Disclaimer: the characters don't belong to me. Only whatever imaginary furry animals I think up.

Games.

They came in many forms. There were video games, board games, card games, and those invented by the mind. They were supposed to be a fun and innocent. Designed to pass the time and enjoy the time spent with family and friends.

Unless you have a track record of games causing more trouble than anything else.

Temari could count all the times a game went horrible wrong.

When she was seven and her two younger brothers were six and four they had a game called "The Mummy". It basically involved covering themselves with a sheet or blanket and trying tag the other siblings.

Unfortunately one night the three siblings played in the dark and Kankuro tripped over the blanket and landed on the ground. He ended up with a sprained wrist. Temari, being the oldest, received a lecture and a spanking. They didn't play that game again.

Fast forward a few years and the three siblings got their first gaming system.

It probably wasn't a good idea to begin with since they didn't share very well. The gaming system just brought out more of their selfishness and competitiveness. One day Gaara and Kankuro were playing a fighting game. The loser was supposed to give up the controller to Temari but Kankuro couldn't believe his little brother beat him, again.

So Temari snatched the controller.

A brawl broke and a controller went flying in the air hitting the TV. The screen cracked and turned black. The three siblings ceased all fighting and stared in horror at the broken TV. They all panicked and began to blame each other. Another brawl broke out.

Baki came home and was not pleased.

Needless to say all three children were punished.

When Temari was thirteen, Baki thought it would be a good idea for his adoptive children to play Monopoly. It wasn't a complicated game and he thought the children would get bored about 30 minutes into the game.

He was very wrong.

Property was bought and hotels placed. Temari got two bad dice rolls and ended up give Kankuro half her money. Kankuro taunted and gloated at her bad luck. Temari just started her puberty cycle and her hormones were all over the place. So she quickly lost her temper and tackled her little annoying brother. The coffee table was turned over and many pieces of the game board remained lost to this day.

A few months after that Gaara pranked his hormonal sister and told her that he erased all her saved game data off her memory card. Temari saw red and chased him out of the apartment. After she successfully landed a punch to the gut she locked him out the apartment.

The next door neighbors took in Gaara until Baki came home from running some errands.

Once Temari started high school, Baki and her siblings moved to a new city. So naturally going to a new school sucked. She found herself friends with the "gang" of the school. She didn't realize it was a big deal until her biology lab partner Tenten told her.

Sometime after that she befriended the bun haired girl. She slowly transitioned from hanging out with the gang of the school to more normal people.

By normal she meant people who made fart jokes and ate pizza at midnight.

She still occasionally hung out with the older kids.

Her sophomore year was the year she lost a game of truth or dare.

Hidan was throwing a party at his house and invited Temari. She was skeptical but he demanded she go by saying, "don't fret your fucking head blondie. Invite your loser ass friends too. It'll be a bitch ass night! But I'm not responsible for any of their asses or yours. Not matter how hot."

So she stretched the truth to Baki about where she was going. She also paid her brothers 50 bucks each to keep their mouths shut. Naruto couldn't keep his shut so he blabbed to the whole school he was invited to the "kiss ass upper classmen party!"

So she went with her new growing group of friends.

There was drinking, dancing, and of course games.

Her friends for the most part stayed away from the drinking. They danced the night away and couldn't resist playing some of the games. Truth and dare being a very popular game of the night, so naturally Temari was also enticed to play.

Sasori dared Deidara and Temari to do a 7 minutes in heaven sort of deal in Hidan's room. Temari didn't see the big deal, she's kissed boys before. So she and Deidara went off and made out. She came back out after fixing her hair and straightening her shirt.

She rejoined the party but noticed her friends giving her funny looks.

Tenten pulled her aside. "I can't believe you did that!"

"Relax nothing happened."

"Not that!" Tenten scanned their surrounds, "Shikamaru is really upset."

Temari figured he was just worried she was in a room with an older guy. She rolled her eyes, "it was just a dare."

Ino came barreling through the crowd to reach them. She was also very upset. "Do you know what you just did!?"

"Make out?" Temari still couldn't see what the issue was. It's not like she had sex for crying out loud.

"You stupid blonde!"

"Excuse me?" Temari began to lose her temper

"He likes you!"

Temari felt the world stop moving. Only one thing was going through her mind, "huh?"

"You idiot. I swear the both of you are hopeless." Ino cried out dramatically. "He likes you! Has since you moved to our school."

Well crap.

Now she went off to try and amend that friendship. She found him outside the raging house sulking. She stood next to him and waited for him to say something. He chose to voice his frustrations.

"I know Ino told you. You don't have to be here. I get it."

Temari didn't like being left out of the loop. Her patience was running thin. "Do tell what you get. Because five minutes ago we were all enjoying ourselves and no one was butt hurt."

"Don't you mean seven," Shikamaru spat.

"You know what? If you're going to be like this then fine. I'm going back to the party and you can do whatever the fuck you want."

Temari stormed back into the house. She proceeded to dance with whoever she wanted. She almost took a drink from a random guy when Tenten pushed the cup away.

"Hey!"

"Would you knock it off? Shikamaru went home walking. Walking! We all came together and he couldn't wait because he knew he pissed you off. Good god woman can you please go make up with him? We're worried."

Temari groaned. Games just weren't meant for her to play.

She pushed through the crowd and ran out to find the idiot. She didn't have to run far seeing that Shikamaru was still a lazy guy. Once she caught up to him she punched his arm.

"You're an idiot. Why would you walk home? Are you crazy!"

Shikamaru glared at the sidewalk. "Shouldn't you be having fun with your other friends?"

"You're that upset that I kissed Deidara?"

"Ino told you how I felt didn't she? Wouldn't you?"

Temari sighed. "Let's try again. Yes I kissed him. It meant nothing."

Pause. "Have you liked any of them?"

"They're handsome yes, but that's it. Nothing more nothing less."

"What about me?" Shikamaru asked nervously.

"You're my friend. Believe it or not I do care about you."

"But not the way I feel about you."

Temari took a minute to think. Did she like him? She never really thought about it. "I'm not sure."

Shikamaru perked up. "Could I take you out?"

Temari didn't see any issue with that request. "Why not."

She never saw Shikamaru grin so happily before. She lost twice that night.

Then there was the Taboo fiasco about a year later. Temari liked to push that memory to the back of her brain. Games just weren't meant for her to play. But did she learn? Or listen to her nagging part of her gut that told her to stay away?

Of course not.

Where would the fun be if she stopped playing games?

So here she was. A college graduate living in a small apartment. About two months living on her own Temari found herself the owner of a four year old Great Dane named Hank. He was tied to a light post near her apartment building. At first she didn't think much of it but after coming home late from a girl date with Tenten, he was still out there.

He was a giant. His ears were cropped and his coat was white with black blotches. She later found out the coat color was named Harlequin. He had a pink nose and one of his eyes was blue while the other was dark. Temari cautiously approached the giant animal. His head reached her breasts and Temari really thought he was part horse.

So there she was out in the dark at 2am trying to not get eaten alive by an animal. He accepted her help and Temari was now the proud owner of a giant couch potato. He literally took up all of her living room space with her barely fitting on the couch.

Her life now had a little excitement. Every time she walked down the street with Hank people were always stopping them to pet her dog. She didn't mind at first but after a few days she grew irritated with all the unwanted attention. Yes she had a giant dog but this wasn't the circus!

Tenten thought it was all hilarious.

"I mean look at him. His paws are the size of Neji's hands!"

"He's a dog not a monster." Temari replied annoyed.

"He's bark sounds like a bomb exploded." Tenten was in tears from laughing.

"It does not," Temari bit back.

Neji had come home very tired that day. He opened the door and took one step into his and Tenten's shared apartment when Hank let out a bombing bark. Caught completely off guard, with his tiredness not helping at all, Neji stumbled back and landed on his ass.

Temari bowed her head to try and hide her red face.

Hank continued to make "whoofing" sounding barks to warn Neji about his unannounced entrance.

Tenten was on the ground laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face. She clutched her sides while gasping for breath. She felt no ounce of remorse to her dear boyfriend who was probably suffering a sudden heart attack.

Her cat Nightfall watched on unimpressed. His tail flicked in annoyance and if a cat could roll its eye he would have. Having enough of the commotion Nightfall walked silently toward the giant animal. He hopped next to him and pawed his face, essentially slapping him.

Hank let out a startled yelp and scrambled back. Knocking over a tiny side table and a lamp as Hank tried to escape the tiny devil. Nightfall hissed and climbed the drapes of the window.

"Temari!"

"Hank!"

Neji and Temari cried out in unison.

Tenten continued to laugh until she couldn't breath and was red in the face. She didn't care about the minor damage done to their furniture. This was hilarious!

After that lovely introduction Neji kicked Temari and Hank out of their apartment for a week. They were only allowed back because Tenten said she would withhold sex if her best friend and her horse weren't allowed back. Neji reluctantly gave them a pass. After all he pretty much gave Tenten whatever she wanted.

Where was Shikamaru, her high school sweetheart, during all this?

He was in the most northern part of Konoha working.

Temari would be lying if said she didn't miss him. When they went off to college they decided to "break up". It was mutual but they still were hurt at the separation. They knew school would take up a lot of their time and they would meet new people. They still kept in contact throughout the years but as new partners were introduced they stopped talking. They knew moving on would be hard and talking about new partners made it much more painful.

Luckily for Temari she still had her brothers and Tenten to keep her company. Neji sometimes was considered a friend when he wasn't in a pissy mood. Now she had a huge dog that barely fit in her apartment to keep her warm at night. She'd prefer a man but she took what was given to her.

Tenten and Neji were the cliché couple. They stayed together through high school and college. When they all graduated Neji asked Tenten to move in with him. Of course when Tenten told Kakashi that she would be living with another man he fainted. He still hadn't completely forgiven them for the Taboo incident.

They were the couple that was "so cute it was disgusting". Temari was happy for her friends but sometimes it got a little annoying when Tenten told her every aspect of their relationship. Temari loved to hear embarrassing stories of a domestic Neji but she didn't need to hear about it every day. Their sex life was another thing Temari didn't want to hear about. There were times when Temari couldn't be in the same room as the man for pictures began to form in her head and she would feel nauseas.

Sometimes she wondered if that made her a bad friend.

So her life went on as normal. She went to work, occasionally flirted and or went out for drinks with coworkers, annoyed her brothers, and sometimes would have dinner with her best friend and moody boyfriend. Now that she had Hank she now added going to the dog park on her list of normal things to do.

Today she was at the dog park watching Hank run gracefully with the other dogs. She sat on a bench watching her gently giant run away from dogs that were the size of his paws. Temari surfed the web as she waited for Hank to trot back to her.

Tenten had sent her a text asking her to come over immediately. She didn't give any more details other than "get your ass here now! It's a code red! No code sun!"

Temari had no idea what that meant but she could sense the urgency of the message. She stood and whistled loudly. Hank skidded to a stop and galloped toward his new owner. Temari hooked him up to his leash and quickly got into her car and drove to Tenten's place.

Once she arrived Tenten threw the door open and dragged her and Hank in.

"What is-"

"Shut up and look!"

Tenten shoved her hand into Temari's face. Temari grabbed her wrist and pushed it out of eyes. Once she regained her vision Temari saw a ring.

With a giant rock in the center.

"Holy shit!"

"I know! I still can't believe it!"

Temari allowed herself to be girly for a moment and she squealed with Tenten. They jumped up and down before completely gushing about the proposal and her reaction. Hank got over the excitement and found a spot on the living room floor. He lied down, stretched out his long legs, and settled down for a nap. Nightfall was hiding from all the commotion in the bathroom.

"I mean I knew he was working a lot but I just thought he wanted to advance faster. This was the last thing on my mind. I mean we just moved in together!" Tenten sighed and fell back onto the couch, "but god damn I love that man."

Temari smiled and hugged her best friend. "I'm happy for you guys."

"Don't make me cry lady. I'm saving the tears," Tenten joked.

"Deal. But you have to tell me your reaction."

"I completely blew him off when he said 'marry me'. I thought he was just playing a game but then I went to the room and saw Nightfall with the ring around his neck. I was in shock! Neji got down on a knee and took Nightfall with him. You should have seen it Temari! He looked so cute holding Nightfall to his chest!" Tenten swooned.

Temari pictured Neji holding the cat to his chest. She laughed at her mental picture.

"Of course you will be my maid of honor."

"Only if you don't turn into a bridezilla on me. I swear I will knock you out if you start demanding unnecessary things or miracles."

"Don't worry about that. Neji is currently in talks with Hinata about the wedding so if anything we won't have to lift a finger." Tenten waved away the comment.

"Is that fair?" Temari questioned.

"Trust me we can try and help but they will not take it. Quite annoying sometimes."

"Geez I wonder what that's like."

"Don't get smart with me."

"Make me."

"I will!"

"I dare you!"

Temari stuck around for dinner. Neji came home to the savory aroma of Tenten's cooking. Since everyone was in a great mood, Temari gave the future husband a hug. Neji accepted the gesture and told her that he was glad that she would be celebrating with them.

Tenten grew emotional with that honest statement. Normally Temari and Neji were civil on good days but today there were no death glares or snide remarks. Tenten got teary eyed and Temari threw a pillow at her. Temari was not going to cry today.

Neji reverted back to his old self. "Never mind you're uninvited to the wedding."

"Hey!"

"She's my maid of honor!"

"Then pick someone else."

All three went back to their original selves. Temari and Neji glared and insulted each other. Tenten would whine and smack both players for not considering her feelings about the situation. Hank took advantage of the distraction and ate off their plates. Nightfall again grew annoyed with the loudness and silently made her way out of the kitchen and to the bedroom.

After a glass of wine all party members calmed down significantly. Neji re-invited Temari to the wedding so long as Hank was nowhere near the preparations or the actual wedding. Temari should have been offended by the notion but she knew Hank didn't know how to handle his huge size.

She agreed.

Once she and Neji patched things up Temari and Hank went home.

Settling in to bed Temari stared at her dark ceiling. Hank was already stretched out and snoozing away. She was happy about Tenten and Neji's engagement, she really was. But now she thought back to her ex-lover Shikamaru.

What was he doing?

Was he invited to the wedding?

Was he happily in love? Or possibly married?

Did he miss her like she did him?

Suddenly feeling very sad Temari rolled over and felt for Hank. She found his neck and snuggled up to him.

Unknowingly in a far part of Konoha, Shikamaru was also similar thoughts swirling in his brain. He still kept in contact with his high school friends and Neji was one of them. One of the main reasons he kept in contact with him was to ask about how Temari was doing.

No matter how much time passed he was still in love with her.

Now he was invited to the wedding and Shikamaru began to plan. His first step: find new work back in his home town. Second step? Find the courage to seek out his troublesome woman.

How troublesome.

Think of this as the third installment of Taboo. Don't worry this shouldn't pass more than two or three chapters max. Not much is happening but that will change I promise. Do tell me what you guys think!

Review!