Yahallo! Quick note: This chapter starts a bit... huh... weird, but everything has a point, you'll see!
madeyemoody95: Thank you. God, I can't believe you actually did it! Never heard of learning with other people's mistakes?
I'm glad you liked it, I hope you enjoy this one as well.
Ken18: Txn. Well, Hinata's mom name never was revealed and it seemed weird to write a chapter about her in which she didn't have a name. So I chose one I liked - despite that Saya girl from Suna already having that name.
Hektols: That crossed my mind when I was writing it. But then I remembered Naruto got stuck on that crab's genjutsu in The last and thought: "Well, maybe Kurama realized it was a good intentioned genjutsu..." and I decided that it would be plausible.
I'm happy to know you liked it that much! And having so little information about them it's both great and terrible to write about. Although no one ever saw ChojiKarui coming, I think that their personalities match just fine. It a fun pairing, in the end.
chemistrykim: Yes, Neji's death was a terrible loss :'(
The idea of Karui being the one to pop the question... well, somehow seemed to suit them to me. Nice to know you find it cute.
Guest: Lol, Choji is quite lovelly in his own way ;D
SpicyWifey: Hahaha! This chapter is about ShikaTema, tell me what you thought about it later ^-^
The well was deep and dark and had a rotten and unmistakable smell of death, but Shikamaru, just to be sure, leaned in and asked to the two ANBU down there.
"The thief is there?"
"Yup." The man answered.
"He's dead?"
"Yup. It's pretty… gross. But the chest is here. It doesn't seem like it was ever opened."
"Ki, can you take pictures of him?"
"I'm on it, Shikamaru-sama." The female voice now answered.
"Thanks." He stepped back and took a long breath of fresh air. Ino and Choji went to him.
"So… we're here for nothing?" Ino mocked.
Shikamaru just shrugged. It was a peculiar mission. Daimyo's valet, his oldest employee, had stolen a chest of jewels from his personal collection and ran away. An "urgent message" had then been sent to the Hokage asking for the designation of a S-class mission to find the chest and execute the thief.
That's why the two ANBU were assigned.
Of course Naruto didn't agree with killing and old man for simple robbery, but he couldn't say that to the Daimyo because... well, politics, so the instructions were to find the chest and exile the old man. And that could be quite of a problem.
It was a good thing he died.
"We never thought all this people would be necessary. We just need to make the Daimyo to think we gave our all to accomplish his mission." Shikamaru explained.
Choji started to say something but was interrupted by the sudden approach of the male ANBU.
"Shikamaru-san, we found this note with the corpse." He said, handing him a folded paper. For some reason, Shikamaru had the impression that he was cracking up under that mask.
"Thanks. Hey, since there is nothing ANBUish for you to do, you and Ki can drop the masks and the codenames if you want."
Tatsuma Aburame then, slowly, pulled his hawk mask off.
"Okay. I will tell Harumi." Then he ran to the well again.
Ino made a sour face.
"Harumi. So it really is her." She hissed.
"Yeah... Harumi is an amazing genjutsu user, I heard she can make people kill themselves with the agony."
"Wow. I so don't care!" Ino answered. "Now, read the note."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and started reading out loud:
"Yes, I did. I stole your goddam chest just because I could! Maybe this will make your think twice before firing your valet just because you got 'tired of my face'. I hate you, Daimyo. You snore. And your wife has been spitting in your tea for years."
The trio laughed.
"We really need hand that to the Daimyo." Ino said.
"I think we could slid it inside the chest." Shikamaru chuckled. "I'll check on Harumi and Tatsuma. After they're done we can go back. I still have to discuss with Naruto how we should present this situation to the Daimyo."
"Right. I will take pictures for our report." Choji announced.
Shikamaru nodded then walked to the well. Harumi and Tatsuma had just came out.
"I'm done, Shikamaru-sama." She announced smiling brightly. "What should we do with the corpse?"
"He has... had... has no family or friends, so you can finish it." Shikamaru said.
Tatsuma nodded then jumped back inside the well. His bugs could handle the job.
Shikamaru turned to Harumi.
"So, is it true your genjutsu can kill a man?" He asked.
She rolled her eyes then stared deeply into his eyes. Immediately, Shikamaru felt something like a strong hit on his head that made his legs wobble and mind go blank. He fell forward, Harumi held him before he touched the ground.
"TaDa!" She exclaimed. "That was a weak one."
Shikamaru got back on his feet. "That was a genjutsu? It felt pretty real, but I guess that that's the point."
Harumi smiled again. Looking at her, Shikamaru wondered why Ino disliked her so much. She seemed an inoffensive girl.
"You have heterochromia!" He noticed her left was green while the right honey-colored. "Wow, I didn't notice earlier."
"Yeah, weird enough, it gets more noticeable in the shadows."
Shikamaru sheltered her eyes from the sun with his hands for a second. "Yeah, it's true."
Harumi smiled softly. "Sai-sama says I should use plum eyeshadow since it matches both with green and hazel eyes."
Shikamaru chuckled. "I'm not surprised. Did you know Sai was my wife's maid... I mean, man... of honor?"
Harumi laughed. "I know, Sai-sama had a picture of it on his office. Temari-san often visits too, but I never got to talk to her. How is she?"
"Troublesome." It was the very first thing that popped into his mind. "She never does what I'm expecting, she never ever remembers where did she leave her keys and she has this really annoying habit of using my arm as a pillow what makes it so tingly and numb it hurts... But I guess it would be way more troublesome to live without her, so..."
Harumi warm smile was back. "Shikamaru-sama, you really love her, don't you?"
"Yeah..." He also smiled. "I guess that's troublesome too."
"I'm done." Announced Tatsuma, climbing out of the well.
"Good, so that's it. Let's go back, if we leave now we might be home before the noon."
All that talk made him want to see his wife as soon as possible.
But she wasn't home when he got there.
Instead, he found a post-it on the door saying: "Went to Suna. BRB."
Shikamaru looked at the clock. Shikadai was most likely at school, so no reason to stay home. He just took a quick shower and dressed in fresh clothes then went back to the Hokage's office.
On the way, he found Ino.
"I just handed out report to the Seventh." She informed. "Say, Shikamaru, about Harumi…"
"Really? You're really obsessed with her, aren't ya?"
Ino narrowed her eyes. "I don't wanna hear that from you." And then, before he could ask what did she mean she waved him goodbye and said: "Whatever, later."
Frowning, Shikamaru got to Naruto's office.
"Hey, you're back already." The Hokage greeted, without looking up from his laptop. "I've received the report and just e-mailed it to Gaara. I had let him on guard in case of having to exile the thief, I thought I should let him know what happened to the mission."
"That's good. Something urgent happened while I was out?" Shikamaru asked, already resuming his place besides Naruto's desk.
"No. And everything went smoothly on your mission too, as far as I heard from Ino. I still haven't checked the report…" Naruto turned to look a dossier on his table. He flipped through it for a second then: "WOW!"
"What?" Asked Shikamaru, startled.
Naruto read the file some more. "Whatta…?" He looked at Shikamaru like he had just started to strip his clothes and do the hustle. The Seventh looked at the file again, then astonished look to Shikamaru…
"What?" The shadow user repeated.
"Explain yourself." Naruto bossed, using his Hokage tone. He slid the report to Shikamaru, who took it, shocked. What on the heck he meant?
The facts to be explained where there, printed on A4 paper sheets: in three of the photos Choji took for the report was Shikamaru in, apparently, intimate moments with Harumi.
"What the…? When was that taken?!"
"Are you sure that is the problem?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I didn't do nothing of these! I've never… Oh, I see! It's not what it looks like! I can explain it!"
"It's hard to believe... I mean, you're clearly kissing her neck here." Naruto said, pointing at one of the pictures.
"No! I had fallen because she genjutsu me up and Harumi hold me!"
"And this one, you two seem like you were kissing."
"I wanted to see her eyes better, that's why my face is so close... What's up with those bad angles, Choji?"
Naruto frowned. "And what about this one? The angle is frontal, you can totally see you were smiling pretty fondly at her."
Shikamaru looked at the photo. That was true, but...
"We were talking about something... good."
Naruto's frown relaxed. "Oh, I see. That's good. You've got me worried for a second, you know your marriage is a question of international peace."
Shikamaru smiled. "It's okay. Everything will be fine as long Temari doesn't see it... Wait, did you just say you've sent it to Gaara?"
Naruto froze. "Shikamaru, go. Now."
"I'm on my way." He flew out the window.
No explanations were necessary.
You see, Temari and Shikamaru's marriage had generated a big commotion back then. The things were still delicate. It was a fact that the current Kazekage's sister and his predecessor's daughter was now the wife of the Hokage's advisor and personal guard. Sure, they were professionals who could keep personal matters apart, but it was hard to believe Gaara and Kankuro would keep it professional once they started to think their dear sister's husband was cheating on her right in the middle of a mission. And Naruto couldn't professionally leave Shikamaru being obliterated for that.
It would be a very stupid way of ending a good friendship between the villages.
That's why Shikamaru swallowed two energy pills and ran nonstop to Suna. He did got there in record time, but he was sure when he got there that Gaara would've already red the file, so he left his Kagemane no Jutsu good to go - just because - when he walked in Kazekage's office.
"Hey, Shikamaru-san." Gaara greeted with his barely-a-smile.
"... Hi…" Shikamaru answered awkwardly. Lucky. He thought to himself. I think he still haven't seen it.
"How can I help you?" The Kazekage asked, inviting his brother-in-law to sit with a gesture.
"Say, Gaara," Shikamaru started as he sat down. "have you checked the report Naruto sent you?"
"No. Not yet. Why? Is there something urgent on it?" Gaara opened his laptop, clicking on Naruto's email.
"No. It's… huh… how can I explain? There's a few… suspicious photographs attached to the e-mail. I need you to look at it, keep your mind open and remember I can explain everything and it's not what it looks like. I will explain."
Gaara eyed Shikamaru.
"Trust me. Everything will be fine if you do as I say." The Konoha shinobi assured.
Gaara, still suspicious, opened the file. "Is this about Temari?" He asked.
"Actually, it would be the best to keep her out of it, but…" The door behind him opened abruptly. Somehow, even without looking back, Shikamaru knew it was Temari.
"Gaara, I just… Hey, honey! I didn't know you were coming!" She hugged him.
Even on the awkward situation, Shikamaru felt the need to put his arms around her and to drown in her scent. Yeah, he really missed her. And he could present so many excuses to himself as he wanted, deep down he knew the main reason he was so desperate to make things clear were because he didn't want Temari mad at him. Period.
"Yeah, there's a thing I need..."
"Wow." Gaara gasped. He was looking at his laptop.
"I can explain it!" Shikamaru exclaimed.
Gaara turned the screen so they could see. It was the fake neck-kissing picture.
Temari narrowed her eyes at the screen then looked at her husband.
"Did Harumi used her genjutsu on you? It's pretty awesome, isn't it?" She asked, poking his shoulder.
"Ahhh..." Before Shikamaru could answer, Gaara clicked the button to go to next picture.
It was the one where they were seeing apparently making out.
"Ah, her eyes are pretty cool too, aren't they?" Then she looked at Gaara. "You know, this girl is heterochromic and her green eye reflects much more light than the hazel, so in the dark, her sparkle like an emerald but the other one gets pitch black."
Gaara frowned but skipped to the next picture.
"So cute!" Temari exclaimed. "Honey, you never smile like that when I take pictures of you! Gaara, please send me that one."
Shikamaru couldn't hold back an amazed smile.
Man, I love that woman. He thought.
"Temari, can I ask you something?" Shikamaru asked later, when they were walking home together, hand in hand, no rush.
"Go ahead."
"How do you know I wasn't doing anything wrong on those pictures? I mean, even I got confused when I saw them and I was there! Choji really got the most misleading angle ever."
Temari laughed. "I don't know. I don't even see how those could be photos of you caught in the act with another woman…For example, when you see a picture of someone talking on the phone, you deduce this person is talking to someone or that they are trying to keep their ear warm with the phone?"
"Talking to someone, I guess. Who uses the phone as an ear heater?"
"That's it. To me, those were photos of you fainting over a genjutsu and checking on her eyes, to think otherwise it would be like saying the person on the phone is trying to keep the ear warm." Temari explained.
Shikamaru chuckled. "You trust me that much? Wow, I'm honored."
"You're smart, You know what would happen if you ever cheated on me."
"You would kill me?" He guessed.
"No. You would have killed me." She said, solemn. But then she smiled and eased the mood: "Besides, I know that Harumi has crush on Sai and girls that fall for Sai aren't the same that fall for a man like you."
"That's right. For that you'll need good taste." Shikamaru joked. She laughed and bit her lower lip.
"Say, Shikamaru…"
"I won't tell."
"Please! I really wanna know what makes you look like that! What were you two talking about when that last picture was taken?" She begged.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Not telling. Give up."
"Pleaaaaseee!"
But there was no way he would tell. Knowing he showed such an oh-so-in-love face when he talked about her was so embarrassing for him he would keep quiet for a while.