The Best Of It
When he came to, he could hear his mother talking to someone in the kitchen.
"...anyone else."
"No, no, not at all..."
His father's voice joined in.
"Thank you very much, Temari, I don't know how we can repay you."
A nervous laugh.
"Not at all, mister Nara. It's the least I can a do, your son has shown me nothing but kindness during the few weeks I've known him."
His mother made an appreciative sound.
"I raised him to be better than his lazy good for nothing father, right?"
"Yes, Yoshino."
Temari laughed.
"You've done a great job, I must say miss Nara."
"Yoshino will do, Temari dear."
"Um, I should get going. Thank you very much for the tea though."
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay for dinner?"
"No, really, I have to make dinner myself, I don't want my family to starve," she laughed nervously.
"Well would you like to phone your parents to pick you up maybe? You can use our phone?"
"It's alright, really!"
"We can call you a taxi?"
"Really, miss Nara-"
"Yoshino," his mother interrupted .
"Yoshino," Temari corrected herself. "I'll be fine. Thank you so much for welcoming me, the rain has eased up a little, I'll run home. Thank you very...ver-ry"
She sneezed loudly.
"E-excuse me, I'll head home now."
"We can't let you do that! You have a cold!"
"Really, It's nothing I-"
"I'll call your parents, let me grab the phone."
Yoshino hurried into the sitting room where she saw her son seated and awake.
"SHIKAMARU, YOU FOOL, WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE YOUR MEDICATION WITH YOU?!"
He cringed and looked away, not wanting to have to talk.
She sighed and took the phone from the cradle.
"Temari, what's your landline number?"
Temari walked into the sitting room looking slightly embarrassed.
"Really, it's not necessary." She mumbled, fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie.
"Temari, if you want to leave I need your parents to pick you up. It's dangerous out there and you're sick." Yoshino said, "or if you'd like to stay for dinner, to let them know where you are."
"I-I can't I have to make dinner at home. My brothers would probably starve if I don't, " she chuckled to herself before sneezing again.
"Why won't your mother cook for them?"
Temari blushed furiously and looked away.
"Eh- my mother passed away. It's fine, I'm twenty two, I can look after myself."
Yoshino softened and stood up to hold Temari in her arms.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's fine, really." Temari was clearly embarrassed by the older woman's show of affection.
"Please stay for dinner. We owe you at least that much."
Temari sighed.
"Okay, can I please call my brothers?"
Yoshino smiled widely and handed her the phone.
"Fire away,"
Temari took the phone from her and thanked her before walking into the hall with it.
"Shikamaru, we had to tell her about your disease, she was worried."
Shikamaru groaned.
The last thing he wanted from Temari was pity, but the moment anyone found out about his motor neuron disease, they instantly treated him as though he were some bubble with crystal-thin emotional barriers.
"KANKURÅ, SHUT UP!"
Shikamaru and Yoshino both jumped at the sudden yell from Temari.
"There are spaghetti hoops in the cupboard, live with it."
Shikamaru snorted. Her brothers must have a hard time living with that one.
Temari walked back in shaking slightly.
"Sorry about that, my brother has a subhuman level of intellect."
Yoshino left the room to prepare dinner and insisted Temari stay with Shikamaru in the living room.
Once she left, Temari turned to Shikamaru and pointed at his face.
"Your hair looks better down."
She sat down beside him and eyed him curiously.
"Your parents told me, you know."
He nodded solemnly.
He knew what was going to happen next:
The ' I'm so sorry for ever being mean to you ever you're so strong and brave' speech which he hated more than Chouji hated diets.
She opened her mouth to begin the speech and he braced himself.
"Don't expect me to treat you any differently. You're still a brat even if you're dying."
He was shocked.
No one had bluntly said anything like that to him before. Not even his own mother.
"Your parents told me about why you got the job too. Honestly, it's super selfish of you to act that way when they want you to make the most of your life, I mean you have a maximum of how many years left? Three? Four? Make the most of it. You have parents who love you, and I guarantee that if lives were for the taking they'd give you theirs without hesitating."
She sighed and leaned back on the couch, her shoulder brushing off his.
"Seriously, make the most of being able to appreciate them."
"Two."
"Hn?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Probably two years."
She looked at him a bit more seriously before smiling.
"Better make the most of it then."
He found himself smiling at this strange, troublesome girl.
"I'll try."
She smiled widely at him.
It wasn't a grin or a smirk. It was a genuine smile that made him shiver.
"Good,"
And with that one conversation, he found himself falling.
Falling in love with the troublesome Temari.
A/N: Hola, how is everyone?
I'm posting this a day early to say thank you for all the feedback on the last update!
Sooooo the way idk if you guys agree with me, but I honestly feel as though the way Temari reacts to finding out about Shika's condition is actually kinda sweet in its own way.
Honestly, I hate it when people suddenly start acting differently towards someone just because they have an illness or a condition, it's a total pet hate of mine!
I got so many lovely reviews for the last chapter aww thank you guys!
I don't want to ramble on for too long, so I won't mention them all but anyways:
magxax~Welcome back to the land of the shipping :3 I'm sorry about the chapter lengths, I'm just trying to gauge how to structure the story in such a way that it's tense at the right moments, so some will be shorter and others longer, I really hope you'll continue to support it! Thanks for the review
ayingChan ~ heehee, does this chapter answer your question? Your reviews have all been so lovely, thank you so much, I honestly can't even begin to explain how happy I get when I see your name before a review, you put so much into what you write and you are so lovely, thankyou!
aaaaaand:
luluxxy~ this is the first chapter where it is outwardly said! Shikamaru has a type of motor Neuron disease. These diseases don't have a cure, unfortunately and I find that many of the charities that support this disease haven't got much support, I'm writing this story both to raise awareness and support for these charities and also for one of my close friends who was diagnosed with progressive muscular atrophy four years ago. Thankyou!
okie, I'll try get to other reviews again at some point, but thank you so much for the continued support!
I hope y'all like the story so far, I've finished editing, and there are about seventeen chapters in total (Unless you guys want an epilougue, which I have written in case you request one ;))
please follow fave and above all review!
~Lee