It was yet another sand storm roaming in the streets of Suna just as she readied to go. Temari threw a cloak on top of herself and strolled outside, rapidly making her way towards the Kazekage HQ, glimpsing around for the Nara boy who she had agreed to meet before going in.

She reached the eastern part of the building and glued herself to the wall, trying to hide from the wind, and subtly grinded her teeth. Shikamaru was late, as always. That guy irritated her like no one else did.

Finally he showed up, sheepishly smiling at her from a distance, doing his best to lessen her anger or at least prevent for more appearing. "Sorry… It took some time attempting to wrap this up." He lifted up a carelessly wrapped bottle of wine, intended as a birthday present for one of Suna's highly respected elders.

Temari suppressed a smile. "Some time, huh?"

The look he gave her was an answer very obvious; the helplessness in his eyes was a little disarming.

Another gust of wind flew by, reminding her they were still outside; Temari pulled out a key and promptly unlocked small doors behind her.

"Hmph… This doesn't really look like the western entrance."

"The main one is under construction so it was announced to use the western one and you're very welcome to go around the building in this weather if you prefer." She waved a key in front of his eyes. "I'd rather use a shortcut. It's a service entrance."

"Where did you get the key?" He lifted an eyebrow.

Temari took off her hood to find out a strand of hair run loose out of her carefully assigned bun, and furrowed her brows, before turning to Shikamaru over her shoulder and giving him a sly smile. "I have my ways."

The room they were in was rather spacious except for many boxes and some kind of transportation machinery in the corners; right in front of them were a translucent door leading to the staircase. Temari crossed the chamber with Shikamaru closely behind her and pulled the handle. However, it wouldn't budge.

"That's weird…" She spoke to herself. These doors have never been locked before.

"So much for you ways, huh?" A mockery from behind her back followed instantly, but she wasn't about to give up just yet. She took a few steps to the right, pushed a dimly lit button, and an elevator door opened, flashing them both with bright white light. Then she looked over her shoulder and didn't even have to say anything; her look was enough to make him smile with acceptance.

It was a service elevator without the usual handles on the walls or mirrors, but it served it's purpose with the buttons on the panels marked from -1 to 3. As they both entered, she pushed the number 3 and calmly waited for the doors to close and the cabin to start moving.

"How about your present?" Shikamaru asked. He was given this bottle from the Hokage to bring to Suna, and an important message to the Kazekage. The latter he took care of in the morning and his only duty now was to be present in this ball for an hour or so.

"Kankurou has a present from both of us." Should have, if he haven't forgotten. "It's an old book with a story of some traveller."

"Nice."

"Yeah, but I doubt if the old geezer will…" A weird sound stopped her mid sentence.

It was coming from the panel of the elevator, a peculiar buzzing that lasted no more than a second before a sparkle lit up behind the metal plate, the elevator shook briefly and stopped moving. The lights went out, and they stood in silence and darkness for a while, having glued themselves to the wall instinctively.

"What the…"

Soon after a small red lamp lit up above their heads. Emergency light. "Fuck." She turned her head to Shikamaru, but regretted the decision instantly as for he was grinning like a fool at her.

"So much for your ways...huh?" He repeated, being on the verge of bursting into laughter.

"Shut up!" Temari grinded her teeth again, flushed about this series of failures that just had to happen right in front of this one's eyes. It felt like every door would have been open and the elevator definitely had worked if only she were alone.

There was a red SOS button on the panel, but as she pressed it - not surprisingly - nothing happened. Everything must have fried in there. Even if it worked she wasn't sure where the signal would go and if anyone would respond.

The thought of having to spend a night in this small space with so-called genius of Konoha who was about to drive her nuts with his amusement motivated her to solve this problem. She was wearing her uniform dress with a usual weaponry, and that came handy. Fixed to her thigh band were a few kunais, and she pulled out one of them and stuck it behind a panel, trying to pull it off.

Surprisingly, not any more mocking voice behind her appeared.

"Careful, there might be some uninsulated wires there."

Perhaps he too got serious upon realizing he was stuck in here with her.

The panel came out of it's screws and fell down, hanging on a few wires. Until this moment Shikamaru was standing motionlessly but now he also came to take a peak. Shikamaru took the metal plate and pulled it off completely, leaving only the wires sticking out of the wall. He investigated the microscheme in the back of the panel before kneeling before the hole in the elevator. Carefully, he took a few wires and tried touching the ends a few times, but nothing happened.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Trying to make this box move… However I think it's all burnt out somewhere a little higher than this panel." He stated, ten stood up looking up and analyzing the ceiling, but there was no opening up here.

"Is there a security in this part of the HQ and how far are we from other people?"

"No. Way too far to shout for help. Trust me, if they were closer I'd already be screaming."

He smiled to himself. "Do I terrify you so much?"

"Wrong word." She puffed, his eyebrow lifting up to her answer and a smirk crossing his lips. It seemed like he knew very well he was getting on her nerves.

Shikamaru pulled out two kunais from a small sack fixed to his hips and shoved those in the gap between the doors. He then tried to push them both in opposite directions but the door didn't move more than a centimeter.

"Can I borrow your tessen?"

Temari unclasped her weapon, curious if what he thought of will work. Just in case she had her kunai ready to shove between the door if they opened just a bit more as he positioned her fan as a leverage. He then continued to press on this mechanism slowly, however one of the kunais slipped away easily way before the doors moved. He tried it again, but to no prevail.

"Well… I think we're really stuck."

These were the words Temari really dreaded to hear. Not because it was very important for her to attend the ceremony - they might be missed, but not by the jubilee as he was too old to remember his guest anyway. It was rather because the night was long and she was forced to share two square meters of dimly lit space with… him. A funny feeling in her stomach rippled with that thought but she let that slip without much analysis.

She watched closely as he sighed, slipped out of his cloak, folded it, placed in on the ground and slumped heavily on it with his back rested against the wall. He gazed up at her.

"Are you going to stand all night?"

He was right. All the possible and failed solutions ran through her head again, ascertaining they were stuck for good. Besides, neither of them had any contacting abilities that could possibly help with the situation. And it was unlikely someone will go looking for her, even more so for him.

She sat next to him on her cloak, staring into the wall in front of her, and sighed. "I didn't want to go anyway."

Shikamaru let out a laugh, a warm, low sound filling the space. "You don't look like you enjoy the alternative way of spending your evening."

"Neither do you."

"Actually, I don't mind." Hearing that Temari lifted her eyebrow, though he probably didn't notice in this dusk. "I just wanted to get drunk."

Temari snorted. "Didn't know you were such a drinker."

"I'm not, it's just that there's not much to do in Suna."

"Not much?" Slight irritation appeared in her voice alongside a jibe. "You mean there aren't enough places for you to lie down and daydream?"

Shikamaru let out a short laugh. "Let's say so."

A short pause followed while both stared into the wall in front of them with a gaping hole. "Actually, there is nothing stopping you from getting drunk. You have your wine." Temari suggested.

Shikamaru gazed at the bottle standing in the corner where he placed it while attempting to make the wiring of the elevator work. He didn't need any more convincing and leaned towards the bottle, grabbing it closer and mercilessly shredding the wrapping while Temari laughed, watching the scene. She couldn't believe what was happening.

"How are you going to open it?" She asked.

"You don't have a corkscrew, do you?" He looked at her with a smile, not really waiting for an answer. He slipped his hand into his pouch and pulled out a kunai.

"Don't tell me you're about to slice the top of the bottle off."

Shikamaru sat up, already targeting the trajectory of the movement of his hand into the neck of the bottle, not even paying attention to Temari's words.

"Don't!" She reached for his shoulder, and he stopped just in time. "I've seen this done more than once and the bottle always shatters."

Shikamaru stared into her eyes as if weighing her words, and in that moment as she stared back at his red-lit face an unwelcome thought crept into her mind, echoing once again somewhere in the depth of her stomach. Those eyes pierced her deeply.

"Well then do you have a better idea?"

"Can't you use your shadow?"

He stared at the bottle in his hands. "I can try."

Shikamaru formed the sign and a shadowy limb appeared. "Technically, it is thin enough to get into even the smallest spaces." He explained, trying to squeeze his shadow between the cork and the glass. She couldn't see it but guessed this is what he was doing, and, it seems, successfully. The shadow limb lifted up, pulling, but instead of pulling the cork out of the bottleneck it pulled the whole bottle up into the air.

Temari bursted with laughter, and as he swung the bottle in the air towards her, looking like a fisherman, she practically cried. She tried grabbing the bottle to help him, but teasing her Shikamaru flung it up, ensuring her laughter wouldn't seize just yet. She looked at him with teary eyes and he too was smiling, making the moment even more ridiculous.

Temari took the bottle and held it with both of her hands while he pulled, but the traction was way too strong despite all the muscle power she put. The bottle only jumped between him and her as they both tried to pull, making her laugh some more.

"Wait." She stopped him. Since they were really serious about opening this wine, it was time to get serious.

Temari was wearing a knee-long kimono type dress that had a slit at one side. She pulled the material sideways, revealing another slit at the other side, and thoughtlessly pulled it back too. Shikamaru couldn't retract his eyes, though he knew he should. However the sight of her bare legs lit in red light was right in front of his eyes, and as her thigh band peaked from under the fabric, his breathing got heavy. He knew he had to take a hold of himself or she would no doubt notice, but nothing helped; especially not the sight of when she placed the bottle right between her thighs and kneeled. Her hands wrapped around the bottleneck as she got ready to hold it tightly, but he still couldn't pull back his eyes. And when he tried, the jumped to her cleavage that now seemed way more open than a minute before.

What have you done, woman.

He gathered himself and looked in her eyes; he didn't know if all those subtly-erotic movements were unintentional and he couldn't think of that right now. All he felt now was not appropriate at all.

"Well, go on." Evident by her voice she caught that something had changed, but still tried to play as if it was all the same. And he joined, obeying the command and not saying anything.

Shikamaru concentrated on pulling and nothing else, though he still saw how Temari strained with all of her four limbs to hold the bottle in place with a little laugh. Finally, little by little the cork moved out until only the last centimeter was in. Shikamaru let go of his shadow jutsu, not sure if he was exhausted from using that or because of suppressing something entirely different in himself, but then he took the bottle from her - the glass was still warm where her skin touched it - and pulled out the screw with his hand.

Wordlessly Shikamaru offered the bottle to her and Temari took a few sips. It was a good, semi-dry wine, still chilly as he must have been keeping it in the refrigerator. After another sip she gave it back with a little smile. "It was too good to give away."

Shikamaru laughed somewhat nervously, leaning back against the wall, and tasted the wine too before taking a big gulp in hopes getting dizzy will make this tension fade. To think of it, it has been a long time since he let out his sexual tension, and what was he doing now? Drinking wine in a small place next to one of the most attractive woman he knew. A very bad decision.

Without looking at her he offered the bottled again and they drunk in silence for a long while. She recognized his need of distance and didn't talk either; however they were close anyway. In 2 square meters of space it was difficult to get far away from each other.

Temari felt the alcohol already kicking in, sighed and relaxed a little more. In no time she'll start feeling sleepy, lie down on her cloak and doze off until the morning when someone will hopefully find them. This was for the better. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall, not bothering to look where is she placing the bottle - and she felt his thigh against the back of her palm, warm flesh through the fabrics, and pulled back quickly, way too tempted to feel more of that warmth.

She didn't feel how he almost jumped at her touch nor saw the careful look he gave her, inspecting what was she doing. Perhaps it was only to him but the tension in the air was unbearable, especially now when they stayed silent.

"Do you think someone will find this elevator stuck tomorrow?"

Temari opened her eyes, inhaling deeply and shaking off the sleepiness before she looked at him with a small smile. "Has my presence became unbearable already?" For as it seemed he got a little confused by the question, she smiled mockingly. "I don't bite, Shikamaru." Even if he did irritate her sometimes, being able to tease him was probably worth it.

He released a little scoff and gulped some more wine. "Is there a way of asking that without getting you to think I hate being with you?"

Temari thought for a second, then decided to fold her legs under her and lean a little sideways, almost resting her shoulder against his. She extended her arm and gently pulled the bottle straight out of his arms, but he wasn't about to give it without her answers. Her face was close to his, close enough he could reach out and kiss her, but she soon displaced the thought with irritation in her eyes and an expression of a spoiled child not given a candy.

With her hand still wrapped against the bottleneck, her fingers slid down to find his hand. Somehow now as she was a little dizzy from the wine, the boundaries of comfortable physical touch shifted greatly for her and she didn't mind one bit the closeness of them. Vice versa, she seemed to want more of it. "As I said, there's a construction of the main entrance." She began, slowly sticking one of her fingers between the bottle and his finger. Shikamaru gulped. "So there will be workers tomorrow who are using the service entrance to collect the utilities they will need." Her finger slid deeper, loosening his grip of the bottle, but he couldn't care less. He was as hard as a rock by then. "And no. I don't think you hate being with me." One swift move and his hands were empty. Temari gave him one sly look before lifting the bottle to her lips.

Without much thought he reached back for the bottle, but Temari made it just in time to grab it with her other hand and swing away from his reach. It was funny at first, but only before she noticed the minimal distance between their faces or that his hand that tried to get back the bottle somehow ended up pressed against her waist.

Heat flushed through her from the top of her head to her toes. He hovered there for a second, but it felt like he gave her no time to react. His hand sneaked up torturingly slowly behind her neck, but she couldn't move, only tremble inside as she followed his lips getting closer to hers. Her insides spasmed.

He pulled her closer bit by bit, but she didn't fight it. He felt heat radiating from her skin and her heavy, laboured breathing, barely different from his own. He couldn't take it anymore.

Shikamaru glued his lips to hers.

She breathed against his mouth, pulling somewhere at his collar to get closer, a bottle forgotten somewhere behind her. Nothing mattered right now, except that tempting heat she felt with his touch, rippling through her skin like a wave. His lips left a wet trail on her neck and as she soon ended up straddling his legs, it took no time for him to travel lower and litter the kisses on her breasts. He grabbed her waist and pushed her down, a soft gasp leaving her lips as she felt him hard against her, her body already trembling with need. With the last bits of sanity left in her head she got her fingers under his clothes and took it off, running her fingertips on the muscular chest.

His hands firmly run up her legs to her behind, squeezing and pulling at the same time, another moan escaping her throat as he grinded against her. She closed her eyes, feeling his fingers releasing her from her clothes layer by layer, feeling her breasts with his bare hands, lips never leaving her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She kissed him on the lips, her chest softly resting against his and he squeezed her waist before pulling away her dress completely. One of his hand sneaked between her legs, under the fabric of her underwear, and she moved against his fingers with a shaky moan. He couldn't resist the temptation and as he slid a finger inside her, the body on top of him threw her head back and seized moving.

With a quick move he had her on her back and as he pulled away to pull down her panties, he took a good look at her. Her lips partly open and breathing heavily, loudly, naked body half-hidden in the shadows of this red light, that somehow only emphasized the beautiful curves. He bent down and kissed her thigh, running his fingers towards her core, softly playing with her skin. A wet trail of his lips slowly travelled up to her most sensitive parts; he didn't stop kissing, and as he gently licked her between the lips her whole body moved spasmodically with a moan. The sounds leaving her throat got heavier and while he still could handle himself he crawled back up, gradually kissing her belly, chest, breasts, neck. Her sneaky fingers took no time to get into his pants and as she wrapped her hand around him, he tensed up with the pleasure of her touch.

The pulsing inside her was insatiable, and Temari wasn't planning on waiting any more. He stripped him of his clothes and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling his hips closer and with the help of her hand finally getting what she craved for. With just a tip in he breathed heavily against her skin and her body tensed up, getting ready. He slowly lowered himself, a sound escaping her mouth even through clenched teeth as he finally slid all in. His mouth found hers and pushed his tongue inside as he moved in and out again, already making her insides squeeze around him.

Shikamaru sat up, positioning himself between her legs, granting himself an opportunity to watch what he wanted to see. Her ecstasy-driven expressions, full breasts moving with his moves, lean waist flowing into round hips, and the way he slid inside her. Her hands grasped the fabric of the cloak underneath her, and teeth bit a sultry lip. She opened her eyes that seemed even more sly in this red light, and with his next move she shouted. He ran his hands up to her breasts, feeling the soft flesh, and hard muscles lower on her stomach. One of his fingers slid right between her legs, softly squeezing a spot right between her lips and her body twisted; Shikamaru began gently brushing it up and down, his finger slippery from her wetness, and watched as her chest expanded with the short, quick inhales, releasing the air with a wail. Merely the sounds she made was enough for him to finish within several more moves; however her walls squeezed him tightly, making the friction unimaginably intense. He averted his thoughts elsewhere, continuing his moves both with his hips and his finger, her screams getting more and more intense with each stroke. He looked at her, and that was it - her mouth open for another lusty moan, half-lidded eyes, hand squeezing her own breast, another placed on top of his, guiding the rhythm, and he lost it - he shoved it inside with all he had several times, making her body jump against his hips and Temari screamed through clenched teeth, her wide open legs now closing in just a little together with her insides squeezing him yet again - and he came, shivering with pleasure for one short moment, slowly and gently moving as his orgasm faded and his seeds spilled inside her.

Shikamaru laid down besides her, trying to regain his breath. His hand sneaked on her hip, feeling the soft skin on top of her slightly protruding bone. He saw in his periphery her chest moving with deep breaths in synchrony with his own.

Temari hoisted up on her ankles and shook her head; her hairdo was undone and soft blond waves fell on her shoulders freely. She still felt sweetly numb after her orgasm, and soon lied back again, this time on her side, facing him. What they had just done hardly reached her consciousness, but she felt her face flush nonetheless. She smiled just as he gazed at her, laughing at her own reaction just now.

"What's so funny?"

"Imagine someone were to find us right now. I bet they'd think we somehow burnt the wiring on purpose."

"I don't even know how to do that." He said, turning to his side too, facing Temari. "However, that might be a useful skill."

"Stopping elevators - useful skill? How's that?"

"Well if I happen to be using an elevator with you again…" He smirked, and Temari scoffed mockingly, but a smile lingered on her face for another second.

I know, I know, a typical and banal scenario of a couple in an elevator, but I just had to. Sorry.

I hope you enjoyed and leave me some comments!

Love,

Cafe