Moments
Chapter 4: Sandstorm
"Kakashi-san, the message from Sasuke arrived this morning."
"Did he finish investigating?"
"It seems that their intuition was right. The matter is serious."
"What did he find out?"
"The disruption in communication with Hidden Sand was happening for a long time. They're lucky to even notice it, actually. Seems, that they have means to unseal the scrolls sent with hawks, and any radio connection is retransmitted to the third source, which is impossible to track." Shikamaru paused. "Sasuke believes that a group of rebels was formed in Hidden Sand, and they most likely believe in the Fourth Kazekage's cause. They're aiming to break our alliance."
Kakashi went silent.
"What do you think?" He finally asked.
Shikamaru closed his eyes. When he opened them again, unsettling thought came to his mind.
"I don't think it's not only Sand village. Breaking just one alliance is meaningless after all. Sasuke said that it's almost impossible to notice data leakage. It can only mean two things: first, the guys in Hidden Sand were just too careful; and second, rebels let them notice the leaks, for us to concentrate our attention on Hidden Sand. I, personally, believe it's the second one. It's just a part of a bigger scheme."
"Did Sasuke made any contact with them?"
"No. There are no leads whatsoever. They're too careful."
"Hmmm..."
"There's another thing. While we turn our eyes to the Hidden Sand village, they'll probably gather more people in other great nations. Which will, probably mean, that their roots and their base is in Sand Village right now. If we delay it any further, they might grow too big."
"I see your point." Kakashi said in calm voice. "Take those papers. These are the candidates from Hidden Leaf for the upcoming chuunin exam. You must set out to Sand village to deliver them tomorrow morning."
"Yes." Shikamaru took the papers.
It might sound strange to hold chuunin exam in Hidden Sand village this year, but that was all part of a plan. Only this time of the year each village representatives can freely travel across the borders without gathering unneeded attention. It was a great chance to pass down the information without relying on any means of communication.
Seeing the papers made Shikamaru remember the huge pile he had to deal with just a while ago.
"No paperwork for me this time?"
"Oh, well. Sorry about that time. It was urgent."
"You could have helped."
"You've had enough help, didn't you?" Kakashi winked at him. "And you still managed to delay those for two days."
If was only after Temari left that Shikamaru realized that couple of days were missing from his life. And in fact, when she said 'two days', she meant the time since she arrived.
"It's not really nice to throw it onto our guests."
"She didn't seem to mind it. You'll have the chance to repay it tomorrow. Go get ready."
"Yes."
Shikamaru left.
She was waiting for him on a border where there were no trees anymore, just the endless sea of sand.
"Took you long enough. I've been waiting for hours." Temari yawned.
Her outfit was almost completely hidden under the huge scarf.
"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru wondered. Not that he wasn't happy to see her.
"Officially, there are still heavy storms raging in the Land of Wind, so I'm here to guide you through the desert."
"And unofficially?"
"In case those guys decide to attack the messengers. Basically, I need to make sure that you won't die in the desert. No matter the reason."
Considering the information Sasuke managed to gather, it wasn't just empty precaution.
"You?"
"Officially chuunin exam. Unofficially..."
"Is it that serious?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Then don't waste your breath and get going. It's still long way to the Sand village."
He simply nodded. The desert wasn't a best place for romantic interactions.
"Wear this." She gave him a scarf similar to the one she's wearing. "I won't be able to carry you all the way if you'll get a sunstroke, plus it'll be easier to breathe. And harder to recognize your face."
His confused look was enough for her to realize that he had no idea how to wear that.
"All right, come here." She handled the scarf in few precise movements. "Hope you know basic rules of survival in the desert?" Half of her face was covered too, but Shikamaru could swear that she was smiling.
"Sort of."
"Then let's go."
"You do that for all the messengers?"
"Yes. They know you're coming, so we can't afford to risk. You don't need assassins in the desert, since it can finish the enemy off by itself. That's something my father used to say."
They were moving pretty fast through the golden mountains as she spoke. The sun was scorching right above their heads, making Shikamaru regret wearing any clothes at all. That was a trap, since one of the survival rules states clearly - as less open skin as possible. Well, that didn't bother Temari much, since her skirt was short and so were the sleeves.
"Why is it you and not Kankurou meeting the guests?"
It was pretty obvious that only two older siblings were worthy of Kazekage's trust completely.
"I'm more accustomed to the desert and its dangers. Plus, he's busy at the moment."
Just after couple of minutes Shikamaru felt thirsty. Or was it more? It was hard to tell as the sun didn't seem to move at all.
Temari looked up on the sun.
"Alright, water break. Remember not to drink too much."
"How long is it till the village?"
"Just about one-day walk."
They didn't talk much later. Every couple of hours Temari would make them stop to drink water, other than that it was easier not to talk.
"I hope you don't mind walking through the night." She said when the sun started its way down to the horizon. She seemed concerned.
"What's wrong?"
"Just my intuition. Maybe I'm imagining things. I mean, I hope I am."
If it was enough to make her worry, then the matter must be serious.
"Then we should hurry." There was a simple rule in shinobi world - never neglect intuition.
As the sun was setting, the temperature in the desert dropped. It wasn't until the nightfall when it started to get really cold.
"We'll take a break here." Temari said.
She suddenly said as the time reached midnight. The place was hardly different from the rest of the desert: couple of dried trees and stone blocks hinted that long time ago people used to live here.
"We'll need firewood." She said, casually ordering him around. Shikamaru himself noticed it only when he reached for the dried branch.
She had no problem making fire. After all, there can't be any rain in the desert.
"Don't get too cozy, we'll stay here only for a short while." She said filling small kettle with water.
"Why stop then?"
"So you won't die, idiot. Look at you, you're practically hypothermic." As the water boiled she added herbs into the kettle. The sweet smell started to fill the air, kind of similar to the one Temari was wearing.
'So those are the herbs...' Shikamaru thought taking the cup of tea. It was sweet, way too sweet for his taste, but he drank it anyways. Very soon the warmth started to return to his body and he admitted that Temari was right.
She added more water to the kettle.
"All shinobi of the Sand can do that?"
"Well, they have to. It's basics after all. We might be not the strongest out there, but we are good at surviving." She took a sip from her cup. "If you can't survive in the desert, you're not fit to be a shinobi. Easy as that."
"That's why you trained here?"
"Not really. Desert is a good playground for wind users. You can't do any harm if it's only sand around."
Shikamaru remembered her using her wind in the Leaf village forest, and the range of destruction was huge. So that kind of made sense.
She poured the rest of the tea into the cups.
"Drink it up, and we'll get going."
She didn't talk much in the desert. Temari was fully concentrating on her senses, somehow she seemed more relaxed back in the Leaf. Was it the threat she was sensing, or just the desert - Shikamaru didn't know. He didn't feel anything at all.
As the tea was finished, Temari gathered the leaves and threw them into the desert wind.
"What are you doing?"
"Just a little charm for luck. A little the ritual to ask desert spirits to help you finding your lover. Or something like that." She started packing. "Kind of the habit of mine." *
That sounded unexpectedly cute.
"Who taught you that?"
"Hmm... was it my father? I can't really remember. But it kind of special for Kazekage bloodline. I would doubt though that my father would rely on the desert spirits to find his lost lover."
Not that he knew the man, but according to what he heard from Temari he would doubt that too.
"Yashamaru would be more likely. He seems like the type."
"Who is that?"
"He was my uncle. Used to take care of Gaara when my brother was small." The tone of her voice became just as cold as the desert night.
'Was' and 'used to' were enough hints to deduce, that there was a sad story connected to that. There weren't many happy moments for Sand Siblings after all.
They've kept going through the night, taking the breaks every couple of hours. When the morning came, tension was growing.
As they've passed through another abandoned city Temari said:
"We should reach Sand village by noon." She stopped. "Or rather should have been. Sandstorm is coming."
They were hardly on time to take cover when it hit. Abandoned city was a good place to wait it out.
"Was it what your intuition was telling you?" Shikamaru asked when they entered one of the empty houses.
"Not sure. You should rest. It might take a while."
"What about you?"
"I'll wake you up if anything happens."
"How come it's you to take a first guard?"
"Just don't start your usual crap about men and women." She gave a faint smile. "I'm your guide now, so stop complaining and go to sleep."
Shikamaru doubted that he could fall asleep, though. Even though it was a long day, he still didn't feel right about it. But he closed his eyes anyways. It was just about the next moment that he felt Temari's hand on his shoulder.
"What is it?"
"It's been around three hours already."
"Huh?" He didn't notice himself falling asleep at all.
"Anything suspicious?" He sat right beside her.
"Nothing except for this storm." Temari yawned. She seemed more relaxed now.
"What do you mean?"
"It's manmade."
"How do you know?"
"You got to listen to the wind."
Shikamaru doubted anyone else would actually manage to do that. Not even every wind user is capable of that. He was thinking of his deceased teacher Asuma, as he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder. Now that she knew the source of the danger, Temari finally allowed herself to rest, and she was fast about that too. Shikamaru found himself looking down at her sleeping face, that was half covered by her golden fringe. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder why this choice of hairstyle. A lot of female ninja would choose to cut their hair short, it was easier this way, especially in the desert, where convenience is valued more than a beauty. But Temari still decided to keep it. 'She would probably look good with her hair loose,' he thought. 'How long is it, anyways?' Staying in this position made him catch the weak sweet flowerish fragrance and his heart started to go crazy again. 'If I were to hug her now, she'll probably kill me', he thought, but the desire was too strong. Instead, he leaned forward so that his lips will touch her fringe.
'So soft...' he thought. 'And fluffy. Girls hair does feel nice.' His face went red, when he realized what exactly he was doing. 'Cut it out, you, idiot! Want to die?' He said to himself, but seeing her as defenseless as that made him want to touch her more.
At first Shikamaru kind of felt happy about that, but the next three hours turned out to be a torture.
"What's wrong with your face?" Was the first thing Temari asked when she woke her up.
"N-nothing..." as intuitive as always. Even though he tried his best to keep a straight face.
"Liar." She yawned.
'Was it that obvious?' He kind of wished he could see his face right now.
"The storm's over."
"I can hear that. If we go now, we might be able to reach Hidden Sand before dark."
The abandoned city they took cover in was covered in sand. Few more years, maybe, and it'll completely disappear underground.
"What made you think it was manmade storm?" Shikamaru asked.
"This." Temari touched a deep cut on the wall. "This is Kamaitachi cut. Not enough firepower to kill though. But few of these cuts in the middle of sandstorm will create an illusion of an attack. Ninja stupid enough would start running and die disoriented in the storm, while the attacker would be far away. Pretty clever."
"So this city..."
"Well, I've changed route a little to pass through here. Hope you don't mind."
She figured that out before the nightfall, calculated the time and found a suitable place to take cover. It wasn't just plain intuition, that was an instinct. She wasn't promoted to jonin at a young age for nothing.
"Good thinking."
"Let's go."
The rest of the journey went peacefully, with one simple miscalculation: when they've reached Sand village, it was already dark.
Author's note: So I went through my published chapters one more time, and that was the moment when I realized that my scene breaks were gone. I guess, that's what you'll get for being a new one here. Did a bit of formatting as well, and put all the flashbacks in italic. And I also realized that the spelling check is broken on my computer. Nevertheless, posting new chapter today!
This… is one of the cutest chapters I wrote. Had the scene in mind, didn't know how to play it out though. Turned out perfectly! So, I'm starting to fall back into my usual inner-monologue style. You'll see what I mean in the next few chapters, haha.
* the star there was to mark Gaara Hiden reference. I wasn't the one to make that up, so don't blame me. But It was too cute not to include.
I''ve been thinking a lot though. Living in a desert is hard. Going through the desert is even harder… but then again, nobody even broke a sweat during Kazekage rescue mission. That kind of left me a bit disappointed. So I want to focus on the survival point here. Like in Gaara Hiden.
No more things to say. Stay updated!