Our Stupidity

She stepped into Gaara's office as requested early that morning halting the clipped tones of two of the more prominent elder council members. The elders ceased conversation with Gaara as soon as she entered and gave her a withering look.

Well, excuse me. She was summoned to the room, it's not like she just showed up on a whim (this time anyway).

She bowed formally. "Kazekage-sama." Kankurou continually chided that she was the queen of role-playing. Due to Gaara's 'high' status, it was customary to address him as Kazekage-sama, even if he was her little brother. She managed it quite easily, but any time Kankurou tried, he'd smirk or guffaw. Kankurou couldn't manage the respectful bow; he could just barely handle the respectful tone and had yet been able to say 'Kazekage-sama' without a grin. Temari personally thought his behavior was ridiculous; it wasn't hard to call Gaara Kazekage. Granted, it felt weird beyond compare, as every time they were in private, it ceased to matter that Gaara's status was higher, she still treated him like a little brother. She yelled at him, teased him, threw the occasional kunai at him…You know, normal sibling type things. Nonetheless, she could 'role-play'. "Kankurou told me you wished to speak with me?"

He nodded. Pushing his chair back a bit, he opened a drawer and pulled out a few papers. "It should be a simple mission for you." Gaara said clearly. "Just aid the Konoha-nins."

It was a simple explanation, the specific details of the mission outlined in the small stack of papers he pushed across his desk toward her. The two elder council members eyed her curiously as she picked up the papers.

Temari didn't know what Gaara had been discussing with them prior to her entering the room, but they were probably nagging him over some uselessly irrelevant topic.

It was a simple mission, Temari decided, as she skimmed through the papers.

An assassination of a volatile missing-nin in Konoha.

She'd done a few of those in the past, they didn't tend to be too difficult – some were annoying, but not hard. (Some, though, were actually very fun.)

The nin, it was believed was moving in Suna's direction, and was known for his high intelligence. Konoha had requested a jounin from Suna to back up the Konoha team.

She was about to give Gaara a nod and exit the room, when her eyes caught the name of the missing-nin on the report.

Nara Shikazuu.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She scowled immediately, wishing she could remove that particular organ from her body. Gaara inclined his head and stared at her. Even before he opened his mouth she knew what was coming next.

"…Temari?" Gaara questioned calmly.

She knew (even though she despised the mere idea) before even thinking over the issue that she was going to refuse this mission.

How—freaking—troublesome.

She flicked her bangs out of her eyes and placed the papers on his wooden desk with a definitive air. She pushed them back in Gaara's direction. "No." It felt weird just saying it. She'd never said 'no' to any mission before.

He stared at her, his brow furrowed in confusion. "No?"

"I won't do this mission."

The elder to Gaara's left bristled, her wrinkled face twisted into a scowl, "The impudence! You don't get to choose what missions to take! You young shinobi have no understanding of the word 'duty'!"

The other elder, a very stoic old man stared coldly at Temari. "Just because you are the Kazekage's sister does NOT mean you get special treatment. This is an 'A' rank mission, not a request, but an order."

"Well I refuse it." Temari spat; she'd never cared for these two particular council members. They were by far, the worst of the bunch. She redirected her attention to her youngest brother. "Give the mission to Kankurou, he's just as capable, and will be more than willing." He would; Kankurou had a definitive liking toward all the suffocating green of Konoha.

It was nice, for a while, but spend enough time there, and it just gets so…annoying. Even the people tended to get annoying. (ALL of them, even the one she couldn't stop thinking of.)

The woman raised her voice, "Are you not listening, you insolent—!"

"I am listening." Temari interrupted her, "and frankly, I don't care. I will not do this mission. I don't care what consequences you choose to inflict upon me." She found it odd that she really didn't care.

"Your mission range shall be restricted," the other elder said slowly, drawing out the words to read her every reaction.

Fine.

She could deal with restrictions.

"To 'D' missions," he continued. Temari winced. She could almost swear the elder was smiling cruelly. Trust an old man to come up with a vindictive punishment, the next part had to be the worst. "For the next six months."

Temari scowled. She closed her eyes and counted, very slowly, to ten. Six months? That wasn't a freaking consequence; that was a morbid and vindictive and cruel punishment. "I accept the consequence." She said tersely. "Are we done?"

Gaara inclined his head at her and smirked ever-so-slightly.

Stupid think-he-knows-all brother.

He probably offered her the mission to just to gauge her reaction.

Jackass. He was spending too much time with Kankurou.

The smirk didn't fade; in fact it grew more pronounced.

Temari resisted the urge to flip him off, yell until the smirk was wiped off his face permanently, or just jump over his desk to strangle the red-head.

Not a good idea.

At least not in public, anyway.

She repeated this in her mind over and over trying to convince herself not to let her temper fly.

"Go." The woman harrumphed. "And to think, we were told you were the only dutiful shinobi in your generation."

"The most dutiful we have." Gaara replied, the smirk still on his features.

And yet, I'm the one being made an example out of. She thought dryly.

Temari sauntered out of the office in a decidedly foul mood.

'D' rank missions for SIX months!?!

She refused one mission – the only mission she'd ever refused, and she got THIS punishment? She'd never even complained about a mission, except to her brothers, but that was just to let out steam and done only on extremely rare occasions.

Refused one freaking mission and she was cruelly punished.

'D' ranks.

Unbelievable!

It was a stupid mission to refuse anyway, Temari pondered.

She could do it.

So easily.

It wasn't hard for her.

Hell, she might even be able to pull it off alone, without any assistance from the Konoha shinobi.

It really was a stupid mission to refuse. She didn't even have a good reason for doing so.

She'd refused it because Nara Shikazuu was Shikamaru's uncle.

His stupid favorite uncle.

She'd refused because she felt bad, because she wouldn't' have felt right killing Shikamaru's uncle.

And why?

Because her heart did stupid things around the shadow-nin. Stupidly bodily reactions.

And the stupid shadow-nin either didn't know or didn't care.

She bet it was the former.

He was too smart NOT to know.

The idiot just didn't care.

It was all stupid.

Her reasons.

Her feelings

Her punishment.

Stupid.

Stupid.

STUPID.

Oh, yes, Temari was in foul mood.

xXxXx

Shikamaru was slumped in a chair in the Hokage's office. His normally passive face was unreadable, his eyes slightly hooded. He'd come to discuss something with the Hokage just as the assassination team returned.

The team that'd presumably killed his uncle.

There was Ino – who kept shooting him apologetic glances. She had felt uncomfortable being sent on the mission, or so Chouji said, but she didn't refuse.

Not that he minded. She was the only medi-nin Konoha could afford to use on this mission.

Kiba – the one who probably tracked his uncle down.

And Shino.

The Suna member was missing. Shikamaru assumed they had sent Temari. She was probably in the hallway or something.

"Alright already, lady! It's fucking fine! I fixed it!" A loud voice exclaimed from outside the office. Kankurou of Suna walked in grumbling, with a fussing Shizune behind him. The puppeteer's right arm was bandaged carefully.

"It's—" Shizune began.

"Seriously!" He exclaimed loudly. "Shut up, already! It was my poison; I know how to take care of it."

Shikamaru's eyebrow quirked up.

His poison? How the fuck did that work?

Tsunade leaned forward. "Ahem."

Six heads turned to the Hokage's direction.

"Well?" The blonde woman pressed, "What's the status?"

"Mission accomplished." Shino responded.

Tsunade's eyes drifted to Kankurou's arm.

"He – erm…" Ino started. "Shi—" The kunoichi spared a nervous glance at Shikamaru before continuing. "Shikazuu's jutsus were…he used Kankurou-san's poisons against him. But, Kankurou-san had the antidotes on his person, so…he-he's fine."

"Fucking crazy-ass psycho, that man was." Kankurou glanced at Shikamaru in interest. "Talented though."

Tsunade clasped her hands and rested her chin upon them. "I was, quite frankly, expecting your village to send Temari."

Kankurou grinned. "You and me both."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but didn't press the issue. "Very well; you're dismissed." Shikamaru rose and glanced at Tsunade. She waved him out impatiently. "You too, Shikamaru. We're done."

He sauntered out, hands stuffed in his pockets. Thoughts swimming about in his head. What did Kankurou mean by 'You and me both'? Hm. And then there was…the inevitable. His uncle was dead.

Of course, Shikazuu deserved it, but…the man was still his uncle. He had been very kind to him throughout his life.

Kankurou slung his arm across Shikamaru's shoulders as soon as the puppeteer stepped out of the office, a cheeky grin on his face. His bandaged arm hung at his side. "Well, hello to you, shadow-boy."

What was it with the suna shinobi? They all insisted him calling him something that was not his name. He slid his eyes at the puppeteer. "I have a name."

"I know." Kankurou grinned.

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath, feeling more than just a little irritated. Not really at Kankurou, but just at the world in general.

"Foul mood, shadow-boy?"

Shikamaru ignored him and continued walking. Kankurou removed his arm, but matched his stride. Kankurou, Shikamaru noted absentmindedly, seemed to walk incredibly gracefully.

"Hey." Kankurou waved his hand in front of his face. "Earth to shadow-boy."

"My uncle's dead, how do you think my mood is?" He said bitterly.

"I would say he was murdered," Kankurou clarified, "but if it makes you feel any better, he was a hard mother-fucker to kill."

Shikamaru peered at the puppeteer. "You have less tact than Temari. Is it a Suna thing? Being blunt and saying inappropriate things?"

"It's a Suna thing to say how we feel, and not lie."

Well, it certainly was a less troublesome way to live. Probably eased other people of the burden of figuring out stupid mind games too. He'd always liked that about Temari. And despite how…crass Kankurou was being now, he liked him for that alone. Shikamaru drew his eyes up to the sky.

He felt a bit saddened surely. But that was expected.

Mostly his thoughts for the current time being were drawn to why Kankurou was sent on this particular mission. Temari was the obvious choice.

It shouldn't matter to him, he reasoned, but somehow, deep down, it really did.

Kankurou's eyes glinted mischievously. "What; you missing my sister?"

Normally, Shikamaru held an extreme amount of control over his emotions. Normally, keeping the mask of apathy was startlingly easy for him. This time, though, wasn't quite normal. Kankurou's words took him by surprise and he blushed.

The more he really thought about it, the only people who really could throw him so easily off balance were Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara. It had to have something to do with their genetics, he reasoned.

Kankurou laughed heartily. "Oh, man, I knew it."

"I'm not—" Shikamaru began.

"Boy, don't even try to negate it."

Shikamaru sighed. Troublesome. The puppeteer was forming ideas over what he felt about Temari and then Kankurou would tell Temari about these ideas and when that troublesome woman heard she'd laugh herself to death.

To her he was just a lazy boy.

Oh, this just plain sucked.

Especially since Kankurou's ideas probably wouldn't be too far off the mark. He really did like – maybe more than like – her.

Kankurou was grinning widely again. "I wasn't supposed to be the one on this mission, you know."

Mostly when people in Konoha spoke, the 'you know' came first. He noticed with Kankurou, Temari, and Gaara, the 'you know' was always tacked on at the end. It was a bit odd, but it sounded nicer.

"Temari was originally given the mission."

He knew she was the most likely choice! It hadn't made sense for Gaara to send Kankurou. Shikamaru, much to his chagrin, found his head to turning to face the puppeteer in interest. "Oh?"

He chuckled. "She refused the mission."

It took Shikamaru about a minute to process this information. She could do that with an 'A' mission? Well, naturally, you could hypothetically, but from what he'd heard, doing so without a legitimate reason resulted in severe punishment, particularly in Suna since they didn't have as much shinobi as Konoha did. And, besides, from what he knew about the woman, she had NEVER refused or complained about a mission. Any mission. Even the ones she had a right to refuse.

Kankurou continued, either not noticing his confusion or ignoring it, "Dumb-ass elders have restricted her missions to rank 'D' for six months because she refused this mission."

He blinked. "Six months?"

He laughed raucously. "I know. She's fucking insane. She was aware of the consequences beforehand and she still refused this damn mission. Damn crazy, she is."

Six months.

Temari refused this mission – this probably painfully easy mission for her – for six months of annoying and demeaning work?

What for?

What…?

Kankurou was watching him in mirth. "Three guesses why, shadow-boy."

Shikamaru glanced at the puppeteer. "What…"

"They call you a genius (not that I buy that fib) surely you know why she chose to turn down the mission." Kankurou looked at him pointedly before moving his bandaged arm about, as if stretching it. "Stupid reason, if you ask me."

Shikamaru clenched and unclenched his fingers in his pocket, trying to reason out why she had refused. It wouldn't have been a difficult mission for her. She'd previously accomplished assassination missions. He was sure she'd even been through much more difficult ones…

She…

Kankurou rolled his eyes. "You are an idiot. Sheez. And people think you're a genius. I knew they had to be drunk when they told me that."

"I never said I was a genius…" Shikamaru muttered defensively, feeling stupid.

"Damn straight, you aren't." The puppeteer glanced at him in exasperation. "She declined it because of you, moron."

Shikamaru froze. "…Me?"

"Yeah, you." The puppeteer stopped and sighed in annoyance.

"Wha—That—WHY?"

"Fuck, like I know the whole story. You wanna know details go pester her. All I know is that the crazy bitch is captivated with you."

"Capti…?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, a thought striking him. "You're really vulgar."

Kankurou looked at him. "So?"

"Temari doesn't very much…enjoy vulgarity." He was actually wondering how the puppeteer could swear so much if he lived with Temari. The girl had to smack him around a lot for it.

Kankurou smirked. "What? She kick your ass for cussing before?"

He shrugged. "She tried to assault me with her fan."

Kankurou blinked. "Tried? As in she didn't manage to hit you?"

"Eh. Like I was going to let myself be damaged by her fan."

The puppeteer stared blankly at him for a few minutes before chortling loudly. "You actually…hah!"

"What's so funny?"

"It's no big deal." He grinned, "Just that it fits the one guy she wants can avoid her attacks when most can't. I can't. In fact, only Gaara as far as I know, can."

Shikamaru shrugged again. Wants? Wants? He tried hard not to blush. She couldn't really want him, right? Or be…'captivated'. Women like her didn't like guys like him.

The puppeteer's grin dropped. "Are you gonna start something with Temari?"

"Are you saying I'd have to ask your permission?" He asked, eyebrow raised, trying to avoid the question for the time being.

"Hell, no. Insinuate something like that and Temari'll beat me 'till I turn into pudding." He replied. "I just want to know; you know?"

Shikamaru was silent for awhile.

Thinking.

There was no doubt he liked her.

Maybe more.

She was difficult and her brothers were insane (she was too, but hey that was another point entirely). But…he actually liked her brothers, and her difficulty was interesting. He was never bored when he was with her.

When it came down to it, the answer was obvious.

"I intend to make her mine."

Kankurou rolled his eyes. "Mine? How lame." He smirked. "Oh, jeez, that would mean you're gonna be around more often. Pfft! Like I want to see you around more."

"Likewise."

"Shikamaru,"

Shikamaru stumbled, and looked up at him, astonished the puppeteer had used his real name. "Y-yeah?"

"Hurt my sister and I'll fucking kill you." He threatened. "And I'll make it hurt." He added in afterthought.

Shikamaru did not doubt the honesty in that sentiment.

After all, Suna people said what they meant outright.

"Duly noted."

xXxXx

Shikamaru was standing calmly before the Kazekage, his arms at his sides, a predictably bored expression on his face (That was bit harder to keep up than he'd actually imagined.).

He had managed to convince the Hokage to send him to Suna on a simple delivery mission; naturally Tsunade hadn't given in without some smirks and laughter. Now that had been embarrassing.

Gaara examined the papers quickly, and then placed them neatly on his desk. The stoic redhead sat calmly in his chair watching him. His blue-green eyes traced the impassive figure of the shadow wielder, his face just as expressionless as Shikamaru's.

Gaara and Shikamaru actually got along quite well. Temari said it had to do with the fact that they were both impossibly good at being expressionless. Shikamaru didn't really bother thinking of a reason, he just liked Gaara.

Of course, this current moment, wasn't very…friendly.

If Shikamaru had been someone lese he would've felt nervous and frightened at the length and intensive scrutiny of Gaara's inexpressive stare. Of course, the stare didn't really have it's intend effect on him.

The redhead seemed to sense the loss of effect as well and instead dropped the severe stare and reclined in his chair. "What did Kankurou tell you?" He demanded coolly.

"About?" Shikamaru was quite sure he knew what Gaara was talking about, but, he could be wrong. Kankurou tended to talk about a lot of things.

"The mission. Temari."

"That she refused it…and was…punished."

"And more I assume." Gaara said offhandedly, "He's a loudmouth. Much like Temari in that aspect."

Shikamaru didn't respond. This was beginning to feel very much like an interrogation. He knew coming in that it would be an interrogation. But there was a difference between knowing and believing. It did, though, show that Gaara cared about his elder sister, which, Shikamaru supposed, was a really nice thing even if he was the one being scrutinized for it.

"Why?" The Kazekage asked.

There were a million 'whys' he could be asking. A million Shikamaru would ask if he were in Gaara's place. But from the look in the redhead eyes, Shikamaru had a feeling it was a specific and important why. It made sense; Gaara didn't need to know everything, he probably just needed to know one thing to feel appeased. "Why, what?"

"Why are you here?"

"I have a missi–"

"Don't play with me, Nara." Ouch. Nara. Gaara was dead serious and slightly annoyed. Maybe a bit angry too. "Why are you really here?"

Shikamaru didn't miss a beat. "Temari."

His lips pursed into a frown. "Why, because she refused a mission for you? Because she was too kind to—?"

"Because," Shikamaru interrupted quickly, "I've never known anyone like Temari. Because I love her and if I don't act, I might miss my chance."

Gaara's eyes were still guarded and the frown was still settled rigidly across his lips. "Why now?"

"Because I'm an idiot. Despite the constant prattling about my IQ, I'm an idiot. I didn't before because my stupidity far overreaches even the stupidest person's when it come to social dealings."

Gaara's lips quirked up into the barest hint of a smile. "Well, who am I to argue over someone's intelligence?"

Shikamaru's hands slipped into his pockets again.

There was no trace on the Kazekage's face that he'd ever smiled. "I assume Kankurou threatened you?"

"Naturally.

"Kankurou's more compassionate than he comes off to be. Out of the three of us, he's the most level-headed: the one who can keep his anger in check most, if not all, of the time.

"I don't get angry often.

"But I'm not one to keep my anger in.

"Kankurou is reasonable in his anger. Temari is irrational. I? Volatile."

Shikamaru smirked. "Your threats are more interesting and obscure than any I've heard."

"I like to keep a sense of ambiguity."

"Hmm."

"You don't annoy me." Gaara clarified.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Most people annoy me. They're either too talkative or completely clueless. So, I probably won't be tempted to hurt you if you show up here more often to be with Temari, but…you'd better not end up like your uncle: an idiot missing-nin. I don't want Temari refusing any more fucking missions."

Oh, yeah. Suna people had no tact.

"If she turns into a lazy bum like you, I'm going to send Kankurou over to Konoha to have a few words with you."

The edge of Shikamaru's lip quirked up involuntarily. "It's more likely she'll beat the laziness out of me than me rubbing off on her."

The Kazekage inclined his head. "That would be best. You do need to be less indolent." He straightened and redirected his attention to the papers on his desk. "I'm finished. You can go find her now."

"You wouldn't spare me the trouble by telling me where exactly she is, right?"

Gaara smiled briefly. "No, I don't think I will."

Shikamaru sighed.

Ah, well.

It was worth a shot.

"But when you do find her, tell her that the elders have…eh…'changed their minds' about her punishment. It's only three months now."

Well, Temari would certainly be happy to hear that.

xXxXx

She was a damned Jounin.

The best damn Jounin in Sunagakure.

The Kazekgae's freaking older sister.

The bitchiest woman in the village.

And she was stuck on 'D' missions for six damned months.

The freaking Genins of the village had better options that she did.

Hell, the kids at the academy had less irksome tasks and they weren't even shinobi yet!

Temari gritted her teeth.

She was the stupidest woman on earth, Temari decided.

The stupidest.

Temari was lying on her back on the roof of a small business somewhere southwest of the Kazekage's building. Her legs were crossed leaving her right leg jiggling in the hot air. She was propped up on her elbows trying to calm down.

It wasn't working.

She tried to look up at the clouds, hoping it would ease her anxiety. After all, it worked so well for Shikamaru. Whenever she was with him, watching the clouds did make her feel more at ease.

But the fucking thing wasn't working.

She was, if possible, slowly growing more irate.

Damn clouds.

Damn Gaara.

Damn Naras.

Damn elders.

Damn everybody.

Just fucking dam—

"Damn, do you know hard you are to find?" An irritated voiced whined.

Temari's heart skipped a beat. It sounded like…Shikamaru.

But he couldn't possibly…

The bearer of the voice collapsed onto the floor beside her.

Lean body, thin eyebrows, dark beady eyes, lazy scowl.

Nara Shikamaru.

"You'd figure in a dammed village were everybody knows who you are, who your family is, and your entire fucking daily agenda they would actually know where you were instead of where you should be."

Temari's stomach twisted rather nicely and nervously. "G-Gaara knew I was here."

"Yeah, but he thought it would be amusing not to tell me. To make me 'less lazy'." The Chuunin sighed. "Troublesome."

Her heart sped up at the sound of his sigh. Temari scowled, feeling incredibly aggravated that her heart would just start pounding so horribly loud and so horribly fast, just because of him. Stupid heart. Stupid, stupid heart. STOP BEATING SO FAST! Temari tried to calm herself down. He was just Shikamaru. "What do you want, Shikamaru?"

He turned his head and his calm eyes rested on her. "Moodier than usual, I see."

Temari sat up angrily. "I am—"

"Calm down, already. You really shouldn't be so peeved."

Temari's teeth ground against each other. Shouldn't be so peeved Even though she was positively livid her heart still didn't stop being stupid. And that just made her angrier. "WHY THE HELL SHOULDN'T I BE?! I AM STUCK WITH 'D' MISSIONS FOR SIX MONTHS BECAUSE I AM AN IDIOT! BECAUE I REFUSED A MISSION ON A STUPID MORNOIC FEELING THAT WILL NEVER BE—" Temari stopped abruptly, as she realized what she'd been saying. Her cheeks inflamed a horrible red and her heart doubled in speed. The blonde kunoichi took a deep breath. Oh, she was an idiot. "Now, what the hell do you want?"

"The feeling will never be…what?" Shikamaru asked, an irritating smile on his lips. "And what feeling are we talking about?"

Temari glared down at the shadow ninja. "None of your damn business."

Shikamaru sat up and yawned lazily. He fixed her with his intent gaze. She hated this gaze with a passion. Mostly, because the way his dark eyes just steadied on her and bored into her made her squirm and shiver with absolute delight. "Well, seeing as you refused a mission to kill my uncle, I'd like to know the reason behind such refusal, especially since you accepted ix months of 'D' missions in return for that refusal."

She blinked. "I think that's the most you've ever said to me at once."

"And I think you're avoiding the topic."

Temari scowled. "It doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

The blonde's fingers clenched and released. "I didn't accept it, because…" He inclined his head and her thin fingers clenched once more. "I could have done it, you know." She said indignantly. "Single-handedly too. I didn't refuse because I thought I couldn't – Or because it would make me feel squeamish. I'm not – that's not why, so don't…that's not why…" Temari felt like a child. She sounded like she was trying to persuade him she wasn't weak. Of course she wasn't' weak! Who cared if he thought she was…Who cared if…Oh, jeez, she cared. And she cared a lot.

"I know that's not why. You're too tough for that. You're the last person I'd ever think would do that for those reasons."

Her fingers unclenched. She felt relieved and happy.

"So…" He continued, "Why?"

"Because…Because…" She was blushing again. In the name of all stupidities why did she have to be blushing!? "Because…of…Because of you." She diverted her eyed promptly to the floor, hating the fact that she was blushing. Hating the fact that he could see her blush. Hating the fact that he didn't seem to be reacting at all. "I didn't feel…right. I mean," Her voice faltered a bit, "I know he meant a lot to you, the way you'd talk about him sometimes….Like you wished he was your father…I just – ergh." Temari grumbled, her blush growing evermore bright. "Because I think I fucking like you, okay!" She stared him right in the eye. "Go ahead, laugh. Poke fun at me. Call me stupid. I know you want to.

"Temari refused a damned mission because of a fucking male. Not just any fucking male. You. That's right.

"Laugh already."

Shikamaru stared at her impassively, which was in stark contrast to the incessant beating of his heat. "You know, for a girl who constantly beats the crap out of other people when they cuss, you sure do swear a lot in certain moments."

Temari gaped at him. Angry because this reaction did not CLARIFY ANYTHING! "WHAT THE FUCK IS—?"

He covered her mouth with his hand. "I think I fucking like you too."

She blushed terribly and forcefully shoved his hand aside. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you just saying that because—?"

"I'm saying that because it's true." He said clearly. Rolling his eyes, he huffed out a heaving sigh. "Why does everyone have such a hard time believing I mean what I say?"

She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him close to her. Her lips hovered about his and her green eyes stared at him firmly. "For a genius, you're pretty damn stupid. That's why."

He smirked. "It's a good thing you're more patient than you appear, then."

"Patience," her hot breath wafted over his skin, "has nothing to do with it. I, Shikamaru, am persistent."

"And maybe a little stupid too."

"Maybe a little." Her lips closed the gap between them.

Okay, Temari thought, she could handle six months. Hell, she got this from refusing the mission. Six months? Psh! She could handle it. No sweat. After all, she was Temari of the desert. Maybe she wasn't the stupidest girl on earth.

Just a little stupid, for not having done this earlier.

They parted slowly after awhile.

"Oh, yeah." Shikamaru murmured suddenly. "Gaara told me to tell you that your restriction has been changed to three months instead of six."

Oh, thank Kami.

Six months was bleeding torture.

"You," she began bossily, slapping him upside the head, "should've told me that first!"

He rubbed his head, smiling, "It didn't seem too important."

"Of course it's important! That's three whole months completely removed!"

Shikamaru chuckled. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you."

"And how exactly do you plan to – mrmph!"

Any further words Temari had to impart were lost in Shikamaru's mouth.

Okay so she most definitely wasn't the stupidest girl in the world.

And he wasn't so stupid either.

They were just…a teeny tiny bit stupid.

And she was okay with that.