Author's note: I apologize for the lack of ShikaIno in the last chatpers, but its difficult writing about them when they are in two different places. I hope this chapter at least makes up for it. About 3 chapters left. Stick with me! Enjoy:)

There was a splash of blue and a flash of yellow behind his closed eyes. Cool fingers on his cheek and soft, lustrous hair brushing his bare chest. A warm, unclothed body pressed tightly against his own. He felt her firm, round breasts on his skin, and as he breathed, his chest rose to meet hers. Her long, slender legs were intertwined with his muscular ones. His strong arms were wrapped around her slim waist. Her fingers moved from his face to play with his thick, dark hair and he felt goose bumps rising on the back of his neck as her warm breath tickled his ear. The sweet smell of orchids wafted into his nostrils. A musical voice was calling out to him.

"Shikamaru." He knew that voice.

Ino.

"What…?"

Shikamaru's eyes shot open and he woke up with a start. His heart was beating fast and he was breathing hard, his well-muscled chest rising sharply with each breath. The young man was dimly aware of the stiffness between his legs and blushed despite himself when he remembered where he really was. He was in the inn, and not in Ino's arms. Ino's naked arms, creamy white and slender. And he pictured those naked arms attached to her equally naked torso, which were in turn attached to a pair of long, smooth legs. He felt a stirring in his groin again and flushed even redder.

"What the hell was that?" He wondered aloud.

"That was you having a naughty dream." A voice suddenly replied.

Shikamaru yelped in surprise and almost jumped out of his bed. He had forgotten that he wasn't alone in the room.

"N… Neji." He stuttered, suddenly embarrassed that his teammate had known exactly what had happened.

"Care to share what it was about?"

It was near dawn and the room was still shrouded in inky darkness, and though Shikamaru couldn't see Neji's face, he could just imagine the smirk on his face now.

The shadow master frowned and let out an irritated snort.

Neji laughed.

"Don't worry. It's just you and me. Shino left a while ago to train." He was still smiling playfully.

Shikamaru had never been close to Neji in their childhood days, on the account that they were a year apart in age and thus were in different classes. In fact, the first time they had learned of each other's existence was during their early teens when they had taken part in the chuunin exam. After their failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke from the Sound ninjas, their budding friendship had begun to solidify. And when the task force had been set up, the two young men had become very well acquainted indeed.

To those who didn't know him, Neji seemed like a cold and distant young man. Naruto constantly referred to him as the 'old stick-up-the-ass Hyuuga' and everyone agreed that the young man acted far too mature for his age. Many young women in Konoha lamented the fact that such a handsome man would be so aloof and difficult to approach. And they would dreamily state that he would be even hotter if he smiled once in a while or if he loosened up a little.

Shikamaru didn't make that kind of wrong assumptions. For he knew that beneath that stoic exterior, lies a person with a wicked and sometimes evil sense of humor. Shikamaru was surprised when he first discovered this unknown side to Neji's personality, but he had grown quite used to his teammate's occasional moments of insanity. It was true that Neji seemed serious and solemn at times, however, Shikamaru knew that the young man was born into a noble family and thus had a reputation to uphold whether he liked it or not. But in the company of those he felt comfortable with, Neji's true self emerged. He would tell jokes that would make even Naruto blush and often played childish pranks on Sakura and Lee. And when Tenten and Lee announced that they were in a relationship, Neji would tease them mercilessly. Shikamaru wasn't exempt from his antics either.

"Well?" Neji continued his relentless assault. "Come on, Shikamaru."

"It's nothing." Shikamaru said.

"I'd hardly equate Ino to nothing." The smirk on the silver-eyed jounin's face widened and he chuckled.

Shikamaru's eyes widened with disbelief.

'How did he know?' He thought to himself.

"How did I know?" Neji asked innocently, as if reading his friend's thoughts. "Who else would it be? I'll bet you had a lot of fun, ne? Even if it's just in your mind."

And the longhaired man laughed again.

"Shut up." Shikamaru spat venomously.

"What?" Neji continued to feign innocence. "I'm just speaking from experience. Ino is something special."

Shikamaru's blood was boiling. And the anger building in the pit of his stomach was threatening to explode, and his fists clenched involuntarily on the bed sheets. He never felt like killing someone so much as he felt like strangling Neji right now. First Sakura tells him that Ino met up with a new person and now Neji was bragging about his exploits with Ino. Shikamaru wondered if the letter he gave her before he left meant anything at all.

"Hey, did I tell you about the time we…"

"I said SHUT UP!" Shikamaru flung himself off the bed and grabbed Neji's shirt, pulling the other man toward him. He was breathing hard with anger now but Neji didn't flinch or resist, he just sat on his bed passively.

Light was beginning to pour into the room as the sun rose slowly in the sky, and Shikamaru saw that Neji was still grinning like an idiot.

"And you said you didn't care for her in that way."

Shikamaru was struck dumb. He remembered a conversation he had with Neji shortly after the longhaired man had ended his relationship with Ino. Neji had asked him what he thought of Ino and whether he had ever seen the beautiful blonde as something more than a teammate. Shikamaru had said no.

The cat's out of the bag now.

He let go of Neji and sat down on his own bed wordlessly. Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck nervously, the red tinge that was on his cheeks previously had returned. There was no hiding it from Neji now.

"I…"

He was so busted.

"Hey, we didn't do anything ok?" Neji spoke as he straightened his clothes. "I'm not the type of guy who goes out with a girl just to score with her. Nor am I the type to brag about it later."

Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"I… I'm sorry, Neji." Shikamaru kept his gaze on the wooden floor. He had acted rashly and he figured that he owed the other man an apology.

Neji cocked an eyebrow and laughed, but not unkindly.

"Don't be. I was just trying to push your buttons." He fingered a tear on his shirt that was there wasn't there before and chortled. "I guess I did a good job."

Shikamaru could only smile sheepishly. He felt embarrassed that Neji knew what was on his mind and that he knew about his indecent dream. Even though the two men were good friends, it was still awkward when you have just had a wet dream and that he knew exactly whom you were dreaming about.

"But, don't you… I mean. She was your… you know." Shikamaru stuttered.

He hadn't told Neji how he had felt for Ino for he didn't like talking about things like these, he was a man after all and such matters seemed troublesome to him. Though Neji and Ino were officially over as a couple, he wondered if the other man still had feelings for the pretty blonde. And again, the young Hyuuga seemed to know exactly what his friend was thinking.

"Don't worry about it. We didn't work out but there are other fish in the sea." Neji smiled devilishly, his silver eyes flashing. "Besides, pink is starting to grow on me."

Shikamaru blinked. Neji sometimes surprised him. He could only laugh at his friend's words.

Suddenly, there was a small knock on the door, which was followed by a feminine voice.

"You guys ready?" Her voice was muffled from behind the heavy wooden door.

"I am. But Shikamaru isn't." Neji called out and stood to open the door. Sakura was standing in the doorway, dressed in a simple blue kimono.

As Neji turned to leave with Sakura, he gave Shikamaru a sly smile and the shadow master responded with an equally mischievous grin.

After Shikamaru had gotten dressed, he went to meet Sakura and Neji at a little restaurant that they had been frequenting during their stay at the Earth country. He found them in a secluded corner. He wondered whether the pair had chose a quiet spot so they could have some privacy or so the team could discuss their plans away from prying ears. Walking towards them, he saw that Shino was already there.

As he sat down, a waiter came to take his order but Shikamaru shook his head, indicating he didn't want anything. The others already had their meal and he didn't feel like eating anything for the dream was still playing in his mind. And it was hard trying to eat anything when everything reminded him of her naked body. The boiled eggs, the noodles, the warm milk. Shikamaru made a face and shook his head hard to get the erotic scenes out of his mind.

'Keep your mind on our mission, Nara.' He reminded himself.

"Is there something wrong, Shikamaru?" Shino asked, noting his teammate's strange behavior.

"Uh, erm… its nothing." Shikamaru replied nervously.

Neji smiled knowingly, Shino didn't miss the microexpression and made a mental note to question Shikamaru about it later. But now, they couldn't lose focus.

"Let's get down to business then." The bespectacled man stated.

Shikamaru knew he needed to get serious now. He couldn't let this distract him.

He leaned forward and shifted nearer to the table, the others did the same. He spoke in a low voice.

"We've been here for a fortnight now, and so far we have managed to avoid detection. Well, it's nothing short of a miracle, but we can't take things easy yet."

The team nodded in agreement.

"So far, we've gathered enough information for the Hokage to decide on the next course of action. Thanks to Sakura, we've even managed to discover the location of the disposed Tsuchikage."

Shikamaru nodded in Sakura's direction and she beamed with pride. That piece of information hadn't been easy to obtain and she had to use all of her wits as well as her womanly wiles to pry it out of a Rock ninja.

"Then are we leaving soon?" Shino queried.

Shikamaru nodded solemnly.

"Tomorrow. But we're far from done."

"Shikamaru and I have decided to scout the outer walls again today, just in case they make any changes in the patrol arrangement." Neji explained.

"Doesn't hurt to be extra careful." Shikamaru added.

"Sakura and Shino, you will stay at the inn and memorize the contents of this scroll. Once you are done, destroy it."

Shikamaru tossed the white scroll bound with a red band across the table. Shino caught it deftly and opened it slightly. He recognized Shikamaru's scrawled handwriting and the various diagrams depicting the patrol sequence and troop arrangements of the Rock ninjas.

"All that we have learned in this week is in here. Remember it well."

"Can't we just bring this back?" Shino asked, clutching the scroll tightly.

"No, it could fall into the wrong hands. It will be harder to get if it's in our heads."

Shortly after their induction into the task force, Shikamaru had requested that the hokage allow them special training under Morino Ibiki. She agreed and the younger jounin had asked the older man to prepare them to withstand all sorts of interrogation techniques. He knew that their missions would require them to handle top-secret information that some might kill for. Thus, they needed to train themselves to endure any sort of torture without divulging that information. The training lasted a month, and by the end of that time, the team was certain that nothing could make them talk. Morino Ibiki was one tough bastard after all.

"All right then. Let's do what we must. Tomorrow, we return home." Sakura said, and she couldn't help but smile.

The mission had gone without a hitch, and she couldn't believe their good fortune. No one suspected them and they had all the information they needed without having to dig far or to venture into dangerous territory. The rosette kunoichi began to wonder why her teacher had fussed so much over sending them on this mission when it was so simple.

Yet, Shikamaru had a nagging feeling that he just couldn't shake.

Yes, the mission had gone well. It had gone far better than he had dared to hope for. It seemed as though the Rock ninja didn't suspect anything about these four travelers who may have had too many questions for their own good.

Something just didn't feel right.

But what was it?

"Cheer up, Shikamaru." Sakura said perkily. "You're going to see her soon. Why the gloomy face?" She winked at him and laughed merrily.

'That's right.' Shikamaru thought silently. 'I'm going to see Ino again. And this time I'm going to tell her how I really feel.'

He smiled in return, thinking about all the things he wanted to tell her and all the things he wanted to do with her.

And all the bad feelings were forgotten.

The next morning, they packed up their meager belongings and after returning the keys to the innkeeper, the team set out immediately.

They were eager to return home and didn't even want to stop for breakfast. Even though they only stayed for two weeks, every second of those fourteen days felt like they were living on the edge of a knife. The slightest slip up and they would have been exposed. They had to be mindful of everything they did, lest they would reveal themselves as shinobi. Even when they were sleeping in the inn, Shikamaru insisted that they take turns to keep watch every night.

Now that the mission was over, they could finally breathe freely again.

They were walking along a well-trodden path in the forest in a single file with Shikamaru at the front and Neji at the back. It was now noon, and they had come quite a far distance. They were moving at a pace that was faster than necessary and though neither one of them said it, it was evident that they all wanted out of the Earth as soon as possible.

"We're going home." Shikamaru muttered as they walked in silence. Soon, he would be home with Ino.

Neji, Shino and Sakura didn't speak but those words echoed the very thoughts that were playing in their mind the entire journey thus far. They had been separated from their loved ones with the knowledge that their goodbyes might be the last in their mind. And the thought that you are walking towards death was frightening. But now, they were going home where everything will be safe and perfect. Nothing could spoil it now.

Nothing.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." An unfamiliar voice replied from above.

The four teammates jumped and each drew their weapons defensively, poised and ready for battle. Neji's eyes were already puffed up with chakra, the veins around them became more visible against his pale skin. Sakura was already putting her gloves on. The voice had taken them by surprise and they searched the trees wildly for the source of the sound. They looked up to see seven men standing in the lofty branches of the trees surrounding them. They wore gray vests and a shirt that was one sleeve less under their jackets. On each of their foreheads was a metal band held in place by a piece of cloth and on the steel plate was an insignia made famous during the ninja wars decades ago.

It was the symbol of the hidden village of Rock.

They had kept watch every night. Every night except the first.

And now Shikamaru knew they had to pay for their carelessness. His carelessness.

Endnote: If anyone's wondering about the boiled eggs metaphor, you have to use your imagination. snicker