ok, well, here's chapter 4. thanks for reading. btw, this chapter is more T than the others, I suppose, as in violence.

'Twas the night before the day before Christmas, and Shikamaru arrived at the Christmas dance before Temari, and at first was rather annoyed he'd even considered going, as loud "hip-hop" was blaring from a large set of speakers in one corner of the room. Just great. Although, he did know that he couldn't hide from this crappy music forever(you tell em!), and so sat down on a chair on the side of the room, waiting for Temari. It was a semi-formal dance, and as he looked around he could easily tell he was the only one who didn't give a shit. Sports jackets on guys and girls in dresses, and there he sat, in black pants, a white long-sleeved shirt with a black t-shirt over that. He had brought something with him, which was sitting in a black case in the corner of the room. He had asked the DJ to make sure nobody did anything to it, as it was part of his surprise for Temari.

About 10 minutes after Shikamaru arrived, Temari walked up to the ticket counter. Kakashi was sitting there, reading what appeared to be the latest book in the "Make-Out" series. He put it down as she approached.

"Ah, Temari, there you are. Shikamaru bought an extra ticket and told me to give it to you when you arrived."

She was pleasantly surprised by this, and walked into the room. She immediately noticed Shikamaru sitting on the side of the room with a bored look on his face. As she walked over to him, he looked up and noticed her. His eyes kinda bulged out and his jaw dropped. She grinned, and sat down next to him.

"Wow, Temari, you look...great."(seems kind of a botched line to me, but hey.) She was wearing a dark red dress which I can't really describe, other than that it was a nice dress and was dark red, as I barely know the first thing about dresses. Suffice it to say that it was a nice dress, as Shikamaru thought she was extremely beautiful, possibly even more then usual.(ehe)

"Why thank you, Shika."(now it's getting easier to write. phew!)"So, do you want to dance?"

"I'm not really much of a dancer."

"Aw, come on."

"Meh...ok."

They danced for a while, and it was the popular opinion of most people that Temari was way better than Shikamaru, although Shika could dance a mean "Robot"(LOL). After an hour or so(probably so, an hour seems a long time to keep moving), they stopped nad went to get some food. At the snack table-thingy, they met Chouji, who was there with Ino. They chatted for a bit, until the "Leaf Boys" (LOL) came over with their dates, ominous music Naruto with Sakura, Neji with Tenten, Sasuke with some random girl nobody had ever seen before and who will have no bearing on the story whatsoever, and Kiba with Hinata.

Shikamaru was glared at by the four members of said boy band which I cannot type the name of without cracking up(Leaf Boys, hehe). Temari looked anxiously at Shikamaru, who was returning the glares tenfold.

"You'll see me in a minute," he said to Temari, "I have to...get something."

"Okay." Temari took this time to talk with her friends, who didn't apparently realize how evil those damn "Leaf Boys" were, and were too caught up by their "dreaminess"(sorry to any fans of those characters, I wanted an excuse to call the "Leaf Boys" evil). At the moment, those evil bastards were casting glances at Shikamaru an seemed to be coming up with some kind of plan.

Meanwhile...

Shikamaru went over and whispered something to the DJ, who gave him the black case. Shikamaru unzipped it, and took out his keyboard, which he proceeded to set up, checking the whole time to see if he was being watched by Temari, which he was not.

When he had the keyboard all set, he took the DJ's microphone and said, "Can I have your attention, please?" The room quieted down a notch, and the music was turned off by the DJ.

"Thank you. Hi, I'm Shikamaru, former member of the Leaf Boys, and I'm going to play something on my keyboard here.(nice, Shika. real smooth) The song I'm about to play I am dedicating to the woman I love: Temari."(corny!)

Temari's friends around her gasped, she nealy spit out the soda in her mouth. She still wasn't certain she liked him like that, however it was obvious he did. She felt trapped, as now she might break his heart if she refused him(ZOMG!).

And then he started to play the opening of R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming"(kudos to anyone who figured it out). She gasped, wondering how he had known her favorite song. And then it came to her; their first conversation:

Flashback!!!!! (yay, I've always wanted to do that)

"Hey! You're Shikamaru, from the Leaf Boys!"

"Yup. Although, I'm not sure about that anymore."

"Wha-"

"I'm quitting. I hate the music we play anyways, and having to spend all of my frre time being chased by girls and glared at by guys doesn't help."

"Why? You're really good at playing the keyboard, and you have a really nice voice-" she blushed, thinking that he probably gets that a lot, and that it doesn't hel-

"Yeah. I get that a lot, and I'm sorry, but it doesn't help."

"No, really, I actually mean it! My favorite of the songs you were solo on was "Nightswimming", back when-"

"We still played in coffee houses and stuff. Well, it's nice to know that you appreciated the-"

"Music from before, right. I do like some of your newer stuff, though, but I'm always a sucker for R.E.M."

End Flashback

(here's the kinda sappy part)

She loved his voice, the ways his fingers danced across the keys(where the hell did I get that one?!); she loved him.

He then got to her favorite part of the song:

Nightswimming,

Remembering that night.

September's coming soon.

I'm pining for the moon.

And what if there were two

Side by side in orbit

Around the fairest sun?

It melted her heart, and she knew for sure now that she was deeply in love with him. He finished the song, and there was a small bit of applause, but mainly people wanted the "other" music back on.

Temari ran through the crowd of people, running as fast as she could to get to Shikamaru quickly, because she wanted to show him that she deeply loved him. When she reached him, there were tears of happines in her eyes, and she kissed him. It took him about a minute to realize what was happening, but when he did, he returned the kiss as passionately as he could, holding her tightly to himself.

They were standing right in front of one of the speakers as it started to blare some rap song or other. But they didn't care. They went on kissing, as if nothing in the world could pull them apart, not even a construction worker with a crowbar, a day off work and a mission statement(I dunno where that came from). When they finally broke apart, they were both filled with an immense feeling of happiness.

Later...

Shikamaru had walked Temari home after the dance, unaware that they were being followed. They parted with a kiss and an "I love you" at her door. Shikamaru walked away, heading for his house. He was whistling a merry tune(XD) and had a feeling that nothing in the world could go wrong. He was, of course, about to be proved wrong. Very, very, wrong.

He was taking a shortcut through an alleyway, leading him to the playground that was close to his house. As he was in the middle of the alley, two people appeared at the end of the alley he had just come from, and two in front of him. He recognized the silhouettes, Neji, Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke. And they were closing in. He tried making a break for it past Kiba and Neji, but to no avail. Neji clotheslined him and he fell in a puddle, hitting his head hard on the ground.

"Oh, well, look who's here, boys," Kiba said to the rest of them. "It's Bambi! Aw, does wittle Bambi have a girlfriend now? Is Bambi thinking he's all hot stuff cause of that?! Well, lemme tell you something, guys, I'm hungry for some venison." They all got the basic notion of what Kiba was saying.

Naruto grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and hauled Shika up from the ground. Shikamaru lunged immediately for the gap between Neji and freedom, but Sasuke and Naruto grabbed both of his arms and held him back. KIba laughed, and punched Shikamaru in the gut. Hard. Neji kneed him in the ball, Kiba punched him in the face, repeatedly until Shikamaru was gasping for air, his nose almost definitely broken and his face bloodied. They all laughed, and Kiba dismissed Naruto, Sasuke and Neji, who walked away laughing their heads off.

"Well, what does Bambi have to say now?" Kiba jeered. Rage was welling up inside of Shikamaru. "Come on, Bambi, come at me with all you've got!" He looked at Shika, and said, "Know what, Bambi? Your girlfriend is a fucking, dirty, slut!"

That was enough for Shikamaru. He roared and lunged at KIba, ignoring the pain coursing through his body, he grabbed Kiba by the neck, and slammed him up against the wall. Kiba and he were alone now, there were no "Leaf Boys" backing Kiba up. Kiba was sufficiently out of breath now, and struggles to be released from Shika's stranglehold. He kneed Shika in the balls. Shikamaru momentarily let go, but that was enough for KIba to break away.

Shikamaru quickly caught up with the escaping Kiba, however, and tackled him to the ground. He pinned Kiba down, with a strength fuled solely by rage(wow this is intense!). He grabbed Kiba's head and repeatedly slammed it against the ground. Kiba was bleeding now, and Shikamaru kicked him one last time, in the face.

"That, Kiba, is what you get for insulting my girfriend."

Kiba got up, knowing they were both weakened from the fight, slowly got up and made as if to run away, then turned around and decked Shikamaru in the face.

Shikamaru's vision blurred, then everything went black.

wow, that scene kinda surprised me, I'm very sad I even let it happen.

oh, and when I mentioned Temari's heart melting, was that really a good thing? it kinda sounds bad.(XD I know what it means, I just kinda wanted to lighten the mood. okay, well, thanks for reading.

tuna out.