Fate or Not?

Chapter 5

It was Monday morning, Temari just finished brushing her hair and stared looking at her clothes. It's not like she had many options considering she didn't bring many. She decided to go in her work uniform, but she put make-up on. She wanted to look nice. It was two days since that night and the first time seeing him after. She wanted to dress up. It was strange because she never considered herself as girly girl or to be type of girl interested in her looks. She always wanted to look presentable but nothing more. It wasn't her style. In her opinion it was a waste of time, but she slowly started to realize why. She never understood why would other girls spend so much energy and time in dressing up for missions or work. Why if it would get ruined? Now everything has changed for her, she now has someone to doll up for.

All of this fuss, yet Temari was still unsure of the feelings she has for Shikamaru. This was something she never experienced before. She was sure in one thing and that she care not only for him, but for his opinion also. I always cared of what he thinks, but now the subject is also....me....Ahhh. She finished getting ready and went to work.

When she finally arrived she was overwhelmed with the crowd. There were people everywhere. She had hard time squeezing between individuals and let out a big breath when she managed to come to her door. She entered the office and immediately saw the enormous pile of papers on her desk. The first thing she did was sorting documents by priority and color-coding everything. As the end result on her desk were three, still big piles, one red which indicated the most important things that had to be taken care of the same day. Then there were yellow and green piles for papers that can wait. After a while she almost finished the red pile completely. She grabbed the small pile of scrolls that she didn't know what to do with and decided to ask someone for help. Her instinct told her to go across the hall and she realized it was perfect. She could go to see him and she had an excuse. Perfect, indeed. When she closed the door and turned to direction of his office, gentle touch on her shoulder made her turn her head around. The man she saw was definitely not who she expected.

"Shino? What are you doing here?" The young man before her looked really uneasy, almost nervous and he had a pretty big bouquet in his hands.

"Oh. Hi! Yea I am here to see you.... And these are for you actually. Here" This surprised her. First he acted weird on Saturday, well weirder than usual, and now he was visiting her at work and bringing her flowers. The first thing she could ascribe to alcohol, but this? Oh my god! Did she give him the wrong impression the other night?! This is not good!

"Oh.. thank you! I guess... And what are these for?"

"It's you first day at work, I just wanted to welcome you....an"

Shit, I screwed up! "Well, this is really nice of you. You shouldn't have..."

"You didn't let me finish... And if you don't like them I guess I can take them back" Slight blush suddenly covered his whole face, and it wasn't good sign in Temari's book. "But I just wanted to tell you" The sudden change in his appearance and voice occurred the second he laid his eyes back on her. And this drew Temari's attention...

***

It's half past 5 already? I must've lost track of time doing all this work... I should go and checkup on her. Shikamaru opened door of his office but the sight before him took him by surprise. There were Temari and Shino and the flowers in her hand.... And they were smiling.

"Do you want to grab something to eat? I can pick you up when you're done with work..." Shino asked her. Shikamaru quickly shook the shock from his face and stared walking very aggressively pass them.

Temari saw him "Hey, Shika-" But his walk was determined and he almost on purpose graze Shino's shoulder in the process. "-maru..." He walked pass them like they didn't exist. "How rude!"