Chapter One

Change

Temari never thought she would see the day her lazy, calm, collected husband finally break. Two weeks after the attack of the Momoshiki people decided to try and attack Naruto during the Chunin exams, was when Shikamaru came back from work late. Boruto was officially staying over for the night to spend some time with their son, Shikadai. Boruto had decided to pull his usual pranks, but instead it being his own father, it ended up being Shikadai's father.

She knew Shikamaru was working extra hours after the attack, making meetings, subbing for Naruto so he could see his kids more in person. Some days Shikamaru didn't even come home, or if he did, he would spend his time in his office finding papers and then leaving to work early. Temari was starting to worry about his health and state. Shikamaru rarely tried to push himself this hard.

Temari was finishing dinner, calling the boys to eat, when the door opened. Boruto had put a pail of water above the door. Now Temari hadn't cared it was there, thinking she'd remove it when the boys ate, not thinking anyone would be opening the door; more or less, Shikamaru coming home. He hadn't been home all week, so she assumed he wasn't coming again. He hadn't sent a note saying he was coming. Boruto knew that Shikamaru wouldn't be home, so he had placed the pail on the door just for fun.

All three froze as the tall shadow walked in, letting the water fall down onto the shadow with a loud sloshing sound. Temari saw Boruto immediately pale. He knew it was not wise to play pranks on Shikamaru. Temari quickly ran over to the door to turn the lights on to the front door. There he was, tired and he came home wet.

Shikamaru's normal stoic face was quickly growing into a look rather close to annoyance. She could sense his gears turning in his mind, realizing that it was not Shikadai's doing, but in fact Naruto's prankster of a son, Boruto.

Shikamaru whipped water off his face and arms, sighing darkly. "Boruto." Taking his shoes off and setting them down. Temari held out her arms silently asking for his jacket. He slowly took it off handing it to her.

"Welcome home," she said.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm home."

"Dinner's ready, I'm sure you're hungry."

He nodded slowly. "If it's okay, I'm going to take the food to my office?"

Temari just nodded. She saw Boruto run over bowing deeply.

"I'm so sorry Shikamaru sensei."

Temari saw Shikamaru glare at Boruto so darkly, before giving in and just sighing his traditional sigh. "What a drag. It's fine Boruto. It's my fault I didn't tell anyone I was coming home."

Temari blinked in surprise. She rarely saw Shikamaru express his angry side. Yoshino had told stories when Shikamaru's teacher, Asuma Saratobi was assassinated by the Akatsuki, Shikamaru had expressed his anger towards his own father. She had witnessed him growing annoyed by her the day he decided to not tell her what was happening in Konaha, making her angry yet sad as she slapped him to make him come to his senses. After everything they went through during the war, he still tried being distance. She couldn't bare the feeling of losing him again. She almost did during the war if it wasn't for Sakura and Naruto.

She quickly ran to place Shikamaru's jacket to clean and dry. He came into the laundry room to put his jumpsuit into the washing machine. He was dressed in his casual household clothes. She smiled softly at him.

"Are you still working on the case?" she asked.

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. Sasuke and I are trying to decipher Boruto's marking. No such luck. I had to go out of town to go see a site where Momoshiki was stationed. Not so much luck. We questioned the man who recognized the marking, but he didn't have much to tell. Unfortunately I can't continue the research; hence I have to sub for Naruto again. He's going to take a break to see his kids. He promised he would actually teach Boruto and Himawari."

Hearing Shikamaru tell her that Temari grew angry. "You need a break to."

Shikamaru smiled softly touching the side of her face where her hair wasn't completely covering. "There's too much to do though. We can't risk another potential attack."

"You can't keep pushing yourself till you pass out," she snapped a bit too harshly than she wanted.

"I believe that's your job, Tem."

She bristled at his slight cockiness. "You're full of it Nara."

He chuckled before kissing her lightly, leaving her alone. She rushed to the kitchen to give him his food before he shut himself back in his office.

Temari ate dinner with the boys in silence. Boruto rushed to the living room to go grab a console so he could play against Shikadai. Finishing helping his mother with the dishes, Shikadai paused to look at her, before completely leaving the kitchen.

"Is Dad finally going to come home normally?" he asked, his teal eyes showing concern.

Temari felt guilty. "I'm afraid he's still going to be gone again. I don't know when he'll come back."

"I wanted to train with him," Shikadai said. "I still haven't completely got the hang of lifting my shadow up off the ground."

"You can train with me," she tried saying lightly.

"Yeah . . . but I've been training with you for the past two weeks," he mumbled. "It's a drag."

"Excuse me?" she stopped her cleaning staring dangerously at her son. He was so like his father in so many ways.

"Nothing," he said quickly before scurrying away into the living room to Boruto. Temari set down the towel on the counter watching the two boys play against each other in their game. Shikadai was going through so much. The new powers Boruto can see beyond the naked eyes of the Byakugan, possessed new threats yet also good threats as well. Shikadai had already fought against Metal Lee after his slip up with the kid. Shikamaru's words must have sunk into her lazy kid to actually apologize and she was surprised herself when she found her son in a bit of a daze as he told her the events of what happened. She had wanted to immediately tell Shikamaru what had happened, but he had not come home, until an Ambu Black Op came to inform her that her husband was going to be at the Hokage office for a while and that the events between Metal Lee, Shikadai, Boruto, and Inojin were already reported to the Hokage and the Hokage Advisor.

Temari sat down on the chair by the table in the kitchen and narrowed her eyes in concertation. This was the first time she realized that the foolish Uzamaki kid was actually spending some actual time focusing on the Momoshiki attack. She snorted to herself thinking that Naruto was only doing it, because his son was on the line. She shook her head. Naruto can't be that selfish, after all he has an entire village to look after. Meaning that the village came first over family. That was Temari's thinking for a while, until she had Shikadai. Temari paused. Had? Shikadai . . .

Temari gasped not realizing she hadn't told her family the most important thing that had happened to her. She was so caught up in trying to make sure Shikamaru was all set and ready before he went back to work that she hadn't mentioned the most important detail that would change their lives all over again. She had only just found out three days ago. She had wanted to confirm with Sakura before completely agreeing to tell her family. When Sakura came back with the tests, she had said it was a positive. Temari went home that day figuring out the best way to break the information to Shikamaru when she saw him. She had tried to catch him at work, but apparently he was out of town for a while; so she went home instead waiting. She had wanted to tell him first and in person before telling Shikadai and Yoshino. She had wanted them to be the first, but this time Sakura was the first to know.

When Temari took the test she was skeptical. She and Shikamaru were unsure if they would even consider having another. Apparently they were in the wrong now. She stood back up from the chair passing the living room making sure that Shikadai and Boruto were all set. They seemed too busy to look at her and she left them at that.

Walking into Shikamaru's office she didn't bother to knock. The room was what seemed like a bomb had erupted and she noted it was not tidy anymore. In fact piles upon piles of papers and scrolls were scattered everywhere from floor to ceiling. She had not stepped foot in this room in a while and Shikamaru usually had it somewhat decently organized to a point where he knew where everything was. This time it seemed as if his workspace was completely untidy which meant his brain was starting go to its limit. The only spot that was untouched was her area.

Shikamaru noticing her entering stopped at his work. This time she really got a good look at his face under his lamp. His eyes were dark and tired and his face seemed to show the stress lines. She scowled at him.

"You're really pushing yourself Shikamaru," she said. "You need a break, literally, physically, and emotionally."

"Emotionally?" he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not emotional."

"Shush, Crybaby," she sat down next to him. She saw him grimace at the old nickname and smirked.

"Emotionally, because I have something to tell you that will change all our lives in this household again," she said bluntly. "And you were emotional this evening. You always have patience around almost teenaged children or any kind of ages and yet you almost blew up at Boruto had you not caught yourself. Your stoic façade is fading Shika."

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome woman. Fine, but Naruto, Sai, Sasuke and I have been trying to get to the bottom of this mystery to this Momoshiki attack."

Temari grabbed Shikamaru's hand dragging his face with her other hand to have him look directly into her eyes. His dark brown eyes seemed to gloss over her own and deep inside her, she felt like she was beginning to lose him once again.

"Can you listen to what I have to say, Crybaby," she whispered quietly.

Shikamaru only nodded.

She took a deep breath before hitting her head gently to his. "How do you feel about having another pair of two feet in the Nara household?"

There was a long silence before Shikamaru jerked back from her head to stare directly at her, this time his eyes seemed to be calculating what she had just asked him.

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly. "We had talked about this a long time ago and we had said we or you weren't going to go through this again. And if we did, I can't even oblige to that request because I have too much going on at the moment. I'm so busy to the point I can't even teach my son more techniques."

Temari placed her finger on his lips and smiled. "It's okay Crybaby you don't have to worry. Because I'm already pregnant."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Really?"

She nodded.

"How long?"

"Three weeks."

His face light up like a kid with his lips growing into a wide smile leaning in, touching his forehead to hers. "Does Shikadai know?"

She shook her head. "I wanted to tell you first."