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I almost can't believe how fast I'm getting these out! :O
And it's all thanks to you guys! Your reviews made me so happy~!
So this interlude is not as exciting as part five, buut I hope you like it anyways.
Enjoy! :)
(By the way, an overwhelming vote for Kiba! Are you guys psychic or something?)
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My Boss The Genius
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INTERLUDE FIVE
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Well. She was right about needing that large cup of black coffee.
Temari sat slumped against the wall of the hallway, hating how weak and fragile she probably looked but unable to help it when her bones sang for sleep and her eyes fluttered with drowsiness. There was a white bandage on her cheek, covering the cut she got from almost missing that bullet. It stung slightly, a ripple of feeling that was easily ignored in favour of her boss pacing in front of the ICU. He was so edgy and out-of-sorts, his hands clenching and unclenching, running over his head, covering his mouth, rubbing his eyes. Temari found it uncharacteristic, as the lawyer was usually so calm and composed, so reluctant to move unless it was necessary.
"Shikamaru, maybe you should sit down," she suggested. He was going to wear a hole in the floor with his pacing, and he was making her kind of dizzy. Shikamaru paused and looked at her for a moment, before he sighed and flopped onto a chair on the other side of the hallway, burying his face in his hands. Temari relaxed a bit, glad that he had listened to her. She had relaxed too soon, because a second later Shikamaru leapt up and violently kicked the chair, cursing and running his hand down his face. She jumped from the loud sound.
"The walking keeps him from thinking about it," someone piped up behind her, and she jolted again. Chouji was standing behind her, a worried smile on his face as he eased into the chair beside her. Together, the two of them followed Shikamaru as he paced back and forth, back and forth, along the hallway. His footsteps were the only ones that echoed, but Temari heard a fainter pair nearing, and she turned her head to see who it was.
"Shikamaru."
Her eyes widened. He was… older, scruffier, and had a long, wicked scar on his face. But it was the same ponytail, the same slumped shoulders, the same hands stuffed into pants pockets.
It was Shikamaru's—
"Dad," Shikamaru said, mildly surprised. "What are you—"
"FBI came knockin'," the scarred man said gruffly, walking towards his son. "We know what happened."
We?
"Shikamaru!"
Temari jumped at the shrilly voice, her heart beating frantically as she turned to see a middle-aged woman shuffled towards the father and son pair, her face harried. "Shikamaru!" she shouted again, leaping into the man's arms and pulling back just as quickly, patting him down. "You're okay, aren't you? That gangster asshole didn't shoot you, right?" she asked quickly, cupping his cheeks. Shikamaru sighed and grabbed her hands.
"Mom, I'm fine," he told her, and Temari's mouth dropped a little. That was his mom? "But Ino… She lost a lot of blood." A pained look came over his face, and he blinked to will away the tears. His mom bit her lip, before hugging him again, this time not letting go. "I wish," Shikamaru gasped out, trying not to sob, "I wish I was the one in there instead of her."
Temari's heart dropped, knowing how he felt. She would have taken Ino's place if she could, because watching Shikamaru act like this was nearly unbearable. There was the slightest quiver to his hands as he wrapped his arms around his mom's smaller torso, burying his face in her shoulder. Somehow, she knew he was crying into it, disguising what he perceived as his weakness, muffling his anguish. Shikamaru's father reached over to rub his shoulder, his eyes dark with emotion as he watched his son's normally composed stature break into tiny pieces.
"Don't say that," his mom hissed, her hand pressed against the back of his head. "Don't even think about it, you lazy child-of-mine. Ino is a strong girl; she's going to make it because she's going to fight. God knows if it was you on that table, you'd just label it too troublesome and die."
Shikamaru laughed into his mother's shoulder. Pulling back, he covered his swimming eyes with his forearm. However, there was a smile on his lips, and when his forearm came down, his eyes were smiling too. "Yeah, you're right mom," he said, "Ino's too troublesome to just die."
"Are you kidding?" Chouji piped up, catching both Temari and the Nara family's attention. "She'd stay alive just to tell me I was eating too much." There was an easy smile on his face, infectious when it stretched over Shikamaru and his dad's lips. His mom, however, scowled and stalked forward, her hands on her hips. It was like déjà vu for Temari, only the woman stalking towards them had blonde hair and blue eyes, not black eyes and brown hair.
"You are eating too much," she lectured, stopping in front of him and tapping her foot against the tile. "And eating too much of the wrong thing. When was the last time you ate a vegetable?" His sheepish shrug was enough for her, and she clucked her tongue in disapproval. "I'm going to have to have a talk with your mother, Chouji—"
"Excuse me?"
Five heads turned to the source of the voice, a doctor in bloodied scrubs, her mask hanging limply around her neck. There was a tired, but triumphant, smile on her face. Temari recognized her, the pink-haired paramedic in the ambulance. Apparently she wasn't just a paramedic, but a surgeon. And not only that, it seemed that she was a friend too.
"Sakura!" Shikamaru exclaimed, his previously relaxed figure tensing now at her presence. "Sakura, how—"
"She's okay," the surgeon said, cutting him off. "She lost a lot of blood, but the bullet hit a non-vital spot and her side's been stitched up." A comforting smile laced her face, and suddenly Temari knew why this woman bothered to stay with that stoic FBI agent. Her smile healed, her heart nurtured. Just standing in her presence, you know she would mend that break in your chest. This woman had been born to save people. And Sasuke had been born to be saved.
"She's okay?" Shikamaru asked, his voice feather-light, almost disbelieving. Sakura laughed, the sound ringing clearly in all their ears.
"She's okay."
And suddenly, Temari felt okay too.