Good morning (or afternoon/evening - depending when you'll be reading this) everyone! This chapter is actually short but has some fluff in it.

Next update should be on Monday.

Enjoy.

-Insert "Disclaimer" here- (Seriously though, I think it's pretty obvious that I don't own Naruto, right?)

When reaching the training ground that her team usually used, Sora made sure to scan the whole area to make sure that no one else was there. She wanted to make sure not to be disturbed while making some experiments. Finally satisfied by being alone, she stood in the middle of training ground, where there was an open space, and with a hand sign made several clones of herself.

"Sheesh, I really do look awful..." she mumbled while looking at her clones' bruised face.

She then counted how many clones there was: eleven. With a smile, Sora proudly thought about how she was now able to do so many of them with no problem.

"Listen up everyone! You are all me so you basically already know what I want and how I want us to train. Go all out and have fun!"

All the clones nodded and disappeared. The plan was simple: survival training. The last one standing won. While the other clones cannot perform any jutsus, she could and, at the same time, she would get more practice on that level too. Now running through the trees, Sora was trying to make a plan in her head. As a team, Shikamaru would always make the plans so she needed to practice that too.

Suddenly, the girl noticed a movement behind her. Just in time, she substituted herself with a log of wood as a kunai knife was about to hit her in the back. Grabbing some shurikens, she threw them at the clone that had thrown the kunai and it went down in a puddle of water.

"One!" she said gleefully.

As she celebrated her victory, she barely dodged another flying kunai knife that flew near her face. Jumping up and skipping from tree to tree, she looked behind her to see another one of her clones.

"Geez. Trying to kill me much?" she shouted at it.

"If that's what it takes to win then there's no other option!" it replied.

"What the hell!"

"Hey, it was you who made us and asked us to have survival training!"

Sora opened her mouth but then shut it close while hiding her face in one hand.

"I can't believe I'm arguing with myself:"

At the next tree, she spun around it and reaching the other side of it, threw a kunai at the clone that was chasing her. Struck in the chest, it fell down to the ground and crashed in a puddle of water. Landing down beside the puddle, she calculated roughly the amount of water there was for her to perform a jutsu. Not enough yet. Turning around, she blocks just in time another clone's punch. Defeating this one was harder as they fought using only taijutsu, one of her weakest point. When she managed to strike it down into a puddle of water, she was breathing heavily. This training was becoming harder than she thought but at least now she had enough water to do her jutsus. So when she noticed another movement on her left, Sora was able to perform several hand signs and say:

"Water release: bullet points jutsu."

Small balls of water formed in the puddles near her and flew toward the movement she had perceived. Most of them struck the nearby trees, leaving deep holes in the them, and at least one hit the clone as Sora heard the familiar sound of a clone transforming back into water.

"Four!"

Shikamaru had come back home after guiding Temari and her team around Konoha until she was finally satisfied enough to let him go. To his disappointment, Sora wasn't home yet. He had been sure that she would head back directly here seeing how uncomfortable she was with walking around with bruises on her face.

When, later on, Ino came by to bring the powder she had promised to bring to her friend, he started to worry.

"You'll make sure that she will come tonight, right?" asked the girl when Shikamaru announced that Sora wasn't there.

"Yes, Ino, I will make sure that she comes," he answered with a sigh.

"And you won't bail out either, right?" she asked while looking sceptical.

The boy simply nodded while rolling his eyes.

"Good, give her this and tell her that there's a mirror in it for her," she finally said satisfied as she put the little powder case in his hands. "I'm counting on you!" And with that, she was gone.

What was she up to now? That only thought troubled the boy. Ino was already hard to keep up with so when she was planning something, he always worried about what girly dangers he would have to face. Quickly putting away the powder case in his back pouch, he decided to head out to find Sora.

He first started with her house just in case she had gone there to get something. When he saw that she wasn't there, he then went up to the little hill that the girl liked so much. Still no luck. The only thing he could think now was to walk aimlessly around the village which got another sigh out of him. Such a drag.

After half an hour of walking through the streets looking for the girl, it was by pure luck that he ran into Reena.

"Hey, Reena!" he called out.

She looked around till she saw him.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Aren't you with the sand nins?"

"No, I went home to go meet Sora before the party but she hasn't returned yet. Now I can't find her anywhere. Would you know where she is?" he asked hopeful.

With her hands on her hips, she started thinking for a moment. Reflecting back on their conversation, she had an idea.

"Have you checked the training grounds?"

"Huh?" he said confused. "Why would she be there?"

"Well... I think she felt the need of trying something new," she answered vaguely, carefully avoiding the mention of Temari in order to keep her best friend's secret.

"That's weird... but sure, I'll go check it out. Thanks," he finally told her.

As it was getting dark, he decided to check the training ground his team usually went to in order to train. When he reached it, he looked and listened for any sign of the girl but, not seeing her anywhere, he came to the conclusion that she wasn't there. It's only when he was about to leave that he noticed a dark blue sweater bundled up on the ground near a tree. He walked up to it and picked it up, confirming that it was Sora's. He rolled up the hoodie and pinned it under his arm. Now he had to look for her.

With the sun coming down quickly, he almost stumbled over Sora while looking for her through the trees. Luckily, though, he saw her just as he was going to set his foot down. There, on the ground, she was sleeping soundly. When kneeling down beside her, Shikamaru noticed how she was covered with scratches and dirt. He shook her by the shoulder till she finally woke up.

"Hn?" she said sleepily while opening one eye.

"Time to wake up, princess. It's dark, we have a party to go to, and from the looks of it, you need a good shower and a new set of clothing."

She sat up slowly and looked around in confusion. Then, she remembered where she was and a smile spread across her face.

"What are you doing here anyways?" asked the boy.

"Training! I'm going to be stronger!"

"Geez, are you pulling on me the same thing that Choji did a few years back?" he asked exasperated at the memory. His friend had become really strange and insisted on training all the time. It was really night and day from his usual self.

"Maybe..." she mumbled while getting up.

After taking a few steps, she became wobbly from fatigue, tripped and fell forward. Luckily, however, Shikamaru had been faster and caught her before she could touch the ground.

"Geez, Sora! You pushed yourself too far again. You really need to take care of yourself more!" he scowled her.

In his arm, she started blushing which, thankfully for her, the growing darkness hid. Keeping her hands on him, he turned around and kneed down so she could do a piggy back. First in silence, they started heading toward Shikamaru's house. Finally noticing where they were heading, Sora spoke up:

"Hey, aren't we going to the party?"

"Not before you clean yourself up."

The girl pouted. Observing her silence, Shikamaru chuckled.

"Seriously, who's the feminine figure between the two of us? You troublesome woman!"

She wiggled around on his back.

"Shikamaru! I hate when you call me like that! I thought you had more respect for me!" she declared on a childish voice.

"Well, my apologies, my lady! Better?" he said with a smile.

She giggled. "Yeah!"

When they reached his house, they walked in and very carefully, Shikamaru set the girl down and made sure that she could stand up by herself. She was still a bit shaky but she could manage. As fast as she could, she took a shower and then got dressed in a slightly more fashioned matter. Maybe Shikamaru didn't care whether they were going to be late or not but she certainly did. She didn't want to be scowled by either Ino or Reena, who already has to face her boyfriend's constant lateness. When she walked down the stairs to find the boy in the living room, she spun around.

"So, do you think I will be up to Ino's party dress-up standard?"

He got up, fighting back the urge of telling her how darn beautiful she looked. Then remembering about Ino, Shikamaru took the powder case out from his back pouch and handed it over to the girl.

"You definitely will be if you use her powder."

"Oh right! She did say that she'd bring it to me!"

The powder was really magical. Surprisingly, it hid all her face's bruises without making it too obvious that there was powder on it.

"Hey, give me the powder for a sec."

Confused, the girl handed over the case. Taking a bit of powder, he stretched his hand and covered Sora's neck bruises. The girl had thought about covering her wrists' with bandages but had totally forgotten about her neck. The contact of him touching her neck sent shivers down her spine.

"Um, t-thank you, now let's go!" she quickly said while taking back the case of powder and putting it in her pocket.

"Did you want to go on my back again?" he offered.

"No, no! I'm good!"

"Good, you're heavy," he mumbled as he walked out of the house.

"Hey!" she shouted at him half angry.

And that's it for this chapter. Next chapter is longer though.

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