Naruto No place I'd rather be

**A/N:** This is set sometime in the future after chapter 699. I love these kids. And I'm really happy so I'm writing embarrassing sappy things about them because I can't help myself.

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><p>"The Hokage insisted," he tells her by way of greeting, lips twitching upwards just slightly (she almost misses it, wouldn't have spotted it if not for the years of observation and exchanged glances).<p>

"This is ridiculous," Temari says, shaking her head as a puff of laughter escapes her. "Naruto sends his chief advisor to be my guide around Konoha? What is he playing at?"

Shikamaru gives her a lazy smile and shrugs, "He thinks he's being funny, wanna grab dinner?"

Temari laughs outright then, full and bright and beaming and Shikamaru couldn't look away if he tried.

"It's good to see you again, Temari." Her expression softens because she knows what he means is _I missed you_.

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><p>They're sat comfortably around a table piled with plates and half empty glasses three hours later when Temari nudges his foot under the table and Shikamaru startles like a deer to Temari's delight, kicking the table and bumping some sake onto the floor. Seeing him flustered is easily one of her top three favorite Shikamaru things, right up there with kicking his ass in a fight and that feeling she gets in the pit of her stomach when he looks at her (<em>really<em> looks at her), like he's about to...

Temari pushes that thought down. She's here with him for the first time in months. The war is over, the world is rebuilding, and everyone is slowing down and adjusting to this new brand of peaceful existence which seemed impossible during the war. Of course, they aren't laying their weapons down any time soon or abandoning their protocols but Temari knows the world has changed in a significant way. She wonders if she's changing with it, if her new found need to just relax in the presence of this man might be a symptom.

(Not that wanting to be around Shikamaru is anything especially _new_).

"What are you thinking right now?" He asks her then.

She glances up at him with a slight flush (maybe he's imagining it? maybe it's just the sake?)

But Temari is looking up at him through her eyelashes. "I'm really happy right now," she says with a genuine smile. And Shikamaru is so screwed. So very, deeply screwed for life.

Of course, he's known this in the back of his mind for quite some time, being a genius and all. He'd have to be a fool to have missed the embarrassing hold this woman has had over him for years.

"You're actually really drunk right now aren't you?" He decides to go with.

Temari makes a face at him, "absolutely not, I'm just enjoying myself. Is that a problem, Nara?"

"Not at all, I just think maybe we should get you home since you're kind of falling off your chair," He says with a smirk. Temari rolls her eyes but accepts his arm as he guides her out of the restaurant and into the cool streets of Konoha.

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><p>The sun has set and the autumn air casts a chill. Temari shivers a little and holds on tighter to Shikamaru's arm than is probably necessary. Leaning her entire body into his side is probably also not 100% strictly necessary but he's a good guide so he says nothing. It's all very professional.<p>

They stumble a little as they near sight of her Konoha apartment. More like Temari stumbles and nearly takes him down with her. Shikamaru sighs, _troublesome_.

"Come on woman, we're almost there. But I swear, if you fall over one more time I'm going to have to carry you."

Temari moves away from him for a moment and slows her step, allowing him to advance ahead of her a few paces. He hears her chuckle and turns his head just in time to see four blonde pig tails coming at him with alarming agility. Next thing he knows, she's on his back with her arms around his neck and his hands have instinctively moved to hold her comfortably in a piggyback. He doesn't have to look back at the woman to tell that she's smiling that wide grin of hers.

"_Tch_, who's the lazy one now?"

Temari makes an agreeable _mhmm_ sound into his ear and wow. Her entire body is flush against his back and her breath is really hot against his ear and Shikamaru has a brief moment of panic before he sighs again and starts walking.

_The things I endure for this troublesome woman_, he thinks.

It's oddly comforting though, having her here with him like this. The months between her last visit stretched on for what felt like ages. He's missed her terribly if he's being honest with himself. Seeing her smile at the gate this morning was easily the best thing he's seen in months. And having every inch of her pressed up against him is another thing entirely. _I'm turning into such a sap_, he chastises himself mentally.

Somehow they make it to the apartment all in one piece. Temari laughs at Shikamaru's flustered expression when she finally slides off his back and lets them in. _So he's not immune to me after all_, she thinks.

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><p>They play drunken shogi and Temari falls asleep on the table. Shikamaru wraps a blanket around her shoulders and tries to ease her up but she clings to him in her exhausted and still very much inebriated state and pulls him down with her onto the floor. Shikamaru smiles down at her as she blinks her eyes open. She pulls him down to her level, kisses the tip of his nose, and promptly passes out.<p>

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><p>When she wakes up the next morning, Shikamaru is still beside her, hair loose from the usual spiky ponytail. He's taken his vest off in the night and Temari has no shame in ogling him for a second or two. <em>He really is quite handsome<em>.

He blinks an eye open, already calculating scenarios in his head. She can practically hear him thinking. It's a little much for her hangover right now.

He gets up slowly and heads out of the room. Temari shifts, pulling the blanket with her. Her head is pounding and she's not ready for whatever freak out Shikamaru is having in his head so she sighs and cuddles back into her blanket fortress.

She counts four minutes. Shikamaru comes back with two steaming cups.

"You made me tea?" She peeks out from the blankets.

"_Mhm_, it'll help with that wicked hangover you gave yourself." His voice is low and a bit gravelly in the morning. It kind of does things to her. Temari takes the tea gratefully, their fingers brushing as she grasps the cup.

He's watching her with soft eyes and they sit in companionable silence for a time.

Eventually, Temari sets down her tea and shuffles closer to him, slumping against his shoulder. She's too tired to pretend she doesn't want closeness right now. He wraps and arm around her and she lets out a little sigh, burying her head in his neck.

"You're hogging all the blankets," he whispers close to her ear. She throws the blankets back and lets him in. He's so close now, all around her, enveloping her. They lie on the tatami and when he speaks again she feels the rumble in his chest.

"You are the most troublesome." He says. When she glances over her shoulder at him she notes that the tips of his ears are red.

Temari smiles because she knows what he means is

_I love you_.


End file.

Naruto, Friendship, Romance