Just Out Of His Reach

You Always Want What You Can't Have

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any shape or form. All rights go to the rightful owner. Please don't sue me.

A/N: Late night, boredom. It's exactly 12:38AM on Saturday right now. I haven't been on fanfiction in ages, and the thought suddenly occurred to me, "Hey, I should get on FanFiction and see if my stories are worthy of a few 'pity reviews'."

However, I feel that due to the massive amount of work and essays I receive as a sophomore, I have sharpened my grammar and vocabulary skills a lot. And I type a lot faster now without cramping my hands. D

Also, please don't message me. My email for this account has recently been suspended as we have switched service providers, and I will not be able to see any of your messages. ;[

Let's go!

"Shikamaru…come here. I have a surprise for you…" crooned a husky and silky voice coming from behind Shikamaru's back. He spun around a few times, searching for the face to put to the voice. He suddenly felt two silky hands slide over his eyes.

"Gotcha. Surprised?" Shikamaru spun around once again, to see two emerald green eyes peering back at him, then a mouth slowly turned up at the corners in a smirk.

"T-T-Temari! What are you doing here?" Shikamaru stuttered while his eyes wandered past her mouth, then to her thin smooth neck, then to her…

"SHIKAMARU!" He awoke with a start, and saw two eyes peering back at him, however, much unlike the sparkling green eyes in his dream, these eyes looked angry.

"Do you KNOW how long I've been trying to wake you up? TWO HOURS! What the hell were you dreaming about anyways, you kept mumbling to yourself."

"Ahh Ino, nice you see that you are just as radiant in the morning as you are at night." Said Shikamaru, smiling sheepishly. "She sure has a temper, I wonder if she's PMSing."

"Oh would you shut up with that sappy crap, I know you don't mean it. Get dressed! NOW!" Said Ino as she stormed off into the next room.

"Geez, does she HAVE to be so loud? I can hear her perfectly fine when she uses her inside voice." Shikamaru thought this to himself as he pulled on his pants over his boxers and slipped on his trademark shirt and vest outfit.

"Shikamaru, hurry, I wanna go to this brunch with Sakura and some other people."

"Ya know Ino, I'm gonna pass on that okay? I'm not in the mood to hang out with everyone right now."

Rolling her eyes Ino sighed and said, "Come ON, Naruto is gonna be there, so is Chouji, as well as Temari and her boyfriend. Just go okay?"

Shikamaru's heart sped up at the sound of Temari's name, he felt himself blush a bit, but disguised it by turning away and simply replied, "Fine."

"Thank you Shika! You're the best, always doing stuff for me." Ino wrapped her arms around Shikamaru's neck and pressed a kiss into his cheek. Shikamaru heard her, but didn't reply, as his mind was somewhere else entirely.


"AHHHH! INO!" Said an overly excited pink-haired girl. "SAKURA!!!!" Said Ino with an equal amount of volume and excitement. Shikamaru distanced himself from the frenzy of screaming and decided to get some food. Since food wasn't loud, annoying, and squeaky.

Shikamaru was slowly loading his plate with the selections of delicious foods, when suddenly a slender hand darted beneath his and took the last pastry. Luckily his reflexes were quick and he was able to seize the hand before the pastry had touched the plate.

Looking up, he noticed four blonde ponytails and immediately dropped the hand. Temari stared back with equal shock. Both of them were silent, and locked in a staring contest of sheer disbelief.

"So…here with Ryuu?" Shikamaru said this as casually as he could, trying to muster up a very nonchalant tone, all while avoiding eye contact with Temari.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Why are you here? I didn't think that brunch was your 'thing'." Temari said with a bit of venom in her tone.

"I went for Ino, she really wanted to go, so I decided that I'd come along to make her happy." Shikamaru knew inside that this was a complete lie, but Temari didn't.

"Well then, Ino certainly is lucky to have a boyfriend like you." Temari said this a little too quickly, noting the wavering of her voice; she blushed slightly and hurried off.

"What's up with her?" Thought Shikamaru, noticing Temari's hurried tone, he could've sworn he saw her eyes watering. "Darnn, she still left with my pastry."

Temari couldn't stand it anymore, was Shikamaru truly happy with Ino? She angrily wiped off the stubborn tears that ran down her cheeks. "Is he really happy with her, truly? If he is, I might as well move on instead of teasing him with this fling with Ryuu, heck I'm not even all that happy with Ryuu." Temari sat and thought for a while, and suddenly coming to a solution, she got up and walked back into the brunch calmly.

The brunch finally came to a close, surprisingly Shikamaru had a lot of fun, he got to eat, and Ino was very nice to him despite what happened in the morning. Temari found that Ryuu, while he may be a bit plain, he was quite funny, and seemed to genuinely be in love with her. Both Temari and Shikamaru left with smiles on their faces. And upon arriving home, both spent the rest of the day happy and smiling.

"Shikamaru, did you have fun today?" Ino asked with a hopeful tone.

"Actually I did, it wasn't half bad that brunch. Not as troublesome as I thought it would be. You're actually the reason it was enjoyable as it was. Not to mention, uh you looked really lovely at the brunch." Shikamaru looked away, hoping that Ino wouldn't make a scene out of what he'd said.

Ino blushed into a deep red color, "Oh, wow, thank you Shikamaru!" Now let's get to bed, tomorrow I'll get up early and cook you your favorite breakfast."

Meanwhile at Temari's place, conditions were just as cozy.

"Wow Temari! You give amazing head massages." Said Ryuu as Temari rubbed his scalp and temples.

"Don't get used to it, or I'll start charging you by the minute!" Temari said with a smile and a giggle. "Ahhh I'm getting sleepy, I'm gonna call it a night." She said as she started to stand up.

"No, no, no! Not yet!" Said Ryuu as he promptly laid his head into Temari's lap. He smiled and said, "Let me finish getting my head massage first." Sending Temari a wink that tickled her heart.

"Alright fine I guess I can't move now." Said a smiling Temari as she resumed rubbing his head.

"I know I'm not gonna be moving anytime soon, actually Temari, I've got something to ask you…" Ryuu said sitting up and staring solemnly into Temari's eyes.

Temari felt the breath rush right out of her lungs, was he actually planning to break up with her, his tone sounded so serious!



"Shikamaru please get up right now!" Said Ino as she rushed around the room trying to find an outfit, apparently there was another event going on.

"What's so important that I have to lose my sleep…" Said Shikamaru rubbing his tired eyes. But boy was Ino a sight for sore eyes; she looked even more ravishing this morning than she did last night.

"Temari is throwing a party! We HAVE to go, it's HUGE!" Said Ino comparing shoes in the mirror.

"Why is she throwing a party, not like it's her birthday or anything." Said Shikamaru sourly.

"It's bigger than that! She got engaged last night! Ryuu proposed to her and she accepted!" Ino said this with a huge smile on her face, with sparkly eyes and even a small "squee!" could be heard.

Shikamaru could only be silent at this; he didn't know what to think. Just when he'd thought he was completely over Temari, something like this brings back all the feelings he had for her. He suddenly felt a piercing pain in his heart, at the thought of Temari marrying some guy, kissing him, being with him.

"SHIKAMARU WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Said Ino flinching as a glass of water shattered in Shikamaru's hand.

"Nothing, I'm just cranky in the mornings." Said Shikamaru getting dressed quickly and walking out the door.

"W-Wait! Where are you going? You have to go with me, please!" Ino ran toward him and grabbed his arm. "Please, this is important, Temari's a good friend of mine. And I don't wanna show up alone at the party!"

Sighing, Shikamaru turned around and waited for Ino to finish dressing. "Well, if Temari wants to be trapped in a marriage with that MEATHEAD, all the luck in the world to her!" Thought Shikamaru bitterly as he shoved away thoughts of having to attend their wedding.

Shikamaru and Ino arrived at the party, and it was quite packed, many of Konoha's residents were present at the party. Despite the numerous guests attending, Shikamaru's eye easily found Temari, she looked amazing. More than that, utterly fantastic. No, even more than that…"Sexy…" Thought Shikamaru.

Temari was in a dark violet dress that hugged her curves in all the right places, Shikamaru noted this and found himself becoming flushed.

"Hey Shikamaru, can you go up to Temari and give her my regards, I gotta hit the little girl's room. Thanks you're the best!" Shikamaru had no time to argue, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk up to Temari.

"Hey, um, congratulations on your engagement, may it be long and prosperous." Shikamaru felt like he could've choked on these words.

Temari was completely caught by surprise, she couldn't believe that he was saying this, but she could see in his eyes the sorrow and pain, she felt these feelings herself, but neither of them had the guts to say anything. Instead Temari proceeded to pour herself some punch, meanwhile her eyes were locked on Shikamaru.

"Wow, thanks so mu-YEOUCH!" Temari had not been paying close enough attention, and instead of grabbing the ladle to the punch bowl, she instead submerged her entire hand in a vat of boiling soup.

"Oh my god! This pain is unearthly, god, I'm so stupid!" Said Temari as she flailed her burning hand in the air meanwhile wincing from the pain.

"Oh geez, here, let me…" Said Shikamaru reaching for Temari's hand. To his surprise she pulled her hand away.

"It's okay, um don't touch me, I'll be fine." Said Temari as her eyes watered from the obvious pain.

"Temari! Just let me help, your hand is gonna be in pain even longer unless you let me help you, come on. Troublesome woman!" Said Shikamaru and with a flourish he grabbed a hold of Temari's waist and walked her into one of the bathrooms.

"There! Geez, stick your hand in here." Said Shikamaru as he ran cold water in the sink.

"Oh my godddd…that feels amazing. So much better." Temari's eyes closed as she savored the cold water running over her burning hand. She opened an eye, and saw Shikamaru waiting expectantly.

"Oh yeah, um, Thanks Shika for helping me." Grumbled Temari, embarrassed.

"Heh, she looks cute when she blushes. Too bad she's such a troublesome girl." Thought Shikamaru to himself, "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, you're lucky I was there, you could've lost your hand. I saved your life!" said Shikamaru with a sly smirk.

"Hah, you're a riot." said Temari sarcastically, but with a smile on her face.

"So, you and Ryuu, unexpected engagement huh?" said Shikamaru trying to appear as composed and indifferent as possible.

"You're telling me, I was expecting him to break up with me, not propose to me. But, he's a nice guy." Temari said, pretending to be focused on her hand.

"You guys in love?" Shikamaru said, looking right at Temari sternly.

"…O-Of course!" Temari sputtered, a little too loudly.

"You hesitated."

"That doesn't mean anything! Shut up, I do love him."

"Do you? Honestly. Tell me the truth."

Temari could only be silent, it was this absence of words that answered Shikamaru's question as clear as if she said it out loud.

"I'm still waiting for my answer." Shikamaru was standing very close to Temari, so close in fact, that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

Temari began to feel dizzy, being so close to him was having an intoxicating effect on her. "Honestly…I think I could love him one day, but no. I'm not in love with him right now." Temari's eyes welled with tears when she realized how cruel she was being to Ryuu. "It's not fair to Ryuu, but…you're so happy with Ino, I thought that maybe if I got serious with Ryuu, I could be happy with him too…"

Temari was about to rush out of the room when she felt a strong hand grab a hold of her arm, she felt herself being pulled back.

"Wait. Tell me more about this sham marriage of yours." Shikamaru said sternly, meanwhile gently wiping a tear off Temari's cheek.

"What's there to know, we'll probably move away from Konoha, maybe start a family, do that couple thing." Temari said regretfully.

"How could you possibly commit yourself to someone you don't love?" Shikamaru said, with a look in his eyes that hinted…betrayal?

"Because I couldn't possibly have the person I DO love!" Yelled Temari angrily.

A/N: That's it kiddos! It's late, and I am very tired. Teehee, I know it's totally cheese at the end, but give me a break, I basically just watched Winter Sonata before typing it, hence the painfully cheesy ending. I will see if I actually get reviews for this, I will definitely continue.