"What have we got here," the old lady wondered aloud, and produced a bowl from somewhere in her luggage, "Are you hungry? I have sweet chestnuts. You like sweet chestnuts, don't you? Yes, yes. There you go!"
She shoved the bowl containing chestnuts in Temari's hands.
"Here's another plant. You remember what kind it is, don't you? Yes, yes, yes."
Temari took hold of the pot, still unable to think straight. The woman's babbling didn't exactly help her concentrate. She sat down on her bed, closed her eyes and gave meditation a try.
"Now then, what else have we got?" the old lady proceeded, "What's this? Let's have a look. It's the fan you first trained with when you were just a little girl. It still folds really well, too!"
She went on rambling and finding stuff Temari had forgotten about in her collection and piling them up around her. Temari slowly, but surly got buried by things she loved – as the old lady kept assuring her – but she didn't pay attention to her anymore.
"There was something I was looking for," she mumbled.
"Don't talk nonsense," the hag replied, "It's all here. Everything you've ever cared about is all right here."
Temari didn't listen. Gradually she calmed down and her thoughts cleared.
"Huh? What's the matter, my dear? Don't you like your things?" the woman complained.
When Temari finally opened her eyes she felt almost completely clearheaded. She looked at the stuff surrounding her.
"It's all junk..!" she murmured.
The woman stared wide-eyed at her, then took a pretty little statue of a blond girl in a white and pale gold yukata and showed it to Temari.
"Well, what about this?" she stammered, "This is not junk, eh?"
Temari grabbed if from the woman's hands and glanced at it, before she threw it through her mirror and shouted: "Yes, it is!"
Suddenly a bang sounded above the ceiling and it trembled violently. As, whatever it was, hit the ceiling a second time, far-stretching cracks ran through it and the walls started crumbling down.
It was as though the impact at last shook Temari fully awake, because she suddenly remembered.
"I have to save Gaara!" she shouted, almost triumphantly.
The third time that unknown force landed a blow, Temari saw that it was a giant fist, as it penetrated the plaster above her and knocked the hag right out. A load of cast-offs came tumbling down and as the cloud of dust cleared, Temari saw that the woman had transformed into a snow-white man with greyish green hair and strange crenulated folds in length of his body. Temari didn't have much time to observe him, because from out of his stomach a tree grew, tall and broad, and almost completely covered him in no time.
The fist removed itself through the ceiling and shrank to a normal sized hand. Temari looked up through the hole and saw none other than Chouji's brightly smiling face.
"Temari!" he cheered, "Are you okay?"
He bent over the hole on all fours and once more extended his arm to haul her out.
"Let us change place, my friend!" Temari heard sir Lee's impatient voice cry, "Let me see inside! Have you sighted my lady? Is she in good health?"
A fragment of his face appeared in rapid succession over each of Chouji's broad shoulders and between his arms and repeated this until he was nearly knocked over by Chouji's elbow as Temari was pulled through the opening.
"How d'you do, sir Lee?" Temari said and, when she was sure she had her two feet firmly on the ground, bowed to him like a princess.
A river of silent tears ran down the knight's face as he whispered, in a chocked voice: "Such a brave maiden!"
Temari chuckled merrily, but then spotted Shikamaru, standing a few feet away, silently staring at the ground with his hands tucked in his pockets.
"Hey, Shikamaru..!" Temari waved at him hesitantly, "What's up?"
When he shortly looked at her, Temari saw that instead of his usual annoyed countenance, he wore an expression of remorse.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled.
"Hah? What for?"
She walked over to him and playfully nudged him in the side with her elbow.
"I bet it was you who found me, right? You smartass," she said, grinning fondly at him.
"I shouldn't have lost you to begin with," he grumbled regretfully in reply, "I let my guard down and before I knew it, you were gone. The Temple of Nirvana technique never fooled me before, but we all fell asleep."
"Don't beat yourself up about it, I'm fine," Temari said quietly, but then sighed exasperatedly, "I suppose we can start all over again now, huh? How on earth are we-"
"Well..." Shikamaru cut her off, scratching the back of his neck and looking befuddled over Temari's shoulder, "We're actually closer now. The castle's right there."
Temari spun around and there it really was. She realized that this was the first time she laid eyes upon it. Despite that, it was unmistakable, although not entirely what she had expected. What she had expected was a compact, dark, rough-stoned fortress, but it was in fact tall, pointed and made out of neatly finished, light-coloured and smooth stone. It was surrounded by a thick, matching wall.
Temari turned back around to Shikamaru.
"Then what the hell are you moping about? Let's go!" she said, grabbed Shikamaru's wrist, motioned Chouji and sir Lee to follow, and started marching in the castle's direction.
"Ha! Did they think we'd stay asleep until they were done or something?" Temari said smugly, "Morons.."
"Beats me," Shikamaru replied with a shrug, "We should look out for traps, though."
Temari tramped on, still pulling him along, their companions trotting after them.
"So slow down!" Shikamaru grumbled, "Also: let go. I can walk on my own, thank you. Troublesome woman.."
Temari came to a sudden stop.
"Right," she grinned sheepishly at Shikamaru, "Sorry, I got too excited. You should lead the way."
He glared briefly at her and Temari could've sworn that he was blushing, but before she could be certain, he started walking, irritably muttering to himself.
The party's astonishment at the carelessness of their opponents grew as they not only reached the gates without hindrances, but found that these were barely guarded as well. There was a bloke, who looked exactly like the one the old hag had turned into, leaning against the wall. Asleep.
Sir Lee marched up to the closed entrance, banging the wood and demanding loudly to be let in.
"Open up," he bellowed, "Open the doors!"
Temari hastily grabbed him by the arm and roughly covered his mouth.
"Shush!" she hissed, "you'll wake the guard!"
Sir Lee struggled violently and while Temari now held him in a firm headlock, he managed to free his mouth.
"Let them all wake up!" he screeched heroically, "I will fight them all to the death!"