I am so happy that a lot of you reviewed my last chapter, and to answer some questions:

mysti13: seems you really are worried about Shika huh xD well you'll see what happens in this chapter.

Gaarasgirl23: Yeah i know you told me he was OOC and I just laughed when you said this because you really aren't giving Shika enough credit woman xD

Thanks everyone who has stuck with this story, it means a lot, now on with what happens with Shikamaru!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Rated M for Language

Chapter 15: "The Counter-plan"

Sunnora grinned as she leaped forward onto the tree limb and took out the weapon from between her teeth, she laughed as the boy shook slightly from the wobble of the added weight and turned around with surprise in his eyes, she gave him no time to speak as her arm came forward with such speed and agility that even the most trained of humans could never block it. The anticipation was killing her but she squirmed with delight as she felt the edge come in contact with the skin on his neck.

Everything was silent for a few seconds until the lifeless body fell from the tree with a thud as it hit the ground a few feet below them, apples fell from the boy's arms and Sunnora quickly grabbed one in midair and sunk her teeth into it with satisfaction and a genuine smile plastered her face as she ate.

'Well that was fun'

Jumping down gracefully from the tree Sunnora threw the core away and rushed to the body in seek of the blood she would hide her scent under, she knew if she drank enough of it, she could hide her scent completely making it utterly untraceable.

Just as she was about to dip her hand into the deep slash on the boy's neck she was surrounded in smoke that would make it impossible to see if it wasn't for her demonic eyes, seeing a slight movement on the corner of her eye she lunged forward in the darkness she was surrounded in, and abruptly froze about arms length away from a pair of slightly shocked eyes which quickly narrowed. Light blue irises met brown; she recognized those eyes and tried to break the boy's neck but quickly noticed she wasn't in control anymore, some foreign object was freezing her body, limiting her completely in movement.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu: Success" the boy spoke in a whisper with a slight smirk on his face, Sunnora hated that smirk, it was the first time she had seen it on the boy. "You're quite fast aren't you Sunnora?"

Sunnora was furious, she was sure she had killed the boy; he couldn't have possibly survived that slash on the neck. With a frown on her lips she spoke.

"How are you not dead you brat? Your body-", Sunnora saw from her peripheral vision that the body had turned into a tree log.

"You tricked me?" Sunnora growled those words out through gritted teeth; she hated having to admit that the boy had gotten the upper hand. Being embarrassed like this wasn't something Sunnora came upon often.

"I do have to tell you one thing though, it wasn't an easy thing to watch your own neck being pierced like that, you really are savage" Shikamaru outstretched his right arm out and opened his hand with his palm facing downward which resulted in Sunnora copying his exact movement, the sharpened tree bark she had been holding onto fell onto the ground with little sound.

Sunnora smirked at the boy and realized his true intentions, "I see you dropped your act, I guess you're not as stupid as you led me to believe"

The boy's facial expression didn't falter in the slightest, he glared with determination and Sunnora figured he was much wiser than she gave him credit for.

"I could say the same, but I have to admit, it wouldn't take a genius to see who you were trying to hide, your acting skills were quite poor".

Sunnora chuckled tauntingly, and sighed.

"So what gave me away apart from my 'poor acting skills'?", Shikamaru frowned at the girl's direction of conversation, 'is she trying to stall?'

Shikamaru kept his silence but counted the many mistakes she had made the entire time while trying to fool him into believing she was a damsel in distress, it could have been the clothes and mask, the lack of headband to explain her speed, the fact that she had told him she was heading his direction when she was obviously going the opposite way before they knocked into each other, the way she kept changing the limping from one leg to another the whole time they were traveling, or the big one that she said she was visiting her uncle up north when no one lived there within walking distance.

They were so close that most of the boy's line of sight was taken up by the girl's face, they were the same height, he hated being so close to this killer but his jutsu was being extremely limited, there were barely any shadows in the darkness, the moonlight was so hidden he had to make sure he watched his surroundings closely, one wrong move and his jutsu would be broken allowing her the chance to either escape with her speed or kill him off in another form. Analyzing was his best quality as a ninja but he didn't know much about this girl, he was threading on a thin line and he knew it.

"So what? You're not speaking to me now?" she was mocking him and he knew it, almost as if she could read his thoughts.

"I need to ask you one thing"

"Do your annoying questions ever seize?"

Shikamaru's line of sight dropped from her eyes to the middle of her body, "you asked me what gave you away, well it's that pendant you're wearing, it's the first thing I noticed the second I saw you before I collided into you, I knew I had to keep a close eye on you, that symbol means danger".

Sunnora didn't understand how this boy knew so much about the family crest, it was close to being completely unknown in this world as opposed to how it was in her realm. 'So how does this brat recognize it in the first place? There's a lot he's not telling me, I can see it in his eyes'

"Yeah? So where's the question?"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I really don't have to answer any of your annoying questions anymore you know, the act is up so I don't have to feign to give a shit" Sunnora smirked with an evil grin at the boy, "and just so you know, I've been letting you hold me with your strange ability this whole time, any second I wish to I can break free, I was trying to save my energy for something else but I wouldn't mind using it to kill you this instant".

Shikamaru couldn't tell if the girl was bluffing but he didn't want to underestimate his opponent, this wasn't a game of shogi, the pieces couldn't be moved back once they were moved so he knew he had to be careful.

The silence between them was broken when the girl spoke once more, "I'll consider answering your question if you tell me how you know so much about this crest"

Shikamaru was slightly glad Sunnora had opened up the floor again to start up a conversation; he knew his team was probably searching for him so all he had to do was buy enough time for them to find him and take her back to Konoha for an interrogation.

"I know because I have dealt with someone like you before"

Sunnora scoffed at his ignorant remark, 'this stupid fucker doesn't even know me and he thinks he has me down to the letter…idiot, I'll show him just how much he actually knows when I-'

"Your pendant…I've seen it once before, it was worn by someone you're probably associated with, or I mean, someone you were once associated with"

"I really doubt that kid, you see, I'm not from around here"

"Neither was he"

'Why is this kid being so aloof with his responses?' Sunnora knew she had to get out of here as soon as possible, that dog and those annoying humans would be here at any moment and she would be in a huge mess if that were to happen while being under restraint "You know, my patience is wearing thin, and I'm not very patient to begin with so you're out of luck".

"Well it just so happens that I'm the complete opposite so I could stay here all night, the sun will be coming out in a few hours and by then I could walk you back to my village with you in tow".

Sunnora's eyes widened as she felt something stab her chest from her spine forward, 'Oh how redundant, does everyone here stab you in the back?' she rolled her eyes and saw the boy's expression change slightly.

"I just pierced you with my shadow sewing technique, my shadow just pierced you where your heart is, you should have been dead but you seem just fine, seems I was right".

Sunnora chuckled and gave the boy a menacing glance, 'my what? Well it doesn't really matter, I shouldn't have to put up with these kid games any longer' she started to struggle with the small shadow keeping her still, with enough force and energy she knew she could break free, too bad she wouldn't be able to track down her katana just yet, it would have to wait a little bit later. She looked up at the boy and noticed he wasn't as composed as he was just a few seconds ago; he was now struggling just like she was to keep her under the ability. 'Just a little more' with the more she struggled the more demon energy she had to pour in.

"Seems that you and your associate have more in common than just both sharing that same pendant, you both try to fight me off with pure brute strength", Shikamaru spoke through gritted teeth.

'Why does this kid keep bringing that shit up? I don't even know anyone here'

"Shut your fucking mouth boy, you don't know anything about me so why don't you just release me from this weird shit and let me kill you, it's inevitable you know? So why fight it?"

Shikamaru glared at her and knew his only salvation now would be for reinforcements to come soon. Shikamaru felt himself struggle to his maximum; he saw the clear blue eyes turn a menacing blood red and he knew she would be able to break free from his jutsu any second now.

With a blood curdling scream Sunnora broke free from his hold and pounced on top the boy with an iron locked grip around his neck. Shikamaru tried to pry the grip off but found his strength dwindling with each second as his neck was being crushed.

"You thought you were so smart huh? You thought you had me all figured out huh? You even thought you had me beat when you tricked me with the log swap but you never had a chance of beating me, not for a second, so now you're going to die right here to prove that you're helpless".

Desperation and irritation mixed together when Sunnora heard the muffled voices heading in their direction, 'it must be those meddling bastards and that dog, but I can't leave yet, I have to kill him off first'.

Her grip tightened even more as Shikamaru lost consciousness, just as she was about to finish him off for good a slight pinch resonated from her shoulder blade knocking her back off of Shikamaru.

"What the fuck was that?"

Sunnora looked at her shoulder and noticed a shuriken sticking out of her shoulder, looking up she saw the familiar faces of the stupid book obsessed man, the annoying blonde loudmouth, the nagging pink haired girl and the pale boy with a stupid look on his face.

The silver haired man looked up from her face and to the left of Sunnora and spoke, "Neji do it now".

'Neji? What?'

Sunnora turned her face slightly but only caught a glimpse of the boy as he stood a foot behind her.

"Gentle Fist, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms", without the slightest of hesitation in his voice the boy came forward with such speed it rivaled even hers. The blows came forth with precision as she was knocked backwards every time the boy's fist made contact with her body.

"Four palms", she tried to dodge most blows but it was impossible, her vision was getting blurry and it was almost unreal how precise the boy's movements were. She knew he was speaking with a clear tone but to her his voice was being muffled.

"Sixty Four Palms", Sunnora was knocked into the air and with agility the boy went after her not once missing a step. The force and accuracy of his blows would have ripped anyone else apart, probably crippling them for life, for once Sunnora was glad for her demon blood. The torture was over when she noticed the stinging had stopped and she lay motionless on the ground, her eyes were halfway open and she noticed the boy step aside from her and walk back to the group.

"Good job Neji, she won't be able to move for a while, we can carry her back to the village with ease now, Sakura go check on Shikamaru make sure he's okay then we will head back to Konoha", the silver haired man saw the pink haired girl turn around but not before placing a hand on her shoulder making her glance his way once more.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi grinned and sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "um well, while you go check on Shikamaru there isn't much for the rest of us to do so can you-"

Sakura got the hint as she reached into her bag and pulled out a little red book, the smile on the man's face really couldn't have gotten any bigger.

Sakura smiled back and headed in the direction of Tenten, Lee, and Gai where they were huddled around an unconscious Shikamaru.

Sunnora frowned at herself for being this careless, how could a group of stupid kids and two idiotic adult HUMANS get the best of her? She was being made a fool here and if anyone else from her realm saw her like this it would bring her great shame. Knowing there would be great consequences for doing this she figured she didn't have much of an option, it was either getting hauled back like an animal to these human's village, or escaping and dealing with what was to come later on.

Still in her demon form she started the ritual for one of her five demon chants, she figured this one would be great for escaping, it was imperative for those only to be used when a sacrifice was being offered but right now she hadn't set up the proper way of offering these souls as sacrifices, if she killed them off like this they would just die, nothing tricky about it, their souls wouldn't go to her realm and her father had always urged her against it, but she didn't have time or enough energy to set up a sacrificial chant.

Her demonic red eyes turned completely black, and a heavy aura surrounded the area as she started to recite.

"Everyone get back!" Neji shouted the order and sure enough the group watched as they were surrounded in black fog 'I don't understand how she was able to speak, let alone use chakra skills, I should have stopped all circulation'.

Sunnora stood up and grabbed her pendant tossing in into the air and watching it levitate, the once silver piece was now blood red and spinning at such speed that it could shred through anything it touched.

It was completely silent, the only noise being the quiet breaths of the observing ninja and Sunnora's chanting.

"Blood Bath"

With the preparations complete Sunnora watched as the sky turned black and the fog got thicker, she knew it would be impossible for them to escape with their life in this fog, unless of course they could see through it, and unless they had demon eyes it would be futile. The radius of the demon chant only covered about a mile but they didn't know that. Knowing that things were finally going her way Sunnora grabbed the spinning pendant and winced as it cut into her hand deeply but she ignored the pain and placed it back on its silver bindings.

She knew the second part of the ritual was about to start so she had to hurry and get out of the fog, she saw the eyes of the humans watching her and grinned at them one last time before dashing off completely out of sight.

I will make a deal with you guys, I will try to update once every two weeks, with each review I get one day will be cut from the two weeks, so I just hope I don't get 14 reviews the first day or I'll be in trouble lol

Reviews are welcomed (:

I might add some Sunnora/Hidan for the next chapter!