Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long, but here's a super long chapter to make up for it. I'm excited to be over the initial part of this and to be getting into the good stuff so hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Chase
It had been about a month since Temari had returned to work and Shikamaru was well and truly back on form. Squad morale had improved a lot since she came back; the whole dynamic felt off without her. He sat at his desk smugly staring at the clock. In exactly five minutes the clock was going to run out on their competition for most arrests and he was well in the lead with a comfortable three collars on her current total. Unless she pulled off a miracle there was no way she was beating him now.
Suddenly the elevator doors pinged open and Temari strode in confidently with three handcuffed men. She beamed him a large smile as she paraded them directly in front of him. "Two minutes to go and she takes the lead. Might need to actually get off your lazy ass and start panicking Nara."
"Check again troublesome woman, looks like we're all tied up." He eased himself out of his chair and sighed. This was going to turn out to be more of a drag than he'd hoped.
"What?!" she stomped over to the board where he was standing. "You brought someone in this morning before your shift? That's unusually hard-working of you."
"Well I thought it was going to win me this stupid bet but then you had to go and ruin it. Seriously, can't you just take it easy for once and stop being so competitive?"
"Says you."
"Hey! The bet's finally over, who won?" Ino said, emerging with the rest of the squad from the back room.
"No one, and they're bickering again." Kiba looked up from his desk with an exasperated expression.
"Wait, no one won?" Sakura said. They all looked at each other and sighed. They were in for another year of this.
"Fucks sake!" Temari shouted loudly as the captain walked into the precinct.
"Detective Sabaku, there are civilians around. Whatever it is, I'll remind you to control yourself at work." Kakashi sternly warned as he entered the bullpen. "Everyone, briefing room in five. There's something urgent that needs our attention."
"So what are we going to do about this then?" Shikamaru asked Temari shoving his hands in his pockets as he did when he was annoyed. As much as he enjoyed having a competition going with her, he couldn't deal with another year of her constant bickering and jibing. He also knew how annoying it was to everyone else involved.
"I don't know, aren't you meant to be the genius? Think of something." She kept one hand on her hip and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of some mix of anger and amusement at her sass.
"Ugh, this is such a drag. Let's just deal with it later okay?" he said pushing past her to pick up his files and carry them into the briefing room.
"Fine!" she called out after him, even though his mind was already moved on to different things. God, he was annoying sometimes.
"So the escaped convicts have been seen all over Konoha and we've been asked to coordinate the search efforts. It's only been a few hours since they escaped, so they should all still be within the city. I'm sending you off in two man teams to bring in as many as you can. When you find one, call it in via the radios and we'll call off all other teams looking for them. Alright, any questions?"
"Who are we partnering with, sir?" Naruto asked.
"You'll be with Kiba, Karui with Choji, Ino with Sakura and Shikamaru with Temari. Anything else?"
"No sir!"
"Alright let's get to work squad. Dismissed."
"Hey, Tem," he eased his hand onto her shoulder so he wouldn't startle her as he said it.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"How about a tie breaker?" he said with a devious grin on his face. "Most fugitives captured wins. We have until they all come in to decide it."
His smile was infectious as she felt herself buzzing with competitive spirit again. "You're on. But we're partnered together, how are we going to do this?"
"Easy, I'll go with Choji and you go with Karui instead. Sorted." His best friend stopped at the door after hearing his name and gave Shikamaru a conflicted look.
"That's fine with me if you're okay with it guys?" Temari asked, looking in Karui's direction. Karui again returned Temari's gaze with an uncertain look before looking over at Choji.
"Why don't you guys leave Choji and Karui together since they work much better as a pair and me and Sakura will trade with you instead?" Ino interjected. For the two smartest people on the squad, Shikamaru and Temari had equally bad skills at reading other people's expressions when it came to these kinds of things. Luckily, Ino fancied herself the peacekeeper of the precinct and stepped in before they could do any lasting damage. Choji smiled at her and left quickly before any plans could be changed.
"Um sure I guess. So I'll go with Ino and you go with Sakura?" Shikamaru said extending his hand the same way he had a year ago today.
She gripped it with the same firmness and shook on it. "See you in an hour with all the escapees."
"In your dreams, Sabaku."
"What was all that about back there, Ino?" The two rode in the car as she drove, responding to the first sighting of one of the fugitives.
"Yours isn't the only budding romance in the office Nara," she said suggestively. "Some people are just more subtle about it."
"What? You mean Choji… and Karui? No way. We're best friends and he's the worst at keeping secrets. There's no way he wouldn't have told me."
"You two have always been so dense. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even know there's anything to tell you yet. Same as you Shikamaru."
"What are you talking about?" She simply raised her eyebrows at him. "What, me and Temari? You know there's nothing going on there. We're just colleagues, friends at best."
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Like I said, so dense. Kiba's not wrong when he says the flirting is getting unbearable." He rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, it's true! Anyway, you'll both figure it out eventually. I just hope you don't leave it too late you know?"
"Ino, there's nothing to leave. You've been pushing me on this kind of stuff since we were in the academy and you've been wrong every time. Trust me. It might seem like flirting but that's just the way we interact." Even as he said it he knew he was arguing something he didn't want to be true. It wasn't that he had feelings for the woman or anything, but he definitely didn't want her to see him as just a work colleague. Hearing from Ino how she might be interested in him made his heart feel a little lighter. He knew it was dangerous thinking, so he actively avoided letting his brain go there. But there was a part of him that couldn't help but wonder about everything people around him said when they were together.
"How's everything been since you came back Temari?" Sakura asked as the two stood together at the subway station where one of the fugitives was last seen.
"It's been okay. As you know, the time I took off was for personal reasons that aren't fully resolved yet, but it's improving. I'm trying to give my home life some more time to make sure it stays that way but it's not always easy in this job."
"You're telling me. I feel like I hardly see my husband these days with how busy we've been recently. And even when I do we're distracted. He's got cases he's working on, I've got mine and on top of that we've got a one year-old. Any time we used to have to ourselves is long dead and buried." She said it with a slight laugh but Temari could tell she wasn't entirely joking. Being a cop was hard work.
"Do you regret marrying another cop?" Temari blurted out. "I don't mean to be so blunt," she quickly added, "I'm just wondering whether it makes life easier or harder." Not a hundred percent sure why, Temari found herself interested to know more about how Sakura made things work. She figured it was just because she wanted to know whether dating cops was even an option; in her experience it always ended badly.
"Uh, hard to say. On the on hand, if he could be a stay at home dad we'd definitely have more time to ourselves and wouldn't be so overworked all the time. But his drive and his passion for his work is part of the reason I fell in love with him. So yeah, I don't know. I definitely don't regret it, I've loved Sasuke for years and we never would have met if it weren't for being cops."
"Yeah I guess that's the best way to look at it. It's always nice to know even if it's hard work people in this job can get married and make it work."
"The key," Sakura said with a knowing smile, "is finding someone who you know has your back. If you can trust them with all the hard stuff, you can work through all the stressful parts. And like you said, this job gives us A LOT of those." The two women laughed. Temari couldn't help but think of who she actually trusted with the hard stuff. Aside from her brothers, all she had was stupid, cocky, lazy Shikamaru for now. She laughed a little to herself at the thought of them being an old married couple. It was strangely easy to picture.
"Three convicts down, how many left to go?" Ino said as she secured the handcuffs on the man she has pressed to the wall.
"I think only two if I'm counting right. We're almost done." Shikamaru said checking his notepad. They were out of leads. "Hey, you," he said towards the man they'd just arrested. "Any idea where the others who escaped with you might have gone?"
The man narrowed his eyes at Shikamaru. "And why the hell would I tell you that?"
"If you do I might let you go." Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at the man challengingly.
"What? No you wouldn't."
"I wouldn't but imagine I would. Think you could spare some intel for a struggling cop then?" Shikamaru said with a small smile and a shrug.
Ino stepped in clearing her throat. "Shikamaru, you've never been able to read people the same way I can. This man here- wait, what's your name?" she said with a brilliant smile.
"Idate," the man said, almost mesmerized by her charm.
"Idate, I can tell you're an old romantic like me. Wouldn't you spare some info for love?"
He again narrowed his eyes at both of them this time. "What the hell does this have to do with love?"
"Well, you see my annoying, ignorant friend here has a girl he's trying to impress. And if he captures more fugitives then her, he might just get a date. So, what do you say?" she said coyly with a proud smile.
"Ino, what the hell?"
Idate looked back and forth between Ino and Shikamaru. "Pretty boy over here has a girl?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. This was never going to work. "Alright, I'll help out. I'm going to jail either way, right?" Shikamaru's eyes widened in disbelief. How did that woman manage to be such a mind-reader?
"That's the spirit! Now, tell me what you know." Ino said, flipping out her notepad.
He heard his phone ringing and pulled it out to see a picture of Temari and him smiling proudly holding the arrest report for their first big case together. "Hey, what's up?"
"How many fugitives have you guys found?" she said breathing heavily down the phone. It sounded like she'd just been chasing someone.
"You really need to learn how to relax about this stuff, it's just a game."
"Shut up. Just tell me how many."
"We're up to three. What about you guys?"
"Hmm…" she grumbled on the other end of the phone. "Okay we'll see you later."
"Wait! How many do you guys have?"
He heard her snicker on the other end. "Wow, look who's getting competitive now. Finally gonna admit you want to win this thing Nara? We're on three too."
"Well, I guess I'll let you get back to it," he said.
"I guess I'll do the same." The phone clicked as she hung up.
"Was that the girlfriend?" Idate chuckled at his slightly flustered face. Something about talking to her never failed to rile him up.
"Shut up. Let's go, Ino."
We've managed to round up all but one fugitive. Once they've been found radio in and everyone come back to the precinct. Over. Kakashi's voice came from the radios.
Great thought Shikamaru, there's only one left. "Where are we headed, Ino?" he asked somewhat impatiently.
"Apparently between two subway stops there's a small hiding place. Don't worry, Shikamaru, we're gonna win this bet." She slammed on the gas and the car screeched into life.
She came running into the station. Her and Sakura had been tipped off by a CI that the last fugitive was hiding out somewhere down here. Never being one for subtlety, Temari rushed into the paths beside the subway tracks with Sakura in tow, flashlights on and footsteps echoing loudly down the tunnels.
Shikamaru led as him and Ino silently moved through the tunnels to catch the fugitive by surprise. He heard footsteps coming from down a turn in one of the tunnels and pressed himself to the wall. Ino copied his actions and signaled to him to get ready to tackle the fugitive to the ground. He breathed deeply as the footsteps got louder and louder, and as soon as he saw their arm grabbed the wrist and pulled it forward while putting his foot in the way to use their momentum to bring them to the floor. Instead, he was met by an elbow to the face and a leg wrapped around his to pull him off balance. He fell to the floor along with his assailant only to look up and see Temari's face illuminated by her flashlight that had fallen to the floor. For a moment, they locked eyes and didn't move until he realized his hand was still holding hers and her legs were still intertwined with his. Suddenly they both scrambled up to their feet dusting themselves off.
"Look where you're going would you?" she huffed defiantly as if she hadn't caused half the problem herself.
"I could say the same," he mumbled, still feeling some lingering effect of being so close to her. Colleagues weren't supposed to notice the way their colleagues smelt, right?
"How did you guys know how to find this guy?" Ino whispered, still hoping they could maintain some stealth.
"We talked to one of my CIs. You're not the only ones with sources you know." Ino narrowed her eyes at Sakura's passive aggressive comment though it was too dark to see.
"Mind keeping it down? We're trying to actually catch this guy not announce ourselves and get hit in the face with a trunk of books or something." Shikamaru whispered back.
"Home Alone 3, solid reference." Temari said smiling back at him.
"It's the best one."
"So underrated," she agreed.
"Just stay out of our way, okay? We're catching this guy first," Ino whispered as a shadow moved behind them. They all whipped their heads round to catch a glimpse of the fugitive running down one of the tunnels. They briefly made eye contact with each other before sprinting down the tunnel after him.
Shikamaru and Temari ran at full speed, side-by-side. Shikamaru looked at her briefly, face slightly sweaty and eyes narrowed in concentration as she breathed heavily and shouted after the man they were chasing. Before he realized it he was slowing, and luckily for him Temari managed to grab the back of his jacket so he didn't get away. Shikamaru used the opportunity to trip him up and pull his hands back. Sakura and Ino caught up just as they were securing the handcuffs on the fugitive. Temari gave him her trademark wide grin that he struggled to return when he felt something catch in his chest as he looked at the pure joy on her face.
"So, how did Temari end up winning?" Kiba said, taking another gulp from his beer as they all sat around the bar, drinking drinks financed by Shikamaru as the loser of the bet.
"She's quick," Shikamaru said quickly before any of the other three who were there could say anything more. "We never would have caught that last guy if it wasn't for her lightning fast sprint."
"What? It was a joint effort, Shikamaru's the one who ended up cuffing the guy."
"Would you just take the win and not be so troublesome about it for once?" he said smiling at her with a light red flush over his cheeks that he wasn't entirely sure was just from the alcohol.
She smiled at him softly. "Thanks. Don't cry yourself to sleep tonight over it or anything," she said playfully. "And I don't want to hear anything about how you let me win later on. We're agreeing now, I won fair and square and I'm officially the better detective." She lifted herself onto the bar as she announced it, losing a bit of balance from the drinks she'd had but smiling with pride nonetheless.
For the first time in his life, Shikamaru realized how much nicer it was to just see her smile than to be the smartest person in the room. And for the first time he had to admit he wasn't the smartest person in the room; not only was he beaten by Temari today but Ino as well. As she beamed at him and he smiled back he knew a lot more than that bet had been lost today. Things were about to become a whole lot more of a drag now he knew what he knew; he undeniably had feelings for Temari.