[OP: "This Will End"--The Oh Hellos]

https://youtu.be/Lj1MAxuDeVQ

["The Scientist"--Coldplay--Sisters said this fit Shikamaru, kind of.]

Shikamaru found Temari a little later, throwing pebbles at one of the scrubby trees at the edge of the yard.

She glanced at him and then shrugged.

"Can I ask for your honest opinion on something?" Shikamaru said.

"Sure." Temari threw another pebbled easily. "When am I not giving my honest opinion?"

"Sometimes I think you give a more harsh opinion than necessary. I just want the honest truth."

"That's always going to be subjective if you're asking a person, but go ahead." Temari picked up another pebble.

"Would you say I like to be in control?" Shikamaru asked. "And to feel secure about things?"

"Secure as in sure of them working out?"

"Yes."

"I'd say so." Temari threw that pebble and hit the tree again. She hadn't missed so far. Then she wiped her hands off. "Strategists mostly like to be in control. Part of the job. And so is wanting things to work out."

"And is that why I have a hard time accepting change?" Shikamaru mused.

"Change shakes things up," Temari said. "It's uncomfortable. You like to be comfortable." She frowned at the tree. "But comfort can be deadly. This has to to do with the DJs still, doesn't it?"

"Something they said," Shikamaru said. "Shine said, really. She just comes up with this stuff somehow."

"I think she's observant," Temari said. "I usually agree with her assessments of people."

"So you would say that you observe people in the same way?" 

"Yes...why?"

"Just interest," Shikamaru said, staring at the horizon. "I don't do that. There's different kinds of observant, I suppose."

"If you're about to say that it's a woman thing, get out," Temari said a little testily.

"Hey, claws in, all right? I didn't come out here to fight." Shikamaru backed up uneasily, afraid the next rock would be aimed at his chest.

Temari shrugged.

"You seem worked up," Shikamaru noticed.

"Oh no, really?" Temari said sarcastically, but then checked her tone. She sighed. "I didn't need to go into all that before. Our dirty laundry is none of their business. Especially Sakura's."

"Why Sakura?"

"I've heard how she talks to her friends," Temari said. "She's not above using people's insecurities against them. If she did that to Gaara, I'd have to kill her."

Not to herself?

"You know, I overheard the DJs say a few things about you also." Shikamaru was not one to compliment people directly, obviously, so he would borrow it from someone else. "Seems like they think you've been a valuable friend to them. Something about loyalty. And you being their guide. Whatever that means."

"Oh, that's just what they call it," Temari said. She'd forgotten about that. "Back when we first met. First person they meet is almost always the guide, they said--someone who shows them the ropes of the world they're in, I guess. I suppose my older sister instinct just kicked in for that."

Shikamaru tugged his shirt collar a little. "I...can acknowledge that there are things that you and your brothers have been through that the rest of us haven't," he said slowly. "And us complaining about it, when it was your salvation, could be considered pretty pathetic. Still, I think everyone has their own journey with this stuff."

"That's not the issue," Temari said. "The issue is that this will become polarizing sooner or later. They'll ask you to do something you won't want to do. Spare someone that your village wants you to kill, or something like that. And then you'll have to decide. And it's not even about them. If what they believe is true, how do you know what God expects of you?"

"You don't like to soften the blow of things, do you?"

"What's the point? It's not going to be easy." Temari leaned on her fan now. "Sometimes I think some of you expect life to be easier because you do as your village says. That didn't make our lives easier. Did make it harder to live with ourselves, though. Kankuro and I spent years being afraid of Gaara, but once, before Father made him avoid us, we used to play games like the other kids did. He probably can't remember it well now, he was so little... It was hard to avoid him, but it was easier than angering our Father would be...and then it got harder to watch as he turned into that monster. He was a sweet kid, and gentle, before that point. I wouldn't say that putting up with that was easy. But who had the courage to do anything about it? Being trapped in the shinobi system isn't always easy. If it's easy for you--you just got lucky." She frowned.

"But you haven't said any of this before," Shikamaru said. "And I've known you for years (not that we talk that much), and we've also known about the DJs for years, and you never thought to mention any of this as the reason you all accepted what they said."

"I didn't think I had to mention something so clear," Temari said. "You're supposed to be smart, aren't you?"

Pause.

"I think that you're calling me spoiled."

"Maybe it's not your fault," Temari conceded, reasonable enough. "But it's different. I'm not saying we're envying you--I think our lives had to be the way they were--but you worry about being a traitor and an outcast to your village, and to us it's funny because we were already there, and we didn't even have to believe some odd, new religion to be that." She laughed kind of bitterly. "So who cares? Might as well be an outcast for the right reasons. Some of us will never be considered average or normal."

Shikamaru saw that that was only fair.

"Still, it's another thing, if you're not already singled out, to do things to make yourself be singled out," he said. "And I never wanted that."

"Then you're a d--- waste of a shinobi," Temari said. "Sometimes I don't understand you, Shikamaru. If most people had your brains and your family standing and were actually liked by their village, they would apply themselves. Maybe things are too easy for you. Being smart can make things almost painfully boring at times, but if you get complacent about it because of that, sooner or later, people who are smarter or just more dedicated than you will steal your opportunities. Life isn't fair. And if you don't want some idiot to end up in charge of Leaf Village and turn it into another Blood Mist Village, then you can't keep avoiding risk." She frowned. "If you can have influence and you don't, what's the excuse? Many people wish they could but have no voice and no power. I didn't used to care about people like that, but I've come to see it's not that different from what happened to my family. Having power and having no influence is almost as bad as having neither, it turns out. Gaara is one case in a 100 of it ever ending differently. Is it a coincidence that what he believed in changed first?"

"I can admit that you're making a lot of sense," Shikamaru admitted. "I haven't wanted to acknowledge it because it's too uncomfortable. But you and your brothers are much more fearless. Maybe that's how you had to be, but us Leaf have a different problem. Things might go on okay if we don't shake them up."

"For how long?"

"That's the question: I have no idea," Shikamaru said. "I'd rather leave that work to someone else if I could. I keep being asked to step up. Just being smart doesn't necessarily mean I'll succeed, however. And I never wanted to do more than the minimum."

"And is living your life for yourself the most important thing?" Temari replied.

"You never cut me any slack, do you?"

"Seems to me you cut yourself enough slack without anyone else doing it for you," Temari shot back.

That actually kind of hurt--because it was so true.

The thing was, Temari wasn't all talk. Shikamaru often called herself harsh, but he was perfectly aware that she held herself to the same standard as she put on other people. Excellence was one of her main aspirations in life, and she might be rough, but she wasn't a selfish person. Her whole life was spent supporting her brothers and her village, and he didn't even know if she ever took a day off.

For a shinobi, she was the model of diligence, even if people found her roughness off-putting. [Some people hate Temari for being aggressive, but I think they miss how much she devotes her time to helping her family. Under the toughness she has a heart of gold, which is why she has so many fans, I think--though a lot of them just think she's hot. Typical anime treatment of women. Though she's adorable, if you ask me.]

So her opinion would hold more weight. She practiced what she preached.

On the other hand, she could carry things too far. And Shikamaru didn't want to get caught up in something that was over his head. Or that was dangerous.

But if he had been caught up in both those things now, he needed to make the right choice. And it seemed as if that choice was in front of him.

"Even if I leave aside my own personal preferences," Shikamaru spoke again, more uneasily, "who's to say Leaf Village would embrace any of this? It's practically treason."

"Leave aside what Leaf Village would think." Temari drummed her fingers on her fan's metal edge. "Do you really think they're wrong? Is it really so strange to value someone's soul above their village? Isn't it true that a village won't last forever? What if a soul will? If that's the truth, the answer is clear. And you really don't know any reason to think it's incorrect."

"Let's say that's true then," Shikamaru said, "and they do know how to save souls...what good is it if no one will listen to you? If everyone will think you're a rogue shinobi if you tell them this? Why risk your life on something that probably won't work?"

"We shinobi are loyal to our villages even when we could die for it," Temari said. "Not because the villages always will win, but it's our village and we believe in it. How is this different? It's like a bigger village. So why does it matter if it works out for us or not? That's not the thing we should think about."

"So we should still risk our lives, but we're saying that our lives have more value, at least inwardly, than a village does?" Shikamaru said.

"Risking our lives, if we think they actually matter, would mean more than giving them if we think they're worthless."

That was also a good point.

"Still, if it comes to that, and if Sand Village loses its kage over this," Shikamaru said, "was it still worth it?"

Temari looked somner. "It would be a grave disappointment," she said in a more subdued tone, especially for her. "And injustice. But I think our minds are made up. We have no life aside from this anymore. Our village tried to kill us--this saved us. Why would we choose to abandon the thing that saved us?"

Did that apply to them all then?

"It's hard to argue with that," Shikamaru said. "And they have saved us all...and what they say, it makes some kind of sense, in some ways. Still, I wish I could be sure."

"There may be no way to be sure. It's a leap of faith," Temari said. "And if the facts of what happened to us are not enough, what makes you think anything else would change it for you? Isn't it just a choice?"

Shikamaru nodded slowly. "That's something to think about... Well, I knew you would tell it straight. I somehow don't think my fellow Leaf are unbiased."

Temari snorted. "Sakura hates their guts. And Naruto is too uppity about them restricting his actions to think about whether they're in the right or not."

"Sakura doesn't like change either," Shikamaru said. "But, on the other hand, Sasuke is here... I don't get why he is, but--"

"Shh," Temari said. "He's on the roof."

"What?" Shikamaru said.

"I only just noticed," Temari said. "He must have been up there for a while. I hope he didn't hear everything we just said."

"What do you have to worry about? Didn't you say it was all true?"

"Doesn't mean I want him to know this kind of thing." Temari frowned.

Shikamaru did see Sasuke now; he just needed to change his angle.

Sasuke appeared to be just sitting on the roof, ignoring them, but who knew if he was listening?

"He's kind of unsettling, just sitting here," Shikamaru shuddered. "That guy has so much darkness in him."

"And yet even he's here," Temari said. "If something about this draws even him, that's worth considering."

"I just wonder if I'm going to realize that I knew the whole time and didn't want to admit it," Shikamaru mused. "I don't know why learning about our fathers would have made things more clear, but it seems to have shifted our perspectives a little. Or maybe you knocked something into place when you hit me earlier."

"You deserved that. I'd do it again."

"Yes...I believe it."  Shikamaru rubbed his face at the memory. "Most people would have tried to be nicer about it."

"I'm not most people," Temari said. "And you can't pick on someone over your personal losses. They're good people."

"I already said we were wrong, do we have to do this again?"

"Well, you brought it up," Temari argued.

"And now I regret doing that." Shikamaru pretended to grimace.

Temari rolled her eyes, but perhaps she was softened more by the conversation than she let on, because after a pause she ventured a less harsh remark:

"Something's changed already though," she said, offhandedly. "I doubt you would have asked me that weeks ago. And I doubt you would have apologized to them. Or even have considered abandoning what Leaf Village might think. That's already a change."

"Hearing it out loud, yeah, it is," Shikamaru said. "Which means I've been changing already without realizing it, and I'm not sure that's good, because I might never go back, even if I decided against this ultimately."

"I think you can't go back to ignorance. Even knowing there's another option out there changes something." Temari shook her head.

Shikamaru had a feeling she was right.

* * *

Sasuke heard most of that conversation.

He felt more interest in both of them than he ever had before. He'd never cared one bit about Shikamaru--or Temari, for that matter, except when he had to fight her--but hearing that they were taking this seriously, with perhaps some of the same consequences he had faced, made them more interesting.

Also, to hear more of the full story of Gaara's life, it sounded like something worse than his--at least at the beginning. But later... Gaara's village had finally accepted him and united around him, and Leaf had continued to ignore the Uchihas.

But, in all fairness...Sasuke had never tried to unite Leaf. He wouldn't have known how to. 

It was undeniable at this point that he and Gaara were different for more than just one reason. Gaara was simply a different person with different goals.

And he'd changed his goals. He'd gone from arguably worse than Sasuke to better. Sasuke wasn't ignorant of that fact; he'd known that was true when he ran into them at the Summit and seen that Gaara had lost his bloodthirsty look.

But he hadn't cared, and he hadn't been swayed by it. Now he saw that the whole time it must have been Gaara's being influenced by the DJs. The very way he spoke resembled how Shine talked.

And they both had that annoying habit of forgiving people and acting as if their past actions didn't not matter.

But knowing why...well, it did seem unfair. Gaara had gotten free of so much more than...

But here even Sasuke had to realize that this was ridiculous. He'd been given the chance that Gaara had, at the time (both by Naruto, in fact, and by the DJs), to break his curses, to show him a better way. He'd spat in their faces then, and Gara had not. Gaara had accepted Naruto's friendship, and Sasuke had cut it off.

And Gaara had had more success than anyone could imagine and was a renowned world leader now. And Sasuke was an outcast who was lucky not to have been killed by his own village for his crimes. They started from the same place--arguably with Gaara at a worse disadvantage, since he had the evil inside him--and yet here they were.

That was not just luck.

Gaara didn't seem to be resent that nothing had happened sooner for him. Maybe he'd think it was pathetic to spend time wishing for things to change faster than they did. The opportunity at all must have seemed like a miracle to him.

Sasuke frowned to himself. He didn't like that his thoughts were clearer since he'd stopped having nightmares so often. The ones he had still had gotten a little less intense, though they still troubled him. But he was sleeping longer--and the nightmares no longer worried him as much because he knew they could be stopped, even if he wouldn't humiliate himself by asking for help. But even knowing is a kind of reassurance.

He resented that that had changed for him because of the DJs. He resented that he was probably only alive because of them and Naruto. He resented that he wasn't sure he would be able to prove them wrong.

But even Sasuke would have to tire of anger sooner or later, and week after week of sustaining it would wear down anybody's energy. He could tell it was ebbing slowly away...but what would take its place? In the past, anger only gave way to depression or a cold resolve. Pushing the fury deeper, in fact.

Would it be the same thing this time? There was no one left to punish.

Also, for the first time in his life, he was working under people who agreed with him about the events of the past being horrendously evil. Perhaps they even went further than he did, because they would have said it was the same for everyone.

So what was there to punish? How could he make them see his point if they already saw it? Even those detestable Todoroki brothers had admitted that much was true. More than his own team ever had done.

Sasuke noticed that he was thinking this more and more often, too. As if his brain was drawing clearer lines between what he thought and felt and what he could observe around him. Lines he never had to draw before because no one cared enough to ask him what he thought.

Suddenly, he straightened.

That was it...wasn't it?

No one had ever asked him what he thought before.

No one asked what he wanted. 

No one, in fact, cared. Not Team 7 nor anyone else, certainly. Team Taka had been no different.

It was always about what they thought he should want.

No...somehow the DJs' team, for all their obnoxiousness, had never presumed to tell him what he should want, only to say he was doing the wrong thing, which he already knew. But they never went as far as to claim they knew what he should want or should think.

And, in a way, Shine's constant fights with him were demanding that he think and analyze things for himself. No one had ever expected him to do that before. Orochimaru had wanted compliance and didn't care about what people thought, period, as long as they did as he said in the end. Obito had just wanted backup and also didn't care what anyone really felt. Madara...that thought wouldn't even have entered his mind.

Leaf didn't care.

Frankly, even Sasuke's own family had never shown that much interest in his perspective on things, as he'd only been 7 when they died.

It annoyed him to be questioned constantly, but being questioned meant someone was taking him seriously, and perhaps that was something he'd wanted and depended on without knowing it. [Sasuke's entire persona screams of wishing to be taken seriously--to the point where he tries too hard so you can't take him seriously anymore, but it's clear what he's going for.]

It was so new to him that it had been going on for weeks, and he'd never once realized that he didn't hate it as much as he pretended he did.

It was something, at least. Some kind of engagement. Some kind of significance...even if it was negative mostly.

And it was also, if he'd noticed it, why Temari and Shikamaru had suddenly risen in his esteem slightly. They were challenging each other based on ideas and truth and taking it seriously, and that was far more interesting to him, in his current state of uncertainty, than attempts at politics were.

Sasuke had wondered why he'd stuck around so long with this team, and now it was clear. In a bizarre way he must actually like them better than the ninja. No other explanation was possible.

And he didn't like to recognize this. Because he thought it made him vulnerable.

Unfortunately, it was probably too late to reverse it. He already knew if he wanted to try, they'd just say he could leave if he wanted and it was up to him, and all the crap that gave him any agency in his own life which he really wanted to have.

And he understood now that Shine had done this on purpose. Her whole team must be in on it, but it had to be her idea.

And he could do nothing about it. Because they were sincere about it. It was a plot, but it wasn't one that you would ruin by figuring it out.

Realizing this, he asked himself again why they even ask him to join. 

He'd still never been nice to them. He wasn't doing anything for them...still. Why weren't they out of patience with this? Even the psychos he worked for before would have demanded he do something at some point, even if they mostly left him to himself.

And doing a few menial tasks didn't really count as the kind of thing that you'd compel someone to do.

Sasuke considered the duality of their approach. They both acted as if they cared less about him than anyone else, while at the same time they did more to give him what he might actually have wanted than anyone else.

Perhaps it was the people who didn't have a personal agenda who might be the most easy to get along with after all.

It was strange that realizing that he might actually like this made Sasuke feel more free in a strange way--and at the same time, more confused and more helpless.

Doing anything he liked was never much of an option for him, only doing what he thought was necessary. It had been so long since he'd asked himself what he liked that it was weird to realize it. And it was disconcerting so late in the game, after weeks of being here.

He felt he'd really die of shame if his team suspected this about him. Though it would no doubt  piss them off, and, in that way, it was kind of appealing.

He wanted to make them angry still...to make them see what he saw.

But while his behavior towards them was the same, his attitude towards the heroes and DJs was changing. The contempt was dropping from it bit by bit and so was his spiteful anger, because he had no reason to make them angry.

They already knew.

Even that airhead Camie probably got it better than the ninja did. 

Sasuke still was mad about the earlier conversation he'd had with Shine,and her insistence that things were the way they were...and that things could still be good.

He thought that was crazy...at least, he believed that he thought that.

Still, he reflected now, that was what they thought, and it didn't really harm him as long as they weren't forcing him to accept it, which they weren't. So why did it matter if they thought it? He'd been starting to take their opinion seriously for some reason. 

It seemed to be working for them though...

No, what was he thinking? There was no way he would ever have a part in this. Even if he wanted it, he was cursed.

Of course, they said that his curse could be lifted--no. The thought was preposterous. And he didn't want that anyway. He was what he was. 

Sasuke was still too foolish to want to cease to suffer just because he was tired of suffering. He was not like Gaara in that way. He had cherished his pain in the worst way for too long to let it go so easily.

Even so, he was taking steps away from what he was used to, even slowly, and he was finally starting to see it.

It didn't alarm him yet--he was still too arrogant to think he was in any danger of losing himself to this--but it was intriguing that anything could capture his attention for this long. He'd been self absorbed for too long to not find it a novelty to be captivated by a new thing for longer than a few days.

https://youtu.be/pwLzuOMpkFw

["Vindicated"--Dashboard Confessional--You may know this song from Spiderman 2, Tobey Maguire's version.]

[Sasuke's psychology is difficult to explain in writing because there're many sides to it. He's not a simple character, and I think the original author handled him badly. But, as Kishimoto never liked Sasuke, by his own admission, that makes sense. The reason I spent so much time on Sasuke's inner thoughts is because the change is so minute and specific that it's the only way to express it. He's not the kind of person who'd have a sudden, huge change with no build up.]

* * *

Day 37:

Finally, the day after that emotionally draining one, the paperwork was finished.

From here it was a very simple matter to start work constructing because they had people who could build things in mere hours. Mere minutes, in Wally's case.

They just needed some blueprints and people who knew what they were talking about to direct them.

Stone Village provided both.

Shine insisted that everyone help with this project, even Sasuke, who never did manual labor.

He wasn't the only one, though. Honestly, very few of the shinobi had done any manual labor that was not fighting or battle related. Some of the girls did chores.

Temari was shocked to find that Shikamaru hardly did any. Apparently his mom mostly covered the household work. And Naruto was even worse.

Tenten and Sakura at least knew a little about cleaning but not building, except for basic shelters (in Tenten's case).

Ino knew how to make frames for plants but didn't know how to do much else in that department.

And Sai had never done anything like this at all.

Kankuro actually was the most proficient, since he worked on puppets so often he was good with tools. It might have been the first time he really got to impress any of the females in the group, at least those who appreciated that trait.

Shine was one of them.

"Honestly, a guy who knows how to do chores is so much more attractive," she said. "And 10x more if he can do that so fast I barely have time to sit down and set up a movie menu."

"I guess Wally-sensei spoils you," Temari said.

"I take care of my house when he's not around," Shine said. "But when we do hang out there, he says he'd rather just clean himself than wait for me to do it at a snail's pace. I admit, I do worry about feeling useful when we're married, but on the other hand, I hate housework for the most part, so I think I'll get used to it."

"Hey, I have to work, so it's not like you can't do it then," Wally said. "But I'm not really that worried about things being neat all the time. As long as it smells clean, I'm good."

"Ugh, that's such a man thing to say." Tenten pinched her nose.

"And girls have scented candles in the bathrooms," Wally said. "What's the purpose of that?"

"Or flowers," Shikamaru said.

"What's wrong with flowers?" Ino said.

"My bathroom just has stickers of animated characters and inspirational quotes," Camie shrugged.

"Mine doesn't have anything. My parents think that's vulgar." Momo shook her head.

"Our bathroom just has beetles in it," Temari confirmed. "What's the point of having fancy stuff if the sand is just going to ruin it anyway?"

"I don't think I could live in the desert..." Ino muttered.

"So...if none of us knows what to do," Gaara said, "how are we going to construct this building?"

"Oh, relax," Wally said. "I've built space generators before--don't ask. I can handle this. You guys just follow my lead. And for those of you whom I don't trust with tools, you can carry the stuff. I mean, they put out stones and wood here..."

"And I ordered soil." Ino held up a list she'd been working on. "This soil is too rocky here, so we need the imported special soil. And the seeds, and the manure, but all that comes after the building is finished and painted--"

"Okay, we get it," Sakura interrupted her. "I still say we should have just put a new wing on the hospital or something."

"But they didn't really have the room for it," Hinata pointed out. "And this spot does."

It did look like a lot of work, even with Wally's speed. Most of the kids weren't sure this was such a good idea now.

Wally rolled up his sleeves in a joking way. "Let's get started."

The Stone architect who was there to help them seemed to find him slightly amusing--or perhaps ridiculous. "This is not as simple as it looks."

"What's your name again?" Wally asked.

"Kensetsu Koji," the architect replied. [First name means "construction" or "establishment". The second means more basic construction like "build".]

"Can I call you Ken?" Wally asked.

"No," Kensetsu replied.

"Well...uh, Koji," Wally said, "you just watch. Just tell us what to do, and we'll do it."

Koji smiled in the same way again. "Very well."