HEY GUYS AND GIRLS. THIS STORY IS ACTUALLY GETTING INTERESTING TO TYPE, I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT READING IT. YOU PROBABLY STILL HATE ME BUT I CAN TAKE IT. HOPE YOU ENJOY THE CHAPTER AND KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING.

HAPPY READING:)

***PRESENT DAY***

"How do you honestly know that Sasuke wasn't lying to you?" Lady Tsunade asked Shikamaru.

"Like I said; he could've killed me but he didn't and he didn't want to be exposed so that was enough for me." Shikamaru answered her. "Obviously I am certain of it now after I did my research. Being the leader of the chunin exams really gives you access to a lot of restricted information. I like it."

"What information would that be?" Shikaku asked his son.

"Mostly the mission reports where two villages joined forces to take down an enemy. Obviously I focused on Sasuke's targets, Orochimaru and Itachi, so I had my base. Every time there was a joint mission regarding one of those two, there always seemed to be information coming from an anonymous source. The furthest date that I could find for this anonymous source was seven months ago which also happens to be around the time Orochimaru apparently went into hiding. It's just too much of a coincidence don't you think?" Shikamaru replied.

"I told you that he was impressive." Gaara told his fellow Kage.

"Sasuke warned you about Yui so why didn't you research his claim?" the Tsuchikage asked.

"Why didn't I research the girl I proposed to less than 24 hours before that? The girl that has been nothing but loyal, kind and honest to me? The girl that my parents wanted me to marry?" Shikamaru asked him. "Forgive me for not interrogating her and for trusting her rather than a rogue ninja."

"You seemed to trust that rogue ninja more than you trusted us." Lady Tsunade pointed out.

"Every ninja knows that their Kage never tells them everything. Clearly it isn't just their Kage that they can't trust but their own parents and comrades as well." Shikamaru stated.

"You can understand why we couldn't tell you anything Shikamaru." Yoshino told him.

"Well look how well that turned out for you mom." Shikamaru replied. "Why didn't you ask me to help you guys? I could've gotten more information out of her. She was the enemy yet she trusted me. I could've destroyed her then we wouldn't have been sitting here today. You guys never trust me to do anything. You say that you want me to take over as head of the clan yet you do things like this and leave me in the dark."

"Is this your way of acting out because we didn't inform you of our plan?" Shikaku asked him.

"If I wanted to act out then do you think Yui would've lasted a week in the village? Do you honestly think I would've still been in the village if I wanted to act out? Any one of the Kage would've accepted me into their village so do you really think I would've stayed in our clan if I wanted to act out?" Shikamaru shot back.

"Don't get cocky boy." the Raikage warned him.

"My apologise Raikage-sama." Shikamaru replied. "I did ask Yui about Sasuke though. Looks like I didn't fully trust her."

***6 DAYS AGO***

"What's bothering you?" Yui asked Shikamaru as they laid in bed that night.

"Just trying to figure some things out." Shikamaru answered her while she crawled onto his stomach chest then put her arms around his neck then placed kisses on his jaw.

"No more thinking about work." Yui told him then placed a kiss on his lips.

"Fine." Shikamaru agreed as he wrapped his arms around his future wife. "Do you know Sasuke Uchiha?"

"The one that survived when his family got murdered?" Yui asked while she put on a confused expression.

"Yeah." Shikamaru confirmed.

"I've heard about him but I haven't met him. He is working with Orochimaru right?" Yui asked.

"Yes. My first mission as a chunin was to get Sasuke back but I failed. My whole team, including me, nearly died. I got rescued by Temari and Choji nearly died when he took his family's secret food pills." Shikamaru informed her.

"Hey, you survived so that is all that matters. Your friends are all still alive and they're happy. We're happy." Yui told him.

"I know. It's just that Naruto's goal in life is to bring Sasuke back then become hokage. I feel partly responsible for Sasuke getting away the first time." Shikamaru stated.

"You'll get him someday. I know you will." Yui said then kissed him again. "Now let's go sleep. You need the rest."

"Yes ma'am." Shikamaru replied as he smiled at the girl lying in his arms. All doubt in his mind about Yui that Sasuke created seemed to vanish like a ghost and all Shikamaru felt in that moment was complete and utter bliss.

Shikamaru woke up early the next morning and decided to go the Leaf Intelligence headquarters in the village. Something was nagging at him about Sasuke being in the village. He was to calm for this to be his first time being in the village after he ran away.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing here?" Shizune asked him as she stood in the lobby of the building with Tonton in her arms.

"I am looking for the mission reports for the past year." Shikamaru answered her.

"Why?" Shizune asked him. Shikamaru could see that she was hiding something but he didn't care what it was. All he wanted to do was to get his hands on the mission reports.

"I want to profile the types of rogue ninja that might be out there so that I can get an idea of the strength of the enemy if they decide to attack. It's better to know the enemy before you face them." Shikamaru stated.

"Of course." Shizune agreed. "Follow me." she began walking through the building and Shikamaru recognised a few faces from the times he joined his father. Shizune led him to a large room with lots of shelves and labels on the them.
"The mission reports are all here except for a few recent ones that Lady Tsunade may be using at her office. As you can see, they're labelled by months so if you take anyone out then put them back in the right place." Shizune informed him.

"Can I take the ones I want to the library? It's literally just across the street." Shikamaru pointed out.

"I guess but return them by tonight." Shizune replied.

"Thanks." Shikamaru told her then began walking to the most recent mission reports. He scanned through them looking for certain ones then noticed that Shizune was gone. He continued searching for the ones that he wanted then began working his way back for the entire year. He only found four reports that had the information that he needed so he took the four scrolls then made his way out of the building to the library where he could work in peace.

"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Shikamaru heard Sakura ask snapping him out of his thoughts a couple of hours later. He immediately started to panic at Sakura's question. Sasuke didn't want her to know what he was doing and if Lady Tsunade wanted her to know then she would've told her so it wasn't Shikamaru's place to inform Sakura. He couldn't hide the mission reports or the books that he was referring to so he needed to think of something else.

"Not that I know of." Shikamaru calmly answered her then looked up at the pink haired ninja. He avoided her as much as he could after she fell asleep in his arms because he knew that if he had continued seeing her every day then he wouldn't have had been able to care for Yui like he wanted to.

"Then why do you have mission reports and books about the Uchiha's?" Sakura asked him.

"It's none of your business." Shikamaru told her.

"None of my business?" Sakura asked. "He was my teammate. He was my friend. I knew more about him than I know about you. He saved me and helped me so how is it none of my business?"

"Because this really has nothing to do about you." Shikamaru told her then turned his attention back to what he was doing.

"If you want to know anything about Sasuke..."

"Then I will ask Naruto or Kakashi."

"Are you still hurt because of what happened between us?" Sakura asked him. "Get over it."

"You might not have thought about our relationship as anything more than just another failed one but I loved you Sakura and I can't just get over that."

"You seem to be getting over it just fine from what I can see. You even proposed to Yui and got her that ring."

"You're the one that told me to go be with her because you didn't want me."

"It's not that I didn't want you, it's that I couldn't have you."

"You didn't want me like you wanted Sasuke. He left and I was here. I have always been here and I fell in love with you but you still weren't able to get over Sasuke. I was willing to give you everything but you pulled away and ended our relationship. It's not that you couldn't have me, it's because I was not worth fighting for."

"Just tell me why you are looking into the Uchiha's." Sakura told Shikamaru as she gave up on their discussion.

"I think you should just leave me alone. We can keep our relationship professional." Shikamaru replied.

"Fine." Sakura angrily agreed then stormed away. Shikamaru tried to focus on his work but he couldn't help but think about Sakura. He still wanted her even though he was getting married to Yui. He hoped that distancing himself from Sakura would change his feelings towards her but it didn't. It remained the same; he loved her.

LOOKS LIKE THERES STILL SOME SEXUAL TENSION BETWEEN SHIKAMARU AND SAKURA. I LIKE IT. THROWING SASUKE IN THE MIX EVEN IF IT DOESN'T AFFECT THEIR RELATIONSHIP ADDS MORE DRAMA THAN SHIKAMARU GETTING MARRIED TO YUI I THINK. WE'LL HAVE TO SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT. THE KAGE ARE IRRITATING ME A LITTLE AND SHIKAMARU'S PARENTS ARE STILL ASSES. DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THEY'RE CHANGING ANY TIME SOON SO WE WILL JUST HAVE TO ENDURE IT. UNTIL NEXT TIME GUYS AND GIRLS.