Troublesome, but true
Temari and Shikamaru walk through Konoha together, as they have done so many times before, they have become so accustomed to it, that they can hardly believe that this is the last day they'll be together.
Tomorrow is the day that Temari will be leaving, she'll have to go back to the village of the Sand. Of course, she knew she'd only be at Konoha for three weeks, but she became so familiar with the silent and whining Shikamaru, that the parting will be a little painful.
"So…" she says, not knowing what topic to arise. They've been talking to each other a lot these past weeks and they've pretty much covered everything they are interested in, so that in the last couple of days, they've only been occupied with Shikamaru's biggest hobby, watching clouds.
"So…" Shikamaru replies, looking at Temari, not knowing what to say either. They start to laugh. "Thinking of something to say is so troublesome, right?" he jokes.
Temari nods, grinning, Shikamaru thinks everything's troublesome, but she can't help but think that he actually enjoyed being in her presence these weeks.
"Tomorrow I'll be leaving…" she decides to say.
Shikamaru nods, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants, staring up at the sky.
"As long as I am the one to negotiate with Konoha, I'll probably return every once in a while, so you'll probably have to hang out with me again some time soon." Temari now says, trying to keep the conversation going, but also seeing that Shikamaru doesn't really like the topic.
Shikamaru smiles a little. "As long as Godaime doesn't put me on a different mission, you'll be stuck with me." He says.
"Can't be helped." Temari says, grinning from ear to ear, but quickly turning around so that Shikamaru doesn't notice.
"It's becoming late already…" Shikamaru notices, nodding at the colouring sky.
Temari's heart seems to sink a couple of inches, does he want to get rid of her already? She looks at the sky as well, it looks like it'll be a beautiful sunset.
Shikamaru looks at Temari, seeing he said something wrong. Does she want to stay with him or something? He never really imagined that she would actually like his stupid hobby's or that she would enjoy staying around him longer than the assigned time. But then again, women are strange, so you never know for sure. He decides to test his luck.
"Before we call it a day, would you like to go see the sunset from a better location?" he asks, annoyed to hear his voice tremble.
Temari's eyes open wide, did she hear that correctly? She looks at Shikamaru, it's obvious he at least said something, as he looks at her with anticipation. She nods, the sunsets in Konoha are different than the once in Sunagakure, she can't help but like these type a lot.
Shikamaru grins at her and leads her to the place they've visited a lot during the last couple of days. Every time they were bored, he would lead her to this rooftop to see the clouds passing by, seeing shapes in them and laughing because they were acting so silly.
Temari lies down in the square stone, knowing the cloud-watching procedure by heart.
Shikamaru takes place beside her, taking a deep sigh. He looks around so see Temari, her eyes fixed on the sky, mesmerized. He keeps staring at her for a while. He never noticed how good she looks when the last beads of sun touch her face.
"What?" Temari asks when she notices he's looking at her.
Shikamaru turns around, blushing a little. "Nothing." He quickly says.
Temari gets a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. He was definitely staring at her, and not with that everyday boring look in his eyes. She suddenly notices how beautiful sunsets actually are.
It becomes darker, the sun has gone under and the stars take residence in the sky. It becomes chilly and Temari shudders.
Shikamaru sees this and offers her his chuunin vest. Temari gratefully takes it and smiles at him. Shikamaru can't seem to smile back, his throat is becoming dry, he knows he can't stall the moment of parting much longer.
"We should really be heading back now…" he says softly, not looking at Temari.
Temari stares at the ground. She doesn't really want to leave, not that the cold is really all that nice, but she wouldn't mind watching the sky for a few moments longer, she feels so save when she's doing that, especially around…
"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asks, he noticed that Temari is looking a little down.
Temari quickly nods. "Yeah, of course I am, well then… we should go." She says, trying to sound as confident as ever.
Shikamaru doesn't reply, but starts on his way down the stairs, Temari quickly following him.
What's with this change of personality all of a sudden? He definitely seems more cold.
When they reach the apartment where Temari lives during her visits to Konoha, she turns around, Shikamaru's eyes seem cold and distant, almost avoiding hers. She zips open his Chuunin vest and hands it back to him.
Shikamaru takes it, their hands touch each other and for a moment Shikamaru lingers to touch it. When Temari looks up with a red blush on her face, Shikamaru quickly jumps back, putting his vest back on, then smiling a little. "Well… will I see you again tomorrow?" he asks, not knowing where to look, so he stares at his toes.
Temari nods. "I'll still be here a couple of hours tomorrow, so you're bound to run into me at some point." She says with a slight grin, her hand feels warm where Shikamaru touched it.
Shikamaru satisfies himself with a nod. "Sleep well then." He says, waving at Temari and walking away.
Temari stands there for a moment, looking at the retreating figure of Shikamaru, disappearing into the night. She shakes her head, sighs and walks inside.
When she wakes up the following day, she has the feeling she hasn't slept at all, her dreams were filled with Shikamaru, who was running away from her, she tried to follow him, but couldn't catch up, so she went to the place where she'd most likely find him, the rooftop, she finds him and he says he's found a cloud that looks just like her, she looks up to see a cloud that looks like an old hag, ugly… At that time she found herself running, away from Konoha.
She stays in bed for a moment, wondering why the heck she dreamed about that.
When she finally feels ready to get out of bed, she has to untangle herself from the blankets first. She quickly gets dressed to get ready for her last visit to Godaime. She has to tell her she's leaving today, courtesy they call it.
For some reason she feels sad about leaving, she knows she should be happy, she's heading home, but she doesn't want to.
She leaves the house absent-mindedly, turning right to resume her way towards the Hokage Tower when she hears her name. She turns around, seeing Shikamaru running up to her.
"What were you dozing off about?" he jokes when he caught up to her. "I was waving at you, but you didn't even see me."
Temari feels a blush crossing her face, had he been waiting for her? "I'm sorry, didn't sleep all that well last night." She says softly.
Shikamaru doesn't answer, but starts walking. Temari walks along. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long." She now says, her voice still doesn't get louder than a whisper and she curses herself for that. Also, those words sounded strange to her own ears, like they were young lovers going on a date.
Shikamaru seems to think the same as he starts to laugh.
Temari feels the need to explain herself, her face now being as red as yesterday's sunset.
"I just mean… you were waiting for me… and I… well… I was running late so…" she only makes it worse.
Shikamaru smiles up at her. "Don't worry, I was running late myself, so I didn't have to wait long." He says in a comforting way.
Temari nods, they stand in front of the Hokage Tower, but she doesn't want to go inside just yet. She comes to a halt. "You didn't have to accompany me, you know, I could find it on my own." She says, to keep the conversation going.
"Hey, I'm your escort, I don't want Godaime to think I didn't take good care of you, she would assign me to a different mission next time and…" he stops talking, he can't get himself to say that he actually enjoys these missions. With her…
Temari seems to know what he's about to say and says: "Well, I'm glad you came then, wouldn't want Godaime to think you're a bad ninja, right?" she grins again and enters the building, Shikamaru following in her shadow.
The report about her time in Konoha seems to take ages, she knows she has to be out of the village at noon, she watches the sun creep over the window sill and wants to leave desperately, knowing it's almost time.
"Well then, I'll give you the last thirty minutes to walk around time and say goodbye to people. Shikamaru, you'll still be her escort for the time being." Godaime finally says.
Temari bows and Shikamaru looks the other way, seemingly bored.
When they're about to close the door of Godaime's office behind them, Godaime suddenly says: "Oh, before I forget, in two months, there'll be a business trip to Sunagakure, Shikamaru, you'll be assigned to that."
Shikamaru looks around, not being able to hide a grin, Godaime winks slightly and tells them to leave.
As soon as the door closes, Shizune walks up to Godaime. "I never heard anything about a business trip to the Sand…" she murmurs.
Godaime sighs and sits back, looking at the couple that walks down the path outside. "Haven't you noticed the tension between those two? Something's definitely going on. Shikamaru has been working his ass off these last couple of months, I think he deserves a little vacation. So why not with the girl? I think I can make the arrangements." She says.
Shizune bursts into laughter and looks at the two walking outside, indeed, they look closer to each other than people should normally be on a mission.
Temari and Shikamaru take the last couple of minutes to stroll through Konoha, Temari said that Gaara wanted a poster of the symbol of the leave and Kankurou wanted a miniature Kabuki puppet, so they spent the time searching for that.
They say goodbye to everyone they see on their way to the gate, Ino looks suspiciously at Shikamaru, but he quickly drags Temari away.
Somewhere behind them, the clocks strike twelve.
They reach the gate and Temari turns around. "Well, thanks for the escort, I'll see you again soon."
Shikamaru nods, feeling the urge to run up to her. "Yeah, I'll see you again in two months I suppose." He says with a slight grin.
Temari smiles a little and nods as well. "Well, bye then." She whispers and she walks away.
Shikamaru shakes his head. He wants to shout at her, but his voice won't come out.
'Such a troublesome situation…' he thinks and he does the one thing he can do.
Temari walks away, slowly, as if she hopes that he'll call her back, but it doesn't happen, she feels down, sad, but she won't let him know that.
Suddenly she feels like her legs aren't moving anymore, she has felt this sensation before, during the Chuunin exams. Shikamaru's Shadow Bind. She tries with all her might to look over her shoulder, only to see an almost desperate Shikamaru holding her immobile.
"Please… wait just a second…" Shikamaru says and he lets go of Temari.
Temari turns around, wondering why Shikamaru did this.
"I'm sorry I had to restrain you like that, but I couldn't really get myself to talk and this way I don't have a choice. Because you naturally wonder why I did that." Shikamaru explains.
Temari nods. "I kinda wonder, yeah." She says, walking up to him.
Shikamaru looks everywhere but at her. He tries to get himself to speak, but it's so much easier to stay quiet.
"I… I didn't want you to leave just yet… I enjoyed our time together a lot and… well… I wish we had more time to spend together and that I didn't have to wait another two months to see you again…" Shikamaru stammers.
Temari gives him a judging look. Is he trying to confess to her or something?
"I wish I had more time to spend with you as well…" she says softly.
Shikamaru gets more confident after hearing this. "Thanks, I needed to hear that… I mean… I usually don't say these kind of things… it's so troublesome to tell someone what you feel, but… I think I really like you… a lot…" He can't help but blush after saying this.
Temari smiles. "Why didn't you tell me that before? If you did, you would've known I really like you as well and you wouldn't have been silent and absent-minded all the time yesterday." She jokes.
Shikamaru blushes, his heart races and he smiles a little again. "That would've been a lot easier indeed." He chuckles.
Temari stands on her toes and gives Shikamaru a quick kiss on his cheek, then she turns around. "I'll see you in two months, please don't forget you already confessed to me!" she says and she runs away, her four, short tails bobbing in as she goes.
Shikamaru touches the place where she kissed him and feels a tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach.
As soon as she's past the horizon, he turns around, looking straight into the grinning face of Naruto.
"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asks, sounding shocked.
"I wanted to say goodbye to… ehm… that girl… but I kinda fell into your conversation, so I decided not to." Naruto says raising his eyebrows in an appreciating way. "So you finally summed up the courage eh?"
Shikamaru jumps up and puts a hand on Naruto's mouth. "If you ever dare to say that I'll use my strangle technique on you!" he hisses.
Naruto seems to consider that for a moment but then he nods. Shikamaru releases him.
"Well, I'll be heading home then." Naruto says, walking off with his hands in his neck.
Shikamaru feels like trouble's ahead, but that can't stop him from feeling happy, in two months, he will see Temari again, and this time, he'll be her boyfriend, rather than only an escort.
End 1