Shikamaru gazed across the ocean, his eyes not really focusing on anything he glanced over at the man he was guarding. Ken'ichi sat across the fire from him studying his notebook and penciling a few things. He sifted his his gaze back at the shimmering water, a small black dot appeared on the horizon.

"I believe the team from Kiri will be arriving soon." Shikamaru noted to Ken'ichi.

Ken'ichi looked up. "Yes it would seem so, though we most likely have two or three hours minimum before they're close enough to let us aboard."

Shikamaru nodded and shifted his gaze back towards the ocean.

It had been almost and hour and a half and Shikamaru was fairly certain that the ship he'd spotted wasn't the team of Kiri-nin. If the boat had been carrying the rendezvous team they would have been sailing at an angle towards the shore, this boat however had sailed parallel to them before stopping. Shikamaru noticed another, smaller boat coming towards the shore, it was thin and hard to spot if he hadn't seen the main ship before he wouldn't even be able to see the smaller one now.

"Ken'ichi, I don't think that ship has the team from Kiri." Shikamaru said.

Ken'ichi glanced across the water. "Where are they now? I don't see them."

"Exactly, they're sailing directly at us from 11o'clock, it's a stealth ship so I think whoever's steering it doesn't want to be seen." Shikamaru said.

Going off of worst case scenario, they're going to attack us when they get to shore. Protecting Ken'ichi is my first priority. Assuming it's a standard crew they probably have at least twenty people, some of them may stay behind, so at best it'll be ten to one. Shikamaru reached into his weapons pouch. I have a full array of weapons, so that's not a problem, I could set a trap beforehand but if the ship is friendly than it would seem like we were attacking them and I want to avoid a fight if I can. There's also the scroll Lady Tsunade told me to deliver.

Shikamaru looked at the ship, it was a lot closer and seemed to be traveling faster than it should. "Ken'ichi, when the ship gets here I want you to stay behind me until we've determined whether or not they're enemies, if they are then you'll need to stay close."

Ken'ichi nodded. "Alright."

Shikamaru waited with anxiety as the boat came closer, it was easier to make out now, he could see fifteen sets of oars rowing in time, it's speed was suddenly cut in half as it hit the slope on the ocean floor and the oars began moving more rapidly to try and keep up a decent pace. We probably have another twenty minutes at best and from were they are now I still can't tell if they're enemies or not. Shikamaru clenched his fists in frustration. The odds still aren't in my favor there are less people on the boat than I had originally estimated but it'll still be just me fighting against at least sixteen people.

Once they had made it past the slope, the rowers in the boat started picking up speed again, adrenaline started pumping throughout Shikamaru's body pushing him to prepare to battle with all his strength or to run like a rabbit to its hole. Shikamaru could see the people rowing the boat now, they were sitting back towards the shore acting as though it was no problem to have moved the boat from the main ship to the shore at the speed they did. There was also a man calling cadence to help keep the rowers in time with each other. Shikamaru took a deep breath, trying to slow his racing mind. I have to keep calm, if I lose my cool, this whole thing will go down hill. Quickly. The boat got within five or six feet of the shore when the oars were pulled in, all fifteen rowers and the cadence caller jumped out and started pulling the boat up onto shore with ropes.

Shikamaru warily eyed the group and he mentally prepared himself for a fight. He stood in front of Ken'ichi in a way that wouldn't seem obvious that he was protecting him.

The cadence caller slowly walked over. "Friends! We mean you no harm." He said. "We are part of a large trade network and were wonder if you had anything that we might buy from you."

"Unfortunately, we have nothing to sell." Ken'ichi responded from behind Shikamaru.

"Oh, come now. You must have something, even the tiniest thing would be appreciated. Selling things is how we make our living."

Shikamaru was becoming frustrated. "We already said that we have nothing to sell to you."

A sinister look passed over the man's face. "Well then, we'll just have to sell you. Get'em boys!"

Most of the men pulled out knives from their belts or boots but three or four went back to the boat to grab larger weapons. They rushed at Shikamaru and Ken'ichi, weaving a few handsigns he managed to get a few of the men with the Shadow stitching technique. More of the men ran towards him, one of them sliced his arm, the knife went through his shirt sleeve and mesh armor with ease, leaving a four inch but fortunately not to deep gash on his left arm just above the steel plate with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf on it. Damn, this is bad. If all of their weapons are as sharp as that Ken'ichi and I will get sliced to ribbons. Then again, they probably won't want to hurt us too badly. Shikamaru dodged another slice at his arm, he glanced back Ken'ichi then turned back to the fight, one of the men came at him with a sword, he deflected it with a kunai and went to weave the signs for the shadow strangle jutsu only to find that his left arm was barely moving. It felt tingly, like it had fallen asleep and the area around the cut was completely numb. Crap, they must some sort of poison or narcotic on their blades this is really bad. Ken'ichi and I need to retreat but there's no where to retreat to. I don't want to go back into the woods and we have no where to go on the ocean, besides even if we did have a boat they'd still catch up with us.

Shikamaru began to analyze the situation when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, turning he saw a man with short spiky silver hair charging at him with a scythe. Shikamaru dodged his first swing, more adrenaline began to pulse through his body, every instinct telling him to retreat or die. He took a shaky breath and tried to pull himself together, he saw the man with the scythe coming at him again for another swing. Shikamaru was getting ready to dodge when the man let out a crazed laugh.

"I'm going to kill you!" He screamed.

Shikamaru froze, everything seemed to move in slow motion the man swung his scythe up and began to bring it down intending to impale Shikamaru, Ken'ichi yelled for him to dodge and the cadence caller ordered the silver-haired man to stop.

"Stay down!"

The sound of an unknown voice caused Shikamaru's mind to snap back to the present and he leaned back, just enough that he would be out of the way of a counter attack. A beam of blue chakra appeared above Shikamaru, effectively stopping the the silver haired man's strike. Shikamaru followed the beam back to its source and saw a young man with short blue hair holding a fish shaped sword which was emitting the chakra. Shikamaru rolled out from under the scythe and sprung to his feet. He jumped back in front of Ken'ichi and pulled out a kunai, he saw that a small group of newcomers had shown up. It was just a basic four man team, they wore Kirigakure forehead protecters and the typical gray flack vests of their village. They're probably the rendezvous team, this should even the odds a little. Shikamaru deflected a few shuriken and kunai that had been thrown his way and managed to take care of the men that came to close to him and Ken'ichi.

The pirates were dealt with and disposed, Shikamaru turned to Ken'ichi. "Are you okay?"

"A little shaken up but physically I'm alright." Ken'ichi replied. "What about you? That cut on your arm looks pretty bad."

Shikamaru glanced down at it, the numbness had spread and he could no longer feel his upper arm, the area around the cut had turned a sickly green color.

A tall man with an eyepatch walked up to the two of them. "Are you Shikamaru Nara and Ken'ichi Stodataaka?"

"Yes, I'm Shikamaru are you the rendezvous team?"

"Yes, I'm Ao, we're here to escort you back to the Hidden Mist Village. Are either of you hurt?"

"I have a cut on my left arm but other than that we're both fine."

"I'll have our medic look at that when we get on our ship, follow us." Ao said.

The team began to make their way down the beach to a boat that was partially on land and partially in the water. Shikamaru's vision become blurry and he started to wobble.

"Shikamaru!" Ken'ichi's voice sounded faraway and hollow. The world began to shift and he felt a hand on his arm, the face of a young woman who resembled Shizune hovered above him, her mouth moved and she looked worried. The ground disappeared from underneath him and his head lolled about. Everything seems upside down. Why is everyone walking on their heads? Shikamaru's peripheral blurred to faded to gray whereas his the things in front of him became very clear and bright. He felt sick to his stomach. Maybe I should vomit? How do I do that? His eyelids became heavy and he thought about closing them. But I might miss something. The gray at the edge of his vision slowly closed in and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Hello! It has been exactly one month since I last posted. Please don't get angry! Eat a cookie instead, cookies are good...

Anyways I'm back! It was my New years resolution to post at least one chapter a month, even if that mean writing like crazy on the last day of the month, as long as the chapter is up before 11:59 pm I've still stuck to my resolution. My cat tried to help write this chapter, her contribution was: rds8y97bg

Well I have nothing more to say so TTFN

p.s. What's in the combo?