02. Gluttony

Ahh, peace. Eyes closing easily, Shikamaru feels he would give anything to only be able to stay up here on this grassy hill with the wind brushing his cheeks and the soft air surrounding him, no noises to disturb such a blissful, gentle moment — but fate will not have it. Rather, Temari will not have it.

He hears her voice before the words are spoken. Sharp. Condescending. Brittle. Worse, he can tell she's already right next to him, so he doesn't have any time to mentally prepare himself for the abuse that's sure to follow. Goodbye wonderful, quiet moment. I'll miss you.

"Oi, Crybaby."

Shikamaru gives an exaggerated sigh. Apparently Temari doesn't like that, so she kicks him until he opens his eyes.

"Troublesome woman," is the only response he has as he sits up, wincing, and holds his ribcage where she made the harsh contact. Probably a bruise forming already. Grimacing, he throws out his other arm to post himself into a sitting position on the hill; he frowns up at her, a sigh falling lazily through his lips.

Ignoring his pain and agitation, Temari crouches next to him and holds out a plain, scarlet-colored box. "I made you cookies."

Looking at her skeptically, he takes the box; Temari watches him intently until he opens it and pulls one out. There is a badly drawn picture in icing on its crumbling surface.

"What's with the pineapple?"

"That's not a pineapple. It's your face."

"Oh."

As Temari scowls, he puts the cookie between his lips, slowly and cautiously at first, as though she might have poisoned them. When he realizes that he is not foaming at the mouth and his windpipe still works properly he chews and finds that the cookie tastes quite good. Delicious, even. It has cinnamon in it; he wonders when she learned that it was his favorite.

He takes another one after the first is finished. Satisfied, Temari grins at him as he eats before she stands and walks away without another word. He doesn't watch her leave, but instead keeps eating the delicious cinnamon cookies. He knows that she is a terrible cook, but these taste marvelous — how much time exactly did she spend on these? And why for him, a no-good lazy idiot?

It's not like he represents anything special to her. So for her to make cookies for him on such a random occasion either means one of two things: a) she spiked them with something dangerous and it's her idea of a funny prank, or b) she just genuinely wanted to. The latter seems like the more unlikely of the two, but that's what Shikamaru is forced to conclude, seeing as he already was able to rule out the first idea.

Taking another cookie, he mulls over the ugly picture of himself in vanilla icing. Vanilla. Also his favorite. He doesn't ever remember telling her this, but somehow she knows these small, unimportant things about him. Thoughtfully, he takes a bite, enjoying its sweet flavor.

He finds himself thinking, begrudgingly, that he would never stop eating these wonderful cookies if Temari didn't come back a second later and tell him to save some for his goddamn family, you gluttonous bastard.


Author's Note: I really appreciate all the nice reviews from the last chapter! Thanks so much, guys. You could review again if you want. ;) I know you all have much better things to do than review my story and just want to favorite and get the hell out, ha ha. Honestly though.

Oh, and I know it was kind of confusing to some people how Shikamaru's Gluttony came next instead of Temari's Lust, but don't worry. It's all planned out. The way I'm writing it is completely under control. Also, I should probably mention that this story doesn't have a plot. It's just several one-shots centering around the seven deadly sins. However, the sins are arranged in the order I feel they'd happen in their relationship (first from Shikamaru's point of view, obviously, and then Temari's from start to finish again, once I get to her chapters). They're also arranged in chronological order from when Shikamaru and Temari aren't together to when they are, so keep that in mind.

Also, I realize that the pineapple comment was TOTALLY CLICHÉ. XD But I had to put it in. It called to me.

Up next: Greed. Stay tuned.