A/N: Trying to wrap this story up asap.
Disclaimer: do not own naruto
*****
"Here."
"What?"
"Take it, you need it more than I do."
He reluctantly received her fan from her, "you're giving this to me?"
"No," she said, "I'm only lending it to you, I can't follow you back to Konoha knowing that I'm suppose to help you when I'm not."
He steadied the fan like a walking stick and continued walking.
By then, the infection was half way up his thigh, if he didn't get back to Konoha latest by mid- day tomorrow, he'd be lucky if it were only his legs they had to amputate.
He looked at her, walking just in front of him. She had told him that his pace was too slow for her to keep up with.
"What a funny girl," he thought to himself, "too slow to keep up with."
Occasionally, she would turn back to check up on him, their eyes would meet and she would quickly turn away.
Thank god she did, otherwise, she would have noticed him trying to calm his jumping hormones. At times like these, those jumping jelly beans hormones can really be the definition of troublesome.
He felt bad. She was following him because she had to… to… protect him. As much as this chauvinistic genius hates it, she had a freaking good reason to do so. She also did it so that she can go over to Konoha to solve the problem as soon as possible and negotiate a peace treaty, something they ought to have a very long time ago.
He likes to think that she came along because she was worried about him and she cared about his safety. But angels were suppose to cared about children of god, she is suppose to care about him… and everyone else.
"Damn it," he scolded himself, "that totally ruined that whole thing."
Then he remembered that she cried for him.
"I'm confused," he wondered, "do angels cry for everyone too? They sure have a lot of tears to spare. Crying over and over again, I bet she's sick of it. I even wonder if those were genuine or crocodile tears…"
He tried visualizing her crying for him again and when he thought about it, he realize she didn't even cry.
"Her eyes were just watery," he laughed at himself, "troublesome."
She stopped and he followed.
"Are you ok?" she turned back to ask, "you've been laughing to yourself, it's kind of freaking me out."
"Nah," Shikamaru said, "I was just thinking."
"About?" She probed.
Shikamaru wandered if he should ask her, "did you cry just now? When I was about to give up entirely on my life."
She was stumped. She turned away before she turned red with embarrassment.
"I don't cry," she said as proudly as she could, "my eyes were just watery, something went in."
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Why did you ask?" Temari asked, "it was a little too sudden and out of the blue, it scared me."
"Nah," he continued walking, "I was just thinking."
"Again?" she exclaimed, "you're always thinking!"
He faced her, "no human can go one second without thinking a thought, so in actual fact you are also always thinking too."
"And you say I'm troublesome," Temari said, obviously pissed, "and what was the root thought that caused you to thinking about me so- called 'crying'?"
"Angels," he said.
She caught up to him, "angels?" she scoffed, "as in you believe in angels?"
"Er yeah," he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "haven't you?"
She raised a brow, before deciding to play along, "no, unlike you, I'm so unfortunate as to not have been able to witness an angel all my lifetime. So tell me, where did you meet this angel? Oh wait- let me guess… in heaven?"
"Troublesome," he grunted, "what makes you think all angels live in heaven? I've seen that lives on this miserable world before my very eyes."
"Exactly where did you see this oh so magnificent angel, may I ask?"
"In a time of great crisis."
She dropped her hands from her hips, "then why doesn't this angel come and save us now? After all, we are in a time of great crisis."
"It's good that she isn't coming," Shikamaru said, "I'd like to think she comes only for me."
She started laughing, "oh I get it, you like this angel don't you?"
"I think I do."
Thank god there wasn't any water in her mouth at that moment, if there were, she would have spitting out.
"What?" she couldn't believe it, "I was just joking, there really is a girl?"
He looked at her from the corner of his eye, "why? You seem seemingly jealous."
She faked a laugh, "no. No way. I was just shocked, really shocked, how any girl could possibly like you."
"I don't think she likes me," he said.
She heaved a sigh of relief, "aww… don't be disheartened Shikamaru, there are many other girls out there."
"Not one quite as similar to her," he muttered, "and please stop your sarcasm, it is some how or rather apparent that someone like you wouldn't feel any… strong desire, you're too patriotic to you country and your brothers that you hardly make room for anyone else."
"Excuse me?" she said, offended, "for your information I do have strong desires for someone in particular."
"Could it be your brother?"
She ignored him, "but he so happens to like someone else already…"
He raised his free hand, "give me a high five. Apparently the only people we have strong desires for have strong desires for someone else already."
She smiled, "fuck the guy that your girl likes and fuck the girl that my guy likes, some how this world isn't fair," she gave him a high five.
"If it were," he said walking along her side, "a tiger can eat a rabbit and a rabbit can eat a tiger."
She laughed, "alright then, fuck the world."
He joined in her laughter, "fuck the world."
*****
"Here," Temari said, "lets stop here for the night."
She entered an abandon cave that they chanced upon on their way back to Konoha. He followed her in and settled down on the floor of the cave, he gently laid her fan by his side.
"Are you cold?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"Great," she smiled, "saves me the trouble of starting a fire," she took a stick and drew a vertical line between the two of them, "cross this line, I swear to god that angel of yours will literally go to heaven."
He wanted to laugh, "and she doesn't know that she is the angel, this is so funny."
"You're going to kill her?" Shikamaru asked, trying to suppress a laugh, "how are you going to do that?"
"I might want to chop off her ovaries," Temari thought out loud, "then I would shave her bald and flatten her boobs."
"I don't think you might," Shikamaru started laughing, "when you find out who she is, you might think twice."
She ignored his laughter, "I won't think twice."
"Ok then," Shikamaru clamed down a little, "what if you cross the line."
"Impossible."
"If," Shikamaru repeated, "what if."
"I'll have sex with any guy you want me to have it with," Temari said confidently, "but trust me, that wouldn't happen."
"This is going to be a fun night," Shikamaru stated.
"You bet it will, so sleep."
They both laid down on either side of the line and allowed the sleep take over their senses.
A whole day of walking has taken it's toll on them, they had fallen into deep, deep sleep only seconds after closing their eyes.
*****
There was the constant rising and sinking that bothered her. And not to mention, the persistent beating of drums.
Thump… thump… thump… thump…
They were in uniform time and pace, beating and beating. In some peculiar way, it was soothing and oddly familiar to her ears, especially the right ear. It was louder on the right ear than the left.
She opened her eyes, trying to verify the source of the sound.
It might be Shikamaru and his lame old self, beating the drums that appeared out of the blue, trying to annoy her awake.
Or it could be him beat boxing into her ear- highly impossible.
Or it could be his heart beat.
And that she had been lying on his chest, explaining the rising and sinking of the ground.
She opened her eyes so wide that she suspected the skin at the sides has torn open.
She was lying on him.
Freaking on him.
Like on top of him.
His body under hers.
Like sandwich.
Her scream could go two ways: one in distraught and one in euphoria.
Her head of on his chest and their legs were tangled up. On of his hands laid on the small of her back while the other, her ass.
The thought of it caused a wave of tingling sensations to spread all over her body numbing her brain.
Her hand felt the soft fabric of his shirt and the contours of his muscles underneath. She tried to suppress a blush and looked up at his sleeping face.
"He is so gorgeous," she muttered under her breath.
He laid there, skin as flushed as the morning sun and as calm as the surface of a lake. His eyes were sound and gentle like a deer and he had a perfectly inclined nose.
She observed his lips, pale and almost colorless, like how it should be. It took a good shape, not too pouty, not too thin, neither was it too long nor short, it was just nice. And even though they hadn't had a sip of water for the whole day, his lips forever looked as fresh like the dewy morning and as inviting as a box of chocolates.
It was wrong, she knew it was, but resisting temptation wasn't the best of her abilities. She did so badly want to caress those lips of his and feel the damp, cold contours against her lips. She wanted to give him a chaste kiss, stainless and pure. And as her fingers slowly crawled up his chest to face to his lips, she wandered what she could say if he wakes to find someone above him, trying hard of resisting the urge to strip him naked and initiate totally chaos between their two bodies.
Her fingers gently rubbed on his lips, feeling the cold, damp surface of his bare, naked skin and casually caressing his cheeks in a circular motion, round and round and round…
Her heart leaped, in a flash, he had grabbed her hand and stopped it's motion. His eyes flickered and finally they opened. He looked at her, lying on his chest and lifted a hand to feel her cheeks. He smiled.
"We have crossed the line," he whispered.
The line.
A line she oh so conveniently forgot about.
A line that she wouldn't have passed if not for his breathtaking face and her weak heart.
That line.
He felt his heart palpitating like there was no tomorrow, racing like it was a horse running for it's life and jumping up and down like a… a… jelly bean.
She felt his face getting warmer and warmer.
"Is he sick?" she thought to herself, "he's burning like he has a fever."
"Are you ok?" she asked, "you are so hot."
Hot?
She wanted to slap herself in her face. Warm could have sufficed, but no, she had to use hot. Now he was going to think that she was some kind of loose, wild girl that throws herself to any guy she sees.
Damn it.
She quickly got off him but he still held on to her hand, not letting go.
"Shikamaru," she said, "my hand."
He came back from his wild fantasies and released her warm hand. She got off him and he sat up.
"So I'm guessing that you're going to beat up that girl eh?" he asked as they started to pack their belongings, "do you even know who she is?"
"I doubt you'll even tell me, since she's so precious to you," she replied waiting for him, "but whatever, since I'm not beating her up, I guess the deal's off."
He looked at her standing the mouth of the cave waiting for him, the morning light out shining her. She really was an angel.
"Fat hope," Shikamaru grinned, "you're still going to have sex with this guy I have in mind whether you like it or not."
"No wait," Temari argued back, "no, I won't. Gosh, how could you? I thought you were nice…"
They started walking to Konoha.
"I was just kidding," Shikamaru said, "I wouldn't want to upset you."
They still had two kilometers to cover before reaching Konoha, they were ahead of their schedule.
"Anyway," Temari asked casually, "who would you want me to have sex with?"
He gave her the expression saying "are you sure you want to know?"
"This guy," Shikamaru said.
Temari's hands drop, "of course it's a guy, I don't think you'll set me up with a girl."
He started laughing, "maybe I will. Just don't ask ok? I don't think he will ever have the privilege to explore your body."
She blushed, "privilege?"
"I was being sarcastic," Shikamaru said.
She punched his arm, "you're not very good at it."
"Troublesome."
*****
"Is that Shikamaru?" Kiba, who was standing guard during that shift, said.
Chouji, the other one standing guard squinted his eyes to look, "yes, OH HOLLY MACARONI! HEY SHIKAMARU!"
Shikamaru was at a distance.
"Who's that next to him?" Chouji asked, "she smells familiar?"
Kiba sniffed the air and growled, "damn it, she's from Suna the very hot Suna, just like her."
"What is Shikamaru doing with her?" Chouji asked, "I think he wants to bring her in as a prisoner."
Temari held Shikamaru and slowly walked up to them.
"Get him a medic," Temari said urgently, "he's in critical condition."
They looked at each other, spaced out.
"HURRY," Temari screamed at them.
*****
He could hear the sound of the heart rate monitor beeping endlessly, annoying him.
His last recalled Temari screaming at Chouji and Kiba before passing out, he still felt that grip she had on his ribs, she was holding on to him like he was her lifeline.
"Shikamaru?" he could hear Sakura's voice, he opened his eyes.
"Sakura? How am I doing?" he asked.
Sakura smiled, "Tsunade sama was able to save you in time. Thank God that girl from Suna saved you, or you would have been dead."
He grinned, "yeah, He only sends that angel for me," he sat up on the hospital bed, "where is Temari?"
"Temari?" Sakura asked, "oh that girl is called Temari?"
Shikamaru nodded, "yeah where is she?"
"She went to see Tsunade sama in her office to discuss some issues regarding a peace treaty," Sakura explained, "she's really pretty."
"And troublesome," Shikamaru added, "when will they be done?"
Sakura raised her brow, "why? You want to see her before she leaves?"
"I need to thank her," Shikamaru lied.
There was a knock on the door, "eh, it's me."
"Come in Temari," Shikamaru said, "how did the negotiation for peace go?"
"My brother is on his way," Temari said, "until then, they'll pause the war and wait till the conference is done and when the treaty is signed before completely ending it."
"Your brother?" Sakura asked.
"Her brother's the Kazekage," Shikamaru explained.
"Oh…" Sakura nodded, "he must look as ravishing as you."
Temari scoffed, "me ravishing? Ugly would be an understatement. And as for my brothers, we all look nothing a like."
Sakura laughed, "alright, alright. I'll leave the two of you here, I have some other almost dying people to attend to."
When she left Shikamaru broke out into his own laughter, "You, ravishing?"
"What is that suppose to mean?" Temari asked offended.
"SHIKAMARU!" a blond haired girl came charging in, "I MISSED YOU!"
She ran at such a high speed she almost pounced onto him.
"OH MY GOD," she screamed, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?
"Ino," Shikamaru said after recovering from the shock, "calm down."
Temari looked at the blond haired blue eyed girl in front of her and she immediately knew who she was.
"The Angel," she thought, "how could I ever think that she would one day disappear from his life?"
She was pretty and slim and truly ravishing, it's hard to believe that she isn't the one Shikamaru has a crush on. Plus, she seemed to care a lot about her friends, like she has a wondrous personality. Pure, untainted blond, unlike her sandy, dirty blond hair, her hair looks soft to the touch, it swished in the air like those girls from the hair shampoo ads. She could very well be a model.
As much as she wanted to stay and lengthen her stay, she felt that she was pretty much unwanted in the room, like she was an intruder intruding with Shikamaru's love life.
Yes an intruder, how could she ever think she was part of it.
She didn't want to say it, but for the very first time in her life, she felt that the tears that were about to come were those that were uncontrollable, those that she can't stop from flowing out. There was a pain, a crack, a hole in her heart and tears were gushing out of it. These tears filled her body capacity till it could no longer hold it up any more and they decide to release these tears through the most convenient outlet- her teal blue eyes.
"Hey, umm…" she thought of a reason that would allow her to go out without leaving anyone in suspicion, "I need to speak to the Hokage."
She was about to leave before Shikamaru stopped her, "eh, are you crying?"
"No," she tried to sound confident, "something when into my eye."
She quickly left.
*****
She headed to where seemed to be the most possible location to the toilet.
She knocked into a pale, black haired boy.
"Are you ok?" he asked smiling.
She ran away from him.
*****
"Hi Shikamaru," Sai came in smiling like there was no tomorrow, "how are you and your little dick coming along?"
"Shut up Sai," Shikamaru said, "did you, by any chance, see a girl running out? Blond? Teal eyed?"
"You mean the cry girl?" he asked, "the one that was crying like how Ino did went she thought I died?"
"Err… yeah," Shikamaru said, "wait- she was crying? I thought something went into her eye?"
There was a minute of silence.
"FUCK," Shikamaru screamed as he got up from the bed and ran out of the ward before Ino or Sai could stop him.
"He'd recovered quickly," Ino said looking at Sai, "so what do we do now?"
"Anything you feel like. How about looking in each other's eyes without the pretense and talk?"
Ino made a face, "what the hell?"
"When it comes to what an adolescent boy wants to do, it's not much different from what we've been doing already. There's no point in doing that. I'll be mature and listen to anything you want to talk about."
Ino stood up and hissed into his ear, "there's a difference between doing it for someone and having it done for you."
*****
"Temari," he walked in which ever direction he felt like walking to cause Temari could be any where, "eh, I'm calling you, you better answer me."
"What?"
He turned around and there, standing with her hands on her hips was Temari and she was not crying.
"What do you want?" Temari asked, "I don't mean to intrude with you and your beloved angel."
He thought for a while, he didn't get what she meant, "so wait, you thought I liked Ino? Come on you know I have better taste than that. Ino is sleeping with Sai, how could I like her? Jumping into conclusions and crying like you were jealous or something, that's so troublesome."
"Shut up," Temari said, "I'm not jealous."
"Whatever," Shikamaru said walking towards her, "I'm getting out of here, I don't want to return to that ward cause I left Sai and Ino there alone, and the next thing I would find is a puddle of sperms swimming on the bed."
She cringed at that thought, "where are you going?"
"To a hill."
*****
"And this is supposed to be fun?" Temari asked, "we're just lying here, on a grassy hill, watching the clouds go by. Don't you have any other hobbies? This place is so secluded from civilization."
"I like sleeping," Shikamaru muttered, "do you?"
"You're not going to talk me into having sex with you, are you?" Temari asked, "the last thing a want is to be in bed with a handicapped man."
Shikamaru sat up, "so if I wasn't handicapped, you would have sex with me?"
Now it was Temari's turn to sit up, "NO. N.O. NO. I was saying that…"
"That?" Shikamaru prompted.
"That…" Temari said, "why are you even asking me this like you want to have sex with me."
"Denying it would be a complete lie," he said lying down again.
She looked at him like he had a flower growing from his head, "what? I can use my fan as a tool of eternal pain and suffering."
"I didn't know you were into sadomasochism," Shikamaru grinned, "you're kinky."
"This is not like me," Temari said flustered, "this is your fault I'm so out of character."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, "always blaming me."
Temari laid down and watched the clouds with him, "what goes through your mind as you watch these things go by, I mean, doesn't it make you feel guilty about letting your life fly by? Oh wait- you're looking for more angels, am I right?"
Shikamaru turned to face her, "I think the one I have is satisfactory."
"Who is she Shikamaru?" Temari asked, curious, "how does she look like?"
It was then that he decided to tell her.
*****
A/N: I didn't want to end it abruptly so I decided to drag my story longer… hope I didn't disappoint anyone with my crappy piece of writing. None the less, review. Thanks to those who reviewed.