He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He, the laziest ninja, was about to do a suicide mission and wasn't even complaining. It was worth it, if everything went well that is. He was honestly scared but he remembered the first memory of how it all started and relaxed.
Shikamaru sighed loudly and dropped to the floor, while everybody else was shaking themselves off from the eternal tsukuyomi that was lifted off. This had indeed been troublesome; he felt like shit. He smelled like blood and sweat, which were not very good combinations. His heart suddenly ached, remembering that his father wasn't alive anymore. The two things he could only think of were: "I never beat him at shogi" and "how am I going to tell mother?"
He looked up at the sky where beautiful clouds had formed; his father would have liked them. Exhaustion got the best of him and he suddenly started drifting off. He only slept for what seemed like five minutes, as a loud screech of a woman rang through his ears.
Tch, how troublesome.
"No, Shikamaru!" he heard her scream. He knew exactly who it was and surprised at how mortified she sounded.
He suddenly felt his upper body being picked up and a soft hand on his cheek. "Please don't be dead. Please don't-"
"You are such a loud and troublesome woman," he opened his eyes to see Temari, who looked like she was about to cry.
Her facial features rapidly changed from sad, to happy, to intense anger as she dropped his body to the floor. Shikamaru knew he was in deep shit.
"I am going to kill you," Temari yelled as he quickly got up from the floor with a flip. He reacted quickly, as Temari's fists came close to his face. He evaded them at first, but he was still tired from the war. He caught her wrists tightly and held her, afraid the scary woman would struggle. He felt her shaking and was looking at the floor; he couldn't understand why. He had an IQ of 200 and he didn't know what this woman was thinking. Something that he always hated when he is around her.
She broke off his thoughts and whispered, "Please don't ever scare me like that again. I would not know what to do if you were to die".
The blonde looked up at Shikamaru with tears rolling down her face as she blushed. Shikamaru just stared at her. Temari never cried and even less in front of him. She continued, "You are very special to me. I should have told you before the war. When I saw you in the ground I thought I was too late. I wanted to tell you that I..."
At this point, Temari was looking everywhere else but at Shikamaru's face. The dark-haired boy was suddenly remembering an old memory between him and his father.
"Otou-san, why did you marry someone as scary as oka-san," he asked after being scolded by his mother early morning.
His father chuckled, "Well you see son, when a woman shows you her soft side, you will fall in love with her."
Shikamaru just stared at his older replica of him completely confused. His father chuckled again, "You will understand when you are older."
And he did, he understood right there in that moment. While everybody was moving around him, trying to get organized, he looked at her; her tear-stained face and her blush. "Damn, she looks adorable."
"I wanted to tell you that I- I lov-," he cut off Temari at that point and pulled her into a kiss. The tension of Temari slowly dissipated and she melted into his arms. They continued in their own little world as the world moved around them. Finally, Shikamaru parted and told her, "You talk too much troublesome woman. A man should always say his feelings before his woman."
"I think I am going to have to beat those outdated gender roles from you," she said in an annoyed manner.
"And how do you plan to do that?"
Temari smirked and pulled Shikamaru into another kiss. Girls can also take the first step.
Shikamaru relaxed and felt a smile form in his face. He took a deep breathe in and out as he knocked at the door.
"Come in," said a voice behind the door. Shikamaru opened the door carefully and let himself in. In front of him were the Kazekage, Gaara, and his brother, Kankuro.
Good, two birds with one stone.
"Ahem," he cleared his voice, "Greetings Kazekage-sama and Kankuro-san."
Kankuro and Gaara looked up at him suspiciously and Gaara said, "You stopped calling me Kazakage –sama since you started dating my sister. Is this an urgent matter?"
Shikamaru gulped, "It is."
"Well spit it out already," grunted Kankuro.
"I wanted to ask for your sister's hand in marriage," Shikamaru said slowly, he definitely did not plan it like this. What happened to his 200 IQ and awesome planning skills?! He swore he saw a bit of sand move and he started sweating profoundly.
"Why," Kankuro asked.
"That's a good question because she isn't my dream girl," he let slip.
"Are you saying you are settling for my sister because you can't find your dream girl," Kankuro exclaimed with anger.
"That's not what I said! Look, the only thing I always wanted was an average looking girl for a wife. Your sister is way too pretty for me. Besides, she is really bossy and the worst thing is I don't mind being bossed around by her…"
Kankuro stared at him with his mouth agape, and then started howling with laughter. Even the stoic Gaara was giggling, yes giggling, behind his giant stack of paper work.
"You are really whipped if you want to marry my sister".