She opened her eyes, the morning rays peered through the dark curtains. She stretched and massaged her neck as she did, draping herself in a morning robe, she walked to the window and pulled the curtains apart, smiling as the morning sun shone brightly through the large windows into her penthouse apartment.

This was her little haven – located on the top floor of one of the tallest building in Konoha city, it gave her some degree of privacy in her largely public life.

It was her day off, and she was going to enjoy it.

Just as she walked towards her kitchen, her mobile phone began to ring.

She sucked her teeth as she picked up – "Hello?"

"Hey sis," it was Kankuro; she smiled at his voice for a brief second, before returning to her normal self.

"What's up?" She heard her brother sighing exasperatedly over the phone.

"I woke up this morning and some crazy dude called Hidan delivered a large bunch of roses to my apartment – don't tell me…"

"I might have put your address for contact on my last movie with the guy… you know," she chuckled softly. "I am sorry, you can get rid of the roses anyway."

"I figured so, " he said, Temari chuckled as she heard her brother sucking his teeth over the phone. "Anyway, enjoy your day."

"Bye," she hung up and switched on the coffee machine.

As the brown liquid brewed and fall into the porcelain white cup, she stared with her green eyes.

A pot of green plant sit beside the pitch black coffee machine, its heart-shaped leaves stood still in the well air-conditioned room, part of the green had faded from the leaf – it was at that moment when Temari realized that it was kept indoors for too long, she hurried over and took the plant to the bottom of the large glass windows.

She smiled as she walked back to the kitchen and sipped from her dark coffee.

The aroma filled her mind and woke her, she stared around – her apartment was empty, almost too empty.

She walked around, not sure whether to enjoy the emptiness, with her coffee in hand, she walked into her room; at the peripheral vision of her large eyes, she saw the glinting surface of her phone.

She picked it up – flicking over the contacts, she realised that there was barely anyone on her contacts, she sighed softly.

She was so busy with all the shooting and events, it took her a moment to realise that despite being so popular, being the woman that so many men dreams of being with and so many women dreams of being, she was alone.

Very alone.

And then it came to her, where her finger had stopped, gently touching the glowing screen of her phone.

She smiled to herself as she pressed again.

He arched an eyebrow as he looked away from the computer screen, her name appeared in his vision, he smiled as he took the phone and picked up.

"Hello," he said, one side of his lips turning upwards. "I am at work now."

"Oh," her voice was calm, but he could tell from the raspy voice that she was just awake. "Never mind then," a cold systematic beep replaced her voice, he sighed and pressed his hand against his head.

He took his phone with him as he stood up from his cubicle and walked away.

He walked passed a dozen of unfamiliar faces before reaching his small escape – the alley between the buildings, where he met her once again after the encounter in the bar; whipping out a cigarette, he lit it skillfully and huffed out a mouthful of smoke.

Leaning against the wall, he took his phone and dialled back.

"Thought you were at work," she said, her voice more awake now compared to just now.

"I sneaked away," he said, with a soft sigh. "You're angry?"

"No," she said. "I am just bored, you don't have to entertain me if you don't want to," there was a certain arrogance in her voice - she refused to be babied, and he found it really, really troublesome.

"Well, it's my phone call now," he said, she seemed taken aback by his sudden stroke of bossiness, she stayed quiet as he paused.

"So, you free after office hours?" He said. "If you are, do you wanna … you know, go grab a bite?" He said, scratching the back of his head as he dropped his burnt out cigarette onto the ground, crushing it beneath the sole of his feet.

She remained quiet for a while, before he heard her arrogant, cocky voice, even through the phone he could feel her grinning proudly.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Nara Shikamaru?"

"If-if you want to think of it as a date," he said, not realising his cheeks was burning. "Sure."

"Tch, you are not fun are you?" Temari's voice sneered into his ear. "Very well then, come pick me up later, I will send you my address."

She hung up; he smiled to himself as he walked back inside, and back to his dull cubicle.

He still thinks the work was troublesome, but what he had not realise was that his typing had sped up unknowingly, his mind wanted to deny it, yet it appeared that his body was getting a bit excited for his after-hours activity.

As per usual, he did not drive to work – her home was surprisingly close to his office, he only realised that as he walked a few blocks, while the city's public stared as he passed by, he decided that it was simply too troublesome to care.

He found himself standing at one of the most modern luxury apartment in the city, staring up; he found the building to be endless, towering all the way up into the clouds.

He whipped out his phone and called her, as he turned around, he noticed not so discreetly hidden paparazzi, their cameras clicking and snapping shots of him; there were a bunch of girls, maintaining their distance but slowly inching in towards him – he could hear they squeal and whispering in brimming excitement.

"Erm, Temari?" He stared back at the large glass doors of the apartment building. "It's a drag, but I attracted a bunch of paparazzi, and fans at your doorstep."

He heard her laugh for a while, adding to his dismay, as she finally reclaimed her poise.

"Well,well," she said. "I guess you have nowhere to go, come up, I have just texted you the password."

He proceeded hastily as he punched in the numbers into the machine, the door unlocked with a click. He walked inside quickly, and stormed towards the elevator.

In a minute, he found himself standing in front of a posh door, his finger lingered in the air, inches away from the door bell.

He gulped as his finger made contact, pressing harder, a light tune played.

He could hear her footsteps becoming clearer and louder, the next second, he saw her standing there, smirking at him.

She looked quite different than the last time she saw her – she was wearing a large sweatshirt, covering half of her thighs – the shorts that she was wearing was almost completely covered, for a second he thought she did not wear anything beneath her sweatshirt.

She smirked, as his gaze rested upon her toned thighs for just a bit too long. "Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to come in?"

He tapped his head with his fingers as he walked in, her hair was let down naturally, the side-parting fringe and shoulder length blonde locks framing her face nicely; part of her hair was still wet from the shower, he assumed.

He found himself sitting down, as she crossed her legs, sitting opposite him on her leather couch.

He found himself staring at her, as she stared back.

There was an unknown static in the air, wafting; both of them tense, not daring to move a muscle, the awkward silence lingered.

He did not know how long it lasted, as he cleared his throat. "Well, eh…"

Temari looked away and laughed a little, he saw her blushed a little. He scratched the back of his head. "You wanna … get something to eat?"

"You mean take out?" Temari arched an eyebrow, she leaned forward and reached fro the television remote.

With a press of a button, she switched the channel to the circuit cameras, sighing softly, she looked at Shikamaru.
"Well, with all those people, I doubt that the take out guy would be able to squeeze in." She chuckled. "Thanks for the good work."

Her sarcastic remark made him turned away, he felt his face flushed as she began to laugh.

He decided to distract himself by walking up to the refrigerator – she sat and stared at him as he opened the fridge and seemingly, was caught in a trial of thought.

She left the couch and walked up next to him, he was tapping his fingers on his thigh as he glanced around. Then he reached inside and pulled out a couple tomatoes from the vegetable box.

"Do you have herbs?" He put the tomatoes onto the counter, and began to open cabinets.

She nodded, as she opened a counter cupboard and pulled out a plastic box.

He glanced around, in his hand was a pack of spaghetti.

"Don't tell me…" Temari arched an eyebrow.

"Well, since we are not going out, nor is take out getting in, might as well cook something up before we starve." He smirked at her. "For someone who barely has time to rest, you sure do have a lot of food here, do you even know how to cook?."

"For someone that lazy, you sure are pretty annoying," she sucked her teeth. "Please don't poison me," she leaned against the door of the refrigerator, as he began to cut the tomatoes.

One clean chop after another, the tomatoes were diced. He threw a handful of spaghetti into a pot of water and as it cooked, Temari began to look around.

He arched an eyebrow, keeping an eye on the food on the stove, he smiled as she reached upwards, he knew her target was a bottle of red wine that was inside the cupboard, she was a tall woman, and she can almost reach it, her fingertips brushing by the bottle. She was struggling with her tip toes, her face flushed with the frustration.

He chuckled softly as he leant forward, his chest against her back.

Temari found herself trapped in between his arms, she could feel his minty breath on her neck, as he reached and got the bottle.

She turned around – he had just got the wine down from the cupboard, his other hand was pressing on another overhead cabinet, effectively trapping her in the tiny space in between him and the wall.

"Hey," he stared at her with an arched eyebrow. She felt her heartbeat speeding up, looking into his eyes, she gulped.

He was just inches away, that was when she noticed that some of his features were strangely feminine, especially his eyes – they were shaped like elongated almonds, there was a sudden coolness with his dark brown orbs, long eyelashes almost touching her own long lashes.

"Temari?" His voice was magnetic, she shook herself back to reality, her heart was racing at that moment, he frowned a little with his thin brows.

"Er, where do you keep your wine glass?" She felt that she was blushing madly; she ducked down from his arms and raced towards another cabinet, pulling out several wine glasses.

The next moment, she saw him stirring the spaghetti as if nothing had just happened.

What she did not notice was that he was almost as red as the tomatoes that he diced up earlier. He threw a few spoons of tomato puree into the pot and began to simmer the tomatoes inside.

"The dishes and glass are clean," Temari said. "I- I will go set the table."

"Ah," he replied, sighing in relief as she left the open kitchen and into the dining room.

They sat opposite each other at the dining table, she sipped on the wine, trying to regain her poise, she smiled and cleared her throat.

"Now, time for the test," she twirled a mouthful of spaghetti with her fork and placed it in her mouth.

Shikamaru gulped – the way that she ate her spaghetti was strangely satisfying to watch, he had never felt that way before.

He pinched himself beneath the table to snap out of this strange trance he was in.

"It actually tastes pretty good," she smiled at him and continued to eat.

He nodded and ate his own plate without a word.

He found himself staring at her, tacitly avoiding her gaze upon him.

As he finished, she walked up and took the dishes to the dishwasher.

He sat there, shuffling a little as she re-emerged from the kitchen.

She walked up to him and smiled at him. "Thanks for the cooking. Now I own you, don't I?"

"Don't mention it." He said, smiling back at her.

"Not bad for a first date," she grinned at him cockily. "But I'd prefer to go out the next time," she pouted a little, her eyes thinning in a smile.

He chuckled softly. "Well, I will see what I can do about that," he stood up, and took a glance at his watch. "I should go now, shouldn't I?"

"Well, you could," she said, turning around and looking at the television, she sighed softly. "If you can get past that."

He stared in amazement – how could these women and girls stay outside for so long? Do they not have anywhere else to go?

"But it would be inconvenient for me to stay here, wouldn't it?" He shrugged a little, as he glanced down her long toned legs, he smirked. "Besides, I am still a guy, it's probably not that good."

She smirked back at him. "Like I am scared that you would devour me in the middle of the night," she stuck her tongue out a little.

He walked forward, leaning towards her, his face was inches away from her.

She felt strangely hot, blinking wildly, he smirked and bit a little on his lips.

His hand reached up and touched her chin, lifting it a little.

Temari was not sure whether to wait for him to kiss her or to kick him in the balls.

He sighed softly.

"I am not going to let you win that easy," he smiled at her, as he slowly let go of her chin and walked towards the door.

Temari followed him awkwardly as he put on his shoes quietly.

He turned his head back at her and smiled. "Temari?"

"Yeah," she looked at him, smiling at him as she wondered whether she should just give in and kiss him.

"What's your schedule tomorrow?" He said, his hand shoved into his pocket as his other scratched the back of his head.

"Hmmm," she smirked a little. "I am not sure, maybe I will text you about it tomorrow, maybe I won't."

He smirked back at her. "Alright then," he said, nodding. "See you," he closed the door slowly behind him.

Temarii found herself grinning as she cursed herself. "Damn it," she said, smiling as she walked to her room.

She will turn the tables. She thought to herself as she tried to sleep

She never loses.

Author's note:

Another chapter! I hope you enjoy this rom-com style fic I wrote for Shikamaru and Temari!

What will be Temari's revenge? And what will happen next - stay tuned!

Enjoy xoxo

V.S.V