27/10/2016: A Special Shout Out to My Awesome Beta, The Fabulous Zyura Kailaidrianina! Who is patiently, and thoroughly editing Until the Day I Act. Thank You Again For Doing The Needed Edits! =)

JUST FORWARNING YOU, THERE ARE NO INSTANT COUPLES, QUICK STORY PLOTS IN ANY OF THE UNTIL THE DAY I... STORIES! THESE ARE SLOW PACE STORIES! AND THEY ARE LABELED DRAMA NOT ROMANCE!

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I Do Not Own Naruto

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After the Fourth Great Shinobi War the injured were dispersed throughout the Shinobi Allied Forces for care and treatment of psychological traumas and the physical wounds sustained in battle. Shinobi were taken to the village which would suit the needs of their injuries. Many of the critically injured and dying were taken to Konohagakure for treatment; among them were:

-Jinchūriki; Uzumai Naruto

-Jinchūriki; Killer B

-Hatake Kakashi

-Raikage; A

-Mizukage; Mei

-Kazekage; Gaara

-Hokage; Tsunade

-Nara Shikamaru

-Temari

-Sai

-Yamanaka Ino

-Akimichi Chōji

And the renowned criminal and rogue-nin:

-Uchiha Sasuke

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Chapter 1

The world was a wreck, for it was only a few weeks after the war had ended. But it didn't matter as she was back here in Sunakagure trying to get her village on its feet again. However, today she had been summoned to Gaara's office. She did not particularly know why she was being summoned, but she was one of the few who were completely healed.

"We are going to Konoha," Gaara informed her.

"We are?" she asked.

"Yes, the Kage have convened a meeting to discuss alliances and punishments for the criminals who came to our aid during the war," Gaara said in his soft, even tone. Temari blinked.

"What about rebuilding? What about healing the wounded and helping the civilians?" Temari demanded.

"That will continue, Kankurō is going to be in charge of the village while you and I go to Konohagakure," Gaara said.

"Alright," she conceded. If that was what they were doing now then she was fine with it. Besides, she liked traveling around, and it would be fun to return to Konoha for a bit.

"Prepare to leave immediately," Gaara said softly.

"Yes sir," she replied, saluting her Kazekage before she made her way to the door. It was when she opened it that she found herself face to face with one of her best friends, Nara Shikamaru. He looked startled when she found herself looking up to him slightly.

"Nara Shikamaru was sent as an escort," Gaara said.

"Oh, alright," she was a little flustered having almost walked into the younger man but she was quick to recover her senses as she smirked at him. "Sent to be a babysitter Shikamaru?" she teased.

"Hardly, I'm here to make sure you don't cause trouble," he replied. She snickered as she left him behind because she could still see the disdain on his face at having been sent here. He was an amazing shinobi, she'd even admit it; however, he was the laziest man she'd ever met and that was her first impression of him.

Temari had found him amusing the first time she had ever met him. He had been shoved into the arena before he could forfeit, and been 'boo'ed the entire time. 'Mr. Frowning,' as she had dubbed him, he had infuriated and amused her. Laying down he had angered her enough to react, she remembered that, and then she found him to be deviously condescending.

Him! He was her little brother's age and he was talking down at her!

Then he had impressed her, and it was not easy to impress her, but there was no denying his talent. Shikamaru was quick on his feet, sharp with his mind, and devious in his tactics; he was way past the stage of genin, even she would admit it. He was lazier than a turtle though!

And she found herself gradually finding a friend in him after their fight at Konohagakure.

Or at least she had thought of him as a friend or made herself believe that to be the truth. He was the same age as her little brother! She was not going to have a crush on a guy who was younger than her. She was fifteen when she had met him, and he was twelve; he was a frickin' kid! She Did Not Have A Crush On Shikamaru.

That was final, and she was still certain of it even now after the war. Shikamaru was her kid brother's age and while that was fine, and she considered him one of her best friends, she did not have a crush on him. She liked being around him, he wasn't stupid, dull or boring; he was witty, sharp and calm. He was of the few people whom she could talk to about strategy or challenge to a game of shōgi, and in a spar; when she managed to entice him into one; it was the most challenging thing she'd ever encounter. Kankurō had teased her once that she had robbed the cradle; she had promptly beaten him up and walked away in a murderous mood.

Gaara had been quick to send her off on a mission, and she ran into Shikamaru then.

Temari had wanted to beat her head against a tree because she could hear Kankurō's teasing in her head. However, because he was a member of the diplomatic force for his village, and she was a diplomat of Suna, they ran into one another often. It was important that they have a working relationship, and it helped that she could consider him to be one of her few, true friends.

Walking into her apartment she packed up a few changes of clothes, arranged for her rent to be paid, and gathered up her only photo of mother. Once she was ready to leave, she locked her apartment up and walked down the hall towards the street. When she saw Yakata and Matsuri outside on the street, she stealthily tried to evade her brother's fangirls.

"Hey Temari!" a voice called behind her. She internally winced as she plastered a fake smile on her lips and turned to the girls who were jogging up the street towards her.

"Yakata, Matsuri, how are you doing?" she asked politely. The girls started babbling for a few minutes.

"Temari," a voice called over her shoulder, she looked over to the gangly teen who was lazily standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Coming, talk to you girls later," Temari waved before she joined Shikamaru, walking with him in companionable silence. It was nice not to need conversation; they made it to the gate when Gaara joined them. Together they started running across the desert towards Konohagakure to start trying to fix this post war world they were residing in. She was curious just how different the world was going to be, for this was already different than before.

Shikamaru was reading over the documents for the peace treaties and found one consistent request in all of them:

-Uchiha Sasuke.

The problem Shikamaru didn't think the other Kage and the village council accounted for; the one which made all of their demands for the head of the Uchiha void, was the pinkette who was currently guarding him. However, the Raikage wanted to get around that and execute the Uchiha no matter what, which Shikamaru was relatively certain would not sit well with Konoha. Naruto and Kakashi were friends of the Uchiha, and Sakura was his current guard, and if those three were involved with something then it was a known fact that Sai and Yamato were also going to be involved.

Shikamaru didn't think it was going to work.

"What are you looking at?" Temari asked as she walked over to where he was sitting by the campfire.

"Treaties for peace," he answered truthfully and moved over a bit as she sat beside him. He had always been wary of Temari, not because she was a bad woman or his enemy or anything like that, but rather because the woman had the most terrifying temper (aside from maybe Sakura's temper and his mother's) that he had ever encountered. She was a very good friend in his mind, he did like her, but he was careful not to provoke her temper.

"Oh? Anything in particular troubling about them?" she asked as she took the one he was holding from his hand. He'd have been frustrated with her candid snatching of the treaties but Gaara also picked up one as he sat down on the other side of Temari to read one over. This was Temari, he knew that and could accept it, and she'd been this way since they had started working together for the Chūnin Exams so long ago. She was reading over the material when, like a cat, the woman stretched out on her stomach to read the paper.

"Huh? This seems pretty straightforward," she said. "So why are you frowning about it?"

"It's the request," he said and pointed it out. Her cat like eyes widened as she reread the line she had obviously missed. Shikamaru wasn't surprised to see that she had to reread the line, it wouldn't mean anything to her, however, after the war, Team 7 would not be letting go of their returned teammate. It wasn't in them; they would guard him from the Kage and persecutors of the Uchiha.

"Right, I forgot, he's returned, hasn't he," Temari said softly.

"Yeah, and everyone wanting him is not… helping," Shikamaru decided. He didn't like this situation. Even with all of the requests, there was simply no way Naruto was going to let Sasuke be executed, despite all the crimes the Uchiha had committed.

"Well, you can't exactly blame them, he did try to kill the Kage, and capture the Eight Tail's jinchūriki," Temari pointed.

"I know," Shikamaru stated in a cross tone. He knew this, he did, but he was tired of reading the requests for the Uchiha. It wasn't going to happen, he knew it wasn't going to happen, and helping Kakashi try to figure out a compromise wasn't working. Shikamaru could think of nothing that could help them out of this request. There were no more prisoners of trade, no more enemy spies in prisons, and no foreign resources that the others could want.

It was true there were other criminals running around out there, like Orochimaru, but no one had Orochimaru and they weren't asking for him. Sakura and Naruto had brought a half dead, unconscious Uchiha back to the village and the entire world knew it because Naruto was very happy about having the Uchiha back. The happier Naruto was, the more vocal he was; it was almost as simple as two plus two equals four.

"I'm certain you'll think of something," Temari said.

"We'll see," Gaara said softly, which reminded him that the Kazekage was there with him and Temari. He was so used to travelling only with Temari he forgot that her brother was the Kazekage was also traveling with them.

"I don't know, everyone wants him dead," Shikamaru admitted. Everyone, but the Rookie 9 and Kakashi.

"I'm certain everything will work out," Temari pointed out as she handed him back the treat Kumohagakura had proposed.

"I hope so, I don't think Naruto's going to let him be executed," Shikamaru admitted. However, it was really Sakura everyone had to fight against.

"I will discuss this matter with Kakashi when we arrive in Konoha," Gaara said.

"Thanks Gaara," Shikamaru truly meant it. He might not be able to think up a diplomatic solution but he was certain the Kazekage could think of something he hadn't. Shikamaru wasn't much of a diplomat, strategist yes, diplomat… not as much. However he was finding that diplomacy required strategy as well, but he was still figuring this one out. It wasn't easy; he was trying to learn, but it really was not easy to learn diplomacy when he had never really used it before.

With Ino, she just made you do what she wanted you to do, and with Chōji, it was about enticing him to work. Food worked the best on his best friend, but he didn't really no how to manipulate other people into reasonable solutions.

"We'll see how this goes," Gaara said.

"No doubt Gaara can find the solution, he's been one of the best Kazekage our village has ever had," Temari beamed proudly. He just nodded as he lay down beside her and stared up at the starry sky. He hoped that this didn't result in another war when they were still trying to recover from the Fourth Great Shinobi War. The world was fragile, he was seeing that now, and it was terrifying just how fragile it was.

JUST FORWARNING YOU, THERE ARE NO INSTANT COUPLES, QUICK STORY PLOTS IN ANY OF THE UNTIL THE DAY I... STORIES! THESE ARE SLOW PACE STORIES! AND THEY ARE LABELED DRAMA NOT ROMANCE!

This Is One Of Five Stories With Over Lapping Timelines & Events. The Others Until the Day I... Stories:

-Until the Day I Die [Sasuke & Sakura]

-Until the Day I Happen [Chōji & Karui]

-Until the Day I Love [Naruto & Hinata]

-Until the Day I Stumble [Sai & Ino]

And There's Also My Extra Collection of Other Characters:

-Until the Day I Continue

If You Have a Particular Character You Wish to Read About, Make a Request There Please, UtDIC Is A Collection of Character Arches, Varying in Length Status.

That's all for now folks!

Enjoy Until the Day I Act! =)