#temaita

 Flowers are a love language of their own. If you want to tell someone how you feel, get them a bouquet or a nice potted flower.

Gaara had given her a rather judgemental look when she repeated Ino’s advice to him, but with a little pressure, he caved and agreed to help her select an appropriate gift for her next visit to Konoha. Something that would be spectacular.

A gift fit for a kage.

“You’re not usually like this,” he commented as he carefully dug out some aster from his greenhouse garden. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get a gift for someone, let alone put this much thought into one. You’re really serious about this guy?”

Not a conversation she wanted to be having with her baby brother, but an unavoidable one at this point. As soon as she had asked for his help she had opened the doors for him to question her relationship with Itachi.

“It’s – a thing,” she skirted around the question. “A thing I’m enjoying right now and would like to continue enjoying for the foreseeable future.”

Temari was good at a lot of things. An excellent wind style user and tactician, a fantastic cook, and a superb big sister.

It was only logical that there would be something she wasn’t good at, and that thing was her emotions. Both of her brothers had the same problem but showed it in their own unique way. It was an obvious outcome of a closed-off and distant childhood with a poor father figure.

“How long would you like to continue, exactly?” Gaara pushed as he transferred the aster into the planter they had selected when they first entered the greenhouse. 

“I don’t know.” The future wasn’t clear for her. There were still a lot of things she wanted to do before even thinking of possibly settling down with someone. “I just know right now I really like him. I enjoyed spending time with him and I… Maybe one day…”

“You could see yourself marrying him?”

The question was simple enough, but Temari had no answer for it. So, she took the next best path forward.

“Desert willow.” She turned away from her brother, both mentally and physically exiting the conversation.” They would look great with the aster.”

She didn’t wait for a response. With her head held high and no worries about the future, she marched on. The day would come when she would face Gaara’s question head-on and find an answer for it.

That day just wasn’t today.

Konoha was busier than usual when Temari arrived a week later with a beautifully arranged flower planter in her arms. 

People were crowding the streets putting up stalls and decorations for a festival. Judging by the little paw print designs all over every bit of cloth she saw, and the poster she spotted with a rather unimpressed Hatake Kakashi, it was a festival to celebrate Konoha’s new Hokage.

“Did they purposely choose the one person who didn’t want the job?” Her question was directed to no one in particular. “Man looks like he would rather be anywhere but there.”

“That’s just how he always looks.” She just barely managed to refrain from choking the planter into a sneaky beautiful bastard face. “I thought you weren’t coming back for another week?”

So much for surprising him.

“There’s a festival,” she pointed out. “Can’t a girl come to visit for a nice festival?”

“Mmm.” His eyes flickered down to the planter in her hands. “And is that for our new Hokage? I’m not sure he’s a flowers kind of person.”

Gross.

Shoving the planter out towards him, she grumbled a reply under her breath.

“I’m sorry?” He leaned forward a little, tilting his right ear towards her. “What was that, princess?”

A brave man to call her that with such a sensuous voice. No man in Suna would even dare to try, no matter how long they had been dating.

Taking a deep breath she straightened herself up and put on her serious face. “Flowers,” she answered with more confidence than she felt at that moment. “I thought you might like them.”

If he didn’t, she was never going to hear the end of it from Gaara.

“For me?” He pointed out himself, almost as if he didn’t believe what he had heard. “So Ino really did tell you to get me flowers?”

“I…” Someone had ratted her out and she was going to murder them for it. “Who?”

“Sasuke. He was passing by and heard you two chatting.” She wondered if it would harm her chances in this relationship if she put Sasuke six feet under. The task wouldn’t be easy, but she was a smart woman. She could figure something out. “Temari.”

“Yes, I know.” Murder was off the table when it came to Sasuke, no matter how often he guarded her when he spotted her with his precious big brother. “Well, if you don’t want them…”

She began to retract her offer, wondering if Gaara would forgive her for making him dig up the plant he had taken such good care of when Itachi reached out to take the planter from her.

“Aster,” he muttered, examining the selection of flowers she had picked out for him, “and desert marigolds.”

Someone had been reading up on his flowers. A hobby she had not been aware of before today. 

“Are they up to your standard?” She groaned when he glanced up from the planter and levelled a rather unimpressed look at her. “I can’t be giving the Uchiha clan head subpar gifts now can I?”

A prestigious clan head deserved only the best. If the gift were for anyone else she wouldn’t have put nearly as much thought into it.

Not because she was in love or anything like that.

“It’s…” Staring down at the gift once more, a smile stretched across Itachi’s lips. “Perfect.”

Her eyes lingered on that smile. The way his lips curled up at the corner. It was a simple smile, nothing big or showy like other smiles she’d seen. Just a simple, beautiful smile.

A smile she wouldn’t mind seeing for the rest of her life.

You could see yourself marrying him?

Gaara’s question struck her at that moment. 

A question that had been lingering in the back of her mind since that day in the greenhouse. 

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry?” Itachi raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Realizing what she had just done, Temari began waving her hands in front of her face frantically, as if swatting away the memory of her mistake. 

“It was nothing,” she laughed a little too loud, her voice cracking halfway through the sentence. “Uh, so is it— Do you like it?”

Itachi could push more. Demand an explanation from her before answering her question. For a moment, with his eyes staring deep into her soul, she thought he might. 

Then, in the blink of an eye, he smiled. He smiled. A tender look in his eyes as he redirected his gaze back to the planter.

“It’s beautiful,” he responded, his left hand coming up to touch some of the aster's petals. “Only half as beautiful as you, but still gorgeous.”

She was a warrior. Warriors did not get flustered by sweet compliments and pretty smiles. They could face any adversary with confidence and a brave heart.

“I…” Her heart skipped a beat when Itachi lifted his eyes, now directing that sweet smile her way. “Uh…”

Most days she was a warrior. Right now, at this very moment, she was a person facing an adversary that no one would be able to stand up against.

Love.

“The festival starts in an hour. Would you like to attend with me?”

With a graceful bow to her opponent, she surrendered. There was no point in fighting a losing battle. Temari was in love and looking at the man who just stole her heart she couldn’t find it in herself to complain about the situation. 

“Alright,” she agreed, a grin splitting across her face. Stretching from ear to ear. “If there’s a kunai throwing game I’ll win you a stuffy to go with that planter.”

Itachi shook his head, laughter escaping his lips. Just loud enough for Temari to hear, But quiet enough that no one else did.

“A cat,” he responded, holding his free hand out towards her, “though I’m sure most of the prizes will be dog-themed. Perhaps a Bisuke stuffy if there is one.”

Bisuke. One of Hatake’s hounds, she was guessing. The best one, if Itachi liked them. “A Bisuke stuffy then,” she agreed, taking hold of his hand while butterflies fluttered around in her stomach.

A future with Uchiha Itachi didn’t seem so bad when she thought of it. She could even see herself enjoying it. That would all have to wait until later, though.