He never won another game of Shogi against her. Or Go. Or any game he could think of, for that matter.
It was disturbing, to say the least. Where had this newfound intelligence come from? As if some switch had been flipped, turning her into a strategic genius. No matter how hard he tried to observe her, she never showed any sign of the same foresight outside of the game boards. At the moment, he half chalked it up to some competitive instinct that seemed to wake up whenever any game was mentioned.
But something else had subtly changed in her nature. There was something predatory lurking behind her innocent, wide blue eyes. Asuma couldn't see it, but took his word for it. The Hokage seemed to think he was imagining it as well, but she too insisted that she'd trust his instinct. But the most suspicious thing of all, the thing that had set his nerves on edge permanently all occurred because of tea.
"Eh? Honey? You usually don't use any sweetener Nara-san."
The girl had a perplexed look on her face, her sky colored eyes moving between his disgruntled face and the tea cup full of a grass green liquid.
"You usually don't serve green tea."
She nodded begrudgingly, and soon returned from her cupboard with a small container full of the sticky yellow substance. She slid it across the table smoothly, and he caught it easily, using the small accompanying spoon to sweeten the bitter beverage.
She had her chin propped up in her palm, the other hand playing idly with the porcelain handle of the cup. She seemed to be watching him, her eyes half hooded, giving her a lazy and somewhat luxurious look.
When he finished with the honey, his hand flicked the container back toward her, flying over the polished surface of the table.
But the container crashed to the floor, the honey seeping over the floor as slowly as lava.
Her eyes hadn't flinched toward the cup once. No lightning fast reactions. No unconscious movement to prevent the crash.
Like she had purposefully let the dish shatter on the floor.
Shikamaru was unsure of what to do. Should he get up, offer to help clean it up? Apologize?
But the girl stared at him still, that same nonchalant gaze emblazoned on her eyes.
He broke the silence.
"I'm sorry. Let me clean that up for you."
His palms hit the table, pushing himself up from his chair. But she stopped him before he could lift himself entirely off the seat.
"Don't bother."
He looked down to the spilled honey, which had spread out like a lake, reaching far enough to flow on to several of her bare toes. But hesitantly, he obliged.
"Drink your tea, it will get cold soon if you don't."
She encouraged, now smiling her usual cheery, sunny grin. Whatever awkward moment had just occurred, it seemed as if all traces of that casual, yet deadly personality had vanished. But he looked to her hand, still fiddling with the intricate handle of the delicate cup.
"You haven't had any of yours either?"
Her eyes flicked to her own beverage, before returning to watch him.
"I've changed my mind. Green tea just doesnt sound very appealing right now. But don't mine me, Nara-san, you go ahead."
He glanced at his own cup again. Had it been poisoned?
She giggled lightly, returning his gaze to her. She had that teasing look on her face again, as if she really could read his every thought.
"What's with that look? You look like I've poisoned the tea or something."
But he was still bothered by the spilled honey, the way she hadn't caught it like she'd always caught flying objects in the past. Especially troublesome was the way she hadn't moved her foot, leaving it in the sticky puddle.
"Why havent you cleaned that up?"
He finally asked, nodding his head in the direction of the spill. But she only had eyes for him, unwavering and unnerving.
"I'll do it once you've gone."
He warily nodded his head again, wondering what could account for her unusual behavior. His eyes scanned the apartment, knowing that if he saw anything he couldn't give any indication, for she was still watching him like a hawk watches prey.
And then he saw it.
A single envelope, its dusty sand color marking it as one that she hadn't bought when he'd followed her to the post office, was sitting innocently on the coffee table in the next room.
It was facing down, so no return address could be seen. And there was something inside of it, not large, but substantial enough to create a moderate sized bump in the bottom right corner.
She had noticed him noticing.
"Oh? Has Ino sent you another party invitation?"
And for the first time she looked away from him, her eyes now on the envelope, which remained unopened.
"Yes, I'm sure that's it."
There was a slight shake in her voice, just barely perceivable.
There had been no further incident during the rest of his visit, but he was determined to find out the contents of that envelope.
"Ohh, so you're the famous Naruto that everyone around here talks about."
The girl shook hands with the grinning blonde boy, who was now blushing in pleasure.
"Yeah! That's me!"
He pointed to himself, before receiving a generous punch to the head from his pink haired companion.
"Don't get all full of yourself baka. She's just being polite."
The girl now giggled, and offered her hand again.
"And you must be Sakura."
The two females shook hands, although Sakura looked suspicious and not a little envious as she eyed the girl's clothing and hair.
"Yes, I am, and I'm sorry, you are. . .?"
Shikamaru felt that this was probably his place to complete the introduction.
"Ah, this is Kagami."
Team Kakashi and Team Gai had come back from their mission to the Land of the Wind, their retrieval of the Kazekage a reported success. He wasn't privy to the details, but there were hushed rumors about a member of the Akatsuki being dead.
"It's very nice to meet you Kagami."
"Yeah, what's a girl like you doing with that stick in the butt Shikamaru?"
The girl tittered, a becoming and all too perfect blush blessing the apples of her cheeks as Sakura punched Naruto in the head again.
"Nara-san is my best friend!"
Both of the exhausted ninja turned to the girl, incredulous looks on their faces.
"Him?"
Sakura asked now, as surprised as Naruto had seemed. Kagami nodded cheerfully, swiftly attaching herself to Shikamaru's arm.
The boy groaned, using his free hand to rub his forehead. That hand also conveniently shadowed his face, making his blush less apparent.
"Shikamaru! How'd you catch a cute girl like that? It makes NO sense."
Naruto was staring at the pair, a petulant look on his face. Sakura seemed embarrassed by the girl's bold display of affection, nearly as much as Shikamaru was. Shikamaru opened his mouth to defend himself. Afterall, it wasn't SO unlikely that he could end up with a girl like Kagami.
"Nonsense! Nara-san is the kindest, smartest, most helpful person I've ever met!"
The girl chirped, which seemed to impress the other two. But Shikamaru bitterly wondered how impressive that could be for a person with only about a month's worth of memories.
The Hokage listened to his most recent report with a grim look on her face. Her fingers were placed in a sharp steeple, her brows furrowed in an equally tight V.
"I'm afraid that you might be right. It seems very contradictory with her previous behavior, unconscious or not, that she would let that dish slide right by her. "
She sighed, rubbing her temples lightly.
"And this shift in her attitude, and intelligence, that you've noticed coincides very oddly with the mission of Team Kakashi. You said it was about 5 days ago that she first beat you in Shogi? On only her second time playing?"
Shikamaru nodded, not liking the implications that were about to follow.
"Yeah."
"According to their report, it was exactly 5 days ago that Sakura and Chiyo of the Sand Village finally defeated Sasori of the Akatsuki. And after her previous statement, her 'familiar feeling' she associated with Sasori's name, we can only assume the two are connected."
Shikamaru was feeling guilty, and having flashbacks of that time that Kagami had saved that boy's ball and played with him quite like a child herself. It almost seemed like she was two different people, stuck inside of one constantly changing brain.
"And I want you to find out what was in that envelope. Ask Ino whether or not she sent any mail to Kagami, and whether she ever uses envelopes of that color. Then, I'd like you to set up a Shogi match between Asuma and Kagami. See if she keeps up her innocent and ditsy act in front of other people, or whether she's stopped. "
The Gondaime hesitated for a moment, looking guilty herself. But after that pause, she looked back up, new determination in her eyes.
"And at some time, I need you to put her life in danger. Nothing serious, maybe just a misplaced kunai. We'll see whether those reflexes act back up."
Shikamaru nodded and left the office, feeling inexplicably nervous.
Yo ho ho. Results, ahoy!
Ahh. Took me a long time to update that, but I've a good idea of where I'm going straight from here, so it shouldn't be terribly long until the next one!
Rate and Message????? <3 you all still!
