Disclaimer - Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto
It was a strange dream.
Dreams usually are.
Shikamaru awoke with his head pressed into his pillow, in what felt like the most uncomfortable position imaginable, short of tying his feet in a knot. Only head and torso lay on his futon, his legs on the floor, tangled in his bedcovers.
He wished that damn ferret would stop chasing him.
"Funny…….you look like Shikamaru. You sound like Shikamaru. But you're actually working" said Ino, mock-sceptically, from her perch on top of the wall.
Wall maintenance was the bane of most Leaf shinobi of chuunin level. The 5th insisted it be carried out every season , more as a way to reassure the villagers during these more turbulent times than anything else. Shikamaru also suspected that it gave her a good excuse to chide those she was less than pleased with - or, in Shikamaru's case, to torment those who tended to avoid any form of physical exertion that was more than necessary.
The broad grin Tsunade usually wore while delegating this task was the big tip-off.
Wall work - mostly re-cladding, and general maintenance - was hard work in itself - but beacause it also required the precise chakra control needed to keep feet firmly planted to the almost vertical surface, it could quickly exhaust the unaware. Shikamaru loathed it. Usually.
Ino wasn't the only one surprised by his enthusiasm. He couldn't quite believe it himself.
He had a sneaking suspicion that it was linked to the ...unusual dreams he had been plagued by of late. He slept better when he was exhausted.
Kiba was bounding along on all fours further along the wall, about a hundred yards away. Kiba was the only chunin who actually enjoyed wall work . The almost sheer sided structure was the perfect training ground for his more acrobatic jutsus, as well as providing an opportunity for practicing precise chakra control, especially in the hands and feet.
This meant Kiba did very little actual work.
Shikamaru hoped this would provide an explanation for his un-characteristic effort, but he doubted Ino would believe that. She was very perceptive sometimes.
The thought had'nt even entered her mind. She already suspected that Shikamaru's preoccupation was linked to a certain female shinobi of the sand.
Shikamaru sat down on top of the wall a little later, his head bent back to look at the sky.
"Missing a certain someone, Shika?"
He scowled at her. She just smiled.
Too damn perceptive.
"You're so troublesome."
"I know. It's what makes me so irresistable," she said,fluttering her eyebrows and grinning.
"Animal magnetism" whispered Kiba, appearing behind her shoulder and leering suggestively.
Five minutes later, she was still chasing him around the forrested surrounds of Konoha.Kiba was enjoying himself immensly.
Silently, Shikamaru was very grateful.
He watched the clouds
Despite his exertions, Shikamaru couldn't sleep.
Which meant that he was free to think about Temari.
Shit.
She terrified him, not only because she was commanding, powerful. ...beautiful even, but because she awakend feelings inside of him, that he hadn't known existed.
What scared him most, was that she might actually feel the same way.
He had seen little of her since the attempted rescue of Sasuke two and a half years ago. When she had been in Konoha, they seemed to gravitate towards each other. They had become friends. Good friends. Sure, they annoyed the hell out of each other - In fact, most bystanders would have thought that they disliked each other. But he knew that was just a facade, hiding their true feelings, as did she.
Hell, he'd been putting on a facade since she saved his skin when fighting Tayuya, when she sat with him, waiting for news about Chouji. The attraction was there, even then.
Ino could see it. Chouji could see it. Half of Konoha knew about it. So why couldn't he accept it?
It all boiled down to fear, again.
Fear that she would say no.
Damn. He had always planned to marry that normal girl, to take life easy.
Temari was anything but normal.
Which was probably why he liked her so much.
A few days later, a mission to the Hidden Sand came up.
He took it without hesitation.