Author's note: Goodness, I really left you hanging for a while :( However, this was a pain to write and left me with a writer's block for some months. In either case, here it is ^.^ Sorry for taking so long, I'll work on that

LIA

Replacement, part 2

by Synaps

Shikamaru snapped his head up, not quite believing his eyes. One of the other robbers had been identified. Not only that, but he was a local, meaning that they probably used a facility owned by him as their hide-out. To make matters even more perfect, he owned a summer house just north of town. If Shikamaru could pick a place to use as a base for terrorism, he would pick somewhere north of Leaf City. All homes up there were separated from neighbours by a combination of trees and distance.

He needed to get a hold of Tenten, someone should be sent out there.

-l-

Deidara entered the mall, as cheerful as ever.

He had been in a sticky situation. As a hired gun he wasn't a trusted ally to the RC. Thy had hired him to get them money. As such they expected him to deliver them said money as soon as it was safe. Of course, Deidara had no plans of doing so. He had stolen the money, so it was only fair for him to take some of it. It wasn't like he was using it all on himself. No, Deidara was feeling charitable.

He was going to share the results of his hard work with the citizens of Leaf City.

-l-

Tenten watched through the binoculars of her sniper-rifle. She had positioned herself in a pine-tree, allowing her to watch over the arrest. In her ear she had a small communication-device, connecting her to the Black-Ops on the ground.

The glorified foot-soldiers finally stormed the villa, after what felt like an eternity of (necessary) preparation.

"Star 1, Star -. Do -ou copy? Ov-r." Tenten stopped herself from jumping as a nervous voice reached her ear. The static was pretty bad.

"Copy. Star 1 here. Over."

"…dead…"

-l-

Neji sighed silently. After talking to Gai for more than 20 minutes he needed a break. Actually, he was exhausted, most likely from lack of sleep. His bed had broken a few days ago (3 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes…), allowing springs to stick up and tear at his skin as he slept. Neji didn't own a couch, or even a comfortable chair. He'd spend the last few days (3 days, 5 hours, 51 minutes) sleeping on the floor. It was only slightly better than sleeping on the bed, but only slightly. He needed a new bed, he could stop by the mall and look at prices. The case was soon to be closed, they wouldn't need an interrogation expert until tomorrow. Even if they did, the girl he had been training, Yamanaka Ino, would suffice. Even though a normal agent could interrogate just as good as she could at this stage.

With that irritated thought, Neji left work. Not pausing to glare at the sleeping Shikamaru.

-l-

Shikamaru sat up in surprise. His phone was ringing. Still quite sleepy, he indulged in the task of finding the miniature cell. He'd bought the newest model as it came out last week and was beginning to regret purchasing something so tiny.

"Hello!" he almost screamed in desperation as he answered the call. "Shikamaru here!"

"It's Tenten. Bad news."

"What happened? Did anyone get hurt?"

"No-one on our side. They, the terrorists, had been murdered before we got there."

"What? How?"

"Small explosions, tiny enough not to affect the outside of the building. They had been tied up in the living room and strapped to bombs. And there's more. Their explosion expert, Deidara, is nowhere to be found. And neither are the money."

"Well, oh crap."

"Agreed. Tell Neji I'll be right back, I couldn't get a hold of him."

"He left already, I think."

"OK, I'll stop by his apartment. We'll come in an hour or so."

"Got it."

Shikamaru placed his hands together in thought. Deidara was still on the loose, he had most likely been the one to kill his accomplices. 'Why' was a key question, but not really an important one. 'Where does a bomber go when he's quit his day-job?' That was the real problem.

It depended on what he was planning to do. If he was escaping, hiding, planning another attack…

Places with a lot of people were feasible for all of them. Train stations, hospitals, malls…

-l-

Neji should have known beds were awfully expensive. He'd have to be frugal for months in order to afford it, unless he asked someone for a loan. Since that was out of the question, it left the option of eating instant Ramen for a few weeks. He'd survive that. Not that he particularly enjoyed it, but he had done it before.

He sighed quietly. He had planned on going out for a snack and then returning to the office. However, as Neji quickly noticed, the place he had planned on visiting – Ichiraku's – was closed. It was the only shop which sold food at prices he would allow himself to buy at. As such the only thing left was going back to work, he refused to go home until the case was closed.

Neji turned away from the beds, knowing that he'd regret it when he had to sleep in the sofa again. Not that it was a bad sofa, but he wouldn't regret throwing it out. On fire.

As he began leaving the mall he did a double-turn. Neji wasn't sure, but it looked like that terrorist – Deidara. Neji pushed his hand into his pocket, reaching for his phone. In vain, it turned out as he found it. The cell was turned off, having used up the last of the electricity left on those poorly made batteries. It was all the more irritating, because he had just loaded it. He needed a new phone, just another thing to add to his list.

However, that was hardly an issue to deal with right now. He briefly wondered, if that was truly Deidara, what had happened to Tenten's team.

Neji followed the blonde, keeping his distance and ignoring all questions that were popping into his head. What had happened to Tenten was irrelevant, since he could do nothing about it. What was more important was stopping Deidara.

The terrorist seemed to be rushed, as he was carrying a large back-pack and walking hurriedly in the direction of the nearby central station. Undoubtedly he knew that the police were after him, though Neji took some comfort in knowing that at least Deidara didn't know about him.

The two of them had made their way to the station. As Deidara turned around to look at arrivals Neji became sure who it was he was following.

Deidara had a cocky look to him. Though he seemed hurried, he showed no outwards signs of stress. He even seemed to be humming a tune, though Neji was far away enough not to be able to make it out.

Neji stood, watching him, pondering his next step. If he tried to bring him alone in there was a risk of civilians getting caught in the cross-fire. If he left to find a phone he might lose the man. Neither option he fancied.

"I know you've been following me, un."

'The problem solved itself, how rare.' That was the first though which surged through Neji's mind as the terrorist turned to face him. Neji quickly pulled out his gun, pointing it at the other. People in the background were screaming at the sight of the gun.

"Hyuuga Neji of the Leaf Intelligence Agency!"

"I didn't ask, un."

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Oh."

"Everybody, get out of here!" He turned then to Deidara. "You're under arrest"

"Are you talking to me now?"

Neji ignored the idiotic comment, focusing only on the body-language of the terrorist. He was making weird movements, trying to get his back-pack off without Neji noticing.

"Stop that."

"I thought I'd do you a favour and show you my art. Not that you'd fully appreciate it. My former employer didn't, so I handed in my resignation just three hours ago. You see, true art is…"

"I don't care."

He did a sudden movement, throwing his bag onto the floor between them. It flapped open, revealing exposives.

"I've got the trigger here."

Neji cursed.

"Where was I? Yeah… true art is…"

Neji swallowed. If that trigger was pressure sensitive… he didn't have much choice.

" A BA-"

Boom.

The small explosion that was the gun was heard and Deidara fell dead to the floor. Neji had shot him square in the face.

He ran up to the man as he fell, catching his hand just after it hit the ground, wrapping his fingers around the trigger. Not that it would have done much good, he realised afterwards. He'd acted on a reflex, but Deidara had nearly dropped it after his death.

Still, he was still alive. That was worth something. Now, if only his heart rate would drop a bit…

-l-

"You need to get a new phone!"

Tenten was yelling at Neji. Shikamaru tried to ignore it, because if he stepped up to defend the guy she'd only start harassing him. Very troublesome.

"Well, I'm going now." He said, loud enough to be heard while Tenten was catching her breath.

"You should stay" she noted. "We were planning on going out. You know, get something to eat."

"I've got some things to do. But thanks"

-l-

"He's going to be alright, with time. He took a gunshot to the chest (and broke some bones), it's a pure miracle that he survived at all. That said, he did lose a lot of blood and was in critical state for quite a while." the doctor explained, placing locks of pink hair behind her ears.

"Thank you" Shikamaru said. "Can I see him?"

Dr Haruno Sakura looked down on her clipboard to verify her memory's correctness before answering.

"Just don't take too long. And try not to get him existed. Stress is very bad for him right now… Though it'll take another miracle for him not to get excited about everything" she muttered the last part, both irritated and worried.

Shikamaru nodded, took a calming breath and entered the hospital room.

"Hi, I'm Nara Shikamaru, your replacement."

Author's note: I'm almost a bit sad. So many close calls, yet they all survived. Well, except Deidara. But you couldn't honestly have expected him to survive? Still, I was so mean to him :( He's one of my favourite characters. I'll just have to kill of Neji as revenge ^.^