I could say I'm sorry for the wait, but the thing is; I have a life. A life that sucks sometimes. My grandma died, and my best friend is in the hospital. On top of that, school is killing me. My research project on Japanese history is interesting, but it eats my time.

Anyway, I would like you to know that I am still here, still intend on finishing this story (as a matter of fact, I already wrote out the last few chapters). To give a small estimation; we're not even halfway there. Maybe a quarter… Doesn't that make you glad? *sarcasm*

-II-

Chapter 7: Teamwork?

Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

-II-

The giant spider was gone, and so were the golems. If Shikamaru had been an optimistic person, he would have sighed and told himself that the hardest part was over. However, he was not an optimistic person, as much as a realist. And with two people transforming into something inhuman right before his eyes, who could blame him?

Kidoumaru sported a third eye, and his hair and skin color had changed. Tayuya had 'merely' grown horns on the top of her head and her complexion had changed to an unnatural tint, but the gleam in her eyes told Shikamaru that she didn't need such a thing as extra limps or senses to kill them. The two of them continued to stare for a few seconds, and then-

His back hit the ground. Or rather someone pushed him to the ground just seconds before.

Looking up from his laying position, he saw Temari hovering over him with a very unpleasant expression in her eyes.

…And something made out of gold flew above them, missing them just barely. He cursed and dispelled the genjutsu. How had he been fooled that easily? They had obviously used his shock to cast an illusion and shoot that thing at him, and if Temari hadn't saved him just a second ago…

"Be careful. I don't know if I can beat them on my own." She whispered before jumping out of his view. He followed her into the trees, still frustrated at his mistake. However, he wasn't allowed any more thought on the subject as the golden projectiles kept coming their way. He landed on a branch, but had to jump again and again as the projectiles kept coming his way. He tried to locate Tayuya and Kidoumaru, but even though there were enough projectiles to trace, they seemed to come from a completely different angle time after time. He figured the girl was using genjutsu in order to mislead them, but no matter how many times he dispelled a genjutsu, there was always another one underneath.

Talking about teamwork.

When he barely avoided a hit for the third time, his opponent started to become cocky. "What are you struggling for? The game is already finished!" His voice lingered bit longer in the forest then necessary, but Shikamaru was already on his feet again, casting another quick genjutsu of his own while closing his eyes and following the sound of the cocky ninja's mistake.

'20 meters, 8 o'clock'

With that thought, he lunged forward and stood in front of his now located opponents in a second. They didn't seem to notice him until his leg hit the back of Kidoumaru's head with a thwock!.

However, as soon as his foot connected to the man's skull, he knew something was off. He had kicked a lot his life, so he knew how the impact felt. He knew the sound of breaking bones and shredding muscles. He hadn't felt or heard any of this.

But he'd most certainly felt something.

When he looked up from the tree on which he had landed, he found out that he was right. A golden armor protected the man's face against his assault. It was the same material as the daggers that had been shot at him previously, he noted. Before he could analyze the strange substance more, he felt another genjutsu being cast at him, and two more daggers being shot at him. Just before the genjutsu claimed the reliability of his vision, he saw that the substance came from Kidoumaru's hands, and out of his mouth. And while he dodged another set of projectiles, he concluded that the man most likely could use the 'golden armor' with every part of his body.

He had no choice but to dispel genjutsu after genjutsu, and dodge more golden weapons. It was really troublesome, he'd rather even have that they would change their strategy and he would have to figure it out again, than the prospect of dodging daggers for the next few hours. Really, he preferred to use an opponent jutsus against them, that way it cost him the least effort, but really it was kind of hard with those two. Unless…

He smirked, and followed his ears once again, letting his ears guide him through the forest. It didn't took him long to find what he was looking for. He found his victim and caught the projectile that was sent his way, clamping it between his fingers.

With a steady arm, he raised his new weapon at the enemies, hoping the timing was right.

Ah!

And it was. They split up to avoid being hit, and stopped attacking for a split second. Just enough for him to hit the woman full on the knees, right against a pressure point. That knee would be a weak point from now one, sinve he knew that hurt. He had the pressure points memorized in his muscles, and although it was really handy in times like these when all he could really do was genjutsu, the way he had gained it was anything but pleasant.

He twisted in the air and swung his fist at the girl to hit another pressure point. However, his fist was skillfully caught. She was tough, no doubt about that. Shikamaru stood tensely with tingling muscles.

Swish!

A narrow miss, avoided only by a nimble leap to the side. Another trio of punches forced him to roll backwards, the fist coming close enough to touch his skin.

"Not bad for a girl, ne?" She added mockingly to her bloody punches.

Before this strange transformation, Tayuya might have been very vulnerable in close-combat, due to the fact that her only weapon was that flute of hers. However, the strong punch that connected to his stomach and send him flying taught him that she was quite powerful in this state. He hit the tree with a thud and wasted a second in order to recover and let his eyes wander through the forest.

He was able to share a quick look with Temari, and then threw a challenging one at Tayuya. Pride was to be exploited, and taunting her into breaking their formation was essential. They were both trained to be individual fighters, so both he and Temari had an advantage in one-on-one battles.

Their teamwork was way off, and he noted that they had to work on it in the near future. But all in due time of course, for avoiding dying had a higher priority at the moment. Singling out the woman and golems was part of that plan.

Said woman apparently thought it was very amusing that he decided to fight her on her own, and put her flute back to her lips, and started playing a more complicated melody than the last time. He watched her intently as he hid himself in a tree, momentary safe for whatever she was going to throw at him now. When she bit her lip and let the blood drip on the branch, Shikamaru didn't need to hear the jutsu to know that familiar seals were now appearing on the branch.

When the smoke from the summoning jutsu cleared, a golem stood tall, his eyes screwed shut but a dark blade strapped on his back.

Shikamaru's eyes widened; that was not only her ugliest creation so far, but probably also the strongest looking. With muscles that seemed inhuman and a total appearance of at least 6 meters, the golem was a lot bigger and a lot more dangerous than the other three combined.

"You might as well give up, shithead." Its summoner cockily said, moving to a higher place. "This melody is new, especially designed for the Konoha scum that killed our teammates. My Doki has yet to be beaten."

Shikamaru opted not to answer that taunt, but instead avoid the first hit.

The giant Doki swung one of its enormous fists at him, and considering their size, it was a lot harder to dodge. And on top of that, it was also pretty fast.

He had to use chakra in order to keep up with the Doki, who threw punch after punch after punch, often destroying a tree in the process. Though there was no attack pattern, it almost seemed to see what he was going to do while its eyes were screwed shut. It took a lot of energy to keep up, and he felt his movements slowing down with every punch he had to evade.

One hit would be fatal, and Shikamaru had too many plans in life to die prematurely because of a stinky golem.

Tayuya's insane laugh echoed through the forest, and Shikamaru braced himself.

He jumped to the left to avoid a hit, and hit a tree with a sharp thud. It hurt like a bitch, but he got up in less than a second and had to move away from his resting place, because the Doki came at him again. He landed on another three branch, just above the giant, and prepared to dive down.

However, he was swept of his feet as the entire tree started to shake, and he was unable to balance himself enough to jump. Before he could even think about summoning the chakra to stick himself to the three, the giant used his second of imbalance to hit his legs with a branch he had ripped from a tree at some point in time.

Shikamaru could avoid breaking his bones, but he fell never the less all the way down and hit the ground. His back hurt and his head hurt even more, but he had to get back up. He saw black spots dance in his vision but had to get back up. His breathing was labored and he broke a bone in his hand, but he had to get back up!

He coughed a few times, until he was finally able to breathe again without laboring. He absently noted that he had spit up some blood, and turned on his side so he could spit it out.

Gross, but not uncommon.

Then he got back on his feet and started to jump again, with renewed fervor, wondering if Temari was doing well. He started to dispel genjutsu on instinct, detecting and releasing them before he even registered he had done it, and he kept to the plan.

When the giant lunged at him from the right again, Shikamaru saw his chance. He raced forward, taking a very needed risk. As he expected, the Doki moved to the left but lifted its right arm in an attempt to hit him. Knowing that, he jumped on top of the fist and slammed it to the ground with a strong kick. The giant threw its other fist at him, but Shikamaru was way ahead of him and jumped up just in time to avoid a hit. This did not mean that the Doki missed. Au contraire; he hit a bull's-eye.

Or rather, his own eye with a deafening crunch, fracturing his own skull.

Tayuya gaped at him, as she calmed the giant, who confirmed being brainless by still being alive after a hit like that.

"There is no way you figured out the pattern of my melody!" She cried, as he picked up another one of Kidoumaru's projectiles and threw them at her giant Doki. It couldn't avoid it this time as well, and it took a full hit in its upper leg this time. Tayuya was furious. "Impossible! You knew how he would move! How did you do it?"

He smirked, though she wouldn't be able to see it behind his mask. "I didn't bother listening at the music pattern, too hard. There's always an easy solution." He said, and appeared behind the Doki before she could do anything to stop him. "It's your fingers."

"That's impossible!" She cried out while he kicked the Doki's head hard enough to cause a heavy concussion.

He landed just out of reach of the Doki's fist and locked his eyes with hers. "Your right pointer finger and ring finger, and your left pinky. That's what you wanted to do next right?"

She blinked slightly, confused. Then she growled in anger. "How… How did you know? I haven't even used that one yet."

"No, you haven't, but your movements tell me that you have been hesitating to use it for a while. And what is left but the sword on his back?" He replied, getting away from the Doki, it was still extremely dangerous, even if one of its fists was incapacitated.

He was right, and though the melody suddenly sounded like it carried a lot of anger, when she brought the flute back to her lips, she moved her fingers in the exact same movement as he had predicted. The Doki took the blade from its shed and swung it at him.

He was prepared and dodged it with ease, and rather kept his eyes on the woman who controlled the fighting golem then the Doki itself. He had been watching the movements of her hand since the start of the battle, watching and memorizing her movements since the very start. It was only a matter of time now…

He kept his eyes on her for a little while longer, and then smirked. 'Game over!' He jumped and with a chakra enforced kick he hit the giant Doki's blade in the middle of its swing, knocking it out of its path. He made a back flip right after landing in order to avoid the following attack, but changed direction mid-air, never letting his eyes leave the his golden objective. He landed, picked it up and threw it back at her with some chakra.

The distance between them was too short to avoid a hit, and Shikamaru knew she had very few options. She reacted as he expected and shielded herself from the attack.

A crack of metal sounded the end of a worthy weapon, and the pieces hit the floor after it had broken in two. Tayuya looked like her heart had broken in two as well, and started a string of heartbroken curses.

Then, just when Shikamaru thought he had turned the tides in his favor, they turned again as he was thrown harshly into a tree.

-II-

Sasuke was a passionate person, even if you hardly were able to detect any emotion on his face. Well, passionate…. Devoted. Determined. Before 'that night', he had tried everything to get the approval of his family. After 'that night' he did even more than physically possible to avenge that same family. However, three years ago, he had given up on that goal after being returned to Konoha.

He had felt empty and downright horrible for months, refusing to even talk. He went on missions dutifully with his team, but he didn't talk nor did his moves contain the same spirit they had held before. Without a goal in his life, without something to devote himself to, he had felt nothing short of dead.

It wasn't until he had met death again that he started to live again. It's like they say; it's not before you have experienced the horror and the terror, before you can appreciate the beauty and variety of life. It had been a simple mission, not far away from the borders with Suna, when they suddenly ran into a missing nin. And not just missing nin, but a members of Akatsuki. A man, if one would really call it a one, looked more like a plant, and it was obvious that they had encountered them by chance.

That didn't keep the man from almost killing his teammates. It was then, when no thoughts of revenge clouded his mind, that he noticed that the plant was aiming quite specifically. The man, later identified as Zetsu, was only trying to kill him, Sakura and Kakashi. Sasuke's bleeding eyes could easily detect that the man could have made a couple of lethal blows on Naruto, thirteen at the time, but didn't. It almost seemed like he was trying to….

Capture him. And that just made no sense whatsoever.

And after that, he just started to notice his teammate more. The fire in those eyes that made them light up and burn to an impossible red. The chakra that corresponded with his own forbidden one, and made Kakashi nervous.

After a horrible battle that had wounded all of them pretty badly, the man had fled and they had camped at the exact place while Sakura healed them one by one. The fact that Naruto's wounds healed on their own suddenly became something awfully suspicious, and he didn't really have any restrain left to keep him from confronting his teammate.

Sasuke-style of course. No need to explain that a lot of fists were involved.

Their fight ended in a confession. That night, he listened in awe as his teammate choked up his greatest secrets, reliving his painful past, showing a side of the blonde neither he nor Sakura had really seen before.

That night, he also promised Naruto that he would also protect him against everything. Against Akatsuki, the elders or even himself if he needed to.

It made no sense; the promise was immature, insane and too easy to break. He would probably break it tomorrow by hitting the blonde, but at the moment it seemed right. There had been injustice, and Sasuke had found out that the only way to set things right again was by bloody retribution.

It had been a turning point in his life, in all of their lives.

One shared glance with Sakura solved more than a year of unspoken tension after his defect. It wasn't something that could be set right by talking, but it didn't matter. For they both knew that that maybe, maybe if they had a clear path in life to follow, that there might be some light at the end of it.

Sakura had smiled that deranged, twisted smile of hers as if to say; all is forgiven, and all is fixed.

That was probably the moment they started their decent into the abyss of insanity in search for the light, but at the time it seemed like three innocent thirteen-year-olds with too many false promises and broken dreams, acting their age.

Naruto hadn't accepted their offer, of course; saying that the future hokage could fight his own battle. Deep down, the seed of doubt was already planted in his head.

It was far from perfect; three thirds of them were still missing orphans and Sakura's family was slowly but surely estranged from the girl with a foolish dream turned reality.

Needless to say, they grew closer after that, more close than he could have ever imagined them to be and he never found a day in which he regretted that promise, 'a promise of a life time'. And even if it was originally made for the wrong intentions, three years later Sasuke could proudly say that his goal in life was to protect his family, or die trying.

Which was exactly why he was doubting right now. They were chasing the Akatsuki still, but the two members were preparing another split up. They had already left the Anbu and the Suna girl behind, but would soon be forced to split up once more.

And Sasuke, having bad experiences with split ups, decided that he really, really didn't like it.

"Guys it's now or never." Sakura yelled harshly to her followers. "I'm taking that red-head on. I hate his holier-than-thou attitude." She added with her trademark grin that made you wonder just how much she enjoyed her job.

"I'm taking the bomber! Blondes have more fun, you know. Gotta stick together for some action, the chasing is too boooring!" Naruto whined half-heartedly.

How was he supposed to choose? He shot a few glances at both his teammates, deciding to go with both of time and changing his mind many times. Sakura was more vulnerable, and Naruto was … more Naruto. It was a though choice.

"I don't give a rat's ass, I'm just going to follow my brother." Kankurou yelled at them, angy and appalled for a reason that Sasuke could not understand. They were helping him, right?

While he continued to brood, Kakashi detected his state of mind and gave him a gentle push in the right direction, leading the other group after the other Akatsuki member.

Sasuke glared at the man, not grateful for his help, but following the other Akatsuki member none the less . They shared a look: This was going to be the battle they had been hoping for. He could feel his adrenaline skyrocketing and he welcomed the feeling;

Nothing like the healthy thrill of oncoming bloodshed.

Ironically, the fight didn't occur at dawn, but while the sun disappeared into the horizon. The dying sunlight made Naruto's blonde hair turn a brilliant shade or red, reminding him of another shade of red that his teammate sometimes possessed.

Sasuke had caught up with the blonde idiot, which he secretly liked to call his friend when Naruto wasn't nearby, and raced with him after the other blonde idiot. Did really nobody else see the link?

If he would have been asked to name their location, he would say they were in a forest. Somewhere in a forest, in somewhere in country. Could be anywhere, really. He hadn't really been paying attention to his surroundings, but was sure that he would be able to trace back their steps later when they had taken care of the man.

After running for a while, the man suddenly halted and turned around. His blonde hair and almost childish smile contrasted the deadly reputation of his uniform. The Akatsuki cloak remembered him of what he had lost, and made him forget his previous theory. All he saw was red, blood red.

At the same time, he felt the familiar rush of chakra and adrenaline through his body and he activated his sharingan out of instinct. He red eyes glowered at Deidara, and he enjoyed the way the man was instantly angered. Apparently his 'beloved' brother wasn't very loved by the man either, to say the least.

"Don't you look at me, Red Eye." the guy said. He was obviously the talking type, uncomfortable with silence. He and Naruto shared a short look of understanding, and he could see Naruto's canines as a wicked smile crossed his face.

Sasuke moved slightly closer to the man, partly to antagonize him even further, but also to size him up. Life is endlessly capable of surprises, which was something he sadly had learned the hard way, so he knew that one day he would come face to face with his physical equal. With somebody who might worry him. The cloak alone most certainly made him have some mild curiosity for the man's skill.

When he was done with his observations he smirked slightly and shifted his gaze momentarily to the side, and saw that Naruto had come to the same conclusion. They shared another glance and he didn't know whether to smile or not.

"Are you deaf?" Deidara yelled at them from the other end of the clearing. "I told you not to do that!"

Sasuke nor Naruto answered, and it seemed that the thrill of fighting had muffled Naruto's anger. Instead, they both kept looking at him without saying a word. Kakashi always told them not to play with their food, but really, he wasn't here now, right?

Besides, ever since Naruto had introduced him into the world of practical jokes, he really couldn't help himself when the opportunity presented itself.

The guy was getting livid, and started to do something with his hands. It didn't look like hand seals. A wicked grin spread on their opponents face only a second before...

BOOM!

Explosions were everywhere, throwing them off balance. Without even realizing what exactly was happening, Sasuke found himself flat on his back, sucking in deep breaths of air that seemed devoid of oxygen, eyes wide open. Sasuke heard the man laugh and he cursed. He reacted just in time to roll away from another bomb.

He was out reach in a second, using his superior speed to get away. The smoke made his lungs burn, but he tuned the feeling out, focusing on his eyesight. From the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto approach the guy and forcing him into fist fight. Naruto had most likely also seen that it was his weak point.

Without further thought he launched himself at the Akatsuki member, not withholding any of his speed. The first kick was a feint, but unnecessary since his speed already provided all the distraction he needed.

Sasuke twisted around him, and Deidera tried to move, but in vain. The fist connected with his unprotected arm. An audible crack, but no shriek of agony or pain. One look at his opponent's face and Sasuke began to move, but it was too late. Deidera smirked cockily and Sasuke's face showed some small signs of discomfort.

Then the small explosive that Deidara had placed on Sasuke clothes ignited. Naruto's cries could barely be heard over the large bang, but Sasuke did not worry.

He knew a victory cry when he heard one. Besides, team 7 didn't do losing.

With that thought in mind Sasuke ignored any ache on his body and jumped back into the fight. Things were gonna get messy, just the way they liked it.

Now only if Sakura was here to enjoy it with them.

-II-

He jumped back up and used his chakra to run up the tree in order to avoid another set of projectiles. This time however, they seemed sharper, thinner but longer, almost like golden arrows. Apparently the woman signaled Kidoumaru that he couldn't interfere unless she gave the signal, and this had to be the signal.

And they kept coming, like a rain of gold, once again coming from various directions. His ears grew hyper sensitive to the 'foosh' sound, not trusting his eyes for a second with a genjutsu specialist around.

He dodged another arrow from the right with a back flip, and used his momentum to follow the sound once again to his opponents. Using his chakra to speed up the progress this time, he aimed a kick for Kidoumaru, who parried it with his bow, which seemed to be made out of gold as well, and forced Shikamaru to back off. He landed only a few meters in front of them, taking a moment to catch his breath. His opponent thought it was quite amusing, apparently.

"Tired already?" She said, moving her hands in seals instead over the flute, and he was pretty sure she hated him a lot for killing her precious instrument, possibly even more than making those hand seals. He almost enjoyed it. "You have to come up with a better strategy if you want to beat us. Did you really think the same thing would work again?"

He saw her eyes widen the second she finished, and he smirked while moving out of the way. Temari had appeared behind them while he had distracted them. She hit the girl hard enough to cause some serious brain damage. Kidoumaru was quick to react, however, and before Shikamaru could prevent it from happening, he was attacking her at full force.

More projectiles then he could count were launched at her and she barely got out of the way in time, only to come face-to-face with the same man who had shot those projectiles at her. Shikamaru could see her try to swing herself out of the way of harm, but the arms of the freak halted caught her before she could movement as the other limbs moved in for the kill…

Or so it seemed. In the blink of an eye, Shikamaru appeared and pulled her out of his grasp.

Or so he thought. The moment his hands failed to connect with his teammate, he knew he had failed to see the genjutsu coming. This one was stronger than the past ones had been, but really, he should've expected it now he had become the subject of her hate. He felt parts of his body heat up and the world around him started to disfigure into something unreal. He didn't know if what he could see was real, but according to the sound of her screams he hoped they weren't real. Then again, that woman wasn't one to scream, even when in pain.

He would know.

It didn't work though, the visions kept coming into his mind. And seeing her getting tortured - because of him and his plan, nonetheless – was more painful than receiving a hit of that giant.

He tried to meditate again, but the screams kept him from wiping his thoughts clean. After all, it sounded like somebody was getting butchered to death with a small knife, slicing her open piece by piece-

'I have to stop thinking up possible scenarios.' He concluded, and gave up on the whole meditating issue. It wouldn't work, he knew that much. It was multiple layered, so he couldn't just stop it with interrupting his chakra flow.

So really, there was only one thing left to do, he thought, and he bit his tongue very hard until it bled. The pain was stinging and he felt the blood pulsing through his veins, but he felt it! He had broken the genjutsu, and apparently the girl hadn't noticed it yet. He pretended to still be in the genjutsu, while the woman was already casting another one, too busy to notice her other one had been broken.

The sound of a bone snapping returns his attention to his opponent, who were still holding Temari and are obviously overpowering her. She might be a formidable Kunoichi, but genjutsu was obviously her weakness.

As he watches the sickening display of breaking bones he considers if breaking the rules is worse than breaking bones. Despite all the years of training, and all the vows he made. He knew how to stop this.

(A hand breaking her finger, bending, cracking it slowly, pulling her out of the genjutsu while the user casts another one.)

Despite everything that ever had been taught to him, everything that was screaming at him not to act what he had on his mind at the moment. Anything but that!

(A scream hushed by pride, damn the woman is strong)

He couldn't help it, though that didn't make him any less happy about the situation.

(Blood oozing out of their wounds and

'I must make decisions based on what is best suited to accomplish the objective, right? How about we bend that rule a little in our favor?' He smirked and brought his hands in the proper seals in a matter of seconds.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu!"

Suddenly, tendrils shot out of Tayuya's shadow and attacked her. Kidoumaru tried to free her, but he found his efforts in vain when the tendrils bound the both them down to the ground. He moved now, and while the last tendrils caught Kidoumaru, and Tayuya looked at him in disbelieve, probably realizing her mistake.

A mistake that would become lethal soon.

Deciding that now he had already blown his cover, he might as well end this as quickly as possible. With that thought he changed his position into a standing one and brought his hands together in one swift movements. There were no hand seals required for this technique, at least, not for him. After all, if you create your own jutsu, than why would you include the handicap of hand seals?

Shadows began to move as he spoke the words: "Kageyose no Jutsu"

The tendrils seemed to come to life and grabbed a struggling Tayuya tighter. Her skin, flushed in an unnatural color, was suddenly covered by small black hands. He closed his eyes in order to see through his shadows, feeling the way they slit up her chest and found her neck to grab it. He turned away, trying not to look at the shadows that he commanded with his mind.

They were truly an extension of his genius, for he didn't need anything but peace of mind and a strong will to control them. Though seeing the tendrils strangle his opponents was nothing he wanted to see. Their voices echoing through the forest was about he could bear though.

He opened them a few seconds later again at where Temari was supposed to have landed. However, there was no trace of her. He heard loud cry from behind him, and he turned around again, fearing the worst.

However, there was nothing that he should have worried about, because there she stood, kicking the man that had previously captured her a few times. Shikamaru was suddenly very glad that he hadn't used the Imitation variety of his jutsu, otherwise he would have felt just how angry she was. Even while clutching her obviously broken arm, she still managed to scare the crap out of him.

Then she suddenly stopped and turned to her. He sighed and sat down, avoiding the scene before him. Their opponents put up a great fight, but he knew that it would end here. Even worse, he knew she would have him look at them dying, seeing the life fade away from them when they finally gave up.

Seeing how they had fought before; it might take a while.

He patted the spot next to him on the branch, and she sat down with some effort. Her body was damaged and they were both physically drained. They took their time controlling their breathing, letting the fatigue come over them as they watched the scene before them unfold

It was almost unreal, he noted, and averted his eyes again. A cry of pain and the shadow connection to his mind told him he had just broken the girls wrist.

Maybe even just to focus on something else, Temari suddenly turned her head to him, eyeing him suspiciously from her sitting position. "Who are you?"

"Who?" He chuckled, and whipped some blood of his face. "Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask."

It remained silent for a while, before she responded. "I can see that." It was obvious she wasn't pleased that he was playing mind games with her. It wasn't his fault, really. But because he had to see to it that their opponents were dead and therefore he had to stay and see them die quite painfully, his humor was a bit off.(1) Really, there was nothing to laugh about in a situation like this.

" Of course you can." He added, making sure she saw he wasn't intending to offend her. "I'm not questioning your powers of observation. I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is."

She groaned, and Shikamaru took it as a warning.

"Don't bother denying it Nara. I am no idiot." She replied, obviously getting angry. "Your fighting style might be different and your voice has changed, but you still think the same way and it shows." She let out a sigh, and judging the body language she didn't bother to hide anymore, she had to keep herself from just pulling the mask of his face.

He sighed as well, though he didn't comply. "I am not denying nor confirming anything."

She pretended not to hear him, and continued. "It's almost stupid I didn't see it before, it's was there all along, only playing dress up!" She groaned. "I can't believe you didn't tell me before! We could have died here, and only because you didn't want me to know who you where, you didn't use that move. I know you could've saved both of us a hell lot of trouble if you weren't such a coward."

A small part of his brain, obviously not the part that was busy holding the shadows in tow, agreed with her, and he sighed again. 'Stupid rules, crazy woman.'

"It had nothing to do with wanting." He said in his defense, still not looking her in the eye. "As you might have noticed, I am a member of the Konoha ANBU. I have sworn not to tell anybody who I am when I wear this mask." Another small part of his brain supplied that he should just stop starting to convince himself and start exploiting the holes in the law.

Even before he could argue back with his brain, Temari tugged his hand and forced his eyes to contact hers. She was smiling, a mysterious smile that send shivers to his spine and made him doubt if that was supposed to be a good thing. "Isn't a mask meant to take off? To hide an identity for a short amount of time until the opposing party is worthy of knowing the face of their opponent?"

He let out a small chuckle, though didn't bother to leave the playful undertone out of his words. "A mask is worn as a disguise, and not even a worthy opponent, especially a worthy opponent, should know who is underneath it."

A groan stopped their stupid sense of humor and a staggering breath had both of them looking at the scene before them. Speaking of opponents: They were dying.

No blood this time, nor did they look at him with pleading eyes. Instead they looked at each other before drawing their terminal breath and leaving life together. It was a sight to behold, and the two of them watched the scene unfold with morbid fascination, unable to tear their eyes away. It was disgustingly beautiful.

Neither of them would ever forget.

And then, their bodies hit the ground with a thud and Shikamaru felt a wave of relief wash over him

"It's over, Shika." Temari breathed to him with more relief in his voice than he had expected, slipping her healthy arm around him. He pulled her into an embrace, feeling suddenly very happy that they were alive, and vowing never to leave the house without some proper equipment.

He didn't even bother to ask her why she slipped his mask off, for he knew that she was pretty capable at finding the holes in the law as well.

Don't tell, don't show, but being showed…

(1) Watching them die, why?: You might wonder why Shikamaru didn't kill them off quickly with some kind of poisoned jutsu. However, if he would do this, he would have to break the connection of the jutsu, allowing them an opening to escape and attack them. Temari couldn't do it either because frankly, she doesn't have the strength. She took quite a beating, and using her last strength in order to kill them in a more humane way was not high on her list, I think. However, Shikamaru's mission isn't accomplished before the opponent is dead, so he can't leave before he has proof they are dead. (Also, a lot of the 'mask' dialogue was stolen from 'v for vendetta'. I just couldn't resist!)

Sasuke? Yes, I decided to take Sasuke's point of view simply because his has changed the most because of what we call the butterfly effect. I tried to keep him in character though, I hope I succeeded. Not just in that, but also in keeping it vague.

REWRITE CHANGES: this battle is one of the few things I shortened. It was too long, too complex and too descriptive. That last part remains, because they are fighting a genjutsu master. Now that's out of the way, I can stick to ninjutsu, kenjutsu and taijutsu, which are way easier to write and better to read. And yes, I know I got a few complains about Temari finding out this early, but hell! We've already passed the 50K+ mark, and I need her to find out to get on with the story. So sorry if you didn't like it, sorry if it was too abrupt, but for the sake of the flow of the story, deal with it.

(BTW, in case I don't update before that time, Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I wish you all the best.)