But even if you had it all,

You would find

Temari woke up unceremoniously with an incessant cramp in the pit of her stomach. She moved her hand over try and cradle her belly only for a quiet voice to calmly demand, "Please try not to move, Temari-san."

She turned her attention to a rather tired-looking woman seated on the chair nestled along her bedside. The woman held a chart in her hands, humming some tune as she nonchalantly penciled a few things in here and there. Every couple of moments she would glance over Temari's still form, then promptly continue filling out her papers. After a few minutes, she set it down beneath her chair and offered a quaint smile towards the blonde-haired kunoichi laying down in her hospital bed.

"Hello, Temari-san. My name is Shizune. I am your primary medic for the duration of your stay in Konoha." the woman offered up this information freely, a pleasant and professional smile on her face. "Nearly an hour and a half ago we were able to successfully perform surgery repairing your torn liver. We were also able to complete a full body examination on you and study all of your injuries to begin considering different treatment options. Now I know that you are exhausted at the moment and it's very important that you get your rest, but first I need to finish my medical evaluation that is due to the Kazekage."

And you need me for that? Am I a medic? "Alright." Temari said, a little uncertainly.

"That evaluation must include the details of how your injuries occured while on duty, and then your Kage, with help from my input, will determine how long you will be off duty as well as when your psychological evaluation will take place."

Temari furrowed her eyebrows, a bit peeved. "Psychological evaluation?"

Shizune nodded. This must all be a very routine practice for her, Temari thought. "Every shinobi held captive by an enemy for any period of time requires an evaluation. They will probably be much better at comforting you than me, I'm afraid to say."

Temari shook her head. "I don't need an evaluation. I wasn't held captive."

Shizune gave her a doubtful look. "Temari-san, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I can even find other kunoichi who suffered through the same things you did to come talk to you while you're still recovering, if you'd like."

"Suffered? Nothing has happened to me." Temari scoffed, her eyes darting around the room as she avoided Shizune's gaze. "There's nothing to recover from."

Shizune sighed, and swiftly reached underneath her chair. Matter-of-factly, she stated from reading her papers, "You came in here with a fractured wrist, a bruised esophagus, eight broken ribs, a fractured cheekbone, a bruised cervix, and a torn liver." The medic raised her stare to read her patient's shameful expression. She placed a delicate hand on top of Temari's, exerting a startled twitch from the girl, before she continued to speak. "You can never let go of your pain until you first embrace it, Temari-san. I have seen too many patients of mine become eaten alive by something like this. This is only the first step in the long journey, but I swear to you it is the most important step you will ever take. So please, just recount your experience to me from the beginning, and then I will get right out of your hair and let you sleep until tomorrow."

So Temari opened her mouth and a messy stream of words erupted from within. It felt like a scream in the same way that her throat burned the whole way through, her eyes kept watering with tears until they eventually threatened to spill over onto her skin.

She wiped them away before they got the chance, watching Shizune depart from her quarters just as swiftly she had promised.

Shikamaru was disturbed by a flurry of timid knocking at his front door.

It was practically the crack of dawn. He had only just woken up to get himself a glass of water before retreated back to his bed, but this certainly threw a wrench in his schedule. Groggily he tried rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he flung the door open. "Whadday- oh, hey, Hinata. What's up?"

Hinata looked rather embarrassed and red in the face, as she had just walked in on Naruto in his underpants or something like that. "I-I apologize, Shikamaru-kun. I didn't mean to wake you. I can go so that - "

"Oh, no, you're fine. I was already up actually," he lied, suppressing a yawn as he clamped his jaw closed. If it was anyone else badgering him in the morning, he probably would have snapped, but Shikamaru knew that Hinata bore no ill intentions.

"Well, then, in that case…" Hinata still looked a bit shy, her white eyes fluttering towards the ground. "I was just wondering if you would like to go visit Temari-san in the hospital with Kiba, Sakura, and I today."

Today? "Is she already accepting visitors?"

"Oh, I haven't asked yet, but that's because I'm not quite sure where Kankuro is staying and Sakura didn't answer when I knocked on her door." Hinata admitted.

"I can track down Kankuro and then get back to you. I usually chaperone the Sand Siblings when they visit, so I do know which inn he's staying at." Shikamaru said.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you, Shikamaru-kun." the Hyuuga looked up happily and beamed at him. "I'll go try to find Sakura-chan and see if she knows anything."

"Sounds like a plan," said Shikamaru, offering a rare, small smile towards his friend as she bowed and then hustled out into town to track down Sakura. Once Hinata was out of sight, he let out the yawn that he'd been holding back deep in his throat.

Of course Hinata would be up early the day after a long mission, he thought to himself. And obviously she would be wanting to visit a sick comrade instead of stocking up on sleep and meals.

Still feeling a little sluggish, Shikamaru slowly shrugged on his clothes and loosely fastened his sandals around his wide feet. He wrote a note for when his mother woke up in a few hours and locked the door behind him as he departed.

The Sand Siblings always stayed in a particularly expensive inn over on the nicer side of Konoha. It was rather close to the Hyuuga compound in fact, though Shikamaru doubted Hinata would know that. Memories of escorting Temari around the village and then dropping her off there just as the sun began to dip below the golden mountaintops flooded his mind. She would always have a little smirk on her face as they parted as if a crippling insult was just on the tip of her tongue, grating against her teeth as she grinned. She liked to save it for when they met again the next morning as a greeting.

Konoha was still relatively quiet near this time of day. Shikamaru exchanged a few hellos to various shopkeepers he knew, who in turn would bow respectfully to him.

Of course, thought Shikamaru. It had completely slipped his mind that with the all-too-recent passing of his father, he now reigned as the head of the Nara clan. With his long mission following the war, he figured that council likely just hadn't had time to formally inaugurate him yet. He would have to talk to his mother about it later.

As Shikamaru bounded up the steps leading to the inn, he sighted a familiar figure fumbling with the lock on the outside of his door. The lazy shinobi acknowledged them, saying, "Hey, Kankuro."

Kankuro turned his face only for Shikamaru to become alarmed by the underwhelming lack of lavender paint coating his face. The puppetmaster responded, "Hey, man. What are you doing over here?"

Shikamaru walked over to stand next to his friend, still watching him struggle to lock the door and with a sense of amusement in his tone said. "You need any help?"

Exasperated, Kankuro handed Shikamaru the lonesome key from his clammy hands and let him toy with it for a bit. In one swift movement Shikamaru plugged the key inside the lock and listened to the satisfying click signalling his achievement. With a smirk he plopped it back into his friend's possession.

"You have to teach me that ninjutsu sometime," Kankuro murmured, tucking the key safely into the pack wrapped around his right thigh. "What are you doing over here anyway? You never answered me."

"I was wondering if Temari is well enough for visitors," Shikamaru answered immediately. His face reddened a little at the readiness of his answer and he went in for damage control. "Or - I mean, Hinata was wondering. She wanted me to ask you. She wants us all to go, I mean. Everyone from the mission."

Kankuro nodded, glancing over at his expression. "Well, I haven't been there since yesterday. They ushered me out soon after she went into surgery. I don't even think Gaara's been allowed to see her yet."

"Oh, well…" Shikamaru thought that was a little overkill. Not even allowing the Kazekage to see his elder sister? He had never heard of the hospital being so overly cautious towards a patient's visitors. Perhaps it had something to do with Temari's title of ambassador to Suna, but even then...

"No worries, though, I'm heading over there right now," Kankuro said, starting to lightly trek downstairs allowing his friend to keep pace with him. "If anything we can just henge into the new Hokage or something."

"We would probably be arrested if we got caught. And we probably would get caught." Shikamaru rubbed his temples. "Those medics are keen on frickin' details, I'll tell you that."

"Oh, yeah, huh," said Kankuro, as if just realizing something for the first time. "I guess things must be pretty different when your kid brother isn't the Kage of your village."

"Well…"

"Hey, what were you saying about that Hyuuga girl earlier?" Kankuro suddenly inquired, becoming increasingly interested in their conversation. "She's kind of cute, huh…"

Temari had been awake for nearly an hour when she heard a single, respectful knock at her door. As loudly as she could muster, Temari hollered, "Come in."

The truth was that on a normal day cramped up into a foreign hospital like this she likely wouldn't want any company, but the strength of the painkillers Shizune had put her on was godly and for once her temper was actually under control.

"Temari-san, you shouldn't be raising your voice while your throat is still healing," Shizune lectured. "Kazekage-sama is here to visit you. He and I will be meeting afterwards to go through the details of your medical evaluation and figure out a treatment plan as well as when you should prepare to return to Suna. Please have a pleasant visit." She bowed before she turned on her heel to leave them in privacy.

The sand kunoichi immediately swiveled her head over to the side, her jaw practically slamming into the floor as wonder filled her eyes. There was her baby brother in the flesh, pulling up a chair to set down near her bedside. His hair was slicked back with gel and the loose-fitting Kazekage robe adorned his limber shoulders. There must be some kind of meeting with the Kages later today, she thought.

Gaara took Temari's hand into his own as he sat down. A rare smile graced his lips. "My dear sister," he said. "I have missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Gaara." Temari struggled to keep the volume of her voice to a minimum. "I hope you haven't had too much fun while I was gone."

Her baby brother offered a miniscule giggle. "No, of course not. Since you've been gone Suna is in ruins. Everyone is starving. The people are rioting because they miss their ambassador too much. In fact, they want you to become the Kazekage instead of me."

"Well, that's to be expected." Temari allowed her signature cocky grin to overlap the bandaged features on her face. "Speaking of starvation, have you been eating enough? I swear that the night before the war began I snuck in extra rations. They were mostly for me, but are you fasting or something? There's plenty of food here in the Leaf, you know. You really should be keeping up with your health."

"We saw the extra rations - while you were first putting them in the bag, actually. But Kankuro and I cut out half of our rations each meal preparing for your return."

Temari scoffed. "Well, that was stupid."

Gaara shook his head.

"No," he said. "Not to us. That is just a portion of the debt we owe to you."

The Kazekage abruptly left the comfort of his own chair and planted his body in a peculiar position with his forehead planted on the floor near the side of Temari's hospital bed.

She drew in her breath. "Um, Gaara, what are you - ''

"Temari." he addressed her, his voice still muffled from its close proximity towards the ground. "I know that I am undeserving, but please find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Oh my goodness, what are you even talking about?" Temari found herself turning red as she was on the verge of shouting.

"I have failed you as a Kage to protect the citizens of my village, but more importantly I have failed you as a brother protecting his sister."

Temari couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You can get your forehead off the dirty floor. I'm pretty sure my blood was pooled in that exact spot earlier."

Gaara rose from his previous posture, the turnabout emotions still evident on his face. "I understand if you don't forgive me. I wouldn't either."

"The reason I don't forgive you is because you have nothing to apologize for. I don't need to be protected like some fair maiden, Gaara. I can look out for myself. I failed myself." Temari said, incognizantly gnawing on her lower lip. She yelped as her teeth caught a sore spot, sending a stream of blood running across her tongue.

"Should I get a medic?" Gaara questioned, just about to head out the door when Temari held out her hand to halt his movements. She shook her head as the other hand was pressed up against the blood spurting from inside her mouth.

"Can you just get me a tissue?" Temari asked, her voice wavering underneath the weight of her palm. Gaara ducked into the small bathroom directly adjacent to the hospital room and returned shortly a few moments afterwards with a handful of tissue paper. He handed it to his sister and she immediately pressed it up against the open sore bordering her lips.

The two of them sat in silence for a couple of minutes until the Kazekage addressed his elder sister. "Temari."

"Mmhmm."

"Do you want to talk about what happened while you were gone?"

Temari suddenly felt very uncomfortable underneath her brother's piercing gaze. She shifted her own eyes downwards to focus on the bloody tissues interlocked between her frail fingers. She responded, "No. Shizune is going to tell you anyway."

"Shizune?" Gaara sounded confused.

"My medic."

"Ah."

Their silence became prolonged and Temari started to feel beads of sweat prickling at her hairline as she pivoted relentlessly on her wound. The issue was that she could still feel Gaara's eyes on her, dissecting her in the strange way that he did to people. It was uncanny; she had never felt uncomfortable with being the center of attention until now.

"Then tell me what you want," Gaara spoke up suddenly. Temari looked over at him with a curious expression on her face. He continued, "I'll buy you any present from here or even anything once we return to Suna. Tell me how long you want your break to be and when you want to leave Konoha."

"Well, I do love sweet chestnuts," Temari said, deciding to crack a smile once the pain in her bottom lip subsided. "I want to leave as soon as possible. Please. And I don't want a psychological evaluation."

"Those are usually regulated for prisoners of war," Gaara informed her, standing up from his seat and dusting off his robe with his palms. "But I'll see what I can do, okay? I'll at least let you wait until we return home."

In Temari's opinion that was good enough for now. Once they arrived back at Suna, she could simply continue pushing it off for however long she wanted. "Okay," Temari agreed.

"I have to go to my meeting now." Gaara took his sister's pale hand into his own and brought it gently to his lips. "Goodbye, Temari. I'll stop by again whenever I can find the time."

The ghost of a farewell was on Temari's tongue as her baby brother rushed out the door, leaving it swinging in its hinges. She realized he must have stayed with her for as long as possible, and since Gaara also had to meet with Shizune this sequence of events would ultimately leave him running late to an important conference. She hated being a bother.

Temari sat back in the hospital bed, her eyes boring into the eggshell-colored ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Her gaze drifted slowly down the wall and then lingered on the window, eyelids dropping up and down into blinks as the sight before her sluggishly registered in her brain.

"Karasu?"

Temari was absolutely perplexed as her younger brother Kankuro's puppet stood face to face with her, only a thin pane of glass separating them. Suddenly Karasu veered out of the way only to expose Kankuro himself grinning like a goon, waving at Temari and motioning for her to open the window.

With a sigh the eldest Sand Sibling reached over and slid the clear panel over to the side. Her eyes widened as she watched not only Kankuro squeeze himself through the space, but also Shikamaru Nara shimmying his torso through the slim opening and somehow winding up at the foot of Temari's bed, panting heavily from his recent excursion.

"Are visiting hours over or something?" Temari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Geez, need some water or something? You sound like you smoke a pack a day," said Kankuro, busying himself by pouring a glass of water for his sister. She gladly accepted it, but took only a few modest sips as her throat was still sore and the icy water just seemed to irritate it further. The ruptured lesion resting below her lip was still bleeding a little, and left a stain on the glass as she returned it to Kankuro.

"We snuck in 'cause apparently you're not well enough for visitors yet," the puppetmaster said truthfully. "I'm pretty sure that was a lie, since you're in here being your regular bitchy self."

Temari rolled her eyes but let a snicker murmur through her teeth. She never minded her brother's teasing, and it felt nice for someone to talk to her normally after being treated like a porcelain doll the past twenty-four hours.

"And I, uh…" Shikamaru looked panicked for a second as he avoided eye contact with Temari. He walked forward, stepping in between the brother and sister pair and gently setting down a bouquet of flowers onto Temari's nightstand. They were purple and bluish colored lilacs, assorted in the manner that only a professional could manifest.

"Thanks," she said listlessly. Those were her favorite colors, she realized. It had been so long since she'd worn her own clothes in that same shade… she cleared her throat, keeping her eyes on the flowers as the pleasant fragrance wafted through her nostrils. "Gaara was here just before you came."

"Oh yeah, we knew," Kankuro responded nonchalantly. "I knew he would be mad if we disobeyed the hospital's orders, so we just waited until he left."

Temari didn't respond. She was still thinking about the bouquet, its scent continued whirling around the room. A familiarity registered in her brain.

"I've smelled that before," she said aloud, pointing an accusatory finger towards the medley of flowers resting beside her.

"Have you?" asked Kankuro curiously. "That's pretty weird. We don't have any plants like that in Suna."

Temari shook her head. "Not in Suna. You know, where I was before."

"Before?" Kankuro now sounded very confused.

Shikamaru came up behind him, speaking up rather hesitantly. "I think she's talking about during the war, after she disappea- ''

Just then the door to Temari's hospital room slammed open, a very distressed-looking Gaara standing in the doorway. His shoulders moved up and down as he drew in heavy breaths.

"Temari, I…" Gaara struggled to find words as his eyes slowly trailed up the contents on the room. Temari immediately knew what was causing his discomfort as she surmised that his meeting with Shizune had likely just recently concluded, and the truth behind her mysterious whereabouts had been revealed to him. She felt so humiliated underneath the eyes of her family; the shame burned into her cheeks as she willed herself to look away. At the same time it seemed like Gaara began taking notice of the other bodies in the room.

"Ah… listen, bro, I can explain." Kankuro chuckled nervously, a look of unease etching across his bare features.

Gaara said, "It had better be good."

This is the longest chapter so far, yay!

So sorry it's been almost two weeks for an update. School has started back up and is taking up a lot of my time, but I'm still working on this every single day.

Thank you guys for your feedback and support!

Have a great day!