Author's note: I tried to write this for Temari's birthday...not this past one, but the one BEFORE that. 9.9 And I'm just finishing it now. Alas.
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Every year, Shikamaru gets Temari something for her birthday, and every year it ends up the same way: she cusses him out, tells him how much she hates it, and persists even when she sees that pitiful note of failure in his eyes, that pathetic, weak despondency as she rejects the gift. As always, he sighs and leaves the apartment, leaving behind the gift, and when the door closes behind him, she stows whatever little trinket he's brought her this time in her bags. She'll tell him that she gave it away or got rid of it. When she gets home to Suna, it will be shoved into a closet, to sit on a shelf—he has his own shelf in her closet by now—to collect dust and generally be ignored. There are five boxes on her shelf now, one for each year that they've known each other, and she makes excuses to herself for ignoring them.
The first box contains a set of scented bath salts in her favorite aroma—lilac. A lucky guess on his part. He'd hardly known her back then. But if she uses them, they'll be all gone. The next year came with a set of beautifully crafted silk folding fans, complete with wall mounts, three of them with stunning designs on them. She tells herself that if she puts them on the wall, they'll just get dusty anyway. The year after that, a rather nice, ornate pen that she hated to admit was comfortable to hold, along with a set of elegant parchment stationary. She still didn't use it. At the very least, wouldn't it wear out, and the paper wouldn't run out? The year following was a delicate, obviously antique music box, which plays a lovely tune...but she doesn't want it to wear itself out and break. Finally came the jade necklace-- but she would simply lose that if she wore it, and that would be tragic. They were rather lovely, after all, and matched her eyes.
This year, he doesn't bring her anything. She's even ensured that she will be in Konoha for that entire week, but when the day comes a goes, settling comfortable around her into evening, and he hasn't stopped by, she can't believe how disappointed she is. And since it's Temari, she shows her disappointment in a much different way, by barging up to the front door of the Nara household and demanding to see him. His mother politely obliges, and soon he's standing on the doorstep with her, while she knows that his parents are listening on the other side. She just knows it.
And she also doesn't care, tearing into him immediately, while he just stands there and takes it like he always does. The same old predictable Shikamaru. And when she's finally done, he sighs and glances skywards, quiet for what seems like way too long. Silence shouldn't bother her like it does right about then.
"You didn't like the other things I got you, so I didn't try this year," he admits, like a defeat, like he's given up. And it boils her a little more.
"You idiot," she hisses, while he just stares on as if asking when this is going to be over so he can go back inside. "I didn't want that crap."
There's that pained look again, like he's some massive failure. And she'd like to tell him that he is, but she can't bring herself to do it. Instead, her features soften just a bit, and she grips his chin between her forefinger and thumb to pull him in a little closer.
"...I just wanted you."
For her birthday that year, Temari got herself a boyfriend.