I'm gonna see her again.
I don't know why, but I feel fairly excited.
I mean, it literally takes so long before we meet each other again, but it's always worth it.
And even if I can't precisely see myself, I can tell how obvious it is that I'm smiling right now. I want to stop, but I can't. How stupid...
Sheepishly, the latter could be seen by whoever that he's feeling undeniably happy with only just the thought of Gaara's sister arriving. Chouji and Ino noticed the unusual movements of their team leader--shaking his head repeatedly as if removing unwanted images off from his mind, and sometimes would even deliver both of his palms on his cheeks to slap himself awake.
"What's going on with Shikamaru?" Questioned Ino that Chouji only responded with a shrug, and a bite of his favoured potato chips. "Those gestures are unlikely," profoundly curious, Ino forcefully pulled Chouji together with her. Albeit repeatedly telling her to stop, he bothered less on struggling. Aggressively, the latter made the young man peek at the side of the wall, indubitably sure that they hadn't been spotted.
A turn to the right, one that was leading to the public bathhouse, was Shikamaru's progress.
"His smiles are non-stop to the point that it's starting to creep me out!" Expressed the female blonde. "Look at him, Chouji! If he's only there for the male hot spring, he should be having his usual expression!"
"You're just overthinking about it, Ino. Give Shikamaru a break," insisted him, truly uninterested of the matter.
"Don't be stup--" the maiden's words had unintentionally been halted into mid-air when a familiar image of a cruel, maize-haired kunoichi was now standing beside the lad. "Isn't that... Isn't that Temari of Sunagakure?!"
Alerted, Chouji stopped shoving more chips into his mouth, and pinned his attention to his best friend. "I thought they're just friends?!"
"Wait, you knew?!" Reconfirmed Ino whilst she had her hues focused on the two figures.
"Ah, no...," the man shook his head in disagreement. "Not that it isn't that obvious..."
Ino sighed. "Right...," her brows furrowed to indicate that she was keenly following Shikamaru and Temari's tracks. "If they had important things to do--like, I don't know, paper works and documents they need to organise, probably--why do they need to go inside the bath house?! Public, on top of that?!"
Chouji wanted to shake it off, that his friend was just over-reacting, but he couldn't disgaree to the fact that Shikamaru's movements were shady. Therefore, had he found himself watching the latter firmly.
"Are you going to be fine on your own?" Questioned Shikamaru which weirded Temari out.
Albeit drawing their paths inside the aforementioned building, Temari had her gazes shifted towards the latter, left brow unquestionably raised. "...I'm not a kid, Shikamaru. Don't be stupid. At the very least, I know how to take a bath."
Realisation had hit him hard--as if he made that question on purpose. "...Right. Call me when you're done. I'm just gonna be here," said him, pointing at the waiting lounge of the building.
Temari nodded before heading straight to the female's area, back of her right hand slightly shoving the noren sign at the entrance then.
Shikamaru had the greatest urge to peek, and see what's inside, particularly about Temari, but he mentally slapped himself instead. Ah, don't be stupid. Of course, it looks like the one in males'. Just pink. And girly.
He stopped from walking away. Is it girly? Shikamaru attempted to return, but halted himself anyhow. No. What the hell are you doing?! Walk away! Apparently, he successfully did so. Thereafter, the man yawned as he sat on an empty couch, leaned his back against the wall--specifically his head, before allowing himself to somehow doze off whilst Temari was busy.
"Ino, stop pushing!" Loudly whispered Chouji. "I told you not to sneak in; Shikamaru's just at the waiting lounge!"
The female minimally shoved the other away. "Shikamaru isn't my concern at the moment, Chouji! I want to see if Temari's safe!"
"Have you forgotten who it is you're talking about? It's Temari-san of Sunagakure, the cruelest kunoichi, the rumoured best of all bests when it comes to wind element! She can handle herself!"
"Chouji, you don't understand women!" Fired Ino back, now finally shifting her attention towards him instead of sneaking in continuously. "Even if she's strong, when a man has a huge desire of conquering a woman, whatever the odds is, he must!"
Conquering...?
"Chouji, we have to save her! Can't you imagine what Shikamaru could do with his shadows?! They're going to be hard to break!"
"Ino, you're going overboard..."
A piercing, yet short squeal of fear escaped the bath's area which incontestably had alerted the sleeping shinobi of Konohagakure. "Temari!" Quickly, the latter ran towards the aforementioned room.
"Shikamaru's coming! Let's go!" Ino grabbed Chouji away, forgetting the purpose of why they went all the way there.
"Temari!" Called him again, flipping the noren of the female's bath roughly. "Are you okay--"
"Oh, Shika--"
Before the teen's brown-coloured pigments was Temari's irrefutable figure that was once covered with white-cottoned towel.
"Wh--"
Though her covers had fallen flat on the floor, Shikamaru couldn't remove his gazes away from her stunning, feminine body. Aware he was about her chests, now he was as well with her whole physique. Pink tints became huge slashes of red; the man appeared seemingly immovable from his location.
"I'm so-- I didn't mean--" managed to utter the genius.
Temari, in a swift motion, grabbed her towel, covered her body, but had withdrawn her tessen. "Get...," began her, her usual battle stance showing. "...out!" Then, a strong wind from the east side of the house had been executed.
The impact, and the loud sounds had captured the attention of the fleeing Ino and Chouji. "Is that Shikamaru?" Reconfirmed the female, as a familiar figure came flying from the bath house.
I did say I was looking forward to see her, but not that kind of "see". Uttered Shikamaru to himself upon landing effortlessly smooth on the ground, right hand aiding him not to hit his face against the cemented flooring. Well... That was quite a body-- Aah, what the hell are you thinking, Shikamaru?! He, once again, placed both of his hands inside his empty pockets before standing firmly, though had he also slapped himself awake mentally. Because of my stupidity, it surely is going to be awkward next time we see each other...
Relieved that it would take more time to see each other again, Shikamaru released a sigh. By that moment, he was pretty sure both of them already had recovered from that embarrassing situation. She probably already went home without telling me. I mean, why would she tell--
The latter stopped from his tracks. "Wait...," with an evident expression of realisation hitting him, he said, "Didn't she just arrive here?!" Soon, Shikamaru found fear, embarrassment and awkwardness crawling, and building up around him.
"Oi, Shikamaru."
That voice he couldn't resist that brought him consternation had straightforwardly called him.
"Let's go back to work."
The stripling maintained his facial expressions as if casually, but his thoughts about the incident earlier, and his current situation had been jumbling in his mind soonest as the blonde kunoichi appeared.
"N-Nothing happened earlier. Let's go," the maize-haired lass' patience was presently quite short as she had walked ahead on her own, leaving yet allowing the genius to follow. Though she also had possessed an unchanging expression, it could incontrovertibly be sensed on her words, and little stuttering that she was, definitely, in fraught.
Ah... Brown eyes locked himself to the female's stature whilst she walked away, leaving. I-I guess...I could live with this. This is better than actually not talking. He took a brief moment to slightly drop his optics onto the wind user, tracks now were one step away from her. I didn't know she had that kind of body hiding under her black--
"You're quiet," muttered her, but was comprehensible. It unarguably had broken Shikamaru's thoughts. "You better not be thinking about earlier."
Alerted, the young male had himself mentally choking. As soon as he had gathered his stature and prowess back, he said, "H-Huh, of course, not. It's the last thing I'd think about. I got lots of things going on, and they're far more important."
Pleased, Temari's face had glowed once again. "That's good to know."
Yeah, this is better than actually not being with her.
(A/N: I could see a second part happening, but I'm not exactly sure... Ah, well! If you have an idea how a part 2 would happen, let me know in the PM!
P.S: The real MVPs here are both Ino and Chouji. x])