A/N: This story is written for Rama Chan's contest. Therefore, the names of the ShikaTema kids are different. Hatsune (7yrs) is the ShikaTema daughter, Asuma (4yrs) is the ShikaTema son. My OC's are the other children: Shinatobe is Gaara's daughter who's staying with her Konoha relatives, Asano is the NaruHina daughter, and Manyoshu is the NaruHina son. Jin is a name meaning "Super Excellent", while Koji means "Little One". None of the children know any jutsus yet, they're too young. They're playing make-believe.
Disclaimer: The characters (minus OC's) belong to Kishimoto, the idea belongs to RamaChan.
Tender if They Love You
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Ha! You missed," cried Nara Asuma.
"No I didn't," Uzumaki Manyoshu replied. "See," the blonde boy pointed. "My shuriken hit the tree, your squad leader's dead."
"Nuh-uh, my squad leader used a substitution jutsu, he's really over there." Asuma pointed to the left. When Manyoshu turned to look, Asuma whooped.
"My Shadow Possesion's a success! Now you have to do everything I do."
"Only for a minute," Manyoshu smirked. "See my Shadow Clones? RAAAAASENGAN!"
Asuma fell to the ground with his tongue lolling out. When Manyoshu stood over him with his hand out, the youngest Nara grinned.
"Okay, fine." He said brushing leaves out of his hair. "But this time I get to kill you."
"Alright," his friend replied helping him to his feet.
As the boys got into position for their next epic battle they heard giggling from behind the bushes. Curious what their sisters and Asuma's cousin were doing, the boys peered between the branches. What they saw shocked and appalled them.
o-o-o
"Super Kunoichi Squad to the rescue!" Nara Hatsune, Sabaku no Shinatobe, and Uzumaki Asano cheered as their identically dressed Kunoichi Jin dolls rescued three unlucky Ninja Koji dolls tied to the prickly branches of a blackberry bush.
"Thank you, Super Kunoichi Squad, thank you" Hatsune spoke for the Koji doll leader. "My team was tracking down the blackberry thief when we were captured."
"No problem," Shinatobe said making the dolls bow to each other. "You three go back to the village and rest, we'll take it from here."
"You should never send a man to do a woman's job," Asano quipped as the three girls cheered and high-fived each other.
On the other side of the bushes, two stunned boys stared at each other.
"Did you hear that?" Manyoshu asked.
"Yeah," Asuma replied, his dark eyes turning to slits. "Troublesome."
"Kids!" Nara Temari called from the porch where the adults were sitting and talking. "Come get some lemonade and cookies!"
"C'mon Super Kunoichi Squad," Hatsune stood up dusting off her pants. "Time to give our report to the Hokage."
Asuma and Manyoshu watched the girls run off leaving their dolls behind. A wicked grin spread across Manyoshu's face.
"I've got a plan," he said leaning in to whisper in Asuma's ear.
o-o-o
A few minutes later the boys followed the girls onto the porch.
"Where've you two been? You're positively filthy," Uzumaki Hinata sighed.
"We're on a mission mom," her son explained. "We're supposed to be dirty."
At that Uzumaki Naruto snorted into his glass. When his wife threw him a dirty look he shrugged.
"He's got a point," he said apologetically.
"Hey dad," Asuma smiled his best smile at his father. "Do you have a writing pen I can borrow?"
Nara Shikamaru looked questioningly at his son who continued to smile brightly up at him.
"Do you know how to write?" He asked reaching into his pocket for a pen.
"No, but that's okay, I want to practice."
Shikamaru's brow knitted and he sighed.
"Well, don't lose it."
Asuma bowed to his father and tapped Manyoshu on the shoulder. After casting a furtive glance at the girls, who were telling Temari all about their mission, the pair ran off into the bushes again. Naruto came over to stand by Shikamaru and together they watched their sons disappear into the greenery.
"Those two are definently up to something." The blonde concluded.
Shikamaru sipped his drink, "troublesome," he muttered.
o-o-o
When Hatsune and her friends returned to the spot where they'd left their dolls, they found a bunch of leaves lying on the ground with scribbling on them, but no Kunoichi Jin.
"What is this?" Shinatobe asked brushing her flame red hair over her shoulder.
Asano shrugged, "looks like a bunch of scribbling."
"It SAYS," Asuma's voice called out. "That we have your dolls and you're not getting them back until you admit that boys are better than girls, signed The Lords of One Thousand Leaves!"
Hatsune's first inclination was to get her mother, but then her eyes narrowed.
"Never!" She cried, "we're the Super Kunoichi Squad, we bow to no tyrant!"
The three girls charged through the yard yelling things like "death to boys", and "Kunoichis rule!" But found no trace of the troublesome boys. The trio stood back to back staring around them when out of nowhere a scattering of plastic kunai and shiruken rained down at their feet. Then, from the left, two small boys dropped from a low tree branch. Manyoshu failed to land on his feet and had to dust himself off, but Asuma just stood there grinning.
"Shadow Posession is a success!" He crowed, "now you have to do everything I do."
"You can't use Shadow Techniques on another Shadow User," Hatsune rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. Her friends mimicked the gesture and Asuma followed suit pretending it was his idea.
"Yes, you can," he countered.
"No you can't," Hatsune argued. "Mom said so."
"Well dad says you can, and it's his jutsu, so there!" Asuma concluded by sticking his tongue out, and the girls returned the insult.
"That's okay," Shinatobe said calmly. "We've got Byakugan and Sand jutsus."
Manyoshu stepped forward, the top of his head barely reaching the redhead's nose.
"We've got Byakugan too," he said confidently. "But even better we've got RAAAAASENGAN!"
For the next ten minutes, the children waged their imaginary war until Asuma tripped over a tree root and skinned his knee. At the sight of blood he began to cry and his sister called a cease fire. Hatsune gently led her little brother to the porch where Shikamaru escorted his son into the bathroom to clean up his "battle wound".
"I broke your pen," Asuma sniffed.
Shikamaru nodded. "What were you doing?" He asked opening the jar of ointment that Gaara had sent along with Shinatobe.
"We just wanted them to admit that boys are better than girls," the little boy winced.
Shikamaru applied a bandage and sighed.
"Girls are so troublesome," Asuma grumbled.
When they got back outside, Hatsune was waiting. Outnumbered, Manyoshu had surrendered and returned the girls' dolls.
Hatsune handed her little brother a cookie.
"I'll admit that boys might be just as good as girls…sometimes." She smiled before running back into the yard to join her friends for their next adventure.
Asuma sat in a chair swinging his legs back and forth chewing on his cookie.
"See son," Shikamaru smiled patting his son on the shoulder. "Troublesome as they are, girls, especially sisters, can be tender when they love you."
o-o-oOWARIo-o-o