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"Hey, how are you?"

"Good," he smiled. "A little dizzy, but I'm okay."

Temari pulled a chair over and sat down beside him.

"You look tired." She observed.

"I feel tired."

She nodded slowly and propped her elbows up on the kitchen table.

"How did the check up go?"

"Look, can we not talk about this please?"

"Woah, sorry. I was just wondering. I'm allowed to be curious about my ill friend, am I not?"

"Yeah, but that's all we ever talk about."

"That's not true." Temari snapped, standing back up. "Just because you're dying, it doesn't mean I'll put up with you being a total prick to me."

She turned to leave, but Shikamaru forced himself into a standing position and held onto her wrist.

"Have you ever considered that maybe I'm a prick without the disease? I'm more than just my illness, Temari. Stop being such a drama queen about everything!"

She stared at him.

"I'm the drama queen?!" She yelled. "Listen to yourself, Shikamaru! I was only asking you how you were!"

He glared at her.

"Why do you even care? You just want a funeral to cry at so others pity you."

Her eyes instantly darkened.

She stepped up close to him and hissed at him under her breath.

"Nara, I told you that I wouldn't treat you any differently because of your disease, but I take that back. If you weren't in your current state, I would punch you so fucking hard you'd be knocked out, but since you're so fucking weak, I know it would kill you. You aren't worth the prison sentence." She took a deep breath before continuing, not breaking eye contact with him. "I don't cry. Got that? I didn't cry at my mom's funeral. I didn't cry at my dad's funeral, and I certainly won't cry at yours. If I bother showing up. Crying is for the weak."

He felt the tears come to his eyes but didn't let himself blink the stinging away.

"You should go," he growled.

"I should, shouldn't I?"

He felt his tears fall from his eyes and trail down his cheek. He was too proud to wipe them away.

He was about to answer her when she spoke up again.

"But I know that the moment I leave this house, I won't let myself come back."

He didn't know what to say.

"And I know you don't mean half of what you just said."

"Stop," he murmured.

"And even if you did, I'd forgive you."

She was closer than she'd ever been before.

"Temari..."

"And I'm not leaving before I apologise to you."

"Tem... Stop."

"I'm not apologising until you admit you're in the wrong for overreacting."

"Stop it."

Her nose was almost brushing his now and she finally blinked before wiping away one of his tears.

"Make me, crybaby."

As easy as that.

He closed the distance between them and felt her press in closer to him, wrapping her arms across his back as he held her waist.

His lips collided with hers, a little harder than he'd intended, and they were kissing.

He was shocked that she wasn't stopping him.

She was actually kissing him back, hungrily deepening the kiss.

He had to sit back down, his legs were getting sore, so he scooted back into his chair as Temari sat on the table, angling her face downwards so as not to break the kiss.

They continued like this for a while, occasionally separating for a split second so that he could take a breath of air.

When she opened her mouth slightly, he hastily slid his tongue into her mouth, but she didn't seem to like that he was taking over so she battled him for dominance, and won.

Deciding on a different approach, he brought his hand to the small of her back and slipped his fingers under the end of the loose material of her tank top before slowly inching his fingers higher up her spine. Feeling her shiver at his touch and sigh gently against his lips was all the confirmation he needed to let him know that she was enjoying this as much as he was.

It wasn't until they heard the front door creak open that they broke apart.

His hand was halfway up her ribcage and the other had somehow ended up on her upper thigh.

They quickly moved away from each other. Temari slipped onto her chair and poured herself a cup of tea, sipping at it awkwardly as Yoshino walked in with an armful of shopping.

"Hello Temari, how are you?"

Temari tried to hold back a wide grin but failed.

"I'm great," she laughed.

Yoshino turned her attention to Shikamaru.

"Shika! You're all red... Were you crying?"

Temari suppressed a giggle and shook her head.

"I was just telling him a funny story, we both laughed a bit too hard. Don't worry."

Yoshino nodded slowly and Temari stood up to help her put away the shopping, occasionally glancing back at Shikamaru with a knowing smile.

One which he gladly returned.

A/N: Bonjour and happy Halloween!

I have to take my brother out trick-or-treating now, so imma just post this now.

I actually got around to editing this today, but good god my day was hectic! I have a LOT of midterm homework and loads of exams coming up next week, I also got a tattoo and I gave my sister a perm for her costume. I managed to burn my finger tips, so I currently have no goddamn finger prints on my left hand.

So yeah, fairly busy.

I guess I was just waaaay too excited to post this chapter. :)

I never got around to the reviews from chapter 11, so imma go to those now too!

ohud63~ an adorable review, as always ;) thank you, you're so nice!

Guest101~ awww thank you! Don't cry! That's Shika's job ;)

whattadragg~ aaahhhh, I always get so excited when I see your name before a review. Is that bad? Also, maybe this fic will End both bad AND good o.O no, they aren't married yet... Yet... YET!

SilverMoon6817~ yeah! I love the sneaky lil Shiho moments in the manga, and I feel as though people usually make Tayuya have a crush on Shika in AUs and it just doesn't make much sense? Shiho is a perfectly good character guys!

Also, two of you asked about the tatt, and to answer your question, it's three dots in the shape of a triangle. In mathematical statements, it can mean "Therefore" if the point is turned up, and " because" if it's pointing down. I love it, I just didn't want to go for anything too complicated cos it was a stick and poke. We literally just used vodka to disinfect-it wasn't professional! My friend got a kanji though, it looked great, considering none of us are tattoo artists.

Aaanyways, please follow/ fave/ review!

~Lee