Sunagakure baked in the day and froze at night. Of the two, Shikamaru wasn't sure which he preferred. Takara preferred the night, there was no doubt about that. Back at home, she was often outside in the back garden at night and he had found her sleeping there more than once. Stargazing seemed to have become her form of cloud watching.

"I still think that guy's faking." Takara spoke up from where she sat.

"I thought you were asleep." Shikamaru said, glancing over at her.

She climbed to her feet and joined him at the railing. "Not while we're arguing. Isn't that the secret to a happy relationship? Don't go to bed angry. Your father said, that didn't he?"

"He was referring to marriage and I'm not angry at you." Shikamaru answered. "Besides, I'm not saying you're wrong, just there are other possibilities. Maybe he wandered off? People can get like that. " There had been no mention of any mental deterioration in Kanaye's personnel file, but if it had happened after he retired it wouldn't be in his file. Some people might have kept it out of his file altogether if that was the reason for his retirement.

"It makes sense." Takara said, but there was something distinctively pleading in her tone.

"I'm not exactly sure we have is what you would call evidence yet." Shikamaru was spared from any further discussion by the sound of the door opening. He turned to greet Ino and found she wasn't alone. "Temari?"

"We met up in the hallway." Ino supplied.

Temari nodded. "Do you have a moment? There are some things I would like to discuss."

He nodded, and with Takara content to stay out on the balcony, they sat around the small table. "What's on your mind?" Shikamaru started.

Temari leaned back in her chair and folded her arms in a defensive posture. "Ouga is of the opinion that Mikka acted alone. She was depressed and wanted revenge. That's his theory at least, and on the surface it looks all right. She didn't have any close friends or family. The people she worked with described her as an unhappy person, but I'm not so sure. Not that she was unhappy, but just the whole scenario."

"Like why risk the exploding tags?" Shikamaru asked.

She waved a hand in dismissal. "I wouldn't want to be captured in that situation. No, the thing is, although people described her as unhappy, no one described her as depressed or angry at anyone in particular."

"She could have kept it bottled up." Ino suggested.

"Yes and if it wasn't for the attempt on Naruto's life I would probably agree."

Shikamaru didn't see a problem there. Two assassinations close to each other of well-known and powerful ninjas was suspicious. However, he couldn't help but wonder why Temari was coming to him with this?

"Right," Shikamaru leaned forward, rubbing his hands together. "Now, the way I see it there's two possibilities. Either it was someone within one of our two villages or someone on the outside."

Ino let out a loud laugh. "Obviously." She then quickly covered her mouth, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, I had a little to drink with Arata. He's pretty smart, shame he ruined it by hitting on me."

"Care to catch me up, Shikamaru?" Temari's tone was low and dangerous.

Shikamaru forced a smile. "The documents you provided us were helpful, but they revealed that the projects were in its very early stages. So we talked to the two remaining members of the research team. Arata openly admitted he was interested in continuing the project while Kanaye isn't all there."

Temari grimaced. "I can't speak for the other man, but I know Arata. I doubt more than a few weeks ever go by without him making some sort of request. It's true my father neglected the hospital, but Gaara has been more generous. Of course, that just makes them want more."

"And what's wrong with that?" Ino demanded. "The hospital is the last place you should be cutting funding from."

"If they were receiving 100% of the budget, they still would demand more." Temari snapped back.

"Please!" Shikamaru raised his voice just loud enough for it to be noticed. "I don't desire a higher rank than I have now specifically so I don't have to deal with problems like this. We're here to discuss whether either of these two men could be involved in either assassination. At least that's what I think we are here for."

Both of the women looked a little contrite, and in truth, Shikamaru wouldn't know who to side with. The hospital indeed was one of the most vital resources of any village, but at the same time he didn't think there was a department head that ever declined a raise in their budget.

"My apologies" Ino said. "Anyway, Arata did say something interesting when I was talking to him. A few years ago after Kanaye retired, he approached him. He said he wanted to work on the project again, sort of off the books. Kanaye wanted to keep his mind active. I don't think they were friends before that though. Anyway, they worked on the project for about a year before Kanaye started to show some worrying signs. Forgetting things, repeating himself and stuff like that."

"That does seem suspicious." Temari allowed. "I could start poking around."

"Yeah, there's just one thing." Ino said, leaning forward in her chair. "All they did was talk. Theories need experimentation to be proven. If that wasn't true you could find a solution to any problem at a bar."

"How much time do you think a project like that would need and what would be the resources you would need?" Shikamaru asked glancing over at Ino.

She shrugged. "Estimating how much time research will take is always guesswork. Usually the more resources you have the quicker it will go, but that's only if you're not going down a blind alley. Then there are ethical restraints. Orochimaru, for example, didn't have any, so, relatively speaking, he made rapid progress. Of course, he did things that would turn most people's stomachs."

Shikamaru thought about the layout of Sunagakure. The population was about proportional to his own village, but it was more densely packed. "Do you even have abandoned buildings?"

Temari shrugged. "Space is at a premium. Of course, I really don't know. I'll add it onto the list of things to look into. Perhaps we have some, we just don't like to share them."

"All right, anything you want to add Takara?"

Takara had quietly slipped closer to the door to eavesdrop. "No."

"All right then. We can start looking into this tomorrow."

The early morning sun shone upon the map of Sunagakure's underbelly. Arata's description had been accurate for the most part. Suna had effectively created a parallel street system. It seemed every building had an entrance that lead to their basement, although there were a few that just had a staircase. Also, where the training fields would be there was only a smaller section, maybe a quarter of the size of the ones above.

"The blue is residential, the green is business, yellow and red is official and no color means it's unoccupied." Temari pointed to an example as she listed them.

"If we are talking about minimum space needed, maybe a little bigger than a cell." Ino said as she leaned forward to examine the map herself.

Shikamaru stared at the map. "What are the tunnels like when they're not being used?"

"I can show you in a minute, but it's pretty empty. Everyone has a little light bulb above their entrance." Temari said.

"Then I would put it here." Takara, who had been standing quietly at Shikamaru side, leaned forward and pointed to the training grounds.

The room fell silent at his apprentice's presumption. "Why would you pick there?"

Takara shrugged. "It's the best spot."

The word troublesome came to mind but went unspoken. "Why is it the best spot?"

"Because there's no alleys," Takara answered with a shrug and a sudden interest in the floor.

Shikamaru walked back his frustration. "What does alleys have to do with this?"

She didn't answer at first and for a few seconds he thought she just might go silent on him. Then she spoke in a whisper "When my brother and I were wandering around we usually slept in alleys or parks. Places people avoided, at least at certain times. If you're walking down the street you don't look down every alley, especially when it's dark and the same goes for dark spots and parks. Here though, you don't have those alleys or those parks. Most people don't train at night, at least not like they do during the day."

With that in mind, Shikamaru looked back at the map. A village of any size never slept, not truly. There were always workers coming home late at night, and in the village where the bulk of the population had some sort of training, suspicious behavior was reported at the least. "What about here, where the warehouses are." The warehouses only had staircases that connected them to the subterranean level.

Takara leaned forward and shrugged for an answer. Shikamaru studied the map, trying to find another like she had described and found none. "Where are Arata and Kanaye's residence on this map?" Temari pointed them out and neither were close to the training fields. Kanaye was pretty close to the warehouses. "Let's check out the warehouse area first."

Temari led the way to the lower entrance. At first it looked like they were going back to the archive room, but they took a different staircase and found double doors. They had a turn lock.. The rods pushed into the walls, ceiling and floor. The lock opened to the sound of metal sliding against metal. It was probably not designed to be a subtle way to leave the building.

Shikamaru wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting. Part of him was expecting a cave and another had been expecting something like a hallway. The truth seemed to be somewhere in between. It was fairly well lit with lights above every doorway. There were signs for street names, and most surprising of all, there wasn't a sense of claustrophobia.

Temari started walking and they hurried to follow. There was no echo as they walked, which was curious, but not the most curious thing Shikamaru thought.

"So, what changed?" Shikamaru pitched his voice low enough that the other two would have to make an effort to eavesdrop.

"What makes you think something changed?" Temari said, following his example.

"Yesterday you were with Ouga and today you're here with me. What changed?"

Temari glanced at him from the corner of her eye for a long time. "Ouga submitted his report. Most are inclined to believe him."

That was interesting, Shikamaru thought. "Political?"

"They're cowards!" Temari stepped. "They prefer a quick fix to looking at a real problem. The fact is someone tried to kill my brother and they just want to put it behind them. Not a single one deserves to advise my brother. Weaklings!"

That word did echo off the walls. "I understand." Shikamaru wasn't sure if that was the best thing to say. It was easier to avoid problems than face them, Shikamaru knew that. It was troubling, though, that so many would be so quick to embrace it. "And what does your brother think?"

"He thinks that there's a thin line between appearing cautious and appearing paranoid. Officially speaking" Temari said.

Shikamaru could see it now. One or two think the assassin acted alone and they needed to think so genuinely. They persuade a few and then accuse others of being paranoid. Without some more information, anyone who insisted there was a larger plot would look paranoid, ranting about invisible conspiracies. If he was truly objective, the information he was going on now was sketchy at best. From an outsider's perspective, the fact that his sister was here could make him look even more paranoid, closing in around family. It was a nice neat circle. Politics, combined with family dynamics, truly troublesome.

"This is Kanaye's place." Temari said as she came to a sudden stop.

Shikamaru stopped and looked at the door. He hadn't been expecting anything particularly menacing, he was disappointed. It was a door, like dozens of others they had passed. It swung inwards and appeared to be made out of wood. Absentmindedly, he lifted one foot and noticed a light dusting of red powder on the bottom. Looking at the side of his sandals he saw no red streaks like Takara had reported seeing.

"Do you have any sort of security down here?" Ino asked?

Temari shrugged. "Yes, but some days are lighter than others. Traffic is light down here, though, when there isn't a sandstorm that one ninja could stand in the middle of the junction and easily watch all four streets-"

"His family?" Shikamaru asked, cutting her off.

There was a moment of silence before Shikamaru realized he had been rude, before he could apologize, Temari answered his question. "His wife has been deceased for 16 years and he has two children, both ninjas. His daughter has been on extended leave for the last three years to take care of her ailing father. His son takes high rank, long-term missions and hasn't been in the village for at least six months. As for his health, there were a few incidences a year or so after he retired. He tried to show up for missions although he was retired, and one time they found him at his old desk working. People tried to keep it quiet, they were his old friends after all."

"Arata," she continued before he could ask, "Has two daughters and one son. The oldest daughter became a ninja and died some time ago during the, our..." She trailed off.

"The unpleasantness during the exam?" Shikamaru offered her a way out.

"Yes, the other two attended the Academy but never graduated. They both live outside of the village now, they run a shop together with their respective spouses."

"It's Arata then." Takara announced.

Shikamaru smiled to himself. Personal revenge for loss of a family member was something she could understand. It had been the reason for her little rampage. "Let's see if we can find something that shouldn't exist then see who we should accuse."

The warehouse district was a disappointment. Long corridors with a few staircases, each one on the map. The standard practice of one light above each door had been abandoned here and replaced with a few stringed along the entire length of the quarter. Shikamaru had a brief hope that perhaps they would find an unaccounted for staircase. Hiding something right out in the open but no luck with that. There were jutsu that could carve straight through rock and cover up behind themselves, but they left signs, if subtle ones as far as Shikamaru knew and he found none. The training fields were equally disappointing.

By the time they had finished up about half the day had passed. Ino and Temari were part way down one corridor when Takara scurried up to him. "I'm sorry. I wasted your time."

"You had a theory and it didn't pan out."Shikamaru said, resting a hand on her head. "That'll happen more often than not."

"Yeah, well, I feel kind of lousy," she said.

Prepubescent egos were so fragile, Shikamaru thought. "It is what it is." Remembering, he glanced down at her sandals. They had no marks on them and neither did his. On a whim, he stepped to the side of the wall and brushed his foot up against it. He came away with little dusting of red. "Is this what you saw on Kanaye?"

Takara looked and shook her head. "No, it was smaller, and, like, darker."

An unexpected wave of guilt came over Shikamaru. Takara was trying very hard to be helpful but nothing was panning out for her. Unconsciously, he looked upwards towards the clouds which he loved but saw rock. It was a rough rock with jagged edges and unlike the smooth walls. He glanced down the hallway where the others were slowly making their way towards them. The ceiling was mostly dark it was an optical illusion of sorts. The lights shone all their light downwards with the help of their reflective dishes. It made the area above them look dark like there wasn't the ceiling there.

"Stop!" Both of the women stopped in their tracks. "Tell me what you see" Shikamaru said, channeling chakra to his hands and feet. He walked to the center of the hallway and then jumped. The rocks were sharp, but not enough to bother his callused hands. It took a second to spread out his body so that he was almost flat. Then carefully put his hand forward and then one of his feet moving like a spider. "What do you see?"

"There was a moment of silence before Ino answered. "I can't see you."

"I can see you fine," Takara said from below.

Shikamaru dropped down to the floor and looked at his hands covered in red dust. His sandals weren't as bad but he could easily see what would happen if you brushed up against the edge of a rock. When he looked at Takara he was smiling. "If I had been dressed all in black, you wouldn't have seen me unless you were looking up when I was right overhead."

Slowly, a smile spread across the girl's face and he wasn't sure if she had figured it out to or knew he was onto something.

"Temari, I think we should have a talk with Kanaye."

Sunset in Sunagakure was an amazing sight. Shades of orange spread across the sky and the light touched the buildings reflecting gold and red. From the height of his quarters the horizon was just a flat line which gave the impression the sun was lingering on the day. Shikamaru would've preferred a few clouds.

He stood on the balcony of his quarters. Takara sat on the wide railing one leg to either side her back against the wall. Shikamaru didn't know what his apprentice was thinking about, but his mind was wondering how the interrogation was going. They have pulled in Kanaye, but Shikamaru wasn't part of it. They may be working off of his theory but this wasn't his village. He wasn't sure who was doing the interrogation or how. He tried not to think how this would reflect on Temari if this went wrong.

Given his advance stage of memory loss Ino was convinced that he wouldn't remember how to manipulate chakra at all, let alone crawl along the ceiling. He wished she was here now, but they called her away. Someone had offered to teacher some medical technique. Twenty years ago that would've been unthinkable and now well at least with the medical field it was common.

A knock brought him out of his thoughts in turning away from the view of the sunset he walked across the room to answer the door. Ouga was alone and did not look happy.

"Where are the others?"

"Out training." It was a practical lie. Takara was outside and Ino was training.

Ouga pushed past him and into the room. "Good, then I can curse you out without worrying about offending. I objected to pulling in Kanaye. Do you know what it's like to interrogate a man who doesn't even remember his name? I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts."He spat the word out like one would a bug. "Did you think he was getting all this past his daughter? Where would he hide these supposed assassins and how do you think he programmed them? Because I really want to know why I spent the last several hours interrogating a man who kept forgetting where he was!"

Shikamaru felt a pang of regret. Plans didn't always pan out. "Did you see a mark on his"

Ouga cut him off. "No, I saw no marks on his sandals!" He closed the gap between the two of them so they were standing chest to chest trying to intimidate with his size. Shikamaru refused to back down. He hated shouting.

"I was hoping for a thread, something to pull on and unravel everything. One person couldn't do it alone. They would need at least one person who would know the patrol so they could sneak someone in and out using the underground passages. Maybe at the gate too I don't know."

Ouga was standing so close to Shikamaru that he could still smell his breath. Then without warning the man turned away and there was a sharp pain in Shikamaru's arm followed by a burning sensation. He stepped back away from the other man and looked down at his arm. There was a small needle sticking out of his arm. His mind reeled, but before he hit the floor his last thought was of Takara. She would've stayed away from raised voices he thought. At least he hoped so. He hit the ground.