Temari and Shikamaru

Author's note: Temari comes to talk to Neji about the whole Shikamaru situation. Short chapter is short. Sorry?

Rated M for sexy scenes between characters, swearing, and some blood and guts.

I don't own any characters but I am taking liberties with them and their universe.

"And Akamaru let me ride him!"

Kuma said this with excitement and Neji chuckled. Kuma was telling Tora and Akino she was living with the Inuzukas because in her words her "dad is an ass who Sakura-sama punched cuz he deserved it so my mom's leaving him and taking me and my sister with her." It was the most concise and accurate description of Kuma's life and Neji could not believe how well she had summed it up.

"Kiba-sama said he knew Neji-sensei really well and started telling me stories," Kuma said.

Neji rubbed his forehead. Damn Kiba.

"They mostly made fun of himself but there was a time Neji-sensei slipped in some mud," Kuma said.

Neji smirked and nodded when Tora and Akino looked at him in awe. He was pleased his students thought he couldn't do anything so common and nodded when Kuma gave him a pleading look.

"So Neji-sensei and Kiba-sama were on a mission together and it was raining. A tree branch broke under Kiba-sama and when Neji-sensei went to go see if he was okay, he landed on a bit of a dip and fell," Kuma said.

Tora giggled and Akino smirked. What Kiba had left out was Neji had fallen atop of Kiba who had decided it would be a good time to kiss him. Neji would thank Kiba for that later. He still had to thank Choji for keeping Kiba from seeing who Neji sat with. As suspected, Hiashi-sama had caught up with Neji this morning about the rumours.

Neji had explained the situation in truth as best he could. Hiashi-sama had actually chuckled and wished him luck. Neji walked out after thanking his uncle, too stunned to make any comment.

"Hana-sama's really cool too but Tsume-sama's kind of scary but she's really nice once you get to know her a bit. My mom and Tsume-sama were laughing like old friends before the end of the night. And Kuromaru, Tsume-sama's partner can talk! He's a dog, not her husband or whatever but he speaks like us! It's so awesome," Kuma went on.

They had not even started training but it was eight in the morning and Neji had no intentions of doing hard training today. Some laps, maybe some yoga, meditation, and some light sparring. Tomorrow they would do their strength exercises and individual drills to work on their personal weaknesses.

"Yori and Maru weren't there and Tsume-sama explained there are like four dozen Inuzuka family members in Konoha. They all live in the same district but not in the same house. She's the clan head," Kuma went on.

Tora was enthralled with Kuma's words. Akino had a bored look on his face but his eyes gave away his interest. Neji smirked at his genin as Kuma went on talking about how the Inuzuka were good friends with the Aburame clan and Neji's clan.

"But Neji-sensei's clan is the biggest and richest," Kuma said.

Tora and Akino looked to him for confirmation and he nodded.

"Neji-sensei's basically a prince!"

Kuma beamed with her words. Neji raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Tora was giving him a once over than nodded.

"I can see it," Tora said.

Neji sighed and huffed at the girls as they giggled. Akino muttered his word and rolled his eyes. Akino was the one to get up and stretch. He shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned at Neji.

"Are we doing anything meaningful today cuz if not I'm going to take a nap," Akino said.

Neji thought it was pretty rough when his more unmotivated student complained about doing nothing. Neji smirked at Akino and the boy realized how bad of an idea it had been to ask Neji if they were doing anything today.

"Well, I was thinking of taking it easy on you three today but why don't we run some laps?" Neji said.

Akino groaned and smack his forehead, muttering his word. Tora swatted him but Kuma jumped up and down enthusiastically. Neji got to his feet with his students and began leading them in laps around the training field. They stopped at 10:00 when Temari and Kankuro walked onto the field.

Temari was dressed in a black body suit that had no sleeves and dipped low in the front, ending as a skirt which ended before her mid-thighs. A second body suit made of red-brown fish net was under the first one and this ended a few inches above her knees and elbows. Over the solid body suit she wore purple armor with no sleeves staying in place with a purple obi. Her sandals were knee-high and black with black shin guards over them being held in place with purple ribbon. She wore black fingerless gloves, like Neji's, but hers went to almost her elbows. Her hair was in its traditional four pony tails and she carried her massive fan.

Kankuro was in his all black attire with the purple paint and hood. He had a frown on his face and Temari had a smirk. Neji slowed to a walking pace to stride up to the Sand Siblings. Kuma, Tora, and Akino followed after them and Neji could never think of a more natural buffer for any kind of confrontation. He kept his wince back as Temari slammed her fan into the ground, handle down and leaned against it. He finally got within comfortable speaking distance.

"Temari, Kankuro," Neji said.

"Hyuuga," Temari returned with the smile still in place.

This was not going to be good. Kankuro gave a short wave. Kuma stood beside Neji, gaping up at Temari with wide eyes. Tora got on Neji's other side and Neji saw Akino shrug and stand behind Kuma. Neji raised an eyebrow marginally when Kuma and Tora pointed at Temari who blinked at them.

"You're like, the best kunoichi in the Sand Village!" Kuma said.

Temari's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. Neji saw Kankuro smirk but he wiped it off his face a moment later.

"Even Sakura-sama and Tenten-sama think you're awesome so you must be really impressive," Tora said.

Both girls had stars in their eyes and whatever Temari had wanted to say to Neji was gone. She blinked at the two girls then glanced at Neji with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged. He almost jolted when both girls looked up at him with pleading looks on their faces.

"Can you spar with Temari-sama, Neji-sensei so we can see her in action?" Tora asked.

She had allowed her lower lip to tremble and her eyes to go damp behind her glasses. Talk about using one's assets. He looked to Kuma who had a huge grin on her face.

"Yeah, that would be so cool!" Kuma added.

Neji shifted to look at Temari who had a grin on her face. She shrugged and gave Neji a wink. Neji sighed.

"Sure, why not?" Neji muttered.

Both girls cheered and hugged him. Neji messed up their hair and Tora yelped; pouting at him but Kuma took it with a grin. Temari began striding across the field and Neji followed. He might as well get this over with.

"It'll give me a good work-out since I'm heading out tomorrow with Tenten, Lee, Naruto, Kiba, and Shino to bring Fukui back," Temari said.

Ah yes, that. God it felt like it had been much longer with everything that had been going on. Damn, he had only been back in Konoha for two days. This had been the start of the full second day back.

"You're welcome," Neji said.

Temari opened her fan in full. Neji took a breath and activated Byakugan. He got into a loose fighting stance and licked his lips. Temari grinned at him. Kuma yelled out to fight and Temari wasted little time in swinging her fan. Neji barely got out of the way of the first wind sickle. He had to roll under the next and jump over a third.

He landed and took off at full speed, trying to close the distance between them but Temari jumped away and up, swinging her fan towards him again and releasing many, many more wind sickles. Neji skidded to a stop and quickly countered with his Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. It worked but barely.

Temari's fan flew through the air again, twice in succession and Neji was forced to run then stop to use his Vacuum Palm. This time he was forced back from the power behind her winds. Neji kept moving as she slung her fan again. This was bad.

He could not use any of the fire style jutsu he knew because her wind would simply blow them back at him. His water style would break apart under the force of her winds. His earth style would not be strong enough to make a barrier as Neji had seen Temari cut down forests with her winds. He couldn't even get close to use his Gentle Fist.

Neji ducked and rolled, wincing when a few errant strands of hair were cut from his head. He kept moving then rolled again, this time shoving an earth clone into his place and teleporting into the trees. His earth clone kept moving as Neji watched from the side lines. Temari had not even noticed the clone. Neji grinned.

Neji took a breath and ran towards the edge of the field, behind Temari. He would have to strike out and quick as his clone kept dodging. The moment Temari sensed him behind her she would attack and leave his clone alone. Neji burst out of the trees at a dead run and charged up behind her. Kuma, Tora, Akino, and Kankuro gasped which alerted Temari to a problem.

She turned but Neji was within striking range. Temari's fan started to come around but he was faster, lashing out with his Vacuum Palm before she could complete the swing. Temari gaped as she was thrown out of her fighting stance and into the air. Neji kept moving forward as she landed in a skid on her back.

He reached her position the same time she got her senses back but went in with his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Temari was smart enough (and had just enough time) to close her fan and use it to try and block him. She was too slow and some of his strikes still hit her: left shoulder and arm, right side of her stomach and both hands. Both legs and she winced with every hit.

Neji was forced to abort the last hits (the full sixty-four) when she finally had enough and swung her closed fan towards his head. He caught her fan in his hands but knew he could not snap it. The fan was made of steel. Well, that, and she was leaving on a mission tomorrow. He wasn't that cruel.

He saw her foot come up, aiming towards his groin but shifted out of the way so her foot smacked against his knee instead. Neji kept shifting until she was forced to roll onto her stomach if she did not want to let go of her fan. She tried to get to her feet but Neji gave a mighty tug and almost fell back. He had her fan.

Neji was surprised at the weight of it but tossed it back behind him as far as he could. It had allowed Temari to get to her feet and arm herself with multiple senbon in one hand, a kunai in the other. Neji fell into a fighting stance but kept the smirk off his face. Sure he was unarmed with him between her and her main weapon and they were in close range but it did not mean she was weak.

"Nice," Temari said.

"I try," Neji told her.

Temari smirked. She flung her senbon first and ran in after them. Neji easily knocked the senbon away and blocked her attempt with the kunai. She immediately went in to punch with her weapon free hand but Neji blocked that as well. He grabbed her kunai hand in one arm (the right) and before she could pull out of his grip or do anything, he jammed four of the tenketsu points in her right arm. She grimaced.

Her foot came out to take his ankles aside but he shifted enough so all he did was stumble instead of falling. Her left hand (slowed from blocked tenketsu) came up to hit him again but he snaked her right arm in his left before using his now free hand to grab her incoming left fist. The position brought them side by side and she widened her eyes, jaw dropping in wonder as his right index and middle finger, glowing with chakra, stopped an inch from under her jaw.

"Wow," Temari said.

"Thanks," Neji said.

She chuckled but he did not let her go yet. They were close enough to talk and far away enough that no one would hear them.

"Sorry about the other night," Neji said.

She snorted at him and tossed her head to flick her bangs out of her eyes. She let out a breath and met his eyes even though his Byakugan was activated and he had his eyes wide. Neji supposed Gaara's gazes had been worse.

"It's okay, I got over it. I still wanted to attempt to kick your ass on principal though," Temari said.

Neji chuckled and nodded. She smirked.

"You liked him?"

Neji inclined his head.

"Like, loved him?"

Neji let out a breath and frowned. Temari hummed.

"Want him back?"

Neji shook his head. Temari chuckled.

"I'm not even sure if I want him any more though he did apologize to me. He said he hadn't meant for you to find out like that, wanted to know if he was serious with me before breaking it off with you completely. He was going to talk to you but waited too long to do it. I told him he should be apologizing to you, not me," Temari explained.

Neji blinked and let out a breath. He pulled back the chakra in his right hand and let her go. Temari rubbed her left wrist absently but had a smile on her face.

"I'm not sure if he had feelings for you the way you had feelings for him though. Personally, I don't want to know. I'm staying in Suna once I get back there, probably for a month or more to give us both time to think," Temari said.

Neji inclined his head and noticed Kankuro was keeping his students from running up to Temari and Neji. Neji would kiss him later. He de-activated Byakugan and met Temari's eyes again.

"Thank you," Neji said.

Temari shrugged.

"You deserved an explanation after he you know, became your best friend, took all your firsts then promptly ignored you to go out with me. I told him the same and he does agree. I think he's afraid to face you. You were scary the other night and that means something coming from me," Temari said.

Neji couldn't help but chuckle. She smirked at him and punched him in the shoulder, not as hard as she could but hard enough Neji did wince. She winked and walked around him to grab her fan.

"So, the tenketsu points you closed," Temari said.

"You'll be fine by tonight," Neji told her. "I did not block them off completely or enough that it would affect you for long."

Temari picked up her fan with a grin. She put it on her back and walked with him towards Kankuro and Neji's genin. Tora and Kuma were bursting with excitement, saying how awesome Temari was in making Neji run around her like that and how cool Neji was for getting in behind her creatively. Akino asked about the clone so Neji explained his earth release jutsu.

"I find it funny you don't have an inclination to wind type jutsu," Temari told him.

"I do too, trust me," Neji said.

Temari chuckled at him.

"I mean, that Vacuum Palm thing is pretty much like throwing a burst of wind, same with the Rotation Palm for defense. I know they're both using your chakra, not wind, but still," Temari said.

Neji inclined his head in agreement. She shrugged and grinned. She looked to Kuma and Tora who were still staring up at her in star-struck wonder.

"Wanna know the secret to begin a great kunoichi?" Temari asked them.

Kuma and Tora nodded. Akino rolled his eyes. Kankuro smirked. Neji raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Remember just because you're a girl doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage. In fact, you have an advantage over any guy," Temari began.

She continued by whispering in both girls' ears. They giggled and Temari patted them on the heads before walking away. She raised her right hand in a backwards wave.

"See ya, Neji," Temari said.

"Have a good trip," Neji returned.

She left the training field and Neji let out a breath. He jolted when Kankuro came up beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist. Neji raised an eyebrow at the puppet user then smirked and kissed him on the cheek. Kankuro grinned at him and Neji motioned to his students (Kuma and Tora giggled, Akino rolled his eyes) with his eyes. Kankuro blinked then grinned.

"You're welcome," Kankuro said.

Neji chuckled. He did not pull out of Kankuro's half hug but did regard his students. They looked up at him, the girls grinning and Akino looked bored. His eyes were amused.

"Let's do some stretches and have lunch. We'll do some light sparring after lunch and finish with some meditation. Tomorrow we will go back to our full training regime," Neji said.

The three nodded. He went to move away from Kankuro but the puppet master hung on long enough to kiss Neji's forehead. Neji felt his cheeks heat but could not help smirking. Kankuro pulled away and was pulling off the scrolls on his back.

"You're going to join us Kankuro-sama?" Tora asked.

"Sure, why not?" Kankuro returned.

Neji chuckled and strode towards the posts to they were not at the edge of the field. He turned to face his students who had lined up beside each other with enough room to hold their arms to their sides and not touch. Kankuro took up a position beside Tora. Akino took the middle and Kuma Akino's other side.

Neji led them along in stretches and noticed Kankuro had a tough time in some of them. He kept his laugh to himself when Kankuro almost fell over during the tree pose. Kankuro did regain his balance but Tora looked at him as if to ask what kind of shinobi Kankuro was if he couldn't do a tree pose.

They finished with the half-downward dog pose then sunk into lotus position to allow their bodies to calm down. Kankuro was panting slightly and Neji smirked at him. Bento boxes came out and they ate happily, Kankuro moving to sit beside Neji.

"Jeez, who knew stretches could be such a work out," Kankuro muttered.

"Neji-sensei was trained by Guy-sama. Have you seen Guy-sama's training?" Akino asked.

Kankuro laughed. Neji snorted and they ate happily. Neji noticed Kuma had a full bento box with rice, beef, vegetables, rolled egg, and even a few maki rolls. It didn't look as pretty as Akino's or neat like Tora's but it was full, much more than a child Kuma's size would need but she ate every bite with the same enthusiasm as the first.

Neji raised an eyebrow when Kankuro draped an arm over Neji's shoulders. Neji did not pull away and did lean a bit into Kankuro's body. Tora and Kuma started giggling. Akino snorted and flopped backwards onto the grass, mumbling his word.

"Hey, wait another year or two and you'll be interested in doing the same thing with someone," Kankuro said.

"Nope," Akino replied.

"That's what they all say," Kankuro said.

Akino snorted. Kuma poked him in the stomach with a chopstick and he huffed at her. Tora put her bento box back together and cleaned up the tiny mess she had made. She met Neji's eyes and Neji waited.

"Neji-sensei, when will my training with Sakura-sama start?" Tora asked.

Kuma and Akino looked to her then to Neji. Kuma frowned and Akino huffed again. Of course Tora had to ask in front of the others.

"I have to ask Sakura first before anything happens. It has been a busy few days," Neji said.

Tora nodded in understanding then glanced at her teammates. She flushed when she realized the kind of position she had put Neji in.

"Akino, speaking of Guy-sensei, I may you get you to train with him," Neji said.

Akino sat up so quickly Neji smirked. Akino's eyes went wide and he began sputtering. Finally he gave up, his shoulders sagged, and he pouted.

"Don't give me that look. Guy-sensei trains in strength taijustu which is exactly the kind of training you need. My Gentle Fist techniques will do nothing for you and basic taijustu will only get you so far. But I swear to God if you come back in a green body suit with orange leg-warmers and a bowl cut I'll knock you on your ass so fast you won't know until you wake up," Neji said.

Akino gaped at him then started laughing. Tora giggled and Kuma smirked. She still had a sad look in her eyes.

"Kuma, that means you and I will be doing a lot more one-on-one training," Neji said.

She pouted as this was nothing new. Kankuro chuckled at her.

"Once you get better control of your chakra I'll get Tenten to help you with summoning weapons and showing you some tricks with throwing weapons," Neji said.

Kuma's eyes lit and she leaped into the air with an excited whoop. Neji chuckled as Kuma settled down with a grin. Tora and Akino laughed at her but she didn't care. Her life had changed so drastically in the past twenty-four hours she could not help but be excited. Neji did not even blame her and never would.

"Let's do some light sparring then call it an early day," Neji said.

All three got to their feet. Akino and Tora took off to one end of the training field while Neji settled in with Kuma. Kankuro watched as their sparring sessions began and Neji laughed at Kankuro's raised eyebrows when Kuma started her attacks. Neji found out quickly there was no such thing as "light" sparring with Kuma but didn't mind.

He called for a stop at fourteen hundred hours and they meditated for half an hour. All three went off happily, Kuma talking about what might be for dinner at the Inuzuka household. Neji watched them go with a grin on his face. Kankuro dropped an arm over his shoulders and Neji shifted to kiss his cheek.

"So, want to get dinner?" Kankuro asked.

Neji blinked and stared at him. Kankuro smiled. Neji chuckled.

"It's not even time for dinner," Neji said.

"I meant we can meet at say eighteen hundred hours. I'll come to the Hyuuga compound and we'll head out, have a nice dinner, chat for a bit, see where it goes," Kankuro said.

Neji stepped out of Kankuro's embrace to look at him fully. Kankuro took Neji's right hand in his and Neji held back his flush. He should not be doing this, not when his heart still hurt because of Shikamaru. But holding Kankuro's hand allowed warmth to spread through his body. It made his heart start coming back together slowly.

"Okay," Neji said.

Kankuro grinned.

"Good, wear something, well, nice. I mean, not that your normal clothing isn't nice but, um," Kankuro said.

He had a blush on his cheeks. Neji chuckled. He nodded.

"Are you bringing me somewhere fancy?" Neji questioned.

Kankuro nodded. Neji hummed then kissed his cheek. Kankuro smiled.

"Then I will see you at eighteen hundred hours at the Hyuuga compound," Neji said.

Kankuro smiled as if he had won the world. Neji slipped away with a smile on his face. He walked back to the Hyuuga compound with a welcome feeling in his heart and a bit of a spring in his step. He hoped he was doing the right thing. He did not want to hurt Kankuro.

Reviews and comments welcome, next chapter coming soon.