I am sorry. English is not my mother tongue and in the rush I may have made some mistakes.

Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

TEMARI

The best hangover food in the world were the waffles at the Chatterbox, and I had a heaping stack of chocolate chip in front of me.

"You seriously snuck out on him like that?" Sakura asked, her mouth slightly agape.

"I folded his shirt," I said, as if it made it any better. "I was an absolute idiot last night, Saku. I remember spilling my guts to him, and then trying to jump him."

My belly twisted in mortification, or maybe that was leftover queasiness from last night. I'd showered as soon as I got home this morning, but I swore I could still feel tequila oozing out of my pores.

Turns out that doing six shots after five months of abstaining wasn't such a good idea.

"You did?" Her eyebrows shot up.

I nodded.

"And he turned me down." I still couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. "My memory goes kind of hazy once we got to the bathroom, but I remember that."

I love you.

Now that, I was pretty sure I'd imagined in my intoxicated state. The world had started spinning, and he'd put me to bed.

"Saku, I think I ruined his night."

Sakura scoffed.

"Trust me, you didn't. He came down once you were out and spent a couple hours with us before heading back up to you. And I'm pretty sure every other crewmember over twenty-one was way more wasted than you before the night was over. I've never seen so many shots in so many different colors. Turns out TenTen can mix a mean drink."

"You don't look hungover."

"Kakashi and I were the designated driver, and Shika kept everyone hydrated while we delivered the drunken packages to their houses." She grinned. "You may have been the first to fall, but you were certainly not the last, Temari."

That made me feel a little better.

God, it was bright in here. The waitress had been super sweet and sat us back along the wall, away from the windows, but even the overhead lighting sent shooting pains through my temples. I deserved every single ounce of the misery.

"I cannot believe I threw myself at him like that."

I shoved the waffles in my mouth and groaned at my own stupidity, glad that Grams was over by the counter so she couldn't hear what an idiot I'd made of myself.

"He's a good guy," Saku said, digging into her pancakes. "I know how badly he wanted to get you back last night."

"What?" My fork froze halfway to my mouth. "I mean…we talked some stuff out." My brow puckered, trying to remember exactly what was said. "But I thought he was going for closure." I shook my head.

"Eh." She cocked her head to the side. "From what Sasuke told me, the guys had it out right before the evaluation, and Shika made it pretty clear that he was fighting for you."

"You mean fighting with me."

"Nope. I mean what I said." A smile played across her mouth. "The guys gossip worse than we do, I swear. Plus, he was a man on a mission last night, and that mission was you."

I chewed my food thoroughly. Sakura's eyes widened as she looked over my shoulder.

"I think he's still on the mission."

"What are you talking..." My words stalled as I looked behind me and saw Shika stalking across the diner, his folded shirt in his hand. "Oh, he looks pissed."

"I think that's a pretty accurate description." She flashed a smile at Shika as he reached our table, glowering down at me. "Can we interest you in some breakfast?"

I swallowed, the intensity in his eyes stealing my breath.

"Enough." He bit out the word like it had personally offended him.

"Enough what?" I set my fork down.

"Enough of this." He motioned between him and me.

"I don't follow."

Holy shit, was he about to dump me publicly? He'd never been one to let his softer emotions show in public, but his anger? He had a track record there.

"Enough of this bullshit where you run away from me." People were staring.

Heat flooded my face.

"I didn't run away from you this morning," I whispered, hoping he got the hint that the implosion of our relationship wasn't a spectator sport.

"When I wake up to an empty bed and a folded shirt on your pillow, I'd say that qualifies as you sneaking out and running away." He lifted said shirt, like he'd needed to bring evidence to this public hearing.

"Would you have rather I stolen your shirt?" I lifted a brow.

"Yes!" he shouted.

Every head turned.

Kill me now.

"That's your hotshot shirt." I stated the obvious and hoped he caught on.

"And your point is?" He lifted the offending shirt. "I put it on you last night."

"And I know the rules in this town," I hissed, shifting in my seat. "Only hotshots..."

"And the people who belong to hotshots," he interrupted, "wear them."

"Exactly."

My cheeks burned, and I knew if I looked in the mirror, I'd be the shade of a cherry tomato.

"Okay, how can I make this any clearer?" He leaned into my space. "Let's do a visual demonstration. Arms up."

My jaw went slack.

"Arms. Up," he repeated, and the heat in his eyes had me raising my arms.

There was a distinct wave of muttering in the diner. He put the shirt over my head, then tugged it down over the blouse I was wearing, taking the time to gently lift my hair free of the neck.

"There. Get it?" I slowly lowered my arms, speechless. "Temari, I'm in love with you." His jaw ticked.

"You really said that last night?"

He nodded curtly.

"Well, you don't look too happy about it," I whispered.

He laughed in disbelief.

"I was plenty happy about it before I woke up to find you gone. But I get it. If you need me to chase after you, then here I am." He flung his arms out wide. "If you need to see that I wasn't with you because you were convenient, or because of the boys, or because of whatever excuse you told yourself when you crept out of our bed this morning, here. I. Am." He rotated in a circle like the diner was center ring and he was going for the belt.

"What are you doing?" I was pretty sure Amy Donahue had her phone out.

He leaned down into my space and cradled my cheek with his hand, blocking out the rest of the room so there was only him and me.

"I'm fighting for you. And I get that it's a new concept, so you might not recognize it, but this is what it looks like. You did all the talking last night, and now it's my turn."

My lips parted and my heart took off at a gallop.

"I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, and I've made more than my share when it comes to us. But you've seen me at my best and my worst, and you somehow manage to love me either way."

I sucked in a breath because it was true. There was nothing Shika could do that would stop my foolish little heart from loving him.

"You still do," he told me. "You've loved me since we were kids, and that's not going away because we got into a fight on what was possibly one of the worst days of our lives. You don't stop loving me because we took our anger out on each other instead of working through it together. You don't walk away from history like ours. I know. I tried to deny it for years. You don't give up on something like this. What we have, it's worth the fight." He lowered himself until we were at eye level. "So let's fight."

"Shika..."

"I fucked up when I said that we were only together for the boys, and I said it because I was pissed, and to set you free. The boys were never the reason we were together. They were the excuse I needed because I was too scared of losing you to ever try to have you.

I fucked up when I walked out after the fight, because it gave you the chance to doubt this—to doubt us. It gave you the opportunity to run, and damn, did you take it."

I flinched at his words, but his touch was soft.

"I fucked up when I didn't go after you that night, when I didn't haul you back to our house so we could hash it out. But the worst mistake of my life was not telling Naruto to shove his list up his ass the night I first kissed you. I knew then that you were the only woman I was ever going want—ever going to love. And yeah, Temari, love. I might not have known what it was then—or I was too scared to admit it—but I know now, and I'm trusting you with those words the way you trusted me with yours."

I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling.

"I can't promise you that I'll always be here when you need me." His voice dropped to a whisper. "But I promise that no matter where I am, I'll be yours."

Before I could respond, he stood and pulled a knife from his pocket, turning toward the wall in one smooth motion.

Sakura gawked at him as his hand moved with quick, efficient strokes. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. I was only capable of staring up at him while my heart pounded out a reckless beat that had always belonged to him.

When he stepped away, his carving was front and center on the wall for the whole world to see.

SHIKA LOVES TEMARI.

My vision wobbled as he dropped down in front of me, going to one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his grandmother's ring... my ring.

"Shika," I whispered.

"The last time I put this ring on your finger, it was because I was scared. Scared that we'd lose the boys. Scared that they'd be separated. Scared that you'd walk out of my house and never look back if I didn't have a reason to keep you there." He lifted the ring to my left hand, sliding it just over the tip of my ring finger. "But I'm not afraid anymore. The worst has already happened to us, and we're still standing. You and me, we've been through it all. This whole town burned down around us, and we rebuilt and came back stronger. You and I always will. This time I want this ring on your finger because I'm certain there's no one else in the world who can love you like I do, and I'm ready to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. Fight with me, Temari. Marry me." His smile blew me away. "Again. Let's do this for all the right reasons."

There was no question in his eyes. No nerves. No trembling fingers. This man knew exactly what he wanted, and it was me.

I leaned forward and kissed him, pouring everything I felt into it as the diner cheered around us.

"Is that a yes?" he asked against my mouth.

"That's a yes, Shikamaru."

A wholehearted, hell yes.

Yes to the fighting and the work, to the love and the losses as they came.

He grinned and slid the ring home.