Title: In The Desert
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: Terror-Of-The-Crimson-Night
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Akasuna no Sasori and Subaku no Temari
Rating: T
Type: One-shot – Complete
Summary: Living in the desert made Temari accustom to looking at the starry heavens it also brought her to him.
Word Count: 1,039
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.
..:Xx0o0xX:..
Temari sighed. Being the Kazekage's beloved older sister could be quiet tiresome and very trying on her patience sometimes. Like now. The blonde women had just returned from Konoha, and as much as a sweetheart Sakura had been like she always was, the village elders had gotten under her skin. And the ones here were only making it so much worse. Did they live to torture her? How ever does her little brother put up with it half the time?
When she got the chance, she immediately left their palace of a home to be in an open part of the desert by herself. This was an odd habit she'd withheld since young and didn't see the necessity in giving it up. She loved to come to this place to calm down and watch the stars. Ino had stated at one point that she watched stars like that lazy Nara of a brother figure of hers watched clouds. She'd denied any such fact, of course, but that didn't make it any less true.
So that is where she was, underneath the great big sky in a mostly secluded area of open desert looking up to the starry heavens.
She hard a gentle crunch, crunch sound and didn't even bother to look backward as her companion approached. This was the main reason she always came here and nowhere else. Him.
The first time she'd come, she remembered gapping in awe at the beauty. Hey! Just because she was a tomboy, strong, etc. did not mean she couldn't be feminine as well! So awed in fact that at first it took a second to realize she wasn't the only one there. And that other person was dangerous, most definitely a hazard to her health. And of course, she'd pulled out her fan, opening it partially and assuming her usual fighting stance.
But he did nothing. He just stared at the sky as he had been doing when she first arrived.
For a moment, she was put off. No, he wasn't attacking her so she really had no reason to jeopardize her life, because she wouldn't win and she knew that. She was prideful, not arrogant. That did not, however, stop the feelings of incredulousness and offensiveness from welling in her chest. She didn't act on it though; she wasn't stupid enough to go looking for death when she had a reason to live. She also didn't allow her alertness to fade, shoving her large iron fan into the ground and leaning against it. Then he chose to pad closer to her until he was roughly ten feet away from her, enough room to attack or defend should he see the need to.
Deciding that he did not come to finish off her brother or harm her, she left the matter alone and returned her attention to the large expanse of dark blues and blacks of the sky along with the white and sometimes yellow tinted stars that littered the sky. Not one cloud in sight.
Neither said a thing and she allowed her mind to wander from the crimson haired criminal not far from her, never once the thought of capturing him crossing her mind. She wouldn't have won anyways.
So then it'd turn into a ritual of sorts for the two. She'd great him with a nod or look or glance, and he'd reciprocate the gesture, but they didn't really speak for the most part. Conversation wasn't necessary and the always starry and cold night never ceased to take her breath away. Never failed to keep her attention. Never failed to always be beautiful.
It was art, she supposed, in a way.
Never once had she been able to find something worthwhile in the desert, nothing beautiful. It was brown instead of Konoha's lush green or Kiri's oceanic blue. It had unbearable weather patterns, blazing hot in the day and the exact opposite when there is no hot sun in the day, unlike the comfortable year round warmth of Konoha or the constant cool breezes of Kiri. It was a barren wasteland, not a tropical paradise or a breath taking village on or next to the ever beautiful ocean. There wasn't anything beautiful about it and there never would be, but it'd always be her one true home. That's what she'd thought of it for so long.
But ever since that first night, she'd realized that was okay. Because the night sky made up for everything else it lacked in the day time. The setting and rising sun also took her breath. She could watch the sky from sunset to sunrise if she really wanted to. She would be awed and enraptured the entire time.
But what it made it like her own personal dreamland was the fact that he was there. No matter how dispassionate his almost always half-lidded red eyes were, or how tattered and worn he was, bloody hair tussled, she liked his silent company. Sometimes she'd her herself talk and he never seemed to pay attention but she knew he was listening. She also knew he knew she knew he'd never ignore her. Sometimes he'd explain art, what he though of it. Sometimes he'd merely ask her one question and she could talk for hours. She suspected he did it simply because he could and it was his backwards way of getting to know her. And yet somehow she always learned something about him, even if he went a whole night without ever once looking her way. But she always learned most when he strayed to stand beside her, leaning against that giant weapon she always had shoved in the ground. Because then she knew he wasn't looking at the sky.
It truly was her paradise in the one place she'd never though she'd find one.
In the desert.
