Thanks for the reviews. I feel honored that this story is great enough that some of my readers comment on it. :) ShadowHeart251
But a loud and obnoxious voice interrupted their thoughts.
" Hey Shikamaru! Temari!" waved a certain boy with whiskers on his cheeks. When he came closer, he looked suspicious and forgot all about what he was going to say.
"Were you two about to kiss?" Naruto asked grinning form ear as he watched them both blush, "Is Temari your girlfriend?"
"No!" they both shouted simultaneously, with huge blushes on their cheeks.
"It's not that. Temari's just my bodyguard and if you had not helped those other two I wouldn't have had to worry about fangirls at all," Shikamaru pointed out to the one who was considered the idiot of the village most of the time.
"You two looked awfully cozy! Well if you were together those fangirls would have to give up on chasing you especially since Temari has Gaara as a brother," suggested Naruto not even realizing the he had given them an idea as he walked off.
"What if-" Shikamaru paused to think.
"We pretended to date-" Temari, added her eyes narrowing at the strange idea.
"To get rid of those fangirls," Shikamaru finished already liking the idea even it wasn't for the reason he had given.
Glancing at one another, the Sand ninja was at a loss for words.
"You know what that means . . .," Shikamaru stated staring at Temari, "We have to act like a . . . Couple."
"Yeah, and no offense but you're going to have to get better at kissing Shika," Temari ordered teasingly, remembering that kiss from earlier even though she told herself to forget about it.
With a sly smirk, the lazy Chuunin slowly pulled her to him and met her soft lips with his. When Temari parted her lips in a tempting invite, Shikamaru teased her by gradually nibbling on her upper lip. Frustrated at his taunting, she yanked him closer to her and his tongue slipped inside and mingled gently with hers.
Shikamaru caressed her cheek with one hand while the other held her close to him with his arm snaked around her waist. Temari groaned as her hands slid up his chest and wrapped around his neck to tug him even closer. Sneakily she used one of her hands to untie his hair and she lightly curled her fingers into its softness as some strands teased her cheeks as Shikamaru deepened the kiss.
As their breaths waned, the two ninjas reluctantly pulled apart to catch their breath. Staring into each other's gazes, they each made small gasping noises and Temari began to blush.
"W-wow . . . What a kiss," the blond Kuniochi breathed quite heavily, "for a lazy guy."
Finally gaining enough air to sound calm, Shikamaru's low lazy voice inquired smugly, "Was that enough improvement for your satisfaction?"
"Don't get cocky. That was only a rehearsal kiss not the real thing," Temari reprimanded sternly as she saw the smirk on his face.
He handed her the forgotten fan laid to the side and she easily strapped it to her back.
They walked together in the moonlight and attraction sparked between them even if they attempted to ignore their raging hormones. And each did not admit to themselves that the kiss wasn't a practice kiss.
"What? You sent Temari where?!" a deep male voice shouted, his purple paint marks on his face stretching with each word said. He stared at his younger brother, the present Kazekage, in shock, "You can't be serious, Gaara!"
"Why would I not be?" asked the dark red haired brother whose pale green eyes looked even paler with the thick black lines around it that had always been there since birth.
Staring at the forever-serious Gaara, Kankuro decided to ask why she was even at Konoha, "Why is she there?"
"She chose the mission," Gaara clarified only stating the obvious facts.
Frustrated Kankuro held in his irritation and asked again, hoping for more of an answer, " Why did you send her to Konoha, I mean what's the point?"
"To match make her with the well-known strategist Shinobi of the Leaf. Of course that will be without her knowledge," he explained in professional manner.
"So you're a matchmaker?" Kankuro asked confused and puzzled by his brother's words.
"No, Tsunade is," Gaara corrected as he watched Kankuro leave the room and come back with his puppet wrapped and attached to his back.