A/N: Quarantine is fun, isn't it? Just a whole bunch of free time, and nobody really knows what to do with it. In my case, I'm going to write.

Time or chapter 43

Enjoy!


Temari's left eye twitched as she sat with folded arms. Days had been slow of late, but none could compare to her current situation. It was Tuesday, six days after the arrival of Shikamaru, and it was the first day on which Gaara was not present in the estate. The Jinchuuriki had opted to take a 'leave of absence' for 'anywhere from two to forty-eight hours'. Under normal circumstances, such an excursion from Gaara would have been of little consequence to either Temari or Kankuro, but the situation at hand changed that.

During his absence, the redhead had assigned Temari to keep watch over Shikamaru and prevent any attempts at escape from the shadow user. It was this specification that irritated her the most.

'He won't try it. He's too lazy for that. No, too smart. Well, probably a bit of both' she thought to herself with narrowed eyes. She was currently situated across from him in the estate's lounging room, watching him flip through a bingo book. The pair had been sitting in silence for nearly an hour. Nothing had been said, which was both good and bad. Good in that it meant that no opportunities for conflict had arisen, but less than due to the sheer dullness of the silence.

The fan wielder absently filed her nails with a kunai as Shikamaru flipped to a new page in the bingo book. Despite reading through a list of hardened criminals, gruesome details of their committed atrocities included, the Nara's facial expression had seldom changed throughout his skimming of the material.

'If I were paranoid, I'd think that you were reading that to put me on edge. There's a newspaper five feet away, and you haven't touched it' she thought to herself. As she watched him listlessly study the criminal record, her mind wandered back to the day of the invasion. Specifically, she began to ponder her pair of encounters with the lackadaisical genin sitting across the room from her.

'Who could have guessed that you would have such a dog in you?' she mused as the memories of their officiated match circulated her mind. Every tactic, every adjustment, and ever last exchange of blows flooded her brain. As they did so, a twinge of frustration nagged at her conscience. It vanished as quickly as it came.

'I want to be pissed about it, I really do, and I am to some extent, but at the end of the day, you beat me both ways. You outsmarted me, and then you had the nerve to outlast me physically' she conceded with a slightly-more-audible-than-intended sigh. To her relief, Shikamaru's gaze did not wander from his bingo book. Taking mental note to avoid another small outburst, Temari returned to her thoughts. Deciding to traverse the events of the invasion in chronological orders, she moved on to her second meeting with the shadow user in the dark lower hall of the Konoha stadium.

Images quickly flashed through her mind, from the terror in Hanabi Hyuga's eyes to Shikamaru's exhausted and battered face. The visual of the konoha genin brought a wave of guilt washing over the fan wielder.

'You were a wounded animal already when I showed up. Unlike me, you didn't have the benefit of a food pill. You were at the end of your rope' she thought to herself, her glare softening to a simple gaze in the Nara's direction.

'You knew you couldn't possibly win, and you had no way to know that I wasn't really there to kill you, but you stood up straight and did you damndest anyways. What I don't get is why you just...gave up when I cornered you. You were tired and injured, but I didn't hurt you that badly, and you weren't exactly dying of oxygen deprivation' she pondered. Before Temari could begin comparing and considering different answers to her question, Shikamaru put down the bingo book.

"Why're you staring at me like that? Glaring is fine, but just staring? That's weird and requires an explanation" he asked bluntly. The sand kunoichi snapped out of her trance and erected a look of thorny irritation to mask her embarrassment.

"I was trying to figure out whether your head is shaped like a pineapple or not" she said, quite pleased with herself for having come up with the retort on the fly. Shikamaru sighed and gave her a bored look.

"Wow, how creative of you. Think I haven't heard that one before?" he replied, annoyance audible in his tone. Temari snickered at his obvious irritation.

"Does it matter? It clearly bugs you" she countered. The shadow user shrugged and stood up to stretch. After completing that task, he plodded over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

"No, but you have nothing to be proud of. Unless you and Gaara are cut from the same sadistic cloth" he said, earning a raised eyebrow from the fan wielder.

"That's a new look from you. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" she asked mockingly. Shikamaru sipped his burning liquid and returned to his seat.

"Sleep's been tough here. A three hour average would put anybody in a bad mood" he said matter-of-factly. Temari studied him as he turned his attention to the newspaper sitting nearby. After a moment's consideration, she decided to make an attempt to satisfy her curiosity.

"I have a question. One I want you to answer honestly" she said. The lazy genin looked up from the local newsletter he was reading and frowned.

"Ask away, I guess" he said, making a motion for her to pose her question as he spoke. The sand kunoichi nodded and mentally drifted back to the dark hall in which she had taken him hostage.

"Why did you give up when I cornered you? You weren't completely done yet, and I probably couldn't have dodged you if you had taken a swing at me" she asked. Shikamaru remained silent for a moment, but eventually responded.

"Think of it like chess. If a person checkmates you, there's no point in arguing. You've lost, no two ways about it. You had me checkmated, so I conceded. Simple as that" he replied. Temari shook her head.

"I didn't draw a weapon on you until I knocked you out. You had time to move, or at least try to retaliate. You might have been able to get some space if you had tried hard enough" she pointed out. The shadow user put down his newspaper.

"Trying hard isn't something I do. And before you say it, I only pressed so hard during our match because I needed to inform my sensei that something was coming. I needed to beat you quickly, so I did everything I could. My job was done by the time I ran into you in the hallway. There was nothing more for me to do" he explained. Temari furrowed her eyebrows.

"So you were willing to just let me kill you? Does your own life mean anything to you?" she demanded, surprising even herself with the amount of indignation present in her voice. Shikamaru sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm a genin. I'm one of thousands. I'm entirely expendable. By informing my superiors of an oncoming threat, I had already accomplished more than most chunin can claim to have done. That was enough for me, you know? It still is" he replied numbly. The sand kunoichi's hands curled into fists at his words. She shot to her feet and stormed across the lounge, seizing Shikamaru by the front of his shirt and heaving him to his feet.

"Expendable? Really? Human life is human life, bright eyes. It doesn't matter who it is, it has worth. You included, as much as I hate to say it. Don't insult all of the young ninja who lose their lives on the battlefield and on missions" she hissed. Shikamaru scowled and attempted to remove her hands from his collar to no avail.

"You aren't getting it. I never said that genin are, as a group, expendable. I said that I'm expendable. I have no way to know who or what my comrades can or will become, but I do that about myself. I won't be important in the long run, so I'm not an essential commodity. I can be replaced by somebody more promising" he clarified. His answer did nothing to quell the anger of the sand kunoichi, who tightened her grip on his shirt.

"Yeah? And how is that any better? You're giving up before you even try, and you of all people shouldn't sink so low. Like you said, you actually put in some effort when you fought me, and you won, damn it. Even if we use your stupid ideology, you could be 'important' in the future if you just got off your ass and tried to be" she said. Shikamaru clenched his jaw.

"Why are you so offended by this? Me thinking of myself as expendable, which, logically, I am, is of no consequence to you. There's no reason for you to be so fired up" he asked riggedly. Temari yanked on his collar again, sending his forehead crashing into hers. Despite the collision, she maintained her grip.

"Because I put myself at risk to make sure you survived the invasion! If I hadn't put you to sleep and taken you with me, Gaara would have come looking, and he would have torn you to pieces. It was still a dice roll as to whether or not Gaara would even go along with the whole hostage thing, and if he had refused, I would have been questioned and maybe even punished for it" she practically yelled. Hanging on to his composure by a thread, Shikamaru asked a question he had asked once before.

"Then why did you do it? What's in this for you? You said it yourself, it was a risk. Why were you so hellbent on me surviving?" he asked as calmly as he could. Much to his surprise, the question seemed to quell the flames of Temari's anger. She slowly released him from her grip and let her arms drop to her sides.

"Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, I'm not all that sure myself?" she asked quietly. The shadow user sighed at the response.

"Well, you definitely have some idea, because it seems to be your basis for hating the way I talk about my self-worth" he said. The fan wielder raised her eyes up from the floor and gave him a strained look.

"You didn't deserve to die. Especially not to Gaara" she replied. Shikamaru chewed his lip absently as he pondered the answer.

"Well, let me through some of your own logic right back at you then. Neither did the other people who your soldiers slaughtered" he said bluntly. Temari flinched at the harsh remark, but didn't let it scare her out of responding.

"You're right, but I couldn't have taken more than one person, and frankly, none of those people mean a damn thing to me" she said honestly. The konoha genin reached down and grabbed his cup of coffee. He downed the rest of it and tossed the cup into a nearby garbage can.

"And I do?" he asked simply. The sand kunoichi shrugged and shook her head dejectedly.

"I never said I wasn't selfish" she said in response. The shadow user frowned at the statement and scrunched up his eyebrows.

"That isn't an answer" he said, perplexed by the meaning, or lack thereof, of his overseer's reply to his question. Temari stepped back and cracked her stiff neck.

"And I don't have to give you one. As things stand, you're the prisoner, and I'm the jailor. I don't take orders from you" she said, returning to her original seat as she spoke. The Nara sighed and did the same, realizing that pressing any further would be pointless. Things then returned to the way they had been, with neither ninja engaging in any sort of conversation and quietly reading anything they could find that seemed interesting.

Such was life, as both the Jailor and the captive were imprisoned in one way or another.


Hinata rubbed her eyes as she was led along by Kakashi through the lamp-lit streets of Konoha. It was late, nearly midnight, and her sensei had decided to drag her out of bed in order to show her something. Her father had not been notified, and neither had Neji, meaning that discovery of her absence would result in a complicated series of conversations. Despite the potential risk, the heiress was far too curious as to what her instructor had felt so compelled to show her.

'It must be fascinating, given that he himself is weakened' she thought to herself. While he was still fully capable of walking and performing basic tasks, Kakashi's chakra system had been ravaged by his overuse of his sharingan against Orochimaru, meaning that he was unable to utilize jutsu of any kind for the next month or so.

"What is it we're headed towards, if you don't mind me asking?" she asked curiously. The silver hair ninja glanced over his shoulder and picked up his pace, prompting the heiress to do the same.

"There's something I think you need to see. You'll understand when we get there" he said vaguely. The Hyuga girl rolled her eyes and continued to run after her teacher. On and on they ran. For nearly ten minutes, they ran through training ground after training ground. Eventually, Kakashi stopped running and signalled for Hinata to leap into a nearby tree with him, an order that she followed.

"Why are we out here? To my knowledge, this field is abandoned" she asked skeptically. The jonin pointed off into the distance. The heiress glanced to where he was directing her and activated her byakugan. Once she had done so, two figures came into view. She recognized them instantly.

"Why are Naruto-kun and Hokage-sama... sparring in the middle of the night?" she asked no-one in particular. Kakashi sat down on the sturdy branch.

"Preparation, that's why. Naruto isn't cutting any corners for this rescue. He's making the absolute most of Team Seven's leave from missions" he explained. Hinata sighed.

"That does sound like him, but this is a tad excessive, don't you think?" she said. The silver haired ninja took out a granola bar and discreetly consumed it so as not to reveal the lower half of his face.

"Not really, considering who he's up against. I did some digging into Gaara of the Sand, and that kid has a B-ranked mission under his belt. He's no joke, and he's a Jinchuuriki. A stronger one than Naruto naturally. Your boyfriend needs all the sharpening he can get" he said. Hinata reddened a bit.

"Oh, so you know about that?" she asked. Kakashi chuckled and nodded, offering her a granola bar as he did so.

"I knew from day one that you were going to claim him at some point. The more you hate somebody, the more room you have to love them just as much" he replied with a smile. The heiress returned the gesture, but soon frowned.

"Is this all you brought me out here for? To show me how hard he's working for this?" she asked. The silver haired ninja shook his head and turned his attention back towards the distant sparring session.

"Take a close look at Naruto and tell me what you notice about him" he said. Hinata did as she was told and focused her dojutsu on the far-off blonde. After nearly a full minute of inspection, she furrowed her eyebrows and funnelled more chakra into her eyes to increase her range of vision even further. What she saw was jarring.

"H-he's encased in some sort of red chakra mass. His eyes are red as well. It looks to me like...the fox" she said tensely. Kakashi nodded and gave her a sympathetic look.

"What you're seeing is the form he assumed when he realized he was cornered against Orochimaru. It's the stage beyond what he used against you in your preliminary match" he clarified. The heiress felt her stomach churn at the awful chakra she was sensing.

"What vile energy. It seems to be hurting him to use it too. He flinches periodically, even before Hokage-sama strikes at him. Why would he torture his body that way?" she said, a hand now covering her mouth. Kakashi stood up and leaned against the tree trunk.

"He thought he was going to die that night. And, as Naruto always does, he refused to go down without fighting. He willingly turned his body into an explosive tag with a lit fuse. Admirable doesn't do it justice. The kid became the demon he was accused of being to defend his home" he said, emotion creeping into his voice near the end. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan and stared at the ground below.

"Why did you show me this? What was the point?" she asked quietly. Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him.

"I need you to understand the way he thinks, Hinata. He's selfless to a fault. It's hard to blame him considering his childhood, but he thinks of himself as a resource to be used up by those he thinks are worth defending. He went to extreme lengths in order to save you from the curse mark, and he went even further to give himself the ability to stave off Orochimaru" he said. The heiress frowned.

"What are you getting at?" she questioned. The silver haired jonin jammed a thumb in Naruto and Hiruzen's direction.

"He's going to Suna to kill Gaara even more than he is to retrieve Shikamaru. Why? Because he considers Gaara a threat to you, a threat to me, and a threat to Konoha. He's trying to ensure the safety of the things he cares about, no matter what it costs him" he explained. Hinata, unlike with the previous statement, understood. She gazed off in the Jinchuuriki's direction and bit her lip.

"Why can't he just worry about himself for once?" she said quietly. Kakashi let his hand drop from her shoulder.

"You're going to find yourself screaming something along those lines at some point in Suna. Just a warning, it's going to fall on deaf ears" he said sympathetically. He then flinched as his left eye pulsed painfully.

"He might not live very long, Hinata. He's managed to survive up to this point by virtue of grit and a bit of luck. Eventually, the other shoe is going to drop" he said honestly. The heiress shook her head firmly and fully turned in the direction of the sparring session.

"He'll live a long life. When the day does come on which he runs out of luck, I'll give him some of mine. Should he lose heart and begin to die from the inside out, I'll do my best to revive him. The grim reaper will know me well and dislike me strongly by the time I pass away" she said, her tone hard as steel. Kakashi stared at her silently for a few seconds before smiling.

'She takes after her father. She'll make a good leader and an even better wife someday' he thought proudly. Eventually, the jonin grew tired of sitting in the tree and left to sleep, leaving Hinata alone to watch her teammate learn by harsh experience from their village's leader.

An hour later, Naruto collapsed out of exhaustion, prompting Hinata to swoop in and carry him home, much to the amusement of Hiruzen.


A/N: Hope you guys are liking the longer chapters. It would really help me out if more of you could review, though. Feedback is what motivates me to write and helps me improve. So if you have thoughts on the chapter, let me know in a review! :)

See you next chapter! Read and Review!