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Disclaimer – I own it as much as I own that new Ipod Touch… which is, in my dreams.

Dedication – This one is for kaname's harisen! Thank you so much for your long, well-written reviews! Thanks also for the actual con-crit and not just general comments. You're great, hope you like it! It's a tad bit longer (only of about 400 words…) for you! XP

Chapter six: The Invitation

Shikamaru halted in front of a building, thankfully slinking in the shade as he sunk down to a sitting position. The shade was an immense relief as he brushed his bare arm on his slick forehead. His sleeveless shirt was soaked with sweat, yet the shade did little to cool him down.

He had been crawling uselessly through the desert for three days, before an overly-sympathetic old woman had randomly approached him and had told him that he kept circling Suna without actually entering it.

"Damn deserts," the Leaf nin muttered under his breath as he mentally begged for a breeze to soothe his boiling blood. "I could've walked for weeks without knowing where I was."

As he sat there, talking to himself, he undid the clasp on his sandals and pulled them off, shaking the sand out of the soles and attempting to brush it away with his clammy hand. There was sand everywhere. Getting in everything. How in the world did people live around here?

He was once again debating whether or not he should take his shirt off when a few young teenagers turned a corner. They were chasing after a ball, all dressed in thick robes and pants. Shikamaru openly gawked at them, instantly hating the little pests. In fact, most of Suna seemed to be too overdressed, which got him to realize that he might be doing a grave error if he'd take some clothing off. When thinking hard about it, though, the only woman in all of Suna who didn't care much if her skirt ended a bit higher on her calves, or if her shirt allowed a slim peak at the skin underneath, was Temari.

A small snicker left his lips as he mentally scolded himself. 'I have to stop thinking about her. She is, after all, in a relationship…'

Slowly, he stood up and once again plunged himself in the scorching sun's rays. He managed to find the building, which proclaimed on a sign outside as being "Sunakagure's Office of External and Internal Affairs", knowing that Gaara's office was at the very top. Which was also conveniently situated on the 11th floor of the building, with no working elevator.

Thankfully, though, air conditioning had been installed, apparently for the sole purpose of prevention for the overheating machines.

"Right," Shikamaru whispered to himself as he began to ascend the first staircase. "Gaara was probably suffocating halfway to his office and threatened the entire council to butcher them if they didn't do anything about it."

So he began to ascend the stairs, muttering "troublesome" every now and then. And he climbed. And climbed. And climbed some more. Every staircase was getting harder to climb for his over-strained legs, who eventually gave up.

So Shikamaru's laziness, combined with the fact that every staircase had a minimum of fifty steps and that he had ten to climb, forced him to stop climbing at the sixth floor. He sunk down lazily on the 27th step and groaned, leaning back against the wall and stretching his legs out in front of him.

Shutting his eyes in fatigue, he muttered to himself, "Damn it, this is such a drag. Why does Gaara have to work on the freaking eleventh floor? He probably carries himself up and down the stairs by his sand…"

A male voice then spoke besides him. "Or maybe he just shuts up and takes whatever the council gave him when he was appointed Kazekage."

Shikamaru cracked an eye open and stared right at Gaara, who was standing directly above him. Wincing lightly at being caught, he shrugged and answered, "That could be a plausible explanation too. I still believe that he uses his sand to transport himself sometimes, though."

Gaara rolled his eyes lightly, before crossing his arm. He then spoke, his tone lifted with light sarcasm. "Would you like to come up the rest of the way, Nara-san, or would you like to have our meeting here?"

Shikamaru almost smirked as he pulled his legs closer to him and patted the ground besides him. The Kazekage remained frozen for an instant at his audacity, but then relented and sat besides the Konoha shinobi. His thick black robes fell around him, which made Shikamaru cringe lightly. How did the people of Suna survive…?

"I trust that Tsunade-sama sent you here regarding the trade of merchandise?" the redhead started, staring right at Shikamaru.

The Konoha shinobi shrugged again as he handed Gaara the appropriate documents. "Who knows? I dozed off when Tsunade began to explain the details of the mission. I swear, every woman is born with the capacity to be troublesome. I have no idea how men live through marriage."

"Let's remain on the subject," Gaara calmly answered. "Did the Hokage give you any more instruction, Nara-san?"

The lazy shinobi dug back in his mind for more information before speaking up again. "Temari-sama also told me I'd stay for a week, before you'd send me back with the appropriate documents," Shikamaru answered, stretching his back muscles.

Gaara suddenly narrowed his eyes and glared at Shikamaru lightly. The latter raised an eyebrow as the stare was prolonged and asked, "What?"

The Kazekage leaned forward lightly. "You said Temari instead of Tsunade."

Shikamaru blinked, before making a face and closing his eyes. He had said Temari, there was no use in denying it. Yet his mind already had an excuse whipped up. "I know, it's exactly what I meant. Your sister had warned me I'd stay for a week and I'd probably be the liaison. Tsunade only confirmed it."

Gaara looked away, fighting the urge to chastise that man from Suna for lying to him. Shikamaru may be a quick thinker, but sometimes the truth was just etched on his face. To keep himself from putting his thoughts into action, the Suna shinobi stood up and bowed to his interlocutor. "Then I assume it is all. We will discuss this furthermore once I have read the documents, Nara-san. Enjoy your stay in Suna."

Shikamaru watched Gaara descend the stairs with a deep sigh. Mentally, he snapped, 'Troublesome woman, stay out of my head! You'll get me executed some day…' But then another thought, this one less pleasant, managed to infiltrate his train of thought. 'Great, now I have to go all the way back down these stairs…'

After the long trip from his comfortable position on the staircase to the streets, Shikamaru absent-mindedly noticed that it was suppertime. Hs stomach tightened because of its lack of proper nourishment, which made him start hunting for a restaurant. He eventually found a ramen stand, to which he made a beeline for.

"I'm almost as bad as Chouji," he whispered to himself as he took place on a bench.

Soon after, the waitress arrived. A pretty girl of about his age leaned against the counter in front of him and flashed him a row of perfectly-aligned teeth as she flipped her blonde hair back. "Heya, cutie!" she chirped, grinning. "What can I get you?"

Shikamaru shrugged lazily, not really caring unless he'd get some food. "Anything you suggest, really."

"I'll give you the special!" she almost screeched, her grin widening as her blue eyes gleamed. "And I'll even give you the 'cute guy' discount. What's your name, adorable traveler?"

'Who cares, I want my food…'

"Nara Shikamaru," he introduced himself. Then, to send a message, he remained quiet instead of asking the girl for her name back.

She didn't get it. "Well you can call me Ai-chan! Oh, and I was wondering for about how long you'll stay around here."

'Not long, since I'll die of starvation if you don't serve me, anyways.'

"A week, approximately." He cut it off there, staring almost enviously at the man besides him who was shoving down a huge bowl of miso ramen. It looked and smelled delicious…

"Oh, well isn't that perfect!" Ai giggled, clapping her hands. "I was wondering if you could be my date, for the upcoming festival."

Shikamaru had a sudden flashback of Ino, back in Konoha. 'You've got to be kidding me. Why are women always so desperate? How troublesome…'

Sensing that sending her hints wasn't working, Shikamaru opted for the reverse psychology and leaned forward, plunging his eyes straight in the girl's and forcing himself to appear interested. "What festival? I haven't heard of one."

Solution failed. The girl giggled again, went around the counter and sat down besides him, folding her hands in her lap and cocking her head. "Well you see, in Suna, engagement is a really big thing. There's a huge ceremony, you see, and well, everyone has to bring someone, and it's like… this big party!" She giggled once more. "And well, I was wondering, since everyone needs a date to enter, if you'd be mine."

Shikamaru almost cringed. This would be even worse than that time where Ino had dragged him around the entire village, pretending she was his girlfriend, just to make Sasuke jealous. That girl was almost as worse, since she referred to herself as "Ai", which also conveniently meant "love". She was definitely Suna's Ino… definitely…

Straightening, Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm not a party guy," he shrugged off the invitation, "and I'm not really interested in one-night stands anyways. I prefer long-term relationships, thank you. Now, about my meal—"

She rudely ignored his last sentence and cut him off. "Aw, come on, Shikamaru-kun!" she cooed, using the honorific. "Please do me the honor! I never had a boyfriend as cute as you! It'll be fun!"

"I don't like parties," he repeated, looking away from her. "Especially not engagement parties. They remind me that I'm single, and I am not your boyfriend."

Wrong choice of words. Ai giggled happily and clapped her hands. "Oh, so you're single too! Well that's even better!"

Realizing that she would've tried to snag him whether or not he already had a girlfriend, Shikamaru turned his back to her, repulsed. He slid off the bench and spoke sharply, "Well thank you for the conversation, but I must go. I'll go eat somewhere else since you obviously won't serve me my food."

Ai suddenly lost her smile as she jumped up, reaching over to grab his arm. Yet the shinobi moved away angrily from the small stand.

The dry dusk wind whipped at his face as the sun began to dip over the horizon, casting an orange glow around. Shadows danced playfully around the Shadow Master, rendering the sandy streets of Suna almost ethereal. The sky was a deep shade of orange and purple, the remaining part of the sun visible a ball of red fire. Shikamaru squinted as he walked, his hands now resting lazily inside his pockets.

He found another restaurant, where he slipped in and ordered rice. The waitress, this time, was the old lady who had shown him how to enter Suna when he had been lost, earlier that morning. They were both alone in the restaurant, so she quietly asked him questions about himself. He answered her while eating, somewhat glad of her company. Then she would tell him stories about Suna, about her grandson who had just graduated from Suna's Academy. The woman reminded him of a nicer version of his grandmother.

As he was finished and his dishes had been put away, he moved to the cash register to pay for his meal. While he counted up the money and handed it to her, the elderly woman asked softly, "I'm curious, dear, did you also come here for the festival that's coming up? It's also an engagement ceremony, and I'm certain it would please the Kazekage if someone from another country would attend."

Shikamaru winced as the image of Ai's bubbly face burst in his mind. "So this engagement thing is big here?"

"Have you already been asked to go, dear?" she asked with a small grin. "It's always preferred if you bring a date, but you don't have to, of course."

"Why is it so important, anyways? Couples get engaged every week; it's not that big of a deal. They're not married yet," Shikamaru grumbled as he glared at his sandals.

As he turned to leave, since his question had been rhetorical, he heard the old woman say, "Well you know, it's not every day that the Kazekage's sister gets engaged."

Shikamaru's change fell from his hands and struck the floor, sending all his tokens spiraling over the restaurant's floor.

A/N: Ahh, let's end this chapter at yet another cliffhanger. This story should have another chapter or two, maybe three if I can stretch it, but no more than that. Just so you guys can be warned and won't go, "WHAT!? THE END!?" when it'll happen.

Sorry for the delay. I don't know if anyone is having this problem, but I've had over 10 snow days over the winter. So now, all these ten snow days are crawling back to us, plus they advanced our final exams of one week. Hence, we have 17 days to cram in our remaining thirty days. I now have two essays to write, one ISU presentation of ten to fifteen minutes, one oral presentation of another 15-20 minutes about a mental illness for sociology class, and we're going double-speed for math, hence at least an hour of homework per night. But that's when we're lucky. Oh, and a huge programmation project to hand in. Mine's Pacman! XD So with all that, fanfics are a bit at the back of my mind. So sorry, guys, I'm really doing my best!

Thanks so much to those who reviewed! Sixty-four and counting! Hopefully I'll hit the hundreds before ending!

Take care!