Shikamaru stepped onto his parent's porch at the same time the sole kunoichi from Team Gai had. He eyed her in the usual manner that he would anything else- -a firm scowl planted on his face and hands lazily occupying the contents of his pockets. One of his eyebrows shot up unexpectedly as his eyes roamed over her slender figure and tried to assess why she might be visiting his parents. She was smiling at him, some feminine pleasantry probably meant to lure him into a false sense of security. She looked amiable, somehow her presence seemed to exude a mixture of grace and deadliness that appealed to the shadow-user, but he pushed the thought to the back of his head as she rang the doorbell.

She only continued to smile at him and they stood in silence, neither one giving into the other as to why they were there in the first place, not that he needed a reason to see his parents. The door opened suddenly and Yoshino squealed with delight at the two of them. Tenten continued to smile pleasantly as his mother fawned over them and ushered them in. She even managed to give a motherly hug and brush the side of his cheek with her palm as she gazed over him with a sparkle in her eyes.

That instantaneously put him on alert, as she only did something so affectionate when she was extremely happy.

Or if his parents were fighting.

It was like some kind of mechanism that she defected to automatically if his parents were at each other's throats. She was sickeningly sweet and nice to him because, Shikamaru reasoned, she didn't want him to think that she was mad at him, or that he was the source of his parent's problems. She went out of her way to be nice to him during these times and apparently, even after he had moved out, her old habit died hard. He gave his mom a smile and a hug back, praying the whole time that his parent's marriage wasn't on the verge of falling apart. He raised her up off the floor with the hug, swinging her around the living room, letting a mischievous smile spread across his face as his mom half-heartedly protested.

"Shikamaru!" Yoshino finally squeaked, and Shikamaru placed her on the floor slowly, eyes returning to the silent twin-bunned kunoichi smiling fondly at the interaction of the two. "We have a guest, so try to behave yourself."

"Yes, ma'am," he drawled subserviently like a good son as he shuffled his hands back in his pockets and let the playfulness of hugging his mother subside. He wanted to make sure that if his parents were fighting, his mom knew that he still loved her and appreciated her, even if his dad had a tendency to be a jackass sometimes. He prayed that his dad hadn't screwed up too big; perhaps he could somehow fix the mess they had gotten themselves into. It was most likely why his dad had called him over to the house in the first place.

"Are you ready to go?" Tenten asked timidly to the older woman.

"Not yet," Yoshino explained, "I wanted Shikamaru to show you where Hidan is while I get dressed and talk to Shikaku. I shouldn't take long." She ended with a kind smile to Tenten and headed upstairs.

Shikamaru turned to the kunoichi in question. She nervously slipped the small pack that she had been shouldering down by the door and cleared her throat. "Shall we?"

They walked silently out the door to the open fields of the Nara grounds. The clearing of the forest eventually turned into sparse trees overhead and scattered bramble. Shikamaru walked on in silence, the broken branches of twigs underfoot and the crunching of old leaves the only sound as they made their way to where the buried Hidan lay deep in earth.

He was sure that it seemed like a random place to stop. There were no markings around them to signify anything important. He gestured to no place in particular and casually made some introductions.

"Hidan, this is Tenten. Tenten," he made a hand motion to the ground, "This is Hidan."

There was an awkward pause as Tenten shuffled her feet and looked around like he was crazy. Her eyes darted around like someone was going to appear any moment. Obviously his mother neglected to inform her exactly who Hidan was and why it was important that she know where he was located. Wait? Why did she need to know, anyhow?

Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh. "Tenten, why are you here?" He really was too lazy to try and use subterfuge to get out the information, especially when he calculated that the direct approach would most likely be in his favor this time around. Tenten subconsciously patted down her weapon's pouch, eyes still searching for where ever this "Hidan" character was hidden.

"Your mom said it was important to know where Hidan was located before training. She said something about not wanting to accidently disturb him." There was a long pause as she looked around.

"Hidan is very dangerous." Shikamaru began as he keeled to the earth and placed a hand directly over Hidan's head. "He was a member of the Akasuki, he is immortal, he killed my sensei, and he is trapped here underneath the ground."

Her eyes widened as she took it all in and she took a step back like a knee-jerk reaction. "What?" she spoke with awe and fear. She was suddenly incredibly afraid. She looked ready to bolt. Apparently his mother failed to mention who Hidan really was.

"Come here," he commanded softly, trying to make her understand. "You can feel his chakra signature if you put your hand here." She looked at him as if he had just asked her to stick her hand inside a great white's mouth. She backed up a step, the fear still written all over her face.

"I think maybe this was a bad idea." He heard her whisper, and he could tell she was truly distressed. "I thought Hidan was a dog, or some strange uncle that lived in your woods or something." She took another step back, "I didn't think she meant The Hidan, as in the religious homicidal maniac."

He got up and walked over to her, "You have to understand," he said grabbing her slender wrist. Her pulse raced beneath his fingers as he calmly walked her over to the designated patch of earth. He placed his large, long-fingered palm over hers as he pressed it to the earth. She squeezed her eyes shut like it was going to hurt. The surge of chakra beneath the earth fluxed with anger. He knew she had nearly died at the hands of the Akasuki years ago, so he understood why she would get so apprehensive about coming so close to one again. He figured facing her fears was the best way to get her to understand and not be afraid.

Shikamaru inhaled deeply, catching a nose-full of Tenten's shampoo, or perfume or something distinctly girly. It was a far cry from the crap Ino seemed to drench herself in before workouts that only managed to assault his senses. He realized that Tenten's was a mixture of laundry detergent and shampoo and body wash, because it was so subtle. He found himself getting closer to her, just so he could catch a little more of the clean smell.

The soft hand underneath him finally relaxed below his own and her breathing regulated. She was finally calming down. She hesitantly opened her eyes and Shikamaru held his breath for just a second. She had very brown, plain eyes it seemed, unless you got up close to them and were able to see the slivers of gold and flecks of honey hidden in the ring of her iris. He became fascinated and stared for a time that was most likely inappropriate, but he was too captivated to really care about social graces or formalities. Her eyes were amazingly beautiful, and he felt like he could get lost in them like he could watching the clouds.

"He can't hurt you as long as he is here," his words were barely above a whisper, and Tenten nodded that she understood what he was explaining to her.

A rumble reverberated from the ground, like the hum of destruction bugs under the earth buzzing towards the surface. Tenten tried to pull out of his grip, the panic back full force in her eyes. She was scared again, her pulse quickened and she desperately pleaded with Shikamaru with those whiskey colored eyes that she wanted him to let her go so she could run. His other hand caught her hand trying to pry it away from Shikamaru's, and he moved in so close to her, his forehead was nearly touching her hitai-ate.

"He can't hurt you." He repeated, pulling her closer with his hands. She began to calm down slightly, but her pulse still raced under his fingers.

"What is that noise?" she asked with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

"He is laughing," he stated, "Or growling." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Not really sure since it's so muffled."

"Does that mean he can hear us?" she swallowed as her eyes widened in anticipation of his response.

"Yes."

She nodded that she understood, even if she didn't like the answer to the question. He reluctantly let go of her hands and they both stood up, leaving the rumbling in the forest behind them as they silently made their way back to the house.

"You never said why you were here?" Shikamaru opened the door for the kunoichi and let her enter first. He figured that since most of the training grounds had been demolished in Pein's attack, that she had asked if maybe her and/or her team could start using their property to train on.

"Didn't your mother tell you?" she asked with her head tilted to the side, "I'm your mother's new training partner. She is back on active duty and scheduled for a mission next month."

A/N: Please be patient on the updates on this one. My goal is to get this out quickly, but I am still hammering out some of the finer details of this one to keep it on track with what I want for the couple. (This is also the part where you can ask for things since nothing is set in stone.)

Cheers and thanks for the reviews!

*Jaggedjacket*