A/N: Hi, everyone! Omg! I hadn't realized it had been so long! I'm sorry for the long time without updates, but 2016 was an year with zero inspiration for this. Tell me your thoughts on this, reviews are especially welcome after such a long writing block.

Madeyemoody95: Haha, I'm glad you liked it. Chapter 24 was very fun to write!

Anonymous: Hey, thank you. Couldn't open the link you've sent, though, I wonder if it's cuz it's been so long…

61394: Tnx :)

Hektols: Haha, I did make Mirai a bit of a psycho teacher, right?

And oh, yeah, Naruto was being super silly. But Naruto strikes me as the person that has a hard time sorting out with his romantic feelings, that's why it had so much teenage girling before he actually decided to face his jealousy. About the kids… Yes, that could be an issue, but I don't think that two proud men like Fugaku and Hiashi would stop themselves just to avoid conflict with another clan.

Marii: I'm glad you liked it! I've got this idea after seeing a cousin of mine and a cute video of a brother meeting his little sister for the first time. Tell me your thoughts on the rest of them when you read them ;)

NurAz08: *u*

Rose Tiger: Heheh, I tend to overdo on the sweetness when NaruHina is involved.

Temuulen101: Hey, sorry… I am a very irregular updater, but that's cuz my inspiration comes and goes. I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait a bit. I will try to get another one done sooner. Thank you for your kind words.

Ken18: You're welcome! I'm really glad you liked it :)

Yuyui Hime: Oh, I've always bebeen a NaruHina shipper, but I had recently read an AU fic that had SasuHina as a secondary couple… So the seed was planted and this chapter was born.

Chemistrykim: Indeed, there are many reasons to wonder how she would be with Sasuke or whoever else, but, in the end, I believe that there is no one for Naruto or Hinata but each other 3

Guest: Oh, I also like InoSai a lot, and I like how much space for creativity is left on their case :)

Ashen Author: Aye, indeed he can, but in his own way. Glad you liked it :)

Guest (2): Thank you for the kindness. Please r&r the other chapters as well.

Polaruspax: In the good way, I hope? But thank you for reviewing anyway :D

P.S.:Ino's mom - who was never named - makes a quick appearance on this chapter. Like I did with Chōji's mom, I'm using her voice actress' name: Noriko Suzuki.

The sound of a new email on his inbox was what woke Shikamaru up on that lazy Sunday morning. He looked at the clock on his nightstand. Who'd dare sending him an email before noon in a Sunday?

Actually, he had a pretty good guess.

The young man sat up, yawning, and grabbed his laptop and clicked the icon of his email provider. His guess was proven right when he identified Temari's name. With a sigh, he opened his girlfriend message.

I'll go over to see you on wednesday.

And that was it. No greeting, no byes and no emoticons. That was his girl.

He replied her with an equally simple "okay" and went back to bed, even though he highly doubted he would be able to sleep. He was trying to figure out why she had sent him that email.

Temari wasn't the kind of person who would send a message - even such a simple one - for no reason. Normally, if she had business in Konoha or just felt like visiting, she would come and then look for him. She didn't warn him. If turned out he was out of town, or busy or, for whatever reason, their schedules didn't match, Temari would go home and that was it. She was a very reasonable person - most of the time - and she didn't demand his undivided attention and availability 24/7, specially because she knew how unpredictable the agenda of a shinobi could be.

So, if she was warning him she was coming over, there should be a meaning to her visit.

But the thing was, as far as he knew, they hadn't made plans for that day and that email didn't seem an invitation either.

Was there some important next wednesday? They had already passed her birthday, their anniversary and it wasn't Rinne Festival yet.

Well, it can be a big deal. He concluded, closing his eyes to go back to sleep, but he opened them back instantainaly.

It didn't matter if it was something important or not, the fact was that he didn't know. And whatever the reason behind Temari's unusual mail, once she'd find out he had no clue, it would become a big deal. Period.

Sighing, he got up. He needed ask someone for advice or he mind wouldn't rest, even if it was the end of the first free weekend he was having in years.

The problem was: whose advice? It wasn't like Temari was the easiest person to understand and he was the person in Konoha that knew her better. Besides, she wasn't like any other girl he knew, so it wasn't like the he could ask his mom or Ino for advice just because they were all ladies.

"Okay…" He said to himself. "Looks like I'm solving this on my own."

And he could do it, right? People kept saying he was a great strategist, right? So he could pull something off… Even if he was dealing with the person that could see between his plans better than anyone else and read him like a book.

The basic thing to do when dealing with the unknown is covering all the bases, so he had to at least to come up with a few good guesses of… whatever would happen on Wednesday.

All the special dates were already discarded, so maybe it was some sort of event in Konoha that Temari wanted to attend? A quick search on the internet proven him wrong. They could also have planned to do something on that Wednesday, but Shikamaru had no idea of what that might be. He couldn't remember any specific thing that she wanted to do with him nor any promises, so that was a dead end. His option, then, was to come up with a date so much better than anything that they might have planned so even if she realizes he forgot she wouldn't be mad.

Dammit, that troublesome woman… He thought while he started to mentally lost everything he was going to need for the date. Shikamaru could feel his cheeks getting warmer and warmer while he realized how far he would have to go to achieve that perfect date.

He looked at the picture of her he had on his nightstand - next to his team picture with Asuma, Chōji and Ino - and frowned.

"You know, Temari, maybe I should just let it go and let you be mad if you must. This will cause me a lot of trouble anyway…"

As usual, the picture didn't respond, but saying that out loud made him realize that he could never do that. He couldn't simply ignore that he had forgotten something so important to Temari that his girlfriend sent him an email to assure him she was coming over. And not because she would scream and cause him trouble. No.

He could never ignore his failure because he couldn't afford to hurt her. So his only option was to give his best to make up for her. Be that as embarrassing as it may be.

He went over his mental list again and sighed. He had a lot of work to do.

The first place he had to go to was Yamanaka's flower shop.

"Welcome! Ah! Shikamaru-kun, long time no see!" Greeted Ino's mom with a warm smile when he stepped in the store.

Shikamaru also smiled. "Auntie Noriko, long time no see indeed."

She stared at him with her motherly brown eyes. "Look at you, all grown up! It seems it was yesterday when you were just a little kid complaining about everything!"

Shikamaru laughed. "Not much has changed. I still complain a lot."

Noriko also laughed then she got serious. "Your dad would have been proud of the man you've become, Shikamaru-kun. Please don't forget that."

Shikamaru nodded and they both were silent for a moment until Noriko asked: "You're here for Ino, I assume."

"Yeah, is she home?"

"Of course, she is upstairs in her room with Sai-kun, you can come up if you want."

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Are you sure it is okay to go there, auntie? I don't want to interrupt…"

Noriko tilted her head, visibly confuse. "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru coughed. "Never mind, so if you excuse me…" He waved at her as he headed to the stairs that would take him to Ino's house, making sure that he was making all the noise he could while he was going up.

When he knocked on Ino's door, it was Sai that answered:

"Come in!"

Shikamaru opened the door to find his friends sitting on Ino's bed, oddly still. They were trying so hard to look casual that one of them could be whistling. They relaxed a bit when they saw that it was Shikamaru who walked in the bedroom.

"Oh, it's you! We thought it was my mom." Ino said as she waved at him.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to tease them, given how much he had to plan in three days, and said:

"Sorry to disturb you guys, but this is more like a business visit." He sat on the stoll on Ino's dressing table and turned himself to face his friends. "I need the flower arrangement for my garden." He blushed. "I will be serving a dinner there on Wednesday."

Ino smiled and widened her eyes. "Oh, so you've decided to have a party! How unusual!"

Shikamaru blushed even harder. Dammit, if he felt like that only by planning it… "No, no. It's not a party, just dinner for two people."

Sai nodded and grabbed his sketchbook at the same time Ino's gaze got sassy. "Oh? A romantic dinner for you and your girlfriend, perhaps?"

Shikamaru coughed and moved forward. "Anyway… Don't make it too much. The decoration has to be pretty, but straight to the point. Make sure the smell of the flowers isn't too strong too, because then it would interfere with the food."

"Shikamaru" Sai called handing him his sketchbook with a brand new drawing. "Is this alright?"

Sai had sketched Nara's yard, with one table for two under the wood pergola, and on the table one single vessel with a flower arrangement. From the table to the house there was a carpet on the floor, sided by many lanterns. On the pergola, there were a few cute flowers with small bottles for the vessel.

"That's perfect… And pretty good. Did you sketch this just now?"

Sai smiled. "I have talented very hands, Ino was just telling me that."

It was Ino turn to blush beet red. Oblivious to his own ambiguity, Sai showed her the drawing.

"What do you think, babe? Can it be done by Wednesday?"

She looked at the sketchbook and nodded, distracted from her embarrassment. Shikamaru got up and smiled.

"That's great, thank you guys. Send me the bill when it's done." And when he reached the door, he couldn't help but look back and tease: "Now you two go back to that hands workout."

xXx

And that was how Shikamaru spent what could have been a perfect lazy Sunday: he went from Ino's place to a soup restaurant, then to a dance school, to a patisserie and from there to the supermarket, then he went to see a meteorologist and finally he headed home, not to rest, but to start to clean his house and the garden, what took him not only the rest of his Sunday, but the next two days as well.

It was only on Tuesday afternoon, after visiting his father's and Asuma's graves, that he got time to look for his mother and talk to her.

"My, my, you're planning something big for this year, aren't you, Shikamaru? But just for you and Temari-chan, I can see." She said, watching Noriko and Ino assembling the flowers and lanterns in the garden from the window of her tea room.

Shikamaru was too used to the idea now to blush, but his voice still cracked a little when he spoke. "Y-yeah, mom, I need to ask you something."

Yoshino raised her eyebrows and gestured for him to sit down with her. She was already pretty sure of what it was all about, but it was fun to see that unwavering person to fidget so much.

"R-remember that thing that you and dad told me long ago... it would be given to me when I had c-chosen a…" He looked at her mom and noticed how much she was trying to hold back her laugh. "You know what I mean and you're still making me say it, you mean woman!"

Yoshino finally bursted out laughing. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru, but this is a unique moment in a mother's life."

"I'm sure that most mothers don't laugh their asses off in such moments." He complained.

Her face immediately turned serious. "Don't talk like that."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Just 'yes" is fine!" That little dialogue made her feel so nostalgic that she allowed herself to stare at her son and get lost in memories for a bit. "Are you sure about this, Shikamaru? There's no turning back once you make this choice."

Because he was asking himself this question over and over as he went to so much trouble, he was confident of his answer.

"I have never been so sure in my life."

Yoshino smiled and teared up. "Oh, my baby… You're a man through and through now. Your father is as proud of you as I am, I'm sure."

She reached out for his hand and hold it tightly. "What you need is in our safe in the bank. I will go get it right away, then I'll help Ino-chan and Noriko with the decoration. You go get some rest, after all, tomorrow is going to be an extra special day."

It was barely ten A.M. when she got there on the next morning. Shikamaru was waiting for her by the main gates. When their gazes met, she smiled brightly and ran to him.

"Shikamaru, h-..."

He grabbed her by the waist and leaned her body back for a passionate kiss, interrupting her greeting.

"Hi." He whispered against her lips as they slowly pulled apart.

She was blushing. "Shikamaru, there are guards up here, right?"

"Yeah, so? I'm so happy to see you." He kissed her blushing cheek and handed her a box of chocolate. "That's for you. I missed you."

"Thank you… Are you having a good day? You're so happy you're out of character."

He laughed shortly and took her hand. "Come… Let's eat these chocolates as we stroll around the city before the sun gets too strong. Then we will have lunch at Yakiniku Q and after that" he gulped "we have a free dance class. Later we will go to my house to get cleaned up and have dinner."

"What?"

"You don't want to have dinner at my place?"

"No, no… Dance class?"

"Yeah, well, you're always telling me how you would like to learn how to dance and I figured, why not today?"

Temari gave him a strange look, it almost seemed like she was worried. "I know, but… Today is not really about me, right? Would it be alright for you to spend your day like that?"

"What you're talking about? All I want to do today is to spend my whole day with you."

After that line, she would have whatever class Shikamaru decided to take.

The day went very nicely for both of them. Even though it was all planned, they were having so much fun in just being together that things were moving so smoothly that Shikamaru even forgot he was supposed to be nervous, be it because he still didn't know what was supposed to happen on that Wednesday or be it because he was about to make the question that would change his life.

During the dinner, as Temari's eyes sparkled while she was going on about how fun was to use fans for dancing instead of a weapon, making a lot of gesture's over her kenchin soup, all he could think was that he should have done that a lot earlier. He smiled and she stopped talking, smiling back at him.

"Thank you for giving me such a wonderful day, Shikamaru. You even got my favorite dishes for dinner!"

"Oh, and there's chestnut pudding for dessert." He told her.

Her eyes widened happily. "Oh, that must be delicious! Are you trying to compete with me or something?"

"No… I really just wanted you to be happy." He told her honestly. "And I have something to ask you."

"I'm listening."

A lot of things crossed his mind. He couldn't believe that he didn't plan what to say. He opened his mouth but no sound came out, so he just closed it. Temari tilted her head.

"Come on, just ask. If it's an absurd request I'll just tell you know… and maybe punch you."

That wasn't much of a help. Giving up, Shikamaru just took the little silken box in his pocket and handed it to her. Confused, Temari got the box and opened it to find a yellow gold ring, marked with the symbol of the Nara clan, with a discreet yet beautiful round diamond. Her jaw dropped and her eyes got full of tears.

She looked at Shikamaru. "Are you asking me what you think you're asking?"

"Well, I am asking you to stay the rest of our lives with me and to make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to be my wife. Is that what you think I'm asking?"

She gave him the prettiest smile that he had ever seen. "Oh, honey, yes, yes!" She jumped to his lap and kissed him deeply. Shikamaru held back. He knew his mom was probably watching from the tea room.

Temari handed him the ring and stretched out her left hand. "Would you put it on me? My hands are shaking."

Shikamaru took her hand in his and put the ring on her finger, feeling a cozy warmth to fill him, from his fingertips to his toes. They admired it for a while and she lied her head on his shoulder.

"Why did you do it today? Did you want to have one date less to remember?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"By the way!" She got up and ran to the house, just to be back a few seconds later holding a small box. "I have something for you as well, I almost forgot. Here." She placed the box on his lap and kissed his forehead. "Happy birthday, Shikamaru!"

Later that night, as he held a sleeping Temari on his chest and admired his brand new, customized pocket ashtray, he thought to himself that he couldn't be more happy for forgetting his own birthday.