"You're still in one piece? Maybe Sasuke is softer than I thought..." Temari's eyes glinted with amusement from the chair across his desk while Kankuro lounged on the couch and snickered.
Shikamaru had just finished filling them in about Sasuke's visit several nights ago. He had left much of the details out and only gave an abridged version, sharing that Sasuke had stopped by to welcome him to the "big happy team" and they had eventually come to an understanding.
"Anything else?"
Shikamaru hesitated, she clearly shouldn't expect any new developments in the short time since they had last seen him. But, true to her word, they had shown up in his office to check-in. This time, he had made sure to have his ass sitting at his desk and waiting for when she sauntered in with a bored looking Kankuro following in her wake. Kankuro had immediately flopped down on the couch while Temari took the chair across the desk. Her legs crossed high, she pulled on the fingertips of her gloves, working them off and onto her lap as he spoke. A simple act that he found irritatingly pulling his attention from his own words. Somehow captivating, in the way she peeled the fabric off her long graceful hands. Dangerous hands that wouldn't hesitate on a gun's trigger. Only to find himself missing the distraction as she leveled her attention solely on him. She was always so challenging - it showed in her eyes. He hated the feeling that stirred in his gut as her eyes focused only on him. Troublesome.
Shikamaru had already looked over the files he found quite thoroughly. And now the time had come to see if he could actually play well with others. He knew he should share some of the information he had, if this whole thing was going to work. The siblings had already shared their information to get to this point. He had already determined that he would share his, if for nothing else than as an act of faith. Yet, in this moment, he could only think of it as a way to meet her challenge.
"Actually, I do." He couldn't help but relish in the slight raise of her brows. Kankuro sat upright on the sofa in interest. Shikamaru slid the folder across his desk to Temari. Skeptically, she opened and began to leaf through the file.
"Are these all members of the Akatsuki?" Shikamaru gave a small nod. "And notes on their activities?" Temari looked up, and as their eyes met he allowed himself a small smirk. A small victory.
Her words had brought Kankuro to peer over her shoulder as she leafed through the material. A grin appeared on his face. "I'm impressed, Nara. Maybe Temari wasn't wrong about you after all."
Kankuro's words broke into Shikamaru's small moment of satisfaction. A reminder of the truth. Shikamaru frowned, "Wish I could take credit, but it's the work of my old partner… I'm guessing it's the answer to what he knew. What got him killed." He pulled a cigarette and flicked the worn lighter open to light it, staring at it in his hand before he continued, "I was just the person able to find it..."
Temari cut in, interrupting his self deprecation, "There is a lot here. Have you gone through all of it yet?"
"Most of it is tracking of possible Akatsuki members and their roles within the organization and some details on how it's grabbing power and possible involvement in different activities. I assume it's only grown since this file was put together." Shikamaru paused to light his cigarette and took a drag. Smoke drifted from his lips as he continued, "But there are a couple things I find particularly interesting..."
Shikamaru paused as his eyes assessed his company across the desk. Temari had pulled several pages from the contents of the file, and now they shook slightly as they gripped the pages that had apparently caught their attention. Kankuro's hand that rested on her shoulder squeezed ever so slightly, which seemed to steady her. A form of reassurance. Both stared, with hard gazes, as if frozen at the pages.
Shikamaru leaned forward to determine what captured their attention so thoroughly, "I see you found the section with the pictures of individual members and notes on them." His words snapped Kankuro and Temari out of their trance.
"We know these two." Temari laid a picture of a young red headed man and another young, long haired blonde man on the desk. "This dossier seems to have limited information on them. I think we can help fill some details in about them. It looks like it's pretty much only their photos here."
With a sneer, Kankuro moved around her and brought his pointer finger to tap on the photo of the red head as he leaned over the desk, "This fuck is Sasori. He's from Suna." Kakuro's voice rose as he continued, "He used to work with our father." A spiteful chuckle escaped his lips. "Hell, I learned a thing or from him... worked with him, before he moved off and joined the Akatsuki." Kankuro's face had transformed into a picture of malevolence and his hands were now balled in fists at his side.
Temari made a slight movement, so minute that it could easily be missed if in other company. Her hand gave a small tug to Kankuro's pant leg, causing him to look down at her. She continued to look forward with her face blank, but something happened when Kankuro looked at her sitting in the chair. His hands unclenched and his face and body lost the tension that had built as he spoke.
Kankuro's took a deep breath and turned back to Shikamaru and continued, though more calmly, "He's primarily skilled in blackmail and secrets, with a dash of torture. You know, whatever you need to do to be able to control someone. Make them your puppet. He may look young, but he's a master. I don't know if there is anyone else quite like him. He's not to be underestimated." His eyes fell back to the picture on the desk.
Another deep breath, then his happy go lucky facade was back in place, even if his voice still shook slightly, "You got water around here? I think I could use a glass."
Shikamaru pulled a glass from his drawer, "I can offer you scotch, but otherwise you'll have to get any water from the bathroom." He gestured to the small door on the opposite side of the couch, near the office entrance.
"Hmm... Temari, you fine finishing up here? I think I'll get a shake and maybe some lunch at the diner downstairs. I'm hungry anyway."
"Leave me to do all the work? Why am I not surprised?" she huffed, but a small smirk played at the corners of mouth.
Kankuro chuckled as he grabbed his fedora and jacket from where he left them on the couch, "You're the best! Come get me when you're done here... Later, Nara." He threw his hand in the air briefly before he stepped into the hallway and the door clicked shut behind him.
Temari rolled her eyes, "Anything to get out of too much work. Brothers… well, really just that one. Gaara's not like that, he's..." Her eyes glowed for a moment before her forehead creased and a frown appeared.
Immediately back to business, she scooted forward on her chair, pausing briefly to fix her skirt before leaning forward to set the file on desk and tap the other photo. "Anyway, this blonde here… His name is Deidra. We don't know as much about him. He often partners with Sasori, and they often work in or around Suna - including recently. He's an explosives specialist. He can do some real damage... another person not to underestimate."
"Kankuro mentioned he worked with Sasori… who is known for torture and blackmail..." He let his eyes ask the rest of his question. Prior to Kankuro's rising temper he'd seen that day, it would have been hard to believe Kankuro was the type, but again he had seen Temari shoot people without a second thought.
"Is it all that surprising? I thought you knew all about my family, Nara? What can I say? We weren't the Cleavers.* Our father had us all learn different..." Temari paused, looking for the right word, her shoulders tensing and foot beginning to bounce on her crossed leg, "...skills. We were part of his empire. He wanted us to be able to run it and take over someday. We needed to be able to handle ourselves and pull our own weight. That included working with and learning from people with similar interests."
"Why didn't you take over after..."
Temari crossed her arms and her head tilted to the side, "After he died?" Apparently he had found a sore spot, if the glare she gave with her words was any indication. "Call it a personal choice if you want, but it's really none of your damn business."
"You're nothing but troublesome..." Shikamaru took a deep inhale of his cigarette, finishing it off and ground it into his ashtray. He reached forward and slid the file in front of himself and began to turn through the pages. Quiet floated through the room.
After a minute, a more calmer and composed Temari broke the silence, "Earlier, you started to tell us what you found interesting. What were you going to say?"
Shikamaru leafed through the file to pull out a sheet of notes, which his eyes scanned as he spoke, "If you take a look at everything they are involved in - drugs, weapons, sex, bribery… pretty much anything illegal. There is a note here that they say they can 'make any want, desire, or dream come true'."
"I have heard that said about them before…" Temari seemed deep in thought, "Not all dreams should be realized." Shikamaru wondered if she was talking about the Akatsuki or her Father's dream - his empire. Maybe it was both.
Shikamaru continued, "The thing is with things like this, there is going to be a lot of money, most likely cash, changing hands. They need to have a way to clean their money. They also need to have a way to provide money to their members. If we can find how they are doing it, that could be the weak point. Money always leaves a trail."
He leafed through the folder before pulling out the five photos of Akatsuki members that Asuma gathered in the file, spreading them across the desk. He stood to walk around and stand next to Temari so they could both examine the pictures as he continued, "We also know there are more members, but from these pictures you've already identified two that I didn't know before, Sasori and Deidra." Shikamaru leaned forward and tapped the first two photos before he moved to tap the third, "This is Itachi Uchiha. He has a large number of skills - manipulation, blackmail, and torture to name a few. I think those are just the tip of the iceberg" His finger moved to the next photo, "These notes say this is Itachi's partner, Kisame Hoshigaki. He seems to primarily be muscle - a real bruiser." Shikamaru's finger slid to the last photo. The photo was blurry and grainy, but it showed a large, towering man with long dark hair in a three piece suit, carrying a briefcase in the photo. "In these notes, he is only referred to as 'The Money'. My bet is that he handles all the organization's funds. There is also a note that Akatsuki members commonly work in two man teams, but there isn't a note of who his partner is."
When Shikamaru first saw the photos in the file, he had inspected each photo looking for a hint of the man with the silver hair that glowed in the moonlight of his memories and nightmares. Searching for the man who had killed Asuma. Hidan. All in vain as none of the pictures or even notes had mentioned the man. There was no indication that Asuma had run into or even heard of Hidan prior to that fateful, bloody night.
Shikamaru turned to lean against the desk and looked at Temari, "So that's what I got. If we can find how their money is being laundered or if we can somehow get to 'The Money' - then we'll have a way to track down members."
"Now I'm impressed, Nara." Temari smirked, her head turning and tilting up for her eyes to meet his - another challenge, "Don't tell me I'm giving the wrong person credit. I wasn't wrong about you."
Shikamaru chuckled and matched with a smirk of his own. She always had to be so difficult. He could feel a tension building in him, in the room from her words and her gaze. Her focus on him yet again. No, he wouldn't say anything different, this plan was all his. Forget any concern for being wrong about him, he wanted to show her just how wrong they could be together. Did she know he was one bad decision away from crossing the small distance between the two of them? He knew he needed to be professional - needed to put all these kinds thoughts aside, but how could he when one look from her could pull them right back to the front of his mind?
Just as he was contemplating how to drive thoughts of her back when the door to his office swung open, "Shikamaru!" Ino burst into the office with Choji standing not far behind. The tension in the room replaced by a different type as Ino's eyes widened briefly in surprise before settling into a glare as her eyes took in the scene in front of her. "Oh, I didn't realize you had… company."
*Cleavers is a reference to The Cleavers, the last name of a family of characters on the TV sitcom "Leave it to Beaver" from the 1950's. They are often considered a wholesome family for the time period.
Author's Note: Argh! I am so sorry that this has taken so long to get this written, and I'm still not sure how I fully feel with how it turned out - but figured I should just share rather than keep going over it. I think part of what made it harder was all the foundation that needed to be laid in this chapter. (Who knew the details and plot elements that needed to be worked in couldn't be avoided forever?!)
Thank you to all those who comment, as it really does help inspire me and keep me going! I've also been doing some fanart and sharing it on Tumblr ( OstaraNight) so feel free to check it out or even just say hi to me there.
