"You have slept in the middle of work hours yesterday. As a punishment, you need to write down the names of all current genins of Konoha," said the Hokage, maintaining a cool facial expression towards the chuunin. Good thing the punishment was just like that. Shikamaru just hoped he wouldn't sleep in the middle of his work again.
"I understand, Hokage-sama," he replied, not really sure if he wanted to take the mission or not. Yet, since he was at fault, he had no choice but to do it.
Tsunade left the room, handing it over to Shikamaru. She left him there because he's going to start working in the same place. "Shikamaru-nii!" Called a kid with his two friends. "Do you need help? Konohamaru and company is here to help you!" He stated happily.
"Oh?" He looked at the three figures standing before him. "You three? Why are you guys here?"
"Going to help you, Shikamaru-nii! Because we heard you overslept together with Temari-nee," he explained.
The older one gulped. "...It's a drag but I gotta do this. I was at fault, anyway. You guys should just play outside and entertain the villagers. I can handle this one," he smiled at them.
Before Konohamaru could speak again, his original big brother appeared behind the door. "Really? So I got the right information, huh?" Said Naruto, giving Shikamaru a huge, malicious grin. "I knew you two were on a date! It happens whenever that lady visits here! You don't have to thank me, I just know I'm too brilliant!" The male praised himself.
"It's not like that!" Retaliated Shikamaru. "I just walked with her because I was assigned to be her escort while she's here. Stop jumping into conclusions."
"Eh," sighed Naruto in disappointment. "I thought I had it right. I've mistaken you and Sakura before, and I did it again," he recalled. "But, hey, I'm gonna ask you something and you gotta reply me honestly."
"You better hurry because I got a lot of things to do."
Konohamaru and his friends looked back and forth to Shikamaru and Naruto as they tried to grab the information being released by the two. Unfortunately, Konohamaru could understand every inch of this adult talk so he just sat there, listened to them with a smirk on his lips. 'Shikamaru-nii likes Temari-nee, huh? I got a plan in mind!' He turned to his 'subordinates' and motioned them to go after him.
"See you, Shikamaru-nii!" Said Moegi, running after the rather hyper Konohamaru.
"Leaving already?" Replied Shikamaru, but eventually just let them. Besides, he couldn't give them anything that they could do at the moment. Turning to Naruto, he proceeded. "What was it again?"
"Huh? Uh...," Naruto tried to recall what he was supposed to ask the other, his right thumb was on his jaw, while his other arm was aiding his left. "I forgot," then made his signature laugh.
"Seriously, Naruto," sighed Shikamaru. "Go find something else you could do to let your boredom out, or bother someone else. I got things to do."
"Eh, yeah," quickly replied the blonde male. "Sure, good luck, Shikamaru!"
Another sigh was let out by Shikamaru as he proceeded doing his work. An empty paper was in front of him, on the right side was group of cards. It contained the details he had to transfer on that piece of paper. So, he readied his pen, and began writing each of the genin's name down.
Temari Na-
"What the-?!" Quickly, he folded that paper and hid it in his pocket. He couldn't explain but his heart beat was racing rather fast. Somehow, he didn't want anyone to find out about the mistake that just occurred. His mind was flying somewhere, and thinking about Temari hadn't helped him at all. In fact, he wasn't even aware he was thinking about the Princess of Suna.
"A-ha!" Said the same blonde male, opening the paper up high. "Temari Na-? I knew you liked her! I should let her see-"
Shikamaru was on his way to stop Naruto from doing whatever he was planning, until the paper flew outside the window of the room. Unlucky enough, Temari was below, walking and roaming around the village. "Shit..!" Said Shikamaru, unsure of what to do. 'Think of something, Shikamaru! Think!'
The man looked up at the sky. Good thing the clouds were too thick. It was enough to strengthen the length of his shadow towards the paper. "Kage Mane no Jutsu!" He executed, then immediately searched for the paper. When he saw it, he cast his shadow towards it which was about to reach the blonde female.
She was pretty unaware at the moment. It was a good thing...for Shikamaru.
"Are you gonna reach it, Shikamaru?!" Asked Naruto, getting fired up of what Shikamaru could actually do.
'I will reach it!'
"Almost there!" Said Naruto again.
His shadow successfully grabbed the paper. "Execution of my kage mane is a success," he said, wiping the sweats falling from his temple, down to his cheeks. As soon as he tried to look at the direction his shadow travelled, the paper was already in front of the female. "Shit!"
"Oooh," commented Naruto. "How would Temari react? How would she react?" He mumbled, excited.
"Temari Na..?" The female said what was written on the paper. "Written by: Shikamaru Nara," she said once again. In exact place, Temari was standing right in front of the Hokage's headquarters, so she looked up. Shikamaru immediately cancelled the casting of his jutsu and then sat on the floor of the room.
Both him and Naruto peeked from the edge of the window, checking what Temari would do next.
The female grabbed the paper and crumpled it.
"What the heck?!" Naruto and Shikamaru said in unison.
Since there wasn't pretty much written on it, she thought it wasn't really needed anymore. Temari threw it on the nearest garbage can she could spot.
"She didn't seem to care. Poor Shikamaru..," comically, Naruto told him in pity.
The male sighed. "Cut it out, Naruto. And get back to business."
It has been hours now since a troublesome event had occurred while Shikamaru was working. Konohamaru suddenly came in, rushing to pull his big brother with him. "Shikamaru-nii, Shikamaru-nii! Hurry and come after me! I'm gonna show you something!" The little one said rather excitedly.
"Whoa, wait," called Shikamaru. He wrote the very last name of the genin on the paper, then let Konohamaru drag him to wherever he wanted to. "Alright, alright, we'll go to wherever that is."
They went out from the quarters. Konohamaru led the latter in a Dango Shop, showing him that Temari was eating alone. "I think Temari-nee needs help eating those dangos!" He said with a large grin.
"She can handle it herself," cleared the lad.
Konohamaru broke off from holding his big brother's arm, and then approached his seemingly big sister. "Temari-nee!" He called, waving once. "Don't you think Shikamaru-niichan likes you?"
She chuckled. "That's pretty normal. You'll really like someone especially if she helps your village a lot," Temari petted the little one's head. "And if she visits this place often."
"Not that kind of like, Temari-nee," corrected the young one. "It's-"
Temari let out another chuckle then patted Konohamaru. "You kids really," she said, smiling at him. "Focus on something else. Adults can deal with their own problems; you and your friends should enjoy life while it isn't too late yet," she sighed. "If he really does, he should go over here and tell me about it right on my face. When it is about confessing feelings, it is better to hear it from the person who likes you than hearing it from someone else. He should know how to face his fears, that is, if that's his fear," cleared the Suna Princess. "Besides, I can't picture him falling in love. To me, of all people."
Too late?
Fears?
Confession?
Feelings?
In love?
Too late. Too late.
That part of what Temari told Konohamaru kept ringing in Shikamaru's head. One more echo of it and Shikamaru would probably go crazy. Probably. He lied on his bed, eyes on the ceiling, his right arm was over his forehead, left hand was over his stomach. What could she mean by 'it's too late'..?