InsaneJournal

[Naruto] Red Sunsets
fandom Naruto
characters Shikamaru, Naruto, Temari


As the chuunin exam gets closer, Shikamaru finds himself getting busier and busier; the problem with this, he ponders during a rare moment of solitude, is that it actually has very little to do with his being an examiner.

For one thing, Naruto shows up at his house every second day to spend equal amounts of time angsting over his asshole of an ex-teammate and crowing over how much ass he’s going to kick in the upcoming exam. And although Shikamaru has long ago perfected the art of tuning people out, Naruto has always been the exception to every rule, which means that many an afternoon in which Shikamaru would normally laze about and try his hardest not to think is instead spent listening to Naruto talk, and talk, and talk.

And then there’s Temari.

She knocks on his door one day and sweeps inside before he’s even finished asking What the hell are you doing here?, and a week later, as he’s catching his breath after some rather spectacular sex, it suddenly occurs to him that she has moved in with him.

“Are we dating?” he asks the back of her head, staring at the still-flushed skin of her nape and trying to resist the impulse to press his lips against it.

She shrugs one sun-darkened shoulder, and mumbles sleepily, “We were dating. Now we’re getting married.”

“Oh,” Shikamaru says, and lights a cigarette with almost steady hands.

A loud silence fills the room; even with her back turned and her body relaxed, Shikamaru knows that Temari is still awake. Finally, she says, “You know, for a genius you’re really kind of stupid.” And with a movement so fast that Shikamaru’s eyes can’t follow it, she snatches the cigarette from his lips and crushes it in her fist.

Shikamaru just sighs. “Maybe it’s in my nature to be attracted to dangerous things.” As he reaches for another cigarette, he leans over and kisses the back of her neck, tasting sweat and sand and hot, burning sun like the first breath of smoke rushing down his throat.

“Hmph,” Temari mutters, which he interprets as We’ll be discussing this again, possibly with weapons. She yawns widely, then adds as an afterthought, “In Sunagakure, a man marries into his wife’s family when they’re of higher social status. So you might want to pay Gaara a visit soon to let him know you’re joining the family.”

Shikamaru lies awake long after Temari has fallen asleep, and when he finally closes his eyes, he dreams of biting winds, hot sand beneath his feet and red sunsets.

When Naruto shows up the next day, Shikamaru asks him, “Wanna come with me to see Gaara?”


.fin


A/N: Written for Pastles on the train home from Yokohama.