So the stats page is broken atm and my analytical side is depressed, I really hope it's fixed soon as a chapter that is currently my personal favourite thus far is coming up soon. Bloody first world problems.
Anyway here's the infamous crying scene from Temari's perspective, I think Shikamaru's perspective is more interesting though for obvious reasons. But I've tried and hopefully this will work with her character.
The blank 2.5 year period is within touching distance and I sure hope I won't screw it up. I've been reading a lot of Shikatema fanfic this past week and aside from making me feel inadequate as a writer it also made me a bit confused about how to write Temari. Because she could be playful yet serious and angry yet mature. Dammit Temari why aren't you more 2 dimensional!?
As always please R and R if anything catches your eye in the chapter, it'll be nice to know what kind of tone people connect with more
Temari gazed curiously at the boy in front of her, he seemed to be working very hard at distracting himself from what was occurring next door.
He's never had a teammate die on him before.
She realised now just how much of his attitude was a bluff.
From what she had heard from lady Tsunade all of his team mates located thus far were injured, and it was obvious that he was particularly close to the chubby kid currently in surgery.
Temari watched with mild interest as the boy seemed to have failed in his plan and was trying out a bit of self administered pain, touching his wound.
It wasn't that she was unsympathetic, Temari wasn't made of stone, but she knew words of comfort didn't help. The first major mission tended to make or break a soldier, she had seen it once or twice before.
She vaguely remembered an assassination she went on a few years ago, the sight, smell and taste of warming blood...Temari promptly blinked her thoughts away. She had pretty much forced herself to get past that one. A kazekage's daughter couldn't just quit after all.
Temari noticed that Shikamaru's masochistic streak was going a bit too far. He was pressing on his fractured fingers with the utmost concentration.
He should have picked another injury, a shinobi needs his fingers above all else.
She found her chance to speak when he momentarily went back to fidgeting again.
"There's no use in fidgeting." she called out, "Sacrifice is an inevitable part of missions. Didn't you receive emotion training?" She carefully kept her voice neutral, this was a delicate situation.
He looked up at her as she spoke, the first time he had acknowledged her since entering the room, before looking down again.
"Training and actual combat is different." His voice was quiet, "In a mission you don't know what's going to happen." There was no snappy comeback.
Oh shit.
Temari found herself getting annoyed...no...she was getting downright angry.
For an opponent who had bested her, who had this much potential without even trying to sound so defeated...it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
This is pathetic.
Shikamaru continued, "and I...was a team leader for the first time on this mission. Because of that, I understand that..."
She kept her eyes locked on him, daring him to finish the sentence.
"I'm not cut out to be a shinobi."
This little punk.
She tried to keep her voice even, But couldn't help letting her irritation show, "Unexpected fragility...men are strange."
To her annoyance this had little effect on him.
"I shouldn't have been the team leader this time, I just trusted everyone else." Shikamaru stood up fully, "I was laid-back...I didn't have enough strength..."
So many excuses
"It's all my fault."
She spat out, "Are you afraid of being hurt?" It was one last challenge.
If he had any sense of shame he would fight her, and if he didn't then he was simply wasn't to be the man he could be. He wouldn't be a shinobi.
For a moment she thought she saw a flash of frustration and anger on his face, but then it was gone and he stood up and made to walk off.
Coward.
She kept her eyes on him, making sure he knew that he was walking away, knew that he was giving up.
Then a man with a clear family resemblance appeared and stopped him.
And proceeded to give the boy the most painful lecture that Temari had ever seen.
There were little in the way of raised voices, but the combination of the situation, their obvious relationship to each other, the brutal honesty and the fact that she was present made it painful.
But for a person like Nara Shikamaru it was completely necessary.
She knew her face was giving a sympathetic expression and was glad that he wasn't facing her.
What will he choose?
Suddenly everything started happening at once. The surgery was a success! The Byakugan boy was fine! The Naruto kid was back! Temari was frankly surprised at how everyone was more or less declared alive and kicking despite everything. The kid was damn lucky for his first leadership role.
Then to her shock Shikamaru was crying. She had seen some shaking, but she didn't expect tears.
Temari always thought that crying could only be a sign of weakness, but for some reason she didn't find Shikamaru weak. Frustrated, yes. Relieved, yes. But the tears seemed as much a promise to do better as a moment of collapse.
The leaf ninja's eyes were shut tight, liquid squeezing through the gaps stubbornly. There was no bawling, just soft chokes and gasps.
The kunoichi remembered having locked herself in a room after a mission failure once, because her heart and soul had felt fit to burst at the time. But she was only able to get her eyes a little damp and had forced out a tear or two before giving up in frustration, punching the wall. She had trained herself too well, violence was easier.
"Next time! Next time I'll show you that I can do it right!" The boy sobbed.
Crybaby, she thought and smiled to herself, she knew he was made of tougher stuff.
Temari learnt a little more about strengths and weaknesses the day she saw a boy cry.
