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"Okay," Shikamaru started at the obvious lack of information. "Do you two know something I don't?"

"Alright everyone," Tsunade said to get everyone's attention again, as they had gone off on their own conversations. "I've talked with some of you about this already. But we've been doing some thinking, and we've decided it's about time we invest some effort into analyzing and planning the way we protect our people inside the walls, and outside them as well. I already have someone in mind for this role, and that person is… Shikamaru Nara."

Feeling blindsided as if someone smacked him on the back of his head, Shikamaru's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, what?"

Six weeks later, March 21st

"Hell yeah!" Sakura cheered, as she punched the air.

"Will you please tone done the celebration? I'm trying to sleep." Came Shikamaru's muffled voice from where he had his face against the pillow.

"Why aren't you more excited?" Sakura asked, sitting up and stretching her arms up. "I finally get to go back to training today."

Shikamaru yawned, and had to pull the blanket back up when she pushed it down. "I am excited for you. Just on the inside, because on the outside I am trying to sleep."

"Come on Shikamaru." Sakura said, sighing heavily as she climbed over so she could sit on his lap.

At her new position, Shikamaru blinked a few times, before smirking. "I'm suddenly finding myself more awake."

"That's the spirit," Sakura said, leaning over to kiss him once. "Today is going to be a good day."

"I think it will be too." Shikamaru agreed, smiling back at her, before pulling her back down to kiss her.

At Team Seven's Training Grounds

"Come on Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, ducking as Sakura had used a water jutsu to cut through the wall of rock he made.

Meanwhile, Sai deadpanned when he was sprayed with some of the water, and he had to hold onto a tree branch to keep from flying away. "Can you at least act like you aren't trying to kill us?"

"I'm no trying to kill you," Sakura said, grinning at Naruto and Sai's complaints. "You two just can't keep up with me."

After another minute of the sparring, Sai had landed with his back against a tree. His eyes on Kakashi and Yamato with a hint of annoyance in them at this point. "Can you two call this already?! It's been fifteen minutes of this!"

"Yeah!" Naruto called over in agreement, as he had barely caught landing on the opposite side of the training ground. "She's terrorizing us!"

While the chaos was on the other side of the training ground, Kakashi was busy reading a book. Yamato, however, was trying to attempt to meditate, and was beginning to grow annoyed at all the yelling. "Stop talking and focus on sparring!"

At the lack of concern from their sensei and captain, both Naruto and Sai deadpanned. Although they had to be quick to holler and move out of the way, as Sakura had come at them with a punch that ended up hitting the ground. Pieces of earth flew upward among Naruto and Sai; both of their eyes were big like saucers.

"Hey!" Sai exclaimed, as he and Naruto jumped out of the way.

Naruto glaring at Sakura. "You almost killed us."

Unaware of her teammates glares and exhaustion, Sakura hollered happily. "Hell yeah! I'm back baby!"

"This is interesting," Asuma's voice was heard, as he and Team Ten entered Team Seven's training ground. Just in time to see Naruto and Sai running away from Sakura and shouting about how she was going to kill them. Asuma smirked in Kakashi and Yamato's direction. "You seem to be having an easy day here."

Kakashi shrugs, as he briefly looked up from his book. "When Sakura is not here, they complain non-stop about her not being here, and that they want a mission."

"Then when they are on a mission without Sakura, they complain the entire time too," Yamato added, watching the younger members of Team 7 run around. "Of course when she is here, Naruto and Sai both seem to be busy enough to not complain for a few days, but then they'll start complaining again."

"They actually miss this?" Choji asked, his eyes following Team Seven around the training grounds, as Sakura wasn't seeming to hold back at all towards her teammates.

"Sakura!" Ino exclaimed before Kakashi or Yamato could say anything. Her eyes narrowed at how Sakura was going fully after Sai now. "Would you please try not to kill my boyfriend?!"

"Oh hi Ino!" Sakura called back, having managed to get Sai in a chokehold, but she had to let him go to push him into Naruto to give herself some distance. Looking back to see Shikamaru, she grinned. "Hi boyfriend!"

Shikamaru smirked and gave a half-wave to Sakura, before she was distracted again. He slipped his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight back and forth. "She's certainly back alright."

Asuma had been flipping his lighter lid on and off, before finally lighting the cigarette in-between his lips. "The kids got a mission together. So, it looks like we'll have some time off."

That had received groans from all of the members of Team Ten. Ino being the one to scoff. "We're not kids, sensei."

"This is great actually," Kakashi said, closing his book and yawning as he put it away. "I need to go find another book to read."

"I don't have anything planned, but I think it's good to stop training here," Yamato said, watching the chaotic scene going on between Sakura, Naruto, and Sai. "I am about this close to strangling one of them."

Kakashi smirked as the others laughed. He whistled to get their attention. "Enough! Sparring is done!"

"Bring it in!" Yamato called over to them. Sai and Naruto were busy catching their breath, and Sakura was busy laughing.

Sakura happily skipped over to them. Going right to Shikamaru, she kissed him once. Smiling at him, before focusing on her sensei and captain. "What's up? I was having fun."

Kakashi chuckled at the sight of Naruto and Sai's look of annoyance at Sakura boasting about having fun. "Apparently you all are going on a mission with Team Ten."

At the mention of a mission, both Naruto and Sai's attitudes turned around as they started asking a bunch of questions.

"Oh joy," Sakura said, rolling her eyes at all the questions. "Since Team Ten knows about the mission first, I've got an idea. How about Shikamaru gets put in charge of all the paperwork?"

"Excuse me?" Shikamaru countered, smirking at her volunteering him.

Motioning down to her leg, Sakura gave him a small pout. "I recently broke my leg."

"Like two months ago-"

"As I said, recently." Sakura interrupted, sharing a smile with him.

"I think the plan is for you and Shikamaru to lead the team together," Asuma said, finding amusement at how he could really see how that pink-haired woman had changed his student. "Tsunade will go into further detail with all of you."

"Perfect!" Sakura said, clapping her hands together with a grin. "I'll do the leading part, and Shikamaru will do all the other boring stuff. Like socializing with the rest of the team and the paperwork."

While that made the others laugh, Shikamaru shook his head and smirked. "Troublesome… Let us just get this mission over with."

"It's going to be an easy overnight mission. It'll basically be like a mini-vacation," Ino said, a hand propped on her hip. "What could possibly go wrong?"

A couple of days later, March 23rd

The door vibrated when it slammed back into the frame, Sakura stormed away from the building cursing at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile, Naruto had re-opened the door. "Sakura!"

At Sakura ignoring Naruto and continuing until she was out of view, Sai closed the front door. "Okay, what are we going to do? She is really, really angry… Although the guy was kind of asking for it."

"Yeah, she could have done more than just break his nose- Oh no," Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of the members of Team Ten walking down the front path. "They are back early."

"Okay, now would be the time to figure out what we're going to do," Sai said, humming and tapping his chin. "If we can get Sakura back here soon, we don't even have to tell them what happened."

"We don't really know where Sakura went, and you know she was really mad," Naruto scowled and slapped both hands to his face. "I can't believe this happens on the first mission we get to go on after Sakura's leg finally healed up."

"I can," Sai said, shrugging at Naruto's raised eyebrow. "Our team always attracts trouble in case you haven't realized that already."

"I don't see that-"

The door opened interrupting Naruto, as the members of Team Ten came in. Choji giving a wave. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Naruto and Sai chorused almost immediately.

Sai smiling when Ino walked over, then he kissed her. "How was your day?"

Ino sighed at the thought but went back to smiling when he wrapped his arm around her. "It's been a long day, but we got what we needed to accomplish. We'll hopefully be back home by tomorrow."

Shikamaru's eyes swept the room before returning back to Naruto and Sai. "Where is Sakura?"

"Outside," Naruto answered unfortunately at the same time as Sai said, "Sleeping."

Seeing the wide-eyed looks the two were giving each other, Shikamaru frowned. Walking into the kitchen, the sight of a bloody rag in the sink had sent off alarm bells. "What in the hell happened?"

"It really isn't that big of a deal." Sai replied hurriedly, as he grabbed the rag to throw away.

"Yeah, Sakura just got a little upset with the guy that's all." Naruto added when it seemed to not settle the growing frown on Shikamaru's face.

"Are you talking about the guy with the red hair?" Ino asked, and after seeing Sai nod, she couldn't help but smirk. "Oh, I knew it."

Choji raised an eyebrow. "Knew what?"

"That he was going to be a problem," Ino said, scoffing at the confused look on Choji's face. "Come on. He practically had jackass written across his forehead. There was no chance in hell that Sakura would ever get along with him."

Shikamaru held up a hand to keep Choji from saying anything more, his eyes were fixated on Sai and Naruto. "Tell me everything that happened right now."

An hour later

"I can't believe that you and Sai let it get that out of control." Shikamaru started, as he and Naruto had split up from the others to go look for Sakura.

"That's not fair! You know that Sai and I don't have any control over what Sakura says or does," Naruto replied defensively, but he was able to laugh a little at the thought. "You may have been dating her for a while, but you have to learn that about her if you haven't already. You won't ever be able to control her, and if you try then you two will likely not be seeing each other anymore."

"I don't think it's funny… And I am very much aware that she is an independent person," Shikamaru said, pausing to look through the windows of a restaurant for Sakura, but couldn't find her. "This is different. We are on a mission. She can't just lose it and hit someone when she doesn't like them."

"Ino was right though. The guy was acting like a jackass-" Naruto broke off at the look Shikamaru gave him. "Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you. But like I said, there's nothing I can do it about it now."

After another minute of walking around, Shikamaru stopped and brought a hand to his forehead. "We're never going to find her."

"Actually," Naruto's voice caught his attention, and he was pointing to a bar sign. "I might have an idea. We passed by this yesterday, and Sakura said that she thought it was cool because it was an underground bar."

Staring down the steps to the bar that he could hear the music from, Shikamaru sighed heavily. "This can't be good, but let's hope you're right."

Once inside the bar, the music was even more intense and loud, and the darkened space made it hard to see. However, it didn't take much looking around before Naruto's eyes landed on his pink-haired teammate. He was right on time to see her taking a shot and dancing on top of the bar. "Sakura!"

Sakura looked around for a moment before her eyes finally found Naruto, and a drunken grin stretched across her face. She knelt down and ruffled his hair. "Hey friend!"

"Would you please get down?" Naruto asked, his eyes darting around at all the commotion from around the bar. We need to get out of here quickly.

It seemed as if Sakura was going to ignore him, but finally she did a flip to get off the bar. While every other drunk patron in the bar found that amusing and cheered, Naruto had to nearly duck and cover to avoid her running right into him. Sakura, not at all concerned, had thrown her arms up in the air laughing at the cheers.

Naruto picked Sakura up, and held her over his shoulder. Sakura, meanwhile, did not take the change well, and wiggled a little to adjust herself. Using Naruto's head in the process. "Whoa."

"You've got to be kidding me," Shikamaru said, his eyes wide before they narrowed at Sakura's current state. Paying off her tab to the bartender, Shikamaru motioned to the door. "Let's go."

"Right." Naruto agreed, although they didn't get much farther than the bottom of the steps when it became obvious Sakura was struggling against Naruto.

"Sakura stay still." Shikamaru said, trying to make it easier on Naruto who was starting up the steps.

Sakura did settle a little, as the cool night air hit her. "Why are we leaving?"

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Shikamaru had to take a deep breath and find some calm before responding. "Because, we're on a mission, and it is not time to be drinking and dancing on top of a bar."

At the top of the stairs, they found Choji, Ino, and Sai. Choji chuckling at the sight of Sakura. "I guess they found her."

"Oh my god Sakura," Ino said, waving the air in front of her face. "I can smell the tequila coming off of you in waves."

Sakura giggled and waved a hand. "Thank you."

Sai took Ino's hand and shook his head to discourage her from responding to his intoxicated teammate. "Honestly, we passed by here earlier. I don't know why we didn't look here. She said something about it yesterday."

"That's what Naruto said," Shikamaru said, sighing heavily after pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's get back."

They had only made it down one street before Naruto had to stop and adjust Sakura. "Sakura stop moving so much!"

Sakura looked over her shoulder to see the back of Naruto's head. "Why are you yelling at me? You're being mean."

"I'm not being mean! You're the one who has had all of us searching for you while you're off getting drunk and not giving a damn!" Naruto countered, his tone slightly snapping.

While the others could tell Naruto was mad, Sakura didn't seem too concerned with him. "Okay… Why is that my problem?"

Naruto sighed and started walking again. Meanwhile, Ino sped up to be able to walk beside Naruto and Sakura. Her eyes on Sakura. "I don't think I want to know the answer, but how much have you had to drink tonight?"

Sakura's expression turned to one of complete calm. "Uh… Maybe."

Silence followed Sakura's words, and Ino deadpanned. "That's not at all an answer to my question Saku-"

"I've got a question," Sakura interrupted, her voice much louder. "Who the fuck does that stupid jackass guy think he is? Telling me-ME of all people-to behave myself. Acting like he has any control over me-Acting as if he is like my husband or something. Even then, if he were my husband and he told me to behave myself, I would divorce him or throw him off a cliff… I guess it'll just depend on what my mood is that day."

Her honesty had Choji and Sai chuckling, but they both stopped at the glare Ino sent their way. "Shut up."

Not realizing what was said, Sakura waved her hand out to touch Ino's shoulder. "You'd help me bury his body though right?"

"I'm probably going to end up in jail for something you did eventually, so why not?" Ino shot back sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Sakura laughed, not seeing Ino's sarcasm, as she nudged Ino's shoulder with her hand. "I knew you'd back me up."

"Okay, enough of this," Shikamaru spoke before Ino could reply back to Sakura with what would certainly be more commentary that would end up pissing Sakura off. "We just need to get you inside."

When they got back to the house they were staying at, Naruto set Sakura down, and had to keep her from stumbling into the bushes beside the porch. "Be careful."

"I change my mind," Sakura said, pushing Naruto's hands away, as she turned around. "I want to go swimming."

Stepping in her path, Naruto brought his hands to her shoulders. "We're not going swimming, Sakura."

"The ocean is right there," Sakura said, pointing directly to the house, then waving her hand back and forth. "No, not there, but on the other side of this place."

"Sakura no," Ino threw her hand out when Sakura tried going around Naruto. "No swimming. Go inside."

Sakura grumbled and sighed as she went inside the house. Only to come face to face with a guy with a busted nose, and all of her anger came flowing back. "Oh, your face looks terrible."

The guy glared back at Sakura, holding an ice pack to his nose. "Have you gone off and punched anyone else in the face lately?"

"That's it-"

"No," Shikamaru intercepted before he could tell would end up in a bad second fight between Sakura and the guy. He stepped in-between the two and turned to Sakura. "You just need to go to bed."

Turning on her heel, Sakura yelled irritably. "He better keep his fucking mouth shut if he knows what's good for him… Telling me what to do. Like he has a fucking say in my life-"

"Sakura, stop it," Ino said, following Shikamaru down the hall after her pink-haired, loud-mouthed friend. Once in Sakura's room, she had Sakura sit down on the bed, and started to unlace her complicated ankle boots. "What in the hell? Why are these so complicated?"

"I don't know what to tell you." Sakura said, from where she had laid back and had propped herself up with her elbows.

Shikamaru set a bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water on the bedside table. "This is for the morning."

Sakura, however, wasn't listening as she nearly kicked Ino, as she fell back on the bed. "What a night this has been. I told you that the underground bar would be a cool place and it was."

"Well, you didn't have to be irresponsible and go during the mission to find that out." Ino countered, finally getting the second shoe off Sakura.

"I change my mind," Sakura said, raising her hand up to cover Ino's face from her point-of-view. "I don't want you in here. You are boring."

Ino scowled and slapped her hand down. "I'm not going to yell at you, because you are too drunk to remember. I'll just wait until tomorrow, and I will happily do it then."

After Ino stalked out of the room, Shikamaru helped Sakura into the bed after he made sure she didn't have any hidden weapons or anything on her. Once she was settled, he turned away from her, and began removing his own weapons.

"Are you mad at me?"

Hearing Sakura's voice made Shikamaru pause after taking the last of his weapons off. Taking a breath, he turned around to face her. "I am a little ticked off yeah."

Sakura frowned and pulled at the corner of the sheet. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Shikamaru countered, his eyes narrowing at how she seemed to just being saying it to say it. "Sorry that you couldn't keep your cool and refrain from assaulting someone just because you didn't like them? Sorry for running off and not telling anyone where you were going? Sorry for getting completely wasted in the middle of a mission? What are you sorry for?"

"I don't know..." Sakura replied, rolling over onto her stomach and groaning. "I'm drunk and I'm sorry."

Shikamaru sighed heavily and had to refrain from saying anything else to her, as it wouldn't help anything at this point. She's really gone off the deep end on this one.

The next day

Post mission brief, Sakura and Shikamaru were walking up the front steps to his house. Just in time to greet Shadow and Tank at the door. His parents nowhere to be found. "My leg hurts."

"Well, dancing on top of a bar after having just recently recovered from severe injuries from that leg can do that to you." Shikamaru shot back, his tone sharp, and his expression unreadable.

"Are you still mad about that?" Sakura countered in the midst of Shadow and Tank circling around her for attention.

"Oh yeah," Shikamaru replied, setting both of their bags down. "I'm still mad."

Sakura leaned against the kitchen countertop after finishing giving Shadow and Tank some attention. "I told you I don't remember-"

"Yeah well I do remember," Shikamaru interrupted Sakura, as he frowned at her. "You can't just act out like that because somebody you don't like working with told you to do something."

"So, you are okay with some random guy telling me what to do?" Sakura countered; her hands propped on her hips.

"Sakura, if it was a different situation then yes. But this was purely a mission where you had to work with someone you don't like, and like usual you do everything in your power to do what you think will piss the other person off the most."

Sakura hummed and turned her head away from him. "Well I don't know what to tell you. I admit that I am stubborn sometimes and may have overreacted last night. But I am not going to apologize. Everything ended up okay in the end."

"Sakura, I don't understand how you don't get this," Shikamaru said, finding his irritation growing at her refusal to apologize. "You really need to be more careful. You were acting recklessly."

At the warning tone he used, Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Do not try and boss me around Shikamaru!"

Throwing his hands up in the air, Shikamaru had to take a deep breath at her jumping straight to that. "I'm not bossing you around Sakura. The way you were acting last night was extremely unprofessional and out of line!"

"Who are you to judge that?!" Sakura exclaimed, a sarcastic laugh following. "The guy was a complete jackass Shikamaru-

"That doesn't make what you did okay!" Shikamaru interrupted, then they fell into silence. The air grew tense, as their glares intensified.

A/N: Uh-oh, this is not looking good. What do you think will happen from here?

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