Chapter 8: Temari Hesitates

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Temari could not look away from the landscape before her, it was breathtaking.

She walked through a field of colors with yellows, whites, blues, greens, and reds filling her vision, as flowers were in full bloom all around her. Her arms were outstretched as she caressed the nature in her surrounding, enjoying the different textures underneath her fingertips. Walking deeper into the Nara forest, Temari found a river flowing downward in the laziest way. She crouched, one hand disappearing into the cold water as she let the river flow between her fingers. Everything here was truly amazing, a view like this was something out of the pages of a foreign book.

She would have access to all of this beauty, she thought to herself, if she accepted Shikamaru's proposal to be with him.

Her lineage was beginning to feel like a curse, because no matter where she was, she yearned for the feeling of sand between her fingers and underneath her steps. Why did it have to be her to give it up? Although she knew the answer, she didn't like it. She felt she was just as important to her village, just as Shikamaru was to his.

Temari frowned.

Her mind recalled the memories from a few moments before, in which her brother had finally verbalized his approval to give his hand away to someone worthy of her. Yet she hesitated to accept the hand that reached out to her. It had come to everyone as a surprise, including herself, that she was not ready for titles, engagement, or marriage.

Home. That's where her heart called out after spending so many nights in Konoha, even while sharing the same roof with her fiancé-to-be.

"Hey," A voice called out to her. She retracted her hand from the water, quickly drying it on her side as she turned to the voice. "You don't have to make a decision just yet."

Temari could not fathom the need to rush into things. She could count on one hand the number of times they had gone out on dates. Yet he went straight into proposing while skipping a few steps that might've been fun and worthwhile. Perhaps it was just his lazy nature. Then again, maybe he felt like there was no need to chase when he knew he had her. She almost frowned at the prospect of that being the case.

"Gaara won't say it, but I think he needs me right now more than ever since we're still rebuilding our village, and shaping its politics," Stopping right in front of him, she picked up on the subtle scent of tobacco. "Shikamaru? You're still smoking behind my back?"

"You can't blame a guy for feeling stress sometimes,"

What is there to be stressed about when he had just said they had time?

She walked around him, intending to go back, yet his hand reached out and grabbed her arm gently. Such actions got her attention. Her gaze fell on him, thinking of how Shikamaru was never one to seek out physical contact. The most contact she ever received was when she initiated it. Pulling her into one of his rare hugs, Shikamaru held her in his arms.

"Whatever it is that you need to do back home, I understand, Temari," He tried not to think about how unfair it was to even ask her to leave her home just to permanently be with him. The bond she had to her brothers and her village was really strong these days, more than it had ever been before, as they were finally a truly united family. It didn't surprise him that she wanted to spend a little more time with them before emotionally preparing herself for such a big change.

On their last day at Nara's residence, Temari and Gaara sat in the tearoom, watching as Yoshino gracefully prepared tea. Temari caught Gaara's stare, as he quietly urged her to speak. Filled with remorse, she spoke with a softness that only surfaced when she wanted to apologize.

"I feel like I let you down in some way…"

"You spoke to Shikamaru about it, and that's what's important,"

"I'm lucky he's so understanding. But with you, I'm not sure about how you feel,"

Yoshino remained quiet, as she filled their empty cups, before tending to her own.

"He's willing to wait weeks, months, or maybe years for your answer. But please don't torture my son. If there's ever a doubt in your heart, just let us know right away. After all, I was the one that pushed him into marrying for love, but if this doesn't work out, I fear an arranged marriage might be the only next step to produce an heir,"

Blinking, Temari finally understood what sort of pressure Shikamaru might've been facing, or why he rushed into the proposal. It's not that she forgot that he was a clan leader. Shikamaru was never one to bring things up. She theorized he didn't want to burden her or pressure her into anything, yet here she was sitting with his mother and feeling pressured all of a sudden.

"Yoshino, aren't you coming on a bit too strong towards my sister?" Gaara said, without an ounce of amusement in his voice. The Nara women were known to be cunning, but he never thought he would witness methods of play be used on his sister.

Opting to sip her tea, a curious memory of her son's flirtatious moment came back so vividly, that it almost made Yoshino's stomach feel a little sick with worry. She was surprised that Temari hadn't seemed at all bothered by how active Shikamaru had been, to seek out a person's company all on his own lazy accord. He had stepped into Hinata's personal space, with his upper body leaning forward as his ear appeared to tune into whatever it was that she had said. His grin, lopsided, as he held her gaze. His posture straightened, probably to appear taller. And as if finally catching himself, he pulled away from her personal space, leaving her very flustered.

Yoshino brought a hand to her temple, almost to massage an impending migraine.

"I'm just saying it's not reasonable to ask a man to wait forever,"

"Agree, but those aren't Temari's intentions. You'll have your answer pretty soon." Even as Gaara spoke on her behalf, he wasn't sure if what he had spoken was the truth.

"Will Shika be there to see us off?" Temari asked.

"Sorry dear, something suddenly came up at the tower, so Shika can't make it, I thought he told you this himself..."

"I see..."

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A few months went by, with Hinata successfully dodging and rejecting marriage proposals, her tally probably coming close to Gaara's by now. However, today, while opening a folder, Hinata had a feeling she no longer could get away with it as she viewed the photograph of her potential husband. He seemed confident, bulky, strong, emotionless, and way more mature than what his age stated. Closing the folder back up, Hinata placed it on her side to view at a later time.

"And how exactly did you pick him?" Hinata asked the elder that had just passed the document to her.

"I reviewed all the candidates you rejected, and they all had one thing in common." Said a female elder. "You perceived them as weak, so we found the perfect match that suits the qualities you're looking for."

"Qualities?" This is the first time Hinata heard of such things. She didn't have a type, did she?

"A man that exudes power, wealth, and strength."

"Surely there's more than that behind your decision. What would he be bringing into my life?"

"You can ask when you meet him."

"About his schedule, what does that look like for tomorrow?" She was feigning eagerness while hoping he wasn't available for a meeting.

"Unfortunately, he's outside the country. We sent word to him, and we'll let you know when we hear back with word of his return."

"Thank you, please keep me updated, I have a good feeling about the new choice you've presented." Hearing those words, the elders exchanged looks with one another, relief evident in their eyes. " Moving on to the next subject, Uzumaki-san wishes we invest in the future of technology. I want to send Hanabi on our behalf, so she can come back with a detailed report." Her little sister loves technology, so she seemed like the perfect candidate to send to the convention. They didn't disagree.

"About the quarterly report in my hand, it states here, that you have acquired new land. What are your plans for the Uchiha's land?" She purchased the land without running it through them first, a topic he decided to hold his tongue on for a much later discussion.

"I have some ideas that need to be approved by the Konoha's council, so I rather wait before I share that information,"

The meeting went on as it normally did, with the elders sometimes sharing their passive-aggressive comments during times she refused to be swayed by their wishes. Her voice never quavers, though, because the moment it did they would never respect her. By the end of it all, Hinata came to realize these people just wanted a quick, unproblematic solution, but they didn't always agree with her since they did have years of experience in the field of running the clan.

She gripped the hem of her Kimono sleeve and maintained an impassive expression because she was fed up with them too.

"Thank you for your insights... See you next Tuesday."

After they left her office, her hands were still a little shaky as she held the folder which contained information on her soon-to-be-fiancé. Tucking it away under a pile of paperwork, she found that she didn't want to even look at it. Hinata reached for a scroll from a stack next to her and began to write a short, simple letter addressed to Yoshino Nara.

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That same afternoon, Yoshino arrived at the outdoor training grounds, to oversee the progress of the next promising Naras. After standing there for half an hour, four young ones stood out to her, while the rest should probably be sent back to the academy. She walked up to the Nara-sensei in charge, displeased with the process she's seen. She demanded to know why so many seem to be lacking in hand-to-hand combat. But the reply she received was not even a valid excuse.

"We've been taking it a little easier now that things have been peaceful around here. It's such a drag to have to train at all."

Instead of taking out her anger at their Nara-sensei, she picked three Naras out of the pack and motioned them to come over. They were the dead last of the group.

"You three are going to meet me here, twice a day, morning and evening. You have a lot of catching up to do. Anyone who continues to fall behind will have to suffer." Work, effort, goals, and dedication was the definition of suffering for a young Nara boy.

Yoshino shared her new schedule with Shikamaru, over dinner, knowing he would understand he also had a role to play. After all, his father had been in charge of the task, before passing away. And now it fell on Shikamaru to start taking on the responsibility.

"I'll train them during the morning, and you'll take over after work. And don't give me that look. How else are they going to catch up if they don't work twice as hard?"

Before a complaint could form in his head, his thoughts were interrupted by a tapping on the window, a messenger bird had arrived and patiently waited on the window sill. Shikamaru was not familiar with whom the bird belonged to. After he removed the small scroll from the small cylinder container, he was surprised at whom the message was from.

Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder, towards his mother.

"It's addressed to you."

"Give it here," Joining him by the window, she quickly broke the seal and opened the letter with such urgency it left him feeling a little suspicious. Moving the scroll out of his sight, she read it and said nothing of its content. However, she did announce they might be having company tomorrow afternoon.

"Troublesome, what do you two normally talk about anyway?" It was a question that had been nagging at him for some time.

"I've been offering her guidance these days. Her clan recently found a guy they like, so she's nervous about how to proceed with the situation if she doesn't end up liking him too." Most of what she had said had been true.

Ah, so it was finally happening, he thought to himself, remembering her smile and her reddening cheeks that had matched the color of her kimono. During their last interaction, Hinata had left him with the impression she didn't have any real burdens, then again he didn't know her enough to even catch on to what she was thinking.

Speaking of burdens, Shikamaru knew having an heir in the family is the main goal his mother prioritized. That may explain why she suddenly took interest in training the future Nara generation. Perhaps that might be her way of taking her mind off the issue.

He must have been frowning the whole time, he gathered, from the way Yoshino regarded him with worry.

"Shika?"

"Tell Hyuga-san I said hi," He had said, as they both resumed dinner.

"Please don't be rude to my guest, you better put some time aside to entertain her. She will probably be here by the time you come home tomorrow,"

"But I have three rascals to train," Shikamaru knew it didn't hurt to stop by for a few seconds to greet a person. But there were times he allowed himself to give in to his lazy nature. The prospect of having to entertain a guest was troublesome.

"I'll send her a reply and let her know she's always a welcomed guest," Yoshino said while beaming, ignoring the annoyed look in her son's eyes.

Finishing the last audit of the day, Shikamaru stretched in his chair and looked at the clock. When asked about his plans, he avoided telling Naruto that there would be training involved over fear the blond might invite himself over. Even if Naruto claimed everything seemed to be better with Hinata, he didn't want to find out that wasn't the case.

Walking back inside his home, he skipped any area his mother might be hosting. Instead, he went straight to his room to change. He briefly caught a glimpse of his toned upper body as he walked past a body mirror, a result of his construction days. Tossing on some dark sweatpants and a shirt, he left the room to the training grounds.

The three teen genins that awaited him were more troublesome than his younger self. Their never-ending complaints were annoying to deal with as well.

"What a drag!" One of them had said.

"What's the point of physically getting better when strategizing is the way to win?" The other one added.

"I just want to watch the deer in the forest all day, and draw..." The youngest one claimed while whipping his fringes to the side.

It was hard to listen to them while thinking of ways to get them to stay quiet. He felt bad for his late-sensei, Asuma, for having to deal with him. He cringed at the prospect that this is what he must have sounded like when he was younger.

Deep inside, he agreed with all of their points, but the lady of the house had spoken. Instead of voicing this, Shikamaru dragged out a long sigh, digging into the pockets of his sweatpants and drawing a cigarette, along with the lighter he had inherited from Asuma.

"That stuff kills, you know!"

Shikamaru gave the youngest Nara a small glare, as he reminisced on how he tricked himself into not worrying about his health. When Shikamaru first picked up the habit, back in the day, it was during a time he was more likely to die in battle than to live long enough to die of a disease.

Lighting up a cigarette, he silently wondered how long the peace will last this time. His mother must also be worried, no doubt she must be thinking the same thing. And without an heir, there was more uncertainty.

"Let's start with a little lesson, since you claim strategy is the only important thing. I want you all three to come at me at once. If you can't land a single hit before I'm done with this cigarette, then you forfeited your right to complain."

He doesn't understand where their confidence came from, since they were the three dead last. The young Naras lost miserably, yet that still didn't stop the complaints from coming out of the youngest's mouth. The youngest Nara had straight long hair, with fringes swept to the side. He claimed he lost because his hair got in the way.

Raising a brow, Shikamaru walked up to the most talkative one, while removing his hair tie and tossing it to the kid.

Problem solved.

As soon as he signaled to start, the three charged towards him a second time, for a rematch. Shikamaru chuckled to himself as he effortlessly dodged all their attacks, it seemed that training was the only way to keep them focused and quiet.

Their tea had gone cold a long time ago. Their conversation was going in circles with no real solutions just yet. Just hypotheticals. What started as a wish to having no time frame in choosing who to marry, pretty quickly shifted to having the right to remain single, but something like that was uncommon, and more likely to be frowned upon.

"I mean, you can't be the first problematic Hyuga to have ever tried to make a wave or a splash," Yoshino said, thoughtfully, as she remembered Gaara having a similar problem. "There must have been others, before you, who tried but failed,"

Hinata gave Yoshino a look. Her? Problematic? It's her whole tradition that's the problem. She finally relaxed a little when she realized she was being teased by Yoshino.

"If there was ever such a person, I doubt that the elders would've kept records of her…"

"Or him. I say you should start there," Pushing herself off the floor, Yoshino adjusted her Kimono and then yawned a little. "I need to get dinner started. Will you be staying over for dinner?"

Her sister was busy these days with Sakura, while her father had his business dinner to attend to. She would be all alone tonight, and she was the kind of person who felt comfortable at a table filled with people.

She gave Yoshino a small smile.

"I would love to join you if you would have me," As Hinata was standing, it dawned on her that she had not seen or heard Nara. Was he still at work? "Yoshino, how is Nara-san?"

"He's doing wonderful," There was no need to tell her that her son might be feeling heartbroken and anxious about Temari. "Right now he's training some younglings. Could you let him know dinner's in an hour? I have to go check in with the cooks." Yoshino said, trusting that Hinata was familiar with the mansion by now.

Hinata took small steps as she strolled towards the training grounds. Almost in a daze, her mind was running a list of the things she needed to get done by tomorrow night. Among those things was researching more into her clan's private history in hopes of finding evidence of a "problematic Hyuga" of the past. She had a feeling her research would turn up empty.

Walking down the opened corridor, Hinata noticed there was a shogi board set up on the floor, facing the training ground. It occurred to her that she had seen quite a few around the mansion, and began to wonder if it was a clan thing.

Four Naras finally came into view. The sound of laughter immediately had her smiling as well. Standing in the middle was Shikamaru Nara, with a cigarette in one hand as he ran his fingers through his hair. He appeared extremely bored with the kids, as he rebuked one of the comments that were said to him. The entire time, as he spoke, her eyes trailed towards his long hair. She had never seen him like this before, he looked slightly different, in a good way. Maybe it was the faded facial hair that was evident on his features, that had her mind go as far as considering him to be handsome. She didn't make her presence known, choosing to be entertained by the scene until it ended with three defeated genins on the ground.

When Hinata finally came into their view, the teens glanced from their spot, clearly taken back by something. She wasn't sure why she was eliciting such adorable reactions. Why were the kids blushing?

"Oi, who's the lady?" One of them had asked as he immediately got on his feet and helped the others up.

"Aren't you going to tell us her name?"

"Alright scram you guys, if I see any progress I might be willing to share that information," Shikamaru said while patting one of them in the back, his way of sending them away. He ignored their complaints as they walked off in unison.

Immediately putting out his cigarette, he turned to her as his eyes took the time to admire her, as he hadn't seen her in a long time. That day, her hair wasn't styled in any particular way, as it naturally just flowed behind her. Even though she still looked as beautiful as ever, he vaguely wondered if she had been in a rush to get out of the house.

"They seem like a handful." She said, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"And it's only day one. I'm assuming dinner's almost ready." He sounded hopeful.

"Not almost, Yoshino said in an hour..." There was a hint of apology in her tone, the delay might've been her fault since she had taken up Yoshino's time for too long. "I think she sent me here to keep me out of her way," Hinata added as an afterthought.

"I can see her doing something like that," He said as he picked up the littered cigarette buds and discarded them in a trash can nearby.

Focusing his attention back on her, he watched as she moved by the shogi board, there seemed to be questions about it in her mind. He walked up the steps, and settled behind one side of the board, thinking that he didn't mind teaching her at all.

"How much do you know about the game?" He asked as he motioned her to join his side.

"I learned mostly about its history,"

He watched as she tucked her kimono behind her knees before she settled down next to him, in a graceful manner.

"Some may consider that to be the most interesting part about it," He caught a flowery scent that he attributed to being her perfume, as he reached for a piece on the board. "Let's start with the names,"

"Okay," She fixed her long hair to one side, and brought it forward, as her gaze remained on the board. While she waited for him to continue, the fabric on his knee brushed lightly against the side of her kimono as he leaned over the board again, only this time to bring all the pieces forward.

She did try to pay attention, but all she could do was notice other small things about him; such as his large hands and the sound of his deep voice as he lifted each piece and pronounced it perfectly. As his hair moved, the subtle scent of nature mixed with tobacco was not too overwhelming.

She tucked a few strands behind her ear and wondered why the sound of his voice began to trail off and ceased to stop altogether. She immediately lifted her gaze in search of his, and Hinata could not recognize the flickers of emotions she saw in his eyes. He seemed to be in some kind of war with himself as he battled whether he wanted something from her or not. She found that she couldn't look away. But when his gaze trailed a little south and away from her eyes, it became apparent where he was looking. Then it dawned on her, while her face began to heat up, that she could sense the small attraction he held for her as he stared at her lips.

In a moment of panic, she turned her head away.

"U-Um, I'm going to go check on Yoshino to see when dinner will be ready."

Her nervous smile gave her true intentions away as she gracefully rose from the floor and disappeared around the corridor, with her long hair being the last thing he saw.

She had run away, and for a good reason.

Letting his body fall back onto the floor, he stared at the ceiling, his brows knitted together in confusion. What was wrong with him? Why where his thoughts being louder than usual? It was okay to have fantasies, he told himself. The problem was, his body almost moved to act them out.

"Troublesome," He murmured to himself, as he draped an arm over his eyes to shield himself from the lightbulb that seemed too bright at the time. Even as he forced himself to think of Temari, his mind came up a little empty, as he could do nothing but remember his proposal being turned down because she needed time.

He sighed, when was Temari going to give him an answer?

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N/A: Thank you! Stay safe!

Edited: 2-11-21

Edited: 9-24-21 typos, grammar

Edited: 9-8-22 Grammer, added title