Chapter Five

Try to think about this rationally, Shikamaru told himself, even as he felt his brain failing him due to his low blood sugar level. Rationally.

He would try to pick this problem apart bit by illogical bit.

Firstly, where did he live? The apparent evaporation of his house didn't necessarily mean that his family had gone the same way, and he had to be living somewhere. Hokages too were only human after all. Assuming there did existed a Nara residence, where was it and why was it there instead of there it should have been? Also, how was he going to find out how to get there without taking aside some random person and asking, "Excuse me, could you please tell me where I live?"

Shikamaru mulled the questions over—or tried to, his mind felt like it was moving through tar—and decided that the only conclusion he could come up with that was plausible given the information he'd obtained through observation was the he didn't know any answers.

Moving along to the next dilemma. How was he going to secure something edible before he passed out?

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." A passerby nodded to him respectfully. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar, but Shikamaru was sure he was not acquainted with the girl sporting long purple hair.

Nodding back absent-mindedly, he continued to sift through various possibilities. He couldn't bank on coming across anyone he knew remotely personally…he was almost sure the person didn't exist by now…even Shizune did not call Tsunade 'Hokage-sama' all the time; anyone who addressed him thus couldn't be a close friend…

As he walked, he replayed everything that had happened so far, searching for a clue…any clue…and a memory wandered into his mind, sidling slowly into this thoughts as though it were nervous about being recalled.

Shikamaru-sama.

He'd heard that before; Shikamaru-sama. He was positive that he'd heard it sometime within the last day; no one called him that in his old life. This person who knew him well enough to call him by his first name…who was he? Try as he might, he could not match the words to a voice or a face. He tried to remember everyone who had spoken to him to date, and why…

Then it dawned upon him, and he knew, all in a moment, who. Digging deep into his legs for any remaining strength, he turned and ran, calling out. "…Oi…oi!" He didn't know her name, and could only hope that she hadn't gone too far yet. "Oi!"

To his utmost relief, a long purple ponytail swayed in the distance. Shikamaru ran and shouted but the girl didn't stop until he had overtaken her and blocked her way, breathing hard and leaning on his shaking knees. "…Gomen…" he mumbled. Now that he'd caught up, he realized he hadn't any idea of how he was going to put up a convincing act that he knew her when he didn't. "Gomen…I…"

"Are you all right, Shikamaru-sama?"

It was definitely her.

A timid hand reached for his elbow and applied the lightest boost in a hesitating attempt to help him straighten up. Still panting slightly, Shikamaru raised his other hand briefly to signal that he could manage by himself. At once the hand shot away like a startled deer from a hunter. Shikamaru's heart sank and he mentally hit himself over the head. He had to gain this girl's trust here and the very first thing he'd done had already made her jittery.

Great. Just great.

"Gomen, Hokage-sama," the girl was saying repeatedly. "I didn't mean to…"

"Eh, it's fine," he replied in the friendliest possible manner, looking the girl over discreetly for any indications as to what she might have to do with him. She dressed normally enough in a simple T-shirt and heavy cargo pants; only the signature hitai-ite around her neck announced her as a shinobi.

A kunoichi? A list of her possible identities immediately came up.

A girl, around his age, through not related to him judging by her violet hair, a ninja who feared him like the rest but held a deep concern for him all the same…

"I don't mind," he tried reassuringly. "…We're teammates after all." He watched for her reaction carefully. If he had guessed correctly, then he could celebrate over having found a 'friend' at last and shake his head at the same time over the insane amount of people who seemed to graduate from the Academy at the age of eight. If he had guessed wrongly…well, then he would have to give her the same excuse as he had given Chouji: that they were both shinobi of the Leaf and therefore were as good as teammates anyway.

Surprisingly, she blushed and looked away, embarrassed but pleased. "Hai, Hokage-sama. It is an honor…"

Shikamaru breathed out a sigh of relief—he had finally found one of his team. Or someone who though she was on his team, anyway. He was just planning how to continue their conversation without revealing the fact that he didn't even know his 'teammate's' name and yet end up at his desired topic when his stomach gave a long, drawn out growl of complaint.

Forget the planning.

"Ne," he said, trying to sound confident. "Would you mind doing your old teammate a favor?"

Her eyes widened. "Of course not, Hokage-sama. What…?"

He smiled. "Could you lend me some money? I haven't had lunch."

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Tori hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. One moment Shikamaru was his normal self, walking by deep in thought without eve a second to spare for her to do more than nod when she'd greeted him. The next moment, he was acting like he'd had the best day in his life and was smiling like it actually came natural to him.

Of course, as a highly trained kunoichi, she'd managed to hide her bewilderment and agree to borrow him some money, something he'd never asked her for before. However, she was thrown completely off balance when he asked if she'd eaten yet and whether she would like to join him for lunch. Seriously. Him, the Hokage. "I haven't got that much money with me," she told him, feeling quite ashamed. "I'm afraid it's not enough to get what you usually eat, if we both go…"

"That's all right," he brushed it off, smiling again at her. "I was just thinking Ichiraku's, if that's fine with you."

"It's fine," she said hurriedly, thought it only made her wonder more. Ichiraku's? she hadn't known him to set foot in the place in his life. Was this an imposer of her Hokage? Tori kicked herself once this possibility occurred to her. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? What if this was an enemy here to infiltrate Konoha? She stiffened, watching him closely as they walked side by side to the ramen restaurant.

But…if it was really an imposer, why would they have chosen to impersonate someone as noticeable as the Hokage? And wouldn't he have done a little more research on Shikamaru's general character before attempting it? Besides, as an ANBU member, she had a certain degree of knowledge about genjutsus and her careful scrutiny told her that this person's appearance was genuine.

And secretly…secretly she wanted to believe that this was the Shikamaru who had been on the same Genin team as her.

He resembled so much the teammate she'd always wished she had.

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The task as troublesome, Shikamaru established. He was having no success in making this girl more comfortable with him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do; being nice only seemed to make her more wary of him.

But then again, he reasoned dryly, everyone else was terrified of him; why should his 'teammate' be any different? After which he straightened his expression and corrected his slouch despite the protests of his back. He noticed the girl seemed to regain her composure soon after registering the 'return' of his solemnity, though she looked slightly disappointed.

Jeez, she was hard to please.

Shikamaru was glad that he was finally 'acting more like himself', but acknowledged that if he was going to extract any information out of his 'teammate', he would have to ask a few questions that the person she thought he was wouldn't have. The trick was to do it such that the interrogation sounded reasonably in character, like a conserved Hokage making a few polite and formal inquiries necessary in a social interaction. With a few mouthfuls of hot ramen inside him at last, Shikamaru found it much easier to formulate an appropriate strategy.

"I hope you're well?" he said, trying to sound distant and slightly disinterested.

"Oh—yes, I suppose I am…" The girl hastened to swallow properly before continuing. "Recent missions have been acceptably successful. In fact, there hasn't been a true failure since…since that mission…" She winced visibly.

Shikamaru knew it was awfully unkind of him to press on, but he needed to make progress. "The mission affected you much?"

The girl looked at him with mild surprise that disappeared a moment later, leaving a trace of bitterness. "I don't mean any disrespect, Hokage-sama, but you weren't there when it happened." She paused, evidently unsure about going on. "If you had been there, it probably wouldn't have happened, Hokage-sama," she whispered.

"I…I assumed the personnel dispatched would suffice. You were among then, after all," he carefully threw in a compliment.

The hostility never left her face, though. "I've always wondered why," she admitted. "Sarutobi-sensei assumed something like that too, remember? That we were good enough to be on the same team as you, me and her. But we weren't enough." Her stiffness melted into sadness. "We were always miles behind you even as Genin, and didn't stand a chance against the Sound Four…"

Shikamaru's mind raced. 'His' Genin team had had the Sandaime as the Jounin instructor, he analyzed. There was one more member of the team, other than he and this girl. Another girl. And both females had been involved in the Sasuke Revival Mission. "It was a bit of a miscalculation on my part," he allowed his voice to soften, letting it sound the tiniest bit comforting. "And we're still a good team, even if Sarutobi-sensei…"

Her displeasure returned with a vengeance. "Yes, we were," she almost spat.

Slightly alarmed, Shikamaru decided that he needed to step down the 'cold Hokage' act. He didn't know how many friends he hand and he certainly didn't want any enemies. "We still are," he said soothingly. "We still work as a team."

His change in tone appeared to have taken effect; her gaze, as if flickered onto his face, held no anger. "I will always be willing to cooperate with you in battle, Shikamaru-sama." In the place of trepidation, there was now a certain hollowness, drawn out and miserable. "But don't you think…I mean, I know you don't' spend much time with anyone outside work anymore, but don't you think that it hasn't been quite the same since…since Ino died?"

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Author's note: Look, sorry about the infrequent updates, but I'm up to my neck in work right now because there are some very important public exams coming up and for those of you who live in the US, these exams are equivalent to your SATs. And at least six other subject tests. So yeah. Busy. And the bad news is, this is going to keep up till May, so please don't expect anything soon.

Again, sorry. I really can't help it.