"Mom," Shikadai began, finding her matching eyes across the table. "How did you and Dad fall in love?"
She froze in surprise at the question. When she finally made eye contact with him, she noticed her husband in her peripheral vision, smirking in eager anticipation of her answer.
"W-what's with these questions?" she said, flustered. "Just last week you were asking why I called him a crybaby. Maybe we should let him do the talking, for once."
Shikadai looked towards his father expectantly. In the space of a few seconds, he had turned bright red.
"U-uh, w-well..." he coughed, setting his chopsticks down on the table. "I guess it started when..."
Crap, Shikamaru thought to himself. When did it start?
Was it the Chunin Exams? No...too early. She was annoying. I didn't think I'd see her again.
When we were finding Sasuke, maybe? She did save me from being killed by Tayuya. Scary as hell. But she was pretty when she smiled.
Then she lectured me about how I handled it. That was troublesome.
Then...when she became the ambassador? We were together day in, day out. Still as troublesome as ever. But good company, I suppose. I got to know her, she told me about her family and her likes and dislikes...I guess that was when I started seeing her as more of a friend than a colleague. I didn't love her. But I did like her. If that one dream was anything to go by...
The war? No. We had other things to think about.
After the war...she came to Konoha a lot for meetings. We would catch up afterwards. But I wasn't her escort anymore, so we didn't see each other as often. Then the whole Gengo debacle happened, and I asked her out - so we were definitely heading in that direction, but still...
"Dad!"
He snapped out of his reverie.
"Sorry."
"You've been sitting there with your eyes closed for two minutes," Temari muttered. "We thought you were asleep."
"So?" Shikadai prodded. "How'd you fall in love?"
Shikamaru sighed. "I don't think it's a matter of 'how' or 'when'. It just kind of happened. By the time I realised it, I had probably been in love with her for a long time already."
His wife blushed next to him. "That's cheesy even for you, Shikamaru," she said casually.
"That doesn't count!" Shikadai grumbled. "Something must've happened. Mom, you're better at telling stories! You say it!"
She laughed as her husband grimaced beside her. "I'm not sure, Shikadai," she chuckled, looking at Shikamaru fondly, eyes soft and kind. "One day he was a boy, and the next, he was a man. I used to see him for all his frustrating, negative traits, like being lazy; but then I started to see how intelligent and responsible he was, and how much he cared for his friends. It was slow, I think, and neither of us really noticed when we became more than partners. As for how...you can't expect it. And that's what made it all the more amazing and surreal when we were able to express that feeling to each other."
Shikadai's smile stretched from ear to ear in satisfaction. His father looked at his mother in pure bewilderment.
"He's right," Shikamaru mused. "You are better at telling stories."
