Author's note: Recently I've gotten into Naruto (not what's on Cartoon Network) and fell in love with this Shikamaru/Temari paring. I don't know why but I think it's the cutest ever! So since there really isn't any shika/tem pairing fics that aren't one shots, I decided to write a regular story about them. It starts off during the chuunin exam and from there I'm putting my OWN twist on things so it's not going to follow the series. I hope it turns out ok!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The clouds are nice

Chapter 1

"Replication tech-" The young blonde girl began to say as she was hiding behind her huge fan. "What! I can't move! My body…" Slowly, her clasped hands began to come apart uncontrollably while she was still hiding.

"Looks like the Shadow Imitation finally succeeded." The young man who was kneeling in the shadows said as he moved his hands apart, which made the young girl's hands move apart too.

"What…"

Everyone who was watching the match was now leaning forward in their seats wondering what was going to happen next. The young, dark-haired man had cornered the girl. He was going to win.

"My body can't move. His shadow shouldn't be able to reach up to where I am!" The girl said bewildered.

The young man smirked. "I'll show you what's behind you." He turned his head and in turn the young girl's head turned too.

The girl's eyes grew wide. The shadow that the young man controlled came out of a hole behind the girl and entrapped her. "This hole is…?"

"You see it now. It's the one Naruto dug and came out of when he fought Neji. That's why it's connected to the hole in front of you."

"Did you use the shadows inside the tunnels to…?"

"Correct."

Could it be that using his jacket to attack and create a shadow so he could lead me to this location? That was just a trick! This guy… The girl was shocked and amazed. With her wind attacks she swore she had him beaten easily. She never expected this. The girl knew she was done. There was no escaping his shadows.

Before she knew it the young man began to walk forward and made the girl walk forward too. I can't control my body! It's moving on its own! She said to herself.

The guy stopped and so did the girl. They were only a few feet apart. The judge who was overseeing the match just stood and stared. The audience was still drawn into the match and watching it intently.

The guy looked unwillingly at his opponent. He raised his right arm and stood there. The girl raised hers as well but she was struggling with it since she couldn't control her body. Several moments went by and nothing happened. The boy still had the unmotivated look on his face from the beginning of the match.

"I lose. I give up." The young man said.

The girl's jaw dropped and so did everyone's in the audience watching the match. Everyone blew up in an uproar. The guy had the girl captured and could've won easily but gave up. The judge smirked and looked at the guy.

"What! What did you say?" Once again the girl was surprised at the young man's actions.

"By using my Shadow Imitation so many times I used up all of my Chakra. I can only hold you for ten seconds more. I thought about 200 possible moves…but my time is up." The young man explained and put his arm down. "It's too troublesome to do more."

"Winner, Temari." The judge said after the boy's speech.

The young man just starred off into the distance. And I thought being a ninja would be exciting.

"Hey! Shikamaru!" A blonde haired boy called out when Shikamaru made it back up to where the fighting Genin watched.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "What Naruto?"

"Why the hell did you give up so easily? You had her! YOU COULD'VE WON!" Naruto began to complain.

Shikamaru sighed and leaned over the railing. "The fight was too troublesome."

Naruto gave a weird look. "Huh?"

Shikamaru ignored Naruto and stared up at the sky. The clouds are nice. They're so free. I have no motivation to do any of this.

"Congratulations Shikamaru! Even though you never want to do anything, you're always serious when you actually do something." Ino, Shikamaru's teammate, said and congratulated as she grabbed some of the meat from the table grill.

"Who knew you'd be the only Genin to pass as a Chunnin! I will be a Chuunin next time around, surpass you and become Hokage!" Naruto boasted before he started eating his ramen.

"This is so unlike you, Shikamaru." Chouji, Shikamaru's other teammate, chirped in while grabbed all of the meat that was on the grill. Ino shot Chouji a look but he just stared back.

Shikamaru leaned on the table, uninterested as ever. He was actually a little bit upset this time. "Don't laugh. I don't care about being a Chuunin."

"Why not? You should be thrilled to be the only Genin to become a Chuunin! But I'm really surprised that Sauske-kun didn't become a Chuunin too. He's a lot stronger and more talented than you." Sakura said as she tried to encourage Shikamaru.

"Heh." He turned his head the other way and sighed.

Everyone was at the barbeque grill restaurant to celebrate Shikamaru's promotion. Kiba, Sauske, Lee, Shino, Hinata, Neji, and even some of the teachers such as Kakashi and Gai were there also.

"So I hear that the sand ninja are going to be in town for a little while longer. From the looks of it you and that sand girl were hitting it off quite well." Kiba said as he started to harass Shikamaru. "What was her name again? Temari?"

"Yeah yeah! You should find where she is and ask her on a date! How about it? Eh? Eh?" Naruto chimed in as well. "If you do, I'll ask Sakura-chan too and we can go on a double date!"

A vein popped in Sakura's forehead as she slammed Naruto's face into his ramen bowl. "THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING ON A DATE WITH YOU!"

Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't like women."

Everyone stared at him. Shikamaru yawned as if he wasn't interested in the topic, which he wasn't.

"Why don't you like women! There are a lot of great things about women!" Ino exploded.

"They're troublesome."

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

"Ugh…" Shikamaru grunted and repositioned himself in his seat. "They always act all friendly and nice, but I can never tell if we're getting along or not. They also boss guys around too much. It's just so…troublesome."

Ino was really starting to get fired up. "Stop being an idiot then and they won't be 'troublesome'!"

Shikamaru ignored Ino and grabbed some meat from the grill.

"Whatever…" Ino sighed and returned to her food.

A little while later Shikamaru got up from the table and began to walk out.

"Hey hey! Where are you going Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"Finally built up the courage to ask that Temari chick?" Kiba teased again.

Shikamaru wasn't interested and sighed. "I'm going home. If I don't I have to deal with a troublesome woman."

"Who, Temari?"

"No…my mom." Shikamaru said and walked the rest of the way out.

It wasn't late in the day but the sun was already starting to get lower in the sky. Hands in his pockets and looking up at the sky, Shikamaru began to think to himself as he walked down the road to his house. I wish being a ninja was more exciting. Find a girl, marry her, have kids and just live a fun life. That's all I want to do.

Shikamaru walked through the front door of his house to find only his father around. To him it was kind of a relief. "So I see mom's not around."

"You're lucky. She's out getting stuff for dinner right now, but if she knew that you were late she'd have your head." Shikamaru's father replied after placing his newspaper down.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, why did you marry such a bossy woman?"

"Well…every woman has her good moments. I suppose that's why."

Shikamaru just stared at his father. "That's it?"

"The most violent women are tender to the man she loves. You'll understand when you grow up." His father paused for a moment. He heard footsteps in the front of the house and immediately got up. "I have to go get the herbs from the garden and clean out the storage room. If I don't I'll be chewed out by your mother if I don't hurry up. See ya!" He said calmly walked out of the room.

"And some men are completely whipped." Shikamaru said and got up.

"What was that!" Shikamaru's mother said as she stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the room he was in.

He looked up and wasn't even startled. "What?"

She gave a heavy sigh. "Nevermind. Where's your father?"

"How should I know?" Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders.

"Go find him and tell him that he needs to help me fix dinner."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Only one yes!" She barked.

Shikamaru gave his mother a blank look and went in search for his father. She seems to be grumpy as usual today. He only walked through one room and gave up. This is troublesome; I'm going to take a walk. Shikamaru quietly exited the house to make sure his mom didn't know.

The light from the sun was now quiet a bit dimmer and even some of the street lights were coming on. He didn't know why, but Shikamaru began to think about what his friends were saying about the girl he fought a couple weeks ago in the Chuunin exam. Shikamaru wasn't interested in girls since he thought they were too much trouble. Somehow Temari seemed to stand out. She gave him a hard time and was extremely persistent.

"Hey you there!" A voice came from nowhere.

"Huh? What?" Shikamaru stopped walking and stood where he was. He wasn't concerned much since it was a female voice.

"What are the chances of seeing you around here?" She said while still hiding in the darkness of the shadows.

"Heh…I really can't say much when I don't know this bothersome person and can't see them."

"Don't tell me you're going to give up again. You really are an idiot." The young woman said as she stepped into the street light. Shikamaru grinned. He was half surprised to see who it was.