Shikamaru's POV
I watched her take off towards the trees, slightly slower than before due to her injury. I knew I was blushing like crazy; damn girl. She caught me by surprise, kissing me like that when I should be the one thanking her. She did save my life after all.
I caught up to her and we remained silent as we hurried after the others. We had to go a little slower due to not wanting to reopen her wound, but it was still faster than my normal speed. She moved like lightning, as quick as a flame. No wonder she had red hair.
It didn't take too long, since the others were waiting a little ways away. "You okay Cas?" the blonde girl, whose name I had forgotten, asked Cassandra.
"I'm fine." Cassandra replied, sounding bored and irritated as she talked to her. "Let's head back to the village before anything else happens."
Cassandra's POV
"Shikamaru! Choji! You're back!" a girl with long whitish blonde hair cried out as soon as we walked through the gate.
"Kiba! Shino!" another girl with short purple hair called out after her. The two girls ran up to the group of boys, slowly followed by two joinin.
"Do you miss it?" Miyuki asked me as she walked up to me. We watched a little ways back as the two groups combined into one, a friendly welcome for the boys. "Being on a team like that."
"I miss it every day, more than you could ever imagine," I replied with a sigh. It still hurt a little, even after a year, watching teams like theirs.
"We better go report to lady Tsunade," Miyuki told me as she looked at the Hokage building, any sense of emotion from her voice gone.
"Why don't you go ahead? I should probably go to the hospital and get this wound checked out," I answered with a smirk. I knew she didn't like Lady Tsunade very much, but she couldn't argue with me. Plus, I wanted to speak to Lady Tsunade privately. She didn't say anything else, but disappeared into her leaf tornado and was gone. "Thank god," I whispered to myself as soon as she was out of sight.
I looked back at the guys with a small smile. They were good people to work with. They deserved the warm welcome they were getting. I turned away, beginning to leave when I was called back.
"Cassandra!" a man's voice called. I turned, seeing the man, whose name I think is Asuma Sensei, walking up to me. "I didn't know you were back in the village."
I gave him a warm smile to avoid saying his name since I wasn't sure I had it right. "Hello. I've been back for a few months," I replied.
"Hope your mission didn't take too much out of you. You should join us; we're all going to eat and celebrate the successful mission," he said. I could see Shikamaru and the others watching the conversation in silence. I knew they could feel the tension; they could tell something wasn't right. It was just a little… awkward. I had to think of some way to get out of this.
"I'll have to pass this time. I should go get this injury checked out and then report to Lady Tsunade," I paused. "But thank you."
Asuma nodded, understanding. I appreciated that he didn't question me more. I raised my hands up and closed my eyes, bursting into flames and disappearing.
It's for the best, I kept telling myself. Maybe one day I'll believe it.
Shikamaru's POV
"Who's that girl? I've never seen her before," Ino asked as soon as Cassandra disappeared.
"She saved my life," I said with a sigh. I was hoping she would say yes to join us so I could spend more time with her. "I'm the reason she got hurt."
"That doesn't surprise me. Sounds like something Cassandra would do," Asuma told us.
"She's faced a lot of hardships," Kurenai mentioned with a sad sigh. "Such a strong girl."
"What happened to her?" Kiba questioned, not afraid to ask what everyone had been thinking.
"Her team graduated from the academy a year early, two years before you all. They were a team that held a lot of promise, all becoming chunin not even a year after they graduated," Kurenai began. "About a year ago, they were on a special mission that went disastrous. No one knows much about it since it's now classified as unspeakable. All I know is they were ambushed and she was the only one to make it back."
"That's so sad," Hinata whispered, sounding like she was about to cry.
"I remember that. The whole village had a funeral." Shino said. I don't know why, but I couldn't remember it. I hoped I hadn't slept through it.
"Shortly after she was selected for an ANBU expedition that went on for about nine months," Asuma continued the story. "Everyone figured she'd join the ANBU, but she declined the offer. Now she's a jounin does whatever Tsunade needs her to. Probably waiting until she decides to take a team of her own."
"If she does," Kurenai added. "You can tell she's scared to get close to anyone. She's too afraid of losing anyone else."
We all went silent for a few seconds until Asuma brightened the mood and we all went down to go eat. I couldn't get her out of my thoughts though. What a rough time. I looked at my team, knowing how miserable I would be if any of them were to be killed. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to lose them all at once.