The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

58: A Big Storm Came

[OP: Notos--The Oh Hellos]

The thunder and rain only got harder as the night went on.

The team huddled around flashlights and electric lamps in their dining area since they didn't dare have the lights on, such as they were, while the lightning was so close.

Karin was sure she heard it strike a building in the village, but, the rain would have put out any fire immediately.

Camie tried to cheer them up by playing songs off her speaker and iPod type device. It was a distraction, until her battery died.

One of the songs she played was a lot more cheerful than the situation seed to warrant.

["Umbrella"--Rihanna]

Ino liked that one.

Towards the end of the battery life, a song played that changed the mood.

[AMV to "Hey Brother" by Avici, AMV by Moonlight91]

Kankuro quite liked the song, though he didn't like to say so, and Gaara did also. But Temari's reaction was a lot more intense.

After about half the song, she got up and left the room in a big hurry.

"I wonder what's up with her," Tenten said.

"She seemed a little quiet today," Gaara recalled.

He had been down also, the others had noticed.

"Maybe it's the weather," Karin said. "The rain is depressing me."

"Eh, I like it," Suigetsu said.

A flash of lightning lit up the room and he cringed. "Of course, the lightning strikes are more of a problem."

"Someone should go see if something's bothering her," Momo said. "I could go."

"Maybe Shikamaru should," Camie suggested.

Shikamaru nearly choked on his rice. "What?" he said. "Why me?"

"Because," Camie said, like it was obvious. "Temari's been there for you right?"

"What does that mean?" Tenten said.

"I could go ask her what's up," Kankuro said. "I'm her brother after all."

"Hmm, she might not want to talk to you about it," Shine commented from where she was lying on her stomach on one of the beds.

"Why not?" Kankuro said.

"There are things you don't always want to talk to family about," Shoto mused.

They glanced at him--everyone had been walking on eggshells around him all afternoon. But he seemed calmer.

"Temari has been trying to help us out," Ino told Shikamaru. "In her way...maybe you should talk to her. Or I could."

"Shikamaru and her know each other better," Choji was always ready to be a wing man.

Now that everyone was pressuring him to do it, Shikamaru felt like he either had to cave in or get made fun of--though he had a sneaking suspicious he was getting made fun of either way, based on the look in Dabi and Suigetsu's eyes.