My Boss The Genius

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PART ONE

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The doors slammed open and her boss walked in, looking rather disgruntled in his unbuttoned jacket and loosened tie. A scowl was on his face, growing deeper by the second as he flipped through a manila folder.

"Temari," he called, and she straightened to attention like a soldier. "When's my next appointment?"

She turned to her computer, tapping a few keys. A blink. "Three' o'clock, sir," she replied. He groaned, the scowl set deeply into his face as he jerked the door to his office open.

"Troublesome. Make sure I'm not bothered before then." The door slammed closed, and Temari smiled in amusement. Nara Shikamaru may be a genius and the best lawyer in their firm, but he was lazy as hell. It was something that endeared him to her, knowing that he was such a laid back guy but when the occasion called for it, he would rise to the challenge.

Sighing a little goofily, Temari cushioned her chin on her hands, blushing a bit as she reminisced. Her and her brothers had moved to New York City from the desert of Australia, hoping to forget the past and start a new future. She was fresh out of university and desperate for a job to support her two brothers Kankuro and Gaara, both of whom were still in school. There were no words to say how thankful she was when she got a call from Shikamaru five minutes after her interview, telling her she got the job. And she supposed that was how it all started.

When Temari first started the job, she wondered if the only reason her boss had gotten his high-ranking position was because he had really good connections. But after peeking through his case files and reading his arguments, she found herself suitably impressed. Actually more than impressed! Temari had always been a good debater, which is why she had decided to pursue a career in law. But looking through Shikamaru's reports, she found someone who was way beyond good and landed in genius! For the first time in her life, Temari found herself looking up to someone!

Her newfound respect for her boss transferred into their relationship, and Shikamaru started to ease up around her. He was always lazy and dressed less-than-exemplary (unbuttoned suit jackets and loosened neckties were an everyday thing with him) but his aloof and bored demeanour started to disappear and in its place came a sarcastic, ever-smirking Shikamaru. Before long, the two of them were having conversations that didn't relate to work, and going out for coffee and lunch on their breaks. It wasn't by any means an incredibly close friendship, but it was enough.

It was enough for her to fall in love with him.

Temari hid her giddy smile behind a manila folder she was organizing, eyes darting surreptitiously to her boss' office door, hoping he didn't come out when she looked like an insane smiley icon.

She wasn't sure when it started (when did someone ever know?) but she was positive of her feelings on that day when they had a really important case. He was already at the courthouse, ready with his witness questions and awaiting the start of the trial. It was only too late that he realized his trump card, a transcript of the defendant's phone call with his mistress, was missing. The trial started in ten minutes and it took eight minutes to get to the office from there.

Lucky for him, Temari was at the office and noticed the file sitting innocently on her desk. She did what any self-respecting person would do; she grabbed it and ran.

The run from the office to the courthouse didn't wind her. She used to run track in high school, and booking it from the office to the courthouse was child's play to her. But when Temari handed that manila folder to Shikamaru as he was walking into the courtroom and he smiled at her (like really, truly smiled at her), she felt like she had just run a cross-country marathon carrying a two hundred pound pig. And her heart fluttered.

(Her heart never fluttered.)

She had done pretty well at hiding her feelings so far, retaining her casual friendship with him and making sure her job as his secretary was top priority. But there were times where she wished that they could be something more than just… what they were. Still, she was incredibly happy that she was the only one able to boast a friendship with Shikamaru the genius lawyer.

Of all the women working at their firm, Temari was the only one who managed to break past Shikamaru's aloof and distant persona. Many of the women have tried, of course. Nara Shikamaru wasn't your traditional Uchiha Sasuke good-looking, but there was something alluring about him nonetheless. There was a quiet confidence in him, a surety to his actions that made him incredibly desirable. And that was how he acted all the time, so Temari often wondered what he'd be like if he was purposely trying to seduce someone.

She shivered at the though, her thighs clenching together.

Despite his popularity with the women, though, the Nara didn't seem interested in any of them; sexually or otherwise. Another secretary at the office, Shikamaru's second secretary actually (because he was just that genius he needed two) had spoken to Temari a few days after she realized she had feelings for her boss.

"You don't have a chance," she said, "just give up now." Her tone wasn't pretentious or demeaning, but rather pitying and soft. Temari had stared at her in surprise for a while, until scoffing and simply waving the warning away. The woman was, what, in her forties? Fifties? What did she know? Temari knew for sure that Shikamaru didn't have a wife, a fiancée, or a girlfriend and that he wasn't gay; she had asked him during one of their coffee breaks. So Temari erased the incident from her mind.

Until now at least. She faintly wondered why she recalled it today of all days.

The door to Shikamaru's office opened, and said lawyer walked out, his phone pressed to his ear. That wasn't unusual; Shikamaru was always on his phone with a client, but that wasn't what shocked Temari. It was his expression.

"Oy, seriously, slow down. I can't hear a word you're saying," he spoke into the phone exasperatedly. It was offset by the fond look on his face, like he was remembering a particularly happy moment in his childhood. He turned to her, cupping the speaker on his phone and whispering, "Temari, cancel all my appointments today."

That shocked her even more. A few days ago, Shikamaru was adamant about winning this case and yet now he's telling her to cancel an appointment it took weeks for them to get! Who the hell was he talking to?

There was some unintelligible talking from the person on the other line, and Shikamaru focused on that before Temari could protest. "Well if the news is so exciting, why can't you tell me now?" he asked and then paused, listening to the person speak. He smirked, looking incredibly amused. "You're such a drama queen; troublesome."

A woman? It was a woman? No, wait, backtrack Temari-girl. A drama queen can also be used to refer to a guy. Or a gay guy. Shikamaru probably has gay friends. Didn't he tell her about a gay friend once? Sai-something? Yeah, that's probably who it was. It's the Sai-person, Temari, so can you please tell your heart to stop breaking because it's a guy—

Shikamaru winced and held his phone away from his ear. There was a lot of screeching on the other end and he mumbled, "Damn that's loud," before pressing it back to his ear again. The screeching had died down to an unintelligible murmur again, and he simply listened to it for a few minutes, crossing his ankles where he stood. She wondered for a moment why he wasn't moving.

"I'm sure the elevator is working at a normal speed," he replied to the other person, mirth lacing his voice. "You're just impatient."

More screeching. He smirked.

"Whatever you say."

Unintelligible murmuring. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

"You're going to what? You do remember my office is on the thirtieth floor right?"

More murmuring.

"Correction, you were an athlete. That was in high school, and you're twenty-three now. And wearing high heels." He grimaced. "Don't kill yourself, troublesome."

Screeching.

"I'm not saying you're old, for Christ's sake we're the same age!"

Murmuring. He deadpanned.

"I am not an old man."

Cackling.

"Troublesome. Just because I like shogi doesn't mean I'm old."

More cackling.

"Whatever, just get to the point, Ino." (Ino? Ino? That's a woman's name!) "What's the big news?"

Murmuring. Shikamaru sighed.

"You are such a drama queen."

The door bursts open and a blonde blur rushes through the door, tackling Shikamaru. It was a petite, platinum haired woman with pale skin and a beautiful face and Temari felt her heart breaking more and more as she watched Shikamaru catch her in his arms, smiling – smiling – down at her.

"I'M DOING HYUUGA HINATA'S WEDDING FLOWERS!" she squealed. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"And? Hinata's your friend, of course you're doing her flowers," he said to her. She glared at him, scoffing and muttering something about idiot genius lawyers before launching into a tirade about how lots of high-priority people will be there and she'll get tons of exposure as a wedding florist and this was practically a promotion for her and why the damn hell can't he be as excited and happy and—

Temari couldn't really pay attention to the blonde's incessant rambling, still reeling from the shock of Shikamaru's behaviour in the past five minutes he was talking to this… this Ino person. He displayed more emotion in those last few minutes he was on the phone than all the months she worked for him. Who was this girl? And what was she to Nara Shikamaru?

"Are you listening, Shikamaru?" the woman, Ino, asked with a warning tone. Shikamaru just smirked lazily at her.

"Yes, yes," he replied and she smacked his shoulder.

"One 'yes' is enough!" she reprimanded. "And why is your tie so loose? You're at work Shikamaru! And a lawyer! You should be dressed respectably!" Her rant continued on as she reached for his shirt, but he grabbed her wrist and chuckled.

"So got any ideas for Hinata and Naruto's flowers?" he asked in order to deter her. She knew what he was doing, glaring at him for daring to change the subject but latching onto it anyways. As she babbled on, Shikamaru steered her into his office but then suddenly remembered something and turned to Temari. "Hey, you mind getting us some coffee?" he asked. Ino poked her head out of the door of his office, her eyes bright.

"Oh! Can I get a decaf double mocha vanilla frappucino with a sprinkling of dark chocolate?" Shikamaru looked at her with a disgusted scowl on his lips.

"Decaf? This better not be one of your stupid dieting schemes again," he said almost warningly; almost worriedly. But Ino just made a silly face at him.

"Shut up you bitter old man! I mean really, who takes their coffee black? You need to sweeten it up with something—" she replied, ducking back into his office. Shikamaru looked at her fondly, chuckling and entering his office, shutting the door. It closed with a quiet click, yet Temari still heard it over the shattering of her heart.