Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Heavenly Virtues

Extravagance
[lust, excessive love of others, yearning for luxury goods]

The winds from the east were soft, like the beats of butterfly wings, and made travel from Suna to Konoha much easier for Temari. She was traveling on her fan. Her brothers had left the day before, so they could prepare for their mission to Waterfall Country. Temari had had some business to tend to back home, and had gotten up to Konoha as soon as possible. She loved the soft winds, with little turbulence and struggles against her forward motion through the hot desert air.

The air was cooling down as she left the desert and started to see trees spot the landscape below her. Fire Country was a densely forested area, and she had a difficult time being in a place where she couldn't look up to see the sweltering sun and the vast blue of the sky, with the occasional cloud dancing across the water-like backdrop.

Temari hated traveling alone. She had really hoped that her father would excuse her from some duties so she could go up to Konoha with her brothers, but of course that didn't happen. She felt like she was the last person on earth, traveling the barren length of the desert and patches of trees. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed her brothers horribly.

About a week before leaving Suna, her father had informed her of a man who was interested in marrying her. Of course, Temari was shocked. How could she settle down? She was a kunoichi at her prime, and didn't want to be held back by a husband and kids. Its not that she didn't want a family, because she did: just not with someone she barely knew. Luckily, the man found a prettier girl a few days later, and withdrew his offer. Her father was furious, but Temari was relieved.

She knew exactly who she wanted to ask for her hand in marriage. But she shied away from the thought, not wanting to confirm her desire for the Konoha shadow-nin.

Chastity
[ethical sexual behavior]

Shikamaru leaned against the arm of the couch in his apartment, watching the four sleeping bags scattered over his floor shift as their occupants drew in air and expelled it. He guessed he was the only one that was awake. He could see Ino's hair splayed over her pillow, long and brilliantly blonde. Next to her, he saw the side of Chouji's face and his brunette hair, sticking to the right because he had been laying on that side before. Chouji was facing Ino, and there was no doubt that he too had been admiring the perfection of her hair flowing across the pillow.

Chouji had only confided in Shikamaru about his feelings for Ino. Of course the blonde kunoichi didn't know, because Chouji feared rejection and ruining a great friendship. No matter how many times Shikamaru encouraged Chouji to share his feelings, he refused. Shikamaru had left it at that, trusting that things between his teammates would work out on their own.

A few feet away from Chouji, Shikamaru could see with his dark eyes that there were three more sleeping bags, made of thinner material and accustomed to scorching desert heat. The three sand sibblings were lying in them, and he could tell by the golden hair that Temari was furthest across the room from him. He contemplated sleeping in the same room as her: such a thing was forbidden when he was young, the boys sleeping with the girls, but lately is was regulation for preparing for missions.

Temari was tossing and turning, muttering in her sleep. Shikamaru leaned off the edge of the couch, trying to listen to what she was saying. He picked up a few words, but a softly murmured "troublesome" caught his ear. He leaned back against the couch arm, smiling slightly while staring at the ceiling and letting his eyes droop as he drifted into sleep.

Gluttony
[over-consumption]

Temari and Ino floated on Temari's fan over the boggy landscape that lay between Fire Country and Waterfall country, about a foot above everyone else's heads. The sun was rising, casting a golden glow and making the murky ground glisten. There were five people walking beneath her: her brothers, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. They were going on a mission to the heart of Waterfall country, rescuing three children of the monarchs of the country. At the moment, Waterfall country was undergoing the revolution, so the emperor and empress were on the front lines of the battle, and they had requested that their children be taken to Tea Country to avoid being part of the bloodshed.

The ground sucked slightly at the feet of the boys who walked below, and they had to pull their shoes roughly out of the mud in order to take steps forward. Temari had said that she could take one passenger on her fan, and Chouji automatically nominated Ino. None of the other guys complained, because they all seemed to understand Chouji's situation regarding the blue-eyed kunoichi.

Temari didn't mind in the slightest: in fact, she got alone best with Ino. They were both beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girls who knew what it was like to be disrepected by the men in their village because of their gender and fragile appearance.

At the moment, they were comparing eyes. Ino spoke. "Your eyes are kind of like the ocean. Such a pretty dark blue." She commented.

Blushing, Temari responded. "Thanks. Yours are kind of like sapphires." She said, recalling the sapphire necklace that her father had given her mother when she was two. The Kazekage had given it to Temari when her mother passed away giving birth to Gaara. She wore the necklace always, under her Sand-nin headband, which was fastened around her neck. She felt as if she were keeping a piece of her mother always with her. It saddened her to think that Gaara and Kankuro had not been old enough to have clear memories of her.

Suddenly, someone yelped from below. A cuss word was emitted from Kankuro's mouth. Temari and Ino looked down to see the puppet-nin up to his thighs in the muck, and being sucked in fast. The more her brother struggled, the faster the mud devoured him.

Temari swooped down, and both her and Ino reached out to grab each of Kankuro's arms. The other boys tried to help, but Temari shooed them away. "You'll just get caught in the mud too!"

Letting go of Kankuro for just a second, Temari quickly manuvered her hands and did a jutsu that brought wind up his sides and got them leverage. She grasped his arm tight again, he was up to his waist at this point, and pulled with the wind. She felt him being freed from the substance below them, and she flexed the muscles in her arms as she tugged.

Slowly but surely, Kankuro emerged from the mud. Once his feet were dangling half a foot above the ground, Temari manuvered the fan so they could set him down on solid ground.

"You need to get washed off, quick." Temari said, not really talking to him. She muttered to Ino to hold on, and she leaned back and swooped her fan to a higher point above the ground. She looked out, and saw that there was a creek that would only take a couple hours to walk to. She pointed a finger in that direction, yelling down to the boys. "We can camp near the creek tonight. Its only a few hours walk."

She looked down to see Gaara's little head nod, and she swirled once in the sky before diving back down to where her comrades were.

"And don't get caught in any more mud." Ino laughed.

Temperance and Kindness
[moderation of consumption] and [charitable behavior]

The sun was peeking over the horizon; Shikamaru could see a thin crescent of it over the mountains to their east. The dark dawn sky was already filled with a curtain of gray clouds, and he could tell that the day was going to be cold.

He was leaning over a fire, poking their frozen meal packages as they cooked close to the flames. He could hear the crackle of the dancing heat beneath the sound of the bubbling creek. He could imagine the soft flow of the water slapping the stones that made up the shore, and how the clearness swirled unpredictably, altered slightly by every tiny pebble and disturbance.

Turning his head to look at his teammates, he saw all of them bundled in their sleeping bags, still sleeping. Kankuro snored loudly, more so than Chouji, which Shikamaru had thought impossible. They had been exhausted because they got there when the sun was falling in the west, and had almost collapsed as they were putting out their sleeping bags. They went to be hungry, because nobody had the energy to prepare the food.

He returned his thoughts to the whispering of the creek over the stones. Such a delicate system. His eyes rested on Temari's sleeping figure. Is she ever soft like that when she's awake? He thought not, because such an idea was so unlike the awakened Temari, so he rejected the notion.

But her eyes are like the ocean. He had heard Ino and Temari's conversation before Kankuro's idiotic accident, and agreed wholly with his teammate. Her eyes were liquid, drowning and sparkling like the life that the ocean held.

Gaara and Chouji woke at approximately the same time, roused by the smell of food. They would heartily welcome a warm meal to fill their stomachs.

Greed and Envy
[yearning for wealth] and[insatiable desire]

Again on her fan with Ino, Temari was still wiping the sleep from her eyes as they floated on towards Waterfall country. The landscape was more barren than before, and they had crossed the border a few hours ago. The sun hung in the sky like a medallion for a god, light dancing like flacks of gold. They had so far to go, and Temari suddenly felt herself missing Shikamaru's place.

Suna is my home! She realized with a jolt. Why would she be homesick for someone else's home? Temari was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realize that Ino had spoken.

"Hello? Did you hear me?" Ino asked, confusion shining in her eyes.

Facing her, Temari spoke. "Oh, sorry. I guess I'm still a little tired. What did you say?"

"I said that I think Chouji has feelings for me."

Looking down, Temari saw that the boys were too far in front of them to be listening. She considered what to say next. Her and Shikamaru had talked about this before, since the two teams were so close, but Temari did not know that Ino even had an inkling about Chouji's feelings. "Well?" Temari inquired.

"Well what?"

"Do you have feelings for him?"

Ino seemed generally stunned by the question. "I guess I do. But I don't want to ruin our friendship if he doesn't feel the same, you know?"

Temari knew exactly what Ino was talking about. And as she looked down at the top of the boys heads and watched Shikamaru's bobbing ponytail, she realized that she felt the exact same way about the shadow-nin.

Speaking from the heart, Temari said. "I think you should tell him." She was encouraging Ino to have the strength to do what even herself, Temari of the sand, could not do.

"I think I should too." Ino said, smiling and letting her sapphire eyes flutter closed.

Charity and Diligence
[unlimited kindness and giving] and [careful nature in actions]

Shikamaru had an IQ of over 200.

He had noticed when Ino and Chouji had left the camp, and he could figure out why. And he had definitely noticed when they returned and they were holding hands. Chouji was smiling with his hand against his mouth, and Ino had a blush spread across her face. Shikamaru didn't need to be a genius to figure out what had happened.

The evening was filled with congratulations and I-told-you-so's, mostly directed at Chouji. But as the clamor had died down, the six ninjas noticed the biting cold that was brought on as the sun went down.

The two teams had to sleep in a natural ditch in the earth, Chouji and Ino had snuggled up in the same sleeping bag to keep the cold out, and Gaara and Kankuro kept their sleeping bags close.

But Temari, keeping away from her brothers and careful to avoid the two new lovebirds, slept across the ditch from everyone. Her sleeping bag ended up close to Shikamaru's, but not close enough for him to generate heat for her. He didn't offer, because he feared her attacking him for mentioning such a thing.

As the moon rose and the temperature dropped, Shikamaru lay awake under the stars. They glittered like flecks of frost scattered across a pitch black blanket, covering the blue of the day, twinkling coldly the night he was trying to sleep in. He thought it was amusing that every night for the past three nights, he had been watching Temari sleep. And it became part of his evening ritual, and he considered that it would be hard for him to sleep without falling asleep while her slowly breathing form filled his vision.

He would miss her when she returned to Suna.

Listening to her teeth chatter as she slept, a wave of guilt crashed over Shikamaru. She was freezing because he didn't offer to keep her warm. She was a deep sleeper, so she didn't notice when he got out of his sleeping bag and slipped into hers. He wrapped his arms around her, pressing his mouth against her neck so his exhales would warm her spine.

He fell asleep, trying to think of how he was going to explain this to her if she woke up before he did.

Acedia and Wrath
[despair, depression, discontent, sloth, failure to utilize talents] and [anger, rage]

Temari was back on her fan the next day, refreshed from a great night sleep the night before despite the freezing temperature. She had woken to the smell of breakfast, which Shikamaru had prepared again because he was the first one to wake. When she had looked into his eyes and thanked him for the food, he had acted differently. Less smug.

Had there been a blush in his cheeks?

"I'm glad I told Chouji." Ino giggled, riding next to her on the fan and once again wrenching Temari from her thoughts and telling her what had happened when she and Chouji had left the camp the day before.

Smiling because she was warmed by Ino's excitement, Temari replied. "I am too, Ino. You two are great for each other."

For once, Ino stopped talking and tilted her head back to admire the sky. Clouds floated far above them, thin wisps suggesting that night would be warmer and more comfortable.

Why wasn't I cold last night? She knew that cold temperatures tended to wake her because she was so used to the sweltering humidity of Suna. Perhaps it got warmer, or she was just getting used to the dreary weather out here.

Temari looked out and noted that they had come near a stream. She suggested that she ferry the people over one at a time, since it looked deep from her standpoint, but the boys agreed that they could handle it. Watching as they crossed one at a time, carrying their packs over their heads, Temari made sure they were being safe.

Chouji was the last one, and the boys on the other bank encouraged him as the water dripped from their pants and pattered against the ground like the slow rain that came before a storm. He waded in until he was up to his waist, then picked up speed with his strides. But Temari watched in horror, and heard Ino shriek "Chouji!" in her ear as he slipped on something beneath the surface and fell face first into the water. She could see him struggling against the current, and lose as he was carried downstream.

Temari immediately started to work her fingers to summon her justu as Kankuro and Shikamaru ran along the bank to get to the part of the water where Chouji was. Slightly confused, Temari stared at her hands when her justu didn't work. Repeating the hand motions, she began to panic as she watched her brother and Shikamaru submerge themselves. She sucked in her breath, hearing only the rushing of the water and Ino's constant wailing.

She realized she hadn't been breathing when she expelled a breath as Shikamaru and Kankuro came up with Chouji between them. Temari felt her ears get hot with anger when she realized that her justsu had failed and they had almost lost a teammate.

Patience
[endurance under difficult cirsumstances]

Shikamaru hid under his sleeping bag, breathing slowly so Temari would think he was sleeping. She was sitting on top of her own sleeping bag, with the moon illuminated over her head like it had been carved into the night and had borrowed some of the sun's light to cast a silver glow over her face. Her eyes twinkled with frustration as she repeated the same hand signals. The air was still, and it made Shikamaru's heart ache as she rested her head in her hands.

But Temari was not defeated. She brought her head back up, wiping away the beginnings of her tears with the back of her hands. She did the hand justu one last time, this time glowing with determination.

Wind ruffled her golden blonde hair, and Shikamaru smiled as she did.

Pride
[desire to be more important than others, vainglory, unjustified boasting]

The two teams successfully located the royal family and transported them to Tea Country without any tragedies, and were now heading back through the forest on the outskirts of Tea Country and heading home.

Temari and Ino had decided to walk for a while, so Ino could hold hands with Chouji and Temari could socialize with the others. Shikamaru walked in the front, and she was close behind him. She could smell the forest scent on him, and it was so strange to her, who smelled like cactus flowers and the hot sun.

Kankuro was boasting about some conquest having to do with a giant snake, and she was trying to block it out because she had heard the story a million times before.

Shikamaru suddenly came to a halt, and Temari ran into him. "God damn it, Shikamaru!" She said, flustered. "Why did you..."

"Shut up, Temari." He cut her off. Temari stopped talking, realizing that Shikamaru's voice was flooded with fear, not anger. She heard a rustle in the bushes.

She had just begun to draw out her fan when something hit her in the back of the head, and all she was was black.

Humility
[selflessness]

Shikamaru had Temari in his lap, her head wrapped with bandages to cover the head wound. They had been attacked by a group of rogue ninjas, they had no form of identification, so he hadn't been able to figure out where they had come from, but they were obviously trying to pillage the two teams. They had come out of the battle easily with little injuries, except Temari had been out cold for several hours. Shikamaru had bandaged her up, and he was watching her for signs of change as the other four reluctantly went to sleep. The sun had set a little after the attack, and the starshine filtered through the trees that arched above them.

He watched her face, and his heart almost stopped when he saw her eyes flutter open. He fell into the ocean as he gazed into her their dark depths, full of so many things that he would never understand.

A faint smile found its way to her lips. "Shikamaru?" She muttered questioningly, bringing her hand up to his face and running her fingertips along his cheek.

Shivering, Shikamaru responded. "Yes, Temari?"

"I'll miss you when I go back to Suna."

Shikamaru's dark eyes flew wide open. He studied her expression for a second, to make sure she was rational. She seemed to be, which made his insides twist.

He leaned close to her face, taking in her smell and letting his nose touch hers. Her skin was so soft. Almost delicate, like the stream back in Waterfall Country. She closed the gap, tilting her face to the side and stretching her neck so she could press her mouth to his.

He could taste her, sweet and sincere. And scared. He was frightened too, because he didn't know what this meant about the future. But he did know that she made his heart race, and he knew that her touch was like electricity against his skin.

His need for her to be in his life was the only thing he was certain about.

When their lips parted, she spoke. "I was thinking about moving to Konoha, since my brothers are being offered other duties back in Suna and they won't need me."

Shikamaru whimpered. "How could anybody not need you?"

Temari smiled sleepily.

"You need to rest, I can set up your sleeping bag..." Shikamaru started speaking, but was silenced by a second kiss.

Pulling back again, Temari spoke. "I'd prefer to sleep here." She said, voice warm with exhaustion, curling up into his embrace and letting her eyes close. She was asleep in a few moments.

Shikamaru manuvered to get his sleeping bag over both of them, and held her warm body close to his

He fell asleep watching Temari breathe.