Getting you back, a naruto fanfic

Getting you back

PART 1: Of me...

No one in Shikamaru's life ever knew he had a very long relationship with Temari when he was younger. They were very discreet about the whole thing, and by the time it might have been appropriate to make it public, they had already broken up.

It started when he was thirteen a while after she saved his ass from Tayuya and lasted until a year before the war broke out.

It was a strange period of time for Shikamaru. He had a girlfriend that no one knew about and he got to experience all his firsts with her. Same as she actually. She was three years his senior but was as innocent as he was when it came to any romantic endeavour.

They started slow, with kisses and caresses and long talks about life and the future and their responsibilities to their villages.

They didn't have sex for two full years of that relationship. He lost his virginity on his fifteenth birthday.

She was eighteen.

Then, Asuma died and everything went to hell.

Shikamaru could say with certainty that he lost himself in the mourning process. And truth be told, he didn't take his relationship with Temari as serious as he should have.

He took it seriously in the sense he knew it was important. He respected her, was faithful to her and enjoyed it as fully as he could when she was around. But he did it all with the mindset of a fourteen year old. He didn't give it the importance it truly had in his life and how game changing having her by his side really was.

She was his first girlfriend and it was innocent and that was that.

In his defence, he didn't really imagine he had met the love of his life at age twelve.

And after Asuma's death everything turned up grey and gloomy and all that used to be shiny and brought warmth ceased to exist. He was just...Cold. All the time. Every hour, of every frigging day. His sight kind of got blurred and his sense of reality changed. Sometimes it felt as if he walked on top of storm clouds, unstable footing and always in the verge of falling. To what and where escaped him entirely. Nothing was the same ever again. He wasn't the same.

It was hard to explain how much it hurt to lose Asuma.

She came to visit him then. At his worst. After his sensei's death, after his wake, after he took revenge. He didn't really blame her, for not been there. It's not like she could run to his side when it happened, but it would have been nice if she had been, after all, what was the point of having a girlfriend that wasn't with you when you needed her the most?

That simple question made him rethink his entire relationship with Temari in a heartbeat.

What was the point of having a girlfriend that not only wasn't there when he needed her but was hard to handle?

What was the point if she also was bossy, and complicated and brought more problems to him than benefits?

He just...didn't see the point.

Shouldn't pointless things be rid off?

If there was something Shikamaru didn't need right now was trouble. Troublesome things should be avoided like the plague. Temari fitted that category.

He had always wanted a woman that was easy going and average looking. An easy lazy life. How did Temari fit in that picture?

She just didn't.

And after everything that happened with Asuma, wasn't it better to avoid headaches? After all, a war was coming and he should be focusing on how to destroy the Akatsuki. Not waste his time in pointless things that didn't add to his life at all. Things that pulled him back instead of helping him forward.

A long distance relationship was a setback.

He was laying around in his favourite hill-sight and was watching his clouds when she arrived next to him. Shikamaru sighed and finally told her what had been running through his mind and what he really wanted to do about their relationship.

He didn't want to keep going with it anymore. She didn't fit in his lifelong plan, she lived three days away, and was in fact a princess. What future their relationship had anyhow? There was a war about to break out and they needed to focus on that instead of their childish infatuation.

Shikamaru was no kid anymore.

Not since Asuma died anyways.

And he couldn't allow himself more mistakes.

He cared about her and didn't want to hurt her though, so he just told her that considering everything that was happening with the Akatsuki he couldn't afford any distractions and it would be better to break up.

She told him that a war wasn't excuse enough to break what they had. That it was something precious and it should be cherished and protected.

He should have listened to her.

After all, she was always right wasn't she?

Unfortunately, at the time the only thought his immature self registered was that she was truly in love with him and he didn't correspond such profound feelings. After all, if he did, he wouldn't be focusing solely in the negative things instead of the positive ones. The things she actually added to his life. It seemed wrong to stray her along when he wasn't planning on making anything of their relationship.

All through his brainstorming process, there was a nagging feeling creeping out the back of his mind, as if he was overlooking something very important. Sadly, the logical side of him won, and whatever bothersome thing he was ignoring, he let it pass him by.

He still remembers with crystal clear clarity what he told her that day.

"I care about you, you were my first girlfriend and will always have a special place in my heart because of that. But I am not in love with you."

The face Temari made at his words never stopped hunting him.

It was enough to break off their relationship though. She stood up and left.

He should have payed better attention to the sharp stabs of pain his body was assaulted with with every retreating step she took.

And right there...

The biggest mistake of his life.

...

He fell in bed with another woman a couple of months after his breakup with Temari. In his mind, he was single and available and he wasn't obligated to wait three months to have sex like he had to in the past just waiting for Temari's arrivals in Konoha. And no, it wasn't Ino. Ew, that would be like...incest or something. It was Sakura. She was crushed after Sasuke tried to kill her and Shikamaru was just there. Her body was nice enough, too thin and more nipple than breast, and she cried the entire time. It was kind of a drag in fact. But, after that first time with her, the next ones got better. Never really good though. She wasn't adventurous and she was always rather shy. Like she thought that being free in bed was equal to her being a slut.

Nonsense.

It didn't last.

Then, a follow up of civilian girls graced his bed. He moved to his own small house in the outskirts of the Nara complex and mainly fucked a different girl on a regular basis. He gained a lot of experience from those bodies. All different. All the same.

He had only been with Temari three times. And as sex go, even with the inexperience they both had, it had been way better than the dozen woman he had slept with since his breakup.

And that, for him, didn't make any sense.

How was it even possible? Some of the woman he had been with were older, more experienced, so why in hell was the sex so fucking boring? Maybe the problem was the touch and go feeling of it all. Balancing things out, maybe the sex was better with a girlfriend because you got to know that person better and that inevitably lead to better comprehension of your partner. Maybe even get the girl to relax a little and have more fun during the process. Suddenly, casual sex didn't seem that appealing anymore.

And so, he went and got himself a girlfriend thinking that he might as well try to find the girl that befitted his long-life plan perfectly. With that in mind he became the boyfriend of a civilian business man's daughter. He took her to dates, walked with her hand in hand, met her parents and presented her to his parents. It was a serious relationship. He even got to know her extended family as well.

Hirumi suited his mind's perfect future picture soundly.

His parents hated her.

He never really understood why seeing she was a modest, soft spoken girl, sweet and easy going and completely devoted to him.

She fucked well enough but as it seemed to be a fashion in Konoha, too thin and too shy under the sheets.

Shikamaru wasn't sure if it was a common cultural factor inherent to the fire country female population or something but all girls in his vicinity seemed to be fish sticks. That just lay there while he fucked them and so fucking thin sometimes his hips hurt with the clashing of hips sex obviously brought.

Then war broke out and Hirumi told him that she loved him and that she would wait for him. To please come back.

But war is a nasty affair, it brings the best and the worst in people.

Shikamaru thought he was handling himself quite decently at first. Even when he got to see Temari and his skin started to itch for some unknown reason. He hadn't seen her in a year and his heart jumped at the sight of her. She was close enough to him during Gaara's speech for a bout of her perfume to reach him, and his stomach crunched horribly. She completely ignored him, or more precisely she treated him professionally, like the commander he was. And that's when the itching got really unpleasant. And then, he had to battle Asuma and he can with certainty admit he finally had a mental breakdown. Which is the only explanation he could find as to why he made the second biggest mistake of his life.

He just needed to stop thinking for a minute. For his brain to black out and get his mind out of Temari's cold eyes, the fucking war and Asuma, how in hell was he going to tell Kurenai that he had seen him, that it was awful, and that Mirai was going to read about his revived father in history books when she went to the Academy. If they managed to win that good awful war. So, he got the brilliant idea of fucking someone, there was nothing better than sex to blank out the mind.

Obviously a Fire Nation Girl was a big no no, no more fish sticks for him thank you very much.

His mind didn't register that he had a girlfriend. It did register that she was one of her friends. Sari. A sand village kunoichi, but he was too balls deep inside her to really care at the time. She left in a rush and he didn't feel a thing afterwards. It did the deed though. He remembered that when he left his tent five minutes later, his father was right outside waiting for him. The look he sported made Shikamaru feel ashamed.

"What are you doing?" His father asked him with seriousness. Shikamaru didn't understand why his father was mad at him, after all Shikaku hated Hirumi, why did he care if he fucked someone else?

"It's just sex" he answered bored, and it was, it didn't mean anything "Hirumi won't ever know anyways" he finished while buttoning his pants and directing a look to his father to get out of his case and don't butt in in his business.

"That's not the problem Shikamaru and you sure as hell know it!" Shikaku said angrily "There's no coming back from this, she will never forgive you. You have just fucked one of her best friends and with it any chance you might have had to get her back."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. He couldn't know could he? No one knew he used to be in a relationship with Temari.

"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?" He asked his father nevertheless. A dread filling his body at his words.

"You know who" his father answered harshly, turned around and left him there gapping at his retreating back.

What Shikamaru regretted the most about that discussion was the look of pure disappointment his father had. That it was the last stare Shikaku regarded him with and the last conversation he had with him before he died. Shikaku´s goodbye words notwithstanding. At last he had those.

But it all came to one fact; he should have known better. Nothing escaped Shikaku Nara.

Sari also died in the war.

Saving Temari's life.

After the war ended, so did his relationship with Hirumi. She cried and screamed at him and asked him why. He didn't have a reason, or more like he had hundreds of them if he were to be honest with himself.

But Shikamaru hadn't been honest with himself in years. Not since his sensei died at least.

And life went on.

He started his work as a diplomat and advisor, and after two years of this Shikamaru finally realised he was empty. A long string of affairs didn't help to ease him either, not even his short lived romance with Tenten. They had tried. Both of them did. She, trying to forget Neji and Shikamaru trying to forget who knows what.

That something that always crept at the back of his mind and made him feel so fucking empty. All. The. Time.

That something took a meaning when he saw Temari again.

He had been on a diplomatic mission in Kumogakure for the Allied Force committee. He was lazily strolling the streets of the town when he saw her. She wasn't alone though. No. She was with Darui. Smiling at him the same way she used to smile at Shikamaru, looking at Darui the same way she used to look at him. Soft smile, warm eyes that made him remember that first kiss so long ago. A lifetime ago. Everything around him stopped and froze, as if suspended in an eternal moment of time that could have been a second, a minute, an hour or a full decade. Time ceased to exist and his eyes finally centered and focused and took in his surroundings for the first time in a very long time. The image right in front of him stole every ounce of oxygen out of his lungs and a constricting force in his throat made him choke out of instinct.

That's when Shikamaru woke up.

He woke up from years and years of grey and gloomy and a fussy sight. Of eyes that didn't see a thing, a heart that didn't feel a thing and a body that hadn't known warmth in years.

Everything sharpened.

And he saw...Temari.

For the first time since before he broke up with her.

If he had to describe what he felt at that moment it would be similar to a first bout of air when you have been withholding breathing for a significant amount of time. As if he had been drowning in a pool of dark water and fighting desperately to reach the surface. Arms and legs struggling to get him out, lungs burning and temple beating rapidly and noisily at the same tempo as his heart.

He inhaled sharply while his stomach dropped and quivered, his ears pounded shrilly and his heart clenched.

Too bad it was too late.

...

Turns out Temari had been dating Darui since the end of the war. They had been together for two years. And everybody knew. They walked hand in hand, laughed and even kissed in public. The relationship was very public. And well established.

Shikamaru didn't understand how something this important, so meaningful, had escaped his knowledge. And he could't believe he had been so blind to absolutely everything that he hadn't even known.

A masochistic side Shikamaru didn't know he had until then prompted him to follow them.

He followed them through an entire date. How Darui picked her up and softly hugged and kissed her. How she blushed at his attentions. How they walked and laughed side by side while holding hands. How she mocked him. How he provoked her. How they bantered. How everything else seemed to disappear but them.

And if seeing her being in love with someone else wasn't what made the unshed tears finally fall, seeing Darui making love to her did.

Shikamaru hadn't cried since Asuma's death.

Not even for his father.

Once he was back in Konoha he went through the motions as before.

But this time, he did them while being conscious of everything that had happened. Several realisations had hit him at once.

Overcoming the numbness he had experienced since Asuma's death, he realised that he hadn't even mourn his own father, that he had lost the pillar of his life and such an overwhelming event had passed as nothing. Or more precisely as something insignificant and not what it really was. And...he had lost Temari.

Saying he was depressed seemed too lightly to describe how he felt.

It was as if after years of sleepwalking everything crushed on him... too painfully...too sudden.

He just couldn't believe everything that had happened. What had he been doing the last four years of his life?

Temari...

God, his Temari. The girl that had been his first crush, his first love, his first kiss, his first everything. Gorgeous, sweet, complex, uncompromising Temari.

The girl that made his breath caught and made his stomach jump in excitement every time she arrived town. Whose eyes were capable of bringing him literally to his knees.

Her kisses, the taste of her skin, her laugh, her insults, her mocking, her intelligence, everything that made Temari who she was. He had lost it all.

What?

How?

Why?

What in devil's hell had he been thinking? What the hell happened to him that would justify this...this...lack of a better judgement?

That something always creeping at the back of his mind were the thousand and one memories of her. Of them. Of how she made him feel.

That something that was in fact, his love for her.

A love that was pure an innocent and he associated as immaturity instead of the most precious thing he had.

Temari had become the girl of his dreams the first time he kissed her.

He remembered that now. How did he ever forget that?

She used to be his girlfriend...his girl.

But Temari wasn't a girl anymore, she was a woman. And she wasn't his. She was Darui's.

He had to admit that in his egotistical numbed mindset it never crossed his mind. She loving someone else. She making love with someone else. He hadn't even thought of someone else touching her or replacing him. It was as if his mind forgone not only how important she was but the consequences of her walking out of his life.

And he? Stupid not to realise that he had been comparing every woman he slept or had a relationship with her, how they lacked curves, how boring in bed they were, how dumb their conversations were, how none of them made him feel a thing.

All the while justifying the break up over a stupid dream of an average life and wife that clearly was a dumb to being with. What the fuck had he been thinking?

In his defence, he really really thought he wasn't in love when he broke up with her. That it was just a passing fancy. A childish infatuation. Attributing the hurt he constantly felt to that he had to endure since Asuma left this world.

He had misguided himself. He had confused his feelings in such a fundamental way that now he had no idea of how to fix it.

He was the dumbest idiot that had graced the planet.

And he even went and slept with one of her friends.

God...

Just...God...

Speechless...that's how he felt.

He was in deep shit. His father was right. As always. No wonder he had been so disappointed in him.

"Oh Shikamaru is you" Kakashi said and Shikamaru was finally brought back to the present. He had no idea how he had arrived to the Hokage´s office. He took a seat in front of 6th and tried to not look as lost and depressed as he actually felt.

"What?" he asked while he stashed the pack of papers he had in his arms and started to organise them as best as he could since he really had no idea what they were about at all.

"News from the Sand. We have to organise an envoy. Biggest event since the war" The Sixth informed him nonchalantly. Also organising a sea of paperwork in front of him and proceded to sign the sheets in his hand.

"What why?" Shikamaru wondered uninterested, thinking he was going to receive some news regarding Gaara.

That wasn't the case though.

"Temari and Darui are getting married" Kakashi replied detachedly. Still concentrated in the papers he was signing.

Well...

That, he didn't expect.

"Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru's eyes fluttered and fought to open them, but they were heavy. His head was fuzzy and his body felt lax and unresponsive. He heard a couple of voices talking but he just wished they would shut up. He was completely laid down and couldn't for the life of him move a single limb since moving seemed like a titanic feat he lacked the strength for. Despite the buzz like feeling in his head, he started to make sense of the conversation around him,

"What the hell happened?"

That sounded like Tsunade's voice.

"I don't know! I just told him we had to organise an envoy to the Sand."

Was that Kakashi? Where the hell was he?

"Why would something like that cause a shock like this?"

What the fuck happened to me? Shikamaru still couldn't make sense of what was happening.

"I don't know. I just told him that Temari and Darui are getting married" The sixth replied with a worried voice.

"Why would a news like that bring him to this state?" The Fifth said and Shikamaru tried to force his eyes open more insistently. He finally managed, and saw the blurry images of Kakashi and Tsunade hovering on top of him, but the effort was so great it send a sharp throbbing pain right to his skull. Nasty disgusting bile rose to his throat uninvited and forced him to close his eyes again, in a pathetic attempt to control even an ounce of the overwhelming malady his body was currently being the victim of. All the while, the only proper logic thought his mind kept registering was of Temari...everything else started to blur into a confusing mess, and he felt himself lost in his panic catatonic state.

"I haven't the faintest, he has been acting strange since he came back from Kumogakure"

Temari...getting married... Fuck... No...this can't be happening.

His breath quickened and his body jolted.

"Seems like he needs more drugs. He is getting another panic attack. I am going to leave him here in observation for a couple of days"

Tsunade's voice was the last he heard before everything turned black once again.

Shikamaru's eyes opened again. This time around however, he was completely lucid. Then, everything hit him at once. Tears started pouring freely down his face without his consent as soon as he realised that no, it wasn't a nightmare, or a bad dream. His life really was ruined, he had lost everything and the love of his life was about to get married to someone else.

"God Shikamaru. What's happening to you son?" His mother's worried voice reached him when she hovered over the bed he was laying in. His blurred eyes noticed her through the tears and the white hospital room.

He didn't answer. The tears kept falling while he was choking in his attempts to keep them at bay, while the knot in this throat got more painful and constricting by the minute.

Shikamaru had read a book once. About traumatic experiences and how different could the experience be for the person going through them. The meaning it could have in one's life depending on several external factors. Like your personality, your age, your background, and how it would follow several stages, like denial, rage, mental breakdown and acceptance.

He realised that he should've sought help after his Sensei's death. He should've spoken about everything with someone. His mother, Choji, anyone. Before fucking up his life this badly.

"So you have finally snapped out of it ugh?" His mother said softly while drying his tears gently and hugging him tightly. He hugged her back fiercely drawing in all the strength he didn't have.

"Mom...Mom I screwed up...I don't know what to do" he choked between sobs "Asuma is dead...Dad is dead...God...Dad...Mom...My dad" the overwhelming pain he felt at the realisation that his father was gone was indescribable. He felt the pain from head to toe as if it had happened yesterday. All the mourning he didn't do at the proper time or in a healthy way, hit him like a bullet train all at once. So fast and so damn hard that it was impossible for his even prodigious mind to keep up.

"I know" his mother was crying along with him now. Understanding by his reaction that her son had reached rock bottom and he was completely at loss in how to get out of the pain.

Then, Shikamaru also remembered Temari, and all that he did to her, every word, every action done since that stupid break up hit him in the face as a reminder of just how badly he had wronged her. Asuma, Shikaku, Temari...all of them gone of his life forever.

"Temari...she is..."

Then he told her, he told her everything. Between sobs and fighting the words out he poured his heart out and told his mother the whole story. All the good, all the bad, the in-between and the desperation he felt now for having fucked up in this level.

"God. You are just like your father. So fucking bright and dumb at the same time" Yoshino concluded quite accurately if he may say so himself, after hearing him talk for hours.

"I lost her mom" he said brokenly. She was going to marry another man, he had lost the love of his life and the thought alone was so painful he felt he might be near another panic attack. He shakily inhaled some air and tried to calm himself. Fuck, he was pathetic wasn't he? "I am so stupid. What the hell I am going to do? It was better when I didn't understand anything" when he was dead inside, he thought bitterly.

"Well fight of course" his mother's answer left him gapping at her. Fight she said? Fight? Was that even possible? After everything?

"Look, both me and your father knew about her. Why did you think we hated Harumi?" Yoshino asked him.

"Hirumi" he corrected somewhat amused.

"Whatever" she replied dismissively making him a chuckle and a ghost of a smile escape him for the first time in what felt like years. "Anyways, we knew. As if you could hide something from me, honestly. And we knew Temari was perfect for you. But you were so lost after Asuma's...I thought for a while that your father's talk with you helped but it didn't. And after the war it got worse. This is my fault also, I saw what was happening and didn't do a thing. I am sorry Shikamaru" His mother apologising felt so wrong for Shikamaru that for an instant he wanted to take it all back, even if he did feel better after confiding in her. It was as if a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders but it did't seem right if it hurt her.

"It's not your fault, you had your own pain to deal with" he said nevertheless, and hoped his mother won't cling over those type of feelings.

"That's not excuse to allow my son to fall this hard" she said sadly. But as soon as she did she took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at him with fierceness "Enough with the heavy! Enough with wallowing in self pity! You are going to get up, clean yourself up, get very very handsome and go rock that girl's world out of that wedding"

"Mom, it's not that simple. It has too many political implications. He is from Kumo, She from Suna, I'm from Konoha. How do you imagine an scandal involving three people with the standing we have would actually go? Mom...it could lead to a war..." He explained and looked at her warily in the eyes.

"Mmmm...so you are going to give up like you did in the Chunnin exams?" She wondered, then with fieriness she told him, "Shikamaru. This is your life, your only life. Just one life is all God gives you. Are you going to waste it with regrets without even trying first? Well, you are a lazy Nara after all, I am not really surprised. Although Nara's are unusually determined when it comes to their woman" finally she asked him, "Is she your woman Shikamaru?"

He pondered his mother's question seriously. Was she his woman? He thought of her face, of her smell, of that toothy grin of hers, of her character and un-relentless morals and values, of her skin and the storm within she caused with the lightest of her touches, of how no other woman would ever, come an inch near her feet. She was just too perfect, too precious, too unique and so very beautiful.

"Yes. She is" he answered simply, with a soft smile creeping up at the corners of his mouth.

"Then do whatever you need to do to get your woman back." Yoshino stated resolutely.

"How?" Even in his mess of state Shikamaru felt the sneaky rays of hope creeping up warmly through his body. As if slowly they were waking up every single one of the numbed cells in his body.

"Why, playing dirty of course" his mother replied easily and he looked at her dumfounded "In love and war all is game."

"I see your point...but I'm still without the how here" he said and worried his lower lip between his teeth nervously. His hands itched to be closer, in his signature thinking tic. His mind already rushing 200 steps ahead and searching for any seemingly plausible solution.

"You are the brightest mind of the fire country. Maybe the world. You will think of something. But most importantly you should really be one hundred percent sure she is what you want. That you are doing it for the right reasons. It is going to be hard and you will get hurt. If you aren't prepared for that or you are going to quit in the middle might as well keep cloud watching." His mother speech left him breathless, wondering if he had the strength to go through all the trouble that was gonna turn the wheel in his favour. He had enough confidence in his brain to know that his mother was right, he was bright enough to find a solution for this. The question was, if he was emotionally strong enough to deal with it.

The memory of Temari´s smile answered for him.

"I love her mom. I truly do. I finally feel like myself again since Asuma's death and I can't believe I let her go" he told her honestly, with un-revoked certainty. He really did love her. That was the only truth that really mattered now.

"Then you cannot give up. Until you have made a true effort to get her back. And after that, if things don't go your way, then so be it. It would be better than laying around and watch the woman you love marry someone else. It is the most likely outcome son, but at least you will be able to say with all confidence that you gave it all and tried your best, so you won't have any regrets." His mother final words sharpened his resolution.

She was absolutely right, no matter what happened he had nothing to lose. And there was nothing more dangerous than someone that had nothing to lose.

He was running out of time. The wedding was in a month and he still had yet to find something that could help him delay it or put it on hold long enough for him to come up with a strategy to get her back.

The last week he had been buried in scrolls, books and ancient scripts trying to find an answer for him. He had lost count of the amount of information he had gulped down the last few weeks. Searching frantically for something, anything, that would help his cause. He was dedicating his entire time to the search since his panic attack had granted him some weeks off from Kakashi.

He finally found what he was looking for at three in the morning one Tuesday night, after his 15th cigarette of the day, and the 8th cup of coffee. His hands shook while holding the scroll, analysing the implications of what he was going to do and the ramifications of such thing.

He spent the rest of the night smoking and thinking. Pondering that unfortunately for him this time around a perfect strategy wasn't...enough. He needed to piece everything together in a way he never had before and it included an unpredictable factor, which was Temari´s heart. He thought of his father who always used to say that all wars are won with knowledge and Temari who always said that the key of every match was intimidation. He needed both this time around, and probably polish his romantic skills which were probably around zero.

Temari had also said that their love was something precious that should be cherished. And she said that because she knew something so pure should be protected. Fought for. And he was going to fight. The world didn't know what was coming.

His very own will of fire.

Shikamaru smirked. He left the library with a clear plan. He needed to go to Suna though. Gather evidence. At least it would be a mission of a true ninja. One, like he hadn't had since the war.

Nothing had prepared him for the true extent of his stupidity though.

"Mom"

"Did you find a solution?"

"Yes. It will be hard"

"Is your life in jeopardy?"

"I can do it"

"Okay, I'll trust you. Just promise me you won't get killed"

"I promise"

Part 2: Of you...

Temari was beautiful. Older. Wiser. And needless to say she wasn't expecting to see him. Her widened eyes at his presence didn't deter him though. He was angry and hurt and God she looked beautiful.

He didn't say anything, just let her read the paper he had put in front of her.

"Why are you doing this?" Temari asked him while glaring at him heatedly.

"You left me no choice. I won't let you marry him" He replied as a matter of factly.

"You think you can win against him?. He is the future Raikage, the man I love, and you are too weak to go against him" Temari was angry. Her nostrils flaring and clearly fighting with everything within her to not reach her Tessen and send him flying out of the window. Temari thought her Tessen attacks more these days. She was a diplomat after all, and being the peace after the war still quite fragile, she couldn't afford offending someone from a high stand of another village or country. This knowledge wasn't a guarantee though. If there was something Shikamaru knew about Temari was that her patience was rather thin, and there was a limit in how and when to push her. Fortunately, that was a game he had played before. Excel in it in fact. His brain came in handy when dealing with his fiery princess.

"I am the smartest man on earth, believe me, I can win" He told her confidently.

"You bastard! Haven't you done enough!? What the hell do you want from me!?" Temari yelled at him, clearly reaching the edge of her patience and the clear hint of fear behind her eyes. At the implications of all this. Of how it could break havoc not only in her life, but all through the 5 nations wide. Her Blond hair shone almost orange with the light of sunrise of Sunagakure, her chest was heaving and breathing rapidly and Shikamaru thought that he had never seen something so beautiful and painful as Temari at that moment. Because even if he loved her, he couldn't believe she had hidden something so big from him, and it was going to be a momentous task to forgive her for it.

"Everything" He told her. And it was so true the reply seemed to have punched her out of air. They remained looking at each other for a suspended moment. Both glaring, both assessing, both angry. The tension almost palpable through the air of the office in which they were in.

"Aren't my feelings more important to you than your ego?" Temari asked after a heartbeat, almost resignedly. She knew him enough to know that he wasn't going to back down. Shikamaru was a very lazy human being, but when he put his mind and soul into something it was a guarantee he would succeed. He knew it and she knew it. It was simply a fact.

"Yes, and that's why I am doing it. Don't fool yourself Temari. You have belonged to me since I kissed you for the first time behind the stands of the training grounds, and you know it too. He is just a replacement. One that I will kill if I have to" Temari widened her eyes at his reply. He took her surprise as an opportunity to speak his mind over the secret she had hidden from him, that ended up with a thrown coffee cup aimed at his head. He dodged it easily and left the office softly closing the door behind him. Soft enough as if to tell her that he was cool and chill enough to see this through with calculating precision. He heard her curse him behind the door.

...I, Nara Shikamaru. Fourteenth generation and leader of the Nara Clan, Senior Councillor and Adviser of the Hokage of Konohagakure, Proxy Commander of the Fourth Battle Division in the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Fire Country Ambassador for the Shinobi Union, I hereby make known my claim under Suna's Maidenhood Law on my right to prevent union in marriage and to challenge in battle Darui of Kumogakure, next in line of succession of Raikage for the hand of Sabaku no Temari, Princess of Suna, daughter of Rasa fourth Kazekage, Sister of Gaara fifth Kazekage...

"Is this true?"

Shikamaru had to admit, that at this point of his plan he doubted he was going to live long enough to fight Darui. Gaara and Kankuro were looking at him with clear killing intent.

"Yes." Shikamaru schooled his face, and the quivering fear of the former jinjuriki and replied Gaara while the latter was holding the scroll he had just handed him, shaking it and confronting him about its content "I am invoking my right under the Suna´s maidenhood law. My right of claim and to duel Darui will be public knowledge this time tomorrow" he explained, and Gaara sighed and frowned, crossed his arms and stared blindly at his face. Probably wondering how to act when faced with a politic nightmare such as the one Shikamaru has just given him on a otherwise regular Wednesday afternoon.

"You are invoking a law that has been in disuse for more than three hundred years. No one cares about purity anymore. Not even the elders" The Kazekage told him unhappily. The glares getting more intense and edging on potentially lethal by every passing minute.

"It doesn't matter. The law is valid, it was never repealed" he replied as a matter of factly. Then he watched as Gaara scrolled thought the contents of the medic report on top of his desk. He looked hunted and sad and everything Shikamaru was feeling himself. Probably wondering how something so big could have escaped his notice and worse, how his own sister had gone through this without no one the wiser.

"Did you know?" Gaara asked him sadly. Somewhat defeated. It was a sobering look in the powerful Kage.

"Did you?" Shikamaru asked him back "She didn't tell anyone. Not even me" he finally replied, and then with a lump in his throat added, "I am not even twenty and I have lost my Sensei, my father, my...I'll be damn if I lose her too" he finished resolutely.

"Shikamaru..." Gaara sighed, "Why are you doing this? Because you feel she is your property? She is in love with him" he told him simply, without hate, as if it was a fact and Shikamaru was fighting a lost cause. As if he should realise by his own what a nonsense his quest was.

Shikamaru wasn't going to give up though. He had made his mind and he was gonna see through this game until the end. The shoji pieces were already down on the board. All that was left was keep playing.

"It will give me time. To make her love me again. And if in the end she still choses him. I will respect that" he said and made Gaara sigh tiredly once again.

"If you win, her decision won't matter, you will have lawful right to take her as your wife" Gaara frowned, he realised now that if Shikamaru succeeded he would have more problems than having to face the politic backlash within the 5 nations this whole ordeal was gonna bring, no, that wasn't the worst part in the least. The scariest part was leaving his own sister in the hands of a marriage she didn't want or desire.

"I know" Shikamaru breathed and he was scared of that too. Having such power over Temari was equally thrilling as it was terrifying.

That was the last Kankuro managed to stay out of the conversation. He had been watching Shikamaru and his brother talking and reached his limit of silence when he sensed the Kazekage wasn't gonna kill him after all "Gaara you can't allow this!" He said heatedly "He entered Suna with a false pretences! He needs to face the consequences for that!" His desperate attempt to grab onto anything that would give them the excuse to kill him lawfully and make this whole mess disappear clear as a day. Kankuro, god bless him, was always rather obvious in his moves. The old chap wasn't a strategist in the least.

However, Shikamaru being the planner and over achiever when it suit him he was, had planned for this, and as such said plans were already in motion. Temari´s siblings couldn't stop this, no matter how much they wanted to.

"A copy of my claim has been sent to the Hokage, a second one to the Raikage and another to the Union, which means that this time tomorrow everybody will know about this. Also the law allows any method to gather proofs of claimed maidenhood, and sneaking into Sunagakure with whatever excuse falls under the law's protection. If you press charges against me for sneaking into town to gather proof to help my claim I will fight you in the Union Court and it will only cause the process to string along. I will win you in court"

"Gaara!" Kankuro yelled insistently to his brother, if looks could kill, Shikamaru would be 100 times dead by now.

"I don't think I have a choice." He told Kankuro tiredly, and then with a certain gleam of sadistic satisfaction that made Shikamaru remember the monster that murdered two people in cold blood right in front of him during their Chunin exams so long ago, he added; "You do realise this is a duel to death don't you?"

Then Kankuro also had smirked devilishly. Both thinking certain death was awaiting Shikamaru. And judging by their faces, they couldn't be more happy about it.

He replied by smiling sheepishly.

When Shikamaru arrived in Suna he arrived with a purpose.

When he left Suna, he still had the same purpose but his heart had expanded its pain.

His plan was quite simple. He had discovered an ancient law that allowed him to claim a bride whose maidenhood had been taken before by another man other than the groom.

It was by far the most underhanded sneaky thing he had done in his life. But it would grant him time. He had needed her medic records to prove she hadn't been a virgin before she started her relationship with Darui. Thank God, that relationship was public enough that everybody knew when it had started and Kunoichi and Ninja medic reports' were always very thorough since being a Ninja meant extraneous physical activity, they were required to go through physical exams every six months.

He had gone to Suna with a false pretence, using the Chounin exams as an excuse, then with a different face went to his mission. Naruto's sexy jutsu wasn't only useful to cause nosebleeds. It allowed him to get in Sunagakure´s hospital with no one being the wiser. He had rented a fancy room and wondered the streets memorising the layout of the hospital and the medic nins and nurses. He had put on a false uniform, sneaked in the hospital and risked his neck taking those records.

When he arrived back into his rented room, he had read those records and his heart broke in a way it had never before. Never in a million years would he had imagine the plot twist that waited him hidden in those records.

She had been pregnant.

He made some calculations and realised most likely she knew she was when she went to see him after Asuma´s death. She had been three months into the pregnancy when they broke up and five months along when she lost the baby. A boy. A shadow nin baby boy that never got to see the light. Probably his own fault once again. According to the records, the mother to be had been under heavy emotional stress at the time.

Shikamaru fell asleep after hours of crying.

He was crushed knowing of the extent of the pain he had caused her. More so than anything he had ever imagined. He wondered how could he make her forgive him something like this, and that maybe there was nothing he could do, but in the end, he still couldn't give up. He had to at least try his best. If anything just to bring closure to both their pains and close the chapter of their story in their lives for good.

He had the proof that he had taken her virginity with those records. An irrefutable proof that she had been even pregnant with a baby with a Shadow Chakra that only run in the Nara family.

With this he could stop the wedding.

He hated himself for it though.

And blamed her too.

For not telling him what a moron he was, for not fighting for him, for not telling him about the baby, for letting another man in her heart, for not kicking his ass when he was being stupid like she always did, for not seeing how lost he was after Asuma died. And most of all for not telling him he was in love with her, because she knew. He was sure she knew but she allowed him to break the most beautiful thing they had and he resented her for it.

He had been sixteen. Sixteen. And she was older, wiser than him. She knew him well enough after the Sasuke failed mission how he struggled with his emotions, she must have known how everything crumbled and crushed with his sensei death. What a momentous thing it was. The death of his innocence.

Maybe he was unfair. He most likely was. But he couldn't shake the hurt and rage over his own son´s death and how she had purposely hide it. She knew him better than anyone and she let him ruin everything. She didn't fight. For him, for their love.

But after all, if she didn't fight, it didn't really matter. He was as sure as hell going to fight for her.

To death.

With a shaky breath he had drafted the proposal and the right of claim he had. He made four copies. Wrote forty letters, sent them and then everything was set into motion.

Afterwards, he had went to see her.

He was just about to leave her office when he asked her. He couldn't help himself. He wanted to ask her why didn't she tell him they were going to be parents? Why had she hide something so important from him. He knew he had been stupid and acted wrong and threw away the best thing that had happened to them. Broke something precious. But regardless of that, it was his son. His son. His son was the last topic they talked about in her office.

"You should have told me" the words choked out of him. Not sense in clarifying what he was talking about. She knew as soon as she saw the pained look in his face.

"What for?You weren't 'in love' with me remember?". She replied right before she decided to throw the cup at his face vindictively.

After she had said that though, Shikamaru knew why she hadn't told him. She didn't want to force him to her side for a baby when he didn't want the mother.

The stab of pain he felt after that realisation hadn't left him since she uttered that sentence. It had renewed his will though. Yes they had lost a baby, but they might still have a future were others are born. A family. He didn't want that with anyone else that wasn't her. And he was going to do anything in his power to accomplish it.

He remembered what he told Gaara just before he left Suna when the latter accompanied him to the gates of the city. Kankuro hadn't come as he was clearly too angry at him to even maintain any form of propriety in front of him. Gaara though...he seemed almost impressed by this attitude of undeterred and relentless will. Shikamaru couldn't blame him, must have been shocking to see his former lazy self turn into this uncompromising version of himself.

"The miscarriage won't be of public record. Just that you are claiming your right to fight the engagement under Suna's maidenhood law. The wedding will be postponed until the duel is finished." Gaara told him and sighed audibly, "You did this on purpose didn't you? You know perfectly well it would be shameful for the Kazekage to admit the princess had a miscarriage and if such information leaves Suna it will harm my clan's reputation. No one cares about virginity but they do about unplanned pregnancies. So by doing that you made sure Temari won't deny your claim as lies. Her silence will be proof enough in the eyes of everybody" he added evidently battling himself between surprise and acknowledgement of his plan "Do you realise this can be disastrous for the fire country? Suna will be protected since we can't fight the law, but the fire country? This could lead to a war with Kumogakure. The Fire and the Lightning Daimyo could ask for your head. It could even lead to a world war. You went behind everyone's back with this. How far are you willing to go with this?" He asked and Shikamaru could see, a hint of fear behind his eyes. And again, he couldn't blame him. Shikamaru's answer before leaving Suna and their Kazekage was a shock to the latter.

"To the last consequences"

And he would.

Shikamaru felt lethal.

When he arrived in Konoha three days later the city was in an uproar. People were equal times exited as they were afraid. The political implications were colossal and people felt the tension in the air.

They had arrested him as soon as he had crossed the border. Twenty Ambus. He didn't resist when they took him to see the Hokage. He was smirking when they were leading him through his hometown. He could hear the whispers around him but he caught sight of his mother and her proud knowing smirk. He was fully smiling when he entered the Hokage building. Tsunade, Kakashi, Naruto, Shizune were waiting for him inside. It surprised him that Kakashi had called the Godaime to help him deal with the debacle.

"Are you fucking insane!?" Tsunade screamed at him as soon as the door of Kakashi's office closed behind him.

"This is a disaster" Kakashi said. He was frowning "The Fire Daimyo has already asked for a meeting with you. We have to take you as a prisoner."

Naruto was frowning and looking at him worriedly. Clearly debating himself between defending his friend and screaming at him for leading them to the brink of war just so soon after the last one.

"What were you thinking!?" Tsunade asked him outraged.

"I have thought this through and see the outcome already. You can trust me I wouldn't have started this if I didn't think it wouldn't harm our country" Shikamaru told them with seriousness. He wouldn't have started this if he wasn't sure he was going to win. They should've more confidence in his abilities after all this time shouldn't they?

"Why?" Tsunade wondered out loud tiredly "Just why?"

"Because I love her"

And with just that, looking straight at Naruto, he knew he had won his friend over. He had always been there for Naruto and now it was time for Naruto to have his back. And he would, because there wasn't a purest reason as love to risk something as this big.

"We leave tomorrow. You better be prepared, they want to skin you alive" Kakashi told him cheerfully.

Well, wasn't that wonderful?

The meeting with all five Daimyos, The Union and the Five Kages lasted a grand total of forty six minutes. He had gone inside, and as law required considering Shikamaru's political standing he was allowed two companions as bodyguards, and he chose Naruto.

And Sasuke.

The Feudal Lords widened their eyes when they saw the two incredible powerful protagonists of the fourth Shinobi war as his bodyguards.

Shikamaru smirked. As an intimidation tactic it was rather effective. Even the Kages were more than irked by this turn of events.

If they wanted him to bend his head down and get back on everything they were seriously mistaken.

"We have called upon this emergency meeting to discuss the issue of Nara Shikamaru's challenge upon the marriage union of Princess Sabaku no Temari and Darui of Kumogakure. As you know this is a very sensitive subject since it involves three major countries out of the five that integrate our world order." The Mizukage Mei started. All faces focused on him now, as if daring him to give any justification for all that ordeal.

"Gentleman, as you know this is a private matter" Shikamaru started "Which is being handled under lawful methods. Treating this as an act of war and using it as an opportunity to bring up another confrontation wouldn't be beneficial to anyone." He finished while giving both Sasuke and Naruto a look who in exchange nodded beside him at his words.

"This is a travesty!" Oonoki the Tsuchikage screamed outraged "Why are we allowing this nipper to put everything in danger!?"

"We are at the verge of real peace for the first time in history, we can't allow something like this to happen!" A the Raikage raged just after.

"Surely you two don't support this crazy claim of his?" The Fire Lord asked Sasuke and Naruto.

"Of course we do! This is love we are talking about here! Believe it!" Naruto answered firmly.

Sasuke limited himself to activate his Sharingan and stared menacingly at the feudal lords who ended up jumping in their seats.

"We have been working on a solution. And this emergency meeting has the power to overrule any claim Nara Shikamaru has, if all the Shinobi Union, The Kages and The Feudal Lords by unanimous vote decide that this endeavour could be more harmful than productive by the cooperation treaties that are already in place we can nullify his claim and let the marriage continue as it was planned in the first place" Korotsuchi stated and then directing a poisonous look at Shikamaru she added, "We can put him in jail for life for betraying the union with this underhanded thing he has done"

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you" Shikamaru said with sharp confidence "Who do you think wrote those treaties? Who do you think has been putting his brain to work for said cooperation laws to be signed? It wasn't any of you I assure you. It was me. You can't fight against this" he tapped his own head and slowly let his eyes roam all the present people in the room "And if you don't believe me, don't you think that being me the one that's behind everything haven't thought in every possible loophole those laws have?" He snorted "Although maybe you are stupid enough to try. But first let's not forget I have gathered some very very powerful friends these last few years. And I am not talking about these two" he pointed with a deliberate lazy hand to Naruto and Sasuke "Oh no. I am talking about very rich and power hungry civilian businessmen and Shinobies alike. People who will do whatever I ask. People for whom a war is more beneficial than peace, after all, war is a business is it not? A business of weapons, food, raw materials, a blackhole of resources. Who do you think has been making all of them back off and actually allowed for this peace to be?" He lifted a sardonic eyebrow at the Damyos "Did you all think that ending the forth war was the end of the battle? If you did then you are very naive and you don't deserve the hat you are wearing." He finished with a patronising smirk to the Kages.

He let a calculated laugh escape him and drank some water. The cuffs in his hands barely allowing him basic movements. He managed to look cool and composed nevertheless. As if the seals weren't burning through his wrist and made him want to flinch every second. Those things were nasty. He took a deep breath and continued;

"But just in case you still want to go the difficult way, then I will say that I have information on every skeleton you have in the closet, all of you here, and all over the world of very very dangerous and rich people alike. I will preach every secret and make it public if I have to. It would be fun to see your reputations turn into ashes" he crossed his legs calmly while adding, "And lets not forget how all of you here have rebel's groups lurking in the dark waiting for the tiniest mistake to take over. People that don't like the current world order, people that don't believe in serving feudal lords, people that don't trust shinobies, shinobies that hate civilians, civilians that hate shinobies. It is all very complicated is it not?"another deliberate pause, "Politics" he smirked with all the confidence his 200 IQ brain gave him and finished menacingly "Now, if you all gentleman behave and get the fuck out of my business then I have a proposal for you. You let me go through my claim and marry Sabaku no Temari and I, in exchange, don't turn your lives in fucking hell. How does that sound?"

Utter silence and dumfounded looks followed his speech. Everyone from the Damyos, to the Kages, to the Union members, secretaries and guards alike, everyone in attendance were sporting the same horrorize stare at him, mouths slightly opened aghast and palpably wondering who in devil´s hair was really Nara Shikamaru.

"W...what?" Omoi uttered flabbergasted voicing the silent question of everyone around him.

"How dare you!?" Oonoki was the first one to recover and screamed at him. His yelling managed to wake up the rest from their stupor and they all began to scream and talk and cross worried looks with each other, all the while Shikamaru remained calm, and collected, even slightly tapping his foot against the leg of the table in a nonchalant manner, that made the rest of the people at present feel even more enraged. He schooled his features between a patronising smile and a bored attitude, letting his shoulders drop relaxedly in his body. As if he were in the middle of a bar reunion among friends and not the event that might very well decide his life imprisonment or death.

"Oh I dare milord, I dare" he replied to Oonoki "Who do you think developed the economy projects and the chain of importation and exportation? Who do you think got the resources and money for all your cities reconstructions? Who do you think did the math for you? Maybe you think that the people you rule over live of wood and leafs and not food and that they sleep in the floor not houses. Have any of you noticed that there's almost no unemployment and that all your countries had been getting more politically stable and better at handling resources? I have done in only three years what you wouldn't have in your entire lifetimes, what you never accomplished in your lives in fact, after all, you never managed stability before the war did you?" He asked them in a reproachful manner "It's frankly hilarious. All of you sitting here thinking that you have been doing a good job with your little meetings and summits. You are all so...small. Thinking you were doing a good job just because of that? Your naivety knows no boundaries it seems. Like children really." Then mockingly he added, "Man...what a drag"

"He is threatening the Union!" Chojuro screamed while hitting the table in front of him.

"We should kill him right now!" The Raikage exclaimed and looked at the other Kages asking for silent support.

"Oh, If you do that, my friends will be really pissed. You see, for this peace to work, I have been doing deals all over the planet. And I have made it so in a way where all of them would have more benefits if they do things my way. I don't imagine they would be happy if you take me and ruin their plans now do they? And, you have already made your very first big mistake. You see, I warned them of all this, and as of now they are more than ready to strike seeing how you brought me here sealed. Plus, all the spilling of secrets that will go around, your reputations won't take that well either. Not to mention these two" He pointed at Sasuke and Naruto again "Who have sworn upon their honour as Shinobies and their respective clan's name to defend me from any harm that comes my way, my clan, my family or more importantly if you dare touch Temari to get me"

"I don't think even your bodyguards look very happy at you now though" Kakashi intervened warily.

"Do you think I convinced them by asking nicely?" Shikamaru responded chillingly "Ah...politics. It's like a big Shogi board is it not? One threat here, a deal there, all for that last move that will make you win the game."

"We can't allow this!"

"Konoha must take responsibility for this!"

"Not Konoha, the entire Fire Nation!"

Shikamaru started to tune out the yelling and accusation swirling around his head. He finally rose from his seated position coughed pointedly gaining everyone's attention and pressed the palms of his hands on top of the table. He leaned forward and with a determined look at them he threatened;

"I am not here to beg or ask you. Do you even think you would've made it this far without me putting every piece together in the first place? I have spent three years, since the war was over, playing this game. I have done more for this peace than any of you have ever done. You all owe it to me. I am not going to back down, I am probably the biggest threat that you will ever have to face. That is true, but fortunately for you, I am very lazy, and I don't really want to take over the world. It would be very troublesome and I don't really want to work more than I absolutely have to. All I want is to marry Temari and have a very peaceful life with her."

"Do you think it would be wise for us to give you any more political power by letting you marry a princess of one of the five big countries?" The Water Damyo spoke for the first time,

"Well that's entirely your call. Besides, truth be told, I have enough political power as it is, the marriage won't matter in the big scheme of things. I have all the power I need to fuck you over already" he answered with confidence "Although I should say that up until now, my intension for doing all this was peace, but now, if I were to be put in a position were I'd have to chose between that peace and Temari. Then...you lot are in deep shit. Fuck with me and hell breaks loose. Your choice"

"This is preposterous!" Oonoki started screaming once again, and Shikamaru wondered if the old champ was gonna have a proper apoplectic seizure. His face looked beyond red. Shikamaru decided to have mercy in all of them and finish once and for all that sham of a meeting. There was nothing they could do to stop him, and he had better things to do than waste his time with these people, such us coming up with a plan to woo Temari, because yes, all this shit show was all fun and dandy, but wouldn't earn him Temari´s love in the least. Or her forgiveness...

"Ok enough!" he barely raised his voice but it was enough for everyone to shut up at once "Let me make it more tempting for you. You get the fuck out of my back and I will continue to work towards the peace you want. I will even make it so all the countries have better quality of life and become richer, and I will also include the small countries in the equation. I think I am being more than generous" he lifted an eyebrow provocatively.

"What good would you be if you are dead? This is a duel to death" Omoi asked,

"Then I will be dead and you will get rid of me without having to lift a finger. You can even attempt to do what I have just told you. It will take you decades instead of a few years like it would take me. But you will manage..." he paused "Eventually..." then mockingly smirking added "Maybe..."

"Cocky brat" Tsunade snorted, and they knew he was right. Only he had the brains to pull the entire thing off. They have lost this shogi match. It was over, or so he thought until Gaara spoke.

The sand siblings have been unusually silent during the entire meeting. Probably expecting the others to do the dirty work for them, but then the Kazekage surprised everyone with his words.

"I value peace, but I value my sister more" he started "You will have my support but, If you hurt her I am going to be the one that kills you. I don't really care if it ends in the fifth Shinobi war or if your politic games will swallow the world in misery and poverty" he started down at him and added sincerely "I am going to kill you"

"Noted" Shikamaru replied, he walked to Tsunade, and presented his wrist to her, urging her to release the seals from his wrists. Gaara however wasn't finished. He calmly rose from his seat and just as an afterthought he coldly added,

"Oh and Shikamaru, this is not the time of slavery either, if after all this messis said and done she doesn't want to marry you, no one, and I mean no one, not you, not this council, not the Damyos, absolutely no one is going to force her to do it to avoid a politic war or any type of war. Temari is Suna´s. Sunagakure is ready to defend its princess from any threat. No matter whose" All of the people present started surprised at the Kazekage, him included, perceiving the truth behind his words. The Kazekage would even fight the wind Damyo to defend his sister. Gaara wasn´t going to put up with his sister being used as an exchange card to avoid war. He wasn't going to fall pressure of any other countries to sell out his sister, either to Shikamaru to protect themselves or any other man. That was when, since all this started Shikamaru felt true fear for the first time. Because in all his planning, there wasn't really an option or plan b in which he failed and she rejected him. He was sure Gaara and Kankuro and the entirety of Sunagakure would comply with that threat. Shinobies from the desert were as vicious as the scorpions that roamed the sand and they had survived worse than any other villages. Threats like the one they were facing couldn't deter them. The will of wind was as fierce as any, and definitely more perseverant than any.

In the end they didn't really have an option. And after Gaara's words, it was clear that they wouldn't get an unanimous vote. Not even if they wanted to. Besides Shikamaru figured that being threatened by the overprotective brother of the object of your affection it must have meant he was stepping up his game already.

"Shikamaru" Naruto said when they left the building. Sasuke had disappeared as soon as they stepped out. "Would you really do all that? You were scary in there"

"Naruto" he said while rubbing his abused wrists and circled them trying to force the blood to rush naturally through them "If you are going to be a Hokage, you need to know that it's a heavily political role to play, and you have to get used to this. This is a game, like Shogi, you win not only with the best strategy but with the ability to adapt. And you cannot adapt if you are not willing to play dirty when you have to" then for good measure and with a pointed look he added, "Let it be your first lesson of politics"

Naruto stared at him for a few moments, then warily said, "I feel like I don't know you"

"On the contrary. You do." Shikamaru felt oddly shaken by Naruto´s wariness, somehow killing his friends´ innocence was one of the least things he wanted to do in his life, ever. As if protecting Naruto´s innocence would somehow save some of his own. It was a strange feeling, but it was very real nevertheless. He decided to be as truthful as he could given the circumstances; "What you haven't realised before is that I have always been willing to protect you from the dirty game politics is. All I have been doing is to make the peace you so much want actually attainable. When I become your advisor I will handle this for you, and you will be able to keep preaching innocently about peace from a moral high ground"

He smiled encouragingly at Naruto, and his friend seemed a bit more at ease.

"Yeah okay. But Shikamaru...how far are you willing to go with this?" He asked frowning at him still doubtful,

"You have no idea" the shadow ninja told him "In any case, I think I have earn your trust over the years. Have I not?" He looked at Naruto and waited until the latter nodded "Then trust my strategy. I can do this"

"Fine" Naruto replied after sighing heavily, then he patted his back good-naturedly "Good luck my friend" then asked curious, "By the way...how did you convince Sasuke to back you up?"

How did he convince Sasuke? Well, simple, Konoha had the same Maidenhood law as Suna's. And Shikamaru was the one who popped the cherry of Haruno Sakura. She had in fact been the only other virgin he had been with besides Temari, and he got her medical records as well. And a witness. Chouji, who was the only person who knew about his affair with Sakura. After that it was only a matter of contacting Sasuke and telling him that he wanted Temari but if he couldn't have her he might as well go for Sakura. Which was a total lie but was good enough for manipulating Sasuke's possessive nature at his advantage. And even if Shikamaru knew that Sasuke would definitely win in a duel, Sasuke's male pride would not allow him for everybody to know that he wasn't the first and only man the pink haired girl had been with. In fact, Shikamaru was pretty sure Sasuke wanted to kill him as much as everyone in the room they had just left. But as it is, if he did, the little detail of who deflowered Sakura was going to be a matter of public knowledge, he had all the information ready to be blown out by one of his 'friends'.

Despicable?

Maybe.

Then again, this Shogi game was the biggest one of his life, and for it to work he didn't really have a choice. Besides Sasuke Uchiha wasn't worthy of any compassion from his point of view. He had belonged to the organisation that had killed Asuma. Sakura...well...she was a collateral. Just one of the many consequences she should expect from involving herself with a war criminal as Sasuke.

May this be his little revenge against the traitorous Uchiha.

"You needn't worry about that" he told Naruto instead. Better keep his innocent friend under the illusion the world wasn't such a dirty rotten place.

"Just..." As if sensing his inner darkness though, Naruto sighed and looked at him seriously "Shikamaru...just...make sure you will be able to sleep at night when you finish with all this"

Fuck Naruto and his accurate words that made him feel shitty.

The Suna Maidenhood Law allowed him and Darui private quarters in a fancy hotel in Suna, and each of them three dates with the intended before the final Duel that was going to be in an Arena.

What he liked the most about it. Was that from the minute he enacted his right of claim he put a damp on Temari's interactions with Darui. Not only was the wedding completely on hold but they weren't allowed to see each other or be together out of the allowed three dates who were to be with a Chaperone.

A Chaperone, who was sent by the Union. An old fart who had an affair with another woman that wasn't his wife and had an illegitimate child with. A child whose existence was known by very few people. Shikamaru among them. And he had already made preparations with said ambassador for he to conveniently disappear in his dates with Temari. Discretely of course.

And that's where he was now. Picking Temari up for their first date in four years. He had to admit he was nervous. This was probably the hardest part of his plan, because it involved Temari's heart and he truly wanted it back, it wouldn't do to have her against her will. Ignoring Gaara´s very real threat of war against the entire world in such scenario, truth was he wanted her to love him like she did before. He wanted her to give herself to him entirely. Maybe he was being naive, he had done her too much harm for that to happen, but he had promised himself to try no matter what, and he would be damn if he went down without a fight.

It was surprising really. He, always being so lazy, and now, literally moving the world through its axis to get her back. He just hoped it would grant him at least an opportunity from her.

As soon as he arrived in the Kazekage residence Gaara and Kankuro were waiting for him in the living room. A servant lead him there and he stood rather uncomfortably feeling rather silly and surprisingly shy with a bouquet of desert yellow roses in one hand and a box of sweet chestnuts in the other. He had even forgone his hair tie and he was wearing his hair loose, with half a ponytail, along with a black long sleeved t-shirt and black jeans.

"Ehhhh" Kankuro drawled mockingly "You clean up well Nara"

"Thank you" he replied awkwardly.

"Where are you taking her?" Gaara asked with narrowed eyes.

"I made reservations in a Restaurant" he responded neutrally.

"No funny business" Kankuro warned.

"Like she would allow me" he said with a fond smile trying to appease the tension in the room. Gaara chuckled and Kankuro laughed out loud.

"That's true, no way in hell you will get her to love you again." Kankuro said uncharitably "Not after everything you have done in the past"

"We will see about that. You know very well Temari loves grand gestures" Shikamaru reminded them with confidence.

Kankuro glared at him and then directed his eyes at Gaara, "Should we kill him now?"

"Not yet no" Gaara told him amused.

Shikamaru looked at them then. The tension on their shoulders and the sharp lines of their mouths. They were very unhappy with him at the moment. That made him pause for a second. He sighed tiredly. He was going to make sure, after he won Temari back, to make peace with his in laws, after all they were important to Temari hence important to him. And he kind of admired the resolution in which they wanted to protect their sister. Despite the shitty childhood those three truly loved and cherished each other.

"Look, I know you two know everything. About the mistakes I have made, but I am here to right my wrongs. I love her and I won't ever hurt her, I promise you two that" he assured them trying to throw an olive branch between them.

"It wouldn't be the first time you hurt her now would you?" Gaara muttered while glaring at him.

"Right my wrongdoings he says" Kankuro followed "Tell that to Sari you asshole"

Shikamaru sighed. They knew about that also? He was surprised they addressed the elephant in the room so quickly though.

"What is an inconsequential fuck if it managed to save Tamer's life in the end?" He regretted the harshness of his statement as soon as it left his mouth, and judging the menacing looks in the sand siblings, he knew he was stepping onto extremely dangerous territory.

"What...you fucker" Kankuro started angrily taking a couple of steps forward onto Shikamaru´s personal space.

"So you are going to go with that way of thinking after marrying her as well?" The Kazekage asked him calmly enraged "Sleeping with other women and justifying it because at some level benefits her?" His eyes were so cold Shikamaru almost saw through them how he was imagining killing him slowly and most assuredly painfully. The shadow ninja knew, that he needed to lay down the weapons or this fight would escalate to the point it will ruin his first date with Temari, and that he couldn't afford. He was already playing on borrowed time.

"Look. I know I fucked up, but all I did I did it after I broke up with her" he told them in a hopefully peaceful manner "I never cheated on her when we were together, I always respected her, and I treated her with care and I cherished her. The mistakes I have done were when we weren't together" And it was true. While they were together he truly was a good boyfriend to her, it wasn't 100% fair to pin him as the worst scam in the face of earth when everything happened while they were apart.

"Fucking her friend is a betrayal Nara" Ok, so being apart was semantics to them. He sighed for the hundred time tiredly.

"A betrayal that saved her life didn't it? Sari felt so guilty that she pushed her away from one of the Jubis tails' attack" he reminded them,

"Don't you even feel regret for that?" Gaara asked frowning at him, he was closer to him now assessing his stance and threatening him by the closeness of his position.

"No if it saved her life not" Shikamaru replied and stood his ground.

"How do you expect us to take something like that Nara? How can I leave my sister under your care if you act so unrepentant of something so awful?" The Kage asked him, and he was clearly so upset the sand in his pouch started to whirl around him as if it was reacting to its masters´ uneasiness.

"Because no one has ever given you a second chance to you Gaara is that it?" Now Shikamaru was getting upset too, he wasn't the worst monster out there to be at the receiving end of this harsh judgment. Yes he screwed up, but they should cut him some slack. He was on the way of mending things, he deserved some time to do so "You have killed hundreds and I don't deserve a second chance? Is that sound logic here?" He asked Gaara sullenly.

"I am repentant" The Kazekage replied easily. Truthfully.

"And so am I. About hurting her and leaving her. And about fooling around with Sari, but I also believe everything happens for a reason and I am grateful some things happened the way they did otherwise she would've been dead now, and what would have been the point of anything if she wasn't by our side anymore?" He stopped for a second, looked at him and willed his true feelings to his eyes. Bear them open for them to see. That he was honest in his claim "I...I truly love her...more than you can imagine..." He swallowed forcefully "And I want to try at least, I don't think I could forgive myself if I don't try"

"She is in love with Darui Nara" Kankuro said making Shikamaru involuntarily flinch.

He took a deep breath, and gave that statement some thought. Was she really?

"No she is not. She cares for him and he is the best man she could've found to replace me, but in the end he is just a replacement. You maybe won't understand because you weren't there. But what we have is love, it has always been love. The true earth shattering one that only happens once in a lifetime. She knows it as well as I do, and she is going to fight it, because I really made a mess of things. But because she actually forgave everything you have done it means that she has it in her to forgive me too. After all, us three have always been the most important people in her life. I could give you a million reasons and explain everything that happened to me these years, why I acted the way I did, but I won't. Mainly because I know she would think me putting up excuses is unmanly, but rest assured, it isn't a passing fancy. She is it for me. Always has been. I was just...very lost...for a very long time." he was left a little breathless after his little speech and hoped they would trust the sincerity of his words.

"Can we really trust you with her Nara?" Kankuro asked him, he left the air in his lungs go as if he was exhausted of the situation already. Shikamaru could totally relate to that feeling.

"You can trust that I would do anything for her. Go against anyone and move sea and earth to make her happy and protect her. I promise" They could relate to that as well. Since that urge to protect her was something shared by all three of them.

"You have made her a target of your enemies with this grand gesture of yours, are you aware of that?" Kankuro pointed and Shikamaru was aware. But he wasn't overly worried about that,

"No one would dare touch her when this whole thing is dealt with, believe me. They are too scared of opening the can of worms" he was already making sure of that.

"Very well..." Gaara stated with a devilishly smirk "I reserve myself the right to kill you if you break that promise"

"I won't" he said and the three of them waited awkwardly in silence for Temari to arrive.

Temari was breathtaking. The she devil was definitely torturing him with her pick of outfit. So much so, that some sweat gathered involuntarily at his temple. She was wearing a strapless long red dress, that clung to her body like a second skin, leaving all her luxurious and voluptuous figure on display for his greedy eyes. The dress also had a slit that went all the way up, very high up, almost to the waist, insinuating she wasn't even wearing underwear at all. If all that wasn't enough, she had black high heels making her almost his height. She looked tall, sensual, glorious. Her leg on display seemed to go on for miles. The whole image of her was such that Shikamaru felt desire burning in every single one of his cells. He was convulsively swallowing the excess of saliva that his mouth kept producing at the sheer want of tasting her, and put his mouth just...everywhere. He would just lick her, from head to toe. Every inch of her. His stomach was tight and his thighs were contracted. Even his breathing was rapid and his heart was beating erratically inside his chest. The hunger he felt at that moment had nothing to do with the dinner they were about to eat and everything to do with the sexy creature in front of him.

It was torture, plain and simple. And she knew what she was doing.

They followed the waiter to their table in the restaurant, and Shikamaru was grateful his pants were black because the sight of her amazing ass didn't deflate the hard on he has been sporting since he landed his eyes on her. Once they were seated, Shikamaru tried in vain to calm down a bit, but in the end all he managed was to shift uncomfortably for 10 minutes straight with the raging hard on in his pants still as powerful as the beginning. Maybe more, since his very helpful brain provided him with strategies and images of him just reaching up to her, shoving her on top of the table and bury himself inside her in one breath.

There was complete silence all through the sitting at the table and while ordering and the first dishes arriving. He saw Temari smirking and drinking whine. He narrowed his eyes at her.

Oh two can play this game he thought,

He rubbed his hands in front of him looking at her, as if doing it distractedly, and afterwards he slowly pushed the sleeves of his t-shirt up. Leaving his forearms completely on display. He then moved his neck around as if cracking the neck bones and left the two lines surrounding his Adam apple on show for her eyes. Temari´s eyes widened and her pupils dilated. He smirked, she scoffed.

Temari had the weirdest fetish when it came to his hands, forearms and neck. And unfortunately for her, he knew all her weaknesses, and he had filled up nicely since he was fifteen. He wasn't a man boy anymore. He was a man. She wanted to play with fire, well he sure as hell wasn´t going to be the only one suffering that night. His stomach fluttered. Flirting with Temari brought a feeling of outmost longing and he relished in it. It wouldn't do to look as happy as he felt though. That would grant him a beating for sure. But damn, even that made him happy. Just being this close to her, and having the pleasure to look at her and how utterly beautiful she was...it was bliss.

"I heard your conversation with my brothers" she said interrupting his thoughts.

"I know" he had felt her chakra nearby while he and her siblings were talking. She looked at him directly at his eyes and took a deep breath as if preparing for the conversation that was to follow,

"I know why you did everything you know. Even if you say that you don't blame me, you couldn't deal with the fact that I wasn't there for Asuma's death. You resented me for it didn't you?"

Shikamaru´s breath caught and he was left reeling at her words. Temari started eating and every time she stoped to cut her food she delivered a painful reproach at him.

"The first time I was back in Konoha after our break up I saw you walking hand in hand with a girl. And I wondered why would you do that with someone you barely knew and never wanted to go public with me."

Cut.

"Then, I got to hear first hand of all the woman you had affairs with. Once I went to an Onsen I heard three girls talking about you and what they have done with you. Giggling and talking in hushed voices that, let me tell you weren't discreet at all, about how hung you were and your prowess in bed. Intimate details that used to be our secrets. There are women around all five nations that know about your mole. You know which one don't you? The one I used to lick when we made love"

Cut.

"And then you slept with Sari because I was ignoring you and you wanted to get a rise out of me didn't you?"

Cut.

"Do you see where I am going with all of this Shikamaru? It doesn't matter if I loved you, or if I still do and I am in denial, or if our love is one in a trillion, or you are my soulmate. What you have done has hurt me so deeply that you have killed that love. What was pure, precious and innocent of it, you destroyed. There's no coming back from that."

Cut. At this point Shikamaru was wishing he was the meat in her plate and she would finish him off already. It was very hard hearing all his misdeeds from her, while looking at him so coldly, deliberately calm, as if she had shed all the tears she had in store for him and there weren't any left, as if really there was nothing left there anymore at all, as if all of this had been for nothing. He felt a painful twitch in his heart and a knot formed in his throat. And right then, with the last bite of her filet sauvignon, she delivered the coup of grace;

"So you have done all this and most certainly you will succeed. If there's something I have learned about you over the years is that there's no fighting you once you are motivated to make an infallible strategy. I may as well give up already and tell you you have won. You will anyways don't you? Even if everyone believes you will die in that Arena I know how it will go. I'll be your wife and the mother of your children. But I'll never love you the way you want me to because you destroyed what we had Shikamaru. So I hope in all this strategy of yours actually there's a back up plan for both of us being completely miserable, otherwise you are in for a ride."

With just that, she delicately whipped the corners of her lips with her napkin, and afterwards stood up elegantly, turned around and left. Leaving him emotionally shaken and looking at her retreating back with a sense of deja vu. With the difference that this time around, he was painfully aware of how much he was losing.

Temari´s words kept repeating on loop in his head. They followed him to the way back to his hotel, to his shower, to the bed, throughout a sleepless night, to a bright morning full of noise outside his window. He broke his brain trying to find a way to counter half of the things she accused him off, or worse her conclusion. Because it crushed him the utter surrender in which she had said her last words. As if she was relinquishing any semblance of a happy life for having to be with him unwillingly. He felt pure despair at her feeling he was a punishment rather than the jackpot.

He sighed, detached himself from the bed, dressed himself and ate something unappetisingly. The hotel in which he was staying was very beautiful and spacious. He went to the adjoining living room and took off his shogi board and started to pull out the pieces. He thought the best while playing shogi and he needed a good brainstorming session right now, because for what he could tell, he had reach the impasse of the game.

On the one hand he had the future he wanted, with the woman he loved and everything he wanted at the tip of his hand, on the other that very same woman didn't want anything to do with him. On the plus side judging her reaction last night she still found him attractive. Very, in fact.

He started thinking of how did he manage the first time around to make her love him. The first time they met they were in the Chunnin exams and him displaying impressive strategic skills have put him on her radar, because let's face it, that woman had always been out of his league. Specially back then, he was barely a 3 when she was already a 10. Amazing shinobi skills she had, already at a superior level compared to the lot of them, and already a curvaceous body worth dying for. Her legs had always been sinful. So how did he managed to woo the most powerful kunoichi and hottest girl of their generation at all? Oh yes, she was also a princess.

He was full on analysing everything now, and the conclusion he got is that she liked that he was smart, always admired that about him. Once he managed to call her attention what else did he do? He recalled the next time he saw her and it was when she saved him for Tayuya. The whole episode was embarrassing, from him giving up with just for a broken finger to his father scolding him and calling him anything but a man, to the cherry at the top of the cake which was him crying his heart out. Jeez, just thinking of it brought acute embarrassment to the point of his ears getting red just by remembering it.

After he left the hospital that day, he went home, got scolded and hugged by his mom, ignored his father, still embarrassed by what he had said to him and proceeded to sulk in his room. He recalled how the next day after having breakfast he went to the training grounds, and was gratefully alone. He dedicated half an hour to just kick some pebbles and scoff grumpily to the ground. That's when he heard her;

"Hello Crybaby, still sulking I see" Shikamaru was not in the mood for her teasing. What was she even doing there? Shouldn't she be in Suna already? He asked her just that;

"What a drag...why are you still here?"

"I thought people from Konoha were supposed to be welcoming" she said instead sardonically and he snorted "I had a meeting with the Hokage, and then spent the night in a hotel, I'm leaving in the afternoon, can´t cross the desert midd summer during the day" she told him nonchalantly and he just hummed in acknowledgement still annoyed at not being able to sulk in peace. Alone.

They started walking around the grounds, him still kicking pebbles and she beside him gauging his answers. Was it possible that she was there checking up on him after seeing him emotional the day before?

"Are you going to be the Kazekage?" He asked her all of a sudden and she just looked at him surprised. He didn't understood why the was surprised of his question, it just made sense she becoming the leader of the wind nation. Her baby brother was a nut job and she was one of the strongest Shinobis he had met. It made all the sense in the world.

"No, Council is handling the decision making for now" he asked her and wondered what could be the reason of her reluctance, after all she seemed capable enough to take on the world if she wanted. She was smart and strong and those legs...Shikamaru shook his head trying to clear it. As someone that never had any interest in girls before, he felt strange with the feelings her nearness evoked. His evident fixation on her legs was very confusing. It was all new, yet thrilling, and he was debating between fleeing or staying put.

"How come? They waiting for you to accept?"

"Even if they are, is none of your business crybaby."

"Why don't you want to be Kazekage?"

He insisted and stopped the walking under the training grounds stands, soft breeze caressed their skin, and sunlight passed through the leaves gently. The shadows of the stands were light but still present under the noon´s sun.

"They are trying to arrange a marriage for me, so I am leaving my appointment as leverage," she said and he startled widening his eyes at her. She said it un-preoccupied and relaxed but he felt uneased. The idea of her marrying was disturbing enough, but other people arranging it felt outrageous. He thought of her village, what he have read of it, the politics in which the desert ninjas lived in, and how the wind nation managed itself. The answer came to him less than a minute after.

"Let me guess, Wind Damyo´s son?" She stared at him dumfounded and with her mouth slightly aghast "Is it working?" He asked when she didn't reply, but by her reaction it was clear he was right.

"Well I haven't been sold out yet"

"Sounds dreadful. Nobody can help you out of it?"

"Unlike you, I don't need anyone rescuing me crybaby, Irescue myself"

Ugh, why did she keep calling him crybaby, he wasn't a baby, he wasn't a boy. It bugged him awfully that she wouldn't see him as anything but a worthy shinobi. A man. And yes technically he was 13 years old, which basically meant he hadn't even fully hit puberty, but still...suddenly he had a crazy idea.

"Must be irritating that a nobody like me won you in battle" he provoked her and she looked at him angrily taking a fighting stance and lifting her arm, as if ready to smack him.

"What did you just say!?I want a re match" he smirked when she realised she was completely frozen in the position "Wha...What are you doing?" She asked with her eyes widened completely caught off guard under his kagemane no Jutsu. He didn't even do the hand Jutsu sign, up this close, he could control his shadows from his feet, it would only be for a few moments and it wouldn't have worked if she was farer away from him. It worked though, and she was utterly at his mercy.

"Rule one of shinobi, never let your guard down" he told her mockingly and slowly shortened the distance between them.

She looked angry... very angry, she was even buffing from the nose and trying in vane to escape the shadowy prison. He took another step forward. She was the same height as him and up this close he realised she was beautiful. Her eyes were big and a deep shade of green, no one he has ever met had eyes that shade, surrounded by thick black lashes, her hair seemed more silky than it appeared at first sight, and suddenly when the wind passed through them he was able to smell her perfume. It was sweet and spicy. It had a lingering scent of sweet chestnut and instantly Shikamaru felt his cock twitch.

Shikamaru wasn't strange to desires of the flesh, he was mature and intelligent enough to know how to relief steam and how women and men interacted with each other. In fact, he was pretty sure sex was the only reason men put up with women at all. However, he felt it in his bones. That basic instinct that defied logic and made men do stupid shit. He had never met someone as beautiful as her, as smart as her, as complex as her, as exotic as her. And Shikamaru would be lying if he said he wasn't interested. Far from it in fact. He looked at her, at all she was, and took a moment to devise an attack tactic.

He licked his lips and now she looked as nervous as he felt because she swallowed clearly under the same spell he was in that otherwise peaceful afternoon. He took the final step and as in trance leaned forward to kiss her, he let the kagemane go first and set her free, giving her the opportunity to flee or hit him if she wanted to. And wether she didn't realised that she was no longer under the Jutsu or she was rather as enchanted as he was she closed her eyes and waited.

Shikamaru kissed her then. Just a soft touch. Lips upon lips. Innocent, sweet, unforgettable.

A few seconds later the spell was broken and he jumped on top of the stands. And did what every good strategist that wanted to live for another battle did. He recalled.

"Come here! You stupid crybaby I am gonna kill you!"

Shikamaru laughed freely for the first time in what felt like days remembering how he had barely escaped a small wind tornado she sent at him. But the ice had been broken, after that she had realised he was very much a male and that he found her attractive. That he had balls big enough to risk certain death just by stealing a kiss from her. When they saw each other again they were appointed chunnin proctors and he kept stealing kisses from her whenever he could. Using the kagemane just the few first handful of times. Always letting her go before he actually kissed her. Never taking her choice away from her. He made it a game, every time he wanted to kiss her, he won over her over something. Like guessing who the best chunnin on the current exam was, or in a shoji game, or in a battle of wit. He was granted to steal a kiss whenever he bested her at something.

Back then, what he enjoyed the most was watching her loss at words and getting very red. He lost count of the amount of punches he received but as time passed they were less and less strong. To the point it would be just a shove and finally it was she the one pulling him in for a kiss. The chemistry between them had always been incredible. Even when they were wee kids, that didn't know shit of anatomy. Every single ingredient for an explosive sex life was right there. Hearts beating, breaths mingling and goosebumps all over their bodies. Even when it was the most innocent thing ever there was still a fire underneath that was almost addictive. They were too inexperienced about everything and it took a while before they started to explore that sexuality. He till this day, believed that she was the one responsible for his growth spur. By the time he was fourteen he already was taller than her, and his voice had deepened. He made sure to train regularly and eat protein to gain muscle. By the time they finally slept together he had the body of a man, even if he was anything but. And damn if his father words didn't take a new meaning all these years later.

With a sigh he realised that his IQ and the sexual chemistry weren't enough. He needed more. He just didn't know what. He honest to God, had no idea of why did she fall in love with him the first time around. She just did. They both did. Maybe he was trying to rationalise something that didn't follow reason at all, but he needed to woo her, and he had to do it soon. He just hoped he would reach an answer before he lost her for good, because after the conversation last night he was sure, Tamari had saved herself. Like all those years ago by eluding the arranged marriage with the wind Damyo´s son. She made sure he was going to let her go with her words. And Shikamaru had to admit that even if having her willingly was his outmost priority, unwanted thoughts of plan B were he kidnapped her did cross his mind. And the darkness and meaning of such scenario scared the shit out of him. He wasn't that kind of man, and his mother didn't put her faith in that kind of son, but the thoughts came anyways...and as usual it took Temari beating some sense to him. She reminded him who she was and who he was. He was still that kid that let the kagemane go before stealing a kiss. The kid that never stole her freedom, just used the opportunity to get closer. But leave the choice to her. They were amazing together. But they were incredible because they were free while together. He didn't want anything but his beautiful desert rose full of thorns growing freely while her adored wind graced her petals. And he wanted to be that wind not the cage.

No...if this didn't work...if she didn't willingly marry him he was letting her go. He promised himself that. Not only for her, but for him and his soul. He needed to be a man worthy of love even if he was letting her hands go.

The second date happened two days after the first one, and this time around they were in the adjoining living room of his hotel room playing Shogi. He was having a hell of a time concentrating once again since her plan of torturing him with sexy clothes was still in motion. She had a very short purple dress, and every time she moved while seated in a pillow on the tatami floor in front of the shogi board, said dress would pull up leaving her long legs on display for his greedy eyes. Shikamaru thought that those legs should be banned. They were just designed for torture and all he could keep thinking of, was them opening invitingly and surrounding his hips while he pounded inside her with abandon. She was trying to kill him. He was sure of it.

With difficulty, he took a deep breath and try to concentrate on the big game.

"So, I have a plan" he said and moved a shogi piece.

"Another one? Colour me shocked" she replied sardonically and moved one of her pieces. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes were fixed stubbornly on the board "A plan for what anyways?"

"For making you fall in love with me"

That stopped her hand movement for a second.

"Oh do you?" She said mockingly but her hand shook imperceptibly. She was clearly shaken. And she looked worried. Shikamaru pondered over her reaction for a second. She looked fakingly relaxed, but the set of her mouth and the tension on her shoulders betrayed her real feelings. He wondered why would she be nervous, if she was as set to escape him and as indifferent as she claimed, why would she think this was anything to be worried about. He narrowed his eyes and focused his sight on her more keenly. She was agitated under that air of nonchalance. And the rapid movement of her chest were the telltales of a rapid beating heart. She was afraid of him.

No, not of him...of herself. She didn't believe she was going to be able to resist him. He knew Temari like the palms of his hands. Every mannerism of hers was a puzzle he took great pleasure in decoding when they first were together. If there was any language he spoke, it was Temari´s, and he knew this Temari. It was tempted Temari. His heart fluttered with renewed hope and distractedly moved another piece.

"Yes, I have realised that I have been going at this in the wrong way"

"Meaning?" She sighed and finally looked at him.

"That I was trying to get what we lost back, but you were right, that's impossible"

"So you give up? Can I marry Darui now?"

"Not if I have a say in it"

He said that growling and his fists clenched beside the shogi board. His knuckles getting white with the force in which he had his hands closed. He narrowed his eyes at her. Annoyed. Possessive.

"Why are you so possessive anyways? You were never like this before" she asked him and looked flustered. A tinge of pink graced her cheeks and he pushed down the desire to reach across the table and caress her face. He remember her skin always being amazingly smooth. He wondered if it still felt like silk and forced the impatience he felt to jump her bones. He needed to be patient. And he needed to focus.

"Well for starters I have grown up, and maybe it's because you have heard of my affairs, but I actually saw you fucking him" he deadpanned and she started at him flabbergasted.

"What?"

"I don't think I'll ever get it out of my head you know?"

And it was true. He still had nightmares of that night, those images would hunt him for the rest of his days. And if that wasn't punishment enough for her, he had no idea what will. But he guessed that would require her acknowledging the dept of his love for her, and maybe she wasn't ready for that. It was pretty obvious he was crazy about her, after all he was at the verge of bringing the 5th shinobi war for her.

"Karma is a bitch is it not?" She interrupted his thoughts and laughed merrily at him.

"Don't be so damn happy about it troublesome woman" he scoffed, he moved another piece on the board.

"So what's your plan?"

"I think we need to get to know each other again, how we are now."

"Fall in love again you mean?"

"Not, exactly. I am already in love with you"

"Then make me love you?"

"Did you ever really stop?" He asked and looked straight at her intensely. Gauging every little expression of her. She swallowed and lowered her eyes to the board , he smiled, "Let's just say, it's a plan to make you remember that what we have can be way better than anything you get with any other man"

"Since when are you this cocky?"

Since he stopped his inner storm to watch her and realised that she never really stopped loving him. It was written all over her face, in her body language, in the way she was reacting to his presence, in the way she looked at him. That was very much a mirror image of his own. However, her love right now, to her, was something to be ashamed of. She hated herself for feeling anything for him, she hated how vulnerable it make her feel and she wished more than anything that he would leave her alone. He doubted Darui even crossed her thoughts that much while they were together, which probably made her feel angry and guilty.

"I told you I have grown up"

"And since when you are not lazy?"

"I am still lazy" he told her and mischievously added, "In fact I rather fancy taking a nap with my head in your lap"

"Do it and you lose your head"

"You would love it"

"Whatever" she said rolling her eyes, then moved a shogi piece and cheerfully added, "Checkmate"

Shikamaru jumped and stared blindly at the board, he saw how she had cornered him nicely by sneaking a killer piece. He was impressed, and dumfounded. No one had beaten him at Shogi besides Shikaku. He smiled, right when he thought he knew everything about her and he had her figured out from head to toe she pulled this move. She was amazing.

"Good God woman" he said admiringly.

"By the way, you should stop wearing your hair loose. I don't like it"

Oh, so that was why she was so flustered and fidgety and clearly aroused. It was his hair. He smirked and directed a challenging look at her.

"You love it"

"I don't like other people seeing it"

"You mean other woman don't you?"

This was getting better and better, jealous Temari was the best. He thought that he should have brought Shiho along just to make her annoyed. It might speed things along in his favour at least.

"The few that you haven't fucked yet, yes"

"You are the only one besides your brothers and my family that have seen it like this"

"Really?"

"Really"

"Why?"

"I don't know...It always seemed too...Intimate" he told her honestly and a bit sheepishly.

"I swear to God, I don't get you"

"Yeah you do"

Shikamaru figured that as a second date goes, it was rather perfect.

By the time the third date came around Shikamaru was at his wits end. He planed for a cold dinner in his quarters just so he could have her all for himself again. Unfortunately that plan backfired the minute he opened the door for her and let her in. He regretted that there were no people around just as to act as a deterrent of him jumping onto her like a savage lion. Her outfit for the night seemed innocent enough from the front. A long black dress that barely showed any cleavage and ignoring the fact that was tight, very tight, it was more manageable than the others. That innocent assumption flew out of the window when he saw the back of the dress, which was basically none at all. It was just Temari´s back completely uncovered and went all the way down, very down. It went down just shy over her ass line. Shikamaru´s mouth watered, he closed his eyes and turned to the wall concentrating on it for some minutes until he got his cave man antics under control.

That she devil was there to torture him good. He finally looked at her, and he invited her to seat at the table where all the cold dishes and wine were already placed. He helped her to the seat, and sneaked a soft caress with his thumb onto that a sinful naked back. He took a deep breath and he walked to his seat. Before sitting he threw her a heated look and in front of her put his hand in his hard as rock cock and accommodated it on a more comfortable position in his pants. She blushed furiously at his unashamed move. He smirked. She swallowed.

Afterwards they started eating, and half an hour later Shikamaru started to get annoyed. She was constantly answering with monosyllables and any attempt he made of making conversation was fruitless. He didn't know this Temari that seemed rather childish, and don't get him wrong, he loved Temari in all shape, colours and forms, but he could do without a spoilt version of her.

"Why are you so annoyed today?" He finally asked her trying and probably failing at not sounding as frustrated as he felt.

"Why? Are you really asking? My boyfriend is having a bad time with all this. Don't think I haven't noticed that the chaperone disappears in our dates and in my dates with Darui not only he is there but he is a nuisance. We can't even hold hands! You are cock-blocking me"

"I am not!"

"I would believe your lie if you weren't smirking you know?"

What did she expect? Her spending her future with him might be at doubt, but until she made that choice he was going to make sure no other man had the pleasure of her company. It was going to be him for a while. And she needed to come to terms with that. She was never going to be forced to do anything against her will, but that didn't mean she was going to elude the situation by hiding her head in the sand or worse, by having monosyllabic conversations.

"So, in two days is the duel. Will you cheer for me?" He tried changing the subject and prompted to talk while they finished eating. He drank some wine and filled her cup that was half empty. She lifted her left hand to take the cup to her lips, and his eyes caught onto the bling of her engagement ring. A ring he hadn't given her.

"Of course not. Why are you glaring at my hand?" She asked him and lifted an enquiring sardonic eyebrow at him.

"Why are you wearing his ring?"

"Because I love him and he is my fiancé" she said making him flinch "What? You don't like me saying I love him? You should get used to that, you will be hearing it the rest of your life"

Her vicious statement made him snap. He stood up and shoved the empty plates and cup and every single item out of the table with one arm while with the second one he reached for her and made her sat on top of it. She was surprised, aroused and clearly at lost by his reaction. She had never seen him this way, since he had never shown an ounce of jealousy to her. In the past he hadn't had any reason to, but now, now it was different. He was a man and she was a woman and he felt her as his, so she flaunting a romance to his face made him see red.

"What are you doing!? Stop!"

He crushed his mouth on her, and for the first time in his life he did it without giving her any choice. He knew she wanted him and for now that was going to have to be enough. His insisting mouth kept probing at her until she gasped and opened hers. He danced his tongue with hers and she started to respond. Reluctantly at first, trying for the life of her to deny that passion. But for once he was not going to let her. He pushed the hem of her dress up and left her incredible long legs bare. He let a loud moan go when his hands seared roaming them. Her skin was as silky as he remembered and he couldn't believe he was finally kissing her.

He deepened the kiss and she grabbed his hair and scratched his back though his t-shirt. She whimpered and opened her legs completely granting him full access to the centre of her. Every inch of his body was on fire and he lost all train of thoughts when he shortened the little distance left and pressed his hardened member onto hers. They both groaned and he took the opportunity to kiss and bit her neck. She pulled the t-shirt off of him, and pushed his ass closer closer with the back of her heels. Causing delicious pressure in both their private areas.

Shikamaru´s hand reached the front of her panties and forcefully ripped them apart as if they were made of paper. Temari moaned loudly and her arms, legs and back filled of goosebumps all over. His chest, arms and thighs filled of them as well as in an inevitable chain reaction to her own. She let her body drop on her back on top of the table and opened her legs at him wantonly. His mouth dried up in an instant and took a mental image of the arousing image in front of him. He opened his belt, pulled his zipper out and took his painfully hard dripping cock out. He took a step closer and with his hand touched her pussy noticing she was soaking wet. He grabbed his cock in his right hand and rubbed it sinfully against her lips and clit. Positioning it where it belonged. Temari was a complete mess underneath him. Every moan sounded as if was ripped out of her.

In all that frenzy, Shikamaru had a second to let his fuzzy brain form a proper thought. He looked at her and saw that she looked completely undone and exited, beyond reason. Hell he felt how much if her dripping pussy was anything to go by. But he also saw her closed fists and how she was clutching her eyes viciously. That made him stop. Temari hated this. She hated her desire for him, probably her love for him too, she hated the power he had over her, and Shikamaru realised that if he continued, she was going to hate them both. That he couldn't bear. He wanted her to be happy in their union, he wanted her to enjoy every single moment of it, not hate herself for wanting him. He wanted her to feel free to love him without inhibitions. Finally, with a sense of dread, he realised they weren't ready for this. Their relationship was in shambles and needed to heal first.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and grabbed her arms. Prompting her softly to sit up again. He kissed her, more tenderly this time. She was trembling. He pressed his forehead to hers and with a ragged breath he said;

"Do you feel that? Do you feel it? Burning your skin? This heat? This passion?" And to prove how much he let his fingers roam her profile and a path of goosebumps followed his fingers "Don't lie to yourself Temari. You won't ever find someone that makes you feel like this. And you know that".

With great reluctance he took a step back away from her, trying to regain some control over his body. That woman was intoxicating, he just needed more, wanted more, and at this particular moment every single retreating step felt unnatural. But he needed to put some space between them, otherwise stopping at all would be completely impossible. He turned around and looking at her straight in the eyes he questioned her;

"I have heard you moan for him, and it wasn't like this, wasn't it?"

She swallowed and still trembling she spat at him;

"You are a bastard"

He laughed humourlessly and continued to re arrange his clothes.

"No, I am telling you the truth and you know it. Do you think that I don't know what I am talking about? But I know Temari. I know. You complain about the women I have slept with, well let me tell you something, none of them ever made me feel this fire. It has always been you. And it will be like that until the day I die. I compared every single one of them with you"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

He picked up his shirt and put it on, while watching her trying to fix her dress and blushing when seeing the shreds of her underwear on the floor.

"No, I am telling you so you know, that it doesn't matter who you chose, in the end it will be me you will crave for. And I know because I have been there Temari. Nothing will make you truly happy if it isn't me. Do you think I am doing all this because I am a selfish bastard? Well I am not. I am doing it because I know you still love me, that you still want me. I have just gotten proof of it." He said and opened his arms pointed at both of them and their current disheveled state in a self explanatory fashion "What are you so afraid of? You think I'll cheat on you like I cheated on Hirumi? Why? When did I ever do something like that to you? I was always faithful to you, even when I had to wait months to have sex waiting for you."

"Should I applaud you?" She asked him ironically but Shikamaru´s whole being was in a turmoil and it had had too many emotions in a very short span of time. His brain was trying to process it all, which it did, thankfully, but the enhanced emotions put him on edge. He felt combative and like this fight was needed to be had, but as stated he hadn´t thought it through. He was just taking a leap of faith and hoping it wouldn't backfire.

"You insist on making me the bad guy, and I know I fucked up, but you have done your part too. You accused me of not making our relationship public, but let me remind you that it was you who didn't want to. You remember what you said? How would it look like if an eighteen year old was fucking a fifteen year old? While I was with you, I loved you and showed it to you. I never disrespected you, even when it seemed like you were embarrassed of being with me."

"I was not embarrassed..."

"Yes you were. I was a kid still and you were off age. But I never disrespected you regardless. Ever. I even took you to see Ruby didn't I? And yes, I hated being alone when Asuma died, why weren't you there Temari?"

"Because I was pregnant and the morning sickness was awful"

"Why didn't you tell me? Don't you think it would've help me snap out of it if I knew? I was fucking traumatised Temari. And you were older and more mature than me. Why didn't you help me?"

"I..."

She stopped. Shikamaru stared at her, she was a pile of nerves as was he. Talking of old wounds was hard. But they were never going to move forwards if they put a bandage over the hurt and not disinfect it. No. Things needed to be said, feelings needed to be out.

"I might have been the one to broke up but you left me first didn't you?" He reproached her, "Because you knew Temari, how much I loved you, that I was in love with you, why didn't you fight for me?" He stopped, swallowed and with difficulty he added, "Wasn't I worth it for you?" That was the question that had assaulted him since he woke up in the hospital after his mental breakdown.

She closed her eyes, clenched her fists and when she opened them they were moist.

"I didn't want to ruin your life! As you said you were sixteen and I was almost nineteen. And I was pregnant Shikamaru! I was scared and both me and my baby's father were a kids ourselves. What the hell was I supposed to do?" She was breathing agitatedly when she finished. Raw angry tears were finally dropping in her face and it broke Shikamaru´s heart seeing her in pain. Still, that excuse didn't cut it.

"There's no excuse for you not telling me about our son Temari! I got to found out about my baby boy by a fucking medic report!" And it was so true it felt the pain of seeing those papers renew anew. Every time he remembered that baby the pain he felt was indescribable.

They were both silently crying and dealing with their own personal demons. He wasn't sure how much time passed, but the minutes stretched and it took a while to regain any semblance of control over their emotions. He took a couple of discarded napkins from the floor and gave her one and used the other one. When he didn't felt like a mess anymore and in a subdued manner he told her;

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. It's too painful. But I wanted to show you that you have screwed up too and I have forgiven you Temari. I beg you. Please forgive me. Let it go. We can move forwards. We can still be happy together" She didn't reply. She finally stood up from the table and without looking at him she walked resolutely towards the door. "The next time we talk I'll rip that ring out of you and put mine in your finger. I am not going to give up Temari." He said and with unmistakable conviction in his voice he added, "I'll kill him"

His last words, no, his promise sounded loud in the quiet hotel room. She left right after and Shikamaru barely made it to the closest wall before sliding through it and still shocked tried to make sense of what happened that evening. In the end the only thing he was sure of was that tomorrow their destiny was going to be decided.

The day of the duel had finally arrived. If someone were to ask Shikamaru if he was afraid of his impending doom, he would answer honestly.

He was not.

Because he wasn't going to lose and quite ironically his life depended on it so he was very confident.

Thing was, he was going to use a secret family Jutsu. One, not even the Yamanakas or the Akamichis knew.

You see. The jutsu wasn't made for battle or for taking multiple enemies at a time. No, it was a sneaky jutsu. One that needed tones of preparation and underhanded tactics to gather enough information on the opponent to perform.

Thanks to his 'friendship' with the Union Ambassador he had managed to get his hands on Darui's body X-rays.

When his father taught him the Jutsu, he remarked time and again how important it was the math behind it. Not only you needed to calculate every single detail but also calculate while being in motion, math so precise and fast only the bright brain could truly solve. A Nara brain.

Unfortunately, it had a downside. It drained chakra like you wouldn't believe and if he made the tiniest mistake he would be dead before he could say what a drag. Not to mention he wouldn't even get the first two words of troublesome.

No one knew the Jutsu except from Nara's and their wives. Ironically enough he had told Temari about the secret Jutsu. At the time he confided in her when he took her to the Nara forest. It was the place were they both lost their virginity. An old hut in the middle of his family's forest.

She had been the only woman he went there with. He wanted her to meet Ruby, the oldest deer in the forest, the one who no Nara knew how old it was, but had antlers bigger than anyone had ever seen. The king of the deer you could say.

It was a Nara tradition to take your intended to see it. It took one look for Ruby to approve of her. It should have been an irrefutable clue for him to not fuck up his relationship with her.

He did though.

And he told her all his secrets after that. Knowing with a certainty that defied logic that she won't speak a soul of any of them. He trusted her she wouldn't.

Not even now, when he was doing all of this for her.

If anything he was sure she was kind of turned on by the length he was willing to go to get her back. If anything ever granted him Sabaku no Temari's affections was his brain.

She loved how smart he was.

She thrive on it.

Hence his dilemma now.

He and Darui were already in the Arena. Thousands of visitors from all over the world of all Nations had come to see the event. The Daimyos and the Kages were in a private booth with Temari right in the middle.

The duel finally started and after ten minutes of mainly dodging and using all his strategy to get Darui right where he wanted...

Checkmate.

Darui was midair when he collapsed. Shikamaru's hand was extended in front of him in Darui's direction but no visible shadow lines were connecting them. No one understood what was happening. Just that the future Raikage screamed in pain and his left arm with a loud noise broke in three different places making his giant blade fall in the process. Afterwards he was chocking in the Arena with his only functioning hand on his chest.

The Heart Paralysis Shadow Jutsu.

He used a very thin almost invisible shadow line to sneak past Darui's defences. While he directed the stronger and more visible ones in other directions to distract him. That thin shadow line sneaked up on his opponent body and hidden by Darui´s locks of hair in the left side of his face creeped into his ear. Once it got in, it was a matter of seconds. The shadows inside the body expanded and helped him to reach any part he wanted. You needed extreme knowledge of the human body and every single bone and artery that conformed it for it to work. Calculate with millimetre precision speed, wind, and all other battlefield factors based on the opponents body type, like shape, weight, distribution, the apparent disposition of every organ and artery. Since he didn't have a byakugan, he couldn't do it with his eyes but entirely with math. The x rays were a huge plus, and the weeks prior analysing the opponent added his final weapon for the jutsu.

Nara's weren't experts of medicine for nothing.

He broke his arm first, and then...

Then he went for the heart.

The Arena was completely silent, everybody gapping and not quite understanding what was happening.

"Shikamaru!"

But as he stated, he was in a dilemma now. Why? Because he had told her. And the only person in that Arena who knew what he was doing besides his mother and clansmen was screaming at him to stop.

With his arm still extended. Now making Darui burst out blood through his mouth he turned around and looked at Temari. Who was begging for him to not do it with her eyes.

He looked at Darui then. That man that was threatening to take away the woman he loved, only twenty more seconds and he would be dead and forgotten. He would marry Temari and be happy with her.

"Make sure you will be able to sleep at night when you finish with all this"

Damn Naruto!

Would she be able to forgive him if he killed Darui? Would he be able to forgive himself? After all, the only crime Darui had committed was to love Temari, as much as he did. He hadn't hurt her like Shikamaru had done, he was a better man.

Unfortunately, even if he was the better man for Temari, Shikamaru wasn't ready to give up.

He was ready to forgive his life though.

He dropped his arm and Darui fell unconscious on the ground. Several medics rushing to him immediately after.

Shikamaru turned around once again and started intently at Temari.

She gulped.

The Kazekage building was in an uproar. Secretaries, assistants and dignitaries were running about the place trying to make sense of what had happened.

They led Shikamaru to a meeting auditorium, and he strolled lazily there with his hands in his pockets. He smirked. No one really expected this outcome, they truly thought he was going to die in the Arena.

The room was filled with all Kages, the Daimyos, the Union members, ambassadors of all Nations, Kankuro, his own mother, his second in rank clansmen and of course,

Temari.

He walked with purpose in her direction and didn't stop until he stood in front of her. He stared at her and with fierceness he took her left hand, firmly took Darui's engagement ring out of her, unceremoniously threw it away and gently put his own ring on her. A beautiful emerald with the Nara crest on it. He grabbed said hand and delicately kissed the back of it. Never leaving his eyes from the teal ones that were looking at him beyond bewilderment.

He heard his mother clap her hands along with his second ranked clansman. They were the only ones though.

"Well I think we can safely said the wedding between Darui and Temari is officially off" Gaara said aloud.

"How is Darui?" Kakashi asked politely and that's when Shikamaru lifted his eyes from Temari and saw that he was directing the question to Tsunade and Sakura, they had gotten in when he was putting the Nara engagement ring on Temari and Naruto stood behind them. Smiling a little warily at Shikamaru.

They were all looking at him with somewhat fear.

"He is alive...Barely" Tsunade said and fixed him with a frown, as if seeing him for the first time. Trying to recognise the kid she had employed as an assistant all those years ago.

"What in devil's hell was that?" Kankuro asked to no one in particular, he was just voicing the question that was on everyone's mind at the moment. How, just how he had done it.

"I am not sure. All I can say is that his arm has been broken and his heart was compromised but it's stable now. It took us a lot to put everything in place. Some arteries were gutted. No outside marks though" Tsunade informed the room and he could clearly see the wariness and tension on their faces.

No one was prepared for this outcome.

"So, Nara what do you intend to do now?" Oonoki asked him annoyed.

Shikamaru took Temari´s ringed hand in his own, he stood up straight and directed a fierce look across the room to all those present.

"I have won the challenge and as so, Sabaku no Temari is rightfully and legally my bride" he started, lowered his head for a second to watch at Temari, who was still sitting in the chair he had found her in when he entered the room with her hand prisoner between his. He looked at her for a long second, this woman was everything he wanted. And she really was at his mercy. Desert roses weren't made to be caged though "But" he stopped and took a deep breath "But it's not my intention to take her against her will. I wish for a betrothal contract to be signed for a duration of a year. I would be the only male allowed to court her during that time. She has to cease any communication with Darui of Kumogakure or any other suitor. She will be for all intends and purposes the fiancé of The Nara's clan Head. She will live in Sunagakure and will be required to visit Konoha at least six times during the year. Where she will stay under the care and vigilance of my mother and the protection of my land. I will be allowed to court her as I see fit and allowed to visit her whenever I want to while being respectful of her, her Clan and her Land. I won't, by any circumstance, be challenged on my right to pursue her or to marry her by anyone. Ever." he said that with fierceness, challenging with the firmness of his voice, promising silently certain death to anyone who dared, "After the year is up it will be her decision. To marry me or reconnect with Darui or any male she choses. Although, something like that would be...troublesome" with those words, he send a mischievous glance at Temari who snorted.

He smiled down tenderly at her, made a pause and continued,

"She will be the only one with the power to break the betrothal and get out of the marriage. But only after the year of engagement is completed. Her right to get out of the betrothal will be nullified if she gets pregnant. Such circumstance will grant me the right to marry her even before the year is up. Even against her will" Shikamaru loved her, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake again, if there's a kid involved he was going to make sure that both of them were there to raise him or her. If they were adults enough to sleep together they were adults enough to suck it up and raise their kid "Any child born under our union will have equal claim to the Nara inheritance as well as the Kazekage's. They will be born and raised in Konoha were me and my wife will live. If any of our progeny inherits the magnet kekkei genkai he or she will be allowed to forfeit the Nara Inheritance and pursue a future as a Sunagakure Leader. My claim to the dowry of the bride will be forfeited or donated whatever my bride choses. And last but not least, if any of you, ever, dares to ever touch her or my family I will make sure it's the last thing you, your families and your countries ever do. Do not test me. You have seen nothing yet." He added the last part almost as an afterthought, as if the entire world wasn't even a threat important enough to grant a minute more of his time. He looked at her adoringly and whatever she saw in his face made her swallow forcefully.

"You are insane" she told him unamused and seemingly panicking, if the trembling of her lips and the overall twitching body was anything to go by.

"Not really. Just in love" he told her earnestly. Honestly. And then it was his turn to panic when he saw how big drops o tears started falling from her eyes. How she struggled against them, but ultimately lost the battle. Shikamaru knew Temari wouldn't like other people seeing her like this, and the room was still full of people staring at them as if they were a spectacle. He blocked the view of her with his body giving his back to them and bended forward a bit. He caressed her face and whipped her tears with his bare hands.

"Hey don't cry." He whispered softly at her and caressed her arms assuredly after "Just give me a year. Give me time, to win you back, if you don't want to get married after the year is up then we won't. If you want to break up we will. Whatever you want" he told her firmly and then added, "just give me a year..." then more desperately, shakily begging, he whispered, "please..."

He pressed his forehead to hers in that unmistakable manner that even out of practice and so many years later, was very much them, and waited nervously for her answer. Despite all his speech, they both knew Temari could walk out of the betrothal before it even began. It was her choice. It always will be.

"Can't believe you stopped being a lazy ass a month before my wedding honestly" she sniffed her nose,

"It was a wake up call" he said, a smile creeping up at the corners of his mouth. She looked adorable with her face all puffy.

They were interrupted by the Union Secretary,

"Well, I will write the betrothal and call you two to sign it"

Shikamaru turned around, still covering Tamari from their view and looked at the secretary while lifting his eyebrow sardonically.

"Excuse me? I will write it, I will make sure is iron-claw." He would be damn if he would leave the redaction to some ninny that would probably even make typos.

"Fine" the secretary told him, turned around and left.

Shikamaru felt Temari stood up from her seat, seemingly more collected, he turned to her enquiringly, then charmingly enough what followed was a banter that was so them he was giddy and smiling all through the troublesome bickering.

"I want to see Darui"

"Well...I guess you can, we haven't sign the contract yet. I'll go with you though"

"What? forget it! Don't test me Nara, I am this close to fucking kill you. You are truly asking for it"

"Troublesome woman. I'll wait outside"

"No!"

"I let him live didn't I? Don't make me regret it"

"God Shikamaru...you...you..."

"I know. Hurry up, we are going dinner afterwards"

"Do not order me around you stupid crybaby!"

"Troublesome"

Temari started walking angrily out while Shikamaru followed her lazily. The happy grin he sported and the eye roll she gave him was the last the people from the room saw of them before they finally left the room.

"So what are we going to do with Nara?"

"He is dangerous. After what we saw today..."

"I Think it's better if we leave him alone. He is working in favour of the Union and if anything he has proven capable of doing anything it takes to make his goals come to fruition. Might as well make our goals his goals don't we?"

"I agree, better have your friends close and your enemies closer"

"How do the rest vote?"

"Agreed"

"Fine. Meeting adjourned"

Part 3: Of us...

The first time Shikamaru went back to Suna to see his fiancé it was April. It seemed that Temari had overcame her state of shock of everything that had happened and finally snapped out. Meaning she actually tried to kill Shikamaru.

He should've suspected something was wrong the minute Kankuro lead him inside their house while sporting a very big smile. Shikamaru managed to dodge a couple dozen flower vase and ornaments that graced the Kazekage residence as soon as he entered the living room, but eventually between some kicking and screams she managed to send a sculpture right on top of his head. It required ten stitches and he had to spend a night in the hospital.

She went to see him though and her guilty look made Shikamaru's trip worth it.

The first time Temari went to see him was in May. She stayed with his mom as it was arranged and ignored him the entire time. She didn't speak to him, not even one word. She made good friends with his mother though, and that made Shikamaru Happy.

On a scorching hot June, he managed to get her out of the house and onto a date. He pestered her until she took him to the places with the best sights in Suna. Shikamaru had to admit that between the stars and Temari, he preferred to watch her. She was way more breathtaking than any landscape.

July came along with Temari, and she got really upset again. His mother was making preparations for the wedding and Temari made it clear that she didn't want any preparations since never, under any circumstance she was going to marry Shikamaru. His mother, being Yoshino Nara, ignored it completely and booked the biggest saloon on the Nara compound for the wedding party.

In August in Suna they had a huge fight. An adult one. A terrible one. One that didn't involve slaps or kicking but full on verbal screaming. When she yelled at him that he loved Darui and hated him and wished he was dead, Shikamaru left. He left Suna four days before his scheduled departing time. And wondered for the first time if it had been all for nothing.

September brought Temari to Konoha, and with her, came the tears. He had taken her to the Nara cemetery. Where he had ordered a stone and small grave to be done for their son. Temari never took the ashes from Suna's hospital, it had been too painful for her, so a few months back he had taken them himself. His son was now resting with the rest of his ancestors, and one day, with him and Temari by his side.

"We have to name him" he told her while they were both standing up looking at the stone.

"Why would you do this?" She wondered out loud, completely at lost.

"Because we need to mourn. Never forget but move forwards" he answered simply.

"It wasn't your fault you know?" She told him and his breath caught. He forced the lump his throat down."I was nervous and stressed about the pregnancy and if the same that happened to my mother would happen to me" she finished and a rebel tear slide down her cheek.

"I should've been there"

"It wouldn't have made any difference, I was too young and not mature enough to handle a pregnancy"

"Still..."

He sighed and while looking at the stone, he put his arm around Temari´s small shoulders. She looked more fragile than he had ever seen her, and felt like they should give each other strength.

"Shika" she said with a wobbly voice through the tears falling freely now. "Just Shika"

"Deer...I like it" he took a scroll, did the proper hand signs and now the stone had an inscription: Shika Nara. Beloved Son.

"Temari...the other day...you really hurt me you know" he muttered softly, embracing her once again and conveying with a quivering voice the dept of his feelings "I won't make you do anything that you don't want. But you need to give me a chance, give us a chance. Otherwise you might regret it the rest of your life. I am here now, but if you push me away, I won't and you will wonder the rest of your life what it would've been like if you did try...what we have...what we can have...its way better than any other path we choose. At some point you will force me to respect your decision and I´ll have to step down."

"Why?" She asked him defiantly, she forcefully whipped her face with the back of her and turn around to look at him "Why should I give you anything?"

"Because we belong together Temari. You know it as well as I do. We are meant to be and we both feel it in our bones. No one outside from the two of us could ever understand it. Because we are the ones that feel it. I am sorry that I was so lost, and that I couldn't pull myself together, that I wasn't the man you needed. But we love each other and it's fated. Stop fighting it. Let me make you happy, I'll swear to you that I'll never hurt you again. We can make a family. Just please...please...give us a chance"

A storm of feelings crossed Temari´s face, in the end she punched him on the chest once, then another, then another. He took them all and hugged her when she screamed, insulted him and finally started bawling for good. He had never seen this Temari. He hugged her fiercely, telling her that he was there and he won't ever leave her again. That he loved her. Temari fell asleep after crying for hours in his arms.

...

He was seated on the grass, with his back resting on a big tree. Temari was in his arms, settled between his legs, still sniffing but clutching at his arms for dear life and finally awake. The breeze of the afternoon was soft and sunlight passed through the leaves, warming them and bringing a semblance of peace. The stone were their son was resting was a few feet away, and a little fawn was curiously peeking over it.

"What would giving you a chance involve?" Temari suddenly asked him. Her voice sounded raspy and Shikamaru looked down at her. She was very close, her nose and eyes were very puffy with all the crying and Shikamaru thought he had never seen anything more lovely and cute than her at that moment. He shortened the little distance left between them and pecked her nose almost involuntarily. It was stronger than him. That need to kiss her sometimes.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes what do you want me to do?"

"Well for starters we should kiss" he told her with a smile, he leaned over once again and pecked her lips. This version of Temari was very soft and pliant, he rather liked it. Although he would've prefer for next time that the reason for it wouldn't be such painful emotional breakdown "and hug..." He continued and tightened his arms around her "And..." He let his head drop further into her neck and inhaled deeply her scent. His arms and the back of his neck filled of goosebumps like they always did when she was this close, and his cock twitched. Shikamaru wondered if she was aware, of the power she had over him. How even the most innocent of touches evoked such an intense response in his body.

"You want in my pants don't you?"

Maybe she rather did...

"Well...can you blame me?" He said laughing softly "Just look at you. All sexy curves and a smart mouth, I can hardly resist. I don't want to resist" he pulled her even closer to him, so she could feel his body's reaction to her.

"Keep your hands to yourself Nara" she scoffed, "We had sex three times and you got me pregnant I don't want to risk it"

He stopped nibbling her neck and looked at her eyes earnestly at her words,

"Would it be that bad?"

"You wouldn't really mind me getting pregnant?"

"Are you kidding? I would get to have the best fun while getting you there, and then I will see you full of my child" his hand travelled lower and rested in her belly. "Sounds amazing to be honest"

"We can't base a marriage in lust Shikamaru"

He watched her and the way she bit her lips, doubtful, tempted. Then she sighed and incorporated herself in his arms, putting some distance but still within his reach.

"Well that's where you are wrong, I am basing it in love. I think that what happened to us helped us realised what life could be without the other. I think...I think it was designed to make us value what we had. We were too young back then. Who thinks they've met the love of their life when they are kids? It´s rare, and maybe...maybe if we had continued we would have married anyways, because let me be clear, I can't even fathom being married to anyone but you, but I don't think I would have valued you as you deserved. I would have probably keep been oblivious, maybe I would have worked too much, forget anniversaries, and be a crappy husband. Besides, I don't know what you are complaining about woman, the lust is a huge plus"

"You are an idiot,"

"A charming idiot?" He said and pulled her to him once again, this time around, he kissed her deeply. Letting their tongues dance with each other. It was the most happy and peaceful he had felt since Asuma´s death. He continued kissing her, then he tickled her, and she laughed freely before punching him lightly in the chest "God I love it"

"What?" She asked her still with a soft smile gracing her lips.

"When you smile like that"

"Shut up crybaby"

He shut up by kissing her again.

...

October in Suna was as hot as always, he tried to seduce her. He used the shadow possession jutsu again, and let it go like always, but instead of surrendering, she sent him flying throw the window with her Tessen afterwards. She managed to get him unconscious once again, all the while Kankuro cackling at him and telling him how even if he was the most feared man in the Union his sister could certainly kick his ass. Shikamaru answered that it was obviously a Nara tradition. All Nara's wives were scary forces of nature.

The fourth time Temari visited him was in November, he took her to the old hut in the middle of the Nara forest. This time around it was her who made the first move. They ended up making love for the first time in four years. It wasn't romantic or slow or sweet. It was a clash of angry kisses, unforgiving hands and a raging tangling of limbs that was equal times a fight as it was sex. It was amazing. Shikamaru hoped with all his heart that she wouldn't leave him. Because after having her again, he had no idea how he could let her go.

December's cold in Suna wasn't as bad as Shikamaru imagined, specially when you fought cold with a sex bomb as Temari. Once they were that first time together, they spent most of the time of his next visit having sex, exploring each other and having mind blowing orgasms. He hadn't realised at what level he had missed her. Her skin, her laughter, her soul, everything that she was. It was incredible and it was better, since they were the same yet they were different. They had matured and it showed, not only in the shape of their bodies, but the way they were with each other in bed. This time around, it was adults pleasuring each other, not teenagers discovering their sexuality. The level of chemistry they had was insane. Not even in his wildest dreams would have Shikamaru thought that magnitude of pleasure even existed. The way their slicked bodies synchronised with each other was wondrous. The orgasms would leave him with his toes curled, his heart leaping frantically in his chest and his body quivering and trembling. That week was up to that point the best in Shikamaru´s life, at least until she convinced him to fuck her on top of Gaara's desk. Needless to say, it was fantastic. Although Gaara caught them and he had to cut his visit short once again. This time running for his life with the Kazekage and a wall of whirling sand following him right behind.

Temari's visit in January brought the best day of Shikamaru's life.

"God I hate you so much" Temari chocked the words out as a new burst of nausea hit her. She bended her head over the toilet seat once again while Shikamaru helped her with her hair and rubbed her back.

"Temari, honey, do you think you might be..." Yoshino said smiling gleefully at her. Temari glared. And retched. And glared again. And sent a shampoo bottle at Shikamaru's head. "I am going to call Sakura" Yoshino said cheerfully and disappeared out of the bathroom.

"Temari..." Shikamaru started, he couldn't shake the joy out of him. Was it really possible? For her to be pregnant with their child? His heart beat noisily, and he couldn't help the shit eating grin that sneaked out of his lips despite Temari's menacing eyes. She threw a soap at him and retched again.

"God I hate you. You and your not lazy sperm"

Shikamaru had to admit that he giggled like a ten year old and embraced her tightly from behind. Despite the vomit and the scene and the probable concussion, he was damn happy. There was nothing he wanted more than to have a family with her.

"I love you" he said and kissed her in the back of her head.

"Can't you get out of the fucking bathroom? This is disgusting, I want to be alone. Why are you and your mother getting in here anyways? Don't you Konoha people know any boundaries?" She ranted angrily at him when she could form a full sentence.

He wanted to tell her that yes, they were very respectful people, thank you very much. Although minutes later, when Sakura and his mother entered the bathroom once again to examine her, and followed right after by an exited Ino and Choji he bit his lip and thought that maybe she was right.

Shikamaru didn't visit Suna in February. Temari stayed in Konoha since it was dangerous for a woman with a miscarriage history to make any strenuous activity or walk such a long distance. His mother moved out of the main house and he and Temari took the master bedroom in the clans head house. He sent some of his clansmen to pick up her things to Suna and they have been coming and going with all her stuff for the last week. The house was theirs now, and they were for all intends and purposes living together.

Living with Temari was as natural as breathing. It was strange how easy they fell into a routine and how easy going it all felt. She was still working but did everything from home these days and Gaara and Kankuro have come to visit her. They spent a couple of nights at their house and Shikamaru spent both nights half worried they were going to kill him on his sleep. Temari just called him stupid and jumped his bones like usual. He needed some convincing though since defiling their sister was under the causes of possible assassination in his mind. Temari was good at convincing though specially when she sucked his cock until his toes curled. Things seemed more or less ok with her siblings after that visit though. It was as if the four of them have reached some unspoken peace pact and they mostly talked about the baby. He realised his in laws were as scared as he was about the pregnancy. Which might be the reason they were avoiding stressing Temari out all they could. In fact they were the ones that organised the whole work from distance thing, and stationed a jounin as an official messenger between the villages.

Shikamaru had to admit he was scared shitless of something happening to her or the baby too. He went out of his way to do things for her, and when he wasn't around because of work or some clan responsibility he had left strict instructions for his mother to take care of every need she might have. He had also hired a nurse that was the wife of one of his clansmen and she was cared for 24/7.

"Would you people stop smothering me!?" Temari finally snapped one afternoon. It was a lazy weekday afternoon, and they were in the living-room of his, no, their house. People were coming and going and he looked at them pointedly after her outburst. In a couple of minutes they were completely alone in the house again.

"Do you want a foot massage?" Shikamaru asked her instead of answering or leaving her side in the couch. Even if she was barely showing her feet were swollen and retaining liquid, so she complained about them on a daily basis. Temari narrowed her eyes at him, called him stupid, but lifted her feet to his lap nevertheless.

"Really Shikamaru, you are driving me crazy" she told him, "Nothing bad is going to happen anyways."

She said that, but he couldn't shake the fear out of him. They had been through so much. And just when happiness seemed to be at the reach of their hands he was more scared than ever of losing it all. He massaged her feet while she read some book leisurely. She seemed happy and content, but they were still on shaky legs. meaning their relationship was. He wondered if someday he wouldn't be afraid of losing her all the time. Maybe she did it on purpose to keep him on his toes. His princess was a strategist herself and as strategies go, he had to admit it was a sound logical one. Men rather fucked up when they took their significant others for granted.

She looked gorgeous with the afternoon sunlight filtering through the windows. It would make a halo over her frame and her blond hair. She looked alluring and his heart jumped gleefully. He wished more than anything to be able to spent thousands afternoons like this with her. Just lazying about, and preferably with his head in her lap. That was probably the very description of paradise for Shikamaru.

But did she really wanted to stay? Had she just played along in his game? This farfetched game he devised the minute he woke up from his frozen state and into a world were she was almost lost to him forever. He took a deep breath and braved on;

"Temari...Do you really want to stay?" he asked and dared a look at her face. Gauging her reaction. She lifted one eyebrow but kept reading her book. It was a cook book, why was she so interested in it anyways? It wasn't as if he was hoping for her to cook. She was a princess, his princess, and all he needed was her there for him and their child. Although she could if she wanted, if she wanted to be a diplomat she could, if she wanted to take on missions, even if he would be scared shitless, she could. Hell, she could do whatever the hell she wanted, as long as she designed her life with him and their baby beside her. He wanted her free, and happy and always there.

"What's with that question?"

"I just...I just want you to be happy"

Maybe he should suggest for them to move to Suna, he thought distractedly. He didn't like the desert, but after spending part of that year coming and going he had to admit Suna was beautiful. It wasn't like he knew fully how it was before. But nowadays it was an amazing place to live and to raise a child. The first time he was allowed into the real Suna he was dumfounded. Whenever Temari was working, he would spent hours walking the kilometres wide of village from one corner to the other, talking to people and just being plain impressed by it all.

For starters, People believed Sunagakure was that dried poor little village made of sand domes, but that was for show, the real village wasn't there. Those were the visitors quarters. All foreigners were secluded in the fancy hotel areas and he noticed that from the hotel managers to the store keepers were all shinobies. To access the true Suna you had to go through kilometres length of an underground tunnel to the heart of a gigantic mountain, who till this day he had no idea where it really was located, since the tunnel was specially designed to confuse direction. Minecarts that used poles, gravity and physics to move would take you all the way to a massive clearing where the communal spaces were. The entire place had a snail shell kind of shape with dozens of floors high in each arm. That's where the houses were, they were functional, pretty and very fancy in their own rustic way if he could say so himself. They had a huge labyrinth of stores, training areas, public buildings, greenhouses, farms and factories all connected through bridges between the arms.

Since the entire city was inside a mountain they were protected from the sun, the sand, the heat and the cold, but the central clearing which was colossal was opened during the day. Some mirrors were strategically put so they would hit the greenhouses with the sun, and a mechanical see through roof would appear around 11 am when the sun started to hit the hardest. Considering during the day it was scorching and hard to be outside, clearly that see through roof had the main function of dimming the light so it would be bearable for the citizens. It would warm up the entire city nicely, and it felt pretty much like being in Konoha during spring. They would lift it at 6pm or so, and at 22pm another several stories high metallic bunker like roof would close up the city for the night. That last one was lifted at 6am which was when the day started for everybody. Enormous machines of refrigeration, heat, food, water and waste were perfectly managed and mapped out strategically and efficiently all throughout the town.

The whole village was an incredible work of engineering, and it had everything; From schools, to wells, to university, to an emergency hospital, since the main one was in the visitors quarters and it looked they were in the process of moving it to the mountain fort completely, it even had an indoor park. The mountain had an inner river, and even a hot spring so it was usual seeing the elderly soaking there in the afternoons. They had simply made an oasis inside a mountain, carved a huge hole in the heart of it and built everything from there. The last time he was there, they were trying to build a machine that converted the waste into drinkable water and compost for the greenhouses. Nowadays the main function of the "Suna" or the visitors quarters as they called them, was to fool the world into what they were. That's where the public events, training, chunin exams, summits, trade, souvenir stores, tourism and everything that meant public life was. Where the Kazekage, elders, shinobies and advisors worked but not were they really lived. For what he had learned they had started the new city construction after Gaara´s kidnaping.

The education system they had was way better than any other village. Those desert nins pondered actual scientific knowledge into the survival skills. From chemistry, to physics to even math. They would also put history lessons into their academies, and they taught their kids how the other nations worked. How they survived. All that knowledge was very useful when they started shinobi training, since it will help in how they won matches. Even before Gaara the desert shinobies were above average when it came to battle achievement.

The culture was like nothing he had seen before. The people individually rarely mattered. Selfishness was seen as the worst type of sin, and was beaten up out off from a young age. Suna people were smart and political opportunists, as a whole, their nation was built as a bee hive type of society. What was best for all was what drove their entire village. Every ounce of water, food, and everything that meant survival of the village was shared by all. There was almost no money exchange there, being barter the main form of trade. And kids were of Suna´s meaning they were raised by all. From babies to older kids, whoever was available was in charge to care for them, play with them, or just hug them if they were crying. It was normal seeing scary looking jounins carrying babies and feeding them milk bottles. The mighty clearing of the city had a communal space were thousands of villagers converged every day. Dozens of big tables in rows where people sat at every single meal time and a hundred civilians cooked and served the food for the entire village. Daily life consisted in communal eating mostly, and he noticed with surprise that it was a balanced diet, with lots of protein to fatten up and robust the shonobies and the food was to die for. From elderly to youngsters, they made sure everyone was fed and happy. It was common seeing musicians and dancers and at night and it was fun, they would send the kids to sleep and the older citizens would play cards, talk, dance and drink before going to sleep.

The sense of community there was intense. And charming. Sunagakure culture was special and precious, and he registered with sadness that they didn't share that part of them with foreigners. He doubted even Naruto knew how Suna worked. They were zealous of what they showed to foreigners and only trained shinobies dealt with foreigners, those who had torture and under duress training, so they wouldn't go babbling unnecessarily, which was the literal explanation Temari gave him. They were very mistrustful and wary of outsiders and took a long while to warm up to them. Once they knew who you were though, they would be the sweetest and nicest people he had met. Fun and relaxed and their humour was hilarious. Also very respectful of each other´s personal spaces, probably because they were together all the time, so personal space was important to them. It was impressive to Shikamaru that the world very rarely saw the citizens or even knew the true amount of population they were, because he now knew they were the biggest of the villages. Sunagakure women were very fertile and it showed, just in the years that Gaara has been the Kazekage and more peaceful times came, not to mention how people were fed accordingly nowadays, the natality rate was up the roof, and not just any kids, but shinobies. Shikamaru has never seen so many kids as he has seen in Suna. Which explained how everyone was in charge to raising that bunch of kids, the sheer number was overwhelming. Temari had accused his non lazy sperm as the cause of her pregnancy but he was pretty sure it was her and how fertile her blood was, in fact if they didn't come up with a birth control method he was sure she would end up with 6 or 7 kids like most of Suna women these days. And it baffled him how all these aspects of this Village were a mystery to the rest of the world. He doubted the Wind Damyo knew much about Suna himself. Most likely, that way they made sure no one would spy on them, but on the negative side all that richness of culture was completely lost outside Suna.

The people was interesting. At first Shikamaru noticed they were irked about him, or more specifically, about him taking away their princess. But, he realised with surprise that they liked him more than Darui, even if he was to be the Raikage. Being the smart society they were, they were very conscious that he was way more powerful than Darui, and as such he was going to be an asset for the village. Rumours of the entire stealing bride ordeal circled the village left and right, since he presented his claim. They were impressed about his knowledge of their laws, the ones that were public knowledge at least, and the elders even sent missions all over the 5 nations wanting to know more of him. Shikamaru received several reports of said missions and the type of enquiries they were making of him. He told his sources to tell them what they needed. Making sure they knew he was a worthy suitor for their princess. There had never really been a doubt that Temari would need a political marriage. In fact he remembered back when they first starting dating that she would nag him non stop to take a politic job in the village. She wanted him to be Hokage for a very long while, then she settled for him being advisor, but never let him think he was going to be anything less. And after seeing how her culture went, he understood now that it was her way of ensuring they could marry one day. That he would be seen as someone worthy to her village, because if he wasn't there was not even the tiniest doubt in his mind that she would have walked out of his life without a second thought. Most likely because she would have thought herself he wasn't worth shit if he couldn't help her protect her village somehow. It was strange though that she didn't accept that marriage to the wind Damyo´s son back then, but he had the inkling feeling that back then she was hoping of having a love match as well as a political marriage. To kill two birds with one stone and all that.

Now Gaaras´s threats took on a new dimension. The world would be in deep shit if Sunagakure raised arms in war. The entire city was a self sufficient bunker, even the products they produced in their factories were basic needs one. World could burn outside and it wouldn't even tickle them. He would be in serious trouble if they fought him. From a war strategy point of view, he had no politic leverage over them, they didn't need money and they didn't need anything to survive from the outside world because they produced and had everything needed to survive themselves. It was sheer brilliance. The whole city was. No other village worked that efficiently or had that level of planning. Everything was painfully precise, from the resources distribution, to the houses, to the jobs, to the needs in the village. As a person of numbers, Shikamaru couldn't do anything else but admire loyalty they showed to Temari´s family was intense. And the more time he spent there, the more it was clear to him that it was Temari behind all that. Sure, her brothers helped her, but that level of planing and precision had Temari written all over it. No wonder the people was so devoted to the Kazekage family, most likely the lot of them were starving when Rasa was the leader. He doubted the previous Kazekage did anything to earn such devotion. No. It was Temari and her brothers who had written over the history and quality of life in Suna. All in all he was just sure of one fact, Temari was brilliant. Truly brilliant. The way she had made her village raise from ashes. There was no doubt about his future wife's intelligence. Her practicality was probably her best asset, more so than her strategic or diplomatic skills.

He felt extremely grateful of being allowed to even peek over everything real Suna was, even if he was technically the Princess´s fiancé, he wasn't quite sure why he was allowed to roam the parts of the city that were otherwise forbidden to visitors. He figured it was a deliberate intimidation tactic from the sand siblings, as if showing him that they could defo go to war for Temari. Shikamaru had to admit that despite his political power and leverage he had all over the planet, he never managed to infiltrate Suna. He always thought that it was because the city wasn't developed enough yet to be of significance. He thought they were poor and had only desert around them. He couldn't have been more wrong. Basically despite his high brains and all, he had been fooled like the rest of the world. He was sure nowadays they were richer than any other village, since all the money was handled by the Kazekage family and had investments in all over the 5 nations. Not to mention that they had several factories and developed products that they traded with the rest of the world. They didn't need money individually because the money was of the people. Everything they needed was provided for, and everyone did their part. In fact he even saw the trimestral reports of Suna investments published on the main square and an accountant nin taking notes of the people suggestions of where money was needed and were it wasn't. Shikamaru had taken a look at the investments and was impressed about how smart they were, in just a few years they have managed to amass a massive fortune. He had never seen a society were everyone was just so...equal...The people decided and the Kazekage family made it happen. By now he was sure he hadn't known anything about them because of how tightly gripped they ran that village. Also, no one put a foot out of line. Which is why it was the only place he hadn't ever managed to control. Hence why he had to go himself to gather proof of his maidenhood claim. Hell he was only able to see the hospital because it was in the visitors quarters. The Wind Damyo though? The entire royal family? Oh he had them in the palm of his hands if he wanted. But not Suna. And he realised with proudness that Temari and her brothers were political beasts themselves.

Then on one afternoon, he was strolling the market searching for sweet chestnuts for Temari in one of his visits, and an elder woman, in the middle of the street gave him a bottle of water. That was by far, the most precious gift they could give, being water such a scarce resource, it meant in one word, acceptance. He spluttered surprised and emotional over the gift and gave her the entire bag of chestnuts he was carrying. She thanked him and disappeared between the sea of people around. He never told Temari, but he was very sure they could be very happy there. He had tones of cousins who could take on the Nara clan head, and he could bring his mother to live with them. There weren't many clouds but no other village had a better clear sky at night. The star gazing was as amazing as cloud watching.

Yes, he could definitely move to Suna. He would miss the forest and the deer though. But he had the inkling feeling that she wouldn't want to. Her best way to protect her legacy was marrying him, marry his political power and help from afar. Ensuring no outsiders got too close to their Oasis. He was thankful he became the political monster he did, because after seeing her birth place he was sure it was a huge point in favour for him, not only from her people, but for her. As stated, selfishness was a huge no no for desert nins. Not that he thought she would stay because of it, but it certainly added some weight to her decision. A lot of it. Maybe he became the political beast he was because of her without even knowing it. She was brilliant enough to nudge him in that direction without him realising it.

He felt he fell in love with Temari all over again by getting to know her city. Seeing how she painstakingly planned all that and made it happen showed commitment, skillsets, brightness and specially love. Love for her people, her brothers, her land. To see the results of her work, her brilliance, it was very hard not to love her for that. She was someone worthy of admiration, and not for her looks, which she was, absolutely gorgeous she was, but everything else. All that made Temari was spectacular. And not like he put her in a pedestal, his princess was human and flawed as well, but her virtues were so remarkable that whatever flaw wasn't even worth mentioning or considering. If there ever was a doubt of how well suited they both were, it flew out of the window the minute he discovered Suna.

His internal rumbling was interrupted suddenly by Temari, who had been watching him keenly,

"You really hurt me you know"

"I know..."

"Do you really love me?"

"Don't you know?"

"I don't think I'll ever trust your feelings Shikamaru. Not even if we are married"

"Then...what can I do? For you to trust that I love you with all my heart? Would you want us to move to Suna?"

"Would you do that?" She asked and after he nodded assuredly, she added, "I don't know...who told you to stop anyways? Jeezz" he realised that he had stopped massaging her feet while concentrated on their conversation.

He sighed. He was out of moves on the board. He had done absolutely everything he could think of to assure her that he was it for her, and showed he loved her unconditionally, if at this point, after everything that he had done she didn't know...then he doubted she ever would. He sighed dejectedly and a bit disheartened.

"I don't know what else to do for you to trust me"

"Look Shikamaru you can't command the heart. I can't give you an answer"

"But do you love me?" He insisted and his stomach dropped warily waiting for her response. He knew she did at some level, they wouldn't be where they were otherwise but acknowledging it was something else altogether.

"I don't know" she said with sincerity. She wasn't saying that to hurt him, or to get back at him. She really didn't know.

"Do you love him?"

"No"

He sighed with unmistakable relief, and smiled wickedly at her.

"Then how about, I dedicate my entire life to show you how much I love you?" He said, and left her feet to crawl up along her body. He took the book out of her hand and was now nestled fully on top of her. He looked at her straight in the eyes, and earnestly said; "Marry me Temari"

She scoffed,

"Isn't the wedding schedule for three weeks from now? You are asking me now?"

He sighed and placed his head in her voluptuous breasts, making himself comfortable there. He sighed contently. She took the band out of his hair and distractedly started caressing his head.

"I know, I just...I don't want you to go through with it if you don't want. We could wait or you could...do whatever you want. I just ask that you let me be part of the baby's life" he told her a bit muffled between her breasts. He could tell he said that with a bit of a pout and he was sure she heard it in his voice because she laughed and the vibrations made Shikamaru´s body tingle from head to toe.

"Avoiding responsibility already lazy ass?"

"No! It's not that at all...I just... I don't want you to marry me if you aren't sure"

She hummed and moved her hips a bit for them to settle fully underneath his. He was hard. He always was when she was near. It was like a perpetual hard on in her vicinity. Only way to avoid them was being far away from her, and even then, if he thought of her, his cock would fill fast and unashamedly. Also, being away from her wasn't an option these days, she was after all, pregnant with his baby. He still felt incredibly giddy whenever he thought about it. He couldn't wait for her belly to be bigger and for him to be able to feel their baby. She moved her hips upwards and he growled. He lifted his head from her breasts and looked at her with a lifted eyebrow. He bent his head down and started nibbling her neck. His hands travelled down to her leg and lifted it while also thrusting forwards. They both moaned and then he grabbed her ass and pulled her closer to him and his hard on.

"What would that intake?" She asked him breathy.

"What?" He had no idea what she was talking about, only thoughts he could register at the moment involved a lot of nakedness and her screaming his name while he pleasured her with his cock, hands and mouth.

"You dedicating your life to show your love for me"

He stopped his ministrations for a second, ok so this might be an important conversation, he thought and forced his brain to focus on her question and then after some moments to calm his inner desire storm he stated,

"Well, I am going to kiss you and hug you every day. You and our family will be my priority and I'll cherish you the rest of my days"

"Boooooo...Boring" she was pulling the t-shirt hem out of his trousers and started pulling it out of his head. He helped her out of hers and they both growled loudly with the skin to skin contact.

"What do you mean boring?" He sat back squatting with both his knees between her legs and started unbuttoning her pants "I am leaving my heart out here. Can't you be more cute about it? Troublesome" he said, but he wasn't feeling particularly annoyed, after all, he was very much undressing Temari and he was about to have a very nice feast.

"That sounds boring. Like something out of a fairy tale book or something" she said while she let her nails scratch his strong chest and drop it down until she reached his pants. She unbuckled his belt and he bit his lips when her hand put pressure onto his cock.

"Well in my defence, you are a princess" he said and finished taking her pants out of her, good God, but those legs would be his death. He took a second just to stare at her, wearing her underwear and otherwise almost naked in front of him. He felt his dick getting harder and his heart speeded up its beating in his ribcage.

"That proposal doesn't win me at all" she said while she sat up too and let him unhook her bra and left her breasts free for his roaming hands and greedy eyes "Rise the bet Shikamaru"

"I'll always consider your opinions and promise to always listen to you" Shikamaru threw the bra unceremoniously on the floor and pushed her down on the couch again, he stole a deep kiss from her and then started pinching her nipples that were hardened. His mouth watered and he was on them before he had a second thought. She screamed when he bit them and it took a while for either of them to remember they were supposed to be having a conversation, when he did, he added, "I'll buy you whatever you want, I'll read our kids stories at night and take them cloud watching."

Whatever she wanted she could have. He would go to hell and back to get it for her.

"Don't put the kids in this, I want to know what are you going to do for me" she voiced leeringly and sent him a playful heated look that had his cock throbbing impossibly more in his pants.

"I am going to make love to you every night" he promised her when he sat on his knees again to take her panties out of her. She was now fully naked in front of him, cheeks flushed, skin full of goosebumps and the small bump that was their baby nestled securely in her stomach. He tenderly rubbed the spot and bended down to kiss it softly.

"That, sounds better"

"I am going to lick you all over and fuck you against every surface I manage to reach before I tear your clothes away" he started peppering kisses all the way down. From their baby bump going slowly lower and lower,

"Mmmm much much better" he put his long fingers on her and caressed her clit firmly pressing insistently the way she liked. She was so slicked and wet his mouth was dying to taste her "with extra service included?"

"You can bet" he smiled at her with his head hovering over her pussy. Her breath caught and her tits were heaving up and down with her rapid breathing.

"You keep doing that..." She said while he buried his head between her legs. He grabbed both her thighs and opened them so he could taste her at pleasure. He licked her, nibbled her and started the small torture she was so fond of, and let his tongue drive her insane. "It seems... there's hope... for you... yet" she added with difficulty and then she couldn't talk anymore. She was screaming, growling and begging him shortly after.

"Good" he said breathy with his lips full of her and proceeded to devour her, her moans and screams being an absolute choir to his ears. That was the last they spoke the rest of the night. Shikamaru didn't let her sleep until he made her come for the fourth time.

By the time sleep claimed them they were both sated, sticky and incredibly happy. Shikamaru thought that as future goes, this one seemed hella promising.

Shikamaru didn't know much about weddings. And being this one the first one he had had it was pretty obvious he lacked experience on the subject.

But he could swear having your wive's ex right fucking there dancing with her wasn't normal.

His teeth were grinding on their own accord and with narrowed eyes he wondered for the thousand time why he hadn't killed the fucker.

"It's all your fault!" He growled at Naruto when he turned around,

"Eh? Me? What did I do?" Naruto asked surprised in a panicky face that didn't deter Shikamaru.

"Make sure you can sleep at night" he mockingly imitated his friends voice and words the day of the Union meeting "fucking moron...Why in the hell did I listen to you?" He added angrily, "I should have killed him"

"You know Shikamaru, half the world is afraid of you after the whole stealing the bride under his nose business, can't you be more social approachable now? I mean, you did managed to marry the girl didn't you?" Kiba intervened. And Shikamaru thought he needed new friends.

"I did didn't I?" He smiled happily at them somehow appease, then he turned around and saw Temari laughing at loud at something Darui had said while the latter smiled adoringly at her "Fuck!"

"Calm down. They are just dancing" Ino tried to calm him down. Sai was right beside her staring at the whole situation completely at lost of why was he so angry about. And they said he was a social moron. He rolled his eyes.

"This is all Naruto's fault. Who cares about sleep? I am a fucking Nara, I could sleep through a rhino stampede. Troublesome" he crossed his arms in front of his chests and kept watching the couple dancing among several dozen others.

"Okay breathe Shikamaru. She is your wife and she is pregnant with your child" Chouji God bless him, always knew what to say to make him feel better, he smiled weakly at him and feeling slightly better at his words "You have nothing to fear"

"Wouldn't it be funny? He stealing her under your nose now?" Kankuro said jeeringly. He had for once forgone the paint in his face and he could now see on his paintless face how his suffering made him terribly happy.

"Shut the fuck up Kankuro" he grumbled unhappily. Oddly, being teased by his new brothers seemed terribly normal and familiar. Like it was supposed to happen and in their own way they were really welcoming to the family.

"Why dear brother? You must admit it would be ironic, not to mention hilarious" Kankuro kept jesting him, and when he turned around Darui and Temari were laughing again, he threw his hands to the sky as in a frustrated prayer kind of way and the rest of the group around him dared to laugh at him. He really needed new friends.

"Don't bother our new brother Kankuro"

"Thank you Gaara"

"It's not like Temari is in love with him or anything" Gaara added devilishly and smirked knowingly at him.

"I hate you both" he growled, then looking again at his wife and ex he asked insistingly "How much longer until I can interrupt them?"

"It's been half a song. Honestly Shikamaru, you are worst than Sasuke" Sakura told him rolling his eyes. And Shikamaru did not appreciate being compared to the traitorous Uchiha.

"Why I am even friend's with you people?"

"Because we are the only ones who are not scared shitless of you?" Shino asked cheerfully. Shikamaru growled, rolled his eyes, and once again looked at Temari, Darui, the fucker was incredibly closer to her now, and whispered something to her, making her smile and playfully shove him.

"Okay, that's it! I am coming in!" He said decidedly and was interrupted in his mission by his mother. Why was everyone hating him today? It was supposed to be his wedding for fuck´s sake.

"Wait Shikamaru, come dance with aunt Mara"

"Mom!" He told her and with his eyes looked pointedly at Temari and Darui, who didn't even noticed he was barreling in their direction.

"Nonsense come and dance with your aunt I say!" Yoshino gabbed his arms and forcefully pushed him into another direction towards his aunt. He heard his friends laughing at him nevertheless.

It took Shikamaru twenty minutes to shake half the women in his family and actually go were he wanted.

"Can I dance with my wife?" He asked interrupting the dance. He glared at Darui and the latter narrowed his eyes at him. He doubted they were ever going to be friends.

"Shikamaru it's not polite to glare at our guests" Temari told him knowingly when he unceremoniously pull her to his arms. He was still glaring at Darui retreating back from the dance floor.

"Why did you invite him anyways?" He asked her, annoyance clear in his voice.

"I don't know if you haven't noticed but this wedding has five hundred guest, including the Daymios and the Kages, he is the future Raikage" She replied as a matter of factly, and Shikamaru was still grumbling unhappily. He just hated anyone touching Temari. He didn´t remember ever being this possessive but, nevertheless, that's how he felt. Maybe it was the uncertainty of it all that still had him shaken.

"He is so annoying"

"You came barreling in and stole his fiancé a month before the wedding and you call him annoying?"

"I am not annoying"

"Yes you are"

"No I am not. I am in love" he told her earnestly and enjoyed how the blush that invaded her cheeks. He enjoyed telling her that all the time. Hoping that some day those awful words he told her the day of the breakup would be forgotten for good. He had the theory that if he repeated them a thousand times would erase the stupid lie he told all those years ago. A lie that broke them and separated them for so long.

"Well you did went to great lengths to get me, I'll give you that" Temari said when she recovered, and gave him that toothy smile that always made his heart skip a beat and resume as if a stampede was happening in his chest.

And she loved that didn't she? How he had pulled his lazy ass and used his brain in the most sneaky way possible to get her.

"I would do it all over again" he said honestly, he twirled her around in the dance floor, finally relaxing and enjoying her being in his arms.

"Would you really?" She asked him amusedly "Is it true that you threatened all of them in a meeting?"

"Well in my defence, they tried to make me back out"

"Is it true that you stoped all commerce dealings for a day?"

"Well they tried to prove I wasn't pivotal"

"Is it true that you..."

"Enough with the rumours wife" he interrupted her and whispered in her ear, happy of the shiver that went through her and caused a chain reaction in his own body "You shouldn't believe everything you hear"

"They have been true so far"

"According to my mother Nara men are very determined when it comes to getting their woman" he told her amused.

The music was slow and they danced through it as in trance. Staring at each other. She looked beautiful as always, and Shikamaru wondered if there was any instance in which his wife didn't look as a goddess. Her dress was white cream, tight and strapless. And shikamaru had already analysed it properly, and what was the most efficient way to get her out of it. Naked Temari was still his favourite look of her. And he was the only one allowed to see her that way. He was looking forward to the honeymoon.

He noticed how she flinched and moved her feet uncomfortably. He guessed she must be tired with all the dancing, after all the party has been going on for hours and she was pregnant. Sometimes it was hard to remember with how svelte she still looked. But their baby was still present, there was a cute little bump in her otherwise flat toned stomach. He took her by the hand and directed her to a table farer away from everyone, he didn't wish to be interrupted. Before seating, he took a plate with cake and a bottle of non alcoholic cider. He sat and made her sit in his lap. He kissed her temple and gave her the cake. While she ate he bent down and took her shoes out of her feet. She sighed and moved her toes happily. She smiled at him gratefully. Shikamaru was smart, he knew how to care for his princess.

He looked around to the merry atmosphere of their wedding and smiled contently. He had everything he wanted right there in his arms.

"Am I your woman?" Temari asked him when he offered him a glass of cider continuing the conversation they had started in the dance floor.

He smiled at her, and drank some too. They were sharing the same glass since he had only brought one.

"You have always been. I was stupid and I was lost but I finally snapped out of it and decided that I may as well make a big gesture to swift you out of your feet" he answered with honesty. She stared at him intently. As if seeing his soul. He looked at her back and left his feeling bear in his eyes. For her to see, for her to fully understand, and for her to accept.

"You really would do anything for me don't you?"

"Don't you know? I love you Temari"

She hummed, put her arms around his neck and with a wicked smile asked him,

"Tell me Shikamaru. Do wedding nights come with extra service as well?"

He guffawed, earning the questioning look of some of the guests in the wedding around them.

"Always" he told her mischievously, he kissed her shoulders and rested his forehead in hers. She inhaled air deeply as if breeding him in and Shikamaru relished on that perfect moment between them. It felt as if Temari was finally understanding his love, and the depts in which it ran between them. He figured the shock of everything that happened was finally settling down and what was left was just...them. Their love. Their future.

"Good. Then I might be in love too" she told him and he stared at her surprised, she hadn't told him she loved him, hence his frequents bouts of insecurity, then she mischievously added, "with your tongue at least"

"Nothing else?" He laughed and tightened his arms around her. She was in his lap still so she could very much feel through her dress the hard on she was actually sitting on.

"Well that too" she replied and leaned forward and kissed him.

"God I really love you" He said between kisses. He wondered if he could cut the wedding short already and actually kidnap her out of there.

"You will have to do everything you promised as well of course. And whatever extra thing I can come up with. And if I see you around any woman I don't authorise beforehand I'm going to cut your balls and feed them to Ruby"

"Ruby is vegetarian"

"Then I will shove them down your throat does that sound better?"

"Jezz, troublesome woman, can you be less violent?"

"Oh sorry you are right. We are married now, I should be gentler. How about, I will shove your balls down your throat honey?"

He laughed out loud again and stood up, with her still in his arms, he scooped her up bridal style, shouted goodbye to everyone and proceeded to get her out of their wedding, she was still laughing while he jumped through rooftops to their house.

Less than 10 minutes later, he had a naked Temari in his arms. It was time to officially start their life together.

In the end, Shikamaru managed to get an I love you from Temari. All her walls finally tumbled down on the 23rd of September and the reason was Shikadai. It was the first of many and afterwards while Shikamaru watched his wife sleep with their beautiful tiny son resting in his arms, he knew with earth shattering certainty that everything that had happened was all damn worth it.

The end.