Chapter 77

Koharu was happy with Shikamaru and how hard he worked to take care of her yard. Normally she would ask a village shinobi that seemed to have free time, but with the rebuilding she knew that wasn't possible. And it also helped her to get to know Shikamaru better.

After they had spoken the first night, he had arranged for a crew to come the next day. The crew did a nice job, but they were Sand village ninjas and she wasn't a fan of that.

In fact, there was a pretty blonde haired Sand Shinobi that she particularly didn't care for. She was bossy, spoke in an unrefined way for a lady Shinobi, and didn't seem too concerned with a time frame. The tasks she worked on she seemed to draw them out for as long as she could.

She tried to not show her dislike of Temari, but it was difficult for her. She noticed that anytime she needed something, Shikamaru sent Temari over to help her out.

"What can I do for you lady elder," Temari asked.

"I'm not your elder, girl" she remarked in a disrespectful way.

Temari knew that she had to get this lady to like her, but with the wall she put up, and Temari's lack of patience, she didn't think it was going to happen any time soon.

"What can I do for you," she rephrased her question without being phased. After dealing with Gaara for all the years where he was terrible, this lady didn't even compare. She'd have to try harder to get on Temari's nerves. She even made an effort to smile at her.

"I'd like to talk to Shikamaru, can you manage that?" The corners of her mouth managed themselves into a cold smile.

"Sure," Temari walked away and walked up to Shikamaru. He was captivated by her, and this project would be a challenge for both of them as they tried to hide their feelings in front of Koharu. They both drew out their work load because it meant more time together. He tried not to look at her for fear of showing his feelings.

Koharu watched Shikamaru and Temari, she saw that Shikamaru barely looked at her. "He must not be able to stand her either," she thought as she smiled to herself. "Maybe he'll stop sending her over to me if I let him know I can't stand her either." She realized she liked Shikamaru better than she had previously thought.

He came running over to her after Temari had walked away from him. "Hey Koharu, what's up?" he asked.

"I just wondered if you might put in a rock path from my door to the garden," she pointed to where she wanted it layed out.

"That's all?" he acted like her request was too simple for him.

"Yes, should there be more?" she couldn't read the look on his face.

"Why didn't you let Temari know?" He needed to help facilitate communication between them if this was ever going to work. Koharu had been easier than Homaru up to this point, but he could feel her earning her reputation for being stubborn.

"Oh please Shikamaru, she's a Sand ninja, she's practically the enemy." She snickered. Shikamaru felt his fits begin to clench. Koharu hadn't noticed.

"I saw the way you looked at her just now, I know you can't stand her either."

"That isn't true…" he didn't want to give her more info than she needed on this subject.

"Sure it is, and who could blame you. The enemy walking around right in front of us, she's so smug." Koharu had a nasty look on her face as she pursed her lips.

Shikamaru wanted to defend Temari, wanted to tell Koharu to shut up and not talk that way about the woman he loved, but he would risk everything. He decided to ignore her and walk away.

Koharu was shocked by his rude behavior and turned her back to Shikamaru and went back to mentally criticizing Temari and every move she made.

The next day Shikamaru showed up again but this time there was less of a work crew, two people to be exact. Before they had arrived, Shikamaru had told Temari to keep at it with Koharu and that maybe overtime they would break her.

They went back for two more days and things were no better between Temari and Koharu than they were on the first day. Shikamaru decided that desperate measures were needed. Before he left for the evening he had a quick conversation with Koharu.

"Hey Koharu, I won't be able to come tomorrow, Kakashi needs me to work on a village project."

"That's too bad, we can just resume when you get done the day after." She smiled at Shikamaru. If anything, his time helping her did help her like him, he had won her over.

"I don't think that's going to work, I might be gone a few days actually, no telling how long at this point since I haven't started the project yet. I know Temari said she'd be fine helping you in my absence." He tried to sound as encouraging as he could.

"It's nice of you to walk her home every night, but she is a shinobi too Shikamaru, she can manage. You don't have to spend extra time being nice to her on my account." She said in a sympathetic tone to Shikamaru.

He sighed deeply. Koharu assumed the sigh was because he was getting tired of being friendly to the Sand village ninja, but he was wondering how much longer he could put up with her comments.

"She actually told me last night that your garden is relaxing to her, she asked me specifically if she could continue while I was busy, and I already agreed. I hope you're not upset with me." He gave her a hesitant smile.

"Not at all, you're just trying to be polite to her is all. I understand. She can come," Koharu made a sigh that echoed Shikamaru's.

Temari came back the next day alone. There was no special project and while she missed Shikamaru, she knew this would be important too. She worked the whole day through, not even stopping to eat or take a break to rest. Koharu tried to find something to be critical about but there wasn't much to find. Temari had noticed that Koharu watched her work and made herself lunch while glaring at her, as if daring her to ask for something to eat. It didn't bother Temari.

In fact, she worked even harder the next day and when it was time to eat she kept working. Koharu had to admit that Temari was capable of quite a bit of work by herself. And although she was an enemy, she wasn't a totally terrible girl.

Temari came back again the next day, said good morning, and got right to work. Koharu got out and tried to do some herself, like she did when Shikamaru was there, and ended up falling over and cutting up her leg.

Temari heard the crash and came running over. "Lady elder, are you okay?" she nearly shouted in surprise.

"I'm fine girl, just cut is all," she replied as she tried to get herself up. She had trouble so Temari put her arm under hers and lifted her up. She wasn't able to put weight on her leg without wincing in pain.

"I know a little medical ninjuitsu, let me help you," Temari focused her chakra to her hand and reached out to touch Koharu when she jerked away.

"I'm not going to let an enemy shinobi do expirements on me!" she yelled out.

Temari was normally really good at holding her tounge, but Koharu's reaction when she was trying to help her was just too much. She wasn't getting anywhere being nice to her. Sometimes, you've got to use a tough love strategy, and she wasn't going to put up with her behavior anymore.

"An enemy, huh?" Temari echoed as she stood up, facing Koharu.

Koharu was silent for a moment before she replied. "Yes, you are a Sand village ninja," she sneered.

"Yes, I am. I'm a sand village ninja that entered into an alliance with this village with nothing to gain. I'm a sand village ninja that fought a war that was started and grown in Konoha, and put my life on the line to stop what the leaf hadn't. I'm a sand village shinobi who has given up her life over the past 9 months to rebuild a village that isn't even mine, and being treated like a dog from a 'supposed' leader of the leaf. If that's what being a leaf village shinobi is, and I'm proud to say that I am a Sand village shinobi. But let's be clear here, the only enemy is you." Temari finished her rant that had been building up and then she bent down, focused her chakra to her hand again and although Koharu jerked again, Temari reached out and grasped on to her injured leg.

After a few minutes it was healed and Koharu was able to walk around without issue.

"Glad you're doing better," Temari said angrily, "I'll be back tomorrow," with her patience spent she turned her back on Koharu and left for the day.

When Temari came back the next day she started working. She wondered if she should apoligize to Koharu, and then faced the fact that she didn't have an apology to give. 'I'm going to tell Shikamaru that I'm done,' she thought. 'I can't take another day of this and there has to be another way.'

She heard someone come up behind her and looked and saw Koharu. Temari didn't greet her but turned her back again and continued working as if she hadn't seen anyone worth noticing.

"I was wondering if you could take a break and join me for some tea…" Koharu began.

Temari turned to look at her again, not believing what she heard, but Koharu was already headed back to the house. Temari gave herself a minute before silently consenting to tea, and followed the rock path from the garden to the house.

Once in the house Temari looked around for a place to sit when Koharu set two cups down. Temari followed and sat in a chair across from her, hoping her tea wouldn't be poisoned.

They sat in silence as she waited for Koharu to take a drink first. Temari vowed she wouldn't be the first one to speak.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for helping me with my leg yesterday," Koharu started.

Temari just nodded her head in one curt movement. She could see Koharu was trying to start a conversation with her, but she was still angry.

"So, you've been rebuilding the village for about 9 months? Are you normally part of the crew?"

She realized shutting her out was a bit immature after all the work she had already put into getting to know her. She would try to talk, but she wasn't promising to be friendly.

"I'm the crew leader." She gave a disinterested reply.

"Leader?" 'No wonder she seemed so bossy the first day," Koharu thought.

"That's right," Temari reached for her cup of tea and eyed Koharu as she took a sip. It had a pleasant clove flavor mixed with black tea. She liked it.

"What's your position in your village, if you don't mind me asking…" She was curious that the Sand put a kunoinchi in charge of a squad, especially the size of the one that was rebuilding the village. That wasn't the sand village she remembered.

"My brother is the Kazekage of the Sand. When he's not able to fulfil his own requests personally, he sends me. Such as rebuilding the leaf…" She took another sip of tea.

Koharu chuckled a little, "Sorry dear, it's just hard for me to imagine that a Kazakage of the Sand would have any interest in helping the Leaf, but I come from a different generation." She was going back to her rude self and Temari prepared herself.

"It's true that the Sand village used to be very different than it is now. The last Kazekage was my father and he continued to move the village leadership down a dark path. My brother has worked hard to change that, and that's why this alliance is so important to us. It gives us hope for a future, and the ability to believe in change." Temari had finished her tea. Koharu noticed and refilled her cup. She was starting to find Temari interesting although she couldn't bring herself to like her.

She couldn't ignore what Temari had done for her yesterday, and realized that with the way she had been treating Temari, she could have just left her in her misery and she would have deserved it.

They sat that way talking until the afternoon, and in that time Koharu saw that Temari had a real strength of character that she could apprecitate. Temari had told her about how her father imprisoned the sand spirit shikaku inside his own newborn son, and how that affected Gaara and her family, and how her mother had died giving birth to Gaara. Temari had been through a lot in her young life.

Koharu got up to make something to eat. "It's about lunch time, isn't it?"

"I guess it is," Temari said as she stood up to get back to work. She was used to working through while Koharu ate in front of her, plus, the sooner she got the work done the better.

"Where are you going?" Koharu asked in an off putting tone.

"Outside, I haven't done anything yet today and it's already lunch time," Temari knew she couldn't say she hadn't done anything. She hoped she was getting somewhere talking with Koharu since this was her only contribution to the mission so far.

"We can save all that for tomorrow, sit down." She bossed Temari around and then softened her tone, "lunch will be ready soon."

Temari could see that Koharu was making an effort so she did as was asked of her. She wondered what Shikamaru was up to…'Probably watching clouds,' she thought as she envied him.

Koharu came in and set down a bowl of soup for Temari and some bread in the middle of the table.

Temari waited for Koharu to come back and then took a sip of her soup. Koharu noticed that Temari didn't wait for her to go first this time and could see that Temari's disposition towards her had changed a little. The more she talked to Temari the guiltier she felt for her behavior, and also the more intrigued she became.

The soup was delicious, even better than Shikamaru's mom's. She wasn't much of a cook herself, something that her brothers always made fun of her for when they would go on missions together. She could still hear their voices "Aren't girls supposed to be good at this kind of thing?" Konkuro would tease. Eventhough Gaara was typically a jerk, he would cook for them rather than eat what Temari had created. "This isn't very hard Temari," he would remark in his usual cold way. One would probably think that she sulked on those nights, but she never did because of her appreciation of edible food.

"You really like my soup, huh?" Koharu's eyes widened when she saw that the soup was already all gone.

"It's very good," she licked the last bit off her spoon before looking up at the lady in front of her. "Thanks," she said in a bashful way. She never thought she would utter that word to the lady that had been so mean since she had met her.

"I have an idea, now that you've tried my soup, maybe for dinner you can make me something? I love trying new food!" Her expression was excited.

Temari thought about spending the next several hours with her and thought maybe she could manage it because the visit has already gone well. She had a nervous look on her face. "Sure," Temari agreed. She hoped she could make something that didn't make both of them want to hurl.

Koharu spent some of the time talking about funny stories in her life and things that had happened to other people; they went back and forth making each other laugh. Temari had to admit that once Koharu stopped being so terrible she was actually a pretty cool lady. She wondered if this is what having a grandma felt like…

Around dinner time Koharu told Temari she could go into the kitchen and use whatever she wanted to to make dinner. When she looked in the cupboards there were so many spices and ingredients that she wasn't really sure what to pick. She chopped up a few vegetables and tried to sauté them in a pan with spices, when the pan caught fire. She removed the pan from the stove and was beating the flames out with a kitchen towel, which also caught on fire. Temari ran to the sink and got a basin of water ready to dump on the fire when Koharu had come in and put a lid on the pan to contain it.

Koharu gave her an incredulous look. "What is going on in here? Are you trying to burn my house down?" She was obviously angry and Temari couldn't blame her.

"I…I'm sorry, I just…" Temari took a deep breath before trying to answer. "I don't know…um…how to cook." She was embarrassed and starting trying to pick up to clean up the mess she had made.

"But every girl knows how to cook, didn't your mother…" and then she remembered what Temari had said about her mother. She couldn't have known how to cook because no one had ever shown her. She felt terrible and realized that this probably put Temari in a very awkward position.

This was another moment when her tough exterior melted away and her vulnerability was extremely noticeable. She cleaned the kitchen in silence and planned to go to see Shikamaru to tell him how badly she had failed. She should have just said that she couldn't cook and left it at that.

"Temari," Koharu spoke to her in a gentle tone, "I have another idea. Have you tried Ichiraku before?"

"Yeah, once," Temari was taken by surprise that Koharu even called her by name.

"Let's go eat there, it's on me, for all the help you've given me, despite my behavior." Koharu gave her a light smile and reached out to pat her on the back.

Temari looked up at her and smiled back, nodding her head in agreement.

Koharu had just acted like nothing had happened, and Temari was too embarrassed to speak of it and moved on. While they walked to the ramen shop, Koharu asked Temari which buildings she helped to rebuild.

"Specifically? I can tell you that I had a hand rebuilding all of them, my team laid the foundation work and structure reinforcement for all of the buildings that were rebuilt." Temari acted like there was nothing to it, she didn't like to brag.

Koharu was silenced. She hadn't given Temari any respect or credit for all that she had done for the Leaf Village, which was quite a bit. She wouldn't be able to repay this favor she had given to the village.

They ate their ramen quickly and when they were done, Koharu spoke to Temari.

"So I'll see you tomorrow," she asked, it was more of a request than a question.

"Yes, I'll come at the usual time," Temari smiled at her as she left. Koharu liked seeing her happy. She noticed the impossible had happened and she did kinda like Temari afterall.

Temari walked home and thought of what she would tell Shikamaru about how her day went, she wouldn't even know where to begin the next time she saw him…