Sorry, sorry. I know... It's been a very long time but I had drawn up a blank. With this chapter, the fic is done. Maybe I'll do an epilogue... I dunno.

So, please forgive me. Read and enjoy!

An eventful Night

Temari sat down in the same seat she had taken in the afternoon. Chouji and Shikamaru slid in the seats opposite to her. Temari watched the two boys with interest. She had been coming to Konoha for a long time, but had rarely been in contact with people outside her official duties and of course, the Konoha 11. She got along with Shikamaru the best, Hinata the second and the large Akimichi boy the third. While she had befriended Hinata to get in the Hyuuga clan's good graces as the Sand's Ambassador, she had found that she liked the demure heiress.

She had believed that the girl would be a tongue-tied weakling, but a friendly spar had changed her opinion. While the girl was shy at first, she opened up after some time and Temari could see that she was pretty strong but had problems with her confidence. Temari eyed the ponytailed boy sitting in front of her. He had been the one to suggest she try to be friends with Hinata. Sometimes she wondered if he had known how the two would become fast friends or had just been giving random advice. Who am I kidding? Of course he knew.

Shikamaru felt Temari's gaze on him and turned to look at her. Temari had her elbows on the table and chin resting on her hands. Shikamaru smirked at the way that made her cheeks squish. She looked cute. "What?" he asked. Temari shook her head. "Nothing."

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." He looked at Temari again. "Spit it out. I know something's on your mind."

"Did you know that Hinata and I would get along when you told me I should make friends with the Hyuuga clan?" Temari looked at him carefully. While she knew the lazy jounin was too lazy to lie but sometimes he did lie and lied magnificently. Shikamaru regarded her with a lazy eye. "What brought that up?"

Temari knew that he wasn't trying to change the topic. He could do way better than that, but she still didn't answer. Instead she continued to look pointedly at him. Finally, he sighed. "I had a good idea about the kind of qualities you wouldn't hate in a person and I also knew that Hinata would gain some confidence with you as her friend." He shifted into a more comfortable position. "So, to answer your question, yes, I knew."

"So you manipulated me." Temari responded, without any anger or annoyance. She just stated it like a fact. Chouji stopped eating the snacks on the table and glanced at his best friend, wondering how the genius would respond. Shikamaru merely looked Temari in the eyes for a few moments. "Do you mind that I did?"

Temari couldn't suppress her smile. "Not really."

Shikamaru felt a tug at his own lips.

"But don't make a habit out of it." Temari warned.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "Whatever you say, scary woman." Temari smirked and started talking with Chouji, asking him about the best dishes in the restaurant. That got the boy talking pretty easily.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was thinking to himself. Did I just say 'whatever you say'? That is just like what dad says to mom every time she scolds him. He panicked a little. I am not turning into dad, am I? He glanced at the woman sitting opposite him, talking with his friend. No, I don't act like I'm whipped. He patted himself on the back mentally. He didn't want to be mocked by his son the way he mocked his dad. That would be too troublesome.

He glanced at Temari again. She was laughing now at Chouji's story about his latest mission. Shikamaru only half listened. He was paying more attention to the girl sitting opposite him, wondering about the day so far. It was similar to the times he acted as an escort for the Sand jounin, except that they didn't have any official matters to discuss. In spite of that, they didn't have any uncomfortable silences because of lack of things to say. The conversation flew naturally and it wasn't that he was forcing himself to say things. He realized that Temari was talking to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you. What were you saying?" he asked the girl, who was clearly displeased because of being ignored. She glared at him for a few tense seconds before repeating herself.

"I asked you how come you're beefing up on your training suddenly? I didn't sense you at all tonight at the house when you came back." She was watching the Nara suspiciously. Shikamaru sighed and Chouji smirked.

"What?" Temari looked from one boy to the other.

"Dad's getting on my case lately." Shikamaru would have said it in a complaining tone but that would have required effort. Chouji looked at his friend with a mixture of pity and pride. Temari could see that Shikamaru wasn't being completely forthcoming.

"But your mother's been after your ass for years, yet you've never given the effort before." She looked at Shikamaru with thoughtful eyes. "So why now?" Shikamaru grumbled something like 'mother', 'scary woman' and surprisingly 'damn oyaji'

"If you're gonna say something, say it properly." Temari snapped at him and he repressed the urge to smirk. Temari, however was not letting the matter drop.

"So, why are you training all of a sudden because your dad is asking you to?" she asked again. Shikamaru looked at her, his eyes calculating. Temari stared back, not letting him stare her down.

"It's really pissing you off, isn't it?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, his half-smile on his face. "You don't care about why I'm suddenly training, but the fact that I'm getting better than you. Isn't that right, scary woman?"

Temari's eyes widened at the boy's insight, but then she regained control. "As if, crybaby." She smirked, or at least hoped the expression she tried to pull came off as smirking. "The day you beat me, Gaara will dance."

"Then better get him a good dancing instructor, Temari." Chouji said as he picked up another piece of food with his chopsticks. "Because by the time Shikaku oji-san is through with him, Shikamaru will be a hell of a lot stronger."

He shrugged as Temari raised an eyebrow at him. "Shikaku oji-san isn't Jounin Commander because of his good looks, you know." He continued to munch as Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome' under his breath.

"Only a few jounin can beat him head on, like Gai-sensei , Kakashi-sensei. Even Azuma-sensei never won against Shikamaru's dad." Temari's eyebrows retreated into her bangs . Temari had great respect for the deceased Wind-type ninja. She looked at Shikamaru for confirmation and he nodded, sighing.

"Wow." Temari rested her chin on her hands. Shikamaru again resisted the urge to smile at her. I guess she really is too damn cute! Troublesome, definitely. But also cute.

Temari shook her head and smiled. "I never knew Shikaku-dono was that powerful."

"Yeah." Shikamaru lazily scratched his neck. "It isn't a well-known fact, but Sandaime once offered the post of Godaime to my old man years before Tsunade-sama returned." If she had been surprised before, this tidbit floored Temari.

"Seriously?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah." Shikamaru nodded.

"So why isn't he Godaime?" Temari asked confused.

"Too much work." Shikamaru smiled at her.

Temari sat and processed the words. "Too much work?" she repeated, in a daze.

Shikamaru nodded seriously. "My mom is already on his back a lot to make sure he doesn't slack off from doing his duties as Jounin Commander. If he had become Godaime, my mother would have probably run him to the ground years ago."

"What kind of an excuse is that?" Temari asked, unable to wrap her head around the idea.

Shikamaru just sighed. "Well, that's what he says, but I think the real reason was that he didn't think he was the right guy for the job. I must say that I agree. He is too laid back and easy going to be the Hokage. He doesn't inspire awe like a village leader should."

Temari had to concede that point. She had met Nara Shikaku many times and had to agree that Shikamaru's father didn't radiate power and confidence like Tsunade did. Politics in the shinobi world depended a lot on one's reputation. It was one of the major reasons that in spite of the Kazekage being so young, no other village had tried to start a war with Suna when they were down. Gaara's reputation as a psycho and a merciless killer held their enemies at bay. Nara Shikaku wasn't a feared name. Temari saw Shikamaru look at her smiling, as if he knew what she was thinking, which he probably did.

The boy was a very interesting human specimen, in Temari's opinion. He whined and grumbled even though he knew he would eventually give in and do what he was told. He always lazed around, yet he turned into a fearsome opponent the minute his friends were in danger. Temari also knew that the boy had been offered a position in the Twelve Guardians of Fire, but the boy had chosen to stay with his friends.

"I guess you're right." She nodded and looked at him again, her brows furrowing again, her lower lip protruding a little. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why are you training all of a sudden?"

Shikamaru sighed and looked at her with barely suppressed amusement. "Are you pouting?"

Temari's eyes widened as she realized that yes she was in fact in the process of pouting. Then she schooled her features into a glare. "Me? Pouting? Get your eyes checked Nara. I don't pout."

Shikamaru half-smiled. She called him Nara. It was usually a sign that he had caught her unawares. "You weren't?" he drawled, feeling a little reckless. "Pity." He smiled. "You looked so cute that I was about to answer. But if you weren't, I guess no need for me to answer."

Chouji stared at his friend, sure that this was the last time he was seeing the boy in one piece. Shock mingled with fear as he watched in awe. Shikamaru had balls of steel. However, he had nothing on Temari's expression.

For a moment, Temari's jaw went slack. She couldn't believe what the ponytailed boy had said. She watched him smiling at her, his eyes shining a little, which, for him, was a lot. Then her blood rushed to her brain along with her face, allowing it to process that the boy had actually, complimented her. Not only that, she was pretty sure the boy was flirting.

The crybaby? Flirting? Psshh. No way.

Her hands moved dangerously towards the pair of tongs on the table, which wasn't missed by the black haired boy.

"Oye oye! Hold your horses, troublesome woman. I was joking, joking. " the Nara hastily explained.

When Temari's hands stopped shifting towards the possible weapon, Shikamaru looked up and saw a frown on her slightly red face. It was debatable whether the redness was from anger or embarrassment.

"Sheesh, can't even joke around here." He mumbled.

Chouji looked from his friend to the girl. Once he was sure that Temari wasn't going to try and stab Shikamaru with the metal tongs, he relaxed a little. Shikamaru decided that he had teased the girl enough and tried to think on how to answer her questions in the least troublesome manner.

"My dad says that it's time I started getting ready." He told the girl, looking a little displeased by the thought. Temari who was still a little embarrassed and angry, gave up planning a suitable revenge to satisfy her curiosity. "Ready for what?" she asked. Shikamaru sighed again. "To step up when he decides to retire."

Temari's eyebrows rose. "As jounin commander?"

"No. " Shikamaru looked back at her. "As clan head."

Temari's eyebrows rose. Show had forgotten that the lazy bum was actually a clan heir himself. Her lips twitched slightly.

"I fear for your clan when he does retire, then."

Shikamaru raised an offended eyebrow and Temari elaborated. "To have such a lazy clan head, all your clansmen will have to do all the work themselves. Or perhaps badger you until you work" she said with a hopeful light in her eyes.

Shikamaru just smirked. "Nah. They'll think it's troublesome and let me be. All the Nara are lazy. If one is too lazy to work, the other is also too lazy to get him to work."

Temari shook her head in amusement and Shikamaru smirked. Danger of being stabbed averted, Shikamaru went back to other topics.

Temari couldn't help but notice that she was enjoying this little outing. Much more than she had estimated. The conversation was warm and both the boys were nice company. The food was as good as it had been in the afternoon. Soon, she found herself listening to Chouji's stories about Shikamaru and Team Ten in general, laughing.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly. She didn't miss Shikamaru's incredulous expression when Chouji offered her the last piece of meat. She didn't miss the small smile Chouji gave to the pineapple head either, but she refrained from asking. Since neither boys spoke of it, she kept quiet as well. After paying the bill, which both boys refused to let her even see, they walked out.

"Thank you for letting me come." Temari bowed slightly to the Akimichi who waved it away.

"You are like one of us, Temari-san." He said. "You are always welcome."

"Thank you nonetheless." Temari bowed again.

This time the Akimichi returned the bow. "Good night." , he said.

Temari looked at him in surprise. "You are leaving?" she asked.

"My clan compound is in the opposite direction from Shikamaru's house." Chouji explained.

"Ah." Temari nodded. "Good night then."

With a wave to Shikamaru, Chouji walked off.

Sighing, Shikamaru started walking. Temari fell in step with him. He glanced at her. "So?" he asked, "Had fun, troublesome woman?"

"It was okay." She smirked. Shikamaru shook his head and muttered 'troublesome'. They walked in a comfortable silence, but when they reached a certain fork, Shikamaru stopped. Temari stopped as well, raising an eyebrow.

"Your inn is this way." The ponytailed jounin pointed towards the other road. Temari's eyes widened in surprise. She nodded slowly and realized that she had unconsciously been moving towards his apartment, completely forgetting that she was, in fact, staying at the inn.

"My fan." She said.

"I'll drop it off in the morning." Shikamaru nodded. Temari didn't have anything to say to that. Shikamaru started walking towards the road to the inn.

"Come on." He said, "I'll walk you to the inn."

Temari's brow furrowed. "I can walk by myself."

"I'm sure you can." Shikamaru smirked. "But what kind of a man leaves a woman alone in the night?"

"Are you implying I can't protect myself?" she asked sweetly.

"No." Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm implying that I'm walking you to your inn, scary woman. Now shut up and let me."

For a moment, Temari almost stopped walking, but she wasn't a ninja for nothing. She regained her composure and kept walking. When they reached the main door of the inn, she turned to him and smiled sweetly. Then she walked up to him slowly.

Shikamaru's analytical mind went into overdrive. He could see around a hundred different ways this could go and around fifty of them ended with a kiss. Ten on the lips. Unfortunately, the end was from the other fifty conclusions.

Temari punched him in the stomach. Lightly, but for Temari, even light carried quite a hit.

"Oww." He grumbled. "What was that for, you troublesome woman?" he asked, rubbing his sore abdomen.

"That," she smiled and brought her lips close to his ears, "was for telling me to shut up."

Grumbling, Shikamaru waved and walked off, trying to ignore how nice her breath had felt on his ear.

Temari stood at the door, smiling, and watched him leave. When he was no longer visible, she went in.

It was only when she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth later that night she realized that she had never stopped smiling.

Temari found it difficult to sleep that night. She tossed and turned, hummed herself a lullaby she remembered her mother sing. She even recited the names of all the important trade delegates she met with regularly. Still, sleep eluded her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was rattling her, keeping her on edge. Something that was… quite troublesome, to quote a certain lazy jounin of Konoha.

Life had a weird sense of humor, seeing as how she was quoting the very problem that was not letting her sleep.

Ever since she had been young, Temari had known what she wanted from life. She wanted to be a proud Kunoichi and serve her village. She loved her family and did what she deemed best for them. She was a brilliant child, bordering on genius. As a result, most things came easy to her. Strategies and analysis was her forte. She had remained unbeaten in them until she fought that lazy bum. For the first time, she had been outmatched and outclassed. That had piqued her interest, but she had squashed it, knowing that in a few hours, the genin would be dead after the joint invasion had crippled the leaf village.

But then later, after they lost the war in three hours and surrendered to Konoha, her mind had remembered the ponytailed boy. When the news came that the boy had been made chuunin, her interest had deepened. She had researched his clan and his family. She even went as far as to have his academy records spied on and reported back. It made no sense to her. She had been restless, irritable and all in all a pain to be around for over a month.

Then they were dispatched to give backup to the retrieval team sent after the defecting Uchiha. She called dibs on the Nara and no one questioned it. She would never tell him, but she had arrived earlier than he believed. She had observed his fight for some time. Taking in his tactics and fighting skills. The more she saw, the less she understood. Sighing, she jumped in finally when the boy was about to get killed.

Weeks later, when the concerns for an appropriate liaison were voiced, and she was selected, she was glad for the chance to study him some more. She had made plans to keep an eye out for the chuunin when in Konoha. Seeing the lazy Nara at the gates had brought a smile on her lips. Thus, they spent some time together, in an official capacity. After many meetings, she finally figured him out.

A lazy guy, but could easily give the weird green wearing duo of Konoha a run for their money if the proper motivation was given. Slowly, she eased into the role of said motivation. She teased, taunted and sometimes nagged him to do better. She wanted to see him reach his potential and then fight him, to decide once and for all, who was better. But over time, the fighting part became less and less important that the other part.

But once she believed she had figured him out, she was satisfied.

Or so she thought.

Today, she had seen a different side of him.

Normally during her diplomatic visits, even thought they had spent time together not doing official work, it had always been understood that they were doing so because they were supposed to. They had fun bantering, but she always knew that he was there on orders, passing time with conversation. But today, for the first time, she had just done nothing, and gone with the flow. Spent time with him as a friend, as a person and enjoyed it. Even in Suna, her idea of a good time was pummeling the training post and ripping it to shreds with her fan. But spending time with the Nara had been enjoyable and she had really been having fun.

She had spent a few nights with the other girls, trying to deepen her relationships with the Kunoichi of her age group, seeing as they were all on their way to becoming important ninja. But she had never just spent time with the lazy boy, in spite of their long association. At least not like today.

Her mind tried to rationalize her discomfort, but in deep recesses of her heart, she knew. She just may have a thing for the shadow boy.

Today was just a small proof. Nara Shikamaru had actually flirted with her today, and lived.

Even if he had said he was joking, or had made light of the situation, Temari had let it slide, which was strange. Temari never let these things slide. A few Shinobi in Suna could attest to that. No one who had flirted or tried to tease her had come away unscathed. At first, people were scared of Gaara to try to date Temari. Now they were scared of Temari.

Yet, the shadow user was completely unharmed after the fact he had called her cute and had only received a light punch for telling her to shut up.

Her, Temari of the Sand. To shut up.

Yup, it was official. Temari liked the Lazy Nara.

Temari groaned and rolled over in her bed.

Why? Why, out of all the men in elemental nations did she have to like someone like ….. like him? Trying to get him to put effort in his work was already a chore in itself, but to actually pursue a relationship with him? That would require so much work that the chuunin exam preparation would look like a walk in the park. Not to mention the idiot called her 'Scary woman'. Flirting was one thing, as all men at that age flirted some time or another. Would the idiot even want to be with her? She was older than him. Some guys had that complex, and Shikamaru was always going on about 'Men' and 'Women'.

Temari sighed and sat up in her bed. She glanced out of her window. She wondered what she was doing, up at two in the morning, gazing out of the window, imagining pineapple ponytails in the distance.

Wait, what?

She narrowed her eyes and focused. She wasn't imagining things, it was a ponytail in the distance. She drew her head back, that she had craned forward for better focus. What was the lazy-ass doing out at this time of the night? She pulled the curtains together, leaving only a small crack for one eye to watch the still approaching boy. She looked closer and could make out a small bundle in his arms.

Unknowingly, her mouth changed into a grin. She found the thought of the lazy Nara being forced to walk when he could have been sleeping hilarious. She mentally cheered on the baby. The Ponytailed youth turned into the park and slowly faded into the darkness.

Making a sudden decision, Temari got up and started getting dressed.

Shikamaru was walking in a large circle around the trees in the corner of the park when he felt her come. He didn't stop walking, instead, just started walking towards her.

"Hey!" he gently called out, conscious of the yawning baby in his arms.

"Hey!" She walked out of the shadows.

He didn't ask her what she was doing out here. It would have been troublesome.

She didn't offer any reason for her presence. It would have been troublesome.

They just walked together until the sun came up, even though the baby had fallen asleep an hour ago.

Thank you all, everyone who read and supported this fic. This was my first story on this site. While it took some time, it's finally done.

I hope that my writing has improved over time and has given you the enjoyment I seek when I open any story on this site.

-Humbly and with Respect,

KBR.

Ja ne.