Disclaimer
I do not own anyone in this fic. I swear!

Note
1) This story is set when Temari is 20 and Shikamaru is 17.
2) It will probably have a lot of chapters. A lot means 15+, just for the record, so if you aren't impressed with the first chapters, don't give up because the storyline will change eventually.

Rated
T.


Pairings

Temari/Shikamaru

Chapter One: Arrival in Konoha

The hot midday sun burned high in the Konoha village, making most Genin, Chuunins, and Jounins sweat profusely as they trained. Some children were bustling around happily, playing together in the streets while their mothers shopped. Everyone seemed to be busy. Everyone but a certain Jounin.

Nara Shikamaru.

He didn't care if he was a Jounin now; he didn't care about the tons of paperwork he had to do back home. Well his laziness made him not care.

But he should be caring, since he was supposed to be at the Konoha gates right now instead of lying on his back under a tree, looking at the clouds. In fact, the trio of Suna should be arriving at any moment now, and the Hokage had asked Shikamaru to accompany them to her office.

"Whatever," had been his answer. For him, 'whatever' had been an evasive way of declining Tsunade's request. Yet for the blonde woman, it had been a lazy way to say yes. So she was expecting him to meet the Kazekage and his two siblings, something the genius didn't plan on doing.

The brown-haired shinobi crossed his arms behind his head and rested them on the ground. Some people might think that no matter how relaxed he seemed, Shikamaru never really laid back and drained his mind of every single thought. Or that hee was constantly thinking of new things, new solutions to whatever his current problem or situation was. That was rather far from being true, most of the time he didn't find a problem with shutting his mind down completely.

What he was thinking right now, was his Chuunin exams. The first time he had met her. The stunning, strong kunoichi he had been forced to battle. But he had to admit that, despite it being terribly troublesome, the match had been interesting. She was a very good fighter, there was no way to deny that, but there was something else that lightened itself in Shikamaru every time he saw her. He wasn't sure what it was yet, but he was simply too lazy to think about it.

All he wanted to do, now, was to relax until Tsunade would send someone to bawl him out for not greeting the Suna trio.

- - -

'What is he doing?' Sabaku no Temari asked herself, rolling her marine-colored eyes in an impatient fashion. The blonde-haired kunoichi shifted the strap that held her closed fan to her body, a clear sign of irritation.

She was about to speak up when her younger brother, Kankuro, voiced their anger. "Hey, Gaara! Are you certain the Hokage said she'd send a shinobi here to greet us? And that we should wait for him?" As he talked, he made an aggravated face, which somehow made the purple paint on it stand out even more than usual.

The crimson-haired Kazekage nodded, not even verbally answering his older brother. Despite his careless attitude, it was obvious that he was as strained as his siblings and only wanted to rest. It certainly wasn't looking good for Konoha and Suna's already shaky alliance if the Hokage was making them wait.

Temari raised her eyes to the overcast sky, knowing it was going to rain soon. Clouds… the simple thought nearly made her smirk as she thought of a certain Konoha shinobi who enjoyed watching clouds. But then she lost her smile as her eyes narrowed.

"Gaara, who exactly was supposed to come and greet us?"

- - -

"Hmph," Shikamaru mumbled unhappily as the clouds all bunched up together, which was probably his punishment for ignoring his duties. Sighing, the Jounin got up tiredly and looked towards the Konoha gates. Surely enough, three figures were standing there, the three Jounins he should be with at the moment.

He slowly made his way down the road, then lazily stopped in front of the three annoyed shinobis. "Welcome to Konoha," he said with a yawn, not caring if it looked sloppy.

"You're late," Gaara stated calmly, though his eyes narrowed slightly in accusation, making the Konoha shinobi turn his back to Gaara so he wouldn't have to face him.

"Then why are we waiting here?" he asked, starting to walk towards the Hokage office. Gaara followed him, with Kankuro and Temari close behind him. The blonde shinobi eyed Shikamaru intently, the slight hint of a frown on her tanned face. 'Well that was quite an apologetic greeting,' her own sarcastic voice rang in her head. But she wouldn't keep quiet about this. No way.

"Hey, lazy ass, how come you weren't on time?" she snapped at him, the builded irritation clear in her voice.

Ignoring her sounded very tempting at the moment for Shikamaru, but the fan on her back was a good enough reason for him to answer her. Every time she came through the village, she'd leave him behind with a few more bruises, and this visit probably wouldn't be any different. So he certainly didn't want to give her an actual motive to hurt him. Plus, Gaara and Kankuro would probably kick his ass if he didn't answer.

"I was busy, troublesome woman. Yet I came anyways," he mumbled, yawning again. But his mind mumbled, 'Great. Ten minutes here and she's already on my case.'

Temari nearly smirked, but Gaara shot her a glare which made her quiet down. As they walked, she took the moment to look at Shikamaru more closely. He had grown taller in the last few years, now passing her by a few inches. His muscles had well developed, and his face now held a more mature look. Definitely an improvement, he was growing to become quite a handsome man.

Shaking his head to clear its contents of Shikamaru, she went back to focusing on the scenery around her. But that only brought her to realize they were already at the Hokage's office.

Gaara didn't even thank Shikamaru for accompanying them; instead he just stepped forward and turned his ocean green eyes to Kankuro. "Go put my bags in our home, brother. I'll be there in a few minutes," he said quietly, handing him the bags. The puppeteer nodded and took them, then turned around to leave.

"Well that's a great idea!" Temari piped in unenthusiastically, tossing her own bags in Kankuro's arms. The man twitched at his sister's audacity, but only muttered some rather colorful words and left to get to his destination. The Kazekage's house in Konoha wasn't that far from the Hokage's office, yet it irritated him that he had been given the job to carry his siblings' bags.

Once he had left, Temari brought her eyes back to Shikamaru and shot him a malicious grin. But the Leaf Village shinobi only turned around and pretended he hadn't noticed that evil smile.

"Hey, Crybaby!" she called out to him, making the male Jounin cringe with the nickname. "Let's spar! Hopefully you got stronger since the last time we met."

Shikamaru turned around, not a bit surprised that the kunoichi had challenged him upon arrival. But it was midday, and the rain had started to drizzle quietly. He could imagine the soft sound of the rain hitting the windows of his bedroom as he'd slowly fall asleep.

He had two choices: Fighting Temari or going to bed. Tough decision.

"Nope, I'm going to bed!" he announced, yawning as if to prove his statement. Temari blinked at his sudden franchise, but didn't answer as he started to walk back to his home. She then sighed and decided on going to rest herself; she'd push for a fight later. Her siblings and she had been traveling since early morning, and she had only a few hours of troubled sleep last night.

The kunoichi turned and headed towards Gaara's residence, a small frown on her face as she remembered her last visit to Konoha.

A large gust of wind hit Shikamaru forcefully, making the Jounin stumble dangerously. He had been simply standing in the middle of the road, his face turned upwards at the sky, in deep thought. Temari, who he had been supposed to meet hours ago at the Kazekage's house, had given up and had gone to search for her guide herself.

But when she'd found him in that position, something in her had snapped. She had already been irritated since she had woken up with a torrid headache, but that had seriously set her off. Taking the wide fan from her back and springing it open, she had sent a blast of wind towards him that would've made put a tornado to shame.

Snapping away from his thoughts, Shikamaru had turned his attention to the blonde kunoichi almost in disgust. But he still didn't move nor talked.

Temari snickered and said, "You were late. And now you'll pay for it."

With those words, she sent another blast of wind, which he now blocked while struggling to stay on his feet. Smirking, a thought slipped through her mind, 'One more and he's down.'

With that, she raised her gigantic fan again, but something stopped her from bringing it down. Groaning, she lowered her eyes to find the too-familiar shadow linking her to him. 'Damn that shadow Jutsu…'

But Shikamaru didn't fight back, instead he turned around, cancelled the Jutsu and simply left a baffled Temari behind. He hadn't even fought back; he had just… stopped her.

'How dare you, Nara! Get back here and fight you lazy ass!'

Remembering her anger, Temari narrowed her eyes as she stopped in her tracks and turned around. Shikamaru was out of sight, and she growled in anger at the memory of her unfinished fight.

"I swear we'll finish it this time, Nara. I swear!" she said coldly.

A/N: Ooh! First chappie done!

For those of you who (because I know there will be some) don't like this chapter, well don't worry because my first chapters are always boring, for some weird reason. Check my other stories, if you want a proof. Hence why I rarely do one-shots, they're like first chapters.

Please review! It took me about a week or two just to write this chapter, and usually I am much quicker than that! And reviews usually make me write faster!

Take care