Love in a Distant Land

DISCLAIMER:

~*I do not own Naruto, Itachi, Temari, or any other characters affiliated with the series.*~

Temari set on a chair by the window of her room. She put her hand on her belly, where a new life was thought back on her life. It had taken a long time to get to this moment. But it had all been worth it, because she was now happily marry and expecting a thought back on the first time she had meet HIM. She had been 11 years old and HE had been about 13 years old. It had happen at one of her father's banquets.

~*Flashback*~

Temari looked at all the people that had attended the banquet. Looking around, that was when she saw him making his way through the crowed to get to her. She noticed that he was the first person she had seen today that was close to her age. He was wearing a formal black and red kimono with a red and white fan on the side. He also had his hair tied in a low ponytail."Good Evening, my name is Itachi Uchiha. I'm sorry if I disturbed you but it seemed to me that you need company."

Her heart seemed to take a leap when she heard his voice. For a minute she wondered if she was hallucinating. "Forgive me. It seems you really don't need company. I'll be going then." Itachi turned to walk the way he had just come from.

"Wait!" Temari protested "Don't go! I'm Temari, the eldest daughter of the Kazekage. Nice to meet you Uchiha-San"

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Yes." Itachi offered her his arm and she took it. Both of them left the room in the direction of the garden talked for what seemed like hours. She told him about her brothers and how they annoy her. He in return told her about his brother, Sasuke. She told him about how she wished that all the villages could get along so they wouldn't have wars anymore.

After a while he confessed that he had approached her because he thought she was cute. She blushed and it made him blush as well. However, their time was cut short because her father approached them. "Itachi, your father Fugaku is looking for you."

Itachi took Temari's hand and kissed it. "It seems that our time together has come to an end. I had a great time talking to you." Then he left.

"Temari..."

"Yes Father?"

"I want you to never again go near that boy. Stay away from him"

"But he's my friend…"

"It wasn't a request, it was an order."

"Why?" Asked Temari not understanding why her father wanted her to stay away from her new friend.

"Because he's from the leaf and could be using you to get information, now go to your room!" Temari ran to her room as the Kazekage return to the banquet not knowing that the Uchiha had heard the conversation that he had just had with his daughter. Temari entered her room in tears. She couldn't believe that Itachi would use her to get information. He was so nice to her, it just couldn't be.

She found a note on her bed and read it.

'Meet me in the back garden.' Signed, Itachi. She hesitated for a minute. What if it was a trap? But that thought was soon banished from her mind because she knew Itachi couldn't be bad. So sneaking out her window, she went to meet up with him.

"You came" Itachi said.

"Yeah you told me to." she said with a slight blush.

"So you don't believe what your father told you about me?" Itachi said, cocking his head to the side.

"No."

"Good, because I could never do anything to hurt you." he said, relieved.

"Really?"

"Yeah." he said. "but I have to leave after the banquet today."

"No!"

"I have too. But don't worry I'll came back to see you"

"You Promise?"

"I promise." Itachi leaned down and kissed her cheek. Then he was gone before she could even blink.

Six months passed and there was still no sign of Itachi. Temari felt sad but she knew that something must've happen to him If he hadn't come back and see her in almost half a year. As she was getting ready for bed, she heard a sound from outside her window on the balcony. She opened the door slowly to find none other than Itachi there sitting on the floor with some blood on him.

Any other girl would have screamed after seeing blood, but not her. She was used to it, living with a brother like Gaara. She helped him inside and let him rest on her bed. She too sat on the bed. "Itachi…are you OK?"

"I'm sorry…" he said, not looking at her. "I did something… horrible…"

"W-what did you do?"

"I can't tell you…because I don't want you to hate me too…."

"I would never hate you, Itachi." Temari made him get comfortable with his head on her lap.

"That's what you say now but what about when you find out? Will you hate me then?"

"I promise I won't hate you. I'm sure you had your reasons for doing what you did"

"I did." There was a long silence, where she wondered what he have done that made him like this. He was nothing like he had been six months ago. She knew that whatever he had done had hurt him a lot."Temari, could you just hold me…just for a little while.."

"Sure"She stroked his hair making her hands filthy with blood and dirt, but she didn't care because she knew that this was what he needed. When she woke up the next morning she was alone. Itachi was nowhere to be seen. All that he had left behind was a note with a golden color flower on top of it. Looking closer she notices it was a chrysanthemum.

'I'll be back one day. Wait for me. It may not be tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, but we will see each other again. I promise.' signed, Itachi. Water drops fell on the paper and she notice that they were her tears. She was crying because deep down she knew that she wasn't going to see him for a while. This time it was going to be much, much longer than six months. In fact it was going to be five long years until they meet again…

A seventeen year old Temari walked through the streets of Konohagakure. It's been 3 hours now and she was getting tired of looking for him. It happened every single time they came to Konoha on business. He would say 'I'll be back' and then go off to god knows where. Couldn't he just take a few days off and come here on vacation and do what ever he does when he is here. But no, instead he use the days they came here on business to do that and then leave all the responsibilities on her. For gods sake, she wasn't his mother. She was his sister! And she was definitely not the KAZEKAGE!

So he had to stop running off and do his job. She spotted one of the few people she knew her at the village, the Konoha Ambassador. "Hey, Hinata, have you seen Kankuro?" the blond kunoichi ask the Konoha ambassador.

"He-hey Temari-San. He was with me awhile ago but then he went into the Yamanaka Flower Shop." said Hinata.

"Thank you Hinata" Temari said as she ran off to find her brother. Temari entered the shop to find Gaara talking to a blond girl with an apron. She had a red flower in her hand and was explaining something to Kankuro. Kankuro looked like he was really was interested in what the girl was saying. That was rare. "Kankuro, I've been looking for you for three hours! Where have you been?" Temari asked, trying to sound angry.

"Hey Temari, did you know that flowers could be use for poison AND healing?" he asked. She was going to answer him but something caught her eye. A yellow flower, the same kind of flower like the one she had received from some one a long time ago. To Temari time seem to stop and bring back memories from a long ago. The long, blonde haired shopkeeper noticed how Temari was watching the flower that had just come in this morning. She walked over and picked one up and handed it to Temari.

"Here, you can have it." Ino said and extended the flower to her.

"No thanks." refused Temari.

"Please, take it. You seem to like it." Ino said and place the flower in Temari's hands.

"Thank you."

"No problem." said Ino as she smiled at her. "It's a Chrysanthemum, the flower means optimism and joy. It also symbolizes the sun."

"I didn't know that." Temari replied and looked at the flower in her hands. then Shikamaru enter the shop and looked from two sand siblings to the leaf kunoichi.

"Finally, hey you two, the Hokage send me to look for you." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Lets go Kankuro" Temari ordered as she said bye to Ino. They left with Shikamaru and went to the Hokage's office to begin the meeting. After the meeting was over, Temari was ready to go back home to the Sunagakure. Unfortunately, Kankuro still wanted to stay for a while. So Temari headed home by herself.

She was offered an escort by Lady Tsunade but she refused. She had traveled from the Sand to the Leaf many times and she knew she could take care of herself. Walking through the road she looked at the flower in her hand. Then she sensed someone following her. She turned back but no one was their. "Show yourself! Why are you following me?" she asked. There was a long silence but then a man came revealed himself. He was wearing a black coat emblazoned with red clouds and red trim. A straw hat with cloth streamers sat atop his head.

"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked him, getting her fan ready to attack if necessary.

"There are many things I want." the man simply said as he walked towards her. The man's voice sounded deadly but Temari showed no fear, for showing fear to the enemy was like giving him an advantage. The man noticed the flower Temari had in her hand and increasing his speed, he took it from her. "Pretty." the man said while looking at it. "So who gave you this flower? Your boyfriend, perhaps?"

"That's none of you business!" she roared at him.

"Don't be rude, Temari." said the stranger, using her name.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"Someone from the past." the man then returned back to his original tone of voice.

Temari took a fighting stance. "Who are you?" she asked. The stranger didn't answer. getting angry, she removed her fan from her back and sent a gust of wind at he man. The attack didn't do anything to the man. It just blow his hat away. But that alone was enough to make Temari freeze where she stood.

"N-no, y-you…" Temari tried to talk but she couldn't make out what she wanted to say to this man.

"Disappointed?" the man asked with a bitterness in his voice. "I Should have known..." He crushed the flower he still had in his hand. When it was completely ruined he dropped it on the floor and turned to leave.

"Itachi..." she whispered. For the first time in year, her eyes stared to fill up with tears. She didn't know if it was from sadness or from him walking away, but him leaving made her come out of her shock. She ran to him and hugged him from behind. "Don't leave!" she said. "I don't hate you!"

"Why?"

"Because I know that you only did what you did for a very strong reason."

"Temari" he turned around and pull her into a kiss. A very passionate kiss that expressed how much he had missed her over the last few years. The kiss wasn't long enough for Itachi's liking but they had to pull away for air. "I missed you"

"I missed you too, Itachi." she said and hugged him. "Itachi?"

"What is it?"

"You owe me a new flower" she said. Itachi laughed. They spend the rest of the day and night together. Just enjoying each other's company. The next morning, when Temari woke up, she was all alone. For a minute she thought it had all been a dream, until she noticed a piece of paper and a flower on top of it.

'Wait for me, someday I will return,' signed, Itachi. Freshly new tear fell from her eyes. He had left her again.

'I will' she thought and picked up the flower and gave it a small kiss.

+Flashback+

She entered her room and just dropped on her bed. You would think that being the older sister of the Kazekage would be the coolest thing in the world. Being able to go to meeting with him, having to help him do a ton of paper work, having to help him solve the villagers problem and to top it all off, having crazy people try to kill your family. Yeah, that was fun… Sometimes she wish she had the normal like of an eighteen year old. don't get her wrong, being the sister of the Kazekage also had its benefits. She could have anything she wanted; jewelry, clothes, make up. Unfortunately that wasn't her thing, sure she care about it but only a little bit. She would probably cared more if she had someone special in her life. Someone that was here beside her and not God knows where. Sure she had people that interested her but no one in particular like him.

She sometimes wonder if waiting for him was worth it. Deep down she knew the answer, it was. After waiting for him for seven years, she knew that it would be. She couldn't just throw away those years and find someone new…Knowing where her train of thought would go, she decided to go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day for her and Gaara. She closed her eyes and slowly sleep took over with dreams of the one particular person with long black hair. Feeling a breeze come into her room, she was slowly pulled out of her dreams by the cold. She sat up and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. After turning on a lap, she looked at the clock on her nightstand, it was 4:23am. She got up and closed the open window. She could have sworn it was closed when she fell sleep, but whatever, she needed to go back to bed.

She made her way back to her bed but something on her desk caught attention. She couldn't see very well because of the dim lights, but she knew it was yellow. She walked closer to her desk and immediately recognized the yellow thing. It was a flower, a chrysanthemum, to be exact and under the flower was an envelope. Being careful not to ruin the flower, she took the envelope and opened it. She removed the letter that was in side and read it.

'Temari,The time to face my brother has arrived. In a few days I will have to fight him but I already know what the outcome of the fight will be. Temari, I want you to know that I always loved you. That every day that past you were always in my heart and mind. I want you to know that your memory was the only thing that kept me going for this long. Thank you for being there when I needed you even if you didn't know it. Thank you for not hating me. I asked you to wait for me a few years ago and that was pure selfishness on my part. You had the right to find someone to love and I want you to do just that. Please, forget about me and find some one new. Find someone that will love you and treasure you as much as you deserve. Be happy with him and forgive me. I know I hurt you but I want you to know that it was never my intention to do so. I really did want us to be together. I wanted to create a family with you. But that can't be when I know I will die that day. I ask you to please stay away from…'

Tears fell from her eyes like a waterfall as she continue reading the letter. It couldn't end like this, not after all the time she waited. Not after all the dark and long years she been without him. Not after having to live with an emptiness inside her. He couldn't asked her to forget about him. How could he expect her to be happy with someone else? '

...village. I don't want you to get hurt. Yours until I die. Signed, Itachi.'

As she cry an idea begin to form. The idiot had told her where he would fight his brother. She could go there, because after all, there was nothing stopping her. She made up her mind. She had waited too long for him. If he wasn't coming to her then she would go to him. She set off to find the place of the battle. She was prepare for anything because with her were the three best medical ninjas in the sand village. It took her a while to get to the place but when she did she was just in time. Itachi was hurt and badly. He had Sasuke cornered and looked like he reaching for his eyes but instead he poked his forehead.

"Sorry, Sasuke ... this is the last time" he had said before collapsing. Time seemed to move very slowly as she watched Itachi collapse. She wanted to go to him at that moment but the medical ninjas held her back. They wouldn't let her go. Every second that pasted seem like an eternity, because with every second that past the chances of Itachi surviving this shortened.

Sasuke finally left with some other guy, so she quickly leaped to Itachi's side. The medical ninja's quickly starred working on him. Temari looked at him and knew that there wasn't much hope. He had blood everywhere. Unconsciously, her hand move to touch him but the medics stop her.

"My Lady, please restrain from touch him. His condition is not good. He's gone into Cardiac Arrest and we need to work fast. He only has a 10% chance of living."Temari moved away to give the medics more room to work on him. One medic had both hands glowing with Chakra over his heart. Another was giving Itachi different kinds of shots. The last one was mending his other deathly injuries. She collapsed next to a rock with her knees to her chest and begin to cry. Once again time seem to slow down as she watched the medical ninjas try to heal him. The medics worked on him until night.

They finally got him to a point where he could be taken to nearest hospital for the night. As soon as the morning arrived Temari had him transfer to the Sand village. There she had him place in her home's private hospital. Thankfully, neither of her brothers asked questions. The medics worked on him once again, but after they did everything they could Itachi only had a 50/50 chance of living. It was now a matter of time. If his condition, improve then she would spend that time beside him. Only leaving to take a bath or when her brothers dragged her to go eat something. the doctors finally declared him out of danger. A few more days went by but he still wouldn't wake up. She was starting to get worried.

Then one day when she entered the room she saw Itachi beginning to awaken. "Itachi? Are you awake?" she asked, running to him. Slowly Itachi opened his eyes to see none other then Temari beside him.

"W-Where…?"

"You're in the Sand village." Temari answered, knowing what he was trying to asked.

"How…?"

"I was there… that day when you fought your brother. I went there to get you… How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired… thirsty…" he said.

"Oh… well I can't give you any water until the doctors say it's OK" Temari said. Itachi gave her a threatening look that would make anyone do as he said. Temari wasn't intimidated, by now she was used to those looks, thanks to Gaara. "Just go back to sleep, OK?" Itachi looked at her for a minute and then decided to drop it.

A whole month passed for Itachi as he recovered. "How are you doing to today?" asked Temari as she enter the room. Itachi was sitting up on the bed.

"Are you going to ask me that every time you come to see me?" Itachi asked as he looking at her.

"Yes"

"I'm fine. I'm ready to get out of here." he said.

"So you're completely heal?" Temari asked. She then lifted her hand and brought it down across Itachi's cheek, slapping him really hard. "What the hell!" asked Itachi, feeling his cheek.

"You stupid idiot! You almost got yourself killed! And what's with the note telling me to find someone else and marry him? After all those years you think I can just forget about you!"

"I just wanted you to be happy..." Itachi whispered.

"Yeah well, if you wanted me to be happy then you shouldn't have gotten yourself hurt."

"I'm sorry." he said and looked up at her. Tears where falling from her teal colored eyes.

"I was so worried…" Itachi pulled her into his arms. "I thought I was going to loose you forever"

"I'll always be here, I promise. I won't leave you again" he said.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really." he replied. "And to prove my point I want you to marry me/"

"What?" she said thinking she had heard wrong.

"Marry me" he repeated.

"But…"

"It's a yes or a no." he replied.

"Yes" she said as Itachi pulled her into a kiss.

+End Flashback+

Temari took a sit on the bed felling a bit nauseas. Nine months ago they had married and now she was nearing the end of her pregnancy. Suddenly she felt wet. Looking down at her kimono she notice a wet spot. Then it all clicked In her head, she was about to have her baby. "Hey, Temari have you seen my cloak…?" asked Itachi as he enter their bed room. "Temari…what's wrong, love?" He kneeled beside her.

"Baby… labor…" she said.

"What?" asked Itachi confused.

"I'm going into labor!" Temari yelled.

"Ok, just breath. I'll go get the doctor, nurse, someone…"

Itachi ran out of the room and found Gaara talking to one of the best medical ninjas in Konoha. She was a close friend of the sand siblings. They trusted her, so there was no way she would tell the leaf Hokage that a missing nin was here. That is why she had been perfect for this occasion. "Gaara, Temari is going to have a baby…" he said nervously.

"And it's yours…I know Itachi. You've told me everyday since the day you found out nine months ago." said Gaara misunderstanding what Itachi had meant.

"Ga-Gaara-kun, I think he means right now." said the medical ninja. Gaara hurried to the room. "OK, we need hot water, towels, and my bag" the medical ninja said.

"Anything else, Hinata?" Gaara asked before leaving.

"Also get me two other medics." Hinata said and turned back to Temari. Two minutes passed and Gaara returned with everything she had requested. "Gaara, Itachi, please wait outside." She said and took out a bottle from her bag. "here drink this. It will lessen the pain."

"Hinata… it hurts…" said Temari.

"I know, but the medicine should start working any minute now. Now, breath and count to ten. Then let it out." Outside the room Itachi and Gaara waited. An hour pass them they hear a baby cry. A few seconds later they heard another cry. Itachi was shocked, there wasn't just one baby. There were two. A few minutes later one of the medics open the door and let them in. Temari sat on the bed holding one baby, while Hinata held the other one. When Itachi came closer Hinata gave him the baby she was holding.

"They are twins." Temari said. Itachi looked at the baby, the little boy looked just like him. She couldn't see his eyes because they were close but he had a feeling that they were not black. Itachi sat beside her to look at his other child. "What are we going to name them?" asked Temari.

"I don't know… how about Koyouki and…Hitoshi?" said Itachi.

"Sure that would be perfect." Temari yawned.

"How are you felling?" he asked worried.

"Tired…and sleepy…"

"Then go to sleep, I'll watch them."

"Itachi?" she said looking at him.

"Yeah?" he said and looked at her.

"I love you…" she smile at him.

"I love you, too" he said and kissed her.