Shikamaru said nothing, when he arrived at work two weeks later, and found a brunette haired man at her place opposite his desk.

"Hey," the guy raised his hand at him. "Kankuro."

"Hey." He replied before slumping into his chair."You are…?"

"I am the new contact," he replied. "Temari has other stuff to deal with back at home."

"I see." Shikamaru said softly, secretly clenching his fists.

"Is there a problem?" Kankuro raised an eyebrow; he looked just as irritated as the man across the desk.

"No, let's get to work." Shikamaru felt like all the energy he pumped up this morning was gone in a split second.

She promised she would be back.

And now she is nowhere to be found.

He sighed deeply and began typing.

One good thing was that Kankuro did not seem to mind him slacking, taking naps during work.

That was the only good thing – part of him thanked god for sending Kankuro here, part of him missed being whipped by a certain green-eyed blonde.


He went to have a drink with his friends later that night. The bar was filled with white-collar workers, frustrated about their boring, irritable life.

"You know the thing about women." Kiba suddenly said, his face red – Shikamaru was not sure whether it was those red marks on his face or whether he was drunk. "I mean what do they expect – they expect you to wait for them all the time, says it is not the right time all that crap…"

There was no point stopping Kiba as he barked his statement about women.

"Let me tell you guys some truth, when a woman ask a guy to wait for her, no guy would do that."

Shikamaru's eyebrow arched.

"Ten out of ten guys would just find someone else, what's the point of waiting?" He finished his statement by downing an entire cup of tequila.

Despite Kiba being brainless most of the time, he does have a point.

All those years he spent waiting, all of them down the drain.

Just last week he saw Ino when he went off work, she was with Sai – that pale white-faced guy.

That glittering smile as she stared into his eyes, her hands sealed with his – no matter how many times he thought of it, it still pained him, a stinging pain in his heart.

No matter how many times he told himself that he had gotten over Ino completely, it was a big fat lie.

At that moment, he decided that love really, was such a pain in the ass.

He completed the thought as he downed his cup of scotch, burning his throat and burning his thought deep into his mind.


A month later.

He heard nothing from Temari, not an email, no messages.

Nothing.

He was walking home, a lit cigarette in his hand.

He looked up and saw the orange orb slowly descending behind the far away mountains, its hue burning the sky.

Perhaps she had already forgotten everything about him, after all, he is a man she met in a one-night stand.

No one would ever be serious about a person they met at a one-night stand, no one.

The one thing about one-night stands is that there are no feelings attached, people meet, fuck and then disappear from each other's lives.

Anyone who takes it seriously is an idiot.

He is anything but an idiot.

Everyone knows that there is no such thing as true love in this world, everything is calculated; efficiency is everything.

The pure, everlasting love is myth, something that only exist in cheesy, troublesome romance novels and stories.

Their knowledge of each other remains on a physical level – in reality they barely knew each other for a month.

This fact itself proves the fragility of their relationship.

"Shikamaru-kun!" He stopped walking as he heard the shout and hurried steps coming from behind his back.

"Hey," he looked over his shoulder and saw Shiho, smiling at him.

"I … I was wondering if I would see you today." She said as she walked beside him, staring down at her feet.

"What about it?" He said absent-mindedly, his eyes still fixated at the burning sun above, its orange aura dying the clouds red and tangerine.

"I was wondering … if… if," Shiho stammered, her face stained by the orange aura of the sun. "If you would like to see a movie together, tomorrow after work."

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow.

"Yea sure…"

It would not hurt, would it?

Perhaps this blonde girl in front of him could put his mind at ease for a while, at least, away from the plague-like memories of the other two blonde girls that turned his life upside down.

He knew deep down it was unfair to Shiho – she would not enjoy any affection from him. She was nothing but a companion, a back up plan – if all things fail, he could always have this not-so pretty or ugly, not troublesome woman.

But it felt good to be wanted – damn it felt really good.


It was late at night, the moon hung quietly, staring down at the only light at the Sabuku mansion.

Temari was typing, turning and referencing from the documents scattered all across her table.

"You should get some rest," her little brother appeared in front of her door, dressed in a dark red bathing robe. "It is already 2 something."

"So should you." She smiled at him. "I am going to fix some of these, and then I will sleep."

"You know I can't sleep."

"Doesn't the medicine help?" She arched an eyebrow, standing up. "I thought you have been seeing the doctor."

"Medicine doesn't really help, all it does is knock me out." Gaara sighed, he was holding two cups of hot tea in his hand.

He put one of them on Temari's messy desk.

"Thanks." She smiled at him as he took a seat from across the table.

"Kankuro told me about Konoha," Gaara sipped from his tea. "He said that it was okay."

"It is." She looked away, holding her cup of tea in her hand.

"You are obviously the better diplomat." Gaara said. "Something is stopping you from going back there."

Temari closed her eyes for a second, and she nodded slowly.

"Yea." She said, looking at Gaara over her shoulder.

He looked at her for an answer; she could not read the expression on his face.

"Hidan." She lied right in his face, her head was churning.

It is dead obvious, Gaara would know that I am lying.

"I see." He nodded with acknowledgement. "I would not force you to do anything." There was a peculiar look in his teal eyes, but he said nothing more.

"I would tell you when I am ready to go back." She smiled at him. "So no worries."

Gaara nodded. "Get some rest, we have a meeting tomorrow morning."

"Sure, good night."

Her brother left the room.

She sighed and put the empty cup onto the desk.

For the first two weeks she came back, she wanted to send him an email, leave him a message on the phone, but she decided against that idea – it sounded too desperate, as if she could not live without him.

Maybe he has moved on, maybe he found another girl in one of his nightlife excursions.

Maybe he even found someone that could fill the hole that Ino left in his heart.

She shook her head in dismissal.

Sabuku no Temari is a very independent woman. She does not need a man to survive. She does not need a man to rely on.

She has always been proud of herself, being as independent and strong as she could be.

That does not mean she was never sad, or vulnerable – sometimes she wished she could cry, that she could go back and throw herself into her father's arms, purring, asking for a pat on the head or a kiss on her cheek.

But no – her father would not tolerate weakness, not even the signs of it.

'As children of the Sabuku family, you are born into the best and are expected to be the best.' That was what he always said.

No tears were allowed – not even when their mother died from giving birth to Gaara.

'It does not matter what scars they burn on you, wear them like a medal.' Her father used to say that all the time.

He was strict, very strict – no nonsense, anything that is not perfect is wrong in his eyes, which is why he hated Gaara to the guts – the youngest sibling, despite being a genius, was mentally unstable, which was something his father could not tolerate.

And of course, he almost lost it when suddenly the three siblings plunged into rebellion.

They skipped school, disappeared for weeks, only to return home, her hair tied into four crazy tails, wearing fishnets here and there; Kankuro painted his face with crazy patterns… Gaara almost made him die of a heart attack when he emerged behind their backs with a burning red tattoo on his forehead.

All their father did was scorch scar after scar on them, physical and psychological.

It made them the person they are today – strong, independent individuals who could stand up against the world if they wanted to.

It also made it impossible for Temari to trust anyone – no one was really there for her, everyone close to her just end up hurting her, adding to her collection of scars – her father, Hidan …

But it does not matter now.

As long as she keeps her heart locked away, no one can hurt her.

No one.

And this is exactly what she would do.


Author's note:

Another chapter!

I hope this clears up something up:)

It is true that Shikamaru still cares for Ino: it is only logical that he retains some feelings for her, it would not be possible for him to throw everything away ... as for Shiho, she is not as important to Shikamaru and is an optional existence, you get the picture.

As for Temari: you can see that her childhood was rough, and that plus Hidan made her the person she is ...

Well, so much for spoilers/ clarifications: enjoy the story!

V.S.V xoxo