She wasn't quite sure how she got dragged into this. It was undoubtedly a disguised form of torture and she wondered what she did to deserve such retribution from Ino and Sakura. She hadn't said or done anything rude lately, that she could think of, at least not anymore than normal...
Nonetheless, here she was, squeezed between two squealing girls, doing what she was told constituted as fun for frivolous carefree Konoha teenage girls.
A girls movie night wasn't so bad on principle. It meant limited opportunities to talk, a relatively fixed time frame, and no frustrating lazy ass geniuses. Not the worst thing she had ever done. However, when Sakura insisted that they make it a sleepover, Ino inserted a stupid romantic drama, and they both forced her into squeezing between them on this tiny couch under piles of blankets, Temari knew she was in for a special kind of hell.
It didn't take Temari long to decipher the girls' scheme. The movie, 10 Things I Hate About You, was way too familiar to be a coincidence, especially considering the unusualness of an invitation to such a horrid bonding experience.
The main character was a brutally honest and rather harsh blond girl who didn't fit into the stereotypical teenage scene. She was a generally disliked tomboy with a rough history and whose primary concern was protecting her younger sibling. Sound familiar?
And then to make matters worse there was the male costar and eventual love interest.
He had the laid-back, indifferent arrogance that seemed to be trademarked for handsome, tall boys with long black hair. If the character only tied his hair back into a ponytail he would be a dead ringer for Konaha's resident genius.
A grimace grew and became stuck on Temari's face. Sakura and Ino had started there poking and prodding a few weeks ago. Somehow they had gotten this idea in their heads that she and Shikamaru were more than coworkers and sometimes friends. And the two girls were determined to uncover what they decided was the "truth" and wouldn't leave it alone despite Temari's adamant denials and Shikamaru's ever-growing number of bruises and concussions.
Well at least she finally knew their motives for tonight and could therefore implement an adequate defense and counterstrike. She could feel the two girls' eyes shoot to her whenever the pair kissed or had a particularly romantic moment. Temari kept her face carefully blank and bored. Ino and Sakura soon grew palpably frustrated at her lack of response. What did they expect anyway? For her to start gushing over similar memories with a certain genius? Or for her to start sobbing at such a beautiful romance? Psh as if.
Eventually the movie ended with a lot of kissing and happily ever after. Temari had to admit she appreciated that bit of bribery at the end but the movie as a whole was still stupid and she couldn't wait to just go to sleep and leave as early as possible the next morning.
The next day, she walked out Ino's front door to find Shikamaru waiting for her like always. He was doing his job escorting her around the village but she couldn't stop herself from thinking back to the movie when the boy waited for the girl outside and drove her to school. Later when he flicked his pen at her, splattering ink on her face, simply to annoy her and avoid work, she thought about the paint war and the subsequent kiss in that stupid movie. She gritted her teeth and flicked ink right back at him because it was what he expected her to do and because she wanted to.
At lunch they went to the normal ramen shop and Temari was thankful that no more similarities to the movie popped up. Well, until Shikamaru had to go and be the annoyingly perceptive genius he was.
"So you going to tell me what's wrong or just quietly sulk the whole day." He yawned, stretching his arms behind his head.
"What are you talking about, crybaby. I'm fine!" I snapped and looked away quickly when I caught myself watching him stretch.
"Ya ya whatever"
"Pft like you would even care anyway. Too much work for a lazy ass like you."
"It's troublesome but I did ask so I obviously do want to know. Plus dealing with a sulking woman would be more troublesome in the long run."
And suddenly he was looking at her with a fierceness and attentiveness that completely contradicted his posture, words, and personality. And she found herself answering him without reaching a conscious decision to speak.
"It's just this horrible movie Ino and Sakura made me watch last night. The memory of the stupid thing has been bugging me all day."
"What movie?" His unusual curiosity was, well, unusual. He even dropped his arms and stopped slouching.
"Its called 10 Things I Hate About You."
And just as suddenly Shikamaru was looking decidedly away from her, regaining his slouch and yawn.
"Huh. Ya Ino made me watch that movie with her a few weeks back. She seemed to think it would cause this huge revelation or something. It was stupid. The girl was way too bossy and mean."
"Ha ya right. It was the guy who sucked! All chauvinistic and arrogant and lazy."
"Tch troublesome woman."
And then the realization finally seemed to hit Shikamaru as neither of them were quite sure whether he was referring to the movie character or Temari.
He shot her a glance from the corner of his eye and she shifted self-consciously under his gaze.
Wait since when did Temari, legendary badass kunoichi of Suna, become self-conscious! Let alone due to a stupid lazy Konoha genius.
"Well I have to get back to work. Go stare at some clouds or something." Temari quickly got up and began swiftly walking away.
Until a large hand stopped her with a hold of her wrist. On a normal day that would have been cause for a broken wrist and a hit on the head with her fan but today she just froze, refusing to turn around.
"Wait, Temari... Um, you know, I was thinking...maybe that movie wasn't that bad." He paused and seemed to gain courage from the lack of a painful beating. "Maybe the two of us should watch it again just to make sure."
The hand not holding her wrist scratched the back of his head nervously. Temari had never seen him nervous before. He didn't usually care about anything enough to be nervous about.
Temari nodded her head once quickly before turning away and continuing her march back to the embassy. Shikamaru was left there with a slight smile, glancing at the sky and thinking that the clouds looked especially fluffy today. For Temari's part, she was no longer haunted by movie scenes and she finished her work quickly under the light of a particularly warm and bright sun.
And in an alley a few blocks away, a blond and a pink-haired kunoichi could be seen exchanging a high-five in victory.