This is just a hinted shikaxtemari fic… no fluffy or mushy stuff. Erm, there area few spoilers for post-manga-timeskip, but just a few facts, nothing deep.

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, blah-blah-blah, yadahyadah…

"Shikamaru-isms"

by: Chibi Viki

A few months before the next Chuunin exams were to take place, Tsunade took the liberty of sending a messenger to the Sand Village to check its current status for the upcoming exams. The best choice, of course, was Shikamaru Nara, for his position as examiner and his somewhat good-ties with the Sand Ninjas.

Taking no one but himself with him, Shikamaru spent nearly one whole week in the Hidden Sand Village.

During his stay, he spend most of his time with Temari or her siblings, Gaara who was Sand's new Kazekage, and Kankuro, who provided him with everything he needed to complete his mission.

Finally finishing his appointed task, Shikamaru finally left the Sand Village… little did he know how much his visit had influenced the Sand Siblings…

Two days after he left, things were back to normal in the Sand Village, and Temari had just stepped into their house to find Kankuro sitting by the window tinkering with his puppet. Looking around, there was no sign of Gaara.

"Where's Gaara?", she asked Kankuro as she made her way into the kitchen.

Without looking at her, Kankuro lazily replied, "I dunno…. He went out, or rather, escaped, when a group of girls came here looking for him. It's troublesome really…"

Kankuro's last sentence nearly made Temari drop the pitcher of water that she just took out from the fridge… she swore she just heard Shikamaru speaking, but it can't be because he had already gone back to Konoha. She looked at Kankuro who noticed her staring.

"What?", he grunted.

Temari raised a brow in response and finally resigned to a shrug. "Nothing", she replied.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Come evening, the siblings sat around the table for dinner. They ate their meal in silence as they always did. Then suddenly, out of the blue…

"Women… are troublesome", said Gaara.

Temari, who was just about to eat a chopstick full of rice, froze. Her mouth remained agape as she almost dropped her utensils and her food. That was DEFINITELY a Shikamaru.

"Oh… those girls earlier kept following you, huh?", said Kankuro who was undisturbed by Gaara's apparent 'Shikamaru-ism'. "Well, girls can be loud and annoying you know, especially now that you're the Kazekage… at least that's what Shikamaru said".

Temari was looking from one brother to the other. This was unbelievable. Was one week of Shikamaru enough to infect her siblings? Or maybe she was just imagining everything. She looked at her food and smelled it… nothing funny there. She checked her drink… also nothing.

Having noticed their sister's bizarre behavior, the boys eyed her suspiciously.

"Something wrong, Temari?", asked Kankuro.

Temari looked at Kankuro, then at Gaara, with a confused look on her face.

"You guys… just sounded like Shikamaru", she replied, "But, hmm… maybe it was just me".

Kankuro and Gaara looked at each other.

"What the hell are you talking about, Temari?", Kankuro grunted, "We've always been like this".

Temari could only sigh, "Fine… whatever", and immediately ate the rest of her dinner. "Maybe it was just me after all". She stood up from her seat and let out a yawn. "I'm gonna go take a bath now and go to bed early. Don't worry about the mess… Yamame and Tsubame will take care of it".

She bid them both a goodnight and set off for the stairs. As she took a step, she heard her brothers talk.

"Temari is one scary chick", Kankuro commented, "I bet she threatened Yamame and Tsubame so they'd come and clean up after us. She hates doing chores after all".

Gaara nodded.

"Well, Shikamaru did say that she's about as scary as his mother… except that his mother is a constant nagger. Do you think Temari is a nagger?"

Gaara looked puzzled for a while as if thinking.

"Maybe not like Shikamaru's mother then".

Gaara nodded in response. Then, there was silence.

"I saw… a sheep… in the clouds", Gaara muttered.

"Yeah! I saw one too", Kankuro replied as he stretched his arms and folded them behind his head. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, "cloud-watching… sure is interesting".

Temari almost tripped on her way up the stairs when she heard them talk about… cloud-watching. That definitely DEFINITELY was a Shikamaru. It was strange how the lazy boy from Konoha influenced her siblings in a matter of days. What more if he spent a whole month in their house! Hopefully, by then, Kankuro wouldn't be thinking of letting his hair grow long and tying it up in a ponytail like a certain pineapple-head does… let alone Gaara.

She smiled to herself. Well, at least she knew that her siblings liked the guy. It was rare for them to like someone so much that they'd catch his mannerisms in such a short time. So maybe next time they'll have him stay longer than a week... or maybe ask him to move into Sand PERMANENTLY.

Well, that's definitely a thought that Temari liked to ponder… and though it'll be troublesome, it just might be worth it.

-owari-

Author's Notes: This is my first Shikaxtemari fanfic to post here in (but thethirdone to write… I never finished the others) . I actually have other Naruto-fanfics which are more on Hinata since she's my favorite. But alas, none of them are finished and I'm still rather fickle on whom to pair her with. Candidates so far are Kiba, Neji… and maybe a post- manga-time skip Naruto since he's become more mature now and less of a fool – yeah, I didn't quite like how Naruto's attitude was so much like Slam Dunk's Hanamichi Sakuragi. Anyway, until I'm finally convinced with whom to perfectly pair Hinata with, I'll keep writing more Shikaxtemari fanfics because I just love them as a potential couple. Come'on! Think of all the little spikey-haired, pineappleheads running around Konoha or Suna if they every have kids! How fun! XD