Some Things are worth the Trouble

Prologue

"Hey, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes when he heard the high-pitched voice calling from behind him.

"Shikamaru! Wait up!" The voice called again, but he kept walking. Stopping to talk to someone now would just be…troublesome.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and he stopped.

"God Shikamaru, are you deaf?"

Shikamaru sighed and reluctantly turned around. "What do you want Ino?"

The blonde kunoichi rolled her eyes, "Hokage-sama sent me. She wants to see you in her office…something about a mission." She ran her hands over her short purple skirt to straighten it out and pulled her shirt down a little.

He sighed again put his hands in his pockets, "This was supposed to be my day off… How troublesome."

Ino scoffed, "You always say that! Besides, shinobi never really get a 'day off.' Now stop your complaining and get going!" She gave him a light shove and disappeared.

Shikamaru yawned and started walking towards the Hokage tower. He looked up at the sky. Why did that old woman have to put me on a mission today? It's such a nice day, all I want to do is take a nap or watch the clouds…maybe play some shougi with Asuma…

There was nothing he could do about it though, Ino was right. He was a shinobi after all.

When he got to the Hokage tower, he was escorted to Tsunade-sama's office by one of her ANBU guards.

"Good to see you Shikamaru." Tsunade gestured for him to come closer to her desk.

"Hn." Shikamaru shrugged and dragged himself over to her desk. "I have a mission?"

The Hokage nodded, "Yes. I'm aware that you were supposed to be 'off' today, but this was a last minute mission and I couldn't find anyone else to do it."

Why couldn't Ino just do it? He would have argued, but truthfully, he was afraid of Tsunade. "Whatever. So what's the mission?"

Tsunade grinned, "You are going to escort one of our allies back to her home village."

Did she just say "her?" Why am I always stuck with the women…they're so troublesome. "Sounds easy enough, no ones after her right?"

"Not at all." She shook her head. "It's a long journey and I wouldn't feel right sending her off alone."

Shikamaru nodded.

"You can come in now." The Hokage called.

At that moment, the door opened and a kunoichi walked in. She had blonde hair that was pulled into four pig-tails and carried a giant fan on her back. She smirked, "Hello Shikamaru."

Shikamaru was surprised to see her, but he didn't show it, he kept his usual bored, dull face and nodded. "Temari."

Tsunade rose from her chair, "You two can leave whenever you'd like. I suggest not leaving too late though. Goodbye Temari." She said and the two blondes shook hands. "I'll see you when you get back Shikamaru."

"Later, Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru waved his hand as he and Temari left the office.

After they left the Hokage tower, they didn't hesitate to leave for the Sand Village. They'd known each other for a long time, about three years, but they weren't exactly best friends. Shikamaru wasn't usually a very talkative person, he was more of a thinker. So, he usually let Temari do the talking, which she didn't do much of either.

Most of their trip to the Sand Village was silent, not an awkward or weird one, but a nice, comfortable silence. That's the way Shikamaru liked it.

Temari on the other hand, grew bored of silence after a while. They were more than half way to Suna when she finally spoke, "Guess I ruined your day off, huh?"

"Hm?" She caught him off-guard, "What?"

The kunoichi turned to look at him, "I heard you talking to the Hokage. You weren't supposed to have any missions today…so I guess I ruined your day off."

"Oh." She did…but I don't want to hurt her feelings, then she might get mad, and that would be troublesome…Shikamaru laughed a little, "I wouldn't say that…in fact, you could say that you made my day better. If I didn't get this mission I'd probably be bored at home." He smirked, "Besides, I'd rather be on this mission than a different one…it could be a lot worse."

Temari looked forward as they kept running. I wasn't expecting that…. "Oh…well, thanks."

"Sure."

They ran in silence the rest of their way to Suna.

When they got there, it was still midday. That means I have plenty of time to get back to Konoha before sundown… "Okay, I guess I'll see you around Temari."

A small frown appeared on Temari's face. "Actually, today was probably the last time I'll be in Konoha."

Shikamaru's usually plain face was now wide with shock. "What do you mean? We're allies…shouldn't we be going to each others villages a lot?"

"That's true. However, I won't be the one coming to Konoha anymore. Gaara and Kankuro don't think it's a good idea to be sending me back and forth between the villages anymore since I'm the Kazekage's sister." She rolled her eyes. "So we'll be sending other shinobi."

"I see." I'm never going to see her again… He collected himself so his face was back to is plain self. "That's for the best then. I guess this is goodbye then."

"I guess it is." I'll never see him again…

Shikamaru put out his hand, "Goodbye Temari."

Temari smirked and ignored his hand. I might as well…Instead, she walked up to him and kissed him, right on the lips. It was nothing special, but if she was never going to see him again, she wanted him to remember her. She stepped back after a few seconds, "Goodbye Shikamaru."

With that, she ran into her village, leaving Shikamaru alone and speechless.

Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from Naruto.