The rest of the preparations went by silently and no words were exchanged between the group as they all traveled to the faraway and unknown island where Danzo was reported to be in hiding- the island that later came to be known as Luse.

***

The tension in the air was as heavy as steel.

"How the fuck has this island stayed off the radar for so long? It's barely memorable enough to be put on a map, let alone have a name." Temari grumbled.

Either she couldn't read the room, or her nerves were as thick as the tension in it.

"I hear it's owned by a xenophobic bunch of savages," Kankuro replied, his tone dark. "No one who's set foot there has ever returned."

"That's stupid. Why would Danzo want to hide there if that's true?" Temari rolled her eyes.

"Think about it! Why else would an unknown island remain unclaimed by any government?"

"There are plenty of unclaimed places in the world."

"Yeah, because they're full of savages!"

"Enough," Neji cut in coldly, his voice slicing through the conversation like a blade. Shikamaru shivered. "It's time to go. Make one mistake, and you won't make it out alive."

Kankuro shot Neji a look of disdain as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "What's up his ass?" he muttered.

Shikamaru shrugged, uneasy. "Just do what he says and take his threats seriously."

Kankuro rolled his eyes again and picked up his things. Gaara, who had already stepped outside the underground bunker they were hiding out at, sat by the metal door, soaking up the rain. The kid unnerved Shikamaru, however nothing was more disturbing than the boy himself was the way his siblings walked on eggshells around him. They seemed to hold their breath whenever he was near, as if even looking at him wrong might set him off.

A dark part of Shikamaru knew that Gaara could do just that, and thought made him shudder.

Sai placed a cool hand on Shikamaru's injured shoulder—the shoulder he had bandaged after pulling out the bullet that was stuck there days ago. His method was crude at best, wrapping it with dirty bandages and dosing Shikamaru with expired ibuprofen. "You okay?"

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, a quiet rage simmering inside him. "Can't you stop him?"

Sai sighed, his hand falling away. "You know I've tried."

They both had. Neji was as stubborn as a mule when it came to decisions.

"What a drag." Shikamaru sighed. "Shit's about to get ugly."

A silence followed until Sai's calm, unnervingly steady voice broke it. "We're all that he has."

The simplicity of that statement hit Shikamaru harder than he expected. A tear slipped from his eyes before he realized it. They were broken, scarred, and bound together by shared trauma. They'd become family in the ugliest of ways—through a gang of murderers, a city that swallowed hope, and a bond that went deeper than blood. And that was why, no matter how reckless Neji became, they followed him.

-

The moon was bright, casting a silver glow across the sea. The calm waves rippled beneath their motorboat, a beautiful, deceptive contrast to the violence that waited ahead.

It had taken them four days and three nights to reach the island. Getting there wasn't hard; Neji had loyalists among the Akatsuki who smuggled them onto a ship bound for Goryeo, the nearest seaport to their destination.

They arrived on the fourth day and spent the afternoon gathering information and preparing. Neji had been restless the whole time, and no one could calm him—not that Shikamaru or Sai tried.

The island of Luse rose out of the sea, dark and foreboding. "Get ready." Neji's instructions rang out loud and clear.

It was quite the disturbing the speed at which Gaara assembled his gun but that was the least of Shikamaru's concerns. Did Neji really plan to use his weapons? He was fucked up in the head but not that fucked up...right?

As their boat hit the shore, an ominous silence greeted them. An arrow landed a few centimetres away from Neji's feet and everybody was immediately at alert, guns on the aim and ready to shoot anything that resembled a threat. A few men emerged from the bushes. They were clad in primitive armor and clothes. Local warriors, Shikamaru surmised.

Kankuro nudged Temari excitedly. "See? Savages!" The woman rolled her eyes.

Another man stepped out from behind the local warriors. Not only was he clearly older, he was also clad in better clothes than the warriors. His headgear of feathers and beads denoted his high ranking status. The authority with which he carried himself confirmed their suspicions. The man must be their leader.

"Who are you?!" The man's thick accent bled into the words but they were quite understandable, which was good because that made their search easier.

Neji raised his hand, ordering them to stand down as he walked towards the men. As they lowered their guns, the locals relaxed their holds on their arrows. Neither party completely let their guard down, hands ready to swing into action the moment the situation called for it.

"I simply request for the presence of one man." Neji spoke as soon as he got close enough, removing a picture from his pocket. It was the picture of the vile man they were searching for. "Your cooperation would be to your best benefit as I do not have the patience for games. Bring Danzo to me."

The elder looked first at the picture and shared a look of confusion with his warriors. "I have never seen such a man on our island. Now begone or we shall send you back in pieces!"

That was not the answer Neji wanted. He drew his pistol and aimed it at the elder's head. At the same moment, the warriors and Neji's men also drew their weapons. The crashing sounds of the waves hitting the seashore was anything but calming as they all waited for somebody, anybody to move.

"I will ask again. Bring Danzo to me." Neji seethed.

"We know no Danzo." The elder bit back, equally angry.

The battle was decided in seconds. The moment Neji fired his pistol at the leader's shoulder, his goons had rained fire on the warriors before they even had the chance to draw their bows. The elder gritted his teeth in agony as Neji grabbed his hair and knelt to his level.

"Where. Is. Danzo?" Instead of an answer though, Neji got spit in his face.

"That fucker."

Temari raised her gun to fire but Neji stopped her. "We're going into the village. Search every nook and cranny. Question everyone you see." He ordered.

The elder's face contorted at Neji's words, fear overriding the pain in his shoulder as he gripped the man's leg tightly. "No! No don't go!"

Neji ignored his pleas and pulled him up instead. "You're coming with us."

-

The village was small, hidden deep within the forested island. The locals—skeptical and afraid—offered no help. They couldn't, nobody understood their language. Neji's patience wore thin as they continued questioning the villagers about Danzo's whereabouts, but they remained tight-lipped, their fear outweighing their willingness to cooperate.

Frustration bubbled up in Neji, and soon his anger boiled over.

"We don't have time for this," Neji snapped, his eyes narrowing at the elder. "Tell us where Danzo is."

The elder, trembling, shook his head. "I keep telling you, we do not know. He is not here."

A sharp silence followed, and then Neji spoke—his voice deadly calm. "Kill them all."

Shikamaru's heart sank. "Boss—wait—"

Gaara moved first. Without hesitation, he unleashed his fury on the villagers. The screams began, piercing the night as the massacre unfolded. Shikamaru hesitated, but as the chaos escalated, he had no choice but to follow.

They tore through the village, setting it ablaze. Fire danced in the reflection of Shikamaru's eyes as Temari and Kankuro looted the place, taking jewels and anything of value. All around him, destruction reigned.

-

The return journey was silent. The boat rocked gently on the waves, but the weight of what they had done pressed down on Neji. He sat at the edge of the boat, staring out at the horizon, his face a mask of regret.

"I shouldn't have ordered that," Neji whispered, his voice barely audible.

Shikamaru, sitting beside him, didn't know what to say. The night replayed in his mind—the screams, the flames, the faces of the villagers as they were cut down. His own hands felt heavy, bloodstained. But it was too late now.

"The deed's done." Sai said quietly from the other side of the boat. "There's no taking it back. You need to live with it, Neji. Move forward."

Neji didn't respond. The weight of his actions was too much for words to carry. He could only scream in despair.

Behind them, Kankuro silently asked Temari if Neji was indeed crazy. The woman responded with a slap on his head.

-

When they returned to Amegakure, Shikamaru went straight home, eager to escape the suffocating guilt that clung to him like a second skin. He stopped at the entrance as memories of what had transpired before he left the place came back to him.

"Fuck."

Shikamaru had practically run away from the incident, leaving Kurenai alone with Asuma's dead body for weeks. Fuck what kind of person was he?

He took a deep breath and stepped into the house. The rotten smell that hit him caused him to gag. "Kurenai?" He called out, his voice echoing in the empty space.

No answer.

He looked around the house, there wasn't much to look at, but he couldn't find any trace of the woman.

"Fuck!" This time, the word was muttered with a bit of urgency. He searched everywhere he could, at her workplace, the neighbours, the dumpsite, yet he could not find her. She was gone.

-

"What are you going to do now?" Sai's voice cut through the tense silence in the bunker.

Neji sat in a chair, rocking back and forth idly, while Shikamaru lay motionless on one of the bunk beds. Kurenai had been missing for almost a week now, he was helpless and lost. In the background, Kankuro admired one of the jewels they had looted from the island, while Temari sorted through the rest. Gaara sat in a corner, cleaning his gun for the umpteenth time that day.

"I say we sell these jewels. They'd fetch a pretty penny." Temari responded, though she wasn't the one Sai had spoken to. Shikamaru didn't even have the energy to be disgusted by the fact that none of the Sand Siblings—so they called themselves—felt any guilt or remorse over the recent events. In fact, it seemed like this wasn't new to them. Shikamaru didn't want to know whether that suspicion was true or not.

"We?" Sai asked.

"What, you gonna kick us out now that the job's done?" Kankuro bristled, defensive.

"What gave you the idea that you guys would stick around in the first place?"

"Hah?! Listen here, you—"

"Shut up." Neji cut through the argument. The two went silent immediately and Neji sighed. "We're going to continue with the legacy Akatsuki left."

Shikamaru sat up at that. "You mean robbery and murder?!" Did Neji not learn from his blunder at the island?!

The man gave a wry smile. "Yeah."

Shikamaru stood up then and grabbed Neji by his collar. "Yeah?! Don't give me that bullshit! Look at you, you became a wreck after our last mission. Yet you want to continue?!"

Neji put up no fight as the younger swayed him to and fro. "Before hunting Danzo down there are a lot of things I must do." He started calmly. "I must develop Amegakure, make it a better place for the people to live. I must find my sisters. Must find Sasuke. Must-" 

"Who is Sasuke?" Shikamaru interrupted the same time Temari asked,

"Why didn't you think about all these before going on the island mission?"

Both Sai and Shikamaru levelled the woman with a glare. She was unfazed. 

"What? Just askin'"

She was ignored. 

"I must pay for what I've done... what I dragged you guys into." Neji's eyes locked with Shikamaru's, the sincerity in them making the younger choke up with what he didn't realise were tears until the salty stream flowed down his cheeks. Shikamaru's arms lost strength. He collapsed onto Neji and cried in his chest, the grief and guilt hitting him all at once. Neji made no move to comfort him or remove him. He just let him be.

The rain continued to pour down heavily upon Amegakure.

• Present day, Iwagakure •

Temari was quiet. Fuck, what could she say? She had been with Shikamaru since the beginning of their journey as Birds, yet she didn't know much about him. She didn't realise how much he still suffered from the incident that happened almost five years ago, why he drowned himself in drugs in an effort to forget about everything, the frustration he felt each time his search for Kurenai came to a dead end. Heck, she didn't even know that he was on a search.

"Fuck." She cursed. It was the only word she was capable of uttering. Shikamaru gave a cynical laugh.

"Yeah, fuck." He echoed. It was silent between them after.

"You know you have to report all of this to the Boss."

Temari was almost convinced that Shikamaru had fallen asleep for there was no reaction from him. However, his eyes were open, staring lazily at the drab ceiling of the hospital room. She knows that he heard her. The slight twitch in his eyebrow gave it away.

Temari left him alone to himself and for that, Shikamaru was grateful. A sigh escaped him. He knew that Neji would eventually find out about his misdeeds and grave consequences would follow, but he couldn't help but give in to one moment of weakness that almost led him to an empty grave. His body itched to get another syringe inside him despite it all. It was hard to keep his demons at bay without them.

"My baby looked just like you."

He had gone to visit her at the mental institute, gotten over his fear and taken a bold step towards reconciliation with his past. Perhaps that had been a mistake, for Kurenai's words after they were alone weren't what he expected to hear. She was far gone, too lost in her mind for any words she spoke to be taken seriously. Yet, the more Shikamaru listened to her the more he could tell that it wasn't just the mental illness speaking.

"W-what?"

Kurenai giggled as if what she just said was funny. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance, blaming himself for thinking that the words from a mentally challenged woman held any significance. He stood up, ready to leave because he couldn't stand the guilt that choked him at the knowledge that he probably was one of the reasons Kurenai turned out this way, but she grabbed him.

"My baby looked just like you." She repeated the words that caused Shikamaru so much distress upon hearing them the first time. He frowned.

"What baby?"

Kurenai looked at him, her red eyes unblinking. She didn't answer his question. "I was glad. The baby didn't look like Asuma. I would have killed it. It looked like you, but with my eyes."

Shikamaru didn't need Kurenai to answer his question because everything clicked in place for him just then. The whole situation had escalated in a flurry the last time he had been with her. From Asuma's death to the ANBU suddenly raiding Amegakure, Shikamaru doubted Kurenai had the chance, or was she in a sound mind, to take contraceptives. His throat tightened.

"You-" he couldn't speak, but he had to. "-had a baby?"

Kurenai nodded. "Looked just like you."

"The baby was mine?" Shikamaru knew the answer to this, yet he asked.

"Looked just like you." The woman echoed.

Shikamaru felt the world spinning behind his eyes. His body itched with the need for nicotine in his system. He was too sober for this visit. "That was eight years ago." He winced at how difficult it was to speak. His throat was too clogged up. "Where is the baby?"

Kurenai shrugged. "Took her, he did. Man in white, snake eyes."

Shikamaru didn't know whether he was standing or sitting or breathing anymore after that sentence. He had no idea how he got out of the mental institution or how he made it down to his rented apartment. All he recognised was the need to get something in his system. His usual fix wasn't enough. He needed something stronger, something he bought on the first night he arrived at Iwagakure under the excuse of confiscating it from his dealer. He had paid the guy a huge sum to get every last drop of the substance from him. He wouldn't use it, he swore. He was keeping it for investigation purposes, he promised. Yet, he found himself seeking the black box he hid under his bed, away from plain sight.

BTR-200.

The vibrant blue liquid seemed to be mocking his self control, the way it slushed around in its vial. Shikamaru didn't give himself the time to think his decision through as he siphoned the liquid into a syringe and jabbed it into his arm.

The effect was instantaneous as it was horrible. Blood roared in his ears as his heart rate picked up drastically. He barely had the time to lie down on his bed before his sense organs stopped working completely. His eyes were open but they were unseeing. He could feel his hands and legs but he could not move them. The sensation was akin to a sleep paralysis but it was ten times worse. The demons he was trying so hard to keep at bay were openly dancing around, hovering above him, threatening to swallow him whole while he had zero control over his body.

He was only able to make out Temari's voice calling out his name before his body succumbed to the shock.

-

The doctor recommended a few therapy programmes before giving Shikamaru the clear to be discharged. Temari held the brochure he was given tightly in her hand, determined to get Shikamaru into therapy even though the younger insisted that he was fine.

"No the fuck you're not." The woman hissed when Shikamaru tried to convince her not to make a phone call.

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned. "You very well know that I can't afford therapy, and it's not because of the money."

Temari understood what Shikamaru was saying. Staying in a hospital was risky enough, they couldn't afford more information about Shikamaru being exposed. Still, she couldn't just sit still and watch her partner destroy himself because of some trauma.

Hypocrite. A dark part of Temari's mind spoke to her. You watched your baby brother fall.

Temari shook the thoughts off as she dropped her phone with a sigh. "So what are you going to do? About the child?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "What else? I'd find them of course." It was silent between the two after that, each getting lost in the dark side of their thoughts.

Snake eyes, Kurenai said the man that took her child away from her was. Shikamaru had a good guess as to who the mystery man was but in order to be sure, he needed to visit Kurenai again and wring out as many details from her as possible.

Shikamaru could feel a headache coming up as the future played out in his mind. If his guess were to be correct—and considering the nature of the snake, the chances were pretty high—if Orochimaru indeed was the one that took the child away from Kurenai...

"What a drag."

He could only hope that there was another person in the underground that had snake eyes.

***
Do you guys see the vision? Young children going missing? Tenten's mission? Shikamaru's missing child? Things are about to take an interesting turn. Also, NejiTen's first kiss will be in this arc!

Thank you all for patiently sticking with my story, I appreciate you all <3

Don't forget to vote and leave a comment. Till we meet again next time!

-Star.