Shikaku I: The Troublesome Little Girl

When Inoichi told him about the girl, Shikaku wondered if his friend had finally gone insane. Yamanaka were much better at avoiding (or hiding) the mental strains of a ninja lifestyle, but even they broke sometimes.

"That," declared Shikaku, taking a sip of his sake, "is a terrible idea."

Inoichi chuckled. "Terrible? Not troublesome?"

"You've overshot troublesome and landed right into crazy." Shikaku gave him a look. "Why the hell are you sponsoring a civvie kid in the middle of a war? It's not like you have enough work on your hands." He poured himself another glass. "Oh wait. You do."

"You're overreacting," Inoichi smiled as if the whole situation was one big, secret joke. "Isamu said he'd help me out, and Kimi's a smart child. She doesn't need my constant supervision. Besides, the Hokage's the one who suggested we 'help the future of Konoha,' remember? I'm just following his guidance."

"Right," Shikaku drawled. "That's bullshit. When the Hokage suggested we increase the sponsorships, he meant that we pay for a few orphans to attend the Academy. I don't think he wanted you to drug a random civilian kid, who has parents, by the way, and personally train her."

Inoichi winced at that. "In my defense, the drugging wasn't my idea. Isamu said she was suspicious, and you know my father. He wanted to make sure."

"Should've known." The Nara sighed. "The whole thing reeks of him." Though the Yamanaka head had practically been a second father to him, Shikaku knew how manipulative he could get. "Look. I know your dad wants you to have kids now. I get it. My mom's the same way. But why'd you get a trainee baby from outside the clan?"

The Yamanaka tapped his fingers against his glass. "I'm training Ineko's son in the clan arts, so that's not an issue."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Shikaku's glare grew in intensity. "What do you plan to do with her?"

Inoichi gave a mysterious smile. "It depends. You'll understand when you see her."

Shikaku reached out and casually smacked his friend upside the head. "Shut up. That vague crap might work on your lackeys in the Intelligence Division, but it sure as hell won't work on me."

"Ow, fine!" said Inoichi with exasperation. "Seriously, I mean it. You'll understand when you see her."

"Uh-huh. Sure." Shikaku gazed morosely at his empty glass. "I'm gonna need a lot more sake, aren't I?"

When Shikaku finally saw the much-vaunted Mita Kimiko, he wasn't impressed. Brown-haired, brown-eyed, with about as much presence as a mouse, Inoichi's student wasn't much to look out. Outwardly, she seemed ready to turn tail and flee.

Now, Shikaku knew he didn't have Inoichi's talent at dissecting people with a glance, but even he could name the gleam in her eyes: wariness. She wasn't looking at him with fear but with caution.

This should be interesting, he thought.

As usual, Shikaku was right.

He challenged her to a shogi match, and to his surprise, the girl didn't play like a novice. Instead of being reactive, Kimi played like she'd been taught.

Realization dawned, making the situation more puzzling. She hadn't played shogi before. That much was clear. The formations Kimi used were quite traditional… for an entirely different game. They were almost identical to those used in chesu. The shogi-like game from the Far West was popular in the Land of Lightning, and Shikaku was familiar enough to recognize the patterns.

Normally, I'd say she's a spy. It's impossible for a kid to know these moves without being taught. But Inoichi had insisted that she was clean.

Shikaku watched as Kimi set up a classic pin on his King and gold general. Unfortunately for her, he'd prepared for that contingency. Shikaku took Kimi's piece and ended the game.

Not bad, he thought. A less experienced player might be thrown off by her odd moves.

After ending the match, he made a mental note to interrogate his Yamanaka friend.

"Fucking Sage!" cursed Shikaku, staring at the shogi board. "Inoichi, how the hell are you so bad at this game?"

"I'm not that bad." Inoichi moved his rook, which was literally the worst possible move in that situation. Shikaku briefly considered throwing the pieces at his face.

"No, you're worse." The Nara looked around for the alcohol. "Where's the sake? I'll need it if I'm going to survive this blasphemic corruption of shogi."

"You've been hitting the sake a little too hard," chided Inoichi. "Can't you get through an evening without drinking?"

"I'm going to hit your face a little too hard if you don't shut up." He stared despondently at the board. "What the hell are you doing?"

"About Kimi?" Inoichi tapped his fingers against the board. "That's why you wanted to talk, right?"

"Actually, I was talking about the board, but this segue works." Shikaku reached over and grabbed Inoichi's king. "I win. Now, give me some sake before I beat your ass."

A few sips of incredibly watered alcohol later, Shikaku was in a much better mood.

"You were right," he admitted, referring to the conversation they'd had months ago. Shikaku stared at the painting on the wall. The two deer were drawn in a crude, ugly manner.

"Excuse me? What was that? I didn't quite hear you." Inoichi grinned. He swirled the sake in his cup instead of drinking it.

Shikaku sighed. "So troublesome." He took a deep breath and another sip. "I said, you were right. About Kimi. I did know when I saw her. Doesn't mean that she's not damn suspicious. She behaves like an adult foreigner."

"You think I haven't noticed?" Inoichi rolled his eyes. "Every so often, I forget that I'm talking to a child."

The Nara grunted in agreement. "I don't blame you. You're sure that her background checks out? She's not a spy?" He'd asked Inoichi this question many times before, and the answer was always the same.

"Not against us. Her background is perfect. It's downright impossible." It was Inoichi's turn to stare at the painting. "Isamu triple-checked. Even my father assessed her. She's clean."

"So, it's a mystery. I hate mysteries." Shikaku paused. "I see why you want to use her, though. She has potential for several different situations. But it seems like a lot of work."

"So troublesome," mimicked Inoichi.

"Shut up." Still, Shikaku understood his friend's hidden request. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get to the bottom of this. Don't worry."

This Kimi girl might be good, but she's not that good.

Unfortunately, before Shikaku could start a thorough investigation, the Nine Tails attacked, and Konoha went to hell.

After the dust settled, the situation had changed.

Konoha, and therefore Shikaku, was on the edge of demise. In the span of a day, it had gone from being the most powerful ninja-village to a crippled shadow of its former glory. The Akimichi clan had lost the most in the attack, as the majority of their members were front-line ninja. Chouza's father had died during the battle, leaving Chouza as the new clan head.

Though the Yamanaka had lost the fewest members, Inoichi had lost the most, personally. His wife and brother had been killed by the Nine-Tails. To say that Inoichi hadn't taken it well would be an understatement. Thankfully, his friend had started to recover. Well, Inoichi was beginning to function again in society, which was basically the same thing for ninja. Inoichi had thrown himself into his job and into taking care of Ino. Considering some of the other ninja's coping methods, it wasn't so bad.

Shikaku, on the other hand, had gotten away unscathed. His clan had suffered a moderate amount of casualties, the majority of them being children. For not the first time, Shikaku thanked every god there was for the protective sealing around his own child's room. His mother, the clan head, had broken her leg, but that was the extent of her injuries. Which was lucky for the clan and for him. Shikaku wasn't very keen on taking over his mother's position.

In the midst of all the chaos, Shikaku didn't have time to investigate Inoichi's student. He hardly had time to do anything besides work, as much as he despised it. But despite it all, Shikaku's genius-level IQ never let him forget. Once the village had returned to pseudo-normality, he decided to indulge in a moment of curiosity.

Shikaku pushed open the door to Kyou Nohara's office. Well, it was more of a closet than an office, but he had it on good authority that the doctor would be there. According to Inoichi, the woman was Kimi's mentor. Shikaku knew that it was a good place to start.

"For Sage's sake," snarled Dr. Nohara, somehow managing to spin around on crutches, "I'm not leaving to pop out babies until the hospital—" She stopped upon seeing her visitor.

"Hello," said Shikaku, amused.

"Oh!" The doctor bowed awkwardly, leaning heavily on one side. "Nara-sama, I didn't realize it was you! It's just… Intel's been, you know, w-well," she stammered and flushed a bright red.

He waved off her explanation. "No, I understand. My mother's the same way." He shut the door behind him and slouched a little further. "Call me Shikaku. I'm not big on formality."

"Then you must call me Kyou." Dr. Nohara eased herself into her chair, leaving her crutches against the wall. "I hope you don't mind me sitting. I'm still recovering from the loss of my leg."

Shikaku politely avoided looking at her missing limb. "I don't mind at all."

She sighed and began massaging her leg. "Is there anything you need, Shikaku-sama? I'm sorry for being so blunt, but I do need to get back to work in a few minutes." The doctor shifted in place, looking both tired and nervous.

"Right. Of course." He tucked his hands into his pockets. "It's nothing serious. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Mita Kimiko. She's your student, right?"

Nohara's expression softened slightly before becoming defensive. "Yes. Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all." He smiled, sharp and slow. "It's just some routine questions."

She drew back and crossed her arms, knowing better than to ask anything more. "Ask away, Shikaku-sama."

"What's your opinion on Kimi? Is she a good worker?"

The doctor blinked. "Well, yes. She's very bright, and she has a certain maturity that her agemates lack. Her medical knowledge is almost uncanny, at times. I'd say she's a prodigy, but the majority of her progress is from effort, not from talent."

Shikaku leaned back, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"Frankly, Kimi-chan isn't a natural-born medic. Her chakra control is average, if that. She's had to work incredibly hard to get to where she is today."

Interesting. "How good is she?"

Dr. Nohara's eyes drifted to the clock, and she started rattling off a series of benchmarks and numbers quantifying Kimi's progress. The girl had a fair amount of basic healing jutsu, a tentative grasp on cellular regeneration, and excellent non-chakra medical skills. Shikaku tucked the information into his memory, faintly impressed.

"As you can see," finished the doctor, "she's quite far ahead. Kimi is no Tsunade, but she has a fair amount of skill."

Shikaku scratched at his scars. "You seem fond of the girl."

"Well, yes." She seemed taken aback. "I was planning on taking her as my apprentice. The Med Corp needs people like Kimi."

He resisted the urge to snort. Knowing Inoichi, that isn't going to happen. "Is that so?" Shikaku paused. "You've noticed. There's something odd about her."

"I, well, I—" Her grip on her leg tightened. "I don't know what you mean. Well, alright, Kimi is very mature. Almost unnaturally so. Intelligent, yes, but more than that. And sometimes, well…" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Sometimes?" he prompted.

"Sometimes," she said slowly, "she knows information she shouldn't know. Information…" Kyou became pensive. "Information that even I don't know. And sometimes, it's wrong."

Shikaku blinked. "What?" He hadn't been expecting that.

"Kimi has an enormous amount of medical knowledge. A large portion of it is just trivial. Just the other day, we were discussing the appendix." She gave an incredulous laugh. "Kimi started rambling about their purpose. She mentioned extrathymic T-lymphocytes and their origins in the appendix..." The doctor trailed off, shaking her head. "How in the world would she know that? In most medical texts, the appendix is described as a useless organ. Even I hadn't heard about her theories before." Dr. Nohara shrugged. "I suppose Kimi's simply good at medicine."

He tilted his head, knowing that neither of them really believed it. "You mentioned that she's wrong, occasionally."

"Yes. She has an odd understanding of bacterial diseases. It's almost as if doesn't remember chakra's involvement in—" The doctor swore when she noticed the clock. "It was nice talking to you, Shikaku-sama, but I'm very late for my appointment. Shall we finish this conversation another time?"

Dr. Nohara didn't wait for him to answer, using her crutches to brush past Shikaku. The Jounin Commander let her go. He closed his eyes and indulged in a brief moment of respite.

Strange. A child with the mannerisms of an adult, a spotty but shocking knowledge of medicine, and an odd command of chesu tactics… Shikaku opened his eyes and ambled out of the room. Very strange. The more information I gather, the more tangled this conundrum becomes.

AN: So. Here's the first story in the collection. It's just a glimpse at Shikaku's peripheral involvement and opinion of Kimi. At least, at first. The next side-story should be from Itachi's point of view. The POV will likely jump around from chapter to chapter, and I might even toss in a few deleted scenes that never made it into the main story.

Though I can't think of anything right now, I'll probably type out a few theories and miscellaneous information in the author's notes. You know, things that probably will never pop up in the actual story. Also, if you would like to see a certain scene or POV, you're welcome to ask in a review or PM, though I can't guarantee that I'll write it.

This chapter is unbeta-ed. I apologize for the errors that I missed.

Thanks for reading!