Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting Spirit ❯ Out of Hand ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fighting Spirit

Chapter 03

Out of Hand

-----

In his office, Koenma was looking over some papers. His father's short trip had been extended. The toddler would be stuck with his father's duties for a little over two more weeks. How cruel life was.

Koenma sighed and stamped yet another paper.

He was asking for it, perhaps, by wishing for anything to happen, anything at all. Nonetheless, he was still caught off guard when the events went into motion and his wish granted.

A girl with blue hair suddenly burst through his office doors. "Koenma! Koenma! Horrible news!"

"Calm down, Botan," Koenma said, dropping the paper he had been about to stamp onto his desk. This was obviously more important than the cafeteria menu. "What is it?"

Botan took a moment to collect her wits, breathing in and breathing out a few times before relaying her message. "The three legendary artifacts, hidden in the vault, they've been stolen."

Koenma jumped up onto his desk. "What?! You're joking, Botan!" Seeing her shake her head, the toddler was beside himself. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!" He paced around his desk. "What to do, what to do..." If his father found out about the missing artifacts, he'd have their heads!

"Um, sir, isn't it best to remain calm?" Botan asked, relaying his own advice back to him.

"Calm?!" Koenma shouted. "How can I be calm when three of the most powerful artifacts we have are gone!"

"What a hypocrite," Botan muttered. She cleared her throat. "Sir, we do have some information on the thieves." It hadn't been long since the theft, but several cameras had managed to capture pictures of the thieves, which was enough to identify them.

"Well?" Koenma asked, looking toward Botan. "Get on with it!"

Botan cleared her throat, pulling out a manila envelope. "The first is a demon, class D, from Demon World. There's not much on her in terms of her powers or criminal records, but we do know who she is." She pulled a picture from the envelope. It showed an attractive girl, appearing in her late teens, with short black hair. "She's called Yura, and we don't have much else on her."

"If she's so weak, then how did she break into that vault?" Koenma wondered to himself. "She must have strong allies. Continue, Botan."

Botan nodded as she slipped the picture back into the envelope. "Of course, sir." She pulled out another photo, this time showing what appeared to be a teenage boy with long, flowing white hair, wearing a red outfit. He also seemed to sport a pair of dog ears. "I believe you're more familiar with this demon than I am. His name's Inuyasha, only rated as class C, but still managed to cause quite a ruckus on the mortal world about 50 years ago, if I remember correctly."

Koenma's voice was pleading. "Don't tell me that hanyou has his sword again?"

Botan nodded. "That's what he left the vault with."

"This is bad, if that demon has gotten a hold of his sword again." Koenma bit his lip; things were turning really bad. Inuyasha must have been the main attacker of the group, but he was enough to take care of almost any opponent who would cross his path. "Who else?"

"The last member," Botan replied, slipping the picture of Inuyasha into the envelope and pulling out a different picture. A man in his mid thirties, with short dark purple hair, dressed in red robes, was depicted on this one, though the photo was grainy and taken at an odd angle. "This man is completely unknown. No records exist on him. This photo was taken after the break in. He, apparently, made off with the Claire Bible."

Koenma felt like crying, but he was too old for things like that. He'd need to call upon his new spirit detective sooner than he thought, and for a mission more difficult and serious than he could ever anticipate. He could only hope Shikamaru would be up to the task.

-----

It had been several days since Shikamaru's return to the living world, and his first few days had been hectic, to say the least. The first people to celebrate were, of course, his family, along with his two previous partners, Chouji and Ino. The three who had once made up Team 10 went out to celebrate, along with the boy's parents. It had been enjoyable, though a bit wild for Shikamaru's tastes.

After his celebrations stopped, however, his official debriefing, held by the Hokage herself, was held. She had called him into her office and asked for the details of the mission he had been on, and details of how he came back to life. He told the truth about the mission, but Duo had warned him to keep his status of spirit detective secret, so instead he informed the Hokage that "it hadn't been his time to die."

She took it at face value, though Shikamaru suspected she knew he was lying.

After she gave him some advice (Don't try that jutsu again,) some personal information for him (You're on vacation for a few months,) and a few details of the current state of affairs (A lot of ninjas came back for your wake, but they're gone now,) she let the boy go.

A sudden tackle, knocking Shikamaru to the ground, marked his exit from her office. Naruto was shouting something about being so happy, while the rest of the ninjas who had been on the mission snickered in the back.

"Jeez, Naruto, what's gotten into you?" the boy muttered half-heartedly.

"You're really alive!" Naruto got off of Shikamaru, and helped the boy up afterwards. "We all heard from Chouji, but none of us really believed him..."

Shikamaru dusted off his clothes. "Yeah, I'm alive."

"We can see that," Neji commented with a smirk. "Though I've no idea how."

"Long story," was Shikamaru's comment, sending a glare to Chouji, saying "You'd better not tell them, either" in his eyes.

The three sand siblings, too, were there, lounging behind the rest of the group. Shikamaru hadn't noticed them, so Temari broke the silence. "That was stupid of you, idiot. Using that jutsu. I arrived less than a minute later, you know."

Kiba turned around, about to say something, but Shikamaru cut the boy off before he began. "I never took in the possibility of rescue." He leveled a look, not quite a glare, but stern none-the-less, at Temari. "Wouldn't you sacrifice your life, for the sake of your teammates?"

Temari glanced over at her own teammates, her two brothers. Turning back to the new spirit detective, she shrugged. "For my brothers, I suppose. But not the other saps in the Hidden Sand Village."

"That's a bit unfair to them, isn't it?" Chouji asked.

Temari looked at the overweight boy. "Sorry if I place some importance on my life." She snorted derisively.

"We didn't come here to fight," Kankuro said, trying to placate his sister.

"That's right," Gaara said, and everybody turned to him. Nobody had really expected him to say much, thinking he was there only for Temari, who most of the group knew had been secretly feeling guilty. "We're here to congratulate the boy on his successful return from the Spirit World." He looked Shikamaru in the eyes.

The spirit detective was taken aback. "He knows about the Spirit World?" he thought to himself. The general thought on the afterlife was that you were reborn. His own visit to the Spirit World disproved that, but he was surprised anybody else would know about it. Out loud, he let no trace of his confusion out. "Thanks, Gaara."

Gaara nodded, apparently uninterested in the general state of affairs once again.

"This is a time of celebration!" Rock Lee cried with his usual gusto.

"Great," Shikamaru muttered. He was feeling a bit out of place, even among his peers.

A voice, coming from the adjacent hallway, caught the attention of the gathered ninjas. "Hey, Shika, looks like you've got a party started." All heads turned to see a young teenager, garbed in what looked like priest's outfit, all in black, and with a brown braid hanging down his back.

"Duo?" the spirit detective asked. And was it just him, or did the others see the apparition as well?

Duo gave a curt nod. "Yeah. I hate to be the party crasher, but I'm gonna need you for a bit, Shika."

"Who are you?" Temari snapped, barely beating off Naruto and Chouji.

"Duo Maxwell," the man replied with a flourished bow. "Afraid I don't have time to chat, though." He looked at Temari and gave a wink. "Perhaps another time?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Come on," he muttered, trudging out of the room.

After a final wave, Duo took off after his ward.

The two left the building in silence. They didn't talk until they were down the street from the Hokage's complex.

"So," Shikamaru began, "what is this about?"

"Your first case," was the reply. For once, Duo's tone was completely serious. "This is a bad one, too." He snorted. "If I had any choice, you wouldn't be stuck with this."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked, a sinking feeling telling him he wouldn't like the answer at all.

Duo sighed, prepping himself up to explaining. "Well, the mission is simple." He looked Shikamaru in the eyes, hoping to convey the seriousness of the situation. "Three items have been stolen from a locked down vault in the Spirit World. You need to recover the items within two weeks."

"Doesn't sound too tough," the spirit detective replied. "All I gotta do is track down a thief, right?"

"Three thieves," Duo replied. "One for each item." Before Shikamaru could reply, Duo dove onward. "That's not all, though. Two of the thieves are a mystery to us as far as their battle capabilities go, but if they broke into the vault, they must be a lot tougher than they appear." There was more, though. "We do know of one thief's capabilities, and it's not good."

The sinking feeling was back. "Why is that?"

"His name is Inuyasha." Duo pulled a small photo from his pocket, handing it to the young detective.

Shikamaru looked it over. A young teenager, with dog-like ears, seemed to be slashing at something with an oversized sword of some kind. "This is him?"

"Yes," Duo replied, taking back the picture. "That was him fifty years ago, when he ravaged the Hidden Rain Village." Duo took in a breath and continued. "We were barely able to stop him and take the sword away from him. A majority of his power is only brought out with that sword."

"If you took the sword, then he should be no problem, right?"

"He stole the sword back," was the reply.

Shikamaru seemed to realize what that meant. "Oh."

"He's the brother of one of the four Lords of the Demon World," the black-clad man continued. "He's inherited a great deal of power."

"Great," Shikamaru muttered. "Already you're sending me up against the big boys, right?"

Duo gave a sympathetic grin. "Like I said, I'd rather you not have to do this." He sighed. "One of the thieves, a female demon known as Yura, is supposed to be somewhere in this village. You should track her down and take back the Nanban Mirror she stole."

"What do you know about her, for me to use?" Shikamaru replied.

"Nothing, except her name." Duo looked a bit perturbed. "Well, we also know that she's the one who probably has the Nanban Mirror, as I said. The mirror allows instantaneous teleportation anywhere, provided she sheds a tear into it."

"Teleportation?"

"Yes," Duo replied. "She'll likely use it to steal more artifacts, after setting up a base of operations here." He sighed. "Sorry if things are getting out of hand, but we need you to take care of this."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I understand."

Duo looked over Shikamaru. "I don't know how this demon fights, but she's not going to be a pushover like the one you fought back in the alley. Your fighting skills alone won't be enough."

"But I can't use my chakra," Shikamaru pointed out. "What else can I use?"

Duo actually smiled a real grin, for the first time since the conversation began. "Spirit energy."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Shikamaru replied flatly.

"Not quite," was the answer he received. Duo tried his best to explain. "Chakra is basically the body's energy, right?" After Shikamaru's nod, the agent of death continued. "Well, spirit energy is the energy of the mind. It's basically referred to as psychic powers in the mortal world."

"You're saying I have to be a psychic to beat this chick?" Shikamaru didn't look very pleased with that. "Look, I don't know where you got the idea I was a psychic, but I'm not."

Duo sighed. "Look, you wouldn't be a spirit detective if you couldn't use spirit energy. You should've been able to feel it when you were dead, because at that point you'd have no chakra, which stayed in your body."

Shikamaru slowly nodded. He had felt the energy he had, and it did feel slightly different than chakra. "But I can't sense it now," he muttered.

"That's because it's weak," Duo replied, "and untrained. You can't feel it through your chakra. But all you have to do is concentrate on the feeling you got from the spirit energy, and you'll be able to draw it."

Nodding slowly, Shikamaru tried to grasp the feeling he had felt. It took several tries, but eventually he felt the spiritual energy, just as when he was a ghost. "I got it," he mentioned, shocked at himself for drawing psychic power.

"Now Koenma said you'd be ready for this move," Duo mentioned. "Focus the spirit energy into your palm, Shika."

Not bothering to comment on Duo's usage of his dreaded nickname, Shikamaru simply followed instructions. Just like when using his chakra, he focused the power in his hands. Unlike his chakra, however, this produced visible results as his right hand began to glow a soft blue.

"Now just release it," Duo instructed. "It's a burst of energy, just let it fly."

Raising his hand, Shikamaru pointed it toward a nearby trashcan. Letting loose the energy, like Duo had instructed, a burst of energy flew forth. Shikamaru had expected it to knock away the garbage can, but he still caught off guard by how far the thing flew before rolling to a halt.

Duo grinned. "See? Now that wasn't so hard. It's called Spirit Burst, and it's the basic move in a spirit detective's arsenal." He wagged a finger at Shikamaru. "At your level, you can only do it two times a day, give or take. So don't be trying to use it unless you know it'll be of use, okay?"

Shikamaru sighed. "And you just made me waste one use, eh?"

"Had no choice," Duo replied, "had to teach you the ropes." The man straightened up. "Well, now that that's over with, I have to go; I'm trying to pinpoint where the other two thieves are. I'll come back for you when I find something else out."

"Got it."

Duo was about to walk off when he remembered something. "Oh, yeah. We do have a picture of her." He tossed Shikamaru another picture, which the boy caught. "Try not to let on too much when looking for her, okay?"

-----

Shikamaru was grumbling to himself as he searched. That Duo would've walked off and left him with no clue to what the girl looked like if he hadn't remembered at the last second.

Not that it helped him anyway. He'd been searching through the ninja village's business district for the whole day and wasn't any closer then when he began. He plopped down on a park bench, idly blowing a strand of hair out of his face that had fallen from its usual place.

The boy never really realized just how large the ninja village was. If he ever found the demon, it'd be by pure luck, and no skill of his whatsoever.

Just as he was about to give it up and call it a day, something caught Shikamaru's eye. Turning his head to the side, he saw a black tendril snake into a nearby warehouse. "Suspicious," the Chuunin muttered. He figured he might as well check it out.

Being a ninja, Shikamaru knew better than to try and sneak in through the front door.

The back door was much better.

Opening the door and sliding inside, he closed it quietly behind him. What he saw surprised him, as it certainly wasn't normal.

The black tendrils were revealed as hair. The entire room was filled with the stuff, crammed into a small space near the back wall. It piled until it reached nearly the roof, which was almost forty feet high, and took the entire back wall However, the area away from the wall was perfectly clear of the hair, only having large crates left from whatever business used the warehouse for storage. And resting on the hair, as if it were a giant throne, was Yura, the demon he was after.

It made perfect sense, factoring in what he heard from Duo. She was likely going to use this warehouse as a base of operations for her thievery, and was keeping the area clear of the hair, as it would interfere with her space for the stolen goods.

Of course, that didn't explain exactly why she had enough hair to give transplants to every bald man in the country.

The spirit detective looked over to Yura to see what she was doing. She was running a red comb through her hair and appeared quite oblivious to her surroundings. That could work well in his favor.

With the stealth borne of endless training by Asuma and his own father, Shikamaru crept towards Yura along the tops of several tall stacks of crates. It gave him less room to maneuver, but a better chance of not being seen. He wouldn't have even attempted it if the demon didn't appear totally distracted.

"The mirror has to be kept nearby," the young Chuunin thought to himself. It obviously wasn't on her person; her outfit didn't have room to hide the mirror. "Now, if I were a magical mirror, where would I be...?"

How he desperately wished he could just be watching the clouds right now. But he had a mission to accomplish, and he would make sure it got done.

Then he could go watch the sky.

Silently dropping onto the floor near the back wall, Shikamaru then crept closer to the large pile of hair. The boy cringed when he noticed that several skulls were mixed in with the hair. It was grotesque.

That's when something unexpected happened.

As soon as he touched the hair, it started moving en masse. "What the-?" he began, startled.

"Did you think you could lay a finger on my hair without my noticing?"

Shikamaru, filled with dread, turned and looked over. Yura was atop a mass of hair which was jutting out from the pile. She was sending a glare his way, which made the ninja cringe.

"You stupid mortals are all the same," she said.

The entire pile of hair began to move, making the ninja back away.

"I suppose I'll just have to kill you." She looked Shikamaru over. "I could add your hair to my collection, I suppose. It'll need some treatment though. You take horrible care of it."

"That's sick," the Chuunin replied, cringing at the thought of her scalping him. Was that how she got all that hair? He paused a moment. "And I think I take pretty good care of my hair."

Not feeling the need to prolong the ninja's life any further, Yura casually waved her hand. The hair near Shikamaru shot towards the boy, intent of grabbing or perhaps simply hitting the boy.

He didn't want to find out which, though.

Shooting to the side and avoiding the hair, the spirit detective ran through his options. He only had one shot of his Spirit Burst left, so he'd have to make it count. His best option, for now, was to test the waters and determine what was effective against the demon.

He ruled out his shadow techniques immediately. If it hadn't worked on that weakling demon that attacked Hinata, it surely wouldn't work on this one. All he had to rely on was his taijutsu.

"Here goes," the boy muttered.

Yura had a surprised look, but quickly shook it off. She sent out another wave of hair to attack, this time with many clumps attacking all at once.

The spirit detective twisted between the blows while advancing, moving with the minimum amount of movement needed to avoid the strikes. Just when the demon got aggravated, forcing all of the hair to converge on his position, he leapt high, sailing over the hair and straight toward the demon.

Yura shouted in surprise, holding her arms in front of her face to protect herself. It was an automatic gesture by most non-fighters, which Shikamaru easily capitalized upon. Two quick blows to her stomach sent the demon flying back, landing with a thump on the hard floor, away from her hoard of hair.

Shikamaru was standing without a fighting stance, but was regarding the room wearily, taking special care to keep both the hair and the demon in his line of sight. He was slightly surprised when the demon simply stood up, completely disregarding the blows.

"It takes more than simple blows without the faintest hint of spirit energy, I'm afraid," she commented. She raised her hand toward her attacker. "But for laying a hand on me, I still sentence you to death."

In his head, Shikamaru took apart her words. "Lacking spirit energy? Does that mean that I'll be able to injure her if I add spirit energy into my punches and kicks?" It would make sense, he supposed.

But he didn't have more time to think. He dodged to the left, the right, then leapt backwards, all to avoid the tendrils of hair trying to end his life. Spying a particularly large tendril, a quick plan formed in his mind. As it shot towards him, he leapt upwards to meet it. In midair, his feet touched the large amount of hair only to immediately spring off, heading straight for Yura.

Once again the demon was caught flat-footed, getting punched right in the jaw with all that momentum behind it, plus a good amount of spirit energy. A loud crack from her neck was heard, but Shikamaru didn't stop there. As she fell back, before getting very far, Shikamaru kicked her in the stomach, sending her to the left instead of backwards, and also coincidentally further away from her hair.

As she tumbled along the ground, Shikamaru leapt backwards. In his current position, between Yura and her hair, he couldn't keep an eye on both, so he needed a more advantageous position.

The hair demon stood. Taking her head between both of her hands, she gave it a swift jerk which sent off another loud cracking sound, this time her neck getting back into its proper position. Just as before she didn't appear affected. "Are you truly this dumb?" she asked. She fingered her red comb, where several strands of hair were connected to control the rest. "You can't hurt me, even if you do know how to work with spirit energy." Truth was, she hadn't expected that. But in the end it didn't matter.

Several warning signals went off in Shikamaru's head. Nobody could survive having their neck broken, and he had even used spirit energy behind that punch. Something was seriously wrong. She must've had some sort of special defense.

Once again he was cut off in mid-thought as hair came at him once more. Thinking quickly, he leapt backwards, then to the left. This put a large crate between himself and Yura. She couldn't order her hair to where she couldn't see.

"You think that'll save you?" Yura taunted. Her hair writhed in front of the crate. "You're sadly mistaken, I'm afraid." In her head, she decided to give the boy a bit of time to ponder his eminent demise.

Shikamaru was sweating...

"I'm afraid that... now you die." With an amazing display of power, a tendril of Yura's precious hair was able to pick up and toss the huge crate to the side, where it impacted with a wall of the warehouse. As soon as the crate was clear, she was easily able to see Shikamaru, along with the ball of spirit energy gathered in his hand.

The spirit detective threw his hand forward. "Spirit Burst!"

Yura realized that she was standing between Shikamaru and her pile of hair. Without another thought, she quickly spread her arms, allowing it to hit her full-force. The blast propelled her forward and to the left, where she hit a large crate instead of her hair, which exploded in a display of the force used against it.

Wood chips rained all over the interior of the warehouse. Shikamaru held his position, right hand still extended, waiting for the debris to clear so he could get a view of his defeated opponent.

Instead of that, however, the Chuunin was treated to the image of Yura, standing without a single scratch, when the debris cleared.

"Foolish little brat," the woman said. She casually brushed off her outfit, getting the wood chips off of the contrasting black material.

Shikamaru was in a bind. He was without any more spiritual blasts. He had to beat her with taijutsu, now. Running wasn't even an option, not from a demon of her power. Besides, she'd spot him going for a door a block off his escape with her hair, so it wouldn't be productive to even try.

Two tendrils shot out at the boy. Mentally figuring where they'd hit, Shikamaru shifted his weight onto his right foot and cross-stepped with his left, allowing the tendrils to miss him. However the hair then whipped to toward the boy, wrapping him in the black threads. He quickly tried to escape, but found the hair too strong. It was obviously more than normal hair...

"Such a foolish young boy," Yura drawled. She waved her hand and the hair began to constrict, making it harder for Shikamaru to breathe. "You knew what to look for, didn't you? You're obviously one of King Yama's lackeys. A new spirit detective, perhaps?"

Shikamaru found it hard to respond, what with the tendril of hair trying to crush the life out of him.

Things had been heading steadily downhill since he started fighting the demon, but it was surprising how easily he lost when he made even a single mistake.

Yura was smiling as the hair on Shikamaru began to shift, moving from grasping him around the waist to holding him by his four limbs and neck, stretching his body out.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked, gasping for the breath he had lost. He watched at the demon as she walked, not toward him, but toward her original position at the mound of hair.

She reached out and, from the mound, a wakizashi was pulled. "Now... I think I'll be content with slicing your body to pieces. You put up a pretty good show." Her eyes narrowed. With a huge leap, she shot toward the immobile ninja. "But now it ends!"

And it did.

Yura's eyes widened as the tendrils slackened around Shikamaru. She slumped in the middle of her leap, landing with a thud in front of Shikamaru.

The boy quickly escaped from the hair. He looked over as Yura slowly rose to her to her knees, blood beginning to seep from her mouth.

"H-How?" she croaked, gurgling a bit of blood as she did so.

Shikamaru didn't comment. Instead, he past the demon to the pile of hair. Reaching out, he took a kunai from the pile, where it had pierced a red skull. "This is mine, I believe." He turned back to Yura just in time to see her body fade into dust.

He had known that she must have had some weakness. However, he assumed it was a part of her body. His bit with the Spirit Burst was, in fact, to see where her weakness was on her body. If she had one, she'd take care to protect that part. But instead she spread her arms, which was generally used by somebody using their body as a shield. That meant she was protecting something behind her.

The red skull had been where she was sitting. Also, coincidentally, right where his Spirit Burst would have hit had she dodged.

When he realized all of that, it was only a matter of placing a small amount of spirit energy into a kunai and waiting for the opportune moment. He had the kunai in his hand, hidden within the hair covering his wrist, the entire time. He just needed to hold it until Yura committed herself to an attack and wouldn't be able to block the projectile.

Like most of his plans, it worked perfectly.

"I suppose I'd best find that mirror, now," the boy muttered to himself. He paused in thought. If Yura kept her precious skull in the hair, it'd make sense for the mirror to be there as well. He looked over at the pile. Even with the hair on the floor from what Yura had used to attack, the mound was still reaching the ceiling.

"...This could take a while."

-----

It was approaching eleven at night when Shikamaru finally trudged into his house. A weak, "I'm here," and a shuffling as he took off his shoes at the entrance were the only sounds from inside the house, marking Shikamaru's entrance.

It wasn't that curious for it to be quiet; it was awfully late at night. Though, from what he'd come to expect from his parents, he wouldn't have been surprised if they waiting for him, either.

Silently, the Chuunin made his way through the living room and into his kitchen for a drink of water. It had been a long day, and he needed it. Maybe some food, too. Nothing complicated. A TV dinner sounded about right.

As he entered the kitchen, however, he noticed that something was amiss. Most noticeably was the fact that the light was on and two people were waiting for him at the kitchen table.

They weren't his parents, either.

"Took you long enough," the blond girl remarked. "Where the hell were you? I thought you didn't have any missions."

It wasn't Ino, his friend from Team 10.

No, it was Temari, the ninja girl from the Hidden Village of the Sand.

She was sitting along a long side of the rectangular table, leaning on her elbows. Her giant fan was propped against the wall, near enough for her to reach and smack Shikamaru with if she was so inclined.

The boy made a mental note not to get on her bad side.

Across the table from his sister was the youngest of the Sand trio, Gaara. The demonic vassal was sitting with a large glass of water in front of him and his gourd to his side, leaning against the wall just as Temari's fan was.

The first thing that came to Shikamaru's mind was "Why the hell are you two here?" But, being more tactful than that (plus Temari would give him hell, and she was scary,) he decided on another question. "Where's Kankuro?"

"In our house," Gaara answered.

"What the hell?" Temari complained, giving the lazy ninja a glare. "Not a 'Hello?' or 'How are you doing?' Just how rude are you?" She gave him a look, one that promised pain and torture. At least, it looked that way to Shikamaru.

The boy chuckled. "Erm, hello? How are you doing?"

The girl sighed. "We're doing fine, thanks for asking." The tone was mildly sarcastic, but Shikamaru ignored that. "Your mother left you some leftovers in the microwave. She says you know how to heat 'em yourself."

The spirit detective nodded. Walking over to the microwave, he popped it open. Mashed potatoes and turkey, it seemed. Pressing a few buttons, he closed the door to the microwave and allowed it to run.

"So where were you, if not on a mission?" Gaara asked suddenly.

Shikamaru had been standing in silence a few moments, but he could see conversation was unavoidable. "I was looking for something," he replied lazily, as if he had any other way. It was the truth, too, but worded as if to make it sound like he was shopping.

"You got a mirror?" Temari asked. She could spot the handle on the handheld Nanban Mirror sticking out of Shikamaru's kunai pouch.

"Eh?" the boy replied. The bell on the microwave dinged, so he opened the door. "Yeah," he said simply as he took out the plate. Grabbing a fork, he began to make his way over to the table when he realized his dilemma.

There were only four chairs. Two were taken. One of the empty chairs was next to Temari. The other was next to Gaara. They were both scary... but it looked like he'd just have to take a seat next to the less scary one.

Placing his plate on the table and taking a seat next to Gaara, Shikamaru nodded to himself. Some might consider the sand user to be the most scary, but they also hadn't dealt with Temari like he had.

Gaara was the first to speak. "So, at what point in your trip did you get into a fight?"

Shikamaru almost choked on his turkey. Swallowing hastily, he managed to croak out a "What?"

Temari was also raising an eyebrow, looking at her brother.

"Your wrists and neck have marks," Gaara explained. He almost smirked when the Chuunin attempted vainly to cover up said marks.

Temari gasped, looking over at Shikamaru. "What?!" she screeched, reminding the boy of Ino for a moment. "What the hell were you doing, Shikamaru?!"

The spirit detective sighed wearily, pushing away his plate. "It was just a scuffle. Nothing big." He hoped, desperately, that Temari and Gaara wouldn't insist on knowing more.

Gaara, again, proved to be more knowledgeable than he let on. "It was with a demon, wasn't it?" Noticing Shikamaru's widening eyes, he continued. "I can sense the linger demon energy on you."

Temari reached for her fan, causing Shikamaru to frown. However, she made no move to use it. "Just what the hell is going on?" she asked, looking at Shikamaru with annoyance and possibly... worry?

Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts, Shikamaru answered. "Look, you remember that Duo guy who came for me earlier?" Seeing the two Sand ninjas nod, he continued. "Well, the truth is he works for the big guy up there in Spirit World..."

A trite, but concise, explanation of the events following his death were told.

Gaara listened, giving his undivided attention and also showing nothing as the story was told.

Temari, however, showed disbelief the entire time. Or maybe it was shock, Shikamaru couldn't tell.

"...And that's what happened," he finished. The lazy ninja had taken extra care not to mention Chouji's role in his revival, but everything else was correct. He gave the two siblings a moment to collect their thoughts.

The younger of the siblings nodded. "That would explain everything, then." He had felt Shikamaru's spirit, then. He had known something was there, but hadn't been sure.

"You... were there?" Temari asked.

"Yeah."

"Jackass," was her reply.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"At any rate," the girl continued, obviously trying to change the subject, "we are here for a reason."

Shikamaru was smiling as he replied. "And here I thought you just enjoyed my company."

A quick glare shut him up to allow Temari to continue. "Gaara, Kankuro, and I will be staying here with the Hidden Leaf."

A simple question found its way to Shikamaru's lips. "Why?"

Temari shrugged her shoulders. "What Baki said is that the Leaf ninjas were in need of some support, and this would be a good show of our cooperation."

The spirit detective sighed. "And you needed to tell me this badly enough that you waited in my house until," he checked the clock, "eleven fifty-three?"

The blond girl had a scowl. "I was going to tell you earlier, but that Duo guy dragged you off. It's his fault we're stuck here this late."

"You could've just gone home, you know," Shikamaru countered. "Kankuro did, after all."

Gaara was the one who replied. "When we arrived and there was no sign of you, she grew concerned."

"Concerned?"

Temari scowled. "Nothing like that, you idiot." Her features softened. "But you're the only guy who's beaten me in real match, except Gaara. I haven't been able to prove to you just how much of a better fighter I am, yet. It'd be a shame for you to keel over before we get to have another match."

"I'm touched by your concern," Shikamaru sighed.

Gaara stood, taking his gourd as he did so and slinging it over his shoulder. "I'm afraid it's growing quite late. Temari, we can come visit another time."

"Yeah, yeah," Temari muttered, unknowingly imitating one of Shikamaru's phrases.

"Another time," the spirit detective said with a wave of his hand.

A look of concern flashed across Temari's face as she took her fan. "Hey, Shikamaru... be careful out there, will ya?"

The boy smiled. "Trust me, I've already died once. I don't plan on repeating the experience."

Satisfied with the answer, the duo left Shikamaru alone.

The boy sighed. Since when was his life the chaotic one? He would prefer to have remained unnoticed...

Too bad that wasn't in his cards.

-----

Fighting Spirit

Chapter 03

End

To be continued...

-----

Author's Notes: 6,300 words this chapter. Not bad, not bad.

Eh? What do you mean, you thought I was dead? Shame on you for having such lack of faith! It's just.... ugh. College is hell.

Yeah, enough complaining. About this chapter... I dunno if I did the fight scene well enough. Eh, I suppose it works for this fight, as it's nothing major. Now, Inuyasha... that'll be a fight. Next chapter, wait for it.

As you can probably tell, this fic's not strictly Shikamaru/Ino... in typical anime fashion, he shall have several females vying for his heart. Temari being one of them, yes. Ino being another. But this won't be like Yu Yu Hakusho, where he has Keiko and that's it.

Also, it looks like Shikamaru's pretty bad at keeping his job a secret. Ha! I wonder where this is gonna get him...

There's a lot of differences between this and Yu Yu Hakusho... while there might be a lot of parallels between Shikamaru's life and Yusuke's, there are also a lot of differences. That's what this fic hinges on, you know...

Well, that and the fight scenes. C'mon, Shikamaru, kick Inuyasha's butt!

Well, that's enough for now.

"Such a hassle..."