Here's the next chapter even though it's a short one. Enjoy. Thanks for the reviewers and the readers.
Hearing a noise, Temari jerked her eyes away from Shikamaru and slumped her shoulders backwards in utter relief when she saw a very unique color that would only belong to the Medic Nin Sakura. She blinked twice just to make sure. Tears dripped from her eyes, and astonished she felt the wetness stain her cheeks. She smiled with sudden hope lit within her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're here," Temari greeted in a husky voice as tears leaked from her eyes. She wanted to wipe her eyes, but seeing as she still had blood on her hands, Temari decided to avoid doing so. A cooling gentle wind blew through her gold strands of hair as if for reassurance.
Sakura blinked her emerald green eyes and was alarmed to see how utterly helpless Temari looked sitting in the grass while one hand hesitatingly caressed Shikamaru's warm cheek. Brushing aside her alarm, pink-haired Sakura hastily spoke calm comforting to Temari while all the while checking Shikamaru's worsening condition. Sakura spared a quick glance at the captive, but decided to leave it up to her teammates who were eying him with distaste and disgust.
"Is Shikamaru going to be all right?" Naruto blurted out in concern as he flinched at the sight of the large wound in his friend's side. Naruto was strong and brave, but he felt helpless in the current situation and he didn't like it. He was proud of Sakura being able to be such a good medic, since it was apparently obvious, that he wouldn't be able to handle it himself.
"Sakura," Sasuke prompted, when Sakura failed to respond as chakra glowed around her hand. Sasuke had his hands in his pocket and didn't want to admit that he was worried as well. Fighting a person was a lot different than fighting against death. He glared at the captive, wondering what could have happened to get Shikamaru in such a frenzy, that he didn't even bother to gather any others to help out. And then when Sasuke caught sight of the Kazekage's sister, he realized it was because of her and he smirked. He would have done the same.
With her healing chakra, Sakura placed it around the edges of the wound and curved it bit by bit inwardly towards the middle. She wished she had time to properly treat his injury, but first she need to close it as much as possible to stop most of the worst bleeding. Patience was a big part of tending to a patient and Sakura knew that she couldn't go too fast with the healing. It was too risky and only an amateur would speed through like that. Eying the injury, Sakura was thankful that it hadn't been any further upward or more to the left. If it had, the damage would have rapidly escalated with no hope for survival. Without taking an eye off her patient, Sakura grabbed the wrapping from her back pouch. She couldn't close the wound completely because of the risk of any infection already residing in the blood. But she would wrap his waist with the bandaging. Sakura gently wrapped it around the wound, wishing she had thought to bring her medic gear. The best she could do was the mandatory wrapping that ninja were supposed to have somewhere on them.
"This will have to do for now. Until I get the proper medication to help fight any infection, there's nothing more I can do," Sakura diagnosed with a long sigh, "But he will live."
Temari relaxed her tense muscles and tried to rub away the small smear of blood on Shikamaru's cheek from which she had dabbed accidentally on his cheek from earlier. Without warning, a light soothing sprinkling of rain touched around the forest, rinsing away the blood from Temari's hands and from Shikamaru's cheek. The rain soothed her soul and washed away her tears and she closed her eyes in satisfaction.
"Sasuke, Naruto! Help me with him," Sakura called out to her teammates, knowing that even though she was strong enough to carry him on her own, it would not be a good idea for obvious reasons. After all, it would be best to take is slow and steady and the easiest way to do that was to get multiple carriers. At least it made sense to her.
Sasuke and Naruto quickly responded picking up Shikamaru and moving slightly enough not to cause any pain that might wake Shikamaru up from his unconscious state. Temari attempted to help but Sakura shook her head telling without words that it would be better if Temari kept watch over their surroundings while they returned to Konoha. There would be others to pick up the enemy ninja later on. Their first goal was to get Shikamaru and Temari back safely.
Trying to calm her rattled nerves, Temari quickly brought out her summoning scroll and quickly went through the steps that would open it. When her lovely large fan appeared, Temari grabbed it and attached it quickly to her back, not caring if it wrinkled her kimono.
"I feel better already," Temari sighed her voice breaking slightly at the word 'better' as she patted her special protective weapon. She was very glad it was back in its usual spot. It made her feel comfortable having the fan back where would always belong.
Naruto's eyes twitched but he said nothing, for there were clear signs that Temari would easily break down crying if anyone said anything about her attempt at normalcy. It was her way of coping with all the stress she went through especially the guilt that was noticeable in her voice. It was clear to everyone that she blamed herself for getting captured and that she didn't wake up in time to stop the attack. It was not her fault even if she believed it was.
"Let's get moving," Sasuke quietly announced, trying to walk with Sakura and Naruto without waking Shikamaru as they all traveled further towards Konoha. . .