In his dreams, he saw himself chasing after a woman running away from him as the sun set and running back to him with the sun rise. He couldn't see her face clearly, just her silhouette hued in the bright rays of the sun. But he thought he saw the outline of four ponytails atop her head as she was running in his dreams. He also dreamt of magic carpet, well, magic fan rides on a giant tessen as he snuggled up with a blonde ninja next to him. Again, he recognised four ponytails and when she turned to him, her face wasn't very clear but he saw teal eyes that gazed back at him. They were so full of life, of fire, of love. He longed to keep gazing into them, he thought as he awake the next morning, feeling very good.

And then he noticed the blonde hair in his face and the warm body laying next to him in his bed. He froze and began to panic for a second as she stirred slightly. He only allowed himself to breathe again as she ceased moving.

Then quickly, the events of yesterday flashed through his brain. Relieved, he checked to see if she were awake but for all intents and purposes, she appeared dead to the world.

Sighing with relief, he held her closer for a moment longer. He had been dreaming of her more and more often both in waking and in sleeping. But he was a dreamer, a poet, a wanderer. And he was also patient. In life, nothing good comes out of hurrying, after all.

That was why he loved cloudwatching so much. And why he enjoyed the delightful sensation of holding Temari in his arms while she slept. Although she would always be three years older than him, he realised that she had really become a a beautiful woman but he never really thought anything would happen between them. Sure, their paths crossed every now and then but they were never in the same place long enough for anything serious to happen. And he just wasn't someone who was interested in flings. They were just too troublesome.

Then suddenly it hit him as he squeezed her more tightly. He loved her. I have always felt like this, he realised. I have just been lying to myself. Ever since that time when we were only kids and she rescued me from the Wind ninja, Tayuya. She loved to annoy him and he didn't seem to mind much though he did make a show of protesting too much. But it wasn't because I didn't like it, in fact it was the opposite. I did it to get her attention.

I guess even geniuses have blindspots and can miss the obvious too.

But he wasn't sure he could make her happy. She was all fair skin and bright eyes, hair and spunky. He was darker, quieter in more than just appearance.

But I can make sure she is happy, he thought to himself. Because that is what makes me happy.

He savoured her warmth against him, knowing that this was a moment he would always treasure.

Finally, reluctantly, he withdrew his arms from Temari as he decided to get up and prepare breakfast for when she would eventually wake up. He knew she was a morning person.

He carefully pulled free from her, so as not to wake her and pulled the quilt back into place around her.

He looked down at her still sleeping form, surprised at how gentle and innocent she looked at rest. It was such a contrast to the normal sight of the spunky Sand kunoichi that he couldn't stop himself from grinning like an idiot.

Reluctantly, he slid the door open and padded quietly out to the kitchen to start breakfast.

She felt so warm, safe and content.

She dreamt of clouds and warm sunny days laying in the grass with him. Of lazy pineappled hair boys that seemed like baby versions of him calling her mummy. Of doing nothing but lazing around all day, content, happy and not needing any more. She didn't want to wake up when she finally felt herself come out of the dream back into the reality she was in.

Then she realised she was in a strange bed. In a strange room. With a warm breath on her neck tickling her. It was so pleasant. And a bit exciting too she thought, as she noticed the warm body next to her. A pair of arms wrapped gently around her middle.

She started but then remembered having dinner with Shikamaru and then going for a walk, and then he had gotten her home somehow.

Obviously they had ended up sleeping together. Well, not sleeping together like that she thought as she suddenly got a long warmer. She was still dressed in her clothing from the previous evening.

She was glad, because if and when it ever happened, she wanted to be able to remember it for a long time. Her life had not been an easy one and she had never really allowed herself to believe she would ever end up as anything more than just a kunoichi serving her brother. Even in her eventual old age as a spinster.

She felt him begin to stir so she quickly pretended to be still asleep, reluctant to leave the warmth of his bed. Of his embrace. She wasn't sure what would happen next. She was always on his case, pushing him to be all he could be. While he just seemed so content to simply be in the moment, hiding in the shadows. But she wanted to get him out into the light with her.

She wanted to take charge and he wanted her to act more womanly. And she knew the three years between them would always be there. And if he was so old fashioned about men and women, she thought sadly, that would not be something that he could accept.

She wanted just to savour being held because she knew this waking dream couldn't last. He'd probably just tell her she was troublesome for stealing his bed and they'd go right back to where they were. No, she preferred to pretend that last night was...what exactly?

It didn't matter. Being with him yesterday had been the happiest day of her life, especially the evening. It would be a memory she would always remember. Like their first fight. Saving him from the other Wind Ninja. She imagined what her life would have been like if she had showed up too late and Shikamaru wasn't around any longer. No, she thought fighting back tears. It was a fate she didn't want to consider too closely. I saved him and yet I can't bring myself to show him how much he means to me.

Suddenly it hit her that she had allowed herself to fall for him that time in the Leaf Village Hospital. That was why she had always offered to protect him. Because the truth was always stranger than fiction. Because her subconscious had been trying to tell her for so long that he was really what she cherished most in this world, she thought. All these years she thought. Perhaps she should just tell him. But she wasn't sure if that would please him.

No, she thought, knowing he had some strange ideas about men and women. It would be better to let him be the man for a change, she decided as gradually, she felt him come fully awake behind her.

She felt him check on her with such tenderness she almost cried out.

Then he drew her closer to him in a way that almost made her give herself away.

She felt him hold her for a long moment that melted her heart as she felt all the barriers she had built up with him come tumbling down. If they never got up again, she would believe that she had finally found the peace and happiness that that always alluded her.

When she felt him move away, she almost turned to reach for him but she was not yet ready to have her fantasies come crashing down on her. He was just being a considerate ninja looking after a comrade in arms after all right?

Things like this never happened to her in real life after all.

She felt him pause at the door for another long moment before she heard the door slide open.

She missed his warmth, his touch, his breath on her neck. She allowed herself to cry softly when he didn't return after a few minutes, eventually falling asleep again.