Shikamaru held the newborn black-haired girl in his arms and smiled at his wife, the Kazekage's sister whom he married only two years before, and thought to himself 'My girls are beautiful. How did I get to be so lucky?' He kissed his lovely spouse, taking care not to wake the baby.

2 years later

Once again in the hospital, Temari looked at her daughter, Shimara, and smiled. "You have a baby brother, Shimara."
"What?" She asked, looking curiously at the brunette bundle her mother cradled.
"Yes, Shimara." Shikamaru told her, looking lovingly into her black eyes, "He's your new brother."
"What's his name?" Shimara asked in her innocent, childlike voice.
Temari and Shikamaru shared a glance, and a nod, and both replied "Tamaku."

1 year later

"Are you okay, Ino?" Shikamaru asked his former teammate as he rushed into the hospital room, once he was allowed inside.
"Y-Yes. Twins, can you believe it? I knew something was up when I got so fat."
"You weren't fat, yeah." Deidara reassured her and moved her bangs out of her face while staring at the two blonde girls in awe.
'How troublesome.' Shikamaru thought. 'Twins. I can see it now...'

3 years later

Sakura released a high-pitched wail at approximately 7 in the morning, startling Sasuke out of his sleep.
"What? What's wrong, Sakura? What is it?!" He asked her, very worried.
"I.. Ngh... G-Get me to the... Hospital." She was panting.
"Oh.. O-Oh! Okay!" He jumped out of the queen-sized bed and quickly slid some clothes on as he thought 'Why does everything have to be so dramatic with her?'
Thankfully, Sakura was dressed enough to be in public, so he slid one arm under her back and a hand under her legs and carried her outside. They lived close to the hospital, where Sakura worked, so he ran there with her in his arms.
As he paced the waiting room for what seemed like hours, a nurse came to him.
"S-Sir?"
"What is it?"
"Th-There's a problem..."
"What? Is everything okay?"
"I-I..."
He grabbed her shoulders, "What is it?! Spit it out!"
"Well, your d-daughter is –"
"Daughter?"
"Y-Yes, your daughter is fine, but... Your wife..."
"Sakura?" His face turned white, "What... What happened to her?"
"It appears that it put too much stress on her, probably due to her small figure, and sh-she may not make it. I am sorry, sir."
"NO! She was trained under Lady Tsunade herself! And she works here! How could this happen to her?!"
"S-Sir, please calm down."
"NOT UNTIL SHE'S SAFE!" He ran toward the room she was in.
"Sir! You cannot enter the room right now! It will only stress her more!"
Sasuke hesitated for a moment and, thankfully, decided to think rationally. "I guess it's a better idea to wait, then." He returned to the bland waiting room and sat down, defeated. The nurse went to Sakura's room for a few minutes, and then found Sasuke again.
"Sir."
"What? Is she okay?"
"Come with me."
A different worry crossed his mind with each step it took to reach Sakura's hospital room.
'Are they okay? Is the baby sick? Did the baby die? Is Sakura dying? Is she already dead?'
When he walked into the white-walled room, he saw Sakura lying on the bed. She grinned up at him weakly, her skin pale and bags under her eyes.
"Hi, Sasuke." He ran to her and kissed her forehead, fighting off tears.
"I thought you were dead." He kissed her forehead again. "I'm glad that you're not."
"I almost was... But I'm better than that. I wouldn't die on you for something so silly as childbirth."
"Where's our baby?"
"The nurse has her."
He glanced to the corner of the room, where the nurse held a pink blanket with a raven-haired baby wrapped inside, and walked over to her.
"Would you like to hold her?" The nurse asked.
"Well, of course I would." He took the baby and studied it, suddenly amazed at the gift he had helped create. He showed their daughter to Sakura, and she beamed at him, joyful tears running down her rosy cheeks.

1 year later

"I-I can't believe it." Hinata stated as she held their blonde baby in a soft blue blanket.
"Well, believe it! We have a son!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling at her with that childish enthusiasm she'd always loved. He kneeled by her white hospital bed and admired her as sunlight streamed through the window and caressed her face.
"What... What do we call him?"
"I don't know. I heard this name before that sounded good, and I was thinking about that one."
"Well, what is it?"
"Minuki."
"That sounds nice. I like it. Minuki..." She trailed off as she adoringly watched her sleeping baby boy.

The Nara Home

Temari heard crying from Shimara's room and departed her reading chair to see what was causing it. 'Why did I have to give birth to crybabies?' She thought to herself, wishing for the hundredth time that they would give her some peace and quiet. When she opened the door, she froze. So did Shimara, with her fist raised in the air, straddling her baby brother. Tamaku was unconscious, his face hardly showing any color but black and blue and his nose spurting blood. Shimara immediately stood up, but knew she couldn't hide what she'd done. She looked at the floor.
"Sh-Shika?" Temari turned her head and called timidly, but not looking away, slightly afraid of her seven-year-old daughter at the moment. Shikamaru walked through the door and stood beside her, and then his jaw dropped slightly. It seemed like he couldn't control his mouth for a moment, but then he spoke.
"What is this?" He asked calmly. Shimara glanced up at him for a moment, and then quickly averted her eyes, too flustered to speak and too afraid to find the fire that might return her gaze. She knew that the mild voice was even worse than rage.
"H-He broke my v-vase..." She offered, though she knew she was hopelessly without an excuse. Not a valid one, anyway.
Temari rushed to her baby boy on the floor, and cradled his head in her lap as she stroked his straight black hair, now matted with blood.
"He's your brother, Shimara. Do you think something so... so useless as a vase can constitute nearly taking a priceless life? Your own brother." Shikamaru was still composed. Shimara was terrified beyond anything she had ever felt. She knew that she couldn't control herself in the moments before, and had just let out all the hatred and jealousy she had felt since her brother was born, but she didn't know how to explain it to them. She couldn't make herself think, much less talk. Shikamaru squatted down to her level and forced her to look him in the eyes. Mercifully, she didn't see the flame she had expected in his stare. She was still scared.
"I.. I'm sorry, daddy." Shikamaru hardly knew what to say. This situation was something he had never fathomed. Was his little girl going to turn into a cold-blooded killer? He hoped not, he would do anything to prevent that. Temari cried silently, still stroking Tamaku's hair, for she was also bewildered.
"I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not. He's not dead, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished any less. I mean, a vase? Come on, Shimara, I don't think that's the real reason here."
She pondered for a moment and peeked behind her at where her mother and brother were, then replied quietly, "No... It's not."
"But it was the breaking point, wasn't it?"
"Y-Yes, daddy."
"Can you tell me how you really feel, then?"
"I hate him."
Shikamaru opened his mouth to reply, but closed it, truly astonished at what he had just heard. A quick glance at Temari told him that she had heard it too, and felt the same.
"Y-You can't mean that, honey, he's only –"
"No, I mean it." She glared at him openly now, with more confidence than before.
"Shimara. How can you –?"
"B-Because... Ever since he was born, y-you all ignored me. I would walk out of my room and see you playing with him and talking all sweet, and... and you don't do that with me anymore! I miss having you touch my hair and kiss my head when I get hurt. But you always paid attention to him, and left me all alone by myself!" Tears started pouring down her face and she looked down. "I hate him. He stole you from me, and I loved you first. That means I deserve you more than him."
Shikamaru gaped at her, hardly believing that any of this was not just a dreadful nightmare. But he knew better. Still, he was shocked at how perceptive and intelligent his daughter proved to be at such a young age.
"Shimara, I... Well, when you have a baby, they are so troublesome that they demand all of the parents' attention, or else they cry and cry and cry until you play with them or feed them or do whatever it is they want. I don't know about you, but I hate it when babies cry. It annoys me. I'd prefer to spend the whole day with that baby, no matter how much work it is, than to listen to him cry. You just don't understand. Babies and little kids are a lot of work, and I know it must've felt like we were ignoring you, but I promise we weren't trying to."
"No, we weren't." Temari agreed, "We still love you. We love both of you the same."
"As I was saying, I want you to know that... that you aren't supposed to hate your brother. He's your family, just like your mother and I. You love us, don't you?"
"Yes, daddy. I love you and mommy very much." Shimara replied sweetly.
"So, shouldn't you love your little brother, too? You certainly shouldn't hate him. It's not his fault that he was born, is it? You can blame us for that, but not him. He hasn't done anything to you. None of it was his choice. If you're going to hate anybody, hate us. But don't hate your brother."
Shimara considered his words, and then suddenly realized how wrong she had been the whole time, and how much her parents really loved her despite her lonely thoughts. She collapsed into her father's arms and sobbed violently for many minutes. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head, like she had told him she missed. That seemed to calm her, and she looked up at him with great sorrow in her black eyes.
"I really am sorry, daddy."
"Don't tell that to me. I'm not the one with a bloody face." She flinched at the verbal sting, but turned anyway toward where her brother was. He seemed to have regained consciousness in that moment. But when he saw her, he scrambled into his mother's lap and clutched at her dress.
"Mommy, please." He sobbed, "Don't let her hurt me anymore. Please, mommy. It was only a vase... Please."
"Don't worry, Tamaku. I promise you're okay, now. She won't hurt you."
Shimara noticed that her mother said the words as if she were his enemy, not his sister. That hurt.
"T-Tamaku?" She looked into his eyes caringly, but he perceived it as false sincerity.
"No! Get away from me!" He shouted at her and buried his face in his mother's dress again.
"I.. I'm really... I'm sorry, brother. I really am." She dropped to her knees before him, and truly saw for the first time what she had done. Her heart broke when she looked at the bruises and the blood all over his face. Scowling at her hands through her tears, she silently cursed herself and vowed to make it up to him. Tamaku peered up at her for just a moment, gauging the truth in her words, and seemed to believe her for a moment, but then turned away again. Temari continued stroking his hair and told him, "Your sister is telling the truth, Tamaku." Then his jade eyes met hers with surprise, as if asking 'How could that be true after what she just did?'
"Yes, we believe her. You should, too. I promise she'll never hurt you again."
"O-Okay, mommy." He finally looked at his big sister and, though not completely comprehending it, discerned the grief in her eyes, and then he knew she wasn't lying. But he also knew that he would never really forgive her.