Ok, I think I lost him, Yumi thought as she hurried as fast as she could to Konoha, despite her aching legs, despite her exhaustion. Now I can focus on getting there quickly, she said to herself as she flew swiftly across the trees, careful not to make a sound, just in case she was still being followed; she didn’t want to risk anything, not in the sort of situation she had been placed in, the responsibility that she bore on her own self. I just hope I can get back in time. I don’t know what I’d do if-

Her thoughts were interrupted, when she was suddenly caught off guard by an unknown object that had sped by her; catching her long, flowing sleeve, pulling her to a branch, and sticking stubbornly to the wood of the tree she was on. As Yumi turned her head instinctively to see a kunai caught to the dark fabric, another flew by and caught to her skirt. Shoot, she thought heatedly as a ninja approached her, a smirk across his disgusting face, from his dark, narrow eyes to his pudgy nose. Guess I didn’t lose him after all. She struggled with the kunai, trying to free herself, but it was no use; they were stuck intractably in the tree, and there was no way she’d be able to get them out anytime soon, before she met her doom.

Trying to avoid the ninja’s sneer, she instead looked beyond him; though blinded by the sunlight facing her, she could just barely see the five Hokages in the stone. And I was so close too, she thought miserably as she did her best to hide her depression and gave the ninja a death glare, only to receive another smirk. This just made Yumi angry, and she clenched her fist until her nails cut her light skin, ignoring the pain she was putting on herself.

"So this was your plan?" he asked her, his eyes mocking her to a point of infinite anger as he got closer. He scoffed, his eyes narrowing. "Running away to get help, ha! I’d expect something like that from a small girl." Small?! I’m the same height as you! Yumi thought furiously as she struggled once more. He swiftly pulled out another kunai and held it by her neck; Yumi hid her fear with a scowl as she kept her neck as far from the weapon as she could, her angered eyes keeping a hold on his. "So...any last words?" he asked her.

Not changing her expression, Yumi continued glaring at the ninja for another few seconds, her dark eyes cold and unmoving. If she was going to die, she was going to at least do something that would redeem her, pathetic as her idea was; she was not going to die as a helpless, cowardly girl, even if no one else was watching and would know. Not taking her enraged eyes off of him, she spat in his face. He jumped a little in shock, then regained himself, that stupid smirk back on his face, his eyes with a look of arrogance staring at Yumi’s cold ones.

"Foolish brat, you don't know what you just got yourself into," he said, pulling his hand back, ready to thrust the kunai into Yumi. She closed her eyes, heart accelerating, getting ready for the excruciating pain she was expecting, not knowing how painful it’d be, having never experienced such pain before. Then she noticed that it wasn’t coming, and out of curiosity, she opened one eye to see him still standing there, his body, his face, frozen with fear.

Though she was confused, she did a good job of hiding it as she smirked and said tauntingly, "What a coward, you can’t even kill a small girl?" She wasn't expecting the reply, especially from someone else, someone other than the one in front of her, someone hiding in the trees.

"I’m sure if he could, he wouldn’t waste time in trying to, especially after what you just did."

Yumi quickly snapped her head in the direction of the aloof voice hidden in the shadows, and was able to make out a tall, dark-haired boy about her age holding his hands in a position that she assumed had something to do with why the guy in front of her was suddenly immobile. Upon closer look, she noticed that the shadows of him and the guy in front of her were connected, and that confirmed her assumption. She half smirked, half smiled at this new acquaintance. Thank goodness.

"Well what do you expect me to do, act as a damsel in distress?" Yumi said casually, trying to act indifferent, though inside relief was filling so fast she thought she’d explode.

"Looks to me like you already are." He calmly replied, shrugging his shoulders. Yumi narrowed her eyes slightly at this remark as he nodded to her, "Now free yourself, I can’t hold the jutsu forever."

Now knowing she didn’t have panic to lose her focus, Yumi was able to calmly reach over with her free hand and yank the kunai out of the tree after a few tries, only slightly ripping her sleeve, then got the one out of her skirt. Dropping the weapons, she sneered at the ninja in front of her as she gave him a solid, unmerciful kick.

“Ow!” the boy shouted. He growled, “Geez, don’t you know that until I let go of the jutsu, every attack directed toward him goes to me too?”

“Oh I’m sorry!” She called back showing little sympathy. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“Geez, that was pretty strong.” He muttered to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. “Such a troublesome girl. I can’t believe I dragged myself into this.” Then he called to her, "Alright, I guess I’ll tell you when to attack."

"Well hurry up then." Yumi shouted her reply. She smirked at the ninja, staring him down, getting ready for the boy's signal. Oh, you’re gonna wish you never even thought about messing with me. You’re…gonna…pay.

"Now!"

Yumi gave the ninja another hard kick in the abdomen; knocking him a few feet back, failing only in her attempt to make him fall off the branch they were on ten feet above the ground. Yumi made a dash after him, rapidly preparing a jutsu. She shot out a strong stream of water directly at the ninja; so strong that the force snapped the upper half of the tree they were on. When the water cleared, Yumi watched in anger as the targeted ninja transformed into part of another trunk.

"Substitution." Yumi muttered as she instinctively turned around, just in time to dodge the ninja's punch. She slid her leg swiftly under the ninja’s feet in an attempt to make him lose his footing, barely succeeding. He fell and grabbed the branch he had just been standing on, then swung back up to attack, unscratched.

"Ugh, where's that shadow boy?" Yumi growled as she blocked an attack with a barrier of water. "I could use some help right about now." She glanced around in between attacks to try and find him. This was a mistake; she didn’t see that there was an attack coming from her right for she was glancing to the left at the time. She fell out of the tree, landing on her left shoulder. The ninja hopped after her, gracefully landing a few feet away. He got up from his crouch and slowly stepped toward Yumi, who was straining to even sit up. Finally he was standing over her, meeting her eyes as he glared at her, his dark eyes staring down at Yumi’s carmine eyes.

"Now you know not to mess with me." He said to her kicking her abdomen; she winced in pain, trying not to show weakness, trying to hide how short her breath was getting. "Too bad it's too late for you," he said feigning sweetness as he pulled out a kunai. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the shadow boy appeared behind him, and caught him with a shadow, with his jutsu.

"You ok?" he asked her, his voice seemingly uncaring that she was in fact, not ok. Struggling as she got up, Yumi nevertheless nodded, her eyes still narrowed in anger. Not taking his eyes off of her, the boy replied, "This will only take a minute, just relax.”

Yumi watched in awe as the shadows appeared to take the form of hands, crawling up to the ninja's neck, and she stared astonished as the shadowed hands eventually choked him to death. As he fell to the ground, Yumi smirked proudly as she gave him one last kick before he hit the ground.

"And now you know not to mess with me." Yumi sneered at the limp and lifeless body. She looked up to face Shadow Boy, her smirk not leaving her face. “Where were you? We could’ve beaten him easily if you hadn’t been hiding doing whatever you were doing. I might not be feeling this pain in my shoulder if you had helped.”

“I did, I saved your butt twice.” He replied calmly, though Yumi could tell from his eyes he was getting annoyed.

“Well that wasn’t enough!” Yumi said glaring. “Why didn’t you fight?”

“Cuz I didn’t want to.” He said simply. Yumi’s jaw dropped in disbelief at this.

“Didn’t want to- what do you mean you didn’t want to?” What the heck? I thought he was a ninja, I can’t believe I actually thought that.

“Easy as that, I didn’t feel like it. It wasn't my fight; I only interfered when you needed me to.”

There was a pause in which Yumi was fuming with anger, then before she had a chance to blow off the steam he asked, “You said your shoulder hurt, should I take you to my village to get that fixed?”

Taken aback by this sudden change in subject, this change in tone, Yumi stammered, “Uh, yeah, that’d be nice. But wait!” She suddenly remembered why she was heading towards Konoha in the first place. “I need to speak to your Hokage; it’s pretty urgent.”

He didn’t ask questions, just merely nodded. “Then let’s get going,” he said, striding in the direction of Konoha, Yumi following.

"So back there, what took you?" she asked, trying to get back on the subject they were on before, to clear her head, to make this guy feel worse about not helping.

"I had to wait till he was fully distracted, and in a good position where I could attack, on the ground." He said. "So good job distracting."

Sure he was, Yumi scowled, she hated to be thought of as a distraction, like she didn’t do anything important, wasn’t the hero. Pretty cocky if you ask me.

"No problem." she muttered sarcastically as they reached the gates.

"This way." he said as he slightly quickened his steps toward a building, Yumi following hastily, only glancing around once in a while at the numerous buildings in the village. They entered the building, and after climbing a few staircases, reached a door. Shadow Boy knocked on the door rapidly, and entered. Facing them was a desk, occupied by a woman that Yumi guessed as the Hokage.

"Apparently there’s an emergency." He sounded almost bored when he said it, and nodded towards Yumi.

"What, what is it?" she asked him, only slightly alarmed. Geez, seems like everyone in this village is on the slow side today. Yumi cleared her throat as she began to explain for the first time the situation.

"My village has been under siege for three days and is now being attacked as we speak,” she said as calmly as she could, although she was panicking, as she feared for the villagers she had grown to love over the past years. "I don't know the details, but our leader seems to have betrayed our whole village for another enemy. I ran here as soon as I could to get help." I already wasted enough time trying to escape, she reminded herself.

The Hokage nodded quickly in agreement. "Right, we'll have to assist. However, unfortunately all of our advanced teams seem to be away on other missions, they may not come back for at least five days.”

"What?" Yumi asked alarmed. Just my luck!

"However, we still have Shikamaru."

"Well, where is he? Send for him right now!" Yumi said. “The sooner the better!”

"That would actually be me,” Shadow Boy said. Yumi snapped her head to him. “You can’t get any sooner than that,” he shrugged.

"You?!" She asked in disbelief.

He nodded slowly, then looked at the Hokage, his eyes once again displaying annoyance. "Do I have to?" he asked making a face.

"Him? You’re sending him?" Yumi cut in as she asked the Hokage, shooting her index finger in his direction, still in disbelief.

"Hey, what's wrong with me?"

"Oh, nothing, except the fact that you hide when in danger, leaving me to defend for myself!" Yumi said. Shikamaru scowled.

"Shikamaru, you have to go,” the Hokage said sharply. "There’s no one else, cuz they couldn't think up excuses to avoid other missions." Shikamaru glared in the Hokage’s direction. “You need to help this village.” There was a pause, silent other than the fact that Shikamaru sighed in defeat.

"So he's really coming?" Yumi asked bleakly.

"Don’t worry, there’s more to him than you think." The Hokage replied halfheartedly.

Yumi glanced at Shikamaru, his hands carelessly in his pockets, gazing distantly out the window in front of him, behind the Hokage, looking as if he wasn’t aware of the situation, his location, that he’d rather be anywhere else than where he was now. That’s hard to believe, she thought as she sighed, "Fine, let's go, the sooner we leave the better." She grabbed Shikamaru’s wrist and dragged him out the door, breaking him out of his trance, even receiving a startled yelp.

"Come on, hurry up!" Yumi said as they left the village, hopping on a branch, turning to see him a few feet behind.

"Ok ok, sheesh." Shikamaru shook his head as he followed her, thus starting their journey to Yumi’s little village.

"Ugh, I still can’t believe I got stuck with you to assist in this." Yumi said. "My village is doomed,” she groaned glumly.

"Will you stop already?" Shikamaru snapped. “I’m just as upset about this as you are!"

"Why, it interfered with your nap time? You had other things to hide from?" Yumi said whipping her head angrily in his direction.

"I already told you, that was just for strategy."

"Yes, cuz running away is the best strategy." Yumi muttered. So say the cowardly. I can’t believe this is happening.

"Why am I even bothering?" Shikamaru questioned, more to himself, with a discouraging tone. "You’re just a troublesome girl that obviously likes to argue."

Yumi glared at him as they flew through the forest. "I'd probably be less troublesome if I wasn’t stuck with a whiny boy that plays with shadows."

"Troublesome girl." Yumi heard Shikamaru mutter under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. Yumi clenched her fist, taking a deep breath, the only thing that could prevent her from wanting to knock out the boy.

"Hey, I heard that." Yumi said. "If you're gonna keep calling me that, I’d prefer troublesome woman, thank you very much."

"I don’t think so."

"And why not?" Yumi snapped.

"Because,” he said calmly, "you're far from being a woman."

Yumi glared. "And what exactly do you mean by that?" She shouted. What was with this guy, he just met her and he's full of nothing but insults and derisions.

"You're just more girl-like than womanly." Shikamaru said shrugging. "Simple as that."

"And in what way?” she asked. “Because I swear, if you mean to say that in terms of a physical sense, then -"

"You’re also really annoying." Shikamaru said. “So really I mean it in terms of maturity.” Yumi scowled as she realized that Shikamaru didn’t even deny that she was ‘girl-like’ in a physical sense; in fact, he seemed like he affirmed it as he added the maturity factor too. Must. Not. Beat. Boy.

“So you’re saying if I were less annoying then you’d call me ‘troublesome woman’,” she said, trying to keep her temper. “But then would you have a reason to call me troublesome anyway?”

“Sure,” Shikamaru said. “You’ll still be annoying and troublesome, just to a lesser degree. All females tend to be troublesome anyway.”

“Oh yeah? Why do you say that?”

“Well for one thing, the things they say or do because of some guy. Girls that are boy crazy are the most annoying ones.”

"Oh sure," Yumi said sarcastically. "And I’m just crazy about the fact that I’m stuck with you for this mission." That got him, Yumi thought. Call me boy-crazy, I don’t think so!

"Tch." was all he said in response. Yumi smirked, but wasn’t fully satisfied; she decided to build with this offense.

"Plus, you're not even my type." Yumi said almost in a mocking tone, hoping this would get him irritated, waiting to once again see the annoyance in his eyes. But instead all she saw was a smirk completely covering his frustration.

"And I bet your type is annoying, stubborn, and just as troublesome as you are." He shot back almost easily.

Yumi scowled, angered that he seemed to be untouched by this, that he was able to make a comeback, though it was a bit weak. But she quickly regained herself as she replied all too calmly, just to irritate him, "Please, that would mean my type was someone like you!” she retorted. That was the best on yet, but she kept going; if she couldn’t beat him physically, this was the perfect outlet. “Actually, my kind of guy is strong, smart, would do anything for me, and doesn’t think only of himself." Yumi said turning her head away with smugness in her voice. "And, he's brave and courageous. The opposite of you." She smirked, watching out of the corner of her eye how he’d take this.

"The opposite of you as well,” he said.  “I don’t know where you're going to find a guy like that who'll fall for someone like you." He sounded like none of what she was saying was affecting him; she really hated that, that calm tone he always used, as if nothing else, including his mission, mattered. How could he do that? It was really annoying her, and who knows how long she’ll have to deal with this? For the time being, she gave up; she’d have plenty of time afterwards to get under his skin, but for now, she had to focus on helping her village. But still...

Yeah, and I’m sure that there's a girl who'll be interested in you, she thought in her head, finishing the argument.

“Hurry up, you turtle!” Yumi shouted over her shoulder at Shikamaru. “Actually, I think a turtle just went by, so you’re more like a snail.”

"Come on, can’t we take a break?" Shikamaru griped; it was half an hour after the sun had set that day. They were getting close to the border of the Land of Fire, as well as to Yumi’s village, thanks to Yumi’s constant shouts to Shikamaru, telling him to quit lagging. "We've been traveling nonstop since we left the village!" It was dark, he was tired, hungry, exhausted. This was by far the most he’s ever traveled on a mission in just a few hours.

"No!" Yumi said fiercely. "If we take a break, we might be too late!" she said. "You’re such a lazy bum; I’ve been traveling nonstop since I left my village! You’re only going half the distance I’ve traveled." Why, why did I have to get stuck with him for this? Of all days to have their better shinobi out on other missions, it had to be the day our village goes through one of the worst attacks ever experienced.

"But we should conserve our energy in case we'll need it for a fight." Shikamaru tried to reason with her, but he already knew just by her personality that she’d just ignore this.

"Like you'll fight." Yumi muttered as she rolled her eyes. He’s so lazy; it’s just my luck that he was the only one left that could handle this. Wait, can he really handle this? Sure he was able to take out that other guy, but that probably would’ve never happened if she hadn’t worn him out while running to Konoha, fought him, even if it was just for a moment, and…well, maybe he did forget Shikamaru was there, and was maybe a little distracted with his fight with Yumi. No, he knew Shikamaru was there, how could he forget he was there after he got caught in his jutsu? The guy was an idiot, that’s all. Yumi turned to face her lagging comrade and said loud enough for him to hear, "I can handle it, you saw me with that one guy."

"And you handled it very nicely, especially those two times I stopped him from hurting you." He smirked.

Yumi rolled her eyes but didn’t say any more. She knew he was right; he did save her twice in that fight. She knew she should be grateful, and she was. Very. But she didn’t feel very grateful at the moment, she was too distracted by her ego, the fact that he thought he was so awesome. But she still thanked him in her mind, thinking maybe he'd receive her nonverbal thanks. She thought about his suggestion and reasoning. Maybe he did know a thing or two about how to handle this situation; maybe they should stop, just for a moment.

"Fine, if you really feel that way," she said with a change in tone as she made a turn and left the path they had been following for the past hour. Shikamaru followed, with a perplexed look on his face; he didn’t think she'd actually stop, he actually thought she'd argue again after his comment. He didn’t know she could be actually be this way, so…well, not like she usually is, how she has been since they met. She actually seemed…humble, meek.

“But if we don’t get there in time, you are going to regret that you even suggested a rest when there were people depending on us!” Well, so much for that thought.

Yumi strode to a tree and climbed to the closest branch that was able to hold her up. “Good night.” She said in a semi-sweet voice before turning away from Shikamaru, who made his way to the same tree, shaking his head in disbelief. He sat on the grass and leaned against the trunk, asking himself how he got stuck in this troublesome nightmare, with this troublesome…thing.

Even though he hadn’t been able to tolerate Yumi so far, he decided to be polite and tell her good night back, troublesome as it was; she had after all, said it to him, maybe this will help get on her good side, and that’s definitely something he needed if he was going to continue – no, survive – this mission with her. He looked up to wish her a good night when he noticed she was busy with something that looked like a notebook. Instead, the words that came out were, "What the heck are you doing?"

"You're kidding," Yumi said flatly not even glancing at him. "I'm working on a Sudoku puzzle, and you're interrupting my concentration." She shook her head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Shikamaru was speechless, so that all he could think of to say was, "I…I didn’t know you did those."

"Well you just met me, of course you don’t; can’t think of what you do know about me," Yumi muttered, then quickly continued before he had a chance to put her down with a retort, “But now you know that I do these all the time, especially before bed. It actually kinda helps…clear my mind. Which I think you and I can agree I definitely need to do right now.” She shrugged as if it were nothing but a well-known fact. "I’ve finished bunches of them; at first I thought they were kinda dorky, but I’ve actually grown to like them. Here, you can do one, maybe it’ll keep you quiet." She tore out a page and threw it down, not even watching to see if he caught it, which he did, barely. Shikamaru stared at it for a minute, analyzing it, examining it.

"Here," he said bluntly, handing it back up to her after a few minutes. Yumi smirked as she reached for it.

"What, too hard?" Yumi laughed picking it up. When she looked at it, her eyes widened. She scoffed in anger as she quickly adjusted herself to face Shikamaru, a little too quickly; she tossed herself over the branch and fell right on Shikamaru.

“Ow!” They both said together. Yumi looked up to see him scowling, she opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again. “How’d you get it so fast?” she managed to squeak out in her frustration.

"I don’t know, it must've been an easy one," Shikamaru said staring at her with hard eyes. “Now get off me, troublesome girl.”

Not taking her eyes off him, she got off of Shikamaru and climbed up the tree once more. "Beginner’s luck." she muttered as she up adjusted herself, then stuffed the puzzle in her pocket. After that, she didn’t feel like working on hers, being too upset to concentrate, so she put the rest back in her pack and tried to fall asleep. I can’t believe he got that so quickly and easily, she thought angrily as she shifted to her side, trying to find a more comfortable position, to ease her jealousy. She continued tossing and turning as she pondered this. How did he do it? Even though I’ve done tons of those, I’ve never been able to do one as quickly as he just did his first one! This is so not fair!

She woke up bright and early the next morning, well before Shikamaru. She hopped out of the tree, and glanced at Shikamaru. Having mercy on his calm, peaceful face, she rolled her eyes and decided to leave him alone while she went to a clearing. As she prepared herself for practice she felt something in her pocket and pulled it out. It was Shikamaru’s puzzle from last night. She frowned at it and shoved it roughly in her pocket. She picked a tree and practiced her taijutsu for about fifteen minutes, letting whatever was left of her anger from the night before all out, then decided to head back, feeling a little better.

She returned just as Shikamaru was waking up. "Hey," she said giving a small smile. "Ready?"

"Where were you?" he asked her as he got up. "How long were you up?"

"What are you, my mom? I was just a few minutes; I was out training by myself," Yumi replied shrugging. She sighed, "Alright, ready to go? Or do you want another nap?"

"Whatever," he said unemotionally, and they both continued their journey, gliding through the trees. After a few moments in silence Yumi decided she should say something, something that was still on her mind, despite the fact that she tried to work off her emotions just minutes ago.

"So, how could you get that puzzle so easily?" she asked casually, hiding her curiosity, even smiling just a little.

Shikamaru shrugged as he avoided her gaze. "I don’t know, I just thought up a bunch of possibilities, and was eventually able to get it."

"Sure you were," Yumi said, rolling her eyes. "You probably had that one before."

"Nope," Shikamaru said. "I'm not a Sudoku kinda person, I like Shogi or Go."

"You're kidding," Yumi said in disbelief. "Ew, I hate those games, I always lose."

Shikamaru smirked. "I've never lost."

Yumi narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. "Show off," she mumbled to herself.

"It's not too hard, you know, it's just more of a strategy game."

"I know that!" Yumi snapped. I’m just not good going against an opponent when it comes to mind games; I’m fine by myself, like with Sudoku.

"Sure you did." He smirked.

Yumi scowled. Ugh, he thinks he knows everything, acting like he’s so smart. And sure, maybe he is, if he was able to solve his first Sudoku puzzle in a few minutes, but if you ask me, he’s really letting it get to his head. I have to be more careful; I seem to be boosting his ego. She continued scowling as she thought these irritating thoughts to herself, then came up with the most random idea ever; she smirked. "Well, if you think you're so good with strategy..." she teased as she snatched his forehead protector. “See if you can get this back!"

"Hey!" he shouted as she sprinted off. When she was a good distance away, she turned to face him and put the forehead protector around her waist. "Hmm, not bad," she said examining herself, all the while keeping one eye on him; when he tried to attack, she was able to dodge it easily. "I can’t believe you're a ninja, you can’t even get your forehead protector back." She stuck her tongue out at him as she dodged him again. "Come on, shadow boy! Come and get it!" She hopped on a branch and did a little dance, sticking her tongue out at him. Shikamaru scowled.

"Quit fooling around!" he shouted heatedly as he tried to catch her again, only to have her dodge his shadow once more.

"I’d like to say the same to you, but I think you're really trying!" she said happily as she skipped on the branch she was on. “I'm so proud of you, you're actually moving around!" This ought to get us to the village faster, she thought to herself as she sped through the forest. She continued gliding through the forest, Shikamaru barely able to catch up, every once in a while turning back to taunt him. Eventually though, Yumi found him slowing down as she looked back. She stopped to mock him again.

"What, had enough?" she teased.

"Very funny," he called back. "I know your plot." He smirked.

"I don’t know what you're talking about," Yumi said sweetly, though she was afraid he indeed knew that she was trying to get him to the village sooner; he did after all, seem to be quite clever.

"Two can play at that game,” he said sitting down right on the spot where he stopped.

"What?" Yumi feigned confusion, slightly getting aggravated; it was going to be hard to hide this strong emotion that was surging through her.

"Well, I realized it's stupid to chase you around over a forehead protector, so I think I’ll just go at my own pace," he said shrugging.

"What?!" She shouted.

"That's not a problem is it?" he sneered. Yeah, he definitely knew her plan. “I just want to save my energy.”

Yumi glared at him. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, only to close it again. "I don’t even know what to say to that," she finally said, her eyes narrowed, her fists clenched.

"That's a first," Shikamaru muttered, indistinctive to Yumi.

"What was that?" Yumi shouted.

"Wouldn’t you like to know?" he called back.

Yumi scowled. "Well, fine then, I’ll just leave you. See if you can find your way back without my help; you’re an awful long way from your village, and I don’t think you know where mine is." and with that she left.

Shikamaru sighed. Such a troublesome girl, he thought to himself. You’d think she'd have more sense once in a while. He shook his head. Especially since she plays with sudoku puzzles in her spare time, you'd think she's smart. But it seems all she wants to do is fight, fight, fight, she obviously doesn’t like using her head. However, that was pretty clever with the forehead protector, anyone could’ve fallen for that, it’s so simple it’s brilliant.

Shikamaru settled himself on the branch he was on and looked at the clouds. She's actually not bad at fighting, not to mention arguing. She really can be stubborn...

He shook his head as he looked around. “She really did disappear,” he said out loud. Ugh, so troublesome. He got up and decided to go after her. “Better catch up before she gets herself in trouble.”

He traveled for a full five minutes; after the first two minutes he started to regret letting her go on without him. He hated to admit it, but she was right when she said he wouldn’t be able to find her village, and he hadn’t been paying attention much to his surroundings to know how to get back to his, not that he’d actually leave her and drop the mission.

He continued gliding for a few more minutes, then he noticed a shadow in the distance. It’s Yumi, he deduced as he got closer. He watched the figure, how it was just standing there, not moving. What is she doing? He wondered as he approached her.

“Yumi?” he asked getting closer. Finally he was on the same branch as her, and he stepped closer so that he was right next to her. “What are – oh, no…” he trailed off as he looked in front of him.

There was a river, the muddy river that surrounded what had to be Yumi’s village. Beyond that was the village gate, leading to the village. But it wasn’t the river or the gate that made the two of them stop. It was the village itself, all of the houses ruined, with occasional bodies scattered about.