A/N: Updates, updates, updates... Well, where can I begin? I started a second story... I have no idea where I'm taking this one... And I just started reading the current manga. Which, this story should have you confused if you are also reading the current manga. So this is now an AU story. I can't keep up with where they're at; the plots clashed far too much already.

But moving on, yeah... I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this story, but as some of you know, I've started another story, "Don't Ever Let Me Know", which is a Slipknot song fic.

I know, I know, I neglected this story for far too long but honestly? I'm A.D.D., don't hold me accountable for anything. But the point is, I'm back. Who knows when this will be updated... and if you're mad at me, I get it. And I DO apologize for everything. But without further ado, chapter 9.

Shikamaru, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon finally reached their destination—The Hidden Rain Village. The entire mission thus far had been a total disaster. He had no contact with Konoha other than a messenger chuunin being sent to him to deliver him village updates. Being the ambassador of the village, he had a lot of political and aristocratic affairs to handle when it came to his village, and protecting so many people was always his top priority.

But honestly, the last thing that he needed to hear was that Ino had been seriously injured in battle. That news alone had managed to throw off his entire mission strategy and he had become incredibly unfocused. But why? Surely, Sakura would be able to handle Ino's condition fine enough on her own. After all, she was the best medic in the Fire Country. But Ino was her second in command, and her being injured so fatally would surely put a dent in the village's medical team.

'Why Ino?' He wondered to himself as he slowly approached the village gates, his team following him closely behind. Amegakure wasn't on unfriendly terms with Konohagakure, but the village still had it's share of hostility towards the Konoha ninja from the Third Shinobi War. The brutal attacks his country performed on the Hidden Rain Village were nothing worth forgiveness over, but honestly, it had been over fifteen years. They had to forgive the village sometime.

The moment the team stepped inside of the village, there was an aura of hostility the likes of which none of them were used to, even despite the war currently going on. Musing the past events, nothing seemed like reality and Shikamaru had to ask himself if any of it were actually real, or one big nightmare. He wished it was a nightmare, for if it was, Ino would be fine, Tsunade would be alive, and everything would be at peace. But alas, there he stood in Ame, hoping for a peace treaty that would strengthen Konoha's ties with the other countries and bring about peace.

'How is it that in less than 5 months, everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong?' Shikamaru pondered idly to himself.

'Our leader was in her prime.. she didn't need to leave yet. And I mean, Naruto is a wonderful Hokage and all, it's just.. Gah, what am I saying? My head isn't straight..'

And then, his thoughts drifted to Ino. Her smile, her laugh. He recalled mental images of visiting her in her family's flower shop, a building in Konoha which, like most of the others, was wiped out during Pein's attack on the village. The construction workers offered to rebuild but after Ino and her father discussed it, they realized it wouldn't be the same.

Even if they had rebuilt, Ino never had time to be anywhere but either asleep, fighting, out with himself and Chouji on missions, or at the hospital treating patients with Sakura. And now, he was in an enemy country, with his younger and less experienced teammates, with offers of peace.

.:. Flashback .:.

"Naruto, are you sure that the Amegakure leader will consent to this peace offering?" Shikamaru hesitantly asked, his hand behind his head, scratching the back of his neck nervously. They were standing at the gates and Naruto was seeing them off. Naruto, in response to Shikamaru's question simply grinned and also scratched the back of his head, his hokage robes swaying in the wind.

"Absolutely! I know Konan-chan will be thrilled to accept this peace treaty!" he shouted before his tone took a more serious tone. Naruto went into 'Hokage-mode' and Shikamaru's arms dropped to his sides as his expression took a more serious tone as well.

"Besides," Naruto continued. "This treaty has been long over do. We have a country fighting us that never should have been fighting us in the first place. Amegakure was meant to be our allies from the beginning. Without them, Konohagakure WILL be crushed in this war. The odds are just too against us right now."

Naruto's eyes shifted off to the side as he paused dramatically, waiting for Shikamaru to give some sort of input, which, of course, he gladly did.

"Understood. What took so long though?" Shikamaru asked, his eyes never leaving Naruto's face.

"The war has been rough and we've been under-numbered. We haven't been able to send out a capable enough squad of shinobi before now because we've been constantly fighting against attacks. But we're in a more peaceful period, for the time being, it seems. The attacks haven't been as constant, the death rate has dropped, as well as the injury rate... the timing is right."

Shikamaru nodded his head in understanding and turned towards the gates, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon having already gotten a head start on him.

"Later," Shikamaru lazily said giving Naruto a simple wave over his shoulder.

"Be safe.." Naruto muttered to himself softly enough that only Shikamaru was able to hear, and even then, he had to strain his ears to hear his words.

And so, here he was. He had heard stories about the new Ame leader, Konan, though he never actually laid eyes on her himself. All he had was a simple description – lavender hair; thin, athletic build; fair skin; and she would be sporting a type of origami accessory, more specifically, a flower in her hair. Much to his surprise, he was met at the gate by Konan, whom was wearing her traditional kage robes. The description, however, seemed to be a little off, because the woman he was met with was around...six months pregnant...

"Konan-sama?" Shikamaru hesitantly asked and Konan acknowledged him, bowing her head respectfully.

"Hai. You must be the squad that Naruto-kun sent out." she replied softly, one of her hands touching her stomach. Her voice was graceful, he noted, and she seemed to be very proper.

'So she's withchild. I wonder who the father is..' Shikamaru idly wondered before something in his head clicked together, almost instantly.

'Six months along... Pein attacked Konoha five months ago... Don't tell me...'

Konan must have noticed Shikamaru's eyes shifting towards her stomach and she smiled softly at him.

"It's not really conventional, but... it's all I have left of him..." she said softly, drawing Shikamaru's attention to dart towards her face as she spoke.

"But...how?" he asked, recalling having heard that Pein was controlling corpses, and his real body was rendered in a fragile state.

"Medical ninjutsu works wonders." she simply replied and he grew less tense.

'Ah, so there was some sort of...artificial insemination performed? Interesting..'

"Aa," was all he responded with, not too interested in her pregnancy any longer. He had to get back to Konoha as quickly as possible.

"Konan-sama, I'm sorry to rush things but I need to get this treaty signed and returned as soon as possible. Surely, you understand..." he said clearly, causing her to respond instantly in a serious tone of voice.

"But of course. Where do I sign?" She asked, her eyes darting towards the scroll in his hand.

Shikamaru unraveled the scroll and pointed to a blank spot, indicating for her to sign anywhere in that general region. She quickly signed it and smiled at him as she handed it back to him. Shikamaru pocketed the scroll and bowed to her.

"Arigato, Konan-sama. You have truly helped out our nation in an incredible way today." Konan smiled at Shikamaru and indicated for him to head off with a wave of her hand.

"Shikamaru-kun, was it?" she asked before he turned to leave. Shikamaru nodded his head in response and her smile never faltered.

"Give Naruto-kun my regards. I'll make the treaty announcement to my shinobi before the day is over, which, from the looks of it," she paused to look at the sky. "Wont be much longer. Good luck on your travels home!" she said and Shikamaru smiled at her.

"Arigato. Goodbye." He said and Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon also said their goodbyes. They felt as though they should have chimed in somewhere, but honestly, this was more of a political issue—something that they, as young shinobi, knew almost nothing about.

They were chuunin, he was a jounin, and despite their different opinions on squad leadership, ultimately, he was older, he was wiser, and he ended up in charge all the same. It was a silently acknowledged fact that they had to deal with.

The trip home was urgent and rushed, mostly due to Shikamaru's insistence, and they were there within a three day time span. It was unconventional, albeit necessary, and the first place Shikamaru went—after speaking to the Hokage, of course—was to the hospital. He was shocked, however, when he found that she wasn't there to greet him.

"Sakura-chan, where is Ino?"

Sakura, whom was currently sitting on a stool looking at a chart, looked up at Shikamaru with brilliant green eyes and raised a slender eyebrow at him.

"Ino?" she asked him in confusion, her eyebrows furrowing low towards her eyes. "Ino is at home. Ah—Shikamaru?" He was gone in a flash, it was almost as if he had teleported away from her. Was he in that much of a hurry to see his teammate? Well, it was just as so. If anything had happened to Naruto or Sai, she'd be in a state of panic. Speaking of Sai... Sakura wondered what he was up to right now.

"Ino!" Shikamaru screamed from outside of the Yamanaka girl's bedroom window. "Oi! Ino!" his voice was frantic and hoarse, and it was so out of character of him to lose his cool. He knew she was home. He knew she was fine. What was so different about now? Why did he have to see her?

Shikamaru didn't have much longer of a wait, however. It was midnight and he was screaming at her apartment building, which, surprisingly, was one of the few buildings that was still standing after the attack on the village, compliments of Captain Yamato.

Suddenly, a head of long blonde hair poked itself out of the window and he was met with an angry looking Ino.

"Who the... SHIKAMARU?" She yelled, angry that she had been woken up up.

"Yeah..." his voice softened upon seeing her alive and well. "Can I come up?" he asked and she blinked at him a few times before nodding her head. Shikamaru walked up the stairs to her house and she met him at the front door, nearly dragging him inside by his flack jacket.

"The hell are you thinking?" she asked, smacking him on the back of his head. "Baka... you could have woken up my neighbors! And do you not realize that we are literally right next door to the hospital?"

She was lecturing him. Good. That was so good, he thought to himself as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, abruptly stopping her mid-sentence.

"Sh-Shikamaru?" she asked, her voice a bit worried.

He didn't say anything; he just held her there for a moment, glad that she was alright.

"I heard that you were injured while I was on my mission... I'm not gonna lie, Ino, rational thought left me for a moment and I contemplated turning around and coming back..."

What was he saying? Abandon his mission and put the village in jeopardy? And for what, her?

"Why would you do that?" she asked him, confused to hell and back as to what he was going on about. It was a simple injury and she had no idea why they even told him about it. She was in and out of the hospital in three hours. It wasn't a big deal...to her.

"You... Ino..." Why was it so hard to tell her the truth about everything? Oh, that's right. Women were troublesome. That was his lifelong mantra, right? He wasn't going to worry about women until he was older; until there was some peace among his world. The peace that only Naruto could bring them.

She pulled away from him somewhat to look at him but his arms still remained around her waist, he refused to let her go for the world.

"Why?" she asked again. Shikamaru avoided her gaze, unsure of an answer. But then again, did he really need an answer? Couldn't she just figure it out on her own? Ino was smart... she may have been blonde, but she sure as hell was smart. She was his freaking teammate, for crying out loud.

Before either one of them knew what was happening, Shikamaru had Ino pinned up against her kitchen wall with his lips covering hers frantically, his arms pinned above her head, giving her enough room to escape if she so wanted to. But she never moved. And perhaps that was all the answer he needed.

"Shikamaru-kun!" Sakura shouted out the doorway of the hospital, her eyes darting all around the room. She wanted to ask him about the mission, dammit! This mission was vital for the country's state and dammit, she was curious. Blame Ino for her interest in such gossip.

Suddenly, Sakura's eyes lit up as she began darting towards the Hokage tower, her clipboard landing on the desk of the hospital in her wake. Her shift ended ten minutes ago, anyhow.

Reaching the Hokage's tower, Sakura had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. The distance between the tower and the hospital were quite far spread apart and she hadn't used any chakra to help her sprinting. As soon as she finally was able to breathe normally again, she ran up the stairs of the office and made her way to the door. Straightening her clothing out and making herself look 'professional', she knocked on the door. She was met by a raspy voice, one which she'd recognize anywhere.

"Come in," the voice said. It was Gaara. He was sitting on the opposite side of the room at his own desk, Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"Gaara-kun? Why are you in here all by yourself? Where's Naruto at?" she asked, looking confused. Gaara looked at her boredly from over two large stacks of paper. Letting out a sigh, he ignored her question and asked one of his own.

"Sakura-chan, have you ever considered becoming an assistant for the join Kage tower, yet? My offer still stands, and I promise the pay would be worth it."

Sakura blinked at him a few times before letting out a soft chuckle. Poor Gaara, he was always stuck with so much paperwork.

"You know I don't have the time to do your paperwork. Why don't you have Temari-san do it instead?" she asked. Gaara wrinkled his nose in response.

"That would be a flat no. You know how Temari feels about being on the front lines of shinobi duty."

Sakura let out a sigh.

"And you know how I feel about being a medic. What about one of the Chuunin? Surely there's someone out there who is looking for extra cash. Or even a Genin..."

Gaara let out another sigh. Must this woman be so difficult?

"We have been – none of them are interested in desk work. Anyways, it's Naruto's turn to bring back lunch. He should be at Ichiraku. But perhaps there is something I could help you with in the meantime?" he asked. Sakura blinked a few times in response.

"Well, actually... do you know anything about the Ame peace treaty assignment? I was going to ask Shikamaru about it but he rushed out of the hospital to find Ino-pig." Gaara nodded his head.

"Ah yes... the agreement was signed by the leader of Ame and they have agreed to dispatch troops to our village, this time, in peace. However, I don't think the shinobi will be too pleased to have switched sides so suddenly... they are, after all, enemies of the Leaf."

Sakura nodded, absorbing all of the information. She thanked him and walked out of the office, unsure of what to do with herself. The day was progressing pretty slowly with no attacks of the village, nor injuries, and she decided to just go take a rest from it all and let her chakra build itself back up. After all, even though there were no fresh injuries, she still had several surgeries which she had to perform earlier that day and she was almost halfway drained of her chakra.

A/N: Okay, I'm sorry if that was confusing so let me clear some things up. Ame is no longer an enemy (duh?) but the other villages are. Konoha's allies are limited and the Amegakure peace treaty was the most necessary treaty Konoha needed to get their strength back up. However, Amegakure has had a lot of problems in the past dealing with Konohagakure due to the past shinobi wars, so I just wanted to make it a little more apparent of that. R&R!