Shikamaru sat in his small office in Sunagakure, staring that the papers laid out on the desk before him. It had been three weeks since he had received the first message from Konoha, but he still had not responded to it.

He had been receiving monthly reports from Naruto on Hotaru's condition for the last two years. At first, Naruto would go into detailed descriptions of the little victories Hotaru's body was making; a new section of her chakra system was clear, she was responding to medicinal chakra infusions, x-rays showed she hadn't suffered any physical brain damage.

Shikamaru would file the report away, and never think on it again. After a year and a half of no response from the Nara male, Naruto shortened the reports on her condition to one or two sentences. Usually 'Hotaru in stable condition. Chakra network improving.' Shikamaru liked these later reports more. There was less information in them, that gave him less to worry about.

Instead of spending time thinking about the girl that would never wake up, Shikamaru threw himself wholly into his work. Day and night were spent calculating and applying the best tactics to continue a shared peace between Konoha and Suna. It was a simple, trouble free life. And for the last year, Shikamaru could have even said he was happy in Suna.

There were days when he would miss his friends, two years away was a long time, but he knew if he returned to Konoha there would only be one place he would go. Shikamaru knew that he would sit in the blasted hospital room, unable to do anything but watch Hotaru sleep while the giant dog insulted him. The Nara male didn't understand why Shiromaru had not taken a liking to him. From the moment they met, Shikamaru felt threatened by the dog.

He had asked Kiba why Shiromaru didn't seem to like him, which his response was hearty laugh. "There's only three people in the world Shiromaru hasn't tried to bite or kill; my grandfather who was the Alpha when Shiromaru was born, Ashi who was his first mistress, and Hotaru who is Ashi's daughter. Do you know why that is?" Shikamaru shook his head. "Because Shiromaru knows the only people more dangerous than himself are those three. After seeing Hotaru's memories, hearing stories about my aunt, and knowing my grandfather, those three are not your normal Inuzukas; they are the Inuzukas of old, before we joined Konoha. Just like the dogs we train, our clan was once feral and dangerous, like a pack of wolves. We've become domesticated since becoming a part of Konoha, but every now and then, someone like Hotaru is born. Hotaru is a true Alpha, just like her mom and our grandfather. I get the title by birthright, but if she were to challenge me for the position, I would loose. I pale in comparison to how powerful of a leader she is."

Shikamaru tried to dispute this, claiming that Hotaru had never possessed any form of authority. "Having authority has nothing to do with being an Alpha. Didn't you ever notice it? How, as soon as she would meet someone, she had a way of wiggling into their heart? People love her the second they meet her. They're drawn to her like gravity. We all were: the Konoha 11, her teammates and Osamu, Hajime, even Yamato - She commands power and respect and loyalty. That's what being an Alpha is. Yeah, I'm lovable, but Hotaru… She's the sun, and we are all pulled in to her gravity."

But three weeks ago, Shikamaru received a message he never thought would come. Naruto's sloppy handwriting glared at him from the desk.

'Hotaru has woken up. Sakura is keeping her in the hospital for observation, but Tsunade believes she has made a full recovery. We all know she would like for you to come back to Konoha when you have the time.'

For the next week, Shikamaru received a new message almost everyday.

'We never received conformation that you received my previous letter. Please, respond.'

'Hotaru will be released from the hospital tomorrow. She is still having a difficult time moving around after being in a coma for so long. Some of her muscles have atrophied, but is progressing rapidly in restoring their usefulness.'

'Shikamaru, I know you had a difficult time accepting Hotaru's condition, but she's really okay.'

'Hotaru is asking about you. What would you like us to tell her?'

Shikamaru merely put the messages in with the other updates he had received about the Akimichi, and shut the file drawer. A week had passed with no letter. He thought maybe his friends in Konoha had given up on him. Two days ago, Ino sent him a scathing message that was surprisingly short.

'You are an ass.' was all that the blonde woman wrote.

He understood why he was unable to respond to the news of Hotaru's waking. Shikamaru knew he should have felt relief and happiness that the girl was back. But, all that he felt was dread. She had the worst luck of anyone he had ever known. If it wasn't the fighting ring, or the sealed chakra, or the coma that was going to kill her, something terrible had to be coming that would finally do her in. He concluded that his best course of action was to distance himself from the unfortunate girl before her demise finally did come to her. He had lost her twice now, a third time would have been too much.

A quite knock on his door pulled Shikamaru's attention away from the letters he had received. He neatly folded them, placing them in his desk drawer before allowing the person to enter. Temari walked through the door with a scroll in her hand.

"This just arrived for you. It's from Konoha." She stated as she handed him the scroll. "Is everything all right? You've been receiving more messages from home than usual."

"Everything's fine, Temari." He stated calmly. Being around the Suna girl had been awkward at first, but after about a year of being together constantly, the pair had worked out their differences. He would have gone so far as to say they were friends again.

"Okay… But, if you need to talk about something -"

"Your door is the first one I'll knock on." Shikamaru smiled at the woman. Temari nodded her head appreciatively before exiting the office. The Nara male waited a couple minutes before opening the scroll. He was met by a neatly scripted letter.

Shikamaru,

From what everyone has told me, the last couple years had been particularly hard on you. I don't blame you for taking the assignment to Suna. You needed to get out of Konoha; to get away from a reality that hurt too much. If it had been you or Choji in that hospital bed, I probably would have done the same thing.

And, I understand why you haven't responded to Naruto's messages. What is there to say that everyone hasn't already told me? That you had prayed for this day or that even though you may have lost faith, you never gave up hope? Because as nice as those statements are, we both know they aren't the truth. I wasn't going to wake up, and you all knew it. So, you moved on with your lives in the ways that you could. You've made a life for yourself in Suna, and I hope that you've found happiness there.

I hope that someday, you will be able to respond to this letter and tell me everything that has happened with you. I don't care how troublesome you find a detail of your life, I want to know about it. The good times, bad times, whether or not you found a girlfriend (please tell me you have? Two years is a long time to be alone in a foreign place), how much you miss the greenery of Konoha, or how troublesome it is having to dump sand out of your sandals every five minutes. I don't care what you talk about, just talk.

Until then, I'll await your response.

Love,

Hotaru

Shikamaru rolled up the scroll and put it in his desk drawer. He stood, stretched his arms above his head, then left his office for the night; locking the door behind him.

Two months had passed since Hotaru had awoken. She had several doctor and therapy appointments that had kept her busy, but as far as any of the professionals could tell, Hotaru was adjusting well after her three years of slumber.

"How are you doing?" Naruto asked as she was ushered in to the Hokage's office.

"Still can't get over the fact that you're finally the Hokage." Hotaru grinned at the hyper man. "I'm very proud of you." Naruto's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. His hand shot to the back of his head, where he scratched awkwardly, breaking Hotaru's gaze.

"Aww, well, you know…" he mumbled. Despite his cocky attitude about most things, Naruto still couldn't handle compliments very well. "Anyway…" He tried to regain his composure, "How would you like to be assigned a mission?"

"I can't be assigned any missions." Hotaru stated, confused by his offer. "I'm no longer a kunoichi, remember?"

"This is less of a job for a shinobi, more of a job for a civilian."

"You're not making any sense."

"I need an assistant of sorts. It's a position that can only be filled by you." Naruto paused, waiting for Hotaru to ask him a question. When she remained silent, Naruto continued, "I'll be going to Sunagakure in about a week to meet with the Kazekage to discuss what is to be done with a gambling syndicate that has started operations outside of the hidden village -"

"And you need me why?"

"We have reason to believe the people running this operation are the ones that took over the ring that held you… They're Yoshiro's heirs, so to speak."

Hotaru's stomach plummeted to the floor. She wanted nothing to do with those men. "And you want me to help you, how?"

"You will in no way be involved in coming in contact with them, if that is what you are worried about. What we need is for you to give us as much information as you have on how the ring is run, what, if any, kind of hierarchy is there, how do they bring in gamblers, how do they find fighters, things like that. I know that doing this may be difficult for you -"

"I'll do it. As long as I don't have to go near an arena, I'll do it." Hotaru stated. Her voice exuded confidence, but inside her heart was beating a millions miles a minute and her head was screaming at her to run away and hide.