It was close to dawn before Shikamaru realized that he needed to stop. He'd been traveling since the afternoon the day before and had set a brutal pace in an attempt to outrun his guilt. The faster he had pushed himself however, the worse it seemed to get until he all but staggered under the weight of regret and exhaustion, causing him to drop down to the trail. Panting softly to catch his breath, the genius moved further into the woods to make camp for a few hours.
Even though it was a time of peace, Shikamaru didn't rest easy. Aside from being on alert, the last time he had seen his two boyfriends kept replaying over and over in his mind. Naruto had looked betrayed when the shadow possession had claimed him. No doubt the blond thought he had taken Sasuke's side until he saw the surprise on the Uchiha's face as well. Even though the both of them had only worn the expressions for a brief second, he couldn't get the images out of his mind and the fear he had felt watching the two of them.
Drawing a knee up under his chin, Shikamaru wrapped his arms around his knee and extended his other leg out in front of him. He felt the burning of tears behind his eyelids and not for the first time since his father was killed did he wish for the man's guidance. The conversation over Shogi after Asuma's death played in his mind again.
Let it out, Shikamaru. Take all of your pain and grief and let it out. Then move on.
"Dad, I'm such a coward," he whispered to the ghosts in the night air. They were all adults. He should have been able to mediate between them, it was one of his talents after all. He had the incredible ability to see every possible outcome and yet, seeing both of them inches away in anger had made all logical thought vanish. On instinct, he'd reacted. He didn't want to lose either of them and forced space between them. What would he have done if they hadn't calmed down? He had chakra limits that were far lower than either of them, and Shikamaru knew he wouldn't have been able to hold them if they had truly wanted to break free, so why had he reacted like that? "I don't know what to do."
Then if 'fighting' them hadn't made him enough of a coward, he told them both he loved them before running. Naruto had never hesitated to tell Sasuke he loved him, and there were times that Sasuke had whispered it back to the blond. Shikamaru knew that he was not ready to say it, not until he was afraid of losing them both. When had he let himself fall so hard? Because Naruto was a man of his word and Sasuke never said anything he didn't mean so Shikamaru believed them both when they said they wanted to be with him. And yet, after this, would they? If anything, after this, they would realize that the genius had nothing to bring to their mated dynamic. They had to, so was his utterance a last ditch hope to cling to them? No. he truly did love them, but he wouldn't blame them if they wanted him to leave when he got back.
By the time the sunlight began filtering through the trees, the Nara had not gotten any sleep, but he felt capable of moving on until he needed to rest again. He was making good time, already a day and a half away from the village under normal travel. Damn, I really booked it, huh? He thought to himself. Swallowing down a ration bar took less than five minutes. Hooking his pack onto his waist, he was ready to go again until a sharp whistle reached his ears. On instinct, he leapt pack as he felt the wind from a kunai brush the edges of his flak jacket at his shoulder before it embedded itself into a tree.
"Oh look, the deer is where she said it would be."
The voice wasn't one Shikamaru recognized though he quickly filed away those words to process later. Glancing around, he saw no headbands on the seven figures before him and no distinguishing figures, only they all wore masks just like…
"You guys look like those creeps from Sound several years ago. They didn't live too long," the Nara challenged, pulling out one of the two chakra blades from the holster on his thigh. He didn't say that it had been Asuma who had come to his rescue when his chakra was low, and most of these guys looked pretty strong. In his other hand, he pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag and when the one on the far left twitched Shikamaru threw the tagged kunai towards the center of them and ran.
Seven was too much to take on at once, especially with how hard he had pushed himself to get this far, yet so far they had done nothing but throw a kunai at him and give chase. Why? Shifting to the right, he glanced over his shoulder to see the group shift with him, pushing him back the direction he was originally going. An attempt to move left was met the same way and the brunette quickly realized he was being herded.
The deer is where she said it would be.
Someone knew about his mission, knew he would be taking this route, and suddenly it became clear that it was him they were after and this wasn't just a coincidence. Likely, they wanted information on Konoha, or the Alliance. Getting him here meant it would be almost two days before Suna noticed and another day before word got back to Konoha.
Think Shikamaru, think.
This time, the kunai did hit his right shoulder, piercing the flak jacket and embedding itself in the limb. The genius quickly took note that it wasn't a killing blow which only cemented his reasoning behind their attack. Well, he had no intentions of letting their capture of him be successful. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out three smoke bombs before hurling them towards the group. He dropped immediately and landed in a bush, his hands already flashing through several seals and two shadows emerged from beside him, quickly taking his shape.
"Go," he hissed and two shadow clones leapt from the bush. One went straight, one went to the left, and Shikamaru darted back towards the right. Splitting the group up was the best bet for him to make a stand. Once he was far enough from the shadow clones, he whirled on the two that were on his tail and threw another explosive tag towards the forward most one before tying a fake explosion tag to the chakra blade. As the first one dropped down to avoid the explosion and the tree that fell after being caught in the blast, Shikamaru quickly imbued his chakra into the blade before throwing it at the shadow of the other. As expected, he ducked, but the serrated blade landed in his shadow, keeping him from moving.
Shikamaru knew that without his mind, he would have been useless to Konoha. His own abilities were weaker but his capability to strategize and outsmart his enemies made him a force to be reckoned with. As the man was paralyzed by his own shadow, the Nara drew a kunai and advanced to the other's surprise. Kunai's clashed as Shikamaru leapt by the masked shinobi and quickly spun as soon as his feet touched the nearby tree. "Ninja Art: Shadow Stitching Jutsu," he whispered to the air in front of him, slamming his own chakra into his feet before letting it stretch outwards like an octopus. One tendril went towards the chakra blade in the ground, throwing it into the paralyzed man's neck. Several other shadow tendrils leapt towards Shikamaru's current target, slamming into his body. The shadows pierced through his arms, legs, torso and finally the center of his head. Both Shinobi hit the ground at the same time.
Panting softly, Shikamaru felt the moment the shadow clones were dispersed as the chakra returned to him. "Shit, gotta move," he muttered and hit the ground to run again. As soon as his feet touched down, the ground rolled beneath him, throwing him into a nearby tree. As his back connected with the thick trunk, a sharp pain shot through his lungs making him gasp, and he tasted the unmistakable metallic tang of blood as he hit the ground.
The genius managed to get back to his feet and leap backwards as another shinobi leapt in front of him before slamming his palm into the ground. The masked man was too close to be part of the groups that had veered off after his clones and Shikamaru mentally berated himself for not accounting for a third. Trees erupted into the air around him as he had to dodge the limbs and ground that attempted to rush up and meet him. He might have thought the masked shinobi used the same chakra control as Sakura if it hadn't been for his palm. Earth user. The brunette didn't have anything to go against that kind of strength and committed to dodging the attacks for now, knowing the earth user was wasting time until his friends got there. The ground around them was quickly leveled, debris from trees and rocks littering the area. Shikamaru knew that he had one shot to disable the enemy that kept slamming his palm into the ground and as the guy raised his hand one more time, Shikamaru threw his final, exploding kunai, that the man barely had time to dodge.
The Nara quickly flashed through seals, knowing he was nearing his limit, but he was unable to complete the jutsu as several senbon shot from the trees. Barely getting his arms up to guard his chest, Shikamaru took the full brunt of six needles in both of his arms. Between the kunai still in his shoulder and senbon in his arms, blood dripped freely from his fingertips, tapping against the grass on the ground. At the very least, whoever got tasked with finding him would know he put up a fight. The rest of the masked shinobi landed in front of him and the genius suddenly felt all of his energy drain. The needles had some kind of toxin in them, making him weaker by each passing second. Fear gripped the brunette as he realized this would be his last stand. They couldn't get the information from Konoha, he wouldn't do it. Thrusting as much chakra as he could into his own shadow, he felt the cold gripping hands of darkness crawl up his body and settle around his neck. The shadow hand squeezed but his lack of strength kept it from snapping his neck like he wanted.
"Sasuke, Naruto, I'm sorry," he murmured. Taking his own life was the least he could do for his village and he had failed at that. All he could do was collapse in his despair. As darkness swirled in his vision and he felt himself fall, a cold voice hissed at him from behind.
"Do not worry. Your alphas will be happy when they see you, Shika-kun."
Orochimaru.