Shikamaru groaned in pain as he hauled himself through the exit doors of the hospital. Bandaged and patched, he had been treated for a dislocated shoulder (hurt like hell to have fixed), broken finger (he had already known about), cracked ribs (surprisingly not broken, even if it felt like it), multiple cuts (taken care of stitches), and two black eyes with an assortment of various other swollen and bruised body parts (they just needed ice and time to heal). Overall, he had expected worse. Sporting a splint to the finger, sling to the arm to stabilize the shoulder, stitches, and given orders to ice often and pain medication, he was practically back to new.
He had chosen to leave rather than receive further care, ignoring the doctor's orders of another night within its walls (one was plenty). He had a lot more pressing things to attend to. Now one of those things just so happened to be inside the car blocking his path.
The window rolled down. "Yo." Kakashi Hatake's messy silver hair and tired expression peered out the window from inside the vehicle. He wore a black turtleneck pulled up over the lower half of his face, which was an odd quirk that Hatake was known for. Shikamaru had met him several times before, but that trait alone would have made him recognizable. "We need to talk. Get in."
Shikamaru hesitated briefly before opening the door and getting in the backseat. Asuma had trusted Kakashi so he would too; besides, he wasn't really in the shape to resist.
"It's been awhile, Kakashi. Who's your friend?" Shikamaru nodded to the driver of the vehicle, who turned his head to glance at him before focusing ahead on the road as they pulled away. He continued watching Shikmaru by checking him in the rearview mirror as he drove.
"This is my partner, Tenzo."
"My name is Yamato." He attempted to correct him with a sigh, though Kakashi didn't acknowledge it in the slightest.
Kakashi continued, "He's a good guy. You can trust him. I trust him like I trusted Asuma."
Shikamaru swallowed hard at the sound of his old partner's name. "Mind if I smoke in here?"
"Haven't you heard? Those things are bad for you. They say they'll kill you."
Shikamaru gave a humorless chuckle, which hurt his cracked ribs causing him to wince. He mentally noted to avoid doing that again in the near future. "They can get in line, as you can see they aren't the only ones."
"I get why Asuma liked you so much, kid." Kakashi's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Go ahead, smoke. Knock yourself out."
Shikamaru lit a cigarette, sparing a look at the battered lighter still with him and still working. Then he pushed the talk along, "So, what do you want to talk about?"
"We were just coming to see you at the hospital and gonna talk to you there. Imagine our surprise when we see you coming out the front. It makes more sense to have this talk somewhere a little more private anyway, so it must have been our lucky day."
Shikamaru stared at the glowing cherry of his cigarette as he exhaled a stream of smoke. "You say our lucky day, but I don't think I've had one of those days in a long time."
"Listen, I know you called me at the station. You don't call me everyday, hell that was a first time. So I know you had something you wanted to talk about. Then later that night I hear that you got grabbed and worked over. It's pretty obvious that the two are related."
"I suppose that you'd have to be an idiot not to realize that," Shikamaru mused.
"I pulled some strings and we're the detectives on your case. I've been looking over the statement you already gave and we've looked at the crime scene. A few things don't add up."
Shikamaru knew all about Kakashi Hatake. His nickname was Kakashi the Eye. He had an uncanny ability to see a crime scene. He could look at one and see small details that had been missed by countless others. He could picture how it all went down. His unique abilities were proven by his closed case records, and he was not someone to underestimate. That skill had made him a legion. Shikamaru internally groaned at the thought of trying to lie to him about Temari's presence at the crime. We would though, he had told her he would. So he began to formulate responses he could give to the likely questions.
"Now, I know from Asuma that you're a stand up guy. He always talked highly of you, and he wouldn't have had you as his partner if you weren't. So I believe you wouldn't leave anything out of your story, like another person being there, unless you had a good reason to do so. I'm not going to go asking you questions about that, and I'm also going to leave any questions I might have out of the file. I trust that you'll let me know if it's something that is worth me knowing."
Shikamaru sighed with relief, "Thanks, I appreciate that."
"That still leaves one question. What did you call me about?"
"It's a case I'm working on. It all started off easily enough. Just working a case for a dame. You know the kind, worried something is up with her boyfriend. Almost a guaranteed cheating case. But I start to look into the boyfriend and it turns out that he's involved with something a lot more serious. It led me to looking closer into a number of cases where District Attorney Orochimaru dropped charges or there were signs of foul play that allowed criminals to keep walking free. In some it even looks like Police Chief Danzo might be involved. I wanted to talk to you about the cases and see if you had any additional information about them, and if you have any insight into the relationship between Danzo and Orochimaru." Shikamaru thought over the last 24 hours, "And based on what happened, I don't think I'm wrong. Tayuya asked about why I was digging into those particular cases. I'm sure she's linked to Orochimaru and it all happened on his orders."
Kakashi watched him closely with a pensive look on his face, "So, you've stumbled yourself right into the case that Asuma was working before he was killed?"
Shikamaru choked on the smoke that he had just inhaled. Coughing and sputtering, his ribs stabbed with angry pain at the new assault making it even harder to breath. He bent over and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, trying to lessen the pain and allow himself to catch his breath.
Kakashi waited silently until he had recovered. "So you didn't know. I suppose Asuma was trying to look out and protect you…"
Shikamaru tossed his cigarette out the window, "Well, we're far beyond that. I'm not dropping this case."
"I assumed. I'll share with you what I know, and what Asuma asked me. I'll tell you what I told him when he came to me, but I don't know what he dug up or how helpful I actually was. Asuma was my partner too, and that's something we'll always have, but he also played things close to his chest. I want to get justice for him. I'll help you any way I can, but you do need to know that other than Tenzo and myself, I wouldn't trust anyone else in the department."
"If I can trust you, then maybe I can ask… where the hell are you taking me?"
"We're taking you to your car at the library, but we're taking the long way. It's going to take some time to explain everything we know."
Shikamaru considered lighting another cigarette but decided against it as he could still feel the throb in his ribs. Instead he pulled out the worn lighter and ran his thumb over it as he listened to Kakashi lay out everything he knew in detail.
Author's Note and Shameless plug: The ShikaTema zine I wrote a story for has extended their sales through April 5th, 2020. We even have a Spanish translated version (pdf only) that includes an extra story. There is also merch and the enamel pin has already been unlocked! If you're interested, you can see previews and have a look on Tumblr at shikatemazine.
