Daffodil
Velutlunas
Written for the Naruto Wishlist Challenge on LJ. Recipient: xlade.
I think I will continue this later, or write these two again with some dirty smut. For that would be fun!
"If I didn't still have to beat you at Shougi, you know I would never be doing this." Temari panted, fan splayed and pierced deep in the ground in front of a swath of destruction. She'd been using it for years, but the tingle of sweet pleasure she felt at the sight of such massive chaos never stopped leaving her breathless. She pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes where it had broken free of her wraps. She turned to eye where Shikamaru was crumpled at the base of a tree, cradling a broken arm and nursing a slight bored smile.
"You won't beat me at Shougi." Shikamaru drawled and Temari resisted the urge to make a rude gesture, only barely, and settled for closing her fan with a loud snap.
"I will." Temari replied before hunkering down with no thought to where her short skirt was hanging. Shikamaru would never notice anyway. She'd tried.
Shikamaru didn't even bother replying and just bit into his bottom lip before pushing his wrist between his knees and setting the break with a pornographic groan and a sickening snap of bone. He flopped back on the ground and took several deep breaths, eyes going dark and faraway as Temari tried not to notice the way his shirt was riding up his flat stomach. Unlike him, she always noticed.
"Where are Chouji and the Blonde?" Temari refused to refer to Ino as anything other than the epitaph. Mostly because Temari didn't believe she deserved recognition. She turned her head toward the forest where she could almost hear Ino shrieking in the distance- away from the riveting sight of tan belly and the trail of dark hair leading lower into loose pants. Shikamaru couldn't be bothered to find any in his size. Temari usually bought them for him. Shikamaru liked that she gave practical gifts.
There was a soft rustle of black hair against broken bark and she knew Shikamaru was looking with her. She could picture the way his brow was furrowed slightly in worry. He would call it consternation but she knew better. "Umm."
"They're fine." Temari said airily, waving her hand to shoo away the strange churn in her stomach when he seemed to actually give a shit about something. Especially if it wasn't her. Shikamaru knew she could take care of herself so he didn't bother to worry about her.
"You think?" Shikamaru asked; his voice low and gravelly in a way that she desperately wanted to hear closer to her ear. He smelled like pine trees and soap. She liked that. She liked that more than she wanted to admit to anyone other than herself- sometimes- in the mirror.
Temari put on her best game face, mouth stretching into a wide smile as she winked. "I know it."
Shikamaru nodded. "I'm going to just lay here-"
"And be good for nothing." Temari finished.
She barely caught the slight glare he directed at the sky. He'd always been oddly passive aggressive. "I could have handled her."
Temari snorted. "Right. Like you handled the last four."
Shikamaru sighed heavily. "I would have. You're just faster than me." He shrugged lightly, fingers of his good hand moving to take a quick stock of his injuries. Temari would have done it for him, but she didn't trust herself anymore.
"Sexier too." Temari grinned, reaching to lean her fan against the tree and settle back against it. She'd spent a lot of time just like this. Well, maybe minus all the bleeding and bruising and after fight adrenaline high that made her hyper aware of just how close Shikamaru's curled fingers were to the bare part of her thigh. But, in general, sitting next to the young man while he lay prone and gorgeous and completely oblivious.
Shikamaru's mouth quirked slightly as his dark eyes flickered toward her and took a quick stock of her disheveled appearance. She'd stopped trying to smooth back her hair or wipe away the blood of an enemy. That was about the time she'd given up hope of him ever seeing her as anything other than a fellow Shinobi; of him seeing her as a girl.
She'd tried to explain to him one night over several glasses of sake and those annoying cigarettes he'd picked up from Asuma that she did, in fact, have tits. Shikamaru had laughed at her, that slow lazy chuckle of his that Temari could almost taste. His face had been flushed and his hair was down from that damned pony tail that made him resemble a pineapple. She'd wanted to reach forward, sake making her bold- well, bolder- and fist her fingers into that silky dark hair and prove to him she was a girl.
She was always brave in battle, but Shikamaru scared her. She'd never handled rejection well; usually with the decimation of a local forest or a sandstorm that scoured her skin raw.
"If raw destructive power could be considered sexy, then yes, I concede defeat." Shikamaru stated, and Temari looked away quickly as he wetted his lips before she could focus entirely on that dart of pink tongue.
Temari grinned, pulling her heels closer and wrapping her arms around her knees. She looked out at the wreckage. "It is sexy." She said breathily, leaning forward slightly to rest her cheek against her arms and look down at him. She could never look away for long. Sometimes, she was convinced his lazy attitude made a vortex of sight that drew the eye unwittingly. Later, she had just sighed and realized she wanted him. Temari had always been slow to recognize the difference between competition and hormones.
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows and tilted the right side of his mouth at her. "You don't believe me?" She asked, already knowing that's what he meant.
"I'll take your word for it." Shikamaru sighed, touching a bruise forming on his right temple. He frowned slightly and went limp again and Temari resisted the urge to smack him.
"I'll have you know that I am considered very sexy in my village." Temari grumbled, rubbing at the seam of her mesh leggings. She liked things gritty, it reminded her of home.
"You?" Shikamaru scoffed and this time Temari didn't resist the urge. "Ow."
"You deserved it." Temari stated, rubbing at her fingers. Shikamaru had always been a bit too skinny.
Shikamaru groaned lightly and squirmed his way to a sitting position and glowered momentarily. His expressions were always fleeting, like it took too much effort to hold them under his skin. He reached to tug his short pants down a bit further over his shins, long tan fingers brushing at bits of dirt and bark. "Ino is considered sexy back home."
Temari scowled. "The Blonde?"
"Ino." Shikamaru corrected her.
"Right, the Blonde." Temari stated, sniffing lightly.
"You're blonde." Shikamaru pointed out, reaching to tug at a fly away strand of her hair.
Temari ducked her head away before she could give in to the need to turn in to the touch. "I'm not stupid though."
"Still haven't beaten me at Shougi."
"Well, you're a genius." Temari muttered.
"That's right. Genius." Shikamaru said, shifting on the ground to lean against the tree.
"That needs me to come save his ass all the time." Temari said, reaching to poke him in the ribs.
"That's just because I don't like fighting girls." Shikamaru grumbled, batting her fingers away absently with his good hand.
"You fight me all the time." Temari said with a frown.
"Well, that's because you have to come save me- as you put it. So you're the best one to train against. It's only logic." Shikamaru stated blandly.
"Not because I'm a girl?" Temari asked, tilting her head to skewer him with a blue gaze.
Shikamaru snorted. "You're not a girl." He said; his voice filled with a tone Temari had come to hate.
"Right." Temari said, curling back to herself slightly. "I have tits, but I'm not a girl." She couldn't hide the shades of bitter and pushed her nose into her forearm to muffle its bite.
"You have tits?" Shikamaru asked, feigning surprise.
Temari wanted to bang her head against something very hard for a very long time. "Last time I checked."
"Wow." Shikamaru said, mouth moueing in disbelief and a tinge of fake respect.
"Shut up you." Temari grumbled.
Shikamaru grinned and reached to tug on the hem of her short skirt. "I always wondered why you wore this."
"You are..." Temari huffed a breath and bit at her lip, biting back the words visibly.
Shikamaru just tilted his head as if waiting patiently for a blow. She hated that she adored the tilt of his chin. She hated that she wanted to know what that dark skin tasted like. She loathed that she wanted to push her nose just past his ear and smell his hair. "I am?"
"Never mind." Temari blustered out, pulling her hands back to eye her cuticles critically.
"That's what I thought." Shikamaru huffed, plopping back against the tree with a satisfied smirk that Temari didn't want to admit looked edible.
There was a long pause. Temari was sure there were breezes filled with leaves and butterflies doing whatever it was they did when time was passing. She was sure the clouds were moving in the sky and that somewhere her opponent was just a little bit further to really dead. She was sure that off in the background Chouji was following Ino around like a lost puppy and that the Blonde was terribly lost. She was sure there was a half smoked cigarette almost stubbed out on the ground around a littered semi circle of bodies wherever Asuma was at the moment. She was sure that she shouldn't know as much about the way Shikamaru's team worked. She was sure that she shouldn't be so aware of how many breaths he'd taken or the fact that he'd wiggled those damnably long boned toes four times. She was tired of counting moments and baited breaths in his presence. "Are we getting some sake?" She asked after awhile, tired of silence.
"Don't we always after you save my life?" Shikamaru replied, eyes opening. Temari was always amazed how he seemed to slip in and out of consciousness.
"Except when we were too young that one time." Temari replied.
"Oh, right. You're better at remembering than me." Shikamaru muttered.
"That's because I actually pay attention." Temari snapped, pushing up to stand and shaking her legs out. They always tensed when she sat for too long.
"Right. That too." Shikamaru agreed, holding out a hand.
Temari heaved him to his feet easily and looked anywhere but up. She didn't want to see how he seemed to be just the right size compared to her, like if she took one step forward she would be just under eye to eye. That she'd be only a head tilt from kissing him. Temari didn't think about outcomes she'd already given up on. Except that she did. All the time. When he was right there. And breathing on her hair and smelling like nothing that reminded her of home. Smelling like trees and wind and a soap that smelled like grass and limes.
"My arm hurts." Shikamaru complained in that flat monotone.
"Wuss." Temari replied instantly.
"It does..." Shikamaru muttered, moving to cradle the bruised reset limb against his chest.
"Suck it up." Temari grinned. "I can make you a sling. Then maybe when you get back the Blonde will make a big fuss."
She hadn't really meant for that to sound as biting as it did and looked straight ahead. She didn't see Shikamaru give her a strange look.
"Ino." Shikamaru corrected.
"That's what I said. The Blonde." Temari replied just as quickly.
The Blonde had never been anything but that to Temari. She was sickly thin and had a giggly laugh that made milk curdle. Temari wasn't sure exactly what it was about her that made her teeth grind and gave her an instant headache. She just knew that the Blonde would always be just that: Blonde. She hated the way the other girl treated Shikamaru like he was less than anything when he'd lead the team from one mishap to another- usually sacrificing a bone to the god of breakage for their benefit. She didn't understand how a god damn daffodil was supposed to make the fact that Shikamaru nearly died all the time go away.
"I hate daffodils." Temari blurted.
"O-kay." Shikamaru replied and Temari hated how he could manage to sound patronizing and completely thrown by her tangent in two syllables.
"I do." She stated again, pushing her palms against her hips to glower down at the ground.
"It's not like they're violent." Shikamaru stated reasonably.
"I really hate when you talk to me like I'm deranged." Temari stated, fingers digging divots into the fabric of her tunic.
Shikamaru came to stand in front of her again. "I really have no safe reply to this, do I?"
Temari hated when he was right. "No, you don't. So just agree with me."
"Daffodils have never done me harm." Shikamaru stated with a soft shrug of shoulders that pushed the Jounin vest against the bottom of his chin. Temari was quite positive that shouldn't be sexy.
"You can't can you?" Temari asked, throwing her hands in the air.
"Uhhh..." Shikamaru looked confused.
"Agree with me. You can't can you?"
"Temari?" Shikamaru said her name so that she could almost reach out and snag it syllable by syllable from his mouth. "Is this a trick question?"
"No. I hate daffodils. You should say: Yes, daffodils are evil and the bane of my existence." Temari stated equably.
"But they aren't." Shikamaru had this infuriating way of not getting the point.
"They should be." Temari reasoned.
"Am I missing something here? It's just a flower."
"I-. It! You! Argh. Never mind." Temari spluttered.
Shikamaru thinned his lips and stared at her. "You are definitely not quite right in the head."
"Shut up." Temari muttered, taking a quick step back so she could shoulder past him.
"Temari. It's a flower. What could you possibly have against a flower. Unless it's your usual penchant for destroying wildlife." Shikamaru added the last under his breath like he was taking notes.
"Where am I from?" Temari asked, turning quickly to look at Shikamaru with a deep frown masking the weird feelings roiling in her stomach.
"Hidden Sand." Shikamaru said, backing away from the question and her.
"Right." Temari sniped, managing to clip the word almost in half with her teeth.
Shikamaru went still and Temari knew he was thinking, fingers twitching slightly as the wind played with the ends of his hair pointing outward from his ponytail. "Not getting the connection." He said finally with a shrug.
"We don't have those damn flowers in Sand." Temari stated dryly.
Shikamaru tilted his head in confusion. "Well, that's sort of a given isn't it? So it would make more sense if you liked them. Novelty and all that."
Temari counted to five. Then to ten. "I don't like them because I can't send you them when you do something stupid like you did today and end up in the damn hospital and only the Blonde sends you flowers so you think about HER like she's really got tits and I just get relegated to playing Shougi and drinking sake and hoping that you might one day just trip and fall face first into my cleavage and make the miraculous discovery that ?Oh My God! She is a girl? and then I won't be sitting here waiting and saving you ass over and over again while all I get is a 'Hey, thanks for saving my ass,' instead of something that really feels like gratitude and a stale attempt at getting the chance to beat me at Shougi again." Temari blustered, hands waving around her face like the debris her fan kicked up. It was about three seconds before she realized what she'd said and clamped her hands over her mouth. "Oh shit."
"I don't think I've ever just said thanks for saving my ass." Shikamaru said quietly, rubbing along the side of his nose.
"I-I'm going to run away now." Temari said very quietly, backing up slowly.
"Really?" Shikamaru replied, taking a step forward and following her as she backed away.
"Yes. Definitely. Strategic retreat." Temari said quietly.
"Checkmate." Shikamaru stated with a grin and Temari nearly fell down when she felt the bark at her back.
"Wha-what?" Temari was sure at some point the entire situation had been a normal day.
"Checkmate." Shikamaru repeated, taking another step forward and Temari realized she was more than just a little trapped against the tree with Shikamaru standing so close.
"I don't lose." Temari replied, looking for a way out of her embarrassment, a way around the boy in front of her that had made her say things she'd always promised she'd never say aloud. Except when drunk. But that didn't count.
Shikamaru nodded like he was agreeing with her. "Except you do."
"I do?" Temari breathed, wide eyed and unsure. It was a terrible feeling.
A nod and she could smell him.
"Right. I do." Temari had never lost so gracefully as Shikamaru pinned her tight to the tree with only the heat of his body and the softness of his mouth.
"Time to shut up now." Shikamaru reminded her as his hand slipped along her jaw.
"Right."
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