"You heard what Sasuke said earlier, didn't you?" Sakaria was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the ninja she had pulled from the frontlines moments before as he spoke to Jugo. "What are his true intentions?"
Jugo seemed to turn to the man only for a moment before turning again and looking at Sasuke who was off in the distance on his summons. He seemed to think hard before answering as if he didn't want to speak ill of his leader. "I have no idea."
In an instant, the pale ninja jumped forward again and landed on the back of Sakura's summons, "Sakura… can I ask you something?" When the pink haired girl didn't turn to answer, he continued. "Since I don't know him very well, I can look at this objectively. Sasuke can not be trusted as a true comrade." Hearing this, Sakaria snarled at him from below, but Jugo stuck out his arm to keep her from rushing forward and confronting him. "What are your true feelings on the matter, Sakura?"
Sakura didn't turn completely, but her disingenuous smile could still be seen from over her shoulder. "Don't worry. Sasuke has come back to us. I'm happy about that… and I do trust him." Her words sounded scripted, and they caused the man speaking to her to lower his head. Although she might believe the things she was saying, her fraudulent smile was enough to tell him that she had her own concerns.
A few feet away, Shikamaru watched as the conversation between the two took place, and Ino could feel a slight skepticism overtake his thoughts. "Shikamaru, what's up?"
The ponytailed man turned his attention back to Sakaria and thought for a moment before looking away and mumbling, "It's nothing." If Sai is right, and Sasuke is planning something… what will you do, Sakaria?
When Sakaria's head snapped over to him, he could have sworn she was reading his mind. In an instant, she was by his side, knelt on one knee just as he was. "If I know your parents as well as I think I do, I know your mother taught you it's not polite to stare." She joked, her eyes still focused on her brother in the distance.
Shikamaru's face twisted in a moment of grief, suddenly reminded of his father's recent death. How would he tell Sakaria when this was all over? Would he even get the chance? He shook the thought from his head, when he noticed the contented smile playing at Sakaria's lips, seemingly happy just to be beside him once again. "You listen to them more than I do, apparently," he replied, chuckling a little to hide the pain in his voice. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get over here."
"I…" Sakaria, sighed and looked at the ground, suddenly feeling guilty for all the things she'd done to escape him before. "I had to come talk to you…"
"Sakaria, don-"
"Neither of us are very good at admitting we're wrong." Sakaria looked over to him, her eyes red from her sharingan that she'd activated to keep a better eye on her brother as he fought. "And, I still won't say it but…" She laughed a little, feeling embarrassed in spite of herself. Shikamaru was right, saying sorry wasn't easy.
"But?" Shikamaru taunted back, looking at the ground below him.
"Well… you're a genius, right? Figure it out."
"Apology accepted."
From above them, Ino snarled down at the Uchiha girl as she spoke to her comrade. She had some nerve coming up to him as if nothing had happened. And how could Shikamaru forgive her so easily? She wondered what things would be like if they managed to win the war… if things would go back to the way they were before.
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"C'mon Sakaria, you literally never hang out with anyone but Shikamaru." Ino griped, standing outside the Uchiha's apartment with the other kunoichi in her class. Sakura, Tenten, and even Hinata had all agreed that the girl inside should spend more time getting to know the people in the village, especially if they hoped for Sasuke's return one day.
"Yeah, I just…" Sakaria scanned the group of hopeful girls one by one, the door only cracked open enough for Sakaria's petite frame to fit inside of it. She could feel their prying eyes attempting to see passed her to catch a glimpse of what was inside her home, and this caused her to shift a little. "I'm just kind of busy today."
"Busy doing what!?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow. Sakaria had hardly ever said two words to the girl, so she wondered where she got off interrogating her like this. She tried to think of a decent lie, but anything that came to mind was automatically discredited due to the fact that she was standing in her pajamas despite the fact that it was already noon. Truthfully, she had just woken up when the group of girls knocked on her door, so she was sure she didn't look prepared to do anything.
"Hey, who's here?" A dragging voice came, followed by a lazy yawn. Sakaria let out a defeated sigh as Ino's eyes widened as she recognized who was inside with the girl.
Practically mowing the tenant of the apartment over, Ino pushed the door open the rest of the way and glared at Shikamaru who was standing in the living room, scratching the back of his neck lazily. She could tell by his half lidded eyes and his relaxed attire that he'd just woken up too. "What the hell are you doing here!? You told Choji and I that you were playing Shogi last night when we were supposed to be training! Not having some sleepover!" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and pointed down at the shogi board that was set up on the living room table.
"I was playing Shogi," he rasped back to her, his voice its usual drawling tone. "With Sakaria."
"Well… you… Still!" Ino crossed her arms, obviously annoyed by his loophole. He knew as well as she did that when he had told them he was spending the evening playing his favorite game, they'd assumed he meant with his father, like he usually did. "Sakaria won't hang out with us because you two stay holed up in here all the time, and if you're not here, you're out watching clouds or something. She needs a girls' day."
"If she doesn't wanna go out with you guys, I can't force her." Shikamaru shrugged.
"Hi, I'm still right here," Sakaria reminded, turning to Ino from the door while the other girls waited outside. "It's not anything personal. I just…" She sighed, not really wanting to make the comparison, but not knowing any other way to relate to them. "You guys knew Sasuke… I'm sure he and I are probably pretty similar in a lot of ways… Uchiha are kind of loners. We have a hard time being friends with a lot of people at one time, so we sort of pick a couple of people that we like and stick to em." She shrugged, smiling up at Shikamaru, then reiterated, "It's nothing personal."
"You aren't Sasuke, though, Sakaria," Sakura chimed in from the door. Her pragmatic tone caused Sakaria's expression to flatten. From what few experiences she'd had with the pink haired kunoichi, Sakaria was truly beginning not to like her. "And besides, if Sasuke had come out of his shell a little more and talked to us, he might not have…" She trailed off when she noted the disdain welling up in the Uchiha girl's deep black eyes.
"Look, she doesn't want to hang out with you guys," Shikamaru interrupted, his tone blunt as he shrugged and reached for the pack of cigarettes he'd left laying on the kitchen counter. Previously he would have been on their side, attempting to push Sakaria out the door so she would make more friends within the village, but after really getting to know her, he realized that she just wasn't one for large groups. He chalked it up to her being out alone with her brother for so long, but she truly didn't enjoy the toil and upkeep that came along with multiple friendships.
Ino, who was never one to take no for an answer, almost snarled at her teammate, and fired back, "What are you even doing spending the night with her, Shikamaru!? You've not told Choji and me anything about this." She motioned between the two of them as if she were trying to make some kind of connection between them in the air.
"Told you about what? That I hang out here sometimes? That it gets late and I don't wanna walk home so I crash here instead?" His expression was one of obvious annoyance. He truly felt like this entire conversation was a chore.
"You say things like that, but I know something else is going on."
"Ya know, Ino, just because my mom is dead, doesn't mean I need you coming in to take her place," Sakaria shot back, scowling at her.
"I didn't mean it like that, I just-"
"Look, nothing is 'going on' between Shikamaru and I… If it was, we wouldn't have any reason to hide it from any of you. I need you guys to realize that I am my own person and I truly don't need you to meddle in my life or try to parent me…" Ino stared at her, her eyes lowering into a glare as Sakaria stepped out of the door frame, inviting her to rejoin her group outside and leave. "I guess what I'm saying is, it isn't any of your business what I am or am not doing… so thanks for the invite, but I'm good." With that, Ino walked back out onto the deck of her apartment and scowled as the door shut behind her, and Sakaria could be heard inside, laughing at something her teammate had said.
He didn't even try to see things from my side. She thought as the group defeatedly walked down the wooden steps. If that girl thinks she can just isolate my teammate like that, she's got another thing comin'.
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As the battle raged onward, the allied ninja force looked out in awe at the power unfolding before them. When the surrounding shinobi started to falter, seemingly overwhelmed by their small position in the war, Shikamaru ordered Ino to connect to them through his thoughts and brought them all back together. When his words silently struck their heads, Sakaria watched as each person who had taken a knee in complete fear, stood, one by one, their morale renewed.
"Hey, it's too bad you never got in my head like that," the girl joked, teasingly elbowing him.
"Yeah… it is…" Shikamaru seemed to trail off, but Sakaria snapped him out of it with the sweet smile she casted in his direction.
"I mean, I guess you have learned some stuff from your dad! Speaking of which…" Here it was. The moment Shikamaru had been dreading ever since Sakaria had shown up on the battle field. "Where is Shikaku?" She looked around, unknowingly cheerful.
"Sakaria, he…" Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to tell her, but she knew just based on the way his eyes lowered. Shikaku had always told his son it was okay to cry and not bottle things inside, but there was an appropriate time and place for it and this wasn't it. Sakaria knew that too, but couldn't help the look of shock that crossed her face.
"Oh, Shikamaru…" Her voice was immediately sympathetic.
"Let's not worry about it now… there'll be plenty of time to grieve once we win this thing," Shikamaru said, placing a determined hand on his friend's shoulder.
Sakaria lowered her gaze for a moment, then nodded with the same determination. "You're right. So what's the plan?"
"Right now, even in large numbers like this, we aren't very useful out there. That guy over there has taken the form of the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki and we can't risk the casualties we'd accrue from bum rushing him…We'll let Sasuke and Naruto handle the ten tails unti- what the!?" Shikamaru stopped speaking and stood to get a better look at the situation as the ten tails jinchuriki floated up into the sky and, with a flick of his wrist, sprouted a tree from the ground that grew and bloomed terrible red flowers from its trunk.
"What the hell is that…" Sakaria whispered, staring at the tree.
"Shikamaru, it's making those bombs that the ten tails used earlier!" Ino shouted to her partner.
"Oh, man. This is bad…" Shikamaru groused. Come on… think… We need a strategy to get out of this thing… When Hashirama interrupted his thought process barking orders, there was no time to react. The jinchuriki shot several metal rods from his palms which quickly tented the entire army of shinobi in a red glowing chakra.
"It's a forcefield!"
"He's trapped us in here!"
"We're done for… this is it…"
Sakaria listened as the ninja around her once again lost hope, some falling back onto their knees to accept their fate. There had to be something they could do… She looked back to Naruto and Sasuke, wondering if the pair might have any ideas as they watched the purple chakra bombs grow above their heads. C'mon Sasuke… you're so much smarter than me, right? Think of something… She was reminded of all the times her elder brother had teased her, telling her he was the smarter of the two because she never went to the academy. Back then, it was a low blow that irritated her to her core… now though, she was stuck hoping it was true.
"Sakaria!" Jugo's voice interrupted her panic as he grabbed her from her position on the battlefield and lifted her away.
"What are you doing!? We're stuck in here just like everyone else!" The Uchiha shouted as the wind whipped through their ears.
"I'm getting you to Sasuke," Jugo replied simply. When the pair reached the back of Naruto's summons, Sasuke looked back at Sakaria, his expression stoic. She didn't understand how, even at a time like this, Sasuke could seem so calm.
"Thank you, Jugo," Sasuke said, looking back toward the bombs. When Jugo nodded, Sakaria looked back and forth between the two, wondering if Sasuke had asked for him to deliver her here so that they could die together like they would have long ago had it not been for Itachi. She listened to the chattering amongst the fourth Hokage and Naruto while nothing was set in stone for a plan. It seemed hope really was lost.
We're going to die… The thought seemed absolute. With the bombs only growing, it seemed as though everyone would be trapped in a funnel and cooked as soon as they finally exploded. Several thoughts rushed through her head as she reached for Sasuke's hand.
When he felt his sister's shaking fingers reach his palm, he pulled her into him and wrapped her in his arms.
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"Sasuke, I can't do it!" The little Uchiha sister shouted as her brother stood, waiting at the bottom of a small quarry that had found.
"Yes you can!" Sasuke called back, his hand on his hips. Sakaria had only just started learning to focus her chakra in her feet enough to jump long distances like this without hurting herself, but he knew if she focused enough she'd be fine. The quarry wasn't even that high.
"I'm scared!" Sakaria moused back, biting the edge of her thumbnail and backing away from the edge.
"Come on!" Though his voice sounded annoyed, he was truly only trying to coax her down. "Also, stop biting your nails! Mom says it's a bad habit!"
"What if I don't do it right! I could-"
"You're not gonna die! Just come on…" Sasuke watched as his sister pulled her thumb from her mouth and looked back down at the quarry. He huffed and jumped back up the rock wall to her. "Why are you so scared all the time?" He sighed, looking at his sister. "It's not even that high!"
"Yeah but…"
"Here! Give me your hand!" Sasuke took his sister's hand, but she flinched away. "You really think I would let you get hurt? I'm your big brother!" Sasuke beamed, taking her hand back and pulling her to him so he could put his arm around her. "I've got you! On the count of three! One… Two…"
"Wait! Sasuke! Are you sure we won't die?" Sakaria said, her eyes screwed shut in terror.
Sasuke laughed and poked her forehead causing her to open her onyx eyes and realize she was safe at the bottom of the quarry. "You're such a scaredy cat!" He teased. "I told you we'd be okay!" With that, he ran ahead, laughing as his sister chased after him.
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"Sasuke…" Sakaria moused underneath her brother's arm.
Sasuke looked down at her remorsefully as he remembered the last time he'd held her like this. He silently wished they were back in the quarry, their only worry how much trouble they'd be in if Itachi found them playing there and what their parents would do if they were late for dinner again. This time though, Sasuke could give no promise. In fact, the only thing he could mimic from that day, was holding his sister close to him as she screwed her eyes shut in fear, and mumbling, "I've got you…" in her ear.