A/N: Shikamaru Hiden (the first episode) is out today and I am beyond excited to watch an arc focusing on my favourite character! Plus, I'm crossing my fingers for plenty of ShikaTema moments. I need animated proof of how the couple came to be!
To celebrate, I am posting this chapter (read to the end and you shall be rewarded) AND a ShikaTema one shot - visit my profile to find it. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still many million pounds away from owning Naruto, sadly.
It was nearing nine o'clock and the sky was nearly black in Suna. A sudden noise made Shikamaru jump, much to Temari's amusement.
"Relax, idiot. That's the doorbell."
She slithered out of Shikamaru's grasp and went to get the door. "Temariiii," he moaned in a way comically similar to a child. "Don't answer it. Let's just have an evening to ourselves."
She laughed at the suggestion. "Unfortunately, this isn't exactly my house anymore, and I don't think my brothers would be best pleased to be locked out for a night."
The door swung open and Kankuro walked in, kicking off his shoes absently and throwing the puppet sling from his back onto a coathanger.
"Kankuro," Temari admonished him. "Don't be so careless."
"Nice to see you too, Tema," he grinned. "What are you kids up to?"
"Just watching an old movie," Shikamaru yawned. "She loves them, God knows why."
"If you don't like something, just tell me," Temari muttered. "I'm not subjecting you to anything."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he reassured her. "If it makes you happy, I'm happy."
Before the atmosphere could get too soppy and romantic, a hand came down on Shikamaru's shoulder. "I know just the kind of old thing you'll enjoy," Kankuro grinned and went to rifle through a collection of DVDs and books on a shelf. "A-ha!"
"What's this?" Shikamaru asked, puzzled by the leather-bound album in front of him.
"None other than Temari's childhood photos, obviously."
Shikamaru laughed in anticipation while, at the very same moment, Temari raced over to the sofa and attempted to snatch the book out of his hands. However, his long, lanky arms and fast reflexes meant it would continue to stay out of her reach.
"I hate you," she mouthed at Kankuro, who had the biggest, fakest smile plastered on his face.
Shikamaru opened the cover and was instantly greeted by a large snapshot of his girlfriend at just a few days old. Kankuro pointed at the blob wrapped in cloth. "Hm, are we sure this isn't my baby photo?" he teased.
"Shut up," Temari hissed. "Besides, we all have different coloured hair, idiot."
Shikamaru smiled at their bickering while he paged through the rest of the album. Temari trying a dumpling, Temari in a bubble bath, Temari with her first fan. And in every single picture, her hair was in four spiky bunches.
"Whatever happened to the miserable childhood you always go on about?" Shikamaru asked jokingly.
"All these photos were before my brothers were born. It was a happier time, naturally," she said snidely. Then with a touch of sadness, she added, "My mother was alive, so my father wasn't as much of an asshole. I was always being taken out to experience the world."
"I can tell," Shikamaru murmured, finding a photo of Temari on the seat of a bike with her uncle Yashamaru supporting her while he pushed.
"Kankuro was born by that time," she commented, leaning over the back of the sofa and resting her head on his shoulder while she pointed. "So Yashamaru looked after me a lot while my mom was busy with him."
"And your dad?"
"He was the Fourth Kazekage, remember? So even if he wanted to be a decent dad, he didn't have the time to."
"Of course."
She grimaced at some of the photographs she'd forgotten had existed. "Wasn't I a looker?" she laughed, pointing out her baby fat and toothless grins.
"You were a cute kid," Shikamaru smiled.
"Yeah, what happened?" Kankuro snorted.
Temari slapped her brother on the shoulder. "Just wait 'til he sees pictures of you eating your own snot and first discovering face paint."
"You wouldn't."
By the time they had finished arguing, Shikamaru was midway through the album when he realised there weren't any more photos. "Why does it stop after your third birthday?"
She sighed. "When our mother passed away, we didn't have anymore experiences worth photographing. And that's the shitty childhood I told you about."
"I'm sorry," said Shikamaru, with an undertone of genuine sympathy as opposed to his usual apathetic nature.
"Don't be," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind and brushing her lips against his ear. "What matters is the present, right?"
"You two are gross," Kankuro muttered. "I'm going to my room."
"Aren't you at least going to help accommodate for our guest?"
"We have more than enough rooms, what else could you need?"
"Nonsense, he's staying in my room with me," Temari hissed. "Now go fetch the spare pillows."
"No way am I letting you two stay in the same room," Kankuro argued. "I'm just about okay with you two dating, let's not push it."
"It's not for you to decide," Temari said firmly.
"You don't live here anymore, Tema," Kankuro retorted. "Or at least, you haven't for the last few months. Gaara and I make the rules, and I'm sure your new boyfriend doesn't want to disturb the peace, especially not with the Kazekage of Sunagakure."
"Temari, really, it's fine," Shikamaru insisted. "A guest room is perfect, I'm lucky they're letting me stay here at all."
"Damn right," Kankuro nodded.
"Fine," Temari snapped. "But you'd better be on your best behaviour, Kankuro. If you give him a hard time, you can expect a much worse one from me."
With that, he turned to go up the stairs and retire to his room for the night.
"Sorry about that," Temari sighed. "He's just over-protective, you know? I'm the only girl left in the family, so I guess he thinks it's his job."
"Well, isn't that my job, now?" Shikamaru smirked, reaching to tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Her eyes closed briefly at this contact. Then her gaze returned to him. "Tell you what," she whispered. "Until Gaara gets home, we need to be in separate rooms. But once he's asleep, come on over."
"What's gonna happen in the morning?"
"They both leave bright and early, they won't bother us. We're quite lucky we don't have any work to be doing while we're here, we could just lie in bed all day…"
"Sounds perfect to me," he grinned and kissed her forehead gently. He could imagine nothing better than a lazy morning, afternoon and evening spent with his favourite person.
"Knock knock."
Shikamaru slipped into Temari's room silently once he was certain her red-headed brother had turned in for the night. She was sitting in bed, reading a book, her hair still up in its usual style but this time, damp and unkempt from the shower.
"Took your time, Nara," she chided.
"You know me," he grinned in response. He was dressed simply in a baggy t-shirt and the regular dark pyjama bottoms he wore to bed. He moved to sit on top of her covers to her right, leaning back against the headboard with his arms behind his head. He glanced over at his girlfriend in a state of deep contemplation.
"What are you reading?"
"A book my mother gave me as a child," she replied, turning the page. "That photo album…it made me realise just how much I miss her."
"Weren't you quite young when she passed away?"
"Age doesn't matter. I can see her face in my memories, clear as day. Her smile, her laugh, her kindness. You never forget a mother's love."
He had never taken the time to admire Temari's strength until now; he feared it, yes, but in this very moment, it became all too apparent how lonely her life must've been. She had brothers, but neither of them felt the true pain of losing their mother; Kankuro couldn't remember her, and Gaara was told she didn't care for him. Temari had Karura all to herself for a short while, and she had experienced how much Karura would do for her children. She was shunned by her father for being a woman, an unsuitable heir to the Kazekage clan; and shunned by him moreso for being incompatible with Shukaku. But worst of all, growing up, she lived each day in fear of her sociopathic brother whose violent outbursts made her feel so weak and vulnerable that one day, she decided she did not want to live that way anymore. She trained for years without acknowledgement, up until that very moment when they first met in the Chunin Exams. Even as a genin, she was a force to be reckoned with. Not long after, she had to protect her brother even if that potentially meant war with the Leaf. Her life had never been a smooth ride, but she had always forged ahead, never showing any signs of weakness. To keep up that façade must be…troublesome, to say the least.
"They say it's unconditional, after all," he finally replied.
"I believe them."
She closed the book and returned it to the nightstand. She looked over at him; his head was back, resting on the headboard, staring up at the ceiling.
"Why don't you get under the covers?"
As soon as she said it, he wondered that too and assumed he probably thought it safer to wait for her consent. He shuffled back into the pillow, lifted his long legs and drew them underneath the duvet.
It was then he noticed that she wasn't in fact wearing a tee and shorts as she had last time; this time, she was in a pale blue nightie that reached her mid-thigh. It was a nice change; one that made her look beautifully undone, casual and feminine at the same time. Her short, spiked hair had dried quickly in the heat of the room, so that now she simply looked effortless.
She moved closer to him, and he reciprocated by putting his arm around her and pulling her into him. They lay side by side, her head slotted perfectly in the groove of his neck, her left hand resting on his chest. She could feel his heart beat underneath his shirt, relaxed and quiet, just like him.
"I could listen to this sound all night," she murmured.
"You're not gonna keep me up, are you? That'd be troublesome," he joked.
She rolled her eyes out of his view. "You are damned lucky I put up with your sarcasm. Any other girl would've dropped your stupid ass by now."
"And any other guy would've swapped you for someone with a sweeter tongue."
"Are you sure you want that, though?" she said, deciding now was the time to tease. She raised her head from his collar and let her eyes fall slowly to his lips. "Could a sweeter tongue do this?"
She kissed him before he had time to respond, and within a fraction of second he eagerly complied. But without notice, she pushed her tongue forward to find his. When they connected, he froze momentarily. It was new, an unfamiliar sensation that, as the milliseconds went by, he realised he enjoyed far too much. As the contact intensified and the kiss grew ever more passionate, Temari reached to free his hair from its regular taut ponytail. They rose from their original position slouched against the headboard, now sitting up and facing each other but never parting. His arms snaked around her waist, holding her close to him, as if by letting go he was relinquishing his coveted place as the one she'd chosen. Out of all the men with better looks, a more charming personality, a higher-class family…he was the one she wanted to be with. And he knew he could never take that for granted.
His hair fell loose as Temari tossed the hairband into a corner of the room. Eventually she came up for air, and Shikamaru used this opportunity to explore the rest of her exposed skin with his lips; they travelled along her neck and shoulder, leaving a trail of faint, purplish marks. Her breathing became heavier as his mouth made its journey, but as it began to creep below the neckline of her nightie, she put her hands on either side of his face and pulled his lips back to hers. They continued like this, Shikamaru's hands caressing her waist and back, itching to discover more. As his fingers played their way to the hem of the fabric, she paused.
"Not tonight," she whispered.
"That's okay," he smiled. "We'll go at whatever pace you're comfortable with."
She realised he was echoing her words from when he they were first dating. For once, they were on the exact same page.
She looked into his eyes which were full of hope and admiration and gentility. She used to hate being addressed as 'Princess' as a child, but in his presence, he truly made her feel like one.
"I love you, Shikamaru."
As he heard the words for the first time, he couldn't quite believe it. Even though it was something most couples said at some point, he never imagined that sentence leaving her lips. Perhaps it was because it was the ultimate proof she was laying her heart on the line, something she wouldn't dream of doing in front of anyone she didn't completely trust. He was moved by the thought.
He gazed right back into her stunning teal irises, realising that her brothers were right; her eyes were a perfect mirror of her emotions, and he could see, reflected with the utmost clarity like the surface of still water, the sincerity in her confession. He couldn't help but melt a little at the overwhelming warmth he felt radiating from her smile.
"I love you, too."