Original story in Spanish: WhiteTigerKiara
Translation to English: Anamicenas

The characters from this story belong to the series Naruto & Naruto Shippūden © Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 4.

"Where do you want to go?" Shikamaru kindly asked.

"I just wanted to relax a little…"

"So… do you… want….to go… to the hill?" the Nara said scratching the back of his head a little nervous. Temari just blushed at the way he said that. But she knew Shikamaru was just trying to be friendly.

"Sure!" she said and started walking toward that direction "let's go."

Shikamaru nodded and started walking towards the hill. The Nara just layed down and Temari sat by his side.

"Aren't you going to lay down?" he asked after a little while since she still was sitting.

"Yes" she answered coming out of her thoughts. It seemed like her mind was somewhere else, Shikamaru noticed that.

Temari layed on her side, which was a rare thing for her to do. Also, she was facing him. She closed her eyes and let herself go in the quiet moment. The wind was slowly blowing and the sun wasn't too hot on the skin. The trees gave away enough shade so they could rest in total peace.

Shikamaru couldn't sleep. For the first time in those three months, Shikamaru didn't take a nap.

He just stayed there staring at her. The Nara noticed her golden hair moving with the wind. It was blonde but it wasn't too light or too dark. It was a color like the sand. Her skin was white with a little pink in it, like the kind that turns a little red when the sun hits the skin. Her eyebrows were the same color as her hair just a little darker. Her eyes where winged and her eyelids where kind of peculiar and pretty compared to other eyes that he had knew. Her nose was perfect, it wasn't too big or too small. And her lips, pink, crowning a mouth with perfect teeth.

He kept looking all the way down on her, her chin, her neck, her breasts… showing off that cleavage on her dress. How can such a young girl have those breasts? The protector she wore on top didn't show off her too much, it made her chest look flatter than it was. Shikamaru looked at her admiring how beautiful she was. Temari wasn't like the other girls, all skinny. Temari had firm arms and strong legs.

When he saw her legs the first thing that came to his mind was that night he saw his parents having sex. His heart was strongly beating and he got all flustered looking at her. Without even noticing, his nose started bleeding.

"Oh no…" he whispered and he moved to put his head facing up and with his hand he cleaned his nose trying to hide the evidence with a leaf that fell from a tree.

When he finally was able to stop the blood, he looked at her again by turning his head. He tried to just stay by her side but not looking at her. If things kept going like that it could be troublesome. And one thing for sure was, the one between his legs.

Shikamaru wasn't one of those perverted boys. At least he didn't think he was. He wasn't going around like Naruto did with those sexy jutsus or trying to peep on girls when they were at the hot springs

However, for some reason he couldn't stop staring at Temari. It wasn't like a physical attraction. That was something his mind still couldn't fully understand, but somehow, during those three months he started to look at her in a different way.

It was like having her there made him feel at peace. He loved to spend time with her, even when he would never admit it.

Temari suddenly opened her eyes and found him staring at her. He was facing up and he was acting like nothing happened. When he noticed she had her eyes open, he stopped looking at her. She noticed and blushed. She never thought he was going to look at her like that. Then she also turned her body to face up too. They would never say anything about what just happened, it would be awkward for both of them.

In silence both of them were looking up and Shikamaru was hoping she wasn't mad about what happened.

"I have to tell you something Shikamaru… I'll be leaving in four days" she said making Shikamaru come out of his thoughts. Temari's voice was sad and he noticed it.

He turned to look at her and found her big green eyes in front of him.

"Four days? So soon?"

"Ha! Don't tell me you are going to miss me!" she said mocking him trying to cover how sad she was.

"It is not that…" he said looking on his side "it's just that everybody else my age is so loud and bothersome."

"It's because you Shikamaru, don't act like a boy of your age. You act like an old man" she said putting her index finger of her right hand on the right cheek of the young shinobi. Shikamaru just slapped her out of his face.

It had been just half a second later when he noticed he grabbed her hand and was holding it so he let her go right away, blushing. Temari thought it was funny how nervous he got.

"Maybe the last day you are here in Konoha we could go and eat things you can't find in Suna" Shikamaru suggested knowing how much she liked it.

"You are right!" she suddenly said sitting up "Would you come with me?"

Shikamaru felt how his heart was in pieces. In one hand he really wanted to go eat with his team since it was the day Chōji was leaving the hospital. But also, he really wanted to go out with her and see her enjoy.

"That's the day Chōji comes out from the hospital…" Shikamaru commented trying to let her know that on that day his friend was going to be the priority.

"I understand…" she said with a sad face. And now, his heart was completely broken. He couldn't bear to see her sad. She, one of the few people that now was so important for him. It was impossible. His heart wouldn't let him.

"You see… that day, at noon we can go out for lunch and later, when I'm done at the academy I can take you to the gate." Shikamaru said without really thinking about it. And then he thought how that proposal sounded a little bold.

But even with that, the way Temari was so happy was all worth it.

"Ok!" she said smiling "I accept!"

…

The rest of the days before she left went by too fast for him.

The previous day before Temari left they met each other in the rooftop, since it was raining and going to the hill would be a total disaster.

At least where they were, they could cover from the rain.

"I hate rain" Shikamaru said sitting in a big rock under the porch. He had his arms crossed behind his head and Temari was sitting on his side.

"Why do you hate rain?" she asked wondering about it.

"Because I can't look up at the sky and see the clouds. Drops of water fall in your eyes, and sitting under the roof I can't see a thing… and also…. It looks like if you are crying…"

"Do you have a crybaby complex?" Shikamaru frowned and looked at her, feeling upset.

"You really like to tease me, huh?"

"I like rain" the kunoichi said ignoring his words "is a rare phenomenon that happens in Suna. Is one of the things I like the most about Konoha. "

Shikamaru kept thinking how was it possible that something that he hated so much was so pretty for her. Temari, without a doubt, was a very peculiar girl.

"I really enjoyed staying here in Konoha all this time" the blonde kunoichi suddenly said. Now she had her hair a little wet and it looked a little darker in some parts. "… and it is… all because of you. Thanks."

"Don't thank me, I just did what you asked me" he said like if it was completely normal.

"You could've said no" she answered putting him at check.

"I'm not so cruel…. You could believe it or not" he said annoyed trying to look anywhere else other than her.

"I don't think you are like that… you are a good person, thank you for everything Shikamaru…"

…

Temari's last day in Konoha arrived and Shikamaru met her, as they agreed that day. The plan was that he would go with her to eat foods that only could be found in there.

What he didn't expect was that on that day he would end up going not only with her, but with her brothers too.

"Hello Shikamaru" she said a little distant compared how she usually was around him.

"He… hello…" Shikamaru stuttered surprised at the way she was talking to him.

"Where are you going to take us?" Temari asked like nothing was happening.

"You wanted to eat mackerel, right?" he said confirming what they talked the day before.

Temari nodded and she and her brothers followed Shikamaru to the place they were going to eat. In that moment he felt bad for not going to eat with his team. He was hoping to go alone with Temari and he didn't imagine that he was going to end up going with Gaara and Kankurō, they were really intimidating.

Shikamaru could still remember the few times in the past when Gaara was out of his mind.

Lunch went by smoothly. His mind was absent, completely outside from the conversation the three siblings had. At the end the Nara just said he had to leave because he had to go back to the academy. Temari, who noticed how odd he was acting, went after him and followed him outside.

"Shikamaru… I'm sorry…" she said referring to the fact that she didn't told him about her brothers. He knew exactly what was she talking about, so he chose to just accept her apologies and act like nothing was wrong.

"I'll see you later" he said smiling at her. Very few times Temari saw him smile like that. Maybe something was changing in him, she didn't know what. But what she did know was that the smile of that young shinobi was something that made her feel good inside her heart.

Shikamaru finished his chores at the academy and got together again with the siblings from Suna. But this time since he was finishing early, he had to take some of the kids with him to say goodbye to the Kazekage and his siblings.

"Be careful on your way back" Shikamaru said to the three of them.

"We will" Kankurō answered harshly because there was something about Shikamaru he didn't like.

Temari didn't say anything, just turned and started walking with her brothers. However, a few seconds later she just stopped and turned back to look at him:

"If you ever need something, I'll help you again, ok crybaby?" Temari knew he hated to be called like that, even more than he hated rain. Because it reminded him the day he cried so much. It was like a low blow to his ego.

"You talk too much… it's because women are so…" but Shikamaru didn't finish that sentence, because he forgot about it when he saw the way she was smiling at him before turning again to leave.

Later on that evening, Shikamaru went to take his usual nap. And was at that precise moment that he noticed he didn't know when Temari would be back.

"It's not like I really care that much" he kept telling to himself. Or at least he was trying to believe that.

At the end it was impossible to fall asleep on the hill without her so he got up and went home. When he got inside, he didn't say hi to anybody. He didn't care about anything; he was in a bad mood and he was feeling confused.

He got in bed, and even when he tried, he couldn't not dream about the troublesome blonde girl coming back…