XIV: End of Innocence

Temari threw off her blanket and reached for her toes as she began her morning stretches. With habitual ease she went diagonally across her body to grab one foot with the opposite hand, then repeated the process on the other side. As she did so her eyes ventured off, her head turning to the side to spy her nightstand. On top was a picture frame, one that had not been there until the previous night.

In it was a photo of herself, Shikamaru, Ino, and Sai, all together after their first double date. They were grinning brightly save for Sai, whose subtle smile might as well have been. Temari could feel that grin returning to her own face as the memories came back to her. But the distraction lasted for only a moment before she returned to her routine.

Once she was done with the stretches she she ate a small breakfast, took a shower, and put on a fresh set of clothes. Satisfied with how things were going not just that morning, but in her life in general, Temari set out for the front door. As she was about to reach out for the handle, however, she brushed an errant strand of hair back behind her ear, only to realize that there was something that was supposed to be something there. Something that wasn't.

So she turned on her heels and walked back to her bedroom, seeing the object she had forgotten, as obvious as the nose on her face.

"I can't believe I almost forgot this," Temari said to herself as she picked up her Hidden Sand headband from her nightstand. She tied it on without any further thoughts on the matter before turning around and walking out of the apartment.


"Oh, Shikamaru," Yoshino Nara called out as her son was walking towards the front door.

"What is it, Mom?" Shikamaru asked. "I've got to get to work."

"Oh, it's nothing major," Yoshino replied. "Just wanted to let you know that the elders are meeting today."

Shikamaru sighed at the mention of the Nara Clan's oldest living members. It wasn't any formal group with actual power, it was just a collection of clan members from outside the main line who had retired from being shinobi. They did have a significant amount of informal power within the clan, largely deriving from the respect the various members had as veteran chunin and jonin. Many of the younger members of the clan tended to listen to them when they spoke, enough so that they could even force decisions on the Clan Head, on the rare occasion they could actually rouse themselves to a cause.

"I'm sure they're just going to argue in circles about some innane thing," Shikamaru commented. "It's what they normally do."

Yoshino gave her son a questioning look. "Have you not heard?"

"Heard what?" Shikamaru asked.

"They're going to talk about you," Yoshino answered. "You and Temari, I mean. Believe it or not you've been the talk around the clan."

Shikamaru let a long breath out through his nose. "Seem to be the talk in a lot of corners. What a drag," he said before turning around and resuming his path out of the house.

"I knew you'd say that," Yoshino called out after him. "Don't be surprised if your ambivalence comes back to bite you in the ass."


Temari sat her desk in the Sand embassy, looking over some papers. It was all of the standard fair, a couple of joint missions to coordinate, a proposal for the next Chunin Exams, and a few other points of potential cooperation or tension that were being brought to her attention. With a sigh she tossed the stack of paper on the corner of her desk before turning in her chair to face the window. Before long she found herself gazing at the Hokage Residence across the street. Which window was Shikamaru's office? Temari could never quite remember.

The door to her office slammed open, causing Temari to rush to turn her chair back and grab at the papers still on her desk in attempt to look busy. She barely managed to succeed in the endeavor before one of her aides stepped in.

"Message for you, ma'am," the young Sand kunoichi said, placing an envelope on the ambassador's desk.

Temari stared at the envelope for a beat before turning her attention back to her aide. "Who is it from?"

"I'm...not sure," the aide replied. "An older gentleman just dropped it off at the front desk and said to give it to you."

"OK then," Temari said, taking the evelope in hand. "You can go now," she added, gesturing for the aide to leave.

The Sand ambassador turned her chair back to face the window as the aide left the room. Slipping a finger inside the fold of the envelope, she pulled it across to tear it open. Inside there was a folded up letter, only a single page long. She took it out and read it, a short endeavor as it was a short letter. It elicited an emotional reaction completely outsized in comparison to the length of that letter.

Temari stood stiffly, taking a deep breath through her nose as her back straightened and a scowl crawled up onto her face. With heavy, forceful steps, she walked out of her office, the letter still held in her clenched fist. Temari threw open the door to her office, her aide leaping in surprise, still walking down the hall after delivering the envelope mere moments earlier.

"Do you need something, ma'am?" she asked, feebly holding out a hand to Temari as the ambassador walked past, not giving the aide a second look.

Temari continued on her way, other staff and guests at the embassy averting their eyes and trying to stay out of her way as she exited the building and made her way across the street to the Hokage Residence.

"Shizune!" she yelled once she stepped into the lobby.

The receptionist blinked, dumbfounded at the Sand ambassador's sudden arrival. "Hello, ma'am. If you can be patient for just second, I'll get Lady-"

"Shizune!" Temari screamed.

The Hokage's aide ran out from a hallway. "What is it?! Did something happen?!" She stood ready, head on swivel on alert for anything.

Temari waved her fist, still clenched around the crumbled up letter. "Where is Shikamaru's office?!"

"Oh, um," Shizune began, standing there dumbfounded in surprise. "Right this way," she finally said, taking nervous steps down an adjoining hallway. Temari followed after the older kunoichi, eyes fixed dead ahead.

Tunnel vision kept Temari from keeping track of the turns down the halls as she followed Shizune. It was only after reaching a door that she thought of anything other than moving forward.

Shizune knocked on the door, Shikamaru's name on the plaque next to it. "Hello, Shika-" She couldn't get any further than that before Temari reached around her, turned the doorknob, and flung the door open.

"Shikamaru, what is the meaning of this?!" the Sand kunoichi yelled, holding up the letter for her boyfriend to see.

The Nara Clan Head stared back, brow raised. "What is the meaning of what?"

"This!" Temari exclaimed, slamming the crumpled up letter on Shikamaru's desk as Shizune quietly made her exit.

With an annoyed sighed Shikamaru pulled the letter closer to himself and flattened it out against the top of his desk. "Those idiots," he commented as he read it. Turning his eyes back up to his girlfriend, he added, "you don't need to worry about them."

"They're trying to make me a political tool!" Temari exclaimed. "Whoever sent this wants me to 'declare my intention to marry into the clan before a combined gathering of the Hidden Sand's and Hidden Leaf's leadership.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Who even are this council of elders?!"

"They're just a bunch of retired shinobi from the Nara Clan," Shikamaru replied. "They don't have any real power, so just ignore them. I do it all the time."

Temari put her hands on Shikamaru's desk, leaning over the Nara Clan Head. "I've spent most of my life being a political tool because of who my father and brother are. I have no interest in doing the same because of my boyfriend. Try to ignore that." Temari pulled back and turned on her heels before stomping out of the office and slamming the door shut behind her.

After the echoes of Temari's passage faded Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples as he turned his seat to face the window. Looking across the street he could see the Sand Embassy, looming over the scenery in a way that he couldn't recall it doing before.

"This is going to be such a drag," he said aloud.