Chapter 5

Shikamaru lay in his bed on his side, face turned towards the wall. He tried to act as normal as possible. That was his strategy – so far at least.

The moon was now the only source of light left in the room and everyone had gone to bed. Including a certain black haired boy. Shikamaru had a plan, though. He was not going to fall asleep like everyone had done already presumably. he was going to keep himself awake and catch Sasuke red-handed. The brunette could not be sure that his roommate would actually attempt to do anything with him again. He only had prove against him for one night. The idea of him doing it every night for as long as they had been on the excursion was only a theory, even though everything was pointing towards it.

Shikamaru went through all the possibilities of how the night could unfold again. He had done this exactly twelve times already and he knew his plan and options as well as he knew the back of his own hand, he was just making sure that there was no blind spots; no unpleasant surprises that he would not be able to foresee.

It was hard to try and figure out how your opponent was going to react when you did not really know them that well. Shikamaru thought he had known enough about Sasuke to analyze him and his moves, but once he had begun to plan out his own moves for the night, he found it rather difficult to set himself in the black haired boy's place. Until that day, he had never thought or even considered that Sasuke would do something like that to another boy or actually any other human being. Sure, it had been a different story if Shikamaru had been a girl, but even then he could not imagine that Sasuke would go to such lengths as drugging his victim. And why did he even have those lusts? He was eleven just like everyone else in his class. It was not normal for someone his age to be thinking along those lines yet.

A little background story about the Uchiha would not have hurt knowing when Shikamaru developed his theories and plans. That way he would have been able to figure out why Sasuke took actions that were so out of character and not to mention risky even for his unpredictable persona.

The brunette had always thought that the other boy had had a dark mind. Even before his clan was murdered, he had that mysterious, gloomy thinking pattern. It always seemed like he was pushing himself to the limit in order to become a better ninja. The best to be more exact. But what for? Was it to compensate for something? In that case, compensate for what? Shikamaru had heard small bits about the famous Uchiha clan – Sasuke's family in particular since his father, Fugaku Uchiha, was the head of the police force and his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, was a hotshot.

Word was out that Itachi was in the ANBU. Not that Shikamaru was supposed to know that kind of stuff, but his father was good at ferreting out information or at least just rumors like that one. And once his father was among friends and got drunk, Shikamaru would hear all sorts of stories. He did not even have to strain himself, like eavesdropping or something like that. He could stand right beside his father and the older man would not even notice him. Sometimes it was good to have such an ignorant father. He only noticed things when he really wanted to. He did not bother to try and keep secrets like Itachi possibly being in the ANBU from Shikamaru since his father knew that the brunette was not a talker and he was lazy just like himself so he was not a threat. He was not going to go and ramble out about everything his father had said to all and sundry. Shikamaru was now thankful for that. Even though the small amount information he had was not actually going to help him that much.

The only things he could conclude from what he knew about Sasuke's family was that there were probably high expectations for him from the beginning because of his brother. Expectations he could not live up to since it is rare that there is born more than one genius in the same family right after the other. That was a lot of pressure to put on a young boy like Sasuke. But why would that drive him to do what he had done to Shikamaru?

The brunette froze when he heard his roommate shift around in his bed. He held his breath for a few seconds until he felt like it was okay to breathe again. False alarm. Sasuke was not going to make his move... yet... if he was even going to.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and put the tips of his fingers on both hands together underneath his quilt. He needed to be in his best thinking position in order to look for any possible miscalculations.

If Sasuke had intended on approaching Shikamaru the way he had the night before, the brunette had made sure that nothing would change the other boy's mind. He had placed his nightly glass of water on the nightstand as he always did and gone out of the bedroom while Sasuke was still in there, making sure to let the other boy know that he was going to be out for a while. That way Sasuke would figure that he had time to pulverize the pills and mix them with Shikamaru's water. That was the first step of his plan and luckily it seemed to be a success.

The next step was to make sure that Sasuke thought that Shikamaru had drunk the water. The brunette would not be able to carry out the rest of his plan – which he needed to be awake in order to perform – if he actually drank the hypnotic water. The way Shikamaru got around that was to drink the water after making sure that Sasuke had had the chance to drug it if that was what he wanted to do and then go to the bathroom afterward. Fortunately Sasuke was already in bed at that time. Shikamaru had already figured out that he would be since he was always one of the first ones to be in bed and supposedly be asleep.

When Shikamaru had reached the bathroom, he immediately turned on the water so it would be heard above the sounds Shikamaru was going to make. Just in case that Sasuke was standing

behind the bathroom door, listening to what Shikamaru was doing. The brunette then stuck two fingers down his throat and threw up everything he had drunk including some of the dinner he had had earlier that evening.

Everything had so far gone as Shikamaru had planned out and if nothing had happened that he did not know about, then Sasuke would officially think that Shikamaru would be available and at his service for the night once he had gone to bed too. That was the situation Shikamaru was in now. He was waiting. Waiting for Sasuke to make his next bold move.

Shikamaru had already mentally prepared himself for the moment when Sasuke would actually get out of bed and go on with his selfish and disgusting nightly habit. He knew that he had gotten everything down in theory and he felt ready. But he was not sure if he was actually going to be able to carry out his plan in practice. He knew himself well, but he could not possibly foresee how he was going to react once Sasuke was in the same bed as him and Shikamaru would not know what to expect next. Would he freeze up? Panic and fight loudly? Or would he be able to keep his cool?

There was more than one way of approaching Shikamaru's current plan. Everything depended on how Shikamaru would act in practice and how Sasuke would react to Shikamaru's apparent resistance.

Shikamaru wanted to avoid having a long confrontation at all costs. It was embarrassing enough as it was and he was kind of still in the denial phase. He acknowledged what Sasuke had done to him, but in some ways he still could not believe that what had happened was reality. Sasuke had done wrong and was to pay for it. That was about the only thing that was on the brunette's mind – or that how he wanted it to be at least. He purposefully did not think about what kind of social, physical and mental consequences the happenings would cause himself nor Sasuke. He just wanted to get this over with. He wanted to let Sasuke know that he knew what he had done and that he wanted it to end right there and then.

Sasuke shifted in his place again and Shikamaru immediately exited his strategy-planning stand, but kept his eyes closed. It was not easy to pretend to be asleep, it was actually a lot harder than it seemed. At least if you wanted your act to look believable.

His body tensed up a little, but he quickly forced it back into being relaxed. He could not lie like that if he wanted Sasuke to truly believe that he was asleep.

When Shikamaru heard the sound of a bare foot connecting with a wooden floor, he knew Sasuke was on his way. The time had come. The brunette could only wish that everything would go as he had planned out and he mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that Naruto would keep calm as well and stay out of it. The last thing he needed was for others to get involved. He would end this on his own, using his own methods.

Planning out a strategy was Shikamaru's strong point. He had taken all his own and Sasuke's abilities, strengths and weaknesses into consideration. Carefully calculating the outcome of every possible situation.

If Sasuke was to make a violent approach, he would have the advantages at some points. For example, it was a sure fact that Sasuke had a lot more physical strength than Shikamaru had so battling him would only get the ball on Sasuke's court. But on the other side, if he was violent, he was more likely to be noisy and Shikamaru did not find it hard to figure that revealing himself and his motives to the world was the last thing that Sasuke wanted to do. So if he really was going to approach the brunette like that, he could simply scream for help. He would rather get around that, though, since it would hurt his pride too much. But Sasuke probably did not see him as a man with pride so maybe a simple threat to do so would be enough to make Sasuke back off? The black haired boy probably would not put it past Shikamaru to act like that. All cowardly and lazy, making everyone else come to his rescue so he would not have to do any of the work himself.

In contrast, if Sasuke chose to just acknowledge that Shikamaru now knew of his secret and just backed off, then all of the brunette's deliberations would be wasted, but at least it would be over soon and without any major obstacles to overcome.

Shikamaru could only come up with one other scenario and that was Sasuke trying to talk him into having sex with him, but he highly doubted that anything like that would happen. He had not even bothered to give it that much thought since he just could not wrap his head around that happening. Also, if that was the case, it would develop into either the first or second scenario anyway. When Shikamaru refused, Sasuke might try and take what he desired by force, but he could also just accept Shikamaru's no and take the refusal and humiliation as his punishment. At least that was the deal Shikamaru was willing to make with him. As long as this would never be repeated or spoken of ever again.

The second scenario was definitely the one Shikamaru was going to aim for to happen. Both parts would gain most from it. If force was brought into the mix, either Sasuke or Shikamaru would lose. They could even end up both being losers. Sasuke might be able to get what he wanted by force, but if Shikamaru ever told anyone about it, Sasuke would be doomed. And Shikamaru had a witness so he was pretty much covered. Unless of course Sasuke would go as far as taking the brunette's life. But he would not. Would he? Sure, he was to be a shinobi and that was what shinobi did. And the boy seemed pretty cold-blooded already so it was likely to happen. But he was still young and if he was going to try and kill Shikamaru, he would most definitely fight back and they would end up arousing the entire house and they would without a doubt take Shikamaru's side. So Sasuke would be outnumbered and Shikamaru would again have the upper hand.

Sasuke would not just lose all of his pride, but what he had done was straight out illegal and therefore there would be consequences. They would probably kick him out of the academy, which meant he would never officially be able to become a shinobi and probably never surpass his brother. Shikamaru was not sure of how they would punish him besides from them that. They could not exactly put a boy at his age in jail, but he was sure that they were going to take away everything that meant anything to Sasuke and that was punishment enough in Shikamaru's mind. He did not care if they did anything to him physically or not. Playing around with someone mentally was usually the best way of breaking someone.

Here it goes, Shikamaru thought when he heard the black haired boy's other foot dropping to the floor. He was prepared. After going through all of his options and his plan again, he was not as scared anymore. As he felt now, he was ready for about anything.

Sasuke dragged his feet all the way over to Shikamaru's bed and he did not pause until he was right beside it. The black haired boy stooped and looked at Shikamaru's content face. It seemed like he was sleeping and Sasuke figured it was safe to continue. After all, he had seen Shikamaru drink the water with the pills in it and he had waited around two hours already so he had already guessed that the Nara would be asleep by then.

Shikamaru felt how his heart slowly began to pond harder and faster when his quilt was lifted above his body and cold air was let in under it, chilling his naked upper body. He tried to calm himself, but no matter what he thought about, he just could not get his heart rate under control. He just hoped that Sasuke would not notice. Up until now, he considered his act otherwise flawless.

It only took a few seconds for the coolness to be replaced with warmth once again. Only this was not the warmth caused by Shikamaru's quilt, but the warmth radiating from a hot, willing body. Shikamaru squeezed his eyes tighter together, he was already well on his way of blowing his cover. He had to keep calm. He had to.

Sasuke let one hand slide underneath Shikamaru's arm and onto the other boy's stomach, pressing his bare chest against the brunette's back. Shikamaru strained himself so he would not react. He just needed to hold on for another minute and it would be time to confront Sasuke.

The black haired boy breathed on Shikamaru's neck, the cool air also reaching down his spine. Shikamaru bit the inside of his cheek - the side which lay on the pillow so there was only a minimal chance that Sasuke would notice. He did not seem to catch onto Shikamaru's response, he only nuzzled his face against the other boy's neck. Shikamaru was now past feeling uncomfortable. He felt mortified and harassed.

Shikamaru fossilized when a short peck was placed on his shoulder and Sasuke's hand glided up his body until it reached the brunette's chest. If he felt Shikamaru's pulse, would he figure it out? No, Shikamaru could not let Sasuke beat him to it, he had to do something now. It was time. But something was wrong. Shikamaru could not move. Not one limp. Not the slightest movement even in his pinky could be forced out. For a second, he considered if Sasuke had put him in some sort of genjutsu, but then he started thinking rationally again and assured himself that Sasuke had not learned anything like that yet and he had to comprehend that it was actually just himself that was keeping him from turning around and confronting Sasuke. His body had stiffened up. He was terrified of what was happening and what was to happen to him.

Sasuke pressed them closer to each other, placing another cautious and light kiss on Shikamaru's shoulder. It was the last night they were going to be spending in the cabin and Sasuke intended on enjoying it to the fullest. Who knew when an opportunity like this one would pop up again.

He started drawing small circles with the tips of his fingers on Shikamaru's chest and began kissing him up and down his shoulder and neck. It felt nice to be this close to someone else. Something Sasuke had never experienced with anyone else than his mother both physically and mentally. No one other than her cared for him. Not even when his clan was still alive. People were nice to him, it was not that that was the problem. It was just that the only two individuals who never seemed to want to recognize him and his abilities were the only two that he truly wanted to be accepted by. His father and his older brother. He longed after contact. Physical contact. Approval. Acceptance. He sank his teeth into Shikamaru's neck when thinking back at his family and pressed him even closer. In moments like these, all he wanted was to become one with the person lying next to him.

Nails was driven under the skin of Shikamaru's chest and he jerked by accident. Sasuke did not seem to expect anything less, though, and kept on boring his nails even deeper into the brunette. He bit harder down at his neck in frustration. Just the thought of Itachi made him angry enough to hurt another human being like this. Sasuke did not know where this unwanted desire came from. He never thought that he was into boys, but when Shikamaru was just lying there, all helpless, he could not keep himself from taking advantage of it. He needed this even if the need could not be explained. At least he did not know why himself. He was driven merely by lust. He only took what he wanted. He only took what he needed. There was nothing more to it.

Sasuke exhaled heavily and he drew back his claws and let his hand brush down Shikamaru's body instead. He paused shortly when reaching the edge of his pants. He tried to strain himself from going any further, but was not able to do it for more than a quick moment. He only got one finger under the brunette's pants, though, before the other boy reacted all of a sudden, grabbing onto Sasuke's wrist. The black haired boy's entire body jerked in surprise and Shikamaru slowly turned around so they were lying face to face instead.

Shikamaru eyes were still closed. This was so surrealistic to him. He could not comprehend the situation fully and could now see that figuring out his counterattack in theory was a hell of a lot easier than actually doing it in practice. He had to calm down. There was no way around it now. He had already let Sasuke know that he was awake. There was only one step left before Sasuke would give his reaction to this and Shikamaru's plan would have to adjust to it accordingly.

He opened his eyes, looking directly into the confused, black eyes of Sasuke. The black haired boy's eyes were widened and his jaw had slightly dropped, but he did not do anything else than just stare into Shikamaru's eyes.

Shikamaru kept holding onto his wrist as he sent him a knowing look. He did not appear warningly. Just well-informed. All he was waiting for was for Sasuke to choose a reaction so their act could go on. But he did not do anything, he just stared at him stunningly, not getting how Shikamaru could be awake. Not getting how he could know. Not believing that the situation had just turned into something that he had never thought possible. He had been so careful. Well, most of the time, until his feelings took over. Those times where he was not really thinking.

The brunette was surprised to find out that he probably was not going to get a reaction from Sasuke unless he guided him out of his bed. He had not thought this case scenario through. He would have expected at least some kind of reaction. Not just dead silence.

There was a bright, but short, blink of light outside their window. Five seconds after, a loud roar filled out the silence, soon followed by the sound of heavy rain hitting the roof and windows.

Naruto awoke with a jerk. He took a second to orientate himself of his surroundings and was relieved to discover that it was only thunderstorm that had aroused him. He sat up in his bed without moving out of the spot for a moment. A dream was bugging him. He had dreamt that something bad was going to happen to Shikamaru. It was not just the dream that had given him this feeling, though, he had had it ever since Shikamaru had decided to take matter into his own hands.

The blonde looked up at his sensei who was still asleep in his bed. Naruto's mattress had not dried off yet when they were headed for bed so Iruka had found a spare thin, inflatable mattress that Naruto could sleep on instead. Naruto had only been happy when Iruka had told him that he could sleep in his cabin for the night. Iruka had felt like an idiot for thinking that Naruto and Kiba would actually be able to hit it off with each other if he just forced them to be together and so this was his way of apologizing. Naruto did not really care were he slept, as long as it was not in the same room as Kiba, but he found the atmosphere rather cozy when sleeping in the same cabin as his sensei.

Naruto bit his lip lightly and kept staring at his teacher. Should he tell him?

A lightning struck down and the din of it soon followed.

Shikamaru was still staring into the black eyes of his assaulter. Sasuke had not moved one single centimeter after Shikamaru had let him know that he was awake. The brunette was getting tired of lying in that uncomfortable position with Sasuke and decided that the night would not move on unless he did something to make it do so.

"I'm tired. Go back to your own bed," he let go of Sasuke's wrist, looking at him for another short moment before turning his attention away from the Uchiha and closing his eyes.

Sasuke stared at him, not knowing what to do. Shikamaru knew what had happened. He knew what Sasuke had done to him. His reaction, his eyes, that look, they all told the same story.

Shikmaru tried to calm himself when he could not feel the other boy leaving his bed. What was taking him so long, why would he not he just leave? He had caught him in the act. The best thing for him was to drop it all now that the brunette had silently offered him a way out of that sticky situation.

He was relived when Sasuke finally snapped out of it and started moving behind, but could not believe what happened next. Sasuke grabbed Shikamaru's shoulder and forced him onto his back, quickly crawling on top of him.

"Sasuke, what are you doing? Get off," Shikamaru demanded, trying to push Sasuke off, but without luck.

The black haired boy snatched the other boy's arms and held onto them tightly. "Does anyone else besides you know?" he asked in a low tone, his intense gaze feeling like daggers to Shikamaru.

The brunette was the stunned one now. He had kind of thought of the scenario ending out in something like this, but he knew Sasuke was a smart guy and as Shikamaru saw it, the smartest thing to do was to just let it go. What was he doing? And what was Shikamaru supposed to do now? If he told Sasuke the truth, he might freak out and become even more violent, but on the other hand, he might just back off because he would then know that the show would be over. As long as he did not tell him who or how many knew about it, he would still be the one with the upper hand.

"Yeah," he answered with a serious look on his face, watching as Sasuke brought one hand to his lips, nervously biting one finger nail. He looked away from Shikamaru. The brunette was not sure of what to do. He had no idea of how Sasuke was going to react next since he had not exactly chosen the most sensible way out at first. Hopefully he was going to reconsider his violent approach.

Sasuke looked back at Shikamaru and stopped biting his nail. "I guess this is my last chance then," he said.

"Wait... Wha..." Shikamaru did not understand what the black haired boy meant, but Sasuke made sure that his point came across when he suddenly flipped Shikamaru onto his stomach and pulled his arms behind his back. "Sasuke, stop! What are you doing?" he asked suprisedly. Sasuke knew better than to do what Shikamaru was afraid that he was about to do.

Sasuke ripped out the pull string from his night trousers and tied Shikamaru's hands with it, making a shinobi reversed butterfly knot so he would not have a chance at escaping.

"Sasuke, stop!" Shikamaru repeated and wrenched underneath the other boy. "Get off me now or I'll scream!"

"I would love to see you try," the other boy said flatly and grabbed the cover of Shikamaru's pillow, ripping it off before gagging him with it. "No one will hear you now. Especially not with this thunderstorm going on." Shikamaru's eyes widened and he wrenched wildly, screaming as loud as he could, but it was muffled down by the fabric in his mouth.

The frightened boy, who thought he had had thought the situation through down to the smallest detail, was now lying on his stomach, looking over his shoulder at Sasuke. An evil grin was spreading all over his face. Shikamaru was just lying there in front of him. Defenseless and pathetic. He could use him for what ever he wanted.

The black haired boy then tugged the brunette's pants off in one sweep motion, the victim crying out in a mix of embarrassment and anxiety. Sasuke pressed Shikamaru's legs underneath his stomach so his butt was pointing straight up. He was now completely exposed and ready for what Sasuke needed him for.

When Sasuke spit in his hand and brought it down to his own member afterward, Shikamaru's eyes widened even further and he complained as loudly as he could, but he was not able to speak clear enough for Sasuke to make out one single word of what he was saying.

This was embarrassing. Or rather, it was humiliating. Shikamaru tried to worm his way out of the position Sasuke had forced him into, but Sasuke hit him right on one of his shoulder blades and held him back so he would not be able to get any further away from him. Shikamaru caught a glimpse of the hungry look in the stronger boy's eyes. That was when he finally realized what was going to happen to him. He would not be able to get away.

Only a second after thinking those thoughts, a pain shot through Shikamaru's body and he screamed out in agony. Sasuke was holding him by his hips, thrusting himself inside Shikamaru. The brunette tried to wiggle out his hands from the knot around it, but he had no luck with it and he cried out again when Sasuke pulled out before thrusting right back into him. The pain was unbelievable, the humiliation was unbearable and the fear Shikamaru felt was not easy to miss. This was all too much for an eleven year old to handle and the brunette could not keep the tears from making their way to his eyes when the pain shot through his body yet again.

He tried to shout out Sasuke's name, but he still could not get the sound past the cover. Sasuke then bend forward and grabbed the boy's loose, long hair, tugging his head backwards, never stopping what he had going on between his aching third leg and Shikamaru's sore butt,

"You have no idea what it's like," Sasuke whispered angrily into Shikamaru's ear. "You have no idea what it's like to be me. All the expectations people have towards you and you're completely alone because nobody really cares about you. Can you imagine what they would suddenly think of me if they knew... If they knew what I'm really like?" Sasuke thrust into Shikamaru and the boy let out another scream. The black haired Uchiha did not enjoy this, but he could not get himself to stop. He bit down at his lip when an image of his brother appeared in his head.

Sasuke was supposed to be strong, cool, handsome, smart and all in all a promising student. But if anybody knew about his secret, they would look down at him. Gay people were not those things. At least people did not think they were. The boy could not help but imagine what would happen if his older brother ever found out about his unnatural desire. He would laugh him right into his face and tell him that he was worthless, disgusting and that someone like him would never be able to beat the great Itachi. The man who slaughtered his entire clan.

The assaulter's hands traveled down to the brunette's hips where he dug his nails into the other boy's skin. He was so angry with himself. What was wrong with him? Tears threatened to take over his eyes, but he held them back. He was not going to be that weak. Instead, he banged into Shikamaru who immediately screamed and pressed his head down the pillow in shame.

"Don't take this the wrong way, this has nothing to do with you as a person, Shikamaru," Sasuke hissed furiously. "Frankly, I don't care about you at all." The Uchiha did not lie when telling the brunette that it was nothing personal. He just wanted to make sure that Shikamaru understood that he was nothing special to him. Merely a toy that was to be at his service at anytime.

Shikamaru closed his eyes tightly and tried to hold back his sobs, the tears caused by the pain still streaming down his face. He wished that Sasuke would just stop already. He could not take it anymore. If Sasuke had been this rough with him every night, it was pretty obvious why he had had such strong back pains every single morning.

Sasuke growled loudly when pulling out and covering himself with his pants again. He was even angrier with himself now than before. He had done this every night to Shikamaru throughout the entire excursion, but now he could not even finish what he had started all of a sudden. The fact that Shikamaru was awake and aware of what was happening made the difference.

"Kami," Sasuke snarled through his teeth and clutched to his head. What was happening to him? He had to get out of there now. Shikamaru knew about everything and he had said that he was not the only one who did. When Sasuke had chosen to literally rape Shikamaru, he was done for good right there and then. He could not stay there. He did not even want to know what they would do to him if he did.

"Hurry sensei!" Naruto shouted as he and Iruka ran towards cabin "4" through the storm as fast as they could. The blonde had not been able to keep his mouth shut in the end. He was afraid that Shikamaru would end up getting hurt and when this bad feeling he had in his stomach would not disappear, he at last awoke Iruka and told him everything.

The two of them barged into the boys' cabin, most likely arousing every single one in the cabin who were not awake already. When they reached Shikamaru and Sasuke's bedroom, they quickly realized that they were too late. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. The open window was the only track he had left behind.

Their eyes lowered till they hit a shivering figure that was lying on the bed. He was lying on his side, hands tied together behind his back, gagged and knees pressed up against his chest, hiding what he was able to hide of his naked body without using his hands.

"Shikamaru," Naruto whispered terrifyingly, not believing what his eyes was telling him. The boy on the bed was crying, his sobs could only just be heard.

Iruka squatted down beside the bed, immediately trying to untie the pre-genin, but the boy flinched at the teacher's slight touch and his body started trembling even more. Concerned eyes stared at him for a moment. What was Iruka supposed to do now?

For a moment Naruto and Iruka did not do anything else than watch the crying brunette whose pride was long gone.

The following morning Iruka had made sure everyone had packed and was ready to go by the time the bus arrived. They were all gathered at the meeting place when a leaf ninja suddenly jumped down from a branch, landing right beside Iruka.

"Good, you're finally here," Iruka said, greeting his fellow shinobi.

"Sorry it took me so long, my friend's nose here failed us several times on our way here," he apologized on behalf of his wrinkly, faithful companion. The dog send his silver haired master a huffy look.

"It's okay, Kakashi. Do you think you'll be able to find Sasuke?" the brunette asked in a concerned tone, looking away from the jounin and over at a certain vulnerable student.

"The rain might have washed away his scent, but Pakkun here should be able to give us at least some clue of where he went." The higher ranked jounin looked in the same direction as the chuunin he was speaking with, laying eyes on another brunette who was a lot younger than him and Iruka.

Shikamaru sat on a stub with his bags in front of him. Choji and Naruto sat on each their side of him, both wearing the same solicitous look. Naruto stretched out one hand and tried to put it on his peers shoulder, but Shikamaru shook it off immediately and turned away from him without one single word.

"It's him, isn't it?" asked the masked man as he turned back to Iruka who did not take his eyes of his scarred students. He nodded.

"Yes, that's him." The older man looked back at Shikamaru, observing how he tried to mentally shut out everyone around him.

"Has he always been like that?" Kakashi asked, Iruka finally turning his attention towards the taller man beside him.

"No... Ever since last night he haven't let anybody touch him. It's a miracle if he even let's you come near him. He won't talk to anybody either."

"Who knows about this?"

"Besides the hokage, you and me, only Naruto knows. I've already spoken with him and told him that he can't tell anybody about this. By the time the other students start asking questions about his behavior, we will have come up with a proper cover story to tell them."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

The jounin and chuunin watched the Nara kid for a little while longer before someone suddenly spoke from behind them. Both men turned, immediately laying eyes on three female pre-genin whose hearts were literally visible in their eyes.

"Iruka-sensei, will you please sit next to me on the bus?" Ino asked with a voice filled with childish expectation.

"I was gonna ask Iruka-sensei if he would sit next to me!" Sakura and Hinata shouted in unison. It was the third time already that they had asked Iruka that question and he still did not get what was going on.

"Girls, will you please excuse Kakashi and me for a moment. I'll come back to you later," Iruka said firmly and the girls walked away unwillingly, still fighting over who got to sit next to the teacher on their way home.

Kakashi started chuckling all of a sudden and Iruka sent him a questioning look.

"What's so funny?" the chuunin asked, scratching the scar on the bridge of his nose.

"I see you have gotten yourself a fan club," he sent the shorter man his signature shut-eye smile.

Iruka's eyes followed the girls who was waving at him as they were walking backwards towards the bus. So that was what they were doing. They were flirting with him. How could he have been so blind?

A slight blush found its way to the younger man's cheeks and he began rubbing his nose more intensely. "What makes you think that?" he asked in a sheepish voice. He was more than just flattered to hear that three of his students had fallen for him. He was not even used to girls his own age falling heads over heels for him. It could not continue like this, though, so he needed to come up with a plan to make them start hating him again. Well, maybe not hate him, but he could not have them following him around everywhere. It would just end up making him irritated.

He could not keep himself from putting on a small smile when thinking of how he would get them off his back.

"Just look at them. I think what they're trying to do is pretty clear, at least to me, but that might just be due to experience." Iruka raised one brow at the silver haired self-important man. He did not just say that, did he? It only got worse when he continued, "I must say, though, I've never had any from that age rang," he chuckled, "Oh well, I should get going. Bye," he said and jumped away from the meeting place, the dog immediately taking its leading position in the front.

Iruka was left with a tomato red face and anger that he could not take out on anyone. "Who does that narcissistic idiot think he is? I sure don't hope any of my students ever gets to have him as their team leader!" the brunette mumbled irritably under his breath as he walked over to all of his students by the bus.

The academy teacher got everyone on the bus and made sure that Shikamaru would not be placed too far away from him. He wanted to keep an eye on the boy since he he had no idea of how he felt after what had happened the night before. He needed to make sure that he would be okay, even though he could see that this would definitely be affecting him for a long while. The tanned shinobi just hoped that Kakashi and Pakkun would find Sasuke so he could be brought to justice. Maybe that would calm Shikamaru's mind even if it was just a small comfort.

Iruka discretely crossed his fingers and wished that Shikamaru's fear of physical contact would not be a permanent mental impairment.

The end

!SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY!

Wanna know what makes this kind of scary? It is actually based on a true story (or should I say urban legend?)

- When I went to a Danish efterskole, I was told that one year on the efterskole a boy had woken up every morning with a sore back and he could not figure out why. Not until he decided to record himself sleeping. That was when he discovered that his roommate was drugging him and then having sex with him while he himself was asleep. Pretty scary, huh xD? I find it rather disturbing.

I'm not sure if the story is actually true or not, even though it's known by lots of people and many people reassured me that it was in fact true. I still can't believe something like that could actually take place xD And if it did, I don't know what happened to any of the boys afterward and I don't know how the raped boy handled the situation after he had discovered the truth. I only know what I've told you just now.

By the way, I've been thinking of making a sequel for this story about what happens to Shikamaru afterward. I'm not sure that I'm going to do it though, but I just wanted to hear what you readers think of the idea?

Thank you for following the story. If you are interested in reading more of my work, so far I have 4 other Naruto related fics. 3 one shots and one – longer - on going story.

If you are a Shikamaru fan, I just wanna point out that I only have written one other story that contains him. It's called Anything Else? And it is the on going story I've already mentioned.

I hope you enjoyed reading this small piece and feel free to tell me what you think of the story. Oh, and don't hold yourself back if you have any kind of critique for me :)!

Hope to see you again ^^!