This WIP haunts me and I'm pretty sure I'm never going to really finish it they way I'd like, so I'm dumping my notes and not!fic bits as a pseudo-ending and putting it away.
Chapter 2 - Opening
Eight years was a hell of a long time for someone who counted in milliseconds and hair's breadths. For all she knew, he was married. Fuck. He could have kids. With those same perpetually lidded eyes and that dorky hair. Not that she was thinking about him. Or his hair. Or the fact that he had just been appointed the lead on an exchange task force between Suna and Konoha.
Eight years. Two wars. So much had changed. The whole shinobi world had been turned on its ear. The Fourth Great Shinobi War was the first time the five great nations had allied together to fight a common enemy. Not that an alliance like that could last. Especially when it also required the continued support of the respective daimyo of each country. Politicians were always looking for ways to make a name for themselves. Temari was glad the Wind Country's aristocrats were a relatively reasonable bunch. Well, anybody having to stare down the Gaara in the office of the Kazekage could be made to see reason. Any time there were rumors of reports from the front- Madara dead, the Akatsuki threat disbanded, that fucker Kabuto finally captured, quartered, and his remains burned- there was jostling to secure post-war contracts. Every alliance has its strains and no alliance lasts forever.
Unless it included that knucklehead Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara. She didn't quite understand their bond, but when Uzumaki risked treason to funnel for-Anbu-eyes-only intel in their direction, Temari had to admit she was glad those two wouldn't let a pesky thing like politics come between them. So Suna and Konoha had continued their alliance, the political landscape of the remaining Hidden Villages shifting around them.
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- Temari discusses with Baki's wife about what went wrong 8 yrs ago; they fell in love, but Temari let the political argument sway her away from really trying to work things out
There were three people in all of Suna who might summon Temari without that summons being returned with a right hook a note telling them to kindly piss off. Two of these people had asked for her presence one after the other today. One was from the Kazekage to discuss some fairly important domestic political issue, and the second was from Izumi, Baki's wife, who was quite possibly the most dangerous civilian she knew, more so because she could make you see the reason in her opinion and persuade you of the rightness of her position without you ever truly realizing what she had done. Not until it was too late, anyway.
Izumi had appointed herself a godmother of sorts after Karura's death, and as the proper lady she was, insisted on weekly visits with Temari where she would serve tea and politely demand, as only near-family could, about the state of Temari's life.
"To become engaged, at nineteen, and in the middle of a war-"
"I'm not saying the decision didn't make sense then. It's just, knowing how it ends, how everything turned out...well, I think differently now."
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- Shikamaru arrives with Konohamaru and a couple other people to begin work on the "task force"
- Temari somehow avoids the initial meeting, delaying when she might have to face Shikamaru
Chapter 3 - Argumentation
- Shikamaru ignores/acts coldly towards Temari
- Temari puts on a facade of contentedness with her life; her brothers each try to worry in their own, emotionally-stunted ways
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- Temari and Konohamaru have a conversation about love, overheard by Shikamaru
"Women are fickle."
Temari lets out a loud snort. "Women are no more fickle than men. It's not like loyalty is a virtue that only men can have. We women just get all the bad press."
...
"Look, you're young. And time is a great healer. Or at least, that's what everyone says."
...
"No...maybe it just takes us longer to fall in love than men. It definitely takes longer for us to fall out of it. We love longest, even when all hope has gone."
She barely notices that the table has gone mostly silent around her and Konohamaru's conversation, because the only thing she can notice is Shikamaru's appraising gaze. It makes her feel all of fourteen again and completely out of her depth.
Chapter 4 - Closing
- The "task force's" job in Suna is over; some plans are made for a continuation in Konoha, representatives are not chosen explicitly
- there is a final sort of good-bye/party; Temari and Konohamaru are surprised by their growing friendship; Shikamaru leaves early
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- Temari finds a note in her room from Shikamaru, and suddenly everything makes sense
Temari - I refuse to keep playing this game. I am half agony, half hope. I have been petty and resentful but never inconstant. My heart is still yours, if you'll have it. Please tell me that I'm not too late.It isn't signed, but Temari would know that handwriting anywhere. She rereads the shockingly plain language over twice before launching herself out of the nearest window and running across the rooftops of Suna, her heart in her throat, towards the walls like her very life depends on it. And maybe it does.
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- Temari stops Shikamaru just outside Suna's walls; makes it clear that she still loves him, has never stopped loving him and accepts his proposal