Konoha Children's Crusade Chapter 15 Part 2

"Oh, come on Dad... grounded? Me? Grounded? For a week? I get grounded because Karua's lover boy gets tied to a store awning with some wire?" asked Shikasu incredulously.

"Ichisui is not my 'lover boy'," said Karua coldly. "And second, you were the one who tied him up."

Shikasu scoffed. "Okay first of all, you two were walking around the emporium holding hands. That sounds like lover boy material to me. Secondly, a chunin being trapped like that? Trust me, if he fell for that, he deserved whatever he got. Besides, me trapping a chunin? I'm pleased you think so highly of me, but I haven't even graduated the academy yet. No... Whoever laid that intricate snare is clearly some kind of cunning shinobi mastermind." He turned to Shikamaru and flashed a quick smile. "You have to admit though, it was pretty funny wasn't it Dad?"

Shikamaru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's beside the point. The real issue here is that you need to be punished for your actions." He looked up. "Now you can either take the grounding that I want to give you, or we can wait and have a little talk with your mother about it and let her decide what would be an appropriate punishment for you."

Shikasu stared grumpily at the table. "Dad, you can be such a drag sometimes." He sat thinking for a moment. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes. "I think I'll let Mom decide."

"Really?" asked Karua surprised.

"Really?" asked Shikamaru flatly.

"Really," stated Shikasu nodding, "she is bound to be more reasonable this morning than you."

"Now Son," started Shikamaru, "are you sure about this? Your mother's punishments are known to be somewhat… unusual."

Karua coughed. "Thumbscrews," she said under her breath.

Shikasu shot a quick glare at his sister and then turned back to Shikamaru. "I'm sure Dad. I'll take my chances."

Shikamaru sighed. "Have it your way, just don't come screaming to me for mercy. In the meantime," he looked around the room for something to occupy Shikasu, "why don't you clear the table."

Shikasu grinned and nodded. "Nothing could give me greater pleasure." He bounced up, gathered all the dishes, and headed into the kitchen whistling.

Shikamaru turned to Karua. "So, how about we finish last night's game of shogi before your mother wakes up and the bloodshed starts?" he said in a low voice.

"Dad," said Karua in an exasperated voice, "there is no point. You have victory in ten moves."

Shikamaru stood up and retrieved the shogi board, carefully balancing it so the pieces didn't slide. "Really? You think so?" he asked smiling. "Because I think a really good shogi player might disagree with you there."

Karua looked at Shikamaru and narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying I'm not that good a player?"

Shikamaru gave her a wry grin and slowly placed the game board down on the table. "One of the wonderful things about shogi is that there are so many moves and countermoves to make that it becomes almost impossible to predict the how a game is going to turn out."

"Come on Dad, like any of us have ever beaten you at a game before unless you've let us. There is really no point in playing."

Shikamaru looked up at the ceiling. "Tell you what, if you can figure out how to keep me from winning in ten moves, I'll concede the game."

Karua tilted her head. "So there is a way for me to stop you?"

Shikamaru smiled enigmatically. "There is always a way, with a good enough plan. What do you say?"

Karua looked down at the board and then looked back up at her father. "All I have to do is hold you off for ten moves? It's a deal. Whose turn was it?"

Shikamaru stared at the shogi board. He reached out and picked up a rook. "Mine." He placed it down on the board with a click.

Karua looked down at the board. If she moved her knight she could do more damage to her Dad's defense, but there was also her bishop backed up by a lance on the left side that could threaten his back rows within a few moves. Her hand hovered over the knight and then quickly picked up the bishop and moved it.

Shikamaru rubbed his chin and grinned. "Interesting strategy you are developing there." He casually picked up a silver general and set it down with a click. He watched as Karua studied the board. "I wonder what sort of strategy your brother is coming up with?"

Karua paused, holding her hand over her lance. "Excuse me?"

"Your brother," said Shikamaru acting bored, "he obviously thinks he's got a better chance of escaping punishment with your mom than with me. I wonder what he's planning."

Karua shrugged. "Maybe he's just planning on saying he's sorry?"

"Sorry?" smiled Shikamaru. "Someone throwing themselves on your mother's mercy? Now that's an unusual tactic."

Karua stared up at her father. She picked up her knight and moved it deftly into the middle of his pawns breaking apart his defenses. "It's not like Mom can't be reasonable sometimes." She thought for a second. "Every once in awhile at least." She shrugged. "Maybe he thinks it will surprise her."

Shikamaru smiled. He stared down at the shogi board. "Attack and defend at the same time huh? You think like your mother." One of his bishops captured her knight.

"It has its merits," said Karua, taking his bishop with her other lance. "It's an easy plan to remember, and it never gets too complex."

"True," agreed Shikamaru. There was a flurry of clicks as various pieces captured each other back and forth. "At first it is very formidable, but I find that when a plan lacks complexity it is very easy to figure out and to counter." His silver general mopped up her attack.

Her attack left his pawn fence in ruins. Karua picked up her bishop and slid it to the back of the board. "It makes a great diversion though, and it's a great tactic to add improvisations too." She smiled up at him. "Promote me. Oh and it's check I believe."

Shikamaru smiled with glee. "Very nice!" he said proudly. He studied the board carefully and moved his king away a space. "That was move number eight, you just have to keep me on the run for three more moves and then I have to concede." He smiled. "Nice one!"

Karua grinned proudly. She positioned her promoted bishop with one finger. Her father's king was now getting hemmed in between her bishop and lance. "Oh," said Shikamaru quietly. "Well now you're just getting greedy."

"What? I see the opportunity to take your king! That's checkmate in two moves!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yes, but in order to set up this position, you are giving me a little bit of breathing room. You have my king completely trapped that is true, but he's not in check. I don't have to move him. And then I can do this." He slid his rook all the way down the board. "Promote me please. Oh, and check."

Shikamaru kept up the pressure on her king, in two moves he had the checkmate. Karua sighed. "I really thought I had you that time."

"You almost did," said Shikamaru proudly. "If you had forced me to keep my king moving you would have won easily. But you decided to gamble on getting the big victory rather than taking the small sure one." Shikamaru sighed. "Big gambles usually don't pay off."

Shikamaru turned in his seat to greet Temari who had padded silently down the stairs. "Good morning my dear, did you enjoy sleeping in?"

Temari smiled, leaned over and kissed him for almost a full minute. "Mmm, it was wonderful, thank you," she purred She touched his nose with one finger. "I needed it after last night." She leaned forward and whispered, "That was wonderful as well."

Temari straightened and smiled at Karua, who was rolling her eyes at her parents. "So Karua, how are you feeling on this fine morning? Is Shikasu behaving himself?"

Just as Karua opened her mouth to answer, Shikasu came bustling out of the kitchen. He bowed to Temari. "Good morning Mother. I was just cleaning up the dishes. Would you like me to bring you some breakfast?"

Temari raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why yes please!"

Shikasu picked up the remaining dishes and hurried off into the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a steaming plate that he placed in front of his mother. Temari smiled. "Well someone is being helpful today."

Shikasu bowed again. "Mother I would like to apologize and ask forgiveness for the trick I played on Ichisui-san yesterday. It was immature and rude of me. I should have behaved much better."

"I thought you said that it wasn't you, that it must have been some cunning shinobi mastermind who wired Ichisui to the store awning?" asked Karua sarcastically.

Shikasu made a quick bow to Karua. "I am sorry dear sister. In my shame I told a falsehood. I hope someday that you will find it in your heart to forgive me."

Temari gave her son a small nod. "Well I appreciate that you are being so honest today."

"He said that twenty minutes ago, Mom," said Karua flatly.

"Please Mother," pleaded Shikasu, still bowing. "I wish to apologize in the hopes that I may regain some of my lost honor."

Temari raised a finger. "I appreciate the sentiment, however it is not me that you should be apologizing to. It was Karua that you have wronged."

Shikasu turned with military precision and bowed to Karua. "I want to give you my most heartfelt apologies Onee-san. I would like to right the wrongs I have done to you yesterday."

Karua's mouth twitched in a smile. "Okay, you can give me your allowance."

Shikasu hesitated to the tiniest of moments. "If that is what you want then so be it, but money can never replace lost face Sister," he said quickly. "I would like to have the opportunity to apologize to Ichisui-san, and afterwards I would like to spend the whole day with you."

"What?" asked Karua surprised.

"What?" asked Shikamaru annoyed.

"What?" asked Temari, pleased.

"I would like to spend the whole day with you Karua. It is the only way for me to right the great wrongs I have done you. Only by being by your side and rendering assistance in every way I possibly can, will I be able to redeem myself."

"Why would I want you to…" started Karua.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Temari proudly. She sighed. "My two children spending a whole day working together." She nudged Shikamaru. "I was planning on giving Karua a list of things I wanted her to take care of today before I left to go back home. This is perfect. Shikasu can go with her and help."

Shikamaru shifted and made a small cough. "Dearest, don't you think that his actions yesterday deserve some sort of punishment? I was thinking maybe he should be grounded for a week?"

Shikasu bowed even lower. "Please Mother, if you decide that grounding is an adequate punishment for me then I will happily accept it," he begged. "Please though, just let me earn back Karua's sisterly love by performing this small task to assist her."

Temari shot a quick glance at her husband and then frowned at her son. "Is this some sort of ploy?" she asked Shikasu suspiciously.

"Why Mother, whatever do you mean?" Shikasu's face was a mask of wide-eyed innocence.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you aren't trying to get out of one form of punishment or another," said Temari leaning back and studying him. "It's so unlike you to be this eager for anything, other than playing video games of course." Shikasu shifted uncomfortably. Temari suddenly grinned at his discomfort. "I believe that we will do exactly as you suggest."

"Really?" asked Shikamaru.

"Really?" asked Karua disgusted.

"Really?" asked Shikasu in a flat voice.

"Really," answered Temari.  "Today you will help Karua with all of her chores. You will be a perfect gentleman. And then starting tomorrow you will be grounded for one week." She turned to her daughter. "Karua, do tell me if he misbehaves today will you? For each transgression I will add one day to the grounding." She leaned back and smiled at Shikamaru. "What do you think of that?"

"Well, it sounds like it might be reasonable," started Shikamaru. "But…"

Shikasu dove into his mother, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Mom!" he said happily, "You are the best!" The rest of the family stared after him, as he headed into the kitchen whistling a jaunty tune.

Temari spun around and glared at her husband. "Alright Shikamaru, just what the hell is your devious little son up to?"

Shikamaru sighed and shrugged. "Why does everyone expect me to know what's going on if I don't have any data on it? Karua, do you have a clue?"

Karua shrugged. "I don't know for sure Dad, but it looks to me that me took a really big gamble and it paid off, doesn't it?"

*******

"Hey Tsudemi! Wait up!" Tsudemi stopped in the street and turned when she heard Mako's voice. Akakaru looped in front of her and bolted back to greet him. Mako gave her a quick pat on the head, and then a gentle shove when she tried to jump up and lick his face.

Akakaru was not to be denied however and soon Mako had to shield himself with his hands. "Help!" he called out.

Tsudemi took pity on him. "Down girl!" she shouted laughing, "Come!" Akakaru galloped back to Tsudemi and spun in a circle barking.

Mako warily strolled over and glared at the dog. "Why does she always have to do that? Can't she just give me a simple hello?"

"Aww, she just likes you that's all. Its not my fault you're so stuck up," Tsudemi giggled.

"I'm not stuck up. I just don't like wandering around all day with dog drool stuck to my face." He turned and glared darkly at Akakaru. "You know, one day I'm going to ask the Hokage to enact some leash laws in this village. We'll see what happens to you then!" Mako said darkly. Akakaru barked a response and Tsudemi chuckled again. "What did she say?"

"She said, she'd like to see you put tiny leashes on all of your bugs, because if dogs need to be leashed then bugs can't be too far behind." They walked for a block in silence, Akakaru trotting along beside them.

"So… You're up early this morning… Are you getting an early start?" asked Mako casually.

Tsudemi nodded. "Yep. I figured that I'd get my training out of the way. Hopefully my Dad will be back by the time I finish."

Mako stared up at the sky for a bit. "So he didn't come home last night?" Tsudemi turned her head and pretended not to hear. Mako cleared his throat. "My Dad had to leave before dawn this morning. Something about checking up on long range scout patrols... Were you going to go train at the training grounds?"

"Yep," said Tsudemi curtly.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Tsudemi shrugged. "I don't see why not. Do you have any new moves since last time?"

"One or two, I'm practicing on shaping a bug swarm. I'm trying to work my way up to an insect clone or a shield or something." He shrugged. "It's harder than it looks. My mom's clan used to focus on just creating larger swarms, not shaping them. I think I'm more like her. I'm good at getting different bugs to do bug-like things."

They took a shortcut through the emporium. Some of the food vendors were up early. The smell of cooking food wafted through the air. Akakaru began to drag her feet and whine. "We'll get something to eat later. It's tough to train on a full stomach." Tsudemi said to her dog. She noticed Mako stop and stare at a food stall that specialized in food from the Land of Stone. "Have you heard anything from your Mom?" Tsudemi asked him quietly.

"Not since last time," said Mako flatly. They started walking again. Akakaru kept looking back at the food. When they cleared the Emporium, Mako turned to Tsudemi. "How about you? Are you working on any new jutsu?"

Tsudemi sucked in a breath. "Well... I've been working on the man beast clone jutsu."

"That's a pretty good one isn't it?"

Tsudemi nodded. "Yeah, but it hasn't been going so well."

"What do you mean?" asked Mako

Tsudemi looked down. "I'll show you some other time." She turned around. "Akakaru!" she yelled, "Get over here. We'll get breakfast after we're done training, I said." She shook her head.

"I told you that dog was trouble."

Tsudemi scoffed. "Yeah, and I suppose none of the flies buzzing the food stalls are yours?"



They made it to the training fields. There was an older girl, a chunin already using the field. She was throwing a mixture of kunai, shuriken and other small weapons that she would summon from a scroll. There was a rapid-fire series of thumps as they hit the target logs in front of her.

"Oh, the targets are being used," said Mako uncomfortably.

Tsudemi shrugged. "There's plenty of room here, we'll just spar against each other until she's finished."

But the older girl was just warming up. She turned her back to the targets and continued to pepper them with thrown objects. Tsudemi and Mako made some half hearted attempt to train, but they kept staring at the chunin. She started to turn cartwheels and flips, her hands continuing to summon and throw weapons. Eventually she began to make multiple throws. Instead of hitting the front of the targets, her kunai began to hit the tops and backs as well. She would hit each kunai with several others in flight, changing its path and curving them around. Her final toss was a scythe-like kama that was bounced around by five different weapons before arcing in the air and sinking into the top of the target log with a loud thunk.

The chunin stood there breathing a little heavy, but admiring her work. She walked up to the logs and unrolled a large scroll on the ground. She began pulling out her weapons out of the targets one by one and stacking them up on the scroll. Tsudemi, curious started to walk calmly towards her.

The older girl shot her a cold look and made hand signs over the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and all the weapons vanished. She unrolled a second scroll and began to pile weapons up on that one as well. "Hey!" Tsudemi called out loudly. "That was pretty cool." The older girl didn't say anything, but she did nod in acknowledgement. "Do you think you could show me how to do any of that?"

The chunin turned and gave Tsudemi a cursory look. "No," she said flatly. She made her hand signs over the second scroll and the pile on that one vanished as well. She picked up the scroll and stepped back to her throwing line. Tsudemi glared after her.

Mako crept up behind her. "Come on Tsudemi," he said placing a hand on her shoulder, "Let's get back to training okay?" Tsudemi ignored him and started walking towards the older girl. "Tsudemi!" called out Mako. Next to him, Akakaru gave a worried whine.

The chunin turned and looked at her. "What do you want?" she asked coldly as Tsudemi approached.

"Why not?" asked Tsudemi. The older girl raised an eyebrow. "That's not some sort of secret clan technique. You're just throwing kunai around. But I've never seen anyone doing it like that before. Why can't you just show me how to do it?"

The older girl stared for a second and then shook her head she turned back to the target logs, scrolls at the ready. "Because I can't," the chunin said without expression. "Now will you please leave me alone?" The first few kunai appeared in her hands and streaked out towards the target.

"Hey!" protested Tsudemi. I'm asking you very nicely here to give me some pointers on throwing kunai. That's all. Why do you keep on saying no?"

"I don't have to tell you why. Now will you please leave?" More knives began to stick in the logs.

"Come on Tsudemi, let's just get going!" hissed Mako at her side. But Tsudemi refused to budge.

"How much longer are you going to be hogging all the targets like that?" she asked bluntly.

"I'll be done when I'm done," said the older girl matter of factly. "Why don't you and your little puppy go back to playing ninja, and leave me alone."

"I'm not playing ninja. I'm in the Academy. And I'll leave you alone when you agree to show me how you do that trick with hitting the kunai with another kunai," Tsudemi said folding her arms stubbornly. "You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"

The older girl stopped her throwing and spun around to face Tsudemi. "I won't teach you because I can't waste my training time teaching you the basics. You're too young and you obviously don't have any skill with weapons."

"What do you mean I obviously don't have any skill with weapons?" growled Tsudemi.

Mako tugged at her arm. "Just forget about this Tsudemi, okay? We'll come back later to train."

"You're from the Inuzuka clan, teeth, claws and dogs is all you'll ever need," said the chunin, smirking. She turned back and threw another kunai at the target logs.

"Oh yeah?" snapped Tsudemi. "If I had my katanas with me, I'd show you what I could do."

The older girl looked over her shoulder and stared with humorless grey eyes. "And just what would you show me, little dog-girl?"

Mako pulled on her arm again. "Just let it go Tsudemi. Trust me, we do not want to pick a fight here. She's a chunin, there is no way you'll be able to beat her."