After almost an eternity of staring at the walls outside the Hokage's office, Shikamaru was decidedly annoyed and needed to go find this woman. Ugh, for the next TWO weeks this was the woman he trapped with. "His" woman, so to speak. Yeah right he wanted her in the way he wanted to sleep in a tank full of hungry piranha. Hands in pocket he began his depressing search.

Temari couldn't believe how complex this building was. She would have to familiarize herself with this village more if she was to be here permanently, no need in getting lost continually. Temari had been walking for almost two hours. Damn it all! She had been following the smell of food for what seemed like forever. She had hoped it would lead to the kitchens or at least outdoors. Out the corner of her eye she saw a blob of orange. She had never wanted to see this ninja more. Oh thank goodness, if anyone can find food it's Naruto! Hurrying after him she called his name.

"Naruto!" Temari said quickly walking in his direction. "NARUTO!" The sun haired ninja turned around, and smiled.

"Temari! I have been looking all over for you." He was just a few feet away now and Temari was getting food if she had to drag his butt around town.

"Naruto!" She said grabbing his shirt front. "I need food! Can you get me out of here?"

"It'll cost you." Naruto said his smile now from ear to ear.

Temari's eyes narrowed a slight bit. If this little… He cut off her thought saying. "If I escort you to food you will have to buy me a bowl of my favorite ramen."

That didn't sound too bad, especially when it could have been much worse. Her goal was to get food herself. What harm could it do? All she had to do was agree to feed the She stuck out her hand in agreement, shaking Naruto's hand firmly. She began to following him through hallways, her excitement growing at escaping this place and Shikamaru, while she figured out her situation and how to proceed with her limited options. She could see the door to her freedom, the blue sky visible through a small square window in the door.

Once outdoors Temari enjoyed the sun on her skin, she continued to follow Naruto. She knew her way around in town, but a deal was a deal, Temari owed Naruto a bowl of ramen. Oh, she could taste the kenchin-jiru. That delicious creamy sato-imo, sweet carrots and mushrooms, she would enjoy every bite.

Shikamaru was amused as he followed Naruto and Temari through the city streets. Thank goodness he had found Naruto before Temari did or he would have spent the expanse of his lifetime looking for her in that building. Since he was too lazy to walk through the building himself he decided to enlist help. Finding Naruto had been easy. The challenging part was to get him to agree to help. Shikamaru had asked Naruto to help him find Temari and make his presence known to her. Shikamaru knew she was a smart woman and would connect Naruto to food and a way out of the building. That is if she happened was desperate enough to ask Naruto for help. Naruto wasn't hard to convince, Shikamaru gave Naruto enough money to buy two days' worth of ramen, which in Naruto's case a whole lot of noodles and not in the least cheap.

He watched as Temari and Naruto went inside and sat at a booth and began to order, then went to sit at the table beside Temari. The look on her face was priceless. Temari's jaw hit the table when Shikamaru not only sat down next to her, but put his arm around her shoulder. She knew what he was doing, Shikamaru knew Temari wouldn't break his hand or face while Naruto was sitting at the table. Both of them were glad that Naruto hadn't had any food in his mouth. He most definitely would have spit noodles it all over the two of them.

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Naruto yelled. He was beyond astonished. When the HELL had this happened? Looking back and forth between the two, all Naruto could think was this was weirdest match ever!

"THIS MAKES NO SENSE!" Naruto continued. Ayame placed their food on the table and gave Naruto a strange look before she headed back to the other orders on the counter.

Rolling her Temari said, "Will you stop yelling? It's not that serious." ,completely annoyed with the whole situation.

She had planned a nice relaxing meal, instead she was stuck answering, what she was sure would be, a million questions. Shooting a look to Shikamaru that said, this is your problem, not mine. Temari began her meal.

"Naruto you will be seeing a whole lot more of us being together." Shikamaru couldn't believe his luck. All he had to do was tell Naruto about the engagement and his work was done, the story would be told to Sakura and it would take off from there. "As a matter of fact, Naruto, Temari and I are engaged."

Temari had to cover her mouth to keep from spitting out food. She could have strangled the very life out Shikamaru's body. Naruto's eyes bulged so big Shikamaru thought they might burst. It took Naruto a minute to regain his senses. "Engaged? How is that possible?"

Shikamaru had never been as appreciative of his Hokage as he was now. "Really, you didn't see the hints?", His tone incredulous. "How could we not be? Every time Temari would come for business, who escorted her around the village?"

"You did, but I would have thought you would call any relationship too troublesome. I always thought something was going on. Sakura said there wasn't, but what does she know about people and their love." Smiling that I'm the best smile, Naruto went back to stuffing his face.

"Well Temari," chew chomp chomp." that explains why you didn't like me," Slurp chew chew, "as your guide and left town early a few missions back." Shikamaru had to fight back the urge to facepalm.

Temari ate her soup with very little enjoyment. She was highly ticked off at the moment. Where did Shikamaru get off making decisions about telling people they were engaged? Especially since she had a different understanding of the Lady Hokage's words, she thought of it as something they had to work together on to ensure both of their freedom's after the allotted time. She did not want to make a huge scene about it. Now she was going to be one of those people who got married for a quick minute and divorced.Temari was not one of those girl's that planned their weddings from their diapers. As a matter of fact she wasn't sure she had ever wanted to get married in the first place. She would make do with this situation until she could find a solution.

When she and Naruto finished eating, Shikamaru paid the tab and the small group headed outside and separated with Naruto running in one direction Shikamaru and Temari walking in the other. Before they had taken ten steps they heard Naruto yell.

"Hey Shikamaru I didn't know you were into older women!" Waving he disappeared onto a cloud of smoke around the corner.