Chapter 4

Ino was waiting outside the hospital for Shikamaru who went out together with Temari. Once she noticed the pair walking towards the building, she ran towards them while waving her hand, trying to catch Shikamaru's attention.

Finally noticing, Shikamaru jogged towards Ino, followed by Temari who just strode faster, not trying to keep up.

"What is it, Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino, her eyes misting, explained in a shaky voice, "We have just received word that the team Choji was in was ambushed by the same shinobi who attacked Temari and her partner."

Shikamaru glanced at his side at Temari; her partner, a fellow Suna shinobi died in that mission. But at the moment, Temari was not the one that needed reassurance but Ino. Shikamaru swivelled his head towards the other blonde. "It's going to be alright. Lady Tsunade has started to prepare the second batch of antidotes."

"That's if he gets here on time…What if he's dead? Even Temari almost didn't come out of it alive. You—you should have been the one in his place. You have better chances of thinking up ways and out survive that villain," Ino accused, as she wiped the tears streaming down from her eyes.

"Ino…"

"He volunteered so you could stay by her side." Ino gestured towards Temari, looking at her accusingly.

Shikamaru grabbed Ino's arm and pulled her towards the side, away from Temari. "I—I didn't know they were sending Choji as one of the reinforcement. I thought Suna was the one taking care of it."

"Of course you didn't know! You suddenly didn't give a damn what happened outside in the real world while Temari remained in a coma," Ino uncharacteristically snapped, hauling her arm out of Shikamaru's hold, albeit unsuccessfully.

"That isn't true. Gaara told me steps were being made to catch that poison shinobi," Shikamaru answered, holding tight on Ino's arm, making her listen to his reasons. "I trusted him to take care of it."

"But you didn't ask what those steps were," Ino guessed. "That is so unlike you Shikamaru."

"I—I'm sorry." Shikamaru's hold turned limp on Ino's arm.

"Tell that to Choji. I hope he could hear you when you do." Ino shook off Shikamaru's hand on her arm, meeting his eyes to convey her disappointment before leaving him.

"Ino wait," Shikamaru shouted after his teammate.

But Ino ignored him and ran faster towards the steps that would lead her back inside the hospital.

Shikamaru stood staring at Ino's back, not attempting to follow her.

Temari approached Shikamaru. "I should not have stopped you when you were about to ask Ino for permission for our outing. If you did you would have learned about Choji's mission earlier," Temari spoke behind Shikamaru, unsure whether to pat his back or not before she detected two droplets falling on the ground in front of the boy.

Temari stared at the ground exposed between his feet, with Shikamaru's stance his legs were less than a foot apart, and watched as three more droplets fell one after the other. The boy had his head bent; his shoulders slumped and his hands fisted at his sides as more fluid drenched the ground.

It took Temari a long split second before she realized that those were tears soaking the dry earth. 'What a crybaby!' was her first sudden thought and it jolted her.

The label 'crybaby' had felt very familiar—like it was something she already knew. That it wasn't a new discovery but an established fact.

Temari shrugged off her shoulders to shake off the feeling of uneasiness that crawled along her spine.

No, she didn't know this person whose back was towards her.

To prove a point, Temari moved to face Shikamaru and Shikamaru then hastily dashed his tears.

Seeing the sheen in Shikamaru's eyes, Temari raised a brow before muttering, "Let's go," as she then indicated the hospital by pointing towards it with her thumb.

"You go in," Shikamaru replied before he turned around, obviously in a rush to go somewhere else.

As Shikamaru leaped from one building rooftop to the next, Temari watched his disappearing form, his lone pony tailed hair bobbing with his every move.

"Tch," Temari mumbled to herself. She knew Ino and that chubby boy—Choji—that was mentioned earlier so how the hell she didn't know Shikamaru.

And she didn't see any reason why people thought she liked him. Come on! He's three years younger and such a crybaby to boot. No, if she liked someone, that someone would be truly amazing.

TBC

~12 14 11AF~

A/N: Check out Naara-no-Temari's Love is

My pet rock is doing fine—in my mind…haha expect Intertwining Fate update by January 2012. There I gave myself a deadline.

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Happy New Year!