Naruto 1. Chapter 1

Shikamaru's POV

It is hot today; it was hotter than yesterday, but it will be hotter tomorrow. That's just how summer went in leaf village. With nothing to do, the four of us were just sitting in the shade near the gate.

"You know, isn't it about time we got girlfriends?" Kiba questioned randomly.

"That would be nice." Choji agreed with a sigh.

"Girlfriends? We can hardly handle the amount of missions we have now? We don't have time for girlfriends, they're too much of a drag anyways." I chimed in.

"I have to agree with Shikamaru on this one." Shino added.

"You guys are lame. Having a girl to protect, that's what I want." Kiba argued as he pet Akamaru.

"Is there even a girl in the village that you like Kiba?" I asked with a smirk.

"Oh, well no." Kiba replied with a sigh. "I just feel I haven't met the right girl yet, you know?" All four of us nodded in agreement.

"What about Temari, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, as he did every once in a while.

"Eh, she's a pain, way too much to handle. Just working with her on the chunin exams was a drag." I answered. Sighing, I was slightly overjoyed when Temari had gone back to her village. Even though we are good friends, she's a lot to handle.

"Why don't we have a little bet?" Kiba suggested suddenly.

"A bet?" Shino questioned, sounding unamused.

"Yes. To see who can get a girlfriend first." Kiba explained, sounding excited.

"That's not fair to the girl." Choji replied. "Just to get a girlfriend for the sake of having a girlfriend. Shouldn't we wait until we meet girls we actually like and want to be with?" Nice guy Choji, he deserves a really sweet girl.

"You didn't let me finish. It's a bet of chance. We don't try to go out and get girlfriends, we just see who happens to get one first. And we bet on who will." Kiba continued.

"Okay, sure why not." I replied with a sigh. "I bet I'll get one last."

"No way Shikamaru, girls love you." Choji argued.

"I think I'll get one first." Kiba announced, puffing his chest out. Akamaru barked in agreement.

A cool breeze interrupted us. A tornado of leaves appeared before us, and when it disappeared a second later, a blonde girl with an ANBU mask appeared in front of us. "Nara, Aburame, Inuzuka, Akimichi; you four report to Lady Tsunade, now." She commanded, then disappeared into her tornado of leaves again.

"See, told you we have no free time." I told them as we stood up with sighs.

"Guess we will have to finalize the bets later." Kiba shrugged.

"What do you think she needs us for?" Choji asked, sounding excited.

"Probably a mission." Shino answered. We hurried to the Hokage's office, debating over what the mission could be.

There were already two girls in Tsunade's office by the time we arrived. One was the blonde girl from before, and another was a red haired girl of about the same height. They were both facing lady Tsunade, but they turned around when we walked in.

I saw Kiba and Choji's eyes immediately drift towards the blonde, whose mask was off now. She is pretty yes, and around our age if not a little older. Unfamiliar to us, I guessed she is from the Foundation, which I don't know much about. She looks cruel and bitchy to me, but that is just my first impression.

The other girl has a softer look; her eyes look playful and intriguing. But she also looks tough, like someone you didn't want to mess with, like she has faced a lot of hardship in her short life. She looked at all of us, observing everything about us as if she was analyzing and planning for the future. I found her much more interesting.

"Boys, I have a mission for you that is a little different than normal. You are going to be a decoy team and these two girls will be the ones actually getting the job done." Tsunade told us. We all nodded. "Shikamaru, you will be in charge of the decoy team." She looked at me before turning to the redhead. "And you will be in charge of the two of you. You two already know your mission, so I won't repeat your part to the boys." The blonde didn't seem happy about not being in charge, but they both nodded. I sighed as quietly as I could. What a drag, being a leader of a decoy team.

"Since you haven't met, this is Cassandra Kimura," she pointed to the redhead, "and for now, Miyuki Sato" she pointed to the blonde.

"This will be a couple day mission." Tsunade continued. "If you look at this map, this is the path you will take. You boys have to make it seem as real as possible. You have to convince your attackers that you are the ones are trying to get the package. Your teams will stay the night here and split up in the morning. Hopefully by the second night, the package will be recovered. You will meet here on the third night." Tsunade explained it all to us as she guided her fingers over the map on her desk. I tried not to get to close to it, since it smelt like dust and mold.

Once everything was in order and we all understood what we were to do, we all agreed to meet at the gate in twenty minutes.

"Good luck everyone." Tsunade told us. "I trust you will get this mission done."

"Of course." We all replied at once. Miyuki immediately lifted her hands to her mouth and once again disappeared into a tornado of leaves, but Cassandra didn't leave so quickly.

"Can I ask why her, my lady?" Cassandra asked a few seconds later, sounding irritated.

"Sadly she was the only one the Foundation had available. I know you don't like her, and I'd give you anyone else if I could." Tsunade replied, almost as if she forgot us guys were still here. "Just keep an eye on her and report back to me if she does anything suspicious. I still don't trust Danzo or anyone from the foundation."

"I will." Cassandra nodded and then made a hand sign, and was engulfed into flames for a second, then was gone.

Us guys looked at each other, feeling confused and out of the loop. We all left and went our separate ways. So Miyuki has an Earth chakra nature and Cassandra has a fire; I would have to remember that.


	2. Chapter 2

Cassandra's POV

This girl again. I sighed as I leaned against the wall, enjoying the shade. I was already ready for the mission when Tsunade had called us in, so now I just had to wait for the others to show up.

So she was going by Miyuki this time; I wasn't that surprised that they had changed her name. It has been over a year since the last time I saw her, and I wish it had been longer. Hopefully we could get along better this time, but I doubt that would happen. Even the sound of her voice ticked me off.

At least those boys were going with us, which left us out of immediate danger and gave us a greater chance of success. Tsunade had mentioned how important this was, and I wasn't about to let some stupid bitch stop me from getting it done. The first one to arrive at the gate was the boy with a ponytail, the one in charge of the decoy team.

"You're Shikamaru Nara, right?" I asked him as he walked up, though it wasn't much of a question, I knew I was right. Tsunade had told us the basics of each of the boys. This one is the smart one, the planner, the strategist . . . and also the lazy one.

"Yeah, that's me." He replied with a shrug. "So why haven't I ever seen you around?"

"Umm. . ." I stumbled with my words, and he shot me a curious glance. "I was gone for a while. And I mostly keep to myself."

He seemed to accept that answer. "And that other girl, you've worked with her before?"

"I have, and I don't trust her at all." I spat bitterly.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"The Foundation can't be trusted. They are always in it for themselves. She won't rush out to save your life. She'll let you die if she gets the chance." Foundation freaks should just stay there and not interfere with us out here; I can't stand people like them. Not like I talked to many people anyways.

We waited in silence from then on, and the others slowly began to arrive. Dog boy and chubby were still watching Miyuki, and I couldn't help but chuckle. They stood no chance of getting her, no boy did. But Shikamaru, he kept watching me, and I wasn't sure why.

As soon as everyone had arrived, we left. Miyuki and I led the way, with the boys following close behind. They talked the entire way, but us girls were silent. We did shoot the occasion glare at each other though.

We arrived at the spot we were supposed to just as night began to fall. "We will take turns keeping watch, one from each team awake at each time." I announced as we all set our things down.

"But then that will only leave each of you with a few hours of sleep." Shikamaru commented. "Why don't we just have one person watch at a time?"

"Miyuki and I don't mind. Two sets of eyes are better than one anyways." I commented. I didn't want Miyuki to be on watch alone, at least this way a boy would be awake with her at all times. "I'll take first watch." I told her, and she nodded in agreement. At least she wasn't arguing with me on this.

We ate quickly, while sitting in a circle. We tried to hide our foods smell, and the smell of pine from the tall trees surrounding us helped. I watched as Kiba and Choji attempted to flirt with Miyuki, but she just flipped her blonde hair and ignored them.

"I'll take first watch for us, followed by Shino, Choji and Kiba." Shikamaru announced once we finished eating. None of the boys argued, but got up and began to prepare to go to sleep.

I was a little ways away, sitting with my back against a tall rock. Book in hand, I watched as they all tucked in. Miyuki was already passed out; I was enjoying not listening to her voice.

Shikamaru walked over a few minutes later and sat down beside me. "It's a little chilly tonight."

"Yeah, it is." I replied as I wrapped my blanket around me tighter. The cool breeze chilled my skin, it sure was a change from the heat we had experienced during the day.

"So what are you reading?" Shikamaru asked. I wasn't used to the small talk, and I wasn't sure why he wanted to talk. Maybe it was just to keep himself awake, though he didn't seem too tired. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and keep it going.

"It's about the different chakra types." I explained.

"So you are one of those girls." He commented with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Well, you're hungry for knowledge. You're always observing what's around you, planning head." He paused and sighed. "You're not superficial, you're not always caring about what you look like or who's paying attention to you."

"Yeah I guess." I replied as I looked up at the stars. I was shocked he had figured me out this much, just by knowing me for a few hours.

"I like that." Shikamaru commented quietly to himself, but I heard it. I just hoped I wasn't blushing.

"So what about you?" I asked as I set my book on the ground.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, shooting me a confused glance.

"Well, I know you're lazy but extremely intelligent. I know you're determined and caring. But what else? What do you want in life?"

"What do I want in life . . . well I'll eventually become a joinin, and I'd like to have a team of my own to train one day. And then after that, I'd like to find a nice girl to settle down with and have a kid or two. Then grow old playing shoji, reading, and looking at the clouds."

I smiled and laughed to myself. "Sounds nice."

"What about you?"

"I haven't figured it out yet." I admitted with a sigh. "I'm not one for planning ahead anymore."

"Why not?" Shikamaru questioned.

"I've learned nothing goes as planned, so what's the point in planning anything?" I replied with a shrug. We both went silent after that, as if we were both lost in thought.

"You can go to sleep if you'd like, I can keep watch for you." Shikamaru offered a few minutes later.

"No thanks." I replied as I scooted closer to him and leaned my head onto his shoulder. "You can keep talking though."

"I don't have much to say." He told me, sounding slightly flustered by the contact.

"Tell me a story, about a time you were really happy." I commanded.

"Well okay, this one time." Shikamaru stared, and that began a story about him and Choji. I felt myself start to drift off a few times, but the cool breeze that occasionally returned made me shiver and woke me back up. About halfway through the night, I woke up Miyuki and Shikamaru woke up Shino.

"It's midnight, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Shino questioned Shikamaru as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"I just wasn't sleepy." Shikamaru shrugged. Shino accepted that answer and got up and began to keep watch.

I was laying down near where Miyuki had been, and Shikamaru brought his blanket over beside me. "Mind if I lay here?" he asked, as he was already laying down beside me.

"Go ahead." I told him as I closed my eyes. I was asleep a few minutes later

Miyuki woke me up before the three boys who weren't on watch were awake. We got ready and left, telling Kiba we'd see them in two days.

"Well, aren't you glad we get to be partners again?" Miyuki asked in her usual sarcastic tone as we ran through the trees.

"To be honest, not at all." I replied. She didn't say anything else.


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Romance