She could see him across the conference hall and immediately butterflies started going in her stomach. She had been waiting to see him since this morning, which although not a long period of time seemed far too long for her.
She had woken up to an impossibly beautiful morning; sunlight streaming through the curtains, soft breeze making soothing noises through the trees outside, but most importantly Shikamaru's strong arms wrapped around her waist. It was the first time she'd woken up this way. She was nervous about so many inconsequential things beforehand, like the colour of her dress and the way she'd tied her hair up. It all seemed so stupid now; Shikamaru hadn't noticed a single thing about the way she was dressed, he looked exclusively at her face the whole evening. And now, the dress she'd picked out carefully lay in a pile on the floor. She slowly got up and turned around in bed to face him. He was lying there smiling back up at her with his usual crooked smirk as if nothing had changed, but inside Temari had never felt so alive. She felt the craving for him all the time, and felt it stronger still now they'd been together last night.
As he started to notice her blush and sentimentality she immediately began to insult him so he wouldn't figure out just how much she'd fallen for him. She played it impossibly cool, surprising herself with how little of her inner emotion she was able to show despite feeling like she was splitting at the seams with joy. She made it out to be "not that big a deal", and told him they shouldn't let anyone know about this until they knew where they were. Temari, however, knew exactly where she was and could only hope he was on the same page; she was in love with this lazy man and hated how dependent her happiness was on him.
They had decided to spend the day apart and that they'd meet up again at his place after their meetings and the conference ended today. She figured getting through a day would be easy, especially since there was so much for her to focus on during it. But as she was sitting here in the conference hall trying to listen to the propositions for the railway linking Suna and Konoha, she realised just how much she wanted him. He was like some kind of chocolate, that no matter how much she ate it was never enough. In fact, the more time she spent with him, the more time she wanted with him. This was the worst; it was distracting and annoying and illogical but it was the best thing she'd ever felt. She kept looking at him across the hall but he seemed to be completely paying attention to the speaker with no difficulty whatsoever. When did I get lazier than him? she thought to herself, and went back to trying to listen.
He had been waiting the whole morning to get a chance to talk to her. This morning was far too brief and nowhere near meaningful enough for Shikamaru, and he needed to talk to her, see her up close and see how she felt about everything. For him, last night was everything he'd wanted for ages, and waking up this morning was one of the best feelings he'd ever felt. But as soon as they got up, Temari was in a really weird mood, full of insults and jokes, and he began to wonder if she regretted everything. They'd said a quick goodbye and ran to make their morning meetings, but he'd been stressed the whole time and didn't know what to say or do apart from be near her again. He figured if he could see her again he'd be able to read whatever strange expression she'd had on her face this morning.
So he sat across from her in the conference hall but couldn't bring himself to look at her. He didn't know what she was thinking but the last thing he needed was Temari shooting daggers at him in her glares. So he fixed his view on the speaker and sat not listening to a word.
After a break was called from the talk, everyone filtered out to get food and walk off the boredom. Shikamaru lingered at the door to catch Temari, and caught up with her just as she was walking out. She gave him a big, unreserved smile and said, "Come on." She looked around and slipped away into a corridor. Shikamaru was so confused he forgot to follow, but soon felt a hand grab his and pull him into the corridor. They both strode down the corridor quickly, and found a room at the end of it.
When they faced each other, Temari smiling and Shikamaru frowning, they both quickly exchanged expressions.
"What's wrong?" Temari said, full of concern mere seconds after being so happy. She hated how changeable she was being. Be cool she told herself, be a little robust you idiot.
"Nothing, I mean is there anything wrong with you?" He cringed at how the question was phrased the second he said it.
"No I'm fine. You just look unhappy."
"Me? No I thought you were. You seemed really weird this morning."
"You're calling me weird now?" They both sighed. This was going nowhere. "This morning was just, well, unexpected for me that's all. If I seemed a little flustered that's why."
"Oh." He stopped for a second and then smirked his usual smirk. "So you're not angry with me then? You don't regret anything?"
"Of course not you idiot, I'm just new to this whole thing. But I like figuring it out. And I definitely enjoyed last night." They both suddenly became aware of the distance between them, and Temari closed it quickly. She took his hand and lightly kissed his lips. He kissed her harder and dropped his hands down to her waist. She held his face in her hand, running her thumb down his jawline. When they pulled apart breathless they looked each other in the eye.
"Looks like I've got you whipped then?" Shikamaru joked.
"Ha! In your dreams. I'm still very much a free woman. Speaking of which," she said, untangling herself from him despite his protests, "I have a job to do." She left the room quickly giving him a quick smile over her shoulder, and hurried back to the hall; she was sure they were late. She figured if I'm going to be thinking about him all day, might as well give him something to think about, right?