ShikaTema Yuya - Theme 6 - If Only...
Because it's finally complete and it stands alone enough for me to post it as such - ORIGINS PART ONE! YAY!
Theme: 6 - If Only
Fandom/Pairing: Naruto - Shikamaru/Tayuya/Temari
Title: How It Began (Origins - Part 1)
Author: Lady Zip
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I wonder if Kishimoto-sama would accept a soul as a royalty payment…
I put this one before the ones that will follow it because it tells a story that needs to be known for any of the other drabbles to make sense.
To write these stories, I need to build an alternate universe, so this first story is meant to show my alterations to the canon plotline which will begin the AU where all of the stories to follow will take place.
There are spoilers for, well, pretty much the entire ‘mission to recover Sasuke’ story arc - but most intensely for Episodes 118 to 126 of the anime. (Of course if you haven’t seen that story arc yet you don’t even know who the third member of my threesome is so this is going to make no sense anyway >_> )
I put this first story in the theme of ‘If Only…’ - if only these couple of little things had happened, and it would be a completely different world....
~ ~ ~
She remembers complete terror, the whole world ripped out from under her feet. Nothing has ever put the breath out of her like falling and this is a free fall of unholy proportions. She’ll be scared of heights for the rest of her life.
The ground rushes up to meet her, the forest canopy thundering around her as they both tumble down, catching her in the centre like a tiny fish in a whirlpool. It never occurs to her that she will do anything now, but die. The last thing she feels before the blackness is blinding pain driving straight up her spine.
~ ~ ~
Crushed, the pain is searing, the twist of internal organs feels unnatural even for him. But he holds it steady - every most vital bit crushed into a column in the centre, woven around each vicious spike with purposeful desperation.
The blades withdraw in a flurry and the blood loss is enough to make him black out. He lets the structure collapse, pouring the last vestiges of chakra into staunching the bleeding. One last tumble, as the chamber releases and pours his body out on the grass. He sees the masked face of a medic nin growing dimmer by the moment as they draw a white sheet over his eyes.
~ ~ ~
Tsunade thumped down into her office chair, groaning in relief at the weight off her feet. She had been in with the Akamichi boy for five hours getting his condition stable, then assisting Shizune with the last of the treatment for the injured Hyuuga after that. They would both be fine, but were looking at a long recovery, as were their doctors as far as Tsunade was concerned. She could certainly have stood for a long nap, perhaps pre-empted by a soak at the hotsprings…
She laid her head back against the top edge of her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose, barely settled in when footsteps pounded up the hallway and a shaking medic crashed through her office door.
“Tsunade-sama!”
She jumped at the intrusion, looking up to find an intern panting in her doorway. His face was as white as his surgical scrubs and he stepped forward as if limping.
“Honou? What’s the matter?”
“I-I-It’s not DEAD!” he wailed, holding out shaking bloody hands. “You have to come help us! I started to cut the first body for autopsy and it GRABBED ME! No one knows what to do!”
“WHAT?” Tsunade hauled herself to her feet, glaring daggers. “That’s not possible! Who in the fuck are you autopsying?! If you hurt one of my patients…”
“NO! It’s the sound nin! We were autopsying the enemies and they’re not dead! It built a new arm right out of it’s chest and tried to take my scalpel!”
Tsunade felt her blood run cold.
“Take me there, now!”
~ ~ ~
The doors burst open on utter chaos, three panicked techs pressing frantic hands over a struggling body. The two headed nin that had faced Kiba and Kankuro had a third arm extended from his chest, gripping at the wrist of one slender girl - Yuki, Tsunade realized - who was still trying to staunch the bleeding from the incision along his sternum.
“Oh hell…” Tsunade pressed between the crowd and grabbed the strangely extended hand, wrenching it from Yuki’s arm, much to her relief.
“Get me the medical team, NOW! Shizune first, then the others.” Tsunade snapped to Honou, nudging Yuki aside to begin working on the wound. “You, go check on the rest. If he survived the others might have as well. If they’re alive KEEP them that way. They know more than we could ever figure out through intelligence!”
Yuki nodded and dashed off through the swing doors into the next room.
“Tsunade-sama!? There’s another one!”
~ ~ ~
Tayuya first noticed the pounding headache. A few blinks put an unfamiliar ceiling into focus and she closed her eyes again, hoping that blocking off the light would dull the pain.
Awww fuck, where in the hell am I? Did we move hideouts again? Where is that ass Kabuto…?
“Hmm, so you’re awake?”
The voice made her jump, twist toward the sound, and immediately pain seized up her spine.
“AUUGH! FUCK!! THAT HURTS! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!?”
Shikamaru merely blinked at her and took another bite of his lunch.
“I didn’t do anything.” He said calmly, thoughtfully chewing a bit of his sandwich before setting it aside in his lunchbox. “It was my rescuer that beat you up. You got crushed in between some very large trees when she cut the forest canopy apart. You probably don’t want to move. Everything from your pelvis and downward is broken and very recently set, not to mention a few of your ribs and both collarbones.”
“Nice thing to tell me AFTER I’ve already MOVED, you fucker!” Tayuya panted, trying to find the position she’d been in a moment ago that had been so nicely painless. “God, if you bothered to take me to a fuckin hospital and set my bones, why the hell aren’t I on something for the goddamn pain?”
“You… are really foul mouthed for a girl, you know that?”
“That’s not a fucking answer!”
Shikamaru sighed and stood, leaning over her with an annoyed expression. “You’re troublesome. Don’t go talking to me like I’m your hostage you idiot. You’re ALREADY on medication for pain. Giving you any more would KILL you. You’re lying here, restrained by your injuries and close to dead in the care of my village. And you’re looking at either execution or jail time depending on what information you give us.”
Tayuya spat at him, lips pulled back in a snarl, as though baring her teeth like a dog would ward him off of her. “I don’t have to give you a fucking word, you asshole. Forget about it. I know better than to betray my comrades, unlike some of YOUR worthless nin.”
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. “And where is our ‘worthless betrayer’ running to right now? Says a lot about who your boss lets into the club, doesn’t it?”
“SHUT UP! HE’LL CRUSH THE LOT OF YOU ONE DAY, YOU ARROGANT BASTARDS!”
Shikamaru sighed, heavily and rose from his seat with a lazy sway, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck.
“Fine, you sleep.” He grumbled, moving out the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow, and every day after that until you talk.”
~ ~ ~
“So… what was she like?”
“Certainly not happy about the state you left her in. She’s a physical mess and just as rude when she’s helpless as when she’s killing you.”
Temari smirked, leaning back on the railing with a sprawling sort of grace. “She sounds like a charmer.”
“She’s amusing, at least.” Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and kicked a stone down the front stairs of the hospital, specifically trying to keep his eyes on the ground and not the woman in front of him.
Just say it, you’re being a wuss…
“Did you tell her about her teammate?” Temari asked.
“Not allowed to.” Shikamaru shook his head. “Tsunade-sama thinks it would be too dangerous to let them know that the other is alive.”
“Hmm, suppose that’s true.”
“So… you and your brothers are headed home then I guess?”
She nodded absently, eyes fixed on the mellow tones of the sky as the sun sank away behind the Hokage monument in the distance.
“Yeah, we head out tomorrow morning. Have to report back and all that crap.” She heaved a sigh. “Long trip back, but it’s cold here so I’m glad to go home, I suppose.
“I… didn’t really say thank you.”
“Huh?” She turned her head toward him, found him slouched against the opposite rail, hands stuffed in his pockets, watching his own sandals intently.
“I didn’t… thank you for saving my ass back there.” He grumbled, drawing a little circle in the dust with his sandal. “She would have killed me. It’s not too often I get cornered like that. I backed myself into a fix and I owe you.”
Temari felt a smile quirk her lips, then a little laugh bubbling up from the pit of her stomach. She shot him a grin. “Oh, I scared the shit out of you when I cut the canopy down without warning you. The look on your face was plenty reward.”
“I was not SCARED, you SURPRISED me you troublesome woman!” His head shot up and he glared at her, indignant. “Call me scared. That’s bullshit I -”
“Whatever.” She hefted her fan onto her back and closed the distance in between them with a step. “I’ll see you next time I’m around here, okay?”
Shikamaru felt his breathing freeze when she kissed his cheek, grasping for her hip, her hand, anything to pull her closer, but all a moment too late. She was already skipping down the steps, laughing to herself and getting away from him all over again.
She turned at the bottom of the stairs, for just long enough to wave at him, then disappeared down the street.
Shikamaru stared for a moment at the spot she had been standing, then leaned back into the rail and clapped a hand over the warmth of her lips, still lingering against his cheek.
“…. God damn troublesome woman.”
Plenty more stories coming after this one - everything begins from here so get ready for plot and craziness!
Theme: 6 - If Only
Fandom/Pairing: Naruto - Shikamaru/Tayuya/Temari
Title: How It Began (Origins - Part 1)
Author: Lady Zip
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I wonder if Kishimoto-sama would accept a soul as a royalty payment…
I put this one before the ones that will follow it because it tells a story that needs to be known for any of the other drabbles to make sense.
To write these stories, I need to build an alternate universe, so this first story is meant to show my alterations to the canon plotline which will begin the AU where all of the stories to follow will take place.
There are spoilers for, well, pretty much the entire ‘mission to recover Sasuke’ story arc - but most intensely for Episodes 118 to 126 of the anime. (Of course if you haven’t seen that story arc yet you don’t even know who the third member of my threesome is so this is going to make no sense anyway >_> )
I put this first story in the theme of ‘If Only…’ - if only these couple of little things had happened, and it would be a completely different world....
~ ~ ~
She remembers complete terror, the whole world ripped out from under her feet. Nothing has ever put the breath out of her like falling and this is a free fall of unholy proportions. She’ll be scared of heights for the rest of her life.
The ground rushes up to meet her, the forest canopy thundering around her as they both tumble down, catching her in the centre like a tiny fish in a whirlpool. It never occurs to her that she will do anything now, but die. The last thing she feels before the blackness is blinding pain driving straight up her spine.
~ ~ ~
Crushed, the pain is searing, the twist of internal organs feels unnatural even for him. But he holds it steady - every most vital bit crushed into a column in the centre, woven around each vicious spike with purposeful desperation.
The blades withdraw in a flurry and the blood loss is enough to make him black out. He lets the structure collapse, pouring the last vestiges of chakra into staunching the bleeding. One last tumble, as the chamber releases and pours his body out on the grass. He sees the masked face of a medic nin growing dimmer by the moment as they draw a white sheet over his eyes.
~ ~ ~
Tsunade thumped down into her office chair, groaning in relief at the weight off her feet. She had been in with the Akamichi boy for five hours getting his condition stable, then assisting Shizune with the last of the treatment for the injured Hyuuga after that. They would both be fine, but were looking at a long recovery, as were their doctors as far as Tsunade was concerned. She could certainly have stood for a long nap, perhaps pre-empted by a soak at the hotsprings…
She laid her head back against the top edge of her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose, barely settled in when footsteps pounded up the hallway and a shaking medic crashed through her office door.
“Tsunade-sama!”
She jumped at the intrusion, looking up to find an intern panting in her doorway. His face was as white as his surgical scrubs and he stepped forward as if limping.
“Honou? What’s the matter?”
“I-I-It’s not DEAD!” he wailed, holding out shaking bloody hands. “You have to come help us! I started to cut the first body for autopsy and it GRABBED ME! No one knows what to do!”
“WHAT?” Tsunade hauled herself to her feet, glaring daggers. “That’s not possible! Who in the fuck are you autopsying?! If you hurt one of my patients…”
“NO! It’s the sound nin! We were autopsying the enemies and they’re not dead! It built a new arm right out of it’s chest and tried to take my scalpel!”
Tsunade felt her blood run cold.
“Take me there, now!”
~ ~ ~
The doors burst open on utter chaos, three panicked techs pressing frantic hands over a struggling body. The two headed nin that had faced Kiba and Kankuro had a third arm extended from his chest, gripping at the wrist of one slender girl - Yuki, Tsunade realized - who was still trying to staunch the bleeding from the incision along his sternum.
“Oh hell…” Tsunade pressed between the crowd and grabbed the strangely extended hand, wrenching it from Yuki’s arm, much to her relief.
“Get me the medical team, NOW! Shizune first, then the others.” Tsunade snapped to Honou, nudging Yuki aside to begin working on the wound. “You, go check on the rest. If he survived the others might have as well. If they’re alive KEEP them that way. They know more than we could ever figure out through intelligence!”
Yuki nodded and dashed off through the swing doors into the next room.
“Tsunade-sama!? There’s another one!”
~ ~ ~
Tayuya first noticed the pounding headache. A few blinks put an unfamiliar ceiling into focus and she closed her eyes again, hoping that blocking off the light would dull the pain.
Awww fuck, where in the hell am I? Did we move hideouts again? Where is that ass Kabuto…?
“Hmm, so you’re awake?”
The voice made her jump, twist toward the sound, and immediately pain seized up her spine.
“AUUGH! FUCK!! THAT HURTS! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!?”
Shikamaru merely blinked at her and took another bite of his lunch.
“I didn’t do anything.” He said calmly, thoughtfully chewing a bit of his sandwich before setting it aside in his lunchbox. “It was my rescuer that beat you up. You got crushed in between some very large trees when she cut the forest canopy apart. You probably don’t want to move. Everything from your pelvis and downward is broken and very recently set, not to mention a few of your ribs and both collarbones.”
“Nice thing to tell me AFTER I’ve already MOVED, you fucker!” Tayuya panted, trying to find the position she’d been in a moment ago that had been so nicely painless. “God, if you bothered to take me to a fuckin hospital and set my bones, why the hell aren’t I on something for the goddamn pain?”
“You… are really foul mouthed for a girl, you know that?”
“That’s not a fucking answer!”
Shikamaru sighed and stood, leaning over her with an annoyed expression. “You’re troublesome. Don’t go talking to me like I’m your hostage you idiot. You’re ALREADY on medication for pain. Giving you any more would KILL you. You’re lying here, restrained by your injuries and close to dead in the care of my village. And you’re looking at either execution or jail time depending on what information you give us.”
Tayuya spat at him, lips pulled back in a snarl, as though baring her teeth like a dog would ward him off of her. “I don’t have to give you a fucking word, you asshole. Forget about it. I know better than to betray my comrades, unlike some of YOUR worthless nin.”
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. “And where is our ‘worthless betrayer’ running to right now? Says a lot about who your boss lets into the club, doesn’t it?”
“SHUT UP! HE’LL CRUSH THE LOT OF YOU ONE DAY, YOU ARROGANT BASTARDS!”
Shikamaru sighed, heavily and rose from his seat with a lazy sway, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck.
“Fine, you sleep.” He grumbled, moving out the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow, and every day after that until you talk.”
~ ~ ~
“So… what was she like?”
“Certainly not happy about the state you left her in. She’s a physical mess and just as rude when she’s helpless as when she’s killing you.”
Temari smirked, leaning back on the railing with a sprawling sort of grace. “She sounds like a charmer.”
“She’s amusing, at least.” Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and kicked a stone down the front stairs of the hospital, specifically trying to keep his eyes on the ground and not the woman in front of him.
Just say it, you’re being a wuss…
“Did you tell her about her teammate?” Temari asked.
“Not allowed to.” Shikamaru shook his head. “Tsunade-sama thinks it would be too dangerous to let them know that the other is alive.”
“Hmm, suppose that’s true.”
“So… you and your brothers are headed home then I guess?”
She nodded absently, eyes fixed on the mellow tones of the sky as the sun sank away behind the Hokage monument in the distance.
“Yeah, we head out tomorrow morning. Have to report back and all that crap.” She heaved a sigh. “Long trip back, but it’s cold here so I’m glad to go home, I suppose.
“I… didn’t really say thank you.”
“Huh?” She turned her head toward him, found him slouched against the opposite rail, hands stuffed in his pockets, watching his own sandals intently.
“I didn’t… thank you for saving my ass back there.” He grumbled, drawing a little circle in the dust with his sandal. “She would have killed me. It’s not too often I get cornered like that. I backed myself into a fix and I owe you.”
Temari felt a smile quirk her lips, then a little laugh bubbling up from the pit of her stomach. She shot him a grin. “Oh, I scared the shit out of you when I cut the canopy down without warning you. The look on your face was plenty reward.”
“I was not SCARED, you SURPRISED me you troublesome woman!” His head shot up and he glared at her, indignant. “Call me scared. That’s bullshit I -”
“Whatever.” She hefted her fan onto her back and closed the distance in between them with a step. “I’ll see you next time I’m around here, okay?”
Shikamaru felt his breathing freeze when she kissed his cheek, grasping for her hip, her hand, anything to pull her closer, but all a moment too late. She was already skipping down the steps, laughing to herself and getting away from him all over again.
She turned at the bottom of the stairs, for just long enough to wave at him, then disappeared down the street.
Shikamaru stared for a moment at the spot she had been standing, then leaned back into the rail and clapped a hand over the warmth of her lips, still lingering against his cheek.
“…. God damn troublesome woman.”
Plenty more stories coming after this one - everything begins from here so get ready for plot and craziness!