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A Little Harmony	By : antagonist Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1177 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
A Little Harmony

Shikamaru/Temari

Humour, romance, a bit of angst, fluff, eventual lemon, language
Disclaimer: Characters and names I do not own, the story I do.
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CHAPTER TWO
Ah. Of course. Why hadn’t Shikamaru noticed? The reason she looked so familiar that night was because she was the bloody daughter of Sabakuno-sensei. He should’ve noticed the very apparent similarity of their last names. Then again, who would ever think of putting “punk rocker daughter” of “renowned conductor” together? Hmm?
Exactly his point.
He’d seen her once, a few years back. That was the time he was scouted out for his scholarship into Konoha. That was really a long time ago, and she’d looked much different. Honestly, if it weren’t for Shikamaru’s photographic memory, he probably would never have recognized her. He looked at her once again, amused by the apparent annoyance that seemed to exude from her. Her father had insisted that he and his family luncheon with a few members of the orchestra. The three siblings didn’t look too excited – then again, Gaara hardly had a change of expression... but Shikamaru figured it was safe to assume he wasn’t really pleased.
At the moment, Sabakuno-sensei was giving a thorough introduction of Akimichi Chouji, lead tuba player of the orchestra. Of course, Chouji seemed much too preoccupied with his food to listen to whatever Sabakuno-sensei had to say and only grunted whenever a question was asked. Shikamaru admired his best friend – he wasn’t talented at the instrument, that much was certain, however, he worked really hard. He had practiced hour after hour every day just so he could stand in the same room as that orchestra he so admired. He had eventually made it in the end, and as much as everyone liked to attribute it to overrated talent (not that Chouji ever countered them), Shikamaru knew it was blood and guts... to him, that seemed way more than whatever he achieved in his lifetime because he was born with “talent”. It was times like these that made Shikamaru curse his gifts. He didn’t feel right being called number one and all that if he hardly worked for it – it didn’t seem fair to all those who worked hard, like Chouji. If he really thought about it, had he not been a “genius” and had he been given a normal life in a normal school... he probably would just end up in a no where job in the middle of... well, nowhere. He didn’t know whether it was the fact that he hardly had to put any effort into anything now to get them done or not, but... he just didn’t think he’d have the drive to do anything.
Watching clouds was so much more fun.
He looked down at his plate and had to stop himself from making a face. How anyone would pay money to eat this crap was beyond him. Originally he hadn’t minded to coming along since he thought he was getting a free meal... but so far he had yet been given anything edible the past twenty minutes. He sighed as he watched Chouji scarf down his food. The kid was amazing, wasn’t he?
Shikamaru tried sampling one of the strange wormy things on his plate, and effectively started choking when he looked up to see Temari staring pointedly at him. The annoyance and sheer dislike was palpable. Chouji thumped him on the back and Sabakuno-sensei asked him if he was alright. Shikamaru nodded, still reeling from the surprise. Geez, what’s her problem? He pointedly looked away, making a mental note not to look in her direction ever again.
But, of course he did.
She was not staring at him now, but he could see a smirk. Was she trying not to laugh?
Shikamaru was floored.
Why had she been staring at him with such... dislike? Shikamaru thought back. He hadn’t done anything worth despising him for... yet. So, what exactly warranted that heated glare? Shikamaru chewed on his fork, there being nothing else on his plate worth chewing, or rather, he dared chew.
She was, indeed, a very interesting person.
He needed to stay away from her.
-               -               -
He just sat there. The whole entire time their father ranted about his accomplishments and achievements and utter perfection... the Nara just sat there, looking bored, and completely uninterested. It didn’t seem to phase their father at all, but it was just a little irritating that she and her brothers were being insulted using him as a comparison, and he couldn’t even bother pretending to look humble or modest or ashamed of his bloody self.
It was infuriating. Just a tad.
It served him right to choke on that... thing... he was eating. Whatever it was. God knows, she didn’t know what was on her own plate, let alone the annoying one’s. She was relieved when they broke party and went their separate ways. She knew she would probably not see him again for the next couple of years. If she was forced to see him again, she’d probably punch that annoying I-Don’t-Care-About-Anything face of his in and their father would never let her see the end of it.
She sighed and continued her solitary walk around the city. She was bored and didn’t really have anything to do so she’d decided to step outside and take a nice little walk. Kankuro was too busy with his dolls, and Gaara was sitting in his brooding corner, lyric-writing mode on. And so, she was alone. Ah well, she liked solitary walks. It was much better than walking with a bunch of guys who would just attract attention. Once the girls started rushing in asking for autographs, what then? Their walk would’ve been effectively rendered over.
She paused in front of a music store. She walked in, pushing her sunglasses – she wore them so she would be harder to recognize – up, with the intention of looking at some nice electric basses. Instead, she was confronted with a bunch of violins, violas and the smell of wood polish. She pouted. Damn, wrong store. She looked around. Actually, the smell of wood polish wasn’t so bad. Behind the counter there was a white-haired man with his nose buried in a book. Temari smirked at the book he was reading – Kankuro loved those too. Temari walked around the store for the sake of it – she didn’t have anything else better to do. Besides, it’d look weird to walk out right after she just got in. Eventually, something caught her eye.
Hmm... A double bass, eh?
Four strings. She wondered. The string bass looked similar to her bass guitar. Looking around to make sure no one was present, particularly the man behind the counter, she unhooked the big instrument from its stand and leaned it against her. Man, it’s huge! She placed her fingers on the neck and plucked at the strings with a little hesitation. It sounded different from her guitar, that’s for sure... but it wasn’t a bad sound. It was more... whole. Deep. Sort of powerful. She liked the feel of power.
She experimented a bit, moving her hand across the neck to get the feel for it. She tried to imagine where the frets would have been and tried to see if playing it that way would work. Eventually, she managed to get the hang of it. Within fifteen minutes she was playing scales and arpeggios with impressive fluency. She was so engrossed in the instrument that she was startled (and practically sent to another galaxy) when she heard the sound of a familiar voice. She turned around wide-eyed to see Shikamaru paying the man at the counter. Holy shit. How long has he been there?
“Thanks, Kakashi-sensei,” he nodded at the man behind the counter who did likewise. Shikamaru turned around, and looked a little surprised to find that she was looking at him. He smirked. Temari’s eyes grew wider. He... smirked?
“You’re not too bad, you know,” he said, turning around. “I think you sound better playing a double bass than a bass guitar.”
Temari grew red. Well, at least it felt like she did. She never blushed – it didn’t show on her face. Displaying weakness was never an option for her, ever. Her voice remained even as she asked, “How long have you been listening?”
“Hmm,” Shikamaru said, pausing and turning around. “Well, I was in this store long before you walked in. So...”
What?! Why didn’t Temari notice?!
“I guess, from the beginning?” he grinned. “That was your first time touching a double bass, wasn’t it?”
She nodded, raising an eyebrow.
“Not bad.”
With that, the Nara walked out of the store, leaving Temari a little bit more than just a tad irritated.
Did he just say... she was better at the string bass than her bass guitar? She fumed. That bastard. How dare he?! The guitar was her life... he had no idea how hard she’d worked all this time to get as good as she was. She had to prevent herself from slamming the double bass back into its stand and she stomped out of the store, too angry to hear the quiet Come back again! that came from behind Kakashi’s book.
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Hmm... That was fairly interesting, Shikamaru thought as he trekked back home, violin case in hand. When he was forced to leave the comfort of his bed this morning to retrieve his restrung violin at Kakashi-sensei’s store, he thought it was a pain. But... that pain seemed to be worth it to witness such a rare sight. For someone who’d had no experience with a double bass before, it really was rather impressive. Shikamaru hummed and looked up. Was she some sort of genius? It seemed she herself hadn’t noticed yet.
“Shikamaru!” a friendly voice pierced his thoughts causing Shikamaru to still and look towards the source of said voice. One look at who screamed it and Shikamaru started turning around. He could always take the long way home, after all.
“Dude!” the voice persisted. “Don’t be such an ass!” Inuzuka Kiba was much too quick for him and Shikamaru was quickly turned around. He faced a grinning dog-like boy and moaned. Out loud. He didn’t even bother trying to hide his annoyance. Kiba just laughed. After knowing Shikamaru for so long, he was used to it.
“Just the man we were looking for, dude!” he said, grabbing his shoulders and dragging him over to the group waiting for him. He waved at his friends and grinned, once again. “Look who I found, everyone!”
Aburame Shino nodded at Shikamaru and continued tuning his viola, not bothering to remove his sunglasses. Hyuuga Hinata smiled sweetly like she always did, but this time it had a tinge of apology in it – probably because she knew Kiba had dragged Shikamaru here. Shikamaru waited for the bombshell... but it never came. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Kiba, almost afraid to ask the inevitable question. “Okay. What do you want?”
Kiba feigned a hurt face. “Ouch, man, you hurt me with that tone.”
Shikamaru continued looking at him, as if bored of the situation already. “Seriously... I have better things to do.” He started turning but Kiba held on to him once again. “Look man, we need you.”
Shikamaru paused (and not without a sigh), giving him consent to continue.
Kiba smiled. “I promised sis I’d help her out today. You know, entertain the old people as they walk around the park and shit like that,” Kiba waved his arms as if doing so would help his situation. His sister worked for the city government and was in charge of parks and recreation, this much Shikamaru knew. “But, as you can see, there are only three of us. But, in a string quartet we need four. Hinata’s cousin – who promised to show,” he seemed to spit the words out, enunciating each syllable, causing Hinata to wince at each word, “didn’t... and now, we’re in a jam.”
Shikamaru looked around him. Shino was at his viola, Hinata played the violin. He didn’t see a cello.
“And you have your violin with you! That’s brilliant!”
Shikamaru looked down at his violin case. Dammit.
“Look, Kiba I’d love to bu-”
“It’s not like you won’t be compensated.” Kiba grinned, winking. Shikamaru couldn’t help but shudder. The kid should stop winking, it did not look good. Shikamaru sighed yet again – he seemed to be doing that quite a lot today, huh? – and figured it was a losing battle to argue with the over-enthusiastic Inuzuka. Ah well, his bed wouldn’t be going anywhere... and really, people were supposed to spend Sunday mornings outdoors in the first place, right?
As if reading his mind, Kiba grinned and told Shikamaru to start tuning up. The show was going to start in a few minutes. Shikamaru wondered if he really was that predictable. He hadn’t said anything about agreeing, but it seemed Kiba was pretty sure he had. Ah well, it was too early in the late morning to care about that right now. Hell, it was too early, as far as Shikamaru was concerned, to care about anything at all.
Hinata asked if she could tune her violin based on his, and he agreed since he’d just had it restrung and assumed that Kakashi-sensei, no matter how unpunctual the guy was, would have at least tuned it before giving it back. Shino listened in on the tuning session and tweaked his own instrument. Suddenly, out of no where, the sound of a dying moose (or something along those lines) exploded. Shikamaru turned around in surprise, still reeling from the shockwaves of the huge sound. Kiba grinned sheepishly from behind a double bass.
Wait. A double bass?
“Where’s the cello, Kiba?”
Kiba scratched his head. “Well, okay, I know we’re supposed to use a cello and all that... but, like, mine got busted and it’s still at the store. I tried getting it back today but they said they needed more time or something. I tried renting a cello from them, but this baby’s all they had to spare,” he shrugged. “Some sort of wedding or something like that.”
Shikamaru rubbed his temple. A double bass? He wondered if it was going to work out. Sure, they’d still literally be a string quartet, but the bassist needed to be exceptionally good at it in order to make up for its low pitch. He watched as Kiba felt his way around the big instrument and sighed, unsure if he even wanted to hear the answer to his following question.
“Kiba, do you even play the double bass?”
Kiba looked up, eyes a little unsure. Shikamaru groaned. He knew it. Kiba was a cellist. And unfortunately for Kiba’s case, the phrase “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” rings a resonating true.
“I can manage, yeah? It has four strings just like my cello... I can,” he smiled, “manage somehow. I think.”
Shikamaru stared at him. He sighed for probably the thousandth time that morning and wished it would start raining. As he set up with Hinata and Shino and listened to Kiba’s well-intentioned but poorly-executed attempts at the double bass, he couldn’t help but dread exactly what he managed to get himself into. He looked at the pieces they had line up.
Oh great. Mozart.
Damn. And he thought today would be a good day.
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Temari was storming down the streets still trying to calm herself and restraining herself from jumping at and mutilating anyone who dared talk to her in her bad mood when she heard it: string music. Her eyes opened wide behind her glasses and she combed her head with her fingers in exasperation. Today just wasn’t her day, was it? She looked around, trying to identify the source of the music so she could stay away from it. It was coming from the park. She grimaced and started the opposite direction... when something caught her ear. She turned around and looked towards the park, cursing her own curiosity.
There was something wrong with the bass. She could definitely hear it. The bassist was trying, but something was off.
She leaned against a tree that was a few feet away from the group that was playing something from, if Temari remembered correctly from her childhood training, Mozart. She gave up trying to identify whether it was Quartet No. 1 or 16. Mozart really should’ve improved his titling skills if he was planning on composing so many goddamn pieces. All she knew was that it was definitely a challenging piece. She looked up at the struggling bassist and couldn’t help but smirk. The poor kid was trying, but really, really failing. She looked at the rest of the group. A shady guy on viola, hm. A pale, weak-looking girl on a violin.
She froze.
Nara on the other violin?
Argh. Was she cursed or something?
The piece ended – thank god – and Temari considered walking away or insulting them. Shikamaru answered that question for her when he looked up from his piece, saw her, and stared at her.
What was with the fucking stare, god dammit?!
She smirked at him – mostly because she didn’t know what else to do – and standing up straight, she half-shouted, “Your bassist sucks ass, Nara.” She made to turn and go when Shikamaru did something that surprised her.
“Hey, wait!”
She stilled. She turned around to see Shikamaru jogging towards her. Her eyes grew wide and she raised an eyebrow. Shikamaru stopped right in front of her, panting, as if he’d never had so much exercise in his life. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. Yeah, that’d probably be just right. He looked up at her, still staring and said, “You can read notes, right?”
She looked at him, then up at the group who was looking at them strangely, back at him, then at the crappy bassist. Putting two and two together, she laughed. “No way, man. No way.” He was dreaming. Yeah, dreaming.
“Look, we really need it. Kiba’s no good at the bass. He’s a cellist who thinks he is.”
“Why do you even have a double bass there? Aren’t quartets supposed to have two violins, a viola and a cello?”
“Yeah, well. Long story, don’t want to bother explaining.” He looked bored and impatient.
Temari raised an eyebrow. Ah, she was testing his patience, was she? She... kind of liked that. Just a tad.
“Whatever, man. I’m not doing it.” She made to leave but Shikamaru grabbed her elbow and started dragging her towards their group. She smirked at his attempt and wrung herself free. Shikamaru looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“Please, Temari. We really need it.”
She stilled. What did he just call her? She popped yet another eyebrow but Shikamaru ignored her question and held her wrist instead and started dragging her away. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she couldn’t fight back. They reached the rest of the group who looked a bit confused. Shino, Hinata and Kiba looked from Shikamaru to Temari, and back again. Temari sighed and removed her sunglasses, placing them on top of her head. Temari couldn’t help but note how they didn’t jump up and squeal when they saw her face. She wondered for a second if they didn’t – god forbid – recognize her.
“Okay. As you probably already know the cello’s pitched higher than the double bass, that’s why you have to improvise a bit when playing to make it sound right. Kiba’s been trying to do that, but this is basically his first time with the double bass,” Shikamaru started explaining. Kiba smiled sheepishly at Temari and shrugged. Shikamaru took a copy of their next piece and handed it to Temari. “You know this piece?”
Temari’s eyes quickly ran over the page. Mozart’s Quartet No. 23 – it was a challenging (oh forget that, hard) piece. She knew it alright, but... she looked at the notes... he didn’t expect her to play it, did he? She nodded slowly, unsure of what was coming up next.
“Excellent.”
Shikamaru told Kiba to give her the double bass which he did without hesitation. Shino and Hinata continued watching, but this time they pretty much understood what Shikamaru was trying to do – he was trying to save all their asses.
Temari held the double bass and Kiba handed her the bow. She stared at it.
“Nara, I’ve never used a bow in my life. How do you expect me to-”
Kiba nearly fell over. Shikamaru shook his head. “It’s easy.”
He went over to her and fixed the bow to the proper grip in her hand. He was standing pretty close to her and she could feel his breath on her cheeks. She didn’t understand why, but her heart started thumping much louder and faster than what was considered normal. Oh god, is the Nara making me nervous?! She felt like banging her head on a wall somewhere. Shikamaru meanwhile, oblivious to the mental torture he was provoking in Temari, showed her how to stroke the double bass.
Fifteen minutes later, Temari found herself playing in a string quartet. In her head, she kept wishing a tornado or a thunder storm or anything would start before someone she knew showed up. If her father heard about this, she would never hear the end of it.
It was an interesting experience, though. She felt a sort of intimacy between the four of them, and it was strange. She didn’t know any of them and yet, she could make music with them. The notes and the way they blended with each other seemed to speak for them. It was an odd, yet simultaneously calming feeling. Completely different from performing on stage with her electric, but it was... intoxicating in its own way. It was different... but not necessarily worse. It was a different sort of excitement. She had struggled a little at first, but eventually got the hang of it. For the first time in her life, she thanked her father for forcing her to learn how to read notes as a child. After a while, a small crowd had gathered to watch and they all stood there amazed by the youngsters who apparently played really well. This wasn’t a first for Temari, but she couldn’t help but feel a little good about herself.
Sometime after one o’clock, the group disbanded. Kiba the supposed cellist, thanked her profusely for saving his ass and disappeared with the bass and his dog (where’d he come from?!) in tow. Hinata, the pale girl, bowed her farewell and left with Shino the shady guy who did the same. Temari sat down on the bench and watched after them. They were nice people... but something bothered her about them. They seemed... too nice. Suddenly, something cold was next to her cheek. She looked up to see Shikamaru handing her a can of pop. She took it, nodding her thanks and watched him sit next to her, opening his own can. She took a long-awaited gulp out of hers and sighed her relief and unspoken thanks. It had been a long morning.
“You really saved us back there. Thanks.”
Temari nodded. Still contemplating what it was exactly that bothered her about Shikamaru’s friends. Shikamaru looked at her intently, tilted his head... and suddenly chuckled. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Kiba didn’t mind you taking his spot because he himself knew he sucked,” Shikamaru began. “We’re all musicians here. We don’t play to show up anyone, or to prove we’re better than the other. We play because we love the way it... sounds and feels. Shino and Hinata were thankful for you. Kiba had no reason to be jealous. In fact, I think he may have a small crush on you now.”
Temari’s eyes widened. For a second there, it felt as if he’d read her mind. And that’s not really possible, is it?
Shikamaru smiled at her, “If he asks me for your number, what should I say?”
Temari laughed. “Nara, if you wanted to hit on me, do it directly and not behind some ruse.”
Shikamaru looked taken aback. “Hit on you? You’re kidding, right?”
Temari’s eyes gleamed in the afternoon sun. “Should I be?”
Shikamaru looked at her, confused. She chuckled. She liked playing with him. He looked pretty cute without his I’m-Bored-Save-Me face. She paused.
What did she just say?!
She looked at him. She once again felt the need to bang her head on a wall somewhere in order to regain her sanity which seemed to be AWOL right now.
“So, d’you play any other instruments?”
This startled her. Was he trying to change the topic?
“Yeah. The guitar.”
Shikamaru looked at her. She chuckled. “You know... the one with six strings?”
“Ah.”
“That was actually how I got into rock music. When we – my brothers and I – were children, our father forced us to learn classical music and stuff. The classical guitar was the only thing classical I ever went near. I guess he was still a bit disappointed. He’d wanted us to play in an orchestra he conducted, you know?”
Shikamaru nodded. “I thought as much. That’s why I was surprised to find out you out of all people was his daughter.”
She looked at him. He shrugged and said, “Well, you know. Rocker daughter and famous conductor father – they don’t really match.”
Temari couldn’t help but smile. Ah, so he did know who she was. Shikamaru saw her face change and chuckled.
“Yeah. Of course I know who you are Sabaku no Temari. Some of my friends are your stalkers. The only reason Hinata, Shino and Kiba didn’t make a big fuss out of you was because they don’t listen to anything other than classical, trust me. They don’t even know who the Rolling Stones are.”
Temari laughed. But inside, she was unnerved again. What is it with that mind-reading-type thing he keeps doing? Was she really that transparent or was he just over-perceptive? It... bothered her.
“I never liked classical music. No offence, but it’s boring. That’s probably the reason why I got into rock. You see, after I started learning the classical guitar, that was when I started... noticing guitar music, you know?”
Shikamaru looked like he didn’t.
“Well,” Temari tried explaining, fishing for words in her head. “When you listen to, say, a pop song or whatever, do you notice the fact that in the middle there’s an electric guitar solo? Well, before learning the guitar, I never noticed. I mostly focused on the lyrics and stuff... but when I did start noticing it, the instrument got more exciting and I started appreciating it more.” Temari shrugged. It was hard to explain... but it was something like that. Shikamaru nodded and looked forward thoughtfully. Temari wondered if he was still actually in the conversation. “How about you? What got you into the violin?”
Shikamaru shrugged. “My mother was always on my back about not doing anything and all that. Said, I was lazy.” Temari couldn’t help but smirk which Shikamaru probably caught but chose to ignore. Well, at least he admitted to his own faults. “So, I just agreed to learn whatever instrument she wanted me to learn. It was too much of a pain to bother fighting back, you know? Less energy would be wasted if I actually listened to her. Fighting that woman is a losing battle,” he took a final gulp from his can and scrunched it. “After that, it turned out I just happened to be some sort of musical genius and I pretty much went from there. Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I decided to play the piano instead.”
Temari blinked and stared at him, eyes wide and eyebrows arched. Then, she burst out laughing.
“Too much of a pain to fight your mother?” she said in between gasps. Shikamaru was looking at her now as if she’d gone crazy. “That’s rich. What kind of a life is that? Oh god.”
Shikamaru continued looking at her, still looking confused, only making Temari laugh harder.
“Do you not put effort into anything? You just do what you’re told since it’s too much of a ‘pain’ to fight the flow, don’t you?” It was kind of funny. “You know what? That’s pretty lame.”
Temari stood up, still laughing. She took one last gulp from her can and threw it into the bin next to the bench. She looked at Shikamaru who was suddenly looking at her in a completely different way. Her heart skipped a beat. Argh! Stop doing that! She turned around and raised her hand behind her as a wave good bye.
“Try to live life a little, Nara. It’d be a nice change.”
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A Little Harmony