Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

An: Thanks for reading this far.

Warning: Bad grammar probably. English is not my first language. Also this is Kakashi and Temari pairing. Kinda.

Summary: For ten days she waited for rescue...


Release the Sickle

Day 9


Temari sat with her back pressed against the bark of an old tree in Konoha. She was somewhere high in the tree tops. With one leg crossed over the other, she watched the crowd below her feet bustled their way through the busy marketplace. The sounds of wheeling carts and kids laughing drifted all around her. This was her first official visit to the leaf village. Nothing really prepared her for how loud and chaotic Konoha was. It wasn't anything like Suna where the days were long and hot and filled with arid sand and reserved, almost monkish villagers. Konoha was a vast sea of green trees, chirping birds, and vibrant colors. Tall buildings and busy restaurants dotted her vision. It was almost a shame that her father's plan would wipe all of this out.

Konoha was actually beautiful.

She thinks, rather sardonically, that maybe this is what a moth feels like flying next to a butterfly. The realization that Suna was nothing compared to the leaf village hits her rather hard. It was no wonder that they were losing all the Shinobi business. Sunagakure just couldn't compete with a village that had double the population and cheaper rates. Her father was right. Suna's economy was sinking and Konoha was to blame. It was either war or extinction. Sacrifices had to be made if Suna was going to survive.

Still, it was hard not to feel a bit of regret as she watched the villagers go about their day.

Temari closed her eyes. If she concentrated, she could smell fresh bread rising from the bakery stall nearby. She could hear the cicadas buzz loud and shrill from the neighboring trees. She could practically taste the dew on the leaves as the humidity rose. She felt Gaara's presence suddenly. It's dark and ominous. Kankuro's angry voice drifted up to the trees and she looked down to see her brothers facing off against a genin team from Konoha. With an annoyed sigh, she joined them.

It was just like Kankuro to get into a fight on the first day.

A loud mouth blond in orange and a little gap-tooth boy were demanding an apology while Kankuro snarled back viciously. Temari fought the urge to roll her eyes as more people joined in. There was a pink-hair girl with a large forehead and a cute emo-kid with dark eyes who looked like he never smile much if the thin press of his lips was anything to go by. Temari vaguely recognized the family crest that adorned the emo-kids clothes.

She had been tempted to let them duel it out until she noticed the sand that started to drift into the air. The group in front of her will never know that she saved their lives that day.

"Gaara," she put her hands together and silently prayed. "This is your big sister asking you to stop. Please?"

Gaara's green eyes shifted to her before he acknowledge her request. The sand died down and she didn't waste any time in herding Gaara and Kankuro away before something worst could happen. She ignored the loud mouth blond's indignant holler. As she passed underneath a tree, she happen to look up to see a jounin there, carefully watching her and her brothers.

She remembered the way the sunlight glinted through the trees to land in his white hair. She had to turn her eyes away for a moment to get rid of the silver bright glare.

By the time she blinked away the black dots and turned back, he had disappeared.

"It must have been Hatake Kakashi," Baki mentioned later. They had settle into the room that Konoha had provided them for the Chunin exams. The one-half of his face that was visible looked stony. "Be mindful of him."

Temari acknowledged the advice.


Kakashi is getting better. It's slow, but it was progress. He grows more alert as time passed. His skin is a little less flush, a little less clammy. Through their contact Temari could feel his fever recede. He felt well enough to even whip out a familiar book and Temari doesn't miss the way he angled the pages so that they both could read.

There was no excuse she could give herself for reading what was the single most trashy novel known in the literary world.

"Turn back, I didn't finish," she mumbled when Kakashi flipped the page.

She ignored the slight rumble of amusement as he silently grawffed.

"Ooh, this is the best part!" Pakkun nodded his head eagerly. He scrambled forward so that he could join in. By the time they finished reading, Temari was tired and half-conscious. Her eyes were closed when she felt Kakashi secured the blankets around her more tightly. She started to drift off until she heard mummers and her name. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady as she listened to the ninken and Kakashi talk.

"She's not Obito or Rin," the ninken said. His voice was gentle, but firm.

"I know," Kakashi replied.

"Do you?" the ninken seemed to sigh. "I don't think you're facing the facts, Kakashi. She's not going to make it. Her wounds are too heavy. The more you try, the worst off you'll be. You'll just end up dying along with her."

Pakkun tried reasoning.

"I like the child, I really do, but my first priority is going to be you. It'll always be you." The ninken was adamant. "You have to let go, Kakashi."

"I'm not sure I can," Kakashi admitted ruefully. "Every time I look at her-"

"-you see Obito or Rin," Pakkun finished.

Kakashi's silence says it all.

"You're going to keep trying to save her, aren't you?" Pakkun asked. "Even if it's fruitless in the end."

Kakashi hummed in agreement.

The ninken muttered something about stubborn nins under his breath.

After a long, pregnant pause, Pakkun spoke again.

"Her name is Temari of the sands," the ninken said. "She likes hot springs, sweet chestnuts, and Kenchin soup. She doesn't like squid or octopus."

Temari could feel Kakashi raise an eyebrow.

"You should know who you're saving," Pakkun said. "Don't save her because you see someone else."

Kakashi shifted slightly at the lecture.

A heartbeat later..."What else?" Kakashi wanted to know.

"She's nineteen, hates the color pink, and she has a summon..."

Everything the ninken knows about her through the conversations they had while Kakashi was feverish and comatose was said to a carefully listening Kakashi.

She waited until Kakashi finally lapse off into sleep before she opened her eyes to where Pakkun was waiting for her.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop," he told her. His tone was amused. The ninken patted her head until her eyes drooped and she fell asleep.

She woke later to Kakashi's hand on her chest. He was in the middle of changing her dressing. His fingers stopped at a long scar above her heart.

"I was sixteen," she answered his questioning look. "Assassin."

After coming back from a three-day mission where she didn't sleep, Temari was too tired to even blink. She had completely missed the presence of a masked nin who had been lying in wait in her apartment, hidden behind the door. She walked into her apartment with a yawn. When she turned to hang her jacket she felt a brief, burning pain as a blade slid home through her chest. She stumbled backwards and her body managed to hit the wall with a barely audible thud. She slid to the ground as the nin fled out of her window.

"Hey sis," Kankuro didn't bother to knock. He just strolled right in. He had a habit of turning up at her apartment whenever he felt the need to. It was a habit she tried to break him of, but now she felt grateful for it. "Can I borrow-"

He stopped short when he saw her on the ground. The empty bottle of shampoo slipped from his hand and he stood there for a long moment in stun silence. It was only when she started choking on her own blood did he move.

He knelt at her side. His hands were a bumbling mess as he propped her head onto his lap. His palms were slick and sweating as he tried to hold onto the wound, trying to make sure she didn't lose more blood. His voice was high-pitched and terrified and it shot through the air as he screamed. The nins that lived in the apartments nearby heard the commotion. Someone mentioned that they would head for the medic center for help.

"You're going to be fine," Kankuro babbled. His face, even through the white face paint, looked sickening green. She had spent five days in the hospital before she was back on her own two feet. She never got a shot at the nin who almost killed her. She was never privy to what Gaara did to the nin after they found him. All Kankuro would mention was that it wasn't pretty. He looked grim.

"And this one?" Kakashi asked. He touched a small scar at the junction of her throat.

"I was five. Another assassin." Temari doesn't bother to hide the wan smile. The closest person to Kakashi that might understand is the boy Konohamaru. In return for all of the privileges, power, and prestige that came along with being children and grandchildren of a Kage, most of the people that they met either wanted them dead or people wanted to use them. Temari still received dozens of marriage proposals daily from men who tried to woo her with the virtues of why a marriage between her and them would be beneficial. Shikamaru was the first person she's met that didn't care about who she was. Shikamaru-

Temari had to stop that dangerous train of thought.

"And this?" Kakashi looked at a deep puckered scar above her left shoulder. "Another assassin?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

She had gotten that wound the day she went after him. The shrapnel from the exploding tag that he used to attack her had sliced through her shoulder. It tore through muscle and the medic-nin that put her back together warned her that her shoulder would never be the same. Even after it was healed, Temari still occasionally feels a slight twinge from it. The pain is worst on days that rained.

She saw a jagged scar on Kakashi's wrist that runs up to his elbow. "What about you?"

A hand goes back to rub the back of his head. "I fell off the rooftop when I was drunk one night," Kakashi said. "I hit a potted vase on the way down."

Temari couldn't be less impressed.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're an idiot?" Temari asked.

"Naruto reminds me often," Kakashi answered. He finished wrapping the bandages and he tied the ends with a flourish. Temari was reminded again that Kakashi was human when the strength seemed to sap out of him. He tiredly crawled into the covers with her and drew her close.

"Hands," Temari wearily reminded him.

She saw a smile twitch behind the mask, but he dutifully adjusted his hands. She turned her head and watched as Pakkun toss the last empty pack into the fire.

This was it.

Once the fire died down, there wouldn't be anything else left to burn.

"One problem at a time, kid," Pakkun said, seemingly reading her mind.

"Will you do me a favor?" Temari asked. She held onto Kakashi at the peak of his fever. She looked to the summon whose ears perked up at her voice. "When the times comes I want you to..."

"Oi, Kakashi," Temari said softly. When Kakashi turns his head, her hand moved. She struck the pressure point at his neck. The strike was fast and he wasn't prepared for it. She saw the realization hit him seconds before he fell into her arms, unconscious, limp, and heavy.

Temari pushed him off carefully.

Using her hands she dragged herself backwards out of the covers. She ignored the bitter cold. She and Pakkun bundled Kakashi up with everything they had to keep him warm. They cocooned him in layers. Using strips of torn clothing, they made a rope harness.

Temari has just enough strength left to summon Kamatari.

She tied the end of the harness with shaking fingers around Pakkun and Kamatari.

"Are you sure about this?" Pakkun asked one last time. He stood at the cave entrance. The ninken looked back at her with furred brows at her figure lying half-propped against a cave wall.

"I'm sure," Temari replied.

The tentative plan she and Pakkun had agreed on was set. The timing was finally right. Kakashi was well enough to travel and the storm had died down. All Pakkun had to do was make sure that the handmade sled with Kakashi on it makes it relatively fast and safe down the mountain.

The expression on the ninken's face before he and Kamatari left was a mixture of gratefulness and regret.

Temari was never particularly self-sacrificing. She was generally smarter than that. Saving Kakashi would be the only exception. She imagine that once everything settles down Gaara and Kankuro would understand.

Despite the cold, the hunger, and the solitude, Temari felt almost at peace as she stared through the opening of the cave to the starry sky.