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50 Shinobi Prompt 47 — Soap Suds (Bubble)
“This is just fantastic!” Tenten grumbled sarcastically as she followed after her silent teammate. “Why am I always the one who ends up with clothes so drenched and dirty that I can’t walk properly?”
“Because you’re the clumsy one.” Neji said stoically.
Tenten snorted. “Jerk.”
“I’m letting you in the compound so you can fix up, aren’t I?”
“It’s your fault I need fixing up.” She grumbled.
Neji scoffed. “I didn’t push you in the mud hole. You fell all on your own.”
“Oh, whatever, Hyuuga.”
Rolling his eyes, Neji pointed her in the direction of the shower. “Hinata or Hanabi will bring you something you could probably wear when you’re done. I’ll be in the kitchen. You remember where that is don’t you?”
Tenten’s eye twitched, remembering the escapade in which she got lost in they Hyuuga compound. Neji and Hinata had laughed at her for weeks. “I’ll manage.”
Neji smirked.
Sometimes, Tenten really wanted to smack that boy.
—
A while later, Tenten managed to find her way into the kitchen, admittedly that was after stumbling into some old lady’s room. Red-faced, Tenten had apologized and tried to hightail it out of there as fast as she could.
Neji was sitting comfortably at a stool chewing on an apple. “Why are you red?”
“N-No reason.”
“Who’d you walk in on?”
“Nobody!” Tenten lied.
Neji smirked. “You really aren’t very good at lying, you realize.”
Tenten glared at him. “Oh, fine. I walked in on some old lady.” She could feel herself blushing more furiously, “I don’t know what she was doing, and let me tell you, I do not want to find out.” She leant against the counter. “Where are my clothes?”
“Getting washed.”
“Where?”
“Laundry room.”
“Which would be?”
“You wouldn’t be able to find it.”
“You could tell me anyway.” She protested.
“I could.”
“Well?” She demanded.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, what?”
“Where is it!?”
“In the east wing of the compound.”
Tenten groaned. “And where is that?”
“East.”
“Dammit, Neji!” She scolded in annoyance.
He snickered at her. Tossing his half eaten apple in the garbage, Neji stood up and headed out of the kitchen. “Come on. Just follow me.”
“You are an unbelievable jerk, Neji Hyuuga.” Tenten grumbled.
“It’s amazing how that doesn’t bother me.”
“Amazing isn’t the word I would use.” She muttered under her breath.
She followed after him through an amazing amount of long and confusing hallways and turns. How on earth did the Hyuuga ever make their way around the stupid compound? It was a wonder some of the kids didn’t get lost and die of starvation in one of the many rooms. She would have asked how that had never happened before, but all that she needed was a glance to recall why they never got lost — their stupid eyes.
Neji stopped abruptly before a door causing Tenten to smack right into him. “Jeez, give a warning, will ya?”
He didn’t reply just opened the door.
“Oh, damn.” Tenten breathed as she looked at the room. “Your laundry room is not supposed to look ritzy!”
Neji frowned. “It doesn’t.”
“Oh, trust me. It does.” The washing machines were shiny and seemed to call in tantalizing whispers for people to wash. The walls were a perfect pristine white. The clothes waiting to be washed were actually folded and, in Tenten’s eyes, appeared very clean. The ready clothes were folded and fluffy and looked so perfectly pretty lying on the polished oak tables. The windows had not one streak and the floor was spotless — not even a splash of water.
“It’s not.” Neji mumbled obviously confused.
“Stop by the orphanage sometime and you’ll see what I mean.” She headed forward then stopped abruptly. “Where exactly are my clothes?”
Neji headed in the opposite direction she had been walking towards, stopping in front of a machine. “Still washing.”
Tenten peered at the machine. “Oh, it’s just fine. Look, all the dirt is gone.”
“It’s still washing.” Neji repeated.
“Nah, it’s good.” Tenten pushed him aside and pulled it open before Neji could utter a word of protest. She shouldn’t have attempted it. As soon as she wrenched the door open a large stream of bubbles and cold water splashed over her.
Tenten sputtered. “Yeuck. I think I got soap in my mouth.” Tenten squeezed the water out of the shirt she was wearing. “Wow, that was cold. Guess, I should’ve listened to you.”
She shivered. “Do I have to put these clothes in the wash again? I mean, the ones that aren’t mine.” Tenten tried to stand up, but slid on the soap suds as she struggled up. She winced. “Oww.”
Noting Neji’s silence, she turned around. “Hey, what’s–” Tenten stared mouth agape at her teammate. Her usually composed teammate was drenched in cold water, hair stringy and clothes falling around him from the water’s weight. Soap suds dusted his chin, lips forehead, hair, and just about every other visible part of his body. He looked like a child who’d just realized that water created a big mess. His mouth was open just the slightest bit, his eyes blinking slowly, and his left eye twitching. Tenten couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Neji’s eyes narrowed at her.
She stifled her laughter as best as she could. “Look, Neji, I’m really, really sorry.”
“Tenten-”
“I didn’t mean to!” She protested. Tenten edged away more than just a little frightened, “Oh, come on! It was an accident! You know I’m an idiot sometimes!”
Neji sighed. “Alright. It’s fine.” He wiped some of the suds off of himself.
Tenten huffed. “Look, don’t do that. I really am sorry! What do you want me to do?”
“It’s fine. You didn’t mean to.”
“Stop pretending it’s fine when you want to kick my ass.” She scolded.
“Tenten-”
“I could clean-no, wait, I’m no good at that. I could-”
“Tenten, relax. I forgive you.”
She frowned thinking it over. “I suppose I could-”
“Tenten!”
“Or maybe, I’ll-”
“Tenten!”
Tenten continued rattling off possible things she could do to make up for drenching him, not even noticing that his eye twitch had started again. In severe annoyance, Neji ambled over to one of the unoccupied washers and filled a bucket with freezing cold soapy water. Tenten, still preoccupied with thinking up ways to make it up to him, didn’t even notice he’d moved. Neji walked over to her and dumped the contents of the bucket on her head.
“HOLY SHIT!” Tenten screamed. She hopped up and jumped up and down periodically on one foot as if it would take away the freezing pin needles crawling up and down her skin. “DAMMIT, NEJI!”
“Are you happy now? We’re even.”
“N-N-not e-ev-even! Th-That was f-f-f-f-freezing!” She shivered. “B-b-besides, what I d-d-did was on ac-ac-acci-accident.”
“So was what I did.”
“L-Liar.” She accused.
“The bucket slipped.”
“Bullshit.”
Neji smirked.
“Wh-What?” She stuttered.
“The soap suds piled around your head make it look like you have devil horns.” His smirk grew more pronounced, “Quite fitting wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh, you’re just a h-horrible jerk.” She growled, somehow still feeling despite her irritation that this was one of the most warming bonding moments she’d ever had with Neji. “H-how you became my friend I’ll never know.”
“I know.”
She blinked. “Oh?”
“You’re like glue; you wouldn’t leave me alone and soon enough I got used to you.”
“You kept saying that I was w-weak! It was so unbelievably sexist. I had to p-p-pr-prove you wrong.”
“Then how come I still think you’re far too weak?”
“Oh, I abs-absolutely h-hate you.” She growled.
Neji rolled his eyes.
50 Shinobi – Prompt 09 (“Ready, Steady, Go!”)
When she was just a little girl, she was often times baffled by how many of the girls her age seemed to be concerned with the opposite sex. The little female creatures would stare at the males, eyes wide, cheeks flushed, and dreams spinning in their minds. Tenten would look at the males and only see a bunch of boys that were much more fun to play games with than the girls. She was slower than all the rest of the girls her age to recognize the opposite sex, and it took her longer than most to find something even remotely interesting about them. There were occasions she was plagued with a rather annoying blush because a boy looked rather cute, but she could never find herself actually liking any boy. Even if they looked good, they didn’t seem worthy of her effort. She had more important goals to look to – like becoming a shinobi.
As she grew, the girls’ obsession with males didn’t seem to dwindle. They gained other interests, but their desire to find their love never quite faded or was never quite pushed to the background. It was a world of men and a world of women who loved talking about men. Sometimes it unnerved her. Mostly though, it just confused her.
It seemed more often than not, the entire basis of life seemed to be a giant race among the females. They all lined up behind the start line and chatted amiably about the goal to be obtained at the end of the race. They were cheerful, they were happy, they were friends. At least until two girls picked the same goal, then it seemed to break apart. All the girls were inevitably heading off in the same direction, but each one wanted someone different to hold (in most cases). Sometimes they got the prize they’d originally chased after, other times they did not. It was a simple race “Ready, steady, go!” and suddenly the girls shot off, wind beneath their feet trying to get that prize. She had been left behind covered in a cloud of dust, not really incited by the idea of wining the race. Or even beginning it. The girls would race and race in the beginning, but they go tired and they soon resorted to walking. Their search wasn’t so frenzied anymore. It was filled with the same zest, but far more patient, the further along they got. All throughout the curious game, she saw them win their prize, or have their prize taken, or the have the prize depart on its own, she saw them set their eyes one somebody else, and she saw them find a prize on accident. It was interesting to watch in it’s own, but not something she ever felt part of.
At least, not in the beginning.
She felt like someone had dumped a bag of sand on her when she wasn’t looking. A bag she really didn’t want to carry around. A soft kiss on her lips and whispered sweet nothings in the night followed her in Konoha. Nightly escapades that left her feeling more empty than pleased and created an embarrassing pale blush spreading on her face. In Suna, heavy laughter, playful touches, and demanding kisses occupied her spare time. Pleasant meetings that left her feeling more than just a little unsure and a nervous pleasant feeling to swim inside her gut.
She wasn’t anywhere near as pretty or flirty as the girls her age. She wasn’t the kind that looked for a guy, or had ever even participated in the race. She never tried to compliment or charm anyone. If anything she was far too blunt and much too honest. And yet she had these problems.
Ino looked at her with newfound interest when she found out, because of course, Konoha’s gossip queen had to find out. Tenten didn’t know if she should ask her to keep quiet or not. She didn’t know anything more. She told Ino the very same thing. Ino just smiled kindly and pecked her on the forehead. “You’ll know; a girl always knows.”
Ino must not have told anyone, because no one else approached her with questions, or looked at her any different. Tenten didn’t know how she would know. She didn’t know if she could know. Maybe she’d been born defective. Maybe, she didn’t know how to just know.
But when Tenten sits down alone, to think about it. She thinks she understands what Ino meant. Because when she was younger, she was always alone. As she grew up, she gained friends and teachers, but she still enjoyed being alone. A large piece of her preferred being alone. But now, now when she sits alone, when she thinks about her problems – current and passed – she doesn’t feel right. She can’t help that she really wants someone to be there.
Just one someone.
Maybe a girl always does know.
She’d never wanted a part of the race, but she’d been forced into it. Instead of attempting the race, Tenten just looked at other things — and she too found her prize on accident. Finally, one was worth the effort.
A/N: I know, I didn’t mention any names, and didn’t explain who she picked. I’ll leave that up to you, my readers. But…if you can guess correctly who both of the men were when I was writing it (It shouldn’t be that hard I think), I’ll write a Tenten entry that you pick. Any pairing, any subject. ^_^
50 Shinobi – Prompt 17 (Hopscotch)
The stupidest, or perhaps smartest, thing Gai-sensei had ever proposed to his team was one of his many ‘bonding’ exercises. His ‘bonding’ exercises tended to range from cooking to, oddly enough, playing a prank on the current Hokage. Of the all the exercises they conducted, the pranks never tended to end well. Neither Tenten, nor Neji, nor Lee, nor Gai, were any good at pulling a well orchestrated prank. it was usually either a lame prank or they got caught doing the prank at the worst possible time. Over time, Tenten and Neji became clever enough to find a way out of the training exercises, but in the beginning they were forced along.
One of his few successful exercises was rather impromptu and proposed back when his team was still undeniably at odds with each other. It had began with the end of a rather unorthodox training session in which Gai-sensei had them work on how long they could hold their breath while sparring using only taijutsu. Tenten lost almost immediately. On average she was okay in her taijutsu, combine that with holding her breath and it spelled disaster. Although, she was the best when Gai-sensei allowed them to use weapons while holding their breath; but without weapons she failed miserably. Lee lost about twenty seven times to Neji before finally winning one, though Tenten attributed the win to the fact that Neji was getting exhausted and Neji just didn’t hold the same resilience Lee did at that time.
Lee would eventually surpass Neji in taijutsu, but at the moment, Lee was still lacking in everything but heart.
“Can I go home now?” She had complained to Gai-sensei once Lee had finally bested Neji. “You know, since we’re done?”
“But we must train harder!” Lee protested.
Neji just sat there stoically.
It was at that interval that Gai-sensei seemed to find it appropriate to try to unite them closer as a team once again. Tenten had told him constantly to quit trying. She, Lee, and Neji were far too different to ever get along appropriately. But Gai was just as hard-headed as Lee – they both refused to ever give up on anything.
“I know what youthful exercise we can do!”
“Please no.” Tenten pleaded at the same time Neji sighed in aggravation.
“Let us play hopscotch, my young students!”
Tenten felt her eyebrow twitching. “Hopscotch?” Of all stupid things, Gai had picked hopscotch? She wondered yet again if someone had hit him too hard in the back of his head in a mission. He had to be mentally unwell in some retrospect.
“I have to–” Neji tried to wrangle out of it, but Gai-sensei hushed him with another long monologue on how hopscotch would surely light the inner fires of their youth.
Tenten had no reservations about telling her sensei to shut the hell up, but she’d long since realized that doing so only made his monologue longer. So rather, she picked herself up from the comfy spot on the floor and started digging a kunai into the grass so that the lines of the hopscotch squares were clearly evident by the brown lines of dirt through the brightly colored grass. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.” She interrupted, hoping this would, in effect, shut him up.
Neji hesitated. “I don’t know how.”
Tenten yawned. “How what?”
“How to play.”
It took her a few seconds to register the information, though seemingly it seemed she was the first to understand. Lee gaped at Neji in astonishment and Gai looked a cross between a child who’d just had his candy taken away and a child who couldn’t understand where his mother had gone when peekaboo was being played.
“How can you not know how to play?” She asked baffled. “Doesn’t every kid play hopscotch? Hell, I’m poor as dirt and have no parents, and I’ve played the game.”
He scowled. “Well, I’ve never played.”
She straightened, realizing that she may have inadvertently offended him. She blinked, “Look, I didn’t mean…It’s just…It’s weird okay? I didn’t expect that, especially from you.” Without as second thought, she took his hand in hers and dragged him over to the game she’d just dug into the grass. “Okay, look, there’s these squares.”
Lee seemed to have regained his composure and moved to stand beside her. “They are numbered.”
Tenten nodded. “Right. And the object of the game is really just to get through all the squares and back, but you have to hop through them.” She hopped through her design, “Just like this.” She showed him again coming back.
Lee picked up a pebble. “And you throw a rock to get to the right square. If you do no’t get it in or if it touches the line, you lose your turn.” Lee tossed the pebble in example.
“Also, if while you’re hopping on a single square your other foot touches the ground it’s a violation. Your turn is disregard and you go back to where you lst were. Same thing happens if you hop on a line.” Tenten showed him what she meant.
Neji frowned. “Well, it’s a pretty easy game for a ninja wouldn’t you say?”
Tenten analyzed her rudimentary design. “Now that you mention it…”
“What if we play on a mountain?” Lee suggested.
Tenten nodded. “Yeah…Oh! And instead of a pebble we use a kunai, but we also draw a target on each square where we have to get a bulls-eye or else have our turn skipped!”
“I know!” Gai interrupted, finally falling out of his revere, “We also separate the squares by 25feet!”
Neji’s eye started twitching. “How about between five and eight feet?”
Tenten nodded. “Yeah, five or eight sounds good.” Twenty-five was just ridiculous.
Thirty minutes later, they finished constructing their game of hopscotch on one of the steepest mountains in the village. Despite Tenten’s initial disinclinations to the game, she found herself having fun. “Hey! Cheater!” She accused, pointing her finger at Neji. “You toed the line!”
“I DID NOT!” He protested.
Tenten turned to Lee. “You be the judge. Did he or did he not?”
Lee shook his head. “Tenten, I did not see him touch the line.”
“Gah!” She protested bitterly. “You’re both in cahoots.”
“Who says ‘cahoots’ nowadays?” Neji smirked.
“Who says ‘nowadays’?” She shot back.
“Bitter.” He smirked.
“Cheater.” She snapped. “EP! STOP!” She yelled at Gai.
Gai froze, halting before going to the next jump. “What?”
“You cheated.” Neji explained.
“Exactly.” Tenten harrumphed.
“I did not cheat!” Gai protested.
“Lee?” Tenten inquired.
“Gai-sensei,” Lee said smiling, “you touched the line.”
“Ha-ha!” Tenten grinned. “Told ya!”
Neji rolled his eyes. “It’s about time one of your accusations proved to be true.”
“Hey,” She protested, sticking her tongue out at her teammate. “They were all true; this is just the first time I could get one of you pinned.”
“Sure.” Neji said. “Suure.”
Somehow, that rather strange game of hopscotch made friends out of strangers and teammates of outsiders. As friends, they would always be called the oddest bunch, but that day Tenten found, it really wasn’t so bad. Being friends with them was rather nice, because beneath their skin they were rather different. And it was special to be able to say that she was one of the few who could see it.
Also, it turned out that their modified version of the game of hopscotch became not only the most popular game among shinobi, but one of the only ‘fun’ training exercises that senseis could use to mold their students.
Hunh, they were starting trends. And all because Gai-sensei had another harebrained idea.
A/N: This might seem like a lemon in the beginning, but trust me, it’s not.
Temari pressed her lips hungrily against every bit of bare skin she could find. Her fingers clawed at the dark mesh shirt he was currently sporting, and she couldn’t think a second past what was going on right then and there. She pressed more firmly against him — needing more, wanting more. Shikamaru’s hands deftly tugged at her hair so that the golden strands fell free of her casual style spilling all across her face.
Temari groaned against his neck.
She kissed her way up to his lips and pressed down firmly, losing every trace of her surroundings within his mouth. Fighting for dominance, and submitting to his every now and then.
Her fingernails curled into his shirt and just as quick as this makeout session began, Temari’s desires incensed. Hastily, she tried pushing the shirt off of him. She was so disoriented that for the first few seconds she tried taking his shirt off by pulling it down. After a few moments of complete confusion, her mind started working minimally, and she relieved him of his shirt. She began to move down lower to discard him of his pants when she felt her body lock up and freeze.
It didn’t take her long to figure out why she was incapable of movement. Just as quickly as his shadow had incapacitated her, she regained control of her body. She stared down at the man beneath her. “What was that?” She demanded, more confused than anything else.
“Look, Temari,” His cheeks were flushed and eyes hazy with desire, “I love you, I do, but…”
“But what?” She frowned, “If this is about protection–”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then?” Temari prodded, trying to put her desires under control.
“I…” Shikamaru bit his lower lip and looked nervously up at her, “This is going to sound absolutely stupid, but…”
“But?”
“I want to wait.”
“Wait?”
“Yeah.”
She sat up, still sitting calmly on his chest, “Wait for what?”
He closed his eyes. “Troublesome.”
“Shikamaru!” Temari uttered in aggravation. “Answer me!” Hell, if he was going to turn her down, then it damn well better be for a good reason.
“I don’t…I don’t…” He sighed and opened his dark eyes. He looked up at her, his eyes firm with resolution. “I don’t want to have sex until I’m married.”
She blinked dumbly. “Until you’re married?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
She rubbed her eyes slowly and pinched herself. After a few minutes of contemplation, Temari decided she was very much awake. Hesitantly, she spoke, “Really?”
“Yes.”
“B-But you’re a guy!” She exclaimed as if that explained everything.
“I’m aware.”
“Guys are usually the ones pressing for it!”
“It seems that that’s usually the case.” He replied calmly. “But it’s not with me.”
“Unbelievable.” She breathed. “Unbelievable.”
“What is?”
Temari shifted slightly, “That I seem to have found the only decent man left in this stupid world.” She paused. “You know, I’ve never had sex either.”
“And you wanted to give your virginity to me?” He asked a slight blush on his cheeks.
Temari felt the heat rush to her face. “I love you.” She mumbled.
Shikamaru wound his hand behind her head and led her gently forward. He kissed her slowly on the lips. “I love you too.”
She sighed as he pulled back. “You’re still not going to do this until we get married, aren’t you?”
“Precisely.”
She hesitated. “I’m not ready to get married just yet.”
“I’m okay with that.” He said calmly.
“You are?”
He smiled. “I’m pretty patient, Temari.”
She grinned. “You are unbelievable.”
A/N: I was talking to my mom about her relationship with my dad today. This story is a piece of their story. My mom didn’t really care about waiting, or even getting married for that matter. My dad didn’t want to do anything until he got married. My dad was the one who told her either marry me or nothing. I found that really funny when she told me.50 Shinobi — Prompt #22 (Cathedral)
“I won’t go in! You can’t make me!” She protested vehemently, shaking her head to and fro furiously.
Neji stared at her in aggravation. ‘Tenten, it’s just-”
“It’s evil, that’s what it is!” She complained loudly. “EVIL!”
Neji’s eye twitched. “It’s a cathedral. The last thing it could be is evil.”
Tenten narrowed her eyes at the pale Hyuuga. “Just because it’s a cathedral doesn’t mean it has to be good.” She shuddered. “Just look at it! All big, and gothic-like, windows high, and lights low.” She stared at the building before her. “It’s the epitome of evil, my friend.”
“It’s a cathedral.”
“I WON’T GO IN!”
Neji seemed to want to kill her. He seemed to want to wrap his hands around her neck and throttle the life out of her.
She crossed her arms and stared resolutely at the floor. She would not budge. She would not, she would not, she would not! It was filled with evil. She really couldn’t say why she thought so, but she just didn’t like it. Something about the building was unnatural and-and just plain wrong. Maybe it was haunted. Or maybe worse… She dug her feet into the ground. “Let’s go home.”
Neji stared at her quietly for a bit, before giving a resigned sigh. “Tenten, please.”
Tenten hesitated. Never once, in all her life, had Neji ever said ‘please’ to her. Not once. She looked back at the looming and frightening building. She sighed. “Why do you need to go into hell-I mean, the cathedral, again?”
Neji shifted awkwardly. “My mother’s grave…”
Tenten scowled. “Okay, okay. Let’s go in.” She bit her lip. “But…don’t laugh at this okay?” She waited until he nodded before she asked her question. “Can you hold my hand as we go in?”
Neji nodded and Tenten could’ve sworn he looked glad she’d requested that.
She swallowed her fear and took her hand in his gripping it tightly. “The things I do for you people.” She whispered silently.
“I’m grateful for it.” He said silently, almost so softly that the wind attempted to swallow his words.
Luckily, the wind didn’t succeed.
She smiled. Fear was a powerful thing, but friendship topped it by far.
50 shinobi — #12 Tadpole
Best friends are totally aware of how stupid you are, but still manage to be seen with you in public.
Tenten sat comfortably on the ledge of the building looking down at the passerby. She always sat on the ledge of some building every Saturday morning to think. She believed if one didn’t sit down to contemplate things in their life they might miss something important. She only had one life, might as well think about it even if it was just a little bit, right?
Today she was settled on the top of her favorite bakery staring up at the sky. The sun plagued by timidity, was barely showing the tip of it’s head to the sky. In return, the sky blushed a pink and orange array at her lover’s reemergence.
Tenten imagined someone would surely question her sanity if they ever knew she compared the sky and sun to lovers. With a heavy sigh, Tenten leaned forward and rested her head on her upturned palms. Soon enough she’d have to move, the pressure of her elbows on her thighs was something she could only put up with for so long. Her elbows were just so damn bony.
Not too far away she could see a green awkward looking creature jumping and running about. The creature seemed to be exercising.
Tenten jolted out of her revere as the slamming of doors and voices below her punctured the lofty silence.
Her vision cleared and the objects resembled what they should resemble once more. The green jumpy thing off in the distance, she noted, turned out to be Lee exercising. “What a youthful day!” He cried in jubilation.
Tenten wasn’t sure if she would smile at his enthusiasm or wince in embarrassment for her friend. Lee really never was embarrassed, sometimes that in itself proved embarrassing for her.
“Ugh!” A girl complained from somewhere below. Tenten shifted just enough so she could look down at the events occurring right at the foot of the building. “Won’t he shut up?” The girl complained. Tenten knew her well enough. She was the skinny, pretty, dark-haired civilian who worked in the bakery she was currently settled upon some days. On average, Tenten really didn’t like her. She was too jittery, gossipy, and flirty. Tenten found most civilian girls tended to be that way: savage without really getting their hands dirty. Words did alot more damage than people ever gave them justice for.
“He’s such a freak.” The dark-haired civilian gossiped savagely.
“Incredibly so.” Another girl agreed with her heartily. “How he ever became a ninja is beyond me.”
“Doesn’t he remind you of a frog?” Another voice chimed.
“No way! There’s no way he could possibly even be a frog! He’s more like an ugly warty toad.”
“A fly!”
Tenten tuned out the rest of the conversation, feeling more than just a bit annoyed. Just like them to talk about things they knew nothing about.
“Are he and that kunoichi dating?”
“The one with the two buns on her head?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” The bakery worker laughed, “she’d be smart enough to stay away from a dork like him.” She grinned viciously, “I bet it’s just pity. I mean, just look at him. Who would be friends with that voluntarily?”
Tenten bristled. Truth be told, on more than one occasion, she’d been accused of liking Lee or Neji. Apparently, being teammates with two boys meant she had to shack up with one of them. Also on more than one occasion they’d accused her of not liking either of them.
That accusation was more on the mark than the previous one. Upon getting assigned, she had made it painfully clear to Neji, Lee, Gai, and anyone else stupid enough to cross her the day the teams were assigned, that she did not like any of them. She’d told Lee he was an utter dork. She’d told Neji he was a poor excuse for a human being. And she’d told Gai she didn’t want him an idiot for a teacher.
By nature, Tenten was easily embarrassed. Lee and Gai were the walking talking incarnation of embarrassment; and Neji, to put it simply, he was just a jerk.
She was a jerk too.
She knew that now, and had done everything possible to rectify her original cruel statements.
Yeah, Neji was mean, but he was also nice when he let the walls down.
Yeah, Lee was a dweeb, but he was a very good person.
Yeah, Gai was weird, but he was an excellent teacher.
She swung off the building, landing right before the group of chittering girls. “Oh, buzz off, flies. Lee’s a really nice guy.”
“He’s a freak.” The bakery worker said cheekily.
Tenten leaned into the girl so her lips hovered right above the cocky girl’s ear. “Better than a bitch, wouldn’t you say? At least freaks are worth a person’s time.”
The girl flushed red and seemed ready to start yelling at her, but Tenten simply turned away from her. “Hey, Lee!”
“Tenten!” He belted out cheerfully. “Have you been having a youthful morning?” He asked cheerily. His eyebrows then creased together in worry. “Do you still have cramps?!”
Tenten groaned and bopped him fiercely on the head as she reached him, trying her hardest to avoid any passerby’s eyes. “Remember how we said that certain things should never be repeated to the general public?”
Lee rubbed his head as if it were to take away the pain. “Yes…”
“That was one of them.” She knew her face was that disgustingly bright red it tended to turn when she was horribly embarrassed. “You know, Lee,” She mentioned casually, trying to will away her embarrassment, “Sometimes, you’re really embarrassing.”
Lee looked crestfallen.
If she were to designate every person she knew as an animal, Lee would be a tadpole. He didn’t look like much and he wasn’t very nice looking, but one day he’d surprise everyone. He was already surprising her. “But I’m glad you’re my friend.”
He grinned happily. “Let us run ten laps around the village!” He proposed in excitement.
She scowled, “Hell no.”
Tenten gracefully bounded over to the bed and settled upon it cross-legged. She nudged Shikamaru with her foot and gave him even glare.
Shikamaru stretched up. “Alright, I’m leaving.”
Temari wanted to pull him back down on the bed and order him to stay. She ignored the voices in her head that told her to do so. Really, if she started listening all the time to the voices in her head she’d be in big trouble – she’d be even crazier than they all believed her to be.
“Kankurou,” Tenten chimed cheerfully, “get lost.”
Kankurou rolled his eyes. “Mood swings.” He grumbled under his breath exiting the room.
Gaara watched Tenten in mild amusement. “I assume you want me to leave as well?”
“Yes, please.”
Gaara followed after his brother. Shikamaru bent down to remove the headphones from around her neck. She drew her hand up to her neck where they had been. With a wry smile Shikamaru placed the headphones over his own ears. “I’ll be downstairs.” He smiled then exited too.
Hinata turned, about to leave, when Tenten interrupted her. “Ep! Hina, I’d like you here.”
“Wh-Why?”
“Duh. Girl talk.”
Temari stared at the brunette. “Are you even capable of girl talk, Tenten?”
“I’m capable of all kinds of talking.” She defended happily.
Hinata timidly sat on the edge of the bed. Her lavender eyes scoured the entire room. Her nose wrinkled just the tiniest bit.
“Aha! You think it’s messy too!” Temari proclaimed as if in triumph.
Hinata blushed. “Well, just…a little.”
Tenten scoffed. “A little? Damn, girl, it’s a lot messy.” Tenten clicked her tongue. “I can’t believe you’re going to marry this disorganized boy.”
Temari’s eyes snapped to attention immediately. “Marry? Marry?”
Hinata ducked her head down.
Tenten snickered.
“Hold on, he asked you to marry him?” How long was she out of it? She remembered that Hinata and her littlest brother were involved in some way, but she didn’t think they were anywhere near ready to get married. Married?
Tenten’s eyes bugged out of her head and she fell to the floor in a fit of uproariously laughter. Temari wryly thought how unfair it was that even when the brunette fell she managed to avoid any clumpy painful bits that covered Gaara’s floor in its entirety.
Hinata lifted her head, an indescribable expression in her eyes. “Would it be so bad if I did marry Gaara?”
Tenten’s snickers subsided minimally. Her light brown eyes analyzed Temari with complete scrutiny.
Temari floundered. “You’re a bit y-young to be getting ma-married.”
“So if we were older,” Hinata asked calmly, “you wouldn’t care?”
“Of course I’d care.” Temari oddly felt like she was being tested for something. She couldn’t quite figure out what she was being tested for just quite yet. Obviously something important, but that’s as far as she could get. “I mean, he’s my youngest brother and you’re my friend; I’d care if you two decided to get married.”
“I meant, would it bother you?” Hinata’s voice was so low Temari marveled that she could hear it. Most surprisingly, she marveled at how clear it sounded to her. Hinata did indeed have the loveliest voice.
“Why would it bother me? If you both wanted to get married, I don’t think I’d mind.” She paused. “You love him right?”
Hinata nodded.
“I wouldn’t mind in the least then.”
A small smile spread across the pale beauty’s face. She really looked incredibly lovely when she was truly happy.
“You know, Bluey,” Temari began thoughtfully; “you should smile more often. Like, for real, you know? You like nice when you do.”
She really didn’t think she’d mind if they got married. In fact, she’d be happy. Gaara was the happiest she’d seen him in the longest time; she couldn’t ever recall the redhead being as contented as he was when he was with Hinata. It was a quiet peaceful sort of love.
Very nice.
Temari had the suspicion that Shikamaru would laugh at her if she told him that. She also had the suspicion that she wouldn’t mind him laughing at her one bit. Their’s wasn’t a quiet love, there’s was a troublesome kind.
She rather liked it that way.
Temari was not by any means a sociable person, and as a woman who didn’t care much for social events, she distinctly hated parties of any kind.
She hated that she had to dress up for them. She hated that she had to ‘mingle’ at them. And she most definitely hated that she was expected to dance in public at them. It’s not that she was a bad dancer, she just felt that doing something like that in public was putting out a very private very personal action for everyone to gawk at. Besides, why would you bother doing something so private with a stranger? She might as well have sex with a stranger in public.
Temari blanched at the mere thought.
Of course, her father and brother Kankurou disagreed with her whole-heartedly. Temari followed after her brother into the accursed room inwardly calling her father every swear word she’d ever learned. And she knew quite a few.
Kankurou immediately departed her side without a word making a beeline towards a thin blond thing on the dance floor.
Deeply aggravated, Temari took one look at the room, hoping that there was perhaps someone she knew.
No such luck.
The music was pounding, resonating through the room loudly and the conversation of the party-goers overlapped into one loud buzz. Temari crossed her arms over her chest and let out an aggravated sigh.
Her father had forced her to attend, going as far as to literally shove her out the door. Temari leant against eh wall watching the people grind on the dance floor. She grimaced. A deep sense of awkwardness filled her and Temari wanted nothing more than to leave.
Unfortunately, Kankurou had driven.
There were a few problems with that.
- Kankurou had the keys.
- Even though she knew how to hotwire a car, Kankurou drove a stick. She only knew how to drive an automatic.
- It was too far to walk home.
- She was horrible with directions, she’d probably get lost
She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes.
This was going to be a loong night.
-
Thirty minutes later, Temari was even more aggravated then she’d originally been. Guys kept coming over to her and asking her to dance. (It was about five now if she had counted correctly). Temari did not dance in public. She told them so, but the boys just gave cheeky, self-righteous grins and continued to bother her. As if a few badly phrased words would change her mind. Temari would’ve punched them, but she was already in serious trouble for fighting in school. Her father might disown her if she started a riot at a party.
So, rather, she chose to ignore that desire and insult them instead.
It’s not as if she looked the least bit special anyway, she was sure that she just looked bitchy.
Temari pushed herself off the wall and slipped through the door. The cold night air hit her quickly, awakening her. She idly kicked a smooth pebble at her foot. It skittered across the pavement bouncing off the gravel. She growled as her hair flicked in her face and once more Temari found herself wishing she was somewhere else. The resonating pounding of the music seemed to leak through the walls and follow her outside. She massaged her temples; she just hated this type of music. Temari kicked another pebble forcefully and watched as the smooth rock flew through the air straight at a car window. The pebble crakced through the glass and feel inside the vehicle.
“Oh, crap.” Temari breathed.
A heavy sigh sounded out behind her. “Troublesome, woman; that was my car.”
Heat rushed to her face. The man behind her was pretty tall, had thin eyebrows, a defined chin, piercing yet oddly lazy eyes, and dark brown hair falling down around his shoulders.
He had pretty long hair for a boy.
(But then, there had been that one guy with hair almost down to his ass, so maybe long hair on males a popular trend in this village.)
“It’s not my fault your windows are junk.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Who told you to kick a rock at my window?”
“It was a pebble.” She defended. “And if your window would break because of that, then you deserved it.”
The brunette rolled his eyes at her.
Temari scowled. Wasn’t he even going to demand she pay for it? She had broken it after all. Not that she would agree to pay for the damn thing, it was his fault for having such a shoddy car. But she was irritated enough to want a decent arguement.
Instead, the boy just fished some keys out of his pocket and headed to his car.
“Aren’t you even going to give me some crap on how I should pay for it?”
“Too troublesome.” He made his way to the driver’s side and opened the door, then slid in.
“Hell,” She called out, more interested than anything else, “aren’t you even going to pick up the broken glass shards that fell on the passenger side?”
“Too troublesome.”
Temari scrambled up and headed to his car. She leant against the passenger side of the car, her arms on the hood of the car, eyes peering through the hole she’d made in the window. “You’re leaving just like that?”
“I’m trying.” He looked pointedly at her. “What? Is there something else you’d like to break before I go?”
Temari scowled. “If I broke the other window it would match. Although maybe I should crack your head instead.” This guy was getting cheeky.
“Woman, as if you could.”
She bristled. “Is that a challenge?”
He stared at her impassively before closing his open door.
Oh, it was most definitely a challenge. Temari bent down and picked up a smooth pebble from the gravel. Aiming carefully she threw the pebble forcefully through the hole she’d just made right at the other window. Sure enough, the pebble went straight through, making a matching hole.
The boy looked silently at the second crack for a minute, then turned his gaze on her. HIs eyes were shocked, but there was most definitely a smile in them as well.
The lanky man watched her carefully. He leaned over the seat and unlocked the passenger door. “You can come if you want.”
Temari blinked.
That was not the reaction she was expecting.
Hell she’d just broken his other window and he invited her to come with him? What was he: nuts?
“Excuse me?” She asked.
“You hate this party. You can come if you want.”
She frowned. “Where exactly are you going?”
He shrugged, “Wherever you want to go; I had no specific place in mind.”
Temari once more placed her hands on the hood and outstretched them. She looked down between her hands through the window at the peculiar man. “I don’t even know you.”
“Shikamaru.”
“I just broke both your windows.”
“I know. They are my windows, after all.”
“And you’re inviting me to-to-to do stuff?”
He smiled, “You’re interesting.” He paused. “Besides, I’ve never seen a girl turn down Sasuke for anything before.”
Temari frowned. “Which idiot was Sasuke?”
“Dark hair. Dark eyes. Broody.”
“Oh!” That one had been good-looking, but also damnably annoying. The better looking ones always tended to be. “Which one is his car?”
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but pointed at a sleek new looking blue car.
Temari hesitated. “Does he have an alarm?”
Shikamaru shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
Good. She bent down and collected a handful of pebbles. Not bothering to aim at anything in specific, she just threw the lot of them at the shiny car. Temari felt deeply satisfied as his window gained five new pretty holes.
When she looked back at Shikamaru, she saw him smiling.
“What?” She defended, wrenching open the door to his car. Temari brushed aside the sharp glass shards from the leather seat onto the gravel below. “The moron pissed me off. You don’t piss me off in a palce I don’t want to be at.”
“Duly noted.”
“I’m Temari by the way.”
Shikamaru started the car. “You sound like you hate all kinds of parties.”
“I do.”
“Then why are you here?”
“The collective influence of my father and one of my brothers.”
“Most women like dancing.”
“Yes, well unlike most women, I don’t want to squirm and wiggle where everyone can see me. That’s a private thing.” She explained indignantly.
“You’re odd.”
Why, thank you.” Temari pushed the buttons on his radio. The fizzy noise was starting to annoy her. “What’s up with your radio?”
Shikamaru pulled out of the parking lot. “It doesn’t work.”
Temari growled. “See, your crap sucks.”
“Good to know.”
“This isn’t a date by the way.” Temari clarified.
“Okay,” Shikamaru said with a smile.
Temari scowled. “Why are you smiling?”
“Woman, you just broke my windows: one on accident and one because I said you wouldn’t. Plus, you broke Sasuke’s windows. You insulted me, refused to apologize, and look like nothing but trouble. Why would I even consider dating someone as scary as you?”
Temari pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and stretched it out. Without even bothering to ask permission she slipped it inside the radio box and started fiddling with the mechanisms inside.
“Woman, what’re you doing?” Shikamaru asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
She pressed the bobby pin firmly into the familiar spot and kept pushing until she hear the customary clicking noise. Temari grinned happily as music suddenly sounded out perfectly clear. “Fixing your stereo.” Temari fiddled with the knobs to find a good station.
Shikamaru looked at her in confusion. “How did you do that?”
“I have a knack with fixing electronics. Breaking them too.” She explained. Temari smiled contentedly as she found her favorite station. “Oh, and you’d want to date me because I’m fucking fantastic.” She grinned widely at him, “I’m irresistible.”
Shikamaru stared at her blankly almost as if he really believed her. “I knew coming to this party would be a mistake.” She hear him grumble under his breath.
“Let’s get ice cream.” Temari decided happily.
He shrugged. “Alright, but since this isn’t a date, you’re paying for your own.”
Temari snickered. “If you play your cards right maybe I’ll let you take me out on a real date.”
“Oh, joy.” He muttered sarcastically. Or maybe not-so sarcastically, Temari wasn’t all that sure.
Yeah, Temari hated parties; apparently though, some interesting people did occasionally happen to attend.
Temari had screamed herself hoarse when she discovered she was pregnant.
After her capacity for yelling appropriately had diminished, she told Shikamaru. The lazy bum seemed shocked to hear the news, but instead of being filled with the same rage and fury as her, he was filled with joy. The sparkle of happiness in his eyes soured her further. He should not be happy. By all rights, he should be ruing the thought, since her being pregnant with his child could only bring problems for both of them.
They weren’t even married.
She thought about yelling and smacking him about, but found she just didn’t have the energy. Instead she just sunk to the couch in his home with a sullen expression and aching limbs. She hated the baby. She hated the baby with every fiber of her being. Shikamaru seated himself beside her, a question in his eyes. He didn’t ask it though.
Temari was glad he didn’t. He probably wouldn’t have liked the answer.
xXxXx
Shikamaru knew that a kid would ruin a lot of things. He knew that a kid would possibly mess up a scheme of his plans, and probably a lot more of Temari’s plans. He fathomed she wasn’t so keen on the idea of lumbering about in such a weak, bloated, and virtually useless (as far as shinobi were concerned anyway) state for months. He wasn’t so keen on dealing with a Temari in that state. He wasn’t so keen on waking up in the middle of the night to a child’s cries. He wasn’t so keen on a lot of the hardship. Mostly he wasn’t to enamored with the very real possibility of leaving Konoha and becoming a Suna shinobi just so he could be a part of the kid’s (and Temari’s) life .
But, despite all of that, he found the idea of a kid, a kid with Temari nonetheless, was better than any complication life had in store for him.
xXxXx
Of all the irksome things that pregnancy brought, the most annoying of them was her huge round beach ball of a belly. She couldn’t walk around with it. Getting out of bed became a laborious project. She usually lay there for five minutes before she mustered the desire to exert all the damn energy necessary to pull herself out of the mattress. Some days she even flirted with the idea of not getting out of bed at all. Shikamaru, the jerk, did nothing to discourage the idea. In fact, he kept encouraging her to stay in bed; he never dropped his nonsense about her needing rest.
What did she need a rest from anyway?! She shouldn’t even be tired, dammit. All she did was get up, eat, walk around, read a book, play shogi, talk, and then go back to sleep.
Ridiculousness.
Temari hated the ball. It knocked into things, made every movement she made slower, and because of it’s gigantic proportions, it’d been a while since she’d seen her own feet.
Yes, Temari hated her belly.
She would sit exhausted on the couch, annoyed that just walking to the kitchen and making herslef breakfast took so much energy out of her. Shikamaru always offered to make her breakfast (in fact, he offered to make her all meals), but she always refused, irked that she couldn’t even pull off such a simple action without getting excessively tired. Shikamaru would always sit beside her, contemplating something or another, he usually shared if she wasn’t in too foul of a mood.
Then she would feel a jolt inside of her. A punch or a kick — some sort of jab in her tummy. No matter how often it occurred every time she felt the hit, she jumped up in shock. She would draw her hands to her belly and feel the fight inside of her. The baby would be a strong one, she would think. Also, due to the child’s incessant kicks, it was apparent it did not take after the usual Nara apathy. It was this that made her believe the creature inside of her was a girl. After all, male Naras were conceited lethargic geniuses. Upon discovering she was pregnant with Shikamaru’s child, she traced his family lineage back as far as possible to find what traits her child might inherit; this journey only served to inform her that the males in his clan were all lazy chauvinists too smart for their own good, and the females never inherited the kekkai genkai. This information did nothing new to her outlook. She still couldn’t stomach the idea of accepting the creature let alone trying to decide if she wanted a girl or a boy.
She grew more certain each day that passed that it was a girl.
She still never decided if she considered that a good thing or bad thing.
Whenever she felt the kicks in her enormous belly, she would motion the movement within her to Shikamaru. The lazy man would press his hand (or his ear) gently on her belly. The warmth of his body always tickled her and stirred her to the bone, and even years later when she was an old woman, she’d remember with striking clarity how the kicks grew more pronounced when he touched her. It was as if the creature inside her noted his presence and demanded to get out.
A charming and honest smile always graced his face when he felt the creature within her stir.
Temari never told him that the child tended to react more strongly when he touched her. She was sure he would’ve like to know. In fact, she was sure that knowledge would make him feel happier, but in those days Temari was selfish, and the child only served as a hated object impeding her from everyday activities. She was suffering, and if she could withhold a precious bit of information from Shikamaru, then she felt her suffering was at least somewhat paralleled by the other causative factor of her pathetic state.
Regardless of all her bitter thoughts, Temari couldn’t explain the warmth those moments brought. She couldn’t explain how she could hate her belly and the child within it with every fiber of her being, but love it at the same time. Sometimes, she thought, maybe it was a good thing she got pregnant.
Only sometimes.
xXxXx
Temari debated over the idea of giving her child up for adoption.
She thought over it long and hard, and had yet to come up with a reasonable decision. She didn’t want the baby. She knew she didn’t want to raise a child. She wasn’t fit to, and she wasn’t wanting to learn how to become fit to either. Babies were for soft tender civilians — not for women like her.
xXxXx
“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! OH, GOD, NARA! ONCE THIS IS OVER I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE! I’LL SHOVE A FUCKING WATERMELON DOWN YOUR THROAT AND PULL IT OUT OF YOUR END! SEE IF YOU LIKE THIS CR—OH DAMN!” Temari screamed loudly.
Beside her, Shikamaru winced periodically as her grip on his hand tightened with each wave of pain. He didn’t complain, and he didn’t try to pull away; he didn’t voice his pain, and he didn’t say anything about calming down to her.
Unlike the idiotic nurse.
Temari savored ideas of snapping the skinny twits neck once this was over. How could she calm down? She was pushing the largest friggin’ head out of a pathetically small hole. This type of action shouldn’t even be possible!
Shikamaru just knelt by her bedside, allowing her to crush his hand to what she later discovered was so incredibly forceful she dislocated two fingers and broke his thumb. The lazy man, in contrast to the nurse’s pleas, told her to scream and swear to her hearts content every time th damn nurse tried to get her to calm down. She bit his head off quite a lot during her rants. She insulted him, and she was also certain spilled quite a few hurtful and embarrassing comments (that she later admitted to being mostly false) to him at a such a loud tremor that the people waiting outside (including her brothers, his teammates, and most of the 12 young Konoha shinobi whom she’d gone against in her first shot at the Chuunin exam) could hear every single word and related every word to any other shinobi that knew either or both of them. Shikamaru never called her out on it, and never told her to shut up.
If Temari weren’t in so much pain, she would’ve appreciated what Shikamaru was doing, but as it was, she felt like she was dying and was in no mood to so such a thing.
In that instant as she lay giving birth she gained a newfound respect toward all mothers. Mothers were the strongest and craziest creatures on earth. Especially those who had more than one child. Giving birth hurt more than any injury she’d ever sustained on the field — and she’d sustained quite a few. She’d almost died once and this still hurt more than that did.
That child had better damn well be special for all this pain it was causing her.
xXxXx
“TWINS!” Temari screamed frantically through her pain; although,between her yells, the child’s cries, the nurse’s frantic commands, the doctor’s snap that everyone should shut up, and Shikamaru’s exclamations of confusion to the doctor, it was hard to distinguish what anyone was really saying. Later, people weren’t even aware she had said anything at all when the doctor declared there was still another child. Everyone remembered her as having taken the news rather quietly and determinedly.
In reality, she had probably been the loudest one.
She had thought she had finished laboring when she heard the cries of the child. She had thought the torture was over, but nooo, the doctor went off and proclaimed she had another fucking baby in her uterus.
No wonder her belly had been gigantic.
xXxXx
After she had calmed down enough (with some help from medication supplied by the doctor) Shikamaru had placed one of the children in her arms. A soft bellied boy with russet skin and Shikamaru’s dark eyes. Temari gasped audibly as the chubby boy turned in her arms. His slanted eyes stared up at her lazily and the boy seemed to yawn. Tufts of blond hair were visible at the top of his head. Temari was unsure as to what to do with the creature in her arms. It was just a baby, and it was so tiny. What did one do with them?
Gently, Shikamaru shifted the bundled package in his hands (she assumed it was the other child) to one arm and with his free hand he pushed her arms gently so her arms swayed rocking the staring boy to and fro tenderly.
Temari continued the rocking after Shikamaru’s hands had retreated back to the other child.
The little boy smiled widely and turned to his side cradling into the nook of her arms.
It wasn’t so hard she thought.
Just move him here and there.
She found her lips tug up into a happy grin. He was lovely.
xXxXx
The girl was more like Temari. She had been born first and come out crying like a banshee. The boy had come out without a noise; so quietly in fact, that they had all feared the boy was dead. But he had merely just come out asleep.
The twins, seemed to have inherited their mother’s desire for individuality. On top of seeming to have two strikingly different personalities, they had very different appearances. The doctor said they were fraternal twins. Temari didn’t really care what they were, so long as they didn’t suddenly break. Having held them in her hands once, she was afraid the little things would break at once, and she didn’t want them to break.
She wanted them to be whole living happily.
The girl had dark brown hair, fair skin, and dark green eyes that reminded Temari fairly of her own. Upon holding the girl in her hands Temari knew instantly she had been the one kicking and punching. The girl squirmed in her hands and bit and kicked angrily. But when placed next to her quiet brother, she seemed to calm considerably. Just like when the boy was placed next to the girl he seemed to perk up instantly.
They were lovely little things.
The more time she spent looking at him, the less she could imagine giving them away. They were her and they were Shikamaru and the thought of putting that up for adoption felt as if she were rejecting a peice of herself. She and Shikamaru had made them.
Besides, it’s not like she could trust a stranger to understand the odd children and care for them.
Maybe she wouldn’t do such a good job either, but those kids were hers, and if it killed her she would learn.
It couldn’t be harder than being a kunoichi, right?
xXxXx
Shikamaru was baffled when he first held the boy. Unlike the girl, who seemed to automatically shut up when the noisy bundle was placed in his hands, the mystifyingly quiet boy turned his dark beady eyes upon him and let out the loudest scream Shikamaru had ever head. He was even confident the yell surpassed Temari’s loudest one. The boy would also start crying and kicking furiously.
Shikamaru was so startled by the reaction he nearly dropped the boy. He rocked him, talked to him, coddled him, and hushed him; Shikamaru did everything he could to calm the boy down, but like his mother, the child refused to be pacified. When Shikamaru’s confusion grew to a state so profound he didn’t know what to do with the child, he passed the boy into his mother’s hands (since Temari was still seemingly yelling her head off and being tested for possible complications). As soon as the boy left his arms, it ceased making any noise whatsoever.
This frustrated Shikamaru so much that he took the boy right back out of his mothers hands, despite Yoshino’s fervent protests, as if such an action would erase the child’s previous inquietude. Just like before, as soon as his hands held the russet skinned boy, he began making an obscenely loud ruckus.
Yoshino took the boy back a frustrated frown on her lips and muttered that he simply did not know how to care for a child. She further prattled that she felt sorry for the children, as they were doomed to have two parents who knew not how to take care of a child. Yoshino even made vague assurances that she would spening a lot of time at his home caring for the twins.
Shikamaru was far too disturbed with the boy’s reaction to protest or defend himself.
Although, it didn’t escape his notion to defend Temari.
Somehow he never failed to do that particular thing.
xXxXx
Despite Temari’s silence about the entire affair, Shikamaru was more than aware that Temari had been contemplating giving the children up for adoption. He was also aware, though everyone he knew would insist he did not know, that Temari had almost had an abortion.
He was aware that the blond desert kunoichi had stood outside a clinic, palms sweaty and heart racing. He was aware she had made an appointment. He was aware she had even stepped inside the building.
He was also aware that she had ran out shortly after entering stopping at the Kazekage building furiously demanding to see the Kazekage.
Temari had been crying and screaming and ranting nonsensical statements when she did so; the poor receptionist was always frightened of Temari, and Temari in that particular state had driven the receptionist so mad with terror, that she was perfectly willing to interrupt the Kazekage’s important meeting with the Kage of the lightning village to declare that his elder sister was having a psychotic episode.
It was then that a select few of people managed to see the Kazekage explode. It wasn’t for the matter that his sister had ‘besmirched’ the family name by dallying about and becoming impregnated by a man without being married like most people suspected; it wasn’t because he was enraged at the thought of a man using his sister so without any commitment or at the very least decent protection on his part like Kankurou was; it wasn’t because Temari had nearly ended a child’s life like some avid protectors of human life would proclaim; and it most definitely wasn’t because Temari had interrupted an important meeting like the council was. In fact, Gaara of the desert lost his temper because and only because when he questioned his sister about the entire event and the implications it was sure to bring, Temari asserted that she did not want Shikamaru to know anything about the child.
To this day, Temari is still at odds as to why Gaara reacted so strongly to what was possibly the only demand she had her heart set firmly upon.
Only Shikamaru and possibly Kankurou know why Gaara lost his temper so horribly that day, and neither of them will ever repeat it to another human being.
xXxXx
Temari would watch Shikamaru as surreptitiously as she could during the first days of the twins’ lives. She
would trace his movements and strain to hear his every word, curious as to how attached and serious he was about the children. The first thing she noticed was Shikamaru’s obvious aggravation with the boy. The second thing she noticed, is he didn’t give up like she (and everyone else) expected him to do. In fact, he would hold the boy as often as possible, talk to the boy frequently, and Ino swore she saw the lazy man reading a book on caring for a young boy whenever he wasn’t in the hospital. It’s not like he neglected the girl either. He placed tender care and affection upon both the children. It was evident in his every movement and tender word that he really loved the young children.
Temari’s heart twisted painfully when she saw him holding the children.
She would turn her head and stare at her hands, upset and confused at his actions. Temari had decided determinedly to keep the children, but she also intended to go back to Suna. Living in Konoha was not for her. Even if she stayed here her children would have a decent father, she simply could not stay in Konoha.
Deep down she was afraid of telling him, because she thought it might hurt her more than she was ready for.
xXxXx
If anyone asked her if she loved Shikamaru she would lie. She would shake her head furiously and exlaim in the most indignant tone that she could not love that man. How could she?
If anyone asked Shikamaru if he loved her he would smile. If you were pushy enough as most Konoha shinobi were, he would eventually open his mouth and tell you that he did. How could he not?
If anyone asked any of their friends or family how they thought the entire debacle would end, mostly all of them would respond in the same way. Some would scoff, some would spittle, some would giggle, some would chortle, some would roll their eyes, but most of them would say those two could only end up together. Who knew how or when, but they would.
xXxXx
When she was healthy enough to leave the hospital, she took her children and informed Shikamaru she would be leaving.
He shrugged and said he’d figured she would.
Temari couldn’t really explain how disappointed she felt at the deliverance of such news. Somehow she’d hoped he would’ve fuaght hard for the twins (if not for her like she hoped) but apparently that wasn’t the case. Maybe he really didn’t care for them so much.
xXxXx
Temari was shocked to find Shikamaru in Suna three days later.
He’d forgotten to mention to her that he would be following her back to Suna.
“Leave.” She demanded, though she was grateful he’d shown up.
“No.” He leveled his eyes at her. “You damn well better get used to me, Temari, because I’m not leaving.”
“Oh,” she seethed, “and why not?”
“Because I’m not letting the three people I really love not be in my life.”
Temari hesitated. She stared resolutely at the ground before grumbling that he could stay. Shikamaru smiled softly at her and wrapped his large arms around her. His warmth was so comforting and safe.
Temari hadn’t felt safe in ages.
It was good, her children would be safe, with him, with her.
Parenthood wouldn’t be so bad, she mused, especially if it was with him.
Temari gave her boyfriend a suspicious look as she took the bag from his hands. Shikamaru just gave her a tiny self-satisfied smirk.
Inwardly Temari braced herself; there was a very good change, judging from the cocky gleam in his eye, that she would not like what was inside the bag one bit. She opened the shopping bag with trepidation.
Not a reply from Shikamaru.
Ugh. It really boded ill if he didn’t even tease her for her 
apprehension in opening a stupid shopping bag. She looked inside.
There settled at the bottom was something very, very light blue, and very, very lacy. ”Nara, what is this?”
The smirk in his lips grew more evident. “Lingerie.”
The bag fell from her hands. “You’re joking right?”
“No joke.” He replied in all seriousness.
Warily, she picked the bag up again, and removed the contents. It was strappy, and lacy, and frilly, and oh-so girly. She suspected it to be something Ino might swoon over. Of course, if it weren’t in blue. Ino despised blue.
Temari felt her cheeks inflame as she looked over the article. There was no way in hell she would put this stupidity on. For goodness sakes’ she’d look ridiculous! She held the garment away from herself and in Shikamaru’s direction. She shook her head vehemently, hoping that her blush wasn’t as obviously red as she suspected it to be. “Hell, no.”
He tipped his head to the side, and looked at her from the corner of his eye. Temari swallowed in nervousness. Shikamaru’s eyes were gleaming like they did when he knew he was about to win a battle. “You owe me.” He said clearly.
Temari’s blush darkened. “I–That’s–I didn’t think you’d try to settle it with something like this!”
“Backing out are we?”
“I…You-ugh! Pick anything else!”‘
“So anything else is fair game?” ”As long as it doesn’t involve silly underwear.”
Shikamaru’s lips quirked up into a smile. He opened his mouth to speak.
“AH! Wait!” Temari spat out before the talked. She was dealing with a genius; he’d probably pick something even worse than this. Brilliant! Why did she have to fall in love with a genius? The problem with his high intellect being, any restriction she could give him, his superior mind would probably find a way around. “Oh, damn.” She growled.
Shikamaru chuckled. “So? Which one? Will you do this, or do I pick another?”
“Why can’t you just be a greedy jerk and ask for money?” She grumbled.
“You wouldn’t be dating me if I were.” He pointed out.
Temari looked hopelessly at the lacy, flimsy, lame-excuse-for-clothing. This was absolutely ridiculous. “Can’t I at least have it in black, or-or purple?” She whined.
He shook his head smiling. “Nope. Now stop being troublesome and put it on.”
She took the clothing into the bathroom, scowling the entire way. “Remind me never to ask you for a favor and promise to pay you back.” She could hear the mirth in Shikamaru’s reply. “I’ll probably forget.”
She scoffed. “How convenient.”
