IN PURSUIT OF LADY TEMARI'S CONSORT

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns Uzumaki Naruto & Company. I just borrow his creations for my fics.

Author's Note: I posted the first two chapters, and thankfully, the keen eyes of my reviewers told me of my mistake; that the time gap between Chuunin exam and Sasuke's retrieval mission is only for a few months, and not a couple of years. Gomen-nasai. That's why I've decided to change the summary and a few lines in the story to change Temari's marriageable age. (a bit) It won't effect much of the story though. I just hope that it could make up for the 'timeline' confusion. Again, sorry. -

Summary: Years passed by, and according to the wills of the late Kazekage, Temari should be wed to a noble and compatible ninja when she reached her 17th birthday. Will she let her brothers do the choosing, with each of them already had their own choice of potential future "brother-in-law" or, she will let her heart decide for her.

(Takes place after episode 135 of the anime. Canon Universe. Manga universe not included)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER 1 : Another Chance

(At the hospital)

"You are unexpectedly boring…Although you are acting like a man." Temari made a frustrated remark, but yet, in a very calm manner. After that, there was a long pause between them. Both of them uncertain of what the other is thinking.

After a moment, Shikamaru stood up and walked away. He felt like a weak failure in front of the girl who had saved his life a few moments before. And the way her words sounded a little bit arrogant did make her more disconcerting by the minute.

Just as he passed another hallway opening on his right, he noticed that there was a familiar and well-known figure standing tall, leaning against the wall.

"Shikamaru...You're being talked down by a girl and now you're running away?" His father's loud, masculine voice was heard, breaking the silence that started when he left Temari without a word.

"It's troublesome. I don't want to have an argument…Besides, I'm not a girl". Shikamaru said, while piercing a glance towards Temari from the corners of his eyes. 'And above all that, having her saving my butt do wounded my pride a bit.'

"Yeah…but you're not acting like a man either. You're a spineless coward." Temari could only watched the exchange between Shikamaru and another older man who looked quite a lot like him.

'That must be his father'. She pondered to herself.

The deserted area of the hospital is indeed a suitable area for personal conversations, because due to this fact, she could hear every single word undoubtedly that were spoken between the father and son. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy towards the dark plum-haired newly-appointed Chuunin.

Frankly, deep inside, she really and badly wanted to console and comfort him. Wishing that she could hold him in her arms, telling him that all that happened weren't his fault, everything's going to be alright and that he should be a man and accept everything as it is. However, unfortunately for her, all she could do was sit there, on the hospital bench, watching helplessly from the depths of her eyes.

The reason why she felt connected with the handsome and extremely smart young man was because of a secret. Yes, a secret that she successfully kept within her heart for almost half a year now. The secret concerning her heart and no one, not even her brothers would believe it if they knew about it. Heck, not even she herself believed at the beginning that; Temari, the Wind Mistress, the well known kunoichi as the strongest of them all in the Academy and also one of the fearsome Sand siblings, would ever lose her heart to a genin from Konoha.

And it all started from the moment Shikamaru outwitted and outsmarted her at the Chuunin exam finals the past few months, right before Orochimaru's invasion attempt towards Konoha. She used to be a girl who waits for no man and men bowed in respect to her strength and merciless fighting. But right now, she had fallen all over for the only man that had managed to spark a bruise at her female ego, which then had turned to admiration and attraction.

At the moment, Fate had written that their paths will cross again. Maybe, this was a way of God to tell her that there's a reason of why she is destined to meet up with Shikamaru once more. And that reason happened to be something that she had to find out for herself. This is another chance for her to see whether her feelings for the onyx-eyed, lazy nin is real and worth a try.

Nevertheless, there is no chance in this lifetime would the Suna Princess's admiration and longing towards the only heir of the Nara clan and not forgetting the royal slacker of the Konoha Academy, would be known to anyone. Because if they do, Shikamaru would eventually knew about it and Temari wouldn't want to know what the outcome would be. 'I'll lose my face in front of everyone or worst, he'll laugh his head off and I'll lose my face in front of him!' She bit her lips subconsciously, cringing at the thought of losing her pride in front of the boy again, just like the first time they met.

"Tsunade-sama!" A loud voice was heard from the corners of the hallway.

It was none other than the Hokage's faithful assistant, Shizune. Her face wore a lightly fatigue expression with beads of perspiration flowing down beside her face. However, the expression on her face had turned into an indescribable feeling, but the words "relief", "glad" and "satisfied" were quite near along the lines as she reported the latest progress of Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto's situation.

"The two of them?" There's a pause between her words before she blurted out, confirming the situation.

"It seems that your mission has failed, Shikamaru...But, everyone's alive. That is more important than anything else." Tsunade said as she stood up from the bench, switching herself to Hokage mode at that instance.

No exact words could be used to describe what Shikamaru is feeling right now. But, a few possibilities would be relieved, regret, guilty, disappointed yet glad. Yes, he was very glad that even though his first mission turned out to be a failure, his friends and comrades and in another sense, brothers had survived. A whirlwind of emotions were mixing deep inside him. Before he knew it, the tears that he'd tried so best to retain before were running heavily on his cheeks.

"Next time, I'll carry out the missions perfectly!" He muttered between tears and he felt like a heavy burden of guilt had been released from his shoulders.

Dark turquoise eyes were fixed towards the breaking young ninja. She could feel exactly what he feels and if only she could, she wanted to shed tears with him, together. So that he knew that there is another person who really gives a damn about him. Hah, and this comes from a girl who just pep-talked him on the points of having emotional training and sacrifice is inevitable crap a few minutes before.

Temari could feel her face grew warm all of a sudden. And, tears have started to gather at the brims of her eyes.

'No, I could not let these tears fall right now. If I do, it'll surely do nothing good'. Deep inside her, she could hear her voice of reasoning. But, the gleam in her eyes showed what she felt straight away.

"I think I'll go pay the others a visit" Shikamaru said, as his tears subsided and he once again regained all of his composure. Temari's forehead were slightly wrinkled when she saw that Shikamaru had walked away and turned around at one corner, before disappearing.

She felt weak all of a sudden, because of why, she is unsure. It's like as if Shikamaru was her pillar of strength. Just being near him, made her felt strong and peaceful. And now, when he's gone, she found it quite difficult to even smile at the Hokage, when she subconsciously fixed her gaze towards the respected Sannin.

'You're not a coward, Shikamaru. I knew that you have become the man that I saw you could be'. Temari believed wordlessly inside her heart. Then suddenly, her expression turned into more of a determination. 'Okay Mr. Nara Shikamaru. You're not running away from me. I'm not yet finished with you.' With that, she stood up, grabbed her giant fan and mentally strained to find a reason to give to Tsunade before she intended to leave.

"Sumimasen, Tsunade-sama." She said as she turned towards the older blonde woman. "I just remembered that I have to meet up with my brothers. I guessed I forgot about it. They must've been worried about me." With that, Temari gave Tsunade a bow and Tsunade acknowledged her respect. "I'm really looking forward to spend some time with you and your brothers afterwards. I would like to express our gratitude for your assistance and alliance, Temari-san."

"Hai…I'm sure Kazekage-sama would be grateful for your hospitality, Hokage-sama." Temari said, while her eyes were sneaking glances to one certain corner. Tsunade raised one of her eyebrow, but with a warm smile gracing her rosy painted lips. The kunoichi in front of her seems to be restless. 'I heard that Temari was the most reserved ninja in the Academy. I wonder why exactly?' Tsunade mused to herself.

Her eyes never left the silhouette of the female ninja until she disappeared through the corner that she had been stealing glances before; the one where Shikamaru had walked away to before.

Temari felt relieved that she could make an escape to find Shikamaru but she hoped that it wasn't that obvious. But, little did Temari know that all of her expressions before did not go unnoticed by the Hokage.

As soon as her brain started in processing what she had witnessed before, Tsunade couldn't help but to ponder until she came to one mere conclusion. 'The alliance between Konohagakure and Sunagakure has always been a good decision at the first place.'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nara Shikaku watched as the blonde young kunoichi made her way towards the corner of the hallway. Hearing from the girl's conversation with his son previously, he was quite amused to find that the girl is another female that could intimidate his son; apart from his wife of course.

"One-of-a-kind, isn't she?" A feminine voice spoke from behind. Shikaku doesn't need to turn around to see the owner of the voice.

"Yeah…she is…I found it quite amusing, though." He answered.

"What's amusing?" Tsunade asked.

"Until now, I thought that no other woman besides my wife would be able to intimidate my son."

"Temari did that?" Both of them laughed at the thought. "From what I've heard, they had fought each other during the Chuunin final exams before. Temari merely got a chance to win against Shikamaru. Why would he felt intimidated at her?"

"My son forfeited the fight due to the reason that he lacks both chakra and energy that time. Despite all reasons, Miss Temari won against him. I've watched the fight all the time, and no doubt…Miss Temari is a very strong and intelligent young lady, chances or no chances. Her performance during the fight did give a challenge to every shinobi in present. Besides, if it wasn't for her and her brothers, Shikamaru and the rest would never survive this mission. I guess that made him looked quite un-cool in front of her" Shikaku said, with his eyes half-closed.

"Hmm…I see. But, after all I've seen before, Temari has a weakness too" Tsunade said, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Shikaku threw a questioning glance towards the honey-eyed Sannin. "She do? And, that would be?"

Tsunade let out a small chuckle before she blurted out the words.

"Your son"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temari

'This could be another chance. The only chance I'll ever get to be close to his heart. Is this worth pursuing?'

To Be Continued……

End Of Chapter 1

A/N: So, this is the first chapter. I'm sorry if my writing is not that good, but, I believe that as long as you have the spirits and enthusiasm to write, you'll get better and better. I just hoped you'll help me to improve my writing simply by reviewing or, more better if you could tell me your opinions, suggestions, ideas and etc. It's the readers that make the authors alive. Till next time, take care everyone. Have a nice day. Anou…minna-san, I'm totally in need of a beta-reader cum editor. If anyone's willing to help me, PM me ok? Or send me an email. I love to hear from you. R&R.