Chapter Fourteen

It was a peaceful journey back to Konoha. I was honestly shocked that neither Neji nor Tenten had asked about how I had known about the ambush, but I hoped it just meant they forgot about it. Currently, I was debating whether or not I should ask them to keep it a secret and just tell them - I wasn't sure I wanted it in the mission report's if they did remember. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to keep it to myself unless asked directly about it - depending on who asked, I could try to come up with a believable lie or maybe would tell the truth. I wasn't one to be trusting by nature, with the way I had grown up, especially with this secret and how the Sandaime was loathe for it to be common knowledge.

Though Yuna had died, I felt a little bit lighter after completing a mission and after speaking with Yuna, getting to know her as little as I had. I resolved myself to talk with Akari's parents when I got a moment when we entered Konoha. I had avoided them long enough, and running from problems solves nothing - I believe confronting my fear will alleviate some of the strong emotions that I'm experiencing. Well, that was what I was hoping, at least. We checked in at the main gate, showing our ninja ID's to the guards, and made our way to the mission desk to inform them the mission was completed and would most likely need to be increased from a C-rank to a B-rank because of the enemy shinobi we had fought. The reconstruction of the village was well on it's way by now, and civilians were flooding the streets, everything seeming almost back to normal. There were still places undergoing repairs, but for the most part it was nice to see that the village was on its way back to being normal - well, as normal as a hidden village could be.

We used to roofs to get to the administration building and walked up to the desk manned by chunin to get the necessary paperwork and fill it out. We filled out our mission reports in silence as a team, using an empty table pushed to the side, and filled out the portion that was used to describe why the mission should be upgraded in rank from what it was initially categorized as. Overall, it was boring, but it was what you had to do in order to get paid what you were owed. We submitted the documents and I split off from Neji and Tenten with a goodbye and a promise I would see them around. I had a new appreciation of Neji, as far as a comrade, but I still thought he was a bit of a stuck up jackass. The first thing I did was swing by my apartment and put my mission bag neatly in the closet, wrote a note the remind myself to pick up more ration bars when I went out for food next, then I gathered my courage and headed to Akari's house. I stopped in front of the familiar building, my chest tight, and knocked lightly. Part of me wished that no one would be home to answer, but sure enough the door opened to revealYama.

"Ren.." Yama said, sounding surprised and with a hand over her mouth.

"Hi. I..I'm sorry." I said, hands in my pocket and staring up at her with a grief filled expression. I wasn't sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn't to be wrapped up in her arms unable to breathe because of how tight she was holding me.

"I am so glad you are here. We have missed you, Ren-chan." Yama sobbed, crushing me in her arms and letting the familiar smell crash over me. "Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault. I thought.. I wanted to see you so bad, to make sure you were okay and that we didn't lose three children that day."

My heart clenched hearing her still calling me a son in her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight and apologizing for avoiding her. I didn't cry but I felt my eyes moisten as Yama cried softly into my shoulder. They only time I had ever cried was over Rafu and Akari's deaths, I don't think I ever would again. We stayed in the doorway for a long moment, finding comfort in one another until finally Yama pulled away and wiped her eyes with the apron she was wearing.

"Come on in, Ren-chan. Akio will be glad you are here." Yama said, smiling sadly at me and then calling for her husband while I took a seat at the dining room table.

Akio was a proud man, a good shinobi, an amazing father and husband. He was tall, had brown hair that was cut short and covered by his hitai-ite bandana. Akio was a special jounin of the village, he specialized in infiltration which was incredibly rare for a man to do. Most infiltration experts were kunoichi because women could often get places men could not without being noticed. Akio was the one who went to the Hokage when he first heard about my unique gift, after he got me to demonstrate it for him, and was also the one who offered his home to me in my time of need after talking with his wife. I felt ashamed I had avoided them when they came looking for me, I felt ashamed that I couldn't protect his daughter, and I felt ashamed that it was as hard to look into his eyes as it was.

"Ren-kun." Akio said, commanding my attention instantly. "You are here."

"Yes, Akio-san." I replied quietly

"I've told you to call me Otosan, have I not, Ren?" Akio asked me, coming forward to place his hand on my shoulder and give me a reassuring squeeze. "You are my son, in every way except biology. Nothing will change that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Oto." I said, finally raising my head and meeting his eyes. He had a sad smile on his face but I could see the truth on his face at his words. Neither of them blamed me for their death, which had me reeling in confusion. I should have been there.

"Yama, dear, may you go make us some tea?" Akio asked his wife quietly, and then sat down at the table next to me, waiting until his wife was in the kitchen and unable to hear us until he spoke again. "What happened, Ren?"

I told him everything. I told him about my stupid crush on a boy who I barely know, I told him about the vision I had seen during the fight, about how I had rushed off to save him, and about how I found the bodies when we got back into the village. Akio was silent throughout the whole thing, his face expressionless, not giving away anything until I finished the story. As I did, the silence that hung between us was meaningful, but I wasn't sure why.

"Can I ask you some questions, Ren?" Akio asked me, his lips twitching because he knew normally I would tell him that he just had but the smartass comments had left with my spirit.

"Of course, Otosan." I said firmly

"Did you have a vision of Akari and Rafu dying?" Akio asked, bluntly

"No!" I exclaimed, shocked

"Did you know leaving them was going to result in their deaths?" Akio asked with his voice level

"Of course not!" I almost yelled, vehemently shaking my head

"Do you know for certain that if you had stayed, you would have been able to save them and not, instead, gotten killed yourself?" Akio asked

"No." I said quietly, beginning to see what he was doing.

"Did you do everything in your power as a shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves to protect our village and the people inside of it?" Akio asked, an eyebrow raised at me.

"Yes." I said even more quietly this time, head bowed.

"The way that I see it, you being able to save that boy meant that one of my children, at least, made it out alive." Akio said, reaching under my chin and forcing me to look up into his eyes. "I don't blame you for Akari's death, neither does Yami nor anyone else. So why do you, Ren? How do you think Akari would feel right now if she saw you?"

"She would kick my ass." I said, my voice shaking a little at the thought of my friend. "She would say that she was glad I made it out alive and that now I had to live twice as good of a life since she had to live through me now."

"Exactly." Akio said, smiling at me, this one not tainted with sadness but infused with love. "It hurts bad right now, I know that, but with time it will hurt a little less. Getting up and getting to work will take less effort. Smiling won't feel so awkward. You'll get there, but until then, you keep your head up. We have too much to do to pity ourselves. Right?"

"Yes, Oto." I said, smiling at him just as Yami came back into the room with tea. I ended up staying for dinner that night, all of us talking about some of the more rambunctious things Rafu, Akari, and I had gotten up too from when we were in the academy to just before the Chunin exams. They asked about my last mission and I told them about it in detail, about the woman of faith who had turned away from her village because of the wrongs they had committed. I told them how much strength I thought that must have taken, to have your whole family taken away and then to walk away from the people who had done it in order to find a better way, a better life and how it inspired me to come talk to them when I got back into the village. When I walked home that night, I was still hurting. Even though my heart was still heavy, I had to admit that it did feel a little lighter. I felt just a little better, maybe not enough for anyone to notice, but it was enough for me. When I played my lute that night, I thought about Rafu and Akari and I smiled, promising them that I would always remember them and tell anyone who would hear about the heroes who died serving our village the best way they knew how.

"Hey." I heard a familiar, raspy voice say from above me. I glanced up, squinting when the sun got in my eyes, before glancing around the house that I had half repaired and jumping up onto the mostly finished roof. I hadn't seen Shikamaru since that night at the memorial stone, I had kept meaning to go by and say hello, but I had thrown myself into helping with the village repairs after my talk with Akio.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked, wiping the sweat away from my face and grabbing a drink of water while I was up here.

"I'm good. I was just seeing what you were up too, I tried to find you last week but they said you went on a mission." Shikamaru remarked casually, while his eyes glanced down to the now green paint on my face instead of black. I was still wearing black clothes, but I had decided that I needed a little something of the old me.

"Yeah, with Neji and Tenten." I said, nodding my head. He looked the same as he always did; His hair up in his pineapple-esque shape, the short jacket that had the Nara clan symbol on it, and the mesh underneath it.

"Good one?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It had to be upgraded to a B-rank, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle." I told him honestly. I really had not, during a single spot during the mission, thought that we were in over our heads or that we many not make it out. Neji was strong, level headed, and a good leader; It was hard to freak out when your leader was so calm. "Neji is a good team leader, no injuries or casualties for us."

Shikamaru made some kind of noise in his throat that sounded like he was satisfied with that knowledge. I gave him a weird look and opened my mouth to say something about it, but decided against it pretty much instantly. We had just gotten to the point where we were friends, no sense in pushing barely there boundaries already.

"So, did you need something or just stopping to chat?" I asked him, stripping off my shirt and smirking a little when I saw his eyes flicker down to my bare skin and linger there for a moment. It was hot today, but I had done that just to get a reaction out of him, and it would be an understatement if I said I was not satisfied with the result.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come by the compound sometime. Maybe we could play Shogi or cloud watch or something." Shikamaru asked in the form of a statement, his cheeks flushing a little red when he noticed I had been watching him stare at my chest.

"I'm always down.. For something." I said, winking suggestively and making him cough in surprise. I'm not sure why he was so shocked, beating around the bush wasn't really my style and I was pretty forward about my flirting in the exams. Granted, that was probably a little more dirty than anything else I had said to him.. Oh well. What's done was done.

"You are so troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, rubbing his neck and looking up at the sky with a 'why me' expression on his face.

"It's not my fault you are so handsome." I replied cheekily

"Stop." Shikamaru mumbled, groaning again and briefly covering his face with his arm. I don't think it was so much that he minded what I was saying but that people didn't compliment him on anything other than the strategies his big brain comes up with.

"Maybe YOU should stop, Shikamaru!" I said, poking him playfully and then ducking out of the way as he swatted half-heartedly back at me with his hand open. "If you keep groaning while we are alone on the roof and I don't have a shirt on, people will get the wrong idea. Not that I would mind, of course."

If Shikamaru was red before, I'm pretty sure that his face just invented a new shade of it because I had never seen anyone go that color from embarrassment before. I liked teasing him because it was so easy to get a reaction, like blushing, out of the otherwise unflappable guy. I mean, he was confident and laid back enough that nothing really got him worked up except when I was so forward with him. I think it was because he didn't quite know what to make of it, either because no one had ever complimented him like I originally thought or maybe he wasn't sure if I was serious.

"Sorry, sorry." I said, putting my hands up and relenting. The goal wasn't to make him extremely uncomfortable, just a little bit out of his comfort zone; I didn't want to push the Nara too far. "I would love to come play Shogi sometime soon, maybe tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, that works. I'll tell my Mom. She wanted to see you again anyway so expect to stay for dinner." Shikamaru mumbled, his hip cocked with his hand resting casually on it as his face returned to its normal, tan color.

"Free food? I wouldn't miss it for the world." I said, smiling at him brightly and feeling my stomach churn with success when he smiled back in return, showing off his teeth briefly.

Shikamaru jumped from the roof after that, telling me what time to show up to his house tomorrow, and then going on his way to meet up with Ino and Choji to get their own part of Konoha to repair. It wasn't glamorous work, but helping repair the village and the talk with Yama and Akio had really helped me a lot. I felt a little bit like my old self, especially when I was just teasing Shikamaru, and I had hope that things wouldn't be bad forever. The sun was finally coming out from behind the clouds.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update (well, longer than normal for me) but I really needed a break from Liability. I still kind of do, so it might be slow going for a little while unless I get really inspired, but I will still try to update at least once every week (maybe more, maybe less. Depends on my life, schedule, inspiration, and reviews ;))

On a side note, I wrote a Harry Potter story about my OMC Jasper Tatham that I'm quite fond of right now, so I totally encourage you to check that out if you are an HP fan.

Also, for any of my stories, I have always wanted to have fanart done by someone.. so if you are creative, awesome, and want me to love you forever, make me some! If there is something I can do for you in return, like write a story about something, with a specific pairing, or as a you based OC, just let me know!

Much love,

Rache