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Chapter 2

Temari sat in her room sitting in a chair that faced the window. She smiled as she watched a cloud go by and thought of the boy she met yesterday. She turned as she heard a knock on her door. "Come it." She said half heartily as her brother entered the room.

"Hey sis" the boy said walking over to her. She frowned at him, still pissed off from yesterday.

"What is it Kankuro." She asked impatiently turning back to the window. She heard her brother sigh behind her as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Aw come-on ni-chan, you can't still be pissed we interrupted your date." The boy said mockingly to the older blonde shinobi. Temari fingers curled up in a fist as anger flooded through her. She turned around and gave a death stare at the now grinning boy.

"One more word Kankuro and I swear…" she snarled at the face painted boy who just laughed in return.

"Hey now no need to get angry sis!" the boy said as he put his hands up in a mock defense to his angry sister. He got up and walked towards the door. He turned back to her before he opened it. "It's not like you could actually like a damn Leaf shinobi anyways."

Temari continued to glare at her brother as he left the room. She sighed angrily as the door closed and the footsteps grew faint down the hall. 'That damn Kankuro!' she thought angrily. 'Why do my brothers have to chase off every guy I try to talk to?!' Temari stood up and passed around the room. "I need to blow off steam" she said to herself as she grabbed her fan and made her way to the door. When she walked into the living room she saw Kankuro and her Jounin team leader sitting on the sofa. Her younger brother was standing next to the window leaning against the wall. He gave her his normal glare as she entered the room. The other two sand nin looked at her. She glared at all of them as she walked toward the front door. "I'm going out to train." She said angrily at the men in the room. The Jounin nodded in response. She looked quickly at her other brother across the room. "Gaara…" she said gently. The red head continued to stare at her not replying. "I'll be right back ok? Don't do anything while I'm gone…" she smiled sadly as her brothers eyes hardened at her. She knew he hated to be told what to do but she was worried. Her hands involuntarily shook in fear as Gaara continued his stare at her. The room fell into a tense silence as she left the apartment they were put in for the exam.

She sighed in relief when she was out of sight of the building. She quickly shook the fear of Gaara off and continued to walk down the dirt road. She cursed silently when she realized she didn't bring her map of Konoha with her. 'Great' she thought 'I have no idea where to go.' She sighed and decided to explore the town hoping to run across a training site. She wondered for a while looking at the shops in the village and watching the local people rush by. She stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar voice a few feet away. She smiled as she saw a young dark haired shinobi talking with an older ninja. The older ninja laughed at something the boy said and ruffled his hair affectionately as he puffed on a cigarette. The boy smirked in return at the man. Temari smiled watching the two, 'that must be his sensei' she thought to herself. 'Well no use just standing here' she thought as she began to walk over to the two shinobi.

X

Shikamaru's breath caught as he heard a sweet voice say 'hey' behind him. He turned around and realized the voice belonged to the sand kunoichi from the day before. He smiled as she approached him. He was standing next to the barbeque shop his team always went to after training or a mission. His other teammates left earlier as he stayed behind to chat with his sensei Asuma. He heard someone clear their throat being him and he realized he had been staring at the blonde sand nin while thinking. He blushed and turned to Asuma, who was smirking knowingly at his student. "uh Asuma this is Temari" Shikamaru gestured to Temari and gave her a small smile. The Jounin smiled at the girl as he greeted her and she the same.

"Well I have to go Shikamaru" Asuma said giving him another glance that implied more than Shikamaru was comfortable with. 'Note to self, yell at Asuma later about that' the genius thought as his teacher turned and walked away, waving at them from behind. He tsked at his teacher and turned back to Temari.

"You following me around?" he ask Temari jokingly, earning a smirk from the sand kunoichi.

"As if baka!" she replied in mock anger and laughed. "Actually I got lost…"

Shikamaru laughed then asked "want me to help you find your way back to your apartment?" he saw Temari frown and panic flashed in her eyes.

"NO!... er I mean.. If you're not busy why don't we hangout around the village?" Temari asked smiling nervously. Shikamaru gave her questioning look which she ignored, he shrugged.

"Alright I've got time." He said smiling at her. She returned the smile as they began to walk down the street.

"Where are we going Shika?" Temari asked him. Shikamaru blush slightly at the nickname.

"Another one of my cloud watching spots"

Temari laughed "you have more than one?" He smiled at her teasing as they continued to walk. They made small talk and walked about the village. Temari stopped suddenly and walked over to a shop. 'Uh oh' though Shikamaru as he realized it was Ino's families flower shop. He sighed as Temari motioned him to follow her inside the shop. When they entered Shikamaru saw Ino sitting at the register. She was giving him the worst possible smile.

"Shikamru-kun!" Ino called to him waving as they entered the store. Her eyes were locked on Temari and her smile grew even more wicked. "On a date I see, huh?" she teased and laughed at the blush both of them gave. He looked at Temari apologetically and walked over to Ino.

"Can it Ino!" he quietly hissed at her as Temari looked around the store. Ino laughed in return.

"Oh come now Shikamaru! It's not every day I see you with a girl!" she said a bit too loud of his liking. He sighed as he turned to go over to Temari but Ino stopped him.

"Wait! Hold on a sec" she said quickly to him and went to a vase behind the counter. She pulled out a sunflower and cut its stem. She handed it back to Shikamaru with a wink. "For the girl" she said smiling nicely this time. Shikamaru blushed a deep red.

"Thanks" he muttered and walked over to Temari. She was looking excitedly at all the plants when he approached. She smiled at him as he stood beside her.

"I love all these flowers… nothing grows like this in the desert." She laughed lightly. He smiled at her.

"Well I guess you should have one then." He handed her the sunflower blushing slightly as she took it from him happily. She smiled wide as she smelled the flower, a light blush had found its way to her cheeks. They left the store hearing a good bye from Ino as they walked into the street. They continued down the busy street to the other side of the village. There was a building by the ninja academy that Shikamaru always went to sit on the bench in its roof and cloud watch. When they got to the roof Shikamaru was surprised to see a familiar shape sitting on the bench. He heard the rustle of a chip bag and smiled.

"Yo Choji!" Shikamaru called out in greeting as he and Temari approached a round boy with his hands in a near empty chip bag. They boy looked over and smiled.

"Shikamaru! I thought you went with Asuma sensei to play Shougi?" the boy then noticed the blonde kunoichi standing next to the lazy brunette and smiled. Shikamaru noticed his friends questioning look.

"Choji, this is Temari…" he said motioning to Temari who smiled at the boy in greeting. "And Temari this is my best friend Choji." He smiled at his friend, who returned it. 'At least Choji won't make fun of me today' Shikamaru thought happily. "Mind if we join you?"

The pair sat down on the bench when the boy replied no. They all chatted for a while sitting on the roof under the warm summer sun. Temari smiled when Choji asked her what the Hidden Village of Sand was like.

"hm… well hot of course" she started smiling at the two boys to her right. She was leaning comfortably on Shikamaru's shoulder, not minding the closeness. "As it sounds we're in the middle of the desert, completely surrounded by sand. It's always hot during the day but it gets so cold at night." She looked at Shikamaru and smiled. "Rarely any clouds in my village to watch though." He laughed in return at her teasing tone. The chatting continued until Choji had to leave. He waved as he walked down the stares from the roof at the pair on the bench. Who both called out goodbyes in return.

Shikamaru and Temari continued to talk but soon fell into a comfortable silence. It was then when they both felt the closeness of the other fully and realized they were alone together. It had gotten later in the day and was nearing sunset.

"Bored already?" Shikamaru teased at her when he heard her sigh. She smiled in return.

"No actually just the opposite." She said as she turned to look at him.

He was suddenly aware of how close their faces were to each other as they smiled at the other. He blushed slightly as he glanced at her lips, as strong need to kiss them came over him. The look was not lost on Temari. She saw it and smiled as she leaned closer to him, earning a nerves glace from the boy. He did not back away though, instead he leaned closer too until their lips met. It was a short chaste kiss that both blushed at. Shikamaru smiled as he leaned back into her and found her lips again for anther kiss, this one though deeper and longer then the last. He felt her hands reach up and wrap around his neck as he too wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her closer. She smiled into the kiss as she felt the boy grow more confident. The kiss was broke when both needed air. It had gotten dark outside and the air was getting cold. Temari sighed a content sigh and got up off the bench, stepping out of Shikamaru's arms. He gave her a disappointed look, which she smiled at.

"I have to get back…" she said looking as disappointed as he felt. He got up and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

"I'll walk you back."

The street now had only a few people who were either heading to the bar or back to their own houses. The two walked in comfortable silence across the village until they passed to Hokage tower. Temari suddenly stopped.

"Uh.. I can walk myself from here. I know where I am now." She said giving him a small smile. He looked at her questioningly but decided not to question it. He shrugged and released her hand unwillingly. She hesitated before she began to walk away but stopped and turned back to face him. "Hey, thanks for today… it was fun." She gave him another smile as she walked down the barley lit street to the apartments of the visitors. He called out a goodbye and headed in the direction of his own home.