A lot of Shikamaru's memories of his father included the smell of alcohol, late night, Ino's father, and a crowded bar. Not that he minded, much, but drunk people were always more annoying than sober people. And he didn't much care for the sound of his mother crying later. But other than that, his dad was normally still okay to be around after a few, albeit more talkative. By the time Shikamaru was fourteen, he had it to a science. If he tried to pick up his father between drinks one and three, his dad would just get upset at him for spoiling the mood. Between drinks four and five, his father was the loudest and most talkative. Ideally, he would get his father between drinks six and eight, when his father was starting to become pensive and quiet, that was when he encountered the least resistance and the least obligation to entertain nonsense. But it was also risky to wait so long, because after drink eight, wise mopey dad made an appearance. And Shikamaru really hated dealing with wise, mopey dad.

So, he was particularly bummed when he found his father in a wise, mopey state while it was raining outside. Ino's father had been sick or something, so at least he only had to deal with one old drunk person. And while the current him would have given just about anything for a few more minutes listening to what his father considered "wisdom," fourteen-year-old him just wasn't there for getting stuck with it, while waiting for the rain to stop.

"Son, I want to talk to you about girls" Shikamaru distinctly remembered not wanting to have that conversation, specifically, but what was he going to do, get wet? So, he buried his face in an arm and listened to his father's slurring.

"The Yamanaka girl on your team," he paused and something lept in Shikamaru's stomach, he really, really didn't want to have that conversation, "you two are close right?"

"She's annoying," he answered, muffled by speaking into his arms. Frankly, he couldn't escape her. She was loud, bossy, and yes, annoying. He didn't get her. He didn't get girls. But he had been noticing some real weird feelings around her. When she dragged him into whatever new mischief she had managed to find. Whenever she went on about that troublesome Uchiha he never liked. When he was on bodyguarding duty, while she went soul hopping. When she couldn't sleep during missions and curled up next to him. When she scrunched up her entire face and just stared at him, as if to telepathically will him into a more motivated person. She was weird. It was weird. The feelings were weird. And he had taken to dealing with them the only way he knew how, by not thinking about it. So, this conversation was exactly not what he wanted to be talking about.

"She's a Yamanaka, it's your job to be close, our clans are like that. We protect each other. You need to protect her. Don't go messing around on your job."

So, it was to be mopey, clan wisdom that day, Shikamaru did prefer that to girls, "yes, dad. I know. The Naras, the Yamanakas, and the Akimichi have protected each other for a really long time, since before the leaf was even around. Do we have to have a history lesson right now?"

"Do you know where the Yamanaka's get their flowers," Shikamaru groaned, great. A history lesson about flowers, "they plant their flowers in our forest. For centuries, our forest has protected the local bush flower. Because of the temperate climate and canopy protection, the plants have been able to mutate and create new variations that now only can be found in our forest."

Shikamaru groaned again, normally he only had to hear about the history of flowers from Ino. That was already enough flower history. Actually, that was already too much flower history.

"Look here, sit up like a man," Shikamaru remembered sitting up a little at this request, just enough to face his weepy looking father, but with the option of falling back to the counter the moment he wanted reprise from the lecture, "there's a reason for that history, and I'm not talking about all the clans right now, I'm talking about the Yamanakas. Your friend, the girl."

At that point, Shikamaru just let his father ramble. It was just like Ino to be troublesome for him even when she wasn't physically there.

"You," his father poked him, "you are supposed to take care of her. The Yamanakas are powerful, very powerful. You get enough of them and they could probably possess the minds of everyone in the leaf, make some real crazy shit happen." He took another cursed drink, Shikamaru had wished the bartender would stop filling it. "But they get real vulnerable when they use their powers. That's why, no matter what, they need to know they can trust us to take care of them. That's why you've gotta not mess around. Don't ever do anything that would make her question you."

This was the point in the conversation that Shikamaru started paying attention because by what he had been taught, that wasn't entirely his job. "You know, dad, our jutsu leaves us pretty vulnerable too. Isn't protecting more what the Akimichis are there for? We stall, the Yamanakas infiltrate, the Akimichis attack."

"Hmmmm," his father looked down, "in battle, yes, that's true. But it's more personal with our two clans, a different kind of protection. The type that comes up with the plan they throw their soul into. Or on stealth missions together. They trust us never to send them into something that's gonna get them killed. Inoichi has to trust me to take care of him when he's not even there, to always get him out of there so he can go all out on his own attack. He has to trust me to take care of him and to take care of his family, his little girl. It's a kind of trust you just don't get from being team-mates, you have to live your whole lives together. Fight together. Really know how the other person thinks. You have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt this person will never hurt you. You got that?"

In theory, it had made perfect sense, you have to trust someone to discard your body with them. Though, to be fair, Ino trusted butterflies she had just met, so he doubted she would ever question him. She was the kind of kid who would follow strangers home if they said they needed help with chores, and drag him right along with her in the name of "good spirit". But as he grew older and thought more on the drunken conversation, he couldn't help but to wonder if that was the problem. Because not every smiling old lady who said her precious cat was stuck in a tree, actually had a cat stuck in a tree. And not every nation that said it wanted peace, meant it. And not every boy who said she was pretty was going to actually be nice to her. It was ridiculous how a person who spent all of her time knocking around in people's minds could be so gullible. And as those troublesome feelings of his just kept sticking around, becoming more of an annoying habit, then something else entirely, he couldn't help but to wonder what would happen if she did trust him, and he accidentally broke that.

Plus, he couldn't help but to notice his father had a point about them being "vulnerable." Or, as he felt, just plain useless half the time. Ino had one of the most powerful jutsus he knew of, that was for sure, but it was so specific. Even he had noticed when she started avoiding straight fights with other ninjas. Or how she had become slightly cautious about the trouble she charged into, well at least she started dragging Choji along as well.

The day after his father's little chat, he found Ino in a bed of daisies, in the Nara forest. The heaviness of responsibility implied in that analogy, neither lost on him, nor of particular interest to him. It sure sounded like a lot of work. He could care less about the flowers, but he knew she liked flower history. So, he figured he could do her a favor and pass on the story.

He was pretty sure all he did was say something like, "lots of flowers grew in this forest," and "my dad was making this lame connection to our clans." Something perfectly harmless and perfectly honest just like that and he got yelled at.

Soon she was shouting things like, "what is that supposed to mean," and "I don't need any stupid Naras to protect me." Then she was storming off. Girls. So confusing. So troublesome. He didn't bring it up again. But the request irritatingly stuck around in his memory, to always watch out for her. It was so much work, but that became another habit of sorts.

As they rounded on the hospital, Kakashi took to an entrance Shikamaru didn't know existed. A side door marked for waste removal. There stood an angry-looking Kunoichi, in scrubs. She was glaring at them with arms crossed.

Shikamaru frowned at her. It was irrational to be angry at her for being the wrong person, but he was being forced to work overtime right now, and she had just wrecked his entire theory of what they were doing there.

"Sakura," the Sixth greeted her.

She squinted, "you're late."

Kakashi placed a nervous hand on his neck, "we really wanted to give Shikamaru time to finish his paperwork." There they went, blaming him again. And now Sakura was glaring at him. Girls.

She spun on her heel, "follow me."

They walked a series of corridors that Shikamaru didn't recognize, not that he spent very much time in the hospital. It was a place most ninjas actively avoided. Still, he found himself passively tracing his own steps. From the maze they walked, they were probably near the center of the building at that point.

Walking straight up to a bolted door, Sakura turned on them again, "what I'm about to show you is confidential."

"You have a confidential patient? How can a patient be top secret?" Naruto cut her off before she could finish and was met with a look that had him shirking in terror.

"It's classified information and will not be discussed outside of this mission, you got that" she glared at Naruto until he threw up hands and promised not to say anything then turned the same attention to Choji until receiving the same answer, not bothering with him or Neji. Apparently, Sakura knew who in the group to worry about. Shikamaru held out hope for his plan to trick her into becoming Naruto's right-hand man.

She sighed and then reached for the bolt, her hand lit up and it clicked.

"Cool! How'd you do that?" Naruto asked.

She didn't bother turning around, "it's chakra encoded, so only a few people can open it." She ushered them inside closing the door behind.

Shikamaru finally got a look at this confidential patient, and when he did, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Ino!" Choji shouted running to her bedside where two nurses were already sitting, one of whom was squeezing a strange ball over and over.

It was definitely Ino, she was unconscious, paler than usual, even thinner than usual, and she was connected to so many weird items, wires, tubes, that strange ball. What was happening?

"Step back Choji," Sakura instructed, but he wasn't budging, instead he had started to cry. Sakura pushed him again, "Choji do you see the nice woman over there with the ball?" he nodded through tears, "if she stops, Ino's heart will stop, so can you please give her some space?"

Choji walked backwards like a child who had seen a ghost. Even Neji was beyond his normal cool demeanor, he looked unnerved. Naruto looked shocked, maybe a little angry.

"What happened," he spit the words accusingly, directly at the Sixth Hokage, because something horrible had happened and nobody had bothered telling him about it. No, they had him doing paperwork.

"She was on mission," Sakura was the one to reply, staring closely at Ino, "infiltration and data extraction. She jumped into the mind of someone important and was supposed to come back with schematics and information on a possible attack on the leaf. But she missed her deadline to be back. She never misses her deadline."

Never misses her deadline, the idea rolled at the front of his mind. Never is a big word, he glared at Sakura, "how many of these missions has she been on, exactly?"

Sakura and Kakashi shared a look that made him want to punch them both, they weren't planning to answer the question. "She never misses her deadline," Sakura just repeated.

"When was her deadline," he was practically growling at her. How was this not something to cross his desk? How did these never seem to cross his desk?

Sakura bowed her head, "a week ago."

"A week ago," Choji had choked back enough tears to speak, "how long has she been in there?"

"Almost a month" Sakura replied.

Naruto practically shouted, "what! How can she hold her jutsu that long? Where is she getting that much chakra?"

Sakura didn't look up, "I infuse her with a lot of my chakra. And various other staff when her body needs it. I'm not worried about her not being able to hold it, she's been gone longer. But."

"But what," Shikamaru's head was spinning, a month? A month in someone else's body. It was far beyond anything he had ever seen her do. How much chakra were they pouring into her, why did she look like that? Why didn't anyone tell him?

Sakura finally looked at them, she had tears of her own welling, and Shikamaru felt a wave of dread wash over him. She spoke, "two days her body started failing. She's dying, and we don't know why."

Shikamaru was horrified, but Naruto was the first to start shouting, "are you kidding me? How could you send her into a mission alone? Shikamaru, did you know about this?"

Shikamaru wanted to give Naruto a murderous look, come up with some brilliant plan to save Ino, look out and just find her soul lost in the maze of the hospital, 'oh hey, you couldn't find your body? No problem, I memorized how to get around,' anything at all useful. But he couldn't breathe, he couldn't process what was being said. There was no way. No way Ino was going on these types of missions and he didn't know. No way she could hold that jutsu for a month.

Kakashi spoke, "Naruto these are the types of missions you going to need to learn more about as hokage one day. The Yamanakas have practically been running our spy network for years, and it's not like they can just take another soul along with them on the trip. That's why you're here, today."

"On top of that," Sakura gave Naruto the type of pleading look that would make him do anything in the world for her, and Shikamaru knew right at that moment, this was as bad as it looked. "Naruto, can you stay with her, share your chakra? There's nothing we can do at this point to heal her body, but maybe with enough chakra we can keep it alive long enough."

That, that was the piece of information that made him snap. She was that close to death, and they knew about it, and they hadn't done anything. "Why," he was shouting now, "why did you wait two days to make a team, to tell anyone about this? How could you just send her in alone? How many times have you done this exactly? And why did you wait for me to finish a bunch of dumb paperwork if she was dying?"

Kakashi held up a hand and he felt Choji dragging him out of attack mode. This was ridiculous. His partner was about to die, and nobody even told him she was on mission. Him. Her, so called, sworn protector. A Nara. The Nara who had trained his entire life for exactly these types of missions. And she was about to die.

"I know you're upset Shikamaru," Kakashi had the grace to look sad now, but that was hardly enough, when he spoke, Shikamaru hated every moment of it. He hated the Sixth Hokage and he hated Sakura. Still, the traitor continued, "but we have been doing everything we can to protect her, and that includes protecting the secrets of her work. Putting together an entire team was considered a last option, and it was only decided today that our medics would be unable to heal her body. That's when Sakura suggested this team here, including you, to go and get her soul back. Choji, Shikamaru, and Sakura as the team, Neji you're team leader. Naruto will stay here and take care of her body while you're away."

Kakashi, correctly, guessed that Shikamaru was about to throw another fit and cut him off before he could begin, "Neji has a near-perfect record for S ranked missioned, and I know that in this group you three," he gestured in Shikamaru's general direction, "are all particularly close to the target. Which means your judgment will be clouded in the heat of the moment. You'll be infiltrating one of the most well-guarded places in the land of Earth, don't underestimate how tricky that mission is."

Neji stared at Kakashi for a moment then turned to the others, "I know what this mission means to each of you. Will you accept me as your leader for this mission?"

It was a show of respect, but Shikamaru hated that as well. He should be leading this mission. He should have known about this mission. A month ago, not two days ago.

Sakura nodded silently, still fixed on Ino's horrifying form.

Choji spoke next, but Shikamaru was pretty sure Choji was staring at him for answers "sure Neji. I trust you."

Shikamaru was silent for a moment, staring at what was left of Ino, certain that everyone else was staring at him.

She was dying.

Drunk old words from his father played in the back of his mind.

She was dying.

He painfully admitted to himself that Neji did have the best record for S-ranked missions.

She was dying.

So bothersome, he thought miserably.

He stared harder at her broken, empty body, "let's get her back."