This is my first work... So if I do not meet your expectations, please bear with me ^_^.

Thanks

"You want me to WHAT?"-

Shikamaru stood with his mouth slightly open. He was shocked, to say the least.

"Jeez, Shikamaru! For a genius, you sure are slow." said the pink haired girl smiling. "For the next four days you are going to take care of him." She said, pointing to the little baby in her arms. "Kurenai sensei is down with the flu' that's been going around and Hizuren is too young to be able to stay with her right now."

"I get that, but why ME?" Shikamaru breathed.

Sakura sighed, "He was originally going to stay with Hinata, but she is leaving on an escort mission in a few hours. I would take him in, but the flu' epidemic is keeping me at the hospital till odd hours."

"But that still does not answer my question" Shikamaru looked at Sakura.

"Where else is there? Do you want him to stay in the orphanage until sensei gets better? Because that's where he will have to go if no one keeps him." Sakura glared at him. "Didn't you say that you were going to be his sensei and take care of him? Or was that all talk?"

Shikamaru looked at the sleeping baby in the girl's arms. As if he knew he was being watched, the baby opened his eyes, and a wave of nostalgia washed over Shikamaru. 'He has his father's eyes.' He thought.

"Fine" Shikamaru sighed. "Four days." He stepped back to allow the girl to come in.

"I knew I could count on you, Shikamaru. You're a nice guy." Sakura smiled and walked in.

"And bring those in, would you?" She said pointing outside. Shikamaru walked outside his door and saw what looked like a collapsing crib and two full sized bags.

"All that stuff for four days?" He said surprised.

"Better safe than sorry" Sakura said grinning.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH…"

"WHAT THE - ? " Shikamaru rushed inside.

The baby had started to wail.

"Oh! He's woken up." Sakura said as she looked at the baby in the blankets.

"What now? Is he hungry? Do we feed him? What does he ea-…? Shikamaru blabbered anxiously.

"Whoa! Slow down boy. I fed him, so he shouldn't be hungry. Doesn't smell either" Sakura said holding the baby above her shoulders. "Maybe he's just reacting to unfamiliar surroundings. The difference in his house and this place is quite strong, and he is the third's grandson after all, so he had to notice, didn't you?" She said to the little bundle of blankets in her arm. "Of course you did" She smiled at the baby.

"You go and get the stuff inside, Shikamaru, I'll handle Hizuren" She said to the sweating boy.

Shikamaru brought the stuff inside and put it in a corner. He started putting the crib together. He worked in silence for a few minutes. When he looked up he saw that Sakura had managed to calm Hizuren down. "That was fast!" He thought. Sakura was looking around the room. He saw one eyebrow go up as she saw the ashtray on the table.

"I thought you stopped smoking, Shikamaru. I can't have Hizuren exposed to smoke." She frowned at him.

"I did" Shikamaru replied. He sat down with his back to the wall and looked at the ashtray. "It was Asuma's. I just keep it around for the memories" He looked at the baby now sound asleep in Sakura's arms and said," Did you know Asuma quit too?" He looked at the pink haired girl. "Just before we left for the mission." Sakura bowed her head. Shikamaru had never talked to anyone about Asuma, except with Kurenai sensei.

"Anyways" Shikamaru said standing up "Better put him in the crib"

"Yeah" Sakura said taking a look at Hizuren.

Sakura felt relieved at this change in the topic. She didn't want Shikamaru to think about Asuma. She looked around her trying to find some neutral topic to talk about.

"Say, Shikamaru" She said "Why aren't you doing something to this place?" She waved her hand around her, looking at the sparsely decorated room.

Shikamaru looked around and said, "Well, it's not like this is permanent, you know. I'm here only as long as it takes to change the floorboards at the family home"

"Really?" Sakura sat down. "I thought you were moving out of the family house. Trying a little independence" She smiled.

"Why would I want that? It's troublesome to live alone" Shikamaru said as he lay down on the other side of the table.

"If it was temporary, why did you give that party?" Sakura asked as she tilted her head to get a better view of Hizuren's crib.

"Chouji made me do it" Shikamaru said remembering how happy his friend was at the idea of an excuse to eat barbeque.

Sakura stood up and stretched. "I guess I should be leaving now. Shishou would want me to make another round before the patients go to sleep". She took another look at the sleeping baby. "He should sleep for quite a while now that he is used to this apartment. Just in case, I prepared some of his food if he needed to feed again. Remember to check the temperature of the milk against your skin. And more importantly there are diapers in the blue bag."

She looked around, whispered goodbye to the baby, walked to the door and opened it. "Good luck, Shikamaru" She said, taking a look at the boy lying on the mat with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, thanks" he said.

He heard the door shut and sighed. That was that. He was alone with the baby. For the next four days, he was responsible for the kid. He opened his eyes, looked at the crib. He could hear the slow rhythmic breathing of the baby. Sakura had been right. He was going to be the kid's sensei, he shouldn't have had to be reminded of that. But Shikamaru didn't like kids. They were too much effort to look after. Troublesome, very troublesome. He stood up and took a look at the sleeping baby.

Still, he thought. How much trouble can a baby be?

Dreaming, Hizuren smiled….

EDIT:

Sorry for short chapters... Didn't know it would look this small ^_^'