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Karaoke.

Shikamaru hated it. It was an excuse to embarrass oneself, unless you were endowed with either a considerable talent or a considerable good humour. That meant Chouji loved it.

Shikamaru didn't mind doing it with Chouji, alone. Maybe Ino. But a karaoke /party/?

How troublesome, indeed. But, he stood by his friends, and Chouji had wanted to have a party, so there he was, sitting in the corner, quite aware that soon someone would notice him and start bugging him to stand up and sing. He gave himself about another five minutes before Naruto spotted him, self-introduced emcee.

It didn't help that Sasuke had chosen a corner near his, meaning that if any of the girls decided to go looking for him they'd find Shikamaru too. He was slightly irritated that the normally sensible ninja hadn't thought of this, but maybe he had just decided to share the misery. That was probably it. Besides, anyone with half a brain knew that Sasuke wanted to be found.

He didn't know about himself. Sometimes he wanted to be found, but most of the time the only people he really wanted to spend time with were close friends.

"So, this is where you're hiding."

Shikamaru instantly had his long-suffering look on. Temari was impressed at the speed that he pulled it out; just a moment before he had almost looked sexy, brooding away.

"How did you find out about this?" Shikamaru questioned, suspicious. There was always the bad chance that the Hokage was looking for him for a mission and he'd have to go out, which was more troublesome than this, by a little.

The older girl shrugged and sat down beside him, stretching out. "I heard Kakashi-san say something to that teacher that hangs around Naruto in between snogs. Apparently this is where his students said they'd be going."

"Ah," he stalled for time to think. Iruka and Kakashi were together? That was predictable. He cached it away in his mind for further reference and then wondered: does Naruto know? "You know, it's rather rude to come to a party you weren't invited to."

"I'm sure your fat friend won't mind. He seems like a nice guy."

"He is a nice guy, and don't call him fat."

"I'll say what I want."

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

A silence as they ignored each other and listened to Sakura nagging Hinata, and then Hinata's rendition of a traditional romance song that had all the girls sighing and sniffling, except Temari, and all the guys coughing and rolling their eyes, like Shikamaru. When she was done and stepped off the stage, a solemn Neji met her, murmured a few things that made her blush madly, and then bent down for a rather unexpected kiss. Someone was spurred into applause.

"Well, are you going to go up and sing?" Temari glanced away from the now-embarrassed couple to shoot off her challenge.

"Of course not! ...Are you?"

"Psh. They're all afraid of me; I like to keep it that way. Even you're afraid of me."

"No I'm not. You're just a woman."

"Oh yeah? Sexist bastard."

Shikamaru looked her up and down. She was a strong woman, like his mother. How could he prove his lack of fear in her?

Well, if it really must be done...

He leant over the invisible line between the two of them on the couch and pressed his lips challengingly to hers. It took her a moment to register that he actually was kissing her. He was pulling away, a distinctive winning smirk narrowing his eyes when she decided that her desire to test how far this would go overcame the consequences of admitting to wanting him.

She decided, and grabbed the back of his head with the palm of her hand, marvelling for a moment at the smoothness of his hair, pulled into that tight pony tail, and mashed her lips to his. He pushed her back, insisting upon a slow pace, which she fretted at. She worried at his lips and tongue, trying to come up with a suitably snappy excuse for her behaviour, but coming up with nothing, especially when his hand hesitantly rested on her leg. He pushed her onto her back lazily, as if he wasn't, and she cursed his coolness, cursed it and loved it and soaked it up.

She tried letting go of the back of his head when it definitely looked like he wasn't going to stop just because of that, and took the opportunity to fight with his vest until she could pull it off. It made it easier for her to reach up the back of his shirt and feel the muscles shiver under her cold hands.

He stopped for just a moment and looked down on her, smiling in a satisfied cat-who-just-got-the-cream way.

"Yeah yeah, you win," she grumbled and caught his lower lip between her teeth to show him who was really in charge here. They continued.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Kiba had a bet going on whether or not Shikamaru would go for under or over the skirt first, and Ino and Sakura were trying to look appalled and learn a few tricks at the same time. Neji and Hinata were sneaking looks at each other and eventually ended up whispering and sneaking little kisses on a couch on the other side of the den.

Shikamaru was slowly lifting the fabric that draped down one leg, sliding his hand up Temari's leg, producing strange sort of sounds of encouragement, making Sasuke smirk and hold out a hand to a dejected Kiba and Ino make a sort of squeaky noise. Who knew that Shikamaru was so...slutty?

But, in Chouji's opinion, this was going to happen sooner or later; he just hadn't planned for it to happen at his party. He sighed and munched on some chips in a chair and watched his best friend make out with the only person he had admitted to being, /maybe/, intellectually and physically interesting.

The pair only realized what was going on when Shikamaru hit a certain nerve and Temari made a certain noise and bit his now-bare shoulder, and Shikamaru cursed at her, causing a certain someone to burst into giggles. This disgruntled Shikamaru - he had forgotten where he was - and he stopped what he was doing, which upset a certain person who had been enjoying it.

"Screw off!"

The semi-circle of watchers who were now feeling just a little perverted and maybe just a little too turned on disbanded and wandered out up the stairs, saying goodbye to a disconsolate Chouji on the way out. Shikamaru got up off of Temari and the couch, feeling bad for his friend.

"Look, I'm sorry for ruining your party Chouji," he said, listening as the couch creaked behind him and the rustle of a dress he had nearly had off. The large boy just waved greasy fingers dismissively, offering a small smile.

"Don't worry about it, Shika-kun."

He just nodded, frowning still, and looked over his shoulder. Temari was slinging her fan over her shoulder and tucked a piece of hair back into her elastics. She flashed him a grin and approached.

"Great party, 'fraid we've got to go," she winked at Chouji and grabbed Shikamaru's arm and dragged him out of the house, rolling his eyes and looking to the sky. She always knew how to irritate him so easily.

When they were a little ways down the street she paused and released him partly, letting go her death-grip on his arm and stealing his hand instead, after forcibly removing it from his pocket.

"Come on, let's go for a walk."

So, they walked. Shikamaru eventually lead her to a grassy hill where they sat down on the cold ground and watched the clouds move across the starry sky.

Eventually she leant against him, threatening to fall asleep. He let her stay there for a while, but when the sun started making the edge of the horizon turn green, he gently shook her awake and she yawned and hugged him sleepily, being kind of cute. He kissed her again, just out of whim, and she smiled at that. When he got himself upright, he reached down and pulled her up too, but she was too close and their noses brushed when he looked down at her, and she couldn't resist the tug in her heart that made her kiss him again.

He was always slightly scared by this passion she seemed to hold for him. He was scared she'd hurt herself with it or something ridiculous like that. But he couldn't not feel that when she just stood there and clung to him like she was the only thing holding her up and pleaded her case with those lips. He was just trying to reassure her by kissing back; he was still here, he was going to be here.

When they both lost enough breath to warrant stopping, she hugged him and breathed in the scent of the morning. He gently hugged her back, realizing that the reason why he was so cold was because he had left his jacket at Chouji's, and he was going to get in trouble if anyone saw him walking around without it on.

"Hermf..." Temari mumbled. "Let's go find somewhere for breakfast. I want pancakes."

"Nothing'll be open now, you idiot," he admonished mildly. "You should have gone after Chouji; then you'd being waking up to breakfast in bed."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Are you calling me a slut?"

"You said it, not me."

She snatched at his hand, jerked up her skirt and slid his hand up between her legs until his fingers fit nicely into her. She was making little shudders with her body, but Shikamaru was almost too stunned to do anything.

"This," she proclaimed through gritted teeth, "is yours. Take it whenever, wherever, however you want."

Nevertheless touched by her awkward display of affection, he proceeded to steal her breath away. In the course of exploring this newly opened territory, he found a sudden awe in the effect of certain fumbling that lead to sounds he had never actually heard come from a woman. Not a real one, anyways.

Meanwhile, Chouji's mother found a pair of decidedly female undergarments in her basement, which her son could not explain and a flak jacket that seemed to explain the situation a little better. She really was worried for her son.

Back with the couple, Temari was regaining her ability to stand, and Shikamaru had carefully wiped his hand on the inside of his shirt. The sun was up above the horizon and the sounds of the city coming to life were floating up to their hill.

"I think we can go get those pancakes now, if you still want them."

On their way down the hill Temari was frowning and grumpy, but Shikamaru didn't mind. He had expected it, rather. He wasn't going to get any special treatment just because she had sort of admitted that she liked him. As if to compound this idea and intervene on his thoughts, she chose that moment to proclaim, "Don't get cocky just because you made me come," causing more than a few bystanders give them odd looks. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and cursed her loud mouth before answering.

"I wouldn't deign to, your majesty."

She snorted at the sarcastic sound of his voice, but let it go. He was going to be treating her to a very large breakfast, and maybe lunch if she could find a nice quiet place so she could get her hands on him again. She had plans.

Shikamaru had had plans for the day ahead of him, but he could already see them drop away from in front of him as he walked, as if Temari was shooting them down one by one with her fierce glare. His mood soured as he thought about his current state of finances and current lack of sleep which was being severely combated by his combined heart and groin.

He was screwed. He should have known that once you let a woman get involved they don't let go.