Sorry about the long delay!
I went back and revised a few things in some previous chapters, so they might make a bit more sense now/read better! (Although there probably still a few mistakes here and there.) (Might make some corrections to this chapter later, too.) Wasn't quite sure how I wanted to word the end of this, it sounds super cheesy, but I hope it's okay, haha.
And, again, thank you for the faves and comments/reviews! They are much appreciated!
Pulling on their flak jackets, Temari's fan a comfortable weight at her back, they left her apartment, making quick time to the Kazekage offices.
The temperature of the halls were cool, and intended to keep the heat out, but the activity within them was anything but - crowded with ninja, rushing about their tasks.
Pushing past the people, amid some indignant glares and grumblings, Temari and Shikamaru made it to the doors of Gaara's office.
As they entered, Kankuro greeted them, hands on hips, straight lines of kabuki paint and hood in place, his scrolls, carrying puppets, visible over his shoulder. "Took you long enough." He griped, "We're all prepping for the sealing team to finish any time, now."
Temari exchanged a glance with Shikamaru, "We've been busy with some research of our own."
"Oh, gross." Kankuro took a step back, his face twisted in mock disgust, "I do NOT want to know what you two have been up to in the past twelve hours."
Temari kicked him in the shin. Then went on to explain as Gaara joined them, adjusting the straps of his gourd.
"The wells in this village are part of an underground water system which, we are certain are a part of the same caves and tunnels that lead out of the village." Temari said.
Shikamaru held up a hastily-sketched diagram, "This dried out well should suffice adequately enough for the operation. But we'd probably only be able to get a small group through, for now" Temari gave Shikamaru an approving smile, in slight admiration of him taking initiative, and he blushed faintly.
Gaara had crossed his arms, considering thoughtfully. "I trust your judgment on this. And we should take advantage of it immediately." He turned to Kankuro, "From here, you take over operations of leading the main groups through with Baki once Maki and her team have completed their task. I'll join Temari, Shikamaru and Matsuri's squad in following this other route. We'll assess the situation outside and initiate combat and wait for your backup."
"That's… a little risky isn't it?" Kankuro shifted uncomfortably. "We're still not exactly sure how long it will take to break through the seal."
"Please." Temari gave him a withering expression, "We're fighting a smaller group of dissidents, not armies of undead Bloodline Limit users." She said pointedly. Memories of the war still lingered. They had faced extreme odds and survived, somehow. But they did carry scars from it.
"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Gaara said quietly. "And they'll accomplish it soon."
It wasn't long before the three, along with Matsuri and ten other ninja, had reached the darkened base of the well, clearing away stones and rubble until they made it through to an open expanse of caves, too pitch-black to make out much until they passed down lanterns. However, there really wasn't much to see, beyond wide tunnels and damp, trickling streams of water. (Which, she was sure, lead to the underground lake farther down.) They silently followed the sensor ninja at the head of the party - any whispered words echoed loudly from the walls. There were some convoluted twists and turns, but, eventually, they reached the man-made paths.
Temari was surprised at the complexity and extent of them. Finally, the ninja at the front waved them over to a tunnel. "Here." he said.
She felt air wafting down it, and, when they doused their lanterns, leaving them behind, they could see a soft light at the far end.
Single-file, they made their way through, and out, into the open air at the base of the cliffs not far from the village. The storm looked far more angry from the outside - a tall wall of thrashing sand surrounding it for miles. She had seen Gaara's techniques plenty of times, but this looked slightly daunting. Temari gripped at her fan in anticipation.
The group ran toward it, encountering the first rogue ninjas more quickly than she'd expected.
Without a second thought, she was sending slicing bursts of wind, fan swinging. Shikamaru would loosely capture some, shadows racing along the ground, and she would incapacitate them. He worked far better with his team, but they'd grown into their own few techniques over the years.
Gaara appeared to be doing most of the work himself - sweeping aside entire groups with his sand.
She was preoccupied with watching when Shikamaru sent lines of shadow-stitching to the space behind her, where another ninja had poised to attack her, kunai raised. Temari let loose a breath, mentally berating herself for becoming distracted - before she found herself clubbing off two more attackers.
She swept her gaze over the area - it appeared more were arriving as reinforcement, having sensed the commotion. Things could get ugly quickly.
"You should get behind my back, Nara!" Temari shouted over the noise, kicking a ninja with chakra crackling over his hands in the face so hard that his nose cracked. Whatever his technique was, she didn't want to take the time to find out.
"It's better to keep track of you when you're close by!"
Shikamaru complied, but scoffed, turning slightly to glare at her, "Says the person who was just rescued by me?"
She sent a cloud of shuriken on another burst of wind to his left, where three more ninja had approached him. They sagged and fell to the ground.
"That makes us even." Temari declared.
The waves of reinforcements almost became overwhelming - they soon found themselves fending off attack after attack. Her sweat stung her eyes and she was glad for her gloves, because she was sure her fan would slip from her fingers, otherwise. They were all exceptional fighters, but when outnumbered, it didn't make things very easy.
And Shikamaru was definitely nearing his limit - he might be a phenomenal strategist, but his techniques, while improved, were incapable of being used at length.
It occurred to her, then, that, normally, he wouldn't even bother to engage in such risky combat. As if to reinforce that thought, she saw a glint of light out in the far dunes.
Soon, Leaf Ninja began to appear out of practically nowhere.
"You were betting on their reinforcement, weren't you?" Temari asked, grinning in spite of their being surrounded by twenty rogue ninjas. The message that had been sent had, clearly, reached them.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Shikamaru lied brazenly.
Among them, she recognized Ino, Chouji and Sai. The former two fought their way through over to Shikamaru and Temari, while Sai took to the sky and dispatched a good deal of a group surrounding several Sand ninjas.
"Sorry I can't be of a lot of use right now." Shikamaru gasped tiredly at his teammates.
"Since when have you ever been of use?" Ino snorted, flipping her long, blonde ponytail. Chouji sighed.
"Where's your sensory ninja?" Ino asked Temari.
Perhaps it was due to spending so much time with an obnoxious strategist that Temari immediately understood. "He should be over by Gaara!"
Ino nodded her thanks and left.
"Don't tell me you planned this out days ago." Temari eyed Shikamaru.
"Well…" Shikamaru shrugged, "Not exactly. I knew what to do once we'd made it out here, but I had no idea of how we'd leave the village, exactly. Or if my original plan would work at all."
Exhaustedly, she swept away another oncoming attack with her fan.
Shikamaru smiled (he really had a pleasant smile, though he didn't care to show it much) "But I have you to thank for that. Like I said - I knew you could do it."
A lot of immensely cheesy thoughts raced through Temari's head, but she settled for a punch to his shoulder and a "I suppose I wouldn't have expected less from you, either."
Chouji coughed politely, interrupting their conversation. "It looks like she's already taken care of things." He nodded over to Gaara's group.
With the assistance of the sensor, they pinpointed one of the nearby casters for the storm. With a startling swiftness, Ino had taken control of them and dissolved the jutsu. She'd become pretty formidable with long-range mind control. Temari found herself wishing the Sand had someone as talented.
Their group had been set up to defend and clear the way, so the Leaf could quickly take out the casters when they arrived.
Slowly, the storm began to dissipate.
Shortly after, Kankuro and the others arrived, gathering up the rest of the stragglers of rogue ninjas. (Not before complaining a bit that they'd left nothing for him to do and he'd gotten his puppets all ready for the job.)
As Shikamaru spoke with some of the Leaf company, a (very tired looking) Maki was stopped by Temari as she passed by.
"Why are you out here?" Temari asked, a bit bemused.
Maki embarrassedly rubbed at her neck. "Defending my village, I guess. I wasn't about to let a little fatigue get in the way."
"Well, you've done a commendable job in helping the defense today already, I think." Temari laughed. "Really. Thank you for your help."
Maki hand-waved it away. "Could say the same to you! But, really, I'm glad to help. Oh," She added. "And by the way, glad to hear you and your boyfriend made up."
Temari knew her face was growing red, but she also felt herself grinning. "Thanks, Maki."
The sandstorm began to quiet and the bright sun shone overhead.