Ino looked up from her magazine when she heard the bell of the door jingle, and was about to give a standard shopkeepers' greeting when she realized that pineapple head had just walked through the door.

"What, do they need an extra hand at the hospital or something? Or is Tsunade sending us on another mission?" she couldn't even remember the last time he had shown up at the shop. It was probably back when they were genin and the team would sometimes stop by to pick her up from her parents' store on their way out for missions.

"Not today," he responded simply, staring intently at some decorative foliage in a vase on one of their shelves.

Ino waited for him to elaborate, or to announce why he had suddenly decided to show up here, but to her disappointment he didn't say anything at all. He continued to glare at the plants, walking past the main shelf to the corner of the shop, crouching down to look at something outside of her range of vision from her seat at the counter.

"So… what brings you to the store then?"

"What are these called?" he asked absentmindedly, after a pause. She scowled at him for completely ignoring her, and she came out from behind the counter, in part to get a better look at the flowers he had asked about, and in part to thwack him over the head for his rudeness, but when she saw what he had been looking at, she paused. It was a bunch of wildflowers, not the type that would be the centerpiece of a bouquet, but small accents that would add fullness and character to an arrangement.

"Those are Snapdragons," Ino said, wondering why and how Shikamaru had suddenly taken an interest in flowers after so many years. His eyes used to glaze over at the first mention of them, but now she could see the sharpness in his gaze that she knew meant that the gears in his brain were turning. "They symbolize grace and strength. We normally get them from the southern coast of Iwa, but we've started cultivating them in our greenhouse. Our suppliers' field got totally wiped out this year."

Shikamaru took a sprig of them out of the vase and brought it up to his nose, breathing in the scent with the same concentrated look.

"You know, if those are for some girl, you'd better pick something else, because they also symbolize deception," Ino crossed her arms and raised a brow at her friend.

"Tch," Shikamaru scoffed, placing the flowers back in the vase and rising to his feet "Why would I be buying flowers for a girl? Seems much too troublesome."

With that, he made for the door at the same lazy pace he entered.

"See you later, Ino."

She almost followed him out, wanting to question him about his strange behavior, but she refrained. When Shikamaru didn't want to talk, he didn't talk. She'd have more luck beating it out of him in their next training session. She smiled to herself and went back to her magazine. Maybe there was some girl, she thought to herself. If there was, she'd figure it out sooner than later, she smirked to herself. She wasn't the daughter of the head of Konoha's intelligence division for nothing. Some may call her a gossip, but she made everything that went on in this town her business and nothing got past her.

0

The next time he found Temari in his bed she was stopping by the village on her way back home from a mission. He wasn't sure what the mission had been and didn't ask—as close as they were, and as often as they worked on joint missions as allies, the Sand's business was the Sand's business. The last thing he wanted was Temari pulling away because she felt he was fishing for information on Suna's movements. He wasn't blind though, and he could tell it had been a long one. She never traveled with more than the bare essentials but her pack was just a bit bulkier than usual, and her clothes, though untorn, were a bit worse for wear, and dustier than he knew was possible.

Of course, he got them off of her as quickly as possible. He ran his hands across her skin, which to his relief was unmarred. Must have been a non-combat mission, he thought to himself, unable to keep the gears from turning in his head even as he felt his arousal build. Diplomatic maybe? No, it couldn't be. Suna didn't have close enough ties to send her solo to any nation other than the Leaf. Recon then? Must have been either that or an astoundingly uneventful mission guarding someone or other, but even then she'd probably have been with a team. Since when did she work in Intelligence? His mind was pulled back to the present moment when he felt her press her body against his, the soft curves of her breasts brushing against his chest.

He never had understood how she kept her skin so smooth, he marveled as he traced the curve of her neck, pulling her face towards his and bringing her into a kiss. Grasping her hip he let out a low moan as he felt her hand slide up his shirt, the rough callouses of her hands ghosting across his abdomen. He acquiesced to her unspoken request and pulled his shirt off overhead. Pushing her down onto the bed he felt his arousal grow as he looked at her splayed on top of the sheets, sun-kissed, hair a mess, dirt under her fingernails as she reached up to pull him back down towards her impatiently. Irresistible.

He almost smirked at her haste. They were so different—she so fast and he so slow. It wasn't the first time that he found himself wondering if she'd ever let him make love to her slowly and gently, or if she'd always demand that he keep pace with her. She fucked like she fought—every moment full of intensity. He could almost feel her aching for them both to finish already, and wondered why she was always in such a rush. It's not like he was going anywhere anytime soon when he had her in his bed.

Much sooner than he would have liked, Shikamaru came to the peak of pleasure, groaning into the crook of her neck. He heard Temari's breath hitch as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. His heart pounded in his chest from the exertion and the pleasure, and he made an effort to slow his breath, his face pressed into her wild hair. She smelled of the musk of the Konoha forests she had been traveling through, and where she must have camped the night before. The earthy smell mingled with the smell of sex. He held her tightly, breathing in her scent. The last thing he wanted was to let her go, but she soon pulled away, making her way into his bathroom, and he heard the shower start to run.

He let his post-orgasm drowsiness pull him towards sleep, and was only half awake when she climbed back into the bed, the smell of musk and exertion washed away. The faint smell of jasmine was the last sensation on the edge of his awareness as he let sleep take him.

He woke in the mid morning, to find the bed cold next to him. Her pack gone from where she had dumped it at the foot of the bed, but the light floral scent of her shampoo still lingered on the sheets.

0

Ino's face lit up with a mischevious smile as Shikamaru entered the shop. He had continued to show up sporadically, asking about seemingly the most random plants and evading any prodding questions she would pose. Normally, any guy who walked into the shop was looking for a romantic gift for some girl they were chasing, but they would just get a dozen roses and call it a day, not ponder over cornflowers and hesperia and then leave empty handed. It had thrown her for a loop initially, but as soon as she figured it out she had felt like a total idiot, it was so obvious.

Last week, Temari had been in town on chunin exam business, and the moment she had walked into the shop it all clicked in Ino's mind. Ino had almost laughed out loud, she had been overthinking it so much that the obvious answer had evaded her. She had worked the Konoha grapevine to dig up any new gossip about hookups and dating, but hadn't found anything other than of course, the ever-present general perception that he and Temari were an item. This was such old news that she had immediately written it off. That rumor started when they were all twelve and still genin, and had persisted through their chunin years when he served as her escort during all her visits to the village. She wondered when the teasing had become justified. It couldn't have been all that long ago she reasoned. Shikamaru was much too lazy to keep such juicy gossip material under wraps for very long.

Temari loved the flower shop, and always stopped by at least once when she was in the village for a few days. Ino admired the way that Temari's eyes would light up at the simplest things. Suna's climate was not forgiving, and it seemed that Temari looked upon all these delicate blooms as small miracles. She loved wildflowers the most, and would often buy just a few—a small enough bunch that she could discretely stow in her bag, her tough exterior impeding her from walking down the street with a bouquet.

"Shikamaru" she said in a singsong voice as he crossed the threshold, "You know, I finally figured out what you are looking for."

"I'm not looking for anything, Ino, just looking."

"Mhm, of course you are," she said, getting up from her spot behind the counter, snipping a small cutting from a vase, and handing it to her teammate. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Irises. This variety only grows in the foothills on the borderlands between Fire and Earth country. She saw some on her way back from a mission a few weeks back and was wondering what they were called. Seems to like them."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shikamaru said, but Ino could see the color coming to his cheeks and any remaining doubt she had had about her theory instantly vanished. He made to hand the small blooms back to her, but she shook her head.

"On the house! Think of it as a gift to a loyal customer—and by that I mean Temari not you, of course."

Shikamaru tried to shoot her a glare, but just made her laugh, his face lit up bright red.

"It's about time, you know! We're all happy for you!" Ino called after him as he left the shop, certain she heard him mumble something about "troublesome blondes" as he exited.

Shikamaru sighed as he left the shop. Of course Ino would be digging around in his personal business. It was unavoidable, and as much of a pain as it was, it's not like the whole village hadn't already been buzzing about his and Temari's supposed relationship for years already. People would talk, his friends would tease, and he and Temari would continue to be more or less discrete. It was just their style. The style of most ninja, really, who didn't want to go around wearing their hearts on their sleeves.

Heading back to his apartment, he couldn't help but wonder whether Temari was carrying an iris pressed between the pages of her bingo book. How did she decide what to archive there? He wanted to crack her code, he realized. She was the most complicated puzzle he'd ever come across and the every time she spent a night in his bed he felt his need to know her grow. Know her deeply. Know about her hardest missions, the first time she killed, what she dreamed about or whether it was all just nightmares. And the stupid stuff too, he wanted to know what she ate for breakfast in the mornings, what her quirks were. He wanted to know if she ever wished that she could keep her own garden, daydreamed about a home in a more temperate climate and a job that didn't keep her traveling more often than not.

Back at his apartment, he put the flower in a small glass of water on his bedside table. He wasn't sure when she'd be back again or how long it would take the iris to wither, but maybe it would make her smile to see it there.

0

Shikamaru was in the shower washing away the grime of his latest mission when he felt a familiar chakra signature enter his room. It had been almost a month since she had last been in town. He stepped out from the steaming bathroom into his bedroom, a cool breeze drifting through the open window. Temari was lying on his bed, arms crossed.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He asked her, tightening the towel slung low on his hips and toweling his hair dry.

"Ever heard of setting traps?" She shot back, "Your apartment is laughably easy to get into. Honestly, how are you not already dead?"

"Dying sounds much too troublesome," Shikamaru sat down on the bed next to her.

"Hah!" Temari let out a laugh, "This coming from the man that I had to literally drag to the Hokage tower last time we had to write up reports on the chunin exams? I would've thought you'd do anything to get out of a little paperwork."

"Who says there's no paperwork in the afterlife? At least in this life I know more or less what to expect." He propped himself up on his arm next to her and leaned in close. She laughed again at the serious look on his face at such an absurd idea.

"Can you imagine! Shinigami bogged down in paperwork. That's rich, Nara. I can't tell if you actually have a sense of humor or if you're just more paranoid than I thought."

Shikamaru himself cracked a smile at this and they began roughhousing on the bed. It had been too long since they had shared a lighthearted moment like this. With the recent Akatsuki attacks everyone had been a little more on edge, and the changing rapport between the two of them since they had started sleeping together had sometimes made for awkward tension between the two of them where there used to just be a constant battle of wits (or mostly a battle of insults, really).

"You know, you should really put in the effort to train more if you're so opposed to trying out the afterlife," she said, straddling him and pinning his arms.

"Oh really?" He shot back, twisting out from underneath her just enough to free his wrists from her grip, "This coming from a shinobi who would pick a fight with a shadow manipulator at dusk?"

Forming a quick hand sign with his newly freed hands, Temari immediately felt herself pinned by his shadows.

"Seems to me like someone needs a remedial course in basic strategy," he smirked, feeling her struggle against his jutsu, though she couldn't budge an inch from where he'd trapped her splayed across the bed. In their tousle, her skirt had ridden all the way up her thigh and her kimono had started to pull loose. He never understood how she (or Ino, or any kunoichi for that matter) managed to fight in a skirt, but for now, he was definitely not complaining.

"You bastard-" Temari started, but was cut off as Shikamaru's lips crashed down onto hers. He released her from the jutsu, and her arms immediately wrapped around him, pulling him closer.

Later, when she slipped away into the shower, he found himself opening her pack, carefully rummaging inside for the bingo book. Pulling it out he opened it delicately to reveal the contents within, not wanting to damage the paper-thin dried blossoms he knew he'd find inside. He knew it was a bad habit of his to look through her things, but something about the book fascinated him and he just couldn't let it go.

It was like a journal she kept, adding a new bloom now and again to the collection, though the memories or associations she had with each new addition remained a mystery to him. He flipped to the middle of the book. He had been through the entire book before at least twice now, from stolen glances over their past few meetings, and along with the newfound knowledge he'd gained from his trips to the flower shop and some reading he'd done in his spare time, he had started at least to understand there was some underlying organization to the whole thing. A Konoha flower would be pressed between the pages of a Konoha missing nin listed in the book, for example. He wondered how many of these nin she had encountered, or killed, even. He knew that chrysanthemums were considered to be a symbol of death in Suna, and there were quite a few scattered throughout the pages. A few were tucked into the book at the page of a nin who had since been confirmed to be eliminated. Some were still of unknown status, at least to the Leaf. Shikamaru made a mental not to look into these further.

Many were placed in the appendices, however, making it unclear if they were linked to a particular individual.

Was there a logic behind where she would place teas and herbs between the pages to dry compared to where she would place a flower? He looked for patterns, for hints at the thoughts or feelings these pages and their contents might evoke for her.

More than anything, he hoped to find fresher additions that had not yet fully dried. Though she would often talk about her life in Suna, she never talked about the missions she went on, and like any shinobi, he knew that missions were a substantial part of her life. Any new plants he found were hints at where she might have traveled recently, the places she'd seen.

He felt his heart skip a beat when he found an Iris of just the variety that Ino had showed him in the shop. It was parched, it's color faded, but leaning in to breathe in its scent, he could still detect hints of its characteristic fragrance. He almost didn't notice the sound of the shower being shut off, as he was so engrossed in his new discovery. He folded closed the book with uncharacteristic speed, and had stowed it back in her bag before the door of the bathroom opened and Temari appeared, wearing an oversized t-shirt of his, her hair wrapped up in a towel. He almost teased her about how she should bring her own pajamas instead of stealing his clothing but kept it to himself. He liked the idea of her in his clothes (in his bed, in his arms) and honestly didn't want to discourage her.