A/N: hmn I changed my mind. I'm updating this today. Don't forget to review again…
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Chapter 66
"You were late for your first mission," Temari states tersely as she abruptly opens the door to the new arrival.
Shikamaru, about to knock on the door, brings his hand down and answers, "Who said I was?"
"Don't deny it. I know you," Temari retorts as she waits for him to change his sandals into indoor slippers at the foyer.
"I went and waited outside Yakiniku at five am. You can ask Chouji. I bumped into him on my way there."
Temari raises a well-shaped brow, disbelieving for a moment before relenting to ask, "So how's your mission?"
"It involves finding a cat, picking garbage from the bottom of a lake, helping an old man buy his groceries and other stuff. How's my mission? They all totally suck," Shikamaru grumbles, walking ahead of Temari.
"If those were the only things you did today, why are you back so late?" Temari snaps while following after the tired-looking nin. They walk through the empty living room then towards the hallway before reaching the proximity of their own room.
"Am I?" Shikamaru asks as he swivels his head around to glance at Temari, noticing her severe profile. He knows that it's almost seven and dinner is served at around a quarter past that hour. He's just in time then. However, if the woman wants some detail, as a married man he's supposed to give it. "I promised Chouji to meet with him after my missions," he explains as he opens the door to their sleeping quarter. He then enters and is closely tailed by a huffing Temari.
"So you were hanging out with him all this time?" Temari follows with her eyes Shikamaru's movement across their bedroom. He goes towards the cabinet and its sets of drawers near their bed, searching for a change of clothes. "I move yours to the one on the left," she claims belatedly.
By then, Shikamaru has opened and closed several drawers. One of them even contains Temari's unmentionables and a single stud earring that rolls with the movement of the drawer before he moves towards the indicated container, replying, "No. About two hours ago Chouji and I parted ways. And on my way home, I met your father." Shikamaru throws his clean shirt and shorts on the bed, and is about to take off his sweaty shirt when instead he pivots around to face Temari across the room. "So yeah I was with your father, just talking for the last hour down at the spring," Shikamaru admits then adds cautiously, "Before I went ahead first and left him to his cigarette, he asked me to call him otousan."
"Are you asking me permission if you could?" Temari sneers.
"No. But I am asking if it's alright if I could tell Chouji and Ino 'bout my jutsu?" Shikamaru probes quietly.
"Why?" Temari questions slowly.
"Your father was telling me about the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Both Ino and Chouji were not able to practice and utilize that before with you. It's a great strategy. It would be a shame to waste it."
"No," Temari bites the word out.
"No?"
"Yes, I said no. Get it!"
"Why?"
"I thought you said to keep everything a secret for now," Temari rasps.
"The Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi's have a very long history of friendship. Ino, Chouji, they are your closest friends—"
"I trust Chouji not to speak of it to others. Ino on the other hand—"
Shikamaru's brows knit together in a frown. Interrupting Temari's tirade, he utters, "She's your friend, right? I don't think she will gossip about it if she's aware of the consequences."
"Wow! You trust her already that much, don't you?" growls Temari, balling hers hands into fist at her sides.
"It is not a question of whether I do or don't. That's why I deem to ask you first."
"And didn't you hear me say, I don't."
"She's your friend," Shikamaru insists as he finally lifts his shirt off. Half-naked, he strolls across the room towards the wash room after pulling a towel from one of the drawers he opened before.
Seeing her own towel being taken, Temari lets that matter go in favour of the more pressing issue at hand. She takes a deep, calming breath and tries another avenue to stop Shikamaru from his plan. "Are you given permission to train with my team?"
"No," Shikamaru concedes as he halts at the bathroom doorway, slinging the purple towel on one shoulder. "Not yet anyway."
So the ass has already won over her father. And now he's scheming on winning over her old team. Ino will be ecstatic… the bitch. "You can't train with them," Temari states with finality.
Shikamaru shrugs and with that movement the towel draped on his bare shoulder starts to fall although with his reflexes, he catches the piece of cloth before it reaches the floor.
Temari's eyes follow Shikamaru's action, noticing the effortless ripple of muscles as he secures her towel which he will later use to dry his own body.
Temari swallows. Damn it! The lazy ass…the lazy ass seems to have shrugged off what she just said.
Did that mean he just agreed? Temari frowns …It's too easy. The lazy ass not putting up a fight at all and seeming to fall with her wishes, that makes things highly suspicious. What's he up to now? "What are you planning now?" she querulously demands.
"Nothing."
"I don't believe you."
"Look. Your sensei gave me several rank D missions today because he doesn't trust me. If I'm a part of an actual team, he will allow me to be assigned with an A-rank at least."
"What's wrong with D-rank?" Temari knows what's wrong with D-rank. It's too easy. It doesn't present a challenge. It's for genins. Of course, even the lazy ass would feel slighted.
"It's troublesome."
"Troublesome?" Temari doesn't expect that answer. Won't a rank A or S be more troublesome? Is everything just plain troublesome for him?
"Yeah. I have to do several like it for a day when with a single A-rank, I could get more money in one go."
"What's with the sudden interest in money?" Temari asks, sounding a bit perplexed.
"Let's just say I know how it feels to have no cash," Shikamaru mutters, remembering the time he lost his belongings and had no money to bribe people with. He would have had an easier time looking for Lady Tsunade if he hadn't lost his stash of ryo. Those paper bills, he learned that lesson then, are a strong weapon, and at times they are even more convincing than a jutsu. For some people he only needs money for them to talk or do nasty things for him.
So he had withdrawn as much as he could from the Bank of Suna without causing the Kazekage to be alarmed and used it to command Kankuro to secretly buy some moles. He trusts his brother had chosen the men well and he had it confirmed on his wedding day when he saw Kankuro arguing with Temari.
Now, grudgingly, Shikamaru knows he has to disclose the truth as he murmurs, "I'm almost penniless." In a way it is his final bid for Temari to change her mind about the possibility of Ino-Shika-Cho missions.
"Ass, I didn't marry you because I want your money. I said no and that's final," Temari announces, aware that she's acting almost irrational. But what can she do when the thought of her husband and Ino in the same team makes her feel inexplicably threatened.
Shikamaru is slowly edging her out of her known world. First her father, now he wants in in her old team. That's why she feels threatened. Not because of any other reason. And definitely not because she's jealous of Ino.
The fuck,reiterates Temari to herself, I have no reason to be jealous of her.
Greatly irritated, Temari hastily barks an order, "Stop prancing around naked!"
"I'm not—"
Temari merely glowers haughtily before finally picking Shikamaru's dirty shirt from the bed. "You throw this and the rest in a basket at the laundry room."
"I'll do it la—"
"Just hurry up and take your damn shower!" Temari growls impatiently. "Next time, I won't wait for you for dinner!"
The bathroom door then just quickly clicks closed.
TBC
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