I'm back!
Hmmm...this is my first fanfiction in a really long time, with my favorite Naruto couple, Shikamaru and Temari. It sprouted from first person one-shot that I wrote (4 years ago!)that's probably more captivating than this opening, but I can't spoil all the fun yet.
Summary: Shikamaru should have known better than to think a relationship with Temari the Tempest would go smoothly, but he had no idea that things could get so royally screwed up once they went public. Everyone had to go sticking their noses in it, especially Interfering Ino. And to think, things had almost been perfect. Can Sloth-like Shikamaru overcome all the obstacles, even the ones he's created himself, and make things work with Temari? Set soon after the 2-year time jump.
A/N? Don't be put off by all the Ino in the beginning, even if you hate her, and be prepared for a complete about-face in tone halfway through this chapter.
Things started out innocently enough. It seemed like a perfectly untroubled day in Konoha: Ino was blabbing a mile a minute about her latest flirtation with a new boytoy while Chouji ignored her in favor of a fresh bag of potato chips, happily "refueling" as they walked back from their day of sparring together.
But then Ino spotted them.
Shikamaru and Temari. Sitting a little too close together at Ichiraku Ramen. Temari was leaning in and…oh…she was only offering him something, but…
"Look!" Ino exclaimed, waving her hands about and practically jumping out of her skin with excitement at what could just quite possibly be unfolding before her. She grabbed Chouji's shoulders and jerked them in the direction of the ramen stand.
Chouji looked. He wasn't really that impressed until he saw that Temari was holding out a dango stick. It looked tasty. Maybe he should stop by a teahouse and buy some dan-
Suddenly Shikamaru turned his head in their direction and Ino shoved Chouji's head down behind the nearest food stand so fast that he almost dropped his potato chips. When Chouji looked up, the shocked stand owner was giving him a dirty look.
Luckily, Shikamaru hadn't spotted them. Actually, he seemed to be looking away out of embarrassment…wait…was he blushing?
"What are they doing?" Ino hissed, barely able to contain herself as she peeked around the side of the stand.
Chouji just shrugged. He wasn't really paying attention, because he was paying the stand owner who just happened to have some dango with his name on it.
"CHOUJI!"
What a violent whisper. "Looks like she's offering him some dango. Good woman." He held up his own stick and started munching.
Shikamaru turned his head back to Temari when she started talking.
"What could they be saying?" Ino moaned, unable to sate her curiosity for what could quite possibly turn into the gossip of the year…
"Ya. Pine…applehead. Have one…or it'll…go to waste. Yeah, don't let my dango go to waste, little woman."
Ino glanced up in surprise. Apparently the food stand owner could read lips, albeit in an awkward robotic voice.
"Nnn," the owner grunted. "Pineapple head? My lip reading must be off today."
"No, that sounds like Temari," Ino muttered, and when she looked back toward Ichiraku, Shikamaru was flailing about as Temari jabbed Shikamaru in the cheek with pointy end of the dango stick.
The food stand guy snorted, deciding it looked about right too.
Shikamaru retaliated by grabbing the dango stick while Temari was still holding it and wrapping his mouth around all of the sweet rice flour confectionaries. Temari looked surprised… because Shikamaru had gotten so close to her so quickly? OMG, was she blushing now? Wait…she could just be surprised that he ate them all. She was staring at the empty stick in her hand forlornly.
Ino tsked in exasperation. Things weren't getting juicy enough for her tastes.
"I want ramen," Chouji told her, getting bored.
"Yeah, alright…." Ino sighed and stood up, brushing off her new sparring outfit. She didn't want to crouch down in the dirt any longer, anyway.
And then, just as they were almost to the ramen stand, Shikamaru dipped his chopsticks into his bowl, grabbing the remaining noodles, and held them up, almost in Temari's face. This time Temari looked genuinely surprised.
Ino leaned toward them with rapt attention, breathless, the anticipation mounting. What would Shikamaru do?
She and Chouji were close enough that they could hear Shikamaru say, "I'm full after that dango, so…"
His hand was moving…OMGOMGOMG what would Temari do?
Ino held her breath, leaned in even farther, aaaaand…Shikamaru cleared his throat and quickly plopped the ramen down into Temari's bowl.
"Here."
Ino deflated. That was it?
She was entirely disappointed that Shikamaru hadn't fed her with his own chopsticks. But then…as Temari quietly ate what Shikamaru had given her, she darted surreptitious little glances to the side at him.
Yeah. Ino knew something was up.
Chouji, on the other hand, still didn't appear to be fazed. He plopped himself down on the other side of Shikamaru.
"Hey."
"Hey…" Shikamaru replied, looking startled. Apparently, he hadn't noticed them approach at all.
"Hi Chouji, and…Ino?" Temari looked up at the other blonde, who was just standing there awkwardly.
"Um, yeah, hey!" Ino waved at her a little too enthusiastically. "What's up with you two?" she continued, smiling widely as she forcefully slapped Shikamaru on the back.
Shikamaru choked on the broth he was drinking. Then, as he put his bowl down to glare Ino, Chouji grabbed it and drank the rest. Well, Temari could always count on the three of them for a show.
Temari grinned at them.
"I was just finishing up here. Thanks for lunch, Nara," she drawled, her eyes shining with devilish glee as she looked at the two old teammates that had suddenly descended upon Shikamaru. Then she threw down a tip. "I'm sure you can cover the rest, right?"
Shikamaru grumbled something, but Temari just smirked and threw a wave over her shoulder as she left.
Was he treating her now? If that exchange wasn't suspicious, Ino didn't know what was! She eyed Temari cautiously, then quickly grabbed the seat the fan wielder had vacated so that she could lean way too far into Shikamaru's face.
"So, what's the deal with you two?" she whispered conspiratorially as Temari headed off, poking Shikamaru in the side. "Are you two like an item yet?"
Shikamaru sighed, watching Temari walk away with that usual overly confident sway in her hips, and tried not to look at his nosy old genin partner, or even Ayame, who had just cleared away her tip and his ramen bowl with a knowing smirk. God, he swore, there was no woman on earth who knew when to let things well enough alone. He tried to wiggle away from Ino's pointy finger.
"I told you, we were meeting here for business. It's becoming a real drag to have to tell you over and over and over again…OOF!"
"Come ON!" Ino swatted Shikamaru on the back again. Hard. "Just make it official already! Everybody knows!" she screeched, well on her way to another rant. "Gawd, every time I see Temari, she's always with you doing something or other! Walking, talking, working, even cloud-gazing! And how many times have you eaten together at this ramen stand, huh? You really expect everyone to believe you're not on a date?"
Shikamaru shot Chouji a look, the same 'please God, let it be over soon' look he'd given the last time Ino had seen him with Temari, and the time before that. He'd gotten much too tired of hearing this rant to even expend the effort to roll his eyes.
Chouji reluctantly decided to say something in his best bud's defense. He stopped slurping his 9th bowl of ramen long enough to grumble something to the effect of "Do you want him to date Temari or something?" before gulping down a whole bowl of broth in one giant slurp.
Ino heaved a dramatic sigh and looked up at the rafters rather exasperatedly. "I'm not saying Temari's the kind of girl I'd pick if I were him, but there's no point in denying it!"
Shikamaru tried not to let himself look or feel irritated at her comment about the sand kunoichi, or the way she was talking about him in the third person as if he'd disappeared. But suddenly she focused her attention on him again, trying to level at him with her wide blue eyes.
"Well, is there?"
Shikamaru dodged her scrutinizing gaze and tried to ignore her incomprehensible question, letting his head hang back so that he could stare past the stands up at the clouds. "So troubleso-"
Ino poked him again. "Is there a reason you keep denying that you two are together?"
Shikamaru closed his eyes and said nothing.
"Well, if there ISN'T a REASON then WHY won't you just ADMIT that YOU and TEMARI are TOTALLY-"
"Jeez, woman, just give it a rest!" Shikamaru finally wailed, his head lolling about on his shoulders wearily. Then after a moment he sighed again, said something about women being too troublesome even when you're not dating, let alone when you are, and spun his bar stool around so that he could slump back against the counter and look up at the sky like a worn-out sloth.
Ino rolled her eyes, and finally snapped, "Aren't you supposed to be meeting the Hokage right about now?"
Another sigh. "I don't think I can deal with another exasperating female right now…"
"Just go, you idiot!"
Shikamaru didn't need any more prompting. He paid for the ramen he and Temari had eaten together and got the hell out of dodge before Ino blew up at him again.
Once he had left, Ino narrowed her eyes at his slowly retreating figure and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think I'd gotten a real rise out of him this time."
"Hmgph?" Chouji grunted, swallowing a large heap of noodles at the same time.
"Maybe there really IS a reason neither one of them will admit that they're a couple."
It was only an instant, but Chouji stopped chewing juuuust long enough that Ino knew she was on to something.
And that's how things started to really become troublesome.
When Temari opened her hotel room door an hour later to a surprisingly sharp knock, Shikamaru jumped her. That was the only word she could use to describe it as he grasped her around the waist and kissed her full-on like he'd never tasted her before. He didn't even bother to shut the door properly, just shoved it with his foot, and gripped her tighter. At first, Temari was so shocked and pleased by the way his sudden touch excited shivers up and down her spine that she just let it happen and didn't complain, but as he reached up and concentrated on tugging her ties out of her hair, she tried to pull back.
"Nara, what's gotte-mmmph-"
He kissed her again, obviously trying to get right down to business-something which confused her to no end. From any other guy, she might not have felt like getting she was getting jumped when someone was that happy to see her. From lazy Shikamaru, she thought maybe someone had died or something.
"Jesus, Shikamaru, did someone light a fire under your ass or something?" she panted when he broke for air, grabbing his chin to look at him solemnly.
Despite the typically harsh edge to her words, Shikamaru was surprised to see a genuinely concerned look on her face, like something might actually be wrong with him. But as she stood there with that look in her eye and her hair swirling wild and loose around her face, it just made him want her more. He didn't want to explain it, didn't want to think about his own motives or the strange emotions that were pounding in his chest, he just wanted her, wanted to see the way her blonde hair would skim the top of her breasts when he tore her kimono off. Nevermind that he, Shikamaru Nara (of all people), was suddenly feeling disgustingly possessive. He brushed it off.
"Really, woman, I know you must be smart enough to have figured out that I find you attractive by now."
Temari sneered at him. If they were going to banter first, she wasn't going to disappoint. "And I didn't think you were dumb enough to think that insulting a woman would turn her on."
She let go of his face so that she could flick him under the chin, enjoying watching him flinch. Then she let her hand fall quite a bit lower, suggestively. Mockingly, as it turned out. "After all the things I've taught you these past few months-" she gave his waistband a little tug, reminding him exactly what kind of things she'd been teaching him, "-you still haven't figured that out yet? And you call yourself a genius."
Shikamaru seized her wandering fingers and Temari smiled coyly at him in response, thinking it was his next move in their little game, that he would maybe make a joke that he should have found a less troublesome sex education teacher or something, but then he just stood there. The smile froze on her face. Why was he holding her hand like that? The moments went by and he continued to just clutch her hand, staring at it like he was studying her fingers. Then suddenly, he stared right into her eyes, and she saw something intense flickering in his irises.
Why was he looking at her like that? Her eyebrows twitched in confusion. He was making her visibly uncomfortable.
She cleared her throat awkwardly and looked away. "Shikamaru…" she started, haltingly, trying to dial back the intensity of the situation.
He didn't take the bait. He just stared at her even more fiercely, questioningly, like he was searching her face for something….something…
No.
She broke eye contact quickly, desperately, rearing back.
No. She didn't want to know what he was looking for. Mm-mmm.
But he was leaning forward, still trying to look at her, trying to get her to return his gaze...
No, no, no!
She turned her face away from him, resisting the urge to shake her head 'no' like a child, and stared at the floor with her eyes wide. Panicked. She couldn't even remember the last time he'd bothered to use those sharp little eyes of his to look anything other than bored, and now…what? Temari hated being scrutinized. Judged. There weren't a lot of things she hated more.
She refused to meet his gaze. And just like that, the spell was broken.
Something like irritation clouded Shikamaru's face, and he dropped her hand like it was made of hot coal, raking his fingers awkwardly through the hair on top of his head as if that might cool them off, messing up his ponytail. He suddenly flopped down on her couch, looking tired and despondent. And then, without looking at her, he said,
"I want you."
And it was like the life had blown out of him.
She had heard these words many times before, usually when they were in the heat of the moment. It was almost always her that made the first move, but just when she would start to feel like she was doing all the work, he would look up at her (she was usually on top) and say "I want you" and she would fall on him in a frenzy. He would reciprocate just as fiercely, and she almost always ended up on the bottom in the end. But this time he said it so quietly, so dejectedly, that Temari was nearly one hundred percent positive that he was meaning to say something else.
Obviously, Shikamaru was upset about something. Maybe his behavior meant he was looking for consolation.
Temari sighed. She was horrible at dealing with situations like this, at comforting people. But for him, she would try her best.
"What's going on. Did the Hokage say something to you? Tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened. Nothing's happening," he gritted.
Temari cocked her head at him, trying to read his response. "Nothing's happening," she parroted back to him questioningly.
"Mmmm," he grunted, thunking his head back against her couch. He eyeballed a crack in the ceiling.
Temari started fishing. "Are you…waiting for something to happen?"
Yeah. A lot of things.
"…The alliance between Suna and Konoha is pretty stable at this point," Shikamaru started, slowly, fixating himself on that crack in the drywall above them.
Temari sat down on the couch beside him, trying to follow Shikamaru's train of thought. "Yeah…? Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yeah, it's great for our villages…"
"Guess it's cuz we make a pretty good team," Temari grinned at him, that unpredictably wide-toothed grin that had surprised Shikamaru the first time he'd seen it. Scary, yet beautiful. That expression, plus a compliment from the snappy ninja? Even though he knew she was trying to make up for their awkward moment earlier, Shikamaru couldn't help but smile back a little, and snort. But then he was back to being a little too serious for a Nara.
"How soon before Gaara reassigns you."
Temari's smile faltered slightly. Is that what this was really all about?
Her hidden village had a shortage of standing forces, and so they needed all hands on deck, especially if they were jounin like her. When Gaara decided that Sand-Leaf relations were satisfactorily stabilized...
She attempted to pull up the corners of her lips again. She couldn't let him see that she had been fretting over the same issue, too, or he would just become more morose about where their relationship was headed and she didn't think she could deal with that right now.
"Don't worry about that. I can deal with it when it happens."
She could deal with it when it happens? God.
Shikamaru frowned some more, completely irritated with her response, even though he couldn't say that he was surprised. Of course she would say something like that-it was always, 'I can do this on my own' or 'I can handle that by myself' with her. He struggled not to shout "What about we?" at her and scratched his eyebrow instead, his head turned, shielding his face from her. He couldn't mask the aggravation his silence was indicating to Temari, though.
Guess Shikamaru wasn't satisfied with her game plan. She sighed a little, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "What. What do you want me to do."
He glared at her. In return, she cocked her head and raised her eyebrows like she was listening but he wasn't answering fast enough for her taste.
"Just go ahead and tell me your plan already, Shikamaru."
"Plan? What plan?" he practically spat, unable to bury his frustration any longer, especially after what had happened at Ichiraku. But it had been gnawing at his stomach for a long time now, and now it refused to be ignored, not even by a guy who hated confrontation more than Chouji hated diets.
"There is no plan, Temari! All of my plans revolve around you telling your brothers about us!"
"Oh? And I suppose you have a plan for how we're going to make this work after I tell them we're dating and Gaara forbids me from ever showing my fucking face here again?" Temari's voice was rising into the danger levels.
"Gaara wouldn't do that."
"Yeah, I suppose you know my brothers better than I do now, too," she snapped.
"Why?" he demanded, ignoring her nasty rejoinder. Shikamaru couldn't understand what it was about him that could make Gaara and Kankuro despise him that much.
"They're very protective of me, Shikamaru." She tried to express this very slowly, carefully, so that he would understand the gravity of what she was talking about. But he didn't-couldn't-understand.
"Well, yeah… They're your family. It's nothing we can't fix with a little time. They'll get used-"
"No! You can't fix them, Shikamaru!" she yelled, throwing herself to her feet. She snatched a pillow and hurled it down at the couch. Or at him. Shikamaru wasn't sure. Then she disappeared into her bedroom, her loose hair whipping and cutting the air behind her.
The screen door rocked in its track when she slammed it shut.
What had just happened here?
The day had started out so perfect. Shikamaru groaned violently, and threw his head into his hands.
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