Title: The Meaning of Dreams

Summary: Spartans are ruthless killing machines, and Athenians are philosophers and masters of the arts. Will their differences tear them apart or bring them together. ShikaTema

Author: Bibliophile Nincompoop

Discretion: This story will loosely, if not at all, follow historical events.

A/N: I realize that the ending of the last chapter, may have been confusing for a few readers, so I'll explain. The entire ancient Greek part was a dream that Temari was having, when shewoke up she ran over to Shikamaru's apartment to accept his marriage proposal. And this chapter starts off with ninja Temari and then she begins to dream about ancient Greece.

With all my heart, and all my soul, I will love you till the winds don't blow.

Until the oceans turn to stone, my love is yours and yours alone.

My love is forever, until forever's gone.

~Kenny Rogers


Temari snuggled into the side of her now fiancé, enjoying the warmth radiating from his toned body. It felt right being with Shikamaru, and she was glad for her enlightening dream; a crazy dream at that. Who dreams that they are a Spartan Queen on the verge of war but falls in love with a man, in the mists of the chaos, who actually happens to be your live-in boyfriend in reality? Well obviously she did.

"I wonder what would happen after that..." Temari silently whispered before she gave herself to the night.

~Dream~

The Spartan Queen stared at her bare feet, deciphering and understanding the meaning of her dream, but she couldn't agree with it. There was no way that she would give her life this man, even if the Gods fated it. She made her own fate, she carved her destiny through the unmovable stars, no man or God could tell her otherwise. If Shikamaru was meant to be her partner, then she would choose him and he would her.

"I do believe your intended is waiting for your presence in the dining hall." She placed her hand on his scantly clothed chest forcing him away from her. Temari walked past him, pausing at the curtained doorway. "We are too different; it would only end in ruin."

She made sure he had no time to rebuttal her statement; she quickly maneuvered through the people trying to find her escape. Her eyes caught the sight of Neji, he was talking with some girl with buns in her hair, but she could tell by the glint in his eyes he wasn't going to escort her back to her room willingly. So she made her way through the hallways, hoping that she wouldn't be lost like Minotaur of Crete, forever lost in a labyrinth. Luckily, for her, the gods heard her silent prayers and she made it back to her sea washed room without too much difficulty.

Temari threw herself on the bed, burying her face in the feathered pillow. "Damn you Aphrodite."

She dipped her toes into the crystal clear water, watching the ripple disperse the further it went. But soon the water went crimson, the sounds of baby's screams pierced the air like a crash in the mid of night. Her head whipped over to the cliff where the wails resonated from, men on top of the cliff threw the infants off one by one, each hitting the ground with a dull thud. Their tiny skulls smashed like a dropped watermelon, bones jutting from their unblemished skin, their pale skin turning black and blue. Temari shut her eyes, covering her ears, shaking the cries from her ears but they only grew more prevalent.

"Stop it! No more! Go away!" She wailed onto to deaf ears.

She felt a ripple hit her foot, her eyes shot open to see a scaled beast with jagged teeth ready to tear away her leg.

"Your highness! Please wake up." Temari was shook awake by a small figured woman. The Queen jumped from the bed quickly pinning the frail girl underneath her, her fist mid air ready to strike. "My lady please don't!"

Temari shook her head clear, a violet haired girl quivered under her. The blonde got off of the poor girl and helped her off the bed, noticing three male figures in the doorway. "I'm sorry... you startled me."

"It's quite alright your highness." The pale eyed girl bowed respectfully, Temari decided she must have been related to Neji due to their strange eyes. "You were screaming, are you alright?"

Temari nodded despite feeling the sweat starting to trickle down her face, she wiped it away hastily and turned her attention to the men in the doorway. The woman got the subtle gesture and stood up, shooing the men away. Temari stood and swiftly strode off to the washroom, were she was greeting with a disgruntling sight.

The blonde groaned audibly, wiping away the ruby paint on her eyes. "I look like Medusa with her snakes in a knot."

"No, just like someone who is very tired." The violet haired girl walked into the washroom, she promptly began to tear through the knotted hair with a delicate brush.

"I can do that myself-" Temari paused for a moment, staring at the servant girl. "What is your name?"

The girl flushed like the sunrise, "I... um... uh... Hinata."

"Are you related to Neji?" The blonde pressed on, ignoring the stutter and blush of the younger girl. Hinata didn't look like the servant type, she was most likely a prisoner of war, that or maybe her families assets went belly up and it landed her in this situation. "I'm waiting..."

"Yes, he is my first cousin on my father's side." The girl said quickly, she gasped slightly when Temari stole the brush from her hand.

The blonde Queen smiled at the girl, "Can you draw up a bath for me? I would like to talk to you later, after my meeting. Is that fine?"

"Yes your highness." The girl smiled genuinely, she splashed buckets of steaming water into the porcelain tub. Temari took in the girl more noticing that her figure was full, that of royalty, but her demeanor was that of a skittish mouse. "Oh by the way, your highness, this came in by hawk this morning for you."

The pale girl handed over a leather bound envelope, and the blonde opened without a moment's hesitation. Her teal orbs scanned the papyrus page, reading the encrypted words from both her brothers. It gave vital information to the person stealing their city-state's secure information, and a helpful hint for the source in Athens.

"Hinata." Temari authoritative voice called the chambermaid.

"Yes my lady?" She made her way from the tub and back into the main chamber.

"What do you know of a Sasuke Uchiha?" The blonde asked.

"Um... Sasuke's family was once very powerful, but they died from an inherited disease. He is considered a very mysterious man, no one quite knows where he goes all the time, but he is seen with Master Orochimaru, they are always whispering in hallways and in the middle of the night." Hinata said very quietly and low, as if she didn't want the walls to hear this conversation. "But he is very popular with the women, especially unavailable women. Rumor is that he is having an affair with Ino, Shikamaru's intended, as of now."

"Thank you so much Hinata, no one will know that you spoke of this, I swear." Temari smiled reassuringly.

The girl bowed and slipped away from the room when Temari submerged herself within the bath, trying to avoid the new knowledge of Orochimaru, so she turned to thinking about her dream. The thought made her cringe. The sounds of the helpless babies made her want to cry. Most would be safe to assume that the Spartan Queen didn't cry, but in all actuality her tear ducts were fully functional and she was a woman after all. But it was the sheer act that she wouldn't succumb to; it was number two on her list of never do's. One was never to beg, two was never to cry, and three was to never show public or secretive affection. Love had a way of destroying your life, and leaving you face down in the dirt crippled past the point of recovery.

Temari growled at what she had to do in order to decode her dream, either she would travel all the way to Mount Olympus and pray that Morpheus would tell her or she had to go to the smartest man in Athens... and from last night's events it was a safe bet to say that Shikamaru wasn't all that pleased with her. Why should he be mad anyways? What woman in her right mind would jump into the arms of practically a stranger and grow old together? Although romantic as it may sound, it was ludicrous! Unreasonable, incomprehensible, and not to mention a political disaster. But there was no doubt that she felt a pang deep with the catacombs of her chest, from seeing the devastation drowning in his eyes. And it hurt to say no.

"I'm going mad." She chuckled to herself, "It seems the lunacy runs in the family after all."

Temari cleaned herself and dressed in a pure white chiton, and salvaged what little style her unruly hair obtained. She had finished placing her golden armbands on when a sharp knock resonated from the door.

"One moment." She made her way to the door and opened it slowly, only to see him. Her eyes were locked with his, and even if she wanted to look away in shame her pride wouldn't allow her. "Hello Shikamaru. Here to escort me to the meeting?"

"Yes your highness." The obsidian haired man bowed nonchalantly, hiding his discretion like a pro.

Temari shut the door behind her, and walked beside Shikamaru. Every step she took she felt her heart throb, just being next to him sent her body into an uproar. She could feel the warmth of his olive skin, the masculine aroma of pine and earth, and the way his muscles flexed as he walked made her shiver.

It's Aphrodite's doing, she's poisoning my mind. Temari reasoned to herself, as she tried to keep her eyes off of him and down the stairwell. Unfortunately her eyes wouldn't listen to her sound reasoning, and they wandered all over the span of his toned body.

"Be wary, the steps are not what they use to be." His sultry voice echoed through the circling stair case. "Many people have fallen to their deaths here."

She chuckled, "Are you sure they weren't pushed?"

"It's always possible." He replied with disdain obvious in his voice.

It made her blood boil. Temari caught up with him and grabbed him by his tunic, pulling him toward her. "Get over it Nara, I told you no. If it's the master plan that I'm going to fall in love with you, then it will be my decision. So stop being an uptight ass."

"I'm marrying Ino in two days." His coarse voice resonated in her ears, his dark eyes searing into her light ones. "You have until then, and then I won't wait any longer."

"How do you expect me to fall in love with you in two days!" She screamed at him, losing any composure she had, she threw her arms up in exasperation and defeat. "You're insane!"

"I'm not the one screaming." Shikamaru sighed, but the tiniest hint of a smile rounded the corner of his lips. "You're beautiful when you're flustered."

"And you're aggravatingly calm when I'm angry, and that makes me even angrier." She rubbed her temples in attempt to tame her inflamed temper. After a few seconds, she looked up at him with weary eyes. "I am the Queen of Sparta, and my people think very highly of me. What would they think if I threw it all away for some Athenian?"

"They would think that you were a traitorous fool." He said without any remorse.

"You're not helping your predicament." She glared daggers at him, but his slothful appearance remained.

"I'm just saying the truth." He sighed, with a slight smile. "I am just pleased that you want to attempt to be with me."

"Ha!" She chuckled, jabbing her thin clawed finger into his chest. "What notion let that go to your over inflated head?"

"Why would the Queen of Sparta bother with lowly Athenian, in matters of the heart, especially when her reputation is at stake? It is clear to me that you have to be at least contemplating it, if not, then prove me wrong." Shikamaru took a step closer to her, but Temari didn't budge.

She growled at his logic and knowing that it was perfectly true. Before she realized what was happening, she reached out and slapped him as hard as she could possibly muster. Temari was shocked with her own action, but her face kept its composure. "It's not true." She grunted before storming off down the hall.

Shikamaru put a hand to his shaved cheek, rubbing out the pain, he chuckled and smiled. "Troublesome woman is in love with me."

It took a few wrong turns, and a few run-ins with a laughing Shikamaru before Temari found the meeting room. Everyone was already present and stood when she entered the room. She quickly apologized for her tardiness and blamed it on the enormity and the devious maze that the building was.

"I thought that was why you were assigned an escort, your highness." The snake like man said, giving the Queen several look overs. "Maybe I should replace that incompetent fool."

"Last time I checked," Shikamaru interjected, sluggishly walking into the room to take his seat next to the blonde woman. "I was the smartest man in Athens, by no means a fool. The only fool I know is a man who is willing to trust his back to you."

"Well since you're so intelligent, perhaps it is you who is selling Athens and Sparta out to the Persians." Orochimaru sneered, his dark eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Perhaps you should watch your tongue." Jiraya interjected, glaring at his advisor. "We are not pointing fingers at this council; we are just filtering the suspects. There is no evidence proving anyone guilty as of yet."

"Well, I can detest that." Temari growled, her brows knitting together. "I received word this morning from my generals that the only man to enter and leave Sparta in the past season was a Sasuke Uchiha, and I have learned from some of the staff that Orochimaru and this Sasuke are allies of sorts, and that they meet at odd hours of the day and always in secret. So either you Athenians really are boy lovers or Orochimaru is the rat, or shall I say snake."

Orochimaru laugh echoed throughout the room, all eyes were on him and they were not happy stares. "Everyone knows that Sasuke was my pupil, but he disappeared quite some time ago, I have no control over his actions. If he condemned his life to treachery, then it is not my fault, I have not committed any such sin."

"This is blasphemy!" Temari shot out of her seat, yelling on the top her lungs. "You are guilty, and that is what everyone knows, but the gods only know they will not take arms against you! Damn you Athenians and your damn democracy, if we were in Sparta your head would be served to me on a silver platter right now. You deserve to burn in the fiery hells with Hades himself."

He came so close that she could feel brush of his rank breath against her lips and cheek, "What does a silly girl like you know about, well, anything?"

"That is out of line!" Jiraya boomed, he and even some of the others at the table objected silently.

But once again Temari's fist thought faster than her brain, and soon the sound of her fist colliding with Orochimaru's pasty white flesh crunched in her ears. Her chest heaved, she was sure she looked like a bull seeing red. She stood over his fallen figure, looming above like a goddess of death, "I have commanded a nation by myself for the past five years, I have made history with my strategies and ingenuity, I have led my men into battle, I have made them victorious, I have brought an end to several city-states and countries, and I will see to it that I end you."

The snake like man stood up, wiping the blood from the corner of his lips. "You will never find the evidence that you seek, there is no way to prove your accusations." He raised his hand as if to smack her, she stayed planted to her spot, her eyes full of fury. "And mind your place; you are no longer in Sparta wench."

With that the man stalked away, leaving Temari with an eerie and strange feeling caught within her chest. She didn't sit back down she just kept her eye on the door, expecting the snake like man to come back.

"Temari." Came a gentle voice behind her, she finally turned to see Shikamaru, and all the older men standing from their spots and stretching their brittle joints. "We are taking a recess, let's go take a walk."

She simply nodded and latched an arm around his, allowing him to lead her out of the room and out into a garden. He directed her towards a marble bench that was surrounding by white roses. Shikamaru was genuinely concerned about Temari, she wouldn't make eye contact or speak. "Temari...?"

"I will tell you my answer tonight." She looked up at him, her eyes screamed with fear and uncertainty. "I will tell you whether I will be your other half, I will."

"Are you alright?" He asked, touching the back of his hand to her forehead.

"I have the strangest feeling, it's so horrible I feel sick." Temari wrapped her arms around her stomach, emphasizing her pain. "What Orochimaru said-"

"Forget about what Orochimaru said." Shikamaru cut her off, holding her face between his palms. "You will be fine, you worry too much."

"Kiss me." She whispered, and he eagerly complied. Their arms entangled around each other, trying to support themselves from drowning in their passion, their lips collided with such heat the sun would envy them, tongues serenaded around in a beautiful waltz. They kissed as if it were to be their last.

They pulled apart gasping for air, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. "It is so absurd that the woman who I thought would be the most difficult person in all of Greece, ended up being my soul mate."

"Well you'll find out tonight, if she is." Temari smirked.

He smiled, and lifted her to her feet. "You should go rest, Jiraya will take a few hours of talking with Tsunade about everything, we all know she calls the shots."

"I could use a cat nap." The Queen agreed, and they walked hand-in-hand pack into the building. Shikamaru began walking her to her room when Temari stopped him, "I can walk myself, I would like some alone time so I can think."

"Are you sure?" He asked warily, but she just chuckled at him and nodded. "I will get you before the council rejoins."

"Goodbye." She smiled, and walked on without Shikamaru. Her chest felt so heavy, and every ounce of her being felt an ominous force at work. Something bad was going to happen, something was utterly wrong. She sighed inwardly, as she carefully stepped up the stairwell, making sure her footing was good on each step, taking Shikamaru's warning seriously. She was so focused on her feet that she failed to see the figure that stepped out from an opening and shoved her down the cobble steps. She gripped at the person's chiton before she screamed as she came crashing down the stairs.

She heard the footsteps coming closer, but they seemed so distant, and her body hurt so much. Temari looked down the hallway, seeing Shikamaru running toward her, his face is etched with horror. She reached out for him but her arm seemed so heavy, she craned her eyes upward to see her lower arm bent mid way and her wrist spun completely around. But worst of all was that she realized she was lying in a pool of her own blood.

Shikamaru's arms scooped under her, and if her voice was working she would have screamed in agony. "Temari? Temari! You're going to be fine, you hear me? Just stay with me, just stay with me." He chanted, tears building in his eyes. "Someone help! Anybody!"

The last thing she saw of the mortal world was him crying.

"It's such a pity that you're so stubborn." Sighed an overly perky voice.

Temari looked around and saw a curvaceous blonde woman brushing her hair, and next to her was another woman clad in battle armor.

"Aphrodite, Athena." Temari sighed, looking at her body, noting that she looked the same for being dead.

"I understand why Aphrodite is here, because she's a life ruiner, so why are you here Athena?" Temari groaned, looking at her old dear friend.

Athena looked glumly at the Spartan Queen, "I blessed you with intelligence, reasoning, and a heart of a warrior from birth, and it was because of those that led to you ultimate destruction, for that is why I am here, to say I am deeply apologetic."

"I set you up with a little cutie and look what you're putting him through!" Aphrodite harrumphed, looking at an opening between the clouds.

Temari watched as Shikamaru sobbed into her cold lifeless body, telling her that he loved her. It broke her heart, especially since she had decided to stay with him, but now she would never know a life of love. She would never know a life with Shikamaru.

"They caught Orochimaru," Athena offered, trying to offer some peace of mind. "thanks to you grabbing his pin from his chiton. You received the proof needed to bring Orochimaru to the high council, and in the future he and Sasuke will be executed for their treachery."

"What becomes of Sparta and Athens?" Temari asked, her eyes never leaving the sight of Shikamaru. "And Shikamaru?"

"Athens prospers for four hundred years then falls to the Romans, but Sparta falls in the next two hundred years to the Visigoths. Sparta never made a recovery. Shikamaru became a soldier, hoping that he find death, but became the best general Athens had ever seen. He died an old man, without a wife or any children." Athena finished, watching the Spartan Queen's face contort in pain and despair. "I am sorry, but the foreseen events cannot be changed."

"Athena, can I ask one final request?" She turned to the two women, "If you can't save my home, then can you make sure that one day I will meet him again."

"I shall discuss it with the fates, but realize that it won't be for a very long time." Athena warned, "I could give you a new life now, but it won't be with the boy."

"I can wait."

"Oh and I'll make you two fall back in love!" Aphrodite gushed.

"No," Temari smiled, "I will fall in love with that lazy ass even without your help."

A/N: Finito, kaput, done. I'm sorry Temari died, but you got to admit the whole "I'll love you forever, even after death till us part" motif is adorable.