A/N: IMPORTANT. The content of this chapter has been edited on January 8 2009 and therefore contains changes to the initial uploaded version of this chapter.

Simply put, if you read it before January 8th the chapter now available contains a new section not previously included. Somewhere in the middle.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All characters within this fanfiction belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Encounter

Previously...

It hadn't been long since she and Anko had been packing everything back into the bag and now here she was again, taking it all back out.

... Shikamaru was wrong, she decided, it was right for her to have left.

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'Do it.'

No response.

'Do it now,' the voice continued on more persistently.

Temari ignored it, and instead continued to stare at the white door before her, which seemed to grow taller and wider with every second that passed her by. With each quickened beat of her heart the door steadily enlarged, until another fist made contact with the wooden surface, impatiently knocking before she brought her own hand up.

Turning to scold Shikamaru, she hissed and cursed at him for rushing her, the grip on the small but beautifully wrapped package in her left hand tightening as she waited for someone to answer the door. She didn't have to wait long before a young girl with bright orange hair and reddened cheeks answered the door.

'Ohayo Temari-san, Shikamaru-san,' she greeted politely, though the confusion as to their presence there was clearly displayed on her youthful features. She looked at the both of them; eyes shifting between the elder two ninja as she held the door open a little.

'Can I help you with something?' she prompted unsurely.

'I came by to apologise for missing your birthday party after already agreeing to attend,' Temari responded in a rather professional-sounding manner. Confusion swiftly left the young genin's smile, sincerity shining through as she waved a friendly hand at the Suna kunoichi.

'Don't be, Temari-san, it's okay.'

'All the same, I have a gift for you,' the blonde continued, lifting up her parcel-enclosed fist to hand over the simple silver-wrapped gift to the girl before her. 'A belated happy birthday and best wishes to you,' she said with a kind of smile. Noticing that the younger girl seemed a little reluctant and polite to accept the gift, she spoke before Moegi could once more.

'I know you didn't expect a gift especially because I couldn't come but you have one anyway so take it, please.'

Behind her, now forgotten and unnoticed by his female companions, Shikamaru raised a questioning brow at the polite Suna nin before him. Sure, he knew she was polite but the insistence and honesty in her tone as she pleaded for Moegi to take the gift was something else compared to the polite-mannered way she spoke to superiors and strangers. He kept his post, leaning against the gate of the house as Moegi and Temari conversed for a minute or so more, the package now in the genin's hand, before they waved and Moegi closed the door and Temari walked back towards him.

'What time is it now, Nara?' she asked as they entered the streets of Konoha.

'Around 10:30?' he guessed, not bothering to check for any form of certainty. 'It took you a while to knock on the door after all,' he continued.

Pools of frozen teal briskly swept towards him indignantly but no vocal response was made. Instead, she returned to her habitual eye-wandering, greeting familiar vendors and stopping a few times to look at new items. Shikamaru followed her every step silently and without complaint, taking care to notice the items that caught the Ambassador's eye. Many of them, he noticed, were simple and easy to miss, but upon closer inspection, were actually quite beautiful and unique. Her taste, and her shopping, always shed a little more light on her character, and he'd always made sure to notice. Silently.

He smiled inwardly to himself, pleased with the fact that she couldn't see it. Even if she could she'd think nothing of it and eventually get annoyed with his ridiculous and answer-less responses. He did like to push her buttons though, and find out what made her tick. There were some things he could learn by observation, but others that required… prodding. And assistance. The fact that he enjoyed seeing the scowl on her face was just a bonus for him.

But he liked to watch her. And analyse her. He liked the less guarded look in her eyes as she let them drift from item to item, liked to see the genuine smile that lit up her face as she spoke to the venders and shopkeepers. He liked to watch the way her delicate-appearing fingertips traced over the items that appealed to her. Items that were usually, as he would find out later upon asking, not even for her. He assumed they were for her brothers.

He particularly remembered the time she'd picked up a small, wooden flute. Her brows furrowed slightly as the object caught her eye, eyes focused and concentrated yet hazy with a kind of distance. He could only imagine what ran through her mind; what memory, if he guessed correctly, she was reliving.

He remembered the way her hand had reached out towards it, slender fingertips ignoring the sparkling and ornate hand-crafted objects decorating the various trays of the stall. The tips of her fingers lightly brushed the wooden surface, gaze becoming more evidently distant.

There was an honest grace in every movement she made, like a child holding up a loved one's prized possession. He watched the way her fingers wrapped around it, familiarly and knowingly; the way she'd lightly move her fingers above each hole, the song playing only in her mind. It was subtle but he saw it nonetheless.

The shopkeeper spoke to her after that. And her eyes and mind journeyed back to the present, from the past he assumed. The corners of her mouth turned up into a small but warm smile. Her eyes softened as she spoke and laughed with the grey-haired man who told her short stories. Her eyes. They were light then, with sincerity, as she listened. As another customer approached she bought the flute and smiled once more to him. A true and honest smile she shared with perfect strangers; civilians.

The light in her eyes would dull a little then, the reflective guard returning until she found another item of interest.

Today, however, she seemed to look at almost everything with the same piercing gaze that was usually reserved for an odd looking item that she expected held a deeper meaning of some sort with the intensity her eyes bore on the object. She moved much slower, and tasted almost every single kind of fruit at the fruit vendor, paying for everything she was offered with little care if she liked it. There was a difference in her actions. The light never fully reached her eyes.

After an hour or so, the shadow-wielder took a few steps more than usual so he stood beside her as she purchased some roasted chestnuts which she began to snack on. Temari appeared oblivious to his want to speak so he took the bag from her hand so that her attention, finally, fell on him.

'Hey!' she couldn't help but exclaim as the bag was wrenched from her grip.

'What do you say we have lunch now instead of you snacking on these and me starving for the next hour?' he asked, refusing to let her have the bag back despite her reaching attempts.

At his question, she stopped to look at him. The wind had sprayed stray strands of hair away from their position, his eyes were a little dulled with tiredness, and he hunched over just a little more than usual. He'd been following her all this time, with nothing else to do while she perused to her heart's content.

'Sure, Nara, let's go eat,' she decided.

He smiled a little, in his own way of course, before he led the way to lunch. Temari, however, refused to move.

'Can I have my chestnuts back first?' she asked sharply, her question coated with a threat. Refusal would end her agreeing to eat which would lead to him starving for at least another hour or him being chastised by the Hokage for being a poor guide.

He handed it over, having no reason to keep it, but not without taking a couple for himself.

Growling slightly, she took the bag aggressively before following him to a small restaurant not too far from where they had been. They sat across from each other, as they always did, and skimmed the menu. The time it took for their food to arrive was taken up by Temari's previous source of food depleting, and Shikamaru watching her as it did. Their moments of silence stretched across time the longer they knew each other. With the crumpled bag now sitting on the table, Shikamaru, with his head on his folded arms which lazily lay on the table, attempted to blow the paper bag across the table to the kunoichi's side.

'You must be really bored,' she commented.

His dark eyes met hers and he smirked, sitting up from the table as a conversation began.

'Only now when I have nothing else to look at but you,' he retorted, smirk still in place as he watched her eyes narrow in a glare, her posture stiffen and curve as she leaned in towards the table, arms folded, but fists not balled.

Oh how he loved to push her buttons. It was dangerous to his health, but he enjoyed doing it nonetheless. He pretty much knew his limits by now anyway.

'What did you get Moegi?' he asked casually.

Temari, whose attention had been drawn to analyse every little detail about the familiar place, turned to look at him again. Her eyes, with that particular shade of beautiful teal, were open and curious for the moment, he noted. Her guard was down, at least a little more than usual, eyes pure and honest. No reflective light hid behind them to cloud her thoughts, no walls to shield the viewer from seeing the true colour of her irises, compared to the lightened or darkened shades that changed with her moods and reasons for them.

He'd learned them and found that he favoured the deep but rich teal gaze that met him now.

They seemed to lighten a shade as her senses returned and she answered him, a little cautiously he decided. In entering a situation in which she may feel hurt by the response she had a hint of defense to her actions and responses, although it wasn't entirely evident until a response was given to her own, if it was necessary at all.

'Pen and parchment.'

Eyes narrowing, Shikamaru just stared at her.

She held his gaze as his eyes pierced through her, searching for the meaning, removing every layer of action and word until he found it. When the waitress arrived with their orders she was surprised to find herself wanting to be understood by the person sitting before her. But he'd stopped analyzing her to take their plates from the waitress, thanking her before he started to eat.

She watched him eat, gaze falling onto his plate before repulsion hit her. Turning to her own plate, she ignored his and began to eat.

'Everything okay, Temari?'

She nodded without looking back at him.

'Are you sure? Because I ordered squid just for you. I know how much you hate it.'

Looking up from her ramen, she shook her head in disbelief but smiled in amusement. She put her chopsticks down to take a drink and look around the room once more.

'Last time we were here I ordered exactly the same thing and you made exactly the same face,' he said to her, a hint of smugness in his tone.

She simply smiled as the memory returned to her.

'So you ordered the same thing just so you could see my reaction again? Is it that amusing?'

'No, I ordered it to prove I know you.'

She greeted him with silence, not really sure what to say. Instead, she picked up her chopsticks and began to eat again.

'And I know that you don't know how to react to what I just said, so you're going to ignore it. And that you're comfortable doing so because you know that I understand.'

She allowed her eyes to glance back towards him before she ate again. By now he'd put down his chopsticks, food unfinished, and began gently tearing her personality apart again. After a few minutes, he'd looked away.

Thinking nothing of it, Temari finished her meal quietly. Naturally Shikamaru would pick up on her mannerisms and personality traits; she spent most of her time with him whenever she visited Konoha as liaison. And he was right of course; she just didn't see why he had to point it all out. Perhaps she seemed a little distant? She had a lot on her mind, particularly that day. She'd been in Konoha for almost a week now, and the Suna genin participating in the exam were due to arrive over the next couple of days, although a group or two were said to be arriving at some point that same day. And despite herself, Temari found that fact to be a sort of temporary cure for her homesickness. The presence of Suna shinobi offered a little part of home to come to her aid.

She wasn't sure if it was because of her previous experience in Konoha, or the fact that Anko hadn't dropped by to see her since she arrived, that drove her to loneliness and homesickness, but she knew a small part of her drowned in it.

Although, she reminded herself as she looked across the table at her… friend and guide, he had visited more frequently than in the past, offering to join her for dinner or inviting her to eat out, staying to play more shougi with her, and even offering himself as a sparring partner if she ever felt the need to physically train with someone whilst she was in Konoha. He'd made himself available outside of duty because he knew, like she did, that he was one of the few people she didn't mind spending time with in Konoha at the moment. Things weren't weird between them because of what happened with the Konoha kunoichi, and they had enough in common to converse about outside of work.

And she was thankful, even if she didn't know how to say it. After all, whilst Anko had seen her breakdown, he hadn't. Anko had seen her weak and vulnerable, the most vulnerable she'd ever felt around a person she didn't even know, and had stayed by her. She didn't use this power, as Temari viewed it, against her, but instead formed a strong friendship. She was always vulnerable around Shikamaru though; she felt it the more they saw each other. He learned a little more about her and eventually, though she hadn't calculated an actual number, he would find her weakness.

She trusted him most after Anko, out of the Konoha villagers and shinobi at least. But she still feared his reaction, even more so because she actually liked the Nara, because she wanted him to be a real friend to her, because she wanted his acceptance more than anyone else's in the village. But with high hopes came great disappointment, and she always reminded herself that.

'Let's go.'

She looked over to find Shikamaru standing and ready to leave, his plate unfinished, his eyes on her.

'But you haven't even finished eating yet,' she pointed out, still not standing.

'It's ok, I'm not that hungry,' he answered pathetically.

'Nara, I'm not that rude. I'll wait for you to finish eating,' she responded sharply.

'Well if you wait any longer Ino, Sakura and Tenten will be joining us, and I don't know who else is with them but I doubt you're up for seeing any of my friends,' he stated simply and clearly, eyes wandering out the window.

Turning hurriedly, Temari saw the group stop and point at various locations, all of which were restaurants she realized, deciding where to eat. She looked back at Shikamaru, wanting to yell at him for not telling her the truth straight away, before standing and picking her fan up in one swift motion.

'I'll go pay, you get out and I'll find you,' he told her somewhat lazily. Without waiting for the elder shinobi's response, he walked passed her to the counter to pay for their meals. Temari followed him but exited the building without a second glance back. Looking back at where Ino and Sakura had been, she found the group had disappeared. She scanned the nearby restaurants, peering through the windows warily. Finally, she saw them. Or at least Ino and Sakura, their hair having stood out most. Relief eased through her as she realized they'd found a place to dine and would probably not see her.

She took a moment to look back into the restaurant, wondering if Shikamaru would be long, when something else caught her attention.

'Temari-san!'

Fighting the urge to cringe, for anyone she wanted to run into would not be calling her 'Temari-san', she turned around to find Naruto looking at her with that friendly grin of his.

'Temari-san, you're back! Sakura-chan's been looking for you for ages! We're going to have lunch; do you want to eat with us too?'

'No thanks, Naruto, I just ate,' she told him, waving her hands in front of herself nervously.

'You should come with us anyway. Everyone's been wanting to see you. And if I bring you in Sakura-chan will be happy. Besides, this should make you feel better about eating alone.'

Resisting another impulse – hitting Naruto for insinuating … something about eating alone – she instead chose to answer politely.

'I'm fine, really, Naruto. You should go though, you might be late.'

'Oy Naruto, what are you doing here?' came a more familiar and welcome voice.

The blonde's attention flew to his dark-haired, ponytail-wearing friend.

'Shikamaru, what are you doing here? Do you want to come eat with Sakura-chan and everyone?'

'No, I just ate. And Temari and I have work to do,' he responded lazily, standing beside her as a true escort would.

Naruto looked from one to the other curiously and carefully.

'Are you two…on a date?'

Both sighed as déjà vu echoed in his question. Neither noticed that another figure had joined the small party they'd formed. Green eyes, pink hair, wandering over to join them.

'Naruto, Ino's getting annoyed. She even sent me out to come fetch you in case you were standing outside and holding everyone up. Hinata insists it's rude to start until everyone's there.'

Sakura turned her attention away from Naruto to greet Shikamaru and Temari, before she realized who was standing across from her. Bright green eyes locked with unsure teal ones.

'Temari-san.'

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