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Chapter 1

Shikamaru closed his eyes and lazily smiled as he stretched. His muscles always felt stiff after lying on the ground for so long. He yawned and opened his eyes, gazing up at the sky above him as he watched a cloud drift by in the endless stretch of blue. It was a particularly good day in Konoha. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze in the air, but most importantly nothing troublesome had happened all day. Shikamaru sighed as he felt the cool grass under him in the shade of the tree he was resting under. Sun light was streaming through the branches and leaves, throwing the warm light upon him slightly. He closed his eyes in an attempt to dose off when he was disturbed by the crunch of a leaf to his left. Annoyed, he opened his eyes to see what had broken his peacefulness. As he turned his head to the sound a shadow passed by him. Shikamaru slowly sat up, squinting into the sunlight to see what or who was moving about. A figure caught his eye, it was a person. The person was standing a little ways away up the hill from him. He watched as the figure sat down on the grassy hill. As his eyes adjusted he saw blond hair catch the sunlight. The figure was wearing what appeared to a white dress with a red sash tied around the waist. 'A girl?' He thought. He frowned as he tried to tell who it was. 'No one ever comes out here' the dark haired boy thought to himself as he continued watching the girl. This was his favorite spot away from the village, it was close by enough so that he could easily sneak away from his troublesome team mates.

When he had noticed the girls blonde hair he had silently prayed it wasn't his laud mouthed team mate Ino. As he looked closer he saw this girls hair was a dirty blonde, and it was up in an unusual style. He felt a breeze start to pickup as a large gust of wind rush over the grass. He heard a light hearted laugh and looked at the girl curiously, she had her hands up and was swirling the air around her. 'Impressive' he thought as he watched the girl control the air expertly. 'Wind type chakura huh?' He watched her for a little while, he didn't know why but he enjoyed her wind show. He smiled as she released the chakura and lay down on the soft grass. His curiosity was getting the best of him. He felt an intense urge to go over to her.

He got up and walked out of the shade of the tree, stepping into the bright sunlight. He could feel the heat hit his skin as he quietly walked up the hill to the now lying girl. As he got close he saw her body tense and before he knew it his head hit the ground with a thud. He winced at the pain and looked up. Standing over him with her kunai drawn was a beautiful kunoichi. She had blue-green eyes and soft pink lips that where now turned down into a frown as she stared at him.

"Who are you" she said curtly, "what do you want?"

Shikamaru though quiet in nature, was rarely ever at a loss for words when he needed them. But now he just stared at this angry beautiful girl standing over him in wonder.

"Uh…" he started when he finally found his voice, "well… I was just lying over there and I saw you… so…"

He looked away, a slight blush crept on his face. He broke eye contact with her out of embarrassment.

'Dammit get a hold of yourself, it's just a troublesome girl after all. Stop acting stupid!' He yelled at himself mentally as he looked back at the girl who had relaxed a bit, sensing he wasn't a threat. She stepped away from him and put her kunai back in her pouch. He watched her carefully as he got up and brushed the grass off his pants. Now that he had a closer look he noticed her forehead protector around her neck had the hidden village of Sand's symbol on it. 'A foreign shinobi? This is getting interesting.' She turned to face him again. He smirked as she gave him a questioning look.

"So what are you doing out here?" she crossed her arms as she asked him, giving him an annoyed look. He shrugged it off.

"Just cloud watching" he replied giving her a slight smile. He almost laughed out loud the look she gave him when he said that.

"Who the fuck cloud watches? She teased him. He smirked again, earning another look.

"Well we can't all play with the wind…" he teased in return, his smirk growing. His pulse spend up when she smiled in return at him. She turned and sat back on the ground, motioning for him to join her. Shikamaru sat next to the blonde kunoichi. He looked over at her when she giggled and lay down on the soft grass, staring up at the wide blue sky.

"So" she started and glanced over at him. "Tell me what's so interesting about cloud watching?"

Shikamaru smiled and lay down next to the sand nin, folding his arms behind his head. He watched the sky for a moment the turned his head to look at her.

"Well… nothing really, I actually just lay here and think usually." He said as he caught the kunoichi eyes with his own interested stare. She smiled at him and looked back to the clouds.
"Usually I would tease you and 'say that sounds boring'… but I'll admit, it sounds peaceful." She replied after a moment of cloud watching. "Just don't tell anyone I'm being nice though, ok?" she looked back at him with a grin on her face as she said it. Shikamaru just laughed in return.

"Deal" he said. They sat there for a while making little conversation enjoying each other's presence.
Shikamaru turned to look at the girl when he heard her get up next to him. He sat up giving her a questioning look as she dusted the grass off her dress. She sighed and gave him a small smile.

"Well, I have to get back to my team now…" she said as she picked up what appeared to be a large fan off the ground. Shikamaru got up too.

"I'll walk you back to the village." He offered giving the girl a smile. She smiled wide in return and he noticed a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Thanks." She replied still smiling at the boy.

Shikamaru walked a lazy pace with his hands in his pockets as they made their way back to the village.

He looked over at the kunoichi beside him and said, "by the way… what is a sand nin doing in Konoha anyways?"
She gave him a look that read 'are you stupid' and laughed at the confused look on his face.

"Don't you know what's going on in your own village?" she asked him still laughing. When he didn't reply she continued, "My team and I are here for the Chuunin exams, duh."
"Oh that troublesome thing" Shikamaru sighed in reply. "My sensei wants by team to take it too."
She gave him a fierce smile. "Well I guess were rivals then… maybe I shouldn't be talking to the enemy" she teased, earning a frown from the dark haired ninja.
He tisked which made her laugh again. "hmm is that how you thank a guy who walked you back?" he countered playfully. She smiled and blushed slightly.
"No one asked you to walk me." He gave her a look and she laughed again.
"Troublesome women, it's what men do" he stated firmly. He winced at the playful punch she gave him in return.

"Women don't need men to take care of them idiot. Especially shinobi women." She gave him another playful smile when he muttered troublesome and rubbed the spot where she hit him.

They had stopped next the Hokage tower and were smiling at each other. Shikamaru stared at the girl and blushed, noticing how the sun played off her skin making her glow beautifully. She noticed his blush and felt her face redden too. "Hey…" he started looking at her with hopeful eyes, willing his face to be the same nonchalant mask he always wore. "Do you want to maybe…" his voice was cut off by a sudden voice that rang out next to them.

"Temari." The voice said aggressively.

The blonds smile fell and Shikamaru saw her eyes widen in shock. She cursed under her breath and spun around. Leaning up against the wall of the Hokage tower was a small red haired boy with a gorge on his back. Next to him was a taller boy in a black jacket with red face paint on. The taller boy scowled at Shikamaru. Shikamaru observed them and saw that they too had the Hidden village of Sand's symbol on their forehead protectors. He looked back at the blonde girl with a questioning look, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I have to go" she whispered to him. He noticed that her face had changed and held no emotion in it anymore. She walked quickly toward the boys, turning her back on Shikamaru. They didn't great her as she approached. The red head started to walk off the two sand nin followed. Shikamaru watched them leave. 'What the hell just happened' he thought to himself as he turned and walked to his house.

He replayed the scene over and over in this head that night as he lay in bed. He turned at looked at the moon outside of is window and sighed. 'What a troublesome day' but even as he said it a smile spread across his lips as the thought of the blonde kunoichi. "Temari" he whispered into the dark night air as he closed his eyes and fell asleep, with thoughts of her still in his head.