Thinking Ahead
A Shikamaru/Temari oneshot. Please be easy on me, I've only seen a few episodes but I HEART the pairing. So here.
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Shikamaru snored softly, until his alarm clock caused him to flip over and send a punch at it, destroying it. He blinked his eyes open. Slowly, he got into a sitting position and yawned. "Thank goodness my mother isn't here to badger me about getting up." He said with a slight smile. He got dressed and headed out the door.
Shikamaru was a teacher at the Academy, which caused Naruto to make fun of him non-stop. "The number one lazy bag in the academy to become a teacher? And a genious too! Ha!" He said constantly. Shikamaru just shrugged.
"It was too troublesome to try harder to do anything else." He just replied. As he walked into the classroom, the kids were excitedly jabbing on about how they were getting their teams. Shikamaru hated when they did that. He sighed and sat down as another teacher read off the names. He was close to sleeping when something nudged his shoulder.
"Well whatta you know, Mr. Crybaby is still alive!" A voice said in amusement. He jolted upward.
"Temari!" The sand-nin smiled at him. She still looked the same, four yellow ponytails bursting out of her head.
"Miss me, idiot?"
"It's too troublesome to miss someone who's gone." He said. But on the inside, he was anxious to talk to her. 'She's back!' He cried on the inside. She rolled her eyes.
"Troublesome, troublesome, troublesome. Is that your favorite word or something?"
"Sure." He said lamely. "Anyway, why are you here?" She grinned.
"As Gaara is Kazekage, I am now a liaison." She said proudly. He raised his eyebrows slightly. "Well!" She said with an impatient scowl.
"What now?" He said, putting his hands up in the air, eyes closed.
"Oh wow, Temari, it's you! How about I take you out to dinner so I can tell you all about how the past few years have been?" She said in a deeper voice to mimic him.
"Okay." He said, and got up. She scowled, and followed him.
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Shikamaru pretty much stared at the Ramen the whole time they were there. Temari scowled.
"Look, you'd better eat or I'll—"
"Geeze, I never thought I'd be whipped by a girl who's not my own mother." He muttered.
"WHAT!"
"Nothing." He said, and began to eat. She sighed.
"So...what have you been doing?" She asked.
"I'm a teacher at the Academy. I teach the stuff I never bothered to stay awake through in my childhood."
"That seems ironic."
"I suppose. And you?"
"I traveled for a while, then Gaara wanted me to come here. So here I am."
"Mm." Was all he said. She sighed softly.
"Look, as much as I really hate to say this – I sort of missed you." Shikamaru stopped abruptly. He looked up.
"What?"
"I missed you." She said, a little softly. His brain stopped. Or something. Because even at his IQ of 200 or more,
He could not think of anything to say.
He looked wildly around, and then closed his eyes as he pressed his fingers together in his thinking position. Temari was quiet.
'Alright, so you have...how many options. None? NONE? I lost! What am I going to do, think Shikamaru, think!' He stayed like that for a long time. Then he opened his eyes.
And he still couldn't even strategize one simple move.
"Erm." He said. Temari looked amused.
"You can't think of what to say!"
"Yes I can! I just...choose not to?" He said lamely.
"It seems your IQ of 200 has let you down."
"Fine. I lose. I give up."
"Now where have I heard that before!" She said with a smirk on her face. He sighed.
"It's too troublesome to do anything."
"How about you admit it."
"Admit what?"
"That you missed me." She said, simply. It had always tugged at a part of himself, her absence, her smile. She was the only girl that scared him more than his mother. 'And what exactly does that mean?' He thought to himself. His fingers found their way into his thinking position. Suddenly he found it in himself an option that scared the living daylights out of himself.
Kiss her.
He thought and thought, and soon, seeing as this was the only option that he could think of countermoves for, he took it.
He leaned over the table and kissed her softly, surprising her fully. She blushed dark pink and smiled as they broke off.
"Well, well. I guess being a genius helps with a few things." She said with a grin. He smiled slowly and scratched the back of his head.
"The rest of the moves were troublesome."
"Oh? And what if I said that I didn't just miss you, that I loved you ever since I fought you in the Chuunin Exams?"
"I would ask you out to dinner again."
"And then?"
"If all goes well...I'll ask you to marry me."
"And if I say yes?"
"Then we'll get married."
"And after that?"
"We'll have two kids, a girl first, then a boy."
"And when they grow up?"
"I'll retire once my girl gets married and my boy gets a job."
"And you'll spend the rest of your days how?"
"Playing Shougi and Go, and die happily knowing that I fell in love, and that I made something out of myself." He said with a shrug.
"You seem to have this plan all worked out. Thinking ahead, eh?"
"It only works on a few factors. One, you love me back, two, you're the perfect girl, and three, you don't whip me."
"I may have to whip you sometimes." She said happily.
"Okay, but only sometimes." He said with a sigh.
"Deal!" She said, and kissed him again. He smiled. The plan was all worked out, and she would take every step he knew she would, just like he planned it. Being a great Strategist helped sometimes...not just with Ninja matters, he supposed. He grinned.
'Checkmate.'
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I liked the thought of Shikamaru being caught off guard with no simple plan coming easily, and I love Shikamaru/Temari as a couple.
Love,
WudaiMarsWind