[A/N] FLUFFFFFFFF SO SUGARY IT'LL ROT YOUR TEETH. Enjoy.

Your Fingers Between Mine

Shikamaru wasn't exactly sure when their relationship of "guide showing ambassador around town" became "boy and girl having a physical liaison".

Well, no, that was a lie. He remembered distinctly how her mouth had found his for the first time, completely upturning everything they had established as their relationship til then.

He remembered it so clearly because he had been caught off guard. He had been aware that they had something between the two of them—something that was much more than what existed normally between allied comrades, edging the label of their relationship into unmarked territory. But he simply hadn't calculated that while walking her to her inn room, Temari would suddenly yank him into an alley, push him against the wall, and press her open mouth to his.

Yet she had. And he had been rendered unable to do anything but to blink at her stupidly when it was over, his mouth feeling strangely cold and empty without hers over it. Then she had grinned that dangerous, cocky grin of hers while he tried to pretend like he was unaffected. (He had managed an intelligent "Uh...?" and suffered another of Temari's know-it-all looks, before she closed the distance again. Of course, he properly responded to her kiss the second time.)

Since then, everything had been going wildly downhill. Or uphill, depending on how he wanted to look at it. Whenever Temari visited, they ended up going a little further each time, and lately he often found himself in her inn room in the mornings, both of them naked and tangled together in the sheets.

Like right now.

"Aw, hell."

"Hey, be quiet," muttered the girl on his shoulder, her blond hair a mess against the white sheets and tickling his arm. "I don't want to be up yet."

"Temari, you really need to stop bringing me over here," Shikamaru said as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. As he rubbed the sleep from on eye, he watched as the Suna kunoichi beside him stir with the other. "At some point your brothers are going to find out that we haven't been discussing Suna-Konoha politics in here, and will either kill me or castrate me. Or both. Most likely both."

"How about you stop throwing yourself on me then?" She opened her eyes, the blue-green irises immediately flickering to his face. And she smirked. "Can't keep your hands off me, huh? Or your mouth..."

"Don't get cocky just because we're a little physical now."

"A little physical?"

He sighed. "If you're awake now, let's get going."

"Don't wanna."

"Temari."

"Shikamaru."

They gazed at each other for a long moment. But soon, he conceded, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes. Temari never lost when they did this; she was too stubborn. "Fine. It's too troublesome to take you around yet anyway."

She grinned, and they both knew she had won. Then she seemed to remember something.

"Oh, but you might want to leave soon. Kankurou isn't awake yet, but he will be soon, and if he sees you leave my room with me..." Her words were telling him to go, but she was sliding her fingers between his. She gripped his hand tight and smiled at him. The window was open, letting in the morning sunlight, and it danced on her figure; her teal eyes were sparkling, and he could see the faint scars on her shoulders from years of being a kunoichi.

She was beautiful, and he didn't want to go.

"Do you want me to go or not?" he asked, meeting her eyes.

She blinked. "Of course I don't want you to go." Temari was always so straightforward; there was absolutely zero embarrassment on her face, even as she told him such a remarkably embarrassing thing.

If he weren't Shikamaru, he might have blushed. But he, too, simply blinked, and said, "Hm, give me a legitimate reason to stay, then, and risk getting sterilized by your brothers. I might consider it."

It only took her about half a second to come up with an answer. "Because you like me," she told him, raising a brow, just asking him to challenge her statement.

He shot a grin towards her. "Let me repeat: don't get cocky just because we're a little physical now."

And she shot it right back. "I remember what you said. I'm simply stating a fact that you refuse to admit." She made a pointed glance towards the window. "It's probably around 7 in the morning now. You should get going soon. Don't you have to meet with the Hokage before accompanying me to the meeting?"

He looked at their clasped hands, then back at her face. Temari's hair was a mess and she had red indents on her face from being pressed against the embroidered pillow case. But what did it matter; this girl was Temari. It was enough. It was everything. Especially in this gentle moment.

Gazing at their intertwined fingers, he murmured, "You know, I actually really don't like holding hands."

Temari didn't seem fazed by his sudden change in conversation; she knew his apparent deviations always came back full circle. He was a strategist, not a socialite. "But you're holding my hand right now," she remarked, squeezing his hand for emphasis. "If you hated it, you could've just let go, you know. I'm not snobby about things like that."

"No, that's not it. It's not the physical aspect of it, although I dislike sweaty palms as much as the next person."

"Then what's the reason?" She pushed herself up with her free hand, and the sheet fell down from her shoulders, revealing her naked body to him.

Their faces came into close proximity, and he could catch the smell of something earthy but delicate wafting from her messy hair—a distinctively Suna scent, so different from the flowery smells of Konoha. He much preferred Temari's smell.

Then her delicate lips were moving: "Why don't you like holding hands, Shikamaru?"

He pulled their joined hands to his bare chest, over his beating heart, and closed his eyes. "Isn't it obvious? Because at some point, you have to let go."