Rain and Shadows

Echolock

I thought of this after listening to the song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie about five times in a row. It was mostly the title that inspired this story, you'll see why when you read it. It has nothing to do with the song, but the following someone into the dark thing got me thinking, and random brainwaves involving shadows and rain (because I love rain) led inevitably to this conclusion. None of the characters belong to me (if I did own them, you think this story would be here? I'd be making money off of it) and neither does the song that inspired it. If either of them did belong to me, I'd have money. But I don't. I have about a dollar. Don't sue me, because that's all you'll be getting. Oh, just as a side note, this changed a lot from what I originally wanted to write. I think I skipped around on it a little, so I'll apologize for that in advance.

As usual, "This" means talking, 'this' mean thinking, and (this) means arguing with themselves. Some slight OOC, but what fanfic is without that?

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The rain was coming down harder than before, but she didn't mind all that much. It wasn't often that it rained here, and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

"Temari." She looked back. It was Shikamaru, but she hadn't needed to look back to know that. It was the way he said her name, like saying her name was so troublesome that he was about to yawn through saying it. She didn't like that at all, but she tolerated it. Of course, she never said that she didn't like, or even why she didn't like it, largely because she couldn't admit to herself why she didn't like it.

He had an umbrella in his hand, but that hadn't kept him from getting a little wet. His hair was up in its usual ponytail, but plastered down a little bit, making it look like it was almost painted onto his skin. She smirked. "Did you not notice it was raining or something?"

"Troublesome woman," he muttered to himself. "Shower. Just finished."

"So why are you worrying about getting wet again?" she asked, her smirk getting even bigger at the sight of him taken by surprise. It wasn't often he showed surprise at all. The permanent frown on his face usually never moved.

"I don't like getting my clothes wet," he replied eventually, "It's too troublesome to dry them out again." His face fell back into its habitual scowl. "You should come back in."

"Worried about me getting sick?" she asked, almost hoping (No I'm not!) that he would say yes.

"No," he said simply. "I just don't think you should be out here by yourself for so long."

"So join me." She patted a spot on the wall next to her.

For the second time that night he looked surprised. He thought for a little bit before deciding that it couldn't be that bad and sat down. He almost jumped back up when she leaned on his shoulder.

"What?" she asked, a little annoyed at his reaction.

"Troublesome," he muttered again. "Warn me next time."

"Why should I?"

"I don't like to be surprised."

She didn't respond, only shrugged internally and made a small noncommittal sound. They stayed that way for a while, watching the rain fall, listening to it hammer out a unique tempo of its own, not caring what they thought of it, or what anyone else thought. 'I used to think that I would never care what anyone thought of me,' she thought suddenly, 'but I do. I care what he thinks.' She turned her head slightly to look at him. All she could see was the side of his face, but that was enough. He wasn't frowning anymore, but his face was blank. His eyes were a different story. They were lit up, almost shining. 'Maybe…' she thought, smirking again. 'I bet I know what he'll say.'

Suddenly, before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed his face in her hands and made him face her. Then she kissed him.

It wasn't a great kiss, as kisses go, but the sight of his eyes going wide was well worth it. When she pulled away, she looked at his face. His eyes were still wide, and his whole face registered shock. "Troublesome woman," he muttered again, and she smiled.

"I knew you were going to say that." Her smirk was now broad enough that it threatened to take off the top of her head.

"Is that all you were trying to do?" he asked her.

"Yes. I just wanted to see if I was right."

"Troublesome," he said like he so often did before standing up. 'What? He sounded almost… disappointed,' she thought.

"I'm sorry," she said, for the first time in as far back as she could remember.

"It's alright." He looked out at the horizon. "It was just an experiment. Just an…" his voice trailed off. He turned and went inside.

She sat, looking at where he had been. The rain was beginning to slow down from an all out tempo to a soft one, almost the speed of a waltz. 'I may have messed up,' she thought.

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I may be continuing this, depending on whether or not people liked it. And please, no one ask where they are or why they are there, because I don't know. I'll figure it out if I continue this, but I much prefer one-shots. So just don't ask.

All comments are welcome, and any flames will be printed out for me to burn, just because I love the irony. I don't really care what you say about this, as long as you put something constructive somewhere (encouragement counts as constructive) and you don't type like you text. Unless you text in complete sentences. Like I do. Now I'm babbling. I should probably stop. But I don't want to. So ha. Okay, I'm done.

-Peace

-echolock