Luvs2smooch: Whoo! I updated! Note that this is from Temari's POV, at least for this chapter.

Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto or the song (Promise by Simple Plan)

I'm over him.

I'm over him. I'm over him and I sure as hell don't need him. I don't need him. I don't…I sighed, exasperated. I don't need him. I repeated this to myself, over and over, as I gazed back at myself in the mirror. Where I once searched for blemishes and wrinkles, I now sought only answers. From myself. As you might guess, it wasn't going too well.

I knew why I left him. I was too caught up in my stupid fantasies about romantic princes to see that not only is nobody perfect, but that I loved perfection's polar opposite. After all, he was lazy, undetermined, and all-together slightly boring. And I had loved him for it. He was a sturdy rock of solemn constancy in the roaring ocean of uncertainty, insecurity, and utter hate that was my life. He stabilized me, whether it was with a kind word when I felt inadequate or a warm embrace when my mentality went to shambles.

Thinking back on all he had given me, I felt like a fool. I had thrown away everything we had, tossed it all away like a used tissue. All just because I had goals for a romance that were lofty to the point of impossibility. God, I feel like such a massive idiot…

I left my hotel's bathroom as pristine as when I found it, and plunked down resentfully on the overstuffed couch, just in front of an old television. Swiped the remote and flicked through the channels, click, click, never really seeing what was on any one channel long enough to gain an interest. Just like Shikamaru…after all, I thought that there would be another Shikamaru, always thought another worthy soul would be waiting just round the bend. I was damn wrong.

I had readily discarded Shikamaru, lost in the thoughts that there was someone better out there, quickly deciding that forgoing what would turn out to be the single antidote for my poison was the first step to finding this "better person." I had chucked him straight out the window and into the rain, only realizing my mistake when the crushing weight of his absence came down on me.

I tried to shrug it off at first, of course, tried to pretend it didn't really hurt me like it did. Looked around, looked for my "better person", but every lost attempt, every failure, every little setback in my new search reminded me of him so profoundly, so vividly, that I could only keep from crawling back to him on hands and knees by searching even harder.

And…nothing. Nothing came, and I trudged on through the muck of my life. Before too long, I became a teacher. I suppose that Gaara and Kankuro became sick of my near-constant depressive presence, for they set me up for an interview within weeks of the breakup. My job came closer than anything to filling the void I had created when I abandoned my destiny. I grew happy again, gradually but surely.

And then I was crushed again.

Because my job, such a source of solace, forced me to venture somewhere I never again wished to roam: Konoha, village of the leaves, and, more importantly, village of Shikamaru. While I was unprepared to face him, I did, and I suppose it turned out just fine. No big fight, anyways, no one died, so I guess it was okay. But now… now I need to work with him…and for another 4 days. Damn.

Woops. All out off channels. I flicked the TV off again, sighing. What the hell to do now…I slowly pulled myself out of the ugly couch's overstuffed grasp and decided to make this night a night on the town. I just…I didn't want to remember anymore, at least not right then. I ran out the door, then remembered I should probably put my hair up, and then decided that I didn't give a shit either way. I ran for a while longer, until I reached the central road. It was wide and accommodating for the massive amount of people that traversed it, even this late at night. I found myself lost in the crowd, but it was just as well. I didn't have any idea what to do anyways. I looked around for somewhere to sit, to relax, to forget.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, I ducked into a shabby little pub. Some local group was singing on a stage off in one corner, almost off-key, but I'd heard worse. I sat down at the bar, but didn't order anything. Just sat there, held my chin in my hand. Why was I here again? Impulse, I think…The band started another song, although I barely noticed…until the vocals began…

Breakdown

I can't take this

I need somewhere to go

I need you

I'm so restless

I don't know what to do

Cuz we've had a rough time

Dividing our lines

But now you're just

Slipping away

So just give me this chance

To make he wrongs right

To say

Don't, don't, don't walk away…

I chanced a look up, and...my God, I was sure of it…Shikamaru! He was on vocals…right? Was that him? I ran up to the stage, but was continually pushed back by the surging crowd…

I promise

I won't let you down,

You down,

If you take my hand tonight

I promise

We'll be just fine

This time

If you take my

hand tonight…

If you take my hand tonight….

"S'cuse me…coming through...I—hey, watch it!" I stumbled through the throng of fans…the band's popularity had skyrocketed as soon as they played that song, but I needed to get through, needed to see…see what? No way that's Shikamaru—he can't sing for crap! But even as I told myself, I pushed on… I had to see it, whatever it was...

Without you

I go through the motions

Without you

It's just not quite the same

Without you

I don't wanna go out

I just wanted to say

I'm sick of these fights

I'll let you be right

If it stops you from running away

So give me this chance
To make the wrongs right

To say
Don't, don't, don't walk away….

Finally! I arrived at the front of the crowd, right in front of a stage that looked surprisingly ruddy up close. Slowly, in anticipation, I looked up…

…into myself. My face. Wait…my face? It was…me. "What the—" I reached out and touched it, touched my own face, and it exploded into millions of tiny pieces, like a mirror when it meets the pavement. Shards of reflecting glass rained down all around me, and then there was nothing…nothing but black. The floor was littered with shiny shrapnel. I looked about, examined the pieces. Gasped, eyes wide. Each showed a picture…a picture of me. Of us…Shikamaru and I. Together. When we still had something, something powerful, something other than hatred. I kneeled down, tentatively, to pick one up, but before I got near it, a howling tempest picked up and whipped the shards away…

"Wait…" I spoke quietly, wishfully, and I could feel myself willing them to come back. I reached out a hand after them, but they were long gone, swept away, stolen by what was likely my own metaphoric dreams...It fit, though, didn't? Like our relationship in retrospective…I almost laughed at the sheer, painful irony of it. It came out as a gasping weeze, but I quit I felt something warm and wet running down my cheeks. I had a feeling I knew what It was, and I reached up wipe away tears with my hand. Looked at it. Lost my breath, fell back on my rump. I could feel it, everything was coming apart, whittling away at the seams, at the sight of it. My hand...

...I was crying blood. I could feel it flowing further, staining my shirt. What in hell...

...and then, a single voice, right behind me, piercing the silence, almost whispering in my ear, as the owner of it had not too long ago…

"You really are troublesome, you know. So very--"

I jerked off the couch, screaming, and thumped down onto the floor, on top of the remote. My god…was that just… a dream? I slowly got up, rubbing my throbbing temples. Stupid television…Stupid hotel…stupid…stupid what?

Stupid yourself, I thought, as I splashed some water in my face and looked at myself in the cheap mirror. Slowly, tentatively, i reached up to my face again. I was still crying...thankfully not red. I laughed to myself. Just a dream...then I looked at the mirror again. Overwhelming feeling swept over me like some sort of crushing storm. Knees weakening...I felt myself collapse...

...Why? Why had I done that? I felt so cheap, so dirty, for what I had done to him so long ago. And know it had come to bite me in the ass... I cried, cried to myself, about my own stupidity and my ultimate failure…I had chucked destiny out the window because of my own idiotic dreams…

Luvs2smooch: That song rocks! How was the chapter?