He sighed as he stepped out of the airport.

Turns out in Kiri, when it does not rain, there is fog.

The sky was covered with a shroud of grey, covering most of the faraway scenery.

There was a certain calmness amidst the grey, apart from the voidness it creates - nothing, nothing but greyness.

He caught a taxi and went to the hotel; overwhelmed, he sank himself into the bed without bothering to change into something more comfortable, hoping to find some peace in his sleep.

Sooner than he wished, he woke up from his futile attempt of slumber.

06:30.

He was not due to be at the meeting at 9am, and the Conference hall is located beneath his room.

He pulled his ponytail off and scratched his cascading black hair furiously.

Pulling himself out of his clothes, he went to the shower.

The warm water glided itself all across his body, and he rubbed shampoo and soap, perhaps along with some sense as well, onto himself.

His head was throbbing with the lack of hydration – he knew he should not have drunk that much on the plane.

The flight attendant, he remembered, looked horrified and concerned as she served him the third cup of scotch.

"Sir," he recalled that she wore her hair in two buns atop her head. "Are you sure you want another cup?"

He gave her an assuring smile before pouring the cup down his throat.


He sighed as he rubbed his hair dry, turning at the clock.

07:03.

He decided to put on a t-shirt and boxers for the time being; sitting on the bed, he turned on the television.

He was not paying attention to the flashing screen - the sound of people talking was annoying, troublesome.

But it made him feel less lonely.

Anything to fill the void in the room would be nice.

He walked up to the window and peeked through the curtains – all he saw was fog.

No clouds, no nothing.

"You know, I am always open to new options." He heard an especially irritating voice emanating from the television.

He turned and saw a silver-haired man, grinning sleazily at the reporter.

Beneath his face were the titles of the entertainment news.

"Hidan: I am always looking out for new options – career and romance."

Turns out Hidan is a fashion model. Not an especially famous one, rather, he is infamous for his 'bad boy', scandalous behaviour.

"Hidan-san," the reporter asked, in an ever-so curious voice. "What about your recent leaked sex tape, any comments?"

A masked man approached the camera and blocked the microphone. Hidan could be seen spitting out his tongue and winking at the camera.

"Hidan would have no comment on this." The man said, in a low, stern voice.

Then they jumped to commercials.

Shikamaru turned off the television.

Sex…tape?

He found himself turning on his computer and typing into the empty bar at the search engine.

'Hidan', 'Sex tape'.

He secretly prayed that the female lead was not her.

A million results popped up, he immediately clicked on the link from Konoha Entertainment News.

Glancing through the article, he let out a sigh of relief.

Of course she would not be so stupid to let him to record a sex tape.

The alleged star of the sex tape was another not-so famous female actress – she looked familiar but her name escaped his mind.

It does not matter.

It was definitely not Temari.

He turned as the telephone rang.

"Hello?" He picked it up.

"This is a morning call for Mr. Nara," the gentle voice said. "It is now eight in the morning."

"Thanks." He put the phone back at its place.

He took off his t-shirt, and changed into a dark suit.

He fixed his cufflinks, tying his hair back into his usual ponytail, and left the room.


The welcoming address was brief – just the way he liked it.

The CEO of the Kiri Corporation, Terumi Mei addressed the audience quickly before letting her subordinates to do the presentation themselves.

He was partially sleeping through the presentations – they were nothing new, everything was mentioned in the brochures he read beforehand.

"Very well," Mei announced with a smile. "After this there would be a wine reception."

Shikamaru stood up as the crowd moved, stretching his back.

At his peripheral vision, he saw a familiar shade of blonde.

He reached out and held a glass of red wine in his hand, waiting for her to turn around.

It was her.

She tied her four pigtails into two longer ones, emerald eyes shining like the real precious stones. She smiled at the man next to her and nodded, as he talked to her.

Then she looked up.

His dark obsidian eyes stared into her shining emerald ones.

His feet were pinned onto the ground as she approached; secretly he counted the steps she took.

Fifteen. It took her fifteen steps to bridge the gap that was between them for months

"Shikamaru." The sound of his name escaped her perfectly painted lips.

"It's been a long time." He saw that in her hand was a glass of champagne.

"It is." She replied, with a smile.

"About that," he dug his free hand into his pocket and fished something out.

He shoved a name card into her hand. "My name card - never got the opportunity to give you this."

Temari smirked and passed him one of hers. "Same here."

"How have you been?"

"Busy. Actually I am here with my brother." She turned around and next to her was a red-haired man. He was slightly shorter than him, his eyes teal, in a lighter shade of green. The expression on his face was unreadable.

"Sabuku no Gaara." He passed him a name card, to which Shikamaru returned one of his. The shorter ma offered his hand.

Something gave him an uneasy feeling around this man – he eyed Shikamaru coldly, as if he had detected some change in his sister's aura.

"Nara Shikamaru." He took the hand and shook it firmly. The red-haired man had a firm, hard grip – just like his sister.

"Mr. Sabuku, we have been looking around for you." Some voices buzzed next to them. They were faces that Shikamaru does not recognize.

Gaara nodded and excused himself. "Send my regards to Naruto."
He nodded mindlessly. Naruto?

"Busy, I could see that." Shikamaru smiled at her.

"Yeah." Her eyelids fluttered. "How have you been?"

"Fine." He replied with a smile. "You have time for dinner tonight? Thought we might catch up a little."

"Sure, I will make sure Gaara is well settled-down first, wait for me at the lobby at eight."

"Sure." He stared as the blonde glided thorugh crowds and disappeared.

He finished the glass of wine – it was bittersweet.


He exited the lift at eight o'clock sharp, only to see that she was already there.

She was dressed in a camel coloured trench coat, complete with darker brown boots.

Her hair was let down, and she stared impatiently at the watch as he approached.

"Let's go." He opened the door for her as they walked out of the hotel.

The night remained foggy, the lights looked like gigantic fireflies hidden amidst the grey curtains surrounding the city.

He opted for a casual suit jacket and more comfortable trousers.

"What's famous in Kiri in terms of food?" She arched an eyebrow and asked.

"Seafood I suppose," he suggested. "After all, they began as a fishing village."

"Argh," she pouted. "Squids and Octopuses are definitely not what I have in mind for a good dinner."

He laughed a little. "Let's just go get normal food."

"Yeah." She smiled back at him.

They managed to find a small cozy restaurant, just a few turns from the hotel.

"I heard from Neji," she stared into his dark eyes. "So you have finally gotten over Ino, huh?"

He finished his tiny cup of sake and put it back on the table.
"I suppose so." He tried to change the subject.

"What's her name?" She raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Your girlfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend." He snapped, looking away. "It's Shiho, you know her." He tried to soften up a little with his voive.

"Ah." There was no jealousy, no anger - just the sound of pure acknowledgement.

"You have gotten over Hidan already, haven't you?." It was the first thing that popped up his mind.

"I did a long time ago." Temari answered, her gaze still like the great green lake in storybooks he read as a child.

Gentle, peaceful, wave-less. As flat as the surface of a mirror – you could see your own reflection.

For a second, Shikamaru thought he saw himself in those brilliant green eyes.

"So… tell me about Shiho."

"She is fine." He quickly disposed of the question.

Temari said nothing in return, sipping from her cup of tea.

"I heard you hosted dinner for Neji, when he visited Suna."

"Yeah, I showed him around." She said briefly.

"You know, he likes you." He poured himself another cup of sake.

"Really?" She looked away thoughtfully.

Shikamaru waited for her to say something.

"He is a nice guy."

He did not know how to read this – either she likes him, but was expressing it subtly, or she treated him like a friend.

Well, they are not mutually exclusive. He thought to himself as he drank from the tiny cup.

Not sure what to say, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Temari was not a particularly talkative person, as usual.


They were side by side, as they slowly walked back to the hotel.

"Thanks for the meal again," she smiled with a tiny frown on her face. "It should have been my turn."

"Save it for next time, if you insist." He shrugged with a smile.

"Hmph." She smiled and looked away.

"You know," she suddenly said, as they took a turn at a corner of the street. "It is not good to treat her like that, Shiho."

"She doesn't seem to have a problem with that arrangement," he shrugged.

Temari stopped walking, Shikamaru turned around and stared at her.

Her face was firm and stern. "You know Shikamaru, I have read something like this in a book."

He looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

She stared back, her eyes lost their calmness, like a storm brewing far away.

The skies roared faintly above them, water droplets began to fall, creating transient craters on the ground.

The water fell and dyed the ground it landed into a darker shade of grey.

Shikamaru took a step forward and opened his umbrella, shrouding the both of them beneath it.

He could feel her warm breath at his neck, her perfume lingering in the air.

"It says that you become the people you love, partly, completely." She said, sternly, softly, each word stinging Shikamaru bit by bit.

"I have never met Ino before, but from what you're doing and what I have heard," she took a short breath before she continued. "You are just like her – selfish, only thinking for yourself. You make someone who cared for you wait indefinitely just because you are not sure about yourself."

Shikamaru's eyes widened.

How could he not realize?

All he ever acknowledged was the Shiho was like his former self – pathetic, forever patient and waiting for affection that does not exist.

The only reason why he made such a realization was that he changed – and became more like Ino.

Temari sucked her teeth and ended the comment with a smirk.

The rain was pouring over their heads, as if the sky was crying from far above.

She sighed and walked away from the umbrella, the rain began to fall onto her hair, dying her camel coloured trench coat into a darker shade of brown.

He rushed over and shadowed her with the umbrella, allowing the rain to pour over him, causing his coat to soak and his hair to droop downwards.

Temari said nothing as she continued on her way forward, he followed her, his umbrella still shading her from the wind and rain.

He picked up the pace as her steps quickened.

"What about you?" He stopped her in her tracks. "What have you become, because of the person you love?"

Temari turned around and looked at him in a pained and regretful expression.

She bit her lip, and left him standing there with his umbrella afterwards.

Walking in the rain, she walked proudly with her head held up, although she was biting on her lip, trying to keep her expression composed.

She only told him one sentence. Two words.

It was more than enough. Her voice seemed soft but calm, its sound slowly fading into the murmuring of the rain. It felt like a slow but excruciating stab to his heart.

"I waited."


Author's note:

Finally a union - now how should Shikamaru (or rather, me) salvage the situation?

Well, stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Enjoy! xoxo

V.S.V