yet to get any more word from anyone about what he was doing, where he was, or when he was ever coming home. His school work was getting easier as the days went by, but the more and more he prodded anyone about his father's disappearance, the more and more awkward things got. As of now, they would only repeat mantras of "He's coming home soon" or outright ignore him when he asked, desperate to change the subject. His father being absent from his life was a common occurrence in the past, but the man had promised him that he would try harder to be around more, for his sake. For him to be away this long suggested that the man might be doing important, but, no matter what Shikamaru was doing out there now, Shikadai was done waiting for him to come back home.
"Come on, focus!"
But it seemed that he'd have to wait a while longer.
Shikadai quickly dashed out of the previous space that he had been standing in, and was able to dodge the wooden kunai that Mirai had thrown at him. She quickly dashed herself to destroy the distance between them, but Shikadai was able to dodge out of the way of her punch, and then aim for her knees. Of course, she was able to back away quickly, and reached for his ponytail, before the boy moved back again, and placed his hands into a seal, imitating a move he had seen his own father preform a million times before.
"Shadow possession jutsu!"
Mirai stood up straight as she watched as the shadows from the tree that Shikadai was standing in front of began to come to life, and then rushed towards her. She quickly dodged out of the way, with a look of utter confusion and surprise. Shikamaru had never told her that he had begun teaching his son the clan's signature jutsu, and from what she could see now, the boy could at least handle and control it to a moderate rate. As the shadows continued to rush towards her, she moved her way around it over and over again, and found it quite simple to avoid it. Eventually, after a few dodges and dashes, she noticed that the shadow began to slow down, until it thinned and became less of a midnight black. This gave her enough time to rush towards Shikadai, him having to dodge out of the way within a few moments.
Before he could make the complete dodge, however, Mirai reached forwards to latch onto Shikadai's ponytail, and with a quick tugged, pulled the boy until he was suspended in the air, hanging only by his hair. The boy let out a rather sudden sound, before Mirai titled her head, and gave him a small smile.
"You're slow."
Shikadai growled.
"And you're troublesome."
Mirai shrugged knowingly, before she slowly lowered her arm to place the boy onto the ground.
"Know what else is troublesome? Low marks. Bad grades. Possibly flunking out of school."
Shikadai kissed his teeth, and then waved one of his hands.
"Oh please."
Turning, Shikadai moved himself towards one of the targets that as in the field that the two stood in, and slowly began to take out the wooden kunai that he had lodged into it earlier. On the horizon, the sun was still high in the sky, but he had been vocal earlier about not wanting to spend his entire weekend training. Other than the two of them, the little clearing in the Nara forest was deserted, and it was likely to stay that way.
"Besides, I don't see how any of this sparring's going to help me with my test," he moaned. "We're just wasting time out here."
Mirai lazily seated herself on a broken tree stump behind her .
"I guess you've never heard of an applied education."
"Oh I've heard of it. It's just stupid, that's all."
Mirai cringed. It had been a while since Shikamaru had asked her to watch over Shikadai in his stead, and despite also knowing the boy since he had bee born, she always found herself caught off-guard by his attitude. When he wanted it, he could come out acting like some demonic version of his father's laziness and his mother's sass. It was getting on her last nerves.
"Oh it's stupid, is it?"
"Yeah. It is-."
"Alright then."
She gestured to the stump that she was sitting on.
"Gee, that was pretty easy of me to break this, wasn't it?"
"What does this have to do with anyth-."
"It was, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Do you remember what ninja tool I used to to it?"
"Yeah. A Shuriken."
"Alright then. But a shuriken is small, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"So, Shikadai. How do you think I was able to take that tree down?"
Shikadai frowned.
"Well, of course, you threw the kunai at the tree really, really fast-."
"Acceleration."
"But the kunai was really, really small-."
Shikadai narrowed his eyes.
"… The reason why the tree fell was because you hit it with more force than it could handle. The mass of the kunai mattered a little bit, but the main reason why it fell was because of it's speed…"
Mirai slowly raised from her stump.
"And….?"
Shikadai sighed.
"Force is acceleration multiplied by mass."
And then without another word, Mirai completely disappeared.
Shikadai blinked, and then bent his knees to get himself into a battle stance, and his head turned around to see if he could catch her. Fine, he muttered. Maybe I am learning something from all of this-.
Before he could finish his thought, Shikadai felt something sharp and sudden hit him in the back of his head. Before he could be pushed from the force of it, he ducked down, and then quickly looked up to see Mirai fly over him, her legs in a kicking position.
Ugh.
He quickly stood up, and then moved back to rush out of the clearing, and head for cover within the forest around him, his mode of thinking being that he needed some time to think, and despite the yellow, red and brown leaves in the forest, anywhere was better than an open field. Before he could make it halfway there, Mirai appeared in front of him again, having dashed to a closer position near him, and threw him a punch. Shikadai barely ducked in time, only for him to have to jump back to avoid being kicked in the face. In response and acting on instinct, he turned his elbow I, and aimed to try and hit her outstretched leg, only for her to move it back in and move her head towards to headbutt him back, falling onto the ground. She continued her assault, moving to step on his leg, but luckily the boy was finally able to find an opening, rolling to dodge it, before quickly scrambling on the ground to get himself to his feet.
The moment he was mobile again, he took off towards the other side of the clearing, his previous idea dead in an instant. He could hear her footsteps accelerate behind him, and he turned his head to see her rushing towards him again. He quickly ducked down, but continued his run before he heard something whiz by his head. He fell before it hit him, falling by his side, and he looked towards ut quickly to see another wooden shuriken, and then rolled onto the ground in front of him.
He kept on rolling for a while, before landing onto his back. He saw Mirai come closer to him, and panicked for a few moments, before realizing one of the few things that eh could do.
"Shadow possession jutsu!"
From the small distance between them, Shikadai saw Mirai roll her eyes. She'd seen this move before, and she quickly dodged to her right, moving away from the shadows. However, she didn't notice that Shikadai was also controlling the shadows behind her, and quickly connected it with his own. Before it was done, he was able to move backwards, rushing and pushing himself closer into the forest behind him, trying to get out of the clearing and where there were more shadows.
Mirai, however, wouldn't be discouraged. She moved for his forehead, aiming to poke him on the forehead, before she began to feel something pull her back from behind. She turned her head to see that it was Shikadai's shadows that were pulling her back, and that he was using the shuriken from earlier as a sort of anchor. She grinned, and then continued to push against it, trying to reach the boy that was in front of her, and silently marveling at the strength of the shadow as well. But before she could make any significant movements, she looked up to see that Shikadai had gotten to his feet, and was rushing back to the forest around them once again.
This time, he made it inside.
Mirai waited a few moments, and as she had predicted, the boy could only hold onto the shadows for a small while longer before they dispelled. Afterward, she rushed into the forest alongside him, and once inside, began to search it's branches, roots and trunks for any sign that the child was still around. The area, thanks to the sun in the sky, seemed to be over-burdened with shadows and darkness, and she could already get a good idea of why he retreated back here.
Of course. His father used to do the same when they trained together.
Finally, she looked up into one of the trees, and saw a signature tuff of black hair, just behind some leaves and above her on a branch. She smirked, and then began to slowly make her way towards him, moving fast yet quietly, not making a single sound. Soon, she was able to get a better vantage point of him, and watched as the boy simply sat over a branch, facing further into the forest, and looking away from her. She let out a small smile.
"Oh well," she whispered. "Looks like you've failed lesson two." Continuing to keep herself as silent as the autumn's breeze, she slowly made her way past the falling leaves around her, the creaking and weakening branches, and moved until she was a simple four trees away from her prey.
And then once she was four trees away, she leapt into the sky, and began to glide over the four trees-.
Before a torrent of shadows latched onto her immediately. In front of her, Shikadai turned her head and began to laugh harshly at her.
You twerp…
As she rushed towards him, the shadows that had latched onto her legs and back pulled her backwards, and slowed her speed. She could feel herself begin to glide as opposed to fly, and when she was close enough, she vainly reached out a single finger, at the very least hoping to tap the boy on the head. Instead of flinching or even moving, Shikadai defiantly stood on the branch, until her fingers were barely a distance away from his face. But, it never touched.
Mirai smirked at him again.
"Like I said-."
"Force is acceleration divided by mass, right?"
Upon realizing what he did, Mirai reached forwards a little bit closer, still suspended in air, and then brushed his hair.
"See. You are learning things while you're with me, aren't you?"
Shikadai shrugged, mildly embarrassed for being wrong, but also truly not caring much. Slowly, he made his shadows place Mirai on the branch next to him, and then sat down on it, looking out into the deeper wood. Blushing, he tried his best to focus on the falling leaves around him, and not on her.
"...Yeah. Maybe."
"Aaand… when you ace that test on Monday you'll be thanking me," Mirai boasted, keeping herself preppy and high. Instead of sitting next to him, she leaned herself up against the bark.
"Anyways, I guess we can call it a day. I've got other duties to do today."
"Like?" Shikadai asked. When Mirai looked down on him again, she could almost feel his boredom and utter dissatisfaction with everything around him. She sighed.
"Well… I'm helping my Mom with some cleaning. Nothing too hard, and I should be open after a while. How about you? Going to go play with someone else for a bit?"
Shikadai shrugged, and continued to look at the falling leaves.
"I dunno."
Mirai raised a brow.
"You really don't kn-."
"No, I don't." Shikadai snapped. "I guess I'll game for a bit, right?" He paused, and then slowly let his lips slip into a small, light smirk.
"… Want to join?"
Mirai rubbed her hands together.
"You sure you're ready to get yourself whooped?"
"Are you ready to get beaten by some little kid?"
"Pfha! I've got thirteen years on ya kid. I've got seniority."
"And I have the smarts."
"We'll see about that later, now wont we?"
She rustled his hair again, before she turned herself around to leave. Before she could, however, She heard Shikadai stand up slowly, not bothering with how loud he suddenly was.
"Wait, Mirai."
He turned his head to look up at her. Amazingly, the boy had learned to temper his annoyance and tiredness, and instead seemed to be prepared to ask her a serious, and honest question. Mirai raised a brow.
"Mm?"
Shikadai took a breath in.
"...Any idea when my Dad's getting back?"
And with that sentence, the tone of the entire area began to change.
Mirai's face slowly left it's previous happiness and jive, and slowly settled into a neutral one, trying her best to prevent it from turning into a guilty one. Like the rest of the adult Jonin in the village, she knew perfectly well the status of Shikamaru Nara. And, as she stood there in front of the boy, no, young man, she knew that it would only be a matter of time before he figured it out for himself. Even sooner than that, since Shikadai was such a bright young man.
She looked away from him for a moment, and tried her best to think of what to do. It had been a good twelve days since she had interrogated the information from Choji, and even she was still struggling to accept her new duty. Shikamaru had asked her to watch over him, not to raise him, as she would likely be expected to do now.
She eventually reached her answer, and slowly raised her shoulders up to shrug.
"...No idea," she lied, trying her best to keep her vice steady. "Whatever he's up there must be pretty big for the lack of communication. I wouldn't worry about it personally. You know he'll get back soon enough."
She felt like absolute shit for lying to Shikadai, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to break the boy's heart. Mother and Father both killed in the same month. The kid was alone now, and she couldn't help but try and make it seem better.
But… something in Shikadai's eyes changed with her response. Instead of looking relieved and more relaxed, the boy now looked almost deflated. Sighing, he began to slouch.
"...Alright..."
Without another word, he dropped himself off of the branch and towards the ground below, and then quickly moved to begin walking on the forest's floor, making a loud crunch as he landed on a few leaves.
"...I guess I'll see you later, right?"
Mirai nodded down to him, and then Shikadai began to walk off, heading in the direction of the house he now lived in by himself. After a few steps, the boy hastily placed his hands into his pocket and made his strides longer, eager to leave the area.
All the while Mirai slowly moved herself to sit on the branch, and took a deep inhale.
"…What do I do now…?"
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"Mommy! Mommy! Check it out!"
Excitedly, Okuni pointed to a marionette on the TV screen. The simple, small puppet was of intricate design despite it's size, and was a beautiful white colour. In the show that she was watching, it was being used to portray a character.
"Mommy, can you make me one like that?" She said, turning her head around to look at her mother. "I'd love one like this!"
Shiori looked at the TV screen, and then mentally prepared an image for her to save.
"Oh… you like designs like this?"
"Yup! It's small enough so uh… so I can do a lot of things with it!"
She blinked twice at her mother, before suddenly looking and feeling guilty.
"Oh… but the one you made me earlier is good too. If you painted it white then it would be enough for me!"
Shiori let herself smile a small smile. The girl was slowly becoming more and more aware of her actions and feelings, it seemed, and in each day that passed she found herself having a more and more considerate and compassionate daughter.
At least somethingthing in her world was going right.
"No, it's fine hon. I'll make you a brand new one if you need me too."
"Really?!"
"Of course." Smiling softly, she brought one of her hands to her head and began to mess up her hair.
"Anything for my little girl."
Okuni grinned, and then threw a hand up into the air. After a torrent of "thank yous" and "Mom you're the bests", she was returned to her previous state of calm, and returned her little face to the TV screen, now preoccupied with the going ons of the cartoon characters in front of her. All the while, behind her, and seated on her sofa as opposed to the floor, Shiori found herself almost fighting back tears.
…. Kankuro used to do that for her….
She wouldn't cry now, though, and slowly steeled her emotions as the cartoon went on. It had been weeks since she heard the news after all, and she needed to become more accepting of reality. He was dead. He was never coming back. And, importantly, she was Okuni's mother. It was natural for a mother to take a father's role every now and then.
But she personally doubted that it was normal for them to take over his full responsibility. And a Mom could never replace a Dad.
She could feel her face slowly twist into a frown, and she found that she couldn't stop it from happening. It was late now after all, and she was tired from a long day's work, along with a long day with her daughter. All of the lights in her, or rather, Kankuro's old home, were now dimmed, and the two remaining women of the house were situated in the living room, and had been ever since dinner ended. Re applying their old ritual; the two usually watched this show together. Stephannie's Galaxy. It was Okuni's favorite, she knew the songs, did the dances, and even quoted the characters from it all the time. Right now, she enthusiastically imitated each of the main characters, and laughed along with any and all of the jokes. In the years that she had watched along with her, Shiori had slowly begun to see how clever it was, despite it being aimed at toddlers.
Of course, ever since Kankuro had….
Things had changed since that day.
Balancing work and parenting was hard before his death, but it had only gotten harder for the woman once he had passed away. Being the new leader of the Puppet Core in his stead was grueling and busy work, and Okuni nearly being school aged was only making it harder. In the weeks that they had learned the news, she was especially bad, and the woman feared that little Okuni would hurt herself with all of the crying, screaming and utter depression that the child had gone through. Slowly and surely, she had been able to break Okuni away from her emotions, but every now and then she could see cracks in the girl's new facade. No matter how much she was there for her, Kankuro's bond with her would never fade away.
And no amount of passed time would make up for the bond that he had with her.
Shiori quickly changed her trial of thought once she noticed the show in front of her ending. Stephannie and her Diamond Ores had defeated the aliens, and the earth was safe for the time being. Quickly, she noticed Okuni let out a long, loud yawn. Shiori herself was beginning to become tired, and as she heard a sudden crack of lightning from outside, she thanked the heavens that she had done everything that she needed to do before she had begun to. The tin plates had been placed around the roof of the house to prevent any rain water from seeping through the building's sand exterior, the plants outside had been diverted from the heavy outside rain pour, the house inside was clean and all of the remnants of their dinner had been stored away safely in their fridge. Okuni was already in her pajamas, and she herself was already in her night gown. All that she needed to do now was tuck Okuni in, and then retire to her lonely, cold bed.
She blinked as Okuni reached forwards to flick the off switch, turning off the TV by herself.
"Mommy, I'm tired…."
The girl gave a loud and awful yawn, and before she could rest herself again, Shiori had reached down to pick her up into her arms, and lift her into the sky. She noted that the girl was slowly getting big, it seemed just a few weeks ago she was a little girl. Then Kankuro died, and-.
She bit her lip, and instinctively ran her hands through her hair. Okuni let out a soft yawn, and then twiddled her thumbs on her mother's back. Shiori found herself smiling at this, and then slowly began to walk her way up the stairs and into the little girl's room, each step letting memories return to her. Happy ones. Once she made it to Okuni's room, she let herself remember the days that Kankuro and her had spent renovating it, from a spare storage room into a little girl's nursery. From a nursery to a bedroom.
And once she saw the bedroom again, she sighed deeply.
Okuni's room had been created and designed with the purpose of keeping the little girl's already vivid imagination running wild. On the shelves on the walls, there were sculptures and wooden figures of dragons and heroes, little figurines of princes and princesses, akin to the bedtime stories that Kankuro used to tell her. The walls themselves were painted her favorite colour, purple, variations in shade created scenes of desert, an oasis, and even small camels to boot. The girl's bed was small in comparison, but only made that way to keep her from getting lost in the middle of the bed, and there was a great, lofty chair on the right side of it, right in front of her side table, which held a small lamp. Her bedsheets were a light blue, and her pillows were shaped like stars. Finally, behind the girl's bed, facing the main door, was a set of two, big windows with their own sets of blinds, giving the girl a good view of downtown Sunagakure.
She took a deep breath, and nodded at the sight in front of her. Both her and Kankuro had made this, a true labor of love. But now…
Hurriedly, she moved to place the girl into her bed, and then tucked her under the sheets, making sure that she was nice and snug. The girl had issues with heat, and every time she tucked her in she made sure that she was just snug enough. Afterward, she slowly sat herself into the chair beside her daughter's bed, and then leaned over the night table beside it, to get a closer look at her daughter's well-being.
"Okuni, are you alright?"
She was nearly fast asleep, but the girl still looked towards her Mother and gave her a lazy and tired nod. She had tired herself out today with all of her hyperactivity, and in Shiori's mind, it made sense that she was so sleepy now. The both of them had had a long day.
"Yeah… I'm okay."
"Well… alright. Just checking, hon."
She spent a few moment thinking, and then came up with a brilliant idea.
"...Would you like me to read you a bed-time story?"
Okuni's eyes slowly dimmed even more than they were already doing, and Shiori could already tell that something was wrong. Kankuro usually was the one to handle bed-time stories. Kankuro was usually the one to tuck her into bed. She usually simply waited by the door and gave her a kiss on the cheek at the very end-.
"No thanks…" Okuni squeaked, slowly pulling herself even further under the covers. Shiori felt hurt, but instantly understood her reaction. She could never replace her father.
"...Ok. Well have a good rest, honey."
"Ya. You too mommy."
Slowly, Okuni's frown turned into a smile, and Shiori rewarded this with a small kiss on her cheek. She then embraced her daughter in a small hug, before raising herself up to leave the room, closing the door behind her.
And the moment that door closed, she heard a knocking at another one.
She growled. It was late now, well past the time that anyone should have been knocking on her door. Whatever it was now would have to be an emergency.
So she closed her robe a bit more than it already was, quickly placed her hair into a ponytail, and then made her way downstairs to the front door. Once she was there, for safety, she looked through the peephole…
To see that Gaara was standing outside.
Vividly and suddenly, Shiori began to feel very, very angry. After all, her precious Kazekage was the reason why she went through so much pain now.
She loved Gaara as a brother, but she could not deny for a moment that he was at least practically responsible for the state that her family was in. If he had never chosen Kankuro to go out on the mission with him, then he would've never been killed. If he had given her more work to do after his passing, then she would never have the time to even feel these feelings that she felt. If he… if she… no… if he had just...
….
She quickly opened the door and bowed before her Kazekage. Gaara looked a bit haggard from the day before him, but still stood up as straight as his body would allow him.
"Shiori."
She finished her bowing, and then looked into her Kazekage's eyes.
"...Lord Gaara, is this important?"
Gaara stood on her doorstep for a few moments, before his mouth opened.
"…Yes..." he said. Ever since his brother's death, the man had always sounded near-dead himself when he spoke to her, and there was always an air of sadness around when the two collided nowadays.
"… All the materials are here now, Shiori. Eden can be built."
….Eden…
Kankuro's posthumous Magnum Opus, and the thing he had spent so many nights up working on. The thing that would "End the War"….
… Killing Shikamaru was supposed to do that as well…
Shiori nodded, but thought deeply into why Gaara would come here himself to tell her this. He had shinobi that could've been sent to tell her. The two knew each other's phone numbers…
"Thank you. I can get working on it in the morning."
She looked behind him and marveled at how dark Sunagakure could get as it rained, and then back at him.
"...Is there anything else, Lord Kazekage?"
"Shiori, are you alright?"
Shiori blinked, and then narrowed her eyes at her Kage.
"..."
She had no intention of answering that question. She didn't want to deal with her emotions any longer than she had to.
Taking a deep breath, she began to shake her head, before stopping herself and nodding. She knew Gaara. In the absence of his brother, he would be stressed enough already. He didn't need a crying widow on his hands.
"...I'm fine." The lie would have to do.
Slowly, she closed the door on him, and then turned to try and get herself to bed.
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A drop of sandy water fell onto Shikamaru's head. And instead of protesting or complaining, he simply let it. When another one followed, he allowed it to do the same. And the process continued on and on, until his face was full of the water.
By now, an entire day had passed of nothing but rain. Around his cell now were puddles of the residue from outside's downpour, and despite the fact that a guard eventually showed up, the same one that now stood outside of his cell, nothing was done about the leaks. In fact, the man had simply just laughed at him, called him a few names ,and then went back to standing vigilant.
That plan had failed. But, of course, Shikamaru was a brilliant strategist. The vicious downpour from outside was his key to escaping this hell, and he wasn't going to let it pass him by.
More rain fell onto his face, and he idly opened his mouth to try and swallow some, curious about the taste. It was, of course, sandy, and disgusting, but the taste in truth wasn't the reason why he had chosen to-
"Hey! Cut that out!"
Shikamaru turned his eyes to the doors of his cell to see that the guard that had been looking after him was now looking at him through the bars. Shikamaru gave him a dead glare.
"...Leave me alone-."
"First you stop that shit! It's already disgusting that you're here, I don't need you drinking dirty rain water to add to my annoyances!"
Shikamaru continued with his dead stare. In the hours that the guard had arrived here, the man had taunted and insulted each and every thing about Shikamaru, from his friends to his comrades, to his village to his hair. The man was still too weak to generate chakra, and maybe even too weak to stand.
Another rain drop fell onto his face, and the head of the Nara clan licked it into his mouth. Fuck the guard.
"I said stop."
"Or you'll do what? You can't kill me without Gaara getting mad-."
"No, but I can make it so you would wish that you're dead!"
Shikamaru licked some more water off his lips, and the guard in front of him growled.
"Fine!"
He quickly opened the cell door.
And the entire cell seemed to collapse onto him.
Shikamaru quickly crawled before the process happened, but once it began, there was nothing that he could do the stop it. As he had predicted, his cell door was the only thing in the cell that wasn't becoming damp and weak. The moment that the guard had been hasty enough to open the door, the entire solid foundation of the cell had instantly collapsed.
What happened next was a flash, and Shikamaru could barely see what had exactly transpired. The sand from above had quickly caved in on both him and his overzealous guard, and he felt himself being pushed down and around. The sound of falling rushing sound gave him reminders from his childhood, the Chuunin exams, Gaara. The fear. The constant movement….
Until the movement stopped.
Shikamaru slowly but strongly pushed himself out of the sand that he was in, and then shook his head fiercely to get the sand out of his eyes. Once he was able to see again…
He realized that he was outside, on the streets of Sunagakure. Behind him, a giant pile of softened, wet sand lay, with an assortment of non-sand furniture and doors, having fallen into a chasm, and onto the street for all to see. Oddly, half of the building still stood, but the rain that fell down onto it implied that it would fall down soon as well.
What was left of his cell was a huge pile of sand, and he noticed that his prison had taken down an entire building. Despite his predictions, it was clear that his interrogation room and his cell were in two different buildings, as beside the giant pile of ruined sand and still standing building was another, bigger building, this one made out of the same steel he had felt every time he had left it.
He took a breath, and realized that he had no time to marvel. Instead, he had to escape before someone came to inspect him.
Slowly so that he didn't harm himself more than he already was, he rose himself to his feet. He quickly dashed out of the open field around the interrogation complex, and then moved into an alley, the rain falling on his head. Silently, he hoped that the smell that he got from it wouldn't make it easy for any ninja hounds to find him once Gaara inevitably figured out that he was gone. As he ran, he tried his best to remember any part of Sunagakure's city layout, before finding himself in a residential district, and then some slums. His mind began to think extremely fast.
One of the houses here had clothes hanging from a clothesline, and he quickly jumped into the backyard to take the clothes off without any resistance. Quickly moving somewhere secluded, he took off his prisoner slacks and replaced them with the clothes that he had taken, and to his dismay, found out that the wanderer's robe and headscarf was much too big for him. Beggars, or rather, thieves, couldn't be choosy, and he quickly left the home and moved on.
In the years that he had last been in Sunagakure, it had expanded greatly. He could tell this by the fact that, by then, he had been running for a solid hour and still hadn't been able to leave the city, but at the very least he had been able to get to the outer walls. Once the war had begun, he noticed that Sunagakure gained an outer wall. Ten years later, there was another wall, and another small village in between the first wall and the new one. There was only a small difference between the quality of life given in each wall layer, and de-.
Shikamaru began to hear an alarm coming from the outer walls, and then bit his lip, and found himself stopping in another alley, this one being darker than all of the ones he had been into before. It was clear that they had figured out that he'd escaped, and he needed to figure out a good way to leave the city. He couldn't risk waiting in the city until the rainfall ended, and he couldn't risk running outside the city walls all by himself. As he tucked his long and wild hair into a loose braid and set it to fall down his back, before quickly returning the headscarf to his face, he kept this in mind.
His running continued, and once he arrived at the wall, he noticed a group of people dressed like him. Near the great, giant sand gate that surrounded the outer wall, he watched them converse with a sand shinobi, until that shinobi left them and moved into a nearby guard tower, built into the wall, going up the stairs. Shikamaru saw that the travelers had camels with them, and an idea moved into his mind…
As the ground prepared to leave, he slowly moved himself to walk behind them. When the gate opened, he walked behind them, them being completely oblivious to his presence, and not noticing anything wrong. Once they were outside, the gate closed, and the way to Sunagakure was blocked off for the night. The rain that fell onto Shikamaru's head increased, and a slight bought of wind kicked up to caress his being.
...Finally free...
One of six travelers that he walked behind finally noticed him, and waved for him to stop looking up at the sky. Strangely, the man didn't seem to notice anything different about him, and simply called him by another name. It might have been that whoever he had dressed up as just so happened to have been included in the group. But he didn't question anything more as the man handed him the reins to a camel, and then helped him get seated on it.
Before the group let Sunagakure fully leave their view, Shikamaru couldn't help but look back at it. Sunagakure. His wife's birthplace. His prison. His Hell.
When he would return to it, he'd make it a thousandfold better than it was. But for now, it was time for him to leave.
He kicked the sides of his camel, and the animal moved faster to keep up with the group in front of him.
Shikamaru had a son at home, and he was tired of keeping him waiting.
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Thanks a lot for waiting, and here's a longer chapter for you all to enjoy. I'll try to update this story by mid November, but this Fall is a very busy time for me. Thank you a lot for reading, once again thank you for your patience, and thank you for giving me a chance! Please remember to R&R if you have the time! And I'll see you soon!