a/n: I am in the middle of writing the final chapter but this came to me on my way home from lunch today, so yeah. looks like vol 1 will be 11 chapters instead of 10. also, on the new version of this song, the title is The Affair (Mr. Jones), but I chose the original title. Also, the chapter is mostly dialogue.

Mr. Jones

Temari sat down on a loveseat facing the coffee table of the suite he'd rented out. Unsure how to dress, she'd chosen black jeans and, due to the quality of their hotel, heels. Over the past week, she'd taken to wearing sunglasses and scarves whenever leaving her apartment, but now they were piled on the bed and she felt significantly lighter. Although, having him across from her didn't add any ease.

"Did you find the place okay?" He asked lightly, standing by the window and gazing at her with a wayward look. He was in a suit. She bet he rarely wore anything else.

"For the most part." She hadn't wanted to be here. Was relatively terrified, actually. She didn't know what he wanted. She didn't know what she believed. Apart from the phone call yesterday asking to meet, she hadn't seen him or heard from him for a long time.

She hadn't wanted to get involved in this. She had stayed away from the whole case for the most part. She had ignored dozens of calls from newspapers for months, and as soon as she thought it was over, it began again. Only this time, she couldn't claim she wasn't involved.

"There's no one else here. No wires, no… cameras, nothing. Just us, this time."

She nodded.

His hands were in his pockets and his tie was loose. He looked pale, as though he hadn't slept much. There was a long pause.

"I…" he closed his eyes, "I thought about what I wanted to say, but now the words aren't coming to me."

Temari crossed her legs and leaned back. "Did you know who I was?"

His eyes shot open, "of course not," he answered quickly; then coughed. He glanced out the window. "I found out… later though. When we met, the investigation hadn't even begun. Later on I saw some pictures and pieced it together. I figured it didn't matter though." He snorted half-heartedly, "after all, I never thought I'd see you again."

She'd thought the same thing. It was one night. A year and a half ago. As it was, she hadn't remembered much about it. Not because she was drinking. Only because it had been so inconsequential, and so over time, she'd mostly forgotten.

She didn't have one night stands often. Actually, he was the only person she'd ever slept with and then left. Not for any specific reason. Of what she did remember, he was nice and good looking and actually quite wonderful in bed, but she had just begun dating someone else, she was only on vacation in Konoha, and jesus, what did it matter anyway? They'd had sex. That was all. It was supposed to be done with.

And it had been. Until last week.

She hadn't even known anything apart from his first name.

"I couldn't've helped much anyway," she offered, "if you had known."

"I swear to you," he said, looking back at her with dark eyes, "nothing we did, nothing, had any impact on my work."

She nodded.

Perhaps, if she'd ever watched the news—rather than direly avoiding it—during the investigation and subsequent trial of her father, she would have seen Nara. She would've seen him in press conferences or outside a court-house or whatever detectives did.

After all, he did lead the investigation which led to her father's imprisonment.

And about seventh months before her father's arrest, he'd met Temari in a bar, in a hotel exactly like this one, and at the end of the night, she'd taken him to her room.

"What do you think happened?" She asked.

"Honestly," he said, moving to sit down in the chair beside him. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "I have no idea."

She gave a long exhale. "Do you think someone followed us?"

"Someone might have followed you. I have people looking into it."

"Followed me?" She almost laughed, "I'm a research assistant at the university— I don't have fans… or enemies."

"It was your room. We weren't," he glanced at her, "…I wasn't intoxicated enough to not notice if some stranger crept in behind us with a camera."

"So you assume someone had preemptively planned to film us?" She said, louder than she'd meant to.

"I went back to the room," he replied patiently, "the film was taken from somewhere behind the television stand. Someone hid a camera behind there while you were out, or perhaps had hidden in there beforehand."

"And who would do that? It's not like it was known that you would be there or that we— what are the chances I'd even bring up anyone? For all the—perp, or culprit, or whatever you say— knew I could come back and just go to sleep."

"It could always just be some peeping-tom. Somebody found you attractive and installed a camera in the room?"

"And somehow found out who we were and made it public three months after the trial? That's ridiculous." Her tone rose and he leveled to match her.

"You don't think I haven't though about that? Fuck, of course I have. I've considered everything. I could lose my job off this. Not to mention the whole case is being re-opened."

Temari sighed and ran a hand through her hair, baiting her time until they'd both calmed. "I know," she said slowly. "Detective Nara—"

"Shikamaru."

"—right, Shikamaru, I don't doubt your capabilities. I know you're… a good investigator. You surely have enough standing to get out of this. The timeline doesn't even match up. And I've never worked for the company or my father. There's nothing I could've given you."

"They don't need proof of your involvement, Temari. We can't prove it was only once. It's easy to say we were secretly dating."

"I have—" she stopped and blinked, "had, a boyfriend."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

There was a long wait before anyone said anything.

"Have you seen it?" He asked eventually.

She frowned and shifted, uncrossing and then recrossing her legs. "Isn't there a way, though," she said, addressing the previous topic, "to say I was with him and not you."

"Not sufficiently. The Source doesn't help much either."

"Source?"

He glanced at her. "You really didn't pay attention to the news did you? I knew you weren't at the trial, but I didn't think you wouldn't watch it."

"Why would I? My father has nothing to do with me. I didn't invest in his company, I gave away all my inheritance, I pay my own bills. We're not a christmas-card family, Shikamaru."

He sighed, "I figured. I was glad, actually."

"Hm?"

"I was glad," he continued, "that you weren't at the trial. I didn't want to see you again… or rather, not there."

"Glad to know I was that bad."

"Ah, you know what I mean… But our evidence, we had an inside source. I can't tell you who it is. Actually, I don't even know, but I have a solid theory. The point is, the evidence, a good portion of it, initially came from someone working for your father. He confronted the chief about lost funds and had enough questions to start and investigation. All the evidence we got from him, or her, we were later able to find ourselves through legal means… but in court, a lot of it was questionable."

"I told you," she said, "I wouldn't've helped much. There can't be enough evidence pointing towards me as the Source. I haven't seen my father since I graduated college."

He leaned forward and placed a hand on her knee. "Please, tell me you didn't know."

"Excuse me?"

"Temari," he said lowly, "tell me you didn't know anything about your father embezzling his company's money. If you knew nothing, if you had no idea, it won't be hard to let this blow over."

"I…" she took a deep breath, "I didn't know exactly, I mean, I never saw any—"

"Temari."

"I knew there was something." He moved away and stood up, covering his face with his hands. "Growing up, I always had a feeling, but I didn't know any details. I never never knew exactly, I just… had a feeling."

"Dammit."

"I didn't know though! I didn't tell you anything. I didn't talk to my father about his work, I didn't go to that hotel specifically because I knew a detective would be there, and I didn't have sex with you for any other reason than you were exciting."

Shikamaru placed his hands on the sill and looked back out the window.

"Anyway," she continued, standing up and moving behind him, "even I know the video is enough proof for an investigation, but it's not like they can come up with anything else."

He said nothing, so she went on.

"This is the first time we've met in person. And the video itself won't stand alone. It starts when we come into frame and ends as soon as the sex does. It didn't even capture the second or third time. There's no talking and thus no evidence that we had any verbal communication whatsoever. That can't hold up in court, right?"

He was silent for a long time.

She was right. The video had only started when they walked into the frame. They were taking off clothes then, kissing and fumbling and landing on the bed. The camera itself was at an awkward angle, but it was enough for most of the actual act to be captured. Faces were rarely seen, but it was obviously the two of them. After he finished, they fell back against the bed and the shot ended.

Outside, the sky had began to grow black.

"So…" he said slowly, turning around to face her. They were close now, "you have seen it?"

Temari waited a beat and then found herself laughing. "Actually," she said, "I've seen it a few times. It's pretty good, actually."

Shikamaru laughed at that too. His face completely transformed when he smiled. "You know, I had a friend that made a sex tape once. She said that it looked nothing like the movies. It was pretty ridiculous actually..." he rubbed his neck. "I was really kind of nervous. Not only for the legal purposes, but segments are on every news station around the country and most of the world. Everyone I know has now seen me in bed... but it turned out to be good." He chuckled and met her eyes, "really good."

"Great, even."

They were both smiling now.

"I don't remember much about that night," Temari said after a while, "but I am sure that what we did had nothing to do with my father or with your work, and because there is little doubt, shouldn't it be easier to prove?"

"No, the coincidence that we met and had sex relatively randomly is—" there was a ringing and Shikamaru reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. "Nara." He listened for a moment and then audibly agreed with the person on the other line before snapping his mobile shut and slipping it back into his pocket. "Sorry," he said, looking back at Temari, "I have to go."

She nodded, "not a problem."

He moved past her and into the middle of the room, reaching and donning his coat.

"We should meet again," he commented, "to better sort this out. There's an ongoing investigation, but you'll probably be of some help."

"If we can," she agreed, "sort this out, I mean."

He stopped and gave her a long look. "Are you busy Friday?" He said after a moment.

"I'll wait for your call."

"Right," he responded, buttoning his coat and walking to the door. "Goodbye, then."

ah yeah there you go

we'd all want to see that sex tape

reviews are candy and caramel apples