To those who keep asking if the story is discontinued: I have this story planned out to the end. The only things in this story I don't have planned are the little things, like the exact words they are going to say and things like that. If, and that is a big if, I do discontinue this story I promise I will tell you all right away and try to find a good author to adopt this story. If you want to know why this chapter (and future chapters) was delayed you can find out on the facebook page.
I have also added original art depicting scenes from this story to the facebook page, as well as a preview of this chapter. Only two original pictures so far but more to come.
Shikamaru walked into his house rubbing at his aching forehead. The water he had drank before bed hadn't been able to nullify all the affects of the alcohol, though he definitely felt better than the last time he had drank in excess. Walking into the kitchen, he stopped. There was something sitting on the bench, wrapped in foil, and on top of it was a note with his name on it. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Naruto's handwriting scrawled across the paper.
Shikamaru,
Encase of hangover, take two tablets with a side of pancakes.
Take care.
Naruto xx
With a laugh he looked at the foil covered plate, not seeing the pain tablets. Taking the foil off the pancakes, he found them sitting on top as a decoration for his breakfast. At the sight he couldn't help but laugh louder.
"I do love that weirdo," Shikamaru whispered.
"I'm guessing you're talking about Naruto."
Shikamaru jumped at the sound of his father's voice. He shot Shikaku an embarrassed smile, moving to pour himself a glass of juice to take the tablets with.
"She left me pancakes and pain killers," he explained.
"So that's what those two were doing in the kitchen. It was a bit of a disaster zone until your mother decided to help Naruto and Ryota. I'm a little surprised the house is still standing." Shikaku moved to make himself a coffee, watching as his son sat to eat the pancakes. "Are they edible?"
"Surprisingly, yes," Shikamaru confirmed after swallowing his mouthful.
"Good, give me some."
"No way." Shikamaru dodged his father with a laugh, taking the plate with him. "Get your wife to make you some of your own."
"Opposed to your wife?" Shikaku teased.
"Now I'm not even going to leave you some. I'm going to eat them all." He ran into the dining room, his father giving up on his attack.
His father came into the dining room, looking amused. He handed Shikamaru one of the coffee cups he held before sitting down across from his son. For a while they simply sat in silence. Shikamaru ate his pancakes, drizzling his syrup wherever he felt like, whilst his father appeared to sip his coffee contently. The younger Nara knew, though, that something was causing the corner of his father's lip to twitch in amusement. It was when Shikamaru took a particularly large piece of his breakfast into his mouth and went to wash it down with his half drank coffee that his father finally spoke, as though he had been waiting for the most opportune moment.
"So, some of the Clan members are asking about the woman they saw you with. I told them all it was Naruto."
His father got the desired reaction he was hoping for. Shikamaru coughed on his mouthful, barely managing to stop himself spraying it across the table. His eyes watered as a result. Shikaku sat back with a large grin on his face, unfeeling to his son's plight.
"You didn't!" Shikamaru yelped before gulping down some warm coffee. "You wouldn't, would you?"
There was a deafening pause. Finally, Shikaku shook his head. "I'm not that cruel… to Naruto. To you, I would be. "
"I feel the love. Really," Shikamaru replied with a sarcastic tone. He tapped his chest, where his heart was. "Right here. I feel it, right here."
"I'm glad." Shikaku smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. "I wouldn't want my son feeling unloved." Again, his father went silent, tapping his fingers on the table surface. When Shikamaru's eyebrow started to twitch in annoyance, his father finally spoke again. "Do you want to know what's being asked, and what I've said in reply?"
Shikamaru tried to fight his curiosity but failed. Once he finished his pancakes he had nothing to distract himself. He had been filling his mind with the fact that Naruto had made the pancakes herself. Granted, she had help, but he chose not to remember that. She had mixed the batter, cooked them, made sure not to burn them, and then stacked them neatly in a tower with pain killers for his hangover as decoration. The note she wrote was safely tucked away in his pocket, waiting to join the last one she wrote years ago that he kept in his nightstand.
"Fine, what was said? Anything I need to worry about?"
"Well, multiple people saw you on the dance floor with a very pretty, blonde woman, and there was some kissing apparently. I told them that I didn't see her and didn't know about her, but that I wasn't surprised that there was someone who liked you and that had caught your eye in return. I'm assuming that the blonde was Naruto, or do you have other blondes in your life I should know of?"
With a sigh, Shikamaru pushed his empty plate aside. "Yes, it was Naruto. She thought it would be funny to get the Clan talking about a possible partner for the Clan Heir."
"And the kissing? Did she kiss you?"
Shikamaru could feel the blush rising on his cheeks. "She asked me to kiss her while she looked female."
"Hmm." Shikaku tilted his head to the side, looking smug. "The fact that she asked you to kiss her whilst she looked female insinuates that you've kissed her whilst she looked male… probably multiple times."
"And you're not going to stop taunting me about it, are you?"
Shikaku smiled, getting up from the table. "Actually, I'm just going to see it as a promising sign. It's not like she asks everyone to kiss her, after all."
"It's not the first time she's asked me to kiss her. " The confession made Shikaku stop at the doorway, turning to look over his shoulder, waiting for details.
"She was drunk, so I didn't. Besides ones, I've instigated any interactions we've had."
"You mean yesterday was the only time she took the first step?"
"No, yesterday she… she was… hesitant. She flirts with me, but always in ways that if I react badly, she can pass it off as a joke, or a misunderstanding. If I don't make my intensions clear, then she won't do anything, because she's too vulnerable. The only time she acted first was when I was vulnerable. When I started planning to avenge Asuma-Sensei's death and assure there were two less people to target Naruto."
With a sigh, Shikaku turned back to face the doorway. "She stops hesitating when you make your move. You must wonder if that's because she wants it, or something else… or both."
"Something else?"
Shikaku grunted. "Still refusing to see it then." Before he could be questioned further he left his son sitting at the dining table, mulling over their conversation.
/ / / / / /
He looked up as his two team mates walked into his living room. Putting his book aside he scanned them, noticing how Choji kept shooting Ino looks and Ino was fidgeting, her shoulders pulled inward, and forcing herself small.
"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, looking from one to the other. When Choji moved closer to Ino, putting a large hand on her shoulders, he didn't need them to say anything. "It's Sasuke, isn't it? Does Naruto know what it is?"
"Considering that he is on a mission with his team and Team Eight with the goal of tracking Sasuke down, I'm going to say yes." Choji guided Ino to the sofa to sit next to Shikamaru. "If the mission is a success then Sasuke will be back in the village within the week."
"Good, then I can punch him for all his troubles." Shikamaru reached for his book but Choji's next words froze him.
"What about if he tries to kill Naruto again?"
Ino shuttered. "We should all be there. He was our classmate, our friend, we should be helping Naruto, and protecting him."
"Sasuke was never my friend and if he tries to hurt Naruto again I don't care if Sasuke is welcomed back. I will never accept him and I will make him pay." Shikamaru stood, pacing from the sofa to the wall and back. He stopped, shooting an apologetic look at Ino.
In turn Ino gave a weak shrug. "I want to agree with you. I want to hate him with every part of me. I remember waiting with Sakura for the news about your mission. Then we hear that Choji," she looked at the bigger boy, "was in critical condition, and so was Neji, and you were injured… and Naruto was still missing. I know I didn't get along with him back then, but those words… To think that that loud, crazy kid that we all tried to ignore couldn't be found and it was Sasuke's fault, my Sasuke's fault. It made me sick. It also made me decide I didn't want him to be mine. So, I wish I could hate him and not want him back but part of me does, part of me still cares."
"Ino, you suffer from a very rare condition," Shikamaru informed her in a serious voice, sitting down next to her. When she looked at him with a frown, he sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're human."
Taking a moment to process, Ino snorted, nudging Shikamaru. "And you've been hanging out with Naruto too much. If you're not careful people will talk."
The Nara shrugged. "Let them talk. Naruto is important to me."
Ino smiled, dropping her head onto Shikarmaru's shoulder, pulling one of the pillows sitting on the couch to her chest, hugging it. "Good. Naruto needs someone who will get pissed at Sasuke for so much as scratching him."
Giving Choji a sad smile over Ino's head, Shikamara patted the blonde's hair in reply.
/ / / / / / / /
He was actually glad to be given patrol duty. There were few ninjas who would say such a thing. The job entailed long hours at the edge of the village border, often in the heat, with little to no company, and at the end of the mission the ninja had to document any odd sound or sighting they had, including every broken branch they passed, or clump of crushed grass. Even though all these things were something Shikamaru dubbed 'troublesome', they were all worth it if it meant he could keep an eye out for any sign of Naruto's team. It had been two whole days without word from them and a pit had started to form in his stomach. There was a tension to the air, like the sizzling before lightning strikes, or the second between registering that a step was missed and the inevitable fall to follow. The only problem was that Shikamaru could not work out where this tension came from. It could have been Naruto's mission, or someone else. It could be an attack on the village or an attack on one of the surrounding villages that relied on the Leaf. The mystery was baffling and infuriating him.
Once Naruto returned, though, all that negativity would abate. He knew it. This was why he was glad to spot a party travelling through the trees not too far from him that included a large white dog and someone with bright blonde hair. Unfortunately they were too far away for him to call out to them, and he was sure they wanted to get back to the village to shower and rest. The moment he had finished with his mission, though, he was going to find Naruto and make sure she was safe and unharmed.
He counted down the minutes on his watch as it drew closer to the moment he would be relieved of duty. He practically cried out in happiness when he spotted his replacement running towards him. Shikamaru's wave of greeting was not returned, however. Instead, the fellow Chunnin skidded to a halt in front of him, breathing heavily.
"Lady Tsunade wants to see you, right away." The man's shoulders were tight and scrunched under his ears, there was a red rimming to his eyes and when he handed Shikamaru his orders his hands shook.
"Is everything alright?" Shikamaru asked slowly, his heart dropping. All he could think was that surely this had nothing to do with Naruto's mission.
"Report to Lady Tsunade," the Chunnin repeated, not meeting his eye.
With a curt nod, Shikamaru bolted towards the village, his heart sitting painfully around his Adam's apple. Stepping into the village was like having a heavy, deafening cloud press into his shoulders. He knew something was wrong, but the only new thing to the village, the only major mission scheduled was Naruto's. When he finally reached the Hokage's office he had tightness to his chest and a stitch in his side. He didn't slow down however and instead barged through the door, not bothering to knock.
He stopped suddenly at the sight before him. Lady Tsunade, a woman he had always found formidable, was weeping into her hands, choking pathetically with every breath. Shizune was absent from the room, which was a rare occurrence. Shikamaru found himself looking around desperately for the dark haired woman to help him before Lady Tsunade noticed him. Unfortunately he was in no luck. The blonde leader finally noticed that someone was in the room and looked up, wiping at the stream of tears with the back of her hand.
"Oh, Mr Nara." Lady Tsunade sniffed.
"You can call me Shikamaru." He tried to keep a level voice as he walked further into the office, making sure to close the door behind him. He made it half way to the desk before he couldn't hold his composure any more. "Is Naruto alright?"
Lady Tsunade took a shattering breath. "I don't know."
"What do you mean? Is she in the hospital?" Shikamaru turned to leave the office only for Lady Tsunade to stop him.
"It's not her that was hurt. That was…" the woman whimpered. "Jiraiya… he." She choked on her next words.
"Oh…" Shikamaru stumbled into the seat facing Lady Tsunade. The lightning had finally struck, and the fall had finally happened. He took a moment whilst Lady Tsunade gathered herself again to process this information. His first thoughts went to the emotional part of his brain. Naruto: the one who took up the largest percentage of his emotional centre. She would be devastated by the news of her teacher, her grandfather figure, being taken from her. With some force he moved his thoughts to the logical side. It was where his thoughts usually first went to except for when Naruto was involved. The logical side had one simple question to ask. "Why do you need me?"
Lady Tsunade breathed deeply, looking through her draws and mumbling to herself. "Where are my tissues?"
Wordlessly, Shikamaru pulled the unopened pack from his back pocket. When Lady Tsunade looked at him in confusion, he shrugged. "My mum has a habit of bursting into tears this time of month whenever dad or I are late returning home from missions. We both carry tissues for those moments."
She gave a wet chuckle, taking the pack. "Thanks." She wiped her face as there was a knock at the door. Shooting a slightly panicked look at Shikamaru she started pinching her cheeks to get some colour back in them. "Sorry for breaking down."
Shikamaru waved it off as the Hokage called for whoever was at the door to enter. Sakura walked up to stand next to Shikamaru who rose to his feet, trying to not look effected by the news he had received.
"Shizune has started the autopsy on the Pain body that Lord Jiraiya retrieved."
"The what?" Shikamaru frowned, looking to Lady Tsunade. "Pain killed Jiraiya?"
"Yes," Sakura hissed, as though he had said something inappropriate.
Ignoring the pinkette, the Nara heir turned to Lady Tsunade. "What do you need? A strategy? Someone to make sure Naruto doesn't do anything reckless?" They were the two most logical reasons for him to be summoned to the Hokage's office at such a late hour. He was skilled at strategies. His father was pushing for him to take over his position in the next year or two because his talent was higher than Shikaku's, though still needed grooming. And when it came to Naruto, Shikamaru was one of the few people who could calm her down and speak reason to her.
"I need you to take this message Jiraiya left us to the cryptographers and get them to decipher it." Lady Tsunade slid a picture of a toad's back with numbers on it across the desk.
"What?" he asked in surprise, having not thought of this duty. "You want me to do this now?"
"That's right. Take that over to them right away." Lady Tsunade was doing well to look put-together.
"But the guys in the Decipher Division don't work this late, Lady Hokage." Not to mention he had better places to be.
"Then summon them and tell them it's on my orders. I'm putting you in charge." She started to stand up, looking tired. "Get that message decoded."
He stared at the picture, though not really seeing it. "Look, I know this is an important decryption but can't you ask someone who isn't on a mission right now." He failed to mention that his mission of writing up his border patrol duties was going to have to wait anyway. However, Lady Tsunade simply walked passed him. "Wait, where are you going?"
She stopped, facing the door. "Shikamaru, I know what you want to do. And I understand it. But the best thing for you to do right now, to help both of us, is to work out what that says. Jiraiya died writing that. I need… we need to know what it says."
Sucking in a breath, Shikamaru nodded, though the blonde couldn't see him. "Alright. But if anything happens… please let me know."
"Of course." Her shoulders slumped, Lady Tsunade walked out of the room, not bothering to dismiss either of the two Chunnins.
"What is it that you want to do, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked into the silence.
"Never mind. How did Naruto take the news? Do you know?"
"Not well. He blames Lady Tsunade, saying that she shouldn't have asked Lord Jiraiya to go on that mission. The only reason we let him get away with his insubordination is because he was obviously distressed. I think Lady Tsunade empathises with him in a way none of us can. They both loved him after all."
With a curt nod, Shikamaru turned and walked out of the office, heading to the Decipher Division. Lady Tsunade was right. It was best if he could comfort Naruto with the knowledge that her mentor didn't die in vain. To do that he had to work out how to break the code of the master of all spies.
R and R.
/ / / / / /