But that had not been given to him today. All day, he had been constantly annoyed, his nerves grated upon, with questions about his girlfriend, and everyone's prickly questions had poked the pink bubble he preferred to live in for at least a day after Temari had left. At long last, he had found Chouji at their usual spot, and it was only here did he feel at peace enough to try and let go of his bad mood.
Chouji didn't say a word, and past a greeting in the form of a grunt, he allowed Shikamaru total silence. This is why Chouji is his best friend.
Gratefully, he felt himself slink quietly back into the shadows at the back of his mind where he likes to store the thud of his heart and the itch of his hands and the fact that he misses her already.
Now Shikamaru can think, now he can dissect his bad mood, a necessary step before he lets go of it.
Chronologically is usually the best way to start, in his opinion, so he begins with this morning…
Though, he technically had two mornings, and since the one that ended at 1:57 definitely isn't part the problem, he goes with the one that ended before the sun had finished rising.
-
It's hard not to kiss her until she stays, to pull her against him with his clumsy hands that are still familiarizing themselves with how she breathes and where to touch her, but either he hasn't learned to kiss her yet-which truthfully he doubts-or that's how much Temari misses her brothers, because she kisses him for a last, long moment and then turns around.
"See you later, crybaby." And a raised hand are her goodbye, given to the wind to toss at him over her shoulder.
Shikamaru allows himself a moment to smile like a complete idiot, hope his fingers take longer to forget her skin this time, and opens his eyes back up so he can kick himself off the tree outside the gates of Konoha without hitting his head on the branch he always hits his head on.
He remembers avoiding the branch was his last bit of good luck that day.
As he ran into none other than Naruto, who must stalk him or something…
"Oy, Shikamaru!" Future Hokage or not, Naruto waves a boisterous hand, possesses a boisterous spirit, and is just not good company for deep thinking.
"Yo." He greets with minimum effort.
"I just saw Temari leave." The blonde raises his eyebrows in a manner that plainly states he has no apologies for such blatant innuendos. "And I just saw that kiss-"
"Your shishou really did rub off on you." He sighs annoyedly.
But Naruto doesn't take the hint. Of course he doesn't.
"So, how was your date with Temari?"
Shikamaru says nothing, just levels Naruto with a gaze that is supposed to say how done he is with this question.
"That bad, huh?"
Shikamaru can't help it, the anger flares up his spine and his eyes narrow. "It-"
"Oh, that good?" Embodying perfectly a perverted old man, Naruto's grin pisses off Shikamaru more.
"I didn't know what you're talking about." He finally snaps, brushing past Naruto roughly.
It could be that one, he thinks. That definitely didn't put him in a good mood.
But Naruto's always like that, so it wasn't as if that was something he wasn't expecting from the orange-wearing shinobi.
Ah, Shikamaru reflects, isn't it always the unexpected things that get you...
"Shikamaru!" Tenten calls, waving and jogging up to him.
"Oh, hey Tenten."
"Hi!" She continues, bright as usual. "I wanted to ask you, how did your date with Temari go?"
"My what?" He can't believe it. Tenten. Out of all the people in Konoha, Tenten is asking him this right now.
"Your date with Temari." She continues, unperturbed by the sudden look of horror on his face. "She left this morning, right? So your date must've been last night. And I want to know how it went, because, well, I'm really happy for you guys."
Shikamaru softens, deflating in his annoyance. That was actually really nice of her…
"Because, ever since Neji died, it's like the only happiness I can get is out of other people's relationships, and you know we really could have been something, I think, Neji and I, so I just want to know that you're doing well, Shikamaru, that you're falling in love and happy."
And then Tenten pouts.
"Did you just…" Shikamaru blinks, forehead furrowing so hard he's almost hurting himself. "Did you just guilt me?"
Tenten shrugs. "Whatever works. I'm really curious. You two are so cute, and-"
He turns and walks away, rolling his eyes skyward.
"Hey, where are you going! Shikamaru, get back here!"
Neji isn't here to reign Tenten in anymore. She's almost as bad Ino.
In retrospect, Shikamaru is sure thinking her name is what did it. Ino uses mind jutsu, after all, it's perfectly sound logic to say that she just knows when he thinks of her, the exact moments he says her name, the exact moments he really doesn't want her around.
And she chooses precisely those moments to come bother him.
"Shikamaru!" Ino runs at him and seizes both his shoulders. "How did your date with Temari go?"
At least she's up front about her intentions…
"Look, I'm not going to talk about it, so just…"
"Oh, yes you are!" Ino practically stamps her foot. "I have too much invested in this to not get every detail! You didn't screw things up, did you? Ugh, that would be just like you. Get too nervous and then-"
"You have too much invested in this?" Shikamaru doesn't like the way his own voice sounds, but his temper is brandishing its ugly head before he can stop it. "No, you don't, Ino. You have nothing invested in this. This doesn't affect you at all. This is about me and Temari, if any of this is even… if there's even a chance, and you can't just… pretend that it will really affect you to feed your gossipy little head!"
He's angry. It's an angry day.
Not that the best days are ever the ones when he sees Temari off, but there's no need for this to happen, is there? Why can't he just be left in peace and miss his girlfriend…
He turns from Ino without looking back, not quite sure where all this anger is coming from nor why it feels distinctly sad.
Ino's had been the worst, he thinks. If she'd just let him come to her, he might've… Given some time, some space to process, he might have actually asked her a few things… But she just had to take them from him, didn't she? She had no patience, Ino, no patience at all…
Shikamaru opens his eyes and looks at the clouds.
It's so windy that he can almost see them move today, but he can't focus. Not on the clouds and their tranquil white masses, and not even on how blue the sky is. It's windy, and all the wind does now is make him think of her.
Perhaps windy moments aren't the best to have your first kiss in, with hair blowing everywhere and clothes whipping around bodies. But Temari loves the wind, Temari is the wind, and Shikamaru looked over and saw her eyes close, and a little smile stretch her mouth, like this was a personal enjoyment for her and no one could ever take it away from her.
And he wanted that, he wanted to know what it was like.
So he kissed her, touched her skin with his hands and pressed his mouth to hers.
Besides, her eyes were already closed.
And the sound she made when he stopped being so shy about it, when her arms tentatively grasped him, one on his back and one behind his head, and she stepped closer, and she changed the angle, and the sound he made…
It was all the wind. Shikamaru blamed the wind.
It made the loose hairs from her ponytails turn into windchimes glittering around her face. In the moment he was staring at her, he could've sworn he could hear them. She looked so at peace, so comfortable and so at home as she really felt the wind, really let it lift her up and remind her of her favorite thing in the world.
And Shikamaru wanted that, too. He wanted to be her other favorite thing.
Almost like his brain was afraid to let him remember too much-inevitably, there was a line about how much he could remember that, once crossed, only made him want to kiss her again, and that was impossible for another six weeks and he must be approaching it-he was wrenched out of his thoughts.
His eyes were open again, and he was still irritated.
Slowly rotating his head to look at Chouji, Shikamaru took notice of how his best friend literally had not moved an inch, not in all the time it took Shikamaru to think. Just as his eyes wandered up to Chouji's face, his right hand slung itself lazily across his body and angled the opened chip bag to him.
In silent thanks, Shikamaru took one.
"Go on," he said when the chip was finished, "I know you want to ask, too. Everyone else has."
Chouji pauses a second longer than Shikamaru expects him to, but the words do come out.
"How was your date with Temari?"
Shikamaru's mouth opens automatically to go 'fine', but the image of Temari from this morning, pulling him in for one last kiss, and the grin on her face when he grabbed at her hips with his clumsy, inexperienced hands flashes across his mind.
And the tiniest of smiles, one he could easily deny and fabricate away, graces his face, pulling up at both corners of his mouth.
"It was good."