HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYBODY!!!
I'm not even going to bother saying anything about how long this took...
Ambitious Love
Temari stood silently and walked to her room without waiting for a word from Shikamaru. He stood from his crouching position and followed after her to find her leaning against a wall in her room and falling slowly to the floor. He walked over and crouched down again in front of her.
"But, isn't he your brother?" Shikamaru asked, careful to not sound critical.
"No. He's only my brother because my mom married his dad. So no blood relation," she said quickly. When Shikamaru didn't answer she huffed. "I'm so stupid! I should have seen it! He was always going on about how we weren't siblings, even though he cared about me so much."
A silence fell over them as Temari ran things over in her head and Shikamaru tried to think of something to say. It was awkward and far from anything Shikamaru had been thinking. But at the same time, he didn't find it disgusting – he supposed it was because he was too lazy to give a proper reaction.
"Talk about a dangerous love," he said, letting out a heavy breath and moving to sit beside Temari against her bedroom wall. "It's an easy way to break your soul."
"Heh," she said, letting a small smile grace her lips. "That was rather sentimental of you. But if you're going to put it that way, it's more like fatal love. No wonder he didn't tell me."
"Come to think of it, troublesome love sounds more accurate," Shikamaru said, turning to her with a smile.
"Of course you'd think that. To you, our love is troublesome." Temari said smoothly when she looked at him, then turning to look back at the floor. Shikamaru stared at her, his face frozen in some sort of shock. Temari didn't notice, but it only took a moment for her face to mirror his.
"I-I mean…I didn't mean…" she found herself stumbling over her words, trying to find a way around what she had just said. Neither of them had actually mentioned love yet. And now it had just slipped out. "I'm not trying to… I mean… It's not like…"
Shikamaru smirked at her efforts. "You're right," he finally said. She turned to him without changing her expression. "It is troublesome."
He leaned towards her and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. When he pulled back, she was half smiling, half smirking at him.
"I prefer to think of it as… ambitious."
He nodded slowly without looking at her. "But ambitious things are troublesome."
"What am I going to do?" Temari suddenly moaned, dropping her head between her knees.
"About what?" Shikamaru asked, turning to her.
"What do you mean 'about what'?" She said, shooting up and turning to him.
"Oh right," he said, reaching up to rub the back of his head. "Your brother." He threw a sideways glance at Temari and at the look on her face he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, Kankurou… Who is not your brother."
"Oh shut up," she said in exasperation, standing quickly. She stumbled and held her head, leaning against the wall for support. Shikamaru stood up to steady her and before he could ask if she was okay, she answered the unspoken question. "I'm fine. I just stood up too quickly."
Temari stood up straight and let out an amused sigh. "Oh wow, am I ever tired."
Shikamaru let go of her arm and stretched his own with an exaggerated yawn. "It's too late for this." He dropped his arms. "I'm going to bed."
He walked over to her bed and practically plopped onto it, then rolled over to make room for her.
Temari watched him and figured that as much as she hated leaving things between her and Kankurou hanging like this, she wouldn't be able to work anything out until after she'd had a good nights sleep. She sighed reluctantly and undid her kimono to change into something more comfortable for sleeping.
By the time she had changed and went back over to the bed, she saw that Shikamaru had already fallen asleep. His jacket and Chuunin vest were on the floor, but he was still wearing his mesh shirt and pants. She rolled her eyes and climbed in beside him, tugging on the sheet so she could cover herself properly.
Despite her overwhelming need for sleep, she found it was no match for the unsettling truth that was resting at the very front of her mind. She couldn't remember the last time she had tossed and turned so much in an attempt to sleep. The most annoying thing was that Shikamaru managed to sleep right through the night.
--
Tsunade leaned back contentedly and brought her sake glass up to her lips. A sudden knock at the door caused her to spill the sake on her lap as she shot forward with surprise. She huffed out a growl and called to her disturber.
"What is it?"
The door opened slowly and carefully and a timid looking Shizune stepped in. "Tsunade-sama?"
"Yes?"
"We still need to pick someone to head to Suna in order to accompany the Kazekage back to Konoha with Shikamaru." She smiled nervously and let out an equally nervous laugh. "And we're kind of running out of time."
"Oh, just send Naruto," Tsunade said impatiently, waving a hand dismissively at Shizune.
"Actually, Tsunade-sama," Shizune began fearfully. "Naruto-kun's away on a mission."
"Oh…" Tsunade trailed off and thought about it for a moment. "How about Shino?"
"Shino's out on a mission training with his father," Shizune said quickly as if it was her fault.
"Ah." Tsunade looked at Shizune over her fingers. "Hmm… Chouji!"
"Chouji is in the hospital for indigestion," Shizune smiled weakly.
"Are you trying to make this difficult?" Tsunade huffed. "What about Neji?"
A silence followed where Shizune and Tsunade studied each other as they though of the suggestion. "Nah," they decided at the same time.
"We could send Hinata-kun," Shizune suggested.
Tsunade stared at her apprentice quizzically for another short silence. "To see the Kazekage? Ha, yeah right." She took another moment to think. "We could send Lee. He's good friends with the Kazekage."
"Lee is out on a mission with Gai."
"Oh…" Tsunade said, turning her gaze to the side. She opened her mouth to suggest another name but Shizune cut her off.
"Tenten went with them." Shizune smiled innocently at the glare she received from the Hokage.
"Hmph," Tsunade pouted. "Well, what's Kiba doing?"
"Kiba could go," Shizune said, standing up straighter and smiling more because she didn't have to explain why yet another person was unavailable.
"Then why didn't you say so in the first place?"
"Uh… uh…" Shizune's smile became embarrassed and she rubbed the back of her head nervously. It seemed a change of subject was in order. "We should send a healer."
"Great! Send Sakura!"
"Um…" Shizune's smile fell and her shoulders slumped. Here we go again. "Sakura left with Naruto."
Tsunade let out a not-so-subtle impatient huff. "Let me guess? Ino is on a mission too…"
"No, Ino can go," Shizune smiled, once again.
"Perfect! Then it's settled," Tsunade said, settling back into her chair. "Send message to the two right away and tell them to get their butts up here. ASAP."
--
Kiba had just begun roughhousing with Akamaru when there was a knock at the door. Akamaru became alert and barked excitedly at the shadow beyond. Kiba recognized the smell of one of Tsunade's messengers and opened to door to find him panting on the other side.
"Yes?" Kiba asked quickly but respectfully.
"A message from Tsunade-sama," the man said. "She needs you to report to her office in the Hokage's mansion right away. She says it's urgent."
"Thank you," Kiba said with a small nod before closing the door and turning to Akamaru. "Do you hear that boy? We're going on a mission."
He was given a bark of approval in response.
--
Ino was busy touching up her makeup when she received a knock at her door. She had been in the middle of applying some eyeliner to the bottom edge of her eye, and the knock had caused her to jump in surprise and draw a black line unceremoniously across her cheek. She was now huffing and storming to the front door to rip it open.
"What is it?" she said sharply to the messenger panting on the front step.
"Tsunade-sama has requested your immediate presence in her office," he said between breaths. Ino didn't let him say another word before she slammed the door in his face. She stomped back to her mirror, removed the eyeliner across her cheek and reapplied it gracefully under her eye. She then grabbed her mission gear and headed back to the door. Tearing it open, she found the man still standing there, watching her pleadingly. She smiled sweetly at him.
"I'm on my way," she said, walking passed him towards the Hokage's mansion. As soon as he could no longer see her face, it turned back into a scowl.
--
Tsunade leaned back contentedly and brought her sake glass up to her lips. A sudden knock at the door caused her to spill the sake on her lap as she shot forward with surprise. She huffed out a growl and called to her disturber.
"What is it this time?"
"Kiba and Ino have arrived," Shizune said, stepping in and opening the door wider so the two to enter behind her.
"You have a mission for us?" Ino said through clenched teeth.
"Yes, I need you to both go to Suna in order to escort the Kazekage back to Konoha for the final round of the Chuunin exams," Tsunade said, suddenly alert and official. "As you probably know, Shikamaru is already in Suna; however it seems we need to send a few extra ninja. I have sent word to the Kazekage that you are coming with a notification of a change in plans. Originally the plan was for him to come a few days before the battles, but due to current gang activity on the Tree Route, we have plans to send the Kazekage on the Beat Route instead. This route will take longer and so we must put this plan into action immediately. Got that?"
Ino and Kiba, who had been loosing focus during the explanation suddenly stood erect. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."
"Then you are dismissed!"
Author's Notes: So here's the thing. You - the readers - get to decide what happens. Or rather, you have to tell me if you hate my idea. Do you want Kankuro to find out he's gay, or die? Or he can be straight but that won't have a very good ending. So choose! Oh, and I apoligize, but I won't be able to update again until next year... Yeah I know, bad joke. Vote, vote, vote!!!