He remembered that day as if it were only yesterday. He had been through a lot of fights and close calls, but never before had he come so close to death. No wonder the memory remained fresh and vivid in his mind.

As he lay there, thoughts and memories swarmed inside of his head. At first, they were mostly thoughts – how he could get out of this situation, how he could get just a little more chakra, how he could at least make it out alive – but as each question remained unanswered, the chuunin began to lose hope and his mind drifted toward his memories. His earliest memories as a child – training with his father, skipping class or falling asleep in class, all the trouble he got into with Choji and Naruto (usually being roped into participating in one of the hyperactive blonde's pranks), and being scolded by his mother for all of it. Then to his earlier days as a shinobi – meeting Asuma, going on countless, pointless D-rank missions, getting Ino to work together with them as a true team, the chuunin exams where he was the only shinobi to be promoted to the rank of chuunin. Shikamaru slowly opened his eyes and looked up into the blue sky.

'Not even a single cloud up there. Well of course, how could I expect peace in the middle of a war? This is so troublesome. I never got to do anything I wanted. I would have loved to settle down with a girl not too pretty, but not too ugly, have a couple of kids, raise them both to be great ninja and then retire when my son becomes a leader and my daughter gets married and has kids of her own. Then I could just spend the rest of my days relaxing and watching the clouds float by.' He mused to himself. A voice caught his attention and he turned his head to see her. She was fighting with all of her might against the tree of life, dodging every one of its attempts to catch her, all the while paying close attention to her brother, staying as close as she could to him, ready to protect him at any given moment. And the redhead had the same idea, protecting his sister against what she didn't see. They truly were a perfect team. If Shikamaru had enough energy to do so, he would've groaned. She had to be the scariest, most sarcastic woman he'd ever known, so why did he have to fall for her? Maybe it was those moments of sincere kindness she showed him whenever they were together, or perhaps her strength – how eager she was to protect those she loved, or even the laugh she reserved only for those who could make her laugh, that angelic sound produced by such a beautiful girl. Shikamaru was almost angry she hadn't come to see him, but then he realized that she couldn't do that without being caught by the tree or abandoning Gaara. Almost as if she read his mind, she glanced his way for a split second and he could clearly see the worry in her eyes. He felt ashamed. Ashamed that he wasn't strong enough to fight off his opponents, ashamed that he could very well die here, ashamed that he was the reason for such an expression to mar the face of his angel.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked up into the sky. Countless clouds decorated the blue canvas, blocking out the sun. He glanced to his right and softly smiled.

"Oi, oi, wake up you troublesome woman." He said, gently shaking her shoulder. Her emerald green eyes opened and she yawned, maneuvering into a sitting position.

"I fell asleep? Sorry." She said, stretching, trying to loosen the muscles in her back a little.

"Don't worry, I just woke up myself."

"Lazy ass." She giggled. He rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Whatever." He couldn't help but smile at how peaceful she looked. He held out his hand. "Let's go home." He said. She took his hand and he helped her up.

"I can't believe there's only two months left." She sighed, placing a hand on top of her growing stomach. "Every time I think about it I get nervous."

"You're so troublesome. You practically raised Gaara and Kankuro and they turned out fine. Stop worrying."

"You're right. But when it's time, try not to be a crybaby about it." She laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Besides, if you didn't do that, I'd accuse someone of replacing my wife. I'd go around screaming, 'Where's my Temari?!'" He said, enjoying the slight blush on her cheeks. He laughed and kissed her cheek, then the top of her stomach, then took her hand as they began the walk home.

Shikamaru Nara couldn't have been happier to be alive.