I don't own these characters.
2: Moving on
Shikamaru was lying on the couch in his groove and was staring at the bland, cream-colored ceiling of his very empty apartment. Well, it had furniture and everything like that, so most people would not see why he considered it empty. Really only one thing was missing, but apparently that single component made the place home and livable. Who would have guessed that such an overbearing, griping, loud, rude woman could make a house feel like a home? Well, he would have figured that out, but he had been trying his best not to think about her since she left.
Temari had been gone for a month, but it felt like years to Shikamaru; some very long years. The tiny one-bedroom apartment felt like it was miles wide since he was the only one there; sometimes, he thought that he could not walk the whole length of the place, as if it was the size of an entire country. He felt alone all the time, like there was a void in his chest, even when he was around all his friends and they were having a good time; he typically did not have a pleasant time and did not bother trying to fake it. No one expected him to show signs of enjoying himself anyway, even if Temari had been there with him. He always made it a point to appear bored, usually because he was.
Now, Shikamaru felt something beyond boredom and it felt even emptier than loneliness. To say that he deeply, practically agonizingly longed for his hot-tempered woman did not do the feeling justice. It was taking all of his willpower and more to keep him from running all the way to Suna and begging her to come back to him. He would fall to his knees and bow to her like the goddess she was if it would get her to come back to him, but he resisted that powerful urge for a few reasons.
The first reason was that Shikamaru had made a plan and he was going to stick to it. He had freed Temari from the shiftless burden that was him. He was holding her back from what he could tell and he had to let her go. He had to let her be free like the wind that she controlled. It was just the right thing to do in his opinion. So, the lazy young man wanted to continue to do right by her by staying right where he was and not bothering her with useless things like coming back to him. He doubted that she would make such a stupid move anyway, which led to his next reason.
The brunette ninja was pretty sure that by now Temari had moved on. She more than likely carved out a nice spot for herself at her village. She was never going to come back to him. He was so certain that he had lost her forever by allowing her to walk out of that door. He had not shown any sign of caring or initiative to go after her, so Temari more than likely took the hint that they were over and she more than likely took it quite seriously, which was what he wanted anyway.
Shikamaru shifted in discomfort in his body groove on the sofa as the next reason that he would not even bother with going after Temari came to mind. The cushions made a bit of noise to fill the deafening silence while his mind pointed out that she probably had another boyfriend by now. The thought of another man just touching his desert flower did not sit well with Shikamaru and he damn sure did not want to think of Temari and some other dude doing more than some innocent touching. Going beyond touching might cause him to snap and he would definitely be on his way to her village, if only to make sure that she was still single.
"I've had better plans in my day…" Shikamaru muttered in a grumpy tone to the humid air of the living room while turning so that his face was hidden in the back cushion of the couch. It was a nice clear day outside and usually he would have been all for going to look at the clouds, but he was not in the mood and had not been in the mood for about a month.
His friends were actually a little worried about him. They knew that Shikamaru spent all of his free time locked in his apartment, lazing about on that old, flat sofa. They assumed he was pining over losing Temari; they were all unaware that he had just let her walk out of his life like the genius he was. They thought that Temari had just left him, for obvious reasons to them, like the fact that he was lazy and Temari was always on his case about that. So, some of his friends attempted to cheer him, although others knew to just leave him alone.
Shikamaru ignored his friends' efforts for the most part. Some of them were persistent, which was just irksome. Others were just stupid, which was equally as bothersome. He wished that they would all just leave him alone and allow him to simmer in his own mess until it did not bother him anymore or he had another brilliant plan. For the first time in his life, Shikamaru did not have a follow-up move to the one where he allowed Temari to stroll ever-so calmly out of his life. What a hell of a time to be coming up short on ideas.
"This is troublesome," he mumbled, referring to the whole situation of being without Temari, not knowing what she was doing, and knowing that he probably could have stopped her before things got out of hand.
Why would she not just leave his mind alone? Well, Shikamaru knew the answer to that. He loved that loud-mouth, temperamental woman. He would never be all right as long as she was not with him. He was always going to be a mess because he was certain that he was always going to love her. He was going to feel like a hollowed out gourd for the rest of his life if he did not figure out how to get her back into his life, but he could not do that.
Shikamaru did not think that he could get Temari back into his life unless he was willing to change. He sat there for a moment, allowing the empty feeling eating away at his insides and soul, and realized that he damn well needed to change to avoid feeling like for all eternity. Besides, if he could get Temari back, he would want to change anyway. He would have to treat her differently to make sure that she never thought to walk out again. He would have to let her know that he loved her with every once of his shiftless being. How to do that, though?
-8-8-8-8-
Temari was dragging around the Kazekage's office building with a stack of papers in her arms. Ever since her return, Gaara decided to just give her busy work from what she could tell. She had joined the ranks of the village administration, not quite the job that she would have picked for herself upon her return. She did not see how other folks did it because after a month on the job, she was ready to hang herself; she just did not have the time to do with all of the paperwork. Hell, she was willing to bet that she would have to fill out paperwork before and after hanging herself.
To make matters worse, the place was crawling with dirty old men and dirty old young men alike. No one in the building hit on her, out of fear of not just her, but her brothers too; hey, Kankuro wielded a mean puppet. But, she could tell when they were looking at her. She had heard them whispering about what they would do if they had a "thick girl" like her. Like hell she would ever let them do such lecherous things to her! And the next person she heard say something about her ass in the air was going to die, slowly and painfully.
Aside for the perverts in the building, there were some nice, suitable bachelors around her village. None of which Temari was in the mood to give the time of day for reasons that she knew, but did not want to acknowledge. After all, that lazy bastard had broken her heart after all and if he did not want her, why should she waste time thinking about him? Little did she realize, but having such thoughts meant that she was thinking about a certain pineapple-headed bastard that let her go as if she meant nothing to him.
The blonde did not understand why it still hurt so much to apart from a man that had so easily discarded her as if she was meaningless trash in his life. Despite what he had done, or had not done in this case, her heart still yearned and ached from him. Her arms still wished to hold him, her fingers still desired to caress him, her being still wanted to love him. She held onto those feelings both consciously and unconsciously. She knew that she should let them go to move with her life, but it felt so good to love him and it hurt so bad to love him.
Even if she wanted to let go of the love that she felt for Shikamaru, Temari's body would not allow it. Every part of her being recalled his touch and would long for his gentle caress at random times, as they did now. It was enough to drive her insane because she knew that she needed to get over Shikamaru. He did not want her and that was that. She should not like the lazy bastard anyway, she told herself.
What was there to like about Shikamaru anyway? He had a big pineapple head first of all, her mind pointed out. Everything about him screamed shiftless, no-good, lazy bastard, even the way that he kissed was lazy as hell. Sometimes, she had to check and make sure he had not fallen asleep in the middle of not just kisses, but other things. He complained about everything under the sun and called her "troublesome" as if that was a term of endearment. So, why should she love him? Easy answer, she should not, she told herself, and yet, she did.
The blonde decided to stop thinking about Shikamaru as she made it to her office and started on her new batch of paperwork. She thought that she might go out with her friends that night. Friends were a new found item for Temari; new and welcomed to a degree. Sure, she hung out with Shikamaru's friends when she was living with him, but those were his friends. She now had her own and she had a feeling that she would enjoy them a lot more if she was not still heartbroken over Shikamaru.
She did not like to talk about Shikamaru with her friends, mostly because she had not known them that long and she was trying to forget about him. Her friends knew about Shikamaru through rumors and stories circulating through town. They had been trying to cheer her up about him, but like his friends with him, her friends were not having any luck either. She would like to cheer up, but that would mean forgetting about him and her heart refused to do that.
The blonde female took care of all of her work and decided to just go home. She would rather be by herself than to bring down her friends' mood. She knew that she was not going to be good company and she would rather not subject them to her mood because if they got on her nerves, she would definitely turn bitchy toward them and it was not their fault that she felt like she did. If anything, she wished that Shikamaru was around just so that she could take her frustration out on him. She would like to whack him in that big head of his a few times with her fan. She was pretty sure that would make her feel better.
Well, since popping Shikamaru a few times was not an option, Temari figured that she would curl up on the couch with a good book and a pint of extra-creamy chocolate ice cream. Sure, it got cold in the desert at night and it was not the ideal time to eat ice cream, but ice cream was like alcohol in its ability to bring momentary relief…without the hangover. So, it was going to be her, a book, and some ice cream for the night. She was working herself into a dull routine, she thought because that had been most of her nights since she got home over a month ago. She supposed that it could be worse though, so she did not complain.
-8-8-8-8-
Temari's room was dully lit. She was curled up in her pajamas, which was a plain long tee-shirt. Her book was in her hands, her thumb holding it open at the middle. An empty container next to her on the coffee table kept her company as the ice cream had been taken from it a long time ago. Just as the book was starting to get good, a knock at her door disturbed her.
"What?" she called to whoever was at her door while considering hiding her book. If one of her brothers saw her reading a trashy romance novel, she would have to die, especially if it was Kankuro because death would be the only way for her to not have to hear about it anymore.
There was no response. Temari thought for a moment that she might have imagined the knock, even though it was loud enough for her to know better. She looked down at the space between the door and the floor and she could see the slight distortion of the light to tell her that someone was standing there. She made an annoyed noise; what did the person want?
"What?" Temari repeated, barking the question that time to show that she was losing her thin line of patience.
Once again, there was no response. The blonde huffed while slamming her book down onto her sofa cushion. She went to the door and pulled it open while repeating her question with much more attitude then before. As soon as the word escaped her throat, she was taken back because she noticed who had the nerve to be at her door. Shikamaru was standing there, looking like the very definition of pitiful.
"Come back home," Shikamaru pled and Temari slammed the door in his face.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: The conclusion. Do they get back together? Also, there will be more dialogue in the next chapter.