A/N: Gah, another short chapter, but not as short as the previous one. Sorry about that- I'm trying to keep the story moving quickly. By the way, this will appear on my website when it's all finished, and you can read it in one long, glorious sitting there.

To Annachan: Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I'm really happy you're getting so much enjoyment out of the story. Your praise is making me dizzy with glee!

A great big thanks to all of you that are stroking my ego. I find myself wishing I could update faster just to hear what you'll say next. In fact, you already have prompted me to update more quickly than I had anticipated. That being said, don't stop! Keep 'em coming, and maybe the story will be finished more quickly {grin}. Hmmm...I'm becoming a review slut. Oh well, it's a good way to start the weekend.

The mission was not going well. He was huddled in the branches of a tree with two of his three teammates, all of whom were jounin. They could hardly see the tree next to them because of the mist rolling across the land, a drizzling rain coming from above. He didn't want to be a jounin, but this was his eighth mission with a jounin team, and he was tired of doing jounin work without comparable pay. He knew his former teammates were correct about his superiors pressuring him, and perhaps it was finally time to cave in. It would be easier to buy things for his future wife and kids if he made more money, after all, and he could save more money for retirement. Maybe he could even retire early.

That was if he lived through the mission. It had started out as a simple escort mission, with suspected kidnappers. However, the kidnappers were actually assassins, and the target turned out to be much more important than a mere merchant. Shikamaru swore at himself for not seeing the signs sooner, but he had been distracted as of late. Despite his conviction that the festival would be utterly tedious and bothersome, he still found himself looking forward to it. He hadn't been able to spend a significant chunk of time with Ino in quite a while. In fact, the last time they had been alone was on an afternoon not too different from this one, and they had talked about the time they had fallen asleep on the hillside when they were thirteen, watching the stars. He had never forgotten that evening. It was the night his trouble began, after all.

A movement caught his attention and he glanced over at his team leader, who was pointing at the ground and making a circular gesture. Shikamaru nodded and leaned against the trunk, hands steepled, and shut his eyes. His clan's technique was no good in mist and clouds, and so it was time to rely on his brains. The two jounin beside him disappeared, not even the slightest rustling of leaves marking their passage.

He widened his awareness, using much the same technique as his kagemane no justu, and still felt nothing. Where had the enemy squad gone? They had been so close just a moment ago. Manzo and Noriko had already fanned out in formation, so he couldn't count on them. The enemy's numbers had been equal to theirs, and judging by the fact the battle had already taken two days, their skill was equal as well. He didn't know what it would take to win the fight.

His eyes shot open as he felt someone move into his circle of awareness, his reflexes sending him to the left as the kunai rocketed out of the mist and barely sliced the surface of the skin on the side of his neck. A small trickle of blood wound down into the collar of his jacket, the warmth oddly pleasant in the cold, clammy air.

Without thinking, he jumped to the branch below, backing away from the trunk. A shadowy figure appeared where he had been standing, then disappeared. Dammit, he hated invisibility jutsu. Luckily they were nothing more than genjutsu, so he quickly performed a series of hand seals and there his opponent stood, just out of arm's reach. Shikamaru quickly darted forward, striking his opponent square in the face. The enemy apparently hadn't expected that, for its knees buckled slightly and it staggered backwards, clutching its face.

Shikamaru was about to flee when he was struck from behind, the blow knocking him off the branch. He clenched his teeth as he used his chakra to catch another branch, then swung himself down to the ground. Maybe his chances would be better if he didn't fight them in the air. It didn't seem to matter much, though, for suddenly he had two opponents, and they both seemed real. A third appeared out of nowhere and attacked him with a kunai, slicing through his sleeve and into his arm. He absorbed the cut and rolled to the side, getting up just in time to block a kick to his head. Glancing at his surroundings, he realized what might work. All he needed was one lousy minute of light.

In the meantime, he had his hands full trying to not only get his enemies into position, but also to get them to stay where he wanted them to. Finally he pretended to collapse on the ground, supposedly defeated, and let them come near. By that time he had been quite beaten up, his clothes torn and dirty, his cheekbone bruised, leaves in his hair, and had received several nasty, bloody cuts on his limbs. The three shinobi slowly crept over to him, finally coming close enough to nudge him with a foot. Of course he had so much practice just lying around and ignoring annoying people like Naruto and Ino that he had no trouble at all fooling his enemies. The three stood over him, perfectly silent, and he found it increasingly difficult to lie still. He waited, knowing that it was getting close to mid-afternoon, and the mist would most likely burn off, since the drizzling rain had finally stopped.

The sound of a kunai being drawn from a pouch told him that he didn't have much time left to live if he didn't do something soon. He knew he was a coward, and he didn't want to die to protect someone he barely knew. The light coming through his eyelids brightened a little, and with a silent prayer to the sun, he sprang to his feet and let loose a fire jutsu. The three shinobi cried out and backed away from him, swatting at their clothes, and at that moment the sun momentarily broke through the clouds. "Kagemane no jutsu," he intoned, making the hand seals, and soon the other three were mimicking him. He didn't have enough chakra left to strangle them with their own shadows, not after using so much of it to shield himself from further harm, and to shield himself from what he was about to do next. With a heave, he heaved himself head-first into the tree behind him, the sounds of three sickening crunches causing enough satisfaction to drown out the pain. He had launched them all at the trees hard enough to kill them, but he had channeled his own chakra to protect himself. He doubted they had the time to do the same. The only flaw in his plan was that he didn't know where the fourth shinobi was, but that was just a chance he was going to have to take, because that was his last thought before he slipped into unconsciousness.

It was still daylight when he came to, his arm draped over Manzo's shoulder. His head ached as if it was going to explode, but he held his tongue. "How long was I out?" he grumbled, wincing at the light.

"About twenty-six hours," Manzo replied.

"What?" Shikamaru said. "What is today?"

"Saturday," Noriko answered.

"What time is it?"

"Oh, about three," she sighed. "Why?"

"How far are we from Konoha?" he blurted, struggling free of Manzo's grip.

"We're about five hours away," Goro, the team leader said. "Are you okay?"

Shikamaru looked his teammates over. They all were wounded in one way or another, although none of them badly. They all just looked like hell. "I gotta get home," he said, tightening some of the dingy bandages around his wounds.

"You're injured the most," Goro replied. "You have to stay with us."

"There's somewhere I have to be," he insisted.

"Geez, you're usually such a lazy guy," Noriko drawled. "Who set a fire under your ass?"

"None of your business," he growled. "I'm outta here."

"Hey!" Goro protested, but he was already sailing through the trees.