Words Worth Spoken

Chapter 2. Shikaku Nara

When everyone got back to their villages there were big ceremonies to mourn the deaths of so many ninjas in the war. Of course families and clans had separate smaller funerals for their loved ones.

The Nara clan lost their leader, so as to tradition they had a larger funeral. Everyone you'd expect to be there was there, the entire Nara clan was present, Shikamaru, the new head of the clan and his mother Yoshino. The Akimichi clan, Choji, his mother and his father Choza were there as the Nara and the Akimichi clans were good friends along with the Yamamaka clan, who were also present. Ino and her mother were not only mourning the loss of their good friend but the loss of Inoichi Yamanaka as well. The fifth hokage, Lady Tsunade and the newly named sixth hokage, Kakashi attended the funeral services. Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and the Jonin captains (Guy and Kurenei) were also there.

There was one person at the funeral no one expected to be there, Temari. She stood next to Shikamaru and his mother, Yoshino, who was crying on his shoulder. She looked around at everyone and caught the confused glances some of the attendees threw at her. Temari knew it was strange that she was there, but she wanted to be there, not only to grieve for Shikaku, but also to support Shikamaru. Sure they weren't best friends, heck they barely knew each other, but she felt the need to comfort and console him.

. . .
Temari had been in Sunagakure (Suna: the sand village) for a week before she travelled the three day journey to Konohagakure (Konoha: the leaf village). She had arrived thirty minutes before the funeral took place, so she didn't have time to find an inn or hotel to stay at.

Once the ceremony concluded Temari set off in search of a place to stay for the next few days as she would be in Konoha for five days to help with construction and the rebuilding of the leaf village. After wandering around for almost an hour Temari came to the conclusion that there was nowhere to stay, this didn't come as a surprise since many homes were destroyed and the citizens of Konoha needed a place to stay until they were rebuilt. The young kunoichi settled on camping after going over her options.

As she was walking towards a campsite she bumped into Ino who was walking around with Yoshino.

"Oh hi Temari!" Ino greeted.

"Ino, Nara-chan." Temari said as she gave a slight bow.

"No need for formalities dear, Yoshino is fine." The Nara smiled.

"Of course Yoshino." Temari smiled back.

"Sooo have you found a place to stay?" Ino asked

"I'm going to camp." Temari mused "there are no inns or hotels available at the moment."

"Camp? You could stay at my house if you would like, surprisingly it wasn't damaged much in the war." Yoshino offered.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble I would love to." Temari gratefully accepted.

Ino smiled mischievously at Temari, who just rolled her eyes and walked away with Yoshino.

. . .

"How about we go out for dinner?" Yoshino suggested. "I don't really feel like cooking and Shikamaru has a meeting to attend and will be getting back late."

"That sounds nice."

Yoshino smiled and took Temari to a dumpling house.

"You were at my husband's funeral... I don't want to come off as rude but, why?" The older Nara asked carefully.

"I honestly don't know why, but I felt that I had to go. Shikamaru, he's... he's my friend and I wanted to be there for him."

"Thank you" Yoshino spoke so quietly it was almost a whisper.

The two engaged in small talk and chatted away. The next thing they knew the restaurant was closing and they went back to the Nara complex.

"I'll prepare you a room" Yoshino said as the two women entered the house.

"I can help, I don't want you to do so much work just to accommodate me." Temari offered slightly embarrassed.

"Oh no it's quite alright dear all I have to do is make the bed." Yoshino assured her. "I'll tell you when I'm done, make yourself at home."

Temari was left by herself in the living room, she started walking around, exploring the Big house belonging to the Nara heads. She found the kitchen, then a bathroom and finally what she assumed was the meeting room. The young woman walked down a long corridor to find light coming from the end room. The door was open slightly so she could see the end of a bed, meaning that it was a bedroom. She walked over and softly knocked on the door, when nobody answered she pushed the door open slightly and slowly went in. Temari's eyes softened when she saw Shikamaru lying on the bed asleep. She walked over to him and sat down on the edge of the bed being careful not to wake the sleeping Nara. He was wearing long plaid pyjama pants, he wasn't wearing a shirt so she could his clearly defined six pack and arm muscles. 'Not lazy enough to skip out on training' she thought.

Then she realized what she was doing and quickly stood up and left the room not making a sound as she left the room, she headed back to the living room.

"There you are, your room is ready." Yoshino said when she spotted Temari. "I'm quite tired myself so I'll be going to sleep now."

She walked to the entrance of another hallway before turning to face Temari. "Good night dear"

"Good night Yoshino" Temari went to her room, it was rather big, it had a balcony and an en suite bathroom. She took a quick shower before changing into her pyjamas and lying down in the bed. She fell asleep moments after she got comfortable in the warm bed sheets, not noticing the figure standing at her doorway.

"Good night Temari, sleep well"