Dumbledore finally starts to ask his questions
Dumbledore’s POV-
The next day Dumbledore and Minerva were ready by 6.30 and Yoshina was also very busy in the morning. She seemed to be making a whole bunch of sandwiches. She placed some of the made sandwiches in front of them, ‘You would not mind, sandwiches for breakfast would you? I am in a kind of a hurry. I have to finish making these, and go meet up with Noriko-san to discuss today's dinner party. It is good that you two are up and about early in the morning, unlike Shikamaru’, said Yoshina.
‘Would you like me to wake him up,’ suggested Minerva, ‘or would you like me to help in something else’.
‘No need, no need, he can sleep for about another hour,’ said Yoshina, then smiling, ‘and by that time if he does not wake up, I will go wake him up. These sandwiches are almost done anyway, and the other dishes are sent through Ino, in time.’
‘Yoshina-san, does that mean that neither one of you will be there for the meeting?’ asked Dumbledore.
Yoshina smiled, ‘sorry Dumbledore-san, I am simply just a civilian, I cannot be in a meeting like that. After Shikamaru is up and ready he will tell you more about it. Honestly, I have no clue what is happening'.
'So you could not might be give us some pointers could you?' asked Minerva.
'You have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you always speak the truth and explain the mission in detail. Shikamaru will help you through it, of course', answered Yoshina.
The two wizards looked at her questioningly. Yoshina just shrugged as if to say you will figure it out. After another half-an-hour the other Wizard officials arrived.
‘Ahh, Yoshina-san, will you also be there for the meeting this time?’ asked the Japanese Minister, slightly excited.
‘Sorry, Yeong-sama, I will not be there, as per the usual.’
The Japanese Minister shrugged and sighed but did not try to argue with it.
Dumbledore did not see Shikamaru awake even though the time was almost 7.45. He wanted to go to the meeting place a bit early, so that he could be acquainted with it.
Therefore, when he pointed this out to Minerva, ‘Yoshina-san, it is almost 7.45, are we not supposed to be at the meeting place by 8.’
‘Ohhh my god, that boy is just like his father-very lazy. He was supposed to wake up 15 mins before’, Yoshina speeded towards the room that Dumbledore thought was where Yoshina slept.
‘SHIKAMARU!!!SHIKAMARU!!! WAKE UP THIS INSTANCE,’ yelled Yoshina, scaring all the wizards there (surprisingly not Minerva-who seemed to be smiling).
'You should have seen her sister and her mother. Each morning me and my mom would literally jump out of our skins to wake up’, said Minerva chuckling.
It reminded Dumbledore of Mrs. Weasley and the twins. It was also at that time that Dumbledore figured that this was the first time he had seen Shikamaru wake up or fall asleep in the house, other than their first day here, where he just showed up to refresh himself, and left quickly again. At that moment however, Yoshina came out of the room, mumbling about lazy boys and their big brains, which made no sense to Dumbledore.
At the same time a girl with blond hair tied up in 4 ponytails, arrived at the door. She seemed to be wearing a low-cut black kimono, with nets covering her legs, hands and part of her chest. She was also carrying something metal.
It seemed she was escorted by the blond girl he had seen at the dumpling shop that day. Same as that day she was wearing a two-piece purple outfit. Her hair in comparison to the one with the ponytail was long and seemed to be covering one of her eyes.
‘Yoshina-san, I came. I have brought Temari-san with us and the rest of the food', the girl with the purple outfit called out.
'Ahhh, Ino-chan, Temari-san, welcome. Is the Kazekage on his way?'
'Hai, I came early, because I wanted to discuss something with Shikamaru, before the meeting starts. Where is he?’ Temari asked.
‘Sorry but Shikamaru is still asleep. He refuses to wake up when I call.’
'Ahh, perfect timing Temari, you can go and wake him up', said Ino smiling, cunningly with a pat on her back.
'What? I cannot do that', she said with a pout, and a small blush seemed to be creeping up on her face.
'Oh stop it, you are literally the only one who will be able to scare that lazy idiot awake', Ino said.
'Temari-san, can you try? Or else he would be sleeping right through everything it seems', Yoshina also suggested.
Temari seemed to be flushed, but walked towards the bedroom with a purpose.
'Try not break anything, dear!' cried Yoshina, as if suddenly remembering who she was sending.
'Yeah, Captain Yamato would eat our heads', reminded Ino
Temari turned at the last minute, with a very cunning smile, 'if anything that would be Shikamaru's fault for not waking up early. Besides he will have to come to suna to find me and if he comes, I will make sure that I am always beside my brother at all times'.
'Good excuse', said Ino with a pout, while Yoshina sighed, giving up.
For some reason, Dumbledore felt that he should be afraid of the stability of this house.
'TEMARIIIII! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! FINE, FINE, I AM AWAKE! YOU CAN GO NOW’ Shikamaru’s screams could be heard not more than a minute after she went in.
Then Shikamaru could be seen coming out of the bedroom, mumbling something about ‘troublesome women.’
At that moment, another guy, who had makeup on his face, arrived with two young girls.
‘Kankuro-san, and this must be the other two in your team. Welcome. Shikamaru just woke up, thanks to Temari-chan. Make yourself at home,’ greeted Yoshina, with a smile.
Kankuro chuckled as he saw the Shikamaru dragging himself out of the bedroom, mumbling, while the other two giggled, while blushing.
Then Temari came out of the bedroom, and she kept the bedroom door open through which everybody saw that the entire back wall was broken (it looked like it was blown away). The wizards were shocked into silence.
'Temarii, why did you have to break the wall? Now Yamato-san will probably eat our heads’, pleaded Kankuro, but immediately shut his mouth after the look that Temari directed at him.
‘It is not like anybody will be staying there tonight, anyway’, shrugged off Temari.
‘There might be a slight chance,’ said a small girl with brown hair.
‘Matsuri,’ said Temari sternly, which made the girl to hide behind Kankuro. It seemed funny, however none of the wizards were able to laugh, it was as if they were paralyzed.
Before the debate could continue further however, a guy who seemed young wearing red, arrived. He had a gourd strapped to his leg and was carrying what appeared to be a white hat, with a weird insignia in it. There was also the word ‘love’ tattooed on his forehead in kanji. The most important thing he noticed was that none of them seemed to be older than Shikamaru.
‘Gaara-sensei,’ said Matsuri, almost glad that the debate did not continue.
‘Hi, Yoshina-san, sorry for all this trouble,’ said Gaara as Yoshina was coming from the kitchen to welcome him.
She simply shrugged it off and welcomed him, ‘welcome, Gaara-sama. No trouble at all. If anything it should be me who should apologise’.
‘Temari, has the meeting started? Were you able to discuss the matter and relay our decision to Shikamaru?’ asked Gaara.
Temari blushed at this, but Kankuro answered, ‘that idiot was just awoken by Temari just when we came.’
‘Kankuroo!!!’ cursed Temari, who was clearly blushing.
This, however, did not seem to baffle Gaara, who clearly was the leader of the group, instead he too seemed to be enjoying seeing Temari flustered.
He then turned towards the wizards, ‘and you must be the wizards, good day to you. We shall meet again in the meeting’.
The wizards barely managed to bow their heads. It was pretty obvious to them that all of them were super powerful people. Also, Dumbledore noticed something that he would never hope to see in any child’s eyes. He hoped that what he thought was wrong. He pitied them.
‘I will be in the meeting room, hopefully everything will go fine, today,’ sighed Gaara, and went ahead to the room that Dumbledore and Minerva thought was Shikamaru’s bedroom. The other 3 except for Temari and Ino also followed suit.
-Temari POV-
'Is it about him?' Ino asked. Temari nodded. Temari signalled Ino to get a bit away from the wizards, to which Ino followed.
'What do you think about him?' Temari asked.
'Well, he did solve the explosive humans case. I mean until that time, even if Naruto and Sakura were saying that he was fine I was actually quite reluctant. But after that, I feel like he is trying to redeem himself. You understand that right?' said Ino looking towards the door where Gaara went.
Temari smiled, 'that is exactly what Gaara said too'.
-Dumbledore's POV-
He wondered what they were talking about, however, he could not hear anything. However, the result was what both wanted it seemed. Then changing his attention back to the wizards.
‘Minerva, I thought that that room was actually Shikamaru’s bedroom, at least until the point where Temari went to wake him up,’ said Dumbledore.
‘I thought so too, actually’, said McGonagal.
‘Ohh, no, no yesterday was the only day that he was able to stay the night here. Otherwise, he is really busy with the village head. So just for yesterday, I put up a camp bed in my bedroom for him,’ said Yoshina, hearing this. ‘Well considering the fact that that bedroom is also now unsleepable,’ she looked at Temari, at this point, ‘I strongly suggest that we NOT sleep here.’ Temari was rubbing the back of her head and was giving a small chuckle.
At that moment, another lady who was wearing a sleeveless red kimono with slits on either side. She seemed to be wearing a black leggings underneath. She arrived with a very short old man, which reminded Dumbledore of Professor Flitwick. However, he seemed to be a hundred years older, but could probably have kicked the wizards asses quite as easily as anybody else.
‘Ahh Kurotsuchi-san and Onoki-sama, come on in,’ invited Temari, then turning towards Yoshina, ‘Yoshina-san, the hidden stone delegation is here.’
‘Welcome, Tsuchikage-dono. Kazekage-dono is in the meeting room, but Shikamaru just woke up,’ said Yoshina, ‘Noriko-san and I have prepared some tea and some snacks for the meeting, Tsuchikage-dono. Now I will be going, as Noriko-san is waiting to go to the marketplace.’ The people who had just arrived and Temari, nodded.
'Yoshina-san, mother said that she will be at the flower shop, and for you to come there on the way', said Ino.
'Thank you, Ino', said Yoshina. They also went to the meeting room.
'Dumbledore-San, Minerva-San, I hope we meet again in the village and good luck with the meeting’, said Yoshina, preparing to leave, ‘Yeong-sama, I am leaving now. Good luck.’
'SHIKAMARU!!! I am leaving. I have left your breakfast on the table,’ screamed Yoshina, looking at the side of the bathroom.
‘Hai, hai,’ said Shikamaru, as he was coming out, then noticing the newcomers, ‘ahh, Onoki sama, Kurotsuchi-san, come on in.’ He welcomed the newcomers, while Yoshina left for the market.
‘Shikamaru, about that suggestion, are you sure about it?’ asked Kurotsuchi.
‘Hmm?’ Shikamaru seemed confused, then finally realising he nodded his head, ‘You heard about the recent incidents; I believe. Even the Raikage had given the benefit of the doubt.’
‘Gaara also agreed with it’, said Temari.
‘Yeah, I heard about that, however that does not explain anything,’ said the old man. ‘Shikamaru, come into the meeting room, where we can freely and openly discuss this,’ he said, noticing the wizards listening into the conversation.
'Hai, I will brief them on the meeting and come,’ said Shikamaru, while bowing down. The old man and the red wearing girl, left for the meeting room.
As they left, another group arrived, consisting of a young woman of about 30 and a guy, who looked like he was 17 or 18 yrs. in age. The woman was pretty, wearing a blue dress, which went well, with her brown hair. The guy who was wearing a striped shirt and blue trousers, seemed to be a shy person. However, what stood out the most, was the weird kind of thing attached to the back (when Dumbledore looked closer, he noticed that it was a sword), and his shark-like teeth.
‘Mei-Sama, Chojuro-san, welcome,’ said Shikamaru, welcoming them with a bow.
‘Thank you Shikamaru-kun. After questioning our newest recruits, I agree to the suggestion. After all we have all made similar mistakes, especially us from the mist village,’ said the woman, and walked towards the meeting room, with the guy following close behind.
'Thank you, Mei-sama', said Shikamaru, bowing down.
Dumbledore finally asked, ‘Shikamaru-kun, are you a shinobi?’