Epilogue
"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Temari snarled, launching after the brunette fairy queen.
Kirai snickered. "Aw, come on, Temari. What's the problem?" She taunted. "Can't you catch me? Are you that slow?"
She jumped over a few chairs with ease, looking the picture of balance as she did so. Temari, on the other hand just kicked the offending chairs out of the way, leaving the seating items slightly battered about on the floor. Kirai, for all her balance, would have been long since caught by Temari if it weren't for the blonde's unusually poor thinking process when furious. Kirai was slow and knew it, but she always knew she could keep from having Temari catch her with a few well placed taunts. And boy, did the girl know how to push the blonde's buttons.
Two fairy women stood on opposite ends of a plain steel table. One livid with fury, the other eyes twinkling in mirth. She liked angering Temari a bit too much than was generally healthy. Underneath the table sat a lanky dark-haired mostly human man reading through a heavy tome. Beside him sat a purple-marked brown haired fairy who was occasionally asked about something in the tome.
The winged fairy tried to lunge across the table, but the glowing fairy twisted away in the nick of time. "Oh, such a shame, Temari!"
Another fairy joined the two resting under the table. "What's the fight about this time?"
Kankurou yawned. "Kirai thought it would be brilliant to have Temari appointed liaison between witches and fairies due to her experience with one of the worst witches in existence." A crash of what was probably porcelain dishes hitting the wall followed the end of his sentence.
"I think I suggested that one." Gaara commented idly.
"YOU WHAT?" Temari snarled poking her head underneath the table.
"It's not like you can't do it." Gaara said simply.
"I hate witches!"
"You hate Chiyo, I highly doubt you hate witches." Shikamaru added. "You got along quite well with Ino."
"I don't want to be witch-fairy liaison!" Temari snapped. "Why the hell can't Shikamaru do it?" She complained ducking under the table with the rest of them.
Kirai followed suit. "See, this is what I don't get. I make one tiny suggestion—"
"I would hardly call it a suggestion." Temari muttered through gritted teeth.
"And you try to rip me apart," Kirai continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Whereas, Gaara mentions it was his idea and suddenly the urge to mutilate is no longer there. Yelling, yes. But there's no desire to harm him."
"First," Temari snapped, "You didn't make any suggestion; you laughed at me, threw a book at me, and told me in the worst way possible that I would be a witch liaison. Then you made a bunch of comments that could only be meant as inflammatory."
"All in good fun." Kirai defended airily.
"Then you shouldn't be surprised when I went to rip your heart from your throat!"
Shikamaru flipped a page. He was used to this bickering now. He was hard pressed to say it wasn't worse than his and Kankurou's.
"I'm not; I'm just pointing out how unjust it is that you don't want to rip out Gaara's. It really takes away from the fun."
Shikamaru sighed and closed his book and handed it off to Kankurou. He knew what was coming next.
Temari lunged at Kirai.
And froze before she could even touch her.
He released the shadow hold.
Temari looked ready to kill him, now.
"Killing the fairy queen would send you to some sort of jail, or death sentence." He reasoned.
"I don't want to kill her; I just want to hurt her."
"Yes, well…I don't think so."
Temari glared at the queen. "So why can't Shikamaru do it? It's obvious he's more clear-headed."
"Because," Kirai replied, "As part human, it makes sense that he would be the human liaison."
"Then make Kankurou the witch liaison!" Temari tried complaining once more.
Gaara shook his head. "Just get over it, Temari."
"I don't want to!" She complained.
Shikamaru wrapped his arms around the winged fairy and murmured in her ear. "Sometimes, you are such a baby that I begin to think you're human."
Temari scowled and smacked him upside the head. "Why the hell do I keep you around?"
"Because I'm charming, and sexy, and can make you smile." He grinned.
Temari tried hard to stay angry, but she couldn't win. "One out of three aint bad." She kissed him soundly.
"I'm just too sexy right?" He retorted.
"Yeah, that's the one I was talking about." She said sarcastically.
She smiled.
"Gaara," Kirai pouted, "Am I sexy?"
"Not really."
"Am I charming?"
"Not really."
"Do I make you smile?"
"Not really."
She scowled. "Jerk."
"You're so much more than all that that it would be insult to agree to any of those." He replied softly.
Kankurou gagged. "Oh, seriously! This family is getting way too damn corny! Where is the anger and depression I used to know and love? The angst, the hate, the pranks! Where'd all the awesomeness go?"
Temari rolled her eyes. "Idiot."
Shikamaru reached for the book again, "I suppose the past ten minutes didn't count?"
"That's it." He made his way out from under the table, "I can't be around you anymore. It's all sugar and candy and lovey sickness. It's disgusting. I'm heading off to the fairy council. Amun's at least not a lovesick fool like you lot."
"You're just jealous of our awesomeness, Kankurou!" Kirai giggled.
"You two are sorry excuses for leaders of a species and the other two are just crimes against the world. Seriously! All this cross-species mating. Absolutely shameful."
"That's it!" Kirai snapped, "There is no insulting my remarkable leadership skills!" She chased after him.
You're toast!" Temari snarled, charging after him.
Shikamaru picked up the old tome, "And he says the anger is gone. I think it's still in quite a healthy amount."
Gaara smiled. "Quite so."
A/N: The mushy part between Gaara and Kirai makes me cringe every time, but I could get myself to delete it, so it stays (even if it makes me cringe).
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So, happy New Year tidings to everyone! Hope the coming New Year will be better by far.
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Also, in show of good faith for future ShikaTema writings, I'll let you know that I've been working on three projects to post up at some point in the future. 1) My first ShikaTema chapter fic that isn't AU. That one shall be probably up the quickest. I'm hoping to be able to start posting it up before school starts up again. 2) A ficlet (one to two chapters) that in all likelihood will not have a happy ending, but I find it appealing nonetheless. It's an AU and set in a mental asylum. (This one will take awhile). 3) A fairly recent idea = An AU chapter fic that I'm planning to be humor/romance/and-a-smidgen-of-adventure centered among angels and demons. (This one will also take awhile)
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So thank you for reading, reviewing, and all that stuff. You guys are brilliant!