kiss meme. / one out of five. / @sunawind
the celebration before them is truly a sight to behold —- fireworks scatter and explode across the ( slowly darkening ) night sky and the cool air of spring breezes passes them, prompting shikamaru to draw her in just a tad closer, his arm settled comfortably around her shoulders. they’re dressed in traditional garb, temari a little more so than himself but not by a spectacular degree, and wonder brims her eyes as she watches the colors appear, disappear, rinse, repeat.
shikamaru on the other hand has his gaze fixed on her, and he’s filled with nothing short of visceral warmth, occupying his chest, heart, and setting upon a fog in his mind that he can only rationalize as being brought on by the love he feels for her; the love he has felt for quite some time. he could pin point the exact moment he fell —- after all, there isn’t much in this life he can’t pinpoint —- but the longer he thinks about it, the more he begins to suspect that it wasn’t just one moment, but rather a collection of thousands of little ones, just like this.
it doesn’t matter, though. not when, not how ( besides, this question is most easily answered in the form of: how could he not fall for her ? ), but simply that he did.
sharp as she is, temari catches him staring, quirks a brow, asks what that face is all about. loosely translated, what’s on your mind, sweaty? the thought prompts an immediate grin out of him, and shikamaru hums nonchalantly in response. his eyes shift to the sky, but his attention remains on her; mind finely tuned to phase out every sound that wasn’t her voice.
❝ that look? hate to break it to ya this late in the game, but that’d just be my face, tema. what’s a guy supposed to do? change his face? i’ll be real butthurt if your reply to that has anything to do with transformation jutsus, by the way. ❞ every second of his elongated, point distracting quip is spoken with nothing short of fondness. even as he tries to fall back on sarcasm and ye ole’ wit to protect his cool demeanor, he feels his expression softening, beginning with the of the shift of his eyes to meet hers once again, and lip corners gradually upturning. in a word, shikamaru is lovestruck.
❝ what i’m thinking about, though… ❞ shikamaru pauses for inflection and turns to face her properly, endeared evermore by the look of momentary confusion on her face in time this shift, and closes his eyes, smiling now in a way that was subtle in size, but heavy with feeling. ❝ … is how in love i am with you. ❞
when his eyes re - open, he can tell that her initial reaction is shock, above all else. it doesn’t resonate as the negative sort though, and in the silence following, he doesn’t cease smiling for even a second. suddenly, her palm cups delicately on his cheek and anticipation based confusion of his own takes form, but just for a second. temari doesn’t say that she loves him —- in fact, temari doesn’t say a single thing —- and yet, he doesn’t sense rejection. even if she doesn’t say it because she isn’t there yet rather than being unable to say it as he assumes, shikamaru is alright with that. there’s something, he isn’t sure if it’s in her eyes or the tender touch that lingers on his face, that tells him she’s happy with what she’s heard.
that’s enough for him. that’s more than enough. he doesn’t mind the thought of staying there forever, his face in her hand as time slowed all around them, but in light of the moment, there’s somewhere else he’d rather be. he closes the distance between them, all the while using his free hand to tilt up her chin so that their lips meet in what feels like perfect sync. the kiss is slow and it’s soft in nature, but there’s an amount of passion put into it on shikamaru’s end that seems to be especially reserved for moments like now.
oh god, does he love her.
when they break from it, shikamaru offers her a sheepish grin, not quite retreating all the way back to his former position but instead staying ducked down for a moment, in order to whisper a little something. ❝ oh, and… we’re definitely late for a dinner that i promised asuma sensei we’d be at. up for a little hustle? ❞
is our relationship good luck for me, or just bad luck for her ? oh well. she ain’t complaining – yet.
