Chapter 7: The tale of Shikamaru

'Tsk how troublesome. How long will I be waiting?' complaint Shikamaru while sitting in a tree branch waiting for his mission to appear.

That morning he had left the village for this mision. Tsunade-sama hadn't be that clear as she only told him he was supposed to scort an ambassador from Suna that was in his way to Kumogakure and had to pass through the Fire Country.

'Just in time. I was getting bored' thought him when he felt some bushes move. 'Huh! Don't tell me...'

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he discovered who was the person he had to scort. 'Why of all the sand shinobis had to be her? I knew this mission was going to be troublesome'

'Anyway, I must go and show myself' added as he jumped from the tree.

"You aware of where are you going to enter, right?" said Shikamaru appearing in front of his Sand Shinobi.

"Fire Country, isn't it?" answered Temari.

"You would get in trouble if someone finds you walking all alone" pointed him.

"So that's why they sent you?"

"Even if it's troublesome I had to accept this mission as it didn't seem a difficult one"

"So I'm an easy mission?" asked her teasingly.

"Eh? No... I said..." Shikamaru rushed answering, his cheeks turning a bit red. "If it's you then everything changes" he sighed knowing he had no proper answer earning a mischevous giggle from Temari.

"Then. Shall we?" added her motioning to continue their way.

Moments later, both of them were in in defence stances, Shikamaru with a kunai and ready to use his Kagemane no jutsu and Temari with her fan wide open.

"You do a great job, don't you?" teased her.

"This is not the time for making those comments. They must attack in any moment" complaint him.

"But they haven't. What kind of shinobi might be after us? I don't understand"

"Me neither, they don't make any sense at all. First they set all those weird traps and then don't show themselves. I haven't seen that kind of tactic before"

Temari looked at him understanding what he said. A few minutes of having met, they had been falling in the most weird, yet stupid traps. If someone was after them, then they must be still genins of something. Apart from them, who'd set those kind of traps, they made her feel more embarrased than scared.

Flashback

"It must be my brothers fault, asking Konoha to scort me" reasoned Temari to start up a conversation. "They didn't think I should be fine by myself"

"I don't think the problem is if you're able to defend yourself or not. I believe your strong enough to do that" answered Shikamaru.

"Then what's your guess, genius?" asked her earning a bored look from him.

"My guess, is that being at the time we are, people from other countries walking all alone would seem suspitious. Some people might think you are here for spying on us or stuff. That's why you need someone from this country to scort you and verify you haven't those intentions" explained him calmly. "But I don't think that's your case so maybe I'm here to assure the others you're not a bad person"

"Oh, that's nice"

"Huh? You haven't believed me at all" said him raising an eyebrow.

"No it's not like..." started her but stopped as she was cought in his Kagemane no jutsu before she could step in the ground.

"Hey! Why did you had to do that for?!" cried her.

"You should be more careful. Look what you were going to step on" replied him pointing a thin string in the ground.

"Ah. Why would it be something like this here?" answered her a bit embarrased. After all, she had planned not giving him any hint that'd show he was useful.

"Maybe they are from a previous mission" reasoned Shikamaru letting her go. "You shoudn't get down your guard even if you're with me"

"Hey! It didn't have anything to do with you!" cried her all flushed.

"Yeah I know but..." he coudn't finished his sentence as in a bad step, they were cought in a net.

"Good one, genius" complaint Temari who was caught in the same trap as him, getting them in some uncomfortable positions. "Now who is the one getting down his guard?"

"It was a bad step I took after I let go the jutsu. You were the one that had to be more careful in the first place"

"So this is my fault?"

"Tsk. Troublesome woman"

"Hey you, shut up and cut up these ropes. You think I like being on top of you?" cried her all flushed.

"You don't seem to hate it either. Anyway, I can't reach my kunai bag without passing through your... ehem... you" explained him a bit flushed as well.

"Oh don't you dare touch me"

"I'm the one to say that. Are you aware of where is your leg?" complaint him making Temari turn even redder.

"Yeah it is by your... kunai bag! Hey don't move, I'm going to reach it and cut the ropes by myself" And with that... they were back in the ground moments later.

End of Flashback

"Oi! you listening?" yelled Shikamaru.

"Eh sorry. You were saying?"

"I said it's ok to move on. The faster we travel the better"

"Ok"

'Geez she's kinda spacing out a lot lately. Wonder what's in her mind. If she continues like this, this is going to be even troublesome'

Flashback

"And that one was already there?" asked Temari once they were on their feet again. "You guys know nothing about ambushing" added her walking again.

"Even if I reckon that one was totally useless we don't have to underestimate the ones who put them. I think there's something weird about this"

"We didn't have to fall in that trap in the first place!" scolded her.

"I told you it wasn't my fault. You have to be grateful it wasn't something else"

"Well I'd have prefered some S-rank shinobi than being up there with you"

"I knew this was going to be troublesome" muttered Shikamaru walking ahead of her.

"What are you doing?" asked her once she noticed he wasn't traveling by her side anymore.

"I'm just cheking the territory"

Temari didn't say anything this time and Shikamaru took his time to look at the nearby trees, some of them looked suspicious as if they'd been supporting a great weight.

"Something doesn't look normal" said him finally. "Those look recent"

"What are you talking about?" asked her.

"Temari! Don't come near!" shouted him but was too late. A giant trunk was falling towards them.

Shikamaru managed to pull Temari to his side and both of them dodged the trunk.

"We're not alone" he said as he took out his kunai and Temari her fan.

End of Flashback

"What do you think of that?" asked Temari pointing at some untidy ground. "That ground seemed to be removed. Are they planning us to fall for that trick?"

"No I don't think them to be that stupid... but judging from the previous traps... I don't know what to think anymore"

"You want my guess? I think they are still genins that doesn't know who they are messing up with" replied her angrily. "Let's move on using the trees" added her followed by a suspicious Shikamaru.

"I don't know if this is safe. They might have anticipated our moves" said him landing besides her.

"No, no one is as smart as you" added her with a grin but as soon as she said that the branch broke letting them fall straight into the trap.

"I think they did it" finished Shikamaru once they were, again, in another uncomfortable trap.

"Ahh!! Stupid genins!! If I get to know who are them, believe me I'm going to make them suffer!!" cried her down in the hole.

"Yeah I'm sure they heard you" mocked Shikamaru.

"Now what's your big plan?"

"First of all you have to get off of me. This time we have plenty of space for you to be on top of me" added him calmly.

"Eh?" Temari's face flushed again and stood up in less than a second, followed by Shikamaru who did it slowly.

"Yeah I think that's better" added him. "Can you jump out of here?" asked him.

"Yeah sure, it's not that deep" answered her and a few minutes later they were out of the hole safely.

"This isn't ending here, right?" complaint Temari. "At this rate I'm going to be late for Komogakure"

"I might have to report this to Tsunade-sama. They must send some teams to research the area. For now let's just hurry up the pace, we're not that far from the Fire Country limits"

"Here we are. I guess you can say the mission was successful as I brought you safely" said Shikamaru once they were out of the Fire Country territory.

"Well at least it wasn't that bored as I expected" added her with a grin. "Thank you"

"Huh? what for? It was only a mission" replied him, his cheeks a bit red for her sudden outburst.

"Yeah you say that. I'm sure you enjoyed it" added her giggling.

"Tsk. What would you know? I find all of my missions..."

"Troublesome?" finished her. "That's why you won't move forward as the rest"

"Excuse me? Who's the Chuunin now?"

"I'm just saying. I'll bet that the next time I see you I will be a jounin" added her proudly after having to turn away to hide her embarrasment.

"That sounds an interesting bet but" he said not letting her smirk. "I'm not into gambling" And with that he turned back and started his way home, not even turning around to meet her gaze. Temari, who had turned to see him, sighed and continued her way.

A/N: Ok, I'm not sure how this turned out. ShikaTema is one of my favourite couples cuz is sooo canon xD Well, even if I kinda disliked how I rushed their trip (hey they were traveling by the frontier so that's why it was short) I found funny all those silly traps... why were they there? figure it out in the next and last chapter. The tale of Ten Ten. (why it's related to this you might be asking. Just reread the first tale to see where she was xD)