A/N: Err thanks for reminding me 'bout this one…somehow this always get shuffled down the list of things to do. Let's just say I do Coded Messages while taking a shower, Monster while ironing my clothes, In Between when pouting but this one I actually have to sit down and stare at my laptop…and well, every time I do that someone's at the door arg!

Woot Glay has a concert in HK…I calculated and well, nope, too impractical. Anybody out there who's gonna watch just tell me the highlights when you've seen it, ok.

And no, I'm not really a Glay fan …but I am of reviews :D

—o0o—

Chapter 72

Temari opens the bedroom door and the light from the hallway spills in illuminating Shikamaru who's sitting on the edge of their bed. Gritting her teeth she then closes the door with a loud thud. "About this afternoon…" she rasps however before she can admit it was because he just makes her so mad, she is interrupted.

"Yeah. You wanted me humiliated in front of your friends." Shikamaru meets Temari's eyes and orders in the same breathe, "Take off your clothes."

Stunned, Temari splutters, "Ass! I won't strip—"

All of a sudden, aided by the silhouette created by the moonlight seeping through from the bedroom window, Shikamaru creates seals then swiftly a shadow hand erupts and coils around Temari's body from her legs up. The woman glares at the man sitting calmly as she fights off the formless hand. But her resistance is futile as the shadow hand starts to untie the red ribbon at her back which is the only thing holding the lapels of her black yukata together. "What do you think you're doing?" she snarls, her eyes twin pools of indignant fury.

Shikamaru shrugs, his jutsu still in place. His face composed as he mutters, "I have already planned on having sex tonight. I'm too lazy to convince you to agree with my plan."

As the shadow hand binds Temari securely around her abdomen with her hands pin on her sides, another shadow hand branches out and draws her yukata slowly from her shoulders. The dark fingers easily grasp a part of her sleeve and then it guides the fabric almost caressingly down her arm, baring one shoulder at a time.

Both shadow hands work together to subdue Temari's opposition and to successfully peal her clothes. With the yukata simply being anchored on her body by the shadow hand that holds her immobile, Temari bares her teeth, growling furiously, "You obviously still think I'm a slut!"

"No. You're not," Shikamaru utters, the slight pause the only indication that he is taken aback by Temari's words. He then allows his jutsu to vanish, freeing the blonde woman and letting her yukata to fall unimpeded to the floor.

Temari just stands there, her yukata pooling at her feet. Her bounded chest rising and falling with every furious breathe that she takes. "Tell me how many do you think I slept with? Ten? A hundred?

Shikamaru shakes his head. "Just me and the father of your kid."

"Damn right!" roars Temari as she flies towards the bed, about to attack the man sitting on its edge.

—o0o—

Sweaty from the exertion, Shikamaru stands up from the bed to go to the bathroom and have his shower. It will be harder to sleep if he reeks of Temari's smell.

However, the woman has something to say that almost stop him on his tracks. "In the end, you still can't rival his technique," she mocks, her tone laced with sadistic pleasure.

Shikamaru just continues to walk away, opening and closing the bathroom door gently. Temari's final dig has shaken him to his very core. Breathing deeply, he tries to calm himself.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

His hands won't stop shaking.

His hands, the same pair of hands that half an hour ago had resumed his seals and formed his shadow jutsu to fend off Temari when she was about to attack him. She had looked magnificent in her bindings and lacy panties. Her pale skin exposed and her blonde hair untied from the struggle.

Then the unforgivable happened. He had forced her. He had taken what he wanted. And it had felt so good; being on top of her, being inside of her, knowing that she couldn't possibly be thinking of anyone else but him.

Or that was what he thought. What he wanted to believe.

He turned himself into a low life scum, only to find out…

"In the end, you still can't rival his technique," she proclaimed.

So she was merely comparing him to Sasuke while she was lying down beneath him, seemingly accepting whatever he dished out, moaning as if she was enjoying being taken roughly.

She wasn't…

Fuck!

Shikamaru welcomes the water jets from the shower head that sting his skin. With his head bent down, his shoulders hunch forward and both arms outstretch and his palms on the wall, he allows the water to wash all over him.

There's no turning back after tonight.

Even if he wants to take Shikaku's advice, it's too late after tonight. Shikamaru is a realist. Even if he didn't know before, he should know by now that he will never acquire Temari's affection through any means including gaining her trust, not after what he had done. Not after he actually forced her to have sex with him…

—o0o—

He's angry because of his male pride.

His pride… that's the only thing that was hurt by what she did this afternoon.

Screw his pride.

"In the end, you still can't rival his technique," Temari taunts Shikamaru's retreating back.

But the stupid ass doesn't even turn his head to look at her.

Fisting the bedclothes, Temari gnashes her teeth, contemplating going after him. But the thought that he will just overwhelm her with the shadow jutsu stops her. She hates to admit it but chances are she will just allow herself to surrender once more, letting him touch her body…and—and enjoy it.

So no, she won't go after him. She's calling this a strategic retreat.

Her body can still feel his mark…

With his shadows he had removed her remaining lacy garments that covered the delicate parts of her body. Totally naked the two formless arms then deposited her unceremoniously on the bed. Then Shikamaru released his jutsu after he had straddled her supine body, using his weight to pin her down, and raising both her hands above her head, applying his masculine strength to keep them there.

He then freed one of his hands and used it to attempt to remove his shirt and undo his pants while his legs continued to anchor down her body. His hand that imprisoned both Temari's wrists above her head became punishing as he contorted to dispatch his shirt and unzip his pants.

Temari balked on the bed, straining to dislodge him off but it only made their position more intimate as her breasts got crushed by his bared chest while her lower body got more flushed with his. Shikamaru's unzipped pants even rubbed her tender skin, and the friction was not unpleasant.

She had felt the warmth of his body before she felt him inside her, pushing and then pulling out. The swift withdrawal and sudden entry had made her groan and her body writhed in—in agony for being confined.

She wanted to…participate.

With her legs trapped between Shikamaru's toned ones, her feet pushed up from the bed as she curved her body towards him; subconsciously she tried to reel him in closer. While her hands finally overpowered Shikamaru's hold then losing no time, her arms immediately encircled his back, digging her fingernails as she clawed him closer to her.

Forgetting to fight her uneven, laboured breaths matched that of Shikamaru's.

No words were then exchanged.

Temari urged Shikamaru to go faster with her actions and the man she married obliged her.

…Maybe Shikamaru is right. She's a slut.

—o0o—

It is after a while before Shikamaru returns from his shower. Rummaging through his drawers for a change of clothes with the moon light drifting from the open window as his only guide, the task is done unhurriedly.

But the task still gets done. Finally, Shikamaru takes a seat on the edge of the bed, fully clothed, while Temari lies on her side, her naked back draped with only the blanket and turned towards Shikamaru as she stares at the opposite wall.

Shikamaru looks straight ahead. "I'm your husband. If you want to kiss someone else do so without an audience. I won't tolerate being made fun of that way."

Temari snorts. So he doesn't care if she kisses someone else so long as there's no one to witness it? The ass! He just proves that his male pride was the only casualty in her ill-planned revenge.

That means there's no point for her to rehash the unimportant kiss. Why tell him about her dumb reason when he's not even asking for an explanation.

More significant, the ass wasn't even bothered by what she said when he went to get his shower.

Lying still on her side of the bed, Temari, seething with resentment, utters tonelessly, "So you don't want to hear your rival's name?"

Shikamaru sighs. In the silence of the room, the sound has seemed filled with weary exasperation. "I don't care who you like. You can go on loving that person. I won't stop you."

Temari feels like she's been slapped—hard. It seems that she cares too much about Shikamaru's opinion of her but he doesn't even give a fuck about how she feels.

Ever since the day he grudgingly proposed, she has grown more and more resentful. It's important to her but with what happened today, she has more proof that it isn't as equally important to him. It isn't imperative for him who the father of her child is. He's making it obvious that he couldn't care less about that.

What's more, the man she married will just continue believing whatever he chooses to believe because no matter what she does, Shikamaru just doesn't care enough to change his opinion about her.

Arg, it's really no use doing anything.

It will be more productive to just close her eyes. It's been a long day, she's exhausted.

Sensing her just lying still on her side, not even refuting his words, Shikamaru, a hostile look flitting across his eyes, just continues to speak calmly, "But since the only thing you offer in this marriage is sex, at least let me have that without letting me feel like I need to fight you for it. The sex is just not worth that much trouble."

Temari tenses on the bed as her lids flutter open abruptly, her blue-green eyes glittering. She can't believe it. He admits it. The ass just puts into words what she is to him. And not just that…

Temari swivels around and sits swiftly on the bed clutching the blanket to hide her nakedness as she glares fumingly at Shikamaru. "And if I don't," she growls, biting each word angrily, "you're going to look for it elsewhere? Is that a threat?"

Tch, he didn't mean such a thing. "Just go to sleep, Temari," Shikamaru mutters.

"Asshole!" Temari, facing Shikamaru, flings the blanket to her side as she scrambles towards him, her hands are already raised to pummel him— his chest, his face, anywhere her fisted hands can reach.

Shikamaru accepts all the blows, not attempting to stop Temari or to even cover his face from the lashing. For a while only the sound of flesh being pounded and Temari's ragged breath are heard. However, not getting any reaction from the asshole, the furious woman with one last powerful jab to his chest finally stops.

Shikamaru, meeting Temari's eyes that glitter with rage in the moonlight, shrugs and turns his back on her. Mechanically, he lies on his side. "Tomorrow's another day. Let's just forget what happened today."

Her wrath reaching unbelievable proportions while her quarry not even showing signs that she's hurting him…

Temari can only glare venomously at his back, her still clenched fists has been uselessly deposited on her lap, her nails digging painfully into her palms. Gradually, she returns to her side of the bed. "I don't forget easily," she snarls as she roughly repositions her pillow. Then she turns her own back on him, fetching then arranging the blanket to best cover herself before she squeezes her eyes shut, forcing herself to calm down.

"I know that," Shikamaru mumbles, quietly adding to himself, that's why I won't even bother to say I'm sorry that I forced you.

"I hate you!"

"I know that too," Shikamaru utters. After audibly faking a yawn, he adds, "Just go to sleep."

TBC

~12 10 12 ;2 13,23 13AF U5 2 13~