Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

An: The end...thank you for taking this journey with me!

Warning: Bad grammar probably. English is not my first language. Also this is Kakashi and Temari pairing. Kinda.

Summary: For ten days she waited for rescue...

Release the Sickle

Beginnings

When she woke, Temari groggily opened her eyes and she blearily stared up at the familiar sight of a plain white tile ceiling (it was a sight that she could unequivocally say she hates). She had woken up in the same kind of bland sterile room that that all medic center seem to prefer. The clinical smell of disinfection was heavy in her nose and the roughness of her thin gown and the uncomfortable thin mattress underneath her already made her moody. Everything from the root of her hair to her toenails ached dully and the new bandages that was wrapped around her middle itched. Her body felt weighted down by fatigue and heavy drugs, but that deep seated cold that once seem to carve out and make a home in her bones was gone.

She feels thankfully warm.

And thankfully clean.

The days spent in the cave wallowing in the cave grime and in her own sweat and stench was absent. The feel of clean skin was like heaven and Temari sagged back against her pillow after pulling herself up further on the bed. She took stock of everything around her. That's when she noticed Shikamaru sleeping in the chair beside her bed.

Temari took in his slumbering face.

She took in that pineapple shaped ponytail, that goatee that looked odd, but somehow fitting on his face. She took in the way the exhaustion seem to never leave him even in sleep. He looked like he had lost some weight since the last time she saw him. The dark bags underneath his eyes reminded her of Gaara in the Shukaku Years (which made her inwardly winched). He looked worst than the dead crap the one-eyed stray cat around her apartment use to bring to her door, but Temari's eyes couldn't help but memorized the way he looked by her bedside - arms folded, head low, body slouched and relax.

Shikamaru must have sensed eyes on him. He stirred and sat up straight when he noticed that she was awake. They both flinched at the loud crack his back made.

"What did I miss?" she croaked. Her voice was hoarse and thin. The back of her throat felt dry and sore and her tongue felt heavy and clumsy as she worked to get out the words. The need for answers outweighed the discomfort, though. She couldn't remember the time in between being carried out of the cave and waking up here.

"Not much," Shikamaru replied. His dark eyes looked over her with barely concealed concern. "How do you feel?"

"Like I went a round with the Akatsuki and lost." Her eyes went around the room. "Where are we?"

"In a small village south of the Gojo Mountains. In the closest medic center we could find," he answered.

"Kakashi?"

"In the next room." Shikamaru reached over to the nightstand by her bed. He poured her a glass of water from the pitcher there while he spoke. "Chakra depletion was the worst of his injuries. The doctors had already taken care of the hypothermia and the malnourishment. He should be release soon." Shikamaru took another concern look at her. "Are you in pain? Do you want me to get a doctor?"

"No." The last thing she wanted was to have her thoughts clouded over in the haze of more drugs. "How long was I out?"

"A week."

Temari stared at him.

"There were complications. The medic team had to operate on you as soon as we arrived." Shikamaru looked somber. "The Akatsuki that stabbed you came close to severing your spine permanently."

He pressed the glass into the palm of her hand and gently helped her drink.

Temari felt grateful as the water soothed her throat. When she was finished, Temari subtly tried to move her legs while Shikamaru placed the empty glass away. The only reward she got for her efforts was a slight movement and a discomforting pain that felt like a million little fire ants crawling inside her skin.

"You'll need physical therapy for one year at least. Maybe a year and a half," he mentioned. "This was the best the medic chakra team could do with how severe your injury was."

Temari kept the annoyed grunt inward.

"Does Kankuro and Gaara know where I am?" she asked.

"We sent a message. There hasn't been a reply, but they're probably on their way," Shikamaru's lips twitched as if he was trying to hide his amusement. "Suna is a two and a half week journey from here, but I wouldn't be surprise if you saw them in three days."

Temari snorted. Kankuro will be knocking down the door of her hospital room soon enough. She might as well enjoy the peace while it lasted.

The humor drained out of Shikamaru a moment later.

"What happened during the mission?" he asked quietly.

Temari closed her eyes. "It was a trap. We were ambushed." Remembering made her stomach churn. "My team is gone. All of them."

Shikamaru nodded, his eyes grew weary with understanding. Kakashi had probably already filled him in, but he needed Temari's version for his report.

"After Kakashi found me, we were holed up in that cave by the blizzard." The memory seemed so distance now. Like it was a dream. What she remembered with the most clarity was the desperate hand she had reached out with when she was feverishly determined to go to Shikamaru and try and savaged what was left of their relationship.

One day, when the pain of having to seal away what her future would have looked like with Shikamaru fades away, she'll be able to move on. Until then, she has to bare with it because having him, even in a different way than what she wanted, was better than not having him at all.

It took her almost dying to realize that.

"When is the baby due?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru looked surprised at the question. "Less than a month."

Temari steeled herself. "I'll be there. I'm going to be the Godmother, after all."

"Yes, of course," Shikamaru looked grateful. "Better you than Sakura. I don't want everything the baby owns to be pink."

They both shuddered.

"Are we good?" Shikamaru asked. He searched her face for a truthful answer.

There was only one answer to that question.

"Of course." She accepted it with more calmness and grace than she expected.

The silence between them was now gentle and less awkward.

"I better go," Shikamaru got to his feet. "I have to leave in time to make it back to Konoha."

Temari nodded.

He gave her one last lingering look before he left. As he walked out the door a nurse brought Kakashi in by wheelchair. The nurse looked frazzled and she didn't waste a single moment before dumping Kakashi there and taking off like hounds were at her heels. She didn't even notice that Temari was awake.

"What did you do to her?" Temari questioned.

Kakashi tried to give her a wide-eye innocent look beneath his mask.

Temari raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi wheeled himself the rest of the way to her bedside. He reached into his hospital gown and drew out a familiar orange book.

"The newest volume," he crowed. There was a hint of glee in his voice. Temari tried to look as nonchalant as she could as she made room for him.

Kakashi heaved himself onto her bed and side by side they began to read together until they were both exhausted.

That's how the nurses found them later.

Deeply asleep with their heads leaning against one another.