Blood and Flies

Blood dripped from the hanging decapitated heads on his white garage covered in thick plastic. A strong smell of bleach circles around the space where he collected all of his killings.

How much his garage was clean, a swarm of flies, mosquitos, maggots, and other insects still crawled and flew around inside. Draining all the dried blood and rotten flesh from his victims, they were slowly eaten by the pests that he welcomed to his home.

The speck of feet from the insects creeps through his skin as he watches the hanging decapitated heads in front of him. The feeling of pain and pleasure he gets from their screams, the insects covering his house, and the smell of flesh and dried blood starts to grow on him like he's becoming addicted to his routine.

His palms glide through his cheeks, rubbing the fresh blood from his latest killing, to attract more insects to linger through his skin. He never thought killing would be such a fun game and he met his new little friends, a swamp of pests.

The recorded Kiba's past phone calls kept playing from his laptop while he tried to attract more insects by rubbing the blood on his skin. Until one phone call caught his attention.

"…..Bye Temari, see you next week! I'll treat you to a coffee shop. I'll buy you a coffee. Do you like that?"

His hands stopped rubbing his skin and pressed the replay button to hear the recorded tape one more time.

"…..Bye Temari, see you next week!..."

"…..Bye Temari, see you ….."

"…..Bye Temari,…."

"….Temari"

The night scythe stopped the replay button and a deafening silence covered his garage, the cicada's whirr outside keeps getting louder and louder, merging with Kankuro's voice spilling her name.

"Temari" he said slowly in his deep voice "I found you"

.

.

.

She touched the metallic handle of the gun she purchased after her brother's death while her other hand reached for her phone.

This is how it should end, tonight she'll invite him to have a weekend at the Konoha beach cabin and kill him by burying a bullet inside him.

She convinced herself that it was better to do it before falling into a hole that she didn't intend to dig. Still confused about her feelings, she was still firm that her heart was still not lost by his love.

The silver gun slides from her hand making a sheer metallic cling sound after it falls to the table.

"Kankuro, this is for you" she whispered while her shaking thumb pressed to call his phone.

Shikamaru immediately answered her call after a few rings.

"Hey…is there a problem? Are you in trouble? Where are you?" his voice was in pure concern

"No silly. I just wanted to check on you. Heyyyy….I'm planning to cook a meal tonight, do you want to have dinner with me?"

"Yeah of course…of course, I'll be there at seven. Do you want me to bring anything?"

"No..Just you. I just need you. And uhmm—I have to tell you something"

"What is it?" he curiously asked

She moistens her lower lips and took a deep breath "I'll tell you when you're here"

"Alright, I'll see you later"

"See you…bye" she immediately ended the call to catch her breath. Temari was used to saying lies growing up as a form of escape but this time, lying to him feels like she dragged her feet to hell. It feels heavy and sinful.

Shikamaru stared at his phone after the call, a faint chuckle escaped from his mouth after thinking that she might miss him that much. He glanced at the clock that was hanging on their wall, it was already 5 pm, one more hour, and he could leave his work and drive fast to her apartment.

After an hour of work which felt like an eternity to him, he clocks out and runs towards his car in the parking lot. The clashes of metallic handcuffs and car keys in his back pocket created a noise while he was running. Detectives are also equipped with the same personal protective equipment as their uniform colleagues, which includes handcuffs, a baton, and an irritant spray.

A smell of fried katsu, curry, and steamed rice traveled her hallway while Shikamaru was close to reaching her door.

Temari's door swung after a few knocks, he immediately closed the door and devoured her with kisses on her lips, cheeks, and neck. He missed her so much after being away for days, only hearing her voice whenever he called her even though her apartment was just across, their schedule didn't match.

"I miss you so much" he said

"I miss you too" her eyelashes flickered while trying to restrain the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.

"What did you cook? It smells nice" he gazed at the table where she prepared

"The usual" she smiled at him "Come on, let's eat. Are you hungry?"

"I am" he whispered to her ears

They both walked to her dining table and starts eating together. Temari showed all her soft side to him that night because tomorrow night, everything will change.

"Hey…I'm thinking if you'd like to go with me to the beach? We'll rent a cabin and have fun for the whole night" she offered

"That sounds fun. Sure…when?"

"Tomorrow…we both have no work during Saturday so I'm thinking if we could set a vacation somewhere far from here" she grabs his hand and placed it on her cheek "Please…I want to spend time with you" her lips start to quiver.

"It's really hard to say no if you're looking at me like that" he smiled while gliding his thumb through her cheek.

She pulled his face closer to her and starts kissing him, without breaking the kiss, she stood up and sat on his lap. Shikamaru tighten his grip on her waist, securing her position as they exchanged moans and clicking sounds from their kisses.

Temari kissed him like it was their last.

Their forehead touched while panting when they pulled away from kissing each other. She stood up trying to restrain herself from doing too much, she knows it will lead to both of them being naked in her bed again that night if she didn't stop. Their lips were slightly swollen from all the kissing they did, they craved for each other after being away for a few days.

She lifted their plates from the table and starts to wash them in the sink. Shikamaru didn't force her to do anything, he knows when to stop.

He cleared his throat "Can I smoke on your balcony?"

"Sure, I never opened my balcony before. Feel free to use it"

He walked slowly towards her balcony while fishing out his cigarette case to get a stick of cigarettes. The first stick slid in his finger and rolled under her bed. Shikamaru didn't want to leave trash in her apartment, he knows she'll get mad if she saw his cigarette left under her bed, so he reached for the stick.

His fingers started to crawl through her wooden floor but before he reached the cigarette stick, a box full of dust clung to his fingers. Shikamaru slowly glides the box out of her bed, curiosity struck him about Temari having a box under the bed.

The air surrounding her apartment starts to scarce his lungs, his hand slowly lifted the opening of the box and he was greeted with a blooded scythe knife inside.

Different emotions start to surge inside him after seeing a familiar weapon under her bed. His eyes start to warm after realizing that this knife was the one used in the multiple killings, still bargaining about the truth of what he just saw, his mind starts to question why Temari has this weapon inside her apartment.

His hand reached the handcuff that was sitting inside his back pocket as he slowly lifted himself up from kneeling on her floor. He pushed the button that mechanically open the handcuff that he was holding, preparing himself to restrain Temari from doing and bring her to the police department that night.

But was he ready to do that? Does he have the strength to arrest Temari?

Shikamaru turned around to look for her but before he completes his turn, A metallic snoot from the gun positioned to his forehead. He raised his both arms in a surrender position after seeing Temari raise the gun to his head, with her darkened gaze.

"Don't move or I'm going to blow your head" she commanded with her calm and firm tone.

He slowly walked towards her wearing his expressionless face without breaking eye contact with her.

"I said don't move! I'm going to shoot your head!" she yelled while grabbing the gun handle in both hands "I'm not fucking kidding Shikamaru! Don't move!"

He knows she has the capacity to do it and kill him there instantly, her words can speak many lies but her eyes couldn't. Shikamaru grabbed the muzzle of her gun and placed it to the skin of his forehead.

"Shoot me….kill me now…is this what you want? Huh?" he commanded

"Don't play mind games with me! I'm not playing! I'm going to make you suffer for what you did! I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Then shoot me! Kill me now!" he yelled while his grip starts to tighten on her gun muzzle.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"I'm fucking waiting Temari! Kill me now!"

She released a heavy breath, confused about why he was acting this way. Her hands start to shiver while trying to pull the trigger. There's a moment where her grip starts to lose every time her senses start to slip away from the splurge of emotion, Shikamaru immediately stole her gun after feeling her grip loosen from the gun. These were the things they learned in their defense class.

He pinned her to the wall with both of her hands behind, restraining them, then placed a handcuff. A small whimper escaped from her mouth, Temari felt a slight pain after her body touched the hard wall.

Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut and buried his head on her back, his heart could handle everything that is happening right now.

"Why did you have that knife?" he whispered

Temari gazed to her left where a big mirror was standing near her door, she saw herself pinned to her wall with Shikamaru restraining her behind. She hated herself, she was so vulnerable, she was a fool, and she was lost in that moment.

"Temari! Why did you have that knife!" he yelled

"I don't know" her voice sounds tired to answer "If you think I'm the serial killer, I'm not. I don't care if you're going to believe me or not but I'm not the killer" she mumbled.

"Pointing the gun at me concludes it. If you're the killer you should have used the knife instead of the gun. Why did you have that fucking knife under your bed!? Are you with the killer?" Shikamaru wanted to turn her around and looked into her eyes but couldn't do it, he wanted to know everything, he wanted to ask her a lot of questions.

"I don't. I don't know why my brother sent me that"

"Your brother? Who's your brother?" he asked

She mockingly laughs "The one you imprisoned and escaped!"

"Who? Gaara? Your brother is Gaara?"

"Don't you try to fucking pin him again, he's not the killer" she half turned her head, attempting to stare at him.

Shikamaru gasped after finding out that Temari was one of their siblings, everything seems to be connected to his own research.

"I know..there were four fingerprints that were found in their cabin and the higher operation tried to get rid of them. I'm not dumb enough to not notice what they're doing. I have my own research"

Her eyes widened after hearing his statement "And you still imprisoned my brothers! If you just get your fact straight! My brother is still alive!" tears start to run down from her eyes.

Shikamaru turned her body around, trying to force her face to look at him, to hear his explanation clearly.

"I'm sorry about your brother…..believe it or not I'm lost with this case too. Everything seems suspicious and it involved politics"

"Don't show me like you know what I've been through! That you know my pain! How does it feel to be surrounded by claps and gratitude after imprisoning and killing an innocent? You fucking hypocrite!"

"Please stop, Temari…stop" he grabbed her cheeks and wiped her tears away "We didn't expect that Kankuro will do that. Believe me, I tried everything. I talked to him" he couldn't take it, how she loathed him so much.

"And now he died under your care. How does it feel Shikamaru? Do you ever think of him while sipping your wine and rubbing the gold-plated fake trophy you got?"

"Yes. Everyday. I blame myself for handling that case and being led my different people and not following my intuition or assessment. I was forced to decide and close this case immediately. I'm sorry Temari, I am. If there's anything I could do…..to correct everything, I would. But I'm not a God Temari, I'm just a human"

She breathed profusely from all the exchanging of their words, trying to synch what he said inside her brain.

"Why did you imprison my brothers?

"Kankuro's blood was present in Kiba's wounds and Gaara slashed Shino's face, almost identical to Kiba's wounds"

"My brothers are not criminals! Your department trapped them!"

"Yes...yes, I believe you, Temari, hear me out. I have one small piece of evidence that you need to look at, this might change the whole case. We couldn't decipher it and we need someone close to him to solve what was written" Shikamaru said while gliding his hands on her arms

"What is it?" she asked, Temari still trusted him and by telling her that this could change the whole case, she'll give it a try.

"Kankuro's suicide letter"