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breakthroughsWithin days of settling into Darrow, Shikamaru somehow managed to get himself a job as a detective in the police department. It shouldn't have been so easy, but it was — as though the city were an ocean that parted easily for the arrivals it brought into its streets, not questioning, but letting people settle first where they may. Although Shikamaru had done his best to bring himself up to speed on all the technology and societal differences between Darrow and Konoha, he knew that there were certain situations he could not observe until he had been given more time to settle. Interactions that only showed up once in a blue moon, for which he hasn't been around long enough to catch a glimpse of.
But if they're willing to give him the job earlier, he's not complaining. Instead, he comes in day by day to check in, get a sense for all the open questions that are sitting somewhere in that pile of paperwork that ends up on his desk.
And then he heads out. Because he's never been a nine to five, desk job kind of fellow. It means that he isn't head detective, but that's fine. He'd rather be out in the field anyway.
It's what lets him catch a band of thugs who have gone around, targeting the upper middle class businessmen who leave their offices late at night. The evening makes his job a more difficult one, needing to work only with the shadows within shadows, and not the overall blanket of night, but there are enough street lights in the area that he manages to loop all of the shadows together, as though given a swath of black paint to work with.
There are four men working together. And tonight, Shikamaru manages to get all of them under his control without throwing a single punch. His shadow links with theirs, stretched out like black bands on the asphalt in the otherwise soft, ambient light of the street light. All four are frozen in the same pose as Shikamaru, facing him.
"What's going on?" one asks. "I can't move. What the fuck did you do?"
"Holy shit, I swear, I'm trying my hardest to move, but he's. It's like he's hypnotized us."
Shikamaru starts walking towards the four, and with each step he takes, so they take a similar step in his direction. "Not hypnosis. That would be too much effort," Shikamaru says quietly, his brown eyes scanning over all of them.
It feels like there's a fifth person watching, but he doesn't know from where just yet.
But if they're willing to give him the job earlier, he's not complaining. Instead, he comes in day by day to check in, get a sense for all the open questions that are sitting somewhere in that pile of paperwork that ends up on his desk.
And then he heads out. Because he's never been a nine to five, desk job kind of fellow. It means that he isn't head detective, but that's fine. He'd rather be out in the field anyway.
It's what lets him catch a band of thugs who have gone around, targeting the upper middle class businessmen who leave their offices late at night. The evening makes his job a more difficult one, needing to work only with the shadows within shadows, and not the overall blanket of night, but there are enough street lights in the area that he manages to loop all of the shadows together, as though given a swath of black paint to work with.
There are four men working together. And tonight, Shikamaru manages to get all of them under his control without throwing a single punch. His shadow links with theirs, stretched out like black bands on the asphalt in the otherwise soft, ambient light of the street light. All four are frozen in the same pose as Shikamaru, facing him.
"What's going on?" one asks. "I can't move. What the fuck did you do?"
"Holy shit, I swear, I'm trying my hardest to move, but he's. It's like he's hypnotized us."
Shikamaru starts walking towards the four, and with each step he takes, so they take a similar step in his direction. "Not hypnosis. That would be too much effort," Shikamaru says quietly, his brown eyes scanning over all of them.
It feels like there's a fifth person watching, but he doesn't know from where just yet.