Temari woke up, sunlight filtering through her gauze curtains. She stretched and yawned; it was the beginning of the first day of tiresome meetings. Climbing out of bed, she donned her usual kimono, dressing like she would if on active duty, just without the fan. No big weapons or scrolls were allowed during the meetings, although smaller weapons like kunai were. A smell grabbed her attention, and she went to the kitchen, finding a stack of pancakes drowned in syrup waiting for her. Kana stood there, pouring a cup of tea. Temari smiled at her.
"Good morning Kana, thank you for breakfast." she nodded in response, before replying.
"Good morning Temari-sama, it was no trouble. please remember that your first meeting for today is on resources available for shinobi villages, that's in 30 minutes and will take place in the Green Conference Room." Temari groaned.
"Resources is basically economics. I hate dealing with that, its insanely boring."
"Ah, but I have some information which may interest you Temari-sama, perhaps sweeten your day." Temari perked up. If Kana said she'd like the information, it was something good.
"Share Kana, don't be greedy with the gossip." Kana grinned, she liked moments like this.
"Well apparently, the Konoha delegation arrived late afternoon yesterday. They made it just in time for the opening masquerade, and will be attending the meetings today." Temari took a moment to digest this. Most of the delegations had arrived a week or two earlier, in order to settle down and get a feel for who were allies and who were to be watched. Konoha had been conspicuous in its absence, apparently suffering from some hold up before they left. They were also the farthest away, but no one had thought that would be a problem considering the people arriving would be shinobi. They had made it just in time.
"Any knowledge as to why they're late or who's in the group?" Temari hadn't visited Konoha in years, not since Gaara started her as ambassador to more hostile countries and villages. She had been looking forward to this summit as a way to catch up, among the rest of her duties.
"Apparently one of their hokage's chief advisors fell seriously ill, and they needed to find an adequate replacement. It took them a while, but they've arrived. I have no info on who's with them though. You'll find out if you go to the meetings though!" Kana smiled at her, as Temari scowled. She detested the meetings, and Kana had spent half their time there giving her reasons to go, since she had almost bolted back to Suna three times already.
"You should leave for the meeting Temari-sama," Kana alerted her. "The sooner you get there, the sooner you're out of there." Temari sighed.
"I suppose you're right. See you after the meeting then." She rose from her seat at the low table, and headed out into the rich hallway.
The walls were covered with gold designs that expressed the richness of their host. Thick carpet covered the floors, allowing many of the daintier guests to walk around the building in little more than thick socks or soft shoes. Everyone stayed in one building while all the conference rooms were in another, the two connected by a glass bridge that Temari was now crossing. She made her way through more hallways and up an ornate spiral staircase. One more hallway brought her to a set of emerald doors, conspicuously marking the entrance to the Green Conference Room.
Temari pushed the door open, slipping in before her arrival became too pronounced. Once inside, she looked around. This meeting was solely for the shinobi villages, daimyo representatives were not included. The attendees consisted of chief advisors and high ranking officials; the topic of distribution of resources was touchy among the villages, were one strain of metal or source of volcanic rock could make the difference between many weapons, or no weapons. She looked for the representative from Konoha, knowing whoever it was would support her on anything as she would support them. Relations between Konoha and Suna were remarkably strong for villages, which was generally attributed to the close personal relationship between the kages.
Temari quickly spotted the green flak vest, but she couldn't see the face; the representative was standing in a shadowy corner of the room. Temari headed towards the shadow, wanting to make sure the two of them were in agreement before the talks started. The shadow pushed away from the wall as she approached, heading towards her, revealing a tall ponytail and a lazy face, the exception being a pair of remarkably sharp, dark eyes. Temari grinned as she identified the person.
"Yo Nara," she called out softly. She saw a smirk grow on his face.
"Temari no Sabaku, long time no see. Where have you been?" Her grin transformed into her favorite smirk, mirroring his.
"Traveling, Gaara asked me to be ambassador to some of the more ... ah ... difficult nations." Shikamaru nodded understandingly. "What about you? What have you been up to? I know you're not Konoha's liaison to Suna any more, I would've seen you around." He gave me an unreadable look before replying.
"I've been training my genin team." Temari froze for a second.
"When did you make jounin?" His smirk faded to a mournful half smile.
"I applied right after you left after your last trip, I was hoping to make it a pleasant sort of surprise for when you returned, but you were transferred and our paths haven't crossed since." His face brightened. "But that's in the past. Now we're here, together once more against the old farts of the world." Temari laughed. As she looked at the other shinobi in the room, she realized Shikamaru was right, they were the youngest there, everyone else in their 60's or 70's, typical ages for village elders and therefore advisors.
"It'll be just like all those times when we teamed up on the village elders, fighting the senile for the freedom and unity of the youth." This time Shikamaru laughed.
"Younger generations unite!" They both cracked up, earning them a slew of glares from their older associates. This caused Temari to remember something else.
"I thought only advisors were supposed to be at this meeting, how far have you advanced since I last saw you?" A disgruntled look crossed Shikamaru's face.
"Well the last of the old advisors croaked just as the delegation was about to leave. And they said I was supposed to go. But I didn't want to go, especially since my genin team just passed the chunin exams and could use a little guidance as they set out into the world of full fledged ninja. So my esteemed Hokage sent his special, elite ANBU squad to kidnap me. They got the upper hand, knocked me out, and kept me unconscious for about half the trip. When they allowed me to wake up, I tried to escape four times. After the last attempt, they knocked me out again. I only woke up again just before we arrived yesterday." Temari chuckled under her breath.
"What kind of ANBU squad was this? You're smart and reasonably strong, you should've been able to defeat an average ANBU squad."
"My Hokage's not stupid, he surrounded himself with people he trusts. The squad consists of half the Konoha 12." Temari winced.
"I see why you lost." The two of them stared at each other for a moment, before the doors were harshly swung open, bouncing off the walls with a crash. A large man strode in, wearing robes in the color of the host family. He would be presiding over the meeting, and others like him would be covering all the meetings during the summit.
"All right," his booming and slightly nasally voice rang out, resounding off the pale green walls. "Let's get this meeting started. Will the delegates please take their seats." All the occupants moved to the table, settling down like a flock of pigeons. The man continued.
"We will now go around the table. Please state your village of origin, who you are representing, and your name." He nodded to the man at his right. Who stood up.
"I'm from the Land of Lightning, representing the Raikage-" Temari zoned out. The meetings were full of tradition, for instance, they needed to state both where they were from and who they were representing. Didn't that go without saying? If I'm from Suna, I represent the Kazekage; if I'm from the Land of Fire, representing the Daimyo of that land. But tradition is tradition and kami forbid we skimp on tradition. Temari realized it was her turn to speak. She stood up and took a moment to look around at all the other faces, some looking at her with contempt, some with lust, some with boredom.
"I come from Sunagakure, representing the Kazekage Gaara no Sabaku; I am Temari no Sabaku, his chief advisor." She sat down as Shikamaru, who sat next to her, stood up.
"I come from Konoha, representing the Hokage Uzumaki Naruto; I am Nara Shikamaru, his chief advisor." Temari furrowed her brow at that. He should have stated himself as Replacement Chief Advisor considering it wasn't actually his post he was just filling it. She would have to ask him about that later.
The names continued, and Temari felt her eyes droop with boredom. She turned her head to her right to observe Shikamaru, and found him sitting there with an extremely disinterested expression on his face. But when she looked closer she saw a look in his eye she had only seen on his face in battle. She looked under the table to see his hands in their famous shape. She always had wondered what that shape did for him, but never gotten around to asking him. There were a lot of things she had never gotten to in respect to him.
"all right then," the official was speaking again. "Let's begin this meeting on the distribution and availability of resources for the shinobi resources. Who would like to start us off?"
"I would," a mousy shinobi wearing glasses piped up. A desk shinobi, someone who no longer got any action but instead dealt with the mountains of paperwork running a village took.
"The Village Hidden in the Waterfall is lacking in grain, we are struggling with supplying our village with enough food without bleeding the surrounding country dry." Another man stood up, this one strong and fit. The Village in the Land of Rice could perhaps assist you; we lack metal ore to forge some of the more specific weapons our shinobi need."
"Well-" Temari was bored. Meetings had a time limit of three hours, and often went over despite that fact. She decided to pass the time by watching Shikamaru. Not that she wasn't paying attention, she was just able to listen and entertain herself at the same time. Grass and Rice were debating some point about trade with Waterfall, and Shikamaru was drinking in every word. I could basically see the wheels turning in his mind, connecting the dots, disconnecting, moving the facts to find the perfect answer. Then his face settled and a faint air of smugness adorned it.
"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen," his smooth voice cut through the rough din of the other delegates. "Perhaps we could arrange a multiple way trade, for instance-" he proceeded to outline a plan that gave everyone what they wanted. The other shinobi sitting there didn't show much emotion, but Temari caught a slight widening of eyes and extra slack in the jaws. "Will the delegates consider this?" He finished his small speech, with the respectful question, which took any air of superiority out of what he had said. The delegates looked slightly stunned for a moment, before the official recovered.
"Representatives, I think Nara-san has presented us with an excellent plan. Are there any who disagree with this plan?" All the heads around the table shook in a universal no. "Very well then. Nara-san, would you be so kind as to draw up a proposal for your plan, and deliver copies to all of us here as soon as it is finished?"
"No problem at all, I'll get right on it." The men murmured in appreciation.
"All right then," the official silenced the muttering. "I declare this meeting adjourned." Chairs were pushed back, and Temari stretched her back, cracking it after the long hours. Shikamaru had a smirk on his face again.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" SHe asked him, worried as to what he'd say.
"Well," he started, the smirk getting smugger by the second. "That wonderful deal which gives everyone what they wants gives Konoha and Suna an increase in trade; since our alliance provides us with almost all materials we could need, we aren't trading with any of the other countries, just selling and making a tidy profit. I essentially gave Konoha a monopoly on our trees, and Suna a monopoly on rock exports." Temari was surprised, but happy. She hadn't noticed it when he was speaking which meant others hadn't either, but it was a very good thing for their villages.
"And? Why do you look so nasty and smuggish?"
"Because, as you heard, I'm supposed to write a position paper. But writing those things is a drag, so I think I'll dictate it and you'll write it." Temari stared at him.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I just got you this awesome deal, your village is now one of the ones on top. I think you owe me so, write the paper while I dictate." Temari growled under her breath. He was right, a monopoly would bring in so much profit that she did owe him. But she hated writing down what someone else was saying, and he knew it.
"Fine, but I'll make your life miserable while we do it." He grinned.
"Wouldn't have it any other way." The two of them began to walk down the halls.
"Are you going to walk me back to my room?"
"It's the gentleman's duty to escort the lady back to her room. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you because you were all defenseless and alone." She laughed.
"Shut up you chauvinistic pig."
"Ah but-" she cut him off knowing what he was about to say.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." The walked in silence for a moment, before Temari remembered her question.
"Why did you introduce yourself as Chief Advisor to the Hokage? Aren't you just a temporary advisor? Shouldn't you have said that?" He was quiet for a minute, then answered.
"Naruto made me his Chief Advisor as soon as he could. He became Hokage about a year ago, but I had my genin team. As soon as they past the exam, he made me his chief advisor. It was pure coincidence that one of the former advisors got sick before we came here." Temari was shocked.
"You made Chief Advisor? Wow. But didn't you say you were delayed because they had to kidnap you?" Shikamaru grimaced.
"I didn't want to go. Chief Advisor or not. Naruto was considering letting me stay home, but when the old man got sick, well, I had to come. Someone has to baby-sit Naruto." Temari took a moment to digest this. She was so used to being ahead of Shikamaru, that the fact that they were equals made her feel uncertain. Not only were they equals, but he had just done a huge favor for her at the meeting, which put him one up on her. They reached her door.
"So," he stood there. "I will leave you here now. Do you know where the library is?" Temari nodded.
"Yeah, I checked it out my first day here.
"Good. There's a private room for each delegation to use, meet me in Konoha's in three hours? Gotta start that paper some time." Temari glared.
"I'll be there, I'll do it. But I'll be very, very, unhappy." He started to walk down the hall, away from her door.
"Goodbye Temari." He called back over his shoulder, before disappearing from sight around a corner. She walked into her suite sighing at the thought of the relaxation she could now indulge in. Suddenly Kana jumped in front of her.
"Temari-sama!" Temari just blinked at her. Kana was much too energetic. This worried Temari.
"Yes Kana?" She asked cautiously. Kana grinned. That was scary. Kana smiled, she didn't grin.
"You got a letter from a runner soon after you left." Now Temari understood why Kana was grinning. Another mysterious message. She walked into her room and over to her desk, catching sight of a paper lying on it.
Dear Temari-san
It was my pleasure to assist you, although I hope I never have to do so again. It was horrible that that man would act that way to you, especially considering your position at this summit, and I have spoken to our host about making sure such a situation never occurs again. I too enjoyed our dance, and found your company refreshing after all the frivolous court ladies who tend to flock about. If you truly wish to know my name I'll share it, but I think you would be better off not knowing who I am. I'm glad you enjoyed my gifts; the mask is an art of my family. I propose another deal. At the end of the summit I will reclaim my mask from you, and you shall then learn my identity. Do you agree?
Best wishes,
Unknown, as named by you.
Temari held the letter, reading it over. The man didn't want to reveal his identity, which meant it was either someone she knew or someone she didn't like. Either was puzzling and complicated. But she would respect his wishes, she owed him that. It seemed she was owing a lot of people at this summit, and it was only the beginning. She sat down at her table, drawing a piece of paper over to her, beginning her reply.
Dear Unknown
Thank you for speaking to our host; such an experience is not a pleasant one. I am honored that you would entrust you mask to me; it will be safe. If you wish for your identity to remain a secret until the conclusion of this summit I will respect your wishes. But perhaps not meeting is no reason not to communicate. I would appreciate any intelligent conversation, and quite frankly you seem like a good source. Could we keep up a correspondence by runner?
Temari no Sabaku.
"Kana?" She called out as she put her pen down. Like a ghost she appeared. "Please give this to a runner, to go to the same person." Kana nodded before taking the letter and leaving. Temari sighed. What was she doing? She was about to engage in most likely political correspondence with a man she knew nothing about. For all she knew she was being manipulated, anything she said could be used against Suna in talks. But for some reason she trusted this man. She just hoped her trust was well placed.