Ch.7:On Perseverance and Murder

Work was, as usual, incredibly irksome. People whined, she snapped, they whined some more, she rolled her eyes, they got mad, she muttered something sarcastic, they stormed off angrily, and then the cycle started all over again with a different person.

Ugh.

Well, at least she'd be off in five – no, wait – nine minutes. Ugh. Life sucked. She raised her hand to her hair and tugged at her ponytail. Almost done. Almost done. Almost fucking done.

"NO! DON'T YOU GET IT!?" Temari shifted her attention immediately to the source of noise. Naruto was currently being yelled at by the loud temperamental pink haired creature. "I. DON'T. LIKE. YOU. I DON'T A CRUSH ON YOU, NARUTO, I CAN BARELY TOLERATE YOU AS IT IS!"

Temari winced almost feeling the pink haired girl's screeches burning her ears. Poor Naruto.

Really, the boy had been nothing but undyingly sweet to Sakura. He was a prince charming if she ever laid eyes on one (not Temari's, because apparently hers was lazy and thought romantic things were troublesome). He needed a nice girl. Temari would suggest Hinata, if she didn't think her brother had a thing for the pale lovely.

Really, she didn't know what she and Gaara were doing, but whatever was between them wasn't a platonic feeling, that was for sure.

There was some more yelling and then the pink one stomped out of the store, Ino in tow.

Temari really didn't mind the pink haired girl. Sakura could be really friendly and nice. She didn't take any crap and knew how to put people in their place. She was a tough bitch, and Temari respected all of those. The problem with Sakura, Temari mused, was the pink haired girl was too focused on appearances and didn't bother to see what was right there for her. Though, given Naruto's unwavering determination, she doubted the blonde boy would ever give up, meaning that Sakura would see the light sooner or later.

Naruto slumped over to her counter.

"That was painful." She said as soon as he was by the counter.

He mustered up enough energy to glare at her.

"What?" She defended. "I was being honest." That was probably the reason she didn't have a lot of friends. She figured only someone as lazy as Shikamaru or as boisterous as Naruto could really put up with her personality. She was completely socially awkward. Especially around females. Girls seemed to have an odd language with codes and signs she would never figure out.

Sakura had once asked her if her hair had been ruined by the wind. The pink haired girl had gone to great lengths to curl her hair up prettily so Sasuke would notice; unfortunately the wind ruined her entire hairdo. "Tell me truthfully." Sakura had said. So Temari did. She told her hair looked like crap. At her statement every girl there turned to look at her with a frosty glare in their eyes. It would appear that "Tell me truthfully" is a carefully coded message which means "Lie at all costs."(1) Of course that didn't seem to be the case all the time, she tested it out once and was given a cold shoulder by the girls for a week. She'd been asked once if an outfit was too reserved. It was, incredibly so, so she lied and said the opposite, apparently that was bad thing to do as well.

Why couldn't be just say what they wanted to hear when they asked a weird question?

Naruto glowered. "You being honest is going to get you into trouble."

"Everything about my personality screams trouble." She snorted. "It's like I've just got a neon 'trouble find me' sign on my chest."

Naruto stared at her. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"You know, I'm not really sure."

He rolled his eyes. Naruto leaned against her counter and buried his head in her hands. He straightened abruptly, his blue eyes staring at her in discovery. "Hey, you're a girl."

"Is it that obvious?" She said dryly.

"What do I do to impress her?"

Temari blinked. "You're barking up the wrong tree, boy-o." She rolled her shoulders about. "I may be a girl, but I don't understand normal females. For that matter, I may as well be a man."

Naruto groaned. "Brilliant." He muttered dryly. "Nothing I do makes a difference to her you know."

She shrugged. "It might one day."

"Hey, kid, we're closing!" Her manager shouted to Naruto.

He stretched up, "Well, I should be going home then."

Temari smiled. "Good luck with her."

He grinned. "I won't give up."

"I know."

The blonde boy streamed out in a flash. She shook her head in amusement. There were very few like that one. Sakura better damn well see that before her real live prince charming left.

"Temari?"

She blinked, drawing herself out of her revere. "Ay?"

"Your shift's over, I'm gonna lock up now." Her boss said to her. "You should get going."

Temari stretched. "About time." Slinging her bag across her chest, Temari happily made her way out of the store (successfully managing not to trip once).

The streets were dark, the only source of light came from the full and shining moon. It was a pretty night, shame it was starless. The squish of wet grass under her feet invaded her senses. She missed the crunch of gravel underneath her feet; the squishy sound of wet grass just wasn't the same. She hummed under her breath not paying any attention to her surroundings; instead she was focused on watching her feet. It was interesting to see the green blades dash up her sneakers.

A low whistle pulled her out of her revere and also sent her falling onto the floor on her face. Temari groaned, grass really shouldn't hurt that much. She pushed herself up amidst annoyed grumbles on her part. As she staggered up, firm fingers clenched around her upper shoulder and pulled her around. Temari's eyes widened in apprehension and she pulled back on instinct, but the man's hands were holding on to her too tightly.

"Where do you think you're going, butterfly?" The man before her grinned wolfishly.

Temari tried pulling away again, only to find his grip had tightened. The man's other hand seemed to find its way to her hip.

She didn't have time to think, she simply acted on pure instinct. She kicked furiously at him and screamed loudly, "LET GO OF ME! IF YOU DON'T LET ME GO I WILL PERSONALLY REARRANGE YOUR FACE UNTIL—"

The man pushed her roughly against the wall and covered her mouth. "Shut the fuck up."

Oh, shit. She was going to – to…damn! She had just watched a stupid documentary with Gaara on this nonsense and she didn't bother to learn a single thing from it. He had her pinned, and this was bad, and oh…this was so bad. A horrible fear settled in the pit of her stomach. She had never thought something like this would ever happen to her.

She continued to squirm and tried hard to punch him, but he had her very well restrained.

Men weren't supposed to be this strong!

Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest and she was scared beyond compare. Temari squeezed her eyes shut and kept trying to find a way out.

Bad.

Bad.

So very bad.

She felt her clothes being torn and painful pressures on her skin. She was sure she'd just been cut. Soon she felt cool metal against her forehead. "Stop moving, butterfly."

Temari froze, her eyes flicking open for a brief second she noticed a gun.

She would hate the word 'butterfly' for the rest of her life.

However short that might be.

Suddenly she felt the man's presence depart from her own, but she was far too scared and weak to open her eyes. There was the sound of a scuffle, then –

BANG!

Temari twitched and shrank further into herself at the sound of the gunshot. She breathed heavily – wait! Why could she still breathe? Why could…?

She wasn't dead.

She wasn't dead.

Temari opened her eyes only to be greeted with the shadow of a man crumpled on the floor and the shadow of another man standing over that one. She sank to the floor in despair, before a wave of nausea hit her.

She wasn't dead yet.

Then everything went black.

"Oh!" A high pitched feminine voice moaned in worry. "You're going to go to jail!" She sounded agitated and worried.

Another voice, male this time, sighed in annoyance. "Ino, he's not going to jail."

"He shot someone!" She defended.

A different male voice but in. "Said someone was trying to rape her." This voice sounded angry. And very, very familiar…

"Yeah, Yamanaka. Besides, he's rich, he won't go to jail. He can buy his way out of the system." Another voice, feminine, added.

"Oh, shut it. That doesn't always work." The high voice spat.

The other feminine voice huffed. "Well, still, it's not like he killed someone good, this guy was a ba—"

"I didn't kill anyone." The angry voice defended.

"Yeah," the other male voice snorted, "you only put him in the hospital in which he's in a comatose state the doctors suspect he'll never recover from."

"Point that I'm trying to make," the feminine voice (not the high pitched one) continued, "is that no court will send him to trial for killing-shooting-whatever a bad guy who tried to rape a sweet innocent—" she stopped abruptly. "Okay, so maybe not sweet and innocent, but…a young virg—she is a virgin right?"

"As far as I know." A new gravely voice commented.

"She'd better be a virgin." A new loud and obnoxious voice butt in. "I don't want to think about my sister doing that with anyone."

Then a loud slew of interconnected yet separated arguments commenced.

"So, no court," the feminine voice repeated over the noise, "would convict him of shooting a guy who tired to rape a young, promising, virgin girl."

"Oh, would you—" The high pitched voice began.

"I-I-I th-think she's c-coming t-to." A different voice stuttered.

Temari groaned audibly as her head pounded horribly. What was with all the noise? And what were they talking about?

"Temari?" The raspy voice asked.

With an extreme amount of effort she managed to open her eyes. Ugh, her eyelids were so heavy. The shapes before her were a bit blurry; she couldn't quite figure out where she was or with whom except that this seemed to be a rather crowded room. "Ugh…"

"Hey, porcupine."

Porcupine? What? There was a good degree of blurryish shapes crowded around her that she couldn't quite distinguish save for the fact that she knew she should know who they were. The one to her left had blood red hair. Beside him was a pale blue-haired girl. Next to that one was a pale long-haired guy very similar to the girl. There was a brunette with her hair pulled up into two very neat buns. Then a lanky boy with hair in a ponytail. Lastly, there was a skinny blonde.

"'The hell? Who are all these people?"

The lanky one raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

She raised a hand to her head. "I…" Temari rubbed it carefully. Oh…Suddenly the shapes started making sense. "Of course I know who you are." She snapped. "Gaara; Bluey;" Temari named them starting from her left, she pointed at the long haired pale one, "okay, you I don't know;" she continued with the one next to him, "Tidbit; Shikamaru; and Blondie." She dropped her hand to her side and sat up. "Why you all are here? In fact," she muttered, taking in her surroundings, "where is here?" The room was very white and…sterile looking.

"Hospital." Ino pronounced her tone a bit higher than Temari remembered it to be.

"Hospi—oh, crap!" Flashes of the night's events passed through her mind at record speed. "What—what?..."

"You'd fainted," Shikamaru clarified slowly, "after I shot the guy."

"Shot the…shot the…Oh, thank goodness, nothing happened then." Temari breathed out in relief, elation and gratitude resounding from within her. She dropped back onto the bed in relief. "I fucking love you, Shikamaru."

"Oy!" A different voice exclaimed; Temari didn't have to lift her head to know who it was, only Kankurou could be that loud and annoying. "That better not be a real declaration of love."

Gaara snorted. "Why is that a problem?"

"Because she's our sister." Kankurou muttered indignantly.

Tenten, who was sitting on the foot of her bed, was jumping about in nervous energy, "Yeah, but the lazy bum just saved her ass. If anyone's deserving of that bitch's affections I would say it's him."

"Excuse me?" Temari grumbled in protest, "I'm not…okay maybe I am a little bit of a bitch."

"For curiosity's sake," the long haired pale one said, "was it a real declaration of love?"

"She's delusional; she can't answer that question honestly at the moment." A new voice said in irritation.

"Sasuke!" Ino crooned.

Naruto, Gaara, Kankurou, Neji, and Tenten groaned in unison.

"When did Naruto get here?" Temari mumbled sitting up again to be greeted with Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Lee and a robust boy. "And the rest of you too…"

"A second ago." Naruto supplied.

"Ugh." Temari rubbed at her head again. "Can we pause for a second?" She pointed at the tall long-haired one, "Who are you?" She then pointed to the robust boy, "And who are you?"

Shikamaru nodded at the tall one. "Neji." Then another nod at the robust boy, "And Chouji."

"Oh…Okay…Why are you here?" Temari frowned. "Why is everyone here? I didn't even know we were friends."

Tenten clutched her heart in mock hurt. "Now that pains me, Temari, of course we're your friends. You only give us such pretty terms of endearment like Tidbit and Bluey. How can we not be your friends?" She grinned.

Temari stared blankly at the group of people around her bed. "You all think I'm weird."

"You are weird." Sakura responded.

"Doesn't mean we don't like you." Ino clarified.

"I mean, hell," Naruto continued, "if we can put up with a lazy bum like Shikamaru we sure as hell can put up with you."

"You've made him less lazy too." Chouji added.

"We should be friends with you for that alone." Neji finished.

Temari blinked. "Your friendship dynamics are weird if you can continue a sentence like that as if it were one long processed thought of the whole."

"It c-comes wi-with living in a sm-small town." Hinata stuttered softly.

"Do rapists?" Temari grumbled.

"Only you could get into trouble like that in a village this harmless and this small." Shikamaru muttered with eyes rolling.

She collapsed onto the bed. "I'm tired."

"So go to sleep, girl." Tenten harrumphed.

"Kind of hard with a crowd of people clustered around my bed."

"Get used to it, sister," Tenten said, "this ain't changing."

She pulled the sheets over her head. "Weirdoes, I swear!"

"Shikamaru," Ino whined, "you're girlfriend is fucking bizarre!"

"I have to be," Temari exclaimed into the bed sheets, "to date him!"

"She's got a point." Tenten stated.

Hinata giggled.

"Alright," Gaara interrupted, "this room is too crowded; I'll be back when it's emptier. Later, Temari."

"Take someone with you, will you?" Temari asked through the sheets.

Hinata squeaked a bit and through the sheets Temari could see her brother's fingers wrapped around her fragile wrist pulling her out of the room.

"Bye, Temari." Hinata said timidly as she was pulled out the room.

"I'll be leaving too, I have to work." Neji said, "and to appease you, Temari, I'll take Lee with me."

Temari smiled against the white sheets pulled over her head.

"I'm out too." Kankurou said.

"Take someone with you!" She reminded.

There was an annoyed sigh and then a loud squeal. "Hey! Put me down!" Tenten complained. Temari pulled the sheets off her head to look at the scene. Kankurou had Tenten thrown over her back and she was pounding her fists against his back. "Put me down!"

"Bye, Tenten!" Temari grinned.

"Hey! Tell your brother to put me down!"

She kept complaining loudly even after he'd taken her out of the room.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino crooned, "do you want to take me out to dinner?"

"No way, Ino-pig! He's taking me!" Sakura defended.

"Sakura-chan, I'll take you to dinner." Naruto said.

After ten minutes worth of arguing, Naruto, Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and Chouji left for dinner. Chouji was only added in so it couldn't be classified a 'date'. Of course Chouji didn't care about that, he just seemed happy to leave to eat.

Leaving only her and Shikamaru in the room.

Temari relaxed comfortably against her bed. "Good, everyone's gone."

"Oh, so I don't count?" Shikamaru asked.

"Mm…not really. You're you."

He stretched out on the bed beside her.

"Hey!" Temari complained, if only for the sake of complaining; she didn't mind him lying beside her so much. "You shouldn't be lying down on my bed."

"Meh." He mumbled, eyes closed. "I shouldn't do a lot things."

Temari kicked him, or attempted to through the sheets.

She watched his lips tug up into a smile.

With an angry huff she turned on her side away from him and buried her head in her pillow.

Shikamaru chuckled lightly. "You get angry far too easily."

"It's really easy when you're as annoying as you are." Temari turned around abruptly as an odd smell invaded her senses.

She turned to see Shikamaru with a cigarette in his mouth, smoke billowing out. She leant closer sniffing the grey smoke. His eyes flicked open and looked at her speculatively. She turned her head to the side, blushing a bit under his scrutiny. "Smoking is bad for you." She grumbled, even though she desperately wanted to edge closer to get a better scent of the smoke.

Temari couldn't believe she actually liked the scent.

Well, that automatically trashed her as the lead of just about any play. Female leads, in anything, did not like the smell of dangerous and murderous habits as such.

"I don't particularly care."

"Figures you wouldn't."

"Do you want me to put it out?"

No. "Yes." Jeez, she was just a contradictory thing wasn't she? It's no wonder she'd never had a boyfriend before. Fantasizing and never saying what she meant, fantastic.

He complied, but smirked at her. "You're not as good of a liar as you think."

"Excuse me?" She asked a bit offended. "I don't lie."

"Now," he began, his eyes scanning her in mirth, "that's what you said to me awhile ago, and while I do think you don't lie to please certain people or fit into social circles, I think you do lie. You tell people what you honestly think and feel only when it doesn't…inversely affect your pride."

"I am not—"

"For example, I don't think you're all that bothered by my smoking at all."

She scowled. "It's a filthy habit."

"Oh, really? I saw your face when you smelled the smoke."

Temari crossed her arms over her chest and turned on her side again. Stupid, intelligent, perceptive male. "Jackass." She grumbled.

She felt his hands around her waist and then she was being turned over. She squealed loudly as he lifted her into the air turning them both around so she was flat on her back looking up and he was over her his hands resting on the bed on either side of her head. He ducked his head low, his lips hovering above her own.

"Am I really a jackass, Temari?" He smirked. "You just can't admit you're a big fat liar, can you? Admit you like my smoking."

"Fuck yo—"

His lips crashed onto her own. "You shouldn't be so foul."

"Shut up." She squirmed a bit underneath him. "You should be too lazy to do something this troublesome." When he was kissing her she felt her entire body shake in an odd flurry of delight and anxiety. She still wasn't sure if that was good thing or a bad thing. It was losing control, but in possibly the nicest way.

"Hmph! When I met you I signed up for a heap-load of trouble." He whispered, his breath sliding across her skin. "While I'm wasting this much energy I might as well go all the way, right?"

Temari scoffed. "You just keep proving me wrong, you know that? It's frankly quite irritating."

He grinned down at her. "Oh, really?"

"At first, I just thought you were a normal guy. Then I thought you were a villain. Now, you're making me think you're prince charming." She paused. "Of course, I doubt prince charming smokes cigarettes." She frowned. "See! You're confusing the order of things!"

"Well, let me clear it up." His lips slid into a widened smile that made Temari's inside squirm pleasantly. "Are you a princess or a villain?"

"I'm the commoner that wishes she could be the princess but never really gets a good part in the story."

He chuckled lightly. "Then I'm the lazy knight who doesn't give a damn and surely doesn't get a part in the story, because his part tied to a troublesome maiden that isn't written, but surely happens."

"Let me guess, Ino is the maiden."

He rolled his eyes at her. "You are unbelievable, you know that?"

"Glad to hear that."

He rolled off her with a laugh, lying beside her again.

Temari couldn't say she thought this position was preferable to their previous one.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Peachy. My boyfriend just rolled me around my hospital bed and neglected to deny the accusation I made that Ino was his fair maiden. I'd say I'm feeling fantastic wouldn't you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Would it please you for me to deny such a ridiculous accusation? I figured it was stupid enough that it didn't merit a response."

"Tenten says Ino dated you once."

"I believe she also mentioned something about her doing it only for my money."

"Oh? And how would you know that? Were you spying on me?" She questioned suspiciously.

"I don't need to. This village is small, anything and everything you do gets around." He yawned. "But the reason I know is because it's Tenten. She wouldn't mention Ino without mentioning her motives."

"You really like avoiding talking about that don't you." She pointed out a little bitterly. She didn't want to come off bitter, she just felt it.

"I didn't take you for the jealous type."

She sighed. "I'm not. I just…I want to know. Is it really such a bad thing that it bothers me that you don't want to talk about it?"

He closed his eyes.

Temari sighed. She rolled over onto her side, this time facing him, and closed her eyes. She really was tired and this conversation wasn't going anywhere. She might as well sleep.

She woke up a little later her face buried in some green cloth. She grumbled a bit and punched her pillow – it wasn't very squishy now was it? Stupid hospitals. She buried her face further into the green pillow trying to find herself a comfortable position.

Temari blinked as she felt her pillow squeeze her – well hug her would probably be a more accurate verb. She lifted her head and immediately regretted doing so. "Oh, crap." She dropped her face back down into the 'pillow'.

She felt her pillow, AKA Shikamaru Nara, shake with laughter.

"You're funny."

"Shut up." She mumbled into his chest. She tried to detach herself from him, only to find his hands around her waist holding her very tightly to him. "…You mind letting me go?"

"Actually, I would mind very much."

She blushed and settled onto his chest. "Weirdo."

"Like you're not enjoying it." He whispered into her ear.

"Doesn't mean you're not a weirdo." She grumbled. "Hey, you smell like smoke."

"While you were sleeping I had a cigarette."

"Oh." She tried to subtly inhale the lovely smell.

"I knew you liked the smell."

Although apparently, not subtle enough.

She could feel him hesitating.

"Go ahead, ask away."

"…You are okay, right? I mean you're not…Not…"

"We're very eloquent right now, Mr. Nara." She teased. Temari looked up at him.

He scowled down at her. "I'm trying to—"

"I am fine." She answered seriously. "Nothing happened, so there's nothing to be freaked about."

"Nothing happened?" He whispered sharply, accusatorily.

Temari saw the brief flicker of anger in his eyes immediately. "A few bruises aren't a big deal."

"It—"

"My father had hurt me before worse than that guy did."

His eyes softened. "…Your father?"

She hesitated. "Yeah. Jackass to the end. A real jackass, not the kind I accuse you of being." She snuggled into his embrace. "It's easier to understand if you – well, if you know Gaara's story."

He nodded. "Hn."

Temari scowled. "You're too accepting of a person."

He raised an eyebrow. "And that's a bad thing?"

"It makes me look bad."

He laughed. "You're absolutely ridiculous."

"That! That too! You call me funny and ridiculous! That's making me look ditzy."

"You are not ditzy, just absurd."

She narrowed her eyes. "It might just be the paranoia talking but you make that sound worse."

"It's endearing."

"To a freak."

"Well, I'm a freak so it works."

"Ano…T-T-Tem-mari…"

Temari tried to crane her head in the direction of the voice by the door entrance, but found with the way she was currently laying and the tightness which Shikamaru was holding her, that was impossible.

Shikamaru smirked.

Temari itched to slap that smug look off his face.

"Hello, Hinata." Shikamaru said politely.

"Gaara wishes to sp-speak with you if you…ano…aren't…busy…"

"You're stuttering less." Shikamaru said before Temari could respond.

That was less? Jeez, how much did this girl normally stutter? "I would, if this idiot would get his hands off of me!" She complained.

Shikamaru sighed. "If you insist." His hands released their grip on her.

"Hey, wait!" She complained promptly, her hands pulling his back. "I didn't insist at all!"

Hinata giggled softly.

Shikamaru smirked.

"Oh, everyone shut your traps." She grumbled.

A new laugh sounded out nice and low. "Wow, Temari, who knew giving you a boyfriend would turn you into a slopping sucker."

"Shut up, Gaara." She would know his voice anywhere. "You and Bluey seem to be getting pretty close."

Temari instantly felt cheated because she could not see either party's reaction.

Shikamaru promptly fixed that. "Hinata's as red as a tomato. I think she might faint soon. Gaara looks disturbed; he's blushing a bit too. It's barely noticeable but it's there." He whispered into her ear.

"I knew it." Temari said haughtily.

"Nara, can I speak with you?"

Shikamaru's hands left her waist again. "Sure thing, Gaara."

"You're not going to say or do something stupid to him are you?" Temari complained, rolling over onto her back so she could see Gaara, Hinata, and Shikamaru.

"Not me." Gaara smirked. "Kankurou might."

"If he does, punch him for me. No wait, better yet, get Tenten to punch him for me. She'll knock him into next week."

Gaara and Shikamaru simultaneously rolled their eyes.

Temari stuck her tongue out at them.

Odd didn't even begin to describe this situation.

A/N: YES! My tests are over!

I'm so happy. Well, I can finally get back to writing. You don't know how much torture it was for me to prohibit myself from writing for two weeks. I wanted to die. I was so tired last week, studying is harder than it sounds. (This was the first time I've ever really studied for anything)

Well, anywho, tell me what you think!

(1)"The Sweet Far Thing" Libba Bray. Something Gemma says about girls and proper etiquette. Also had to do with hair.