Visiting the Sand ((Open))

"Yeah, that makes sense, have to start off with the more basic jutsu before you can move on to the higher ranked ones." she agreed, popping a dango into her mouth.

"So how's training been going lately?" asks Shikamaru who then takes a sip of his water.

"Pretty decent, had to devliver some important documents out to the Land of Birds last week, ran into some ninja that tried to steal them, but it wasn't that hard. How bout you?" she asks.

"Well, my most interesting one so far was one that wasn't even intended to be a mission for me. You see there were some "ninja" harrasing the academy students. I happened to be. Well, I'll be honest, I was on the roof of the building next to the academy trying to sneak in some sleep. It sounds weird but the setup of that building is pretty cool. Anyways, I couldn't sleep because of the commotion, so I went down to ask them to be quiet. That's when I found out that the "ninja" had been harrassing the students. On quick glance I noticed that there headbands had two screws on each side instead of three. I used shadow possession jutsu on them and had the Third Hokage's grandson get someone. It didn't take much to get them to say that some old guy was selling headbands. So we went and apprehended him. After all, that's a very serious crime. When all was said and done we found 30 people who had the fake headbands.", As shikamaru finishes saying that he takes a drink of water.

She watched him drink his water after his story and she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Must've been quite an interesting day for you...never had a mission like that I'll give you that."

"Actually I liked it. It made me use my head for once." says Shikamaru not realizing how what he just said could be taken as.

She blinked, staring at him a bit surprised for a moment before she quickly regained her compsoure. "Hm, really...? I'm surprised you didn't say it was troublesome and messed up your day." she said.

"No, troublesome would be manual labor or something that is beyond my control.. That mission was only troublesome when I got woke up.", says Shikamaru

"Ah, I think you think everything is troublesome...okay, not everything." she corrected herself before popping another dango into her mouth, then washing it down with some water.

Shikamaru laughs a little. "I'll admit, I find more things troublesome than I don't"

"Bet if you'd stop complaining so much, you'd probably could become a jounin sooner than you think..." she suggested with a small grin.

"Actually I've already applied to be ranked so we'll see what happens. Don't get me wrong though, it wasn't my idea to do it."

"Well regardless, it could probably do you some good, you've obviously got potential and I'd hate for you to waste it." she said with a faint smirk.

"Yeah, whatever.", says Shikamaru but you can tell from the tone that he said it in that he really appreciates the compliment.

She laughed before she pulled out some money to pay for her dango and water. "So, how much longer do you plan on staying here until you return to the Leaf Village?"

"Maybe a day or two. I'd stay longer, but I don't have the time.", Shikamaru sees her oull out some money. "Earlier when I said I'd pay I meant for the both of us.", says Shikamaru as he pulls out enough money for both of them. "Missions may be troublesome, but I take and complete enough of them to have a decent sum of money."

She stares at the money before looking up at him with a small smile. "Hm...thanks. And if you ever come back to visit, don't be a stranger alright?" she said with a soft chuckle.

Shikamaru smiles a bit. "Alright" says Shikamaru. Shikamaru finishes his water and as the waiter comes back by with the bill Shikamaru hands him the money. Shikamaru than gives him a tip.

She got up from the table and followed him out the tea house, quickly tightening the fan strap on her back. "Well, guess I'll see you around. I need to get back to the Kazekage's office and see if I'm needed for anything."

Shikamaru is about to say something when a messenger hawk swoops down. It is one of the Leaf Village's messengers. Shikamaru holds out his arm and the hawk perches on it. Then shikamaru unattaches the note. He scans it and then his jaw drops and he face palms. "I guess I'm leaving today then. I have a mission in 4 days apparently. I wish pops wouldn't tell them that I'd do things. Anyways, that was...... enjoyable. See ya." says Shikamaru to Temari. He then pulls out something to write with and writes that he'll be back likely in three days. He reattaches the letter and the hawk flies off. Shikamaru waves goodbye and then walks off.

"Yeah, same here." she nodded her head a little and smiled faintly as she watched him walk off.

"Good luck on your mission Shikamaru, just remember I won't be there to rescue you like the last time." she teased with a small laugh. She turned around and headed in the opposite direction towards the Kazekages' office.

"I don't think you'd want to rescue me from it. It's cleaning out the Inuzuka's dog pens....." says Shikamaru "This'll be one of the more troublesome missions."