A/N: Here is my annual Christmas story for Naruto. I hope you like it :)

It was early in the morning when Neji and Tenten stood in front of Tsunade.

"I'm sorry that I had to call you so shortly before Christmas, but I have a mission for you. You need to escort an important Suna politician, he was here on an official visit and we have to make sure that he gets back safely."

"Hai." Tenten answered for the both of them.

"Oh and do me a favor and take Shikamaru along with you." The Hokage said and pointed to the lazy genius, who was standing in the back of the room. "Temari and him have to discuss a few things for the Chunin Exams and when he travels with you I can be sure that he isn't lazing around on the way there."

"Troublesome."

"What was that?" Tsunade's head turned in the direction of the young Nara.

"Nothing." He answered quickly before yawning. It was way too early to be awake and deal with this troublesome woman.

"Anyway, you are going to meet up in an hour at the gate. Stay save."

With that all three shinobi were dismissed.

An hour later they met at the front gate. When they arrived they saw a young man their age already waiting for them. He was clad in a warm coat and was clearly not used to the cold weather in Konoha. However the moment he saw Tenten his mood changed and he smiled charmingly at her. When she was close enough he introduced himself by taking her hand in his and placing a kiss on it.

"Hello, I'm Takio."

"Ahm... hi I'm Tenten." The kunoichi answered surprised, a blush visible on her face. It was expected for a politician to have great manners, but this had still caught her off guard and she wasn't the only one.

Neji next to her didn't like the look of it one bit. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, but another guy touching Tenten made him angry, more angry than he should have been when a man greeted his teammate like this.

Seeing that he was still smiling at her, Tenten took it up on herself to introduce her two teammates. Neji didn't like to talk if it was not necessary and Shikamaru was probably too lazy to do it.

"Well this is Hyuga Neji." She gestured to Neji and then pointed at the other Konoha shinobi. "And this is Nara Shikamaru."

While the lazy genius raised his hand in greeting Neji only nodded in his direction, feeling extremely tense. Shikamaru was surprised by the prodigy's reaction and when he saw his hands clench into fists at his sides, he wondered what was going on with Neji. He didn't know Neji too well, but even he saw that the normally collected man was disliking Takio from the start. Hopefully this wouldn't become troublesome.

Two days into their mission Shikamaru had to admit that it was troublesome indeed. Takio was obviously a natural flirt and Tenten seemed more than happy about being compliment. That in itself wouldn't bother Shikamaru, he was glad when a friend was happy, but Neji had a problem with this new development. The cold and collected Hyuga always left to train alone as soon as they set up camp for the night, which was unusual because he normally trained with Tenten.

On their second evening Tenten finally had enough from being ignored by Neji. It had taken her years to get him to see her as a close friend, but since their mission started he hadn't talk to her at all with the exception of organizational aspects. His behavior hurt her and she couldn't take it any more.

Approaching his training ground for the night she saw that this wasn't his normal training routine. His usual graceful motions were replaced by pure anger. There was obviously something that was bothering him and she wanted to know what it was.

"Neji." She called him softly in hopes of not being ignored again. At first he looked at her, probably because he had been surprised to see her, but then he ignored her again. That was the last straw for Tenten. "What is your problem? You don't talk to me anymore and you didn't even ask me to train with you."

Her anger finally got a reaction out of him.

"You were busy."

"With what?"

"Takio." The name was spoken with all the disgust in the world.

His words left Tenten speechless. Takio was the reason that he had ignored her for almost two days. There was only one logical explanation for his reaction, but that wasn't possible or was it? Taking the only possible approach that she knew Neji would react to Tenten stepped closer to him and spoke up, her voice gentle.

"I would never pick spending time with Takio over training with you."

"Training with you means a lot to me." He looked deep into her eyes and after hesitating a moment he added almost shyly. "You mean a lot to me."

Tenten's eyes widened at his confession. This was as much of a love confession as she would get and in its own way it was quite romantic.

Seeing that he was the first to confess Tenten thought it was only fair that she initiated their first kiss. When their lips met in a soft kiss the first snow of the year began to fall and Tenten couldn't help but think that it was perfect.

A day later the four arrived in Suna. Shikamaru was the first to recognize Temari standing next to the big gate to Suna. Seeing her again after more than two months made his heart beat faster. He had realized long ago that he was falling for the Nara curse and this woman was the cause of it. She was scarier than his mom, but he fell for her the moment she smiled honestly at him for the first time. If his dad could see him now he would probably tell him 'I told you so. You found yourself a troublesome woman on your own'. Shaking his head to push away his thoughts he focused back on the situation at hand.

They made it the rest of the way to the gate and Temari welcomed them grinning. When it was her turn to greet Shikamaru she hesitant before embracing him. She felt her heart speed up the moment she was in his arms and if it wasn't for the witnesses around her, she would have stayed liked this for a while longer. Breaking the embrace the soft smile that she had given him before the embrace turned back into a bright grin.

"Glad you made it. It took you guys probably so long because of the lazy-ass, am I right?"

"Nah it was alright." Tenten spoke up and smiled at Temari. The two kunoichi had made peace a while after the Chunin Exams and Temari had apologized to her. Tenten had forgiven her when she saw that Temari had changed so much and when she heard of Temari's hard past they even became friends.

"Hey Temari nice to see you again." Takio smiled at her.

"Good to see that you are alright after traveling with them." Temari smirked at him and she could swear that she saw Shikamaru raise an eyebrow at her obvious familiarity with the politician.

"Anyway, let's tell Gaara that you're back and we have visitors from Konoha." With a side glace to the guards she added. "I should probably call him Kazekage in public, but oh well he is still my little brother."

When she started leading the way she felt Shikamaru walk up besides her.

"So you know him quite well." It was more a statement than a question.

"Yes. When I was younger Suna didn't have an academy so we went all to the same school." Now she smirked. "But don't worry no need to be jealous."

"Why should I be jealous?"

"Right, you would be too lazy for that anyway."

"You never know, maybe not."

Hearing his answer Temari raised an eyebrow at him. Was he implying that he would be jealous if she and Takio were romantically involved? She couldn't deny that this thought made her happy. Spending so much time with him, now that they had to prepare the Chunin Exams together, made her realize that maybe she had feelings for him that crossed the friendship line. Just today Kankuro had pointed out that she shouldn't be so nervous to see him again if he was only a friend. If even her brother saw it, this feeling couldn't be just her imagination. Sighing she hoped that she would get the opportunity to talk with Shikamaru at the small celebration they would all have on Christmas Eve.

After Gaara greeted the Konoha shinobi and dismissed Takio, he announced the festivities of the evening.

"Seeing that it's Christmas Eve today, we're having a small celebration for the occasion and of course you're welcome to take part in it."

The Konoha shinobi agreed to come and Temari and Tenten left the geniuses to themselves to make their way to the training grounds. None of them were into hours of applying make-up or search for dresses so both kunoichi agreed to spend most of the time until the evening with a spar match between them. They both had improved and Temari was glad that Tenten was willing to train with her after what had happened a few years back at the Chunin Exams.

After hours of training they finally made their way to Temari's house. The Suna princess let Tenten use her shower and lent her a traditional dress for the evening. For a change both kunoichi decided to leave their hair open, what might or might not have something to do with two certain geniuses that would be at the celebration.

The first thing Temari noticed when Tenten and her arrived was that Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen while Neji approached Tenten. He politely greeted Temari before he excused himself and Tenten. The Suna princess could only smile at them. Earlier today she had already suspected that something had changed between them, but now it was obvious that they were closer than before. Maybe later she would have an opportunity to talk to her friend and confirm it. However for now she was pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar voice.

"These traditional robes are quite troublesome."

Turning around Temari saw the man who she wanted to spend the whole evening with. Apparently Gaara had insisted that both Konoha shinobi should wear traditional robes for the evening. The kunoichi would never openly admit it, but this look fit Shikamaru quite well.

"Well then let me show you something that isn't troublesome."

This was her chance to get him alone and she took it. Pulling him outside, onto one of the many balconies she closed the door behind them so they could have privacy.

"I know you're not used to Christmas without snow, but you have to admit that with all the lights in the darkness and the endless desert it's beautiful as well." She spoke up when she joined Shikamaru at the balustrade.

"It's beautiful." Shikamaru smiled slightly and taking a deep breath he finally admitted what he thought since this mission started. "I'm glad to spend Christmas with you."

His words made Temari immediately turn away from the Suna lights and a small blush could be seen on her face. The tender look in his eyes made her heart beat faster and when he stepped closer to her, Temari really hoped that he couldn't hear it.

"This is the first time that I haven't planned 200 steps ahead, because I don't know what your reaction will be." With that he pulled her closer and gently closed the gap between them.

When Temari felt his lips on hers her eyes widened for a moment before she closed them in pure bliss. This was what she had wanted for a while now. Maybe it was rather cliche that they shared their first kiss on a balcony on Christmas Eve, but at last it wasn't snowing. With the wind blowing a little bit of sand around them and the lazy shinobi she found herself falling for kissing her, she couldn't wish for a better Christmas Eve.

A/N: Merry Christmas :)