Temari moaned. Her whole body ached! WHAT had she been doing the night before? It was like hangover plus some nasty training with Gaara! She rolled over, and placed a hand on her midsection, feeling some kind of brace there. Her ribs ached and her insides were burning. She turned her head slowly, drinking in her surroundings. The leather couch was unfamiliar; the room she'd never seen before. However, there was a scent that lingered on the coat draped over her body that she recognized.

"Shikamaru?" she murmured.

"Yes?" Temari nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned, too quickly, to see the Nara boy himself standing in the doorway, then groaned at the knives of pain running through her body.

"That's right, you need your medicine," Shikamaru said, alarmed. "Baka..." he muttered to himself. He retrieved the bottle and a glass of water, then helped her to sit up so she could take the pills. Temari, for once, was unquestioning and compliant, due to the pain and her general trust in Shikamaru.

Temari breathed deeply for a few minutes, Shikamaru's arm around her back, supporting her head. He stuffed pillows under her back so she could sit without his help, then backed off. After all, Temari was a proud girl. She shifted slightly, then looked over at him, as he stared with concern at her.

"So why'm I here, Nara?" she asked.

"Can't manage a thank you?" he said with a slight grin. That was Temari; always so quick to the point.

"Sorry if my condition caused me to foget," she shot back.

"Right," he said, the concern returning. "Exactly what happened in the forest before I found you?"

"So you found me?"

"My question first. What happened?"

"Well, I don't remember," Temari started. "I was delivering a message to the hokage...something trivial that Gaara didn't trust to the public ear...and I met someone. I forget exactly what happened, but I know it was a shinobi dressed in black. I was attacked right away, and I tried to fight back, but he caught me off guard somehow and I don't remember anything else." She furrowed her brow, troubled.

"I remember waking up after a while, and I tried to get to Konoha. But it was so cold, I couldn't feel myself, and I tripped. I don't remember anything. The strangest thing, though, now that I think on it, is that he didn't kill me or kidnap me or something. It was just...strange." Temari reclined on the pillows and tried to drive the thoughts from her mind. Even with the medicine, it still hurt too much to think right now.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was disturbed by this information. He was deep in thought when a sigh from Temari brought him back to the present. "Can I get you anything?" he asked. "Something to eat?"

"No, I'm alright." Temari answered. "I don't think I could keep anything down, at the moment."

"That's right, you must still be exhausted!" Shikamaru exclaimed, alarmed. "I'm an idiot; I'll go and leave you alone."

"No, you can stay," Temari said, a slight edge to her voice.

"Hm?" Shikamaru said, questioningly.

"It would be too quiet alone. I just...I don't want to be alone right now." Temari said, curbing the topic.

"Oh...alright. I don't have any other missions, thanks to Sakura's connections with the hokage." Shikamaru sat back down. Temari attempted feebly to remove some of the cumbersome pillows so she could lay down once agian, and, much to her annoyance, she required Shikamaru's help. For once he didn't smirk at her helplessness or make a witty comment.

He got up, sat on the couch by her feet, and tipped his head back. Shikamaru was asleep before Temari. Or so it seemed; he was more watchful than he appeared. He even heard her softly whisper as she drifted off.

"Baka..."