Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Ibiki stared at the bingo book in front of him and knew there was no mistake as to who he was looking at.

Shingami was in this book.

The image that was used was when she was at least five to seven years old and very outdated, the look in her eyes never did seem to change and though she'd physically matured over the past eight years.

The knock on the door prompted him to look up and shove the bingo book into his drawer before he acknowledged it.

"Enter."

"Shikaku, is there something I can do for you?" He said, relaxing in his chair at the sight of his old friend.

"I'd like to talk actually."

"Take a seat." Ibiki gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

They sat silently for a few moments as they both mentally prepared themselves for conversation.

"...As we both know Shingami has changed a lot over the years."

"Yes." Ibiki nodded, he wasn't sure about where this was going but it was probably needed since Shikaku mustered up the energy to come to his office to talk about something unrelated to work and it was funny that he was thinking about this less than a minute before he'd came into the office.

"And as I'm sure you noticed Shikamaru has taken a liking to her."

"...Yes."

Shikaku was waiting for a reaction for the interrogator but wasn't surprised when he didn't get one.

"I think that it would be a good idea."

"...Are you trying to convince me to let your son date my daughter?"

"...Perhaps. But it's in their interests not mine even though I would fully support it."

Ibiki just had his normal unhappy look on his face, he frowned slightly which was a reaction that Shikaku was looking for.

"I don't care who Shingami chooses to be with. All I care about is that she'd be happy. If she chose the Jinchuriki, Shikamaru or even another woman, I wouldn't care. She wants to be in a poly relationship? I'd tell her to go for it."

Shikaku had a smile on his face. "You know, not a lot of people can be thrown into the parent role and have this levelness to them."

"What do you mean?"

"Shingami was thrown into your care five years ago, you'd just gotten over what happened to Idate. You'd never had a prominent girl or woman figure in your life and suddenly you had to look after a little girl that later became the most important person in your life." Shikaku paused for a second before continuing."Not everyone can do that, and if they do they go about it the wrong way, they either give them too much attention or not enough. But you've managed to make the most of it with her. You've made her your equal."

Ibiki's face softened as he leaned further back into his chair as his eyes landed on the two picture frames on the wall. They were taken the day Ibiki had formally adopted Shingami, the first one was just him and Shingami they stood next to each other. She had her mask in her hands as she stood in front of him to his right while he had a hand on her shoulder.

The other picture had those two again but Genma and Anko were in this one too, Ibiki was just sitting at his desk with his arms crossed, Shingami was sprawled out on the couch on top of Genma who was balancing senbon on his fingers with Anko sitting there with his legs on her lap while she poked Shingami with a shit eating grin on her face, just after the picture had been taken shingami kicking her in the chest making her fall off the couch but she took both Shingami and Genma with her. Anko ended up setting off a paper bomb near Shingami and Chaos ensued in the form of Genma and Shingami going after Anko that was very quick to run.

"I guess you're right, I never thought about it like that."

"I just wanted to tell you that, If it's alright I will take my leave, I'm standing in for Lady Tsunade until she gets back."

"You left the Hokage's office empty, to talk to me about parenting?"

"There are no appointments scheduled for the next hour since someone canceled. I thought I'd make use of the little free time."

"What about paperwork?"

"I finished it all in time, I'll have more on the desk by the time I get back."

The scarred man just shook his head with a smirk. "You still want my answer?"

"No need, I got the answer I was looking for."

The man looked down at a paper on his desk and picked up a pen. Just before Shikaku was about to close the door behind him he called out.

"Didn't think you'd end up being one of your son's wingmen, he already has like six others."

"Heh, he's gonna need all the help he can get."

_________________

All eyes went to Shingami and then to Lady Tsunade who was taunting the old tsuchikage.

"Best a Kage?" The old man scoffed. "Don't make me laugh, perhaps the Kazekage. But anyone else? Ha. she's got no chance."

"What she's saying could be true, why else would lord third bring her without anyone else as backup?" The Raikage said, shocking the two people that were standing behind him.

"It's a ruse. She probably just wears that mask to look all tough, I'm almost certain a babyface is under that mask." Well, he's not wrong there.

"Would you like to test that theory, Lord Tsuchikage?" The Mizukage said genuinely curiously, she'd seen Shingami fight Chōjūrō before, it was quite the sight.

"I'm not going to waste my time on an overly confident Anbu."

"Please correct me if I'm wrong but at our last meeting I did a little digging and came up with something regarding you, Shingami." The Mizukage began. "Is it true that you are the Shinigami of Yugakure?"

Shingami's stance remained unchanged even as every pair of eyes in the room looked into her very soul.

"I'm just Shingami Morino of Konoha's T&I division."

"'Morino?' Why does that sound so familiar?" A said quietly

"Ibiki Morino the head interrogator of Konoha, is related to you?" The Tsuchikage eyes narrowed at the girl.

"Yes, he's my adoptive father."

"Ah, that makes more sense. You're not really family." The Tsuchikage scoffed.

"He's my family, regardless of blood. Wouldn't you say the same about Deidara?"

Here's another picture of Shingami I'm thinking about coloring it in but she'll be standing in blood with a few splatters of blood on the rest of her body