Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei, whom I worship through the many perchases of merchanidise.

Note: This story is built on the speculated-AU where Shikamaru and Naruto (and Akamaru) are the only survivors of the team that headed out to retrieve Sasuke. Lee and the sand-nins did not arrive to help; all sound-nins lost; Sasuke was defeated by Naruto and returned willingly to the village.

Through the Dark

Chapter 2: Harbinger

The Inuzukas had not been home. While debating on whether or not to leave a message or contact information, they found out from a neighbor that the family had just left towards the hospital after hearing the team their son was on had returned. The two boys had looked at each other with open distress.

"What do we do now?" Naruto inquired.

After a long, contemplating pause, Shikamaru had shaken his head and shrugged, a deep frown set in his features. "It's not how we wanted it, but they'll find out. We should keep moving for now. If we wait it'll get late and we'll just be bothering everyone. …Not that we're going to be much welcome company anyway."

Without much choice, they had decided to meet Neji's family next. Getting an audience with the Hyuuga's Main House proved to be a bit more difficult without appointment, but after clearing it up with the people at the gate that they were of the team their young prodigy had been off with, a meeting was quickly arranged. The boys had soon found themselves seated before the Head of the clan and his youngest daughter. Naruto had no idea what the girl's name was, but oddly felt some relief that Hinata was not home.

"What business do you have with me?" the patriarch had asked with such prestigious authority, his voice snapped Naruto into attention and Shikamaru tightened his fists on reflex. Hyuuga Hiashi was not a friendly-looking man—this was easy enough to tell from a distance, but when you got up real close, it became uncomfortably obvious. From the boys' point of view, the room suddenly seemed much smaller.

"Hyuuga-sama," the young chuunin began after a purposeful cough, "my name is Nara Shikamaru. I was the commander for a recent mission Neji took part in. This is Uzumaki Naruto, another member of our squad. We come with… unfortunate news regarding your nephew."

The steely, white eyes of the Hyuuga narrowed with displeasure and a hint of something more dangerous that was fast rolling towards the surface. "And what 'unfortunate news' is that?"

There was an unexpected pause, almost as if things were moving in slow motion, allowing the minds of the two young shinobi to race with a thousand thoughts at once. Up until this point, both of them had known what it was they had set out to do but had yet to do it. Being so abruptly faced with the true weight of the responsibility, both balked from the sheer intimidation.

Naruto fidgeted on his knees, feeling useless to the situation not for the first (and surely not last) time that day. He turned to his old classmate apologetic and expectant. Shikamaru already knew he was the one meant to fill this role, but despite all mental preparation and practiced neutral expressions, a knot was beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. He had thought of a hundred different ways to tactfully and gracefully deliver the ill-bidden news, but each seemed to fall through under the judging and piercing gaze of their recipient.

Time was stretching back in to proper form and the length of silence was becoming inexcusable. Someone had to say something soon, lest something happen to someone sooner. With an audible swallow, Shikamaru decided to stick to his guns.

"In our mission, we encountered enemy ninja and were forced to engage in combat. Each of us fought with all possible skill and strategy." He briefly coughed but picked back up right away. "Despite our best efforts however… some were lost in battle. Yet each selfless sacrifice gained victory." Shikamaru paused to observe Hiashi's fists dig into his kimono. The chuunin could feel a heavy sweat on his own cheeks, yet his expression or tone never faltered as he continued and concluded. "Neji was one of those selfless sacrifices that led Konoha to another success, Hyuuga-sama. You nephew gave his life in a noble aid to our village."

No awkward pause of silence trailed afterward, but rather a sharp undertone that formed into the words, "Get out."

This seemed to shake Naruto out of his stupor as he blinked. "What?"

"Get out," the order came again with more force to its presence. Suddenly the boys were intently aware of the veins that were surfacing near Hiashi's eyes like the bubbles in a heated pot building into a steady boil. Behind him, even Hanabi shrank back towards the wall.

"B-but Hyuuga-san—" A tight clasp of a hand on his shoulder stopped whatever Naruto was trying to say as he glanced back to see Shikamaru giving him a look that told him to back down.

"Get out!" The head of the Hyuuga clan suddenly rose to his full height, towering over the two adolescent forms before him. Through an intense, piercing glare and clenched teeth, their final warning was hissed. "Get. Out. Now."

Naruto grunted, his words cut off as he was hauled to his feet and dragged by the neckline toward the door. There he was jerked to a sudden, discombobulating halt for a brief, forced, polite bow, then yanked out again down the hallway and into the courtyard. He finally regained his senses there and began complaining loudly while trying to twist his collar out of Shikamaru's grasp which seemed incredibly strong for someone so lazy. But the other boy didn't relinquish his grip until they were both some distance outside the main gate, and only there was the blonde allowed to rip himself free, stumbling back a few steps, glaring back at the grumpy chuunin.

"What was that for!" he shouted, pointing with open challenge.

"You moron. In case you didn't notice, that was one pissed Hyuuga we had on our hands."

"Well we shouldn't have just left him like that!"

"And what exactly should we have done then?"

Naruto stuttered uselessly, trying hard not to fall into silence. "I dunno… we should've… we can't just… I mean, he…"

"There's nothing more we can do, Naruto," he grumbled, trying to appear more annoyed at his companion than helpless. The blonde looked to the ground in an unwilling defeat, his voice low and nearly lost in the wind.

"…but he's in pain…"

Shikamaru stood still, the words lingering like the chill from a morning, sea breeze. "…I know," he said at last. Then he turned, putting the ominous thought they were both thinking into words. "Come on. We're not done yet."

Dragging his feet, Naruto followed in slow, automatic motions, driven more by instinct and duty than desire. They traveled at this pace half-way to their next destination before Shikamaru suddenly stopped, causing Naruto to bump into him in his dazed state, the collision bringing him to crisper awareness.

"Hey," he heartlessly protested before realizing Shikamaru was staring at something further up the road. Looking past him curiously, Naruto adjusted his eyesight to put an identity on the lone figure standing motionlessly in the storm's growing mist. It didn't take long to name the owner of such sad, pearl eyes.

"Hinata."

The dark clouds, pregnant with tempest, rumbled overhead. Standing alone in front of the Akimichi home, Shikamaru slightly regretted telling Naruto it was okay to stay behind with Hinata. Any company would've helped his anxiety at this point, even Sasuke's.

Well, maybe not Sasuke's. Although if he allowed himself to admit that there was anyone who could take away most of the blame, it was Uchiha.

The rookie chuunin took a deep breath, letting the rain-scented air sink into his skin, calming his nerves down to a degree that wasn't bordering on bed-wetting fright. Various shinobi conduct rules ran through his mind as he steeled whatever courage he had, and knocked on the door. When Choumaru's broad form appeared in the entry, welcoming him in with a boisterous sort of cheer, Shikamaru was struck with the realization that he'd never actually been hated before. Disliked and looked over, sure, but never actually loathed.

He could tell he wasn't going to like it.

"You don't look so well. When's the last time you slept?" the man asked, his voice drifting across an unidentified distance. They'd moved into the family room which was bigger than what you'd find in most other homes, but with the Akimichi clan, nearly everything had to be bigger. They sat across from each other about four feet apart on large, brightly colored square pillows.

"Haven't really slept since the morning before yesterday," Shikamaru obligingly replied, contemplating if he'd ever sleep again.

"Really? Busy with a mission then?"

"Yeah."

A chuckle. "Must be rough on you."

"…Yeah."

The conversation took a sudden drop, neither quite knowing what to say after that. Shikamaru wished he'd had a speech of some kind prepared, but on this occasion he'd found it wholly inappropriate. The family of his best friend deserved to know their son was worth more than some rehearsed tune sung by a trained canary.

The Akimichi patriarch cleared his throat, a loud, demanding sound in their verbal pause. "So what brings you here today, Shikamaru? Chouji is not here right now, although last I hear I think he was with you. I've just arrived home from a mission myself so I don't know all the details. Is there any other purpose of your visit?"

The boy clenched his hands to keep them from shaking, the pain issuing from his injured hand strangely soothing. Throat dry, Shikamaru began, tripping and wrestling with the right words, trying to find the best way to tell this man before him that his son was dead.

Outside, the storm broke.

End chapter two
to be continued...

Notes from the Authoress:

I've been working on this on and off for the past two years too. I've actually had this part done for a while, it just needed sprucing up. But also, it was supposed to be part of a bigger section that would have led it to be at least 10 pages. After some debate, I've finally decided to post this finished part as another chapter, to add its other half at another time.

As for when that time will be... is a very good question. I may at least post one more chapter of this story up, but from there, it may go on an indefinite hiatus. The story has lost a bit of my attention, although I still love working on it when I'm angsting. Reguadless, this one is also falling by the wayside.

I apologize if Hiashi seemed OOC, but an explaination was (and perhaps may even still be) provided for his reaction. I hope you'll just accept it as is for the time being.

Next Chapter: Courage is only really tested by truth--both the bearing and endurance thereof.