When Shikamaru woke up at 8 AM, as he expected, the bed was cold and empty. He will not lie to himself and admit he strongly wished she stayed a bit longer but he was happy enough that she accepted to let him stay with her for a few more minutes. The young Nara knew something happened when he left, did she regret their intimate moment, or maybe she did not know how to react? In any case, he would wait 2 days before sending her a message so that would leave her some time to think. Little did he know that his numerous messages during the upcoming week would stay unanswered.

She wanted to reply but she felt guilty and ashamed. Because of the position of Shikamaru as the son of Yoshino and his position as her classmate, Temari felt like it was too dangerous for anything to happen. She once dated a guy like this at her previous university, he came from a powerful family too and everything was good and all until they broke up. People started shaming her, calling her names, and saying she got good grades just because her ex's father was the Dean of the university. What if something happen between her and Shikamaru, would people say she got her traineeship because she fucked the son of the boss? No, she could not fight the same demons again. Her training at YN law firm was supposed to last 4 months until the end of March. They would then have they would have their final exam and will be ready to join the workforce. If they had still classes, she would see the Nara almost every day, she was, therefore, happy it was not the case. However, she was not totally covered. The Nara could come anytime at the law firm as he was technically a board member, yes being born into affluent families comes with perks. Nonetheless, Shikamaru did not appear around the office since the Christmas incident. She thought he did not know how to react, to the pool, his mom's scolding, his baby crying moment behind her back, or them sleeping in the same bed. There were too many things to not talk about that she was glad he did not confront her by coming around. She heard that Shikamaru was working alongside his father for their mandatory 4 months of training. Shikamaru was also helping his mother, she could see here and there some official communication between the management team which he would occasionally reply.

The days went by so fast since Christmas and the 3 unanswered messages from Temari were driving Shikamaru mad. He did not know how to act, he just knew that the women on his mind would kill him if he pushed too much. So he had to keep it cool. He was the one that always keep it cool, but this time he wanted to be upfront about the situation. Temari's voice when the phone rang was still echoing in his head. He was still trying to resolve the biggest mystery of the night, what changed, something clicked in her and he knew that he just was incapable of figuring out what exactly.

The New Year was around the corner and Shikamaru was receiving invites from his friends and some random girls about some random parties. The Nara's New Year was, as per usual, the same old thing. New Year's Eve was however a bit less stressful as it was less people who were usually attending, the +60. Most of the family members had another more interesting event, all of Shikamaru cousin's and extended young blood were attending some of the best parties in town, but not him, at least until almost midnight. His parents, especially his dad, would usually tell him to have fun with his friends a bit after 11 PM. Dinner would be finished usually by then. Most of the time, Shikamaru would join his closest friend, Choji, wherever he would be. But this year, yeah this year, everything was against the poor boy. Choji was invited this year in Kanimari, in a smaller city by his new girlfriend's family. He couldn't believe that Choji was so soon in a serious relationship. He was therefore not sure where to go, one of his old friends Kiba was throwing a crazy party at one of his clubs. Kiba Inuzuka was also from an affluent family. They were the leader in the pet industry, from pet food to toys including medications. His parents started to branch out to hospitality, they opened a few pet coffee shops around the country. Kiba in his free time invested in and developed an exotic pet club. The Nara wasn't getting the concept, but according to his friend, it was a regular club were the dancers and entertainers will walk and dance around with snakes and another unusual animal in the headset dancefloor. Kiba wanted to make sure all the pets were comfortable with the sound. For the Nara, that sounded like an excuse to spend money and to have a reason to go often partying, in his own club. So, he might join if Kiba continues to throw all those spamming messages in their chat group.

"Come on guys, you never want to go out and today is the chance! I have done a few shift at this club and it's the BEST CLUB EVER, so CHILL. The boss is okay if we bring friends as long as we keep an eye on what's going on", those words were pounding as loud as the music in the hears of the Sabaku siblings. The Zuka was one of the trendiest club in the city, the high ticket entry for the New Year Eve party was apparently not a barrier for those people. 250 bucks for one night thought Temari, she was glad she did not spend this money for that. A few steps away from the Classic cocktail Bar, Side B, Temari was sipping her expensive Porn Star Martini on the side. She finally got rid of her crutches and was fully recovered. Gaara was also there. He was not the type to enjoy those sort of entertainment but he wanted to spend the evening with his sister and her friend Tenten. His sister's friend was working as a security agent at this famous clubs and they got free tickets so at least it would be a memorable evening. Talking about the devil, Tenten was back on the main room and walking toward the Side B area. When she met Temari's eye, she quickly giggled her hand to asked them to follow her. After 5 long minutes of struggle, the sibling finally reached Tenten spot. "This club is overly crowded, I think it's dangerous" yelled Gaara. "Absolutely not, Gaara, stop being a drag. Let's go to the headset room, it will be at least quiet and we would all pick the type of music we want. I heard that a few minutes before midnight the dancer will come down with some crazy snake. YASSS, snaky snaky!". Tenten was overly excited, she could party and earn money at the same time. Of course, she had to be serious and remain sober, but the rest was all fun. She walked her friend upstairs to the headset room, only 200 people were allowed at the same time in the room. She asked her manager Ikura to keep 3 headsets on the side for her and her friend while she went down. It will be one of the kind type of experience.

Headset on, Temari selected the Alternative RnB channel.

H.E.R - Focus

And I keep looking at you

Stuck on your phone

And you're stuck in your zone

You don't have a clue

It was a club but well she could for once be picky! The dancers with the cobra were finally coming throught the backstage door after one hour wait. There were so many, maybe 10 dancers or a bit more, at this moment Temari just hoped they knew what they were doing. Tenten was full on professional mode, any incident and she might have to intervene, Gaara was also extremely alert, they were not Cobras as mentioned earlier Tenten, they were Boas, nonvenomous but could still cause some trauma. Only Temari was feeling somehow relaxed. The day was super busy at the law firm and she heard in the toilet Yoshino talking with her Managing partner about how awfully silent is her son lately. Shikamaru was the silent type, so that could mean that he did not talk at all to his mom since she scolded him. Shikamaru was silent, He was silently sleeping in class, silently sitting in meetings, and silently walking, everywhere. So he silently walked toward his Class representative and silently touched her arm. And she startled. Because of the headset and his low profile presence, Temari did not realize the Nara had arrived also from the backstage door. Shikamaru decided only 20 minutes ago to come to Kiba's party. He was already in his flat around 11:30 and was smoking a cigarette in his balcony when Kiba told him, he had a surprise for him. He was still dressed and pretty damn down that he thought he had not much to lose. He was too agitated to fall asleep. His flat was 4 minutes away from the Zuka, if you drive at an abnormal speed. Because his friend was the boss, they had access to private parking and could directly enter from the VIP entrance. He greeted some of his other friends and sat on one of the comfortable sofas. Kiba entered the VIP lounge a few minutes after.

"Ho, I have a surprise for you, I was actually surprised. Someone who never came to any university parties is here in my club." he said while pointing out someone in the headset room downstairs. The VIP lounge looked like a suspended loft with privacy glass all around. The people in the Headset room could not see them, but Kiba and his friends could see them. Following Kiba's pointer, Shikamaru spotted his surprise. She was there, with the guy that seems to be his brother. Indeed, he never saw Temari at any university parties, but Shikamaru himself was rarely there. Thinking further, he had never seen Temari out partying at all. Seeing her here felt so strange but comforting at the same. Without thinking twice, Shikamaru's feet drove him all the way down to his executioner. He wanted her, he needed to talk to her.

Can you focus on me? Those were the word that first came to Shikamaru's mind when he touched the arm of his classmate. She was stunning, and Shikamaru wanted to carefully wrap his arm around her. Her make-up was different. Her eye was accentuated with some golden shimmering eyeshadow and a thin line of eyeliner. Shikamaru instantly noticed her rosy cheeks, wondering if it was the heat of the room or just the makeup. Her lips were bright red, as bright as the forbidden fruit. Her thigh fitted dress was blue with an asymmetrical sleeve, revealing her bewitching body shape. She was a little bit taller than usually thought the Nara, but she was still shorter than him. They looked into each other souls for only a few seconds but they both felt like it was way longer.

"Come with me, we need to talk."