A/N: Kaiyo No Hime, Itachi's lover will be revealed later on in the fic. I don't know when but you'll see. Haruko-sama, thanks for the spell check and I never liked Sasuke at first and never will. I just can't help to write about him cuz he's such an angsty character. I can't resist an angsty character. Shikamaru forever and ever. Guh! UE, you had to say that to make me feel better. You know my writing sucks! cries j/k, meheheh. I did lots of writing-study for the past week just in case you thought it sucked UU;; I'm grateful to those that read my craps. You don't know how much you guys are looved! I'm keeping this fic as Het as possible. I think the yaoi-ness is limited to Itachi ...so thats hardly anything cuz he's dead o-o;; If there is anything, I warn. No warnings for this chapter except a little language.

Disclaimer: I own Ino's son ;; but I don't own the characters of Naruto. Kishimoto owns them all.

The fic gets slower and slower, gomen...

Shadow of the Blue Sharingan

Chapter 6: Kage's Promise

Written by: teckno

She glanced carelessly at the files of paper in her hands, indecisive about whether to place them down on the desk to read later or to just blow-off the task completely until tomorrow.

"How's your shoulder doing?" Her usual concerned voice inched into the awareness of the slump teenager, sitting across from her desk and staring at the wooden ceiling above. He looked at her with eyes, lined darkly with insomnia and grief and then at his forgotten wounds, hidden underneath the soaking, muddy, black fabric that still draped his tired body.

"It's okay." He answered dimly, returning his face to the ceiling, remembering the mad girl who bestowed the memorable stabs to his shoulder. The wound apparently stung after he made his way back from the funeral through the sprinkling rain. His bandages were now soaked and felt uncomfortably warm and vapory against his skin.

The woman, also laced in a black attire, gave a nod at the boy and flipped the annoying files to the side, making her decision of giving up the task for the rest of the day. She placed an arm on top of the large aging oak desk and directed her full attention to the silent chuunin, who was still gazing at the ceiling in a depressed, spaced-out fashion. Her eyes narrowed in recollection of the days when she first met the indolent little boy--reluctant yet crafty. So many times had he entered her office, sharing and devising clever strategies, mission after mission, success after success. She couldn't recall a time where one of his strategies or missions failed. Every single return from a mission, every single strategy tested, no matter how long or difficult--the young chuunin would come back, dragging only success and nobility behind him. The boy was a dangerous mastermind in disguise. She was grateful to have the privilege of working with him for the past five years. Heck, it made her job a lot easier. Eyeing him briefly, she realized he wasn't the indolent little boy anymore but an accomplished, mature, dedicated young man, worthy and almost surpassing his given title of journeyman.

"Thanks for bringing him in, Shikamaru-kun."

"Whatever." Came the dry response.

"No. I really thank you." She paused for a moment, allowing her mind gather the words for the up-coming commend. "Despite all that has happened these past few days, I would have expected you to go psycho and murder him for his involvement in Ino's affair, pregnancy and possibly in the key cause to her suicide. But miraculously, you stood up against all the odds and handled everything, especially your discovery of the affair in the alley with Sasuke, in a strikingly mature approach that I or anyone else wouldn't think possible in your case. And for you to bring Sasuke here after finding him unconscious, is utterly impressive and a mystery at that. I can't begin to think how you could possibly sustain Konoha's ethics on comradeship at a time-"

"Tsunade-sama…" Her praising speech was cut-off, the young chuunin's low voice implying it to stop. The Hokage complied respectively and halted her dialogue, red lips fastened and shined under the natural hazed morning light that seeped into the room from the towering dusted window at the side of the room, giving the boy some space to gather his thoughts as she had always performed in every meeting they shared.

Gee, thanks for the reminder. Shikamaru thought grimly, reflecting on all the sufferings he had participated in the last two days. He then sighed, remembering how he had trudged through the mud and light rain with his wounded arm, carrying Sasuke's unconscious ass clear across the village until he reached Tsunade's office because it was closer than the hospital. What an exhausting and bothersome morning.

He had spotted the Uchiha carcass under the trees a few hours ago after taking a shortcut back to Ino's funeral from the Yamanaka flower shop. Seeing Sasuke's lifeless body, Shikamaru had thought he was already dead. Oh, how he wished he hadn't seen the body so it could rot to death. But unfortunately, the chuunin was born under Konoha's raging tradition of comradeship and the fact that everyone in the village was all part of this one big whooping happy family. He checked the dreaded being's pulse and sure thing, Sasuke was still alive. Damn you Konohagurake! Biting back his somewhat pride, Shikamaru rolled his eyes and gathered the Uchiha bastard into his arms, noticing how light the loved jounin was and off he went to Tsudane's. Why he did it…he did not know. His facial expression crumpled irritably at his humanitarian exploit.

Shikamaru slouched deeper into his seat, sticking both his elbows out on the armrests of the chair. This was his habitual expression of getting ready for another topic of discussion. He glanced at the blonde Hokage grumpily and grumbled a quick "Continue." Seeing the coded cue, Tsunade cleared her throat sharply .

"I know it's been hard for you."

The chuunin's brows furrowed at her obvious stalling. "Get to the point, Hokage-sama."

She sighed, facing to the side. "Let's talk about Sasuke first."

"Fine." He said impassively.

"You and the rest of the village already know he's the last standing member of the Uchiha clan under tragic circumstances in which his older brother, Itachi succeeded in wiping out the entire clan with the exception of Sasuke in one night. Sondaime and everyone else found Itachi, who evidently hung himself early the next morning. That's everything I assume that everyone is informed about."

Shikamaru was yawning at this point. Sasuke's story was beyond cliché, it was a constant permanent nuisance that never went away. Did he have to hear this? Why did he agree to even listen about Sasuke? He was a dirty-ass trash whore, sleeping with his supposed girlfriend, Sakura (Were they even going out?) and probably the rest of the kunoichis in Konoha and neighboring villages, then with Ino. Screw him to hell. Not to mention that time when the chuunin gathered his fellow genin Naruto, Choji, Neji and Kiba to pursue a mission that involved bringing that Uchiha bastard home and the fighting struggle to defeat the Four Sound; Orochimaru's genjutsu freaks--five long years ago. Shikamaru's fingers shook at the thought of his bleeding comrades, comrades that he was responsible for as he had announced at the beginning of the mission--their immobile body's utterly torn to shreds when he had found them. That mission nearly killed everyone, let alone him. If Tsunade hadn't been there to heal them, they would've died. Ino's suicide was close to a repeat of what he had seen as a result of the mission. What made me encourage my group to go after you? No one wanted to go look for you except maybe Naruto and I. Why did I bother? Why did we bother? Go to hell, Sasuke, go to hell. He was talking to himself like a wasted drunkard off the village dirt roads. His brain was throbbing. He never did engage in the act of bitching because he'd usually avoid such things but since he went through that suicidal mission and his one true love cheated on him and then killed herself--he had every right to. Sasuke this, Sasuke that. It was all about Sasuke! Baka yarou. Sleepy tears collected under his eyes as he quietly wished he'd roll over and die. Too bad he was lazy and didn't have the energy to do so.

Tsunade ignored her subordinate's invisible resent for Sasuke and cries for slumber as she proceeded. "As you may know, information gathered by the ANBU is strictly confidential and only a select few, including me, can gain access to any of it. I'd thought I'd let you in on some ANBU secrets regarding Sasuke, secrets that the rest of the villagers in Konoha don't know about. I feel it is necessary that you get informed…on Ino's behalf"

"Why?" Shikamaru aked, a bit puzzled and annoyed. His frown perked down to the remaining depths of his chin at the sound of her name, still not wanting to accept the fact that his beloved was gone. "I don't see a point."

"I'll get to that in a moment but first, just listen." She leaned against her chair and began. "Uchiha Itachi was a thirteen year-old ANBU squad leader and Sasuke was only eight when he witnessed his older brother gruesomely murder both parents with his katana because of their disapproval of his homosexuality. It didn't end there as Itachi abruptly hammered Sasuke's head to the wall until it bled.-"

"Wait, wait. If this information was gathered by ANBU, then you're saying that there happened to be an ANBU spying somewhere in Sasuke's home who saw the entire incident?" The chuunin's head titled slightly as he crossed in arms, guilty of actually getting involved in the conversation. There was nothing else to do in the boring office.

"Heh." Tsunade smiled at his quick insights. "Actually, no. There were no witnesses except Itachi himself and Sasuke. Sasuke doesn't talk much. Itachi told this incident to another ANBU member, who happened to file the report permanently in headquarters. That other ANBU member was where we got all this information from. There were no other sources."

"Itachi told another person about his murder process? That's new. I wouldn't tell another person about such things if they weren't involved, unless…" Shikamaru tapped his fingers on the arm rest in rhythmic motions, deep in thought and ignoring the fact that he was wasting time on comprehending the story "…Unless the other ANBU was involved. But how can another person be involved in the parents' disapproval of Itachi's homosexuality? Did Itachi tell them he had a boyfriend or something? He had to if he was swinging in that direction. "

"Yes." Tsunade answered.

"Heh, of course. It's just the parents pissing off about Itachi having a boyfriend. Holy shit, don't tell me that other ANBU was Itachi's lover boy?"

"Correct kiddo." Tsunade smiled again, the black diamond symbol on her forehead flickered under the growing atmosphere. Shikamaru was a sucker for these things, these mysteries, these problems involving connections or sorts of that matter. "Our source, who I will keep his identity hidden, was in fact, Itachi's lover at that time. It wasn't a conspiracy or anything. Itachi just snapped and killed the entire clan. After that, he of course, ran straight to his lover to tell him what he had done, hoping it was good news because they would then be together without Itachi's parents in the way. Appalled at Itachi's actions like any sensible human being would be, the lover immediately broke off the relationship and sent for his fellow ANBU members and Sondaime. Thus, resulting in Itachi hanging himself on a tree branch outside of his home. Itachi dragged Sasuke out to the tree before he actually hung himself. Sasuke basically woke up to see his older brother's dripping corpse the next morning. The lover, along with squads of ANBU and Sondaime behind him discovered Itachi's body moments after they saw Sasuke faint under the tree. They brought him to the hospital where he had a coma for two straight weeks."

"Ouch."

"I'm not done yet. That's just ANBU's files." Tsunade broke into the chuunin's reaction process, leaning closer to the desk.

"More?" Shikamaru's brows lifted with utmost shock but he quickly let them down, pretending he wasn't interested. Exactly how much did this Uchiha bastard go through? Not caring about the story was now the least of his concern. It was no wonder he treated Ino the way he did. He was nuts too.

"Yes, more; his medical files. After Sasuke awoke from his coma, he was immediately transferred to the psychiatric hospital, a hidden level under the general hospital."

"We have one? Is it still here now?"

"Yes." The light blonde waited for more questions but none came. She continued since the chuunin was obviously quite engrossed. "He was held at the hospital for 4 years until they were able release him to the academy with Iruka-sensei. Sasuke apparently had multiple periods of intense flashbacks that came without notice of the tragic night on a daily basis, five times a day on average where he would scream hysterically and violently attack the nearest person he could get to. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic syndrome, a syndrome consisting patterns of symptoms that follow head injury (actual cranial impact) such as psychological and behavioral disturbances, all thanks to Itachi. They kept him inside the hospital until they were able to get him into sane conditions. I don't know what kind of therapy he went through but it worked. He's now seventeen and a steadfast (special) jounin while everyone else is still genin and you, a chuunin. But he still suffers from those flashbacks everyday but knows how to handle them, meaning they are permanent. His condition is incurable. Today, something unfortunately triggered such flashbacks and he passed out. Thank goodness you came along."

Shikamaru snorted, not sure what good use this information on Sasuke was to him. Poor bastard was the only thing he could think of. He was about to say something but the Hokage took the opportunity to cut through.

"The point of the story…" Tsudane stood, walking to the window. The two long blonde tails hanging down her hair, gently hitting against her back with every step she took, caused the chuunin's eyes to follow her movements and to stare at her in question. She leaned on the sandy glass and crossed her arms, looking deeply--her large brown eyes penetrating into his tiny dotted pupils like jagged shurikens flying through flesh. "With Sasuke's brutal past and current psychological condition, it is impossible for him to take on the job as a father. "

He swallowed the slimy ball that instantly formed in his throat. The word father made the hair behind his neck quiver anxiously as he sat up.

"Ino came to me nine months ago." The woman still kept her eye contact firmly, watching the chuunin's expression change dramatically from careless gloom to alarmed nervousness. His eyes began to moisten at the utterance of her name this time.

"She wanted an abortion. Sasuke requested the procedure after she had announced her pregnancy to him."

Shikamaru didn't move, didn't blink. He froze in mixed emotions. Angry at Sasuke's abrupt and immoral decision, Sad because Ino had to handle her obsession the hard way. If only he'd knew sooner, then he could've helped Ino. He would've handled everything: claim the baby, nuture Ino 'til she was mentally stable, marry her, raise the kid and live happily every after. It didn't matter if it was Sasuke's child or not. All he wanted was Ino to be happy and safe. Fugitive tears surged down his jaw despite the dehydration from all the crying he did the last few days. She would still be alive if he'd only knew! How could he had been so oblivious? Why didn't you tell me? I failed, Ino. I failed.

Tsunade let down her arms and stepped into the direction of the sitting teenager as she said, "I told her abortion was forbidden in Konoha so she kept the baby but under one condition; I promised her that the most reliable, courageous, intelligent and caring person in all my experience as Hokage, would become the father and raise her child until he is old enough to be off on his own."

"W-Who?" Shikamaru thought in between sniffling. Must be one of the jounins like Kakashi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, maybe the pervert sanin Jiraiya-sama, he's practically Naruto's father (No, grandfather) or even better at being a father figure, the forever chuunin, Iruka-sensei. Ino's child would be in good hands with those great people.

The blonde Hokage shook her head from side-to-side, knowing exactly what people the teenager was thinking about. She was standing over boy at this point, her bulging breasts practically in his face. Tsunade placed her hands on her hips, her eyes still glazed into his as she mouthed the name in slow daunting syllables, "Na-ra Shi-ka-ma-ru."

Shikamaru jolted to his feet, knocking his chair over. It slammed against the timber floor with a loud echoing thud!

TBC, man.

As promised, Shikamaru's back. love love