Yeeey, I'm back!

Uni has been overly demanding so I haven't been able to write in a while. All well, I'm on two week holiday now so I can actually write. And torture you all. I'm kidding, we all know you are a bunch of masochists.

To the returning fans, to new readers and, the stalker breathing heavily outside my window, you know who you are, welcome. And enjoy.

Alright, I'm off to play drunken Deadpool, or Halo. So long and thanks for all the fish, and no I didn't write the chapter whilst drinking, just the authors note.

He pulled the blanket over his head, refusing to acknowledge the world. Unfortunately the world pressed in on him. The rattling of his door banged against his nerves, making him grind his teeth. The village was far too dark for him to get out of bed yet.

"Go away," he called, his voice coming out in a rough croak. Shikamaru wouldn't have dared to say that to his mother or father but he could tell by the heavy fist-falls on his door that it was neither of them.

"Shikamaru, it's time to wake up!" a high pitched voice yelled.

Great, it's both of them. Shikamaru sighed, peeking out from under his blankets as he heard his door open. Choji walked in with a wide smile, looking perfectly at home. Ino, however, tip-toed over the wooden floor, looking around curiously.

"Your room is surprisingly clean," she commented. "I thought boys were meant to be messy."

"It's too dark outside to be awake," Shikamaru muttered before he threw the blankets back over his head.

"It's nine in the morning," Choji retorted.

"It's my day off. Let me sleep."

"And to think, he's our superior now," Ino laughed.

Cold clung to Shikamaru's chest as the warmth of his blankets was ripped away from him. He glared at Choji as Ino gave a noise of disgust.

"Will you put a shirt on?"

"This is my room." Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the blonde. He flipped onto his stomach, cramming his pillow under his head.

"Shikamaru, get up, we want to train," Ino snapped.

The boy had no doubt that she was crossing her arms and that her left nostril was flaring just slightly like it did whenever she was annoyed. He was smart in not telling her that she was so predictable, and that the one nostril flare made her face look lopsided.

"Go, train, enjoy."

"We want to train as a team," Choji clarified, sounding amused. "We can't let Naruto surpass us when he comes back."

Shikamaru groaned, groping around for his blanket only to remember that Choji stole them. Opening one eye, he glared at his friend.

"Give me my blankets back."

"No, now get up and stop pouting."

"Why would I be pouting?" Shikamaru rolled back over onto his back, watching as his friends sighed.

"Fine." He stood, only to give Ino a blank look. "Will you leave?"

"Why would we leave? You'll probably just go back to sleep."

With amusement Shikamaru reached for the waistband of his pyjama pants, watching as Ino yelped, turning red before she spun on the spot, covering her face.

"Okay, I'm leaving." She ran from the room, nearly running into the doorframe after forgetting to uncover her face.

Choji chuckled, dropping Shikamaru's blankets onto the bed. "That was mean. She does realise boys wear underwear too, doesn't she?"

"Apparently not." Shikamaru waited for Choji to leave the room before changing into his training clothing, zipping the vest with a sigh. He quickly made the bed, which was made harder with the mess the blankets were in, before joining his friends out in the living room.

He let Ino drag him through the streets of the village. Apparently they were to have breakfast with Asuma-Sensei which just made Shikamaru wonder why they hadn't told him of their plans earlier. It still felt too early to be awake though. He kept his grumbling to a minimum, mainly because Ino dug her nails into his wrist whenever she became particularly annoyed. Either she had woken up in a bad mood or she didn't enjoy having to wake him up. Either way she was not in a good mood.

"Honestly, will you hurry up, Shikamaru? We're going to be late," Ino snapped as the café came into sight.

"You know, Ino, I'm impressed with you." When she looked at him suspiciously, he went on. "You can still talk to Choji without blushing, even after kissing him… or did you two start a relationship and just failed to tell me?"

Ino's fair skin bloomed into a rich cherry red and she dropped Shikamaru's wrist. "You… you're just jealous that both Choji and I have had a first kiss and you haven't!"

Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow and put his hands in his pockets. He was not going to tell Ino the truth, especially since she would grill him with question before running off to tell Sakura. Shrugging, he walked around Ino.

"Oh, look, the café," he drawled. He led his team into the café, finding Asuma-Sensei already sitting at a table. Slumping into a chair across from his sensei, he dropped his head onto the table with a dull thud. "Ow. I don't want to be awake!"

"I see Shikamaru is thrilled to be having breakfast with the team." Asuma-Sensei laughed.

Shikamaru grunted as the chairs either side of him scraped against the ground, his teammates sitting down. He was usually not this tired but he had returned from a mission late last night. The memory of the mission made his heart race in an unpleasant manner but he was not sure about saying anything in front of Ino.

Feeling a finger tap the top of his head Shikamaru looked up. Choji smiled as he handed the Chunin a menu. With a sigh he took it, looking over the breakfast options. Although he didn't have a large sweet tooth he found himself looking at the more sugary items, hoping they would help wake him up.

"So why didn't anyone tell me about the group training plans?" Shikamaru asked, his chin resting on his palm.

"We figured you would say no," Ino admitted, sipping her juice.

"That's still an option," Shikamaru replied. He couldn't bring himself to actually look Ino in the eye at that moment.

"Shikamaru, all three of you need to work on your Ino-Shika-Cho formation." Asuma-Sensei frowned. "Are you going to tell us what is wrong? You're grumpier than usual."

"It's nothing." Shikamaru moved his drink so that the waitress could put his plate down. He noticed that no one spoke until the woman had walked off.

"Do you miss Naruto?" Choji asked, making Shikamaru's knife scratch across the plate as he cut his meal.

"What?" he splattered.

"Well, he's been gone for almost two months now, and you two are close…" Choji trailed off with a shrug.

"If it's not Naruto, what is it?" Ino asked before grinning. "And who have you kissed? Surely you've kissed someone!"

"Okay, drop that!" Shikamaru sighed. "I don't think I should say what is bothering me."

"We're your team," Asuma-Sensei reminded him. "If something is causing you a problem you should tell us."

Shikamaru chewed his food slowly, feeling three sets of eyes staring at him. Finally he swallowed and took a deep breath. "When on my mission yesterday I heard something… unpleasant."

"Was it about Naruto?"

The Chunin frowned at Choji before shaking his head. "No, what's with you and Naruto? Do you have a thing for him or something? It wasn't that kid, okay? It was…" he avoided Ino's eye, "Sasuke."

"Sasuke?" the blonde echoed.

The look on her face made bile rise in Shikamaru's throat. He turned his gaze onto the table. He knew he shouldn't have said anything. Ino still cared for Sasuke. The only way he could make this situation worse was if Naruto was sitting with them. Though if Naruto was there at least Choji wouldn't be so determined to talk about her.

"Apparently Orochimaru was spotted when moving to another safe house. There were twenty people in the group. They were people trading goods with the neighbouring village. We… um… we… ran into the only survivor. It's unclear if Sasuke committed any of the murders but he definitely did some of the fighting. According to the survivor's description Kabuto was there too. We found the bodies."

Asuma-Sensei looked grave, Ino looked mortified, and Choji had paled, pushing his food around. Out of Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru, the bigger boy was the only one who had taken an enemy's life. Looking at him though, Shikamaru could tell that even Choji didn't understand Sasuke's actions. Merchants weren't fighters. Even if they had guards with them, which they hadn't according to the survivor, the guards would not have engaged three ninja in combat. They would have tried to get the merchants as far from the enemy as possible. What had happened to those men was not a fight; it was nothing but a senseless, violent, massacre.

He had officially managed to make his breakfast taste like dirt but he actually felt a surge of energy. All he could think of was the bloody bodies. He had told Ino that Sasuke might not have committed the murders but truthfully he had trouble picturing Sasuke as anything but a murderer. It was an odd feeling; thinking of someone he had went to school with, grown up with, as nothing but a killer. However, he had seen firsthand what Sasuke was capable of. Naruto was the closest thing Sasuke had to family anymore and he had tried to kill her, and had left her in pain. From what Shikamaru had heard Sasuke had no way of knowing that he left Naruto alive. He probably still didn't know the blonde still breathed. Shikamaru intended to make sure Naruto stayed breathing.

Being the first to finish breakfast and to rise from his seat caused his teammates to raise their eyebrows at him. In reply he simply shrugged.

"Well, don't we have training to get to?"

Ino downed the rest of her juice whilst Choji shovelled the last of his eggs into his mouth. Asuma-Sensei threw some notes onto the table before standing with his two students. Apparently they were choosing to not linger and see if Shikamaru's motivation would disappear. Together they headed out of the café, going in the direction of their usual training ground.

"Choji, why do you keep mentioning Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, frowning at his friend.

The bigger boy shifted on his feet. "I wanted to talk to Naruto about something but I didn't get out of the hospital until it was too late. I'll just talk to him when he gets back but I really wish I could before he left."

"What did you want to talk to him about?" He watched as his friend rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes shifting. "Was it really that bad?"

"No- yes! I just need to make amends for something I did years ago. I wasn't really kind to him when he joined our class at the academy." Choji gave his best friend a feeble smile.

"Most people were cruel to him," Shikamaru reminded, putting his hands into his pockets and staring at Asuma-Sensei's back as he walked with Ino.

"Yeah, but I knew Naruto before the academy I just didn't recognise him. He had looked… different before school."

"Longer hair?"

"Yeah. How did you-? Never mind. The point is: he thought I was his friend and I wasn't polite in telling him I had no clue who he was." Choji sighed. "I promised myself I would make it up to him though."

A pool built at the base of Shikamaru's stomach as his heart plummeted to his knees. No, he thought, no, that can't be right! He looked over at his friend. He was kind and caring. He certainly fitted the description Naruto gave. Looking closer he tried to see similarities between himself and Choji but failed to think of one. Choji followed his heart whilst Shikamaru had trouble even hearing his heart with his brain always in control. Shikamaru was too logical to be classed as kind. And he looked nothing like his taller friend. No, it couldn't be him… could it? If he makes up with Naruto and it is him… will Naruto's feelings return? With a heavy sigh, Shikamaru rubbed his forehead. If he was right there was nothing he could do about it.

"Oh," Asuma-Sensei piped up, looking over his shoulder with a lit cigarette in his mouth, "Lady Tsunade wants to see all three of you tomorrow morning, six o'clock sharp!"

Shikamaru groaned deep and heavy, his chin coming to rest on his chest. "Great, that means a mission, probably a long one if it's starting so early."

"Annnnd Shikamaru is back. Let's see," Ino looked at her watch, "his motivation lasted four minutes and twenty-three seconds. I think that's a new record!"

Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru scoffed at his teammates' laugher.

"Sooo, Shikamaru," Ino sung, "Who have you kissed? Have you even kissed anyone?"

"I thought I told you to drop it! Who I kiss is none of your business." He felt proud that he wasn't blushing. He wasn't embarrassed; he just didn't want everyone knowing about his feelings for Naruto. Admitting to kissing her would mean he had to admit to Ino about his feelings as well.

"Well that's a yes!" piped up Asuma-Sensei.

As his teammates laughed again he groaned, his shoulders sagging. It was definitely too early to be awake!

Hope you all like. I don't know how many chapters will be in the time skip. At least two. R and R.