Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

Author's Note: This is a more lenghty one. Enjoy!

From Rain To Rust

Chapter Three

'Troublesome'

Word traveled quickly.

But word also happened to travel discreetly. Especially when it came to a physical altercation where weapons were drawn and blood was shed, oh; and also a physical altercations where weapons were drawn blood was shed, AND that involves ninja from three different villages WHILE the hosting Village celebrated peace between countries as a whole. Yeah, there was that too…

Omoi was fortunately intelligent enough to not panic and blow the whole scene that had happened before him out of proportion. He could already imagine the life of it's own that this could take, the conflict ultimately transforming itself into the ultimate political catastrophe the Shinobi World had ever laid their hands into! Konoha's streets would turn into a hellish abysm where Shinobi's last ever fight between the elite of the elite would turn ally into foe, and where blood would soak the soil and paint the mountains scarlet red for the unprotected generations to come who'd succumb without the structure of shinobi society to hold their heads above water and protect them against-...! (That was mostly Omoi being Omoi though…)

But even after removing the proverbial weeds that were Omoi's 'over-exaggerations', Nin Team K did still find themselves into some deep crap once the situation had died down and they were (stealthily) taken to the Hokage's office.

Luckily the first person Omoi had the wit to call was the man who was literally responsible for all of the Shinobi-harboring-Nations to NOT turn the mountains 'scarlett red' with blood; the man responsible for single-handedly keeping the peace between nations intact: Shikamaru Nara.
And for the first time in a very long time, the Chief Coordinator of the Shinobi Union was trembling with stress as he blasted past the door of the Hokage's office, the single moment he'd heard there had been an attack right inside Konoha's gates and that one of Kumo's most trusted representatives was involved, the fear of Kami entered through his veins and the LITERAL weight of the ENTIRE world came crashing down on his shoulders.

"What happened? " Shikamaru questioned the six people that were currently in the room. An already halfway consumed cigarette firmly wedged between the index and middle fingers of his left hand.

Everyone but the three Ninja from Ame raised their eyebrows at Shikamaru's never-before-seen temper, one could almost hear Shikamaru's gritting teeth above the bustle and uproar coming from outside. It took everyone a while to even dare to explain the situation to this Shikamaru.

"Nothing at all." Yoa deadpanned with something all too similar to open disdain for the whole situation.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?!" Izumo barked immediately in response, feeling the attitude on the younger man who happened to be inside The office of the Hokage, in front of all the past Kage's portraits, beyond infuriating. "You put a knife against my throat! And that was after your little friend scorched Kotetsu's arm!"

"She told you not to touch her arm." Yoa replied flatly once again with a shrug, not even bothering to face any of the people in the room as his eyes intently remained on the portraits of each Hokage, past and current.

A thousand thoughts a minute passed through his mind, a thousand faces, some known some completely made up, flashed by, all of them wearing the four lines of Ame as a symbol… Faces of former friends, faces of Senseis, faces of family... After a while there a couple of them started to sport a Grass patch symbol on their foreheads, another couple had a Star engraved on their headbands… How many times over bigger the army of Konoha must have been than the one of those villages? 10 times? 20? 100? It wasn't even a fair fight, he knew that a lot of those times it wasn't even a fight at all… It was only powerful men taking what they wanted from those that couldn't help but die defending it; how many innocent men, women and children had these men been lauded for killing? How many-

"Yoa…" Runa squeezed her teammate's shoulder, knowing perfectly well just what the younger man's mind was thinking through at the moment.

He immediately snapped out of his spiral, turning around as Runa's hand retreated to its owner. "Really you lucked out we got there in time, Izumo-kun." Yoa finally faced the general group of people.

"I don't think vague threats are a good way to go about this…" Shikamaru retorted from his place near the door, cigarette being idly twisted between his fingers. He could already see why and how their new guest's attitude could take part in initiating an issue like this one, especially the guy with the long braid running down the middle of his back.

As upset as Shikamaru was at the moment, he knew he had to take a breath—one that wasn't accompanied by smoke of any kind—and analyze the situation as best as he could. So he did just that.

He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, feeling the nervous jitters already fade away little by little. 'Okay, Shikamaru. Facts first, there were six shinobi, two leaf, three rain, and one cloud, no casualties, no major injuries, let's not blow this out of proportion. Both Izumo and Kotetsu were doing their job, but perhaps went about it the wrong way. If Omoi, a high level Chūnin himself felt the need to reinforce two trusted Chūnin-level Shinobi that means that they probably were on the losing side of this; which means that the three from rain have to at least be Chūnins themselves. If their objective was to attack it's highly unlikely that they'd simply use the front door to get into Konoha. Which means their first impulse was probably not a hostile one, and since Konoha did send invites to every available village within its reach then the most likely scenario is that the three Chūnins from rain simply intended to attend the festival or Exams and got caught in a misunderstanding, but if that's the case…'

"So," Shikamaru's meditation finished, he put out his cigarette against his lighter and tossed it to the trash. For everyone else not even a second passed between Shikamaru closing his eyes and reopening them. But for the legendary laze that fraction of a second had been enough to thread this whole issue together. "I imagine you got an invitation on you, don't you?" Shikamaru approached the Ame trio with an open hand.

Kaori raised an eyebrow at the sight of the first competent person in the Land of Fire to speak to them so far. "We do."

"Can I see it, then?"

"Yes you can."

"Can you hand it to me?"

"I don't have it." Kaori replied, sharply turning away with her arms crossed.

"Can whoever has it-" Shikamaru muttered, already getting annoyed by her games.

"Easy there… No need to blow a fuse… Again…" Runa cut in, pointedly looking over at Kaori as she handed over the scroll from under attire, out of her trio she was the one dressed more traditionally as an Ame Nin, using a black full body tight thermal layer, standard dark outer layers and what used to be Ame's Chūnin vest over it, with a cape covering her fully; her whole style being a noticeable nod to that of the late Hanzo of the Salamander.

Shikamaru mentally thanked the girl that handed her the scroll. Unrolling it at once to find the paper showing signs of moisture and the ink on it to be somewhat faded and run for the same reason. 'Figures.' He thought, but looked over it fully and didn't find any signs of forging.

Shikamaru sighed deeply. "Looks fine enough. But Amegakure is only 18 hours away, the invitations were sent weeks ago. Why did you arrive today in the middle of the night?"

'So we were correct' The invitation had been waiting for them for weeks already on Ame. "Oh, well you see; we got the scroll about 12 hours ago, Amegakure's found a bit of an 'inconvenient'time for about the last… Yeah, 4 years." Yoa replied in a not-at-all deceptively sarcastic undertone.

"Plus you know, small villages with murdered leaders aren't well recognized for their political savviness, or for having trusted council leaders to restore order and Shinobi offices after lauded war-heroes in orange jumpsuits kill their leader." He drove his point home, knocking twice on the surface of the Hokage's desk, earning a clenched jaw from the two Chūnin from the leaf. "But of course you already knew that. So let's just say we were lucky the post-office lady hasn't yet died of famine or illness."

The Nara more than got everything his 'guest' ninja was telling him, it wasn't something that had gone over their heads this past few years; but it really did take hearing it from someone affected by it—perhaps even to have it put as bluntly as this Yoa guy did—for the point to drive home.
And even if he wanted to argue against every point this troublesome trio had made (and he could after all) he had a job and duty to fulfil over anything else; and that was to make sure everybody kept their damn shit together and avoid any minor conflict to escalate into another all-out war.

"Fine, I'll just be needing some identification to prove you three are Chūnins. That's what you're here for, aren't you? The exams." Shikamaru cut to the chase right away, wanting to put an end to all this as fast as possible… He'd left a literal hot mess of a blonde psychopath waiting back for him at the party. And spending more time here wouldn't help her mood any good.

"We are. Here you go." Yoa handed Shikamaru three thick rolled up scrolls right away, not wanting to be here any much more than him.

The leaf Jōnin didn't even bother peeking over the scrolls this time, he was just tired of this. "Fine, then I'll give you your registration cards and sleeping arrangements and you can go enjoy the festivities… or whatever." Shikamaru replied already feeling his thin political correctness fade away by the second.

"What do you mean by-?!" Kotetsu tried to argue but Shikamaru shot it down with a look.

"They are our guests, Kotetsu. We invited them and we'll take care of them." Shikamaru near snapped right then and there effectively shutting down Kotetsu's attempt, but he still managed to give Ame's trio their paperwork in peace.

"Then we'll be on our way…" Runa spoke for her team as each of them pocketed their card and Runa the sleeping arrangements. Without any more ceremony she and her team turned heel and walked right out the door.

"I can't believe you were flirting with that Kumo ninja back out there." Yoa told his leader in a clear teasing manner. He was trying really hard to turn the page over for the shithole of a day this had been.

"Why?" Runa questioned as if his question didn't make sense. "His tan is even better than yours, and he knows how to handle a blade quite well. That's hot."

"His tan is really good." Kaori nodded in agreement as they walked down the Hokage's hallways.

"They're not 'tans', it's our skin color!" Yoa corrected them for a second, knowing fully well his friends were just molesting him. "Plus he's probably gotten sun every day of his life, I only have rain and clouds and rust." He admitted, which made the trio share a soft laugh in their places, finally having a moment to relax knowing they had gotten there in time and were out of trouble.
Though other pressing matters presented themselves as all three of their bellies grumbled fiercely. They all shared a miserable glance.

"Food?"

"Food."

"FOOD!"

"Quite a night you're having, Shikamaru." The Rokudaime Kakashi teased his advisor before he took a seat on his famed chair.

Shikamaru was torn between glaring at Kakashi and flipping him off… but that wouldn't be wise with a Ninja from another country in the same room.

"Hokage-Sama." Omoi, respectfully half bowed in his place. "Pardon my intrusion. May I ask why was I required to wait for your arrival?" The Kumo Chūnin finally voiced the question plaguing his mind for the past half hour.

"Oh, right." Kakashi turned to Omoi quite informally, he stood up. "I wanted to personally thank you for your labor this night, not only in aiding two of Konoha's own ninjas in distress, but also for being the primary vehicle for this situation to get put under control before any loss of live or otherwise could happen." Kakashi stated before he himself nodded a light bow to the Kumo Nin. "Konoha and his Hokage are deeply grateful for your actions."

"Yeah, man, you really were a lifesaver out there…" Shikamaru agreed.

Omoi was actually a bit shocked by it all, he wasn't dumb enough to think this was just an everyday type thing; but to put it mildly it wasn't often that one got a bow from the Hokage himself, much less if that Hokage is Kakashi Hatake. "I only did what was required of me, Hokage-Sama." Omoi bowed once again.

"No, we really owe you one, Omoi." Shikamaru insisted. "Thanks."

Omoi looked from Kakashi to Shikamaru and nodded with a small smile. "I'll take my leave now." He reached for a brand new lollipop from his pocket and put it in his mouth before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"I like the guy." Kakashi pointed out to no one in particular.

She was trying really really hard to be angry right now…

In all fairness she SHOULD be angry!

Temari of Sunagakure should be a stomping mess of a woman right now; this was the fourth consecutive 'date' she and Shikamaru had agreed to go onto and they had been interrupted again. And this time it had been her idea! Technically this was her failed date...!

But somehow, under the bright moonshine and stars, with distant sounds of laughter and joy coming from Konoha's market and front of the Hokage's residence (were most of the foreign dignitaries dined and conversed together in the open where everyone, shinobi-and-civilian alike shared the night with them) reaching her eardrums; Temari couldn't help but smile softly and sincerely as her feet dangled under the swing she was sitting on. Even she could not find motives to get angry right now, she'd spent all night with her-... with Shikamaru, and everyone from Suna, Konoha and the rest of the villages were a drink short of holding each other's hands and singing Kumbaya to the air!

Temari chuckled at the mental image and took a lick of the ice-cream cone she had in hand.

"I just hope lazy ass makes it back at all…"

"Hokage-sama, if you don't mind I'm in a bit of a-" Shikamaru muttered, turning to the door.

"Ah, ah, ah…" Kakashi verbally stopped his advisor from leaving. "I still need a report of the situation, Shikamaru…" The Hokage made it known right away, but also got a pretty good idea of why Shikamaru had that much urgency. "But you can give it to me tomorrow, just let me know what we have in our hands with these three." Kakashi nodded over to the three open scrolls on his desk that served as the Ame's trio ID.

'Again. Interrupted again. Why does this always happen to me? And why always when I'm with Temari?! That troublesome woman attracts so many problems they're starting to rub on me! ' The Hokage's advisor pinched the bridge of his nose in pure and honest surrender and exasperation, deciding it was for the best to just go along with it and amuse his boss.

"Well, as you surely already read they're three highly skilled Chūnin from Amegakure—" Shikamaru stated, back in full-business mode. "—they seemed to imply that ever since Naruto's fight against Pain their village suffered a turn for the worst."

"No appointed leader, a shortage of victuals and other supplies, closure or suspension of Shinobi offices..." Kakashi interrupted his advisor as if completing his sentence.

That got Shikamaru's attention. "Exactly, but how did you-"

"Amegakure is a strong village, they've always found ways to harbor strong shinobi in their ranks—" The former Copy-Nin replied immediately once again "—but unfortunately for them they are still a small village with no backing from a Country's Lord." Kakashi explained. "This is a common occurrence for smaller villages after times of war even when their leaders don't get killed… I can only imagine what's been going on over there for this past four years."

That statement didn't ring right for Shikamaru. "But if we already knew why didn't we do something about it? Why didn't we help them?"

"You already know the answer to that, Shikamaru." Kakashi replied firmly to Shikamaru. "I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question better than you. The glass floor peace stands over is brittle, one wrong move, one misunderstanding, one half-decent motive and all ends in war."

Shikamaru felt like interjecting, but felt like there was more coming his way.

"A village like Amegakure would have a hard time waging war against any countries to begin with, much less so after losing it's leader. One of the Five Great Shinobi Nations on the other hand—" Kakashi let the sentence hang in the air.

"But that is not right-!" Shikamaru replied, refusing to agree with the motives as of yet.

"It is not."

"Then why do-"

"—Because " Kakashi stopped what he believed would become a tirade of arguments. "Planting and nurturing the peace between the Five Great Shinobi Nations was far more imperative for Konoha's interests than finding the time and resources already lacking in our own rebuilding efforts, to help another village in need." Kakashi himself knew it was a crude and awful way to see things, but it was also a real one; one not too different from slashing an enemy ninja's neck.

"But I saw Ame ninja with my own eyes fighting and dying in our war!" Shikamaru finally raised his point. "There might have been less, but they died the same any other from Konoha, or Suna, or Kumo!"

"They did, and neither Suna, nor Kumo, nor the others helped them either…" Kakashi answered in a more leveled but firmer tone than the younger Jōnin. Purposely leaving out the fact that it was 'technically' their war too. "This is just the way war works, just the way our world works, Shikamaru." Kakashi finished his lecture with a tone that implied so.

Shikamaru felt sick in his stomach, he didn't want to acknowledge knowing about this, being an active part of a world that permitted this. "There is one detail with the Ame trio's 'ID'." Shikamaru changed the subject.

"Apart from the fact that this are Shinobi Registration Profiles and not actual IDs?" Kakashi shot back.

"Yes,—" Shikamaru half smirked at his boss' quick wit. "—yeah that was my bad, I didn't even open them to check first…" He accepted, but also noted that having a so thoroughly written and detailed profile (that was more often than not a village top secret) of three troublesome and powerful shinobi couldn't be a hindrance of any kind… Even if it was a mild contradiction of his earlier argument.

"I assume you also see it as a bonus anyway…" Kakashi followed his line of thought.

"Yes, but—" Shikamaru approached him, pointing at the corner of one of the profiles. "—look at the date."

Kakashi did so willingly, taking a second to glance up back at the other Jōnin. "Huh, so they gave us profiles that are three years old?" Kakashi asked with his ever-present cool and aloof tone.

"Exactly, I tried not to make too much of it… But considering this are official profiles that are often kept secret by the villages I couldn't ignore that there wouldn't be any case in faking stats that high on their Databook, or in their mission reports." Shikamaru pointed out to Kakashi.

"And since they're three years old that means there's three years of either progress or regress not listed here…" Kakashi once again caught Shikamaru's point.

"Judging by how the one with the bandages looks from those pictures to now I'd lean towards 'progress'..." Shikamaru replied with a subtle cocky smirk; referring to the way Yoa bandaged his biceps and wrists on his otherwise naked arms, how that guy managed to wear a vest and undershirt only, while coming from a place famous for its everlasting rains was beyond him.

Kakashi had—just as any good ninja of his level—stolen a glance of the aforementioned Chūnin team on his way here, and he had to agree. Each nin from the trio looked much more developed than on their pictures on the profile, it just was more noticeable in a guy that had gained the muscle definition and general size he did from the pictures. "It is always wiser to err on the side of caution." Kakashi agreed with a nod. "I'll have a team from intelligence make a detailed profile with the mission reports on these."

Shikamaru couldn't agree more with that decision, having the ANBU take a look at those reports was as good as they'd get right now. He let out a breath and directed his hand to his stiff neck. "Now, I believe that would be all on my part, Hokage-Sama." Shikamaru turned around and stepped to the door.

"Shikamaru. Wait." Kakashi's stern tone came back, which almost broke Shikamaru's will and back then and there.

"Yes?"

"Say 'Hi' to Temari for me." The Hokage happily chirped with his now patented eye grin.

'Maybe I should go already… It's been almost an hour now, if he were to- OI here he comes!' The Royal blooded Kunoichi from Suna stood up and snapped out of her thoughts in an instant.
'What does he think leaving me out here to wait for him?! HE's lucky I waited at all, and lucky I will have to actually TRY to be mad at him this time!'

Temari noticed Shikamaru was actually fast-walking towards her rather than doing his usual hands-in-my-pockets-slouched-over-lazy-ass thing he tried to pass as a walk this time… Which in a way warmed her heart more than she was comfortable admitting… And that was something she couldn't show at the moment! She needed to be angry! (Or at least act angry...)

"Took your time you lazy pineapple haired ass!" 'Yes! That was a good start.' "Look! My Ice-cream is practically melted alrea-"

Never had Shikamaru been more glad to have an annoying, troublesome, complicated, aggressive, and powerful woman yell at him so badly. And that realization both scared his younger, more immature self shitless; and roused his present self into action.
If they didn't have geography on their side, and if they didn't have time on their side, and if they didn't have goddamn Kami on their side then he sure as hell was gonna make sure none of it mattered damnit!

Which is how Nara Shikamaru found himself wrapping one arm around Temari's waist, holding the back of her head with the other (somewhat for fear he'd misread the situation and needed to buy himself an extra second to run), and connecting his lips with hers on a searing kiss that completely contrasted with everything he was either known for or actively stood for.

Temari was sure she tasted like the vanilla ice-cream she had just dropped to the floor in order to wrap her hands around his neck, and he… He tasted faintly of a cigarette brand she'd smelled on him before, a cigarette brand she'd sternly told him not to smoke anymore... but that would have to wait, because at the moment she didn't mind, the smell and the taste was so… So Shikamaru! If anything the realization made her deepen the kiss further, pulling him down to her height hungrily, moving her lips against his in the most deliciously rhythmic manner she (and he) had ever experienced.
She secretly thanked Kami he'd been the one to make the first move that was years in the making by now, really, she now realized she should have gone over to him and made-out with Nara Shikamaru right after their Chūnin exams showdown if she'd been missing this all along.

Their lips parted only once neither of them could keep breathing each other's air and their lungs cried for help, but even then and after the quickest breather Shikamaru felt the need to peck her lips needily a couple of times, kissing her deeply after it for a couple of short seconds that left the Suna Princess with warm cheeks and an endearingly pleased smile adorning her lips.

"You made me drop my Ice-cream…" Temari whispered with her eyes still closed, brushing her nose against his before pecking his lips in the same manner he had hers.

"I'll buy you another…" Shikamaru whispered through a chuckle, relishing in how completely she'd shifted his mood around, it was more welcome than frightening by now.

"Screw that—" Temari replied in more 'Temari' way. "—let's go to your place."

The Legendary Laze never moved that fast in his life.

To be continued...

Note: Chapter four will be posted next week, and the fifth the week after that and so on. As always thank you for reading and have a good one!