Hey, a quick question...what is a man? Is he a miserable pile of SECRETS?

Sorry about that. Lost my train of thought. Anyways, hello! Welcome to chapter six of You-Should-Really-Know-By-Now! In which the final two members of our time-traveling gang still don't remember anything yet!

Not to worry, though: I HAVE THINGS PLANNED OUT. After two more chapters (counting this one, even!) you guys will finally get to see who's coming back next. Lucky you.

So, what's going to happen in this little chapter? Well, mainly Temari and Shikamaru are going to have their rematch. Pretty sure that's the only thing of any importance happening today.

I just realized, this one day in a group of ninja's lives is taking four or five chapters to tell. Huh. Well, no one ever accused me of brevity, I suppose.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!...please?

CHAPTER SIX

THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

-OR-

HOW TO BEST STATE THE OBVIOUS WHEN OTHER PEOPLE DON'T GET IT

-Four o'clock,- Shikamaru thought absently, laying at the center of Suna's arena and looking up at the beautiful sky. The stands were empty, though thanks to experiences long-spent, Shikamaru could easily imagine them filled to the brim with a cheering crowd...or a booing one. -Wonder whether she'll show up or not.-

Sometimes, whatever Shikamaru was thinking about would happen as soon as he was done thinking it. This was not one of those times.

He blinked, thinking back on the future. -Temari,- he thought. He chuckled slightly, letting his eyes roam freely across the cloudy sky. -Impossibly enough, she fell for me once before.- His eyes slowly blinked shut. -I wonder if I really can make it all happen over again...-

0-0-0-0

"Shikamaru?" Temari said to him in his dreams. Shikamaru was an adept dreamer.

The boy, the young man, the person uncertain who he was, looked up from his prone position. Even in his dreams, he'd lay down. Lazy incarnate. "Yeah?" he asked the mental construct. Definitely Temari, but older than she really was. About ten years older.

She smiled, leaning up against their tree on the hill. The sky was always blue. Usually cloudy, though occasionally Shikamaru liked a clear day. "Nothing. It's just that it's been a while since I've seen you."

Shikamaru smiled as well. "Been too busy with the real thing," he joked. The dream-world Temari giggled. Very few people besides Shikamaru had ever heard Temari giggle, in dreams or otherwise. "I just wanted a chance to say goodbye to you. Maybe for a while." the smile dropped off of his face rather quickly, "Maybe even forever." He paused for a moment, then seemed to snap out of it, smiling an obviously false smile up at the girl he loved. "Even if you can't really hear me."

Temari's eyebrows sunk downward slightly, and her smile did not move. It was odd that a smile could only become sad by moving body parts other than the mouth. "I see," she said. "How long, do you think?"

"I was hoping you knew," Shikamaru said, turning his whole body to better face her. "I did originally create you as a way to easier imagine what Temari would think of my life and how it was going at the moment."

"Well, I can only know what you do! I'm your dream!" Temari defended herself.

Shikamaru closed his eyes momentarily. "I know," he said, "But you have a way of putting things in a perspective that I would never think about." He smiled again. "Heh. Figures you'd train me to never take a break from you even when I'm asleep."

The half-false Temari giggled. "So, I'm 'troublesome' to you, am I?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Definitely not. Not ever. In fact, it's actually kind of hard for me to call stuff that after..." his eyes sank again. His heart was going to become strained from all these emotional backflips. "Well. You know."

Temari outright frowned. "Right," she said softly. No other words needed to be said.

But Shikamaru did want to say some words, whether they were needed or not. "I already miss you, you know," he said, voice cracking a little.

The young woman looked at him with pity and empathy. "Stressed out, huh?" She smiled a playful smile, eyes half-lidded. "Well, you know what they say helps with stress..." She had switched to her 'sultry' voice, which Shikamaru had been lucky enough to hear several times in the past ten years.

Shikamaru looked down at his twelve-year-old body. "Would that count as pedophilia?" he asked, reacting with the usual uncaring-either-way attitude that he always would, whether the flirting Temari was real or not.

Temari's mood swapped instantly. As frequently happened with the real thing. "I dunno," she said, half-curious. "Hey, why are you dreaming in your twelve-year-old body anyway?"

Shikamaru shrugged, even though he knew exactly what the reason for that was. "Have to start thinking of myself that way," he explained, rolling back over on his back. "Otherwise it's gonna be really difficult to survive these next ten years all over again."

Temari lay her head on his chest, staring up at the clouds as well. She looked like her fifteen-year-old-self again. "I see," she said. "Well, then, let's start over again." She looked up into his eyes. "Hi," she smiled, blushing slightly. "I'm Temari." Her eyebrows creased. "And you'd better not mess with me!"

"I'm Shikamaru," the boy chuckled. "And don't worry. Messing with you would be too much effort."

Temari giggled again. "You always knew how to make me laugh," she said, continuing to smile.

"Is that why you fell for me?" Shikamaru asked.

Temari sat up. "I only know what you do, Shikamaru," she said gently. She stood up. "Well, I guess it's time."

Shikamaru sighed. "Yep. I can hear you shouting my name now." He chuckled. "You sound angry."

Temari turned, smiling down at her fiancee. "Don't worry," she changed the subject back to what was important. "I know I'll see you again soon," she said as the wind picked up. "Don't keep me waiting," she shouted, as if from a distance, as her body slowly turned to sand and blew away.

Shikamaru watched her go with sadness wrenching his chest. "See ya," he mumbled, confusion weighing down his thoughts. It was strange. He'd be seeing the same girl when he woke up, but she'd be a different girl, too. Shikamaru wasn't sure how he felt about that.

0-0-0-0

"Will you wake up already?" shouted Temari in the real world. -I swear, if he doesn't wake up in the next ten seconds...-

Shikamaru's eyes slowly came open. An angel stood above him. He smiled slightly. -I assume this is God's wrath, then?- he thought sardonically as he sat up.

"Finally!" Temari continued shouting as Shikamaru stood. "What is wrong with you? You tell me to come fight you at four, and then when I show up you're asleep?"

"You were late," Shikamaru explained, scratching his itchy nose. "I had nothing else to do."

Temari sighed. "Ten minutes," she sighed, walking back away from him to the edge of the arena. She suddenly turned in her tracks, taking a step towards the shadow-possession-expert so as to better yell "Do you ever do anything besides sleep?"

"Occasionally I eat," Shikamaru responded, blinking his slow blink.

"Hah hah hah hah!" came a voice from the thought-empty stands. Shikamaru turned to the voice, slightly startled. "What?" Kankuro continued. "That was pretty funny!"

Shikamaru blinked yet again. -Kankuro,- he thought, staring at the slouched-back figure. His eyes moved a little to the right, Kankuro's left, and therefore to the leaned-forward figure of -Gaara.- His head snapped back to Temari quickly. "Glad your brothers are supportive of you," he smirked, "But you're gonna need a much larger cheering section than that if you want to beat me."

Temari whipped her fan from behind her back, sending harmless winds into the general atmosphere and ruffling Shikamaru's clothes slightly. A common intimidation technique of hers. Too common, in fact. If one had been through enough fights with Temari, as Shikamaru had, they would be completely unaffected besides perhaps their hair being messed up. "Tuh," the fangirl scoffed, though she still smiled. "I'm pretty sure my brothers are actually rooting for me to lose."

Shikamaru turned back up to Kankuro. "Wow. You really are a jerk."

Kankuro closed his eyes and smiled, showing his teeth, as he gave the thumbs-up to Shikamaru. Inside his head, he was anything but jovial. -I'm still pretty darn suspicions of this kid,- he thought. -I mean, after meeting Temari once, and that once being the time he fights her, he comes a few hundred miles just to ask her out on a date?- Less of a distance for a ninja than a civilian, admittedly, but still pretty extreme. -Then there was all that asking if Gaara had been acting strange lately.- He looked over to his brother. -Did the Leaf Village do something to him while we were there?-

Shikamaru turned back to Temari, now serious. "Alright, then. I'm ready to start whenever you are."

"'Bout time," Temari smirked. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your butt all over this arena." With this, she reared back her fan...

0-0-0-0

Stamp. Sign. Read. Sigh.

It was just another cycle. Like the seasons. Like daytime and nighttime and back to day again. Like Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast. Like Sasuke says something quietly, Sakura swoons, Naruto says something stupid, Sakura hurts Naruto, Sasuke says something quietly.

...well, maybe not that last one. Anymore. Time travel was odd.

Tsunade sighed an extra time at the paperwork in front of her, twirling her pencil around her fingers. It was a petition, signed by several prisoners, for better food in the prisons. The Fifth Hokage crunched the paper up and threw it away over her shoulder.

Shizune noticed. "Lady Tsunade," she said quietly. "Are you alright?" No matter how stupid or boring the paperwork in front of them was, it was not done for a Hokage to simply ball up any of it and throw it away.

Tsuande leaned back in her chair. One could call her look pouting, almost, except that it looked much more...contemplative than that. Serious, too. "Shizune," Tsunade finally said, "What do you think about love?"

There was a short silence. Tonton broke it: "Oink, oink?"

Shizune tilted her head to the right as she walked over to her mistress's desk. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Tsunade leaned forward again, thinking back to a couple hours earlier. "Shikamaru himself said that he had always thought it unlikely that Temari would ever fall for him," she closed her eyes, hands moving into their usual togetherness-stance. Almost like she was praying. "And from what little I know about this girl and her psychology and attitude, and even from what Shikamaru told me about her in the future..." she trailed off.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked, beginning to get the gist of what her Lady was talking about.

"Do you really think it could happen a second time, Shizune?" Tsunade asked, breaking her stoic features. She looked...sad.

Shizune raised her hand up slightly. She sighed, bringing it back down. Then, with a slow smile :"Of course. True love conquers all, as they say!"

Tsunade sighed as well. "I'm not sure I really believe in that, Shizune." She looked downwards slightly. "I mean, let's say 'true love' doesn't exist, even if only for the sake of argument." She leaned back in her chair, slouching a little. Not like her. "To guarantee that you'd end up with someone a second time after time-traveling, you'd have to do exactly the same things you did the first time around again, at exactly the same times, in exactly the same ways.." She leaned her head on her hand, looking a little depressed. "Anything else would make the whole thing-"

"Still a lot less of a long shot than the odds of their getting together the first time around," Shizune interrupted. "After all, this way at least you know which person you want ahead of time, and you know that somewhere they have at the very least the potential to want you too." She shrugged. "Honestly, true love or not, I'm really not worried about them at all."

Tsunade was silent for a few moments. "Heh," she finally smiled. "Thanks a lot, Shizune. That really helped."

"Glad to be of service, m'lady," Shizune responded, bowing slightly and then turning away to do more secretary-ish duties.

Tsuande stopped smiling as soon as her friend and confidante turned away. -Well, at least I didn't lie about feeling thankful for her trying,- she murmured, turning around with her chair to stare out the window. -I know how much it hurts to lose someone you love. So how much more would it hurt for someone who used to love you to stop doing so?- Another sigh, this one the most heartfelt yet. -I hope that things are going well for you out there, Shikamaru...I really do.-

0-0-0-0

...and brought it back forward, sending scything gusts of wind bursting forth. Each one sped towards Shikamaru, slightly less deadly than they would have been under normal circumstances.

-Alright, on the one hand,- Shikamaru thought in just the split second or so between the air taking off and reaching him, -These are going to be less-than-deadly, you know this information to be accurate. After all, Temari's not fighting you to kill, because this is a sparring match.- He shut his eyes tight, -On the other hand, this is gonna hurt a lot.-

The gust of wind impacted, causing Shikamaru's ears to pop. Superficial cuts appeared all over his body as the dancing blades of air scattered over and around it, their total force being enough to push an average-sized adult man backwards several feet. But Shikamaru, a scrawnier-than-the-usual twelve-year old, stood his ground, unflinching.

The smirk disappeared from Temari's face. "Wh-what the?" she exclaimed.

Shikamaru silently thanked the two kunai he'd sleight-of-handed down the back of his pant-legs, which were now pinning the soles of his shoes to the ground. "That all you've got?" Shikamaru asked, pulling out a third kunai. "I barely felt a thing!" And he threw the projectile.

Temari reflexively waved her fan, allowing the wind from its waving to nullify the momentum of the kunai and send it spiraling to the ground. "I could say the same to-" she suddenly gasped, and barely dodged out of the way of the two kunai Shikamaru had quickly pulled back of from his pant legs (steel string: more useful than the average ninja realizes) and thrown. Not to kill, of course. Not even to harm. Merely to snip off some hair and the edge of the sash around her waist. But if she hadn't dodged, Shikamaru could have easily had a good claim to have won their bout through virtue of 'I could have killed you right there.'

"Gotcha," Shikamaru smirked, resuming his neutral position as he walked straight forward, keeping an eye on Temari the entire time. "Heh. You were a better strategist than that the last time we fought, as I recall."

Temari scowled, readying her weapon again. "That trick won't work twice," she growled, watching Shikamaru just as carefully as he watched her. "If you want to be technical about things, it didn't work this time. Oh, well." The scowl went away, to be replaced by a small smile that showed how she really felt. "Now the fun can really begin."

Kankuro gaped from the stands. "Woah, did you see that?" he finally exclaimed, turning to the redhead of the trio. "I don't think I've ever seen Temari actually have to dodge a projectile before. Have you?"

Gaara shook his head. "No," he said, a little bit unnecessarily. "Temari's always been able to knock them away with her fan."

"Yeah," Kankuro concurred as Shikamaru stopped moving, directly across from Temari once again. "I'd forgotten how smart this Shikamaru kid could be."

The darkness and air users stared at each other for a few minutes. Shikamaru finally sighed and sat down. "Alright, then, I'm gonna sit here and think for a bit about what I'm gonna do next."

Temari gaped, eye twitching. "You're seriously sitting down and thinking in the middle of a freakin' battlefield?" she shouted, nonplussed.

"And how lazy," Kankuro chuckled. "This kid is something else, I'll give him that."

Temari growled. "Be serious!" she shouted, waving her fan. Another large blast of wind rushed forward at Shikamaru.

The boy sighed as he lay backwards, allowing the wind to pass over him harmlessly. It hit the wall behind him, creating a small hole that no one would later say was their fault, as battling in the Arena outside of special events was technically illegal. "You, know I've gotta say, the clouds are really nice today," he said. He then rolled to the right quickly, letting another windburst pass by harmlessly, except of course not harmlessly to the wall. "Ah, much better. Couldn't quite see that one before."

Temari gritted her teeth in frustration. "QUIT MOVING!" she yelled, sending forth a gust of wind so large it couldn't possibly be dodged without jutsu, or at least some effort. (However, making the blast that large also made it much slower and weaker, so the wall, if nothing else, would be fine this time.)

Shikamaru suddenly tossed a small capsule from his hair. It landed a little to the side of him, engulfing him in smoke. A split-second later, the wind swept away all of the smoke, revealing empty space where Shikamaru used to be.

"What?" Temari exclaimed again. She looked around. "Where did he go?" She looked around, confused, for a second or two.

"BEHIND YOU!" Kankuro shouted from the stands, showing he really did care.

Temari turned, almost quickly enough. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru said from directly inside Temari's shadow, performing the necessary hand sign. It was, of course, an instantaneous success. Shikamaru smirked. "Shadow Possession: Success!" he said, just to add insult to injury.

Kankuro groaned, sitting back in his seat. "Great," he grumbled. "It's all over now. And the kid has plenty of chakra left this time, too. Just fantastic."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. Never assume it's over until the last seconds of battle pass. He'd learned that from Naruto, too. "We'll see," he said quietly, enough so that Kankuro didn't hear him.

Shikamaru continued smirking as he straightened up, Temari being forced to straighten up as well. "Alright, then," he said, placing his hands into his pockets. Temari placed hers into imaginary pockets as well. "Looks like I...wait a second." He suddenly frowned, because he noticed Temari didn't look worried at all. Quite smug, actually. "What are you up to?" he asked sharply, leaning forward slightly.

"Thanks for leaning forward," Temari said. "Gives me a better shot." Right after she said this, Shikamaru's eyes widened, giving her an even better shot. Temari suddenly blew out a puff of air straight at Shikamaru's eye. Thanks to her control of wind, and her Wind-type chakra, she was able to put a very small amount of cutting ability into that puff of air, too.

"GAH!" said Shikamaru, stumbling backwards, concentration broken, and clutching his eyeball. Not in pain (though there was a mild amount of that as well) but in simple shock. Some things you just don't expect to affect you quite as much as they do, and so their effect can be greater than a more powerful effect you know is coming. He opened his other eye in realization just before Temari's closed, metal, giant fan hit him in the face. -Well, this is going to hurt, too.-

The loud amount of noise produced by that metal fan meeting his skull at an exceedingly high speed seemed to confirm Shikamaru's' theory. Kankuro flinched, anyway. Gaara, having seen and caused much worse, remained unfazed...well, his eyebrow was raised, for he had seen what Temari had done to get free. Odd, but effective, he supposed.

Shikamaru landed at the edge of the arena, several yards away from Temari. -Note to self,- he groaned, even in his mind, as he clutched the knot that was rapidly forming on his head. -Don't ever shadow-possess Temari again.-

"Sorry about using such weird tactics," Temari said, and though Shikamaru wasn't certain, she sounded sincere about it. "I don't normally fight that dirty. But when you paralyze a girl's entire body besides her eyes and mouth, she starts running out of options."

"Understandable," growled Shikamaru non-sarcastically, managing to stand up off the ground, still a little dizzy, and very annoyed. Also, his eye still stung a tiny bit. Plus, he had a throbbing headache now. "I won't try that trick again." He blinked a little more rapidly than usual. -Alright, then. Plan A failed, and instead of her being annoyed and unfocused, I am.- He mentally shook his head, though his real one wisely continued to glue his eyes to his opponent. -Think. What is my next move?-

"Hyah!" Temari shouted, putting just a tiny bit more oomph in her swing by doing so. Another wave of air shot forward, homing in on Shikamaru.

Aforementioned shinobi barely dodged to the side, surprised. Another hole in the wall, slightly wider than the other one. Shikamaru grinned. -That's it!- he thought. He dashed into the newly-made hole, causing everyone watching him to blink at the simplicity of this new plan. The simplicity that none of them had even thought of.

"Hey! You're outside the arena, moron!" Temari shouted. She didn't really mean it, Shikamaru hoped.

Shikamaru's head poked into the hole. "Never said you couldn't go out of it," he called back before disappearing again.

Temari smiled a small smile, raising her fan into the air. "I'm not saying you can't...I'm just saying it's a bad idea." She brought the fan down. "Wind Style: Sandstorm Jutsu!"

The floor of the arena was made of hard stone. The ground outside of it was sand. As soon as the wind hit the sand, it formed into a tornado that tossed the grains of rock and dirt this way and that, buffeting Shikamaru hundreds of times a second. The grains really hurt when they hit his cuts.

-Ugh,- Shikamaru thought. -Nice going, Shikamaru. You just had to choose an arena where you two are on equal terms.- His eyes strained against the wind. Sadly, the amount of sand being thrown around was nowhere near enough to cast any consistent shadows for Shikamaru to utilize, and the sun was such in the sky that no shadows nearby reached his own. And even if they did, he couldn't focus enough to stretch his shadow all the way over to Temari through the windstorm. Probably didn't have enough chakra to stretch it that distance, either. At the very least, he didn't feel like he had much chakra at all while the multiple grains of sand were lodging themselves in his cuts. -She destroys me on equal terms! I have to have a handicap just to stand a chance! What were you thinking, Shikamaru?-

The wind finally died down, and Shikamaru stumbled forward, now not fighting any of it off. "Had enough?" Temari asked him, then sent another wave of wind and sand at him before he had time to answer. -Alright, I've got him stuck in one spot now, and he's too far away to do anything about it.- She grinned, though her eyebrows made it sinister. -I've got him, this time.-

"GAAAH!" Shikamaru screamed as the second bout of wind hit him. Inside, he was much calmer. Nowhere near calm, but still. -Darn it! Think...what's the best way out of this situation? Heck with that, I'll settle for any way...she's got me pinned down here!-

"Not looking good for the kid," Kankuro murmured,. 'The kid' was quickly becoming his unconscious nickname for Shikamaru. "He really should just give up as soon as this attack ends. After all, he's only a mid-range fighter, and Temari's attacking him from long range." He looked around for a moment to confirm his thoughts so as to not sound like an idiot when he said his next sentence. "Plus, there's nothing around here for him to extend his reach with."

"Probably," admitted Gaara, leaning back in his chair, finally. Still, he didn't say "Definitely," at least.

The second burst of wind subsided, causing Shikamaru to outright fall to the ground. "I'll give you three seconds to give up before the next wave starts," Temari stated, loud enough for Shikamaru to hear. The blonde girl of the sand smirked in her head. -Heh. Sorry, Shikamaru, but you've lost this time. Funny how even the best of plans fall apart if your enemy does just one unexpected thing.-

The first second passed.

-This is bad,- Shikamaru thought. -None of my ninja tools can reach her or even do anything effective, and I have no way of distracting her. She's already been distracted twice. She won't let her guard down a third time. And to be perfectly honest, my opponent letting their guard down is what I always rely on.-

Another second passed.

"Alright, then!" Temari exclaimed, raising her fan. "Time is up..."

'Time is up' connected, subconsciously, to death in Shikamaru's mind. The biggest death in Shikamaru's life was his parents, but the one that had had the most time to sink in and impact him was Asuma's death. Thus, Shikamaru thought of Asuma. Rather than think about his teacher at the moment of his death, though, Shikamaru thought back to his most recent memories of the man. Asuma appeared in his mind's eye, just as he was this morning. Training with Shikamaru, and giving advice on how to use trench knives. "Always remember," his sensei said in his memories, "The basics of trench knife-fighting, as with anything, are key. Never forget the basics, no matter how much you learn."

-That's it!- thought Shikamaru, eyes snapping open. Then they closed again, as Shikamaru didn't have time to facepalm. -Duh. Wow, I'm such an idiot.-

The third second passed.

"NOW!" shouted Temari, using the energy released by shouting as such to enhance the power of her swing.

An instant before the wind impacted Shikamaru's prone form, he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. A pile of sand was left in his place, which was then blown around in several directions, doubling the power of the sandstorm. Unfortunate that there was no target there.

"What the heck?" Kankuro asked himself, while Gaara raised an eyebrow. They did both these things, even though they couldn't see Shikamaru, because Temari reared back in sudden realization, and looked slightly panicked as well. Not things they usually saw when watching Temari's battles.. In fact, Temari whispered something to herself, too, but what she said will not be recorded here, as it was not a very nice thing to say.

"It's not very proper of a lady to use language like that, is it?" asked Shikamaru, from a distance behind Temari. She turned to see him leaning up against the arena wall. Then, her face froze in an expression of terror as she somehow felt her own shadow being connected to Shikamaru's. She could never understand how that worked for the life of her. "Yeah, that Shadow Possession really was a success." Shikamaru smirked. "And from too far away to do anything to my eyes again, too."

"But, how?" Temari asked, fully aware she was repeating her actions from the Chunin exams and absolutely hating it. "Substitution Jutsu doesn't let you teleport...it just makes something else look like you!"

"Yeah, that's true," said Shikamaru, standing up straight so as to allow Temari some comfort. "I had to do the moving-back-here part myself. You see," And he paused momentarily, to savor the moment, before he began explaining, his favorite part of the plan. "First I used Substitution to make a fake me out of nearby sand. I admit the next part came down a little bit to luck." He smirked, tilting his head just the tiniest bit.

Temari's movements reflected his, though her facial expression simply became calmer and a bit more angry with herself, rather than horrified at what had happened. "Luck? Seriously?

"I probably could have done the mathematical calculations for my new technique easily and a long time ago, but I'm too lazy to bother," Shikamaru said. "And if I hadn't gotten lucky, I would have paid for it. I had to hope that the sun's position in the sky, combined with fake me's mass, would cast a shadow big enough for me to use my Shadow Movement Jutsu." He tilted his head the other way. Temari's followed, and she felt and hated feeling every inch of it, even though there was nothing inherently unpleasant about the way she was moving her head. "That jutsu I just mentioned, by the way, is essentially me using any two shadows as a portal. The only condition is that both have to be big enough for me to enter or exit, and that I have to already be touching one."

"A teleportation technique?" Kankuro cried disbelievingly. "Oh, man, so that's how he appeared behind Temari earlier!"

"Of course," Gaara said, like it was the most obvious thing on planet Earth. "Didn't you see Shikamaru rise up from her shadow earlier?"

Kankuro sweatdropped. "I, er...wasn't really paying attention to most of the battlefield."

Gaara stared at him for a few seconds. "Good way for a ninja to get himself assassinated," he said, turning back to the fight before him. Kankuro facefaulted, for he knew Gaara's words were true. Inside the Shikakau-container's mind, a person finally learning to become human was smiling a little. -I like annoying my older brother.- he decided. -It's fun.-

"There's no way," Temari managed to growl out, as if appealing to logic would make the current situation any less real. "I would have seen you doing two jutsus right in front of me!"

"Really?" asked Shikamaru. "Well, if I may," and he imitated Temari's stance whenever she held her fan. "Allow me to demonstrate why you're wrong." And he copied, not quite perfectly but close enough, the way she moved when she swung out a blast of air. He held the position at about the halfway point. "Alright. Imagine you're still holding your fan. Notice anything?"

"I can't see anything in front of me," Temari realized aloud. "My fan's handle keeps me from seeing things clearly while it's in motion."

"Exactly," Shikamaru said. "And any ninja worth his salt only needs a split-second or so to perform a substitution jutsu. Of course, the wall and the positioning of the stands blocked your brothers from seeing what I was up to as well, so they couldn't clue you in to what I was up to." He smirked again, returning to a normal stance that was comfortable for him and would have been comfortable for her had her body not been under his control. "Once the sand me was blocking your view of the real me, I had several seconds in which to use my Shadow Movement Jutsu to come up behind you and fire off one last Shadow Possession Jutsu. From a distance, this time."

"Astounding," Temari half-pouted, for she was only being half-sarcastic.

"You know," Shikamaru chuckled, "I kind of got lucky there, too. I was intending to turn around and ride out one more wave of attack so that I could see when the ideal time to do my thing was, but you decided to shout as you swung. That gave me an approximate moment that I could use substitution this time around, instead of next time."

"Alright, I get it," said Temari resignedly. "So I guess you win, huh?"

"Not yet," said Shikamaru. Temari's eyes dilated as she suddenly felt...something...slither up her leg, her abdominals, her chest, and then finally wrap herself around her neck. "This is the Shadow Strangulation Jutsu. If I squeezed tightly at this moment," And just to emphasize his words, he squeezed a tiny bit, not nearly enough to choke her but enough that she felt it, "I'd choke the life right out of you." The arm receded just as suddenly as it advanced, the shadow it was connected to following. Temari let out a great gasp, not because she was being choked but simply because she was coming out of being startled. "Now I've won."

"Woah," Kankuro quietly said, shocked and amazed for the second time today. "The kid actually beat her...he beat Temari in a fair fight."

Gaara closed his eyes, unsurprised...well, mostly. "Shikamaru is a very strong strategist." Gaara's knack was in saying things truthfully, without any excess to it.

Temari sighed. -Great. That's twice this twelve-year-old rookie has handed me my butt on a silver platter. Way to go, Temari...- She smiled. -Oh well. Maybe net time...-

"Well, that's what I would like to say, anyway," Shikamaru continued. "But in reality, I lost. You've already won."

There was a silence.

"WHAT?" Temari and Kankuro shouted. Gaara blinked, wide-eyed. Partially because he wasn't expecting what Shikamaru said and partially because his siblings were shouting really, really loudly.

Shikamaru smiled. Genuinely. "You remember the first move of our fight, right?"

Temari crossed her arms, still confused, and therefore still angry. "Yeah. I attacked you, you didn't even flinch, and that threw off my entire game. What about it?"

Shikamaru's smile widened. He actually laughed a little as he said his next sentence. "So, imagine this was a real fight to the death, and you really used that as your first attack. How much chakra would you put into it?"

"Enough to-" Temari began to answer. She interrupted herself with the realization of exactly what Shikamaru was implying. "Oh my gosh."

"No way...no way..." repeated Kankuro a few times, wrapping his head around how pointless this whole match had been.

"She'd put enough in to kill her opponent on contact," Gaara said, verbalizing what everyone was thinking.

Shikamaru shrugged and began closing the distance between him and Temari. "I'm surprised none of you brought it up earlier," he said. "You all seem a lot smarter than that. Especially you, Temari."

The young woman Shikamaru was speaking to was massaging the area around her eyes with her left pointer and thumb. "I can't believe I missed that,:" she was saying, mainly to herself. "I even dodged your kunai because I knew you could use that exact same claim against me."

Shikamaru reached a proper distance away for talking face-to-face. "Hey, it doesn't really matter," he said. "You won, right? In a fair fight, you really would beat me, hands down."

Temari looked at Shikamaru for a few seconds. To read her emotions from her face would be rather impossible. -So for the second time, I win, except really, I lose. Is he doing this on purpose?-

"Welp," Shikamaru said, now looking up at the sky. "All the clouds around here are gone, and we've already had our rematch." He looked over at Temari again. "No reason for me to stick around." He began walking away, straight past his love interest and towards the second hole that had been made in the arena's walls. "If Gaara starts acting stranger than normal, send him to me. I'll see to it he's taken care of." He raised one hand in the air, waving goodbye without actually turning around. "See you guys around."

"Shikamaru, wait!" Temari cried, causing him to stop in his tracks. He turned, a neutral position on his face, as she ran up to him.

"Oh, don't tell me that she's really going to-" Kankuro groaned.

"Yeah, what is it?" Shikamaru asked, cutting the puppeteer off unknowingly. The arena had good acoustics one way, and poor ones the other.

Temari stopped in her tracks at approximately the right place, simultaneously hesitating to speak. "You know," she finally said, "We're having a festival tonight, starting at about seven. If you would be willing to wait around until then, um..." And she blushed slightly, "We could go together."

Shikamaru smiled. A small smile. A genuine smile. A happy smile. "I'd like that a lot," he said, without a hint of irony, without a single joke about 'robbing the cradle'. He turned again, but still looked back at Temari. "Pick you up at seven, then?"

"Okay," said Temari, nodding happily. She didn't seem to be doing this as a favor or pity date at all.

"Cool," Shikamaru said. "Well, see you then," and he turned his head, walking out the hole in the wall. Temari turned away as well, going to pick up her fan, then turning again slightly to head towards the doors, her thoughts the entire time shaped as a nigh-incomprehensible mess. -Okay, so I'll wear...but he's twelve...but that smile...I wonder what we'll...what's going...- and so on and so forth. Stereotypical 'nervous girl before a first date'. And if anyone ever found out, Temari would pummel them.

Shikamaru stopped a little outside the wall, as something had just occurred to him. -Wait a second...a festival? That means, the first timeline around, we made them skip that festival for a mission they barely did anything in, we still ended up failing, and then they had to work to help make the Leaf Village even better by helping out with our kids.- He thought for a few more seconds, then: "Heh. Well, I'll just have to make this festival twice as good for Temari this time around." With these words, he turned and walked away, whistling a happy little tune. Perhaps he'd be seeing dream-Temari again faster than either of them expected.

Up in the stands, Kankuro was having a much different reaction to this turn of events. "You have got to be kidding me," he facepalmed after gaping for several seconds. "My sister is dating some twelve-year-old punk from the Leaf Village?"

Gaara stood, his lack of social training and simplicity of words and logic allowing him to cut to the quick of the situation. "No laws are being broken. And she seems happy."

Kankuro just sighed. "You don't get it, man," he said, standing as well. They both left the stands, meeting their sister at the gates. Kankuro had a few choice words for her, but was not stupid enough to say any of them.

0-0-0-0

It was 6:30 now in the Village Hidden in the Sand, which meant it was about the same time in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Same time zone and all.

The sun had set earlier than one would think it would. Still, careful mathematical calculation would show that this was simply a very-occasional anomaly, nothing to get excited over. Good thing, too, because the festival was meant to be enjoyed at night. But that will come later.

For now, Hinata was going to bed. Yes, it was extremely early, but the sun had set, and being with Shino and Kiba long enough had taught her the value of early-morning training. Which wasn't to say she was used to it; still going to bed earlier than most shinobi and kunoichi who trained with the rising of the great ball of fire in the sky.

Hinata sighed, thinking of Naruto. She hadn't been able to hear exactly what had happened between her father and Naruto. She was unconscious, after all. But she got the gist of things from various people she asked once she woke up. And she absolutely detested the gist she had received. -I was so close, too,- she thought to herself. -He said he loved me.- Holding back tears, she climbed into bed, snuggling up under the blankets. With a heavy heart, she reached over and turned off the bedside lamp.

Meanwhile, several hundred yards and several dozen guards away, the estate ended. And a few more yards beyond that, Naruto stepped into the clearing, looking at the wall. "Alright," he said to himself. "I can't say I'm going to like this too much, but..." He grinned that famous grin. "It's time to put Operation: Win Back Hinata into action!"

Dun dun dun. And next chapter you find out what Naruto's plan is! Hip hip!

...you're supposed to say 'hooray', guys. Come on.

And yes, I've got a fifteen year old dating a twelve year old in this fic, as the characters have repeatedly noted. But, look at it another way: it's actually a twenty-five year-old dating a fifteen year old! On second thought, maybe a twelve-year-old dating a fifteen-year-old isn't that bad.

I know, I know: the scene with Tsunade comes right the bleeped-out-word out of nowhere, but just because it had no real relevance to this chapter (I admit it!) doesn't mean it won't in future chapters. Character development, people! READ A BOOK!

Nah, I'm kidding. After all, you're reading right now, aren't you? Oh, by the way...

OMAKE #4

Yet another deleted scene...with several alterations to it. Mostly changes that emphasize and exaggerate why I deleted it and replaced it with something else. The scene: Shikamaru has Temari caught in his Shadow Possession Jutsu...

0-0-0-0

"Looks like I...wait a second." He suddenly frowned, because he noticed Temari didn't look worried at all. Quite smug, actually. "What are you up to?" he asked sharply, leaning forward slightly.

"Thanks for leaning forward," Temari said. "Gives me a better shot." And with these words, she suddenly...

"GAH! What the..." Shikamaru gagged, stumbling back a little, concetration broken. He clutched at his eye, wishing that what had jsut happened hadn't happened. "Seriously? Did you just $!^& spit in my eye?"

Up in the stands, Gaara raised his eyebrow. Kankuro was a little less understated: "What the heck, Temari?" He shook his head. "That's just...that really isn't like you! Ew!"

"Oh, come on!" Temari shouted up into the stands. "I didn't have any options! I couldn't move anything but my mouth!"

"You could have told me you were going to do that!" Shikamaru rubbed his eye. "Believe me, I would have let you go!" He turned. "That's it, I'm out! You win, okay? Sheesh!"

"Hold on!" Temari shouted after him.

"Why? So you can...do..." Shikamaru didn't think well under stress. "Something even grosser to me?"

"Shikamaru!" Temari shouted as he left. "Shikamaru!" She ran after him.

Kankuro sighed. "Man, I have seen some weird stuff happen in ninja battles before, but Temari spitting on her opponent takes the cake."

Gaara thought for a moment. "Either that or the time you used your puppet's left arm to force open your opponent's mouth and-"

"THAT WAS ONE TIME AND YOU KNOW IT!"

0-0-0-0

Right. So, to put things in simplest terms: I first thought of having Temari spit in Shikamaru's eye to distract him away from possessing her, but no matter how valid a tactic that was, it seemed out of character for Temari. I typed it all out, and attempted to justify it, but it always felt off. So I deleted it all and turned it into "using her ninja powers creatively". I like this version better: still a cheap shot, but no spitting.

OH, one more thing: note that Shikamaru is not using any of his twenty-two year old techniques, except the one he made up. This is because he is smart: using highly advanced techniques too quickly can make other people suspicious of one's techniques in learning them. Might not necessarily lead to someone determining you're a time traveler, but it can't lead to them determining anything good about you.

Well, then, that was a lot of text in an author's note. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next time, when Naruto's fantasmicalladocious plan is put into action! You know, I think Sasuke is right: fail or succeed, this is gonna be fun to see play out. God bless and good-bye!

EDIT: Fixed a minor plothole. Should read better now.