Disclaimer and Starting Notes: Ok, I do not own Naruto, this story is mine,

however. Let's see… some things you should know (although you should be able to pick up on it)

Italics unless bold are Temari/ another character's thoughts

The dots signal either a time skip, scene change, or…well you get the point

Enjoy……..

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The road leading from Fire country into Grass country was one that had been laid over three hundred years ago. And it looked it.

Thick shards of rock stuck up at impossible angles, twisted out of the earth by the fighting of fierce combatants during the Ninja wars. Slender blades of grass stuck up between those broken giants and to either side of the path, creating a mishmash of colors and textures.

For several minutes, Temari just stared at it, fighting the urge to unleash a wind cutting jutsu on the overgrown foliage. She had only been to Grass country once in her life, and luckily she had taken the main road, not one of these god-forsaken back ones.

The sun illuminated her form as she dropped to the earth from the trees, landing quietly in swaying, yellow grass that reached the undersides of her arms. She made a face as she waded through the sea of grass towards her objective. No wonder there are so many bandits in Grass country. Everyone here must be deprived of either their common sense or the money that they would need in order to leave.

Something ran up her thigh, and immediately she disappeared from sight, swearing under her breath while smacking at her leg. Shit! Shit! Shit! Yeah, anybody living here must have something wrong with them…

Temari's head popped back up above surface of the sea of grass and she looked around warily, hoping that no one had seen that, because not only had it been embarrassing, but, that would also mean that someone had been following her team without their knowledge.

"Temari-san! Temari-san! Can you believe all of this grass?! I cannot!"

At that exact moment, the clone decided to make himself known. Sighing, Temari steeled herself for the onslaught of strange, contraction-free monologue she was sure was coming.

"Temari-san, have we finally arrived at the correct road? I scouted South like you told me to, but I could not find it. It was too bad that I could not tell you over the walkie talkie, but every time I tried to speak to you all I heard was this oddscratching sound."

The blonde broke her gaze away from the black fuzzy caterpillars her companion called eyebrows, as she realized that not only had she been staring at him, again, but that he had also finished speaking.

"Ah…I...Yeah, this is the road. So, let's go." She answered him, deciding not to mention that her radio had had a slight accident, said accident involving her foot and the hard forest floor repeatedly hitting the tiny headphone and speaker set until they were dashed to pieces. It had been very unfortunate.

She shifted her pack and consequently her fan, and began to walk forward, her leather nin-sandals flattening that detestable grass with every new step.

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My god! What the hell do they feed those Leaf-nin? They must have some sort of crack in their daily rations…you'd have to be on something to talk this much…

"…and then Gai sensei and I rode off into the sunset on the back of the giant beetle that had been defeated by the power of youth!"

God…if you're listening…I know I haven't been exactly been…pious…or even a believer…but I swear I will follow your every word if you just shut this mutherfu- Lee…up.

Temari paused mid-step as she rounded the sharp corner and a quaint inn popped into view. She rolled her eyes to heaven and mouthed a silent thank you as Lee jolted to a stop behind her.

"Eh? Temari-san? We have stopped? ARE YOU INJURED? BY THE POWER OF YOUTH I SHALL CARRY YOU TO SAFETY! TEMARI-SAN!"

Temari recoiled sharply as she felt two strong arms throw themselves around her waist and hoist her bodily from the ground. Her back met the hard, warm surface that was Lee's chest. God must have a sense of humor…

"LEE! DAMMNIT! PUT ME DOWN!"

When her shouts of protest were ignored, Temari decided that she would have to resort to another method to get the young man to drop her. The blonde threw her weight to the right and with the help of the heavy (and uncomfortable…people with metal fans strapped to their backs are not supposed to be lifted like that) fan she managed to tip the jogging Lee over.

The two landed in a tangle of limbs and in a matter of seconds, Temari had Lee pinned down. "I am not injured…only an idiot like you would actually think that when a person pauses in their step they're injured!" She snarled into the boy's face.

After a few seconds, she managed to rein in her violent temper and, having regained her composure, she continued on, "I do think we should stop here for the day, however."

"Night is falling and from what I've heard, we're deep in bandit country. Now I don't know about you, but when I meet the Daimyo of Grass country I want to have a full, undisturbed night's sleep under my belt."

Her hands flexed against his biceps, sending an understood warning to her companion. Tightening her hands a final time, she pushed herself off of Lee and stood. Lee blinked as the setting sun flashed into his eyes, the shadow that the angry blonde had cast over his face now gone.

Temari was busy readjusting her fan and pack into the position they had been in before the impromptu wrestling match when the brunette appeared beside her. The two stared warily at each other for a few moments before Lee's face was split by an uneasy grin.

"Temari-san…I have thought through your reasoning and I believe it is sound. It would be a problem if we showed up at the Daimyo's palace and then fell asleep on his lap, or accidentally mistook one of his family members as an enemy and dispatched them."

The girl grunted softly in a way that assured Lee that she had forgiven him for the moment. Turning away from her "teammate", Temari began to stalk towards the inn. Lee once again surprised by the blonde's sudden movement, lurched forward in an attempt to catch up.

He overcompensated, however, and ended up bumping into Temari again. Still unnerved from being picked up the first time, she reacted with primal instincts when his chest met her back, and used his forward momentum to throw him over her shoulder.

Sense of humor? He must be a freaking comedian….

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The counter? Spotless. The walls? Clean and just repapered. The bookshelves next to the vase stand? Just dusted and reorganized. The floor? Covered in dirt and mud and unconscious, bleeding shinobi.

Beady, black eyes shot up to stare at the face, or what could be seen of it, of the giant masked man standing beside his freshly cleaned counter. "Give me your cheapest room." The squirrelly man behind the counter, surprised and frightened by the deep grumbling voice of his customer, snapped into action, mumbling apologies and assurances of a cheap but clean room.

Kakuzu felt something wet touch his arm and he glanced down. Hidan was holding his partner's arm in vice grip and was glaring at the man's lower back, because that was as high as he could see from his current less-than-comfortable position face down on the floor, with a death intent.

His blood slicked palm slowly slid down the arm, dying the pale, tattooed skin a temporary red. The limb landed on the dirty wood with a soft, wet thunk and Hidan let out a muffled "Fuck".

"And an extra towel," Kakuzu added, "as long as it's free". The innkeeper nodded as he fumbled, searching through the rows of key holders on the wall. Finally, his eyes landed upon the desired room key and he grabbed it, nearly dropping it in his haste.

"This way my good sirs," he managed to squeek as he scuttled out from behind the counter.

Kakuzu turned and followed the small man down a wide hallway to the right of the greeting station, dragging Hidan behind him. The strange party stopped before a set of intricate shoji screens, the slender golden dragons and arching sapphire koi painted on each boasting of the inn's wealth.

With trembling hands, the innkeeper slid open the screens to reveal a medium sized set of rooms, simple but elegant.

"This is your cheapest room?" Kakuzu cast questioning eyes to his host.

"All our rooms cost the same amount, ah, but we have a discount for our shinobi patrons." The man stuttered nervously "The baths are down the hall. Dinner is at s-seven." He decided not to mention the rest of the inn's rules.

Kakuzu's eyes danced as he leaned closer to the panicking man. The cloth of his facemask danced as he spoke, "Don't forget the extra towel." Terrified, the innkeeper shot down the hallway, running for the requested terrycloth. As he neared the greeting station he slipped on the stripe of blood running up the center of the hall and face-planted into the wet hardwood floor.

"Are we going into the fucking room or are we just going to wait out here in this shitty excuse of a hallway until I lose all my fucking blood?"

The stitch master stepped into the room, dragging Hidan behind him roughly. The immortal let out a string of curses as his head slammed against the raised threshold and Kakuzu chuckled dryly before slamming the screens shut.

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"One room please."

The innkeeper stared at the two ninja standing in his recently re-cleaned lobby. The young man in the green jumpsuit was shifting his weight from foot to foot, a large bruise marring the visible part of his forehead.

The woman was slightly smaller than the brunette, but much calmer. Her dark clothing and the air of danger surrounding her marked her as a kunoichi. Noticing his scrutiny, the woman glared at him, as if saying Keep it up and you'll be missing an eye.

"Excuse me sir? One room please."

The tiny man glanced at the Konoha shinobi again and nodded that he had heard him. Turning slowly, he searched through the keys and chose one. He gave a mental sigh as he noticed that the shoes of both nin were caked in mud. The floors would have to be cleaned…again.

Silently, he led them down a hallway, past several ornate shoji screen doors and finally stopped in front of one.

"The men and women's hot-springs are down the hall. The dining room is to the left of the lobby. Dinner will be served at seven. Breakfast will be served tomorrow at eight."

Temari glanced at her surroundings curiously. The furnishings were surprisingly expensive for such a tiny inn.

"Fresh robes are available to all bathers. Also, since you are shinobi, I would like to alert you to the rules of the Shin-po Inn. While you are under our roof, we ask that you not attack other patrons. Any structural damage caused by you, you will pay to repair. If you need anything call on one of the staff. Good day."

Forest green and onyx met as the two shinobi glanced at each other and entered the rooms. Lee stretched and moaned after dropping his pack in the corner next to Temari's.

"I usually do not stay at inns when I am on missions, so this will be an interesting experience."

Temari grunted an acknowledgement as she knelt, searching through the series of shelves and cubbyholes to the right of the doors for the previously mentioned bathrobes. It had been almost two weeks since the mission had been assigned to the unlikely duo, and although both had been washing regularly, a bath in a hot spring was a welcome thing.

Finally finding what she had been searching for, the blonde pulled a long, dark blue robe off of the bottom shelf.

"I'm going to bathe before dinner. You might want to do the same, it's not like you smell like a pile of freshly picked roses. Besides, we might not find another inn like this. "

Lee grinned at her, and shrugged. "If you do not mind, Temari-san, I think I will just stay in the room and perform some katas. I have been getting rusty as of late."

"Suit yourself," she said, turning her back to him and exiting the room. The hallway was completely empty, and Temari glanced around warily as she neared the end of the hall.

Two doorways loomed at her, the long ribbons attached to the frames signaling that these were the entrances to the baths. As she neared them, she heard the happy chattering of relaxed people.

Temari ducked into the right doorway and stood in a small, organized locker room. Slowly, she peeled off her dirt and sweat encrusted clothes until she was standing in just her shoes and wrappings.

Rolling the dirty clothes into a ball, she stuffed them into a bottom locker, before pulling off her nin sandals. She curled her toes in pleasure as she wrapped one of the soft, light blue towels she had found at the bottom of the locker around her now nude form.

The girl smiled as she reached up with her free hand and pulled the hair bands that kept her hair out of her face from the golden mess. Shaking out her hair as she entered the shaded outdoor hot-spring, Temari grinned widely at what she saw.

Several women, all civilians judging by their long hair and unblemished skin, were playing volleyball with a large beach ball in the deepest part of the baths. Other girls were lounging on the foldout chairs around the edge of the bubbling water.

It had been a long time since she had been able to relax with other people around, and besides, civilians always made her giggle. Their uncoordinated attempts at playing sports usually had her rolling on the floor with laughter.

Temari let out a low moan as her aching back hit the hot, soothing water. Oh…God that feels nice. Glancing to her left, she saw a small, green haired girl staring at her. The blonde grinned at the child and spoke, "I've been traveling for awhile and this bath is so relaxing."

The little girl blinked and nodded. "You should stick your head under the water too! You can't hear nothing under there! It's so cool!" Happy with her advice the little girl ducked under the water.

Temari watched the spot where the girl had been for a few seconds before leaning her head back against the cool stones of the walkway. She let out a low moan as the coolness on her neck and face and the warm bubbling water on her back worked their soothing mojo.

Suddenly, a pale, manicured hand shot into the water next to her and dragged the green haired girl out of the water.

"Kin. Come on, dinner is waiting in the room. We don't have time for children's games. When are you going to grow up? Ne?

The Suna native shifted slightly so she could peer up at the angry woman. Light, graying green hair marked the woman as Kin's mother. "A child is only a child for a short period of time; you shouldn't treat her so harshly. But then again how could I expect someone like you to understand the importance of such a thing."

"Oh, and who exactly are you that you can judge the way someone like me raises their child? Eh?"

Temari sighed and turned around, water dripping off of her arms and hair as she pushed herself halfway out of the water. The woman's eyes widened as she got a look at the top of the younger girl's back and shoulders.

A deep scar ran from the swell of her right shoulder, across the length of her back in a half circle, to end inches from where the left side of her neck met her body. Six long scratches, freshly stitched shut, carved out the flesh of her left side, their long, macabre fingers stretching from her collarbone to the underside of her shoulder blade.

Smirking, Temari sank back into the water and pointed to her right shoulder. "I've had this one since I was seven." She chuckled, "Got into a fight with my younger brother. His puppet cut open my back, my kunai cut open his leg."

"These beauties," She fingered the gauges, "I got three weeks ago, took the medics six hours to close up." The blonde glanced at the little girl. Kin stared at the relaxing ninja, a look of awe plastered on her face.

"Just some friendly advice, but if you don't want your kid ending up like me, an assassin and bodyguard, treat her a little better. I have a feeling if you keep jerking her around like she's some dog that can be taught not to take food from the table she's going to do what any self respecting dog would do. Bite you in the ass."

With those last words to the disturbed woman and her daughter, Temari slid under the surface of the water. Huh…would you look at that…she was right. You really can't hear anything down here.

She watched entranced as strands of gold created a halo around her face. Her lungs began to ache from holding her breath, but instead of surfacing she just focused a small amount of chakra into her lungs, relieving some of the building pressure there.

There was a sudden exodus by all the women in the pool, and Temari glanced around, curious. Is some fat ass going to do a cannon ball? Maybe someone really smelly is coming in?

Finally, too intrigued to stay underwater any longer, (not to mention her chakra enhanced air supply had finally run out), the Suna nin surfaced.

Everyone was gone. The beach ball from the impromptu volleyball game was bobbing up and down in the middle of the hot-spring, lonely and abandoned. Maybe I scared them all away. Damn. Well, their loss.

Slosh.

Slowly, Temari swiveled around to stare in the direction that the sound had come from.

"You are aware that this is the women's spring, right?"

"Holy Shit. This is the women's bath? You must be a fucking genius. I mean, seriously, how long did it take your little brain to work out that shit load of a sentence?"

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Hello…Macadamia here…umm I hope you like the story so far… I will begin working on the next chapter of Art of Terror soon…I just sort of got side tracked

by the first chapter of this story and an idea for another story involving Temari and the Akatsuki…Please review and let me know if I should continue on with

this story…Soo… That's it… Happy reading people!