Transmission #2-0-6-4 Addendum: Checkmate
North Side the Wall, Tokyo Urban; Hidden Village: "Leaf"
Training Course Delta; "Bell Test"; half a klick from Bunker "X"
ROOT Proctor on-site: #005136
These women were going to be the death of him.
His own classmates had their ways of being troubling without ACTUALLY trying to kill him, but still... they got on his nerves all the same.
Wasting time trying to make themselves 'beautiful' for a guy anyone could tell you is a selfish prick; badmouthing frenemies in one breath, then chum it up like there was no problem because Ino said 'this' the other day, Sakura got too 'close' to Sasuke the next, Matsuri being 'air headed' just so she could get all the attention. And heavens forbid you call them out on any of that, because that's clearly YOU not understanding, and not them being irrational whatsoever.
"I'm never getting married," he told his father, moving his silver general piece to defend.
"Oh?" This conversation again.
Shikaku nods as his leather jacket reeks of cigar smoke and alcohol; another night of carousing with Inoichi and Choza. Yet still, no matter what they were up to, Shikaku always made sure to make time for his son and their customary shogi match. One hundred and eighty-two matches straight, and Shikaku still has yet to beate his son. He checks Shikamaru's move with his rook. "And may I ask what brought you to this revelation again, son?"
Shikamaru scrunches up his brow for a second to think. Bringing his hand to up under his chin, he considers his next move carefully. "They're just too irrational, too emotional, too cliquey. Never say what they mean, and can mean something completely different, even if you heard otherwise. Strategically, I don't see the point of tying myself down to one for the rest of my life."
Shikamaru moves up his lance to shore up the defense of his king.
"Who can argue with such wise words from a thirteen year old." Shikaku's voice is on the cusp of being patronizing - or maybe, Shikamaru could never tell if his father ever fully agreed with him, or simply humored his son. Which was troubling on of its own right. "But if you can permit me to say one thing: maybe you're just threatened..."
Well, duh, of course Shikamaru felt threatened; he'd only met this Akeginu for two minutes before pegging her to be the crazy sociopath she is.
No wonder ROOT would find a woman like her to join their ranks.
The dense mist surrounds him, masking the tension which chokes his every wheezing breath. A fire inside him crackles like a lviewire, telling him to wake up, get out of there, MOVE!...
But because he's too smart for his own good, and what's worse, a good person at heart he doesn't.
Not while he can still feel the faint beat of Choji's heart; his chakra signature slight, though still coursing through.
Shikamaru's mind races, desperate to forge a plan all while the air is thick with Akeginu's siren call, an intoxicating melody that threatened to drown him lethargy. Normally, sounded like a good idea. To slip mindlessly into a restful dream with no more worries, to be able to turn his brain off for once and let others figure it out. Because for him this fight had been over soon after it started - there's no point to this. Other than her simply toying with him, which was all part of the plan.
The sharp pain of blood drips from his palm from where he cut himself - all to keep him awake as she stockade him through the mist. He grips the kunai tightly, the warm blood mingling with the chill of black iron, the sting offering a bit of clarity. Sweat steamed down his brow, blurring his vision and mixing his confusion with fear. Akeginu's laughter echoes around him, a playful taunt that sounded too sweet to come from someone aiming to...
Kill?
"Impressive reflexes, boy," her voice chimes, dripping with mockery. "You work a lot faster than your father does. Not as lazy as he says you are."
Suddenly the air shifts. A glint go steel cuts through the mist, as Akeginu lunged with her blade aimed straight for him. Shikamaru anticipated she'd come at his 1 o'clock; he moves at the last second, feeling teh rush of wind as the weapons sliced the space he'd just been, throws his own kunai in response. It disappears into the fog, along with Akeginu. She was there for nary a moment, maybe even less. Shikamaru continues to back away, pulling out his second to last kunai.
Five steps, four...Knight forward three moves. Take bishop!, another rush of wind comes at him. Sparks fly off the kunai as he blocks the strike. Fora brief second Shikamaru can see her smile, smell the acid wash from her clean uniform, feel the hot stickiness of her breath on his face. Quarter turn, half step, and then back fist, his mind spins his body about. The strike catches something hard, sending pins and needles ups his arm. "Argh fuck!"
The back of his hand is cut up as it lands flush against the bark of a tree. Cursing aloud, he doubles backs as still Akeginu probes through her mist. Its mantle hangs heavy on Shikamaru's chest, every breath seemingly taking more and more effort as he does. Condensation, he figures, blocking another strike from his left flank. She's using the moisture in the air to inject her chakra into me every time I take a breath. I can't afford to drag this out.
Bishop top the back corner, mind the flanks. Use the Hidetachi technique, bolster the defense.
"You're playing scared," Shikaku tells him; his father moves his pawn in a forward move - an unusually aggressive posture for a piece normally meant as cannon fodder. "Must be something on your mind if you aren't fully concentrating on me. Is it a girl?"
"As if," Shikamaru scoffs; gold general in front of his king, put pressure on his opponent. "I'm not threatened by women - I just don't think they're all that useful. Take mom for example. She was a kunoichi before, but now she just takes care of the house. Gets on my ass for waking up late, not feeding the deer, not doing my chores. I have a theory if she's not nagging someone, she dies. How could you ever marry a person like that?"
"Heh, must be a girl then." Shikaku nods, affirmed in his observation.
Shikamaru shakes his head, but his father only nods, and smiles, pushes up his silver general, and takes his last lance. "Ugh, what?" Shikamaru's surprised he hadn't caught that move. Now, again, Shikaku had him nearly in check; Shikamaru's rook moves to block, taking dad's knight.
"It's not Ino, is it?" Shikaku asks.
"Ugh, wha-!? Ew! No!"
"...Sakura?"
"As if!"
"Is it not someone in your class? An older girl?
It's Yome.
Breaking through the fog, Shikaramu caught a bright sparkle of orange light piercing out towards him. At first, it reminded him of the onibi, those resentful little spirits of dead animals or humans. But seeing those eyes, hearing her eep as he got closer, Yome's small frame and large pig-tails come into view.
"Shikamaru, duck!" Yome yells, eyes wide with fear. Without hesitation, he does so; a split second alter, and Akeginu's blade would've found a home embedded in his neck. The slight jingle of the bell on her person gave her away. Rolling forward from the attack, Shikamaru throws his last kunai; it finds purchase in the trunk of a pale oak.
Her laughter strikes him as Yome forcefully pulls Shikamaru behind the base of the fallen tree she hides behind. To her it's large enough to hide her entire body and not be seen. For Shikamaru, he has to crouch down doubly to make sure another unlucky strike means to take his head from his shoulders.
Pawn moves up last row of the board, earns promotion.
"Yome, what the hell are you doing here?" Shikamaru huffs, trying to catch his breath; there was a reason he hated cardio in PT, made him sweat worse than Choji whenever they went out for Yakiniku.
"We came to help you out." A voice a ways away from home catches Shikamaru off-guard. Turning, he sees the lithe figure of Sen taking cover in a tree branch above. "You've got friends in high places, Nara Shikamaru."
"Apparently."
"Shira, look out!" Yome shouts.
Pounding thumps shake the ground as Shira's attack bursts the trees into splinters; the guy's like am flailing animal, striking out at anything he perceives as a threat. Akeginu's voice, though, comes through untroubled. Unfazed. Delighting at another strong man has come to see her off. "Urasawa Shira. Konohoa shinobi #29710," the ROOT proctor coos. Formerly, Yamamotol adopted by the Urasawa family after your parents died in the Drive South. Subpar genjutsu, dreadful ninjutsu; a one trick pony with a chip on his shoulder and a handsome face."
"Shut UP!" Shira roars. His fist connects with a larger than average pine - the resounding shockwave sends it falling not far from where Shikamaru and company bunker down.
"Shira! Behind you! 9 o'clock!" Yome warns her teammate. Akeginu's blade flashed through the fog, biting into Shira's face and drawing crimson. A sharp gasp escapes Yome as she witnesses her friend get hurt, the sight jolting her from her concentration.
"Sen!" Shikamaru calls out to the girl above. She looks to him, but doesn't need to be told twice; taking out her fans clasped at the small of her back, a sharp gust of wind blows back the dense fog eluding their vision. The world before them begins to clear, revealing Akeginu's position. Seeing her there, Shira's chest expands when he takes in a large exhale of fresh air. The chakra around him builds with a warm, yellowish aura; shining like a bright sun in the mist.
The first of his heavenly breaths is released and propels his first forward. Akeginu skillfully dodges his attack like a prized bullfighter, the flapping of her officer's cloak whipping against Shira's face. She's confident. Overly believing in her own prowess even with the advent of numbers going against her. Odds for a face as pretty as that never really went against her, Shikamaru supposed.
Pretty women like this don't ever really know what it's like to struggle, which made them untrustworthy. Could say the same about Ino and all the rest of them who believed this world was nothing more than playground, and everyone in it cat turds in the sandbox.
"As your father, I think it's my job to tell you when you're wrong about things, Shikamaru. However much you're willing to listen considering fate saw fit to give me a son smarter than me," Shikaku moves his silver general to the right side of his king. Check. Not mate. But Shikamaru panics realizing his father had got him into a gambit he hadn't even seen. "You'll have to time to grow out of such thoughts," dad continues. "Sooner or later you'll see women are nothing to be afraid of."
"I told you I'm not afraid of them. They come with a lot of baggage. Why would I want to put up with that?"
"Because you don't know how to explain the feeling you get when one really like smiles at you. Check." Shikaku says again, matching Shikamaru's move as his son tried to find an avenue of escape.
"And lemme guess: you did when mom smiled at you, huh?" Shikamaru is backtracking, trying to find a way to get his king back behind his scattered lines. His pawns were too spread out, his rook had only so many ways to attack, and even then he couldn't maneuver. "Smile or no smile, you can't trust them, either way. And the prettier they are, the worse it is for us guys. Isn't that the whole basis for a kunoichi?"
"Heh, well, can't argue with that, son. Prettier they are, the harder it is for us to concentrate. However..." Shikaku moves his silver general to the last row, bypassing Shikamaru's last line, and sealing off the route of escape for Shikamaru's king. Check mate. For the first time in a long time, otousan had beaten him. All because he let his mind wonder, all because he let her smile get to him. Why did he have to think about her so much when they weren't even on the same team.
"Women offer men a helluva lot more than pretty smiles. The worth of a kunoichi goes beyond those woodblock shunga you and your friends hide under the market bridge. Yes, I know about them. Point is, kunoichi - women - offer the one thing at times we men seldom find in one another. And that's trust. When a man smiles at you, when he bares his teeth, we're conditioned to think it's a threat. Any number of ill-intentions can be hidden behind a man's smile. Doubly, if he be your friend. Same goes for women, too, of course. But when one smiles at you; gives it truly, wholeheartedly, and honestly means it. It makes ugly guys like us feel ten times more complete than we were before."
"Great," Shikamaru scoffs, still trying to figure out if his dad cheated or what? "So now you're saying I'm ugly."
"Ha! To me? A little," Shikaku moves himself off from his seat, and leaves his son to the clean-up. Per their agreement: whoever loses, needs complete their chores - ALL their chores - for the rest of the day. Shikamaru was now expected to clear out the deer and herd them into their pen for the night. "But not to someone else, it seems. Sure your mother will love to know who it is? Just don't be so hard on her when she asks."
Yome squints, her shrill voice breaking the silence. "I see her," she exclaimed, pointing into the haze. Shira follows her finger, determination and frustration palpable as he inhaled deeply, channeling his aura. The golden light radiates off him, cutting through the mist like a beacon. With a burst of energy, he launches into a flurry. movements fluid and powerful. Yet they found only empty air.
Akeginu, agile and elusive, dances just out of reach. Her laughter hits them like a sinister bell.
"Yome!" Shira shouts, anger mounting, as he realizes the futility of his attack.
"I'm telling you she's right there!" Yome insists.
Akeginu smirks, confidence unwavering. "Plenty of men I've seen think with their fists first and brains later. Soldiers like that have their uses; most of them end up buried in your sad little cemetery here in Konoha." Her words drip with disdain, goading Shira into a reckless fury.
Shikamaru observes Shira'a growing tension, and knows he was being baited; Akeginu wasn't wrong, Shira acted like any one of those "heroes" dead and gone underneath six feet of earth, or burned to have their ashes scattered in a blustery wind. Precision was how thy were going to beat this woman; a woman no doubt the talk of many a rumor Shikamaru's heard working her way through Sapporo. So far, gossip had little nothing to gain; Shikaku Nara was a dangerously intelligent man, his position secured in more ways due their Nara family's favor with Nosaka.
That didn't stop people talking.
True or not, people ever wanted to talk.
"Sen!" Shikamaru called up to the girl. "Use your fans to dispel the fog again!"
Sen nods, steps forward; her fans slice through the mist, revealing Akeginu standing confidently in her resplendent uniform. They beauty of her was overshadowed by the danger lurking within her gaze. Shikamaru felt its chill run up his spine as she smiles to him yet again. Yeah, he thinks to himself, smile or no definitely not any woman he would trust.
But seeing her there, an idea strikes his mind.
Pawn to move forward; shore the attack and mind the tip of the spear; Akeginu is the king in shogi - powerful in her position, but only having so many moves to play. And every time she does he can hear the jingle of the bell on her person. "Yome" he called, urgency in his tone. "You can track her through the moisture in the air, right?"
"Hai, yes!" Yome replied, eyes wide.
"Good. Sen, when Yome pinpoints her location, blow away the mist again."
"Got it!" Sen smiles back at him. Shikamaru shakes his head and focuses. "And Shira?"
Taking a moment to pull from his own chakra, Shikamaru feels the breath of air swirl within him. He's calmer now, resilient, and steadfast; he was going to beat the ROOT agent down, and get Choji and them out of here. "Just tell your brother to keep glowing bright when he builds up for another attack. We'll have once chance to catch her if I'm correct in this."
Which I always almost am - lance up two spaces, rook over one, keep the gold general in reserve once more.
Akeginu seamlessly fades into he mist once more like a wraith, her jutsu turning herself as weightless as a dream. Her figure becomes soft and translucent as once more the clearing is enveloped by her chakra. Yet, Yome's dojutsut remains fixed on the woman's movements, eyes trained on the shifting fog as Akeginu disappears. "She's moving," Yome goes, her pupils dilating to an unnatural size as her focus is amplified. "One o' clock, two o' clock, three o' clock she's circling clockwise, Shira!"
"Call her out when she attacks,' Shikamaru ordered, voice steady. "Shira! Take in a breath and get ready to attack."
If Shira heard him, his classmate doesn't show too much anger, too much confusion etched on his face. As Akeginu continues to page the boy with all her quips and consternations, about his lack of talent, of how his parents weren't strong enough to see the end of the revolution, how he wasn't either, ate away at his concentration. Sen yells to her brother not to listen - that what the bitch is spewing isn't true. But Shira didn't care - it hurt his pride all the same.
"Not good enough to be a ninja, not good enough to be a survivor; you're only hope at being something relies on you being made an example." Akeginu's voice pours out of the fog like a poison; Shira begins to build up his attack with a deep inhale; a golden aura brightening up his surrounding like a flame amidst the haze. "When do you wish to fall, comrade? Here where you're still safe, or lying in the dirt in a far-off place? With an unknown marker reminding everyone to not be like this wayward soul on the road of life?"
"She's stopping!" Yome cries out. "She's getting ready to attack."
Opposing king moving to the corner, rook fixing her in place, pawns corralling her in - almost got her...I think. "Sen, go!" Shikamaru's hands fly through the intricate signals of his family's patented technique - Bird, Boar, Dragon, Ox. Each gesture a silent common weaving the fabric of his chakra to force itself upon this world.
As Akeginu lunges forward, blade poised to find home in Shira's chest, with a powerful sweep of her fans, Sen sends a gust of wind surging forward, clearing the fog and revealing Shira's light. His chakra illuminates all around him, causing the trees and the branches to cast shadows which reach out like spilled ink. Shikamaru seizes the moment. "Kagemone no Jutsu!", he shouts.
Before she has the chance to evade, dark tendrils shoot out, wrapping around her like chains. Surprise is reflected momentarily in her eyes. "Shira!" Shikamaru shouts. Needing no further convincing, muscles coiling like a spring, readying for the finishing blow. She was right there, Shira thinks, a mere heartbeat away from retribution. The air around him sparks with anticipation, The Forest of Death coming to life as the heavenly breath exhales.
Check mate, Shikamaru thinks.
Yet Akeginu's confident smile remains, accompanied by a knowing wink directed at Shikamaru.
"You're smart, son, but you can still benefit from learning a thing or two more. When you're older, you'll understand a bit more. Maybe a good woman will teach you." Shikaku says before collecting his things, and heading off to bed; Yoshino had a full day, no doubt. But coming home to see her asleep in their bed was one of the few pleasures still afforded to the Majority Leader of the Sapporo Politburo. "But you are right about one thing...
"Be wary of the things you don't trust - in both men and women. Both can say much without saying anything at all. As a shinobi, you'll come to realize 'instincts' rather than words will avail you a lot more. Say what you will, hide what you can, and never reveal too much. Concept applies to shogi as much as they do in love."
"Ugh, seriously, 'love'?"
Shikamaru doubted much that love applied the same ideas and moves as shogi, and even less so when it came to the ways the real world operated. A game was a game, winners and losers having the ability to walk away from; but Shikamaru learned in this world the players rarely have that benefit. Both in the Sapporo government, and life in general.
There was always something else hiding, another unseen move to catch you off-guard. Shikamaru worked hard to be smarter than all the rest to ensure he'd never be caught off-guard. Not only for him, but for his friends, too. Choji, Ino, Shira, Yome...
And Sen.
Who gives him a playful knock on the noggin, and a warm smile that almost makes him blush.