Trouble, but Fun

Shikamaru and Temari were walking together as they made their way down the path towards Ino's estate. They were close enough so that their arms were constantly touching, but it wasn't until hey could no longer hear the festival behind them did their hands begin to shyly interlock fingers. He snuck a glance at her from the corner of his eye and noticed the way she bashfully looked at the floor. A subtle blush and a secret smile slowly appeared on her face. He thought it was a shame that the world hardly ever got to see how the fierce and powerful Temari is able to look so... cute.

"So when are you expecting?" Shikamaru asked abruptly.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Temari rolled her eyes at him.

Shikamaru chuckled quietly and allowed his head to completely turn to look at her now. She had a frustrated pout on her face that made her looked almost child-like. It was a stark contrast from the Temari that was interrogating the two men from earlier. It made him aware of the conflicting feelings that were stirring in his heart. Everything she did continued to make him feel even more drawn to her, but knowing that he couldn't have her also made everything very bittersweet.

"In all seriousness, Troublemaker," He said, now with a more serious tone. "What's going on? Tell me everything."

"What's there to tell?" She replied with a sigh. "You heard everything. They are expecting me to have a kid within the next few years. It's pretty straight forward."

He turned away and looked at the ground, mindlessly counting his footsteps as they continued walking. Her village needed an heir, which probably meant she also had to get married. The thought of her being married off to some other guy made him clenched his fists, causing Temari to look at him from the way he suddenly tightened his grip around her hand.

"And you're perfectly fine with letting them make all of these decisions for you?" Shikamaru asked blatantly.

Temari immediately stopped walking as soon as the words left his mouth. The sudden halt gently jerked Shikamaru as they were still walking hand in hand. He stopped to turn and face when she suddenly flung herself into his arms.

"Of course I'm not, you idiot!" She groaned into his chest. "You think I'm okay with letting someone dictate my life for me? I absolutely hate it!"

Temari closed her eyes as her mind scrambled to organize her thoughts. She had pushed aside the problem from the very beginning, convincing herself that it was too soon to worry about it. It came back to bite her as it usually did. What had she expected to happen when she ran into him again? It unlocked a floodgate of emotions for her. "It's so unfair." She continued. "I already had to give us up. At least you get to go back to your normal life. I came home to people telling me that I have to have kids soon."

They stood there in silence while Shikamaru processed her words. She was right. It was a stupid question and he should have known better than think she'd willingly accept something like that.

"I just want to be with you," She admitted quietly.

Shikamaru winced. Her words made him feel like his heart was sinking. Who knew hearing the rights could be so painful?

"But... I can't have you without abandoning my village." Temari continued. " I fought so long and hard and we've been through so many wars. Now, my village needs something to look forward to... I was told that promising them a new generation will give them a sense of stability and will boost their morale. Gaara still never sleeps despite not having Shukaku anymore, you know that? He literally commits every second of his life to the village. How selfish would I be to not do what is asked of me? I've spent my entire life fighting for peace. That's why I pushed for an alliance with Konoha so long ago, that's why I took on the position of a diplomat, and that's why..." Her voice trailed off. "That's why I can't just stop now. You know as well as I do that maintain peace is just as difficult as attaining it."

Shikamaru remained silent as he held her. He didn't know what to say. All he could do was pull her as close to him as possible. He reminded himself that face the same conflicts, she would always have so much more working against her compared to him. It made him feel like he didn't deserve to be upset.

"What we're doing isn't making this easy on you, Tem," He said with sadness lingering in his voice. "We both knew that, but we both just have to take it seriously from now on."

"'This time'," Temari echoed him and chuckled. "In all of my time knowing you, I've always been the one scolding you for not taking enough responsibility. Now, look at me. I'm the one who needs to be reminded."

"We both do," He smiled into her hair despite the sinking feeling in his chest. "C'mon," He said to her. He knew that the longer they'd drag things out, the harder it'll be for the both of them. With a heavy heart, he sighed and told her, "Let's get you home, Troublemaker."

They continued to Ino's place where Temari proceeded to change out of the Yukata and back into her clothes. Shikamaru was leaning on a wall outside of the property, finishing his cigarette as he waited for her. He was about to light up another one when he heard her footsteps approaching behind him. He turned to see Temari back in the dark purple garment she usually wore.

"Well, thanks." She said quietly. "I can find my way from to the inn from here."

"I'll walk you," He insisted. "I'm your guide after all."

Temari held up her hand and shook her head. "Sorry, not this time."

Shikamaru gave her a confused stare before bringing his eyes down to look at the floor. If she didn't want him around, he wasn't going to object.

"It's just... You know how it's going to go." She sighed. "We're going to get to my inn and I'm going to want you to stay... Like I always do."

Shikamaru couldn't help but laugh to himself at her admission.

"Would you let Kakashi know what I told you tonight?" She asked him.

"You're not going to wait until he returns next week?" Shikamaru replied. He tried to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Shikamaru," She scoffed. "I couldn't last one night with you, and you want to torture me for a whole week?"

"Maybe," He shrugged, giving her a small coy smile.

Sighing, Temari walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck to look into his eyes. "Who's the troublemaker now?" She asked with a sad smile.

He brought his head down to let his forehead rest against her's. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her closer to him and sighed as well. "It's always you," He quietly jabbed back at her.

"At least I'm fun," She muttered before pulling him in for a kiss. Their lips met briefly before she pulled back out of his embrace to smile at him for the last time that night. She nodded at him and slowly turned her gaze to the floor as she headed back towards her inn.

The next day, Ino groaned as she stirred awake. A brilliant shade of blue peeked out from under one of her heavy eyelids as it searched for the clock on her nightstand. Both her eyes and lips felt dry, most likely due to all the alcohol from the night before.

12:34 PM.

Already grumpy at the fact that Sai couldn't be there with her, she cursed at the afternoon sun that was filling her room with so much light. Their group didn't disband from the festivities until sunrise, and just as she was about to step into her room with Sai, a few Konoha-nin appeared to summon him for a mission. It was one of the few things she hated about being a high ranked shinobi.

Unable to fall back asleep, she kicked off her lavender comforter and sat up. She delicately rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her pinky fingers, a method she'd was told to use in order to prevent wrinkles. She blinked a few times to adjust her eyesight before looking around her room. The yukata she had worn the night before was sprawled out all over the floor due to her peeling it off in a drunken state. A familiar dark red piece of silk caught her eye from the corner of her room. She recognized it as the yukata she had lent Temari. It was folded up neatly and placed on the desk in her bedroom.

"Oh!" Ino exclaimed and leaped in the air as she recalled that Shikamaru and Temari had left together. Eager to know how their night had gone, she hastily scrambled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to groom herself for the day.

A few moments later, Ino emerged from her room in her usual purple top and skirt. The dark fabric swayed around her legs as she stepped outside into the fresh air. She gracefully leaped onto the rooftop and headed towards the Nara estate. Once she was on the property grounds, she rushed towards Shikamari's room with as much stealth as she could muster that soon after waking up. Her hair fell around her face as she quietly darted across the tiles and hid behind an enormous tree trunk that was parallel to Shikamaru's room. Before she could even peer around the corner to see if anyone was there, Shikamaru's voice called to her.

"Hey, snoopy," He said.

Startled, Ino waved her arms wildly in the air until she was able to find her footing. With one hand against the tree, she clutched her chest with the other and let out a breath of relief. She looked over to see Shikamaru sitting against a wooden pillar outside of this room. He was in his Konaha-nin uniform, though it appeared that he had taken off the green jonin vest and had tossed it to the side. Only the black layers and mesh fishnets remained on him. He had one leg crossed while the other one hung off the ledge of the elevated walkway outside of his room. Her eyes spotted an ashtray that was overflowing with fairly new looking cigarette butts. He had been chain-smoking, which meant something was really, really bothering him.

Ino finally made her descent into the Nara property and walked towards Shikamaru.

"Heyyy, you," Ino said with an innocent smile.

"She went home," Shikamaru told her, answering the question he knew she was going to ask.

"What?" Ino sounded confused. It still took her a second to realize what he'd meant. "Temari? What do you mean home? Like to her inn?"

"Back to Suna," He said, never lifting his eyes from the floor.

"Why...?" Ino whispered quietly as she seated herself down next to him. Though she never liked the smell of cigarettes, there was always something very nostalgic about it that she couldn't help but find comforting. She always assumed it was because it reminded her of Asuma. It was probably why she never tried to talk Shikamaru out of it despite being a huge advocate against smoking.

"She told me what she wanted to tell Kakashi and then left this morning," Shikamaru explained as he flicked the ash off his cigarette.

Ino noticed the subtle disappointment in his voice and gestures as she watched him. She turned away and pouted. That was not how she wanted their night to go. There was something she was missing. Surely he couldn't be this upset just because Temari left early, right? Her mind wandered back to the conversation they'd about how they could never be together because of their duty to their villages.

"Alright. What happened last night?" Ino blatantly asked him. There were never any barriers between the two. They shared more than just childhood memories. Hell, they even had a formal family tradition that honored their friendship between their families and Choji's. They've all lost together, and they've all grieved together. Beating around the bush wasn't something that was necessary for their relationship. Thought she also understood that Shikamaru often needed time to sort out his emotions on his own first. "You don't have to tell me now though..." Ino added.

"It's... just a mess," Shikamaru sighed as he threw his head back to look up at the sky. "We knew it wouldn't work and we let our emotions get the better of ourselves last night."

"And?" Ino pressed on.

"And it just made things harder," Shikamaru explained as he continued to watch the clouds float by them. He couldn't help but laugh at himself as he crushed the last of his cigarette into the ashtray. "Look at me, Ino. I haven't even established a relationship with her and I feel like I've been dumped by her a hundred times already."

Usually, Ino would have either laughed or rolled her eyes at his dry sense of humor. However, right now it just hurt her to know that he was this upset. All she could do was look at him with concern as he went to light another cigarette.

"Are you guys not on speaking terms anymore?" She asked.

"No... I mean, I don't think that's the case. We're still..." Shikamaru's voice began to trail off. "'Friends.' Whatever that means."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked him, slightly tilting her head in confusion.

"I feel like I have to avoid her now," He shrugged. "Even when I sent her off, the conversation felt stiff. Friends should be able to talk freely, right?"

"Well... You guys are just respecting each other's boundaries, right?"

"How can I just be friends with someone I care about like that?" Shikamaru asked almost rhetorically.

"You care about me." Ino smiled and nudged him. She arched her eyebrows at him in a joking manner in hopes of providing some comedic relief.

Shikamaru mustered a small smile for her. "You're family, you don't count."

Ino giggled.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru groaned and rolled his eyes. "Remember the days when I hated the idea of relationships? I was very successful at actively avoiding them almost my entire life."

Ino chuckled at the memories of Shikamaru awkwardly turning down all the girls who've crushed on him throughout the years. He even went as far as having her pose as his angry girlfriend to chase off a few of them.

"What happened to those good times?" He sighed and rubbed this temples.

"You met the one." She replied with a smile. He responded with a quiet grunt. "You met the game-changer." She added.

"Game-changer?"

"Yeah, the one that redefines everything you've ever believed in." She beamed. "People often think soul mates are people who compliment you because they share similar values and that's true, to an extent. But there's more to that. Soul mates are people who challenge you to be a version of yourself that you didn't know existed."

"Challenging, eh?" He raised a brow at her. "That's probably the best adjective I've ever heard anyone used to describe her."

"Isn't that perfect for you?" Ino laughed and teased. "You're so smart that everything bores you. She's the only person I know of aside from your dad and Asuma who was able to mentally stimulate you and light a fire under your ass."

"Yeah, well," He shrugged. "But just like them, I can't have her with me."

Ino frowned. She didn't like how he talked about them in a negative manner. Shikamaru quickly picked up on it and apologized.

"Sorry, sis." He said, hoping the term of endearment would help soften up the situation.

"It's fine. I know you're hurting. I do appreciate the apology though." She shrugged and tried to change the topic. "Maybe you've subconsciously avoided all those girls because you knew it was going to be her."

Shikamaru grunted again and closed his eyes while Ino laughed quietly to herself. He let the cigarette hang out the corner of his mouth while the two of them sat in silence. A gentle breeze rustled through them, knocking the ash off the end of his cigarette and blowing it away in the wind.

"I have to pretend that I don't love her every time I see her now," Shikamaru muttered suddenly as if he was thinking out loud.

Ino's ears perked up when she heard the "L-word". That serious, huh? Oh, Shika... I'm so sorry.

"But I have to remember that she has to do the same," Shikamaru said as he took the cigarette out of his mouth as he reminded himself of all the extra hurdles Temari had to go through herself. "And I have to do everything I can to make it as easy for her as possible."

Though Ino didn't agree with him, she simply nodded quietly. She refused to accept that they were going to go down without a fight. Besides, she figured things were changing and all the villages are more progressive now. It was a new age of peace. Still, she was able to recognize that Shikamaru didn't need a pep talk or any advice right now. He needed a friend, and maybe a distraction. She hopped off the platform and held her hand out to him.

"Say, why don't we get Choji and grab some lunch and a drink?" She said, winking at him.

Shikamaru stared at her hand as he contemplated his decision. He just wanted to sleep off the rest of the day if he had to be honest. However, Ino probably wasn't going to let up and he figured the more he drinks, the easier it would be for him to fall asleep later.

"Sure."

Sometimes I write stuff and I have stop and think to myself, "Didn't I write this already?" I always check, but sometimes I skim and end up missing it. Sometimes I have to reread it to be like, "Oh, that wasn't supposed to go like this." It makes it pretty interesting.

Anywayyy. I feel like this ONE night for the gang dragged on for a really long time as I struggle to find my groove again. I'm glad you guys are liking it. I'm super excited to be writing this again.