Temari casually flipped her bangs to the side, full of confidence as she walked into Konoha. It had been almost two years since she last visited the Village Hidden in the Leaves and she finally admited to herself that missed the relaxed atmosphere that had just recently begun to become more common in Suna.

"So, Kankuro, do you think we'll see anyone from the Chunin exams?" Temari asked her brother, who was very tired and irritated from the long journey there. Kankuro raised his paint-covered eyebrow and looked at Temari with surprise. His sister sure had changed since those exams.

"I don't know, maybe," Kankuro shrugged as him and Temari handed their passports over to the guard at the enterance to the actual city. "Why, are you thinking about that guy you fought?" He turned his face forward, but could see his sister blush out of the corner of his eye.

"Not a chance!" Temari shouted, stomping ahead after the guard handed her back her passport. Kankuro just watched her fume down the street, shrugged at the guard who was clearly baffled by Temari's behaviour, and followed after Temari, trying to keep his distance but still have her in sight. This would be a very eventful trip to Konoha, and Kankuro also had a hard time keeping his mind off of a certain girl from the Chunin exams.

On the other side of town, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji were enjoying big bowls of ramen with Naruto, Tenten, and Neji. Both groups had finally gotten off of recent missions and were taking a short break before their next one.

"It's so weird having you on the team, Naruto," Tenten spoke before she popped a bean sprout into her mouth.

"Not really," replied Neji, taking a sip of his water. "Sasuke is gone, Lee got injured again in a mission, and Sakura is training with Tsunade-sama. It was a very logical choice to put Naruto with us and Gai." He nibbled on a piece of pork. "But it is unusual to have you with us."

"Do you know what our next mission is going to be?" Chouji asked Neji, taking a break from his ramen. The only thing the two teams knew was that Tsunade-sama needed both teams for one mission. "I mean, it must be either really dangerous or really important for the Hokage to need two teams, right?"

"Well, obviously!" Ino sipped her smoothie with a smirk on her face. "I mean, the last time a big group was assembled was 'Operation: Return the Favor!' and that was before Lee got hurt and Naruto went chasing after Sasuke, again."

"But I came back!" Naruto retorted.

"Only because the trail got cold." Ino stuck out her tongue and went back to her smoothie while Naruto angrily slurped up more ramen.

"Whatever," sighed Shikamaru. "I'm going to head up there and meet Tsunade-sama. I'll let her know you guys are coming soon."

"Right, see ya." Chouji waved as Shikamaru put down the money for the little food he ordered and made his way to the Hokage's office. It was entirely too troublesome, being a ninja, but at least the company was good. Well, it was a majority of the time, like when he wasn't forced to fight girls. He hoped that it would just be phase, Chunin-exam only, a bad stoke of luck, but the streak continued even after Shikamaru became a chunin. Hokage probably does it on purpose, Shikamaru thought lazily as he looked up at the clouds before climbing the stairs before him. Either that or I'm really unlucky. But hey, maybe I'll meet a nice girl this way, and then I can settle down.

"Oh, hey Shikamaru," Shizune said cheerfully as she walked down the stairs. "Tsunade-sama is expecting you and everyone else."

"They're still eating," replied Shikamaru. "But everyone should start coming up soon. Naruto and Chouji will probably be last, though."

Shizune laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Well, you should hurry up there. Tsunade-sama already broke a side table and two lamps this morning from irritation."

Oh crap, Shikamaru gave a slight 'heh' as he picked up his pace and was knocking on Tsunade's office door in a few seconds.

"If you are one of the teams that was supposed to be up here by now, get your rear-ends in here!" Tsunade shouted back.

Great, she's going to have a field day when she see's I'm the only one. Shikamaru nervously opened the door, wary for flying furniture, and sidled into the room. Tsunade sat behind her desk, fuming, and two people sat in chairs in front of her. The person on the left appeared to have cat ears on their head, but it was only a hood, and a furry mummy strapped to their back. The person on the right, however, had four, very familiar spiky pigtails. You can't be serious! Shikamaru looked over at the corner and saw a massive fan, clamped shut.

"So someone finally decides to show up," Tsunade said bitterly. "Of course, it's the slacker who arrives first." Shikamaru shrugged, his hands in his pockets so no one could tell his fingers were fidgiting like crazy.

"Well, everyone else is still," Shikamaru searched for the right word. "Recovering, from the last mission." Tsunade simply sighed and beckoned him closer.

"I believe you know Temari and Kankuro," she indicated the two sitting in front of her. He heard Kankuro snicker and Temari turned around quickly, the slight pink in her cheeks affirming that Kankuro had said something about him to her earlier. "But I will tell you more about the mission once everyone else arrives."

"See, Temari," Kankuro nudged her with his elbow playfully. "I told you that you would end up seeing him again."

Shikamaru felt slightly confused, but before he had much time to ponder anything, Tenten burst through the door.

"Sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama!" she blurted out, kocking into Shikamaru due to her overzealous-ness. "I saw Shizune-san and came up as quickly as I could."

Kankuro glanced at Tenten, still laughing at Temari and stopped abruptly. Crap, he thought nervously. She's the girl who fought Temari!

Temari noticed her brother's change of expression and took this chance to retort. "So is the girl you've been waiting to see?"

"I'm not waiting to see anyone!" Kankuro shouted back, blushing slightly through his 'face paint'. "I was just startled to see so many familiar faces, that's all!"

Temari simply laughed as Tenten glanced at her nervously, the memories of her last battle with Temari still fresh in her mind. "Are we working with them, Shikamaru?" Shikamaru simply shrugged, afraid that they were indeed working with the two troublesome Sand ninja.

"Well, since the two of you are here, I guess I can tell you the mission and you can relay it to your team mates. I'm surprised Neji isn't here, though," Tsunade took out a thick folder filled with papers. "So, let's get started."

A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first Naruto fanfiction, and I hope everyone enjoys it. Now I can explain the plot here since there isn't a lot of room in the summary space. The main couples in this fanfic are Shikamaru/Temari and Kankuro/Tenten. Side couples are definately Chouji/Ino, and I haven't decided what else yet, maybe Neji/Hinata or Naruto/Sakura. Hey, that might be all the couples, for all I know. There will be NO YAOI! Sorry yaoi loving peoples, but it's just not my cup of tea and I can't write it anyway.

As you can see this fanfic is rated T because I want everyone to be able to read it. There prolly won't be any lemon and if there is I will post a warning at the beginning of the chapter, not to mention it will most likely be mild lemon, if any. I'm trying to write a funny fanfic, but if you like serious/drama stuff, you should check out my Wolf's Rain fics. The first one is complete, and the sequal is my main project when I'm not doing homework.

But yeah, that's pretty much it. Please leave reviews, I love reviews and they actually encourage me to write if I know people are enjoying my story. Oh, and the Authors Notes won't be nearly this long next time. I also try to update every week, but if I don't do not fret. Writers block is as bad as the flu!

Aeorith