Yay, another chapter! Finally! I'm sorry it's taking so long, I had a bit of a writer's block and my tablet and this site doesn't really cooperate anymore so it's gotten a little difficult for me to upload the chapters. I will try not to take so long with the next chapter. Meanwhile, I hope you like this one.

Temari wasn't sure how it happened. Well, of course she knew, Kankuro's beach house and a party. People where everywhere. Pople she didn't have any idea who they where. How did they even find out? Again, beach house and a party. It was self explanatory. Kankuro had invited friends and people he worked with. Word spread around. Friends of friends showed up, and then there were people just looking for a party.

She had a glimpse of Shikamaru's high ponytail, and was a bit surprised to see he was there. She didn't think a party like this was his thing. She followed him with her gaze as he moved through the crowd. Well, if he was there, she was going to make sure not to get drunk. She didn't want to repeat the kiss that was clearly a mistake. They hadn't talked about it at all. It wasn't awkward between them anymore and they both acted like it never happened. Which was a good thing.

Temari looked around the crowd again. Some of her friends where there somewhere and she hadn't seen Kankuro for the past half hour. She turned towards the porch. The view of the ocean would have been pretty, but it was a lot of people in the way. Where were they even coming from?

She still had no idea where Kankuro was, Atleast she knew that Gaara was upstairs, playing a video game with Naruto, or something like tha. He would probably come downstairs to get a drink later. Maybe she should be glad that they stayed out of the way, this was way too crowded for Gaara.

She drank from her beer and took a deep breath. She was going to find her friends and have fun.

Shikamaru drank fromhis beer and pretended to listen to Ino talking. There were too manu people here. Actually, he wasn't sure what he was doing there. He didn't really know Kankuro. He hadn't even seen bim since he got there. But Ino was having fun, and so was Choji and Sakura. Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Neji and Lee was somewhere around, He lost them a while ago.

He couldn't deny that it had been fun when they got there, but after being at the party for a while now, he wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere more calm and quiet. He finished his beer and left his friends. He moved through the crowded living room towards what seemed to be the door to the kitchen. He opened the door, stepped into the empty kitchen and then leaned against the closed door with a sigh of relief. Then he looked up and noticed Temari. She was sitting at the table holding a glass of water.

"Hiding are we?" she asked and lifted the glass to drink from it. She wasn't really thirsty, she just didn't want him to see her face. He was handsome all dressed in black. The sleeves of his shirt was rolled up to his elbows and his hand where in the pockets of his pants as usual.

"I could ask you the same," he said

"Well, it's my house. Actually it's my brothers house, and his party, but anyway. I'm just taking a break."

"Yeah, me too."

Shikamaru's gaze wandered over her body. She was wearing a black dress with pagetti straps that showed off her figure and legs. She was stunning. He moved towards the counter an rearranged his pants discreetly on the way. Temari pretended she didn't notice and drank some more water. Shikamaru found a glass and filled it with water. He stayed by the counter, casually leaning against it.

"This is some beach house," he said and drank some water.

He tried not to look at Temari while she crossed her legs and made the dress slide higher on her thigh. It made him think of the things they did in her appartment. Things he didn't want to admit that he wanted to do again.

"This is what it's like to be successful, I guess. Kankuro bought it, but it's for all of us."

"That's nice."

Temari finished her glass of water and stood up. She smoothed out her dress as she got up.

"You wanna get some air?" she asked and Shikamaru nodded.

Temari opened a door and they walked on the porch. The porch reached around the house so you could reach it from several rooms. They both took a deep breath and leaned against the railing. Even though they could hear music and people talking from the opened doors to the living room that was around the corner, it was relaxing to be there. It was easy to imagine a walk on the beach hand in hand with someone...

Shikamaru glanced at Temari only to notice her glancing at him, and they both quickly gazed in front of them. They stood there in silence.

Shikamaru was about to say something, but Ino interrupted him.

"There you are. We've been looking for you, you just disappeared on us," she said. She looked at the both of them. "Did I interrupt something?"

Shikamaru glanced att Temari and then looked at Ino again.

"No, not at all. We're just taking a break from the party."

"Well, Choji wants to leave, and he's the one driving, so..."

"Alright, I'm comng."

Thank you, Choji, Shikamaru thought. He didn't mind leaving now, though he felt slightly disappointed for the interruption, and he had a feeling they would stop for hamburgers on the way home. Maybe that would take his mind off other things. Like how good Temari smelled with that perfume, or that he almost leaned a little to close to her.

Temari brushed pass him on her way back to the kitchen.

"See you later," she said and closed the door.

"Are you sure I didn't interrupt anything?" Ino asked and looked at him with inquiring eyes.

"No," he answered with his gaze still on the closed door.

Temari leaned against the door for a moment and took a deep breath. He had been so close. She felt slightly disappointed that Ino interrupted them, but maybe it was for the best. She took another deep breath, regained her composure and joined the party again.

"Hey, Temari! There you are. Where did you run off to?" one of her friends asked when she came back to the living room.

"I was just taking break."

"Come dance with us. This song is really good."

"I'm coming."