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My Boss The Genius
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PART NINE
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Having a security detail was possibly the most annoying thing Temari had ever had to endure. Ever. Including that day she was thirteen and Kankuro thought her tampons were ammunition for his nerf guns. (Although to be fair, the embarrassment far outweighed any and all annoyance that was had for her brother at the time.) No, this was infinitely more annoying than anything she'd ever had to tolerate, and considering her rather short temper and shorter tolerance rate for idiots (read: Kankuro), it was taking a miracle for Temari not to skewer her bodyguard over a firepit.
She twitched after a minute had gone by of trying to blissfully, and ignorantly, review case files on her computer. "Would you stop hovering? This is classified and under a client confidentiality clause." Temari said, determinedly keeping her focus on her computer, but she could feel the presence of her bodyguard, one Special Agent Tenten (last name omitted), peering curiously at the screen. The young agent (were they all younger than Temari? What kind of standards did the bureau have?) seemed content to stay where she was.
"No can do," she murmured quietly in Temari's ear, making the other woman bristle. Sabaku's liked their personal space very much. "You could be communicating discreetly with Hidan through email." Temari balked at the plain, brown-haired girl who always seemed to wear a cheery, slightly mischievous grin on her face. It was one of the many things that annoyed her about her bodyguard.
"I thought I was being protected, not suspected!" Temari said, turning a flushed red in anger. Tenten laughed and clapped her on the shoulder.
"You are being protected," she replied, straightening up. "However the Red Clouds have a way of blackmailing people into doing things. It's unlikely that Hidan will try anything sneaky like that, he's been profiled to prefer more aggressive approaches, but one can never be too careful." Tenten seemed finished with antagonizing Temari further, and walked back to her little corner of the room, plopping down behind her desk and continuing to fold origami shuriken, for lack of anything better to do.
Special Agent Tenten had been assigned to Temari's security detail exactly one month and eighteen days ago. Her cover was an internship at the law firm where Temari was employed, and she had been assigned as Temari's assistant. They had a small desk brought in for her, where she would spend her days with her feet propped up, or balancing a pen between her nose and her upper lip. When she wasn't goofing off, she was bothering Temari. When she wasn't bothering Temari, she was speaking to Shikamaru, or Kurenai, the latter who seemed to be around the office much more often now.
Kurenai Yuhi... was a mystery, Temari decided all at once when she had the rare chances of seeing the other secretary in the office. Tenten had been completely comfortable around her, speaking to her politely and with respect, but nevertheless speaking casually enough to inquire about her three-year old son. Temari didn't know she had a son, but she did know about the dead husband from what she remembered at Shikamaru's apartment the other day. Perhaps her child was why she had taken a day job, 'demoting herself to something as paltry as my assistant', as Shikamaru had phrased it. To be honest, Temari didn't much like Kurenai, but that might have been her bias from earlier days, when the older woman had warned her off of Shikamaru. During that time, Temari had thought her daft. Now, she could see the wisdom in those words. If only she had known about Ino sooner...
The doors to the office banged open and, speak of the devil, Yamanaka Ino came prancing through, her hair flying behind her like a silk tassel, done up in a braided ponytail. She was smiling hugely, and headed straight for Tenten. "It's fitting time!" she crowed excitedly. Tenten, stopping in her origami folding, looked confusedly at the blonde. Temari mirrored her expression. Fitting for what?
"Ino," Tenten began slowly, just as the doors to Shikamaru's office opened (he always seemed to know instinctively when Ino arrived. Temari liked to think it was because she was so loud whilst entering the office), "where's your detail?" Ino beamed brightly, as if she was happy that the other woman asked, and took every small glee in answering,
"I lost them."
"Lost them?" All heards turned to Shikamaru, who had spoken. There was a stern glare on his face, and he crossed his arms. Ino grinned and nodded again, smugly flipping her braid behind her shoulder. Temari wondered faintly how long it took her to grow her hair to such ridiculous lengths. (Then she wondered if growing her own hair would make any kind of difference to him.)
"Yup." Ino sounded rather proud at her answer.
"As in, lost them you can't find them, or lost them you got rid of them?" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes sternly at her, and Ino pretended to be lost in thought, a finger to her cheek, her eyes swirled up to the ceiling. She hummed for added effect. Then, a devilish smile spread over her glossed lips.
"Lost them as in got rid of them."
Tenten laughed, Shikamaru groaned, and Temari's mouth dropped. She what?!
"Ino!" Shikamaru growled, advancing towards her. The pretty blonde simply laughed, skipping backwards, out of his reach.
"Well don't assign such a greenhorn to me if you know I can run circles around them!" she protested, stopping to put her hands on her hips. "It's like you're not even trying." She grinned at the exasperated expression that Shikamaru wore, and 'aww'ed. "My poor baby Shika," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist, nuzzling into his chest. "Your little girl is growing up, you know, she can take care of herself."
Shikamaru sighed, his hand automatically coming up to pressed against her lower back, dropping his head onto the top of hers, looking thoroughly disgruntled. "Stop talking to me like that. It's weird," he mumbled to her, and she muffled her laugh in his chest. He scowled. "Besides, the guard isn't supposed to watch out for the person he's protecting, troublesome woman." But Ino only grinned mischievously at him. She pushed at his chest playfully.
"Then pick a better guard," she challenged him, sticking out her tongue. With that said, she turned back to Tenten, beaming. "Now, fitting time you!" She went over to the female agent, tugging at her arm. "Hinata's meeting us at the store in half an hour, so we need to leave now."
"Fitting for what?" Shikamaru asked, mirroring the question Temari was asking in her own head. Ino turned around with a sigh, rolling her eyes at the genius lawyer.
"For the bridesmaids dresses, duh! I know you boys only have to slap on a tuxedo and look fine, but us girls have a million different fittings to go through for our dresses. And Tenten is the Maid of Honour!" Here, she glared at Shikamaru. "Assigning her to be Temari's detail has put a huge damper on the bachelorette party. Do you know how time-consuming that is to plan?" Shikamaru shrugged.
"Probably about as time-consuming as a bachelor party?" He guessed. and Ino rolled her eyes.
"A couple of six-packs and a football game does not count as a bachelor party," she informed him dryly. He waved off her reply.
"How the hell would I know? Sasuke's the Best Man, not me." Shikamaru paused here, thinking, then narrowed his eyes again at Ino. "Why do you care anyways? Bachelor parties usually have strippers, and I know you'd kill Sasuke if he hired strippers." Ino scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"Puh-lease. This is Sasuke we're talking about. He won't hire strippers."
"He won't," Tenten affirmed, nodding her head almost seriously. "The last time Naruto dragged him to a strip bar, he lost all his clothes." Ino burst into giggles at the mention of that incident (because those two idiots had lots of 'incidents'). "Besides, I heard that Sasuke isn't planning Naruto's bachelor party. I think he's making Kiba do it." Ino gasped in horror at that.
"Dog breath?!" Ino shrieked, and Temari was mutely offended at the insult. Dog breath? "But he'll hire strippers for sure!" Ino promptly began to panic, and fishing her phone out and rapidly clicking away. "I have to tell Sakura to convince Sasuke to plan the party. I don't even want to think about what Kiba's going to do!" She stormed out of the office, her face set in a deep scowl. Tenten and Temari looked over at Shikamaru, who was rolling his eyes. He looked at his watch, and Temari could tell he was counting down silently in his head, by the way his eyes fixed on the ticking of his watch.
Once he hit the last number, Shikamaru looked up towards the doors of the office, and lo and behold, Ino came prancing back in, still clicking furiously at her phone. "Tenten! Let's go!" She ordered, and Tenten sighed and saluted her.
"Yes ma'am. Come on Temari." She stood up, grabbing her blazer off the back of the chair. Temari straightened in her seat, confused.
"Me? But-,"
"Go with them," Shikamaru interrupted, jerking his head at the two women. Temari looked at him, almost surprised. But it was still working hours, she said to herself. She had case files to screen and clients to call. And Kurenai Yuhi wasn't in the office either, leaving Shikamaru with a pile of work to do that he'd probably never get through by the end of the day. But Shikamaru simply smirked (sending a flutter through her heart), and motioned her towards Ino and Tenten.
"Don't worry about this lazy butt," Ino piped up, still not stopping her rapid texting spree. "He needs to put effort into his work every now and then anyways." Shikamaru scowled at that, and he walked over to her, flicking her in the forehead in retaliation. Interrupted from her texting spree, Ino glared at him. "Hey!"
"Don't run away from your detail," he told her firmly, "or I'll replace him with Lee."
Ino gasped (again) in horror. "You wouldn't!" she hissed. "Not Bushybrows!" Behind her Tenten snickered. Shikamaru smirked in reply, and Ino deflated, looking equally pouty and terrified. "Fine," she mumbled. At this point, Temari had gathered her coat and her briefcase, and was standing a polite distance from them, not wishing to intrude. The three of them were already friends, by the looks of it, and Temari was just an outsider. Including herself in their little circle would be... pretentious of her. Not that Temari particularly cared about how people perceived her, but at the same time it was just... awkward.
"Alright then, time to go. We're already late!" Tenten said, already headed out the door. "Come on Temari!" She motioned to the Sabaku, and Temari quickly walked towards her. She didn't want to turn and look at Ino, who was not moving yet, still standing in front of Shikamaru. So she stared at Tenten's back, gripping her briefcase a little tighter when the doors to the office closed behind her, leaving Shikamaru and Ino to a world where only they existed.
When she looked back at the large, heavy oaken doors that she was so used to seeing, Temari thought bitterly that that world used to be a place where only she and Shikamaru existed. And then she wondered if it had ever existed at all.
After the elevator doors closed silently before her, Temari decided:
Yes, it existed. But only in her heart.
(When Ino finally joined them a few minutes later in the lobby, Tenten had given her this look, and Ino had rolled her eyes and swept past her friend, digging into her purse for her lip gloss. Temari didn't want to think about why she needed it.)
(She did anyways.)