Word Count: 23,169

3rd person POV:

"What a pain."

"Your a pain."

"Mhm," Shikadai hummed in agreement. Temari crossed her arms, "See?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the two and continued walking to the Hokage's office.

Earlier this morning Hinata had found her self at the main Nara household. Quickly telling them of the meeting around 3 o'clock, she jumped off in a hurry.

Temari furrowed her brows in confusion as the memory played in her mind. 'Why was she in such a hurry?' She thought as they arrived at the Hokage's massion.

Before Shikamaru had the chance to even knock at the door of Kakashi's office, the door was opened by non other than the lavender beauty herself. Temari's eyebrows shot up at the sight of the worried expressions on the face of every other person in the room. It seemed that everybody was summoned for this meeting. Of course, Shikamaru, Shikadai, and Temari were last because of the boy's lazy nature.

Quickly stepping into the room, the Nara family fell into place in the crowded area. As soon as the room went silent, the meeting was started.

"Ohayo." Kakashi said, his eyes dancing across the Shinobi before him. "I apologize for calling you all out for this meeting; I know you have things you probably needed to tend to." He paused to glance at a certain pinkette. "But it seems that Sakura has found something important."

All eyes fell on the Haruno as she stepped up to stand in front of the group. Clearing her throat, she nodded. "Yes. Yesterday while looking into Choji's 'disappearance', I noticed something. He disappeared exactly a week later after the kids showed up. At seven o'clock. On the seventh day of the week." The look in her emerald eyes darkened. "I don't really think that's an accident."

"I think that these disappearances won't be so random. If I'm correct, the next disappearance should be on Sunday during the nineteenth or seventh hour of the day." She furrowed her eyes brows before turning to the hokage. "You forgot to seal the room."

The hokage gave her a questioning look; before understanding graced his features and he nodded. "Go ahead."

Nodding, the pinkette formed a series of hand signs before slamming her hands into the ground. "Ninja Style: Barrier of Silence Justu," sealing marks shot out from beneath her hand and spread out all over the room. After a few seconds the marks disappeared and a somewhat invisible barrier had engulfed the room. It shone in rainbow colors where the sun hit it, barely making it visible to the untrained eye.

The jutsu making it impossible for anybody outside of the room to easdrop on the conversation. Or teleport into the room.

Straightening, she resumed her previous stance and took a deep breath. She turned her attention to Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, I want your help with this. If there's anybody who can see something I cant." She paused, "It's you." He nodded in response.

She cleared her throat and returned her attention to the group as a whole. "I've already assigned Ino to searching through the minds of our children. For the purpose of looking at their memory of the moments before the scroll was opened. In case they missed anything." She turned to the mismatched couple and their son. "Sai," she gave him a dangerous look, "your to give moral support. Understood?" She growled the last part. As if saying, 'Should you fail, I'll be there to end you.'

Satisfied with his curt nod, she turned to Naruto, Hinata, and Baruto. "Hinata," the Hyūga's head shot up upon hearing her name. "I'll tell you your task in private. Well, your side task. Your main task is keeping your two blonde idiots under control. I'll see you at the Hyuga compound around five."

"Hey-!"

"Shikamaru and Temari. I am also giving you both the task to look after Chou Chou until further notice." She looked over to where the blonde and the ravenette stood with their son. "Hai," They said in unison. "She's at the hospital resting so come with me after the meeting is over," she added.

Furrowing her eyebrows, the pinkette proceeded to think out loud. Bringing a hand to her chin in thought, she spoke. "I have no specific task for you, Sasuke." She glanced at the Uchiha, "So I'll have you help with the investigation. Understood?" He nodded, "Hn."

She exhaled and moved her arms so they were folded neatly behind her back. "Good," she said. "You all are expected to start your tasks immediatly. Ino," she turned her attention to the blonde. "being the only exception. Take your time to prepare-"

"I'll start in the next hour." Ino inturruped the pinkette. "I don't need anymore time than that to prepare. If your correct, then the next disappearance will be in three days. That's not a lot of time. So as long as the kids are ready," she grinned, "so am I."

Sakura returned her grin with a soft chuckle. 'That's the Ino I know and love.' She thought.

"Very well." She turned around to look at the Hokage. "Is there anything you'd like to add?" He shrugged in reply, "I think you said it all." She nodded before turning back to the group. She formed the ram seal with her hands, "Kai!" After releasing the seal, she nodded to the group. "Right. Your dismissed."

"Hai!" The group said in unison, before they dissapeared in a 'poof'. The only exception being Shikamaru, Shikadai, and Temari. And of course Kakashi who stayed seated.

Sakura sighed before walking up to the trio. "Man, that was stressful. I dispise meetings." Her male peer rolled his eyes at her behavior. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just hurry and get Chou Chou so we can proceed with the search."

The Haruno fake gasped and put a hand to her chest in false surprise. "Could it be? Shikamaru Nara actually wanting to do," she paused for dramatic effect, "work?!"

Temari snorted from behind Shikamaru while the said Nara scowled. Shikadai spoke up, "Can we go now?"

Nodding her head, Sakura lead the family out of the building.

~♤~

After picking up Chou Chou from the hospital, Sakura bid them goodbye. Not forgetting to tell Shikamaru and Temari to met her at her office within an hour.

After leaving the hospital, the group made their way over to the Yamanaka Compound. Meeting up with Ino, Sai, Inojin, Baruto, and Sarada. Shikamaru and Temari left Shikadai and Chou Chou in their care. Before heading back over to the hospital.

Their walk was first spent in a comfortable silence.

As they walked, they pasted store and resturant bustling with civilians. Children and Genin ran throughout the streets, laughing and playing. As they passed through the peaceful village, no shadows were seen. Grey clouds stretched out above them as far as the eye could see. The rays of light given off from the Sun, seeped through the clouds. Giving Shikamaru something to look at as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

The blonde beside him took note of his behavior. Noting it strange; since the ravenette usually walked throughout the village with his hands clasped together behind his neck. She scowled as her brain quickly decided that he was stressed out. Not that he didn't have a reason to be. Temari was stressed as well. But she hadn't seen his stress level this high since the War and the difficult battles leading up to it.

"So," the Sand shinobi started, catching the attention of the Nara. "Uhhhh..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Her counterpart sighed. "Troublesome... What's on your mind."

Temari was surprised when she heard what he said. She turned her head to look in the opposite direction of him, so he wouldn't see the way her cheeks slightly flushed.

"What else is supposed to be on my mind?" She retorted. "The meeting. What Sakura found out. Its..."

"Embarassing," Shikamaru's lazy tone finished for her. She snapped her head around to give him a puzzled look. "Embarassing? How so?"

"I was supposed to be the smartest shinobi in the Konoha 12." He rolled his eyes. "So much for that. Sakura figured it out before me."

The sandy blonde beside him scoffed. "Don't be such a crybaby. Just because you didn't figure it out first doesn't mean your not smart." She paused, struggling to word her sentence correctly. "You just... think differently than Sakura."

"I think differently."

"Yeah. What's bad about that?" She asked nobody in particular. "I mean, that's why we need different minds on this. Right? To find different solutions."

He looked to the sky, as if considering her words with deep thought. "I guess."

The couple fell into another comfortable silence; content with their conversation. That is, before something else struck the wind user.

"Shikamaru..." Temari trailed off, looking for the right words to phrase her thoughts with. He didn't look at her. Instead he continued to look to the sky as she sorted her thoughts.

"What if... what if she's wrong."

Shikamaru froze mid-step. The fear in her voice that rang out a little too clearly in her opinion, causing this. She stopped and turned to him. The look in his deep brown eyes had clouded over with too many emotions. So many, Temari couldn't read them all. They flashed too quickly. As if there wasn't enough space for everything he was feeling.

The Nara's foot made contact with the ground, but he didn't move. He didn't speak. He simply looked off into space; as if the world around him would crumble if he willed it hard enough. How he wished it would. Leaving only the good.

How he wished that this new threat had never surfaced. That his son never fell from the sky. That his best friend hasn't been taken from him. That he was still a weak Genin with no responsibilities. But unfortunetly, that's not how the world works. People grow up. And they have to grow stronger, or they won't survive in this world. What a cruel world indeed. A troublesome one.

"We.." He paused to take one last glance at his counterpart. "We need to see Sakura. Now." Temari nodded.

And with that, they both jumped off to the hospital where Sakura was waiting.

-♤-

GUYS HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN????

IT FEELS LIKE A MILLION FUCKING YEARS!

UUGGGHHH!

I've had horrible writers block. So this chapter took forever! And the chapter for my NejiTen story isn't even halfway done!

Uggghhh

Anyway

On a happier note. I'm really happy with what this story is becoming! Be excited for what's going to happen in the future!

And as always..

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And if you did don't forget to...

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Chow!

-O