BREAK TO BREATHE
by Okami Rayne
Chapter Thirty
God damned rain. This thought struck Shikamaru a second before a branch nearly struck him square across the forehead. Recovering from the near-hit, he veered left with the rest of the team, remembering anew just why he hated scaling trees in the rain.
"I saw that," Naruto snickered from behind him.
Shikamaru snorted. "Wanna take the lead?"
"Nah, I'm good!"
The Nara smirked, sandals twisting sharply on the wet bark as he launched to the next tree. The rainstorm had hosed Hanegakure down to a treacherously slippery jungle-gym. Water pelted down in heavy sheets, sluicing off the khaki-green cloaks Kitori had lent the team. Funny enough, he was still soaked through.
Great... Shikamaru kept his gaze flicking between his footing and who he was following. Presently Kiba, who was following Akamaru, who was following their swarm of bug barometers. The kikaichū insects leading them were almost impossible to track without Shino present, let alone in the damned rain. This had resulted in Shikamaru devising a way for Akamaru and Kiba to track them through smell. With Sakura's assistance, and after losing one or two bugs to the cause, he'd swabbed each bug with concentrated nectar, allowing for Akamaru and the Inuzuka to follow the sticky, sugary scent.
"You had best hope the rain doesn't work against us here, Nara," Neji said from somewhere higher up, his voice crackling through Shikamaru's transmitter.
"It won't," Shikamaru replied. "We tested it."
"Yeah, we made bug candy," Kiba added. "These guys reek of it."
"The nectar crystallises," Shikamaru explained. "It should stick despite the rain."
"Oh boy," Kiba's chuckle rumbled through. "You're goin' straight to hell, Shikamaru."
"Thanks."
"Kiba," Hinata admonished softly, her voice lost in the shatter of rain.
"Hey, he turned Shino's little buddies into bird candy."
"Sweet way to go," the Nara deadpanned.
"No mercy."
"Yeah, but those bugs took a hit for the team!" Naruto chuckled.
"Nooo mercy," Kiba drawled again, snickering.
"What the hell did you want me to do, give them CPR?" Shikamaru muttered, squinting against the irritating flap of his hood as the cloak fluttered around him.
"Don't they die anyway after prolonged absence from their host?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, exactly."
Kiba snickered. "Man, way to ruin my fear-of-Shino moment."
"Fear-of-Ino takes the cake," Naruto laughed.
"Sakura hits you more than Ino hits Shikamaru," Chōji defended.
"Thanks for that," Shikamaru smirked.
"Let's try to stay focused here," Neji's voice smoothed over the friendly banter, stilling the ripple of chuckles as the team pressed forward.
Humour had lightened the heavy air weighing around them, but Shikamaru found that the pound of the rain was nothing compared to the pulsing at his temples, making it difficult to think clearly.
Get a grip. "Keep together," Neji's voice trickled through the mic. "The path is tangled up ahead."
True to the Hyūga's warning, finding direction became tricky. The team remained close as Neji and Hinata guided them through the labyrinth, redirecting anyone who strayed or got turned around. It was hell to navigate, especially in diminished light and heavy rain, but Kiba and Akamaru cut through it, not needing to see through the slash of rain and leaves to know exactly where the swarm of bugs moved.
Keep moving. Shikamaru had just ducked another branch when Kiba's voice stopped him short on the next bough.
"Shit!" the Inuzuka growled.
"Hold it," Neji said.
The team stopped as one, chakra surging to the soles of their feet as they stilled, coming to stand or crouch on a bridge of boughs. Shikamaru wiped water from his eyes, scowling as his ponytail knocked the hood from his head. The rain was like ice.
"Kiba?" Shikamaru pressed.
"Bugs have gone!" the Inuzuka said, sniffing the air. "Scent's faint. They went down and just dropped off the radar."
Shikamaru sighed. "Then let's use a different one. Neji, Hinata?"
"Looking," Neji said.
Shikamaru blinked more rain from his lashes, bracing an arm against the trunk of the tree as he waited for feedback from the Byakugan duo.
"Neji-niisan…"
Neji hummed. "I see it too. The insects have gone down what looks like a ventilation shaft."
Shikamaru arched his brows, squinting as he glanced up in the general direction he assumed Neji to be, higher up in the canopies. "Ventilation shaft, huh? Guess that means we've hit a hidey-hole."
"So it would seem," the Hyūga responded, dropping down beside him in a flurry of cloak and white robes. "An ammunition stash, as we assumed."
Shikamaru turned his head as Neji straightened up beside him, tracing his dark eyes over the Hyūga's dripping bangs. "Ventilation shaft suggests they've got people guarding it. Traps?"
Neji cocked his head, Byakugan eyes scanning. "Yes. Stake pits either side of the stash point. The ventilation shaft leads to a lower ground sentry post, but it's empty."
So where the hell are their guards? Not good. Shikamaru frowned. "Hinata, you got anything a little deeper underground?"
"No," the kunoichi answered. "Just darkness."
"They must be employing the barrier sealing jutsu," Neji explained, blinking slowly. "But obviously they cannot cover everything. These stash points we can see, but that's as far as we can reach."
Shikamaru frowned, processing quickly. "Alright, we better fall back."
"Huh?" Kiba turned, standing on the opposite bough. "What the hell? That's it? We just got here."
"We've located one of their stash points. That's what we needed." Shikamaru straightened away from the tree, rubbing his temple.
"Then why not continue on, Shikamaru-kun?" Lee asked.
Shikamaru shook his head. "If they've got a sealing jutsu holding, then we're
not sticking around to fight blind, especially in a damn storm. We'll mark the spot, come back when it's light, set a trap of our own and take it from—!" he cut off in a grunt as he was pitched sideways.
Neji slammed into him, flattening him against the trunk of the tree as a scythe came whirring through the downpour. It cut straight past them, close enough that the rain flying from its edges sprayed over the Hyūga's shoulder and struck Shikamaru's face like icy needles.
Shit! "Shit!" Naruto yelped, cart-wheeling out of the way of a second scythe.
"Stay in the trees!" Neji shouted over his shoulder, his arms bracketing Shikamaru against the rough bark, shielding him.
The downpour made it impossible to hear, but a sparkle of shuriken exploded like a flash bomb from below, spraying spinning razors in all directions. Shikamaru reached for his tantō, trying to shove Neji off him with his other arm. The Hyūga wouldn't move.
"Neji! Move!"
Before the volley of projectiles could strike the Jōnin, Chōji's multi-sized fist battered through the lethal spray, slamming the spinning stars away. Some skittered off the Akimichi's armour, lodging into the wood above Shikamaru's head in violent thuds. He heard Neji wince and immediately dropped his gaze. Those Byakugan orbs stared straight through him, indicating that the Hyūga's vision stretched beyond their range.
"Five," Neji said.
"Where?"
"Emerging from the black. They've come from beyond the barrier seal."
Shit. Wouldn't have thought they'd waste five shinobi on a damned stash point. "Dammit," Shikamaru growled. "Plan B."
Neji smiled grimly. "Ready?"
"When you are."
"Now."
Neji drew back sharply and turned, allowing for Shikamaru to press off his heel and launch into a run along the bough, trusting Neji implicitly to pick out their path.
Here we go. Shikamaru reached for his transmitter. "Plan B! Naruto, Kiba, get ready! The rest of you, set up that kill zone! Hinata, it's on you to lead!"
"I will!" the kunoichi responded.
"Keep elevated!" Neji instructed.
Shikamaru skidded along a bough, ducking low in tandem with Neji, reading the Hyūga's movements and using them as his eyes and currently as his only defence. Kunai flew above their heads, lodging into trees and whispering into canopies.
"Naruto! Kiba!"
"You got it!" Kiba shouted back. "Let's go Akamaru!"
The loud bark of the canine punched through the mic, followed by Naruto's shout as the Uzumaki summoned his clones. Shikamaru kept a pace behind Neji, reaching into his ninja pouch to tug out a red-coloured seal tag. In tune with the Hyūga's movement, he ducked as Neji spun, allowing for the Jōnin's round-house kick to knock a scythe off its trajectory before it could touch him.
"Thanks," Shikamaru nodded, glancing over his shoulder as three of Naruto's clones sprung up behind him. "Neji, you ready?"
"Trust me, Nara." Neji nodded, spinning a tagged kunai over his knuckles. "Thirty seconds from when I mark it. Do not step either side of it or you'll hit the stake pits."
Shikamaru held his gaze a moment. Then he sprung back, letting Naruto's clones surround him. The second he pressed into the ring of shadow clones, he felt their arms lock around him.
Then he was falling.
As predicted, kunai flew from all directions, smacking into the clones, pin-cushioning them right until they struck the ground. Shikamaru landed in a crouch and rolled, the clones that had protected him from impact and injury puffing away. He came up on the balls of his feet, springing immediately in the direction that Neji's kunai flew, bearing the flapping sign of The Leaf symbol.
Shikamaru kept exactly in line with its path.
It struck the ground.
Bingo. The shadow-nin crouched, jerked the kunai free and smacked down the red seal tag right above the marked stash point. He then spun and let Neji's rigged kunai fly, lunging out of range as it exploded thirty seconds later, casting out a boom of illumination.
It lit up the forest enough for him to detect movement in the murky area.
A running silhouette flashed before his eyes a few paces away.
The attacker never touched him.
Neji came between them.
The heel of the Hyūga's palm slammed into the chin of the running rebel, causing the enemy's head to snap back from the hit, though his legs carried on forward a pace before he landed hard on his back.
Neji floored another running shinobi with a low sweep of his leg, allowing Shikamaru to tug out a bug-container and flip the lid with his thumb. He tucked a kikaichū bug behind the rebel's jaw, trusting the insect to burrow wherever was necessary. He didn't have time to plant one on the other man before Neji straightened up sharply.
Shikamaru felt it before he could ask.
The dangerous throb of a chakra pulse.
It ripped through the wood like one of Temari's wind attacks, building like a tsunami. Neji spun towards him at the same moment he moved to defend the Hyūga.
Neither of them made it in time.
The massive shockwave pitched them apart.
The solid smash of Shikamaru's back into a tree sent a rocket of pain from his skull to the base of his spine. He dropped with a grunt, scowling against the dizziness, the pain somewhat dulled by building adrenalin.
"Shikamaru!
" Neji. Shikamaru recovered in time to realise that something was advancing on him. A second later he registered it was a running figure, then a mammoth sword spinning hilt over tip.
He rolled right on reflex.
The ground gave way beneath him, opening up into the hidden stake pit.
"Shit!"
As the trap caved inwards he tore his tantō from its sheath and swung his arm, stabbing the small katana into the lip of the pit before he toppled over the edge. The blade lodged, causing his arm to jerk as he held on, daggling above a trench filled with spikes.
Shit! The rain hosed down, battering him and weakening the earth his blade was lodged in. He felt it slipping, the sodden ground starting to squelch and slide. Shikamaru scrambled to get a foothold but his feet couldn't find purchase. Every attempt only caused more soil to clump and crumble away.
He struggled with his free hand to reach for his ninja pouch, feeling his tantō blade starting to slip with the mud. He tugged out a wire-rigged kunai but froze when the rain cut off from above him. He glanced up, straight into the face of a smirking red-haired ninja – with grey eyes just like Kitori's.
"Lucky save," the young man sneered, planting a foot atop the hilt of Shikamaru's tantō with a snort. "Your luck's up though."
The rebel twisted his sandal in a slow grind against the shadow-nin's fingers, pushing the blade closer to the edge. Shikamaru grit his teeth, looping the rigged kunai into the fingers of his free hand. There was no need.
"Eight trigrams! Air palm!"
"Shit," the redhead growled, kicking back to avoid the ripple of Neji's chakra.
Unfortunately, the bastard used Shikamaru's hand for purchase. The slam of the rebel's foot tore his blade free. Shikamaru's heart lunged into his throat as he tipped back.
But he didn't fall.
A sharp jerk on his flak-jacket held him suspended.
He turned his gaze up sharply, catching the flash of opal eyes.
"Nice timing," Shikamaru coughed, trying not to swallow rainwater.
Neji frowned, his eyes tense and fierce. Shikamaru felt that dangerously volatile gaze sweep over him in a quick once-over. Then Neji hauled. The shadow-nin felt ground beneath his feet an instant later, barely taking a moment to recover before he let his rigged kunai sail through the air, hissing and whistling as the wires pulled free.
The Tsubasa rebel's blade cut straight through them.
"Well shit," the Nara growled, skipping back a pace. "Time to fall back."
Neji scowled as he twisted around, levelling his gaze on the redhead before his eyes cooled to ice. "I'm not done here."
"Yeah you are," Shikamaru frowned sharply. "Neji, we're moving,
now. This isn't the strategy."
"
You run, Nara, it's what you're good at," Neji uttered coldly, his focus not deviating from the redhead already regrouping his scattered comrades.
Shikamaru steeled his jaw against the stupid twinge those words caused in a troublesome, dangerous, 'not-thinking-clearly' part of him.
Get a grip! He moved to intercept Neji only to jolt back a step when Akamaru and Kiba came spinning through the air in a howling helix. The duo ripped up the ground with their Tunnelling Fang jutsu, throwing the enemy back out of range long enough for Shikamaru to let two smoke bombs fly.
The detonation forced him and Neji to take to the trees, springing high and touching down in a flutter of khaki-cloaks. Shikamaru sensed Neji shove to his feet in an angry bolt. He also noticed that the Hyūga's left arm was shaking, juddering as if a voltage were running through it.
The Air Palm…dammit… Neji surveyed the scene and cursed beneath his breath. "Bastards."
Shikamaru glared, anger and confusion slamming into a tense knot at his brow. He jerked to his feet and gripped Neji's shoulder, fingers digging in hard as he whirled the Jōnin to face him.
"Get it together, dammit! We're moving,
now!"
The side of Neji's palm cut upward sharply, dislodging his grip. "Don't touch me."
"You can't fight like this," Shikamaru flicked his eyes to Neji's arm.
Neji curled his shaking fingers into a fist. "Watch me."
Shikamaru blinked twice before shaking his head. "This isn't the plan! We gauge and fall back, dammit!"
Neji's nostrils flared, his breath firing out in a mist. Those Byakugan eyes flashed like the lightning as it ripped above them, tearing through the belly of the clouds, gutting the dark skies and spilling fresh torrents as hard as hail.
Shikamaru shielded his eyes against the downpour. "What the hell is wrong with you!"
"Nothing!" Neji snapped back, twisting angrily before jutting his chin ahead. "Get going, I'll guide us."
Shikamaru didn't have time to react or respond.
Naruto's voice blasted through the mic. "Shikamaru! Where the hell are you? Where's Neji!"
Neji beat him to the response. "We're
fine."
"Yeah, we're right behind you," Shikamaru added, glaring pointedly at Neji.
The Hyūga relented with a scowl, taking off a pace ahead. Shikamaru sprung into a run behind him, staring in confusion at Neji's back before touching two fingers to his mic again.
"Kiba? You okay? Did Akamaru hit any of them?"
"Hell yeah!" the Inuzuka confirmed. "He marked two! Got that guy with the sword too!"
"Nice one, crap-magnet!"
"Shut up, lovebird!"
"Shikamaru!" Chōji's voice crackled through in a flurry. "We're good here too!"
"Everyone get back to base," Shikamaru said, his voice low as he cut the transmission short, his eyes fixed on the drenched form ahead of him. "Neji? You see everyone?"
"They're fine," the Hyūga called back, his tone flat. "Moving on ahead. We'd best pick up the pace."
Shikamaru frowned, channelling chakra to his feet to help gain some grip on the wet branches. "Tell me we've lost them."
"They're not pursuing us."
Shikamaru almost wondered if the Hyūga was disappointed.
What the hell is wrong with you? The Nara upped his pace, nimbly weaving his way in the wake of Neji's robes, adrenalin driving him as he used the flash of white and khaki-cloak to direct him through the rain. He calculated as they moved, his mind running faster than his feet as he processed what had just played out.
He lost it. Trying to wrap his head around whatever the hell Neji had been thinking was a headache best suffered out of the rain – so he veered his attention quickly to the fight.
What are they guarding back there? "They're obviously protecting something more than their scythes," Neji's voice drifted through the mic, calmer now as the Hyūga hijacked his train of thought.
Shikamaru snorted, adjusting his transmitter. "Yeah. Whatever it is, they won't be able to get at it with that tag seal in place. We've marked them. We'll regroup and then track them down, that barrier jutsu can't throw their scent."
"I understand."
You didn't a damn second ago. Shikamaru clenched his jaw. "What the hell was that back there, Hyūga?"
"Hibari Tsubasa," the Jōnin responded flatly. "Kitori's son."
Shikamaru scowled, feeling rain slot like ice in the furrow at his brow. "I didn't say
who I said
what. What the
hell were you thinking breaking team?"
"I don't recall dangling over a pit being part of the game plan either."
Shikamaru jerked to a halt on the next bough.
Neji stopped on the tree ahead automatically.
The rain fell in sheets between them, crashing loudly, tearing leaves from branches.
They remained locked in this indirect standoff long enough that Shikamaru was numb from the beating rain. He glared hard at Neji's back, but the Hyūga didn't turn. He stood as rigid as a rock against the elements.
Not willing to cave or crumble even for a second.
But when Shikamaru's eyes trailed down from the Jōnin's locked shoulders, his anger slipped away. Neji's fingers remained as tightly coiled and controlled as the rest of him…and for one damn moment Shikamaru might have pretended to believe the lie…if Neji's arm hadn't still been shaking.
The storm made Hanegakure its anvil, slamming down a mallet of elemental fury. Rain slashed like glass, breaking against the crafted village in a never-ending shatter.
It was hellacious and it showed no sign of relent.
The Rookery had been reinforced, doors boarded up and shutters tacked down. In light of strict rules not to leave the guesthouse for exaggerated fear of being washed away, the innkeeper had insisted that the Konoha team relax in the guesthouse onsen. The baths had been run and the old man had gone so far as to ensure Sakura and Hinata had their own facility, much to Naruto and Kiba's chagrin.
Neji avoided it without having to state his case, unlike Shikamaru, who'd had a harder time trying not to offend the old man's wife, who insisted that the mineral composition of the water would do wonders for his muscles.
Shikamaru was tempted to ask whether she had anything for the damn muscle in his jaw, which did about three hundred twitches by the time he'd wheedled his way out from under her insistence.
Troublesome woman. He'd showered in Naruto and Chōji's room, granting Neji some space before returning. He'd expected the Hyūga to be finished by the time he slipped back into the guestroom, but the bathroom door remained closed. Despite the temptation to crawl into bed, Shikamaru's mind had refused to bow out to his tiredness. So he'd put his brain to work, spinning out strategies until concern had wormed its way into his focus.
The Nara looked up from the map on the table, candlelight playing across his face. He flexed out his bruised fingers, courtesy of Hibari using them as launch pad, and stared at the door to the bathroom. Seconds ticked by before he eventually swayed to his feet, securing the obi sash of his borrowed yukata before stepping over to the door. The sound of running water and the shuffle of movement eased his concern.
At least a little.
The windows rattled loudly, drawing his gaze and his steps across to the glass. The shutters had been snapped loose, causing an endless flow of rain to wash down the panes. Ribbons and rivulets.
It was oddly hypnotic.
Shikamaru tapped his brow against the cold glass, closing his eyes as he felt the condensation of his breath steam against the cool panes. He lost himself in the sound of the rain, so much so that he didn't register the sound of the bathroom door creaking.
It was only when he slipped his eyes open moments later, that he caught Neji's reflection in the glass. The Hyūga stood a few paces behind him; those ghostly eyes gazing over his shoulder in that uncanny, faraway stare.
Shikamaru turned, leaning against the frame of the window. He gazed quietly at Neji, tilting his head to elicit a look, a word…
Something. Neji blinked very slowly, but made no other movement.
Shikamaru sighed softly through his nose, tracing his dark eyes over the Jōnin. Neji wore the same grey yukata, but the fabric was dark and creased from the dampness of his hair, unbound from its tie. Lightning flashed outside, casting a sharp glow to the Hyūga's ever-present headband.
As if knowing Shikamaru's eyes would be drawn there, Neji shook his head once, redirecting the shadow-nin's gaze. The trickle of rain on the windows was reflected on the high slant of Neji's cheeks, streaking down the proud planes in a cruel parody of tears. Tears Shikamaru imagined he'd never let himself shed.
"Neji..."
"Don't." Neji's voice barely carried above the rattle of the glass, sounding twice as brittle in its whisper. "I don't need you to remind me…of what I keep trying to forget."
"Dammit, Neji..." Shikamaru shook his head sadly, his mahogany eyes softer than the rock of emotion in his chest, grinding against his ribs. "You don't have to do this with me..."
"The mission…" Neji murmured, as if he wasn't listening. "The mission is what I'll always need. I need nothing else."
Shikamaru's throat tightened a little. "Neji."
Those moonstone eyes tightened at the corners, but Neji continued to stare past him. Gazing unseeingly at the window, maybe at the ghosts reflected in his face, maybe looking past them into the haunting of memories never made but yearned for.
"Nothing else…" the Hyūga whispered.
Shikamaru remained as still as the air between them, transfixed as he watched the shadow of the raindrops trace down Neji's face, trickling along his throat. An endless stream of ghost tears. He didn't know what tore him up more, the cruel parody of a body weeping, or the realisation that Neji would rather break apart than allow it.
Walk away…be smart and walk away before this breaks you too… Shikamaru blinked, drew a breath…and walked three steps.
Three steps was all it took.
Three steps for his mind to walk in one direction and his body in another.
Three fatal steps for him to touch what he should have run the hell away from.
The shadow-nin raised his fingers to Neji's face, tracing out the ghost tears with his fingers until he hooked his knuckle beneath Neji's jaw. Those pale orbs didn't shift from the window, but the dark lashes flickered.
Shikamaru smiled sadly. "Don't make me chase you down."
Neji swallowed thickly, the audible sound twisting a barb in Shikamaru's chest. "I don't need you to."
"Then look at me and show me
you're not the one running this time," the Nara murmured, tilting his head.
Neji's eyes drifted shut, sadness creasing his brow. "Stop."
Shikamaru shook his head, grazing his knuckles along the Hyūga's jaw before sliding his fingers into damp mocha strands, feeling them slip through his fingers like his shredded sanity. He clenched a fist in the thick mane before it could slip completely from his grip.
"I lost the will to stop this three steps ago..." Shikamaru said hoarsely. "So either push me away, or let me pull you back...'cause I'm not walking this time."
