The mission had been greatly appreciated, for both of them. Ever since Shikamaru had proposed his mother, her mother and Ino had been going crazy with wedding plans and Sakura couldn't stand it! Yes they were both only children, and yes Shikamaru was the head of his clan, but still neither of them wanted a large wedding with seemingly everyone in Konoha attending. So about two weeks before the wedding Sakura and Shikamaru had found themselves being woken in the middle of the night by an ANBU agent with a message to come straight to the Hokage tower and be ready to go for two weeks to the outskirts of Fire Country. They had sprung into action getting dressed and grabbing their go bags before assembling in Tsunade's office.
The Godaime had been wide awake and smiling like the cat that ate the canary. She had then held out her hand to reveal to plain gold wedding bands before picking up a small book off of her desk. Sakura quickly questioned her Shishou's ability to perform a marriage ceremony to which Tsunade simply replied "I'm the freaking Hokage I can marry you if I want and as long as neither of you defect everything will be fine." The ceremony was short and sweet, lasting a total of fifteen minutes with Katsuya, Enma and the Pack acting as witnesses. Immediately afterwards Tsunade held out a scroll, and more than a little confused Sakura had taken it and opened it with Shikamaru reading over her shoulder. When she was done reading she hugged the Hokage with everything she had before Shikamaru pulled her out of the office and towards the village gates; the sun was rising which meant that the three demons of wedding hell would soon be upon their house where they would discover a scroll detailing that they had a month long mission ahead of them and instead of waiting till they got back to get married they had quickly done it the night before. The screams of anger could be heard all throughout the village that morning.
The mission was simple deliver a quick message to the Kazekage, get his response, return to Fire and use whatever remaining time to practice their undercover skills as a married couple. It took them ten days to complete everything and send Gaara's response back with Kimi one of Katsuya's smaller cousins. The remaining twenty two days Sakura and Shikamaru spent moving from small village to village; spending time in the baths, going to festivals and other small everyday joys they didn't always get to do.
Then seven days into their assignment they stumbled across and small gambling ring, that dealt with more than a few valuable objects, which was when Shikamaru noticed on in particular that he was more than weary about letting fall into the wrong hands. As opposed to her Shishou Sakura was very good when it came to gambling, her father's mother had taught her and the games and how to read people had stuck with Sakura. It was how she always knew when a patient was lying to her. So Sakura had joined in the game, making her bets and going until she got exactly where she wanted to be, she won of course and took her spoilings; which included money, family heirlooms, more than a little bit of jewelry and the scroll that had initially caught Shikamaru's eye.
She made sure to open the scroll far away from any village, knowing that for this, they would need room. Once the scroll was laid out in front of them Sakura bit her finger and signed her name in the next slot before putting her finger prints down as well. Shikamaru was a few feet away ready to jump in if his wife needed him, though by now he was quite certain there was no one as adept at the process as she was. He watched as she flew through the signs, with an ease that only came with practice and experience. One large poof of smoke later there was a roar as a Panda, a Grizzly and a Black bear appeared out of the smoke. They were dressed in vests and straw hats and carried their own weapons, ranging from a mace to a tanto and then they were charging towards his wife, and he smiled as he watched her tap the ground with one finger, before the grass disappeared and the underground took his place. Then Sakura was moving sending out wires to trap the bears before her fingers moved through the hand signs and the ground conformed to further trap the three bears just as they broke free of the wires. Landing lightly in front of them Shikamaru watched as Sakura tried talking calmly to them before she switched to what he called her hospital voice; it was the one she used when a patient tried to disobey her orders or when Naruto was being an idiot. The Panda broke free, and said something pointing one huge paw in Sakura's direction and then vanished along with the other bears. A moment later he beside her, his arms wrapped around her waiting for her to say something. "He wouldn't give me his name, he said he would only tell his true summoner his name." She snarled, and from that moment Shikamaru knew that the rest of their assignment would be spent gaining the bear's trust.
Over the next few weeks they camped out in that open space, and everyday Sakura would summon the bears, and everyday new members would show up, with the exception of the Panda, he was always there, though he would no longer join in the fights. He simply stayed back and observed and when the fight was done and Sakura had won he would shake his head and disappear with the defeated bears.
It was on the last day of their assignment that Sakura called for Enma, Kimi, the pack and Haya, and with them at her back performed the summoning one more time with only the Panda coming forward this time. Some sort of understanding passed between them and then they were moving towards each other. The fight reminded him of the time she had fought Enma, though she was stronger now, more sure of herself. He quickly glanced at the old monkey and then at the rest of the summons; none of them had said a word when Sakura summoned them, they already seemed to know what was going, and Shikamaru had a feeling they did, the summons always seemed to be able to communicate among themselves, and they seems content to simply watch Sakura fight, though he did see Daishiro inch forward a time or two. With a bang his attention was brought back to the fight where Sakura stood in victory over the panda, he watched as the Panda said something, before he stood up. Towering over Sakura the Panda extended his paw and with a smile Sakura shook it and then the panda was gone and the summons were rushing forward. The pack tackled her to the ground, tails wagging as Kimi disappeared from the spot on his shoulder to a spot on Sakura's, Enma stood nearby spewing his annual words of wisdom while Haya gave her congratulations from the top of Koi's head, her usual perch as of late. Smiling Shikamaru walked over pulled her up off the ground and soundly kissed her on the mouth. Beaming Sakura simply said "His name is Ushio and he's the head of the bear summons clan!"
They returned to the village the next day only to be greeted at the gate by their mothers, the Nara clan elders, Tsunade, Ino and of course Naruto. Before anyone could even get a word in Naruto was in Sakura's face wining about not being at the ceremony, and "how could you do that to me Sakura-chan I thought I was like a brother to you." For a brief minute Shikamaru considered strangling his wife's teammate, until he noticed that little grin on her face that always meant trouble. A second later she had bit her thumb and gone through the hand signs and then pressed her hand right to the ground, there was the usual puff of smoke and everyone's eyes went wide as Ushio and three bears Shikamaru didn't know the names of appeared, already dressed in the typical Konoha green vest. Smiling Sakura crossed her arms and said "Naruto this Ushio and a few members of his clan, they're my latest summons. Ushio-san this is Naruto the guy I was telling you about." That was when Naruto turned to run and the bears began chasing him, many a citizen in Konoha were confused as Naruto and the bears ran through the streets. Meanwhile Sakura simply smiled, greeted a grinning Tsunade, and a pale set of Nara elders, and gave a stunned Ino a quick hug, before kissing her mother and his mother on the cheeks and walking right past them towards their home with Shikamaru right beside her. She officially had her fifth summons.
Well look at that a nice new, long chapter! Anyways big news, many of you know that this story is based off of chapter 48 of my story 80 day challenge which is a challenge I made for myself back in December of 2012, to write a oneshot a day for 80 days, they were all focused on Sakura and different pairings, well I am pleased to announce that I am retaking the challenge starting this Monday; it will be titled 80 Day Challenge: Take 2! On my profile page at the top is a poll for who everyone wants for the first day, you're allowed up to three picks and more information is located in the last chapter of the original 80 Day Challenge (chapter 81) If you haven't read 80 Day challenge just know that basically I pair Sakura up with just about every guy there is and I let the readers decide who I do everyday through reviews, so go check out the original if you haven't, vote in the poll and get psyched for 80 day challenge part 2!