Things We Carry

She was doing it again.

The thing where she would zone out, staring blankly ahead of her saying nothing.

Doing nothing.

Her eyes were set on the doorframe this time, it was as though she were dissecting the cracks and scratches that covered the paintwork of the entryway that led to the dining room.

Shikamaru knew better than to speak to her when Temari was in one of those moods.

He could only guess at what was going through her complicated mind.

Though he had a feeling his guesses were reasonably accurate.

She was thinking of life. Life in general.

The meaning of it.

The reason for it.

Her experience with it.

All the little puzzle pieces assembled themselves in that beautiful mind of hers and absorbed all of her attention, turning it towards them.

And so she stared.

Stared and remembered all the flaws of the universe and the lack of meaning that everything and anything held.

The lack of beauty in her childhood. In her imperfect existence.

The weight of the world which she carried for her family and the responsibility she would proudly bear for the actions that she was frowned upon for carrying out.

She carried many things, but when she was in those moods, the weight of them doubled and dragged her down to the darkest of depths.

So Shikamaru would wait for her to emerge from her pool of thoughts before boiling the kettle to make her some tea and sitting beside her.

One way or another, he'd convince her that he was there for her, and he would always carry half the load.

But for now, he simply had to wait for her to fix those broken parts of herself.

A/N: Heyy! I was bored cos I have no more exams, so here's a 30 day writing challenge I saw online!

I guess a lot of these will be dreary, but that's just what I feel most comfortable writing.

Please follow/fave/review, I hope I'll get through all 30!

~Lee :)