A/N: Sorry this took so long to make, I switched computers and jobs so it's been pretty hectic on my end!
Actually nervous to post this so F it here goes nothing.
"Ngh what do you mean new unit?"
" I will not allow selfish actions! Shikamaru, I will have you join the new unit I form. Then I will have you all go after we come up with a solid plan."
"Just send support later, our team already came up with a plan."
"Enough! Asuma is dead. And don't think I didn't know about Temari's case too… trying to sweep things under the rug. There are only three of you now."
"Asuma is with us, Temari went back to Suna."
"Are you planning to avenge them in this battle? It's not like you, do you want to die in vain?!"
"We are not that stupid, we have no intention to die, but-"
"But what?"
"I don't want to give up without setting things straight."
Shikamaru opened Asuma's lighter.
"I don't want to live a crappy life like that."
"…grow up. Death always haunts ninja. There are times when you cannot accept a death, but if you don't overcome it there IS no future."
"This is a keepsake lighter, when I have this, it's as if Asuma Sensei is nearby. It's as if he's protecting us. It just feels that way. Until this battle comes to an end, this lighter will always be with us"
"Get real! There are only three of you! A unit should have four members-!"
"It's fine if there are four right?"
Kakashi sensei appeared from behind the three.
"I will join as the captain of team ten, how's that?"
"Kakashi…"
"Even if you try to stop them, they're still going to go. But If I go, I can supervise them. I won't allow them to go overboard."
"What do you mean you're going back?" Kankuro stood in the palace foyer trying to block his sister from leaving.
"I told you not to ask any questions. I'll be okay." Temari tried to take a step forward but her brother stomped loudly.
"You were almost killed! You need to allow me to gather some units together and we can ALL go."
"I don't want anyone suspecting anything, I don't want to be the center of attention, and even if I'm not, someone is bound to say something.
Temari took a step towards her brother and looked him dead in the eyes. "If I'm not back within two days, call for backup."
The foyer filled with silence that grew intensely as they looked at each other.
"You can't keep leaving." Kankuro looked at the ground fighting the urge to yell.
"What's this really about? Usually, you would have told me to be merciless or even offer to join me."
Temari kept her gaze on her brother who looked like he was feeling a million emotions at once.
"You leave us for him or whatever at least once a month- and if it's not once a month you're with us for a long while then there for even longer-"
"-I go because godaime asks me to represent Suna, what are you even- First of all I didn't know you had something against him second of all-"
Kankuro put his head up in order for her to stop speaking.
"-I'm not finished. I know you've been staying with him. And at first it didn't bother me but now it's starting to piss me off."
She scoffed. "So what if I am? I'm a grown ass woman and I can do whatever I want."
"He hasn't even gotten to know us, YOU! Our people. He always gets his way. He's And now that you both are after the same enemy who's to say you'll fight him and come back to us? Or are you just going to stay in Konoha for another extended period of time?"
Kankuro turned away from his sister trying to catch his breath. "-You're our sister biologically, but to Gaara and I, you're the only thing closest to mom we will ever have with us… and you keep leaving."
Temari rubbed her shoulder and frowned. Shikamaru wasn't even in the plan when it came to her private Hidan mission, yet everything Kankuro was saying did make sense. Shikamaru had little to no relationship with her brothers nor did he visit Suna enough to understand the lifestyle they and their people live daily. She was conflicted because they didn't even consider each other "boyfriend" and "girlfriend". They were colleagues with a sexual and emotional attraction to one another. Which got Temari wondering even more about the future.
"Kankuro, if it makes you feel better… he doesn't even call me his girlfriend."
She fought the urge to tell her brother he was right in almost every aspect.
"Then what are you doing messing around with him?"
She clenched her fists and took another step forward.
"Sometimes in life, you just take that leap of faith… even if you don't know what the future holds. Even IF you don't know what awaits at the end of the tunnel. I'm taking a chance with this, whatever it is. A leap of faith? If I fail, if my heart shatters and leaves me broken- it won't matter. Because I have you, Gaara, myself and I. Nothing hurt more than losing mom- but I can't act like I don't want to see other people... I can't act like I don't want to be married someday and have kids too. I don't know."
Kankuro let his arms out to give his sister a hug but she stood stiff.
"So what if he doesn't feel what I feel, or think I feel at least. If this is all fake, and I'm just high with pride- at least I can say it was worth it."
"Then go."
"I was already going."
"You're still here." Kankuro moved out of the way and sighed.
"I can't control who you decide to be with. But if this is what you want, just promise we'll come first."
Temari smiled and jumped into her brothers' arms. "My baby brothers will always come first." She laughed as he gave off a disgusted look.
Kankuro put up a tough exterior but on the inside he was constantly stressing about his siblings. He was able to walk and talk by the time Suna decided he was not strong enough to hold the Jinchuriki. After seeing what it had done to Gaara, he had wished it was him instead. Because of that, Kankuro trained his hardest to protect Gaara and Temari to prove to Suna that he was capable of a lot more than they once assumed. He never spoke about his feelings but he showed it with tough love. Compared to Temari and Gaara, everyone seemed to push Kankuro to the side, and although he personally didn't care, when Temari would make trips to Konoha or Gaara went on a mission with Naruto, he felt left out, uninvited, alone. To him, all he had was the two of them, and without them- he felt as if there was no purpose, no meaning.
"Gross, get off!" He rose his brows and laughed at the tight squeeze he was getting from his sister.
"You love me!" She gave him a warm grin and let go.
"Thank you."
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and let her through.
Team Asuma was now Team Kakashi, and their strategy was already being put into place. They had no idea Temari was on her way, seeking vengeance from Hidan.
The Suna princess used some of her Chakra to get her to closer to Konoha faster than normal but after traveling for most of the day she decided to rest in the Land of Rivers.
The sky was muddy as the sun fell beneath the trees. Temari let her hair down and sat up against a tree with her belongings and tessen next to her. She had no intentions of falling asleep, especially traveling alone, but without a doubt she felt herself drifting into a deep slumber.
"Huh?" Temari quickly woke up and looked around. Thick fog surrounded her and everything else around her.
She quickly grabbed her tessen and bit her thumb taking a stance.
"Is anyone there? Show yourself!" It was silent, in fact it was so silent her loud firm voice felt quiet.
"What is this?" she thought to herself not letting her guard down.
With a leap and great force, Temari fanned her Tessen to push the fog out of the way, but to her surprise, she saw a woman. This wasn't just any woman though, she was dressed in white but the dress was torn, blonde hair cascading her shoulders. She was bruised, and her eyes were shut.
Temari took a step back only to understand that she was looking at a reflection of herself when she was kidnapped by Hidan. The woman opened her eyes to reveal bloodshot fearful teal eyes.
"Why didn't you just listen to him… He killed everyone." The woman cried out and held her chest. "Temari, why couldn't you just listen to everyone around you." Tears began to fall from the reflection's face.
"No...it's not real...IT'S NOT REAL!"
Temari swung her fan once more only for her reflection to extend her left arm out and her palm up.
"It's too late. You don't care about anyone but yourself! Now look at what you've done!" The reflection began to scream and cry out into the fog.
Loud inaudible whispers surrounded Temari causing her to fall in a state of panic dropping her tessen and covering her ears. She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to concentrate. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes only to still be surrounded by the fog. The reflection had disappeared but she still kept her guard up.
Temari grabbed her things and began to walk through the fog with her tessen in her arms. The further she walked the more assured she felt. She no longer heard whispers, but what sounded like the trees blowing.
"But if there's wind, there shouldn't be fog?" She was confused, and doubt began to settle in her mind once the sound of bells could be heard.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of two little girls in sakura kimonos holding cups within their hands.
The first girl was called Ai, and her hair was so black it was blue and her skin was as white as snow. Her hair was in two little buns with bangs crossing her forehead right above white eyes. The second girl was called Shi, and her hair was in the same style as Ai's, only her hair was white and her skin was the color of sand.
"Ai we're going to be late!" The little girls ran past Temari through the fog in their wooden sandals.
"Where are you two going?" Temari took a step back trying to figure out what they were running towards. The little girls stopped and turned their heads slightly.
"To the wedding of course! Where else would we be going?"
Temari tried to get a better look at the girls' faces only for them to turn back towards the fog and keep running. She rolled her eyes and followed them slowly. The fog began to settle revealing an altar and many guests all facing the forwards.
The little girls took notice that Temari had followed and grabbed her hands pulling her towards a seat.
"You didn't tell me you were coming to the wedding! Sit here Onesan!" Shi and Ai pulled Temari down to a chair in the back row. There was something extremely unsettling about where she was at, and she was prepared for anything.
Except for what she was about to witness. The bride and groom walked down the aisle in their Kimonos and tsunokakushi. They both wore black, with a black veil draping down from both tsunokakushi hiding their faces. Temari scratched her ear and breathed in.
"Black at a wedding? How… disturbing." Temari shook her head and kept watching.
Ai and Shi walked down the aisle and gave the cups to the bride and groom. The two kneeled and then sat down. This whole wedding was worse than eerie. Nobody talked, nobody smiled. Temari found it odd that nobody bothered to turn their heads either.
"Tough crowd?" She thought to herself.
Looking down, Temari had noticed her food was caught in some dirt. She dusted herself off only catching her eyes wandering to see where all the dirt was coming from.
The ceremony was surrounded in a dirt circle. And within that circle was a triangle. At that moment Temari felt herself choking on air and reached for her fan to see the bride and groom reveal themselves as her reflection and Hidan. Temari tried to get up from her chair but something was pulling her down not allowing her to move.
"What the fuck is this shit!" Temari struggled to free herself as her reflection and Hidan stared at her with beaming eyes. They held no emotion and just stared at her blankly.
The guests stood up along with Ai and Shi turning their heads towards Temari. It was her brothers and all of the hokage including her friends from Konoha. They had black eyes and their skin was pale- it looked like they all died from horrifying tragedies and were revived for malicious use. Naruto had a hole in his chest, Sakura had stitches around her neck, Sai had been impaled in the groin, Ino had a hole in her head, Chouji had pieces from his stomach missing, Gaara and Kankuro both had missing limbs, and all the Kage had been slaughtered at the mouth.
Yet there was no Shikamaru.
Her heart began to race. Fear and adrenaline rushed through her body as she moved her eyes frantically trying to find him. She tried to speak, but her vocal chords were wrapped in the thorns of angst. Memories of him began to swirl her mind from the very moment they met until the last night she was with him. She noticed Hidan's sudden movement as he raised his scythe above her reflection's head preparing to bring it down upon her while she knelt submitting to him.
Temari was ready to give up. The thought of this being a hallucination suddenly became so hard to believe. She was frozen in time, frozen in some sort of parallel universe driven by the fear Hidan instilled in her. When she cocked her head back to look at her things, they vanished within the fog and in that moment she was stuck looking at death staring her dead in the face.
Amber eyes.
Those amber eyes flashed before her.
Temari moved her eyes around to find them again only to see more terrifying details amongst the faces and bodies of her comrades. They stood still.
Didn't move, didn't say anything. Just all looking at her.
Ai and Shi knelt below Temari revealing triangles within circles on their forehead. Their eyes were blood red with death.
Ai...Shi…. When there is love, there is death…
"I…" She fought hard to get the words to come out of her mouth. The deadly eyes were slowly consuming what little sanity she had.
She felt fully defeated and was ready to submit, but those Amber eyes flashed in front of her with every blink.
Her heart began to slow down with her eyelids lowering steadily. As Hidan lifted his scythe behind his head to swing down onto her reflection there was a flash in her mind.
"So why did you let me win?"
"What do you mean why did I let you win?" Shikamaru placed his arms behind his head as he laid in the grass looking up at the clouds.
"You idiot… why did you forfeit the match?" Temari was getting impatient with the lazy ninja.
"I got bored, was out of moves. I don't know what you want me to say."
"Do you think this is a game? Do you even care about the reputation of your clan?!" Temari stomped her foot but Shikamaru never took his gaze from the clouds.
"Sometimes you just have to live life the way you want to live it. Forget working. Do what you want to do."
She looked up at the clouds trying to see what he was seeing only to be blinded by the sun.
"Lay down on the grass, you'll hurt your eyes if you try looking while you stand."
"Huh? I'm not laying next to you!" Temari stammered.
Shikamaru let out a huge groan and rolled his eyes then pointed to the large field they were in.
"There is a whole field surrounding us, I never said you had to lay next to me… Jeez women are so troublesome for no reason."
She huffed and crouched down to lay about a foot away from his body.
"You move too much, just drop all of your anger into the world."
"Ahem! I'm not angry!" She crossed her arms to her body and gave him stern eyes.
"Here we go again. What a drag."
It was silent for a few minutes. The wind cradled their bodies with the grass waving all around them. To his surprise, she was too quiet at this moment ,causing him to glance over at her.
Her hair ties were loosened with her blonde hair curling onto the earth. Her body was limp, but not the bad kind of limp. She had let all of her troubles go. Her face glowed under the sun and bright blue sky with her long eyelashes just barely touching her cheeks.
In that very moment he realized there was a calm within the windstorm. She was Asomeone he never wanted to let go of.
She was pure.
There was a break in the matrix and Temari screamed Shikamaru's name at the top of her lungs, shattering the silence. Her body collapsed, falling into the arms of those Amber eyes.
"Sleep"
Shikamaru stood above the pit Hidan was visibly laughing from.
His eyes were stung with her painful scream to which he hoped was a figment of his imagination.
He threw his kunai that had an explosive tag attached to it and grimaced at the scene.
"That pathetic lord Jashin or whatever isn't your God anymore. I am. The only one bringing down vengeance is me."
Shikamaru turned his back and looked up at the clouds.
"You're safe now. I'm coming."
A/N: Okay I'm fully prepared for the criticism this time around but please do it on my tumblr instead so we can talk it out LOL. And before anyone asks, I have the story finished already but I revise and check everything a few times before fully submitting everything. I already knew how I wanted the story to go but I hope it's not terrible.
My tumblr is AnimePetals and its a picture of sailor neptune.
