Thank you Naara-No-Temari and Hinagiku-Kaichou for the reviews! Unfortunately this story is rated T and if I did write a saucy shower scene Wolv's eyeballs really would burn. And good editors are hard to find you know? This is as close as it gets unfortunately X3 Sorry for the weak chapter name.

Sorry the slow update. It took me a couple of days to get round and write it, but the rest of the time was waiting for Wolvine to edit :l

Still don't own Naruto.

I apologize to the readers for my incredibly laziness. It's nothing to do with the fact Thailand is flooding (I'm in the non-flooding part) and it's not school. I'm on holiday. I am lazy. And if Donut was to write a… 'Saucy shower scene' as she put it, I would save myself the trouble and rip my eyes out.

Proof of his Genius

"Get out of the shower Nara. Gaara is going to be back soon and tonight is the only night he has off so you'd better not blow it!" Temari leant on the door, frowning. She could hear the water running still, and she was growing bored with waiting.
"No, I'm quite happy in here, thank you."
"What? You're planning on staying in the bathroom for two days?"
"Maybe not two days. Probably just tonight. The view is pleasantly clear of troublesome women and their brothers who want to kill me."
"Stop being such a Crybaby and get out here."
"I'm fine thank you."
"Nara!" She pounded on the door to emphasize her annoyance.
"Who is it?"
"Get out here!"
"Sorry, I'm busy right now. Call round again later."
"Seriously…"
"Rejoice! Smoothness to the Tips,with Lemongrass."
"Excellent observational skills, I can see why you're regarded as a genius. Now stop reading the shampoo bottle and get ready."
"It's conditioner actually."
"Either you get the hell out here or I'll come in there and drag you out by the ear!"
"And risk seeing me undressed?" Temari paused, realizing what she had just suggested. But somehow, the thought that there was only a piece of wood with a handle between her and a naked Shikamaru wasn't off-putting. If anything, it made her want to open the door even more.
"I've seen plenty of bare males. I'm sure you're no different." It took the Konoha Nin a few moments to figure it out.
"Ah. Your brothers."
"Pervert. Who did you think I was talking about?" He wisely chose not to reply. "But if you're that embarrassed you still have the choice to come out."
"No, its fine. I'm sure you're bluffing."
"Last chance…"
"Nope, not falling for it."

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy this ridiculous kind of banter. Quite the opposite in fact. This ability to have ridiculous arguments was one of the things she liked most about their relationship. But she was anxious to make sure this night was up to standards, to perfection. She opened the door, only to see a rather surprised looking Shikamaru sitting on the floor, back against a wall, the tap running. He was fully clothed, much to (she was surprised to note) her disappointment.
"Hmm. I guess you weren't bluffing."
"Nara, you are a bastard. A total bastard."

"I can't cook." This statement was rewarded with a slap round the ear.
"You can't cook or you're too lazy to cook?"
"I can't cook." Just as he was about to receive another blow, he added "I'm too lazy to learn."
"Good boy for being honest." She hit him anyway.
"Can't you cook? You're a woman." Obviously the wrong thing to say. This cuff was accompanied by a kick to the shins. He supposed he should be grateful she hadn't aimed higher. "And then you wonder why I never visit…"

After about fifteen minutes of contemplating what they could feed Gaara when he got home (Wonderful way express it, Ed) Shikamaru inquired if they owned a grill. When this was confirmed, they managed between the two of them to prepare a far from luxurious meal of Cheese-on-Toast. But it was still better than leftovers in Temari's opinion.

"Now what?" It wasn't a particularly challenging meal to fix; it just required slamming a chunk of cheese onto some bread and putting a slice of tomato on it. They'd grill it when the Kazekage got home. Shikamaru had never thought much about Gaara's personal life, and it was kind of funny to think that he had just help make one of the Kages' dinner. But it didn't take long for him to become bored of this thought.

Temari led him into a different room. It was the most interesting room he had ever seen. Apparently, it was the living room, but he wasn't sure 'living' room fitted it. There was a sofa, two arm chairs and three bookcases. There was a radio in a corner, and a rug on the floor. The rest of the room was littered with paper, rubbish and grime. He could only imagine a pig living here. Then again, there wasn't much difference between a hog and Kankuro.

Only one of the bookcases held books, and most of these seemed to be dictionaries in languages he couldn't identify or atlases of places he'd never heard of. The second bookcase held knickknacks of various kinds, including snow globes, empty photo frames and key rings. He was pretty sure that there was a plastic dinosaur on there too. This bookcase, like the floor, held evidence of untidiness, soda cans sitting on a broken clock, a crisp* packet hanging off a lamp. The last bookcase seemed to be reserved for board games of all kinds, except, much to his annoyance, Shougi.

"What the hell is this?" He recognized most of the games on the shelves, and even if he didn't know them, they had boxes with vivid illustrations that let him guess what they were about. The game he had picked up had no packaging. It was a bright red plastic box, with a blue tray and what seemed to be a timer. Temari, having sat down on the sofa when she saw her guest wander over to the Games Shelf, looked over her shoulder at the bemused Shikamaru. It wasn't often his knowing smirk was replaced by a confused frown. He looks kind of sweet... No. No he doesn't.

"You're the genius. You figure it out." Her voice came out a lot sharper than she intended, but it didn't seem to put him off. She was glad. Despite her trying to deny it, she thought him very attractive when puzzled- not that she didn't find him attractive the rest of the time – and was content to have the chance to watch him figure out the stupid game.

"Got it." That didn't take long… He indeed had figured it out, and was now putting the yellow figures into the slots as the timer ran, letting out its annoying Crrrrrrras it did so. His smug look was soon replaced by one of surprise as the timer ran out and he was attacked by the yellow bits of plastic he had been fitting into the tray. "Eeeh?"

Temari couldn't help it. The sight was just too adorable, Shikamaru looking utterly perplexed, the Perfection box in his hand, surrounded by the yellow shapes, a little cut just under his lip where the star had lodged itself, before falling to the floor again. She slid onto the floor, next to him and leaned towards him. Right away he could tell something was wrong, and it was confirmed by the use of his name.

"Shikamaru…"

Yay fail cliffhanger 3

Announcement: Check the poll I've set up C:

Announcement: The poll is cruel. Also, my school is closed because of the floods. I've got two weeks off, and time to catch up with my editing. Expect updates to 'Perfection' and new one-shots.

I took down Chapter Two and reuploaded it with a better chapter name. It used to be called 'Enter Perfection.' Donut, you fail at chapter names.