Chapter 4

"Watch out!" Shikamaru runs towards Temari, throwing his glasses away and, upon reaching her just in time, he embraces her, trapping her arms at her sides. Shikamaru then demands of the younger boy, "Stop it Gaara!"

Gaara's sand continues to crawl up to envelop Temari's legs and even Shikamaru's. When the sand has reached their torso, the pain caused by the pressure being exerted by the sand on their bodies is already excruciating.

Temari doesn't whimper, not even once, but Shikamaru can still read the fear in her eyes even though she tries to hide it. Shikamaru tightens his hold on her and insists, his voice calm but with a slight edge of anger, "Gaara, let go."

"You let her go Nii-san, or I would kill you too," Gaara speaks, his voice cold, his eyes devoid of any emotion and his hand in a half clench position, ready to be closed into fist.

-o0o-

The Chuunin examination is to be held in an enclosed area where the desert landscape varies from sand dunes to large boulders of rocks. Some areas are dotted with poisonous cacti and shrubs. The area is also teeming with deadly scorpions, snakes, lizards and centipedes. The blistering sun and the cold nights and the fact that the participants have a limited supply of water make the situation doubly hard.

The remaining genins who are able to reach this part are grouped into a three-man cell. Each team is given either a Heaven or Earth scroll. Their goal is to take the scroll that is not the same as theirs from the other team by any means necessary. There are only six teams remaining. They are not aware that only one team has the Heaven scroll so in the end only one team will actually win this round. Each team will enter at six different gates of the enclosed area. Whatever group has the complete set of Heaven and Earth scrolls must reach the tower found in the centre of the enclosed area within the next three days.

Temari's team includes Ino and Choji. Temari has known them for the past twelve years and she grudgingly calls them her friends— even Ino. Temari realizes that her team is not the strongest and she needs a good strategy in order to come out on top from this.

"Ino, remember the boy I fought with when I arrived here?" Temari asks, a grain of an idea forming.

"Yeah. The one you said who has the same eyes as your father. What about him?"

"Didn't you see his team? I think I saw him lounging on a chair while I joined the line for our scroll."

"So that was him. He was not just lounging on the chair. He was actually sleeping, nodding his head off. So I didn't actually see his face, much less his eyes. Another boy with face paint came closer to him though and kicked one of the chair's feet. That caused him to gave out a yelp then he turned at the person who kicked his chair probably to glare at him and amazingly went back to sleep," Ino laughs. "I think that boy who kicked the chair was younger though since I heard him call the sleeping nin, 'big bro'."

Choji pauses from delivering a morsel of barbeque flavoured chips into his mouth. "He did not yelp Ino. He just shouted 'whada hell'."

"Choji, that's the same as yelping," Temari replies. "Did you see the third member?"

"Yeah. He looks 'bout ten years old. He has a tattoo on his forehead that says love. That's cute!" Ino half squeals then continues much more seriously, slight frown marring her forehead. "I think the sleeping nin and the nin with the face paint are his older brothers but they don't seem to give him any attention. Poor kid! He is actually standing there quite aloof with his hands crossed on his chest and carrying that very large gourd on his back. He really looks lone-ly even thought he tries to hide it by being so stone-faced. He has also dark rings underneath his eyes. I think he's unable to sleep because of the chuunin exams."

"The boy I fought with is actually good with taijutsu. He seems to have noticed that I actually prefer to fight at a distance with my fan. Since he knows the lay of the land he was able to disappear on me and when he appeared next he engaged me in hand-to-hand combat. He was able to dodge my fist and I was able to avoid most of his attacks but, well..." Temari reddens.

"Well what?" Ino asks, a bit perplexed.

"Never mind," Temari scowls. She remembers the boy had clenched his right hand into a fist and was about to strike her when he suddenly fell down because his left foot caught on a midsized rock. His momentum had also caused her to fall underneath him. He fell with his face on top of her breast. She's just twelve but she has already an ample two bumps on her chest for her age. The boy had turned a deep shade of red, immediately stood up and declared it was an accident. She believed him, of course, but, at the time, she was so embarrassed she hit him several times with her fan. The boy just covered his head with his arms and did not try to move from his position or to retaliate. When she realized that she stopped hitting him.

"So what's the plan?" Choji's turn to ask, upon finishing his snack.

"We are going to look for that lazy ass' team and steal their scroll. We can do it since I think their team is composed of a lazy jerk, a clown and a baby," Temari confidently deduces, trusting Ino's assessment.

"Temari, I think they are the Kazekage's sons. Everyone was giving them a wide berth. They should be formidable opponents," Choji voices his doubts.

"Temari, the youngest brother doesn't look like he wants to fight. I think he just joined in because his brothers' team lacks another member. We have only to worry about the two."

"I am sure I can take on the lazy ass. So the guy with the face paint is the one we should look out for."

"Yeah. Ok," Ino nods her agreement.

Choji frowns but he doesn't say anything.

-o0o-

"I would never let go," Shikamaru declares with certainty, his tone even.

"Why?" Gaara asks simply. "What is she to you that you are willing to save her by gambling with your own life?"

"She's a...a friend." Shikamaru hasn't really asked himself that question and, now that it's raised, he realizes that the answer is he just has to. It's his instinct.

"If she is your friend, why did she want to steal our scroll?" Gaara stares at his older brother. "She tried to betray you. How could you trust her after this?"

"Tch, it's not important whether she'll betray me again or not. What is, is that she knows she could trust me not to let her die. Now let us go!" Shikamaru raises his voice, his attention towards Gaara and ignoring the stiffening of the body in his arms.

Gaara looks at his oldest brother's fierce eyes. He reads in them the truth of his words. My niisan is finally showing to me a side of him I'm unfamiliar with. It's what others call compassion, is that it? Or has my brother finally found something he knows he must protect? Gaara opens his hand and the sand retreats from creeping up Temari and Shikamaru's necks.

Temari is now free together with Shikamaru. She might have fallen after since her legs feel like jelly if not for Shikamaru's support.

Temari pushes Shikamaru away and then she leans over, placing each of her palms on top of her knees, gasping for air. Shikamaru stands more erect, though his breathing is also laboured. He stares at his kid brother and, for the first time, sees not a monster.