AN: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Shikamaru analyzed the rock walls surrounding him. He went through all possible escape routes in his head. And finally came to a conclusion. There were none. The earth jutsu they were trapped in was too strong for him to breakthrough.

He looked over at his partner. His eyes watched the sandy haired kunoichi as she realized what he had. Even her powerful wind jutsu wouldn't be able to make a dent in the hard rock that was going to crush them.

What a drag, thought Shikamaru with a sigh as he slid to ground. I never thought it'd end like this, that's for sure.

Temari walked over and took a seat next to him. He didn't move and continued to stare off into the distance.

"You know Crybaby, I always imagined if we were going to die together it'd be a whole lot more interesting," Temari told him with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, is our being buried alive not interesting enough for you?" Shikamaru asked sarcastically.

"Oh no, that's not what's bothering me," Temari replied. "The whole death by crushing rock is just fine. It's you that's bugging me."

"Me? I'm bothering you?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Yeah, you are. I expected a lot more out of you," Temari said with an irritated frown.

"What do you mean you expected more out of me?" Shikamaru asked annoyed. "There wasn't anything I could do to stop the enemy ninja and you know it. It's not like you could have defeated him either."

"I know that. My wind was totally useless against his earth anyway. That's not what I'm talking about though."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you sitting on your lazy ass staring off into the distance saying nothing in our final moments. I could not be more disappointed," Temari said with a scowl.

"Well what did you expect? I'm a lazy guy. I want to spend my last moments peacefully," Shikamaru answered.

"I expected something at least. Maybe some anger, or crying more likely seeing as I know you're a big crybaby already. A love confession or a reflection on your life at the very least."

"A love confession?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Well if you are going to be lazy like always I'll have to be the one to make this interesting," Temari smirked as she turned to face him. "Shikamaru Nara, I think you are the most infuriating person on the planet. Not to mention the laziest. You are the biggest waste of potential on earth. You're sexist and impossible to work with. I can't stand you most of the time. For a while I was pretty sure I hated you. You gave up when you could have beaten me and then you were a weakling who couldn't keep his emotions under control."

"Oh great, I'm going to spend the last minutes of my life being insulted." Shikamaru said.

"DO NOT INTERRUPT OR I WILL MAKE THOSE LAST MINUTES COME A LOT SOONER! Anyway, things started to change when you rescued me. I realized you weren't as weak as I thought you were. I'd always known you were incredibly smart. I started to understand that maybe having emotions wasn't such a bad thing either. I didn't particularly like you all that much but I respected you. As a comrade and a kind of friend."

"Are you going to go through our whole life history woman?"

"You obviously didn't head the part about not interrupting!" Temari yelled as she smacked Shikamaru in the head. "I had mixed feelings about becoming the ambassador between the Leaf and Sand villages. I felt awkward being in the village I had helped attacked. I didn't want the people there to remember me for that and hate me. Gaara asked me to do it though so I couldn't refuse. When I found out that it was you I was going to be working with again I thought it was kind of funny and ironic. The dynamic duo paired up again. I started to not absolutely dread spending time with you after a while. You weren't an idiot and a pervert like every other guy."

"And you say I'm sexist?" Shikamaru asked.

"Honestly Shikamaru if you interrupt me one more time I'm going to strangle you into oblivion," Temari threatened him with a deadly glare as she continued. "I started to think of you as a real friend now. That's when things got complicated. People always assumed that because you were a boy and I was a girl and we spent a lot of time together that we had to be dating. I was going to kill your stupid friends. They would not leave me alone! I was asked on a daily basis how far we'd gone or if you were any good or when I was finally going to admit we were together. I finally snapped. I had had enough and the next person to bother me about it was going to get it. It just so happened to be your friend Sakura. She asked me how I handled having a boyfriend from a different village. I let her have it. I screamed at her about how it was perfectly normal for two people to work together and hang out without being together. That people who assume things like that our idiots. That she spent time with boys who weren't her boyfriend so she shouldn't be such a hypocrite. When I finished with my rant she just smiled at me and told me she understood. I told her that she should help all her idiot friends understand too. She told me that she was a ninja not a miracle worker. After that I handled all the comments a lot better. I just threatened to hit them with gust of wind so hard they wouldn't wake up for two days. The comments started to stop after that."

"What a shocker you used violence."

"Shikamaru, I am going to give you one more chance to not interrupt me again before I show you the real meaning of the word violence. I should have been happy after all that right? I was a Jōnin, my brother was Kazekage, and I got to be the ambassador to the Leaf village to see all the friends I'd made there. I wasn't happy though. I didn't understand why though. I figured it all out though on my next trip to the Leaf Village. I arrived at the gates to find Sakura waiting for me. She told me you were on a mission and wouldn't be back for another week probably. I was surprised at how disappointed I was. I couldn't figure it out. I mean I didn't see you for weeks when I was at home so why should it affect me? I pondered over this for the next week. It wasn't until you came back that it became clear. It was actually Ino that helped me figure it out. She saw me right away when she came back. She asked me if I had missed you guys. It hit me then. I had missed you. I never missed you when I was home because I never expected you to be there anyway. I then had to figure out why the hell I would miss you," Temari paused before continuing. For once Shikamaru didn't interrupt. "I thought about everything we had been through together over the years. You were like my best friend and worst enemy. I couldn't be in the same room with you without wanting to kill you but I missed you when you were gone. It was pretty simple. I had fallen in love with you."

"You had what?" Shikamaru asked thinking he must have heard wrong.

"I love you," Temari said simply like it was no big deal.

There was a long pause while the two just stared at each other.

"Tem-" Shikamaru started to say as he was cut off by a huge crash.

A familiar voice shouted "Rasengan" while another shouted "Cha!" The rock walls surrounding them began to shake. A huge hole appeared in front of them and two people jumped through it.

"Are you guys okay? That wall was so strong it took my full strength Rasengan and Sakura's hardest punch combined to make a hole in it! If we hadn't shown up when we did you guys might have died!" shouted Naruto.

"It's a good thing Lady Tsunade sent us out after you! Are either of you injured?" asked Sakura.

Shikamaru stared at them dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what just happened. He looked over at Temari to see her having pretty much the same reaction.

"I'm fine, just out of chakra," answered Temari finally snapping out of her shock. "Did you take care of the enemy ninja?"

"Yeah, Kakashi sensei took them out while we rescued you. Uh Shikamaru are you ok?" Sakura asked looking at the still shaken Shikamaru.

"Oh uh yeah I'm fine. We should head back to the village then if everything has been taken care of," Shikamaru answered her.

"You're right Shikamaru! I could go for a big bowl of ramen when we get back personally! What about you Sakura? You wanna join me?" Naruto said as he led the way to the village.

Shikamaru grabbed Temari by the wrist and hung back. "Hey, about what you said back there…"

"What did I say?" Temari asked with a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean what did you say?" Shikamaru asked getting annoyed.

"I didn't say anything. I always heard that people had all kinds of crazy hallucinations when they have a near death experience but I didn't think you'd be they type to get them," Temari said with a smirk. "Maybe you should get that genius brain of yours checked out when we get back too."

Shikamaru sighed, "What a drag."

Temari turned and started to catch up to the others.

Hmm a near death experience is what it takes to get her to talk. I guess I'll just have to come up with a plan for one, Shikamaru thought as he started walking towards the others.

AN: A R & R would be greatly appreciated