Moments
Chapter 3: Formalities
"With this the urgent agenda of our meeting is over." Shikamaru concluded. "The last thing to discuss, would be the upcoming Chuunin exam. It was decided during the last Kage meeting that the exam would be held in three months. This year's host is going to be Hidden Sand Village. So I'd ask the village representative to take a charge on this matter." As he concluded, Temari stood up.
"We'll start preparations for the exams immediately, so first of all I'd ask all of you to forward us lists of the three men teams each village would like to nominate..."
The procedure too familiar for everyone, so this speech was just a necessary formality. It was just like Temari to make it as short as possible.
"If you have any questions, I'll answer them privately, there's no need for the rest of you to stay. That's all."
Even though it was kind of Shikamaru's job to say that. But in the end nobody seemed to mind it, even the guy himself.
It wouldn't be too bad to spend some time with him though, but a small crowd quickly separated her from the rest of the room. There're still some troublesome issues to take care of.
'When did I start to talk like him?' Temari wondered, answering the questions.
Crowd dissolved pretty quickly.
"Hey, Temari..." it was a young woman from Hidden Stone village. Next in the line of succession after her old grandfather Oonoki. She had a devilish smile on her face.
"So… are you official yet?"
That was a strange question.
"What are you talking about?"
"You and Shikamaru, of course! I mean it was obvious from the very beginning, but now there's this rumor..."
Temari was confused.
"Which rumor?"
"That you're together now. As a boyfriend and girlfriend, I mean."
"Ha?"
Well, now to think of it, Temari realized the real reason why people were giving them strange looks during the last Kage meeting.
'I wonder where that came from...'
She never lost her composure.
"That's not true."
"Oh, come on! We're both girls here. You can tell me!"
'Boyfriend and girlfriend, huh?' It didn't sound too bad. But still impossible for now. It was amazing just how two of the most capable ninjas in their villages can be this useless when it comes to relationship.
"There's nothing to say."
She cut off.
"Eh? Is that so? Then, how about I go get him for myself? He's kind of sweet."
She was lying. It was obvious from the beginning, that she was just bluffing to get the information she wanted out of Temari. It was also obvious that Shikamaru would find the girl like her too troublesome to deal with. But... what if Temari was wrong? What if Kurotsuchi would actually go and do that, and he'll just go along because it would be too troublesome to say no. The though did kind of hurt. It was illogical feeling based only on "what ifs". It was completely out of her character to even think about it. She realized it perfectly and yet couldn't help it.
"I'm going now!" The girl from Hidden Stone didn't make a single step towards the door, when Temari grabbed her by the hand. A little bit harder than necessary.
"Don't you dare."
That was the reaction she wanted.
"Oh-hoh, our Desert Queen is in loooooove."
Temari didn't reply.
"It's okay, you know? We're all actually happy for you two."
"It's not like that."
"You shouldn't think that way. I mean, everyone else can see it happen naturally. Why don't you?"
Temari took a deep breath to calm down feelings she could hardly understand. And yet it was useless.
She didn't say anything and headed to the exit. Just few more steps remained, when somebody appeared on her way.
"Huh? Temari, you ok?"
Of all people in this place it had to be HIM!
A strange irritating feeling rose up inside of her. Before she fully understood what she was doing, she clenched her fist and went for a punch. He crushed into the opposite wall.
"What the hell?"
One more second and she was herself again.
"Sorry." She murmured and stormed out.
"Ha?"
"It's looooooove!" Kurotsuchi was laughing.
"Ha?" Shikamaru couldn't understand at all what just happened.
"Don't mind her," it was Tsuchikage's granddaughter. "I might have... provoked her a little."
"Why?" Temari's punch hurt like hell.
"That's because you guys are so cute together! I'm totally rooting for you!" She laughed.
'Provoked? Don't tell me she would go and tell Temari about that stupid rumor Chouji started? Oh, crap. '
But he only said:
"What a drag..."
"Sorry, to drop all of it on your shoulders." Kakashi said, when the fifth pillar of papers ended up on Shikamaru's table.
The amount of work made him dizzy.
"What's is all that?"
"These are for the Chuunin exam."
"Was it always this many?"
"No, but this year the circumstances are different. It would be first time since the war, plus all countries participate. We do have a lot of things to sort out first."
"But the exam is going to be held in Hidden Sand..."
"Well, then you'll have to comfort yourself with a fact that they'll have to sort out even more papers than us." Kakashi didn't seem to be sad about throwing loads of work on Shikamaru. "You better start working already. Temari will be coming for these in three days."
He might have intended to motivate Shikamaru by saying that. But it didn't work. Three days for this much? He'll die first.
And yet he started working. It was hard to tell, just how much time had passed when he finished the first pillar, then second. He passed out while working on the third, and somehow managed to finish it too. It was the fourth one that made him want to die. He hardly heard when the door opened, but when someone touched him by the shoulder and asked "Are you ok?"
He could only let out desperate "Help me." Out of his mouth. And then passed out again.
When he opened his eyes again, the papers were still there.
"You awake now?" Familiar female voice. But she's not supposed to be here yet...
"Was it three days already?"
"Two days and twelve hours to be precise." She was working on the last papers of the pile. "I brought you some food. You should eat first."
His stomach loudly expressed his agreement with her words.
"But..."
"There's just couple more, I'll finish it in no time. Eat." She demanded.
He suddenly remembered that the last time they've met she punched him right into a wall. And now she was actually helping him out, even though she was supposed to leave a long time ago. 'Girls are crazy.' He started eating. Judging from the state of his stomach, he kind of forgot a couple of meals.
"All right." Temari said. "All done. I'll be taking these back with me." Her perfect concentration broke as she stretched her body.
The setting sun was coloring the room into bright orange.
When did she opened curtains? Well, rather than that, when did she opened the window? That, and getting food, plus working through all those papers. When did she managed to do all that?
"Sorry for the trouble."
"Nah, its ok. But I've never expected you of all people to nearly work your way to the grave." She chuckled.
"Oh, well..." he didn't know what to say.
"You should know better than be this reckless with the work. At least eat your meals properly, and don't keep the windows shut..."
She continued with her usual lecture. For someone like Shikamaru it was always way too annoying to listen to those, after all, his mother does that a lot too. But somehow this time he felt happy to hear Temari's strict scolding. 'It's probably just in her nature to be like that. Strict, yet caring.' It took him a while to understand what hides under her serious face, but somehow it became clear just now.
"Hey, Shikamaru. Are you listening at all?"
"Temari." He smiled. "Thank you for today. You really saved me."
She stood in silence for few moments.
"Not at all." She finally said. "You too. I'm sorry for the last time."
She said it in the calm voice without any trace of embarrassment. But still it sounded sincere.
"Nah, that's ok. I think I deserve a beating or two."
"Yeah, you probably do." She smiled. "I got to go now. See you around."
"Wait." Shikamaru stood up. "I'll see you to the gates."
"There's no need." She said a little bit surprised.
"Let's just go already."
He didn't fully comprehend what Ino was trying to tell him, but then he just simply thought 'If I die - I die' and grabbed Temari's hand.
She kept silent all the way till the gates, but still didn't kill him. That kind of made Shikamaru happy, although he expected a mortal blow any time.
"You can let go now." Temari said in her usual voice.
"Yeah." He didn't.
He turned around. She tried really hard to look unbothered by the fact that they were holding hands, that it kind of looked cute. Although you could hardly see the difference from her usual self.
'Maybe Ino was right after all.' Shikamaru could almost feel the walls crumbling.
"Let go." She demanded.
Shikamaru didn't want to force his luck.
"Well, take care." He said letting her hand go.
"Yeah, you too." With just that she left.
"Well done, lad!" It was one of the shinobi on guard duty. "Running after her like that was worth it, huh?" He was grinning happily.
The guy from that time?
How come he remembered?
'What a drag...'
Author's note: Short chapter this time. Somehow it just looks a bit too short compared to other... Originally it was a part of Chapter 2, I wonder if I made a mistake separating them. Anyway, with this the Introduction part is over. It's gonna get interesting from now on, haha. Both about story, and the romance.
If I would write an epigraph to this chapter I would use Shikamaru's line "If I die - I die". You might say here that Temari is not the type to say 'sorry' twice. But it wasn't about that. The second sorry was for being unprofessional and losing her control. So it's different, actually. I know many would say that she's not the type to say 'sorry' at all. Well, that's because she knew herself it was unreasonable of her. That's why 'sorry'. Reasons stronger than pride. In my mind Temari is just like that. Everyone there is shipping ShikaTema, haha. I mean, why wouldn't they?)) Oh, well. You might think that I'm repeating myself with the paperwork stuff, but... I tried to put those two scenes together, and failed. Well, there's always plenty of paperwork for them to do...
Hope you enjoyed. More coming soon~