This one will be a continuum/flashback of "Never Goodbye". Hope you enjoy.

The Night Before

The streets of Konoha were bustling. Vendors were calling out, advertising their wares. People were wandering the streets, laughing and talking with friends and significant others. Everything was so brightly lit and vibrant. Temari always loved visiting Konoha. It was such a change of scenery from her home. The people were relaxed and enjoyable. Life in Sunagakure was always so serious. The environment was harsh and unforgiving to it's inhabitants. Water was scarce and with that always came the concern of food collections. They relied heavily on indoor greenhouses and imported foods. And imported foods were never a guarantee due to the many sandstorms that happened regularly. The people of Konoha didn't have to worry about such things. Food could be grown very close, and water just fell from the sky. Such a simple difference of environment changed everything. People could rest easier. Complacency came with the territory.

But still. How could they relax so easily? Crops for food were still fickle things. If it rained too much it could drown the crop. If it rained too little, the crop would not prosper. Add the aspect of malicious insects and wildlife, a lot could still go wrong. But nobody ever worried about that. They just lived their lives as if the world were infinite. How could you live so easily knowing that nothing is guaranteed?

"What are you thinking about?" The man sitting across from her interrupted her thoughts. Shikamaru almost sounded like he was just as deep in thought as she was when he asked the question. Eyes usually filled with boredom and genuine disinterest brimmed with curiosity. They had just finished a meal in a small restaurant. Their table sat against a window looking out to the street that had enchanted her into these thoughts.

She took a sip of what little remaining tea she had left, "How do you relax like you do?"

"Huh? That's what you were thinking about?" He seemed more surprised than confused.

She looked back out to the street, "Well, the people here are always so light and content. There are always worries, and the people here never seem to reflect those worries. You're all so carefree. I'm just wondering how." She looked back at him to observe his response.

He put his hand on his chin and sat thinking about the question. Temari really admired this quality of Shikamaru's. He never just spat out an answer when it came to matters like this. He took time and thought about things. It gave him a sort of wisdom that most people lacked. He always had a good response after thinking the way he did. He finally spoke, "Come with me."

That wasn't an answer, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

She gave a little sigh at that response, "We're just leaving without paying." As she was saying it, Shikamaru pulled out money and put it on the table. Surely way more than the meal actually cost. She gave a questioning look.

"I never eat here, it's the least I can do," he sounded like he was in a bit of a hurry.

That explanation didn't really make much sense, but she decided to just accept it. They made their way to the street walking as they normally would. While their relationship wasn't exactly a secret, they were pretty private about it. Public displays of affection were rare for them, so they just walked casually. After a very little time of walking, she could tell they were walking towards the Nara compound. "So, you're going to somehow explain this by taking me to your house?"

"That's not where we're going," from the sound of it, it was the last place he wanted to go at the moment.

She decided not to question it further, "Okay."

Shikamaru always had a plan. Temari had come to trust him, even when it meant he was being indirect with her like he was. They eventually found their way to the Nara compound where he led her to the edge of the woods. He stopped and she stopped beside him giving him a questioning look. He was looking at the top of the trees and then directed his attention to her and smiled. "I have to blind-fold you. Top secret."

She laughed at him, "I've been in these woods before."

"But where I'm leading you is top secret, so I have to blind-fold you," he was clearly being mischievous.

"Okay, so how do you plan on doing that?" she asked. She couldn't help but smile back at the situation.

"Well..." he then proceeded to close the gap between them and he reached behind her head. While he was doing so his face was very close to hers. She gave a slight, surprised inhale at the sudden closeness. He untied her headband and tied it back over her eyes. Unsurprisingly, it was an awkward fit. The metal piece stuck out slightly over her nose so that she could still see everything below her.

She gave a slight laugh when he was finished, "If you think this works."

He laughed back, "You still can't see where we're going." He turned around and held out his hands behind his back so that she could follow. She took his hands and they began their tread into the Nara woods. She could still see his feet so she followed best should could. A couple minutes into their walk, she decided to take a little revenge for him blind-folding her. She timed it just right and stepped on his heel.

"Ow!"

"Oops," she said it in a way that told him she was getting back at him.

"You can be cruel at times."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said it with a smile.

A few more minutes into their walk, it was almost as if their surroundings were a little brighter when they finally came to a stop. Shikamaru let go of her hands and turned to her again. But instead of removing her blindfold, he began kissing her. She did not fight it. She, in fact, encouraged it. They didn't have many moments like this due to their busy and private nature. When the kiss was finished, she realized that Shikamaru had taken her blind-fold and replaced her headband to it's normal place. She was so focused on the kiss, she hadn't really been paying attention to his other actions.

She looked around and found that they had come to a large opening in the forest. They were at the top of a large, sloping hill. It overlooked the forest on the other side of the clearing. She still didn't understand how this answered her question. She looked at Shikamaru, "Is this your answer?"

He didn't respond. He proceeded to lay down on the hillside. He pat the ground next to him asking her to lay next to him.

"A little late for cloud-watching isn't it?" He just looked at her with a grin. She hesitated for a second and then did so. He had his arm out so that she could lay her head on it. She looked at the sky. Stars. Was this how she found the answer? Now, granted, she had never seen them so grandly. Sunagakure always had raging storms overhead, and usually she was too focused to stop and look on missions. And with the brightness of the cities, she rarely got to actually marvel at them. They were beautiful, but...

"This is my answer," he said nonchalantly.

Still not an answer, "How could this possibly be an answer?"

"Well, the truth is there is no good answer for your question. I could have said anything and all that would have done is lead to more questions. I don't think there is an answer to something like that. It's all subjective. It's just a state of being. Our state is what we chose it to be based on preference. So, instead of answering it, I decided to just help you put it into practice."

"So, you just lay down and relax?"

"I try to. My mind has a habit of not shutting up. Clouds are better. They're more distracting. They just drift along carelessly."

"So, you just lay down and think?"

"Yeah, but here I can think about whatever I want. It doesn't have to be important. It usually still is, but I can just let my mind wander."

She decided to try it. She stared up at the sky just letting her mind wander. Although, it never wandered too far. Soon enough, her attention was back on the man laying next to her, "What do you usually think about when you do this?"

"Well.." he kept his gaze on the sky, "Once up a time, I would stare at the sky and think about everything. About how it was all troublesome and how much work I had. I would think about the overly normal life I originally wanted to lead and how that was becoming less and less likely."

"Once upon a time?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think about now?"

He looked her in the eyes and just stared for a moment. She wasn't sure why, but the action made her slightly blush. She hoped that the darkness would hide it. "I think about things,"he finally responded. It was an odd moment of shyness for him. Normally, Shikamaru was very straight-forward. It had to be a play. He was implying that he thought about her, but he left it open so if she chose to interpret another way she could. He was giving her a choice. Surely he knew she had already chosen.

"You think about me?" she responded headstrong and watched for his reaction.

He almost looked as if he had been holding his breath, "yeah."

Personal foul. She hadn't thought about how she was going to respond to his answer. She settled for the next best thing. She put her arm around him and gave him a small kiss. His arms followed suit. After the kiss, she just settled into his chest. Well, the trip to the clearing had been a colossal failure in search of her answer for why everyone was so relaxed in Konoha, but it wasn't all bad. In the end, she had him. Nothing else really mattered as much. She began to realize just how sleepy she was. She blamed Shikamaru. There was a certain comfort in being with him. She couldn't know for everyone else in Konoha, but she found what relaxed her. Him. Instead of worrying about getting back to her room at the hotel, she just let sleep claim her where she lay at his side, and she drifted to sleep.

Thank you so much for reading. And especially thank you to those how followed and favorited. It was you who encouraged me to put out another chapter so soon. I'm going to go ahead and apologize if there are any major grammatical errors in my story. I am publishing this sleepy against my better judgement. I can't say how long before I'll put out another, but I'm trying to do this more often. Please, feel free to review the story, and if you want to talk Shikatema, I am always game. Have a good morning, day, night, whenever and wherever you are, and peace be with you.