Chapter 24: Missions
(Alternatively, Fragments of the Past)
Author's Notes: I'm back in business! Hopefully I can get back to posting chapters regularly like before.
Things are about to get interesting for Shikamaru!
(Shikamaru's POV)
It's after Shikamaru's first C-RANK mission that things start to get interesting for him. For example, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura come home from their own C-RANK mission talking about a Nuke-nin and his apprentice who are both from Kiri. According to them, Momochi Zabuza is actually a pretty decent guy who had taken in a small child with a bloodline limit only to go rogue because of the Mizukage's cruelty. Shikamaru just sighs when Naruto describes how the two men had been tricked by a shady business man named Gato. And it's clear that the supposed business man had been running a much less legal operation under the guise of his corporation.
He decides to be happy that everyone has come home safe and sound. He also praises the trio for noticing that something wasn't right with their mission when Gato's name had been mentioned by their client. The fact that Naruto and Sasuke live with the Jōnin Commander means that he and the other boys hear about what is happening outside of Konohagakure no Sato more then the rest of their age group. They had used the information they had heard from his father to their advantage, fought off Zabuza, had then proceeded to make the man their ally before taking out Gato and looting the business man's base of operations. He wonders what Hiruzen thinks of Team 7's shenanigans before snickering. He can imagine the look of long suffering patience on the Sandaime's face.
Shikamaru is now on his third C-RANK mission. A simple Courier mission, run to the border, drop off papers for the border stations, pick up the reports from them, then go home. Something fairly easy, at least it should have been, Shikamaru muses to himself darkly as he grips a kunai tightly. But no, fucking Iwa Shinobi just had to pick today of all days to start something while they were halfway between bases. Now he's separated from his team and he has no idea where they are.
"Come out, come out wherever you are, little boy," a woman calls out, her voice sickly sweet.
'Do you really think I'm that stupid, you bastard daughter of a syphilis ridden whore?' Shikamaru thinks viciously. 'I'm a Nara and Nara don't do stupid, you dumb bitch.'
If his mother could hear his thoughts right now... Shikamaru can guarantee that he'd get his mouth washed out with soap. But she isn't and Shikamaru is pretty damn annoyed. In fact, he's currently heading towards pissed off. That isn't exactly the best thing for the Iwa Kunoichi to do. After all, pissing him off has consequences and they are usually not of the good type of consequences. Shikamaru drops his shoulders, closes his eyes, takes a slow, deep breath, and calls upon the training he'd done as Hyo.
(If anyone else had been there to see his eyes open, they would have been surprised by the darkly glowing irises that would be revealed.)
It is mostly Hyo who opens his eyes and takes in everything around him. It is Hyo who, when he is certain of his surroundings, disappears into the underbrush, as silent as a shadow and as deadly as his namesake. The Iwa Kunoichi will regret targeting him, for Hyo is truly merciless when it comes to the people he cares about and she is very much a threat to them. She won't survive this encounter. It is an irrefutable fact that Hyo won't allow her continued existence.
Hyo lifts his head so that he can catch the scents on the wind and allows himself a moment to grieve for the life blood that will soon be staining his hands. She should have never gotten in his way. She might have lived if she had walked away.
'But it's too little, too late,' Hyo thinks as he silently slips underneath a bush. Leopards are ambush predators, after all, and he considers Hi no Kuni to be part of his hunting grounds. In the end, it is never very intelligent to hunt a predator in his own territory and it will only be a matter of time before she comes through this area. That being the case, Hyo relaxes and settles down to wait. Ultimately, there's no reason to rush this hunt and spook his prey into a fight or flight response. It won't help him or his leap*.
(Asuma's POV)
Asuma can't help but hate Iwa nin. The fact that they'd attack a group of kids who are new Genin just adds to his hate. Yes, he knows that Konoha isn't exactly innocent, but Konoha Shinobi at least try to convince any enemy Shinobi with Genin to turn back so that they might live. Children are precious and true Konoha Shinobi don't want the blood of children on their hands. As it is, Asuma is insanely relieved to find Chōji and Ino alive and with only minor injuries and their opponent dead from their combined efforts.
He isn't so relieved to learn that Shikamaru is missing and that they haven't seen him since they had gotten separated. Apparently, they had been attacked directly after being separated from Asuma and Shikamaru had disappeared in the ensuing chaos. Ino and Chōji look at him with wide, worried eyes and, finally, Chōji asks quietly, "Do you think he's okay, Sensei?"
"That's what I'm going to find out. You two take to the trees and stay hidden. Don't come out until he hear my signal. Do you understand?"
"Hai, Sensei!" They chorus together before doing as Asuma said.
Asuma watches them for a moment before turning and taking to the trees himself. He's got a student to find and if that kid has been hurt then someone is going to die a slow, painful death...
(Shikamaru's(Hyo's) POV)
Hyo watches his prey enters the clearing through his lowered lashes. If she could have seen him, she would have seen him lying there on his stomach as if he had no care in the world; she would have seen deceptively sleepy, half-mast eyelids concealing dark eyes. She would have seen a lie. Hyo shifts slowly, silently, until his weight is settled onto the balls of his feet and the fingertips of his left hand. All the muscles in his arms, shoulders and legs bunch in anticipation. His bare toes dig into the earth beneath him to give him more purchase for his lunge.
'Just a little bit closer,' his mind supplies. 'Just a little bit closer and she will be in my range.'
His breaths are so slow and even that he can barely hear them, his heartbeat is steady, his emotions shut down. All that is left is the predator, the animal that the scientist, Hojo, had created. He feels no joy in this, no blood lust. All he can feel is calm surety that this woman will die soon by his hands. Hyo's eyes close in a slow blink as the woman passes by him. She is merely centimeters away from discovering him.
She turns slowly, trying to determine where he went. That's all it takes. Hyo explodes from the bush and is on her back before she can even begin to turn. His kunai slides under her chin as he jerks her head back by her hair with his left hand and then Hyo slits her throat in one swift, fluid motion. She is choking on her own blood sooner than she can figure out what has just happened.
Hyo slides off of the Iwa Kunoichi's back as her knees give out and he watches, emotionlessly, as she tries to staunch the bleeding. He crouches down beside her and her eyes widen as he stares down at her. Finally, in a flat voice, he says, "You shouldn't have come after me. It was a forgone conclusion that you would die if you got in my way. And you did, which left me with one of two choices. One, I let you live and you go after my leap or, two, I kill you and keep my leap safe. I think my decision is obvious."
He watches as the woman's eyes begin to dim, the light in them fading quickly. Before the light in her eyes dies Hyo murmurs, "I would have let you live if you had walked away. Regardless, I hope you find peace in the Lifestream."
The former AVALANCHE member stands and walks away. His work is done and his leap is safe from this particular threat. All that's left to do is to find them and ascertain their health and safety from the other threats. Hyo gathers his discarded items and looks back once before disappearing back into the underbrush of the forest, the faintest gleam of regret and sadness stealing over the dark, glowing depths of his eyes. He may be merciless when it come to killing his enemies, but he has never taken any joy in their pain or suffering.
Hyo takes a small measure of comfort from the fact that the Iwa Kunoichi's death had been quick.
(Asuma's POV)
The scent of blood catches his attention right before his missing student suddenly slips out of the underbrush - and into his line of sight - like a wraith from the shadows. There is blood on the kid's right hand and his features are more closed off than Asuma's ever seen. The Genin ghosts through the trees before suddenly looking up. Their eyes catch and Asuma is take aback by the weight and the eerie glow in his student's dark eyes. The Nara doesn't say anything, he just keeps watching Asuma.
And then Asuma recognizes it, that weight in Shikamaru's eyes. It's sadness, but not the fond, wistful kind of sadness the Nara has displayed when working in his gardens. No, this is the sadness that comes from taking a life. Asuma slips down to the ground and slowly walks over to him student. He carefully, cautiously, lays his hands on the boy's shoulders. He keeps his voice soft as he calls the kid's name in a questioning tone, "Shikamaru?"
The kid doesn't answer, but his eyes close and he leans into the support of Asuma's hands with an exhausted sigh. Concern rips through the Jōnin and he kneels down to pull the kid closer, wrapping the Nara in a loose hug. "It's okay, I'm here, kiddo. I've got you. I've got you."
Asuma doesn't know how long he holds his student while the kid pulls himself together, but, in the end, it doesn't matter. Eventually, Shikamaru rests the entirety of his weight against Asuma and Asuma doesn't hesitate to pick the kid up like he would a small child. Shikamaru doesn't even so much as twitch in protest. Instead, a small shiver runs through the younger male and Asuma hopes that the kid can hold on long enough for him to gather the rest of his Genin. He needs to get them somewhere safe and secluded from any more potential threats. They had all made their first kills today. That means none of them are okay.
(Ino's POV)
Asuma takes the first watch that night and Ino can't help but be grateful as she curls around Chōji. The chubby Genin is noticeably upset, tears trickling down his face quietly. After all, he had helped her kill a man today. She remembers the way she had reacted after her first kill. It hadn't been pretty. She looks over to where Shikamaru has curled up against a tree.
The Nara is closed off in both facial expression and body language. His only sign of distress, the only clue to the storm that must be roiling under his stony visage, is the way he keeps turning the small item in his hands over and over. Again and again and again. A strange, crystalline orb that she occasionally catches flashes of in the firelight. Sometimes, Ino can almost swear that the orb in question is glowing. She dismisses it as a trick of the firelight flickering over the orb.
(Shikamaru's POV)
Shikamaru knows that Ino is watching him. He knows that Asuma must be as well, but he can't find the strength needed to respond to their worry. He's so damn tired, but more than that... he's... he's just unbearably sad. Memories flicker across his mind the way the light of the fire does over his skin, light and shadows intertwined. He stares down at the green orb in his hands, twisting it around and around and around. Over and over again as if it would give the answers he sought if he turned it just one more time.
But he knows that the answers won't come, not from an inanimate object and grief rolls through him like a rising tide. He stubbornly holds back the tears that gather in his nearly closed eyes as he sends out a silent lament to the family he had lost. 'I miss all of you so fucking much.'
They won't answer, they can't. He knows that, but it doesn't stop him from praying over that slightly glowing green orb. And he prays fiercely, with all his heart, for some small measure of peace in the face of a past that seems to have followed him. Shikamaru prays that his family is watching over him, that they can hear him, as he turns the healing materia in his hands around and around and around again.
Endnotes: *A group of leopards is called a leap.
Even though it isn't stated when Shikamaru found it, it can be inferred that the materia was found shortly before Asuma found him.
I know that I've mentioned that Shikamaru|Hyo is fairly dark, but I decided to really go into detail about that. And, as you've seen, it takes up a large portion of this chapter. But, while he does have this darkness, Shikamaru|Hyo is also someone that is tragically sad. He's trying to move on, but, as it always goes with loss, some things can bring that pain back. Can make it brand new all over again.
I can tell you that from personal experience.
Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter. What were your reactions to this chapter? I truly hope you will let me know.