#this was a bit ambishes for me 😅 i think inrequire digital art to pull this off but here you go

[twnj]

Temari frowned, waited for the answering machine to finish its spiel, then cleared her throat as it beeped again.

She’d put the coins in now. She had to hope it was the latter.

“Hi, Shikamaru. I, um…” She paused for a stranger to walk by the phone and offer her a tight, pitiful smile. She blanked them. “I hope this is you. The other number got smudged, and I wanted to…” She sighed. “I don’t know what I wanted. I don’t know, I just — well, it’s been so long.”

She rubbed her forehead and tightened her grip around the phone and its cord. He clearly wasn’t picking up, but Temari couldn’t bring herself to stop talking.

“I won’t be there for the opening ceremony tomorrow,” she explained. “My brother…” She took a deep breath and steadied herself to give the same mechanical, soulless answer she had offered the chess federation the week before. “My brother and my uncle were in a traffic accident last month, and the funeral is tomorrow. I’ll be…” Her throat sealed. When she forced it open, its voice was anything but soulless. “I’ll be in Sochi to play the day after, but not before. I’m needed here.” She squeezed her eyes shut and paused. He still wasn’t picking up.

“Look, you probably already left,” she concluded, “but either way, I guess I’ll see you in Sochi. And if not, I guess I’ll… Well, I guess I’ll—”

“Hey! Um, Akimichi-Nara, er… house here. Yes. I’m sorry for my, um, my English — I am tired. Who is this?” [...] “Are you still here? I was washing my teeth, but I heard a voice on the machine. Hello?”

Grandmaster on ao3 by @notquitejiraiya