Chapter 2

Ichiraku's Ramen House

Sauske sat down next to Temari and ordered some simple stir fry ramem for him and Temari.

They sat there on the hard benches in silence until Sauske decided to start the conversation.

"So, why exactly did you ask me to come with you?" he asked as a large bowl of ramen was placed before him.

"Well um… I don't really know. I guess I just wanted to get to know you. Your really cute… I mean… Uh…?" she was blushing a lot now and it was obvious that she was quite nervous.

"Ohh… I didn't realize that this is why you asked me to come here. I thought that you were going to try to get information about the Konoha ninjas. I mean with the chunin exams coming up and all. And its not that I don't think your cute or anything but I've really got to pay attention to my training if I want to achieve my goal."

"I know…" Temari said getting her confidence up after hearing that he might like her too. "But we wouldn't have to interfere with training or anything we could just get together every once and awhile to talk and hang out and stuff."

"Well really I don't think it would be right. I mean your from the village hidden in the sand and I'm from Konoha. Plus I really don't know anything about you."

"I'll tell you about me, but only if you tell me about you after." With a slight nod from Sauske she continued. "Well I come from the village hidden in the sand and I'm a genin kunichi. The two jerks you saw with me today are my teammates and… my brothers. Kankuro's just a bully but Garra is really evil. To tell the truth I'm really afraid that he might kill me someday." She said getting a nervous look on her face like she was about to cry. "I just hope that I'll be strong enough to get away from him when the time comes. I guess I guess other than train to become a kunichi so that I could protect myself from Garra I really don't have any other hobbies. Oh and I forgot I'm 15 and like being out near lakes and the ocean.

Sauske suddenly looked disappointed but seeing that she was through began talking about himself.

"There's really not much to tell about me. I live here in Konoha alone and am training to become a ninja. My only real goal is to become strong, because… I have sworn to kill someone. He is stronger than me right now but I must kill him no matter what. My teammates are Sakura and the big moron you saw today, Naruto. Other than that there's not really much I like so it's not worth telling you what I don't like."

Temari nodded as she finished a bite of ramen. She looked like she was about to say something when suddenly she burst into tears.

Sauske sat helplessly trying to figure out what he should do. He wasn't very good at comforting people and especially someone he just met. He placed his arm over her should and quietly tried to coax the problem out of her.

"I just… I'm not the strong person Garra forces me to be. Even though I'm a strong kunichi I'm still constantly scared of dying. I try to act strong so that Garra won't kill me."

Sobbing quietly now Temari rocked back and forth trying to calm down when suddenly Sauske spoke up.

"I'm not as strong as I act either. Ever since my family died I've been scared that Itachi would try to kill me. I haven't had a mother or a father to raise me, its so lonely. I try to hide my sadness by training as hard as I can. But inside I feel alone and cold just trying to get someone to care for me."

Temari wiped her eyes and gave a weak smile. They both just sat there for a while quietly collecting their thoughts.

After an hour or so Sauske realized that it was already dark outside and asked if Temari wanted him to walk her to where she was staying.

As they approached the inn Temari turned and smiled at Sauske.

"Thanks for walking me home, and for listening to me hey I hope we can get toget…"

Before she could finish her sentence Sauske leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He smiled at her as she blushed. She smiled back and gave him a long hug. After awhile they reluctantly pulled apart.

"How about tomorrow around the same time. We can go to my house." Sauske said.

Temari nodded, smiling at the great gift she had received. The kiss was nice and it was then that she realized that Sauske had real feelings for her. But the true gift was finally having someone to talk to.

After both saying their goodbyes the two turned away from each other and headed home.