As they sped across the rooftops of Konoha towards the forest and his favourite training site, Shikamaru found himself feeling less and less miserable. It was true that Temari was about as troublesome a woman as he could imagine and she would probably give him a hard time during the training but they would be practising in his favourite spot. The site was as familiar to him as the rules of shouji. As long as it's there he should be fine.

Shikamaru came to a stop in a large clearing. Various items of training equipment littered the ground, along with craters and scars from previous mock fights and exercises.

"So, what kind of training did you have in mind?" Shikamaru asked, hands clasped behind his head. Temari was looking around the clearing with her hands on her hips and a disdainful look on her face. Shikamaru reflected that it probably did look a mess, but then it was too troublesome to bother tidying up.

"Hm! I suppose we should start with some chakra stamina training and then perhaps some light Taijutsu exercises."

Shikamaru tried not to let it show but inwardly he winced. Those were his too biggest weaknesses. This could be embarrassing. "Hai."

The training went badly as he anticipated, although he did better than usual. It bothered him to be outdone by a girl (especially this one!) and this drove him to put more effort into his training than he would normally. Unfortunately, this only made his performance more embarrassing. He fell from the underside of the tree limb well before Temari did, landing awkwardly. The troublesome woman had decided that they would test their chakra stamina by how long they could stand on the underside while constantly changing feet. Shikamaru felt totally drained after that but even though Temari looked similarly exhausted she insisted on going ahead with the Taijutsu exercises. Initially Shikamaru worried about hitting her, since he disliked hitting women, but after the first few seconds of the practice it became clear that this was not going to be an issue...

Temari left Shikamaru lying panting and covered in bruises on the floor. As she reached the edge of the clearing, she turned back with a wicked smile on her face. "I'll meet you back here tomorrow morning. We can do some serious training then." Her smile grew and she winked at him before leaving.

Shikamaru let his head fall back and gazed up at the clouds passing overhead. He reflected that in some ways Temari was in fact more troublesome than even his mother. He tried to think of ways out of his situation but there didn't seem to be any way of escaping without angering Temari. She was too smart to be tricked easily. In fact she was one of the smartest women he had ever met. Oh sure, Sakura was intelligent and new the ninja handbook forwards and backwards but Temari was cunning and had that wicked spark of imagination, which made her a far more difficult adversary. Still, there must be some way to get out of this. She was immensely proud, so maybe if he could beat her in the practice then she would be too embarrassed to continue training with him. He sat up and made a circle with his hands. How was he going to beat this troublesome woman...?

Temari was surprised to find Shikamaru waiting for her at the training ground the next morning. She had expected him to be late at the very least. This immediately raised her suspicions.

"Good morning Temari-san. Did you have a good sleep?" Shikamaru was leaning against a tree with both hands behind his head. He looked far too relaxed. Clearly he was planning something.

Temari ignored the question and instead asked one of her own. "Why are you so happy today?"

"Why shouldn't I be? It's a beautiful day. Look at those clouds...Ahh." Shikamaru definitely looked too relaxed. Temari didn't like that, she liked to keep the men around her off balance. It was no fun if they thought they were in control of the situation.

"I was thinking today we might have a practice match." Temari felt sure this would take the wind out of his sails but Shikamaru seemed unphased.

"Sounds good. When shall we start?" His smile was confident and sly. Temari was beginning to worry that she had somehow walked into a trap. It was too late now though. She would just have to press on and hope she could somehow regain control of the situation.

Shikamaru smiled to himself as they moved out into the centre of the clearing. Here was a chance to give that troublesome woman a taste of her own medicine. It would do her good to feel off-balance for once.