A/N: Hey! This is my first Naruto fanfic, soooo, I hope you enjoy it. I've developed an obsession with a Naruto and obviously Shikatema so I had a great time writing it.

Summary: It's like when you're thirsty, but there's no water around. That feeling. Shikamaru wrote a letter for Temari a long time ago, but he never thought she would actually read it. Now she has choices to make.

…

He was laying down in his usual cloud-watching spot. The wind was perfect, he felt calm, the clouds looked especially beautiful today. What could be better? He reached his pocket and grabbed one of his cigarettes, he lit it up with Asuma's lighter thinking to himself 'what if he was still alive?' Calmness left his body as sadness invaded it, he sighed and quickly brushed away that thought by taking a drag of his cigarette, even though he's still young, he prefers stronger tobacco, just like Asuma's.

His eyes started getting wet, maybe it was the smoke getting into his eyes, or maybe he just wanted to cry.

"Shikamaru," he heard a familiar voice that made him clean his tears fast. He sat down and took another drag of the cigarette before turning it off.

Choji walked up the stairs with Ino beside him.

"I told you he would be here" Ino said to Choji. They both looked back at their cloud-lover friend.

"You're smoking again," He sat down next to his friend "I thought you quit" he continued.

"I'm trying. Why are you here, anyways?" He asked.

Ino sat down next to Shikamaru too, "We're going for some barbecue, you want to come?"

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. He wasn't really hungry and he knew they always end up splitting the bill, even if Choji eats ten times more than Ino and him, but he really wanted to join them. He has been spending more money than the usual because of his recent smoking habit. Who knew cigarettes were that expensive?

"I'll go," he said out loud "but we won't split the bill" he said as he stood up.

Choji made a worried face as Ino and Shikamaru laughed.

Team ten arrived to the barbecue place. They sat down in their usual table and started ordering. A beer to help him relax for Shikamaru, a refill soda and a beer for Choji, Ino ordered just water, she was on a diet, so that meant no soda and no beer. She looked at Choji, she was impressed at how little he cared about his weight. Maybe one day she could be like him, just eat whatever she wants, not caring about calories nor diets. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the waitress.

They all go their drinks and prepared to order their food. Choji was now aware that he would have to pay for everything he eats. He held himself back a little, ordering just the deluxe menu. Ino and Shikamaru ordered the normal stuff.

"So, what's been going on your life?" Ino asked to Shikamaru who was sitting in front of her.

Shikamaru took a sip of his beer and answered, "Missions, missions and more missions."

All three of them laughed. That has been their life recently, no more personal time, just work.

"Ugh, I hate it" Ino sighed, "We're still young, we should be able to work less".

Both of her teammates agreed, but deep down they knew they weren't kids anymore, and Asuma's death made that clear.

The food arrived, and as they ate, they got deeper and deeper into conversation. About life, about death, love, fears, memories and jokes. They loved talking to each other.

The dinner ended and they didn't split the bill this time. They all walked back home together, but the conversation didn't stop. They walked Ino home first since it was already dark outside.

"I think I'll never get married" Shikamaru said, continuing the conversation they were having.

"You don't know, life has its weird tricks" Ino replied. "Sometimes I end up doing the complete opposite, and I don't even know why. It's just destiny." Ino continued. She walked to her front door and opened it. "Thank you for walking me home" she said to both of their teammates as she closed the door behind her. Choji and Shikamaru went to their respective homes.

Shikamaru arrived home in which he found the mail in the ground. He picked it up and said: "I'm home" as he went through the mail. A letter for his dad, a letter for his mom, another one for his dad, another for his mom, bills, bills, a letter from her grandma and, finally, the one letter he has been waiting for.

He left the rest of the mail on the table and went as fast as he could to his room with the letter in his hands, he closed the door behind him and proceeded to open it.

"Shikamaru,

My condolences. I know how special Asuma was to you. If you ever need to talk about it, you can tell me. Actually, I think I'll be going to Konoha soon, something about some documents and all that, you know how it is. In other news, I'm kind of dating a guy from Suna. They advised me it would be time to date someone since I'm the oldest and 'royalty'. I hope you can meet him soon, he's a nice guy, but too troublesome. I think you'll get along.

Anyways, I also wanted to thank you for being my friend. I've never really had friends. Guess we could say you're my best friend, since you're the only one. I'll wait for your letter. Hope to see you soon.

-Temari from the Sand."

He carefully closed the letter and put it in his drawer with the rest of Temari's letters. They've been writing to each other for about three months now. But this letter made him feel different than the rest. Why? He didn't feel pleased with this one. The rest of them made him feel happy, hearing from her made him feel better, but this time it was different.