Naruto owned by Masashi Kishimoto-san.
Author's notes:
I really dont understand why should they pair Shikamaru with Ino because the author clearly states in his episodes that its Temari. And besides, Shikamaru doesnt like Ino. If you're watching the episodes you'll see in the way they act towards each other. If you're reading the manga, Shika and Temari have another mission together. IMO, Temari is the only girl that could make it past Shikamaru's beliefs.If Kishimoto-san would make a canon pairing, I think it is them.
Kami-sama, i enjoy doing this episode, especially on Shikamaru's bad acting and the men buying it, eheh.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It was a while before she realized that he planned on doing the snooping tonight all by himself. She almost missed it when he said earlier that he's going to be snooping around. Then she remembered his farewell with matching eye signal. He had meant for her to go back to the apartment.
'I'll be going. You should too.'
/Chikuso.../
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Pride is so hard to Swallow III
By Veiledlantern
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And right now, Temari being the patient person that she claims to be, hereby declared that she's pissed as hell./That guy. And what the hell is that attitude? I'm not a china porcelain damnit. I'm Temari of Suna, not just any other Kunoichi for crying out loud. And why the hell did I not protest about it anyway? I'm not going to submit to that guy/ She continued marching outside the noisy street, gritting her teeth in annoyance.
/I don't care about his damn intention, or his being gentlemanly and all. God, I can't even consider him as a gentleman. Right now, we're a team, and I should also do my part, not sitting on the room waiting for him to come back like some stupid housewife./
/Hmph, lets see how he would react if I've been able to save his ass again/ Temari's dark green eyes sparkled with vengeance with a matching smirk.
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Shikamaru immediately flattened himself on the wall and mask his chakra as much as he could. He's on a dark alley now. This is where the one that he sensed darted around here. He shouldn't be surprised that its similar to the chakra he felt earlier when they were at the room. He looked around and calculated the surroundings. Its too dark now.
/It would be more obvious if the two of us are going. I hope that she understood the message. And its twice as dangerous because they had been able to spy at us earlier. Knowing that the Toriyama clan uses animals as tool, I could expect them to use animal attacks similar to Kiba./
Then he felt a kunai whizzing through his genjutsu
/Kuso/ he jumped back and released the illusion.
"Iyaa, so look at what the rat brought here"
"Keh. As I expected. A trap. Don't you have anything better than this?" Shikamaru smirks tiredly at the 3 men that appeared behind him.
3 Men stood on his back. He cannot see them but he sees their shadow reflected on his line of vision. He's facing the dark alley, and the brightly lit streets behind them gives of a nice light.
"You talk big for a kid, brat. I thought Konoha would not be stupid as to send some scrawny kid like you. But it seems disappointing. And you're not even an Inuzuka, how can we enjoy making fun of you and be vitamins for our ravens?"
"Tch. And what makes you think that I'm from Konoha?" Shikamaru smirks. The men eyed him warily.
"And where is your shapely blond companion?" Another man added, leering. Then they all laughed. Shikamaru glared at the trash bin in front of him.
"So obviously you're one of the Toriyama clan"
One of the three raised their brows. "Why do you care about it?" The boy turned around to face them travel his gaze from one other to next in a calculating smirk.
"Hah, I bet the Inuzuka clan of Konoha I stronger than you!"
"How dare you insult the power of our clan? Our power over birds is non comparable to those dog tricks the Inuzukas teach their puppies!"
"Is that so?" Seeing that the Shinobis baited on his poor acting Shikamaru continue his teasing
"You call this stronger? Crying while running to a certain snake guy just because those so-called puppies kicked your poor shins?"
"Bakero! We did NOT ask help! In fact, it is our assistance that is being asked for backup and espionage and handling over the leader of Konoha's Inuzuka is just a consolation prize!" The black haired man named Morita proudly replied. Shikamaru smirked inwardly.
"And besides, Oshio-sama is tired of Houkei-sama's whims, it will end when Orochimaru-sama would overcome Konoha thus eliminating our rival then our clan is going to be famous!"
/It seems that the situation is much more complicated than we thought. How troublesome. Now I'm stuck here doing mission while everybody celebrates New Year./ Shikamaru inwardly groaned all years worth of pain. What a troublesome mission. He groaned again
"Ah! Poor Oshio-sama, is your leader that eccentric that they forget their kawaii subordinates?" Shikamaru breathes his excessive undying sympathy on them.
The three men burst into tears, the skinny man wailed loudly while the gruff, chiseled man Morita step forward raised his palm on Shikamaru.
"Houkei-sama… Houkei-sama had forgotten us, he only focuses on getting revenge on the death of his first born that was killed by a heartless Inuzuka while Oshio-sama cares about the clan and wants us to be stronger and well-known throughout the Grass. So he deserves it that he does not know our affiliation to Orochimaru-sama! He'll soon loose his position to Oshio-sama as the Family Head"
The pale, skinny man nodded emphatically. The burly, dirty blond chinky man on his left sniffed and rubs his nose on his sleeve while nodding at the same time.
Shikamaru gasped deeply and dramatically. He almost coughed because of it.
"How tragic!" Shikamaru covers his face with his arms in act of covering unshed tears to hide the fact that he's actually rolling is eyes out of its socket. "Take me with you, I am touched by your heroism. Together we could make our dreams came true, and lets take on the path of light as one!"
"Ooo!" They shouted in chorus. The three men raised their fist in the air. A rooster jumped in fear from a nearby wagon
Shikamaru is stays on his position and waited. One of the men then started to blindfold him. Then the said man distanced himself a little bit then the other started to form seal in his hands.
A flock of white birds, with the size of pigeons flew from him surrounding the Konoha nin, as the rest surround the other three ninja too. Some kind of a teleport jutsu. Then suddenly, A the familiar gust of wind suddenly surrounded the alleyway that distracted them and two black marbles bounded on the floor that suddenly exploded to purple smoke. The men looked at Shikamaru's form covered with birds. The one who did the justu tried to teleport the boy but the formation of the birds were destroyed when something black was oozing out and immediately withdrew. It was a shadow bunshin. The black that oozed out runs out on the road and ended up in some place in the alley in a thin, pony tailed boy's foot, leaning lazily on the wall, with hands tucked on pockets.
The purple smoke is continuously filling up the area. Shikamaru then felt the wind going against him when an arm dragged him up a large metal fan cradled by the wind. They floated upwards and both passenger jumped on the nearby roof and started to run and jump away.
But its not finished yet. Almost a minute after, three big birds with passenger each darted from the violet clouds, chasing the running ninjas.
"They're fast."
"Yeah I know" Temari smirked. "It would be seconds by now.
"What do you mean by that? If they're going to continue on that speed, they could easily swoop our heads off." Shikamaru observed, breath quite ragged from jumping and running.
Then approximately 5 seconds later, one of the man starts coughing. Then the other, and then the last. Unable to concentrate more, their jutsus dispelled, 3 poofs were heard followed by 3 thumps of body hitting the roof, then slid down.
The two decreased their speed. Shikamaru looks at Temari. The girl just smiled
"Kankuro" she said, still smiling, making Shikamaru had the idea that those bombs were poisoned, coming from her elder brother.
Seeing that they were safer now than before, they settled on walking on the streets towards their apartment. As they walked together, Temari keeps on harassing the silent Shikamaru, who is presently walking with a frown fixed on his face and arms folded up in his head, settling on his lazy steps, now that they were both safe
"Taku! So you're planning this all along, aren't you? Fixing me off with those stupid words of yours that goaded me to look for you. I thought you don't want to be rescued by a woman?" Shikamaru's ears twitched at that but said nothing. "And you didn't even tell me one bit of it when we were at the hotel. Then you left me all alone in the restaurant without even sharing you're plan. I could have helped. Good thing I have some skill in tracking. If I had not appeared right then and there…"
"If you did not appear right then and there I should have been able to uncover more information and infiltrate their headquarters without a bother." Shikamaru's lazy yet firm tone cuts Temari's incessant talking. Its starting to rub him off, not to mention that she almost ruined his plan. "I didn't tell you anything because they are spying at us."
"I know, I get the point. But when did I learn about you're plan? When you left. You should have given me some more explanation or some clues. Why? Are you afraid that I'm going to make a mess and spill?"
Shikamaru pointedly looked away.
Temari's eyes intensified as she turns her face on him.
"You just don't trust me" It's a statement more than a question
A long, deafening painful silence occurred. Amidst of the cheerful air the street is emitting, the coldness between two warm and alive persons walking no less that 2 feet from each other seemingly increased.
"We're supposed to be teammates" It let out on almost a whisper from Shikamaru's left. Of course Temari is hurt. But she does not want it to show. Much. So she kept silent. And besides, they're on a mission. She's above tantrums and lashings.
He lowered his hands to his sides and let his shoulders droop a bit. That hit him. It's just that his damn pride is kicking the part of him that tells him to cooperate with the Sand Kunoichi. That's a stupid act because being teammates requires both to work together. If Azuma is here, he's been scolding him already. Aside from some conflicting emotions inside, he managed to keep himself composed and calm.
/Oyaji, you don't know how much I hate dealing with women./
He closed his eyes and opened them again.
"Well, thank you for saving me a little while ago…"
"A…aa." Temari nodded. That was close to apology. She does not have a choice but accept it. This mission wont work if they were not in good terms.
Shikamaru observe Temari's reactions. And he's mildly impressed on her maturity and how well she manages her emotions unlike other women do. Well, he only has a few women to compare to her anyway. One of them was Ino.
And Ino would probably be yelling at him at her wits right now, abusing his poor eardrums. Which is troublesome and irritating at the same time.
They are on the opening of the hotel now. Temari sighed deeply then faces Shikamaru, her faces traces none of the bitter note she held before.
"So, what's the plan?"
Shikamaru smirks.
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hitai-ate-head protector for ninjas, although it was being wear on places favored by individual ninjas like on the throat, or waist or arm.It also signifies that they are ninja and from which village they came from.
taku-a shortened form of mattaku, its some sort of sound of exasperation like 'oh come on' or 'hay naku...' (teehee)
Oyaji-old man, a more informal (and almost non-respectful) term for father
bakero-a curse call, i think its more deeper than stupid.