The vast... desert undulates with almost imperceptible tides like the oceans. Frank Waters
Shikamaru did not often feel like a fool.
Sure, there was that time when his mother trapped him in a fae contract when he was only a few decades old and forced him to wear spider web silk singlets for most of his formative life. There was also that time that Ino took control of his body while he was sleeping and told the nymph Shiho that he was interested in courting her. And sure, his father seemed to have an innate ability to outsmart him while barely even trying.
However, all in all he still considered himself to be incredibly intelligent.
Which only made his current predicament all the more frustrating.
"Did you really seal me inside of an oil lamp?"
"I don't mind a cliche if it works. And considering these runes held a djinn for a thousand years, it definitely works."
Despite not knowing exactly why an oil lamp would be a cliched sealing vessel, nor what a djinn was, the man's confidence in his confinement was enough to sap Shikamaru's hope to break through the seals under his own power. He half heartedly pushed once more against the wall, unsurprised when nothing changed, and let his being settle in the inky blackness. Without a more powerful physical manifestation, his magic was nye worthless, and any attempt to fight against his prison would only drain his energy.
Instead, he tried his best to ignore the subtle sense of panic that prowled at the edge of his mind; a byproduct of being truly imprisoned for the first time in his life. He channeled his focus on the familiar magic of the forest, pulsing in the very air around him, the sound of birdsong in the distance, the crunch of leaves on the forest floor beneath the feet of his captor, each footstep sounding in time with the rhythmic rocking of the vessel that must have been strapped to the stranger's hip.
The sensory visualization helped him slip into a meditative calm, restoring his equilibrium, or at least quelling the wave of fear enough for him to focus on the matter at hand. Although rare, it wasn't the first time a mortal had captured one of his kind, and it was always in some misguided hope that they could garner some sort of magical boon, as if something as simple as magic could solve the intricacies of life. The desires themselves seemed to be unique to the person, but the pattern always remained the same. Which meant the sooner he discovered what exactly this human wanted, the sooner he could earn his freedom.
He was interrupted before he could even start asking the question.
"Did you really leave a soul tether in the middle of the forest?"
Shikamaru decided that there wasn't anything to be gained from trying to justify something that was barely a decision in the first place. Even now, he did his best to avoid looking at the simple amulet that sat nestled in the shallow basin of the lamp, even if he couldn't stop his shadows from gently wrapping around the trinket.
"It's not like it wasn't hidden."
He was ashamed to note that his voice sounded petulant, even to himself.
"That's true. I'll admit that it was rather clever, hiding a fire talisman behind a waterfall. However," the stranger's voice turned jovial, swelling with pride. "I'm a Hyuuga tracker."
Shikamaru felt his heart rate spike at the name. "The Hyuuga are a myth." The sense of fear only increased when he heard the faint, but loudening sounds of clinking metal, stamping hooves, and the soft murmuring of voices.
"You think that a band of arcanic hunters with special eyes that can see magic is any more of a myth than shadow wraiths that can bind to humans, making them immortal?"
Shikamaru's being froze in place. "No, you don't understand. It doesn't work like-"
"Boss! You're back early. Any luck?"
Shikamaru abruptly stopped talking, not wanting to give anymore information to these new humans. He tried to focus on their conversation, frantically hoping for a miracle that would grant him his freedom.
"Boys, I've got good news and bad news."
The men grew silent.
"The bad news is that I'm going to need you to pack up camp and get ready to travel in the hour."
A small team of voices objected to the announcement before their leader signaled them to settle down. "The good news is that I found something that will earn us a fortune in the western market."
Once again, the others grew quiet, but this time there was an underlying expectation in the air; like a pack of wolves catching the whiff of prey.
"Wha… what is it? A fairy?"
"Or, maybe a dragon's egg?"
"Oh! Did you find the fountain of youth?"
"Close! How much do you think the Zindaran Emperor would pay for a creature that can make him immortal?"
The vessel shifted suddenly, throwing Shikamaru and the amulet against the wall of the lamp, as the Hyuuga undoubtedly pulled the lamp off of his belt to show his audience.
"Ow!"
"Wait… is that it? You caught it inside of the lamp?"
"Yeah, so make sure, whatever happens, you don't open the lid."
Shikamaru felt all of his nerves and fear transform into a burning rage unlike any he ever felt before. "I don't know what you've been told, but you're wrong. That kind of magic connection isn't something that can be made on a whim, and has repercussions just like any other!"
"What is it talking about?"
"I'm trying to tell you that the 'ritual' you're talking about-" Shikamaru suddenly cut off his retort as a short bolt of magic coursed through the lamp's seals, shocking his system.
"Just another fae trying to trick us into releasing it. One hour, men. Trust me, we don't want to be in this forest when its friends realize it's missing."
"It's not a tri-"
"That's enough out of you," his captor hissed at him, leaving his men to start breaking down their temporary shelter. His voice was no louder than a whisper and steeped in anger. "I let you speak your piece, but make no mistake- you will be coming with us to the western market, and when the time comes, you will bind yourself to the highest bidder, or I come back here with a carafe of dragon's fire and burn this entire forest to the ground. Do I make myself clear?"
Shikamaru was stunned for a moment at the vitriolic words, but even the threat to his home couldn't quite quell his desperation. "I don't know where you got your information, but you must know that the connection you're talking about isn't just some simple ritual, but a soul bond. There's a reason why we only make these bonds with the Sarutobi wizards-"
"I didn't ask for a lecture from a creature that has never left the Konohan forest. I'm well aware that either of your souls can consume the other, and honestly, that's none of my concern. I only care about one thing, and that's the sound the gold makes in my purse."
The conviction and truth in the man's voice hit Shikamaru harder than any blow he had received in his life, and, combined with the threat against the forest, finally drew him to silence. While his captors focused on preparing to travel, his shadows pooled around the talisman, absently drawing comfort from the artifact while his mind incessantly worked to figure out any method to help him escape.
Because Shikamaru was done feeling like a fool.
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Even though he couldn't see anything outside of the lamp, Shikamaru felt the moment they crossed the treeline and left the forest. He had known it would happen eventually, and tried to mentally prepare himself for the shift, but there was no way for him to predict the feeling of "nothingness" that pervaded his senses; the complete absence of everything he had ever known.
He wanted to weep, to mourn the loss of something that he never thought he would be without. Instead, he channeled that energy into his resolve, and reminded himself every step away from Konoha was one more step between the Hyuuga and everything he truly cared about.
He started speaking when they stopped to set up their camp.
It started as a basic conversation, seemingly simple questions that he would expect his captors had heard thousands of times before.
"Where are we now?"
"How long will we be travelling?"
"Where are you from?"
It wasn't until late in the night, when their cooking fire had burnt down to smoking coals and they started preparing to sleep, that they discovered that he had no intention of stopping.
"Is it always this cold at night?"
"How can you tell the difference between a dream and reality?"
"What do humans do for fun?"
They tried to ignore him, but found that if he didn't receive an answer, he would repeat the question incessantly until someone answered. Finally, in the middle of the night, they buried the lamp inside of one of their traveling chests, finding that the long lengths of mermaid silks they had procured in Kiri muffled his voice enough for them to fall into a brief sleep. They were tempted to leave the lamp packed away during the day, but their leader insisted on carrying the lamp with him, wary of any misfortune that could separate him from their prize.
"Do you have a family?"
"What is it like having the Byakugan?"
"What's the strangest place you've ever been?"
The situation worsened when they passed another caravan on the road and Shikamaru immediately called out for help. It was not particularly difficult to assuage the other travelers' concerns and to prove that their captive was not human, especially with one of the notorious Hyuuga leading their band. However, the experience made them realize that it would be nearly impossible to stop in any of the small towns scattered along their route without risking major delays.
"Do you run into other travelers often?"
"How long have you been a magic hunter?"
"What's your favorite color?"
Days passed. Shikamaru's voice grew rough with the strain of continually speaking, but he refused to stop. He knew that humans needed to sleep more frequently than his own kind, but without the natural magic of the forest around him, he began to feel even his energy wane. It was particularly troublesome because since that first encounter, his captors proved to be exceedingly capable at avoiding contact with other people, limiting his chances to call for help. Still, he persisted, trying his best to ignore the swelling desperation that grew in his heart.
A desperation that peaked when he heard the tinkling sound of sand beating against the side of the metal lamp.
"Where are we?"
He heard a few of the men halfheartedly respond "the Kaiyo Desert", so weary of his constant questioning that they had begun answering without fully listening to him. The Hyuuga, however, was not one of them.
"You seem concerned." Even when exhausted, the man's voice still seemed to drip with smugness.
"Why would I be concerned?"
"I would imagine it's because you know that the Kaiyo Desert is the last leg of our journey. Two days, maybe three, and-" the man suddenly drew silent. "That's odd… the wind shifted. Souta! Are you still keeping an eye on the skies?"
It was the first time any of the men had failed to answer one of their leader's questions, and the tension in the air immediately brought Shikamaru to attention. Something was… different.
"Souta, you better have a damned good reason-" the Hyuuga suddenly lurched to a stop, body locked mid step, and Shikamaru realized that all of the men had grown unnaturally quiet. He could hear them breathing, hear the sound of them shifting around on their wagons of goods, but all of them had frozen in place, like bowstrings pulled taunt, waiting for some unknown signal to release.
From his place in the lamp, Shikamaru tried his best to focus what limited energy he had left into listening, trying to find any indication of what was happening around him. The moment stretched. One moment became two. And then, carried by the slightest puff of air, he heard it. The faint whisper of a woman's voice seeped in magic, whispering soft nothings in an unknown language of power. Shikamaru recoiled from the spell, subconsciously tapping into the stores of power within the amulet- a power that he had resisted using for decades- to repel the trap before it could spring.
Come to me.
The strings snapped, and the men lurched forward.
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Temari idly twirled the ornate knife between her fingers, gauging the balance of the blade as it spun around her hand. When the handle landed in her palm, she whipped her arm, flinging the weapon away from her. Her eyebrows pinched together in annoyance when she noted that it flew too far left, entirely missing the plank of wood that she had been using as a target and burying itself in the sand dune behind it.
She hated this time of the month, the feeling of weakness that saturated her being, but that shouldn't have been enough to render her incapable of throwing a knife accurately.
Her wings absently fanned the air, layering her spell into the winds and redirecting the gusts to sweep across the dunes of sand. They thrust down harder, lifting her clawed talons from the sand and propelling her to the point where her knife had disappeared from view. She carefully dug through the sand, focused on finding the weapon, when she heard the first shout.
She sighed to herself. No matter how many times she went through this, it never seemed to get any easier.
The first man who crested the dune had already begun to succumb to her magic. His fine silk clothes hung loose on his shoulders and hips, signs of his body's deterioration that only accelerated once his frenzied eyes met her own. He took a few steps forward before collapsing, his muscles too weak to hold him upright, and began crawling through the sand to reach her, desperately begging her to be with him, heedless of his draining life. He had lost control of his entire lower body by the time the second man appeared on the horizon.
One after another they appeared, drawn like moths to the flame of her magic. She forced herself to watch them all, feeling a morbid sense of obligation to be with them in their final moments as each of their life forces fed her own.
The final man scrambled over the lifeless bodies of his comrades, his pale, pearl eyes staring at her as if she were his salvation rather than his destruction. He reached out his hand, desperate to reach her, even while his body continued to waste away.
"Beautiful."
His hand fell, lifeless in the sand.
Temari let out the breath that she had been holding, disgusted by the renewed strength she felt coursing through her body, and wiped at her eyes.
It was done.
She slowly moved towards the corpses, determined to honor whatever religious burial practices she could recognize by their keepsakes. She began with the first man who had found her, and slowly worked her way through them all, taking note of rings, pendants, tattoos. One by one she sorted them until she reached the last man, still collapsed face down in the sand. She reached for his shoulder to flip him over, but froze when she noticed the intricate bronze lamp secured to his hip. The artifact was well polished and had obviously been a dear possession. She removed it from the clasp, turning it from side to side, and heard the soft clink of metal on metal.
She frowned, confused, and removed the cap of the vessel to investigate.
An inky blackness exploded from the confines of the lamp, darting into the dark patch of shadow beneath her feet. She tried to spring away but found that her entire body, from the soles of her feet to the tips of her wings, was bound in place.
She growled, deep within her throat, fighting the compulsion with everything she had.
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you."
Temari watched as her shadow slowly lengthened and morphed before solidifying into a lithe young man with pale, clear skin, dark hair tied up on his head, dark eyes that seemed just a little too wise for his age, and a pair of antlers that rose out from his head. The spell holding her shifted slightly, and she realized that he had given her control of her head.
She used the opportunity to spit at his feet. "I don't make deals with fae."
"I'm not fae, and I'm not looking for a deal. I just need your help."
"Ok, let me clarify, I don't help fae-like creatures."
She saw his eyes dart around, quickly taking in all the details he could from their surroundings, before stopping to stare at the collection of bodies. "You killed them."
A gust of wind swept between them, and Temari felt her wing twitch in response. His head immediately swiveled around, and she had just a moment to recognize the desperation and terror in his eyes before his magic buckled. She crouched down, ready to use her wings to launch herself into the air, but he had already moved. Just before she could propel herself upwards, she felt a chain settle around her neck while a small, cool hand pushed a metal pendant into her chest. By the time she had broken away, her mind was already fading to blackness.
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AN: FYI, the Hyuuga is just an OC. Neji is safely wandering the world elsewhere, waiting to meet Lee, Tenten, and Gai, and live a long and meaningful life, thank you very much.