Look! A chapter! It's so shiny and new!
I, as the Goddess I am (told you that I'm never going to let it go), torture myself over the waiting that you guys go through for chapters because I know what that is like too, so I will try my best to update a lot. Though with college starting in a couple months and 68 chapters (me oh my, isn't that a pretty number?) I can already tell you that there will be some times that I can't update as often as I do.
This little tidbit was written for Hektols a darling little person who has commented on my every chapter and has offered me numerous and helpful critiques. So as one of my most precious little cuties when he asked:
"Will we see the reactions for Temari's return from her siblings soon?"
I said "Yes, you will."
And here we go!
Temari had never really understood what kind of a demon the clock was until she was stuck holding a staring contest with it for nearly half an hour. She glared at it and urged it to go faster but it still continued to tick the minutes by in an achingly slow fashion that was guaranteeing its imminent doom.
"The only reason you think it's taking so long is because you're staring at it."
"Shut up," Temari growled as she turned her glare to Shikamaru, "I'm not staring." But even though she denied it her eyes immediately flicked back to the clock, nearly groaning in defeat when she noticed that the little hands hadn't moved at all.
"You weren't even this nervous when your brothers found out we were sleeping together." Shikamaru said, yawning and then grunting when Temari dug her elbow sharply into his stomach.
"Shut up. I'm not nervous, I'm just… concerned. After all, it's a pretty long trip for them to take for something so trivial." She defended, having to stop herself from gnawing on her thumbnail as she continued to watch that damned motionless clock hand.
"They've made the trip nearly a hundred times before and there have never been any real problems, and there is no way that you are something trivial." Temari's heart jumped at his words, at the surprising sweetness in them that she thought she would never get used to. It wasn't like he hadn't been sweet before, he had just covered it all up with his ass-hat lazy attitude and had only let it really shine through on only the rarest occasions.
But now that she had finally come back to him it was almost as if he didn't want to cover it up any more and wanted to let her know how much he really cared for her, wanted to stop twisting everything around to just cherish both her and the them they were together because they were both painfully aware of how easily their time together could be stolen.
He was still a lazy ass though.
She continued to anxiously watch the clock but let her hand slip down onto the couch cushions, her fingers tentatively twining with his, the strength she found in his hand managing to calm her.
If anyone had been watching them they would have thought that the two were just barely dating instead of having been married for as long as they had been, but the truth was that such touches were not the kind that the couple had normally shared before their ten years apart. But now that they knew what they had to lose, now that they knew what it was like to not hold each other for so achingly long, they found themselves far more willing and able to cherish the smaller and sweeter things they had together, rare that they still were.
When a knock echoed through the house Temari jumped and quickly snatched her hand back like a nervous teenager caught by her stern parents, her eyes wide as she realized that there would be no more waiting and that she was going to be faced with what she had been anxiously waiting for in mere moments.
All she could think about was that she needed some more time.
Shikamaru pushed himself off of the couch with a sigh, seeing that his wife had become suddenly petrified and would obviously be unable to get up and answer the door. He opened the door to the two stern-faced and travel-weary men, nodding slightly to them as he leaned against the door frame, blocking them from getting in.
"Gaara, Kankuro, nice seeing you again."
"Cut the crap, Nara, and tell us where our sister is." Kankuro growled, eyes narrowed threateningly at the man. "It's bad enough that you waited a month until you told us and then made us stay away for a few more until you decided to let us come. You are not going to make us wait any more if you know what's good for you and that annoying face of yours." He threatened, Gaara's normally stoic face flickering with the same impatience and anger as he nodded.
"I agree." He said, already more than willing to call out his sand if they were detained any longer. After ten years of not knowing and months of waiting they had made the usually three day trip between the villages in a mere two exhausting days, anxious to see actual physical proof that this was not some cruel joke that was being played on them. They were both more than ready to kill -brother-in-law or not- to get to their goal.
"I think it would be best if you-"
"Garra." Both of the brothers' heads snapped up as their eyes immediately searched for the source of the voice, almost not daring to believe. "Kankuro."
Shikamaru moved back but none of the siblings noticed, too focused on one another to do anything more than stare at each other and take in every detail that had been missed for ten long years.
Temari wondered at how long they would stand there in the front hall just gaping at each other, the door wide open and Shikamaru leaning against the wall, staring up at the ceiling to give them a tiny slice of something that would resemble privacy so not to intrude on this personal moment.
They were staring at her like she was something fragile that was about to break, like she was just some figment of their imagination that would be reduced to dust if they even dared to move toward her. She knew that she'd have to make the first move but she just couldn't figure out what it could be.
She tried to figure out what she would have done before. Would she have walked up to them? Would she have smiled and waved, maybe shook their hands? There had never been any affectionate feelings or gestures between the three of them, and the relationships between them were based more on mutual respect and something that might have bordered on love and affection. So what was she supposed to do?
She took a slow and tentative step towards the pair and then another and another until she was running those last few steps, throwing her arms around them and drawing them close as she breathed in the mixed and surprisingly comforting scents of face paint and desert sand.
And as the three of them stood there breathlessly they held onto each other desperately as they tried to ease the wounds caused by the painful years apart.
Not much, but there is a definite chance of continuing.
To my newest reviewer Amanda: Oh, my darling, I missed you too! Oh, but as they say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
And now something else that is new:
As all of you know some writers post stories on here that get lots and lots of beautiful fan art. Well, those losers should just go sit in a corner and cry like pudgy little monkey babies because I got a fan song written for me.
Oh yeah, you read that right.
It was written by the darling fearless-forever98 and her muse Josh, and here it is:
Faith Like Nothing Else- shikatema
She was a wild thing
No man could hold her down
She wasn't ready to admit
About that person that made her frown
He was a little to cocky for his own good
Meanwhile she was plain misunderstood
And that's how their story began
Through the wind and the rain they still hear each others names
Amidst the silence, they wait
They know one day it'll never be the same
But the pieces are still there
And with a little glue maybe it'll be just like it used to be
They have a faith like nothing else
He knew just about everything
But he wasn't ready for people to see
He wasn't ready for that puzzle
The dirty blond with the eyes of green
He was a little too cocky for his own good
Meanwhile she was plain misunderstood
And that's how their story went on
Through the wind and the rain they still hear each others names
Amidst the silence, they wait
They know one day it'll never be the same
But the pieces are still there
And with a little glue maybe it'll be just like it used to be
They have a faith like nothing else
They never really had a fairy tale
But yet they still had their own world
When they met it wasn't by chance
And though sometimes they cried
In truth, they never lied
Because somehow they knew
Through the wind and the rain they still hear each others names
Amidst the silence, they wait
They know one day it'll never be the same
But the pieces are still there
And with a little glue maybe it'll be just like it used to be
They have a faith like nothing else
Now somebody go sing that and post a video of it so that I can hear it. Now. I think she mentioned something about it being a country song.
Good bye, my darlings, I'll be back!
(And I totally just said that in the Terminator voice out loud and got a lot of weird looks from my family)