The trio had gone down the mountain as fast as they could and, without a word, started following the river. Running along it, they kept their eyes peeled for any sign of Sora. No one wanted to speak up. It was as if words could make the current situation real.

Shikamaru was ahead of the group. He had all his attention focused on the river while his teammates followed closely behind. As soon as the thought that Sora could no longer be alive would cross his mind, he would push it to the back of his mind. He had kept his mind so blank that he barely heard Ino until she actually managed to grab his arm.

"Shikamaru! It's getting too hard to see without the sun."

Not fully understanding what she meant, he looked up at the sky. The sun was almost set and the sky was a dark purple. Blinking in surprise, he looked back at his two teammates whom were staring at him in worry.

"We need to keep going," he told them urgently.

"I understand Shikamaru, but we don't want to run past her either…" mumbled Choji.

"We are equally as worried as you," added Ino.

The boy stared at both his friends. He wanted to keep going but his mind, which was telling him that they were right, was starting to kick back in.

"I…" he said while looking around them hesitantly.

Seeing him so unsure, Ino took pity and walked closer to him. She softly put both her hands on his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"It's going to be okay. You have to believe in the best scenario."

"But what if…"

"She's right. Sora would have never made the jump if she thought she wouldn't survive it," added Choji encouragingly.

Finally, Shikamaru's mind was fully working and processing what they were telling him. They were right. Sora was smart enough to plan ahead of time. She always had an affinity with water so perhaps she felt like it was no danger to her. With these more positive thoughts in mind, he sighed and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he was feeling a little bit better.

"You guys are right. Let's make camp. We'll start looking as soon as the sun comes up."

With a nod, both his teammates started making camp. Joining them, he helped with the tent. However, when they started making a fire, he told them that he was tired. Although it was obvious that his friends were worried about him, he left to go lay down in the tent. Lying on his back there, alone, he let his mind go loose. He was analyzing everything he had known up to now. In his mind, he was exploring every possibility. Soon enough, he came to realize that he needed to see Sora at least one more time. He didn't want her to think that he thought she rejected him. She needed to know how, in fact, he had been happy to have shared that kiss.

Though he had thought he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, he slowly but surely slumbered deep into dreams.

As soon as the sun had gone up, the team hurried to pick up camp and left when they were ready. They continued to follow the river flow looking for more leads. The more time moved on, the more the teams were getting more and more discouraged again. Their mood was obviously affected by the lack of clues.

Few hours past when they finally reached a small village. The team slowed down as they walked through it. Though they were still looking for Sora, they were mostly impressed with the village's system which allowed the villagers to survive on the river's flow. Walking through the village, though, gained them a few unfriendly stares. For some reason, the trio was obviously not welcomed here. Regardless of that fact, the team still stopped at a small market near the end of town. There, they were surprised to be welcomed with open arms by a friendly elderly owner.

"Welcome! Welcome! How could I help you?"

The trio, overly exhausted from running constantly, leaned against the counter.

"We need some refreshers. Anything will do, really," told him Shikamaru.

Instantly, the man's face light up.

"Ah! Let me bring you my specialty drink then!"

As soon as he said this, the man left all smile in the back of the shop. Ino gave a questioning look to Shikamaru but he only shook his shoulders, unsure by what the man was going to bring back. On the other side of the blonde girl, Choji managed to pull out a bag of chip after rummaging through his backpack quite intensively. Happy, he opened up the bag and started eating the whole content in order to replenish his strength and energy. It would seem like the team was just too exhausted all together to talk. Thus, quietly, they waited until the owner came back with three glasses.

"Heeere you go!" he said as he gave them the drinks.

At first, they looked at the drink which had a strange yet transparent color. After a few seconds of staring at their glass, Choji couldn't take it anymore and chugged the whole content.

"Woah! This is amazing! Can I have one more please?" he asked all excitedly.

Following his example, Ino and Shikamaru tried their own glass. A surprisingly sweet fruity flavor filled their mouths.

"This is amazing!" complemented Ino. "What exactly is this?"

"It's a secret," answered the man with wink. "Did you want another one?"

She shook her head vigorously. Never had she drank any as tasteful as this before. The owner once again left at the back to get new drinks.

"This is really refreshing. Exactly what we needed," continued Ino as she continued to stare at her glass.

"Quite surprisingly so," added Shikamaru with a nod.

The man once again came back with three more glasses. As he gave another to Shikamaru, he said:

"I know you didn't ask for seconds but I assumed you would still like another one…"

The boy nodded as a thank you and the man smiled. While they drank their second glass, Shikamaru looked outside to see a few more villagers walking by. Most of them were giving them some very hostile glares.

"I'm sorry to ask sir, but why do these people seem so upset to see us?"

"Ah, an incident happened a few years ago. This village was quite badly affected by a shinobi dispute that happened near here. Ever since then, a great amount of villagers have been left scarred by that event and thus don't like shinobis, such a you, very much. Don't worry though; there are still a few good souls such as my wife and me who don't share their opinion. In fact, if you are ever looking for a place to stay, my wife's hotel, right behind here, still has several available rooms!"

"Ah, thank you but we are currently on the lookout for... something. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we appreciate your invitation though," Shikamaru answered all while looking at his teammates nodding in agreement.

"Haha, we don't see nice and respectful kids like you bunch quite as often anymore. Know what? The drinks are on me today! Enjoy them!"

"Thank you so much sir!" chimed Choji.

"We appreciate this so much!" added Ino.

The blonde girl looked back at their leader when she realized that he had not reacted. That was when she noticed that he was staring off in the distance again. Worried that he might sink back into yesterday's state, she tried making conversation.

"Hey, Shikamaru?"

The boy snapped back to reality at the mention of his name. After blinking a few times, he looked back at her.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know to look down for the headband back there?"

Embarrassed, the boy looked down at his glass, making the little bit of juice that was at bottom twirl in circles.

"Well... This is going to sound crazy."

"Try me."

"I saw several dragonflies. One of them caught my attention and it flew near the headband..."

"Dragonflies, huh?" said Ino thoughtfully.

"Well, if you want my opinion, it doesn't sound all that crazy to me!" chimed the owner from the other side of the counter. "In fact, we currently have a guest who's quite fond of them. They are such an interesting kind of insect. Don't you think?"

"They are! Our friend really loved them a lot!" answered enthusiastically Choji.

"Choji!" shouted angrily Ino as she spun around.

"What?" he said, looking at her blankly.

"How could you talk about Sora in the past tense like she's... like she's... dead!?"

Shikamaru slammed his glass on the counter.

"Ah! S-sorry... I didn't realize..."

"Let's go. We wasted enough time already," said Shikamaru sharply.

Ino gave an angry look at Choji as she got up and ran after their leader who had already started leaving. Just before leaving, the brown hair boy spun around and looked at the kind owner.

"Sorry for leaving so abruptly! We really appreciate everything! We'll definitely be back if we're around here."

"It's all good. I really hope you find what you are looking for!" said the owner with a huge smile on his face.

The boy ran after his two teammates.

"Guys! Wait!"

When he caught up to them, he apologized once again to his teammates. Those were the last words spoken for a while. Though their trip through the village had made them feel a bit more positive, their mood had come crashing right back down.

Following the river, it took them another two hours until they reached the frontier separating the two countries. With the limit of the land came the end of the river. The team stopped abruptly as they saw the crazy water flow go down into a great waterfall.

In panic, they spread out around the part of the river where big rocks where coming out of the water. If there was any chance that Sora had gotten all the way out here, she would be around these parts. Worried, Ino and Choji looked at Shikamaru to see what they should do.

The boy first looked around them. There were trees both east and west from there. North of them was the Hidden Mist country and south was where the river came from.

"Ino, go east. Choji, west. Meet back here in.. Let's say... 3 hours."

Both nodded and left right away, not wasting any time. Once they were gone, Shikamaru started looking through the rocks in the water. They formed a kind of gate as there was very little space in between them. It would be hard for a body to slip through. That single thought made him grind his teeth. "She is not dead", he kept repeating himself over and over again.

After rolling up his sleeves, he plunged both his arms in the water. He inspected each rock and the space in between them thoroughly, making sure he wasn't missing anything. It took quite a while but suddenly one of his hands hit something that did not feel like a rock. Before taking it out of the water, Shikamaru took a deep breath, preparing from the worse.

Out of the water he pulled a small pouch. Holding it carefully, he opened it and looked inside. Bandages, paper bombs, kunai knives and a few scrolls were soaking wet. At the bottom completely, he found a folded paper with a few pencils. He opened it the best he could and there, though it was distorted a bit by the water, he saw one of Sora's drawings.

Taken by a sudden wave of panic, he threw the pouch on the side of the river and resumed looking in the water. As he reached the last rock, it was becoming quite obvious that he would find nothing more. He got straight up and looked at his surrounding again.

"SORA!" he called out at the top of his lungs.

But no answer came.

After slowly coming out of the river, he let himself fall down on the ground beside where the pouch had previously landed. Elbows on his knees, he hid his face in his hands. They were too late; he thought as his world came crashing down on him.