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Chapter Text

   Blinking open her eyes, the cool sensation that blanketed her was so different from the constantly feverish state she was used to that she almost thought she was dead. The blue of the curtain surrounding her bed reminded her of the sky, and she noticed sunlight trying to filter through the cloth. Shifting her head slightly, she jumped a little at the slight gasp on her left, making her whip her head toward the noise.

   "You're awake!" A blonde woman with bright hazel eyes blinked at her for a moment before moving her hands away from where they had been hovering over her patient's body. "I was beginning to think I had gotten to you too late, but the damage caused by the Star training you endured was reversed without an issue. The rest of the problem was replenishing your body properly in a way that wouldn't handicap your chakra network, but my theory and research with that medical encyclopedia worked."

   The young genin only blinked at her; she wanted to open her mouth to speak, but the unfamiliar surroundings coupled with the commanding authority the blonde woman exuded prevented her from doing so. 

   "I guess I should explain," continued her doctor. "My name is Tsunade, I'm the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. You're in the hospital; you were brought here after the events in your home village, and about half way here you fell unconscious from your illness. Fortunately, you've only been out for three days, but Shizune - my assistant - and I were worried you hadn't been brought here quick enough. That's enough for now, though; I don't want to overwhelm you with information. If you can speak, I'll need your name for the chart, and I'll have some food delivered."

   At the mention of food, her stomach growled, but she only swallowed as she sat up slowly. Tsunade held a cup of water out for her, which she took and sipped at slowly after sitting back against her pillows, beginning to fully take in her surroundings. Her window was closed, but the curtain was open so sunlight filtered in, hitting the cloth that surrounded the end of her bed and separated it from what she assumed was the doorway to the rest of the hospital. Finally looking back at Tsunade, she cleared her throat gently before finally speaking.

   "Thank you," she murmured, voice hoarse from lack of use and the dryness of her throat that she was trying to ease with the water. Tsunade's eyes softened as she gave her a small smile. "M-my name's Kashizaki Hyakukusari," she finally answered when she felt her throat could handle it. She didn't miss the small spark of recognition in Tsunade's eyes, one tinged in sadness that everyone who heard her clan name and recognized it had.

   "Well, Kashizaki," she sighed, standing from her chair as she noted her name on the clipboard in her hands. "I'll have someone in with your food, but you do have a couple of visitors who have been waiting for you to wake up, if you feel you're up for it."

   "Sure," she practically whispered, nodding as Tsunade moved the curtain away from her bed so the room opened up more to her. There was another bed across from her, but it was empty and stiff, not having been used in at least a few days. Some clothes were folded on the end of it, and she realized they were the clothes she'd come here in; looking down at herself, she realized she was in a hospital gown and her hair was probably a mess. "A-actually," she started, looking back up at Tsunade as she felt heat rising in her cheeks. "Wh-who are the visitors?"

   "A couple of the boys who were on the team of ninjas who saved your village; Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee. Lee was the one that carried you here himself," she answered, clearly stifling a slight chuckle as she pulled a hand mirror out of her pocket and handed it to Kashizaki. "I promise you they won't care, but if you do, here," she continued, handing her a hair tie as well. 

   "Thank you," she murmured for the second time, hastily combing her fingers through her hair and tying it back. Eyeing her reflection in the hand mirror, she saw the hair tie that held her dark golden hair back into a loose ponytail did little to tame the bedraggled look she had. It was still enough to look better than just leaving it down, but the frayed look of her hair coupled with the bags under her dark blue-gray eyes and slightly sunken cheeks made it look like she was still sick. Which, she supposed she technically was, since the Tsunade lady hadn’t mentioned being done with her treatment.

   Sighing, she resigned that she wasn’t going to be able to tame her hair and held the hand mirror out for Tsunade to take.

   Offering her a small nod as she took her hand mirror back, Tsunade slid open the door to her room and motioned for her visitors that they could enter. 

   "Kashizaki!" Naruto's voice sounded first as he and Lee pushed past each other to try and get into her room first. "You're okay!"

   "Thanks to you guys," she nodded; her voice was still quiet, and she continued to nurse the water in the cup she'd been handed. 

   "You had us worried," Lee said, coming to stand at the foot of her bed as Naruto sat in the chair Tsunade had been in. "Collapsing the way that you had, I was worried we would not have made it."

   Seeing that neither of the boys seemed like they were going to jump on her patient, Tsunade nodded slightly and left the room, closing the door behind her.

   "Granny Tsunade seemed worried too when she first started treating you," Naruto nodded, making Kashizaki raise her eyebrow at him; did she know he referred to her so informally?

   "Well, I'm okay now, I think," she said, giving them each a small smile over the lip of her cup. "Thanks again, I... I kind of owe you guys my life."

   "Nonsense, Kashizaki!" Lee spoke up, leaning forward a little. "As long as you're able, just keep up your training and become as awesome a ninja as you've already shown you can be, and that'll be more than enough to pay us back. Right, Naruto?"

   "Right!" The blond agreed, giving her an enthusiastic smile. "Besides, that chakra chain thing you did during that fight to hold back Akahoshi was amazing! If you can get better with that, you'd be a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure!" 

   "Well, until I get out of here and am able to see what abilities I still have, I won't know if I can keep that promise," she said, shaking her head a little. "I'll keep training though; even if I can't use my chakra the way that I used to because the Star is gone, I want to be able to pay you guys back in some way."

   A month passed, and Kashizaki’s strength steadily returned. Tsunade did most of her treatment herself, wanting to keep an eye on her she’d guessed, since she was the only genin that had collapsed on the trip to Konoha. About half way through the month, Tsunade introduced her to a student; another genin, a pink-haired girl with determined green eyes. The genin, Sakura, began helping Kashizaki regain her physical strength and reflexes.

  At first, they simply sat in the hospital room and talked as they took turns trying to prevent the other from grabbing a kunai off the hospital tray that was between them. Eventually, when Kashizaki’s reflexes surpassed what Sakura could keep up with, they moved on to regaining strength. Simple physical tests to allow her body to get limber again, combined with a few workouts that were made with her specifically in mind - rather than brute strength, she preferred controlled, intentional bursts of strength that would create a cause and effect - and she felt like she could return to her normal training regiment.

  When Lady Tsunade had cleared her, saying she no longer needed treatment from her, she resolved to ask her if she could do just that.

   "Lady Hokage," Kashizaki began, bowing as she stood rigid in the middle of the office. The woman on Tsunade’s left she recognized as Shizune, having been introduced to her during the last week or so of her treatment, and a man with dark hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail, scars on the right side of his face, and a short goatee that matched his hair stood to her right. All three of them had their eyes trained on her, and it took all of her willpower not to squirm under their scrutiny. 

   "Kashizaki Hyakukusari, why are you still here? Aren't you supposed to be leaving with the rest of the Hoshi patients soon?" Shizune spoke, but Tsunade held up her hand to prevent Kashizaki from answering immediately. She waited for Shizune’s shoulders to relax slightly before speaking.

   "What is it you want, child?" Tsunade motioned with her palm up to show that she was open to hearing what Kashizaki had to say.

   "I was wondering if you'd allow me to stay here in Konoha," she answered, keeping her voice firm as she locked eyes with the Hokage. "I know you know about the tragedy of my clan, and after the events in Hoshi, I have nothing to return to since my father and his wife were both killed during the battle."

   "So you just expect us to take you in and take care of you?" Tsunade's eyebrow raised as she posed the question, but Kashizaki shook her head instantly.

   "No, I have every intention of continuing my training and paying my way."

   "And who would you train with?"

   "Myself, if I have to," she answered easily, lifting her chin a little as she spoke. "I kind of have to in order to learn the rest of my clan's techniques. Practical skills I can study and learn on my own as well, if you're unable to find me a sensei."

   "Determined, for your age, aren't you," the man finally spoke, his voice low as he regarded her and stroked his short goatee. 

   "I suppose," she conceded, fighting the urge to shrug as she locked eyes with him. "I have a few options, this was just the one I preferred the most."

   "And what other options do you have, young one?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow, and Kashizaki noticed Tsunade and Shizune share a look before she spoke.

   "If you turn me away here, I will just return to Hoshi and continue my training there; self taught, and made into whatever tool the Hoshikage would have of me. Another option is to be branded a missing-nin, but that comes with its own set of problems and is a last resort if I continued my training, since I wouldn't have a village to call home but wouldn't want to cause anyone problems. And I suppose my last option would be to give up becoming a shinobi entirely, becoming an unremarkable girl in a just as unremarkable village and growing up alone and unhappy. I think it goes without saying why I don't want that one."

   "Why ask to stay here?" Tsunade spoke up, making Kashizaki look at her.

   "I'd rather repay you and your village for saving my life, than return to the village that endangered it the way that it had in the first place. I'd rather die protecting the village, than letting my training sap my life away from me painfully and slowly."

   Tsunade's eyes bore into her, and it took every ounce of willpower she had to maintain eye contact with the Hokage and keep her shoulders straight. Kashizaki wasn't going to be intimidated out of her decision to make this plea, no matter what; that included effectively winning a staring contest with the leader of the village she wished to stay in.

   "Shikaku," Tsunade finally spoke, and the man on her right straightened his stance, as if jumping to attention but less rigid. "Find Team Asuma and bring them here. They're going to be the ones to escort the Hoshi refugees back to their homes."

   "Ma'am," Shikaku nodded, immediately moving to do as she asked. Kashizaki felt her heart drop a little, realizing she hadn’t been told she could stay before Tsunade had given the order to arrange an escort.

   Keeping her face impassive, she straightened her stance as Shikaku neared her. Unwilling to show them any of her disappointment, she stared ahead, eyes on the symbol on the front of the Hokage’s desk. Her thoughts raced as she came to terms with the fact that she would have to go back to the village that had nearly killed her just by training her near a rock; would she even want to go back? Suddenly, being branded a missing-nin and assuming a new identity in a completely different land, moving to keep from being found every few years seemed more appealing the longer she thought about it.

   "Return with them, I want to speak with you about our new genin and what to do with her when she returns from gathering her things from Hoshi."

   Tsunade’s voice, giving Shikaku another order, made Kashizaki look up again. Her heart soared as she looked at the Hokage, and she couldn’t help but return the smile that Tsunade had on her face. She had to make sure she followed through on her intention of paying this village back for saving her life.

   “C’mon, kid, you should go get ready; you have to gather your belongings from Hoshi to bring back here,” Shikaku spoke from behind her. She nodded, bowing to Tsunade before turning and dashing out the door. 

   Kashizaki kept to herself on the trip to Hoshi; her thoughts were on what her training would be like in the Leaf Village. A few of the villagers that she knew kept trying to strike up a conversation with her, and one of her fellow genin in her class told her they'd miss her, but she only gave them the polite responses of someone who clearly did not want to talk to anyone. 

   Asuma - the jonin assigned to this escort mission along with his team of genin (well, two genin and a chunin, as she was corrected on by the more rotund one, proud of his friend's accomplishment) - must've caught her pensive disposition, because she found herself walking in step with him, despite not making the effort; he must've fallen in line with her, since he cleared his throat to catch her attention. 

   "So I hear you're returning to Konoha after this?"

   "Oh, uh, yeah," she nodded, glancing up at him and noting the unlit cigarette in his mouth before returning her gaze forward. "I'm gathering what few belongings I have left in Hoshi, letting the Hoshikage know my plan, and returning to Konoha whether he wants me to or not. Lady Tsunade already said I could, and would work on the paperwork when I returned based on whether I had the Hoshikage's blessing or not."

   "Have it all thought out, do you?" He chuckled, raising his eyebrow as he regarded her out of the corner of his eye. She noted the cigarette in his mouth lifted a little with the movement of his jaw.

   "Like I told Lady Tsunade; I'd rather spend my life repaying the village that saved my life, than serving the one that put my life in danger in the first place. Akahoshi is being punished for this, sure, but my training started before he let his ambition drive him to that point."

   "So you feel the Hoshikage is just as responsible," Asuma supposed, earning a small nod from Kashizaki. "Well, I'll tell you now that your loyalty will be questioned frequently; a ninja willing to give up their home is one that's meant to be met with apprehension."

   "I understand," she nodded, crossing her arms over her middle as they walked. "But once you see the state my clan's compound is in, knowing it was like that before I became a genin, maybe you'll understand my willingness to leave it behind," she added with a murmur, looking down and away from him. Clenching her grip on her elbows a little, she straightened her shoulders and looked forward again, setting her jaw. "I'll prove my loyalty without hesitation, every single time it is called into question."

   "Easy there, spitfire," Asuma chuckled, waving his hand at her a little. "You haven't even begun your new training yet, and you're already so sure you're going to keep this mindset?"

   "Sarutobi-san," she began, looking up at him again. Again, she noted his cigarette, still unlit; it stuck straight out of his mouth, an indicator that she had his full attention. "With all due respect, you're making assumptions of me based on my age and the limited knowledge of me you've been given by Lady Tsunade. Don't you think I deserve the chance to prove myself before you assume my young age makes me as fickle as your students?"

   "What was that?!" A female voice spoke up from behind them, causing them both to look back.

   "You've really done it now," Asuma murmured under his breath so only Kashizaki heard it. His cigarette drooped as he continued, "Staying out of that one."

   "Who do you think you are, saying things like that about us when we're right here?!" The young kunoichi caught up with them, and Kashizaki wracked her brain trying to place a name to the face, but came up short as the blonde ran ahead so she could walk backwards while facing her. "You've got some nerve, calling us fickle!"

   "Ino, do you even know what that means," came a tired voice from somewhere on their right, and Kashizaki glanced over to see a boy who looked almost like a clone of the man she knew as Shikaku, nearly making her do a double take.

   "She's calling us indecisive and weak-minded!" The kunoichi called Ino whined, anger filling her voice further. 

   "I thought fickle was a type of beef cut?" The rotund genin from before spoke from behind them, between munches of chips.

   "No, Chouji, you're thinking of filet," sighed the Shikaku-clone, his head dropping forward as he spoke. "And it's not just a beef cut; you can filet fish, too."

   "Honestly, they're not even close to the same word?" Ino's confused tone, so different from her angry one, nearly gave Kashizaki whiplash as she looked away from Chouji back towards her.

   "That's what she means by fickle, by the way," the chunin spoke again, voice sounding like he was permanently sighing. And honestly, with these two as teammates, he probably was. "The way you jumped from angry to confused without a hint of that anger. And you do that a lot. You're not indecisive, you're decisive enough that it feels odd when you jump from one conviction to a completely different one."

   "Shikamaruuuu, you're supposed to be on my side about this!"

   "There's no sides to take," he sighed, his head falling back this time, eyes closed, though Kashizaki guessed the eyeroll he hid by closing them was very exaggerated. "She wasn't saying it to be insulting; she was being pretty cut and dry with it, actually."

   "Wait, does that mean you all heard the conversation?" Kashizaki spoke for the first time since Ino had her outburst. 

   "We're ninjas, of course we did," Ino said, giving her a full smile with a sweet voice. The feeling of whiplash was back as Kashizaki eyed her, an eyebrow raised. "Also, it wasn't like you and Asuma-sensei were whispering, and you're planning on coming back and becoming one of our colleagues; gathering information is kind of an instinct for us rather than a conscious thought, after all."

   "Right, so remembering basic manners for private conversations has to be the conscious decision, then?" Kashizaki's raised eyebrow and small smirk hopefully was enough to convey she was making a joke. By Ino's eyebrow twitching despite her own smirk, she guessed that while her joke was received, it wasn't received well.

   "You think you're funny, calling a kunoichi like me ill-mannered?!"

   "I dunno, you kind of implied it yourself, Ino," snickered Chouji from behind Kashizaki, and Ino glared over her shoulder at him.

   "What is it with you two and not taking my side?! Besides, I was talking about both of you, too!"

   "Yeah, but we didn't butt in on the conversation like you did," the chunin - Kashizaki remembered Ino had called him Shikamaru - said, his own slight smirk evident in his voice even if she didn't turn to look at him.

   "Alright, that's enough you four," came another sigh, this time from Asuma. "We're nearing Hoshi. Start acting respectable, please."

   She stood in the gates to her clan's compound, and he watched her hesitate with her hand against the wooden structure. The symbol of her clan was faded on the wood, but the replica of it emblazoned on the back of her jacket was clear as day as his eyes flicked between the two. The chain wrapped around a slightly bent sword was clearly meant to convey that the links of their clan were stronger than any steel, but something about that interpretation felt off to him, so he kept silent as he watched her shoulders heave with a deep breath.

   Asuma-sensei had sent him to escort her to her clan compound while he, Chouji, and Ino made sure the rest of the refugees settled in the way they needed to. They would stay the night there in Hoshi, and leave early the following morning with Kashizaki Hyakukusari in tow. The Hoshikage had given her her registration papers without hesitation after hearing her say she wanted to return to the Leaf, and the look of sadness in his eyes wasn't lost on Shikamaru. Seeing the state of her clan's compound, and having heard about the events that happened in this village from Naruto, Neji, Lee, and Tenten, he honestly didn't blame her for wanting to leave it all behind. 

   "You don't have to follow me in, if you don't want," she murmured over her shoulder at him, and he straightened his back a little.

   "I was told to accompany you, so that's what I'll do," he answered immediately, shrugging a little. "Besides, entering this compound seems like a drag to do alone; I imagine having some company might make things a little easier."

   "Not like I have a lot to carry," she deadpanned back, offering him a shrug before finally exerting force with the hand that rested on the wooden gate to her clan's compound. 

   He kept his steps in time with hers, a little behind and to her right as they walked along the cracked bricks that made up the pathway. Grass and weeds had long since overridden the path, more green than tan now. There was only one house still standing in the whole compound, as well as a half collapsed temple on their right that he glanced at as they walked past it. The rest of the buildings had either long collapsed due to not being maintained, or were clearly forcibly destroyed by one thing or another. A smell of iron hung low in the air, hardly detectable unless the wind changed. It didn't necessarily smell like blood, but it was enough to make his skin crawl as he eyed the house they were approaching. 

   "We're not going to find any bodies in there, are we?" He kept his voice even as he asked, and his gaze whipped to Hyakukusari's back when she actually laughed at his question.

   "That iron scent isn't from recent bloodshed, don't worry. I can't say there hasn't been plenty here, since I have no idea, but it's not recent. My father was killed in the Hoshikage's mansion, and I don't know where his wife had been killed but her body was found and placed in the mass grave before we left here a month ago. She didn't live here with us, anyway. No, the smell of iron is from my clan's trade and kekkei genkai," she explained, motioning towards a blacksmith's long-burnt out furnace that he'd missed during their walk. "I don't know how much you know about metallurgy, but those in my clan that weren't born with the kekkei genkai, or if they married into the clan like my father had, made steel that the rest of us would've trained with. I don't know when that stopped, because I was never taught about my clan's history since I was quickly made the sole member shortly after my birth, but that was something I was taught about, since my father continued to make weapons for the rest of the village as his way of making money, up until… Well, everything."

   She hadn't turned to face him as she explained, but somehow he knew there had to be tears in her eyes as she explained. He kept his gaze away from her, eyes still on the blacksmith's furnace, as if to give her some privacy while she composed herself, even though he wasn't certain whether she'd actually started crying or not. When he heard her foot land on the wood porch of her home, he turned his head to face her again and followed her inside the house.

   "Neither of my step mothers were supposed to live here since they had absolutely no ties to the clan at all. The first one kept getting sick while she was here, but we later found out that was caused by the Star training she was enduring. I was still in school at that time, but she died from that illness. The next woman my father married, he wouldn't let her near the clan compound at all, believing it to be cursing him for remarrying after my mother's death. He stayed here with me, and when I became a genin and would leave on missions, he would stay with her off the compound." She kicked off her sandals as she spoke, and he followed suit as she stepped further into the house. "Eventually, he stopped coming back altogether," she practically whispered, though it seemed loud in the empty living space. 

   Shikamaru wanted to open his mouth, ask questions, because that sounded almost insane to him; a father abandoning his child like that? He thought he felt sorry for Naruto for never having known his parents, and he remembered Sasuke and how he had come home to find his whole family dead. Sure, he didn't like the guy, but part of him still pitied him; it had driven him to abandon his village in search for power. And now, here was Kashizaki, standing in front of him in the home she'd grown up in, abandoned by the only person she could've considered family. And rather than turning that into the bitterness and drive for revenge he'd seen in Sasuke, she'd gone more in Naruto's direction; wanting to reinvent herself, to become a shinobi and serve the village that had saved her life, rather than take revenge on the village that had seemingly taken everything from her.

   Then he thought back to Asuma's probing on their trek here; would she keep that conviction, to serve the Leaf unconditionally like she said she would? Or would time morph that conviction into a different one, and bring about her downfall?

Chapter Text

   "You want me to teach her?"

   "Based on this report, her clan's hiden technique has the same practical use as yours does."

   "Isn't chakra manipulation like that more in line with the Akimichi clan than mine?"

   "She can't do that level of chakra manipulation anymore."

   The room got quiet after Tsunade made that statement. Shizune shifted uncomfortably after a moment, while Shikaku only blinked at her; that must've meant her healing reversed at least a little of what the star training had done to the girl's chakra network. Tsunade didn't let him respond, though, as she continued.

   "Besides, her clan's name comes from their ability to create chains with their kekkei genkai, not their chakra. It just shifted to chakra chains when they started training with that... Star thing. That’s the hiden technique she’d learned that was connected to her clan. From my understanding, she's already largely self taught; teaching her how to channel her chakra into steel chains is similar enough to channeling it into your shadow, isn't it?"

   "In that it's... Yin release, to do that sort of thing, sure," Shikaku conceded, stroking his goatee now as he closed his eyes. "Though, channeling chakra into metal is more like what the Sarutobi clan does."

   “She needs a specific type of metal, a steel that her family made for itself. I don’t know many details, but I remember reading that advanced users of that kekkei genkai can use Earth Release to find the materials used in their specific steel and create it with their chakra alone. Usually small pieces, but given her chakra pool she’ll still have…” Tsunade trailed off for a moment, looking down at her hands before looking back up at her Jonin Commander. “Besides, the only Sarutobi available to take on students, already has three," she deadpanned, her eyebrow raising.

   "And one of them's already a chunin-"

   "Tell you what," she interrupted him, sighing as she sat back in her chair. "Take her on as a student, and I'll let you pawn her off on Asuma half the time to take your son's place on that team whenever he's busy doing other duties his teammates can't help him with."

   Shikaku eyed the Hokage as he continued to stroke his short goatee. There had to be more behind choosing him to teach her. The report he'd been given told him enough about her and her family - how her father had abandoned her, leaving her to fend for herself alone on her clan's empty compound, as well as the reason the Hyakukusari clan had such a rapid decline in conjunction with the star training the Hoshi genin all underwent - but there still seemed to be something he was missing that Tsunade was trying to get him to pick up on.

   "Shikaku," Shizune finally spoke, voice soft as she locked eyes with him. "We're asking you because of the three families in the Ino-Shika-Chou formation, yours is the one that she'll fit in with the easiest. She's just as analytical and quick as you are, having her learn from you along with Shikamaru will help the village immensely. Your clan's hiden technique is similar enough to hers. And... This one isn't unique to you, but we still think you're the best fit for this; she needs to be reminded that families don't abandon each other, like hers has."

   "You want to prevent her from turning out like the Uchiha child," he realized, his hand dropping from his chin as he looked between the two in front of him. "By indoctrinating her into the closest knit set of clans here in Konoha. That's why you had Asuma escort the refugees back."

   "Well, even if that wasn't my plan, I still would've put Asuma's team on that mission, because they're the best suited team for a protection squad besides Gai's team," Tsunade said, a little sheepish as she waved her hand as if to bat away the idea of putting any other ninja team on that assignment. 

   "And what would her living arrangement be?" 

   "Well I'd leave that mostly up to you if you took the job, but I'm prepared to give her the apartment the Uchiha kid had-"

   "No," he said quickly, sighing a little afterward. "I have an extra room, if she's going to be learning from me, she's going to be doing it on my compound whenever I'm not here doing my job."

   "And how will your wife take this information? Or your son?"

   "They'll live with it," he shrugged. "Yoshino can't exactly say no, and I doubt Shikamaru will really care that much. He hardly cares about anything as is."

   "Very well, when they return I'll send her to your compound after she's been registered officially with me."

   The door to the temple of her clan was on her left as she and Shikamaru made their way back out of her clan compound. Stopping, she turned her head to stare at the half open metal door. She only had a single bag over her shoulder; Shikamaru didn't even have to carry anything with how little she wanted to bring with her, so she didn't feel like she was inconveniencing him by standing there for a moment.

   "Did... You want to go in?" His question made her start a little, and she almost shook her head just so they could leave, but something stopped her.

   "...Yeah, I think I do," she murmured, fully turning toward the door now. She didn't say anything, intending to let him decide if he was going to follow her inside. The sound of his footsteps behind her surprisingly gave her a small sense of security as she reached the door to the temple and shoved it open. 

   It wasn't a very large temple, just a few pillars flanking the main walkway. The stonework that had made up the building was crumbling, and a few holes in the roof let sunlight filter in. The tapestries and other cloth items were faded from this, some old enough that the dye had completely washed or faded away, leaving only the dull color of the yarn or other cloth prior to their transformation into artwork. The shrine at the end of the walkway had a little box in front of it, the offering box that had been empty for a long time. 

   On top of that box sat a scroll, sealed with wax; her father's initials sunk into the red substance, and she felt herself draw in a breath at the sight. He had expected her to come in here to say goodbye.

   Not wanting to give her tears any more opportunity to show themselves in front of someone who would eventually be her colleague, she rushed forward, grabbed the scroll, shoved it into her pack, and rushed back toward the entrance. 

   Shikamaru only spun in place to watch her rush back out of the metal door they had just come in, though he caught sight of her face as she brushed past him; the sight of tears on a girl's face always made him feel like he had to do or say something to fix it. Something told him not to open his mouth this time, though, so he wordlessly followed her out and toward the gate of the compound. 

   "There you two are," Asuma called from the gate, making them both look toward him. "C'mon, we should eat and get some rest so we can leave here early tomorrow morning."

   Shikamaru didn't miss the way Asuma's eyes flicked between the two of them and the temple, before taking in the rest of the rundown compound. It was obvious he had come to the same conclusion Shikamaru had; this clan was forcibly wiped out by something, enough to scare the newer members to not teach the history of the clan to the youngest members, and to terrify those marrying into the clan from ever even trying to talk about it. Akahoshi had only put the final nail in the coffin of the dying Hyakukusari clan by being the reason the last person who could've taught Kashizaki anything had died.

   Nervousness didn't even begin to cover the emotions she was feeling as she stood at the gates of a different clan compound. 

   Having returned to Konoha a few hours prior, and finishing up the paperwork Tsunade had required of her, Kashizaki was escorted to the Nara compound by Shikaku, who remained silent as he walked a little ahead of her. Now, staring up at the wooden gates, she was reminded of how she stood at her own just a few days ago, with the younger Nara standing behind her instead. 

   Sensing her hesitation, Shikaku stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her. Her face must've shown her apprehension and nerves plainly, because she caught his stance seemingly soften out of the corner of her eye. 

   "Take your time," he murmured, and her gaze flicked fully to him, surprised he understood. 

   "S-sorry," she squeaked out, clearing her throat in embarrassment and nerves before continuing. "Y-you're the head of your clan, right?"

   "Among other things, but yes," he nodded, turning to face her now. 

   "How... How do you do it?"

   His soft chuckle shook her a little, surprised that tears forced their way forward as she continued to look up at him. She was shocked that he understood her question, her apprehension, her desire to know the differences between how a healthy clan should be run, and why hers had been run into the ground. A few trailed down her cheeks when his palm came to rest on the top of her head.

   "With patience, Zaki," he murmured, and she gasped a little; she hadn't expected to hear her nickname again for a long while, if ever.

***

    Blinking, she looked up, past the wrist of the hand that rested on the top of her head. Her father's dark brown hair glinted with a few gold flecks in the sunlight, and his green eyes, while smiling at her, held a fear in them that she'd later realize was fear for her well-being.

   "C'mon, Zaki, let's go make dinner," he said, giving her a soft smile as he ruffled her hair.

***

   "Zaki! Hurry up, Sataro and Otoki-sensei are already waiting!" The voice of one of her old - now dead - teammates, Izutagi, carried over the clearing.

***

   "Hey, are you-"

   Her hearing was going in and out as she stumbled along with the group heading to Konoha after the events in Hoshi. She felt her knees collapse, and expected to feel her face bounce off the ground, but that feeling never came. The voice from before reached her ears before she lost consciousness completely.

   "Don't wor-... -t you-... -zaki."

***

   Embarrassed, her hand shot up to her face to wipe away the tears she'd let slip. She felt Shikaku's fingers tense a little on her head, and she looked up at him in response. 

   "Never be ashamed of your emotions," was all he said before lifting his hand and turning toward the gate of the compound. 

   She only blinked after him for a moment before following him through the opening.

   "That's enough for today, Zaki."

   She straightened a little, panting heavily as she looked over her shoulder towards her teacher. Her chakra was running low, she could feel it - something she hadn't felt in a long time - but she still hadn't wanted to stop. She was close to being able to actually create a new shape out of the metal in front of her this time!

   "Shikaku-sensei, why are you stopping me?"

   "You're going to pass out if you continue trying, and you've already used far more chakra than I've seen anyone else your age use. I'm not comfortable pushing that boundary any further than we already have recently; your chakra network is permanently mutated to allow you to store and manipulate more chakra than what should be humanly possible, I'd rather not just let you become an experiment regarding all of that. We will speak with Lady Tsunade about testing when she has a free moment, no sooner."

   Zaki opened her mouth to protest, but Shikaku's hand shot up instantly, paralyzing both her and her words. Glancing down, she saw his shadow had shot out at the same speed as his hand. Despite not telling them to, her limbs shifted to mirror his position instead.

   "You will not argue with me. Instead, we will head into the house, you will bathe before Yoshino complains, and by the time you are done, dinner should be ready. Now, do I need to continue to use this jutsu on you, or will you walk yourself back?"

   "I can walk myself," she grumbled, crossing her arms as soon as she felt the hold on her shadow lessen. "What a pain," she sighed, glancing over her shoulder toward the block of steel that had been provided to her for training. 

   Dents and protrusions littered the surface, manipulated by her chakra to change shape, but she still hadn't been able to make a completely new shape yet, let alone a chain like her clan was known for. She thought she'd been getting close this time, eyeing one of the further protrusions, but she hadn't noticed her chakra level dropping so low this time; usually she was very aware of her chakra level, a by-product of the mutation Shikaku-sensei had mentioned. She had just let the excitement of achieving something blind her to her body's tells; fatigue setting in, making her knees and elbows tremble with the effort of holding her body up, as well as her wrists aching from overuse.

   Realizing with a start that Shikaku had already turned and began walking towards the house, she scrambled to catch up, not wanting him to turn around and use his shadow imitation technique on her again. In the three months since she'd begun training, Shikaku hadn't done much teaching so much as just observing her while she pounded on that block of steel. Asuma trained her in combat, showing her how he channeled his chakra into his weapons, but she couldn't get it to work with the metal of basic ninja weapons or even one of his chakra blades. When she'd brought this up to Shikaku, he had only nodded without saying anything. The following day, that block of steel had shown up and he'd basically left her to her own devices on figuring out why that steel worked with her chakra, and how to get it to work further with her. So far, she hasn't had any luck.

   Following the instructions given to her, Zaki realized as she sat at the table with Shikaku that Shikamaru wasn't there, and Yoshino refused to eat with them. An uneasiness began in her belly as she fiddled with the sleeve of her kimono and glanced at her sensei.

   "Shikamaru's still out on a mission, and Yoshino gets worried," he explained, having predicted her questions before she asked them. "She prefers to worry about him alone, that's all."

   "And you?" She practically whispered the question. Shikaku only sighed in response, eyes closed as he picked up his chopsticks and began eating in silence. 

   That was the only answer she really needed, understanding immediately; a father's worry for their children was a heavy thing, and just as hard to talk about. She saw it enough in her own father, before he’d died. 

   A year of training and bonding later, and Zaki felt like she was actually starting to mesh with her make-shift teammates.

   She wasn't officially part of Team Asuma, but she fit right in with them whenever she had to fill in for Shikamaru because he was busy helping with chunin exams or some other chunin related assignment. She could immobilize enemies with the chains she kept wrapped around her waist and arms, throwing them and using her chakra to manipulate their trajectory. That block of steel Shikaku had gotten for her had become those chains she wore. And as she became more adept with them, she learned to identify the materials in that steel, in the earth, and could create chains hidden underground that way as well. Those ones weren't permanent, only existing as long as she had chakra to handle it, but usually that was more than long enough for Ino or Chouji to finish the job. 

   Unfortunately, by the time the first set of Chunin Exams rolled around, Kashizaki hadn't completed enough missions to qualify. It ultimately wouldn't matter, it seemed, as these exams were interrupted by the Akatsuki. This was planned, however; both Shikaku and Shikamaru had spoken about it at home, in her presence. She'd even been the one to bring up asking Suna for help, as an olive branch. Sure, they'd kind of looked at her like they had already planned that, but she'd said it first, and that seemed to surprise them. 

   Despite the plan going off without a hitch, and the gathering of information of the Akatsuki being a success, Ino and Chouji were still both passed over for promotion to chunin. They had each expressed their anger and disappointment to Shikamaru, especially after they found out that it was his recommendations that got some of their classmates promoted but not them. Zaki was quick to soothe them, though, reminding them that there was always next time, and she'd be able to participate with them. 

   Eventually, due to Shikamaru's status as a chunin, he could lead more missions for Team 10. As long as a jonin wasn't absolutely required, usually Asuma let the four of them handle missions themselves. Of course, they rarely ever got more dangerous than catching a simple thief or uncovering a conspiracy in a nearby village, but their mission success rate was hardly something to scoff at - over 90% - which of course meant they got assigned more and more as time went on.

   The more missions they went on, the closer she got with Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru. Asuma’s barbeque celebration meals included her, even if she wasn’t on the successful mission, because they wanted her around. Ino spent time with her, teaching her about the flowers in the shop as well as the more dangerous plants that can be used offensively. Chouji actively trained with her, the two of them practicing combo moves with each other or just light sparring matches to train their taijutsu. And Shikamaru had taken up playing shogi with her whenever Asuma wasn’t available; this wasn’t often, but he’d discovered her playing against herself one evening with one of the extra boards they had at the house, after she’d finished training with his dad, and asked if he could take over for one of the sides. 

   She’d beaten him, despite offering him the previously winning side.

   He won the immediate rematch, and usually won their one-off games, but she'd catch him off guard every once in a great while and pull off an upset win.

   Their rhythm was pretty much set, after that; get assigned a mission, complete said mission, celebrate with Asuma, then train and hang out until the next mission. The interval between missions was often very short, but that didn’t bother them with how easy they all got on with each other after a few short months, turning into a well-oiled machine over the course of a year.

   Until the next chunin exams, anyway. Then missions halted almost immediately, sign-ups becoming the most important things to those 14-year-olds.

Chapter Text

   "It's that time of year again," Asuma greeted, holding up papers as he approached his students. Chouji hummed in acknowledgement around a mouthful of chips, while Ino and Zaki turned their gazes on Shikamaru, whose hands were behind his head as he looked anywhere but the two kunoichi.

   "You know I help organize those all the time, don't blame me for not explicitly telling you they were coming up," he defended, which only made Ino take a step closer to him.

   "It's not about the lack of heads up that I'm glaring at you over," she said, voice lowering menacingly as she narrowed her eyes further. "Just the fact that we have to take them again, that's all."

   "This will be my first exams that I qualify for, would it have killed you to at least let me know?" Zaki crossed her arms, and Shikamaru actually did look at her in response, shrugging a little.

   "Dad could've told you just as easily, you know."

   "Shikaku-sensei hardly speaks to me unless it's to tell me to stop doing something wrong," she grumbled, looking away from him. "Or that I'm getting too close to the forest, since he still hasn't given me permission to enter despite living there for a year at this point."

   "That's just because the deer still haven't made up their minds about you," Shikamaru explained, shrugging yet again. "I'd give you permission myself but Dad would just revoke it again so there's no point."

   Zaki opened her mouth to protest, but Asuma quickly stepped forward, waving the papers in his hand again.

   "Right, so the exams that three of you still need to pass," he said, handing one to each of the genin around him. This once again made Ino glare at Shikamaru, who made it a point to look away from her in response.

   "You know I couldn't just recommend that you guys pass if you really shouldn't have just because you're my friends," he grumbled, sighing when Ino made a noise of discontent with his response. "I'm not giving my recommendations this time, since this one shouldn't get interrupted; the council, the Hokage, and the Jonin Commander are going to be the ones to pass or fail you guys, if you make it to the final rounds."

   "Oh so Zaki's practically guaranteed the promotion," Ino scoffed, making Zaki look at her with her eyebrow raised.

   "Didn't I just finish saying how I don't even think Shikaku-sensei likes me?"

   "You don't know how Shikamaru's dad shows affection," Ino started, waving her hand a little. "Basically, he doesn't. If he's not speaking to you, chances are you're in his good graces and he likes you."

   "I don't think that's entirely accurate-" Zaki started, only to be interrupted by Ino raising her hand in front of her face.

   "I've known both Shikamaru and his dad my entire life, I think I know."

   Zaki only looked over Ino's shoulder to lock eyes with Shikamaru, who only shook his head and shrugged as he sighed. 

   "You are remarkably good at getting off topic, Ino," Asuma tried again, pointing to the papers in his student's hands. "Fill those out, you turn them in at the academy in two days, so you've got time to get some last minute studying and training in. You're allowed to ask me questions, because I don't know the specifics about the exams, but you're not permitted to hound Shikamaru for answers; you'll get disqualified and him in trouble."

   "Understood, Sensei," Zaki nodded, bowing to Asuma before looking down at the form.

   "You guys are free to do whatever you need to over the next two days, you just have to turn the forms in as a team by midday and be ready for the written exam as soon as everyone's present," the jonin explained, earning a nod from Chouji and Ino this time as well before turning and leaving the four of them.

   "I should probably go, too, since I'm not supposed to give you guys any information," Shikamaru yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Besides, I'll be needed at the academy to make sure the students stay out of the wing we're using for the exams; it's a real drag keeping those nosy kids out of the way," he sighed, shaking his head.

   "Good luck," Zaki murmured, still reading over the form as she wandered over to a nearby tree to sit down. He blinked after her, seemingly shocked she didn't have the same glare on her face Ino had.

   "That was my line," he said softly, before shaking his head and looking at Chouji and Ino. "I'll say it now, in case I don't get to see you guys before the exams start; good luck, I'll be rooting for you, whatever other mushy shit you guys would want to hear." One of his hands rubbed the back of his head as he spoke, and his other hand met Chouji's in a fist bump as they shared a small smile. Ino gave him one last glare before softening her stance and actually giving him a side hug before immediately pulling back, as if lingering contact with him could be perceived as anything other than platonic and neither of them wanted that.

   "We'll drag you and Zaki out for barbeque the day before the exams start, don't worry," Chouji chuckled, glancing over at the kunoichi in question. "Last chance to relax before then, right?"

   "Right," Shikamaru murmured, nodding as he followed Chouji's glance. "Last word of advice, then; work on your teamwork at some point in the next couple days. That's all I'll say."

   "Obviously," Ino scoffed, waving her hand before nudging Shikamaru a little as if to shoo him away. "Get going, before your soft side shows itself from staring at her for too long." This turned his face red as he shot his own glare at Ino, before scoffing and turning away, both hands on the back of his head now.

   "You're more troublesome than she is," he grumbled, taking a few purposeful steps away from his team before glancing over his shoulder again. "I'm serious, though; being able to work together with more than just me is important."

   "We got it, Shikamaru, thank you," Ino nodded, waving her hand in his direction again. "You're going to give away too much information if you stay, I can see it in your eyes."

   He only narrowed his eyes at her before glancing towards Zaki again, who sat with her legs crossed as she studied the form under the tree she had chosen. She had the tip of her thumb in her mouth, worrying the nail with her teeth as her eyes traveled the page; an action he knew he himself made sometimes as his thoughts raced while he read. Did she pick that up from him?

   Shaking his head, he finally left the training field to his teammates and headed back to the academy to do his job.

   "So what's it like?"

   Shikamaru opened one of his eyes to look over at his best friend, who surprisingly didn't have anything in his mouth when he asked the question. When Shikamaru only raised his eyebrow at him, Chouji asked again.

   "What's it like living with Zaki? I've been wondering for a while now, and we finally have downtime away from Ino to ask," he chuckled, and Shikamaru only closed his eye again to hide his eye roll.

   "No different than before she showed up, I suppose. My mom's quieter, because I think she's upset that Zaki's even there, but there's not much she can do about it so she quietly accepts it and simmers about it whenever they're in the same room. Zaki's rarely ever at the house because of it, or she's in her room reading over the scrolls she'd brought with her from Hoshi."

   "She open the one she said was from her dad yet?"

   "No, it still sits in the middle of her desk. She won't use her desk because she doesn't want to touch it, but doesn't want to forget it's there, so she just sits either on her bed or against one of the walls in her room when she's studying. I don't think the cushions in her room have been in the same position once in the last year," he added with a slight chuckle, finally opening his eyes to look up at the clouds. It was his last chance for a break before the exams took all of his attention tomorrow; the barbeque Chouji had mentioned before was going to be that night, after Shikamaru had finished his preparations at the academy. 

   "What do you think she's waiting for? I mean, I think I get the pain she's trying to avoid with it, but-"

   "I don't know," Shikamaru interrupted, shaking his head as he sat up. "You know I'm not one to gossip, much less about my teammates and friends," he added, shooting Chouji a narrow-eyed look before sighing. "Besides, it's... One of the only things my father actually does talk to her about, whether she's read the scroll. She gets all stiff and tight lipped whenever he brings it up, and it practically guarantees she won't leave her room for the rest of the day. I think he uses it to get out of training her sometimes."

   "Yeah, that sounds like your dad," Chouji nodded, looking down and away from Shikamaru. "So they just kind of treat her like a burden, huh?"

  "Not outwardly, but it's kind of obvious that's at the very least my mother's outlook, yeah," Shikamaru murmured, tilting his head back to look at the clouds again. "Dad's much harder to read, but I don't think he sees her as a burden. At least, not any more than he sees me as a burden, and I'm his own flesh and blood."

   "And what about you?"

   "What do you mean?" Shikamaru turned his head to look fully at his friend, who returned his gaze evenly, one eyebrow cocked in a questioning look.

   "Is she a teammate, a friend, or a burden to you?"

   "I don't see why they have to be mutually exclusive," came his easy answer, shrugging as he looked away from Chouji again. "It's not like I dislike her, why are you asking me that?"

   "She's been living at your house for over a year, you're telling me you haven't thought about her outside of hanging out with all of us together?"

   "What are you getting at?" Shikamaru whipped his head around to fix Chouji with an inquisitive stare, returning the questioning eyebrow raise he'd gotten from him before.

   "I'm saying the way you stared at her yesterday when we got our chunin exam forms let me know there's a conversation to be had about all of it. Ino picked at you for it, I figured I'd get in a step ahead of her and see if you'd be willing to talk to me about it before she tried to needle you about it."

   "You're allowed to sit with me out here because you don't do this type of shit," Shikamaru groaned, flopping back down with his hands on his face. "This isn't a conversation I want to have," he grumbled through his palms, hoping his ears weren't as red as they felt like they were.

   "Then don't have it, I don't care," Chouji dismissed, and Shikamaru peeked at him through his fingers to catch his shrug. "Like I said, I just wanted to see if you'd be willing to talk to me about it before Ino tried to physically force it out of you tonight in front of Zaki."

   "What?!" His hands flew off his face as he propped himself up on his elbow, shifting onto his side to reach for Chouji's arm. "You think she'll-"

   "Shikamaru, we both know Ino," Chouji said slowly, blinking at him as if surprised by how quickly he'd moved. "If you don't explicitly tell her not to do something because it will cause you active pain or anguish, and in a way that won't be entertaining to her, she will hassle you about it in front of Zaki and Asuma-sensei until she gets what she wants."

   "You're right," Shikamaru grumbled, head dropping forward as he sighed. "It's worse because she won't be satisfied with any answer I give her, either. She'll either know I'm lying, or think I am because my answer is I don't have one."

   "So you don't know how you feel about Zaki?"

   "I haven't given it a whole lot of thought," Shikamaru conceded, letting go of his grip on Chouji's wrist as he shifted to prop himself up on both his elbows, brows furrowed in contemplation. "Haven't felt a need to. She's just there, it's not like I go out of my way to speak to her, and she doesn't seem to seek me out either unless there's a mission coming up."

   "So when you two walk up to the training field or Hokage's mansion for missions together, you don't talk?"

   "I mean we make small talk or talk some shit about my dad's inability to actively teach, rather just leaving us to figure shit out on our own. Sometimes she'll ask me about a move I made in one of our recent shogi games or a game she watched between me and my dad. Other than that, though, there's not much conversation to be had?"

   "You've never thought to ask her about her interests? What her favorite... Well, anything is?"

   "Never felt the need to," Shikamaru mumbled, sitting forward and resting his arms on his knees as he looked at his fingers. "What would I use that information for?"

   "I guess doing little things for someone else's happiness isn't exactly something you're known for doing, huh," Chouji chuckled, one of his hands reaching behind his head sheepishly. "Do you remember what any of mine or Ino's favorite foods are?"

   "Yours is easy, it's why we're at the barbeque place all the time," Shikamaru scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Ino's got a thing for pudding, it's the only thing she'll let either of us see her eat for a dessert."

   "She also likes cherry tomatoes; I give her some from my family's garden every once in a while."

   "That's like you, I suppose," Shikamaru nodded, glancing over at Chouji. 

   "And definitely not like you," Chouji said pointedly, making Shikamaru fully meet his gaze. "But you'll remember that detail for the rest of your life now, won't you?"

   "You're right," he sighed, closing his eyes now. "I couldn't tell you why-"

   "I can, but you'll dispute me on it so I'm not going to waste my breath," Chouji interrupted, making Shikamaru shoot him a glare before closing his eyes again with another sigh. "My point with all of this, is that you should make an effort to learn Zaki's favorites, if for no other reason than to say that you know them. She's someone who lives in your house, you should make an effort to actually get to know her at some point, you know?"

   "That's the thing; I already feel like I know her well enough as it is," Shikamaru said, opening his eyes to look at his hands again. "We play enough shogi and have gone on enough missions together to know what she's like, how she reacts to crises and stresses, what her priorities are in those situations. All information I feel like is more important than knowing what her favorite food is."

   "Okay that's great and all, but you've already told me you don't even have casual conversations with the chick, that information you do know about her won't help you in talking about things that'll get her smiling," Chouji remarked, shifting so he was leaning back on his hands.

   "And why would I be participating in conversations of that nature?" Shikamaru's eyebrow raised as he shot yet another narrow-eyed look at his friend. 

   "Shikamaru," Chouji groaned, head falling back as he sighed. "Ino's right, you're as dense with feelings as I am with academics."

   "There's no feelings! Why are you trying to say there are?!"

   "You don't have to be into her!" Chouji sat up and shoved Shikamaru's shoulder as he did. "I asked you before if she was a teammate, a friend, or a burden to you, and you said she was all three. The fact that you consider her a friend of any kind means you care. That's the only reason you need in order to participate in conversations that'll get her to smile. I'm not saying go out and give her her favorite food on any regular basis, I'm just saying getting her to open up about what she likes to do when she isn't studying or playing shogi might make her feel more welcome in your place, if your parents aren't making it easy for her."

   "Wait, so-"

   "You were the one that got it into your head that I was talking about anything other than making her feel welcome," Chouji interrupted, raising his hand as he pointed at Shikamaru. "Which in turn tells me there's something there, but that's for you to figure out. In the meantime, this conversation is enough for me to back you up when you tell Ino to shut up at dinner tonight."

   "Great, at least I can count on you for that," Shikamaru grumbled, flopping onto his back again as his hands covered his face. "You're not allowed to cloud watch with me again."

   "Yes I am, but that's not going to be a problem for a while; we have exams to worry about, after all."

   "Thanks again for helping me out here," Ino said as she handed off a wrapped bouquet to a customer as Zaki rearranged the flowers in the displays to fill in the gaps left by the ones Ino had removed for arrangements.

   "It's no problem, really," Zaki nodded, offering a tightlipped smile and short bow to the customer as they paid and left, leaving the flower shop empty save for the two kunoichi. "When my options were either come work here for a few hours, or run drills with a silent sensei watching over my every mistake, I'll happily skip out on training this time."

   "What's that like, anyway? Living with your sensei?"

   "Not much different than when I was living alone, I suppose?" She shrugged, looking down as she thought. "It's not like I speak with him about anything other than my training; he and Yoshino-san make it a point to remain silent around me when we're in the house. Shikaku-sensei gives me orders for training and what to do when training is over, and that's about it."

   "And you've lived like that for a year, Zaki?" Ino's incredulous look almost made her want to backpedal, to try and make up for what she'd said. 

   "Y-you have the wrong idea; it doesn't feel malicious or contemptuous in any way! Well, Yoshino-san's silence kind of does sometimes but she's like that to Shikaku-sensei and Shikamaru too so I don't think that's something I brought on. Shikaku-sensei rarely speaks in general; in fact, I think I've heard his voice more than Shikamaru has in the last year."

   "You must mess up a lot in training, then; you said yesterday that he rarely speaks to you besides that."

   "I mean, it's training, that's where you're... supposed to mess up?" Zaki raised her eyebrow as she leaned against the counter in front of her. "Point being, he usually leaves me and Shikamaru on our own to learn. I don't know how he is with Shikamaru's training, since they do it in the forest and usually when I'm meant to be off the compound with you and Chouji for one reason or another."

   "Speaking of Shikamaru, what's that like?" Ino leaned against the counter as well, crossing her arms as she regarded Zaki, waiting for an answer. 

   "What's what like? Living with Shikamaru?" At Ino's nod, Zaki's head tilted slightly. "I dunno, is there supposed to be something special about it?"

   "You're not related to him, and you're sharing a roof; what do you guys do when you're not around his parents?"

   "Um... Nothing?" Zaki's eyebrow cocked as she narrowed her eyes at Ino. "Are you trying to imply something?"

   "That he'd be a real drag to live with, yeah," Ino laughed, stopping when Zaki only gave her an exasperated look.

   "Usually we only spend time together when we're playing shogi," she explained, shrugging when Ino's eyebrow raised again. "And that's not very often. Sometimes I'll sit in on a game between him and his father, but I don't speak. Otherwise, I study in my room; remember, I have to learn about my kekkei genkai by myself. The chains I use? I learned how to make those on my own, without any input from Shikaku-sensei at all. He offered me the block of steel that I turned into my chains, and told me to read through everything I could about my family's jutsu to figure it out. So that's what I spend most of my free time doing, reading over the scrolls I brought with me from Hoshi last year. It doesn't leave me with a lot of time to try and make nice with Shikamaru, like you're trying to imply I want to."

   "Oh please, Kashizaki," Ino scoffed, rolling her eyes as she waved her hand a little. "You two were practically made for each other-"

   "It's not something that's been on my mind; we have an exam to worry about," Zaki interrupted, fixing Ino with a glare that froze her in place. "And if you bring it up at dinner tonight, you're going to make everyone uncomfortable, not just me and Shikamaru."

   "Didn't I tell you not to try," Zaki tiredly interjected as Ino's mouth opened, making the blonde kunoichi hesitate as she shot a wide eyed look at her.

   Chouji and Shikamaru only blinked at the two, standing outside the restaurant as they waited for Asuma to show up. 

   "How did you-" Ino started, but Zaki only shook her head as she raised her hand.

   "Because I've known you for a year, Ino; you're just that predictable."

   "You really are just like him!"

   "Give it a rest, would you?" Zaki fixed Ino with a glare that made even the guys' blood run cold. "I'm here to eat and relax with my friends before the big exams starting tomorrow, not subject myself to you trying to force two of us together just because we live under the same roof! You don't see me trying to hook you up with Chouji all the time because the two of you have similar ideas about me and Shikamaru!"

   "Wait... How-" Chouji started, and Zaki whipped her gaze to him, though it softened slightly when they locked eyes.

   "I'm not an idiot, I know that's what you talked with him about while you were spending time with him on his break around lunch time."

   "But... How?"

   "Guys, I've been here for a year, spending time with each of you. Just because I keep to myself about a lot of things doesn't mean I'm unobservant and incapable of guessing your courses of action. Remember, I'm normally the one to direct you guys in battle if we run into trouble when Shikamaru or Asuma-sensei aren't around?"

   "She really is just like you," Chouji finally murmured, glancing over at Shikamaru who only continued to blink at Zaki through her whole spiel.

   "Lady Hokage told me that's why I was assigned to Shikaku-sensei. It's not a coincidence how similar we are; I fit in better with the Naras than I do either of your families, so I was made Shikaku-sensei's charge. This was discussed a few months ago, when she wanted to test the extent of the mutation of my chakra network."

   "I remember that day," Shikamaru finally spoke, eyes never leaving Zaki. "It's the only time you actively asked to watch me and my dad play shogi. Usually you just happen across our games and sit quietly nearby, sometimes with a scroll with your clan symbol on it, but not this time. You asked us to play so you could watch."

   "I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out why, then," she nodded, crossing her arms as she looked away from him.

   "Did it help?"

   Ino glanced between the two, a look of confusion on her face as her gaze settled on Zaki, who chewed on her cheek for a moment before she finally answered him.

   "It did, yes," she nodded, looking up and locking eyes with him. "It helped me realize a few things."

   "Judging by the fact that you're still here, I'm guessing they were good things?"

   "Will you two actually speak a language at least one of us understands?!" Ino interrupted, waving her hand in front of Zaki's face to catch her attention. "You're like having half of a conversation out loud here, the rest going on in those giant fucking brains of yours!"

   "Because it's the only way to have a private conversation around you, remember?" Zaki raised her eyebrow with a slight smirk as she glanced at Ino out of the corner of her eye. Ino's eyebrow twitched as she raised her fist, intending to hit Zaki over the head when Asuma finally walked up to their group.

   "Sorry I'm late," he started, eyeing Ino as she lowered her fist. "Kurenai's team was asking me a few questions about how they could work well with a teammate they hadn't had much experience with. Since you know Shino's already a chunin."

   "Who's filling in their gap?" Chouji asked, following behind Asuma as the group walked into the barbeque restaurant.

   "Rock Lee, I believe, since he's the last one of Gai's team that has yet to pass. Tenten and Neji both passed during the exams that were interrupted," he answered, waving his hand slightly as they sat down.

   "Oh, Lee got passed over too? Why's that, Shikamaru?" Ino glared at the chunin in question as they sat across from each other. Zaki slid into the booth next to Ino, and Chouji in next to her as Asuma claimed the spot next to Shikamaru. 

   "I told you, I couldn't just give recommendations based on who's my friend and who isn't! I gave an honest assessment on who I think expressed qualities fitting of chunin level, and who I thought could still use some work. Honestly, you should be grateful I kept you guys behind; it let us keep getting the easier missions that weren't such a drag to complete."

   "It's been almost a whole year, Ino, would you give it a rest?" Asuma spoke up as he flagged down a waitress to put in their order for food. "You guys failed the last exams, too, remember? The ones six months ago? It's part of the reason I had you guys start taking on missions on your own, so you would learn how to be less reliant on me and more in-tune with each other. So the fact that you're not a chunin right now isn't Shikamaru's fault."

   "Scoring is different this time, anyway," Shikamaru grumbled, but Asuma nudged him before he could say more about it.

   "Quiet, tonight's about wishing the three of them luck and success, not grumbling about your responsibilities," he reprimanded, earning a sigh from Shikamaru before he fixed Ino with a look that made her shrink in her seat. "And you, Ino, need to just be ready to support Chouji and Kashizaki whenever possible. Your training under Sakura and Lady Tsunade has been coming along, right?"

   "Yeah, learning medical ninjutsu has taken up most of my time," she nodded, looking down at the table. "And the evasion training is really killer on my body."

   "Lady Tsunade isn't teaching you the chakra control she has Sakura drilling herself on all the time?" Zaki tilted her head as she asked, glancing over at Ino before looking over as their food arrived.

   "No," she answered, shaking her head as she waited for the cuts of meat to be passed down the table. "She offered, but I turned her down. My dad started training me more, and with your crazy sparring technique I don't feel like I need the fighting style that Lady Tsunade is teaching Sakura."

   "And what about you?" Asuma looked at Chouji, who just finished shoving a cut of grilled beef into his mouth. 

   "Wha' 'bou' me?"

   "What's the last year amounted to for you?" Asuma repeated, watching as Chouji swallowed his mouthful in contemplation.

   "Mostly training and gardening, I guess," he shrugged. "My mom decided that because our family likes food so much, we should probably know how it's made, and my dad agreed because he bends to her every whim. It's mostly vegetables right now, but Mom thinks there's enough room on the compound for a small orchard or something later. So whenever I wasn't stuck helping out with that, I was likely training either with you or Zaki."

   "And you?" Asuma turned his head to look at Shikamaru next to him. Shikamaru's shoulders raised in a shrug as he rolled his eyes.

   "What a drag," he complained. "I'm not the one taking the exams tomorrow-"

   "You should still be training, Shikamaru," Asuma chastised.

   The sound of laughter from across the table made both he and Shikamaru look over, pinning their gazes on Zaki, who had her hand over her mouth. She blinked slowly at them before realizing both Chouji and Ino were staring at her as well.

   "What?" Her head tilted slightly, and Ino leaned forward a little, pointing at Zaki's face.

   "That's the first time you've done more than give anyone a 'customer service' smile!"

   "Nonsense, surely I've laughed here in this very restaurant around you guys before? You're all fools at least some of the time!"

   "Not like that, you haven't," Chouji chimed in, shaking his head. "Short snorts or scoffs, nothing like the actual laugh that you just let out."

   "And it was because you thought Asuma-sensei chewing Shikamaru out was funny? " Ino raised her eyebrow as she looked between Zaki and Shikamaru again.

   "Only because both Asuma-sensei and I know full well that Shikamaru has been training over the last year, and he still felt the need to go in on him like that," Zaki defended herself, motioning between the jonin and chunin across from her. "It was a useless attempt at dodging a question he knew Asuma already knew the answer to, and a needless display of concern for Shikamaru's apparent lack of discipline."

   "And that was... funny to you?" Ino looked at her incredulously again, and Zaki rolled her eyes as she slouched a little in her spot.

   "Funny isn't quite the right word. Entertaining?"

   "Sure, whatever; point is, it got you to laugh. Something none of us even knew you were capable of."

   "Maybe if you guys were funnier, you'd hear it more often."

   "You little-"

   "Can it, Ino; you two don't need to squabble at the table," Asuma sighed, rubbing his face with one of his hands.

   "She started it!" Ino protested, pointing at Zaki, who crossed her arms and smirked in her direction.

   "You two fight like sisters," he grumbled, looking at the two kunoichi between his fingers. 

   "And it's the only time I ever really hear Zaki's voice, unless we're in a combat situation or something," Chouji spoke up between bites of food. "Either commands or arguing with Ino."

   "Pleasant image of her," Shikamaru murmured, earning a slight chuckle from Asuma. The girls hardly seemed to notice the conversation happening around them, Ino glaring at a smirking Zaki the whole time.

   "At least it doesn't change how well they work together in the field," Chouji added, swallowing as he leaned forward a little to look between the two. "You've seen it, Shikamaru; they work together as well as you and I do."

   "That's because we have similar ideas about what the best courses of action should be regarding Ino's safety and positioning," Zaki said, finally turning to look away from Ino. "Keeping her out of harm's way happens to be both of our priorities because she's going to keep us going through the fight. And she'll readily agree to anything I say because despite our differences, she knows I know and respect the value of medical ninja in the field. Or have you forgotten I've taken a few lessons from Lady Tsunade as well?"

   "All you know is basic first aid, don't get full of yourself," Ino seethed from behind her, making her snort a little.

   "You're the one with the big head over being the medical-nin of our team."

   "Seriously?" Asuma interrupted them again. "I'm one sentence away from telling you both to run laps around the village. Shut up and eat, enjoy your potential last night as genin, would you?"

Chapter Text

   Team 10 sat at a free standing table, just the three of them. Every other team that was participating - it only seemed to be 8 other teams besides them, a much smaller group than what Chouji and Ino had seen before - was also at their own free standing table. It felt more like a normal class at the academy, save for the chunin and jonin lining the perimeter of the room.

   "This first exam shouldn't take too long," a female voice began, and Ino and Zaki each whipped around to face the woman at the back of the room. Sakura walked between two of the tables towards the chalkboard at the front of the room, giving Ino a smug smile and Zaki a small wave as she passed. "Each team has been given a unique question they have to answer by finding the shinobi in this room it pertains to. You first have to find where that question is on your table, then you have to answer it without letting me or the other proctors know you've done so. The only ones that should know you've finished are your team, and the answer to your question. You have one hour to do this. At the end of the hour, we'll have the shinobi selected as answers approach the tables their information had been assigned. If you were right, you'll be allowed onto the second exam. If you were wrong, you will fail and be eliminated."

   "So we're solving a riddle," Zaki said under her breath, glancing over at Ino who gave her a small nod and shifted enough to look like she was just leaning forward on the table, her palm pressed flat against it. Zaki glanced to her left at Chouji, who returned her glance and leaned back slightly to have more of the chunin and jonin in his field of view. 

   "Your time starts now," Sakura stated, clicking the stopwatch in her hand and looking down at it briefly before leaning against the desk and crossing her arms, gaze sliding across the room every few moments. 

   A few chairs scuffed as their fellow genin shifted in their places. Zaki kept flicking her eyes around - check on Ino, take in some information about one of the proctors, check on Ino again, check on the expressions of her fellow test-takers, back to Ino - trying to take in as much information as she could in a short period of time. She knew Ino was using her chakra to search their table for the hidden riddle, so she had to be ready to provide information when Ino was ready to tell them the riddle. 

   The caveat of Sakura needing to also be unaware of them finding out information was going to be hard, since she knew them. She could recognize Ino's tells for when she used her Mind Transfer or any of her other jutsu. Chouji wasn't exactly known for being subtle, and Zaki wasn't going to be able to use her chains to convey signals like she usually did, since they rattled. 

   "Got it," she heard Ino whisper; her head was hanging a little to hide her lip movement. 

   "So what are we supposed to do?" Zaki murmured back, not hiding her face because her question wasn't going to give any information away if someone read her lips. 

   "I don't know, aren't you supposed to be the genius here?" Ino's angered whisper made her look over at her, and she caught the look in her eyes. Play it up so no one can read them.

   Sighing, Zaki sat back and leaned her chair enough so her foot rested on the table, one of her arms over the back of her chair as she rocked it slightly, eyes closed and looking irritated.

   "Shikamaru was right, every other word out of your mouth could be ignored and you'd still be easy to read," she scoffed, shooting her a glance and hoping she understood. Ino looked legitimately angry at that, and Zaki realized they'd probably be waiting a while for her to come up with something to say that employed the use of the words in the riddle the way she'd suggested.

   "Now you listen here," Ino began, shoving her fingertip into the meat of Zaki's bicep and making her flinch a little. "What I have to say is very important, so you'd do well to remember that," she seethed, finger digging into Zaki's arm on each stressed word.

    Okay, I get the message, she thought, shooting the blonde a glare to try and tell her to ease up on the pressure, but either it missed the mark or was ignored. Zaki was sure she was going to bruise by the time the exam was done.

   "Don't assume that because I'm not as smart as you, you get to dismiss everything I say," Ino began, still keeping her voice at a whisper. Zaki quickly realized she wasn't going to do every word from the riddle, just the ones she thought were important information. "You're such a lightweight when it comes to your stupid vice of having to be right all the time. So much so that you twist my words like Shikamaru does his shadows in the forest around the whole village. News flash, Zaki, you're not this squad's leader." Ino dug the last part in particularly deep, and Zaki flinched away from her finger as a result, fixing her with another glare.

   "Cut it out will you," she seethed, rubbing her arm as she looked at the table where Ino's other hand was still flat against it. She sat forward and turned her head enough that she was sure Sakura couldn't read her lips. "Where on the table is the riddle?"

   Ino grabbed Zaki's head and pushed it towards the table with her free hand, and she played it up further and allowed herself to be softly slammed against the tabletop, understanding that it was how Ino was going to give her information. 

   To brace herself, Ino's hand that had remained on the table shifted toward the front right corner.

   "Down the length of that leg," she whispered into Zaki's ear when she leaned in, still holding her head against the table. 

   "I know who it is," Zaki murmured back, hardly moving her lips to do so. "Do we know how we're meant to let them know?"

   "Not a clue," Ino answered, sitting back to let Zaki up, who immediately turned to Chouji. He'd scooted his chair back and had the forethought to look aghast at the display his two teammates were putting on, and Zaki wondered if he'd known they were just playing their dynamic to their advantage. 

   As she looked towards Chouji, Zaki locked eyes with the shinobi who their riddle was about. They gave her a small nod, and her thoughts raced. Did that mean they knew to come over when the hour was up? Or was it just a nod of familiarity?

    “The only ones that should know you've finished are your team, and the answer to your question.”

   Sakura's instructions rang through her mind again, and she returned the nod to the shinobi she was convinced was their answer, hoping that was enough to convey that they'd finished. 

   "I have it covered," she murmured to Ino when she turned back toward her. Ino only blinked at her in response before nodding slightly.

   "We have to keep acting like that until the hour's over, don't we," she sighed, and Zaki's shoulders slumped as she resigned herself to fake arguing about nothing with Ino for 45 minutes.

   "Times up," Sakura chimed as the timer in her hand clicked with her stopping it. The proctors lining the room stood from their chairs as the teams taking the exams sat up straight in their chairs. "Proctors, go to your assigned tables," she continued, crossing her arms as she flicked her gaze around the room.

    Of course I was assigned to their table, it was supposed to make them think that was too obvious and second guess their conclusion, Shikamaru thought as he shoved his hands in his pockets, coming to a stop in front of Zaki, Ino, and Chouji. He thought he'd heard his name whispered between Ino and Zaki a few times, but watching them it was obvious it was because they were arguing, not because they were discussing the solution so loudly. The slight flash of surprise in Ino and Chouji's eyes that they quickly squashed told him that they hadn't even noticed he was there, which meant Zaki hadn't even told them that she'd reached the conclusion that he was their answer. He was glad they hid their surprise well, because that was another tell that the proctors were told to look for. 

   "These guys didn't even reach a conclusion," one of the other proctors announced, and two more followed up with similar reports. One reported that their team had reached the wrong conclusion, judging by the surprise on their faces, while the rest remained silent.

   "Those proctors that haven't spoken yet, have you any comments about your teams?" Sakura asked as she stepped forward. Shikamaru knew she was waving her hand to dismissed the failed teams, because chairs and tables started shifting and scuffing as voices grumbled their displeasure. Once the failed genin had left, the remaining proctors gave their answers. 

   "No," was the most given response.

   "Just that they're a little too expressive," came a comment from Shikamaru's left, and he glanced over to see Kiba, Hinata, and Lee sitting at the table, trying to hide their glee at having passed. 

   "Not necessarily a negative thing," Sakura responded, coming to stand next to Shikamaru as she looked at Ino, Zaki, and Chouji. "What about you, Shikamaru?"

   "No comments here," he said, shrugging as his hands left his pockets and came up behind his head instead. "They were done within the first 15 minutes, I told you assigning me to their table wasn't going to have the intended effect."

   "Not true," Sakura countered, crossing her arms again. "Mostly this test was about how you could convey information to your teammates without your enemies figuring out what you were talking about. Having you be their answer would mean any time your name came up, I would be able to look for tells on how they reacted to it. If any of them stiffened or gave any information away that they knew you were their answer, it would've been over for them. Instead, Ino and Zaki just continued to argue amongst themselves, and Chouji just looked on in horror as if he couldn't believe he was stuck with the two of them, never once giving away that they knew they kept saying the very answer to their riddle." She tapped her chin a few times as she thought, before looking at each genin in turn. "And you know for a fact that they came to the correct conclusion?"

   "Zaki looked right at me and gave me a nod with that knowing look in her eyes that she gets whenever she knows she's beaten me in shogi, so yeah, I'd say they knew," Shikamaru chuckled, locking eyes with her as he spoke. 

   "Oh I thought that was just a nod of familiarity! I had no idea that that gave you enough information to tell you they knew," Sakura laughed, shaking her head a little. "Guess that's my own fault then. I had no idea you two had that level of communication, you've only known each other for a little over a year."

   "Yeah, but we kind of share a roof and mentor," he shrugged, looking away as he rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, they pass the first part, so they can start the second part tonight with the rest, right?"

   "Of course," Sakura nodded.

   "Why is it always survival exercises," Ino grumbled as she adjusted her ponytail. She, Zaki, and Chouji were standing with each other, having just signed the waivers and returned them, and facing the fence that surrounded the Forest of Death. Crickets and frogs filled the night air with their song as torches lined the area were the genin stood.

   "At least it's a place we're somewhat familiar with this time; the Suna desert was brutal," Chouji said, making Zaki turn to look at him.

   "Part of me is glad I still didn't qualify for those Chunin Exams." She adjusted her gloves, making the chains around her wrists rattle as she did. "I couldn't imagine having to trek through all that sand, sticking to your body as you sweat buckets-"

   "AHHH! Knock it off, Zaki!" Ino covered her ears as she shot a glare at her. "You don't need to remind us!"

   "C'mon, you know Shikamaru would be picking on you about it too," she giggled, and Ino brought her fist down on the top of her head in response; just hard enough to hurt, but not enough to make Zaki feel like she needed to dodge it.

   "Yeah, Shikamaru would've; I never would've expected it from you!"

   "Guess living with him for a little over a year really did have lasting effects." It was Chouji's turn to chuckle this time, and Ino turned her wrath on him for a brief moment before Kakashi's voice spoke up.

   "Alright, listen up, because I only want to explain this once; I have better things to do than explain an exam to a bunch of teenagers," he sighed, lifting his hand that had the two scrolls in it. "We're seeing the return of the Heaven and Earth scrolls; your objective is to obtain the scroll you don't have, and take both of them to the building at the center of the forest. You’re meant to take them from rival teams, but that isn’t the only way you can obtain a scroll. There is one of each scroll hidden somewhere in the forest, if you can find them. You have three nights to do this. And you are not allowed to open the scrolls under any circumstance. Now go get your scrolls from the table, and go to your assigned gates." As soon as he was finished speaking, he turned toward the kiosk that was covered on all sides by hanging cloth, and disappeared into it. Within moments, numbers started getting called out, and teams made their way there to collect their assigned scrolls.

   "This shit again," Ino groaned, rolling her eyes as they waited for their team to be called. "This is what we had to do for our first exams!"

   "Yeah, gathered that much from 'the return of the Heaven and Earth scrolls' that Kakashi-sensei had drawled out," Zaki said, shaking her head slightly. "It's been, what, four exams since then? It would've been one in each of the other countries, if not for the whole... Akatsuki thing?" At Ino and Chouji's nods, she continued, waving her hand slightly. "Then it makes sense that the exams are being recycled, at least a little bit. I'm sure there's actually some twist that wasn't here before - I mean, the written exam wasn't actually written this time, like you said it was before - so why complain about getting put into a situation you're somewhat familiar with?"

   "You've got a point," Chouji nodded again, looking up as their team was called. "Guess it's our turn."

   Stepping into the cloth covered kiosk, they all froze a little at the sight of Shikamaru sitting there with a pencil twirling in his fingers. 

   "Hey guys. Good luck in there," he nodded, glancing over as one of the other chunin noted down their names, which scroll they had, and handing the Earth scroll to Zaki. She immediately shoved it into her bag, glancing at Ino as she did. 

   "See you on the other side, Shikamaru," Zaki nodded, waving her hand at him a little before bowing to the other two chunin and walking out with Ino and Chouji after they clumsily offered their own bows and scrambled after her.

   "He's everywhere," Ino said, forcing a fake shudder as she looked over her shoulder towards the clothed kiosk.

   "Wouldn't surprise me if he asked for special permission to be especially present for this," Zaki shrugged. "Since he can't give the recommendation himself, he wants to be clued in on our progress as much as he can be."

   "Sounds like Shikamaru," Chouji nodded his agreement, opening a bag of chips as they neared their assigned gate. A single torch burned as a beacon for their destination. "Wonder why this is starting at night this time?"

   "Probably to keep us a little off our game," Zaki offered, looking up at the moon as she spoke. "First exam starts at midday, as soon as we've turned in our applications to participate. We get locked in a room for half an hour as we wait for all the proctors to arrive and determine if we're allowed to even take the exams, and then assign us to tables. An hour of sitting, agonizing over information and whether we passed or not, and we're meant to be mentally exhausted. Get told to come here, and we're forced to stand around and wait after signing waivers, safe to say none of us are fully rested. Now we have a time limit of 3 nights to get to the middle of the forest, effectively swapping our sleep schedules to staying awake all night and trying to rest during the day, or forcing ourselves to work through the daylight on no sleep."

   "Okay, we get it," Ino interjected, eyes closing and pinching the bridge of her nose as Zaki looked down from the moon and toward her instead. "We're supposed to be exhausted and at our mental limits for this one, rather than our physical ones."

   "Makes sense, doesn't it?" Zaki tilted her head a little as she turned toward where they had walked from. "Most of the teams of genin this time around are intellect and tracking based teams rather than fully physical prowess. Aside from Lee, that is, but that's beside the point. Even the shinobi from the other villages that are here seem to be more of the intelligence gathering type."

   "Except those Grass ninja; they always creep me out," Ino said, shaking her head. "They all look like they're ready to rip into you no matter what type of ninja they are."

   "I think you're biased because of the events that happened before I came here," Zaki shrugged, turning towards their gate. "Get ready, guys."

   Shikamaru stood with his arms crossed against a tree near the gate his team was standing at, eyes closed with his head down as he listened to them speak. Zaki was careful to keep the conversation to casual topics, rather than plans once they were in the forest, and he couldn't help but smile a little; she had the forethought to think someone could be listening in on her, and didn't want to risk that being an enemy she'd run into. 

   He'd practically beelined it there to listen in on them before the exam started, as soon as every other team had their scrolls. He had only caught the last part of Zaki's explanation for why the survival exercise was happening at night before he heard her let them know to get ready, and then the buzzer for the gate to open and the exam to begin.

   Opening his eyes, Shikamaru watched as his teammates dashed through the gate and into the forest, one of the chains around Zaki's wrists already rattling a little as she loosened it for one reason or another.

   "They've come a long way," Asuma's voice sounded from his left, and if he hadn't been as disciplined as he was, he would've jumped out of his skin at his sudden companion.

   "I guess," he acquiesced, glancing at his sensei's face before looking back toward the opened gate.

   "What, you don't think so?"

   "Did I say that?"

   "May as well have," Asuma nodded, and Shikamaru regarded him out of the corner of his eye.

   "You're our teacher; if you think they've come a long way, then they've come a long way," he shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets as he pushed off the tree he was leaning on. 

   "What makes you think they haven't?"

   "Kashizaki and Ino fight like siblings and Chouji still can't make a decision in battle on his own unless someone's life is on the line," Shikamaru finally said, turning fully towards Asuma. 

   "Kashizaki and Ino have a dynamic that works for them; I heard how they played it to their advantage in the first exam. And I've seen how they work together in the field, so have you. And Chouji's decision paralysis is only due to him not having to be the one to make decisions. He decides to save his friends, each and every single time that's a choice available to him. That's a good thing. Why are you being so picky about it?"

   "It's not being picky," Shikamaru scoffed, rolling his eyes as he turned away from his sensei.

   "You're worried about them." The snicker that followed that statement made Shikamaru's eyebrow twitch, but he refused to turn back toward him.

   "I just don't want Ino whining forever about missing the promotion again, I can't stand watching Chouji mope around, feeling sorry for himself, and Zaki scares me when she's mad at herself for messing anything up. Like, my dad doesn't ever have to express his disappointment towards her, because she does it enough to herself; it gets bad." He shuddered a little, remembering the first time she hadn't met a deadline for making herself a new chain that his father had set.

***

   "Kashizaki, I've noticed you still only have the one chain around your wrist." Shikaku spoke softly, his gaze on the food in front of him instead of the student to his right. Shikamaru had froze mid bite, lowering his chopsticks slightly when he finally looked across the table to Zaki.

   She hadn't even picked up her chopsticks to begin eating yet, instead her hands balled into fists on either side of her plate and her head tilted downward.

   "Please don't talk about her training at the table," Yoshino sighed, waving her hand slightly in Shikaku's direction.

   "I'm sorry Yoshino-san, Shikaku-sensei." If Shikamaru hadn't been listening, he wouldn't have heard Zaki's whisper. "My failure won't be tolerated-"

   "That's enough of that," Shikaku interrupted, setting his chopsticks down, but Zaki only shook her head.

   "I'm only apologizing." Her voice was still barely above a whisper, and Shikamaru could only blink as he listened to the conversation.

   "You've nothing to apologize for," Shikaku tried again, but stopped when Zaki's head snapped up. Shikamaru's mouth dropped open a little when he saw tears lining her eyes, seemingly only held back by her refusal to let them fall.

   "My apology is for the fact that it needs to be brought up at all, let alone at the table Yoshino-san works so hard to keep as free from shinobi business as she can. Which, I don't think I need to remind you, is damn near impossible to do when you and Shikamaru are who you are. So the fact that my failure is disrupting that even a little bit is more than enough of a reason to apologize; to her, for it being the cause of the disruption, and to you for it even being something you need to bring up."

   All three of the Naras sat and blinked at her slowly, taking far too long to process what she'd said. Shikamaru consciously closed his mouth, shifting his gaze from Zaki to his mother. She was also staring at Zaki, mouth slightly agape, until she seemingly felt Shikamaru's gaze on her, as she turned to return his look. The confused look in her eyes mirrored his own feeling of confusion, so he offered her a slight shrug before he turned to look at his father.

   "Fine, what do you suggest you do to make up for it?" Shikaku seemingly recovered from his confusion faster than Shikamaru had, as when Shikamaru turned to look at him, he was looking back down at his food and beginning to eat again.

   "Allow me to do the dishes tonight," she offered, turning to look at Yoshino as she gave the suggestion. When she only nodded silently in response, Zaki turned to look back at Shikaku. "And the next time you train Shikamaru, allow me to be his sparring partner."

   "H-hey wait-" Shikamaru tried to speak up, but Shikaku's hand rising stopped him.

   "Fine, but only because that seems amusing to me," he nodded, and Shikamaru shot him a glare.

   "Don't I get a say in that? I don't want to beat up a girl!"

   "More like you don't want to get beaten up by a girl," his father retorted, not looking at him as he continued to eat.

   "What a drag," he sighed, shaking his head as his chin met his palm.

***

   "She dislocated my shoulder during that training session, and my dad thought it was funny," he finished, rolling his eyes. Asuma had remained quiet as Shikamaru had related the memory, and chuckled when he'd finished, making him shoot him a small glare.

   "Well he was right, wasn't he? You didn't want to get beaten up by a girl."

   "Quiet, you," Shikamaru grumbled, scuffing his feet as he rolled his eyes again.

   "You two don't spar often, do you," Asuma asked, and Shikamaru's shoulders slumped a little.

   "No, I just made it clear why-"

   "Have you two sparred since that day?"

   "A couple times, usually shortly after she was able to make a new chain for herself. So, 3 times other than when she dislocated my shoulder, I think?"

   "And who wins?"

   "She does, but it's because she has an unfair advantage; her wealth of chakra allows her to break out of my shadows sooner than I can do anything once I've caught her."

   "Have you tried... Not using your shadows, then?"

   "No, Sensei, I hadn't, wow thank you for your infinite wisdom," Shikamaru scoffed, actually turning towards him this time.

   "So that means she does beat you up," Asuma snickered, and Shikamaru's glare would've killed him.

   "She uses her kekkei genkai to augment her own taijutsu, while all I can do is help my allies out with mine."

   "Then I guess all you can do is count yourself lucky that she's on our side, yeah?"

   "Still on that conversation from almost a year and a half ago, huh?" Shikamaru's hands left his pockets to lace behind his head as he implored his sensei. "Didn't she say she'd work to prove her loyalty whenever it was questioned?"

   "She did," Asuma nodded, rubbing his chin as he turned toward the gate that the team had disappeared through. "Well, only time will tell."

   As soon as the gate closed behind them and they had gotten a little ways into the forest, Zaki took the scroll out of her bag.

   "Hey, what are you doing?" Chouji asked, stopping on the branch next to her as Ino did the same on her other side.

   "Giving it an extra layer of protection," Zaki answered, letting the chain around her left wrist unwind and wrap around the scroll instead. Her chakra made it tighten completely around the scroll, and once she was sure it was secure, she held it out to Ino. "You're going to be the most protected out of the three of us, it's best you hold onto this."

   "Oh, so in case anyone else gets our scroll, it's useless to them," Ino nodded, letting the now chained scroll hit her palm. Her hand dropped further than she expected at the weight, making a noise of surprise as she tightened her grip on it. "Geez your chains are heavy, Zaki!"

   "Sorry, didn't want to risk anything," she shrugged, and Ino only blinked at her for a second before putting the scroll in her canvas bag. 

   "You carry that kind of weight all the time?" Ino asked, tilting her head slightly as she eyed the chains that encircled her friend's limbs and middle of her torso. 

   "They don't feel heavy to me, but I guess it's because when they're on my body like this, they're always infused with a little bit of my chakra. So rather than just being steel wrapped around me, they're an extension of my body," she shrugged, lifting her right arm to make the chain rattle and shift. "I'm sure you've noticed how they don't rattle or move when we're moving; I keep them still using my chakra."

   "Geez, I always forget how much you actually have," came Chouji's slightly exasperated voice. "How do you maintain it all?"

   "That's... A little difficult to explain. It's a by-product of the training I'd gone through in Hoshi before being brought here. I used to be able to actually solidify my chakra - similar to how you've seen Asuma-sensei do with his blades - but on a much larger scale. Ask Naruto or Lee about it next time you see either of them, they'll tell you about the fight with Akahoshi and how wildly different my levels of chakra were then, compared to now."

   "Do you ever wish you could have that kind of chakra back?" Ino asked as they began moving again, and Zaki immediately shook her head.

   "I wouldn't trade anything to go back to that, unless it meant keeping any of you guys or the Leaf Village safe."

   To say she was actually glad something was happening would've been wrong; it wasn't quite the word she would've used to describe her emotional state as she was tackled mid-air by an enemy ninja. Relieved that her boredom was being alleviated? That seemed more accurate. How she, Chouji and Ino had all missed the other team waiting to ambush them, she'd never know, but adjusting for the ambush was something Zaki was confident she would be able to do.

   Compensating for the weight of her new passenger and the trajectory change, she planted her right fist into the nearest part of her assailant and shoved, letting the chains around her wrist spiral into the flesh of who she punched as well.

   "Ah, what the hell?!" The voice of her attacker sounded as they let her go, and she brought her foot up and kicked away from them as well. She let the chain around her right ankle loosen and wrap itself around the ninja.

   "Chouji! Ino!" She called out as she spun so her feet landed on the tree she had been careening toward, gaze flicking around the forest until she spotted her teammates. "Guards up!"

   At her command, they nodded and sprang, both of them going directly upwards from their branches and further into the leaves of the trees just as the other two shinobi appeared where they had been standing.

   "Damn, they're fast," complained one of them, and they jumped to follow suit. That left Zaki with her initial attacker, which she was fine with. One of her chains was still attached to them, and she could track Ino's movements with the chains around the scroll. That left Chouji in the dark, but she trusted him to be able to take care of himself. 

   Realizing her attacker was on her right, she jumped to a nearby branch to realign herself before forming a hand sign to cause the chain on them to begin tightening around the limb it had wrapped around. As soon as they cried out in pain, she launched herself where she felt her chakra, letting the chain on her right wrist wrap itself around her hand as she led with it, landing a punch into the jaw of the shinobi that had tackled her. 

   Knowing her punch had knocked them clean out, rather than just letting them careen through the forest, she used the chain still attached to them to connect them to her, and she held on until she landed on a branch and set them down to begin going through the pockets and bags. 

   "Find anything?" Chouji's voice sounded from her right, and she shook her head slightly. 

   "No, this one wasn't carrying th-" She stopped when she turned her head toward him, standing up straight as she eyed his form that was holding the unconscious body of one of the other shinobi, and holding a scroll in his hand. "Oh, yours was holding it?"

   "Yeah, found it after knocking him out," he said, jumping to her branch and tossing his victim onto the other one. He handed the scroll to her, and she raised her eyebrow at him. She continued to eye him until he shrugged at her and pulled out a bag of chips, beginning to munch.

   "I didn't hear you use any of your expansion jutsu," she finally said, turning fully toward him as she crossed her arms. She didn't think he would've given her the scroll so easily if it had been someone disguising themselves as him, but something still felt... off.

   "Because I didn't use any," he shrugged between munches. "Well, not as large as I normally do; tree branch combat makes it hard to take a whole stance, ya know?"

   "Right," she nodded slowly. She briefly felt for her chakra, the chain wrapped around the scroll in Ino's pack, and found it still jumping from tree branch to tree branch, trying to evade her pursuer. Deciding dealing with Chouji could come later, she lifted her left foot and took the chain off her ankle and wrapped it around the scroll he had given her, letting it tighten before putting it into her own bag. "Wait here, keep an eye on them," she ordered, motioning toward the unconscious shinobi before jumping upwards, intending to give Ino backup.

   A quick assessment of herself reminded her that she only had three chains left; both of the ones she normally kept around her ankles were wrapped around scrolls now, but she'd at least remembered to grab the one that she'd used to bind herself to her previous attacker. The chakra signature of her chain in Ino's bag was beginning to fade, the chakra in the metal beginning to decay from lack of being fed by her due to the distance. Fortunately, she had caught up enough to see the movement through the tree branches as Ino evaded attacks and advances of her pursuer.

   Eyeing trajectory and speed, Zaki let the chain around both her wrists loosen, attaching them together and swinging it around a tree branch. Using one last push of chakra in her feet to shove her forward faster, she used her chain anchored on a branch to swing her in front of Ino and the enemy's path.

   "Ino! Down!" Zaki called out as she swung, and just as she came in line with where Ino would've landed, the blonde kunoichi dropped off her branch, allowing Zaki to fly past her and collide with her pursuer. 

   Having led with her foot, Zaki kicked the enemy shinobi in the chest as she fed chakra into her chains enough to make some of it disconnect and wrap itself around her fist. Allowing her momentum to carry them back the direction they'd come, she used her enemy's body to break through some of the tree branches as they careened backwards. 

   "Find Chouji!" She called back over her shoulder once they'd found a branch they didn't break through. "Just be wary," she added before turning toward the winded ninja below her foot.

   "Get off me," he spat, hand wrapped around her ankle as he wheezed below her.

   "Only if you take your teammates and leave," she spat back, taking the scroll she'd been given by Chouji out of her pack and taking the chain off it, checking it over. She felt his fingers tense on her ankle, which made her look down and lock eyes with him. 

   "I can try the new jutsu my dad's been trying to teach me, if you want," Ino's voice came from a little further in front of where Zaki was standing, and she glanced up at her. 

   "Not necessary," Zaki shrugged, removing her foot from the ninja's chest before planting her other one and kicking him hard enough in the jaw to knock him out. His body flew a few feet, landing on a different branch, and she followed to search his pockets and pouches.

   Sure enough, she pulled out a scroll identical to the one she'd been given before. Motioning to Ino, Zaki had three scrolls in her hands within moments. 

   "Great, so how are we supposed to tell which one is the real one?" Ino groaned as she eyed the Heaven scrolls.

   "Easy," Zaki intoned, handing their Earth scroll back to Ino before wrapping both Heaven scrolls in chains completely and setting them in opposite trees. The moonlight filtering through the leaves made it hard to see, but the faint glints of her chains made it a little easier to keep an eye on the scrolls as they moved a safe distance away. 

   "That's your plan?" Ino's incredulous tone made Zaki roll her eyes.

   "These guys were trying to blitz us," she explained, motioning to the unconscious body of the shinobi she'd kicked. "Any trap they would try to lay for us would be a short-lived one. If one of them is meant to explode, it will within the next few hours-"

   "Hours?!" Ino groaned again as she moved on their tree branch to lean against the tree. 

   "And if it doesn't explode, I'll use my chakra to change those chains into full metal cases and we'll just take them both with us. One of them's bound to be the real scroll, we'll be fine," Zaki finished, shifting to sit down on the branch and watch the scrolls.

   Cracking noises made Ino jump, but Zaki only pricked her ears slightly as she listened for sounds of fighting.

   "Partial Expansion: Arm!"

   More cracking of branches and trees sounded, and Zaki only smiled slightly to herself; well, at least that meant the real Chouji was awake and headed their way soon.

   "I can't believe you left me alone with two of them!" Chouji complained within moments as he landed next to Zaki on the branch. 

   "I knew you could handle yourself," she shrugged, offering him a short glance out of the corner of her eye before returning her gaze to the bound scrolls several feet away. She heard him drop the unconscious bodies of the rest of the team on top of the one she'd kicked, so she shifted to stand. Ino picked up the watch of the scrolls as Zaki moved to tie up the knocked out shinobi with one of her remaining chains.

   "We're waiting to see if they had a trap set with the scroll, I take it?" Chouji asked as he adjusted his headband. Zaki fully looked at him now, feeling a little bad at the sizable welt on the side of his face that would probably turn into a black eye.

   "Considering the one posing as you handed me the scroll without an issue, yeah, it's safe to say-"

   As if on queue, one of the Heaven scrolls exploded; the timed paper bomb inside it finally having reached its limit. 

   "Do we think the remaining scroll is the real one?" Ino asked, glancing at Zaki.

   "We can check their packs one last time if you'd like," she offered, motioning to the bound team, and Chouji immediately crouched to begin doing that. Zaki moved to join him as Ino went to pick up the Heaven scroll still on the distant branch. 

   "I'm still not over how heavy your metal is, Zaki," she grumbled when she returned, shifting the scroll in her grip. "Do you want me to have both of them?"

   "No, I'll keep one of them," Zaki answered, shaking her head as she held out her hand. Ino placed the Heaven scroll in her palm, and she immediately fed some chakra into the chain enough to shift the shape of the chain into metal plating instead before putting it in her canvas bag. "Depending on how long it takes us to get to the center of the forest, we should swap which scrolls we're carrying among all three of us."

   "Smart thinking," Chouji nodded, glancing around the trees surrounding them.

   "Now let's get going," Zaki ordered, turning and leading them deeper into the forest and towards their goal.

   Zaki started awake, having felt someone kick her foot as she was lounging against the wall. Team 10 had reached the building a full night before the deadline, and were resting as they waited for the rest of the teams to qualify.

   "The last team is showing up," came the voice of the person who'd awoken her. Blinking open her eyes, she looked up at Kiba before glancing to her left and right. Chouji was already sitting up and eating, while Ino was curled up on her side still asleep. 

   "Thanks Kiba," Zaki rasped, clearing her throat as she sat up slowly, stretching to ease the soreness in her shoulders and neck. Reaching over, she touched Ino's ankle gently and watched as the kunoichi startled awake just as she had, pushing herself into a sitting position immediately. "You guys have been here the whole time, right?" Zaki returned her gaze to Kiba, who nodded at her as he placed his hand on Akamaru's head; the ninken's height reached his hip, and she wondered how much more growing was left for him. 

   "Yeah, got here within a few hours of it starting," he confirmed, glancing over to where Hinata and Lee were standing. "Found one of the hidden scrolls and bee-lined it here. Never saw another team until you guys showed up the following morning."

   "So there should only be one other team able to show up," Zaki said glancing toward the door. "There weren't enough scrolls to go around for more than three teams."

   "Didn't stop one of them from trying to enter," Kiba scoffed, motioning toward the door that led to the infirmary. "Knocked out as soon as they entered with only one scroll. The other team's there, too, they're just having their injuries from the wildlife treated."

   "It's almost midnight, then?" Ino finally spoke as she rubbed her eye. "Are they going to make us do the final part of the exam tonight, too?"

   "Unlikely," Kiba said, shaking his head. "If this is going to be anything like our last exams, they're going to split us into individuals and do a tournament. With only nine of us, they won't have to do preliminaries."

   "That's only if that's the final exam," Zaki said, shifting to stand. "I hope there's time to head home before they start; I need to make myself more chains," she added, glancing down at the only two she had remaining wrapped around her wrists. They were the ones that had been wrapped around the scrolls they'd carried. One was still hanging from a tree somewhere, and the other two were holding the team of genin that had ambushed them on the first night. 

   "You'll be fine with just the two if we go right into the exam, you're pretty good at making temporary ones come out of the ground," Chouji chimed in, standing as well. 

   "And what are we going to do if we don't have access to the ground?" She raised her eyebrow at him as she eyed him.

   "Good point," he conceded, and Kiba laughed. 

   "Good luck, you guys," he said, turning and heading back towards his team.

   "You too, Kiba," Zaki called in return. 

   Ino stood as Kakashi and Neji entered the room from the infirmary. Neji must be the third exam proctor, then, Zaki thought as she watched them walk into the space between Teams 8 and 10. 

   "Your two teams and one from Kusa are the ones moving on to the final stage," Kakashi began, hooking his thumb over his shoulder towards the infirmary door. 

   "Great, the Grass ninja passed," Ino muttered from Zaki's left, making her fight to suppress a smirk. 

   "Your final exam will begin at midday; you have 12 hours to rest and restock your weapons, and prepare for team battles." Neji stepped forward as he looked between the two teams as he spoke. "Each team will fight each other once, and your promotion will be determined by multiple factors, from your individual prowess to how well you work in a team."

   "You'll report to the arena in 12 hours," Kakashi finished for him, turning to leave. 

   "12 hours to make myself three chains, what a pain," Zaki sighed, shoulders slumping. "I'll meet you guys there, then."

   "Sure thing, Zaki," Chouji nodded, he and Ino turning to leave with her. "We kind of have to get out of this forest first, though."

   "...Right," she conceded, eyeing the trees in front of them as they stepped outside. 

   "Good luck, you guys!" Lee's voice sounded from behind them. "I especially look forward to finally meeting you in battle, Kashizaki!" 

   "Oh, that's right," she nodded, turning back towards him. "You haven't seen me fight since the events in Hoshi over a year ago."

   "And I'm glad I get to finally see your progress first hand!" He gave her a winning smile and thumbs up, which she only returned with a small smile of her own.

   "Right; see you guys later, then," she nodded, glancing at Ino and Chouji before turning back towards the trees to leave the forest with them.

Chapter Text

   "You're not supposed to have contact with me before the final exam," Zaki murmured as she worked with her steel to shape it with her chakra without looking toward the presence to her left. Her wrists were beginning to ache, but she still had 6 hours until the exam and she was nearly finished with her final chain she was making; it was an extra one she would keep in her pack instead of around her, for an emergency.

   "So we won't talk about the exam," Shikamaru answered, shifting so he wasn't leaning against the post of the porch and instead stood there with his hands in his pockets. The sitting room behind him was open, a shogi board abandoned in it as he was playing against himself while Zaki had worked on her chains. Admittedly, he spent more time in the last hour watching her work than he had playing with the pieces on the board.

   "It's been almost 4 hours since I've started working, and you want to talk about not the exam now that I'm almost done?" She actually glanced toward him this time, taking in his dark kimono and realized his hair was down. It was early morning, after all; maybe he'd only recently woken up because of her making noise while she worked?

   "Well it's not like I can sleep with your chains rattling the whole time you're out here," he scoffed, answering her unasked question. 

   "My apologies, Shika-kun," she mocked, rolling her eyes as she returned her gaze back to her work in her lap. The small waterfall of the pond in front of her was the only thing that broke the silence between them, helping to keep it light rather than awkward; she knew he hated that nickname that only she used for him, and she'd done it to pick on him since their birthdays were within 2 weeks of each other but she was older. 

   "Whatever," he scoffed again, shaking his head. "You're the one that's going to have to deal with my parents being woken up by-"

   "They're already awake," she interrupted, motioning one of her hands towards a cup of untouched tea and tray of food she had sitting near her. "Shikaku-sensei brought the breakfast Yoshino-san had made for me out here, I just haven't taken the time to eat it." She raised one of her hands toward him to showcase how dirty her hands were from working the metal into the shape she wanted it to be. "They were sitting at the table when I arrived, and both congratulated me for passing as far as I had."

   "That must've been weird," he murmured, blinking as he eyed her hand. 

   "Extremely," she agreed, shifting to return to her work. "But... It was nice, being acknowledged like that," she added softly, and he watched her lips pull into a soft smile that she tried to hide by focusing on her steel.

   "How close are you to being done?"

   "Just a few links left," she answered, picking up another piece of steel to form it. "Once these exams are over, I'm going to have to spend some time making more steel for myself."

   "How complicated is that?" He finally stepped off the porch to sit near the pond so he could watch her work clearer.

   "Well..." She paused as she thought, chewing on her cheek as she gathered her words. "A process of using Earth Release to find the specific elements I need - and I mean, like, iron and manganese, chromium, or nickel - and using my chakra to meld them together once I've found them. You've seen me do that in the field sometimes, just mixing them together on the fly and making use of their elemental state like that. In order to turn them into this," she paused again, lifting her chain and making it rattle before continuing. "That's when my kekkei genkai gets to really shine; when I have the proper mix of those elements, my chakra is able to turn it into the stainless steel I use for myself. It's a very specific ratio that I don't have time to calculate during battle all the time. I've only recently learned how to do it myself." She finished by glancing toward an open scroll to her right that Shikamaru hadn't noticed before.

   "There's no way you find all of those naturally in the ground around here," he said in disbelief, and she actually laughed at him, just like she had at the restaurant a few days prior.

   "Of course not," she snorted, stifling her laughter. "Some of it my chakra makes - mostly the manganese - but there's actually more chromium in the earth around here than you'd think; ninja tools are made from stainless steel, too, ya know."

   "...And they get left behind, sinking into the earth over time, and then you find them and use them."

   "Right!" She nodded and smiled at him, and he could only blink at her in response; he decided Chouji was right, he wanted to participate in more conversations that got her to smile like that.

   "But I thought you had trouble getting your chakra to work with normal ninja tools?"

   "Well that's the ratio I mentioned, combined with the way standard tools are made; you know how kunai and shuriken are made of black metal? They add another element when making the steel for them, and my kekkei genkai won't cooperate with that element. I don't know what it is, though, since I haven't exactly gotten that far in my scrolls. I mean, obviously the black color is from the ash produced during the heating process for the metal, but besides that. I have a few theories, but again, haven't had time to research them. That said, once the kunai and shuriken have been absorbed back into the earth over time, I'm able to separate what I need from the unwanted element to use it for myself."

   "And you've learned all of that on your own? " Shikamaru blinked at her, mouth slightly agape. He drew in a breath when she nodded, giving him a sheepish smile before returning her focus to the steel in her hands. Her smile shifted from sheepish to satisfied as she eyed the final link in her chain, hand glowing with her chakra as she finished moulding it into the shape she wanted it. 

   "Finally," she sighed, setting the chain aside and taking a deep breath. He noticed her fingers trembling, and realized that 4 hours of constant chakra usage of that level was definitely inhuman. 

   "Your chakra levels rival Naruto," Shikamaru murmured, standing and stepping over to her and holding his hand out. "Get up, go wash your hands so you can eat and then get some rest."

   Zaki blinked up at him, seemingly shocked at his gesture before putting her hand in his and allowing him to help her stand. Bending to grab her chains, she hesitated a little when she noticed her hands were shaking slightly.

   "I don't think I have enough chakra to pick them up and move them right now," she practically whispered, and he tilted his head slightly. 

   "You use your chakra to move them?" He waited until she straightened again before he bent and picked up one end of one of the chains, making a noise of shock when he could barely get it off the ground. "What the hell, Zaki?! You carry those around all the time?! "

   "They always have a little bit of my chakra flowing through them, so they never feel heavy to me," she said, sounding sad as she stared at chains on the ground. "I'm disappointed in myself for not regulating myself enough so I could move them."

   "Oh just go clean up and eat; once you've finished eating, you should have enough chakra to move them," he reassured her, waving his hand before nudging her toward the house. "You have two fights you have to get Ino and Chouji through in 6 hours, you need all the rest you can get."

   Zaki tightened the knot on her headband on the right side of her head, locking eyes with herself in the mirror one last time before she would head to the arena for the tournament. At least her hair had cooperated as she fought with it to twist it into a bun at the base of her neck. Normally when she was going to be around a lot of people, she braided the dark gold strands and let it hang over her shoulder, but with the fights coming up she didn’t want her hair to be something that could get her caught in any way.

   Her short sleep surprisingly hadn't been interrupted, dreamless and restful. Her alarm had startled her awake, and she'd let it ring for a few minutes as she regained her bearings before Shikamaru's shout from across the hall made her reach over and click it off. Then, realizing why she even had an alarm in the first place, she shot out of bed and began getting ready. 

   Breaking eye contact with herself, she looked down and adjusted her gray jacket as it hung open on her; she had made a few adjustments to it, finally adding her old Hoshi headband down the length of the right sleeve. Actually, it was only part of the metal plating from her headband, since she didn't want anyone to mistake her for trying to keep any loyalty to that place at all, but part of her didn't want to let it go completely. Her whole family and her old team had all died in that place, so as much as she wanted to leave it behind, she still wanted to honor their memory in some way; she chose her Hoshi headband to do that. Her clan symbol, a longsword wrapped in chains and bent slightly, was beginning to fade slightly from how old her jacket was becoming. Not to mention the fact that she was beginning to outgrow it; she made subtle adjustments to it over the past year, fixing tears or adding extensions so it would continue to fit her, but eventually age would catch up to it. Fortunately, it seemed like she still had a bit of its lifespan left. 

   Her dark tanktop under the jacket only served as a layer over the chainmesh she wore, the neckline of that visible through the V line of the tanktop, as well as the chain mesh sleeve visible on her left arm; her jacket had long since lost half the left sleeve, and she'd just turned it into a cinched seam around her elbow rather than letting it hang loose. The asymmetry of her jacket sleeves was another reason why she'd added her old headband to the forearm of her right sleeve. 

   Black spandex leggings finished her outfit, stopping midway down her calves; the ends would be hidden by her knee high black boots when she'd put them on to leave. Pulling her fingerless gloves on, she briefly toyed with the idea of adding metal plates to them before dismissing the thought; no time to do that now, not without exhausting herself. A project for another time, perhaps. 

   Picking up her canvas pouch, she attached it to the band around her waist and fastened her two other pouches with her ninja tools and chains in them to herself as well: kunai and shuriken on her right thigh, the pouch with her chains on her left hip. The pouch with her chains she normally kept attached to her with the chain she wound around her waist, but she was going to wait to add them to her body until the fights were being properly prepared. 

   As a result of that, she rattled as she walked out of her bedroom, nearly running face first into Shikamaru as he did the same. She stopped and blinked at him as he mirrored her, his look of shock reminiscent of the deer his family was known for. He was in his usual attire - gray short sleeve jacket under the flak armored jacket he'd been given on his promotion, and the brown pants both she and Ino kept telling him were an awful color - but something still seemed... Different, as she regarded him.

   "Well it's not like you can say you didn't hear me coming," Zaki murmured, still eyeing him as she shifted her stance pointedly, making the pouch with her chains rattle.

   "Figured I could slip out ahead of you; guess I wasn't fast enough," he shrugged, finally breaking his frozen stance and putting his hands behind his head. That was it!

   "Your hair is getting longer!" Zaki exclaimed, eyes resting at the base of his neck. Sure enough, the baby hairs he couldn't catch when he tied his hair up were beginning to grow into a full layer of hair, curling slightly at the end from resting against his neck.

   "Is it?" Shikamaru reactively touched his neck where her eyes were, and fingered the growth she must've been talking about. "Guess I'll have to have Mom trim it or something."

   "Or you could try something new and let it grow out," she offered, giving him a nonchalant shrug as she turned to walk down the hallway.

   "That sounds like too much of a hassle," he grumbled, yawning as he turned to follow her. "Change like that's too troublesome to bother with."

   "So much so that you had to say it twice," Zaki muttered, rolling her eyes.

   "Why are you rattling so much now, anyway?"

   "I'm only feeding enough chakra into my chains to keep them from being heavy, not to keep them still," she explained, making it a point to sway her hip enough so she rattled a little more. "Don't want to expend too much before the fights."

   "Right." She almost hadn't caught his quiet answer, but didn't think much of it as they entered the dining room to find Yoshino walking in from the kitchen at the same time.

   "Your father's already gone to the arena," she began, motioning toward the door as she glanced at Shikamaru. "I'll be right behind you guys as soon as I finish cleaning up from making an early lunch."

   At the mention of lunch, Zaki's stomach growled, and she wished she could eat but knew that if she had, it wouldn't end well for her going into physical activity immediately after. 

   As if reading her mind, Yoshino walked over to her and placed a bun in her hand and gave her a small, knowing smile.

   "Eat this on your way there; it's light, and it'll take the edge off your hunger without coming back to bite you."

   "Th-thank you," Zaki stammered, blinking at Yoshino before bowing.

   "That's enough of that," Yoshino dismissed, waving her hands a little as she spun to head back into the kitchen. "Both of you, get going or you'll be late! Oh, Shikamaru, wait back a moment; need you to take something to your father and I don't quite have it ready yet. Kashizaki, go; you're going to be late if you wait for him."

   Nodding, Zaki offered her a small smile and glanced at Shikamaru, raising her eyebrow at him as he shrugged before she turned and headed for the door.

   "See you guys later!" She called out to them as she finished pulling her boots on and dashed out the door, nibbling on the bun Yoshino had given her as she jogged to the arena.

   "You don't actually have anything for me to bring to Dad, do you," Shikamaru deadpanned as he locked eyes with his mother.

   "Astute," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips as she narrowed her eyes at him.

   "Which means you want to yell at me about something and I don't have time for this," he sighed, shoulders raising as Yoshino's mouth opened.

   "Your inability to have a normal conversation with anyone your age that isn't Chouji is painful, you know that?" She took the towel in her apron pocket out and swatted him with it lightly before continuing. "You're so much like your father, yet you're not smart enough to see what's going on right in front of you sometimes."

   "Oh, not you too," Shikamaru groaned, rolling his eyes as he slouched where he stood. "I seriously don't have time for this," he repeated, taking a few steps toward the door before his mother grabbed his wrist to stop him. He almost glared at her but managed to school his features into an impassive look as he turned his head toward her.

   "Shikamaru, don't misunderstand; this isn't about romance, you're far too young for that," she began, loosening her grip to see if he'd yank away from her. He wisely decided against it, so she continued. "Just have a conversation with her that isn't about your work as shinobi, or her studies, or shogi. Just once."

   "You're one to talk," he muttered, finally pulling his wrist out of her grip gently. 

   "I know, I'm ashamed to admit that Tsunade-sama's assignment of Kashizaki to this house rubbed me the wrong way for far too long. But..." She paused as she looked down briefly, searching for how to continue. "Seeing Shikaku's pride in her has changed my mind. Yes, he's proud of you, too, but pride in your child is different than pride in your student."

   "He doesn't teach her anything, though?" He tilted his head slightly as he eyed his mother's face.

   "Where do you think she learned her studying strategies? Or why she picked up shogi?" Yoshino raised her eyebrow at him, clearly confused that he hadn't known. "She got faster at reading and retaining those scrolls because Shikaku taught her a more efficient way of studying them. It's how she went from barely being able to make one chain in a week to making four of them in as many hours."

   "He's never taught me any of that," he grumbled, trying to hide his look of surprise.

   "You never showed any interest in studying in the first place, Shikamaru," she countered, crossing her arms at him. "Your grades were atrocious, and you showed absolutely zero interest in wanting to rectify that. Besides, you absorb information in a much different manner than most people do. Which is why I'm telling you to have a normal conversation with the girl, just once."

   "Way to circle it back around," he sighed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Alright, alright. Can I go now? I'm going to miss part of my teammates' first fight if they were picked first."

   Yoshino only waved him off, rolling her own eyes as well. Shikamaru may be exactly like his father, but the incessant eye roll he had reminded her far too much of herself when she saw him do it.

   "As a reminder, the fights will be happening as close to consecutively as possible; the only breaks will be if ninja are knocked unconscious and need time to wake up. The order has been randomly decided before we arrived here. The first fight will be between Team Dotsumi of the Hidden Grass, comprised of Koyashi Dofumi, Hamida Kawashai, and Ebiri Okanokoji, and Team Asuma of the Hidden Leaf, comprised of Chouji Akimichi, Kashizaki Hyakukusari, and Ino Yamanaka."

   Neji's voice rang out from the middle of the arena, the two teams in question flanking him as Team Kurenai left the battlefield. Chouji had mentioned that the crowd didn't look as full as it had during his first chunin exams, but Zaki had no frame of reference. She hadn't been well enough to go on missions outside her village before she came to the Leaf, much less known anything about what those chunin exams could've been like. 

   Even so, with the crowd apparently thinner, Lady Hokage still sat on her own balcony, Shizune plainly by her side. Zaki also spotted everyone's parents in the front rows of the boxes, as close to the arena as they could get. Inoichi's hand was waving wildly, trying to catch his daughter's attention as she looked pointedly away from him. Chouza and Shikaku sat next to him, but they were too far away from Zaki to make out their expressions; she could guess Shikaku's was one of exasperation, though. Another black, spiky ponytail appeared by his side, and she realized Shikamaru had finally arrived.

   Nudging Chouji and Ino, she motioned toward the box with their parents and sensei - Asuma was sitting on Inoichi's other side, away from Chouza and Shikaku - to let them know the support they had. 

   "Yeah, I already saw my dad embarrassing the hell out of me, thanks," Ino grumbled, finally forced to look in his direction and return her father's wave with a small one of her own. 

   "I meant Shikamaru's finally here; remember I said he got kept behind by his mom?"

   "Oh, yeah, I see him," Chouji agreed, raising his arm in a full wave toward their group of supporters. "So now everyone's watching us, right?"

   "Well, the important ones, anyway," Ino agreed, looking back toward Neji as he directed the two teams to separate a specific distance apart and facing each other.

   "We'll just have to make sure we win both fights, then, right?" Zaki smirked a little as she crossed her arms, looking across at the Grass-nin. "We won't know if we're going again immediately after this until after our fight, will we?"

   "No, you won't," Neji answered her, even though she hadn't thought he would've been able to hear her from that distance. "At the buzzer, you may begin," he finished before jumping back and exiting the arena.

   "We'll be counting on you to make the calls, Zaki," Ino said, reading herself. Chouji nodded his agreement, and Zaki couldn't help but smile to herself.

   "And I'll be counting on you guys to follow up."

   As soon as the buzzer sounded, they watched as the Grass-nin sprang into action.

   Shikamaru panted a little as he flopped into the open seat next to his father, getting only a nod in acknowledgement as his father eyed the teams of genin in the arena. Shikamaru had nearly sprinted the whole way here, determined not to miss a single moment of his friends' fights despite being made late by his mother. 

   "What did I miss?" He panted out as he glanced at his dad before looking back out at the arena. He noticed Kiba, Hinata, and Lee weren't out on the field, so that must've meant-

   "Just the determination for who's fighting first," Shikaku answered, crossing his arms as he scrutinized the team opposing Shikamaru's friends. "It's an interesting decision to do full team fights this time when the whole of your formation can't participate."

   "I'm pretty sure that was the reason behind choosing to do this, actually," Shikamaru mumbled, rolling his eyes as he leaned forward onto the railing. "Besides, Zaki's a pretty solid stand-in; she was still taught by you, after all."

   "Careful, she'll surpass you if she hears you say that," Shikaku chuckled, and Shikamaru raised his eyebrow as he glanced at his father. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

   "Cut the boy some slack," Chouza spoke up from Shikaku's left, making Shikamaru shift his gaze to him instead. "Your method of teaching is just 'observe and do, and if you don't pick it up, you weren't meant to learn it' which only works about half the time."

   "Well that's why I have two students now," Shikaku chuckled. Shikamaru's eyes widened a little as he stared at his father. "One of them picks up one half, the other picks up the other."

   "That was a lame joke, and you should feel bad," Shikamaru grumbled, rolling his eyes as he sat back in his chair. 

   "You'll thank me for that, one day, son," Shikaku chuckled again, actually glancing at him just as the buzzer for the round to begin sounded.

   Playing off the backfoot was something Zaki was well versed in. She often let her opponents make the first move so she could more accurately read them and make decisions based on that. When it came to leading others based on those decisions, though, she excelled at specific situational combat; meaning, she was better equipped to lead a small squad rather than attempting to predict a full-scale battle. 

   So signaling for Chouji and Ino to jump back a few feet while she observed their opponents movements, and having them follow her lead without a moment's hesitation instilled in her the confidence she needed to make the calls she would have to make.

   "Ino, need your observation skills," Zaki commanded, motioning to one of the trees near where they'd retreated to. "Without being seen, preferably."

   "Don't think that second part is entirely possible, but you and Chouji will protect me." After offering each of them a wink, she jumped back further as Zaki and Chouji got between her and the approaching Grass ninja, Chouji immediately expanding to try and block their view of Ino as she jumped into the tree. 

   "Alright, Chouji," Zaki began, digging into her pouch and pulling out two chains and letting them wrap around her wrists loosely. "Our objective is immobilization so Ino can get one of them."

   "On it," came his short reply, taking a few steps forward and knocking two of their opponents off their balance with the force of his steps. Shifting his expansion from his legs to his arms, he wrapped his large hand around one of them just as Zaki finished her hand signs and pressed her palm to the earth, letting the chain around her wrist feed into the ground and snake its way toward the now immobilized shinobi in Chouji's hand. 

   "Behind you!" Ino's cry pricked Zaki's ears, making her turn her head slightly toward the tree and spot the third ninja they had lost track of taking a swing toward her head.

   "Slippery," she clipped out, keeping her palm against the earth and twisting with that as her anchor, her foot kicking out to meet the fist of her enemy. "Though attacking me instead of just about anything else is your first mistake of the match."

   Once she heard the muffled cry of the ninja in Chouji's grasp, the sign she was looking for that her chain - the chain she'd fed into the earth with her jutsu -  was wrapped tight enough around his legs to nearly cut off circulation, she shifted her weight to her other hand and sprang away from her opponent. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out three of her remaining chains at the same time and used her chakra to control them to wrap around her limbs as she studied the Grass-nin's movements. 

   "Think you're the one making a mistake," scoffed the girl in front of her. Zaki kept her glance short, but she shot one over her opponent's shoulder toward the tree that she'd been separated from, trying to see if the third Grass-nin had slipped past Chouji. She got her answer when she heard a sound of triumph from Chouji as he wrapped his enlarged hands around the remaining shinobi.

   "Just because you got between me and the tree?" Zaki tilted her head slightly as she straightened up from her fighting position. "Dofumi, right? That's your name?" When she didn't answer, Zaki continued. "You and your teammates are a little out of your league here, no? I mean, Kawashai and Okanokoji both got caught by my teammate by himself."

   "Did they?" The Grass shinobi countered, smirking in Zaki's direction as Chouji's noise of confusion and Ino's squawk of surprise as she scrambled out of the tree sounded from behind her.

   "Interesting," Zaki murmured, shifting her chains around her wrists enough to let the ends of them hit her palms.

   "Isn't assuming incompetency a major flaw in strategy?" Dofumi's taunting began as Zaki continued to eye her. "Aren't you always meant to assume your opponent has everything planned out?"

   "Only if you're talking grand strategy, sweetheart," Zaki quipped back, returning the cocky smirk Dofumi had on her face. "And behind every grand strategist is the situational general who provides the insight as the battle unfolds."

   Nodding her head in Chouji's direction, Dofumi followed her motion and watched as Chouji caught up to Ino and immediately helped her readjust to face the Grass-nin that had escaped him. They exchanged a few words, and Ino began taking a few steps backwards, clearly intending to head back to the immobilized shinobi that had one of Zaki's chains around his legs. 

   "And seeing how quickly you fell apart as soon as one of your teammates got tied up, that told me you had no idea how my jutsu specifically works," Zaki continued, taking advantage of Dofumi's distraction and running at her, letting the chains on her wrists rattle as she loosened them further, letting them hang in her hands instead. Knowing the noise from her chains would distract Dofumi, Zaki swung them to deflect the kunai and shuriken thrown at her while she ran, hoping the noise would also cover up what Ino had fully intended to do.

   "You're bold and cocky," came Dofumi's strained voice as soon as Zaki had made contact with her. Her chains hit first, blocked by a swing of Dofumi's arm until the ends wrapped around her forearm and Zaki yanked, pulling her off balance and into Zaki's waiting fist.

   "I have the right to be, when I know my teammates moves as well as I know my own," she explained, feeding chakra into the chains around Dofumi's arm and causing it to tighten. As she did this, she felt the last of her chakra in the chain around the other Grass-nin fade out and hoped Ino had accomplished what she'd set out to do.

   "Zaki, get down!" Chouji's voice sounded, and Zaki complied immediately, using her sudden crouch to swing her leg out and knock Dofumi off balance so she couldn't respond to Chouji's shout. Dofumi was met with the body of her unconscious teammate, the one Chouji had been fighting that had chased Ino off her perch. Rather than letting them fly, however, Zaki used her chains to keep their weight tethered to her. Wrapping the ends of her chains around both bodies, she let the momentum spin her in place and turned it against them, continuing to spin and gain momentum before letting the chains loosen and send them flying into the now standing body of their previously tied up teammate and then careening into the wall of the arena in a cloud of dust.

   "A little warning, next time!" Ino's indignant cry made Zaki and Chouji each laugh as Zaki panted, swaying slightly on the spot out of dizziness.

   "Trusted you to release your jutsu on time," Zaki shrugged, offering her a smile as Neji called the match in their favor and she picked up the abandoned chain and let it wrap around her waist. She adjusted her chakra flow to shift her chains back into their normal spots around each of her limbs with some coaxing with her fingers. 

   "Team Asuma can stay in the arena; they will be fighting Team Kurenai next, comprised of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Rock Lee," Neji announced, and Zaki, Chouji, and Ino moved back into the starting position near the center of the arena. Team Kurenai entered from the door as the team of Grass-nin exited - rather, were carried - out of the opposite one. 

   "No down time, I like it," Zaki murmured, pulling on her gloves a little as she eyed their opponents this time. 

   "At the buzzer, you may begin." Neji echoed his earlier statement as he made his exit.

   "And behind every grand strategist is the situational general who provides the insight as the battle unfolds."

   Shikamaru's mouth fell open a little when he heard Zaki's voice carry up to him from the arena. He glanced over at his dad, who had a quiet smug look on his face.

   "Don't look at me." Shikaku spoke, actually giving his son a sly glance. "She learned that all on her own."

   "From watching our shogi games," Shikamaru nodded slightly, looking back out on the field in time to watch Ino finish her mind transfer on the tied up Grass-nin and get him untied and out of position. In that same moment, Chouji threw the other guy he'd been grappling with to the chick Zaki was facing off with, and he watched their combos flow into Zaki throwing Team Dotsumi into the wall. 

   "It's also why, during your shogi games against her, you lose so many pieces. She has a greater understanding of how each individual fight should be fought than you do, and probably ever will. However, she quickly loses sight of which fights should be played more strategically for the long battle. This is part of the reason Lady Tsunade assigned me to be her teacher." Shikaku fully looked at his son as he spoke this time, making him lock eyes with him. "To teach you both your strengths in that aspect, and get you to work together on them eventually."

   "...I think that's the first time you've told me something that wasn't berating me for a failure," Shikamaru murmured, blinking at his father. 

   "I suppose I owe you an apology, then," Shikaku started, but Shikamaru only held up his hand.

   "Save it, not worth the energy," he said, shaking his head. "I get it. And Zaki does, too, I think."

   Shikaku issued a soft huff and slight smile towards his son before looking back out at the arena as the buzzer for the fight between Team Asuma and Team Kurenai sounded.

   "Immediate disadvantages; they know us personally and have trained with us before," Zaki murmured to her teammates after the buzzer sounded. No one moved except Akamaru's tail swaying slightly as he waited for Kiba's command. "And I have no idea how the Byakugan works with my steel," she added, loosening the chain on her right wrist so it fell into her palm instead. 

   "Leave Hinata to me, then," Ino offered. "My evasion training should allow me to keep up with her until you figure out how you want to handle it."

   "Fine," Zaki nodded, glancing at her before turning her gaze to Chouji. "Chouji, you keep Kiba and Akamaru busy then; I'll handle Lee. Try to separate them, I'll keep an eye on your fights and signal you when I've come up with something. Don't hesitate to ask for back up if you need it, though."

   "Leaf Hurricane!"

   Lee's shout and the sound of his footsteps broke their team meeting up, and Zaki looked up just as Lee leaped into the air to bring his foot down on her.

   "Rude!" Zaki answered him, flinging the end of her chain up to wrap around his ankle and yank, causing him to fly off course and land behind her. "We were in the middle of something!" She nodded to Chouji and Ino as she spun to face Lee, and they charged for their opponents.

   "You were taking too long!" Lee's easy response came back as he spun on his chained foot, kicking out with his free one. Unable to move faster than him, Zaki only had time to bring her chained wrist up to block the kick. She noticed some unnatural weight behind it, and realized his leg warmers were hiding something. If he could move that fast with that weight, what the hell am I in for if he takes them off?

   Gritting her teeth, she fed some chakra into the chain still wrapped around Lee's ankle and made it tighten, yanking it as she pushed against the foot he still had against her left wrist, attempting to make him lose balance. Instead, he just pushed off her wrist and onto his hands, spinning and forcing her to let go of the chain she'd wrapped around his leg. Maybe that'll slow him down a little, she thought, watching as he bounced away from her and landed on his feet.

   "I had no idea you weight trained as well, Kashizaki!" Lee lifted his chained foot with ease, allowing the chain to swing freely and wrap around his leg fully. "They weigh almost as much as mine do!"

   Her mouth fell open a little as she eyed him, unable to contain her shock. I have to end this fight before he feels the need to take off those weights!

   "Great, I get to achieve a new workout as well as a sparring match with you!"

   "This isn't a sparring match, Lee," she answered immediately, taking a few steps backwards as Lee charged at her again. He out sped her without even trying, so she could only bring her arms up to block blows with the chain on her wrist until finally he planted one foot and landed a kick to her stomach with his chained one.

   "You are quite right! That means I should not hold back, then!" His bright tone as she allowed herself to be carried off her feet from the force of his kick made her grit her teeth, but she kept herself in check enough to let the chain she left around his ankle connect to the one around her waist. 

   Not an ounce of chakra was behind that kick, just pure force as she flew back a few feet, taking the chain with her. After bouncing once, she shifted her weight to change her trajectory and-

   A hefty weight crashed into her from the side, and she realized Kiba and Akamaru had knocked Chouji into her path. He wasn't flying as hard as she was, so she wrapped a chain around him to stop herself, causing him to take a few steps in the direction she'd been flying as well.

   "Thank fuck you showed up," she panted, glancing to where Ino and Hinata were chasing each other around the trees a few feet away. "I have a plan; get Kiba over towards where Ino and Hinata are fighting, but try not to move from this spot."

   "Got it," he nodded, steadying his stance as Zaki let go of him and ran back towards Lee.

   "This is most exciting!" Lee cheerfully smiled in her direction as she loosened the chain from around her left wrist so she had a chain in each hand, swinging as she ran. Rather than meet him head on, however, she began running to the side, whipping her chains at him as she did to get him to either dodge or block. The first time he blocked, she caught him wince, realizing the chain wasn't to be taken lightly, so he began to dodge her swings, which was all she wanted.

   "That's it, dance," she murmured, putting him between herself and where Chouji was standing before beginning to take steps towards Lee, forcing him to move backwards as he dodged. 

   "You are quite adept with those chains, Kashizaki!"

   "Been using them for several months now, I would hope so," she gritted out, trying not to show the strain she was beginning to feel. The constant use of chakra to keep them light enough for her to whip was draining. "Chouji! A little help!" She called out, and watched as Chouji expanded both his arms and immediately grabbed both Kiba and Lee - he had already been winning his fight with Kiba and Akamaru, so the grab was coming for him anyway - which allowed Zaki to let her chains go slack so she could form her hand signs and shove her palm against the earth again. 

   This time, she felt around and made as many of her makeshift chains as she could underground as she watched Chouji move Kiba and Lee into Hinata's space. As soon as their feet touched the ground, her chains broke the surface and wrapped themselves around each of their ankles.

   "Chouji!" Zaki called out again, standing straight and slinging one of her chains around his expanded arm. "Ino, back!" She issued a second order, and watched as Ino jumped out of the way as Chouji let the chain wind itself around him and he shifted into his Human Boulder form.

   "Hope this works," Zaki panted out, pulling the extra chain from her pack and adding it to the one connected to Chouji to reinforce it and make it more like a bar than a chain. 

   "Cooperation Technique: Human Ball and Chain!" 

   Zaki and Chouji's combined shout as she swung him around, over her head, and down on top of Team Kurenai rang out. Her short burst of triumph was quickly doused at the feeling of something preventing Chouji from crashing down onto their opponents.

   "Ino!" Zaki called out as she spotted Lee holding up against the force of Chouji's form and Zaki's chakra infused strength. Kiba, being shorter than him, couldn't do much to provide leverage so he and Akamaru cowered as Hinata's eyes flicked across Chouji's form, searching for chakra points she could hit to make him shrink again.

   Until they glazed over as Ino possessed her, that is. Zaki watched as Hinata went from eyeing Chouji to being locked on Lee and hitting him in a few spots around his shoulder that she could reach.

   Zaki took one short breath to give Ino enough time to release the jutsu as soon as Lee's arm went slack, before feeding some more chakra into the steel chain and forcing Chouji down to crush Team Kurenai against the earth.

   Shikamaru gripped the railing as he stood, watching the cloud of dust rise around Chouji's boulder form and Ino's form collapse. A few beats of tense silence passed before Zaki lifted Chouji off Team Kurenai and set him down so he could return to normal and she brought her chains back to her wrists. Her shoulders were heaving as she ran over to Ino, and Chouji stepped to the edge of the crater he and Zaki had created to look at their opponents.

   "The winner is Team Asuma," Neji called out, having reentered the battlefield and checked the crater with Chouji. "After a short respite to allow these ninja to regain consciousness, we will allow Teams Dotsumi and Kurenai to have their match."

   Cheers erupted after Neji's call, and Shikamaru couldn't help the grin on his face as he watched Zaki help Ino stand and Chouji charge at them and pick them both up on his shoulders as he walked them off the battlefield. Of course he was strong enough to do that, he was strong enough to carry Zaki's chains, Shikamaru had seen him do it. 

   "Go, they're not going to want to come up those stairs right away," Shikaku interrupted his thoughts, nudging him slightly, and Shikamaru bolted for the stairs. Surprising even himself, rather than actually taking them, he leaped the railing and skipped the last few stairs as he skidded into the waiting room that led to the arena. He burst through the door just as Chouji had placed the two girls on their feet, and he watched as Zaki flopped onto the bench, still panting hard as she let her chains fall loose from her limbs and rattle their way to the floor. 

   "Shikamaru!" Chouji greeted, walking over to him and exchanging a fist bump with him before foregoing that and putting his arm over Shikamaru's shoulders.

   "Great job out there, you guys," he praised, chuckling as he nudged Chouji a little before walking out from under his arm and over to Ino, getting a half hug from her as well before he went and sat next to Zaki on the bench. "You, uh, going to be okay?"

   "Y-yeah," she panted out, nodding at him as she pulled her last chain from around her waist and dropped that to the floor as well. "Y-you know how the more chakra you use, the more exhausted you get, and the longer it takes to recover?" At his nod, she continued. "Well imagine how long it takes me, who has an inhuman amount of chakra but doesn't have Naruto's insane ability to recover it as fast as he uses it, to recover my chakra and get over the exhaustion."

   "Oh, I guess that makes sense why Dad won't let you exhaust yourself like this when you're training," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "The one time you got to this point, you weren't allowed to train for almost a week until Lady Tsunade could see you."

   "And he's probably going to do the same this time, too," she nodded, still panting as she shifted so she was straddling the bench so she could lay back on it with her arm over her eyes. 

   "Seems a little unfair you guys had to fight two fights in a row while the other two teams get to rest in between," Shikamaru continued, looking over at his other two teammates instead.

   "To be fair, we totally kicked their asses so they were out cold," Ino giggled, bouncing a little in her pride. 

   "We?" Chouji raised his eyebrow at her, moving to sit on a different bench and pulling out a bag of chips; he already looked a little slimmer from using his expansion jutsus without refilling between fights.

   "Okay, you and Zaki totally kicked their asses, but you wouldn't have been able to - especially in that last fight! - without me," Ino added, crossing her arms as she looked away from him and towards Zaki. "I do think we should get her to the hospital, though; she's looking a little green in the face."

   "No, no, I'll be fine," Zaki immediately protested, weakly waving her hand in Ino's direction, only to groan as she shifted on the bench slightly. "...Okay, fine, I'll go."

   "I'll stay and tell you about the next fight when I come visit," Shikamaru promised, patting her knee as he stood up and stepped out of the waiting room again. He motioned to the waiting medical team to go check on his teammates, and made his way back up to his seat, passing Inoichi and Chouza as they made their way down to praise their kids.

Chapter Text

   Blinking open her eyes, Zaki was greeted with the cool blue walls of the hospital room again. A sense of deja vu passed over her as she shifted to sit up.

   "Oh, don't do that," came a feminine voice on her right, and she turned her head toward the source. "Lady Hokage said you need as much rest as you can get."

   "Y-yoshino-san?" Zaki stammered, sitting up slowly despite her protesting muscles and look of warning that Yoshino gave her.

   "My husband and son have been here on rotation for the last two days," she explained, waving her hand a little. "Shikaku got called away to do something, and Shikamaru isn't awake for the day yet, so I figured I could sit in here for a while and keep you company in case you woke up."

   "I've been out for two days?!" Zaki's mouth fell open a little as she leaned heavily back against her pillows, staring at Yoshino.

   "From pretty much the moment you arrived here, yeah. Shikaku asked me to accompany you here since he needed to stay for the last fight, and when that was over, he and Shikamaru took turns staying here with the occasional Ino or Chouji." She punctuated the last statement by motioning toward her bedside table, where a small vase of flowers sat. "Everyone knew you'd pull through, but that didn't stop them from worrying."

   "A-and you?" Zaki locked eyes with her as she asked, fingers toying with the hem of her blanket.

   "Of course I knew you would, you're you," Yoshino scoffed, giving her a small smile. "Shikaku's pride isn't easy to earn, so the fact that he's proud of you is enough assurance I need to know you're strong enough to do whatever he believes you can do."

   Zaki couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She couldn't bring herself to speak, out of fear of her voice breaking and tears coming forth, but she hoped her smile was enough to let Yoshino know that she was appreciative of her words.

   "I also wanted to apologize," Yoshino continued, sitting forward a little. "In the year since you came to live with us, I've been... Less than welcoming. Which, as it turns out, was the opposite of what Lady Tsunade wanted of our family. Maybe that was a subconscious decision on my part, as if part of me was thinking 'how dare she tell me how to run my household' or something, but that's not an excuse. I know neither you nor Shikamaru realize this, but Shikaku works to teach you guys every day, and watching him do that with pride in his eyes has really changed how I see your assignment to our home. He'll talk about Shikamaru's progress with me, but when he'd bring you up, it would bring his mood down because he knew I wasn't a fan of the fact that he had to teach you anything. At first, I blamed you for that, but watching how you and Shikamaru and his friends all got along effortlessly, and how quick you are with your studies - so different from my son, by the way - I realized I was the problem. You work so hard to prove you're worthy of the teaching Shikaku gives you, of the acceptance into this village. I can't keep being the reason you feel uncomfortable in the place you're supposed to call home. So, I'm sorry, Kashizaki."

   This time, she couldn't stop the tears as she stared at Yoshino. She couldn't close her mouth, her lip trembling slightly as she tried to blink away her tears, but it was no use. Instead, she just reached her hand toward her, and was met with a hug.

   "Thank you," Zaki finally murmured, squeezing Yoshino before letting up to let her sit back down. 

   "Ahem." Someone cleared their throat from the doorway on Zaki's left, making both the women jump slightly.

   "Shikamaru!"

   "I hate to interrupt such a touching scene," he began, stepping into the room. Zaki's face reddened as her hand shot up to wipe away her tears. "But Zaki isn't supposed to be sitting up, and what are you even doing here, Mom?"

   "Your father got called away," she answered dismissively, sitting back in her chair as Zaki adjusted her pillows to lay more against them, though remaining mostly upright.

   "You're up early," Zaki countered, motioning towards him as she narrowed her eyes.

   "Yeah, because today's the day-"

   "We get our exam results back!" Ino interrupted him, practically jumping into the room behind him with her arm over his shoulder as she gave Zaki a bright smile. "Chouji's on his way here, Shikaku-sama sent a sparrow earlier saying that if you woke up today, Lady Tsunade wanted to give us the news all together but didn't want you out of bed yet."

   "Oh, she wants to tell us all at the same time?" Zaki tilted her head slightly as she locked eyes with Shikamaru, a slight smirk on both their faces.

   "Makes it a bit obvious, doesn't it?" His smirk widened a little as Zaki let out a slight chuckle in agreement.

   "Oh, that reminds me," she said, sitting forward a little. "How did Kiba, Hinata, and Lee's second fight go?"

   "They won," Shikamaru shrugged, moving to pull up a second chair to sit in as Ino closed the door behind her. "It wasn't even close, either. Those Grass ninja had to be practically fresh out of the academy."

   "But... Didn't you pass your chunin exams when you were fresh out of the academy?"

   "That doesn't mean I wanted to," he grumbled, crossing his arms as he leaned back in the chair enough so it's front legs lifted off the ground. 

   "And if the fact that Lady Tsunade wants us all together to tell us our results is any indication, you passed your first exams, too, Zaki," Ino spoke up, sitting on the edge of her bed. 

   "Maybe so, but only because I was three missions short of qualifying for the ones in Suna that you and Chouji did last winter."

   "Which was only an issue because no one wanted to give you anything higher than a D rank mission for far longer than they needed to," Shikamaru interjected. "Too afraid of how you were recovering from the radiation from the star or whatever."

   "Are you saying I would've passed the exams in Suna?" Zaki raised her eyebrow as she looked at Shikamaru, who blinked a few times before his face reddened and he looked away from her.

   "I have no idea, and it's a waste of time speculating about it," he scoffed, crossing his arms. 

   "Hopeless," Zaki heard Yoshino mutter as her hand came up to her face.

   "Alright, I'm here to check on-"

   Sakura stopped in the doorway as she looked around the room, stopping on Zaki's form and letting her face fall into a scowl.

   "What are you doing sitting up, Kashizaki?"

   "Relax, Sakura, I'm fine," she stressed, lifting one of her arms and flexing slightly to show a lack of trembling that normally would be present after the chakra exhaustion she experienced. "See? My body's getting better at dealing with it."

   "Even so, Lady Tsunade's orders-"

   "She expected me to be awake today, too, I'd say it's fine," Zaki interrupted, waving her hand in Sakura's direction slightly. 

   "I'll just let her deal with it then," Sakura sighed, shaking her head as she turned and left.

   A knock on the door to the hospital room stopped the chatter among the teammates as the newcomer entered. Yoshino had returned home about an hour before, shortly after Chouji had arrived, and the four teenagers were simply waiting for the arrival of the Hokage.

   "Great, you're awake," Tsunade greeted as she stepped into the room, Shikaku right on her heels. Each teenager stiffened in her presence, Zaki going as far as to offer a slight bow before Tsunde raised her hand to stop her.

   "She's not going to stop doing that, you know," Shikaku said from behind her, making her sigh as she shook her head.

   "It just makes me feel like an old woman sometimes, that's all," she sighed. Sensing Zaki had opened her mouth to apologize, she quickly continued. "Your exam results have been finalized."

   This made the three genin in the room stop and stare at her, leaning forward slightly as they waited with baited breath for the news. 

   "You've all passed," Tsunade finally said, turning the paper in her hand towards them to showcase the stamp before fanning it out to show the stamps on two more pieces of paper; all three of their registration papers.

   Their cheer was nearly deafening as Ino and Chouji each jumped to their feet and Zaki's fist punched the air over her head. 

   "Once I clear Zaki for active duty again, you'll report tomorrow in my office to receive your first mission as chunin. All four of you," she continued, glancing toward Shikamaru. "You'll still be leading them for the time being, until they come more into their new responsibilities. You and Asuma, that is. He heard the news earlier."

   "Yes ma'am," Shikamaru nodded, sitting up a little straighter. 

   "Now get out of here so I can check on my patient."

   Months pass. Maybe a whole year, Zaki isn't sure; she loses track of time easily with how much of it she spends in the hospital after exhausting herself. Sakura and Tsunade have both called her Kakashi's rival with the amount of times she'd been carried into the hospital on Shikamaru or Chouji's backs or shoulders. The one time Asuma had to bring her in, she was actually injured on top of the chakra exhaustion, but the mission had been successful so the earful he'd gotten wasn't as harsh as it could've been. 

   Shikaku had even brought her in once, having found her swaying in the yard as she manipulated her chains from a distance. She had insisted that her clan name meant she needed to get adept at creating and manipulating at least a hundred chains, but Shikaku gently reminded her that she had plenty of time for that as she had passed out and he caught her. Sure, each time she exhausted herself, she bounced back relatively quickly, and that was why she kept doing it, but Tsunade had to keep telling her that it wasn't healthy. 

   "I'm just trying to prove-"

   "Kashizaki, enough," Tsunade tiredly interrupted, holding one of her hands up as the other pinched the bridge of her nose. Zaki straightened her stance in front of her desk, hands folded behind her back. "If you keep going on like this, there's no telling what the damage could do to your body. Need I remind you that you have a unique mutation, not just an unnatural level of chakra?"

   "I understand, Mi'lady, but-"

   "No," Tsunade interrupted again, fixing her with a narrow eyed look. "No buts. You're going to end up working yourself into an early grave at the rate you're going. I get you're trying to prove to us that accepting you to stay here and actually giving you a teacher was worth our while, but you've already more than done that by earning your rank. And you passed that B-rank mission the other day without so much as a scratch coming to you or the team you led - a team you had no prior experience with, mind you - so why do you still feel the need to train yourself to the bone like this?"

   "I..." Zaki paused as she swallowed, looking down at the floor instead of maintaining eye contact with the Hokage. "I guess I've come to a few new realizations. Personal ones, that I still haven't... Reconciled with, for lack of a better word."

   Tsunade's scrutinizing gaze rooted her on the spot, and she squeezed her fingers together as she stared at the Hokage's hands steepled in front of her face. Any longer, and she was sure she would just sink into the floor at the Hokage's command.

   "You read your father's scroll finally, didn't you."

   She said it more as a statement than a question, so Zaki didn't answer. Instead, she sank her teeth into her cheek to try and prevent her tears from shoving their way forward. 

   "Kashizaki Hyakukusari," Tsunade began, sitting back in her chair as her voice softened a little. "Your feelings of missing your family don't take away from your loyalty to this village. You've proven time and time again that you want nothing more than to protect and serve. You don't have to work yourself to death to keep proving it."

   "I'm done paying back the debt I owe." Zaki's voice shocked both of them when she spoke, and the questioning light in Tsunade's eyes had her scrambling to explain what she meant. "I'd rather pay it forward."

   "Okay, hold on." Tsunade's fingers were pinching the bridge of her nose again before she locked eyes with her to continue. "First of all, there's no debt, there never was. Second of all, forward? What do you mean, forward? "

   "Up until recently..."

Chapter Text

   “Will this end up being our first mission of this combination?”

   Chouj’s question made her pause in her action of manually wrapping her chains around her wrists (something she’d picked up doing ever since Shikaku-sensei finally laid into her about it being a waste of chakra because she was physically strong enough to move her chains after nearly 2 years of lugging them around). Would this be the first time that she was assigned a mission with Chouji, Ino, and Asuma-sensei?

   Sure, it was typical that she never went with Shikamaru and Asuma at the same time, but usually it was Asuma she swapped places with. If Shikamaru was the grand strategist, the one that saw the flow of the whole battle, then both Asuma and Zaki were the situational generals that provided context to specific scenarios. Though, she supposed Asuma had to be where Shikamaru was learning most of his strategy, so maybe her initial assessment of their dynamic was slightly flawed. 

   “I think so,” Ino finally answered him, and Zaki continued adjusting her chains. They were waiting by the gate for Asuma to show up so they could leave, and Zaki wanted to make sure she was more than prepared to go at a moment's notice in case Asuma was late.

   Her headband held her bangs out of her face, though it was still knotted on the side of her head, the metal part of the headband on the left side of her head as a result. She braided her hair and let it hang between her shoulders this time, nearly covering the refurbished Hyakukusari clan symbol she had on her new navy blue jacket. The sleeves were still asymmetrical, and her Hoshi headband was still on the forearm of the right sleeve, but now it was a conscious decision in the design of the jacket rather than Zaki just making the most out of a lost sleeve; the shorter left sleeve allowed her to have her chain wrap around her entire forearm instead of her wrist without anything getting in the way. She would’ve had the standard issued flak jacket instead, but she and Ino had found and customized this jacket instead to suit her needs.

   The rest of her outfit was still the simple black tanktop and black spandex leggings that led into the black knee high boots she wore, accented by silver as her chains were wrapped around her limbs and joints in ways that wouldn’t impede movement but provided protection and ease of access.

   “When’s the last time you went on a mission with Asuma, Zaki?” Shikamaru’s voice made her pause her movements again, looking up from her ankle at the newcomer.

   “Roughly 6 months ago or so, I think,” she answered, standing up straight as she continued to eye him. “I assume since the three of us have different strategic tendencies, this mission requires a different combination than what you would’ve provided. Plus, the last mission I went on with him, I came back delirious from blood loss.”

   “And chakra exhaustion, like usual,” Ino chimed in, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Zaki.

   “Well, that and I’m stuck here,” he grumbled, glancing over his shoulder toward the Suna kunoichi that he’d been assigned to show around the village. Temari was standing politely out of earshot, though Zaki didn’t doubt that she’d pick up whatever information she could from reading anyone’s lips. 

   “At least she’s pretty,” Zaki offered him, suppressing a smirk when she spotted Shikamaru’s ears beginning to turn pink.

   “You’re such a drag,” he grumbled, pointedly turning away from her. “Attempt number three at joint chunin exams with the Hidden Sand, that’s all this is.”

   “Doesn’t take away what I said,” she snickered. The progressive reddening of his face nearly made her laugh out loud when Asuma finally showed up, glancing between Shikamaru and Zaki before sighing. 

   “Alright, let’s get going, you three,” he ordered, motioning toward the three chunin that would be going with him on the mission.

   “Come back safe, you guys,” Shikamaru said, raising his hand in farewell as they walked out of the gate.

   “Everyone remember the plan?”

   Zaki stretched out her leg as she sat near the fire, eyeing Asuma’s profile as he looked at Ino and Chouji. It had been almost two days since they left Shikamaru at the gate, having decided to take a bit longer approaching the Land of Rainforests to gather some information in one of the villages between the Leaf and the Waterfall. 

   Sure, she remembered the plan, and he knew that; that’s why he made it a point to eye Ino and Chouji instead.

   “We check the border for the reported suspicious activity with Zaki and I out in the open while you and Ino trail behind us quietly,” Chouji began, munching on his chips as he spoke.

   “If anything comes up, we react accordingly,” Ino finished, smoothing her hand over her bedroll she was sitting on. 

   This still seemed like a half baked mission to Zaki, but she didn’t voice this concern, instead shifting her gaze on the shadows dancing around the campfire. Sure, they still hadn’t finalized the truce with the Land of Rainforests or Takigakure, but sending a squad of four could potentially be seen as an aggressive act and cause more problems than a patrol was meant to solve. And the reported suspicious activity that the three chunin had been told didn’t seem like something worth sending a whole squad after, especially not the squad known for their cooperation in combat. 

   “Shikamaru was right, you are pretty easy to read,” Asuma chuckled, making Zaki look back up at him. “You have doubts about this mission.”

   “Wouldn’t you, if you had half the information that you do?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and he only offered her a small smile in response, signaling her to keep talking. “Sending a squad of four, especially a squad known for its combos, to the border of a land we aren’t fully allied with seems kind of… Asinine, to put it bluntly. We’re meant to gather information, but that could’ve easily been done with just you and Ino, and you would be far less likely to get caught. In fact, the formation you have us in tells me we’re likely to run into an enemy. If we were all traveling stealthily, then I could attribute Chouji and I being here as bodyguards specifically because we’ll be on the border of a potentially hostile nation. But no, you have the two of us walking in the open as if we’re meant to bait the enemy out. And you’re not telling us why.” Zaki shifted so she was facing Asuma now, still watching his face as she spoke. “This isn’t just some ‘gather intel and leave’ mission, is it, Sensei?”

   “You’re too observant for your own good, sometimes, Kashizaki,” Asuma chuckled, reaching out and touching the top of her head briefly before he sighed and nodded, turning so he could address all three of them. “As you know, this is an A-rank mission. The level of danger Shikaku predicted was too high to let just three chunin go on their own, so he and Lady Hokage asked me to accompany you, and told me to try and keep the details as close to my chest as possible, but even he knew you or Shikamaru would’ve figured it out quickly. That’s why he’s been assigned to escort the Suna ambassador around the village, to keep him from thinking about this mission too much while he’s stuck there.”

   “So what are we doing here, really?” Zaki pressed, leaning forward a little as she narrowed her eyes at his face. 

   “Well this is still an intelligence gathering mission, don’t mistake that,” he started, shooting her a look before sighing and continuing. “The suspicious activity we’re investigating, we don’t actually know much about. Some sources say it’s something to do with Orochimaru, and another source says it could be Akatsuki.”

   Ino gasped a little at the mention of Orochimaru, making Zaki glance over at her. The two had spoken briefly about Sasuke and his choice to join the sannin, betraying the village during one of the later nights the two spent alone together. Zaki knew of Ino’s feelings towards the Uchiha, knew his betrayal had damaged most of her graduating class in some way - especially her, Sakura, and Naruto - and remembered the relentless questioning on Orochimaru that both Naruto and Lady Tsunade had subjected her to during her month of recovery when she first arrived in Konoha. 

   “Well, wasn’t Orochimaru part of the Akatsuki until a few years ago?” Zaki tilted her head as she asked, glancing between Ino and Asuma.

   “We don’t know how long the Akatsuki has been arou-”

   “We do, actually,” Zaki interrupted, making Asuma look at her with his eyebrow raised. “Well, not fully, but we can draw some inferences from the Bingo Book-”

   “And who’s been giving you access to that?!” Asuma’s incredulous tone would’ve made her laugh if she didn’t know how serious the question was.

   “Lady Tsunade has given Shikaku-sensei permission to talk freely about it with me and Shikamaru as long as we don’t talk about specific details in it in front of those who haven’t read it. And before you give me any shit, I wasn’t going to give any details here, either,” she added, crossing her arms as she eyed him. “Just that it’s possible to draw a few conclusions if you look at known dates in it.”

   “Does that mean you have some conclusions drawn?”

   “No, but that’s because I haven’t looked at the book first hand, just been given information from Shikaku-sensei when he needed to talk out something and get a different perspective.” Recalling the last conversation she had with him, she looked down for a moment as she drew a few connections.

   “Uh oh, I know that look,” Chouji spoke up, pointing at Zaki’s face in between his munches of chips.

   “I think I know why some of the sources think Orochimaru’s been around here,” she said slowly, looking back up at Asuma. 

***

    “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

   Zaki looked up from the shogi board in front of her when she heard Shikaku’s voice carry around the corner of the house. She was in the sitting room by herself, eyeing a few strategies on the board when she heard her sensei enter the enclosed yard and head for the open door she was sitting near.

   Shikaku paused when he spotted Zaki in the room, eyes going from her to the board in front of her and back before he sighed, shoulders slumping as he wordlessly motioned, asking if he could join her. This was rare, as Shikaku normally played against Shikamaru, but his son was on a mission with Ino and Chouji and would still be gone for at least a day. 

   Nodding, Zaki quietly cleared the board and reset the pieces as Shikaku sat across from her, fingers on his short goatee as he eyed her movement. They sat for a moment before he motioned for her to make the first move; this was always his way to try and get her to stop waiting for the enemy to move first. 

   Still afraid to break the silence, she moved her first piece before lifting her eyes from the board to her sensei. Something was really bothering him, and she wanted to ask him to talk it out with her, but-

   “How much do you know about Zabuza Momochi?”

   “U-um… Nothing, sensei,” she answered, looking down at the board again in slight embarrassment; was she supposed to?

   “Nothing?” She looked up at him again at his question, brows furrowed in further confusion.

   “Well, I know he’s dead, and he was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, but other than that-”

   “That’s not nothing, Kashizaki,” he sighed, shaking his head. “But no matter, you know the important parts. The sword that he used was stolen from his grave.”

   “Is that… The thing that doesn’t make sense?”

   “Yes,” he nodded, stroking his facial hair again. “Normally, after the death of one of the swordsmen, the sword is returned to Kirigakure, but unique circumstances prevented its immediate return. Lady Tsunade sent a team to retrieve it finally, in order to return it to Kiri as an olive branch of sorts, to find it was already gone.”

   “Well that seems kind of like a bad idea in the first place,” Zaki muttered, not intending for that to become a talking point but wanting her sensei to know where her head was at. “But who would’ve stolen it?” She asked louder than her previous statement, hopefully to draw his attention away from her previous statement. He glanced up from making his move on the shogi board at her question.

   “Not a clue; no one in the Land of Fire would’ve wanted it, and that’s where it was. The team investigated the Lands of Waves and Water, and neither mentioned it, but obviously we can’t really take those reports at face value.”

   “Right, so the only conclusion we can really follow up on is someone in the Land of Fire has it. Or someone who had been visiting the Land of Fire relatively recently took it. The chunin exams in Suna did just happen, and rival shinobi need to pass through our land to get there-”

   “That’s it!” His exclamation made her jump; Shikaku rarely ever got loud in any way, so when he fixed her with a look mixed with excitement and pride, one she hadn’t seen in him before, she could only feel confused.

   “Um… What is?”

   “The chunin exams! Not the most recent ones, but the ones from before you came here. You couldn’t possibly know anything about this, but the short of it for now is Orochimaru has the potential to be behind the sword’s disappearance. He does a lot of experimental jutsus and sciences that are forbidden and disrespectful to the dead.”

   “So I suppose it makes sense, if that was Momochi’s sword, that this Orochimaru could use that in some way?”

   “Exactly.”

***

   “What, you think the sword’s made an appearance around here?” Asuma’s eyebrow raised as he eyed her.

   “It makes sense, doesn’t it? The Land of Sound shares a border with the Land of Rainforests. If Orochmaru is taking the sword back to one of his bases that we know would be there because of information gathered from Master Jiraiya, Naruto, and Sakura, then they could’ve passed around here in an attempt to stay on the borders of the country to avoid being detected.”

   “This is all assuming that the sword is the reason we think Orochimaru is around here,” Asuma clarified, sighing when Zaki nodded. “How long ago was the sword stolen?”

   “Uh… A year? I think? But that doesn’t mean it isn’t being used by someone!” She defended, putting her hand behind her head as Asuma gave her a look.

   “And what about the Akatsuki?”

   “How are these reports gathered? Word of mouth, right? It’s well known that eye-witness accounts are unreliable-”

   “And so is your strategizing if you keep making long assumptions like you are, Kashizaki,” Asuma interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her. “And don’t go giving me that ‘I just have a hunch’ look you’re so adept at convincing Shikamaru with. It works on him because he trusts you to have more information to back up your ‘hunch’ than you’re telling him. We can’t afford that here with real dangers like Orochimaru and the Akatsuki around.”

   “It also works on him because he thinks she’s pretty and wouldn’t be able to tell her no even if it meant saving his own life,” Ino grumbled, making Zaki whip her head toward her and glare. 

   “Point being,” Asuma interjected, attempting to defuse the situation. “We don’t know whether it’s Orochimaru or the Akatsuki here. That’s the bottom line.”

   “How old are the reports, and which ones came first?” Zaki returned her gaze to their sensei, but instead of getting a verbal answer, he just handed her the mission report. Scanning over it, she pointed at a detail and leaned closer to him so he could see it too. “The Akatsuki ones came first, and it was almost a year ago. More recent reports are the Orochimaru ones, which could mean he has a base near the border with the Land of Rainforests. Do you think Takigakure knows about it?”

   “Unlikely, but we don’t have an alliance with them so who knows,” Asuma shrugged, pointing further down the report. “One of the known Akatsuki members is from around there, as well, so we can’t dismiss that whoever it is could be around for any reason.”

   “Do we know the goal of the Akatsuki?” Zaki looked up from the report to lock eyes with Asuma, catching the knowing glint in his eye before he shook his head. “Right,” she continued, looking back down at the report. “So without knowing the goal of this organization, we know more about Orochimaru’s motives than we do anything else. We need to place our bets on those reports being the more accurate ones, since we’ll be able to make more contingency plans around that than we would if we ran into an Akatsuki member or two.”

   “Great, the two of you can do that, I’m tired,” Ino yawned, seemingly attempting to remind them that she and Chouji were there. “Try not to strategize too loudly so I can get my beauty sleep,” she added, shifting so she was laying on her side on her bedroll. 

   “This is a pain,” Zaki murmured, eyes still scanning over the mission information. “I feel like we’re still missing something vital here.”

   “It’s possible we are. The initial objective of this mission is information gathering, after all,” Asuma shrugged, shifting so he was on his own bedroll. “Which one of you is taking the first watch?”

   “I got it,” Chouji offered, sitting up a little. “Though I don’t think Zaki’s going to sleep any time soon.”

   At Chouji’s statement, Asuma reached over and plucked the mission report from Zaki’s hands and put it back in his flak jacket, fixing her with a look of command when she glared at him. 

   “Fine,” she huffed, pointedly turning away from him and laying on her side on her bedroll. Though Chouji was still right; she didn’t sleep much as she let her thoughts sort through the information she had.

   Zaki had actually been asleep when the ‘hunch’ Asuma had lightly berated her for came to fruition. The sound of surprise from Ino and the campfire sizzling out in the same instance woke her up, and she was on her feet within seconds as she glanced around, looking for the perceived threat.

   “Up,” Ino squeaked, hardly discernible but enough for Zaki to turn her gaze upwards as Asuma sat up next to her.

   “You know, campfires only give away your position,” came a voice from the branches above them. 

   “We don’t have time for this,” came a different voice, somewhere on Zaki’s left, but she didn’t look away from the potential threat in the branches. She trusted Ino’s sensor abilities to find how many enemies they were facing.

   “Just go, then. I’ll keep these guys busy and meet up with you later,” was the nonchalant answer from the masculine voice in the branches, and more water dripped where the remnants of the campfire was. 

   “I’m not rescuing you a second time if you get caught.” The masculine scoff from the trees on Zaki’s right apparently was familiar to Ino, because she gasped and her hand met her face as she stared in that direction. 

   “You have no faith in me, man,” whined the first voice, earning another scoff from the familiar one. 

   “The rest of Hebi, move out.”

   Ino stood at the order, intending to go toward the voice, when Zaki sensed movements headed in her friend’s direction. She dove for her, twisting so the chain around her waist took the hit as she knocked Ino out of the way. A giant silver blade appeared when it made contact with her chain, and the force behind the swing knocked her aside as Chouji and Asuma got to their feet. Fortunately, bouncing off a tree and regaining her balance was something she was well adept in thanks to sparring regularly with Chouji. 

   “That was Sasuke’s voice!” Ino finally spoke as Zaki stood, eyeing the blade that had appeared and watching as the form wielding it formed standing on the handle.

   “Oh, you know that emo brat?” The threat smiled with teeth as he looked down at Ino, and Zaki caught the serrated pattern of them. Must be from Kiri then, she thought as she shifted her chains from her wrists to her palms. “Then I definitely can’t let you live; you’ll follow us and we definitely don’t need that kind of hang up.”

   “We don’t have to fight you, you can just go on your way and we’ll-” Asuma tried, only to be met with a kunai flying at his face that he blocked with one of his chakra blades.

   “Come now, you think I’ll just let you guys go after revealing to me that you know Sasuke?” The shark boy tsked, shaking his head as he dropped off the handle of his blade in order to grab it properly. “Besides, I recently took this sword from that stupid mafia boss down in the Land of Waves; I kind of want to test it out, and you four seem like the perfect targets.”

   Zaki eyed the blade, realizing it was the sword she and Shikaku had spoken about previously; the one Zabuza Momochi used, the Executioner’s Blade. Apparently, the grave robber had been the aforementioned mafia boss that this Kiri missing-nin had in turn stolen it from. The hole in the blade as well as the divot closer to the base should be her targets, the metal would be weaker there. 

   “If you were in the Land of Waves, and now you seem to be headed for the Land of Fields and into Kusagakure territory, why are you here?” Zaki spoke up, making the Kiri-nin look at her. His violet eyes scrutinized her relentlessly, and if she hadn’t been as disciplined as she was, she would’ve shuddered at the intensity. 

   “Pit stop,” he said simply, before lifting his blade out of the ground and swinging it at her. The speed, despite how large the sword was, nearly had her losing her head. Instead, she brought her arms up with her chains and deflected it, letting them wrap around the blade. 

   “Right, whatever it was, was worth an extra day and a half’s travel,” she answered him, raising her eyebrow as she fed her chakra through her chains and tightened them, intending to use them to find the weak spots in the blade’s form. She watched as the muscles in his arms grew a few sizes as he yanked against her hold, and eventually she just let go of her chains, unwilling to let the tug of war end in anything worse than him still having his sword. 

   “Go on, talk like you know what the hell’s going on. It’s all you Konoha schmucks know how to do,” he scoffed, ignoring the weight of her chains on his blade and instead swinging towards Asuma and Chouji behind him.

   Both men ducked, and Chouji immediately expanded his arm and swung in retaliation, but the shark-like boy in front of them seemingly melted into water in order to dodge the attack before reforming himself.

   “I couldn’t get a clear read on the other chakra signatures that had been nearby, but I definitely recognized Sasuke’s voice,” Ino murmured to Zaki as she shifted closer to her. 

   “Could you at least tell how many there were?”

   “Just three, four if you count this guy.”

   “And Sasuke called them ‘Hebi’, right? Snake?”

   “So he’s still… Loyal to Orochimaru…” Ino looked down at her realization before she clenched her fists and faced the Kiri-nin in front of them. “Who do you think you are, anyway?!”

   “Who, me?” He turned to face her, laughing when he caught sight of her face. “Just call me Suigetsu, you won’t live long enough for it to matter. Though it’s a bit of a shame, you are kind of hot.”

   “And why do you follow Orochimaru?” Ino continued her questioning, and Zaki caught the shift in demeanor from cocky to irritated in Suigetsu’s face.

   “Who says we do?” He scoffed, lifting his blade again and aiming the end of it at her. “Who’s to say we’re not on our way to kill him? Or that we haven’t already done so?”

   “Your team name is Snake, you really expect me to believe-”

   Zaki swung one of her extra chains to connect to the swinging blade, pulling it so it missed Ino by a breath and embedded itself in the tree between them instead. 

   “You’re all the same!” Suigetsu’s angry shout sounded, and he ducked under a few swings from Asuma as he continued to glare at Ino. “Cocky know-it-alls, it’s like you have nothing better to do than act like you’re the greatest things in the world! All you Konoha shinobi are the same!” Using the embedded sword as leverage, he jumped and kicked out to counter Chouji’s attack before pulling the sword out of the tree. He was met with resistance, as Zaki pulled again, her chain having connected to the ones she’d left on the blade previously. “Kami you’re fucking annoying,” he groaned out, the muscles in his arms enlarging again as he pulled. 

   Zaki let herself go with the pull this time, carefully watching the blade as she flew towards Suigetsu. Sure enough, he shifted the blade as if to let her impale herself on it, so she lifted one of her legs and let the chain around her ankle loosen so it was between her foot and the blade. Using that leverage, she kicked off the blade and changed her position and trajectory so she was headed right for his torso, a kunai in her hand aimed for his neck. 

   Seemingly unable to liquify himself like normal, because his muscles were still larger than normal, Suigetsu instead ducked, letting her sail over his head. Zaki immediately tightened the chain, forcing it to lift the blade over his head as Chouji caught her easily. Shifting, she used him as a springboard and kicked off Chouji’s form and sailed toward Suigetsu again, one of her chains wrapped around her fist instead as she connected with the side of his face. Her left hand wrapped around the handle of the blade, and she told her chains to drag it down, embedding it into the ground again so she could cling to that as she sent Suigetsu flying with her punch. 

   Tree branches broke as his body flew through them, and Zaki was unwilling to just let him go, so she immediately jumped after him, ignoring the hurried protest from Asuma behind her. The trees thinned out relatively quickly, and a cliff with a waterfall greeted her sight as she skidded to a halt on her side of the canyon. That waterfall must be what marks the border between the Land of Fire and Land of Rainforests, she thought, eyeing it briefly before spinning and searching for Suigetsu. 

   “What is it about bitches with chains always beating me.” His voice came from somewhere behind her, but she didn’t immediately spin to face it, waiting to see what deception there was to it. Ino, Chouji, and Asuma came out of the trees moments later, Chouji carrying the Executioner’s Blade because it would’ve been unwise to just leave it unattended.

   “Something something chains provide a solid strength while water is fickle, or something like that,” Zaki answered his question, finally spinning to face him. She was surprised to see him standing there, holding his jaw as he forced it back into place. 

   “I think I’ve nearly bitten off more than I can chew,” Suigetsu conceded, shrugging as he raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll take my sword back, if you don’t mind.”

   “We do mind, actually,” Zaki countered, forcing her chakra that was still in the chains around the swords to constrict and move, and she hoped Chouji knew to shift the sword so it wouldn’t cut him as she made the chains wrap around his torso, too. When there wasn’t a cry of pain, she breathed a sigh of relief that the chains had actually done what she’d wanted; she hadn’t fully perfected the manipulation of her chakra infused steel from a distance yet.

   “Ooo, bad call,” Suigetsu chuckled, shooting her a smirk before melting into a puddle and disappearing into the ground. Barely a second later, and Chouji’s strangled cry rang out as Suigetsu melted through him, grabbed the sword, and burst through the links of Zaki’s chains like they were wet paper. Ino, Asuma, and Zaki stared in horror as Chouji collapsed to his knees, Suigetsu still standing behind him facing away from the group as he put the Executioner’s Blade on his back.

   “How dare-”

   Zaki’s shout was interrupted as Suigetsu appeared in front of her again, his face mere inches from hers as his sharp smirk invaded her vision.

   “Count yourselves lucky I’m off my game today,” he murmured at her, before sweeping his leg under hers and knocking her off balance. His hand caught her by the throat before she fell, squeezing hard enough to cut off her air supply as he held her up. Her nails dug into his hand and forearm as she tried to pry him off, but he simply just let himself turn into liquid wherever she dug in. 

   “Let her go!” Asuma’s shout sounded as he ran forward, but Suigetsu only raised his free hand and fired what looked like water bullets in his direction, forcing Asuma to stop and deflect or dodge rather than continue to run forward.

   “You guys going back to Konoha and reporting all of this to your leader is going to be a pain, and Sasuke won’t be happy about it, but I don’t have it in me to kill all of you. So I’ll just settle for-”

   Zaki gasped for air as she watched Suigetsu’s eyes glaze over, a small burst of triumph and pride for her teammate in her chest despite the tightening grip on her neck. Instead of water now, she could see blood trailing down his arm where her nails cut his skin, but apparently he was putting up one hell of a mental battle for Ino because he still didn’t let Zaki go.

   Instead, she felt his muscles flex, and suddenly she was flying over the edge of the cliff, toward the deafening roar of the waterfall.

   As soon as the rest of his teammates and his sensei had left the village, Shikamaru felt a sense of loneliness and mild dread was over him as he watched them disappear into the trees. He felt Temari’s presence to his left, but didn’t do much to acknowledge her as his hands buried themselves in his pockets.

   “Shikamaru?” Her voice pierced his haze of loneliness, making him blink and look toward her finally. “I know shinobi life is dangerous, but come on, you can’t just assume they won’t return on every mission like that.” Her tone was light, teasing; she was making fun of the look of dread he must’ve had.

   “Y-you’re right. I just… Can’t shake this feeling, I guess,” he shrugged, looking away from her again toward the path leading away from the gate. Instead a familiar blond came into sight, making his mouth fall open a little.

   “Is that…” Temari started, raising her hand to point in the new arrival’s direction.

   “Hey, Naruto!” Shikamaru raised his own hand in greeting, catching his old friend’s attention.

Chapter Text

    Breathe.

   Zaki took a deliberate breath in through her nose as she forced her eyes to stay open, scanning the cliffside as she plummeted toward the bottom of the ravine. The roar of the wind as well as the waterfall nearby was deafening, but at least she could still hear herself think. 

   Time seemed to slow down as she took in the details around her; roots from the forest that lined the cliff protruded out of the sheer rock wall. She could use those. The sun was still low in the sky, the early morning light casting long shadows from those roots. Had she observed enough to pick up how they used them?

***

    “Kashizaki, Shikamaru.” Shikaku spoke as he stood between the two of them. It was her first time being allowed into the training clearing in the forest that Shikaku usually took Shikamaru to train, and her first time into the Nara forest in general. 

   “Do we really need the speech, Dad?” Shikamaru groaned as he scratched the back of his head. “This isn’t the first time you’ve had us spar like this.”

   “Ah, but this is Kashizaki’s first time in the forest, and your first sparring match as equals,” Shikaku pointed out, smirking in his son’s direction at the irritated look that crossed his face. “Not that that’s stopped her from beating you before.”

   “So that’s what this is about,” Shikamaru grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You want us to commemorate Zaki’s promotion by having her kick my ass through the woods this time.”

   “Oh, come on, Shika-kun,” Zaki laughed, shaking her head. “At least try to put up a fight, would you?”

   “You have a massively unfair advantage, woman,” he countered, rolling his eyes again.

   “Well, now we’re in the forest. There are more shadows here than there are in the field where I normally train and where we’ve sparred before. Maybe you’ll stand a chance this time,” she added, sticking her tongue out at him as he shot her a glare. 

   “I’m also permitting the use of your new technique, Shikamaru,” Shikaku interjected, making Shikamaru’s jaw drop a little.

   “You serious? I could seriously hurt her, though?”

   “It’ll be up to her to not get hit by it. Just don’t aim for anything vital; Lady Hokage would have my head if she found out Zaki got seriously hurt from just a sparring match.”

   “Alright, fine,” Shikamaru shrugged, eyeing Zaki for a moment before readying himself for their fight. “Whenever you’re ready, Zaki.”

***

   She tried to remember the hand signs Shikamaru had used, but her adrenaline from falling was making that difficult. Instead, she pulled one of her last few chains from around one of her limbs and swung it toward the wall, hoping it would catch on something, anything as she fell. 

   Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that was going to be in the cards for her; the end of the chain bounced off the rock, and when she tried again, aiming for a root to have it wrap around, it only broke off the growth and barely slowed her fall.

   She needed to come up with something, and quick, else she was going to splat at the bottom of that ravine. 

   Her eyes scanned the cliff-face again, this time focusing on the shadows and where hers passed over the others of the roots that were sticking out. What the hell were those hand signs?!

***

    Zaki kicked off the trunk of a tree while throwing the end of one of her chains at Shikamaru’s feet, intending to throw him off balance as she threw a second one where she expected him to jump out of the way. 

   Instead, a dark tendril threaded itself into the link of her chain and stopped the first one in the air, making the second one sail over his head harmlessly since he didn’t move. 

   Caught off guard, Zaki only stared for a moment; she had jumped back to the tree in the first place because she saw his shadow fly out towards her, but for him to solidify it like that? The amount of chakra control that required had to be extensive, it’s no wonder he preferred to nap, especially after training sessions. Sure, she’d seen him do the Shadow Strangle technique - it’s the only way he’s able to catch her with his shadow at all anymore, since the Imitation technique isn’t strong enough to hold her chakra - but this solid form that turned his shadow into spear-like weapons seemed damn near deadly.  

   Sure enough, taking advantage of her momentary shock, one of the other dark tendrils raced toward her, aiming for her torso to impale her. Barely registering that on time, Zaki shifted her weight in the air and made it so it grazed her side instead. 

   Fuck, it still hurt, though, she thought, her hand flying to her side to try and staunch the bleeding. She eyed him as she landed, catching his sly smirk and watching his hands move as he shifted his shadow again. 

***

    That was it!

   Zaki blinked a few times as she finally was able to focus on where her shadow was passing the tendrils of shadow cast by the roots littering the sheer wall. Remembering the hand signs Shikamaru and Shikaku used to make their shadows catch others, she quickly went through the motions and focused hard on her own shadow, hoping against hope that was enough for it to work. 

   As she focused, other times where Shikaku or Shikamaru used their shadows in front of her flashed through her mind, and she became more and more sure she could will hers to copy those movements. She wasn’t the Great Copy-Nin of the Leaf, but she spent enough time around her sensei and his son when they used their shadow jutsus to pick up a thing or two; at least, she hoped so, because her life was on the line. 

***

   "That’s the closest you’ve come to beating me, you know that?” Zaki laughed as she nudged Shikamaru, the two of them walking out of the forest together with Shikaku trailing behind them. She had a cotton pad taped to her cheek and gauze wrapped around her middle to stop the bleeding his Shadow Stitching had caused, while he had a fresh bruise practically glowing red on his chin and a slight limp from her forcing him to land on his knee wrong. 

   “Still couldn’t manage it, though,” he grumbled, returning her nudge with a little more force than she’d used. 

   “It’s just because of what you said, you know,” she murmured, looking down a little. “I do have an unfair advantage. If I had a normal chakra pool, you probably would’ve beaten me several times over.”

   “Don’t know about that,” he countered immediately, shaking his head and locking eyes with her as they walked. “You’re pretty damn quick on your feet, you could probably out think me specifically on speed if you had to.”

   “I think that’s the first genuine compliment you’ve given me.” Zaki blinked at him a few times, stopping as she did. Shikamaru stopped and turned toward her, a confused light in his eye as he looked at her.

   “I somehow doubt-”

   She cut him off by flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him, making him stumble backwards as extra weight was put on his sore leg.

   “Thank you,” she murmured, backing up almost as quickly as she’d hugged him, helping him steady himself as he blinked at her.

   “Uh, no problem?” She didn’t miss the light blush on his cheeks as the sun set behind him, and her own face heated as she realized she was staring.

   “C’mon, let’s get back before Yoshino-sama wonders where we are and sees us like this; she’ll have a conniption knowing we did this to each other.”

***

   Zaki almost didn’t realize she was falling slower and instead of straight down, her body was headed for the cliff-face. 

    It worked!

   Unable to do much more than brace, she shifted her body so her side would take the brunt of the hit as she closed her eyes. White stars floated behind her eyelids as she bounced off the rock wall, her hip and shoulder protesting as her chakra reserves began to plummet. She needed to plant herself fast so she could get a regular flow through her feet instead of hanging by a thread of her shadow connected to a root. 

   Flattening her hand against the rock in front of her now, she used it to anchor herself as she got her feet in position, letting her chakra flow through them so she could stand with much less exertion. As soon as she was sure of her footing, she released the borrowed jutsu and took a few deep breaths; she needed to reach the top of the cliff before too long, else she fall again.

    How did everyone else fare? Did they fend off that Suigetsu guy? Was Ino able to win the mental battle after he tossed me aside? Fuck, I hope they’re okay, she thought as she began running up the side of the cliff. 

   She was glad she had the precise chakra control that she did, otherwise the short few minutes it took her to reach the grass at the top would’ve felt a lot longer than they already did.

   Panting, Zaki pulled herself over the edge of the cliff, hoping she’d find her comrades still standing and Chouji back on his feet. She let herself fall to her knees once she was sure she was far enough from the edge before scanning the tree line and stopping as she saw Ino’s form hunched over Chouji, her hands glowing as she used her medical ninjutsu to examine him. 

   “Kashizaki!” Asuma’s voice from somewhere on her right made her turn her head, a small smile on her face as she watched him run up to her. Apparently, he’d started to run down the length of the cliff, looking for a potential way down to try and find her. 

   “Yo,” she panted her greeting, raising her hand slightly before falling forward and catching herself with her hands before flopping onto her back with her arms spread out, trying to let her breathing even out. “I always thought… I wanted to fall from somewhere really high up… Never let me… Have that thought again…”

   “Are you going to be alright?” He leaned over her, his head tilted slightly as he checked her for injuries.

   “Fine,” she nodded, still gulping in breaths. “This is just from adrenaline,” she clarified, raising one of her hands again to showcase her trembling. “Not chakra exhaustion.”

   “Good, cause we may need your help carrying Chouji back,” Asuma said, holding his hand out to help her up. Taking it, she let herself be pulled to her feet as she turned toward Ino and Chouji.

   “What about Suigetsu?”

   “After he threw you, he broke out of Ino’s hold and just ran off, though she says she was able to get a little bit of destruction off before he ran; she’s worried that was why his arm jerked the way it did, that she’s the reason he threw you.”

   “No, Ino,” Zaki said as they neared them. “That was a decision on his part, I felt the way his muscles flexed.” Ino only glanced up at her, tears in her eyes as she nodded at her before turning back toward Chouji. “Any idea what’s up with him?”

   “J-just shock, I think,” she sniffled, passing her hands over his chest and head one last time before sitting back and releasing her medical chakra. “Fuck, you both had us worried,” she finally sobbed, and Zaki dropped to her own knees next to her and pulled her into a hug.

   “Sorry, guess I felt like cliff diving,” Zaki chuckled, patting Ino’s back before pulling away from the hug. “Do we wait for him to wake up, or-”

   Chouji abruptly sitting up, turning away from them and vomiting cut her off. Ino jumped back, shrieking in disgust as Zaki patted his back gently. Asuma had also jumped back, though that was more to get out of firing range as Chouji heaved a few more times before coughing and shifting to sit against a tree.

   “Sorry,” he rasped, wiping his mouth and taking the canteen Zaki handed him. “That guy passing through me really messed with my stomach. His chakra was something else…”

   “Yeah, really sinister,” Ino agreed, having gotten over her initial disgust pretty quickly in favor of relief that her friends were okay. “My brief tango with him in his mind was really dark and scary.”

   “Well, Zaki,” Asuma began, lighting his cigarette as he sighed. “Guess your hunch was right.”

   “Believe me, I wish it wasn’t,” she murmured, eyeing Chouji before turning to look at the cliff she’d been thrown over. “Though I’m not sure we would’ve been better off with the alternative.”

   “I’d rather this than a run in with the Akatsuki, yeah,” Asuma agreed, puffing out smoke as he turned toward the waterfall. “We’ll head back, tell the Fifth the reports were a band from Orochimaru’s soldiers and that they were headed toward the Land of Fields, and let her and Shikaku deal with it from there.”

   “Understood, Sensei,” the three chunin answered, shifting to head back into the woods to pack up their camp.

Chapter Text

   “This matches what I heard from Sakura about meeting with someone near Tenshi Bridge,” Tsunade nodded, looking over the report Zaki and Asuma handed in. Ino had taken Chouji to the hospital to have him fully checked out, since the two of them and Asuma were going to go out on another mission within the next few days and Chouji needed to be healthy to do that.

   “Lady Fifth,” Zaki started, straightening her shoulders when Tsunade looked at her. “I don’t think this group will be who’s going to Tenshi Bridge. Just that they’re connected to Orochimaru in some way.”

   “I gathered that much from the report,” Tsunade said slowly, raising her eyebrow as she eyed her. 

   “If you send Naruto and Sakura there, and they learn anything about the base that we’re assuming this group was headed to, it’s highly likely they’ll make their way there instead of returning with the information they would’ve gathered.”

   “You’re probably right.” Sighing, Tsunade sat back in her chair as she continued to eye the chunin in front of her. “Even so, I don’t think either of them would forgive me if I didn’t allow them to go.”

   “This is also true. And without Kakashi available to go with them, they’re going to need someone to be a voice of reason with them.”

   “Are you trying to suggest yourself?” Tsunade’s eyebrow raised, and Zaki immediately flushed.

   “N-no, Mi’lady. I’m sure you already have temporary teammates in mind for the two of them, and I still need time to recover from this last mission; you know how slow my chakra recovery is. I was merely suggesting that you perhaps shouldn’t tell them about Sasuke being in the area; at least, not Naruto. I’m sure he’s still emotionally ragged after the events with the Kazekage. Sakura, if she runs into Ino, will likely hear it from her, but I know she has the sense to come to you before she tells Naruto about it.”

   Tsunade’s silence nearly made her shrink where she stood, but she kept her back and shoulders straight as she maintained eye contact with her. She had already put her thoughts out there and couldn’t take them back, might as well maintain the air of confidence that came with giving a suggestion to the Hokage, right?

   “You’re probably right,” she finally conceded, sighing again as she rested her cheek on her fist and lowered her gaze to the papers on her desk. “Thank you, Kashizaki, Asuma. You’re dismissed,” she added, waving her other hand as if to shoo them out of the room.

   Both Zaki and Asuma nodded and bowed in response before turning to exit the room. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Zaki let out a shaky breath, causing Asuma to chuckle.

   “You’re pretty good at that; for being so easy to read while you’re thinking, once you’ve put your thoughts out there, your confidence in what you’ve said seems almost unshakeable.”

   “You can thank yourself and Shikaku-sensei for that, then,” she mumbled, shrugging as she adjusted her gloves. “If you’re not confident in what you’re saying or doing, how are you supposed to get your teammates to trust your calls?”

   “Right, but you still have the problem of having doubts at all-”

   “And if I didn’t, how would I allow myself to learn?” She raised her eyebrow as she turned toward him, putting one of her hands on her hip. “If I don’t second guess my own thinking at least a little bit, how could I be open to adapting my strategies in the wake of new developments and information being told to me?”

   “I guess that’s why you’re regarded differently than the Nara’s,” Asuma said quietly, eyeing her before turning toward the exit. “C’mon, let’s go find the others and get some barbeque to celebrate Chouji being okay.”

   Shikamaru had to turn down the offer, but Chouji jumped at the chance the moment he was walking out of the hospital. He and Asuma walked ahead of Zaki and Ino as the two of them hung back a few feet to talk.

   “Did you run into Sakura at all while you were in there?”

   “No, I haven’t seen her. I think she’s been preparing for the mission she’ll be going on soon with Naruto.”

   “Good; I don’t think telling her about who we ran into would’ve been a smart idea quite yet.”

   “You’re probably right,” Ino sighed, and Zaki blinked at the brief feeling of deja vu. “It just feels wrong to keep something like that from her, especially since she’ll be headed that way. I mean, if I were in her position, I would’ve wanted to know.”

   “Right, but you don’t have Naruto for a teammate,” Zaki nodded, earning a small laugh from the blonde kunoichi.

   “No, I’m just stuck with you and two different dunces, instead,” she giggled, nudging Zaki as they picked up their pace a little to catch up to Asuma and Chouji.

   The sun was setting when Shikamaru finally stepped onto his clan’s grounds. Already his shoulders were relaxing at the thought of being able to eat and get into his own damn bed, letting the stress from organizing the chunin exams melt away as the sunlight faded into night. 

   Those thoughts were short lived, however, when he heard his father’s voice carry from the forest. Shikamaru stopped outside his front door and looked toward the treeline, confusion rising; his father never yelled like that, not even when he’d been mad at him or Zaki for continuing to make the same mistake.

   “Who taught you?!”

   “Y-you did, sir!” Was that Zaki’s voice?

   Curiosity piqued, he moved quickly and quietly to the trees, staying out of sight and being as quiet as possible as he searched for the pair. He was met with a sight he never thought he’d see; his father was pacing back and forth, hand on his chin and the vein in his forehead nearly popping in his anger and frustration. What the hell had him so worked up?

   Kashizaki wouldn’t look at him, and he wasn’t sure if he preferred that, or wanted eye contact. Shikaku was livid; with her, with himself, with Lady Tsunade for even sticking him with the brat nearly 3 years prior. No, I mustn't think like that, he thought to himself, shaking his head as he looked toward his student again.

   “Who taught you?!” He hated that he couldn’t keep his voice down, but his frustration was rising; her telling him about what she’d done on her mission really wasn’t something he’d ever anticipated, and he hated that he’d been blindsided.

   “Y-you did, sir!”

   He paused at her answer, and felt his back stiffen when she actually glanced up at him; the tears lining her dark blue eyes betrayed her fear and apprehension, and almost at once he began to feel bad. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and stroked his goatee again, but his thoughts were interrupted when she spoke again.

   “I-I needed it, sensei,” she began quietly, making him open his eyes again. “I-I was falling, a-and my chains wouldn’t grab anything. My only options were die, or pray I had paid enough attention to you and Shikamaru to utilize what I needed to in order to save my life.” The longer she spoke, the straighter her shoulders got, and the less she stammered.

   “You… You figured it out on your own?” Shikaku tilted his head slightly, eyeing her form as she straightened out, taking note of how she still refused to look him in the eye.

   “I suppose,” she conceded, still eyeing his feet. “Without you and Shikamaru as examples, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to figure it out, but being allowed to observe the two of you with your jutsu saved my life.”

   At this admission, he sighed, shifting his hand from his goatee to the back of his head. He continued to eye the girl, realizing her eyes were on his feet to keep an eye on his shadow; she was ready to brace herself if she needed to, knowing what confessing to the head of a clan about learning their family jutsu when you weren’t officially part of their family meant.

   “I can’t believe someone not from my clan was able to learn our jutsu,” he finally murmured, crossing his arms instead. “Not even the Yamanaka or Akimichi clans have been able to do that, and we’ve been closely bound for generations.”

   “Or perhaps they know, the same way the Naras know and understand their jutsus, and the oath the clans take binds them from using, teaching, or talking about it,” Kashizaki suggested, finally glancing up at his face again, however briefly.

   He had to admit she was probably right; he knew full well how Inoichi and Chouza’s jutsus worked, he had to in order to fully devise strategies around them in battle. So logic would dictate that they would know how his jutsu worked, as well-

   “That’s assuming they care enough to remember, that is.” She interrupted his thoughts, making him focus back on her. He blinked when he caught her shrug and watched her stance relax as she brought both her hands up behind her head in a stance that was so similar to his son’s he couldn’t help but glance down to see if her shadow was caught by him to make her mimic his movements. “Ino-Shika-Chou has been around for generations, and from what I know about Ino and Chouji personally, they wouldn’t have the capacity to memorize jutsu that wasn’t their own. The Nara Clan, however, have minds that work differently - you guys were the ones to create the formation, after all - so it stands to reason that you would figure out and store the information about how the others’ worked in order for you to improve your teamwork. You have that medical encyclopedia, after all.”

   “You know, child, for not being from here, you sure know a lot about our clans,” Shikaku supposed, eyeing her as she took a few minute steps back from him. The sun was sinking further in the sky, making his shadow longer; she was trying to maintain the same distance, in case she needed to defend herself.

   “Almost 3 years of observations will do that,” she shrugged again. “I don’t know anything beyond what I’ve been told by you or the others verbally, because I felt like doing research into your clans’ histories when not being part of them or without permission would’ve been disrespectful. But I know Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji all grew up together, and are almost uncomfortably close because of it; I would honestly be shocked if Shikamaru didn’t have a deeper-than-surface-level of understanding of their jutsus.” Her hands left her head to return to her sides as she glanced over her shoulder briefly. “He’s pretty good at gathering information.”

   Shikaku followed her glance, almost missing how one of the shadows in the trees behind her shifted ever so slightly. So, they had an audience, it seemed. That made the decision he had to make even harder. How could he even make it? With the Akatsuki’s movements being unpredictable and Orochimaru raising his head in the Land of Fields again, he really shouldn’t have to do this, but clan oaths and customs dictated-

   “You can’t be serious.” Shikamaru’s voice came from the tree he’d noticed, he practically melted out of the shadow before landing at Kashizaki’s side.

   “This doesn’t concern you, son,” Shikaku tried, but Shikamaru only shook his head, eyes lit up with a frustration he hadn’t seen in him in a while.

   “Doesn’t concern me? Really? She’s my teammate, and someone you and Asuma have been actively training to be my second in command, and this doesn’t concern me?!”

   “It’s alright, Shikamaru.” Zaki’s quiet voice made both of the Naras look at her. “It’s my own fault, really.”

   “You’re damn right it is!” Shikamaru nearly shouted, and Shikaku was beside himself with confusion. Was this really his son in front of him? “No one had to know you had performed anything with our shadows, you know! You could’ve just acted like it hadn’t even happened, been quietly happy that it saved your life, and moved on. But no, Miss ‘I have to show respect in every single thing that I do’ is putting her life on the line, telling the head of the very clan she stole a jutsu from that she used it to keep herself alive, only to have him potentially kill her for it! I mean, how asinine is that?!”

   She seemed just as confused as Shikaku was, and he watched as her eyes shone with her unshed tears. She blinked as she stared at Shikamaru, mouth open slightly as she tried to keep her breathing steady. 

   “And you!” Shikamaru rounded on him now, drawing his gaze from his student to his son. “She’s done one thing with her shadow, and it saved her life! You really want to kill her over that, just because she’s not part of the clan?”

   “It’s not like I have much of a choice-” Shikaku tried, only to be interrupted by his son again.

   “Not much of a choice?! C’mon, Dad, you’re head of the clan! You alone get to make that choice! Sure, listen to the councilmen if you’re so apprehensive, but really? You always encouraged me to make my own decisions. Why don’t you listen to yourself, for once?”

   Shikaku blinked at him, still in shock over the frustration and determination in his son’s eyes. This outburst was so unlike him; even when he was defending his friends, he kept himself calm and collected so he could think clearly. Defending Kashizaki, while he was loud and clearly upset, he kept his arguments clear and easy to understand; clearly this was something he’d seen coming.

   “You knew it’d come to this, didn’t you,” Shikaku finally said, narrowing his eyes at his son, who only rolled his in return.

   “Of course I did, Dad; didn’t you? She’s not fucking stupid, she’s obviously observant, and she’s quick on her feet. You had to have known something like this was going to happen.”

   Sighing, Shikaku conceded his point as he returned his gaze to his student. He shot his shadow out immediately, tired of watching her physically retreat from them during the conversation in her attempts to keep a semblance of control over her reaction time to his shadow. He watched her tense as he pinned her in place, and relaxed slightly when she didn’t even make an attempt to fight him.

   Shikamaru blanched at the action, anger lighting his eyes further as he faced Shikaku with his hands balled into fists. 

   “You can’t seriously be going through with this!”

   “I’m just making sure she can’t get away until I’ve made my decision,” he attempted to placate. He heard Kashizaki sigh, making them both look at her again.

   “I’m sorry that it’s been forced to come to this,” she murmured quietly, eyes flicking between the two of them before landing on the shadow stretching between herself and Shikaku.

   “Would you quit your sighing,” he grumbled, his shoulders dropping. He knew this made her mimic his movement, but he didn’t care much at that point. “I already don’t want to-”

   “Then don’t!” Shikamaru interrupted, motioning toward Kashizaki as he did. “It’s not like she knows anything advanced or technical, she just used it to save herself from a fall! Why can’t we just have her swear an oath, like how we have with the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans? Either to have her stop learning or-”

   “You think a simple oath will stop this one from learning?” Shikaku pointed at her as he spoke, watching as it forced her to mimic him again since she wasn’t putting up any resistance to his possession of her shadow. He caught the way her eyes took in the way his shadow moved as he did. “Even now, she’s learning as she’s facing death.”

   “Just like a Nara, wouldn’t you say?” The sly smile on his son’s face nearly made him use his shadow on him, too. “There’s a really simple solution to this, you know.”

   “What, make her a Nara?” Shikaku raised his eyebrow, and watched as the teenagers in front of him both flushed in embarrassment at the implication.

   “She practically already is,” Shikamaru shrugged, making it a point to face away from her. “I mean, why not have one of the other clansmen adopt her or something? She’d be in the family that way, and have the oath to keep the technique a secret bound to her that way.”

   “Or, something less awkward?” Kashizaki spoke up with her full voice since this all began. “You can put a seal on me that won’t allow me to speak about the jutsu at all? That way you don’t have to worry about how much of it I learn, I can’t use or talk about it without it physically costing me something. Not that I ever would, but since the issue here seems to be a lack of trust in me-”

   “It’s not about not trusting you-” Shikaku interrupted, only to be interjected by his son.

   “Oh don’t give her that,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Of course the issue is trust; that’s why you were even debating killing her in the first place. Clans kill those that are outside of their clan that learn their secrets because they don’t trust them not to spread it.”

   “I was sent here from the Village Hidden Among the Stars because I was sick,” Kashizaki began, making both of the Naras look at her fully. “The hospitality I was given as I recovered despite being orphaned as well as a shinobi from a rival village proved to me that this place was worth helping protect. When I asked Lady Tsunade if I could stay, you asked me what my other plans would’ve been if I had been turned down. I gave you a short list, but in truth, I would always end up coming back to this village to protect it in any way I could. I wanted to pay Lady Tsunade back for saving my life. Now, I want to pay that forward, to the whole village.” She swallowed as a few tears slid down her cheeks, and he felt his heart break a little. “If utilizing your family jutsu the way that I did is a betrayal of the trust I’ve earned over the last 2, 3 years of training here, and warrants my death, then it’s my own fault for overstepping that boundary-”

   “You’re so troublesome,” Shikaku sighed, releasing her from his shadow’s hold. “Stop your crying, would you? These last few years of teaching you have far and away proven your loyalty and trustworthiness. Our Shadow Techniques are clan secrets, and you’ve been an honorary Nara ever since Lady Tsunade dumped you in my lap. So I’m not going to kill you; if anything, I suppose I should start teaching it to you properly now so your sloppiness with it doesn’t give it away to more people-”

   He let out a soft oomph as the weight of the teenage girl barreled into his midsection. He felt her trembling as her arms squeezed around him, and he felt bad as he patted her back, knowing she was fighting back sobs of relief.

   “Th-thank you, Sh-shikaku-se-sensei,” she hiccuped, clearly losing the battle with her tears.

   “Alright, enough, you troublesome girl,” he mumbled, gripping her shoulders to pull her off him and get her to stand up straight. One of her hands immediately shot to her face as she tried to wipe away her tears. “Please, enough,” he added softly, squeezing her shoulders in apology for the fear he’d caused in her that evening.

   She only nodded at him, still wiping at her face as she took a few deep breaths. After a moment, her face reddened as she remembered who was behind her.

   “Thank you, too, Shikamaru,” she murmured, fully turning toward him as she spoke. “For standing up for me.”

   “Ah, I couldn’t exactly let my old man kill you,” Shikamaru shrugged, making it a point to not look at her as his hands found their way behind his head. “He would’ve ended up blaming me for teaching you the jutsu or something, you never know in his senile old age.”

   “Shikamaru,” Shikaku warned from behind her. “It would do you some good to learn some respect from this young lady.”

   “Right, respect,” he scoffed, turning away from both of them. “If you need me, I’ll be getting dinner from Mom.”

   With a final glance over his shoulder toward Kashizaki, he took off toward the house.

   “What am I gonna do with him,” Shikaku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

   “I assume you’re not expecting me to answer,” came Zaki’s lighthearted reply from his left. When he only sighed again, she continued. “If… If our situation is handled, I would like-”

   “Yes, you’re dismissed. I’d say you should be at the table, but I imagine after having me threaten your life, and having yet to have a full moment to yourself since your mission, you’d like to unwind alone.”

  “Thank you, Shikaku-sensei,” she nodded. “You’re correct.”

   “Your training picks up again tomorrow, Zaki,” he said, patting her shoulder gently before taking a few steps toward the house. 

   “Understood, sensei,” she answered. He smiled softly before making his way home, leaving her to herself and her thoughts.

Chapter Text

   Zaki was on the Nara compound, reading through her father’s scroll again when the lights went out. After proctoring the second stage of the joint exams, she had been mostly kept inside or within half a days journey of the village while Asuma was out investigating the tombs of his old comrades with Naruto and the rest of Team Kakashi. She had been enjoying a day off from missions, taking the day to study more of her clan’s scrolls and reread her father’s final words to her, but that was interrupted. 

   Standing, she padded out of her room and looked down the hall; Yoshino would’ve been home, but Shikaku was in his office at the Tower. If the power outage was just their clan compound, she should poke around and investigate, offer help if the problem is found.

   “Yoshino-sama?” Zaki called as she took a few steps down the hall, pausing to glance into Shikamaru’s open bedroom door. He wouldn’t be home, he was out with Chouji and Asuma for the day. But she still checked, just to see if maybe he’d sneaked home for a midafternoon nap.

   “In the kitchen,” came the exasperated answer. Zaki shook her head and walked into the rest of the house, stopping in the kitchen doorway. “At least I wasn’t in the middle of cooking anything yet,” Yoshino continued, motioning toward the pot on the stove; there was water in it, but it seemed like it hadn’t even come close to beginning to simmer when the power died.

   “Any idea what’s caused this?” Zaki tilted her head as she looked around the kitchen. Yoshino opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of a lightning strike from somewhere in the middle of town.

   “If I had to guess, something relating to that,” Yoshino sighed, both of them with their eyes turned toward where the center of the village would be. A sense of foreboding crept up Zaki’s back.

   “I think I’m going to go check it out,” she murmured, turning to go back to her room and gather her things. “Are you okay if I leave you here? If things get as bad as my gut’s telling me they are-”

   “Go, Kashizaki, I’ll be fine,” Yoshino nodded, waving her hands toward her. “I’ll lock up and take care of the rest of the clan, you go and see if you can provide backup for the frontlines.”

   Nodding, Zaki jogged back to her room and grabbed her weapons and chains before heading to the front door, pulling on her boots and running out the door as she shrugged her jacket on. Looking up, she noticed the clouds and lightning; at the next lightning flash, her eyes caught what looked like a barrier around the perimeter of the village. 

   “That doesn’t look good,” she murmured, immediately exiting the clan compound. “A defensive barrier? Did we deploy that, or are we being corralled?” She shook her head as she looked around, eyes immediately landing on the Hokage Tower. The flashing light told her of the state of emergency the village was in, and spurred her to move to her assignment. 

   She knew this high level would mean Shikamaru was to meet with his father to begin devising countermeasures, and part of her wanted to head there, but knew she’d be better off as boots on the ground. Especially considering the whole village seemed to be without power; she was assigned to the main power station in times of emergency due to her chains conducting electricity in case make-shift repairs needed to be made. 

   “Asuma-sensei!” Zaki called as she saw him approach the gate. She’d spotted the arcing electricity from a ways away, but couldn’t tell what was causing it. The only other movement she noticed was Asuma stopping at the open gate and leaning over a body of who she could only assume was a fellow shinobi.

   “Kashizaki, what are you doing here?” He spun to face her, confusion on his face as he puffed out smoke from his cigarette.

   “I was home when the power went out and saw the lights; the Nara compound is across town from here, and this is my assignment in states of emergency,” she explained, coming to a stop next to him. “What the hell is going on?!”

   “It’s a long story-” he began, stopping when the four white coffin-like things in the middle of the power station began glowing as their lids fell forward. “No…”

   “Sensei?” Zaki took a step forward, touching his arm gently.

   “They didn’t just revive your jutsu; they revived the four of you as well,” he murmured, and Zaki finally looked at the coffins - no, the people stepping out of them - to take in the details. At once, she noticed the same symbol of the Land of Fire on their waists that Asuma carried, and she drew a few connections on her own.

   “More of the Guardian Ninja,” she murmured, looking between Asuma’s profile and the four revived shinobi in front of them. “Alright, you don’t have to explain the backstory, but something tells me we should probably stop them from leaving,” she said, motioning toward the retreating forms of three of the Guardians. 

   “Right,” he nodded, opening his mouth to explain as Sakura and Yamato ran up behind them. “Good, Konohamaru’s reinforcements. All three of you, go after the other three Guardians and stop them from getting into position. If you stop even one of them, the Limelight that they plan to cast can’t be activated. Go, Yamato, Sakura, Zaki; I’ll take care of things here.”

   “Understood,” Sakura nodded, Zaki and Yamato humming in agreement before nodding to each other and heading off in one of the cardinal directions in pursuit of their targets. Though Zaki hesitated a little, glancing back at Asuma.

   “Wouldn’t it be better if someone stayed here to back you up? I mean you said it yourself, as long as one is stopped, the rest are in position for nothing. And two on one is better-”

   “No, Zaki. Just go,” he interrupted, shooting her a sharp glance. “You have earth nature chakra, and they have lightning. You won’t be of much help here.”

   “Okay, then I send Yamato back so he can give you back up,” she countered, motioning in the direction the captain had gone. “You and I both know that this is the smarter strategy.”

   “Sending each of you after one of the other guardians guarantees they won’t harm anyone else they run into, because they’ll be focused on you. And that’s our priority; stopping them from causing harm.” He said it firmly as he eyed her, and she stood there for a moment, searching his eyes. Something seemed off about him, but she knew better than to try and press it now.

   “Fine. Protecting the King is all we care about, then,” she nodded, turning and heading in her own direction after one of the Guardians. She hadn’t caught the way his jaw fell open a little at her statement, eyes alight with mild confusion and pride as he realized that she had a far deeper understanding of the situation than he gave her credit for.

   “The situation is grim,” Shikamaru began, eyeing the Hokage as he stood in front of her desk. “The enemy can come and go as they please through the barrier they’ve erected, which begs the question; why concentrate all their forces on the main gate in such a big, flashy show of strength?”

   “You mean it’s a diversion,” Tsunade concluded, folding her hands together as she leaned on her desk, eyeing him. 

   “I expect another unit is working elsewhere, undetected by the unit we have trying to gather information,” he nodded, his hand coming up to rub his chin as he thought. “We lost power shortly before the barrier went up; that’s probably where they-”

   “We’ve got trouble!” Konohamaru slammed open the door to the office, making Shikamaru turn around to look at him. “The whole village is about to be burnt to a crisp! Uncle Asuma said all remaining units should head to the main power station, but we could only find Captain Yamato and Sakura.”

   “When we followed them back, intending to give backup,” Moegi picked up in between Konohamaru’s pants. “We heard Asuma-san tell the two of them and Zaki-senpai to track down some guardians or something that are heading to each of the cardinal directions around the village!”

   “Guardians? Like from the Twelve?” Tsunade’s hands slammed on her desk as she stood, locking eyes with Shikamaru when he turned to look at her. As she opened her mouth to issue an order, more shinobi pushed passed the genin in her door.

   “Lady Fifth, we bring information from the main gate!”

   Shikamaru stood aside as he listened to the report, trying to put the pieces together in his head as he eyed the map they drew to represent the seemingly endless enemy forces. Frustrated, he shook his head, and turned toward Tsunade.

   “Requesting permission to join the forces on the front line, mi’lady. I’ll never come up with a defense plan by staying here and trying to work it out in my head - at least, not without Zaki here to springboard off of - it’s just not my style, you know what I mean?”

   “Very well,” she conceded, and his shoulders tensed as he readied himself to enter the battle. 

   “Don’t worry; I’ll come up with something,” he said, facing the door and taking a step toward it.

   “I’m counting on it,” he heard her murmur as he exited the office and took off down the hall and out of the building. 

   The light show traveling the village worried him, but he knew Asuma and Zaki were dealing with those, so he had to trust that they would be taken care of. His priority needed to be helping with the hoard at the main gate.

   “Hey! Tou’u, right?”

   Zaki landed behind one of the Guardian shinobi, trying to remember the names Asuma had used when they first stepped out of their coffins. She didn’t get an answer as the kunoichi kept walking, lightning arcing off her body as she walked.

   “...Alright then,” she sighed, running to catch up, only to have to jump back as lightning struck the ground in front of her. “Not going to make this easy, huh?”

   Looking around, she sighed and pulled one of the chains wrapped around her loose, swinging it as she readied herself for one hell of an electric shock.

   “Listen, lady; I don’t have time for this. You’re trying to destroy my village, and I know you’re not exactly yourself right now, but I need you to chill with your fucking lightning for a sec so I can tie you up and keep you from doing something I know in your soul you don’t want to do.”

   When the kunoichi in front of her still didn’t give her an answer, Zaki sighed and eyed her swinging chain one last time. A loud crash sounded from somewhere else in the village, and Zaki looked up as the barrier flickered out of existence. Good, that must mean someone somewhere was successful in taking out whoever put it up.

   Gritting her teeth, Zaki threw her chain, forcing her chakra through it and making it wrap around the midsection of her target, ignoring the burning in her palms as she forced the lightning to go through her chakra channels instead of fully into her body. She planted her feet, willing the lightning to travel down into the earth below her as she made the chain tighten around Tou’u and pulled her backwards. 

   Utilizing her lightning-charged chakra, Zaki stomped and forced a pillar of earth to erect itself between her and Tou’u, yanking the kunoichi against it and willing her chain to wrap itself around the pillar. As soon as she was satisfied her target was as tied up as she could be with one chain, Zaki let go of it, immediately falling backwards onto the ground and gulping for air.

   “Fuck that was stupid of me,” she panted out, eyeing her handiwork for a moment before flopping onto her back and allowing herself to try and relax her muscles. “Gonna need Sakura or Ino to check out my… Well, my all of me, I guess,” she murmured, lifting one of her hands into her field of vision and eyeing her blistered skin.

   “Thank you, Kashizaki,” Asuma murmured as his chakra blade broke through the electric barrier he’d been fighting with. “Learning from your students is just as important as teaching them.” He eyed the blade as it settled around his fingers; the chakra in it he’d learned to store that way because of the way Kashizaki kept her chakra in her chains. Sure, he had a rudimentary understanding of it already, as it’s what allowed him to call them back whenever he threw his blades, but channeling a whole jutsu through them was something he never got to learn from his father. 

   “Now to find Kitane,” he said to himself before jumping over the fence of the power station and in the direction his old friend had left.

   The eerie chanting and the two arcs of lightning over the village really put him on edge. Shikamaru glanced over to Kiba and Lee, signaling wordlessly for them to go on ahead to scout for scents. He, Ino, and Chouji would take a longer path, along one he noticed one of the pillars of traveling lightning from before to check for any damage or injured allies.

    Kami, please let them be alright.

   She could still feel her muscles twitching as she sat up, watching as the body of the kunoichi she’d tied up disintegrated into earth and dust. 

   Thank fuck, she thought, sighing as she laid back down. Asuma-sensei must've been successful in stopping the other guy.

   “Zaki?!”

   She turned her head toward the familiar voice, offering him a smile despite her protesting body.

   “H-hey, Shika-kun, how’s everyone else? What’ve you been up to?”

   “This is no time for casual niceties, Zaki,” he grumbled, leaning over her as Ino fell to her knees on her other side and began checking her over.

   “Holy shit, Zaki! What did you do, hold a metal pole in the middle of the lightning storm?!” Ino ran her hands over Zaki’s burns, soothing and healing them almost instantly which allowed her to relax.

   “Actually, you’re not too far off,” she chuckled a little, pointing toward the pillar of earth she’d made. “I kept one of the Guardians from taking their positions to begin the Limelight thingy Asuma-sensei told me about.”

   “Well, until Lady Tsunade is able to look you over herself, I’m going to say you’re not allowed to do anything else with your chakra. You seem to have expelled most of the electricity into the earth around you, but if there’s any lingering in your network at all, and it hits your heart because you made your chakra flow at all, it could kill you. I can’t detect any, so you’re probably okay, but we still need to provide backup to that,” Ino explained, motioning to the red light that was pillared into the sky. 

   “Stay here, don’t move. We’ll be back to get you once we’ve made sure the situation out there is stable,” Shikamaru ordered, fixing her with a look that she immediately understood; actually listen to me this time, you troublesome woman.

   “Got it, won’t move, I’ll probably just nap or something then,” she said, flashing him a cheeky grin as she shifted her hands behind her head to give herself a pillow. “I’ll eagerly await your return. Oh, and good luck, you guys.”

   “Where ya been, Shikamaru?”

   He chose to ignore Kiba’s greeting, falling in line with him, Lee, and Akamaru as they ran toward the red light.

   “You’re sure about this, then?”

   “Have either my or Akamaru’s noses ever been wrong? It’s not just Sora out there, Asuma-sensei and Naruto are out there as well. There’s another scent, too; someone not from the village.”

   “The enemy?”

   Kiba didn’t get to answer as an explosion sounded from in front of them. 

   “The Hokage’s orders again?”

   Zaki followed the sound of the banter between Asuma and whoever the guy he was fighting. Just as she came into sight of the clearing, she spotted Sai painting with one hand on an open scroll, having finally caught up with him; she'd noticed him heading in this direction as she was waiting in the village, and decided the injured shinobi might need some help, her inability to use chakra be damned. She stopped next to him, and he nodded in her direction to let her know he’d noticed her before looking back out at the fight in the clearing.

   “I can’t forgive you; for what you’ve done to your son, you’ll get no mercy from me!” Asuma locked his chakra blade with the triple bladed claw on the other guy’s hand. 

   “All of this father and son nonsense; you fool, there’ll be no need for that in the new Land of Fire!”

   “Yes there will,” Asuma countered. “There will always be a need for that!” 

   “I will change this world!” The enemy pushed Asuma against a tree as he gritted his argument out. “But to do that, there needs to be one king!”

   “There already is only one,” Zaki murmured quietly, tracking the movement of the guy - Kazuma, she suddenly remembered (she really needed to get better at names) - as he turned himself invisible and attempted to redirect his approach to Asuma. Sai must’ve, as well, because he summoned the snakes he drew on his scroll and sent them to the tree she had tracked Kazuma to, making the snakes wrap around the tree and pinning him in place.

   “So tell me; did the hospital let you out for a stroll?” Asuma’s chuckle made Zaki and Sai step out from behind the trees. She side-eyed the painter as he gave Asuma a small, sheepish smile.

   “I had trouble sleeping, what with all the commotion in the village,” he offered, scratching his jaw with his one good hand.

   “You come with him?” Asuma raised his eyebrow toward her, and she shook her head.

   “I’m not supposed to be here either. Ino and Shikamaru gave me strict orders not to move, but I figured as long as I don’t use any chakra, I should be fine.”

   “No chakra usage? You exhaust yourself again?”

   “Not quite,” she sighed, shaking her head. “No time to explain, anyway,” she added, motioning toward their captive.

   “Right,” he sighed, stepping toward Kazuma. “Both of us were wrong from the beginning, you know; neither of us knew what a King really is.”

   “There was no mistake!” Kazuma broke free of Sai’s snakes, and Zaki tensed, ready to jump into the fight but Asuma was ready. 

   As Kazuma lunged at him, Asuma struck swiftly with his chakra blade, sinking it home in Kazuma’s side, through his kidney. She imagined he forced his chakra further into his enemies body by elongating the blade, and likely severed many more internal organs of the man. She watched as Kazuma collapsed, coughing up his blood in between gasps and questions.

   “B-but if I die… Wh-what will happen to the Land of Fire?”

   “Nothing at all,” Asuma answered. The three of them stood still as she and Sai watched the life drain out of Kazuma’s body, Asuma unwilling to spare a look for the deed he had finished until he was sure the last breath had left his old friend’s body.

   As Asuma and Zaki bent over the body, and Asuma picked up the sash that marked him as a Guardian, an explosion of chakra from the nearby crater that Zaki had spotted nearly knocked her over; it probably would’ve if Asuma hadn’t reached out to steady her. 

   “Kami, that chakra is foul,” she murmured, standing up with Asuma’s help as they faced toward where the roar was coming from. 

   “The Nine-Tails chakra seems to have freed itself from Sora’s body,” Asuma explained, eyeing the red cloud of chakra forming over the hole in the ground. “That doesn’t seem- Wait, is it… Dissipating?”

   “I’m your friend?” Sora’s quiet question seemingly carried across the crater towards them. Shikamaru stopped with the rest of the group as Sakura answered him.

   “You bet,” she said, smiling down at him when he shifted his gaze toward their group.

   “You okay?” Chouji asked, crouching a little to try and offer a closer inspection.

   “Sure, they’re fiiine,” Shikamaru shrugged, chuckling a little as he turned away from the scene only to spot Zaki, Sai, and Asuma crossing the crater together. “And look who’s disobeying orders; seems like the only thing you know how to do lately.”

   “Sorry, I just didn’t want to miss out on the fun,” Zaki laughed, giving him a full smile as she rubbed the back of her head. “Besides, I couldn’t just let a one-handed ninja make his way out here on his own, could I?”

   Shikamaru only blinked at her for a moment before turning away, trying to fight the heat in his cheeks down. Whatever Chouji had said a few years ago about learning her favorites to get her to smile, he’d have to remember to actually finally make use of that if it was going to get smiles like that out of her.

   “Do you mind if I’m a part of this… Friend group, thing, too?” Sai asked, taking a step forward.

   “No way, Sai, get lost!” Naruto answered immediately, before beginning to crack up and making the rest of them laugh with him. Everyone knew that Naruto never excluded anyone, especially not someone who had literally risked their life (or in Sai's case, limb) to save a teammate and comrade.

   “Lady Tsunade said-”

   “That I couldn’t use any jutsu for the next couple days, that’s all,” Zaki pouted, glaring at Shikamaru as she crossed her arms and sat down in the sitting room across from him. “Which means I’m basically just stuck here until she’s sure all the electric chakra I absorbed has been nullified by my own. That doesn’t mean I have to be stuck in my room the whole time!”

   “You're such a drag," he sighed. "Alright, fine, but we’re not playing a game; Asuma-sensei is coming over to talk and he wanted to play a game with me while he did.”

   “That’s fine, I can make tea for you guys and watch,” she conceded, offering him one of her small, soft smiles that made him freeze for a moment when he caught sight of it. “I’ll go get started on that now, actually,” she said, getting to her feet and padding out of the room. 

   Shaking his head, he gathered up the board from the sitting room and moved onto the porch outside, deciding he’d need a constant supply of fresh air to remind him to breathe if she was going to be around.

   “Oh! Asuma-sensei! Congratulations,” he heard Zaki say, her voice carrying through the open door that led to the rest of the house.

   “Th-thanks, Kashizaki. I don’t know how you knew, but can you… Keep it to yourself for now?”

   “No problem! Shikamaru’s probably outside the sitting room, I’ll be out with your tea in a moment; would it be okay if I watched your game?”

   “I was actually going to request that you do; I want you to hear what I have to say.”

   Shikamaru didn’t catch her reply, instead busying himself with setting the pieces on the board and making sure Asuma and Zaki’s cushions were ready for them when they came out. He heard Asuma join him on the porch, only turning his head slightly in greeting as his sensei walked past him to sit across from him at the board.

   “Congratulations?” Shikamaru questioned, raising his eyebrow. Asuma only shook his head in response, lighting a cigarette as he eyed the board and motioned for Shikamaru to make the first move.

   They weren’t very far in their game as Zaki returned with their tea, setting each cup down for them as she sat and stirred her own; he knew she had added honey to hers, since she had a distaste for the bitterness of most teas. He was mid sip of his tea as Asuma laid down his piece in his move, and it made him raise his eyebrow.

   “Really? Climbing Silver right off the bat like that? What’s your hurry?”

   “To penetrate your enemy's line, sometimes you have to be willing to risk a bold move,” Asuma explained, glancing at Zaki as he did so. This made him also glance toward her, unable to stop the smirk as he caught her flush in embarrassment. They both knew how fast and loose she played her strategies, going off hunches and half information yet always seeming to be right when it mattered. She could read enemy intentions better than he could, because she understood what drove people to make decisions, something he wasn’t sure he could ever grasp.

   “But I thought you always hated risky moves like that?” Shikamaru finally asked, returning his gaze to Asuma. “Just like me.”

   “To defend your king from a superior opponent, one must make some sacrifices,” Asuma said cryptically, making him look back down at the pieces in thought.

   “What’s going on with you?” He finally asked, looking back up at him.

   “Oh, nothing,” Asuma sighed, smoke billowing out of his mouth as he did. “Just coming to understand the true importance of the King, that’s all.” Shikamaru watched as he glanced toward Zaki again, who gave him one of her small smiles.

   “Well sure, you lose the game if your King is taken,” Shikamaru shrugged, glancing between the two of them before leaning forward to play his piece.

   “If I were picking pieces to represent Leaf shinobi,” Asuma began, taking a drag from his cigarette as he eyed the board in front of him. “I’d say you were most like the Knight. Not the most powerful piece on the board, but it can leap over any of the others. Unique only to that piece. It reminds me of how flexible your mind is.”

   “Me? Isn’t flexibility more Zaki’s thing?”

   “She’s more like the Rook or Bishop,” he explained, glancing toward her as he spoke. “You come up with the strategy and put her in place to put it in motion, but she gets to decide how far it goes before it needs to be reevaluated with information that she’s gathered and brought back to you with her own take on it. The two of you work together to get to the end result.”

   “So what would that make you, Asuma-sensei?” Zaki asked, setting her tea aside as she eyed him.

   “Me? Oh, I’m nothing,” he shrugged, chuckling as he puffed smoke around his cigarette and laid his piece down.

   “Sacrificial Pawn, huh?” Shikamaru scoffed lightly as he immediately took the piece Asuma laid down.

   “Then, do you know which one the King is?” Asuma looked at Shikamaru as he asked, and he felt a little put on-the-spot about it; unable to help himself, he glanced at Zaki, but she made it a point to keep her eyes on the board rather than returning his glance.

   “Uh, well, the Hokage, right?” He finally answered, sitting back a little as he locked eyes with Asuma.

   “Yeah, that’s what I used to think, too,” he nodded. “But, that’s not the case.”

   “Then who is it?” Shikamaru tilted his head slightly as he regarded his sensei, glancing again at Zaki and raising his eyebrow when he saw her pointedly look away from him that time.

   “You’ll know the answer when the time comes, I suppose." Shikamaru was getting tired of Asuma's cryptic answers, eyeing him as he took a long drag of his cigarette before blowing out the smoke slowly. 

Chapter Text

   “Lady Tsunade-” Zaki began, only to be interrupted by the Hokage’s palm in her face.

   “You and Shikamaru have both made your thoughts clear. I understand you want five man squads for the whole of the Twenty Platoons because of the seal Teams Kakashi and Gai found on the Kazekage rescue mission, but we’d be leaving our defenses in the village too thin to employ that.” Tsunade folded her hands together, her elbows on her desk as she leaned forward a little to look between the two chunin in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Asuma and Shikaku entering the room.

   “Lady Tsunade, you should reconsider,” Asuma said plainly, shifting the unlit cigarette in his mouth. “At the very least, send a squad of five to investigate the temple that’s been attacked.”

   “That was also going to be my suggestion,” Shikaku spoke up, making both Zaki and Shikamaru look back at him. “A specific squad chosen by yourself that you know will investigate thoroughly.”

   “So you mean these three and the other two most observant shinobi we have?” She raised her eyebrow as she hooked her thumb over her shoulder, referring to the main gate.

   “Actually, Kotetsu and Izumo would be perfect for this,” Shikamaru nodded, his hand finding his chin as he thought. “If we can only do one five man squad in the whole of the platoons, and you’re going to have me, Asuma, and Zaki on it, having the two best known for guarding the gate day after day without failure makes the most sense.”

   “That’s settled then. You three will collect Kotetsu and Izumo on your way out and head for the temple. Shizune, gather the rest and arrange them into their platoon formations; send them out as soon as they’re ready.”

   “Yes, Lady Tsunade,” Shizuna bowed, followed by a chorus of ‘understood’s and ‘of course, mi’lady’s from the rest of the shinobi in the room. 

   “Dismissed,” she said, waving her hand as if to physically shoo them from the room, eyeing their backs as they hurriedly exited her office.

   As soon as the door was closed behind them, Shikaku spun to face his son and his student, equal parts worry and pride in his eyes as he regarded them. 

   “No time to think like that, Sensei,” Zaki said softly, stepping forward and patting his arm before walking past him, making him turn his head after her as she kept walking down the hall. She didn’t need him to speak to know what he was thinking or how he was feeling; that look in his eyes told her all she needed to know, and she wasn’t sure her heart could take hearing any kind of speech coming from him before a mission like this. 

   When they actually found the two Akatsuki at the bounty collections office, Zaki would’ve almost willingly believed she was cursed; especially since that Head Monk had felt the need to offer them a prayer. Everything that could go wrong around her, seemingly did. And when one of those Akatsuki ordered his partner to stay out of the fight because he was confident he could take on all five of them on his own, and his partner agreed, a sense of dread spread through her belly. 

   When that same Akatsuki member - she’d never forget his name, Hidan - had survived being stabbed through the heart by Kotetsu and Izumo as he’d been held in place by Shikamaru and then painted a symbol on the ground with his own blood, she thought she would vomit from the overwhelming feeling of foreboding she had. 

   She had just dodged out of the way of one of Hidan’s throws of his triple bladed scythe, hitting it down with one of her chains so it embedded itself into the ground next to her deeper than it was originally going to when Asuma called out to her. 

   “That seems to be his main form of damage; immobilize it while we figure out a plan,” he ordered, glancing back toward Shikamaru as he was guarded by Kotetsu and Izumo. 

   “Sure, no problem,” she gritted out and nearly rolled her eyes in response, throwing her chain so it wrapped around the rope attached to the scythe and tightened it. Almost as soon as her chain was tight, she skidded forward as Hidan yanked the rope, trying to free his scythe from the ground.

   “Oh, I see you’re sticky with immobilizing jutsu, too,” he taunted, pulling the rope again. Zaki held fast, however, instead channeling her chakra into her chain to redouble its strength. 

   “Cut the rope!” She called over her shoulder towards Asuma, hoping he was near enough to use his chakra blades to do as she asked. She breathed a short sigh of relief as he ran past her, but watched in horror as he ran along the length of the rope instead. Sure, he took a few swings at it, but as she expected, passive slices at a rope that thick wasn’t going to cut it. 

   Instead, Asuma’s fist collided with Hidan’s face as he attacked, and she blanched at the action, whipping her head around to look at Shikamaru. 

   “That’s your master strategy?!”

   “Wasn’t my idea!” He shook his head, eyes on Asuma. “He insists this is the only correct course of action, and I trust his judgment.”

   “You’re so dense sometimes, Shikamaru!” She groaned as she turned her head back toward the fight, realizing the grip on the rope attached to the scythe had slackened. Seizing the opportunity, Zaki dropped her chain to the ground and formed a hand sign, forcing the chain to pull taut as it anchored itself into the ground and more came out of the ground to join it, fully locking the scythe in place. Satisfied with her binding job, she pulled out a kunai and ran for the rope; as soon as she reached it, however, she felt her chains break just as Asuma was kicked aside by Hidan. 

   “You’ll do nicely,” Hidan smirked, pulling hard on the rope of his scythe. His strength had broken her makeshift chains, and without her there to continuously feed chakra into her handmade one, it fell loose rather quickly. She caught the twist of his wrist and understood immediately what was going to happen, but she couldn’t jump in time.

   Instead, she twisted enough so the blade of the scythe connected to the chain around her waist instead of slicing her in half. This forced her to be caught and dragged toward the Akatsuki. He caught her by the neck as soon as she was within arm’s length, and she was immediately reminded of the moments before she was tossed off a cliff the last time she was in this position. 

   “I can feel you trembling, little girl, ” Hidan snickered, squeezing her neck as he spoke. “Realizing how close to the end you are, eh? You know, my god Jashin doesn’t normally care what kind of blood I shed for him, but pure, innocent blood like yours is never a bad thing,” he finished, dragging the blade of his scythe over her cheek. 

   As he was bringing the wetted blade to his lips, she gasped for air as Asuma kicked the Akatsuki’s side, forcing him to drop her. Zaki wasn’t sure when Hidan had spun while holding her, her thoughts still cloudy from trying to stay in the present as he strangled her, but as soon as she landed on her feet, she jumped backwards to put distance between the two of them.

   Gulping in air, she watched as Asuma continued to throw blows at Hidan, but was easily knocked aside and toward where Zaki stood. She helped him stand straight as she watched Hidan draw the blade of his scythe over his tongue, tasting the blood - her blood, she realized - that was left on it. Her cheek stung as she watched Hidan’s skin change to black and white while he laughed maniacally. 

   “Shikamaru, wait! ” Asuma called out, and Zaki noticed the shadow tendrils snaking across the ground toward Hidan, solidifying and intending to impale the Akatsuki member. 

   Caught off guard by the call out, the shadow tendrils altered their pathing, most of them missing but one of them grazing the outer part of Hidan’s bicep. A burning sensation shot through Zaki’s same arm, making her cry out and reach for it. Looking down, she saw the blood seep through her sleeve; Shikamaru’s attack had caused her harm as well.

    This is bad, this is very bad, Shikamaru thought, guilt and dread settling in the pit of his stomach as he eyed Zaki’s form on the other side of where Hidan stood between them. He’d caused her harm without it being a sparring match his father was supervising. Fuck, this is so bad!

   “Hurt’s, doesn’t it?” Hidan spoke softly, almost enough for him to miss that he was speaking. “Judgment has been passed, preparations are complete, the curse has been casted, and the ritual has begun. So what do you think, helps you understand the suffering of others a bit more, right?”

   “Believe me, I didn’t need help with that,” Zaki spat, and Shikamaru gasped when Hidan laughed at her. She was going to get herself killed if she talked like that when she was so compromised!

   “Don’t worry, little girl, I noticed your clan symbol. I know full well what kind of suffering you’ve endured. I never knew a few of the members of the Hyakukusari Clan had escaped when I learned about their slaughter at the hands of other members of my religion. I only wish I could’ve been there for it,” he sighed wistfully, making Shikamaru nearly gag at the thought of someone relishing in the slaughter of innocent people. 

   “Y-you know about-” Zaki began, only to be hushed by Asuma. Shikamaru couldn’t catch what he said to her, but he noticed her nod before she looked at the ground instead of back at Hidan.

   “Don’t worry, with the preparations complete, the ritual can begin and you can join your dearly departed clanmates soon,” Hidan laughed. Shikamaru grit his teeth, eyeing every detail in front of him and looking for something, anything he could use to gain any kind of foothold toward stopping what he was sure was about to happen. 

   The immortal Akatsuki pulled a collapsible spear out of his cloak, extending it to its full length as he spun it around. 

   “Now you and I will share in the ultimate pain!” Shikamaru watched as Hidan’s maniacal laughter filled the air as he stabbed himself in the leg, causing Zaki to collapse as she cried out in pain, holding the same spot on her leg that Hidan had stabbed in his own. “And I didn’t even hit a vital spot! Your pain is delicious! I can only imagine how this will feel! Your death will bring me the finest ecstacy!”

   If he weren’t frozen in place, Shikamaru was almost sure he would’ve vomited by now. The thought of losing anyone or anything to this freak sickened him in ways he never thought he was capable of experiencing. As soon as he saw Hidan move, however, he formed his hand signs quicker than he ever had before and forced his shadow outward.

   “Please let me stop him in time,” he prayed, eyes fixed on the spear headed for Hidan’s heart that he knew would kill Zaki the moment it pierced. 

   “No!” Shikamaru heard Asuma’s cry and footsteps, knowing he’d moved in order to try and grab the spear himself, but he didn’t shift his gaze from the back of his target. This has to work!

   Zaki was on her knees as she felt a sting on her chest and blood seep into the front of her shirt. Her mind was reeling from the information she’d been presented with as well as being faced with death, but she tried to keep her focus on the fight in front of her. 

   Blinking, she saw Shikamaru’s shadows wrapped around Hidan’s limbs; he was her savior in that moment, she realized. Eyeing the scene in front of her, she stood to her feet and hoped she caught Shikamaru’s attention.

   “Every jutsu has its limitations,” she murmured, eyeing Hidan’s feet and motioning to her own for Shikamaru to see. “I hope he’s able to piece together what this guy’s is before it’s too late.”

   “If this is going to drag on too long, I can step in.” The other Akatsuki finally stepped forward for the first time since chasing Shikamaru off the roof of the building. “Can’t let a cash cow get away,” he added, eyeing Asuma as he did.

   “I told you to stay out of this, Kakuzu, now butt out!” Hidan growled as he turned his head to look at Zaki again, glaring. “I don’t need your help, I can handle it.”

   Zaki took a deep breath as she locked her eyes on Shikamaru’s kneeling form again, knowing he was beginning to struggle with holding Hidan in place; he didn’t have the chakra pool she had.

   “Analyze the situation, Shikamaru!” She called out to him, motioning again to her feet and hoping he got the message.

   Shikamaru glanced toward Zaki when she called out to him, catching the way she pointed to her feet. Dammit, what the hell was that supposed to mean? He took a deep breath as he returned his gaze to Hidan’s back. Think back; this is exactly the kind of thing you and Zaki have been preparing for, he thought to himself.

***

    “I wonder why Lady Tsunade has us on this and not Asuma and Shikaku-sensei,” Zaki said, laying on her back next to him on his favorite cloud watching bench.

   “Because Asuma’s not nearly as great at strategy as we are based on the fact that we both beat him at shogi all the time, and she has my dad actually doing his job. We’re the next best thing,” he said, flipping through the pages of the file in his lap.

   “Fair point,” she conceded, sitting up again and reading the file over his shoulder. He had it open to Orochimaru’s information, and he heard her scoff in disgust at seeing his picture.

   “Do you think he left the Akatsuki willingly or did they drive him out after realizing that his goal didn’t align with theirs?”

   “Do we even know what the goal of the Akatsuki is?” He turned his head to look at her, nearly jumping back when he saw her face mere inches from his, though she was still just looking down at the file in his lap. 

   “Something to do with gathering the jinchuuriki and using the tailed beasts within them. Orochimaru’s goal, according to Master Jiraiya, was just to learn every jutsu possible, which I would assume means also creating his own in the process. After all, you can’t learn jutsus that are only known by one person, and that one person happens to be dead. Which means he’d need to bring them back to life in some way to then learn their jutsu. Makes you wonder, why did he give up the resources of the Akatsuki?”

   “Okay, so if we assume they’re not on good terms with each other, what do we do with that?” He raised his eyebrow, still studying her profile as she continued to glare at Orochimaru’s photo in the file on his lap.

   “Leave the Orochimaru stuff for Naruto and Sakura to deal with, since he hasn’t been an active threat to the village in a while. We can think about how to deal with him when we need to. Right now, we have to try and come up with countermeasures for Akatsuki members.”

   “And how are we meant to do that?”

   “Well,” she began, reaching forward and brushing his hand away from the page so she could turn it herself. “We know the identities of three members that are still alive. Sakura and Lady Chiyo killed Sasori, so that leaves his partner Deidara - who we’ve been told is likely dead but we don’t know for sure since we never found his body or traces of his chakra - Kisame Hoshigaki - a Kiri missing-nin who has effortlessly taken on Gai-sensei and his team - and Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s older brother and responsible for the slaughter of his entire clan. His genjutsu supposedly put Kakashi-sensei in the hospital for over a week, but I wasn’t here when that happened. I’ve heard from Naruto it’s really a force to be reckoned with, but we also know Naruto isn’t the greatest when it comes to resisting genjutsu at all.”

   “You got that right,” Shikamaru scoffed, looking back down at the file as she finished speaking. He could feel his cheeks heating from their proximity, and he wanted something to focus on that wasn’t her face right next to his. “So what do we do with that information?”

   “Nothing,” she shrugged, and suddenly she was on her back again, making him turn to look at her. “We try and go into battle against anyone other than them with preconceived ideas for how they should be, we’ll get ourselves and our comrades killed. We can’t do that.”

   “You’re right,” he said after a moment, stretching and laying out next to her, putting the file on his chest instead as he looked up at the clouds through the opening in the canopy over the bench they were on. 

   “The only real answers we have,” she continued, sitting up again after a moment and opening the file against his chest. The feel of her hands resting against him, even if they were just holding the pages open, made his neck feel warm, so he made it a point to keep his eyes on the clouds instead of looking at her. “We just have to train and get stronger. Anything beyond that, we have to make those decisions in the heat of battle.”

   “Good thing we have you, then,” he said, faster than he’d thought about it. “You’re a lot quicker at that than I am.”

   “Only if I’m not commanding more than like, three other people,” she refuted, her hand coming up to rub the back of her head. The movement made him finally look at her, surprised to see her own cheeks as red as he felt like his were. “You’re better at dealing with things on a larger scale when it comes to thinking on the fly. It’s why you’re better at shogi than I am; I can beat you when it comes to just exchanging pieces, but when it comes to closing out the long fight, I always fall short.”

   “Guess that’s why they put us together, then” he murmured, still eyeing her face. “So we can make up for each other’s shortcomings.”

   “We’ll need all we can get when it comes to the Akatsuki,” she nodded, eyes locking to his. 

   “The Akatsuki, huh?” Asuma’s voice made them both jump, Zaki scrambling to put some space between the two of them as Shikamaru sat up. “Trying to carve out a strategy for them?”

   “W-well, we were,” he answered, scratching the back of his head as he looked down at the file that had fallen into his lap and closed in his haste to sit up. “Seems kind of impossible, though.”

   “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Asuma chuckled, lighting a cigarette as he sat to Shikamaru’s left. “With the both of you, once we get a little information, you’ll be able to figure something out.”

   “Assuming we can get any, anyway,” Zaki scoffed, shifting so one of her legs was hanging over the bench as her arm rested on her raised knee. “And even so, what do we do with the information once we have it? Not like we can take them on in our current states.”

   “Well that’s why you have a team,” Asuma explained, puffing out smoke as he took the file from Shikamaru and began flipping through the pages. “Zaki, you’ve already demonstrated you know this many times over with the way you trust Ino and Chouji to back you up whenever you need any extra time to think, and the way you cover Shikamaru whenever you know he needs information and time to process it.”

   “I guess that’s true,” she conceded, making Shikamaru glance at her briefly before returning his gaze to Asuma as he stood up.

   “No man’s an island; there’s a reason you two have been trained the way that you have. With each other, and your comrades next to you, it’ll all work out in the end somehow.”

   “Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best isn’t gonna cut it, Asuma-sensei,” he scoffed, catching the file when Asuma tossed it over his shoulder at him. 

   “Figure something else out then before your teammates all get killed,” he said over his shoulder, puffing another cloud of smoke around his cigarette as he walked away from them. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your alone time, it just sounded like you needed a reminder of what you already know.”

   Shikamaru made it a point to watch Asuma’s form walking away from them rather than glancing toward Zaki; he could feel his face burning from that last comment, and had no desire to see the look on her face, whether she was confused or embarrassed that their sensei of all people thought that about the two of them together.

    Together, eh, he thought, looking down at the file in his hands. 

***

   What information was she giving to him by making those movements? Her feet? What about her… What if it wasn’t her feet she meant, but Hidan’s?  

   Glancing at the ground, he realized that the immortal demon in front of them never once moved from the circle he’d painted with his own blood. Cursed, ritual, preparations, it all had to be relating to that!

   “We need to get him out of that circle,” he murmured to Kotetsu and Izumo, hoping Kakuzu wasn’t close enough to hear him. At their nods, he noticed Zaki begin to move. Was she…?

    Yes! He’s noticed! His movements tell me he knows, so as long as he can keep him still, I can knock him out of the ring myself!

   Her jaw clenched as she took a few steps forward, testing the pain in her leg before readying her fists with her chains as she began running. She needed to knock Hidan out of the ring and immobilize him permanently in the same move, so she dropped a few of her chains as she ran and used her chakra to bury them in the earth so they would be hidden from view as she made them move along side her, ready to jump out at her command. 

   “Foolish girl!” Hidan called out, cackling again as he watched her barrel toward him. “You’ll only injure yourself!”

   “That’s the plan, genius,” she panted under her breath, pulling her steel covered fist back as she leaped. She had to aim for a non-vital spot to hit, because this was going to hurt like hell, so she aimed for his right shoulder; the one holding the spear poised for his heart. “Steel Style: Binding Chains!” Her call out forced the chains to burst from the earth at the exact moment she connected with Hidan’s shoulder. She felt the dislocation happen in her own, and it nearly knocked the wind out of her as she allowed their momentum to force Hidan out of his ritual circle, allowing herself to fall with him and the chains to wrap around them both as they hit the earth, because she was in too much pain from her shoulder to care that much.

   “Now! Asuma, his head!” Shikamaru called from somewhere in front of her, and she smiled softly as she heard the hurried footsteps run toward her and her captive. Blinking a few times, she watched Asuma slice through Hidan’s neck, fully decapitating him before kicking his head away. 

   “Zaki, Zaki stay conscious.” Shikamaru’s voice was somewhere near her head now, and she fought with the splitting headache she was gaining from the pain in her shoulder radiating outward. “Release your chains so we can check you over,” he murmured, much closer this time, and she felt his hand touch her cheek. She complied, relaxing her chakra and feeling her chains fall slack around her as Shikamaru pulled at them, pulling her away from Hidan’s body. 

   “Hey,” she said softly, looking up at him as she blinked slowly, fighting to remain conscious through the pain. “Y-you should do something about that circle, j-just in case,” she finished, motioning in the direction she thought the ritual circle was in before blinking her eyes closed. 

   “Get her away from here,” she heard Asuma order, and she felt herself get picked up and carried, but she couldn’t open her eyes again. The hot pain in her shoulder was seeping into every other part of her body.

   “She… She punched clean through her own shoulder!” She heard Kotetsu’s voice through the painful haze in her head, and she wanted to shush him because his voice was making it hurt more.

   “No, she punched through his shoulder, and that was the resulting wound,” Shikamaru corrected, and she wondered if it was him who had pulled her jacket off and shirt down to inspect her injury.

   “Kakuzu, you idiot! You took too long to help me!”

   “You didn’t ask,” scoffed the masked Akatsuki, taking a few steps forward. Shikamaru looked up from Zaki’s shoulder to watch him pick up Hidan’s head that was somehow still speaking. “Besides, you told me to stay out of it multiple times. I don’t think you’re in any position to be complaining right now,” he added, lifting the head up so he could look his partner in the eye.

   “Ow, that hurts you asshole! Can you just put my head back on my body, please? This is so painful!”

    This is still bad, Shikamaru thought, eyes flicking between the body of Hidan and Kakuzu, holding his head. I’m exhausted from holding Hidan as long as I did, Zaki’s out of commission completely, and Asuma’s injured. We have to get-

   “Enough of this.” Kakuzu’s movement interrupted his thought, and he watched as he dispatched Asuma with one kick and a swing of the briefcase in his hand; he hadn’t even seen him move!

   “Captain Asuma!” Izumo called out, taking a step forward, only to stop as Kakuzu slammed his knee into Asuma’s back, effectively disabling him for a while. Shikamaru could only watch, exhausted as Kakuzu stopped at Hidan’s body, sat it up, and reattached his partner’s head for him. 

   “Izumo!” Shikamaru whispered, catching the attention of the shinobi in question. “You know Water Style, right? Do you think you could do something strong enough to wash the blood on the ground away so it’s not in that circle anymore?”

   “Right,” he nodded, immediately forming hand signs and causing a wave to wash over the ground in front of him, washing right over the ritual diagram. Shikamaru watched with bated breath as he waited for the blood to start washing away. 

   “Hey, you jerks! I wasn’t done with that!” He glanced over at Hidan’s outcry, relieved to see that his skin had lost it’s black and white pattern; that had to mean the curse on Zaki was lifted because the circle was broken, right? “Damn, now I’ll need to start all over!”

   “Shut up, Hidan,” Kakuzu interrupted, turning toward Asuma again. “Let’s just get our second bounty and leave. We don’t have time for this. Kill that one with your stupid ritual, I’ll take care of the other three.”

   “Asuma! NO!”

   Zaki blinked open her eyes at the sound of Shikamaru’s anguished cry, still muddling through the pain radiating from her shoulder. How much had she missed while she was out?

   Slowly turning her head, she watched as Shikamaru took off running, blinking in surprise as she saw Izumo and Kotetsu caught in strangle holds by the second Akatsuki guy that had been there. Further away, she spotted Asuma on his knees, coughing as Hidan stood in a circle of his blood. Hadn’t she told them to wash it away? Wait, if he was back in that circle, that meant she should’ve been the one injured by his own scythe embedded in his stomach, not Asuma, right? Was this a new one, then? Did that mean Asuma had sacrificed himself to try and get the rest of his squad out of here?

***

    “C’mon, it’s not a bad strategy,” Shikamaru complained, pacing in front of Asuma as he did. “My Shadow Stitching is more effective at close range, so if I can get close to the enemy to tie him up, we’ll weaken their fighting chance by half. With you and Zaki as my back up, we can’t lose!”

   “So it’d be a two tiered formation, right? You in the vanguard with Izumo and Kotetsu, engaging the enemy with your Shadow Stitching, with me and Zaki as your backup in case that fails.” At Shikamaru’s affirmation, Asuma sighed. “You’re right, it’s a brilliant strategy, and I like it a lot.”

  “Then why not give it a shot?”

   “For that very reason,” Zaki spoke up, standing from her spot near the log she and the other two were resting against. “It puts you at risk, and at a disadvantageous position to gather information and best employ the new strategies you could come up with from what you learn. Honestly, Shika-kun, if you just swap our positions, it would be better.”

   “Close, but not quite,” Asuma said, shaking his head. “You’re right about him being on the front lines creating a disadvantage for us, but putting you in his place isn’t much better. We need your quick thinking to keep him on his toes and able to make sense of the information he’s being given from the fight.”

   “How am I supposed to best protect my comrades if I’m not deploying the best strategy? You said it yourself, the one I laid out was brilliant!” Shikamaru clenched his fists as he almost glared at his sensei. 

   “If by ‘protecting your comrades’ you’re referring to us, the team, then you still don’t understand anything. You don’t understand the reason we’re fighting. Until you do, I can’t put you on the front lines, and I can’t put Zaki there either; she has to be around to teach it to you in case something happens to me.”

***

    He blames himself, Zaki thought, watching Shikamaru run toward where Hidan was standing over Asuma. He thinks this is all his fault, that Asuma-sensei is in this position because he couldn’t come up with a better strategy. I don’t know what happened while I was out that allowed Hidan to have his head reattached and a new ritual circle drawn, but if anyone’s at fault, it’s me for making that dumb, self-sacrificing move to try and stop Hidan before.

  “No, NO!” Shikamaru’s shout carried back to her, and her heart broke as she watched Hidan stab himself with one of his extended spears, and Asuma collapse in front of him. She felt tears in her eyes as she sat up, watching Shikamaru trip before he even got past where Izumo and Kotetsu were being held. 

    He can’t be…

   Her thought was interrupted by a flock of ravens swarming the two Akatsuki, and she felt a hand on her back.

   “Zaki? We’re here to help,” Ino’s voice sounded, and she shifted slightly to let her know she’d heard her, not willing to move her body any more than she already had. 

   “Go get Shikamaru and get him somewhere safe first, he’s closer to them,” Zaki said, nodding slightly forward.

   “Right,” Ino agreed, jumping into action and helping Shikamaru stand as the other two members of her platoon distracted Hidan and Kakuzu. Zaki noticed Chouji pick up Asuma and carry him to the roof of the building, as well. 

   She tried to get to her feet on her own, only to be met with Raidou’s hand coming into her vision.

   “Let’s get you somewhere safe; you look injured,” he said, reaching down and helping her stand and letting her lean heavily on him as he carried her up to the roof where Shikamaru and Asuma were.

   “Go help Izumo and Kotetsu, I’ll be fine up here,” she said, letting go of him as she limped toward the others. He didn’t hesitate, leaping back down to provide back up, and she stumbled a little and fell to her knees as she neared Ino.

   “Sorry,” she hissed, shifting her weight off her injured leg. 

   “Shut up, you’re injured,” Ino countered immediately, using her medical ninjutsu on her leg as Shikamaru leaned over Asuma’s body, head on his chest to listen for his heartbeat.

   They didn’t sit in silence for long before Shikamaru was sitting up, barking orders again.

   “Chouji, you have to rush him to the hospital! Ino, go with him and use your medical ninjutsu to buy him as much time as you can!”

   “Right!” They both issued their agreements, Ino finishing up Zaki’s leg before shifting to stand, before being interrupted by Kakuzu landing on the roof.

   “I’m not giving up my bounty,” he growled, only to be met with Aoba rushing forward to distract him, trying to give them an opportunity to leave with Asuma. 

   Zaki looked over the edge of the roof towards where Hidan was facing off with Raidou and Kotetsu, watching as he stopped and seemed to talk to himself for a few moments before Kakuzu abandoned the fight on the roof and returned to Hidan’s side.

   “We’ll be back soon enough, so prepare yourselves,” Kakuzu warned before forcing Hidan to leave with him. 

   “Guys, let’s go!” Shikamaru stressed out the order, and Ino’s hands started glowing as she neared Asuma’s body.

   “No… Don’t…” 

   Zaki caught Asuma’s whispered protest as she sat back on the roof, her head throbbing from the pain in her shoulder causing her fatigue across her whole body. She thought chakra exhaustion was bad, this was a whole different level of pain. She couldn’t imagine what Asuma had to be going through.

   She looked up at Aoba as she laid on her back, trying to reduce her pain any way she could. She brought her left hand up to her injured shoulder to try and use what limited amount of medical ninjutsu she knew for first aid, and it seemed to help fractionally.

   “Just get some rest, we’ll get you to the hospital once we’ve secured the area,” he murmured, and she only nodded as she turned her head toward the incoming storm clouds and closed her eyes.

Chapter Text

   “If you’re going to tell Kurenai about Asuma, bring me with you,” Zaki said, sitting up in her hospital bed. She ignored the angry glare Tsunade shot at her, keeping her gaze on Shikamaru instead. He’d been refusing to look her in the eye since she woke up after her treatment, instead locking onto the bandage that covered her injured right shoulder. “It’s not like I have to stay in bed because my shoulder is out; you know I know better than to try and train when I’m injured, I can go home to study, and you can let me go with him to Kurenai’s place to tell her. He shouldn’t do this alone,” she added, only glancing briefly at Tsunade before looking right back at Shikamaru. 

   “Fine,” she conceded, waving her hand before crossing her arms. “Stubborn brat.”

   “Maybe, but you seem to have a soft spot for those,” Zaki said, laughing slightly as she glanced at Tsunade again.

   She looked around at the crowd, and heard Ino whisper to Chouji about Shikamaru, but even she was confused as to where he’d gone. He hadn’t wanted to leave with her, but was gone before Chouji could show up and drag him out there himself? Was he really avoiding Asuma’s funeral? And if he was avoiding them, he’d know better than to go to his usual hiding spots, so that meant he could realistically be anywhere in the village. She didn’t like that thought, and decided that the moment the service was over, she’d go looking for him.

   “Shikamaru,” Shikaku prodded quietly. He hardly turned his head from looking at the moon to glancing at his father who had come out of the sitting room behind him. He’d spent all day avoiding anyone close to him, and knowing Zaki was scouring the village for him, he’d come home late in the evening because he was sure she wouldn’t look for him there. 

   He was proven incorrect when he spotted her sitting on the cushion next to the shogi board in the sitting room behind where his father was standing; he wondered if she’d been there the whole time and was giving him space since he spent all day running from everyone. 

   “Come play a game with me; Zaki wants to watch,” Shikaku continued, motioning toward the girl in the sitting room. She wasn’t in her funeral kimono anymore, having swapped it in favor of her dark gray house one that had the Nara clan symbol on the back; it had been a gift from his mother on her 16th birthday, a way to tell her she was included in the family. The right shoulder didn’t quite sit right on her, and he was reminded of her injury. He wondered if she felt as guilty about the whole thing as he did.

   “Fine,” Shikamaru finally answered, tiredly getting to his feet and numbly walking into the sitting room behind his father. He noticed Zaki give him a small smile as she lit the candle on the stand nearby, but he couldn’t bring himself to return it. He hated the way her face fell. Damn it all.

   Zaki watched their game, brows furrowing as she noticed Shikamaru’s reckless playstyle. He had to be feeling all out of sorts if he was playing like this.

   “You won’t beat me like that.” Shikaku spoke the thoughts she had about it, and they both glanced up at him in response. “So what do you plan to do?”

   She glanced at Shikamaru, who didn’t answer verbally, instead making another reckless move in their game of shogi.

   “At least I know you’re not stupid enough to play into enemy hands and die,” sighed Shikaku, making his own move. She felt him glance at her as he spoke, and she made it a point to keep her eyes on the board as she did. Her neck heated in embarrassment, knowing he was thinking about her self-sacrificing move. She internally winced as a fresh wave of pain shot through her shoulder, making her adjust her sitting position slightly to try and alleviate it.

   Her gaze returned to Shikamaru, and she noticed his shoulders slump as he continued to refuse to answer Shikaku verbally, instead answering with the pieces of the board in front of them. As their game went on in silence, the only noise the sound of the pieces clicking against the board, she watched Shikamaru slump further down; her back began to ache, watching him, but she guessed the emotional exhaustion he was in from shutting his feelings down all week before the funeral had numbed any muscle aches into an afterthought.

   “So what are you going to do now?” Once again, Shikaku’s voice broke the silence, and she knew he was trying to chip through his son’s mask. 

   Shikamaru still didn’t answer, but he sat up at the question, hesitating with his next move on the board. The secondary meaning to the question that was asked wasn’t lost on either of them, but she knew Shikamaru still wasn’t ready to answer.

   “I don’t want to attend my own son’s funeral,” Shikaku continued, and Zaki watched Shikamaru’s shoulders tense at that statement. “Asuma is dead.”

   Shikamaru’s left fist landed heavily on the shogi board, knocking it aside and away from all of them as the candle next to her went out from the force of his swing. 

   “What are you getting at, old man?!”

   “I’m simply speaking my mind.”

   “Well, it’s making me sick!” Shikamaru stood as she shouted, and Zaki scrambled to stand as well, but Shikaku only took a deep breath. “Say what you want,” Shikamaru continued, still glaring at his father. “Asuma’s dead because I’m just a useless coward.”

   “Shikamaru,” Zaki murmured, her hand twitching slightly as she wanted to reach out to him, but didn’t move out of fear of him shoving her away physically as much as he had been verbally this last week.

   “You’re wrong,” Shikaku said quietly, shaking his head.

   “Kashizaki got hurt because I wasn’t strong enough to hold that demon in place. Asuma died because I wasn’t strong enough to back him up. We lost that battle because I was too much of a coward to call the right shots!”

   “You’re wrong,” Shikaku repeated, standing up so he was face to face with his son.

   “What do you want from me?!” Shikamaru grit his teeth as he locked eyes with his father, and Zaki glanced between the two of them, her hand over her mouth as she fought with her tears. Would Shikamaru actually take a swing at his father? She seriously doubted it, but she couldn’t be completely sure with the way he’d been acting recently. 

   The silence as they stared at each other stretched for what felt like an eternity before Shikaku finally spoke.

   “Let it out, boy.”

   Zaki’s jaw clenched as she continued to try and keep her own tears in check, watching Shikamaru’s jaw drop in shock. Sure, their training as shinobi instilled an emotional stoicism, but that notion was meant to only be on the battlefield. It may make dealing with death easier, if it was put into practice at the right times, but what Shikamaru had been doing… That was avoidance, not utilizing his training properly. She’d been watching him sink further into himself over the week, and knew it wasn’t right for him.

***

    Zaki approached Shikaku after she finished helping clean up dinner. The clan head was still sat at the table, his eyes closed as if he himself was trying to think of a way to get through to his son; Yoshino had asked them both to talk to him while they ate.

   “Do you… Have any ideas?” She asked quietly, adjusting her right arm as gingerly as she could to alleviate the stiffness in her shoulder.

   “Just one,” came his solemn reply. “Come, grab the shogi board and set it up in the sitting room. We’ll lure him with that.”

***

   She’d watched as Shikaku’s words had chipped into Shikamaru’s depressed mask as they played, each sentence and every word digging a little deeper until the statement of Asuma’s death struck home. 

   “All of the anger, sadness, fear, and pain inside of you. Let. It. Out.”

   Shikamaru’s jaw trembled, his fists clenching, and Zaki’s vision blurred slightly as she blinked through her tears. Her own pain and guilt were building, and she wondered if that was part of Shikaku’s plan, too.

   “It all starts from there, you two,” he finished, glancing at Zaki briefly before locking eyes with his son again. Nodding, he placed one hand on each of their shoulders and squeezed gently before turning and walking out of the sitting room, closing the door behind him.

   Shikamaru’s knees gave out as he heard the door finish sliding shut behind his father, and suddenly arms were around him. He didn’t think much of it, letting out a scream of anguish that had been building inside him for a week, leaning forward and slamming his fists on the floor in front of him.

    Dammit, why did this have to happen?! Why Asuma?!

   Zaki’s tears flowed as she tightened her grip on Shikamaru, his sobs shaking his body as well as her own. 

   “H-he’s gone,” he hiccupped, shaking his head as he kept himself doubled over. “He’s gone and it’s all my fault-”

   “No,” she interrupted immediately, her voice thick with her own tears. “Let out your emotions, and feel guilty about him being gone, but do not blame solely yourself, Shikamaru.” At his gasp, his breath still shaking with his sobs, she continued. “If you’re at fault, then so am I. We both fucked up. Hell, Lady Tsunade fucked up by sending two teenaged chunin in that squad if you really feel the need to blame someone.”

   “W-we can’t blame Lady Tsun-”

   “Sure we can,” Zaki interrupted again, sitting back enough to let Shikamaru finally sit up and look at her, though she kept her hand on his arm, needing some form of connection to him during this conversation. “She’s the leader of the whole village, it was her judgment call that put us in that situation in the first place.”

   “And it was our actions, and then our lack of actions, that caused our failure,” he countered, eyes narrowing despite his tears. “You don’t want me blaming just myself, fine; your stupid move with your chains nearly cost you your life.”

   “And your lack of stamina cost Asuma-sensei his,” she said back simply, watching as his face hardened at her statement. “Do you see how easy it is to throw around blame? How asinine it is to place it all on yourself, or your comrades, or whatever else you want to put blame on?”

   “Zaki-”

   “No, Shikamaru, listen. Asuma made his decision to fight the way that he did for a reason. The same reason I did.” She paused as she looked down at the scattered shogi pieces around them, searching for one in particular. Finding the one with the right kanji on it, she grabbed it and held it up for him. “Asuma’s unborn child, and all the future generations. Do you remember what I said to your father, back when I told him I had used one of your shadow techniques to save my life?”

   "You wanted to pay Lady Tsunade back for saving your life, and now you want to pay it forward," he said quietly, eyes widening as he continued to stare at her face, tears still trailing from his eyes.

   “Paying it forward means being willing to put my life on the line, trusting my comrades to know when to strike with my sacrifice. The information learned from my sacrifice,” she continued, shifting her kimono so the bandage on her shoulder was more visible. “It’s valuable to us now, knowing what they’re capable of. The information gathered from Asuma-sensei’s death is the same.”

   “So, what, he’s just another sacrifice?!” The anger in his eyes burned, and her heart broke a little watching a fresh wave of tears stream down his face.

   “That’s not what I’m saying, Shikamaru, and you know that.” Her voice cracked a little as she thought through her next statement. “He may have thought of himself that way, but we don’t have to.” She swallowed as she finally looked away from Shikamaru, down at the King piece in her hand. “This… This whole situation sucks, ” she said simply, dropping the piece and letting it clatter across the floor as she covered her face with her hands for a moment as she breathed. “We’re allowed to grieve. We’re allowed our pain and anger over this unfair as fuck situation. We’re allowed to feel, when we’re alone, ya know?”

   “Zaki…” His voice trailed off a little, making her look back up at him.

   “We don’t have to do that alone, either.”

   “Emotion only gets in the way-” he started, but her palms slamming against the floor as she leaned into his space made him stop, eyes widening as his gaze locked on her face.

   “If you thought that were true, you wouldn’t be as close friends as you are with Naruto!”

   “N-naruto?! Wh-what he’s got to do with-”

   “He lets his emotions feed into his actions! That drives his nindo. And you admire that. I know you do, because I do, and we’re so similar it hurts.”

   “Wh-what?”

   “Oh, Shika-kun,” she murmured, shaking her head and closing her eyes for a moment.

   “Zaki, I don’t-”

   “Now’s not the time, anyway,” she interrupted him, sighing as she looked at him again. “Right now, our grief needs to be handled. That doesn’t happen instantly, or even over night. Some people take months to grieve, others years. Still others can get over it within a few days. Shikamaru, you’re strong, analytical, and brave. You’ll work this out, just don’t forget you’re not alone, okay?”

   He blinked at her, his mind lagging from their proximity and her outburst of sudden compliments. Suddenly, his tears felt heavier on his face, drying on his skin and creating that layer of salt he’d have to wipe away eventually. 

   As if she’d only just realized how close she’d gotten to him, she relaxed further into her sitting position as if to put distance between them without actually moving backwards. He caught the way her face darkened, despite the lack of light in the room.

   “Zaki,” he murmured, making her look at him. The sheen of her tears on her face pulled at his heart, and part of him wanted to reach out and wipe them away for her. He still hated when women cried; something about their tears made him feel like he had to fix whatever situation was causing them. He remembered a few weeks back, when Zaki had told his father about using their shadow jutsu; she’d cried then, too, and he hated it just as much. Then, it was out of fear, and he’d actually been ready to fight his father for causing that kind of emotion in a woman so close to them. Now, her tears were ones of sadness, anger, and pain; the same ones he was crying. 

   His throat grew hot with his tears again, replaying what she’d just said to him in his mind: Just don’t forget you’re not alone, okay?

   Instead of trying to continue to speak, he only launched himself forward, his arms wrapping around her midsection as his face found her uninjured shoulder. A sob escaped his throat, and then another as her arms wound their way around his shoulders, pulling him into the embrace. He couldn’t stop them as more shoved their way forward, burying his face further into her shoulder as he sobbed.

   “That’s it, Shikamaru,” he heard her murmur, felt her hand come up to his hair. “Let it out.”

Chapter Text

   Since their crying session on the floor of the sitting room had left them exhausted and tangled in each other most of the night, a new sense of intimacy seemed to lace their interactions that she wasn’t sure how to interpret. He had told her she was welcome in his room whenever she needed him, as long as she knocked once before entering so he knew it was her. 

   Which was what she was doing now, leaning on his door frame after having slid his door open. 

   “Did you need something?” Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder at her when she didn’t speak. His hair was down, his sleep shirt rumpled, showcasing that he hadn’t so much as rolled out of bed before pouring over the scrolls and maps sprawled on his desk, which was where she guessed he'd been all day. 

   “To make sure you were okay,” she answered, crossing her arms a little. She still didn’t have full range of motion in her shoulder, but having just returned from the hospital, the prognosis was that she would be fully healed by the end of the week. That said, the pulling sensation from trying to cross her right arm over her middle still made pain shoot down her fingertips if she tried too hard.

   “I’m fine, just… Busy, I guess,” he murmured, returning his glance to his desk.

   “It’s been two days since… That night,” she said softly, shifting her weight a little as she looked away from him in embarrassment; did he feel just as awkward about that night as she thought he did?

   “And my mom’s still worried, I know,” he answered, still not looking up from his desk. He heaved a sigh, shaking his head slightly and making his hair swish gently around his shoulders. “I’m… Still not ready to leave my room yet, but-”

   “I’ll let her know,” Zaki interrupted, looking back up at him; she'd cling to any direction the conversation could go as long as it was less embarrassing than thinking about whatever had passed between them the morning they woke up together. “She’s your mother, she’s going to worry about you. I’ll send her back here with some tea or something in a few moments, if you want to do something with your hair to at least attempt to look like you’ve done more than roll out of bed.” She snickered a little as she watched him reach up to touch his hair. “Else she’s going to come in here and do it herself like Shikaku-sensei said she used to.”

   “Maybe I’ll just let her, then,” he murmured softly, pulling a little at the lock of hair he’d grabbed. 

   “Should hide your revenge plans, then.”

   To say he’d moved faster than she’d seen him do all week would’ve been an understatement. The way he spun to face her, putting more of his body between her and his desk almost made her laugh out loud.

   “Relax, I can’t see anything from here, Shika-kun,” she soothed, raising her palms toward him. “I just know you, know how your mind works.” At his raised eyebrow, she continued. “I ran into Ino at the hospital today. She asked me when she should grab Chouji and bring him over to discuss them with you. So I’m not the only one that knows you like that. Hell, I’d be shocked if Shikaku-sensei didn’t come in here in the next day or two to also ask what your plans were. The only one that isn’t going to pester you about it is your mother. The least you could do is not let it worry her by not letting her see your plans so plainly on your desk,” she finished, motioning to the furniture behind him.

   “You’re right,” he sighed, hanging his head as he turned to face his desk again.

   “I know,” she smiled softly, eyeing his form for a moment before turning to leave. “Next knock should be your mom, try not to give her any dirty looks like you’ve been doing this last week, okay?”

   He hadn’t realized how relaxing having his mother fuss over his hair could acually be if she did it quietly. 

   She had opened his bedroom door after knocking softly, holding a tray of food and tea as she eyed him wordlessly. He hadn’t spoken either, only gave her a small smile as he leaned back in his desk chair to look at her over his shoulder. He’d exchanged the scrolls and plans for revenge he’d had to just basic training scrolls and a letter he’d exchanged with Kurenai about something that he wouldn’t mind if his mother read, but knew she wouldn’t pry if she saw Kurenai’s name. 

   His mother had set the tray of food on his desk in front of him with a small huff, though he knew she had to smile when he picked up and took a few bites to appease her. A few bites in, and he felt her fingers in his hair; his shoulders tensed when he heard her draw in a breath, knowing she was about to make a comment about how ratty and matted it was getting.

    Of course she was going to complain about something, she wouldn’t be my mother if she didn’t.

   Rather than preparing a retort about how he should be the one that gets to decide the look and cleanliness of his hair, he took a deep breath as he listened to her complaint before looking up at her. 

   “Would you feel better if I let you take care of it for me this one time, for old times’ sake?”

   He wasn’t prepared for the water works, or her arms to wrap around his neck and nearly knock him out of his desk chair. Guess the whole house has been filled with tears, between her and Zaki, he thought as he brought his hands up to pat his mother’s back.

   “You put him up to that, didn’t you,” Shikaku said over his tea, side-eyeing his student who kept her eyes closed as she blew on her own cup. They sat at the dining table having finished eating their own dinner as Yoshino had brought Shikamaru his in his room.

   “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she answered slyly, taking a small sip before making a face and setting the cup aside; Yoshino must’ve forgotten the honey for her.

   “Yoshino isn’t going to stop talking about this for the next few days, you know,” he continued probing. “I thought you two didn’t get along? Yet you seem to know what she needs in these situations better than even I.”

   “That’s because you don’t fully try, Sensei,” she snorted, finally opening her eyes to look at him. "Don't take that the wrong way, either. I mean you just view her nagging you as a bother. Granted, you've been married to her for half your lifetime, so-"

   "Just how old do you think I am?!"

   "Sensei, Shikamaru is 16. You've been married to Yoshino-sama longer than he's been alive. Are you trying to imply that, what, 20 years isn't half your life? Wouldn't that... Make you older?"

   "F-forget I interrupted," he spluttered, having done the math in his head faster than she had spoken. "You were saying?"

   "Well, you viewing her nagging as a bother is just dismissing it for what it really is; her worry for you and your son manifesting itself. Women typically only nag you the way Yoshino-sama nags you and Shikamaru when they care. This house being the way it is, and her making sure it stays that way, and making sure you guys eat and take care of yourselves is her equivalent of you and Shikamaru worrying about your comrades in battle, except on a much, much deeper level. Imagine if she were taken hostage-"

   "Stop," he said darkly, eyes closing as he set his tea down. 

   "That feeling," she continued, actually poking him in the shoulder to get him to look at her again as she pointed at him. "That right there, that's what she deals with every single time you and Shikamaru go out on a mission. She's long prepared herself for the day either one of you fail to come home, sure, but that doesn't stop the worry, or the pain that'll come with it. And I know you know that, Shikaku-sensei. You saw it in Kurenai-sensei," she added softly, lowering her hand. "Imagine that kind of pain in someone who hasn't had the psychological training we have."

   He only eyed her for a moment, blinking slowly as he thoughtfully sipped his tea. She returned his gaze without flinching, her own tea abandoned on the table.

   "When did you get so wise about this subject, Kashizaki?"

   "...My father was a lot like you, Sensei. Quiet, distant, yet understanding and patient. His taste in women was awful when it came to the way they treated me, but they both treated him like a king without him asking. My birth mother died when I was very young, and the first woman he married hated my existence, but she still practically worshiped him. When she died because of the shinobi training in Hoshi, my father tried to pull me out of school." The door behind her opened quietly, revealing Shikamaru, but she didn't seem to notice as she continued speaking. "Losing her... Something broke in him, and he was afraid of losing me to the same thing. The next woman he married, she was less... Abusive, let's say, towards me, but still very clearly didn't like me because I refused my father's requests to stop training. She resented me for causing him pain like that every day I went to train. However, I never heard any of this. I... I read about it, in my father's last words he'd written. My birth mother's clan, the Hyakukusari, their shrine was the last remnant of it after she died, besides me. My father left me a long letter there, explaining a lot of this to me, because I think part of him knew he'd end up giving his life to ensure I lived when Akahoshi pulled the shit he did and nearly destroyed Hoshi in its entirety. Since the day I finally sat down and... Read the whole thing about a year ago on the anniversary of his death, I guess I... Just had a better understanding of how shinobi should approach relationships with their non-shinobi inclined family members.”

   He watched her hand come up to wipe away the tears that had formed in her eyes, and felt his heart break a little.

   “You’ve been through much more than anyone should go through in their lifetime, even as a shinobi, Kashizaki,” he said softly, reaching over and touching her shoulder gently; her injured one was closest to him, so he couldn’t squeeze or pat it like he’d been inclined to do, but he still wanted some form of connection there.

   “At least I still have a life to go through at all,” she murmured in response, reaching up to touch his hand on her shoulder. He eyed her for a moment, his hand still on her shoulder, before he finally made his decision.

   “I think there’s something I want to give you. I should’ve done this a while ago, but wasn’t sure if it was appropriate.”

   “Was wondering when you’d get around to doing that, Dad,” came Shikamaru’s voice from behind Zaki, making Shikaku glance toward his son as his student tensed under his hand. 

   “Does that mean you want to do it, Shikamaru?” He asked as he raised his eyebrow at him, unable to stop the knowing smile encroaching on his face.

   “Sure, why not? I mean, if you’re already doing things off the record with her like this...”

   “Are you implying-”

   “Ah, don’t give me that, old man,” he interrupted tiredly, hand reaching up to scratch the back of his freshly washed head. His ponytail actually still sagged from the moisture in his hair. “I’m basically the one teaching her the basics of our shadow techniques now anyway, while you’re teaching me the more advanced stuff; Asuma-sensei would’ve thought it fitting. Besides, you’ll still be there to make it as official as it can be, might as well-”

   “You do understand the implications of you taking this over will cause, right?” Shikaku cut in, watching as the faint blush crept up his son’s neck.

   “Believe me, ever since… That morning…” He trailed off, his blush creeping further up his neck as Zaki actually turned around in her chair to look at him now, a confused look on her face. “J-just… Yeah, I understand,” he finished, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked anywhere but at the girl at the table.

   “Alright, I’ll send word to-”

   “I think Kurenai should be the one to do it,” Shikamaru interrupted him again. “Since we’re already being so untraditional with it, might as well go all the way, right? Besides, she’s… Kind of the one that has them right now.”

   Shikaku stroked his short goatee as he regarded his son before glancing at his student. Well, he was right about how untraditional it was going to be, that’s for sure.

   “Alright. I assume you want to tell her yourself, then?”

   “Yeah,” he nodded, his shoulders relaxing for the first time since the conversation started. “I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

   Birds chirped as the early morning sun rose in the sky, lighting his way as he stepped out of his clan’s compound. It provided a peaceful backing track to allow his thoughts to wander as he made his way to Kurenai’s apartment. Of course, his mind immediately went to three nights ago, when he and Zaki had cried together on the floor of the sitting room.

***

    Shikamaru could feel a shoulder joint pressed into his cheek as he slowly regained consciousness. Had he fallen asleep sitting up and leaned on someone? How embarrassing, he thought, one of his eyes opening to begin to take in his surroundings. His eyes still stung, and that’s when he remembered just what had happened, making him gasp a little as he lifted his head off his human pillow, only for his forehead to brush against her nose slightly. 

   Zaki’s eyes were still closed, but his gasp and quick movement off her shoulder clearly had dragged her out of sleep. Not to mention he'd nearly headbutted her. Her sleepy, dark blue eyes blinked open as he stared, and the bleariness of confusion cleared for her as quickly as it had for him, being replaced by a growing redness in her cheeks. He guessed if he hadn't been practically draped over her, pinning her in place, she would've backed up, unsure of what to make of the whole situation. His arms were still around her waist, meaning she was also technically pinning him in place as his right arm was pinned under her, trapped between the heat of her back and the hard floor of the sitting room; his fingers tingled from lack of blood flow. Had they really just passed out together on the floor?

   His eyes never left her face, but he watched out of his periphery as her right hand lifted. The slight wince across her face from the movement made him want to reach out to grab the offending limb to stop it, but he felt paralyzed. His cheeks heated as he realized she was reaching for his face, and then he had to keep himself from flinching when her thumb brushed his cheek. The salty trail his tears had left was dry on his skin, and he guessed she could actually see it by their close proximity, since that was where her thumb brushed. The tenderness of the action made his heart squeeze as he continued to watch her face. 

   They laid like that - in silence as she continued to brush her thumb across his cheek - for another few moments before footsteps across the patio outside the door made them both jump. Despite the protesting of his muscles, he quickly sat up, allowing Zaki to do the same. Some of his hair fell forward in his movement, and he reached up to realize his hair tie had come out of his hair at some point in the night. Odd, that normally doesn't happen, he thought as he twisted around behind him and spotted it laying near where his head had been on Zaki's shoulder. Maybe she had untied it?

   “Did you two just sleep in here last night?” Shikaku’s voice made him look up from picking up his hair tie, and he flushed with embarrassment again. When neither of them answered, he only sighed and spoke again. “Kashizaki, don’t forget your appointment at the hospital in an hour.”

   “Yessir.” Her answer was clipped, and Shikamaru glanced over at her to see her grimacing in pain a little. 

   “And clean up this room before you leave it, Shikamaru,” came his father’s voice again, and he only nodded in response. 

   Seemingly satisfied, Shikaku closed the sitting room door again and left the two of them alone.

   “Guess that means I should go,” Zaki said softly, moving to stand and wincing again. He was on his feet immediately, holding his hand out for her and helping her stand slowly.

   “Thank you,” he finally murmured, voice raspy both from crying and having just woken up. “For… Everything, I guess,” he added, unable to stop himself and squeezing her fingers gently before letting her hand go.

   “Don’t mention it,” she said with a soft smile, reaching up to touch his cheek with her right hand again. He actually felt himself return it slightly, turning his face into her touch before they both went red in the face and she took a step back. 

   They blinked at each other for a moment before she hurriedly left the room, intending to go get ready for her appointment.

***

   "Shikamaru!"

   Kurenai's voice coming out her window brought him out of his thoughts, and he remembered why he had left his home in the first place. 

   "Hey, Kurenai-sensei-"

   "Please, drop the ‘sensei’," she said tiredly, motioning him inside. "I don't think I'll be returning to shinobi life any time soon," she added with a small motion to her stomach. 

   "Alright, Kurenai-sama," he corrected with a small smirk, making her hit him in the shoulder as she shut the door behind him.

   "Thank you," she practically whispered from behind him, making his smirk drop a little. She was still hurting; hell, so was he. He wondered if that pain would ever ease. "So, what brings you here?"

   "Mostly avoiding my parents and teammates," he answered easily, removing his sandals before stepping further into her home. "Being fussed over is such a drag."

   "Tell me about it," she agreed, her small smile at him not quite reaching her eyes. "And what about that girl? You let her do any of the fussing?" She poured them both the tea she had been brewing as they sat at her table, and he held the cup just so he'd have something to do with his fingers.

   "W-what girl?" He already knew exactly who she was referring to, but something about his pride prevented him from admitting to anything.

   "The one that's been living with your clan, despite not being a member, since she was a genin? I believe she's your father's student? Hair the color of caramelized honey, eyes that reflect the sky you're so fond of staring at?"

   "What's your point, woman," he deadpanned, staring at her. He hadn't actually thought that about Zaki, but now that Kurenai had said them...

   "I read the report of how the fight went," she answered, a shadow seeming to pass over her face. "She sacrificed her shoulder to try and keep Asuma alive, and to protect you, you know that, right?"

   "Me? Why would she-"

   "Oh, Shikamaru, you're not really that dense," she sighed, resting her chin on her palm as she eyed him. "She did it to try and keep Asuma alive because she knew of my condition. She was at the hospital for her medical ninjutsu training when I found out. She did it for you because-"

   "Stop," he said, closing his eyes as he turned his head away from her. "I don't-... No I can't hear that right now," he sighed, head dropping slightly. "Those were... Some of Asuma's last words to me. This evening I'm hoping will help me come to terms with it a little more."

   "This evening?" He looked back at her as her eyebrow rose in curiosity. "What's this evening?"

   "That's actually why I'm here." He took a sip of his tea before continuing. "Kashizaki knows our family jutsu." He paused at Kurenai's slight gasp, eyeing her as she sat up straight. He guessed she thought they were going to kill Zaki, so he rushed to continue. "We're going to have her swear the oath to the clan and our tradition this evening. And because of how... Unconventional it's going to be, I thought you should be the Sarutobi representative for her to receive the earrings from. Besides, you... Kind of still have them here. In Asuma's things."

   "But I never married-"

   "Doesn't matter," he interrupted, shaking his head. "You and the baby are still part of the family, you know Asuma and the Third would agree."

   "Sh-shikamaru..." His eyes widened when he saw tears gather in her eyes. Damn, so many tears lately, he thought, unable to stop himself as he reached out and touched her hand on her cup of tea.

   "Please don't, I've had my fill of tears lately," he murmured, and to his surprise, she actually laughed. There was a warmth in her eyes he hadn't seen since before the suppression mission, despite her tears.

   "You really do listen to her, don't you," she said, shifting to return his touch on her hand. "Makes sense, I imagine she talks about things like this around you to other people often. You two are rarely apart as it is, and she's the type to reach out if she felt someone needed it. For a shinobi, she's incredibly in tune with emotions."

   "Yeah, well, I usually have little choice; as you said, we rarely have time apart from each other," he said, his other hand reaching up to rub the back of his head. 

   "Well, I'd be honored to be the one to present the newest member of your family with her earrings," she said with a growing smile. Shikamaru's face turned about as red as her eyes as he pulled his hand away, letting it join his other one behind his head as he looked away from her. 

   "Sh-she's not-"

   "Not yet," Kurenai corrected, her smirk actually infecting her voice when he didn't bother to speak up again. "This is just the precursor to the next oath she'll be taking, that's all."

   "Yeah, right," he sighed, standing from the table. "Thank you for the tea, I'll see you later; I have to go find Ino and Chouji before they try tracking me down."

   "So when were you planning to give my earrings back anyway, son?"

   Shikamaru cringed a little as his father's voice came from his open doorway. He'd cracked the door slightly after finishing changing into his more formal kimono for the ceremony, having decided to spend the remaining time until his father came to get him on his hair. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get very far, having only just untied his hair to shake it out when his father appeared.

   "Not like you were going to wear them; you wear Grampa's for the most part now, don't you? Did before you gave those earrings to me, anyway."

   "That wasn't what I asked," came the surprisingly lighthearted reply. It caused Shikamaru to whip around to actually look at his father's face directly, rather than side-eyeing him through the mirror. The slight smirk on his face nearly made him walk over to him and pull on his goatee.

   "Well it's the answer you got," he retorted, narrowing his eyes at his father.

   "Which means you hadn't intended to give me those earrings back. The earrings I got from Lord Third."

   "Which you gave to me when I graduated from the academy."

   "You were supposed to give them back when you became chunin, but due to the gap between when you and your teammates were promoted, we agreed to wait until Asuma gave you your new ones."

   "Yeah, well, I guess Asuma just held onto them," Shikamaru finally shrugged, turning to look away from his father again. The mention of his late sensei still rubbed his nerves raw, especially since the ceremony they were getting ready to perform was constantly reminding him of those last words spoken to him on Asuma's final breath of life.

***

    "Shikamaru... With your razor sharp intellect, you have the instincts of a great shinobi," whispered Asuma, struggling to breathe through his wounds. The numbness in Shikamaru's chest had spread to his limbs, as he hardly felt himself rest his hand on his sensei's chest, attempting to lean closer to hear him speak better. "Truly worthy of becoming Hokage, but you'd probably avoid it, since you'd find it such a drag. And that girl..." He trailed off as he actually turned his head a little, towards where Kashizaki was laying with Izumo and Kotetsu leaning over her. She was speaking to them, wincing every few words as she adjusted her shoulder and attempted to heal herself with her own medical ninjutsu. Shikamaru only glanced towards her briefly before looking back down at Asuma. "Don't lose her, Shikamaru. She understands the King and Will of Fire better than either of us ever could, and she wasn't even born here."

***

    Don't lose her, yeah right, Shikamaru inwardly scoffed. I've been stuck with her since we were 12, only being away from her for missions where a jonin was actively required to accompany us.

   "It's alright, Shikamaru," came the surprisingly soft response from his father. "With this ceremony being... Unconventional and technically unofficial, those earrings weren't going to come back to me after this anyway. They're going to be a symbol of... Well, a lot of things, some I don't think either of you are ready to understand yet. And no," he added when Shikamaru spun towards him again. "I'm not talking about whatever relationship the two of you have."

   "Th-there's no-"

   "Stop," clipped his father, holding up his hand. "I think the only one that thinks that is you, son. Your teammates would agree with me on this, and you know that."

   Groaning, Shikamaru only put his face in his hands before shoving his fingers into his hair, trying to quell the rising embarrassment from having this conversation with his father.

   "Ultimately," Shikaku continued, and Shikamaru felt his eyes on his back as he spoke. "What you do with your connection to her is up to you. Just remember there's no shame in seeking comfort during times of pain, especially from the ones you love."

   "This is so weird," Ino murmured, taking her time while braiding Zaki's hair for her. Zaki was going to be dressed in her normal ninja attire - her asymmetrical navy jacket with her clan symbol on the back and her black shirt and leggings - as a symbol of her oath of protection, but everyone else involved was dressed up a little.

   "Tell me about it," Zaki answered, adjusting her jacket. It still didn't quite sit right on her shoulder, since she wasn't healed yet. "I don't even fully understand what's going on, besides swearing an oath to protect the Nara clan, which I was already kind of intending to do anyway?"

   "This oath extends to our clans, and your connection to us," Chouji chimed in between munches of his chips. He’d been allowed into her room after she’d finished getting dressed, Shikamaru having told him he wanted to be alone to think while he got ready. "And I mean specifically us, like me and Ino. This would basically make you a 4th member of our formation, in the eyes of our family history."

   "Oh, I mean I kind of already was like that?" She tilted her head slightly as she turned toward him, and Ino finished tying her hair in place for her before handing her her headband. 

   "Yeah, but not via an oath. If it were just for the Nara clan, Chouji and I wouldn't be here because this would've just been between you, Shikaku-sama, and Shikamaru," she said, watching as Zaki struggled to lift her arm to tie her headband in place before reaching up and doing it for her. "Which would've basically just been a betrothal ceremony, and I don-"

   "B-betrothal?!" Zaki's jump made Ino drop one end of the headband, and she couldn't help but laugh a little.

   "They're indoctrinating you into the family, Zaki, what else would it have been? Didn't you say you had a conversation like this with Shikaku-sama, and Shikamaru offered the oath?"

   "I-I mean, y-yeah, but that was-... That was about the jutsu!" Zaki spun toward her, her headband still not tied around her head yet as she eyed her friend. "So what's the reason behind this ceremony, including you two and Kurenai-sensei?"

   "Like I said," Chouji spoke up, trying to hide his smirk from his laughter. "You're taking an oath to protect all three of our clans, and being made an unofficial Nara in the process. If you were being made an official Nara, you would've had to get married or adopted first. This is a super unofficial ceremony that doesn't actually hold any weight that you can be punished by any enforcement, just by those you specifically wronged by breaking the oath. So basically, just the three of us, Kurenai-sensei - and, by extension, her baby, I guess - and Shikaku-sama."

   "If Shikaku-sama wasn't involving himself, though, this would technically be-"

   "Ino, cut it out," Chouji interrupted, actually laughing out loud this time. "You're going to give her heart palpitations."

   "Whaaat, I'm just trying to make it as clear to her as it is to us how obvious the two of them were made for each other," Ino shrugged, and Zaki immediately felt her face turn red. 

   "If Shikaku-sensei weren't involved, this would effectively be a proposal from Shikamaru, wouldn't it," she murmured, making Ino laugh in the process.

   "See? She's just as smart as he is; made for each other!"

   "Aren't we a little-"

   "Young? Oh hell yeah you are, sister, that's why it's an unofficial ceremony to have you remember that even if you and Shikamaru don't end up together, you're still one of us, and welcome in any of our families at any time you need anything," Ino said, smiling as she tapped Zaki's nose in the process. "Now let me finally tie this damn thing around your head for you so we can get going!"

   The look on her face as she walked with his father towards the shrine where he stood almost made his knees buckle. Her eyes lit up in wonder as she took in the sights of the shrine; the lit candles and torches around to make the shadows dance in the lowering sunlight and flickering fire light was customary in ceremonies like this, but the way it gave her hair and eyes a red hue reminded him of what Kurenai had said about her when he'd been at her house.

    "Hair the color of caramelized honey, eyes that reflect the sky you're so fond of staring at?" He could hear her chuckle as he thought it, and he glanced over at the red-eyed jonin, only to catch her smirk as she eyed him in turn. She nodded back towards Zaki, making him look back towards her as the young ninja in question took her final steps towards them.

   "Kashizaki Hyakukusari," Shikamaru began, swallowing as he said her full name, something he hadn't had to do in a long time. "You've been summoned here this evening to take an oath; one normally reserved for the ninja making up the Ino-Shika-Chou formation, but this has a few... Other things tacked onto it." He took a deep breath to try and keep his face from turning red as he watched her face seemingly darken in the firelight around them. "This oath, symbolized by piercings you will receive as this ceremony ends, will be what binds you to us," he added, motioning his hand towards his two teammates behind where he stood. "As well as binding you to my family specifically," he continued, now motioning towards his father who now stood behind Kurenai. "Your actions a little over a week ago, your physical sacrifice to try and prevent harm from coming to me," he paused, glancing at her still-injured shoulder. "They proved even further just how devoted you are to protecting and maintaining this village, and this clan." He turned toward Kurenai as he spoke the last sentence. "As such, I have asked Kurenai-sama to provide you with the symbol that will physically bind you to this oath you're already working to uphold."

   "These earrings," Kurenai began, stepping forward so she was directly in front of Zaki, holding her hands out so the hooped jewelry was sitting in her palm for Zaki to see. "They represent the promise being whispered in your ear throughout your time as a genin. Obviously, we're a little past that," she added with a small glance toward Shikaku. "But the symbolism behind receiving them at all is what we're going for here. You came to the village late, yet you have proven time and time again what you've been willing to do to help. Your advice and encouragement actually helped in deciding to make Chouji and Ino both chunin alongside you. You've already more than indoctrinated yourself into the Ino-Shika-Chou formation, learning extremely quickly how to use your own family jutsu to help them out; slingshotting Chouji and immobilizing enemies for Ino and Shikamaru as well as protecting all of them with those same chains. And your sacrifice," she finally added, also looking toward Zaki's injured shoulder. "Your attempt to keep Asuma alive, to take his plan to sacrifice himself... However futile, because he was a stubborn, stubborn man, was admirable, Kashizaki." Unable to help herself, she reached forward and pulled the girl into a hug, which was quickly returned equally as tight. "Thank you," Kurenai whispered before pulling back, swallowing to keep her tears at bay, especially when she saw Zaki's eyes filled with them. 

   "Take the pain from the piercings as your reminder for the pain you have already, and will continue to endure during your time as a shinobi tied to these families," Shikamaru spoke up, stepping forward to take the earrings from Kurenai and pierce them into Zaki's earlobes. He couldn't help but smile slightly at how she hardly flinched.

   "I accept the burden of this oath, and will uphold it with pride," she said, looking up at him and maintaining eye contact as she spoke. "My found-family and friends, and the well being of the next generation of this village, will always be on the forefront of my mind as I fight to protect it and all of you." 

   His breath froze a little at her declaration; could he even say the same of that right now? His revenge plan burned in the back of his mind, reminding him that he was putting his own feelings before the village's. But the longer he looked into her eyes, the more he thought that stopping those two Akatsuki held more than just a revenge plan. And with her and his teammates by his side, he was sure they weren't going to walk to their deaths like part of him worried they might. 

   Putting Kakuzu and Hidan in the ground was for the good of the village first and foremost. There was just an added bonus of avenging Asuma along with it.

Chapter Text

   The feeling of both Ino and Chouji hugging her at the same time lingered as she made her way to the backyard alone. The moon was high, and her ears still kind of stung from her fresh piercings, but her mind and body were warm with the happiness of the evening still permeating her. 

   After having said good night to everyone, and watching as Ino, Chouji, and Kurenai left, she excused herself from Shikaku and Shikamaru so she could have a few moments alone to think. The koi pond rippled the reflection of the moon as she sat and stared at it for a while before shifting so she was laying on her back to look at the moon proper, sprawled out on the grass as she listened to the water shift as the fish swam around in it. 

   She was finally, fully accepted into the family; at least, by Shikaku and Shikamaru. Yoshino hadn’t had much to do with this ceremony, but she’d been present without saying or doing anything, just there in support of her husband. Zaki hoped that their talk at the hospital when she was first promoted to chunin still held true; it wasn’t like they went out of their ways to speak to each other, they just no longer avoided each other like they used to.

   Ino and Chouji’s immediate acceptance, as soon as the ceremony was over, still filled her with warmth. They hugged her at the same time, Chouji going as far as to refer to her as ‘little sister’ as he kept his arm over her shoulder and reached out with the other one to pull Shikamaru into the hug. She didn’t miss the darkening of Shikamaru’s cheeks as he mumbled about how troublesome the whole situation was, yet he still slung his arms over his teammates shoulders as he faced Zaki directly. Shikaku broke them up shortly after, citing the late hour and how they could hang out more in the morning.

   She didn’t look to see which one of them entered the backyard after a moment, her gaze still on the night sky as she let her mind work through the details of the night. Whoever it was must not have realized she was out there at first, because she heard their footsteps stop on the patio outside the sitting room, as if shocked to find her out there on the grass.

   “You know, your bed’s probably more comfortable than the ground,” Shikamaru deadpanned, and she laughed as she turned her head to give him a short glance before returning to her original position to look at the moon.

   “That’s probably true, but then I’d miss out on this,” she said, lifting her left hand toward the moon. “It’s as present as the sun, yet easier on the eyes.”

   “And doesn’t always come with that incessant heat,” he agreed, moving to sit against one of the supporting beams on the patio of the house.

   She hummed in response, content to let the silence between them stretch out as she kept her eyes on the moon and thought about what to say next. 

   “So who’s idea was tonight?” Zaki shifted her head to look at him again, despite the pull in her neck making her shoulder ache slightly.

   “Dad’s,” Shikamaru answered easily, waving his hand slightly. “Those are technically his earrings you’re wearing, and they were mine when I first graduated the academy.”

   “Oh, these are the earrings you had when I first met you,” she murmured, shifting to sit up and face him as her hand came up to touch one of them.

   “He said something about them being used to represent a lot of things, some of which we won’t fully understand for a while, but I somehow doubt that,” he scoffed, shifting to bring his knee up and rest his arm on it as his gaze remained on the pond to her right.

   “Is that your way of saying you understand it all already, or that you have no intention of trying to understand it all?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and snickered slightly when he shot her a soft glare before closing his eyes.

   “Hard to say.” She was shocked he actually answered honestly. “After that night, when we passed out from crying, things have been…”

   “Weird?” She supplied when he trailed off, and she got a small shrug in response.

   “I guess, for lack of a better word. Feelings are…”

   “Troublesome?” She finished for him again, and this time he gave her an exasperated look, making her giggle slightly as his face reddened.

   “Would you stop that? I’m trying to think here!”

   “But isn’t that our whole dynamic? You run into roadblocks in your thought process, and I give you something to clear or go around it?” She gave him a smirk this time, and fully laughed out loud when the look on his face told her she’d fully derailed his train of thought.

   “Zaki, I…” He finally spoke when her laughter died down, but his eyes stayed on the pond to her right as he continued. “I hope you know I can’t imagine my life without you anymore.”

   “You won’t have to,” she murmured back quietly, easily. “But you have… More important things to take care of.” She paused when he finally looked at her, his eyebrow raising as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. “We can hash out whatever these feelings are once Kakuzu and Hidan are dealt with.”

   The way his face paled as he stared at her would’ve made her laugh if she wasn’t aware of how heavy her statement actually was.

   “Once you’ve finalized the plan, let me know when you intend to leave so I can cover for you with Shikaku-sensei and Tsunade-sama-”

   “No,” he interrupted, standing up and walking to her, dropping to his knees so he was eye level with her. “You’re involved in this. You’re helping me with Hidan,” he said, reaching forward to put both his hands on her shoulders. “I need you for this, Kashizaki,” he continued, leaning forward a little to make the eye contact more intense. “He nearly took you from me, and did take Asuma-sensei from us. You’re helping me get rid of him. I can’t do it without you.”

   “Shikamaru,” she whispered, her hands coming up to touch his wrists as she kept her eyes on his. “I don’t want to take-”

   “You’re not taking any satisfaction from me by helping,” he interrupted, still leaning forward into her space as he spoke, though his hands slid down from her shoulders to her arms as he did, making her drop her hands from his. “You’re integral to the plan with Hidan. Please,” he murmured, actually resting his forehead against hers now.

   “Okay,” she practically mouthed, hardly able to get her voice to work; her throat was tight from their proximity. His hands came up and cupped both her cheeks in response, fingers brushing against her newly pierced ears as they did. “I’ll follow you wherever you need me, Shika,” she vowed, watching as his eyes glittered in the moonlight, wet from her declaration of devotion. 

   She wasn’t sure which one of them finally leaned in first, but the way Shikamaru’s fingers tensed on her face to hold her in place as their lips moved together in a soft kiss would’ve made her collapse if she wasn’t already on the ground. And as their kisses progressed, their weight and position shifted until she was on her back on the grass again, Shikamaru only just barely keeping his full weight off her as they touched from hip to shoulder, lips still meeting every few moments after taking breaths between each kiss. 

   “Shika,” she finally murmured between one of their kisses, only to be met with another one. “Dear,” she tried again, only to get a hum in acknowledgment as she turned her head, his lips meeting the corner of her mouth instead. “Shikamaru.” He finally pulled back enough to look at her face when she fully said his name, and her hand met his cheek as if to keep some kind of extra intimate connection.

   “I feel like we’ve been in this position before,” he murmured, and they both chuckled lightly as her thumb stroked his cheek.

   “Yes, the sense of deja vu was unmissable,” she agreed, and he offered her an actual open smile as he shifted to lay his head on her shoulder. They laid in easy silence together like that, her eyes on the moon and stars before she spoke again. “We probably shouldn’t muddy the waters further.”

   He lifted his head to fix her with a confused look, and her thumb stroked his cheek again as she gave him a small, lopsided smile.

   “I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. We should head to bed, have this conversation after we’ve slept and then dealt with Hidan-”

   “No,” he interrupted, eyes blazing as he narrowed them at her. “The last time someone said ‘we’ll talk about this later,’ he died in front of me.”

   Her heart broke at the look of vulnerability on his face, and she sighed a little as she closed her eyes and relaxed fully against the ground again.

   “Okay, we can talk; go ahead, get out what’s on your mind.”

   He shifted his weight off her, instead laying on the ground next to her, and while she already missed the warmth of having him against her, she guessed he was having as much trouble forming coherent thoughts as she was while he was pressed against her.

   The silence stretched between them, and she tossed a brief glance at him to see his brow furrowed as he thought, so she left him to it; he would speak when he was ready, and she wasn’t sure she was ready herself anyway.

   After all, had she even thought through what the hell was happening? How much of this is just the two of us being teenagers? How much is build up from grief, and how much is riding the high of the ceremony from tonight? What if it’s one sided, or if this changes everything between us and not for the better? Ino is always saying we’re made for each other, how much of that is really true? She’s been picking on us about something like this for over 2 years at this point, since just before the chunin exams that got all three of us promoted, maybe she sees something I don’t?

   “Kashizaki.” Shikamaru’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she turned her head toward him. He still had his eyes on the sky above them, but he continued to speak. “I think I said it best earlier; I can’t imagine my life without you in it anymore.”

   “...Is that the simplest way you can think of to say you love me without actually saying those words?”

   “W-well when you put it like that-” The blush that reddened his face made her laugh as she shifted to lay on her side, holding her head up with her left hand.

   “It’s fine, I get it,” she placated, reaching forward and touching his cheek to make him look at her. “Feelings are complicated, and words don’t always work to get the point across. Which makes it suck for people like us, who put a lot of value behind words because it’s how we prefer to express our thoughts. I might be able to say this, but if I were asked to say how I felt about you, I don’t think I could do it. I could say something like ‘I trust him with my life,’ or ‘I’d follow him wherever he asked me to go,’ and to me, that still feels like it’s missing something. But saying ‘I love you’ plainly and openly feels like it’s leaving a part of you vulnerable and unguarded, and still just seems like it’s lacking what really needs to be said. The truth is, I don’t know that I have all the words necessary to express what this conversation was meant to.”

   “I don’t think I do, either,” he whispered, reaching up to take her hand in his and shifting so he was also on his side, facing her and propping his head up. “This is such a drag,” he finally groaned, rolling his eyes as he looked down at their hands. “Stupid emotions.”

   “You’re allowed to have them, fuck whatever our training says about that shit,” she said, smiling slightly when he blinked at her in surprise. “Stoicism is only useful for high stakes situations.”

   “Our entire lives are high stakes, Zaki,” he deadpanned, and she rolled her eyes at him.

   “Yeah? You think someone’s just going to show up and assassinate us, right here and now? Just a couple of teenagers laying together and enjoying the moonlight in each others’ presence?”

   “We’re not just a couple of teenagers, though,” he countered, raising his eyebrow. “We’re the Jonin Commander’s son and student, on top of being the two best strategists of this generation. Killing me would put a wrench in the Nara clan’s inheritance, and killing you could spell disaster for the Leaf as a whole.”

   “All the more reason to say fuck it; if we bottle up our emotions too much, we’ll only end up killing ourselves and saving our enemies the trouble.”

   “And if we let them out too often, we make dumb, irrational decisions-”

   “Like devising a revenge plan against two seemingly immortal Akatsuki?” She raised her eyebrow and watched as he narrowed his eyes at her.

   “Yes, exactly like that.”

   “Are you going to give up your plan?”

   “Not a chance.”

   “Are you worried you’re going to fail or mess it up?”

   “No.” She was shocked at how readily he answered that question, but didn’t show it as she pressed on.

   “Then I don’t see why letting your emotions out is a bad thing, if you’re so sure you’ll succeed.”

   “I guess you’re right,” he conceded, and she flashed him a smile before he leaned in and kissed her again, this time with the clear intention of disarming and melting her as his hand let go of hers and instead pushed her shoulder gently so she was on her back again.

Chapter Text

   Crickets and frogs chirping filled the night air as Shikamaru attached his utility belt around his waist. He hadn’t really wanted to sneak out of the village this way, but he also knew the Fifth wouldn’t exactly be willing to just let him go with Ino and Chouji to hunt down two Akatsuki members. 

   Putting Asuma’s trench knives into a holster on his leg, and a longer knife on the small of his back, he pulled out the lighter he’d kept from Asuma and flicked the flint to light it.

   “You ready to head out?” Ino said from his right as he looked into the flame.

   “Let’s go, Shikamaru,” came Chouji’s affirmation on his left. “Wait, you didn’t ask Zaki to come?”

   “I didn’t want to risk her with her shoulder still sore,” Shikamaru answered easily. “She has her own phase of the plan, you’ll see.”

   “You totally kissed her after the ceremony, didn’t you,” Ino teased, and he shot her an exasperated look in response.

   “You’re just as troublesome as she is.”

   "That's not a no," she sing-songed, only to be interrupted.

   “I could say the same about all three of you!” 

   There she is; I figured this would happen, Shikamaru thought, sighing as he turned around to face her with his team.

   “Oh, Mi’lady!” Ino greeted, seemingly shocked that Tsunade would be out at this time before sunrise.

   “You going somewhere?” Tsunade raised her eyebrow as she stood firm in front of them.

   “Your mission directive still stands, right? I’ve just assembled a new team; we’re going ahead with the mission,” Shikamaru answered, squaring his stance as he faced her.

   “Not without my approval, you’re not! Shikamaru, you will be assigned to a troop of my choosing, and only when we have a solid plan of attack in place!”

   “Listen, just send some reinforcements after us. The f- three of us have already worked out our own strategy.” He hoped she hadn’t caught his slip up; Zaki’s inclusion in his plan was purely in his family’s forest, she technically wouldn’t even be in any danger if his plan worked, so she didn’t need to be included in anything Tsunade was saying here.

   “I’ve heard enough!” Ino and Chouji both jumped at her outburst, but Shikamaru hardly flinched, having expected this from her. “Asuma is dead. There’s only three of you.”

   “That’s not true; Asuma is still with us,” he countered.

   “You’re after vengeance then, are you?! This isn’t like you at all! Are you so eager to die?”

   “We’re not stupid, Lady Hokage. We have no intention of running straight to our deaths, believe me. It’s just…” He trailed off, heaving a sigh as he looked down at the lighter in his hand before locking eyes with her again. “We don’t want to run away and just go on living without fulfilling our duty.” He paused as he flicked open the lighter and lit it again. “We aren’t going to live without meaning. That’s why we’re going.”

   “Grow up you three,” she said, gaze softening as she looked at them. “The shadow of death hangs over us all. Some deaths may be harder to accept than others, but unless you can get past that, there can be no future!”

   “Accepting death has nothing to do with growing up,” Shikamaru said, taking a step forward as he closed the lighter. “We’re expected to just watch it happen and move past it. Expected to deal with our grief as efficiently as possible and just live with it. Well it isn’t fair. Loss may be a part of our lives, a bigger part than most others due to how we live it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or clean to deal with. But that doesn’t mean it has to be messy, and a hindrance either. You pick up the pieces left behind, and reshape them into a tool you can use.”

   “That is a dangerous line of thinking, Shikamaru-”

   “You’d be right, if I were alone,” he conceded, shrugging as he flicked the lid of the lighter open and closed again. “But I’m not. I have Ino and Chouji with me here. I have Kashizaki and my parents at home. I have the village to keep me on the right path. All of you help me make sure I’ll be making the right tools to use with the grief and pain that comes from loss."

   “...You actually listen to her when she speaks, don’t you,” Tsunade said softly, and he raised his eyebrow at her, but didn’t answer. “If you’d brought her with you, I may have been more inclined to let you go-”

   “Guess you’ll just have to stick me on the case, then,” Kakashi’s voice interrupted her, making them all turn toward him. “Let me take over as Team 10s leader and go with them so they have their fourth man, you know they’re going to go anyway,” he continued, walking up to Tsunade and leaning in, mumbling something Shikamaru couldn’t quite catch.

   He kept his gaze even as he locked eyes with the Hokage, and watched as she flicked her eyes between him and his teammates as the sun rose. After a few beats like that, she shook her head and sighed.

   “Fine, then,” she conceded, putting her hands on her hips.

   “But Kakashi-sensei, what about Naruto?” Shikamaru looked toward Kakashi as he asked.

   “He doesn’t need me right now, and he has another squad leader with him anyway,” he shrugged, raising his bandaged hand and getting a gasp of shock from Ino. “Oh, don’t worry about this; it’s nothing. Team Asuma, let’s go!”

   “Thanks, Kakashi; we owe you one,” Shikamaru murmured as they turned to head down the path away from the village.

   “Shizune, for our worst case scenario, look over the roster; put together a list of squads that work well with Team 10.”

   “Yes, Mi’lady!”

   “Oh, and send Shikaku in here; I want to ask him where his student disappeared to after her last treatment two days ago.”

   "We need to separate them," Shikamaru said, crouching behind Kakashi as he checked over his teammates. 

   "If we're to do that, we'll need someone to stall Hidan," Kakashi countered, glancing between their two opponents. 

   "I'll do it!" Ino's offer came from behind him, and Shikamaru turned his head to look at her as she stood. "I have the most chakra stored up right now, since I was hiding during the initial fight."

   "No chance," Shikamaru denied, shaking his head. "Your Mind Jutsus are primarily combo jutsus, used after the enemy's immobile. Since I don't exactly have the chakra to hold them for long, and Zaki isn't here," he emphasized, raising his eyebrow a little at his teammates to try and convey his plan to them without saying so. "You miss, and you won't return to your body for several minutes. It's too risky."

   "Then I'll take care of it," Chouji insisted, stepping forward a little. 

   "Still no, big guy," Shikamaru sighed a little. "You'd die the moment he nicked you once with that giant scythe of his and got even a little of your blood. Instead, you stay here and store up chakra to help Kakashi-sensei fight Kakuzu." He took a deep breath as he nodded to his teammates before turning to face the two Akatsuki demons in front of them. "I'll trap him myself."

   "Go," Kakashi said, holding his hand out. "I'll leave it to you, Shikamaru." Nodding, Shikamaru took the ampule filled with Kakuzu's blood without them seeing, seemingly just taking Kakashi's hand for a brief moment before walking away from them.

   Zaki wanted so badly to just spin her chains idly while she waited, but knew she couldn't risk making any noise. She and Shikamaru had scouted this place out for almost 2 days together, determining where she should wait and what cue she should wait for while digging the hole Shikamaru was going to lure Hidan over for her to shove him into. All that was left now was to wait for the two of them to come to the small clearing. And she hated waiting. 

   What if he never showed? What if I never hear from him again? Shikamaru said only wait in the forest for 24 hours before leaving, how long had it been? Only a few, right? Her mind raced as she stared up at the leaves above her as she lounged on a branch of the tree, occasionally glancing down to the forest floor when she heard footsteps or munching from the nearby deer. Fuck, this is so stressful.

   Her sharp intake of air was masked by the sound of footsteps (she hoped, anyway) as she sat up. They should’ve still been far enough away to not hear her shift on the branch, but she remained still after that, listening to Hidan’s berating voice as they came into view.

   "Where are we going, anyway," he asked, his voice far too light-hearted for what was in store for him.

   Shikamaru, ever the stoic when he wasn't alone with her, didn't speak. Instead, he threw kunai into trees, scattering the wires with paper bombs on them throughout the forest. She watched him work, and bit her lip when she watched his shadow retreat from Hidan's as his chakra ran thin.

   "So, that shadow bullshit of yours only lasts around 5 minutes, huh? You really should've worked on your stamina, kid," Hidan chuckled, shaking his head. "Especially now that it's just the two of us," he continued, his chuckle rising into laughter. "That works for me!" His collapsible spear extended as he spoke, and she watched as he swiped it at Shikamaru. Her heart stopped when she saw blood spatter, but she took a deep breath as she remembered what the plan was. It wasn't his blood, you know that, dummy.

   She and Shikamaru both watched, seemingly paralyzed as Hidan laughed maniacally at him, licking the baton-like spear of the blood on it and letting his jutsu take hold. Shikamaru even let some fear creep into his eyes, which in turn made some shoot down her spine, as Hidan sliced his hand and let his blood hit the forest floor, drawing that cursed symbol with his foot. Her shoulder throbbed with a phantom pain as she watched; it was fully healed and capable of being used extensively again, thanks to Shizune and Lady Tsunade, but the memory of feeling it rip apart as she tackled Hidan before still was so fresh.

   "Everything's ready," Hidan laughed, raising his spear. "Now, die!" 

   She timed getting fully to her feet with Shikamaru's faux scream of pain as Hidan stabbed himself in the heart, attempting to kill Shikamaru in the process. Crouching on her branch, she waited until Shikamaru fell forward and murmured Asuma's name before she moved.

   “Now it’s your turn!” She screamed, needing to move before Hidan released his curse jutsu. “Steel Style: Drilling Gauntlet!” After her hand sign as she flew through the air, she pulled her right fist back, letting her chains wrap and begin spinning around her arm. As soon as she got within range, she swung her fist, connecting the drilling chains into Hidan’s chest and shoving down as hard she could, trying to force her chains fully through his body as he fell backwards, attempting to connect him to the ground. She closed her mouth against the blood spatter, closing one of her eyes as well as she listened to Hidan’s screams of pain.

   Once she was sure he was locked in place by her chains, she blinked open her eye and pulled her hand out of the mass in front of her. Hidan was shockingly still standing, his head lolling to the side as if unconscious - she knew he wasn’t dead - and a giant mass of chains through his chest and hanging down his back. The part that had solidified into the gauntlet that protected her hand stuck out the middle of his chest toward her, and she grimaced as she watched blood drip out from around it.

   Zaki glanced down at herself, feeling her stomach twist at the sight of blood all down her front; normally blood wouldn’t bother her, but knowing this was the blood of the demon who took one of the men she admired from her made her sick. 

   “You okay, Shikamaru?”

   “Uh, yeah.” His voice seemed small, and she glanced over at him before turning to him fully; the wide eyed look on his face would’ve made her laugh if the situation were any different. 

   “I don’t understand how he’s standing, but-”

   She was cut off by a sluggish swipe toward her neck that she ducked under; she would not be grabbed like that for a third time!

   “Rude!” Having rolled under the swipe and stopped next to where Shikamaru was crouched on the ground, she nodded to him to pull the wire trap he’d set, tying Hidan up as he pulled it taut.

   “Oh, I’m rude?” Hidan’s incredulous voice carried as he was lifted off the ground in the shadow and paper bomb wire trap. “You put a hole in my chest! How did you survive our last encounter, anyway? Didn’t you kill yourself by attacking me last time?”

   “Obviously not,” Zaki scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Your partner’s right, you really are an idiot.”

   “And he never shuts up,” Shikamaru chimed in, spearing a kunai into the mark that made the hole under where Hidan was hanging collapse into the pit they had dug. 

   “How are you alive?!” Hidan questioned again, eyes blazing with anger despite his immobility.

   “It was all a fake out," Shikamaru said, reaching up and wiping the blood off his cheek to reveal no injury. "That blood you swallowed? Your partner's blood. You stabbed one of his hearts, not mine. And, since you never left your little curse mark on the ground," he added, motioning toward the pit where the bloody circle had been. "All that damage you just took went straight to Kakuzu. I'm sure that really helped our friends back there, wouldn't you say, Zaki?"

   “Yeah, I tried to do as much damage as I could since I don’t know anything about how Kakuzu functions other than he can detach and extend his arms,” she shrugged. “Glad he just sat there and let me do it, too; probably because he believed it would’ve been done to you.”

   “You two will pay for this,” Hidan cursed, glaring at each of them. “You’ll never learn your clan history now, little girl.”

   “Don’t worry, I can find more reliable sources than a loudmouth idiot who just got trapped in the woods by two teenaged chunin,” she scoffed, waving her hand at him as she turned away from him. 

   “Why you little-”

   “When you curse someone, who dig two graves,” Shikamaru interrupted, making her look at him briefly before closing her eyes. “You know what that means?” She heard him flick open the lid of Asuma’s lighter. “You cursed and killed my mentor… So that hole… That’s your grave you’re hanging over,” he gritted out. She heard him flick the flint a couple of times, and she opened her eyes to look at him again but stopped when she saw the deer approaching them.

   “Shika,” she murmured, reaching over and tugging on his sleeve gently. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she meant him or the deer, and she heard him chuckle as he must’ve thought the same.

   “I guess I should tell you,” he continued, looking at Hidan again. “Should you somehow survive all of this, and chew your disfigured ass out of this hole, you still won’t be able to leave. This forest is sacred ground to my clan, and the deer here will always allow us to keep an eye on this place. Only those in my family or with our permission are allowed in and out,” he added, glancing at Zaki before taking a deep breath. 

   Shikamaru flicked the lighter open again, staring down at it as he tuned out Hidan’s crazed and angry curses in their direction. He felt Zaki reach up and kiss his cheek at the same time a phantom weight came down on his right shoulder, and he flicked the flint of the lighter, igniting it finally.

   “You understand now, right, Shikamaru? My Will of Fire… It’s yours.” Asuma’s voice echoed in his ears, and he closed his eyes briefly as a sense of peace washed over him.

   “Yeah, I understand, Sensei,” he whispered, and he felt Zaki squeeze his left shoulder as he spoke. “It’s… The will to protect the village, and the next generation.” He felt her hand slide down his arm and into his, lacing their fingers together as he tossed the lighter toward Hidan’s cocooned body. Their hands squeezed together as the explosion allowed for Hidan’s body parts to rain down into the hole below.

   “Lord Jashin will have your heads for this! You’ll be forced to repent with your lives!” The mangled and broken cries of Hidan carried up from the bottom of the pit, and Zaki scoffed as she turned her head away from the hole. 

   “Man, you’d think being ripped to shreds would’ve stopped your damn crusade,” she said, just loud enough that Shikamaru was sure the demon had heard.

   “We all believe in many things,” he started, trying to get a word in before Hidan could say anything. “However, it seems your god can’t save you now. Which means I will hand down your punishment,” he added, pulling out a kunai with a paper bomb on it and spearing it into the opposite wall of the hole to make it start collapsing. 

   He stepped back as Zaki shook her head, and watched as she used a small earth release to get more earth to cover the hole as Hidan’s empty threats became more and more muffled. When she took her own step back in line with him, his arm came around her shoulder and he pressed his lips to her temple as he pulled her closer to him.

   “Thank you,” he murmured into her hair as her arm wound around his waist, and he kept his eyes closed as he felt her squeeze him gently.

   “Any time,” she whispered back, shifting slightly. “I’d hug you properly, but I don’t want to get any of this fuck’s blood on you.”

   He chuckled as he let her go; one of the deer had caught his attention, hoofing at the ground nearby. Stepping toward it gently, he caught the metal glint and his breath caught in his throat as he crouched to pick it up and flicked it open, lighting it instantly. He released the breath in a short sob as he sat down heavily, watching the fire flicker.

   Shikamaru gasped slightly when he felt Zaki’s hand on his shoulder, instantly turning his face away from her to hide his tears despite the amount of times in the last week or so alone he’d cried in front of her. Her gentle squeeze but refusal to pry reminded him of that first night he’d come home after being healed of his minor injuries, after Asuma had died.

***

   The numbness in his chest had fully permeated his body as he stared at the skyline while flicking the lid of Asuma's lighter. His normally racing mind was slow, lagging as he stared; he just didn't want to think of anything anymore, and he was perfectly fine with that.

   The roof above his room actually proved to be a pretty good hiding spot from both his parents that evening, as he heard both of them call out to him, but he didn't move. He was sure his father would find him eventually, but he didn't really want to be bothered by his mother any time soon.

   The sun had long set when he heard footsteps behind him, making him shift his head, expecting to see his father there. The numbness in him didn't allow him to show the surprise he felt when he saw Zaki crouched there, her face still swollen from her injuries as well as bloodshot eyes from crying.

   "I'm not here to tell you what to do, just know you're not alone, Shikamaru," she murmured softly; so softly, that if he hadn't been listening, he wouldn't have heard it. He watched her hand reach out and touch his shoulder, and she squeezed gently, lingering a little before pulling back when he didn't react. She stood, adjusting her sling as she did, before jumping down off his roof to head into the house.

***

   Rather than letting her pull away, he reached up and put his hand over hers, though he still couldn't face her. This kind of pain... It was one that he felt he should process on his own. Knowing she was there behind him was enough to give him the strength to push through it. 

   Don't lose her, she understands the King and the Will of Fire better than either of us.

  He couldn't help but let out a scoffing laugh as he thought that; now he really understood why Asuma had said that to him. He reached up and wiped his tears from his face before turning to look back at Zaki, a faint smile on his face as he shifted his grip on her hand, signaling he was going to get up. She shifted her own grip, and pulled, probably expecting him to stop himself once he was on his feet, but he let himself be pulled fully into her instead, his free arm going around her shoulders as he did.

  "You're kind of a dork sometimes, you know that," she laughed, a blush traveling across her cheeks as she returned his slight smile while looking up at him.

  "Being serious all the time is such a drag," he replied, pressing a kiss to her temple again as they settled next to each other. "Let's get out of this forest, in case our backup is on the way. We can't just give out permission slips to the Nara Forest on a whim."

Chapter Text

   “Kashizaki, if you continue to try and wait on me hand and foot, I’ll-”

   “You’ll what, Kurenai-sama? Can’t use your chakra, it could harm the baby!” Zaki couldn’t help but giggle at the glare Kurenai sent her way as she placed her shoes in a way that would make it easier for her to slip into. “C’mon, we don’t want to be late for your appointment at the hospital.”

   “Oh, is that why you’ve been here since early this morning on your day off instead of spending it with Shikamaru?”

   “Well, that and Shikamaru has other plans today,” Zaki nodded, offering her hand to help Kurenai stand, only to have it pushed away in a huff as she stood on her own. “He doesn’t actually have today off; Lady Tsunade tasked him with trying to help decipher something, and he’s been all over the village trying to track down resources at Shiho’s request.”

   “Shiho? Isn’t she that young chunin in the Cipher Division?”

   “Yeah, that’s the one,” Zaki nodded, helping Kurenai down the stairs of her apartment complex and falling into step beside her.

   “And you’re not… Put off by that?”

   “What, that he’s spending time with a girl that clearly has a thing for him? He’s under orders, it’s not like he has much of a choice, and he’s not going to snub her for my sake; if she tries anything, I can’t say I blame her,” she shrugged, laughing a little. 

   “You are shockingly level headed about this,” Kurenai said, side-eyeing her as they slowly made their way to the hospital. She waved Zaki down to sit on a bench for a moment’s rest.

   “Why, because I’m not wildly jealous like Ino or Sakura would be?” At Kurenai’s nod, Zaki shrugged again. “I mean I can’t say it’s not affecting me at all; I know she’s intelligent, and that’s something Shikamaru finds attractive. I worry that the two of us spending all our time together could suffocate whatever relationship we do have. But I also know that with Shikamaru, the mission comes first unless lives are in danger, because the mission succeeding is his way of protecting the village. So if he were to ever develop any feelings for Shiho, he wouldn’t do anything with them unless he knew nothing else had priority; letting me know would be one of those priorities, and I feel like I know him well enough that I’d pick up on it before it got to that point.”

   “...Are you sure you’re only 16?”

   Zaki laughed as she helped Kurenai stand from the bench, resuming their trip to the hospital.

   “You’re definitely not the only one that’s asked me that. Well, what about you? You ever get jealous whenever Asuma had to spend any length of time with Anko or any of the other women closer to your age range?”

   “No, not really,” she shrugged. “But that’s mostly because we didn’t really have time to let things like that happen; our romantic life wasn’t exactly one that happened quickly or in any spectacular fashion. It was stolen moments in between missions, and quiet ones while our teams trained themselves.”

   “You say that like Shikamaru and I have all the time in the world,” Zaki countered, raising her eyebrow as they neared the hospital. 

   “You have a point,” Kurenai laughed. “I think you’ll be just fine, then, Kashizaki.”

   “Thanks,” she smiled, opening the door for her and helping her check in. 

   “Eh?! Kurenai-sensei?!” Naruto’s voice made them both look up from Zaki making it a point to keep Kurenai’s bag from out of her reach so she could carry it for her.

   “Shikamaru!” Zaki couldn’t help the smile that spread on her face, barely keeping herself from running at him and embarrassing them both. She didn’t miss the way he mirrored her smile on his face, either.

   “Zaki, she’s pregnant, not handicapped, she can carry her own bag,” he said with a chuckle, making Naruto do a double-take toward Kurenai’s stomach.

   “I just wanted to make sure she knows she’s taken care of,” she scoffed, still holding the bag out of reach as Kurenai made another swipe for it.

   “Believe me, between you and Shikamaru breathing down my neck every moment you’re not on duty, it’s hard to forget,” she grumbled, crossing her arms briefly before resting one of her hands on her belly. 

   “Sorry, I have a promise to Asuma to uphold,” Shikamaru said, shrugging. “Zaki’s just helping me do that when I can’t.”

   “A promise?” Naruto’s head tilted as he looked between Shikamaru and Kurenai. “What did Asuma-sensei ask of you?”

   “To teach their child everything I know, and to keep an eye on both of them for him,” he answered, nodding toward Kurenai. She offered him a soft smile in return.

   Zaki handed Kurenai her bag gently before walking over to Naruto, putting her hand on his shoulder to make him look at her.

   “Loss is part of our lives, Naruto. No matter how we choose to live it. It’s what we do with that loss that defines our future. And it’s up to us to make sure the future,” she paused, turning to motion toward Kurenai. “...Well, it’s our job to make sure there even is one.”

   “Having lost my teacher just like you, I know exactly the pain you’re dealing with,” Shikamaru spoke up, making Naruto look away from her toward him. “But whining and sulking won’t make things better-”

   “Believe me, Shikamaru tried it for a whole week before he got it through his thick skull-”

   “Quiet, you troublesome woman, I’m trying to inspire him here.” The exasperated look on Shikamaru’s face made her laugh as she dropped her hand from Naruto’s shoulder. 

   “Being serious all the time is such a drag,” she mimicked him, making him roll his eyes as a light blush colored his cheeks. 

   “I think I get the message, you guys,” Naruto chuckled, making them both look at him. “Ya know, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen Shikamaru blush.”

   “I can make it worse,” Zaki giggled, moving to Shikamaru’s side and slinging her arm over his shoulders and around his neck, watching as his face got even darker. 

   “Do we have to do this now? ”

   “Go on, finish your inspiring speech, Shika-kun,” she laughed, leaning a little more into him when, despite his embarrassed look, his arm wound around her waist.

   “My point, before I got derailed, was that it’s time for us to step up. To stop being just students, and start teaching the next generation in any way we can. Eventually, someone’s going to start calling you Naruto-sensei, and you’ll be the one picking up the ramen tab for your students.”

   “Is this the same Shikamaru that graduated the academy on a technicality and forfeited his chunin exam fight only to get promoted anyway?” Naruto chuckled, raising his eyebrow as he gave them the first genuine smile they’d seen from him in days. 

   “I would assume so, I didn’t know him during that time,” Zaki laughed, smiling openly at Shikamaru as he rolled his eyes and looked away from her. “It has to do with what you do with the losses you suffer, Naruto,” she continued, looking toward the blond as she spoke. “I said this to him after Asuma’s funeral, and I say it to you now; grief and loss don’t have to be hindrances. You pick up the pieces of that pain left behind, and you reshape them with the help of those around you into a tool for bettering the future.”

   “You’re right,” Naruto nodded after a beat of silence. “Thank you, Shikamaru, Kashizaki.”

   “Good luck with decoding Master Jiraiya’s message,” Zaki said, smiling at Naruto before turning her head and planting a kiss on Shikamaru’s cheek. She laughed at his noise of disgruntlement and backed up, only to be pulled back for him to kiss her cheek in return before letting her go. 

   “If you don’t hurry, Kurenai will make it home before you and lock you out,” he chuckled, and she nodded and waved at them before turning and jogging to catch up to Kurenai, who had walked off during their conversation with Naruto.

Chapter Text

   “Just go, get her out of here!”

   Shikamaru watched her chains flash as she knocked the centipede aside, hardly registering the order she’d given him. 

   “Shikamaru-”

   Kurenai’s voice snapped him out of it, immediately remembering why he’d even shown up at her apartment in the first place. 

   “Right, let’s go. Zaki, find my dad when you’re done here; we have to come up with a strategy-”

   “Understood, now go!” Zaki shouted over her shoulder at them again before throwing another chain around the head of the beast she was fighting, likely intending to decapitate it.

   Nodding, Shikamaru turned toward Kurenai and helped her escape, escorting her through the streets and to an evacuation point before turning around; he had to help wherever he could. 

    Back to Kurenai’s place, see if Zaki’s still there; once I’ve made sure she’s okay-

   His thought is interrupted by something crashing through the wall in front of him, making him skid to a stop so he didn’t get hit by any of the debris. Another centipede - or maybe the same one? - came through the same hole and slithered down the street away from him, and his heart froze in his chest; was that one of Zaki’s chains around its neck?

   Time slowed as he ran toward the pile of debris, and he froze when he heard a cough from under some of the planks of wood that shifted. No, no no no.

   “K-kashizaki?” He took a few more steps forward, unable to say her name at any more than a whisper as he gingerly lifted the debris away.

   “Sh-shikamaru?” 

   His knees gave out when her voice answered, and he frantically pushed more debris away from where she was until he could see her face. Blood trailed from the corner of her mouth, lip swollen from the cut that produced it. Another cut above her eyebrow dripped into her eye, making her keep it closed as she looked around with her open one. Only one of her arms was free, pulling at the wood close to her neck so she could keep shifting it to allow herself to breathe. 

   “P-please tell me you’re okay,” he murmured, pulling away more debris, ignoring the splinters in his fingertips. 

   “W-well, I’ve been better,” she coughed, grimacing as one of the pieces of debris he moved caused more to shift and collapse against her still hidden lower half. “S-stupid bug got some back up and knocked me through the ringer. Don’t think I’m getting out of here easily.”

   “D-don’t say that.” He hated the way his voice shook, but he stopped himself from pulling more wood away from her, afraid of creating a bigger mess on top of her. 

   “Hey,” she started, snapping a little to get him to refocus on her before he could sink into his spiraling thoughts of despair. “I’ll live if you get your ass in gear and go find Shikaku-sensei and devise that brilliant strategy I know you’re capable of to stop whatever the hell is happening to the village.”

   He only nodded numbly, unable to fully form a coherent thought as he stared at the blood on her face. A head wound like that going untreated wouldn’t let her last long-

   “Shikamaru!” Her voice made him refocus on her open eye again, and he shook his head to try and clear the way it tried to fog with worry. “Save them in order to save me. Find a way to get Naruto back to the village,” she finished, reaching her hand out to him. He took it instantly, slightly relieved at how strong her grip still was as she squeezed his hand. 

   “I’ll be back for you,” he promised, squeezing her hand back before letting go and standing. He gave her one last look before steeling himself and taking off to look for his father and anyone else who could give him information to come up with a strategy.

   She’d just fully relaxed into the warm, fuzzy feeling that was engulfing her when the pain in her head, back, and legs came screaming back. Blinking open the one eye that wasn’t sticky with blood, she looked around and realized she was still very much alive, despite being aware of how much blood she’d lost as she’d laid there, pinned beneath the debris of the building in front of her. 

   “What-”

   She didn’t even get her thought out before she noticed someone - no, a group of people - running across the debris down the street toward her.

   “There she is!” 

   Shikamaru’s voice made her close her eye again, tears shoving their way forward as she realized he’d upheld his promise.

   “Gentle with the wood, we don’t know what’s on her and what isn’t,” Sakura ordered, and she heard Chouza acknowledge her as he began lifting debris off her.

   “How’d you even get yourself in this mess, you troublesome girl?” She sobbed when Shikaku’s voice came next, feeling a hand brush her forehead. “Didn’t I train you better than this?”

   “S-sorry, Sensei,” she sniffed, opening her eye and blinking past her tears to look at him. “G-guess I just can’t handle things with more than 8 limbs.”

   “Can you feel every part of your body, Zaki?” Sakura asked, gently pushing Shikaku back to get to her.

   “Y-yeah, I don’t think any part of me is paralyzed,” she nodded, pausing to take as good of a check as she could. “My feet are getting cold, though, which means shock is setting in again.”

   “R-right, we’ll get you out of here and to Lady Tsunade in no time,” Sakura nodded, reaching forward and healing the cut on her forehead and lip for her. Once she was satisfied, she turned to look over her shoulder. “Are you happy now, Shikamaru? Will you go get your leg set and healed properly now that we've found your girlfriend?”

   “It was a clean break, Sakura, I’ll be fine to let it heal on its own-”

   “You still need it set and casted, dumbass!”

   “I’m not leaving here without Kashizaki,” he retorted evenly, and she could almost picture him crossing his arms and lifting his nose in defiance. It made her smile, and would’ve made her laugh if she weren’t in so much pain. 

   “So what happened?” Zaki spoke up, trying to keep herself occupied as she could feel herself growing hazy again.

   “Naruto showed up and fought Pain on his own. He said he’ll give his full report to Lady Tsunade once the injured have been taken care of,” Sakura answered, shifting to heal cuts on Zaki’s body as they presented themselves whenever Chouza lifted a piece of debris that had been crushing her. “You have broken bones, too, so you’ll both have to take it easy while you heal,” she added, glancing toward where Zaki assumed Shikamaru was sitting or leaning against something to keep the weight off his leg. 

   “Don’t worry, Yoshino will be on their cases about it,” Shikaku chuckled, and she heard Shikamaru groan in response.

   “She can’t keep me home if all I’m going to need is crutches once I’ve been checked over.”

   “Maybe not, but she could if she asked,” Shikaku said, and she guessed he was motioning toward her; she would’ve moved her head to look, since Chouza had almost fully uncovered her, but a stiffness in her neck told her it wasn’t a good idea to try and move it too much. 

   “I probably could,” she agreed. “But I wouldn’t do that; you know as well as I do how insufferable he would get when he got stir crazy, believing he could make a difference by going out and trying to help rebuild.”

   “Really? My lazy ass son, stir crazy?”

   “Daaad,” Shikamaru groaned, and she could picture Shikaku’s shit-eating grin. She actually got to see it when Sakura and Chouza gently pulled her up to stand, only to immediately be picked up by Chouza completely; his arms hooked under her legs and shoulders, totally supporting her with his large frame. 

   “I’ve got her, I’ll take her to Lady Hokage. You go find others to help,” he nodded to Sakura. Zaki watched her nod in return, and Shikaku bend to pick his son up on his back and hoist him into a more comfortable position without jostling his leg too much.

   “You’re too big for this, you know,” he grumbled, and Shikamaru only shrugged, a small smirk on his face.

   “You don’t actually have to do this, you know. I can put weight on my other leg and limp my way there.”

   “And then I’d never hear the end of it from your mother when you told her and she knew I could’ve helped you.”

   “Exactly, so shut up. Besides, I think you’re enjoying this.”

   “He totally is,” Zaki interjected before Shikaku could say anything, and snorted a little when he shot her an exasperated look. Chouza chuckled, too, shifting Zaki’s weight in his arms.

   “Chouji’s going to be overjoyed to see you both,” he said, and Zaki smiled a little as she looked up at him.

   “Are both he and Ino at the hospital with Lady Tsunade?”

   “Chouji might be if he’s bringing in more injured. Ino won’t be, she’s on another triage team like Sakura to find more pinned like you were.”

   “Good, so they’re both okay.” She breathed out a sigh of relief, wincing a little as the too-deep-breath caused her ribs to ache. She felt a hand brush her hair, and she turned her head as much as she could to see who it would’ve been. 

   Almost at once, she noticed Chouza and Shikaku had moved closer to let Shikamaru reach for her, and she leaned her head back into his touch, relaxing a little as she felt his fingers pull the tie holding her braid in place loose before fully burying them in her hair. She would’ve reached up to take his hand in hers, but she wasn’t sure what bones were broken and what were just muscle aches from her other injuries, so she didn’t want to move any of her joints to make anything worse for herself. 

   “I told you I’d be back for you,” she heard him whisper as he ran his fingers through her hair, and she blinked back her tears as she leaned as much into his touch as she could without hurting herself. 

   “I believed you,” she answered just as quietly, and she felt his fingers tense on her scalp briefly before continuing to comb through the locks.

Chapter Text

   “With Lady Tsunade out of commission and our village needing to be rebuilt, forgive me for worrying about you a little,” Shikamaru said, helping Kurenai get settled back into one of the temporary homes built near the medical unit. “We’ll all be around every few hours or so if we have the time, and obviously don’t hesitate to call for the medical team if you need anything; you were given this place for a reason.”

   “Yeah, yeah, Mr. Overbearing over here,” she laughed a little, sitting down in one of the chairs and making herself comfortable. “If this is how you are with me, even with your leg still not fully healed, I can’t imagine what things are going to be like when you start having your own.”

   He almost dropped the box he was moving at that comment, but managed to hold onto it as he shot a look over his shoulder at her.

   “Th-that’s not for a while, let’s not think about that, shall we?”

   “Aw, why not? You and Zaki would have the cutest-”

   “Alright, alright, I get the picture,” he interrupted, face hot with embarrassment as he set the box next to her for her to look through. He was at the door within the same instance. “See you later,” he called, waving over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.

   “Serves you right!” Her voice carried through the closed door to him as he walked down the path back to the ruins of the village, breathing a sigh of relief as he got further away from that conversation ever happening. 

   Shikamaru glanced toward the medical tents; even with the miracle Tsunade had pulled with her healing, people were still turning up injured, though nothing was ever life threatening. The worst case was probably Zaki, having still been under the debris she’d been crushed by when she was revived by whatever Nartuo said Nagato did for them, and Tsunade had been able to almost fully heal her before passing out. Her left arm was still in a cast, but she could at least get around without crutches, which was more than he could say. 

   “Shikamaru!” Shiho’s voice drew his attention to the edge of the village, and she waved to further emphasize where she was, clearly intending for him to join her on whatever her plan was.

   Heaving a sigh, he hobbled his way down the path and stopped at her side, giving her a small smile in greeting that she immediately blushed at. She had to be an anomaly with how easy her emotions were to read. 

   “Would you mind helping me with these photos?” She held a bag open for him to look in, filled with photos and other mementos salvaged from the wreckage. “There’s still more coming, this is just what I managed to find on my own. Hyakukusari is helping, she has a bag of her own and said she’d meet me in one of the empty Intelligence tents when she gathered what she thought was suitable.”

   “Oh, Zaki’s helping you?” He tilted his head a little as he looked up from the bag to her face, shocked to see a confused look on it.

   “Z-zaki? I thought her name started with a K?”

   “Kashizaki, yeah,” he nodded, raising his eyebrow. “I know you’ve heard me call her that before, she had lunch with us once after we figured out Jiraiya’s message to try and help us figure out what it meant.”

   As if on cue, the sound of chains and something heavy hitting the ground sounded from the wreckage, followed by a quiet swear to emphasize that whatever had fallen wasn’t meant to. 

   “You alright?” One of the workers called out to the commotion, standing on his toes to try and look around some debris in front of him.

   “I’m fine, the box isn’t,” called back Zaki’s voice, and Shikamaru couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face at the sound of it. “Hey, can someone bring me a bag or something to put the extra stuff I have here in?”

   “I’ll take this to the tent,” Shikamaru offered, turning toward Shiho and taking the bag of photos from her gently. “Go help her sort out whatever box mess she’s gotten herself into, since I can’t,” he added, lifting his crutch slightly. 

   “R-right,” she nodded, seemingly still in a daze as she pieced together just who Zaki was to him. She shook her head a moment later and grabbed an extra bag, heading over to the debris and picking her way inside to where he assumed Zaki would be with whatever box she managed to damage or spill by trying to bring back more than she could carry. 

   “How were you carrying that with a broken arm?!” Shiho’s voice rang out a moment later.

   “By using my not broken arm? I had leverage with my chain, it just slipped because I only have one arm available to use and am on a strict ‘don’t use chakra until the bone heals more’ regimen.” Zaki’s explanation made him roll his eyes from all the way out on the edge of the wreckage, and he decided heading back to the tent would be a smart idea, lest he get a headache from the ensuing argument he was sure Shiho was going to start. 

   “Relax, Shiho, I know what I’m doing,” Zaki scoffed, picking up the box wrapped in her chain again once its contents were more evenly distributed between it and the bag Shiho brought.

   “Kashizaki-san, please,” she sighed out, adjusting her grip on the bag. “I only want to prevent you from coming to more harm.”

   “...Don’t worry about it, seriously,” Zaki answered, a little taken aback by the statement. “I’m probably about as physically strong as Lee is, I just don’t have the stamina or mental fortitude to keep up that kind of taijutsu training,” she added with a small snort and equally as small smile in Shiho’s direction. 

   “Which means we should probably get out of here before that stamina runs out; shall we?”

   Zaki nodded and let Shiho lead the way out of the collapsed buildings and construction framework being put in place. As they picked their way out, Zaki adjusted her grip on her chain and made it rattle again as the weight of the box shifted against her back, but it held steady this time as she adjusted her balance with it.

   “So how long have you and Shikamaru been together?”

   The question made Zaki stop mid step, tilting her head as she stared at Shiho’s back. She was really going to do this now?

   “Uh… Officially?” At the blonde’s slight nod, she thought back to the night she got her earrings. “A few months, why?”

   “How long have you known each other?”

   “...Almost 4 years? Why?” She asked again, raising her eyebrow as she picked up her pace a little to catch up, since Shiho hadn’t stopped moving during her questioning.

   “Was just wondering why he never mentions you, that’s all,” she shrugged, and Zaki actually stopped this time and gave the woman’s back an exasperated stare.

   “Shiho, can you not do this? I offered to help you with this photo project of yours because I think it’s a brilliant idea. Please don’t make it awkward by asking me about my relationship with Shikamaru because you’re jealous,” she said, adjusting her grip on her chain again, watching as Shiho also stopped in her tracks.

   “I-I’m not jealous,” she countered, spinning to face her. “I simply asked a question.”

   “If you really must know why Shikamaru doesn’t talk about me when he’s at work, it’s because he’s working; you of all people must know how active his brain is, just because you have a moment of down time doesn’t mean he’s actually using it for its intended purpose. I’m his partner when it comes to strategy; the strategies used to decipher codes aren’t the same as the ones used on a battlefield. He ever speak out loud or ask you questions when it looks like he’s deep in thought?” At Shiho’s nod, Zaki continued. “That’s him using you as a springboard to work around something he has blocking his thought process or reassuring himself that the pieces he thinks he’s fitting together actually do fit together. You have the same relationship to him that I do in that regard, the only difference is that you’re his senior.”

   “So, what, are you saying your relationship to him isn’t unique or special?”

   “No, I’m saying that both of us have unique and special relationships to him. Mine just extends to being there when he’s supposed to be off the clock. You’re his friend, Shiho, and that’s just as important to him as I am, you know that, right?”

   “...You’re right. Forgive me, Kashizaki-san-”

   “Please, just call me Zaki,” she corrected, giving her a small smile as she began walking again. “Besides, it’s not like I blame you for liking him; have you seen his face when he gets that determined look in his eye? It’s a far cry from when I first met him let me tell you,” she laughed, falling into step next to Shiho as they made their way up the path toward the tents.

   “You’ll have to tell me stories about when you were genin together-” Shiho giggled, holding the tent flap open for Zaki to walk through first.

   “Oh, I never met him when he was a genin, but we were still dumb 12 year olds who did dumb 12 year old things,” Zaki corrected, laughing as she hefted her box onto the table, careful not to crush any of the photos Shikamaru had already laid out as she unhooked her chain and kneeled to wrap it around her ankle (her legs were the easier limbs to keep her chains around while her left arm was out of commission, since she could use her foot as an anchor as she twisted the chain around).

   “Talking about me, are you?” He raised his eyebrow as she glanced up at him from her kneeling position.

   “But of course; you’re an interesting topic of conversation for most kunoichi, don’t you know?” She batted her eyelashes at him and gave him a lopsided smirk before looking back down at her chain to continue working it around her limb, knowing she’d just turned his face red. The snort from Shiho confirmed it for her.

   “Well, I hope you can hold off on gushing about me long enough for us to sort through these,” he said, sounding less flustered than he looked as she stood up straight again. 

   Zaki finally stood up straight and rolled her neck, issuing a soft groan at the pops that resulted from the action. The three of them had gone through all the photos and first separated out the ones with writing on the backs of them, then sorted through those with names and dates. They had only just spread out the remaining photos when she could feel the burn in her neck and shoulders from being bent over for far too long.

   “Felt that one,” Shikamaru sighed from across the table, adjusting his grip on his crutch as he, too, leaned back from being bent over the photos. 

   “Why haven’t you sat down yet, anyway?” Zaki raised her eyebrow as she eyed him.

   “Because I don’t need to?”

   “Nonsense; your leg is broken-”

   “No, it’s almost fully healed,” he corrected, but she only waved her hand at him.

   “Until the cast is off, it’s treated as if it’s broken. You should be taking your weight off your feet every once in a while to speed up the healing process.”

   “You sure you’re not thinking of Kurenai?” He returned her eyebrow raise, a small smirk playing on his lips.

   “Pretty sure ankle and foot swelling isn’t exclusive to pregnant women, Shikamaru.”

   “Alright, fine; I’ll find a chair to stop your incessant nagging, happy?” He punctuated the statement with a sigh and movement toward the opening in the tent, only to be interrupted by Naruto entering.

   “Hey, Shikamaru, got a sec?”

   “Uh, sure, what’s up?”

   “Ino needs you… Hey, what’s all this?” Naruto stepped further into the tent, eyeing their table full of pictures.

   “We salvaged them from the debris,” Shiho said, motioning toward Zaki as she explained. “I’m sure they’re important to someone, so I wanted to return them to their rightful owners. I asked these two for their help because their organization skills are on par with mine.”

   “These are the ones without any information on the back of them; you want to look through them and see if you recognize anyone?” Zaki asked, bringing his attention back to the surface of the table.

   “Sure, I’ll see what I can do,” he nodded, leaning over the photos and scanning through them. “Hey, is that…?” He trailed off, picking up a photo. “I just remembered something I’ve gotta do! Do you know if there are any tulips blooming nearby?”

   “Tulips? You know, that’s one of the more romantic flowers, Naruto,” Shiho started, adjusting her glasses as she spoke. “Flowers tend to have symbolic meaning, and tulips symbolize eternal love,” she finished, and Zaki caught her glance toward Shikamaru. She would’ve laughed at the distressed look on Shikamaru’s face if she knew it wouldn’t have hurt Shiho’s feelings. 

   “Well, that depends on the color of the bloom, but she’s not entirely wrong,” Zaki nodded before glancing at Naruto. “The flowerbed on the east side of the village was one of the first projects Ino had me help her fix up, since it was mostly intact when we found it.”

   “Thanks, Zaki,” he nodded, giving her a toothy smile before bolting out the tent. 

   “What do you think he needs tulips for?” Shikamaru asked, turning away from the entrance to the tent and back toward the table.

   “Well, the photo he picked up was of a guy, so it’s hard to say,” Zaki shrugged. “Honestly, who knows with him; he’s as impulsive as it gets.”

   “You have no room to talk, Kashizaki,” Shikamaru said, and she laughed at his attempt at a scolding tone. 

   “I think about my actions before I take them, Shikamaru. Just because you don’t understand them doesn’t mean they weren’t carefully thought about before they happened.”

    “Carefully is not a word I’d use when describing any of your actions, woman.”

   “That’s because you hate it when I’m too careful with you,” she retorted, putting her hand on her hip as she raised her eyebrow at him. She knew the argument was over when he spluttered and his face turned red.

   “Oh my!” Shiho’s exclamation from Zaki’s left made her laugh, and she shook her head as she returned to looking over the photos.

   “Zaki-senpai!” Konohamaru’s voice came from outside the tent, and it was flung open as he scanned those inside, face brightening when he finally found who he was looking for. “There you are! Ebisu-sensei said he figured you’d be around here. Hey guys, I found her!” He called over his shoulder, and within moments, Moegi and Udon appeared behind him, Moegi going as far as to push past him and right up to Zaki.

   “Senpai, Ebisu-sensei told us that if you had some free time, you would teach us more about chakra channeling!” She grabbed Zaki’s right hand and began to pull her out of the tent, only to be stopped in her tracks when Zaki didn’t budge.

   “Go find Ebisu-sensei and tell him to tell me that, first, would you? I’m sorry, guys, but I can’t use my chakra until I’ve been cleared by the medical-nin to do so. So until he and I have a conversation about what I can and can’t do, I’m not going anywhere.”

   “Ugh, I knew this smelled fishy when he brought it up after finding that stupid book in the wreckage!” Moegi pouted as she put her hands on her hips and turned back toward her teammates. “C’mon, boys, we’ll go find Ebisu-sensei and teach him our own lesson then!”

   Without so much as a backward glance, they were gone again, their voices calling out for their sensei as they began the search.

   “They’re so not going to find him,” Zaki sighed, shaking her head.

   “Why do they call you senpai, anyway? If you’re teaching them things, wouldn’t it be sensei?” Shikamaru asked, finally pulling a cloth folding stool out from the corner of the tent and sitting on it. 

   “Do you want the long answer or the short answer?” She tilted her head a little as she leaned back over the table to continue sorting photos.

   “Might as well kill the time, give us the whole story,” he said, leaning his crutch against the table and beginning to sift through photos again. 

****************

   15 year old Kashizaki was walking out of the hospital with Asuma, who had come to get her since he still felt bad about dropping her off in the injured state he had. She was waving off yet another apology from the jonin when Konohamaru rounded the corner in front of them and barreled straight into his uncle’s legs, his two friends right on his heels, nearly knocking Asuma over in the process.

   “Sheesh, kid, you got somewhere to be?” Asuma grumbled, taking his cigarette out of his mouth to flick the ash away from the students.

   “Uncle Asuma! We were actually looking for you!”

   “Alright, what did you need?”

   Konohamaru backed up so he was in line with Moegi and Udon, and the three of them looked at each other before looking up at Asuma and speaking at the same time.

   “Teach us how to channel our chakra into kunai!”

   Zaki couldn’t help but let out a laugh when she looked at Asuma’s face; blank as he stared down at the academy students in front of him. Konohamaru bounced a little in place, making the sunlight glint off the lenses of the goggles he and his friends had around their heads.

   “Sorry, kiddos; he has to teach me how to do it first,” she said through her giggles. 

   “But don’t you already know how, with your chains?” Moegi tilted her head as she eyed Zaki’s waist; it was the only chain she still had on her, since it was usually one of the last ones she used in battle, preferring to use it to protect herself instead.

   “Only to manipulate them, it’s not the same as extending your weapon by using your chakra,” she corrected, showcasing her meaning by making her chain unwind itself and slide down her leg without rattling once. “It’s not the same as, say, me tossing my chain, coming up short, and forcing my chakra through the end to make it longer.”

   “We were actually on our way to the training grounds to get a lesson in,” Asuma said, finally getting over his initial exasperation at being asked the way that he had.

   “Can we come?!” Konohamaru and Udon asked simultaneously while Moegi kept her eyes on Zaki’s chain as it wound its way around her waist again. 

   “If Kashizaki doesn’t mind you watching, I don’t see why not,” he answered, shooting her a glance.

   “Sure, if they can learn anything from this it’s how not to do it,” she snorted, shrugging as she waved, moving to lead them to the training grounds.

   “Moegi-chan, if you keep staring at me, I’m going to assume you have a problem with me,” Zaki finally sighed out, looking over at the young kunoichi-in-training. She was sitting cross-legged with them on the ground as Asuma gave an example of using his Flying Swallow, but she’d seen it enough times to know he was mostly doing it to warm up and show something to the kids.

   “I’m just wondering why you’re one of Asuma-san’s students; doesn’t he already have a team of three?”

   “We’re all chunin, now, so we’re not as much of a rigid team as we used to be. When Shikamaru was the only chunin, I basically took his place on some missions but I still didn’t quite fall under Asuma-sensei’s tutelage until more recently. Of the four of us, I’m the one who has the fighting style closest to his, so he can teach me more one-on-one than he could the other three.”

   “I want Uncle Asuma to be my sensei when we finally graduate from the academy!” Konohamaru spoke up, having listened in on her explanation to Moegi.

   “I don’t think you’ll get your wish, kid,” she snickered a little. “Typically they don’t allow family members to teach other family members in a formal setting like the four man squads you get assigned upon graduation unless resources are extremely slim.”

   “How would you know; you didn’t go to the academy here!” Moegi chimed in, brows furrowing in misplaced frustration.

   “Ninja academy classes are somewhat regulated across the nations,” Zaki explained calmly, opening her hand so her palm was out as if to placate the child in front of her. “Sure, most of them add their own twists on it, like my academy did with the Star, but graduation, becoming a genin, and being assigned to two other genin and a jonin is pretty standard practice across the allied nations. Don’t you guys pay attention in history or social studies?”

   “That stuff’s boring,” Konohamaru complained, loud enough for Asuma to realize they weren’t paying attention.

   “Are you calling my example boring, Konohamaru?”

   “No, Uncle Asuma!” He answered quickly, scratching the back of his head. “Just talking to Kashizaki about classes.”

   “Well, since you’re more willing to listen to her than to me, why doesn’t she get up and show you guys an example of manipulating your weapons with your chakra?”

   “Sure, I’ll show you how it’s done,” she nodded, chuckling slightly as she stood, pulling the chain from around her waist and using her chakra to split it in half as she walked over to where Asuma stood. “Are we sparring or am I mutilating a log?”

   “We can spar,” he nodded, bringing his fists up and taking a few steps back, allowing Zaki to do the same as she let her half-chains wrap around her wrists. As soon as her hands were up to signify she was ready, Asuma advanced.

   Her chained wrist met his first swing, the clang of metal ringing out as she grabbed his arm with her other hand and used her chakra to wrap one of her chains around it before ducking under his other hand, jumping back after making sure the chain was secure around his forearm. At first, she thought about tightening it to cause him pain, but decided Asuma was stubborn enough to ignore it until his arm broke, so she chose a different action.

   Forming the hand signs that Shikaku had shown her a few weeks prior, she willed her chakra to bleed from her chain into the shadow under them. She caught a light of recognition in Asuma’s eyes, and he lunged at her to try and stop her, but was stopped mid step as her hidden shadow wrapped around his legs to hold him in place.

   “Did you… Channel a whole jutsu through your chain?” His incredulous tone made her give him a small smile as she unwound the other chain from her wrist and dropped it to the earth so it wasn’t touching her.

   “Sure did, want to see it more plainly with Earth Release instead?” At his nod, she let go of him with the shadow from her chain and instead focused on the one on the ground; a few hand signs later, and her chain had sunk into the ground - not dug, like she normally did, but sunk in as if becoming one with it briefly - before coming out between Asuma’s feet and shooting up to attach itself to the chain he still had around his forearm. With the full weight of a whole chain on him, Asuma fell forward onto his knees as his arm hit the ground. 

   “The weight of your steel always surprises me, Kashizaki,” he panted out, working his arm out of her chain as she relaxed her chakra enough to let him do so before calling her chains back without moving. “The fact that you were able to do all of that without breaking a sweat is also surprising, and impressive,” he added, standing up and pocketing his chakra blades. 

   “If I had a normal chakra pool, I’d be exhausted,” she shrugged, putting both her hands behind her head. 

   “That was so cool! ” Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon chorused as they bounced in place in their excitement. “And you learned all of that from Uncle Asuma?” Konohamaru asked, motioning towards his uncle.

   “Not all of it, some of it I learned on my own,” she said, shaking her head. “But the initial channeling of my chakra into my chains I learned from him, yes.”

   “So would that make you our senpai?” Moegi spoke up, tilting her head. “Since you’re learning what we want to learn from the same teacher?”

   “I suppose so,” Zaki conceded, nodding slightly as she looked down in thought. “Though you’re better off learning it from Asuma-sensei; my chakra’s picky and won’t channel into standard ninja tools. That’s why my chains are silver instead of black like standardized ninja chains are; they’re made special by me, for me. I don’t know if other ninja can channel their chakra into my steel, but from what I’ve read it’s not a great idea to try so I haven’t asked anyone to experiment with me.”

   “Ask Naruto next time you see him; he has more chakra stored up than you do, he’d make the perfect guinea pig,” Asuma chuckled.

   “Maybe, but he’s still recovering from the Tenchi Bridge recon mission, so that won’t be any time soon,” she shrugged. 

   “So Kashizaki-senpai-” Moegi started, only for Zaki to interrupt her.

   “Just Zaki is fine, my name’s a bit of a mouthful when you get honorifics involved.”

   “Okay, Zaki -senpai,” she corrected, smiling up at her. “When do you think you’ll be able to give us another demonstration?”

   “Uh, whenever Asuma-sensei and I both have a free moment that we’re willing to dedicate to this, I suppose?” She glanced over at him as she spoke, only getting a slight shrug in response. 

   “The life of an active shinobi is very busy; you all know this,” he explained, walking over and putting his hand on Konohamaru’s head. “Just don’t be afraid to ask whenever you see us; even if you get no for an answer, it’s not because we don’t want to, it’s because we’re busy with other things.”

   “Understood!” The three chorused in unison again, making Zaki smile slightly as she watched on.

****************

   “Come to think of it, did Asuma ever call you anything other than your full name?” Shikamaru asked as Zaki finished recounting the memory. The table full of photos was starting to look more organized, rather than just a collage of random photos strewn about, they were in groups based on number of people in them, whether they looked like civilians or shinobi, and whether there was a defining landmark or location in the photo or not. 

   “Uh… Twice. Once on the mission where I saved myself from dying after being tossed over a cliff - he was complimenting me for being right on a hunch I had no business being right on - and… Once, during the fight with Hidan, when Hidan revealed he knew the history of the alleged slaughter of my clan,” she finished quietly, looking down at the photos in front of her instead of Shikamaru across the table from her. 

   “What did he say then?” Shikamaru’s question was soft, both of them aware that despite the amount of time that had passed, the topic of Asuma’s death and who killed him still rubbed some nerves the wrong way.

   “I kind of repeated it to Hidan when we buried him,” she said, huffing a soft laugh as she glanced up at him. "Zaki, this guy’s a lunatic, don’t listen to him; you can find more reliable sources than a crazed cultist,” she quoted, earning a soft chuckle from Shikamaru in response.

   “He seems like he was a great man,” Shiho spoke just as softly, making them both jump very slightly, as if they’d forgotten she was there. 

   “I’m glad I got to meet him,” Zaki agreed, returning her gaze to the table. 

   “Glad we got to learn from him,” Shikamaru chimed in, shifting to stand from the stool he’d set up earlier, putting it away. A beat of silence passed as he grabbed his crutch and hobbled toward the tent entrance. “Anyway, with the sun starting to go down and the shadows getting longer, I promised Chouji that Ino and I would help him round up the herd of boars for meat for the village.”

   “Oh, remind him to keep a few alive so we can corral and breed them! The village needs to eat, but we also need to replenish our resources!”

   “Right, I’ll try and convince him of that,” Shikamaru chuckled, turning to leave, but Zaki’s hand on his shoulder stopped him and made him turn toward her. 

   “If you can’t convince him, just accidentally let a few go then so they can breed and make more on their own for us to catch later,” she amended, leaning up and planting a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t do anything reckless with that leg of yours,” she finished, moving to back up only to have his arm reach out and pull her back to him. He returned her kiss with one of his own, a soft one to her temple as he squeezed her gently.

   “Between the two of us, you’re the reckless one, you troublesome woman,” he murmured against her skin before letting her go and exiting the tent.

Chapter Text

   With the reconstruction of the village well underway, and Shikamaru’s leg out of the cast finally, his father had asked him to help organize and structure the rebuilding of the Nara clan compound. His mother was still lending her hand to the Akimichi clan, and Zaki’s arm was still in a cast so that just left the two of them to watch over the other clansmen and construction workers as they began to sift through the rubble of their destroyed home.

   “How much do you think we’ll find?” Shikamaru asked, arms crossed as he and his father looked over the crumpled mess that used to be their house. 

   “I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” Shikaku sighed, shaking his head before pointing out the easiest ways they could pick through the rubble. 

   They worked mostly in silence, calling out to ask for help with a particularly heavy piece of debris every once in a while but they were mostly quiet as they worked through what would’ve been the framework of the house. Shikamaru managed to pull a few family photos out from under a mostly intact wall, and Shikaku happily found a few things from his and Yoshino’s bedroom that he thought were lost. 

   It wasn’t until he got close to where he and Zaki’s rooms were that he started getting distracted. 

   Another photo peaked out from under some of the rubble, and he pulled it loose, heart squeezing when he realized it was one of the photos Ino made them all pose for once, sometime after Asuma had died and Zaki took her oath. The one he’d found was actually the one of just him and Zaki, sharing a laugh at something Chouji had said or done out of frame. She had a bouquet of flowers in her hand, some pink bloom that Ino had put together for him because she insisted, since pink was meant to symbolize ‘new love’ or some bullshit like that.

****************

   “Shikamaru, I’m telling you, girls eat this kind of shit up!” Ino said, shoving the wrapped arrangement into his hand as they walked to one of the quieter spots in the village where they agreed to meet Zaki and Chouji and that stupid photographer Ino had arranged. 

   “Maybe you do, but Zaki isn’t exactly the type-”

   “You don’t talk to her about her personal interests much, do you?” She snorted as she shoved his arm gently. “She’s actually pretty well versed in Hanakotoba; she picks out arrangements at the shop pretty much as well as I do.”

   “Yeah, because you taught it to her.”

   “Wrong again, Casanova,” Ino chided, shaking her head. “I didn’t have to teach her a thing about what flowers mean. Just which ones can be made into poisons and which ones can be made into cures.”

   “Okay, so when I’m giving her these,” he finally conceded, holding the cloud of pink flowers in front of him. “What am I going to be saying to her, exactly?”

   “Well most of those are pink roses, which means you’re happy with her and confident in her abilities,” Ino started, pointing to each bloom as she explained it. “The carnations tell her you’re fascinated with her and that you love her, and the azaleas say you’re glad you were patient in getting to where you are. I would’ve added some pink tulips or forget-me-nots but figured that might get a little too heavy for you guys this fast. The color pink as a whole is meant to convey the feeling of fresh, new, exciting love, because it’s the same color your cheeks turn when you blush with happiness,” she finished, giving him a smile as they neared the clearing.

   “...And I’m expected to believe all of that is said with this handful of flowers?” He raised his eyebrow as he looked between Ino and the bouquet. 

   “Uh huh. I’ve heard rumors about a special orange flower somewhere too that’s supposed to convey the feeling of ‘having a connection so profound that words fail to describe it’ or something, but I haven’t seen it myself or heard of anyone who could potentially have one anywhere.”

    Now that sounded like a flower that makes more sense for us, he thought, looking up from the bouquet in his hands to where Zaki and Chouji were standing. Chouji spotted them first, and for some reason Shikamaru felt the need to move the bouquet behind his back so Zaki wouldn’t see it right away as they neared them. 

   “Sorry we’re late, Shikamaru asked me to do something for him,” Ino explained, and it took everything in him not to shoot her a soft glare; she was the one that insisted on making the bouquet for him, he hadn’t asked at all. 

   “That doesn’t sound like him,” Zaki said, raising her eyebrow as she looked between the two of them. “Especially not if he’s holding something behind his back,” she added, eyeing the arm he had twisted behind him. Chouji made it a point to walk over to the two of them as Zaki stayed put, walking behind Shikamaru to take a look.

   “Oh yeah, this is definitely Ino’s doing,” he chuckled, patting Shikamaru’s back hard enough to push him toward Zaki and make his arm go forward to reveal the bouquet.

   “Well, thank you, Ino,” Zaki said, shooting her a smile before turning that same smile up at him as she took the pink blooms from him. “And thank you for letting her, just because you wanted to do something to get me to smile,” she added, and he couldn’t help but return the smile just as the camera flashed and captured their image. 

   “Great, now that we’ve got that one out of the way, we can get our team photos taken!” Ino jumped forward and hooked her arms around both of their shoulders, pulling them down a little in another pose that got snapped by the photographer. Zaki set the bouquet aside as Chouji finally entered the fray; the four of them laughing together as they each took different pictures in a variety of poses, going through and picking their favorites later over barbeque.

   It wasn’t until it was just the two of them walking into the Nara compound that they had a moment alone together since he gave her the bouquet, which she was still carrying.

   “Ino sure knows her way around those flowers, huh,” Zaki said, shifting the bundle of blooms in her grip. 

   “Yeah,” he agreed, scratching the back of his head as he glanced between her and the pink mass in her hand. Suddenly remembering that conversation with Chouji a couple years back, on their cloud gazing hill, he continued. “Any of those ones in there your favorite?”

   “No,” she snorted, shrugging slightly. “Not to say they aren’t pretty,” she rushed, having sensed the slight drop in his shoulders. “I don’t dislike any of these flowers. I don’t dislike hardly any at all, even the ones I’m allergic to; and before you ask, no, none of these ones are one of those. My ultimate favorite flower is the lotus blossom,” she finally clarified, glancing up at him. “Not for what it means, but because of the way it grows; through all kinds of mud, gunk, and other gross shit that’s normally hard to grow through, only to come out on top and bloom into a beautiful flower.”

   “Never pegged you for a romantic,” he teased, earning an elbow to the ribs from her as he chuckled. 

   “No? All the time I spend staring at the moon never clued you in?” She raised her eyebrow up at him, and he blinked as the realization dawned on him. 

   “I guess that would make sense,” he conceded, scratching the back of his head again as he looked away from her. “Got any other favorites you want to drop on me before we make it home and Mom’s all over us about being out late?”

   “Just that you’re my favorite person,” she said, leaning up and kissing his cheek before opening the door for herself and heading inside, leaving him standing there, smiling after her as he tried to remember how his legs worked.

****************

   “Hey, Shikamaru,” his father called, pulling him out of his reverie and reminding him he was just standing idly in the middle of his ruined family home. “You okay over here?” He asked, hand meeting his shoulder as he came up beside him. 

   “Yeah, just got distracted, sorry,” Shikamaru answered, glancing toward him before looking back down at the photo.

   “Oh, good, you found that one,” he said, squeezing his shoulder gently before pulling his hand away. “Should keep it safe, it’s a good one,” he added, and Shikamaru smiled a little, nodding in agreement and tucking the photo into his jacket. 

   “Hey, Dad?” He turned his head to lock eyes with him. “If we rebuild the koi pond, could we grow lotus flowers in it?”

   “I’ll leave that for you to figure out, son,” he chuckled. 

   They worked for a few more hours, sifting through rubble and clearing the path for construction when Shikaku called out to him again, once again standing near where Shikamaru and Zaki’s rooms would’ve been.

   “You’ll never guess what survived,” he said as Shikamaru approached, still leaning over the apparently very interesting item in question.

   “Uh, I don’t know, Zaki’s scrolls or something?”

   “Okay, I stand corrected,” Shikaku quipped, taking a step back as Shikamaru finally reached his side and joined him in looking down at his find.

   “Holy shit, they’re even undamaged,” Shikamaru murmured, bending down to pick a couple of them up.

   “I think she had them encased in her chains or some of her steel or something,” his father guessed, stroking his goatee as he watched Shikamaru stand back up and go to grab a bag to put the scrolls in. 

   “Wouldn’t surprise me, she is the type to think of things like that.” He stood when he finished placing the scrolls in the bag, holding it out for his father to take. “You found them, you should be the one to give them to her,” he explained when Shikaku raised his eyebrow at him. “Besides, you’re the closest thing she has to a dad now, and you’d be giving her back her last connection to her family.”

   “When did you get sentimental?” Shikaku took the bag from him gently, still eyeing him as he did.

   “Something about the moon, I think,” he answered softly, glancing toward the darkening sky.

Chapter Text

   “You know, when you asked if you could stay with Kurenai for a few weeks, I didn’t think this was happening this soon,” Shikamaru said, leaning against the wall in the hospital next to Zaki. He felt nervous for some reason, worried about his sensei’s widow and child, and he was sure Zaki could tell, especially with the way she laid her head on his shoulder to remind him of her presence.

   “She asked me to right around the time Lady Tsunade first woke up from her coma,” she murmured. “I think she knew this was going to happen, women are pretty good at reading their own bodies, especially when their children are involved.”

   “Yeah, well, I didn’t realize how much I’d miss having you around,” he said, turning his head and kissing the top of hers as she rested against his shoulder. “I think Mom and Dad miss you too,” he added, earning a soft huff of a laugh from her.

   “I think you just miss when we would sleep curled up together in that tent while the house was being rebuilt since we can’t do that anymore because your parents insist on us still having separate rooms.”

   “Not denying that,” he quipped, getting a gentle prod in his side this time.

   “Shikaku-sensei missing me I’d believe, though,” she continued. “Anyone who can show you up in shogi that isn’t him is probably on his favorite person list.”

   “What, you don’t think Mom would miss you?”

   “I don’t think Yoshino-sama has an opinion on it either way. I think she’s on the happier side of indifferent to having me around, sure, but I don’t think she minds whether I’m there or not since I clean up after myself, rather than having her trail after me like the two of you do.” She yawned as she finished speaking, standing up straight and stretching as she took a few steps down the hall to turn around and walk back, moving in order to keep herself awake.

   “How long have you been here, anyway?”

   “It was really late last night when Kurenai said she thought she should go to the hospital, and I’ve been awake in and out of her room since. She asked me to leave when one of the doctors said it was time, and that’s when I sent for you.”

   “And it’s been, what, an hour since?”

   “Something like that,” she nodded, stretching again. “I don’t think it’ll be too much longer, but she might not want to see us after the fact either; I can’t imagine what she’ll feel like once the little one’s actually been born.”

   “I’d rather not think about it,” he half sighed, half groaned as he leaned his head against the wall. 

   “What, the miracle of childbirth something that doesn’t sit well in that analytical brain of yours?” She gave him a sleepy smirk when he side-eyed her, and he only sighed in response.

   “Let’s go sit somewhere, maybe you can catch some shut-eye before the baby’s here.”

   Zaki was practically drooling on his shoulder, asleep as he read through the updated file on the Akatsuki he had brought with him, anticipating a long wait. He’d taken his flak jacket off so she wouldn’t have the material digging into her cheek as she rested against him, but he was beginning to regret that decision as the wet spot forming on his shoulder began to cool from the amount of time they’d been sitting there. 

   “Kashizaki?” One of the doctors stepped into the waiting room they were in, and her head was off his shoulder in an instant, her hand against her mouth as she wiped at it. She was ready to move, but her brain hadn’t woken up enough to register the embarrassment he was sure she’d feel when she realized she was drooling in a public space. It always impressed him how quickly she was ready for action, already thinking through what she should be doing whenever she was woken up from a light sleep. 

   “Are Kurenai-sama and the baby alright?” She asked without a hint of the sleepiness he knew she had to still be fighting.

   “She’s asking for you now, actually,” the med-nin nodded, glancing toward Shikamaru as they spoke. “You too, she figured you’d be here already, Shikamaru.”

   If he hadn’t already been moving to pick up his flak jacket, Zaki pulling him would’ve forced him to leave it behind. He nearly dropped the file he had in his hand, barely managing to hang onto it and his jacket as she yanked him out of his seat and down the hallway to Kurenai’s room. 

   “Sheesh, woman, it’s not like they’re going anywhere,” he grumbled, regaining his footing as he caught up to her, shrugging his jacket on and tucking the file into one of the inner pockets. “And it’s only been an hour since we sat down, I doubt anything bad’s happened since she asked for us by name.”

   “You should be more excited for this than I am, Shikamaru,” Zaki chided, glancing at him as they stopped outside the door. “Asuma basically named you his child’s godfather, has that not sunk in yet?”

   He blinked at her, looking between her and the closed door in front of them before he felt that weight settle in his stomach. Holy shit, she’s right; if anything were to happen to Kurenai, I already promised I would look after that baby.

   “There it is,” she snickered, and he blinked at her again. “You get this wide-eyed look just like the deer do when you startle them. Just remember, if we do our jobs, then Kurenai and the baby will be fine,” she added, giving him a soft smile before opening the door and stepping inside. 

   He couldn’t bring himself to step into the room, still weighed down by his realization. Whatever happened, he would play a rather huge part of that baby’s life; with the upcoming war, it would be partially his job to make sure no further harm came to the village, so Kurenai and the baby could live peacefully. As that baby aged, it was his job to teach them things he knew, because he’d made a promise to Asuma. And all of that started right there, at that very moment. 

   Swallowing, he finally took his first step into the room and closed the door behind him.

   “He finally remembered how to move,” Zaki quipped, looking at him over Kurenai’s head. “C’mere, you should be the first one to hold her between the two of us,” she added softly, giving him a gentle smile as she tried to motion him over.

   “Her name’s Mirai,” Kurenai introduced, looking up at Shikamaru as he stopped next to her bed, opposite from Zaki. “Sit, hold her for a second,” she insisted, nodding to the chair that was behind him, and he stiffly moved it closer and sat down in it.

  “I-I don’t know if I-”

   “Shush,” Kurenai interrupted, fixing him with a stare as she shifted the bundle of blankets in her arms, and his arms moved on their own to accept and accommodate the weight of the tiny human in them. He was inwardly shocked at how naturally he found himself adjusting for her foreign weight, arm shifting to support her fragile frame as he looked down at her. 

   Mirai greeted him with a yawn, eyes still closed as her tiny hands moved a little despite how swaddled she was. Her palm was open against her cheek, and he watched as her fingers flexed against them a little; he startled a little when Kurenai’s finger pushed its way between her daughter’s hand and cheek, effectively pulling the limb away from her face as she gripped the finger tightly. He caught a flash of red as the baby in his arms opened her eyes to look around briefly before locking on his face. 

   “He catch your eye, too, little one?” Zaki’s voice coming from right next to him would’ve made him jump if he hadn’t fully expected her to move closer to him once he had Mirai in his arms. He glanced up at her, arching an eyebrow before looking back down at the baby.

   “She’s like an hour old, she probably thinks he’s funny looking, if anything,” Kurenai laughed, and he shot her a soft glare in response.

   “She wouldn’t be wrong,” Zaki agreed, and he frowned in response, refusing to give her another glance. “But he has his moments,” she amended, 

   “She should’ve seen you about 15 minutes ago,” he finally murmured, the first time he spoke since his attempted protest to holding someone so fragile.

   “Trust me, she’ll see worse as she grows,” Zaki laughed easily, and Shikamaru finally lifted his head to look at Kurenai fully.

   “And how are you?”

   “I’m great, aside from the whole, having just given birth thing,” she said, giving him a soft smile before motioning toward Zaki. “Let her hold her, you still look terrified to be in the same vicinity as her right now.”

   Instantly, he lifted his arms slightly toward Zaki, and she easily took the baby from him as if she’d done it millions of times before. She remained standing as she shifted Mirai’s weight into the crook of her non-dominant arm before leaning over and grabbing his hand.

   “Here, feel this,” she murmured, pushing all but his forefinger down and putting it gently into Mirai’s hand, like how Kurenai’s finger had been while he held her. His jaw dropped a little at the fierce grip the tiny being had. “All babies have this reflex in their hands and feet,” she explained, smiling a little at his shocked expression. “It’s actually still present in most adults, too, we’re just able to be a little more conscious about it so it’s less of a reflex and more of a reaction.”

   Once again, he was shocked into silence that such a tiny being was going to become such an important thing in his life that he’d shape decisions around her well-being. He already had a basic grasp on that, with the Will of Fire burning in him that Asuma had passed down to him, but having that concept become a physical representation in Mirai really floored him. 

   “I’d better get him out of here before I lose him forever in that big brain of his,” Zaki said, leaning over and passing Mirai back to her mother. “I’ll be back later to help get you back home, once the doctors say you’re both fit to leave,” she added, waving before pulling Shikamaru to his feet and beginning to drag him to the door.

   He wordlessly waved over his shoulder as they left the room, letting Zaki pull him along by his sleeve as he plodded along behind her through the halls of the hospital and out into the midday sun. 

   “Okay, wake up Shikamaru, your silence is beginning to wear on me,” Zaki finally sighed, letting go of his sleeve and turning to face him, crossing her arms as she locked eyes with him.

   “S-sorry,” he stammered, blinking at her before looking down at his hands, focusing on the finger Mirai had gripped. “Guess I just… Never expected to have the concept of who the King really is hit me so hard,” he murmured, rubbing his thumb over the ghost of the baby’s grip. 

   “Never seen you so mind-boggled before,” she giggled, taking his other hand gently, letting him still rub his thumb and forefinger together. “Just remember, as long as you do the job you’re already so brilliant at, then the King will go on. I can’t promise everything will be fine, but I can say they’ll keep going. Your strength, determination, and intelligence will make sure of that,” she assured, squeezing his hand gently and making him lock eyes with her again. 

   “How do you do that?”

   “Do what?” She tilted her head at him, and he pulled her closer to him in response.

   “Know just what to say to make everything… Make sense again?”

   “I think that’s just a you thing, Shika-kun,” she teased, letting him wrap his arms around her as her arm wound around his waist. “We were trained together to get that exact effect, weren’t we?”

   “Maybe, but this still seems different,” he supposed, squeezing her gently as he thought. “More like you knock some sense into me without having to actually knock me around.”

   “That’s because I’ve knocked you around enough times; I know I can, I choose not to,” she snorted, pulling back a little from the hug to look at him.

   “That’s probably true, too,” he chuckled, reaching up to trail his knuckles over her cheek gently. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his, and he returned the kiss gently, barely getting to linger before they were interrupted.

   “You guys see one baby and decide you want to make your own,” Ino gagged, making them pull back from each other. He could feel his face heating in embarrassment at the implication, and caught the red tone of Zaki’s cheeks as she took a step back from him to shoot Ino a glare. 

   “And what about you and Sai? Heard you two-”

   “Okay okay, sorry,” Ino rushed to interrupt, her own blush on her cheeks, and Shikamaru had to fight to suppress a shudder. He very suddenly didn’t want to be part of this conversation anymore. 

   “They’re both fine, if not a little tired, so don’t be surprised if she doesn’t keep you for long,” Zaki continued, waving as Ino walked past her into the hospital. 

   “Thanks for the heads up,” she called back, shooting a smile at them as she went inside. 

   “Speaking of tired,” Zaki yawned, stretching again. “I think I’m going to head to Kurenai’s, finish cleaning and making sure Mirai’s things are where they should be, and take a nap.”

   “A nap sounds nice right about now, actually,” he agreed, yawning himself.

   “Maybe I can bump it to the top of the list, if you actually let me get up when the alarm goes off later so I can clean,” she said, taking his hand again and leading him to Kurenai’s place.

   “We’ll see,” he chuckled, earning a soft glare from her as they walked.

Chapter Text

   “I can’t believe she was looking down on us just because we’re still only genin!”

   Konohamaru’s irritated complaints made her blink open her eyes, awakened from her light nap with Shikamaru by the sound of his voice.

   “Sounds like trouble,” Shikamaru grumbled quietly, sighing as he shifted his hands from behind his head. 

   “But what Sakura-senpai said really is true,” Moegi said, voice full of concern. “Listen, maybe we should just stick to-”

   “No way! We’re not gonna give up that easily!” Konohamaru interrupted angrily, and Shikamaru finally sat up to look down at them from the pile of wooden beams he and Zaki had been sneaking a nap on. 

   “What’s the matter? You sound kind of upset.”

   “Shikamaru-senpai!” The three genin chorused, and Zaki hid a small snicker as she sat up as well. It had taken her telling those kids that all of the chunin from Naruto’s class were at the same level she was for them to begin calling them senpai as if they had been doing it forever.

   “What, bored of working around the village already?” Zaki chimed in as she sat up and stretched, looking down at the genin as well. “You go meet your cousin yet?”

   “Yes, Zaki-senpai,” Konohamaru grumbled, crossing his arms as he looked away from her. “Don’t see what the big deal is, anyway.”

   “She’s adorable, though!” Moegi gushed, and Shikamaru waved for them to join the two of them on top of the stack of beams.

   “What’s your problem, anyway,” Shikamaru asked again as they settled in front of them.

   “How do we get on the front lines and fight the Akatsuki?” Konohamaru asked, leaning forward a little with a determined light in his eye. Zaki blinked at the question, and watched as Shikamaru closed his eyes to hide his own surprise from them. “I brought down Pain, so that means I’m a full fledged Leaf Shinobi now!” Konohamaru continued, planting his palms in front of him as he leaned forward further. “I helped Naruto!”

   “Alright,” Shikamaru scoffed, opening his eyes again as he fixed the genin with a stare. “I have a question for you so-called ‘full fledged Leaf Shinobi’.”

   “Uh, okay,” Konohamaru nodded, maintaining eye contact with him despite the slight quiver in his voice. 

   “Who’s the King that you must protect?”

   Zaki glanced between the two of them as the silence stretched out, watching as Konohamaru sat back on his haunches again as he tried to think. She knew he’d guessed it was a trick question, since he didn’t blurt out the obvious answer of Hokage, but she wondered if he’d ever realize it wasn’t so much a trick as it was a misconception that he’d grasp to understand as he gained experience.

   After another few beats of silence, Shikamaru’s face softened and he issued a soft chuckle as he finally looked down, allowing Konohamaru to release the breath she wondered if he even realized he was holding.

   “If you can’t answer, then I’m afraid we can’t acknowledge you as full fledged shinobi,” he said, standing up and moving to leave.

   “Cut them a little slack; they don’t play shogi,” Zaki chided, looking up at him before moving to join him.

   “Maybe they should start; Asuma proved you don’t have to be good at it to learn from it,” he shrugged, jumping down. She stood there a moment longer, looking down at the kids in front of her.

   “Don’t rush your training, you guys; war is scary, and stressful, and everyone knows you want to help. You’re sure of your abilities and don’t want platitudes of ‘helping around the village is just as important as being on the frontlines,’ but you need to be aware that things aren’t that simple-”

   “Don’t coddle them, Kashizaki,” Shikamaru called up to her, making her huff in response.

   “I’m not coddling,” she contradicted. “Coddling would be just telling them the answer, because they still wouldn’t understand why it’s the answer.” She crossed her arms as she looked down at Shikamaru, who had turned around to look back up at her. “And Shikaku-sensei’s method of dropping very scant breadcrumbs to lead the ducklings to their wealth of knowledge doesn’t work for everyone,” she finished, sticking her tongue out at him. 

   “Leave them with a bigger one, then,” he shrugged. “Hurry up, we get caught out here, we'll never hear the end of it.”

   “Here,” Zaki said, crouching near the genin again as she pulled out one of her chains, using her chakra to detach a link from it and reform it into a solid shape, just like a shogi piece. She let her chakra flow over the surface of it, etching the kanji for ‘king’ onto the surface before handing it to Konohamaru. “Once you figure out the answer, come find me or Shikamaru and tell us, and I’ll engrave the back of it for you. It’s for all three of you, to remind you that you’re not alone on this mission, and you never are.”

   “Ugh, you guys are so damn cryptic!” Konohamaru’s complaint followed her as she hopped down off the pile of wood, and she only raised her hand as Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder.

   “We’ve given you all the information we can, the rest is up to you to figure out.”

   “That idiot,” Zaki sighed, taking a few steps past Moegi and Udon toward where they said Konohamaru was going. “Go find Shikamaru, tell him what you told me and lead him there,” she ordered, getting nods from each of them before taking off in the direction she’d seen Temari take when they passed each other in Lady Tsunade’s wooden hut.

   She didn’t have to get far before she heard wind pick up in the forest. So Temari doesn’t seem to be holding back, she thought, rolling her eyes as she skirted around trees in the direction of the fight. She saw a ball of blue light being formed, and immediately recognized it.

   “Oh no you don’t,” she gritted out, jumping off a tree for an extra burst of speed before whipping a chain toward Konohamaru, letting it wrap around him and pulling him off course, backwards so he face planted into the ground with the Rasengan. 

   “What the hell?!” Temari’s incredulous cry as the crater formed would’ve made her laugh if she wasn’t so angry at the situation.

   “Konohamaru, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Zaki started in on him, pulling her chain back so it wasn’t around him anymore and leaving him to wallow in the hole he’d made. “What were you thinking, attacking a shinobi of a village we’re allies with?!”

   “Well, being Naruto’s student, I really doubt he was thinking,” Shikamaru panted, coming up behind her; she guessed he’d sprinted the whole way as she had, he’d just been further away. “Didn’t you call him ‘as impulsive as it gets’ a few weeks ago?”

   “Not the time, Shikamaru,” she seethed out, shooting him a glare over her shoulder before rounding on Temari. “And you! You have almost a decade of experience on this kid, and you were willing to go all out on him?!”

   “If we take any shortcuts or go easy on any shinobi ever, it could cost us our lives,” Temari countered, voice hard as she narrowed her eyes at Zaki.

   “If you truly believe a 12 year old could possibly best you, one you had already knocked aside at least twice by the fact that your fan was fully extended by the time I got here-”

   “Underestimating an enemy will get you killed,” Temari said again, narrowed eyes shifting into a glare as she gripped her fan.

   “He’s not an enemy!” Zaki took a step forward, putting herself between the kunoichi and the genin in the hole, Moegi and Udon having rushed down to check on Konohamaru when they arrived. “And if you think I’m just going to sit by and let you treat him like he is, you’ve got another thing coming.”

   “He was the one that presented himself as such-”

   “And he’ll be punished for doing that; he has no right to be attacking shinobi of villages we’re allied with,” Zaki nodded, shifting her stance a little. “But you should know better how to properly assess your opponents by now, given how much experience you have.”

   “Are you implying-”

   “Okaaaay,” Shikamaru interrupted, and Zaki felt his shadow connect to hers and prevent her from moving. Glancing down, she saw he had both of them in the paralysis jutsu, though she doubted he could hold either of them for very long. 

   “Shikamaru, you better have a good reason for this,” she gritted out, already working her chakra in a way that would break her out easily if she so desired.

   “Yeah, you’re making the situation worse,” he said plainly, walking up so he was in between the two of them. “Go take Konohamaru and the others back to the village before you blow a gasket and fight Temari yourself. You fighting her could actually end the alliance between our villages.” He ignored the glare she gave him, instead turning his attention to Temari. “And you, I’ll escort to the edge of the forest; that’s normally my job anyway, so it shouldn’t be too different for you.”

   “Whatever,” Zaki huffed, breaking free of the jutsu herself before he could release her, spinning on her heel and jumping down into the crater. She stopped in her tracks when Konohamaru looked up at her, holding the piece of steel she’d given him before.

   “Senpai, I understand now,” he sniffed, holding the piece up for her to see and giving her a smile that almost made her forget her anger toward the whole situation. Almost.

   Leaving Zaki to deal with the genin, and trying not to let the fact that she was legitimately upset with him bother him, Shikamaru turned and led Temari away from the scene and toward the edge of the forest. 

   They traveled mostly in silence, only passing glances and small talk as they walked. It wasn’t until the trees started thinning that he slowed down some to get her to do the same.

   “Hey, uh, sorry about that whole thing back there with Konohamaru,” he said, rubbing the back of his head as he looked away from her. 

   “It’s nothing; the war has everyone on edge, and kids don’t always grasp the weight of it,” Temari shrugged, turning to look at him since he’d fallen behind her a little.

   “Even so, that’s no way for a genin like him to treat a superior-”

   “I said it was nothing, Shikamaru, please drop it,” she sighed, rolling her eyes a little. “Besides, I’m more miffed about what your friend was saying; are you guys really that soft over here?”

   “It’s not softness,” he countered immediately, straightening his stance as he leveled his gaze on her. “Just because we’re not as cruel in our training as Suna is doesn’t mean you get to insult it. And I’m not apologizing for Kashizaki. One, because she’s her own person and it’ll be her responsibility to apologize to you if she so feels inclined. And two, I don’t necessarily disagree with her. Treating Konohamaru like he was a real enemy, I get. You’re on foreign land, and you’re alone. Instincts always win out over rational thought in those cases. But after you’d been able to assess him and his threat level, don’t you think you could’ve handled him a bit more tactfully? Made it so he wouldn’t have even wanted to use the Rasengan on you? I don’t know what exactly went on before I showed up, but I’m sure there are far better ways of teaching the kid a lesson without nearly ending his life.”

   “...You’re right,” she conceded after a beat of silence. “I let his words get under my skin. It was unprofessional and uncalled for. I apologize.”

   He blinked at her, shocked how easy it was to get her to agree. Every notion he had about her during their previous interactions seemed to tilt slightly as he eyed her. She’s not so scary when she’s actually remorseful for her actions.

   “You’d better get back, before your little friend wonders where you went. Besides, I think she probably has some choice words for you, after what you said to her,” she spoke again, giving him a lopsided smirk as she turned away from him to keep walking. “See you later, Shikamaru.”

   “Uh, yeah; later, Temari,” he nodded, waving as he watched her exit the forest before turning to head back to the village himself.

   “You’re angry.”

   Shikaku’s calm voice reached her as she threw another chakra-charged punch into a dented and misshapen chunk of steel she’d made for herself sometime after the rooms of their house had been finalized in size and shape. 

   “What clued you in,” Zaki gritted out, rearing back before spinning and planting her foot against the steel and allowing her chakra to flow so it sank a little ways into the hunk of metal. 

   “You’re going to end up in the hospital if you use any more chakra,” her sensei warned, and she shot him a glare over her shoulder before spinning and planting her fist into a nearby plank of wood that had long been discarded during the building process, splintering it easily.

   “Fine, I’ll go into the forest then,” she grumbled, turning on her heel and taking a few steps toward the trees of the Nara forest, only to be stopped in her tracks by yet another shadow paralysis jutsu cast on her.

   “Kashizaki-” Shikaku started, only to be interrupted.

   “You’re both on thin fucking ice with this,” she growled, though she was unable to break free of Shikaku’s jutsu as easily as she was Shikamaru’s, so she didn’t even try with her chakra. Though that didn’t stop her from pulling against it with her strength alone, anger still fueling her actions even though she was consciously trying not to take it out on her sensei. 

   “I’m not letting you go into the forest and destroy my trees,” he said tiredly, shifting his shadow to start pulling her to him without moving. “Explain,” he said simply once she was closer to him and forced to sit on one of the logs strewn about the garden.

   “The Kazekage’s sister almost killed the Third Hokage’s grandson,” she gritted out, crossing her arms as she refused to look at him. If he had been taking a drink, he would’ve spit it out in shock at her statement.

   “You can’t just leave it at that, Kashizaki.”

   She huffed and explained the situation to him, starting from when she gave Konohamaru the piece of steel all the way until Shikamaru had trapped her and Temari with his shadows and told her she was making things worse. He only nodded at her during her retelling, stroking his goatee as he did. He hadn’t sat down with her, instead pacing slowly in front of her as she spoke. Surprisingly, the steady and calm manner of his movements served to calm her faster than she expected them to. 

   “Well, your anger makes sense,” Shikaku finally spoke, giving her a small smile as she looked up at him. “You’re also angry because you understand Temari’s position of being in a foreign land and having the instinct to protect yourself from anything and everything; remember your first few nights here?”

   “Don’t remind me," Zaki groaned, rolling her eyes. “I was a child-”

   “You still are, Kashizaki,” he interrupted. “You may not see yourself as such, and you certainly conduct yourself like a young woman most of the time, but your temper tantrum out here-”

   “Not a tantrum,” she corrected, glaring up at him. “I came out here to vent my frustration. There is a difference.”

   “Your temper tantrum,” he continued, narrowing his eyes at her as he spoke. “It proves you’re still young, and your blood runs a little hot. Neither of these are bad things; in fact, you being quicker to get emotional is what makes you such a good partner to my son, because you’re able to read others emotions and their intentions because of them, something he can’t exactly grasp that well. So you getting angry over one of the young shinobi-in-training of our village being in danger isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Just don’t forget it wasn’t that long ago that you were in his place.”

   “Okay, and what about Temari? She has three years of experience on me, and practically a whole decade on Konohamaru!”

   “I’m not here to talk to you about Temari. I’m here to remind you of what you can do, Kashizaki.”

   “Yeah, well, Temari’s the reason I’m angry,” she insisted, crossing her arms again as she looked away from him.

   “You already ensured an issue like this shouldn’t arise again, you know.” She raised her eyebrow as she returned her gaze to her sensei in a questioning look. “You taught Konohamaru and his team the lesson they needed to learn in order to not repeat their mistakes.”

   “...You’re right,” she finally sighed, dropping her hands into her lap. “Though Shikamaru still has to answer for what he said before sending me away,” she grumbled, turning to look at the house instead. 

   “I think you spending so much time with Kurenai has something to do with that, then,” Shikaku chuckled, turning to head inside. “I’ll send him out to you if you want to stay out here.”

   She blinked a few times, processing just what Shikaku had said to her before she shook her head. I think he just called me hormonal?!

   “Uh, no, I’d rather he come find me on his own,” she answered, refusing to look up at him. 

   He found her in her usual spot on the ground outside the house when he finally got home. He’d decided to wander a bit as the sun sank in the sky, hoping Zaki would’ve blown off some steam before he had to see her again. The fact that she was laying on the dusty ground, next to where their pond was outlined to go, proved he had made the right decision.

   Shikamaru knew she heard the latch click behind him as he shut the door, entering the garden to join her. She didn’t move to acknowledge him, however, and that made his stomach sink a little; she was still a little mad at him, it would seem. 

   He gingerly made his way over to her, careful to pick up his feet so he didn’t kick up any dust from the grassless ground. He came to a stop next to her head, but she kept her gaze on the sky, clearly refusing to look at him. He sighed and plopped down where he was standing, crossing his legs and finally leaning into her line of sight to lock eyes with her. She only returned his gaze for a moment before closing her eyes, brows furrowing in her frustration.

   “Don’t be such a drag,” he mumbled, sighing again as he reached forward and put his finger against the middle of her forehead. He felt the muscles in her face twitch again; clearly she was giving an effort to not lash out. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said before, with Temari,” he finally said, and this time he was met with a flash with the midnight blue of her eyes as she looked up at him.

   “You were right, though; I wasn’t helping the situation,” she conceded, looking away from him again. 

   “You always do that,” he chuckled, getting a confused look from her again. “Attempt to waylay any form of apology coming to you as if you don’t deserve it.”

   “W-well I don’t-”

   “Hush,” he silenced her, leaning back and patting his lap. She immediately complied with sliding back enough so her head was in his lap, and he untied her hair for her, since her headband was already off for the day. He let the long, dark blonde strands fan out over his thigh as he combed his fingers through it, the silky texture soothing him as his repetitive motion seemed to sooth her, because he felt her shoulders relax against him. 

   “Why did you feel like you had to apologize to me?”

   “Because you were mad at me; it doesn’t matter if I was right if it still upset you. I can be right and still feel sorry for the way it made you feel. I could’ve handled the situation differently, or at least said it in a different way; we’ll never know, because we can’t go back in time. So all I can do is make sure you know that I know what I did caused you to be upset, and I didn’t want it to.”

   “Well, you’re right. It did piss me off. It pissed me off because I knew you were right, and admitting that in front of Temari was not something I wanted to do. So of course, the smarter thing I did was storm off in a huff with the kids I was acting like,” she snorted, closing her eyes as he chuckled above her. “I think Shikaku-sensei was right; I spent a little too much time with Kurenai-sama since Mirai was born.”

   “What, her haywire emotions rub off on you?” He raised his eyebrow as he looked down at her in question.

   “Something like that,” she nodded, and he blinked at her in response; he hadn’t realized that was an actual thing. “Speaking of the kids and Mirai, her name was the first one Konohamaru wanted engraved on that metal shogi piece I gave him, and Moegi and Udon agreed. They then each added a few names of the younger kids in their neighborhoods. I think when they earn chunin in the next exams we’re able to hold, I’ll make each of them their own so they won’t have to share the one piece, but for now the single piece will remind whichever one of them is holding it that they’re not alone.”

   “Sounds like a great idea,” he said softly, smiling at her when she looked up at him. “Oh, that reminds me,” he added, leaning back slightly as he shifted to dig into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small satchel of seeds and holding them over Zaki’s face before dropping them. Her hand shot out and caught them before they landed, and she opened her fingers to eye them as she sat up, turning to face him as she did so.

   “What are these?” She opened the unmarked bag, trying to discern the plant by its seeds. “Are… Are these what I think they are?” She looked back up at him, eyebrow raised before she shot a glance toward the outlined pond.

   “I asked Ino to get me a few,” he nodded, looking at the future construction project as well. “Once we have the time, I figured we could-”

   He was cut off by her tackling him backwards, arms around his neck as her lips met his, but their kiss was short lived as she pulled back to give him one of her full smiles that he loved so much. 

   “You’re so thoughtful, Shikamaru,” she said softly, and he couldn’t help but smile as his hand came up to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. 

   “Kinda had a partner for the last 4 years of my life that instilled it into me,” he chuckled, and was met with another kiss from her, a deeper one this time that had him pulling her closer by her hips and her fingers working his hair tie loose from his hair.

Chapter Text

   “What do you mean I’m not in the Third Division?” Shikamaru’s voice spoke her confusion for her as he stared at his father. 

   “You’re in the Fourth Division; you’re the link between intel and the front lines. I won’t have any arguments from you about it, either,” Shikaku said, looking between Shikamaru and Zaki.

   “But our jutsu isn’t long range, you know that!”

   “No, but your tactical mind is,” Shikaku continued, narrowing his eyes at his son.

   “Okay, then why isn’t Kashizaki in the Fourth Division? We were trained to work together practically our entire careers-”

   “Because if we lose both of you, this war is lost.”

   The silence stretched out as the Naras stared at each other, and Zaki couldn’t help but look down at the table between them instead. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been through separate battles before, they were both plenty capable of analyzing situations and making calls without the other. Shikamaru was a brilliant strategist, exactly in his father’s shadow and capable of picking up where he left off and growing in his own way. And Zaki knew her ability to make fluid decisions based on the intentions she could read from the enemy would be a great asset to the Third Division, the company in charge of providing mid range support to the first two companies, though she suspected her ability with her chains was more the reason she was placed there.

   “So who will be my commanding officer?” Zaki finally spoke, making both Naras blink and look at her.

   “Kakashi Hatake,” Shikaku answered, giving her a gentle smile. “You two will compliment your similar strategic styles nicely; with his Sharingan eye being able to read enemies faster than you can, you’ll be able to use that information and make decisions with it.”

   “Wait-” Shikamaru started, but Shikaku held up his hand.

   “You’re both deputies to your captains,” he continued, looking between them. “Shikamaru, you’ll be working closely with Gaara and Temari to help lead the Fourth Division, since Gaara is also our commander-in-chief. Kashizaki, you’ll be Kakashi’s deputy, helping him issue orders to the Third Division.”

   “This is still-”

   “Shikamaru, that’s enough,” Shikaku stressed. “These are finalized decisions. I’m telling you two this now so you can make the most of the last night you’ll be able to see each other without war echoing all around you.”

   This silenced Shikamaru again, and Zaki looked over at him finally, locking eyes as the realization dawned on her that this could very well be the last night they even saw each other alive. She could feel tears prick her eyes at the thought, and she blinked them away as she continued to look at him, watching as his face dropped as he came to the same realization.

   “Tomorrow morning, you report to your stations and get your new headbands. So for tonight, do whatever you need to, because I know that’s what I’ll be doing with my wife,” Shikaku finished, standing up from the table and walking away. Zaki knew that if war wasn’t so heavy on their minds right now, Shikamaru would’ve been thoroughly grossed out at the thought his father had just planted in his head. But it seemed like he had chosen to ignore it, instead standing up from the table and holding his hand out to her.

   Placing her palm against his, she let him pull her to her feet and lead her back to his bedroom. She was glad he’d just chosen one rather than waiting for her to pick, because she wasn’t sure her brain had the capacity to make decisions with how paralyzed with information it felt. She was also glad for the decision on Shikaku’s part to put the master bedroom on the opposite side of the house from where they’d put Shikamaru and Zaki’s bedrooms; they may have still been told to keep their separate rooms, but that doesn’t mean they were used that way. Especially not that night.

   He didn’t let go of her hand when she stopped just inside his doorway, looking back at her as she shut his door behind her but didn’t move to follow him further. She guessed his brain was as fried as hers was, trying to make sense of everything after their sudden realizations at the table. Locking eyes with him again, her midnight blue to his hazelwood brown, she couldn’t blink back the tears that forced their way forward. 

   “Sh-shikamaru, I-”

   “I know,” he hushed her, tightening his grip on her hand and pulling her to him. She still caught the wetness in his eyes before she buried her face in his shoulder, the soft fabric of his long sleeve shirt absorbing the tears that tried to run down her face. She felt him press his lips into the side of her head, felt the way he shook with suppressed sobs of his own, and her grip on his back tightened as she tried to pull him closer to her, despite the fact that they were touching from knee to shoulder.

    Let everything out now, because you can’t let it follow you into battle tomorrow, she thought, squeezing him one last time before pulling back to look at his face. He must’ve had the same thought, because they leaned into each other at the same time, their lips meeting in a shaky kiss that very quickly grew fierce with unsaid words and undone barriers.

   Whatever happened that night, it needed to stay in that bedroom the next morning. 

   Fighting the reincarnated Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had been hard; Zaki and Kakashi hardly ever got to be near enough to each other in the battle to formulate any kind of plan together, so their formations and attacks had to be based purely on guesswork of how the other would move. Fortunately, it had worked in their favor, since their forces held off the swordsmen until the nighttime, when they were recalled. 

   Staying vigilant during the night was just as hard; watching Sai puzzle through his emotions while she and Kakashi formulated plans should any of their enemies show up, and what to do come morning, made her want to reach out to him, to offer words of encouragement, but she decided he would be better off figuring it out for himself. 

   Being separated from Kakashi to help Gai and the others get the word out that they needed to regroup without giving chase to the enemy stressed her out, but the overbearing confidence from her friend’s sensei helped keep her grounded as she issued orders in Kakashi’s absence. Learning that one of the support groups she had yet to meet up with had taken out Gari and Pakura by themselves made it easier.

   Sending Gai to go make sure Kakashi didn’t over do it against two of the swordsmen was harder; she’d grown accustomed to having his loud mouth behind her, reminding her that she was on the same page as their captain and knew what she was doing. Thankfully, she’d been able to reunite with Sai and Lee as she made her rounds, and had gotten a confidence boost from them; Lee had given her a speech about how far she’d come from that sickly genin that he carried to Konoha himself. 

   Hearing that Shikamaru and the others had to fight a reincarnated Asuma had been the hardest; she couldn’t imagine the confusion and pain that had to be on their minds, most of all Chouji’s as they fought to incapacitate their sensei themselves this time. Though Zaki believed in them, and was proud to hear they’d come out on top. 

   Knowing that his plan to combat the White Zetsus’ infiltration of their forces was to isolate everyone in his company and fight some reincarnated shinobi he’d fought previously had angered her; surely there had to have been a better way than letting them separate their souls from their bodies, only to be forced to wait for Naruto to rescue them, right? Apparently, he hadn’t thought so, as even once Naruto had rescued them from their soul entrapment, he kept his forces isolated until Naruto had fully purged all the White Zetsus. 

   Being told all of this while she was rushing to give Naruto and Killer Bee backup while fighting a masked Madara Uchiha made it difficult for her to focus. How different would things have been if she’d been there? What would she have been able to do, to change? Would he have even wanted her there? Damn this incessant rain, making everything-

   “Kashizaki, it is time to focus!” Lee’s voice drew her out of her head as they neared the battlefield where Naruto was, and she blinked a few times before nodding her acknowledgement to him. They still had a ways to go before they joined the front lines, but knowing that she still had comrades beside her helped to keep her mind focused on the task at hand; be ready at a moment’s notice.

   “We’re gonna stop the both of you-”

   “You’re wrong!”

   Zaki’s eyes narrowed as she glared across the open battlefield toward Obito and Madara. She may have only heard their names during the mad dash toward the front lines, but it was fairly easy to figure out who was who after everything she’d read in preparation for the war. And it was Obito who interrupted Naruto.

   “Why won’t you realize it’s completely meaningless for you to stop us here?! This ‘jutsu’ of yours will crumble to dust after the war, and someone on your side will eventually attempt what we’re doing anyway! There is no victory, no matter how much you struggle. Get it through your head already; hope doesn’t exist in this world!”

   Zaki couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him; how can you base an entire existence on proving how hopeless it is to exist, and expect to be taken seriously? No wonder he had to go to such extreme measures, gathering power like this in order to prove his point. He’d forged the wrong tools with his pain and loss. 

   “That’s where you’re wrong,” Naruto spoke up. “Hope isn’t a blind faith like you’re claiming it is. It’s the willingness to pick up the pieces scattered around you, and reforge them into something new, something better. And it’s the willingness to do that as many times as it takes for you to get it right. If you keep doing that alone, then you’re going to come up with the wrong tools, each and every time you do it. Borrowing other’s strengths and hope is how you forge your own. Testing them against others’ tools is how you find out if yours is right. But you, you’re trying to… You’re just trying to force yours to be the only one! No matter how jagged and broken it is! And that’s why the Allied Shinobi Forces will stop you, right here and now!”

   To say the Allied Forces' cooperation had ultimately failed would’ve technically been true. The power of the Ten Tails was just far too much for mere mortals to contend with. Shikamaru was painfully aware of this as he watched the Ten Tails’ counter attack, as each attack was sent over the Forces’ heads and in different directions, showcasing its destructive power. 

   Zaki’s soft gasp from somewhere on his left as the fourth attack was sent flying confirmed his suspicions, and he would’ve collapsed to his knees if he hadn’t been forced to lock away his emotions in order to even survive in this war. His father was going to die.

   “And if this plan doesn’t work?” He couldn’t help but ask once Shikaku was done explaining the new strategy he’d come up with over the connection Inoichi was creating in all of the Allied Forces.

   “Then you live on, and take the reins, Shikamaru,” he answered heavily, and Shikamaru couldn’t help but tense at that. Was he ready?

   “You have to be,” came Zaki’s quiet confidence, answering his unasked question. “You’re not alone, you never will be.”

   “HQ will soon be no more,” Inoichi reminded them, and the sense of anguish he was feeling he was sure was just as strong in Ino and Zaki as they listened.

   The look of horror on Kashizaki’s face as he watched the reflection of the explosion in her eyes was almost more heartbreaking than the explosion itself, what it was destroying. He couldn’t bring himself to look in the direction of the attack, too afraid it would weaken the lock he had on himself further. Instead, he drew strength from remembering he had people he needed to help keep alive, by keeping his gaze on her before turning toward the Ten Tails. 

   “Shikamaru-” Chouji started, but Shikamaru only held up his hand toward him.

   “We’re in the middle of a war, Chouji. Don’t waste any words on me, Ino, or Zaki right now.” He looked back toward Zaki one last time, caught her tears as she looked toward him, and he closed his eyes again. He’d break fully if he kept staring at her. “We’ve got work to do.”

   Infusing her steel into the earth barriers she helped erect drained her a lot faster than she thought they would’ve. Fortunately, with the chakra she’d stored while the Forces had been cloaked in the Nine Tails’ chakra, she’d been able to do it, but it proved nearly ineffective, until the four previous Hokage showed up and saved their asses. 

   Sasuke’s admission to his new ambition of becoming Hokage actually did make Zaki fall over in laughter, especially after seeing everyone else’s reaction of utterly flabbergasted shock. Though, realizing she was beside herself in her hysterics, she was fortunately left to the background as the rest of Sasuke’s former classmates laid into him about how ridiculous he sounded. And then as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke jumped forward to lead them all, Zaki stayed back as their class resolved to move forward for the war, ready and willing to provide any backup necessary.

   She wasn’t sure if she should step in on the Ino-Shika-Chou combo they were setting up until Ino connected to her.

   “Get over here and give Chouji your chains! Or have you forgotten your oath already?”

   Zaki was at Chouji’s side within the same instance, her trepidation gone as she slung her chains around Chouji’s human boulder form, using the weight and texture of her steel to give him more heft and traction as Shikamaru’s shadow jutsu slung him around. She recognized instantly the same move she’d used with Chouji back during the chunin exams, and it made her smile as she crouched next to Shikamaru, forming her hand signs and searching the earth for the materials for her makeshift chains that she used to bind the nearby enemies in place, allowing Ino to let go of the lock-on she had of those ones and to focus on newer ones further away. 

   “You know, people are going to say this isn’t fair since you have a fourth person on your team,” Zaki quipped when Shikamaru opened his eyes to glance at her and Chouji as the latter stopped to say he was going to expand further. 

   “Still not a competition, we’re not trying to prove ourselves against our classmates,” Shikamaru sighed, and Ino only shook her head.

   “Speak for yourself; they’re not my classmates, so I can out class them in whichever way I want,” Zaki snorted, and he only scoffed in response, though a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 

   “Good luck with that,” Ino interjected, nodding toward where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had summoned their companions.

   “...Okay, you have a point.”

   “We’d only get in the way if we tried to join in on that battle.”

   The drop in morale was practically tangible as Shikamaru glanced around, listening to everyone’s awe at the giant battle between Madara and Hashirama ensuing in front of them. He felt Zaki touch his arm, and he turned to look at her, locking eyes as he took in the determined light in hers. She squeezed his bicep, and they both nodded before he turned to Ino and had her connect him to the whole of the Allied Forces.

   “Even a small power can be helpful, depending on how it’s used. We may not be able to help now, but we need to be ready to jump in at a moment’s notice. We can’t relax and let our guard down, not even for a second.”

   He couldn’t help but smile at the palpable increase in everyone’s determination at his words. 

   “You know, you’d make a pretty damn fine Hokage one day,” Zaki said, making him open his eyes and look at her.

   “I’ll pass,” he said tiredly. “I know I may seem more motivated than I used to, but that still sounds like way too much work. Besides, I drew all of that from you, Kashizaki. Those stupid speeches you’d give to us, back when I’d lead the three of you guys on missions without Asuma whenever you noticed Chouji or Ino feeling like they weren’t contributing as much, or whenever you’d get irritated with me for shrugging off a very obvious problem that may have had an obvious solution to me, but I hadn’t explained it to the others yet.”

   “You know I got those from Shikaku-sensei, right?” He caught the tears in her eyes, and had to consciously take a breath in through his nose and out slowly through his mouth to keep his own in check.

   “I’d believe it,” he nodded, looking down and away from her. “Like you said before, his method of teaching doesn’t work for everyone, but it sure worked for us, didn’t it. Cause I don’t believe he ever spoke a word of it to you, but you certainly would’ve heard him give them more than I would’ve.”

   “Yeah, you’re right about that,” she chuckled. “Mostly because you refused to go with him anywhere, while I did what I could to learn from him.”

   “Were you always like that? So studious?”

   “Do you guys really think now is the time for this?!” Ino’s voice interrupted them.

   “Don’t act like we’re not paying attention to our surroundings,” Zaki scoffed. “Like now, there’s those roots coming our way.”

    He’s not going to be fast enough, I need to keep him moving, give him my strength, do anything to keep him alive!

   Her thoughts were the only thing keeping her feet moving as she dodged around the chakra absorbing roots that were shooting for her and Shikamaru. Fortunately, Ino and Chouji were faster; Ino because of her evasion training, and Chouji using his brute strength to push himself forward. Shikamaru, on the other hand, had never trained himself to be fast with his movements beyond honing his reflexes and holding his own in a fight. Zaki was actually making plans to get himself to train that very aspect after his leg healed, but preparations for the war kept them both in high demand. 

   Now, it seemed they’d both pay the price for it.

   She kept her hand around his wrist, pulling him along from the roots, but one wrong step and-

   Zaki fell forward, a firm shove on her back nearly forcing her to faceplant with her momentum being shifted. It made her lose her grip on Shikamaru’s wrist, and she spun around to look, the force of the push she’d received still making her fly forward. Her eyes locked on his just as the root wrapped itself around his waist, and she grit her teeth to keep herself from screaming.

   Instead, she whipped her chain around the root and pulled it taught, careful not to feed any of her chakra into it, using nothing but her strength to tighten it as she yanked, severing it from the tree before she jumped back and grabbed Shikamaru, pulling him out of further harm’s way. She tried not to let how much lighter he felt disturb her as she ran toward Ino and Chouji, setting him down next to them once the roots had seemingly ended their assault. 

   “You’re an idiot,” Zaki murmured, a hand ghosting over his hollowed cheek as he gasped for air, as if the very act of breathing was hard work. 

   “Shikamaru!” Ino and Chouji both called out to him, falling to their knees next to them and Zaki had to fight her instinct to pull him closer as if to protect him; they were his friends, they weren’t going to harm him. But in his fragile state, she couldn’t be sure of anything.

   “Why push me out of the way,” she whispered. “Of the two of us, I’m the one with more chakra; I could’ve afforded being grabbed for a second, especially with Naruto’s chakra infused with me. Why did you do it?” Zaki couldn’t stop the tears on her cheeks as she looked down at him, her hand still stroking his cheek gently. 

   “S-sorry,” was the only thing he could muster, barely more than a breath as he blinked once up at her before going limp against her shoulder.

   “Don’t you die on me, dammit!” Her voice cracked as it picked up, a sob choking her as she leaned her forehead against his. “Don’t leave me to go home to your mom alone and tell her I lost both Shikaku-sensei and you!”

   Zaki hardly looked up when Sakura and Sai ran up, or when Ino was called away by the First Hokage. She only half paid attention to the explanation of the tree when Lord Hashirama explained it through Ino’s jutsu. Her main focus was on Shikamaru, watching how Sakura’s healing, while keeping him alive, wasn’t recovering him or his chakra network as fast as he needed it to. 

   It wasn’t until Naruto’s Nine Tails’ Cloak spread over Shikamaru did he open his eyes again. More color had come back to his face, but he still looked sickly and weak. Zaki sat back a little as Shikamaru tried to lift his head, but didn’t get very far as Chouji came up next to her and supported Shikamaru’s head instead. 

   “We’re not letting you die, you lazy bastard,” Zaki choked out, and Sakura issued a swift and forceful agreement as she redoubled her healing on him. “We all need you here; someone has to keep Naruto from going off the deep end when he becomes Hokage because you won’t take the damn job for yourself, you stupid Nara.”

   “J-just as fierce as always, K-Kashizaki,” he murmured, giving her the smallest of smiles before closing his eyes again. 

   “If you’re not on your feet the next time I see you, I’m telling Shiho she can go on a date with you,” she threatened, easing Shikamaru’s weight into Chouji’s hold before she stood. “I have to go help set up the defensive perimeter while the Kage help Naruto fight. Just in case anything happens to come our way,” she explained, looking around at the others before lifting her chains slightly. “I’m the one that can make the strongest material here besides the Iwa-nin, after all.”

   Blinking open her eyes, she realized there was a soft warmth coming from behind her. Laying in bed, she rolled, struggling a little with the weight of her belly, to face the man she'd married a little more than six months ago. 

   Shikamaru's face was still half buried into the pillow, asleep with his hair sticking out behind him as he snored slightly. She couldn't help the soft laugh she let out as she fully rolled to face him, taking one of his hands and placing it on her swollen, pregnant belly, where the baby was kicking outward. This caused him to inhale a little, blinking open the one eye she could see as his hand started moving across her skin slightly, trying to keep his touch in line with the baby's. 

   "Morning, sleeping beauty," she laughed, stroking the back of his hand lightly as she let him rub her belly himself.

   "That's my line," he murmured tiredly, offering her a lopsided smile before looking down between them. "Awake already, it seems."

   "Yeah, he rarely ever lets me sleep in anymore," she laughed, shifting to her back to get comfortable again.

   "He?"

   "I just have a feeling; it's a Nara thing, isn't it?"

   "I guess I never really thought about it," he shrugged, offering her a yawn as he also shifted onto his back, leaving both of them to stare at the ceiling. 

   "Do you think," she started, after a beat of silence between them. "Yoshino's over the whole grandma thing yet?"

   "Not a chance," he chuckled, turning his head to look over at her. "With how young we are? Sure, shinobi tend to start families as early as possible so they can get back to their work, but we literally came back from our honeymoon and you were pregnant; hardly prepared, wouldn't you say?"

   "Maybe, but that's not always a bad thing when it comes to this sort of thing," she shrugged, meeting his eyes. "With both your parents around to help, and Ino and Chouji practically beating down the door every single time anything changes with the baby at all, it's not like we're alone, ya know?"

   “I guess you’re right,” he conceded, giving her another easy smile before putting his hands behind his head. “I still think Mom and Dad would’ve preferred it if we’d waited, though.”

   “I mean, obviously, but it’s not like we can change that now,” she laughed, resting her hand against her belly briefly before shifting to get up. “C’mon, we said we’d meet Kurenai, Asuma, and Mirai after my appointment today.”

   “Ugh, we haven’t spent a day to ourselves ever since you started showing,” Shikamaru grumbled, sitting up slowly and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and standing, stretching his arms over his head and making his sleep shirt ride up. 

   “Sympathy weight,” she giggled, poking his exposed lower abdomen and making him tense, flinching away from her light assault as he issued a soft huff of laughter. 

   “Hardly, more like my job as advisor lets me sit at a desk all day doing paperwork, rather than doing any amount of training whatsoever.”

   “I still can’t believe Shikaku-sensei let you just take over his job as easily as he did, but I guess wanting to retire early from that position in order to be around more makes sense.”

   “It’s like you say, Zaki,” Shikamaru said, giving her a soft smile as his hand stroked her cheek, fingers brushing against the hooped earrings in her ears. “It’s so you’ll never be alone.”

   Finding his footing was secondary to finding her, he realized too late as he nearly face planted after spinning in place. Spotting Kashizaki collapsing from her cocoon, he took off running for her immediately, tripping at least twice on his way there and landing on his knees in front of her, practically yanking her up by her arms and pressing her flush to his front. His hands trembled as he gripped her back, his face burying in her hair as he waited with baited breath for her to return his grip.

   "Shikamaru," came her small voice, her hands sliding their way up his back before she clutched at his jacket, her body trembling a little with held back sobs. "Y-you're real, right?"

   "Yeah," he breathed out, pressing kisses into her hair as he let his tears flow. "I'm real. You're not alone, Zaki. And neither am I."

   They sat like that together, wrapped around each other, for a few moments before another pair of arms wrapped around them, making him look up. Zaki didn't move, keeping her face pressed into his neck, but Shikamaru was ready to tell whoever it was off until he saw Chouji's face. Movement in his peripherals told him where Ino was, and both he and Chouji reached for her, creating a group hug around Zaki. 

   It was finally over.

   It was raining when they limped onto the Nara compound holding each other up. There was going to be a formal meeting in 2 days to tell the whole village what had transpired and that the war was over, but until then, all shinobi were to return to the homes that were still standing, and spend time with their remaining families. 

   Shikamaru and Kashizaki lead the rest of the Naras that returned with them, and as soon as they were through the gates, they split off to their respective families until the two of them were standing alone together in the middle of the compound.

   "Where's Mom?" Shikamaru murmured as he lifted his head to look toward his house. His exhaustion was forgotten about, replaced with low fear as he took a few steps in that direction.

   "Go, I'll catch up," Zaki nodded, squeezing his hand before letting go, forming a hand sign to create a metal crutch with her remaining chains. Her leg still hadn't been looked at by Tsunade, but she insisted it wasn't a permanent injury even if she didn't have it treated with medical ninjutsu and just kept the wound clean and bandaged. He didn’t even know when she’d been injured, just that her pant leg was torn, and her injury was red and swollen when he’d helped her stand after the cocoons dissolved.

   Unable to stop himself, he took off towards his house, almost breaking the door down in his hurry to get it open.

    Please, don't let anything have happened to her, too, he pleaded, skidding to a halt in the entryway when he saw her head on the dining table within view of the door.

   "M-mom?" He called out, numbly kicking his sandals off before stepping slowly into the house. He heard her gasp and watched as she lifted her head, meekly reaching out to him as tears continuously flowed down her face.

   "Sh-shikamaru?" She choked out through fresh sobs, moving to stand, but her exhaustion wouldn’t let her find strength in her legs, beginning to collapse. He lunged, catching her weight before she could hit the floor, instead letting her collapse gently as he gripped her arms, shifting to sit with her.

   "I'm here, I'm here," he murmured soothingly, his cheek twitching with effort not to let his own tears come forward yet. 

   "H-he's gone, isn't he," she whispered, reaching forward and touching his cheek as she asked, and his resolve to not cry broke instantly. A few tears escaped as he nodded, unable to voice the affirmative himself, and she let out another strangled sob as she flung her arms around his neck. "Th-thank you for coming home," she sniffled, squeezing him tighter.

   He only rubbed her back, letting his tears flow with hers. They sat on the floor like that for long moments before he heard the door close, and he realized he'd left it open in his haste to get to his mother. Glancing over, he saw Zaki sit heavily on the entryway step, setting her makeshift crutch aside as she bent down to remove her sandals. He watched her back, watched her head lift to look at that makeshift crutch before she shook it, instead opting to remain sitting as she removed her jacket and pulled her hair free of it's braid, tossing the jacket, hair tie, and headband towards her side of the foyer before she simply flopped onto her back, covering her face with her hands. He guessed she was crying herself, and confirmed as such when she began to curl in on herself despite her injured leg.

   "Go to her," murmured his mother, making him jump a little. He hadn't realized she'd lifted her head to watch Zaki. "Bring her to the table; I'll make tea with honey, we could all use a little sweet comfort right now."

   Nodding, he stood and helped his mother stand before walking over to Zaki's curled form. He removed his own flak jacket and hung it up before bending down and hooking his arms under her, adjusting his grip when she didn't move to grab at him, her trembling wracking her entire body as she kept the heels of her hands pressed against her eyes.

   "Zaki," he murmured, taking a step or two toward the dining table before stopping, adjusting his grip again. "Are you alright? Physically, at least," he amended, getting a slight nod in response before he felt her weight shift.

   "S-sorry," she whispered, her hands leaving her face as she reached up to sling her arm over his shoulder to make carrying her a little easier. "I-it just..."

   "Hit all at once?" He offered, raising his eyebrow at her as he sat her in one of the dining chairs, watching her nod in response. "Mom's making tea with honey, hopefully that'll help some."

   "Why honey?" She still spoke quietly, but she tilted her head a little as she looked at him before looking toward the kitchen where his mother was working.

   "She said we could all use a little sweet comfort right now," he shrugged, shifting one of the chairs over so he could sit right next to her, his leg pressed against her uninjured one. 

   "She never used to remember that it’s the only way I’ll take my tea," she murmured, still eyeing the kitchen. 

   "Zaki, you lost your sensei as much as we lost our family," he finally said, putting his hand on top of hers on the table. "I'm sure she's aware of that, too."

   "I-" She started, but stopped when she saw his mother walk into the room with a tray in her hands, watched as she set it on the table nearest them and took her own seat on Zaki's other side. Rather than saying anything, Yoshino wrapped her arms around Zaki's frame, pulling her into a hug. She only hesitated a second before shifting to return the hug, tears in her eyes again. They sat like that, silently, for a few moments before Yoshino pulled back enough to look at Zaki's face.

   "Thank you for bringing my son home," she said before tightening her grip on Zaki. "And thank you for filling my husband's life a little more these last few years. Having a student to teach was something he'd been missing."

   He felt his throat grow hot as he watched Zaki's face contort with more tears as she hugged his mother again, and nearly broke when he saw his mother's face filled with her own tears. Instead, he busied himself with pouring the tea his mother had made into the cups she'd brought out, pausing a little when he saw the 4th cup before filling that one, too, and setting it where he thought his father would be in this situation; next to his mother.

Chapter Text

   He slid the back door to the house shut behind him, making sure to make it click loud enough that Zaki knew he was there. She hadn’t greeted him when he’d walked in the door, but that wasn’t entirely surprising since he’d actually gotten home late. The moon was reflecting off the pond in their backyard to prove that to him. 

   “Long day?” That was Zaki’s greeting as he stepped off the low porch surrounding the house. She hadn’t shifted to look at him, instead keeping her gaze on the moon. “Yoshino stopped by earlier, asked if I knew when your shift at the prison would be done for today. Naturally, I didn’t have an answer for her, so she instead took it upon herself to pack bentos for you all afternoon.”

   “Didn’t I say we should’ve tried to find her a different house a little further away than right next door,” he said tiredly, sitting cross-legged behind Zaki’s head and waiting for her to shift her head into his lap like she always did whenever he joined her out by the pond. He glanced at the surface of the water as he waited for her to settle against him; the stems of the lotus flowers he’d planted were growing, a few leaves already breaching the surface of the pond, but they’d be waiting for the blooms to fully show still.

   “Yeah, but I didn’t feel right separating her from this house that far; it might not be the same one that she raised you in, but she still has some memories with Shikaku-sensei in it,” she explained, lifting her head slightly to help him untie her braid before relaxing fully against him. 

   Shikamaru only hummed in response, watching as his fingers combed through her hair gently; he didn’t think he’d ever tire of the way the lighter golden strands in her hair reflected the moonlight so plainly. He’d picked up a lock of her hair and was rubbing it between his fingers to watch that exact phenomenon when he realized she was looking up at him, so he shifted his gaze to lock eyes with her.

   “I technically lost my job today.”

   “...Technically?” Her eyebrow arched as she narrowed her eyes at him.

   “So did Lady Tsunade,” he nodded with a small shrug, a small smirk pulling at his lips when Zaki’s response was to sit up and turn to face him. 

   “So you decided to make a game of getting me to guess what you mean?” She tilted her head slightly, her hair shifting behind her in a dark golden curtain. 

   “More fun than shogi, wouldn’t you say?” He chuckled, meeting her gaze evenly. 

   “Okay, now I know this isn’t a normal situation; nothing is more fun to you than shogi and napping.”

   “Go on, start guessing,” he encouraged, leaning back on his hands as he eyed her. She must’ve realized he wasn’t going to budge, because rather than narrowing her eyes at him, her finger just met her chin as she began to think. 

   “Well, if both you and Lady Tsunade are out jobs now, that means either you royally fucked up your job at the prison, and put a lot of people in danger - which obviously isn’t the case, or you wouldn’t be here right now - or something seriously great happened to where Konoha no longer is obligated to watch over the prison as part of the agreement with putting the Union into full power.”

   He only lifted his chin slightly as she spoke, careful to not reveal anything to her as she continued to eye him. 

   “If Lady Tsunade stepped down, that wouldn’t surprise me,” she continued, looking down and away from him now as she thought. “Her Mitotic Regeneration is said to take years off the end of her life; she’d look like she’s around a hundred years old at this point if not for her using her Yin Seal to redirect some of her chakra toward her appearance. So she’s probably aware that she hasn’t a whole lot of time left, after what she used to heal herself and everyone after the war.”

   “I’ll tell her you said that,” he said coolly, only to be met with a swift slap to his knee that didn’t hurt but made him chuckle. 

   “She’ll kill us both,” Zaki countered, and he nodded his agreement. “Lady Tsunade picking a successor isn’t surprising, then,” she continued, finally eyeing him again. “And I know you well enough that you would’ve bolted from the room the moment she even had a single inkling of a thought of asking you to take her place. Plus, she and the elders would’ve both thought you far too young for the position. No, she would’ve chosen someone with similar intellect but far more experience-...”

   Shikamaru watched as her eyes narrowed on him again, clearly having figured out who was replacing the Fifth Hokage, but still hadn’t pieced together what about that situation had caused him his job. 

   “So what did you and Kakashi do at the Blood Prison to absolve Konoha from its responsibilities of taking care of it for security?”

   “I already told you; start guessing,” he answered cryptically, giving her an easy smirk before he laid back on the grass himself, stretching out so his legs were on either side of her instead. 

   “Making yourself awfully vulnerable to me, Shika-kun,” she murmured, her hand touching his thigh to emphasize her point, but he didn’t flinch as he kept his gaze on her.

   “Because Miss ‘I have to show respect in everything I do’ would never do such a low blow no matter how mad I made her, unless her life was in danger,” he said, putting his hands behind his head as he watched her. “Now go on, you still haven’t guessed what happened.”

   “What the hell am I supposed to do, just guess blindly? I have no information on what was going on at that Prison, you weren’t allowed to discuss any details with me other than when you’d be there and when you’d be home so we could coordinate babysitting Mirai with everyone.”

   “Okay, I’ll give you a hint. Just one; the Tobishachimaru.”

   Zaki’s eyes narrowed as she stared down at him, and he looked away from her and up to the stars as he waited for her to speak. 

   “Someone hijacked it and tried to use it for a prison break?!”

   He blinked and looked at her, unable to keep the surprise off his face as he pushed himself up on his elbows to look at her. His mouth opened a little to speak, but she continued, eyes bright with confusion and pride as she kept her gaze on his.

   “You stopped a prison break from a fucking airship, which led to something else happening so someone could take your place as the warden. Shikamaru, that’s incredible!”

   “Now, hold on,” he said, sitting up again. “That’s not entirely what happened. You are correct about the hijacking and prison break, but I didn’t exactly… Prevent it,” he corrected sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “But we did fix it within the same day, and prevented Kusa and Iwa from going to war with each other and us over it, so there’s that!”

   “Oh, so you did lose your job because you were fired,” she deadpanned, and he sighed as his head fell forward to rest his forehead against her shoulder. 

   “I wasn’t fired, just replaced,” he mumbled. “One of the ninja who’d been part of the hijacking is both imprisoned there and in charge of the prison now. Her kekkei genkai is effective in keeping the prisoners in check. And before you ask, no, it isn’t Steel Release, it’s Ice,” he added, lifting his head off her shoulder to look at her. “She and Kakashi shared some kind of bonding session when they were on the falling airship together, and he trusts her, so I’m inclined to as well.”

   “You know they replaced you at the prison so you could go back to focusing on getting the Shinobi Union functioning properly, right?” She raised her eyebrow at him as a small smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth, and he groaned as he leaned into her again.

   “It’s so much work,” he complained, burying his face in her neck as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

   “Maybe so, but it’s not like you’re alone in doing it,” she murmured, and he lifted his head to lock eyes with her again.

   “You’re right; we’re never alone, Kashizaki. Never again.”

   Shikamaru felt her smile against his lips as he kissed her, but she pushed a little against him despite returning his kiss.

   “I love you, Shikamaru,” she whispered when he pulled back slightly, and he tightened his arms around her to pull her further onto his lap.

   “I love you, too, Kashizaki,” he answered, and chuckled into the kiss she gave him in response.