Bit of some spoilers here for the chapter! But it is crucial to read!

I am aware that Nagato, Deidara and Sasori don't really have any direct relationship with anyone regarding the sand siblings OR Tayuya for that matter, but I decided to add them in, mainly for more of a comedic sense and plot. Also, let's pretend Sasori and Nagato are youngins here, same age as the rest of the gang (excluding Dei, because I am assuming he's actually a lot younger than them?)

Again, I do not own Naruto or any brand names I mention in this story.

Hope that clears thing up, thanks for reading!

CHAPTER 18 - Coming From The Unexpected

"Ahh.."

That was the first noise Shikamaru made as a sign of satisfaction for finally being able to smoke awake into his thoughts. He wanted to use the afternoon to relax, maybe cut himself off from people for at least a day. After all, he sensed some upcoming tension awaiting this coming Friday, which was the day he planned to meet up with Tayuya.

However, he had to admit, she really wasn't most of his worries. It was mainly.. well.. Temari...

He let the cigarette meet his lips again, puffing out the smoke. He would take the time to admire the floating clouds. Ever since he was a little kid, and all the pressure on his shoulders from his parents about how he needed to success in school, really took him away from the best scenery in the world; the clouds. And yet, soon enough, his phone would vibrate, interrupting his relaxation, naturally.

'Hey? Shikamaru? Can you meet up with us?' - Ten Ten

'Right now? I'm sort of busy here.' - Shikamaru

'It's about Temari.' - Ten Ten

Shikamaru sat up in an instant. He got up from the grassy hill, gathering his soccer bag and began to walk back to the dorms.

The kitchen filled up with mouthwatering aromas as Temari decided to cook her brothers a nice dinner. Kankuro greeted his sister in the kitchen, opening the fridge to grab a few cokes.

Temari raised an eyebrow at her brother. "Kankuro? What are those for? You're not drinking all of those at once, are you?" She asked, pointing a wooden spoon at him.

He laughed. "Nah, I got a few friends coming over to work on a group project and stuff and uh..." Kankuro would step closer to her. "Kiba is coming over too, just try to keep what you guys caught a secret? Please? I'm not exactly out yet."

The older girl smirked, continuing to saute the food in the pan. "Looks like it's a good thing I bought more cream and boiled a whole box of pasta. Didn't know we had a whole lot of company coming over." She poured some seasonings into the translucent onion chunks and garlic, waving a hand at Kankuro. "Sure, sure. I'll keep you and your lovebug a secret."

"Knew I could count on ya' sis." Kankuro smiled at her. "You know, you look like you're doing a whole lot better than you were that night you came upset over Tayuya and Shikamaru."

Temari went silent. She really wished she didn't though, because she didn't like making her siblings uncomfortable. However, she suspected Kankuro already figured. "Kankuro, I'm still hurt," she would open a carton of cream. "I don't know what to do about him. Ugh, if only I can make him jealous or something!"

A lightbulb then went off in both of their heads, staring at each other for half a second before a knock on the door abrupted.

"I'll get it."

"Oh come on." Shikamaru complained. "You told Ino and Hinata too?" He stared at Sakura and Ten Ten, visibly annoyed.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever, it's not like we told Temari. Not like we plan to either."

"Seriously?" Shikamaru asked, surprised at her response. "Listen, you guys need to realize, I do like her."

"We know that," Ten Ten stated. "It's just you don't like her enough to get into a relationship."

"That's not true!" Shikamaru declared. "I do like her! Temari and I clicked the moment she got here, and quite honestly she just felt so right.. being with us and all.."

The girls listened in, eyes widened as it was rare to see Shikamaru express his feelings thoroughly. "However, I think my problem is I just needed more time. And now I realize that wasn't fair to Temari at all. And now that I figured Temari was gone, the moment she left me that night, I wasn't thinking and decided to give Tayuya a chance in order to have that satisfaction again. But no... It was my fault for not going after her, all mine."

The atmosphere in the room definitely was a lot more different than the closet. Sakura glanced at Ten Ten, who scanned the room as well. Sakura coughed before speaking. "I'm.. sorry for yelling at you."

Shikamaru smirked, laughing lowly. "I deserved it. But I still agreed to see her-"

"Woah, woah, woah! You can't!" Ino jumped in.

Ten Ten came to her aid. "Right? Like why? If you really want Temari back then you need to stop being a lazyass for once and get her back. Tell her how you feel."

"And besides," Ino began. "We all know Tayuya ain't shit, so what's the problem?"

Shikamaru stayed silent. Hinata silently raised up from her bed, where she was sitting on and attempted to speak on his behalf. "I think Shikamaru is trying to say that he doesn't miss Tayuya, but he misses a relationship."

All eyes turned to Shikamaru, in which he frowned impressively.

"Whew! Finished!" Temari cheered out loud. She had cooked a generous amount of alfredo pasta and garlic bread which was glistening with creamy white sauce. She walked out of the kitchen, about to call out if Kankuro wanted food until she saw three familiar guys standing in the middle of her living room.

"YOU?!" She pointed out at Nagato, in which he reacted the same way.

Nagato approached her seductively in a non-serious manner. "Didn't know we had such a babe serving us dinner today, what's smelling good in that kitchen? And I'm not talkin' about the one behind you."

"Why you-" Temari raised a fist, until Kiba caught it.

"I promise, he won't do anything." Kankuro told Temari, in which Temari loosened her clench and aggravatingly lowered her arm. After that, Kankuro would stare at Nagato to behave.

A boy with a ponytail and dark-blonde hair then spoke up. "Nagato, my man, ain't that the one you tapped in biology?"

Nagato giggled. "Almost, not quite, Deidara because this one is-" He paused when he saw Temari's grimace grow darker. "Nevermind."

While Kankuro went back in his room to gather up the necessary supplies, Nagato and Deidara plopped themselves on the couch while another guy with them with red hair calmly sat on the carpeted floor, chest level to the coffee table.

"Kinda like it how Kankuro don't live in no mansion." Deidara commented. "I'm tired of walking a whole mile just to go to the kitchen and tell my mom I ain't hungry!"

Temari blinked. Rich kids are so weird.

Kankuro came out of his room with a bunch of poster boards and a tri-fold. "Alright, you guys know what to do?"

The red-headed guy dug into his backpack, about to place a bunch of art supplies on the coffee table until he looked up at Temari, who he assumed was in charge of the household. "Do you mind?" He politely asked, with a smile.

Temari lessened her angry expression, returning a light smile back at the guy. "No, not at all. Make yourself at home."

"Sasori, my man, you tryna hit on Nagato's girl?" The Deidara asked again, laughing.

Temari turned her head quickly. "NAGATO'S GIRL?"

"No, Deidara." Sasori looked up at him. "Calm down."

Temari looked at Sasori and couldn't help but notice he seemed a lot like Gaara. Calm, sweet, quiet, and not to mention the hair. However, all those like that always had a dark side within them, she told herself.

Deidara would then place a shoulder on his friend. "Mhm, let's just start. Kankuro, what were we suppose to do again?"

With an opened soda can in his hand, Kankuro sat beside Nagato who had his laptop out, showing the rubric necessary in completing the project. "Alright, we're suppose to pick an important figure that did a huge contribution in science, state three of their inventions and what they're used for in present time, ten major facts, and some other biography shit we got to search up."

Kankuro rolled his eyes, science always had to be a huge pain in the ass. And attending a prestigious school didn't make it any easier. "Alright," he reacted, swinging his arms up to help him sit on the floor to Sasori's level. He would grab the tri-fold board, laying it down on a flat space on the carpet. "So I guess we can put their inventions in the first quadrant, facts in the the third, and some other biography about him in the middle?"

Sasori scooted over next to Kankuro, placing a three-way folded piece of paper in front of him. "I made a rough draft of what you just said and I think it could be perfect."

Nagato looked down at the board from the couch, meanwhile Deidara was pretty much taking a whole nap on the couch chair that Gaara loved sitting on. Temari would then approach Deidara, smacking him on the head.

"OW! What was that for brah?" He asked, rubbing the spot on his head.

Temari had her hands on her hips, clearly not in the mood. "Maybe instead of taking a nap you should be helping my brother and your friends with your science project."

Deidara rolled his eyes, but smirked. Kankuro had to admit, Temari was kind of disrupting their worktime, but it really was no surprise considering being in a group project with guys like Nagato and Deidara wasn't exactly the most amazing idea. However, these guys did have talent.

"Chill out sis," Kankuro butted in, placing a half smile on his face. "Sasori is in charge of the supplies and pretty much monitoring us, Nagato is the one checking if all the information is right, I'm pretty much just introducing new ideas, and surprisingly, Deidara here is the one bringing this whole project to life!"

Deidara clicked his tongue, making a gun sign with his fingers. "That's right," he would sit up from the chair. "Art is my thang."

Temari rolled her eyes, however admitting to herself that she indeed was taken aback from how Kankuro defended those guys. She took off her apron, throwing it onto one of the arms of the couch, and walked off to her room, unintentionally slamming the door.

"Jeez, what's up with her?" Nagato asked, genuinely curious.

As Kankuro began to cut pieces of paper, he would answer Nagato's question. "Bah, just some boy troubles and her regular attitude."

"Word?" Deidara strengthened up his posture. "Boy troubles? With who, man?"

"Shikamaru." He answered.

Deidara and Nagato looked at each other. "Shikamaru Nara?" Nagato asked, typing away into his keyboard. "Pineapple head? Captain of like how many ever sports, the smart guy who always got Kin chasing after him?"

Kankuro chuckled, carefully tracing his last snip of the scissors. "Not sure about the last recognition but yeah, that one."

"He's an alright guy," Sasori added in as he began to visualize the project in the head while looking intensely at the tri-fold. "I'm just not very fond of the smell of smoke."

"Oh yeah," Kankuro said. "Forgot that guy smokes like crazy."

A sudden knock was then heard by the boys, in which Kankuro stopped everything he was doing and went to go open it. "I got it." And as he opened the door, he noticed it was Kiba and got carried away; hugging him and planting a kiss on the plants upon his animal-loving boyfriend. And soon enough, his eyes grew wide as he realized what he had just done. Kiba and him quickly turned around, seeing the three guys staring awkwardly as the couple was.

"Oh..." Kiba noised out, in which Kankuro finished.

"Shit."