Belong

Part 4: Grew

Days flew by like hours, at least for Temari they did. For Shikamaru they were more like torturous, tedious months. He woke up, a little earlier than usual, as it would seem being Temari's escort made him get accustomed to waking up early  because she would get up earlier than he does. The only time he woke before her was the first day, after she got up earlier than him. She had told him she did so because of the work load.

He also stopped setting the alarm, because he woke up earlier today he was thankful. So he laid in his warm blankets, starring at the ceiling with his hands under his head knowing Temari wasn't up yet. He remembered today is The Chunin Exams. He hmph'd at the thought and he remembered when Temari asked him why he forfeited and soon he remembered The Chunin Exams in their time.

Undoubtedly the greatest matches were Lee vs Gaara in the Preliminaries and Naruto vs Neji. Even Sasuke vs Gaara was interesting even though it was interrupted. But before that it was him against Temari. He would've forfeited earlier but he couldn't bring himself to losing to a girl.

After a while of laying in the bed due to waking  up earlier than usual he woke up as it was time to get up. He did his bed and the rest of his morning routine and waited for Temari. The village was going to get compact. And this could be the last day as Temari's 'escort'. He took a deep breathe, relieved.

The door opened and the blonde emerged.

"How long have you been out here?" Temari asks

"Morning to you too" He responds "It wouldn't be so bad if you practiced the greeting" He continues, with his signature, charming smile

Temari remained silent and half glared

"Sorry. Anyway, I was just waiting for you"

They both took off, headed to Hokage's Office

"I thought you'd be at least excited to finally go home"

"I am. Just that this place was kind of starting to grow on me"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You must be glad I'll be out of your hair soon" She smiles a little

"You're not far off" He responds, jokingly

Two familiar figures came their way, Shikamaru's two teammates and dearest friends, Ino and Choji.

"Shikamaru!" Choji greets Shikamaru excitedly and as usual his mouth stuffed with food

"Hey. Where are you guys headed?" Shikamaru

"To Asuma sensei." Ino responds and immediately averts her eyes to the lady standing beside Shikamaru "Oh, hey, Temari" She says politely

"Hey"

"Shikamaru hasn't been a 'draag' for you, has he?" Ino asks jokingly

"What does that mean?" Shikamaru asks, obviously offended

"Come on, sometimes it gets annoying when you say 'What a drag'" She confesses

"I don't sound like that" Shikamaru defends

Ino giggles "You know, you guys look great together" She points out

"What?" Temari responds, eyes slightly widened

"What're you talking about?" Shikamaru asks

"I'm just saying. If you two were a couple, you wouldn't look so bad. Anyway, we should get going on"

"Bye, Shikamaru" Choji says and at the same binging on his chips.

Temari and Shikamaru continued their way to Lady Tsunade's office, both in silence until they finally arrived.

"Good job prepping the Chunin Exams, Temari" Lady Tsunade says

"Thank you" Temari responds humbly

"And thank you too Shikamaru. Well then, looks like your work in the Leaf is done, so you may return to home"

"Thank you, Lady Hokage"

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Unravel-Ken: I apologize for the VERY short chapter, there is a reason for it although I can't tell.... Also I apologize for those of you who were reading "What the heart wants". My phone(-_-) has screen problems(been meaning to fix those) so I accidentally erased the whole thing, I'm deeply sorry.