This story, somewhat, follows the actual story of Naruto but there are some different things. So follow along and enjoy.
To Shikamaru, it was troublesome but it was… love at first sight. To Temari it was secret love at first sight that she didn't even realize. But after a while Shikamaru could no longer restrain himself from falling for Temari's looks and, though he thought it impossible, her attitude.
Here's what throughout their meetings as they both... fall for each other.
I Think I Love You
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Chapter one: It's Impossible
"Aww... man! I have to fight a girl. This is such a drag! Why do I have to fight an inferior sex?" Shikamaru asked, clearly being a sexist. (A/N females please don't get offended. I got love for you all and I know if you all wanted to, you could beat my ass.)
"What the hell do you mean by 'inferior sex'!?" Temari raged.
"I mean what I mean."
"This guy is a total jerk!" Temari continued in her head.
"Well, I guess we better get this over with." Shikamaru sighed and just stood there, "I wonder why I said that just now."
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Scene Skip
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"Hmm... she's good. Her attacks are long range, so it won't be that easy to get close enough to use my jutsu... I hope that my chakra can last me long enough." Shikmaru thought after dodging more of Temari's killer wind jutsu.
"You're pretty good when it comes down to running!" Temari shouted to the hidden Shikamaru. "It would be a lie to say that I'm not surprised. I'm really shocked to see that he dodged my attack more than twice in a row." Temari admitted to herself.
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Scene Skip
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"Okay, I should be safe here for now." Temari said after getting out of range of Shikamaru's tactful offence, and using her fan to cover her next move. "Okay Temari, think this through. What are you going to do next? I know! I'll use the shadow clone jutsu to draw his attention, and while he's focused on the clone I'll sneak up from the other side." Temari thought before she prepared herself for her tactful offence. "Okay, now!"
Temari was about to summon a clone, but something was wrong; she couldn't move. "What's the matter with me? Could I have gotten caught..., by him? How…?" Temari said softly as she unwillingly stood up.
"Since you seem to be interested in how I got you, I'll let you see." Shikamaru said before looking behind him, which made Temari do the same. There it was; Shikamaru's shadow jutsu.
When they were facing each other again all Temari could say was, "How?"
"It's such a drag to have to explain this stuff. Okay, from your first attack I realized that there was no way of me getting close enough to use my jutsu, so while you thought that you had me on the defense, I was actually on the offence."
"What?" A few people in the crowd said.
"So, what does he mean by that, Asuma?" Kurenai asked the fellow jounin.
"To tell you the truth... Shikamaru had this match won from the beginning." Asuma said.
"How is that?"
"I'm not exactly sure. Because I have to admit his I.Q. is far above the genin level. In fact, it matches and surpasses some of the jounins'."
"Wha... but... Wow!" A shocked Kurenai said.
"That's right! When I was assigned to the team he was on, I was a little disappointed to see such a lazy, work-shy, slothful, non-caring kid. But after a while I noticed something about him. He was smarter than the average genin. So, I challenged him, but for him, I had to disguise the challenges as normal games, or otherwise I would have never been able to persuade him to it."
"So... what were the results?"
"That kid, Shikamaru, has an I.Q. of over two hundred."
"What...?!" Kurenai found it hard to believe and couldn't say anything else after that, besides, "His I.Q. is in the range of a jounin."
"Okay, since no one seems to understand, I'll explain it a different way. All the time that you were throwing your wind at me and all my attacks had seemed to be failing, I was actually luring you slowly towards that hole that Naruto made in his match. So, when you were finally there I just used my jutsu and sent it underground, through the hole." After Shikamaru's explanation he started to walk to the center on the arena, which made Temari do the same.
When they arrived at the center of the arena, Shikamaru stared into the beautiful, though scratched up young lady's face. "Who is this guy? He's really good. But I wasn't even able to tell that he was up to something, even with my excessive training I couldn't tell at all. Something like that hasn't happened since I was a child. What's up with that?" She asked herself feeling curious about Shikamaru's life, "Now that I look at him up close... he's kind of cute... What am I saying?!" She shouted to herself, "There's no time to be falling for the enemy. I have to break out of this jutsu before he tries something." She then began struggling to break free of Shikamaru's jutsu.
"She has a strong spirit and will... That's so annoying and troublesome. Hmm..., why do I always have to go up against a girl? What's wrong with these people?" Shikamaru complained to himself, "I can't hit a girl. Why do girls get to be shinobi? I guess that's a silly question. It just can't be helped." He then grunted out loud and got lost in his thoughts. He raised his hand to his head and started to think about what he should do. As he thought he started to hit his head, and slowly the hits started to get harder and harder, until he came back to his senses, "Oh yeah, I still have my jutsu on her, and those hits were kind of hard." Shikamaru thought before peeping at Temari, who had an extremely angry face on and peered at him with her killer eyes. "That means that she was hitting herself to. Well, I guess that just means there's no chance of me and her. Whatever, it doesn't matter. She probably would never be into a guy like me anyway. That's why I never even try with girls that have a beautiful face like hers. Hmm..., my chakra is starting to deplete to nothing, so I guess I can't win... even if I actually wanted to."
"Hey... I want to ask you something." Shikamaru said to her, "Have you ever taken the time to just lay back and... stare up at the beautiful sky?" Shikamaru then waited for a response.
'...' Temari remained quiet.
"I guess that's a no." Shikamaru then raised his head up to the sky, "It's a beautiful blue with majestic and graceful clouds that just float around. Personally, I think it's a great phenomenon and gorgeous sight." Shikamaru allowed a short moment for Temari to admire his poetry of the sky's beauty, "My chakra's about to run out." He thought.
"What's Shikamaru doing just wasting time and chakra like that?" Kurenai asked.
"That's just the kind of person Shikamaru is." Asuma said, "Even thought he's a tactful shinobi, he just doesn't have any passion for it. He'd rather lay down staring at the sky than go into battle. For example, he maybe almost out of chakra but if he put his mind to it, he could probably think of a way to defeat her. But don't forget he's lazy and was always lazy; he'll probably give up the match before he tries."
'…' Kurenai had nothing to say to that last part.
"He's just that kind of person." Asuma concluded.
"What's up with this kid?" Kurenai thought.
Shikamaru returned his sight to the beauty and then raised his hand. Temari raised her hand reluctantly and closed her eyes thinking, for sure, that she had lost this match, "I give up." Everyone was in shock.
"What do you mean you 'give up'?" Temari asked, completely shocked.
"There's no way I can win this match with the amount of chakra I have left. In fact, I'll be surprised if I don't faint after this. So..., I give up."
"Well, I guess there's nothing I can do about that. The winner of the match is Temari of the Sand!" The conductor shouted.
Shikamaru released his jutsu, turned his back and began to walk away, "Yeah, this has got to be completely cool." Shikamaru thought as he walked away thinking that he was being cool. "What the...?" He thought as the ground began to approach him at a high speed. Then there was a loud thud, "I have so little strength and chakra left that a little stone can even trip me over. That definitely wasn't cool." Shikamaru took a deep breath and let it out as a big sigh,"What a drag." He said softly before fainting.
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"That whole thing was such a drag." Shikamaru thought after waking up, "Hmm... I wonder what everyone's reaction was when I went for my little trip. They probably all laughed their brains out."
"I can assure you that they more than likely were just laughing on the inside." The calming and soothing voice said.
"Who's that?" Shikamaru asked himself as he started to sit up. After sitting right up, he was a little shocked to see Temari standing on the other side of the room, "I guess you came to rub your unique victory in; or did you just come to laugh in my face?"
"Actually, I only came to see that you weren't dead. So, now that that's verified I can go."
Temari then hastily walked over to the door. She placed her hand on the door knob, but she paused when she heard Shikamaru begin, "So... was that really the only reason you came to see me?" Shikamaru asked, "Why in the world am I trying to push this? I guess rejection is my only comfort in this world."
"Actually..., that wasn't the only reason I came."
"What...!? She didn't say yes and rush off!" Shikamaru thought completely surprised.
"I wanted to ask you..." Temari paused and released the door knob, "why did you ask me if I ever took the time to look at the sky; and why did I see so much misery in your eyes?"
"Damn... I really hate when people ask me questions like that. I never know what to say. I guess if I ever want to be cool with girls, I'll have to start saying something different then." Shikamaru thought after thinking about the questions Temari asked. Shikamaru sighed and began, "The truth is... I really don't know myself."
Temari continued to stand there facing the door, dumbfounded, "What's up with me? Why do I keep feeling the need to continue talking with this guy; why do I feel like just staying by his side and making sure he's okay? QUIT IT! I can't possibly be interested in a guy like this. He doesn't even seem to like girls."
"Hey... you didn't just think to yourself that I'm gay or something like that; did you?"
"How'd he know that I was thinking something like that just now?" "No, no I wasn't!"
"Just as I thought... Why do girls always start to get that impression about me?" "…Because I'm not."
"Then why did you act like such a sexist jerk at the beginning of the match? You were acting as though men are superior to women in all ways." Temari said after turning around.
"Maybe I just think of girls as sex slaves, I wonder." "I don't really know. I guess I wasn't really thinking about what I said until it was already out."
"Yeah… right." Temari blurted before quickly exiting the room, and making sure she slammed the door.
Shikamaru sat on the bed staring at the door for a while, "Who the heck was that girl? She definitely isn't like most girls..., but she's surely too emotional just like all of them." Shikamaru threw his hands behind his head and lay back for a while before heading out, "I shouldn't think about her too much anyway... because the chances of me and her getting together... are really slim." Shikamaru then turned his head to a window that was right next to the bed, "Wow! The sky's just so beautiful."
"He's still running on about the sky." Temari asked herself. Though she had slammed the door as though she was about to storm off, she, for some reason, just didn't want to go yet. "Come on Temari..., why are you so interested in that Konoha shinobi. I must focus on the mission or else the success of the Sand Village will never come into light."
"If the sky were a woman, she'd definitely be gorgeous; maybe she'd look like that Temari girl."
Temari overheard and a light blush appeared on her face but her expression was even more dumbfounded than before.
"Hey what are you doing here?" Naruto shouted.
Temari got her thoughts together and looked up at him, the blush instantly vanishing, "Oh, it just this idiot." She thought, "What's it to you?" She responded.
"Answer my question, now!"
"...It doesn't matter... Hey, the guy in this room, his name's Shikamaru, right?"
"... Yeah, what's it to you?"
"...I just wanted to know who he was, and that's all you need to know." Then, in a flash, she stormed off.
"What did she want to know Shikamaru's name for? Hmm…, why was she so defensive with information involving my friend?" Naruto pondered, "I have a bad feeling about her, and her teammates." Naruto then entered the room, "Hey Shikamaru, how are you feeling?"
"I'm good." Shikamaru confirmed. "Why aren't you watching the next match?"
"I wanted to check if you were okay. So..."
'...' Shikamaru stared at Naruto for a second, "He didn't just see that girl leave my room did he? Aww... I hope I don't have to explain that." "'So...' what?"
"That girl that was just in here. Why was she in here?"
"What a drag." "Do I really have to explain that to you?"
"Well..., yeah you do."
"She was only checking to see that I wasn't dead."
"Why would she care?"
"I don't know. Why didn't you ask her?"
"I did. She didn't answer me."
"Anyway, that doesn't matter. Are you feeling good enough to walk?"
"Yeah…. Why?"
"Then hurry up and get out of bed. Let's go finish watching the fights."
"Fine. Fine." Shikamaru said, "Why can't I stop thinking about that girl?" He asked himself.
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What's going on? Shikamaru can't believe he actually had such a conversation with such a war goddess. Could it be... that he..., no. He just can't believe something like that. He doesn't want to have such a relationship with her. He thinks that if he ends up with a girl like her he'll end up hurt and he isn't the kind of guy that would take such a dive. Or is he?
He definitely doesn't think that he is, but he's going to be in for so much of a surprise about himself and about her.
What about this misery Temari says she sees in Shikamaru's eyes? Does she have the ability to dig down into the soul pits of anyone she stares at? Does she really have the ability to travel through the vicious storms of people's lives that easily? Is it even possible?
Well, unfortunately for Shikamaru, he's going to be he guy to find this out.
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