#nrtccweek22

Naruto Canon Couples Week 2022: Shikamaru and Temari

“Tell me why I should agree to this proposal.”

Bright green eyes stared at him, hard and unyielding.

This is such a pain in the ass!

Shikamaru sighed inwardly but he didn’t slump, only stood up straighter before his interrogator. This was not what he was expecting when he’d come here to Suna to propose.

Still, he would answer the question.

“The Naras have been a strong clan throughout Konoha’s history. We are a respected family and will not be a burden to yours. In fact, I can safely say that your social standing will not be reduced with this marriage when our households will be combined. As a shinobi, I know that my job won’t allow for much stability, but I will provide the best that life can offer with the income that I make. I will—”

“Shikamaru, stop.” Gaara’s eyes were now flashing with sympathy.

“Huh?” Shikamaru frowned at him across the Kazekage’s desk. “Isn’t that what you wanted to hear? I’m listing all the assets I bring into this marriage so that you’ll agree to it.”

Gaara smiled. “I’ve already agreed to it precisely because I already know those assets you’re listing. But—” He shook his head at Shikamaru when he saw the confusion on his face. “You’re missing the most important part. I’ll agree to the marriage only if you can answer this question sincerely: Do you loveTemari?”

“Oh.” Shikamaru flushed. Yeah. The Kazekage had a good point.

Gaara was still waiting patiently for his answer, but his face was amused.

Shikamaru cleared his throat and then mumbled, “Yes, Gaara, I love her.”

“Okay. You have mypermission.”

Gaara laughed when he saw the relief on Shikamaru’s face. “Now quit procrastinating by being in here and go to her.”

Shikamaru laughed, too. “Was I that obvious?”

“Yes.”

Shikamaru shook his head. “Shit.”

“Yes.” Gaara folded his arms and continued smiling at his future brother-in-law with sympathy. “You don’t want to keep my sister waiting.”

Shikamaru sighed. “Ugh. Why can’t you just tell her to marry me? It’s just so much easier to propose to you.”

Gaara laughed again but he shook his head. “You know she can’t be forced into doing anything.”

Shikamaru snorted. “It is so ironic that you ended up being the nicer one.”

“Go already.”

Shikamaru shook himself and then bowed deeply before Temari’s brother. “Thank you for your time.”

Gaara bowed in response. “You have my blessing, Shikamaru, and I wish you good luck.”

***

She knew, of course, why he was here.

Temari watched him approach her and folded her fan. She then tucked it behind her and faced her students. “I’m dismissing you from the rest of the training for today.” Her announcement was met by smiles. “But you’ll make up for it by coming in two hours early tomorrow morning.”

She only heard the grumbling from the kids when they were several feet away from her, beyond the gates of the training field.

Hmph! As if she couldn’t hear them.

But he was close now. She raised a brow. “Shikamaru.”

“Temari.” He bowed. “I just talked to Gaara and now I’ve come to find you to ask for your hand in marriage.”

“Hmph! I knew it. You don’t have your usual lazy expression on your face.”

“So you know me enough to know that?”

She pursed her lips. “My knowledge of you is shallow. You only have two expressions: lazy and not lazy.”

He tried to stifle his smile and attempted a serious expression. “But I’ve really come to propose.”

She folded her arms and her expression dubious, asked, “How?”

“I will not go down on one knee.”

“I will smack you if you do.”

He laughed. “I don’t have a ring, either.”

“Good. I don’t trust your taste in jewelry.”

He smiled. “I’ll tell you I love you.”

She nodded. “A necessary requirement.”

“And promise you that I will do my best to make you happy.”

“Doubtful.” She made face. “But I will make sure you hold on to that promise.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

Temari shrugged. “But you love me anyway. Continue with this ‘proposal.’”

He was grinning, enjoying himself. “And I’ll apologize sincerely because this marriage will take you away from your beloved home.”

“True, but it won’t kill me.”

He spoke as he reached out a hand. “And I’ll sloooowly bring my hand closer to one of yours so that you don’t react instinctively to cut it off.”

She looked down at his hand and allowed him to grasp hers. “Smart move.”

“I’m known for that.”

“Good thing because I kill fools for a living.”

He laughed but he became serious again. “Then I will look deeply into your eyes.”

She met his gaze and snorted. “And I will restrain myself from making a face to prove to you that I can endure anything.”

“And then I’ll just simply ask you: Temari, do you want to marry me?”

Finally, she smiled at him. “And I will say: Yes, Shikamaru. I will marry you because I do love you despite your faults.”

“And then we kiss?” he asked.

“Yes.”

They did.

Naruto Canon Couples Week 2022: Sasuke and Sakura

Meow.

The quiet cry of the cat that had followed him to this tree caught his attention, causing him to open his eyes. Sasuke reached into his pocket and brought out the catnip he carried with him for occasions like these.

He’d been resting his eyes, tired from his trip, his head leaning against the tree trunk when he’d heard the rustle and the inevitable quiet footfalls that always followed him when he was out in nature, away from Konoha, on one of his redemption trips.

He watched as the cat nibbled on the food he’d thrown onto the grass. When all the food was gone, the black and white cat looked at him and then slowly approached to rub itself against his leg.

“Not another one?” came an amused voice. She’d spoken softly to try not to startle the cat, but it inevitably heard her and scampered away to leave the couple alone.

Sasuke looked up at Sakura and smiled.

She shook her head and then looked at him ruefully. “They just hate me.”

“No, they just want to give us privacy.”

Sakura blinked and she tried to hide the flush of pleasure she felt by looking down at her hands and at the kindling she’d gathered. “Oh, I’m just going to—” but she broke off with a fluster and stepped away from him. She walked a few paces to the spot she’d decided to build a fire and dropped the branches and twigs she’d just gathered.

She looked up when she heard the startled crows fly off from the sound of her suddenly dropping the kindling on the grass. They were setting up camp for the night in this clearing, this place Sasuke felt was safe enough to lower their guards and fully rest for the night.

“Sakura.”

She looked at him.

“Aren’t you tired?” He patted the space next to him. “You should rest, too.”

She shook her head and smiled at him. “I wanted to set up the tent while there’s still light.”

“Come rest. I’ll do it later.” Again, he patted the grass beside his hip.

She didn’t need another invitation. She came to him, intending to sit next to him, but her sudden tired yawn made her change her mind. Instead, she smiled at him in question and he nodded in response, shifting on the grass so that she could use his lap for a pillow. Sakura then laid down on her side and rested her head on his thigh. He shook his cloak and laid it on top of her, his fingers brushing against her hair as she sighed her thanks. She was asleep in minutes.

He didn’t blame her. She’d taken the last watch last night so he knew she was still tired from her vigil.

In the quiet of the moment, another visitor came.

Meow.

He was already reaching for his pocket, but he smiled at this one, a different one from before. This one was a tiger tabby, eyes looking at him with confidence, somehow knowing Sasuke was decidedly a cat person.

Unlike Sakura, who was indifferent to cats and animals—unless they were giant, mystical slugs.

When the cat had gotten its fill of food, it swished its tail towards Sasuke in a gesture of thanks, and then silently padded away, leaving him looking down at his wife.

He’d switched to feeding these creatures catnip because he couldn’t keep sharing with them the food she made for him.

The one time he’d told her of sharing the onigiri she’d made with the cats, her brows had risen with surprise but she’d said nothing about it. And he’d realized too late how she might have taken that to mean that he didn’t appreciate the food she made for him.

She didn’t say anything, but the time Sasuke had run into Naruto when he’d been back in Konoha, he knew he’d done something bad. Naruto had mentioned that Sakura had stopped by the Uzumaki home to ask Hinata for tips on how to cook better.

In his opinion, Sakura didn’t need to do any of that stuff.

But Sasuke still picked up on it, those rare instances when she’d show her vulnerability to him, her lack of confidence when it came to her home-cooked meals, the intense and hopeful way Sakura looked at him while he ate.

“It’s really good, Sakura.”

And of course, he wasn’t lying when he would tell her it was good. Because she was getting better.

She knew about his own mother’s cooking. Mikoto Uchiha, from a traditional Japanese family, had known how to cook, of course. But Sakura’s own mother hadn’t known how to and naturally hadn’t taught her daughter how to cook.

But he loved that about Sakura, the way she would always take the reins. If there was something that needed to be done, she would go ahead and do it.

And she’d taken it upon herself to get better at cooking by seeking Hinata’s help so that she could prepare the meals he’d eaten during his childhood, those dishes his mother prepared for him in his youth.

Sasuke truly appreciated it.

Still, she didn’t need to go through all that trouble—just for him.

Still, it was not his place to say anything about it to Sakura, because this was something she wanted to do, her way to show him how much she loved him, that it was all worth the effort.

He looked down at the sleeping Sakura and again brushed his hand against her cheek. She sighed drowsily in response and murmured his name. “Sasuke.”

And he hoped that she could see how much he was trying to be a better husband, at trying to say the truth, to voice his thoughts aloud so she could understand that he loved everything she made for him, loved everything she did for him.

Naruto Canon Couples Week 2022: Chouji and Karui

The first time he became aware of her was right after the Pain attack. He’d been on his way to the Nara’s forest to gather some of the herbs that were needed for the food pills his family made.

Chouji had been rushing, but he’d stopped when he’d heard the crying. It wasn’t even a gentle kind of crying. It was a woman—an adult from the sound of it—who was full-on bawling, with unladylike snorts, raw tears, and rough gulps of breath.

Filled with a lot of guilt.

Then a male voice broke through the sounds of crying and said, “Karui, you got it out of your system but you’re going to have to apologize to him. You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” A sniffle, then she blew her nose into what Chouji hoped was a hanky, or some tissues, at least. “But I don’t think I can do it right now, Omoi. Ugh. I feel horrible. But what Konoha did to Killer Bee-sama! Somebody has to pay for that!”

He felt awkward for being here, but he didn’t want to give away that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

The man called Omoi was silent for a while, but then he sighed and said, “It wasn’t his fault. But you still need to apologize for beating the shit out of him.”

A loud wail. “I know! But when enough time has passed, I’ll do it face to face.”

The man sighed. “Ifwe live through this inevitable war…”

And the reason for the woman crying finally made sense after—when Shikamaru and Sai had explained why Naruto was so beat up after those Kumo shinobi had stopped by in Konoha.

… . .

The second time, he actually saw her—in the middle of the war. He’d been with his division on the sandy beaches of Kumo, fighting against Edo-tensei-ed enemies that still made him tremble with horror, facing the dead who by rights should have been at peace.

And then facing Asuma-sensei, one of the hardest things he’d ever done in his life.

But he’d seen her, Karui, a shinobi of the Cloud, fighting alongside her fellow ninjas. She was hacking, whirling, hitting everything that came within her range. Her hair underneath that bandana was a beautiful shade of auburn. And he’d been close enough to see that her eyes were light, amber, but burning with intensity as she continued to defend herself and the people around her.

He, of course, had his own hands full fighting off the enemy, but mostly holding down the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation with his three-man cell. But even with the intensity of the fighting around him, he was still very aware of her.

During one of the breaks in the fighting, he’d seen her wipe her brow and then grab a drink from one of the buckets being passed around. Instead of drinking from the small cup, though, she’d run over to one of the injured and tried to get the person to drink.

Chouji’s impression of her changed in that instant. Despite his initial anger when he’d found out that Karui had been the one who’d inflicted so much pain on Naruto, he decided that at her core, she was nice.

And he liked nice women.

… . .

The third time he saw her, the battlefield had moved away from the shores, and he’d watched with bated breath as she fell from the sky, but still yelling encouragement at Killer-Bee when they’d launched their surprise attack against Obito and Madara.

Luckily, one of the other shinobi had caught her and they’d continued to fight until the Juubi had been defeated and they’d all been released from their Tsukuyomi dreams.

Chouji had sat up abruptly when he’d been rescued, startled to see that he was next to Shikamaru. When Madara had cast the genjutsu, he’d fallen next to Shikamaru. But Shikamaru was already getting up, trying to organize some kind of effort to help the seriously injured.

Groggily he stood up, too, and Chouji was hit with the hunger that always hit him when he’d exhausted all his chakra, his energy draining out of him during the war. Still, as he looked around at his fellow shinobi, he could tell that others needed the food pills he’d kept as an emergency and exactly for times like these.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could hear and see Karui, too, doing the same thing. He saw her grab something from her pocket and handed it to the person lying on the ground. At first, they refused, shaking their head, but she shook her fist.

“Eat it!” she yelled. “That should be enough for you to get your energy back. Once you can do that, you can help us with getting everyone up. The more people we can get moving, the quicker we’ll all recover.”

And the shinobi had quickly taken the small bit of food and chewed it.

Karui suddenly met Chouji’s eyes. He held up his palm to show her the rest of his food pills and she nodded in response. She went back to working and he was forced to do the same.

When they’d done all they could, the two of them had suddenly found themselves sitting next to each other, exhausted.

Sitting there in the aftermath of the war, when the worry and chaos had finally subsided, he realized again that underneath her rough and tough exterior, Karui from Kumogakure was a nice woman.

And Chouji definitely liked nice women.