[ShikaTema] The Thirty Day Challenge

Day 15: Setsubun Holiday

Numerous indistict and incomprehensible mumbles were heard from a distance. It was unclear, indeed, but Temari could identify what was happening.

Three little kids, by observing their attitudes, would somewhat appear to be Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi in their early days. Reminiscing how they had grown, specifically her rough start with the aforementioned Sarutobi, only made the wind user engrave a smile on her lips.

"Let's scare sensei!"

Indubitably, such words would pertain, and connect to the upcoming event where people would wear creepy, scary costumes--even just masks--to celebrate it. Halloween, huh?

Naturally, Temari would pay them no mind. Feet continued dragging her forward, particularly to the nearby dumpling shop, until a group of kids blocked her way. Unknowingly bad at dealing with their kind, teal optics just glanced down at them. Surprisingly enough, the children didn't get scared of her.

"Big sis, big sis!" Called the little guy in the middle whilst both hands were clutching her black kimono in excitement. "Look at this mask!" Before her was the common oni mask. "Cool, right?!"

Oni are generic Japanese demon or ogre. They are mischievous creatures who aren't that difficult to scare away with a little effort. It is used usually in Setsubun Holiday to scare kids which they would push away by throwing beans at them.

The little child's attitude was definitely different from Konohamaru's when he was a kid, thus had Temari slightly loosened up, hand extending to reach the said mask.

Seeing her demeanour made the little girl and the other boy release the fear they were feeling. Apparently, Temari's name had reached their ears; they fear her capabilities, but look up at her in awe at the same time. Growing smiles of amazement carved themselves on their lips, their feet moving them closer towards the kunoichi.

This is an oni mask.

Scanning it a few moments, she did, before putting in on herself.

The kids stepped away, their giggles surrounding the atmosphere. It grabbed the other villagers' attentions, only smiling at the adorable situation. Even Temari was capable of something such as spending time with kids albeit she was deemed heartless at some point. "Wah, there's an oni! Find the beeaaans!" All of them separated ways, running around the village in fear that the oni might catch up to them.

Amused, the shinobi chuckled to herself, sighing after.

I should get back to work.

"Hey, Temari. Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be--"

In an attempt to turn around to continue drawing her path to the current hokage's area, a familiar voice of a certain pineapple-haired man stopped her on her tracks. She turned to him, forgetting that she still had the mask on.

"Whoa, what the hell!"

The man stumbled on the cemented floor of the named village, eyes opened wide, breathing as if had stopped.

Effortlessly, Temari removed the mask off from her, teal-tinted hues blinking twice in surprise. But instead of asking if he was okay, the lass only let out a series of laugh, but only audible for Shikamaru to hear.

Small tinges of red slashes appeared under his left eye indicating how embarrassed he was of what had just happened, not to mention that it was in front of a woman, one he deeply likes. However, along that embarrassment was the feeling of being astonished, of how alluring she really was when she's laughing.

At such an awkward moment for Shikamaru, the female began. "You look like you've seen a ghost," said her, a joke she unintentionally, and suddenly cracked out. Then, Temari extended her arm towards the man to help him stand. After all, it was her fault this happened to him.

Words refused to be composed, Shikamaru just accepted her offer. Yet, before he could even regain his balance from the sudden fall, he had accidentally pulled the female towards him with all his might, making their bodies stick against each other.

Ah, shit. Don't look down, Shikamaru. Don't look down!

Against his chest was Temari's. His thought kept repeating in his mind like some kind of mantra which he needed to utter over and over to make it effective, if not more. Hues kept themselves on her face, making sure that not even a glance was something he'd let land onto that.

Clueless of what actually was going in his mind, Temari hand her right arm on her side whilst holding the oni mask left by the children earlier. "You look really scared," uttered her, pertaining to the way how he stood after the incident. "Are you really sure you're okay?"

"Y-Yeah," answered him in a mutter. Shikamaru wanted to mention Temari's short conclave with the hokage, a discussion involving the allied villages, but his thinking was getting hazy, the urge to do something quite unnecessary in the middle of the public was strong.

He began moving his face closer to hers, planning to plant a kiss on her lips.

Assured that the noir-haired male was in good condition now, Temari placed the oni mask on Shikamaru's face to stop him from proceeding forward, whatever he was attempting to do.

The male shinobi tried to remove it as fast as he could, but he was bombarded by a number of kids laughing and giggling at him.

"Take the oni down!" The kid, who first spoke to Temari earlier, lead his friends to throw beans at Shikamaru, their laughs conquering the place.

Witnessing that the blonde female was chuckling at the unplanned event was enough for Shikamaru to see, still couldn't believe that someone like Temari could still soften around a guy like him, of all people. Whilst he marvelled at her beauty, he also had began questioning himself what she had seen in him.

---

"How many times do I have to tell you, Shikamaru?" Asked Chouji, munching his favourite chips first before continuing on. "You wanted it to be as low as you can, right? Stop doing things in public! You're making stuff so obvious," scolded the healthy-looking ninja.

He delivered his right hand behind his head to perform exactly two scratches. "Yeah, I know. It's just that...," he glanced away, avoiding the gazes of his best friend. "...It just comes. Not like I can stop that from happening."

"You can!" Said Chouji, undeniably fightning back. "Actually, you can. If the urge comes, if you know you had the urge to do something, go to somewhere private. Doing stuff in public is like openly showing what you actually wanted to keep as a secret."

To stop the troublesome argument from going, he responded with a sigh, and another, "Yeah, I get it," before Chouji intentionally let himself be left behind. "Chouji? What's..."

"She's here. I'll see you around later!" Ended him, vanishing after. He didn't even let Shikamaru answer him.

The male stopped from his tracks, placed both of his hands inside his pockets and waited for the female to reach him.

"If it isn't the oni earlier," remarked her as if to start a banter with the other.

Tiredly, Shikamaru responded, "Stop that."

Along the road followed their indistinct banters of amusement, lines thrown one after another. But the way they had smiles on their faces made it seem a natural thing, one of the reasons that would make them a unique pair, but an obvious couple.

(A/N: This was supposedly about Halloween, but at least, it's somewhat connected to it. x])