Temari was only a few houses away from her destination. Realising that she had been running the whole time ever since Shikamaru's house, she stopped to rest. As she bent over panting, she saw water on the ground.
Shit, I have to start crying now?
Afraid that one of her siblings would come out and see her, she quickly ducked into one of the food stores. As she sat on her chair she heard loud noises.
Out of all the places, I had to pick Ichiraku Ramen didn't I? She discovered after seeing Chouji and Naruto scoff ramen down. Apparently the guys of Rookie Nine were having a meeting, as all except Shikamaru were present. She couldn't hear much of their conversation, but she could make out some words from Chouji.
'So, crunch I snap…. Cry…slurp Ino…'
That last remark made her jump up.
'WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE ABOUT THAT BLONDE BITCH!' Temari screamed. The guys stared at her.
'Temari-san…are you alright?' Naruto asked tentatively. Temari sat back down with a stunned look on her face.
'I-I'll be fine Naruto.' She stared at the ground, rubbing her shoulders, feeling strange.
Why…why should I care so much? Net-boy and me were only just beginning to be friends. Hell, I should be happy he's got his girlfriend back. A real friend would be happy for Shikamaru. But… what if, what if for a moment, we were more than friends? Maybe that would explain it…
Temari shook herself furiously.
Snap out of it! There was nothing! NOTHING! What did you do? All you guys ever did was go to the supermarket and come back!
….
And eat ramen, accidentally kiss, accidentally hug, deliberately hold hands.
It doesn't add up. Half the time I think it's meaningless. He is so………..complicated! I don't even know what he is thinking half the time.
And now Ino is back in the picture…-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gaara and Hinata stood quietly, still on the balcony. He hadn't done anything corny like kneel down. But the fact that he had said those words at all had shocked Hinata.
Marry me…It wasn't out of the blue. But she had always thought that they would reach some sort of mutual agreement on it together.
'G-Gaara-kun…'
'You don't need to answer now. I can wait Hinata.'
She hugged him. 'I-it's n-not that I w-want to say no, but are you sure you're ready?'
He stared at her. It wasn't a death glare, more like a sort of clueless gaze.
'Of course. Why would I ask you then?'
Hinata blushed. I can be so stupid sometimes…
'T-then…' her head turned to the view, as she watched the glorious sun dip low into the horizon. Goodbye, Naruto. I'm finally breaking free.
'O-of course Gaara-kun!' she whispered and hugged him even more.
Gaara smiled to himself, once again, it was a true smile of pure happiness.
At last…I feel like I belong.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back at Ichiraku Ramen Bar, the Rookie Nine guys were still staring at Temari. She was so zoned out she hadn't noticed them staring at her.
'Hey Chouji,' Naruto nudged the eating machine next to him
'Eh?' Chouji paused only for a second before continuing to devour his noodles.
'Looks like Temari has problems with Ino too.' Naruto replied.
Kiba nodded. 'Akamaru smells hostility around her at the moment guys. No wonder she was so snappy at you Naruto.'
Sasuke shrugged. 'But then again, everyone gets snappy at the baka here.'
'Shut up Sasuke!' Naruto growled.
'Who cares if it's about Ino, the heartbreaking witch!' Chouji bellowed. The guys moved back. It wasn't just the volume of Chouji's voice, but nobody wanted to smell miso soup in his breath that badly.
Temari had finally stopped thinking, and turned her attention towards the group of guys arguing next to her.
'Who's a heartbreaking witch?' she asked, only mildly interested.
Chouji stopped eating to tell her. 'Yamanaka! How can she say she wants to go out with me when she's still obviously in love with Sasuke! Not that I hate you man,' he added in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke just shrugged.
Temari's eyes widened. What? In love with Sasuke? Chouji's girlfriend? I didn't hear Net-boy's name. How odd.
'Isn't she… isn't she still with Shikamaru?' Temari asked.
The guys pulled faces, except Shino and Sasuke.
'Bah, that was so old Temari-san! I know you're new here, but you really should get with the program.' Naruto chided. Temari proceeded to hit him with her fan.
A couple of minutes later, after Naruto had gotten some healing balm for the huge bump on his forehead (thanks to Temari), the guys proceeded to tell her the story.
'Well you see…. ' Shino began, only to be cut off by Kiba.
'No! Shino you can't see what with those big black sunglasses! I'll start. Shikamaru and Ino were dating, but it wasn't really love.' Akamaru barked in agreement. Shino pushed his glasses up, sighing at Kiba's first statement. Really, Kiba couldn't be more sillier sometimes. Talk about taking things too literally.
'Get to the point! I don't want to bore Temari-san!!' Naruto yelled.
Sasuke leaned forward. He wanted to get this over and done with.
'Basically, she forced Shikamaru to go along with it because she wanted to 'make me jealous' apparently. One of those attempts to get me to like her…' Sasuke stated.
'And Net-boy is so lazy he probably tried to deal with it quickly.' Temari finished, answering all her doubts.
'Yes yes yes!' Naruto cheered. 'Finally Temari-san understands! No thanks to you guys' Naruto said to Kiba and Shino, who were having a rather one-sided argument-Kiba was yelling at Shino while Shino just sat there quietly stroking a bug.
Temari stood up. 'But that still doesn't answer why she's hugging Shikamaru!' she banged her fist on the table. Chouji looked angry.
'I told you she didn't love me! Now she's hugging my best friend and team mate!'
'Huh?' Temari was confused.
'We were going out but I figured she still liked Sasuke so I broke it off with her. And she was talking to him happily and stuff so I just figured she was flirting! And now that she's hugging Shikamaru it probably sums it all up!' Chouji replied, furious.
Naruto sighed. 'Chouji, she is probably only going to Shikamaru for comfort as a friend and nothing more. She was probably upset that you dumped her because of your stupid suspicions with Sasuke. She likes you Chouji. So get over it!'
Everyone was silent. Sasuke was the first to speak.
'Naruto, did you just say…. something intelligent for once?'
'Yes I did!' Naruto replied happy with what he was a compliment. 'I th-HEY SASUKE I SAY INTELLIGENT THINGS ALL THE TIME!'
The others just sighed as yet another argument ensued. Temari smiled inwardly, thankful that she still had Shikamaru.
A/N-..lalala. Is the story moving a bit slow paced? I think I'll hit the climax soon…if only I can think of a good one!!!!!!!!! Aish .. I'm running out of ideas as my brain cells are being used for exam revision +.+. Anyways, IF YOU HATE IT at least tell me. . That is all. Also, I have started to like Naru Hina, even tho it wont happen in this fanfic..theres always next time!hinthint