III: Reunion
Shikamaru was sitting in a room in the Hokage Residence that had been set aside as a meeting chamber for the organizer's of the Chunin Exams. The room was large, with a small round table in the middle with five seats, one for each representative. Conjoining were five other rooms, offices for each of them. Shikamaru was looking over some papers as he waited for the rest of representatives to arrive and begin their first meeting.
"Well, I can't say that they aren't giving me enough money, can I?" Shikamaru commented as he looked over the budget. He sighed as he flipped through the papers in his hand. "This is going to be such a drag."
Shikamaru turned his head when he heard a knocking on the door. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Darui. "I'm sorry if I'm late."
Shikamaru smiled at the Cloud shinobi. "Late? You're the first one here."
"I am?" Darui asked as he took a seat at the table. "Guess I'll just sit here then."
Shikamaru returned to pouring over papers. "So what's the Hidden Cloud's part in this?"
Darui leaned back with his hands behind his head. "I'm here to help organize and plan the exams. However, as you're the representative of the host nation I will defer to your judgement. I will also relay reports on the progress and general plans of the exam to my village. The rest of the representative will probably have similar roles. Sorry if it's a problem."
"It might be," Shikamaru replied.
Darui peered at the Nara Clan Head through one eye. Shikamaru smiled at him and both chuckled and laughed before recovering and returning to what they had been doing previously.
After a while there was another knock at the door and Kitsuchi walked into the room. "Shikamaru, Darui, it is good to see you again."
Shikamaru looked up from the paper in his hand. "Its good to see you too, Kitsuchi."
The Stone shinobi took a seat at the table. "Are the other two arriving soon?"
Shikamaru flipped to another report. "They should arrive shortly. The Mist representative arrived late last night so she might take a while."
"I see," Kitsuchi commented, nodding. "Just to let you know, Shikamaru, I have complete faith that you can pull this off."
Shikamaru glanced over at Kitsuchi. "Really? I'm not so sure about that."
Kitsuchi shook his head. "Don't be so modest, I know how brilliant you are. Remember the strategies you came up with during the war? If you had to organize this whole event on your own you could."
"I hope that you aren't thinking of leaving it all up to me," Shikamaru replied with a smirk.
"Nonsense," Kitsuchi said, "I'm here to help."
"Well, I see you boys are getting all chummy up here."
Shikamaru looked up to see Temari standing in the doorway, a smirk on her face. When he saw her he smiled and laughed softly. "I see you made it after all."
Temari chuckled. "Be glad I did, you wouldn't get anything done without me."
Shikmaru, still smiling, put his hand to his forehead and shook his head. "Such a troublesome women."
Another women appeared in the doorway behind Temari. "Hello, my name in Akira, I'm the representative from the Hidden Mist."
Akira was a tall, blonde women, appearing to be in her mid-twenties. Her frame was athletic and her body well toned and her every movement betrayed her self confidence.
Akira eyed Shikamaru as she caught sight of him. Smiling, she walked to the table and sat across from him. "Well, aren't you cute. Tell me, what are your plans for after we're done with this?"
Taken aback by this display, Shikamaru leaned back away from Akira, one eyebrow raised as he eyed her suspiciously.
Temari, still standing in the doorway, was fuming. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Akira looked over her shoulder at Temari. "Do I detect a hint of jealousy? Don't worry, I'm not that interested."
For several seconds Temari maintained her angry glare at the Mist kunoichi. She then realized that everyone else in the room was staring at her. Suddenly blushing, she laughed awkwardly as she took the last remaining seat.
Shikamaru sighed as he started to organize the papers in front of him and pass around copies of relevant reports to the others around the table. "Now that we're all here, lets get started."
Temari was standing in the hallway outside the meeting chamber. The conference was over and she was leaning against the wall while waiting for Shikamaru to finish talking to the others. One by one the other representatives left the room, with the Nara Clan Head being the last to leave.
After Shikamaru had closed the door he noticed Temari. "Was there was there something you wanted to talk about?"
"Yeah," Temari answered. "You interested in grabbing something to eat?"
A short laugh escaped Shikamaru's lips as he let out a small smile. "Sure, why not? Where do you want to go?"
Temari thought for a moment before answering. "How about a dango shop? Don't have any of those in the Sand Village."
"Alright," Shikamaru responded.
Temari and Shikamaru left the Hokage Residence, making their way to one of the more popular dango shops in the village. As they were walking a thought came to Temari's mind.
"Shikamaru, have you thought about making jonin?"
"Jonin?" Shikamaru replied. "Not really, it seems rather unnecessary, not to mention a drag."
"Shikamaru," Temari said, "you're more than capable. You need to take things more seriously."
Shikamaru sighed. "You're starting to sound like those idiots who think that I should be the next Hokage."
"To be honest," the Sand kunoichi remarked, "if it weren't for Naruto I'd support you for Hokage."
"At least you realize that Naruto should get it," Shikamaru said with a sigh.
Temari chuckled. "Hey, I'm not stupid."
"Heh, I guess not," Shikamaru replied.
After a short while they arrived at the restaurant, ordering two plates of dango and tea. They sat down at a booth, waiting for their meal to be served.
"The village seems to be recovering nicely," Temari commented, "it seems eerily similar to the way I remember."
Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah, I know. The architects have been going to great lengths to recreate the village as it used to be. Sounds like too much trouble, if you ask me, but they didn't, so here we are."
Temari smiled. "Heh, I guess you wouldn't understand someone having a passion and caring about something."
Shikamaru leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. "Oh no, I do. I just don't see why it matters in this case."
"On a different note," Temari said, still shaking her head at the previous comment. "How are you doing, Shikamaru?"
"Hm, me?" Shikamaru replied.
"Yeah," Temari said, concern on her face, "it's been six months since your father died. How have you been holding up?"
Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, its not me that I've been worried about. Its my mom. Hearing the news about my dad's death…it changed her. She's less…dominating than before, more melancholy. To be honest, I kind of miss having her push me around."
Temari averted her eyes from the chunin. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru looked back at her with an eyebrow raised. "Sorry? About what?"
"I shouldn't have brought it up," Temari replied.
"No," Shikamaru said, "it's alright."
Temari looked back up at Shikamaru. "I didn't know him very well, but I think your father was a great man."
"Thanks," Shikamaru said quietly.
After that a sad, somber quiet held at the table until the food and drink arrived at the table. Thanking their server, the two began to eat. Temari and Shikamaru were distracted when Naruto ducked into the restaurant, almost looking as though he were trying to avoid somebody.
Shikamaru waved the blonde over. "Naruto, over here. What are you doing here?"
Naruto looked over in mild surprise when Shikamaru caught his attention. Walking over, he said, "Shikamaru, is that you?"
"Yeah, its me," Shikamaru answered, smiling. "I'm surprised to see you here instead of Ichiraku's."
Naruto crossed his arms as he started to look generally annoyed. "I normally would be at Ichiraku, but I've been having to avoid it."
"Avoid it?" Shikamaru asked. "Why's that?"
Naruto quickly glanced over his shoulders, as if he were about to tell some grave secret. "Well, there are these girls that have been following me. Some of them seem to be camped outside of Ichiraku, almost as if they were waiting for me. It's kind of creepy, to tell you the truth."
Shikamaru laughed. "Looks like your fangirls have finally figured that out."
Naruto looked at Shikamaru as if he were crazy. "Fangirls? What are you talking?"
"You don't get it," Shikamaru said, "do you?"
Naruto started to look rather annoyed with the conversation. "I don't get what?"
Temari joined Shikamaru in his laughter. "You really don't get it. You're a hero, Naruto, you're famous. Many girls would love to just be around you."
"I still don't get it," Naruto said, "and I don't think I ever will." Naruto's eyes suddenly widened, then he looked to Shikamaru, then to Temari, then back to Shikamaru again. "So, you two on a date?"
"Hm?" Shikamaru answered, "No, we're not."
Naruto leaned in towards Shikamaru. "Are you sure? I mean, you are eating together at a restaurant…alone."
Temari sighed. "He's telling the truth, Naruto, we're not a date." Even as she said that a part of Temari wished that it was.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "If you two say so." Suddenly they heard cries of "Naruto, where are you?" coming from outside the restaurant. With a panicky look on his face, Naruto turned to Temari and Shikamaru. "I was never here," the Hero of the Leaf whispered before leaving in the opposite direction of the voices.
Shikamaru smiled and shook his head. "That Naruto, at some point I'm going to have to thank him."
"Hm?" Temari asked, "Thank him for what?"
"Oh," Shikamaru answered, "his return to the village has really attracted the attention of the fangirls, they've been bothering me less since he got back from the Land of Iron."
Temari smirked. "Fangirls, huh? Have any of them propositioned you? Offered themselves to you?" she asked in a mocking tone.
"If they have then I wasn't paying attention to them," Shikamaru answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm not particularly interested in that right now and in any case I just find it annoying."
Temari smiled, a part of her happy that he was ignoring these fangirls. The rest of the meal went by rather uneventfully. Eventually they left the restaurant.
Shikamaru looked at Temari as they stepped out onto the street. "I'll walk you back to your place."
Temari raised an eyebrow at that. "Isn't your house in the opposite direction?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "It is. This is a drag, but its the courteous thing to do, right?"
"Well, aren't you full of surprises," Temari said with a smile.
Together they started walking towards the hotel that Temari would be staying at for the foreseeable future. After a short walk in relative silence they reached the front entrance of the building.
"Well," Temari said, "I think that this is where courtesy dictates you say your goodbyes."
Shikamaru smiled and started to walk away. "Yeah, sure. See ya."
"Shikamaru," Temari called out, "I was serious, you need to start looking into becoming a jonin."
Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at Temari but said nothing. He turned back around and continued on his path. Temari watched him until he disappeared from view before going inside.
