Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
An: Takes place during Shippoudan. The italicized paragraphs are meant to be a sort of flashback or memory. Some of the lines were taken from Naruto Nippon, a radio program. It's actually a conversation between Inoue Kazuhiko, the guy who voiced Kakashi and Paku Romi, the woman who voiced Temari. I thought it was rather cute. I borrowed it from virtual-rotation. I hope they don't mind.
Warning: Bad grammar probably. English is not my first language. Also this is Kakashi and Temari pairing. Kinda.
Summary: For ten days she waited for rescue.
Release the sickle
Day 1
The attack came without warning. She felt his presence mere seconds before he struck. One blink and suddenly half of her scouting team were gone. They were dead before they even touched the ground. The other half of her team was still standing as the blood spurted from their wounds. Their eyes were locked on her figure.
"Temari-sama," one of the jounin rasped. He grabbed his neck and managed to speak through the kunai in his throat. "Run."
He fell.
They all fell.
Their bodies made no sound when they toppled onto the snow and all she could do was stand there, stunned, as they were massacred. There was only one of him and she had twelve capable shinobi backing her up, but within minutes the battle was already over.
They never stood a chance.
Uchiha Itachi's face was devoid of all emotion. He watched impassively as she finally managed to snap out of her stupor. She reached back and grabbed her fan.
She lunged for him with a snarl.
There was solid proof that one of the Akatsuki's stronghold was based near the top of Mount Gojo. The intelligence came from a reliable source and the Hokage had thought long and hard before deciding that it was worth the gamble. Konoha was set and ready to send a team there to investigate and possibly do battle. All Konoha needed was a small group of Suna nins and a leader to represent them...
"I don't see why you have to be the one," Kankuro said. He stood in her living room. He looked irritated and disturbed. "How could Gaara ask you to lead a team into the mountains? You hate the cold!"
"I volunteered, idiot," Temari snorted. She hefted her gear over her shoulder and zipped her jacket. She gestured behind him and Kankuro reluctantly passed her a pair of goggles.
"Why would you do something like that?" Kankuro crossed his arms. His eyes bored into hers. "It's practically a suicide mission!"
"I volunteered because this might be our only chance to take down the Akatsuki. We haven't paid them back for what they did to Gaara."
"Then I'll go!" Kankuro growled. He was completely serious. He would take her place in a heartbeat. Temari grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him back as he turned to run to the door.
"Dumbass," she turned him around and drew him into a tight hug. She felt him returned the hug fiercely. The top of his chin came to rest on her head and she marveled at the fact that she was a head shorter then he was. It seemed like just yesterday she was the one looking down at him. "One of us needs to be here to protect Gaara."
He opened his mouth to protest.
"If something happens, take care of him, alright?" she played the last card in her deck. "Do this for your big sister."
He closed his mouth.
He reluctantly nodded.
He grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes sternly.
"You better come back."
He stood over her.
Why was it always an Uchiha?
If the humiliation by the younger one wasn't bad enough, now she had to contend with the fact that she had been soundly beaten by the older one as well. As she laid there, she stared defyingly into his red-colored eyes. The only comfort she could give herself was that she wouldn't live long enough for the shame to sink in.
Uchiha Itachi stared at her for a long moment; his eyes almost searching. Then he reached down. He brushed away a strand of her hair from her face and he left. She managed to turn her head and caught a glimpse of long black hair disappearing around the bend.
That bastard.
He wanted her to suffer the full humiliation as she bled to death.
She couldn't save her team.
She couldn't save herself.
She and her jounins met with the Kohona nins in an abandon outpost near their target. She was wary when she saw who was leading the Konoha team.
"Yo," Hatake Kakashi held up two fingers in greeting.
'Of all the jounins, of course the Hokage had to send the most unpredictable one', she grouse inwardly. Outward, she kept her face impassive as she greeted him.
In a small tent, they poured over a map.
"My team and I will head North," he said. That left West for her and her team. South and East were nothing but open plains, mountain cliffs, and dead-ends. They couldn't risk taking those routes. One avalanche and the mission would be over before it began. Then again, was taking the easier, but more obvious route the right move? The Akatsuki (assuming that the stronghold does exist), might not expect the direct approach. It might just catch them off guard enough for them to be taken down.
Temari stared at the plan with furred brows.
"Damn it!" she crumpled the map in her hands. They were practically walking into a trap.
Suddenly, Kakashi leaned in until his face was inches from hers.
"You're a really beautiful person," he said offhandedly.
Temari felt her eye twitch.
"When I first saw you my heart was beating so fast," he rubbed his chin. "Yes...If you keep your mouth shut you're really really cute."
Temari didn't like that twinkle in his eye.
"I really like you."
His strange confession was broken by a joking, mirthful snort.
Temari was the bigger person.
She stiffly turned her back and walked away.
Later that night, he found Kamatari's droppings in his sleeping cot.
When morning arrived, they set off.
Temari pulled the fur collar of her jacket closer to her face as they came to the base of the mountain. It was already snowing. God. She really did hate the cold. She could feel it creeping under her clothes and she shivered. She watched as the Kohona team disappeared on their way.
"I'll go ahead with the scouting team. Team B follow thirty clicks behind," she ordered.
"Yes, Temari-dono."
Temari reached back to make sure her fan was secure. The goggles went over her eyes.
"Lets go."
She hadn't known at the time that two minutes into their trek, Uchiha had already destroyed Team B.
By some divine intervention she wasn't dead yet. There wasn't a place on her body that didn't ache or throb uncomfortably and the cold, wet air nipping at her exposed skin made the hurt worst.
But for now, she was alive.
There was a slight rustle to the left and from the corner of her eyes, Temari watched as Kakashi sauntered into the clearing. There was a crudely-made splint on his left leg and one arm dangled limply by his side.
He glanced at the spear that was pierce through her abdomen, pinning her to the frozen ground. His one eye looked grim as he limped towards her. When he reached her, he bent over her prone body and leaned close to her ear.
"This is going to hurt," he warned. With his good arm he grabbed hold of the handle. He yanked it from her body in one swift movement.
The swift fire that seemed to ignite in her belly as the spear was pulled out made her closed her eyes in agony as she gritted her teeth. She felt something warm blanketing her. She opened her eyes long enough to see that Kakashi had shed his jounin jacket and was bundling her within it.
He scooped her up and threw her over one shoulder.
He began to walk.
It was true what they said about death.
Her life did flash before her eyes.
Her childhood...when she was eight, tackling a struggling Kankuro because she wanted to put makeup on him.
Her first crush...he was an older boy and a chunin. Temari had lost count of how many times she would wait behind a shop stall that faced the gate, waiting for him to walk through from his missions. He would always give her a kind smile when he spotted her. She cried the day his body was brought through by his mourning team.
Her first kiss...She was ten. She was delivering flowers to her mother's grave when she saw him. Uncle Yashamaru. He was quietly leaning his head against the stone. When she came closer, he looked up and noticed her. He offered her a weak smile and opened his arms. She went without hesitation. He buried his head into her hair and she could feel his tears.
"You look so much like your mom," he mummer. His entire body trembled. As a child her world had been small, but even then she recognized that his world was even smaller. She had her father and Kankuro.
With her mother gone, Yashamaru had nothing.
When he looked up, she brought her lips down on his.
She meant it as a comfort.
He allowed it for a long moment, before he pulled away. He gently patted her on the head.
It was long after he died when she realized that not only had Yashamaru had been Gaara's first love. He had been hers as well.
She drifted in and out of consciousness. Later, when the pain wasn't clouding her mind, she became aware of her surroundings.
They were in some sort of cave and Kakashi had managed to built a fire. Outside, she heard the wind howled.
"How long was I out?" she croaked. She hated the rasp of her voice.
"Thirteen-hours," Kakashi put more wood on the fire. Whatever supplies they had were stacked next to him as he leaned back on the cave wall.
He was wearing practically nothing. Everything he could spare, he had placed on top of her to keep her warm.
She closed her eyes tiredly and slept.
He asked her to meet him at the the usual place, on the little hill that overlooked the Konoha memorial stone and Hokage monument.
There had been a small flutter in her stomach when she spotted him. He was waiting with slouching shoulders and a bored expression.
Nara Shikamaru.
He straightened when he noticed her.
"Hey," he greeted.
They stood side by side and watched as the sun began to dip lower.
"Ino's pregnant," he told her.
For one excruciating long moment, Temari could have choked on the surprise and bitterness.
"Congratulations," she finally managed to say.
"Thanks."
His hands went into his pockets. He looked directly into her eyes and she could see the burning regret in them.
Then he turned and left.
He never looked back.
Insistent hands were shaking her shoulders.
Temari opened her eyes and noticed Kakashi peering down at her with concern. She mustered up the strength to shoved his hands away.
"You were thrashing," he said. "Nightmare?"
"None of your business," she snapped.
He placed a steaming bowl next to her.
Temari managed to lift her head a few inches to stared at the lumpy soup.
While she was distracted, he lifted the covers and lifted her shirt to prodded at her wound. She gave an involuntary hiss when he touched a tender spot. The blood was already seeping through the dressings.
It was a miracle she had lived this long.
Temari laid her head back down on the rolled up backpack.
"You should eat," he said.
"Later."
She had too much pride to tell him that she was so weak she couldn't even hold the spoon.
Her stomach rumbled loudly. It seemed to echo in the cave.
"You heard nothing," she warned.
"Not a thing," he agreed.
In her boredom, she drifted off again.
"You can't be serious! Are you saying I can't take the chunin exam?" she slammed her fist on the table and glared at the elders in the council. Her own father looked nonchalant.
"What we're saying is that we would like you to wait," one elder tried to appeased her. "We would like for you to be on the same genin team as your brothers."
"Brothers...as in Gaara?" She felt herself pale."With that monster?"
"Yes. With that monster," her father said coolly. "When he comes of age, you will be assigned to the same team so that you can keep an eye on him."
"But-"
"You're dismissed," he waved her off.
Furious, Temari left the tent. She went into the woods and took her frustrations out on a tree. She could have been a chunin by now. Just because a bunch of old geezers wanted her on babysitting duty, her dreams would have to be put off for another two years.
The unfairness of it all enraged her.
Half of the field was leveled by the time she was done venting. She never realized that she had an audience until she turned and found Gaara behind her. He watched her with blank, green eyes.
The sand hovering around him alarmed her.
"Who are you?" he asked. He sniffed the air around her, like a woodland animal. Did he sense that she was kin?
"Your oneechan," she said. She felt her hands sweat nervously. She had never really met her youngest sibling face to face before. She and Kankuro had been raised separately from Gaara, but she'd heard the rumors. Nothing really prepared her to meet the monster that even Uncle Yashamaru couldn't kill.
"My sister?"
"Yes."
"You look like Yashamaru," he said.
"Yes. I look like our mom and uncle," she said awkwardly. "You and Kankuro look like our father."
"Kankuro?"
"Your aniki..." Did Gaara not know that he had family? He didn't seem aware of them, even though she and Kankuro knew of him.
"My brother?"
"Yes."
That's when she noticed the stuff bear. It was missing one button eye. Clunks of fur was missing in random spots. There was a rip on its left leg so large that the stuffing was spilling out and somewhere down the line the bear seemed to have lost its smile.
Someone had tried to patch the thing up. There wasn't any real effort put into it because the seam were horribly done. It was a cross-patched mess held together by thread that was too thick. It zigzag haphazardly across the brown fur. Temari had seen roadkill that looked better than the toy.
Gaara noticed her eyeing his bear and he held it tighter.
She almost felt pity for him.
"If you want..." she didn't even know why she was doing it. "If you want I can fix it for you."
He seemed to stare right through her, his gaze judging her.
He came towards her and the sand was getting thicker.
Temari swallowed hard.
When he was in front of her, he held out the bear. She took it between two fingers and almost cringed at the smell.
She took it home and he followed her.
He sat a distance away while she grabbed what she needed. She tossed the bear into the washer. When it was ready she began to sew.
She held it out proudly when it was done.
It looked almost as good as new.
She had re-stuffed the leg and redid the stitching. She had to sew a few old scraps of fabric on the missing fur, but she thought it gave the bear character. The button that she had used as a replacement eye had came from her favorite shirt.
She watched as Gaara took it.
He left without a word and she never saw him again until it was almost time for them to head towards Konoha as a visiting genin team.
She was too afraid to ask whatever happened with the bear.
When he became the Kazekage, she had walked passed his open office door one day. She had to stop and take a step back.
It was there on his desk, sitting in the corner.
The smile she had sewn seem to beam brighter.
"What happened with your team?" she asked when she woke up again.
"A few managed to get away. They're heading to Konoha for reinforcement."
In other words, Kakashi's team was annihilated. He acted as a decoy while the few lucky survivors were on their way to the closest village. Help should arrive in the next few days. That was assuming, of course, that the Akatsuki hadn't waylaid them.
"Did you see my second team?" she asked.
There was still Team B. She held out hope for them.
Kakashi seemed hesitant before he reached into his pocket. He drew out several Suna insignia patches stained with blood.
"I'm sorry," he said as he handed the insignias to her. He had ripped them from their uniforms so that he could return them to the village. Temari accepted the patches with heavy shoulders.
They lapsed into silence. The only sound came from the crackling fire and the wind.
"Hey copy-nin," she said.
He looked at her questioningly.
She grimaced.
The temperature was dropping and the blizzard was picking up in intensity. From where she was lying, she could see the snow slowly creeping into the cave from the opening. It was building up faster than she had expected.
It was better to let him know where things stand.
She blindly reached down and touched her covered thighs. When she spoke it with a quiet, deadpanned tone.
"I don't think I can feel my legs."
It wasn't because it was numb from the cold.
Kakashi took the news in stride. He rolled her onto her side. Reaching over, he pressed his fingers against her back. He ran it along down her spine before he jabbed it and looked at her.
Temari shook her head.
"I can't feel it."
She couldn't feel a thing below her waist.
He rolled her back.
"It'll be fine," he said.
His voice was relax, but she could see his shoulders slightly tense. He reached over and patted her head like she was some kind of a child. She wanted to bat him away, but his hand reminded her of Yashamaru. She found herself leaning into his touch.
She found herself thinking of Nara.
If she died, would that guy cry for her?
She snorted inwardly.
She knew the answer.
He would bawl his eyes out.
That thought comforted her through the long night.