Disclaimer: Naru—Oh, to hell with it!!

1. Mature

Temari, she'd like to believe, was a woman who was mature. Well, not wise, or anything like that, but she, atleast, acted her own age. Not like that Uzumaki or that kid who called him 'boss' or whatever (Why did he call him that?).

She wasn't overly hyper or childish, wasn't so tempered or impatient, and definitely wasn't so idiotic or anything like that. Unlike a lot—if not most—of people around her, she actually thought before she moved. She wasn't as careless or emotional like the others around her.

Imagine her surprise—horrible, horrible surprise—when she was walking towards the gates of Konohagakure, saw the all-too-familiar jōnin was waiting for her, and she found herself feeling jumpy and nervous.

Her heart skipped a beat, her pulse quickened, her fingers became fidgety, her eyes flickered everywhere, she felt the need to feel her hair, her cheeks burned, and she was absolutely, positively giddy. To get to the point, she felt what schoolgirls do when they see they're puppy crushes.

Ah, the wonders love can do to you.

(And, of course, when Shikamaru asked why she hit him on the head when she reached him, she reasoned that it was for the time when he had idly made her act like a complete nervous wreck right infront of Raikage of the Kumogakure (or Village of Cloud).)

2. Rain

Shikamaru jumped on a puddle. His mother smiled as the rainwater splattered unto his coat and hands. He laughed as he splashed on another. The cool cold drops hit his face when he looked up. He stuck out his tongue. His hood fell down and the rest of his head became wet.

He could feel his ponytail drooping. His whole body, besides his chest until his stomach, was wet with the tiny scent of the waters.

Shikamaru always loved rain. He became giddy, and happy, and cheery whenever there was rain. He didn't know why. Everyone knew how lazy and impassive he was, how utterly uncaring he could be (though it was in a bored kind of way). But he'd act different when it rained.

He loved the feel of icy rain dropping on his body. He loved the smell of rain filling his lungs. He loved the little puddles he played with and jumped on. He loved (though he didn't know why, it wasn't good) the taste of it on the tips of his tongue.

Yoshino shook her head with a small smile. "Shikamaru," she called out, "let's go." Then she got young boy's hand.

The latter frowned but trotted away. The hood stayed down and his whole head was soaking wet. He arched it up and tried catching the falling waters again. Yoshino had to tug on him every ten minutes because he didn't bother looking where he was going.

She watched as the houses, the stores, the trees went by. Her hand was holding a big umbrella over their heads, but Shikamaru moved away whenever he felt that it was covering him from the rain. The same hand was also carrying a plastic of groceries. She could hear the clank-clank-clank of the cans.

Their house came into view.

The young woman opened the door while sporting her umbrella between her shoulder and neck. Some of the raindrops hit her body and she hastened. When she heard the click! of the door and turned the knob, her eyes went to her son and she waited patiently.

Shikamaru looked hesitant to go in and didn't move from his spot in the rain. He unconsciously shivered under the rain and looked at the sky, to her mother, and to the sky again.

Yoshino sighed. "Shikamaru, hurry up and get in the house."

Shikamaru gave a rare pout, "But, Kaa-chan..."

She shook her head. "What is up with you and the rain?"

"It's nice!" He bounded to her mother. And as if he decided to add, he said, "When I'm gonna marry a girl, it's gotta rain!!"

She looked oddly at him before shaking her head again. "What if that girl doesn't like rain?"

Shikamaru paused, "Then...maybe we could do it while it's snowing. It's almost the same, isn't it?"

Yoshino laughed, "You're hopeless, Shika-kun."

3. Sand

Their very first kiss was when they were in the dessert.

They were hot, and thirsty, and they still had half an hour before they'd reach their destination.

Shikamaru adjusted his collar. He glanced up to only find that not even a tiny cloud was in the sky, there was nothing to cover the sun.

He was beginning to think that it was like Naruto. Too bright and he'd rather have it that it wasn't there. (Not that he didn't like Naruto. He was just too damn loud for his taste.)

The raven head turned to his right. Temari was suffering a little less than he was. But that was expected, she lived in a dessert, didn't she? She seemed to ignore perfectly well that her whole face was covered with sweat.

And suddenly, he noticed that there was a tiny rock infront of her. He extended his arm.

"Oii, woma—" Too late.

She fell. And brought Shikamaru along with her.

She spluttered out sand from her mouth and tried to sit up. And when she did, she found her mouth against someone else.

It wasn't perfect. Hell, it was probably the worst kiss to have ever been done in the world. It tasted like perspiration and sand, and they were only getting hotter because of the unwanted extra body heat.

But, hey, they kissed. So who cares?

4. Bright

Shikamaru squinted. The night winds were cold and damp, and the grass he was lying down on tickled through his vest and shirt.

They were stargazing. Because if Shikamaru loved cloud watching, Temari loved stargazing. He scanned the sky and tried identifying the stars from the planets, a constellation from another. And, if he really had no idea what the groups were, he would connect a stars together to make shapes.

So far, he's made a picture of a kunai, of a baby (oddly enough), a cloud, a stand and a head protector.

He looked at Temari and saw that her eyes were closed. He was about to shake her when they suddenly opened slowly. She wasn't smiling, but he knew she was content. Her face was peaceful and relaxed.

He turned back to the sky and looked with blurry eyes. He knew the blonde loved stargazing, but this was the first time she actually asked (ordered?) him to go with her. He had never done this before, too. Usually, he'd be sleeping or another. Maybe even filing a few things.

Temari was terribly silent throughout the night. She typically talked a lot about whatever came to her mind. She was talkative, but definitely nothing compared to Ino. Her whole attention now, though, was wholly and solely on the sky and the little glistening dots on them.

"Oii, woman," She looked at him without saying as much as a comeback. "Why'd you bring me with you?"

She blinked for a moment with a curious look in her eyes. She smiled a second later. "No reason."

He nodded slightly before staring at the stars. He noticed that they were awfully brighter than a minute ago.

5. Promise

She was crying, she didn't care that she was crying. Not now, definitely not now.

Her hands kept clenching and unclenching. Her eyes stung and hurt. Her breathing was ragged and loud. Her heart was beating so loudly she could hear its deafening beats, thu-thump, thu-thump.

She bit her lip until she tasted bitter blood.

"Dammit, Nara," she whispered harshly, "you promised."

6. Stone

It felt different, against her skin like this.

She'd never gone to these kinds of places before, never needed to. This was the very first time.

There were times when she'd see people go here, for blatantly obvious reasons. There were other times when she heard of exactly who was here, how people felt just looking at these stones. She hadn't realized how much it hurt.

Even though she hadn't really known him much, hardly ever actually spent some time with him, she felt the pain. Her gaze turned briefly to her companion, his face refusing to be seen—Yes. Just looking at this boy, this young man, his pain (or atleast, maybe half of it) coursed through her body.

She fingered the stone.

Asuma Sarutobi

Yeah, she hardly knew the man. But she knew that this person was almost father to him, was father to him. He shaped him into what he was today, he became his second father.

And that, in itself, made her feel that she also lost a part of herself with him.

7. Home

He felt like running, he was almost there. The familiar tiled roof was coming into view, along it was the rest of the house, the wall, the tiny garden, the windows, the door. He didn't know whether to smile or cry (but he probably wouldn't do that. Who in the world cries in the middle of the road?).

He was five paces away from the house.

He walked faster.

Three paces near.

He could hear the crunches the ground made against his slippers.

Two paces.

He was almost running now.

He reached the door, smooth and wooden. He could feel it on his palm even though it lay idly beside his thigh.

Unsure how he would get in the house, he knocked a little nervously. It felt like hour until the door swung open.

"Nara?"

Shikamaru smiled. I'm home.

8. Snow

Temari laughed, running around the place in absolute giddiness.

She didn't care she acted so childish right now, it was snowing!! She never saw snow.

Shikamaru chuckled at the blonde, her scarf was trailing behind her like a tail (if tails grew on necks). She seemed like a six year old right now.

She, who heard him laugh at her, turned to the ponytailed ninja and giggled. This was her first winter with real snow! Who cares if someone was laughing at her? It was really snowing!!

She grabbed both of his hands and decided to dance—prance would be a better word for it—with him under the snow. She felt like a small kid, doing that, but it was okay, now, because she was experiencing her very first snow. She had every right to act immature.

Shikamaru hadn't had the heart to protest, seeing her so happy and bubbly. He found himself laughing with her sooner than later.

It was her first winter with snow, after all.

9. Beauty

The boy cooed in her arms.

Temari had always had a soft spot for kids, but this one made her heart melt even more than the others did.

She rocked the baby in her arms, smiling oh so gently (Shikamaru never thought she could in such a way before). He made her chest glow and her spirit lift up. She thought that he was an angel, and she hardly ever referred that to someone.

The little bundle closed his eyes, and she rubbed his chin with her finger. His skin felt so soft, so pure. A strand of hair fell between his eyes and she pushed it away.

It seemed—was unfair that this little gem's father was dead. Life was a cruel thing.

She turned to her companion, his onii-san, "He's beautiful."

10. Ruins

Little Temari wrapped the blanket around her closer. She watched as her house—their house slowly burned into ashes and ashes of wood and clothes and metal. The heat of the flames burned her face and the smoke stung her eyes. She could smell the awful smell of things smoldering into bits and bits of useless sand-like pieces.

Her gaze turned to her younger and baby brothers. Gaara kept a hard and solid face. Ever since that betrayal, it seemed as if every emotion was ripped off his heart, pushed back in, then ripped off again for good. Her eyes became sad. He was too little to feel this kind of pain. Much, much too young.

Kankuro looked almost as emotionless as the other. But Temari saw the slight twinge of sadness in his eyes. No matter what, he really was still just a kid. She knew he'd become a much stronger, fiercer, controlled guy as time passes by. But he's still just a boy right now, so he'll still feel like a boy.

She was still just a girl, too. Just barely eleven years old. But she already knew how things worked. How things were for them. So, she stayed there. Looking at the very first and only house they lived in as long as she could remember burn out.

She promised herself then she would always take care of everyone she loved. Because she wanted to and that it was the only thing she could do.

11. Alone

Temari silently drummed her fingers against the wood of her desk.

Unlike most days, there weren't a million things to do. The day was quiet and she could hardly see anything stir. All her paperwork was done and she wasn't needed for anything else. Even the Kazekage wasn't busy today.

Her eyes glazed over her room.

It was times like this when she couldn't stop her thoughts from progressing.

It almost felt lonely like this.

Somehow, she felt tired right now, even though she had barely done anything—atleast compared to the other days—except sit on her chair and proofread some documents. She spun her chair around for a while.

Suddenly she noticed a phone nearby. Picking it up, she dialed a familiar number.

"'Sup, lazy ass?"

12. Waiting

The raven-haired man was tapping his slippers now. God, how long will he have to stand here?

He glanced at the sky for the umpteenth time. A whole hour now?? What the hell was that woman doing?!?

He sighed exasperatedly. He was waiting near a pole at 5 in the afternoon on a hot day, for crying out loud! His gaze shifted around him quickly. Nope, no sign of any blond kunoichis around.

He was about to close his eyes when, in the corner of his gaze, he saw a familiar sand ninja come into view.

He watched her tentatively make her way to him. He didn't bother hiding the annoyance from his face.

"What took you so damn long?!"

Temari realized that he had been waiting here the whole time, and instead of showing her gratitude, she did something she quite normally did when he surprised her. She laughed, of course.

"I told you to head back already. " She rolled her eyes. "You do know how long it takes to go out and buy yourself some decent flour in this place."

13. Smile

Shikamaru glared, albeit a little lazily—but that was expected of him—, at Temari standing infront of him. His hand was clutching the top of his head, he was already starting to feel a lump growing on it. His scowl deepened a bit.

The woman in question only smiled at him in amusement and slight humor. Her hand tapped the paperwork on the table next to her. "Don't go lazing your ass off right when work needs to be done." Her lecture was deceived by the light twinkle in her eyes. "People are waiting, y'know?"

He sighed. Going for the opposing table, his eyes flicked through the papers. In the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Temari still held that small smile in her lips.

Against himself, the corners of his mouth quirked up at this.

14. Drown

Temari moved her legs rhythmically. Up, down, up, down, up, down. She glanced around her. No, it wasn't there. Not there either. It isn't here. It isn't that. It wasn't any of those.

She swam up and took a deep breath and went back down. She thrust her limbs faster and continued to search. Where the hell is it?

She gone deeper and deeper. The ground was almost an arms reach. Not here. She kicked even harder down.

Her eyes widened and she almost let go of the breath she was holding. There! And she moved herself the fastest she could.

And grabbing it, she went back up and breathed loudly. Free styling her way to the shore, she went there gently.

And when she reached it, she hoisted herself up and breathed.

Her gazed went down to her fist and opened it. And right there was a simple chained necklace with a tear of a ruby.

She silently chuckled. You're too much trouble for your own good. Her eyes rose up to the sky. But it's probably because it's that idiot who gave you.

15. New

Chōji watched his friend argue with the girl next to him. God knows what they were fighting about, things like that happened half of the time. And they're comebacks have probably been used atleast one time before now.

Really, those two were a fun pair to watch. They'd bicker one time, and go close and friendly another. Sometimes you'd see the spark between them, and others, you'd swear you'd one day die of the quarrels they fight over and over again. And when their apart each other, you can tell they can't wait until the time comes they see each other again.

He shook his head with a slight laugh. "Oh, just a cup of pork ramen please."

16. Hazelnut

Temari picked up one of the many nuts on the bowl and wrinkled her nose at it.

Hazelnuts. She hated them.

It tasted awful and, if it wasn't almonds (which wasn't in her favorites list either), there would always be those disgusting things. She never really liked nuts before, and out of all of them these were one of the things which she hated the most.

Ino, who was (inconveniently) close by, noticed her intent look on the round thing on her hands and said, "Hey, y'know, it's awfully sweet of you to look at things that have the same color of your lover's"—and Temari, at this point, rolled her eyes and ignored the slight pink in her cheeks—"eyes and somewhat get lost in them. But I don't think it's safe for you to look so closely at the thing before it shrivels up in your gaze."

Temari glared at the said girl when she suddenly realized what she said.

The color of Nara's eyes...

She turned to the nut she was still holding.

Yeah, it did have the same color of his eyes. Slightly lighter and more reddish. But really like his, nonetheless.

Maybe these things weren't so bad, after all.

She propped it up into her mouth-and spat it out almost as soon as she did.

Okay, so they were only good when you look at them.

17. Flowers

Kiseki went to his knees, spread his little arms wide, and got as many flowers in his hands as possible. Standing up, many of them fell to the ground, and he ignored them. He turned to Shika-niisan and ran towards him, even more of the fragile flowers falling. Nii-san was standing a few feet away from him with a small smile in his face and his hands in his pockets. Kiseki stumbled most of the way, and when he reached the ponytailed jōnin, only half of what he had moments ago were still in his hands.

The child disregarded the fact and said, "Nii-san, Nii-san, look! There's so many flowers here!! Kaa-chan will have so many, she won't have to worry 'bout buying more!!!" A innocent bright grin was plastered in his face. "They're so pretty, too, Nii-san! Like Kaa-chan!!"

Shikamaru chuckled and squatted until his head was leveled with the other's. He patted him on the head. "But where will your Kaa-chan put all of them? They all die, too. So you'll only bring more things for your Kaa-chan to throw away sooner or later."

The six year old frowned in thought. He glanced at the bundle in his hands for a moment before looking up again. "Then I'll only bring home five—No-no!! I'll bring home ten so Kaa-chan can have lots of flowers to put in her room, on the table, and in front of Tou-chan!!!" Shikamaru's eyes turned wistful for a moment before he refocused to the young Sarutobi in front of him. They looked so much alike. "But they have to be the prettiest flowers in the whole field! And the very, very prettiest should be for Tou-chan!!"

And so, Kiseki Sarutobi made a big mess by dropping everything he held and looked over each and every one of it and started picking out what he liked the most. Shikamaru stayed in his squatted position and watched the little boy. Over the short amount of time, Kiseki started to look more and more like both his parents.

His hair was a sleek ebony black, shaggy, long, and naturally messy. His eyes were just as vibrant and as red as his mother's were. His skin was tanned, but since he was not too fond of going outside too much, it wasn't as dark as his father's.

Kiseki noticed that Shika-niisan was smiling at him strangely again. He did that sometimes. Kiseki didn't understand why he was smiling like that or what kind of smile it was, all he knew was that there were times Nii-san smiled like that. He lightly shook his head and told him, "Ne, ne, Nii-san, I'll give you three flowers. They're gonna be very pretty, too."

Shikamaru answered lightly, "Why, Seki? People only give flowers to girls and their parents."

The boy laughed giddily, "You give it to Mari-neechan!!! Kaa-chan said you love her like Tou-chan loves Kaa-chan, and Kaa-chan said you should give flowers, and chocolates, and gifts to those people!"

Shikamaru blinked. Kiseki stood up, beautiful, bright flowers in his hands, and went to him to give three dainty blue, red and white flowers. "Make sure you give them to her before they become brown and ugly, okay? Mari-neechan wouldn't like that."

Shikamaru laughed lightly and got the flowers into his grasp. "I'm sure she wouldn't."

18. Beat

So Temari danced.

Step to the left. Now swing back. Glide to the front of your left. Kick to the side. Raise your hand up. Wave your fan to the back. Step three times to the front. Jump to the back of your left. Now to your right.

She smirked at her partner (per se).

Throw a kunai above. Cartwheel to the front of your right. Sidekick about 80 degrees from the left. Skid four times to your right. Swing your fan to your left. And then down. Twirl three full circles.

Her partner fell to the ground, panting with all his might.

She crouched down and her smirk widened. "Can't keep up with me, can ya?"

She snatched something from his pocket and straightened herself. She made her way to a onlooker and threw it to him.

Shikamaru caught it and put it in his bag. "You looked like you had fun."

The smirk became a beam. "'Course I did."

19. Yellow

Shikamaru sighed as he arrived his home. His arms were filled with chocolates of all kinds. Placing them down, he dug his pocket.

Valentine's Day was such a drag.

Click! The ravenhead went to pick up the treats on the ground before going inside. Sometimes accepting everything is not so much of a good thing. It was not also such a good thing to be such a young (part-time, of course) teacher. He could still remember how most of the girls giving her stuff screamed when he'd take their gifts with a curt thank you.

It was even worse that boys gave him stuff, too. Now, don't get the wrong idea. They were for friendship purposes. You'd know how much easier to have an instructor who was only, maybe four to seven years older than one who'd be ten and up. Especially if that instructor's the one who teaches you all the technical stuff like handling weapons, doing jutsus, and all those things.

He dropped the chocolates on the dining table.

Rotating his shoulder blade, he noted that no one was home. Mehh, probably on a date or something.

He entered his room and took out a stack of papers. The weight of the papers didn't help with the fact that his arms already felt like they were going to fall off. He went back to the table.

Sighing again, he dropped the pile and read the topmost paper.

---

Knock, knock.

Shikamaru blinked a couple of times. Knock-knock-knockknock.

He stood up with a groan. The clock blinked 3:57 am. His hand shot up to scratch the back of his head.

He didn't bother tying his hair into a ponytail and his feet stamped on the cold tiled floor. His parents were still probably asleep. His mother wakes up from the range of 4:30 to 5 am.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNO-KNOCK. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Shikamaru hurried to the door. He reached for the door. "What i…"

He turned and looked for anyone. He blinked when he noticed a purple box on the floor. Wasn't Valentine's Day done?

He picked it up. There was a card with a printed Happy Valentine's Day! And from the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw a bob of yellow spiky hair from a nearby tree.

Shikamaru smirked and shook his head. Troublesome woman.

20. Pen

Kankuro blinked when he noticed his sister cross by him again. It had been the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes, and he hadn't moved even before that. And each time she passed, she looked even more panicked than before. He could hear her mutter things like 'where the hell is it?' or 'I can't find it!' and a bunch of other things.

He watched her from the chair he was sitting on, and he observed that she looked in the same places twice (maybe even four times if she was desperate enough) and the second time would be in a much more frantic manner.

Temari kept on nipping on her lip all the while on her search. Her eyes kept moving all over the place just to make sure she was able to look at everything.

"Oii!" he called out, "what's up with you?"

She turned to him with unusual relief and stood up. "My damned pen's lost. Y'know, the one colored grey with that green star on it?" She talked a little too fast he had to make her repeat what she said.

When he understood, he blinked. The one from that Nara guy?

"You mean…that one?" He pointed.

Temari's hand shot up to her hair. Feeling a familiar object in one of her ponytails, she blushed. "Oh…"

21. Mirror

Shikamaru bent deeper down. There was a faint reflection of his eyes, but he stared past it. The only thing he could see was the distorted pictures of rocks and earth and fish and the even dimmer reflection of the sky.

His eyebrows scrunched together. Where the hell was it? He twisted his face and turned his stare to every direction. Only more rocks, more fish, more reflections. In the back of his head, he noted that a stray little brown bird flew by. There were hardly any animals around except for those reptiles, and bugs and isects.

He looked away. "Oii, it's not—"

Then Temari pushed him.

22. Secret

Ino saw Shikamaru walking by. Her eyes flickered back, then to her teammate again. She waited, Shikamaru was such a slow walker. She drummed her fingers on the wall she was hiding behind, and when he was (finally) an arm's length, pulled him towards her and the wall.

The raven head only grunted when he saw who yanked him.

She glared at him for a split second before turning back to where she was looking a while ago. What? Didn't he know what was happening? She knew for a fact that he harbored feelings for a certain someone. Shouldn't he be more updated atleast? Or did he really not care?

She didn't dwell on these questions much, since he hardly ever seemed interested in anything anyway. He probably didn't know. She searched for two familiar hair colors within the crowds.

Aha! Temari appeared from the crowd and pointed a spot to her companion. He said something and she answered. They walked to that place and Ino noticed that it was one of those fancy restaurants that cost half a fortune. The two entered and sat on a nearby table.

Shikamaru didn't bother looking at what his teammate was. This always happened. He'd be out walking or taking a breeze when Ino would pull him out of nowhere. He leaned on the wall and closed his eyes. If it took long enough, he might actually get a nap from this.

Ino shook him awake. Cracking his left eye open, he figured it had only been about five minutes since he'd dozed off. So troublesome...

"What?" Ino pointed to her back and he noticed an all-too-familiar kunoichi laughing and giggling at something a man said. The man was chuckling himself and continued talking.

Shikamaru blinked. And then stood up.

The Yamanaka blinked in return and watched him. It took her a moment to realize he was walking away from the restaurant.

She called his name out. His head turned to her with one of his eyebrows raised. She pointed at the place again. He sighed.

"Apparently, you didn't know that guy over there is a close cousin of hers."

Ino blushed.

23. Stripes

Shikamaru watched as Temari ran through the trees, the winds whipping on both their faces.

She jumped to her left before completely disappearing. He heard a sharp sound of a kick from the general direction she had gone. With his hearing in full blast, a sound of a quick gasp came from there. Then the sound of metal ripping into skin.

She reappeared, a few branches infront of him. Sweat glistened on her neck and he gave a fast turn up and threw four shurikens. The soft sound of a shout satisfied him and he carried on.

He kicked himself harder and it wasn't too long before he found his way to her left. Her eyes flickered towards him in a split second before focusing straight again. In that short moment, he saw the spark of confidence and he inwardly smirked.

This was Temari of the Sand Village. The sun beat down on her through the leaves and left spots of light on her skin. Sweat made her skin sparkle in an unusual, different way. Her distinct enthusiasm practically shone through her face. The smell of sweat and blood mingled on her body.

Shikamaru was entranced.

But then he felt someone from his back and he turned away from the blonde to shoot two more kunais at the ninjas.

24. Endless

Shikamaru placed his companion's head on his chest. He ignored the hair prickling under his chin and neck. The cold dew of the grass had already completely soaked the back of his clothes and he shivered from the even colder feel of the winds on his skin.

Temari softly sighed. She rubbed her face on the warm vest of the boy as she grew more and more tired. One of his hands placed themselves on her head while the other continued to support his.

They were out watching the stars again. Though technically, only Shikamaru was watching. The one who had suggested was currently more focused on falling asleep on his chest.

It had been a long day. Shikamaru remembered how tired Temari looked when she asked him out a few minutes ago. Poor girl had too much to do in her hands.

He stared back at the sky again.

Really, honestly, he would've rather been at home right now. Where there was his bed he could sleep on without wetting his back or feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable. And where the winds weren't constantly blowing on him and making him feel chillier than he really wanted to be.

But… Temari's head shuffled on his body for a moment.

…But… this actually felt nice. Disregarding the facts of discomfort, Shikamaru really truthfully liked this, just lying on the ground, watching the infinite sky. He had to admit, it was almost as fun as watching the clouds.

The blonde stirred again, her face looked up to his. It still held the exhaustion from a while ago, but he saw gratitude and affection now, too.

In a hushed tone she never used, Temari murmured, "Ne, Nara, thanks, kay?" Then her head dropped back down and she nestled closer to him.

Shikamaru inwardly chuckled. Yeah, maybe.

Woot! Finally done. After a whole maybe two months, I'm finally done with this long (my longest!!) fic. I have no idea why I even tried.

…Well, maybe it was because I imagined the first drabble in my mind and I instantly wanted to do something like this…

Anywho, the drabbles weren't actually done in a sequence, I just typed down words for each number and write a drabble if something comes out.

And, if you noticed, Rain (no. 2) and Snow (no. 8) actually have some sort of connection. Actually, I wrote Snow first, and, not knowing how to end Rain, I decided to just go on with the hell of it :D And Bright (no. 4) and Endless (no. 24) are obviously linked, too. Damn though, whenever I'm gonna type something, I usually end up thinking of something that has got to do with water XP. Atleast there's something else I think about.

Oh, yeah, Kiseki's mine and etc. And yeahp, he's gonna grow into a sensitive soft guy :D. Well, that's what you get for growing up with everyone around you making a fuss and not 'toughening you up' enough.

Wo0t!! Longest fic as of yet!!!

Well, whatever, I enjoyed writing this (forgetting the fact I crammed on this thing but it still wouldn't budge), especially when I sorta twist Temari this way or that (sorry if I made her OOC in any way or another, also Shika-kun) :D.

Oh, and guys, I've got a poll, so please vote kay? It's gonna stay there till November 2009.