Once upon a time, when I was a little girl, I wrote Naruto Fan fiction. I never finished, and I started back when Naruto wasn't finished itself. And now that Naruto's finished, I want to go back over it and rewrite the series I was writing. This technically is an Alternative Universe from Naruto, since the effects of the time skip at the very end (Chapter 700) are going to be altered a lot to allow for my drama to happen. You'll see.

And the main stream of time that this fanfiction follows will take place 20 years after the 4th Shinobi War ended. So let's start.

I don't own any of the characters, of course. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Story starts around ten years after the 4th Shinobi War ended, so basically everyone's in their mid-twenties, with Temari being 30.

Now let's begin. Please remember to R and R. I really need feedback so that I can improve.

Oh, one last thing.

The early parts of this story are going to be centered on Shikamaru and Temari. After a few chapters of establishment, the following characters will have their own perspective chapters:

Shikadai Nara, Kankuro, Gaara, and Naruto Uzumaki

And more. I'm not done writing the story yet, nor am I done the planning. So far, you can expect a little bit of everything in this story, I suppose. A lot of angst and tragedy, some fluff, some battle scenes (But I'm not too good at writing them), some sexual content. Either way, let's start.

Warning: This story is rated T for Teen for now, but the rating might increase to M later. I also do not plan on writing any explicit lemons. Sorry.

Part One: Decisions

Ten Years after the 4th Shinobi War…

Her hands gripped the letter, and her tears slowly began to flow down her cheeks. The door to the room that she was sitting in was closed, and she silently thanked God for that. Her eyes slowly allowed themselves to look at the final plea once again, and as she reread it, the droplets of water from her eyes began to flow even more freely.

"I know what you have to choose. The fact that you have to choose, I know, is unfair. And I'm sorry, this is a really shitty way to prove to you my feelings. But I love you. I want to marry you. And because of that, I can't kill you."

She took a deep breath, and then slowly placed the letter on the table in front of her. And with her tears falling down her face, she began to think over a decision that would, no matter her choice, change her life forever…

All the while, hearing pleads and arguing from the meeting room down the hall.

Two and a half days later….

Shikamaru Nara closed his eyes and leaned against a tree, before reaching into his Jonin jacket to take out another cigarette. His old one that he had been using was somewhere back in the way that he had come, probably putting itself out amongst the undergrowth of the trees. After inserting the cigarette into his mouth, he quickly took out the lighter he had always used, and then lit it. He closed the lighter, and then took a nice, long breath of the cigarette, before removing it from his mouth so that he could breathe. And as the small fire that he had set in front of him seemed to illuminate his face, he slowly lifted his head and looked across the clearing in front of him, silently hoping that the person he was meant to meet here would hurry up and appear.

He was right on time. This was unusual, because for most things, he wouldn't care about being early, let alone on time. He also wouldn't be having any of the worries that he was having now. He wouldn't be running a thousand and one worst-case scenario plans though his head, he wouldn't be standing out in the open like this and he wouldn't be stressing out at all. And yet he was. Smoking against a tree, with a fire in front of him, likely wasting his time, likely leaving himself wide open for an attack, and definitely allowing the nature of his circumstances get to him.

He took another drag. It was late. The sun was gone from the sky, and the only reason why he had been able to find the clearing of the rendezvous he was meant to be having was because of his memory. Muscle Memory. He wasn't quite sure, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that he was here now, and that with each passing moment that he waited for the woman he was going to meet, he began to worry more and more.

This was even more unusual. This... sad condition that he was undergoing. Usually, nothing really bothered him. Same cool, cold demeanor every time. He would suffer from irritation, yes, but nothing this bad. But, as he took yet another draw out of the cigarette, he slowly remembered the few other times when he had underwent this affliction. After the Chuunin Exams, when most of his friends could've died and he was left having to watch them. When Asuma died, and once again he was left just having to deal with the consequences that this brought him. When his own father had died, and once again he was just left there having to deal with it. And now it was very possible that he would have to deal with the fact that he person he was meant to meet was in fact not coming, and then he would have to deal with the consequences that that event would also bring.

And like all of the times he had felt like this before, the outcome would likely affect him the most. And the outcome would likely affect his emotions. And he didn't want to cry ever again.

The cigarette eventually went out, and he threw the remains to the grass below him. He reached into his jacket again, and took out another, then placed it into his mouth and lit it. He took another drag, and then sighed, sitting down against the tree. He was on time. She, clearly was not.

At least that's what he thought until he heard a rustle in the bushes in front of him.

He immediately went to his feet, and spat the cigarette that he was attempting to finish out in front of him. The other side of the clearing was a ways away from him, but the other side of the clearing was still close enough for someone to use some form of jutsu to immobilize him. Or throw a kunai. Or attack him successfully, and get away with it if he wasn't careful. But despite this knowledge, standing up was all he could do. He was still close enough to the fire in the middle of the clearing for the flames to illuminate his face, and the only other thing that he would do to defend himself was pull out one of his kunai, and put his hands in front of him. Strategies for a worst-case scenario ran around in his head, before the bushes in front of him rustled again, and a cruel, but familiar laughter came from the other side of the clearing...

"Come on... who else did you think it was, Nara?"

Shikamaru's body relaxed, before he took a deep sigh.

Temari.

And out of the bushes she appeared. The one he had been waiting for. The sole reason why he had travelled for a day and a half away from Konohagakure for. Reason why he had put himself in the open. And at this moment, her presence was the best thing in the world.

She hadn't brought much with her. Her signature fan on her back, and a small bag that hung over her back in front of her fan, which didn't seem to be holding much. His eyes glanced over her, but he saw no other weapons on her. Her hair was in her normal quad-ponytails, she was wearing a Jonin vest and some pants, but other than that there wasn't anything on her that he could have been possibly worried about. It was... Temari. That's all that was to her.

She looked around him to see if anyone else was with him. There wasn't. Shikamaru had made sure that he hadn't been followed here. Meanwhile, Shikamaru looked at her surroundings. Like with himself, there seemed to be no one with her.

Temari eyed Shikamaru, and then took a deep breath, before walking across the clearing, before she found herself standing in front of the fire that Shikamaru had set up a short while earlier. Shikamaru, wordlessly and thoughtlessly, joined her in this act, before sitting himself down on his side of the fire. Temari said nothing else and sat on her side as well.

And then... everything stopped for a few minutes. The two simply just sat at the fire, either spending time looking at each other, looking into the flames, or looking at each other's respective sides. Whatever either of them wanted to say had been lost for a while, while the both of them reviewed the circumstances that they both were under.

As well, what it meant that both of them were meeting here, at this time, all alone.

As per usual, Temari was the first one to speak. She looked up from the flames, and then looked directly at Shikamaru's face. He eventually felt her stare, and looked up himself. She took another breath, before looking directly into his eyes. Shikamaru met her gaze.

"... A note's a shitty way to propose, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru exhaled, and then answered. His voice was tired.

"Well... it was the only way I could talk to you again without having to go to Sunagakure again myself. And there's a restriction in travelling there. And... Well. I didn't think of any other way it would get to you in time."

"The mail was slow. I mean, you did factor in the fact that, since Sunagakure was in fact restricted, your message took longer to get than you probably expected."

"Oh. I hadn't-"

"Thought about that? Well, doesn't matter. All I know is that by the time I got it, I had about a day to make my decision, since the place you wanted to meet was so far from Suna."

"Well... what did you choose?"

Temari rolled her eyes slowly, before closing her eyes. The conversation was dropped for a few more minutes, before Temari spoke up again. During the few moments, Shikamaru felt that now familiar feeling of worry creep across his mind once again, and began to slowly tap his finger against his knee.

There was about a Twenty percent chance that she would've came to the rendezvous outlined on his letter and said yes. There was a thirty percent chance that she would come to the rendezvous, trick him, and ambush or kill him. And there had been a fifty percent chance that either she would never meet with him, she would have never received his note, or that a week, two weeks, or three weeks later the two of them would be trying to kill each other in the middle of some war that nobody wanted.

She had met with him, leaving a thirty percent chance that when she replied, she would attack, or a twenty percent chance that she would reply and say-

"...Well if I was going to refuse, I would've simply stayed at home. Or I would have attacked you already."

Shikamaru let out a rather loud and obvious sigh of relief, threw his head back and closed his eyes. Temari smirked at this reaction.

"I bet you had this all planned out in your head, didn't you? All of the probabilities, worst-case and best-case scenarios, chances of me saying this or that."

Shikamaru smirked back at her.

"Well, this is a reason why I had to make sure you were on our side."

And just like that, with that careless comment, and Temari was silent. Her smirk instantly disappeared from her face, and she looked down and away from Shikamaru for a few minutes. Shikamaru mentally slapped himself, he stopped tapping his finger on his knee, and he began to stand up to move closer to her.

But Temari didn't' see this. She didn't hear it either. She quickly became too engaged in her own thoughts. And in her own conscious.

What exactly was she even doing here?

Is this how easily her loyalty to her village was broken? Just because of one letter? Just because of one man? What exactly would happen next? Would she ever see her brothers again? Would she be forced to kill them? What exactly would she do in Konohagakure with Shikamaru? What did he really want with her? Maybe, maybe this entire thing was a trap, but in fact he was the one who was about to spring it-

She suddenly felt his arm wrap around her waist, and was pulled closer to him. She opened her eyes to see him sitting right next to her, and before she could make any more moves, he had her right beside him, in his protective grasp.

He sighed, and then struggled to figure out the words he should say. "That came out wrong... I... I know what you're going through."

"No, no you don't."

Temari attempted to get out of his grasp, but Shikamaru held on tighter. When she couldn't dissuade him physically, she attempted to do so verbally.

"No, you really don't know what I'm going through. I'm... I was about... to leave my entire life behind just so I could be with you. I'm about to... I was about to... leave my family completely behind. I'm about to be hopeless and helpless."

Then she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Exactly what are you losing?"

Shikamaru frowned. Troublesome. Always got to make things hard.

"I guess you're right. No, I'm not really losing anything in this arrangement."

Shikamaru let go of her, but Temari didn't move away from him, waiting for him to finish.

"I get a wife, I get to expand my family, I get to push my life forwards. I'm about to be happy and stable."

Temari sighed, but Shikamaru quickly continued.

"But... the difference is, if we just called this entire thing off, I would be the one losing, while you technically wouldn't gain or lose anything. If you decided to turn back and go back to Sunagakure, I might have to potentially kill you one day. If you went back t- ugh forget this. Enough with this romantic crap."

Shikamaru pulled Temari closer to himself once again, but this time she ended up right in front of him, sitting somewhat awkwardly on his lap. The entire order of things was weird, but Shikamaru didn't really care much. He had something on his chest, and he wanted to make sure she wasn't going to move away for it.

"Dammit woman, I love you, ok? Are you happy to hear me say it in person again? After all of the millions of times I've repeated the same phrase? If you go back to Sunagakure right now then I don't really know what I'll do with my life at all. I'll probably participate in the war, do my duty, blah blah blah until I find out that you're dead. And then what's going to happen? I'm going to sputter around, feel sorry for myself, and maybe cry like a baby, like I did for everyone else in my life who's died so far. And with your death it's going to be even worse. Because you're more special to me than anyone who's ever died yet. So, that's it. I don't even know what the hell I'll do once I find out you're dead. Or even earlier than that, when I realize that I can't do what I want with you. No not like that, no exactly like that. I actually love you, and I want you for my own. And if you just turn back then I don't know what the hell's going to happen to me. So-"

"I get it."

Shikamaru paused after he was cut off, and then furrowed his brows.

"What?"

"I get it. I... you know nothing that either of us can do is going to make this any easier."

Shikamaru leaned back onto his hands, putting himself in a position to have Temari basically lie on his chest. He frown again, and then looked down.

"I know that."

And then, the silence came back. Idly, Shikamaru let himself run a hand through Temari's hair, being careful as to not undo the style at all. Temari didn't respond to this at all, she was thinking too much, and for that silence she was divorced from their scene, too busy trying to re-think, re-calculate and re-evaluate her actions and her choices.

And he was doing much of the same. The exact same.

Time passed. It was hard to tell exactly how late it was getting, but all they both knew was that Shikamaru's fire was going out, and now it was at the point where it was barely anything. Shikamaru had finally looked back at his chest to see that Temari had her eyes closed, but he wasn't sure if she was sleeping or not. He would have to wake her later, or at least the two would have to move soon, just a precaution to avoid detection.

This was supposed to be quick, he thought. But he hadn't thought of this, well he had, but he hadn't thought that this particularly troublesome variable was going to take up this much time and effort from the both of them. By now, they were supposed to be heading back to Konoha, not still trying to figure out if they were really going to do this or not.

He had hoped that she would have done the emotional part at home, but if she really only had one day to think everything through, then...

She was right. She was about to basically lose everything, just so she could be with one man.

He had thought so much about him potentially having to kill her in the future if she didn't come, but he had not thought about her having to potentially kill her own brothers at all.

Would the other villagers even accept her? Or would she be accused of being a spy?

Would she be alone? Did she have any other good friends in his village?

Would-

"How's the weather in Konohagakure yearlong?"

Shikamaru flinched slightly, before noticing that Temari's eyes were open again, and now pouring up at his own. That had been surprisingly unexpected, and the question was even odder.

"...Huh?"

Temari shrugged lightly. There was no hint to her true intention anywhere on her body.

"Is it humid? Does it snow? Does it rain a lot? Does it thunderstorm often?"

Shikamaru answered.

"It's more humid than... yes. It doesn't snow except for winter months. It rains basically once a week. It thunderstorms at least twice a month."

"It... doesn't sound like a bad place to live. Or a bad place to grow up, either."

Temari slowly smiled, but it was obvious that it wasn't a truly happy one. Shikamaru's face began to slowly express his confusion.

"Well, it wasn't for me. And exactly what are you attempting to get at? What the hell are you actually asking me-?"

"It sounds like I wouldn't mind living in Konohagakure at all, is what I'm saying."

"No, what are you actually saying? You know I don't speak whatever lingo you're trying to use."

Temari ended up slapping Shikamaru's chest suddenly. Shikamaru could feel it through his armour, and grit his teeth. Temari's fake smile slowly turned into a genuine one once Nara brought a hand to rub the area.

"You... haven't figured it out yet?" She said slowly. Shikamaru looked into her eyes slowly, and then unclenched his teeth.

This was supposed to be the most ideal result, but throughout the extended rendezvous it had become more and more of a fantasy. And more and more unrealistic. And more and more distant. He slowly manoeuvred himself so that he was sitting up straight and tall, and then...

"... You're really going to come with me?" His voice was one of disbelief.

Temari closed her eyes, before taking a deep breath.

"... Yes."

"And that's an actual yes?"

"Yes."

"And what was that back there then?"

"I was trying to be romantic."

Shikamaru smirked, and then took a deep breath. "Well you suck at it. I mean, I do too. It's -"

"Troublesome?"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Very." He removed his hands from her hair, and then slowly let his eyes drift to his "fire". It was gone at this point. There wasn't much of a way to tell how much time had passed. And... there were going to be more pressing things that would happen soon. Neither of them were close to each other's villages, and there was always a threat somewhere. He looked up, and around, before turning towards her again.

"Do you know if you were followed?" He asked. Temari frowned.

"Do you really think I'd let someone follow me here?"

"No."

"Then I didn't. How about you... are you alone?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Like you, I didn't let anyone come."

"Really? Not even your friends?"

He messed up his face again.

"No. Too much of a risk, and I wanted to meet with you by myself. Anyways, we should get going. It's dark."

"Right."

Typical.

They both moved to stand up. Temari grasped the pack on her back, and then moved off of Shikamaru, while he dusted himself off and then stood up with her. Shikamaru went over to finish cleaning up the remains of the fire, while Temari found herself turning back to look the way she had come.

She couldn't help but reassure herself. Yes, this is what she was doing. She was going to leave the land she was born in, had grown up in, had bled and had killed for. She most likely wouldn't be able to return, she most likely wouldn't see anyone that she knew from there ever again. She would have to pretty much give up and dismantle her career as a Ninja, and probably be forced to be something domestic. She wouldn't be able to see her brothers, most likely ever again. Hell, she barely had had any time to think about how her decision would affect them. They would miss her badly. Would her disappearance cause even more resentment towards the leaf? Would they lose it? Would they try to go and find her?

Her face slowly transformed to reflect her emotions, and reflect the stress of what she was going through. She knew that she would miss them too. Miss the way they would mess with each other. Miss the way Kankuro and her looked over Gaara. Miss the way the three of them would sometimes bar-hop after work, getting drunk out of their minds to take their thoughts off of whatever they had done at work during the day. Her attempting to cook and Gaara suddenly becoming a professional critic. Practising jutsu with each other. Sharing and swapping stories of their missions on the times they had been apart. Sharing grief when the harmful times of year came around. The teasing and friendly rivalries that the three would randomly make with each other...

Shikamaru noticed her hesitation, and turned his head. "Temari, we have to go."

Temari was ejected from her thoughts, and then turned around in Shikamaru's direction. Right.

She... was going to lose a lot. But, she was about to gain as well.

The lazy yet brilliant genius of Konoha. She would become his wife, and then be let into his clan. His village was familiar, but there was still much to explore and find out about. Every time she had visited the residents had been friendly, so it would be weird for everyone to just do a complete 180. She would probably eventually find something to keep her busy throughout the day, from basic homemaking duties to clan-tending, perhaps even helping Shikamaru with some of his work. She could meet new friends, she supposed, as well as get to know old ones better. And like he had said earlier, Konoha wasn't a bad place to live at all.

Her face slowly allowed an unsure, yet proud smile. She would miss them, but she would love Shikamaru more. Love the times the two had long walks together, talking about basically whatever came to mind. Loved the times he would completely surprise her, asking her out for a dance or a drink while she was in the middle of one of her many mood swings. The times when he would invite her to watch the clouds with him, with neither party really minding the other's presence. His overall gentlemanly aura, well, at least when he felt like putting it on, and the compassionate, great leader under his lazy and unmotivated guise.

And... He wanted to stop this. Maybe... maybe he could help her end the war quickly. Maybe... then she wouldn't have to lose anything, really. And neither would he.

Temari took another deep breath. This was it. She took a step towards Shikamaru, and continued to walk towards him until the two were standing side by side.

"Lead the way," Temari said. "I don't know the way back to your village, after all."

He nodded, but before he could jump ahead, he allowed a few words to flow from his mouth, taking into consideration the time they had spent earlier.

"...Don't worry, Tem. It's going to be worth it. You'll see."

Temari felt a prang in her chest as Shikamaru jumped off in front of her. Then, she exhaled, and flashed forwards after him.