Hi everyone, sorry for how long it took me to put this up. It's a bit hectic at work right now so I'm going to go back to one update a week for a while.

Thanks everyone for reading this far. I'm also always happy to hear your comments and opinion!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.

It had now been three days that Sora was staying at Shikamaru's house. It was a bit awkward at first but the girl was now starting to be comfortable. The only issue there was, really, was that she was a bit afraid of walking outside with the way she looked. Her trip to the hospital had been the last time she had walked out. Shikamaru, who also had noticed this, decided that it was time for her to take some fresh air.

And so, today the team was to meet for lunch at noon. This was kind of a second attempt to Ino's first plan that had turn quite wrong since at the end there was only her and Choji that fully participated. Shikamaru was waiting patiently, with their food in his hands, outside the guest room, waiting for Sora to feel comfortable enough to come out. When she finally did, she was gripping on to her hoodie for dear life. It was her only protection from everyone's staring.

However, when they walked out, she realized that it wasn't so bad. In fact, most people didn't even bother to look at her to begin with. The only thing that the others might sometime have looked at was the impressive dragonfly design that was printed on her back, which really cause no worries. Seeing the girl relax gradually made the boy walking by her side smile.

"See? It's not so bad now is it?"

The girl sighed.

"I guess I was dramatizing a bit…"

They later on reached the top of the academy room where Choji and Ino were already waiting.

"You two came!" happily shouted out Ino.

She ran up to the two arrivals but slowed down when she saw Sora's face hidden under her hoodie.

"Sora… is that why we haven't seen you for the last few days?"

The black hair girl rubbed her right arm awkwardly.

"Yeah."

"It's him, isn't it?"

Sora nodded. The blonde girl got angry.

"Well when I get my hands on him…"

Shikamaru stopped her with a chuckle.

"Oh trust me, he's been taking care of!"

Choji, who had walked closer, looked wide-eyes at Shikamaru, thinking that he was the one who had taken care of Daichi. Behind the two arrivals, Asuma appeared.

"He'll remember to stay away. I made sure of it," the man said with a knowing smile.

Ino and Choji finally decided to give up on knowing what happened. Happily, they simply walked back to the place where they had already spread out the food they brought and from the looks of it, Choji had already started eating.

"You guys were taking a lot of time…" he said as an excuse while scratching the back of his head.

While the group ate, they tried to catch Sora up on what she had missed these last few days. But to be honest, she hadn't exactly missed anything. They were all just hoping for another mission soon but Asuma decided that it would probably great to catch up on their training. While the boys started discussing with their sensei about what they wished to improve, Sora noticed that Ino kept staring at her. Getting uncomfortable, she told her:

"Ino… I know that my face looks horrible right now. Could you stop staring at it?"

Ino looked surprised.

"Oh no, sorry! I wasn't staring at you because of that! I was actually thoughtful. I think I might have a kind of powder that might suit you. It would probably help to hide the bruising!"

"Oh?" said Sora interested.

She never appreciated any kind of makeup like the other girls but she didn't appreciate looking the way she was right now either. So the blonde girl's offer was actually interesting.

"Yeah! If you want, I can come by and drop it off at your house this afternoon!" Ino answered gleefully.

"Thanks!" said the girl happy. "Oh wait. Not my house. Right now, I'm still staying at Shikamaru's house."

"Oooooh?" said Ino suddenly overly interested by what she was saying.

"Yeah, his parents insisted that I stay over until we are sure that Daichi stays away from me," she explained awkwardly.

"Well that's interesting!" the gossip queen said with a huge smile.

"Ino, leave it," said Shikamaru from the other side of Sora.

The girl pouted. She was excited at the thought that those two were maybe getting closer but she wanted to make sure before announcing it proudly at Sakura and the other girls. However, it was hard to get anywhere with Shikamaru keeping a close eye on her. He was getting too used to her making her investigations.

At the end of lunch, the group split up, deciding to meet at the training ground tomorrow to train furthermore. As everyone walked away, Shikamaru and Sora were walking beside each other in the middle of town. When they turned around a corner, they noticed a group of several ninjas walking together. They recognized all of them almost right away.

"Reena, you're back!" shouted out Sora happily.

The girl with white hair slowed down and turned around.

"Sora!" shouted the girl.

She ran up to the two with a smile.

"It's nice to see the two of you again!" But her happy expression faded away when she saw her best friend's face. "What the hell happened to you?"

The black hair girl had come to forget about the state of her face.

"Oh, um… there's a lot that happen during your mission. I can tell you all about it over some tea somewhere?"

Reena tilted her head curiously but decided not to push the matter any further, at least for now. She simply nodded in agreement.

"Ok. I need to make my report and make sure everything's okay with the hidden sand nins first. Did you want to follow us to the Hokage's building or meet me in an hour somewhere?"

Before answering, the black hair girl turned to look at Shikamaru to see what he thought about it to notice that he wasn't beside her anymore. Looking a bit around, she saw him standing with the rest of the group, talking with Temari. Sora rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably under her hoodie.

"Well, I guess we'll be following the group."

Following from behind, Sora eyed Kankuro, Temari and two others hidden sand nins that were in the group.

"So why are there sand nins here?" asked Sora to her friend.

"Hm? Oh, because there's been problems with some missing nins that are causing issues on the roads between Suna and here. We eventually ran into them and seems like Gaara wants to work out a plan with Lady Tsunade to fix the problem together."

"Oh..." Sora said thoughtfully while looking at Temari, in front of her, who was openly flirting and chatting with Shikamaru.

Naruto, who seemed to have been on Reena's team, was trying to make plans with Lee, Kiba, and Kankuro for a party. While both listening to Naruto and watching her best friend staring down Temari, Reena said to Sora:

"So, if Naruto manages to throw that party of his, want to come?"

"Huh?" asked Sora confused as she hadn't been listening.

Reena smiled and bumped her shoulder against her's.

"If you keep staring her down like that, everyone, including Naruto, will notice," the white hair girl whispered.

"Ah! S-sorry!" whispered back her friend.

"Hey, no need to apologize!"

Sora was actually discouraged. She had been working so hard on getting closer to Shikamaru that now it seemed like it was all going out through the window. When the group arrived at the Hokage's building, Shikamaru and Sora waited outside while the group went in to report. While they were waiting, the two leaned on a wall and stayed there in silence. From the corner of his eye, the boy noticed that the girl was nervously tugging on her hoodie.

"You okay?" he asked worried.

The girl jumped and looked at him.

"Y-yeah. I just started worrying about how my face looks again..."

The boy smiled.

"Hey, worst case scenario, you can tell people that you got that from a mission."

The girl giggled.

"Yeah, I just got to say that someone got around my justus and I couldn't defend myself against..."

Realizing what she was saying, she stopped mid-sentence and bit her lip. Of course, she wasn't as a good of a ninja as Temari or the others and it bothered her.

"Hey Sora," said the boy to bring her back to reality. "What's bothering you? Did Ino say something wrong again while I wasn't looking?"

His question made her smile. Yes of course, Ino could be annoying but she got used to it. So when she was going to open her mouth to explain how she felt, they were interrupted by the door opening and several people coming out. First came Naruto who was incredibly excited about being able to throw a party and then Kiba, Lee, and the sand nins. Noticing the boy that had waited for them, Temari came to see him.

"So before we go to his party, my team is starving and we'd like to go eat at one of the best places. Care to show us around?" she asked with a smile.

"I'd love to but I'm sure that the guys can show you around," answered the boy while motioning toward the other three.

"Yeah, I know. But they'll be busy preparing their party. Beside, you're fun to have around," she said while putting her finger against his left shoulder.

Shikamaru sighed. He finally accepted and asked Sora:

"Do you want to come with us? We already ate but.."

"No," she cut in with a huge smile. "I promised Reena to wait for her since we'll go out for tea!"

"Okay... see you later at my place before the party?" he asked just before leaving.

"Yeah!"

Reassured, Shikamaru turned and left with the group. He felt a bit guilty for leaving Sora alone as he kind of made a silent promise not to leave her by herself. What he didn't notice though was how the girl's reassuring smile transformed into a very sad one for a different reason than the boy would have thought.

"Hey Sora, you're going to come tonight, right? I'll try the best I can to clean up..." said Naruto standing behind her.

"Yeah, of course! I'm sure Choji and Ino will want to come too!" she answered.

"Awesome! See you tonight!" shouted the boy happily as he left with the other two.

It took roughly another 15 minutes before Reena came out. When the girl walked outside, she scratched her head feeling bad.

"Hey, sorry it took so long... I didn't expect to have to go in certain details," she said.

"No, it's fine," simply told her friend.

"What's with the long face? And where's Shikamaru and the others?"

"Naruto left to prepare his place for tonight's party and Shikamaru left with Temari and the sand nins."

"Ah," mumbled Reena, perfectly understanding how the girl felt. "Come on, let's go drink somewhere and talk it all out!"

After finding a little quiet tea place and receiving a very delighting lavender tea, Reena picked up her cup and blowing at it, asked:

"Ok, so what did I miss? Who did this to you?"

The girl took a deep breath and thought back. She first told her friend about the great time she had on Shikamaru's birthday then how she kissed him on the cheek but since he hadn't reacted, she had been afraid that he wasn't into her. So she kept her distance and around the same time bumped into someone incredibly nice called Daichi. Sora also explained how it went downhill with Shikamaru to the point where he had purposely left her out on a mission. However, she discovered his real motive and they became friends again.

The girl swallowed hard as she got to the hardest part: when Daichi hit her while trying to take advantage of her. She also added how Asuma scared her ex-boyfriend shitless - something she had not mentioned to anyone yet except Shikamaru. Reena looked very amused by her sensei's solution. Finally, she tied the knot of her story with how she was staying over at Shikamaru's for now.

"And now Temari," said Reena with a knowing smile.

"Yeah... I know it's stupid to be jealous," commented Sora.

"Hey! It's a normal reaction for anyone to be jealous but I don't think you need to worry too much."

"Maybe..." mumbled the black hair girl, unconvinced.

"Well, how about this: tell me what you think Temari has more than you?"

"Well... looks to begin with..."

Reena giggled. "You think Shikamaru's into looks?"

"No, but you never know! Maybe unconsciously he does!" tried to theorize Sora.

"Ok then… what else?"

The girl bit her lip. "Stronger. She's much stronger."

Her answer caught her best friend's full attention. Thoughtful, she asked:

"When was the last time you used your necklace?"

Sora's hand went up to the necklace that had stayed with her through everything that had happened recently.

"The training test."

The white hair girl sighed.

"You want to get stronger? Then learn how to use it properly."

Memories of the training flashed through Sora's mind. She swallowed uncomfortably.

"And how do I do that?"

Her friend smiled. "I know it scares you but that's maybe because I didn't explain its function properly the first time around. You see, the necklace doesn't only make your justus stronger. It makes your chakra more durable." Seeing the girl's confused look, she decided to give an example: "Your water clones. How many have you ever managed to do without your necklace?"

"Well, four. Five if I haven't used any chakra yet."

"But with this necklace, I bet you could make up to twenty of them! One problem though: you're not used to manipulating that much chakra. As soon as you would make your twenty clones, they would crumble down into a puddle."

"Then how can I fix that?" asked the girl now fully understanding.

"You'll have to get creative but I do have an idea for you. Make several clones; let's say ten since your chakra manipulation is still pretty darn good. After that, try to perform other techniques while still holding your clone technique. With lots of practice, I bet you could even create more techniques of your own," explained Reena with a huge smile.

Sora stared down at her cup, running her best friend's words through her mind. She was actually adding to it to some other ideas of her own in order to make it as complex as possible. With a plan finally in mind, she looked at her friend.

"You're the greatest! I need to go, though. I'm excited to try something out!" Getting up, she took some money out, put it on the table and then said to her friend: "I'll let you know about it tonight at the party if it works, okay?"

Reena nodded with a huge smile. Sora then ran off excitedly while her best friend was delighted that she was able to help her best friend.

And that's it. A bit short but it's because the next one is actually very long.

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