The desert was well below freezing at night. Chilly winds swept through the dunes, carrying red sand this way and that.
Despite the temperature, there was never any frost or snow by morning. It was nothing like now. The white fluffy stuff covered every inch of Konoha and her breath came out in small clouds.
The streets were lively and lanterns were hung everywhere, casting a warm glow on this particularly cold evening.
It was Konoha's annual winter festival. This year, the invitations had been extended to all of the villages. After the war a celebration was very much in order. Did the party really have to be in the middle of December though?
She pulled her cloak closer to her body. It stood out with its bright red colour and Sunan design. If she had been smart, she would have remembered what Shikamaru had told her the last time she had visited as a liaison here.
Vaguely, she could recall him mentioning the festival and how people usually wore boots, hats and large coats. None of which she had on at the moment.
She knew it would only be a pain later but she undid her hair ties to cover her icy ears. Why hadn't she just stayed at the inn she was sharing with her brothers?
Oh, that's right. It was because Gaara was silently doing paper work while Kankarou kept cracking chauvinistic jokes about a group of girls he'd seen earlier today.
Regardless of her chattering teeth, she was happy to be out in the village streets. Being stuck with her brothers for prolonged periods of times could be suffocating. Out here, on the streets, strangers stopped and waved to her.
Everything was so different from Suna, where people were inherently suspicious. From a distance she recognized the unmistakable orange and black uniform of Naruto Uzumaki, the world's hero.
He was with a dark haired Hyuuga girl she didn't recognize. Whatever they were talking about seemed to be personal and she suddenly felt awkward watching them.
"Eavesdropping is rude," a voice directly beside her sounded. She let out an uncharacteristic girlish scream at the sudden intrusion. Once she spun around, she noticed Shikamaru wincing and cradling one ear. "Relax woman. There's no need to make my ears bleed."
"You jerk!" She swatted him, forgetting all about the cold. "Don't you know that sneaking up behind people is rude?" Her remarks had no effect on him as he ignored everyone and looked her over.
"Didn't I tell you to bring proper clothes?" She blushed but thankfully her face was already red from the winter night's air.
"I'll wear what I want to." No way was she going to admit that she had forgotten all about his advice. She would just pay the price now and leave her pride intact. The man in front of her sighed and reached for her hands. "W-what are you doing?"
"We're going someplace warm troublesome woman. Now that I've seen you, I can't let you freeze. Mom would have my head." There he went again; using other people as an excuse for the nice things he did for her.
He pulled her through numerous side roads and alleys; it wasn't long before she had no idea where they were. When they reached a clearing she vaguely recalled that she was in a park they had gone to earlier that fall. The girl she fought in the Chuunin exams, Tenten, and some of his other friends were sitting around a bonfire.
Chastising herself for feeling nervous she greeted them. Her first impression on the ninja of Konoha has been nothing short of a disaster. How was she –
"Gaara's hot sister, hey!" A boy with a large white dog hollered. Her eye twitched. The boy was obviously more than slightly intoxicated. The blonde girl, Ino, clobbered him over the head.
Shikamaru's grasp on her hand tightened and she realized he was still holding it. Her face grew hot and she prayed to whatever god there was that her palms wouldn't become sweaty.
"Kiba," that kid with the bushy eyebrows and hideous jumpsuit, Lee she thinks, exclaimed. "That is no way to address a beautiful desert flower!"
"Desert what?"
"Just ignore them," Shikamaru grumbled. She observed his mood worsen as he dragged her over to an empty bench, the one farthest away from Kiba.
"Temari San," Lee proclaimed, "please accept this scarf which I had crafted through the power of youth under the guidance of Guy sensei!" Since when did anyone make scarves from spandex?
"Um, thanks; but no thanks," she chuckled nervously. Konoha's green beast walked away dejectedly, muttering something about how his burning youth would not be squashed. This time she truly laughed out loud.
"I should have known this was a bad idea," Shikamaru sighed. Actually, she was grateful that he had found her. Even though they were loud, she enjoyed his friends. The feeling was slowly coming back to her fingers, which were still entwined with his.
This had not gone unnoticed by the others. Most of them pretended not to notice but Ino and Sakura were smirking impishly. The blonde girl plopped down on the other side of her, much to Shikamaru's chagrin.
"Temari, you should always keep your hair down like this," she praised. Damn! She had totally forgotten about her hair. No wonder everyone had given her odd looks.
"It's really too much of a bother to have it down," she mumbled embarrassed, pulling her hand out of Shikamaru's in an attempt to tame it.
"Yamanaka is right, definitely a ten!" Kiba called out, giving a wolfish smirk and two thumbs up.
"Ha, ha, does anyone know where Naruto is?" Sakura asked nervously, realizing that things were about to escalate and not in a good way.
The shadow user had positioned his body slightly in front of the Sunan girl's and looked more than a little annoyed. Ino, who had been trying to get the two to admit their feelings for the past few months, was ready to kill.
Temari, oblivious to all of this, was about to tell Sakura she had seen him but remembered who he was with and thought better of it. She had always thought Naruto and Sakura were together. Judging by his expression towards the dark haired girl earlier, she knew that wasn't the case.
"I've noticed Hinata is also missing," a voice spoke up, making almost everyone jump. How had she not noticed this guy?
"Oi Shino, when did you get here?"
"I've been here this entire time Kiba…"
"Of course you've been buddy," Kiba slurred, making the other scowl. "Well if Hinata and Naruto are both missing I guess there's only one explanation. Our boy has finally grown up," he wiped a fake tear away from one eye.
This is what friends were supposed to be like Temari conceded. The closest she'd ever come to this was with her students at the academy and even then they were all younger than her.
Also, they were only around because she was their sensei. She supposed that Daimaru chasing her around, sticking gum in her hair, could be counted as a weird sort of friendship.
"Well, it's been a long time coming," Chouji stated through a mouth full of food and everyone agreed. Feeling out of the loop she let her thoughts wander. She wondered how her brothers were doing.
She'd been gone for a while now and had originally told them she would only be gone for a couple of minutes.
"I should probably be getting back now," she wasn't really a part of this group dynamic anyways.
"But you just got here!" Ino whined. Temari stood up and shook the snow off her cloak.
"Thanks for everything, but my brothers are probably looking for me." She wouldn't cave just because the blonde gave her a pout.
"I'll take you back," Shikamaru offered, eager to escape his embarrassing friends. He wasted no time in grabbing her hand once more. She was about to protest but his hands were much warmer than hers and she lost her will.
"Looks like our Shikamaru has become a man as well," Kiba exclaimed loudly and was joined in laughter by everyone excluding Shino. The tips of Nara's ears flared. They stalked past the group and, when they passed Kiba, Shikamaru leaned in,
"There are a lot of shadows around here; take care of yourself," he said quietly with an eerily pleasant smile. As soon as they were out of sight, both moved closer to the other subconsciously. Together, they walked in muffled silence through the park. "Sorry about that," he broke the silence. "If I had known Kiba was going to be such a pain, I wouldn't have brought you."
"It's okay. I like your friends. He's loud but Kiba is funny," she teased in an attempt to make him jealous. It was foul play but if he didn't make a move he couldn't get angry at her for enjoying the company of other guys.
"Ch, it depends on your sense of humour I guess," he responded sulkily. His grumpy face was surprisingly…sweet? It was hard to pull an emotional response out of him so she relished in the rare opportunity.
"What's his dog's name?" She really doesn't see anyone but advisors on her trips here so she was curious. Also, she figured the more questions she asked about Kiba the more agitated he would become.
"Akamaru," he replied stiffly. "Anything else about Kiba," he sneered the name, "you would like to know?"
"Nope," she popped the 'p' and smirked victoriously.
Now that she felt more comfortable, her earlier impatience to see her brothers had faded. Not to mention it would be three months before she saw him again.
"Come with me and get something to eat," she demanded. The return to her normal bossy self made him smile.
"So troublesome, but I guess I don't have a choice." Even if he did, she knew he would follow anyways. Though she knew her way around quite well, he hadn't given up the position of being her guide.
Once they were out of the park it was easy enough for her to find the way back into town. They stopped at a tea house along one of the busier streets. She was well aware of his eyes on her face as she sipped her spiced drink. "Didn't you say your brothers would be looking for you?"
"They'll be fine."
"That's not really the point I'm getting at." Ugh, did she really have to spell it out for him? Perhaps it had been naïve to think he would just want to spend time with her.
"I might have told a white lie to get out of the cold. Gaara is doing paper work and Kankarou is working on puppets, like always," she huffed. They sat there for the next hour or so and talked about their respective villages and politics.
Times like these she dreaded going back to Suna. When they were alone, it was so easy with him and she actually enjoyed herself.
The temperature had incredulously dropped even further by the time they went back outside. The flakes of snow had gotten smaller and were falling faster than ever. "My brothers are probably getting concerned now. Hey, are you even listening?" He had walked towards a stall filled with candles and picked one up.
"It's a tradition," he stated, placing it in her hands. She raised an eyebrow. It was actually rather pretty and ornate. The base was decorated with small purple and gold flowers.
She couldn't have known at the time but the tradition he had been referring to only took place between couples.
"I wish it snowed in Suna."
"No you don't. Admit it, you would complain after the third day of snow and wish it was sunny." They bickered until they reached the door to where she was staying.
"I'll be in meetings with my brother all day tomorrow then we leave at night so I guess this is where I leave you. Tell Kiba I say goodbye," she chuckled.
"You're hilarious," he muttered dryly. In a moment of bravery she placed her arms around him in a quick hug.
"Take care of yourself cry-baby." He returned the embrace after a moment. Not wanting to make anything awkward, she pulled away. It was over too quickly. She dug her key out of her pocket and made to unlock the door.
Without warning she felt as hand on her cheek and her head was turned slightly. Before she could even compute what was happening, let alone question him, her mouth became preoccupied.
It was here during the winter festival, hands clutching the small candle he had given her, that she experienced her first real kiss. The snow twirled around them but neither of them took much notice of it.
In the back of her mind she knew her brothers had probably picked up on what was going on just outside of the door.
She just hoped they didn't scare him too bad when they would pull Shikamaru aside to have the inevitable 'hurt my sister and die' talk.
When they pulled away both were flushed and warm. She smiled warmly up at him but grew concerned when his face went as white as the falling snow.
"Your brothers are going to have my head for that aren't they?"