Temari and Shikamaru worked together a lot. That wasn't new. It was their line of work for the Exams that forced them into it. Even Kiba noticed and he wasn't particularly close with either of them.

He'd seen them working together in the library, in the Hokage office reporting to Tsunade, sometimes even in a restaurant having lunch just to catch a break from all the paper work.

What did come to a surprise was how much they actually spent time together while off duty. Neither of them ever made it obvious. Kiba was probably the first one to figure it out.

It was his heightened sense of smell that first drew his attention to them.

In one of her visits, he happened to cross Temari while she was exploring the village shops. As he approached her, he knew something was wrong.

Regularly, the Sunan smelt like honey with hints of floral tones. A scent that Kiba knew was uniquely hers. So, it really didn't sit well with him when he smelt flavours of spices and pine instead. A smell that was all-too familiar with him.

Kiba couldn't very well control his natural reaction- he stared.

"What," Temari scowled when she caught him intensely looking at her.

"Nothing," Kiba replied quickly in self-defense. "It's just..." he frowned, "I thought it was your day off today."

"It is."

"Then why were you with Shikamaru?"

"-what?"

"You have his scent on you."

She bared her teeth in a grimace, then sighed realizing that there was no point in denying the fact. "Shogi. I've been trying to beat him."

"Do you even like shogi?"

"No. I hate it actually." Temari folded her arms. "But I hate losing more."

That was a one-time incident, Kiba had convinced himself. It had to be. Because of everyone in Konoha, Shikamaru was surely the last person Kiba suspected to be able to handle the likes of Temari. Much less tolerate her.

It wasn't until 6 months later that Kiba was proven wrong; by that point the kunochi's obsession of shogi reached an all time high.

Kiba had just gone to deliver a message to Shikamaru from the Hokage when he spotted the two sitting on the back porch of his house.

The corner of Temari's eye twitched when Shikamaru declared checkmate. Kiba analyzed the look in Shikamaru's eyes when he made his winning move.

Certainty.

Arrogance.

Complacent.

Then he looked at Temari's.

Irritated.

Bitter.

Provoked.

But instead of flying into a rage, as Kiba had suspected Temari to be, she looked at Shikamaru with a straight face.

"Again," she said.

Kiba asked them how many games they've played already.

"I lost count," she replied not looking up from the board. She lost the next game in 10 moves.

But Temari of the Sand wouldn't give up.

"Again."

Despite how many times Shikamaru would beat her or how many times Temari seemed to have lost her pride, she never stopped playing.

And Shikamaru never turned her down.

Years later Kiba asked Temari again if she liked shogi.

She shrugged. "It's not bad I guess."

In other chapters, I feel like the characters were analyzing Temari's and Shikamaru's relationship with a little bit more depth. While, this chapter with Kiba was a bit more simple in terms of him analyzing their relationship. Which I guess makes sense given that Kiba isn't necessarily close with either of them so his observations is little more "surface level." But what do you guys think?

Also, I'm sorry for the late update; I've been busy these past few months trying to readjust my life.

The next chapter I have is Ino's, but I've been thinking about it for a while and was debating if I should insert another chapter before her's. We'll see where it goes aha.

Read, review and thank you!

J.R