Temari lay on the ground till she noticed the stars had vanished replaced with a sky had changed colour. From intense black to pale baby blue to orange and purple. How long have I been laying here? She had tried to get up and keep running but her body and mind refused to allow her. She slowly got up and began walking down the mountain hill, listening to the birds chirping soothing her ache temporarily.

She reached the hotel in record time and Gaara looked worried when she walked in the front door. He asked where she had been, because he had worried for her when she didn't return. She thought of her options and lied of course, saying she stayed at her friend's house. Is Ino still my friend?

"Liar you were at Shikamaru's havi..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Kankuro!" Gaara really didn't want to hear about that kind of stuff..ever! Not about his sister!

Temari skipped a tender heartbeat when Kankuro mentioned his name but replied with a simple no.

"Seriously Mari. Where were you this morning? Your clothes are filthy? Oh I see! You two didn't make it to his house befor.."

"Stop it KANKURO! That's enough I can't take anymore" Kankuro had pressed Gaara's buttons and he was ready to kill his brother.

"You know it Kankuro, well I'm going to shower now" she winked and spoke with confidence, she turned around to face them.

"Oh by the way. I'll be returning to Suna today, I forgot to do something before I left and well.. it can't be helped –but before you two even think about returning with me I'll have you know that you've already paid for the non-refundable hotel room for the next four days and it would be a complete waste of money to have left so early." She closed the bathroom door, turned on the hot water and jumped into the shower with her filthy clothes on. Why am I doing this to myself?

"Mari" Kankuro yelled through the door "what do you mean you're leaving, and today! Did something happen?"

"Can you pass on a few scrolls to Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru to me, I don't have time to personally so, I.. I would really appreciate it" her trembling voice dissolved into the shower water.

Kankuro was certainly worried for his sister. He sensed her distancing herself from him and he didn't like it to say the least. Kankuro knew how Temari functioned so pounding on her wouldn't work, neither would bribing her with candy or money, she wasn't that type of girl. However he truly wanted to know what occurred last night, and hoped it wasn't something he would have to kill for.

Gaara was equally concerned but for a different reason. He imagined what happend to Temari last night and it wasn't pretty. In his mind Shikamaru had tried to force her to...but she didn't want agree so they fought and eventually Temari had won. He was going to avoid Shikamaru for a few days until he would calm down. Killing Shikamaru wouldn't make his sister happy, he knew her feelings towards the boy were stronger than friendship but she was unable to act on her emotions. In that way she was similar to him, when it came to 'handling' emotions.

Ten minutes later Temari was dressed in her everyday attire, had packed her bags and began writing her scrolls.

She did NOT want to see Shikamaru, ever again.

She did NOT want to hurt Ino and.

She did NOT want to burden Chouji.

Within minutes Temari finished her scrolls and handed them to Gaara. She knew Gaara would respect her privacy and not read the scrolls whereas Kankuro would and tease her about it for months afterwards.

"Thank you Gaara, I'm off now I love you" "I love you too Kankuro"

"Mari wait.." She ran out the door before Gaara could finish.

"She didn't even have breakfast Gaara."

"I know."

Shikamaru didn't remember how he got home. His dreams and reality had morphed together and it was hard to tell the two apart. So much has happened in only 24 hours. Today he was determined to talk to Temari, no ifs buts or maybes. He had only been awake for less than a minute but he was already annoyed. He began his daily routine. Yoshino had bought, washed, dried, ironed and folded a new outfit that looked exactly like his older one. The only difference was the stiffness in the fabric and the colours were brighter. He smiled and put his clothes on and walked to the dining room. Much to his surprise Shikaku had completed his mission and was sitting at the dining table.

"Hey" Shikamaru was glad he was back home, maybe his mother might not nag him as much as usual. Wishful thinking.

"Shikamaru, you're acting very.. active" Shikaku smiled at his son with his eyebrow raised. "or so I've 'heard' from your mother"

"Neah.. nothing like that... hey and what do you mean 'active' anyway?" Shikamaru didn't like his father intruding on his personal life and consumed his breakfast as quickly as humanly possible.

"Oh.. I understand. We'll talk later! Man to man."

"What the.. how troublesome.. Well, I've got to get going"

"Oh before you go Shikamaru" Yoshino called to her son "This arrived for you while you were asleep."

She handed over a simple red and white scroll and had hoped that her son would read it in front of his parents. She was nosey like that. Shikamaru looked at the scroll unsure if he wanted to open it. Maybe it's a summoning to see Lady Tsunade. Maybe it's a mission. Maybe it's from her. He excused himself and left the house. He headed towards the place where he would go cloud watching. Within a few minutes he arrived at his bench and laid himself down to have a quick look at the clouds. It seemed like forever since he had looked at white puffy clouds floating around up there, out of reach.