The lecture had started and she was late for the first time the entire semester. She ran toward the building her class was in, swinging the doors open and cursing her roommate, "Damn Ino, keeping me up late. I'm beyond exhausted."

She peeked her head into the entrance of her given lecture room to see her seat in the middle row was already taken, "Great.", she mumbled to herself. She puffed her bangs out of her view out of frustration and scanned the rest of the room. There was a single spot open in the back-left corner.

She made her way along the back row, picking a seat next to the laziest kid in class who occupied the very last seat of the row, causing her to have to wedge in-between him and another random kid.

Temari glared down in displeasure at the sleeping figure who had the hood of his jacket on with his head down on the desk and headphones in, 'Why did he even come if he isn't going to listen to the lectures?', she thought.

She swiftly scooted the chair back so she could sit down, taking the chance to settle herself into her seat quickly with the commotion of the class while the teacher handed back their previous test.

She noted the mysterious figure next to her had a notebook out, but the current page was already filled. She looked around the class curiously then to the kid to her right whose page was completely blank. She looked at her watch, she was only 5 minutes late. She couldn't have missed that much already, especially if the teacher was just now handing back papers.

Maybe his notes were from a different class?

"Nara, Shikamaru", the professor presented.

The tired lump lethargically lifted his head to his left where the teacher hovered above him impatiently, and he groggily took the paper with a head nod as indication of gratitude.

Temari's eyes widened astonished, "It couldn't be.", she muttered as she instinctively leaned closer to the boy holding his test.

The boy took his right headphone out and eyed her uninterested.

She blinked a couple times out of shock, "You're Nara?", she asked in disbelief.

The boy sighed at the new interaction that was about to interrupt him from his nap, "Shikamaru, yes."

She looked at the test he held with red pen markings at the top that proudly displayed 100%. She frowned, sharply folding her test in half to disclose her results.

He couldn't help a tired chuckle, "What's the attitude for?", he noted, taking his other earbud out to let it hang loosely from the top of his sweatshirt.

She snapped her eyes back towards the voice that sounded un-expectantly normal. Not rude, not lazy, not stern, nor obnoxious, just a normal tone, like any regular person. She stared at him wide eyed, trying to comprehend the meaning of the man next to her, "My apologies. I didn't mean to seem rude. It's just, you're in two of my classes."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Is that a bad thing?", he asked, then tucked his own paper away in his notebook.

She stiffened and looked down at her own notebook, "Well, seeing that those are the only two classes I come second in percentage ranking. I'd say I'm a little unhappy about your presence."

"Temari... I'm guessing.", he said in an equal dissatisfaction.

She smirked and crossed her arms, "So, were on the same page of discontent then?"

He lightly laughed at the unspoken contest they had between the two of them, "My Econ rank is always fluctuating from first to second because of an 'unknown' competitor of mine."

"I'm not letting that rank go so easily. You already have me in this class.", she confronted playfully, "Speaking of, how?"

He blinked at her confused, "How?"

She brought a finger to her chin while she explained, "I never expected you to be Nara. You always have headphones in and constantly fall asleep in our classes. You sit in the back and never participate in any lectures. Yet, you're the one I'm competing with in each of my classes for the highest grade."

He leaned back in his chair leisurely and tugged at the wire of his earphones, "This gem, is the books to my classes on audio. I don't need to listen to the lectures because I listen to the book, which is what all my classes tests are off of."

Temari looked at him in surprise, "So, that full page of notes in front of you, is today's lesson?"

He nodded sluggishly, tossing one arm around the back of his chair.

She looked at him unbelievingly and furrowed her eyebrows frustrated, "I don't believe you... You're messing with me. You're too- too-"

"Lazy?"

Her eyes grew wide at his bluntness and she gave him a sheepish smile, "I was going for more of an indolent."

He scoffed, "Just because it's a bigger word, doesn't mean it's nicer."

She laughed, "Just because you have higher scores, doesn't mean you're smarter."

He looked at her surprised and then shook his head with a chuckle, "You are a troublesome woman."

She smiled happily with their little encounter of bantering, "Thank you."

Soon enough the lecture began and that was his que. Shikamaru's hood went up and his head met his crossed arms on the desk. Temari attentively tried to listen to the lecture, but couldn't straighten her mind to focus. She had so many questions for her rival.

If he truly was her rival, why did he go to lectures if he already knew all the information?

If he was constantly sleeping, how was he listening to the books?

How did he already have full pages of notes on the book? Unless he was already ahead of the lectures. Which brought her back to the first question, why did he even go to the lectures?

She peaked over to the silent sleeper to her left and slid his notebook closer to her, 'His handwriting is so neat', she determined, surprised that the lazy man wasn't a complete slob. She listened along to the lecture and checked his notebook occasionally to make sure he actually did have the same information.

He did. Of course. Exactly what she would expect from someone who got 100% on every test. But him? He was definitely not what she expected. She expected a well-dressed young man, alertly listening to their professors, taking furious notes of every single word spoken.

Not this, tired, lazy, laid back, sleeping man in sweatpants and a hoodie.

'Maybe he's like this because he puts so much effort into each class? He does ace every test for our subjects.', She tried to explain to herself. She could admit that all her courses tired her out as well.

It could be true that this man was actually Nara, Shikamaru.

A hand slammed a paper on the desk in front of him. His lazy, sagging eyes followed the tan skinned up to sandy blonde hair and teal eyes. He pulled at each headphone, giving her his full attention.

She left the paper in front of him, pulling out the seat across from him and sat down properly with hands folded on the table as if she had a proposition.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

Her face was stern, "That is my test from this morning's class."

He didn't pick it up, "Your point?"

Her eyes lowered in slight irritation, "Aren't you going to look at the score?"

He leaned back in his chair out of habit, tossing his arms over the back of it, "Logically, I'm guessing it is a 98%."

She crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks, "How did you know that?"

He sighed at having to explain, "Every test we have taken in this class you have been two points behind me. You either improve, or your scores stay consistent, but it never lowers past a 97% in any of our classes."

"You keep track?"

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well... You are my rival."

She chuckled, "At least I'm some sort of a threat. I'd hate to be the only one concerned with the issue."

He smirked in agreement, "Why are you here?"

"It's a library, I'm here to study.", she blandly retorted.

He rolled his eyes and jabbed his index finger into their now shared table, "I mean at this table, smart ass."

She huffed her bangs out of her face, "Obviously I'm not that much of a smart ass if I'm two points behind you, now am I?"

He glared at her persistently, "Why did you rudely slam your paper in front of me?"

She scooted closer to the table and pulled out her notebook, "Like I said before, Nara. I have studying to do."

He eyed her curiously and picked up the test that had a 98% circled at the top like he had guessed, "It's Shikamaru, and why is this being given to me?"

"You're going to help me.", she demanded nonchalantly.

Shikamaru laughed and slid the paper back to her, "Sorry, but I have better things to do than help my rival one-up me."

"I thought you'd say that."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at the woman.

"I figured you'd deny my request, but you can't ace the mid-term exam if you can't get any studying in. I can be a real annoying blonde at times.", she chimed with a smile, interlocking her fingers and resting her head on her hands mischievously.

He glared at her, "You wouldn't go that low. You're too prestigious."

She sat back in her chair confidently, "I grew up with two brothers. I would go there, and I will."

He dropped his head in defeat on the table, "Why are women so troublesome?", he groaned.

Shikamaru lifted his head to glare at her which made her giggle. He sighed and shuffled all his papers together. Standing up, he made his way around the table to her side, taking her notebook on top of his stack before picking up her bag to sling around his shoulder.

She looked up at him confused, "Hey, where are you going?"

"WE are going to the school café. It's going to be a long night.", he said impatiently, waiting for her to stand up.

She quickly got up to follow once he started walking away, "Why aren't we staying here? It's only one subject."

He smirked back at her, "Except it's not just one subject. We have exams tomorrow before our fall break. I'm guessing you don't want to be second ranking in our other class either? It's going to be a long night, and I'm going to need coffee if I have to do my own studying and help you."

Temari blushed and quickened her steps to catch up to his side, "W-we don't have to study together. I don't actually want to be a burden."

He scoffed and looked over to the girl whose height met just barely above his shoulder, "No worries, I've been waiting for this day actually. I was wondering when you'd get fed up with being second place."

She looked shocked for a moment then scrunched her face in disgust. Temari playfully punched his shoulder, "You are going to get on my nerves more than I was planning to get on yours.", she laughed.

He chuckled and rubbed his arm with his free hand as he balanced their notebooks and books in his other hand, "I was always told a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, but I feel like my arm is going to get a good beating if I'm around you often."

She crossed her arms, "Whatever, you're already a big crybaby. And you don't have to carry my stuff, I am fully capable.", she grouched, holding out her hands to take them back.

He pulled open the door to the café to allow her in first, "I bet you are, but it's common courtesy, princess."

She physically cringed, "Do NOT call me that ever again."

He laughed as he led them to a wide booth in the right corner of the café. He placed their stuff down on the table and looked back at her mischievously, "What? Princess?"

She rolled her eyes and slid into the booth, "Yeah. I'd rather be called troublesome than that.", she scrunched her nose with a shiver of repulsion.

Shikamaru eyed her curiously, "I thought most girls like being called 'cute' nicknames."

She raised her eyebrow annoyed, "Do I seem like most girls?", she asked sternly.

He looked at her for a second in awe, "Thankfully, no.", he admitted, offering her a small smile with a giddy feeling in his stomach before he left to get them both coffee.

Temari's face flushed a deep red as he left and she quickly covered her hands over her cheeks to take away the heat burning away at them, 'What was that? Get yourself together! He is your rival. You can't let him make you blush.', she mentally scolded herself.

She looked back over to the lean figure in line. He wasn't all that bad looking after all. So far, he could put up with her attitude. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to look further into him?

Temari shook her head of her thoughts, 'That's not what I'm here for. I'm here to get my rank up, and if anything, make a study partner. Platonic, study partner.'

She organized their table, giving herself a task to distract herself with until he arrived. She pulled her bag off the table, sitting it next to her. She slid her notebook off of his and opened it to a new page. She pulled out a pen and placed it in line on the side of her notes. She opened his book and his notebook for him and placed it across the booth.

Finally, he arrived back at the table before she could get lost in her thoughts once more.

"I hope this is okay.", he gestured as he placed the drink in front of her, "I'm pretty sure it's what you usually bring to our morning class.", he lamely confessed before he took a sip of his own drink as he sat down across from her.

She looked surprised as she turned the cup around to see what he got her, "You know my order?"

He choked slightly on his drink and set it down before he could embarrass himself, "It seems creepy, I'm sure, but it's kind of hard not to notice the only other person that shows up 10 minutes early to class with the same exact drink every single day. Why is that by the way?"

Temari felt a blush start to rise on her face, 'he noticed her before?', she quickly took a sip to try to calm her nerves, "I like routine. Makes things simpler for me. Same schedule, same routine, same order, no issues.", she shrugged.

He laughed, "Wow, you're pretty lame."

She scowled at him, "Why are you always tired if you are constantly sleeping?"

Shikamaru's laughter still played on his lips as he chuckled through his response, "I just enjoy sleep. It's simple. I enjoy my bed, the warmth, the relaxation. Every aspect of sleep has never let me down. It's a nice get away.", he shrugged, mocking her movements from her explanation.

"Wow, you're pretty lame.", she mocked back.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a chuckle to follow. Their laughter was becoming contagious for each other, "This is going to be a long night of bickering and sarcasm, isn't it?"

"I was hoping for some studying too somewhere in there. I still have to beat this lazy ass I'm competing with."

"Remind me why I agreed to this again?", he challenged as he leaned closer to her sarcastically over the table.

She imitated his movements with a teasing grin of her own, "Because you had no choice."

The room was empty except for the same lazy, black clothed figure. Sweatpants and a sweatshirt covered his surely cozy body. His headphones were in, head nuzzled between his arms, and a simple wooden pencil plagued his desk.

Temari smiled to herself from seeing the sight. She pulled out a sticky note from her bag and placed it on the second cup she brought with her. She walked quietly by him and placed the cup in front of him before proceeding to her usual seat in the middle row of the class.

After 5 minutes of them being the only ones in class, and him not waking up, other students began to file into the room. None disrupted Shikamaru's sleep until he felt the room settle into less commotion and one last figure walk in the room, which tended to be the professor.

Shikamaru lifted his groggy head and rubbed his eyes. He pulled his headphones out of his ears and put them away for the test. He grabbed his pencil to fiddle with and notice there was still an empty seat next to him. He set his head in his left hand and looked up towards the middle section where a proper sandy blond was sitting patiently waiting for her test, but that's not all he noticed.

There was a coffee cup in front of him.

He lifted his head curiously off of his hand and idly turned the cup to examine it. There was a yellow sticky note hanging off of it:

"Nara,

I'd say don't fail, but I'm aiming to get higher than you. Maybe miss a couple points so my rank can go up.

Thanks,

Tem."

Shikamaru couldn't help a dumb smile placard his face. He peeled the sticky note off his cup to stare at it a little longer before placing it on his notebook in his bag. As Temari was handed her exam, she looked back at him to see if he was still sleeping. She smiled when she caught him already looking and he just shook his head with a smile of his own. She gave him one last teasing smirk and shook her test at him as he was handed his. He gave her a wink as if telling her, 'You're on', for the unspoken competition.

Hey everyone! I'm back on Fanfiction :)

I took a break, but i'm hoping to be back and accomplish everything I said I would. I still want to go through my old stories and fix them, but i've been working on this story for awhile and it's one that i've actually finished and kind of like. So I thought I would share with you all!

On another note, I am on Wattapad now. I still want to stay on both accounts ( and Wattpad), but on Wattapad I will be trying to add art to my stories. All of my stories on this site will be uploaded to Wattapad as well. Maybe I'll wait to transfer them over once i've gone through each one and fixed them up.

Thanks for all your support an waiting! I hope I can continue to make stories you enjoy!

I'll be fixing my accounts bio for my websites and other platforms you can find me on. Look out for those if you like what I post!

:)