"You're sure about this?"

"Oh, shut up"

"It's just that, ya know, this isn't exactly like you."

"Kankurou..." Her voice was stern.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just weirding me out a bit."

"Then why did you insist on coming?"

"Do you really think I'd rather be alone with Gaara?"

"Hm, good point I guess." She sighed and looked up at the sky. "It's flattering that we were invited."

"Well, we did kind of save Lee, Shikamaru... and Kiba." Kankurou felt his face burn a little. Good thing it was dark out. Temari wasn't paying him much attention anyway.

"No, we saved Shikamaru," she choked a bit, "and Kiba."

Kankurou eyed her. "Yes, but the three of us were invited. It doesn't matter that the psycho doesn't want to join us."

"Kankurou?"

"Yes, Temari?"

"Gaara's been following us."

"What!" He spun around, expecting sand to be already at his ankles.

"Gotcha."

"Hn?" His face burned even more now. "Damn you."

"You love me. Hey look, we're almost there." She pointed at the Hyuuga residence. The occupants were loud enough to hear already. "Come on!" Temari bounded the rest of the way, with Kankurou on her heels.

At the door, Temari stopped and adjusted herself. "Tem, it's not like you're about to be in some beauty pageant."

She stopped abruptly. "I thought I told you to shut up," she mumbled, knocking on the door.

Hinata slowly opened the door. She bowed. "I'm so grateful that you could make it," she squeeked. Temari and Kankurou bowed back, then handed her the presents they'd gotten her. Hinata thanked them profusely, then let them inside. When they entered, Kiba hopped up, wobbled a bit, and waved them over. "Kankurou, come play with us, you get double penalties because you're late," he announced, grinning. Kankurou noddded and sat down in the circle of boys, which included Lee, Naruto, and Chouji (all very drunk), Neji, Shikamaru, and of course Kiba (all adequately drunk), and Shino (who was perhaps only a bit drunk). Temari laughed at them and headed over to the group of girls, who were making fun of the boys. They were Tenten (very drunk), and Sakura, Ino, and of course Hinata (who were all fairly drunk). They handed Temari the sake and she began drinking with them.

"Oh, how I wish Sasuke-kun were here," Ino pouted. Sakura nodded in agreeance.

"Come on girls, you've been whining about him all night," Tenten slurred, pointing in their general direction. "All you ever did was fight over him anyway. It was so annoying. You know what? You two are annoying."

Ino blanched and fell over, while Sakura started screaming. Temari edged over to Hinata. "So, happy birthday, Hinata-chan," she whispered, giggling a bit.

Hinata shrugged. "They've been doing this all night." She stared at her sake. "I've drank more than them, and I can't get drunk enough to forget thier bickering," she sighed heavily. "Naruto-kun doesn't notice me, either, he just drinks more and more and gets more and more enveloped in the games. How I wish he would notice me."

"Hinata, there are better boys out there, boys who will notice you," Temari reassured here. "If you two are meant to be, he'll realize that you're desperate for him, and that you're better to chase after than Sakura."

"Sakura doesn't even notice him." She shot a hateful look at Sakura.

"Yes, and nor does he notice you. It's just at bastardly. I think you should try to get over him."

"I have, Temari." Hinata continued on, and she and Temari had a pleasant conversation about love for a bit, as they both sipped on sake and slid deeper and deeper into a drunken stupor.

Abruptly, Hinata inquired, "Do you care for any boy, Temari?"

Clumsily, Temari, looked over at Shikamaru, and said, "No."

Hinata laughed. "He notices you. You should go after him. You're much braver and much more likely to do it than I ever could be."

Temari blushed heavily. "He notices me?"

"Go to the room over there," she demanded, having grown much more courageous due to her enourmous sake intake. "I will take care of it. Do this for me, please?"

"Only because it's your birthday," Temari chuckled, heading to the other room, and noticing on her way that Ino, Sakura, and Tenten had, at some point, gravitated across the room and were all getting along quite nicely now.

The room she entered was a guest bedroom she realized, sparsely decorated yet quite nice. Sitting down she got distracted by patterns the moonlight made on the wall, and hardly noticed Shikamaru enter. When he finally said her name, she turned to him slowly, without getting up.
"Yes?"

"Hinata-chan asked me to come in here and talk to you," he informed her, not looking straight at her. "Please make it quick. This is troublesome and Kiba will make me take double penalties for being gone."

"I didn't ask for your company," she snapped, hiding her embarrassment that he didn't want to spend time with her. "I don't know why she did this."

"Oh." Shikamaru almost sounded upset by the news. "Well, you needn't be such a bitch about it."

"How dare you?" Temari struggled to her feet. "I saved your life, you owe me nothing but respect!"

"I would've rather died than be saved by some stuck-up woman."

"Again with this man and woman crap? You are so stupid, Nara Shikamaru, and you will do nothing but miss great oppurtunities that way!" The sake was getting her flustered at an alarming rate.

"What opputunities?"

"Oppurtunities like me!" A heavy silence settled over the room. Even the party seemed muted. Temari could feel the blood draining from her face.

"Like... you?"

No answer could escape her lips.

Shikamaru studied her carefully. "Well, if there's nothing for you to say..." He turned on his heel any headed out of the room to keep her from noticing his elation. He could hear her following him after a second, and scamper to reach him, but he didn't face her for fear of embarrassment. She soon grabbed him and pulled him behind a couch, just out of sight of the drunk boys and the drunk girls watching them.

"You're smiling!" Temari hissed, seeing his face.

"No, I'm not!" He covered his mouth with his hands.

She pried them away, began nagging, and stopped somewhere in the middle because they were now kissing somehow, although neither of them remembered initiating it and were both quite shocked. Regardless, it only took a moment for them to both melt into it.

"I've always hated you," Shikamaru informed her, pulling back.

"And I've always hated you, shut up and kiss me." They embraced once more and Temari pulled off Shikamaru's vest. He tried to stop her. "Don't worry, we won't get caught," she mumbled in between kisses. Shikamaru tried to protest more but found in too troublesome and instead opted to hope for good luck. Temari got his shirt off and kissed down his chest while undoing his pants. She got the zipper open and scooted back, then kissed his hard-on as she slid off his pants. He pushed her back and began carressing her inner thigh as she trembled in anticipation. He then pulled off her shirt, revealing a lacy black bra. "What, were you hoping to get some?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, from you."

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile. He kissed her cleavage and ran one hand down her stomach, and over her skirt. Yanking it up a bit, he slid his hand ever her panties now, between her legs. He could feel how wet she was. "Can we please go to the other room?"

"What, are you scared of my brother? Don't worry, I'll save you again if I must." Her look and tone were pure evil, so he shoved his fingers underneath her panties and inside of her. Her expression changed to something he quite liked, so he kept his hand where it was, pleasuring her. He kissed her neck gently, listening intently to her stiffled moans.

In his paranoia, his attention remained, to a slight degree, on the conversations the others were having. Hinata was crying and Kiba was telling her that he didn't mean to be rude. Shino said something rude and led Hinata out. Ino then got mad because Naruto and Kiba were discussing if Hinata was attractive.

At this point, Temari shoved him onto his back and pulled down his boxers. Before he could react, she had her lips around him, disabling his speech merely by how good she was. She kept going until he couldn't hold back any longer, and she made no mess of it. Gently, she resumed kissing every inch of him while he regained coherancy. The paranoia came back 10-fold.

Sakura, sounding mad as Hell: "Lee-san, who do you think is more attractive?"

Lee: "Sakura-chan, of course I think that you are the more beautiful one! Ino pales in comparison."

Ino, also sounding mad as Hell: "Chouji, vote!"

Chouji: "Why me?"

Sakura and Ino in unison: "Because you have to!"

Shikamaru had to act quickly he realized. He pushed Temari off him and pulled his boxers back on. "They're about to notice that we're missing"
he told her. "Get your clothes on as quickly as possible."

"Oh, damn." She sounded unenthusiastic about getting dressed but was indeed complying.

Chouji: "Ino, I guess."

Ino: "Of course! My teammates have good taste! What about you, Shika-...Shikamaru? Where did he go?"

Shikamaru froze like a deer caught in the headlights. The others were moving around now, searching for him. He turned slowly to see Lee staring at them. Carefully, Shikamaru put his finger to his lips, pulling up his pants with his free hand. It was too late though. Ino came to see what had stunned Lee. She squeeled, causing everyone else to rush over. Shikamaru was already up and headed for the door. Kankurou was screaming, "I'll kill you!" before he was out of the building. After a few quick blocks, he slid to a stop, turned to face the puppet-master head-on, and performed the Shadow Possesion Technique on him. He then turned back around and ran. It was nighttime, so as long as his chakra could hold up, the shadow would'nt end. When he decided there was enough room between them, he let it go and veered off, intending to hide somewhere.

The night wasn't particularly cold, but not having a shirt didn't help. Temari seemed to read his mind and dropped down in front of him, fully dressed and holding his shirt and vest. She handed them to him. "Do you have any idea how much I'm going to have to put up with now?" she barked.

"You're not going to be the one with Gaara trying to crush you do death. Stop bitching, troublesome woman." He pulled his shirt over his head and looked at her.

Temari slapped him. "Watch it, or I might just do the job myself!"

"I'd like to see you try," he murmered, pulling on his vest now.

She grabbed him and shoved him against the wall of the nearest building. "You make me sick," she seethed. "I really should just end your life here and now."

"Then why don't you?"

Her look softened a bit and the ends of her mouth twitched. "Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I... I..."

"I love you."

"Yes. I mean, wait, what?"

Shikamaru snickered but failed to reply.

"I love you... too?"

"I know."

"Bastard!" She raised her hand to strike him but he pressed his lips to hers and her arm fell limp.