Title: Green-Eyed Lady
Summary: Ten years separated their only encounters, but she remained to him the same: remote and distant as a queen, brilliant and strong as the sun.
Pairing: ItaTema
Rating: K
Notes: All I will say is that this could have happened.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
The midsummer sunlight poured hot and bright over the park as Itachi went over the taijutsu moves again and again, practicing them, partnerless, in preparation for the final portion of the Chunin Exams.
Itachi would have been lying if he said he wasn't nervous; it was only the first time he had ever taken the exams, but there was so much pressure on him to succeed. His father had coached him mercilessly for the past month and it was clear what Itachi could expect out of Fugaku were he to fail.
As a result, every bit of effort he could was poured into training for the exam that would take place later that afternoon.
"Hello."
Itachi stopped when he heard the soft, accented female voice, and turned around.
Standing with her hand pressed up against a tree was a little girl, maybe two years younger than him. Itachi stopped to stare at her; there was something a bit different about the girl. She had dark blonde hair done up in four pigtails and a deep golden tan, with large, forward green eyes. Itachi got the impression that she was upper class from the lightweight lavender silk kimono she wore. She carried with her the smell of wind and sand.
Itachi realized that the girl was probably a Suna villager visiting for the Chunin Exams.
"Hello." He bowed politely at the waist as his mother had taught him to do when meeting someone for the first time, a quick perfunctory bow.
The girl from Suna tilted her head and smiled. "You're Uchiha Itachi, aren't you? I heard my father talking about you last night."
The young Uchiha nodded cautiously, keeping his face carefully polite. "Yes, I am." The girl's close scrutiny of him made Itachi slightly nervous.
She smiled and nodded, stepping back against the pine tree. "Are you training for the exam?"
"Yes."
Her wide green eyes lit up. "Do you mind if I watch?" A little self-consciously, she added, "I'm going to be entering the Academy soon."
"Of course."
The Sunagakure girl was silent as Itachi continued to go over his taijutsu steps, sitting on the ground in such a way that was clearly practiced, not bothering him as he went through the techniques a few more times.
After what had probably been half an hour, their peace was abruptly disturbed.
"Temari-sama!" A nin with a Suna hitai-ate, cloth veil falling over one eye and a highly irritated facial expression was walking towards them.
The girl, who was apparently called Temari, showed a different side of her then, as she stood up, a noticeably tremulous expression on her small face.
There was insecurity there; Itachi could see it and recognize it, because he saw it as his own. He saw the sharp emotions on Temari's face and remembered when he had felt them himself. Putting another face to the world rather than what they truly felt.
The tall Suna nin came to stand in front of Temari. He seemed caught between anger and relief. "Your father asked me to find you. He's very worried."
Temari frowned. "I doubt he's as worried as you make him out to be."
The single visible, dark eye of the Sand nin narrowed. "Be that as it may, ma'am, I have been asked by your father to find you and bring you to him." He took her hand and began to walk away.
Temari wasted no time in extricating her hand. "I can walk back by myself; I don't need your help to do that," she snapped, unusually commanding for such a young child. "And just give me a minute, Baki."
A small, apologetic smile coming over her small face, Temari turned to Itachi, her dark emerald eyes uncertain, but soon confident again. She bowed, a mirror of how Itachi had a half hour before. "I hope you do well at the exam, Uchiha-san."
"Thank you," Itachi replied, before she walked back to the Sand nin who, not taking any chances, actually plucked her up into his arms before they retreated down the concrete park path.
.
Itachi won his fight during the exam, and was promoted to chunin. That night after supper, Itachi approached Fugaku.
"Father?" Itachi asked as he placed his plate on the kitchen counter. "Did any of the officials from Sunagakure happen to bring their daughter with them?"
Fugaku looked down at him as Shisui sniggered in the background. "Just one," Fugaku answered. "The Kazekage brought his daughter Temari with him to Konoha this year to watch the Chunin Exams. I understand you had an encounter with the girl before the final exam?"
Shisui could restrain himself no longer. "Haha, our favorite little prodigy and the Kazekage's daughter."
Itachi wasn't sure what Shisui found so funny about it, but he still blushed three different shades of red.
That night, he found himself dreaming of Temari's dark green eyes as the Sand nin carried her away.
.
Ten years later, and Itachi's stoic mask had all but consumed him. There was nothing that could evoke strong sensation or emotion in him anymore, not since the day he had seen his joy die with the flickering souls of his parents and his cousin, and all the members of his family.
But one day, far out in the desert wastes, he saw her again.
It was only from a distance; Temari wasn't aware of his presence.
Itachi was surprised and yet not at how the little girl who had come up on him while he was training ten years ago had been shaped by the ten years that laid between.
Temari had grown straight-backed and tall; her dark gold hair was still in pigtails, her skin still honey gold, her deep green eyes still bold and unblinking. She wore black and crimson now instead of soft lavender silk; a long, iron fan was strapped to her back, and yet she stood unbowed.
She had grown hard and steely; the rare soft spots Itachi had seen in her as a child were long gone. Temari had grown into a true desert's child, stark and timeless.
But still, she was happier than he was.
And if the years had proved themselves to be kinder to Temari than they had been to him, Itachi could feel a small spark of happiness, if just for a little while.
