I am in a bit of a rush to get things done before my break is over, so I only scanned over this once for mistakes. Feel free to point any out to me if you find some. ^^

Thanks to my beautiful reviewers again! 3

Chapter 3: Saved by thy Shakespeak.

I groaned, rubbing the back of my head and trying to gather my senses back through bleary eyes. My sense of time was completely messed up; I was utterly unaware of how much time had passed.

But, as it turns out, that was the least of my problems.

I was alone. Everyone, everything... just up and vanished. What had happened to them, after I had been so bluntly torn from the realm of consciousness?

I swiftly scanned the scene. There was no blood. No signs of trouble. I was quick to assume the weather around here had swept all evidence away, along with the sand. "Damn, desert wind..." I grumbled, not surprised to find my mouth deathly parched.

With shaking knees, I attempted to stand, but I was failing miserably. Water, my body cried out to me, water. Vainly, I searched again for anything that was not rock or sand, but what I had found instead made me think I had started hallucinating.

A stray camel, wearing large packs upon his back, along with a symbol I could not recognize; clearly not of Konoha origin. He seemed to be eyeing me from a distance, chewing calmly, as if questioning my actions.

I couldn't be bothered with where he came from, or whom he belonged to. All I cared to register was that this was my last ticket to live. Though questioning his existence out loud would mean certain, brutal death in these times: if a there was an all-mighty deity watching over all living beings as puppets, he seemed to have developed reason to not cut my strings away from me.

I gave up on walking all together, and dropped to my stomach, which immediately squirmed with discomfort against the unrealistic heat. Sand particles seemed to take this as a welcome sign to invade my mouth. Fortunately for them, I hadn't enough saliva to spit them out.

Pinching my mouth shut as to prevent anymore unwelcome visitors, I determinedly drug myself painfully through the searing dunes over to the animal. One forearm over the other, remember to breath, and repeat... Left, right, left, right... I was perspiring more than I ever had in my entire life, using up what little water I had left in my system.

With my last bursts of strength, I thrust myself onto the camel's reign, and clung for dear life. I could no longer feel my lengthy legs, let alone stand on them.

The camel gazed at me, bewildered. After a few more blinks, and a light sniffing of my scalp, he seemed to catch on, and took to dragging me himself across this abyss of death.

Or at least, that's what I had thought he'd been doing, but was not impossible I could have imagined it. I was in such a dreamlike state by that time; I could no longer feel the sun singe my skin, or blind my eyes. The rough, scratching feeling I felt in my throat as I gasped for breath. I could just barely feel the raking of the golden grains across my back, and the resulting sand pooling about my feet, telling me I was indeed moving.

Hours had melted into centuries under this God-forsaken heat, and it only seemed to grow hotter as the day continued. Even with a hazy mind, I was still capable of calculating that it was nearly noon. The knowledge only brought on more dread. The midday sun was bound to be the least merciful of all the sun's positions.

Very slowly I could feel the desert drinking my strength away, as if it was a thirsty traveler, and I was water that it had chanced upon.

The pain multiplied as my cranium came in contact with a large stone. I hissed through gritted teeth. Was this camel trying to kill me, after I was already half-dead?

I cracked open my eyes, which I'd been squeezing shut for the past two hours or so, to find the beast peering over what appeared to be a neatly stacked collection of rocks. A stony man-made creation, more accurately. It soon became obvious that the structure was too tall for me to be drug over... so why didn't the camel trudge around it?

Over tempted by curiosity, and what might have been hope, I gripped the course surface of the obstacle, grunting in pain as I pulled myself up its wall. But, as fate would have it, I wasn't given the opportunity to find the camel's center of attention.

"Sir? Are you..." familiar, deadly gorgeous teal eyes narrowed with realization, "You."

At that point in time, I knew exactly why said deity kept me alive: to watch me suffer.

She spat at me in disgust, "Who do you think you are? You fucking followed me here, didn't you?! And you stole a camel too!"

I winced, not used to hearing such foul language emitted from a woman. Putting that aside though, I couldn't help but noticing she had a very odd way of talking. I had yet to hear her parrot the proper phrases of 'thou' or 'thee'. Pointing that out to her at that very moment, however, wouldn't have been the wisest on my part. And I was one too many feet into the grave already at that point.

Though, another point of interest made itself known as well, given the previous statement. How was I out here, half-dead, and she's perfectly fine? Not only this, but she knew the camel was not mine. She must have recognized the symbols it wore.

Using my voice brought tears to my eyes, but I muscled, like a true man, through the hoarse clawing against my throat as the air passed, and rasped in a plea to her, "My lady, prithee, I meant not to anger thee. Nay, I hath naught followed ye here. Thou see-"

She was having none of that. The woman didn't show an inkling of mercy, even after hearing my sand-paper like voice. "First of all, I am not your 'lady', and I never will be," she reprimanded venomously, "And another thing, drop the damn accent! It's giving me a headache."

Accent? If anyone here had an accent, it wasn't me. Or the camel. Though, when I put my mind to it, it made sense. Foreigners would always sound funny to the natives, and vice versa. But... did that mean she was a native in this awful place? I was only logical, given how well she survived out here, alone.

She seemed to notice his momentary confusion, even if it had a span of half a second. This woman, she was definitely an intelligent one. "Fucking hell, you don't even know you have it, do you?" she scowled at me. Oh yes, she was a very cunning little vixen. Perhaps I'd met my match...

Or had I?

The blonde-haired seductress eyed me, obviously angry with my lack of response. She growled, "You know what? To hell with this. I've warned you once, pretty-boy, and no one is special enough to be warned again. This ends now!" With this, she moved to lunge at me.

"Wait!" I cried, the volume tore at my throat, "How about a wager?" I had to act quickly. While a regular woman giving me a death threat would have been simply laughed off, this one certainly meant business. And, if I assumed correctly, which I always do, she wouldn't be able to resist a challenge.

She stopped herself with amazing speed and grace. "A wager?" her eyes narrowed, driving me crazy with how it made my heart beat, mainly because I was unsure if it was fear or something much worse. "What do you have in mind?"

Perfect. Still undefeated in assumptions.

I gulped cringing inwardly as I asked, "May I have some water, first?"

With a roll of those teal eyes, she groaned, "Fine, make it quick."

I was about to ask her for some of hers, but I quickly realized how moronic that would be. She probably would've handed it to me, if she wanted to 'make it quick'. Perhaps she thought there was some within the camel's pouches.

With actively throbbing pain, I pulled myself to look at my life-saver. What I saw surprised the hell out of me. He was drinking out of a bucket suspended from the stone structure I was propped up against.

He had taken me to a well.

I could've kissed him, but I played it off, hopefully convincingly, as knowing the well was there all along. He finished upon seeing me find the bucket, and backed off calmly. At once, I took the bucket and chugged down the remaining contents. At this point, I didn't mind swapping spit with a camel.

I felt rejuvenated almost immediately. It was almost like I had been reborn. Happily gasping for air, now that it no longer hurt my throat, I panted, "Grammarcy, m-" I stopped myself before finishing 'my lady'. Old habits die hard.

"I told you to quit that." She huffed, "Oh never mind, it's not like you can teach an old tree-hugger new tricks. Just get on with it, already!"

Tree hugger? That must have been slang from where she came from for Konohians, I figured. I supposed it made a bit of sense. "Yes..." I paused, searching for a word for her, just as my mother had not too long ago... "Ma'am." I settled on. As the water returned to my brain, so did my vast intellect. "I notice thou art a clever woman," I state, as both a fact and an attempt at sweet-talking persuasion, "How about a battle of wits?"

She smirked, her eyes sparkling gems, "Go on,"

"I'll giveth thee a riddle. Thou mayeth answer once. If thou answer correctly, thou art free to slaughter me as ye wish. If not, thou wilt lead me back to thy village, whilst causing nay harm to me." I finished, coaching myself: If there was one thing I was best at, it was this.

"Fair enough," she holds an air of superiority, "I accept." In the most grotesque action I have ever witnessed a woman to perform; I watched as the she-devil spat on her hand and held it out to me in expectation.

I could easily identify what she wanted me to do, but my own hand was strictly against it. It must be traditional, where she came from... if all of their women do it... It's not like she's making you sign something with your blood, I told myself, it's no big deal. Braving mysophobia, I repeated her actions and took her hand in mine.

I had wanted to hold it, but never like this.

With a single shake she seemed satisfied and withdrew her hand to wipe it on her dress, the same white one from before, but now obviously tattered and worn. How feminine. I was grateful, however, when I mirrored her action, and wiped the loogie onto my trousers. "Okay," she demanded, "Let's hear it then."

I nodded, feeling more confident myself, "What force and strength cannot get through, with a gentle touch can do. And many in the street would stand, were I not a friend at hand. What am I?"

The woman still looked proud enough, and if I had not unmistakably heard her teeth grit against one another, she would have had me convinced.

I was grateful to know I had stumped for, for at least that time being, but I almost wanted to tell her to stop, as to not chip on of her pretty teeth.

Good Lord, what was she doing to me? I'd never been this... cheesy.

She had put up a good poker-face for a while, before she finally melted under puzzlement. Her brows knitted together, and she turned her face from me to mutter a 'tsk' at the ground. She bit her lip too, like the night in his room. That must be her tell, I figured, the one sign of nervousness or bluffing...

But that didn't make it any less, for lack of better terms, hot.

That reminded me...

I took this time to turn back to the well, and reel down the bucket to fill it with water again. Building wells in the middle of deserts... well I suppose they had to get water, somehow. As he was reeling the promisingly heavy bucket back up, I noticed a large stone cover to match with the circular design of the well. That would explain how too much sand, or animals, didn't get into the water... of course, that wouldn't stop the sand from burying the thing completely.

Making a mental note to put the lid back on top, I reached for my fresh bucket of water and promptly threw its contents onto my face. It was absolutely amazing. If I was a raison before, now I was back to being a grape. I was tempted to release my own hair from its low ponytail and shake it free, but I did not in fear of loosing the leather band...

I glanced back at her to just nearly miss catching her looking at me. She turned away quickly, her lip still caught in her teeth. Her hair was no longer up at all; it appeared like she had rid it of all of its pins and bands that had been previously forced upon her. It now framed her face in a wild mess of gold. I absent mindedly wandered if she usually kept it down.

Finally, she answered, in just the slightest falter in her voice (which would have been undetectable to the normal ear), "An invitation."

I had to refrain from sighing in relief.

She was indeed a clever one, and lord she was close, but I knew the ways of wordplay much better than she. Judging by the bitterness rising in her eyes, she had figured this out quickly, as well.

Trying to look not too smug, I corrected her, "A key."

"Well, shit." She cursed without hesitation.

Again with the foul language. She was probably enough to make the drunkards of Konoha blush... before they moved to 'put her back in her place.'

Without another word, the teal-eyed woman snatched up the camel's lead and began marching off in her direction of choice. After replacing the heavy stone with a burst of energy I hadn't known I had, I hopelessly bounded, and unevenly, after her. This woman was so ruthless...

Her lack of pity I could easily handle though, as I was an experienced veteran in that department, thanks to my wonderful mother. Though, there was one thing that was really bothering me (that didn't involve purely physical matters of the 'maiden')...

I didn't know her name.

It was safe to assume she knew where she was going, but I knew she wouldn't come forth with the information I desired upfront if I asked for it. No, I needed to weasel it out of her. "Ma'am," her back straitened at the sound of my voice, most likely in anger. I had taken to walking behind her, for multiple reasons, "Forgive me for being an ass," This one obviously wasn't sensitive like the women at home, to whom he was grateful for the use of profanity only, "But upon my ears thy kingdom's name had naught been laid."

She grumbled in response, without looking back towards me, "You'll see when we get there. You know, you're awful lucky I can understand what you're saying. To a less perceptive mind you'd be singing Latin."

For this, I had to eye her appreciatively (in an more civil way than before). Though they were meant as insults, and she was speaking with her own odd accent, to hear a woman speak in such an educated manner was unheard of, back home. I probably should've stopped comparing them so much.

They are no where near alike.

"Yes, ma'am," I made sure to keep up with the ma'am ordeal. She was sure to hate the word in a matter of seconds. "Then, might I inquire how far away we be?"

"We are-" she snapped, seemingly correcting my 'accent', "- a few days away. Four at most..."

We walked in a comfortable silence for a minute or so after this. I could feel her mind unconsciously falling for my 'trap'.

After such contemplation was over, I received what I had been prodding for the whole time, "Temari," she sniffed stiffly, "My name is Temari."

"Temari," I repeated. It tasted of foreign spices on my tongue, somewhat how I imagined her skin would... In an attempt to stop myself from fantasizing (it would be the death of me), I offered her mine, as well, "I'm Shikamaru."

I could see her smirk, even if I couldn't truly see her face. She was inwardly laughing about how Konohian my name was.

Too bad she wouldn't have laughed out loud. I would've loved to hear it.

The rest of the day's travel was walked in silence. I mostly spent this time trying to avert my eyes from her luscious curves, and studying the sand to my side instead. She was certainly a forbidden fruit, if there had ever been one.

This went on until the sun began setting. The air had begun to cool down, which I was grateful for.

For the first time since we'd set off for her destination, Temari looked back at me. "We'll rest here, for the night." She spoke with finality, motioning over to one of the large rocks we'd been walking past.

I was confused, for a moment. We would be sleeping on a rock?

Upon closer inspection, I found a hole in the surface, one that wouldn't have been discovered by someone who hadn't been looking for it... or hadn't already known of its presence.

After tying the down camel, whom had already slunk down to rest on his stomach, Temari carefully ducked inside, scanning the ground for, I assumed, scorpions, snakes, and the like.

I cautiously climbed in after her, also looking for any dangerous critters who had already claimed the cave as their own. Though, I wasn't quite sure what I would have done if I had found one.

Temari, looking satisfied, gracefully slid onto and stretched out on the floor, like a tigress preparing for a catnap.

She took no notice to my questioning gaze. Or at least, she hadn't shown she had. After her lead, I too, although far less graciously, slunk the floor and prepared myself for resting.

Hopefully, she had meant 'resting' as in sleeping, and not sitting/laying for a while before moving again.

Saying I could really use the rest would be an understatement. It wasn't everyday someone was knocked out, and dragged through the desert by a smelly, spitting brute, only to bump into the one person whom held the most hate for them.

Not that I was complaining.

We laid there for a while, a spacious distance apart; me on my back, and her on her side, back facing me. Her breathing pattern told me she wasn't asleep... just ignoring me.

Temari was quite the master at that.

I dozed in the now comfortable temperature, at first, joyful that I'd finally be able to sleep knowing that I'd definitely wake up alive afterwards.

But, as my luck would always have it, the temperature decreased rapidly as the sun fell.

It didn't take long before my skin broke out in goosebumps, and my muscles involuntarily began to shiver. The natural reactions to being cold.

Perhaps it was natural, as well, to feel the need to shift towards emitters of heat, to retain some of my own. Then again, my body could be looking for excuses to fondle the vixen who relaxed nearby.

Either way, it seemed to agree that cuddling up to the camel outside was not going to happen. If I wanted Temari to gain any respect for me at all, I'd better not openly make myself into a joke. Though, if I wanted respect from her, I'd better show her some myself as well.

By Konoha's standards, I was quite the gentleman. Chauvinism was very popular in these times, and the kingdom of Konoha was no exception... save for the lack of respect for women.

Anyway, this being said, I wasn't about to spoon up against her without saying a word to her. Hell knows I wouldn't have gotten away with it, anyway.

Shifting to my side, I stared at her back with pleading eyes, hoping she'd mention something about body heat herself. Then they'd scoot closer until they were touching, and then awkwardly rejoice in the warmth.

It wasn't long before it became apparent she wasn't going to utter a word. I pushed myself to prod, "Art thou naught cold?"

She chirped clearly, crisply, "Not at all."

I quietly huffed. She was determined to shut me out. Turn me down. She was probably used to the freezing temperatures of the desert at night, anyway. The woman would have no trouble getting to sleep under such conditions. She probably had already, several nights before she had found him at the well. Chances are she was just waiting for me to fall asleep first, before she trusted me enough to sleep as well.

I rolled to my other side, my back facing her own. It was a lost cause.

That night, I learned how cold the desert could really be.

For those of you that caught it, in the last chapters comments, I apologize for the terrible pun. I meant it to be a hint, but that was a serious question, and thank you to the person whom answered it. :)

Those who've been wanting more action will finally be pleased in the upcoming chapters. Ones who specifically want more Shikamaru-Temari interaction will probably love chapter 4. ;)

That'll be all for now!