After the pain

Disclaimer: still not mine, darn it all anyway.


CHAPTER THREE


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The first thing Temari became aware of was warmth, how long had it been since she had been this comfortable?
Soft material was wrapped around her body and she felt no pain.

NO pain? Was she dead??

The last thing she remembered was the pain exploding through her body as three of her captors had started beating her with their bare hands after she had bit off the fourths ear.
He had gotten careless while raping her, yet again. Not having had the strength to do much she had improvised.

So now she was in the after life, and to her it felt like heaven rather then the other place. But she wasn't brave enough yet to open her eyes and take in her surroundings.

Snuggling farther into her cocoon, she was almost asleep when a mouth watering scent touched her nose, causing her very empty stomach to growl. Her brow furrowed slightly.

'Why does heaven smell like roasted fish?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Only her years of training kept her still and unmoving as the heavy footfalls stopped close to her.

Temari's body tensed when she felt the person’s powerful aura, she couldn't stop the fear from taking hold.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and her breathing grew shallow and uneven.

'Stop it! Stop it! he's going to notice your awake!!'

'I CAN'T!'

She hated the panic she felt, hated feeling weak and helpless.
She was Temari, older sister of Sabaku no Gaara, fifth Kazkage. She was strong. So why was she cowering like a cornered animal.

'Because that's exactly what you are.'

It was the truth, and she hated it. Part of her had been hoping she would die when the beating had started, at least she would have been free.

Dried leaves crunched as she sensed him moving closer.

'Not again!' She screamed silently.

Knowing that trying to get away would be useless she prepared for the onslaught by clenching her fists. Pain shot through her left wrist, she bit down on a pained cry but a small whimper escaped her lips.

Gritting her teeth against the throbbing ache she waited, her eyes still closed.
The bastard could try what ever he wanted, but she wasn't going down without a fight!

Callused fingers brushed her bangs aside.

"Temari..." The sand-nin didn't move as a large warm palm pressed gently against her forehead. "Can you hear me?"

Why did the mans voice sound so familiar? And ..... kind?

"Come on Temari, you can do it."

That's when it hit her. 'He knows my name!' Her eyes flew open before she could think better of it and instantly clashed with a pair of sky blue eyes.

The blue orbs before her were mesmerizing they filled her vision. Blinking rapidly Temari tried to get her stunned brain to function again.

"Hey there, welcome back to the land of the living."

It was the flash of white teeth as he smiled that broke the spell she seemed to be under, Finally Temari was able to focus on his entire face.

Unruly blonde hair fell over a Hitai-ate leaf forehead protector. She had to be dreaming.

"NNNN...Naruto?
'
Grinning broadly he nodded.
"At least you haven't lost your memory or anything." He teased as he sat back on his heels removing his hand from her brow.

'I'm not dreaming.' Was the only thought that came to mind. Right behind it was disappointment that he had removed his hand, for some reason it had been comforting.

'What's he doing here?'

'Looks like he's taking care of you.'

'But how did he find me?'

'Why don't you ask him.'

But her throat was frozen, words refused to come, all she could do was stare at the blonde Konoha Shinobi kneeling beside her.
After a lengthy silence she watched Naruto's smile fade and be replaced with a worried frown.

"How are you feeling Temari?" He inquired gently.

His question brought back all of the horror that had been momentarily blocked out by the discovery of his presence.
Rolling away from him onto her left side her eyes darted around for any sign of her abductors.

Naruto must have guessed who she was looking for because his calm voice quickly tried to reassure her.

"Your safe Temari, they're gone."

'Gone, what does gone mean? Dead?’ She could feel the panic coming back and she wasn't really sure why.

Feeling vulnerable laying down she pushed herself into a sitting position.
The blanket she was wrapped in made it difficult so she was forced to put her left hand down for balance.

Her injured wrist cracked causing her to cry out in pain. Almost instantly she felt Naruto's arms wrap around her from behind, holding her upright.
She instantly tensed when one large hand curled around her waist holding her firmly.

"What hurts?" He asked using a hooked finger to tip her face to look at him.

She willed herself not to struggle against his hold like her instincts were screaming at her to.
Temari realized rather quickly by the concerned expression on his face that he had no idea that he was the source of her discomfort, more so then her wrist. His next words confirmed it.

"I thought I healed all your injuries, what did I miss?"

She blinked at him, he was so close she could see that his eyes had two shades of blue rather then just one and his lashes were longer then hers.
Why was she thinking about things like that?
She decided that she was finally starting to crack from all the strain she had been under. That had to be it.

"Temari?" His voice once again brought her back to reality.

"Wrist." She whispered, unable to utter anything else.

Naruto's brow furrowed as he released her chin.

"Lets have a look."

He helped her free her injured limb from the blanket while still keeping the rest of her body wrapped snuggly.

Temari barely noticed, she was beginning to go numb, her body finally starting to go into shock.
When Naruto shifted his position behind her and pulled her closer so that she was propped up against his chest and he wrapped his arms all the way around her, she didn't react.

She felt like one of Kankuro's puppets, unable to move on her own. Glancing down she saw his large hand cradling her smaller pale one.

"Sorry about this Temari." Naruto apologized. "I forgot to check your arms when I was healing you earlier." He spoke softly, his mouth was right beside her ear as he looked over her shoulder at what he was doing.

"I'm afraid I'm not that good of a medic yet." He smiled slightly as he brought his left hand over her wrist, a moment later she felt a warm wave of chakra flow into the damaged area.

"Sakura's going to ream me out for this." He commented in an obvious effort to lighten up the mood.

Temari barely heard him, the heat that permeated her wrist was slowly spreading.
It was like being immersed in warm water as the sensation traveled threw her entire body.

With it came a sense of security and peace. Tense muscles started to relax and she took her first deep breath in over a week. Her eyes fluttered shut and her came to rest on Naruto's shoulder.

Slowly the realization dawned on her.

She was safe.

She didn't have to be strong any more.

A part of her was still insisting that she should be afraid of the man who held her.
But the more logical part of her mind dismissed it, this was Naruto. The laughing, never serious, fiercely loyal Leaf Shinobi who also happened to be the only man her brother Gaara openly acknowledged as a friend.

A tear escaped, then another. By the time Naruto had finished mending her wrist they were falling freely.

"Is that better?" Naruto asked. Her response came out as a strangled sob.

A moment later it was followed by another, then the flood gates burst open and there was no stopping it as she began sobbing in earnest.

Temari felt Naruto move away from her, she wanted to beg him to stay close to her, but before she could even attempt to say anything. His strong arms lifted her onto his lap and cradled her like a child.

"It's okay, your safe now, it's okay." She felt his voice reverberate threw his chest as she buried her face into it, pouring out her grief and fear. Her tears soaked his front as she continued to cry hysterically.
She only had one coherent thought.

'I'm safe.'

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Naruto was wayyyyy out of his league.
A hysterically crying woman was not something he was used to dealing with.

But here he sat in the middle of no where, holding a sand Jonin like a child while she soaked the front of his vest and the only thing he could think of doing was mumble reassurances that he wasn't even sure she could hear and stroke her tangled hair.

Weather it was helping or not he really had no idea.
Time seemed to drag as Temari continued to weep.

'I wonder if crying is dehydrating.'

'Well duh! Water loss genius.'

'Yah but you would think there would be a limit to the amount of tears one has.'

It took a wile but he discovered that there was in fact a limit on tears.
Temari's eyes finally dried but her body still quivered slightly as she hiccupped several times. The front of Naruto's vest was definitely wet but he ignored it, material dried.

"Feel better now?" He asked gently.

The woman in his arms nodded but still didn't say any thing.
He wondered absently how long it would take her to realize that he was still holding her and pull away from him.
Considering what happened to her it was a surprise that she let him touch her in the first place.

He stilled the hand that was now stoking her back.

"Are you hungry Temari?" He asked, remembering the fish he had on the fire.

She nodded again. "Yes." Her voice was barely audible.

Naruto smiled to himself and decided it would probably be best if he acted as normal as possible.
Gently lifting her off his lap he set her down beside him.

"Are you all right sitting by your self?" He inquired, his right arm still supporting her back.

Shifting away from him slightly she nodded again.
The sleeping bag she was wrapped in sagged at her movement baring one pale shoulder.
Without thinking Naruto carefully pulled it back into place, Temari flinched at his touch but he pretended not to notice and tucked the material back under her chin.

"We don't want you to catch a cold now." He commented.

Her silver eyes meet his and he smiled reassuringly before moving over to the fire.
The fish still needed a little more cooking but the small pot of water was boiling so he removed it from the flames and dropped some tea into it.

Even though he wasn't facing the woman he could sense every move that she made.

"What day is this?" She finally asked quietly.

Glancing over his shoulder so he could see her reaction he replied.

"Today is the 28th."

It was quite dramatic, her already pale skin turned ghostly white and her lips started to quiver before she bit down on them to still the movement.
She looked like she was going to cry again.

Concerned he moved back to kneel in front of her.

"Temari?"

Her unfocused eyes seemed to stare right through him.

"Sixteen........ sixteen days..." She whispered, her body trembling.

Judging from her actions and fact that he could hear her heart beat and breathing start to increase, Naruto realized that she must be reliving the experience.

'Damn, that's a hell of a long time to be caught in a nightmare.'

But now wasn't the time to dwell on her revelation. He needed to get her mind off the event and onto something else.
He had intended to stay out of her space until she felt more secure but he didn't see any other way.
Reaching out he gently trailed his fingers down her cheek.

The result was instant, her eyes snapped to his face, her breath caught and her body went ridged.
He hated the reaction but it was effective so he pushed his personal feelings aside.

"You're going to be fine Temari. Stay with me now okay."

He removed his hand not wanting to upset her any more then he already had.
Seconds ticked by, blue eyes held silver.
Finally Temari took a deep breath and relaxed. One corner of her mouth actually curved slightly upward.

"Thank you Naruto."

Grinning broadly he winked at her.

"Any time babe. Now let's see if the tea is ready.

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So there is a slightly longer Chapter 3 hope you all like it.
Chapter 4 is going to be longer.