It was strange how everything had changed ... After her mission failed and Gaara was defeated, everything had changed so much. Temari was standing at her father's grave, Kazekage. She knew she would have to take his place. As the firstborn, this was her duty. With a sigh she turned away and reluctantly made her way home. She didn't even notice the look of the red, slightly rotating eyes that followed her.
She stopped at the front door. A loud clang came in her ears, followed by the angry cry of Kankurou. Temari grimaced and stepped inside, her gaze slid over the pile of broken china, then continued up her brother's black clothes until she stared into his face. He raised his gaze, however, immediately lowered it as Temari took a deep breath. "WHAT-IS-HERE-GOING ?!" she yelled. There was a giggle from the stairs and Kankurou used Temari's inattentiveness to quickly disappear from the house.The door slammed behind him and the house was dead again. Temari inhaled again to unleash a volley of savage insults on the owner of the giggle, but left it at that and sank wearily to the floor. The young woman closed her eyes tiredly. Tapping steps approached her cautiously and she had to hold on to not turn the little brat's neck on the spot. Instead, she listened, eyes closed and not moving. With the relieved sigh of relief of her counterpart, she jumped up, grabbed the little girl who was squirming and screeching and slapping her face with the flat of her hand, whereupon the little one screamed louder and Temari hastily pressed her hand over her mouth. "Shizu! Are you crazy ?! How often have I told you to shut up and not annoy Kankurou?", She moaned and removed her hand a bit from her mouth so that the little one could answer: "You never have that. Besides he played with me. "Temari fought down the impulse to finally break the girl's nose and then asked in a low, trembling voice: "WHAT - did you play that our dishes would break ?!"
"Catch!" Came the answer. That was too much. Temari stepped up the stairs, the girl who was starting to cry again, grabbed by the collar, opened a door to a windowless room which was only lit by a candle and flung her inside. "There you stay! For the rest of the damn month! And woe to you do anything, you little toad!"
Shizu answered by sticking her tongue out and Temari slammed the door. She had just turned to go down the stairs when she looked into the hideous eyes of her second, youngest and yet most dangerous brother. “What was going on?” His staring gaze caught her. Trembling, she tried to avoid him, but she couldn't. So she had to surrender to him for better or for worse. "Shizu.", Was all she said.The answer seemed to be enough for Gaara, because the boy turned away and a little later Temari heard the door slam for the second time. Slowly she breathed in and out, in and out again ... in and out. Until she stopped shaking and could start collecting the broken pieces. Finished with that, she stepped out of the house and followed the busy streets to the almost empty alleys. This time, too, she did not register her observer and soon she fell into the thought that every day anew her heart. In two months she would have to take up the post of kazegage. She would have to take care of her brothers, Shizu, and the whole damn village. Tears welled up in her eyes, but were immediately wiped away and Temari picked up the pace. On the day she took office, she would have to marry the man her father had chosen for her. She didn't even know him. And if she was honest, she didn't want to.Getting married at the age of 16 ... and only because the stupid father died and you were the firstborn. Softly humming an old tune, she made her way out of town. The happy nursery rhyme almost broke her heart, where she used to make it easier and Temari's eyes began to fill with tears again, which finally ran down her cheeks. She no longer bothered to wipe them away. Who should see them? There was no one there.
She thought.
Her pursuer was still there. And he would stay that way.
At last Temari had reached the exit of the village, which led out into the vast desert. She looked into the distance for a long time, but then straightened her shoulders and took a resolute step outside. She could still turn around and tackle her predetermined life. But that wasn't what she wanted. Should be Kankurou or Gaara Kazekage because of her. You don't.Temari glanced back over his shoulder one last time and then started up. She walked straight for ten minutes, then turned and looked back at Suna-Gakure. As she had expected, there was nothing to indicate the existence of the village. It looked like a huge dune. But what did she care? She had lived there long enough. That was all over. She never wanted to be trapped like this again. No way. After two hours of stubborn straight-line running, Temari found that she was lost. With a sigh, she let herself fall and found that she had just as little food as she had a clue where she was. The young woman sat up quickly and brushed the sand off her clothes. She had to get out of here. And if possible not to Suna-Gakure. The heat bothered her. Almost like the damn worries that tormented her. In the meantime she had lost track of time. But with the loss of these senses, a queasy feeling returned to her.She felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck and often when she turned around she thought she saw a black shadow scurrying away. She had survived several nights like this and finally she made up her mind. She straightened her shoulders as far as the weakness in her limbs left and called, "Who's there? Come out! I saw you!" The answer was silence. A silence that almost tore Temari's heart. But then she saw something else. A water hole. She gathered up the rest of her strength and ran towards it. But she didn't really seem to get any closer. Eventually the illusion dissolved and Temari fell full length. Gasping for breath and too weak to walk, she began to scream, the tears running down her face and the despair blinded her. She didn't want to die here. Not so. Not that way. Their desperate screams turned into sobs and finally just whimpers. Less than ten minutes later, she passed out.The worries, the heat and also the thirst haunted her into her dreams.

Water moistened Temari's lips and made her startle. Her head was in a young man's lap. Her gaze fell directly on his face. It was nicely cut, but his eyes frightened her: They were red and around the pupil there seemed to be three other, strangely shaped pupils. She'd seen something like this before, but only with two. With Sasuke Uchiha. This young man looked very much like him, but his voice sounded very different from the way he spoke. "Drink." Temari drank from the hose he held to her mouth. She drank greedily, coughing and also losing a little of it on his strange cloak. When the hose was emptied, she hastily straightened up and looked down in embarrassment, but smiled across from her.
It was a strange smile. One that has been smiled too often in agony and pain. Which had become fake and disfigured the face as an honest smile.Temari literally had to stare at him. His face fascinated her as the eyes of her brother Gaara had. But for him it wasn't just his eyes, which did not mean that these weren't the most common. There were two scars from the bridge of his nose, which instead of defacing his face ... embellished it. At that moment she couldn't think of another word for it, because when she was still worrying about the scars, his smile faded and his face became serious. The thin, well-formed lips opened slightly as he exhaled. Temari was dizzy. Powerless, she sank to the ground. All she could feel was how he carefully picked her up, carried her for a while and then sat down. As carefully as he had picked her up, he laid her head in his lap again. Exhausted, she finally fell asleep.
And when she woke up, the young woman could not tell how long she had slept. It might have been minutes, hours or even days, but the man was awake when she opened her eyes.Her head was still in his lap and she wondered why she slept so well. He must have got up himself too. And she would have noticed. Her sleep was not deep. But what did she think about it? She didn't even know who this man was and what he wanted from her. The smile played on his lips again and it looked so real again that it hurt. "How are you?" He asked. The first coherent sentence he uttered in her presence. His voice cast a spell over Temari, as did his face. She was calm. Calm and cold. That voice had sounded no different for years. Again he held a tube to her lips. She wanted to sit up but immediately felt dizzy again. He shook his head and gently but firmly pushed it back down. So she had to drink. The water ran out of the corner of her mouth again, and again she coughed. Again the embarrassed look came on her face and again he shook his head, smiling.His pupils now rotated a little more slowly. He actually seemed to have something to do with the Konoha boy. The whole thoughts about his origin were disturbed by another thought, probably completely unimportant at this moment: Where was her fan? If this guy really wanted something to her ... then she was helpless at the mercy of him. As if he had read her mind, he pointed next to him. At first Temari only registered the rock face, but then her fan which the man had ajar there. She reached out a weak hand for it. He held her back. But just as she was about to start he supported her carefully so that she could not fall over, as it turned out after another attack of weakness. Slowly he lowered her next to the fan, then sat down in front of her and looked at Temari calmly. Those spinning eyes again. They scared her and yet gave her a feeling of security, repelled her and inevitably attracted her.Finally, her eyebrows drew together opposite her, got into a more comfortable position and finally began to speak with a slight