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Of Firsts...

Shikamaru's first date with Temari was the most undatish date in the history of human kind.

Or at least that's what he thought, and couldn't help to feel extremely troubled by it.

Sure he supposed he sort of saw it coming somehow. Meaning, It going very badly. After all, Temari was hard to handle, had little patience and was quick to blow you away with her Tessen if you somehow displeased her. But he didn't imagine that the one who'd actually made everything so awkward would be him and him alone.

He had asked her out after she saved his ass again, and afterwards, they spent three months apart because duty called, and she was away in Sunagakure. He was way too anxious about the whole thing. Thinking how in hell was he going to approach her once again. He didn't think he could be brave enough to actually ask her again to go out with him.

The entire thing was very troublesome and Shikamaru wondered if his brain was alright, because why in the world would it put him in such a maddening situation? To make matters worse, word got spread out and his friends kept asking him when was his girlfriend coming back from Suna, at which point he would tell them she wasn't his girlfriend, at least not yet. Not that it mattered to them, since they kept making fun of him. Shikamaru just thought his life was troublesome in general.

The first date per se they had, he had been beyond nervous. He saw her after three months when he was approaching the Hokage office. He didn't even know she was in town. He was about to knock on Kakashi's door when said door opened and he was face to face with his crush. He felt himself blush crimson and looked at her, she was beautiful as always, wearing a dark blue dress and the two blond ponytails that Shikamaru found rather cute and sexy at the same time. Her cheeks were tinted with a slight blush making her look adorable. Shikamaru was full on blushing now, and he wondered if she could see it, but realized he was more worried about her hearing his rapid heartbeat than how he looked. He came to his senses when he heard her voice actually talking to him.

"Are we going to that date you asked for now?" She asked him rather bluntly and Shikamaru found himself dumfounded.

Now?

Like...

Right now?

He wasn't mentally prepared, he had gone to the Hokage's office to deliver some documents, he wasn't expecting Temari to ask for the date he owed her out of the blue. He was so surprised he was pretty sure his brain short-circuited. His hands started to shake and all the documents in his hands promptly fell on the floor. He heard someone laughing and saw Kakashi having the time of his day watching his discomfort. Perfect, just when he thought he couldn't be more embarrassed. Temari helped him lift all the papers.

"Are you alright?" She questioned him with a curious look. He rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.

"Yes. I wasn't expecting you to be so...blunt" he told her. She looked at him amused.

"Would you rather I beat around the bush?" She asked him back, and he thought it through, pondering her question seriously. After all the nerves he went through the last three months wondering how it would go and how to ask her when he had her in front of him, he realised he rather liked her being so upfront. At least now the cat was out of the box.

"No...you are right." He answered and with a face he knew was as red as a tomato, he asked her "do you want to go and have lunch now?"

He wondered while processing the conversation why was he asking this woman out at all? She was harsh, unendearing, short tempered, just...terrifying. What in hell was he thinking?

Temari gave him a toothy smile at him and nodded.

Okay, that's why.

Shikamaru had to admit, he had a soft spot for those smiles' in Temari's face. It would brighten up all her features giving them an ethereal aura he was absolutely besotted with. Truth be told, he fell for that smile after she saved him from Tayuya. He gave a smug Kakashi all the papers and proceeded to get out of the office with her in toe.

They walked side to side to the restaurant, and he was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her. Yes he was nervous still, but it was kind of nice and natural. That's when he realized that without him noticing they have been talking about work and unrelated stuff. It didn't feel like a date at all, on the contrary it was like every other lunch they had been having for the last seven years.

Before he could be properly depressed about it though, their lunch had already ended and they were back in the office building to continue with their respective works.

"How come you are here and I didn't know about it?" He asked her truly curious since he didn't remember a time where he wasn't informed about her arrival.

"Oh, I am just passing by. I have to go back to Suna Tomorrow. I stopped to deliver some Union papers to the Hokage from Amegakure and then I'll leave. I just wanted to have a good night sleep before heading back home" she informed him while they were heading back to the office. He pondered her last statement and his stomach dropped.

Home.

Yes, Sunagakure was her home. Suddenly he realised that in all his mind ramblings he haven't thought about the fact that she was so far away almost all the time. He saw her what? Five, six times a year? How could they have a relationship under such circumstances? And what would happen if he decided he wanted her as a wife? Would he have to move to Suna? Would she move to Konoha? It didn't seem fair for either of them to have to give up their homes and family. Was it worth it?

His mind was truly driving him nuts now, but then just when they were about to part ways, he felt Temari patting him in the arm bringing his attention back at her.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking" he said and halfheartedly smiled at her. She stared at him intently for a full minute and then turned around. Before reaching her embasador's designated office though she turned around once again and fixed her stare on him.

"Shikamaru, For once in your life don't over think it" She ordered and then smiled at him, with that beautiful smile he was always crushing on. With that, she entered her office and closed the door.

Shikamaru figured that,

If anything...

That smile was sure as hell worth it.

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Their second attempt at a proper first date was actually a disaster and a complete misunderstanding.

It was Naruto's wedding and he was wreaking his brain trying to find a suitable gift, then she was there, Choji left them alone, and somehow he ended up going with her to check on possible Onsens for the honeymoon gift. He didn't clarify all this with her of course making her believe that apparently he was actually trying to make her go there. With him.

Alone.

Just the two of them.

Now, after the whole ordeal ended and having thrown light on it with her about the entire thing, he was back at home lying in bed thinking about today's events. He couldn't believe she would think something like that.

Sure, he would actually love to do that with her...but wasn't it too soon?

They haven't even kissed yet.

They haven't even had a proper first date for god's sake!

It was a nightmare. This whole thing. He wondered for the hundred time, what in hell was prompting him to give up on a peaceful life for this uncertain and overall plain trepidatious one. Like literally, he was skittish all day, his palms sweated like crazy and his heart and ribcage thought that playing ping pong was the cool thing to do. Not to mention his stomach and how it would literally quiver whenever she was near. How? Why? Why would he do something like this to himself? He didn't really get it. Her smiles where beautiful, but this was way over the line.

And every time he tried to get away from it and thought his lazy soul wasn't that brave and wanted to just give up,

He just couldn't.

Whatever it was...this crush of his...was stronger than anything else he had ever felt before.

He was annoyed though...

He was a tad offended that she would think he would disrespect her like that and actually prompt her to a hotel when they had only had two dates who didn't even amount to one proper date, and it deserved to be mentioned the fact that the second date was totally an accident on top of a disaster, it wasn't even planed for crying out loud!

If Shikamaru thought it coldly they had only had one date that wasn't a date at all.

Well...maybe one and a half.

Why did it bother him so much anyways? He rubbed his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was two in the morning and he wasn't able to sleep. That troublesome woman had been stealing his precious sleep for months now.

He abruptly realised that she actually accompanied him there, even if she didn't know it was for Naruto's wedding, she actually went with him to the Onsen. Yes, she eventually said that she wasn't ready and ran away from him.

But still...

She went there with him.

"I might get caught in the mood"

That was what she said, wasn't it? Did it actually mean that she had been thinking about them in that way? And most importantly, there was a mood to get caught in then. That last thought gave him some confidence.

He had to admit, the prospect of having her like that made the back of his neck full of goosebumps and his skin felt tingly just by imagining how her skin would feel against his own. His cock was actually jumping more than eager to follow through such fantasies.

He sighed.

In the end, he figured he should go through the dating thing by proper steps.

The first step was actually making their dates more Datish.

The second was to initiate body contact.

The third would be to kiss her.

Then he would see how the whole thing went.

After coming up with that strategy, he felt pretty confident. Shikamaru loved to plan. With his mind more at ease he finally fell asleep.

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The first time Shikamaru held Temari's hand, was actually the following day.

It was just the morning after he came up with his brilliant plan. He woke up at six, had breakfast, and got ready to go to Temari's hotel. He knew she'd left with the first rays of sunrise, so he waited for her just outside her room, yawning all the while and halfheartedly noticing that he had gotten lot less lazy when it came to her.

She went out ready to leave and smiled at him, obviously having expected his arrival.

They started walking leisurely to the gates of the town. He braved on, reached out and held her hand. Neither said anything. Both with soft smiles adorning their faces. When they reached the gates and it was time to say goodbye. He wondered if it would be alright to kiss her before they parted. Then with a sudden panic he realised he had absolutely no idea how to kiss a girl at all. He got so edgy by that thought, that he hoped his hand wasn't sweating too much.

"This is me" Temari said and stopped to say goodbye to him. She turned around and stared at him expectantly but like the coward he was, he took a step back and scratched his head embarrassed. She smiled at him knowingly and turned around once more, this time to leave.

Shikamaru didn't want her to leave just like that. Sure they had held hands and that was a huge step but it just wasn't...

Enough...

"Is it alright if I write you?" He asked her shyly. She raised her eyebrows surprised at his request. They have never done that before but Shikamaru deduced that if they spent three quarters of the year apart he needed a form of communication with her, after all, after everything that had happened recently he didn't think he was going to survive months upon months of uncertainty.

That's when Shikamaru came to the sudden realisation that he was way more invested in this than he thought.

"Why?" She asked him and Shikamaru wished she could give him a break, she knew why already, why was she making it difficult for him? Troublesome woman.

Shikamaru valiantly fixed his eyes on hers, "You know why Trouble"

"Trouble? Is that my new nick name?" Temari was fully smiling now, clearly enjoying their little bantering game.

"Might as well be" he replied while grinning at her also. He felt all tingly and his heart was beating rapidly against his chest. Giving his whole being a warm feeling all over "God knows you just bring me trouble" he added with a serious bored face faking being annoyed. He too was happily enjoying this.

She laughed out loud at his response and said while staring keenly at him, "Aren't all girlfriends like that?"

Shikamaru gulped and forcedly swallowed the sudden knot of nerves in his throat. Was she really saying what he thought she was saying? It sounded like a dream he didn't know he had came true.

"Yes they are" he answered and he was smiling so hard right now, he thought he might as well die from happiness and relief.

She winked at him and started to walk away ready to leave, "See you crybaby".

"Can't you at least give me another nickname!?" He yelled at her back, too happy to be really annoyed by this. Her laughter was his answer.

He waited until he didn't see her anymore. Then, he marched to the Hokage's office building to work. He kept glancing at his hand and could still feel the warmth Temari's hand had, how soft it was and how he felt like never letting it go.

He wondered if it was normal to feel all jittery by just some hand holding but well he figured they had advance more in the last three months than in the last seven years.

She now was his girlfriend after all.

Girlfriend.

He couldn't believe it.

That full on grin didn't left him the entire day.

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The first time Shikamaru wrote a letter to Temari he pondered about what to write for four days straight.

In the end, after starting and tearing apart fifteen scrolls, he remembered her telling him to not overthink it, so he just decided to throw caution to the window and actually write everything that came to his mind, sending it as soon as he finished it before he could think better of it and regret it.

Troublesome woman,

How have you been? I have been working my ass off. I bet you will be happy to know that I am not allowed to cloud watch often. I am required for absolutely everything around here. Sometimes I wonder how in hell did I end up here. But then, I remember that I want to preserve peace so the future is bright for the next generations and the lazy people of the world. I guess that's my real goal.

Anyhow, not much has happened to me since you left. Just work and oh! Ino is dating Sai. I am not going to go into details of how weird that couple is, but who am I to judge? To each their own. I did find myself a troublesome woman so...

Anyway, when are you coming back?

Always yours,

Shikamaru Nara.

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Dear Crybaby,

I have been good thank you, also with my hands full of work. It seems we both have the same goals then. I also want to protect this peace. Not really surprised you are including the lazy people of the world, it actually made me laugh. Speaking of lazy, I wonder what you feel about going cloud watching with me sometime? I always wondered why did you find it so alluring, and truth to be said I tried doing some cloud watching here, but there aren't many clouds in Suna. Star watching though...It's beautiful. You would love it, maybe too much and it would end up with me kicking your ass to get to work.

My brothers are well as well, not much changes there. Typical politic intrigues, assassination attempts and rebel groups here and there. I do worry about Gaara though, he is more innocent than people give him credit for.

Isn't Sai the one who tried to kill you in the City of Silence?

Should I be worried?

Always yours,

Your troublesome woman.

P.S. You should be happy you are needed. That means you play a pivotal role for this peace.

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Dear Trouble,

I am quite pissed. I know you have been informed already. I am to stay here for the first part of the Chunnin exams and you are to take care of the second part there in Suna. I was truly hoping seeing you though, so this comes as a total drag.

It's not like I miss you or anything. I was just expecting to see your troublesome self during the exams. Maybe grab a bite or something or star watch, it did sound interesting when you said it. Hope you let me indulge in that when I go there.

Is it unprofessional to ask for vacations? I know that we are in the middle of creating treaties and formalising the peace we worked so hard for. But at the same time, we are humans right? Shouldn't we be allowed some time off? Some days I am so exhausted I feel like giving up. Then I remember how your slaps feel and I pull myself together.

Wish you were here to slap some sense into me though.

Always yours,

Shikamaru

P.S. I think I should be the one that worries, assassination attempts? Like really?

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Dear Shika,

Stop complaining crybaby. It is what it is. Someday our goal will be more stable and you will have time to cloud watch and rest a little. Don't worry.

I am quite annoyed about the whole thing with the exams as well. I did find an amazing spot to star watch that I bet you would love. I guess we will have to be patient...

Yes assassination attempts, nothing we can't handle. That's why I want this peace so much. The stronger it is, the safer my brother will be.

Also, it's not like I miss you or anything either, but I have been feeling a little lonely here. The proctor job is nice and all, but this time around I can't seem to be bother with it honestly.

Hope you are okay and thank you for the sweet chestnuts. I was actually surprised about the gift, didn't peg you as the romantic type. Not that I am not flattered...Anyhow see you soon Shika.

Love,

Trouble.

P.S. I miss slapping you too.

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Dear Trouble,

Yes, patience. For someone like me it should be a second nature thing, but for some reason I can't seem to gather enough of it lately. I even asked Kakashi some days off to go see you after the Chunnin Exams, but the bastard told me he couldn't go without me right now. So yes, I am stuck here.

I like to know you worry about family. Seems like you put it before anything. I can't help but admire and respect you for that. Sometimes it surprises me how different you are from your public persona.

And you, Temari of the Sand, not taking a job seriously? Colour me shocked. Maybe you miss me more than what you want to admit Trouble. I also liked the box of muffins you sent. Some where a little chaffed so it made me wonder if you had made them yourself, then I laughed my ass off knowing that you wouldn't bake something even if your life depended on it. But I wanted you to know, in case they are homemade, they were wonderful so thank you.

Love.

Shika.

P.S.: I like my new nickname, it certainly suits me better than crybaby. I always thank God for the small mercies he gives me when it comes to you troublesome woman.

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Dear Shika.

Don't get too cocky about the nickname, I can change it back to crybaby any time you piss me off anyways.

Not much has been going on around here. The Chunnin exams are over, and I have been working on a new project involving the construction of several factories around the wind country. I want to increase the work offer for civilians and encourage the development of smaller poorer areas. The wind country as a whole is not rich at all, but we are overflowed with labor force, so my idea is to create a system where other countries bring the raw materials here and we develop the products in our factories. Of course that means that I have to create a new set of commerce treaties and go on diplomatic meetings to actually put the whole thing in motion, and that includes the Daimyo who let me tell you is a lascivious pig.

About the family thing...of course it's important. We took a lot of years but we are finally in a place where I feel I can fully say without any doubt that I care about my brothers. My father did a number on us, but thankfully we came out of it at last, and we can call each other a family now.

I didn't say I wasn't taking my job seriously, I just meant I can't be bother to care about the Chunnin exams right now. They are different things crybaby! See? Back to crybaby.

Anyhow, hope you are okay and hope to see you soon.

Love,

Trouble.

P.S.: I liked the flowers, don't know how you managed to deliver them fresh considering the distance. You are quite resourceful aren't you?

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Trouble,

You didn't say if the muffins were homemade or not. So I am assuming they are considering you are ignoring my question completely. Thank you for the new batch. I like the exotic flavours, unfortunately Naruto and Kakashi ate half of them when I wasn't looking. Troublesome. They did say they loved them and they want more. You would be proud to know I hit them in their heads.

I am quite astonished about your whole development plan. It sounds promising and I bet if someone can do it it's you. We should talk about it more, since Konoha has several greenhouses and we would be very interested in providing the raw materials you need. As you well know, we lack civilians o take on those jobs, so I think it would be actually a very productive idea to make both countries grow exponentially. I am a tad surprised I didn't come up with it though. You truly amaze me woman.

By the way, you just need to say the words and I will handle the Daimyo.

Love,

Shika.

P.S.: When do I see you woman? It's been two months!

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Dear Shika,

I know you miss me crybaby, so don't make a hissy fit.

Thank you for your swift approval of my project by the way. I have no idea how you managed to have your elders and Kakashi on board so fast. You will be happy to know that Suna's counsel and Gaara have actually endorsed your suggestions as well, and they are interested in bringing raw materials from Amegakure and Konohagakure. I have been actually appointed as Suna's chief ambassador for the project. You can thank my brother for that. If everything goes well, I might spend a lot more time in Konoha supervising everything, I will have to go to Amegakure a lot too though. But all in all, I will work there and travel back and forth between Amegakure and Suna. But seeing as Konoha will be our prime import source, there's where my permanent residence will be. I will move there as soon as I can so we can finish with the preparations. We have already started with the construction of the factories.

See crybaby? Everything turns up alright if you give it time. I expect a lot of ground kissing when I arrive there. I am brilliant for coming up with this an you should acknowledge it appropriately.

Always yours,

Trouble.

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Troublesome woman,

When exactly will you be here?

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Shikamaru sent his last letter with a sense of nervousness and excitement. It was the shortest he had written so far, but he couldn't help himself in the hast of asking her when he would see her. They have been formally a couple for the last couple of months and have written each other their entire time. But they haven't seen each other at all. Letters were good and all, but it only made him miss her more. He wondered if she could tell by his letters, how eager he was to see her.

He figured she rather did.

He did miss her though.

He wondered how come he had been so blind before? His girlfriend was absolutely brilliant, and it made him feel like he should have appreciated her more throughout the years they had met. When he first read the bill project she sent him, he was bewildered because of how intrinsically well thought it was. It wasn't normal for him to feel admiration for someone else's brain. Strength? Sure. Personality? Sure. But Brilliance? That was hard, and he felt his heart quicken when he finally deduced that he truly admired her.

It took him only two days to have Konoha's counsel authorising the development plan. He was that motivated.

Overall he felt like he had wasted a lot of time to actually make something of their relationship. And now, it wasn't enough to have her like this. He needed her there, by his side.

Also he couldn't shake the pure unadulterated joy at her news. She was actually going to live there. In Konoha. And he would be able to see her everyday, or at least way more than he did now. He hoped he didn't look too much out of character, but he couldn't shake the shit eating grin that always came over him when thinking of her, or when receiving one of her letters, or now, knowing she will live there.

He was just...

Happy.

So damn happy. He wished that feeling would never end.

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The first time Shikamaru kissed Temari it was after he almost had a mental breakdown.

Turns out, the feeling of pure happiness didn't last. Shikamaru was upset once again and he could only blame the lack of a first kiss for it.

He had been dating Temari for three months. She had moved to Konoha two weeks ago, and still no kiss. Worse than that, their dates were the same as the ones before he asked her out. Meaning, they still weren't datish at all, they just kept talking of whatever like always and normally it would be about work related topics and strategies that now included the hidden village's development project. He helped her out with the moving and they went about town doing what they have always been doing and Shikamaru didn't really know if he was the most inept boyfriend ever or if he had been dating Temari for almost a decade and hadn't realised. He really hope it wasn't the latter, because then, his so called genius was complete bogus.

The hell was wrong with him? To say he was frustrated was the understatement of the year.

Yes, sure, he didn't have any experience at all, but weren't dates supposed to involve kissing and groping?

He didn't really understand what the heck was going on. He had tried grabbing her hand again, just to feel like they were actually a couple and it wasn't all in his head. And he did manage to walk around town with her hand in his like a proper couple.

Once, actually twice, if you counted Naruto's wedding.

They were just stuck there.

Truth be told, after all the letters, he thought they were getting closer, and the kissing would come naturally, but it didn't. So he couldn't quite grasp where was he failing.

He just...

Wanted to be closer to her.

He was absolutely in love with Temari. And yes, thank you, to his brain he could confess such things. He had reached that conclusion after the first letter he received from her and how without warning, just by seeing the messenger bird, he abruptly jumped out of his seat to grab the falcon and almost made his mom die of a heart attack while they were having breakfast. His brain thought he was stupid. He thought his brain was an annoying know it all. He and his brain fought like that. Like a lot. But man, couldn't it make it easier on him or something? Give him some clues and insight? Not leaving this mumbling lost fool in front of the woman he loved would be greatly appreciated.

He was currently strolling through the streets of his hometown after a long day at work. He walked slowly, like he usually did, hoping some air will bring him some peace of mind or a solution. The clouds always making him feel more relaxed and peaceful.

The immediate problem he could see about his relationship with Temari was his fucking brain. Every single time his heart got quivery, full of butterflies, and nerves, but valiantly leaned a little bit to actually kiss Temari, his brain would get in the middle and stop the whole thing from happening. Telling him he was going to mess it up with his lack of technique.

He could count the hand holding to three times, and the kissing to zero times.

She told him to not overthink it, but he couldn't help it. He felt like he was failing some test where he should be making progress and he wasn't even near graduation day. Why was it all so damn hard? Not the whole being with her thing, because that was very smooth, they could also talk, a lot, about everything mostly non romantic. But when it came to physical contact it was nowhere in sight. How was that even possible when he was dying to kiss her?

His brain told him that he should talk about it with his girlfriend, and to tell her that he was unexperienced and he was afraid of messing it up when they first kissed. But truthfully, how could he say something like that when he was nineteen years old for fucks sake!? Who hasn't had their first kiss at age nineteen? Even Naruto had kissed Hinata already! How pathetic is that? In fact, now that he thought about it, Naruto had also kissed Sasuke, moreover, he was a married man now. So, if the biggest academy looser had kissed two people already and was actually no longer a virgin, where the heck did it leave him?

Sure, he was in a middle of a war for most of his teenager's years, so his hormones had literally had to wait at the time, but this was beyond a late bloomer.

He sighed once more and continued walking. He was truly distressed about the whole thing.

Like, how couldn't he when he was dating a beautiful sexy older woman? He felt such a child sometimes while being next to her.

Temari...Temari was brilliant, self confident, gorgeous and her lips were sinful. God, he was dying to kiss her. She was currently at a meeting in Amegakure she was arriving in Konoha to have dinner with him tomorrow. The problem was that a while ago he had promised himself he would kiss her before their three month anniversary mark, hoping that by putting himself a deadline he would brave up and actually do the deed.

No such luck.

And that deadline ended tomorrow.

It was just...he felt a little emasculated by the entire thing. And the fact that she was older and probably with more experience, didn't help at all. Knowing that he wasn't her first actually made him quite angry.

And since when was he this possessive about someone?

Man, he was truly besotted wasn't he?

How did it even happen? He was actually lost about the when. To the point he wasn't even sure if he had been in love with her since he met her, and he needed a confirmation of his feelings being requited for him to fully let them free. Because thinking about it with some perspective, he knew that everything was more or less the same. The difference now was the impatience he had to jump her bones.

Temari messed up with his brain, with his heart, with his self confidence and with his comfort in general. Why in hell did he decide that getting himself in such a troublesome situation was something he needed to do?

He blamed all to Gengo, and how surviving captivity and probable death prompted him to ask her out. What the hell was he thinking? What happened to his dream of average life, average wife and average kids? Temari was anything but average.

She was just...

just...

So...

Perfect.

She was just so damn perfect and he felt very inadequate next to her.

And why in hell did he feel like that anyways? He was a pretty decent suitor if he could say so himself. Thank you very much. War hero, Head of a prominent clan, advisor to the Hokage and Embassador to the Union. He was in no way some looser lusting after the girl next door. He was something. Someone.

Pity all that self assurance didn't get him near Temari's lips or body at all.

He sighed again.

"Shikamaru?" He heard someone calling him and saw Kakashi waving at him.

"Hello Hokage sama" he said politely.

"Drop it with the honorific" Kakashi complained "I have told you time and time again, that you can call me Kakashi." He finished while giving an exasperated sigh.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru answered annoyed.

"So what's with the face?" The Hokage asked him.

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru nervously asked him. He yawned, to try and hide his nervousness. It didn't work judging by the knowing look Kakashi was giving him. Crap.

"Well, if seeing you sighing and with your head hanging low moodily wasn't clue enough, there is also the fact that I have seen you the last few months being literally a pile of nerves" he answered good naturally. Shikamaru wanted to ran as fast as his legs allowed him to, he could see where this was going and it wasn't going to end up well for him "Also, I have even seen you drop files and things when Temari is near, so I am going to go and guess this is about her" He added and Shikamaru could feel himself redden.

"Eh? I...I don't know what you are talking about" He stuttered and gave some steps back trying to scape.

Not his lucky day.

Kakashi grabbed his shoulders and gave him a smile. The type of smile that was quite terrifying and left no space for discussion. Funny how he was sure of that considering he had half his face covered "Why don't we seat somewhere and drink something?" the sixth said and Shikamaru didn't even know if he was allowed to respond since Kakashi was already dragging his lazy ass to a bar.

They found one that looked pretty decent, and Kakashi ordered a couple of beers. Shikamaru didn't like beer. Or alcohol in general. God he was such a kid. Involuntarily he sighed at his last thought bringing Kakashi's attention back at him. Perfect. He thought glumly.

"So. What seems to be the problem?"

Shikamaru wondered if he should lie, but he didn't think the sixth was going to buy any bullshit he could come up with.

"So...um...ah...you know..." He stuttered, and the sensei looked at him amused.

"Well, I see you are beyond uncomfortable. Don't worry kid my days torturing children are over. So I am just going to lend you something" Kakashi said good naturally and handed him a book. He did it in a reverent kind of way, like he was handing some forbidden scroll full of unknown jutsus. Shikamaru was a tad curious now, so he dared a glance at the cover. It was master's Jiraiya's Icha Icha Tactics book. His eyes widened, gulped and started at the Hokage with his mouth hanging open. "I know, you can thank me later" Kakashi added and plain out laughed when he saw his student was literally out of words.

Shikamaru wanted to die of embarrassment. He prepared himself for a long night.

.

.

.

He was back at his house, he had left Kakashi half drunk in his apartment, while the latter mumbled on and on and on about women, what they liked, how they liked it and how circular movements were one hundred percent effective.

Shikamaru didn't understand half the things Kakashi said. And yes thank you, everybody knew that Kakashi was a closeted pervert but he didn't imagine he would end up hearing first hand about the Hokage's threesome with two sound village's Kunoichis that were enchanted with his flute.

Ugh.

He felt like his virgin ears had lost what was left of his innocence in less than two hours.

He was now laying in bed, thinking about everything while peeking nervously at the book on top of his bedside table. Was it alright to read it? Didn't that make him a pervert too? Besides all he wanted to do was to learn how to kiss Temari to swift her out of her feet.

Not like he didn't want...other things with her as well. Because he did. Damn well he did.

His cock twitched a little and he blushed. Thinking of his girlfriend that way made him anxious. He rubbed his face exasperatedly turned around and screamed into the pillow. Trying in vain to ease his nerves.

She wasn't even with him for fucks sake. He wondered if he would have a nervous breakdown before he actually had the opportunity to kiss his girlfriend.

He huffed and with resolution grabbed the book. He figured that it was knowledge after all, and a genius like him would never turn down knowledge. Besides, he really needed all the help he could get. He skipped to the contents of the book and found a full chapter on kissing. It was quite...enlightening. He debated with himself if it was wise to read the whole book or not. He told himself he wasn't going to but when the clock ticked three am he was in the last page.

Damn.

He really didn't know a thing, about women. Or... their bodies.

Although he had to admit that the Icha Icha book was quite informative about girly parts. Especially how to find the...special buttons. To say he was flustered is putting it mildly.

He rubbed his head trying to think what to do. Tomorrow, no, tonight was his date with Temari. And he really really wanted to kiss her. He thought about her eyes, and smile, and lips...and suddenly all the images of what he had just read had a face. His girlfriend's face. He palmed his cock through his pants and bit his lips.

Fuck, he needed to blow some steam or he wasn't going to survive his date. With that in mind, he let his thoughts take him to fantasy land and allowed himself to release some of his tension in a very pleasurable manner.

When he finished, he was left panting and more aroused than before, since he was sure, that his fantasies weren't enough to satisfy him anymore. He needed her, wanted her. And by god he will do everything in his power to take the step and finally cut the invisible thread between them.

.

.

.

He took her to dinner, then they went for a walk, and he asked her if she wanted to go star watch with him. She smiled and followed him to the woods. They talked about unimportant things until they reached a clearing that made the stars look brighter and nearer.

This time it was Temari who grabbed his hand. He turned his eyes from the stars to her face, noticing she looked breathtaking, with the light of the moon and the fireflies flying around them. It was thrilling.

Ok, this is it.

He told himself, but the more he looked at her the more alluring and unreachable she seemed, and that eventually made him take an involuntarily step back. He was overwhelmed alright! Specially when he noticed she was way closer of what he previously thought.

She gazed at him unhappily, frowning at his retreat and that look made his stomach drop.

"Shikamaru!" She was annoyed clearly having had enough of his indecision "When are you going to kiss me?" She unceremoniously asked him, and his eyes opened in shock. He couldn't believe she actually went ahead and asked him. Shouldn't he be able predict her better by now? He wondered. "I have been more than patient." She continued while looking at him straight in the face, daring him to answer her questions "Is it..you don't want me?"

And that's when Shikamaru lost it, because in all the possibilities that where actually preventing him to ravish her right then and there, the lack of desire wasn't one of them. At all. Far from it in fact.

He was just scared shitless. Of disappointing her, and losing her in the process. That was more scary for him than stretching the days of a platonic relationship that was as deep as the ocean but hadn't reached its deepest ground yet.

But, as he had come to discern these last few months, he was weak to everything Temari related, and the vulnerability in her voice caught him off guard, making him feel like a true idiot. Needless to say, her last question flew his own insecurities to the window.

"That's not it," He told her truthfully, and he stared at her deep into her eyes, trying to convey the truth of his statement "I want to...believe me. I really want to but is just..."

"What?" She prompted him once more, and this time she seemed more reassured.

Shikamaru looked at the stars, then at the floor, then at her face, then he rubbed the back of his head. He finally sighed caving in.

"Ugh, fine! I have never kissed anyone before...And well obviously you have and I don't want to be tagged as the most mediocre kiss in your list. And well... the whole thing just got me very stressed. It has been very troublesome" he confessed, and after some minutes of silence he dared a glance at her. She was now frowning at him.

"Why are you assuming I have kissed someone before?" Temari wondered in bewilderment "I haven't" she informed him, and she said it with such naturalness he felt like a moron for being so insecure about the whole thing when clearly it wasn't shameful for her at all.

"You..." He questioned her unsure. It didn't make any sense. She was older and hotter than him, why in hell hadn't she? "You haven't?" He asked trying to find confirmation. That possessive feeling he had now whenever he thought of her as his fully awoke, and made him feel indescribably happier about it. He truly loved the thought of being her first...

Her first...well everything.

"Why would I? I was waiting for you to come off age and not feel like a pedophile" She added and smirked at him smugly. Damn, she really was quite something wasn't she? "I have been waiting for you to become the man you are today, for you to grow up. I wasn't going to waste my first kiss with some unworthy imp"

He was shocked about her capability of talking about stuff like this so freely though. She wasn't even embarrassed. How was that even possible? She truly blowed his mind away. This girl. Woman.

"How can you say stuff like that? You are barely blushing!" He accused her, and he could actually hear the whining in his tone. He was beyond shyness at this point though "It's kind of unfair...You being this calm about everything...and me...well...like this"

A mumbling fool...

"Shikamaru. I love you, I have been in love with you since we became Chunnin exam's proctors" Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise and was overwhelmed by her earnest confession. His heart beat increased erratically in his chest and he felt lightheaded "I was just waiting for you to man up. And while I did, I imagined us together a lot, and believe me, my imagination is wild" She added and he felt himself blush deeply, he looked to the ground once more, not feeling brave enough to look at her "So this... for me it's nothing compared to the things my brain has come up with"

Shikamaru gulped and his breath caught in his throat, damn if he didn't admire her guts. This woman right there...

"How can you just..." He inhaled deeply, trying to fill his lungs with oxygen and try to calm his nerves, and heart and mind, and everything she had just put in complete chaos in him "you really amaze me you know" he told her sending a half smirk at her. She grinned back at him.

And his words were so true, so completely true. This woman right there completely and irrevocably swift him out of his feet.

"What do you expect? You now how I am. I am an abrasive Kunoichi from the desert, we get trained about all these things. Just in case a mission goes wrong and we are forced to use seduction as a scape route, so shyness is beat up out of us from a young age." she said like she was talking about the weather, completely oblivious at the turmoil all this conversation was causing in him "Besides Shikamaru, it's the most normal thing in the world. We are together and we are in love. It's normal to want to be close to each other" She ended and then she looked at him unsure "Well, at least I hope you are in love with me..." She aded offhandedly and let a nervous laugh scape her. Then she let her eyes fall to the floor, as if she was finally too shy to maintain her eyes fixed on him.

That's when it sank on him. Temari's nerves weren't about stupid superficial things like his own, her insecurities laid in his feelings for her. That had him dumfounded.

Didn't she know? Didn't she already know that he loved her with all his heart? He was absolutely in love with her.

"I am" he said with a certainty that left them both breathless "I am" he repeated and looked at her straight in the eyes, feeling he got lost in that green sea. He was the one who grabbed her hands then, and closed the distance between them. It felt surreal, and at the same time the most natural thing to do. Like he was coming home after a long day at work. Her lips were soft, and warm and they had a unique taste that he was sure it was Temari's own essence. His heart fluttered and his skin burned, feeling an overwhelming need to be closer still. He lifted his arms and put them in her waist, tightening his embrace. He tilted his head and with his tongue prodded her mouth open, she gasped into his mouth and he took the opportunity to shove his tongue in her. He put his right hand behind her neck and deepened up the kiss while Temari's arms surrounded his neck.

They were now impossibly close and Shikamaru could feel her tongue dancing with his. Her breasts touching his chest through their clothes and her whole body so tightly pressed against his, he felt he was burning with raw desire and only one coherent thought kept coming at him. Closer. Closer.

Temari, broke them apart though. Both panting and trying to catch their breaths back. He was still embracing her, not wanting to completely let go. Not unless she told him to. Now that he had broken the invisible line, there was no way in hell he would do so voluntarily.

"Wow, that went from zero to a hundred in half a minute" Temari's voice broke through his hazy thoughts, and he could only smile at her, finally feeling some confidence reach his brain. He finally had her in his arms, he didn't thought there was nothing in this world better than having her there.

Right were she belonged.

"Did I swift you out of your feet?" He asked her smugly. And he halfheartedly wondered where his shyness had gone. But he figured it wouldn't do to keep acting like an inexperienced kid in front of a mature beautiful woman like his girlfriend. He was going to step up and be the man she believed he was. He just wanted to be the mature full grown up man she needed.

Temari gave him a toothy grin, full of wonder and love. And it was perfect.

"I think I need more data to deliver a report" She said cockily, and Shikamaru laughed out loud.

"Oh? You do uh?"

Shikamaru wasn't the type of man that wouldn't raise to a challenge brought by the magnificent creature in his arms.

.

.

The first time Shikamaru had sex with Tamari it was an accident.

It all started with his current favourite pastime which was to kiss Temari. They would spend hours upon hours just kissing.

They would go to star watch and kiss, go to her quarters in the hotel and kiss. He would even steal kisses at work. When no one was near them, he would grab her, shove her against his office's door, or the wall and ravish her lips until he felt his legs would give up on him. He had also kissed her in public. Just a peck, feeling like he couldn't go a minute longer without her taste in his mouth.

It was the happiest he had been in his life. He woke up with a shit eating grin and fell asleep also grinning like a fool, just to dream of her and restart the process al over again the next day. She was in his thought 24/7.

The kissing eventually progressed. Thank God for that. Quite fast if he may say so himself. It was as if once the invisible barrier was hammered down, the rest came so fast Shikamaru's brain haven't truly grasped it still. All he knew was that the closer they were, the more he wanted. And even if his brain hadn't quite catch up yet, his blue balls felt grateful of the steady fast progression of the whole thing.

And so, said kissing evolved to bitting the necks, and soft caresses to her arms and legs. He loved how someone as harsh and strong as Temari could be at the same time so soft and feminine. Because all of Temari was smooth and hot. Her skin velvety and he loved how it would fill of goosebumps with the lightest of his touches.

It was heaven.

That slow build up.

Both of them knew where it was going, but they just went with the flow.

He truly loved it.

They had been kissing for half an hour in Temari's couch when the first breaking point was broken. Temari was the first in taking his shirt off. Just after she did it, she looked at him and with tender fingers caressed his chest and abs, she kissed his bare chest and bit his neck. And it was so slow, Shikamaru thought he was going to die.

The second breaking point came when Shikamaru took her shirt out of her. He marvelled at her breasts and how they were full and tender at the same time, and how his whole hand wasn't enough to fully grab one of them. He pinched her nipples through her bra and she moaned. That had become Shikamaru's favourite sound. And he explored her all he could, just to see what would make her aroused. Which ones were the points were her eyes would roll out, or she bit her lips or moan, it got to a point where he really wanted to make her scream.

The next step was taken by Shikamaru. One night they were kissing madly while being half naked and he let his hands wander under her skirt. He didn't stop until he felt her wetness through her panties. He moaned out loud, because there was nothing he wanted to more than to bury himself in there, but he knew they weren't there yet. So, he settled for the next best thing, that where his fingers. He looked at her, watching her intently, waiting for her to stop him. When that didn't happen, he put his hand inside her panties, and started drawing slow patterns in her sensitive skin. Temari was panting heavily under him and when he touched her clit she fully on cried out. Shikamaru loved that sound. He let his middle finger inside her slowly, and let his thumb caress her clit. Making circular movements while he bit her neck and went down on her nipples, sucking at them and biting them. He continued his slow torture until Temari was a complete mess underneath him. Panting and moaning and begging and fuck, it was a sight to behold. She came with a scream, and Shikamaru gulped forcedly, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing Temari absolutely undone under him.

The first one to do oral sex was Temari. They were kissing in the couch of her hotel room once again, and she was straddling his legs. She was rubbing herself on him and it was so damn good Shikamaru was left panting and begging her, to just...do something. She smiled at him devilishly and opened the bottons of his trousers. She dared her hand inside his underwear and found him hard as a rock and leaking pre come. She suddenly let him go and Shikamaru was halfway complaining when he saw her sat on her knees in front of him and look at him while she grabbed his cock again. Shikamaru's eyes widened and rolled out of his eyes sockets when she gave that first lick. The feeling of her mouth on him was so intense and mind blowing that he didn't last long. At all. He was very ashamed about that, but Temari just laughed at him stood up, took her dress off, leaving herself in all her naked glory and stared at him challengingly "It's your turn now" she said, and Shikamaru letting his bewilderment aside proceed to devour her. Her moans and screams ringed in his ears like a choir of angels well after he left her room that night.

The first time they actually had sex, it was sort of an accident. And yes, thank you, he knew it sounded stupid. But it was an accident. Neither wanted to take it that far that night. As a way to prolong their torture because for some reason they were masochistic as that, they hadn't bought any condoms. As a way to stop when things got too hot for them to handle. Turns out, when the time came, they just couldn't stop. They were laying in Temari's bed, naked and spent after bringing each other off with their hands and mouths. They were talking about their infancies and friends and family, and it was all so honest, and deep, that without him noticing, he was already kissing her again, sweetly, slow. As if he had all the time in the world. He was on top of her, and being both naked, their private areas kept rubbing against each other. He caressed her breasts and reached her left leg, lifting it a little bit so he could fit better between her legs. Temari, in response fully on opened both her legs and he was now nestled perfectly. The kissing and the groping increased, and the heat and wetness of her was calling him like a beacon. Impulsively, he thrusted upwards, just trying to get closer. They were way closer than he expected because with that little shove he managed to reach the surface of her and the tip of his manhood got inside her. That had them both moaning overwhelmed and awed. After that, he kept charging his hips onwards superficially, barely getting inside her, until Temari grew impatient and used her heels and legs to push his ass down on her increasing the pressure and making him go further. He growled and looked at her, warning her, but she answered by crushing his mouth on him and repeating the movement. Shikamaru didn't need more encouragement, he was barely holding back himself, and after that, he was a goner. In no time, he was fully inside her, having broken all resistance, with their little thrusts before, and now that he was inside her, he just couldn't believe how good it felt. He had been dreaming of this moment for months and it was so overwhelming, he had to stop and take a minute or he would have come immediately. Everything was so intense he wasn't sure he could last.

"Why are you stopping?" His girlfriend asked him with raged breaths while glaring at him. He kissed her tenderly and tried to calm his breath once more. His heart wasn't doing him any favours, it was trying to fly out of his chest apparently.

"I need a minute, or it will end too fast"

She smiled at him, and proceeded move under him, thrusting her hips up, while biting his chest and her hands wondered in his back leaving the marks of her nails in there. Shikamaru wanted to be annoyed by her impatience but he was incredibly aroused and considering the pleasure she was causing him it didn't seem like it had a point. At all. He started moving then, slow and deep. Then hard and fast. He grabbed the side of her right thigh with force to try gain momentum, and thrusted into her hard, she screamed and clenched her walls around him. Shikamaru came with a guttural growl and let himself fall exhaustedly on top of her.

He propped himself on his elbows and kissed her fondly.

Man, he genuinely loved her. He couldn't get enough of her, and now, she was utterly, completely and irrevocably his.

He was the luckiest lazy bastard in the world.

Sleep claimed him soon after. His last thought was that they hadn't used protection. He hoped he didn't get her pregnant, not that the thought of a little Temari didn't charm him, on the contrary, he was rather in love with the picture.

.

.

The first time Temari and he had public sex, was after one of the most embarrassing lunch dates of his life.

Luckyly, she didn't get pregnant, but they talked it through and they came to the conclusion that they were actually looking forward forming a family of their own. They decided to enjoy themselves some more though, and talk about it again when they were ready.

That was one of the things he loved the most of his and Temari's relationship. How comfortable he was with her. Leaving aside the first date and kiss, and the nervousness his inexperience brought, since they nave met they have always had an easy going relationship with each other.

They could talk about absolutely everything.

Some of his friends had commented more than once how Temari and he looked more like friends than anything else. He was pretty happy with said assumption because Temari was in fact his best friend. Maybe that was why the entire Gengo thing got her so upset with him. It wasn't normal at all for them to not talk about something. It must have been pretty obvious for her in what trouble he was at the time, just because he didn't tell anything to her, and that just went against everything they were as friends.

Sometimes he wondered what was about her that made him talk. He wasn't the chatty type at all. But she was very mature and all the conversations they had were always very honest. So much so, that after all these years, the only time he remembered hiding something important from her or plainly lying was in said Gengo's mission.

He just felt he could talk about anything that crossed his mind, and she would take him seriously and offer some insight from her point of view. Her mind had him absolutely enchanted. She was very bright, and kept his brain always active and alert. Even while playing Shoji, she had won against him a couple of times. Clearly by getting herself half naked, because apparently he was weaker to strip Shoji than she was. She laughed her ass off at him afterwards of course and even bragged about winning to his friends, which were truly shocked that someone that wasn't Shikaku, could actually win against him at Shoji. He didn't tell his friends, that the she devil he was dating actually put her naked breasts on display to grant her such wining. He was a gentleman after all. But man, his brain didn't manage a coherent thought when braced to such circumstances.

All in all, he loved her, and he loved their relationship and how open to each other it was.

Needless to say, such conversations nowadays included their sex life, and a healthy amount of experimentation.

Okay, he admitted it, he fucked her whenever he could. But who could blame him? His girlfriend was a goddess.

Said experimentation sometimes got him out of character and in very public places. Like right now for example. Where he was feeling her legs up with his shadow jutsu without looking at her and hiding behind the menu of Ichiraku's, while he commanded his shadows the same movements he knew she liked. She was sitting in front of him in a booth, also hiding behind the menu. When he started his exploration, she let a gasp escape her lips and then giggled. Shikamaru had never heard her giggle, and decided he rather liked the sound of it. He pondered what to do to make her giggle again.

So, he started by caressing her thighs gently up and down, making his movements slow and deliberated. He heard her coughing and felt her closing her legs in an attempt to get his shadows away from her.

That won't do, he thought. He forced her legs open again, and continued his exploration, this time closer and closer to her arousal. He wondered if he would be able to feel her wetness through the shadows, and felt slightly feverish at the thought. His own cock jolted in interest and pondered whether he should convince her to accompany him to the bathroom right about now.

It was her fault anyways. They had been working in a treaty involving two smaller villages under the Union, and since she arrived in the morning she was wearing a long white light coat. Common for autumn, but considering she wasn't used to any cold, she got supper chilly just by the lightest first month autumn's breeze. He wondered if she would wear a full blanket in winter. This year was going to be her first winter in Konoha. Most likely he would roast in her quarters. It wasn't even winter and she was already turning on the heat from time to time.

The nice thing about Konogakure's autumn weather was that the sun would come up near noon and it would heat up the atmosphere quite nicely. He was baffled though, when she took off her coat once it was warmer enough and he saw she was wearing a tight red very very short skirt. A white blouse that made her shoulders look very thin and feminine and completed the outfit with black high heels.

Saying he was left flabbergasted is an understatement. She looked absolutely gorgeous. He wanted to fuck her on top of his desk, preferably with her being completely naked except for those high heels. The images were so vivid that he had to take a break to the bathroom just to throw some cold water in his face and try to slow his raising pulse.

She was a demon.

That's what she was, trying to kill him slowly and painfully of raw desire.

When it was time for lunch, he suggested to go to her hotel, eat, and take a nap. She smiled at him knowingly and told him that they didn't have that much time, only an hour to eat and continue working since they were on a deadline. He cursed under his breath but complied.

That didn't mean he gave up though.

Hence, he feeling her up in plain sight. In a middle of fucking Ichiraku's for God's sake. She truly forced him out of his shell, didn't she?

"Trouble, what do you say if we..."

"Shikamaru! Are you...!?" Ino's shocked voice interrupted him and made him and Temari jump out of their seats. His concentration and subsequently his jutsu broke in the process. He felt himself blush up to his ears and glanced at Temari seeing she was in a similar state of embarrassment than him. They both coughed and looked at Ino innocently.

"Hey Ino, what are you doing?" He asked faking nonchalance, like he hadn't being busted red handed. He even yawned trying to look uninterested.

It didn't work though.

"Don't even try" Ino told him gleefully and laughed out loud. Adding to his uneasiness he saw that she wasn't alone, a very red faced Hinata was behind her. Fucking Perfect. They were never going to leave it alone.

His very inappropriate teammate grabbed Hinata and they both seated next to Shikamaru. Leaving an annoyed Shikamaru next to a very smug Ino, and Hinata just beside her. Then, to his horror, Sakura and Kiba also came to their booth and seated next to Temari. Kiba sat right next to his girlfriend and ogled her like the pervert he was. Shikamaru was fully glaring now.

"Troublesome" he uttered, but no one paid him any mind, Temari just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him.

Fuck his luck.

At least his hard on had deflected with their invasion. Ino continued on smiling mockingly at him. He dared another glance at Temari, who was now sporting a half smirk, obviously her embarrassment was over. Sometimes, Temari blowed his mind for reasons completely unrelated to sex, and this was one of them. How could she seat there all nonchalant already?

"Who would have thought you were so adventurous Shikamaru!" Ino said merrily with evident glee pouring out of her like it was the best birthday present ever. He wanted the floor underneath him to just open, swallow him and save him this embarrassment.

"Why, what was he doing?" Kiba asked, and Shikamaru's head turned around so quickly it gave him a headache. He opened his eyes at Ino silently threatening her to keep fucking quiet. Not that Ino ever did anything he wanted. She was annoying like that.

"Shikamaru was feeling Temari up under the table with his shadows" Ino told Kiba and Sakura in a hushed tone, and her smile was so devilish she could have given Jiraiya a time for his money.

"Ino!" He chastised her scandalised. He wasn't expecting her to actually spill the beans in front of him. That wasn't Ino style, she would gossip behind one's back. That was Ino alright.

He felt himself going red again. He saw Sakura's eyes go out of her sockets and Kiba smirking very much like Ino herself.

"Really?" Kiba unnecessarily asked "Kinky" he added and wiggled his brows at him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Troublesome" he repeated bothered. He couldn't believe his lunch date was being interrupted this way, less of all when he still wanted to fuck Temari and those heels to oblivion. He sighed dejectedly and let a whine scape him. His friends just laughed at him, like they knew what he was thinking. He seriously doubted it though.

"Can't say I blame you, Temari is looking particularly dashing today" Kiba offhandedly commented,

That caught Shikamaru's attention, he saw his friend staring at Temari with such admiration and lust that Shikamaru instantly wanted to kill him. Preferably slowly and involving tones of torture.

"Careful" He said in such serious and menacing voice that all his friends, including Temari jumped out of their seats startled in surprise. They were looking at him in bewilderment having never hear a tone of voice like that from him. He couldn't care less honestly. Temari was his, and nor Kiba nor anyone had any right to look at her that way. He focused his eyes on Kiba, and his glare had such force that everyone gawked at him.

"Don't get mad man, I guess I feel a little envious. That's all." Kiba said bashfully asking for forgiveness with his eyes, but Shikamaru didn't feel ready to let it go. He wondered if other men looked at her like that, and he had been so focused on her and his clouds that he hadn't noticed how other people might look at her. The thought made him a little sick and unsettled his stomach. It didn't matter if this man in front of him was his friend, what mattered was that he had made the mistake of looking inappropriately at the one woman in the world that was his. And he would be damn, if he let it pass like it was nothing.

"Yeah yeah, just keep your eyes focused where they belong, wouldn't want to get them out of your face if they look where they don't belong" he threatened and the threat was so true and dangerous that his friends were now fully gapping at him.

Ichiraku put their orders in the table, and they silently started to eat. Shikamaru kept glaring at Kiba, making the latter shift uncomfortably in his seat.

Several beats of uneasy silence after, Ino spoke,

"Wow Shikamaru, I didn't know you were this possessive either" She said, and was frowning at him, like she was seeing him for the first time, that made him feel uncomfortable, who knew what was she even thinking? You never knew with Ino "Guess this lunch has been quite enlightening, is it not?" She added, trying to lift the tense mood off the table "Anyway, I do have to say that I also feel a little envious" she finished while putting her head in her right hand while looking dreamily into space.

That caught Temari's attention though, and she gently asked his teammate "Problems in Paradise?" Shikamaru wandered why would his girlfriend get Ino talking, on purpose at that. Wonders never cease.

"Not so much as a problem" Ino answered troubled, lifting her face to the ceiling and as if debating with herself if she should talk or not. Must be serious Shikamaru thought. If she didn't voluntarily spill the beans, it must meant that she was really bothered by it. "Yet" Ino added with finality and that had them all a little worried.

It wasn't a mystery she had been dating Sai for almost a year, and as far as he knew everything was going well. What with the upcoming wedding and whatnot. Ino had been rambling on and on and on to Choji and him on their weekly dinners how she was getting everything ready, and the dress, and the flowers, and Shikamaru mostly spaced out on those conversations. His mind wandering to Temari and what lingerie outfit she would wait him with that night.

"What happened then?" Sakura asked, speaking for the first time looking worried about her best friend. Clearly this conversation was coming to light for the first time then judging how Sakura seemed as puzzled as the rest of them. Ino spent two full minutes sighing, opening and closing her mouth then letting her head drop to the table. Poor Hinata had to quickly remove the food and prevent Ino's hair from getting splashed by the ramen bowl in front of her.

"It's just...Sai" She finally said, and after a silence, like gaining courage she added, "You know how he struggles with emotions, lets just say that he struggles to understand other aspects of a relationship as well" That had them all widening their eyes at her, he saw Sakura and Hinata blushing, Temari frowning and Kiba looked a tad lost. Shikamaru felt like standing up and getting the hell out, he wasn't fit to hear this. Ino was like his sister, he didn't need or wanted to hear it. Besides, this was girl talk through and through, he shouldn't be hearing this at all "Anyways, it doesn't matter it's not like I can talk to him about it"

Her last words caught his attention.

"Why ever not?" Both Temari and he asked Ino at the same time, then they looked at each other and smirked. It was just strange for them, being a couple who could truly talk things through it didn't make sense that someone that was about to get married for fuck's sake wouldn't talk about something as important as the emotional or sexual aspect of their relationship.

Anyway, it didn't concern him, it was a couple thing, so he thought that the proper thing to do was letting Ino and Sai fix it on their own.

"You guys talk about this stuff?" Ino asked them doubtful. While glancing from Shikamaru to Temari.

"It's none of your business" Shikamaru plainly answered her, because it really wasn't their business to know, and it wasn't their business to hear the InoSai sexual problems either.

"Of course!" He heard his girlfriend answer instead with confidence making him want to die of embarrassment as a result. What was up with her today? One thing was to talk everything between them, another and completely different one was to actually talk it with his friends!

"Temari!" He chastised her while sporting a ver red face. Now all eyes were on him, probably wondering what the heck did they talk about when it came to their sexual endeavours. Worse was the fact that his friends now had an actual confirmation that they in fact had sexual endeavours.

Shikamaru thought it was all very appalling.

All the while Temari looked absolutely unconcerned.

"I think the ship already sailed Shikamaru, might as well help your troubled teammate" She said as a matter of factly, Shikamaru couldn't believe his ears "Besides, sex is a very normal thing between couples, shouldn't be something to be ashamed of at all" then she went and said that, which was a very normal thing of her to say to him not to his friends. Shikamaru felt like face palming himself. He did sighed tiredly though.

"At times like this you can actually see the age difference..." Kiba said, and Sakura, Hinata and Ino nodded in agreement while looking at his girlfriend in admiration, Shikamaru could totally get what they were feeling. Hell he felt like that every single day. Temari was a woman, and comparing her with his friends, they looked like fifteen year old girls. He felt somehow proud of landing himself such a woman honestly.

"What about you Hinata?" Sakura asked directing her eyes at Hinata, "You are a newlywed you must be in the bunny stage of it all" she added and giggled at her encouragingly. Trying to include her in the conversation.

Conversation that Shikamaru still felt he shouldn't be hearing at all. He tried to think about it more calmly though. He looked at Temari and saw her paying rapt attention to Hinata. He suddenly realised that Temari's social life included him and only him. He felt his stomach drop when he became aware of this. Maybe she felt alone, and needed friends. Girl friends at that. He really hadn't thought about it. She just tagged along with him to birthdays and dinners with the group, he had never noticed before that she didn't socialise without him. And she didn't seem to have girl friends, which made the whole picture more bothersome. He sighed and frowned feeling like a crappy boyfriend for not noticing beforehand. Maybe he should encourage these encounters with Temari and the girls more then. Preferably when he wasn't around. In fact that would be better, since he wouldn't have to hear about Sai sexual prowess or lack of it.

"Uh" he heard Hinata utter while being pretty much red faced.

"She is rather cute when she blushes like that" Temari commented and Shikamaru looked at Hinata with half interest at his girlfriend words, he guessed she did look cutesy, not that he saw Hinata as more than a friend or anything, "Do you tap that Shika?" Temari asked him curiously gauging his reaction.

"What? The whole blushing virgin thing?" He questioned his girlfriend back and Temari nodded in reply, he looked at Hinata whose face reddened more under his stare, while rolling the idea in his head. And imagined Temari all red faced every time they kissed, or every time he grabbed her breasts or every time he pounded on her. The whole picture only got him annoyed instead of aroused. Thinking that it would be a chore just to get her out of her clothes. He stopped looking at Hinata and continued eating his ramen uninterested "Nah, too much of a drag." He finally answered, then he realised he was being extremely rude with his words, to his shyest friend on top of that, "Sorry Hinata" he apologised sincerely. Hinata smiled weakly at him and shook her head "I mean..." He tried to explain but the word caught out in his mouth.

How could he explained it anyways? It just wasn't his cup of tea alright. Some men might tap that though. Naruto had married the girl after all, hadn't he?

"Please, please continue" Ino eagerly prompted him.

Shikamaru sighed, and attempted to order his thoughts. He tried to console himself thinking that maybe this conversation would help Temari make friends with the girls, so he better man up and nudge the whole situation in her favour. If he had to be a little uncomfortable in the process, then so be it. Temari's happiness was more important than anything anyways. He thought once again about the question and came to the conclusion that he could only give an answer from his own perspective "Well, it's just...it's nice to be seduced and driven crazy..."

"I second that" Kiba said and smirked devilishly.

He wished he didn't say anything when he saw Hinata's face fell and seemed a little depressed at his words. He wondered if he had said the inappropriate thing even if it was the truth. The shy act was hot maybe the first times you were with your girl, but by the twentieth you just wanted to ravish her at will, not have blushing virgin every fucking time you wanted to fuck her. It all sounded like too much of a drag really.

"Anyway, I don't know why I am even talking about this with you guys" he said trying to ease the conversation out of him. He figured he had done enough already, probably even messed it up.

"I think the kids need your expertise Shikamaru" Temari told him with a shit eating grin, clearly enjoying his discomfort. Damn her, she was going to pay for that. Probably in all fours and tied up. Fuck, the images his brain provided were beyond graphic.

"Expertise uh?" Ino asked while raising an eyebrow at Temari.

His girlfriend smiled cheekily at Ino and answered, "Well, he is a genius. Is he not?"

And now Shikamaru felt like this was the most embarrassing conversation of his life. All previous ones were nothing compared to the leering looks his friends were giving him. He could feel himself blush up to his ears.

"Temari!" He yelled scandalised once more. Which only made everybody in the table laugh at him "Trouble, you are enjoying this too much" he warned her, and promised with his eyes retaliation, to which she just half smirked at him knowingly. Shikamaru hated them all.

"Trouble?" Hinata softly asked, Temari just grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

"How come you guys can talk about this stuff so freely, even banter about it?" Sakura asked seriously confounded "It doesn't make any sense"

They all looked at him, waiting for an answer and Shikamaru wondered for the hundred time, how come it has come to this. God the things he did for his girlfriend.

"Well..." He started, took a breath and continued, "You need good communication for it to go as smoothly as possible" he rubbed his head in embarrassment and crossed his arms after, finally closing his eyes just to not look at anybody "The more you talk, the more you know each other, and building trust from there is an easy step. The rest just comes naturally" he finished with a bored voice and put his hands in the back of his head in nonchalance and kept his eyes closed.

"Careful" he heard Temari said and was surprised by the threatening tone of her voice, he peeked at her with one eye and saw her smiling somehow warningly at Ino.

"Sorry" his teammate replied properly chastised, and he didn't truly understand what was happening, only that Sakura, Ino and Hinata were stealing glances and him and blushing. He thought that was just weird, but it wasn't like he understood how women interactions worked at all, so he didn't bother with it.

"I didn't know you were so mature Shikamaru" Ino interrupted his thoughts, a tad flustered just to add, "I wish Sai was like that also." And she said it with a sadness that had Shikamaru really getting upset. Ino was one of his best friends, and it didn't seat well with him that she wouldn't be happy in her marriage.

Temari, clearly sharing his opinion stated, "Ino, you are going to marry in less than a month, shouldn't this issue have come out sooner?"

"Honestly, I don't think so. You are the first couple I know that actually talks about sex. The rest of us mere mortals would blush and run the other way if faced with that conversation" The rest of the table save Shikamaru and Temari nodded in agreement. Shikamaru wondered if it was really that weird? Wasn't like that for all couples? It had him a little confused and feeling fortunate at the same time, for having the relationship he had.

"That's just nonsense. If he is going to be your husband then you should talk about everything" He heard Temari said, and Shikamaru decided to let her talk now, the attention was fully on her, and hopefully this conversation would continue with just the girls and would earn Temari some trusted friends. He thought it was brilliant. Bothersome but brilliant.

"You can't talk about everything" Sakura contradicted his girlfriend "That's impossible"

"Actually no, it isn't" Temari insisted gently. By now they had all finished their ramen and were now just talking.

"So you talk about everything everything? What about I don't know, girly stuff?" Sakura asked in while frowning shocked.

"Of course we do, this guy went to buy me pads one day I couldn't even get out of bed" Temari answered while giving him a proud smile. He felt himself getting red again, and looked through the window to avoid his friend's stares.

"I am truly shocked" Sakura stated with wide eyes.

Then the conversation took a turn when suddenly a very shy but determined Hinata looked at his girlfriend and while stuttering asked, "Uh, Temari san...how do you seduce?"

To say everybody was shocked at Hinata's question is saying something, they all gaped at her, and looked at her stupefied.

"How do I seduce?" Temari asked her back, she was the first tome come back to her senses "Or what should you do to seduce your husband?" She asked knowingly "Well lingerie is always a must" She said with a devilish smile "In Suna we have a saying that goes, the scarcer the better"

And now the gapping was directed at his girlfriend, Kiba though, was clearly mentally undressing Temari before his eyes. Shikamaru saw red, used his shadows to grab Kiba's head and promptly crashed it on the table with force, right on top of the empty bowl of ramen that broke noisily in the process. Everybody jumped and stared at him open mouthed.

"Warned you" Shikamaru simply said, he raised an eyebrow at Kiba, who was sporting a heavy bruise in his left eye and his nose was bleeding a little.

"Okay, I deserved that" Kiba said while taking a sole noodle out of his face "Sorry" he added apologetically.

Temari decided to ignore his cave man antics, and continued her bonding with the girls "Also, you should relax a little Hinata, I mean, he is the man you chose to spend the rest of your life with, he will eventually know you inside out, why drag it out unnecessarily? Just put on something sexy, relax and have fun." She said and smiled gently at Hinata, who was very red but bravely nodded.

"Still I don't think I could talk about it with Sai" Ino stated once more. Shikamaru was at his wits ends with this conversation. Suddenly he saw Temari standing up and grabbing her things.

"Where are you going Temari?" Sakura asked while making space for her to get out of the booth.

"To the bathroom. I have to go back to work girls. Hope we can talk again sometime, it was a pleasure" She said merrily to the girls, and Shikamaru was happy the plan worked and even though all the embarrassment he managed to make his girlfriend bond with his friends. He wished it was about something else than this. Like literally... anything else.

He saw her go to the bathroom but before she entered she threw a playful smirk at him. He felt his cock twich and he wanted to go right after her. Unfortunately for him, Ino was talking at him.

"So, what should I do Shikamaru?"

"How should I know!?" He replied annoyed, he really wanted to go to the bathroom and ravish Temari in those heels right about this minute, he didn't have time for this. "Troublesome" he glanced at Ino, who was bitting her lip and obviously at the verge of tears. He sighed tiredly "Fine! I will sort him out for you" he said, just to get Ino out of his case, and move the hell out of the booth so he could follow Temari.

"Would you really? Thank you Shikamaru!" Ino said and promptly hugged him.

"Yeah, yeah" Shikamaru took his things and stood up out of the booth "Anyways, I have to go to work too. Later" he said hurriedly and disappeared behind the toilets door.

He opened the door and saw Temari tranquilly re applying lipstick on her lips, she didn't even glance at him, just left her things on the sink and entered a closeted stall leaving the door opened. Shikamaru didn't need a written invitation.

"You have been misbehaving trouble" he told her with lustful eyes.

She smiled at him devishly "Yeah? What are you going to do about it?"

Shikamaru closed the bathroom door and they didn't went out of it for the next twenty minutes. When they did get out, Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and Ino who were now eating their deserts looked at them surprised thinking they have had already left and realising they had been all this time in the bathroom.

Shikamaru felt himself blush a little, hoping they didn't look too disheveled but ignored them nevertheless, grabbed Temari's hand, paid for the food and continued his way to the office. He also ignored the catcalls Kiba threw at him. He was going to kill that guy.

.

.

.

Two days later, Shikamaru actually went to see Sai, he gave him the Icha Icha book and had a two hour conversation about sex, romance and feelings and how to treat Ino. He left a wide eyed Sai alone then and hoped it was enough to sort him out, because he sure as hell wasn't going to have that conversation again. He told Sai to give the book back to Kakashi when he finished though.

A week later, a huge bouquet of flowers arrived to his house. His mother received it and was surprised at him actually getting flowers, not that he understood what it was. He found a note then, it was Ino's.

Thank you.

.

.

The first time Shikamaru got married to Temari wasn't so much as a wedding as it was a bond of honour.

It happened exactly a year before of their actual weeding. The elders in Suna, the elders in Konoha and the Alliance Union, were giving him hell when it came to his desire to wed the Suna Princess.

It all started as his incapability of leaving Temari's side every night after they made love. She was an ambassador and was currently living in Konoha, but as it was normal for a person of her status, she had her own private quarters in a fancy hotel in the centre of Konoha. Thanks to his clan's famous jutsu, he was able to hide himself in shadows and sneak in her room every night through the window without being seen. Unfortunately, that meant that he actually needed the darkness of the night for it to work, so every morning before sunrise he had to leave her side, go home, shower, get a change of clothes and go to work.

It was such a drag.

He just didn't understand why was it such a sin for him to actually spend the night with her, not that he was exited about the prospect of risking his neck to Gaara's fury over him defiling his sister and the princess of the Wind Ninja Nation either.

The point was that leaving Temari's side every morning was really starting to get in his nerves. She was his, and he was hers, and it all came to that. The rest of the world could go fuck itself. But, as it was, they couldn't. Their position was too important, too many politic aspects to take into consideration, the scandal and so on and so on.

Shikamaru hated it.

To the point were it started to affect his mood tremendously.

One day, exactly eight months after she officially became his girlfriend he told her bluntly that they were going to get married. She looked at him baffled, at him just deciding such a momentous thing by himself. He also could tell she was rather aroused by the manly way he went about the whole thing. But truth was, they were marrying and that was it. He refused to spend another day not waking by her side.

She did ask him how he was going to ask formally for her hand. And that brought a new set of problems that had Shikamaru annoyed out of his mind,, since it was then when the elders and the Alliance became the third party in his relationship.

Shikamaru was not amused.

At all.

If anything, only the assurance that this was Temari, and it was all because of her that he actually endure the hours upon hours of meetings and trips and overall six months of painful negotiation he had to go through to marry her.

Finally, a beacon of hope came when they finally got authorisation to wed. The downside was that thanks to an ancient Suna tradition, they had to do a courtship for a year, then they would be able to marry.

Shikamaru and Temari argued this fiercely. They had been publicly dating for more than a year already since it had taken them six month for the counsel to agree to their marriage. Plus if you added the years they spent making eyes at each other they were way over the time period the Suna geriatric nins were asking.

They were seven years in the making for fucks' sake.

But no, the bastards told them that the period started to count since they got formal authorisation for courtship. So Shikamaru had to wait a full year before waking beside his woman like any man in love had the right to do.

This got him in such a sour mood that even his mother got preoccupied. She had known about his nighty escapades of course, but she didn't imagine her son, who had swore to never marry would be this upset at not being able to do it immediately.

Temari, took it better than him. She would hug him and distract him with vigorous love making, she even offered to be she the one that went to Shikamaru's house. But he refused, first because he was a man and a gentleman, second his mother was there for god's sake, that wasn't sexy at all, and lastly because she wouldn't be able to set foot in the Nara compound, less of all, now that the relationship was very public. They were the talk of the world because of how important it was for the future of the Union and the peace and yada yada, and Shikamaru just wanted to kill someone.

He felt it was rather unfair, his love life transforming into this circus, and he could tell Temari was just as upset about it. He broke his brain daily trying to fix it, not only for his mental health but because Temari deserved more than being turned into a fashion show full of people they didn't even know.

One night he woke up beside his girlfriend, he looked at her, and she looked beautiful. He tightened the embrace, and truly felt like it was torture having to leave her just to avoid the scandal.

While wallowing in self pity, he remembered a book, in his father's library. About his clan's customs, rules and duties. He had to read a lot of those books, to go through the succession ceremony where he became the head of the clan. Suddenly, with a sense of hope, he untangled himself from his love and ushered as fast as he could to his house.

Once he arrived, he re read the book and found a solution to his problem.

There was this ancient tradition in his clan, where in times of perish, a couple could be "bonded" to each other, swearing by their honour to wed as soon as the circumstances of said perish would disappear.

With a huge grin and the book under his arm, he went to work to tell Temari what he had found.

Once he did, she looked at him and promptly kissed him breathless.

They started devising strategies for the ceremony to actually occur and how to deal with the politics it involved as smoothly as possible. Temari worried about the reaction of the elders of Suna. But Shikamaru convinced her by telling her that they would be damn if they let some old bastards meddle in their love life.

And so everything was put into motion.

The elders, did make a temper tantrum of epic proportions, and even argued that that rule was made for times of war, not peace, at which Shikamaru argued that the book didn't clarify such think, moreover, politic struggle might as well be consider a time of perish since, it could strengthen the peace or destroy it for good. Politics were that important. The elders hated him of course, they thought he was a cocky brat too bright for his own good. Shikamaru limited himself to smile innocently at them. Until one of the dinosaurs told him, that even it was written in such manner, it didn't matter, because Temari was Suna's and Suna's were the rules that were going to decide the destiny of the princess. If glares could kill he was sure he would have killed all those ancient nins. Ultimately, in a show of genius Shikamaru told them that the final call was on the Kazekage, since to been able to make the ceremony they needed the approval of the head of the clan, which was him, and the head of the bride's family, which was Gaara. Gaara, needless to say, wasn't too happy about the whole plan, but a few glares from Temari didn't leave him with much options.

The elders of both villages plus the Union committee in charge of their wedding, did won in some things though. They actually came up with a bunch of bothersome rules just to enrage him. The petty bastards. For starters, Temari and he were absolutely forbidden to sire a child during the bonding. That would have to wait for the wedding, since the child was a direct successor of the Kazekage's blood, and needed to be sired and born under wedlock.

That was fine for Shikamaru, he intended to enjoy Temari before bringing kids into the picture.

He was also forbidden from calling her his wife, he would be only allowed to call her bonded or bond-mate. She wasn't allowed to wear the Nara's clan symbol on her clothes unless they had also the Kazekage's and they would be required to go to a bunch of formal events all around the countries of the Union as a way of public courtship. Which had Shikamaru's face getting red of pure rage, and if it wasn't for Kankuro's calming pat in his back, there would have been dead bodies to dispose for sure.

But in the end he decided to be glad of the fact that he finally, finally, had a date for his bonding. He truly couldn't be happier the day he left the elders summit.

Temari was actually happier, because she felt like this one was going to be their real wedding and not the upcoming one, that by judging by the war between elders and the union it was proving to be a complete politic show.

His mother moved out of the main house, since it was intended for the head of the clan only, and moved to a smaller apartment in the clan's compound.

When the day of the ceremony came, everything was outstanding. They opened the salon that was just outside the Nara compound to make the ritual and the party and Ino filled it with flowers, Lion's Claw, she told him they were called and Shikamaru thought the name was quite fitting. All Naras, his friends, teachers and everyone he really cared for was there.

Suddenly he heard the doors of the saloon open and he saw Temari, wearing a beautiful light blue kimono with Suna's emblematic flowers, Poor Man's Orchid, the Nara clan's and the Kazekage's symbols printed on her back. His breath caught. She was absolutely stunning, and he couldn't believe he was marrying her, because even if it not was strictly their wedding, in their eyes and in the eyes of their loved ones, it was.

There weren't any rings. Just a Kunai, used to cut his and Temari's right hand's palms. Mixing the blood on top of the seal of the honour bond. The cut wouldn't heal until they got formally married, but it didn't hurt, nor it could get infected. It was going too look like an angry red cut in the palm of their hands.

"With my life, I will cherish and honour this bond. To wed you and love you for the rest of my days. Or let eternal shame fall upon my clan and the name of my ancestors" His voice didn't quiver. It was rough, full of emotion, firm and loud.

With those words, the ritual ended and his life with Temari truly began.

.

.

Shikamaru had been bonded to Temari for three months when they had their first serious fight.

It started as something stupid. Him leaving his clothes all around and not helping enough with the cleaning of the house. He thought Temari's nag was very troublesome. He haven't ever had to worry about stuff like that, after all he went from living with his mother, to living with Temari. Unfortunately for him, the third month mark was as far as his bonded was willing to put up with it.

And so, the war began. She started the nagging, he followed by ignoring her, then she screamed at him, and he screamed at her louder. Then it got to the point where it was a battle of wits, taking turns of saying hurtful things they didn't even mean at all but knew would hurt the other.

In the middle of it Shikamaru wondered what was he even doing. This was Temari in front of him for God's sake. The woman he loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with. So why in the hell was his mouth saying this bunch of nonsense, that only had them more and more angry, more and more hurt? It didn't make any sense. But, it reached a breaking point when his mouth said something that had Temari really seething.

"Well, honey, you will just have to live with it. You are stuck with me now, forever" He said mockingly at her, and to prove such thing he lifted his hand with the angry cut of the bond still pretty much visible.

That had Temari gasping and looking at him as if he had slapped her.

"So what? You are not going to even try to smooth the things that bother me?" She asked him frowning and now fully on grabbing her Tessen.

"Everything bothers you Temari, I am at a point where I don't really care anymore" he answered scornfully. And Shikamaru didn't know what was wrong with him to speak in such manner. It was just...this fight felt like something he should win, like a Shoji Game. Man, he was an immature idiot.

Temari took a shaky breath, put her Tessen on her back again and looked at him straight in the eyes "If you think, even for a minute, that a ritual, a ring, a kid or anything will make me stay then you are seriously wrong, 'cause nothing but my own desire to will." She finished, he looked at her dumfounded and saw how she disappeared into the house. He heard some ruffling but he sure as hell wasn't going to go looking for her.

He then heard the banging of the main door, and that's when he got up. He went to their bedroom and saw the drawers were ruffled and unorganised. Shocked, he looked for her bag, but it was nowhere in sight. With wide eyes and a sense of profound dread he realised she had left. He sat on their bed and grabbed his hands feeling numb and bewildered.

Fuck that was just...

Ugly.

Fuck.

That was till this day, the worst night of his life. Actually, the worst week of his life.

After shifting around their bed the entire night, not being able to close his eyes or sleep at all he felt drained and still unable to grab his head in what the hell had happened. How come such stupid fight had go so wrong for God's sake?

And where the hell was she anyway?

He gave up on sleeping, got up, took a shower, washed his teeth and went out of the house to look out for her. It was Sunday so she wasn't in the Hokage building. He walked around the whole city, not seeing her anywhere. By noon he was getting seriously worried. He went to Ino's, Sakura's and then Naruto's and Hinata's. No signs of his wife.

His feet took him to the gates of the town. And in an impulse he started running. He had been running for half a day when he noticed he was going in the direction of Suna. He thought he might was well continue, and it took him three days to get there. But because he left without provisions or the proper clothing by the time he arrived he was about to pass out from starvation and dehydration. They promptly took him to a hospital to fix him up. The next thing he knew is that Gaara and Kankuro came to see him to the hospital all worried about Temari, and why they hell was he even there they wondered.

"So..." Kankuro started "What happened?" He asked Shikamaru, and suddenly Shikamaru wanted to bolt. What in hell was going through his brain to go to fucking Suna for God's sake?

"I just came looking for her" He said after some minutes of silence. The brothers looked at him, frowned in confusion, then looked at each other, and finally fully on glared at him.

"You mean Temari?" Kankuro questioned him seeking confirmation and Shikamaru thought who the fuck else? He wouldn't have travelled three days and three nights for just anyone you know. He nodded nevertheless.

"She is not here" Gaara told him.

"What!?" He screamed surprised, because really this was his last resource he had no idea where she could be. His stomach dropped and his heart constricted painfully in his chest. Fuck this was bad.

Gaara's eyes lost his usual expressionless tint to convey how displeased he was with Shikamaru right now. Perfect. "What happened?" He asked with an imperative tone that had Shikamaru ever more upset. He was in deep shit now.

"We had a fight and she left"

"That's very unlike her" Kankuro interjected. And he was looking at Gaara, having a silent conversation with him while they left him there being this pile of nerves.

"Yes well, thank you, I apparently have the capability of turning her fucking insane" he said forgetting his manners. But he truly felt like screaming and crying and punching a wall. The thought alone of losing her was bad enough, but this...this was his worst nightmare come true.

His face must have shown his turmoil because Kankuro gave him a glass of water "Ok calm down, tell us what happened". So, he went about telling them about the whole fight and how he didn't even understand why it was such a big deal at all. After all, all her females friends took care of their house. True Temari worked more than they did. But still...

"Have you ever realised that you actually married a princess?" Kankuro asked him once he finished, and he made a duh face at him, like, he knew alright. It took him hell and back to be able to marry her, correction, bond with her, their marriage ceremony was going to be in nine months actually. If it happened at all. That last thought had him really depressed "No, like really, have you ever truly thought that through?" Kankuro continued questioning him.

"Temari has never cleaned in her life, or cooked, or do any chores at all" Gaara added, "We have servants for those kind of things" he told him and he was now frowning at him, probably wondering if his brother in law was actually stupid not the genius he thought "Have for all our lives"

"What I don't get is why, you being rich as you are, are forcing your wife, sorry bonded, to actually do that stuff, when you could have someone from your clan doing it?" Kankuro wondered out loud.

That didn't make sense at all. It was a woman's job to take care of the house wasn't it?

"That is not the way I was raised" Shikamaru finally stated and looked at them.

His in laws both glared at him unhappily.

"It isn't the way she was raised either" Gaara informed him with a harsh voice "And when I accepted this bonding I did it under the assumption that you would treat her like the princess she is"

Gaara's words were a slap to his face. Was he really that oblivious? Was he really that much of crappy husband? Bonded...hell...how come he hadn't realised how hard it was on her? He remembered how she tried really hard to make foods that he liked and had everything more or less organised in the house. But it was a big house, and she was the only one doing everything. On top of that, she had a very demanding job and arrived to the house tired and drained. Just to have her also very demanding husband asking for attention and typical adult newlywed activities.

He truly was an idiot.

"God, I need to leave" he said, and shoved the blankets off him.

"Tomorrow. Tonight you need to sleep and recover. I will tell the medics to knock you out" Gaara said, and he said it with more gentleness than he deserved.

"Yeah, okay. Thank you" Shikamaru said, and didn't even complained when Gaara ordered some medic nins to give him some pills to knock him out. He had spent four days awake. He needed the help, specially if he wanted to make it home as fast as he could. He still had to find Temari.

"You should really talk about the cultural differences" Kankuro told him when they were getting ready to leave.

"Would you believe is the only subject we haven't talked about?" And it was so true, he felt like the biggest asshole again. After all, he never really saw how hard it was for her. He felt terrible.

"Get some rest" Gaara ordered and he felt asleep almost immediately, not before thanking them for everything though.

Next morning, he left the hospital and with some provisions he went back to Konoha. He arrived at night, three days later. The lights of their house were on and he sighed in relief. He hoped it was Temari and not his mother, that would just be a bummer of epic proportions.

"Where the hell have you been?" Temari asked him as soon as he entered the house, and he was so happy of seeing her, that he went and hugged her tightly. He felt his eyes sting a little, so he tightened the embrace until he somehow composed himself. She didn't hug him back, and after some minutes she disentangled herself from him "No one had a clue were you where. You didn't ask for a time off at work for God's sake!"

Right work...

He looked at her, she was wearing her pyjamas, and looked beautiful, and God, he just wanted to hug her, make love to her, and have her in his arms the whole night. Until he could shake the sense of loss and fear out of him. They still clinged to him with fierceness and he hated it.

"For God's sake Shikamaru, just tell me where have you been!?" She yelled at him, her eyes seemed moist "I swear to God, if you have been around gallivanting with another woman I am going to fucking kill you!"

That had Shikamaru frowning. Other woman she said?

What?

"What?" He asked her because he really didn't understand what the hell was she talking about.

He saw her inhale deeply trying to calm herself and asked him once more "Just tell me where were you?"

"In Suna" he replied honestly.

She took a step back in surprise "What?"

"Yeah, I looked for you everywhere and when I didn't found you I went to Suna. Your brothers put me in a Hospital when I arrived. And anyways, shouldn't I be the one to ask you where you have been?" He questioned her back. His relief addled brain coming more into focus with every passing minute.

She snorted humourlessly and looked at her side with her nose lifted in that almighty gesture she had, he actually found adorable. She looked like a spoilt brat, but he found it kind of cute nevertheless. "I went to spend the night in an onsen, came back at noon the day after, but you weren't here. Then waited six damn days for you to show your face here. I had to lie to the damn Hokage, your mother and everybody telling them you had the worst diarrhoea ever. Probably contagious" She said, and it left him with his mouth opened, gapping in incredulity at her.

"You didn't"

"I was mad alright? And you literally disappeared on me, and no one knew where you were. Do you know how hard it was to come up with something to cover for you? I had to invent something and figured that whoever asked how you were didn't know where you were. How was I supposed to know you had gone to Suna without telling a soul?" She half yelled at him again "You could be dead moron!"

"That's...embarrassing"

"Well you deserve it"

After some minutes of silence, they looked at each other and they eventually cut the distance between them again. He hugged her and inhale deeply, filling his senses with her scent and felt himself at peace and ease for the first time since the whole stupid fight started. They both clutched each other tightly "You stink" she said and he chuckled. She didn't let him go though.

"I am sorry" he finally said earnestly. "We will fix it, I will fix it. And well...I just wanted you to know I didn't mean anything I said" he told her, he just wanted everything to be okay again. It was their first fight and only lasted some days, but he felt like had been without her for years.

"I know, me neither. And I am sorry too, I shouldn't have left like that. I won't do it again. I promise" She told him and kissed his jaw. He shivered and tilted his head down to kiss her. He did so tenderly and reverently.

"Don't ever leave me alright?" He begged when they stopped to breathe. They cuddled again, and she had her head now resting in the crock of his neck. He pecked her forehead and tightened his arms around her.

"I won't, I promise" she assured him, lifted her face at him and gifted him with one of those beautiful smiles of hers that always left him breathless and with his heart jumping erratically in his chest.

"Let's just not fight...ever" he implored hopefully.

"I don't think it works that way" Temari said while chuckling at his words.

"Sure it does. We just talk it through like we always do" he said smugly and she laughed.

"Sounds like a plan" she replied and nibbled his jaw.

"You know I love plans" he uttered, untangling himself from her and pulling her to the bathroom. He needed her and he needed a shower, might as well kill two birds with one stone. He got himself out of his clothes and then helped her out of hers.

"Love you"

"Love you too"

They said, and proceeded to make love and feel each other again.

For Shikamaru, it felt like finally being back home again.

.

.

.

After the, the ugly event, that was how Shikamaru called that good awful fight, he was the first Nara to ever hire one of his clansmen's wife to take care of the house. He got weird looks about it, and some elders complained about traditions and whatnot. For him though, it was the best idea ever. It left his wife...bonded...damn it! He wasn't able to call her anything but his wife in his head. Anyhow, it left her with lots of time to fully focus on him. He didn't feel like complaining or wallowing in tradition and stupid chauvinistic stuff after that.

.

.

The last time Shikamaru counted firsts was when he married Temari.

He figured, that having decided to spend his life with such an unpredictable troublesome woman only meant that firsts were going to be part of his everyday life for years to come. He did have a list of momentous firsts that inevitably brought a smile to his face over the years.

Like the first time he danced with Temari in their wedding. He crashed her feet a couple of times, she just laughed at him and told him he was helpless.

Or the first and only time Temari got pregnant. He was twenty years old and they had been married married for two months. He was beyond exited by the news and went about the whole town buying things for the baby.

The first time Shikadai walked. It was in his office. His beautiful wife had surprised him by taking his lunch and their baby with her while she visited him. As time passed, every time he was tired and exhausted and felt like he was drowning in a sea of paperwork, he would remember his son and wife laughter of that day. His office never felt like a prison after that ever again.

The first time his son called him dad, it was the day Shikamaru finally understood that he was an adult now. And he couldn't be more thankful to Temari for joining him in his path to becoming a man.

The first time they went on a family vacations, or the time Shikadai learned his first jutsu, or the time Temari had blowed him off under his office desk for their tenth anniversary, or the time his wife left three months for a long diplomatic mission. The last one has been a nightmare because he missed her like hell, and he got so grumpy that Naruto had to give him some days off to just go see her, or he would've died, by the Hokage's hand no less.

Sometimes Shikamaru thought all the firsts were too many and too precious to pick.

Specially seeing he had a wife whose purpose in life seemed to surprise him and keep him on his toes. And truth be told, even if he stopped counting, he would always be surprised and pleased when they happened, because after all,

Luckily for him,

In the end,

If Anything,

She always made firsts worth waiting for.

.

.

.

The end.