Summery: Five years since the attack on Konoha, two geniuses who don't see eye to eye are captured by the Rain during a routine surveillance mission. Without the use of jitsus will Neji and Shikamaru be able to rely on each other for survival? NejiShika

To find the link to the Rain Nin Character Art: Check out my profile page. Their costumes are a bit to elaborate for me to literate without being confusing (smiles in embarrassment.)

This Naruto fic is in its pure unbeta'ed form. Special thanks to Faraway4today for helping me with the story and getting into the 'mode' of Shika and Neji's characters. I send you lots of strawberry marshmallows of happiness!

Ch.6 Desperate Sacrifice

Footsteps

Faintly tapping on stone.

Slowly gaining in volume.

The sound of the approaching footsteps reached Neji's ears. Pale eyes snapped opened. "They're coming..." Neji muttered, willing away the last wisps of sleep from his head. He looked down to see Shikamaru still wrapped in his arms. "Shikamaru, wake up." Neji urgently nudged the sleeping Nara, whose eyes fluttered opened to reveal they were rolled up to show the whites before they closed again.

"Shikamaru!" Neji hissed and lifted him up to prop the Nara'sback against the wall. Shikamaru's eyes slowly slid open, but did not fix on Neji. He groaned softly.

What? He's withdrawn again? As if to add to his horror, Shikamaru's body began to slowly slide off the wall, his head lolling to one side. "Shikamaru!" Neji caught his body from hitting the hard floor and pulled the young man close to himself. Filled with despair, Neji buried his face into Shikamaru's neck. "Please...wake up!" his voice choked.

Behind them, the doors slid open.

"Well well, what do we have here?" A voice Neji did not recognize sneered. "Two lovebirds in the nest?"

Neji turned to see a one eyed shinobi alongside Kuma in the doorway. The unfamilar shinobi smirked. "Please don't stop for my sake. I enjoy a good show."

Neji carefully leaned Shikamaru against the wall, then slowly stood up to face his captors. His instincts warned that their visitors were not present to merely interrogate. He made a point to put himself between Shikamaru and the two Rain nin. "What do you want?"

"You're a smart boy," Gizan snickered. "You should realize what we want."

Neji felt his chest tighten with dread, but remained outwardly calm. "Hariyo has yet to complete his tests."

"Hariyo only needs your eyes." Kuma rumbled then took a step towards Neji. "That's all he needs."

Neji fell into an aggressive stance, his mouth curling into a snarl. "Touch me and I will kill you!" he hissed.

"I'd like to see you try, little Leaf." Gizan replied and took a similar stance. "Though I'm not the one you should be watching."

In a flash Kuma rushed Neji. The Hyuuga lashed out to retaliate but was easily overtaken in the limited space of the prison cell, and was pinned to the wall by Kuma's massive girth. Neji cried out and struggled to break free to no avail.

Gizan smirked at Neji and squatted next to Shikamaru, who had not moved during the whole ordeal. "Did you really think that you alone could protect yourself and your comrade from us?" The one eyed nin drew forth a kunai and lightly traced Shikamaru's jaw with the tip. "If you insist on being difficult, I could arrange a little 'accident.'" He held the weapon to Shikamaru's cheek. "A prisoner doesn't need a pretty face to talk."

Neji did not reply to the threat and continued to squirm against Kuma. Gizan pressed the blade point farther into Shikamaru's cheek until a trickle of blood oozed out to roll down his chin.

"I can carve his face up like a block of wood." Gizan continued, enjoying the fact that his material of choice has remained unresponsive to the pain. He moved the kunai up to the left temple and applied light pressure to the tip. "Just the smallest slip and he can lose and ear...or worse."

Shikamaru blinked slowly and continued to stare at the ground.

"S-Stop!" Neji gasped. With eyes tightly closed he drew in a shuddering breath before forcing his tense body to slacken against Kuma's body. He allowed his hands to hang limply on his sides, and he turned his head away in compliance.

"That's better." Gizan withdrew the kunai from Shikamaru's face.

Kuma relaxed his weight enough to allow Neji some breathing space. He extended a hand out to tilt the young Hyuuga's chin towards him. Neji refused to make eye contact. Kuma frowned as he contemplated his prisoner's face. "You would sacrifice your body to defend a useless comrade?" With his free hand, Kuma grabbed Neji's hair by the scalp, causing his eyes to fly open in sudden pain. "How pitiful." Kuma rumbled. Without warning, he threw the Hyuuga forcefully to the ground by his hair.

Neji hit the ground hard with a gasp but made no attempt to scramble away. From the corner of his eye could see Gizan standing over Shikamaru with kunai poised as a warning.

Neji closed his eyes. I must protect him.

Neji did not move when he felt a large presence loom over him, then Kuma's hot breath wafting on his neck. He resisted the urge to lash out and instead gritted his teeth when rough calloused hands began to wander over his torso, finding its way under his shirt and tear at the fabric.

The young Hyuuga's body trembled with both anger and fear. I will do what it takes to save him! Even so, a small part of Neji hoped that wouldn't live much longer to endure the shame that was befalling him. A small whimper escaped his lips when Kuma's hands made their way further down to forcehis thighs apart then wander higher to tear at the fabric of his shorts.

Gizan soon lost interest in Kuma's activities. He lifted Shikamaru's chin with the flat of his kunai to study the prisoner's blank face. "Hmph. I doubt that he will return anytime soon. This one's mind was so easy to break." A sudden thought occurred to Gizan, he snickered nastily as he tucked the kunai into his belt. "Hee hee, he's just a limp doll for me to play with; but all warm and still like a fresh corpse." He reached out towards Shikamaru with a perverse gleam in his only eye. "I like it when they don't fight back!"

From under Kuma, Neji could see Gizan reach for Shikamaru. "No!" he cried, suddenly giving into the rising panic and thrashed his body about in a blind attempt to squirm away from the man above.

"Be still!" Kuma growled in annoyance and cuffed Neji, which only added to his creeping hysteria. With a snarl Kuma shifted his body weight to pin Neji's wrists with one massive hand, using the other to continue his assault.

Completly immobilized, Neji could only scream "Shikamaru!"

Gizan never got a hold of his victim. The Rain nin's single eye widened in surprise when a hand grasped his wrist mere inches from raching the captive's face.

"But-how?" Gizan could only gawk when the dull eyes of the prisoner suddenly lit up with life. "Impossible!"

Gizan's kunai was embedded into his throat before he had a chance to recover from his shock.

"The hell?" Kuma paused and looked up in time to see Gizan's corpse crumple before the feet of the Anbu.

"Shika–!" Neji gasped from under Kuma. Not wasting the opportunity of his opponent's distraction, Neji headbutted Kuma.

"Gah!" The furred rain nin rolled off Neji and fumbled for his weapons as he tried to get his bearings.

It was all the Anbu needed. His eyes hard with determination, he rushed Kuma with Gizan's kunai. Kuma swung around to avoid the attack; which resulted in Shikamaru stabbing him in the shoulder. With a roar, Kuma dealt a blow to his opponent's face. Shikamaru crashed into the adjacent wall, losing his grip on the kunai.

Scrambling to his feet, Neji dove for the spinning weapon.

Kuma snarled and reached down with the intent of breaking the Anbu's neck with his bare hands. Shikamaru dealt an uppercut to Gizan's chin, who reeled from the blow but quickly recovered enough to grab a hold of Shikamaru's exposed neck. Kuma sneered at the Anbu in triumph and began to tighten his hold. Suddenly, his eyes rolled up and he loosened his hold on Shikamaru's windpipe.

Neji grimly loosened his hold on the kunai and pushed Kuma's body over. With a gurgle, the dead shinobi fell heavily to the floor, the kunai buried deep into the back of his brain.

Feeling suddenly nauseated, Neji fell back down to the floor. His mind swam with mixed emotions as his bare arms clutched the renements of his torn shirt. He shivered from the terror that still persisted from barely escaping rape.

"Neji." Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

Neji closed his eyes, pushing away the feelings of those rough hands invading his body. He swallowed before answering. "When did you--"

"Last night." Shikamaru helped Neji to his feet.

Neji glared at the Anbu, but its effects were weakened by feelings of hurt. "You tricked me! You were going to let him-"

"No, I was not." Shikamaru interrupted, suddenly looking serious. "They had to let their guard down before I made an attack. This was the only probable way to break through their defenses without our jitsus."

Neji rubbed his temples, adverting his gaze from Shikamaru's steely eyes to glance at the two corpses. "Either way, we won the fight. Now what?"

Shikamaru smirked. "We escape!"

Woo! Shika kicks da ass!

You all must love me for that cliffhanger. (dodges random pointy objects being thrown)

Special thanks to Sabaku no S.moore, Mayfair, Raevyn M, Nova Alexandria, Kokuryuuha018 and to everyone else that reviewed!

Please R/R! They urge me to get off my ass and write!