Chapter Ten: Training

Shikamaru blinked his eyes open, squinting against the light that poured in from the window. He didn't know what time it was, but he was sure it was too early for him to be awake. He moved his head to look around the room, finally coming to rest where he could see Temari's sleeping face resting against his chest. If he were to get up, he'd wake her. Weighing his options, he decided that staying in bed was far from the worst thing in the world.

She shifted in her sleep, and he froze, worried that he'd disturbed her. Her hand curled around the blanket, and she rolled over onto her other side. Slowly, Shikamaru sat up and got to his feet, trying to shift the mattress as little as possible. Once he was free, he scanned the floor in search of his clothing. He found his boxers between the dresser and the wall, and his pants had been tossed over the post at the foot of the bed.

After tugging his pants up and securing them around his waist, he went in search of his shirt. He froze as he noticed Temari stir, but it didn't do any good.

Lazily, she sat up and brushed her hair back from her face. She yawned into the palm of her hand and rubbed the corner of her right eye with the heel of her palm. Gradually, she became aware of her surroundings, smiling her wide, toothy grin when she saw Shikamaru standing, half-dressed, at the foot of the bed.

"Sorry," he apologized, assuming that he'd woken her.

"It's fine," she assured him before gesturing toward the pyjamas she had abandoned by her closet the night before.

Shikamaru tossed them gently to her before peering into the open closet, still unable to find his shirt. It's not like it could have walked away. He turned back around, indulging himself by taking a moment to watch Temari get dressed. Damn, he was lucky. A long time ago, he had decided that he didn't want to go through the trouble of being with someone. But, now, he could see how the benefits could outweigh the hassle.

"What?" Temari had noticed him looking at her.

"Nothing. Have you seen my shirt?"

She bent down and grabbed a ball of fabric, which was half-hidden underneath the bed. "Here."

He took it from her, smirking to himself. "Thanks."

"Don't let it go to your head," she warned, flicking him lightly on the forehead. "I don't like overconfident men."

"I'll keep that in mind." He looked down at the shirt in his hands. "I should go change. At least pretend that I didn't sleep here."

"I don't know why you're so worried about it," she commented, but made no move to stop him.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"What's anyone going to do?"

Kill me. Bury me in the desert so no one ever finds my body.

"Hey," she pulled him out of his thoughts by poking him in the chest with her index finger. "You're a shinobi. Act like it."

"Yeah, yeah." He tugged his shirt over his head, deciding that he still wasn't awake enough for any of this. When Temari opened the door to her bedroom, he hesitated, planning to wait before following her. To his surprise and displeasure, she grabbed him around the wrist and pulled him after her.

Apparently, they had slept in far later than he thought. Both Gaara and Kankuro had returned from the council meeting. Gaara had yet to change out of his robes, and his headdress hung from the back of one of the kitchen chairs. The two brothers had, apparently, decided that they should actually buy some food for their home, and were busy putting groceries into the pantry, cabinets, and refrigerator.

When Temari entered the kitchen, still pulling Shikamaru behind her, all three stopped in their tracks. The tension became palpable as Gaara and Kankuro looked at Temari, and she glared back. It was like some silent battle for dominance, Shikamaru remarked. It was anxiety-inducing.

Gaara was the first to back down, although Shikamaru assumed he did so out of apathy. He was the youngest, but as kazekage, his word was literally law. From what he had seen, it was clear that Gaara was hesitant to use this type of authority on his family. Stepping to the side on a personal matter wasn't surprising. He'd said his peace the night before, and it was clear that he had no further interest in the matter.

That left Kankuro, who showed no sign of giving his sister any ground. Temari narrowed her eyes, and he faltered for a fraction of a second, but he squared his shoulders to make up for it. In a power move, Temari walked further into the kitchen, refusing to back down. Kankuro weighed his pride against her determination, and he seemed to decide that he was better off backing down. Not without anger, he turned back to the task at hand, choosing to ignore his sister's presence altogether.

An uneasy ceasefire settled among them for the time being. Pleased with the result, Temari let go of Shikamaru's wrist and joined her brothers in their effort. If this was what it was like to have brothers, Shikamaru was thankful that he was an only child.

"Come on, you can do better than this!" Temari chided as she leaped back, away from Shikamaru's approaching shadow.

"Tch." Shikamaru released his hand sign, reassessing the situation. The training field she'd chosen had no shade, and there was very little he could use to his advantage. That, of course, was the point; she was right in pointing out that he'd gotten too comfortable using his jutsu in Konoha's expansive forests. Even in the middle of Sunagakure, he didn't have much to work with when it came to his Shadow Possession.

Temari slammed the blade of her open fan into the sand at her feet. "Don't tell me you're giving up already." As she expected, he pressed his fingertips together, deep in thought. In a fluid sweep, she tore her fan from the ground and positioned it behind her back. She wasn't going to give him more time than an enemy would.

"Dust Wind Technique!"

Shikamaru's eyes flew open, and he rolled to dodge the blast of wind and sand that she'd thrown in his direction. Thinking on his feet, he used his earth release technique, pulling up a barrier to shield himself. The wind sliced into the earth in random patterns, but the barrier was enough to hold it back.

The flat terrain placed her at a clear advantage. His shadows couldn't move fast enough to be of any use, and he had no way to extend its reach. The earth release had provided a small amount of shade, but the sun wasn't going to be to his advantage for a few more hours. He suspected that she'd purposefully waited until the sun reached its highest point to suggest they train.

He reached behind himself and clicked open the button which sealed his pack. His fingers closed around the cool metal he had been looking for. He hadn't practiced too much with Asuma's blades, but she'd left him without any other technique. His fingers slipped into the holes of the blades, and he concentrated his chakra in his hands. He couldn't hear any movement.

Temari's eyes followed him as he rushed out from behind his barrier, but she'd let herself become too confident. She hadn't expected him to come at her with a close-range attack. With a flick of her wrist, her fan closed. She barely had enough time to hold it aloft, blocking the blow from Shikamaru's concentrated chakra. She broke away with a flip, giving herself some more ground by pushing off the earth with her hand before landing.

She had to keep him at bay if she didn't want to get hit. Moving quickly, she re-opened her fan, extending it immediately to the third moon. Her teeth broke the skin on her thumb, drawing blood for her summoning jutsu.

Before she had a chance to summon Kamatari, she clashed again with Shikamaru at close range. He moved much more quickly and purposefully than he did with his mid-range shadow jutsu, placing her at a severe disadvantage. It was clear that he wasn't going to give her any chance to use her ninjutsu.

Temari tucked the end her fan underneath her right arm and used it as a makeshift bow staff. Unless she put some distance between herself and Shikamaru, she wouldn't be able to regroup. She ducked underneath Shikamaru's left arm as he extended it for a blow and caught his shin with the end of her fan. He lost his balance and stumbled, which bought her enough time to toss her fan aside. Two could play at his game.

Her kunai wouldn't be as effective as his chakra blades, but they would allow her more range of movement than her fan. She'd lost her advantage, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

Metal clashed against metal, ringing across their arena. They matched one another blow for blow, turning their close combat into a test of physical endurance.

Neither had noticed that their match had drawn a small crowd, specifically the genin team from Konoha, who had been on their way to train for the third exam. Ebisu was waiting for them further on, but the three children were easily distracted.

Konohamaru, in particular, was thrilled. It was exciting to see Shikamaru fighting with his uncle's ninja tools. He also seemed to be winning against the proctor from the Sand. "Get 'er, big brother Shikamaru!" he shouted in encouragement.

"Looks like you've got a fan," Temari smirked as she lunged forward with the kunai in her right hand, which Shikamaru deflected. She dropped her body to the ground and swept her leg outward, hoping to catch him off guard.

Not about to be caught so easily, Shikamaru jumped backward, out of her range. The two jonin rushed forward, meeting in the middle once more. "You know this means I can't let you win," he taunted as his chakra blades struck her kunai. The force of their blows separated them once more. Neither of them had landed a single blow, and their footwork looked more like dancing than a battle.

A pair of Suna kunoichi slowed their pace as they walked by, and they stopped a few meters away from Konohamaru's squad. The black-haired girl was the first to speak. "I don't think I've ever seen Lady Temari fight without her fan."

Her companion took a moment to watch before commenting, "Isn't that the Konoha ninja? The one she's always with?"

Yukata studied the stranger, trying to get a good look at his face as he darted about the field. "I think so."

"Well, then, this is interesting." Matsuri crossed her arms as she grinned. "Mikoshi can wait. I want to see this."

Temari took a wrong step, and her sandal lost traction on a lightly-packed mound of sand. Shikamaru couldn't stop his chakra blade, and the energy grazed her right cheek. Blood trickled from the scratch, but that wasn't enough to stop either of them. As jonin, a few cuts and bruises after a sparring session were par for the course.

"Yeah!" Konohamaru jumped into the air, pumping his fist. "C'mon, Shikamaru!"

Matsuri cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted, "Show him what a Suna kunoichi can do, Lady Temari!"

"Oh, so you get an honorific?" Shikamaru teased.

"Some people remember that I'm royalty," Temari countered. Truthfully, that fact mattered very little to her, but she was as determined to win their verbal sparring match as she was their physical one.

They were getting nowhere with using their blades. At this rate, they'd be locked in without striking one another until they ran out of energy. It was clear that Shikamaru was buying time until he could use his jutsu, when the shadow from his barrier would appear on the sand.

She just needed to find an opening. Unfortunately, he kept his blows tight and concise. Their competitive natures had taken over, and they were playing for keeps. He wasn't the lazy kid who would throw a match anymore. They were both testing their mettle, and neither showed any sign of backing down.

She was running out of time, and Shikamaru knew it. Just a little longer, and he'd win for sure. He'd been careful to keep her away from her fan, never giving her a chance to pick it back up. He spared a glance to make sure they were still at a distance.

That was his biggest mistake. In that second, Temari snaked her right arm underneath his left armpit and used his momentum against him. Before he knew what was happening, she had thrown him down into the sand. His back hit with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

Before he could react, Temari was on him, straddling his chest. The point of her kunai hovered near his throat. Her hand was shaking slightly, and she was breathing heavily. It hadn't been an easy victory.

Matsuri and Yukata cheered, whereas Konohamaru growled several expletives that he'd probably learned from Naruto.

Temari tucked her kunai back into her pack before digging her heels into the sand, lifting herself off him. She stepped back and extended her hand, intending to help him up. Shikamaru accepted the gesture. His eyes stung from the sweat running down his face, and his breathing was ragged. He'd used far more of his energy than he thought.

He lifted his right hand, extending his index and middle fingers. Temari gave him a wide grin and reciprocated the gesture, curling her fingers around his in a show of solidarity. It was a time-honored Konoha custom, one he had taught her years ago, after their first match. Well, the first friendly match.

Konohamaru rushed over to Shikamaru now that the match was over. "You could have won!" he protested, disappointed in his fellow ninja. "You could have hit her so many times!"

"I could have, if it were a battle," Shikamaru corrected the genin after letting go of Temari's hand. "You should know better than to fight dirty in a sparring match."

Yukata was kind enough to go out of her way to retrieve Temari's fan and bring it to her. After giving her thanks, she secured the weapon to her back, where it belonged. Matsuri rocked back and forth on her heels, grinning slyly. So this was the guy Lady Temari worked with so often in Konoha. She hadn't thought much about him when he helped proctor the joint chunin exam before, but she couldn't help her curiosity. Her interest in Gaara promoted her to spend more time around the kazekage clan, and she'd tried to befriend Temari, despite their age gap. This was one topic she refused to talk about.

"Shikamaru Nara, right?" Matsuri asked, studying the black-haired man. If she wasn't mistaken, they were just about the same age. "The Konoha proctor?"

Shikamaru nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I'm Matsuri, and this is Yukata. We're friends of Lady Temari."

Temari had to keep herself from correcting her, realizing that doing so would be incredibly rude. She could be blunt, but she wasn't evil. Instead, she countered with a question. "Shouldn't you two be with Mikoshi?"

"Yeah," Yukata admitted, to Matsuri's displeasure. "We were supposed to meet him half an hour ago for training."

"You should get going, then." Temari didn't leave room for negotiation.

As the two kunoichi walked away, she could hear Matsuri scolding Yukata for making them leave.

"Konohamaru." Moegi reached out and caught him by the sleeve, earning his attention. "Ebisu-sensei's going to be mad that we're late. We should go before he decides to make our punishment worse…"

Konohamaru looked crestfallen. "I didn't think about that," he admitted.

"So come on!" Moegi tugged his sleeve forcefully, prompting him to follow her and Udon.

"See you later, big brother Shikamaru!" Konohamaru called over his shoulder as he broke into a run, taking his usual place at the head of the group.

Temari wiped the blood from her cheek with the back of her hand before turning to Shikamaru. "Round two?"