Hey all, hope you enjoy my ShikaTema ramblings! No theme - expect different eras and canon divergence.

Rated M for sexual themes but I don't plan on having anything too explicit in here.

Always happy to take prompts. Some of these may end up being rewritten into full fics at some point


Contents:

1. Again? - 1k - team ten, AU(ish) - angsty/sexy

2. Bathhouse Confessions - 500 - Konoha friends - funny/kinky

3. Who is it? - 550 - sand siblings - funny/fluffy

4. Breaking - 1.4k - Shikamaru's POV, break-up - angst/grief

5. Breaking (epilogue) - 1.7k - dead dove, do not eat.

6. Unspoken - 1.1k - SaiIno wedding, Shikamaru's POV - angsty/sexy

7. Packed Lunch - 800 - Sand Siblings/Yoshino - fluffy/funny


Again?

Something woke him. In the dark cave in which the squad hid, sounds echoed, distorted, but it was unmistakable: the sound of hushed aggression. The sound of a scuffle, a scrape, of metal on stone. Chouji sat bolt upright and reached for a weapon.


They had been sent on a mission through the Land of Wind: Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, and a local escort. The Lands of Fire and Wind were allies now, but the truce between the nations didn't always extend to individuals. Despite the efforts of the Kage, a number of missions had failed due to distrust between the Leaf and Sand nin. For this mission, the Kazekage's own sister, Temari, had been sent as their escort through the strange desert land in a gesture of good faith, but it had not been well received. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had met her before, and not under friendly circumstances. Their leader, Shikamaru, in particular had reservations about her. But a mission was a mission. They would make the best of it, but no one was letting their guard down.

As they travelled, they were forced to follow Temari's knowledge of the area for their rest stops. The desert was dangerous, not only due to rogue shinobi and vicious locals, but due to the constant threat of sandstorm and disorienting navigation. Between the lack of water, fierce midday heat and brutal night time chill, getting lost meant death. So they followed their old enemy. They had to.

They had hoped to have made more ground on the second day's travel but luck had not been on their side. Temari lead them to the cave just as the storm rolled in. It was still early evening, but they had no choice. The place was on no map, making all three of the Leaf shinobi uncomfortable, but it would provide the protection they needed.

It was just big enough that the four of them should be able to sleep in the black depths of the cave, plus what had at one point been set up as a camping area near the front, with some old storage boxes and what must have once been a fire pit near the cave mouth. The nook had obviously been abandoned for some time. Chouji wasn't as sharp as his squad leader but even he couldn't miss the clues: the build up of sand half covering what was once an open entrance; the stale, cold air inside; the corpses left to rot where they sat.

They were little more than skeletons now: two of them, each on a flat stone on either side of a low table. Between them was a shogi board. One of the pieces had been advanced two squares forward. Perhaps the players had slept themselves to death, each waiting for the other to take their turn.

Shikamaru stared at the board, scratching the back of his neck. After a moment, he stooped to slide a pawn on the opposite side forward.

Their Suna guide raised her eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

Shikamaru glanced up at her and motioned to the board. "Be my guest."

Temari's grin turned feral. She kicked one of the corpses aside and settled in its place. Shikamaru moved the other out of his way with much more respect than his female counterpart and joined her on the other side of the board, his face showing the steel concentration that his squadmates knew well.

With little interest in shogi, Chouji and Ino set about making themselves comfortable for the evening. There was little point making a fire with so little ventilation when the storm was whipping outside, but they lit lamps to protect against the coming night and lay out uncomfortable sleeping blankets.

"Checkmate," Shikamaru announced, and Temari swore under her breath.

"Again?" he asked.

"Again," she answered.

Chouji set about warming some food for them all, not only in hunger but in an attempt to make the cave smell a little more like pork and salt and a little less like corpse. Ino was seeing to the remains but was having little luck finding any identification. She'd have asked for a protocol of what do when finding bodies in the desert like this had their guide not been so terrifying, or so engrossed in her game.

As the evening wore on, their squad leader and local guide didn't move from the board. But they had a busy few days ahead, especially as they would have to make up for ground lost to the storm, and there was nothing left to do but sleep. Chouji read by lamp light for a short time, before joining Ino under the blankets and trying to get some rest.


Something woke him. In the dark cave in which the squad hid, sounds echoed, distorted, but it was unmistakable: the sound of hushed aggression. The sound of a scuffle, a scrape, of metal on stone. Chouji sat bolt upright and reached for a weapon.

But he was stopped by Ino's hand on his chest. He looked to her and she put a finger to her lips before settling back down into her blanket and only then did Chouji realise what it was that had awoken him. Not the sounds of aggression. The sounds of intimacy. It seemed Shikamaru and Temari were finished playing games.

At first, the thought of them together seemed absurd. It wasn't rare for such things to happen between shinobi on missions: there was something about the uneasy anticipation of battle that fuelled an urge for the relief of closeness; a kind of helpless, hopeless freedom. Chouji knew the feeling himself, and knew Ino had too. But he had never known Shikamaru to give in to it. And more, the pair had barely said a word to each other the whole trip, aside from the odd snide remark and wrestle for verbal power.

His mind drifted and the cave grew quiet again, save for the restless wind outside. Chouji had nearly slipped back into a dream when he heard the low rumble of Shikamaru's voice.

"Again?" he asked.

"Again," she answered.


Author's note:

This mini-fic is shamelessly inspired by a scene from Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, which I recommend you all go and read immediately because it's incredible.

CR x