A/N: I'm back!
Disclaimer: You know it.
*****
He knew that if he wasn't fast enough someone might find him and most probably kill him. Now that the whole of Suna was frantically looking for him, he knew more than clearly that the odds were against him.
Blood that flowed from his calve was the result of a Sand shinobi, a shuriken and a few sleepless nights. Thank god that the blades of the shuriken didn't get too close to his bone, or else returning to Konoha would be too troublesome to carry out.
"Shhhh, shhhh…"
He looked up from his wound, he heard it, the shuffling of feet,
close by. As if someone was running.
It was closing up on him.
There was only one person, he could handle it, not unless it was some high ranking shinobi, then he would be considered dead.
*****
Someone was there, she could smell it; a light scent of blood floating in the wind. She slowed down her pace, careful not to let the person hear her. But the person won't be able to see her among all these darkness. She'll just appear like a moving shadow.
"Shadows?" She thought and looked up into the blazing Suna sky, "it's mid day, the sun's directly above… there can't possibly be any shadows…unless…"
Frantically, she looked around for any one who might be using genjutsu on her.
"Kai!" She tried to break the genjutsu, if there was any in the first place.
She wasn't under genjutsu. Then what was it?
She thought about the possibilities, words ran through her mind, "darkness… position of the sun… shadows…SHADOWS!"
-FLASHBACK-
"Konoha's helpless now," Gaara told Temari over dinner.
"How come?"
"We caught the mastermind behind all Konoha's strategies, plans and battle formation," Gaara smirked, "it was hard, but he managed to outdo his shadow technique."
-END OF FLASHBACK-
The shadow technique, a technique passed down from generations in the Nara clan. This technique catches the opponent by their shadow and prevents the opponent from moving at their own free will. The opponent will have to follow whatever the user does until his chakra runs out.
"I can't be caught by the shadow," she looked around for any moving shadows, "it's so dark I can hardly see."
She decided to run out of the alley, towards the border of Suna, darkness was her weakness and she had to get away from it.
*****
"Just as plan," Shikamaru thought, "I lured the person here."
He squatted just next to the opening of the alley and stretched out a thin line of shadow on the ground. When the opponent comes running out and steps onto the shadow, the person would be binded by it.
*****
She sniffed the air the wind carried her, something was different, the smell of the blood was coming from a different location, only a few feet away from her. That is, just at the entrance of the alley.
"There's a trap," she thought to herself, "lure me out of the alley, straight into a trap. Shadow doppelgander!"
Temari allowed the shadow clone to go ahead of her and fall into the trap. She only followed shortly behind, prepared to catch the opponent by surprise.
"Baka," she silently cursed the attacker, before watching her shadow clone run onto the trap and stop moving, she was caught by the shadow binding technique, "excellent."
Temari ran towards the clone, and once she was out of the alley, she saw her opponent- a Leaf Nin.
He quickly caught on to her plan and backed away quickly before she could do anything to him.
Soon they were face to face, each prepared to attack when the other one does.
"You're the Shinobi everyone in my village is looking for," Temari said, she had to keep her composure although her plan had failed, "they'll find you soon enough."
He knew she was right, as much as he wanted her to be wrong, she was undoubtly right, they'll find him soon. But when they do, he'll be gone.
"I'm not going to lose to some injured leaf nin," Temari said.
He smirked, "let's get this done and over with," he launched his second shadow to her, "this is so troublesome."
She dodged the kept dodging the shadow, until it had reached it length limit, she stopped and used her fan to draw a line across the soft yellow sand.
She pulled her fan back and sent a strong gust of wind for his direction, he managed to dodge it and attacked back, this time, Temari kept behind the line she drew cause she knew the shadow could only go so far.
She was wrong.
It stretch further, further behind the line. It almost touched her, she was almost caught by, however she jumped back.
"He's smart," she thought, once he retracted his shadow, she drew another line.
She heard the rustle of leaves coming from outside the border, the wind was cutting in her direction. Someone had launched a shuriken in her direction.
She barely dodged it, it missed her arm by a few millimeters. Temari looked back at the Leaf Nin. He looking at the direction the shuriken came frm, he couldn't have launched a shuriken. Unless…
She launched her own shuriken towards him and he dodged it.
"I'm not a shadow clone," he said, "someone from another village is here."
He was right. If it was someone from Shikamaru's village the person would have came out and helped him. But if it was someone from Temari's village, then that person would have came out and helped her. So that means it would be someone from another village, not from the Leaf nor the Sand.
A kunai came towards Shikamaru, it barely missed his feet.
They looked at each other. Former allies that turned against each other all because of a certain incident that occurred a few months ago.
They we're allies anyone,
they were enemies.
And her father had always thought her,
Enemies have to kill their enemies,
In order to survive in this world.
He was distracted, she had to grab this opportunity to defeat him once and for all.
She turned towards him- or at least she tried.
She looked down. A thin black line that started from her feet ran along the sandy ground and connected to his.
"No," she couldn't believe this, "he was distracted."
Then she saw, from the corner of his eye, he looked at her and smirked.
No, she was the distracted one.
*****
He couldn't finish her off, he had to preserve his chakra, it wasn't wise of him to force her to follow him on his journey back to Konoha, but it was a better and less troublesome choice- or so he thought.
"Fucking let me go," Temari yelled, she followed his every move as they ran through the forest, "you won, now let me go."
Shikamaru stopped, "for the record, you're the most troublesome woman I have ever, ever, ever in my whole entire fucking life, seen. Congratulations! You won too!"
She frowned, "it's not that you're afraid that I might attack once you release me is it?"
"What?" he started walked.
"You need me to support you," Temari pointed to his leg, "you can't walk properly with a broken leg, so you need my leg to support your and your using you shadow technique to do so."
"In a way, yes, I am using you like that," Shikamaru said, "but I am going to bring you back to Konoha to hold you hostage too."
Temari kept quiet, at a situation like this, where she is binded by his shadow, she can only follow and talk to him. And to be honest, she wasn't a very good convincer.
"Do you think holding me hostage is really going to solve this mess?" She asked in her last efforts to be released this bind, "it's just going to make this mess, messier."
"I should ask the same question," Shikamaru said.
Temari wanted to argue back, but he was right, they got him hostage too, but what difference did it make to the situation? It only made Konoha angrier.
"Look," Shikamaru said, "I don't know how important you are to Suna and what they would do to fight for you, but I guess that there would be people who are worried for you and will come for you. These people are the ones who would learn the value of peace and try to convince your Kazekage that war wasn't totally necessary in the first place."
She looked at him from the corner of her eye, "since you value peace as much as I do, why don't you let me go, so I can go back and tell the Kazekage to stop all this?"
Shikamaru sighed, "cause this might be the only way."
"The two villages can always talk this out," Temari said.
"It's not that easy," Shikamaru shot back, "what makes you think that people will take the time to listen to you at a time like this?"
"Because, I'm Kazekage's sister," Temari said, "he has to listen."
Shikamaru stopped on his tracks, "you're the Kazekage's sister?"
She suddenly felt like it was a stupid idea to tell him who she was, "yes."
He looked ahead at the wide terrain of lush forestry in front of him and wondered how long this war would last, because just by looking at the infinite stretch of trees and undergrowth made him realize that it might never end until the very last person dies. And for her, the Kazekage's sister, the chances of her brother getting killed, murdered, or assassinated were unbearably high, she would lose part of her family.
"What's your name?" He asked her.
"Sabaku No Temari," Temari said, "why?"
"So you're really the Kazekage's sister, eh," Shikamaru said softly.
"Do you really think I would lie?" Temari asked.
"Cause you're the enemy," Shikamaru said.
"Enemies have to kill their enemies," the former Kazekage's voice rang in her head, "in order to survive in this world."
"Well he was wrong," Temari thought, "I'm not dead yet."
"A very good friend's death has taught me how someone with loss would feel," Shikamaru's said, "all I know that it is an ugly feeling and I don't want to experience it again. And somehow, I don't want you to experience it at all," he release his shadow bind, "you can go troublesome woman, I'll help you and you'll help me. And someday, when the war is over, we may meet again."
She gazed at his injured calve, "what about your injury?"
"I'll pull through," Shikamaru said, "good thing I released the bind early, my chakra level is deadly low already. But the journey back would be troublesome."
*****
She was going to go back and tell Gaara to stop the whole war, she had to, promised that guy and she never breaks a promise. Gaara would have to listen to her one way or another, she was older than him, it was only right.
"Nara Shikamaru," she muttered to herself, "maybe people from the Leaf Village isn't so bad after all."
She dodged an on coming shuriken that nearly hit her.
Temari looked around to see who it was. The shuriken that was struck into the tree had a note addressed to her.
She tore it off and read it through.
Nara Shikamaru is in danger.
Why should she care?
She tossed the slip of paper away.
He is a friend, though not a very good one. He is from the Leaf, her so- called enemy. So in a way he's a frienemy. He had been nice enough not to make her hostage, maybe a bit too nice to someone from the opposing village. He is a guy, but her hormones weren't begging for him, at least not that badly.
"A very good friend's death has taught me how someone with loss would feel," Shikamaru's voice echoed in her head, "all I know that it is an ugly feeling and I don't want to experience it again. And somehow, I don't want you to experience it at all."
And dear god, he was sweet.
This gives her more reason to not go and help him.
"I mean," Temari thought on the spot, "I should only be liking him platonically, god, I just freaking met him. I can't possibly like him un- platonically, that would be mad, that would be heinous, that would be devastating!"
She moaned at how horribly weak she was acting, "damn it, why did he have to be so sweet? I hate him. I'll just let him die and see if that 'ugly feeling' really do exists."
She continued going in the direction back to Suna, but only after a few steps, she decided to switch her direction and save a frienemy.
*****
A/N: In my opinion, a horrid chapter. Kill me god.
Next Chapter:
Temari saves Shikamaru from Tayuya, one of the Sound Ninja Five. But wait, what has the Sound Ninjas got to do with the war they're in right now?
Review to find out!
