[ShikaTema] The Thirty Day Challenge

Day 3: Patching

"I'll go behind him and you hit him with your tessen. This has a 50-50 chance. You have to make him step away from you and onto the direction where I would be waiting. I'd handle the situation from there. If something gets out of hand, call the medic."

"That's it? I cannot possibly leave and find the medic whilst you're here dying!" Insisted Temari. She was grown and was taught to not let her feelings crawl into her, but this time, knowing a friend would die anytime soon was something she could let pass. "I could use the messenger birds-"

"Temari, we're running out of time."

She was aware time was short. Temari, with such intelligence, knows. But then, there must be some other way.

"Temari, if this one fails, we're doomed. I was ready for this; but you shouldn't, not now. You have little brothers to take care of. As for me...," he sighed then continued. "Tell my old man and mom that I'll always be with them, ups and downs," the latter smirked at the enemy, as if assuring he other that he would be defeated. "Now, go while I distract our enemy."

Only a sigh escaped her lips, and then followed the plan Shikamaru told her to do. Stay safe, Shikamaru. She didn't told him that. It might sound inappropriate, or it just didn't click to her that this might be Shikamaru's last day of living and that she had to be honest to her feelings for once. No, she still didn't. Narrowed brows were given to Shikamaru from the blonde lass before furrowing back again and positioning herself in front of the enemy.

I'm sorry, Temari.

Leaning on her tessen in front of the enemy was what she had done next. A smirk was on her lips, telling the enemy he is nothing. It was a form of mockery; but in all honesty, their enemy wasn't anywhere near 'nothing'.

"Discussion over?" Mocked the enemy back.

This time, the sandy blonde's brows furrowed in annoyance. She held her tessen from behind as she gained force, then blew her wind towards the other. Shikamaru, on the other hand, ran behind him whilst readying himself to capture the man through his shadow techniques--whichever would work.

"I've seen that technique before and it's not going to work."

As soon as Shikamaru was able to go behind him, the man avoided Temari's attacks which went straight to the pineapple-haired lad. Shit! Shikamaru was already kneeling on the floor, preparing to execute this technique but had to stand as quick as possible because of Temari's attacks. Unable to do so, the genius gained a scratch from the attack, and fell on the floor.

Then again, their enemy smirked and vanished into thin air.

"!!" As quick as she could, Temari reached for the fallen Shikamaru whilst holding the injury he gained on his right shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah; it's just a scratch, don't worry about it."

The blonde scoffed. "People can still die from scratches."

"Only if it contains poison or whatever."

"Most of them died because of losing too much blood from a scratch," she bantered.

Albeit a scratch, as it would contain venom, people could die; it was what Temari meant. Shikamaru having an unbelievable IQ had unquestionably grabbed what the lass actually meant.

Geez, fine. You win.

The female knelt in front of him, eyes darting at every direction as if looking for something. That took her a few minutes before finally landing her hues onto the genius.

"..?"

After a few moments of silence, Temari grabbed the hem of her black kimono and started ripping some clothes from it.

"?!" Wh..? "What are you...?"

"Patching your wound, obviously."

Since Temari was kneeling in front of him, he was able to see how alluring the blonde's body really was. The only thing he could do was shift his gaze to the side. If I will look at her again, I should focus on her face. Geez. Where are my eyes landing on? He mentaly scratched the back of his head as he lectured himself.

"If you're thinking that it's unusual to see me doing this, I'd just let you remember that our villages are allies."

Yeah, not really thinking about that but another thing. "Thanks, I guess."

"Like your usual self, I see."

"What are you going on about now?"

All Temari gave her was a smile and said, "You're troublesome."

Shikamaru looked away, pink tints on his cheeks. "Yeah..," he said hesitantly, embarrassed. Feeling that patching his wound was over, he looked at the Suna shinobi and showed his appreciation to the help she had given him. "Thanks," this time, it sounded so willingly.

Only a smile was what Temari gave him.

Both stood, only to spot a seemingly confused Hinata and an Ino who looked at him suspiciously, her hands on her waist.

"Um...," mumbled Hinata, eyes gazing to the side shyly. She tried her best to avoid the awkward atmosphere she was getting upon seeing that small scenario of Temari and Shikamaru. Both weren't interested on each other as the public had known; but Hinata was thinking that it probably changed as time went on.

Ino remained her hues on her teammate's stature, giving him an idea how he really looked suspicious on her. "Shikamaru," she began.

The lad showed no sign of nervousness or anxiousness. He passed her the usual look he'd give everyone. "..?"

"The Hokage asked both me and Hinata to find you two. Apparently, the ANBU had reported that they have located an enemy lurking around the village. Your report is a must," explained Shikamaru's friend. "Hinata, can you sense him?"

The female nodded. "He's at the right corner outside the village. I can sense the flow of his chakra."

"We could give him a fight. But an order is an order. We have to get back; Sakura and the other medical ninja are waiting for your arrival in Konoha. Let's go."

The two other shinobi followed Ino and Hinata. But after making her first step back to Konoha, Ino turned to Temari then again. "By the way, Temari."

The wind user's orbs landed at the other and patiently waited for whatever she was going to say.

"We have received a message from the Kazekage. You could stay in our village until after this issue. Besides," eyes shifting towards her male friend, she continued. "I'm pretty sure Shikamaru will enjoy your company," tone was teasing the lad.

"Wh-" But Shikamaru's words were cut off when Temari replied.

"Sure."

And that sent Shikamaru excitement in his heart.