A/N: Let me see what I wrote in my profile…ohhh ~cringes~ …gomenasai I was having a bad day—week—will probably have more of those but I think I'll stick with parodies next time…err maybe…
And yep, I enjoy writing especially 'complex read-in-between-the-lines type of stories'…hmn do people really don't find Coded Messages amusing? Ahh…that means it's not complex enough ~wicked laughter~
Thanks to those that review. I'm back…I think.
—o0o—
Chapter 75
With the itchiness in his throat bothering him, Shikamaru rises from the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping woman beside him.
Going through the corridors and finally reaching the kitchen, with his eyes already used to the darkness, he takes a glass and fills it under the tap.
The glass is almost filled with water when the kitchen is suddenly suffused with light when someone turns the switch on.
"What are you doing?" Yoshino rasps, hand still near the light switch on the wall.
Shikamaru lifts the glass towards Yoshino, showing it to her before taking a sip from it then clearing his throat much like trying to scratch it.
"Hmp," mutters the older woman then about to turn around back to her own room, she adds, "Don't forget to wash that glass when you're done."
Shikamaru nods, hesitates then he queries at the departing back, "Do you have anything for sore throat?"
"Why don't you ask your wife?"
"She's asleep…tired from you know," Shikamaru mumbles, his back leaning negligently on the sink.
Yoshino turns, gazing at Shikamaru sharply, his innuendo not lost to her. "I know," she retorts, "from training that team of hers."
"That too." Shikamaru's lips twitch upon seeing the light of battle in Yoshino's eyes. He knows where Temari got her bad temper. Such troublesome women.
The older woman scowls.
Straightening, Shikamaru calmly asks, "The medicine?"
Yoshino reluctantly points towards the kettle sitting on the stove. "Use a glass of warm water then add a tablespoon of salt. Use it to gargle." Upon declaring her instruction, she swivels around not waiting for Shikamaru's thank you. She goes back to her room, huffing about the lateness of the hour.
Shikamaru exhales a deep breath. With the deluge yesterday, walking home soaked to his bone wasn't a good idea in more ways than one. His throat now feels unusually dry; thankfully at least his voice sounds normal.
Taking the kettle from the stove and filling it on the sink, he pauses wondering if Yoshino's weird concoction will work. It better be—tomorrow's a big day. He doesn't want to spend it inside a stuffy room when he can spend it out with Temari.
—o0o—
Shikamaru closes his eyes. His lids feel heavy. He knows he's sick. He can't deny it now, not when his head pounds like hell and everything else seems to hurt.
He heaves a sigh. He just wants to lay here, his head being cradled by Temari's lap.
It feels like a dream. Maybe it's a dream. He's sick. Maybe the reality is he's lying back on his bed. He groans; his head really feels awful like it is being split open from inside out.
"Wake up, asshole," says a harsh voice.
So he's dreaming.
"I said wake up."
"Huh?" he mumbles, disoriented as he opens his brown eyes straight into blue-green ones.
With her legs stretched out over the blanket-covered grassy ground while Shikamaru lay perpendicular to her, using her thighs as his pillow; any onlookers be damned as her lower appendages have grown numb. "Get up, ass," Temari reiterates.
Shikamaru looks at her blankly before he remembers. This morning his loving wife prepared a picnic basket and a thick old blanket. They are now lying or at least him lying while Temari remains seated on the blanket under the shade of trees at his spot.
Shikamaru smiles up at the annoyed face hovering above him. "Thank you," he mutters.
Temari frowns. Shikamaru rarely smiles and she's taken aback by the suddenness. "For what?"
"For the food, for letting me sleep."
"You're welcome," Temari answers slowly, as the furrows between her brows deepen. "But I should be the one thanking you for cooperating."
Tch, he's not dreaming alright. There's that reminder that Temari had conveniently told a lie and now she can't openly declare war on him. Ironic that in order for Yoshino to treat him better Temari has to put up a front of them liking each other.
Not that he's complaining about that but still…
Temari's words prompt him to remember that everything so far is just a show. The reason why they took the long way towards the Hokage monument to make sure more people see them walking together, not holding hands but with the basket he's towing around only a dumb person like that blond nin they passed by would not realize they're going on a picnic date.
Shikamaru twists his lips at the memory. Naruto had to ask if he and Temari are on a date. What an idiot. Shikamaru had smirked then, allowing the mysterious slant on his lips to answer his friend's inquiry but Temari was more vocal, growling that they are.
"Tch," Shikamaru now mutters. The troublesome woman, with no audience around, is trying to ruin such a good day. His smile then disappears. Momentarily forgetting his headache, he suddenly jerks up to his feet only to be reminded of it when he has to blink rapidly to dispel the pain and fleeting dizziness.
"Don't tell me you're drunk? You only drank one cup of sake," says Temari upon noticing him wince and his eyelids scrunching tightly close then opening slowly.
Shikamaru, with the sudden movement, the throbbing on his temples intensifies. Glancing at Temari, he can't even shake his head to answer. Sitting back down unhurriedly, he mumbles pointing at the canteen beside the basket positioned on the corner of the blanket. "Can you give me some water?"
Temari stands up on her feet, stretching her almost numb legs. "You have your hands, use them."
Shikamaru leans down to reach for the water container, moving little by little to quell his head from throbbing.
"What's wrong with you?" Temari asks, with one questioning brow raised while looking derisively down at Shikamaru.
"Nothing," he answers, but before he can tip the plastic cup filled with clear liquid into his mouth, his shoulders are hacked by dry cough.
"Are you alright?" Temari questions as finally it clicks about that downpour days ago and the fact that the ass, growing up in the desert, must be unused to such weather and now that she thinks about it, she has also noticed that Shikamaru's nape felt hot on her thinly covered legs.
"I'm fine," Shikamaru mumbles around another cough.
Temari's body arches down as she stoops; placing the back of her hand on Shikamaru's forehead only the man sitting on the blanket reflexively swats it away.
Temari glowers, warning Shikamaru as she irately moves down to kneel in front of him. Sitting on her heels, Temari again raises her hand and tries to feel Shikamaru's forehead. Detecting that it's really abnormally hot, her palm travels down to cup the side of his neck.
Shikamaru bears Temari's exploring touch, knowing that the woman will tie him to a tree if she has to.
"You have fever. It's probably the flu," concludes Temari, raising her other hand and now both her palms cup the sides of Shikamaru's neck while an angry frown mars her face as she digests her findings and decides what to do with the sick nin.
Slouched, Shikamaru has to look up at Temari's concentrated face, watching her as she now bites her lower lip trying to figure something.
"I'm fine, woman," he drawls as he notices his wife's concern darkening her blue-green eyes. Maybe she needs to believe that reassurance. "I'm fine," he repeats firmly, meaning it as the apprehension he still detects in those eyes is making him feel better; interpreting it as a sign that she must care even if it's just a little.
"Of course you'll be fine. Nobody dies from a simple flu," Temari utters, distracted. "But we can't go home just yet just 'cause you're sick. We can stay here until you have improved."
Typical.
"Tch," Shikamaru grunts under his breath. Grumbling, he adds, "As you're the reason why I'm out of bed today, you should compensate me." After saying the words, Shikamaru proceeds to lie down without warning, trapping Temari's bent legs beneath her body when he simply drops his head on her lap and closes his eyes.
With her legs awkwardly folded beneath her, the blonde kunoichi pushes Shikamaru's head off her lap, however, the lazy ass refuses to budge his head, his eyes remaining steadfastly closed.
"Ass, move it," growls Temari.
Hearing the un-amused exasperation in Temari's tone and acknowledging the fact that she has already done her part in their bargain when she grudgingly offered her lap when he first took his nap after their picnic brunch, this time Shikamaru decides that pushing his luck further may bring disastrous result to this so far wonderful day. Sighing in defeat, he finally slides his head off Temari's lap and into the blanket covered ground, complaining about the hard earth and it being uncomfortable.
However, inwardly he recognizes that it's fortunate that the woman has allowed for them to stay here longer at his favourite spot and that he can sleep the virus off—for the second time.
—o0o—
Temari watches Shikamaru as he switches arms to use as his pillow.
She's been watching him for the last nine minutes, hearing the slight, almost undetectable wheeze as he inhales and exhales. It must be difficult for him to breath with his head prop quite low. With a loudly drawn hmp, she finally relents. Temari then methodically and carefully shifts in her position, sitting on her butt rather than on her heels as she stretches her legs in front of her much like before then she carefully tugs and puts Shikmaru's head on her lap.
Shikamaru, with an upward curl on his lips, sighs his thanks as he goes back to sleep. Now on Temari's lap, he turns his head, seeming to seek warmth, as his face now faces the woman's still flat tummy.
Temari, watching his relaxed profile as he burrows into her stomach, decides that even though she should tell him to lie straight, his position feels acceptable—like, like she's needed. With her hands about to return back to her sides to prop herself up on the ground just like before, this time those hands before they can complete their task hesitate then tentatively she allows her left hand to lie gently on his upper arm while her right hand creeps down and hooks up with her finger the dark hair that almost always falls over her husband's face when he sleeps sideways, tucking the dark strands behind his ear.
Noticing that his breathing has quietened, Temari permits her hand to roam freely. Raking her fingers through the dark hair backwards again and again, Temari hears a sigh of contentment. More embolden, the pressure she exerts becomes steadier as she gently massages Shikmaru's scalp.
Her fingers occupied, her mind is left to wander. Imagining a little boy with dark hair much like his father's, only her son will wear his tied up in a single high ponytail just like any male Nara.
She can see in her mind's eye the same little boy, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the man whose profile she's been staring at, practicing the shadow jutsu with his father and grandfather. There's probably some technique that Shikamaru doesn't know yet and a little absurd but still it's funny to imagine him learning it together with his son.
Lost in her thoughts about the future, Temari is still conscious of the warm breaths that blow through her thin yukata to her stomach, making her almost ticklish there. Smiling absently, she just continues combing her fingers through Shikamaru's hair as she allows herself to dream about the future.
—o0o—
Half an hour later, still feeling the rhythmic stroke on his head, Shikamaru slowly opens his eyes and notices Temari's faint smile as she stares at some point over the horizon, immersed in her own thoughts.
Not wanting to disturb the peaceful silence, Shikamaru again closes his eyes while his head continues to rest on Temari's lap. Anyone passing through their way will probably gawk at their affectionate position.
"I like you, Temari," Shikamaru suddenly admits, lifting his lids into half slit to continue watching the woman.
"What?" Temari's face mirrors her surprise and disbelief as her eyes rush to seek Shikamaru's.
"Tch. With that kind of reaction, who would believe you like me?"
"That's because I don't, asshole. I wasn't the one who said I like you. You were." Termari glowers down at the man staring up at her from her lap. He's sick— must be to the point that he's delirious— Temari tells herself, trying to calm her heart as it thuds erratically inside her chest at his unexpected words.
Shikamaru sighs. "If you react defensive everytime I said or implied I like you, don't you think your mom won't notice. The first step for your strategy to work is to say you like me too or return my actions with the same regard."
Temari's brows knit into a confused frown before it dawns on her that Shikamaru is just talking about strategy…the scheming, deceitful ass!
"Why are you being this cooperative about my plan?" she growls eventhough she already knows it's the idea of duping her mother that must be so thrilling for him that even sick it's all he cares about. The realization leaves a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach like a huge let down after feeling inexplicably happy. She shouldn't be this disappointed with him but she is and she can't keep it off her tone.
Shikamaru closes his eyes once more, his head seeking a more comfortable position on Temari's lap. "'Cause I like you," he says nonchalantly.
"Ha ha," Temari answers sarcastically. She won't fall for that the second time. She should have remembered Shikamaru's words yesterday. 'Trust me if I act like I like you, you will think I'm not acting at all. Not just your mother but even you will be fooled.' Damn it! The asshole did predict it like that and fool that she was…Arg, it doesn't matter now. She won't forget his words in future.
"Later, I'll show you just how much." Shikamaru hides his smile, his plan is working. Starting today, whatever he will say or do, Temari will just assume it's just part of the ploy to trick her mother. Tch, so the troublesome old woman's dislike of him has its uses. Good.
"If you're talking about sex, I have no plans on catching up your virus," snaps Temari.
"Am I talking about sex? Aren't we going around town to set the tongues wagging? Now that I feel better we'll probably do that—" As he utters the words, Shikamaru simultaneously feels his human pillow trying to stand up thus he adds more firmly, "—later. I still feel unwell, woman."
Shikamaru's words effectively stop Temari from moving and he can't help but twist his lips in a reluctant smile.
Starting today, he can hold her, kiss her without holding back because she will never even know, will never even suspect that he's not acting at all.
Now, if only he can forget that it will be all just acting on her part, everything will be perfect.
TBC
~4 15 13, 5 16, 22 13AF P 6 21 13~