A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I'm sorry for the long wait. Working on two multi-chaped fics and one-shots is taking some time. Also I am more invested in another Anime. Not because I don't love Shikatema (It's been twelve years now since I started shiping them) but because it is an on-going story. I don't have to worry anymore about Shikatema becoming canon.^^

How did you like the first part of the animation of Shikamaru Shiden? I had pictured the scene between them after the alliance meeting a bit differently.

Chapter 3: Although I'm there

… starring at you.

She was very dangerous. She was a threat for Shadow as well as for Shikamaru due to her long legs.

Shikamaru watched her placing photos of the victims on a board. Drawing lines while explaining her thoughts. Once in a while she looked at him to see if he followed. He did as expected and nodded every time.

She was dangerous indeed. Dangerously smart and - Shikamaru thought when eyeing her figure – terrible good looking. One might say she was sexy by the way the costume hugged her body drawing an image of her curves underneath.

An hunger was forming in his abdomen as he watched her. This was going to be a problem.

While she now explained possible connections he thought that he would need to place false traces next time he was his alter ego.

When they were in Tsunade's office he had ignored her. Ignored the likely threat as long as possible. Then he had faced her on front of his office. He was directly fascinated from her appearance. She was sexy indeed, ladylike but on the other side she had a kind of tomboyness wearing her hair in four ponytails. It showed him that she wasn't predictable. This was going to be difficult but a funny challenge. He liked discovering edges and solving riddles.

"The last victim, Ryūdoin Agira, belonged to the circle of Orochimaru." She crossed her arms and bit her lip in thought starring at the picture.

Shikamaru thought she was adorable and he was frustrated for thinking this way. Perhaps it was because he had had no real life since he gave birth to Shadow.

Interrupting his thoughts by sighing she turned to him. "I don't understand this. Why would he kill persons belonging to both big drug circles? It doesn't make sense. Alas, he thinks of himself as savior, a madman in a costume playing the lone avenger or something." She turned her gaze at him. "Why won't you say something?"

Scratching his ear he stopped rocking the chair back and forth like he unconsciously did the whole time. "Well because I've already been there. That is the mystery I stopped at, too. I thought maybe you would come further."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.

He pointed at the board she stood at. "I mean with the chart and stuff."

"Do you make fun of me?" She stood with her hands on her hips.

Licking his lips Shikamaru crossed his legs amused. "No. I wouldn't dare too, Special Agent Sabaku."

She seemed to compose herself for she snorted and took a deep breath before she turned her deep blue eyes onto him. What was the color called? Teal? "You don't have anything to add?"

He looked at the clock hanging on the wall above the board. It was time for lunch. "No, nothing. Although I like to ask if we should take a break?"

She snickered. "From what exactly would you like to take a break?"

He smiled at her glibness. "I'll invite you if we can take a break now."

The thought seemed to cross her mind as she licked her lips. "Well, okay. If you pay it won't be that bad to spend my break in company of a misogynistic, lazy and indifferent person."

He rubbed his chin faking thoughtfulness. "How can someone be misogynistic and indifferent at the same time?"

"Because the only time he isn't indifferent is when he is misogynistic." Walking towards him she grabbed her bag and stood in front of the door waiting for him to move.

It was wrong. He shouldn't like her company this much. But he couldn't help himself.

It didn't matter how wrong it was for a while later he ended up in a fast food restaurant sitting next to her.

"Fast food, huh? Scared I'll make you poor or is it just a bad taste in nutrition adding up to your lazy image?"

"No, but I know the owner. They make excellent burgers and an exquisite French dressing. But the most important fact is that they aren't stingy with their portions."

"Hmm." Taking the menu she scanned the few meals before turning to him. "I would like a burger."

A fact he added to the list why he liked her would be that she didn't seem to mind fat. Every time he had been with Ino on lunch she was eating only a salad, which seemed to be frustratingly little.

He yawned missing sleep after his last hunt. He had planned to sleep a while after work before he would stalk his next pray.

Rock Lee, a guy with a hairstyle that looked like a black mushroom and eyebrows that represented caterpillars turned his attention on Shikamaru. Rock Lee was a nice guy although he was to Shikamaru's mind too hyperactive and always too freaking positive. "Hey, Shikamaru. What's up? Anything new?" Then he seemed to notice Special Agent Sabaku. "Oh and you are in company. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself properly. I'm Rock Lee."

Temari seemed to be amused by his fast introduction. "Sabaku no Temari. Nice to make your acquaintance."

Shikamaru cleared his throat. "We would like burgers. And I would like a coke. Do you want a coke light?"

"No, a normal one would be fine."

Shikamaru smiled at her amused. "Then we would like two burgers and two cokes."

She smiled back. "Sounds good."

After this Lee seemed lost in thought eyeing both of them one after the other. Then he suddenly he punched a fist in the air screaming. From the corner of his eyes Shikamaru saw that Temari was very surprised. "Finally you're dating again. I told you your youth will lead you to better times."

Shikamaru sighed hanging his head low. "It's not a date. We are working together."

It didn't help. No matter what he could have possibly said Lee would ignore it. Instead he brought the food with a grin on his face and winked at Shikamaru who hoped she had not interpreted this in a wrong way. "I'm sorry. He always gets kind of enthusiastic – and really fast in making his own conclusions."

"No problem." She took a big bite of her burger and closed her eyes humming. "This is really good."

He nodded his head and smiled.

"So you had problems dating?" She looked at him from the corner of the eye.

He rubbed his neck. "Well, I didn't like to go out."

"Hm." She ran a delicate finger alongside her glass catching a drop condensed water.

He swallowed. At least she stopped being pushy. "So Special Agent, huh? Seems very exciting."

She sipped at her coke. "Well it is. Unless you can't take matters into your own hands. Hesitate in a wrong moment, you'll have to face the consequences."

Shrugging his shoulders Shikamaru doubted that she had any problem with that. "You seem to be sufficiently though to do a great job."

She smiled at him brightly. "Yeah and I will do this time, too."

He nodded smiling. Ignoring the nagging feeling in his stomach. It had been easy until now to hide his second identity in the shadow of his everyday identity. She might make him invest more effort with her persevere personality.

Her chair scratched the floor when she leaned back. She finished the burger faster than him. "What about you? Are you satisfied being Inspector or are you going to climb the ladder further upwards?"

"It's not so long ago that I was suspended. Now that I'm working again I'm not so sure. But then again when I was younger I didn't want to climb the ladder at all. I would have preferred to have all day free to stare at the sky." Weird he hadn't talked like this to anyone in a real long time. "I'm sorry too much information."

"No. That's fine. You just answered my question."

"I didn't, actually." He scratched his cheek.

She snickered. "No, you didn't."

He just knew at this moment it would be hard not to like her. "So how long are you doing this?"

"I cannot pinpoint it exactly. My father was in the same business, so I've learned everything that was necessary at a young age. Still I haven't caught up to my father. If I had to fight him he would be better than me. His reputation is legendary." She took a sip of her Coke and sighed. "Professionally I'm active since my apprenticeship but I loved to fight crime since I was a young kid. And I always did a good job like I will this time. There will be no difference. I will hunt Shadow down."

The bolt in her eyes was clear as the day. Somehow Shikamaru was envious of her passion although he knew that she was talking about hunting him down.

She finished her coke and put the glass back on the table.

Shikamaru considered to go back to work again but chose to stay just a while longer. "So you are trying to surpass your father?"

Temari chuckled. "He died three years ago."

Slightly taken aback Shikamaru thought about what she said that could have made him assume that her father was still alive. "Sorry. I thought you said-"

"He would be better than me if he was still alive." She didn't blink once.

Shikamaru wondered what her relationship to her father had been. Obviously it hadn't been as good as it had been between himself and Asuma. But there was more to it. Dislike? Anger? Contempt? Hate? Before he could establish another string of thoughts she intervened.

"I think we should go working again."

Shikamaru nodded and pulled a banknote out of his pocket. His gaze crossed over Lee who gave him another thumbs up.

They didn't work much. With a little bit nagging and suggestive motivation Shikamaru coaxed her into calling it a day early. Tonight he wanted to go out again. But before he could leave and go to catch some sleep for a few hours she asked him to show her a hotel where she could stay at.

There were worse things one could do. That was what Shikamaru figured when he decided that it wouldn't take long to find a suitable hotel for her to stay at. When he climbed into her car he was amazed that she changed her shoes. "Problems driving with those?" He nodded into the direction of her high heels she laid on the backseat.

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to give it a try? Driving with them on?"

He chuckled. "I would rather not try it. Neither walking."

"See."

He looked outside the window. They were in the center of the city with skyscrapers blocking the sight. Nevertheless those giant buildings were nicely embedded in a green environment. The city of Konoha always tried to see to it that there were enough grass fields, trees and bushes at every corner. "You have to head down the main road into the north." Then he let his gaze travel over her dashboard and noticed her navigation system. Confused he pointed at it. "You do know you can use them to look for a hotel?"

She send a death glare to the navigation system. "I hate this dumb bastard." She pulled into the right lane.

He chuckled. "Why?"

"First I feel like it fools me on purpose. I do exactly what it wants and after a while it tells me to turn around. I mean, I don't like to drive in circles but it seems to think so."

Shikamaru huffed. "I don't think it is the one to blame for that."

The death glare was now turned to him.

Shikamaru swallowed hardly. "And what's the second reason?"

"Well, I always wondered why it has to be a woman's voice. Is this some kind of macho invention? Is it because all the important guys driving don't want to listen to a guy's voice all day?"

"Would you like to have a man tell you how to drive?"

She laughed. "You're right. I haven't seen it this way before. Probably women sound for both sexes more competent than a man."

Shikamaru smiled. If he was misogynistic she was too much of a feminist. "Turn left at the next junction."

She smirked at him and send him sly gaze from the side. "You think you're clever."

"I do. And I also know another reason why it is a woman's voice." He slightly shifted his body towards her calculating in his head the meters before the next turn.

Her eyes swayed between the street and his. "Enlighten me. Why is that?"

He smiled at her and shrugged slowly. "It is probably because woman have nicer voices."

She hummed. "I like that."

When he came home Shikamaru wondered why he had been so stupid. He drove with her to the hotel doing her a favor, being nice. But then again, he had forgotten his car was at the police station. This came to his mind only when Temari asked how he would come home. Instantly he had shrugged it off and pretended that he had planned to get a cab. Eventually he did and got his car at the police station.

Shikamaru glanced at the clock above the kitchen table. There was not enough time to get a few hours of sleep. This really wasn't supposed to happen. Now he had only a few hours to locate the next target on the list. The last one, Ryūdoin had worked for Orochimaru. His sons were killed when he disregarded a command by Orichimaru. On top of his problems he had been addicted to gambling and lost much money. That was why he couldn't quit working for him although his sons were killed by his employer. Shikamaru ignored the pang of guilt running through his chest. Shadow couldn't let him live and Shikamaru couldn't save everybody. This guy had been a dead man walking anyway. Ryūdoin had been a leak. Orochimaru would have killed him anyway sooner or later.

The way Ryūdoin's fate turned out, Shikamaru had profited, too. He learned an important fact, which the police would need time to come across. This gave him the opportunity to follow the plan while they wouldn't know where he would appear next.

After some lost traces, Shadow was back in the game. He would find the bastard that killed his uncle.

The body slumped to the ground, motionless, drained of every trace of life. There was no sound nearby. The rush of the cars on the street was faint. The dark figure looked around. This time it would take hours before someone would find the body. No one walked voluntarily around these dark alleys at night. No one but a drug dealer on the way to his boss.

Shadow was close to completion. Completing his plan. Achieving his ultimate goal.

Making sure not to leave any traces he watched the scene. He disappeared in an alley.

He lit a cigarette. Looking at the corpse on the ground Shikamaru looked around again for any traces left. The crime scene was clean and his victim, Gantetsu, had told him all he needed to know. Now Shikamaru was waiting for the results of the researches done by the officers. They wouldn't find anything. Shadow had been very successful today.

"What a disgusting habit."

Shikamaru turned around spotting Temari standing with her hands on her hips behind the blockade. He had already wondered when she would come. "It doesn't concern you."

She ducked under the barrier tape and went towards him. "Yeah, but it concerns me if the pureness of the traces is contaminated."

He pulled out his small silver pocket-ashtray showing it to her. "I have this."

She looked shortly at the item in his hands before she walked past. "Then you can put that thing out now because there is always ash falling of a cigarette"

He sighed and stumped out his cigarette in his ashtray. He couldn't put his finger on why he did it, why he listened to her. "Were you lost or why is it that you come so late?"

She seemed to ignore his question and scanned the area. Then she bent over the dead body. "Who is this?"

"I'm waiting for an officer to bring me the info." He only knew her since this morning but he did not need much to see that she was annoyed. It was her first day she supervised the case and there was another victim already.

Ino came rushing to them. "Shikamaru, I have the information." She seemed to notice Temari then. "Oh. Hi, do I know you?"

"I'm Special Agent Temari Sabaku." The two women seemed to examine each other for a while. A behavior Shikamaru had noticed often between women.

Ino snapped out of it and told Temari politely that it was nice to meet her. She turned again to Shikamaru clearing her throat. "I have consulted Sakura on this one. He is – was – a member of Akatsuki. A guy only known as Gantetsu. There is not much more details on his life. He probably changed identity."

"Great, a victim without much background doesn't make this case any easier." Shikamaru sighed putting his hands into his pockets feigning despondency. His eyes drifted over to Temari who stood besides the victim and looked in no way crestfallen. He watched her eyes sparkling mischievously with confidence.

"Given up already? I'm just about to get started."

She was dangerous. Dangerous indeed.

A/N: R & R. Thanks^^