Shikamaru sighed, looking down at the note in his hand. It had been folded, placed in his lunch sack, then opened and promptly crumpled into a ball by his own hand. Now, he had smoothed it back out, and was glaring at the words scrawled down on it.

Shikamaru,

Please pick up a dozen eggs from the market after school. We are out.

Love,

Mom

Eggs. Of all the stupid things in the world... He rolled his eyes, crumpled the note back up, and shoved it into a pocket in his cargo pants. It wasn't like it already took him forever to get home, all the way on the outskirts of town, but now he had to go and pick up stupid eggs. It was going to take him so long. But, he reasoned, if he didn't get the eggs, his mother would be beyond angry with him, and therefore annoying and troublesome. So, he concluded, it would be in his best interests to go to the market and get eggs.

But he wasn't going to hurry or anything.

He passed a few people wandering around the market area, laughing and talking with each other. Old friends. Mothers with children. Boyfriends and–

Damn it.

He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about her. He didn't want to–

Damn it.

He was.

He couldn't stop. He had gone through every possible situation in his mind at least twice, and he could not come to a proper conclusion as to why girls were so incredibly confusing.

He supposed that was the reason. They were just damn confusing.

And annoying.

And troublesome.

And cute.

And...damn it.

He noticed a couple University-aged students sitting in a coffee shop near the market, studying, talking, laughing. More couples. He sighed. Couples sucked. They made everything annoying to him. Two girls at the window laughed, poring over the pages in their textbooks, until one turned towards the window and towards Shikamaru, and he saw her.

Temari.

That damn girl. Damn it! Damn her! It was becoming his favorite word lately, but he didn't really care. Why was she so annoying? Why was she so damn attractive? And why did she keep ignoring him?

That was it, he decided. He was going to find out.

Steeling his nerves, Shikamaru entered the coffee shop with the tinny ring of the bell above the door.

Just as a laughing Temari stood up and walked away from the table.

"No!" he wanted to scream, another plot thwarted by the girl, but his feet continued moving toward the table as Temari, the object of his concern, continued to move toward the bathrooms.

"Can I help you?"

Shikamaru looked down at the sound of the confused female voice. He hadn't realized he was at the table Temari had just vacated. He hadn't realized that this other girl he did not know had been sitting below him for he did not know exactly how long. He stood there, mouth opened, then closed it just as quickly.

"Do you have a problem?"

I have a lot of problems, he wanted to say, starting with your friend-slash-classmate-slash-lesbian is that why she doesn't like me! His hand rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. "Ah, I was just...thinking."

"Can you think not so close to my latté?" she asked him, moving her mug away from him and nearer to the window. She continued to look up at him with green eyes, a curious eyebrow raised.

"Was that Temari?" he asked. Actually, he blurted it out. Rather embarrassingly, in fact. He chided himself and tried to keep control over his voice.

The girl with the green eyes looked past him, then back up at him. "Yeah," she said, idly stirring her coffee. "Why? You know her?"

"I–sort of. Yes."

The other eyebrow raised to meet the first one. "What's your name?"

"Shikamaru," he told her. The girl practically laughed. He frowned.

"Shika–you're Shikamaru!" she asked, her voice rising with unshed laughter. She kicked out the seat Temari had vacated just moments ago from underneath the table and waved to it. "Sit down. She'll be back in a second."

Shikamaru wanted to say no. He suddenly felt the urge to flee, to run away form this girl as fast as he possibly could. Her look screamed trouble. She was staring at him like a predator does right before it rips the head from it's prey. He didn't like this feeling.

Then again, he didn't enjoy the brush-off he'd gotten from Temari, either. He wanted answers. And he wanted them then and there, damn it. Wasn't that why he'd entered the coffee shop on such a whim? "Fine," he said calmly, taking the seat, "I will."

The girl leaned over, dark-green hair falling into her face a bit. "So, Shikamaru..." But she couldn't say much more.

The bathroom door opened.

Temari walked out, wiping her hands on the fronts of her jeans.

Her friend looked over, waving her arm around in some grand gesture of greeting. "Oi! Temari!"

Temari looked up, somewhat confused. Then, her eyes landed on Shikamaru.

She stopped. She began to turn around.

"Where ya goin'?" her friend called.

"To hang myself!" Temari called back.

"Don't make me come over there!" There was a growl in her friend's voice, a threat that she would indeed go and drag Temari back to the table if she had to.

Temari's shoulders lifted and lowered a bit with a sigh, and she turned on her heel and walked back toward the table. She lifted her book into her hand just as Shikamaru spoke.

"Sit down and finish your coffee," Shikamaru said, in a tone that meant 'Please, don't mind me, I'm just here to verbally rip a chunk out of your ass.'

"Hey, Pineapple Head," she greeted, and Shikamaru looked positively livid.

"Temari," her friend began, "your friend Shikamaru here was just getting ready to tell me why he needed to see you."

Shikamaru blinked. "I was?" he asked.

"You were," she replied.

"Nori!" Temari hissed, suddenly in the chair to Shikamaru's left. When had she moved there? She grabbed her book from in front of him and dragged it over to her side of the table.

Shikamaru looked to Temari. "We need to talk," he said.

"Do we?" she replied distractedly, flipping through her biology book.

"Do you not think so?"

"I never said that."

"So why don't we?"

Nori began to look uncomfortable. "Eh, maybe I should–"

"No!" Temari suddenly shouted, sounding nervous and a little out of her mind, and Nori stopped herself from rising from her chair.

"Is it that difficult to sit down and talk to me?" Shikamaru continued.

"I never said that!" Temari replied, exasperated.

"Then why have you been ignoring me?"

"I told you to give me a few days, Shikamaru."

"I did."

"Come on! I was hungover one of those days; it doesn't count!"

"Stop using alcohol as an excuse," he told her. "I want some answers."

"Damn it, Shikamaru!" Temari shut her book loudly on the table. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"I just told you," he replied. "Didn't you hear?"

"I heard you!"

Nori blinked. She leaned forward, taking a good look at Shikamaru. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Nori!" Temari warned again.

Shikamaru looked to Nori, looking somewhat pissed at her interruption. "Could you give us a few minutes alone, please?"

Temari suddenly looked smug. "What's wrong, Shikamaru?" she asked. "Suddenly feeling shy? You don't want to talk in front of people now?"

Shikamaru blinked. She'd turned the tables on him. "What?"

"Answer her question, then." Temari looked positively pleased with herself.

"Sixteen," Shikamaru answered, his tones clipped. "Although I don't see what that's got to do with anything."

Nori smirked. "Eh, it's got everything to do with it, you know." She leaned back in her seat.

"That's enough, Nori," Temari snapped. Shikamaru turned back to face her.

"What, is this because I'm only sixteen? I didn't think that really mattered."

"Of course it doesn't matter to you," Nori cut in again. "She's older. That's good for you."

"That's enough, Nori," Temari repeated, leveling a gaze at her friend. "Maybe you should leave us alone for a minute."

Nori huffed. "Fine. But if you need help, I'll be over at the counter." With that, she stood up, pouting, and walked away.

Temari turned back to Shikamaru. "What do you want, Shikamaru?"

"I want you to not ignore me," he told her. "The other night you acted like there might be...you said you liked me."

She sighed. "I...damn it, Shikamaru, why are you so pushy?"

"I'm not pushy!" he replied. "You said you liked me. Now you're ignoring me! I don't get it!"

She laughed. "You're not supposed to get it," she said.

"Stop laughing!" he told her, now sounding angry. "I am being serious. Why the hell would you say those things and then ignore me?"

"For the love of...I'm not ignoring you. If I wanted to ignore you, I would have never said those things. I would have left by now, okay? I am far, far away from ignoring you. This is a non-ignorance zone." She paused. "Well, that didn't make any sense."

"Stop joking around," he commanded. "What is going on here? If you're trying to have fun and lead me on, just don't."

"Where are you getting these ideas from!" Temari asked, exasperated. She narrowed her eyes as she continued. "Have you been talking to Kankuro? You can't listen to a word that kid says, honestly. He's not–"

"No!" Shikamaru cut her off. "Shut up!"

Temari was suddenly angry. "Don't tell me to shut up!"

Shikamaru waved his hands in front of his face. "I didn't meant that. I meant...I...shut up."

Temari pointed toward the door. "Get out."

"I was talking to myself that time," Shikamaru replied. He sighed. "Look. I'm...confused. I've never...done this before."

"What?" Temari asked, crossing her arms against her chest. "Heinously piss off a woman?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I mean yes. I mean! Damn it, I've never been in the kind of situation where there may be a possible relationship involved!"

Temari blinked. "You never...you've never had a girlfriend before?"

"No."

"Never?"

"I said no!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down! Geez...look. Okay. I have been thinking about this. About...a lot of things," Temari finally admitted. "And...don't get mad. The fact that you are kind of...young, it has come up. A lot. And the fact that you've never been in a relationship, well...it's kind of obvious."

"It is?"

Temari chuckled. "Well, now it is. But my point is, you're younger than me and pretty inexperienced. So, I guess I can forgive you for some of it. Some. You being so demanding and 'GARR! ME WANT THIS! YOU GIVE!'...it's not very appealing. More neanderthal than anything, but definitely not appealing."

"I'm confused," he replied.

Temari raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Everything!" Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck again. "I...I had a plan, okay? I had my entire life planned out. I was going to graduate. Go to college. Get a decent-paying, low-key job. Find a nice wife and settle down."

Temari offered a bitter smile. "And I'm not part of that plan, huh?"

"No!" he replied quickly, raising his hands in the air. "Now that plan's gone to shit! And it's your fault!" He pointed an accusatory finger in Temari's direction.

She raised her hands innocently. "Hey, don't point at me! I'm sorry I made your life plan completely defunct, but you can't really plan out life, y'know!" Shikamaru looked to her, at a loss for words, his hand still hanging in the air, pointing at her. Temari took his finger and lowered it to the table, leaving their hands there on top of her book. "Look. Life is a bitch sometimes. Well, most of the time. If you were going to personify Life, you can't put it on a collar and lead it around like it's your bitch. You are life's bitch, and life is a bitch to you."

"You're not making any sense," Shikamaru said calmly.

"I know I'm not!" she replied, raising her free hand to her temple and closing her eyes. "You can't...plan out your life step by step, Shikamaru. It doesn't work that way. It was never meant to work that way. You just have to take what it gives you."

"Well, what's it giving me?"

Temari opened her eyes to find his dark stare on her. She smiled grimly. "I fell right into that one, didn't I?"

"Fell into what?" Shikamaru asked, obviously confused.

Temari laughed loudly. "Wow, you really haven't ever been in this situation before. The point of the matter is, Shikamaru, you can't plan out your life. You'll just get pissed when it doesn't happen."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" he asked.

Temari looked down, removing her hand from his finally, and began to gather her books. "You can start by asking me on a date."

"A date?" he asked, his voice suddenly pitched up an octave higher than normal.

"Yeah, Pineapple Head, a date," she said as she stood. "And then we can see where life leads us from there."