Story 6: You're Gonna Lose that Girl

Summary: Temari's beautiful, but it turns out she's also a real flirt. Shikamaru wants her, but is he up to the competition? (ShikaTem)

Genre: Romance

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Really I don't… whoever said I did was lying.

AN: ShikaTem is my favourite pairing, and this is the only story of this series that's had a coherent idea since I started this little project, so I have to write it now I've got here.

However, it may be my last 'Help' fic. I don't write just for reviews, or I would have stopped long ago… but if I don't get at least a couple, this will be the last in the 'Help' series. I have other projects on at the moment, and if this one isn't getting appreciated, I'll go and do something else. So if you'd like to see the others just review… it will only take a minute, but it'll make me happy. :)

The other titles are: 'Ticket To Ride' 'Act Naturally' 'It's Only Love' 'You Like Me Too Much' 'Tell Me What You See' 'I've Just Seen A Face' 'Yesterday' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy.' I will also take requests, if people would like to see a particular character in any of those stories, I will endeavour to include them. 'Tell Me What You See' will be about Neji if I write it, and 'It's Only Love' will have Hinata in it… but apart from that, I welcome ideas.

You're Gonna Lose That Girl

She was tall, slender, beautiful. When Shikamaru lay back and looked at the clouds and dreamed of his future life, with his wife and kids, he imagined a woman like her waiting for him when he got home from missions. She was a fearsome woman, it was true, but it was because she was passionate. In some ways she was all that Shikamaru had ever wanted. In other ways, she was everything he couldn't handle in a woman.

Her name slid over his tongue like a fine wine, fruity and full, Temari. Its meaning was irrelevant when it sounded so good.

Also like a fine wine, it went straight to his head, wrapping its way around his consciousness and robbing him of rational thought. He was a fine strategist. He knew how to make the best use of the few skills he possessed. But when it came to her he had only his blood to guide him. And his blood wanted her. It cried out for her, hot and almost painful in its intensity. His blood fairly sang in his veins, wanting to wrap his slim arms around her waist and draw her sensuous body to him, claiming her for his own.

His brain told him she was the one woman in the entire world he could never have. While he wanted her, so did so many other men, and Shikamaru wasn't the most attractive or the most charming or the most anything. He didn't have a chance with a girl like that.

That, of course, didn't stop his heart from beating twice as fast when she came near him. If her hand so much as came within a foot of touching him, his stomach fluttered and his heart leapt into his throat. Her dark eyes hid under eyelids that could switch from vicious to seductive in an instant. Just by looking at him she could elicit feelings within him that he had never known before.

In the Sand village, there were many young men seeking the affections of the Fourth Kazekage's daughter. She was beautiful, after all. Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino were in the Sand Village with their Jounin Sensei Asuma, to help with some negotiations that were going on between the Sand and another of the small countries nearby. However, the three younger ninja were not involved in the actual talks, so they had every opportunity to explore the Sand village and talk to its ninja. For Shikamaru, that meant spending a lot of time brooding about the girl he could never have.

It turned out that Temari was a flirt. Not just a flirt, but a serious competitor for 'flirt of the year' award. Shikamaru and Chouji had been sitting on a wall in the village, sharing some food and Shikamaru had seen her talking to seven guys. One of them had been all business like, but with every single one of the others, she had batted eyelids, and pouted seductively, brushing their shoulders with hands that promised more, inclining her head just so and looking perfect. Any man would have been driven crazy and Shikamaru was no exception. Just watching her made his hair stand on end and his eyes narrowed slightly further with every new man that spoke to her. It was a wonder he could still see through his eyelashes.

All this had not escaped Shikamaru's best friend, Chouji. The chubby ninja was watching his friend carefully, and had been for some time.

"You really like her, don't you?" Chouji asked. It took Shikamaru longer than usual to respond. His mind had been elsewhere, and not in the clouds as it usually was.

"I think I've fallen in love with her somehow. It's so troublesome." Chouji smiled.

"Why haven't you asked her out?" Chouji asked. Shikamaru glanced back at the sexy blonde who was, as they spoke, twirling a lock of hair around a finger as she talked to a tall attractive Sand ninja.

"Look at that guy. And there've been 5 others like him. I can't compete with that."

"She seemed to like you when she came to Konoha," Chouji said.

"Like me? She wanted to rip my intestines out and use them as a scarf!" Shikamaru replied. Chouji chuckled.

"You doubt yourself too much Shikamaru. I saw the way she looked at you," the chubby ninja said. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and looked at the object of his affections. Now she was leaning back against the wall. The man who was attempting to woo her was leaning on one arm, staring down at her. Muscles rippled on his arms as he flexed his arm. Whether or not she had looked at him in Konoha, there was no way the lanky Shikamaru could keep up with that hunk of chiseled muscle.

"It's not going to happen, Chouji," he said with a deep sigh.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji said, with uncharacteristic sternness. "How will you ever know if you don't try?"

"Chouji… I don't have a chance."

"If you don't try, you won't have a chance. She's not the kind of girl to wait around forever if you don't do anything about it. You'll lose her. But if you ask her out, then maybe you have a chance."

"What? A chance to have my arms ripped off?"

"A chance at having a future with a very beautiful woman," Chouji said, smiling gently. Shikamaru looked at the sincerity in his friends' eyes and then looked back at the beautiful woman in question. Temari reached out and brushed the Sand ninja's face with a perfectly manicured hand and batted long eyelashes at him.

"I…" he started, his eyes falling as he turned back towards Chouji.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji said, his voice and expression sterner than Shikamaru had ever seen. He nodded slowly and stood. He found his legs weak underneath him as he started the walk towards her. It could not have been more than fifty metres to where she stood, but it seemed to take forever. He tried to seem casual, but every step took an eternity.

He glanced back at Chouji, and his friend nodded at him, urging him onwards. Shikamaru turned back and kept on walking.

When he reached her his palms were sweating and his heart was a hammer thumping at his ribcage so fast he was surprised it didn't batter a hole out of his chest and bury itself in the nearest wall. She was just yards away from him now. She had noticed him and was looking at him with those stunning eyes, capturing him in her glance and holding him. If he hadn't known better he would have assumed it was some kind of Genjutsu. But no, this was just the power of her beauty.

The male sand ninja was staring at Shikamaru now, looking very angry. But his face was one of a thug, a grunt… a bully-boy. Shikamaru had been dealing with bully-boys for a long time, and this guy didn't know about the Shadow Imitation technique.

Temari's eyes narrowed as Shikamaru approached.

"Hey you," said the Sand ninja. "Beat it! I was talkin' to the lady." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and looked him squarely in the eyes. He was the first to admit he was not the most courageous of men, but this ninja had just been plain disrespectful. He felt a tight knot of courage in his stomach and the corner of his mouth twitched up into a half-smile.

"Weren't you just leaving?" he asked, his voice casual, but with a hint of menace in it.

"I don't believe I was," the ninja said, squaring his shoulders and looking down on Shikamaru with his extra six inches height. Shikamaru looked back at him and didn't even blink.

"Oh… well, I can arrange it for you, if you'd like," Shikamaru said. He instantly regretted it, cursing himself for the stupidity of the previous statement and preparing himself for the blow he would no doubt receive.

However, after a moment of summing him up, the Sand ninja turned and stalked off. Shikamaru blinked a couple of times, staring after him, doubting his own eyes. How the hell had that happened?

"What did you do that for," said Temari, leaning back against the wall. She was looking bored and slightly annoyed as she stared at him under hooded lids with those mesmerising eyes. Shikamaru's windpipe was suddenly constricted as one moment of looking into those eyes tore the very breath from his lungs. He tried to regain his composure, to stop his voice from cracking. Chouji's voice popped back into his head 'You'll lose her.' He forced a deep breath into his chest and looked at the stunning woman who was standing next to him, looking very pissed off.

"Temari," he said slowly, feeling every syllable slip out with perfect ease, as though his tongue had just been waiting to say them for his entire life. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and folded her arms impatiently. He forced the words out, meeting her eyes and smiling just a little bit, but steeling himself against the blow that would undoubtedly follow. "Did I ever tell you that you have the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen?"

Temari was momentarily taken aback. She paused, her mouth left slightly open as she looked at him. Then her lips curved into a smile.

Before Shikamaru could take a breath, her mouth met his in a passionate kiss that almost made him lose his footing. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, circling him and pulling him towards her. Her lips caressed his and her tongue slid between them to explore his mouth, both tenderly and passionately. It took him a stunned moment to realised what was happening. He stood, rigid until he realised that the woman of his dreams was actually kissing him. He forced himself to relax, his arms circling her waist, drawing her as close as he dared, tilting his head and reciprocating in the most dazzling kiss of his limited romantic career.

Finally she drew her head back, her eyes almost closed as she looked at him with a large smile on her face.

"Really Shikamaru," she said, her voice almost a purr. "Was that so hard?"

Shikamaru's face slowly formed a huge grin as he looked back at her, and this time it was his mouth that claimed hers.