Temari was never concerned with dating or even cared to attract the opposite sex (they somehow came to her anyway) so when Ino told her that she was dating Shino and that they had already made plans, Temari didn't know what to do. So she called up Tenten but Tenten was on a mission with Neji. Hinata was with Kiba and Sakura was busy with the Godaime and the newly returned Sasuke. For once, Temari had none of her girlfriends to hang out with because they were all busy. With men.
So, she resorted to her best male friend who was currently training with his Genin team. So she was stuck all by herself in Konoha with no one to talk to. Now, Temari is a fearsome kunochi but she is still a girl and therefore likes to walk and talk with her girlfriends. She couldn't go shopping because she already spent all of her spending money and it was too cold and it was no fun to go shopping by herself anyway. So she sat in her hotel room, clutched a blanket over her ao-dai, and watched TV.
Halfway through How To Loose a Guy In Ten Days Ino came in and began to talk about Shino and their date. Now, Temari being a girl loves to gossip and hear about her friend's love life but after about a half hour of nothing but the bf, she was sick of it. Then Tenten came a long and talked for a bit about the mission and Neji and then Sakura came glowing because she and Sasuke were now dating and then Hinata came to visit and everyone extracted info about her and Kiba's relationship. Basically all it boiled down to was that Temari sat silently wrapped up in a blanket for about 4 hours listening to nothing but guy talk. She might have been exaggerating in her head about Tenten and Sakura getting boyfriends but the way they were talking it seemed like they did. And when they finally left, Temari wished they had never come in to begin with. So when Shikamaru knocked on her door and entered about 15 minutes later, she was in a rather splendid mood.
"What the hell do you want?"
He stepped into the hotel room cautiously and took off his shoes. "Am I not allowed to say hello?"
She scowled and he sat down next to her on the couch and stared at the TV. "What are you watching?" he asked quietly.
She clutched the blanket tighter. "I have no idea! Because for the past afternoon, I've been hearing guy talk!"
He didn't seem fazed by her cut tone and anger and instead got up and went over to the thermostat. Immediately, the room became warmer and Temari began to feel a little uncomfortable. He walked back over and sat down on the couch.
"I taught my Genins a rather important lesson today."
"They wouldn't shut up! Did it look like I wanted to know exactly down to the nitty gritty how Shino kissed Ino?! Not really!" She yelled, unable to help herself. He however, paid her no mind.
"They learned that it is important to keep a guard up at all times."
"And Tenten wouldn't shut up about Neji's hair!"
"I feel for Reika though. She scares easily."
"Which then got Ino talking about Shino's hair!"
"For the exercise, I scared them all day and had a whole bunch of help from Sai."
"And then Sakura walks in and is like 'Oh Sasuke! I want your body! Just give it to me!'"
"He made ink creations and hid them all over town."
"AND THEN she talked about how sexy he was and then they all talked about how sexy their men were when Hinata walked in!!"
"We got them good at the ramen stand. You should have seen their faces!"
"And then they gushed over Hinata and Kiba and all talked about how happy they were and WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME?!" She cried half angry and half exasperated. She didn't understand him! She thought that he actually came in to see how she was! Well maybe it was just too troublesome! She opened her mouth to tell him to go home when he spoke quietly.
"I am."
She stared at him shocked and tried desperately to comprehend what he was saying. He got up and turned the TV off and then sat down and said
"I am listening to you. I knew you were upset from the moment I knocked on the door. But if I asked you what was wrong, you wouldn't tell me anything. So I pretended like I didn't care because then you would talk because you want to vent and let your frustration out and tell someone about your horrible afternoon."
"Well-well…" She tried to think of something to say but he was right. She locked herself away from everyone and if he had asked what was wrong, he wouldn't have gotten an answer at all. She buried her head in her knees as her eyes watered. Why was she so rotten that way? She, who needed attention at that moment, received none from any of her friends and she had no boyfriend. All she had was Shikamaru right now and he wasn't the consoling type. Usually he sat and listened and if there was crying involved he would leave as quickly as possible, it was too troublesome. Why did it seem that having a special someone is a requirement? Why couldn't she be happy with just her friends? Why did they need other people to hold and kiss them to make them happy? Why doesn't she need it? Why doesn't she want it?
Temari was jolted abruptly out of her thoughts as she felt arms wrap around her and a face nuzzle against her neck. Instantly, before she knew what she was doing, her mouth opened and all of her thoughts spilled out. She didn't know what she was saying, she only knew that she was saying something and that tears were rolling down her cheeks and that he was holding her. She didn't know when she ended speaking or how she went from her curled ball to holding onto his chest for dear life but she knew that he was still there and for some reason, that in itself lifted the darkness shadowing her heart.
"Hey Temari," His voice seemed angelic to her, the sweetest sound she had heard in her life and her mind became focused on her settings again.
"You don't have to have a significant other. It's not a requirement. You can be happy with just your friends. They can comfort you, give you advice, and make you smile. But your friends cannot give the same kind of love a Prince Charming can. To me, there is a bond of deep understanding between two people. An understanding that connects polar opposites to each other. They are drawn in to each other by this understanding, no matter what happens between them. Even if they get into a devastating fight and leave each other, the bond is too strong and so unique that they are unable to truly part from each other.
This is what your Prince Charming will offer for you Temari and that is the happiness that your friends are experiencing. They need you like you need them but they have a deeper bond with one person, someone that understands them in no way anyone else can in such a way that words are not even needed to express their feelings or thoughts. That's how powerful it is Temari. I think you do want it, you just didn't know how to find it."
Temari pondered on his words, now relaxed by his respiratory system gently lifting up and descending down on his chest. She spoke softly into him, her breath adding to the warmth on his chest.
"I want to find it? I just want to be surrounded by people who love me and live happily ever after. But I know that those people will surround themselves by one person and then I will be left alone. Even my brothers, they will go away and get married. They won't want my breakfast every morning and someone else will be doing their laundry. And then I suppose my friends will all go away and then… and then…"
Temari paused, confused. She thought she knew what she wanted in relationships. She didn't want a boyfriend, that would only tie her down. All she needed were her friends and her brothers to keep her happy but when she thought about it… she always supported them, always acted as the mother figure at home was the veteran, the guidance to the other girls. She had never assumed a position where she was the one being taken care of, she was always the one taking care of others. Is that why she never noticed it? Did she honestly think she could take care of all of them for forever?
"Shikamaru." She said and then stopped. Even he she had tried to take care of. Whether it be yelling at him to not be lazy, forcing him to take the jounin exams, telling him to look out for himself, teaching him to make a decent meal other than noodles she was just another mother to him.
"Shikamaru, I didn't know how because- because I didn't know I needed it. I just… I just…"
"Like to take care of others in your own special way. The way you do it is specific to each individual whether it be whacking me upside the head, giving small smiles of encouragement to Hinata, saying "I love you" to Gaara, or burning Kankuro's Icha Icha Paradise books you always try and nurture them in some way. In trying to be the head figure everywhere you went, you forgot about who was going to nurture you," Temari noticed his voice change as he continued "who was going to take care of your needs and wants. Who was going to turn your darkest day into the brightest day."
The change in his voice wasn't anything bad, it just had become… sweeter. Kinder. Dare she say it- loving. Whatever it was, it made her feel warmer than the blanket ever would. And that this time, she wasn't the one giving the love she was receiving it. But that was absurd coming from him! Desperate to figure it out she asked him
"Would that be a Prince Charming?"
"Yes, it would be."
Suddenly, something inside of her clicked, as though the light bulb had just come over her head and turned on. What she had an epiphany on, she didn't know. But her heat felt as though it was going to burst and there was so much tension in her body she didn't know if it was good or bad or how to get rid of it but the had overwhelming urge to look at him and so she looked up and her eyes were instantly locked with his. In her heart she felt a sudden rush as if a flood gate had been opened and all of the tension was pushing her body towards him, like a magnet. She sat there unmoving however staring into his eyes.
At first, she didn't see anything but the longer she gazed into them, the more the magnet in her pushed her towards him but she refused to budge, when she saw that he too had a magnet trying to push him foreword. Then, something between them snapped and their magnets collided together and she was caught in a whirlwind or released tension. His fingers, running through her hair his lips caressing her own; there was something with each touch that made her helpless and for once, she was glad of it.
His lips left hers and she looked at his whole visage this time and there was a tugging in her that she hadn't felt before. She realized that this was he was talking about before, the bond the understanding the talking with out talking. She grinned widely at him and laughed as he grinned back at her. She liked being in control, she liked being the mother head. When it came to him though, she didn't have to be because he told her that he was her Prince Charming.