Disclaimer: I own Ryota, I own Ryota! I'm now waiting for someone to buy him from me! This one's for Temari no Sabaku! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, and for the few PMs we've exchanged!

Dedication: This one's for Temari no Sabaku! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, and for the few PMs we've exchanged!

Chapter three: Seductive Training

Shikamaru didn't know why he did it. He didn't know why, in the evening before going to bed, he set his clock for 6:45. He didn't know why, when it rang, he didn't go through the usual procedure of smacking the "snooze" button quite a few times. Instead, he sat up without a complaint and got dressed, and was out of the house by 6:50. At seven sharp, he had arrived in front of the Academy.

Temari wasn't there.

Grumbling something about how women were troublesome, Shikamaru plopped down close to a tree and shut his eyes with a sigh. Crossing his arms behind his head, he forced his subconscious to shut down as he began to doze off. Yet there was a nagging feeling that kept him from fully falling into the peaceful slumber. The sentiment that there was something wrong kept harassing his thoughts. That and certain disappointment.

Usually, Sabaku no Temari was the most punctual person on the planet. The only rare occasions that she'd make someone wait on purpose were to anger the person. But then again, she was smart enough to know that he wouldn't get flustered over such a trivial thing as her being late.

So if she knew this, then she wasn't making him wait on purpose. There was another reason for her tardiness, and the only option left was that she was forced to stay away.

Even though the fact bothered him immensely, his laziness forbade him to get up to look for her. Temari was a strong woman who kept her engagements; if she had a problem, she'd take care of it easily enough.

Actually, Shikamaru pitied whatever the 'problem' was.

It was only about twenty minutes later that a rather large object was slammed on the ground besides his head and her booming voice snapped, "Get up, lazy ass! We have a match to start!"

At that, the shinobi cracked his eyes open to glare up at Temari. Her hair had been hurriedly done, yet still looked perfect in his eyes. Her face held mild annoyance, uneasily covering the relief in her eyes at seeing him.

"Hm, sorry," he sighed, "but I think that I won. We were supposed to begin at 7, yet you weren't present. I declared myself the winner."

Temari rolled her eyes as she prodded him with her fan. "Get up, crybaby. Okay, so I woke up a bit late, so what? I still want that spar with you."

Shikamaru shrugged as he mumbled, "Well I don't, woman. Go away, now."

But then Temari set her massive fan on top of his chest and leaned against it, causing the poor boy to cough instantly and attempt to sit up.

"I feel generous, child," she smirked, pulling the fan off of him. "So you get to keep your life. But we have to train, come on!"

As Shikamaru was standing up, his eyes caught something unnatural. Narrowing them to slits, he reached over and gently skimmed his fingers behind her shoulder, over the fishnet that covered her peach skin. She turned around and stared at him strangely while his arm came down, his lips setting in a line.

"You've done enough training back at home," he said sullenly. "You should rest while you're here."

Temari smirked confidently. "I can manage a whelp like you, Nara."

But Shikamaru stepped around her until he was staring down in her aquamarine eyes. Since he had gained his eighteen years of age, he had grown taller than the girl. The top of her head barely reached his nose, now.

As he stopped squarely in front of her, barely six inches in distance from her, Temari froze nervously and the smile flew off her face. She bit the inside of her lip hard as her heart began to pump faster than it normally was. Swallowing bitterly, she held his gaze and waited for him to speak, to explain why he had approached her so closely.

"Something tells me that training hasn't been the highest priority on your list these days," he spoke quietly. "The bruise at the back of your shoulder is almost impossible to give you. It's rare that an opponent will get closer than a few feet from you and even then, you would shove them backwards with your fan."

Rapidly, Temari dropped her voice to a whisper as she ducked her head. "You're right, Shikamaru. These bruises are not from sparring…"

Shikamaru blinked, almost rising an eyebrow. There was something missing in this current situation, it just felt too downright strange. The next thing he knew, though, his back was crushed against the tree and he had a kunai pressed to his neck.

"They're from taijutsu," Temari coolly explained, her eyes dancing victoriously. "My brothers have been harassing me to learn some forms of higher taijutsu in case something was to happen to my fan during a battle."

Shikamaru now realized that the discomfort she had seemed to bear earlier was now transferred to him. His palms were sweaty and a knot had formed in his stomach. He was also fighting the horrible blush that was working its way onto his face at their sudden proximity.

In the process of knocking him against the tree, Temari had also made sure that he wouldn't leave by flattening herself against him, standing on her tiptoes so that her face would be directly in front of him, angled perfectly. Just one inch forward and he could press his lips against hers in the kiss that he'd been dying to have for years. Yet the kunai pressed against his throat also promised a sudden death if he was to lunge forward even an inch.

Obviously his face had flushed as his eyes shifted guiltily to the side at the thought, since Temari laughed softly, driving his desire into almost madness. She approached her face even closer to his and whispered teasingly, "What's wrong, crybaby? Are you alright?"

Just as she finished talking though, the sound of someone deeply clearing its throat tore Temari away from him. He lifted his head to look at the newcomer, but as his eyes were locked with the intruder's, he gave a low groan.

"How troublesome," he whispered to himself, dropping his eyes to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Ryota growled, his dark eyes flaming with fury. His teeth were clenched and his features slightly contorted, but asides from that, he was standing perfectly straight and still. Waiting.

Temari nervously fidgeted, an act that Shikamaru noticed instantly and found quite interesting once again. Temari didn't fidget, usually...

"We were sparring," she explained, but then she shot a dirty glare at Shikamaru. "Or rather, I was. He promised a fight this morning, yet refused to go through with it. I was just reminding him of what could happen if—"

"Don't blame me for this woman," Shikamaru countered. Sure, speaking up usually wasn't his thing, but explaining his actions would be better than being murdered by the towering man now besides him. "You were late, then you practically attacked me."

"You," Ryota snapped after a short pause, glaring at the Leaf shinobi. "What's your name?"

'What a drag…' He gave a light nod and introduced himself. "Nara Shikamaru."

Silence followed Shikamaru's words, but then Ryota turned to face him. His angry expression had fallen to a dull, emotionless one. After a few long steps, Ryota had reached the shadow user and was looking at him long and hard. Finally, he bent down in a deep bow, before straightening and glaring at Temari.

"I give you my most sincere apologies for her brash actions," Ryota said gently. "She can be quite independent and rude. I also know that she didn't mean it, right Temari?"

His eyes turned as icy as a sub-zero temperature, his glare sending daggers to the girl. Shikamaru also looked towards the kunoichi, who had her head dipped with shame.

"Sorry," she mumbled, almost sounding like a scolded child. After a second glare from Ryota, she lifted her chin. Her eyes boiled furiously as she gritted out, "I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I shouldn't have shoved you against the tree."

Now, the shadow user wasn't too sure which was weirdest. The fact that Ryota was taking his side, or Temari apologizing. Either way, he had to give the man huge credit for having Temari wrapped around his finger.

'This is not right…' was the thought that kept repeating in his mind. 'Something's wrong.'

Yet Shikamaru didn't voice his fears, choosing the easier option. He bowed deeply in return and verbally accepted Temari's apology. When he straightened, her eyes were dull with a touch of what appeared to be sadness. Her arms were crossed in pure annoyance, even though her shoulders were slumped lightly and she was refusing to look at either males.

Ryota then made his way to Temari, before gripping her forearm, causing her to uncross her them. In an authoritarian's tone, he drawled, "We have to talk with Tsunade-sama. Come."

Without another look at the shadow user, Temari complied with Ryota's wish and turned around, starting in the direction of the Hokage's tower. The man turned to give Shikamaru a last bow of departure before continuing after Temari.

Still unsure of what exactly had just happened, Shikamaru leaned back against the tree where he had been held captive moments ago. He allowed himself to slide down to a sitting position as he watched the two leave. But instead of feeling relief at having passed smoothly besides a confrontation, he felt rather disconcerted. Now that the exchange was over, he would've preferred a thousand times to get yelled at for "seducing" Temari. It wasn't fair that she was the one who had taken the entire blame for it.

It wasn't fair because now, his brain had to speculate about what just happened. How troublesome…

A/N: Hi guys!

Wow, I don't think I ever got so many reviews for a chapter one and two! Thanks so much to everyone who has slammed this in their Story Alert (or me in Author Alert, for that matter! I luff you all!), or who has favorite'd me! –Does happy dance -

Well this actually turned out better than I expected. To be honest I just went through a breakup, so writing romance was the very last thing I wanted to do. That's why the chapter was a bit late, also combined with massive amounts of homework… v.v Teachers are merciless.

On a downside, I'm competing in the annual Script Frenzy competition, which is roughly to write 100 pages of script in 30 days. This will probably eat up my entire month of April, dearest readers, so I might not be able to update –ducks pitchforks and pointy rocks thrown- for the entire month. BUT I will promise that if I get ahead of schedule by six pages, I'll stop working on my Screnzy and focus on writing you all a new chapter.

Anyone else joining in Screnzy with me?

Thanks for reading,
Take care!