Sorry. Another slightly boring chapter! I'm just a huge stickler for details, but there are some interesting things here and there. I hope. XD This is my first time writing a multi-chaptered story, so I'm a little awkward at it. It's been good practice, though. Also, sorry for mistakes. I have a horrible attention span.
I'll probably be keeping it rather short - maybe eight chapters?
I promise the next chapter will have a lot more to it. ;)
"For such a lazy guy, the amount of trouble you manage to get into is astonishing." Temari deadpanned at Shikamaru, sitting across from her in his infirmary bed.
She'd expected something worse, but he'd already been up and about for half an hour, and had merely suffered from some dehydration and heat exhaustion after being delayed by the sandstorm, as well as some sunburn.
"I often wonder about it, myself." She heard him mutter under his breath.
Truth be told, she was glad he was doing alright. But some part of her always felt loose and skittish when he was around. It had been a few months since the last Exams and… Her thoughts trailed off when she noticed that Shikamaru was talking again.
"-I'm assuming you want to know more about the border situation?" He was asking.
"Hm? Oh. Yes." Temari said.
"You seem a little preoccupied." He arched a brow. "Were you were worried about me?"
Temari wasn't quite sure how to respond. Why did he have to ask that? So they'd gone out a little in the past, and she really liked him, but… she just didn't have the time to be dealing with things like that right now.
Any denial would quickly make things awkward, (although she had been worried) so she merely shrugged. "Of course. We wouldn't want to lose a valuable liaison between villages such as yourself. Anyway," She went on, "I'm concerned about what's going on at the border right now - it's seemed pretty uneasy these past few months."
It had taken a year or two, but the ninja alliance had finally been established between the five great hidden villages, and the official documents signed only months ago by all five kage and daimyo. Unfortunately, not everyone living under the law wished to comply, even though many had worked together in the war.
"A week ago, I was sent on a recon mission with a team. The Hokage had received some threatening letters and asked us to investigate some of the villages under suspicion - there have been some recent riots, as you know. Two days ago, en route to the hidden village, I stopped briefly at a border village and… Well, let's just say my reception there wasn't entirely friendly." Shikamaru said. "I was told to leave before sundown and that they wouldn't be giving out any supplies to people from outside of the Wind Country. Not long after I left, I saw the storm approaching and made it through the tail end of it and had to take the other route here - as the Leaf route is blocked off now. It ought to be here before the day's out, if I'm correct.
This thing's jutsu-based, it seems, and they obviously mean to use it against the Sand Village and possibly even the Leaf, likely using it to besiege and then launch their attack."
Temari sighed, slumping in her chair. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this. I mean, I understand their motive, but an attack such as this won't achieve much in the long run. We need this alliance."
"Yeah." Shikamaru agreed, then leaned back on his pillows, stifling a yawn. Then closed his eyes.
Temari eyed him, "What are you doing?" She stood and grabbed him by the arm, "We've got to go talk to Gaara about this and we need to figure out a plan! Now's not the time to be napping."
She dragged him out of bed and off to the offices, ignoring his protests of "Dammit, woman!"
After explaining the situation, Shikamaru exhaustedly resting in a chair - it seemed he hadn't quite recovered yet, Gaara gathered the rest of the council members for discussion.
"I don't know that I'd be able to do much against this, even in spite of what power I have." Gaara said. "This could be multiple jutsu users, from what you've deduced, and if that's the case, they would very likely be able to keep us besieged for, at most, a week.
Somehow, we need to find a way past the barrier of the storm and draw any fighting away from the village. We need to act quickly.
Kankuro, Baki, Akane, Takumi, Kurou: I'll need you to gather together several squads."
"Understood." Kankuro and Baki and the other assigned replied seriously.
"And Temari," Gaara turned to her, "You and Shikamaru Nara will be assigned to the first squad with Kankuro. I'm also assigning you to organize a crew to find a way out through the barrier, if possible."
"Alright." Temari said.
"Y-yes." Shikamaru stood and nodded.
"We'll send message by bird to the Leaf for possible backup - we may need it." Gaara said. "We'll adjourn this meeting for now and do what we can. Report back tomorrow afternoon."
"Understood." They all said in unison, and made their way from the room.
As they made their way down the hall, Shikamaru rubbed at his eyes. "That was tiresome."
Temari rolled her eyes. "Well, come tomorrow morning, we'll have to start finding a few leads on breaking the barrier. So you'd better not start slacking off."
"Relax." Shikamaru glanced at her, eyes serious, "I have a few ideas already."
Of course he did. As always. Temari felt slightly foolish for doubting him at all. Of course he would help. Even if he was a lazy ass.
"You're welcome to stay on the couch again. I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of good food right now, though." She said to him after a moment.
"Sure." He said expressionlessly. Then met her sharp gaze and added a "Thank you." shortly after.