A/N: A long chapter, but I promise you, it's worth it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"Excuse me," Temari called as she opened the door to the Konoha cryptology department. "Is Shikamaru Nara around?"
A middle-aged, bespectacled man looked up from his desk. "Sorry, you just missed him. May I ask who you are?"
"Who am I?" she almost scoffed. "I'm Temari, one of the Three Sand Siblings."
His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Oh my…my apologies, Lady Temari. It's getting late, my brain must be switching off."
She laughed at his embarrassment. She loved snatching at the opportunity to make someone squirm a little, but nowadays only playfully. "That's okay. Any idea where he went?"
"I believe he went somewhere with Shiho-san."
Shiho? she thought to herself. Where have I heard that name before?
- Flashback -
"I'm off to go get some paperwork, I won't be a minute." Tsunade abruptly got up from her seat and left the room, then only occupied by a recovering Naruto and a bored Temari.
"So, Temari," Naruto grinned slyly at her. "Looks like you've got competition."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Before Pain's attack, I was helping decode Pervy Sage's dying message. Shiho-san was there to help, and she totally had a thing for Shikamaru."
Temari looked straight ahead and rolled her eyes. "You're Konoha's biggest gossip, aren't you?"
He smirked triumphantly, receiving that as a compliment.
"Well, none of your gossip interests me. As soon as Konoha is back up on its feet, I'm heading straight back to Suna and away from your nosy ass."
"But won't you miss Shi-"
He was interrupted by Tsunade strutting back into the room, files in hand. She sat down at her desk once more.
"So, whaddaya say, Granny? Are there any missions I can be assigned?"
She looked at him sternly. "Naruto, I want you at home and recovering. No running amuck while the village is being rebuilt. Yamato won't have time to keep tabs on you while he's organising that, and nor will Kakashi."
"But Granny-"
"Enough, Naruto. You fought Pain; no matter how skilled you think you are now, a battle on that scale is bound to take its toll. You've come here everyday for the past week asking the same thing, and I give you the same order: rest up, and I will assign you a mission when I think it's suitable."
He pulled a long face at her, visually pleading. He hated being stuck indoors while so much was happening without him. And he healed even faster than usual, too, no doubt thanks to sage mode; within two days of the fight with Pain, he was back en forme.
"After all, I want you to be in top condition when I assign you an A-rank mission," she teased.
A huge grin spread across his face. "Yes, ma'am!" he cried, saluting her.
Temari rolled her eyes. What an idiot.
"Anyway, Temari, before we were so rudely interrupted," Tsunade continued, shooting a frustrated look at the giddy blond to her left, "I wanted to let you know that your diplomatic services will no longer be needed for the time being. We're busy with the village's reconstruction and so now that we've had all the post-emergency meetings with the council, we're putting all things intervillage-related on hold. You may return to your duties in Suna, effective immediately."
Temari nodded and turned to leave. As she was about to walk through the door, Naruto whispered, "I heard Shikamaru broke his leg saving Shiho from Pain's attack…"
She stopped dead in her tracks. Tsunade, unaware of what had transgressed, looked up from her desk. "Is something wrong, Temari?"
Temari snapped out of it. "No, Lady Hokage. See you."
And with that, she hastily headed out of the room.
- End of Flashback -
As Temari headed back to her room in Konoha, she bumped into a very nervous and jittery blonde whose hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. Her glasses were so thick, they completely warped her eyes until you could barely see them.
"T-T-Temari-san!" she stuttered, pushing her glasses further up her nose.
"Hi. Do I know you?"
"Oh," she mumbled, realising they'd never met before. "I-I'm S-S-Shiho, I work with Sh-Sh-Shi…I work at the cryptology department in Konoha."
Nice save. "Oh yes, I've heard about you," Temari replied casually. She analysed this woman up and down, being careful not to make it obvious. Eh, she surmised. Average looks. Needs a backbone.
"R-really?" Shiho blushed. "Did Sh-Sh…someone tell you?"
Temari shook her head, pretending she was entirely oblivious to Shiho's attempts at name-dropping. "Lady Hokage mentioned you when she told me about the code Lord Jiraiya left behind."
That was evidently not the answer Shiho wanted. "Oh, I see."
Out with it, lady! Temari thought impatiently.
"So, T-Temari-san…have you seen Shikamaru-kun?"
Surprise crossed her face and crept into her voice. "He's not with you?"
"W-well, we were on a d-date, but then he said he wanted to stop by a flower shop and now I can't find him."
A date? Temari questioned internally, unsure how she felt. Bitter? Jealous? No, none of those things. She and Shikamaru hadn't ventured far beyond the confines of friendship, and she had no claim on him. She had no reason to feel any of those things. A flower shop? What for…oh, wait!
A lightbulb clicked on in Temari's head. She feigned sympathy as she waved goodbye to Shiho. "It was nice meeting you. Good luck finding him!"
Temari walked down a few more streets before she finally came across what she was looking for. A large banner across the front of the shop read, 'YAMANAKA FLOWERS'.
Sure enough, Shikamaru was standing there chatting away to Ino as she wrapped up a bunch of flowers for him.
"Temari!" Ino smiled warmly. "I heard you were back in Konoha. How long are you staying for this time?"
She shrugged. "Not exactly sure, but I have a feeling I'll be leaving soon."
Shikamaru's face fell slightly. Temari refused to meet his gaze.
"Temari," he said, as if acknowledging her presence to himself. "What are you doing here?"
She could ask him the same thing. "I ran into Shiho who told me you'd gone to a flower shop whilst on your date. Anyone could figure out that this would be the one you'd go to, one of your best friends owns it." She tried her best not to sound petty and mildly disgusted as she said the word 'date'.
"A date?!" Shikamaru repeated, genuinely baffled. "Since when was it a date?"
Ino rolled her eyes. "Men. You were probably sloppy with your words as always."
"She told me she'd recently been promoted, so she wanted to celebrate with the team. I merely turned up, but everyone else took a raincheck apparently."
Ino put a hand to her head. "Just. So. Dense."
"Well, I couldn't exactly leave her to celebrate by herself, could I? So we got some food, talked about her new role, then I remembered I wanted to get Kurenai-sensei some new flowers for her home now that Mirai's here. I didn't realise she expected a romantic evening."
"Shikamaru, I care about you a lot, but for someone who's supposed to be a genius, you are such an idiot," Ino muttered. "Don't you see? She didn't invite anyone else. She probably used that as a thinly-veiled excuse to spend time with you and call it a 'date'."
Shikamaru shook his head in frustration. "Women. So troublesome."
"Anyway," Ino cleared the air. She looked at Temari expectantly.
She paused, then spoke without looking directly at anyone. "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be returning to Suna tomorrow evening."
Shikamaru looked at her in shock. "That's what you meant by 'soon'?"
Temari nodded slowly. "I don't think I have much business here anymore." She simultaneously hoped that he'd both understand her double entendre and miss it altogether. "Besides, I haven't been home in a while."
He sighed. "If you think it's best."
"I'll see you around, Nara." And with that, she left, closing the door behind her. Immediately she overheard Ino barking orders at Shikamaru.
"What are you doing?!" Ino hissed. "Go after her!"
"Jeez, Ino, what's your problem?"
"My problem is that she's leaving and all you have to say is, 'If you think it's best'. Don't you still like her? Doesn't she at least deserve a better goodbye than that?"
There was a brief silence, followed by, "She's better off without me."
Temari paused and looked back at the flower shop. She watched Ino's shadow move towards the door, prompting her to quickly dart into the alley next to it. However, Ino merely flipped the sign on the inside of the glass from 'Open' to 'Closed'.
"Don't make assumptions about a girl when you literally got tricked into a date by one earlier this evening," she snapped. "Now you go out there, you find Temari and you tell her what you really want to say before she goes."
Temari slipped off into the darkness, headed for home. She was secretly thankful to Ino, but at the same time disheartened that he wouldn't have come after her by his own accord. Was he really that content just letting her go back to Suna for who knows how long? They were in times of peace, now. Soon enough the reasons to see each other would dwindle one by one.
She was about to turn down the street for her apartment when a hand caught her shoulder.
"Hey," he said softly, speeding up to walk beside her. "Why are you running off back to Suna?"
"I told you, didn't I? I don't have any business here."
"That's it? You're just gonna drop everything and go?"
"Don't be so dramatic. I gave you notice, and my reasons are perfectly valid. My home is in Suna, why wouldn't I go back there?"
"You gave me a day's notice, and you didn't seem to be in any rush before."
"I miss my brothers, okay? I miss the blistering heat, the endless sand dunes, the dry wind messing up my hair."
"I know you do, and I would've accepted that all before – maybe – but this time things are a little different, don't you think? Are we not technically 'dating'?"
It was the first time they made eye contact this entire evening. She was surprised he had phrased it like that out loud. Then the hurt returned to her teal eyes.
"I don't know, Nara, are we?" She looked back down at her feet. "I don't know if I want to play this game anymore. It was fine for a while, but we've both got priorities and responsibilities. I don't want to worry about something as petty as this on top of that."
He was offended. "That's all it means to you? It's just 'petty'?"
"No," Temari said adamantly. "I mean, all these questions, all this uncertainty about our relationship, it's unnecessary. I don't need any of this will-they-won't-they drama. What happened with Shiho tonight was a misunderstanding, but I'm past the point of pretending we're just close friends, Shikamaru. It's tiring to explain our situation, and more so to dawdle back and forth between places not really knowing what's happening. Besides, you spend time with Shiho for work, and she clearly likes you, and she's probably better for you than anyone else…"
He swung around until they stood still, facing each other outside the door of her room.
"Temari," he said firmly, gently lifting her chin so she would finally meet his gaze and give him her full attention. "I said before how I wasn't good with feelings, and the same still rings true. But I can assure you, the only person I have felt anything other than my standard apathy towards is you. I was never really ready to commit, or tell you everything I already knew deep down. Maybe it's time I had some 'real courage' as you once put it. Temari…you are important to me. More than a friend, more than a partner, more than a colleague. I'm amazed you've put up with me this whole time. Frankly, I'm amazed that you, Temari of the Sand, would bother spending a second on some sarcastic, unmotivated, second-rate shinobi who couldn't save his father or his sensei."
Temari's hard eyes softened. "I tease you a lot, don't I?" she smiled. "But I hope you know that amidst all of it, I think you're one of the finest ninja in Konoha. Heck, one of the finest of them all. When I told you all that time ago to become a jonin, it was because I knew you were qualified enough. More so than I. I just wish you'd believe more in yourself and your instincts."
He was moved by her words. Taking her face gently in his hands, he said, "Time for some real courage on my part…Temari, I want you to be my girlfriend."
She looked at him in shock. Then she regained her composure and responded with another signature smirk. "Only took you two years."
"Is that a 'yes'?"
She kissed him. When she pulled away after a few short seconds, his face flushed pink. "You men really are dense."
"And you women are such a drag."
She laughed. "Speaking of a 'drag', you taste like an ashtray. I didn't realise you smoked, Nara?"
"Not regularly," he said, with a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Just when I'm bored or sad. It started off as a way of coping with Asuma's death, but now it's just to keep his spirit with me, you know?"
"I guess you want him with you all the time, then," she smiled wryly.
"Is it really that bad?"
She shook her head. "If it was, I would've slapped your face away. Oddly enough, you don't smell like you smoke. It's just your breath."
"Cologne," he grinned. "Gotta be considerate of the work colleagues. I always hated how when Asuma smoked, it would get in my eyes and stick to my clothes. He'd walk into the room and he'd reek of cigarettes. So I try and keep it at bay. No one ever comes into close enough quarters to notice."
"Well, that may well change…so for future reference, have a mint or something, before you see me."
He rolled his eyes. "Troublesome."
"Goodnight, Nara."