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.7 The Fight Home

The fight inside the cell had been loud. Since no one ventured down to investigate, it was safe to assume that the other three rain nin were not present in the base. As quickly and quietly as possible, the two former prisoners set upon themselves to strip the bodies for weapons and andything they might need. Neji removed Kubashi's light brown shawl to tie around his torso, for Kuma had ripped his own shirt to shreds. Shikamaru found rolls of thick bandaging on Kuma; with it both the Leaf nin wrapped their bare feet for protection and extra grip on slippery surfaces. Once finished of their grisly task, they snuck up the stone stairs to find the hallway deserted of either humans and birds.

Both Neji and Shikamaru exchanged glances, both with an eyebrow raised, they both felt uneasy at how easy their escape upstairs had been. Shikamaru tried the door to the interrogation room, and found it to be locked. Any intention to retrieve their belongings were abandoned at the risk of making more noise breaking down the door.

"Now what?" Neji shuddered against the chill he felt penetrate through his stolen shawl.

Shika looked up to scan the ceiling beams, which remained void of birds. He pointed to the small opening high above. "We'll have to go through the bird roost"

Neji squinted through the bright light pouring in from the small opening. "The opening is supported by wood boards. I can see grass creeping into the roost; this whole base must be underground."

Shikamaru wrinkled his nose. "The roost must have been built by Kubashi. Lets hope he's not good at building." He leaped up into the beams, and was followed by Neji. Upon inspecting the beams holding the small opening open, Shikamaru smiled at what he saw. "As I hoped, its just boards supporting the hole open."

Neji cracked his knuckles and smiled wryly. "Who said shinobi are great carpenters? It's a wonder that our bases stay up"

"Lucky for us." Shikamaru muttered and got to work digging under the boards. With effort, they were able to pull out the supporting boards and dig away at the hard dirt with their hands until there was enough space to squeeze though. They worked silently, their ears strained for any sound of the enemy. Once the hole was enlarged enough, they squeezed through with little hesitation.

They found themselves in the midst of a rain drenched forest.

Shikamaru cast his dark eyes about to the sun above, noting its position. A decision had to be made. "We're within the borders of the Rain territory."

"East then." Neji concluded.

Shikamaru nodded. "Home. Lets get the hell out of here."

The danger of traps and hidden pits was too great to risk to travel on the ground, so the two fugitives took to the trees. Travel through the slick tree branches had to be slow and deliberate, for chakra could not be used to stabilize their footing; even with the bandages wrapped around their feet. For a long while, neither Shikamaru or Neji made any attempt to speak to one another, for all their concentration focused on safely leaping from one tree to another while at the same time remaining alert for any signs of persuit.

Even without the Byakugan, Neji's trained eyes remained sharp enough to pick out numerous traps that had been set. However, he was unable to prevent the fall of a clipped twig plummet to a trip wire far below, which caused the silence of the forest to be shattered bya tremendous explosion. Shikamaru, who had been closely following Neji bore the brunt of the blast and was thrown backwards in midair, crashing heavily into branches as he fell to the earth.

"Shikamaru!" Neji scrambled down after his comerade, fully aware that the fall Shikamaru took could easily kill an unconscious person.

Much to Neji's relief, he found that Shikamaru's fall had been broken by a dense bush. In it, the Anbu was slowly recovering from being stunned.

"You alright?" Neji asked as he landed next to his companion.

"Gah, I hate this." Shikamaru groaned then struggled out of the bush, apparently unharmed. He brushed soot from his white clothes. "I'm just a little scorched, thats all."

Neji glanced at the trees above in apprehension. "They will be here soon. We must hurry."

Shikamaru gnawed the bottom of his lip in thought. "We don't stand a chance if all three of them catch up to us. There's a good possibility that they're split up searching for us, and they might arrive at different times."

"An ambush?" Neji fiddled with a kunai.

The Anbu nodded. "The element of surprise is our best offense." Shikamaru bent down to scoop up a handfull of damp earth and began to scrub it into his white clothes.

Neji smiled grimly as he knelt down to do the same. "So, what do you have in mind?"

Both Shikamaru and Neji had three fire tages and a dozen kunai between them. With both the weapons and terrain, Shikamaru was able to improvise a trap. They found a clearing boardered by giant old growth trees that were big and thick enough to withstand minor damage from the firetags. The trees were old growth,and possessed girth that would take a dozen full grown men with hands together to wrap themselves around.

It was those trees in which Shikamaru had set his plan. The plan consisted of cornering the foe against one of the old trees, where a ring of three fire tags laid in place. Neji's task would be to force the person into the explosion range; Shikamaru would then throw a kunai at one of the tags to create an explosive chain reaction, with the most damage being in the middle where the combined explosions meet. The final result would leave a small crater in the ground.

After the trap had been set, Neji and Shikamaru waited on opposite sides of the clearing. Their white clothes covered in mud for added camoflouge. The did not have to wait long before a Rain nin's presence was sensed.

Up above in the trees, Kubashi appeared. Very silently, the hawk nosed shinobi decended the tree brances to inspected the tracks both Shikamaru and Neji deliberatly placed. From what little chakra intuition they possed, both Neji and Shikamaru were certain that Kubashi was alone.

Kubashi turned around to scan the clearing, his back turned to where Neji was hiding. It was the perfect opportunity. Neji readied himself to attack; he was about to leap out when Kubashi suddenly addressed him. "Don't waste your energy Hyuuga." The Rain nin turned around to fix his round yellow eyes onNeji through the bush. "I know where you are hiding."

Seeing no further need for pretense, Neji slowly stepped away from the bush. "Too bad, I would have had the advantage."

Kubashi blinked. "Indeed. And where is your friend?" Kubashi drew forth a kunai."Not hiding over there is he?" The Rain nin threw the kunai at the bushes where Shikamaru hid. Shikamaru gasped in surprise then scrambled out of the way in time for the kunai to whizz over his head; his cover was blown.

"Kukuku, found you!" the stooped shinobi chuckled. "Do not forget that this forest has eyes that I can see."

The birds. Shikamaru scanned the branches above. If our positions can be given away, they might spot the firetags.

Kybashi eyed Neji with an upturned eyebrow. "If you come with me quietly, I will personally gauntee your safe return after we complete the questioning."

"Like hell you will!" Neji scoffed. "You think us naïve enough to believe that shit? You shouldn't underestimate us; after all, we did kill two of your comerades."

There! Shikamaru spotted it: a small falcon perched in the tree above Kubashi. Slowly, he pulled a kunai from the rim inside his hospitalshorts.

Kubashi sneered. "Those two were fools to underestimate the desperation of unarmed prisoners. They deserved their fate!"

In a flash, Shikamaru threw the kunai. Kubashi whipped out his own kunai to block the attack, but it was not meant for him. The falcon abovelet out a startled squawk beforethe weaponreached it. The dead bird fell heavily to the forest floor with a dull thud, the kunai still stuck in its breast.

Kubashi hissed in rage. "I will make you pay tenfolds!"The stooped shinobi paused to bite through the skin of his thumb, he then raised his hands to form a seal. "You will find that I am not as careless as those two fools!" The space around Kubashi erupted into a giant cloud of smoke. From it, a deafening, unearthly shriek sounded. The smoke cleared to reveal a giant eagle with Kubashi standing calmly on its back.

Both Shikamaru and Neji inhaled sharply at wittnessing the sheer size of the eagle, which very nearly filled the entire clearing. The summoned eagle spread its wings in preperation for flight; Its wingspan reached as far as the width of one of the five hokage's sculptured faces at Konoha.

Shikamaru realized Kubashi's plan. "We won't have a chance to reach him if he takes flight!"

Neji glanced at Shikamaru, his mouth set into a grim line. "I'll knock Kubashi from the bird. You distract it!" Before Shikamaru could protest, Neji shot off towards the giant raptor. Shikamaru cursed the Hyuuga under his breath then leaped into the trees.

Kubashi spotted Neji running towards him fast. He clicked his tongue to attract the eagle's attention to the running figure. The eagle obeyed and poised its beak to strike. Before it could do so, the left side of its head was struck by a fist-sized rock. The eagle stumbled from the blow, then turned to see Shikamaru up in the trees.

At the same time, Neji leaped onto the raptor's back to crash into Kubashi. Together, they fell to the ground. Both Kubashi and Neji were able to right themselves before hitting the ground, and immediatelyboth shinobi took defensive stances.

The giant eagle turned to help its master, then another fist sized rock to the beak directed its attention elsewhere. "Hey! Over here stupid bird!" Shikamaru cried from the branch he was on, waving his arms wildly.

The eagle hesitated, torn between helping its master or tearing apart its tormenter.

Shikamaru doubled his efforts. "You stupid bird! Can't you see me? I'll start pulling your feathers out!" With no more rocks to throw, Shikamaru pelted the eagle with hard pine cones. Enraged by the taunts, the raptor hissed and akwardly hobbled towards the tree where its tormenter had positioned himself at the bird's eye level.

On the ground, Kubashi smirked at Neji. "Cute tactic your friend has. Too bad for him that Woashi-san has an appetite for cowards."

Neji did not offer a retort, and instead smirked back. He struck out at Kubashi, dealing powerful blows to get a feel for his opponent. Kubashi danced around, blocking each move with neither ease or difficulty. The force of Neji's attack drove him backwards towards the trap. All too soon, Kubashi turned his defense into an offense. Neji all but reeled under the suprising speed Kubashi dealt his blows. His blows hardly hold any power. Neji thought with a sense of awe. He must have traded mass for speed. Neji could feel that Kubashi's blows held enough power to seriously injure or kill if they hit the right spot. It took Neji's complete concentration to just catch up with the barrage.

Up in the trees, Shikamaru had to climb higher to avoid the wrath of the giant raptor's sharp beak. He continued to strike the eagle with more pinecones as he climbed, all the while sending down a barrage of insults. "Fuckin' chicken can't even get off the ground! There's nothing that you can do to get me! Nyah Nyah!"

The eagle dodged its head from another pinecone missle and snapped at it. It turned to glare at Shikamaru, its yellow eyes filled with bloodlust. "Sksss! I will sssnap off your ssskull! You'sss deadbeast! Sksss!" The raptor spread its wings and with a few pumps, took flight to be level where the Anbu perched.

"Ohhh boy." Shikamaru gulped, realizing that the eagle intended to snatch him from the branches. His brain raced for any ideas; with him he had only four kunais, which were no match to kill the eagle. From those, he had to throw one to activate the firetags below where Kubashi and Neji now fought. With the giant eagle in the way, Shikamaru did not have a clear shot to hit the one exposed firetag. The eagle reached out its foot, the talons extended to pierce through Shikamaru's body...

Thats it! Shikamaru pulled out one of the precious kunai and fixed his eye on the target: The tendon between bone and knuckle on the eagle's right foot. Shikamaru threw the kunai as hard as he could,the target was not hard to miss.

The eagle shrieked in pain. The sudden attack caused it lost wing control and dip towards the ground, providing an open shot towards the firetag.

Shikamaru did not waste any time. He reached for another kunai and glanced towards the battle below. "NEJI!"

On cue, the Hyuuga dealt Kubashi a hefty kick into the gut; sending his opponent into the ring of fire. Before the Rain nin had a chance to recover, Shikamaru threw the kunai.

BOOM

Shikamaru shielded his face against the blast. Smoke filled the entire clearing, and a deafening silence followed. When the smoke finally settled, Kubashi's body was revealed in a crumpled heap on the forest floor. The giant eagle shrieked in dispair and turned its attention to its fallen master. The eagle landed next to its master's burned body and stuck its face down for closer inpection. Kubashi's burned body twitched to indicate that he was still alive.

Without hesitation, the raptor carefully, if not tenderly gathered Kubashi into its talons and pumped its wings to take flight into the air, back towards the Rain base.

Shikamaru did not move for several minutes until both the Eagle and Kubashi were far from view. He glanced down at the clearing, and saw that there were no signs of his comrade.

"Neji!" Shikamaru scrambled down the tree and ran towardsthe detonated trapHe received no answer from the Hyuuga. Spotting tracks, hethem into the dense underbrush. There, he found Neji retieing bandages on his arms.

Shikamaru sighed in relief. "Shit Neji, why didn't you answer?"

The young Hyuuga tugged at a bandage with his teeth and looked up. "I didn't want to attract attention to my location. I couldn't see where the eagle had gone. Is Kubashi dead?"

"I'm not sure. The bird flew away with him." Shikamaru wearily watched Neji pull off several lengths of bloodied bandages from his calf. "Are you hurt bad"

Neji shrugged. "That bastard kept aiming for my wounds; he was trying to slow me down."

Shikamaru knelt down to take over unwrapping the bloody bandage. Neji hissed at the pain when the last bandage was pulled from the raw flesh. Shikamaru's eyes widened at what he saw. "Fuck, Neji."

Neji gave a weak smile. "All that fighting caused some wounds to split open twice as big. Its nothing that a poltice can't staunch...are you alright?"

The young Nara blinked and looked up from the wound, his face pale. "Huh? Wha–? Er, I was-I mean, I was...urgh!" Shikamaru turned away and vomited. Neji observed in shocked silence as Shikamaru emptied the few contents of his stomach onto the forest floor. Neji made no move to respond until Shikamaru finished.

Shikamaru gagged at the acidic aftertaste in his mouth then spat out what was left. Sitting up, he avoided Neji's gaze. "I-I'll be fine. I'm just a little sick, thats all."

Neji stared at Shikamaru for a long time, unconvinced. "I thought you were over the relapses."

"Me too." Shikamaru shuddered at what he would like to believe was the cold. "Lets keep moving."

Neji nodded in agreement. "Good idea"

Hariyo placed a chakra enduced hand over Kubashi's burns in an attempt to soothe the pains. Kubashi groaned. The blue haired medical nin tried his best to concentrate on his task while his tempermental team leader paced the room.

Soruyo's entire being radiated anger and frustration. A curious habit of his, while angry, was to scratch under the brown cap where his unruly auburn hair was kept. At the moment, Soruyo was rubbing at his scalp furiously. "Three causulties: Two dead, and one heavily wounded. How?" His voice dropped to a snarl. "By two whelps who can't use their chakra!" Soruyo bent over to speak into Kubashi's his badly burned ear. "Where were they heading?"

Kubashi's round eyes turned to his leader, the yellow orbs did not seem to focus. His badly seared lips slowly parted to croak an answer before subcumbing to unconsciousness. "East...to the...river..."

Hariyo placed his hand over Kubashi's face to administer the burns with his blue chakra, he kept his gaze on his patient while he spoke to his leader. "They deserve a long death for making fools of us!"

Soruyo sneered. "As I recalled, it was you who wanted the Hyuuga kept alive." The goateed shinobi rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Either way, it was foolish to keep them both alive with Gizan and Kuma around. Those two deserved to die for their foolishness."

Hariyo ignored the accusation his leader directed at him, and instead turned the conversation to more neutral ground. "I need to stay with him." Hariyo gestured to Kubashi."He might not last the night."

Soruyo nodded, a scowl still on his face.

Hariyo dug into his jacket to retrieve two long needles, and offered them to his leader. "Here, take these. Scratch them with it--just a plain scratch will do, and it will paralyze them to the spot."

Soruyo's dark eyes narrowed at the two long needles in his hand, murmuring to himself. "The mission will not fail." He looked up to set Hariyo with a blank stare. "If these do no work, I will personally kill them with my bare hands."

Hariyo smiled sweetly. "Be sure to bring back the Hyuuga's head for me if you do."

Soruyo's mouth curled to a snarl. "After I'm done with them, there won't be anything left to bring back."

Dun Dun DUN! More cliffhangers for you all! Don't 'cha love me? (dodges tomatoes)

Sooooo sorry my peeps on the late chappie! I have been very busy with school (especially in completing that 2D animation skitch > ; )and with life itself. I'll be done with the trimester in August (dies)

Mind you, I love this story and I work on it whenever possible (even at work! Mwahaha!) So rest assured, I fully intend to complete this story.

Feedback is much appreciated. Not only does it motivate me to write more, it fills me with fanficing joy!