Summary: Shikamaru never saw it coming. Apparently fatherhood is made more difficult when you have a bad habit.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to our favourite Masashi Kishimoto.

It was late in the afternoon and Shikamaru was quietly reviewing the mission efficiency statistics that he had been putting off since last month and would have continued to ignore had a certain newly appointed and extremely enthusiastic Hokage been less pushy, and nagging, and jumpy, in his dimly lit foggy study.

Shikamaru inhaled and breathed out the last puff of his smoke before extinguishing his cigarette in the already overflowing ashtray. Reaching for another one of those abominable cancer sticks, he felt a slight pull at his Jounin vest.

"Ne...Papa...hic!"

Shikamaru, one hand flicking Asuma's old lighter on and the other placing a fresh cigarette to his lips looked away from the scroll he had been reading in his study and glanced down at the tiny adorable hand that was gently tugging.

"Hic!"

At the sound of another hiccup, his eyes immediately trailed to the teary sparkling turquoise eyes of his offspring; his will of fire; the King he pledged to protect with his life just like how his former deceased sensei had protected his.

Studying his daughter's doleful expression, he noted the very red and puffy eyelids, the salty tears, the runny nose, the sniffling, the knotted brows, the frown that didn't belong to her usual grinning dimpled cheeks – generally a look that made Shikamaru feel slightly…taken aback.

…And somewhat.

Scared.

Shikamaru grimaced. What could have caused this wretched misery to grace his daughter's chubby, red (from crying), yet perfectly beautiful angelic face?

"Hic…does-ah hic! Papa…hueeehhh!" she cried unintelligibly, betraying the seriousness of the whole situation.

Physically unable to finish her question, his daughter buried her misty eyes into Shikamaru's vest, quietly sobbing.

Shikamaru's eyes widened significantly, his heart nearly missed a beat, shocked by this unforeseen situation.

Once his heart settled a little, he inwardly cringed.

Ughh…

Nara Shikamaru is a lot of things. A genius. A strategist. An advisor. Rokudaime Hokage's personal advisor. A well-established shinobi. Captain of his Jounin three-man-cell. And a surprisingly loving husband. However, it is a well-known fact that never had Konoha's leading strategist ever been great with kids. Especially crying ones. Even if it were his beloved little baby girl, as he just never seems to know what to do!

The crying suddenly made a turn for an octave higher, snapping the dark-haired genius out of his speculating thoughts and diverting his attention back to listening to his daughter's weeping and incoherent muffled snivelling. She seems so upset. Shikamaru's chest clenched. He felt his heart aching and burning with her sorrowful tears.

How troublesome… Shikamaru frowned. Now I have to beat up the person that did this! He thought.

Pocketing his lighter, he knelt down to his daughter, placing a warm and comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder and the other lifting her chin up so she could see her father looking at her intently with loving eyes, and also so that he could search for some answers explaining this unexpected outburst.

"What is wrong Sayo-chan? Why are you crying?" Shikamaru forced a smile, his cigarette clenched between his teeth, in hopes of cheering his four-year-old daughter.

Shikamaru watched, as his Sayori's moist, thick and long dark lashes slowly – as if cautiously – flutter up. Her sad doe eyes met his nervous and hesitantly grinning ones. Honestly, he really didn't now how to make her feel better! He observed as those usually shining irises lowered to his twitching smile, before witnessing the previously trickling watery droplets develop into a full-blown waterfall in seconds. Maybe my smile scared her a little…Shikamaru scratched his head.

Sayori, who was previously chewing her rosy lips, began to wail, no longer able to suppress the pressure building up inside her anymore.

Shikamaru panicked. He began feeling beads of perspiration forming at the back of his head. Turning his full attention to his daughter now, he took a closer look at his daughter, in hopes of seeing this whole image possibly to waver, willing this whole event to be a bad genjustu. It must be!

Kai! Kai! Shikamaru chanted like a mantra. His daughter's sad face being his only weakness. Some enemy shinobi had to be using this to their advantage. Was it the Rock-nin that was looking at me funny earlier today? Shikamaru explored this possibility.

Sayori rubbed the moisture in her eyes viciously away with the back of her hand.

"Papa!...hic… why doesn't Papa care about Sayori!" she snivelled.

Utterly shocked, Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder what spurred this on. As far as he knew, he had been nothing short of a loving, caring and perhaps slightly over-protective father of his one and only daughter. Maybe he wasn't a great father, and maybe he didn't have as many topics to converse with her like other more talkative and socially available fathers, but nevertheless his dear daughter accepted him as the quiet and wise father he is. In fact, just yesterday little Sayo-chan was still saying how much she loved her Papa, and how it amused her when he puffed out smoke rings with his cigarettes during an exceptionally pleasant session of cloud watching.

"Sayo-chan, don't be ridiculous. Of course Papa cares about you. Why would you think otherwise? Please help Papa understand." Shikamaru inquired, silently noting how fatherhood had turned him into a desperate worried person. Waiting patiently for her response, he was already in the process of deducing the culprit for planting these preposterous ideas into his sweet angel's mind.

"If Papa cares for Sayori…hic…"

Shikamaru turned his attention back to his daughter; trying to stay on the alert for any signs as to justify why his daughter would ever, ever accuse him of such absurdity.

"Then why is it that Papa always harms her?"

Shikamaru deadpanned. What? Harm her? I'm the culprit!

"And not just Sayori, Papa always hurts Mama too! Why would Papa do that!"

Nara Shikamaru was speechless.

"Hunnhh?" Shikamaru managed cluelessly. He could almost feel all the accusing fingers in the world pointing at him. Who knew his angelic daughter had such power over her very own Otousan.

"Just because Papa decided to ruin his life does not give him the right to ruin Mama's and mine!"

Realisation dawned upon him and Shikamaru bit into his cigarette bud, the very object of the issue little Sayori-chan was addressing. Ohh…She knows about it…Gosh, this temper of hers sure reminds me of-

"Papa is the worst!", came the ultimate attack. In her tantrum, Sayori tossed her head, refusing to look at her father.

The last straw was drawn.

Shikamaru's jaw dropped with the seemingly sudden increase in earth's gravity. He felt his cigarette fall out of his mouth. His body felt heavy and his mind was melting.

He always knew this day would come, but just not so soon. He always knew his daughter would retaliate, but just never this strongly.

Shikamaru's face contorted, thoroughly appalled, unable to recover from the verbal assault. He suddenly felt himself sinking deeper and deeper, then, he was swallowed by a wave of non-sequitur questions like Why is the sky blue? Or What is at the end of the universe? that plagued his mind like virus. Those mind-boggling crap questions that will never be answered, he thought. And for a moment there, he lost it; he was spiralling further down into the depths of nothingness. My daughter despises me…echoed in his now hollow mind, over and over again.

The room was suddenly covered with a thick blanket of pregnant silence, and in this lapse of stillness, the whole atmosphere became heavy and awkward. Sayori sweat-dropped.

A good twenty minutes later, and Sayori was impatiently tapping her foot and eyeing his still dumbstruck father, still refusing to fully look at him. But this long pause sure did kill the initial amusement.

A little tired and bored now, Sayori turned to her father and sighed. Maybe I was a little too harsh…

"Honey! Time for dinner !" A head poked into the study. "Ah, Sayo-chan's also in here."

Shikamaru's wife is the epitome of spring. Short pink locks framed her heart-shaped face. Her eyes gleamed of emerald, and her smile warm like the sun. Despite the appearance of a slender, defenceless geisha, her temper and violence was legendary; like a constantly on-the-verge-of-eruption active volcano. Nevertheless she is an overachiever, an esteemed medic, the protégé of the legendary Snail Princess, everybody's irreplaceable friend, the model doting wife, and a successful – though sometimes mischievous – mother.

"Ah, Mama! How was work in the hospital today?" Sayori chimed, mood immediately lightened upon her mother's entrance into the study, the tension in the atmosphere immediately vanished as if it weren't ever there.

"Busy as usual. Today there was a really big anti-smoking campaign and…"

"I know, I know. I went to the event and snuck into one of the seminars about second hand smoking."

Ahh… that explains where she learnt about that. Shikamaru snapped out of his depressing thoughts. Damn…and I was hoping for a few more years of liberation.

"Really! I knew my daughter's a genius! Taking interest and understanding such complex medical issues at such a young age – sigh – I am so proud!" Sakura's eyes sparkled with glee. "Why don't you go wash your hands for dinner first, I made your favourite!"

"Okay!" Sayori chirped, skipping to the bathroom.

Sakura turned to her husband and father of her child, smiling slyly.

"So, did her little charade work?" She asked, placing her hands behind her back, perfectly curious.

"I must admit it was very convincing – almost made me feel bad." Shikamaru lied. "She would make one heck of a spy someday. But the slip up she made in the end brought everything to light." Shikamaru lifted a brow at his wife, who was smiling oh so innocently at him.

"You wouldn't happen to be the mastermind behind all that would you? I thought you gave up on this issue long before our marriage." Shikamaru eyed his wife suspiciously with a manner of seriousness, but Sakura could tell from the slightest quirk of his lips that he was thoroughly amused.

"Oh no, darling! Of course not!" Sakura winked. "This one's all Sayo-chan."

Sakura was gleaming in utter satisfaction.

"Gosh, our baby's growing up so fast! Soon she will be attending the academy! No doubt ready to drive Iruka-sensei crazy."

From his brooding figure, Sakura could hear light chuckling.

Shikamaru looked up and sighed, staring at Sakura fondly, "She takes after you, you know…with the good acting…"

"I know" Sakura smiled, Not to mention her understanding every little detail from the seminar ohohoho! Inner Sakura cheered and boasted with no shred of modesty.

During the event, Sakura kept tabs on her little girl without her knowledge, inwardly celebrating her daughter's ability to slip in and keep up with the Genin's and Chuunin's health seminar. Who says her daughter is the only sneaky one. Aside from that, how could she have left her alone? She had to make sure Sayori-chan wasn't causing any disturbances.

"I can't believe she's only four – the little mischief-maker! Now I'm a little worried about baby number two!" Sakura gently placed her hand on her abdomen, and continued, "But her scheming and plotting to get you to quit that nasty addiction of yours – genius! A trait definitely from you."

Shikamaru smirked. "Of course. But to bully me into quit smoking…I'd say that's from a certain blonde friend of ours of whom we should consider in keeping her away from."

"Who? Naruto or Pig?"

"The hopeless babysitter." Shikamaru stately obviously, smiling gently and glancing at his wife affectionately.

"Aww…" Sakura grinned, "Don't give Ino-pig all the credits…My dearest blonde ex-teammate also has his fair share of evil plotting – which worries me. Remember his prank on the very first Elders summit after his ascension? As understandable as his reason was to punish them for the whole Uchiha mess, that baka will face a hard time regaining their trust to enter a room before them." They both chuckled at this in absolute agreement.

There was a moment of contemplating silence, before Sakura started giggling to herself again. Shikamaru lifted a brow in question.

"I heard her rehearsing earlier at the hospital – you know – the part where she says, "Papa's the worst" " Sakura giggled. "It was so incredibly cute! I was really convinced that it would work! …But to think that she understands emotional blackmail at such a tender age…Yeah, maybe she should spend less time with Ino-pig. She's corrupting our child! Next time we should ask Hinata-chan to take care of our baby while we're away."

"I completely agree" Shikamaru smiled.

"Well, I guess I should head to the dinner table." Sakura half-announced, "Sayo-chan must be waiting for us to start" Sakura turned to the door.

Shikamaru nodded in understanding before lighting a final cigarette for the day and taking a deep, long drag.

Sakura began to walk out. "Don't take too long or dinner will get cold!"

"Ah"

Mission: Get Papa to Quit Smoking – Failed. Sayori mentally noted, eavesdropping into the study. Time for plan B. Sayori grinned cunningly and scurried over to the dinner table.

Shikamaru glanced at the door where Sayori had been spying and smirked. There is still much to learn little grasshopper!

Hope you all enjoyed this little story that's been swimming in my head for a while now.