Fireworks

Art Imitates Life

Shikamaru woke with a start, the sound of drunken, raucous singing ringing in his ears. Frowning, he sat up and looked around, momentarily confused as to where he was. Then his vision cleared and he recognized the darkened theater in which he was sitting.

He glanced at the screen - the singing had died down now and instead a pretty blonde was talking to some guy. He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes as he tried to remember what movie he was watching.

He stretched, 'Might as well leave now,' he figured, 'There's no sense staying to watch the end when I already missed half or more of the movie. Besides,' he continued, glancing at the screen (pretty blonde was now kissing said guy) 'it looks like a romance.'

He turned his head and looked down the row, then nodded appreciatively when he saw that only one other person was sitting there - at least, he wouldn't have to disturb a lot of people just to go.

Shikamaru stood up and started down the row but had only moved two seats down when he had to stop. "Excuse me," he muttered, glancing at the person sitting there. His eyes widened when he recognized her, "Temari?"

A frown instantly appeared on her face as she glanced up at him. "Oh, it's you," she responded coolly. She turned to the side, moving her legs out of the way, expression haughty and aloof, "Pass."

He stood there for a second longer than necessary, watching her, then moved past her and continued down the row. As he was about to step into the aisle however, he heard her say, "Hmm, I thought you'd be wearing that jacket considering how badly you wanted it back."

His expression instantly became sour and unable to stop himself, he turned back to her, "Aren't you gonna let that go?"

She sat up and turned to him, "Excuse me? You're the one that made a big deal about it."

He stepped forward, now even more irritated, "I had a right to." He scoffed quietly, glancing at the screen (the blonde was now yelling at the guy), "You know I don't even know why you're upset - you were the one in the wrong."

She glared at him, eyes narrowed dangerously, "You called me a thief!"

"Because you stole my jacket!"

"Shh! Take your argument outside!" Shikamaru looked around just in time to see one of the patrons in front giving them a dirty look.

He rolled his eyes and turned back to Temari. She was staring determinedly at the screen. Shikamaru sighed - normally, he was a pretty laid back guy and usually he tended to avoid conflict but there was something about this woman that just drove him up a wall.

Sighing again, he dropped himself into the seat next to her. She glanced at him, then back to the screen.

Shikamaru sat back, then said, "So tell me what's going on in the movie."

She didn't look at him when she replied, "Why would I do that?"

"'Cause I'm asking you to."

She scoffed and continued staring at the screen, "You should know - you were watching the movie."

He shrugged, "Actually, I fell asleep sometime during the previews and I just woke up so no, I don't know what's going on."

She glanced at him disbelievingly, then opened her mouth to reply but closed it again just as quickly. He nodded - so she was set on this 'cold shoulder' thing.

Mentally sighing, he turned to her, "Look, I didn't mean for this jacket thing to become an incident - I just wanted my jacket back and in my irritation, I guess I said some stuff that wasn't exactly called for. I apologize."

She didn't respond. He waited for a few minutes but she continued staring resolutely at the screen.

Shaking his head, he moved to stand. Then she spoke, "As far as apologies go, that one sucked. But I'll take it anyway," she responded, shrugging.

"Good."

"So," she said, turning to him, "do you still want to know what happened in the movie?"

A/N: Does this seem plausible to you? I dunno. You know, I think I need to stop spamming poor with my stories. I have a life, you know - I actually do. Anyway, thanks for reading!