This is a fanfic that I plan to enter into a contest for Darkgal666 on dA. The contests guild lines are for the Naruto characters to be in real life situations. Please provide me with constructive criticism. Meaning: advice that helps me, not random nonsense, such as "OMG, lyk i totally heart ShikaTema!21!" Tell me how you like it also, how well I keep within the contests guild lines, and any grammar or spelling problems. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shikamaru, Temari, Ino, Gaara, or Kankuro. They belong to Kishimoto. This fanfic belongs to me. Also, in Japanese folklore, it is said that two people that are fated to be together are tied together at the pinky by a red thread. Just a bit of info for later.

Edit: I won first place! The prize link is on my bio page. Thank all so much for all the critique I received! Much love.

Fragrant flowers lined the walls of the store; the temperature inside much higher than the freezing February air outside. At the counter sat a slender, shapely girl wearing a black turtleneck and skinny black jeans, her perfectly manicured fingers leafing though a fashion magazine. She fingered her long blond bangs that were draping over one eye, while reading an article on "How to Have Perfect Hair like the Stars."

With a slight tinkle of a bell at the door, she gave a sales girl smile, and said "Welcome to Yamanaka Flo- oh, it's just you Shikamaru." She looked back down at her magazine.

The boy scowled, though it was not completely visible through the olive, green scarf that was wrapped snuggly around his neck. His hands were jammed in his faded jeans, his shoulders slouched from laziness. His dark, green shirt simply said "Meh" across the chest and it was layered over a long sleeve brown shirt.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asks, her thin blond eyebrows arched in question. The pineapple haired boy ignored her question, and browsed around the aisle of flowers. Eventually he stopped at a bin of roses, and he pointed at the bin. "I need a bouquet of roses, preferably red." Ino's eyebrow raised, her interest perked. Walking from behind the counter, she stood next to him, her long, blond ponytail trailing behind her.

"You know, red roses won't impress her. You should get her these." She picked out a few stalks of light purple Gladiolus, along with a few white apricot blossoms. Shikamaru looked flustered, "Who said I was giving them to a girl!" Ino stood akimbo, a smirk gracing her pouty lips, "Well, are you going to give roses to a guy? Plus, it is so obvious that it's Temari-San." His cheeks instantly flushed at the mention of her name. "S-So what if it is?" Ino smiled viciously, bringing the flowers to the counter to wrap them. "Trust me, she'll like these a lot better than the roses." She wrapped the flowers up in beautiful floral paper, and handed them to Shikamaru. "They're on the house, as long as you don't screw up with Temari." She smiled widely, and cocked her head to the side, with an "I-am-so-much-smarter-than-you-when-it-comes-to-love" look on her face.

Shikamaru grunted, and took the flowers, walking out of the flower shop with unknown speed. Ino giggled and shook her head, watching as the door closed shut from a gale of wind, "Damn, Shikamaru is hopeless." She turned her attention back to the magazine.

--

Shikamaru paced outside the oak door, the beige, two story house looming coldly overhead. His hands were jammed in his pockets, this time because of the excruciating cold. Damn, did hell freeze over or something? He stood there at the door stupidly, trying to analyze how to approach the problem.

Okay, how about I go and knock on the door and then when she comes out, I give her the flowers and take her hand? No that will seem too forward. What about if I call her till she comes out? No, her brothers might come out and I might die. Maybe I'll go over to her room window and sneak her out? No, the brother thing comes into play again and then she'll think I'm a stalker. Damn damn damn. WHY THE HELL IS IT SO COLD! He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the lights on the porch come on.

"Damn, this is troublesome...," he muttered under his breath. He gave a stiff knock on the door, hoping that somebody had heard it and at the same time hoping that there wasn't anybody at home. There was no answer. He poised his hand to knock again, when the door suddenly opened. There was a tall, burly guy with short brown hair standing at the door. He seemed to glare at Shikamaru, his gaze colder than the weather. "Uhh, hey Kankuro. Is Temari here?" he said nervously.

Kankuro didn't respond, but instead slammed the door in his face. Shikamaru groaned, and stared at the closed door. He considered knocking again, but decided against it once he heard the yelling of two people behind the door, something along the lines of bastard and useless waste of space. Finally, the door opened again, this time Temari popped her head out, and chuckling nervously. Kankuro could be seen in the background, sporting a large, new bruise on his cheek, muttering something about how he had a banshee for a sister. "Sorry about Kankuro, I'll be out in a sec." The door closed in his face once again.

Damn, this family is dysfunctional... He stood there in the frigid cold, slowly losing feeling in his toes. The door opened yet a third time, and this time it was the youngest sibling, his flaming red hair blazing against the dark backdrop. He just stared at him, and Shikamaru felt extremely uncomfortable. Temari appeared from behind him, and walked over to Shikamaru. "I know Gaara, be back by 10, don't talk to strangers, no drinking, no drugs, no parties, no touching, no hugging, no kissing, no sex, and no new nephews or nieces." Gaara hadn't spoken a word, and he stood there glowering as they walked away down the street.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief, glad to finally be away from the troublesome atmosphere. Temari chuckled, "Like my brothers?" Shikamaru groaned, and as soon as they were out of Gaara's presence, he handed her the flower bouquet. She smiled widely, wondering if Shikamaru knew what those certain flowers meant, how special they were to her. A Gladiolus signifies strength of character, splendid beauty, and tells the recipient that they pierce the heart like a sword. Not only that, it was also the flower of her birth month, August. The apricot blossom itself meant timid love, just like the timid Shikamaru, the one that always wanted to take it easy and coast through life like a cloud, but ended up unable to put a troublesome girl like Temari out of his mind. Temari glittered, and held the flowers close to her heart.

While she admired the flowers, Shikamaru eyed her outfit. She was dressed in a large, lavender scoop neck sweater with a black tank top underneath. She wore a short, pleated dark black skirt, with sheer black stockings underneath; beige Uggs were her choice of footwear. She wore her hair in the normal four sandy blond pigtails and she had a long gold pendant hanging from her neck, an open fan with three purple dots. She looked nice, but most of all, she looked warm. Shikamaru groaned inwardly, muttering that he could literally feel his manhood freeze off. Temari laughed, and they continued walking down the street.

--

It was relatively dark by now, the sky giving way to stars and a large, gazing moon. Shikamaru and Temari sat at a wooden bench illuminated by a single street lamp in the lonely park. They had had a fairly nice "date", though Shikamaru refused to call it such, since dates were troublesome. He preferred to call them "appointment with Satan's assistants," since they were more of a drag than the dates. They sat there in silence, neither of them really wanting to leave the calm night behind. Temari looked up at the sky longingly, her heart fluttering slightly with the breeze. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was sweating profusely despite the extreme cold.

Their hands laid there on the bench only a few inches from each other, each wanting to get a little closer, just a little more. Shikamaru willed for his hand to move a couple more inches, just enough to reach her fingertips. He shut his eyes, thinking way too much about ways to hold her hand.

"Oh," Temari held out her hand and a small white snowflake fell into it. She smiled lightly as more beautiful snowflakes began to fall around them.

Shikamaru opened his eyes, watching as the landscape began to fill with snow. He smiled, grasping the opportunity by lightly setting his hand on hers. She blinked and turned her head to look at him. She stared and Shikamaru began to wonder if it was a bad idea, when she gave him a resilient smile. He returned her smile with a smirk, completely relieved inside. He felt himself get pulled up from the bench and Temari dragged him out into the snow, laughing from the complete joy of the situation.

They stopped in the middle of an empty field, staring up at the night sky, watching the snow fall like a little flurry of apricot blossom petals. They listened to their breathing, cold and sharp, but in harmony and with clarity. The gazing moon seemed to smile upon them, the stars winking, all in the silence of the night.

Shikamaru let out a sly smile and move in a little closer with new found confidence, whispering in her ear, "You know you're the most troublesome woman I've ever met, right?" Temari instantly blushed, aware of his proximity to her. She could feel his warm breath on her ear, and she whispered back with a devilish smile on her face, "And what of it?"

He moved back slightly, looking her in the eyes. She held his gaze breathlessly, like the slightest movement would break the beauty of the moment. He hesitated, licking his lips from the cold and moved in, much closer this time, centimeters away from her smooth lips. "You're damn troublesome, woman." Before she could respond, he lightly pressed his lips to hers, feeling the air spark around them. She melted into his kiss, her heart pounding deeply. They moved away from each other, their hearts racing, and slowly, they began walking back toward Temari's house.

No words needed to be spoken between them, and as they walked away, their hands entwined together, the red thread connecting them trailed far behind them.

And the snow continued to fall.