Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Thirteen

“Thank you for having me over, Shikamaru. I hope I didn’t cause any you inconveniences.”

“Nah, having you over was a good change,” Shikamaru said and stretched his arms over his head.

“You know, you really don’t have to keep walking me home,” Shingami said as she gripped her mask in her hands still a little out of it since earlier. 

“I know, I just wanted to.”

The air felt cool on Shingami’s skin, and her mask was cold to the touch. Shikamaru was still thinking about what had happened earlier, he just couldn’t help it. But he didn’t want to upset her by saying anything so he kept his mouth shut.

When they got to the front door of Shingami’s house Shikamaru turned to leave but Shingami stopped him by grabbing the back of his shirt.

“Why are you always so kind to me?”

Shikamaru slowly turned to face her, this wasn’t the confrontation that he was expecting to deal with at the moment.

“What do you mean?”

Shingami shifted from one foot to the other, Shikamaru couldn’t tell whether she was uncomfortable or anxious or a mixture of the two.

“You are one of very few people that look past the mask, and you barely know me. You have not yet witnessed what I am capable of doing to another human being.”

Shikamaru knew what she did on a day to day basis. She killed and tortured people for god’s sake, what wasn’t there to understand? But Shingami knew that Shikamaru didn’t truly know the extent of her abilities.

“So? Just because I don’t know you the way I know Choji doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

Shingami gripped her mask even tighter. “Why do you trust me?”

Shikamaru didn’t know why Shingami was getting so defensive so he wanted to tread very slowly into the possibly sensitive territory.

“You’ve never given me a reason not to.” Quick and simple was the route he chose to take.

She seemingly relaxed but in reality even though Shikamaru couldn’t see it Shingami was uneased.

“...I see.”

Shingami let her right-hand rest on Shikamaru’s shoulder before giving it a light squeeze. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Shikamaru asked not sure of what Shingami had meant.

Instead, she didn’t answer and opened the door of her house which had been unlocked. “Goodnight, Shikamaru.” and closed it behind her.

Shikamaru turned away from the now-closed door and his confusion then turned into a smile as he started walking home.

She trusted him.

_________________

Shingami closed the door behind her and leaned against it. A small smile graced her features. She then moved away from the door and put her mask on the counter with her keys.

She took off her shoes and brought them up the stairs with her. She walked silently over to Ibiki’s room and cracked open the door just to see that his bed with still made and untouched so she closed the door and went into her own room and turned on the light. 

There was a note on top of the black dress that she had just sitting on her bed so she walked over to it and picked it up to read.

Shingami

There was something I needed to take care of and I won’t be back for another day or so, but you’ll probably be gone longer, The Hokage wants to see you before you go to bed so get there.

ASAP.

Ibiki

Shingami sat down on the bed and put her shoes right back on and walked back down the stairs and grabbed her keys and shoved her mask onto her face.

She made some hand signs and poofed into the Hokage tower just outside his office. She knocked very lightly on the door.

“Enter.”

Once the door was open she walked right in and bowed before the Third Hokage.

“You wanted to see me, lord Third?”

“Yes, I want you to accompany me to the Kage summit taking place in two week’s time. Do you accept?”

It was sudden, no doubt, but Shingami wouldn’t turn down such an opportunity she’d gone to one once before and it didn’t go all that smoothly so she’d be glad to be of service to the old Sarutobi.

“Of course, Lord third. When would you like to depart?”

Hiruzen took his pipe from his mouth and released the smoke from his lungs. “Tomorrow morning, If that’s alright with you.”

Yep, definitely sudden. “Of course.”

“Alright then, I’ll tell Asuma and the rest of your team before we leave tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Lord Third.“

________

Shingami reappeared in her room and continued doing what she was doing before she had gone to see the Hokage as if she never left in the first place. 

She took her mask off again but this time she just put it on her nightstand along with her keys not wanting to go down the stairs again/.

She stripped off her skin tight long-sleeved navy blue shirt throwing it into a hamper in the corner of the room and her black skirt followed behind it. 

Since she was alone in the house she didn’t really care if she was presentable or not so she just grabbed a clean pair of underwear and a sports bra not bothering to get the nightgown on the dresser ready to be worn. 

She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her putting her clothes on the side of the sink and turning on the hot water. At last second she decided to enjoy a bath instead of taking a shower.

Once the bath was completely full she sat down in the blisteringly hot water enjoying the feeling of being submerged in the liquid and let out a relaxed sigh closing her eyes.

She thought of how her day had gone and then her mind lingered on roses a little too long for her liking.

Then she opened her eyes to look at the white ceiling before reaching over to grab the bar of soap.

________

Once out of the tub and dressed in her underwear she threw the remainder of her dirty clothes in the hamper too and walked over to her bed.

She picked up the dress and walked over to her closet and hung it up onto a hanger. Then she walked back over to her bed and grabbed the old tento that was hanging above her head and took it out of its case.

She stared at the dulled blade for the longest time running her fingers along the cold metal and the wooden hilt. Taking in the sight of it longingly before giving it a few swings while looking at her new one that was leaning against her bedpost.

Once she decided that she had wasted enough time she returned the tento to its rightful place, turned off the lights and climbed into bed fixing the blankets so that they covered her nearly bare body, soon falling asleep.