Neji could tell from a single glance at his co-captain that she was hurt. Again. It bled through to her composure from the way she hunched her back in the subtlest way possible to the way she winced whenever she bent over the slightest bit. He deduced that she was hurt on her torso this time.

Why Neji was being this vigilant about her physical (and probably mental) health, he did not know. He didn't even know why he was this concerned about her. Whatever she got herself into was none of his business. She was just an ungrateful, rude hippie anyway.

An ungrateful, rude hippie that might really be facing something serious at home and was too... Proud? Ashamed?...to admit it. As much as he loved to think he detested Tenten he couldn't bring himself to be unconcerned about her health, snarky and rude as she might be.

He could somehow see beyond all that brave and apathetic exterior she always wore. Neji sighed. She would just snap at him if he pointed out that she was injured again so he went to Anko-sensei instead. He had noticed that the woman was trying to get to the root of Tenten's problems and could only hope that she was successful.

For all they knew and didn't know, Tenten could be dying silently on the inside. Neji found that he didn't want that. He very much preferred the version of Tenten that got on his nerves at every given moment to this aloof and snarky one.

Shizune-sensei finished wrapping the bandages around Tenten's stomach and gave her some pain killers to use. "Why didn't you say anything? Your injuries would have been worse!" The nurse scolded as she stood. Concern was etched deep into her furrowed eyebrows for the girl in front of her. This was the third time this month Anko brought her here with bruise covered skin.

"Tenten, I can not sit still and watch you getting injured this way. Please, you have to talk to me. Why are you so bruised?" Anko, who was sitting next to Tenten while Shizune worked, pleaded for the girl to talk but she was adamant on keeping her usual line.

"I told you, it was a stunt accident. There's nothing to be concerned about, Anko-sensei, Shizune-sensei."

"If that's the case, I'd have Kakashi-sensei withdraw you from the dance group-" Anko was shut down before even getting her words done.

"You can't!" Tenten yelled and winced immediately from the repercussion on her ribs. Still she continued talking. "I can't withdraw from the competition! You can't do this to me!"

"Yes I can and I will." Anko was resolute. "Dancing would only worsen your injuries." Her eyes softened at the angry tears that glistened Tenten's eyes. "It's only for a while until you get better. Until then no dancing, gym or any sport activities for you."

The moved to woman pat Tenten's head but was rejected at the dime minute. Tenten brushed the teacher's hand away as it was about to touch her head. "I'm not a kid, Anko-sensei." She grumbled drowsily. The medicine she used was already kicking in.

Anko only chuckled and reined in her hand. "Sleep well kiddo." And with that she left the infirmary.

When Tenten opened her eyes it was hours past closing hours. This she knew because the wall clock was just feet away from her. Groaning, Tenten pulled herself up and looked around for Shizune-sensei. The nurse was nowhere to be found.

Tenten wore her shoes and made the bed she used. She hadn't meant to sleep for this long. Nurse Shizune entered the infirmary when she was done with the bed and set to leave. "I see you're up." The nurse greeted. "Have a good sleep?"

Tenten had to admit that it was one of the best sleeps she had slept in months albeit drug induced. "Yes, thanks. And sorry for keeping you back, you could have woken me."

Shizune-sensei snorted at that. "A storm wouldn't wake you at the state you were." She laughed. "You didn't keep me back, now run along. I have things to do." Tenten was dismissed.

The girl went back to her classroom with a sigh to pick up her bag before going home. It was a long journey by foot mostly because Tenten was dawdling. Home. There was nothing like that for her. All she had was a cheap apartment, no home.

"Yo boy-girl!"

Tenten's eye twitched at the insult. It shouldn't get to her- it was stupid and childish- but hearing it coming from this person always got on her nerves. Tenten felt rather than saw the rock that was aimed at her and dodged moment before it hit her. A deep scowl contorted her face as she spun around to face the trouble maker.

"I would kill you one day." It wasn't a threat, it was a promise.

The receiver didn't feel the malice behind the words though, and shivered mockingly instead. "Oh I'm scared." He then burst into obnoxious laughter at his own inner joke. It was unfortunate that killing your landlord's son would only bring you more trouble, Tenten wanted nothing more than to punch his stupid face.

"If you have nothing to say then fuck off." She proceeded to walk into her house when the boy spoke. He was older than she was but it didn't show in his oh so mature behaviour.

"Your rent is due."

Tenten sighed. Tell her something she didn't know. "I'd pay it somehow." She dismissed and was about to walk away when, once again, she was stopped by his obnoxious voice.

"You should quit school and work yanno? There might be some places that would be willing to hire even you. Why did you even apply to KSA? I can't believe they took you in, I mean, what could you possibly do?"

Tenten had enough. She stepped up to him with a sharp glare. "Want to run that by me again?" The words forced their way out through gritted teeth. If there was one thing she hated, it was being looked down on.

The trouble maker only sneered, looking down at her jestingly. "Don't delude yourself, boy-girl. You think somebody like you would amount to anything?" Knowing he had an advantage over her as her landlord, he moved to grip her face in his large hand. His fingers dug into her cheeks harshly meanwhile Tenten struggled with herself not to retaliate.

"You are nothing, get that into your head. You would have made for a good slut if you were actually attractive. Take my advice boy-girl, quit school and get a job. Maybe then you wouldn't swim in as much debt as you are now." After those condescending words, Tenten was released harshly.

Her face hurt from the sheer force he grabbed her with but she could only clench and unclench her fists in anger. Tenten entered her apartment in frustration. She wasn't crying- she could not cry.

The only thing that was homey about this stupid apartment was an old radio– the radio she used on her audition into KSA. It belonged to her grandmother who had meticulously kept it in good condition till this day.

Tenten slipped in one of her grandmother's favourite tapes which was still miraculously working, and hit the play button. Memories of how she used to dance for her grandmother while the woman watched with a gentle, wrinkly smile flowed into her mind like it usually did every time she listened to this song.

Tenten shook it off and decided to have dinner instead.

The only thing left in her food cupboard was cup ramen from what she was seeing. Shuddering, Tenten closed the cupboard in favour of sleeping hungry. She was sick of ramen. It was a good thing they served food at school so she wouldn't completely starve.

Her torso ached a lot. Her stomach growled. She couldn't exactly sleep peacefully because of them but she managed to catch a few hours before it was the beginning of another day.

Xxx melody xxX

Naruto was back with Ibiki-sensei for another round of questioning. This time a series of pictures were placed in front of him, all of men with silver hair and black eyes- including Kakashi. It was easy to guess where this questioning session would lead to.

"I want you to take a proper look at each picture carefully. See if you recognise any of them." Ibiki then proceeded to pass Naruto a picture after the other in hopes that the boy would recognise somebody.

"No." Naruto discarded the first picture and Ibiki passed him another. He discarded that one too and the next, and the next after that. When he reached one picture in particular however, he stiffened and his breath caught.

Despite being a picture, Naruto could still feel the malicious aura oozing out of the man's black eyes. Naruto's hands shook uncontrollably as he picked the picture up.

"This..." He didn't even need to talk, Ibiki already knew from his reaction that, "this is the person that killed my parents." Naruto rasped. It looked like Iruka and Kakashi were correct; this person did have a connection to Orochimaru. The next course of action was decided already. He had a golden eyed man to investigate.

*

Technically, the school's garden belonged to the the gardening club and required membership for entrance. It was one of the most peaceful places to be at on KSA's broad grounds other than the rooftop which was hijacked by Sasuke and Naruto.

It wouldn't be much of a surprise to learn that Shikamaru joined the gardening club specifically because it was the perfect spot to ditch classes and sleep without hindrance or disturbance.

Call him lazy if you want but Shikamaru could not be bothered with the hassle called life. He liked to imagine himself as cloud drifting lazily in the sky. It had no worries, no cares and no obligations just like he hoped to be. Unfortunately for him, his mother was not too keen on his nonchalance and hounded him for it at every given moment.

What a drag, he would sigh whenever she started yelling at him for doing nothing and pretend that he was listening to her words when actually, the words went in through one ear and exited through the other. Despite his sloth like demeanour, Shikamaru was actually pretty ambitious. He had planned his as far ahead as his marriage already. And Nara Yoshino would never be the kind of woman he would marry.

But let's start with the closer details. First he would do well to at keep himself enrolled at KSA by writing just enough to pass in exams and sleeping the rest of the time. Secondly, he was going to apply for a college of music and hone his songwriting skills. The only reason he was applying for college was because of his mother. Left to him, he would just continue with a highschool diploma and live off writing songs for musicians.

Well, his third plan was just that minus the highschool diploma part. He would be a freelance songwriter and be an average guy; not too rich and not too poor although his family name was already ruining that for him...he was already too rich. Which brought him to his fourth plan– migrate out of Konoha and start a new life where nobody recognised the Nara name.

There he would marry a nice girl, not too pretty and not too ugly. She would definitely be a gentle woman and not like his feisty mother. After marriage comes kids– only because his parents would want grandchildren– so he would have just one to placate their thirst.

Shikamaru really had his whole life planned and was determined to follow every single detail of his stress free life...if it were that easy. Life was not that simple. Clouds are driven by winds and he was a big lazy cloud. The best kind of wind suitable for him was a feisty, gusty wind that would lead him to places he never knew of.

He met his wind in the school's garden although he didn't know it.

Shikamaru was hiding out at the garden like he always did every lunch break (except days he was too hungry to take a nap). He loved the garden a lot. There was a comfy spot hidden from plain view behind a rosebush where he could watch the clouds and relax in the shadow of the bush.

He often fell asleep there, the sweet smell of surrounding flowers and the cool breeze lulling him to sleep, but most times he just gazed at the clouds. When he was younger the clouds always seemed to have funny shapes. One would seem like a smiling pineapple and the other one would look like a dragon with a goat's beard.

Now though, all he saw were lumps of white masses drifting across the vast blue sky. Choji would most likely liken them to cotton candy and Naruto, tofu. Shikamaru was not that imaginative to see images on clouds like he used to.

A song was in his head about, predictably, drifting clouds but he could never complete it because the lyrics didn't just seem to flow. In other words he was facing a writer's block. Shikamaru didn't get much time to himself before he was interrupted by the sound of a musical instrument. The boy felt his left eye twitching in mild irritation. Who on earth would play an instrument in a garden?!

Shikamaru sighed but did not rise from where he lay. Perhaps the person would leave. Even if they didn't, he could not complain too much about the music. It was a traditional string instrument if he was judging from the sound, and the player was very good at it. It kind of reminded him of his visits to his grandparents.

He was somewhat curious though. Most of the people enrolled in the school were interested in modern instruments like the guitar and such, he didn't think there would be a person that played traditional instruments. Shikamaru was almost tempted to peek. Almost.

He decided against it the moment he realised that he would have to sit up to do that, not to mention face whoever was playing the stringed instrument. He wasn't in the mood to do that now.

Cumulus and cirrus clouds littered the sky in scattered patterns, but it, along with the sun, was a very beautiful sight. He closed his eyes to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, the music lulling him to sleep. Shikamaru awoke with a rude awakening when a mildly hard impact thwacked his cheek.

"Oi, get up lazy bones." A stern voice pierced through his bleary thoughts.

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned as his eyes blinked open to see a figure hovering above him. The figure soon came into focus as his eyes got adjusted to the light. It was a girl whose corn blond hair was packed into four pigtails. Her green eyes were narrowed distastefully. She was holding a fan which must've been what she used to slap him awake.

Shikamaru groaned internally as he recognised her face. She was the hall monitor and committee in charge of student discipline, Sabaku no Temari. Shikamaru mentally noted that the Sabakus were a scary bunch.

"Took you long enough." She said once she saw that he had woken up. "Get going to class, lunch break is over." The protest rising at the back of Shikamaru's throat died at the narrowing of her forest green eyes. He chose to groan instead.

"Alright, fine." He sluggishly stood up. "After you." He curtseyed politely when in reality what he wanted to do was to let her walk further so that he could turn around and escape to the rooftop. It didn't work on Temari. Well it was worth a shot.

"Get to class, lazybones." Temari commanded and followed behind him closely to ensure that he really went to class. She was a drag, Shikamaru decided. He would need to find another hiding spot if she was going to keep disturbing him at the garden.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Nara-kun." Genma-sensei spoke dryly when he walked in through the door of his classroom.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head with a sigh as he accepted the detention ticket. He was often on detention for tardiness as Naruto was for noisemaking. The literature class didn't reach his ears for he chose balancing his pen under his nose over taking actual notes. He soon fell asleep but that only earned him a hit on the head by a board marker.

The dark haired boy was glad once school and detention was over that he would be able to take things easy from there on out. Unfortunately, his mother had other plans and decided that dragging him along on a shopping spree was the best activity for the afternoon.

Why was everyone raining on his parade today? He could only hope that tomorrow would be better as he finally shut his eyes in sleep.

The traditional music player was at the garden again, and this time it was a flute that was being played. They were not as good with the flute as they were with the strings but it was not too bad that Shikamaru couldn't rest peacefully. He was somewhat disappointed when the music stopped but he supposed that the silence was okay too.

He couldn't enjoy the quiet for too long though because Temari was once again hovering above him with her fan posed ready to thwack him if he didn't respond quickly. Shikamaru groaned and reluctantly stood up. He would have to find another spot but then he would not be able to listen to the traditional music player if he did.

"What a drag. Troublesome woman." His muttered words didn't fly over Temari's ears because she hit him on the arm with her fan.

"Get going, lazybones."

This soon became a routine between the two. Shikamaru would rest at the garden, listening to peaceful traditional music and when it was a few minutes to the end of lunch break, Temari would magically appear at the garden to shove him back to class.

He soon found himself expecting her arrival everyday which was weird because they never did anything but exchange a few words (troublesome woman and lazybones).

Today, the traditional music player was playing a drum. It sounded nothing like the ones he had heard from his grandparents' place. Curiosity made him sit up to see what kind of drum it was and maybe the mystery traditional music player. Shikamaru didn't think he should be as surprised as he felt when he saw that his mystery musician was none other than Sabaku no Temari.

A small drum was slung over her shoulder and tucked under her armpit. She was hitting it with a curved stick shaped like a hook to produce weird but unique sounds that sounded strangely like a talking person. She stopped upon his appearance.

"Finally decide to audit my performance?" Temari smirked confidently.

Shikamaru grunted with a shrug. "What kind of drum is that?" He asked instead of answering her.

"Oh this is a Gangan or Talking Drum in common terms. I stumbled upon it on a journey and have been in love with it ever since." Temari hit the drum a few times. "I learnt how to play it but I guess you have to understand a native language to actually hear what it is saying."

Shikamaru was as entranced with the talking drum as Temari was.

"It can say some things and even play some songs in our language though." Temari went ahead to play a simple song on the drum. She wasn't too good at it but it still sounded wonderful.

"It's fascinating." Shikamaru observed lazily.

"Yeah it is." The girl checked her wristwatch at that moment. "Well look at the time, it's almost the end of lunch break." She said as she packed the drum into a case and picked up her signature white and purple fan. "Do you need me to slap you awake again or are you coming?"

"But there's still ten minutes left." Shikamaru groaned.

"Come on lazybones, at least get a snack to feed your stomach before going to class." Temari went over to him and grabbed him by his hand. Her touch, he observed, was warm and soft.

"Che." He berated himself film thinking along those lines even if they were true. As he watched her talking animatedly about her talking drum, Shikamaru couldn't help but liken her to the wind. Free, feisty, gentle, cooling and moving all at once.

Come to think of it, winds push clouds to move. A small gasp left Shikamaru's mouth as an influx of inspiration for his song hit him. He had Temari to thank for it.

Winds push clouds to move.

ShikaTema is my second OTP. I love their dynamics so much, it's cute. I wanted NejiTen to be the first to get together in this fic but it seems like ShikaTema would be the first couple. Can't say, not sure.The Gangan (talking drum) is a native Nigerian drum that really sounds like a talking person. You'd get the vibes more if you understand the Yoruba language.If you're a Nigerian reader, say hi!