Shikamaru genuinely wondered if Neji had ever been in the dark.
Not literally, that would be stupid. But to experience dark, the cold creep of not knowing what is coming, on edge from a world estranged to the senses, to be just a little extra afraid of everything. The prodigy Hyuga's eyes had never known a world they couldn't see clearly, and his sharp wit often kept pace with even Shikamaru's stream of consciousness. Shikamaru, on the other hand, had been fumbling for the better part of an hour to keep up. The moon, nothing more than fading sliver, left little assistance for traveling and barely a defense if he needed to use his shadows.
Rumors regarding the Historian's estate felt immediately confirmed once they reached the perimeter. Terrain switched from cliffs and plateaus to elaborate arcs, caverns, and structures. Like a maze of earth, trees, and stone, practically announcing the eccentric inhabitant below. Neji effortlessly navigated the terrain, his eyes clearly seeing the upcoming paths, openings, and dead ends. And for his part, Shikamaru stumbled behind, trying to memorize their route as they went. At a distance, Choji and Sakura trailed, tasked with scouting any lookouts and fending off attacks from behind. Shikamaru doubted that either would enter the maze.
He did his best to pick up ground so that he was near Neji, "they probably know we're coming."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Neji asked, still focused on the path ahead.
"The three kunoichis from earlier," Shikamaru replied, "there aren't very many all-female teams in general. But even then, they scouted like genin, despite all being adults."
"And they weren't very skilled fighters," Neji added, "not for their age at least."
Shikamaru didn't comment on that. While not the biggest challenge, he had never faced off against genin with quite that level of single jutsu mastery. And they had done a number on him, so he didn't feel like disparaging their skills quite so openly.
"If they are scouts, specifically for the Historian," Neji continued, "then you are probably correct, they are expecting someone to try and break in. It will be harder to catch them off guard."
Shikamaru would have responded to that if he hadn't been busy tripping over a raccoon. Deciding he had nothing to add that was worth falling on his face, Shikamaru let his pace fall to something more manageable. The air had thinned from their altitude and in the dark, every crying bird sounded like a shriek and every waft of smoke a memory of villages on fire. Rather than let his imagination run, Shikamaru thought of his team.
Before splitting off into the night, Choji had approached him. "Shikamaru, I don't really understand everything you three are saying. About the mission and the Historian and stuff."
Shikamaru knew that his friend was worried, "but?"
"Do you think she was like all the others? She fell in love with the guy and just decided to stay?"
It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but he also viscerally didn't like the idea. Just the mention felt like a personal attack on his ego. Though, in earnest, Shikamaru didn't know how easily Ino fell in love. Besides Sasuke, it wasn't information she went around broadcasting. "Do you really think she would leave her clan behind?"
Choji frowned, "I don't know. Girls are weird."
Truer words, Choji, truer words.
"Or she might. If she thought she was helping, somehow." Choji added.
That had been another good point. The amount of trouble she had dragged the three of them into as children, all in the name of helping - it had probably been better training than anything Asuma planned. For some reason, Shikamaru's mind wandered back to a particularly weird day. He had spent hours in a clan meeting listening to the elders go on about new applications of the shadow possession jutsu, trying to find functions outside of combat. Physical therapy, showmanship, object levitation. It was like they were developing the world's most tedious marketing pitch.
"Hey there Shikamaru!"
Ino?
"Do other people pop in your head and talk to you? Oooooh, are you hearing voices?"
Wait, how are you in my head? Where are you?
"I'm right outside the window, hiding in a bush. You look bored. More than usual, that is."
I'm a little busy right now.
"I know, but I need your help."
I'm in the middle of a clan meeting.
"But do you haaaave to? You're not saying anything. And didn't you skip last week to take a nap?"
Yeah, which is why my father said I have to be here today. Or it'll make him look bad.
"What if you just sneak out, super quietly? Nobody would notice."
It's an entire room of high-ranking ninjas. I think they'll notice.
"Please?"
Bothersome.
"Pleeeeeease."
Still bothersome, but he had made up a lame excuse about not feeling well and she had dragged him at full speed to her family's flower shop where Choji stood surrounded by plants, looking very confused.
She had run around the store, picking up notebooks. And with no explanation forthcoming, Shikamaru just asked, "what's the big emergency anyway."
Choji replied, "Ino says that Asuma sensei is away on a mission."
"Yeah," Shikamaru said, "did something happen to him?"
"No," Ino shouted, "I overheard Lady Tsunade say that he's coming back today. But he didn't order any flowers!"
At that point Shikamaru had a sense of where the conversation was going but hoped he was wrong, "why does he need flowers?"
Ino looked at him very seriously, "it's his anniversary with Kurenai sensei today! And he didn't order any flowers. And there aren't any other flower shops in town. Which means, he forgot to get her flowers!"
Shikamaru had just stared at her.
"We have to help him!"
"You dragged me out of a clan meeting to pick out flowers?" he deadpanned.
"No," she handed him the notebooks, "I need help with inventory. We should have some back up stock, but the numbers aren't adding up quite right."
Choji nodded very seriously, "it's very confusing. I couldn't figure it out."
Shikamaru had tried telling her the whole thing was stupid and he had tried returning to his clan meeting, but unfortunately, she had already managed to indoctrinate Choji with the importance of her ridiculous mission. So, outvoted and irritated, he had set to counting flowers.
Shikamaru faltered his step with a grunt as Neji grabbed him from the side and pulled him into a cramped enclave of dirt and stone.
"Quiet" Neji warned, "there are three people ahead."
Shikamaru tried to listen closely, but all he could hear were bugs buzzing in the night and scurrying creatures. He spoke as quietly as possible, "can you see the underground city, yet?"
"I think so, there are a series of tunnels and passages that all seem to be leading in that direction." Neji pointed to where Shikamaru had been yanked from his thoughts, "but I would like to get closer to the center, to maximize the byakugan's range."
Shikamaru was really not in the mood to go face to face with another crazy trio of kunoichis. Though, perhaps they wouldn't need to directly confront them, just distract them long enough to give Neji time to scope out the area. "Maybe I can lure them out, give them something to do while you map the area."
"If something suspicious happens, they won't all investigate together." Neji said. "More likely they will send a single scout."
Shikamaru agreed, he would need three distinct distractions to lure the whole group out, one at a time. And he needed something that could plausibly happen without announcing their presence. He rifled through his belongings to check what he had on his person; grateful he had recently replenished the pocket he reserved for Choji. "Any chance you can tell their fighting styles from here?"
"Not specific skills," Neji replied, "not until they actually use their chakra."
Shikamaru asked, "can you see any raccoons?"
Neji stared at him suspiciously, "yes. I can see plenty of raccoons."
Shikamaru was out of better ideas, his brain was apparently stuck on that day in the flower shop.
"Two lilies, that's all the extra stock you have," Shikamaru had declared after counting every flower in the flower shop. Twice. He resented that he now knew exactly what a lily even was. "Everything else here is for an order."
Ino had looked upset, "that's no good, she's allergic to lilies."
"Why don't we just get her some dumplings or candies?" Choji suggested.
"She's on a diet." Ino replied absently.
"What about a puppy? Kiba could probably help us find a puppy," Choji tried again.
"She doesn't like to keep pets." Ino held up a single finger, "we just need to get some new flowers. I know just the place!" And with that she had dragged them straight to the Nara forest.
Shikamaru had spent plenty of time in his clan's forest, all three of them had, but he couldn't say he enjoyed flower hunting. His day had already been far too much work considering they weren't actively on mission.
"Why can't we just give him these," Shikamaru had whined, pointing to one of the many, many patches of bush flowers they passed on their ridiculous quest. Hadn't his father once said something about those being special?
Ino gave her default, "they're not in season. They're not even in full bloom."
"Ino, how do you even know it's Asuma sensei's anniversary? Or all that stuff about Kurenai sensei," Choji had asked while munching on a bag of shrimp chips he had found in the flower shop.
Ino, still dragging them as quickly as possible, replied "last week, we were practicing this new technique and."
"Oh," Choji cut her off, "you went into his brain and learned all his secrets."
"It's not like that!" She had seemed offended, "I can't just learn all of someone's secrets when I'm in their head."
"What can you see," Shikamaru had asked, personally invested in the answer.
"It depends on how open they are to me, and my being there. That and whatever's in their stream of consciousness. So, while we were training, Asuma sensei thought about seeing Kurenai sensei and that was connected to a memory of the last time he had seen Kurenai sensei when she had said a bunch of stuff about their upcoming anniversary."
Shikamaru had been thinking through this new information when he heard Ino gasp. She cradled a broken flower in her hand from her favorite patch of daisies. "They've all been crushed!" She was hysterical, and Shikamaru worried they were about to be forced to hold a flower funeral.
"It's okay Ino," Choji was saying comfortingly, between bites, "there are lots of other flowers here."
She stared, distraught at her flower, snapped into pieces and with half its petals missing, "I know, but these would have been perfect."
"What would attack a bunch of daisies anyway?" Shikamaru wondered aloud.
She sniffed dramatically, "they could have been stepped on. Or deer, deer can sometimes eat daisies. Or. Or that." With wide eyes, she stared at the canopy above.
Shikamaru followed her line of sight and suppressed a gasp. They were not alone. They were being watched by what looked like hundreds of raccoons. And the raccoons had the high ground.
Neji had somehow refrained from calling Shikamaru insane and just gone along with the ridiculous plan. So, the two spent time traipsing around a foreign nation together, in the middle of an unpleasantly cold night, looking for raccoons. When Shikamaru felt appropriately prepared, the two diverged. Neji remained hidden, waiting at an appropriate distance for his chance to scope the area.
Shikamaru hugged a line of brush, near the kunoichis. Just in range to hear their conversation, but with plenty of distance to run if needed. He listened closely, hoping to hear something useful.
"Daichi is turning four this weekend," a fast-talking voice, "I hope the Historian will have time to visit him. He's so busy these days."
"Well Aimi will be there, and all the other kids in their class. They probably won't even notice the adults," that voice was just shrill.
"And you know how much the Historian cares about birthdays. I'm sure he'll be there." That one was hard to hear. Shikamaru decided to call that one quiet-talker.
"Plus, I'm planning on bringing all kinds of treats for the kids, so don't you worry about a thing."
They continued for a while and Shikamaru, not even a little interested in a young child's birthday celebration, gave up on just hoping they would say something useful. He threw a rock up a nearby tree.
"Did you hear that?" Shrill voice.
"Hear what?" Fast talker.
"There was a sound coming from that direction."
"I just scouted ten minutes ago; it was probably just a bird." Quiet talker.
That was a lot closer to the information Shikamaru was interested in. Given their responses, and the fact no one had spotted him yet, he concluded that no one in their group had powerful sensory skills or anything nearing the byakugan's range of perception.
"I'm going to go check it out." Shrill voice started in his direction.
"Take a light." More useful information.
"I always have a light."
Shikamaru had been hoping for a few extra shadows to work with.
He took off, acting as the first distraction. He ran in the direction of a pre-scouted cavern, occasionally tossing rocks or breaking twigs to ensure she followed the correct general path. He ducked to the side of a clearing where he had a small cage and two kunai prepared. He launched a kunai towards a branch he had pre-severed, it snapped in two. The branch would have fallen, if not for Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu now holding it in place.
Shrill voice was now close enough to see clearly from his hiding place. She held a torch in a gloved hand and wore a determined look. The confidence of someone used to succeeding, but the concern of knowing strange things happen in the dark. Clearly, she was convinced she had found a trail, scanning every direction for movement and searching for the little clues he had been leaving behind. So Shikamaru gave her something to find.
He dropped the shadow possession, sending the branch crashing to the ground. She punched a fist through her torch, launching a ball of fire in the direction of the sound and creating a brilliant blaze in the night. Not quite the jutsu he was looking for specifically, but at least it wasn't earth style.
As she stared down the path of her destruction for eviscerated clues, Shikamaru used the second kunai to release the little trap he had stowed to his side. Time to give her a culprit. A small raccoon scurried from the box, running as far from the scary fire lady as possible. She watched it curiously and Shikamaru used the chance to get ahead. She followed only after he started throwing rocks again.
Shikamaru weaved through the pre-scouted terrain until he reached his cavern. It was a maze of mildew-covered stone and would have been impossible to navigate had he not already memorized the layout. He ducked in and out of rooms, leaving the faintest trail. Running up and down halls, until reaching a final fork in the path. Two final makeshift rooms to climb into on the right and on the left.
On the right, a large space. Damp, but with enough area to climb in and out easily. Most importantly, it held a secret exit to their little maze. The left was just a crevice of an opening you had to climb to reach, Shikamaru had hardly been able to squeeze in and out. He climbed into the right opening and waited. Shikamaru saw her torchlight before he could hear her cautious steps.
As her light grew, he silently moved to make a shadow. A long dark shadow now spilled, quite suspiciously, from the left entrance. An illusion that seemed to get smaller the closer she got. Shrill voice took a moment to consider the less than accommodating entrance into the dark before, finally, squeezing into a little room.
He crept out silently, as her upper body struggled to pull the rest into the space, and planted the smallest, most innocent of items on her person. Then, using his very convenient exit to the left, he ducked out of the maze. With a stack of pre-prepared boulders, he quickly set to sealing up the exit behind him. He wouldn't need it again.
Shikamaru imagined shrill voice as she cleared the little entrance, there would be a narrow hallway. She would probably still be walking slowly. Then she would enter a room, she would be looking for something hiding in the dark, turning over rocks. Then, ever so cautiously, she would turn around. Her brain slowly registering that the hundred lights reflecting back at her were eyes, and right on cue...
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
And with that very noisy cry, the second distraction began.
Shikamaru didn't blame the shrill-voiced woman. He assumed that she, like he as a child, wasn't actually afraid of raccoons. But there was a certain numbers game at play. Because when an army of anything stares at you, you would have to be a complete idiot not to be a little afraid. Choji had also screamed like a little girl.
As a person with normal thoughts and normal reactions to trouble, Shikamaru had tried to get his team to run away from the angry mob of little critters. But Ino, in the ridiculous emotional state of whatever she was that day, had insisted on staying to defend the rest of the daisies.
Choji had turned into a human boulder, and then Ino had started shouting at him about not hurting a bunch of innocent animals.
Shikamaru had decided that there were really only two options at that point, force Ino to run away, thus abandoning her precious flowers and have her hate him for a week or figure out some non-violent way to face off against hundreds of raccoons, who he had no clue how to face in the first place.
Shikamaru launched a shadow possession at Ino from behind and shouted "Choji, grab Ino and run!" He did and they took off as fast as possible away from the pack of beady eyes.
Ino had screamed as she was forcibly picked up and carried, but there was no way she could break out of Choji's grip when he had her hands pinned down.
They had been running for a while when Shikamaru came to the sickening realization that they weren't getting away just by abandoning the flowers. Because the hundreds of raccoons were chasing after them, in the canopy above. Even Ino seemed to recognize this after a time, as Choji was able to put her down and she ran at their side.
But no matter how fast they ran, or in which direction, the raccoons were at their backs.
Choji had stumbled, falling to the side.
"Choji!" Ino screamed.
"I'm alright," he called back.
While concerned for his friend, Shikamaru found himself preoccupied with a certain realization. The raccoons had stopped chasing them from the treetops and were now watching Choji. An idea crept into his head.
"Choji," Shikamaru shouted, "do you still have those shrimp chips with you?"
"Yeah," his friend returned, pulling the suspect pack from his pocket.
Shikamaru made a b-line toward his friend, ripping the bag from his grip and throwing it as high as possible, then locking it in a shadow possession.
"Run east," Shikamaru ordered, the pack of raccoons looked like they were ready to attack.
Ino took off, but Choji wouldn't move. "No! My snacks! I'm hungry!" Choji bemoaned, just as hysterical as Ino had been for her flowers. Shikamaru considered that maybe he needed less passionate friends.
"We'll go back to the flower shop and you can steal some more snacks later. Now run." Choji had whimpered then finally took off.
When Shikamaru was confident that they had enough distance, he released his jutsu and ran in their direction. He chanced a look back to watch the hundreds of raccoons descend on the smelly bag.
Upon finally catching up to very distraught Choji, Shikamaru had reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pack of snacks he always kept in reserve for his friend. That was how he learned that raccoons really liked shrimp chips. And why, in the dark of the night, he had taken the time to place one on the heel of a very shrill woman, climbing into a den of raccoons.
At the sound of shrill woman's screams, quiet-talker ran to her defense.
Shikamaru studied the way she traveled, at a distance. He would adapt his plan once he figured out her fighting style. Halfway down the trail, the woman bellowed toward the cavern and the sound spun, a gust of energy. So that was why she spoke so quietly. Shikamaru studied the effects of her jutsu, it made a clear path. Blades of grass laid down in her wake, smaller rocks had spun out of her way, even the ground had split in places, but the larger stones remained unbroken and barely moved. Shikamaru knew what to do.
He kept to a path at the front of the cavern, where there was just a bit of moonlight. Thirty seconds ahead of her, he found a sharp stone in just the right place and locked it in a shadow possession. Then he waited, staying flush in the dark against the cavern. The woman chased after the sound of her still screaming friend. But inside the cavern, screams ricocheted off stone walls, not helpful for navigating the area. So, Shikamaru left a trail of turned stone. The quiet talker was far less cautious about charging into the cavern. She followed his path, running right past where he had been hiding.
Shikamaru carefully walked the sharp rock, trapped in shadow, directly into the woman's path, and heard her scream when it pierced through her heavy steps. The force of her cry created a shock wave, released in random cries of pain, it loosened a stone behind her. Then another, then another. By the time she registered what had happened, she was trapped by a wall of stone and Shikamaru was on the outside. She screamed now, right at the little trap Shikamaru left for her, but her voice wasn't quite enough to break through.
Two women trapped in a cavern with a hundred raccoons. He mused that there must be a joke in there somewhere. Their now collective cries set off the third distraction.
Shikamaru stayed hidden in shadows to see if he needed to put any more work into this already ridiculous operation. The third kunoichi eventually arrived, circling the enclosure. Trying to get useful information from her panicked friends.
"What happened?" she shouted.
Quiet talker, who was no longer speaking so quietly replied, "I stepped on something and a bunch of rocks fell behind me."
"You set off an avalanche and got yourself trapped?"
"I stepped on something sharp!"
"Kiyoko, there you are!"
"What were you screaming about?"
"There are a million raccoons after me!"
"Raccoons?"
"I don't want to talk about it. Wait, what happened to the exit?"
"Oh my god, Sayuri, we are in a very small space. Do not use your fire right now."
"Hold on you two, I'm going to look around for another entrance."
That was all the information he needed. Shikamaru had figured out something very interesting about the Historian's fighters. He took off to the now vacated post. Neji was closely studying the ground and drawing in a scroll. He spoke without looking up from his work, "how much time do we have?"
"I'd give it at least another fifteen. They didn't break anything, so I don't think anyone in their group is skilled with blunt force attacks. And they won't find another exit. Eventually, they'll probably dig their way out and scout the area for tampering."
"Will they find anything when they do?"
Shikamaru was light-footed enough when he traveled to avoid much of a trail, but he had still taken time to sweep the path. And he trusted the raccoons to eat the stray piece of evidence he planted. "Just a bunch of raccoon tracks."
Neji continued to draw, "it's incredibly complicated."
"Can you see her?" Shikamaru asked, cautiously.
"I think so," Neji replied, "it's a weak chakra signal, but based on the location and concentration of chakra in the head, my guess is that it's Ino. She will be challenging to get to."
Shikamaru had expected that, nothing ever got to be easy. But knowing exactly where she was located was extremely helpful.
Eventually, Neji rolled up his diagram and the two took off. As they left, Shikamaru heard the sonic cry of three women, and likely a hundred raccoons, finally breaking free of their temporary cage. The raccoons were likely scurrying into the night. And the women, Shikamaru hoped, were promising never to speak of this again. His team sure didn't make an official report of it. Getting bested by tiny, fluffy creatures in the night was hardly the type of thing that made a ninja look competent.
Shikamaru thought of his team, out of breath, but finally free of the raccoons. Ino and Choji had both been too tired to be angry and just followed him back into the village. As soon as they neared the flower shop, they saw a familiar face.
"What are you three up to," Asuma had been smiling, oblivious to their plight "you look like you've been training really hard."
Ino had looked like she was going to burst into tears, "Asuma Sensei, I'm so sorry. We were trying to help you, but then I couldn't figure out how many flowers were for all the orders then all the daisies were broken, even the baby ones that weren't grown yet, then there were so many raccoons, and Shikamaru used a shadow and Choji squished me."
While this made perfect sense to Shikamaru, he couldn't imagine the same being true for their sensei. But rather than cut her off and risk get yelled at again, or worse, cause her to burst into tears, Shikamaru walked up to the hysterical woman and pulled a bundle of bush flowers from his pocket.
She stared at the flowers, agape, for an uncomfortable amount of time. He wondered if he was going to hear another lecture about how you shouldn't pick flowers that are not in full bloom or shove them into snack pockets. But instead of a lecture, he was getting crushed in a hug. Then Ino ran into the flower shop.
Shikamaru handed the slightly squished flowers to their sensei, who regarded them with the passing caution that one tends to use when they believe their students have gone insane. "Ino said you needed something for your anniversary with Kurenai sensei," he clarified.
"Oh," Asuma took the flowers and stared at them, "I guess she's right. That is today, isn't it."
Ino had come running out with a small vase and a new bag of shrimp chips for Choji. She delicately arranged the flowers for their sensei and returned them proudly.
Asuma stared at it, then back at her, likely trying to figure out how she had known about his anniversary in the first place. "Thanks, you three. But you should know, I don't need flowers."
The three junior members of team ten had stared at him incredulously, fresh memories of their recent raccoon toils playing on their faces. But Asuma continued, missing the general atmosphere, "Kurenai and I don't really celebrate with these sorts of things, we just are glad to be around one another."
Ino defied every expectation by not yelling or crying or lecturing, instead, she turned around and stomped right back to the flower shop muttering something along the way about lazy men and that not being how you get the girl. Then she slammed the door. Asuma sensei had looked as though he might try to console her; but Shikamaru, knowing better, stopped him. Choji, even with his replaced bag of snacks, had also looked a bit disappointed as he wandered off.
But Shikamaru didn't leave quite as disgruntled as his teammates. Sure, he was irritated by all the work he had been dragged into, a little embarrassed by the fact they had been chased off by raccoons, and he was in no mood to face his father after ditching the clan meeting. But he had also noticed that despite what Asuma was saying out loud, their sensei hadn't actually tried to return the flowers at any point. And exactly one year later Shikamaru would notice Asuma making a trip to the flower shop, under the vague pretense of visiting his student and supporting her business.
In retrospect, Shikamaru wondered how long exactly Asuma had spent in the dark on the matter.