He didn't know how he had come into ownership of the hill; it had just happened. One day he was just strolling to the hill, hands in pockets and a scowl on his face, and the next day he had been asked for permission by some nervous child if she could play on his hill.
"What do you mean, my hill?" The frown alone made the child tremble, but the tone of voice was just too much.
"W-Well, y-y-you sit th-there ev-every day, and I-I th-thought it wa-was y-yours... pl-please don't hu-hurt me with those ku-kunai!"
The scowl on his face grew bigger. "I need those kunai for missions, not carving up troublesome kids. I don't care if you play on the hill; I don't own it."
The child stuttered a thanks, bowed, and then bolted off, leaving an annoyed Shikamaru behind. "My hill... how troublesome."
From that day forward, everyone sought out Shikamaru before so much as setting foot upon the hill. It was troublesome, really... an average of fifteen people-- mostly children-- asked him every day. It really ruined his cloud-watching time, having snotty-nosed kids yell at him from the bottom of the hill.
Sometimes he just ignored them, preferring to feign sleep; other times he merely growled threateningly and watched them scatter away.
It was one of those days that she came. He had just scared off three kids by growling, and he had deserved to lay down on the soft green grass. The clouds were great that day, he recalled; fluffy and unusually shining white. Then a teasing voice called to him from the foot of the hill.
"Hey mister, can I come up on your hill? I heard I had to ask permission now, so..."
He had groaned and closed his eyes. The terror of the sands was back in Konoha, and that only meant one thing.
Troublesome days were ahead.
He refused to answer her, hoping that either she would think he was asleep and leave or that she would lose interest and walk away-- predators often lost interest when prey feigned death.
"Well, I'll take that as a yes." He heard her marching up the hill, felt her standing over him... he refused to open his eyes. Maybe it was a nightmare.
"I know you're not sleeping, you lazy baka, so open your eyes and stop pretending. I have something for you." He didn't move a muscle. She snorted, then dropped something beside his head.
"Happy late birthday, Shikamaru, and it is so good to see you again." He cracked his eyes open a little, just in time to see her back as she walked back down the hill. Temari was so troublesome... but she had remembered his birthday, even though it was a week before.
He sat up, rubbing his back, and looked at the thing she had dropped. It was a gift, no doubt about it, but rather sloppily wrapped in green paper with a tacky pink bow stuck precariously on top. What in the world had she gotten him... something dangerous, no doubt.
Grasping the sides of the present, he lifted it. He wasn't expecting anything grand-- the best he could hope for was the universal gift of all ninja, kunai and shuriken.
Gently he pried off the paper. He had always detested ripping the wrapping paper off a gift, preferring to peel it off and save it for later. Besides, ripping was troublesome, so the paper was folded neatly and laid beside the tacky bow.
The box was plain and white, giving no hints as to what it contained. Someone had gone through a lot of pain to tape down the lid-- there was at least a foot of tape on each side. Scowling, he removed the tape, then lifted the lid.
He lifted the present out of the box. How had she known... he hadn't talked to her in over three weeks, yet she knew exactly what he wanted. It was expensive, he knew... that was why he wasn't counting on it as a present.
Yet here Temari showed up with exactly what he wanted, and he hadn't even acknowledged her. In fact, he had acted downright troublesome, if he could say so himself.
He grabbed everything, tacky bow included, and ran down the hill.
Troublesome women and their damn ESP...
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She sat at the foot of the tree, staring at the sky. Why had she spent so much damn money on that loser's present? Why had she allowed herself to get attached to that loser in the first place? Why had she allowed herself to gradually fall in love with such a stupid, selfish pig?
Temari smiled in spite of herself. She knew she could sit there and badmouth him all she wanted, but she'd still love him at the end. Sure, it had hurt when he hadn't even looked at her; it was like a kunai wound to her heart, only she was sure a kunai wouldn't hurt near as badly.
Still, she was a kunoichi, a ninja, and ninja had to learn to deal with pain. But... she felt tears burning at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to cry. No, she was Temari of the Sands. Temari didn't cry.
Yet the tears fell. She may be Temari of the Sands, but she was still a girl.
A girl's whose heart felt broken into a thousand little pieces.
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He spotted her, sitting underneath a leafy tree. Her fan was missing; Shikamaru found that to be odd, considering that stupid fan never left her side. And was she... crying?
Yes. Temari of the Sands was crying.
How troublesome.
How was he supposed to approach her and apologize if she was crying?
He needed some help... some feminine help...
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"Are you telling me that you need advice on how to apologize to a girl? You actuallywant to talkto a girl?"
Shiakamaru was currently standing outside the Yamanaka flowershop, slouched over and scowling at a shocked Ino.
"Yes, Ino, I want to talk to a girl. I didn't talk to her before, and she cried... and now it's extremely troublesome."
"Who is it?"
"No one."
"Ooh... was it forehead girl?"
"What the... no, Ino, it wasn't. Can you just tell me what to do?"
She looked at him, smiling. "I suppose... I don't usually offer my advice for free, but for an old friend... wait here." She sped into the shop, leaving Shikamaru alone on the curb.
She soon reappeared, carrying a bundle of flowers. "Here... approach her slowly, give her these flowers, and apologize for what you did. Act sorry, and whatever you do, don't act like it's troublesome. She'll slap you for sure!"
He tucked the flowersunder his armwith his present. "Thanks, Ino."
"No problem... next time, just talk to Temari when she approaches you. She's very nice, you know, under all that prickliness."
He scowled. "Who says it's Temari that's crying?"
She laughed, turning to walk back into the shop. "Because, Shika, she's the only girl thatcan standyou."
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She wiped the tears from her face, grimacing slightly at the slimy coldness. She supposed she felt better after letting it all out, but she would have preferred to not have salty water sliding down her cheeks.
Standing slowly, she straightened out her skirt, freshly ironed from this morning. She had tried so hard to look pretty, just like every other girl-- she had done it just for him. But had he even looked at her? Of course not.
She sniffed, then closed her eyes. Trying to pull herself together, she repeated a mantra over and over again in her head.
He's not worth these tears. Temari of the Sands cries for no one, especially not that jack-ass. He doesn't deserve me.
She had almost convinced herself that these words were true when a voice broke the silence.
"How did you know exactly what I wanted?"
Her back stiffened. Damn it, she thought, I bet I look awful from-- wait, what do I care? "I guessed," she answered icily.
He walked under the tree, right beside where she was. She looked at him-- the present, wrapping paper, and a bouquet of flowers all tucked under his arm, the tacky bow she had picked out just to make him roll his eyes stuck to his sleeve. "You know, out of everyone who knows me, no one had any clue that I wanted that shogi board. No one knew it, and they saw me every day looking in the shop window at it; and yet you, who hadn't seen me in three weeks, seem to have read my mind. How did you do it?"
She tried so hard to be mad at him; tried so hard to come back with a snappy reply. She couldn't. "Well, I knew you liked shogi, and I saw this board in a shop window in Suna and I just thought... I mean, it seemed like something you'd like."
He sighed. "Look, Temari, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but..."
"Who said you hurt my feelings?"
"You were crying."
"Says who."
"Quit being troublesome; I'm trying to say something!" She fell silent, looking in wonderment at Shikamaru. "Um... what I'm trying to say is that... I'm sorry for being an ass back there. I don't know why I did it, but I was really troublesome and.. I'm sorry. Here." He shoved the flowers at her, turning his face away. She took the flowers gently, almost reverently, and smiled-- a smile that widened when she saw the redness on Shikamaru's cheeks.
"They're beautiful... thank you, Shika." They stood in akward silence for a minute, Shikamaru looking at a particularly intersting tree and Temari still smiling at the flowers.
"This is so troublesome, but... do you want to have lunch with me? I was going to run by Ichiraku's, and if you wanted to go..."
"Yeah, I am kinda hungry..." She grinned at him, a grin that made Shikamaru feel slightly dizzy. "I'd be glad to go with you. But before we go..." She reached and pulled the bow from his sleeve, admiring the folds of glossy pink ribbon floppily falling over one another. "You know, in order for me to properly forgive you, there is one thing I think you need to do."
He groaned.
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"Heh... hey, Shikamaru. Nice ribbon."
He scowled, glaring at Naruto. Temari just had to go make him wear this damn bow on his head, making him feel like a ridiculous present.She just had tomake him wear it to the ramen stand, and Naruto just had to be there.She looked over Shikamaru's shoulder, grinning at the blonde boy.
"Don't you like it? I think it's cute... pink is definitely Shikamaru's color." The two cracked up, Naruto falling off his seat.
Shikamaru scowled even more, if it were possible. Why had he allowed himself to be subjected to such abuse? He remembered refusing to wear the bow, shuddering at the thought, but then she had looked up at him with those startling blue eyes and asked again, in a low, sweet voice... he had taken the bow with no second thoughts.
"Aha... oh man, if only Ino could see you now..." Naruto crawled back on his seat, smiling foxily.
Shikamaru merely looked down at his ramen and closed his eyes.
Damn those blue eyes.
Damn them.
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"I'm really surprised... you handled that really well, Shikamaru." She grinned up at him, then reached up and delicately plucked the bow from his head. "You are now officially forgiven."
"Great." He plopped down on the ground, yawning widely. They were currently sitting on his hill-- he had finally come to terms with his ownership. Leaning back, he yawned again. "Being unforgiven was quite troublesome."
She snorted, then sat gracefully beside him, folding her legs beneath her. "Of course." She looked over at the small pile of wrapping paper, the shogi board, the flowers... she threw the bow on top of it all.
Sighing softly, she looked up at the sky. "Look-- that cloud! It looks like you!"
He looked at it, noting the resemblance to his hair. "Pfft... not particularly. That cloud, on the other hand," he pointed, "it looks like a bowl of ramen."
"I see the bowl shape... but where do you get the ramen?"
"Woman, you need to be experienced in the way of cloudwatching to understand."
"I'm sure..."
"It's a very precise art."
She laughed, a warm sound that made him grin slightly himself. He was enjoying her company on his hill-- it made it interesting.
"When are you leaving to go back to Suna?"
The smile drained off her face. "We leave tomorrow... we were only supposed to stay one day. I'll be back in one week, though."
"Hmm... how troublesome..."
"How so?"
"I was going to ask you to have lunch with me tomorrow, but if you must leave..."
"I'll be here at lunchtime, so I'll go with you. Then there's next week."
"Hmm." He raised up slightly, looking over at her back, at her unruly golden hair. She was still looking in the sky, her face lifted upwards towards the sun... his heart skipped a beat. She turned and looked at him, a puzzling look on her face, and that's when he knew.
That's when he knew he loved her.
It was odd... when they first met, he couldn't stand her. Her arrogance was annoying, and he had dismissed her as just another troublesome woman. Then she had become a link between Suna and Konoha, and he had talked more and more to her... and he still though she was troublesome. The mere sight of her made a feeling rise up in him, and he-- thinking it was a troublesome thing-- had dismissed it as annoyance, although it certainly felt like no annoyance he'd ever felt before. And here he had just realized what it was... that troublesome feeling was love.
"Shikamaru, what's wrong?"
He couldn't answer-- how troublesome!-- but could merely continue to stare at her.
"Shika? Hello?"
He moved slowly, not aware he was doing it. Grasping her face in his hands, he looked into her bewildered eyes. "You're so troublesome, Temari."
With those words spoken, he captured her lips with his. She gasped, he could feel it, then relaxed and kissed him back. Her hands went around his neck, his hands still framing her face... then it was over and he drew back, panting slightly. Her fingers delicately touched her lips, and she smiled a little.
"Shika..."
"H-Hello? Mi-mister Sh-shika? Can w-we pl-play on your h-hill?"
Those annoying kids... they had ruined the moment. He looked over the edge of the hill and saw them standing nervouly clustered together, squeaking when they saw him look at them.
He scowled menacingly. "This isn't my hill-- it's ours!" He pointed at Temari, who blinked. "I don't care if you play on our hill, but don't bother us!"
The kids stammered a thanks, Shikamaru scowled, and Temari smiled. He didn't have to say anything-- she knew. Just from those few words, she knew.
He loved her.