I've come to realize it's been a bit too Gaara-centric lately... so it's back to some more Shikamaru and Temari for a bit. (Though I've never claimed this was a fic focused solely on Shikatema...)

Thank you ohud63 for the review, and also yes, Gaara will get a happy ending...maybe...I can't guarantee anything at this point.

All characters belong to Kishimoto-san.

Chapter 12: This Isn't Your Tree

Shikamaru groaned as his alarm rang again. He glared accusingly at the clock by his bed before he heard the warning "You better be up, young man" from his mother and decided he had better not waste any more time.

It was a Tuesday, the second day of high school, and Shikamaru was in better spirits than he was yesterday. He was finally rid of the troublesome Sunagakure exchange students and could go back to his routine of sleeping in class and being lazy, without anyone—save for his mother, and maybe Tsunade—to answer to.

Ino was already in the kitchen by the time Shikamaru finished brushing his teeth and getting dressed.

"Your buttons are off," Ino observed and Shikamaru looked down at his shirt to check that the buttons were, in fact, crooked, with the first button hanging free.

Ino rolled her eyes at him and redid the buttons of his uniform shirt. If this had been anyone else, Shikamaru would have been embarrassed, but this was Ino and Shikamaru was used to her doing these kinds of things for him.

"Honestly, it's like you and Chouji don't know how to dress yourselves," Ino scolded and Shikamaru shrugged, taking a seat at the table.

"Did you eat already?" Shikamaru asked as he accepted the plate of waffles his mother handed to him.

Ino nodded. "Yup. Chouji's probably done soon, so we're just waiting on you now."

Shikamaru shrugged again. "It's not like we're late."

"For now, at least," said Ino, taking a seat next to him. The door opened and soon Chouji appeared in the kitchen, a pastry of some sort in his hand.

"Are we going yet?" Chouji asked, taking a seat on the other side of Ino.

"We're still waiting for this person here to finish breakfast," Ino said, indicating Shikamaru and his half-finished waffles.

"Are you going to finish that?" Chouji said as he finished the last of his pastry.

Shikamaru handed his plate over. "Not really."

"Shikamaru, are you handing your breakfast to Chouji again?" Yoshino accused as she stood in front of the three children.

Shikamaru sighed. "You always make too much, Mom."

Yoshino fixed her son with a death-glare. "And if I made less for you, would you finish them? No, you wouldn't. You would still hand some over to Chouji, so I have to make more."

"But you purposely make more knowing Chouji will want some," retorted Shikamaru, earning himself another glare and the promise of more chores to do once he got home later today. He figured it was time to retreat.

"Anyways," Shikamaru said, quickly getting up, "Isn't it time to head to school now?"

He bolted for the car, shouldering his backpack and grabbing his lunch along the way. Ino and Chouji followed him, though at a slower pace.

"Thank you for the food, Yoshino-san," Chouji said and Yoshino smiled at him.

"Any time, Chouji."

Although his mother reprimanded him for not finishing his breakfast, Shikamaru knew she didn't mind him sharing it with Chouji. Shikamaru didn't understand why his mother enjoyed tormenting him like that, but he reckoned it was one of the things he would never understand about women.

Yoshino started the car and the three children climbed in, with Shikamaru sitting shotgun, and Ino and Chouji in the back. The sky outside was lined with clouds and Shikamaru enjoyed the peaceful scenery.

The three of them arrived at school, and Ino and Chouji thanked Yoshino for the ride.

"Have you decided what you want to join, Ino?" Chouji asked as they made their way to Asuma's room.

Ino shook her head. "I think I'll look around some more before deciding. I heard the food club was easy, though."

"It is," said Shikamaru. "Kurenai-sensei is strict in class, but for clubs, she's one of the nicest teachers."

"I think Sakura might join a different club, though," Ino said and Shikamaru sighed.

It was another thing he didn't understand: rivalries. The way Shikamaru thought about it, it was better to do without a rival; it was just less troublesome and certainly less effort.

"You don't have to do everything Sakura does," Chouji said, speaking what was on Shikamaru's mind.

"Yeah, but I can't let her beat me, now can I?" Ino countered.

Shikamaru didn't see how that made sense. "It's just a club, Ino."

Ino gave the two boys an exasperated look. "The two of you wouldn't understand. Well, maybe Chouji would, if food were involved, but Shikamaru, you're just plain lazy."

"It takes too much effort to have a rival."

"You're smart, but you're so unmotivated," Ino continued. "What will you even do in the future? You'll probably land a really impressive job, but then quit within the same day."

Chouji laughed. "That does sound like Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sighed. "That's all in the future. I still have plenty of time to think about it."

Ino snorted. "Right, since when did you think about anything besides during shogi? Isn't it too much effort for you to think?"

Shikamaru gave her an annoyed look. "Thinking is too much effort, but it's also necessary. Anyways, I said I'd do it in the future, not now."

"Sure, you will," Ino said doubtfully. Shikamaru didn't bother to reply. It was too troublesome.

.

It was second period literature with Kakashi, and Naruto was being as loud as ever as they waited for their teacher to arrive.

"Why is he still late?" Naruto complained. "It's second period, dattebayo!"

Shikamaru shrugged, just as clueless as his friend. "Maybe he doesn't have a first period class?"

"Nah," said Naruto. "I know Sasuke's in first period with Kakashi-sensei. Where does he even go in between classes?"

Naruto's question was answered when Kakashi walked in, pushing a cart stacked with books.

"Good morning, students," Kakashi said, holding up a worn-out book. "We'll be reading The Odyssey first. Please line up and take a book. Don't forget to bring your ID with you so I can keep track of what book you received. Ah, actually, you there, come over here."

The girl in question got out of her seat and Shikamaru saw it was Shiho, who looked nervous at being called out.

"What's your name?" Kakashi asked.

"S-Shiho."

Kakashi nodded and handed a slip of paper and pen to her. "Well, Shiho, would you mind writing down everyone's ID and book number on here for me?"

Shiho nodded, having no other choice but to agree.

Shikamaru and Naruto got in line with their classmates and soon enough they each held a battered copy of The Odyssey.

Naruto flipped open his book and scowled. "What the heck is this? Does this even qualify as English?"

"I believe it's a poem of some sort," Shikamaru informed him. "And that's a translation. It's not even that hard to read."

"Says you," Naruto pouted. "How do you even pronounce this guy's name? Odd-dee-soos? Odd-dee-see-us?"

"Close," said Shikamaru. "It's oh-dis-ee-us."

Naruto gave him a look. "How do you even know this stuff?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Maybe if you payed attention occasionally you'd know, too."

The two boys made their way back to their seats and sat down. After every student in his class had received a book, Kakashi thanked Shiho and began the lesson as he talked about the Greeks and some guy named Homer.

.

After second period ended, Shikamaru and Naruto met with the rest of their friends.

"Hey, I've been thinking," Naruto started as the last two members, Kiba and Ino, arrived. "We should hold a birthday party for Shikamaru and Ino! Their birthdays are soon, right?"

"Naruto," Shikamaru said, "My birthday's a month away."

"Yeah, so, soon, right?" Naruto said, nodding his head enthusiastically.

Shikamaru sighed. "Sure."

"But, anyways, we should do one!" Naruto continued. "It can be at my house again, dattebayo!"

Ino copied Shikamaru and sighed. "Naruto, we had one last year. And one the year before that. We have parties every single year for every single person because you insist so, and it often ends up with you getting in trouble."

"Yeah, but they're fun, aren't they?" Naruto said proudly.

"If you count getting yelled by mom later, fun, then yes," Shikamaru muttered. "I still can't believe you accidently drank Jiraiya-san's alcohol and thought it was juice. How did you even manage that?"

"Hey, I thought it was cider, dattebayo!" Naruto argued. "The bottles look exactly the same!"

"No, they don't," Sasuke pointed out. "They have labels on them. Only an idiot like you would mix them up."

"Hey, it was an accident, okay?" Naruto exclaimed. "But, yeah, party at my house!"

"Can't we do something a bit more peaceful this year?" Sakura interrupted.

"We should hold a barbeque," Chouji suggested.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Shikamaru agreed. He was used to barbeques with his family. How bad would one with his friends be?

"Right, and who would buy the meat?" Kiba said. "I'm broke from buying Akamaru so many things last month."

"We could go to a museum," Shino suggested. Everyone turned to look at him.

"A museum?" Naruto said. "That's so boring!"

"What about an amusement park?" Sakura said. "I don't think we've been to one together."

"I don't think Shikamaru enjoys amusement parks," Ino said knowingly. "I think he'd prefer a museum. A shogi museum, in fact."

Shikamaru shrugged. "I'll do whatever you guys want to do."

The bell rang and Naruto postponed his plans. "We'll talk more about this after school, dattebayo. Are you guys in for ramen after school?"

"Naruto, you had ramen yesterday," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, but ramen is good," Naruto said, sounding insulted. "It's always a good time to eat ramen."

Shikamaru sighed and pushed his friend in the direction of the gym. "Come on, Naruto, we'll talk about it later. I hope you brought your P.E. clothes today."

.

Third period passed by successfully with no incidents, save for Naruto accidently kicking Sasuke in the face with the soccer ball. For the entire period, Shikamaru did his best to avoid the two older children of the Kazekage. He couldn't really stay with Naruto since he was running all around the field, trying to get the ball from Sasuke, who was on the opposing team. He wished Chouji, or even Ino, were in this class, but the next best option he had was Hinata, so he talked to Hinata, even though he wasn't super close to her.

Fourth period was math with Asuma, and Asuma was finally starting to teach some calculus stuff, though it was still easy. Shikamaru dozed off again, and fortunately, Asuma didn't throw anything at him. He did assign homework, though, and Shikamaru managed to finish it all in class. Asuma frowned at him, the look in his eyes disapproving but the teacher did not comment.

.

It was finally time for lunch and Shikamaru made his way over to the same spot he went to yesterday, sitting down at the table with his friends, this time without the three Sunagakure siblings. The girls finished lunch and decided it was time for another tour of the clubs, with Chouji tagging along; and Naruto decided it was a good idea to go find Gaara. Sasuke followed Naruto, and Kiba and Shino also left to go find the club they had joined, which was some animal-related club; Shikamaru wasn't too sure. This left Shikamaru by himself at the table and he chose to get up and go to his favorite spot on campus.

Two years ago, when Shikamaru had first started taking math classes at Konoha High, he had stumbled upon a nice spot of grass close by Asuma's room, where the shogi club would meet sometimes. There were several trees there, and Shikamaru had noticed a smaller tree slightly to the side that provided plenty of shade. Upon closer inspection, the boy had noticed he could hide by the base of the tree without anyone seeing him. He had made that place his favorite spot on campus.

Shikamaru made his way over, and, not to his surprise, the shogi club was stationed there. The members spotted their honorary-turned-official member and waved at him. Shikamaru waved back and continued his walk past them until he reached his favorite tree, ready to sit down and spend the rest of lunch gazing at clouds.

However, as he rounded the trunk of the tree, he saw something unexpected: a girl was sitting there, her back leaning against the tree—his tree—with her eyes closed.

Shikamaru rubbed his eyes and looked again, and sure enough she was still there, the girl with the blond hair tied up in four pigtails. There was no way Sabaku no Temari was sitting in his spot.

Temari opened her eyes then, as if she had heard Shikamaru's thoughts. Her eyes swept over the school before finding its way to Shikamaru. She looked at him in surprise and opened her mouth to say something but Shikamaru beat her to it.

"That's my tree," said Shikamaru, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

Temari stared at him in disbelief. "Your tree?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah, that's my tree and you're in my spot."

"I'm not 'in your spot', as you call it," Temari scoffed, "And this isn't your tree."

"But it's where I always sit," Shikamaru said, confused as to why he was insisting it was his, "So it's my tree."

"You don't own this tree."

"But it's my spot," Shikamaru insisted.

Temari rolled her eyes at him. "I can sit anywhere I want."

Shikamaru frowned, unsure of how to proceed. No one ever sat here during lunch, as it was on the edge of campus. Furthermore, the shogi club members were usually nearby and the area was referred to as the "Old People Spot", even though, as Shikamaru constantly argued, shogi wasn't for old people only.

"I usually sit here," Shikamaru repeated. "During lunch, I always come here."

"Well, you don't get to sit here today," Temari said, irritated.

"But that's my tree." Shikamaru said without thinking. He was sure he was going to get killed by the look Temari was shooting him.

"It's not your tree!" Temari snapped. "Is it seriously that inconvenient for you to sit with other people?"

Shikamaru considered her proposition. It certainly wouldn't kill him to sit near her for one lunch period. He shrugged and sat down near the tree, but still far enough away from her. Temari rolled her eyes at him. She certainly was troublesome.