Her presence in the village unnerved him. Seemingly, Shikamaru, a chunnin level shinobi of the leaf village, kept composure. His dark thoughtful eyes remained calm even in the most terrifying of situations, making him a valuable strategists and keen analyst. In apparent it seemed, nothing wavered within him as he saw battle after battle, matter after matter, mission after mission. However, her presence was unsettling.
Temari, a sand village shinobi, sister of Gaara the Kazekage, was a jounin, a woman with no womanly tendencies, and as tough and unrelenting as the human sized fan she bore on her back. Her blonde hair hastily tied in two ponytails contrasted her black dress which dropped beyond her knees. Black gloves and a sand forehead protector informed to all the onlookers of her stern presence and her unwavering sense of duty and entitlement of her village. Her duties had spelled her path to the Konoha village, however her heart she left behind in her homeland, at Suna the desert village onlooking the unrelenting Sun. Maybe the terrain, or maybe the hardship and war Suna has experienced had shaped her stern attitude or maybe it was simply self confidence, however in the end the presence of the quiet and thoughtful ambassador of Konoha assigned to her kept her at ease. For some reason, in his presence, she felt welcomed to laugh and joke, which seemed to make Shikamaru even more unsettled. The frown on his forehead would deepen as he tried to understand his own unsettlement, wishing he could just finish his duty so he could once again traverse back to a silent and contemplative place, where his thoughts would wander from meaningless to less meaningless.
"I agree."
"Are you even listening, that's been your reply for the past five minutes."
Temari whirled around to face her guide, as they made their way on the busy town street. Their steps had brought them in front of an empty diner and only a clerk could be seen sweeping the lonely floor.
"Why don't we stop for some tea and lunch, we've had a busy day?" Shikamaru turned towards the diner, rubbed the back of his head and walked in.
After heaving a huge sigh, Temari turned and followed him and sat in the small dusty table he chose.
"One tea and my companion will have your special." Temari shifter her glance from the waiter to see shikamaru's reaction as she placed his order, but found no reaction in his features except his usual detached eyes. The young clerk bowed his bare head, wiped his hands on his dirty apron nervously and walked behind the bar to prepare the food and beverage.
Shikamaru fleetingly considered his duty and her presence, then his mind wandered to his other duties and then to the deer in his clan's woods, to his teammates of whose whereabouts he briefly wondered and then to the clerk he saw working feverishly preparing his meal, who looked young yet acted as if he had aged a thousand years. What had happened to him for him to accelerate his growth, what was his story? He let his thoughts wander until he caught sight of Temari eyeing him.
"What's on your mind?"
"Really, you invite me to lunch and don't even try to start a decent conversation and that's how you start?"
"No I mean…" Shikamaru fumbled in his pocket to occupy his nervous hands"…I mean why so curt all the time."
"Ah I see you are trying to analyze me, maybe understand me and devise a plan, or strategy, trust me we are both not suited for this." Temari started to push her chair out and started to strap her fan onto her shoulder.
"Suited…who cares, why don't we just ignore it…I mean..you know."
"Hmm…you really don't understand do you..with all your insight and intelligence." And with this Temari left banging the door heavily behind her.
Shikamaru fiddled with his thumb until he took out a lighter and clicked it on and off. Considering, to find somewhere deserted where he can ignore the hustle of the world, he remembered he had a meeting to attend. He sat up, left the exact change of lunch and tea on the table and headed out.
Temari walked briskly to her inn, her thoughts wavering from her relentless shadow, to her brothers and the obvious political involvement of her family intertwined in the ninja world. Her steps took their own accord and conducted her inside the inn, out of the gloomy day, as rain pellets the size of dimes commenced to drop heavily onto the clean village street. She moved as a ghost and with obvious routine; bathroom, shower, change, brush, read, look out the window and bed. As she slowly drifted and felt her eyes droop from the weariness of the day, her mind wandered back to her guide, his shadowy figure hovering in front, his smile and his detached persona and for a moment she smiled and considered if she had been too harsh. Then sleep drifted in and took her thoughts away.
Shikamaru shifted his gaze towards the cloudy sky, his expression hidden under the lack of sun. He considered going inside and apologizing for his lack of presence, his discontent with his surroundings, his chronic laziness but found himself unable to muster the energy to carry out his intentions. Again the thought of the meeting broke in, and his heart did a cartwheel as he remembered that his tardiness would go noticed by the watchful eyes of the hokage. With nimble steps, he launched himself at incredible speed towards the looming hokage monument and the office underneath; he plummeted from rooftop to rooftop.
"You're late, again."
Tsunade was livid as Shikamaru entered the room, with his unflinching eyes and lack of emotions evident behind his eyes.
"Sorry, I was tending to other duties."
"Whatever, we have a situation seeing there is movement from Mist ninja as they have seen traversing in our Land. Their motives are unclear and their presence was definitely supposed to have been hidden, however one of our squad had the opportunity to run into them. I need you take a team of three there and figure out the situation. The squad that came into contact had a skirmish and thus they have retreated making the situation to hang between war. If we have to come to that end, war might erupt between our villages, however that end must be avoided at all cost. Ill also assign Kakashi as your senpai as soon as he is out of the hospital, however I doubt if the Mist ninja will reveal their true purpose so I'll need you to take a Aburame on your squ…..are you listening?"
Shikamaru shifted his gaze from the cloud he had been tracking seen through the office of the hokage's office.
"Yes, Mist ninja, war, Kakashi, Shino so we can track the ninja to find out their objective."
"Sometimes it would be better to see some reaction to the words I'm saying, now go, and be careful, the mission's dangerous so be careful."
"Hai, understood."
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