They split. Every second separated them from finding their rescuees alive or stumbling upon their dead corpses. Once her brothers were out of ear shot Temari glanced over the shoulder to catch the last glimpse of them. Then uttered a deep, relieved sigh. Thank god. Shikamaru was alive.

HOW much alive he was.. That was a matter of a whole different nature. Temari bit her lip and uttered a short, hope filled prayer that the boy managed to keep himself relatively in one piece. She then uttered another one to be able to see her brothers after all of this was over and landed on a branch and listened. Gaara gave her a general direction, but Shikamaru and the girl he was fighting against could have been anywhere. She took a few more leaps and landed silently and concentrated. The forest wasn't silent, but the sounds of battle were a lot more different than...

Her eyes shot wide open. THAT way. She picked up and leaping from a branch to branch, she prepared herself for a battle. Not knowing too much about her opponent, she focused all of her energy, all of her mind and will power to in fact be the rescue party. Last branch, and she could see them. Her eyebrows narrowed when the steel tooth of the kunai shone in Tayuya's hand. The fan, flew up like a bird, spreading its wings. Temari grabbed it with one hand and hissed.

"Kamaichi!!"

The tornado unleashed the power of its raw fury on the attacker, and she was knocked picked up and knocked away. Far away, enough to clear the way for Temari to asses the situation. There was another sigh of relief as she realized he was relatively in one piece. Battered, nearly defeated, but in one piece never the less. The other girl didn't expect this help, and neither did Shikamaru to tell the truth. When she landed in front of him, her one hand holding the opened fan and her other resting on her hip, his eyes widened in a surprise. What was she doing here?

Last month of torture under new orders of the Kazekage, and Baki's new plan didn't go unnoticed. Right now, Temari WAS the strongest fifteen year old in the Sand. With a slight smirk on her face, and her weapon in hand Temari felt up to the battle. This was the rush she lived for. She stared at the woman, right above the both of them.

"Freak."

Temari muttered under her breath, eyeing the horns sticking out of the opponent's head.

"I know we've come to the terms with the traitors from the Sand, but... it's hard to believe that you'd turn your tails and run like that."

He spoke. She winced. That was a shot, although a well deserved, below the belt. She made a soft frustrated noise.

"You ungrateful pig."

She thought.

"I should have just let her kill you. Stupid Yanagi."

"We didn't willingly siege the leafs. It was an order. The same sort of a reason why I'm here"

He fell quiet.

"Hey YOU."

She harped, unable to forgive and forget.

"When did you turn into such a dimwit? So now what? Are you going to give up again? Well then, I'm going to finish this myself."

He shifted from one foot to the other.

"Well sorry, no can do. I can't stand being protected by a woman."

Small smirked spread across her lips. Oh yeah. Chuunin vest or not, he was still the same. NOTHING has changed.

"Hah. Still blabbering about that Man Woman crap?"

She responded.

"I can tell that's dutch courage, dim-wit!"

"You're with the Leafs now? A bit indecisive, aren't we?"

The freak creation of nature spoke. Temari made another noise, to which he retorted.

"She controls illusion with her flute."

"Roger."

Horned girl brought the instrument to her lips, getting ready to attack. The sound began seeping off the instrument. Temari furrowed her brow. This was not going to be any fun. The fan turned.

"DAI KAMAITACHI NO JUTSU!!!"

The air roared, attacking the flute and the user. Instrument, snapped in two, as the blades of wind combed the surrounding forest. Temari smirked.

"I'm going to show you why you never had a chance against me, if it wasn't for my father's orders."

She thought to herself with the same smile lingering on her lips. While the mess cleared, their opponent vanished. Temari made a disappointed sound.

"She must be hiding."

He stated.

"Did she run away?"

"Impossible."

He answered her.

"But I just came!!"

She sighed.

"Give me the run down of the current situation and this chick's fighting style."

As she listened to him feed her the information she couldn't stop herself from wanting to smile. There they were, a meeting that was probably not foreseen, and would have never happened if it wasn't for Sasuke's disappearing. She pondered for a moment, if he still remembered what their meetings were like, and those soft kisses they exchanged watching the sun dip below the horizon.

"...if this keeps up sooner or later we'll be forced into a corner. We should retreat for now."

Those words snapped her out of it. HOW DARE HE??? Who did he think she was? Some weak little girl he was used to in Konoha? Those poor little girls that had NOTHING better to do than to hang off the local pretty boy. Didn't he KNOW, that she WAS one of the Three Horrors of Sunagakure. Tch. She so should have let that freaky thing kill him.

"Who the hell asked you for your opinion?"

The blond exploded.

"I simply asked for your explanation of the situation."

He quieted down immediately. Temari brought her thumb to her mouth, biting it all the way down to draw the blood.

"Don't underestimate my power."

She grinned in the same sinister grin her little brother was famous for.

"To think that in front of me... If you think you can hide using the distance of the flute...Well, then you're TOO NAÏVE!!"

The blood smeared across the surface of the fan forced her whole being perk up with excitement.

"KUCHI YOSE.. KIRIKIRI MAIIIIIII"

This wasn't the first time she has done this drill. And it wouldn't be the last. In a few seconds, miles of forest was reduced to piles of lumber, as she stood one of her hands on her hips smirking at the destruction left in her wake. Once the smoke, the noise and the howling wind settled, she gave him a few moments to regain his senses. Then turned around.

"How's that."

The opponent was dead.

"It's over."

He still didn't say anything.

"No problem?"

Temari grinned, as his face relaxed into the same smile she saw a month ago. He fell strength less onto the branch and leaned his back against what was left of the tree trunk.

"Are you hurt?"

She asked, smiling at him.

"No..."

"Good. Lets go then."

She got up. Shikamaru eyed her lazily.

"Give me a moment to rest will you?"

"Moment to rest? From what? I did all the work."

She turned around. He was still sitting.

"Come on, LAZY."

Temari walked over to him, extending her hand in order to help him regain his upright position. Unwillingly he took her palm, but instead of getting up he...

He pulled down on her hand with the force she couldn't believe. Loosing her balance for just a split moment, she regained her composure by falling to her knees. But that wasn't all, while Temari hasn't recovered from the initial surprised, he leaned up and their lips locked.

She blinked, her mind catching up with the events. Then gently wrapped her hands around his shoulders, in the battered, chuunin vest and leaned closer to him, deepening the kiss.

Yes.
She has missed him too.