Inspired by; Harry Potter

The terror has just visibly faded from his eyes. She can tell by the moon glinting in off the white sheets that hang from her balcony.

The brown orbs are no longer wide and strained but tired and filled with concern.

Temari winces every time she tries to move; it makes her feel even more like an injured animal but she can't help it. The pain that runs through her nerves with even the slightest movement is so severe that it's a miracle she doesn't scream.

Shikamaru's eyes flash every time she does and eventually the sounds become too much for him. His hand drifts up and onto her cheek, his thumb rubbing gently over her face. At any other point in time this act of caring would've brought derision from her and caused her embarrassment and anger. But tonight, the sound of his chest rising and falling slowly, his soothing touch and dark gaze lull her into a sleep that she didn't think was possible given the pain.

Temari awakens when the moon is still high and bright, drifting in over their bodies. His eyes are still closed as he breathes deeply, his hand now delicately half-placed on her waist as though scared of causing her anymore pain.

She has lost track of time completely in her haze of drugs and sleep; Shikamaru arrived the day they stretchered her back into Suna, his red and breathless face was the last thing she saw before she passed out.

The next thing she remembers is lying on her side in her own bed with him lying opposite and facing her; those eyes blood-strained and black.

He had put his hand out to touch hers but even that caused her untold alarm and she whimpered in fear. Immediately he had stopped.

The grief that that one thoughtless moment had caused her- as the next moment his eyes had flooded with tears and they had silently tripped down his face. Shikamaru shuffled closer to her body but stayed away physically.

"I'm fine," she croaked, her voice gravelly and it was so obviously untrue that Shikamaru managed a small laugh. "I am," she insisted, her eyes drifting closed once more as sleep overtook her.

Since that day several could have passed. If any nurses or doctors entered the room during that time, she had slept through it. Though each day she awoke she felt slightly better. And each time she opened her eyes she saw his staring back at her.

His ponytail had drifted down to the bottom of his nape, a small beard was starting to grow and Temari was starting to get the impression that he was spending as much time in bed as she was.

"Have you eaten?" she asked one time, when her mind was clear though her voice still sounded awful even to her own ears.

"Shhhh," was the only response she got along with a forehead kiss. "Do you need anything?"

Even though her own eyes were about to drift closed she could feel her stubbornness returning bit by bit; "I need to get up," she breathed.

Shikamaru merely shook his head and murmured a small negative noise.

He hooked his arm around her waist, this time causing her no pain and pulled her closer to his body. He pressed his lips to hers and gently murmured 'sleep' before nudging her nose with his own.

"Don't you have work?"

"I'm where I need to be."

Another bleary set of blinks and a few moments before her head registered that it was still somehow night time. The wind was blowing outside with a violent rage, sand spiralling past the window and she both felt and heard the sandstorm in the air. Grains entered and mixed with her white cotton curtains, blowing and dancing in her room before coming to fall onto the floor.

"How did you do that?" she asked quietly, referring to that fact that mere moments ago, when she had awoken Shikamaru was asleep and whilst she had studied the storm, he had somehow woken up.

"Do you need anything?" he asked once more, merely smirking at her question. But before she even had the chance to answer, Shikamaru produced a bowl of fruit and placed it on the bed between them.

Once more she tried to sit up but once more came the same negative noise he had uttered before and again a hand draped over her waist and pulled her somehow even closer to him. Next he picked up a grape and popped it onto her mouth, smiling when she frowned in indignation.

"I draw the line…" Temari began while chewing, but he shushed her with another grape.

When she had finished the whole bag of grapes, he replaced the bowl behind him.

"Anything else?"

It may have been the sudden rush of sugar but the next moment she passed out.

This time Temari woke up to a Shikamaru that had obviously not slept in a few days. His eyes were worn and greying and she could see that nothing other than adrenaline was keeping him awake. More guilt plagued her as she continued to take in his appearance.

"How long?" she croaked.

"Are you in pain?" he asked tonelessly, his gaze boring through her.

Taking a few moments to assess, she eventually shook her head.

His previously gentle arm gave way to a desperate grab and she travelled the width of the bed in a nanosecond. His left arm cradled her neck, his arm buried into her hair and his head pressed into her collarbone. She could feel the tears as they stained her nightgown.

"5 days," he wept after a while, still not letting go of her.

"I'm sorry," Temari breathed, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"Sorry?" he asked incredulously, pulling back to look at her with his near-desperate eyes. "If you ever say that again…"

Shikamaru didn't tell her what he would do as before he could finish he was kissing her.

She wiped at his eyes, cleaning his face and feeling the stubble along his jawline.

"Do you need anything?" he sniffed, as she pulled the bobble out of his hair and tried to imagine from how greasy it was how long he had spent lying with her.

"Would you believe me if I said sleep?"

He tried to hide it with a chuckle but she could see the worry that flashed through his eyes.

Another quick kiss and she snuggled down into his chest, the ache now dull but still present as the muscles in her legs gave a small spasm.

"Promise me you'll wake up this time," he sighed heavily, his arms enclosing her and holding her tightly.

"Only if you'll let me get up," Temari said airily.

"Not a chance."

The next day he fed her raspberries although how he had managed to find them in Suna at this time of the year she couldn't fathom.

"You definitely didn't have this much time off left last time we talked," she told him between mouthfuls though he didn't look like he had heard her.

"Have any bed sores yet?" Temari went on meaningfully, licking her lips and staring at him purposefully.

"I've got a bit of a headache," Shikamaru said with equal meaning, smirking again.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, finishing up her meal.

"Sleep?"

"Not tired," she replied with a small grin. "And we have this whole bed to ourselves…whatever will we do?"

"We…" Shikamaru strained, reaching behind him, "will read."

Her eyes narrowed as he produced a book.

"What?"

"This is a really good book," he said with a cheesy grin, rolling onto his back, "and I do all the voices."

When she said she wasn't tired she was clearly lying as within a chapter and a half her eyes had closed.

The book lay between them later on as the wind and rain howled outside. It wasn't quite night time yet as the sky was a dusky, deep pink that coloured her floorboards a menacing red.

"I was so angry at you," he whispered, now no longer looking tired but still somehow worn. "Going by yourself when I told you if you'd just given me a few more days, I could have…"

"I'm a kunoichi, not a baby," she replied dryly, not raising her voice but feeling her injured pride leap inside her when he brought the matter up. "They were a four man group- I've taken out more than that by myself before- and they were getting further and further away…'

"One of them was injured, they were travelling slowly- you could have waited…"

"There is no other shinobi or kunoichi that would have decided to wait."

"There is no other shinobi or kunoichi that I give a damn about!" Shikamaru finally yelled, sitting up with such haste that he knocked the book and the bowl flying although he hadn't meant to.

The objects hit the floor with a crash, shattering their argument before it became too heated.

She watched him for a few moments, afraid to say anything that might provoke him again when all she really wanted was to cling to him again.

"You don't have to prove yourself to me," Shikamaru said eventually, sitting up to inspect the damage he had just created, "I thought we had already had this conversation."

"I'm not trying to prove myself," Temari sighed, lifting a hand to rub his back.

"Then what?" he asked, barely looking over his shoulders, those same worn eyes somehow seeming to reach her, "you just don't care if you die?"

She was about to laugh when he turned to face her fully and she could see he was completely serious and waiting for an answer.

"Don't you know what that would do to me?" he whispered, his forehead crinkled and weary.

Temari ignored his protestations when she moved to sit up. Despite the pain she managed it and leant forward to wrap her arms around his neck and head, pressing him to her. She kissed any part of him she could reach, ending with his lips.

"Silly boy," she responded with equal quiet, kissing him again. "You are the reason I come home."

They slept another night and another day; in that time, he produced more food, read her another book and yelled at her again for leaving without him.

"How long have we been here?" she eventually asked him, suddenly aware that she had no idea how many days they had spent in bed.

"…three weeks," he responded, after a quick calculation, smiling when her eyes widened.

"Three weeks?! How have you been…?"

"I've been eating and showering whilst you've slept. Kankuro's also played some shougi with me, so I've kept busy."

"Are you ever planning on going home?" Temari said playfully, looking up at the moon once more and admiring the darkness and the shadows cast across the bed and floor.

"Not for a while," Shikamaru said, intertwining his fingers with her and pulling her into their natural sleeping position. "Do you need anything?"

Smiling at how many times he had asked her that in the past few days, Temari shook her head.

"Nope," she answered, snuggling down into his shoulder. "What about you? Do you need anything?"

He breathed deeply for a few moments, with such density that she thought he had fallen asleep.

"I need you to marry me."

Temari didn't move at all. She was so tired and still recovering that it wasn't a dramatic and emotional moment.

"Yes," she barely whispered into his neck, feeling her eyelids become heavier.

"Good," he said, rubbing her back. "Now go to sleep- I have blackberries for tomorrow morning."

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