She excused herself from all their attentions diplomatically. That was, she said she had to go to the bathroom. Instead she fled to the open balcony just outside her brother's office. It was far from the madding crowd, thank all the kages.
The night air was bracing. Temari released her pent-up tension in one long breath.
Someone was already there.
"You look really good, Temari," said Shikamaru as they stood on the balcony.
Temari smoothed her hair back and smiled. "I know." She appraised him, her eyes dark in the light of torches and the waning moon. "You look very handsome in black."
"I know." He walked over to his girlfriend. Yes Kiba, the bronze goddess is my girlfriend. "I was getting a little worried down there though."
"Why?" She placed her hands in his roughened ones and let him pull her into a firm embrace.
Shikamaru rested his chin on the top of her head. It was great that he grew so much taller; it felt more right this way. Besides, she already had the advantage in age, though thankfully not in experience.
"I might have had to physically separate their eyeballs from you. The way those guys were ogling... I thought of 124 possible ways to prise you away from them. 96 of the methods involve actual violence. Too troublesome, so I came here."
"Hmm, jealousy," teased Temari. "And the other methods?"
"Begging, pleading, throwing tantrums, blackmail... not pretty stuff."
Temari laughed. Shikamaru's right hand sat possessively on the small of her back, on her bare skin. His left hand took her right. He looked down into her eyes. They'd missed the first dance; now they had all the time in the world.
"Care to dance?"
"Love to."
----
Chouji had wanted to ask Ino to dance when the second waltz started, but she glowered at him so fiercely that he scuttled off, bumping into a Suna girl who smiled very sweetly at him. "Would you dance with me?"
"Uh, sure. Um, my name's Chouji," stammered Chouji as she offered him her hand. "Konoha chuunin."
"I'm Mari. Suna chuunin."
He took her hand gently and the two disappeared into the music.
----
Ino stomped her way upstairs, not an easy task since she was wearing three-inch spiked heels.
"Suna, Suna, Suna. It's all Suna girls! If I find Shikamaru I'll tell him what I think about Chouji – what on earth...?"
A shadow moved past her field of vision as she watched out of one of the round windows. That must be the balcony.
Two figures waltzed past, one of whom looked very familiar and the other was very beautiful.
Shikamaru and Temari. Shikamaru, dancing?! With Temari?!!?
Ino felt bile and fury rise. First, her grand entrance was stolen by a Suna woman; then Chouji abandoned her to dance with a Suna girl; no other guy asked her to dance, not even Shino who sat there like a bloody stone; and here was the ultimate betrayal: Shikamaru with Temari.
Had the idiot forgotten how much damage she wrought on Konoha? In fact, Ino's mind whirled through her accusations, she was one of those who led to Sasuke finding out how much more he had to strengthen himself, which led to his leaving, which eventually meant I had to switch all my attentions to Shikamaru, which meant he is supposed to love me in return, which he is obviously ignoring because of this bitch who seduced him!
As she let her anger simmer, the two dancing outside stopped with the music and smiled tenderly into each other's eyes.
Oh don't make me puke, thought Ino bitterly.
As if in direct mockery of her thoughts, Shikamaru pulled Temari into a close embrace and – KISSED HER? He KISSED her? How dare he flirt, no, fraternize with the enemy, with, with HER! And are they EVER gonna stop kissing?!