"Which way is back to where we started?" asked Shikamaru. Neji didn't answer.
He took off like a shot. Shikamaru had known Neji was fast but this was absolutely ridiculous. He'd known that Neji was holding back, just not this much. It took him awhile to catch up to Neji, but soon he was matching his speed. Shikamaru felt Neji sent out another chakra burst. Diamond was once again by Neji's side.
When Neji saw Shikamaru's cloak come into view he stopped a few feet from it. Shikamaru stopped at Neji side, gasping for breath, hands on his knees. Neji walked forward and grabbed Shikamaru's cloak than turned around and handed it to him. " Why are you so tired?" asked Neji. " Because, I don't have the endurance for this." said Shikamaru. As he finally got his breath back. Shikamaru straightened up and accepted his cloak from Neji. He wrapped his outer cloak around his shoulders and redid the clasp.
" You said you have a katana." said Neji. Shikamaru's hands formed the hand sign to release the henge.
Neji realized that Shikamaru had worn two individual henge. When Neji looked down, he saw the hilt of the sword. " So what does it look like?" asked Neji. Shikamaru unclasped both his cloaks and let them fall to the ground. They pooled in a heap. When the extra cloth fell away, Neji's jaw dropped.
He saw Shikamaru had on a dark, mud brown cloak with no clasps . Shikamaru had a dark blue belt strapped around his waist. Hanging from the belt was a dark green sheath. Shikamaru pull his katana from the sheath. The blade of the katana was silver. Engraved on the hilt, was a lilac crow with a black shuriken around it's neck. " So now that you've seen it, want to help me train?" asked Shikamaru.
" Sure." said Neji. Shikamaru re sheathed his katana. He turned around and picked up his inner cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders. Starting with the navy blue one, he than began to redo the many clasps with quick, nimble fingers. Neji noticed the rest of the clasps on his inner cloak were black. Shikamaru than turned around and picked up his outer cloak. He turned back around and threw it around his shoulders re clasping the clasp.
When he was done, he faced Neji. Neji took off. This time, slower. Shikamaru by his side and Diamond about three paces behind him. Slowly, Neji increased his pace til he was going his normal speed. Shikamaru found it easier this time to keep up with Neji. Shikamaru was surprised, when Neji ran up a tree and started jumping branch to branch. Shikamaru caught up to him easy. Shikamaru's eyebrows rose when he sensed Diamond coming up closer to them at a break neck speed. When Diamond finally passed him, he landed right in front of Neji. He jumped down from the tree. Neji dropped off the branch face first. He landed on Diamond astride. Arms wrapped around his neck and his face buried in his fur. Shikamaru not two seconds later, had jumped the branch and hit the ground, landing in a crouch. Shikamaru slowly gained on them til he was on Diamond's right. He kept up.
After two hours, they finally stopped running. Neji unwrapped his arms from around Diamond's neck and sat straight up. He rested his hands on Diamond's back and swung his leg over. Shikamaru walked over to a tree trunk and sat down. Neji followed suit and instead of sitting next to Shikamaru, he fell backwards. Shikamaru's hands shot out to slam into Neji's shoulder blades. Neji not expecting it, was jarred. Shikamaru waited a few seconds and moved his arms to either side of Neji. He fell back into Shikamaru's chest. Shikamaru's arms wrapped around him like a snake. " Go on Diamond." said Neji. Diamond disappeared. " Where did he go?" asked Shikamaru. " To a tree outside my window in the Hyuuga compound." said Neji.
" Wouldn't they see him in the tree?" asked Shikamaru. " No they wouldn't." said Neji. " Why?" asked Shikamaru. "Because of his collar, they won't see any chakra." said Neji. " So what's in the tree?" asked Shikamaru " A water dish." said Neji. They both soon fell asleep. An hour later, Shikamaru woke up.