Chapter 1: Bothering with Blondes

Nara Shikamaru leads a life of many complications and few pleasures.

Since day one, there has always been a female there to make sure that his pleasures were cut down exponentially. Starting (and most likely ending) with Nara Yoshino, the most troublesome of all. She didn't just critique, she scrutinized every single Kamidamned detail. If that wasn't enough, she had a cycle she went through on a daily basis.

Due to its effects and his first experience of how bothersome the woman he called mother was, he always referred to this as the 'nag-rinse-repeat' cycle. The actual nagging was more physical than he would've ever liked and her disapproving shrieks did all but make his ears bleed.

She would then calm down and slow to an annoying rant, similar to that buzzing bee that refused to escape your earshot range or that itch you can't scratch. Either way, he still had to put up with it for possibly weeks on end, because Yoshino didn't forget, she stored useless incidents in her memory, just so she could refer to them every opportune moment.

The rinse aspect could be taken in two ways. She could have finally released all the frustration and calmed to the point where she only gave him intolerable stares he learned to cope with over several years of practice (ignoring them typically worked). However, she would wait until his father got home and unleash every insignificant thing that Shikamaru did to upset her. This went on for quite a while.

Then his father would say some snarky comment on how he messed up again while trying to play the 'wiser than thou' fatherly role. And when that didn't work, he drank. Yes, Yoshino Nara definitely was the most troublesome woman he knew.

Of course, she was not the only one. As his superior, Lady Tsunade somewhat had a right to be bothersome. As an escort to Temari, a Suna Ambassador, one who happened to be a higher rank, it also could've been expected. His teammate, however made a new definition for troublesome, she blew hot and cold, calm and naive one moment, boisterous and all-knowing the next. Another one of his personal slave drivers…

Shikamaru couldn't say that all girls are troublesome, but the act of simply being a girl was troublesome within itself. There were a few who were tolerable to be around. Shiho had been one of them and he had been seeing her more and more frequently.

If there were one thing he would avoid, at all costs, of happening, it would be for all of these girls to be in the same vicinity. Because when girls, troublesome blonds especially, got together, the situation always turns out to be far more complicated than intended. Even Shiho, who wasn't as troublesome as the several women who associated with him, may fall under their influence.

Leaning on the village entrance, Shikamaru shut his eyes wearily to block out the oncoming sunrise.

After pulling an all-nighter, simply because Tsunade requested that he finished the mission task reports, a task that could've been left for the next day, but wasn't due to her persistence for them immediately, it left him tired and slightly irked as he stalked home.

At three o'clock in the morning.

And now, two hours later, he was out again, waiting for her to show her smug mug. How he detested Old Man Time for only making a day consist of twenty-four hours.

He exhaled and let out a yawn lazily. His mother, ever the early bird, surprisingly was not up this morning. Although, his father was supposed to return from a mission yesterday…

…How the whipped have fallen…

If this was the case, then he was grateful for it. The last thing he needed was his mother's mock surprise at him being up so early. If she only knew what he would've done, had he been given the choice.

"So," He heard a feminine voice drawl out, "Sleeping on the job yet again, Shikamaru?"

He inwardly groaned and reluctantly opened his half lidded eyes. Five minutes of quiet contemplation had obviously been too much to ask for, since she arrived only three minutes after he had.

She laughed, seeing his displeased expression as he damned her to whatever Hell existed. Typically, he wouldn't have minded, even agreed with her. However, after less of an hour of sleep and that damn Sun shining gloriously in his fatigued eyes, he had found her normal antics and usual banter less than tolerable.

She raised her eyebrow, her bemused expression fading; "I'm guessing someone slept on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

He scoffed, "I wish I had slept n the wrong side of the bed, even the floor would've been good." He took his back of the entrance post as they began walking into the village.

"Tough night, eh?" She asked with understanding.

He chose not to answer that. He wasn't exactly in his right state of mind and getting punched this early wasn't exactly on his agenda.

She smirked, "I bet you were taking your sweet time to finish everything and that's why you were so late. "

The urge to roll his eyes was strong, but due to his drowsiness, he kept his impassive face.

"Had I been here to light a fire under your ass," Temari continued, "you may have actually finished earlier." She finished with a proclaimed self-satisfaction.

He smirked as well and decided to humor her, "You know something? You're probably right."

She turned to see his face, "What do you mean?" He tone of voice betrayed her skeptism.

"I mean, had you been here, I would've been finished earlier and able to get more sleep. You tend to have that effect on me." He shrugged the last sentence off.

Temari abruptly grabbed the collar of his Chunnin vest and looked him squarely in the eye, "Don't patronize me Nara."

He relaxed in her grip, not even putting the effort in countering her intimidating expression. "What do you mean? I would never patronize you." He said with innocence.

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm warning you."

"And I swear it. Besides, it's too bothersome to begin a confrontation with you, especially this early in the morning."

She regarded him for a moment before loosing her grip and letting go, accepting his answer. "You better not be lying to me Shikamaru," she stated in a dangerous tone.

"Lying makes things complicated, and complicated things are bothersome." He stated in a mater-of-fact tone as she crossed her arms and she rolled her eyes.

The Chunnin Exams were approaching, thus the reason for Temari being in Konoha early this year.

Shikamaru's mood had lightened since early this morning, whether it was due to his body rejecting his fatigue or Temari's company, he wasn't sure. Teuchi's steaming morning ramen may have helped also, since Temari had gotten tired of seeing Shikamaru's apathetic expression, or at least, more apathetic than usual. She opted that they should have breakfast before going to Hokage Tower, to which Shikamaru agreed, not really having a choice either way.

Finished with their meal, they walked to Hokage Tower in companionable silence, to which Shikamaru was grateful for. He still remembered how angry Temari was and rubbed the back of his neck gingerly.

Entering through the double doors, they were met by several of the proctors of the Exams and the Hokage herself.

"Shikamaru, it's about time you got here." The Godaime gave her a narrowed stare.

"Sorry, Lady Tsunade, I arrived later than intended." Temari bowed to village superior.

Tsunade's features softened, "It's all right Temari-san, did you arrive here well?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama, although my escort seemed to be resting at his post again." She replied cunningly and in response, Shikamaru gave into his urge to roll his eyes to the conspicuous jab.

"Well, you arrived here at an acceptable time; we need to wait for the proctors of the first Exam."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Proctors? I thought Morino Ibiki ran it every year."

As if on cue, everyone turned their attention to the doorway, due to the loud conversation outside of it.

"I can handle it, sensei! Really!" A shrill female voice exclaimed.

"You're still too young to handle them by yourself. You'll still be able to do it, but I'll just be present." A deep male voice said more reserved, in an attempt to calm down their student.

The double doors opened and Ibiki entered in with Ino in tow.

Shikamaru smirked, "Heh, I should've known…"

"Well," The Hokage began, resting her elbows on her desk and lacing her fingers together, "It's about time you two showed up, what took you so long?"

"Let's just say there was a conflict of interest...Good morning Lady Tsunade." Ibiki stated as he bowed to his superior.

Ino followed suit, "I apologize for us being so late." She said more humble than she was usually.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow in amusement, "Conflict of interest, eh?" Ino's face flushed at the realization that everyone in the room heard her confrontation with her sensei. "Make sure it doesn't happen again," Tsunade stated firmly and Ino nodded.

"Alright, on to business, I suppose Ino knows that she will be running the first Exam?" Tsunade inquired.

"Yes milady, she's already agreed." Ibiki stated as he gave his student a pointed stare. Ino chose to wisely not counter back.

"Good, now there are changes I would like to make to the written portion, which Ino can assist me with later, correct?" Tsunade stated this to the room, but it was directed towards the kunoichi in question.

"Yes Tsunade-sama." Ino nodded in affirmation. Tsunade gave her a swift nod back before continuing, "As you all know, this is the first Chunnin Exam held in this village under my authority. As such, there will be certain changes to the Exams, but nothing too overreaching."

"Lady Tsunade, if you don't mind my asking, what changes do you plan on making the Exams?" Temari asked the Leaf Leader.

Tsunade smiled, "Shizune will walk you through the plans and will allow you to ask questions, this year has had the most participation for the Chunnin Exams and I'd like this to go off without a hitch, especially after the last Chunnin Exam held here."

Shikamaru, Ino, and the proctors from the Leaf all gave their Hokage knowing looks. The invasion from four years ago during the Chunnin Exams had left the village broken, but being the Village Hidden in the Leaves, they repaired quickly and efficiently.

"Then if there are no more questions for the time being, you are all dismissed."

Several decoding manuals were currently engulfing Shiho, ones she had to dig up from her time as a mere trainee.

She huffed as she held the towering stack of books closer to her body. She was an overachiever after all, a dedicated one. And she was honored to do this, but she kept getting slightly frustrated at the act of keeping her bangs away from her peripheral vision. Most were plastered to her forehead, due to perspiration, but there were a tricky few that refused to stay in place.

Another flaxen hair blocked her lens as she blew at it and cocked her head to the side. Her hair typically didn't give her trouble, as she never concerned herself with it, but today the breeze many would have called lovely had picked up and with her sight already being conflicted by the several books she carried, it was hard not to be irked at this steadily tedious task.

Another exhalation of warm air escaped from her mouth as she walked on. She only hoped that she would not run into any children before getting to Hokage Tower, the thought of dropping this many books on the main road when she had been so close would have been discouraging…

"I see you and your sensei have had a pleasant morning." Temari started in a genial tone.

Ino scoffed, "How was I supposed to know you could hear from outside the Hokage's office? I thought it was soundproof."

"It is soundproof, from the outside." Shikamaru stated and Ino frowned from her foolishness. "And even if it was soundproof, you shouldn't have started that argument outside the Hokage's door."

Ino crossed her arms, "I didn't start that argument outside the door. To tell you the truth, we were talking like that since we left the I&T Unit…"

"Then it's a shock we didn't hear you earlier." Shikamaru stated underhandedly, which earned him a smack across the arm from his Genin teammate. He rubbed his arm gingerly after a hushed exclamation of his pain passed his lips. "Oww…"

Temari chuckled, "And you claim it's us that are troublesome."

"Yes, you are, bothersome too." He muttered.

He received a smack from both sides on his arms, resulting in more pain shooting up his biceps.

Before Shikamaru realized there was someone in front of him, he was pushed onto the ground, the last thing he saw being dropping books and a flash of blonde hair.

A wry chuckle passed her lips. 'Well, isn't this funny? The one thing I thought about avoiding, was the one thing that ended up happening to me…'

She rose from the ground and began hastily dusting herself of immediately before she saw a…Chunnin vest? She looked further to see none other than Shikamaru laying on the ground, with two women standing at his side laughing.

'And why wouldn't they laugh? I suppose they've never been knocked down before…' Looking at their attire, she could even guess that the two women were kunoichi. 'He's a shinobi, of course he would associate with female ninja.' She reasoned to herself, still not pleased with her hypotenuse.

The one on his right giggled, "Well Shikamaru, still find us bothersome?"

He grunted as he readjusted himself, "Of course I do, you could've told me…"

The other on his left smirked and put one hand on her hip as the one on her right crossed her arms. "We moved and maybe if you didn't insult us beforehand, we may have been quicker to do so."

Both held out their hands to help him up and he steadied himself before bending down to grab one of the several books scattered on the road.

"Shikamaru-san, I am so sorry," Shiho apologized as more of her blonde bangs obstructed her vision, which she moved to the side of her face again. "I-" she began, more embarrassed than she had ever been, "I couldn't see you, through all the books…" She said sheepishly and bowed her head, hoping he didn't notice how her cheeks were aflame.

"It's okay, Shiho. I know it was an accident," He said with a kind smile as he handed her back the book in his hand. "You don't have to apologize."

"Oh, thank you…" Shiho said quietly as she readjusted her follicles, a shy tendency she had obtained. Shikamaru set to picking up some of her books still lying on the ground, "Oh Shikamaru-san! You don't have to do that!"

"Yeah, I do, I did bump into you, after all." He said, knowing she was holding many books in hand.

"And we'll help." The kunoichi who seemed to carry a steel bar on her back stated.

"Yeah, it was kinda our fault for not getting him out of the way sooner." The other with a high long blonde ponytail said and she began picking up manuals as well.

"Oh, thank you…" Shiho said as she bended over to pick books up as well.

"Shikamaru, you aren't going to introduce us?" Temari inquired as she held a small stack of manuals in her hand.

"Nope." He stated bluntly as he retrieved another book.

"Why not?" Ino raised an eyebrow as she added another book in addition to the ones she had in her hands.

"Because introductions make things complicated." He answered none too subtly and Ino smacked his arm again, "Oww, Ino…"

Ino sighed and gave her stack of books to Shiho, "Well, I'm Yamanaka Ino, of Yamanaka Flowers and…I didn't catch your name?"

Shiho accepted the books as she gave Ino a smile, "Oh, I'm Kiyaku Shiho, I work in the Code Breaker Unit." She attempted to fix her hair back to the side of her face as it had gotten out of place again.

Temari walked up to Shiho and gave her a stack of books as well, "I'm Sabaku Temari, it's nice to meet you Shiho." The older girl gave Shiho a friendly smile, but Shiho couldn't help, but find her a bit daunting.

'Maybe it's in my mind…' Shiho reasoned as she gave Temari a smile of her own, "Thank you for your assistance, I'm really sorry getting in your way."

"Oh, don't worry about it Shiho," Ino brushed off Shiho's remorseful apology, "It was all the lazy bum's fault anyways." She said as she gave him a pointed glare, which he tactfully ignored.

Shiho could tell that this girl must've known Shikamaru for a long time, but she still didn't like that she referred to him that way.

"Yeah, I've known Shikamaru for a while, if he wanted to, he could've moved, he probably even saw you coming and still didn't move."

Shikamaru scoffed, "So I bumped into Shiho because I found it too troublesome to move?"

"Yes!" Temari and Ino exclaimed in unison.

"Heh, I can't argue with that logic then…" He smirked as he gave her the final stack of books.

"Thank you Shikamaru-san," Shiho said softly and smiled, her cheeks faintly pink.

"No problem Shiho." He said just as kindly back.

"Yeah, but Shiho, where are you going with all these books?" Temari asked and Shiho directed her attention to her.

"Oh, Hokage Tower. Lady Tsunade requested I bring them to her."

"We just came from there," Ino said, "If you want, we can-"

"No! No, that's okay, thank you though." She gripped the bottom of the stack and held it closer to her body.

"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the pile of books in her hand, a bit worried, "We can help you carry it there."

"N-No, it's okay, really." She bowed her head once again as she saw he got closer to somewhat hide her face.

"Okay, if you're sure…" He said, making sure that if she wanted it, she could accept his help.

"Yes, I'll be fine," She gave his as reaffirming a smile as she could for the moment, not wanting to betray her uneasiness around him. 'Why does he make me so nervous? Calm down,' She scolded herself mentally.

"Okay, then I guess we'll see you around." Shikamaru said as he began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, it was nice to meet you!" Ino smiled wide as she walked beside Shikamaru

"Same here." Temari waved gently and took her place on the other side of him as well.

"Bye, and thank you again for your help." Shiho said as she began making her way through the crowd, steadily towards Hokage Tower.

The smile that had graced her lips moments ago faded with a realization. Shikamaru wouldn't give her a look otherwise, especially if he was affiliated with girls like the ones he was with just now on a regular basis.

She sighed, the discoursing feeling she thought she would feel if her books were spilled slowly filling her. How could she even dream to compete with kunoichi, tall beautiful kunoichi as the ones that were accompanying him?

She rose up more, trying to dull the growing ache in her back from the number of books she was holding.

'Shikamaru must like blond kunoichi…' She contemplated logically as she huffed once again, 'I could never be like that…' She thought disheartened as she made her way to the Hokage Tower steps.

Shihon means capital and Kiyaku means code, so, I guess she would be a capital code? I don't know her real last name, as it's never been said in the manga, so I hope no one gets too mad…

In other news, ONTO THE TALLIES!

ShikaIno: 1 (technically)

ShikaTema: 5 (including one from the poll on my profile)

ShikaShiho: 6

Undecided: 2

I've added a poll to my profile, which you can vote who you would like to win, it's BLIND poll, so that no one's influenced by someone else's vote.

Also, I'd like to say thanks for the support for this; I got several reviews within hours of posting this! I hope I don't disappoint. Oh, about the 'first chapter', it was a prologue that is a flashback. So it was all in italics for that reason, sorry for the annoyance.

Two is great, three is divine…

DAC