Temari turned her face toward the morning sun, leaning against the hospital entrance. She had awoken early, full of a renewed energy. Today was the big day, and it felt good.
Yamada Tenchi would be free for visitors this morning, they were getting their bodies back, she could have a long hot bubble bath at the embassy tonight, and maybe she and Shikamaru could pick up where they left off. Today was going to be a very good day.
Now if only the lazy bum would show up.
It wasn't like she was that interested in what he was doing. Nothing like that. It wasn't as if her mind had been on him every second since that knee shaking, earth moving kiss last night. Couldn't be. But still, she couldn't help but smirk as her mind strayed back to the moonlit Nara compound.
She had never been one to let herself get carried away by fancy, but then, she'd never been romantically entangled. Her strict training, teaching and mission schedule took care of any social life she might have developed. It was only in Konoha that she really stood a chance.
Maybe he was taking advantage of her, but she doubted it. It wouldn't have mattered even if she suspected, as she had been struck with an unusual urge not to think too far ahead. Even if it ended in heartbreak, what she was feeling was worth it. The corners of her mouth wouldn't stop curling, her mind was struck with clarity, and she couldn't wait to see Shikamaru again.
"Temari," his voice was punctuated with a yawn as he waved from the hospital gates. Her heart suddenly expanded in her chest. That damn smile was back plaguing her face. This was a thrill like she'd never felt. She wanted to transform and drag him back to the embassy, lock him up in her room for days on end, she wanted to declare wild platitudes and tell him everything she was thinking, but she knew that if her enthusiasm wasn't reciprocated it would crush her. The feeling boiled inside her, making her face flush.
She now knew why people in love were so pathetic. "Good morning, Shikamaru."
They both paused, standing across from each other, unsure of what to say. Temari felt a spark pass between them that made her shiver. She momentarily weighed up kissing him, trying to think if it would be creepy because she'd be kissing herself or thrilling because she'd be kissing him. Deciding on creepy, she broke the moment by turning into the hospital.
Words weren't coming easily for her. She was wracking her brain for something to say, but nothing was really coming to her. Pretty much the only phrase that wanted to come from her mouth with something along the lines of want to move to Suna and take up permanent residence in my bed?And as much as she liked the prospect, it did not seem to be appropriate conversation.
So the walk to the prison wing was in silence, since he didn't seem to be volunteering much either. Temari couldn't help but notice the little smirk that played on his mouth as well.
Damn, she needed to get out of this body.
Her mood was somewhat dulled by the solemnity of the prison wing. It wasn't often that a serious prisoner was captured alive. Most of the occupants were here on theivery or assault charges, and few of them were ninja. Yamada Tenchi was probably the first Bingo Book occupant this hospital had ever seen. There weren't any guards on his door. Temari knew that the room would be heavily protected by seals.
Shikamaru touched her elbow, pulling her up for a moment.
"This guy is an ass," he murmured. "Keep your cool."
Temari nodded, pushing the door open without further delay. The first thing that struck her about Yamada was his size, the man was enormous. The second thing that struck her was his total lack of grace or dignity. He lay in a heap of oddly angled limbs, legs wide open, looking unperturbed by their interruption. As though they had perhaps dropped over to watch the game at his place rather than walked into his prison cell.
"Yamada-san," Shikamaru greeted with a nod.
"The love birds!" Yamada boomed, leering at them. Temari shivered. "Come to talk me into switching you back?"
"Something like that," Shikamaru drawled. "We have an offer that you can't refuse."
"You know my terms." Yamada chuckled, looking supremely confident.
"We have new terms." Temari stepped forward, scowling down at their captor. "You change us back and we let you return to Kirigakure to live out your life on death row."
Yamada roared laughing, but Temari just smirked. He wiped tears from his eyes and looked up at her. "You can't kill a prisoner in hospital."
"You're right, we can't. But the sister of the Kazekage could easily halt your extradition and have you tried in Suna, or Konoha."
This caught his attention. The smile fell from Yamada' face and he looked thoughtful. "The Kazekage's sister, you say? So this has turned from bribery to blackmail."
"All we want is our bodies back," Temari reasoned, trying to put the pressure on him. "Do that for us and you're free to go back to Kiri."
Yamada lay back in his bed, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. Temari shifted uncomfortably, she hadn't expected him to jump all over the idea, death threats rarely went over well, but she had hoped that he would quickly admit that they had him and concede, not start counting ceiling tiles.
"You know," Yamada declared, "I don't think I'll take you up on your offer."
"What?" Temari couldn't help herself, the girlish yelp escaped her mouth. "You're going to kill yourself to keep us in these bodies?"
"I have no intention of killing myself."
Anger suddenly flared in Temari' chest. A million thoughts filled up her brain and sparked her temper. She'd had enough of this! Four days, three nights, a date with Ino, a break in cryptology, a hundred chores for Yoshino. At first it had been novel, even funny. Now she was done. If this bastard didn't want to play, she'd have him executed.
She raised her hands, molding chakra and transformed into herself. With a glance at Shikamaru she stormed from the room, good mood completely gone. Shikamaru called after her and then followed as she pushed her way through the busy hospital.
Temari knew that she should have slowed down, maybe even stayed with Yamada, negotiated, weedled his plan out of him and informed ANBU. Shikamaru had told her to keep her cool, and she knew in that respect she had failed, but her mind felt like it was imploding. The furiously thinking brain that she was now burdened with only got worse with time. She was getting completely overwhelmed in crises, and the foolish criminal trying her patience had set her into a downward spiral.
Shikamaru followed her to the door in his own form, biting his tongue until they were safely out the front door. He rounded on her, his imposing figure almost blocking out the sun. Temari glared up at him. He was so rarely angry, but seeing it was somewhat frightening.
"I told you to keep your cool," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Now what's your big plan?"
"My plan?" She kept her voice even, but he was pissing her off just as much as Yamada. "Where's your plan?"
"You're the one with the damn brain."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "I forgot that my body didn't come equipped with a brain."
"That's not what I... Temari..." Shikamaru's shoulders dropped. "Why are you being like this?"
"Becaue I'm angry!" The words came out of her mouth almost unbidden. She didn't know why she was being like this. It wasn't helping, and she never let a situation get out of hand. She was just drowning in thoughts, unable to carve a path through to a rational solution.
Somehow it all seemed like his fault. If she hadn't gone to help him she would still be in her own body, happily getting on with her life. If he was able to function in her body, she wouldn't be shouldering the burden of trying to fix things. If he just wasn't so...
"Temari, calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Everything he said seemed to only make her angrier. "Why the hell would I want to calm down? We're going to be stuck like this forever. And I sure as hell can't expect any help from you!"
"What do you want from me?" he demanded. "Half of my time is spent fending off attendants or taking advice from strangers! Or in there talking to Mr. Congeniality."
"Oh, you poor baby. It's not like I have a full time job or your pain in the ass family on my schedule, not to mention a small library of information trying to be processed through my every orifice." They were very close to making a scene, and she was glad for the relatively deserted street, but she didn't think that even a crowd could have derailed her anger at this stage. "And where the hell have you been? Oversleeping and playing dressups. Not, say, giving me tips on how I'm supposed to handle the encyclopedia that lives inside your skull, or how to distract Yoshino from the warpath. How incredibly fucking helpful you've been!"
"Me?" Shikamaru gave her an oddly feminine face of astonishment. "I'm not the one asking your friends out on dates or beating you up in public! And I didn't hear any heads up from you that given the lightest encouragement your staff would mob me until I wanted to murder them. Oh, and I still don't know why I want to cry every time I see a child under the age of ten."
"Kami, you'd think I'd shot you in the leg," Temari sneered. "It's just a bit of admiration from people, and the crying thing? That's called PMS. I handle it once a month, I'm sure you can put up with it just this once. I put up with all this stuff, all the time, and you're so overwhelmed by it that you just fold!"
"You're supposed to be around!" His voice now had a kind of husky note, and she almost smirked. Even in his own body he was beginning to sound like her. "I'm putting up with this every day, but where are you? You're supposed to be around, to keep my temper under control and not let me hurt anyone. You're supposed to be the one person who doesn't treat me like a child!"
"And you?" Temari had now completely lost control of herself, the words were just spilling from her mouth, fuelled by fire. "You're the only one who makes me enjoy thinking, but you're so wrapped up in your own shit that you can't even toss me some good conversation, much less let me just relax for a while. You're the one who doesn't make me think."
Her rant lost all of its energy as the realisation settled on her. The words suddenly hung so thick between them that it was hard to breathe. They looked at each other, a shared expression of daunted revelation. They had said everything, but there was just one thing that had been said. I need you.
"I... I need to go," Temari stammered, backing up.
"Tem..." Shikamaru tried to catch her, but she stumbled back, keeping out of his reach. She wasn't ready for this. Making out maybe, not this. He grabbed for her hand, but she yanked it out of reach.
"No! You're just.. just useless. You can't think, you can't fight, your chakra's all warped and in that body you are so useless it's unbelievable." The word were hurtful, but she needed them. Needed to prove that she didn't need him. Needed to be able to recover if he crushed her. "You're so preoccupied with my wardrobe and my staff that you're no good to me. Hell, you probably only want to get out of that body so that you can get into my pants."
This time Shikamaru stayed silent, not meeting her eye. She paused, judging his reaction, suddenly confused. "Why aren't you defending yourself?"
A blush crossed the boy's face and he studied the ground intently, his guilt clearly written on his face. "I... I..."
Temari's gut sunk low. He had touched her. She had trusted him and he had abused it. She felt like a great weight had settled on her heart as she turned from him and walked away.
–
Shikamaru pushed open the door to Temari's bedroom, feeling like he was about to collapse. He flopped down onto her bed, facefirst. Six hours at the Hokage's office. Six hours of Tsunade-baachan was too much for anyone. Temari's declaration of his pointless behaviour the last few days had him determined to put something into action. Six hours of Tsunade, but the extradition to Suna was organised. Yamada Tenchi would begin his three day journey that very evening and be executed the day he set foot in Sunagakure.
At least the technicalities were sorted, but he had bigger fish to fry. Organising an extradition was easy compared to his next task: getting Temari to forgive him. Maybe the Hokage had been more bearable today because his mind wasn't in the office. He had fucked things up with Temari. Big time. And just as he was realising that what he was feeling went way beyond a crush or a physical attraction.
He hadn't meant to hurt her. He hadn't meant to disrepect her. Hadn't meant anything at all, really. Their encounter had just left him so hot under the collar, and her reflection in the mirror had been so beautiful... at first he just wanted to really see what she looked like, and the body he had been trying so hard not to look at had taken his breath away when he finally gave in. Then a touch, a carress, soon it had been too late to stop.
Now she would never trust him again. He had sorted things out with the extradition so that she could relax for a while, but it seemed like a pitiful effort to make up for violating her. The look on her face had been so hurt, he felt like crying as he imagined it, and he didn't think it was due to PMS. He couldn't explain why three days ago Temari was just an acquaintance, some cool kunoichi who visitted occasionally, and now he didn't know how to deal with her being mad at him. It felt like his heart was breaking.
Why couldn't she have yelled? Screamed? Hit him? Any of those would have been fine with him, but she hadn't. She looked like he had just punched her in the chest. The disappointment and hurt was worse than any blow she could have dealt.
He sighed. Three more days and he could try to regain her trust from inside his own body.
A knock on the door made him look up. "Come in."
"Temari-sama," her attendant bowed, holding a scroll in her hands. "Word from the Hokage. The prisoner whose extradition your oversaw, Yamada Tenchi, escaped while being transported from the village."
