I must say, I'm very surprised at the lack of attention this fic is garnering. How discouraging. It's also left me feeling too cranky to write for many days.

Pet Peeves: unhygienic habits, irresponsibility, and ppl who read fics but can't bother with a tiny little review so I know if it's even worth continuing. People, I honestly canNOT tell if the fic is good or not because as the writer, I'm blind to its faults. Even if you don't like it, you can still lemme know why. #mutters# This is so not worth my time. If no one is reading this, I can honestly spend my already limited free time doing other stuff.

Sincerely yours,

Ms. Disgruntled

p.s.

I don't like this chapter. I felt uninspired when I wrote it. Hope my lack of enthusiasm isn't reflected as shoddy work in this chapter. Editing and extra writing may be in the future of this chapter.

Excerpt from The Codes of Fire Country, AKA The New Constitution

1. All citizens of Fire Country are merry—to be discontent is to abhor the motherland.

Ch. 2 And a Soldier Learns About Women

As he walked down the boulevard on the smooth pavement that was frilled at the edges with broad trees, Shikamaru couldn't help but think that sometimes, being a high-level soldier had its perks. He was more fortunate than the other men; those herded like refugees into the barracks, having only their individual matchboxes that barely passed as rooms to provide solitude. Nestled snugly in his right pocket was the keycard that came with his one bedroom apartment. The flat piece of coded plastic dug into his thigh with each advancing step, reminding him that he had a better place to return to at the end of the day.

His level of clearance granted him liberties that others went without. The typically authoritative superiors were more permissive with him because they were pleased with his work, and felt comfortable enough with his measure of loyalty to not keep him by hand. In fact, they even allowed him to find residence out among the civilians so he could have some privacy to his life. He was also permitted more mobility; free to leave the compound for purposes that were non-mission related.

But no matter how much leeway he was given, the superiors still had a vice-like grip on the chain that bound him in eternal servitude to them. A chain they could jerk at any time to take away his miniscule amount of freedom. And they didn't trust him so much that he was allowed to pick his own abode. An apartment near the base he belonged suddenly became available when the owner mysteriously disappeared. And that apartment, made secure later on by the military, was where the superiors had him situated.

Turning his head to the night sky where the stars were drowned out by the lights of the city, Shikamaru wondered if the clouds were still white pillows that allowed, during the day, curtains of sunlight to peek through the fissures of its bodies. Guilt suddenly kicked in and he immediately felt ashamed of his idle contemplation that had nothing to do with his duty to K.O.N.O.H.A. As a man who was far from being slow-witted, Shikamaru knew the casual thought that floated through his head didn't have any explicit contradiction to the New Constitution, but implicitly, it hinted that he was dissatisfied with his life. And because of the unexpressed nature of this thought, the years of state-institutionalized mental conditioning caused nauseating waves of self-reproach to almost incapacitate him. But that was almost.

He was growing used to the punishing emotions secreted by the mental blockades; the incorporeal but very real gates in his mind that functioned to regulate his thoughts. In fact, he steadily chipped away at its foundations by often entertaining "unpatriotic" ideas, and purposefully inducing its wrath so that maybe one day, those gates would crumble and he would have free reign over the workings of his psyche. But still, in spite of his growing resistance to the hold the mental barriers had on him, the conditioned response continued to have adverse effects on him, such as dizziness and sluggish motor responses. Stumbling a bit and tilting his head to the side, Shikamaru lifted a trembling hand and rubbed at his right temple. He was trying to ease the dull pain in his cranium when the new angle he was facing allowed him to see something curious.

Straight ahead on the narrow street that was between various high-rise buildings of apartments, his own residence located only a few blocks away, was a person laying face down and apparently unconscious. The rows of streetlights that studded the sides of the buildings shone brightly, lighting up the stranger's form and revealing to Shikamaru, the peculiar details of the person's condition.

The individual's physique was slight; as in shorter in height than him, and significantly narrower in build. It was most likely that she was female, judging by the length of her blond hair that splayed around her head like a pool of silken fabric. But he wasn't undoubtedly sure that she was of the female sex. Her figure was wholly concealed beneath the all-encompassing blanket that was her tan colored trench coat while she rested on her stomach. And although she wasn't awake, her hands were clutching stubbornly to suitcases: one in each hand, one large one small.

Shikamaru looked upon her with mild pity. She was probably a prostitute who met a violent end with a bad john, or a homeless druggie, or a slovenly drunk who didn't care where she collapsed in an intoxicated stupor. Whoever she was, it was none of his business. Shrugging the thoughts of the blond from the metaphorical shoulders of his mind, Shikamaru walked on. His home was just around the corner, on the third floor of a solemn looking building with gray surfaces. With this knowledge in mind, he increased his pace, hoping to crawl early enough into his comforting bed to get at least eight hours of-

"HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" An infuriated feminine shriek cut into the middle of his thoughts.

Although he was surprised by the shout of outrage, Shikamaru didn't allow himself to turn around. Instead, he opted to continue walking in the direction of his apartment. It seemed that the woman on the street wasn't a dead prostitute or an unconscious drunk after all. But her volatile behavior caused him to suspect that she was a long time drug user. Only one whose brain cells were completely baked would dare to yell at a soldier, or possibly, someone who had tired of living and was looking forward to an early grave. When something hollow collided with the back of his head, his inkling of suspicion solidified into unquestionable certainty.

The object that hit him dropped from the air after losing its momentum to his inert head. The already fading sensation of pain left him momentarily stunned but when initial novelty of the unexpected attack wore off, he took a quick look at the fallen item near his feet and saw that it was an old sneaker. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He hollered as he turned around, completely sure that he was going to put a bullet in the person until he was confronted by the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen, and all thoughts momentarily fled him. Dragging his gaze away from the magnetic indigo eyes that commanded attention, Shikamaru saw that the rest of the woman wasn't bad either.

She had a heart-shaped face, dainty nose, long legs that were clad in denim shorts, and skin that glowed radiantly under the artificial lighting of the street. She was attractive and Shikamaru caught himself thinking that he wouldn't mind taking her to bed, which is exactly why he instantly disliked her on sight.

Women were troublesome creatures; beings that resorted to underhanded tactics like shedding crocodile tears at the drop of a hat. A smart man would avoid them like the plague they were for following reasons: First of all, they were never satisfied; always unreasonably demanding more, more, more, out of the poor saps they ensnared. They were also physically weak, troublesomely so, by subliminally begging for protection with the fragility of their bodies and their curvy softness.

Did they know that they terrified the men in their lives by being continuously vulnerable to the lust and violence of enemies? Did they even care, these surprisingly oblivious creatures. In his line of work, the last thing he needed was the unnecessary worrying for the safety of someone other than ol' number one. Besides, women in general were machiavellists that couldn't be trusted. The deadliest of soldiers were the most angelic looking ones; the kinds that donned skins of loveliness to package prettily, the pestilential poison that were their inner selves. And this stranger was pretty damn angelic looking.

The woman had an unwavering look of fury on fixed his face. Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts and a sock-clad foot was tapping with annoyance. The body language of her entire demeanor was that of someone pugnacious, of someone who was waiting for any reason to start a fight. And as she scowled at him with displeasure written all over her face, her feet still tapping a rhythmic beat, the baggy trench coat she wore started to slid lopsided off her shoulders, ruining her effort to look formidable. "WHAT KIND OF MAN LEAVES AN UNCONCIOUS, DEFENSELESS WOMAN ON A DIRTY HARD STREET?!" She yelled heatedly, looking scandalously offended by his lack of caring.

It was late in the day and Shikamaru was tired and irritated. He lacked the energy to deal with the blond and his foul mood manifested as a scowl on his face. "You're not unconscious." He pointedly said, hoping the woman would take the hint and go on her merry way.

"BUT I COULD'VE BEEN! YOU DON'T KNOW!" She hastily proclaimed. "YOU SAW ME LYING HERE AND INSTEAD OF STOPPING TO SEE IF I NEEDED HELP, YOU IGNORED ME AND WALKED AWAY!" She pointed her index finger at his face, accusingly. "BAD SAMARITAN! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF CHILVALRY!? OF HUMANLY CONCERN?!"

The edges of Shikamaru's upper lip raised into a sneer. "Chivalry died with the rest of the outdated ideas." He snarled viciously, his tone hushed.

The woman had the nerve to wave her hands dismissively at him, as if fanning away his retort with nonchalance. "BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD BE WITHOUT BASIC HUMAN DECENCY!" She snapped crossly. "Anyways, you have to take me home now!"

"Excuse me?" Shikamaru's face morphed into an expression of incredulity.

"Of course!" She said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm having a bit of financial trouble and have nowhere to live at the moment. No self-respecting man would leave a poor girl out in the streets, right? So you have to let me stay at your place until I'm on my feet again!"

Shikamaru now knew, without a doubt, that the woman was not right in the head. Not wanting to argue with someone who obviously possessed no logic, he turned and hurried away in the briskest pace he could muster.

"HEY! DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!" The blond screeched like a woman scorned.

Shikamaru's head snapped forward when the woman's second sneaker smacked into the back of his skull. With his naturally narrow eyes twitching in anger, the incensed soldier turned back to the woman and gave her a searing glare with his coal-black eyes. "Listen to me you little-" He shook his head and decided not to say what he had on his mind. "Show me your I.D., civilian." He demanded instead.

The woman stubbornly shook her head with her arms crossed and her demeanor defiant.

'Oooookaaaay', he thought. "Your I.D. NOW." He asked again, commandingly, in the adopted no-nonsense tone of a soldier.

"NO." She replied, the single word was short and final.

Whatever was left of Shikamaru's patience was rapidly disintegrating due to the woman's exacerbating behavior.

"Give me your I.D. and I won't shoot you." He said to her, making an act of giving her a choice when there really wasn't one.

The woman raised her chin haughtily and peered at him through her fanned lashes. "You wouldn't shoot someone as beautiful and sexy as me." She called his bluff arrogantly then stuck her tongue at him.

Shikamaru reached to his side, gripped the handle of the gun that dangled from his belt, and extracted the sleek black weapon from the holster. "How about I kill you, then take your I.D. card from your dead cold body?" He monotonously said as he raised the Kunai 9mmx19 and pointed it with unwavering accuracy, in a kill shot between the shockingly blue eyes of the woman. His lips were a cold line of seriousness, his eyes, darker than its usual color with unreadable thoughts.

The young woman pulled down her right eye and raised the middle finger of her left hand, all the while still sticking her tongue out at him.

Agitated by her mind-boggling behavior and complete lack of fear, Shikamaru exhaled a defeated sigh and returned the gun to its leather cradle. To his dismay, the strange devil of a woman curved her full lips into a smug smile of victory. Dissatisfied with the outcome of their battle of will, Shikamaru resolved to make her triumph short-lived. In only a few quick strides, he was in front of her. Faster than she could react, his hand caught her wrist in an painful, unrelenting grip, before he pulled her to his chest with a forceful jerk. His face was contorted into an almost cruel expression, his slender eyes glowering down at her menacingly before thrusting his free hand into the open flaps of her coat.

The woman's eyes widened at his unforeseen intrusion of her personal space and she started to scream while thrashing uncooperatively in his grasp. "HELP! HELP! RAPE! RAAAPE!!! SOMEBODY HELP! HE'S TRYING TO RAPE ME!!"

"Oh shut up." Shikamaru said sharply as his free hand roamed all over her body. Although the contact he made was intimate, it was conducted in a professional fashion. He was running his palm over the curve of her smooth rear when he felt something rectangular. Deftly slipping two fingers into her back pocket, he extracted the standard I.D. card all civilians were required to carry. After finding what he was asking for, he 'benevolently' let go of her arm by flinging her away from his body. He turned his back to her and effortlessly ignored the murderous glares the woman was giving him as he lifted the card to the light where he could read the large black print:

Yamanaka Ino

Civilian #: c12604

Date of Birth: September 23, 2075

Residence: Sector A

Occupation: Student

'Yamanaka Ino...Yamanaka.....Something about the name....' Mulling silently, Shikamaru lifted his eyes from the card to take a weary glance at the girl. In response, she pushed up her nose, flared her nostrils, and made obnoxious pig noises at him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her taunt and decided that she couldn't possibly be related to the Yamanaka he had in mind. For a while, her last name in combination with her blond hair and blue eyes made him take into consideration of her possible relation to Yamanaka Inoshi, the director of the Bureau of Intelligence, which was the branch of K.O.N.O.H.A. that specialized in espionage for purposes that were sabotage-related. But being on the receiving end of her sophomoric abuse, he concluded that a woman as crude as she couldn't be a kin of the distinguished Yamanaka-sama.

"Today is your birthday." Shikamaru declared as if he was speaking for the sole sake of issuing a statement. He didn't mention that his own birthday happened to be the day before, or that they were the same age.

"How'd you know?" She questioned immediately with a healthy dose of suspicion.

Shikamaru raised the woman's I.D. card and flicked it with his middle finger. The thin plastic snapped with the impact and resounded with a loud crack. "It also says here that your home is in Sector A."

"So?" She furrowed her flawlessly groomed eyebrows.

With his eyelids drooping and corners of his mouth bent down in a sharp angle, Shikamaru gave her a look that was the strange combination of boredom and exasperation. "Sector A is what we peasants call 'the filthy rich side of town'." He clarified for her sake.

"So?" She asked again, even less friendly than before.

"So Ms. Yamanaka Ino, care to tell me what possible reason can prompt a princess like you to leave your castle and servants to wander to this lousy dump." He sardonically inquired. "It's not a very safe place, especially for a little lamb such as yourself. There are many predators here and not all of them run on four legs if you know what I mean...." He let his sentence trail off ominously.

"It's none of your business and you don't scare me." She replied in a huff.

"You're right," Shikamaru shrugged carelessly "it IS none of my business so goodnight and goodbye." After saying so, he attempted to hurry off, hoping to god that this time, he would successfully escape.

"WAIT! IF YOU LET ME STAY AT YOUR PLACE, I'LL LET YOU TAKE MY VIRGINITY!" Her offer of quid pro quo surprised Shikamaru into taking a step prematurely before the rising foot had even completely come off the ground, causing him to trip over his left foot and fall unceremoniously with the pull of gravity. "JUST KIDDING!" She added with a giggle, absolutely giddy with her success in causing his mishap.

Lying on his front with his arms propping up his body, Shikamaru's hand was hovering towards his gun as the abrasions on his elbows nurtured his anger with their painful heat. He knew that if he killed her now, she wouldn't be able to cause more trouble for him in the future. With this thought in mind, he took hold of the gun and stroked the chilly arc that was the trigger with his index finger, all the while, contemplating dark thoughts seriously as Yamanaka Ino's charming laughter assailed his ears.

This chapter is considerably shorter than my normal writing but my fics haven't been getting many reviews recently anyways. Besides, its 1 a.m. and I still have class tomorrow. Initially, I planned to end the chapter at another point..... but I must say I'm surprised that I let it end with such a dark note. Maybe shorter chapters (which in turn might make updates more frequent) is preferred by readers?

Oh yea, this fic will flit from ultra dark and depressing to sometimes light and cheerful. Hope the alteration in moods won't throw anyone off.

To answer some questions:

Don't ask me Seraph's identity. My suggestion to readers is to READ the fic carefully and look for hints in various chapters. When I finish the fic, IF I finish the fic, I plan on making a list of all the clues to various things available just to see if anyone had caught on.

To Trickmaster: I didn't watch Matrix sequels (I must be the only person on this planet who didn't see it) so I don't know who Seraph is in the movie. But Seraph is another word for Angel, the kind with three pairs of wings (sometimes two). I think it's the first of nine orders of angel in medieval angelology. And I really can't say more while the fic is still in progress.

To Jeano: LOL yea, I'm a huge fan of shikaino. It's obvious isn't it.

To Fichan: I know I bugged the hell outta you to read this fic so thankies for the review!! (nakayoshi nakayoshi!). Knew I could rely on u! And thanks for putting up with my idiosyncrasies, rants, and general craziness.