The word rose up to his throat, only for him to frantically swallow it down.
“Like your cold attitude at the meeting.” She said, “You’ve been making decisions without saying a word or giving an explanation, and it’s made everyone nervous. The atmosphere was so strained.”
“Oh, did that happen?”
“You didn’t even notice that…?” Temari’s eyes widened slightly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…”
“It’s something you won’t even tell me, is that it?”
Temari’s gaze was pained.
Since the war had concluded, he’d been working with Temari at the Union for two years now. She was an understanding, good partner. They both shared the sentiment of not wanting all the shinobi who had been gathered together during the war to separate again, as well as the intention to work together and make the Union as good as it could be.
When you added that to the strong bond between Naruto, who intended to become Konoha’s Hokage, and Gaara, Suna’s present Kazekage, that easily made the bond between Suna and Konoha the strongest amongst all the villages united under the Union. With such external forces at work as well, it was natural that Shikamaru and Temari had reached a stage of existence where both was the other’s biggest support within the Union.