Sorry it took so long again . ...

Searching

When Temari woke up, she didn't get that normal feeling of forgetting where she was whenever she was away from home. No, this time she remembered exactly where she was. And she knew why: the smell.

I have to get out of here, she thought. I can't let this go on between us. If he really wanted me he'd come find me if I left. She sat up and pushed back the covers. Yes, I'll leave before he knows I'm awake. She slid out of the bed and straightened the covers before changing out of her sleeping clothes.

She stuffed everything back into her rucksack that wasn't already in it and went to the bedroom door and opened it quietly. She looked both ways down the hall and saw no one so she crept to the bathroom; it was early so she didn't think being noisy was a good idea. After freshening up, she went back to the hall and snuck quietly downstairs. She could see Shikamaru splayed shirtless on the couch with his blanket all screwed up and the pillow on the floor. She smirked at the sight and got an urge to poke him in the side to see his reaction, but then she chastised herself for it and continued to the front door.

She slipped into her shoes and then strapped her fan to her back before heading outside. Breathing in the cold but fresh morning air, she head down the street and rounded a corner, leaving the Nara's household behind.

---

Shikamaru woke with a crick in his neck to the smell of cooking bacon. He shifted and sat up on the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. After a few minutes of sitting there, he remembered why he was sleeping on the couch. He groaned and stood up, heading for the kitchen.

His mom was over a frying pan making bacon and eggs. She looked up when he entered. "Good morning, Shikamaru," she said. "Did you sleep well?"

"No," he yawned. "Is Temari up yet?"

"She's left."

"Left?" Shikamaru started in surprise.

"Ah, she was gone when I woke up," his mother said as she turned back to the stove top. "I'm not sure if she's coming back later or not though. Did she say anything about going home early?"

"No," Shikamaru turned away to stare out the window while he rubbed the back of his neck. "She said she was going to stay another night."

"Did she? Well she'll probably be back in a bit then."

"Who knows?" Shikamaru sighed grabbing a seat at the table as his mom put breakfast on a plate for him.

---

Temari sat at a bar similar to that of the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, eating a random breakfast that she had chosen off the menu. She sighed to herself, thinking about what would happen with Shikamaru. Her thoughts from last night had left her believing that Shikamaru didn't necessarily want to be with her just because he would kiss her back whenever she made a move. She wanted to know how he really felt, and she was hoping that he would come looking for her and maybe even make some sort of move to show that he was interested.

She hated feeling this way about someone. She felt so vulnerable. She felt like everything right now depended on what Shikamaru did next.

"Hey Temari, how's it going?" Sakura asked with her usual smile.

"Oh, hey Sakura," Temari returned the smile half-heartedly.

"Why aren't you with Shikamaru?" Sakura asked.

"What do you mean?" Temari was a little startled by the question.

"Didn't you stay over at his house last night?"

"Wow, news really does travel fast," Temari muttered. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well I just thought that you'd of had breakfast at his place," Sakura took a moment to order something before turning back to Temari. "His mom makes really good breakfast."

"Oh, well I woke up early and no one else was up so I decided to leave," Temari said after a mouthful.

"Without even telling anyone?" Sakura asked a bit surprised.

"Well it's not like they're going to think I'm kidnapped," Temari sighed. "They won't really care."

"What about Shikamaru?" Sakura asked.

"What about him?"

"Well, are you going back later?"

"Yeah, probably tonight; I wanted to stay one last night before I head back home." Temari finished up her breakfast and paid for it before standing up to leave. "Ja, ne!" she said before leaving the shop.

---

Shikamaru sighed as he slipped on his shoes and left the house. Troublesome woman, he thought as his mind fell back to the conversation with his mother after breakfast. The prospect of having to go and look for Temari had at first seemed troublesome, but after his mother had started an argument with him about it, he realized it was far less troublesome than arguing about it with his mother. It seemed his mother wanted to be sure on if and when Temari would be back so she knew about meals.

Shikamaru was now walking down a busy street, glancing around lazily for any sign of troublesome woman number two. His hands were in his pockets as usual and he was sure that the fact that he would rather be somewhere else was reflecting on his face. He had finally managed to fall asleep last night, despite his troublesome thoughts, but now he was free to think of them again. It seemed that word was showing up even more this morning than usual. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that he was actually worried about how things would turn out with him and Temari – though he would never admit it. He had never felt the urges and needs he felt around Temari before he had met her.

He spotted Sakura heading down the street in his direction, though she hadn't noticed him yet. He continued walking and she saw him just as they reached each other.

"Shikamaru!" she smiled.

"Hey. Have you seen Temari?" he asked lazily.

"Yeah, I saw her about an hour ago," she said, pointing behind her. "We were at that breakfast bar on the corner of this street two blocks down."

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, but I think she said something about staying with you another night."

"Did she say anything else?" Shikamaru asked a bit too hopefully.

"What do you mean?" Sakura blinked.

"Never mind," Shikamaru sighed. "I'll see you later." He walked passed her and headed around the next street corner to make his way to the training grounds. He figured he might as well check there since it seemed a likely place.

---

Temari swept her giant fan to send the wind crashing into the trees around her. They were left with scratch marks and a few of the tinier branches fell to the ground. She stood in a small clearing in one of the many training areas of Konoha. She didn't have anyone to spar with and so went to taking her anger at life out on the trees.

The morning sun could be seen above the trees, and it had warmth to it instead of a searing heat. However, Temari was still sweating due to the past half hour she had been waving her fan around. She breathed heavily, glaring at the strong trees around her that refused to break. It reminded her of the trees in the Chuunin Exam arena that Shikamaru had hid behind to escape her wind slicing assaults. Now she would easily be able to break those ones, but these were a little tougher and she wasn't trying all that hard; she only want to break a few, not annihilate the entire forest.

After she had left Sakura far behind, her previous thoughts had started to make her angry. And when she remembered how blatantly Shikamaru had walked away from her the night before, she decided it would be better to take her anger out on something. She stood up straight as her panting slowed and she started to draw her fan up for another swing. With her hands holding her open fan almost behind her, she was beginning to pull it forward but just as the wind was picking up, she felt her body stop responding and unwillingly let go of her fan. The momentum sent it to fall a few feet ahead of her as her hands came together to form that all to familiar seal. If she tried, she may have been able to stop herself from doing it, but at the moment she couldn't be bothered.

"Shadow imitation jutsu: success," she heard muttered a short way behind her. "You know," Shikamaru called. "It's not very polite to just leave early in the morning from someone's house without even thanking them."

"It's not very nice to sneak up on someone while their training, either," she hissed.

"Well I was afraid I'd be cut into pieces if I just called out to you."

"Hmph," Temari smirked. "Well if you wanted to talk to me, you're going to have to release me first." She had figured that Shikamaru was facing her back. That meant that if he walked towards her, she would be forced to walk away. And if he turned around so she could face him, he would have his back to her. "Not much of a genius, are you?"

"Tch," Shikamaru dropped his arms to his side and Temari did the same. "I wanted to safely get your attention, not force you to talk to me." He released the jutsu and Temari thought that it felt like what it would feel to have Gaara's sand released from around your body, though she was glad that she had never actually experienced it. She turned to Shikamaru, still smirking, and folded her arms over her chest. Seeing him made her stomach knot up but she hid it well. This was what she had hoped for: he came looking for her.

"What do you want? It's not like you to come looking for someone."

"My mother made me," he sighed. Temari's heart sank.

"Your mother?" Temari narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"She needs to know if you're coming back or not for meals and stuff," Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck lazily.

"That's it?" Temari spat. Shikamaru looked at her questioningly. She suddenly felt even angrier than before. Angry at Shikamaru for not actually wanting to see her and angry at herself for believing he did. "Why don't you come find me when you've got some other reason to besides a small errand for someone else?"

She suddenly turned on her heel and took a few steps to practically yank her fan off of the ground and strap it to her back. She didn't even look over her shoulder or do anything else of acknowledgement as she jumped up into the trees and quickly left Shikamaru behind.

---

Shikamaru stared after her. What was that all about? He groaned, feeling like he had missed some vital piece of information. Clearly she was angry about something, but he had also noticed another emotion in those eyes that she tried so hard to keep blank. He had seen hurt. Did she really care that much about whether or not he had come looking for her just to see her? He groaned again and turned around to head back into town.

"No sense in following after her right now," he muttered. After wandering aimlessly through many streets, he found that he had reached the stairs up to the roof of the building that he often liked to lay on top of to watch the clouds. He shrugged and headed up them, taking a seat on the wooden platform before laying back and closing his eyes.

He found his thoughts revisiting everything he had thought last night, but now every move Temari had made no longer seemed like it was her way of feeling powerful. The way she had just walked away all because he was just relaying something from his mother stirred something inside of him. And the hurt he had glimpsed in her eyes made that something turn over. He didn't know why, but now he knew. He knew that Temari didn't just want him. She wanted him to want her. And possibly, if he dared to think that far, he was almost sure that she wanted him to love her.

Without his usual groan, he stood up and started yet another search for the woman who he couldn't help but be drawn to.

Author's Notes: I think we are finally begining to reach the whole point of my story (yes there is one) lol. anyway i hope you liked it! Reviews, again, are always wonderous!
-Atty