Shikamaru could think of nothing to say, idly drumming his fingers on the table. He was aware of how much of how this annoyed Temari and as he smirked inwardly, he wondered how far he'd push Temari today. Just as he'd thought, Temari's fists clenched. She looked as though she were about to explode – and she did.

"I have had it with you, you lazy, arrogant, stupid, cry-baby asshole!" she screamed, eyes wide and cold.

This time Shikamaru smirked openly and Temari's expression became more outraged. "Is that why you keep coming back, then?" He spoke calmly, knowing from experience that any other emotion he showed to her would only make her feel victorious. Being calm would ensure she would completely flip out. And Temari's flipping out always leaded to sex; Shikamaru's goal to begin with. It was just a matter of time.

She stared in silence, chest heaving rapidly as a dozen different emotions crossed her face. Then something unexpected – her face crumpled and a sound almost like a sob escaped from her mouth. Then it was official. Temari started crying, loud gasping sobs. Shikamaru was at a complete loss. She was still angry at him, he could tell that much, by the red flush still on her cheeks.

Her fist came thudding down onto his chest and he winced; not from pain, but because it was sudden.

"You idiot! You really are stupid! How..., how could you not notice...?" Here, her voice faltered and she shook her head, blinking back more tears. Shikamaru himself blinked once, nothing but confused. He sat up and gripped Temari's arms as she made to leap up. She nearly toppled over at the sudden jerk back down but Shikamaru held her steady. He looked into her red face intently.

"What the heck do you mean?" He said, as Temari looked away from him. She was clamming up again, the only evidence of her tears were the drying tear tracks on her face.

"I meant nothing." She said coldly, her voice stinging him as it always did.

"No. You meant something. Tell me."

Temari gave a bitter laugh. "There's no point in telling you if you can't guess," she said, pulling herself free from his grasp. "Because, knowing you, you'll just be confused and too goddamned lazy to figure it out. And you're supposed to be a genius."

Shikamaru couldn't help but agree. Shikamaru's IQ was through the roof even at the age of twelve and got higher with age. But women, women were always something that stumped him. Troublesome. He remembered asking his father once, "Why did you marry mom?" His mother was constantly nagging him and his father, and so to Shikamaru, the marriage was an illogical mystery. His father replied, "Well, she does have a gentle side, even if she doesn't show it very often."

What a drag.

Well, he managed to survive living with his mother, didn't he? Although, she was his mother, a huge difference to Temari; apart from the nagging and fierce temper. And he loved his mom, too.

Wait...

"Wait," he said aloud. "Wait." He tried to reach for her again but she shook her head and stood up.

"If you eventually figure it out, you know where I'll be. Okay?" With that, Temari stalked from the room, leaving silence. Shikamaru thought of stopping her then are there, but something held him back. Just because he had a revelation, it didn't mean that Temari would want to hear it. For all he knew (and he knew very little in this case), she might not have even been thinking about that. The only thing he could do was sit back. Maybe sleep a little. Yeah. Shikamaru liked the sound of that.

It was a few hours later when Temari finally calmed down. Well – she wasn't completely calm. Whenever Shikamaru irked her, it seemed to last for much longer. He just seemed to have that effect on her. Jerk. She rubbed her cheek stubbornly as she felt a hot flush course through her body in defiance of her thoughts.

She scoffed to herself as she thought of what he might be doing at this very moment. Probably cloud-watching somewhere, or sleeping. One thing she thought she knew, though: he definitely wouldn't be where they usually met – a quiet, secluded clearing, both not too far and not too close to the village.

Should she go there to see? Or even just to wait for him? Or maybe – no. Her brain was making excuses for her actions again. The first time it happened... her brain made excuses for her then, too.

"Hey, cry-baby." Temari said, coming up behind Shikamaru, who was lying back with his hands up behind his head. He started and grinned slightly, seeing the sand kunoichi standing over him. His eyes lingered a little on her chest and Temari raised her foot threateningly and he immediately sat up.

Temari dropped down next to him and remained silent. She was challenging him again- challenging him to be the first to speak. And something that Shikamaru hated – she always won.

"So." He began in a bored tone, looking out of the corner of his eyes to see Temari smirking. "You're here again."

"Of course," she replied condescendingly. "Where else is there to go in this dead-beat village, anyway? After reporting to Lady Hokage, I'm stuck here until I'm told to go back to Suna."

Shikamaru ignored the dig about Konoha and chuckled. "And what is it about this place exactly? I mean, I'm here, right? You don't like me."

Temari nodded and grinned widely. "That's very true. But you're more interesting than the other shinobi here."

"Huh." Shikamaru said nothing more. Temari waited before huffing impatiently.

"It annoys me when you do that."

"Do what?" Shikamaru asked, feigning innocence.

"Be silent after I've said something."

He looked over at her, an eyebrow raised. "Well, what did you want me to say exactly? You'll probably just get mad and tell me to shut up, anyway." He shrugged with a single shoulder.

The kunoichi huffed quietly. "...true. But it's conversation, right?"

"Not much of one." He remarked.

Temari looked cross, now. "Why do I even bother?"

Shikamaru smirked to the side. "Yeah. Wondered that myself - why do you?"

This earned him a hard punch to the shoulder that he wasn't adverse to retuning. Temari grit her teeth and hissed through them sharply. Then, without warning, she leapt at him with both the grace and strength of a tiger. Shikamaru gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, falling back onto the grass, only to look up at Temari's smirk.

"What was that for, hm?" He asked, when his breath finally came back.

Temari leant forward further and her chest threatened to spill out of the top of her kimono. Shikamaru coughed and averted his eyes – or tried to, at least. Already his mind was filtering through his thoughts, trying to find something to say that didn't sound like he was ogling at her. At his red face, Temari's sarcastic smile widened and shifted slightly so that he was even more distracted. She grasped his forearms and held them firmly up behind his head.

"Seriously, Temari," he said, as he struggled with no luck. "Let me up."

"No." Temari replied, her tone surprisingly playful. She leant down again, slowly this time, hesitating for a moment.

Shikamaru too, was frozen, bemused and stunned by the sudden turn of events. His eyes were wide and staring into Temari's, who dropped hers to the side quickly. Nothing was said, nothing was done, for several minutes.

Temari broke the silence. "Fuck it." She muttered under her breath as she swooped down, capturing the lazy nin's lips with her own. He squirmed beneath her momentarily, unused to the coils in his stomach that roared with unexpected fervour as he pulled his arms from Temari's grip and grasped clumsily at her hips. She was a greedy kisser, forcing his lips apart, sneaking her tongue forwards, over his; Shikamaru had never been kissed and so had no idea what to do, or why his heart rate increased rapidly along with him breathing, or why his mind screamed yes, yes, yes! Instead, he groaned as the sand kunoichi's tongue pressed and swirled against his, his fingers squeezing her flesh tightly.

Temari was panting heavily now, short bursts of hot, moist air pumping out of her lungs and into Shikamaru's mouth. She had been kissed before, similar to this, but not for a while. She could tell by the way Shikamaru writhed helplessly as he held her, and by the way he trembled as she sucked on his tongue, that he was not used to this feeling. She smirked inwardly, hands ghosting themselves over his chest and under his vest. Her surprisingly soft hands tickled his skin, and pulled out another shudder from him.

He lowered his hands down her body, cupping her ass cheeks softly, squeezing once. Temari chuckled as the hands slid up and down her sides almost indecisively, so she pulled her lips away from his and looked at his face.

His head was arched back, jaw jutting upwards, cheeks flushed red. One eye opened slowly as he panted, breathing out her name. "Te...ma...ri..."

She smiled widely and kissed his jawline. The other eye opened and he regulated his breathing. Temari sensed questions coming and wanted to kiss him again to stop them.

"Why?"

She was right. She sighed a little, chest still heaving slightly.

"Why?" She repeated. "Well - why not?"

Shikamaru's eyebrows furrowed.

"I mean, you're here, I'm here." She continued. "And I can tell you've not done this before, right?"

Shikamaru flushed again, this time with embarrassment, his lips in a tight line. Temari smirked openly. "So I'm entertainment for you?" He sounded almost hurt.

"I guess..." Temari leant down to press a kiss to his lips. "...you could say that."

Shikamaru gave a quiet sigh."Fine." He couldn't explain it, never having been in this situation before, but... it was a primal desire. Something instinctive. He stared up at her and decided in that instant. "Fine. I'll play along."

The woman's smirk grew and a dozen thoughts flitted through his mind, but he forgot every single one of them as she straddled him, harshly pulling her hips against his, drawing animalistic groans from deep inside him.

Who cared if they were outside? Who cared if they might have been seen? Who cared if it was Shikamaru's first time and he was giving it to a girl who appeared to hate him so much? Who the hell cared?

Hours later, Shikamaru awoke, still outside. Waist down, he was undressed. He looked for Temari. He was alone.

Temari walked through Konoha idly, feeling stabs of guilt with each step. "Never again," she thought. "Never, ever again."

Two weeks later, Shikamaru and Temari found themselves in the same situation; Temari hurriedly pulling on her clothes as Shikamaru just lay there, his eyes closed. She left without a word.

But they couldn't help it. With others around, they acted cooly stoic towards each other, throwing the usual insults. Alone, they were animals, ripping off annoying clothing and shoving their tongues down the throat of the other with desperate need. They never spoke during sex, nor after, choosing only to gather their breath before going their separate ways – only to meet up again in a day, three days, a week. They were addicted.

Temari blinked, feeling her face flush hotly, shaking her head to banish the memories. This wasn't the time to be indulging in those moments – moments that, no matter how meaningless they may be to Shikamaru – held something special for her. Not that she would easily admit that.

No, this wasn't the time for any of that. She had a more pressing problem. How she had nearly blurted out her deepest feelings right there, right in front of him. And now, telling him that she'd wait there, at the same spot they'd had sex for the very first time (and many other occasions, too).

"There's no harm at all, in going there, just for a while, and seeing if he's there. If he figured it out. No harm." She told herself. One part of her mind was completely decided on going there, the other part scathing and sarcastic. "As if he'd be there," this part argued. "He's a tactical genius, but a complete and utter loser when it comes to women. If he had any sense, he'd have stopped you before you'd gotten a change to leave. Just a complete waste of your time."

Temari's feet began walked mindlessly, for the sake of doing something. She listening quietly to her own footsteps as she lowered her face. Everyone around her, it seemed, was going about their daily businesses, too busy to acknowledge Temari. Her feet moved faster.

Shikamaru twitched in his light sleep, arms behind his head as usual suddenly going numb. The loss of feeling woke him suddenly and he blinked in the afternoon light. Memories were what he'd been dreaming of just as he awoke, the exact memories that Temari had been having just recently. They had alarmed him, not because he had found himself dreaming them, but because they had been so vivid, so realistic.

He wiped the sleep from the corner of his eyes – and froze. There was someone nearby, not entirely unusual, but unexpected.

"I didn't think you'd be here yet. Or at all." The quiet voice came from behind him. Shikamaru turned his head quickly, wincing as his neck cricked, to see Temari standing there, her face impassive. He stood, facing her, and shrugged unevenly.

"You didn't?"

She shook her head almost imperceptively and crossed her arms over her waist. "No. You're an idiot when it comes to women. I figured you wouldn't know what I'm on about." Here, she looked away, one hand moving to her hip.

"I don't," Shikamaru admitted, Temari's face turning back to his, confused. He spoke again, "But I have a hunch. And I want to know."

"So," the kunoichi took a slow step forward, her voice quiet. "You waited here, just on a hunch?" Her voice rose a few octaves, disbelieving.

"Mhm."

"And what is this hunch?"

Here, Shikamaru chuckled nervously, clearly not wanting to speak about it first. "Ladies first, eh?" He tried, without much hope. Temari's face turned the usual kind of stern that Shikamaru was used to, and feeling a small rush of relief and affection, he back-tracked.

"Uh..., okay." Taking a deep breath, he sat back down. Temari followed the action, crossing her legs out in front of her.

He found that he couldn't look at her whilst he spoke, anxious that what he was about to say was the wrong thing entirely, and would ruin everything. "When you left, when I told you to wait, I had just thought of something, and – ugh." He broke off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was thinking about how similar you are to my mother."

Temari's eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared into her hair. "Nice." She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"No! I didn't mean it like that." Shikamaru started again. Why couldn't this be easier, what a drag. "What I mean is, even though my mom is difficult to handle sometimes – you know, she nags and moans and stuff, and sometimes she's so sarcastic or cutting it hurts. And see, you're like that too –"

"Sometimes." Temari broke in and the lazy ninja arched an eyebrow at her, smirk playing on his face.

"Yeah, 'sometimes'. – anyway, my point is, you know, she's still my mom, and I love her." He stopped and said nothing more, leaving Temari to blink at him angrily.

"Is that it? That explains nothing!"

"Yeah, it does. Just not clearly enough. You're like my mom, and I love her." His dark eyes bored into hers pointedly, letting the silence slowly sink in with his words.

A few moments passed.

"No." Temari once again broke the silence. She shook her head. "I don't believe you." Her eyes sparkled with tears and Shikamaru sat up, his hand stretched out in front of him to stop her from leaving like last time. He wouldn't let that happen again, not if his life depended on it. But she didn't move, sat as if frozen in time. Her tears fell and she let them make tracks down her cheeks as she looked at the ground.

"It's true. Probably the truest thing I've ever said." Shikamaru gave a short, nervous laugh.

"Technically, you didn't say it yet..."

"Smartass. Here, then. I love you."

Temari's breath flew out of her lips sharply at the words and she looked back up at him. His face was grave but his eyes twinkled lightly at her expression. She shook her head again and Shikamaru opened his mouth to shoot down any denial that she might have uttered, but she held up a shaking hand and he stopped.

She then lowered the shaking hand into her lap and a small smile flittered across her face.

"I love you too, you know?" she said, her face now a bright red.

"I know," Shikamaru replied, grinning. "That's what I'd guessed. Around the same time I realised about myself."

The sand kunoichi arched an eyebrow sharply and rolled her eyes upwards. "You didn't need to sound so emotional at my confession." She said dryly, but the smile on her face betraying her emotions.

For a few moments, they said nothing, just grinning at each other. Shikamaru was brimming with happiness. For a moment, he had been sure that he had ruined everything by comparing Temari to his mother (how many girls would really like that?), but he hadn't, even though it was clear that Temari wasn't exactly pleased with the comparison.

Temari could have jumped up and screamed to the entire world how happy she was, could have, except she wasn't that kind of girl to do that, even if she was in love.

"Does anything change?" Temari spoke first.

Shikamaru blinked at the sudden question and thought briefly. "Depends on what you mean, exactly."

"Hm..." she nodded in agreement and when she began to speak again, her voice was quiet and unsure. " What I mean is...well. Do we become a c-couple?" Here the both of them turned bright red. "Or do things continue the way we have been? Or do they stop? ...this is awkward." She trailed off, leaving Shikamaru at a complete loss.

"Troublesome woman! How am I supposed to know? I've never been in this situation before."

Temari apologised and stood up. "Mm. Should have thought of that before I bombarded you with the questions."

"Three is hardly bombarding."

"Would you like me to find more questions to ask you?"

"No! Three is enough."

Temari winked victoriously and nudged Shikamaru's knee with the edge of her foot. "I'll give you some time. I'll be back later, so have a think about those bombarding questions, alright?"

He looked up at her and grinned. "I think I'll take the opportunity to get some sleep."

She kicked him properly this time, and he winced. "You'll do no such thing, you lazy-ass."

Shikamaru chuckled once and got up from the ground, eyes glittering with amusement. His arms wove around her waist and pulled her closer, so that their noses bumped together softly. Temari giggled at this; a sound rarely heard from between her lips, and it surprised them both.

"You know," Shikamaru began, kissing her lips softly. "I already have an answer for you."

She gave him the 'oh, really?' look. "Do tell."

"Well. It's one of those answers that requires more showing than telling." As he spoke, he leant backwards, pulling Temari along with him. He gave a quiet "oomf" as he hit the ground and Temari's weight dropped onto him. "...and I figured, you'd like to do the showing." He finished, smirking up at her.

Temari rolled her eyes. "You're just lazy, that's all."

"That too, of course."

"At any rate, sure." She winked.

"Heh, I knew it."

The kunoichi poked him in the ribs. "You're troublesome."

Shikamaru sat up, wide eyed, looking offended. "Don't steal my saying!"

"Oh grow up," she countered, adding another poke for good measure.

"Quit that, woman!"

"God, you're such a baby..."

"Am not. By the way, I say we're a couple now."

The sudden serious turn to the conversation shocked Temari into silence. She sat atop Shikamaru, blinking stupidly. Shikamaru mistook the turn in the atmosphere as negative and hastily back-pedalled.

"I,I mean if that's what you wanted. If not, I mean, that's okay. I'm okay with what you want – really." He began stammering in his haste the make amends but his voice slowly faded away as Temari began smiling. This confused him.

"You know what?" She said softly. "I'd like that very much."

The lazy nin beamed, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. Temari could feel the same happening to her.

"Me t – " His voice was cut off as Temari's lips enveloped his in a slow, deep kiss. His stomach dropped, the same way it did when she kissed him for the first time. His arms slid around her waist tighter and pulled her down onto him.

What happened next was – this time – not surprising to either of them. Only after, Temari stayed by Shikamaru's side, curling into him and falling asleep there.

Shikamaru smiled softly and rolled his eyes, realising she was sleeping on his left arm, He just couldn't be bothered to move. He muttered something to himself that Temari called him every day.

"Lazy."

Wrote this months and months back. Only just uploading it. Enjoy! :)