A/N: If Temari's brothers seemed scary, could Shikamaru's mother be worse?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It was dusk when they arrived in Konoha after another long, exhausting journey through the desert and the forest. Temari turned towards her usual apartment, plodding slowly with her eyes to the ground, until she realised no one was trailing behind her.

She paused and looked back. Still at the village gate, Shikamaru was smirking in the dwindling evening light.

"Where are you going?" he called sarcastically.

"Where do you think, idiot?" she groaned.

"I think you're mistaken," he said, enjoying her annoyance. He knew she just wanted to lie down, and he was keeping her from that very important task. "My house is this way."

Her eyes widened. "I'm staying at yours tonight?"

"Sure," he said casually. "You're gonna have to meet my mom sometime."

The implications of his offer dawned on her. "I'm going to meet…your mom?"

In a very rare moment, Temari looked scared. Her boyfriend laughed, in disbelief that Temari could be afraid of a harmless homemaker. His laughter abruptly stopped when he remembered that he was terrified of his mother, too.

"It'll be brief since you'll probably want to drop as soon as we get there. We can have formal introductions and icebreakers in the morning."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "That sounds good," she smiled, walking towards him. He held out his hand and when they made contact, laced his fingers in hers.

"Shikamaru, is that you?"

The light switched on in the hallway. Yoshino appeared from her room, rubbing her weary eyes as they adjusted from the previous darkness.

"Yeah, Mom," Shikamaru smiled in the dingy yellow light. "What are you doing up so late?"

"A mother always worries about her son," she replied matter-of-factly. It took a moment before she finally noticed the woman standing just behind Shikamaru's shoulder, her hand tentatively gripping his. "Have we met?" she asked, trying to suppress the fatigue in her voice.

"Mom, this is Temari." Shikamaru let go of her hand so he could place his in the small of her back, nudging her forward so they were standing in line. Temari bowed her head before Yoshino.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Nara," she said, doing her best to sound demure and respectful. She could almost feel Shikamaru smirking at the discrepancy between how she treated his mother and how she spoke to him.

"Please, call me Yoshino," the woman smiled warmly. Temari studied her for a minute: her dark brown, almost black eyes; the hard line of her mouth when she was contemplating something; her heart-shaped face and chin that came to a soft vertex…all perfectly copied into Shikamaru. "Are you alright, dear? You look a little dazed."

Temari blinked a few times and snapped out of her analysis. "Sorry, I was just remarking how similar you and Shikamaru look."

Yoshino raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's new. Everyone says he's the spitting image of his father." Her eyes fell to the ground, sad and poignant. She quickly collected herself and added, "Sometimes he walks in and I swear it's Shikaku."

"He was a great man. And he lives on through his son," Temari nodded, treading carefully. "But there's a lot of you in Shikamaru, too."

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment," Yoshino beamed at her. "What about you? Do you look like your mother?"

Temari smiled to herself, lost in memories. "Unfortunately my mother passed away when I was very young. I think most people would say so. We have the same eye and face shape. But her hair was sandy brown as opposed to my sandy blonde, and her eyes were the most beautiful shade of indigo. I wish I'd inherited that."

Shikamaru leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I personally prefer your teal."

Temari blushed a little, and Yoshino noticed. Slowly, she commented, "I can't believe my little Shikamaru has finally brought a girl home. My boy is becoming a man!" She reached over to pinch his cheek proudly.

"Mom!" he groaned. "Don't just make assumptions."

"Well, are you two dating?"

Sheepishly, he replied, "Yes."

"Then I assumed correctly."

"I am technically an adult, you know."

She slapped him on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Don't get smart me with, mister. However old you get, you'll always be my kid."

Temari laughed. So this was his introduction to women, she thought silently. No wonder he thinks they're troublesome. "I take it I'm the first?" she joked.

"Oh yes," Yoshino affirmed, much to Shikamaru's discomfort. "To be honest, I never really knew if anyone was smart enough for him, or if someone could whip him into shape…"

"Please stop," Shikamaru begged, voice strained with tiredness. "It's late, and I'm sure Temari is exhausted from the journey…"

"No, I could stay up and chat to your mother all night," Temari grinned slyly. She turned to Yoshino. "Although I wouldn't want to keep you up. You've already been awake for much longer than needs be because of us."

"Nonsense, dear," Yoshino smiled. "Are you sure you aren't hungry? I can cook up something quickly."

"Really, Mom, we're fine…"

"I wasn't asking you," she snapped at her son, who instantly retreated into a shadow of himself. She returned her attention to Temari, her face instantly lightening when facing her guest. "Temari, would you like something to eat?"

"Oh, I couldn't stomach anything now," Temari assured her, a pleasant smile on her face; Shikamaru observed her with both curiosity and cynicism. "But thank you for the offer, it's very kind."

"If you say so," Yoshino nodded. "Sleep well, dear. Shikamaru, I take it you'll prepare the guest room and show her how to use the shower?"

"Yes, Mom," he responded automatically. Temari chuckled internally; there was zero chance Shikamaru would dare suggest the idea of them sharing a bed. She found his cowardice around his mother highly amusing.

"I haven't had time to clean since Shikamaru didn't inform me we would be having a guest," Yoshino explained apologetically. "Make sure he makes everything neat and tidy. I won't have you staying in a pigsty." She turned towards her son. "Got it, Shikamaru?"

"Yes," he mumbled, taking Temari's hand and leading her towards the stairs. "I'll take care of everything."

"You'd better," Yoshino called after them. "Shout at him if he doesn't, Temari."

"I intend to," she laughed. "Goodnight."

As they lay facing each other in his bed, Temari toyed gently with his loose hair. His arm rested over her waist as it usually did.

"So," she began quietly. "My turn to ask. How come you were never involved with anyone before me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he chuckled. "I thought women were troublesome."

"You still do," Temari complained. "Yet here I am. That can't have been the only reason."

He sighed. "Fine. I didn't really understand love or romance or attraction at all until two years ago; I'd never experienced them, so I didn't actively seek them. By the time my mind had matured enough to perceive them, I'd met you."

Temari smiled halfheartedly. "How unlucky it is that you and I ended up together, even though I'm everything you never wanted."

He saw the guilt in her eyes and couldn't fathom it at all. "Funny, turns out I had no idea what I wanted at all."

"Everyone always thought that if you had to settle down, it would be with a nice, quiet girl who would do your laundry and cook your food and hold her own against you in shogi. Someone so mild-mannered and cooperative it would make love the least troublesome thing in the world for you."

"You're missing the point, though," he countered, his finger tracing her jawline. "Love isn't supposed to be easy."

"But it can be," Temari replied, her eyes dropping to his neck. "And if it can, then why would you deliberately make more hassle for yourself?"

He smirked at her. "Where is all this insecurity coming from? Aren't you supposed to be the most confident and self-assured woman I know?"

She frowned. "I'm new to this too, remember? Besides, everyone has insecurities."

"Oh yeah? What are the other ones, then?"

"Well for one, I'm nowhere near as smart as you."

"Tch, what does that mean?"

"Oh, come on! Everyone in the village knows you're a genius. Don't forget the part you played in the war, too." She paused and uttered, very quietly, "I just worry you'd get bored of hanging around me."

"Temari," he said sternly. "An IQ is just a number, it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. You are intelligent, your rise through the ranks proves it. But what's more important is you're not just book smart. You know so much about the world, you're very witty and perceptive. When we talk, it's always on the same level. I never need to dumb myself down for you, I promise. Besides, I could never get bored of being with you," he smiled, pulling her a little closer. "You always keep me on my toes."

"How so?"

"For starters, I just found out you had insecurities. That I never would've guessed in a million years. When we were younger, I admired you, but mostly out of fear. I knew from day one this was the kind of woman who wouldn't take shit from anyone…this was someone who believed in her abilities and turned that faith into action."

"Hm…" she pondered, lost in thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, I didn't really have insecurities back then. They've only cropped up recently, and they're all related to you."

"Me?!"

She chuckled. "My intellect. My power. My appearance. My general personality…all called into question by you."

He moved his hand from her waist to her face. "I'm settling this now, and only once, so listen carefully, Tem. I've already assured you of how smart you are. And how brave and strong. I don't know what you could possibly be self-conscious about when it comes to how you look, because as I've told you in the past, you're beautiful. Not just to me; it's simply fact. Maybe I say it too much and you've become desensitised, or maybe I don't say it enough and you've forgotten. But both when we were friends and when we became more, I thought you were stunning. You were stunning on our first date, and you're still stunning now in your pyjamas with no makeup. As for your personality, like I said, I never get bored of being with you. I always look forward to it, because each time, I learn something new. You always know how to keep it interesting, and if it weren't for you, I'm sure our conversations would be far more dull. And just for the record, I call you 'troublesome' for the same reason you call me a 'crybaby'…if anything were troublesome in this relationship, it wouldn't be you, it would be me trying my best to deserve you. I am a very lucky man in many ways, and as lazy as I am, I would never take you for granted."

Temari gazed at him, wonderously and incredulously. She blushed bashfully, not expecting his confession to be so detailed and heartfelt.

"Shikamaru Nara, that was the soppiest thing I've ever heard."

He frowned, not expecting that kind of reaction. Weren't women supposed to lap up compliments? He could never win with her.

Before he could open his mouth to argue, she added, "…but also the most moving thing anyone's ever said to me."

She kissed him gently, her hand laid lightly on his neck to keep his face close to hers. His arm wrapped around her waist once more, and though there was a time and place for passion, this kiss was sweet, a simple caress to show how much they meant to each other. After a few seconds, they pulled apart.

"Love," she rolled her eyes. "It does weird things to you."

He smirked. "Like what?"

"It makes me pleasant. And it makes you romantic. How un-us."

A small laugh escaped his throat. "Isn't that the mark of a well-made couple, though?" he reasoned. "You help each other be the best versions of yourselves."

"Shut up, smartass."

And she kissed him again to keep him quiet.