It had been two years... Two years of searching for his best friend and Choji was close to giving up. Everyone else just assumed he was dead. Everyone except him, Ino and Temari. They never stopped looking for him. "Something is telling me he's still out there, Choji. We can't just forget about him." Temari's words rang through his head. Some days he wanted to give up, he wanted to stop searching and just move on. Because in reality, Shikamaru was probably dead. He had probably died a long time ago. But Temari never gave up hope and it kept Choji going. Ino was the same, she believed he was out there.

They had figured out something was wrong with the mission Shikamaru had been sent on two years ago when Ino's connection with him was severed. She was in the middle of lunch with the girls when something seemed off. She fell silent and the first to notice it was Sakura. "Is everything okay, Ino?" She started shaking her head.

"He's gone..." The other women at the table seemed confused. "My connection to Shikamaru has been severed. This only happens when...when someone dies." Everyone gasped. "He's supposed to be on a mission right now. He left a few days ago to head to the Sand- I have to tell Temari. She'll be waiting for him. I have to go." She suddenly stood up and ran out of the restaurant, making her way to her house.

Temari had been going about her day normally. She was working in the office when she realized what time it was. Shit! She thought to herself. She was supposed to meet Shikamaru at the gates in thirty minutes. "I'm going to be late and he will never let me live it down." She spoke to herself as she finished up the document she was working on. She then quickly began to clean up and put the documents where they were meant to go. And as she started to head out of the office, she heard a voice inside of her head.

"Temari!" She knew this voice anywhere.

"Ino? Are you in my head?" The other blonde had never contacted her like this before.

"Yes, it's about Shikamaru. He is supposed to be arriving there today, right?"

"Yes, what's going on?"

"Something happened to him. I don't know what it was but our connection has been severed. This has never happened before with him and usually only happens when someone dies." Temari inhaled. "I need you to please go and try to find him. I'll keep our connection open so you will be able to contact me if you need to." Temari nodded as if the girl could see her.

She wasted no time, rushing into Gaara's office without even knocking. She forgot he was in a meeting and typically would have been embarrassed but at this moment she did not care. "Temari? Is something wrong?" The Kazekage stood from his seat. Kankuro stood as well.

"I need to speak to you. It cannot wait." He nodded, politely asking his guest if they could finish the meeting later. Temari was glad it was the kind older couple that owned one of the shops. She made note to apologize to them later.

"What's this about, Temari?" Kankuro asked as he shut the door behind the guests that just left.

"I have been informed that Shikamaru has gone missing. He was supposed to arrive today." Her brother's eyes widened.

"How do you know this?" Gaara's voice was heard.

"You know Ino Yamanaka, right?" The two nodded. "She has a connection with Shikamaru and Choji that is able to let her contact them and them contact her at anytime just through their minds. She has just informed me that the connection to Shikamaru was severed, which usually only happens when a person dies." She felt her heart starting pumping faster and faster. The more she talked about this the more terrifying it was.

"Is the Leaf sending a search party? Do we need to go look for him?" Kankuro's voice was full of concern with honestly surprised Temari. When Kankuro had caught Shikamaru in her bed one morning he had been pissed. She came out of the bathroom to see her brother screaming at her secret boyfriend. They had been keeping it a secret per Temari's request. She wasn't exactly sure how the council would react and she didn't really want to deal with them at the time.

"I don't know if the Leaf knows yet. Ino just contacted me because he was supposed to be arriving here. She sounded pretty frantic as if it had just happened. I doubt they've sent anyone to look for him yet." As Temari spoke the fear in her voice was more evident to her brothers.

"Well, we will send a small squad out to look for him. If it happened here, nobody from the Leaf needs to be out there looking alone anyway. That's just asking for casualties." Gaara spoke. Temari truly was proud of how her brother had grown into such an amazing leader.

After hours of searching, nothing was found. Not a trace of Shikamaru ever entering the desert. She started to wonder if he had even made it that far. Temari showered and got into her bed with a heavy heart before contacting Ino. Ino had confirmed that she had spoken to the Hokage and they sent a search party out to look through the forest. Nothing had been found until the next day. The border where the forest ends and the desert begins is where they found his lighter. This confirmed that he was missing. Shikamaru wouldn't leave the lighter behind if he had a say in the matter.

Present Day:

Choji couldn't believe his eyes. Two years of searching had finally paid off. He had found some hints here and there and they had pointed him to the building he had broken into and was currently hiding behind a wall. He could see what he was one hundred percent sure to be his best friend that had been missing.

Shikamaru was strapped to a table and they were shooting his body full of something. Choji wasn't quite sure what it was but he knew it was very painful for his friend. He could hear his screams of pain, this caused Choji to tear up. Whatever that dark purple light going into his friend was, was not good.

"How are you still alive?!" One man asked as the other turned the machine off. Shikamaru was breathing very heavily and flinched when the man yelled. The same man then grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up slightly to him. "What are you? There's no way you're human." He then slammed Shikamaru down on the table and Choji could hear the echo from when he hit his head. "Let's go. We can finish this later. There's no point in keeping him any longer. Nobody is even looking for him anymore." The two figures left quickly and Choji searched around the room before rushing to his friend.

"Shikamaru?" He whispered. "Shikamaru, please say something." His friend slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times. "Let me untie you-" He was cut off when Shikamaru's eyes started glowing and he ripped himself out of the restraints. Choji fell back, sitting up quickly to look at his friend. He was staring at him with an evil intent and Choji was terrified. "Shikamaru, it's me! Choji! I'm here to save you!"

The Nara had shook his head and came back to reality. "Choji?" The other man nodded with tears in his eyes as he stood up. Choji pulled his best friend into a hug.

"I can't believe I've found you! I've been looking for you for two years!" He let go of him, looking around the room. "We need to get out of here. I'll explain everything when we're safe!" The pair made their way out, surprisingly with no trouble. They were about a day away from the Hidden Leaf Village so Choji took Shikamaru to a cave he had found and set up camp. That's when he explained everything to his friend, all of the stuff that had happened the past two years. "Temari still believes you're alive as well. We've been working together a lot actually. I can tell why you like her so much. She's exactly what you need." Choji smiled at his friend.

"Temari..." Was all Shikamaru said as he fell asleep. That night, he slept like a baby. Finally feeling safe with dreams of the woman he loves.

Thank you for reading! I hope it was okay. Please let me know if you liked this story and would like to see it continued! I really do appreciate feedback. :) I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy in this crazy time!