Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own the rights to Naruto or Kishimoto's characters. I do, however, own a few of these characters. Anything that you don't recognize in the original series is probably created by me, but if you have any doubts you can always ask.

Decoded

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It wasn't just the numbers that confused Shikamaru, the letters were absolute nonsense as well. They mingled in with the numbers and stood alone as well, sometimes creating absolutely random words like 'noodle' or 'house'. It didn't look like they had any meaning, but Shikamaru's gut told him to keep looking at the papers. Which was exactly what he was doing.

He sat at his kitchen table, and spread around him in utter chaos were several scrolls and papers. His hair had fallen out of it's ponytail long ago, and Shikamaru didn't care to put it back up despite the fact that pieces were hanging in front of his eyes and he had to swept them away every few minutes.

That knocking sound that Shikamaru had previously ignored (and pretended to have never heard) came back again, louder and longer than ever. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and slid the chair away from the table so he could get up after the knocking continued for another few minutes.

"You didn't show up." Ibiki's deep voice greeted him at the door. Shikamaru leaned against the jam, arms crossed and attempting to stare down the man in the hallway. At first, though, he had to force himself not to laugh. The man looked completely out of place. The flowers on the carpet and the pale green wallpaper didn't exactly match the 'black leather coat and stone-cold face' appearance that he was apparently going for.

"Forgot," Shikamaru offered lazily with a shrug.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed, and if Shikamaru hadn't been working along side the man for the past six months, he would have been having a difficult time concealing his unease. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm busy."

"You have the day off," Ibiki pointed out.

"Personal business, very important, couldn't wait."

"Since when has working become personal business?" Ibiki asked with a humorless smirk as he nodded over Shikamaru's shoulder to the kitchen table behind him. He was a little surprised at how chaotic it looked after he had taken a step away from it; up close, the insane stacks and folded chunks of paper made complete sense, but now it looked like an earthquake shook his entire apartment.

"The answer's no," Shikamaru said, tired of beating around the bush.

"You didn't even listen to the job description."

"I don't need to read it to know that I don't want any part in torture or interrogation. The answer's no. It was no a month ago, and it was no a week ago. You're smart enough to know what no means." Shikamaru stared at the closed door with wide eyes. Had he just slammed the door in Ibiki's face? He watched the door for a few moments, listening to the complete silence on the other side. He let out a sigh of relief when the heavy footsteps finally disappeared down the hall.

There would be no doubt that Shikamaru would at least be slapped on the wrist for disrespecting a superior. Even if they were now the same rank, Ibiki had more experience (and admittedly, the intimidation-factor worked in his favor).

Shikamaru finally moved away from the door once he was sure that it wouldn't be kicked down by an angry interrogation specialist. He rubbed his eyes and got back to work on his codes, ignoring the fact that the papers spread across the table resembled the aftermath of a tornado.

Shikamaru ran his fingers through his hair and unrolled one of the many scrolls in front of him. Maybe if he read them again, something new would pop up.

It was really amazing how someone would go so far to cover up some simple letters. The whole thing seemed troublesome to him – wouldn't it be easier to just travel there and tell someone in person? It took a lot of time and effort to create a code, let alone decipher it.

He rested his chin in his hand, reading over the scroll again for any patterns that stood out.

Shikamaru doubted Tsunade's theory; that it wasn't important at all. Nobody would go this far to cover up something equivalent to a note passed in class. They went to this extent to cover up important information, Shikamaru was sure of it. At least...he thought. For the first time, Shikamaru found himself second-guessing his own conclusions. As much as he wanted to believe that these scrolls held important information, what if they really didn't? He would be putting all of this work into something, only to decode a pleasant letter to a friend discussing the weather and the latest village gossip.

Shikamaru was on the verge of throwing the scrolls off the table just to get them out of his sight when he stopped. His hand was hovering over them, ready to shove them away, but he hesitated.

What if he was right? Tsunade wouldn't be happy to know that he went against her orders to drop the task, but if it proved to be helpful, it could save a life in a future battle. If he could get a tiny bit of information out of this that could put a Konoha team in the advantage, it could change the outcome of an entire battle or war. It was crazy to think that something so small could snowball into something so large, but the small, itty-bity possibility that it actually could made him hesitate.

Shikamaru's hand dropped back down the table with a heavy sigh.

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Shikamaru shook his head violently, irritated both at himself and his hand for cramping up halfway through a sentence.

Not that these notes are really making a difference. I haven't made any progress at all. Shikamaru's bitter thoughts were interrupted by the soft tick of the clock, signaling the start of a new hour. He dropped his pen on the table and shook his hand again, tipping his chair back onto two legs to see the clock on the kitchen wall.

He had only been at it for five hours after Ibiki had paid him a visit and he was no closer to figuring out the code than he was when he first received it. Shikamaru rested his head in his hands and his elbows on the table, ignoring the ache that came from resting his elbows on tables for days on end while reading scrolls.

He looked back at the clock, wishing that more than a minute had passed. It was too early to go to bed, and if he did then he would wake up at an hour that nobody should knowingly experience, and his entire sleeping schedule would be thrown for a loop.

Deciding that he needed something to do to take his mind off how much he wanted to tear the pieces of paper to shreds and burn them, he pushed his hair away from the table and shuffled into his sandals and flak vest. He glanced back at the table - which now looked as if another tornadoes had torn through the area, destroying the debris that the previous one had left – and flicked the light off.

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"2F?"

Shikamaru shook his head to rid his mind of the various numbers and letters, turning to the elderly lady behind him in the register line, holding what looked like unripe bananas and several bags of candy. Her height seemed to have been hindered by the hump in her back, but he decided that after she smiled so kindly at him, he couldn't just ignore her completely. "Sorry?"

"You're the boy from 2F, right?" Shikamaru nodded, feeling slightly offended at being called a 'boy'. Then again, compared to her, I really am, he thought with a grumpy sigh. "Oh, I'm so glad I finally get a chance to talk to you." She placed her items on the counter beside Shikamarus and grabbed his forearm affectionately – like she would a son or grandchild. "I have permission from Yin – the landlord – to turn our hallway into a haunted hallway for tomorrow."

"Uh, okay." He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Did she expect him to participate? He shuddered at the thought of using his day off to jump out from behind a corner and scare little kids.

"I just thought I'd let you know that there will probably be a lot of trick-or-treaters, so make sure you have enough candy unless you want to be tricked." She giggled lightly, giving his arm another squeeze before letting go.

With a sigh and a few muttered phrases that the woman obviously didn't hear, Shikamaru glanced behind him, looking for the decorative display of paper ghosts and pumpkins he had almost knocked over earlier. He grabbed one of the bags of brightly colored candy and dropped it next to his other items, deciding that buying one bag of candy would be less of a problem than cleaning eggs off his door.

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"I dunno. Isn't that something we did back in the Academy?"

"Yeah, so?" was Kotetsu's intelligent response, coupled with a roll of his eyes as he sat on the desk where Genma was currently working. Kotetsu had been fixing the tape across his nose when he had spotted Genma begin his shift at the Missions Office and invited him to – Genma had to keep himself from rolling his own eyes at how silly the whole thing was – a costume party.

Genma finished making a few marks on the scroll in front of him before giving Kotetsu an incredulous look from under his eyebrows. The ever-present needle flicked from one side of his mouth to the other.

Kotetsu watched his friends movements, waiting for another – hopefully different – response.

"It seems childish," Genma said, his dull tone telling Kotetsu exactly how enthusiastic he was about the idea of a costume party.

"No," Kotetsu corrected, "it's going to be awesome. Raido always throws the best parties." Genma knew something was wrong when Kotetsu suddenly smiled cheekily; a change in tactics. "Oh, but it's okay. If you're too scared to go to a simple Halloween party, I think we'd all understand."

Genma glared at him.

"Who's scared of a Halloween party?" Iruka asked as he distractedly sat down at the desk beside Genma, a scroll in one tan hand and a pen in the other.

"Gen-"

"I'm not scared," Genma assured, sending his friend another glare for good measure. "I have family matters to attend to," he said, matter-of-factly.

Kotetsu raised an eyebrow. "'Family matters'? I've never heard of you talk about your family before. Can't they wait until after tomorrow?"

"I'm taking my niece trick-or-treating. I think she'll be a little disappointed if we go door to door a day late." Genma moved the piece of paper in front of him to the side and stared at the ridiculously large stack of papers beside him. Lady Tsunade had been doing more paperwork, and yet their own workload had doubled in the past week. It made no sense, and Genma briefly wondered if Shizune piled on the scrolls just to keep them busy.

"Since when do you have a niece?" Kotetsu's voice brought Genma away from his plotting revenge on Shizune back to their conversation.

"Since my sister had a kid," Genma replied, not sounding the least bit interested as he pulled another piece of paper off the large stack beside him. He clicked his pen and attempted to get to work through the distraction that was Kotetsu.

"Your sister has a kid?"

"Two."

"Two? Seriously?"

Genma looked back up at Kotetsu. "Yeah, seriously." He fought the urge to roll his eyes, and instead set his sights back on the paper in front of him. He got through a few sentences before Kotetsu interrupted his thoughts on how Kakashi could possibly have such horrible handwriting.

"So is Bairo still around?" Kotetsu asked.

"Nope," Genma answered simply, not caring for where the conversation was going.

"Really? What happened?" Genma sighed. It was really a wonder that Kotetsu ever got any work done. He had abandoned the one scroll he had started on ten minutes ago and hadn't touched it since. If he didn't know Kotetsu better, he would have began the tiresome battle of trying to get the Chuunin to work. Fortunately, he did know Kotetsu better, and chose to ignore the fact that he wasn't working.

"He was a deadbeat and left." He had hoped that his tone would convey the fact that he didn't want to talk more about the man, but Kotetsu continued on.

"Wow. Well, not much of a surprise, I guess. Never liked the guy."

"Me neither," Genma grunted.

There was a total of ten silent seconds before Kotetsu spoke again. "So what did you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"What did you do when he left?" Kotetsu wasn't even looking at Genma anymore, and seemed to find the wall opposite him rather interesting.

"How do you think I broke my hand?"

"When did you break your hand?"

"Ten years ago."

"Didn't you break your hand a few months ago when you tried to come onto Anko?" Kotetsu laughed, shaking his own hand at the sympathy he had held for his friend in pain. "That was hilarious," he added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, but I'm talking about the time before that."

"How long ago?" Genma rolled his eyes. Most people would have gathered by then – even without having previously met Genma – that he was a quiet person. He wasn't shy or anything, he just didn't enjoy conversation that dipped into any aspect of his life outside of work. Kotetsu seemed to be the only person who didn't understand that after knowing Genma for a matter of minutes.

"Ten years."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. You broke your hand on his face? Ouch."

"He deserved every punch."

"Damn right. How's Jin doing, anyway?" Genma moved the piece of paper in front of him to the side, cursing Kakashi for making what should be an easy job, difficult. There was no need to write a mission report in code, yet the man seemed to deem it appropriate for even a D-ranked mission – not to mention, his handwriting seemed to be a code in itself.

"Fine, and no, I won't mention that you obviously still have a thing for her," Genma said, sending Kotetsu a knowing look when he turned sharply to protest.

Kotetsu shut his mouth quickly, glancing at Iruka who seemed to be in his own little world, hovering over a scroll. "That was years ago. I've forgotten all about her-okay, fine." Kotetsu grumbled under his breath when Genma's eyes (and knowing smirk) didn't waver. "Thanks for not mentioning it."

Genma nodded and turned back toward the new mission report in front of him.

Maito Gai...this should be interesting. Genma unfolded the piece of paper and started to read the ridiculously described mission report. "So why don't you want me to say anything?"

"To Jin?"

Genma rolled his eyes. "No, to Izumo." Kotetsu was silent for a moment. "Of course, to Jin. Everyone except her knows and I'm starting to think it's about time you tell her."

Kotetsu shrugged, knowing that Genma wouldn't actually tell her behind his back. "I dunno."

A stack of papers several feet high seemed to materialize on his desk. Shizune stepped out from behind them with a friendly smile, waving and leaving without saying a word. Genma's thoughts flashed back to revenge schemes before he was distracted again.

"So, are you going to the party tonight?" Iruka asked, pushing the last of his papers to the side so that he could see Genma through the space between two of his own stacks.

"Nope, taking my niece trick-or-treating."

"Won't she tire out before it even gets dark?"

"As a teacher at the Academy, I thought you wouldn't be one to underestimate the lengths that a kid will go to for a pillowcase full of candy." Genma said, flashing Iruka a smile before looking back down at his own paper.

"I don't envy you," Iruka said after a low whistle.

"And I don't envy you two," Genma answered in the same, pitying tone.

"What? I don't know what you think is going to happen at the party, but Raido mentioned Anko is dressing up as a fox."

"He probably just said that so you'd come."

"I dunno. It sounds like the kind of thing Anko would do." Kotetsu suddenly looked lost in his own thoughts, a disturbingly happy smile pulling at his mouth.

"What if it's not a sexy fox costume?" Genma asked, the image of Anko in an overly-sized ratty fox costume flashed in his mind and he couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Iruka seemed to imagine something similar, and laughed, even though his eyes never seemed to waver from the new stack that 'materialized' on his desk as well.

"Then I guess I'll just have to persuade her out of it, won't I?" Kotetsu asked, wiggling an eyebrow suggestively when Iruka looked up at him.

The teacher snorted indignantly at the gesture. "You couldn't persuade a cat out of a dog house."

A scroll hit the wall inches to the left of Iruka's head, but when the two looked up at Kotetsu he suddenly found his work very interesting, and had his back facing them with his face buried in scrolls.

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1. I'd like to think that Konoha celebrates Halloween. It is, after all, a very important holiday where we get free candy.

2. So, that last giant half totally seemed like filler, right? But believe me, it's important to the story. And I like Genma, (clueless) Kotetsu, and Iruka...so you may have to deal with their shenanigans once in a blue moon. But really, is anyone going to complain? :)

3. Next chapter will reveal my OC...and if you're all nice and let me know if you like it so far, he may just appear next to a 7 year old kid and Genma, dressed in matching monk costumes (minus Genma). (Actually, he'll appear that way whether you review or not, it's just nice to hear from the several people reading once in a while. That's right, I know how many people are reading this.)