Title: Events you have not known.
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Shikamaru/Temari
Warnings: none
Summary: Insomniacs are all the same.
When she comes into his office in the chuunin exam building she can see the exhaustion writ large on his face. She sets her fan down by the door and takes a seat on the rickety chair facing his desk. It squeaks a bit under her weight and the metal is cold. He doesn’t look up from his paperwork again, mechanically writing names and registration numbers in columns.
“You were supposed to meet me for lunch,” she accuses, leaning back and crossing her legs, chin raised in a challenge.
He tsks irritably and puts down his pen to pinch his nose and wrinkle his forehead. “Was that today? Sorry. I forgot.”
It’s not even his usual bored monotone, which at least sometimes shows a hint of teasing. He lack of remorse makes her slam her palm down on the table loudly, making everything on it including him jump. At least it got his attention, he glared at her, gritting his teeth in irritation. She shouldn’t be able to get to him this easily! It just made her more angry. The guilt seemed to be working, so she stayed on that track.
“When’s the last time you were home?”
He opened his mouth to retort, but it took him a few moments longer than it should have to reply and she cut in before he could speak.
“Gaara didn’t sleep properly for years and you don’t think I don’t know the signs? You think anyone can sleep properly when their little brother is likely to kill them the first second he gets bored?”
He has given up on replying and just rested his head in his hand, looking tired and unbearably tense at the same time. She pointed emphatically at the small couch pushed against the wall and glared at him meaningfully. When he just reached for his brush again and looked down at his papers, she felt her blood boil. Men! They never listened.
“Don’t make me knock you out. Anyone can do paperwork, I’ll do it while you sleep. Go, before I lose my temper. You’re no use to anyone in this state.”
They glared at each other for a very long moment, but of course she won. He let out a sigh and stood up and she stood up after him, watching him stretch out on the ugly worn fabric. His eyes closed immediately and it was only a few moments before his breathing evened out. She walked quietly around the table and sat down in his chair, stretching her arms out in front of her before giving him a final smile.
She thought she might wake him up, moving around the room to light the candles in the wall when the sun went down, but he just let out a sigh and kept sleeping. When she finally finished the tedious work she got up and walked to his side, crouching down beside him to gently touch his shoulder to wake him. Waking ninjas unexpectedly was something you always had to be careful about. His hand flashed up to grab her wrist, but his eyes were still bleary when they opened and he let out a huge yawn. It took a few blinks for him to focus and figure out who she was. This guy, sometimes he was so vulnerable it made her want to punch him.
“What time is it?”
She told him, and he sat up too quickly and was forced to hold his head for a moment until the dizziness passed.
“The paperwork is all done, you can hand it in tomorrow.”
He looked up at her and then to the table and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Thanks. I needed that, I think.”
“For a smart guy, you can be pretty stupid, you know?” she chastised, hands on her hips. He smiled sheepishly back and stood up slowly this time.
He walked her back to the apartment she kept for these trips, and as misguided the chivalry was she didn’t really try to talk him out of it. When they got to her door she opened it and then hesitated, turning back to face him.
“Shikamaru, make sure you go home tonight. I’m sure your mother is worried.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed, looking down and away, a sure sign of a guilty conscience. She let out an exasperated sigh and stepped into him, close enough to just feel the brush of her chest against his, close enough to press a gentle kiss against his lips. Her fingernails scratched gently at his scalp at the back of his neck and she gave him a serious look close enough that he couldn’t escape it.
“Don’t miss an appointment with me again, got it? You can buy me lunch tomorrow and tell me what this is all about then.”
He managed a small smile then, although it barely reached his eyes. His arm around her waist tightened for a moment before letting go, though, so she released him with that promise.
She hugged herself in the doorway as he went down the stairs, shoulders hunched, hands in pockets. It made her a little angry how much she worried about him and the fact that she didn’t know why he was the way he was now. “Don’t forget, idiot,” she muttered to herself under her breath and closed the door against the cool Konoha night.
