Sakura had a slow day at the hospital; she was doing her rounds and carefully checked on every patient, there were only about five patients in total so she had completed her duties fairly early. Although the day was slow she didn't really mind because it was a gorgeous day outside and she wished her shift to end so she could be out there, soaking up the sun herself. Her inner-Sakura on the other hand was screaming because she was so bored to be at the hospital and she almost demanded that someone, anyone would get sick or hurt or just something to fill the time with.

Sakura had gone to the water cooler by the reception area to get a drink of water before she saw Chouji who charged through the front door nearly screaming for help. She ran towards Chouji who was holding a girl wearing a black robe with a red sash around her waist. Chouji was obviously frightened when Sakura asked what happened.

"I was just.. and I saw.. and she.. then I.. ran"

Chouji managed to spit out and then Sakura asked the nurses for a stretcher to put her on for she didn't know what exactly had happened. Chouji lay Temari down on the stretcher and Sakura suddenly recognized the girl. As they entered into the emergency room, Chouji ran out of the hospital room before Sakura could ask him about the girl. Ino was about to take her leave for the day when she saw Sakura needed her help she jumped at the chance to help with the patient who happened to be Temari.

Chouji who was nearly screaming, knew that he needed to notify Shikamaru immediately. He ran everywhere to in hopes of locating Shikamaru who was nowhere to be found.

He ran into Neji and Rock Lee and begged them to help him search for Shikamaru, they agreed to this and spread out.

Lee found Sai who agreed to help by looking from the sky, although this would be time consuming for him.

Neji on the other hand found Kiba who managed to track Shikamaru's scent, with some help from the paint, to the front gate. Kiba jumped on Akamaru and raced towards the front gate and found Chouji was on his way to the front gate.

It was the last place he had thought to look because he had forgotten if Temari was here then she wouldn't have come alone, she would be with her brothers and she must have gone ahead when she was attacked by someone in the village. Chouji was puzzling all the possibilities when he realized Kiba had offered him a ride on Akamaru's back in which Chouji reluctantly agreed. He felt awkward riding a dog, with another man no less, still there was no time to waste.

Meanwhile, Temari had gained a little energy and woke up surprised to see Sakura and Ino trying to figure out what was the matter with her.

Temari looked at Sakura and spoke slowly

"I'm sorry Sakura for scaring you like this. Hi Ino." Sakura looked at Temari as she had begun to speak and Ino turned her head slightly towards her.

"There is nothing wrong with me girls, I'm merely exhausted from travelling and not getting enough rest" Temari stated calmly and drifted off again.

Sakura let out a deep breath. To see Temari she had been startled to say the least, but to not have any information on what was wrong with her was unknown territory to her and Ino. Ino stared at Sakura's shocked facials as she removed Temari's gloves to see her knuckles and palms were blistered, bleeding and heavily inflamed. She instantly began applying her chakra to Temari's hands but needed to know what had caused her to faint, and how she could ignore the pain she must have endured.

When Akamaru reached Shikamaru and Kankuro at the front gate they couldn't help themselves but laugh at the sight of Kiba and Chouji riding the gigantic dog together. They had looked purely wrong and Gaara just stared at the trio with no expression on his face. Shikamaru noticed that Chouji had a genuinely frightened expression on his face and he felt a small tinge of worry when Chouji who was gasping for air bawled

"It's.. Te..TEMARI".