A/N: Sorry I didn't post last week and I am late this week! I lost internet and I didn't have time to edit the story. But this chapter changed a little, hopefully for the better. Thank you everyone for being patient with me in this process! Now I am for sure keeping this story the same and working with what I have already. If I start changing it again someone message me and I will stop. Anyway, Tooru's adventures continue!

Please leave a thought, a comment or even a question!

Chapter 39: Starting the Mission

Shikamaru:

I want to comfort her. Tooru doesn't know.

I think Lord Third wanted a secret weapon. Most everyone knew about Naruto. Everyone knew about Saskue. They were weapons that everyone knew about, that everyone isolated or tried to bring into their homes. They had the influences of the outside world, a world that changed them a lot. Naruto for the better and Saskue got lost along the way. But Saskue eventually found his way back to being a human, not a monster.

Lord Third wanted a secret that wouldn't be a wild card. And that is what Tooru is. She follows orders and even what there is a doubt who is loyal to the village, Tooru was forced into loyalty. She didn't have a choice in the matter. No matter which way I look at it Lord Third was being power hungry. He wanted something to have just in case. Everything he did was calculated. Even to the day he died, he was the Hokage for a reason, not just his power but the mindset he had.

I want to know what happened to her clan, I want to know if she even knows. But how she acts, I don't think she even knows what happened. Everyone should know what happened to their family. Naruto didn't know for a long time, but once he found out, he relaxed since he knew his family loved him all the same. Saskue saw what happened. But he still knew at least. Tooru doesn't know, at least I don't think she does.

Which makes me upset. She should know what happened to her people. She has a right to know.

Everyone should know about their family, good or bad. And Tooru doesn't have that.

But Lord Third wanted her to be there. Someone he knew he could rely on to do everything perfectly. He wanted no doubts that things would be played out correctly. There is no way that nothing will change. Tooru was programmed to listen and get everything right. If not she was punished in a harsh way.

Which makes me upset.

I needed her to know there is physical comfort. So I placed my hand on her head. Hoping to tell her that I am here. I needed to see if the connection is the same. There should be no way that I feel this strongly, only I do.

No, it was all a dream. Tooru isn't the same person. But that doesn't stop the fact that I want to know so much about her. To the point that I asked Kakashi about her.

We are really close to the office. She stopped walking and I figured she was talking about something else. But than she told me about how she was treated. And her not looking at me tells me a lot about how she was treated. How much pain she is. Looking at her I can see how unsure she is.

The larger issue is that I can tell how much she is conflicted. I saw it within Naruto when he was struggling. I could see it with Temari before she turned me down. Tooru is fighting a battle within her. I can tell a lot of things from the way she is talking. I know that conflict is starting to eat her alive. She doesn't know what to do.

I don't think being alone this long was good for her. She doesn't know how to talk to the rest of us. I want to help her. I want her to be able to talk to any of us. To know that she is no longer alone, that she I okay to talk to anyone of us. She isn't a burden to any of us.

I look into her eyes.

Tooru needed more than this. She doesn't know what to do.

I think she was told to keep her emotions in check. Kakashi is telling her new things. Now, she doesn't know how to deal with these feelings running through her. Which is an issue for her. She was forced to grow up too fast. Something that no kid should ever do. She was forced to look at things and assumed to know what she should be doing.

She was told people would run away from her.

She was told no one would want to be around her because of who she is.

Tooru was told that everyone would distract her from her mission.

She grew up without knowing that people are calm and can be understanding. That people would see her power and run away from her. There is no way that was good for her growing up. She doesn't know anything about how people work, and she knows a lot of things. But knowing how people should act and how to tell if someone cares about her? She doesn't know about that.

She is scared.

I should tell her that I won't go anywhere. That I am not afraid of her, that I want to help her. These is no way that I will ever let her be alone again. I won't let Naruto be alone again. I would hate being alone.

I need to tell her I never want to go anywhere. That I will stick by her side like I have with Naruto. I remember Naruto being alone. I know that she doesn't know if people will stick around or if they will run away. I won't run away from her. Not the girl I know.

I need to say something to her. And I know what to say.

"Maybe, you should get those scrolls to Kakashi," I say.

Why did I just say that?

I wanted to say something else.

I freeze up. I never meant to say that to her.

I watch her eyes drop.

I might have just messed up. Some smart guy that I am. Maybe I should try to talk to Ino about this. No, she would be too hyper about it. Choji? He would be too calm about it. I need to tell her something, but I can't feel my voice wanting to say anything. I don't know who to talk to about this. I need to talk to someone. I don't want to say something wrong to her and everything go downhill.

Sakura might be good. She is in love with someone who is use of being alone. Someone that was used as a tool. Sakura might be the best bet for me to get closer to Tooru. I mean Tooru told me more about herself. But I may have just blown another chance of getting her to talk to me.

Though I believe Sakura would be good. She knows how to talk someone. She knows better how to talk with people then myself.

"Ya, let's go," Tooru says.

She goes ahead of me.

She looked so sad. Sadness of maybe being alone again. She never had someone constant in her life. No one was allowed to be around her, she was forced to be alone during the time she needed someone the most. I wonder what happened with Lord Third.

Why would he do this to Tooru?

I want to find out. But I need to follow her into Kakashi's office. I am supposed to help her with the scrolls. But she only had four. Which means that all the rules that Lord Third placed for her are in those scrolls.

We get to the office and Sakura walks out. But before I can go in the door closes. I stand there for a minute. I should have been able to go in there. Why wasn't I allowed to? Maybe I am not needed.

Great, meaning this is strictly between Tooru and Kakashi. Nothing I do now will change it. All I can do is wait. Wait for Tooru to come out.

I look over to Sakura, I have the chance to talk to her. And I need to talk with her, she should be able the shed some light on the situation.

Before I can even ask her Sakura is turning to me.

"Shikamaru! I wasn't expecting to see you today." Sakura says.

"Ya," I begin, "I was helping Tooru out with something, but she needed to talk to Kakashi about something."

Sakura nods along, "Seems like you are helping people a lot these days."

I know I am. Working with Kiba to figure out what happened to Tooru's family and how that could affect her is a drag. But I am the one digging about her. So I need to be the one to find out what she is all about.

That won't stop Kiba and I either. Since we both want to know how one day she can be so robotic than act like she is about to break. None of it makes sense. But from what Kakashi told me, I should be finding out soon. With Kiba's help I know that I can find out. It's only a matter of time. Time that needs to pas by faster. From her actions, I don't think her mental state is stable.

I want everyone else to learn about her, no one should be this alone.

I hope that Naruto can get closer to her. I hope that Kiba can get closer to her. I just want others to be close to her, so she doesn't feel so alone in the village. Kiba and I agreed that Tooru being alone is the cause for 90% of the problems she is having now, but that is general.

Besides this gives us something to do in the time being. Mission are minor and normally I'm fine with it, but I'm so bored with paperwork. No wonder dad sleeps all day at the office.

Sakura isn't overly busy with work at the hospital. Since there isn't a lot of wounded ninja coming back from missions. Most missions are really low. They barely have any for higher ninja to do. But that doesn't mean we don't talk to each other about the missions we do go on. Sakura is a good person to ask about information since her and Ino know a lot about people.

But most of the time its pretty boring.

Which sucks, most of us are trying to help train the genin and get them up to par with how we all were. There are too many things that happened and now the five large nations are united. Which makes everything easier.

But, it also means that we need to find other things to do. Saskue has something else to do, but the rest of us are helping clean up the war areas. We are looking for ninja on the missing list. There aren't things that are too hard to be doing.

But the hardest thing right now is figuring out more about Tooru. Which I know Sakura will be able to help me figure it out. Even if it isn't outright, something she says has to stick with me and Kiba and I can use it to find out about Tooru.

"Actually, Sakura I have a question for you," I say.

I look down to the ground. Normally, I ask Choji about anything or even Temari, but right now, I think Sakura is the best person to ask about the situation. She would have the most experience with it and would have a better idea of what she would need to do for building a relationship. She would have the insight that Kiba and I need to get everything up to par, but first I need to know how to talk with Tooru.

"What is it Shikamaru?" Sakura answers.

I take in a breath, "How did you get through to Saskue?"

I wait for her answer. I don't know if it was the best way to start off the conversation but that's all I can think off. Saskue and Tooru are similar with the isolation. It's a starting off point for me to go off. Anything is better than being in the dark since I avoided Saskue when we were younger.

Now I wish I had talked with him a little.

"Well," Sakura begins, "At first he didn't know how deep my affection ran. It wasn't until after the war we actually sat down and talked about what feelings we had. Saskue ignored a lot of feelings because he wanted to focus on power. After he saw how Naruto treated him and how much he learned about what happened here while he was gone, he started to think about his life. So, we sat down and we didn't start dating until much later but built."

I nod along with what she is saying. I look up to Sakura and see she is looking out the window. I can see how much she really cares about Saskue. Which makes sense, her and Ino fought over it for years. But something always stuck with Sakura about Saskue, and Ino moved on, she liked Sai way more than Saskue.

But I don't know how that helps me. Sai and Saskue are similar in the way that. But are Tooru and Saskue similar? Saskue was unbearable in the early years, and only recently has everything come into place. I want to know how to talk with her.

For some reason I forget everything when Tooru is around, and talking with her is a drag. Most of the time we end up arguing about the mechanics of how something is phrased. I don't understand her at all.

Which is what I want, that would make it easier once we pull Ino in or Inoichi to look into Tooru's mind to pull any clues about what happened to her family. But that could be easier said than done. Inoichi seems to know way more about Tooru than he lets on.

"I see," I finally say.

"Why do you ask?" Sakura asks.

Sakura looks to me. I said I would talk to her and that is what I am going to do. I just, feel like this is a drag. I shouldn't be doing something like this. I am good at figuring things out. What a drag.

"I wanted to see how I can talk with her. Besides she… doesn't know how to talk with people. Kakashi set me on a mission about her," I put my hand behind my head.

"Ah," Sakura sings, "Isn't that too troublesome for you?"

"I'm hoping it isn't." I say.

I think it will be is the problem. I know there are a lot factors that are playing into what Tooru is going through. I want to help her, I want to make sure that everything is okay.

Okay is an odd word, I guess I want to get her to a state where she isn't so alone.

I don't want her to be alone. Kakashi doesn't want her to be alone.

"Make sure she isn't alone," Kakashi tells Kiba and I.

I look between the two. Her being alone looks like a choice.

"Why?" Kiba asks.

"She isn't stable. And everyone needs someone right?" Kakashi stands up, "She can't be a mystery ninja anymore, you guys need to pull her out of the shadows."

For good reason too.

I just want to bring her out and so does Kiba. This mission is given to us by Kakashi himself. Meaning this is important.

We have to make sure she isn't alone. And this is bringing in the mental state of a fellow ninja, we all know how big Kakashi is on team work, and Tooru is no acceptation. But the way she looks to have been treated, you would think she was a war veteran three times over.

She knows the mechanics of how the world works, but she sucks at the applications.

"So, what are you confused about?" Sakura asks.

Going through the motions seems like a drag. No one should live like that.

"About how to talk with her. She doesn't want to talk and kicks people out. She doesn't understand what it's like to have friends and I avoided Saskue since I thought he was too troublesome, only with this I can't since it's a mission." I answer.

"I see," Sakura looks outside again, "I think that you should talk to Tooru about it. She might learn a lot from just talking to you. She reminds me of Sai when we first meet him."

"I guess you're right." I say.

"Shikamaru," Sakura turns back toward me, "You know I can hear you thinking right? What else is on your mind."

I look around, "About what she told Kakashi, she was seeing a different world."

"Like a dream?" Sakura sings.

I look down. Oh, you mean the dreams where I started fully caring for this girl? The dream where I actually got over Temari, the dreams where so many things happened? Dreams, the same dreams I wished were reality because I thought I go through to Tooru? Where everything seemed to be working so well? Those ones?

Hell ya, I remember them, better than what was going on that day, better than anything else.

"Ya, like a dream," I answer.

There are so many things I don't remember though. Like her past, or any conversation I had with her. I just know it was a dream. But I know there was something there.

But that doesn't mean anything. I need to talk with her, it would make it easier to figure things out.

"She seems very smart, almost as much as you are. She knows a lot about the ninja world and what she should do. But, other than that… she seems lost." Sakura continues.

I nod, "She has been…"

I pause with my words. Why can't I say anything? Because I don't know what to say. She is the mystery ninja for a reason. And Kiba and I will see why. Lord Third has a reason for putting her in the shadows. And I want to know why as her friend.

As a friend, I should help her, no matter how much she frustrated me. I want to know why she acts like she does.

"She is lost. I don't know about what, but that's what Kiba and I are figuring out." I answer.

"And you and Kiba are special because? I would think Ino and Naruto would be better for this." Sakura comments.

I think about this. Ino could dig into her mind and gather something, and Naruto has this weird ability to get everyone to talk with him. Which would make it easier. But I have been wondering that too.

Why Kiba and I?

I'm intelligent, but that comes from planning and playing shogi all the time. And Kiba is aggressive and hard to talk to at times. If anything we are the most ill-equipped to learn about Tooru. I think the two who beat us are Neji and Lee.

"I don't know…" I look back at Sakura, "Maybe because we've already started talking to her?"

Sakura looks at me, "I wonder. Naruto could get her to open up and that would be all Ino needs. But you and Kiba are different. Kiba is loud and has a hard time not being arrogant. And you think too much and work at your own pace."

"Maybe that's why. Kiba and I work at a pace that won't be overwhelming, remember she isn't use to talking with people, and it could be overwhelming." I answer.

That's the only thing that makes sense. We might work slow enough so she doesn't know what is going on. It's all about earning her trust and making sure that everything goes smoothly. Nothing bad can happen. But, there is someone who wants to get a hold of her.

That shouldn't mean much though. She was spying from what I gathered about her mission from Kakashi. She has to work on something. But that doesn't explain so many other things.

"Ah," Sakura put a hand on my arm, "I'm sure you can do it Shikamaru. You have your own charm after all."

I laugh at what Sakura said. I don't know about that. I'm just determined about this. It's a new puzzle. People are puzzling and normally I wouldn't bother with someone's personal life, but with Tooru I am compelled. I was that way with Naruto to an extent.

But Naruto was easier to work with. He was open about himself since he was a kid. Tooru has been shut off from the world, which means she is a different person.

But I know this is going to be a challenge. I like challenges, but I hope I'm not in over my head.

"Highly doubt it. But a motivated Nara is impressive on it's own." I smile at Sakura.

"A motivated Nara? Someone pinch me I must be dreaming!" Sakura places a hand over her heart.

Rolling my eyes, I can't help but smile. But she knows that a motivated Nara is a sight to see. Usually I would be prolonging this as much as I can. For some reason though I am not. I want to get this figured out as soon as I can.

"TOORU!" I hear a voice yell.

I turn to the office and see Naruto opening the door.

"Sakura!" Naruto says.

But Sakura and I are already running inside the room. And Tooru is on the ground, with what looks like scars all over her body.