a/n - aaah, this should have been up by now, but well its here now. The revised and edited version of chapter 2. I was yelled at by my beta for not naming the bad guysss.. Sorryss... As always, reviews and favs and follows are appreciated :

no ownership is claimed over the naruto franchise

"C'mon. Move it along." Shikamaru coaxed, his voice smooth and cool but his his brows were furrowed impatiently.

Tsukidori and Norinj had stopped to marvel at some unique flowers. They were tall, supported by long, thick stems. The flowers started about three quarters up the stem and blossomed at the top. The petals were reminiscent of lilies, but the edges were ruffled. The color was a beautiful two-toned white and pink accented with a warm golden color. "They're so beautiful, though, Shikamaru." Tsukidori produced a kunai from her gear and cut one at an angle. She stood up and presented it to Ino.

Ino blushed, "They're gladiolas." Ino explained, putting them to her nose, "It's a pity they don't have a smell for what they symbolize."

Tsukidori blink and tilted her head, "What do they symbolize?"

"Passion." Ino said, holding up the flower to the sun, examining it, "The recipient of a flower like this would mean the world to the giver. The giver would be expressing infatuation and passion." Ino offered the flower back to Tsukidori.

Tsukidori wasn't sure that infatuation and meaning the world to someone were the same thing. She took her bag off, unzipped it, and put the flower in it. Later, she'd ask Ino how to plant and grow them in her own yard.

Norinj had been listening from his spot next to the growth of gladiolas and decided to pick one. He walked up to Tsukidori and tapped her arm. When she turned to him, he presented the flower to her. "Here you go, Tsukidori." He had a wide smile and his eyes were closed tight.

Tsukidori crinkled her face and tried to smile, "Th-thanks, kid."

Choji was beside himself laughing, much to Tsukidori's chagrin. Ino glared at him, "Knock it off Choji! This is so sweet! Tsukidori has found her first love." She turned to her Tsukidori and smiled apologetically.

Just as she thought Ino was on her side...She turned to Shikamaru for help, her eye brows raised hopefully.

"Don't look at me. You got yourself into that mess."

Norinj was smiling proudly at having acquired a 'girlfriend.' Tsukidori turned to him fully and squatted to his level. "Now, you do understand that - " Just then, Yun appeared behind Norinj, pleading to her with his eyes, waving his hands back and forth in front of his neck. She swallowed, her eyes back to Norinj, who looked at her with wide, waiting eyes. "You understand that I have to go back to the Leaf village when we get to your village, right, so we can't be together?"

Norinj looked at her with a glint in his eyes, he swept around and pointed at himself with his thumb, "I know! That's why I'm going to train to be a ninja like you! I'll become strong and travel to the Leaf village myself and sweep you off your feet!" He spouted dramatically with enthusiasm. Tsukidori looked at Yun with a sarcastic smile. Yun smiled sheepishly, then turned away whistling. Norinj had done a complete three-sixty, but the peacefulness was very fragile. One wrong word, and he'd throw a tantrum. Earlier Tsukidori had accidentally ignored him while listening to Shikamaru's instructions to find firewood, and Norinj had taken to trying to attack Shikamaru. The young kid formed attachments fast. Choji and Ino teased they'd have to leave Tsukidori, much to her dismay, with Norinj otherwise it might start a war.

Choji nudged Shikamaru, bemused, "Haha, hey Shikamaru, you've got competition now!"

Simultaneously, Tsukidori and Norinj whipped bewildered eyes at Choji, "What?" Both of their faces were red, but Norinj's face was scrunched into a scowled and Tsukidori's mouth was wide open. She was becoming tired of being the target of all the teasing.

Shikamaru, seemingly unfazed, turned to face away from the group, "As if."

He hummed lowly, almost a growl and started walking forward again. The rest would catch up or they wouldn't. He waved his hand behind him, his last warning to get going. They'd been traveling for five days now together. The constant time together had lent a lot of time for Ino and Tsukidori to reconnect. It left Tsukidori feeling more comfortable which allowed for her to emerge out of her own shell. At first, she was quiet, not allowing herself many words. But Ino had become persistent. The B-Ranked mission felt more like a C and it was honestly kind of enjoyable.

Yet, Shikamaru had been reserved. Although he was usually grumpy and quiet, he wasn't known to be stand-offish and unfriendly. Aside from his outburst of laughing today, he'd seemed lost in thought and on guard. He knew the real reason Lady Fifth had sent them early and why their charges needed so many shinobi to escort them. They were carrying precious cargo. Yun Norinj both carried with them two pieces of a stone. Details of their mission to escort Yun and Norinj had fallen into the wrong hands. Tsunade thought spontaneously moving up the trip one day would throw bandits or looters off their trail. She even advised Shikamaru to take the longer way around. Shikamaru, however, wasn't convinced. He was expecting an ambush any moment, and standing so still felt dangerous.

Tsukidori, as though she felt his anxiety, fell in step with Shikamaru. She didn't say anything at first. Shikamaru looked at her sideways, uttering a quiet, almost inaudible, 'hum.' He moved his hands from the back of his head and stuffed them in his pockets, straightening his posture.

"Is something bothering you?" She rubbed her arm with her other hand, her eyes at the ground. She was genuinely curious, especially if it pertained to the mission.

"It's too easy." He confided. The Hokage had instructed him to keep particular details to himself, however he figured confiding his own worries wasn't breaking any rules.

"That doesn't sound like a problem for you!" She scrunched her face, then smiled at him, bemused.

"Heh, I suppose, but it just doesn't feel right."

Tsukidori realized he was being serious, "Sorry. Truthfully, I've been feeling the same way. Is it bad I'm a little disappointed?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "How do you mean?"

"Well, it's just..." Her voice trailed off. Tsukidori bit her lip, hesitant. She wanted to open up to someone other than her mom but she was worried her words would be lost on Shikamaru. She was worried he wouldn't really care all that much. A glance behind her revealed that Ino and Choji were walking several paces behind them out of earshot. She returned her gaze to Shikamaru to find he wasn't looking at her, but looking forward. She decided not to say anything, he obviously wasn't interested.

When she neglected to finish her sentence, he looked back her to see that she had shrunk a way. Her arms were hugging herself and her gaze was at the ground. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't useful." He closed his eyes and sighed. Women are troublesome.

Tsukidori's eyes widened at his sudden words, but she kept them at the ground. She felt a weird mixture of gratitude and confusion. She wasn't sure how Shikamaru was so perceptive to her feelings or how he knew exactly what to say. Then she recalled how intelligent Shikamaru was regarded to be. She wasn't aware he was so smart with emotions, too. She gave him a close-eyed smile, but didn't feel like anymore words were needed on the subject.

Almost as if waiting on queue, the ground beneath them began to shake and gave way in front of them. Shikamaru had gotten out of the way quickly enough. Tsukidori let out a yelp as she had begun slipping forward over the edge of the chasm that had ripped the earth in two. Just when she thought she was done for, she stopped moving. Completely. She no longer had control of her body. She began to back up slowly and once she was a safe distance from the edge, she could move again. She turned around to see Shikamaru had used his shadow imitation jutsu to save her. She smiled in thanks and turned her attention to her comrades. Ino and Choji were in protective stances in front of their charges. Beyond them were three individuals.

Shikamaru groaned and advanced on the three. The attacker in the middle was the largest. It was almost humanly impossible how big he was. There was this mean but intelligent look to him that sent shivers down Tsukidori's spine. The other two, one on each side of the burly man, were thin and small. One was dressed in red and purple garments with gold adornments. The other was blue and green. They smiled pleasantly.

The man in the middle smirked, "I'm Kyoji and these are my twins, Hiraku and Hiraki. We're just here for the relic pieces." His voice was gravely and serious.

Everyone but Shikamaru's faces twisted in confusion. "What relic pieces?" Tsukidori straightened from a defensive stance to a normal one. If there was a misunderstanding, maybe she wouldn't have to fight after all. She glanced at Shikamaru, whose face was unreadable.

Kyoji growled, his face scrunched up, "You know what I'm talking about!" He roared, and stomped on the ground, it began to shake. Tsukidori found to keep her footing. "Hand them over the easy way. Don't make this hard!"

"The easy way would be you turning around and walking away." Choji growled back at him, causing the man in the middle to snap his attention Choji.

"Now that wouldn't be fun!" Kyoji sighed, "Your decision." He charged on Choji. Quickly Shikamaru signed the shadow imitation jutsu. Kyoji stopped in his tracks, giving Ino time to collect Yun and Norinj. Kyoji turned his attention to Shikamaru who had him locked in place with his jutsu. The twins, Hiraku and Hiraki, charged at Shikamaru, signing with their hands.

Tsukidori had to think quickly. She didn't have time to reach Shikamaru to defend him, but she could use her genjutsu from here. However, it wouldn't work on two people without draining her chakra significantly.

She called Shikamaru's name causing both him and Kyoji looked at her. She already had her hands in the appropriate sign. She looked Kyoji in the eyes and he dropped his head limply. Just in time, as Shikamaru was able to jump and dodge out of the way of the twins' double-attack. Choji took the opportunity to attack. He shouted his expansion jutsu and grew several times his original size. His fist balled up and came swinging down on Kyoji. The ground below Tsukidori gave way and she leapt into the air.

Tsukidori stumbled backwards, her head throbbing. Chakra control was something she was good at, but Kyoji must have been resistant to genjutsu. It required a great deal of chakra to contain all his senses. Choji returned to normal size, and he took a place at the side of her. Kyoji sprung forth from the crater created by Choji's fist. Choji ran to Shikamaru's aid, using his Human Bullet Tank on the two frozen twins.

Tsukidori looked straight at Kyoji and decided to rely on taijutsu and ninjutsu. She sprung in the air, relying on her smaller size to aid in her speed against him. She expected him to be slow because of his immense size. She leapt in the air and aimed a fist at his face. He went to block and she used the momentum to spin, bring her leg up to swing from the side, rather than the middle. No! He was fast and had grabbed her leg at the last minute and had begun swinging her through the air. The force of the air pulling her hair from it's loose ponytail. The force at which she was swung, and consequently thrown, dislocated her knee. She screamed in pain as she flew through the air. She landed roughly and rolled several feet. Kyoji ran at her with unparalleled speed. The sound of his feet hitting the ground like thunder in her ears. He picked her up by the shirt and glared into her eyes. He didn't pick up on the genjutsu? Or was he arrogant enough to believe she was too weak to use it again.

"Put me down!" She struggled against him, throwing fists at his bulky arm.

"If that's what you want!" He roared in laughter. He braced to slam her into the ground, but unbeknownst to her, a black portal had opened beneath her.

She laughed back, "You're so dumb!" He looked at her confused, slightly scared. His hand released his grip on her, and he stumbled back and fell with a thud. She'd caught him in her genjutsu again. Yes! She mentally screeched. As she descended, Shikamaru jumped to her aid, but they both fell through the black hole.

The hole opened up in the sky. The two ninja descended upon the ground, free falling into the dense woods. Shikamaru reached out and grabbed Tsukidori by the arm and pulled her in. He wrapped his arms around her and spun so his back was towards the earth. As they descended upon the tree's, branches began slowing down their descent. Nevertheless, the landing was hard and disorientating. Their bodies hurt from the multiple impacts from the limbs of the trees. Tsukidori's ears were ringing and her head pounded. It felt like the Earth had been dropped on her, rather than her on it.. As she came to, Tsukidori realized what Shikamaru had done for her. She felt grateful for Shikamaru catching her fall, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel like a useless damsel in distress. Shikamaru groaned in pain and coughed, causing Tsukidori to scramble off of him. She tried to stand, but the adrenaline had worn off, the pain from her dislocated knee came rushing at her like a wave. She howled and clutched her leg. She had exceptional chakra control but never bothered to learn medical ninjutsu. Silently, she cursed herself for her own laziness.

She focused her attention on Shikamaru who was not only injured from fall sky, but also low on chakra from the fight. He tried to sit up and she crawled closer to assist him.

"Easy now." She warned, her voice low and soft.

"I'm fine." He protested.

"What happened? Where are we?" She asked.

"You didn't see it? One of the twins used some sort of transportation jutsu while me and Choji were taking down the other. You used your genjutsu on Kyoji just as it opened." He explain, grunting as he adjusted himself to lean against a tree. So, they fell through together, then.

"Did you get a good look before we hit the trees?" She asked, she had no idea what was going on and didn't think to but she hoped with his superior intellect, he might have seen some distinguishing landmarks.

Shikamaru nodded and pointed north, "We need to go that way."

"I don't understand." Tsukidori began.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why would they transport me all the way here? What use would that be?"

"They just wanted what Yun and Norinj were carrying. Getting you out of the way was good enough, I suppose." Shikamaru explained.

"I see." She said, tapping her chin in thought. It must be a combo attack between the two to quickly get pesky opponents out of the way. Tsukidori knew there was something she wasn't being told about the mission. She looked him the eyes, annoyed she'd been left out of important details. "What are they carrying? Is that the relic that Kyoji referred to?"

"Each of them are entrusted with a piece of a stone that possesses power. I suspect those ninja would use them to become stronger."

Tsukidori leaned back against the tree. It didn't make sense to have two halves of one powerful stone to travel together. And what kind of stone? What kind of powers?

"There are three pieces. One has been entrusted to the Leaf village." It's like he could read minds.

"Is that what they were doing in the village to begin with?" She asked.

Shikamaru nodded, "The third piece is the most important. Without it, the other two pieces are more or less useless."

"That doesn't make sense, though. Those three could never hope to penetrate the leaf village and get the third piece. What were they planning to do with the other two?" Tsukidori was becoming annoyed at the bandits apparent stupidity.

"You said it yourself. Kyoji was so dumb. So were his lackys." Shikamaru chuckled, smirking with his eyes closed. "We should rest here."

Just then, Tsukidori remembered something. She twisted her body to pull her bag off. She reached in and produced the gladiola flower from earlier. As she suspected, it was squashed and mangled from the fall. She should have known it wouldn't survive in her bag like that. It was a good thing it wasn't the flower itself she was trying to keep, but the seeds it held.