Disclaimer: disclaimed.
Revised version (Aug 05 2012)
II
The map of Kaze no Kuni was spread in the center of the room and surrounded by the four ninja, all barren beige and orange and barely any green on it. Another map, slightly smaller, covered half of the vast desert and showed instead the intricate details of Sunagakure sans the secret passages. In fact, the map was near useless, buildings after buildings without any labels except for the obvious (the kazekage tower), or the useless (the best suna dango shop in town). Of course, it was logical for a hidden village to not publish any map that could be used against them, but even the vague map was better than having to draw one.
"We're meeting the contact in this village," Shikamaru said, pointing at a speck on the Kaze no Kuni map, "a civilian village just after the border of Kaze no Kuni. We should arrive there just before sundown, and since we can't afford long breaks during the day we will leave this inn already in civilian disguise." He shot Sakura a look, to which she raised her pink eyebrow quizzically. "Sakura, that means you have to dye your hair."
"This was not in the deal," she growled, positively scandalized.
"You know, even in the off chance that you don't get recognized as "that pink-haired medic from Konoha", your bubblegum hair could be seen from a mile away." The only way Shikamaru would leave Sakura and her hair alone was if they were to sneak in to a hanami. Then maybe she would be able to blend with all her namesake blossoms.
Sakura's face darkened when the word bubblegum was uttered—clearly she was not impressed by his description skills. Shikamaru sighed. "Black or dark brown. They'll still recognize you if you choose lighter shades."
"Fine. You're lucky this is S-rank, Shikamaru." Sakura looked like she was ready to throw a boulder, which, come to think of it again, was probably true in the most literal sense.
"Don't miss the eyebrows," Neji added, completely serious. Ino snickered in the corner.
"Ino, you are going to braid your hair tomorrow. That ponytail is far too flashy."
Ino's snicker faded.
"You and Sakura will wear plain kimono. Neji and I, plain shirt and pants. Normal straw sandals—no shinobi footwear. Absolutely no Konoha identifier, no hitai-ate, the deal." Upon looking at the girls' horrified reaction—which was somewhat understandable, since he could not imagine what it would be like for girls to fight in kimono—Shikamaru drawled, "I'm not all excited about this either, but we can't afford being recognized." And this was supposed to be part of the special kunoichi training, how to fight in tight layers of kimono.
He would have also added the fact that Shizune was a perfectly capable fighter despite wearing kimono all the time, but that might not exactly get the desired effect on the two girls. There was also another woman he knew for being an insanely powerful fighter while wearing the most ridiculous attire—
—right, he needed to talk about the contact. His hand pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now, about the contact…"
"It's Temari-san, isn't it?" piped Sakura.
"Yes, her. According to the Godaime she has been giving information to Konoha, and she will be assisting us in the mission. However…" The words trailed away.
"You don't trust her." This time it was Neji completing his sentence for him. He almost looked relieved that Shikamaru did not decide to trust their contact right away. It was like Neji expected him to slip and make a blunder; much like he feared himself to.
But he had promised himself not to make that mistake. Once, when Temari came to his aid to fight against one of Orochimaru's Oto nin, she had made it clear that this aid, just like the previous invasion to Konoha, was just her following orders. Informant or not, her loyalty had always been on her village—or specifically, her brother. Nothing more than that.
Shikamaru nodded. "We can never be too careful. Ino."
"Gotcha." The blonde smiled, and not at all in a friendly way. It was no secret that Ino was never too fond of the Suna kunoichi.
"But don't do it right away, wait for my signal. Even if she has every intention to out us to Suna nin, they wouldn't attack us so early. She's not that stupid. So just wait until I make the signal."
Ino nodded, although clearly the excitement waned a bit. She was biting her lower lip—something that Shikamaru noticed as Ino's habit every time she wanted to say something but thought better.
"Neji, I would need you to scan the perimeter. Watch for unusual movements and chakra, the deal."
Neji made a "humph" in affirmation.
"Sakura, your role doesn't really come now as I doubt we'd need medical assistance so early, but I need you to be around and vigilant nonetheless."
"Of course," Sakura answered readily, although she was still vividly annoyed by his orders to dye her hair.
Shikamaru took a deep breath. While his teammates had agreed to every part of the plan so far, he was pretty sure this part would garner objections. "And…and when I am talking to the contact, I want none of you to interfere unless it is absolutely necessary. I will meet her alone and all of you would stand by somewhere hidden, but I do all the talking with her."
Ino began to protest—as he expected—but Shikamaru raised a hand and continued, "because if she is planning to out us and somehow she can contact backup, I do not want her to know who the team members are."
The unsaid question of whether or not Shikamaru thought Temari would betray them hung in the air. Shikamaru knew his teammates expected him to at least say what he thought was most likely to happen, but he would rather not make assumptions. Long ago, he took for granted that Asuma would always be there as a reliable sensei. The reality of what happened had wrecked him, and this time he chose to tread more carefully.
So carefully, that he neatly avoided calling the contact by her name.
The shogi board was all laid out with the pieces arranged in neat rows, ready to be played. On one side was an empty bench, on the other a young woman in a purple kimono and gray obi. Her blond hair was tied into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She would have passed as a normal civilian, but her sharp, vigilant eyes betrayed her.
Her choice seat in the dango shop was immaculate; half-hidden from the rest of the restaurant by a decorative screen patterned with plum blossoms, the spot was neither suspicious nor too open. The precaution was not much use, however—it appeared that the shop was empty today, as it had been for the past few months. Like Kingyo, this shop profited from travelers between Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni back when the alliance was still strong.
Dressed in what could only be described as nondescript civilian attire, Shikamaru sat on the empty bench right across the woman.
"Mind if I have a game?"
Temari looked up, but if she recognized him she didn't show it. "The guest may make the first move," she said, her hand making a sweeping motion over the board.
He moved a piece, and then she moved right after. It was almost as if she did not think much about it, and he didn't expect her to either. For the first few turns, they were merely building normal defense formations with their pieces, until Shikamaru made a move that elicited a smirk from her.
"A bougin, is it?"
"Sometimes, when dealing with a stronger enemy, sacrifices must be made and the offensive needs to be taken."
The password said and done, Temari leaned back and paid less attention on the shogi board, instead directing it to Shikamaru. "Why are you here, Nara?" Her face remained impassive for the most part; save for a slight frown Shikamaru knew Neji would not have missed even from his hiding spot in the ceiling.
"You know damn well why."
"I do, but you." She fixed a stare as if Shikamaru being the one sent for the mission was such a surprise.
"Why, did you think anyone else would come? An ANBU?" Assassination missions were mostly assigned to ANBU members, but this one was different. He was given this mission because Temari was involved. The Godaime—and possibly the council backing her—assumed that since he had worked with Temari before, he would be the best to judge where she stood.
"Maybe," she said, not betraying much, "someone else, or whatnot. But not you."
This was taking too long.
The gap between the roof tiles and the ceiling was narrow, barely enough for any of them to sit straight. Dust floated in the air, the particles moving lazily under the several beams of sunlight filtering in. Not a big problem for ninja—their training had required them to scout and wait in worse places, and the dust problem could be easily countered with simple masks Sakura had distributed between them—and yet the fact that she could not see a thing from this position had irked Ino to no end.
She turned to Sakura, but the other girl's expression was schooled. Sakura did not look particularly concerned with the lack of sight the attic provided. Then again, Sakura trusted Temari more than Ino did. While Sakura was part of the team that rescued Gaara from the Akatsuki, Ino never had any reason to trust the Suna woman more than necessary. What Ino remembered most of her was an old memory from years ago, Temari standing proudly with Tenten's limp body splayed on her iron fan, and then her battle with Shikamaru the month after.
It did not help either that Shikamaru had been acting curiously odd the whole time. Even she could tell that Sakura stepped on a land mine when she mentioned the contact's name at the debriefing the night before. Then he demanded to speak to this woman on his own. Ino knew Shikamaru had spent quite a considerable amount of time as her escort, that one time before the chuunin exams, but it was never clear what the deal was between the two. Naruto was convinced the two dated, but Naruto was Naruto.
Call it paranoia, or teammate protectiveness, but Ino loathed having Temari out of her sight. Or earshot, for that matter, since her teammate and the woman had been talking in low enough voices for her to not hear anything that was said.
The Hyuuga sitting on Ino's other side was even harder to read than Sakura. His face was strained in the way every Hyuuga looked like when they had their byakugan activated, veins pumping and forehead creased. Sitting like a statue, there was not much to interpret from his body language either, except for the fact that nothing major had happened and Shikamaru had yet to signal her to do her part.
Eyes boring down to the general direction of the hushed voices, Ino waited for her cue.
"The daimyo's building is in the middle of Sunagakure, very close to the Kazekage tower. He used to live in the Kaze no Kuni capital but with Gaara's…condition, he decided to keep a closer watch over things. Naturally it is surrounded by traps and layers of security," said Temari, her hand fingering the Knight piece from the shogi board before placing it back.
"You can get us in," said Shikamaru. It was a demand, a confirmation, but not a question.
"Obviously. But what is this "us" you're talking about? Could the eavesdroppers from the attic be part of your team?" She smiled, devious, "Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"I entertained the possibility." He would rather she did not notice at all, but that might be hoping for too much. At the very least, she did not know the identity of his teammates, yet.
She sighed. "You entertain too many possibilities, Nara. You're now hiding them from my view because you fear I would tip the others off…"
Shikamaru stiffened on his seat. He didn't like people reading his plans, and now this woman was doing her best at it. His eyes flickered to the entrance of the dango shop—deserted and empty, unsurprisingly, and yet he let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding.
"There are no the others, for fuck's sake I was just trying to make a point."
"Which is what?" he asked, tone carefully guarded. He straightened a piece on the board, and took a sip from his nearly empty cup, just so his hands had something to do.
"You're too careful for this kind of mission."
"Stealth missions are supposed to be handled carefully," he argued.
She smiled thinly. "I mean missions that can get you killed."
For a moment they were back to the past, back when she treated him like he was a child, an incompetent crybaby, instead of what he actually was: a ninja. She was doing it again, talking about missions that could kill him while he very well knew that even a simple C-rank escort mission could turn instantly lethal. It used to be a game, and her role was to be condescending while he would half-reluctantly argue with her.
But they did not have time for this game. "We probably should get going if we want to reach that safehouse you talked about," Shikamaru said as he leaned down as if to grab his pack. As his hands were partially concealed by the table, he made the necessary seal for his Kagemane, his fingers snapping into place effortlessly.
The shadow tendrils found her before she could even tell what was happening.
Shikamaru stood, and Temari was dragged forcibly, mirroring his movements. Her knees bumped the table, shaking the shogi board and scrambling the pieces. He barely paid any attention, eyes fixed on her pained visage as he raised his right hand—and consequently, hers—to cue Ino to show herself.
"Why?" she gasped, livid.
"I entertain many possibilities." Did she really think he would trust her right away?
Shikamaru could hear ragged breath and hurried steps behind him, but a thud and a quick glance confirmed that Sakura had proved herself useful and sedated the shop owner as soon as she jumped down the ceiling. Neji was close on her heels, byakugan activated and although he was facing him, Shikamaru knew that the Hyuuga was scanning the perimeter for suspicious movements.
In the two seconds between Ino hopping down the ceiling and Ino standing in front of Temari, hand firmly holding the latter's crown of head, Shikamaru had a wild thought flitting in his head.
This happened before, way before, when I was still genin. I let her win back then.
Sakura watched as Ino held the crown of Temari's head. Ino's shoulders were hunched in concentration. Although Sakura couldn't see Ino's face from where she stood, she could imagine her rival—or best friend—with her eyes closed and eyebrows knitted. She had never seen Ino doing this, though. She did know that Inoichi was part of Torture and Interrogation, and that the Yamanaka Clan in general was known for being able to do jutsu specializing with the mind. Sakura had even experienced Ino's Shintenshin no Jutsu firsthand.
What Ino was doing right now, however—skimming thoughts and memories and stripping all privacy from one's mind—was new to Sakura's eyes.
She watched as a trickle of blood drip from Temari's lip—the blond Suna nin bit her lip, face screwing up.
Ino jerked back. She held her head in her hands, breathing ragged. "I can't get through," she said weakly, "she won't let me."
"You mean like when I resisted your Shintenshin?"
"No. It's like…her mind is militarized or something. Not only she struggled to keep me away from anything about Suna, she…she put forward other memories instead, painful ones." Ino turned to face her three teammates. "I think someone trained her."
"Against you, or against mind attacks in general?" asked Shikamaru. He was still holding the jutsu, droplets of sweat forming on his temple.
"I don't know! Does it matter?" Ino exclaimed, frustrated. She pointed a finger towards Temari. "What I know is she consciously attacks me, and do you have any idea how terrible it is?"
Sakura knew how terrible it felt to have the control over her body invaded by another consciousness. Maybe having her brain ransacked would be worse. Not that saying this would improve the situation in any way.
Temari spat some blood and smirked, which only agitated Ino further.
"Sakura, put her under," said Shikamaru. Temari began balking by throwing profanities, her body unnaturally still as she was bound by Shikamaru's shadow.
Sakura walked forward, pulling out a syringe from her kimono sleeve. Temari was glaring at her with murderous eyes. Before Sakura reached Temari, though, Ino raised her hand to halt her.
"Let me."
Ino took the syringe from Sakura. With one sweeping motion, she plunged the needle into Temari's neck, none too gently. As the sedative took effect and the Kagemane left her, Temari fell like a rag doll over the table, shogi pieces scattered around her figure.
-special thanks to bellatoz guardian and my mercury. Without you two the whole thing about the daimyo would make much less sense.
Reviews and constructive criticisms are always welcome.