If only I could feel your kisses on my face
Your whispers in my ear
And your arms around my torso
I might feel whole again.
The war has torn you away and I can't wait to see you again.
Shikamaru please come back.
The room in the Kazakage's home was big filled with many sand artifacts and some belongings of their past matches. They had Konoha bands littered against the wall as well as the Mist and Sound. The Sand Village had never been so victorious over the years, Temari putting in her own share of the work. The room was empty besides her and when she saw the Konoha leaf she couldn't help but feel the sadness grip at her lungs making it hard to breathe as she fell against the ground cradling one of the metal head pieces.
Shikamaru wore one on his arm always glinting in the thin streams of light that touched his shoulder. She loved tracing her fingers around the leaf knowing they had crossed the bounds of villages, beliefs and found each other there in the shadows of the line between Sand and Leaf.
Temari sighed her head bowing the lock of hay colored hair falling over her features.
"Temari I will be leaving soon…"
She felt her breath hitch and she shook her head. 'I don't want you to leave. Why couldn't I say that; why couldn't I ask him to stay?' When she felt the tears welling up the door opened the guards stepping in front of Gaara before closing it behind him. Quickly she stood up tossing the metal memory to the ground turning to face her brother who stared at her.
She hated Gaara's eyes. They always stared at her with blank eyes digging into her soul and fishing out everything that was hidden there. When his gaze finally let go of hers he turned away stepping around the stoned desk before sitting down.
"Will you be able to fight Temari?" he asked his voice quiet and soft.
"What?"
"We are worried you will not have it in you this time ever since you found your love." Temari gazed at Gaara confused. She hadn't heard anything about the fight and had no idea that he knew anything about Shikamaru. Why should he know or even care? This was Gaara a guy who only loved himself and thought of no one else.
"Don't worry about me."
"Temari."
"What is the fight?"
Gaara let out sigh his red head bowing to lift a file from the top of the desk tossing it into her hands easily. She opened the files seeing the pictures of the Akatsuki there in the folders. At first she started flipping through the pages seeing none of the Akatsuki was slain, but almost all and every Konoha that went there were.
Her fingers trembled as she thought of Shikamaru's mangled bodies kunai all embedded in his skin. The man that had changed her into almost a frail devoted lover was now nothing if he left her.
"Temari-"
"Are they all dead, every Konoha Shinobi?"
Gaara nodded meekly. "The most they call missing are most likely dead, Tsunade the Hokage had sent us a message saying she needs our help. The Akatsuki are everyone's problem. We will be helping. You, Kankuro and I will spread around with our own factions with us. We will investigate the parts, find any of the missing Konoha if they are indeed not dead and then bring them here before we engage. Naruto Uzamaki, Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga, and some of the other Chuunin there will be going along with looking in their own parts before spreading into ours."
"I want to look alone if I can. The others would only slow me down."
"Forget about him."
"I can't!" she had yelled then covering her mouth realizing that she had raised her voice. As he spoke of what she had to do she just kept quiet not saying a thing her eyes frozen down to the floor. When he finally turned around she knew it was over.
Tomorrow she would leave to the sand dunes off cost of the village were most activity was seen and finally disappear to find him. She wouldn't give up that easily he couldn't be dead, not now, not ever.
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This is the first part of chapter two! Thank you!