Hi everyone! I'm glad I actually managed to post this chapter. It's so busy at work today!

Also, thanks Airheadninja for your lovely review. I'm glad to know that you're still reading and I know how you feel. I just came out of university exams myself!

Anywho, enjoy everyone!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Aaaaand ladies and gentlemen, here we are!" announced Asuma as they set foot in the village they had to go to.

"What happened here?" asked Sakura as she looked at the various damaged buildings.

"Was this really all caused by a storm?" said Sora dumbfounded.

"Sure looks like it," said Shikaku.

Walking further in the village, they could see the villagers trying to repair the damages that had been caused by the storm. There were also a lot of people walking around with bandages or limping around. The storm had really been violent here.

As Sora opened her mouth to ask where her teammates could be, she heard from behind them:

"Sora? Sensei? Mr. Nara?"

Turning around, they saw Choji standing there with a huge pile of wood in his arms.

"Choji!" shouted out Sora as she ran up to her friend.

"Wow, even Sakura came. Did something happen?"

"Of course! You guys were taking awfully a lot of time to come back so we were sent out to find you!" explained the black hair girl.

"Oh…" was the boy's only response. Now that Sora was looking at him carefully, he really seemed exhausted.

"Where are the others?" asked Asuma as he walked closer.

"They are in the main shelter treating the sick and injured. I was actually just about to bring back this wood to make a fire," explained the boy.

Following Choji's lead, they walked in a specific direction.

"Are there a lot of injured?" asked Sakura worried.

"Yeah. Like you can see, the storm destroyed nearly the whole village. Thankfully, the feudal lord was kind enough to turn one of his buildings that have survived the storm into a shelter."

"Then I can probably help these people!" said encouragingly the pink hair girl which made Choji smile.

"Is that why you didn't come back right away? To help these people?" asked Sora.

Choji nodded.

"I was so worried that something worse could have happened. Thankfully, you are all okay," she added with a smile.

When they reached a huge building, Choji pushed the door open.

"Finally! Took you long enough Choji!" shouted out a voice which everyone recognized as Ino's.

"Well, you see. I found some help on the way here," he explained.

Opening the door wider, he showed her the four new arrivals.

"No way!" the blonde girl shouted.

She ran up to Sora and Sakura, wrapped her arms around them and hugged them.

"You can't believe how happy I am to see you all!" she said backing up. "Oh, Sora. I'm so sorry you were left behind. If I would have known…"

"Don't worry about it, Ino. From what I can see, you have a bigger situation to worry about," cutt in Sora with a smile.

Her friend looked at her curiously. The black hair girl looked much happier than when they had left.

"So, that's what you have been doing, eh?" asked Shikaku, looking around.

"Mr. Nara! Um, yes. We felt like we really needed to help them."

"Then we'll help too!" said Sakura as she was already off studying the damages.

"Where's Shikamaru?" asked Asuma.

"He should be in the back, sensei. I'd really be surprised if he wasn't."

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"He broke his left leg while trying to help a family out of a crumbling house. The roof fell down on him, but thankfully, only his leg was injured," Ino explained.

Sora swallowed hard. She was facing conflicting feelings. She was worried sick for the boy but at the same time she was still hesitant about going to see him. She then felt a hand on her shoulder.

"How about we go look at how he is?" Asuma offered softly.

She hesitated for a few second but then nodded. Seeing her approval, Ino smiled and led them to the back of the building. Just as she turned a corner, she shouted gleefully:

"You have visitors!"

"If it's the family again then they'll have to excuse me but I have gotten enough gratitude already," said a miserable voice.

"Well, aren't you grumpy!" said Asuma walking forth.

"Sensei!" Shikamaru said while trying to get up but fell back down when a shot of pain went through his leg. "What a bother," he added with a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was sent out to find you three obviously. I'm here with your dad, Sakura, and…" he told him while turning his head toward Sora who was still nervously standing just before the corner.

Hesitantly, she walked forth. As soon as he saw her, he looked down sadly to avoid her stare, all while adding: "Oh." His reaction was hurtful. She looked at him in hope that he would look back up and make eye contact but soon realized that it wouldn't happen any time soon. She turned around to leave, as this was too painful for her, but just then, Sakura showed up, blocking her path.

"Heard Shikamaru was injured too, so I came to help him get back on his feet!" announced Sakura with a smile.

With a weak smile, the black hair girl backed up to the group to let the medic ninja walk in. Taking advantage of this situation, Asuma walked around the girl and stood in front of the only exit. With one look, she knew that he wasn't about to let her out. Together, with Ino, they watched Sakura perform her jutsus and after a few minutes she announced:

"There, your leg isn't broken anymore but you will need to walk with some support until the pain goes away and you're able to walk around properly again."

The boy thanked her. The medic's declaration made both Ino and Asuma share a look which made them smile. They both had the same idea.

"You know, seeing how you'll need some fresh air and how you'll need someone to look over you, you'll be better off with someone supporting you," started Ino.

"Now that I think about it, Sora is a tad shorter than Shikamaru," continued Asuma.

Sora's eyes widen. She knew exactly where those two were going and so did Shikamaru. Both of them looked at the two speakers and said at the exact same time:

"No!"

"We're not giving you a choice here," said the sensei.

With her hands on her hips, Ino added: "You two really have been ruining the mood in our team."

Sakura who had followed their train of thought and said with a knowing smile:

"Some time together will help you solve your differences! It's perfect!"

Shikamaru let out a frustrated sigh while Sora covered her face with her right hand. There was really no getting out of this.

And so, with his arm resting around her neck, Shikamaru was slowly walking around with Sora's help. It was both funny and sad to watch them. While they looked very uncomfortable being so close to each other, they weren't talking either. Neither of them had said a word ever since they walked out of the shelter together. It was really surprising how they had managed to walk together without communicating their intentions. It was really interesting.

Through the village, Sora noticed a lot of villagers smiling and waving at Shikamaru. It was obvious how thankful they were for the ninjas' help ever since the storm happened. After evaluating all the damage and the progress of the repair, they ended up at the edge of the town. That was when their lack of communication finally caught up to them. While Shikamaru had been hoping to go left, Sora was heading right where she could see a park. Too curious about the untouched place, she did not notice Shikamaru's struggle. When the boy eventually fell down, she looked perplexedly down at him.

Afraid of starting another fight, she kneeled down without really making eye contact or saying a word, and took his arm to put it around her neck. However, she failed at getting back up with him as they couldn't synchronize their efforts.

"Wouldn't it be better if we counted to three?" he finally had the courage to say.

"If that's what you want," she mumbled.

They then counted together and at three they combined their efforts to successfully get up. She then stood there waiting to see where he wanted to go, realizing that supporting him meant going in the direction he wanted. Shikamaru stared thoughtfully at the girl.

"Did you want to go see the park?"

She bit her lip. "If you want to," she finally managed to say.

He smiled lightly but, looking away, Sora didn't see it. When Shikamaru took a step toward the park, she started moving in the same direction. Once they were there, Shikamaru pointed at a bench which the girl headed for. As they sat down, Sora took the time to sit at a certain distance from the boy. Carefully, she looked in another direction. Shikamaru rubbed his neck uncomfortably.

"You know, I appreciate your help. I know you're not really a fan of close contact," he told her, deciding that maybe they could talk their problems out.

Truth was that Shikamaru had really missed the girl and the good times they used to have together. But the only response he got was a nod of acknowledgement. He sighed.

"If there's something you want to see in the village, just let me know. We can try to slowly head there," he tried again.

Although looking away, Sora finally answered. "I don't want to see anything. As long as I can get you around then I'm happy."

Shikamaru kept staring at the girl. Here, without anyone pressuring them, he wanted to try to fix things.

"You don't look happy…" he commented.

"How can you know?" she asked.

"After all the years I've known you, I should know," he said jokingly but the girl didn't respond. He started thinking and tried again: "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting."

The girl couldn't take it anymore. She got up and, with her arms crossed, she took a few steps away while taking deep breaths. All during this, Shikamaru waited patiently. He understood now all the pain he had inflicted her with and was willing to wait no matter how long it would take to fix things.

"Why did you exclude me from the mission? Do you not consider me a part of the team anymore?" she finally asked with her back still toward the boy.

"It was to protect you," he tried to explain.

"I can defend myself pretty well, if you ask me. But wait, you didn't."

"I know that, you wouldn't be a chuunin if you couldn't," Shikamaru answered with an as-a-matter-of-fact expression.

Sora turned around and studied the boy's expression. She didn't follow his logic. Shikamaru, still holding her stare, wondered if she would believe him if he told her the truth. Deciding that he had nothing more to lose, he continued.

"But Ino is pretty hard to fend off when she puts her mind into something."

Now, she was really lost. Protect her from Ino? What the hell?! was literally her only thought. She frowned, clearly not understanding.

"Tell me, how has it been going with Daichi?" he tried to explain.

Automatically, Sora was on the defence. "If you want to get mad at me again for finding someone who likes me then I'm just going to walk away and let you crawl back on your own."

Not expecting this, he made himself more comfortable on his bench, thinking about how he could explain this.

"I promise I won't overreact this time. I simply want to know," he said sincerely.

"It's been...okay," she answered hesitantly.

Shikamaru blinked in surprise. Was that guy not making her happy? Could it be that Ino was right after all?

"Well, Ino had this theory about you two…" he started.

Her hands going down to her hips, Sora leaned her head on one side while looking at her friend. She had a sickening feeling that she knew where he was going with this.

"She says that she's sure that you two won't last for very long. Apparently, he doesn't really bother to make sure that you're fully happy with his decisions."

Uh oh, thought Sora. Was that why Ino had absolutely wanted to talk to her before she left?

"So she was planning on ruining your relationship," continued the boy hesitantly. He was trying to predict what her reaction would be but had no idea.

"That Ino pig," spat out angrily Sora, using one of the many expressions that Sakura would have normally used to insult her friend. "I can't believe she would do that!"

"And that's why I asked to be only three for this mission and brought her with me," the boy cut in.

Sora froze, her eyes widening. She studied the boy's expression and could only see sincerity.

"You mean that you…" she started. She then thought back about their couple fights and asked: "then why…?"

"I acted the way I did?" he finished for her. He suddenly looked uncomfortable, not quite ready to share his feelings yet. "Let's just say that I was just acting stupid and Ino didn't help. I'm sincerely sorry for that. Will you accept my apologies?" he asked looking at her awkwardly.

She stood there thinking for a few seconds. Out of all the theories she had created on why Shikamaru was acting this way, she had never thought about this one, including Ino in the picture even less. Now that she thought back, Ino was acting a bit over friendly with her. She finally sighed.

"Apology accepted."

Shikamaru smiled, relief washing over his face. Sora went to sit back down beside him.

"I guess I need to apologize too," she said.

"Don't. It was perfectly understandable to me. Except, maybe, calling me a coward," he said jokingly.

His joke, however, made her feel horrible. She knew that he hated, above all, being called that. Seeing her expression, he rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, I'm joking."

"I'm still sorry," she said twirling her fingers together nervously.

"How about we try to act like we've always been good friends, like before?" he offered.

She smiled at the thought. She did horribly miss hanging out and talking to her friend like she used to.

"Deal!" she giggled.

"Well, would you look at that?" Shikaku said from the doorway of the shelter, looking outside.

The others walked to the entrance to see what the man saw. There, coming back toward them, Shikamaru and Sora were walking back together in silence, with a smile painted on their face.

"Finally!" sighed Asuma.

"I knew they would work it out!" Ino told everyone happily.

When the two arrived, Choji asked hesitantly:

"So… are you two okay now?"

Sora smiled. "Yeah." She then looked angrily at Ino before adding, "but as for you…"

"Uh oh…" the blonde girl mumbled knowing full well that her teammate must have known about her plan now. "I'm sorry! Trust me, I am! But I swear that my theory's right! I was just trying to limit the damage!" she tried to explain.

"I'm just glad that Shikamaru stopped you before," Sora simply said.

Truth was that the black hair girl was so used to her teammate's way of acting that it didn't surprise or even upset her all that much anymore. After nodding to Shikamaru, they both continued to walk in to settle the boy down in a comfortable spot. Behind them, everyone smiled at the sight of those two being together again.

And that's it. So honestly, I'm already thinking of some great idea for a second story which would be a sequel to this one. It be quite dark but it'd be really great I think. Anyone has any opinion/suggestions?

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