.Flirt.

'Nothing,' Temari said frustratedly, as they came out of the kindergarten a few hours later. 'Absolutely nothing.'

'And it took forever to get that nothing as well,' Shikamaru remarked.

'I know, there were just so many tears and so much drama, and kids really can't look after themselves, can they?' Temari muttered. 'Although, I didn't really like that brown-haired woman with the awful hospital green floral sack masquerading as dress. I think we should look into her more in depth, I got a bad vibe from her. I don't know, we could pull her in for official questioning, psyche eval, the works,' she said matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru chuckled. 'You just don't like her because she asked you to hold that kid,' he replied.

Temari shot him a deadpan look. 'That should be a perfectly viable sign of mental instability. Do I look like I know what to do with a kid?' she demanded.

'Aren't women naturally good with kids?' he said innocently.

'Now you're just being sexist and deliberately annoying,' she told him.

He laughed. 'Okay, so if we take that into consideration, then she's the only one who could raise any flags. And it's not her, I've already done a background check,' he replied.

Temari looked surprised. 'What? You've already done a background check on her? What, were your bad vibe bells also ringing? we're meant to share any suspicions in this case, you know, that's what partners do,' she informed.

He waved a hand, dismissing her comments. 'Nah, she was already working here when Asuka applied,' he said.

Temari raised an eyebrow. 'You did background checks on all the people that worked at the kindergarten your goddaughter was going to,' she clarified.

Shikamaru glanced at her. 'Yeah, so what. It's completely normal,' he she said, shrugging.

'Actually, I'm pretty sure most people trust the kindergarten with the security checks, and they simply check out the school,' Temari replied, a smile growing on her face.

'Well, it never hurts to make sure. You can't be too careful,' Shikamaru defended.

'Says the smoker. Right,' Temari deadpanned.

'Fat lot of good it all did in the end, anyway,' Shikamaru muttered, his face darkening.

Temari bit her lip and reached out a hand, squeezing Shikamaru's shoulder. 'It wasn't your fault. There wasn't anything you could've done,' she said quietly.

'How can you say-' Shikamaru started angrily.

'Rationally, you know I'm right,' Temari interrupted. 'You know that there is no way you could have known. You're just been stubborn, pigheaded and self serving, which serves no purpose except making you feel like crap. Stop beating yourself up over something that wasn't your fault.'

'But what if-' Shikamaru began again.

'What if the world spun backwards and dragons burst out from its crust,' Temari cut him off again. 'The world is full of what ifs. Life is full of what ifs. There's always going to be a part of you thinking what if this happened or if only. We can't get distracted by the what ifs and if onlys, we have to move on with our lives and do the best we with what has been served up to us on what is very often rusty platter,' Temari said simply.

Shikamaru remained silence, studying her. 'Thank you,' he said suddenly. 'I needed that.'

'It can't be easy, though,' Temari said quietly.

They stood in silence, before Temari tilted her head.

'Come here,' she said, holding out her arms. 'Hug.'

When Shikamaru simply raised his eyebrows and didn't move, she shook her head and took a few steps forward, giving him a hug.

Chuckling weakly, Shikamaru raised his arms and returned the hug. Temari drew back and smiled at him, looking satisfied.

'I thought you weren't the maternal type,' he remarked wryly.

'Don't need to be maternal to be a friend,' Temari replied. They shared a smile before Temari spoke again, opening the car door. 'Come on, let's get lunch. I'm hungry.'

'You have quite an appetite,' Shikamaru laughed, crossing over to the other side of the car.

'It's one o'clock. Lunch time,' Temari said in her defense, 'Maybe you're just used to women who pick at their food and are always on diet. There are those of us out there who enjoy a good meal, you know.'

Shikamaru chuckled. 'I never said there was anything wrong with it,' he remarked, pulling on to the road.

Temari gave a nod. 'Good. Because there isn't.'

'Do you have your wallet with you this time, or am I going to have to pay again?' Shikamaru teased, causing Temari to stick her tongue at him. He laughed.

'It's a wonder you don't get on with kids, you're practically one yourself,' he chuckled.

'I'm going to ignore that,' Temari said airily, looking out the window pointedly.

Shikamaru glanced sideways at her and relaxed in his seat.

'Once this whole messy affair is over, do you maybe want to go out?' he asked suddenly.

Temari's eyes widened and her head shot around to look at him. 'Where did that some from?' she said, the words slipping from her lips in surprise.

Shikamaru shrugged, a small smirk curling the corner of his mouth. 'You're an interesting woman. Beautiful and smart, too, which never hurts,' he added, never quite looking at her, preferring to watch the road.

'You've not even known me for four days,' Temari pointed out.

'And in those four days we've spent almost every waking minute together,' Shikamaru countered, 'And as distracted as I've been, I've noticed enough to decide I'd like to get to know more about you.'

Temari snorted. 'Get to know more of me, more like. Looking for some hands-on learning too, I'll bet,' she muttered.

Shikamaru shrugged. 'If it comes to that, yeah. I mean, that's not my main aim, even though I don't doubt it will happen.'

Temari raised an eyebrow, eyeing him in amusement. 'Oh you don't, do you?'

Shikamaru smirked. 'Well, we're both obviously attracted to each other, so…' he trailed off.

Temari gave a shout of laughter. 'Obviously?' she exclaimed, 'When have I given any indication that I'm attracted to you?'

'Well, it's not so much what you've done,' Shikamaru explained in a matter-of-fact manner, 'But I'm sure you're aware that pupil dilation is a sign of sexual attraction…'

'My pupils have not been dilating!' Temari cried, laughing at his sheer nerve.

'Well, you wouldn't be able to see them, now would you?' Shikamaru returned smartly.

Temari just stared at him, her mouth gaping and a huge grin on her face, small bouts of laughter escaping her. She looked back at the road, biting her bottom lip and shaking her head.

'I honestly for the type to be awkward when asking a girl out,' she told him, unable to stop grinning.

Shikamaru inclined his head. 'I have many hidden talents,' he replied, glancing at her and throwing her a little wink.

Temari's eyebrows flew up into her hairline. 'Oh, look at you, all confident like,' she remarked, looking him up and down.

He smirked again. 'I can assure you my confidence isn't misplaced,' he replied.

Temari gave a yelp of laughter. 'This is a fascinating aspect of your character, Lieutenant,' she told him.

Shikamaru chuckled. 'So how about it, then?'

Temari's smile faded. 'I don't date people I work with,' she said apologetically.

'That's a very sensible habit,' Shikamaru replied, completely defying her expectation when he simply grinned a little wider. 'But once this over we won't be working together any more, will we?' he pointed out.

'Huh.' Temari considered this.

'You're a gorgeous, fascinating woman, Temari, and I'd hate myself if I let this opportunity to get to know you slip away,' Shikamaru said, plying on the compliments.

Temari's lips curved into a small smile, and she tried to keep it small with moderate success. 'Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I can tentatively agree to the arrangement,' she replied.

Shikamaru gave a lopsided smile. 'That's good enough for me,' he said, and pulled in at the restaurant.

'This isn't the date though, Casanova,' Temari warned him as she opened her door.

'Of course not,' Shikamaru agreed, and leaned in towards her, so that their lips were centimeters apart. Temari felt her face heat up despite herself, and Shikamaru smirked, his eyes twinkling directly into hers. His mouth opened slightly and she could feel his breath lightly on her lips.

'I'd never date someone I work with,' he said in a rumbly whisper, sending heat shooting like an arrow into the pit of Temari's stomach, and grinned when she closed her eyes and bit her lip, looking slightly pained and beet red.

'Dilated pupils,' he said, as he climbed out of the car.

'Shut up,' Temari retorted.

-TBC-

A/N: Shikamaru, what has gotten into you? I'm sure I didn't program that into your character! And why does it suit you so well?

I know the chapter is short, but that's because if I put what happens in the next chapter in this one as was originally planned you'd get mood whiplash in the nth degree, as if there wasn't enough of that already. But I'm starting on it now, so it won't be too long.

That whole flirting thing was not in the originally plan. I was going to have a simple date discussion and the scene just ran away from me and all that inserted itself in there (oo-er) and it was totally not my fault. I blame Darren Criss and his amazing voice murmuring in my ear. So yesterday I downloaded Chris Colfer and Darren Criss singing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside', and it's currently playing on repeat, except my one earphone goes funny and static-y when I plug it into the computer so I only have one earphone in and it happens to be the one in which Darren's voice is the main one, so I'm pretty much only hearing Darren, and honestly, even if you don't know who Darren Criss is, even if you don't watch glee, just do yourself a favour and download this song and listen to Darren (he's the one convincing the other to stay). Nothing against Chris, he also did an amazing job, but Darren… at one point he goes 'ooh, your lips are delicious' and just the way he says 'ooh' does funny things to my tummy, it's just so deliciously distracting.

And now because of this song I really want to read bread-and-butter fluff that's just a bit suggestive, and those are kinda hard to find (I think) so I think I'm writing it, and… I'm writing a murder mystery, it really doesn't have a place there. I also really feel like writing HP fanfiction and/or meet a British person who can just talk to me all day, because I adore British accents and turn of phrase, like I heard Alex Day describe Darren (yes, Criss) as 'proper famous' now that he's on glee, and it was just so amazing. And he really is proper famous now- Darren, that is- he went to the NYC Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 premiere and he was listed as a Celebrity Guest, and he was on the red carpet and was interviewed and everything, and he was wearing his Gryffindor tie and it was just so amazing, and he was like 'If I meet Dan tonight, I think my head would explode, so I'm thinking I should avoid him because I like my head not exploding. If you see blood running from my ears, you'll know what happened.' And there's shots of him in the same shot as Tom Felton and then Rupert Grint and it's just like 'There's Harry Freakin' Potter,' and I joined a facebook group yesterday that summed up my feelings perfectly: I feel like a Proud Mama of Darren Criss. To quote Alex Carpenter, 'Our little Harry Potter is all grown up.'

…Okay. Rant over. Please review, it would mean the world.