"Can you repeat that one more time?"

He watched the Hokage's eye twitch in annoyance. It wasn't that he wasn't listening. He had heard her twice now, he was just certain he had heard her wrong. As the blonde woman opened her mouth to speak again Shikamaru watched her lips, trying to read the words that his ears were obviously mishearing.

"I have chosen you to be the ambassador for the Leaf. Your main duty will be the Chunin exams but you will have to co-operate with the other villages." Lady Tsunade sighed, her mouth becoming a hard line.

"I swear I'm hearing you wrong. Did you just say I'm the Leaf's ambassador?"

"Yes she did, Shikamaru," Ino spoke up, giving him an exasperated look.

"What a drag," he grumbled, "Also, why?"

Lady Tsunade clearly did not like to repeat herself. Her hands tightened under her chin and her eye twitched again. "Our ambassador was killed in the invasion, your father once had the job so he can advise you, you have shown intelligence, though apparently it has left you at the moment, and I said so! Now, you have a mission to Suna. They are without a leader so we are helping them when needed and we are still trying to create a firm alliance between the two villages. Apparently Suna has been fed propaganda about us that we have to help remove from people's minds and of course the Leaf has reasons to be apprehensive about the Sand Ninjas. You have worked with Sand ninjas, the Kazekage's children, before without issue. That is another reason I chose you." She handed Choji the mission scroll, obviously realising Shikamaru's hands were too numb to take them. "Now leave! And try to stop being so gloomy."

"She's right, you know," Choji commented as they left her office. "You have been grumpy lately."

Shikamaru just grunted. "How long is the mission?"

Choji perused the scroll. "It's a weeklong mission, but it's a three day travel there, then three days back.

"We'll meet at the gate in an hour," Shikamaru ordered.

"Don't fall asleep," Ino joked.

"Yeah, yeah, keep up the jokes and you will be on night watch the longest!" Shikamaru threatened, his hands going to his pockets.

He really did wish he could go back to bed. Not because he was tired, or lazy. He had a basic supply kit always ready next to his bedroom door but given how long they would be gone it would not be enough. Lifting the bag onto his bed he shifted some of the supplies so that he could fit in more clothing, some more bandages, and weaponry. He didn't have to worry too much, since he could restock at Suna but he would rather not rely on that, encase something occurred on the journey there. Unfortunately, Shikamaru found himself packing and repacking his bag, each time his heart rate increasing. He hadn't realised he was being noisy until his mother came in, her hand clamping over his as he pulled a shirt out of his bag for the fifth time.

She took the item out of his hand, nudging him aside gently and starting to pack his kit. His mother made sure that the most essential items were the easiest to access, that his weapons were secure so they wouldn't cut other items or stab him in the back, and she put a bottle of sunscreen into his pack as well, that she produced from her pocket.

"Your father told me about your mission earlier. Suna is hotter than The Leaf and doesn't have the trees for cover. Once when your father and I went to The Sand Village on a mission your father forgot to use sunscreen. He ended up so sunburnt that he blistered." She put her hand on Shikamaru's cheek, smiling. "On top of everything else you've inherited your father's skin so make sure you use the sunscreen."

Shikamaru nodded, making a mental note to do just that. He did not like the sound of blisters.

/ / / / /

Admittedly he was jumpy. He could tell that, and he could tell that his teammates were starting to notice too. Every small noise, every rustle of leaves had him reaching for a kunai, looking for the disturbance. When they made camp, at the edge of the Land of Fire, he put his back against a tree and breathed deeply. With each intake of breath he felt his heart rate lowering to an even tempo.

It will be fine. We haven't been attacked yet, and even if we were there is no specific group that is targeting us so the chance of us fighting strong opponents is unlikely. Also, this is the Ino-Shika-Cho group. I know how this team works; I know Ino and Choji's moves to the extent that I know my own. This mission is not the same. The only thing that's the same is that I'm team leader again.

A small part of him told him that that element was enough. That he was the defining factor for failure. He knew that if he let that thought rule him then it would be harmful to the mission. By the time they were in sight of Suna he had succeeded in pushing the thought from his mind. They had reached their destination with only one injury. Ino had spun when she heard something, which turned out to be a sand rat, and had ended up tumbling down a dune, scratching her knee on a rock. Other than that the mission so far had been a success, helping to elevate Shikamaru's stress. He had discovered something too. Something he hadn't known about himself.

He hated sand. The reason? It was everywhere. And he meant everywhere! He had inhaled enough of the grains that he could snort out an impressive sandcastle. He could feel it in between his toes, clinging to the sweat under his armpits, even nuzzled in his teeth. He cringed to think where else it had gone. Gaara must have been a formidable ninja if he could infiltrate places like sand could infiltrate the crevices of the human body. Shikamaru found himself kicking mounds of sand as he walked to gain the satisfaction of revenge. His toes were already covered in sand so it wasn't doing any more damage to him. He could never live in Suna. The village was made of sand. Choji enjoyed the thought of living in a giant sandcastle but Shikamaru found himself having to fight the urge to kick the walls like they were sand mounds. He was aware that it was hardened sand, as solid as concrete but didn't cause the same moisture issue. Also, he didn't want the Sand Village mistaking it for an attack by the Leaf village. He chuckled at the thought of what they would say though.

That Leaf ninja is attacking us… by kicking the walls and hurting his foot. I don't think this was a well thought out attack.

Temari and Kankuro met them just inside the fortress wall. They looked the same as the last time he had seen them. Temari had her fan strapped to her back and Kankuro wore his purple war paint and black cat hood. However, they held themselves differently. It was very clear that this was their home. They were relaxed, looking at the three Leaf ninjas who were observing their surroundings with fascination and curiosity.

Admittedly the place was impressive. It was well fortified with a wall around the entire village, higher than the Leaf Village's wall and thicker too. The 'gate' was a part of the wall that slid open, forcing the arrivals to walk down a sand valley with ninjas lining the sides. Shikamaru mused over how one would infiltrate Suna, coming up with strategies. The only things he could think of that had any hope of succeeding were subterfuge or an aerial attack. The first wouldn't work for surly Suna had some way of detecting such things in people as they tried to get into secure locations, and the aerial attack would be near impossible on a large scale since few ninja had such jutsus. In short, Shikamaru found the village impressively fortified. After the invasion he was thinking the Leaf should look towards Suna for inspiration in that area. Perhaps that was one thing he could convince them to trade with, though he would have to think of something Suna needed of equal value.

When they entered their peace talks he discovered that there was something the Sand Village found commendable about the Leaf enough to ask about. Suna had noticed how many candidates the Leaf Village had in the Chunin exams. On top of that, Shikamaru discovered that the Kankuro and Temari were older than all the Leaf ninjas that moved into the final round. He couldn't help but send a boastful smirk in Temari's direction at that piece of information. The Sand Village wanted teaching lessons from the Leaf since the Sand had a surprisingly low graduation rating. That was not a piece of information they wanted to divulge but knew they had to in order to nurture the trust between the two villages. In return, Shikamaru admitted that their fortifications could use strengthening.

"Not that I need to tell you all that," he half joked, smirking so that they knew he wasn't being cynical… or at least not too cynical. He acknowledged that both villages had been played by the Sound.

One thing that didn't sit comfortably with him was that the Elders of the Sand appeared to be the instigators of the alliance with the Sound and the invasion. With the Kazekage dead the Sand was ruling by committee, which left the possibility that they would sour the village people to the alliance with the Leaf. However, at the moment the alliance was the best thing for the Sand. It didn't take much for Shikamaru to realise the invasion was done out of desperation. Although the village was impressive he had noticed the poverty that leaked into areas. The Leaf had a zero homeless rating and poverty. The Sand needed the Leaf's help otherwise they would collapse in on themselves.

After a week they had managed to outline the alliance between the two villages. Within the next two years poverty would lower in the Sand and the fortifications in the Leaf would be reinforced. On top of that the Leaf was going to start training Chunins from Suna in their teaching methods. At the end of the week the one thing Shikamaru knew for certain was that he would be making a lot of trips to Suna over the next few years.

Temari and Kankuro had become less annoying over the week and he would almost call them friends. They weren't friends in the sense that Choji or Naruto were. They were more like Ino: annoying and troublesome but friends nevertheless. Gaara was somewhat of a different story. Shikamaru could see the change Naruto had invoked in the red head, and he had been told by Kankuro that it was Naruto who had caused it, but Shikamaru still couldn't get over the fear he had felt when facing Gaara. He did try to give the 'new' Gaara a chance since he had been kind enough to inform Shikamaru that Naruto was still alive when he was distraught.

Although he knew little about the 'old' Gaara, the 'new' Gaara was weird. He sat and stared at Shikamaru for long periods of time which unnerved the Chunin. It wasn't until the day before he was to leave that Gaara finally spoke in his presence. Shikamaru had been surprised when Gaara had sat across from him before calming asking how the dark haired boy would go about fixing issues within Suna. For hours the two discussed different strategies, Shikamaru finally finding someone his own age that rivalled his intelligence. When Shikamaru's throat started to hurt Gaara started to fidget.

"Do you believe that someone like… me could be trusted, or even respected… cared for, by others? Naruto believes so but… I still have my doubts."

For a moment it crossed Shikamaru's mind that Gaara had purposely left out that Naruto and he had the same status, which protected Naruto. Shikamaru had to respect him for that but he felt a crawling in his stomach when he realised what a tight bond the two had.

"Yes," Shikamaru answered without bothering to mull over his answer. "As long as the person holding the demon is a kind, caring person, worthy of trust and love, I believe that they can succeed in receiving it. The person you were in the Chunin exams didn't allow for people to get close to you and that person, that version of you, would never know friendship or love because you weren't allowing it anywhere near you. Anyone with eyes could see that your siblings love you, but you clearly couldn't."

Gaara nodded, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face, shocking Shikamaru. "I can see why Naruto classes you as a highly regarded precious person." At Shikamaru's expression Gaara raised a hairless eyebrow. "Even I could see that when you both confronted me."

Before he could ask any questions Gaara stood and walked off, passing Kankuro in the doorway.

"What was that about?" the puppet master asked, giving Shikamaru a hard look.

"He wanted my opinion of affairs in Suna." The Chunin shrugged.

Kankuro gave him a sceptical look before holding out a scroll for him. "This came for you from the Leaf."

Thanking him Shikamaru look the scroll and broke the seal. Reading it through he sighed, getting up to find his teammates. There was a mission a day's journey from Suna. It was decided that it would be quicker to send them to deal with it, since it was a four day journey for any team leaving from the Leaf. It added at least two days onto their journey home though but there was nothing he could do about it.

He debriefed Ino and Choji on the fact that there was a creature terrorising a small village. The people who asked for help believed it to be a Summoning Creature, though there was no proof that it was a creature like that. Either way it had attacked and hospitalised half a dozen people, destroyed two stores, and killed numerous livestock.

It took them a day and a half to reach the village thanks to a sand storm. Just another reason for him to hate sand. When they finally reached the village all he wanted to do was have a shower and sleep but instead he had to find the leader of the village so that they could get information of the creature. It took them ten minutes to find a stringy looking man with small, cloudy, blue eyes and his arm in a cast.

"Oh, you're from the Leaf?" he commented in surprise, looking at their forehead protectors, though only Choji wore his on his head. They had told him twice but only the sight of their forehead protectors convinced him. "You're here for the Summoning Creature? Though the other ninjas said it wasn't a Summoning Creature."

"The other ninjas?" Ino asked, frowning at the man. When the man's eyes drifted off, clearly not listening, she snapped her fingers. "What about the other ninjas?"

"Oh, two Leaf ninjas were passing through and decided to deal with the creature for us. They told me to give you the money as well as these letters. It was mainly the little one who fought the creature. But then there was another creature, more vicious, that put the bigger ninja in the hospital for a bit. I don't know what happened but it was a mess. They dealt with the first creature the day after we sent a runner to the Leaf but we figured there was no point in sending the runner back… You actually beat her here anyway. The big ninja promised that the other creature was dealt with too and had nothing to do with the first mission so that one was free of charge." Out of his pocket he pulled a money purse, a scroll, and an envelope. "Well, these are for you, I suppose."

Shikamaru took the bundle from the man, slipping the money into his pouch before looking at the scroll. It was clearly a mission report. The envelope, however, wasn't. And what's more, it had his name on it in messy writing. Snapping his gaze back to the man he gave a whistle to get the man's attention.

"What did the two ninjas look like?" His heart was pounding so badly that he worried he would miss the man's answer.

"Oh, well the big one was tall and had long white hair, he was a Sannin too. The little one was blond and loud. They left yesterday." The man waved his non-injured hand dismissively before wandering off.

"Let's go find a hotel to stay in for the night. I want a shower!" Ino suggested, leading the way into what looked like the shopping district. "If it wasn't for the sand storm we might have seen Naruto."

And another reason to hate sand! Maybe this was revenge for kicking it.

It took all Shikamaru's will power to not rip open the letter in front of Choji and Ino as they walked. Instead he put it in his back pouch with the mission report, a small smile on his face. As his team started towards a hotel that they could stay in for the night he kept pressing his hand to his pouch, just to make sure the letter was still there. When he had settled into his and Choji's room and Choji had gone for a shower, he pulled the letter out and opened it. Naruto's handwriting was messy, there were a number of words crossed out and respelled, and his grammar was poor. Shikamaru read over it twice before his brain started to correct the writing for him.

Hey Shikamaru,

When we found out your team was the one collecting our report Pervy-Sage suggested I write a letter for you guys. I've never actually written a letter before so I don't know what I'm meant to do. I can't tell you where we are going, encase this doesn't actually reach you. But training is going good.

I'm a little bored. I wish I had asked you to teach me that board game you play so that I would have something to do when Pervy-Sage is writing. It could have been fun, hanging out and learning a new game. Maybe we can do that when I get back. I know I won't be back for two years and it's a bit far away to make plans so I'm not expecting you to agree…. Though you can't actually get in contract with me so I won't know if you agree anyway.

Also, my mission report from today: I fought a bear. A giant bear. It smelt. I won.

Well, goodbye? Though we've already said goodbye, and it was a good goodbye. I mean, better than my letter version, cause I suck at letters… I'm just going to stop writing.

Bye,

Naruto.

He found himself laughing, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what in the letter he found so amusing. The letter was just… Naruto. He hadn't realised how much he missed that weird, awkward, loud kid until he had something in his hands reminding him of her. He scanned the part about their goodbye over and over, trying to dig out some emotions behind it. At least it didn't appear as though Naruto hated the kiss. Seeing as he hadn't known what he was doing, or how Naruto felt about him, there had been the chance Naruto would be disgusted by the kiss. After the tenth time reading over the letter Shikamaru decided that he should just be thrilled that Naruto wrote to him. She hadn't written to Choji even though she knew him well. She only wrote to him.

Grinning, he carefully folded the letter back up and put it in his pack, making sure it was safe just as Choji came out of the shower.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Huh?" Shikamaru looked over t his friend, his smile refusing to budge. "Nothing. I'm just happy I can have a shower now."

"Fair enough. Walking in the desert can make you feel dirty. I wonder what that creature was though?" Choji asked absentmindedly, walking over to his bed.

"A bear. A giant, smelly one."

Even having to brush sand out from his teeth yet again didn't remove the grin he wore. He made sure to make a mental note that in two years he had to teach Naruto how to play shogi. He was going to hold the blonde to it, even if it was just because he greedily wanted the time with Naruto.

Hello!

Sorry an update took so long, but I have Uni final assignments coming up and a fast approaching wedding. Yey, planning sucks!

Hope you all like. R and R.