Hi everyone. I apologize if no one like the previous chapter but we're back to the good stuff now. Thanks for your patience.

I uh don't have any review mentions to put here since there wasn't any... but thanks for all of those who still read it!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

Several days have passed since the ritual. Sora was honestly getting bored on top of being tired from her lack of sleep due to waking up all the time by the several storms that passed during this time of the year. Stifling another yawn, Sora couldn't stop thinking about how she couldn't wait for the storms to end. They may not have caused any damages to her house, thankfully, but they were still quite loud and scary.

During the several days, as she had nothing to do since all her close friends were gone on missions, she had either walked around helplessly or visited Daichi at his work to see the progress they were making. Tonight was also another night where Daichi had planned on going out together. Although she liked very much the boy, she wasn't very excited about tonight. The plans, as per usual, were to go out to eat exotic food. Again. Sora had taken Ino's suggestion into account. She had asked him if he'd rather go do something else but he had brushed off the idea quickly, as he did not feel like it.

While she was sitting from a distance, watching the construction team progressing with the school building, she was suddenly surprised by a light tap on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder, she was surprised to see Shikamaru's dad smiling.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Nara!"

"Hi, Sora. I'm here because we need to go to the Hokage's office."

"Okay!" she gleefully replied and getting up quickly.

She knew what this meant: a mission! Before leaving, she remembered to turn around and wave at her boyfriend, but he completely ignored her. He was too busy with his work. Seeing this, Shikaku arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

As soon as they arrived at the Hokage's building, they ran up the set of stairs and knocked on the proper door. Sora had a hard time holding into place. She had been so bored these last few days that a mission made her happier than usual. Once inside, the man and the girl stood side by side in front of Tsunade.

"Good, you are here. Sora, I have called you here because I have given Shikaku a mission and he has elected you as one of his teammates," the Homage announced.

Sora looked at the man in surprised, whom in returned simply smiled.

"Your mission should be simple as it is more of a rescue mission. A few days ago, Shikamaru's team were sent on a mission to deliver a scroll in the Tea country. However, a violent storm has ravaged in the town they needed to go to at around the same time they should have arrived there. We have reasons to believe that this would be the cause of the extra time they are taking before coming back. Your team will simply need to bring them back safely. Since they are your usual teammates, Shikaku has requested that you should be on the team. I have proposed that Sakura accompanies you because of her medical jutsu."

"We now only need one more person to join us in order to complete our team," completed the man while looking at Sora. "Any suggestions?"

As she was about to open her mouth to say no, a light knock was heard on the door behind them. When Shizune opened the door, they saw Kakashi, Asuma, Gai and Kurenai waiting for permission to come in.

"Asuma-sensei!" Sora told Shikamaru's dad.

The man laughed and looked at Asuma who had a confused expression.

"Hope you are ready to leave on another mission!" he told him.

After explaining the situation to Asuma, Sora had run back to her house to pack up. At the front door, she took her keys out and while inserting the right one in the lock, she swore under her breath. She had yet again forgotten to lock her door but she was too excited to let that ruin her mood. Inside, she quickly grabbed a bag and filled it with essentials for the trip. Once she made sure that she had everything, she ran outside, carefully locking the door, which she was incredibly proud of herself for, and ran. She had to make a quick detour before heading off.

At the school's construction site, Sora went to see directly Daichi.

"Sora! Why are you all packed up?" he asked, looking at her backpack.

"Duty calls. I need to go on a mission to find my missing teammates so we need to put off tonight's date," she quickly explained, trying to make this short.

Daichi's expression grew dark.

"Do you have to go?" he asked.

"Well, yes," she answered, confused by his reaction.

"They abandoned you," he reminded her.

She felt her stomach clench. She had tried so hard to forget about how they left without her that having it brought back to her face was painful.

"Yes... but this is a mission and I can't refuse it."

Daichi snorted. "Well, have fun rescuing those who are simply going to abandon you again."

And without a goodbye, he had walked away to continue his work. Sora stood there surprised for several seconds. She had never seen Daichi react like this but maybe he had a point. Feeling awkward, she finally left. No matter how she felt, a mission was a mission.

They're trip to the Tea country was, well, wet. Soon after they had crossed the border, torrents of rain had come to greet them. Unfortunately, no one had thought about bring any kind of accessory or clothing to help them face this. Trying to think about how there should always be a good side to everything, Sora was thankful that there wasn't any thunder and lightning.

Although they were mostly silent as they still tried to go as fast as they could in this weather, Asuma still eventually asked the one question Sora feared the most:

"So if they're gone on a mission, why weren't you gone with them?"

"Um...well..." started Sora awkwardly. After how she had felt betrayed, she still somehow didn't have the will to put them in trouble. "I don't know..."

Asuma sighed. "The advantage of having four students was to have you work as a team. Did you request not to go?"

"No!" shouted out Sora.

"My son requested to have only a team of three," spoke up Shikaku.

Disappointment could be clearly seen on Asuma's face. In just a few weeks, his team's dynamic had really crumbled down.

"Um, Asuma-sensei? I don't mean to put all the blame on Shikamaru but... Ino didn't know ahead of time that Sora would be excluded from their mission," Sakura defended her best friend.

But the man didn't answer.

On the way to their destination, the team had to stop for one night. They had managed to do over half of the distance but, at this point, everyone was getting tired. After finding a spot, they put up two big tents, one for the girls, one of the guys. They also tried to make a fire but in this kind of temperature, there was no hope of conserving one.

The temperature was also getting to everyone. As much as everyone had started the trip with an overly good mood, as much as now, barely anyone would talk because of how miserable they were under this rain.

When everyone seemed to have retreated to their tents, Sora told Sakura that she just needed to go for a small walk. Walking around their campsite, trying not to lose the tents from her view, she was surprised to find a lake. With all this torrent of rain, no one in the team seemed to have noticed it. She sat down beside it and looked at the beauty of the rain meeting the water of the lac. It almost seemed like the lac was dancing with happiness.

Dazed by the sight, she hadn't notice the presence that was suddenly beside her.

"Sora?"

She jumped. Looking up, she found her sensei standing there, looking at her funny.

"Aren't you wet, sitting there?"

"Aren't we all already soaking wet?" she replied.

The man chuckled. "You're right."

They gazed off in the distance for a few minutes before starting a conversation again.

"So, I heard from Shikaku that your ritual went well?"

"Well..." she said hesitant. "I actually had a hard time. I couldn't clear up my mind properly but, at the end, something different happened."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there this year. Also, what do you mean by different?" asked the man curious.

"In my mind, I couldn't calm down my emotions. At least until someone helped me. I'm almost certain that it was my mother. She told me that everything would be fine."

She then stopped, remembering why her mother would have told her that. Thinking about Shikamaru worried her. She wasn't sure how she was going to act when she would see him. She was still extremely upset about what he did.

Seeing her expression change, he asked: "What happened while I was gone?"

She bit her lip. "I... acted very stupidly and I think Shikamaru got sick of it."

"And what would that be?" encouraged the man.

"Well, I think he was expecting something from me for helping me feel better when I had locked myself in my house."

"Why would you think that?" he asked now very curious.

The girl sighed. "We got into another fight after you left for your mission and this time he brought up how he helped me out of my house. I got angry that he would expect something in return and walked off. Ever since then, I haven't been talking to him, which eventually led to him leaving me out on a mission…"

The man finally sat down beside her and stared at the lake like she did. He reviewed in his mind carefully what the girl had just told him. With a smile, he asked:

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"Sure?" replied the girl curiously, finally looking away from the lake.

"I've always known Shikamaru as a smart person. Sometimes, a tad too smart, don't you think?"

She simply nodded in approval.

"Well, it looks like there is something missing in our information hence why we don't understand why he's acting like he is right now."

The girl kept looking at the man. She then said with hesitation:

"So… you're saying that he planned it this way for another reason? Excluding me from the mission, I mean."

"That's what I think."

This conclusion made the girl feel a bit more lighthearted despite the weather. After a few more minutes of silence, she said:

"I guess I'll probably end up breaking my promise of never forgiving him if you're right."

The man chuckled.

This was still kind of a short chapter but at least we're back to the good stuff!

Thanks for reading!

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