They walked in silence again.

"You baka, why didn't you say anything to those idiots!", Temari yelled at him when they were out of sight of Naruto and his friends.

Shikamaru was ready for her. "You know you only made it worse by letting yourself get riled up by those idiots!"

"What happened to being a man, Shikamaru? When I needed you, you just acted like a big idiot!", she exclaimed.

"Just own up to it Temari, you like telling me what to do so I let you", Shikamaru reasoned. "If I had actually defended you, you would have called me an idiot about being all 'man and woman this, man and woman that'. Then probably hit me for thinking you needed protection. And THEN they would have joined in and things would have got even worse."

Temari looked at him, surprised at the logic in his argument. She was upset and she didn't want logic. She wanted-

"So I chose the path of least resistance, that's all."

"Of course you did, you lazybones", Temari exclaimed, upset all over again.

"It's not because I'm lazy. It's just because I don't care what they think." Shikamaru countered. " Like you said they're all idiots. And It's stupid to talk about things you're not. Be yourself and you'll be fine."

"Do you really think I care about what those idiots think, Nara?" Temari growled, but even she knew she was beaten.

Shikamaru smirked. "Women. So troublesome that they have to have the last word."

That silenced Temari.

Noticing this, Shikamaru added more gently with a curious expression on his face, "And you don't need protecting Temi."

Her rage vanished in the face of Shikamaru's sudden tenderness. Temi? She blushed.

"So you don't think I'm a troublesome woman anymore?" She looked at him, eyes wide.

"You will always be a troublesome woman", he replied, but without the usual bite in his tone.

"But?", she asked, eyeing him with even more curiousity. Ten Ten's words about Lee earlier popped into her mind. You're just my troublesome woman?

"There's no but."

"Oh", she said flatly. Then covering up her disappointment, she added, "And here I was thinking that the genius was going to admit he was wrong about me!"

"Ha! I knew you were trouble from the start! And you still are!"

"Fighting words from a slacker who prefers to hide in shadows and give up!"

"Why do you always have to bring that up?"

Because I can't keep thinking about you and how we met, you big idiot! In her mind, she was screaming. But Temari had spent too much time being a strong, proud Sand ninja. She had spent too much time with comrades who didn't see her differently just because she was of another gender.

Sure there had been suitors but they were all too stupid and weak for her to seriously consider. And none of them had been Shikamaru, she thought to herself sadly.

She got on better with him than most people. He had started out as a worthy adversary and then a worthy comrade, and friend. And now...

But their duties had limited the amount of contact they had. They had always been so busy with their own missions that they hadn't spent a lot of time together. Not to mention the fact that they were not even of the same village.

However, with the coming together of the five Kages, things had settled down a lot. But warriors always have to be ready for battle. Which meant training oneself as well as others.

So she had just enjoyed their time together without giving it much serious thought until more recently. Well, the last few years if she were to be honest.

But that had been the extent of it. Just thinking about it. And this from someone whose motto was
"actions speak louder than words", she thought wryly.

Still, so long as he was happy, she was happy.

Sure there had been rumours, first about Ino then Shiho and various other women, but nothing had ever really substantiated from them. Rumours, they just were.

She didn't care about them. She was sure Shikamaru would find them all too troublesome for him to ever do anything anyway. They were not his type. So who was his type exactly? She had never really seen him with any women socially besides Ino and since they were obviously not like that...

Still, she knew that when he was younger, Shikamaru had wanted to marry a regular girl who wasn't too ugly and not too pretty. He also wanted to have a family, a boy and girl.

She wondered if he still wanted that?

Does he think I'm pretty?

But he better not think of me as a regular girl.

Sometimes she just couldn't read him at all, she thought.

She looked up at him, suddenly realising she had been daydrreaming on her feet again.

He was just standing there looking at her, studying her, an odd expression on his face.

"Huh? What did I miss Shikamaru?"

"I was asking you if you wanted to come over and play some shogi with me", he replied blushing, "when you began to tune out on me. Are you okay Temari?"

Was he concerned about her? "I-I-I-I'm fine. Just tired."

"Oh, ok then", he said, a little disppointed. "In that case, let me take you to your quarters so you can get some rest. Where are you staying this time?"

"N-no, I am tired...but that doesn't mean I can't play shogi with you, Shikamaru", she gushed. "And-and I'm not sure where I'm staying yet because I'm not here on official business. At least not until my brothers arrive in a few more days for the wedding. And I-I'm not even sure if the Hokage knows I'm here yet." Why was she suddenly so nervous and talking like the Hyuuga girl?

She watched as Shikamaru took it all in. "Well, it's going to be pretty hard to find you a place at this late hour, not with the wedding so soon. I mean, have you noticed how busy the village?!"

"Oh, I guess I hadn't thought it through that clearly. I mean there was obviously something set up for Gaara when he arrives but he's obviously not here right now..." What had she been thinking? This wasn't like her at her.

He seemed to think for a moment. "My father taught me that a man can't say no to a woman in need...he also taught me that men are useless without women...", he blushed as Temari stared at him, not sure where that last had come from. "What I mean is, I have a spare room now that I've moved out and I can't let a woman like yourself...what I mean is, you can stay with me for the next few days if you'd like...I mean, not because you're a woman but-"

"Ok."

"What?"

"I'll come stay with you for the next few days if that's ok with you. I don't want to intrude or have you take pity on me...", Temari said. "You're not goiing to back out are you, after all that talk about saving little ol me and-"

"Why can't you just say thank you for a change instead of being all up in my face when I just saved you from-"

"Baka! I'll say thank you after I beat your lazy ass at shogi. Not trying to back out of that too are you?", she said smirking at him. She really enjoyed watching him squirm. He was just so cute sometimes.

"What are you on about now, woman? You haven't even beaten me once yet and we've played how many games now?", he replied, giving her a smirk of his own. "So don't think I'm going to back down about that or having you stay. And I value my own life too much to take pity on you. Now that would be a fate worse than death." He laughed and her laughter joined his. "But be warned that most other people are too smart to play with me now they know how good I am...BUT you just seem to be a sucker for losing to me so why don't we get you home so I can have my way with you."

Temari looked at him in shock.

"I mean, in shogi", he explained lamely. "Come on...", he said, grabbing her hand, "otherwise by the time we get back, you'll just want to take a bath and go to bed!"

Temari would have normally said something back but seeing Shikamaru flustered and taking charge was quite an exciting sight for her. And he's holding my hand!, she thought happily, savouring the touch of his flesh against hers as he lead her back to his apartment.