My Boss The Genius
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PART THREE
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Morning approached quickly, and Temari could see it in the blinking red lights of the alarm clock on the night table. She could hear the rain pattering against the window, the sun shielded by the gloomy clouds outside. It was customary for her to wake up around this time, but she pulled the blanket over her head to see if she could get in a few more hours of shut-eye. Alas, it was not meant to be; sleep evaded her, and she could feel it as wakefulness took over.
Yawning and deciding that she might as well get up, Temari rolled over and slipped out of the queen-sized bed. She took a moment to grumble at the revelation that the illegally comfortable bed was queen-sized (seriously, how much did he spend on this thing?) before slipping into the washroom to freshen up. It was a little bright with colour and flowers and sweet-smelling hand soap and Temari thought that Ino probably frequented the washroom a lot too. It was only logical, since she seemed to use the guest bed a lot and there were many feminine shampoo and conditioner bottles littering the shower. That woman smelled like a flower shop every time Temari passed by her.
Walking back out when she was finished her daily morning bathroom ritual, Temari looked around the room wondering if there was something for her to change into. A robe, at least? Her clothes had disappeared, presumably to the washer and dryer courtesy of one wedding florist, and there weren't any other garments in sight so Temari gave up and kept Shikamaru's clothes on when she headed to the kitchen.
It was rather early, for Shikamaru anyways, and Temari didn't expect to see someone already in the kitchen when she got there. Looking unfairly pretty in her lilac capris and tank top set, Ino leaned against the counter with her hair unbound and falling softly past her shoulders. She was like a glow of sun against the rainy backdrop of the window right over the sink. The blonde was sipping a colourful Alice in Wonderland mug, most likely filled with coffee. She turned in surprise at Temari's approach, but then smiled widely.
"Good morning!" she chirped, displaying her pearly whites. Temari smiled a little hesitantly.
"Good morning," she replied, unsure of what to do as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen uncertainly. Ino jerked her head to the coffee machine.
"Help yourself," she told the darker blonde. Temari nodded in thanks, hesitating when she didn't know where the cups were. Ino opened the cabinet just beside her head, displaying rows upon rows of themed mugs. Most just had words on them, but there were a few oddities like Ino's Alice mug. Temari decided to play it safe and go for the plain white mug at the back of the cabinet. She poured coffee into her mug and then drank it straight. Ino made a face.
"Not you too," she groaned, nursing her cream-and-sugar blended coffee. Temari grinned as she gulped down her coffee, feeling the caffeine kicking in and sharpening her senses. It was strange that she felt amused at all, always imagining that in a situation like this, alone in a room with no one but Ino, that it would be the infinitely, most awkward thing she'd ever experience. She saw Shikamaru sneak into Ino's bed (err, well his bed that she stole) just last night. Her gut should be stretching three different ways right now in an attempt to cover her misery, anger, and jealousy. Instead, she was grinning like an idiot in the face of Ino's cheerily bright utter-morning-person smile.
Damn her.
"It's kind of nice," Ino commented, catching Temari's attention. She was smiling serenely, her long nails clinking against the porcelain mug. "Sharing coffee with someone in the early morning, I mean. Shikamaru and Chouji are late sleepers so by the time they get up, I'm already finished eating breakfast." She grinned when she mentioned her two friends, taking a sip of coffee. Temari looked down at her own mug, pondering why the act of sharing coffee with someone was so… unusual and yet so wonderful. In the Sabaku household, everyone was always in a rushed pace, darting around looking for things and only focused on getting out the door to be on time for school or work. The three of them were never very social and really only had each other to talk to after a long day. They were siblings too, which was never a bonus because they tend to argue a lot (well, maybe just her and Kankuro; Gaara was the quiet one).
Thinking on it now, Temari felt a little sad. Didn't they come to America to start over? Before getting on that one-way plane ride, she had promised herself that she would make friends in New York City. She promised herself that the Sabaku Sibs were going to be social if she had to wring their necks to a party with her own two hands. And yet, they were still operating as they always had in Australia, like the only things that mattered was each other. Like everyone else in the world was on a separate plane of existence, not necessarily beneath them or above them, but just unreachable. And somehow, that thought made Temari a little more sad.
"Temari?"
Ino's voice cut through her thoughts, and she looked up. The paler blonde was looking at her a little concernedly. "Are you alright?" she asked. Temari blinked once, to get her bearings, and then nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she told Ino. "I just… what you said about sharing coffee in the mornings… I think it's nice too." Here, Temari smiled tentatively at the other woman. It was small and hesitant, her way of reaching out to someone, of making herself vulnerable to a person who had the option of accepting her or rejecting her. She wasn't even sure why she did it; reach out to Ino, she means. Wasn't this supposed to be her rival? Her enemy? The obstacle in the way of a mutual exchange of feelings between her and Shikamaru?
And yet, when Temari looked into Ino's eyes, seeing the sincere concern swirling in their sky blue depths, she thought that maybe she could trust this girl with her heart. She could trust that Ino would not stomp on it, would not step on it, would not tear out a piece of it and throw it into the ocean. Because that was always what she was afraid of, letting someone in and then watching as they left, leaving a chipped, cracked her in their wake. Shikamaru had already succeeded in doing that, although maybe on a smaller scale.
Ino smiled brilliantly, and Temari knew somehow that the younger girl had just opened the door and taken her first step inside the older woman's heart. "So are you going to spend the day here or is there something you need to do?" Ino asked, placing her mug in the sink. "The boys and I will just be hanging around, ordering take-out, watching movies; our usual Saturdays." Temari eyed the rain splattering against the window above the sink and felt another smile trying to cross her face.
"It looks pretty bad out there," Temari said, "so I think I'll hang around for awhile." Ino grinned, clapping her hands gleefully.
"Great!" she chirped. "You can help me make breakfast then!"
And they were off, clattering pots and pans, frying eggs and bacon, toasting bread, spreading out plates and forks and napkins on the little breakfast nook. Cooking breakfast was surprisingly fun with Ino, who liked to chatter on about absolutely nothing and talk to inanimate objects and the food that she was making. Backgrounds were exchanged, stories were passed around and by the time Temari set the last utensil just perfectly so, the two blondes already felt like old friends.
"Food!" Chouji exclaimed happily as he trumped into the room, his mouth watering. He sat down, reaching for a slice of bacon when Ino slapped his wrist with a spatula.
"Not until Shikamaru gets here!" she hissed. The larger man pouted, deflating.
"But it's Shikamaru! He'll sleep right through breakfast," Chouji said. Ino hmphed, putting her hands on her hips. She looked like quite the domestic wife posing like that, an apron tied around her and a spatula sticking out of her closed fist.
"Not if I can help it," she said. She turned to Temari. "Guard the food; make sure Chouji doesn't sneak any bites," she ordered almost like a drill sergeant before marching out of the kitchen. There was an ache in Temari's chest when she realized Ino would be heading for the bedroom, where Shikamaru had snuck in last night because he didn't want to sleep on the floor… or didn't want to sleep without Ino. She tried not to think on it though, taking the seat beside Chouji. They two of them waited in silence, Chouji chuckling when Ino's screeching was audible from the other side of the apartment. It wasn't long before Ino and Shikamaru emerged from the hallway, headed for the kitchen.
"You didn't have to hit me," Shikamaru scowled, rubbing his head. Ino just turned her nose up at him and he slipped into the seat across from his secretary. Temari looked down at her empty plate, unable to meet his eyes because of some obscure reason even she couldn't figure out. Ino filled two cups with coffee, placing them on the table in front of Chouji and Shikamaru. "Thanks," he mumbled, drinking it straight. Chouji added some milk and sugar to his, 'like a normal person', Ino would say.
"Can I eat now?" Chouji asked, looking hungrily at the food laid out in front of him. Ino had barely answered, "yes," before he attacked the food, clearing most of the serving plates by half. Temari was surprised at his speed when she compared it with his size, but Shikamaru just sat back nonchalantly and Ino immediately began her lecture, reprimanding him for hogging everything. He listened to her with half an ear, not reaching for anymore food but not slowing his chewing.
"Honestly," she huffed, tearing out a piece of her toast ferociously, "you're going to choke on something eating that fast." Temari smiled as she drank her coffee, opting not to mention that a person could also choke while eating and talking.
"Lighten up, Ino," Shikamaru drawled, smirking. "At least Chouji has a healthy appetite." Ino scowled at the lawyer, making a show of opening her mouth and stuffing an entire piece of bacon into it. Shikamaru chuckled and took another gulp of his coffee, making no move of touching any food. Ino chewed thoughtfully as she glared at him, waiting for him to grab at least some toast. When he didn't seem like he was going to feed himself anytime soon, she growled like a concerned and frustrated mama bear. The sound made Temari look up, surprised. Chouji simply grinned under his toast.
"Aren't you going to eat something?" she asked, raising a perfectly plucked brow. Shikamaru took another sip of his black, bitter coffee.
"Too troublesome," he said. A tic developed under Ino's eye.
"Eat. Something," she ground out. Shikamaru looked at her, his eyes drooping in what Temari guessed was either boredom or sleepiness. A breath of air puffed through his lips, the Shikamaru equivalent of a heavy sigh, and he reached for some of the soft, slippery eggs. Probably the least troublesome to eat, Temari mused as she stamped down the urge to laugh.
To mock her, Shikamaru made a minor show of putting the eggs in his mouth. Undeterred, Ino grabbed three slices of bacon (slapping Chouji's wrists to stop him from taking them) and dropped them on his plate. She transferred her second piece of buttered toast from her plate to his, raising her eyebrow again at him. He smirked.
"Alright, alright," he mumbled, reaching for his fork.
"One 'alright' is enough," she told him, before slapping Chouji's wrist again. He had been reaching for the butter. "No more butter! You'll clog your arteries by the end of the day at the rate you're going." The bigger man pouted.
"But Ino, I'm hungry," he whined, looking forlornly at the rest of the bacon. Her eyes narrowed warningly.
"No," she said firmly, scooping the plate of bacon into her hand and out of his reach. "Absolutely not." Chouji reached for the plate anyways, stretching across the table and upsetting its stability.
"C'mon, please?" he asked, and Ino shrieked as her coffee spilled onto her eggs.
"Chouji, stop it!" But he didn't, trying to edge his way around the table and grab the plate. Shikamaru sat back in his chair, lazily sipping his coffee like nothing was happening while Temari tried to wrap her head around the chaotic scene in front of her. Ino had gotten so fed up with Chouji's persistence that she finally grabbed the rest of the bacon and stuffed it all in her mouth.
"Nooo!" Chouji sniffled, watching her chew the bacon ferociously, a triumphant gleam in her eyes. It was then that the phone rang, and Ino quickly swallowed the bacon in her mouth. She flounced into the kitchen to grab the wireless phone, leaving Chouji to take his seat again poke at his food. Temari tried not to reach over and pat him comfortingly on the shoulder, as it wasn't much in her personality to comfort people over trivial things. Shikamaru did it for her, though, handing his best friend his two slices of bacon. The larger man perked up quite quickly after that.
"Oh, hi Hina-chan!" Ino chirped into the phone, sauntering past the breakfast nook. "I was going to call you after I ate, but you beat me to it." She stopped on her way to the hallway, turning. "Shikamaru, Chouji!" she barked, "you're on clean-up!" The two of them groaned simultaneously but shuffled to work at the sharp daggers that constituted as Ino's glare (different, of course, from the Flowery Death Glare of Doom).
Temari stood up, hiding her smug grin as she left the two boys (men?) to their chores (she always did cooking and clean up at home, so this was a nice change of pace). She headed for the hallway as well, figuring her brothers were probably worried sick that she hadn't called them yet. They would never admit it though; the Sabaku Sibs were as stubborn as they were anti-social.
As she passed into the hallway and started to enter the guest room, the Australian saw Ino poke her head out of the master suite.
"Shikamaru!" she shouted into the main room, her back to Temari, "I'm using your shower!"
Temari waited to hear her boss' reply. She wished she hadn't.
"Don't you always? !"