Kozui the typhoon was expected to hit Konoha City the following night. Even with the heavy rains, Christmas Eve was safe for Konoha City. The city was so well built that it almost never experienced large floods. Dressed in a dark navy tuxedo, the son of Shikaku was busy for already one hour discussing with different extended family members the potential action of their state representative of Hi no Kuni. Konoha City was the most economical and political city in the whole Hi no Kuni state, if action was required all the citizens would expect Konoha City Council to speak first on a regional level. Shikamaru was the primary heir of two powerful clans: the Nara and the Kosei. Those clans were historically known to be involved in the military, politics, and justice of Konoha City. Therefore, 99% of the family celebrations or any kind of celebration were held at the Nara's residence, including Christmas Eve. Those celebrations were utterly ridiculous, it was hours of talking and eating. Once each celebration is over, his family will receive tons of complaints from each side about the other side. Shikamaru was hoping tonight it would be interesting, fun or even memorable.

The guests were expected to arrive at 8 PM. As per usual, some members would arrive half an hour earlier with the excuse that they will leave earlier. They would usually be the ones to go last. It was 8:30 PM and there was still a line of cars dropping the guests at the main hall entrance. Shikamaru Nara was welcoming guests in the welcoming living area. The room was big, a bit old-fashioned, and used only for this purpose. At the back of this room was the dining room which could hit around 8 round tables of 10 seats. Tonight 6 tables were set and ready for the guest. The main hall had four doors, the front door was the guest will enter after being dropped off by their chauffeur, on the left side was the welcoming living area, on the right side was a long corridor that would eventually lead to the Nara's living area, and at the back it was a door which was giving access to an inside garden. For the guests who were to sleep over, they would ask the valet to go through this door to drop their luggage in their rooms on the other side of the garden. Because of the heavy rain and the cold, around 20 people were expected to sleep over.

Although the main hall was as big as Temari's living area the room felt cramped. At least that was Temari's first thoughts. The blonde girl just arrived after a 1-hour taxi ride. She was left at the Nara's residence gate. After showing her invite, one of the guards told her that it would be impossible to walk with the rain and her crutches to the main hall. They asked her to get in a little automobile that looked a bit like a golf cart. Temari was more than grateful. She was getting cold, and she had to keep, on one of her feet, an ankle support which made it impossible to have a proper shoe. She felt a bit ridiculous when she arrived at the main hall, with one pair of low pumps, a nice flamboyant red dress, a shiny silver shoulder bag and cold hands. All the guests around her were dressed in black, navy, silver, brown or beige, even the ladies. She did not really know what to do. Was it a Christmas party or a Konoha Council meeting? The main hall, where she was still hanging, was packed with familiar faces, a regional council, a judge, a city council… She then realized that indeed this is what her classmate was talking about. Both sides of his family were involved in Konoha City's life; therefore, family gatherings would be, let's say, not that fun. The Class Representative started to reevaluate her decision, maybe coming here was not a good idea. But before she had the chance to think further, Temari felt the warm hands of her classmate. "I thought you would not come. Your hands are so cold! Come with me to the living area, so you can get a seat and I will get you a duvet to warm you up." The Nara locked his arm to Temari's and helped her navigate through the crowd and the stares.

Once seated and with a duvet on her lap, Temari is finally feeling warmer. Crouched in front of her, Shikamaru whispered to her "Sorry, it is a boring celebration but I think we can still enjoy the night together. I will be back, feel free to chat, technically they are all part of my family.'' The second head of the Nara's clan had indeed a long list of to-do and to care about things tonight. Even if he wished to stay a bit longer with her, to not leave her alone, his hands were full of invisible duties. When both clans were together, Shikamaru had to be impeccable or his status would be put on hold. He knew that his parents wanted the best for him and staying at the head of both clans was what was best.

Some curious people came to talk to Temari, usually asking the same thing, who she was and how she knew Shikamaru. The guests were not mean but they were definitely not welcoming. Temari however couldn't care less, the food floating around on the silver tray was delicious and the waiter always made sure she had enough beverages. Because of the medication, she was not drinking alcohol so only mocktails but she had to admit that whoever was doing those needed to receive the award of the best mocktail bartender of Konoha City. She suddenly felt the presence of a man next to her, calm like her classmate. Once she turned toward him, she was startled. Shikamaru and his father really looked a lot alike, it was almost scary thinking this is what Shikamaru might look like older. The older Nara then started "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, my son told me you are the Class Representative 4 years consecutively. He never mentions any new friends so I was really curious about it. I was surprised he invited someone for Christmas Eve, he never did that before." Temari wondered if Shikamaru's father was expecting a specific answer to his question, not having enough time to think she simply replied "He did it out of courtesy as I would have spent Christmas Eve alone and he was there when I broke my ankle. I guess it is just a turn of events." Shikaku smiled. "And how do you find the party?" Not thinking twice the young blonde dared to joke "You would call that a party? I thought it was a business meeting!" They then both laughed. Indeed, nobody here was parting, only strategically talking and planning. The head of the Nara clan proceeded to explain the rest of the night to the young lady. Since it's almost 9PM, they will soon go to the dining room where a 3-course meal will be served until 10:30PM. After that, a light dessert will be served in the ballroom with the big Christmas tree. At 11PM, all of the presents from the Christmas tree will be delivered and the rest of the night will be again a lot of talking. At that moment, Temari pulled out of her bag a small little box with a green nod and a small card and asked Shikamaru's father to drop this present for her near the Christmas tree. His father agreed, and before leaving asked her if she would need help now to go to the dining room. Temari politely declined and said she would make it work.