Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not the series or universe.


Temari's eyes widened as she read the letter and looked at the rose. Shikamaru thought that he detected a hint of fear in her eyes, but he told himself that it was his imagination…

Until he saw Temari run towards the window and frantically look outside.

"What's wrong?" He asked Temari, now clearly sensing her panic and worry. And even fear.

"When did the rose get here?" Temari asked, shutting the window and closing his curtains. The panic was clear in her voice.

"I think it was here before we arrived," Shikamaru said. "What's going on?"

Temari grabbed the rose and letter and examined them closely. She spotted a symbol on the letter that looked familiar. "The Yamanaka flower shop!" Temari exclaimed. "That's where he sent them from!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Temari headed towards the door. "Are they still open?" She asked Shikamaru, franticness filling her voice now.

Shikamaru grabbed her arm. She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes questioning. "Slow down," Shikamaru said. "Take a deep breath and tell me what's going on."

Temari pulled at her arm for a moment, but realized Shikamaru wasn't going to let go. Doing as he had instructed, she took a deep breath. She felt calmer and Shikamaru saw that she visibly calmed as well.

Temari began to explain. "No one knows about this except my brothers, so promise me you won't tell anyone."

Shikamaru stared at her eyes and said, "I'm not going to tell anyone."

Temari eyes softened and she said, "Thank you." She moved to couch and sat down while Shikamaru sat in his favorite chair.

Temari began. "A little while ago in Suna, I received a rose with a letter attached, just like the one tonight. At first, I thought it was simply a secret admirer. I was flattered too. The letters and roses kept coming, and for the longest time, I thought it was just a secret admirer. But the letters took a…" Temari searched for the word. "vulgar turn."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Vulgar? How so?"

Temari fidgeted and looked uncomfortable about sharing the details. "He described what he wanted to do to me, and it was just…"

Shikamaru interrupted her before she could continue. "Say no more. I get it. So, you've basically got a sick-minded stalker."

Temari nodded. "I told Gaara and Kankuro. Gaara started an investigation. I'd thought that they'd found the guy, but apparently not." She frowned.

Shikamaru held his hands in front of his face, deep in thought. Finally he said, "You know, you are a ninja. If it was just a normal person…"

Temari shook her head. "We have reason to believe it's a ninja. The roses always appear without notice. No normal person could do that."

Shikamaru nodded his head. They sat in silence for a time, then Shikamaru said, "So…how scared are you?"

Temari's eyes looked downward. "It feels like I'm being watched all the time, like nothing is—

"Safe anymore." Shikamaru finished for her. "I know how you feel. A while ago, a large bounty was put on my head. Not the kind of bounty that goes in the bingo book. A bounty that people actively try to claim. Ninjas came to my house all the time. I had to have an ANBU guard when I slept."

"What happened?" Temari asked, hugging her knees to her chest on the couch.

"The ANBU and I killed so many ninja that the guy who put the bounty on me decided it wasn't going to happen and took the bounty off." Shikamaru said in a deadpan voice.


Shikamaru laid a few blankets on the small pallet he put in his room. His original plan was to let Temari have his bed, and he would take the couch. But he could see the fear in Temari's eyes and knew that she wouldn't sleep very easy tonight. So, he laid a pallet out in front of the door to his room. He would still be in the room with her, and anyone trying to go through the door would wake him up.

Shikamaru sighed. This was one of the things that had given him a lot of comfort when the bounty was placed on him. An ANBU would sleep in front of the door. As he looked back, he knew it really didn't do much good. Any skilled ninja could find a different way in. But it was more of a psychological comfort.

He glanced over towards Temari. She was already in bed, wrapping the blankets around her. He threw a smile her way and said, "It will be ok. We'll worry about this tomorrow."

Temari gave him a nervous smile, nodded, and said, "Goodnight Shikamaru. And…thank you."

Shikamaru nodded and hit the lights, then laid down on his pallet.

It was quiet for a few moments before Shikamaru said, "Besides, it's not like you have a bounty on your head." Temari threw a pillow at him.


Shikamaru awoke too the sound of Temari moving outside in the hall. He groggily leaned upward and looked through the open door.

Temari looked refreshed after a night of sleep. She no longer appeared nervous or panicky. She had regained her confidence, and Shikamaru could tell that her stalker would be sorry if he approached her today.

Lazily, Shikamaru got off his pallet and stretched out, awakening all of his sleeping muscles. Temari heard his movement and turned, watching him stretch.

Shikamaru walked down the hall and said, "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, considering." Temari answered, heading towards the kitchen.

"Considering what?" Shikamaru said, teasing. "That you're the most troublesome woman in the world?"

Temari reached into the kitchen for something to throw, and grabbed a used chopstick. She hurled it his way, playfulness mixed with irritation on her face.

Shikamaru lazily dodged the chopstick. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at her, all the while saying "Troublesome."

Temari caught the pillow and ran towards Shikamaru, beating him with the pillow. Finally, after several seconds of fun, Shikamaru cried, "OK troublesome woman! You've made your point!"

Temari relented with a triumphant look on her face. "Whose troublesome now?" She asked with a coy look on her face.

"I'm pretty sure its still you." Shikamaru said as he walked toward the kitchen.


The Stalker watched Shikamaru and Temari tease and talk throughout breakfast. He watched behind bushes and trees, through a window in Shikamaru's house. He looked at Temari with hungry eyes. The kind on hunger that can't be filled with food.

Hunger. The Hunger was all the Stalker knew anymore. He'd had one conquest after another, yet he was still hungry. He'd stalked different women, but Temari had caught his eye while he was in Suna. He'd seen her and had determined there and then to make her his next conquest.

But she was…different. She wasn't frail or weak like the other women who had satisfied the Hunger. She was a shinobi like him. And she was strong.

He wanted her more than any other woman. He was hungrier when he was near her than any other time. He had meant to trap her while she was traveling to Konoha. He meant to wait until she stopped by a tea house, or a rest area, where other people would be there, and he wouldn't be suspicious. But she hadn't stopped. She just kept on traveling.

He had wanted to try to befriend her while she sat and drank her tea, then sneak a strong sedative in her cup. But she walked all the way to Konoha.

And now, the Stalker's conquest over Temari was twice as hard. Now he had to deal with two powerful and resourceful ninja.

But he would do it. The Hunger overwhelmed him. He had to have her.


Shikamaru and Temari walked towards the Hokage's tower. Upon Shikamaru's insistence, Temari had agreed to tell Tsunade about her situation. Hopefully, Tsunade would assign a group of ANBU to look for the stalker.

The pair entered the tower and skipped through the line. Shikamaru pushed open the large doors that led to Tsunade's office. Temari slipped inside and Shikamaru tried to close the doors quietly. Yet they still made their characteristic booming sound. 251 failed closings, thought Shikamaru.

Shikamaru turned his head and surveyed Tsunade's office. She sat in her chair while listening to Neji make a report. Probably of the secret mission he'd been on. Neji finished, bowed, and turned to leave. As they passed each other, Shikamaru said, "It was nice to not have to save you this time."

Neji glanced back at Shikamaru and said, "Believe me, it was nice to not need saving." Neji opened the huge doors and they made the booming noise again.

Shikamaru turned to Tsunade and said, "Godaime, I think Temari has something to tell you…"


Temari finished and looked at Tsunade. She didn't think she'd ever seen the Hokage more thoughtful-looking. Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed, then reached for a bottle of sake she'd hidden in one of her drawers. She took a swig and said, "So you think this stalker is a shinobi?"

Temari nodded. "I also think he followed me here from Suna, and is now in the area."

Tsunade sighed and took another swig of sake. "I guess we'll have to put some ANBU on it. This guy sounds far too dangerous to just let him walk around free. I also don't think Gaara would like it if his sister was attacked while in Konoha."

Temari blushed. She'd kind of forced Tsunade into this position by telling her.

"You'll also have an ANBU bodyguard." Tsunade said.

Temari frowned. Having a bodyguard in the shinobi world was a sign of weakness. Sure, Shikamaru was technically her bodyguard, but he was also her partner on the chunin exams. "But, Hokage-sama, Shikamaru is already my bodyguard, surely we can—''

Tsunade held up a hand for silence. "No negotiation on this." Tsunade called an aide into the room and told her to call an ANBU. "You'll meet him outside." Tsunade said to Shikamaru and Temari.


Temari and Shikamaru hurried out of the Hokage's office and made their way outside the building. They saw the ANBU waiting outside for them.

Temari took a moment to examine him. He wore the ANBU uniform, of course. He was around as tall as Shikamaru, maybe taller, and he had short brown hair behind his mask. She examined the mask, and found that it was clearly a bird, with blue marks streaming downwards from the eye holes. They almost looked like tears.

It was clear that he was staring at them, though you could never be entirely sure with ANBU. The black eye holes in their masks totally concealed their eyes, so you couldn't be sure where their eyes were pointing.

Temari sighed. She, like most ninja not in the ANBU, had a distinctive dislike of them. They worked outside the normal chain of command. And although they worked for the good of their village, they would do just about anything that required. And if the good of the village meant killing someone they were supposed to protect, so be it.

The ANBU extended his hand, and Shikamaru shook it.

"Hi," the ANBU said in a deep voice. "I'll be protecting you for the next few weeks. My name is Blue Heron."


The three of them headed towards Shikamaru's house. Temari and Shikamaru walked side by side, and Heron brought up the rear.

"So you'll stay out of sight most of the time?" Temari asked.

"Yes," answered Heron. "You two won't even be able to see me. If you can, I'm doing something wrong. Hopefully, the stalker won't even know I'm here."

"What will you do the whole time?" Temari asked.

"Watch you." Heron said, as if the question was a simple one.

"Just watch us?" Temari asked.

"Just watch you." Heron assured her.

"Darn responsible of you." Shikamaru said, jumping into the conversation. "I'd at least have to take a nap every now and then. Or some sort of mental activity."

"I'll reflect," Heron said. "I'll reflect on my life, on the situation, on anything else."

"That's a lot of reflection." Shikamaru said. "I mean really, wouldn't you run out of—''

Temari cut him off with "Crap!"

Shikamaru and Heron looked to where Temari was pointing and saw a single red rose lying on Shikamaru's doorstep. The thorns were clipped off and a small note was attached.


Author's Note: Hey everybody, (I can say that now, because I think I have 120 people actually reading this fic), sorry this took me so long to get out. But, believe it or not, I actually had a fairly busy week, which included looking at a potential college. It didn't help that I was having technical difficulties with my computer (I lost about 700 words of fic), and it also didn't help that decided to changed a bunch of stuff (which took me several minutes to figure out).

So hopefully the next chapter won't take this long to get out.

Also, I know this chapter was a lot more serious than the other chapters, but I promise that in the next chapter, the mood will be...lightened.

Please leave a review. Everybody have a good day.