Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Four

Long after Ibiki's desk was cleaned even though it was already pretty much clean as it was, Shingami had fallen asleep on the couch on the left side of the room.

When Ibiki returned to his office he immediately noticed the sleeping girl. Her mask was on the floor beside her, her flawless features were relaxed, the barely visible dark circles around her eyes were slowly disappearing.

Ibiki silently walked over to the couch and gently put his hand on her head so he wouldn't wake her up.

If he had done this two years ago he had the high probability of waking her up and would end up with a gash on his arm because of self defense.

Now however she wouldn't even shift around.

He exhaled through his nose and lifted the girl up in his arms. Her weight was unhealthily light for her age but no matter how much she ate she wouldn't gain anything.

His arm went under her butt and her head rested on his shoulder, by instinct her arms wrapped around his neck but she otherwise didn't move. It was like he was carrying a small child a little less than half her age.

He grabbed her mask off the floor and walked out of his office locking the door behind him and started to exit the building. He got a handful of weird looks since it was a rare sight that the T&I director actually showed others that he gave a damn about anyone. 

“Morino.”

The scarred man turned around and adjusted his grip on the girl slightly.

“Inoichi, is there something I can help you with?”

The blonde man looked at the sleeping girl in his arms and smiled.

“She must have been really tired, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Inoichi stood there for a second more looking at the girl before redirecting himself to ibiki.

“I was wondering if you were done with the man in custody from earlier or…?”

“Yeah me and Shingami finished up with him hours ago.”

“Alright, and you’ve already gave the report?”

“Yeah, everything’s all set.”

Inoichi was about to leave before he stopped himself. 

“One more question.”

Ibiki looked back at the other man.

“Who’s idea was the skinning?”

Ibiki stood there for a moment before answering.

“...It was mine.”

Inoichi nodded and left to wherever he was going to. It didn’t escape his notice that the man who he’d worked with for the longest time, lied to him.

_____________________

Ibiki opened the door of his house with the girl still sleeping in his arms. He closed the door and threw his keys on the counter in the kitchen as he walked by. He made is way up the stairs silently and opened the plain white door on the left side of the hallway right next to the bathroom. Inside was a twin sized bed with a dark lavender purple comforters and a pillow to match. 

The rest of her room was organized with all kinds of weapons in cases and the pair of clothes the girl planned to wear the next day was on top of the cherry wood dresser. The only personal touch was a picture of her, Naruto, himself, Genma, Anko, Izumo, Kotesu, Asuma, and two masked Anbu one in a dog mask and the other a cat mask. Kakashi and Tenzo. 

Her first tento, the one that she had when she first came to the village was on two hooks above her bed still in the case it wasn’t anything special and definitely not as good as the one she had now, but it had sentimental value. She had once said that it was a gift from the person she wouldn’t talk about, when they were still on good terms about two years before she came to the village, when she was seven.

The man gently put the girl on her bed but her grip on his neck wouldn’t let up so he had to pry her arms off his neck as best he could so that he wouldn’t wake her. Once he was free, he covered her with her blanket and put her mask on the end table right beside her bed.

____________________

“Lord Third?”

The Hokage exhaled the smoke from his pipe before he answered. 

“What can I do for you, Iruka?”

The nineteen year old shifted his weight from one foot to the other. 

“The girl that brought Naruto to class yesterday- Shingami- who is she exactly?”

The hokage looked at the younger man.

“She is the youngest operative in the T&I unit and youngest Jonin in the village.”

Iruku looked at his feet. 

“I know that, but…”

The older man caught on to what the Academy Sensei was getting at.

“She was born in Yugakure, when she was nine a team of anbu operatives found her after she had just finished a battle against ten Chirgiri anbu. She was the victor.”

The brunett’s eyes wided a considerable amount even though he didn’t know that the girl’s kill count had just recently reached eight hundred forty seven.

“Ten?”

Hiruzen hummed. “Iruka just know that she is not a bad person and you should give her a chance.”

Iruka’s mind went to the scene he witnessed about a few hours prior. Paper bombs, senbon and a sword were flying around, he remembered senbon and shards of glass penetrating her skin only for her to pull them out and the skin welded itself back together. In seconds.

“How can she heal the way she does?”

The Hokage didn’t realize that Iruka had known or even witnessed her ability it was classified and one really shouldn’t talk about it casually. It’s one of the hidden leaf village’s most guarded secrets.

“She has natural healing abilities, she is also capable of losing limbs and organs and after a little bit of time they regenerate like they were never missing in the first place.” 

Iruka was at a loss for words. 

“How is that possible?”

The old man took a puff from his pipe and exhaled the smoke. 

“We don’t know, the only person who can answer that is Shingami, however she refuses to share anything other than what we already know about her ability.”

The Hokage tried to think of anything he may have missed but found that he had told Iruka everything he, himself, knew.

“And before you leave Iruka, everything I have just told you about Shingami is classified and you mustn’t relay any of this information without permission. Is that understood?”

“Yes, lord Third.”

Iruka left the room with more than he had been looking for and was grateful that his Hokage trusted him with such a close guarded secret. He wasn’t expecting to learn so much about a girl that Naruto always was talking about, he would always go on and on about how awesome she was, and how she was an amazing shinobi. 

But he was glad that he knew more about her.