Thirty minutes later they had finished their tea, and silence still lingered in the room. But it wasn’t uncomfortable. Shikamaru was rarely troubled by silence; he preferred it over meaningless chatter. Like Naruto always went on and on about everything and nothing. Or random girls screaming around Sasuke all the time. It was why he sought loneliness, the company of clouds and trees and shadows. Chouji was perfect; he was a person you could be silent together with. Much like he felt he could be silent together with Temari at the moment.
And she felt pretty much the same way. Temari had always been cocky as hell, never afraid to speak up around anyone but her youngest brother. But she had never had a big problem with silence, unless the other part of it was troubled. Then everything became awkward and uncomfortable. With Shikamaru it wasn’t so. For half an hour they had sat in silence, drinking their tea and just enjoying being with the one person they had thought about for all those years.
“I’ll try to find a fresh set of beddings for you.”
“Alright.”
She watched as he got up and left the room somewhere behind her. There was a little window right in front of her eyes, and she realized that the sun was setting. He had been right, she wouldn’t have made it back to The Wind Country before dark. Not that it was a problem traveling in darkness; she knew the way and she’d be more sorry for the soul that tried to attack her than for herself was she to be attacked. At the age of sixteen she’d been able to summon wind creatures strong enough to shop down forests in seconds, and she had not decreased in power after she became Chuunin and ultimately Jounin.
Shikamaru walked into his bedroom and quickly tore the old beddings off the mattress, pillow and cover. From his wardrobe he got a fresh set, all white, and made the bed again. It was his last clean set he noticed. He washed way to rarely obviously. Especially sheets and towels were always last minute calls in the laundry room.
“There,” he said as he returned to the couch. Temari was seated in the armchair on the opposite side of the petite table. “You can go to bed whenever you feel like it.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
She raised thin eyebrow.
“Seriously?”
“I sleep on the ground all the time, a couch will be perfectly fine.”
He smiled that half-way smile at her.
“Hm, so even you can be a gentleman when you want to.”
“I’m a Konoha ninja.”
A snorting laughter escaped her, but her eyes told it was an honest one. She knew the value of Konoha ninja. Kazekage…Gaara, always said he had a huge depth to Konoha. It was a certain blond and loud Konoha ninja who had brought the demon boy out of his shell, taught him the meaning of love and friendship. Gaara had changed after that meeting, and both Temari and Kankuro were forever grateful for that change. He became a brother to love instead of one to fear, and since that day they had not been defeated when they stood together.
“Would I be too troublesome if I asked for some dinner?”
“Not at all.”
He rose to go into the kitchen.
“I’ll help you.”
At first he thought about protesting, but meeting her green eyes that idea melted away. You didn’t oppose Temari.
“Alright, this way.”
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Chapter notes: Perhaps a bit of a transport, but I felt it necessary...