Chapter Three
If only you knew
"I knew it Shikamaru! I knew you'd find the right one!" Chouji said delightedly with a mouth full of meat.
Shikamaru smirked but didn't say anything. If only…He almost laughed.
Today was the fourth day on his mission with Temari, but they weren't spending it together. They had unwillingly tried spending as much time together as possible since their meeting with the Hokage.
To Shikamaru's surprise, their first day together wasn't so dreadful. He gave her a tour of Konoha, since she hadn't been there in six years, and they reintroduced themselves to each other and caught up on some things they had missed in the past several years. At the end of the day he showed her to his apartment, where she made him sleep on the couch while she slept in his bed. That was just like her, being the troublesome women that she is. He figured that, arguing with her about it would only make things worse.
The second day was much more difficult than the first. Shizune re-informed them that they had to "act like a couple," and so they spent most of the day reluctantly holding hands and walking around Konoha like a "happy couple." Shikamaru shuddered at the memory. It was a horrible experience, to say the least. All of Shikamaru's friends kept badgering him with questions about her, how long they'd been dating and why he hadn't told any of them before. It was troublesome, especially since they'd never really been dating in the first place.
Then on the third day, Shizune approached them again to give them a key to their "new home." That caught them both by surprise. Temari was happy that she wouldn't have to sleep in Shikamaru's "old, back-breaking bed" again. However, Shikamaru wasn't so optimistic. He was content with his apartment, it was small, plain, and easy to manage...a new home just sounded too troublesome. It was part of the mission though, so it had to be done.
Shikamaru had felt like Temari was about to break his neck after they spent so much time together. For this reason, they decided to spend today apart. Temari was spending time with some of the kunoichi of Konoha begrudgingly, "trying to make friends," while Shikamaru was spending time with his comrades.
"Yeah, so when's the, um, this is weird..." Kiba scratched his head, "...wedding?"'
On the inside, Shikamaru cringed, but he managed to make a believable smile that made is seem as if the thought of getting married actually made him happy. "In three days."
Neji smirked, "You two were destined to be together. I can tell."
"A TOAST!" Lee stood up and raised his glass into the air.
Kiba smirked and lifted his glass as well, "Yeah, to the least likely groom in history."
Everyone laughed, even Shikamaru couldn't help himself. It was true, and if it weren't for this stupid mission, he'd probably never get married, but he couldn't exactly tell them that. Not if he wanted to keep his cover at least.
"Cheers!" They said as they all hit their glasses together.
All of them except Naruto. He hadn't said much since they'd been at the restaurant, which was strange. The ninja usually blabbered on and on about very insignificant things, like ramen.
After things quieted down a bit, Naruto finally spoke up. "Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?"
Shikamaru stiffened. Out of everyone, Naruto. Naruto's the one who gets suspicious?
"Of course it's weird Naruto...like I said before, who'da thought Shikamaru, out of all of us, would be the first to get married?"
"Shut up Kiba." Shikamaru glared across the table at him.
"As the 'best-man'" Chouji smiled proudly, "I'm happy for Shikamaru."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "That's not what I meant..." Everyone looked at him with curious expressions. "What I mean is, doesn't anyone else think it's weird how fast this is all happening? Because the last time I remember Temari actually being in Konoha was five years ago, she suddenly comes back a few days ago and now her and Shikamaru are getting married? I don't know, it seems pretty strange to me."
"Hm... Now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange." Neji nodded, "But I think that it is destiny that has brought Temari back to Konoha."
"I think Shikamaru and Temari make a nice couple, I don't think it's strange at all." Chouji commented in Shikamaru's defense.
"I still think it's weird..." Naruto mumbled. "There's no way they could have decided to get married in only a few days."
"We didn't." Shikamaru stated. Naruto's pretty smart...too bad for him Temari and I already prepared for something like this. "We've been using special scrolls that turn whatever you write into animals, like the ones Sai uses, to communicate with each other for the past six years. So I'd write a message, use a seal to change it into an animal, then the animal would find it's way to Temari who had the matching scroll, or vice versa. Sometimes on my way back home from missions that were far away I'd even stop by Suna for a day to see her." He smiled adoringly to make it seem more convincing. "We decided to get married a few months ago and she came here a week before the wedding to adjust to her new home." Shikamaru had a sick taste in his mouth. He hated lying to them. These were his comrades, his friends, and here he was lying as if it was nothing, right to their faces. It has to be done. For the mission, for Konoha, for peace.
Naruto stared at him blankly, "Oh...I guess that makes sense."
"See, Naruto, I told you it wasn't weird." Chouji laughed.
Lee stood up again, "Shikamaru, you have inspired me to propose to my lovely Elescah-chan! If I can't be the first out of all of us to get married then I shall be the second!"
Kiba gave him a devious smirk, "Not if I ask my Hinata-chan to marry me first."
"Is that a challenge Kiba?" Lee stood up and without giving Kiba another chance to speak shouted, "I accept! Now I must go find a ring suitable for my Elescah-chan!" He was gone in flash without saying another word.
They all stared incredulously at the spot where Lee stood only seconds before.
Kiba shrugged, "I wonder when he'll learn to take a joke…"
Neji shook his head, "I doubt he will ever learn."
"Great…that means another wedding to go to." Kiba sighed.
"Can we stop talking about weddings, please?" Shikamaru whined, already tired of the subject.
Everyone looked at him for a moment, and then they started laughing.
Shikamaru laughed as well at the irony of it all, If only you knew.
"I WANT TO GO HOME!" Temari wanted to scream. This is torture. She was getting tired of this act. The smiling, the laughing, having "fun," answering all these stupid kunoichis stupid questions. Most of all, she was tired of acting like she actually wanted to marry that stupid Shikamaru.
Why couldn't Tsunade have given us more than a week to get married? Two weeks would have even been okay, but one week? Ugh.
Temari felt sudden discord as she thought about the past few days. Horrible. Was the only word that came to her mind.
On the first day, Shikamaru acted responsible and decided that he should take her on a "tour" of Konoha, cause so much had changed in the past six years, while they "caught up" on things. She thought it was pointless and he was just wasting his time, making things more "troublesome" for himself, as he would probably say. And the worst part of that day was when he took her back to his "apartment." There was only one bedroom, one bathroom, the living room was hardly big enough for the couch, and Temari refused to believe there was a kitchen in there somewhere. Of course, neither of them was willing to share the bed and Temari wasn't going to be the one to sleep on the couch. So instead, she called dibs on the bed, which really wasn't much of a bed at all.
The next day, Shizune told them that they had to act like a "happy" couple. Temari was about to gag. After Shizune left, Temari told Shikamaru that she refused to do anything more than hold hands and look cute. He didn't argue with that, thankfully. That, unfortunately, was enough to get people curious. All day random shinobi and kunoichi would come up to them and ask them dumb questions about their "relationship." It was infuriating.
The third day was probably the worst. By that point Temari wanted to break Shikamaru's neck. So, after they got acquainted to their new home that Tsunade so kindly offered them, they decided to spend the next day apart.
It's all because of those stupid rumors. Temari groaned inwardly, What the hell made people thing the alliance between Suna and Konoha was crumbling? People are so stupid…
"T-Temari-san?" A quiet voice interrupted Temari's thoughts.
"Hm?" Temari turned her head towards the shy shinobi with lavender eyes.
Hinata pointed at the three angled floor length mirrors a few feet away from Temari. "Look."
Temari's expression turned into confusion but she did as Hinata told her and looked at the mirrors. When she did, to her own surprise, she blushed. In the mirror there were five kunoichi. Hinata…Tenten…Sakura…Ino…but… "Who's the girl in the dress?" She asked.
The other four girls started to giggle. "What are you talking about Temari?" In the mirror, Temari saw Tenten lean on the shoulder of the girl in the dress.
Sakura smiled, "That's you Temari."
Temari's eyes grew wide and she blushed even more, which caused the others to giggle some more. What have they done to me? She asked herself, not that it was a bad thing, and even she had to admit…if the girl in the mirror was her, she looked gorgeous.
She studied the mirror for a few minutes longer. She was wearing a floor-length white dress that she never would have pictured herself wearing. The most shocking thing though, which was probably why she didn't feel like herself, was that her hair was down, instead of in its usual four pigtails. She even had makeup on.
So this is what they've been doing to me…Temari smiled and twirled around, so did the girl in the mirror. It really is me…
"You look beautiful Temari-san." Hinata smiled at her.
Ino laughed, "Well of course she does. I did her hair and makeup." She bragged.
Sakura hit Ino playfully, "I did her hair. You did her makeup."
"Oh, right." Ino smiled.
"And Hinata and I worked on the dress." Tenten added.
Temari looked at them all in astonishment, "You made this dress?" She asked Hinata and Tenten.
Tenten shook her head, "We already bought a dress."
Hinata nodded, "We just did some work on it…"
"And you really do look stunning." Sakura complimented.
"I can't wait to see the look on Shikamaru's face when he sees you!" Ino clapped her hands in amusement.
Temari felt sick. Suddenly it was all so…real. I'm getting married in three days. This was the part she hated most, acting like she was happy about this whole thing, like this was what she really wanted…If only they knew.
She put on her best fake smile, which was now getting to be pretty convincing, "Well, thanks to you girls, I'm sure he won't be disappointed."
They all started giggling again, this time Temari even tried her best to giggle. Kill me.
After they finished with Temari's dress and makeup, the kunoichi made Temari come with them so she could choose the brides' maids' dresses.
Temari had tried telling them she was tired and just wanted to go home and relax, but they wouldn't listen. Why do they keep putting me through this torture?!
If it weren't for the fact that they had been so kind about Temari's dress and makeup, she would have picked some hideous brides' maids' dresses. She laughed at the idea, Feathers and bows everywhere! Hahaha! Unfortunately, they had been kind about her dress and makeup, so she had to return the favor.
It took a few hours, but eventually Temari found the perfect dress for each of them. She didn't want it to be like a normal wedding where all the brides' maids' wore the same dress, Temari always thought that was incredibly boring. She wanted variety.
For Sakura, Temari chose a light pink, sleeveless dress that matched her hair perfectly. It went past her knees a few inches and had a thick, pink, silk band that went across her midsection.
Hinata's dress was of course, lavender. It was the same length as Sakura's, it had short, flowy sleeves, and there was a thin, lavender, silk band that went across her midsection.
Tenten's dress was a red, floor length dress. It had a "v" neckline because of the thick straps and an open back.
Temari picked the most different dress for Ino, as her maid of honor. She didn't know what possessed her to give the title to her. The only reason she could think of was that she had been Shikamaru's teammate for several years. Her dress was a light shade of purple, not as light as Hinata's though, it was strapless and floor length. It came with a purple shawl that wrapped around Ino's arms.
When all four brides' maids stood next to each other Temari couldn't help but smile. Dress shopping was definitely not her thing, but she had to admit to herself that she made some good choices.
Hinata, Sakura, Tenten and Ino seemed to be happy with their dresses, so they bought them and finally let Temari go home.
Shikamaru fumbled in his pockets to find his house key. He unsteadily unlocked the door and made his way to the couch where he immediately collapsed. "Ugh." He groaned, I shouldn't have let them convince me to drink so much sake. He didn't know what had come over him. Usually he'd never let himself get drunk. Stress. He thought. That troublesome woman…
Suddenly, there was an angel in front of him, distracting him from his thoughts. An angel in khakis and a plain white t-shirt. He smiled, Maybe I should get drunk more often… Her long golden hair reminded him of…
"HA!" The angel scoffed. "Someone had a little too much to drink, huh?"
Shikamaru slowly sat up. "Hn." …or not. "Some angel…" He muttered.
Temari turned around and shot Shikamaru an incredulous look, "What did you say?!"
She looks so…"Beautiful." He laughed after he spoke. I said that out loud. He laughed some more.
"And you're an idiot." Temari glared. She was pretty sure she was blushing though, she hadn't remembered until now that her hair was still down and she was still wearing the makeup that Ino put on her.
That can't possibly be Temari… "I m-mean it." He struggled to say.
Temari continued glaring at him as she took of her shoe and threw it at his head. "So do I. Now shut your drunken mouth and go to sleep."
Shikamaru smiled, as if her shoe hadn't even hit him, and lay back down on the couch, "Mm, yes dear." He hiccupped.
Temari rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh. This was probably the only time she'd ever see Shikamaru drunk, and it was actually amusing. She changed into pajamas and lay down in her bed, still laughing a little, not because of Shikamaru, but because of the mission. I'm getting married to an idiot.
A/N: AH! Sorry, I feel like this took a really long time! I hope it was worth the wait though…I really liked writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. REVIEWS PLEASE! Without them, I wouldn't be writing this fic, you guys inspire me and make me happy and make me want to update sooner. So reviews would be (and always are) appreciated.
P.S. I'm asking my amazing friend whom I love very much, you know who you are :), to draw a picture of all the kunoichi in their lovely dresses…so whenever she finishes it I will post a link onto my profile. Just something to look forward to…but don't be impatient cause I'm not rushing her. :)
so if there are any artists out there who want to draw pictures for my story just ask me, I promise I'll be thrilled :D
