Courage

He always wondered why she wore her hair like that.

He's never seen any other female wear it like that.

So what could have been running through her mind when she did that to her hair?

Was it someone else who influenced her to style it like that? Nah, more likely, it was she herself who came up with the idea. She seemed to be the type to create the bandwagon, not jump in it.

Except the bandwagon seemed to lack any followers. Not that that didn't make him happy. It made him glad in fact. It certainly made it easy to identify her from behind.

As he studied the hairstyle of the woman eating ramen in front of him, he idly tapped his chopsticks against the side of his half-empty bowl.

Temari sighed huffily. She didn't bother looking up from her bowl as she asked, "What is it?"

"I didn't say anything." He paused his hand, bemused but slightly awed at her perception.

Finally looking up, she scanned his face thoughtfully. Then she tapped his hand that held his chopsticks with her forefinger twice. "Your tapping is a bad habit that you only do when you're about to approach someone with a certain topic that you're hesitant in asking."

He should be glad she knew him that well. But at the moment, he resented it. It meant having to come up with a lie because he couldn't possibly ask her about that. On the other hand, her lie detecting skills had always been sharp. And once she caught him lying, you'd better believe that she would be on his ass until she's satisfied.

"Don't even think about saying anything else than what you were originally thinking. Because I'll find you out for sure."

Damn, no escaping now. Might as well show that he had a backbone before facing her inevitable punishment for even daring to question her hairstyle.

Clearing his throat, he mustered all the will fire in his rigid body and queried in a slightly unsteady tone, "I was just wondering why you... dress your hair in that way." He braced himself.

A moment of silence. Then chuckles burst from her which turned into hysterical laughter. She clutched her stomach as she gasped out, "You look so tense!"

A flush adorned his cheeks as he realized that she wasn't anywhere near to pummelling him for his audacity.

He managed to say, "I just thought that you might take it the wrong way, my questioning it. I actually don't have any problem with it. I was merely a little curious, that's all."

The wind shinobi snorted. "You thought that I'd kick your ass all the way to Suna for asking about my hairstyle?"

"Well, I thought you might just be a little overprotective over it."

"There just might be some truth to that, I suppose," she grudgingly admitted. "But what exactly did you wanna ask about it?"

He shrugged as if it was nothing. "Simple question, really." No, it wasn't. "Why four pigtails?"

A thoughtful look from her teal eyes surveyed him. "One pigtail reminds me too much of a certain pineapple head." He rolled his eyes.

"Two looks too common. Three is just odd. Four is a good solid number. Anything more is superfluous."

He didn't bother voicing out his opinion; anything more than one is superfluous. Perhaps he was just biased though.

But then again, one count of cowardice should really be the quota per day.

Brushing aside his innate sense of self-preservation, he blurted out his opinion anyway.

A smirk fell upon her lips. "Aren't you getting a bit too daring?"

He held back a flinch but no, she made no move to take hold of her fan. If anything, he'd venture to say she was completely amused.

Now he was starting to feel indignant. She was having too much fun with this.

"Tch, never mind, this is a pointless conversation," he grumbled.

"I don't think it's a pointless conversation at all. No one else in Konoha has gotten the balls to ask me why I chose such a number of pigtails," she calmly responded. Her smile was both gentle and impressed.

"Is that so," was all he could say.

"So you don't like it?" she asked after a pause.

He stilled. Was it possible that Temari, the wind mistress, the princess of Suna, was feeling insecure? And was she really asking his opinion about her appearance?

He treaded carefully. "I think... that you would look silly... without it."

Where in the world did that come from?

Temari was about to throw a right hook at his face but all her ire deflated as he finished his sentence.

The smirk returned to her face and strangely, her heart was all aflutter. Not that she would ever admit it. "I knew you had the hots for me, Nara."

He sputtered until he saw the mischievous glint in her eyes. The tease.

He managed to school his face into an indifferent one as he said with a shrug, "A few have said it's highly probable."

Her eyes widened in shock but she quickly got her bearings back. "Oh? What makes them say that?" she asked then took a sip of her tea as if she was contemplating some philosophical theory.

Knowing that he succeeded in catching her off guard, he took a stab at a risky move. "Maybe because I hang around you a lot when you're here."

"That's because you're my guide," she pointed out.

"I think it's pretty obvious that I spend more time than is necessary as a guide," he elaborated, enjoying the uneasiness slowly creeping onto her face.

"Perhaps I'm just a demanding client if you put it that way," she countered, narrowing her eyes. She didn't understand how he was able to turn the tables on her. She was supposed to have the upper hand. She was supposed to make him fidget, not the other way around.

Growing bolder, he reached out his hand, took hold of her wrist and caressed softly with his thumb. She held her breath unknowingly. "Perhaps I just enjoy your company."

When a few seconds passed without a response forthcoming, he smirked playfully.

Idiot, she thought to herself, a few sweet words and a smirk have you defeated. But it's far from over, Nara.

She laced her fingers through the hand that was holding hers and smiled slyly. The startled look on his face was well worth it. "Perhaps that's why I keep you longer day by day."

Trying to ignore the racing of his heart and the warmth of her hand, he decided to play a delaying tactic. "Let me just pay the bill and I'll take you home."

Disappointed that he didn't choose to continue the game, she retrieved her hand and just nodded. Maybe she read him wrong.

They chatted idly as they headed towards her apartment. As they arrived in front of her apartment, she smiled at him but it clearly didn't reach her eyes. She said, "See you tomorrow." Then she turned around to unlock the door until his hand laid on top of hers. She could feel his proximity and heat along her back. He was definitely invading her personal bubble but oddly, she didn't mind at all.

"What?" Her voice came out sharper than she intended. She winced.

"I just thought of ending everyone's misery and giving them a real reason for their calculated probability of our relationship."

"What?" she nearly shrieked. She tried to turn around but he stayed her form with his hand on her shoulder. She didn't see the grin forming on his face.

"Exactly what I said," he whispered teasingly along her nape. He didn't really understand where this devil-may-care attitude was coming from. But he liked it. And he liked her responses just as well, if not more. She was acting terribly, adorably flustered. Not an everyday scene.

He brought his hand back to hers, entwining their fingers. She swallowed. "What do you think? Shall we give it a go?"

He allowed her to turn around this time. As her head was bowed, he didn't have any inkling as to what was running through her mind.

In the very next second, Shikamaru couldn't explain what happened exactly. All he felt was an explosion of pain against his forehead as he clutched his head, moaning, stumbling backwards.

The damn woman head-butted him! He just stared at her in shock.

"You don't get to play with me like that, Nara!" Temari growled ferociously just before she entered her apartment, slamming the door behind her. Rubbing her forehead furiously, she thought, How dare he! Pompous ass!

The next day, Temari stepped out of her apartment, ready to start the day but stopped short. Shikamaru slept against the wall in the same clothes he wore yesterday. Reaching out her hand, she almost shook his shoulder to wake him and paused just before touching him. Deciding not to wake him, she stood up to get a blanket from inside but something halted her.

A hand gripped the ends of her yukata. She turned to look into his unusually alert eyes.

"Are you willing to listen now?" he said gruffly.

Like she could say no after he apparently slept the whole night outside on the cold, hard floor. "Fine." She stepped inside, and left the door open, a clear invitation for him to come in.

He sat on the couch while she paced about. "Well, spit it out," she nearly snarled.

Unaffected by her sharp words, he calmly stated, "I've thought this over the whole night." He locked his gaze onto hers. "You and I make a lot of sense, don't you think?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," she lied automatically.

"I think you do. Let me ask you. Can you see yourself with anyone else?" he challenged her with clear, expectant eyes.

That wasn't a fair question, she thought desperately. "Why are you asking this?"

"You know why." As he stood up, he said one last thing before heading out. "Once you have an answer, you know where to find me."

Later that afternoon, she found him dozing off on his hill. She took a seat next to him, just staring at his sleeping face. "What an idiotic expression." Her words belied the soft gaze she bestowed upon him.

He definitely startled her when he muttered, "Troublesome woman." Then he popped open an eye and just stared at her. Content to wait.

Which prompted her to say, "Is it appropriate to keep calling me that once we're together?"

He stilled, opening both eyes, then smiled a little too widely. "I'm afraid it's a habit that's hard to get rid of."

Feeling ridiculously giddy at his lazy smile, she managed to say, "Well, I suppose if you stopped saying it, you wouldn't be you."

He gladly hummed in agreement and tugged at her sleeve to lay down beside him. "Hey Temari?"

"What is it?" She looked at him curiously.

"I'm glad that I got the balls to ask you about your hair." This said with a silly grin.

She laughed. Wounding down, she said playfully, "True, I do have to give you that... but do you have the guts to handle me with my hair down?" Seductiveness oozed from the smile that spread across her face, leaving Shikamaru without any doubt as to what she implied.

Heat redirected southwards of his body but he tried to ignore it. Deciding to play dumb, he asked in a bemused manner, "Why? Do you have horrible-looking bed hair?"

Instead of glaring at him as he expected, she just snorted in amusement. "Wouldn't you like to find out?"

Pink tinged his cheeks. Temari burst out laughing. She was feeling much more herself since she was getting the better of him now.

"Troublesome," he muttered but smiled to himself, seeing as she was more comfortable around him after his so-called confession.

And their first official date was spent lazing around, watching clouds and holding hands and bickering every once in a while and the occasional kisses.

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A/N: Guess I'm experimenting different ways of how they got together. Lol. Hope it's not tedious for you all. For my silent readers, please review if you can so I can have feedback, know what you think and learn from them. It would really make my day since I've put quite some effort on all these entries. I would really appreciate it. OR ELSE I'M GONNA CRY. Haha, just kidding. But seriously even just one or two words will do.