Chapter 4
The air inside was strangely humid in comparison to the windy and refreshing feeling outside; to the extent that their black attire was uncomfortably stuck to their skin, as though they glued it on and that their skin would unquestionably be ripped off if they decided to pull their clothes away.
It was irrefutable that Suna's sun was ruthlessly hot, but Temari reasoned that it was more merciful than the moist air around her. At least Suna's weather was fortunately dry.
Nostalgia overcame her. She missed Suna, she thought once she stepped into the Uchiha's damp company, triggering a plethora of sentimental memories; both grim recollections that made her stomach turn, and joyful memories that made her chest tighten.
Three minutes inside the Uchiha building and Temari concluded that it was unquestionably suspicious.
The Uchiha company's security was way less difficult to crack than the Hyuuga's, Kankuro had pointed out the moment they had conveniently entered and knocked a few unprepared guards to the ground. Even the guards weren't big in numbers opposed to their competing company. Temari skeptically observed that it was too convenient how the place was visibly unprotected and easy to walk into.
She felt as if she was walking straight into a trap.
Were the cloaked men setting her up? Did they know she asked for help?
She shook her head. This was no time to get sidetracked and suspicious, she should just focus on her job as a 'criminal' as that Nara boy had inconveniently labeled.
"Are you okay?" Kankuro wondered when her steps slowed down.
"Yes," she reassured and quickened her gait to lead the way.
Once they found the staircase they decided to split up.
Kankuro had persisted on staying in the ground floor with one of the cloaked men's underlings, guarding the main path to the offices above. The underling was a red headed woman who wasn't cloaked like the rest of them, and Sasori, another redhead (she was thinking it was a requirement at the moment if it weren't for Hidan) had followed her.
It wasn't difficult to figure out that Sasori was from Suna the instant they met the man, they all had distinctive penetrating eyes different from the cheery Konohan gaze. Out of all members, Temari favored his company the most but frankly, if she could have the blessing to decide (which she doesn't), she'd rather not be in the same planet as any of them. Yet, she was considerably relieved when she found out Deidara and Itachi would be going to the warehouse while Sasori was to assist them.
Temari stopped dead in her tracks as she got to the fifth floor. She closed her eyes to focus on her senses and pointed her fingers at the window for Sasori to see. "Can you hear that?" She could distinguishably hear an engine. It wasn't very audible but it could be observed in this eerily silent and irksomely humid building. She looked down, her green eyes deliberately scanning the area for any information she could gather and spotted a car that parked recklessly nearby.
She discerned familiar figures exiting the vehicle.
Policemen.
How did they find out so soon?
She knew this was a set up somehow and opened the line of communication immediately to the members in the warehouse. "I think this is a set up. The building is barely guarded and four policemen are already here. Should we retreat?"
"No." A long pause. "Get the files." Itachi's tone was direct and final, the man gave no chance for her to rebut before he closed the device.
Temari grimaced at the absurd orders. If she failed to retrieve the files everything will be done for, she grimly thought. Even her secondary plan would not benefit her.
It was no time to self-doubt herself; she ultimately decided and swallowed the lump in her throat. She needed to do her end of the deal and comply for the time being. Temari genuinely hoped it was for the last time. "We don't have a lot of time. We need to get moving," Temari voiced what was obvious and dashed up the stairs, Sasori following behind silently, unaffected by the escalating events.
Kankuro, please be safe. A man with a similar pony tail as hers came to mind. Hope you're not as weak today as last time. I need you alive.
The policemen found themselves leaping into two different cars the minute Sasuke gave orders in the middle of Naruto's disrupted 'date'. Chouji's car had Shikamaru, Kiba and Lee, while Sasuke and Naruto headed straight to the warehouse that was inconveniently located in the country side.
Unfortunately, as luck would have it Kakashi had disappeared throughout the date, and they had somehow forgotten to wait for Shino to hop in.
Sasuke didn't give a detailed explanation he just suggested this split because the intruders were in two different places simultaneously. In view of that fact, Lee decided to jump out of the car the instance Chouji had parked and hurried into the building from the back door to the tenth floor as that was where the lights were unwisely turned on.
Shikamaru groaned after seeing Lee's impulsive figure disappearing in the distance, then turned to Kiba before exiting the car. "Hey, how about you stay here? You're still healing from the bullet wounds. No need to get yourself another scar."
Kiba complied to that idea, not wanting to put Akamaru in any unneeded danger when he wasn't capable of fully protecting him.
"Plus, we need someone outside. If anyone gets past us, try to catch them."
"You can count on me." Kiba pridefully reassured.
Shikamaru then looked at Chouji with resolute eyes. "You go through the main entrance, I'll follow Lee." Chouji nodded. "Be careful."
Shikamaru ran to the back entrance, wishing he might catch up to Lee but he realistically doubted those high hopes. He looked up to study the place in case he might notice an anomaly that might help him later on.
The building was as tall as the Hyuuga's but it was much more intimidating at night, and in addition to that the complex looking shape of the place didn't help in the least with the confusing aspect. The twists and sudden turns inside the hallways added to the complications of finding their way inside, seeing as the structure didn't have a straight cylindrical shape but more of an egg with a pointless twist form.
What drugs the architecture was on a while being inspired to design this years ago he had to find out. Given that no sane person would think of creating it or working inside it, for that matter.
Sasuke should have provided them with blueprints of this place.
The complicated shape of his company really suited the Uchiha's personality, Shikamaru thought. Vague and weird.
A knife came flying in his direction as a welcoming the moment he reached the second floor. It barely scratched his cheeks and subsequently hit the walls behind him, sticking firmly inside the concrete to his dismay. The person who threw it definitely wanted him dead.
He looked ahead and noticed a redheaded woman running straight to him with a long wooden weapon in her grasp. Why was he always fighting women?
Shikamaru raced up towards the confusing hallways of the building that went in a continuous inclining loop. The loop definitely has an end point, he just needs to think of a way to use that to his advantage.
He noticed a fire extinguisher placed inside a glass box placed every seven meters he dashed up the building. He got an idea, but he needed to distract her for it to work.
The problem is he only had a gun.
Wait, that's enough.
Shikamaru wasted no time and pulled the gun out and began shooting at a random time interval. This would definitely throw her off. He clearly heard the woman's steps slow down, and he instantaneously raced towards the nearest fire extinguisher and began aiming it at the floor once he held it.
She began running after him once he stopped shooting.
Unbeknownst to her, the floor became slippery as Shikamaru strategized. She understood the tactic after she lost her footing and began rolling down.
"Shit!"
The redhead tried using her wooden weapon to slow down her sliding but it slipped from her hands, rolling down the end of the hallway. The woman was furious. She seethed through her teeth and tried to stand steadily on her feet but the second she thought her feet were sort of stable, her enemy appeared and splashed more water onto her face.
She closed her eyes and tried to rub the liquid out of her eyes to regain the usage of her sight, however as she did so she felt a hard surface making an unpleasant and hard contact into her abdomen.
"Fuck—"
She coughed up blood and fell to her knees from unbearable agony.
Shikamaru wasted no time and had used the extinguisher to slam into her body. Immediately after she fell to her knees, he raised it to hit her back but the woman used the slippery floor to her benefit and slid her body out of the way.
She barely made it.
Shikamaru threw the extinguisher away as it slowed him down significantly. He quickly scanned his surrounding and grabbed her wooden weapon. Fighters were always weaker without depending on their accustomed weapon. He broke it in half determinedly. Shikamaru had the upper hand now, he deduced.
Nevertheless, he ignored the odds and ran back down the hallway. He needed to find another way to get to Lee before his opponent recovered.
Kiba was sitting silently the whole time in the car waiting for any change to occur whilst Akamaru was safely sitting by his side. He was becoming awfully restless and also felt frustratingly useless at the moment.
Five minutes after Lee ran inside, he spotted a figure exiting the building. It was the man who held Hinata captive. His blood began boiling from anger as he recalled those riling memories.
"Revenge time, baby." Kiba motioned to Akamaru that it was show time. Once the adrenaline rushed after realizing who the figure was, Kiba turned the engines on and pressed hard with no remorse on the gas pedal. He headed straight at the black hooded man.
The criminal jumped out of the way into a nearby garden, a hair's width away from getting hit into the next life.
Kiba and Akamaru swiftly followed him to the green field that didn't match the company's pristine and snobbish impression. He grabbed onto the nearest branch and yanked it towards him. He whistled and threw the piece of wood as accurate as he could at the man.
"Akamaru, catch!"
Akamaru ran in an unbelievable speed towards the cloaked man. Akamaru reached him, jumped onto his back before his claws dug deep into the skin unpleasantly.
"Motherfucker." Kankuro cursed and fell to the ground from the abrupt sting. He reached towards his gun and aimed at the massive creature.
Kiba's eyes widened. "No!" It was futile, the man was not going to show mercy.
But.
Without warning, as if the world took pity on him, an orange-haired man was sent to appear and kick the weapon out of Kankuro's hands. "Killing an animal is too cruel." He said before striking the man's shoulder with his feet, sending his body moving a few inches away towards a nearby tree.
Akamaru and Kiba fell back as he showed up. "Who are you?" Kiba grabbed Akamaru and held him by his side to reassure himself that he was actually safe, and not dreaming.
"Juugo. I work with Sasuke."
Kiba felt relieved. He didn't have the energy to fight another person. All three of them focused their attention back at Kankuro who was back up, grinning from ear to ear as if he had the upper hand.
Instantaneously, Juugo grunted and collapsed on the ground with a loud thud before dark blood started pooling under his body. Kiba sniffed in disgust as the smell of iron invaded his nostrils. He studied suspiciously his motionless figure and to his surprise he saw two creepy puppet like figures on the man's motionless shoulders, piercing a dagger like weapon from their mouths into his skin.
"You're a fucking creep, you know that?" Kiba insulted as he positioned his body in front of Akamaru as a shield.
Kankuro chuckled and stepped forward while looking at him with the eeriest glare. "Creepy or not, you're done for."
Kiba laughed as he fed Akamaru a tiny ball that was in his pockets. "We'll see about that!" Akamaru's eyes turned crimson.
Sasuke checked on the electricity before he entered warehouse, the wires were all cut off as he expected. These criminals were interesting, cutting off the electricity will not help them with their search, and they didn't mind that. They were sure of their strength; not needing any outside factor to assist them.
He smirked. He loved the challenge.
"Hey. The back door is open." Naruto informed through the device. Sasuke had told him to enter through the back.
This is becoming more interesting. Sasuke thought. The intruders obviously entered through the back and front door. They were definitely still here as his sensors went off not even half an hour ago. The warehouse was built near the house he grew up in his whole childhood days, it was a forty-five-minute trip from the city, but with his wild speeding today, he got there in less than thirty minutes. He was positive they did not have enough time to find what they were looking for as he knew where it was ideally hidden.
Sasuke moved cautiously around the dusty storage space. It was filled with a myriad of unnecessary boxes, but he needed that distraction to hide what was actually important, under the odd circumstances these mysterious people knew that he was hiding something here. This made him meticulous on where he headed, he intended to give them the impression that he was walking exactly towards what they wanted.
"Really? Then stay there and guard the exit." Sasuke talked into the walkie-talkie.
"Sure," replied Naruto.
Sasuke got to the corner of the warehouse, looked around warily before opening a huge brown box that had other small boxes lying on top of it as a camouflage.
Small bombs went off around Sasuke's feet. The Uchiha quickly jumped backwards.
"Ha, ha, ha! Right into our trap, stupid brat!" A long-haired blond man appeared; the bombs he threw created a small flame around him. "So, this is where the medicine was hidden… GAH!"
As the man looked into the box a fist came straight in contact with his face. Naruto jumped out of the box and pinned the man into the floor and slammed his other fist directly to his guts. The baffled man tried kicking Naruto out of his way, however Naruto retreated to the side swiftly before reaching towards the man's cloak and pulled the fabric around his neck to raise and throw him into a nearby pillar.
Crack.
"You bastard…" the man hissed after a few boxes started toppling on him. He tried to get up but Naruto didn't waste time and used his elbows to aim at his back. "Ugh…" He looked up. "You think you're smart." He growled in annoyance at the distasteful situation. His eyes were full of fury at Naruto. "You won't get out of here alive."
"Yeah, I'm smart." Naruto confirmed. "Like, someone is stupid enough to think I'd follow Sasuke's orders." He stuck his tongue out.
"You damn…!" The blond man tried to reach for his bomb bag but to his alarm it wasn't where he last left it.
Sasuke walked towards his beaten-up physique and held the said bag up to his face, but out from reaching distance. "Looking for this?" The Uchiha proudly smirked at his opponents stupefied face.
The enemy tried to stand up but Naruto kept his body in place with his leg.
"Itachi, isn't time to show up, you damn bastard?!"
Sasuke's eyes widened. "Itachi…?" he repeated.
His fingers felt cold and heavy. Gradually he lost his senses and the bag fell from Sasuke's fingers once he registered that name.
Bam!
Everything slowed down around Sasuke. The white, orange and red hues slowly formed in his sight of vision. He could clearly see another cloaked man with the same pattern on his clothes appear from the corner of his eyes as the flames grew bigger. His brother was standing near the staircase the whole time, observing them from above.
Naruto's figure was slowly shielding himself from the sudden flash, but when he compared it to his brother's figure he was moving in a normal pace.
Sasuke forgot how to stand on his feet, as though gravity never existed. He nearly fell to the floor before his brother came up and held his shoulders to maintain his balance.
Sasuke stared in awe. He stuttered, "You… you're alive. You're…?" Sasuke breathed in a lungful of air to bring him back to his senses, but his senses were the same, he strangely realized. "You're itachi, right?" Sasuke gaped at the face in front of him, not wanting to blink, frightened he might disappear.
Itachi smiled gently. "Yes, Sasuke." Itachi looked around at the slowing motion around them, and squeezed Sasuke's shoulders. "I'm sorry, I tried to stop them from giving you the medicine, but it seems they tested it on you as well." Itachi closed his eyes in dismay, then opened them and confirmed to Sasuke's shock, "You see how time moves slower for us, correct?"
He wasn't dreaming, then.
Sasuke was particularly taken aback by the course of events. He couldn't handle the overwhelming idea that his brother was alive, but to process that time moved slower for them as well?
"I… I just noticed. B… but you're alive." Sasuke's eyes stinged. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
Sweat started forming around Itachi's forehead and he started shaking. "Look, Sasuke. I'm sorry, but I can't slow time any further. Take your friend and escape. I will tell you everything when the time is right." Itachi tapped his forehead tenderly after ordering.
Sasuke was engulfed with conflicting emotions, mainly bittersweet and deep resentment. Subsequently, he didn't comprehend or remember how he moved his legs to get to Naruto and guide him to the exit, and was only pulled out of his extreme state of daze when he started noticing his clothes becoming wet and clinging tightly to his skin after stepping outside.
Sasuke noticed that time suddenly went back to how it originally worked as the building they were in a second ago began going up in flames.
"Huh, what… How did we end up here?" Naruto who was sitting on the ground started looking all around for an answer.
"No Idea," lied Sasuke. He started inspecting his normal looking hands. If it weren't for that ability they would be burned to ash right now.
It started pouring.
Temari was half way done downloading the information when Itachi had called her. "We're done. Get the information and meet us near the port. Inform the rest."
Click.
Temari wasn't given the chance to update them.
She sighed and examined the screen. Three minutes left.
Her whole attention was on Kankuro. She kept constantly checking if he was injured or in need of help, and the cameras placed on left side of the room didn't help her stop worrying. While the cameras on the right were displaying the match between Tayuya and that Nara boy.
Tayuya was now tailing him outside of the building. Shikamaru had tried to follow Lee, but Tayuya's persistent pursuit didn't let him do what he pleased. She had blocked the only way to reach Rocklee and changed the course of battle to the area near Kankuro.
The main problem was the bushy brows kid, he had penetrated their defenses without fail and was now fighting one of their last shields; Kimamaru, but as she could fortunately notice, he was at a great disadvantage, and for some reason he seemed drunk out of his mind?
Sasori and her were invested in that fight the most as it was the nearest battle next their office.
Temari jumped as their door was busted open. Sasori immediately attacked the foreign figure, a man with white hair and long sword.
What era is this guy from? She questioned in astonishment as he swinged at Sasori.
Sasori had easily dodged and attached imperceptible strings on the man's legs to pull him to fall on his face. It reminded her of Shikamaru's plan back in the Hyuuga building with the chairs.
She looked down and noticed Sasori was about to stab him with a long, intimidating, and sharp knife, but the man rolled away hastily and into the side of her desk, nearly knocking her device to the floor. She jumped away from the table as she grabbed the laptop, keeping it close to her chest.
Temari looked down after she felt something hit her heels. She smiled as she conveniently found the man's long sword next to her feet.
Before he could make a grab for it Temari used all her strength to kick it out of the building with extreme focus. It had crashed into the glass windows and went falling near one of the bushes.
"I don't need that sword to beat you guys up!" he had boasted before Sasori took the second of disturbance to his advantage to gain an opening and attack with his puppets mercilessly.
Temari was not fazed. She let Sasori take care of the white-haired man, and focused her whole attention on the slow screen that determined her fate.
Two minutes left.
She looked back and gasped. Sasori was down on the ground, bleeding endlessly from his stomach. She deduced the man had used Sasori's puppets against him when she noted the damage came from the familiar looking dolls that were placed next to his body.
"Your turn, bitch!" the enemy had informed before aiming at her with one of Sasori's weapons.
She saw light flash through her eyes.
Kimamaru appeared from behind and blocked the attack.
She exhaled in relief, and slowly inspected the screen, highly agitated at the slow process.
One minute.
She scanned the cameras behind them to help her decide on the safest route once the download completed.
Lee was still barely alive near the back exit, she needed to find another way out of here. She then checked on her brother and to her dismay noticed him in a dire state with two policemen figures attacking him constantly one after another to slow him down. He had succeeded in knocking out the orange-haired man and the dog but the odds weren't turning in his favor. He was hopelessly outnumbered.
If they had retreated and not listened to Itachi… It would not have turned out this way.
Temari's breathing started to feel heavy as her hands were becoming sweaty, the device nearly slipping from her grasp, her legs were trembling, informing her that they couldn't keep standing consciously for long. Everything was happening too fast.
She looked straight ahead.
Sasori continued bleeding, Kimamaru kept attacking, and the swordsman kept blocking.
Download completed.
She pursed her lips, pulled the flash drive and carried Sasori's body away from the commotion. She placed his head on her lap and looked at him with unsteady eye contact. Temari lowered her head, and whispered.
"Please, please…" She breathed deeply as she saw him blankly looking at her, the light in his eyes fading. "Is Gaara safe? Please tell me. Is he safe? Is he alive?" His pupils looked straight at her. She tried not choke as she pressed for information. "Please… Please answer…" Temari's body tensed when he finally registered her words and started moving his lips. "Is he alive?"
She could register a nod before the man's soul left him. She breathed out. With all her heart, she hoped that meant a yes.
Temari gently placed the man's head on the floor before escaping.
Hang on, Kankuro.
Inevitably, Temari hurried to the main entrance without one second to waste, her sisterly instinct kicking in. One thing's for sure, she was an unforgiving opponent once she felt fury in her system. and she wasn't going to escape without Kankuro. She concentrated on that one goal that she had not noticed the countless unconscious figures on her way out, stepping on a few of them.
Shikamaru was going to puke.
The number of times he jumped and slid down the hallway to escape the crazy woman attacking him was uncountable. He was too old to dodge and bounce around like a clown. Not to mention, exerting continuous weight on his hurt leg was slowing him down.
In the past few minutes, only two bullets he had shot had hit the redhead, one in her left shoulder and another went straight through her left palm, but not in any place that could slow her down. She had full control of her legs while his legs gave him a great disadvantage.
This was all definitely the blonde woman's fault. If she hadn't stabbed his legs he could have caught up with Lee minutes ago, and he wouldn't be stuck in this excruciating situation of hide and seek.
He didn't put in any effort to play this long when he was a child, he thought bitterly.
To Shikamaru's disbelief, the redhead caught up with him and pinned him down to ground.
He grunted as he hit the ground. His legs wouldn't move.
He was done for, he decided.
"Ha! How the tables have turned. Now you're on the ground. Why don't you turn around as well?" The woman suggested humorously and pushed his head to side so he could get a glimpse of the knife in her hands. "I want you to clearly see the weapon entering your body." She smiled creepily. "Isn't that kind of me?"
Shikamaru grimaced. "Very." Yeah, this was all definitely blonde woman's fault. He didn't believe he nearly helped her. He studied the disturbing bloody knife in his line of unwanted sight. "Get it done with, woman." The last thing he wanted was to be under a woman's mercy.
She laughed. "With pleasure!"
So, this is how it ends? When he thought about it, he didn't have any regrets but he would have preferred his last sight were of the clouds. Shikamaru just hoped his friends made it out alive, unlike his pitiful fate. He looked up at the swinging motion before shutting his eyes as the metal came close to his face. Sorry, mom.
Bam! Bam!
Thud.
Shikamaru exhaled. He felt the weight above him disappear. For some reason, his legs could move now.
Either the death process doesn't hurt or… Wait. He blinked. Those were shooting noises. She was attacking me with a damn knife.
A migraine creeped into his head. He started blinking excessively trying to perceive his dark and drizzling surrounding. His head felt consequently heavy when he registered the redhead's lifeless figure beside him on the ground, the roles suddenly reversed. He looked up in confusion, trying to find the figure who shot the woman, but the heavy rain was not helping.
A second later, he spotted four familiar pigtails in his hazy line of vision.
He was short of breath. "You…?" Shikamaru tried to verbalize his thoughts.
He rubbed his eyes. Shikamaru couldn't comprehend what was happening. He was still taken aback that he was still in the land of the living.
"I am surprised you accepted your fate so graciously."
He tried to lift his torso up and look straight ahead at the blonde who came to his rescue, holding his gun smugly in her hands. He had lost the weapon somewhere while dodging the dead woman's attacks.
His mouth was gaped and his eyebrows were raised. "Did you just…?" He tried to confirm. "Did you miss…?"
Temari walked up to him and kneeled down before placing the gun near his hands, then flashed him the most genuine and biggest grin she could form. "You're welcome, genius."
Shikamaru wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline leaving his body or his throbbing head and leg, but he could swear he felt butterflies in his stomach once his blurred view took in the beautiful smile.
"I need you alive to return the favor, you know."
Her grin grew wider at his furrowed eyebrows.
"Troublesome…"
Temari's heels clicked away as she ran towards the garden behind him. Shikamaru swore as he tried to ignore his throbbing head and weak limbs, fighting to regain control over his strained body to follow the baffling woman.
Kankuro had fallen helplessly to the ground the minute he ran out of puppets to steer against the chubby policeman. For a sufficient amount of time, he had succeeded in slowing them down and knocking most of them unconscious, but the chubby enemy had appeared and remained his opponent until his energy debilitated drastically.
The policeman's endless endurance was unbelievable in contrast to his weakened form after the two fights he won with abundant effort. He was clearly at a disadvantage and to his dismay his body has reached its limit and had become unquestionably heavy and vexingly feeble from the unceasing heavy strikes.
Kankuro didn't mind. What was important is that he had captured their attention for the majority of the time and they hadn't followed Temari inside the building.
Roar!
Kankuro's ear perked at that sound. His heart fell to his stomach as he dejectedly registered that it was similar to the sound Temari's motorcycle produces. Kankuro's head slowly lifted off the wet ground to check if the connection he made was right.
To his dismay, his assumption was correct.
Temari was boldly sitting on her vehicle, helmet on, positioning the wheels precisely towards Chouji, who was a few meters away from Kankuro's bloody body. His hotheaded sister made direct eye-contact with him before deciding on moving full speed ahead, unbothered that there was a policeman blocking the way.
Roar!
Temari headed directly at the policeman, who jumped back in alarm at the crazy move, causing him landing hard on his buttocks.
"Kankuro, can you stand up?" Temari abruptly stopped next to her brother. "Are you—?"
"Temari… Leave." He interrupted, his voice hardly audible and his breath painfully shallow. Temari panicked; Kankuro's physical state was a mess.
She stepped away from her vehicle and knelt down. "Kankuro, I won't leave without you. I got the flash." She informed as she placed her hands under his back and shoulders, attempting to lift him up. "Kankuro—"
Kankuro winced at her desperate motion; the unfortunate placement of her hands right on his bullet wounds. "It's… useless… I—"
Temari shook her head stubbornly at her brother's frustrating comments, and started lifting again to no avail. "Gaara's alive." She revealed, hoping the startling news would encourage Kankuro to comply and lift himself up to escape with her.
Kankuro's eyes widened at that information but to Temari's shock he pushed his body away from hers and back onto the damp ground. "Get them the flash." He coughed again, this time harder, and insisted with a shortage of breath, "One of us… has to escape…"
"Nobody's escaping!" the chubby man shouted once he regained his balance and ran towards them with a gun in his hands, aiming directly at Temari, prepared to shoot.
Kankuro inwardly cussed as his body wouldn't listen when he tried to push his sister away.
Temari's breath caught in her throat. She had no time to dodge.
"Chouji, STOP!"
Chouji's hands faltered, startled at that familiar voice, resulting in the bullets to miss their target significantly as the gun moved upwards towards a random tree, knocking a twig down. Chouji looked back at Shikamaru's slow figure, limping towards them at a sluggish and awkward pace, obviously weakened by the catastrophic events of the day.
Temari remembered to breathe again as she registered the unfolding occurrence, astonished at the genius' appearance. I see you don't like owing favors. But, luckily for you I don't need your help anymore.
"Files…" Kankuro reminded, forcing Temari out of her stunned state. "Escape… now." The last thing Kankuro could notice from his view were Temari's stingy eyes as she saw him losing the battle against consciousness slowly. He swore they were tears and not raindrops.
She loathed herself deeply when she took advantage of Chouji's diverted attention to position her body back on top of the vehicle, leaving her brother regrettably behind.
Chouji pursed his lips at the obvious adverse results before gradually turning to Shikamaru, trying to control his anger at their failed mission. He looked at his friend with perplexity as if he was a complete stranger.
"What the hell, Shikamaru?" Chouji inhaled, then exhaled in a forced pattern, trying to control his irritation but failed miserably after he raised his voice, "You let her escape!"
Shikamaru didn't have an ounce of energy in him to justify his actions, as he himself didn't understand why he did it. Hence, when he felt his eyelids become heavy, and his legs becoming harder to control second by second, he was particularly grateful for the sudden escape plan. He lost control of his body without complaint and welcomed sleep.
Shikamaru's escape plan didn't last long.
It was now two thirty in the morning, he saw the hospital's clock reveal to his disappointment. He was in a shared room with a rather beaten up Kiba who had Hinata and Shino standing by his side, and Akamaru placed in his lap.
To his dismay, he woke up with three pair of eyes looking at him with utmost judgement. One being none other than Chouji who was sitting by his side eating some bag of his usual barbeque chips to regain his energy back (or eat his feelings out), while Ino sat quietly next to him, studying his facial expression closely, thinking her interrogation skills will help her understand what was going on inside his head.
If only she knew he didn't know what was going inside his head either.
The last, and least favorite pair of eyes were his father's. Shikaku was standing in the corner, his arms and legs crossed and his head leaned back on the window pane. Out of the three pair of eyes, his dad's doubting and sharp gaze annoyed him the most. It was the same skeptical look Shikamaru earned whenever he would make an unknowingly foolish attack against his dad in Shogi, clearly distrusting his plan to win, and his father's assumption would always turn out be correct.
He guessed his father was informed already of his failed mission's embarrassing details.
As for his mother, her gaze was kind and held no negative emotion. She was just glad he was awake, he thankfully noted as she gleefully perked up in her seat when he opened his rather heavy eyelids.
After a few minutes of scanning the room he sluggishly sat up. His eyes twitched at that unwise action. His leg didn't fully heal yet, it seems.
"I won't drop you off every day this time around," Chouji bitterly stated as he saw Shikamaru's reaction to his leg.
Shikamaru smiled. "I understand." He felt bad, but he didn't regret his actions. The woman fucking killed someone for him, and saved his life, of course he wasn't going to let her get shot, but he didn't necessarily plan far ahead for her to escape, either. It just happened.
How was he going to explain that to Ino and Chouji, though? He felt so tired right now he didn't feel like using the remaining energy he has left to speak.
Ino and Chouji had stopped pestering him about his unintelligible behavior, and silently waited for him to talk. They knew Shikamaru had a coherent reason for every single thing, even though it didn't make sense to them at the moment they decided to trust him given his past record. They grew visibly impatient by the second, though.
Shikamaru thought back to his interaction with the blonde woman. His memories immediately recollected her endearing grin and erased everything else as if it were in the distant past. He sighed as he remembered his illogical reaction to her genuine smile.
Troublesome woman.
She made absolutely no sense. How does she expect him to help her when she illegally stole another file? It pushed her name higher up in the wanted list. Why did she even save him if she got her hands on the files successfully? And why would she kill an accomplice if she wanted the files as well? They were clearly working for the same goal. This whole situation left his brain in chaos, as he thought about it more and more.
One thing for sure, he fucked up, but at the same time he wasn't sorry.
However, Asuma was going to kill him.
He really needed to get this off his system, he was overusing his brain power into frying by sunrise at this rate. Shikamaru didn't particularly like voicing his mistakes in front of his dad but he needed someone to help him with his jumbled thought process.
"Ino, Chouji."
They both looked up, expectantly waiting for a mind-blowing explanation.
He was discouraged when he noticed their optimistic eyes. Shikamaru was going to let them down this time around, hopefully the first and last time. Sadly, he didn't have a grand reveal of how his actions had a hidden motive. "The woman saved me from death." Shikamaru disclosed blatantly.
Shikamaru swore he saw his father slightly smirk.
Chouji was irked. "That's why you let her escape, Shika?"
Shikamaru groaned at that insinuation. "Look, Chouji, I'm sorry, but the troublesome woman shot her damn accomplice to death who was about to stab me. I was definitely going to the other side if it wasn't for her."
Everyone in the room became silent at that reveal. Their eyebrows nearly flying off from disbelief, even Akamaru who was by Kiba's side was visibly stunned.
"What…?" He heard Ino slowly utter, doubtful of what she just heard.
Shikamaru inhaled deeply, incredibly annoyed at how everything inconveniently unfolded today. He made direct eye contact with Chouji once more, wanting to make sure he understood his perspective. "I didn't want her to escape, but I didn't want her to get shot, either. I'm sorry."
Ino shot up from her seat. "But why?" she voiced her understandable confusion. "Why would she kill her partner? That doesn't make sense!"
Shikamaru laid back down on the rather comfortable pillow after hearing Ino's plausible question. "Hmm… I have a slight hunch, but I'm not sure," he replied before closing his eyes, hoping to doze off again. "If Asuma and Kakashi arrive wake me up so I don't have to repeat my theory. That'll be too troublesome and a waste of energy."
Ino's eyes twitched in annoyance. "This is not the time for your sloth side to take over."
It was exactly the perfect time, he thought. Consequently, at not such a perfect time Kakashi and Asuma entered the crowded room, with a distant looking Sasuke (more than usual, he noted), Naruto and Neji following soon after.
Hinata and Naruto visibly turned pink when they noticed each other.
Ino brightened up before turning to Shikamaru and smiling cheekily. "They're here now. It's explanation time."
Great, now everybody was going to listen to his fuck up.
Asuma ignored their interaction and gave a brief overview of the situation, "Three enemies were found dead. One in the warehouse, and two in the company were killed, one by Suigetsu, Sasuke's employee, and another one shot by you, Shikamaru." He looked at Shikamaru with an amused look, taken aback but impressed nonetheless by his unexpected effort. "I'm annoyed that you let Sabaku's daughter escape but at least you stopped one of them." Asuma smiled after voicing his reasonable criticism.
Shit, Shikamaru cursed internally as he observed Ino and Kiba holding back a smirk at Asuma's faulty explanation. The bullets were his so they assumed it was his doing that Tayuya was dead. He had to clear that up, he ultimately decided to his dismay.
Shikamaru opened his mouth to clarify but Asuma continued on with the unfinished report as he made himself comfortable next to Chouji. "While two of their accomplices were found in a critical condition, one of them being Kankuro, the ex-president's son as we have correctly deduced a few weeks ago. If their surgeries go well, we'll have two prisoners for questioning." Asuma sighed. "On the other hand, our main goal was to stop the files from getting stolen, but… well we failed." Asuma glanced at Shikamaru at that comment before looking back at everybody else.
Wait until you find out I was going to help her, Shikamaru bleakly thought.
"I need to clarify a few things," said Shikamaru as he sat up to be at Asuma's eye level, to witness the oncoming judgement more clearly. "Well, first of all, I wasn't the one who killed that redhead." Asuma's eyebrows furrowed at that reveal. Before he could express his confusion, Shikamaru added, "the woman who stabbed me last time in the Hyuuga building shot her redheaded accomplice with my gun as she was about to kill me."
Silence befell the room.
They were all utterly dumbfounded.
Then, nonother than Naruto broke the silence. "What?! Did she change sides? Are you working together now?"
Shikamaru shook his head.
"So, you let her escape as a reward?" Asuma asked focusing on his immense slip-up, visibly exasperated.
Shikamaru groaned, again. Why were they assuming the same thing? Did they really not trust him. "Sir, I didn't plan on letting her escape, and I wasn't working with her," he said as he shot an angry glare at Naruto. "I don't understand why she saved me—"
Asuma stood up from his chair and reasoned with pure irritation in his stern tone, "Maybe, Shikamaru, maybe, it was a manipulation tactic for you to let her escape later on, as she clearly knew that the odds weren't in her favor. I don't need to explain that to you out of all people, Shikamaru, you're the smart—"
"It wasn't manipulation." He cut off, assuredly.
"Then what is it?"
Shikamaru fell silent. Yeah, what was it, then?
Shikamaru stared intensively at his twiddling hands, avoiding the numerous subjective eyes for a few seconds, before inhaling deeply and revealing, "I'm sorry I didn't disclose this information before, but Temari made a surprise visit to our home—"
"Our home?" Yoshino yelped, in shock. "They know where we live?"
"We'll move to the country side, honey," Shikaku reassured, already planning ahead.
"You let her tail you, Shika?" Chouji interrupted.
"Well, if we're focusing on useless information at the present, to be precise you were the one tailed as I was being dropped off with your car." Shikamaru elaborated in annoyance and looked back at a visibly disapproved Asuma. "The woman suddenly dropped by yesterday and was asking for my help, I didn't trust her at first, but the way she pleaded seemed genuine—" he swore he noticed his dad slightly smirking, frustratingly again. "—I was planning on informing you but she didn't reveal much that was worth telling. The only thing I got out of the conversation was that I think the sand siblings were being blackmailed to do all this dirty work for an organization. She told me they were working under an organization that had eight main members and their base was in Konoha." Shikamaru's shoulders relaxed after dumping everything out in the open for them to interpret. "She wanted my help and I told her to tell me everything in exchange and that it depends on what my team will decide with that information. That's all."
"Did you help her?" Kakashi asked.
"Other than letting her escape?" Chouji couldn't help but add.
"I didn't let her escape," Shikamaru grumbled as he repeated for the umpteenth time. "And no, I didn't help her as she didn't disclose all information that day because she suddenly left."
Ino was furious at that unexpected reveal. "And you didn't think of telling us?"
"I didn't hide this for long, it has only been one day since the encounter. I was just waiting for more information."
Asuma tsked and pulled out his lighter. "For being a genius, you do pretty stupid things." He moved the cigarette up to his mouth. "How are we sure we can trust her?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "I think killing her accomplice counts for something, right?"
Asuma's lips made a straight outline. He clearly wasn't convinced.
The door slid open revealing Sakura with two charts in her diligent hands. She immediately noticed Asuma's cigarettes and showcased an angry glare. "Smoking's not allowed," Sakura severely informed while walking to Kiba's bedside to check his monitor.
"How's his condition?" Asuma asked after obeying her orders, stashing his lighter quickly way. Nobody was imprudent enough to cross Sakura.
"He's noticeably better. His right arm was poisoned but the antidote given was fast enough to reverse all effects before the nerve damage took place, as for his left leg his bones are broken, he needs at least two months of healing before going back on life threatening missions." Sakura took a moment to breath. "I don't want him using his weight on his left leg for the time being, as it could get worse if he used it too much, and the healing time will be prolonged." Sakura motioned her head at Shikamaru's leg as an example for how that turned out. She then took out another note pad from her pockets, and began explaining Rocklee's condition before Asuma could enquire, "Lee's having surgery at the moment to take out three bullets, but it's not dangerous as the places shot weren't near any major organ. Thankfully, he didn't lose a lot of blood." Sakura smiled before concluding, "He's going to be okay."
Asuma's eyebrows unknotted at the medical report. It wasn't terrible, but it could have been better. He turned to Kiba. "Kiba stop being reckless. Getting hospitalized every time I send you on a task is not an ideal outcome."
"Last time, sir." Kiba murmured.
"What about the two criminals?"
"Kankuro Sabaku is still in a critical condition; the other one is dead," Sakura briefly informed.
Asuma nodded slowly at that reveal, his facial muscles discernibly more relaxed. They would gain a huge advantage if they had someone for questioning or if Shikamaru's analysis about Temari Sabaku's character were true (which he doubted).
Asuma's head jolted upwards as if remembering crucial information, and fixedly focused his attention on Sasuke, who was in a deep state of silence. It was different from his everyday character, usually it was intentional for him not to communicate, this time he seemed submerged in his thoughts.
"Sasuke, you were going to inform me of something?"
Sasuke's eyes slowly scanned the room before landing on Asuma, clearly taken aback by the sudden question. "Hm, yes," replied Sasuke before taking out a flash drive from his back pockets. "The information they stole was altered." Sasuke smirked at his sly plan. "I guess the mission isn't a failure anymore: we lured them in, defeated a few of them, and now we have one hostage." Sasuke flaunted the flash drive. "This has the actual information. I cannot disclose what's inside but it has similar data to what was stolen from the Hyuuga company a few weeks ago."
Asuma grinned from ear to ear.
"The medicine they were after in the warehouse was also altered," Sasuke revealed.
Kakashi finally focused his attention away from his book. "Impressive," he commented, impressed of how the Uchiha was always a few steps ahead.
"I see we're happy when Sasuke hides information but it's a problem when I do," Shikamaru couldn't help but voice out his complaint.
Asuma and Ino glared at him simultaneously.
"Don't go informing that blonde chick of Sasuke's modifications," Ino tauntingly advised.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Ugh, I'm not working with the enemy."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at this, seeing as she arrived late. "What's happening here?"
"Shikamaru's helping the enemy," said Ino, leaving out all of the important details.
"What?"
"Don't twist my words, woman!"
Truthfully, Shikamaru was not bothered in the least by everybody's grating remarks or criticizing looks. What truly and persistently bothered him throughout the whole interaction, were his father's entertained expression. It was the same face he kept making whenever Shikamaru made a wrong move in a Shogi match (unbeknownst to him), while his father gained the upper hand because of his unintentional mistake. He wondered what his father knew that he wasn't aware of.
A/N: What does Shikaku know? :p I think it's obvious... anyhow, happy new year! Hope you're ready to start a new chapter in your life. This year my family celebrated in a different place so I liked the change.
This chapter hit 8,000 words! I was shocked, almost 22 pages! I saw most of the comments were from Shikatema fans so I thought I'd add more moments. Also, this chapter is for the person who wrote how will they get past the stabbing… I think this will help condone that action. Hmm, I hope it does.. By the way, is it Jugo or Juugo with two u's? Because in the 2nd chapter I wrote it one U and this chapter with 2. I searched and the spelling is not consistent.
The next two chapters will definitely be my favorite :) get ready for more shikatema interactions, this is nothing so far ;) Also, I love Shikaku. I had to have him in the hospital scene he makes everything better.
Hope you liked this chapter! Well, I guess you had to like it to reach the end of 22 pages lol Please tell me what you thought and if there is any feedback.