He saw her approaching him with her lips pursed and her eyes as hard as stone. Shikamaru ducked his head and pretended not to see her, wishing as hard as he could that he had learned that stupid transparency jutsu a long, long time ago. He bit his lip and racked his brain for a solution that didn't include him getting the daylights punched out of him. He spied Ino and silently pleaded for her to come bail him out. Ino malevolently shook her head and left him high and dry to defend for himself with an evil grin and a wave.

I'll remember that, he thought to himself with a glare at Ino's retreating back.

Shikamaru nodded to the barman and received another shot with a sympathetic smile.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' Temari of the Desert demanded, slamming her fist down on the bench. The coasters and straws on the bar levitated for a few seconds. Temari was way beyond mad.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' he replied calmly and downed his shot.

'Don't give me that! What is wrong with you?! I come here for months and months and now you kick me to the curb without giving me an explanation?!'

'Geez...It's only an escort mission.' he said and tried to act aloof. He didn't want to tell her that he had developed feelings for the spunky girl that he'd come to know. He thought it would be easier to get rid of those feelings if he didn't have to tag along after her.

'The guy that is your replacement has no clue,' Temari was in his face and really losing her cool. Her teeth wer clenched together and she wanted to wring Shikamaru's neck until he turned purple for ditching her.She was shaking with rage and seriously losing the battle of calmness. People were staring because they had also come to know Temari and they knew she didn't behave in that manner. 'The Chunin exams are around the corner and you bail out on me. What's with that?'

'Forget about it. It's over. I have other things to do and I can't be distracted by the stupid Chunin exams.'

'Stupid... exams...' Temari took a step back and looked him over as if she couldn't believe the things he was saying. 'That's what this is about?'

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at Temari and stared at her. 'Yeah.'

Temari blinked and then frowned, trying to comprehend what he just said. She didn't buy it. Not once has he ever left her behind or kept her at bay. He was lazy and complains a lot but never had he performed a given task without care. The Shikamaru she knew was hiding something.

'Fine. Be like that. But don't think this will be the last of this.' Temari warned and stalked off back to where the Replacement Guy was. He said something to her and she snapped a nasty reply back. The guy was blown away and stared after her in horror. Shikamaru smiled and saluted the poor bugger. He was going to have a rough ride with her calling the shots.

He paid his bill, and left in search of something to do with his free time. Maybe he could go find Asuma for a game of... no. He was having secret meetings with Kurenai, the cute little dorks. They would have to have had the worst kept secret relationship ever. Chouji was nowhere to be seen but he really didn't want to hang with him anyway. All they ever do is eat when Chouji's in the picture. Shikamaru was still feeling grudged at Ino and decided not to talk to her for a few days. She'll say sorry sooner or later. Walking around with his hands in his pockets and kicking pebbles that were strewn across the path, Shikamaru made his way back home to help out his father to gather antlers for medicine. He always needed a hand.

*

'Thanks son but I'm already done. There wasn't much to do since your sister brought the kids around and they rounded up the deer for me.'

Shikamaru sighed and nodded absently. He was still thinking about Temari and couldn't get her out of his head. She always brightened up his days, even when she was in a mood. He liked the way she wouldn't back down and she wasn't slow to catch on to what he was saying. Most other people have a hard time keeping up with him but not Temari. She was smart.

Even though he had moved out and has a place of his own, his parents never touched his or his sister's room. He was trying to sneak past his mother to retreat into his room when her voice rang clear from her domain.

'Shikamaru, a word if you please.'

Ugh, mum. He thought and dragged his feet into her den. The kitchen.

'I heard you dropped your mission.' she said while stirring a pot. She dipped a spoon in, tasted it and shook her head. She mumbled about it missing something and added a few more herbs and spices. 'Why? Your father said you were liking it.'

'Not anymore, M-'

'It's that girl, isn't it.' she cut in. Shikamaru's eyes grew wide. He had no idea that his mother knew he had a crush on someone. Hell, he had a hard time believing she knew he hit puberty. 'I've seen her around with you, what's her name... Temari? She's nice enough. Rough around the edges but she's a good girl.'

'Mum, how did you-'

'Go get her. I've seen her looking at you and it's more than friend that she sees.' she stirred the pot and tasted it again. 'Perfect.'

*

The Replacement Guy was sitting rigid, ready to run if Temari tried to attack him or something equally horrorfying. He was sweating nervously and couldn't make head from tail from whatever was coming out of his mouth. He was a flustered wreck. Having Temari as a partner was not helping him at all. How could Shikamaru stand it? Shikamaru was a legend in his eyes and he would go back to being a Genin if he could just o he wouldn't have to work with a ticking time bomb from the Sand Village.

'Um, Temari?' he spoke up and mentally cracked his knuckles.

'What is it?' she murmured without looking up. She was suppose to be working out all the safety issues but she couldn't get that lazy assed shirker out of her head and for some reason, the words on the documents weren't making any sense.

'Um... the scroll's upside down. I thought you were doing that for a reason until you started frowning.'

'What?' she looked again and sure enough,it was the wrong way around. She cussed and flippped it around the right way. The guy bolted out the door the minute he saw movement. He was gone. She followed his swift escape with her eyes and shook her head.

'Stupid Shikamaru. Leaving me here with that stupid boy.' she muttered and thumped her head on the table. 'Don't even know how he made Chunin, he's so stupid.' She grumbled about all sorts of thing and thumped her head some more. 'I can't even remember his stupid name.'

*

Replacement Guy ran around looking for his newly discovered Hero. He checked out his usual haunts like Asuma's place, the Ichiraku Ramen Shop and where he and his team mates usually hang out. He talked to a few people here and there without much success. They all said the last time they saw him was at the bar when he was getting a growling from Temari. They all smiled and elbowed each other, joking about them having a lover's quarrel.

'But they aren't together.' Replacement Guy pointed out.

They would scoff and say 'Whatever.'

Replacement Guy stood back and let that sink in. Maybe that was the reason why Temari went all gonzo when she was told that Shikamaru was finishing. She likes him. And the town thinks they're together. Replacement Guy was so deep in thought that he missed Shikamaru walking past him. Maybe he likes her too.

*

So she's a little older than you, big deal. So what if she lives in another village, it's not that hard to get work out that way. After all, I do get to choose most of my missions now.Shikamaru glanced up and was shocked to see Temari's place.

'Huh, that was fast.' he remarked and lightly rapped on the door. He pressed his ear to the door and heard a whole lot of fumbling and banging sounds. Temari wrenched the door open and her hair was a mess, she had been drinking and her clothes were askew.

'Am I interupting something?' he asked trying hard not to go inside and kick the crap put of whoever was in there.

'Nuh uh,' she said, her eyes slightly out of focus. 'Just me, myself and I.'

'You're pissed.' he said and opened the door wide. Temari stumbled and Shikamaru reached out to steady her. She didn't even seem to notice that she was about to fall.

'Nah, you're imagi... imagi... what's that word again?'

'You tell me.' he replied with a grin. He hauled her inside and surveyed the mess she had made. 'Where's that other guy?'

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled, leaning against him. 'I like your earings.' She reached up and giggled, touching his earings.

'Good grief.' he scooped her up, carried her upstairs and tossed Temari onto her bed so she landed on her front. He removed her fan and she climbed into bed. 'How much have you had to drink?'

'A bottle. But it was a biiiiiig one.' she giggled and her eyes fluttered. 'Can I have another one?'

'Sure,' Shikamaru replied. “When you wake up.'

'That's good 'cause I think I like you.' and that was the last thing she said before falling asleep. Shikamaru smiked at her comment.

"I like you too," he said to her sleeping form.

*

The next morning Temari woke up to a killer hangover and she felt like her eyeballs were going to fall out. 'Ugh.' she said and felt her head. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and the room was spinning out of focus.

'Well, well. It's alive.' Shikamaru joked and sat on the bed next to Temari.He handed her a bottle of water and a cup of tea Hinata had shown him how to make earlier that morning. 'Hinata said these are good for hangovers. I don't know what it's like though, never needed it before.'

'What happened last night?' Temari asked and took the tea. She gulped the bitter tasting tea down fast, her stomach tried to reject it. She washed the flavour away with the water and made an icky face.

'Nothing. You drank yourself to sleep.' he was smiling at her and she smiled back. It was like they were an old couple that had this conversation a hundred times before. He leant forward and kissed her forehead. She smiled some more and watched him leave the room with the tea cup. Temari flopped onto her back and smiled a really big smile. She was happy. Even with her hangover, she knew she was right where she was suppose to be.