He froze in his current stance, his eyes darting away from her.

"Shikamaru, I want you to meet Miss Sabuku." He turned around with a frozen smile. He reached out his hand.

"Nara Shikamaru." He said, gulping. He was careful not to let his gaze drop – and he looked at her cleavage for a second.

"Sabuku no Temari." She said, her voice was lower and huskier than he remembered, different from the voice she had when she was …

It was static was her hand took hold of his and gave it a firm shake.

Shikamaru returned the firm handshake.

Well, she does have a handshake of a man, that's for sure. He felt his hand stung a little.

"Allow me to introduce Miss Sabuku. She is the Chief Officer of our corporation, being our late chairman's eldest daughter and our current chairman's sister. He has entrusted her to be in charge of the corporation project."

"Thank you Baki-san," said Temari, with a tiny smirk on her face.

How troublesome. Shikamaru thought to himself. No, goddamn it. Focus at the task at hand.

"Well, Shikamaru is one of our most able young associates here, our chairlady has assigned him to be the contact on our side."

"That's troublesome," he muttered under his breath.

"I see. Then I suppose we would be seeing each other quite often, right, Shikamaru?" He jerked his head facing her as she called his name.

"Ye-yea." He replied, shuddering. What a drag…

"It would be great if you could show me around the office, after the meeting." suggested Temari. "I hope it is not too troublesome."

He saw that smirk on her face, so she does remember me.

"Yea sure." He shrugged, trying to pull his act together.

Temari was amused as she saw his eyes darting towards her during the meeting.

She was genuinely surprised to see him when he entered the conference room.

What a small world, she thought to herself.

Last night was a haze, but she remembered him.

He looked up from his glass of martini, and stared at her.

He was not your conventional heartthrob, but he was good-looking in another way – dark hair, narrow brown eyes on a laid back expression – almost feminine, but his aura says otherwise.

His body was lean yet toned; she could notice it beneath the white shirt he was wearing. He looked at her, half annoyed, half intrigued. Interesting, she thought.

"Vodka, uh," he nudged his head up towards her glass. "How troublesome."

She smirked and sat down next to him.

She noticed that he glanced at her cleavage – like all men do.

She was wearing a dark tight black dress, with a v-shaped opening, revealing her round, well endowed body.

She smirked as she ordered another cup of martini for him and another shot of vodka for herself.

"Temari-san," the older man with a beard and kind smile called her name, she turned around and looked at him. "What do you think about this proposal?"

"Oh… it seems fine to me," she flashed a professional smile; at her peripheral vision she saw him, eyes fixated at her.

She had a little chuckle.

"Very well, then," said Baki. "We will meet again at the general meeting next month then, Asuma-san. Meanwhile, Temari would handle the rest."

"My pleasure," replied Asuma, nodding at the other man. "Shikamaru, go ahead and show Temari-san around."

"Sure." He stood up, and stretched a little. Temari's eyes narrowed a little, beneath that suit was the body that drove her crazy last night.

"This way," he said, his voice was lazy, but she could still sense that bit of nervousness in him.

She nodded and followed him outside; she knew he caught her playful glance.

"Well, this is the human resources department," he walked her around the office, and then they headed to the elevator. "Here, I will show you down to the lobby."

She could feel his uneasiness; the way his muscle tensed up – he was embarrassed, and she was having her little fun.

"So … did you enjoy last night?" She said, almost whispering into his ear. She made sure to blow into his air lightly and see him shiver. Visibly

He flinched and took a step away from her. "What a drag," he grumbled.

She smirked at him; the elevator doors opened and she literally pushed him into the elevator.

As the door closed, she leaned closer; he could feel her breath on his chin, he looked down and saw her cleavage, that deep gap of shame he wanted to dive in right now.

"Someone could have saw us, you troublesome woman." He hissed, she grinned at him triumphantly. He looked away, avoiding any eye contact with her.

"Oh?" She arched an eyebrow. "It wasn't so troublesome for you last night isn't it?"

There was a slight blush of pink creeping onto his face, she enjoyed it, what a devil she is, he thought to himself.

"God, have some shame, woman," he murmured. She flashed a grin as he murmured how troublesome she was again.

Relief came as the elevator stopped at the ground floor lobby. He straightened his tie, and followed her out of the elevator.

"So, I guess I will see you later, Nara Shikamaru." She smirked before turning around and headed to a black car waiting outside.

"What a drag," he shrugged and scratched the back of his head. He couldn't help but notice the way her hips swayed as she headed outside.

Oh god, I need to get this off my mind, he thought as he headed to the elevators.


It was 5:30pm, Shiakamaru was heading home from his office.

He stretched his body as he exited the building, along with a long good yawn.

He was just walking back along the way he came and he noticed something on the newsstand.

It was a magazine with a familiar face on the cover.

Her face, to be exact.

She was posing on the magazine – she sported a red dress, her hair was let down, unlike that crazy, four-tailed do she had on today. She was smiling enticingly for the camera. The magazine was titled "Sabuku no Temari – Suna Corporation's Princess – Brains and Beauty".

He stared for a while, before fishing out a note, handing it to the lady at the newsstand. "Give me one of those magazines." He said with two careful glances to his side.

The lady handed him one and he tucked it in his arm before walking back to the street where his building was located.

If he is going to fight, at least he would have to study his enemy.

He went back to his apartment, almost immediately, he flipped open the magazine and tried to read more about that troublesome woman who have somehow plagued his life since yesterday night.

About yesterday night …

"So what are you doing here? Got dumped?" She smirked, turning her head and facing him.

"Tch, of course not," he replied, rolling his eyes back. "It's my friend's birthday, and they insisted to come to this place. I can't even hear myself think." He took another sip from his martini.

"Hmmm." They said nothing for a few seconds.

"You wanna dance?" She suddenly suggested, with a seductive smirk on her face.

"Dancing is such a drag," he replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"I dare you." She said, he swore he saw a fire lit up in her eyes. As if they were playing a game of tug of war.

And she won.

"Fine, fine." He said. "You are such a troublesome woman."

She grinned and pulled him up. The two walked to the dance floor.

It was awkward at first when the two started to stretch and move along with the beat, but suddenly they picked up the rhythm.

She leaned against his body, he could feel her body against his.

Her arms swung around and managed to touch his arms, his thighs …

He got lost at the moment, as they danced away …

Shikamaru found himself flipping through the pages just staring at photographs of her.

He slapped himself on the face lightly. "Goddamn it Shikamaru." He muttered. "It's just a goddamn drunken one night stand."

He put down the magazine and went out of the door. He heard his mother's voice shouting dinner was ready.


Temari let out a sigh of after kicking off her heels.

"About time you're back," said Kankuro. Her brother was sitting on the couch; He still looked grumpy like he did this morning in the conference.

"I had … matters to attend to." She smiled a little. "When is your flight back to Suna?"

"Tomorrow morning," he said. "Anything you need to me to bring to Gaara?"

"Nope," she said. "Tell him I said hi. And that the documents will be sent back to him in three days tops."

"Sure thing." Kankuro shrugged. "Are you going to cook us dinner or something?"

"Nope, I am too lazy, let's just order pizza." Temari smiled at her brother.

"Fine with me," Kankuro shrugged again, and jerked his hand back at the television.

The pizza arrived around thirty minutes later, his mouth opened as he took another piece from the cardboard box.

"By the way," he said. "Where were you last night? You didn't come back until 5 something this morning."

Temari tensed up for a second.

Her eyes were wide open - she sat up and looked around.

This was not her home. She was butt naked, and it was 4am in the morning.

She looked at her side – he was sleeping soundly, his chest heaving upwards and caving in slowly as he breathed – she smirked.

She tried to get off the bed, only to realize that his hand was clinging on her – holding her gently.

With a tiny smile, she brushed it off lightly and placed his hand back onto the bed. He grunted in his sleep, and turned his back towards her.

She chuckled silently, and proceeded to look around for her clothes.

Surprisingly, her dress and underwear were still in good shape. She quietly put her clothes back on.

She was just about to leave but something stopped her.

She did something she never did with other guys.

She walked and crouched down in front of him, softly brushing away the dark hair dangling around his face.

She took a good long look before pressing her lips gently onto his.

She laughed and did not respond.

"You went around and fucked some guy?" He had a smug grin on his face.

Yes, Kankuro, and you just met him this morning.

"Psh, fuck off Kankuro. Shut up and eat your pizza."

He grumbled and shoved the pizza slice in his mouth.

Temari chuckled as she took another bite.

Her cell phone beeped. She held it up and saw that it was a message from Baki.

Please begin drafting of documents as soon as possible. Pre-emptive apology for possible overnight work. Baki

Temari rolled her eyes; then she smiled at herself.

That guy must be complaining how troublesome it is right now.

And at the same time, a certain man rolled his eyes backwards and complained how troublesome this whole matter is.

Only to be told off by his mother.

"No cell phones at the dining table!"

Work is just about to get more troublesome.


Author's note:

Here is another chapter! I am writing this apart from my other story - Chains; because things are about to turn dark and I need something light hearted to cheer myself up. I hope this makes you smile and laugh too! Read and review! xoxo

V.S.V