AN: Tsukareta wa…
Disclaimers apply as usual.
Average- Warmth
Tenten woke to a familiar warmth as a sensation she had previously thought nothing of came to the forefront of her conscious mind.
As a genin, and even as a chunin, missions with her team had been something to dread, and she had only seen them as a means to advance herself. Her grot hole of an apartment was a comfort to her in those times, and she quite looked forward to the sparse occasions she was rewarded with a sleep in.
Something after then had changed this to the reverse side. For the longest time, waking up in a cold, damp tent before sunrise to cook what tasted to her like dried crap for a group of sweaty bloodstained men while trying to attend to her own injuries, had for some reason given her the deepest wave of satisfaction she had ever experienced, and nothing quite compared to that.
Her friends had spent years trying to figure out what it was that made her so out of the ordinary that she would view missions in such a light. This was what had started her 'complex' in the first place; wondering what part of the situation she liked so much driving her to attempt recreation, whether it is the sweaty men, or the bad food, or the cold, although she had never progressed to the point of self-harm to remedy the situation.
It wasn't until now that the thought even crossed her mind, that perhaps it wasn't the situation she craved. Waking up in another man's bed had never elicited those feelings she felt blessed with at that moment. A heat that went passed the realms of temperature coursed through every vein in her body, and it began to dawn on her.
It wasn't the sweaty, bloodstained men; it was a sweat bloodstained man. It was only once she was with him that the missions and training had become so vital to her, and she was now delighted to find that the sensations from before definitely carried on outside of the bloody and violent world of shinobi.
She felt like she would melt at that exact moment and that it wouldn't matter to her at all; the temptation to never fully open her eyes to reality again washed over her, desperate to hold onto what was bound to be a short lived moment of self indulgence.
Despite this, she had no trouble snapping out of her thoughts as a soft knock came at the bedroom door. "Tenten, Shika, you decent?"
Glancing over the two of them, she noted their position and did her best to get out of it before calling back. Shikamaru was holding her against himself, still fast asleep by his breathing pattern, their legs tangled comfortably. She removed his arm, careful not to disturb him, and sat up. "Um, yeah, I guess"
Chouji opened the door a crack and couldn't help the soft chuckle that escaped his mouth at the way Shikamaru was spread out, seemingly driving Tenten to a small area of the large bed. "I've made breakfast, if you want some. It's up to you if you want to wake him or not, but Ino is coming around within the hour."
"Alright, thank you Chouji." She smiled politely and went to tie her hair up; effectively telling herself it was time to get up. "Do you know if my clothes are dry yet?"
"Hai, they should be. Do you want me to fetch them?"
"No, it's ok, I'll get them myself."
"Ok, I'll leave you to it." With that he backed out of the room, leaving the door ajar to allow the smell from the kitchen to come through.
She looked back over at Shikamaru with a sigh. I'd better wake him up. He'd probably take it better from me than from Ino. She was reluctant to disturb his sleep; he seemed so peaceful and comfortable. More than anything she just wanted to curl back up against him, but she couldn't sensibly allow herself to.
Placing hand on his shoulder, she shook him gently, "Shikamaru…"
He began to stir, grumbling quietly as his arm reached out for what it had previously been holding.
"Come on, you need to wake up." she continued to urge, and leant down to peck him on the cheek.
That opened his eyes, and he stared up at her, taking a second to remember why she was there.
"Ohayou." she smirked at her half lidded gaze.
"What… why…?"
"Ino's coming over. You should probably be conscious."
"Mendokuse…" He groaned as he pulled himself to a sitting position, rubbing a hand through his messy hair.
"Well I'm going to go find clothes, don't know about you…" she started to get up, but was pulled back by one of his hands. "What now?"
He pulled her close to him, hands locking around her waist as he attempted to kiss her again. This time, she was prepared, and decided to show him what a good kiss could be like. Before their lips touched, she opened hers out to cover his bottom lip, and moved her mouth in a slow rhythm against his, slipping the edge of her tongue out once in a while to trace his lips.
Once he got over the initial shock, he began trying to mimic her actions, moving in time to her as he once again closed his eyes. Her arms moved over to rest against his bare chest and shoulder, enabling him to feel her body's movements more closely. They would happily have continued this for some time, had it not been for the sound reaching them of their own lips smacking.
Tenten pulled him into a hug, whispering quietly, "Just hope that Chouji didn't hear that."
"He'll be busy elsewhere." Shikamaru told her.
She let go of him with a smile, her hand reaching up to touch against her lips tenderly. "I really should go and get dressed now."
"Alright." He sighed, and watched her every move as she stood up to head to the door, making sure that his shirt was covering as much as possible before walking out into the main room of the apartment. Once she had left, he also held his hand up to his mouth, still feeling the tingling sensations her touch had left behind.
Ordinarily, he would have just rolled over and gone to sleep, but there was no chance he was doing that now, with his heart beating so hard it was deafening. Deciding it was pointless to sit around; he got up and walked out to find Chouji putting a plate of cookies onto the table, the shogi game nowhere in sight.
The rest of the apartment had been dramatically changed, with Christmas decorations hanging up on the walls and furniture. A tree was set up in the corner closest to the windows, but its decorations were still in a stack of boxes beside it.
"Been busy?"
"Shikamaru, you're up? That was quick."
He shrugged and slouched onto the sofa. "You aren't going too far to impress, are you Choj?"
"No, but Ino is coming soon and she'll only yell if we aren't in the spirit."
"I wouldn't have bothered."
"I know you wouldn't, you never do." He laughed, to let him know that he wasn't being serious.
Shikamaru's attention was already elsewhere, "Tenten."
"You said something about breakfast Chouji?" she smiled, stretching her arms over her head as she walked into the room, dressed in her clothes from the previous day.
"Sure," he grinned, grateful for someone new to try his cooking, "kitchen's just through here."
He led her down the corridor leading off the main room to a joined kitchen and eating room.
"This apartment is amazing guys, how do you afford it?"
"Shikamaru's anbu captain pay does a lot for it. I tend to pay for the food, which is only fair. Anything else is taken care of by our clans."
"Ah yeah, I forget you have parents."
He avoided the subject by producing a series of breakfast dishes, laying them across the high level table in the centre of the room.
"You really were bored, huh?" Shikamaru teased, grabbing a piece of French toast as he strode into the room and sat down.
"What… Shikamaru, you never eat breakfast." he commented as he poured Tenten some green tea.
He merely shrugged and continued to eat.
Tenten smiled at him briefly before looking over the food, "I think I'm spoilt for choice."
"Just dig in." Chouji smiled, grabbing a plate and piling it up for himself.
"Thanks a lot for this, I mean it. I owe you."
"Nonsense. I always welcome company."
"Talking of," Shikamaru interrupted, "When exactly did you get contact from Ino about her visit today?"
"She came to meet me when I got back last night. She said she tried to call in at the apartment last night but no one was answering."
"As Tenten said, Stargazing…" Shikamaru mumbled, as if practicing an excuse.
Accommodating as ever, Chouji just ignored him. "I would have said last night, but I guess it just slipped my mind."
"Don't worry about it." Tenten smiled, after swallowing a mouthful of fruit. "Shouldn't you put a shirt on or something Shikamaru?"
He stopped eating to frown at her, and then pointedly continued his actions.
Chouji laughed out loud. "You're lucky he even has pants on"
She tried to hide her blush at this remark by taking a sip of her tea.
They all continued to eat in silence until a knock sounded at the door. Almost instantly, Shikamaru got up and walked out to get dressed, while Chouji cleared up the leftover dishes into the oven or onto the side.
"Could you go and answer that Tenten? I won't be long." Chouji asked politely.
"Sure." She nodded and moved off through the apartment to the large wooden door.
Almost as soon as she opened it, the blonde had dived forward and pulled her into a bone crunching hug. "Kami Tenten! What are you doing here?!"
"not… breathing…" she tried to stress out through the kunoichi's iron grip.
Ino stood back and closed the door behind her as she wandered into the apartment. "Seriously though, I haven't seen you in ages. How are you?"
She took an over cautious step back and smiled shyly. "Um… I'm great actually; better than I have been for a while."
"That's awesome! Got a boy… no, I won't bother asking. Where are my boys?"
"Oh, they're just…"
"Merry Christmas Eve Ino-chan" Chouji grinned as he walked back in, Shikamaru close behind.
Shikamaru couldn't help but to exchange a glance with Tenten before sitting down on the sofa.
"You too Choj." She grinned happily "Are you going to say hi to me Lazy bum?"
"Hi" he grunted reluctantly.
Luckily for him, her attention was distracted, "Oh, you left the tree! That's so cute. We can do it all together, like a team."
"And Tenten" Chouji pointed out.
"Are you staying for the day then Tenten?"
"Apparently." She sat down beside Shikamaru and drew her knees up to her chest. "Of course, if you want me to leave you three some time alone… I mean, I wouldn't want to intrude… I probably should go home anyway, get some more clothes…"
"No." Shikamaru said before she could get up.
She looked over at her with concern and slight irritation at the ordering tone in his voice, something he rarely uses with her even in missions.
"He may be a little harsh Tenten, but he's right." Chouji agreed, "You can't go back to your apartment if it's as disastrous as you said. You really aren't intruding."
"Oh, is that why you're here?" Ino caught on. "Don't worry about it Ten-chan. If you need clothes, you're welcome to borrow mine."
"Yeah, that would work." she rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"What?"
"Well, for a start, you are practically half the size of me. Your clothes wouldn't fit someone my size."
"You aren't even remotely fat" Chouji pointed out, making her feel slightly ridiculous for even implying it.
"But still…"
"Do you even own clothes that cover skin Ino?" Shikamaru wondered, noting that even her warm jacket finished barely an inch below her bust line.
"Maybe you should ask Sakura…" Ino suggested, shooting a scolding glare sideways at Shikamaru.
"I'll be fine. It's not the end of the world." Tenten waved off.
"And anyway, you aren't too much of a tomboy to show off your legs once in a while, are you?"
"Not from what we've seen" Chouji winked playfully and sat down with them.
Shikamaru threw a cushion at him in response.
"Ooh, cookies." Ino noticed; short attention span blooming in full. "I am so starving."
"There's more food in the kitchen Ino."
She grinned back at Chouji in response, "Ah, my knight in shining confectionary."
"Back in a bit guys." Chouji told them and lead Ino back to the kitchen.
Tenten turned to Shikamaru, "Did you say anything to him?"
"No, why?"
"I don't know, it just seems to me like he knows more than he should."
"He's probably just joking about. I'd know if he wasn't." he assured her.
"Ok, I trust you." She couldn't help but smile again, "So how long do you think we have?"
"Those two have a very bizarre relationship with food. It may take some time."
"Hmm, I got that impression somehow."
"Why? What did you have in mind?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh, nothing… I guess Ino just intimidates me sometimes."
He slowly reached out a hand to hold hers supportingly. "You are ok."
"Just ok?" she put up an expression of disappointment.
"You know I didn't mean it that way."
Giggling, she leant closer to give him a very brief peck on the lips. "I know. I do like to tease though."
"And you know exactly when to stop."
"You know, I'm getting a vague impression here that you are trying to flatter me."
"It's a distinct possibility."
She groaned to herself. "Oh, you should really stop talking like that…"
"Sorry."
"No, it's ok, I just… keep talking like that and I'm afraid I won't do a very good job at acting when the others get here."
"You are right, I know that, but I estimate that we still have a little while left until she finishes eating through Chouji."
"I'm sorry, did I hear that right? Eating through Chouji?"
"Hai, she doesn't eat much herself, but it seems that she can settle her cravings just by watching him eat. Personally I think it sounds obscene, but Chouji doesn't complain, so I just leave them to it."
"That sounds fair I guess. Whatever works for you, right? I mean, I never understood S&M but I've seen how it can actually… I'm going well off track here and I'm sure you probably don't want to hear about things like that…" she flushed and drew her gaze from his eyes, where she found it had lingered for too long.
"I don't mind, I like listening to you speak, for some reason."
"Incoming," she sighed, pulling her hand away from him as she saw the others return.
"… so then she was just rattling off about kami knows what, and to be honest I completely tuned out. It must have been about ten minutes before I realized that I was counting the tea leaves in my cup and she was still talking. It was so embarrassing! Though whether it was more so for me or her is still an unknown mystery. I didn't want to be impolite so I just started nodding at her like a complete imbecile in the vain hope there wouldn't be any questions afterwards. Have you ever been put into a situation like that? I mean seriously…"
"I've heard from others that she is much the same with everyone." Chouji smiled at her, "I think it's safe to say you handled it better than most."
"Do you think she gets a kick out of it or something? Like she just makes up any old crap and spouts it in the most monotonous voice she can manage so that she can gauge people's various reactions."
"Does it really matter?" he asked as he took another bite out of the biscuit in his hand.
Shikamaru signaled for Tenten to watch, and she was amused to find that Ino's eyes were very intensely trained on Chouji's lips as he ate the food. She even let out a barely noticeable sigh when he had finished chewing the mouthful, as though she was lamenting the lack of taste and viewable movement.
She held back a snigger as she looked back at her boyfriend across the sofa, only to attract Ino's attention.
"What are you two smiling about?"
"Just Christmas in general." Shikamaru stated, pushing his voice into a grumble.
"I think I'm going for a walk." Tenten sighed and stood up.
"Do you want someone to come with you?" Shikamaru offered, trying to make it sound as though he was merely attempting to escape Christmas duty.
"Ooh! I'll come!" Ino squealed, "We could go shopping! Clothes shopping! I really wanted a new outfit for Hinata's 21st, and this way, with Tenten staying here and all I can buy something nice for tomorrow too! Yay, this is so awesome!"
Tenten looked at her feet nervously. "Um, shopping? I uh…"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Shikamaru had stood up and handed her a small bundle of notes from his pocket. Knowing almost immediately that she would protest, he spoke up loud enough in his lazy drawl to reach the others. "You left your money at your apartment, right? Just pay me back when you can."
"Shikamaru I… arigato." She nodded her thanks before Ino grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the door, barely giving her enough time to put her shoes on.
AN: feedback pleshies.
Soppy rubbish mostly. I was going to add more to this, but I can't be bothered, quite frankly.
I have to say a few things. Firstly, if you have a deviantart account, please check out mine, where you will find a new bit of fanfic writing I did which has a link to the story later on. Or rather, the link is there now, but you'd have to be Shikamaru to figure it out.
Secondly, please check out Kelso The Great. Ish's fanfiction, "Hokage Quiz". She's on my precious list and needs the luff spreading. Read it and review it NOW! (Hint towards the reason for my insanity at suggesting you read a non-Tenten fan's fic 'Kelso' / 'Kelli'. There's a link there which has frell all to do with HTML.)
Give me a few weeks and I will have a wonderful picky of Team Nara all polished up for public viewing, so watch this space.
Next chapter, Christmas crap probably… any suggestions?
RULE 1: If you don't like it- give me constructive criticism, not just 'I don't like this', or don't say anything at all
RULE 2: If you do like it, review, show the luff
RULE 3: If you do, or you are even not sure, go and visit my writing website: www . Freewebs . com /belizma-kelli (delete spaces)
Stay shiny and show the luff
Belizma-chan
