Chapter 4

"You know, that chick wasn't all that tough. I really don't why you were having such a hard time." Temari said to Shikamaru. "I mean come on, all it took was my Kyuichose No Jutsu, and she was toast."

Shikamaru looked around at the forest. Well that is if you could really call it a forest anymore. Temari's summoning technique had completely wiped out Tayuya, as well as half the trees in the forest.

He just sighed, and laid his head up against the trunk of the tree that he was laying under. Temari was folding up her fan, and obviously preparing to head back.

"We're not going anywhere." Shikamaru said lazily, looking up at the darkening sky. "It's gonna pour any minute now. We can't make it all the way back to the village in this kind of weather."

"Yes we can." Temari said demandingly. "I have been waiting to go back to the Wind Country for weeks now, and I'm not going to let a little rain stop me!"

It was at that very moment, as if someone had been listening to Shikamaru's prediction, that the heavens opened up, and let down a torrent of rain.

Now, Temari was sitting under the tree as well, her opened fan had the handle jammed into the trunk of the tree, creating a shelter from the rain. Her knees were tucked under her chin, and her hands wrapped around them. She reached up with one of her hands and felt her wet hair. Then proceeded to pull out the rubber bands that were holding it up.

Her wet hair now lay neatly at her shoulders. Shikamaru looked at her. Temari was the girl from the pond. He knew that he had seen her before.

"You know," Temari's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You can come under my fan if you want. You're getting all wet."

Shikamaru hadn't even noticed that he wasn't at all shielded from the torrents of rain. So he just crossed his arms across his crest and said, "you told me that if I touched you, that you would slit my throat."

"I was just kidding, really," she gave him a sheepish smile. "You can come under my fan if you want…"

"Alright, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd really like to wake up tomorrow," Shikamaru scotched over so the fan sheltered him from the downpour.

By next morning when Shikamaru woke up, the rain had stopped. But it seemed that he hadn't kept his promise of not touching Temari, because her head was resting on his shoulder, and his arm had been around her waist.

He really liked the feel of having her there in his arms, and if there hadn't been the threat of death lingering in his mind, he probably would have stayed there longer. But he took his arm off of her waist, and scooted out from under her head, and let it instead rest on the tree.

He stood up and looked at her for a minute. Temari looked younger when she was sleeping. Or maybe it was just that she looked more vulnerable. But that was definitely not the vibe she put off when she was awake, she was an amazing warrior, strong confident, and very hardheaded.

Her weight shifted, and Shikamaru knew that she was waking up. He tore his gaze away from the sand girl.

"Mmmmm…." Was all she said for a minute, her eyelids fluttered, and she was awake. "What's going on…." She said in a dazed voice, rubbing her eyes.

Shikamaru squatted on the ground next to her, "come on Temari, we have to head back to the village." He put his arm on her shoulder, "we have to make sure my team's ok."

She nodded her head, and grabbed her fan from the tree, trucking it safely onto the belt on her back. "Let's go."

Within minutes, they were running across the ground, (anthere weren't y trees to hop through any more,) toward the Village Hidden in the Leaves.