Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

(A/N: Hello peepz. This is a oneshot about Shikamaru and Temari. This takes place after the time skip. Please read this story and my other story Shadow of the wind and please review it. PLEASE. I really want reviews in my other story and this story okay. Tnx

The Most Uncomfortable Situation

"Aka Higi, Hyakki no Sōen!!!!" Sasori cried out smirking widely.

At this, what seems to be a thousand puppets were summoned. He opened a compartment of his puppet body. Strings of Chakra gushed out as if floods of water. The strings attached violently into their respective puppets. They moved as if alive. They created a crackling noise from their varnished wooden structure.

There, Temari and Shikamaru witnessed this astonishing power.

"Soon, you will be part of my collection here." Sasori cried out. A wide smirk engraved in his features.

There, they saw the vibrant display of one hundred puppets all defeated by Sasori. The puppets started out they dashed towards Temari and Shikamaru.

"Dai kamaitachi!!!!/ Kage Nui!!!!" Temari and Shikamaru yelled out at the same time executing their own technique. Temari waved her fan sending out a large wave of wind that destroyed a large number of puppets. Shikamaru performed a seal, his shadow stretched and separated into numerous shadow tendrils that pierced through the puppets wooden material. Temari waved her fan once more. The vicious wind blew the puppets away hitting others. Shikamaru fought violently, he used the Kagemane no jutsu to force the puppet to control as if it was his own. He commanded the puppets punch as he punch. After, he used the kage kubi shibari no jutsu to destroy them. They ferociously fought. Puppet after puppet, they skirmished one by one defeating anything that came in his way.

"He's getting more skilled as he concentrates more on the puppets left..." Shikamaru said. "...and the more puppets destroyed, the more we get tired. This is getting troublesome." Temari continued.

"GIRL, BOY, if all of these shinobi didn't defeat me, what makes you think you can!!!" Sasori cried out.

Eventually, Temari and Shikamaru were overpowered. Temari was caught from behind and Shikamaru was outnumbered. Suddenly, a kunai shot out of nowhere, an explosive tag was attached to it. It fluttered out by the wind resistance it was experiencing. The kunai made contact with a puppet and it exploded immediately. The detonation destroyed a number of puppets.

"... that's because they have comrades like us..." A silhouetted girl with buns on her head announced. She took two scrolls from her back and she danced around with it. Weapons shot out from the paper piercing all of the puppets taking hold of Temari and Shikamaru freeing them from their iron-like clamping grip.

"You may outnumber us but you're still one person." She continued. A boy in a white robe suddenly appeared. He had veins protruding from his eyes.

"... and one person can't beat four" He continued.

"Neji!!!" Shikamaru whispered, surprised.

Neji performed his Hakke Kusho jutsu. He punched the air in a gentle fist fashion and sent out air that spiralled destroying everything in its path. The horizontal twister stretched to a far distance that slashed and cut puppets in its way blowing it to hit other puppets.

"Are you alright??" Tenten asked Temari, she assisted her offering support so that they could stand. With her freehand, she waved her scrolls. Kunai, Shuriken, Maces and other weapons shot out from her scroll. The weapons bombarded the puppets that approached them.

"Temari can you stand on your own, I need both hands." Tenten said

"You're saying I can't stand. In fact, I could still fight"

"Good to know" was the only thing that came from Tenten. She jumped out to fight. Shikamaru fought nearby Temari. Suddenly, a poisoned needle shot out of nowhere. Shikamaru had kept his guard down. Eventually, it pierced Shikamaru in the left thigh. The poison acted quickly and paralyzed him causing him to collapse unto the ground

"Shikamaru!!!" Temari yelled out in a high shrill voice.

Temari looked at Shikamaru as if he was dead. Tears gushed out from her eyes. They bulged, the fan-wielding kunoichi's anger was kindled against Sasori and his puppets. She drew her enormous fan. She oscillated it, waving it back and forth continuously. Strong vicious winds were sent out every time her fan swung a great arc. She waved it back and forth, to and fro. Her constant swinging of the fan gave the fast moving, ferocious winds an increase in speed and an increase in velocity. The sudden rush of devastating force flooded the area. One by one, puppets were destroyed. Temari's face were trailed with tears. Her anger burned greatly. Neji covered his face from the winds that gave the area an aggressive rampage. Tenten and Neji approached Temari quickly. The force of the wind created a thick enormous dust cloud that shrouded the area. They tried to calm her down

"TEMARI, IF THE PUPPET MASTER SURVIVES THIS IT'S THE END OF US SINCE THAT COULD DANGEROUSLY DEPLETE YOUR CHAKRA" Tenten yelled in the attempt of calming her down.

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FLASH BACK

A usual morning it was for Temari. It was a rarely happy day and, as usual, she completely neglected all of the beautiful features of the outside environment, the melodious chirping of birds and the warming heat of the sun. Fluffy clouds dotted the vast light blue sky. Temari exited her house. She motioned towards Ichiraku ramen. She entered it and immediately noticed a certain shinobi. She knew this shinobi very well. Shikamaru was his name. She sat in a stool directly beside him.

"Hey." Shikamaru started out.

"Hey yourself" Temari replied

"Happy day isn't it???" Shikamaru continued.

"I don't know, I really don't have any opinion on that because I don't care." Temari answered.

"Why don't you care about anything? Did you know that nature is one of the real beauties in everything." Shikamaru explained.

"Well, I care about you ." Temari said. At this, she motioned her lips to Shikamaru's cheeks and tenderly kissed it. She delicately smiled at the shinobi. Shikamaru reacted with kissing her back at her cheeks.

"So, what would you want to order? There are a lot of delicious things that you can choose, for instance, the chicken ramen, vegetable ramen and more. So what will it be, I think I'll go with the chicken ramen to start the day." Shikamaru said, happily ordering his desired choice.

"The chicken ramen, I'll go with that too." Temari blissfully responded.

The old man happily got their order and immediately began on the preparations for their kind hearted demand. With great ramen skills, the old man spun the pasta turning it into fresh noodle strings. He prepared the soup with great compassion. He dressed it with vegetables and chicken. Then, he gently placed the strings on the hot liquid to soften up. There, he finished the orders within minutes. He gave the bowls to their respective customer. They gladly received it.

"Itadakemasu!!!" They shouted out as the two ate through their meal.

"Hey, it's that time of year again." Shikamaru said.

"Huh?" Temari whispered, she thought for a moment then finally it hit her. "Oh yeah, it's when we first met in the chuunin exams.

"Yeah, that was the first time I saw you and also that was the time that we fought against each other and also when I gave up for you." Shikamaru explained.

"Seriously, tell the truth. Why did you give up?" Temari asked, curiosity filled her face."Well, to be honest it was because... I didn't want you to be hurt." Shikamaru reasoned out.

"Shut up..." Temari said punching Shikamaru by the shoulder, not an unusual behaviour for Temari. "...It was because you couldn't handle me. I was too strong for you that time." She said feeling over confident.

"Fine, but it was only because my brain wasn't function well. You know if I was at the right condition I could've just run for your fan because I was aware that you used it as a medium to execute your Kamaitachi no jutsu. Also, the other reason is that I knew that it would be the right decision to score me a lot of points to become a chuunin, which worked smoothly. So don't go blabbing about that." He elucidated.

"Whatev-" Temari retorted but was caught off by a certain presence that they sensed. Temari unsheathed her fan and held it as if it was a club. Silence descended on the two preparing for an attack. Shikamaru quickly opened the curtain of the booth as Temari rushed out to club him/her with her fan. The person drew out a kunai and blocked the fan with it. The two weapons clashed. Not long after, Shikamaru created a seal and executed his Kagemane no jutsu. The shadow stretched immediately capturing the enemy of his tracks. Temari withdrew and leaped backwards. They saw a familiar mask that stared at them. It was an Anbu warrior. They sighed at a sign of relief.

"Oh it's just an Anbu warrior." Temari said.

"Yeah, we're sorry for all the misunderstanding. It's that you sneaked up on us, standard issue for an Anbu." Shikamaru said.

"That's alright you acted on instinct." The Anbu replied.

"But that's not why I'm here. Hokage-sama has requested that you, Temari and Shikamaru, carry out an A-rank mission. Of course you will have back up and medical support. You will go with two ninja that are skilled in taijutsu and weaponry to back up your long range and mid range jutsu. As informed you will head out with Neji and Tenten. We will supply your necessities such as kunai, shuriken and medicine for increased safety precautions. You will carry out this mission as soon as possible. You have a lot of time since it is still morning therefore go immediately to the Hokage tower where you will be thoroughly briefed of your mission." The Anbu informed.

"Hai." The two replied. At this, they immediately ran towards the hokage tower. They opened the door and saw the blonde Hokage, Tsunade, the weaponry mistress, Tenten, and the Hyuga genius, Neji.

"Aaaahhhh you're here, I was expecting you. We were just discussing about the mission that I am about to request you to carry on. Okay, there have been reports on a puppeteer ninja causing trouble around the area. Since you, Temari, are from the sand and have a sibling who is a puppeteer, you are best to carry out this mission. Also, Shikamaru's analytical ability is second to none and I see that you are most comfortable with this certain ninja..." The hokage explained.

At this, Temari and Shikamaru looked at each other with 5 shades of red blushing in their cheeks.

"... As I said, you will carry out this mission together with these two. They two are here to aid you with their specialty in weaponry and taijutsu which supports your type of jutsu being mid range and long range. You have to look into this situation and defeat this puppeteer. I expect him to be an Akatsuki since the witnesses say that he had a black robe dotted with a few red clouds. Be very careful. DISMISSED!!!" She said sending the team out.

"Wait, um, Hokage-sama, where are we actually going???" Tenten asked.

"The Akatsuki hideout!!! One of our Anbu has located their hideout and has given the information to Neji." Tsunade answered.

END OF FLASH BACK

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Temari stopped, tears still flowing freely from her eyes. She dropped to her knees. Her hands filled with blood from clutching her fan so tightly. She cried loudly at the sorrow she experienced. 'Why does it have to be this way? I hate this I hate this I hate this.' She thought to herself while crying '...I am suppose to be Sunagakure's most toughest kunoichi. I've never cried ever since my father died, I was three then it's reasonable. Why am I crying, why am I still crying. Has love softened me up real bad??? Shikamaru, why did it have to be this way??' She continued to curse herself as she cried out, her thoughts broken in sobs. She rubbed her tears and looked at the direction of Sasori.

The thick dust cloud lifted. Broken parts of puppets were scattered everywhere from the ravaging force of the jutsu. Sasori stood there, smirking from the delight of his puppets destroyed. He took out a scroll, and from it he summoned a hunch back puppet.

"My, my, all those puppets destroyed. I see you haven't met with Hiruko." Sasori explained smirking widely at Temari. He laughed loudly, He waved his fingers and Hiruko opened his mouth. It sent waves of poisoned needles towards them. Neji went before them and spun around in great speed executing Hakkesho Kaiten. He released chakra from all of his chakra points creating a round force-field of that deflected all the poisoned needles that bombarded them. Hiruko continued to shoot out poisoned needles spraying it towards Neji, Tenten, Temari and a poisoned Shikamaru. Neji spun around rapidly containing the solid chakra ball that protected them from the barrage of needles. The needles shot out from Hiruko's mouth with a sort of gattling gun noise. Sparks flew as the metallic weapons made contact with solid ball. The needles fell rapidly into the ground. Neji finally stopped with his jutsu. Panting heavily, he took a battle position to combat with the hunchback puppet, Hiruko.

"Hakke Kusho!!!" Neji cried out gently punching the air with his palm. Wind spiralled horizontally ferociously headed towards Hiruko. It welcomed the twister calmly. The ravaging force of the twister heavily smashed the puppet thus a heavy dust cloud was created. The dust cloud lifted revealing Hiruko who is amazingly undamaged. Neji gasped at the astonishing defensive power that the puppet wielded.

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CONTINUE FLASH BACK

Temari and Shikamaru leaped towards the forest quickly as Neji and Tenten followed them. Shikamaru got some soldier pills from his pocket.

"Hey, Temari, Neji, Tenten, here's some soldier pills that the Anbu gave me. Only take a couple." Shikamaru said tossing the pouch of pills to Temari. She got two, ate it, and toss it towards Tenten. She also got two and gave it to Neji.

Later, the team hide out in a bush looking at a black robed hooded person walking towards a mountain.

"There!!!!" Tenten shouted getting her big scroll and waving it. A puff of smoke was summoned and a barrage of kunai shot out. The Akatsuki immediately took a scroll and summoned a puppet. It blocked all the kunai with its chakra shield. The puff of smoke lifted and there was no one there. The Akatsuki performed a series of seals that opened a large boulder of a mountain and an entrance was formed. He went inside. There, Tenten ran towards him with Neji, Temari and Shikamaru shooting kunai and shuriken around with her scroll. The Akatsuki responded with a strong leap to dodge all the kunai that was shot out. He waved his fingers and commanded the puppet to run towards Tenten. Immediately, Neji went to it and blocked its attack with a kunai. They were thrown backwards. The Akatsuki removed his hood revealing a red headed face. He removed his robe revealing a puppet body. Shikamaru and Temari were left to fight the Akatsuki.

"Hello, My name is Sasori." He said

"Aka Higi, Hyakki no Sōen!!!!" Sasori cried out smirking widely.

END OF FLASH BACK

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Hiruko shot his left arm like a torpedo. Neji reacted with executing his Hakkesho kaiten jutsu to defend. He spun around in a rapid speed releasing chakra to create a round ball of chakra energy. The left arm crash through the chakra ball. Sparks sprayed out as the torpedo-like weapon collided with the Hakkesho kaiten field. Then, a big scroll sniped out to the sky forming a rainbow shape.

"Soryu Tensakai!!!" Tenten yelled.

At this, the scroll sprayed Sasori and his puppet with hundreds of kunai. The scroll bombarded them scattering the projectiles everywhere leaving no room for escape. The constant free falling of projectiles to the ground created an enormous dust cloud. Neji's defensive move protected them from the scatter of bombarding weapons. Neji stopped spinning. He then executed the Hakke kusho jutsu to blow the cloud away. They gasped as they saw Sasori safely in tack. Hiruko had kunai and Shuriken protruding from his body. Sasori stood there with Hiruko's tail above him. Weapons also protruded from Hiruko's tail. He chuckled.

"That's quite a powerful jutsu. But it didn't work" Sasori said as he laughed.

Tenten pushed Neji aside and waved her scroll. It shot out weapons with explosive notes attached to it. Sasori leaped to the side as an evasive move to dodge the explosive projectiles. The weapons crash on the rocky wall behind Sasori causing a few rocks to fall on the ground. (A/N: Only a few not like a...um... it's gonna cause a cave-in or something it's just a few rocks and it's worthless it just shows the power of the explosive notes. ON WITH THE STORY).

Neji reacted with approaching Sasori rapidly. He dashed towards him quickly. Sasori waved a scroll that he rapidly got from his back. A puff of smoke was created and two puppets were summoned. The puppets blocked Neji's attack. Neji combated with the two puppets dodging their attacks and giving some of their as well. Neji leaped backwards as a result of being overpowered a bit. The two puppets ran towards Neji. He blocked the blows constantly. Suddenly, a puppet's mouth opened and shot out a needle. Neji dodged it. A puppet leaped backwards and spitted out a bunch of mini-arrows. Neji dodged it while blocking the blows of the puppet he was busy with.

"Tenten, you handle that puppet, it appears to be ranged."

Meanwhile, Sakura and a medical squad hurriedly rush towards Shikamaru. Sakura gasped at the sight of Shikamaru lying on the ground. She immediately tied her hair and tightly fastens her glove. She got a medical kit from the medical squad and got some of the medicine. She quickly tended to all of the bruises and wounds excluding the wound that the poison needle pierced. She quickly diagnosed Shikamaru. She placed her ear directly to Shikamaru's chest. She gasped, her eyes bulged.

"What!!! The poison is going directly to his cells. It's moving slowly but it's very lethal, this should depend on the dosage. Quick, tell me how much poison he got. Judging from the heart beat it's still below the torso, around the thigh area." Sakura explained.

"Yeah, that's where he got pierced with the poisoned needle and he only got pierced by a poisoned needle so it should be enough to inject only a small amount." Temari informed.

"Ok, that's a relief. At least, we know we still have a little time before... you know. Ok now all we need is... What!!!! Where's miracle water." Sakura yelled to one of the medical ninja.

"Um, we ran out of that." He replied.

"WHAT!!! At least do we have the herbs to make this???" She interrogated.

"Yeah, but we're lacking one."

"Which one??"

"Um just take a look." He answered.

Two weapons clashed, a mini-arrow and a kunai. Tenten panted heavily holding her scroll wide opened. She waved it summoning a few shuriken that shot out rapidly. The puppet quickly dodged it shooting out a few needles by opening a compartment in its legs and kicking. Tenten dodged it and she waved her scroll several times to send out multiple waves of projectiles. The puppet used a knife hidden in one of its compartments to slash all the kunai that it wasn't able to dodge. Kunai and Shuriken were scattered everywhere. She panted heavily.

Neji pushed a puppet arm away with the palm of his hands creating an opening of the puppets stomach. He used his other arm to punch it in the gentle fist fashion. The puppet opened a hidden compartment and captured the fist of Neji as he punched it. Another compartment was made in the arms of the puppet revealing two knives. It held on to it and attempted to strike Neji. Neji dodged it using his byakugan. He used the fist captured by the puppet to execute the Hakke Kusho jutsu. The jutsu sent the puppet recoiling backwards and eventually destroying it. With his byakugan, he saw Hiruko's tail violently homed in at him. He spun around and used the Hakkesho kaiten. The tail withdrew as it wasn't able to penetrate the defensive jutsu.

Tenten waved her scroll to summon a chain with a sickle at the end. She waved it like a whip. The puppet blocked it with its hands and the chain entangled it. Tenten then waved her scroll to summon kunai with explosive notes attached to it. The wave of kunai struck the puppet's wooden structure then exploded destroying it. She panted extremely heavily and sweat dripped from her face.

"What the, the recipe for this will not be complete until we get even just a dash of that." Sakura said

Then, a though occurred to Temari.

"Um, an Anbu warrior gave us some medicine earlier. Let me see it was with Shikamaru..." Temari said reaching to Shikamaru's pocket. "... here this is it." She continued getting a plastic bag with medicine. "...will this help???"

Sakura took a look with it. She got one and examined it.

"Is this an herbal soldier pill???" She asked.

"Well, I don't know but I know that it's a soldier pill, we took some of that earlier." Temari answered.

"Ahh, so it is an herbal soldier pill. This contains three medical herbs, although I really don't know the contents but I know it has the herb that we were looking for. Wait, did you say that you took one of this earlier."

"Yeah, we took two actually." Temari answered.

"Two?? That's great, which means we'll get enough of the herbs. All we need to do is make a solution of what we've got." Sakura said in delight.

"I'm not sure, is it ok that he already has the herb in him but he'll ingest a solution that's incomplete. What if it will have a side effect??" She asked concerned.

"Actually, Temari-san, the miracle water is just so that the person can ingest the necessary herbs immediately. It doesn't matter if you eat it one by one. Fortunately, we still have a lot of time."Sakura explained. She finished the herbal tea and let Shikamaru drink it.

"Ok now just to mould chakra so that he would take in the herbs much faster." Sakura said putting chakra in her hands "...also we need this fight of the poison and extract it. The herbal tea will just break down the poison into harmless proteins." She explained.

At this, she formed a series of seals and moulded chakra in her hands. She concentrated and positioned her hands directly above Shikamaru's throat and going down slowly to his stomach. There she concentrated hard and breathed deeply. Temari looked at the operation concerned and looking disturbed on Shikamaru's condition.

"Hahahaha, it appears that I am out of puppets except for Hiruko. Let's wrap this up." Sasori announced.

Tenten and Neji gasped for they cannot fight any more. Hiruko withdrew its tail preparing to strike. The tail sniped out aimed towards Neji. He leaped to the air with Tenten. Tenten then waved a smaller version of her scroll that summoned a few kunai with explosive notes attached. The kunai bombarded Hiruko who seem to be calm in his way. The cloud the detonation created was blown away revealing Hiruko who is in tack.

"Well, this is getting boring. I'm gonna finish this and go already." He said. He used one of the cylindrical containers in his back and released water from the palm of his hands. He waved it around like a sword made of a jet of water. The water cut through everything in its way. Neji and Tenten went to Sakura, Shikamaru, Temari and the rest of the medical squad. Sasori waved the water everywhere swinging it and swinging it like crazy. Neji used his Hakkesho kaiten to defend everyone. He used his last big of chakra to create a field large enough to cover everyone. Sasori continued to swing the jet of water. This hostile attack rendered the cave unstable and sliced. The rocks fell. Still, Neji persisted on the Hakkesho kaiten continuing to protect them from everything that came in their way. The rocks were finished from falling. They saw that Sasori was no longer seen in the vicinity. He has vanished completely with no sign of his presence. They panted heavily from all the battles that occurred. Tenten and Neji were informed to lie down on the ground motionless for them to be medically treated. They gave a deep sigh as the cool, green, healing chakra washed their body of impurities.

Temari's affection for Shikamaru burned steadily as she looked at him with great attachment and concern. She looked at Sakura who seemed to be troubled with the operation. Slowly tears started to flow. She made no sound and was silent. Tears just flowed down easily with no sound at all. Her silent sob was unnoticed by everyone. It was an unusually calm sob. She looked as if nothing happened and she was just sad, but tears slowly flowed from her eyes. She was calmly crying. Eventually, Sakura noticed of her silent whimper.

"Temari-san??? Are you alright???" Sakura asked.

Temari shook her head.

"Are you sure???" She continued.

Temari nodded as a sign of affirmation. Sakura continued to concentrate on her operation with Shikamaru. She held the green cooling chakra in the palm of her hands steadily, working its purpose on Shikamaru.

"Sakura-chan." Temari called out.

"yes???" Sakura answered in curiousity.

"Use some of my chakra... please, use my chakra and also. I don't want to be useless to him. I would like it that if he lives, at least it's my chakra that helped him live. I would really appreciate that." She pleaded. Hearing this, Sakura happily agreed to it and commanded her to put her palm with her hand. As she did this, the ball enlarged. It maximized in size. A few moments later, Shikamaru's eyes begin to open and gave Temari a tender smile. Temari was overjoyed, She begins to hug Shikamaru with great strength. Shikamaru, with his remaining strength, hugs her back.

The toughest kunoichi cried while hugging a person. Everyone saw them as they showed affection to each other. This left her in THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION.

THE END