"Where the hell is that idiot?" Sakura demanded, and not for the first time. The agitated kunoichi ran a dirty, sweaty hand through her recently shortened pink tresses. She scowled, recalling the earlier fight that forced her to trim her lovely hair in such a crude fashion.
"For once, Forehead Girl's right. Why are we still waiting for him? Shika! Where's that stupid teammate of yours?" The other female member of Team 7 wasted no time in pouncing on her friend and punching bag. The Nara boy groaned, cursing his absent teammate for putting him in this position.
"I don't know."
"We don't have time for this. Sasuke-kun is hurt!"
"We know, Ino, we know," Chouji muttered, nursing a bruised wrist. His voice contained a hint of irritation, noticed only by his teammate. Shikamaru shook his head. Enough was enough.
"For the last time, we are not abandoning our teammate!" The intensity and conviction in the Nara genius's words knocked the wind out of the two kunoichi's tirades. Ino, in particular, looked stunned at her childhood friend's transformation. Chouji, however, nodded in silent support of his teammate.
"Look, Sasuke's stabilized, right?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically. "Why don't you girls go ahead and we'll catch up later. The others should go with you as well."
"I'm waiting for Haruto-kun," Hinata stated in a quiet, nearly trembling voice. The shy girl's uneasy, but very clear declaration turned more than a few heads. If the rest of Team 8 were surprised by their teammate's unilateral decision, they made no move to override it.
"Ahm, what she said," Kiba immediately answered, giving Hinata a nod of approval. Haruto had single-handedly saved Team 8 from the unknown assassins who had killed the Lightning ambassador. There was no way they were going to abandon him. The Hyuuga heiress offered Kiba a grateful smile in return.
"Fine. Team 8 will stay. Can you guys accompany Team 7 to the tower?" Shikamaru asked, turning to Gai's students. Tenten and Lee nodded at once, enthusiastically in Lee's case. Off to the side, Sakura shuddered involuntarily. The last team member, however, was another matter. Although he didn't hold his cousin in high regard, Hyuuga Neji recognized Hinata's station as the heiress apparent of the clan. As the only branch member on scene, he felt duty-bound to assume the role of Hinata's ad-hoc bodyguard. Plus, his own father would likely skin him alive should some ill will befall the great and precious Hinata-hime.
"Under the circumstances, I cannot leave Hinata-sama unescorted," Neji declared seriously.
Shikamaru resisted the urge to scream… or go to sleep. Maybe when he woke up, this would all be taken care of, preferably with his blond teammate back and taking all the heat. For the first time, the lazy genius realized just how difficult it was to be a leader, even an informal one.
"This is so troublesome."
Fortuitously, the expected storm of angry protests from the offended kunoichi of Team 7 never came. Hinata sounded the alarm that someone was rapidly approaching.
It was Haruto.
"How is he?" Shikamaru asked, drawing a look from the haggard blonde who was one of his oldest friends.
"Haruto's in stable condition," Sakura answered tiredly but with relief.
"Yeah, but I'm just wondering how he got sand all over him? And it's all over me now. Ugh, it's going to take forever to get it out of my hair!" That was Ino, of course. Good old Ino, who could always be depended on to worry about her hair at the most inopportune of times. Her teammate, part-time friend and part-time rival, laughed at the blonde's antics, prompting Ino to laugh as well. It was a much-needed catharsis, one that seemed to dispel the tension-filled atmosphere.
"Ino, Sakura…" Shikamaru started to say. He really didn't want to do this, but he knew he was going to catch hell from his resting teammate later if he didn't. The two medics-in-training turned to him with inquiring gazes.
"Thank you for helping Haruto." The Nara boy's words earned him two small smiles.
"We were happy to help," Sakura offered warmly.
"Really? I wasn't so sure at the beginning," Shikamaru replied almost by instinct. His tone might have been neutral, but his words carried the weight of a sledgehammer.
The Nara genius was by no means a spiteful or mean-spirited person. It was far too troublesome, after all. However, something about the way both girls had initially dismissed the blond really set him off. There was a fine line between silly but understandable pettiness and outright cruelty. To their credit, both Ino and Sakura's behavior underwent a rapid reversal upon realizing their loud friend's condition. It was fortuitous for everyone, especially the girls of Team 7, who had been seconds away from having their asses Juuken'd courtesy of one outraged Hyuuga heiress.
"Never mind what I said. Why don't you two go rest. I'll take the first watch," Shikamaru offered lazily. Ino and Sakura, though confused at the turnabout, were nonetheless grateful for the reprieve. Physically and mentally exhausted from an earlier skirmish and tending to their wounded comrades, the two kunoichi of Team 7 looked like wrecks. It was probably why the shadow user chose not to say anything overly harsh.
Once he was sure they were gone, he turned his attention to his blond teammate. "You are so troublesome, you know that?"
The twelve, or rather eleven, Konoha genin—the prone body of Uchiha Sasuke was being carried by several rather grumpy Haruto clones—moved cautiously through the Forest of Death toward their destination. The rookies remained on the ground with the members of Team 8 alternating as the point man while Gai's team shadowed behind from the trees. While maintaining the formation reduced the group's travel speed, Shikamaru insisted that they remain at least somewhat combat-ready. What the others did not know was that Haruto had pressed his teammate into making his thoughts known.
So troublesome. Why couldn't he have just said something? the lazy genius thought as he looked at his smiling and completely rejuvenated teammate.
It was hard to imagine that the blond had looked like death warmed over just twelve hours ago. Everyone was surprised by the perky genin's quick recovery, though none were as shocked as the two kunoichi that had treated him. Even now, Ino and Sakura shot occasional glances at the blond. While they were nothing like the friendly, near worshipful gaze of their fellow rookie kunoichi, neither were they the familiar angry glares. The two kunoichi seemed genuinely intrigued by him.
"So what happened last night, Haruto? You looked like you were run over by a herd of buffalo," Kiba asked.
Haruto took a deep breath before narrating his encounter with the genin team from Suna. His run-in with his last set of targets hadn't quite gone according to plan, as they had proven to be tougher than expected. In his defense, he had been exhausted, physically and mentally, from hours of fighting and killing. It was only by a combination of luck and skill that Haruto escaped relatively unscathed.
"Whatever you do, just be wary of the Suna trio. They are all very good and very fast. The girl can make these giant wind blasts, and the red-haired guy knows this sand trick that makes him practically invulnerable to attack," Haruto advised. While he didn't expect his warning to be taken all that seriously, his hope was that the others would keep it in the back of their mind. The children of the Kazekage definitely posed a serious threat.
Next time… Haruto promised. Two positive outcomes did result from this whole affair. First, because the Suna team was one of his last targets, his failed assault did not severely affect his overall mission. With the exceptions of Suna, Sound and a few others, Haruto had taken out just about every other team on the list. Second, whereas Haruto now had a good idea about the tactics and abilities of the Suna trio, they did not even know his real identity. As a result, he retained perhaps the most critical advantage in any battle, the element of surprise.
Shikamaru frowned as he watched the far off look in his friend's eyes give way to an expression of grim resolve. Then it was gone.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" Haruto asked. And just like that, the Nara boy found himself facing his comrade's infectious smile.
"Nothing," Shikamaru muttered as he turned away, recognizing that his friend would talk when he was ready to talk. The lazy genius had no intention of making waves in the middle of a combat zone. That would be far too troublesome.