Temari remained seating a good few seconds after Shikamaru's parents left the room. Once she was sure her face had returned to it's normal color, she stood up at an alarming rate which startled both Kankurou and Shikamaru beside her.

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru murmured before relaxing back onto the couch. Temari noted that his face was still red, but turned her attention to Gaara who was staring at the tree before them.

"Gaara, what the hell was that?!" she finally yelled, not at all trying to suppress her voice. Ignoring the sounds of something dropping in the kitchen as if someone was startled, she fumed angrily at him. She couldn't believe Gaara had said that! Not only was that bit of information private, but she had always thought Kankurou was the type to reveal her bedroom life to the public.

Gaara merely stared at her a fraction of a second before he stood up. At first, Temari thought that he was going to Sand Coffin her for yelling at him, but she was surprised when he wandered to the Christmas tree. She stared, perplexed as reached out to touch a pine needle lightly. She couldn't believe he had ignored her entirely.

On the couch, a distinct chuckle sounded from Kankurou. She shot a glare at him, knowing he found the whole situation funny. Just like him to laugh at her misery.

She was prepared to yell at Gaara again for ignoring her, but was interrupted as he spoke suddenly.

"Why do people decorate trees?"

Her eyes widened at the innocence found in his voice, her predicament momentarily forgotten. They had never had Christmas trees in Suna because it would simply be absurd wasting water on a plant species unknown to the desert when the whole village was in a drought. Obviously Gaara had never heard of a Christmas tree, much less decorated one.

She bit her lip nervously, then half turned to look down at Shikamaru, who was either admiring her backside or the Christmas tree. He looked up to meet her gaze as he realized she was looking at him. Immediately he grinned, realizing she was requesting help in her own proud way. Giving her a look that read plainly 'you-owe-me-one', he stretched lightly against the couch before standing up. Temari couldn't help but grin as he walked over to the Christmas tree.

"Each village has it's own reasons for decorating trees for Christmas, though it was Konoha that made the Christmas tree popular in the first place," he said as he sat down heavily on the floor and pulled a box towards him. He began rooting around in it as he continued talking.

"It began when the First Hokage passed away. Christmas was known to be his favorite holiday, and the villagers wanted to do something special for the day to honor his memory. He was renown for his abilities to create plants, so the Second Hokage suggested putting trees in everybody's homes."

He paused as he finally pulled out what appeared to be a spherical glass object. With a yawn, he stood up and reached forward to hang the ornament from a branch. Temari noted that Gaara was following Shikamaru's movements with a curious look. The latter sat back down and once more began looking through the box.

"At first, they had a problem deciding which tree to pick. The oak was a popular idea because of it's obvious abundance in Konoha. But the problem with that was that the tree was bare and largely unattractive during winter. So, a new tree came into the picture; a conifer. Not only does it's needles remain on during winter, but is has a distinct pleasurable scent."

Gaara seemed to lean forward and sniff the tree after that comment. Temari had sat back down by then, and she shared and amused look with Kankurou as Shikamaru continued on.

"Once a tree was placed in everyone's houses, people began realizing that it really wasn't that attractive despite it's abundance of leaves. Once again, it was the Second Hokage who suggested decorating it with lights and ornaments. Not only did it make the trees look better, but it also honored the First Hokage's memory even more, as he was known to have a love for decorating." He stopped unexpectedly, pulling out another spherical ornament. He stood up and with an odd sort nod, handed it to Gaara.

At first, Gaara seemed surprised, but then he took it with a nod of his head in a silent thanks. He looked thoughtfully at the tree before him, which made Temari smile to herself. Despite her earlier thoughts of murdering her brother, he looked so innocent as he reached forward and placed the object on the tree.

He stood back to admire it, before turning to Shikamaru once more. "Thank you for telling me that. Temari will be sleeping in your room tonight, although if you touch her I'll personally murder you."

Even though Temari was shocked that Gaara had agreed to let her spend the night in Shikamaru's room, she smirked at the way Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders in a way that suggested he wasn't used to 'thank-you's' that included death threats.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Gaara turned around. His gaze lingered on her as if he was backing up the earlier threat, before he glanced at Kankurou. "I expect both of you to decorate this tree." At first hesitant, Kankurou and Temari shot up as he added, "Now", in a voice reminiscent of the Shukaku's. She shared a look with Kankurou as they made their way to the boxes.

At once, Kankurou dove into a box, pulling out a long strand of tinsel. "How do you want this on the tree?" he questioned Shikamaru.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Any way you want. If the tree turns out bad, my mom can't gripe at me because you three are helping." Temari chuckled as Kankurou raised his eyebrows before turning to the tree. As soon as Gaara was rooting around in the nearest box, she turned to face Shikamaru.

"Looks like we're sharing a room tonight," she said with a mischievous glint in her eye. After not seeing Shikamaru for a month, she was really looking forward to spending the night in his room. Ignoring the look Gaara shot them, Shikamaru merely smirked. "Now help me decorate, you troublesome woman."

She smirked in reply as she sat on the floor and pulled a box towards her. She had really missed the way he called her troublesome. It was different than how he called other people troublesome. It had as much feeling in it as the lazy nin could muster and she began to think of it as an endearment of sorts. Sure other couples had sweeter sounding names like 'honey' or 'dear', but she had her own unique nickname and frankly she liked it.

She pulled out a tin box that looked like it had been used as a cookie container once. It had a golden tint to it and the picture of the jolly looking Santa Clause eating cookies was fading, but she could clearly read the words 'NARA ORNAMENTS' printed on the lid. She looked at it curiously, wondering if she should go through the box.

Shikamaru's voice broke through her thoughts. "You can hang those up if you want."

She looked across from her to see him studying her in his own lazy way that made her face flush quite uncharacteristically. He raised his eyebrows in question, but went on. "Each Nara family has a box of these. I think it's troublesome being kept in an old cookie container, but my mother claims it's 'sentimental' that way." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever that means.

Temari looked back down at the tin box and popped the lid off with little difficulty. At once the ornaments made her smile. There were seven wooden deer figures. Four of them were bucks as they clearly had antlers. She picked up one of the bucks and saw it had a name and a date printed on it. Curious, she pulled it closer to her face to read 'SHIKAMARU - SEPTEMBER 22'. She pulled a doe figure towards her and read 'YOSHINO' followed by what was presumably her birthday.

"They are hand carved at birth, or marriage in my mother's case. Its really troublesome, but it's a big deal in the Nara clan. Sometimes families have deer for people outside the clan if they are considered family." He reached over to pick another deer up. "This says 'Chouji Akimichi'. His father has one, as well as Ino and her father."

Temari didn't speak after the explanation. The figures were obviously important to Shikamaru, despite his 'troublesome' comment and in a way it was touching to be allowed to see such an important family tradition. Glancing up, she saw Gaara assisting Kankurou with the tinsel. She only wished her little family could have something as special as these deer ornaments.

She looked back to Shikamaru as she realized he had been staring at her. Avoiding his gaze, she nervously put the deer back into the box and prepared to stand up to take them to the tree. However, Shikamaru reached over to rest a hand on her arm. Startled, she began to voice her complaint before she caught the caring look in his onyx colored eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked earnestly.

She couldn't help but smile a little at his sincerity. It wasn't often they had moments like these. Seeing her smile mimicked on his face, she nodded wordlessly. His hand moved to her face, and he ran a thumb across her cheek leaving a tingling trail. He leaned forward suddenly and caught her lips in a tender kiss, so unlike the usual brusque ones Temari usually forced upon him. She didn't know if it was the 'Christmas spirit' kicking in, but she responded just as gently, wrapping her arms around his neck despite the awkwardness of standing on her knees. His arms hands traveled down to hold her by the waist as his tongue---

"Hey, will you two stop sharing saliva and help decorate?" Kankurou's voice startled them and they both pulled a part instantly, faces red. Gaara was looking on with a killer intent on his eye, although the tinsel wrapped around his body made it look humorous. Temari stood up with all the intent of strangling Kankurou with tinsel. He immediately ran for cover behind Gaara who was struggling against the holds of the tinsel.

"Kankurou, stop hiding behind me like a coward. Temari, stop trying to kill him. Both of you, help me get out of this," he commanded, breaking Temari out of her killing rage.

She finally got a good look at his predicament and immediately startled laughing. Kankurou and Shikamaru followed suit. It was just too comical; Gaara, fearsome killer and Kazekage of Suna, wrapped in Christmas tinsel! She only wished she had a camera with her…

Grinning at Gaara's now red face, Temari leaned forward and began helping Kankurou unwrap him. "How did you even get in this mess?" she asked, pulling tinsel from around his neck.

"I don't know," he responded, gritting his teeth in either embarrassment or anger.

When he was finally released of the tinsel's death grip, the group went back to decorations. Well, Temari went back to Shikamaru, hoping to continue what they were doing.

However, they were interrupted as they heard footsteps behind them. She turned to see Yoshino and Shikaku walk into the room. Her gaze focused on Yoshino who was holding a plate of cookies and what appeared to be a glass container of candy canes. Shikaku followed, balancing a plate of hot chocolate on his hands.

"Come and take a break from your…hard work," Yoshino said, eyeing the Christmas tree distastefully. Temari couldn't help but grin as Yoshino shot her son a dangerous look. It was a good think she and her brothers were helping, otherwise Shikamaru might have been blamed and subsequently punished for the rather odd looking Christmas tree.

She followed Shikamaru to the couch, sitting in the same spot as before. Once everyone had hot chocolate, Yoshino and Shikaku began discussing the tree with Gaara. Kankurou added a comment in every now and then while Temari merely sipped her hot chocolate thoughtfully.

She liked to be able to just sit and feel at home. In her opinion, the Christmas tree was beautiful, although it was only half-decorated and practically covered in tinsel. She liked the idea that they had decorated it together like a normal family should. The conversation ebbed from her conscious as she felt Shikamaru's arm snake around her shoulder. She was practically leaning against him anyway, so she set the hot chocolate down on the coffee table before them and rested her head on his shoulder. Above everything else, she liked the way her head tucked into a perfect fit against the croock of his neck.

She had longed for the day when she could feel like a family. Sitting there with the man she loved holding her, listening to his parents and her brothers talking, she finally felt like her dreams had come true.

"You know, we can always ditch them for awhile," Shikamaru whispered in her ear.

She jabbed him in the ribs. The thought of his bed was nice, but she liked feeling like she was apart of a family even more.

"Sounds good," she said as she changed her mind a few seconds later after Kankurou remarked about their sex life.

A/N: Thanks to all who are reviewing... I'm thinking there will be four more chapters. I'm not sure, it depends on how much I'll write tomorrow. Merry Christmas Eve! Next chapter: Kankurou's POV