Disclaimer: If I owned anything Naruto, then I would be very rich and very happy.

A Sunny Day in Suna

It was another sunny day in Suna. But it's not like that mattered. It was always sunny in Suna. Heck, it was always at least 100º in Suna.

She used to like it when it was sunny. But now, she likes the clouds. They always remind her of him. Him… She used to hate his guts. The way he never put any effort into anything. The way all he ever did was watch the clouds. The way his hair looked like a pineapple. The way he always claimed he had nothing to do and was totally bored, but in reality, he was on a mission. She hated all of those things about him. But now she respects him.

She now understands why he does what he does: Lie around and watch the clouds. She understands that it's alright to sit down and just watch the world go by. It's alright to relax, let all your troubles blow away with the wind and clouds. So now she hates it when it's sunny. She prefers to watch the clouds instead of bask in the heat.

But it's always sunny in Suna, which is why she always takes every mission to Konoha, and is always the messenger to Konoha. Every inch of Konoha is shaded by the trees, unlike her desert home. She always finishes every mission early and stays longer than needed to. That way, she could lay with him and watch the clouds. Those were her favorite days. When she could just lay on the ground and let the time pass by.

"Temari!" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned around to see her brother, Kankuro.

"Temari! Gaara needs to talk to you!" he said.

Whenever something concerned Konoha, her youngest brother always talked to her first. Always. Her brother knew how much she likes Konoha and how big of a crush she has on Shikamaru.

So Temari sprinted home, since Gaara always gave her her missions there.

All the way there, she thought of the last time she was in Konoha, a few weeks ago. She had confessed to Shikamaru. It hadn't gone well.

*Flashback*

It was about nine o'clock at night. Temari and Shikamaru were sitting on a hill, under a tree, looking at the stars.

"Shikamaru…" said a blushing Temari. Shikamaru knew something was up. He had never seen Temari blush before.

"Mm-hm?"

"… I… Shikamaru, I…" Temari said, standing up, never looking at Shikamaru, "I… I really like you!"

"Temari, I-" started Shikamaru, but stopped when Temari turned to face him. Her face was as red as a tomato, and tears streamed down her face. But then, she turned back around and ran away. She didn't want to hear his rejection. She knew he had feelings for Ino.

But in reality, he really liked her. He was about to tell her that when she ran away. He thought of running after her, but she was long gone.

"What a troublesome girl..." he mumbled to himself.

He sighed and turned back to look at the stars.

*End Flashback*

Temari reached the door of her home, panting. She opened it, and saw Gaara sitting on the sofa, reading. He looked up, and Temari saw something that was rarely in his eyes. In fact, she saw many things that she rarely, if ever, sees in his eyes. There was grieving, pain, shock, and loss. There was rarely any emotion in his eyes, even now.

"Temari…" the redhead started, his voice straining to have no emotion. But a hint of pain leaked out. His head had lowered, and he looked up again. He was shocked at the sight before him. Temari was crying. She knew that something really bad had happened.

"Please don't say it. Please don't say anything," Temari begged. She knew whatever he was going to say would crush her.

"Temari… you need to know… about what happened to Nara…" Gaara said, his voice rough barely more than a whisper. Temari's sobbing weakened a little.

"Please…-hick-… don't…" she broke down crying again.

"Temari. Nara… he went on a mission… and… never came back." Gaara's voice was filled with grief and was rougher than the rocks and sand of his village. He had liked Nara a little…

Temari's sobbing stopped, except for a few hiccups every now and then.

"Wha…?"

"I'm sorry, Temari. I really am. But you had to know," Gaara's voice was a little harsher than it should be. Then, he got off the sofa and left the house. Suddenly, Temari's silence was replaced with ear shattering screeching. It was full of pain. Temari dashed out the house and headed straight for Konoha.

When she got there, she saw Ino. Ino was her friend, despite her envy for the blonde girl. She was normally awfully hyper, but today she seemed pretty depressed.

She must have gotten the news… thought Temari.

"Hey Ino…" Temari greeted the girl with absolutely no feeling in her voice.

Ino looked up and greeted her back, "Hey." Her voice was the same as Temari's.

It was silent. The girls didn't know how long they didn't say anything, but eventually, Ino broke the silence.

"Y'know… Shikamaru told me what happened between you two last time you were here," Ino brought up, not knowing how much those words poisoned Temari.

"Yeah, I just had to tell him. I know he always had feelings for you."

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?" screamed Ino. She scared the heck out of Temari. Weren't depressed people, you know, quiet?

"The day after, he came over to my house. He said that he was going on a B-ranked mission, and that there was some possibility that he might no come back," continued the skinny blonde.

"He told me that you confessed to him the night before, but then immediately ran away. BEFORE HE COULD TELL YOU THAT HE FEELS THE SAME!!!" yelled the loud kunoichi, emphasizing every word in the last sentence.

"Wha… but…huh…WHAT?!?!?" Temari stammered.

"But… now… he's gone," recalled Temari. "I'll never get to be with him."

Temari slowly walked away, her head hanging down low.

"Why? Did you really have to take the mission, Shikamaru? And couldn't you have told me?" she screamed. She was terrified by the fact that she wouldn't ever see Shikamaru again.

Temari ran back to Suna, but didn't go to her house. She stayed at a family friend's house instead. She couldn't face her brothers. Especially since Kankuro probably knew by now and was partying the night away. Kankuro was always overprotective of his sister.

xXx

A week had passed.

Temari couldn't live without Shikamaru. There was another option, though…

She went outside and fell to her knees. Then she looked up. It was even sunnier than normal. Temari hated the sun even more now. It always mocked her. She reached into her weapon pouch and took out a kunai knife. She wondered if she should really do this.

Temari raised her knife. She had made her decision. This way, she might be able to see him. Before she knew it, everything was red. As suddenly as it turned red, everything went pitch black.

She was dead.

Yay!! I finished my first fic! CLICK THE BUTTON. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. But please, no flames. Constructive criticism is welcome, though.