Chapter 7

Temari hummed to herself as she washed herself in the shower. Now that their presence here was no longer a secret, Temari and her brothers were free to stay in an Inn. Much more comfortable then a tree in Temari's opinion. And also much more convenient then bathing in a pond.

Temari let the water wash away the suds covering her body before turning the faucet to the off position. She wrapped herself in a towel, and continued on to her bedroom, where she kept her clothes.

"Eeap!" Temari shirked when she saw her brother, Kankuro, sitting on her bed. "What the hell are you doing in my room!"

"I need to talk to you." Kankuro said nonchalantly, obviously not fazed by the fact that his sister was only wrapped in a towel.

"Well can I at least get dressed first!" Temari snapped angrily at him, heading toward her bureau to collect her clothing.

"No," he said stepping in front of the dresser, blocking her from it. "I want to know why we haven't left yet for the Sand Country."

"I'll tell you what, you let me get dressed, and I'll tell you all about it. If you haven't noticed, I'm sopping wet here!" Temari was getting increasingly angry with her brother's ignorance.

"You're just stalling, I want to know now." Kankuro crossed his arms across his chest, and gave Temari a critical look. "Anyways, I'm your brother, I've seen you naked. We used to take baths together, remember?"

"Yea, when we were like five! I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot's changed since we were five!" Temari gestured toward her developed body. She definitely had things that five year olds hadn't even heard of yet.

Kankuro let out a sigh; it was become obvious that he wasn't going to get anything out of his stubborn sister until he let her get dressed. "Alright, you've got five minutes."

"Make it seven and you've got a deal." Temari countered him.

He let out another irritated sigh, and stepped back from the bureau, allowing Temari to collect her clothing.

A good ten minutes later, Kankuro noted, Temari sat next to him on the bed, fully clothed, drying her hair in a towel.

"So how'd you get into my room anyways?" Temari asked him.

"You're avoiding the question," Kankuro clenched his teeth together in annoyance. "But if you really much know, I asked the woman at the counter downstairs. I told her I was your brother, and you had asked me to get your fan from your room, so I needed a key."

"And she seriously bought that! Wow, how gullible can you be?"

"Temy," Kankuro said using his nickname for his older sister, "why are we still here? You keep telling Gaara and me that you have some "unfinished business," but you won't tell us what it is. What's going on?"

Temari bit her lip. She knew that this question would come up eventually. And before she could stop herself, she spilled out the whole story, her feelings for Shikamaru, the kiss, all of it.

Now normally, Temari realized, Kankuro would have interrupted her half way through, and start making fun of her situation. But this time her let her finish without interruption. After she had finished explaining her dilemma to Kankuro, she took a deep breath, and turned to see his reaction.

Kankuro's face was emotionless, but seemed deep in thought. "Well," he started out, obviously choosing his words carefully. "Do you really love this guy?"

Temari paused. Did she really love Shikamaru? She wasn't really sure…but she figured the only way to find out was to take the plunge. "Yea, I think I do."

"Then you should stay here. Gaara and I can head back to the village; you really don't need us stickin around getting in your way-" but before her could finish, Temari cut him off.

"I don't want you guys to leave! What if I need you! I can't do this all by myself; what if I mess it up..."

Kankuro smirked to himself. Temari normally wasn't really the sensitive type, so it was a big change to hear her confused, and asking for advice.

"Alright, Gaara and I will hang around here for a little bit, and see how things work out." Kankuro stated to reassure his older sister.

Temari throw him a grateful look, but then wondered, "Hey Kankuro, why didn't Gaara come with you to interrogate me?"

Kankuro grinned again. "Can't you already see his response to me asking him to come and grill you?" He started in an imitation of Gaara," "'Its Temari's business, so we shouldn't push her. If she wants to tell us she will.' Ha! Like that ever stopped me before!"

Temari giggled at her brother's imitation of Gaara. He had said it with hand gestures and everything, trying to get the part of Gaara down. But before she could respond, there was a knock on her door, so she got up from where she sat on the bed to answer it.

"Telegram from the Lord Hokage, Tsunade." Stated a young woman standing in her doorway. Temari assumed that she was either a messenger, or an assistant to Tsunade.

"Arigato," Temari thanked the girl, and took the slip of paper from her. The young woman bowed and retreated down the corridor.

"What's it say?" Kankuro asked, rising from the bed. Obviously intrigued as to why the Hokage would want anything with Temari.

Temari slipped her finger under the seal on the paper, and unfolded it. She read it aloud to Kankuro, "The 5th Hokage, Tsunade, would like to request the presence of Temari of the Sand, for the assignment of a very important mission. Please report to her office immediately."

There was silence for a minute, until Temari voiced Kankuro's thoughts. "Why in the world would Tsunade want me to go on a leaf mission? Don't they have their own shinobi for that sort of thing!"

"Well, maybe not. A lot of the leaf's shinobi were killed or injured in the attack made by the sound. And anyways, isn't it our mission to help this village when they need it?" Kankuro had a good point, but Temari still didn't want to have to go on a leaf mission.

"Fine you Baka, I'll go on the stupid mission, are you happy now?" Temari snapped at him, clearly still angry about the situation.

"Ecstatic," was Kankuro's only sarcastic reply.

Temari grabbed her fan, and left for the office of the 5th Hokage.