04. Sloth
He's lazy. And he knows she hates it.
He lies on the wooden bench looking up at the sky, barely taking in the clouds and instead focusing on the angry Temari towering over him. Despite their dark shade of teal, her eyes are aflame, burning into him. But he's completely indifferent, as usual. This only manages to make her angrier.
"You are the slowest, laziest, most unenthusiastic person I have ever had the misfortune to meet," she spats, in the most condescending tone he has ever heard. It drips with hot dislike.
And then, after he gives her his usual look of bored contentment, she turns on her heel and stomps away, her footsteps echoing heavily on the stone sidewalk. He could follow her if he wanted to, probably catch up to her and stop her and apologize for being so apathetic… But what good would that do? He'd say he was sorry, but he wouldn't stop being the way he was. They both knew it.
And anyways, she will be back in a while. He isn't being overly-confident by assuming so; he simply knows, better than anyone perhaps, how Temari's mind works. This isn't the first time this has happened, after all. It's the usual routine; she demands more activity out of him, he denies in favor of napping, she explodes, storms off, and then is back sooner or later. It's usually sooner.
As if to deny his very thoughts, she screams "I'm leaving!" Despite the fiery, burning tone in her voice, her words are faint; she must be some distance away, but he's sure that all of Konoha can hear her yelling at him. He wonders for a moment what they — the citizens, who all undoubtedly know by now — think of their relationship at this point. The laziest young man in the world partnered with the most high-strung, extreme woman ever to walk the earth. But Temari drowns out his thoughts and continues to shout.
"I mean it Shikamaru; I'm leaving you and your laziness forever! I'm going back to Suna! I'm not coming back!"
But ten minutes later, she has returned like he magnetically attracted her, speaking like she was never angry… as though the moment never happened. And he didn't even have to move a muscle.
Instead of rubbing it in her face, he simply sits up on the bench, rubs the aches out of the back of his neck, and smiles at her, trying to elicit some sort of smile back. When she finally lets a meek one peek through her stern expression, Shikamaru relaxes again, this time his head in her lap as she sits on the bench beside him, draped over him, her hands in his hair.
Being lazy, he thinks to himself as she leans forward to plant an apologetic kiss on his mouth, sometimes has its props after all.
Author's Note: Reeeeevieewwwww. Now. Are you getting the hang of this yet?
Up next: Wrath. Oh um, I don't know how angry Shikamaru is liable to get compared to Temari (laugh) but I'll do my best.