Cloudless Sky

Chapter 2: Emptiness

Temari's eyes felt like lead, grinding against stone to try to open. She wondered if this was what death felt like, and if it was indeed her afterlife, she wasn't buying it. She thought she heard a voice, and tried to focus her hearing to the vibrations that were entering her ear.

"Waaaaaaaaa..." Came a jumbled up voice. She concentrated harder, then pain seemed to catch her off guard. She slowly realized she still had a body, and felt pain shooting down every single muscle. What had happened to her? And where was she...?

"Waaaaakkkkkkkkkkk..." Came the unknown voice. She closed her eyes even harder, and her hand began to twitch. Her head hurt more than she could ever remember, and she hoped that she would wake up soon, this being all a very strange dream. Suddenly she had the unexplainable want to wake up, some strange calling that she should just thrust open her eyes and—

"WAKE UP!" Shrieked a female voice. Temari's eyes shot open wide, and she sat up, patting herself for a kunai.

"What is it! Where's the enemy! C'mon Shikamaru!" She cried, looking around. All she saw was a very annoyed pink-haired medical kunoichi. Sakura looked plainly tired, but her strained face brightened when she saw Temari glance around in fear.

"You're awake! Finally!" Sakura said, looking relieved. Dark lines circled her eyes, and her face looked paler than usually. Her short hair wasn't combed and she looked rather frazzled. She was sitting in a small blue and white chair, next to an endtable, and as Temari looked around slowly, she realized it was a hospital. A hospital gown clung to her body and crinkled as she shifted herself for more comfort. She had been hurt?

"What happened?" She asked, putting a hand to her throbbing head. Sakura looked confused, then surprised.

"Temari..! You don't...remember!" She asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She bit her lip slightly, nervousness taking over. She began to realize that they might be in a serious situation, whatever it was. She moaned.

"Pain." She rasped, lying back again. She was beginning to see bright lights in front of her, dancing across the room. Sakura quickly jumped up, placing her hand on Temari's head. The throbbing departed, replaced with the pulsing of medical chakra through her head. She sighed, closing her eyes again. She felt extremely tired, as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Temari? Do you remember anything?" Sakura asked slowly. Suddenly the door opened. Sakura jumped up, whether of excitement or fear of whoever it was, Temari wasn't sure. "Tsunade!" Sakura cried in glee. "She woke up! Temari's awake!" She said happily, pointing to Temari. The Hokage glanced at the very bandaged Temari, hands on her hips, and smiled a sad smile.

"Hello Temari. I hope you are doing well?" Tsunade asked politely, althought Temari was sure they were hiding something.

"Please." She begged, her voice heavy. "Tell me what happened." She croaked. Tsunade frowned considerably, her eyes looking dull.

"You remember the mission, do you not?" Tsunade told her, pulling up a chair by the bed. She and Sakura both sat down. Temari closed her eyes again and thought hard. 'Mission...Shikamaru! Mission, the one...Akatsuki...' Suddenly it all came back to her. She sat up.

"Where's Shikamaru!" She asked, looking frightened and worried. "Let me see him!" She growled, becoming her aggressive self again. Sakura stood up slowly.

"Temari..." She started, and turned to look away. Was she...crying? 'No...' She thought, thinking the worst. 'He's dead. He saved my life...and now he's dead. And it's all my fault..' She thought, feeling her head throb once again. Tsunade cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Temari...we found you on the ground in the forest. We were hoping you would know what happened to Shikamaru. He never returned with the others." Tsunade told her, staring towards the window, the sun blazing into the room. Sakura had her hands behind her back, her head tilted slightly to stare outside. Tsunade sighed. "Do you remember anything before you passed out?" She asked, staring at her. Temari nodded, looking away, not wanting to say how she was stopped, defeated, so easily. It hurt her pride, for one thing, and her heart, to know she failed Shikamaru and had become a burden. She knew she had to say it, but it wasn't exactly easy for her.

"I...remember..." She started slowly. Tsunade leaned closer, her eyes wanting to hear every word of what had happened. Even Sakura turned around, obviously now in control of her emotions. Temari turned away from them, tears threatening to fall, shocking her. 'I can't even remember the last time I cried...and here I am, doing it because of him, when I lectured him about emotional training. And now, because of that idiot, here I am, losing control of it. All because of a fallen teammate.' "We were searching. We stopped by a tree. Then...Itachi and Kisame appeared." She said softly. Tsunade gaped.

"You mean they were near you?" She asked, obviously surprised. Temari nodded again, feeling the tears slowly race down her bandaged face.

"Yeah..." She continued. "A kunai was flying for my head...and...and...Shikamaru pushed me out of the way." She said softly. "He saved my life." She added, feeling guilt drip into her heart like a slow-acting poison. Tsunade nodded for her to continue, and Sakura had her hand over her mouth, her eyes shimmering with shock. "Then...black." She said, putting her hands up slowly. "I don't know what happened after that." She sighed sadly. "He's gone...right?" She whispered. Tsunade got up.

"Sakura...that almost confirms the ANBU's suspicions." Tsunade murmured. Temari glanced at them in surprise. They shifted, tensing with the thoughts, whatever they were.

"Suspicions?" She asked, looking at Tsunade, who was clearly pondering something of grave importance, judging by the look on her face. Sakura turned to Temari sadly.

"Some believe...Shikamaru has gone to the Akatsuki." Sakura told her softly, trying to tell her gently. Temari's body shot up, and she slapped Sakura's hand away, turning to Tsunade.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Shikamaru would never do that! He's too lazy to be evil!" She cried, looking at them as if they were crazy. Then her face turned into a nervous smile. "You're joking, right? Good one guys, can I see him now? C'mon, it's almost funny?" She said, reading their faces. They looked slightly agitated.

"Temari, this isn't a joke! Shikamaru is missing, and if we don't find a body, then he's an S-Class missing nin. We've sent out search parties over the last three days—"

"Wait, WHAT! THREE DAYS! I've been asleep three days!" She cried, looking around, her gaze darting around the small room. Sakura put her hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Temari! You're still recovering. You can't take too much stress now. Please...you should just stay in bed..." Sakura said softly, turning to Tsunade. Temari sent a hurt look at Tsunade.

"He would never do that..." She whispered. Tsunade shook her head slowly, and got up. Sakura did the same.

"Temari, what you must understand...with great knowledge like Shikamaru's also comes with a great emptiness—a need for power, if you will."

"You're being stupid—consider what he is like! He doesn't like fighting, never would become a traitor. For all we could know he fell asleep and someone just dragged him out of the way!" Temari said angrily.

"We have to be at a meeting soon. Stay in bed...Oh, and that necklace, we couldn't get it off so we left it on. We didn't want you to be offended." Tsunade said, causing Temari to gain a look of bewilderment. Sakura turned to her, then walked out after Tsunade.

"Necklace?" She murmured softly, touching her neck. The cold feel of silver surprised her. She never wore jewelry—she felt it was just a womanly waste of time, and could easily be a punishment when being battled close combat. She stared at it. It was a small chain, silver. It shined back at her. She felt around it, looking for a clasp. She felt something and twisted it to the front. She looked down, struggling to move her neck to get a good look at it. A small cloud. She raised an eyebrow. Had someone put this on her? ...Shikamaru? He did like clouds—she knew that quite well from spending enough time with him.Temari lay back down very slowly. Then she felt around again, her heart beating faster.

There was no clasp, no way to slip it over her head, no way to get it off.

'Shikamaru...an Akatsuki member? No. He would never betray anyone...would he?' Were her last thoughts, before she slipped back into sleep. Thinking could wait another few hours...

---

Shikamaru's first waking thoughts were of the immense pain and burns that lined his body. His ankle was twisted, or worse...he tried moving every part of his body with his eyes closed to see if anything else was broken. He had been captured, he quickly remembered that much. But that didn't explain why the hell the Akatsuki would want someone like him—the number one coward as he so kindly dubbed himself. He couldn't fight alone. What was he going to do for this organization? Beat them at Shougi until they kill themselves out of frustration? Maybe they were stupider than he thought.

He blinked open his eyes lazily, and looked around. He was on a cold cement floor, or something of the sort. It was terribly cold, and certainly not going to win an award for homeliest home anytime soon. The walls were a dismal and old looking gray, maybe made of metal or some other material that could withstand beatings well. The floors were lined with dirt; the only other thing in the room was a small, sad-looking bed. They obviously had no sense of decoration at all. His mom would be displeased.

He got up slowly, the pain crippling him, and it took a few minutes to crawl over to the bed to be able to push himself up. He moaned. He, out of all other capable nin, had been the lucky guy to be taken against his will to join the Akatsuki. He was always the lucky one, wasn't he? He scanned the room, looking for a way out. There was a small heating grating that he couldn't possible fit through even if he tried, and a few loose pipes on the ground. No windows, only a dark door. He went up to the door and tried to turn the handle. Locked, of course. It's not like he expected anything else, anyway. He tip-toed silently to the part of the dirt-ridden ground where pipes lay dismally across the floor. He stared down at his leg, smirking. His kunai pack was still there. He looked down at the rest of himself. His Chuunin vest was wet and stained a dark brown. He took it off slowly and set it off to the side.

He picked up a pipe and sat down, taking out a kunai. He sat himself straight in front of the door, looking up at the lock hole. With a few chakra-increased strikes with the kunai, he had a small part of the metal pipe in his hand, cut sharply. He got closer to the key hole and began to cut the piece of metal, forming a makeshift key. He looked inside the hold, noticing where he had to notch jagged parts, how long it had to be.

He was halfway done when the door shifted open, knocking him straight in the nose, throwing him on the ground yet again, all the pain coming back. Blood dripped down his face, and Shikamaru was quite sure that something was broken now. In stepped a dark-robed figure. Shikamaru rolled his eyes up to look at their face.

Itachi Uchiha. His jaw clenched, his shoulders tensed. Were they going to torture him? Interrogate him? Save him, feed him to the other strange creatures of the Akatsuki? The Uchiha smirked slowly.

"We're not here to kill you...yet." He said easily. "You want to know why you're here." Shikamaru stood up, wincing at the pain, wiping blood of his cheek with the back of his hand.

"If you see this, then why not tell me? Trying to look smart? Your arrogance isn't helping." Shikamaru added. Hey, if they didn't want to kill him, he didn't want to be a passive dog and thank them. Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"Being insolent won't help you here. I'm not here to fight...I'm here to negotiate." He said smoothly, walking into the room, closing the door with a swift click. Shikamaru had never felt so utterly alone, and the thought frightened him that he was in a room with a killer who took down his whole clan without blinking.

"What do you want from me?" He asked, knealing down. Itachi smirked as he picked up the almost-finished makeshift key. He twirled it in his fingers, his face coldly amused.

"So you aren't like the others. Your intelligence is quite something—any other Chuunin in this situation alone would be panicking. But all you think about is escape, thinking of a strategy. And a well-thought out one, too. A shame that frivolous efforts won't work here." He said, once again stony-faced. "We, of the Akatsuki, are offering you, ah...a job, if you will."

"A job? Against my will? Wouldn't that be considered under the term servant?" Shikamaru said curtly, a hint of anger in his defiant voice. Itachi nodded coolly, as if it didn't matter.

"We are here to offer you a position as one of the Akatsuki. We are in need of a strategist, you are the best we have ever seen. You would be respected and highly dignified among the ranks." Itachi continued. Shikamaru scowled.

"And if I refuse?" He said warily. 'This is getting way more than troublesome...' He thought, wincing. Itachi smiled, a prideful cruelty that no doubt showed no mercy.

"The girl." He said easily.

"What?" He asked, surprised.

"The girl you were with dies. A necklace was put on her after we proceeded to capture you; quite a helpful device, with a small jutsu we can activate it to constrict her neck from miles away. You make one mistake and she'll be dead within seconds." Itachi said, his eyes boring into Shikamaru's, who was at the moment gaping.

"Temari..." He whispered softly.

"But that's not enough, of course. At this moment Genin headbands of the academy are being given out to the new rookies. Another jutsu activated, and poinson drips into their small skulls." Itachi said slowly, again showing no emotion on his face. Shikamaru's eyes widened, but he didn't dare to say another word. They weren't lying; the Akatsuki could do many things, and stealth was one of their highpoints. "And then," Itachi continued, a slow evil smile creeping onto his lips, "With the deaths of the Genin and a Sand girl, the sister of the future Kazekage, it won't be hard to convince Konoha to war with Suna, after all the poison can be traced to there, and Suna will be more than glad to avenge the girl's death. Suna will overpower Konoha, war will become an epidemic for the slow-ending death of Konoha. It will work out like a slow-acting poison, deaths will increase each day. Now I'll let you decide, right now...what will you choose?"

"How can you do this? Why don't you just destroy Konoha now, and why just me? There are more capable nin that are more impressive." Shikamaru said slowly. "You're making a troublesome decision."

"If I destroyed Konoha, I would have no use of the other more capable nin. And besides, with you, we can destroy more than just Konoha, and what else would I bribe you with?" Itachi said. Shikamaru bowed his head down. So that was the catch. He was to help plan the demise of the countries, bringing more power to the Akatsuki with better strategies. He turned away, not wanting to show the despair on his face.

"Fine." He said slowly. "I'll do it." Itachi smiled.

"The robes are on the bed. You will be expected to wear them when in the presence of the rest of the Akatsuki." He said, and was once again gone, the door locking behind him. Shikamaru got up and walked over to the bed. The dark folds of the black silk stared up at him. He raised it up slowly, staring at the red clouds on black, and for once wished for a cloudless day.

A/N: End of chapter 2. Please bear with me, these will probably be the fastest updates, it may take a few days to get more out. Thanks!