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Most of the time, Temari really liked working as an ambassador. She got to travel the world, attend political events and meet influential people. She felt useful, and she rejoiced that feeling. She liked feeling dependable, trusted and respected.
Some other times though, work got tough. She could do without the occasional harassment by some villages’ elders and daimyo. There was also the old ladies from some clans would have been sent flying a while ago already if that would not have caused an international crisis. They had made the state of Temari’s husband being left behind by his insensitive wife their own personal issue.
Without forgetting the Wind Country’s daimyo’s nephew ought to get the hint that she was not leaving her husband any time soon to marry him instead.
Temari could still remember a time when some elder asked Gaara if he agreed with his sister’s lifestyle tastes. He was referring to the independent habits. Poor Gaara and his awful people’s skills, he thought he was talking about Temari’s complains about the tea served. The old man was most confused with the, “Temari likes Suna’s mint tea,” stated with a warm smile.
Kankuro still laughs about it.
Temari was laying on the couch, her feet dangling over the couch’s arm. That particular day had not been one where she was glad to be an ambassador. She had thrown the outer layer of her kimono somewhere, probably on the kitchen floor as she had gotten inside the house from the veranda rather than the entrance door.
Less steps to reach the couch, she had thought.
She made a mental note to pick up her kimono as soon as she felt like getting up. The porch’s door was open and she could still remember the time a deer decided to munch on her curtains. That kimono was worth more than the curtains and the deer combined. They would be having deer meat for dinner if it dared.
So there she was, wearing nothing but her soft and light white inner kimono. For some reason, her usual hairstyle had bothered her all day. She might have tied the pigtails too tights. She yanked at three of the four ponytails as soon as she got home. The last one was alright though so she left it as it was. She did think she was probably looking odd with a single upper left ponytail and everything else down, but she was too tired to care.
And then there was the damned okobo sandals. Who thought it would be a good idea to add highly uncomfortable heeled sandals into the event’s mandatory dress code? She did not even bother taking them off as she got inside the house. She just wanted to lay down.
She sighed. What a tiring day.
Temari heard someone open the entrance door. She recognized the sigh and the thud of her husband’s feet.
“Tem?” inquired Shikamaru, probably wondering if she was even home yet.
“Living room,” she responded simply, dangling her feet slightly so the damned sandals would fall. They did not though. Stubborn little torture tools.
Shikamaru got into the living room with a yawn and shoulders so slouched he might break his back. He stopped mid yawn as soon as he noticed his wife on the couch. She popped herself up on her elbows and looked at him with very fatigued eyes.
“Welcome back,” Temari offered him a slight, tired smile.
She let herself fall back again. She felt like that simple act had taken her all of the energy left in her.
Shikamaru bit the inside of his cheek not to laugh. That single ponytail was making it hard not to.
“I know you want to laugh at me,” Temari did not move an inch, and just stared at the ceiling, “I look totally ridiculous, so I will allow it.”
That was a trap. She would totally not allow that. She would snap at him and call him an unsupportive husband and then turn her back at him later when they will be in bed, spitefully denying him any form of affection. She was always much more on edge than usual when she was back from an event.
He smiled lazily and slightly shook his head before walking towards her, crouching down by the couch. He rested his elbow on the couch next to her, popping his head on his fist and looking at her with a smile.
“You look adorable.”
Her head snapped in his direction, giving him her signature murderous glare, “I am fierce, and dangerous, and strong, and…”
“...Adorable,” he cut her off, nodding slightly.
She shrugged, and went back to watching the ceiling, “only because you’re a sappy crybaby,” she was too tired to deal with him.
Shikamaru rejoiced internally. She had the last word but he clearly won the exchange. Probably because she let him have it. He crossed his arms on the couch, resting his head on them while looking at her.
“Rough day?” he asked curious about whatever happened that resulted in that hilarious single ponytail.
“You bet,” she sighed, “I spent the whole day basically standing and smiling,”
“I can see why that would be a nightmare for you. You detest being happy with passion,” he cut and she glared at him again, reaching for his ponytail before pulling slightly at his hair.
He knew she would do that before he even said anything but he accepted the abuse.
He deserved it.
“The daimyo’s nephew really doesn’t want to get the hint,” she complained.
She often complained about the Wind daimyo’s nephew and his many mariage proposals. Shikamaru thought he would stop once they got married. It turned out the man was more determined than Naruto when Sasuke had his occasional emo phases and the former would automatically assume he was about to join some terrorist organization as he goes on in speeches of friendship and village loyalty.
“Did you remind him that you were married?”
Shikamaru really did not have a solution for that one or at least, nothing that Temari could do. Anything she would do would result in some sort of diplomatic conflict. Maybe he could speak to the Rokudaime about it. Naruto was also on good terms with the Wind daimyo’s cousin; he gave him a pep talk about his ninja way once, as he recalled.
“I did remind him, but he made a very weird sports’ joke about still being able to score even when there is a goalkeeper which made me laugh by the way. The image of you as a goalkeeper had me rolling. I think he took it as an encouragement though. And I know what you’re thinking, don’t tell the Hokage or Naruto anything about this. It’s my issue to deal with,” she was still looking at the ceiling, too tired to shift her head and look at her husband.
He sighed. He hated it when she did not let him help her through her issues. You could be an emancipated, strong willed woman and still ask your husband for help when needed. Temari was the type to get a ladder to reach for stuff rather than ask him to get it for her because she still only halfway stomached the fact that he had like, six centimetres on her. Tragedy.
“That wasn’t the worst part. I had to spend the whole day standing, wearing these torture tools,”
Temari hoistedup her leg and dangled her feet to illustrate what she was saying. In doing so, the light kimono that was covering her leg, fell down all the way to her hip.
Shikamaru had followed the motion. He freed one arm from under his head and reached to lightly grab her thigh. He gave it a little squeeze before turning his head towards her.
“You know these are my favourite torture tools,” Shikamaru was drawing slight circles on her skin as he said so, a lazy smile on his lips.
Temari, however, was not amused, and too tired for whatever he was attempting. She arched her eyebrows at him, her lips in a thin line, “I was talking about the sandals.”
Shikamaru sighed, he was not getting any fun today. He was about to move his hand, and get up, but she grabbed his wrist as soon as she felt him take away his hand. She put it back on her thigh, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. He went back to drawing light circles on them with his fingers.
“I haven’t shaved,” she announced, arching her eyebrows. It almost seemed like she was looking for something specific on the ceiling.
“Uh-um,” he nodded slightly, followed by a shrug, “I can feel that.”
“I did shave my ankles though. That was the only part that was showing with the kimono,” she explained.
“I bet that’s what’s making the daimyo’s nephew go crazy,” Shikamaru reached for her ankles, but they were too far. Temari bent her knee, letting her feet on the couch with her sandals on to get them closer. Shikamaru reached to caress her ankles. He thought that she must be incredibly tired to allow herself on the couch with the sandals she wore outside.
“Smooth, tempting, ankles,” he said as he gave them one little rub before moving slowly up her toned leg to go back to lightly squeezing her thigh.
“But you prefer cacti,” she commented, turning her head slightly towards him with little smug smile on her lips.
He was still finding the single ponytail hilarious, but he contained himself because he thought she looked absolutely stunning at that moment. That Temari; tired, with bags under her eyes, a single upper left ponytail on and the rest down, a rare, loving smile on her tempting lips, a crumpled, light kimono, smooth ankles and the best cacti thighs in the universe.
He leaned on her bent leg, giving her a lazy but very loving look, “I am a cacti man myself,” he shifted his head to put a slight, quick kiss on her skin before leaning on it again, letting his head rest there.
Temari managed to keep a serious face for about two seconds before starting to slightly chuckle. He was such a sap. She would not want him any other way.
The light blush on her cheek could only be detected by Shikamaru. It filled him with an odd feeling of possessive affection.
“You know you’re the sappiest man in the village, right?”
She reached both arms towards him and started bending her fingers in an inviting motion. He sighed and complied, pushing himself up to get close to her. Temari grabbed his face with both hands as soon as she was able to, and pushed his face down towards her. She placed a soft kiss to his lips which he gladly reciprocated.
Temari quickly broke the kiss with a smile and a slight lick of her lips. She was way too tired for a heavy make-out session.
Shikamaru pushed himself up on his feet with a last squeeze of his wife’s thighs.
“I will be back in a sec,” he said, already on his way towards the kitchen. She hummed in response, letting her gaze go back to analysing the ceiling. Temari stretched her legs again, and let them dangle over the edge of the couch.
On his way, Shikamaru noticed that one of her feet was slightly bloodied under the strap of the sandal. She would call him a sappy, worried crybaby if he pointed it out though.
He had intended to fetch a cup of tea for himself and his wife but he was surprised to see that a deer had infiltrated the kitchen, and had been dragging what he concluded to be Temari’s kimono out from the kitchen porch.
“I strongly advise you to let that go, buddy,” Shikamaru extended a warning finger towards the deer,
“I will not be held responsible for whatever happens to you if she found out,” he gestured towards the living room.
The deer took a tentative step back, firmly holding the kimono in its mouth.
“She will stuff you in the gyoza tomorrow at dinner. Probably serve you during a clan event,”
The deer was not afraid. It took another step back. It was as much of a strong, emancipated creature as Temari. Shikamaru strongly suspected it was the same deer that had eaten Temari’s curtains. His wife was convinced the deer did it on purpose to spite her. Shikamaru had dismissed her, calling her a troublesome woman, but now he was not so sure of the deer’s innocence.
“She will absolutely hang you in front of the porch to make an example out of you,”
Well that was too much for the deer apparently. It had a family who would not want to see their parent hanged right in front of a kitchen. It would be traumatizing.
The deer let the kimono go, and slightly bended its head towards Shikamaru, before slowly walking towards the forest’s shadows.
“Smart deer,” said Shikamaru as he bended down to grab Temari’s kimono. He inspected it for a second and thought that it looked intact enough. There would be no deer sacrifice. Probably. He had done his job as the Nara clan head; protecting the deer from his loving, albeit abnormally scary wife.
Shikamaru walked past the living room, towards their shared bedroom completely forgetting the tea he was meant to go get.
“Who were you talking to?” Temari had popped herself up on her elbows with a quizzical look in her eyes.
Shikamaru shrugged and continued to walk out of the living room, “The great deer spirit of the Nara forest.”
Temari hummed, absolutely not convinced, but too tired to unpack whatever there was to unpack there. She flopped back on the couch.
Shikamaru went back a few minutes later with disinfectant, a pack of cotton balls and ban-aids. By then, Temari had closed her eyes. He was sure she was not sleeping though. She breathed differently when she was sleeping.
You start to take notice of some very creepy things about your significant other once you’re married.
Shikamaru swatted her legs twice for her to move them up and Temari complied with a sigh. She let him sit on the couch where her legs had been before putting her feet on his lap, with her sandals still on, naturally.
He carefully took off the torture items from her feet, putting them down by the couch. He took her bloodied foot, and tapped lightly with a dampened cotton on the injury.
Temari wiggled her feet in protest, “You’re a sappy, worried crybaby, Shikamaru. That’s not a war scar.”
“Stop being troublesome,” She saw him secure her scratch with a band-aid.
He started doing the same to the other foot although it was not injured, just slightly red and painful.
Satisfied that his wife would not die from a sandal scratch but too lazy to provide any more care than he already did, he dropped everything by the couch and let himself sink there for a few seconds.
Feeling himself drift to sleep, he tapped on Temari’s thigh for her to move.
With a grunt of annoyance, Temari turned on her side, leaving her husband enough space to slide behind her.
He closed his eyes as he reached a wandering hand towards her thigh, letting it settle there, occasionally giving her flesh a light squeeze or gently dragging his fingers on her skin.
“We are disgustingly domestic. Makes me want to barf sometimes,”
Shikamaru sighed; Temari and her aversion to love. But well, he was already surprised she liked him enough to marry him, so he would take whatever she gave him.
His eyes still firmly closed, he moved his hand away from her thigh, letting it rest on his side. Temari then snapped her head towards him with a glare. She reached behind her grabbing his hand forcefully, yanking it forward, before placing it back on her thigh.
She pointed a commanding index towards it, “draw circles,” she ordered.
Shikamaru complied with a sigh. She was the most troublesome woman he knew. Rejoicing their domesticity but hiding it behind snarky comments and insults.
He let his face sink into her wild sandy hair with a lazy smile on his lip only to bite the inside of his cheek when his forehead bumped into her odd looking single pigtail.
“We shouldn’t sleep here,” declared Temari, with closed eyes and looking as much ready to fall asleep as her husband.
He did not answer, and she continued, “you have your head on the couch’s arm right? You won’t even feel it tomorrow.”
Still no answer. She was sure he was not asleep though because he kept drawing infinity signs on her thigh.
“Your deer didn’t eat my kimono, right?”
He clicked his tongue with an annoyed grunt, “Would you keep quiet you troublesome woman?”
She ignored him, “I’m more tired than usual, even though I didn’t specifically work more than usual.”
He did not answer and this time, the motions on her leg had stopped.
“Shikamaru,” she elbowed him in the stomach.
Why she had suddenly felt very talkative was beyond him. Wasn’t she dead tired?
“You’re probably dying,” that got him another elbow to the stomach, with more strength this time.
He would not give her any satisfaction by wincing. It did hurt though.
“I might have iron deficiency. I’m not eating well these days.”
He hummed in response. Freeing his arm from under his head, he lightly tapped on her head. She shifted up a little bit, enough for him to slide his arm underneath her. His arm surrounded her and brought her even closer to his torso in a strong embrace.
“You should go to Sakura tomorrow,” he offered after a while.
“No, we have a clan meeting tomorrow,”
Shikamaru’s eye shot up, how did he forget about that?
“I work all day tomorrow. I will be home even later than today,” he sighed, he had already too much on his plate and he had to make time tomorrow to warn everyone that he would be absent. There went his lunch break, “Ugh, troublesome.”
“I know, I already told everyone you wouldn’t be coming. I will deal with everything in your stead, don’t worry,” she shrugged as Shikamaru squeezed her a little tighter. He was not worried. He knew she dealt with the clan's matters even better than he did.
“I will bring you lunch to your office tomorrow. We can eat together if you want,”
He hummed in agreement. He loved when she did that.
“I will run you a warm bath,”
He hummed again.
“I will take a bath with you,”
That got him to open his eyes, “where are you going with this?”
“Then you will give me a massage. My shoulders are killing me,”
He sighed, “Give you whatever you want, Tem," then planted a kiss on top of her head, "Are you trying to get me home running tomorrow with this plan?”
“You will,” she shrugged nonchalantly.
“I will,” he confirmed with a nod, closing his eyes again. Chilling in the bath with Temari and then give her a massage? He would even fly home if he could. Temari was not the type to just take things slow and chill, he had to enjoy the rare moments she felt like doing that.
Temari thought she should wake up and close the porch's door because she had the feeling the usual deer would come eat her sandals. It never wandered past the kitchen, but you could never know, it had it against her.
She was too tired to move though and honestly, slightly dizzy.
She could elbow Shikamaru to go and do it, but he had been a sweetheart and had not complained about her too much and only called her troublesome like, twice. She guessed he was equally tired from work.
She decided to let him have his rest.
Temari shifted, turning on her side to face Shikamaru. He unconsciously brought her closer to him. He was even sappy while sleeping.
They would definitely wake up with sore limbs. But neither really cared at that moment.
As she started feeling sleep coming over her, Temari slightly murmured, “Love you.”
“Love you too, Tem.”
Yup, unconsciously sappy crybaby.