Chapter 25
Gaara had been sound asleep when his sister ran into his room, clad in her nightgown and eyes wide- frantic. "We don't know where the council member went and we can't find Naruto either!"
He had been contemplating whether or not to simply go back to sleep however his sisters words caused him to sit up abruptly, "What happened to the ANBU we placed with him in his cell?"
Temari shook her head, "They were all knocked out by some poison but should be fine once they wake up."
The ground beneath them began to shake as Gaara's anger moved the sand below. Yells and worried shouts could be heard yet he didn't care. He closed his eyes and felt the sand, felt the chakra signatures from those on the sand and could feel nothing. "I cannot sense either of them on the sand so either he is in the air or he has already fled the village."
Kankuro appeared behind his sister, fully dressed for an attack and shook his head, "There's also the empty tunnels Naruto and her clones have been making. She's used an earth style jutsu which your sand senses can't tap into."
Temari looked to Kakuro and replied, "Not likely. Those are under strict observation by more than just ANBU. If he went into one of those tunnels one of the seals Naruto put in them would have gone off…"
She faded off when Sasuke appeared next to them all, hair dishevelled and he looked grumpy, "What are you guys talking about?"
They all shared a discreet look and his elder sibling's looks to him for support, "Naruto is missing. We are assuming she was taken by a member of the counsel who escaped from our prisons a short while ago." Sasuke's brows raised into the air and he covered his mouth to muffle his laughs.
"Gaara, is your bed warmer than it usually is?" Sasuke's question took him off guard, however he nodded nonetheless. Smirking he entered the jinchuriki's bedroom and gestured to the blankets, "One second." He removed the blankets from the end of the bed and all eyes fell on the blonde sleeping without a care in the world who was less than a meter away from him.
Temari and Kankuro smacked their forehead, "How the hell did she get into your bed without you noticing Gaara?" asked Temari and Gaara was unable to discern the emotion she was expressing.
Gaara blinked owlishly, unsure himself when the blonde had arrived into his room, nor how she managed to do so without waking him up. He was a very light sleeper due to the assassination attempts through the night and Shukaku never letting him sleep in peace as well. "I… am unsure…"
Sasuke let out a loud laugh which caused his sleeping fiancé to wake up, kunai in her hand and the other showed her claws. When she saw no immediate threat she rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, "What's up?" she asked as she stretched and Gaara couldn't help notice her top ride up showing the seal on her stomach to them.
Her words seemed to have had an effect on Temari as his sister marched over to Naruto, "What's up? We just found out that the council member we locked away earlier today escaped and we couldn't find you so we all assumed he kidnapped you!" she placed her hands on her hips as she stared irritably as the half sleeping blonde.
Naruto gave his sister a shy smile, "I came back here really late and wasn't paying much attention as I came back in. by the time I realised it wasn't in my room I was comfortable in the bed and figured I'd wake up in a few hours and it wouldn't matter… does anyone know how that guy escaped?"
Temari glared at her however after a few seconds her shoulders deflated and she shook her head. "Well if it makes you feel better, he can't leave the village without someone escorting him so he has to be here somewhere."
Kankuro appeared next to Temari, "What do you mean by that?"
She tilted her head, "I spoke to your council about a method we currently use in Konoha to keep whoever we have in our custody- within Konohagakure. It's a seal taken from the Uzumaki archives underground Uzushiogakure. It's sort of like a binding seal that keeps them bound to whatever the creator chooses. In this instance, I bound him to Sunagakure. He won't be able to leave the village unless someone else infuses the seal with chakra making it useless. Sadly there isn't a tracking seal on him so you'll have to find him the old fashioned way." she shrugged her shoulders and flopped back onto his bed, making herself comfortable and fell asleep within seconds.
Temari blinked a few times before looking incredulously at Sasuke, "Did she seriously just fall asleep?!"
"She's not supposed to raise up arms here in Suna and if she does it's a sure fire way to get her into trouble. The best way to keep herself out of trouble would be to sleep or eat." He replied with a shrug before leaving the room, the elder siblings following after him.
Gaara turned to look at Naruto as she slept. Her skin had become slightly more tanned with her long visits to the desert and her hair had grown longer after she had cut it so now it reached just passed her shoulder blades.
He reached his hand forward and stopped just when he reached her face, seemingly coming back to reality and got out of bed, making his way to the roof instead.
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"I don't see what the problem is. You found the council member, you found the guy that broke him out of the prison, all you need to do now is torture them to find out who ordered for him to be released." Spoke Naruto as she ate her omelettes, Sasuke doing the same whereas the sand siblings looked at her as if she had grown another head.
"The problem being, Hime-sama, is that we do not wish to set off whoever orchestrated the breakout." Spoke Baki as he stood across the counter, pointedly ignoring the food she had made for everyone.
She rolled her eyes at him, "Whoever orchestrated the whole thing already knows since the council member clearly hasn't left the village and met up with him. If you guys don't want to interrogate him, I'll gladly do the honours. T's been a while since T&I let me in for interrogations." She spoke back with a thoughtful look on her face. Now that she thought about it, they hadn't requested her help for two months. She'd pay a visit to Anko or Ibiki and ask what was up.
Baki, Temari, Kakuro and Gaara all blinked owlishly at her and the two leaf shinobi didn't get why. "They… allow you in… during interrogations?" asked Temari whose food fell out of her spoon.
Sasuke snorted and all eyes fell on him, "Naruto is pretty vicious and doesn't hold back. The pampered little adorable princess act she has is just that- an act. She is literally the demon she holds when she wants to be and that tends to be majority of the time. You guys are pretty lucky you've only ever seen her when she behaves. Otherwise there is no way in hell you'd want to marry her Gaara." He said the last sentence to Gaara before eating up yet another tomato.
Naruto would never understand his obsession with them but she didn't have room to talk with her obsession over ramen. She also didn't dispute Sasuke's statement since it was true.
Thankfully their conversation was dropped there and Naruto went back to work on the new seal she was working on as she tried to explain the dynamic of it to Sasuke. It was a pretty basic seal compared to the ones she personally used however the teme wanted to learn fuinjutsu and she had to start him with basic seals first.
Kankuro had also taken an interest in fuinjutsu as well but was taking slightly longer than Sasuke since he didn't have the help of the sharingan on his side to do all the memorising for him. Naruto would be a grand seals master if she had a sharingan.
'Not a bad idea. We already know where to find a bunch of sharingans and all you need to do is get permission from an Uchiha, the hokage and a doctor to do the transplanting.'
'You seem awfully pleased about the prospect of me having a sharingan. Is there something I'm missing?'
'Yes my foolish little host. You already know the sharingan can control me however if you had a sharingan the chances of you- and by default myself- being controlled by them is drastically less.'
Naruto couldn't help but roll her eyes, it seemed he was still salty over what had happened years ago but Naruto had to agree, it was a shiny little prospect and she definitely wanted to see where it would lead to. She'd speak to the necessary people later and try to get at least one sharingan eye transplanted, after all she was very persuasive when she wanted to be.
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Temari shifted on the grass as her 'date' laid languidly beside her. He was awake, but neither of them were saying anything till she decided to break the ice, "I'm seeing a little bit of a pattern in Konoha's clans. Most of you only have one or maybe two heirs." She pointed out, trying to make conversation, however she knew he wasn't really much for talking and she couldn't decide whether or not she liked that yet.
"That's an observation and not a question. Do you have a question?" he asked and she felt her eye twitch in response, not noticing she also had a small smile on her face as well.
"Since most clans have their own jutsu's or kekkei-genkai here in Konoha, why don't they have more heirs? We may not be at war but that could change and they may lose their heirs." She asked.
He didn't give her and immediate answer but when he did he gave a large sigh first, "I'm sure it has to do with something similar to what is going on with the Hyuuga clan. Hinata and Hanabi are constantly at battles over who should be clan heir which is a similar case with the Inuzuka clan. Hana was born first but since Lady Tsume also had Kiba, a male heir, many believe he should be clan heir."
She nodded in response, thinking about how to reply, "It makes sense but why not state that the first born will be clan head-"
For once he interrupted her without letting her finish her statement, "That wouldn't work either. Look at your case. You are first born to the Kazekage clan and ideally should have been made Kazekage and head of your clan however you will be moving to Konoha once you get married to one of our clan heirs." His jaw and fist tightened ever so slightly that if she hadn't been looking at him intently she would have missed it when he said that last part.
She looked at the scenery in front of her. It was beautiful in comparison to Suna. She loved her homeland, but Konoha was so much greener than the desert that she felt slightly upset at the prospect of Naruto giving this up for the sweltering heat of her home.
Deciding not to say anything else she shifted closer to the Nara, lifting his head onto her lap, ignoring his indignant yell and if anyone were to comment on her face, she would wholeheartedly deny that she was blushing because she did not blush.
They rested like that for a half hour and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep leaning against the tree, however when she was waking up, she noticed she was considerably more comfortable and a familiar scent greeted her. The scent made her hum as she smiled in to the pillow.
She instantly jolted when she registered her thoughts, reaching for her kunai pouch, ready to attack whoever had moved her until she felt a familiar pair of hands wrap around her wrist. Well, she said hands, more like the shadow of a familiar set of hands.
Looking up she noticed it was past sunset and it was quite dark, her armour had been removed however her normal clothes were still on her. Sighing she turned to look at Shikamaru. His hair was out of its usual ponytail and instead of his fishnet vest and flak jacket he wore a half open yukata with a red sash.
She blushed slightly when she realised he was basically matching her own outfit but mentally slapped herself, most likely his mother had bullied him into wearing it.
"How did we get here?" she decided to ask after five minutes of him staring at her.
He looked to the door and back to her, "I woke up a few hours ago and you were asleep. I let you sleep for another hour but it got a little cold so I carried you home." She noticed how he addressed his home as if it were her own as well. "And then I just put you here. Gaara came by earlier to check on you and left again with Naruto to shodai knows where." He shrugged in indifference and leaned against the wall which was when she noticed a picture frame on top of the mantle-piece.
It was Team 10's genin picture. Her face went from slightly pink to red in a matter of seconds when she realised why the scent had been familiar- it was Shikamaru's.
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The following afternoon, if anyone were to be looking for Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru or Temari, they would find all four of them eating together at a new restaurant that had opened. Well, they say new, but really Ichiraku had simply become fancier. Which, of course, demanded Naruto's immediate attention as soon as it had opened, and none of them had the heart to decline her when she said she had wanted to go on a double date there.
She seemed to be behaving herself though, much to Temari's surprise. She wasn't eating much and was showing a great deal of manners which was something she came to notice Naruto lacked when she was comfortable.
They had all finished a single bowl each when a Konoha ANBU operative whispered something to Naruto, and she had left them. She argued that she would pay for at least her part of the bill however Teuchi had said all four of their bowls would be on the house considering Naruto was a regular at their stand when it was only a stand.
This left Gaara with no date and he excused himself. Despite all his flaws and lack of knowledge, he knew when he would be the third wheel and clearly had no intention of being one.
Of course he didn't realise it was going to be awkward no matter if he stayed or not. The two of them ate quietly, Shikamaru paying before they made their way to Temari's apartment. She gave a smile as she bid the Nara goodbye, turning around to enter her home and was understandably shocked when he grabbed her wrist and spun her around, crushing her to him in a tight hug.
Slowly she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned back just enough to give him a kiss on the cheek, "What's this for?" she murmured into his ear, unsure where this had suddenly come from.
His grip on her waist tightened but not painfully as he replied, "Kiba said something earlier and it ticked me off."
She blinked, not understanding what that had to do with anything, "What does that have to do with us?"
He leaned back slightly and rested his forehead on hers, "He made a… crude comment on your lack of… choice of a male yet and it irritated me for some reason." She could hear the underlying frustration in his usually bored voice but she could also detect an edge to it as well.
She looked into his brown eyes and saw what she could hear, a smile forming on her lips as she let out a small chuckle, "Shikamaru… Are you jealous?" she asked and her smiled widened when his eyes widened by a fraction.
Her smile was wiped off when she was suddenly against the wall, "This isn't funny Tem." He practically growled the sentence out as he bit her neck slightly. "You and I both know you've made your decision. Let the others know so I won't have to hear what things he-" he took a harsh breath and fisted his hands against the wall on either side of her. Her eyes softened when she heard his ragged breathing as he tried to fend off whatever his friends had said about her.
Deciding to not talk, her gently held his cheeks between her hands and leaned in to kiss him, and he leaned down as well, their lips ghosting each other before a throat cleared to their left.
Temari glared at the couple in front of her, no matter how much they denied it, they weren't being discreet about their relationship. Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuuhi stood in front of them, Kurenai looking thoroughly scandalised and Asume looking appreciatively at his student, clearly pleased with Shikamaru's boldness.
After ten seconds Shikamru hadn't released her and neither of the jonin had spoken so Shikamaru spoke instead, "Do you intend to stand and stare all day or did you interrupt us for a reason?"
He stood back and Temari could feel his insecurity and leaned her head onto his shoulder. He had gotten taller than her during the past few months so he now stood two and a half inches taller than her, much to her annoyance.
Asuma smirked as he took a breath of his cigarette, "Kakashi wants both of you in his office by 5PM. There you'll have a meeting with him, Gaara and Naruto. Don't be late. His words not mine" they turned to leave and when they got to the stairs, the Sarutobi heir smirked in their direction, "Have fun and be safe!"
If Shikamaru and Temari hadn't practically seen that comment coming they would have blushed like crazy, but seeing as they did see it coming, they didn't blush like academy fangirls.
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