ShikaTema : Waiting For You

Chapter 23: Moving In

Temari had the biggest smile plastered on her face. It was going to be a good day. Being in Konoha made her feel great. Especially now that she had a place she could make her own. She flung her front door wide open with high energy, and was met with the cool morning breeze that washed over her face.

Her happy eyes were met with droopy ones. He had a slumped posture and his one free hand and other casted hand scavenged for warmth within his pant pockets. The boy yawned and shivered at the same time with the breeze she was enjoying. He cringed faintly at the terrible feeling of the crisp morning pelting his skin.

"Good morning.", she chirped to the man who was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Morning.", he muttered, "Why did I say we should do this early in the morning again?", He released his hands from his pockets to stretch them over his head in an effort to wake himself up.

Temari snickered at the always tired boy, "Who knows what goes through that pineapple head of yours. You were probably drugged up.", she stepped to the side to let the cold boy into her warm apartment, "So tell me your plan, Nara. How are you going to help me move in if you have a broken hand?", Temari eyed him curiously when she remembered the hardened wrapping around his hand.

Shikamaru looked at his casted hand then shrugged effortlessly, "Let's find out. If not I'll keep your couch company and watch you struggle for the morning.", he smirked.

Temari lightly punched his shoulder with a glare, "Or I can send you to work early to get a head start while I unpack.", she threatened. She rolled out a scroll she had placed on her kitchen table that held all her stuff. She released the seal and her kitchen supplies appeared.

Shikamaru shuddered at the thought of going to work this early and decided to follow her actions, "I'd rather make myself useful here.", he said, as he grabbed some of her summoned kitchen utensils, putting them neatly in the drawers.

"Good.", she beamed.

"Where do you want this, troublesome?", Shikamaru huffed, holding a heavy box.

Temari kneeled on the kitchen counter, placing plates up high in a cabinet, "If you could read, you'd see it says bedroom.", she retorted without lifting her gaze from her task.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her remark and headed down the hall to her bedroom. He released the heavy box onto her bed then opened it. The first thing he saw was a standard Genin picture. He lifted it gently out of the box and smiled at the young, but older than him, Temari. He remembered that Temari vividly. The strong, unbreakable, easy to anger girl who had a name for herself at age 15. Funny how things never changed. Still the snarky, sarcastic, cocky woman he knew too well. Yet, even with the seriousness of the times back then, she had a small smirk in the photo, while her brothers held a straight face. He could tell how she wished things were different back then. He knew how great of a bond the siblings had now and he knew she wished that it had always been like that.

He placed the picture next to her bedside table and shifted it slightly, angling it towards the bed. He looked at it one last time. He remembered his thoughts of her back then. He remembered how irritated he would get around her. How demanding she was and how he would try to avoid her. How she would always find him at his napping spots and bug him. How she would constantly nag his ear off when he first became her escort.

His past self would be arguing with his future self's actions if he knew it would come to this. 'That troublesome woman?! You chose her? What happened to the plan? What a drag.', he could hear his past self-complain in his head and couldn't help but to laugh. Everything was always a drag back then, but now he found himself enjoying his duties, enjoying making the most of his days, enjoying doing more than being lazy, and found himself going out of his own way for most things. Most of all, he started to enjoy her. The more he grew and kept meeting her at those tall gates of his own village, the more he watched her change. Her harsh eyes softened. They even gleamed sometimes when she would first make eye contact with him.