How Troublesome

Chapter 9: Pesky Postulations

Takeshi gestured for Shikamaru to sit down, and he did so gratefully. He wasn't about to say that it was too troublesome to stand up, but he still preferred to sit. He slouched down into one of the chairs, and debated whether Naruto was distracted enough that he could light a cigarette without Naruto ripping it out of his grasp and either throwing it away or incinerating it.

She was still hugging Kotone, who was still blushing. Naruto dragged Kotone down in to a chair and sat next to her.

Not for the first time, Shikamaru wondered whether Naruto preferred women or men. She kept hugging women, Kotone, Hinata, and, even if Naruto said that all she had wanted to be was friends with, Sakura, she had been really persistent. Yet, when a guy flirted with her, she had to ask him if he was. Why was he even thinking about it? It had absolutely nothing to do with the mission.

Takeshi cleared his throat and started. "When I was voted into power of this village, I decided that things needed to change. We had no way of defending ourselves if we needed to, and that left us weak. I wasn't sure what to do yet, but then on one of my trips to talk to other villages, I ran across a family who had a bloodline. They were from Kirigakure, and they had just escaped being slaughtered. It was then that I had the idea. I invited the family to come and live in our village, where they wouldn't be persecuted, and then began to make preparations for my idea. We would become a shinobi village. That way, we could protect ourselves, gather in another source of income for hiring ourselves out for missions, and take in people who had no where else to go. It made sense to me, so I started implementing my plans immediately. Gathering more families who need a place to stay, a place where they can be happy and safe, building schools, gathering rouge ninja's as teachers, not the murderous or insane ones. I started this all eight years ago, keeping it secret from the other villagers."

He paused and then continued. "Do not imagine that it was easy, convincing the people, the other members of the council, and old families. Many of them were against it, but I won them over, and those that I didn't win over, I either ignored or had to dismiss. You probably could have guessed all of that, Shikamaru," he said, directing the last comment towards Shikamaru.

Shikamaru nodded in reply, fingers sneaking towards the pouch with his cigarettes in it. Naruto seemed to be engrossed in what Takeshi was saying.

"And now we get to the reason that I asked Tsunade to send you two to me. Kotone has almost been killed twice before. Once, three months ago, she was almost stabbed through the chest with a kunai when she was on the training grounds. That wouldn't be out of usual, it being a training ground, except that there was only one other person there, and they didn't throw the kunai."

Shikamaru held up a hand, not the one with the now burning cigarette, and asked, "And how do you know that for sure?"

"Because, I was the other person there. Now, as I was saying, the kunai came out of nowhere, and almost hit her. Then, eight days ago, it got worse. Kotone was almost assassinated in her bed. If it hadn't of been for one of her guards, she would be dead. The first incident might have been an accident, but not that. That's when I decided I needed help, and I had no idea who was behind these attacks, so I didn't know who to trust in my own village. I don't know why anyone would want her dead. I can't think of a thing, besides someone who despises me and wants to make me suffer by taking away what is most precious to me." He shot a fond look at his daughter and lapsed into silence.

Shikamaru's brain worked, synapses firing rapidly. That was one option, but there were more, many more. If it wasn't for something that Kotone had done consciously, then it might have been something that she saw or heard but didn't realize the value of it, or she was needed out of the way for some other reason. Or, if it wasn't about her, then it could be for revenge, as Takeshi had indicated, or something else entirely. There were so many options, but not enough facts. He needed more.