The weak sunrays of the morning sun peered through the glass walls of the airport.

Large orange digits flashed on the large digital clock above the LED board.

07:00

Temari sat the bench opposite the check-in counters of Suna Airlines – another company owned by her family, like many others.

The staff of course recognized her, and invited her to go to VIP longue in the departure hall.

She said she would be staying there for a while.

The staff exchanged nervous glances as she sat there, right opposite their counters, fearing that one wrong step would cost them their jobs.

Perhaps they thought Temari was on a sudden customer test.

She paid no attention to them, as she checked the emails on her phone, she made occasional glances towards the entrances.

It was early, but the Konoha airport was busy – men and women dressed in suits and dress walked with suitcases dragging behind their backs.

Temari assumed that most of them are going on a business trip, given that it was an early Tuesday morning.

She waited, sucking her teeth as she jerked her head around and did not see a familiar face.

Temari hated waiting – she was never a patient person; ever since she was a child, she wanted to be first – first in class, first to get to school …

Besides, her father never allowed them to be sloppy, everything has to be done as soon as possible, no slacking, no waiting …

She hated, hated waiting.

The one time she decided to wait, for a person specifically, was to wait for Hidan.

She waited for him to realise his mistake - to turn around, to come back to her.

She nagged, she scolded, she cried, she did everything she could.

All of her waiting was in vain.

After that one time, she decided that waiting is one of the most stupid things that you could ever do. She decided that unless her life depended on it, she would not wait.

Waiting in vain breaks one's heart, torments one's soul and causes one to question one's existence.

But now she found herself waiting – she was not even sure whether he would come. Not after what happened last night, she was not sure.

She stared at Shikamaru froze, staring at the lit screen of his ringing phone.

Yamanka Ino.

That woman.

He turned his gaze at her. "I…"

"Go ahead and pick up." She said, her voice not revealing any emotion.

Secretly she wanted him to turn it off, no, throw the phone away and kiss her madly.

But Shikamaru decided to listen to her and placed the phone next to his ear.

"Hello?"

He listened.

"Ino… you need to calm down." The concern in his voice irritated every inch of her skin.

She listened.

"Hold on, I will be there in a minute. Bye." He pressed onto the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

Her arms folded in front of her chest, fingers digging into her own arms.

She would not be surprised if blood began to seep from where her nails were digging into.

"Well?" She demanded. "You are going to find her?"

"She is drunk and outside my door." He replied plainly. "My parents aren't home, I need to go get her home."

"Do you?" She said, raising an eyebrow. "To get her into your home, that is what you mean."

"Temari." He said, eyebrows converging in frustration. "I have to resolve this, you need to give me some time."

"I told you, Nara Shikamaru." Temari said firmly, straightening her back. "I would not wait for you like you did for her."

Shikamaru stared on the ground. "I guess you need a moment to calm down."

"Huh." She snorted, saying nothing.

"I need to go find her." Shikamaru said. "At the very least, she is my childhood friend and I need to take care of her."

She said nothing, emerald eyes staring deep into his obsidian eyes.

She saw his eyes filled with guilt and uncertainty.

He saw her eyes covered with disdain and despise.

Shikamaru stared at her with a certain air of sadness; he dragged himself reluctantly from the door, slowly towards the elevator.

"I will be taking the early morning flight tomorrow," she said, her eyes boring into his slumping back.

"Ah." He replied, raising one hand in the air, as he turned and walked into the elevator.


And here she sat, glancing at the entrance and her wristwatch impatiently.

07:05

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, her legs crossing.

She hated waiting.

She checked her phone, hoping that she had a missed call, a message.

Anything.

But then she realized, he did not have her number.

She did not even give him a name card.

All they did was have sex, kiss, tease each other and kiss again, apart from messing up each other's feelings.

She slammed her hand on her forehead. "Stupid." She muttered.

Turning her head she stared at the entrance.

No one with his spiky ponytail had made an appearance.

She sighed.

Another ten minutes, and then she would have to go in.

Her finger tapped impatiently on her knees, irritation sprawled all across her face.

Hurry up, she thought. Hurry the fuck up.


07:10

Temari sighed and stood up.

Taking her travelling bag in her hand, she decided to take a look at one of the shops near the counters.

She browsed through the books – cook books, tool books, and some terribly inappropriate adult book called 'Itcha Itcha Paradise'.

She sneered at the horrendous looking cover – a man chasing a woman, surrounded by hearts, and blunt-looking letters.

Just as she glanced around and sighed that all the good books must have gone to the grave with their authors, a book caught her eye.

She bit her lip a little, and picked it up.

The cover was a classic shade of blue, with golden printed letters.

Temari said nothing and took the book to the cashier.

Duly paying the money, she left with the book in her hand.

Printed in neat, traditional letters, the title read – 'The Art of Waiting'.

She decided to read it for the four-hour flight, perhaps she could learn a thing or two.

Meanwhile, she still had a few minutes, if not a few seconds, of this amateur waiting game.

Five more minutes – she thought to herself.

Please come.


07:15.

"Miss Temari, you need to enter departure now, or you might miss your flight."

The ground attendant looked horrified as she approached a fuming Temari - she could almost see the smoke surrounding her.

She squealed like a frightened rabbit as Temari shot up from the chair.

She took one final look at the entrance - he was not there.

Something glinted in her emerald green eyes.

"Thanks," she nodded hastily at the attendant, who scurried away once she found the chance.

She closed her book, locking its content away.

The last sentence bore itself into her mind, burning.

Sometimes, you wait forever, and whatever you desire would never be there.

She bit her lip, shoving the book into her bag.

"Why did I even bothered," she muttered angrily; she fished the air ticket and passport out of the bag, marching hurriedly towards the doorway to the departure hall.

The line in front of the departure gate was short, she stood behind an old lady.

"I am sorry, dear, I can't quite seem to find my ticket among these." She was holding a stack of paper in her trembling, wrinkled hands.

Temari frowned, if only that lazy ass was here, he would definitely say this is a drag …

She slapped herself on the head. Snap out of it, she muttered under her breath.

"Ah! Here it is hehehe." The old lady smiled and handed the air ticket to the immigration officer. She stumbled shakily into the gate.

Temari handed the air ticket and passport over.

The man looked at the passport and ticket quickly, scanning it with a machine and then shove it back into her hands.

She took it and began walking towards the departure hall.

The opaque glass walls seemed particularly depressing. She could see her own reflection from the surface.

One last time.

She turned around.

The tiny smile on her face disappeared from her face.

Her brows furrowed as she turned herself around, her back facing the entrance.

Her steps quickened – she was almost running.

"Fuck it all," she muttered as she stormed her way into the departure hall.


07:30

He ran into the airport, panting.

He glanced at the LED board showing the flight numbers and status.

He found her flight.

Gate closed. The yellow letters disappeared as the image on the screen changed.

Disappeared, just like her.

If he had a gun in his hand, he would shoot himself.

He walked quickly to the Suna Airline counter, and saw no sign of her.

He stared at the entrance of the departure hall, and thought of all her disappointment, anger and sadness.

He secretly cursed himself for being his own lazy self.

More so, he cursed himself for being the guy he was – someone who could not refuse an innocent request from the girl he loved, or at least who he was attracted to.

No matter what, he screwed up again and this other blonde girl left without another word.

Fucking idiot.

He fished his phone out of the pocket, in a desperate attempt to find her number.

Then he realized he never had her number, neither did she had his.

Perhaps I should write her an email to explain … he thought to himself as he began to type in the subject line of his email on his phone.

His finger left the phone and he shoved the phone into the pocket.

He turned around, his back facing the entrance of the departure hall.

"Screw it," he said softly to himself, as he drove himself back to the Konoha Corporation office, he found himself emotionless, a few drops of tears rolled down his way out of frustration.

He made sure they were gone before he set foot in the office.

Because even if the sky falls down, he still needed to work.

And in the office, any sign of weakness may get you into even more trouble.

He sat down at his seat and stared at the clock on the wall.

08:15

It was too fucking early, he thought to himself, rubbing his forehead as he glance around the empty office.

But as usual, he was too late.

And now, all he could do is to wait.

Or try to forget.


Author's note:

Another chapter! If you are curious about what happened with Shikamaru and Ino ... well stay tuned!

Enjoy! Thank you for all the reviews and love you guys xoxox

V.S.V