Okay, so before everyone kills me for putting something new up and not updating Slave- ahem, Flock-Member 7- I do have mitigating circumstances.
Generally Slave is quite hard to write because I have to be so precise in what I say in case it affects future story lines, so it always takes about two weeks to write one chapters, as opposed to this one shot, which I wrote in three hours tonight- when I had my first bit of free time since the beginning of the month and I decided to use it to have some stress free writing experience time, so that's why I went for the oneshot.
So I do apologize to Flock-Member 7 as I know she is always waiting for the update- and thus this story is dedicated to her. I am always grateful for your continued reading and reviewing mon amie! Here's to you!
Just a note on this one-shot- it is actually based on the beginning of me and my s/o's relationship unfortunately enough- however we've now been together for over four years, so yes people- the ex can be overcome! lol.
Hope you all enjoy and please review! It would make me so happy through these dark, coursework filled times!
SP7
The beginnings of relationships always went one of two ways in Temari's opinion. Either everything was smooth sailing; filled with the sun shining, birds singing and generally disturbing amounts of physical affection. Or, there was the utterly nerve-wracking, odd phase of adjustment; getting used to each other, learning how not to become too clingy, violent or abrasive whilst attempting to find a comfort zone which fit the both of you.
Being the type of person that she was- stubborn, determined and set in her ways- new relationships usually involved the latter of the two ways for Temari.
Over the years, starting from when she had decided herself to be old enough to date- sixteen- up until now- twenty- Temari had picked up on a few nuances about how the beginning of the relationship was decided.
In the first place, it was generally a result of the boy's relationship with his parents. If the boy came from a well adjusted, happy, in love and together family, then the first was the obvious result. If he came from an unhappy home but had a good connection with his siblings then an 'in between' process would ensue; generally disturbing amounts of physical affection combined with a little adjustment to help find that comfort zone. And finally, if the boy was an only child, downright hated one or more of his parents or came from an ugly marriage breakup, then the second result came about; the 'we're only going to split up and be miserable inevitably so what's the point of this whole thing anyways?' phase.
Secondly, the phase could be decided by the relationship the boy had with his friends and peers. If he was close to his friends, told them most things, went out with them a lot but was still his own person, then a girl could find that she could slot quite easily into their group; provided that she could put up with the wolf-whistles and suggestive grins whenever they decided to call it a night- together. If there were a few close friends who knew most things about him and who he would turn to in moments of crisis then the above became harder. Attempting to get a boy to talk about his troubles to his girlfriend whenever he was used to only trusting them to his friends was an ordeal. Yet, still only a small part of the adjustment phase- nothing that couldn't be overcome after gaining the trust of him and his friends. And then there was the boy who had friends, plenty of them, but told them nothing. Zip. Nada. Who preferred to be alarmingly introverted with his thoughts and who when asked what was wrong by either his friends or significant other closed himself off from the world and went off to do something odd. By himself. Usually with nature.
Lastly, and with possibly the most ramifications for the beginning of a new relationship, came the 'by far, worst, unmoving factor that any girl should never have to deal with'. The Ex. In a world all made up of sweetness and light and bunny rabbits, boy's had no exes, had never touched another girl before you and didn't even blink when another walked past because he was too busy gazing into your eyes. In Temari's experience that world didn't, never, nor would ever exist unless you were the boys 'first love'. And therein comes the decider. If you are "The one after 'The One'" then you are- to be polite- fucked. You will never live up to 'her' standards, 'her' cooking, 'her' kisses, 'her' talent, etc. You will spend the relationship in a constant game of catch-up; waiting for his feelings to catch-up to yours. You will be incessantly jealous all of the time, paranoid at his or 'hers' every move and left feeling belittled and drained when in the end, he inevitably goes back to her. You could be lucky to be 'The one after "the bad relationship"', where she has done something horrible like cheat on him or steal his mission, and everything and anything you do will be viewed as a gift. Because you're being nice to him; like 'she' never was. You could be "The Right One after 'The First Love'", where if things ended amicably then you have a good shot at making the relationship work because she didn't leave him too battered and bruised and you won't have to spend your time with one another putting him back together.
The reason these codes existed, in Temari's experienced opinion, was so that you knew what to do in any of the above situations. You knew what you meant to the guy, you knew what he wanted you to mean and you knew where it was all going to go without having to have the ghastly conversation about it.
Looking at the boy beside her, Temari began to wonder if it was really worth it. Not in the- 'how many times will he kiss me/tell me he loves me/tell me I'm beautiful/screw me' type worth it, but in the 'how much work am I actually willing to put into this guy' way.
Shikamaru was...as far as the categories went- odd. He had an alright relationship with his parents- didn't exactly hate his mother and was relatively fond of his father, and had a good relationship with his friends. Being ninja they were all bound together by trust from the beginning of their schooling so she knew that if there was ever any real problems in his life he would turn to them. Considering those two facts alone, Temari might have thought 'worth a shot', at the very least.
But then there was the third category. The one they had just been discussing. The one that had made her see 'NOT WORTH IT' flashing in huge bright letters right above that pineapple-y head.
If she considered it- and right now, Temari seriously was- Ino was possibly the worst ex-girlfriend that any guy could possibly have.
She was pretty, yes- but not to such an extent that Temari felt threatened or jealous. Having being raised with two brothers Temari had quickly learnt to either stop caring about how she looked, or to go and get her hair dyed because neither of them cared and didn't want to hear her whining. A harsh lesson to have to learn at thirteen but a valuable one none-the-less. Around fifteen, Temari had realised that she quite liked the way she looked. And so did others. So that was that. Temari no longer thought on her appearance and went back to being a normal ninja without a gender.
By comparison Ino was...different. And that was the only way to put it. Not necessarily 'different' in a bad way. Temari was slightly taller, curvier and darker all round with regard to her hair, skin tone and eyes. Ino was slightly smaller, thinner and beamed sunshine out of every pore on her body- sunshine coloured hair, sky blue eyes and dazzlingly white skin.
Again, Temari decided that it was really up to what kind of girl a guy liked. It was possible to be attracted to both types. It was possible to have a favourite.
Naruto- as far as she had heard- liked skinny girls. He was just that type of guy, apparently. But then again, as mentioned before, your first love often dictates what you like in a woman- so in Temari's opinion, Naruto liked skinny girls because Sakura was skinny.
Kiba liked curvy girls. She had heard him mention as much about a hundred times, combined with the phrase 'something to hold onto'. But there was really no mystery in his preference. Being animalistic by nature, Kiba's own pheromones told him to be attracted to a girl who would give him the best offspring. And thus, women with wide hips were all the unfortunate benefactors of Kiba's attention.
As far as Shikamaru went- Temari wasn't really sure what type he preferred. But then again she had she had been half convinced that he was gay until Kankuro told her that he and Ino had began a relationship. Like she said- it was possible to like both. And given that he had dated Ino, and was now 'dating' her, she presumed he liked both.
Temari could have dealt with being jealous of Ino's looks; she really could have. It would all balance upon Shikamaru telling her how pretty he thought she was. But Temari wasn't that type of girl. She didn't need self-reassurance from a boy on her looks.
And so it wasn't Ino's looks that made her the worst ex. Or her personality for that matter (despite whatever Temari may have thought about it).
Oh no. It was neither of those.
It was the habits.
It was the downright stupid, irrational, fucked up habits that Ino had instilled in Shikamaru through her dating of him that left Temari ready to strange both the blonde and the unfortunate male caught between them.
Temari had not been aware of these habits until confronted by them in a most displeasing manner.
To her recollection- the conversation went something like this.
"Eh....Temari?..." came Shikamaru's voice from the hallway of the Sunese ambassador's apartment, currently occupied by her.
"In here," she called from her position on the couch, surrounded by various different diplomatic manuals. The legal mumbo-jumbo that this village insisted upon was really putting her brain through the ringer.
Not bothering to look up when the lazy ass entered the room, Temari didn't turn to face him until he had positioned himself on the couch beside her.
"Hi," she said, finally looking at his predictable appearance, and feeling slightly charmed by his response of giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "How've you been?"
"Eh..." he started, rubbing the back of his head with his hand, "tired. You?"
Laughing derisively at his automatic response, Temari turned her head back to the treaty she was now holding. "Buried alive by paperwork."
Giving her a wry grin, he bent forward to see what she was perusing. "Need some help?" he asked politely, picking up a random document and flicking through it.
Temari shook her head. "I'm fine. It's a pain in the ass, but it'll get done if I really plough through it enough," she said, thinking of the next ten hours of her life which were going to be consumed by this one treaty.
"Oh," Shikamaru said awkwardly, "so you're not free tonight?"
Temari smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, but I've got to get this done, or I'll spend my whole time here having to make up for it," she replied, gesturing towards the paperwork. "It shouldn't take too long, though. How does tomorrow suit?"
Shikamaru gave her an odd look; his eyebrows creased and his eyes studying her expectantly.
Finally, he recovered from whatever mental attack he was having, and decided to give her an answer.
"It doesn't," he said slowly. "It's Tuesday tomorrow," he went on, as if this should awaken some momentous epiphany within Temari.
"I know it is," Temari replied with equal slowness, wondering why in God's name he was acting so oddly.
"So....I watch clouds on a Tuesday. I told you this last week," Shikamaru replied in a patronizing manner which made Temari want to punch him.
"You said you'd be watching clouds last Tuesday," Temari began in a low tone, hoping to give him some indication as to the flashing red bulb that was going off beside her head, and warning him to stop acting like such a dickhead unless he wanted to get his ass handed to him. "You didn't say anything about this Tuesday."
Shikamaru took a deep breath, and leant forward on his knees. She heard him mumble something about 'troublesome'.
"What?" she bit out after a few moments of silence.
"I have a schedule to keep," he said plainly, turning his head to look at her. He sighed as he obviously noticed the incredulous look she was now giving him.
"Since when?" Temari asked in exasperation, never having pinned Shikamaru of all people to be a stickler for schedules.
"I'm busy a lot of the time, Temari," he began evenly. "I have lots of things to do and I have to make sure that I make time for the things I actually want to do, or I'll never get to do them."
"So what exactly is this schedule?" Temari questioned, oddly curious to see where she fit into it and whether she was part of the 'things to do' category or 'things Shikamaru wants to do' category.
"Well, Tuesday I watch clouds. Wednesday, Choji and I go for barbeque. Thursday, I visit Kurenai and Nichie, Friday and Saturday I have to help my Father with the farm, Sunday is family time according to my mother and Monday night is Date night," Shikamaru said monotonically, counting the days off on his fingers and yawning after he had finished his speech.
Feeling currently very annoyed, Temari took a calming breath.
"Surely those things don't take all day, Shikamaru," she said as calmly as she could, noticing that he didn't pick up on the underlying anger in her tone.
He shook his head.
"They don't," he said as if the whole matter were boring him, "but I have Academy work to do and duties to the village that I have to get done in between those times," he went on, leaning back on the couch now.
"So let me get this straight," Temari began, no longer bothering to hide the anger in her voice. "If we don't go out tonight, I won't be able to see you until next Monday?" she asked pressingly, hoping to alert him to the obvious flaws in his 'schedule'.
"Yeah," he said, shrugging his shoulders and looking at the ceiling.
Taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of her nose, Temari curled her right hand into a fist. "You do realise that I don't live here, right?"
Shikamaru nodded his head uninterestedly.
"So what happens if I arrive on a Monday- have to work and then leave on a Sunday? I just don't see you?" she asked, incredulously, yet inwardly berating herself for how clingy she sounded.
Again Shikamaru nodded his head.
Temari growled, deciding that a verbal warning was called for to show him that silence was not a good option at this point in time.
"Look, I don't see why you have such a problem with this, woman," he said sounding completely bored of the conversation. "Ino never did."
Closing her eyes, Temari gave him a few seconds to pick up on the mistake he had just made.
Upon opening them again, she saw the same slightly bored expression gazing back at her.
"I find that hard to believe," Temari bit out by way of response, having always pictured Ino as the 'high-maintenance' type of girlfriend.
Shikamaru shook his head again. "Nope," he added lackadaisically, "In fact she made out the schedule for me."
"What?" Temari asked incredulously, finding it hard to believe that someone would put up with seeing their boyfriend for only one night a week just because the asshole was too lazy to rearrange some things or spend a couple of hours a day with her during his 'hectic schedule'.
"Yeah, well, it worked for her too. She had things to do as well; shopping with Sakura, shopping with Tenten, shopping with Hinata, helping her mum in the shop and all that. Monday night worked for us both," Shikamaru replied with a small shrug.
"Shikamaru," Temari began slowly. "I understand that you and Ino had your own way of doing things, but I'm not Ino," she said, feeling her anger build at having to point all this out for him. "Monday nights don't necessarily work for me and I won't only go out with you once a week because it fits into the schedule that your ex-girlfriend gave to you!"
Shrugging for what seemed like the fiftieth time; Shikamaru gave her a small peck on the cheek, stood up and walked to the doorway, Temari's murderous glare following him, before turning back to face her.
"You're very beautiful, Temari," Shikamaru said evenly. "I'll see you next Monday," he added, before exiting the room altogether and then the apartment.
Deciding not to go after him, as she had exhibited enough girly clinginess for a lifetime, Temari remained where she was; seething in her anger and wondering what the hell had just happened.
This was not over.
And that was the beginning of all this crap.
The odd little things that Shikamaru refused to do all because it had been the way that he and Ino had functioned.
In the end, Temari had left it a week, until seeing him again. As it was, she was incredibly busy herself and was hoping that being absent from him and completely unwilling to talk to him would make him miss her and rethink his stupid schedule.
As it turned out, Temari had been right when she had thought that this particular argument was not over. In fact it had just begun.
And it was all thanks to bloody Ino.
After a week, Monday night finally came, and Temari was curious to see what ploy Shikamaru would choose to get her to forgive him.
Opening the door she saw him standing there with a bunch of lilacs and a small smile on his face.
"You ready?" was all he said, holding out the flowers to her.
Taking them and placing them on the hall table- Temari hated lilacs- she nodded and decided to go out with him anyways as she was feeling rather hungry and was keen to make sure she got a proper apology not just some stupid flowers as a way of getting out of it.
Falling into place beside him as they walked, Temari slipped her hand into his.
"Where are we going?" she asked curiously, hoping that it was somewhere that served fish.
Yet before he answered, Temari felt him pull his hand away from hers smoothly, and stuff it in his pocket.
"Barbeque," he replied, smiling down at her before stifling a yawn.
Wondering if and why he might be annoyed with her, Temari decided that beating around the bush had never been her strong point.
"Is there a problem with holding hands?" she asked feeling more than slightly put out, and wondering why- when he was supposed to be making things up to her- he was acting like such an enormous jackass.
"Oh," Shikamaru began with a small laugh, as Temari expected him to correct himself immediately. "Yeah," he said bluntly.
"O-kay..."Temari replied slowly, "why is that?"
"My justu," he said directly. "It's one downfall is that it makes your bones quite brittle so it hurts to bend my hand that way," Shikamaru went on. "That's why I'm always cracking my knuckles," he added. "Plus, Ino was always getting cuts from working with flowers and whatnot so it hurt her too," he finished, before turning them into a side street to face the barbeque restaurant.
Clearing her throat and praying against all prayers that she had remembered her kunai tonight, Temari lifted her hand directly in front of his face.
"See," she said condescendingly, "no cuts," she added brusquely, flipping her hand back and forth.
Shikamaru sighed and she could tell that he was biting the inside of his cheek.
"Look, Temari," he began exasperatedly, "I just don't want to do it," he said before taking a seat in the restaurant and gesturing to the place set before him. "Okay?"
"No, not 'okay'" Temari said harshly, as she took a seat in front of him and resisted the urge to give him a serious kick in the knee. "Holding hands it one of the things that you do as a couple. And you told me when you asked me out that you wanted to be a couple. Therefore, Nara," she said dangerously, "you are going to hold my damn hand, okay?" she finished pointedly, glaring at him.
Looking downwards and then up towards her again, Shikamaru studied her for a few moments.
"Drop it, Temari."
With her retort ready and her hand reaching around her thighs for the kunai that she hadn't forgotten, Temari was interrupted when the waitress came over to take their orders.
Remembering Gaara's one instruction to her when he gave her this post...
"Do not make a scene."
Temari bit the inside of her mouth for composure, and sat there seething in silence until the meal came.
"You look very pretty tonight," came Shikamaru's voice as she looked up to see him smiling at her.
Deciding that a scene was inevitable unless she got the hell away from this restaurant, Temari gave him a fixed glare, got up and strode out of the restaurant.
About half of the way back to her apartment she could hear hurried footsteps coming up behind her. Knowing already from the sound of his gait that it was Shikamaru, she didn't bother to slow down.
"Woman," he called out, before finally reaching her pace. "You didn't finish your dinner," he said, pulling up some plastic containers to show her.
Rolling her eyes at the obvious statement, Temari continued walking.
Having reached the door to the apartment complex, she merely gave him a brief strained smile before turning to unlock the door.
"Temari," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Turning around Temari was met with his lips in what was a seriously unwanted kiss. She was so angry with him that she didn't even want to be near him right now, never mind kissing him.
Finally pulling away from her, just as she was about to shove him away, Shikamaru pulled her into an awkward embrace.
"I had fun tonight," he whispered into her hair as Temari's eyes widened. "Goodnight gorgeous," he said as he was parting, before turning to walk easily down the road towards his house, the wrapped up barbeque food left standing at her feet.
Taking a deep breath, whilst still wondering what the hell had just happened, Temari practically kicked the door open only to be met with those stupid lilacs again. Promptly taking them and stuffing them into the bin, she decided that next Monday night was way too soon a time to be seeing again.
Temari sighed.
Thinking back she should have just broken up with him then and there. It would have made things a hell of a lot easier.
But unfortunately, what she had thought at the time to be common sense prevailed. She still had some months to go before she returned to Suna and breaking up with her guide would hardly make for easy working relationships. Furthermore, Temari had never been a quitter. And whilst he was being an asshole, her annoyance was all stemming from the fact that she actually quite liked the jerk.
In hindsight, it was much easier to say that she should have let her head prevail and just have walked away, but being the idiot that she was, she wanted to believe that there was still some hope for Shikamaru.
A belief that was quickly dispelled.
Unfortunately for Temari, despite her wish not to have to see Shikamaru until way after the next Monday night, she ultimately saw him a lot sooner.
On Wednesday night, he arrived at her door again bearing a bunch of lilacs and a small smile.
"What?" she bit out, hoping to show him that the same stupid bunch of flowers that she hated wasn't going to make one damn bit of difference.
He sighed.
"Choji has a date tonight, so I was wondering if you wanted to go and get something to eat," he asked easily, though the laziness in his tone was not missed by Temari. He was doing this because he thought he had to. Not because he actually wanted to.
"I'm busy, Nara," she replied coolly. He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off. "And I think you'll find I'm busy for the next week and a half so I'll just have to see you after that," she said sarcastically, before slamming the door in his face.
It turned out that although Shikamaru was lazy, he was also determined and thus he once again arrived at her door on Friday night.
Looking at him questioningly, but not missing the absence of the lilacs, Temari waited patiently.
"A bunch of us are going out for ramen," he said lamely. "You must be hungry be now," he added wryly as Temari sighed in exasperation. "Here," he interjected quickly, thrusting a small black velvet box into her hands which upon opening it turned out to be a small pair of purple gemstone earrings.
Wondering why the in the world he would get her jewellery when she had never worn any in her life, Temari set the earrings on the hall side table.
Deciding that if she remained a social recluse much longer in the hopes of avoiding Shikamaru, she would probably lose her job, Temari nodded briefly, before exiting the house.
They walked all the way to the ramen stand in silence.
He did not hold her hand.
She did not try to hold his.
Upon arrival she found Naruto and Sakura, Neji and Tenten and Kiba all sitting there laughing jovially.
"Great," Kiba said dryly as the pair slid into the booth. "Now I'm a seventh wheel."
Laughing at his joke, Temari picked up a menu and began to peruse it.
She looked up to find Sakura staring at her intently. "What?" she asked feeling odd from the attention.
"You two make a cute couple," came Sakura's reply as she smiled back at her brightly.
Temari said nothing but merely nodded, not bothering to see what Shikamaru's reaction was.
"You look lovely tonight, doesn't she guys?" Temari heard Shikamaru say, and through her mortification looked up to see them all smiling back at her brightly and nodding profusely.
Wondering as to why Shikamaru would think she gave two shits as how any of the four thought she looked, Temari cleared her throat and looked back to her menu.
After that the meal passed for Temari in relative silence. Kiba made crude jokes. Neji, Tenten and Shikamaru talked about some mission or other and Naruto and Sakura kissed as if they were both going to die tomorrow.
Feeling completely alienated, alone in the village and stupid Temari decided that she would give anything for Kankuro to be there and tell her how ugly her hair was.
After the meal had finished, Naruto and Sakura took off and then there were five.
"So, been on any good missions lately, Temari?" Tenten asked her, breaking Temari's reverie.
"Eh, so-so," she replied, not really feeling up to talking.
"She's being modest," Shikamaru interjected, "she went on an S-rank two months ago and completely destroyed three rogue cloud nins single-handedly," he finished wryly, before taking a sip at his drink.
Smiling for once, Temari felt that there was Shikamaru- her friend- the guy she had actually wanted to go out with. The one who appreciated the skill in her more than 'how gorgeous' she was looking tonight.
Deciding that unless she rewarded him he'd never learn that that was the way to compliment her, she turned to face him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
She pulled back to find Shikamaru looking mortified and more than thoroughly embarrassed. Looking around she saw that their companions all looked completely at ease and she turned back to Shikamaru questioningly, only to see that he looked angrier than she had ever seen him.
Throwing some money down on the table, Shikamaru got up and strode out of the stand.
Giving the rest of the group an oddly apologetic smile (Temari had no idea why she was sorry), she got up and went after him.
"Oi! Lazy!" she yelled, calling after him and running to catch up to him. "What the hell was that all about?"
When he finally turned around she noticed that his fists were clenched at his side.
"What did I do?" he asked sounding oddly calm. "Did I forget to buy you something, or tell you how you looked?"
"What?" Temari replied incredulously. "No! Why would you think that?!"
"Because you obviously wanted to embarrass me back there and you succeeded and I'm wondering what I did or forgot to do that made you want to do that!" he asked, stepping closer to her and looking completely lost, angry and still embarrassed.
Coughing slightly from his admission, Temari felt for the final time that her anger was succeeding in escaping her.
"You think I kissed you because I wanted to embarrass you?!" she asked loudly, literally inches away from slapping him.
"Why else would you do it?" came Shikamaru's reply, complete with exasperated gesture. "I don't like showing affection in public," he went on pressingly. "I thought you wouldn't either! I thought you wouldn't want me to mess up your make-up."
Realising that this was a thinly veiled reference to Ino, Temari lost it.
"I'm not wearing any!" she yelled, before turning on her heel and stomping back the way she came. She had seriously had enough. Enough of ex-girlfriends and their stupid habits. Enough of stupid lazy stickler assholes'.
Almost running to get her fan when she heard him coming after her, Temari reached the door just in time for her to get her weapon, before he pulled her back against the door frame.
"I love you," he said breathing heavily, and moving into kiss her.
Shoving him away, Temari couldn't believe that he had actually just said those three words.
"It's been three weeks!" she hissed. "Why the hell are you telling me that you love me!?"
Sighing heavily, Shikamaru took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes seriously.
"What do you want me to say?" he pressed harshly, breathing heavily still and looking at her sternly.
A realisation dawned upon Temari and she almost felt like being sick.
"Oh my God," she whispered, her heart now beating at a rapid rate and her hands curling into fists. "This is it, isn't it?" she asked quietly, gazing up at him with wide eyes. "This is what she used to make you do when you annoyed her. Buy her things. Tell her she was pretty. Tell her you loved her. That's what this has all been about. The stupid bloody lilacs and the goddamn jewellery," she spat, shrugging out of his grasp as he looked down at her strangely. "You think that if you do the same I'll just let everything go," she finished, feeling thoroughly used and ashamed.
"You didn't like the flowers?" came Shikamaru's confused response as Temari closed her eyes in fury.
"I hated them!" she yelled, kneeing him in the groin roughly. Feeling extremely satisfied as he bent over in pain, she cracked him over the head with her fist. "I don't even like lilacs. I hated the stupid jewellery because I never wear any, asshole!" she continued, holding back from punching him again, as it might knock him out and he had to hear this. "And I don't care if you tell me I'm pretty. I know I am, for God's sake! My whole happiness does not depend on you thinking that I'm pretty! And the fact that you would tell me that you love me just to get me to shut-up, just shows exactly how much I fucking mean to you Shikamaru!" she finished, the hurt coming through in her voice even though she had not meant it to.
Breathing heavily and unable to hold back from hitting him without holding onto the door frame, Temari finally calmed down enough to look at him. He was sitting against the door frame, looking up at her with a mixture of fear and realisation in his eyes.
"Temari...I..." he began hesitantly.
"I don't want to hear it, Nara," she breathed heavily. "There's no point in continuing this because I can't be the girlfriend you want me to be. I like holding hands and kissing in public and spending time with each other besides when it's scheduled. I can't be the girl who just lets you do whatever you want with no say in it as long as you buy her something everyone once in a while.....I can't be Ino, Shikamaru," Temari finished with a sigh. "You should go and be with her again, Nara. She fits into your schedule."
And with that Temari kicked him out of the doorway and shut the door quietly.
No slam. Because she wasn't upset.
If anything she was relieved. She had finally realised why he was acting like that. And it wasn't because he was an asshole. It was because he still had feelings for Ino. And she was fine with that.
Feelings for Ino, Temari could deal with. Lack of respect she could not.
And maybe after a while she could gain her friend back and working here wouldn't be so awkward anymore. And although it would be odd to see them together again, every time she saw him running around with a bunch of lilacs in his hands, she would pity them both. Him for never knowing how to be in a real relationship, and her for thinking that she was only worth a silly bunch of flowers.
Waking up the next morning, Temari felt much happier. It was as though a whole weight had been lifted off her shoulders. No more thinking about why there were three bunches of lilacs stuffed in the bin.
As she got up and showered, she wondered how Shikamaru was going to tell everyone how he had went from dating Temari to dating Ino again within the space of twelve hours.
Chuckling slightly as she pictured Tenten rushing over here to gush about what an asshole he was, she got dressed and went to make herself breakfast.
Hearing a knock at the door, she prepared herself for the rush of ice-cream and hugs that were about to come her way.
Opening it however, made Temari feel....awkward- he looked exceptionally tired and very unhappy....guilty-there was a large bruise forming at the side of his head...and angry- it had only been one night- couldn't he give her that time alone before trying to 'break it to her gently' about him and Ino.
She opened her mouth to tell him to get lost- whilst she intended on becoming his friend again, she was still angry at being used like that and had no purpose of masking it.
Yet before she could speak he cut her off.
"Can I come in?" he asked directly, a hint of desperation coming through. "There are no flowers or jewellery, I promise," he added quickly, obviously noticing her sceptical look.
Deciding that it would be good to get the 'we should be friends' talk out of the way before everyone started asking questions; Temari nodded reluctantly and widened the door for him.
He shuffled into the apartment slowly, and made his way into the living room.
Knowing that it was probably going to be a long talk, Temari went and made some tea before coming to sit down on the chair opposite him.
"Thanks," he said quietly, talking the cup and sipping at it for a while.
It was a few moments before he spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said finally, looking up at her honestly.
"It's alright," Temari replied with a sigh, feeling that an apology was half the way there to them becoming friends again. It definitely helped.
But Shikamaru shook his head firmly.
"It's not," he said, a hardness to his voice that Temari had never heard before. "You think...you think that I like Ino and I..." he went on, struggling for words. "I know you're not Ino," he said finally, his hands grasping the tea cup so harshly that Temari wondered if it would break. "I wouldn't have gone out with you if I thought you were."
Temari knitted her eyebrows together and thought about what he said.
"Look, Shikamaru, you don't have to make excuses," she said harshly. "I'm not mad. I'm...I'm more relieved. I thought you were acting like a jerk because that was how you were naturally. That's what made me mad. But now I know that it's because you were with the wrong person- and that's okay. I can't be mad at you for how you feel, Nara," she finished with a slight jest to her voice, hoping to get him to take that strange look off of his face.
"But, I wasn't with the wrong person," he said quietly, breathing out harshly. "I wanted to be with you, Temari," Shikamaru went on looking at her earnestly.
Not quite sure what to say to that Temari remained silent, trying to figure out how to tell him that she didn't want him to try and spare her feelings.
"I really...really like you, Temari," he said after a while, reaching over the table to grasp at her hand.
"Nara..." she began exasperatedly pulling her hand back and wondering why he was trying to drag this out. She had never guessed Shikamaru to be one for denial.
"I never told you why Ino and I broke up," he interjected quickly; as Temari realised she was actually interested to hear this. She nodded showing him that he could go on.
"It was a couple of things actually. We both started to like someone else. Well, I had always liked you but she was closer to home and my mother was pestering me about getting a girlfriend and I hadn't seen you in about a year and a half. But, before you came back, she started to like Kiba and she broke it off with me. It...It didn't exactly hurt, but it bothered me because I was left wondering what I did wrong. I asked her and she told me that it was because I didn't take her out to eat enough, or buy her enough things or tell her how pretty she was on a daily basis," Shikamaru said quickly, as Temari attempted to keep up with him. "She also said that I smothered her and that because we were teammates we saw each other every day so once a week was more than enough to spend time together," he finished as Temari still said nothing. She couldn't decide if she was angry that he thought that she would be like Ino or felt bad for him.
"I make it sound like her fault though, and it wasn't," Shikamaru pressed on. "I was happy with the arrangement. It meant that I could still be wherever I wanted without having to worry about her. She would contact me when she wanted to see me. I knew how to get around her being annoyed at me; by buying her things and pretending that I loved her- it was easier that way- except according to her I didn't do it enough. I should've known that you wouldn't let me get away with all that," he said wryly, reaching for her hand again.
Temari still said nothing but let him have her hand again.
"The funny thing is that I actually like you," Shikamaru added, clasping his fingers into hers. "And I would love to kiss you in public, or spent time alone with you outside of the 'schedule' or hold hands with you despite what it does to my bones. I just didn't want to push you too far. I lost Ino that way and I was determined not to lose you in the same way. I just forgot that the reason I like you so much is because you're the exact opposite of Ino. Self-assured, and self-sufficient and straight-forward," he said, looking at her earnestly. "It turns out I lost you anyways," Shikamaru sighed after studying her face for a while. He pulled his fingers away from hers.
Sitting back in her chair and feeling thoroughly over loaded with emotions, Temari rubbed her eyes.
"I need some time to think, Shikamaru," she said plainly as he nodded in response.
And thus here she was. Sitting on the hillside of Shikamaru's favourite cloud-watching spot, on a Tuesday afternoon.
Except Shikamaru wasn't watching the clouds. He was looking at her nervously, obviously awaiting her response.
To be truthful, Temari hadn't really come up with much of a response to what he had said. Yes, it was sweet and yes, she felt bad for him. But realistically, it only meant one thing for her; that Ino hadn't actually been 'The One', she had been the 'bad relationship' and now that meant Temari was 'The One'.
Temari wasn't sure if she wanted to be The One. It would mean teaching. She would have to teach Shikamaru everything from how to listen to her, to how to apologise properly and how to satisfy her properly. It was and would be a lot of work.
And there was that sign. That bright, flashing 'NOT WORTH IT' sign stuck right about his head. If the first three weeks had been this difficult, surely it would only get worse.
Sighing, she looked up at the clouds.
When had she ever been afraid of a little hard work?
"I like orchids," she said bluntly, as Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise. "But you're never to give them to me unless it's because you think it would make me happy. Not make me forgive you. Understand?"
Shikamaru nodded quickly.
"I don't wear jewellery, so if you ever want to get me something, fan polish, or weapons of some sort is your best bet. Don't get me them as an apology but only if you want to and most definitely if it's my birthday," Temari went on, still looking at the clouds soaring above her and noticing that the sun was now shining.
"Finally," she said harshly, turning to face him abruptly. "Don't ever tell me that you love me, unless you mean it."
Shikamaru nodded again.
"Someone said something about you being smart and a fast learner...it better be bloody true," she said breathlessly, as she smiled at him and place her hand on top of his, whilst thinking that she must really like this boy.
Finally giving her a small smile of his own, Shikamaru squeezed her hand in response although she did not miss the grimace that came with.
"And you don't have to do that if it hurts," she said bemusedly, removing her hand from his.
"I want to," Shikamaru pressed quickly, grabbing her hand back again. "It's worth it."
Around two hours later- Temari couldn't tell exactly as she hadn't really been keeping track of time and was therefore guessing by the position of the sun- the two were strolling through the village, hands clasped.
Both of them stopped, looking on in serious amusement as Kiba ran clutching a bunch of flowers into Ino's flower shop.
Stifling a laugh, Temari shook her head. "That's pathetic," she said, hilarity ringing through her voice.
Nervously, Shikamaru placed his other hand on the back of his head. "Do you know she probably made him buy those flowers in her shop, run outside and then come back in again?" he asked, a redness now staining his face.
Temari snorted in laughter. "You're not serious?"
Shikamaru nodded.
"God, she must be good in bed," she suggested, rolling her eyes at all the hapless men who were destined to fund the Yamanaka flower shop for years to come.
Shikamaru coughed lightly. "I wouldn't know anything about that," he said delicately, giving her hand a small squeeze.
Temari rolled her eyes again, knowing that he thought she was trying to find out if he had slept with Ino. Shikamaru really did not have a very high opinion of women.
"Fine," she said briskly. "A good kisser, at the very least."
Shikamaru shook his head, as Temari readied herself for another patronizing remark.
"Nah," he said lazily. "She wears this gooey crap all over her lips that takes forever to get off once it's on your lips," he said with a small smirk down towards her.
Temari laughed.
"Fast enough for you?" he asked wryly, as Temari stared up at him with narrow eyes.
"Just about," she replied, kissing him fully on the lips, knowing full well that the man and women standing and looking on with shocked expressions were his parents.
"Come on," he said happily, not even glancing at his parents, "let's go get some barbeque," he suggested, trying to pull her in the direction of the restaurant.
"No way," Temari answered, pulling her hand out of his. "I hate barbeque."
"Don't tell Choji that or he'll make me dump you."
"Haven't you ever had an independent thought in your life, Nara?"
"Yes."
"...."
"Well, go on then...dazzle me with you autonomous thinking."
"I think I'm in love with you."