"You really think you know it all, huh, Nara?" The sandy haired kunoichi said as she stared down at her glass of ice water and began to mix it with her straw. Shikamaru's gaze steadily went from his menu to the woman sitting across from him. What are we even doing, he thought as he analyzed her expression. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes were averted, her bottom lip was hanging; she looked uninterested and disappointed at the same time. "That wasn't a rhetorical question." She continued as her eyes met up with his. "You have nothing to say?"

Shikamaru cleared his throat, shook his head and looked back at his menu. "Not really." The tension immediately thickened. That was not the answer she was looking for and he knew it. He pressed his eye lids shut with his thumb and index finger. How did it come to this? So quickly at that?

Meeting again was pure luck. They were both headed to the same meeting in the same village and met half way to their destination. She was lost but too stubborn to ask for directions. He was familiar with the land and new majority of its history. Words were exchanged and for old times sake, he acted as her guide. Then somehow they ended up here; Shikamaru's favorite hole in the wall seafood joint. They laughed and reminisced about the times their paths had intertwined in the past and how it usually ended with someone saving the other.

Moments prior...

"It's always me saving you, don't flatter yourself!" she said before busting out laughing.

He felt his face redden as he rolled his eyes. "This again? You really are troublesome."

"W-what?" she said in between cackles, "I didn't even say anything! It's the truth and you know it!"

"You're insinuating…" he stopped himself.

"Insinuating…?" she pretended she didn't know what he was talking about. His eyes narrowed. Her giggles intensified. "Say it, Nara. I want to hear you say it! What am I insinuating?"

"You're insinuating that I'm still …" his face was on fire, "a baby."

"PFFFFFFT," Temari had to hold onto her stomach and put her head down to contain her laugh. "Oh god, you're too much. Really!"

"Yeah, whatever. That's why you're laughing…" He rested his face on his palm while one elbow stood on the table. I should be used to this. She only see's me as a cry baby. Troublesome woman.

After a minute of her giggles and snorts, she finally managed to pick up her head and say, "Oh don't be a poor sport! You managed to lead a vast amount of people to victory. You're no cry baby. I truly believe you'd make a great Hokage one day."

"What did you say?"

"What? I said you're not a cry baby anymore." She then tapped her chin with her index finger as she pretended to be deep in thought. "Well, I take it back. You do probably still cry a lot. But you're no baby."

"You're…complimenting me?"

"You're…surprised?" They both looked at each other in confusion. "You can't be that surprised, Shikamaru. You've done a hell of a lot these past two years. Your involvement in the Alliance, protecting your village, protecting the assets that maintain a strong relationship with other villages -"

"Like you?" He blurted out. Both of their eyes widened in surprise. "I-I mean, you are an important component to your village… as an ambassador…" Shit, there's no way I can save myself from this. She's going to go ape shit, he thought immediately.

To his astonishment, he didn't get his head bashed into the table like he thought she would. Instead, she gave him a weak smirk. "Huh, I was thinking about the shipments you help relocate to my village." Wait, am I saved? I won't get chewed out? He thought as he stole glances from her. "Shikamaru did you forget I'm a woman that does not adhere to your gendering bullshit?" She cooed teasingly.

"Oh god," he smacked his face with the hand that his chin was resting on. "Can we get more water please? And menus?"

"Right away sir!" said a voice from the kitchen.

"So how are you?" she said as the waiter came and placed ice water in front of them.

"I've been better. Kakash- I mean the Hokage has been sending me out on errands like crazy. Nothing new. I'm going to this meeting on his behalf. Kind of a drag but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess," he shrugged. "How about you?"

She took a sip of her water and cleared her throat. "Same. Ever since the war ended, my brothers and I have made an effort to see to it that the bonds within our village are strong and we are able to meet the needs of the people. It's nothing I can't handle."

"That's for sure," he smirked.

She smiled back, shook her head and rolled her eyes. He had never noticed it before but she had one hell of a smile. The first time he saw her smile like that was after they said goodbye to each other after Sasuke was kidnapped. He didn't realize that as he was reminiscing on that, he was staring at her lips the whole time. "What are you looking at?" she finally said, brows furrowed.

"Uh…nothing," he lied. "There's something on your lip."

"Oh my god," her face reddened as she rustled through her pouch and got out her compact. She immediately opened it to examine her lips. "Where? Where?"

"Uh…" he leaned over, grabbed a tissue from between them and got the invisible "stain" off of her mouth. "There."

"What was it? Let me see! My compact didn't see it…" she sounded really stressed about the issue. Was it really that big of a deal?

"…Women…" he muttered before balling up the tissue paper and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

"Tsk, you missed." Temari said as she folded her arms.

He turned his head. "No, I didn-"

BANG!

"OW! What the hell was that for?!"

"Next time I ask you something, please respond with a yes or a no. A 'women' or 'troublesome' response will not work here." she said as she compressed her hand fan back into its' original stick form.

"How the hell can a paper fan hurt that much?!"

"You ask too many questions! It's my turn to ask questions."

"Wha-a? Okay fine. Whatever." he muttered in defeat. Talking to her is so much work, I need to sleep for a few years to recover from this, he thought hopelessly.

"Okay…so you know about the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

Shikamaru's stomach began to churn. Where is this conversation going? "…Yeah…?"

Temari took a deep breath. "…Well…"

To be continued