Anniversary time! Thanks guys for the past two years, another two will probably follow! Beta'd by Evercold! Hands up for the one that saves your eyes from reading my horrible mistakes! And now, to celebrate, I present to you some Temari centered crack;
Omake; A walk in the desert with Temari
They never talked about it later on, not even after everything had been sorted out and the world had been doomed and subsequently saved. Twice. Okay, maybe a few more times than that, but they were only responsible for those two times!
Anyway, they were walking through the desert, her home village in sight when it happened.
Shikamaru kept talking about something most likely very interesting and brilliant, like usual, but at the moment she couldn't care less. She was aware that her hands were slightly shaking, and that they felt so much heavier than normal. Just like the rest of her body, actually. The temptation to just lie down and let her partner be was… very tempting. But, as she remembered herself, she was a kunoichi! The personal nightmare of one Nara Shikamaru! How could she defy him and his genius if she couldn't even hear a word of what he was saying. His lips kept moving…. Alright, she had attended lip reading class back in her days in the academy, she could do this!
That looked like an o, and that seemed like a k. Maybe he was talking about a book? Boring! She nodded with some extra fervor just to make sure that he was aware that he had her full attention. Well, sort of, because that black void was becoming really, I mean, really tempting.
Shaking her head had hurt a little bit too. Not enough to wince, but enough for her to subtle clench her fist. Shikamaru kept rambling, she noted somewhere in the back of her mind. Maybe he wouldn't notice if she would just… I mean just for a moment…
"And that is why a war would be inevitable should- Hey are you alright?" Shikamaru said, but Temari had long ago lost the ability to hear. Before he could finish the sentence, her eyes rolled back and Temari fainted, using her last bit of strength to hit Shikamaru for his monologue that made her fall asleep. She did not faint of blood loss. Sabaku no Temaru doesn't do fainting! She didn't do blood loss! Well, sort of… but never those two in combined!
So a day or so later in the hospital she when that lazy boy showed up, she ignored 'the sleep' and held her head high. If anything; deny everything. Especially that the crybaby, the little boy, and what-not-lazy, did carry her back to the village.
Nor would he ever tell her that he fainted from the stress right after that. Everyone has their secrets right?
Chapter 9 ~ Amor tussisque non celatur!
Het leven gaat niet altijd over rozen ~ Dutch proverb
"I officially hate the desert." Naruto suddenly said, holding a hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the sand that blew into his face once again.
Sasuke almost tripped over a sun-bleached skull of some animal, and he couldn't agree more. "I share your sentiments."
It had been hours ago since they had traded the forest for a landscape of sand and cacti. The wind-worn rock formations and some dead trees now and then were the only indication that they had actually moved at all. Sasuke swore that he saw a desert dog eye them hungrily at some point, but then again, he hadn't drunk anything for a few hours and the harsh sunlight was already burning his sensitive skin.
The torrid heat made him sweat and the gritty sand kept him from being able to run fast. Not that he wanted to in the blazing heat, but anything to get out of here. He ignored the pain from cracked lips and dehydration and the blisters that were beginning to form due to the sand that was blown into his boots.
When they passed some cacti and – surprise, surprise – sand, Naruto suddenly halted. Sasuke looked at him questioningly, but Naruto just pointed to one big cactus.
"That cactus looks familiar." He said, crouching down on his knees to examine it better. "I have a feeling that we've already been here."
Sasuke fought the urge to either hit Naruto or himself.
"Of course it looks familiar. We are in the freaking desert! We've got sand, sand, sand, and then for the variation, sand!" He said, spite lacing his voice.
Naruto did not look hurt at all and just continued to examine it.
"Is someone having an emo-moment?" He asked. Sasuke could almost hear his lips curl up.
"Does someone have a death wish?" He retorted, not missing a beat.
"Tsk.. Like you could beat me…" Naruto muttered softly, and stood up. He let his gaze wander over the desolate wasteland for a few seconds. The gusty wind carried the fluttering shift of feasting birds and barking wild dogs.
Then suddenly- "Are you sure that you know where we're going?"
Sasuke looked surprised at his teammate. "Me? I thought you were leading us?"
Naruto turned around and faced him, eyes wide open and his finger pointing at him accusingly. "No, I've been following you the entire time!"
A screeching hawk stopped their argument, and Sasuke sank to the ground, his hands in his hair.
"Oh god we're lost… in a fucking desert!" He knew his voice was bordering disparity, but as long as all he could taste was his own sweat and body odor mixing with the smell of dry baked earth, he couldn't care less. He had literally lost his cool some time ago. "I hate sand! I hate heat!"
Naruto pulled him up without even trying to be gentle. "Relax, Sas. Let's just retrace our steps and then-" Naruto reasoned, but Sasuke hit him.
"And exactly how are we supposed to retrace our steps IN THE DESERT! IDIOT!" He screamed.
Naruto kept looking at the desert floor, looking for their footsteps while muttering. "… I hate you"
"Direct your hatred on the road, then we might just get home sometime soon." Sasuke said after a moment of calming himself.
He and Naruto shared a glance, and then they started to move forward again through the gritty sand. And he was sure that they passed the same cacti again, but there wasn't much else to measure their progress with, so he didn't mention it to Naruto, who had grabbed his hand and dragged them in some direction. He was entirely too tired, wounded and overheated to argue with him.
"Look!" Sasuke was pulled out of his thoughts when Naruto suddenly halted and he crashed into him. "That looks like a building right? It's probably Suna!"
Sasuke looked in the direction of Naruto's pointed finger, and indeed, in the darkness there was something different than the usual cacti and sand. What he assumed to be the roof of a building rose up into the sky, massive block by massive block, a staircase to the gods. He felt some relief wash over him.
Abruptly, Naruto started running, or as much as you can run in sand without getting any grip on it, and dragged him along with him through their linked hands.
"Stop dragging me!" Sasuke yelled over the howling hot winds that seemed to have become even stronger as they ran, but Naruto didn't stop. "Naruto!"
He vaguely remembered that buildings in Suna were known for their oval roofs while he was dragged across the desert.
The room that Shikamaru entered was decorated in a standard hospital style, with stainless steel furniture, pastel colored walls and even more white, double layered draperies sheathing the small, round windows that Suna was known for. The room was small, and a single bed on rollers was the only non-medical furniture apart of the chair and the nightstand.
And in the bed laid Temari, staring at him with unconcealed interest.
The nurse that had taken him to the room and left, and he closed the door gently behind him. The click of the latch falling into place broke the awkward silence between them.
The woman lying in the bed was singular remarkable in appearance. All the pride she had momentarily let go of in the forest and during the walk back, had returned to her features full blown. Her wide-spread eyes had visible trouble to focus on him, but it was also obvious that she would rather die than admit that she was struggling to keep conscience.
He sat down and eyed his surroundings. There came some questionable food smell from the tray, but he could also vaguely smell the smell of the coffee on the nightstand. It seemed warm and fresh, and implied that it wasn't her first cup today. He shook his head absentmindedly.
"How are you?" She asked, and he chuckled.
"Am I not supposed to ask you that?" He said after a moment, and smiled somewhat lazily at her. "But I'm alright. The effects of a good night's sleep… And you?"
"I'm fine." She said, and he gave her a dubious stare in return, smirking slightly. He put his hand on her forehead to mock her. She slapped it away, and sat up.
"I don't know why I'm so much weaker today!" She said angrily, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. She squeezed the hand she had previously slapped away. "It's probably the bed rest. I'm not used to that. I already told the nurse that she should just let me go and-"
Before she blamed the entire hospital staff for her mortality, Shikamaru cut her off.
"How are your brothers?"
Temari parted her lips to say something, and her hand shifted over his, as if she wanted to raise it but decided not to at the last moment. No words came either.
A painful silence, as well as a thick tension fell between them.
"They are not back yet, are they?" Shikamaru deadpanned.
"Not that I know." And Shikamaru knew that if had been back, Temari would have known.
"Gaara and Kankurou. I can't deny that I want them back for completely different reasons. Even if I wished-"
Abruptly, Temari broke the connection by pulling away from his touch. She moved back into the bed, and brought her knees to her chest. She scoffed and buried her face inside her arms, resting on her knees. It was almost as if she were… hiding.
"Even if I wished I had outgrown it… I simply can't forget it. And I hate both him and myself for it."
His dark eyes widening at what he heard. It was barely audible, but he heard it nevertheless. It was just so..
Slowly, he moved closer to her, without actually moving out of his chair. They were both silent for a long time and Shikamaru waited patiently, watching the world outside their room shift. The sand kept moving on and on and on.
"My brother killed my mother." She continued, not facing him still. "Gaara, I mean. My father told us that she died giving birth, and the rumor goes that she died during the sealing, but it is not true."
Shikamaru jumped at the voice, and then turned his eyes back to the blonde in front of him, eyeing her every move. Or the lack of them.
"I was there, when it happened, I was only four. Kankurou was three, and Gaara only one, so neither of them remembers. It all happened so quick, too."
Temari lifted her head slightly, and Shikamaru listened carefully, wondering just what happened.
"It was just an average afternoon." Temari began, but her voice seemed distant. "I don't even know exactly how it started. I remember coming home, seeing my mom. That she was happy to see me. I don't remember where I had been before I came home, I just remember opening the door, and seeing her smiling face. And I remember she held Gaara in her arms." She paused, licking his lips.
"I don't remember where I had been, but I do remember that there was much less sand in my hair than usual. There hadn't been much wind that day."
He could only see a little bit of her face, but never the less he could see a haunted look creep upon the girl's features. Her hands shook and her eyes were wide open, but her voice remained steady, and even calm. "My mother had to go get us something. She said I had to look after my brother while she and Gaara went and got it. I didn't like staying home without either of my parents, especially since it was becoming darker. A ghost might come and kidnap us, or I might have to change Kankurou's diaper. However, my mother told me that ghosts only exist in fairytales.
But I was stubborn, and couldn't understand why they did exist in fairytales, but not in real life." Temari whispered softly, lost in her memories. "So I waited until she was out of the house and at the end of the street, and then I…
Only after five minutes of following them, the wind- ... I couldn't see a thing. Sand was everywhere. We were near the village's end, so there was not much shelter, and I was right behind my mother… By the time I heard Gaara crying, I knew, somewhere deep down, that it was too late." Temari's voice wavered, a deep breath, she continued. "Suddenly, sand was everywhere, and it hurt my eyes so much. Everything inside me screamed to go back. So I did, well, I tried. I was disorientated by the sand, and ran right to the source."
"She was crying, they both were. I remember that, even from the small distance that the sand allowed me, I could see the shiny fragments fly through the sky. Like… splinters." She whispered. Her soft voice, almost inaudible, sounded hollow to his ears.
"She looked at me, I clearly remember her eyes, her face, the pain… And then I ran, ran until I was on the other side of the town. That was the last time I saw her."
He looked at her, not sure what to do, avoiding touch, or any kind of contact. It was awkward; listening to the strongest, scariest woman he knew to pour out her worst memories. He didn't know how to react, or how to act, and just kept looking at that face. Neither of them said a word.
Then she fumbled inside her hospital gown and then pulled up a very long and thin necklace. The cord was thin and beige, and at the end hung a small piece of glass. Judging the way it was tied to the end, it was handmade, and he had a hunch about who made it.
Temari turned to him then, the same haunted look in her eyes, but there were no tears. "Gaara's elemental affinity is fire."(1)
How she got it was left unsaid, but Shikamaru had an idea what she was talking about, and it did not sit well with him at all. Her hands seemed to cradle the piece of jewelry as if it were her lifeline. He just knew that it was sharp enough to cut through skin, and with enough force, maybe even through bone…
He held her stare for a second before asking. "May I touch it?"
She nodded, but she did not move from her position. He moved a little bit closer, just close enough for the cord to allow him to hold shard. It reflected a distorted version of him, and he wondered just how much Temari looked like her mother.
"M... May I touch you?" Shikamaru asked, hesitantly.
Temari froze, but a cold finger found his after a short moment of silence anyways. He closed his warm hands over them and waiting until she moved to intertwine their fingers. He didn't know exactly know how to comfort somebody that well, but he knew that holding her was pushing it.
Temari moved their joined hands, squeezing and then relaxing, feeling. It was strange, but nevertheless it helped to ease the thick tension in the room. "She was found some days later, Gaara was sleeping next to her remains. I remember my father standing at that same doorstep, looking at us with the saddest look I ever saw on his face. And I-"
Her breath hitched, and he didn't push her, just squeezed drew circle with his thumb on her hand.
"My father grew more distant after that. He was busy being Kazekage, and training Gaara to become the weapon that she would have never wanted him to be. I remember that he would yell at us for having her eyes, me and Gaara, when he was drunk. Well, when he still came home, at the end of his life he only came home when he knew we wouldn't be around. And I-"
She averted her eyes. "I've hated Gaara ever since. I swore in the night, after the many nights that her eyes haunted me, that I would kill him like he had killed her. I would make him hate me like he had made my father hate me."
"And now?" Shikamaru asked softly, more affected by her life story than he would have liked to admit.
"I grew up with Kankurou, when we were younger it had always been the two of us. We shared our fear for Gaara and our father as we grew up, so we understood each other. It was not until Naruto showed everybody, including Gaara, that he was not a monster that I saw him as my brother." She stretched her legs and let them lie down limply, staring at her lap. "That was the first time I realized that he had just been a baby.."
Temari stared ar her lap for a moment and he dreadened her next sentences.
"But by then it was already too late, hating him was something that was edged into my being. It became less, but it never vanished, and I don't think I will ever be able to fully love him like I love Kankurou." Temari whispered, her voice breaking. "Sometimes… I still want… to-…
"You know, it is no coincidence that I was placed into a team with both my siblings." She said, whipping away anything that could resemble weakness by changing the subject. "Family is important in Suna, trusting each other with everything, from our lives to our mind's desires. That is where Kankurou and I grew out of each other. He could do that, forget everything, do the right thing. But I couldn't. I never told either of them; that I still, or at all, wanted to-"
Her words from earlier came back to her.
/"Friendship, it's great, just because you have that freedom. You get to choose. But siblings, to be related to someone by blood…" She stressed the last word and lifted her gaze from the ground to his face. "That can never be undone. You can never turn your back on your family, even if you hate them, or even kill them. Because their blood runs through your veins, and through your children's veins."
"You can try to break every bond you have with a family member, but you will fail time and again." The 'trust me, I've tried.' went unsaid./
He now realized that hatred, and the desire to kill was just as much a bond as love was. It was just a little bit less… common.
A heavy silence descended on the room. Shikamaru felt chills run down his spine at those words, at her life's story. He wasn't sure what to do, hell, had never been this uncertain about a situation before. Being a genius saved him most of the time from not understanding the situation, but he could not imagine hating somebody, someone related to him, that much. Maybe she had been right when she had said that he couldn't relate, not having siblings.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. It sounded hollow to his ears, insufficient.
"Me too," Temari said, chuckling bitterly. He almost gave in to holding her, but cradled her limp arm instead. Temari heaved, almost clung to his warmth, but there were no tears. His other hand moved up to her head, his fingers going through her hair for a few seconds.
She reached out her other hand and touched his cheek, and he let her. The gesture, the same as she had done back in the forest, underneath the skies. It was almost as if she was comforting him.
Maybe she could feel, somehow, that her story had affected him. She was surprisingly selfless, but then again, it might just be a way of dealing with her pain. Though the haunted expression on her face had vanished, and she looked just a little bit less tired. It looked better on her.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this. I'm sorry." She said after a while, almost as if she had sobered up, and somehow he knew that that was not so far from the truth.
He chuckled slightly, and handed her the abandoned cup of coffee that had been resting on the nighstand. She gulped it down quickly and lay down again. "Are you seriously apologizing to me? You surprise me every day."
"Asshole"
He took the cup from her hands and placed it back on the nightstand while holding her hand in his."But I'm serious. It's good to let some things out once in awhile." He said, looking deeply into her eyes. Some life seemed to have returned to them. He shrugged. "Somehow, I'm happy that I am finally able to tell somebody who isn't involved about what I have been doing for the past few years." She nodded, playing with the calloused skin of his hand before she continued.
"It kind of lifts a burden from my shoulders, that I didn't even know that was there."
They shared a look and burst down in laughter, hers somewhat weaker than his though just as heartfelt. "That was so sappy. I didn't know you were this sentimental, have you been reading too many harlequin books lately?"
She mock punched his shoulder but couldn't keep the smile of her face. "Shut up crybaby, you started the sentimental crap."
"Does anybody actually know you are in ANBU?" She said, changing the subject. "Since you said you couldn't talk about it."
He shrugged, the smile still on his face. "No, apart of my teacher, nobody."
"Oh, that Asuma guy." She brought a pretended cigarette to her lips, remembering. "Wasn't he the son of the third Hokage? I remember him from the Chuunin exams."
Shikamaru looked slightly confused. "Asuma is, but I wasn't talking about him. I meant my other teacher, Tenzou."
"Tenzou?" She tasted the name, ranking her brain. "I don't know the guy, last name?"
It was then that he realized that while he knew that Tenzou liked Dango, thought Anko was hot despite her creepiness and liked to try to scare people in ridiculous ways, he did not know his last name.
"I don't know." He confessed. "We don't really see each other much outside the job, since I'm usually working or sleeping anyway."
"Talking about that, I really need to talk to the guy, because you did a lousy job in teaching you." She teased, rolling her eyes.
"What, I saved your life back there, remember?" He said, leaning back on his chair, folding his hands behind his head.
"But you didn't even deny it when I discovered your identity! You didn't even make an effort to think up an excuse!" She explained, talking rapidly. Shikamaru noted that this often happened when she was talking about battle related matters. "You just started talking in riddles, but you didn't henge your face for a second to make yourself look like another member of your clan! That's almost a basic strategy here!"
Shikamaru shrugged again."No other member of my clan is in Anbu, it would have been an obvious mistake, no point in denying."
She looked at him strangely. "How am I supposed to know that?"
Shikamaru stayed quiet for awhile. She was right, he often assumed too much. Luckily, she didn't push it more, otherwise they would end up with another useless argument.
"Anyway… how come nobody else ever discovered it?" She said after a second, slipping the jewelry that still lay on top of the sheet from when she showed it to him back into her hospital gown.
"Because I usually don't work together with anybody else than ANBU, and usually I'm better prepared so I don't have to use my family techniques as a last resort." He explained, and he noted that he had to be more prepared from now on.
"'Makes sense." Temari shrugged, fingering the cord that indeed matched her skin color almost perfectly. He could not see the shard, nor could he see the hurt, but he knew that despite their teasing, she still was sad and slightly angry from their earlier conversation.
He traced the cold metal bed rails, touching the soft pillow and crisp sheets once in awhile. They kept quiet for awhile. It was obvious that Temari was fighting to keep conscience, her eyelids dropping down once in a while. She had such a fiery personality, so it was almost alien to see her lying in a hospital bed. "Maybe you should talk about it with your brother." He said after a while.
"Maybe you should talk about it with your friends." Temari countered, her eyebrow raised slightly.
He sighed, trying explain to her what had been explained to him many times in the past. "I can't, you don't understand-"
"But I do." She said. It did not sound accusingly at all, and Shikamaru understood that though the right thing to do would be telling, they both still had more than a few obstacles to overcome before they could actually do the right thing.
He scratched the back of his head. "But seriously, keep it a secret will you? My Hokage will slaughter me if she found out you knew."
She seemed to over think it. "…Tempting, but what's in it for me?"
"Troublesome woman…" he muttered under his breath, and he could see that she had once again returned to her teasing mood. He sighed again.
She smirked and hit him good naturedly. "You deserved that for the harlequin comment earlier. You know damn well that I don't read that crap." And then her breath evened out he could see her eyes drift shut involuntarily. He smiled back, letting it pass.
He looked outside of the window. It had been late in the afternoon when he had walked into her room, after being released from the hospital himself. They had healed the cuts and stitched up the wounds that were too big to be healed yesterday. Temari had passed out when she had seen Suna, the knowledge that her hometown was near easing her mind enough to give into the darkness. He had brought them both to the hospital and they kept him overnight, just like Temari, to make sure that his concussion was nothing serious.
That had been yesterday, and his mission had already been much longer than it was supposed to be. The sun was already setting behind the beautiful far off mountains. It made the wasteland become even more unreal than it already was. The temperature was already dropping, and he knew that if he left now, he wouldn't have to go through the blazing heat of the desert. Only idiots crossed the desert during the day.
He stood up and closed the curtain of the window. He could feel Temari follow him with her eyes, her gaze questioningly. Shikamaru turned around and pointed to the door. "I gotta go. The guest hour was over about a half an hour before. "
She raised a single eyebrow. "We don't have guest hours in Suna."
He shrugged, not even trying to defend himself. Temari shook her head, smiling ever so slightly. "Well, bye. I'll see you around."
Temari sighed, dropping her hands back to her limp body, her eyelids shut entirely. She seemed to have quit trying to keep them open. "Please stay here a little bit longer."
Shikamaru looked at her tired form for a few seconds "And why would I do that?"
He didn't get his answer.
"Just until the rest returns, that way you can travel back safely with Kakashi-san's team"
"I can take care of myself perfectly well, thank you." He snorted, but he walked back to her bed nevertheless. The desperation in her voice was not lost to him. It was obvious that she cared very little about his safety at the moment and though her pride kept her from saying what she wanted to, he understood. He smiled at her and took her hand in his, squeezing it slightly.
"Troublesome."
Her shadowed features lit up and she opened her eyes briefly. "Thank you."
Had he not been Nara Shikamaru, Konoha's number one most lazy ninja, he would not have been able to rest in this uncomfortable position. The plastic chair did not give any comfort to his still healing body, but he had slept in worse situations. He wasn't particularly tired, but just let his eyes rest on Temari, who was falling asleep peacefully, her hand twitching in his sometimes.
"Just until tomorrow morning…" He muttered to himself.
He reasoned that, no matter how much more beautiful the woods were than the hospital, he would prefer this peace anytime over how they had fallen asleep that night in the woods. He had been away from home for eleven days now, but somehow he had already become accustomed to beautiful wasteland and its subtle differences in the landscape.
With that peaceful thought, he rested his eyes as well and fell asleep in no time. When the first rays of morning came Both of them knew, it was never truly out of their minds, that this moment could not last much longer. There were times when the fact of impending death seemed as palpable as the bed they lay on, but there were also times when they had the illusion of permanence. Getting to this point had been difficult and dangerous, but here, this moment now was a sanctuary. Shikamaru sighed as he whispered a soft goodbye to a still drowsy Temari, knowing that all good had to end. All he needed to do was pick Hinata up and manage to cut down the three day journey a day short in order to meet the time limit.
Shikamaru straightened his composure and henged himself into the full ANBU attatire that he had lost bit by bit during his two week stay. Tsunade would have his head for losing his mask, but for the time being a henge of said mask would have to do. Taking all his belongings and closing the door behind him with a final thud, Shikamaru took the lead.
The walk through the hospital seemed like a dream, and Shikamaru could hear fragments of conversations. Without any given directions Shikamaru found Hinata's supposed room, number 301, and opened the door without even thinking of knocking
In retrospect that had been one of the most embarrassing slip-ups he'd make in his entire life, because on the hospital bed laid a bandaged up Kazekage, with the Hyuuga heirs fragile body on top of him, kissing him with more passion than Shikamaru would have ever held the girl capable off. The two lovers stopped making out at the sound of the opening door, but the damage was already done.
After an awkward pause in which Hinata quickly got off Gaara and invented a few new shades of red, Gaara growled; "Not a word, ANBU"
And after Temari's tale from yesterday, Shikmaru was more than happy to comply and nodded.
"Uhm, I-I am s-s-s-sor-ry Raiu-san!" Hinata apologized profusely, looking at him with a mix of pleading and embarrassment at being caught. "But please don't tell anybody!"
Shikamaru understood; cross-village relationships were all but officially forbidden, not even taking into account that both parties happened to be prominent figures in both their villages politics. "I won't" He answered solemnly, and the girl brightened up consideratly. He hated to break her spirits, but took him no effort to tell her to say goodbye and pack her stuff within 5 minutes before walking away without more than a bow.
Well, at least he didn't have to break his promise to Temari; her brother was home again, but whether or not that was a good was another thing. He sighed; things just got that much more complicated.
A moon-lit man walked leisurely through the forests, looking at nothing in particular, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his coat. He was not extremely tall, nor extremely intimidating in appearance, his pale complexion fitting perfectly in the equally moon-lit environment. There was something intimidating about the way he made cautious yet graceful steps, those of a seasoned fighter. And he was well aware of this. He prided himself being aware of his surroundings.
He listened intently to everything around him, knowing full well that he well that he was being followed, but he wasn't concerned in the least.
A hawk shrieked. Then, suddenly, his long, slow strides ceased and he turned around.
The man cleared his throat. "Show yourself, human." His voice echoed through the night.
A young man materialized in front of him, and bowed down respectfully. His name and fame had preceded him once more, it seemed. Even a youngling like him showed him proper respects, his dark hair swaying in the wind as he stood up. "Give me a reason to spare you, and I might." He said after a small nod of his head in acknowledgement of the others presence.
The boy stretched his limbs, and the man assumed that he had been running for quite some time as well. Was this encounter truly a chance meeting or …?
The boy spoke after a short silence, as if to convince himself that he was not afraid of him.
"I might have an offer for you."
The darkness of the night, the way the shadows kept changing in the dim light of the moon, it all did nothing to hide the man's disinterest.
"What could you possibly posses that could interest me?" The man inquired.
"An opportunity" The boy, or rather man spoke confidently, eyeing him like an owl.
He caught himself having the urge to sigh. "Speak, child." His voice remained devoid of any emotion.
"I'd rather show you." The stranger simply opened a scroll and released the seal. When the small lightshow and the smoke had cleared, he could clearly see, despite the darkness, two items laying there, and-
The man's eyes went wide, shocked, amused, disgusted…
"How did you get… this?" The man said, slightly fascinated and slightly disgusted. He touched …it… for the lack of a better word. It was still in a perfect state, despite the obvious damage. He continued poking it, observing, while addressing the boy absentmindedly. "This is an offer I cannot refuse, but tell me, what is the price?"
The boy smiled wickedly, his sharp teeth bared in the grin. "All I request is to become your student."
The man stopped poking and blinked. And blinked again. And then;
"Hahaha! You are a cunning child, I give you that!" He all but roared. "Manipulative, even. Very well, my apprentice, it has been long since I trained someone, but I am certain that you will suffice."
If he could have, he would have wiped some tears of laughter from his eyes. Instead he let the shadows cover his eyes, calming his breath.
"Of course, there is one condition to becoming my apprentice." He said after a moment of silence. "Become my spy."
The grin widened.
"With pleasure."
NOTES;
Control over Sand and Fire means instant death in a desert. (Glass is sharp, you know, and quite deadly when used as a weapon, like here is just created and tossed around without any control. Poor woman…
All hail the symbolism! I hope you got them. Some were easy to get, like the difference between Shika and Sasuke & Naruto's perception of the desert, which symbolizes their different roles in the village of the leaf. Also note that Shika travels during the night, when the desert is cold and dead, while Sasuke and Naruto cross it in the middle of the day during the blazing heat. That symbolizes their nature, and the way they make choices. (Basically, Shika is stealthy, prone to keeping secrets and over-contemplates a lot, while Sasuke and Naruto are powerful like the sun, brutal like the heat, but much less rational and extremely obvious. Their linked hands symbolize the most important thing of team 7; TEAMWORK!)
Not much symbolism for Temari, since she is very straight forward, though there is some. Try to spot it. Shika has way too much. I'm not even going list it all. Just look for curtains, my dears. Oh yeah, and death was symbolized way to much this chapter. (Does anybody actually get it?) An omen, maybe?
TITLE? It's Latin. Google it my dears. The quote underneath is a proverb of my first language, meaning that life isn't always good. (Literally; Life isn't always about roses)
Remake Romance: yes, for the sake of valentine's day and the completion of the remake, I put a little bit more romance in it. Also, as my valentine's gift for you this year; a list of trivia;
TRIVIA:
- Shikamaru lost his mask in the woods, but it is not lost forever. Remember the little story of the mask maker? Remember the desert? *HINT HINT*
- When I started this story, I didn't even intend to end it. Hell, I just had a crazy idea that I had to get out of my system. That's why there is an enormous hiatus between chapter 2 and 3. After chapter 2, I sort of quit. Then, I got an idea somewhere in September last year and I started writing it again. Now, 8 chapters and a remake later, a good plot is just waiting to be put onto paper.
- Temari hates fish, Shikamaru loves it, according to the books. I intend to do something with that to symbolize the differences between their cultures.
- I love team 7, and Itachi. Itachi is actually mentioned a lot of times, though indirectly. He will play a very minor role in the later, more darker part of the story
- Someone will die, just a few arcs away, and it will be the prelude of the darker part of the series. Also the entire discussion of what it means to be a ninja will be very important.
- Shikaku will soon make his appearance. The reason why he hates ANBU is based on a situation in my real life, and a darker theme in the story.
- The idea to make Temari 'hate' Gaara was given to me by a reviewer, who said she wouldn't mind if Gaara died. That made me wonder… Kankurou and Gaara are much closer to each other than Temari and Gaara. I wanted an original reason for that. And the (dormant) ability to create glass just made Gaara that much more deadlier…
Until next time, my dears. Thank you for all your support. Next time, a brand new chapter of In the Shadows, called 'Hometown Glory'