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While I typically don't do Author's Notes, this came up in one review and is likely to come up again, so… As far as this story goes, Shikamaru does not know the Shadow Neck Bind. It was fairly plainly stated during the Chuunin Exam that the Shadow Imitation was Shikamaru's only move. Presumably, Shikmamaru was taught the Shadow Neck Bind after his promotion, by his father. However, since Shikamaru was promoted prematurely in this story, and had no contact with his parents afterwards, that never had a chance to happen here. So while other characters may be getting some new tricks, or outright power-ups, Shikamaru is still stuck with his single special move.

Now back to the story…

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Here be Dragons

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With a grunt of exasperation, Shikamaru once again ceased his struggling. Having not quite accepted his complete helplessness, he had been trying to at least roll onto his side. However, all he had managed to do was pike his body some, and then to lock himself into that position. Now instead of having his head resting against the ground, his face was actively pressed into the dirt.

In retrospect, Shikamaru decided his attempts were ill conceived from the start. Even if he did roll over, he wouldn't have been able to do any more than he could before. Besides that, he might have attracted unwanted attention. The only advantage to being on his side would have been to give him a better view of what was happening around him. But as he thought about it, Shikamaru decided he really could see just fine from where he was. In two directions, at least. All he had to do was roll his head slightly to the side, and close whichever eye was going to be driven further into the dirt.

As he was once again lying still, Shikamaru took stock of how he was holding up. To his dismay, he realized he was using chakra much faster than he should have been. After a moment of thinking it over, he figured Karai was responsible. The snake, after all, was the familiar of a ninja, and was no doubt trained to drain chakra out of victim as well as squeeze the life out of them. Shikamaru had stopped the active squeezing, but he had no way to halt the draining.

Shikamaru sighed loudly. "Maaaaaaan…"

-

Temari let out a growl of annoyance as Harsi danced away from yet another lunge. Keeping just out of Temari's range, the leather clad bandit slowly swayed from side to side. She had been doing that since the start of the fight, continuously staring at Temari with her hands held right in her line of vision. Harsi never got far enough away for Temari to use her range gusts effectively, and was always just out of reach of hand-to-hand attacks. And strangely, she almost never made a strike of her own. The bandit's odd behavior was starting to get on Temari's nerves. And it was giving her a headache.

Exasperated, Temari stared back into Harsi's gaze. As she did, she felt the urge to toss aside her fan. Doing so, she lunged forward again. Harsi nimbly danced to the side, again catching Temari's gaze as soon as the Sand ninja recovered her footing. Feeling disoriented, Temari raised her hand to point at her opponent. She tried to taunt the bandit, but she lost the words as soon as she tried to say them.

Harsi abruptly formed a series of seals.

Temari stood up straight and lowered her hand.

Exhaling, Harsi stood up straight as well. "You're a tough one," she said, pulling a fancy dagger from a holster at her waist. "Usually it doesn't even take a minute before I get in control. But you…" Harsi clucked her tongue. "You just wouldn't stop fighting it. But I guess that just makes this all the sweeter." Stepping forward, Harsi put her blade to Temari's neck.

But she abruptly stopped short. Looking past Temari, the bandit took an apprehensive step back.

"Then again, I can always kill you later." Grabbing Temari by the face, Harsi stared intently into her eyes. "I need you to do something for me first…"

-

With a flick of his wrist, Kankurou pulled Karasu towards him. The puppet sprang across the land, crouching in a haphazard heap beside Kankurou. Smirking, Kankurou glanced to see how the rest of the battle was going.

The first thing that grabbed his attention was the Oregi's snake, lying on the ground and coiled tightly around something human sized. Kankurou's eyes widened as he realized what the snake was doing. "Oh crap," he muttered as he sprinted forward, sending Karasu out ahead of him. "You really did screw this up…"

Kankurou's rush to his teammate was interrupted by a concentrated gust of air. As familiar as he was with his sister's attacks, the boy was able to nimbly roll under the worst of the attack. Coming back up into a crouch, Kankurou quickly glanced around to see what Temari had been aiming at. But before he found anything he was knocked backwards by a second gust.

"Temari!" Kankurou yelled out as he stopped himself. "What do you think you're doing?" Looking up, he saw Temari running forward with her fan raised and ready to strike. His eyes wide with disbelief, Kankurou just barely had time to roll to the side.

Growling, Temari pulled her closed fan out of the ground and took another swing at Kankurou.

The sound of metal clanging against wood filled the air as Karasu intercepted the blow. With one hand outstretched to manipulate his puppet, Kankurou hastily backpedaled away from his sister. Then he abruptly yelled as something burned across his side. Acting on reflex he recoiled away from the sensation, swinging his arm back to ward off whatever had attacked him.

Having ducked under Kankurou's wild swing, Harsi pulled away from the wounded boy. In her hand was a knife with a smattering of blood on it. Bringing the blade up to her mouth, the rebel smiled wickedly.

As Kankurou fell back, Karasu spasmed, allowing Temari to easily knock it away.

Stumbling backwards, Kankurou fell into a three-point stance and glared at his attackers. Supporting himself with his right arm, he kept his left arm clutched across his chest. Blood trickled through his hand. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding freely, and it hurt. Blocking out the pain, Kankurou glanced up at his sister. She was staring back at him, but there was no recognition in her face. Glancing back at Harsi, his eyes narrowed. "I'm really starting to hate you Oregis."

Amused, Harsi tilted her head to the side. "Oh? And you didn't before?"

"Not really," Kankurou muttered. "But now its personal."

"Tut tut," Harsi chided. "Kill him."

With a yell, Temari leapt forward.

Grunting, Kankurou jumped up a tree to avoid his sister.

Without a sound, Karasu sprang at Harsi from behind. The bandit fell to the side, only just avoiding the attack. As she rolled away, Harsi saw the puppet whirl to the side and lunge into a tree.

"Damnit," yelled Kankurou as he managed to glance down at Harsi between avoiding attacks by Temari.

Stepping back confidently, Harsi chuckled. "Pathetic." Before Kankurou could use his puppet again, Harsi leapt up towards the Sand ninja.

Crouched on a fir branch, Kankurou quickly whirled aside to avoid Harsi's initial knife thrust. As the boy spun to the other side of the trunk, Hari landed on a branch just beyond where Kankruou had just been. Looking back, she saw Kankurou grab at a dead branch, which gave way as soon as he put his weight on it. Kankurou fell away, but not before flinging the offending stick at the bandit. Caught off guard while laughing at Kankurou's misstep, Harsi was struck across the face by the projectile.

After breaking several sizable branches of his way down, Kankurou landed in a crouch. Ignoring the pain in his side, he sprung forward. Having caught up with him during his scuffle with Harsi, Temari dropped from the trees a second later and sprinted after him. Abruptly digging his foot into the ground, Kankurou reared about and aimed a roundhouse at his sister. The kick struck the kunoichi's fan, knocking it from her grasp and unbalancing her.

Shuffling back a few steps, Temari reset herself then flung herself forward, aiming a lariat and a cross-body-knee at her opponent. Kankurou saw the lariat and raised his arms to block it, but was caught unprepared by the knee to his chest. Yelping, the boy staggered backwards doubled over in pain.

Temari took a second to regain her footing again before leaping after her brother. Seeing the attack coming, it was all Kankurou could do to fall backwards and toss Temari over him as he did. Though he hit the ground on his uninjured side, Kankurou was still jarred by the fall. Temari, however, took the throw in stride, landing in a tumble and almost instantly rolling out of it. Wincing against the pain, Kankurou pushed himself to his knees. Turning around as she stood up, Temari focused her gaze on Kankurou and leapt forward. Then her head abruptly cocked to the side. The kunoichi went stiff, lost her footing and tumbled to the ground.

Breathing hard, Kankurou stayed where he was for a moment. Still on the ground, Temari remained unnaturally still. Looking past his sister, Kankurou saw Shikamaru, still wrapped up by the snake, but with a line of shadow connecting him and Temari. "Thanks, punk," said Kankurou, managing a weak laugh. "I owe you one."

With his face still pressed against the dirt, Shikamaru glanced at Kankurou out of the corner of his eye. "Not yet," he all but whispered. "Can't… Hold her long. Getting weak…"

His expression hardening, Kankurou nodded. "Right…" Standing up straight, Kankurou activated all his chakra strings. At his command, Karasu sprang back to life and hobbled toward the Sand ninja. "All right, Oregi," Kankurou yelled as he stepped back into the trees. "It's just you and me, now!"

Harsi landed in the midst of a grove a short distance from Kankurou, with fresh red scratches on her face. She immediately stood up in defensive posture, with her hands held deliberately in front of here eyes.

"I thought that bit of genjutsu was illegal," Kankurou wryly commented.

"Being a free Oregi is illegal, in case you've forgotten," spat back Harsi. "And your village is to blame for that."

Kankurou scowled. "I really don't feel like discussing the cycle of violence between you and the Sand. I just feel like finishing it!" Kankurou dramatically brought his arms back, commanding Karasu to lunge at Harsi from the side.

Harsi immediately whirled back to avoid the puppet, bobbing from side to side as she did. As she did the puppet pulled back and began circling around her. Harsi began to turn to keep her eyes fixed on Karasu before remembering it was just a puppet. Abruptly turning back to Kankurou, she almost didn't see the blade from Karasu until it was too late. Diving to the ground at the last moment, she felt a trap-sprung kunai shoot through her hair. Frantically rolling back to her feet, she came up with one arm pointed to Karasu and one towards Kankurou, glancing wildly between the two of them.

With a mirthless grin on his face, Kankurou gestured for Harsi to come forward. "C'mon," he urged. "Lets see you try that little trick on me."

As her gaze darted between Kankurou and the puppet, Harsi's expression hardened. With a yell, she threw caution to the wind and charged Kankurou. The Sand ninja smiled confidently and initiated Karasu's pursuit. The puppet immediately sprang forward, only to be knocked aside by a blind roundhouse kick from Harsi. Not expecting her to have her timing down that well, Kankurou fell back a step. As she landed, Harsi smiled wickedly and leapt forward again.

Taking full advantage of the forest, Kankurou dodged behind a fir trunk as Harsi attacked. A roundhouse that was meant for him thudded against the tree, visibly cracking it. Unperturbed, Harsi sidestepped the tree and kicked again. Kankurou continued his dodging, ducking behind every obstacle he could.

Karasu abruptly rejoined the fight, sending a spray of shuriken just over Kankurou's head. Though in midair when the attack came, Harsi managed to twist her way through the flack, landing just in front of a dumbstruck Kankurou. With another yell, she kicked the side of the boy's knee. The bandit followed up with a quick chop to his shoulder and another roundhouse.

As he fell, Kankurou had the presence of mind to send Karasu after Harsi to keep her away from him. However, Harsi saw the puppet coming and shuffled forward to meet him. The bandit struck first, splitting open Karasu with a viscous frontkick. With its internal workings jarred and part of its torso casing splintering off, Karasu lurched backward. Harsi stepped forward again, roundhousing the puppet into a tree.

Snarling, Harsi turned her attention back to Kankurou. The boy was still lying on his side, looking in disbelief at the shattered Karasu. Catching Harsi's gaze, his expression abruptly hardened. Harsi charged, intent on pressing her advantage. Kankurou angrily rolled back and handsprung to his feet. As he did, he pulled a handful of kunai from his side holster. Harsi leapt at Kankurou, and Kankurou dove to the side and let loose his kunai.

Harsi dodged the blades with ease, until all four of them abruptly changed course. The bandit screamed as one of the bladed sliced across her leg. Another blade nicked her side. Landing in a heap, Harsi saw one of the kunai coming at her face. Rolling to the side and throwing up her hands, she managed to escape with only a gash along her entire forearm.

Kankurou pulled his blades back with a gesture from his right hand. With an overdramatic gesture from his left hand, he pulled Karasu to where he was. Panting hard, Kankurou spat some dirt out of his mouth. "Come on, Oregi," he challenged. "Come on and get some!" Kankurou clenched his left fist, extending apair of blades out of thepuppet's relatively undamaged arms.

Clutching her arm, Harsi looked up in alarm.

"Come on!" Kankurou repeated, waving his right arm over his head. In response, his four airborne kunai swung at Harsi, cutting through the branches that were in the way. Harsi ducked away from the first attack, only to see Karasu spring at her again. Pulling the same trick Kankurou had done earlier, Harsi darted behind the nearest tree. Karasu's blade dug into the trunk, giving Harsi the chance to deliver another front kick before the puppet could dislodge itself. But Harsi paid for the attack with a wound to her shoulder as the kunai zipped past the tree.

Hurt badly, Harsi fell away in a controlled tumble. Karasu, not any more damaged than before, followed immediately, giving her no respite. Acting on reflex alone, Harsi began darting from tree to tree as the puppet pressed the attack. With Karasu and the kunai working in tandem, Harsi was kept on the defensive. Despite her attempts at maneuvering, she was unable to get close enough to Kankurou to even think about attacking him directly. All she managed to do was circle around him in a wide arc.

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