A/N: all credit goes to the creator of these characters, no matter what situations I might put them in they do not belong to me.
Trench warfare was brutal on everyone and it was hard to watch. Temari was only twenty years old, but she had managed to join the more experienced nurses stationed just behind the first few lines of fighting. She had seen too many men, most her age or younger come through the nurses' station, all bloodied and fighting for their lives. She admired the bravery in these men, but all the death and destruction was starting to wear her down.
Last week had been Christmas and both sides had stopped their individual bombardments in honor of the holiday. That night she'd treated a few of the less serious cases, and had enjoyed their lightheartedness, the joy the holiday had brought them. The one boy was only 18, his friend only a year older, and was trying to get some treatment for a bad case of trench foot that had been festering for some time. Naruto, was his name, seemed like a real jokester. With that shaggy blond hair and his blue eyes he was probably very handsome, of course she couldn't tell with the dirty caked in his hair and the dried mixture of blood and mud splashed across his face. He dominated the conversation, jokingly flirting with her and talking with his friend. Now his friend, Shikamaru, he was very handsome even with the blood and dirt that seemed permanently stuck on all soldiers. He had longer brown hair, pulled into a ponytail, and his narrowed brown eyes made him seem a little mysterious. He was much quieter, she barely heard him speak the entire time he was there, merely nodding along with his friends ramblings. The only time she saw any emotion on his face was right before they left, Naruto was shifting his gaze between her and Shikamaru, speaking in a low voice to his friend. Whatever he said made Shikamaru blush deeply and make a panicked face, for about half a second.
Even now, two days later, she was still thinking about him, wondering what his story was. The cease-fire didn't last long enough, just enough time to almost forget what the constant bombardment sounded like, almost enough time to delude her into believing the war could soon be over. But it began again, the morning after was once again filled with the thundering of bombs going off and shell casing thudding against the ground. And everyone was back to work, she didn't see the two boys again for the entire week, only tending to those in danger of dying or losing a limb, and here, that was everyone. If a bullet or a bomb didn't get them the shards of shrapnel would snag them and infection would soon follow, delivering the final blow. Too often men were killed by losing a limb to trench foot or infection, or just getting sick from one of the many diseases filtering through the different camps.
It had been a week since Christmas and everyone was back into their rhythm of work. Temari had just gotten in from breakfast, dark circles under her eyes showed just how little sleep she'd been getting recently. She was only in the med tent for about twenty minutes when she heard an explosion. Now this was nothing new, explosions went off all the time, but this was too close for comfort. It was only a few lines ahead of the med tend, Temari and the other nurses had stopped to listen to the yells coming from men rushing around the explosion. While the other nurses returned to their work Temari was stuck listening to the yelling as it got closer and closer, someone had been hurt, and hurt seriously for them to be moving as quickly as they were.
By the time the men reached the tent Temari was first to get to them. There were two men standing there, and they were carrying another man. The panic in their faces told her that they were friends of the unconscious man and she hastily led them to a mat where they could lay their friend down. The two tried to stay in the tent but other nurses were quickly shooing them out. Temari though they left and was surprised to see a familiar face in her peripheral vision. It was the same blond boy who she'd treated a week earlier; he was looking directly at her, the joking boy nowhere to be found.
"Help him," he said, staring at her with an intensity that was almost uncomfortable, "I promised him we'd get back home together, and I NEVER break a promise." His reasoning would have seemed silly if it hadn't been accompanied by the obvious fear and determination in the boy's eyes. She nodded to him, silently making a promise of her own. Satisfied, he left the tent.
Temari returned her gaze to the boy, no man, on the mat below her. She never would have recognized him as the same boy as before. He was ghostly white, his breathing shallow, and a mask of pain stretched tight over his face. Under further examination she noticed the large gashes in his arms, shrapnel from the explosion, and from the bleeding she thought there might be a larger piece in his abdomen, and his one leg looked either broken or severely fractured. He was still bleeding, and he could easily contract a virus. He was in really bad shape.
She began working, rubbing disinfectant on his arms, trying to scrub off the layer of dirt and grime. When she thought she could get no more off she wrapped them in bandages, keeping pressure on them to slow and hopefully stop the bleeding. That was a big problem here, the poor nutrition of the soldiers was making it harder for blood to clot. After that she moved to his leg, cutting off the pants so she could work. He was still unconscious so she couldn't tell what hurt when she touched his leg. Deciding not to chance it she bandaged up his leg tight and put a splint on to keep him from bending his possibly injured knee. Now the hard part, she removed his jacket and cut off the torn up shirt, exposing his bare, scarred skin.
She hadn't seen many wounds like this and she leaned over and began testing the wound, a soft groan came from above her head, signaling her worst fear. He was starting to come to, and with his wound exposed he could easily succumb to shock and his already bad condition could deteriorate quickly. She had to act fast, glancing up she saw his face contort in pain as she began pulling shards of shrapnel out of the wound in his abdomen. She glanced up every few seconds, as pieces of shrapnel clattered into the small bowl at her side as she pulled them out. She could tell he was now conscious, his eyes open. But he was smart, he knew not to look at his wound, instead he alternated between staring at the pinched ceiling of the tent and the face of their young woman so focused on her task. He found himself spending more time staring at her as the constant metallic clicking droned on.
For a battlefield nurse she was strikingly beautiful, to him anyway. Her golden blonde hair had been pulled into a tight bun, he watched as small stands pulled out of the bun while she worked. The strands curled against her hairline, only to be brushed back when she wiped the sweat off of her brow. Her eyes were so green, reminiscent of the forests surrounding his home. She would glance up at him every few seconds, and when their eyes met they'd both look away quickly.
Shikamaru didn't know how long he'd been in the med tent, hell he didn't remember how he got here. All he could think of was the explosion. The other side had made a push against the front lines, while he wasn't on the front line he and his fellow soldiers were prepared for a fight, Naruto manning the machine gun and Kiba rushing off to get more ammunition sent to the front line. Shikamaru was spotting Naruto, though he was lighting his cigarette. He was distracted when he dropped the lighter and he was bent over picking it up when a grenade was thrown over the trench wall and exploded. It wasn't as close as it seemed but the blast pushed him back, slamming his head against the machine gun behind him, knocking him out. That was all he could remember, besides the pounding in his head and the searing heat of hot metal slicing up his body.
He didn't remember closing his eyes but when he noticed the sudden disappearance of the nurse's body heat he struggled to open his heavy eyelids. She was standing on the other side of the tent. Shikamaru didn't want to risk looking at his wound so he watched her. She dumped the metal shards into the medical waste bin, threw the tweezers she'd been using in the sink, rinsed her hands, and then bent over to grab a towel and some gauze, most likely to wrap his wound. His eyes glazed over at the sight of her bent over like that. Her rear was tight and perfectly encased in that nurse uniform. This only opened the door to endless fantasies about the woman in front of him, ones where he pushed her up against the trench wall and ripped her uniform off her, and others when he gently explored the wonders of her body.
"Troublesome woman." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head to dismiss the naughty thoughts, while simultaneously trying to think of anything that would stop the rush of blood making its way downwards.
"What was that?" Temari said, her hips swaying unconsciously as she walked over towards the young soldier. She had gauze in one hand and disinfectant in the other. She knelt down next to the boy, still waiting for his answer. "Well?"
"Oh it's just – well – this is a bit," he struggled under her gaze, "troublesome." He finished, settling on a half-truth.
Temari cracked a small smile at this and began pouring disinfectant onto his wound. He jumped a bit at the cool liquid and cringed when it began to sting lightly.
"I'm almost done, just need to bandage you up and then you'll stay here for the next day until we determine if there is any other trauma." She said sweetly, looking at him from her place, kneeling at his side.
He nodded, suddenly affected by the feel of her hands flitting across his bare skin. She noticed his flinching and assumed the area she was wrapping was just tender. She finished up and sat back on her heels.
"All done." She told him, giving him a smile as she moved to get up.
"Wait!" he said, a bit panicked. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. He released her wrist only to cup her face with his hand while he stared into her eyes. "Thank you."
A/N: Hope you liked it, this is the first Naruto story I've posted and it's been a very long time since I've watched the show. Temari might be a bit out of character but I'd like to think she has a caring side that doesn't always show through. Anyway thanks for reading, please review so I know if this was any good or if it was crap.