Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Sixteen

The team of Anbu including Tenzo had left their Hokage’s life in the hands of one eleven-year-old girl at soon as they reached the Yukigakure border. The other anbu were hesitant to do so except Tenzo who had told Shingami not to kill any of the other Kage or start another war.

Once the team left to do another mission, Shingami and Hiruzen walked the rest of the way to the Kage summit. While they walked Shingami could sense all the strong Chakra in the area she assumed that they were the Kage and their guards.

“You ready for this, Shingami?” Hiruzen asked the masked girl.

She looked at him before turning to look at all the snow around them. “This isn’t my first Summit, Lord Third.”

He nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. “True, however, last time you weren’t a guard and you weren’t alone.”

“I can handle it.” She said knowing full well that she could take care of everything that got in their way.

Hiruzen dropped the conversation and they walked all the way to the meeting point in the land of snow, Yukikugure was a neutral place where kage were forbidden to fight. And they all had to agree to that.

As soon as they reached the samurai filled building they were allowed in but even under all the helmets, Shingami could practically see their confusion when they saw her. 

“Lord Hokage.”

Shingami and Hiruzen turned around to see who spoke and sure enough, it was the leader of the samurai, Mifune.

“How are you, Mifune?” The Hokage asked.

“I’m well, Lord Hokage. The meeting will start as soon as the Kazekage gets here tomorrow. Until then please rest.”

With that, the master samurai left the two leaf shinobi alone. Once the pair got to their quarters to rest Hiruzen settled in right away while Shingami sat in a chair by the door waiting for an unwanted guest to arrive.

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When Ibiki got back to the house it had been empty for a few more days than he had originally planned for. The fruit basket in the kitchen had two apples inside that were no longer edible, so he dumped the rotten fruit into the trash barrel the moment he got inside.

He was tired from his mission but he just wanted to clean up a little bit before going to sleep for the rest of the night. 

There were no dishes in the sink because he knew Shingami had done them the morning before he had left. The trash had a wrapper from a granola bar being the only other thing inside besides the fruit. He instantly knew that was what the girl had eaten for breakfast before she had left the village.

He wished he had been there to see her off, but he wasn’t.

Once he knew that the whole downstairs of the house was clean, he went up the stairs to use the bathroom. He opened the door and noticed that it was completely clean too. He knew that Shingami was a very clean person so he didn’t really need to worry about her leaving a mess.

A smirk found its way onto his face.

‘Unless it was blood.’ He thought to himself already missing the little rascal.

He looked in the shower to see if there was anything they needed. His body soap was there but when he looked at all of Shingami’s he saw that her favorite strawberry-scented soaps were less than half empty and he knew for a fact that he’d need to go to the store tomorrow to pick some more up.

He walked out of the bathroom and opened his room door and saw a note on his bed, similar to what he had done a couple of days before making him smirk.

Ibiki

I’m escorting Lord third to the Kage Summit, I don’t know when I’ll be back so try not to have too much fun without me. I can’t promise not to start a war but I’ll try not to for your sake.

Shingami

Where the girl had signed her name she crossed out two letters on the page L and O. He smiled seeing the girl’s mistake. She was going to say ‘love, Shingami’ But changed it at the last second.

He laid down on the bed after putting the note on the table next to him and fell asleep with the thought of Shingami lurking in the back of his mind.

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Shingami couldn’t seem to sleep even though Hiruzen had been sleeping for the last hour. And the old man was a really heavy sleeper.

She sat up and looked out the window that showed the courtyard. The ground was covered in snow and had countless footprints from all the people that trained there.

Her hand unconsciously reached for her neck to grab the chain of her necklace that had always been there only to remember that she had hidden it away a year and a half ago in the house.

Ever since she had dinner with Shikamaru and his family her mind has been running a mile a minute. Every time she’s alone her mind wanders through all the what-ifs and all the things that could have happened if he hadn't abandoned her.

She let out an unheard sigh and hugged her knees against her chest.

But then again, she would have probably never met all the people that she felt happy around even when she didn’t show it.

Her mind instantly went to Ibiki, Genma, and Anko. Throughout the last two- almost three years of her being in the leaf those three had always been there for her and she dared to say she loved them. 

Then her mind went to her team. When she got back they were definitely gonna train together. And she wanted to treat them to dinner maybe at that barbecue restaurant that Choji really liked or maybe over her house if Ibiki didn’t mind. And maybe, just maybe she would give shopping a second chance for Ino. 

She laid back down finally relaxed by her thoughts and the last thing that she thought of was Shikamaru’s blushy face and how she wanted to have a rematch game of Shogi.

With that, she fell asleep at any given time ready to strike an attacker but still was in the bliss of the moment of peace.