So this is a bit shorter than my usual chapters but I got a plan. Everyone stay calm! haha...

Anywho, enjoy!

Fourteen hours and twenty-three minutes; that is how long Shikamaru had waited home in hopes of hearing about some kind of updates about the situation with Sora. Looking up at the clock for the hundredth time in disbelief of how slow time moved, the boy couldn't convince himself to think of anything else. He rubbed his face vigorously while thanking god that he was alone today. He had not the patience to deal with his mom poking her nose in this situation.

In an ultimate attempt to make time go faster, he looked backed down at the pile of drawings that he had brought back from Sora's place. At first, he wasn't sure why he had brought them home with him but now he was sure that he was going to take advantage of this and make something nice for Sora's birthday. Like that, she would get a gift for her birthday and she would be happy. If we find her before her birthday... At the thought, he let out an angry sigh and looked back at the clock. God was the clock slow. Or should he blame time itself?

He almost jumped off his chair when someone banged loudly on the front door of his house. He knew he should go open up but he couldn't manage to convince himself to do it. Whatever energy he should have had just wasn't there anymore. He looked up at the ceiling wondering if energy could evaporate. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Of course not. It was just exhaustion that was messing up his mind.

Whoever was at the door knocked yet again.

"Shikamaru! I know you're there! Open up!" shouted Ino.

"Great," mumbled disheartedly the boy. He was not in the mood to deal with women, especially Ino.

Regardless, he slowly made his way to the door and with one last sigh, he opened it.

"Finally!"

In front of him stood not only Ino but also Choji. Both were wearing their vests and their equipment. Shikamaru eyed them curiously.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yes and you are too," answered Ino.

"Lady Tsunade changed her mind?" he asked.

"No, not really," answered Choji hesitantly.

"Ah."

Discouraged, Shikamaru slowly backed up and started to close the door on his friends. However, unlike him, they were full of energy and a simple door would not stand in their way. Just before the door could close fully, Ino pushed it opened hard and allowed herself, followed by Choji, in.

"Who else is here?" she asked while eyeing around.

"No one."

"Good," she answered.

At the response, Choji walked up the set of stairs and headed for his friend's room.

"Hey! Where the hell are you doing?"

He ran after his teammate all while Ino followed closely behind. Both teammates seemed in a rush. As they reached his room, Shikamaru spun around and tried to block access to Ino. However, she simply ducked under his arms that he had used to stop her and walked in his room.

"Woah! Whose drawings are those?" asked Choji while looking at the drawings that were everywhere on Shikamaru's bed.

As the boy was going to answer, Ino cut in.

"Never mind that. Shikamaru's where your equipment? We need to hurry."

Shikamaru finally had enough of his uncontrollable friends and snapped.

"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?"

Both stopped their frantic searching and looked at him with wide eyes. They were both clearly surprised by his sudden outburst. After looking at each other with a nod, Choji spoke up:

"We're going to go find Sora."

"But you said that Lady Tsunade has not changed her mind," he says while narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

He was starting to guess where this was going and was hoping like hell that it was just another trick that his mind was playing from exhaustion. Either that or it was their minds that were messed up.

"We're going regardless," finally answered Ino hesitantly as Choji started looking again.

"Guys, you do realize why we can't do this?"

Choji threw the chunnin vest he had just found in his face.

"Do you really want to stay here while Sora is somewhere out there? You want to keep waiting while not knowing if she's still alive? She is our teammate."

"And I know that you might be angry with her but…" added Ino.

The boy interrupted her.

"Wait. Why would I be angry?" he asked her while giving her a skeptical look.

"Because she rejected you?"

"She did?" asked both Choji and Shikamaru in equal confusion.

"No, she didn't! But from what she told me, it did seem like rejection, even if she didn't want it to be!"

"Okay, I'm confused…" said Choji, sadly.

"She didn't reject me Ino."

"So you didn't take it as a rejection?" asked the blond hair girl, now also confused.

"No!" said Shikamaru as he was becoming irritated.

"Oh… T-that's good…!" she answered nervously.

But the boy didn't let it go. He knew better than to just ignore her when she said something that wasn't right like this.

"Ino…" he started slowly. "What exactly did you tell her?"

"I… uh… nothing. Really!"

"Ino, don't make me repeat myself."

"Well, I found it weird that you reacted the way you did! I'm sorry if you're so weird!" she blurted out.

"Guys… I think I lost track of what's going on…" said Choji, uncertain.

"Once again, Ino shoved her nose where it didn't belong. That's what happened," answered Shikamaru dryly to his friend. Then looking back to Ino, he asked her: "You told her that I felt rejected, didn't you? You're the one who made her upset with you crazy imagination again. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong and ran away!"

Ino backed up slowly away from Shikamaru. She had never seen him getting this angry before and this new side of him was taking her aback.

"I didn't mean to, Shikamaru! I was trying to help!"

"And you did the exact opposite! Now she believes that I think I was rejected and, of course, was kidnapped! That's great Ino! That is just great!" shouted out Shikamaru.

Seeing his friend act so unusually, Choji stepped in between the two.

"Shikamaru, this is not like you."

The boy stared at his teammate who was blocking his view on Ino. After staring at him for a few seconds, he came to realize why he was saying this. With deep breaths, Shikamaru did his best to calm down. Definitely, his lack of sleep was making him do quite a few unusual things.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly.

"Don't be. Why don't we all go get Sora? Like that you can explain to her everything. How does that sound?" said Choji with a huge smile.

Shikamaru realized how much his best friend knew him. Looking at the vest that he had grabbed in his hands, he grew thoughtful. Truth was, he had had the same thoughts all day: to sneak out of Konoha and run after the three missing nins that had kidnapped Sora. The only problem was that he did not want to go against the rules. God knows how much trouble can be brought on a person that breaks the rules. For that reason, Shikamaru would usually stick in line. Usually.

Finally making up his mind, he slid his vest on and made sure to tie it up properly. Once he was done, Ino handed him his equipment, which she just had found, with a smile. After gathering anything else that he would need in a bag, Shikamaru looked at both his teammates.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

"Well, honestly, our plan was to convince you to lead our team out of Konoha," answered Choji.

"Yeah, you're usually the brain making all our plans for us," added the blond girl.

The black hair boy looked at both of them in disbelief. Not only were they pushing him into breaking the rules, they were expecting him to do all the decisions. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. He first decided to calm his mind in order to think more clearly. For once, that turned out to be difficult. There were just so many things to think about.

After several minutes of reflection, he reopened his eyes with now a determined look.

"First things first: do you guys have capes?"

Thankfully, they both had thought about bringing one in their bag. When they were all covered by a cape, they walked out of Shikamaru's house and jumped on a nearby rooftop in order to decide about their plan. Although it seemed hard to go through Konoha's gate unnoticed, Shikamaru pointed out that it was usually easier for people to walk out of the village for the simple fact that the guards automatically assumed that they are fine as they were allowed permission to come in. Thus, they just needed to walk out normally without showing any sign that would raise suspicions.

With that simple fact, they all headed to the main gate on foot in order to not bring any attention on them. The moment of truth came all too early when they reached the main gate. Holding their breath, they continued walking at what they hoped to be a regular speed. What should have been seconds seemed like minutes and even hours for the trio. Regardless, they safely managed to leave the village without even catching the guards' attention. They continued walking without looking back until they were far enough for them not to be seen by the gate.

"What now?" asked Ino as she stopped to look at the two guys.

The other two stopped to look back.

"Where should we go?" added Choji.

"Seeing how all the reports of the missing nins came from the shinobis that are investigating on the road between here and Suna, it is probably safe to assume that everyone is already looking there."

"So we head toward Suna?" asked the brown hair boy, trying to keep up with Shikamaru's train of thoughts.

"No. We go the opposite direction," he answered.

"What?" said the blond girl, confused.

"If the three missing nins are really smart enough to get into the village to kidnap someone, they'll definitely be smart enough not to go where a good two dozens of elite shinobis are waiting to catch them. We got the opposite way, toward Yugakure."

Unable to come up with any arguments about his logic, both teammates nodded. Without another word, they decided to move on in the decided direction, using the night in order to blend into the shadows.

That's it! We are back on track!