Fated

Temari was late for her first class the next day, she was exhausted, she was tired, and sleep deprived. She ate in her class, a few snacks making her stomach full because she decided to sleep during her lunch break. Temari woke up feeling refreshed and one of her classmates, Shira invited her to join the Kenjutsu club. A martial art using Katana, teaching them how to use swords in fighting.

Temari declined, she has no time for it but would like to join because of the adrenaline rush of fighting. That night, a song started playing in her head. It was around 7 pm, earlier than yesterday.

These voices in my head, screaming, "Run now"

I'm praying that they're human…….

She recognized this song, this song was played during her overnight stay with Matsuri. She remembered the title.

Consume by Chase Atlantic

She buried her head under her pillow, attempting to stop the song. She picked up her phone and starts opening her social media, to distract herself from the song she was hearing. She saw Shira’s story, he’s with Mitsuri and they just finished their Kenjutsu practice. Temari immediately texted Matsuri.

Temari: You joined the Kenjutsu club?

Matsuri: Yeah, I thought you were joining. Did Shira invite you? We’re going home btw.

Temari: He did. I think I need some Kenjutsu at night.

Matsuri: Joined us Temari! I enjoyed it! You’ll just have the accept the pain tho. I got scratches everywhere.

Temari: Pssh! Weak!

Matsuri: Yeah right, show us your strength tomorrow. Let’s see who’s between us is weak.

Temari: Yeah of course! See you tomorrow :P

She squeezed her eyes shut as the next song was now playing in her head. Oh fuck!

Temari decided to join the Kenjutsu club to distract herself from the thing in her head. The next day, she signed up for their club and had her first lesson. The session ended at around 7:30 pm then the first song starts playing in her head. It was a good decision; she could hear the song while driving, and it was free music to her now. Temari found herself chilling inside her car while listening to his songs.

She’s started loving it now.

The next day, in her Kenjutsu club, Shira let her hold the wooden Katana. A dummy sword was used during practice. She will learn the Kendo, the proper way to sway the sword. Shira assists her and teaches her the proper posture for it. On their sparring, Shira sways his wooden sword in her arm, bruising her.

Temari felt it, it was a painful blow in her arm. She groaned and sit on the floor but she will not give up, she was a fighter. Shira waited for her and Mitsuri gave her water to quench her thirst.

“Can you still fight?” Shira asked

“Yeah, what do you think of me? I’m not a weak bitch!” She smirked as an adrenaline rush starts emerging in her system.

On the other hand, In Konoha, Shikamaru was preparing himself to shower when he glanced in his bathroom mirror. He saw a big bruise on his arm, he touched it but it was not painful. It was there, big and purple.

“What?” He rubbed it but it was painless “What is this!? Am I anemic?”

He shrugged his head and continue washing in the bathroom. After that, he went straight to his study table to start his routine. Playing music and doing his assignments. Shikamaru rolled his sleeves and peeked at it again, it was still there.

“What the hell is going on with me? I need to get checked”

He grabbed his headphone and starts playing his music.

Temari was changing her clothes in the locker room when she glanced in the mirror, the bruise disappeared like nothing happened. She touched it and she could feel the pain inside, she was weirded out.

“Huh? What the fuck is happening to me!?”

She breathes out and shakes her head. Temari heard the first song in her brain, she closed her eyes and felt the music.

Cry Baby by The Neighbourhood

“I guess this is going to be me for the next years. Fuck it!”

This has been going on for several weeks, Temari heard the songs and Shikamaru had painless battle scars without going into any battles.

The songs start growing on Temari, she even wrote the lyrics in her phone to search for the title online. One genre was added to her list, her usual pop rock, hard rock, and punk rock were added by an alternative/indie song. Every night, while driving she had a little game with herself. She will guess the next song that will be played, she enjoyed that game. Most of the songs were familiar to her now and starts singing them, like she enjoyed it.

Shikamaru has now three scars on his body, one on his thigh, another on his arm, and the last one in his stomach. He didn’t even care about it, he’s not a body-conscious type of guy. He’s more concerned about his health, if he was anemic or something. His mother assists him in the clinic, the doctors did a couple of laboratory tests and interviews.

“When was this all started?” The doctor asked

“A month ago, I felt an electric shock in my body” Shikamaru said while remembering that moment

“Was it like tingling? Like pins and needles?” The doctor starts writing his notes

“Yeah, you could say that. Like electric shock or something”

“Electric shock huh?”

“Yeah, then I got bruises out of nowhere” Shikamaru rubbed his arm where his first bruise appeared.

“Oh, okay. Alright, well, I got your results here. You have normal blood, all normal actually but from what you experienced I guess you’re a little anemic. We still need to run a second laboratory test to confirm. I’ll just prescribe you some supplements in the meantime, take them for a month. Ferrous sulfate and Vit B12”

“Alright, uhm thanks” Shikamaru left the doctor’s room and went straight to his mom, they bought his supplement, and starts drinking it. In the first place, he was really not anemic but the supplements made him healthier.