Underdressed

Ouch.

His head hurt nastily.

Shikamaru raised his fingers to his face to rub the sleep away from his eyes and proceeded to run a hand through his hair. It didn't really felt like he was asleep at all… And yet his hair was loose. And there was something wet under his head, just at the site where it hurt. Blood?

His eyes opened up instantly and he sat up, only now realizing wherever he was laying was a hard surface, and not his bed, and it was cold here. He also figured he was naked. The darkness surrounded him, so he couldn't clearly see what liquid did he have on his fingers, but they seemed darker than the rest of his skin, and it felt like he had a wound on the back of his head… so yeah, blood. Where the hell am I?

The only source of light was nothing else but a resemblance of a starlight, coming through a hole of whatever was above him. He crawled closer, inspecting the surface beneath him. Ground, wet, dirty, hard. Rocks. He got closer towards the thin light and some droplets hit his face. Was that… rain? As his eyes got adjusted to the darkness he stood up and looked above him. It seems he was in some kind of cave and the only thing reminding of an entrance was the hole above him. At least 5 meters above him. He must have felt down and his head. That would explain his loss of memory… But wouldn't explain why was he naked.

He took another step and his feet hit something warm; he flinched at the unexpected feeling. He looked down in a shock to see a body beneath his legs – pale skin practically shining on the ground. How did he not see that before?

Shikamaru kneeled to get closer, and saw equally naked body of a girl, light hair covering her face that was turned away from him. He didn't need to push her strands away to recognize her, but he did it anyway after turning her face towards him.

"Temari?" He shook her slightly. No trace of consciousness, and yet she was breathing calmly, her heart beating normally – he felt that after placing fingertips on her neck, above the carotid artery.

Why in the world he was in underground cave trapped with a naked Suna kunoichi? And why he had no memory of how they got here?

Wait… Something did come up. A mission. They were fighting… someone. Just the two of them. Pursuing him in the forest, and then… a black out.

Her skin was wet and cold from the raindrops falling on her body. Shikamaru pushed one arm under her knees and another under her chest, and lifted her up. Pain suddenly panged at his left arm and he bit his lip with constrain, afraid to drop her. He must have hurt his arm while falling, not only his head.

He took some careful steps away from the hole in their prison's ceiling and cautiously placed Temari on the ground that was less wet than where she lay before. She still looked deeply sleeping.

Maybe they are in a genjutsu? Shikamaru did a quick release, but nothing changed. No, it was the reality.

He sat beside her and listened. It was as silent as a grave, just like the saying goes, and he worried this might as well be theirs. But surely they weren't alone, someone must have already been searching for them. If they weren't in similar situations themselves. The only sound that disturbed the silence was her rhythmical, gentle breathing, subtly reminding he was not alone in this after all. Placing a palm on her shoulder he felt how cold her skin felt against his fingers; it wasn't much he could have done about this, but he could at least try… He pulled her up so her head was on his lap, her hair tickling his thighs. A bit more, and her shoulders were against his leg. At least some contact to make her a bit warmer.

To think that one day he would find himself naked in the same place with Temari… Well, the reality wasn't as nearly nice as were his dreams. They were beaten up, cold, trapped and amnesic. It wasn't the time nor the place to think of her curves… And yet. Her skin, tanned in daylight, here shone as pale as the moon. The minimal light he was given was enough to distinguish her body parts one from another, and his eyes ran through her body with almost a dreamy look. She wasn't skinny, he never though she would be. She was healthily lean. Her muscles, still apparent, but was covered in some layer of feminine fat, making her fit, yet soft and pleasant to touch – whoever had such a privilege. Her breasts were full and beautiful, and tempting to touch would be an understatement, especially with her nipples hardened by the cold. Waistline, pronounced by round hips and strong thighs, surrounding the most intimate part of her body, which, as far as he could see, wasn't covered in any hair at all.

He turned away. Under other circumstances he would have probably barely forced himself not to touch her alluring skin, not that it was easy now. But now she laid by him completely defenceless. And her face looked like she was peacefully sleeping – an expression so innocent it was hard to believe would ever appear on her usually dissatisfied face. Probably one of the strongest kunoichi he knew, both physically and emotionally – having successfully survived psychologically abusive father, a loss of mother, a fearsome psychotic brother, and still able to maintain love for the latter, still managing to take care of him and her other restless brother. And here she was, motionless in his arms, unaware of where she is, unaware of anything, unable to fight her never ending wars.

She was someone Shikamaru wanted to take care of. She never needed that, but now when she had no means of resistance – he felt he just needed to do that. He already did what he could physically, and the fact that what he felt inside didn't really count made him feel unsatisfied. Incomplete. Without her knowing, it was their moment of intimacy, but nothing really happened, except his own confession to self of how he feels.

After a while she inhaled a little deeper. Her hand twitched, and the next second it repeated his own movements as he woke – her fingers rubbed her eyes, then accidentally touched his thigh. Her hand froze there, just besides her head, and upon opening her eyes she glanced at the side, trying to see what was she laying on. He could see she didn't understand, and he couldn't blame her. Not a typical situation to find yourself in.

Her brows furrowed, finally registering something's not right, and her eyes turned to him. They slowly widened, and she hoisted up and sat, seemingly realizing she was naked the very next second and crouching slightly, placing her hands around herself. Whether in self-defence, or cold, or covering her nakedness – it was hard to say. She pulled her legs towards herself and sat up more comfortably, with a corner of her eye staring at him.

"Hey."

"Where are we? Why am I naked?" With her eyes building up a usual fighting look and serious expression, she glanced at his body shortly before coming back for his eyes. "Why are you naked?"

"It seems we're in some cave. Why – I don't know, I can't remember. I was hoping you will."

Temari fell silent for a while, and he noticed her shoulders lowering down and her arms getting less tense. Whatever did she think when she woke, she was relaxing now, at least a little.

"I can't remember. I only know we fought someone in the forest."

"That's as much as I remember too." He told her, then sighed. He wanted to say how troublesome all of this is, but something left those words hanging on the tip of his tongue.

Temari stood up. His mouth practically dropped open, but he barely made any sound, as she turned her head to raise an eyebrow at his startled expression. He didn't quite expect her doing that.

"What?" She almost smiled. "I'm sure you've already had a chance to look at my body for as much as you wanted, and now you're ashamed to see me naked? That's just weird, Shikamaru."

Her remark left his cheeks flashing red, and he was glad the darkness hid that. But she was right in her every word – he suddenly felt uncomfortable practically getting allowed to stare, while he was been doing that just a while ago without her knowing. He didn't say anything, only stood beside her, still in awkwardness, but she paid no mind, stepping ahead towards the entrance of the cave.

However the step she took turned out to be painful, and she tripped with a muffled moan.

"I must have hurt a tendon in my shin." She uttered through clenched teeth.

"It seems we both were thrown into this place."

"Yeah, I get that. I don't get why we are naked."

"Neither do I."

With her wake from her sleep she was back to being the same woman he knew all along. Despite her bare skin, that didn't influence her a tiny bit, her emotional coverage was back on and she felt as safe as always. Only in that tiny fleeting second just after she woke up he was able to catch someone hiding underneath her masks, someone with slightly trembling eyes and confusion hidden deep inside.

Temari limped towards the hole and looked above; the dim light now shining on her beautiful body even more brightly. She didn't care. "Could you do something with your shadows? Maybe lift me up or grab something from the outside?"

"No, it's too dark in here. I need more light to form a strong shadow."

"Have you checked the surroundings, the walls? Maybe there's some tunnel or something?"

Shikamaru suddenly was ashamed to give her his answer. "No." He knew what question will follow.

And surely, she turned to him surprised and took a good look at his face.

"Why?"

Because I was taking care of you probably wasn't the kind of answer she would have liked to hear. So he didn't say anything and only shrugged his shoulders, as an answer receiving her grunt, as she dipped into the darkness to do the job he didn't.

She was better when she was sleeping.

In a minute they have checked every corner and haven't found anything – not a hole, not a tunnel, not even a single thing they could have used to get out. It was the time for Temari to finally step back and realize that they were stuck until somebody finds them. With that thought her aggressiveness towards him and anger about helplessness faded; she relaxed and stopped trying to do something, since there was nothing worth the effort.

Shikamaru leaned against one of the walls, sitting on the cold, hard ground. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sit with your naked butt, however standing and wasting energy pointlessly was also not the smartest thing to do. He rested his head against the rock, closed his eyes and practically sighed out the next sentence rather than just saying it.

"What in the world could have happened? I can't remember a single detail about the guy who we fought."

"Well, me neither." He was surprised to hear her voice rather close, and as he opened his eyes he noticed she came closer and stood leaning against the same wall. And her voice now was different, it lost the aggression she demonstrated before. It was nothing more than curiosity and wonder in it, but no trace of protest, of a fight, of anger. "But… I assume we lost that fight."

Shikamaru started laughing. Stating the obvious wasn't too funny by itself, but at the place and time they were in this was a perfect mood booster, especially as she joined him with a silent chuckle. His eyes followed the line of her leg up to her hip, waist, breasts, neck and her eyes, where they met her own look. Partly covered by the curtain of darkness, and providing them both with a barrier that was only figurative and yet cloaked them in some resemblance of privacy.

The next second she ruined that, not that he was complaining. She sat down next to him, carefully extending her injured leg and curling another close to her chest while her arms wrapped around it. Their shoulders touched, most likely on purpose.

"So… what do we do now?" She asked.

"I guess we wait."

"I don't think I have a necessary patience for that."

"It could be your chance of developing it."

"I don't find the atmosphere relaxing enough."

"How may I be of help?"

"Some candles would do."

"Sorry, I have none."

"You're useless." She laughed. Turning her face towards him she carelessly took his hand and lifted it, leaning closer and nestling under his arm and against his chest. His shoulder hurt badly with even the slightest move, but what she did made him stop breathing, not to mention ignoring the pain. "I'm cold, and so are you. Say anything about this, and I will kill you."

She was obviously laughing at him, feeling the way his body tensed at the touch. Her breasts were squeezed against his chest, and one of her arms – wrapped around his waist. If she only dipped her elbow lower, or even as much as took a glace there, she'd find a surprise he rather not have her find. It was awkward as it was. Trying to get comfortable Temari pulled her uninjured leg on top of his thigh and hoisted herself up a little, to his relief getting a little further away from his erection. Her leg bent and her thigh was pinning down his own, her knee now touching his hand that lay here before she even decided to cuddle up to him.

One of his fingers touched her knee lightly. She didn't move. He moved his hand closer, fingertips now caressing her skin and feeling the gentleness. She didn't move. As his hand finally moved up her thigh towards her hip, and back again to her knee, stroking the skin with his palm, her breathing slightly changed. But she still didn't move. His other hand, now placed on top of her shoulders, stroked the side of her arm in the similar fashion, and as a response, her hand, placed around his waist, moved gently against his skin, tickling his waist.

His breathing changed as well. His heartbeat increased, and he was sure Temari could hear that through his chest wall, as her ear was placed directly above his heart. She moved her head, ever so slightly, pointing her nose upwards and reaching up a little, slowly, until her nose tip touched his neck somewhere under the jaw. She inhaled, and exhaled through parted lips – the mere sound arousing him even more. Her hand on his waist moved an inch lower, hitting his erection, but it seems this is what she expected to find – she didn't take back her hand, vice versa – her forearm ended up directly above it, pressing it down, but not just yet really touching.

He sighed heavily, his head moving by its own to meet hers, his chin dipping just a bit lower for him to reach her lips; he already felt her breathing close to his own mouth, and Temari hoisted up a little more, just enough for her lips to brush against his. He let out one last breath, opening his mouth for a kiss and with a millimetre distance between their lips left…

"Shikamaru!? Temari! Are you guys here?"