Author's notes: To anyone reading this at publication or following this story, thank you and apologies for taking so damn long to update!
Chapter Ten
Temari clutched the ice pack to her left cheek over where Hinata's kick had made contact. Even pulled, the blow hit like a cinderblock, and the punches to Temari's stomach weren't much softer. Had the girl not been holding back, Temari would be flat out right now. All because you were thinking with your pelvis!
Hinata's unorthodox diversion came from nowhere, and now Temari was haunted by the image of chiseled abs and toned bodies charging at her. She held the cool mass against the soreness, like balm on a sunburn. Unfortunately, the coolness of the ice did little to sooth the hot burn that Shikamaru had left with his words. Too easy? Too Easy! Heat burned Temari's cheek as the hellish flood of taunts from her father, her uncle, and her trainers came back – each remarking about how easily she'd been beaten. Goddammit STOP! Temari heaved several deep breaths as a ward against the intrusive thoughts.
A knocking on the door disturbed her momentary respite, "Temari!" Shikamaru's voice raised her ire, but the panic behind it chilled her blood as she walked to the door and opened it. "Temari, it's going down! Something is up, something we didn't plan on!" Shikamaru's expression hinted at no smugness from earlier, but that didn't make his presence any more tolerable.
"Great…" she dragged out, "… now what?"
"Whomever is imitating your father has isolated Lord Third, and Suna and Oto forces just reached the barrier! Come on!" he waved her to the hall as he began running.
"Lord Third?" Temari tried to make sense of things, but nothing computed. If I was going to decapitate the village, I'd take out Lord Fourth, not Third! She grabbed her fan and stepped out into the hallway.
"I don't know, but this wasn't part of the plan!" He hurried off down the hallway, beckoning her to follow him. Her legs finally kicked into gear and gave chase.
The alarm klaxon split the air as they entered the Hidden Leaf locker room. Lady Kushina's red hair flailed as she called out, "All right everyone! This is real! Let's get in place to the northwest evacuation corridor!"
"Emergency, all civilians please proceed to the designated evacuation area!" sounded over the loudspeakers. "All shinobi personnel proceed to your action stations; this is not a drill!" Temari's heart raced, knowing full well she was going to war.
"Mom, let's get going!" Temari turned to see Naruto wincing as he climbed off an improvised infirmary table. I knew he wasn't feeling well, but he looks bloody awful! Naruto's skin was pallid, except the rosiness of his cheeks, and sweat rained off his forehead, lending to the appearance of a dead man walking.
"Naruto, you're leaving with the medics!" Kushina insisted, placing her hands on her hips. Seeing a mom so concerned for her child was foreign to Temari. If her mother had ever looked in on her when she was sick, the memory was lost to the swirl of time.
"Temari?" Shikamaru's hand clapped her shoulder, "Gaara? Kankaro?" he asked.
"They got taken on ahead under the guise of medics taking them to the hospital," she nodded. "They'll meet us at the shelter." Temari vaguely heard a lively debate between Naruto, his mom, and Hinata; but she noticed Shikamaru's hand remained planted on her shoulder. "Something else, crybaby?" she asked.
"You sure you're up for this?" he asked, "It can't be easy fighting your own shinobi. I could have you evacuated…"
"I'm here, and I'm ornery!" She growled as she shook off his hand and gripped her fan, "Don't make me beat your ass for that little stunt from earlier!"
Naruto's voice interrupted the moment, "Mom, she's right, hundreds of innocents could die if we fail to provide protection! We can do this! Would you or Dad demand evacuation ahead of the civilians if the village were in peril?" Naruto pleaded.
Something in the Red Habanero Princess's face twisted in pain at Naruto's words. Temari wasn't sure, but she thought she caught the faint sparkle of tears, "All right, Lord Hokage," Lady Kushina sassed, "you win this time! But you are getting checked by the medics once the civilians are all clear – that's not negotiable!"
Naruto nodded, "Fine! Now let's go!" The group raced out of the locker room and to the surface to a chaotic mess: civilians running panicked and aimless as the sounds of battle approached. Adrenaline surged through Temari, heating her blood and constricting her bladder. The event swirled around her like a hurricane, and she was in the calm eye of the raging storm. She needed to move, she needed to fight. "Sensei, what are your orders?" the young boy, Konohamaru, asked in a tone too child-like to be a shinobi's.
"Ino, can you communicate to the civilians to follow us, that we'll provided cover?" Kushina turned to the younger girl.
"I can try," the girl nodded. Ino's eyes went glassy, and Choji braced Ino as she went limp.
"Do it!" Kushina boomed, "Shikamaru, Lee, Sasuke! You three move on ahead and scout the way to our first checkpoint. If you meet any resistance fall back and do not engage, is that perfectly clear!"
"Yes, First Lady!" they answered in unison as they took off. Temari's heart jumped slightly at the sight of Shikamaru moving ahead without her. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted him close by. You don't want to bury him like anyone else you've gotten killed.
"What do we do?" Naruto's innocent words to his mom stole Temari's focus.
"Start corralling the civilians this way; once we have them assembled, we'll get moving!" She turned to Hinata, "You and your siblings keep your Byakugan up; we might need to divert course depending on what happens." Hinata nodded, and group began assembling the civilians.
"This way!" Temari called to a group of civilians running from the stadium exit.
"You're Hidden Sands!" one of the men pointed an accusing finger toward her.
"GODDAMMIT!" Temari let her anger boil, "IF I'D MEANT TO HARM YOU, YOU'D BE DEAD RIGHT NOW! NOW, THIS WAY TO EVACUATION COORIDOR!" The ringleader cowered at her vicious words, and the group soon moved toward the direction of Lady Kushina. Thankfully, Tenten soon arrived, sending Temari forward to guard the group.
"That's everyone we can take!" Lady Kushina called out, "Let's get this group moving!" She waved, "Follow me!" Temari aided in corralling the group. The mildest envy seeped into her heart. Naruto's mom was incredible.
Shikamaru counted the numerous things that had gone pear-shaped as he plugged the radio earpiece into his ear. "Authorization: Shadow, zero, one, one, zero, two, x-ray, authenticate me," he called into the radio.
"Authenticated," Itachi called back via the encrypted comms channel, "How goes on your end?"
"Swell," Shikamaru groaned as he raced down the street, keeping a watchful eye for anyone not Hidden Leaf, "You mind telling me what the hell is going on?!"
"It seems Orochimaru was impersonating Lord Rasa the whole time, at least for some months…" his voice cut off, "… holy shit!"
"Holy shit is not good coming from you, boss," Shikamaru ducked and rolled as he checked another alleyway – clear for the moment at least. "What the hell is it now."
"Lord Third knew!
"WHAT!?" Shikamaru's screech assaulted his ear with feedback from the microphone.
"That's not important! I have recorded proof the Kazekage is dead and the location of his body! I have to get this uploaded and broadcasted to the Hidden Sands' forces!"
"Shikamaru! Quit clowning!" Sasuke hissed, "We're clear for now! Let's get the group and get the hell out of here!"
Despite being irked by Sasuke's commentary, Shikamaru had no desire to remain out in the open while the fighting was moving closer to their location. Lee rounded a corner at full sprint, "Hurry, guys! The way is clear, but not for long!" Sasuke and Shikamaru joined, barely keeping pace
"What do you mean not for long?" Shikamaru huffed as he ran to keep up.
"There are at least a dozen heading this way, but they won't be here for some time," Lee explained. "If we hurry we can get the civilians past without a fight!" Lee disappeared as he took off further ahead. Balls! I didn't expect so much running today! While Shikamaru was in good physical condition, his legs, particularly the ankle he'd injured in Part II, protested the amount of ground-pounding today involved. What a pain!
They reached the group of civilians, and Lee was explaining to Naruto the situation. Naruto was putting on a brave face, but Shikamaru was no fool. Wincing around the eyes, one hand covering his right side, and red in the face even when not exerting. "This way, everyone!" Naruto shouted to the group despite the clear level of pain it took to yell. The group was now roughly halfway to the bunker in the side of the Hokage Monument.
As the civilians rushed past, Shikamaru finally saw Temari again. Her eyes darted about, watching for the slightest sign of trouble like everyone else. As the group scrambled past, something in the back of Shikamaru's head made the hairs on his neck stand up. She could still be a sleeper, and she's danger close to the Hokage's wife and our Jinchuriki. "Stop it!" he whispered furious to himself. Had she meant to harm us, she missed several golden opportunities. Plus, she could have just left your ass to be heel-stomped in Part II. Stop treating the troublesome woman like a potential threat!
"WE GOT COMPANY!" Hinata screeched. Breaking his introspection.
"How many?" Lady Kushina asked. Shikamaru began prepping his hand seal.
"At least six squads, all from Suna!" Neji shouted from the other side of the street.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted, "like we practiced!" Shikamaru nodded in reply, bladder jumping as adrenaline shrank it to the size of a peanut.
"Konohamaru, Hanabi, Akemi! Keep the civilians moving!" Kushina called out. "Right!" Team Habanero answered in unison as they continued to escort the non-shinobi away.
"Here they come!" Sasuke shouted. Like hellish yokai, the enemy descended from nearby rooftops and out of the alleyways – six squads total.
"Remember, how we practiced, try and take them alive!" Naruto commanded.
Something mimicking relief came over Shikamaru as the enemy came into sight, no longer a threat heard but unseen. "Shadow possession jutsu!" he called out, almost gleeful to be able to strike back Shikamaru expanded his shadow into dark tendrils, paralyzing multiple targets as he split his focus.
"Hinata, Neji! Go!" Naruto yelped, and Neji and Hinata mowed down the first three squads effortlessly with gentle-fist strikes. The other three squads raced past the Hyūga siblings and into a swarm of insects. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto summoned two dozen clones and joined in the fray. The clones tackled the already stunned Suna shinobi, and Hinata and Neji finished the job.
"More of them over here!" Temari shouted. Shikamaru jerked around to see another three dozen enemies approaching. Shit!
Temari didn't wait for orders or assistance. She unfurled her fan and whipped it back and forth, generating tornado-force winds that threw men and debris around like a child's toys in a tantrum. The winds roared fearsome as the crashing of a waterfall threatening to drown Shikamaru. Note to self, never get on her bad side! So deafening was the roar, Shikamaru didn't register the ground beneath his feet initially. Naruto must have screamed, "SCATTER!" but the words hit Shikamaru like his head was in a fishbowl. The ground opened up in an eruption of a massive snake. The creature was thick as three fully grown men standing atop each other. The creature's roar cleared the fog in Shikamaru's head as he was dragged by a familiar hand. "COME ON, GENIUS!" Temari's eyes were wide with terror as she dragged them away from the snake.
Before Shikamaru could speak or think, something massive blotted out the sun, bathing the whole group in shadow. "Bringing Down the House Jutsu!" a jovial voice called out. The earth again shook as a massive toad landed atop the snake, crushing its neck behind the skull. The shockwave and airburst flung both of them aside, and Shikamaru gripped Temari in a desperate bid to stop her from floating away.
As the dust cleared, they were wrapped up in one another's arms, covered in dust and other debris. "Are you okay?!"
Temari coughed out dust, "Swell!"
Jiraiya and Tsunade standing atop a massive toad. "You didn't think we could let you have all the fun now, could we?" The elder shinobi posed dramatically and winked.
"Grandpa! Your timing is impeccable as usual!" Naruto called out. Jiraiya dispelled the summoned toad, dismounting with Tsunade. Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged a familiar smirk.
"Shikamaru, are you going to get off me?" Temari squirmed as she tried extracting from his embrace.
"Sorry," he let go and began dusting himself off. He wanted to say something, anything, but the best he could come up with was, "Sorry."
"It's… okay," she dusted herself off, cheeks turning pink.
"Boss! Sensei!" a frantic voice called out breaking the moment. Konohamaru? The young shinobi in training approached, his uniform torn and blood dripping from his mouth.
"Konohamaru!" Kushina ran to the younger boy, "What happened?"
"We got ambushed, outside the shelter, a squad of them…. Kumo shinobi!" he said breathlessly.
Lady Kushina's right hand clutch into a tight fist, turning the hand red as her hair, "Where are Akemi and Hanabi?"
"They took Hanabi! Akemi is trying to keep up," he heaved, "she sent me to get help! They're heading for the commercial district!"
The first lady's face turn to stone, "Naruto," her hair curled, "take the genin and get to the shelter!"
"Mom…" Naruto's voice squeaked.
"Go!" she boomed before turning to Jiraiya and Tsunade, "You two with me!" Mom took off with Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Konohamaru in tow.
"What are your orders, Naruto?" Sasuke's voice cut slightly, but was hardly defiant, as he dusted himself off.
"Let's get to the damn shelter," Naruto sighed. The rest of the speed march to the shelter went off without incident. Shikamaru kept one eye over his shoulder as they reached the exterior, fully expecting another ambush. Instead, they were greeted by something worse.
"Naruto!" Tsunade's assistant Shizune waved as the genin teams approached with the civilians. Any relief at being at their shelter spot washed away by the terror-stricken look on Shizune's face. "Shizune! What's wrong?" Naruto demanded.
"It's Gaara!" she shivered.
"Gaara? What's happening to my brother!" Temari demanded as she approached. Acid began working back up Shikamaru's throat.
"See for yourself," Shizune looked haunted as she gestured them along into the cold concrete tunnel deep below Hokage Rock. They moved past countless frightened looking civilians into the makeshift hospital deep in the structure. Gaara lay on an exam table shirtless. Angry black lines spread outward throughout his body like meridians on a map. The boy's face curled angrily, morphing between human form and tailed-beast form.
"Oh god…" Naruto felt cold all over. An angry cursed seal pulsated on the base of Gaara's neck.
"What the hell!" Temari shouted.
"Orochimaru must have suspected something," Shikamaru spoke as he thought. "Or he must have decided to lay a trap just in case Gaara didn't make it to the finals."
"How long do we have, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked. Shit, way to put me on the spot!
"No idea, man," he shook his head, "minutes, maybe." Shikamaru was ready to throw up. A cursed seal like this couldn't be overcome with song or flute.
Naruto's face contorted like he was about to blow chunks, himself, "We have no choice," he turned to Sakura and Hinata, "We have to get him out of here, right now!"
"Where, Naruto!" Temari punched him in the arm. "Are you going to treat him like a monster the way my father did!"
Shikamaru moved to restrain her until Naruto spoke, "No," he shook his head, "Shikamaru, you and Temari try getting my father or grandfather as quickly as possible," Naruto paused to heave against a wave of pain in his side, "We are going to take him to Training Ground Three."
"Training ground three?" Sakura looked at him curiously.
"It's close enough to reach, but far enough outside the village."
"I'm going, too," Sasuke said.
"Sasuke?" Sakura turned to her boyfriend.
"I know how he fights," he shrugged.
"You do realize you haven't taken on a tailed-beast, right?" Naruto chided.
"How hard could it be?" Sasuke smiled with an arrogant wink. Cocky little bastard!
"All right, let's grab the stretch and get him out of her," Naruto said.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata's soft voice spoke up, "What about you? You're very sick!"
"If Shukaku gets loose," Naruto shook his head, "then that's the least of our problems."
"What about the rest of us?" Neji asked.
"Someone has to stay here and protect the civilians," Naruto said. He turned to stare at Shikamaru and Temari and then to Sakura and Hinata. "Everyone understand?" Everyone nodded. "Good, let's go!" Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke grabbed a stretcher and transferred Gaara with Shizune's help; and the group set off.
"Where is Kankuro?" Temari asked, eyeing around.
"Shizune?" Shikamaru turned to the medical-nin.
"He wasn't with you?" she asked.
"He was with Gaara!" Temari protested.
The doors to the infirmary burst open and four Shinobi not wearing insignia burst in. "Temari of Suna?" The presumed leader called her name.
"Yes?" Temari answered acidic.
"Please come with us," the man said, "You're under arrest."
The swirl of emotion around Temari as she processed the cursed seal on Gaara ran her through the full gauntlet of anger, confusion, and disbelief. Little Brother, why didn't you tell us?! As Naruto and his teammates carried her brother away, Temari registered that the other person who would have noticed something else was also missing. "Where is Kankuro?" She eyed around the infirmary room among the other genin.
"Shizune?" Shikamaru was the first to ask. His expression was genuine with concern.
"He wasn't with you?" the medical-nin's voice tinged with concern and confusion.
"He was with Gaara!" panic began seeping into Temari's voice.
The bursting of the door only heightened her panic as several official-looking shinobi approached. All wore black coveralls and none sported insignia. "Temari of Suna?" The tallest of the men asked.
"Yes?" Temari eyed the man acidly, knowing what was about the happen.
"Please come with us. You're under arrest." The leader brandished a shiny pair of handcuffs.
Temari turned to Shikamaru who stood frozen, staring at her, his mouth hanging. You rotten bastard! Did any of it mean a thing to you! "There must be some kind of mistake," she protested as she took a step back, already aware that two of the men were flanking her and the fourth was primed to block her likely route of escape to the door. Her mind ran away with the possibilities of what would happen next: she'd be cuffed, blindfolded, and gagged. After that, she'd disappear to prison that didn't exist. Maybe she'd be a bargaining chip with whatever government came to power in Suna; maybe she'd never see the sun again.
Her protest was met with silence followed by the sensation of being jumped from behind. One of the large men wrestled her to the ground twisting her arms behind her back. Squirm as she might, it was pointless to resist as the cold metal of the handcuffs slapped home around her wrists. Hot tar spilled from her eyes at the betrayal of the closest thing she'd felt to being accepted. Fuck me for being so stupid! Now you're going to die alone in some hole in the wall because you thought fairy tales could come true for you!
"Remove the handcuffs and get your knee out of her back, fuckface," an unamused voice cut the air like a knife.
Temari slowly turned her head to see Shikamaru standing defiant in front of the men, indignance carving across his face. "What did you say, kid?"
"I said let her go, or I'm going to put you all into a deep, dark hole," Shikamaru's voice came from someplace otherworldly dark, and his eyes glowed like dying embers in a fire.
"You're barking up the wrong tree, kiddo," the man on Temari's back got to his feet, taking the crushing pressure of his weight out of her back. "Why don't you go hump someone else's leg before we beat the shit out of you for insubordination."
"No insignia," Shikamaru grinned like a demon, "You're not military police. No masks; you're not ANBU. No forehead guards, meaning this isn't sanctioned by anyone. If I had to guess, some of Danzo's Root agents, acting under Orochimaru's orders.
"You've got a pretty mouth, boy," the man to Shikamaru's left was discretely palming a shuriken. "This is your last chance to step off…" The man froze rigid as a statue, as did his buddies.
"You see," Shikamaru said smug with victory, "I know you were planning on killing all of us," Shikamaru kept all four men frozen by their shadows. "Better to leave corpses than witnesses." Shikamaru turned to his friends, "Neji, if you'd be as so kind, please block the chakra of the other three."
"My pleasure!" Using Gentle-Fist, Neji blocked the chakra of the three underlings. The ringleader's face warped in horror.
"Shizune, please call the MPs," Shikamaru commanded. She ran from the room. He glared at the man again, "Where is her brother?"
"You're committing a grave mistake," the man threatened.
Shikamaru produced his wallet, "I'm military intelligence, and my orders come directly from Lord Fourth. He didn't sanction this, so who did? Where is her brother?"
"Fuck you!"
"Bad choice of words," Shikamaru kicked the man in the babymaker, and the thug's eyes crossed. "Where is her brother? Or do I have to have her," he gestured with his chin toward Ino, "go inside your head and extract it?" Ino began making her hand seal for mind transference.
"Next room over," the man squeaked.
"See," Shikamaru rifled through the man's pockets, extracting a set of keys, "you can make good decisions when you try."
"Biggest mistake you'll ever make!" the man groaned."
"The biggest mistake," Shikamaru yawned, "was taking this intelligence job, totally a pain!" He patted his mouth to stifle further yawning, "Neji, if you'd be so kind," he said nonchalant with a shrug. Neji blocked the man's chakra and Shikamaru freed the man from his shadow.
"Sorry you had to go through that," Shikamaru knelt beside Temari and began unlocking her cuffs.
"You knew?" her mouth dropped.
"Suspected," he corrected as the cuffs unlocked, freeing her wrists. "Orochimaru made a pass at you once; I didn't think it would be the last time." He shook his head. "Again, sorry you had to deal with that bullshit."
The heavenly release of the cuffs around her wrist left Temari conflicted. With her arms freed, she'd be able to slap him for subjecting her to the indignity. On the other hand, he had stood up for her and probably saved her life as a result. "How did you know they weren't official?" The lingering question tilted her head. I thought they looked plenty official.
"I didn't," he extended a hand as he stood, "I took on faith that Lord Fourth wasn't the type to betray friends." He shrugged, "And I took on faith that you wouldn't betray us after going through everything we had. After that, it was academic to figure out they weren't ANBU or MPs."
She took his hand, and she got to her feet. Temari's heart fluttered at the familiar contact. She wanted to slap him, she wanted to kiss him, and she wanted to take back all the horrible thoughts she'd had only moments earlier. They froze eye to eye, his granite-brown eyes warm. "Do we need to give you some space?" Choji's voice broke the moment, and she withdrew her hand.
"Code blue, room three!" Shizune shouted from outside, and Temari's adrenaline surged. She darted to the door, seeing the room adjacent was the proper room. Kankuro! As her legs carried her, a thousand horrible nightmares rewound through her head as she slammed the door. Instead of her brother lying in a pool of his blood, she took in the sight of Lord Fourth and Shizune struggling to snake a plastic tube down Kakashi Sensei's throat, "Lord Fourth! Help me! I need you to squeeze the bag and release it steadily," the medical-nin said as she clipped on the bag ventilator.
"Temari, he's this way!" Shikamaru shouted as he beckoned her to retreat the way she came. They ran back the opposite way and burst through the door of an empty treatment room. Kankuro sat gagged and tied to a chair with a seal paper on his chest. Temari ran to her brother and moved to rip the seal off when her arm froze, "Wait!" Her hand shook, trembling out of her control.
Shikamaru's head pounded as he called out, "Temari, he's this way." He knew today would be a total pain, but things had gone into overdrive when the thugs had tried grabbing Temari. He'd taken a lot on faith that she was not a sleeper agent and the thugs were not sanctioned. The data doesn't lie. Stop letting emotion get in the way. You can trust her.
Temari pushed past him to run to her bother. As she did, Shikamaru noticed an odd detail about the seal tag on the gagged Kankuro's chest – it had a faint orange glow at the corner. Holy SHIT! Shikamaru's right hand erupted in tremors as he recognized the seal tag wasn't a seal at all. If Temari touched it, the tag would explode, killing Kankuro and likely killing Temari.
With mere centimeters of reach left, Shikamaru reached out with his shadow and restrained Temari's hand. "Shikamaru!" she protested. Her hand began shaking as his had the day he'd nearly had it blown off by a defective tag.
"It's an explosive tag disguised to look like a seal," Shikamaru's voice strained. "We touch it, we could blow the whole room!"
Temari's eyes widened at the revelation. Tears dripped from Kankuro's eyes. Temari's face tightened in a mix of pain and anger at the realization that she'd been mere seconds from killing the three of them. "Can you render it safe?" she asked.
Sweat rained from Shikamaru's armpits at the question. Lord Fourth or Dad might be able to, but he might as well have stepped on a landmine with no tools. "Kankuro…" Shikamaru's voice cracked, "… I'm… I'm going to ungag you. You have to hold very, very, still or you could set it off. Can you do that?"
Kankuro nodded with a faint dip of his chin, and Shikamaru delicately removed the gag from the boy's mouth. "Okay, did they say anything when they put the tag on you?"
"They said if I so much as moved, it would kill me!" the boy was terrified for sure. Kankuro had good reason to be. As Shikamaru eyed the tag, his heart jumped several beats. The seal that began detonation was already initiating, albeit slowly.
"FUCK!" Shikamaru's mind worked in overdrive, looking for any solution to their predicament.
"What?!" Temari and her brother demanded.
"The good news is the tag is not super-powerful. We're talking about Bouncing Betty – enough to blow off your balls or your fingers."
"What the fuck is the bad news!" Kankuro's face lost all color other than his war paint. The tag was over the boy's heart, and he was well aware of the fact that even a small explosion that close would be fatal instantly.
"The goddamn tag has some kind of time delay to go off if it wasn't disarmed; the bastards must have set it so it would take Kankuro out if we delayed them in any way!"
"How long?!" Temari gasped.
Shikamaru eyed the reaction; the seal's delay was burning through. "A minute, at most!" his voice cracked, and his eyes darted frantically, scanning the room's contents. Sink and cabinets, assorted glass apothecary jars containing assorted crap, exam table; this might just work! "Temari, clear all that crap off the counter and fill the sink with water, hurry!"
Temari unceremoniously swept the large jars to the floor with the clatter or breaking glass. Better broken on the floor than flying as shards through the air! She started the water and plugged the sink. "Mind explaining the plan, genius?" she regained some of her sass, but Temari still sounded plenty concerned.
"This will take all of us," Shikamaru summoned a tendril of shadow and prepared to yank the tag off. "On three, I'm going to pull the tag off and throw it into the sink," he eyed the sink, now seeing about to overflow its brim. "Kankuro," he stared at the boy, "you kick off the ground and your sister is going to help guide you behind that exam table. Once you're both there, stay low!"
"Shikamaru, what about you?!" Temari demanded.
"The fuse will have a second or two delay when I remove it!" his heart raced as he watched the seal keeping the explosion from beginning disolving. "Here we go! ONE! TWO!" He gripped the tag with his shadow, and Temari gripped the chair Kankuro was tied to, "THREE!"
The tag flew from Kankuro's chest and began to glow orange as the calligraphy sealing its power burned away. In slow motion, Temari and Kankuro moved one way and Shikamaru flung the tag the opposite way – into the overflowing sink. The white-hot shred of paper sizzled on contact with the water and spouted a column of steam. Shikamaru's legs moved rubbery as he spun and kicked off the ground toward the exam table.
The concussive blast wave hit him at the same time the sound did, just as his body flew to the far side of the exam table. His body rattled like a shaken can of beer. There was a hard landing of bodies beneath him and the embarrassing sensation of hot liquid running down the front of his thighs as he clutched himself over Temari and Kankuro. Ears ringing, Shikamaru forced his eyes open. He may have passed out for a minute The explosion had stopped, and he felt an expanding puddle of cold liquid expanded beneath his body.
Frantically, he pushed himself up to see cold water from the broken water line coating the floor. "Ugh," Kankuro groaned as the ringing in Shikamaru's ears began to abate. The chair he'd been tied to was now in pieces from the fall. "Ahhhh," the boy again groaned.
"Don't move, Kankaro!" Shikamaru turned his head toward the door, "MEDIC!" he shouted at the top of his range. He turned down to see Temari stirring. "Are you okay?!" his voice screeched.
She opened her eyes, "I can hear bells going off," she laughed, thrilled to be alive. "Kankuro?"
"My arm!" he writhed. Kankuro clutched his right arm to his chest. He'll live. It's a thousand times better than dying from the blast.
"What the hell was that!" Ino shrieked at she rounded the door into the room.
"Ino," Shikamaru groaned as he shook off bits of drywall and pressed wood countertop off, "check Kankurol!" he staggered for a moment, but soon gained his footing.
"What about you?" Ino asked as she hurriedly raced to check all three of them.
"I'll be fine," he assured her.
"Me too," Temari groaned as she took shook bits of debris from her hair and clothing. Panic came over her eyes, "Shikamaru! Gaara and Naruto!" The two took off from the room in search of Lord Fourth, praying they hadn't missed him.
Author's notes: Hello everyone, and thank you again for your patience! This got horribly delayed by my recent schedule. The next chapter or two will likely wrap up this tale. After that, additional tales may be on hiatus until Critical Moments Volume III releases. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter! Stay healthy, stay safe!