A/N: serpents_tooth said I should write Temari/Shikamaru, so I got off my ass, finished this poor little thing off, and stole the title from her. It's been kicking around my hard drive for a while now and it's just completely shameless drivel. XD And dear GOD, but how I 'ship these two and their future cute genius babies. ^__^

Spoilers for the chuunin exam and TemaShika snogging.

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"Love As an Intellectual Exercise"

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She poses in front of him on the street and mirrors the jutsu he caught her with. A perfect copy, though it of course does nothing. No Sharingan for her, just her own memory. It's better. She doesn't want his jutsu, after all, just his attention.

Temari should not be here. She should be in the Wind Country, in her own village, with her brothers.

But she wants to play with Shikamaru.

His teammates are suspicious. They should be, of course. But he waves them off, says he'll be along in a moment.

He's the smart one, after all.

He knows she's only here for him.

Temari thinks it is interesting how very little Nara Shikamaru seems to care. How he doesn't give a fuck about anything, in fact, except for his next nap. He's sexist and only moderately attractive and plays old-man games all the time.

Actually, though, Temari likes shogi herself. She never got the hang of go, but shogi was enjoyable. It almost makes her happy. She likes playing it, and would like to play against Shikamaru someday.

She knows he's brilliant. She wants to see how much so. How far ahead he really thinks, how many moves ahead he really is.

Temari also thinks it would be interesting to fight with him- not against him, as before, but really with him. Her fan, after all, would increase the area of his shadow nicely. Good trump card, she thinks. And that aside, she wants to know if his mind will work well with her own: if they would complement or clash. Perhaps they would be brilliant. Perhaps they would only be in each other's way.

Perhaps.

He raises an eyebrow at her- bored, inquisitive, whatever.

Temari kisses him. Grabs him by the neck and yanks him forward and mashes their mouth together violently. It's a fierce kiss, all tongue and teeth and hot breath. He doesn't return it, but doesn't flinch away from it either, not even when she slams him against the nearest building and grabs his crotch and buries her face in his neck.

The passerby avoid looking at them, whispering about how scandalous children are these days. Temari thinks that they are idiots. She thinks that they have obviously never been in love, or else they'd understand. They'd know what it feels like to need someone so badly.

They'd know what it feels like to be here and not caring what anyone else in the world thinks.

"Have you ever," she whispers breathlessly as she breaks the one- sided kiss, not moving her mouth more than a hairsbreadth away from Shikamaru's, "have you ever found something . . . something that made it great to be alive? Ever?"

"Once or twice," Shikamaru replies dispassionately, shrugging loosely as Temari presses her breasts against his chest and takes another kiss.

"Anywhere you go, I intend to follow," she breathes, dark eyes heavy with confidence.

"What if I kill myself?" He looks at her, bored.

"I'll follow you then, too," Temari says with a small smirk. "But you'll have to wait until I'm old and gray and die in bed."

Shikamaru actually laughs, throwing his head back. Temari takes the chance to kiss the underside of his chin, running her tongue down to the nape of his neck.

"I would kill for you," she breathes.

"Bitch," Shikamaru snickers, smirking at her. "Anyone could do that. A lot of people already have."

"Then if I did die for you . . .?" Temari asks lightly.

Shikamaru's face becomes solemn. "Such a thing," he says coolly, "is taboo." She doesn't understand the seriousness with which he speaks, but she recognizes the sentiment all the same and is happy.

"Okay then," she says with a smirk. "What if I LIVE for you?"

This time, it is Shikamaru who kisses her, a hand in her hair and a hand on her ass and Temari herself pushing as close to him as she can get and both of them trying to swallow each other's souls past their fumbling tongues and teeth and they are going to have SO much to explain soon, but right now . . .

Right now worrying is stupid and they have much better things to do.

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* ende *

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. : i'm frustrated by your apathy : .