The first time Tsunade assigned Shikamaru to be Temari's guide, he left her aggravated.
"You can't be serious," he said at the time. Tsunade lifted her eyes from the report sitting on her desk and dropped her pen. His remark wasn't a question, it was more of a statement, but the hint of annoyance in his voice made it clear where he stood at the matter.
She admitted, she only assigned Shikamaru to be her guide out of convenience.
The list of candidates was rather limited at the time. The majority were either already on a mission or weren't available for the entire duration of Temari's stay. But upon reading Shikamaru's name on her list made her stop. She supposed he would be the best option. Afterall it was Temari and her siblings that rescued his team after they attempted to retrieve Sasuke.
"Problem?" she tested, crossing her arms.
He massaged the temples of his forehead. "No. No problem, Hokage-sama," he lied. And he reluctantly took the mission scroll- a description of what the assignment necessitated- off her desk.
The task was simple. It only entailed on being her guide- to accompany her from one meeting place to the next. But Temari, as Tsunade quickly learned, was hard-headed and stubborn. She wouldn't merely let him accompany her for the day, just to have him watch her do all the paperwork.
No, she had a different plan in mind.
"Troublesome woman, this isn't part of my job description," he told Temari, grudgingly taking the stack of papers from her hands. But it only earned him a bruise on the head with her iron fan. Tsunade didn't intervene. Truthfully, she found it slightly entertaining.
The second time Tsunade assigned him with the task, he left her mildly amused. That year she had waived the original job description and added "Exam Proctor."
"Is you assigning me to this going to be a reoccurring thing now?" Shikamaru asked when Tsunade presenting him with the assignment.
She didn't lift her eyes from the report that time- she didn't need to. It was a rhetorical question because she knew that he knew the answer already. Still, she did find his question slightly humorous.
She heard a sigh followed by a "troublesome."
The third time Tsunade assigned him with the task, he almost made her laugh.
"Temari's coming tomorrow," is all Tsunade had to say. Not needing to further explain, Shikamaru automatically grabbed the mission scroll off her desk.
"You know…the scroll seems redundant at this point," he retorted before he left her office.
But the fourth time was different.
Because the fourth time, it had slipped Tsunade's mind, till that moment, that Temari was expected to arrive by the 15th which was- Tsunade looked down at her calendar- tomorrow.
Though the Exams weren't for a few more months, it did require extensive preparation. It was the reason why Tsunade liked Shikamaru working with Temari in the first place. Because after the first Exam, they had established a certain system - a system that specifically worked for them. Frankly, it would be bothersome to have anyone else but Shikamaru to work with Temari.
And yet, Tsunade had mistakenly already assigned him to a mission with Asuma and the team was departing the same time of her arrival. But his unavailability was inevitable, and the mission was far more pressing than the Exam anyway.
Tsunade sighed before turning to her assistant, "Get me Shikamaru."
Half an hour later, Shikamaru presented himself in front of Tsunade. Unenthusiastically, he asked why he was being summoned.
"Temari's coming tomorrow," Tsunade declared. She waited for him to say something, but when he didn't, she pressed on. Pulling a scroll from her desk she continued, "The task is normally assigned to you, but seeing that you're leaving tomorrow I called for-"
A sudden knock on the door made Tsunade stop abruptly. There was a pause before the door flung open. Kiba strolled in with Akamaru trailing beside him.
"Ah Kiba. Nice of you to join us," Tsunade greeted. "I was just telling Shikamaru that you're goin-"
"Lady Fifth," Shikamaru interrupted, stealing the scroll from Tsunade's grasp, "was just saying that you're going to replace me on Asuma-sensai's team tomorrow." And he promptly left before Tsunade had time to rebuttal.
The fourth time, he left her stunned.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you guys think about it. Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did it even make sense?
Sometimes I get slightly worried about some chapters not fully making sense because I don't explicitly and clearly state the message I'm trying to get across. It's something that you kind of have to read in between the lines for. But let me know- maybe I'm just getting worried for no reason lol.
Side note: I've never mentioned this before, but I planned this fic in a way that there will be time skips between chapters (ie. several months or years could have passed between one chapter and the next).
Anyway, read, review and thank you!
J.R