He Was A Boy

She Was A Girl

Can I Make It Anymore Obvious

He Was A Punk

She Did Ballet

What More Can I Say

Fluffy, white clouds drifted through the bright, blue sky, free as always, forming itself into different shapes as creative people continuously glanced up at them. One of those people in particular, Nara Shikamaru, was gazing up at the clouds now. Not for the reason most people looked up at them. He was just a lazy, carefree boy who worried about nothing and liked to lay there and watch the clouds, envious of them everyday he does this.

Shikamaru may be a genius, but it's not like he flaunted it, and normally he didn't waste his time pointing out what different clouds were shaped like. Mostly because he knew this was pointless, considering the clouds just looked like clouds. Nothing else.

Lately, though, he has been seeing a shape amongst the clouds. Just amongst them. A cloud hadn't taken on a shape, but he could see someone smiling at him beautifully from in between those fluffy, white clouds. It wasn't colored, but Shikamaru could picture the woman in his head, blonde hair, sharp green eyes. And he could just hear her spunky attitude in his head, her cruel voice laughing and tell him that he was a crybaby.

'... Damn' For the third time in the house, Shikamaru forced himself away from the clouds so that he wouldn't think of i her /i .

Kaze No Temari... She was a normal, spunky teenager with a battle friendly personality and an awkward smile. She wasn't too ugly, and she wasn't too pretty. She was just the type Shikamaru wanted to marry. He even loved her attitude, it always made him laugh. She made it seem like she was flirting with him, because when she had her attitude with him, it was more of a teasing type. And even though she was older, she was also way stronger, so he could still die before her, so it was perfect.

But that was also the problem. She was older, and she was more mature with older friends too. And none of them liked him. He was 15, and compared to their 18, he was just at an immature age. They've never seen him in battle and don't think he's very smart or strong, and he is too lazy to even bother trying to earn their approval. Which only made it worse when it came to their opinion on him.

"Oi, lazy bum!"

Speak of the devil. Shikamaru felt his heart race a little at the sound of the voice, and he sat up and glanced calmly over in the direction of the blonde girl as she marched to him. Her rather large fan gleamed shiny on her back, and her pretty, black dress clung tightly to her body thanks to the ribbon she had around her waist to hold said fan.

"What do you want, troublesome woman?" Shikamaru muttered, standing up.

Temari nearly smiled, but she held it in. He really had grown, and she could see it without even seeing him fight again. After all, he had been strong enough back then when he beat her. And even now, he still had some of his lazy qualities. But he was more serious now. He was very protective of Kurenai, and he was more active in missions. But when he had no missions and when he was sure Kurenai was safe at home, he liked to kick back and watch the clouds. And Temari, of course, loved to come and bother him out of his naps.

"Naruto told me to come drag your lazy ass-" Temari glanced behind her, as if glaring at Naruto from a distance. "-To the ramen shop where he's with Sakura. He wants me to come too for some reason,"

Shikamaru then let a small smile shine through and asked, "A double date maybe?"

"What?" Temari faltered but then forced herself to frown and continued, "No way, Shikamaru. Just a friendly outing. Come on,"

He Wanted Her

She'd Never Tell

But Secretly She Wanted Him As Well

But All Of Her Friends

Stuck Up Their Nose

They Had A Problem With His Baggy Clothes

Sighing in disappointment, Shikamaru muttered something, watching Temari turn around. He pursed his lips together and absent mindedly reached into his pockets, fingers curling over the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Then, shaking his head, he followed after the older woman, the voice of rejection still fresh in his head. It wasn't too big a blow to his ego, considering he had none, but it still hurt.

Temari sighed as she turned her head slightly so she could inconspicusouly glance at the boy behind her. Oh, how she wished her friends would approve of him. Temari didn't mean to hurt him like this, but she was the type who succombed to peer pressure. She thought that if she actually said yes to Shikamaru, like she wanted, then they would frown down upon her like they did him.

"Finally!" A voice exploded as they approached the ramen stand. "You two are so slow! What happened? Did you make out before you came?"

Temari's face went pink, and she yelled, "Idiot! As if I would... With him... and... ARGH!"

Shikamaru winced. Now THAT, even to a guy without an ego, was a definite ego blower. He ignored the snickering Naruto and went over to sit next to Sakura, who was shaking her head disapprovingly at Naruto's teasing. The lazy ninja merely shrugged and pulled his hand out of his cigarette filled pocket. He didn't usually smoke in places like this. He didn't want to infect everyone else with the smoke. At least not here.

It was kind of awkward between Temari and Shikamaru. Sakura noticed, but said nothing, whereas Naruto didn't notice and was talking his head off. Something about how he was going to beat Gaara and become Hokage. Which was probably going to be possible once Tsunade retired. Naruto was very strong, and had even succeeded in getting Sasuke back. There really weren't any problems though. Sasuke had defeated his brother, but had been too stubborn to come back. So Naruto beat him up and dragged him back quite successfully.

"All done!" Naruto exclaimed after a half hour, shoving his last empty bowl forward. "Thanks old man! It was awesome!"

Shikamaru sighed and pulled some money out, paying for the ramen, knowing that's why Naruto dragged him out here in the first place. Then after getting an energetic thanks, Shikamaru watched the blonde male pull a protesting Sakura off to go find their third teammate, Sasuke, along with their old sensei, Kakashi.

Temari and Shikamaru walked out together, in silence. Temari would be leaving back to Sunagakure soon, and Shikamaru kept getting more and more nervous. Damn, this was the perfect girl for him, and he has yet to successfully ask her out on a date. And if he didn't do it soon, he would lose his chance. According to her, she won't be coming back for a while after she leaves this time. Five years gone to be more exact.

'And if I can ask her out now, I'll even have an excuse to go to Suna and visit her' Shikamaru thought, glancing over at the girl. He sighed. 'All this stress for some girl. How troublesome...'

"Hey Temari..."

'Oh no...' Temari forced a smile and looked at Shikamaru. "What is it?"

"You're leaving soon..." Shikamaru started. Asking for dates wasn't his strong point. "Actually, you're leaving today. I was just wondering... Before you go, if maybe you'd like to go out with me,"

Temari sighed and kept quiet at first. She hated this. She wanted to go out with him, and then again she didn't. She tried and tried and tried to scare him off with her attitude. She thought that, combined with the fact he thought she was troublesome, it might scare him off. But he seemed to like her personality, and it was just drawing her more to him. And again, her friends wouldn't approve and she couldn't handle that.

Shikamaru got nervous. Temari seemed to have her head in the clouds and he was almost afraid that she hadn't heard him. But then she suddenly looked at him. This, at first, made him hopeful, but the look on her face suggested that he wouldn't like her answer. He pursed his lips together again and raised an eyebrow, questioning her.

"I'm sorry Shikamaru..." Temari stated, actually sounding sincere about her apology. "But I can't. Maybe one day, but right now you're too young for me,"

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks and fixed his gaze on her. She averted her eyes and kept walking. He continued watching her until she disappeared, and then he let out another one of those disappointed sighs. Too young. She had never actually told him that before, but now it was confirmed now that he actually asked her out properly. He had secretly known this would happen.

He Was A Skater Boy

She Said See You Later Boy

He Wasn't Good Enough For Her

She Had A Pretty Face

But Her Head Was Up In Space b

She Needed To Come Back Up To Earth

'Why can't I be good with the opposite sex like Ino is?' Shikamaru wondered.

Now Ino, she was way different from Temari. Ino had her own type of attitude, but was still nice in her own way. Temari was just plain cruel, except for the occasional flirty smile she would give. Ino had a beautiful smile though, and it was always sincere, and never flirty. Even when she got a crush on Sasuke, and when she got one on Sai, her smile were never flirty. Just always sincere.

But Shikamaru had never really thought of her in a romantic way. She was way too pretty for him, he had decided this the moment she argued with him when he asked why everyone like Sasuke. He remembered listening to her say she would hate to be on his team, and then he gazed over her while she was distracted. Way too much work. And too pretty. He'd never match up to Sasuke anyway.

Shikamaru sighed for the hundredth time that day and kept walking. Great, he had acted like a fool and froze, so now he wouldn't see Temari again. He should've just sucked it up and followed her so that he could at least say goodbye. But now she was probably gone, and he wouldn't see in for five years. Maybe she wouldn't even come back to him like she always did.

'... Hmm, there's Ino'

Shikamaru's eyes trained on the girl. She walked around like she owned the place, and she basically did. She was the most popular girl in this village. She had a lot of friends, and a lot of guys chased after her (( though she tended to like the ones that didn't )). And not only that, but she was her own person. She did what she wanted, reguardless of what others thought of it.

"Huh?" Noticing her teammates stare, Ino turned to him and smiled brightly. "Hi Shikamaru! I'm glad to see you!"

As his too pretty for him teammate, Yamanaka Ino, came up and gave him the type of glomp she used to save just for Sasuke, Shikamaru thought that, just maybe, he might be able to get over Temari. And who knows? If he was lucky, maybe, just maybe, Ino would be able to get over Sasuke.

Five Years From Now

She Sits At Home

Feeding the baby, She's All Alone

She Turns on TV

Guess Who She Sees

Skater Boy Rocking Up MTV

Five years later, 23 year old Suna No Temari sat down on her couch, a put out look on her face. She was alone now, because no guy offered to her fit her fancy. Being related the Kazekage meant she had to get a good guy so that she would have a good image. At least that's what her superficial friends said. They had given up after a couple of years. She just wasn't interested.

A crying sound split through the air and she sighed, getting up. She was currently taking care of the child she and her siblings had adopted as their own. She had been found abandoned in some random place in their village, and Gaara, remember Naruto said each life is precious, had insisted on taking in baby. And right now she was in charge.

"Shh, it's okay," Temari coo'ed softly, rocking the baby in her rocking chair.

Gradually the crying stopped, and she sighed and set her back down in her crib. She loved the kid, really, but sometimes it was such a pain. Especially when Gaara had Kazekage duties and Kankuro was just plain mean and ditched her. Sometimes she wished she could just smack his head off at some point.

Temari sat down on the couch and reached over absent mindedly for the remote. She clicked the one button and watched the television flicker a few times until if finally turned on. Thanks to their windy desert, the reception was bad, but it was good enough for them. So Temari just turned channels until she got to the news, a familiar face jumping out at her as it appeared on the television.

"Nara Shikamaru-" The reporter began, pointing to the picture of the boy. "Just a normal Genin years ago, but now a formiddable opponent and a Jounin now. This boy is amazing. He has successfully, and individually, taken down Deidara of Akatsuki. Something even the Kazekage of Sunagakure could not,"

Temari's eyes grew and she stood up, staring in disbelief at the television. Shikamaru had, at only the age of 15, taken out Hidan all by himself, someone who was immortal and untouchable. And now he has defeated Deidara, the one who beat her little brother, who was ten times as strong as even she herself. Shikamaru looked so much more mature, though he still wore the same Chuunin vest and blue clothes.

"He is truly a hero. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed to a live interview," The reporter sounded sincerely excited. "He will be appearing on live television and will do an intereview in front of an audience. Tickets on sale now, but hurry up, they are running out fast,"

Without bothering to listen more, and not even noticing that the reporter had gotten a mischevious smile and had suddenly brought up a girlfriend, Temari turned off the t.v. and headed over to the phone. This was big, and it was something she never expected of Shikamaru. Not just doing something like that, but then actually agreeing to do something like an interview. Someone must've convinced him to do it.

"Sakura!" Temari said into the phone as the girl in a whole seperate village answered her phone. "Shikamaru is-"

The pink haired girl squealed, interupting Temari, "I know, I know! Hinata has connections thanks to her father and got some tickets! Ino isn't going with us, so we have an extra ticket! Come quickly and you can come with us!"

Thinking that this was her chance to finally make amends with Shikamaru, Temari immediately agreed and hung up the phone, not noticing that Sakura had tried to tell her something before she hung up. Temari squealed to herself. With Shikamaru now being such a star, maybe her friends wouldn't mind him. So Temari, with hope, got her fan and picked up the baby, going to go drop her off with Kankuro.

She Tags Along

Stands In The Crowd

Looks Up At The Man That She Turned Down br

He Was A Skater Boy

She Said See You Later Boy

He Wasn't Good Enough For Her

Now He's A Superstar

Slammin' On His Guitar

Does Your Pretty Face See What He's Worth

Temari jumped down off of her fan, creating a big gust of wind as she swiped her fan as she closed it. She smiled at the nice breeze, and then slid the fan into the rope around her waist. Though she was excited on the inside, she kept her cool on the outside. In her mind, she was the hottest thing on Earth, and she figured Shikamaru still had the 'hots' for her like this time.

The cocky blonde kunoichi headed into the village and met up with an excited Sakura, and the quiet Hinata. The pink haired kunoichi was rather excited because she was so proud of Shikamaru for doing something like that. They were one Akatsuki member down and thanks to Shikamaru, Naruto was even safer, and that was great.

"We're here!" Sakura announced, clasping her hands up. "Let's go!"

A few minutes later, after successfully giving the tickets to the guy at the front, and then waiting in the line to actually getting into the place, they were finally inside. Temari sucked in a breath as they went in. Shikamaru was already sitting up there, and he still hadn't changed. He looked bored to death. The only weird thing was, he had no cigar out. In fact, he was even wearing a pocketless jacket and therefore, had no pockets for any cigarettes.

'I wonder if he quit smoking...' Temari wondered.

Finally the stage lit up and tons of girls stood up, screaming and clapping their heads off. Shikamaru seemed to take no notice of this and just stared in a bored fashion at the woman across from him. The one that was to ask him questions. Finally he turned his head to acknowledge the crowd, and his eyes landed on the blonde kunoichi in the front row. His eyes grew as he recognized her.

She noticed his gaze and grinned, waving. He bit his lip and then waved, a small, awkward wave. Then he turned his head away, and glanced at the woman planning to interview him. She had brown hair pulled up into two buns, and looked like she didn't really care what happened. It was Tenten. Tsunade had put her in charge of the interview. She wasnt a screaming fangirl, but she was a friend, and was proud of him too.

"Well, we've got Nara Shikamaru here," Tenten stood up and announced, earning more squeals from fangirls. "We're here to talk to him about his improvement. He used to be a lazy ninja with less then average grades,"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and she giggled and continued, "And he's been gradually improving. From showing great intelligence in his Chuunin exams-"

Temari smiled slightly as she formed the picture in her mind when she had been caught like that. She could still feel those surprised emotions she felt, and the admiration, when he gave up and said that he thought up 200 scenarios, but had less then enough chakra to do any of it.

"To showing us great courage and power when he defeated Akatsuki member, Hidan," Tenten continued, that tired grin on her face. "And now, when our beloved Hokage was attacked, his guard, Shikamaru jumped in and fought. Using his wit, he defeated the Akatsuki member and saved our Hokage,"

From down below, Naruto grinned up at him, his hand on top of the head of the head of Kurenai and Asuma's child, the one Shikamaru has sworn to protect. And he's done a great job of that, of course. The kid was only 4 years old, after all, and he adored his god father, Shikamaru. Kurenai, the mother, sat next to him, a proud, motherly smile on her face as she watched him.

Temari couldn't help but stare up at Shikamaru in wonder. She couldn't believe that she had turned such a guy down. She regretted that a lot, especially after she had turned around and saw that hurt look on his face. Though people got rejected all the time, Temari had actually liked him. And now she felt overwhelmed with the feelings she had for him.

Sorry Girl But You Missed Out

Well Tough Luck, That Boy's Mine Now

We Are More Than Just Good Friends

This Is How The Story Ends

Too Bad That You Couldn't See

See The Man That Boy Could Be

There Is More Than Meets The Eye

I See The Soul That Is Inside

Then Tenten gave Shikamaru a teasing smile, "So... What about the girl in your life?"

Temari's eyes widened and she watched Shikamaru carefully. Finally he showed some emotion. Surprise flashed in his eyes and then they softened and he allowed that small smile to form on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if thinking about something, and then he nodded, which only made Temari more curious. Shikamaru stood up and placed his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, I am dating someone," He spared a glance in Temari's direction, but then looked towards backstage. "She's watchimg from there,"

Tenten stood up too and waved towards the backstage. "Well, we should bring her in then! Ino, come on out!"

Temari's mouth dropped as she watched the slim, pretty blonde Konoha ninja step out. Ino wore a proud smile on her face and she strutted forward, heading towards her supposed boyfriend. Shikamaru smiled that fond smile that he used to give to Temari and he wrapped his arms around her. Most of the girls groaned, which only made Ino laugh. She seemed pretty comfortable.

"Yeah, I'm very proud of him!" Ino announced. "We were kind of stalling, but we finally got together a few months ago,"

Ino glanced around and her pretty blue eyes landed on Temari, who was staring up at them in disbelief. Ino raised an eyebrow and then looked away, back over to Tenten, who began to ask Shikamaru the interview questions. Shikamaru answered smoothly as Ino just watched him fondly. She felt kind of bad for Temari. But the sand ninja had let peer pressure take over and she had turned down Shikamaru for superficial reasons.

'Sorry, Temari' Ino thought. She had stayed away from Shikamaru as long as possible, but after nearly five years, she couldn't hold it in. i 'I'm not giving him up now. You had a chance and you took him for granted'

He's Just A Boy

And I'm Just A Girl

Can I Make It Anymore Obvious

We Are In love

Haven't You Heard

How We Rock Eachothers World

I'm With The Skater Boy

I Said See Ya Later Boy

I'll Be Backstage After The Show

He'll Be At The Interview b

Thinking 'bout The Girl He Knew

And The One That Got The Clue

Temari looked from the two. Ino was hugging his arm, and had a carefree smile on her face, eyes crinkled. And he looked a little less lazy and bored now that Ino was out there with him. Temari could now see why Shikamaru had no cigarettes. He most likely had stopped when Ino made him happier about his sensei's death. If he wanted to date Ino, and kiss her during dates, he wouldn't want smoke getting into her lungs.

"How happy are you two? How did it work out like this?" Tenten asked eagerly. She forgot that this was supposed to be strictly business, but no one protested.

"We're very happy," Shikamaru said without hesitance, and with sincerity. "I've liked her for a while, but she kept her distance for a while, until I finally caught up to her one day and asked her out,"

Ino smiled brightly. "It was so romantic, and I just couldn't resist. I'm happy with him,"

They glanced at eachother, and everyone could tell they were in love. Everyone had pressured them to get together, seeing how much they liked eachother. The only thing that had stopped them, was Temari, but they got more comfortable with it and have been officially going out for a few months now. And they both seemed happy, so Temari knew that she shouldn't interfere.

"Hey Shika," Ino said suddenly. She kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later, okay? After the show,"

Shikamaru nodded and watched her leave, before he turned and stared out into the crowd, staring down at Temari. He gave her a small smile before turning back to Tenten. He had liked Temari at one point, but soon enough he had fallen for Ino and he knew he could never return to Temari. He would marry Ino, have one girl and one boy, retire when his son was a successful ninja and his daughter was married. And then he would die before his wife.

And that was his idea of a perfect life.