FicWad

They were not the oddest couple in the village. That position was already taken by Naruto and Sasuke.

But when Temari found him lying in the grass and watching the sky and thought briefly how much older that jacket made him look she greeted him with "Idiot". And when she sat down beside him and smoothed out her skirts, but let it still show a little leg, he smiled at her and said "Bitch".

And when they watched the clouds, ignoring the things they should be, could be doing, they still argued over whether it was a shurikan or a flower. Shikamaru thought it was a flower, she thought it was a shurikan.

And when she grinned Shikamaru thought about... well, nothing. Not words, just a feeling. When he smiled, she wondered what he would taste like. Maybe his own cooking.

She remembered the time that she had found out that he could cook. She had teased him, saying, wasn't there a woman to do that for him?

But he frowned and looked away, just slightly. No, he had said. My mother's dead.

Oh. was all she said, knowing that any apologies would be worthless. She knew a lot of dead people.

But now she was thinking about the black fishnet that showed when he pulled up his sleeves, and she asked him about it, teasing.

He says he just likes the way it looks. She does too, and wants to see more of it, but doesn't say so.

She's watching him, her head resting on her arm on the grass on the ground. She forgets that he can see her watching him, sometimes. He lets her do it.

So that one night when she shows up at his window and asks for somewhere to stay, he ignores the fact that he's only wearing a pair of baggy pants and lets her in. She looks around his small room while he glides around in the dark, finding a cushion, a blanket, a pillow. But then she remembers that she can't stay, that she's supposed to report to the Hokage... but he shakes his head. He wasn't Sakura, but it didn't take any kind of genius to know that running on empty and waking up Tsunade-sama in the middle of the night would only make things bad.

He told himself that he didn't just want her to stay. He told her to stay quiet because his dad was in the next room, and she must have been tired because she didn't say what he expected to hear.

That would be hard, she mused, setting down her fan in a corner, if you were planning on... And she stops, realizing how much she was giving away, but there's no way to take it back and he's supposed to be smarter than her anyways, so he'd see right through it.

But he's smirking and sitting on his bed, resting his head on his hand on his elbow on his knee and watching as she pulls off her gloves and shoes as if it was the sexiest strip dance he had ever seen. She thought that maybe she was blushing, but she couldn't be sure, because she knew that adrenaline plus over-tiredness plus relief of anxiety was a rush and she was on it.

He stood up slowly when she stepped towards him and he looked deadly serious, as if lives hung on the balance of his decisions. But it was just two lives, she found herself thinking. Him and her...

And he bent a little, holding the top of her arm with a firm but gentle hand and kissed her.

And she found the side of his face with her fingertips as their mouths moved together, and he took his time in the way that he always did, even though she had one hand on his chest and his heart was beating so fast...

I thought you didn't like girls.

I don't. I like you.

But when they stopped, Shikamaru smoothing the skin of her hand with his fingers, she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She sighed as he manpowered her onto his bed and lay down next to her, pulling the sheets up to their shoulders and she nuzzled his neck, thinking that he really did taste like leeks and onion, his own.

How romantic, she murmured, as he hugged her close even though he was stiff and acting tough, but he really didn't need to act because she knew he was like this and liked it.


The next morning when she showed up in breakfast his father just raised his eyebrows and Shikamaru just shrugged so Temari got introduced to the older, more worn version of Shikamaru. She decided that she liked him while Shikamaru ate quietly and explained to his father that she was supposed to go meet with the Hokage as soon as possible, so he offered to walk with her.

They stood at the doorway and he explained that he had things to do, so she stepped forward close and kissed him even though his father was right there. She liked that she had surprised him, his eyebrows shot up and out of their constant frowning crease, and he smirked.

I'll find you before I leave again, she said, adding, you grouchy bastard.

His eyes were soft and he nodded as she turned to walk away with his father and waved over her shoulder.

He looked up at the sky and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He couldn't help but smile.