Title: Diplomacy, Part 23
Fandom: Naruto, post time-slip
Rating: R/MishArchive: No archives unless I put them there myself, no MSTings.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters I write about in fanfiction. I'm only a little bitter about it.

Diplomacy, Part 23

Mid-afternoon found Shikamaru at the training field.

That wasn't so unusual. Even about-to-be-married shinobi needed to train. This particular field, however, was reserved for Team Kakashi and their ever-increasing roster of guests. Had anyone happened by, they would have considered it odd that the Nara wasn't at the ANBU facility or at the old Team Gai field where he sometimes still trained with Chouji.

The other peculiar thing was that the Nara was neither training nor cloud watching. He lay in the shade, propped on his elbows as he observed Kisame and Sai attempt to thrash each other in the middle of the field.

Pausing as he scanned the scene, Naruto scowled. He had been hoping for Sakura, because what Shikamaru said about her being next was preying on his mind, and he wanted to confirm that it wasn't really a possibility, that Deidara would eventually return to Rice or Earth Country or, hell, to the Akatsuki and everything would be normal again. He plopped down next to the shadow-user. "Running away?"

"Strategic retreat."

Naruto could sympathize. He had gone dutifully with the Kazekage to the rehearsal hoping to spend time with his friend. Since there wasn't a role for Naruto in the wedding party it quickly became boring although watching those in charge of the rehearsal had been mildly amusing. Outside of combat Gaara only had one speed. No one was about to tell the Kazekage that his purposeful march threw off the precision of the entire procession. Almost everyone (especially the erstwhile bridegroom) took the wedding planner's frustrated suggestion of a break as a dismissal. Gaara was indifferent to the delay, sitting in the temple with his arms folded and eyes closed in a semi-mediative state. Obviously neither Temari nor Yoshino, Shikamaru's strong willed mother, would let the shadow user get away with that, which meant those shinobi that didn't escape quickly enough were pressed into search duty. "They're expecting you back at the rehearsal."

Sighing, Shikamaru sat up, draping his hands over his knees. "I had to think about something," he said glumly.

Naruto didn't ask think about what because the Nara was always thinking about something and it was probably wedding related anyway. "Kankuro was right behind me," Naruto warned him. "He's in charge of bringing you back."

Shikamaru heaved another sigh, gaze centered on the two sparring shinobi. "Notice something?"

Following his gaze, Naruto cocked his head. "Sai's not mouthing off?" he offered after a moment.

A rueful grin ticked up the corner of Shikamaru's mouth, gone almost immediately. "There's that. What I meant is that Kisame's not using his sword."

Naruto shrugged. "Sai's not using his inks," he pointed out. "It's just a taijutsu spar. The really weird thing is that Kisame's out here at all. He's refused to fight any of us since he's arrived."

Shikamaru made a humming noise of acknowledgement, his gaze skating past the combatants to the forest beyond that marked the edge of Konoha's territory. "Taijutsu usually involves actually landing a blow," he commented absently.

Naruto turned his gaze back to the dueling pair. After a moment of observation, he realized Kisame was using his superior speed to stay just out of Sai's reach. While the Konoha shinobi was probably getting the best aerobic workout of his life, it didn't appear very effective for practicing battle techniques.

Although Kisame wasn't exactly an enemy, he also wasn't precisely an ally. Naruto decided Rice's ambassador didn't want to use his techniques against a powerful Konoha ninja he might have to battle for real someday. Normally he would be jealous of Sai's good fortune in fighting such a powerful opponent, but it wasn't really a fight. He should have asked me, thought Naruto. He wouldn't have to hold back since I've fought him for real.

An odd wooden-like rattle sounded in the tree above them. Neither Naruto nor Shikamaru looked up. The sound was one they both recognized. An instant later, an ungainly wooden contraption sprawled out of the tree and skittered to one side, joints clanking with its uneven gait.

"You've been found out," Naruto told Shikamaru.

Shikamaru heaved yet another sigh, expression shifting into one of weary resignation.

A shadow (a very large shadow) fell across the young men. Kisame grinned down at the two. "Fancy meeting you guys here." Sai flanked him, amiable expression firmly in place despite breathing harder than usual.

Naruto slanted a suspicious glance up. "Since when did you start training?"

"He said he was bored," supplied Sai as he sat down, which did nothing to alleviate Naruto's suspicion.

"You coming to the wedding?" Shikamaru asked the water user.

Kisame shrugged. "Not big on ceremonies."

"Not very diplomatic of you," came a biting comment from behind the tree as Kankuro stepped into the open. The puppet clambered to him.

"It's a special time, right? Seems to me you guys have had to make enough political compromises without the Akatsuki throwing rice at you."

"Bird seed," said Naruto.

Kisame blinked. Considering the staring nature of his eyes, it was both obvious and at least as disturbing as his smile. "Huh?"

"Bird seed. Granny Tsunade says rice is bad for the wildlife so we have to use bird seed."

Grinning, Kankuro added, "Since throwing rice is a sign of prosperity, Yoshino is up in arms about it. She doesn't want anyone to think Shikamaru is marrying down. Of course, Shikamaru then made the mistake of saying he doesn't find killing a bunch of birds to be an auspicious sign at the start of his marriage. I think he had to hide from his mother for the rest of the day after that."

Shikamaru winced.

"You two should have eloped," Kisame commented.

"Believe me, it's still at the top of my to-do list," Shikamaru muttered. "Seeing as the treaty between Rice and Konoha has just passed the council and the provisional one with Rice and Suna has also been approved, at least one of the ambassadors should be in attendance. Temari flatly refuses to have Deidara, so it needs to be you. Unless," he added blandly as he switched his gaze from the forest up to Kisame's smirking countenance, "you aren't all that serious about being diplomatic."

Kisame chuckled. "You want me there, I'll be there. Wouldn't want to jeopardize relations with either Suna or Konoha."

"You need to get back to the rehearsal," Kankuro told Shikamaru, "before your mother or my sister starts the next great shinobi war over your absence."

Shikamaru heaved the biggest sigh of them all. Standing up, he absently brushed off the seat of his pants before folding his hands together and silently melting into the shadows.

"You need to go back, too," Naruto reminded the puppet-user.

"Too bad," said Kankuro. "Your bestest buddy is on his way here. I always get such a kick out of watching you two try to kill each other."

Naruto slanted an ironical glance towards the Sand shinobi. Really, it wasn't as if he didn't know that Kankuro was trying to 'accidentally' off Deidara during spars. He just kept getting caught in the middle. Or, rather, he kept putting himself deliberately in the way so Sakura wouldn't realize Kankuro's intent. Naruto's duty was to protect Sakura and that included protecting her from grasping that her friend Kankuro was attempting to kill someone important to her.

And Kakashi thought he needed to see underneath the underneath. Sometimes Naruto thought the old man needed his eyesight checked.

Kankuro vanished into the foliage just as Deidara and Sakura entered the training area. Naruto grimaced. If actual carnage wasn't involved, Kankuro avoided Deidara, which meant he was stuck with the bastard.

Terrific.

Catching sight of them, Sakara waved; behind her, Deidara smirked. Naruto grinned at her, and in spite of his thoughts it was a genuine grin.

Yeah, he could put up with the Akatsuki bastard for a while if it meant spending time with Sakura.

After all, it wasn't like Deidara was going to be there forever.

The absence of the bridegroom only threw the preparations off a little bit. Rather than wait for Shikamaru (who was, after all, very skilled at avoiding things he didn't want to do), his mother opted to call in the seamstress for a last adjustment of the dress. It was a brilliant stroke, Temari acknowledged. Just as Shikamaru wasn't one for the formalities of the ceremony itself, Temari hated standing still and had been dodging the 'final fitting' since her arrival. As far as she was concerned, as long as it didn't fall off any dress was fine.

It was a good thing she was secure in the relationship itself. The way Shikamaru was constantly vanishing, a woman could get the idea that her partner didn't want to get married.

She was still going to yell at him for running out on his responsibilities. It threw him off when she didn't yell at him, and with the wedding so close she certainly didn't want to do anything that would upset his hard-won equilibrium.

Even though the wretched dress was fine, the fitter still found things to tuck and sew. Temari stood perfectly still (she was a shinobi, she could stand still when she had to) and fumed.

When the shadows in the far side of the room shifted in a way that couldn't be natural, Temari wasn't all that surprised. She waited until the fitter left for more thread or ribbon or frilly lacy stuff (seriously, if Lee had too much to drink at the reception and had to be subdued, this thing she was forced to wear meant she would have to sit there like some useless civilian female instead of beat his head in) before scowling at the far corner. Folding her hands over her waist (carefully, because she was pretty sure there were pins there), she commented, "This is supposed to be bad luck before the wedding, especially if your mother finds out you're here."

Stepping into the open, Shikamaru's shoulders hunched reflectively as he cast quick glances around the room as if trying to discover which shadow hid his mercurial mother.

Temari grinned. "Relax. She's not here."

He didn't return the smile. "Temari. I can't allow anything to go forward that will be a danger to Konoha."

She froze for the barest second before asking acerbically, "We've been at peace for ten years, and you think marrying me will bring danger to Konoha? Thanks a lot!"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Shikamaru just looked at her from under drawn brows.

After a moment, Temari turned her eyes away. "Besides, trying to change something that's already happened will just be troublesome for you. Won't it?"

The most frightening thing about the following silence was that Shikamaru didn't sigh. There wasn't even a strong exhale.

Temari risked a glance. He was still in his usual slumped posture, hands jammed into his pockets, shadows wrapped around him in such a way his expression was obscured, his eyes covered in impenetrable black.

The shadows fled as he raised his head. A slight, twisted smile crossed his lips. "Well, then. In case I don't tell you at the wedding, you look … okay."

Temari rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Be still, my heart."

Deidara was in one of his bouncing moods, where he couldn't sit still and his fingers constantly worked clay. While the rest of the group sat or reclined under the tree, Deidara rocked back and forth on his feet, a goofy smirk across his face. Sakura understood why, she was feeling a little lightheaded herself. Although she told herself it was because she skipped breakfast to attend the council meeting, deep down she knew it was more the shock of adjustment as she began to grasp the full consequences of what she had agreed to.

She envied Deidara his nervous energy. At least he had an outlet.

She was going to have to tell Naruto.

Why did that make her nervous?

She was happy, excited, she wanted Deidara to stay and marriage wasn't too high a price, but when she considered Naruto somehow everything got all tangled up. Glancing at her friend (in many ways, her best friend) from the corners of her eyes, Sakura tried to analyze her mixed emotions. It was a dismal failure. Sakura lived her emotions; analyzing them like a poison cure that needed to be distilled was beyond her capabilities. That was more an Uchiha trait.

Was she afraid Naruto would think she'd somehow betrayed Sasuke?

Had she betrayed Sasuke?

Odd question to ask herself, since Sasuke was the one not present. Nor did the question resonate with her. Yes, she needed Sasuke, and Naruto needed Sasuke, and Konoha needed Sasuke, and none of them would be complete until his return. But she wasn't twelve any more, and the nature of the need was different than that of a pre-teen desperate for love and affection.

She had plenty of that from Kakashi and Naruto, that and more from Deidara.

And none of this soul-searching did anything to explain her reluctance to say anything to Naruto about her decision, so Sakura shut off the part of her that was nervous and instead concentrated on the here and now.

The here and now was far more peculiar than anything happening in her head. She was, after all, sitting on a Konoha training field with two members of the Akatsuki, and no one was actively trying to kill anyone else (although some of the glares Naruto was sending towards Deidara likely felt lethal to that young man).

In fact, it was weirdly like the breaks they used to take back at the old hideout, when Sakura was a prisoner.

As if he could read minds, "All we need is Itachi and it would be like the old days," said Kisame.

Naruto grimaced and glared at the ground. There it was again, that sense of shared experience that didn't include him.

Deidara held still for an instant to scowl. Not sure what to say, Sakura settled for a vague, non-committal sound.

The water specialist smirked. "Aw, I'm sure you both miss him."

Sakura glanced at him, faintly skeptical. Deidara's expression veered more towards sheer disbelief.

"So," drawled Kisame, "what's the deal with you and Sasuke?"

In a flash Naruto was on his feet, teeth bared as he lunged over the water-user. "That's none of your goddamned business, fish-face."

Kisame didn't so much as flinch. His smirk grew larger. "Overprotective much? Sakura's perfectly capable of telling me off herself, if she wants me to shut up."

Now she was really convinced Kisame could read minds. Apparently Deidara thought much the same thing; he was regarding the other Akatusuki member with increasing wariness. "Why do you ask?" Sakura countered.

"The kid," he jerked a thumb at Naruto, "said something this morning. Kinda piqued my interest."

Sakura looked up at Naruto. He met her eyes, his expression serious, before stepping back from Kisame and shrugging with his hands out. No help there.

"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"I dunno. You tell me."

Deidara went still again

"Sasuke's the past," started Sakura. Deidara perked up, but unfortunately she continued with, "and the future once he comes home" and his expression crashed into harsh, austere lines.

"The future?" Kisame chortled. "Of what? The Uchiha clan? Itachi might have some opinions about that."

"It's hard to explain," said Sakura, not because she was being evasive but because explaining Sasuke's importance to Konoha really was hard. People who hadn't lived through the Suna invasion, the death of the Third, the revelation of Orochimaru's curse seal and Sasuke's subsequent desertion couldn't possibly understand.

"It's important," Naruto added soberly. "He has to know we haven't given up on him."

Behind Sakura, Deidara clenched a fist.

Sakura nodded. "He has to know not just that he can come home, but that this is home. It's where he belongs."

"You're going to forgive all the crap he's put you through?" bit out Deidara.

"Nothing to forgive," shrugged Naruto. Deidara stared at him incredulously.

Tilting her head back enough to look at her fiancée, "If you prefer, everything's forgiven already," Sakura told him.

"Considering the damage when Hebi attacked the Akatsuki at the tower, the Hokage will be less forgiving," remarked Sai more prosaically. "Assuming he's in one piece when he's dragged back, he'll be put on probation. If he doesn't destroy the village during his probationary period, he might be forgiven by some of the stupider people in the village."

Naruto bristled. Standing up, Sakura stepped next to him placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Nothing to forgive," she repeated to him. "It'll be fine."

Deidara muttered under his breath, "Gods, how do you people survive?" Sakura pretended not to hear him.

Kisame asked lazily, as if it was an interesting abstract problem that had just occurred to him, "Something happens to him, how pissed off are you going to be?" Deidara gave Kisame that strange look again, a cross between incredulous and calculating.

"Very."

"And if something happens to Itachi, you gonna be just as irritated?"

Sakura stared at him with her brows pinched together. Deidara flexed his hand as if considering which clay masterpiece to throw at Itachi first.

"Itachi doesn't have any reason to go after Naruto or myself any longer," Sakura finally said, although she spoke slowly as if feeling her words out first. "Neither of us are diplomats, so we aren't going to go to Rice. There isn't any reason for us to cross paths."

"That wasn't what I asked," Kisame pointed out, but he let it drop. "What's the matter, kid? You've been antsy since you got here. Go blow stuff up and let the grown-ups talk."

"We're getting married," said Deidara.

He said it without fanfare or emphasis, albeit with a certain abruptness that was likely related to the mention of Sasuke. Naruto stared at Deidara as if wondering how he could have possibly misheard; Sai got halfway through a comment involving the merits of relative sizes of male organs in mate selection that had to be aborted because Sakura slugged him hard,

Completely ignoring the commotion as Sakura continued to pummel Sai, "That so? You're going to have to resign from Rice," noted Kisame laconically.

"So I'll send 'em a bird," Deidara snorted. "They're done with us now, anyway. We cleared out the old guys and we brokered peace deals with the closest shinobi villages. We go back there, they'll probably use some of Itachi's techniques to take us down."

"Um, what?" stuttered Naruto. He still looked shell-shocked, and was tugging on one ear as if still trying to figure out why his hearing wasn't working properly.

"Itachi trained the civilians there to take on shinobi," explained Kisame. "Your Hokage didn't tell you about that? Oops."

"Are we supposed to talk about that?" asked Deidara without any real interest. He was too busy dividing his attention between watching Naruto visibly try to process what had been said and Sakura beating up Sai.

"Kinda defeats the purpose if everyone doesn't know," replied Kisame. "So spread the word. Please."

After shaking his head very hard in an attempt to jar his errant hearing into working (because two things had been said in short order that just weren't possible in his world view), "You think they can take you down?" asked Naruto in amazement.

Deidara didn't answer.

Sakura paused in her assault of Sai, probably because the other shinobi was too swirly-eyed to defend himself. "Why would Itachi do that?" she asked. She was as surprised as Naruto. (Which meant, noted one tiny part of Naruto's brain that wasn't dealing with processing two things that made no sense, whatever-it-was Granny Tsunade wasn't telling him, Rice's lethal citizenry wasn't it).

"What do you do to make a suspicious population trust you?" asked Kisame rhetorically. "You tell them everything you can to demystify yourself, which means that the three of us have no secrets as far as Rice is concerned. Do I think they can really take any of us out? Only in my wildest imagination. But we're talking about Itachi here. He doesn't do anything halfway, which means I can imagine it."

"The problem isn't the civilians. Itachi believes in this tripe. He'll go after any shinobi that tries to interfere with Rice." Deidara flexed his hand again as he considered more creative ways to exhibit his art, smile shifting into the dangerous battle smirk. "And if Konoha decides attacking Rice is the way to flush Itachi out of hiding, I'll be happy to volunteer for that mission."

Grinning ruefully, Kisame remarked, "You make a great ambassador for Rice, you know that?"

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, like you'll be doing any missions for Konoha."

There was a beat of silence.

Sakura released Sai, who fell with a heavy 'thud' into the dirt. "Well, about that," said she with a bright smile as Deidara's battle smirk widened.

They decided to spar for a while once Sai's eyes stopped spinning. At least, most of them did; Kisame opted out, and although Naruto participated his moves were so mechanical he was easy to nail. The shadows were long before they packed up and headed back to the diplomatic quarters. The trip was largely silent. Naruto was grim-faced, still struggling with information overload, and shooting glances at Sakura that somehow managed to be both quizzical and agonized.

Deidara wasn't paying as much attention to his girl as he probably should. Instead he kept his eyes on Kisame's broad back, eyes narrowed and hand in his pouch, half-molding battle sculptures before smashing them back into clay and beginning again.

He had been watching Kisame suspiciously since about, oh, five minutes after arriving at the training field.

Something in the other male's posture …

Something in the almost perfunctory slyness of his words…

Something…

Something was off.

Something was up.

One more reason he had decided to stay. These idiot Konoha shinobi who were supposed to be protecting his girl just sat around exchanging wise cracks with one of the most dangerous shinobi in all the countries and they couldn't tell something was up.

Deidara was convinced that if he poked this Kisame with a kunai it would collapse into a puddle of water. He was tempted, except — what if he was right? Yeah, exposing Kisame's clone might go a long way towards proving his loyalty to Konoha (a loyalty he did not, in fact, have), or it might get him tossed into the cell next to the real Kisame under the kill them all and let the gods sort them out theory ascribed to by several of the council members.

The question of why (why spar when he had refused to before, why did he need to be at the training field, why risk a clone around high-ranked shinobi who should easily detect one if only they realized something was up) didn't occur to Deidara. Those weren't questions with any immediate impact on him or his girl, and as far as Deidara was concerned matters that weren't immediate lacked substance.

When they arrived at his quarters, his girl conferred briefly with her teammates before turning back to him, hands folded behind her back and a sly grin in place. That made Deidara pay attention. "Sai has to switch off with Naruto for a while, so you're stuck with me."

The probable-clone Kisame could wait. He and his girl had some celebrating to do.

As late day gave way to twilight, the shadows deepened around the trees that bordered Team Kakashi's training field. This was a normal, daily occurrence.

In a shinobi village, a shadow that split off from a wide trunk to move independently could, in a way, also be considered normal.

The sharp teeth that gleamed briefly as lips parted into a sneer, however, would not fit into any Konoha's ninja definition of normal.

Suigetsu was impressed with his own restraint.

Kisame was there, the sword was there, within sight, within reach, almost daring him to grab it.

It was.

So.

Very.

Tempting.

A few years back, he would have thrown caution to the winds and gone for it.

He knew better now. While still inclined to go off by himself, Suigetsu understood that sometimes it was better to work with a team. One of those times was when his S-class target was surrounded by a who's-who of bingo book shinobi, most of whom had the phrase if sighted, run under their pictures.

Best to go with Sasuke's plan, which since it involved kidnapping Kisame and relieving him of the sentient sword anyway, worked for him as well.

Besides, he regarded the members of Team Hebi as a family of sorts. Since he had never been part of a family he didn't realize how seriously dysfunctional outsiders would consider their little group. As much as they squabbled, however, they also protected their own.

And if his unusual altruism granted him the sword he had lusted after for over a decade, so much the better.

Performing a hand seal, Suigetsu dissipated into a fine water mist.

A few minutes after Suigetsu vanished, another shadow dropped from the branches of a nearby tree, straightening to a height not obtained by many.

As anticipated, Hebi was here.

Which meant all the pawns in this little game had been placed.

The only real mystery left was discovering who was a piece and who was the master of the game.

Kisame looked forward to finding out.

Smiling his own sharp-toothed smile, Kisame formed a seal typically used to recall clones before fading back into the forest.