title: ino-shika-cho
pairings: kibaino, shikatema, chou/unnamed (pairings not central to the story)
summary: they weren't planning to give birth to another generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, but nostalgia kind of got in the way.
As a little girl, Ino had always felt some sort of reproach to her father for naming her such a name. References to pigs followed her everywhere and at the tender age of seven she grew tired with it. People were so uncreative and mediocre with their bullying tactics, calling her a pig left right and centre. As she grew up she thanked her lucky stars that she was born with an assertive personality and was able to stand up to anyone that tried to bully her.
But still, she shook her head whenever she thought about her father and what the hell was going through his mind to name her like that... that and it was so close to his name too. She often wondered if the old Ino-Shika-Cho trio had made a pact to name their kids after them. Stupid dads.
x
Shikamaru cursed the day he was born with such vehemence. It seemed like everyone that was intimate with his family liked to nickname him and his father 'Shika'. Like when his mother was at home, she'd usually yell the nickname, intending to call Shikaku instead of Shikamaru.
Shikamaru would go through the hassle of standing up and making his way all the way to his mother only to find out the 'Shika' she was calling for was the big oaf. He'd often narrow his eyes at her ever so slightly (so she wouldn't notice!) with anger and internally lecture her that adding 'ku' or 'maru' isn't that much of an effort!
But alas, if neither him nor his father answered to the call of 'Shika' then Yoshino would throw a fit for being ignored.
Shikamaru exhaled deeply, thinking to himself that, yes, she should be ignored, it's what she deserves after being so lazy to call the whole name. With some conviction, he thought that maybe his and his father's notorious laziness was finally rubbing off on her.
x
Actually, Chouji couldn't be happier having a name so similar to his hero. His father would usually take him to the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi stone slab and tell stories of his ancestors that had worked together with Yamanaka and Nara clansmen.
Chouji's favourite story was of his great grandfather, Chosamu, who had single-handedly immobilised a whole platoon of Kumo ninja in the second Shinobi World War, but not killing them, never killing them. He spared their lives and let them flee the battlefield. In his later ventures to Kumogakure, Chosamu would've been vastly known as the Merciful Tank and the Kumo ninja both feared and respected him. To Chouji, there was no greater deed than to fight for what you love with your heart in the right place.
He vowed to carry on Akimichi clan-head traditions and name his first born Chojuro... or Chouona if it was a girl.
x
Younger Ino would have thrown a fit if she found out that her future self had named her first born Inoburo.
Her first born son, so little in her arms, was born with the trademark dark features of an Inuzuka, but he lacked the tribal marks that the Inuzuka were so known for. When the baby opened his eyes for the first time, they proved to be a deep blue, a characteristic of the Yamanaka. She smiled smugly, her gene pool had won that first round (much to Kiba's dismay).
It was a spur of the moment decision really... she always loved the name Naoki, but at the heat of the moment, she carried on with the tradition her great great grandfather, Inouto, had set and named her son accordingly to the line of Inos. Plus, she was aiming for two more kids with Kiba. If the next one was a boy, she could always name him Naoki.
x
They fought, actually. Shikamaru did not want to condemn his daughter to a life of hell, of lazy people that never wanted to add the last bit of their names and cause confusion and all sorts of stupid-
"Hey!" Temari cut him off from his rampant thoughts, "I was the one who suffered and carried her for nine months you lazy bastard. I want to name her, you lost the right."
Shikamaru buried his face in his hands as Temari cooed at their newborn daughter, Shikaori.
x
Chouji's smile was so contageous that even his wife, drained as she was, managed a smile as she rested her head back on the pillow.
The doctors handed him his little son; his cheeks tinged red, his lips pursed and suckling lightly. Chouji gazed at his face and admired the spontaneous tribal marking on the child's cheeks. The tribal marks were always faint at birth and always took shape after the first year, as was how Akimichi genetics worked. Their markings were almost like finger prints, no two Akimichi had the same.
Chouji lightly poked his son's cheek and little Chojuro's eyes fluttered open to stare at his dad. Chouji had never felt happier.
x
Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji would run into each other one day, in the park with their children, smile and greet each other, then walk towards a bench as they let their kids go off together in the playground ahead to play.
Ino would turn to the other two and sigh happily.
"I never thought we'd end up like our fathers."
Chouji would laugh heavily, a hand resting on his belly, because he knew from day one he'd carry on his and his father's and his father before him and so on and so forth's name.
Shikamaru would sigh, then lift his hand up in surrender and claim he had absolutely nothing to do with it, and he'd mutter under his breath that he actually wanted to name her Una, but that godforsaken witch just had to meddle in his plans and-
At this point Ino would pat him on the back and would smile dangerously, a smile that meant "stop complaining or I'll hit you," to which he would sigh (yet again) and then direct his gaze to Shikaori and then he'd remember, who gives a shit right? It's just a name. And he'd smile a little too lovingly at his daughter who was swinging on the monkey bars (and he'd feel happy that she at least didn't inherit his or his father's laziness).
The three of them would sit together for another hour, reminiscing about the good ol' days. But everything had changed of course. Ino was now head of Interrogation. Shikamaru the liaison between Sunagakure and Konohagakure as well as the head of the Tactical and Strategic Corps. And Chouji, guardian of Konoha's North Gate. They'd smile as they'd think about the last time they fought under the Ino-Shika-Cho formation so many years ago. But, hey, at least they still had their fortnightly lunches at the barbecue inn, sometimes only the three of them, and sometimes their whole spouses and children.
At least some things didn't change.
a/n: part of the reason why i don't ship teammates together is because that would totally destroy the inoshikacho lineage! no one wants that! anyhoo, i always wondered if team ten would also name their kids names somewhat similar to theirs. hence this oneshot XD
headcanon: i like to think that when people of different clans have children together, then there'd be these dominant and recessive genes that carry the clan characteristics. because, i always thought that hybrid-clan babies was kind of silly. and the whole dominant/recessive makes more sense... biologically anyway.
anyway, hope you enjoyed the fic ^^