Temari recognized the sound as the chattering of teeth, kind of, but not completely, like the sound that the puppets Kankuro used made. But instead of the combat puppets she was expecting, a kind of frail looking guy stepped out of the shrubs. He was dressed in the familiar black robes with red clouds, had a delicate face with big, dreamy eyes and short hair that was coloured a dull shade of red. He didn't look much older than Temari did.

"How's your brother doing," he asked her with a dark smile.

If his outfit hadn't already made her boil inside, this taunting remark would definitely have done the trick. But Temari decided to try and keep her cool for now and took a deep breath.

"Very funny," she sighed, "Why don't you tell me?"

"You misunderstand," he replied, "I mean the one who uses my puppets, of course. Has he died yet?"

"Your puppets? You mean… you are Sasori of the Red Sand?" Temari couldn't believe it, wasn't he much too young?

"He's told you about me, huh?" he smiled, "What a good boy. Now answer my question. I don't like to wait."

"That would be none of your business, you bastard," Temari growled. God, it was impossible to stay collected... "Where's Gaara?"

"Oh, I don't know," Sasori shrugged, "My original and Deidara are still on their way here."

"You're a clone?" Temari asked incredulously.

"That's right," he said, "I heard that you had entered the labyrinth and since I've had so much fun with your brother and Deidara with the Jinchuuriki, I thought I'd try you as well."

Temari glared at him and after a short silence, calmly replied: "Try me if you like…"

She was done talking. All she wanted to do now was to hit this guy hard in the head with something made out of metal. She steadily took out her iron fan and got into her fighting stance.

"Ah, excellent," Sasori remarked, lifted his arms and suddenly stretched them out in front of him, pulling half a dozen of strange creatures out of the bushes that he had attached to his fingers by chakra threads.

"Alas, my main body needs the scrolls for his puppets, but I figured I'd come across something useful out here," he lifted his arms presenting the animals like a show-host would present an artist coming on stage, "How do you like these? They're called fireys, I believe. Aren't they freaky?"

Temari took a better look. The first thing that stood out on these animals was their fur. Only on their shoulders, hips, the back of their heads and the tips of their long tails grew fluffy hair that was mainly red, alternated with orange and white in some places. Like fire. They had little sharp teeth in their long beaks, an insane look in their luminescent eyes and their skinny limbs were covered in pale leathery skin.

In short, Temari thought that they were quite disgusting, but they didn't look dangerous at all and she felt a little like she was being made fun of.

"Now you're just mocking me," she snarled.

"Don't underestimate a good puppeteer, girl. We can turn pretty much anything into a weapon." Sasori smirked, "Now... shall we begin?"

He pushed his arms out in front of him with a powerful jerk and the fiery animals charged at Temari spreading their beaks open wide and shrieking loudly. As heir long limbs dragged on the forest floor, their fingers caught fire and they lifted their arms, aiming for Temari's neck.

Quickly Temari opened her fan fully, yelling "Eat this!" as she gave it a powerful swing.

The fireys were thrown back, but the fire in their hands flared up and now Temari was bombarded with fireballs from all directions. Another swing sent them flying, but Sasori instantly had a new attack prepared. Six fluffy torso's fell to the ground as heads and limbs detached themselves and newly lit fingers and toes and remarkably sharp fangs surrounded Temari. They were already too close to blow away, so she hurriedly closed her weapon and with lightning speed, managed to beat nearly all of them down. However, two heads succeeded in taking hold of Temari's legs and she groaned when their teeth broke through the skin. She had to hit them repeatedly before they let go.

All of a sudden she noticed that there hadn't been an attack lined up this time. All was quiet, but when she looked up Sasori simply stood where he previously had. He stood frozen still and had a disbelieving look on his face, as if he couldn't figure out why he was unable to move.

"Gotcha," a lazy voice then sounded from high up in a distant tree behind Temari.

"Shikamaru?" she walked toward the source of the voice, squinting up to see through the leaves. Sure enough, there he was, squatting on a broad tree branch.

"Hi," he said casually, "Could you hit him or something, so I can let go? It will just disappear won't it?"

"Yes... It's a clone," Temari said, puzzled, "How are you doing that?"

"Just hurry up, troublesome woman," Shikamaru sighed, "I might explain later."

"Right..." Temari said grumpily. She ran toward the puppet master, gripped her fan tightly and hit the bastard right in his pretty face. Instantly he fell apart into a pile of sand.

"Ha!" she yelled at the heap.

Behind her she heard Shikamaru land on the ground with a soft thud and she turned around at him..

"Why couldn't he move?" Temari asked him a he walked up to her.

"It was a shadow binding technique," he said in a bored tone, "Now, let's go."

"You- ... You're coming with me?" she asked him, astonished.

"It's too troublesome to come after you every time you need rescuing," he sighed.

"What the – Now wait a minute! I did not need your help back there!" Temari said affronted.

"Fine."

"I didn't!" Temari repeated decisively and Shikamaru didn't bother to reply.

Thus they continued, as before, in silence, Shikamaru leading the way. After a while they walked up to a high cliff, with a sandstone wall built on top at the edge, that marked the rim of the woods. It was a little tilted and there were plenty of rocks sticking out to hold on to, so they could climb it the cliff with ease. The wall was a bit harder to climb, but Shikamaru managed to pull them up, using his shadow technique.

Temari now had a good view of the distance she had accomplished. The outer walls of the labyrinth looked pretty far away, considering she felt like she had zigzagged all the way here. An impatient sigh from Shikamaru reminded her to keep walking. She looked over her shoulder at the maze. It was actually quite beautiful. She didn't get to enjoy the view for long, though, because, once again, the ground vanished underneath her feet and something grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down fast.

Temari was determined not to get separated from Shikamaru again: he was too beneficial. So on her way down she grabbed him by the waist and dragged him with her.