Chapter 3

"Ino, what the hell? We are going to Suna, not on a vacation. What's with all that junk?" Temari looks at Ino's bulky backpack and overfilled hand pouch. "Knowing you, you can't possibly carry all that all the way to Suna."

"Don't worry Temari. I already asked Choji to help me with it," Ino smiles confidently at the other girl on the team after nodding to the third member who is busy munching barbeque chips.

Temari frowns at her team mate. "It's a three day walk."

"Let's get going then," replies Ino excitedly. She starts to walk away from her house. Temari and Choji actually met her at her home and they plan to walk together towards the Konoha gate to wait for Asuma-sensei.

"If those bags slow us down, we're going to have to get rid of them," Temari threatens Ino, who is already walking jauntily away.

"It's fine Temari. I'll help her with it," Choji speaks after opening his second bag of barbeque-flavoured chips. He has eaten his breakfast but that was an hour ago, before the sun made an appearance, so now he's hungry.

"You spoil her, Choji," Temari scowls.

Ino glances backwards and notices Temari's annoyed frown. She flicks her long blonde hair and grins, eyeing the big folding fan strapped on Temari's back. Ino suddenly retraces her steps towards Temari and when she reaches her, she whispers "I told you, womanly wiles are effective," then added as an after-thought, "you should let me do your hair sometime."

Temari develops a twitch on her head. "INO, I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH MY HAIR EVER AGAIN!"

"Why ever not? You looked pretty. Asuma-sensei even remarked on it," Ino says mischievously.

"Oh yeah, after Sasuke said I looked weird." Temari is reminded of the one time she let Ino remove her lone ponytail and arrange her shoulder-length blonde hair to frame her face.

"Don't mind Sasuke. He's stupid just like his friend Naruto," Ino pouts.

"I meant it Ino." Temari then walks ahead of them. She reaches the gate first and silently fumes. Then after waiting for over two and a half hours for Asuma-sensei at the Konoha gate, Temari's well known temper, which already has a jumpstart, is about to boil over. Temari stomps her foot once and then turns to leave.

"Hey, Asuma-sensei isn't here yet. Where are you going?" Ino shouts at Temari's back. "We're supposed to wait for him here at the gate!"

"I'm going ahead. You wait for him," Temari replies, impatience and resolve apparent in her tone of voice.

"Temari!" Ino sounds scandalized. "It was you who said we are not going on a picnic. It won't be safe to travel alone to Suna and Asuma-sensei would be mad."

"Yeah Temari. You might meet the other participants for the Chuunin exam. There's no telling what they'd do to you," Chouji adds, worried.

"They can't possibly do anything to me," Temari reassures her teammates smugly. Her right hand goes to her back to touch her large folding fan as if making sure that it is still there. After caressing her fan, Temari smiles at her teammates. Then she turns her back on them and, against her friends shouting, the twelve year old girl starts to run and pick up speed.

-o0o-

Temari has already travelled for almost three days. At first she is jumping from one familiar giant tree branch to the next but, after a day or so, there is a dramatic change of scenery. The sky isn't covered by big leaves anymore. Instead Temari has been running under the brilliant sun and over the hot sand for more than a day now as she nears Suna. She's exhausted.

Not a single tree with its shade in sight, unlike in Konoha, wherein she could rest. So when her vision reveals a big boulder of rock in the horizon, her cocky smile returns. She runs faster towards that direction. When she reaches it she immediately removes her tessen from her back. She sits cross legged using the boulder as a backrest. Temari lets out an appreciative sigh for the boulder's shade, making her skin feel less warm. Her yukata, which reaches only her mid thigh, and short pants are inadequate protection against the sun. The yukata is of purple color and has the Nara clan symbol on the back.

She takes out a bottle of water and drinks slowly, making sure she doesn't consume all her water soon, when she hears another person's sigh. She gazes towards her right then to her left side then upwards just to make sure. Nobody is there, just sand as far as the eyes could see and a clear blue sky. She sits tensely for a while. She distinctly heard that sigh. It couldn't be the wind. There's no wind to speak of. Then she feels it, another person's chakra, just one but it seems the person is trying to hide it.

Temari then hears someone speak, "I know that you know I am here. I swear if I catch your puppet, it's good as dead." The voice speaks of death but it sounds unemotional—cold even.

Temari feels something pass through her spine. It's a mixture of fear and adrenaline. She grabs her tessen and slowly, silently seeks the owner of the voice. She goes around one side of the boulder, she plans on trying to sneak behind the other shinobi's back, but that plan, Temari knows, has flaws.

"Tch, I'm not going to play your dumb games. I only have until today to do this before the Chuunin exam starts tomorrow so I won't take kindly to these interruptions."

Temari hears clearly the threat given. She opens her tessen up to one star, preparing for battle. She crosses that part of the boulder that hides the owner of the menacing voice from view and discovers a lanky youth lying on the ground.

The boy senses her eyes on him and tries to sit up fast. "Who the hell are you?" The youth with the dark shoulder length hair falling in disarray around his face and large tinted glasses covering his eyes questions, his surprise evident.

Temari stares uncomprehendingly. This is the person who caused me to have shivers run down through my spine? So fucking unbelievable. He doesn't even look remotely threatening—even with those glasses that probably protect his eyes from the sun and untamed hair that also obscures most of his face. Even with his tanned skin, he doesn't look half menacing as I imagined. Temari starts to laugh.

"What's so funny?" The boy frowns, his calm voice slightly laced with irritation.

"You. I thought I was gonna face a cold-blooded killer but instead I got you," Temari guffaws.

"Tch." The boy's voice is now aggravated. "Good thing you are female. Otherwise I would have to fight you for that remark."

Temari's laughter stops. "What? You're admitting you're actually afraid of fighting a female?" Then she smirks.

The boy's right hand pushes his hair away on one side of his face in exasperation. "You! I ask you again, who the hell are you?"

Temari has a better view of the boy's face for half a second and is bewildered. "You look oddly familiar."

"Tch, of course I look familiar. I'm the Kazekage's first son. Now, for the third time, who are you?"

She's sure that's not it but not interested enough to care. Nobody in Konoha gives a shit about the Kazekage's children, after all. Temari shrugs. "Nara."

"Nara-san, peo—" The boy starts to speak again using his bored monotone.

"Alright, it's Temari. You sound like you are addressing my mother," Temari snaps. The boy looks harmless. What could he do with my name anyway? Furthermore, he'll probably discover it during the Chuunin exam.

The youth sighs at the interruption. "Temari, people are not allowed to trespass on this piece of land."

"Really?" Temari mocks. "And who is gonna stop me? You?"

"Tch troublesome," Shikamaru shrugs and answers nonchalantly ,"yes."

Temari laughs. "I don't think you can."

"I can. But I wouldn't want to waste my energy on opponents who are all bark and no bite," the boy now speaks calmly as if he is actually bored by the conversation. "You do sound like a bitch but in the end males would still overpower females."

"Why, you bastard!" Temari is actually incensed by the other nin's chauvinistic attitude.

The boy yawns and looks at Temari from her face to her soles then back to her face. "You probably think you're strong," he continues, his tone serious and composed. "You're probably one of those nins who boast of their skills before a fight but in the end..." the boy pauses and glances at the girl's head protector which is tied loosely around her neck, "staying home would have been better."

"That's it!" Temari opens her fan to two stars. She waves it, creating massive air tide which carries particles of sand towards the boy.

The boy covers his face with his two forearms and, while standing, tries to withstand the ongoing air attack. His clothes, especially his light brown robe that reaches almost to his knees, flap in the wind. His hair is flown every which way and the sand also whirls around him. "Is this the best you've got?"

Temari has grown more annoyed. She opens her fan to three stars and creates a bigger air wave. One of the boy's feet is pushed backward then the other one. Finally, he is thrown three meters into the sky and lands about six metres away. Temari smirks, folds her fan and leans on it. "All bark?"

The boy hits the sand with his back. He groans then sits up, rubbing his back and with his glasses gone, he glares at the girl. "Did anybody ever tell you, you're troublesome?"