Chapter 13

Shikamaru sighed for the thirteenth time. The little coffee stall she had found was heaving, apparently everyone and their ninken wanted coffee today. If Kakashi's body language hadn't tugged at her heart strings, it would be too troublesome to stand in this queue. Still, this wait was starting to drag on a bit. With another sigh, Shikamaru considered the new fact she had heard. Sasuke had finally left the village successfully. So, he was going through with his plan to avenge his clan, his obsession and the self-pity that set him on this path would be his downfall, Shikamaru predicted. Hopefully his leaving wouldn't hurt the people she cared about too much. Ino will be heartbroken, and a sobbing wreck. As will Sakura and Naruto; although Naruto had a new mentor to look after him now. That left Ino and Kakashi for Shikamaru to look after; she was certain one of the other rookies would look after Sakura. First, she decided, look after Kakashi. He needed her more than Ino; who had the clans and Chouji looking out for her. With that decided, she sighed heavily and inched forward in the line.

"Oi, Nara! When did you get back?" A loud cocky voice filled the air, followed by excited barking, as a feral looking boy landed next to her. His little white puppy curled up on his head, frantically wagging its tail. The boy had red triangles on his cheeks, clan markings for the only clan in the village that used ninken. His teeth were bared in wide grin, his fangs standing out in the sunlight.

"Kiba. Akamaru." Shikamaru greeted her classmates, her arms reaching out for the white pup. A snort of amusement sounded as Kiba's eyes glinted teasingly. He obligingly handed over his companion to Shikamaru.

"You know, I'm starting to think you prefer Akamaru to me." His voice was lower than when they were in the academy, catching Shika's attention.

"Obviously. Akamaru is a highly intelligent person, and he is cute." Shikamaru smirked and rolled her eyes at Kiba. This conversation was identical every time they had it. From their first year in the academy, the puppy had taken a shining to the Nara. So much so, people often asked if the cute pup was hers. Once Kiba had worked out that Akamaru helped keep Shikamaru calm and not panicking at the amount of people, he actively encouraged his ninken to spend time with her. Of course, it helped that as a Nara she was good with animals too; plus, the venison jerky was always a bonus.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever ya say Shikamaru, whatever ya say. So, did you hear the news?" Kiba's voice was a somber, serious tone, adding a surprising amount of maturity to the boy. Turning to him, hugging his pup close, Shikamaru eyed his body language. The stance was closed off, serious, hurt and slightly betrayed. All what she expected from an Inuzuka member. The pack meant everything to them. Their clan was their original pack, and the village as a whole was their pack too. For someone to betray the pack, it was considered an insult of the highest order. Even from someone you weren't close too. Shikamaru slowly nodded her head, her eyes locked on Kibas. She watched as he reached out unconsciously to stroke Akamarus soft fur.

"The civilian council want him brought in alive. They think that the shinobi part of the village didn't look after him enough. Apparently, we should have given him preferential treatment." Kiba snarled the last sentence, his disgust clearly showing. "I know a lot of the older shinobi aren't going to hold back if he fights being brought back. The traitor should be put down." The Inuzuka clan were rough and ready people, but highly protective of those around them, it didn't surprise Shika that Kiba was for the execution of someone he saw as a threat. With a neutral hum, at his words Shika nuzzled the soft fur on the puppy's head. She didn't need to talk, Kiba was perfectly capable of filling a silence by himself. They weren't close, her and Kiba, but they were closer than others. In the academy, Kiba, Naruto, Chouji, and her used to skip class together. Occasionally they helped each other pull of pranks, until Kiba and Naruto got into a prank war. Then the competitiveness of the guys slowly tore apart the group until it was her and Chouji, Kiba and Naruto on their own again. It had been Kiba that had given her the final clue in figuring out Naruto's tenant, well, she had theory about that anyway, it still needed confirming. Shika sighed and tuned her classmate out, her head tipped back to watch the clouds as they shuffled forward in the line, her arms cuddling the pup to her. It was such a nice day, perfect for cloud watching. Neither too hot nor too cold, with just the right amount of clouds. Too bad she had a copy nin to hunt down, Shikamaru thought mournfully, maybe she would have time after that. It had been so long from her last cloud watching session.

Silence registered in her mind, and Shikamaru glanced over to the dog nin next to her, only to meet his eyes. Awkward tension built as they held eye contact, his warm brown eyes were soft as was his half-hearted smirk. As someone that avoided eye contact, it was rapidly becoming uncomfortable for Shikamaru, luckily for her the line started shuffling forward causing the two of them to have to look forward. Kiba had certainly grown up a little since they left the academy, she mused. He was taller, less wild though still not tame. His chocolate coloured hair was longer and spikier than before, contrasting with his red clan markings nicely. He had started to fill out his jacket, she noticed. The more intense taijutsu and strength training packing muscles on to his lanky body. Add that to the lower, smoother voice and Shikamaru could safely say that Kiba was leaving childhood behind. Hmm maybe he would be a good partner to spar with occasionally. He wasn't as quick as her, but he had strength, training and instincts on his side.

"Hey Kiba?" Shikamaru asked quietly, her eyes focused on the happy puppy in her arms. "Do you fancy sparring occasionally? I need to improve my taijutsu. Maybe I could help you with tactics in return?" It was nearly her turn at the counter, she noticed vaguely, the rest of her attention fixed on the feral boy next to her.

Kiba leant in close to his friend, her voice was steady but soft enough that he struggled even to hear her, even with his good hearing. Not that he minded being close to her. They were pack, and pack shared space! Ever since this little slip of a girl looked terrified at having to speak or be near people, he had adopted her into his pack. Even more so when Akamaru took to the girl. Besides, she both fascinated and irritated him. She was scarily smart, and with the proper motivation a tricky opponent, however she seemed to choose not to feel emotions at times. This drove him insane, especially when it meant she ignored someone else's feelings. Her harsh, matter of fact words often came across as cutting and hurtful, but she ignored it to focus on logic. It sent him on confused rages, as he knew she was fairly sensitive to the emotions around her, so she knew how she made other people, and herself, feel. Kiba had spoken to his mother and older sister about it. Apparently, it was a clan thing, due to their bloodline. That all Nara's aimed to keep their emotions locked away, to help them keep control of their abilities. That the only clans who had seen the Naras show emotion were the Yamanaka, Akimichi, and the occasional Sarutobi member. That discussion had given Kiba enough of an insight into his classmate to know she didn't mean to hurt. He now knew that she hides behind the emotionless mask to keep people safe. It was okay though, his nose told him how she was feeling and that's all he needed.

With a grin, he leant forward and nuzzled her cheek gently, his hand stroking the nindog in her arms. "Sure, I'll spar with you Shika. Gotta stop you from cloud watching too often." Kiba announced loudly, his grin widening when he saw her cheeks turn pink. In his clan, scent marking was used instinctually, so the cheek rub had been out of habit. Now that he knew it made her turn an adorable shade of pink, he was so doing it more often. Kiba's eyes took on a mischievous glint as he planned how often he could get away with it.

"Anyway, I've gotta run. Said I'd meet Shino and Hinata for team training today." Kiba continued on, plucking the little puppy out of her arms. His voice dropping to a teasing purr, a playful grin on his face. "However, I couldn't resist coming and chatting with you first… Shika-chan." Kiba jumped away, cackling loudly as Shikamaru turned red at his teasing.

The boy was an idiot; was the first thought that went through her mind, after her brain restarted. Kiba had just jumped away cackling, after teasing her. Not only had he added -chan to the shortened version of her name, he had scent-marked her! Seriously, who does that? Shikamaru snorted, her embarrassment shifting to amusement, a troublesome Inuzuka, that's who! She was glad to see that, despite clearly maturing, Kiba was still Kiba. An idiot, a kindhearted and amusing idiot, but still an absolute moron. With a lazy grin, Shikamaru walked forward to get her coffees, her day was a little brighter thanks to Kiba and his puppy.

On the other side of the village, a long-haired shinobi padded through the packed streets, his senbon glinting in the sunlight as he rolled it around his mouth. His mission had gone a little wonky towards the end, and he was tired. Unfortunately, he was too wired to sleep. New plan was to go find Raido and con the stuffy git out of dinner and some drinks. His lips stretched into a catlike smirk around the sharp metal in his mouth. Now that sounded like the best plan. If he was luckily, Rai can help him come up with some projects for 'Ruka to do whilst learning poisons. With a smug grin, Genma stretched and headed towards his favourite bar, The Barracks. It was frequented by a lot of the higher ranked ninja in the village. Another Akimichi owned establishment, the food and drink were of decent quality at a good price. It was darkened and very open. Quite often packed, the place was popular. Even midafternoon the place was busy. Genma slipped silently into the room, flicking his gaze around the room, scanning the people for someone he knew. Target spotted, Genma snickered as he snuck up on his unaware friend, waving at the grinning shinobi he worked with in T&I as they tracked his movements across the crowded bar. With an exaggerated cat like wiggle, Genma pounced on to his friends back… well, he tried anyway.

"Owwwwww Raido, ya' bastard! Why'd ya go and move?" Genma whined as he rubbed his stomach, where it hit the table. He pouted as the bar cracked up around him. Anko was leaning on Ibiki laughing, tears pouring down her face, at the bar. Those two were so getting their coffee switched with decaf in Intelligence HQ!

His previous target, now known as Raido, raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he sat back down.

"Oh, was I meant to have stayed still? I hadn't realized." His dry sarcasm sent Anko further into hysterics, as he rolled his eyes at Genma. "About time you got back, a lot has happened. How was your mission?"

With a huff, Genma pulled himself into the spare chair, and waved down the waitress.

"A new bottle of sake, an' a portion of mixed meat yakisoba please." Genma shot the girl a confident grin, as she wrote the order down. "Your number too please." He continued, winking at the girl, before getting a slap across the back of his head.

"Apologies Kaylin-san, please ignore this idiot. It's the poison on the senbon. The more he chews the stupider he gets." Raido shook his head solemnly, the glimmer of amusement echoed in the waitress's eyes.

"Oh, the poor dear. Maybe you should confiscate his senbon Raido-san. At the rate he is going, he'll be back at the academy soon." Kaylin giggled. She was a pretty little thing. Followed after her clan in terms of build, though she wasn't as large as the shinobi members of her clan. Like all Akimichi, she was a very welcoming person, and she had a soothing effect on a lot of the battle worn shinobi. Kaylin had been training to be a therapist, but only shinobi therapists can work with ninja, so she had dropped her studies and taken up full time works at The Barracks. Here she could help the ninja of her village, as a small thank you for their service and protection…. It also helped that Raido spent a lot of time there.

"Where's your new charge, Raido-san? I thought Shikamaru-chan was due back today?" Kaylin's bubbly personality shone through her gentle voice. She liked the Nara heir, and was glad Raido had taken her under his wing.

Raido smiled at her question and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not sure when she was due back today. Hopefully she'll be at the training this evening. Then we can inflict this one on her and see who survives." Dark amusement threaded through his rough voice. He really couldn't wait for Gen' to meet the little Nara. They'd either hate each other or get on like a house on fire. He hoped the latter, as he was hoping Gen' would help him train the kid. Maybe the old fashion apprentice root…. Hmmm he'd need to think some more on this. A sharp poke dragged his attention back to his friend, as he realized Kaylin had already slipped off.

"You ok Rai'? In your own world for a bit there. Oi, you gonna tell me about this girl yous were chatting about?" Genmas voice was rough in the silence of their table. His slang filled the gaps as he skipped topics. A habit he had developed to avoid answering questions on a long-term mission a while ago, he still subconsciously fell back onto it, when he didn't want (or rather couldn't) talk about a mission or topic.

"Mmm, her name is Shikamaru. You might remember her from the chunnin exam finals. She was the one that got promoted, despite forfeiting just as she won."

"Ooohhhh, the commander's kid? Yeah, I remember her. Wasn't she one of Iruka's kids at the academy?" Genma questioned thoughtfully. He remembered that fight. She started and ended the match with rubbish being thrown at her. However, the shinobi part of the stadium had been quietly impressed by her plan, and her knowing her limits. Still with who her father is, it's no wonder she could plan like that.

"That's the one. Iruka brought her along for training, and we kinda adopted her. You'll meet her tonight. My plan is to make her more rounded than most from her clan, and to reach the potential inside her. Hey, maybe having a child become Hokage will stop things being "a drag" to the commander." Raido smirked at his friend, dark humour pulling at his eyes. People do say jounins were just big kids, and kids were petty and held grudges, right?

"You kinda adopted her? Imma guessin' you mean figuratively right, not literally. Cos I ain't saving your ass when the Shadow Walker comes a'knockin' for his girl back!" Genma sighed and shook his head at his old friend. Really, he'd have thought that Raido would have grown out of his petty viciousness by now. It had nearly destroyed their genin cell back in the day, until Gekko had kicked Raido back into line, pretty damn hard.

"Well, then. Let me eat, and then we can go and meet new girl."