Chapter Eleven
Immediately, Sakura took over, shouting directions around the room. She gently pried Gaara's arms from around his sister and laid her down on her bed. Looking around, she spotted Zetsu lingering by the door, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Zetsu. Go get a counselor." Her voice was quiet, but stern.
The green-haired teen nodded and exited the room, pulling a groggy Tobi behind him. As the door swung shut, the pinkette walked the perimeter of the room, running a tiny hand through her short hair and giving Gaara and Kankuro sympathetic pats when she passed them.
"You all need to wash your faces with cold water and brush your teeth. Get the smell of alcohol out of your breath. We need to get our story straight, here, if we don't want to get kicked out. I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to stay here for the last couple weeks."
We nodded and Sakura pointed towards Deidara.
"You and Sasori get me some ice. There is a machine a few doors down. I need a full cup and make it snappy."
The blonde nodded and pulled Sasori out of the room.
Sakura then turned her gaze to the two brothers staring worriedly at their fallen sibling. She gave them a reassuring smile and beckoned them to Temari's bedside.
"She'll be fine. But, if Shizune does any tests on her, they'll find not only alcohol, but drugs in her system. Her diet pills will show up. And this camp has a very strict policy against that." She informed them, still bustling over Temari.
Curious, Kankuro asked, "Who's that?"
Sakura explained that Shizune was the camp medic, also Tsunade's past student, and had sort of taken the pinkette under her wing after she realized that they both had an interest in medicine.
"That's why I think I can keep her from performing any tests. She trusts me."
At that moment, Deidara and Sasori returned, the former holding a large cup of ice. Sakura smiled a little and instructed the blonde to fill a wet rag with the ice. Seeing me mulling about, a little uselessly, the pinkette gently pushed me in the direction of the two sleeping forms, telling me to clear them out of the room.
A little nervous, I inched towards the entangled, sleeping teens and nudged the silver-haired one with my foot.
"Hidan? Hidan, get up."
He didn't seem to hear me, so I crouched down next to him, poking his face. His eyebrows furrowed and he swatted my hand away as if it were a pesky fly. Irritated, I jerked his arm upwards, hoping the shock of pain would awaken him. It was of no use, as he jerked his arm right back down and, still holding mine, snuggled deeper into Kakuzu's chest.
"Damnit." I huffed, blowing a stray hair out of my face. I kicked Kakuzu, who proved to be a lighter sleeper than Hidan, and demanded he get Hidan off of me. The green-eyed boy glared at me for a minute before flicking Hidan on the forehead, immediately awakening the crazy boy.
"Seriously!? That's all it took?"
Hidan shot me a glare and threw my arm away from him, propelling me across the room.
"Why the fuck did you wake me up? This better be fucking good." He looked murderous.
A little frightened, I squeaked the explanation of Temari's fainting and them needing to get out. The two looked at me like I was crazy and promptly left, bringing their shot glasses and vodka bottles with them.
Well, that went a lot better than expected.
At that moment, Tobi and Zetsu returned with a mousy, brown haired woman who walked with an air of authority. She looked around the room, and when her eyes landed on Sakura, she picked her way across Temari's mess to speak with her.
Dabbing Temari's forehead with the rag filled with ice, Sakura explained the events of the night in full detail.
"It was really sudden, Shizune. She just suddenly fainted."
Shizune nodded along with the story, and when Sakura arrived at the end, chewed her lip and thought.
"I may need to perform some tests."
Immediately, Sakura pounced, frantically claiming that she could handle it and that Shizune should just give her instruction for the night.
"Look, Sakura. It's not that I don't trust you, because you know I do, but I need to perform tests on this girl. It's camp policy."
"But I am just as capable of taking care of her!" Sakura argued, desperation beginning to sink into her voice.
Shizune looked suspicious, and seemed like she was going to protest, but right outside the door, a loud thump and some pained moaning was heard. Zetsu, who was closest, pulled it open to reveal an agonized Hidan holding a large and bloody bump on his head. Kakuzu stood over him and the rest of the Akatsuki rushed to his side. Shizune looked torn between staying with Temari and going to Hidan, but decided upon the latter with a gentle push from Sakura. She looked at us suspiciously as she walked out the door, followed by the Akatsuki, Deidara with an apologetic look on her face.
It wasn't until the door swung shut that Sakura let out a sigh of relief. We had gotten away with it. Hinata, who had been quiet for almost the entirety of the night inched forward and gave Temari a kiss on the forehead before quietly saying that she had to leave, with a very apologetic look on her face. Ino followed her example and slipped back into her own dorm, leaving me, Sakura, and the three siblings.
I saw Gaara's hands trembling as Sakura bustled over Temari, constantly asking Kankuro to change the ice in her rag. He had his head lowered, eyes cast downwards, towards the ground. I rubbed his back sympathetically and when he raised his eyes to meet mine, I offered a friendly hand towards him. With a slight tilt of the head, he accepted it, gripping it tightly, as if he were to fall if he let go.
The four of us spent the night there, Sakura bustling over Temari, seemingly having already worked the buzz of alcohol off, and Kankuro very quickly falling asleep in my bed. Gaara and I sat on the computer chairs, next to each other and holding hands. He did not sleep, instead opting to stare worriedly at his sister while I struggled to stay awake as to avoid the upcoming hangover. I gave his hand a squeeze and tried to give him a comforting smile. He squeezed back and for the first time since Truth or Dare that night, he spoke.
"How do you feel about him?"
Startled and a little confused, I was unable to answer, instead settling for a very unintelligent "huh?"
"The kid with the white eyes. How do you feel about him? Is it love?"
I blushed, and trying to wiggle out of answering him, I replied with a question of my own, "Why do you care?"
He shrugged, looking off to the side. "I dunno. Just humor me."
Finally realizing that he was trying to distract himself from the situation at hand, I gave him a quiet reply, "I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"I just don't. I feel… different around him."
He nodded and offered to help me figure it out. I smiled and thanked him.
"How do you feel when you're around him?"
"I-I just feel like… I'm on a cloud. It's like I'm drunk. But, at the same time, I'm completely sober. It's like I'm flying, but I'm still on the ground. I trust him after such a short time of knowing him, but I'm so scared he'll hurt me."
This conversation went on until morning, where Gaara proclaimed that I was in love with Neji, prompting a squeal from Sakura, who had been eavesdropping the entire time.
It was about five in the morning when Deidara returned, hastily shoving a torn and wrinkled piece of paper in my hand before almost floating off to bed. I looked down and saw a messy scrawl that must have been Hidan's.
Hey, you owe me. If I get kicked out for this, you definitely owe me. And Kakuzu. He wants money.
I laughed. So Hidan did care. I passed the paper around the room, prompting a humorous break from the grave situation, and, as if revived by our laughter, Temari finally awoke. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and looking around. When her gaze fell upon Gaara and I, it froze, a blank expression on her face. It quickly turned to confusion for a minute before she seemed to remember what happened, and blinked and lowered her eyes. Gaara was at her bed in two seconds flat, half dragging a half-asleep Kankuro. Quickly, he whipped out the orange bottle of diet pills that he had most likely stashed in his pocket the night before.
"Why?" He demanded, anger evident in his tone.
Temari kept her head lowered, childishly refusing to respond. She stayed that way until I went up to her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. It was then that she broke down in my arms, sobs and hiccups coming from her mouth, her tears staining my pajamas.
"I-I can't any-anymore. It's-too much-pressure!" She mumbled, making her words unable to be understood. She continued to cry until she saw her brothers, Kankuro finally awake and staring at her in concern. Immediately, she shut down again, refusing to speak or look at any of us. Quickly catching on, I shooed the two out of the room, whispering that she'd tell them when she was ready when they hesitated. When they were gone, Sakura and I hopped on her bed and the blonde broke down yet again.
After we calmed her down, Temari finally told us her story.
"I was always bullied as a child. Because of my weight. When I was 3, my mother died, and, not knowing how to raise kids, my father became neglecting. All we had to eat was junk food and my metabolism is not as fast as my brothers'. I quickly became overweight and the target for all the kids to bully. I never had a friend. Even in middle and high school, the closest I've had to friends were my brothers, and they had their own schedules to attend to. It wasn't until my sophomore year in high school that someone finally stood up for me. You remember Shikamaru, right? He was in our chamber group? He's a year under me and goes to my school. It was a chilly day and I was wearing a fluffy coat to cover my fat. These girls kept teasing me and I was just on the verge of crying when that lazy-ass came in. He told them to back off- that I was an awesome person. I think that's when I fell for him. I don't know what happened after that, but no one ever picked on me again. Shika helped me get my act together. I lost weight and we became friends. But, this summer, we got into a big fight. He didn't like that I was meeting all the men that my father was setting me up with. It got really dramatic when we came here-"
Here, she broke down again, and it took another five minutes to calm her down again. When she did, she told us about her and Shikamaru's climax in their fight and how he told her that she was nothing without him, just another fatass on the street. And that's when it started.
"I paid an acquaintance to get me the pills and stopped eating. I exercised like crazy and avoided Shika. He tried to talk to me a few times, but I always felt."
The two of us nodded and sympathetically patted her shoulder. After ten minutes of sympathy, Sakura stood up and proclaimed that Temari needed to confront Shikamaru- get it over with. The blonde's eyes widened in fear and she shook her head frantically. I pulled her into a hug and the two of us convinced the blonde that it was for the best. By now, it was already 6:45 in the morning and we had to get ready to get to breakfast.
I let Sakura borrow some of my clothing and the three of us, all made up and fresh, Temari sporting a slight headache from crying and alcohol, walked down to the cafeteria together. When we arrived, I spotted Neji and attempted to wave him over, but he ignored me and sat with Shino and Kiba. I shrugged, thinking that he did not see me, and vowed to talk to him during my free time. I felt Temari freeze up and saw her staring in the direction of a crowd coming at us. In that crowd, I spotted Shikamaru slouching towards us with an indifferent attitude. The blonde shrank into me and I patted her back encouragingly as Sakura called the pineapple head over.
"Temari has something to say to you." She said as I gave the mentioned girl a light push to him.
He looked at her expectantly and she stuttered, "I-I…"
Sakura squeezed her hand and gave her a fierce nod and I could see that she gained all sorts of confidence from that.
"I think you are a complete ass hole." She said, leaving him a shocked expression, "You knew about my weight problem and you had the gall to bring it up in front of others. You know, you hurt me in more ways than one, and I don't think I want someone like you in my life. I've been thinking, and I've decided that the day I need a friend like you is the day I pop myself a squat over the can and shit one out."
Despite the language and anger, I couldn't help but smile. There was the old and great Temari.
Shikamaru seemed stunned, unable to process the rant. He stood, gape-jawed for a minute until I shoved him out of his trance.
"Temari. I'm so sorry. I was angry. And, maybe, a little jealous." He stepped towards her.
"You think a sorry can cover this? NO! You stabbed me in the back and you think a sorry will make things-"
She was cut off by Shikamaru's lips on hers. Sakura and I backed away, and two seconds later, Temari's fist was on his cheek.
"You think that you can just kiss me and it will be better? Why, I outta-"
Hearing her start another rant, Sakura and I decided that we had overstayed our welcome in Temariland and promptly booked it out of there.