Noticed some spelling mistakes and stuff so I fixed it :3 Enjoy :)
Shikamaru was walking towards the Sixth Hokage's office with another stack of documents in his arms, they had been filling out paperwork all day for the Shinobi Alliance and it didn't seem like the workload was getting any smaller.
He should have been home an hour ago as it was getting late and his pregnant wife had been irritable for the past week as their child had been moving around constantly and causing her terrible pain and she was placed on bed-rest on the orders of Sakura. Sakura had been working constantly at the hospital and had gone out of her way to visit their home in order to help out her friends and ease Temari's discomfort.
Shikamaru's mother had offered to stay with Temari whenever he was at work and Temari had despised the stay in bed order as she always had to be moving. She didn't want to allow her pregnancy to affect her training even though she couldn't actually go on any missions, or actually do too many strenuous exercises. She was a troublesome woman but Shikamaru knew she was worth every bad-tempered word that she threw at him as he knew she didn't actually mean anything she said. She was due in two weeks and was constantly in pain, even though she would never allow herself to complain or show that she was. She was incredibly stubborn and prideful but when he would massage her back or her sore ankles, she always gave him this sweet smile that she only allowed him to see which always got him through any hard days.
Shikamaru shook his head desperately, the ring on his necklace moving slightly as he tried to focus and knocked on the Hokage's door. Entering at Kakashi's affirmative hum, he noticed Kakashi's shoulders slump as he looked at the huge stack of documents in his arms. "Hokage-Sama, here is the next stack." Shikamaru announced.
Kakashi sighed tiredly. "Please, call me Kakashi-San and do you think it would be wrong to leave those for tomorrow? It's not like there won't be even more to do when we finish those." Kakashi replied with pained eyes.
"Actually Kakashi-San, that would be a great help. Temari's been in a lot of pain recently and I wanted to bring her home some dongos as a surprise." Shikamaru said hopefully.
"Well then it's decided, I'm sure Temari-San is uncomfortable so close to her due date. Go on home, I'll see you tomorrow." Kakashi said, his eyes closing in a smile as he stood up and stretched his stiff muscles.
Shikamaru nodded his thanks before heading out the door and walking quickly towards the cafe that Temari liked in order to buy her favourite treats.
Temari moved around in her bed uncomfortably as she tried to find herself a somewhat comfortable spot when Yoshino Nara entered the room.
"Temari do you need anything?" Yoshino asked kindly.
"Ah..No thank you, I'm fine." Temari replied politely, not wanting to have anyone wait on her.
"Okay, Shikamaru's late but he should be home soon. I'll stay here until he comes home so please, if there is anything you need, let me know." Yoshino replied earnestly. Her daughter in law was still nervous about trusting people but Yoshino understood it wasn't Temari being rude, it was the fact that Temari was out of her comfort zone. She was pregnant, away from her village and her family, Shikamaru always helped her relax though and when she was with him she would be more open.
"Thank you Yoshino-San but really, I'm okay...just a little uncomfortable as the baby is sitting in an awkward position, he seems to be sleeping though as he's been kicking me all day and it's only stopped in the past hour or so." Temari replied with a small smile. "I'm just going to try and sleep while he is." She added tiredly.
"Please call me Yoshino." Yoshino replied with a kind smile. "Rest up; I'll just be in the kitchen, if you need me just call out okay?" She said as she left the room and closed the door behind her.
Temari eased herself onto her side, closing her eyes and trying to shut her brain off as all she could think about was the pain. She rubbed her belly with a gentle smile. Soon...only two more weeks and she would be able to see her and Shikamaru's baby boy, she had been thinking of names by herself ever since Sakura was able to tell them the gender of the baby when she went to the hospital two months ago for a check up and had settled on Shikadai.
Her brothers had been excited when she told them on their last visit to Konoha 6 months ago, Gaara may not have outwardly shown his excitement but the small smile and a slight gleam in his eyes had shown that he was happy for her and was looking forward to becoming an uncle. Kankuro had tried to hide his happy tears as he thought about how far they had all come together, despite their terrible childhoods.
Temari felt a tear drop down her cheek as she thought of her brothers, she missed them terribly and her hormones had made her more emotional. She furiously wiped the tear away; annoyed with herself for being so emotional, she made herself relax more into the pillows as she tried to fall asleep with a hand on her belly.
Yoshino was cleaning the kitchen quietly, annoyed that her son was late as he should have been home at a reasonable time to spend time with his wife. She stopped when she heard a noise and held her breath as she tried to listen out for the noise but she immediately shrugged when there was nothing but silence.
As she began washing the dishes there was a loud banging noise coming from the living room, she quickly lifted the tea towel to dry her hands as she headed towards the living room thinking it was her son finally returning home from work.
"Shikamaru? Is that you?" Yoshino asked sternly, wondering why her son took so long to come home but as she entered the room there were three strange ninja standing there. "Who are you?! What do you think you're doing in my house?!" Yoshino asked angrily; it wasn't actually her house but she didn't think these ninja would care if it was or not, she subtly moved to stand defensively in front of the hallway that led to Temari's bedroom.
"We are here for the Kazekage's sister; we have received Intel that she lives here." One of the shinobi replied, they all wore masks and it was impossible to tell what village they were from.
"You don't have to get hurt; we are here for her, however..." Another one added.
"If you get in our way, we will not hesitate to defeat you." The third one said sinisterly.
"I won't let you take her." Yoshino said angrily. She cursed herself in her old age as she hadn't been on a mission since she fell pregnant with Shikamaru, she didn't even have a weapon on her and there was nothing nearby short of a lamp that she could use as a weapon.
"So be it." The ninja in the centre replied, all three ninja jumped towards Yoshino.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Yoshino cried as she made two shadow clones so it would be an even fight. She fought all three shinobi with all her might but they obviously had more experience and had destroyed her two shadow clones easily before stabbing her in the stomach with a Kunai.
Temari had woken up when she heard banging noises in the kitchen and worriedly got out of bed stiffly, she walked towards her bedroom door, grabbing her fan to help her walk which was always beside her bed.
"Yoshino?" Temari called out, holding onto her stomach with one hand and her fan with the other. "Yoshino!" Temari cried as she saw the strange ninja stab her in the stomach. She lifted her fan quickly and with a huge gust of wind, managed to throw all three shinobi away from Yoshino without harming her. Temari walked forward as quickly as she could and stood defensively in front of Yoshino, her child seemed to sense that she was in danger as he began to kick softly and she didn't even care that she was in a nightie and a dressing gown.
"You are the Kazekage's sister." One of the shinobi said calmly.
"And what of it?! What do you think you are doing here?" Temari asked angrily, knowing she shouldn't be stressing herself out but her hormones were going haywire.
Yoshino groaned in pain quietly behind her. "Temari...run." Yoshino pleaded.
"We will be taking you now." One of the other shinobi said as they all stood up together to face her off.
"Oh really?" Temari smirked. "And what makes you think I will be going with you?" She sneered, gripping her fan tighter.
"Because..." The third shinobi said before disappearing in front of her and appearing behind her, he grabbed her with his arms, constricting her arms to her body, with his arms linked just above her bump. Temari struggled and managed to kick the sofa over and knocked the ninja behind her into a wall, she quickly reached for her fan and just as she began to raise it in order to attack the other ninja, a Kunai was aimed at her stomach. "We only need you." The shinobi behind her said threateningly, pressing the Kunai closer towards her bump.
Temari's heart clenched in her chest, she dropped the fan immediately as her protective instincts set in. "Okay...just get that thing away from my stomach or I will be forced to break your wrist." She said angrily, her anxiousness grew as the shinobi stared her down with a hand clamping down on her arm before the first ninja cleared his throat and the third removed his hand and the kunai, with his hands held up in a surrendering gesture.
"Step this way please." The first Shinobi said as he reached over and grabbed her arm tightly, it wasn't as bad as the third ninja but it wasn't gentle either. He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Be warned; if you scream or try to run, I won't stop him next time, do you understand?" He threatened, Temari nodded with a blank stare, not allowing them to see how badly their words had affected her as she was so close to having her child and wouldn't be able to bear losing him.
"Temari..." Yoshino said weakly, trying to push herself up to stop them. One of the other ninjas began to walk towards her, probably to kill her before Temari let out a large shout.
"NO! Let her live, she is a civilian and has nothing to do with this." Temari demanded, she knew they only wanted her to get to Gaara and they had no choice but to keep her alive and do what she said in order to get her to come quietly.
The Shinobi nodded before walking out with her and they began to sneak through the village, Temari thought it was weird that no one had noticed them which made her think that this could be an inside job. Someone from the village must be working with them, and she hoped that Shikamaru would be home soon to find Yoshino and get her some help in time.
Shikamaru clutched the bag of dongos closer to himself as he walked up the road towards his house, he stopped when he noticed that his front door was ajar and was immediately on guard. He lifted a Kunai out of his pouch and began to cautiously enter his home, he chest clenched when he immediately recognised Temari's fan lying on the floor and the kicked over furniture...He knew she rarely went anywhere without her fan, he noticed the blood then and with his heart in his mouth, he followed the blood trail quickly into the kitchen.
"Mom!" Shikamaru shouted as he saw that his mother was trying to crawl towards the telephone in the kitchen, he ran towards her and picked her up carefully. "Are you okay?! Where's Temari?!" He asked frantically.
"Shikamaru." Yoshino said weakly. "Temari...They took her...Three strange shinobi with masks." She added with a cough holding her stomach wound.
"Even while pregnant Temari can't be taken easily, how did they manage to do it? She had her fan." Shikamaru asked seriously as he ran with his mother towards this hospital.
"They threatened the child..." Yoshino answered faintly.
Shikamaru's blood boiled, he had a feeling they might have done that as Temari would have put up a damn good fight, pregnant or not. "Did they say why they wanted her?" Shikamaru asked, huffing slightly as he ran as fast as he could.
"She's the Kazekage's...Sister." Yoshino replied tiredly.
"Dammit." Shikamaru said angrily, he ran through the hospital doors and shouted for someone to help, startling the nurse behind the desk who jumped up and ran over to help him.
"Can you tell me what happened Shikamaru-San?" The nurse asked quickly.
"My mother was attacked, she was stabbed in the stomach with what I'm guessing is a Kunai." Shikamaru said quickly, trying desperately to keep her awake as her eyes kept drooping shut. "Mom we're at the hospital, I need you to stay awake." He said loudly and smiled slightly to her in relief as she blinked her eyes open quickly.
"Please come this way Shikamaru-San, you can place her on the bed in this room." The nurse said running quickly towards an empty room. Shikamaru gently placed his mother down on the bed and the nurse began shouting out for a doctor and giving out orders to the other medical staff. "I'm sorry but I need you to wait outside while we work on her." The nurse told him with an apologetic look.
"Go Shikamaru, find Temari...don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Yoshino told him weakly.
Shikamaru nodded quickly, torn between staying with his mother and leaving to find his pregnant wife. As he quickly walked out of the hospital, he took his cell phone out of his pocket and called his brother in law, better known as the Kazekage of Suna. After two rings, Gaara answered.
"Hello?" Gaara said urgently, he didn't sound tired which suggested he was still awake and he only used the cell phone for family matters.
"Gaara-Sama, Temari's been taken by three shinobi while I was at work, my mother was hurt trying to stop them and she said that they took her in order to get to you. Is there anyone you can think of that recently had a problem with you?" Shikamaru replied quickly.
"What? Not that I am aware. Kankuro get your gear ready, our Onee-San's been abducted." Gaara said angrily.
"What?! How?" Kankuro could be heard shouting in the background.
"Temari put up a good fight but my mother said she surrendered when they threatened to hurt the baby." Shikamaru informed them worriedly. He was running towards a particular shinobi's house, knowing he would be the only one who could help him but he knew he needed to let Temari's family know first.
"That sounds like her." Kankuro replied proudly, the phone had obviously been put on loudspeaker so they could both hear him.
"We are on our way. Do what you can." Gaara said seriously before hanging up.
Shikamaru sighed anxiously before dialling Naruto's number.
Naruto had just changed and fed Boruto before settling the sleeping baby back into the cot in the bedroom he shared with Hinata. Boruto was two weeks old and Hinata had been exhausted so Naruto had been taking the night shifts so she could rest. He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and quietly walked out of the room so he could answer the phone without waking Hinata.
"Hello?" He asked quietly.
"Naruto I need your help, some strange shinobi managed to sneak into the village and kidnap Temari without being detected. I know you have Hinata and the baby to worry about but I need your help please." Shikamaru informed him desperately, he was standing outside Naruto's house trying to keep his voice down so he wouldn't wake any of the neighbours.
"I'll be right there, don't worry." Naruto replied quickly, knowing Shikamaru wouldn't ask unless it was an emergency.
Naruto quickly hung up before making a shadow clone; Clone Naruto looked back at him worriedly. Naruto had to go out on a mission late at night before and had decided to leave a shadow clone with Hinata when she was pregnant in the hopes that she wouldn't notice his absence and worry about him but when he fell asleep, the shadow clone had disappeared and Hinata had been both worried about him and angry with him for trying to hide his absence from her.
"You do realise Hinata will be able to tell straight away that I'm not the real you? We can't hide things from her." Clone Naruto whispered quietly.
"I know, that's why I'm leaving a note with you this time. Make sure to get to Boruto when he cries before he can wake Hinata up." Naruto replied, quickly scribbling a note to explain the situation to her and handing the note to Clone Naruto. Naruto walked into his bedroom, the clone following behind and grabbed his ninja jacket along with his gear quietly before heading over and giving his wife a kiss on the forehead and doing the same to the sleeping Boruto.
Naruto gave his clone a reassuring look as the clone gently climbed into bed with Hinata and she snuggled into him sleepily.
He quietly left the house, shrugging on the jacket as he headed towards Shikamaru.
"What's the plan?" Naruto asked him matter of factly.
"I need you to use your Kyubi mode so you can sense if anyone is being controlled in the village." Shikamaru replied in a serious tone with worried eyes.
"Okay." Naruto replied with a nod, he immediately had a golden chakra surrounding him and he closed his eyes as he let his senses feel the people in the village. He opened his eyes when he sensed a dark aura surrounding someone within the village, "got ya." He said quietly and took off running in that direction, Shikamaru running quickly behind.
"I can't run anymore." Temari told her captors who had been running and dragging her along non-stop for 20 minutes. "Please I need to stop for a bit." She said with great effort as a pain in her stomach ripped through her.
"We can take a short break but we need to be out of here within 10 minutes. You try anything..." The Shinobi in charge trailed off, giving her a threatening look.
Temari nodded quietly and sat herself slowly down against a tree, allowing herself to catch her breath while she warily watched the other shinobi taking food out of their packs. She subtly placed a hand on her stomach as she frantically thought of a plan, she'd never admit it but she knew her husband would have thought of something quicker than she could in her hormonal state as every plan she thought of was consumed by a desperate need to keep her child out of harm's way.
"I need to go to the toilet." Temari said matter of factly, standing up with her hands on her hips and trying desperately to hide her anxious feelings.
"Go there." One of the shinobi replied, pointing at where she stood.
"I will not go here while you are watching me! You already have my compliance with this abduction so I won't be trying anything." Temari said indignantly.
"Fine we won't look but if you try to run, know that we will catch you." The main shinobi said as the other two looked at him for his answer.
Temari nodded as she went towards a large tree where they wouldn't be able to see her, she actually really needed to pee as the baby was sitting on her bladder and when she was finished, she quietly made a shadow clone and transferred almost all of her chakra to the clone so the other shinobi wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
She gritted her teeth at the substantial loss of her chakra and the pain in her tummy made her feel weak. Clone Temari had walked out towards the three shinobi and slowly sat herself down; they were immediately suspicious and looked her over carefully before deeming that she was okay.
"The break is over; I don't want anyone from Konoha following us." The main shinobi said authoritatively. "If you cannot run, one of us will have to carry you as you are only slowing us down."
"I can run." Clone Temari replied indignantly.
"Fine, then run." He demanded as they all took off into the forest.
Temari held her breath, waiting until she was sure they were gone before using the tree to pull herself up and she struggled to move towards another tree. She held her breath and leaned heavily into another as the pain flashed through her abdomen again, she stroked her belly soothingly, sweat gathering on her brow as she tried to suppress the pain.
"It's okay Shikadai, Momma's here with you, we're gonna be home with Daddy before you know it." She softly said to her bump.
Temari walked forward a little more, trying desperately to keep herself upright, she was afraid that she would fall and hurt the baby if she felt too weak but she knew that she had to keep going before the shinobi noticed that the real Temari was absent. Without warning she felt her legs get wet as a gush of water flowed out of her followed by a wave of pain and an immense pressure in her belly.
"Oh no." Temari said to herself anxiously. She blushed in shame as she wasn't sure if she had peed herself or if it was her waters breaking or both and tried to quicken her pace, clenching her fists at the pain. She was panicking slightly in case something was wrong with her baby, the village wasn't too far away and she could easily be there within 10 minutes at a sprint but because she was so exhausted and in pain, she was only able to manage a slow walk.
The baby was kicking her every so often and Temari began talking to her bump quietly as she swallowed the lump in her throat and tears began to well in her eyes. "It's okay Shikadai, we'll be home soon. We don't have far to go now, don't worry." She said emotionally, she hated this feeling of weakness and she was glad there was no one around to witness her distress but all she wanted was for Shikamaru to appear around every corner.
Naruto and Shikamaru ran through the village as quietly as they could, they came up towards Izumo and Kotetsu's watch tower and as they slowed, they eyed each other worriedly. Both men slowly and carefully walked towards the entrance to the watch tower, Naruto turned off Kyubi mode so he wouldn't stick out and they each stood on either side of the door. With a nod to each other, Naruto opened the door and Shikamaru sent his shadow in; searching for whoever was in the building.
When he knew he had caught someone, he silently nodded to Naruto, who ran in while activating his Kyubi mode. Shikamaru followed quickly, causing Kotetsu to walk into the dim light, Kotetsu had looked at them angrily.
"What do you think you're doing?! Let me go!" He shouted indignantly, trying to struggle with the shadow bonds.
"Naruto can you snap him out of it?" Shikamaru asked, ignoring Kotetsu's protests.
"I can try." Naruto replied, he applied extra chakra to his hand before placing it on Kotetsu's head and focusing on removing the control that was placed on him. Kotetsu bristled before laughing sinisterly.
"You think this will work?" He smirked. "They've already done what they came here to do. It's too late, you'll never find her!" He added with a huge grin which was so wide it looked unnatural.
Shikamaru ignored his words as much as he could. "Naruto, you need to do something else because he's starting to fight my Shadow Possession Jutsu." Shikamaru said urgently.
"I'm trying, I've almost got him." Naruto said through gritted teeth, his voice sounding strained as he focused more of his chakra.
Kotetsu looked worried as he realised Naruto was making progress and he shouted more obscenities at them in order to break their confidence in their plan but he was ignored as Naruto pushed harder. He let out a scream as Naruto took out the last of the control the shinobi had placed on him and Kotetsu's eyes closed for a few seconds before he groaned tiredly.
"Ugh, I have a bitch of a headache." Kotetsu said quietly. He looked up quickly when his memories came back to him and his face turned immediately guilty. "I'm so sorry; I don't know how it happened, no matter how hard I tried to stop myself I couldn't. I sent Izumo home and told them where Temari-San lived, they must have done something to me because you have to know; I would never have done something like that." Kotetsu started talking frantically and refusing to meet their eyes in shame.
Shikamaru released the Jutsu and sighed. "It wasn't your fault, you were being controlled but thankfully Naruto was able to break the Jutsu that was placed on you. I don't suppose they told you where they were going?" Shikamaru asked, anxious to find out as much information as he could so he could find his wife.
"Well they were careful not to say where they were going in front of me but they mentioned that the Kazekage had refused to grant them funding for a weapon of some sort which is why they wanted Temari-San so they could apply pressure on the Kazekage and get what they want." Kotetsu answered guiltily.
"Shikamaru, let's go. There's no one else in the village under their control and I have enough nature chakra to activate Senin mode. I'll just follow Temari's chakra." Naruto said urgently, knowing his friend was anxious to get going.
"I'll go to the Hokage tower and inform Kakashi-Sama of everything that's happened." Kotetsu added.
"Okay, let's go." Shikamaru said, already turning to run out of the village.
Naruto lifted his phone out of his pocket while they ran and called Sakura.
"Hello? Naruto? You better have a damn good reason for calling me, I was sleeping." A sleep-deprived Sakura answered.
"Sakura-Chan! Temari was kidnapped from the village earlier, we are on our way to find her now but I was wondering if you could stay awake just in case she's hurt." Naruto tried to whisper the last part so his friend wouldn't worry but Shikamaru threw him a 'you're not helping' look.
"Okay, make sure to keep her off her feet when you find her, I placed her on bed-rest for a reason." Sakura replied annoyed. "Call me as soon as you find her okay?" Sakura added with a concerned voice.
"I will, thanks Sakura-Chan." Naruto replied and hung up. He looked around for Temari's chakra and stopped in confusion as he felt a strong presence of her chakra in one direction and a weak presence in another.
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked nervously.
"I dunno, there's two of her. It's possible she could be using shadow clones but which one is the real one." Naruto said worriedly, he quickly felt for any other chakra that wasn't Temari's. "The stronger chakra has 3 other chakra signatures surrounding her but the weaker one is alone." Naruto added.
"The weaker one has to be Temari's; she would know to put as much chakra into her clone as she could." Shikamaru said confidently.
Naruto quickly made a group of shadow clones. "Go after the stronger Temari, try and take the shinobi alive but make sure that Temari is safe first...just in case." Naruto told them, they all nodded and headed towards the stronger Temari's direction.
"Lead the way Naruto." Shikamaru said, Naruto giving him an answering hum before running towards what was hopefully his wife and not a clone.
Temari grunted in pain holding onto a tree desperately; the pains in her belly had gotten worse and more frequent the longer she walked. She wanted to be at home and vowed never to complain about bed-rest again, she gasped as she experienced the worst pain yet and tried desperately to hold back a scream. She fell to her knees as she couldn't keep herself standing any longer and she fought the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes unsuccessfully.
Temari rubbed at her face viciously; if she couldn't walk...she would just have to crawl. She was NOT going to allow herself to fall to pieces altogether, that just wasn't in her nature. She slowly pushed herself forward, holding her breath every so often to listen out for anyone trying to sneak up on her and to hold in her gasps of pain.
She stopped as another flash of pain along with an immense pressure in her stomach, this time she couldn't help the pained scream that ran through her but she anxiously cut herself off when she felt the Shadow Clone she had made disappear, she was in so much pain that she couldn't keep it going. A shiver of fear went through her, she knew it wouldn't take them long to find her and she was afraid they might actually go through with their promise to harm her child.
With Adrenaline running through her body and her protective instincts, she stood herself up. She was a shinobi! She would endure the pain! And she would run the rest of the way to protect her child.
Temari began to run at a slow jog, since she couldn't actually run that fast with her belly so big. She stopped when she noticed two shadows coming towards her and looked frantically around for the third, holding onto her stomach protectively.
"Temari!" Shikamaru shouted frantically as he sprinted out of the shadows towards her.
"Shikamaru!" Temari cried in relief, she nearly fell with the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders but Shikamaru caught her just in time.
"Are you hurt?" He asked her worriedly.
"No, I made a shadow clone but it disappeared, they're coming back for me." Temari said, anxiously rubbing her stomach, she clenched her fist in Shikamaru's jacket before letting out a pained cry.
"What's wrong?! I thought you said you weren't hurt!" He shouted worriedly, examining her for any injuries.
"I think the stress has caused the baby to come early, I'm certain my waters have already broke." Temari replied weakly.
"I'll call Sakura-Chan now and let her know." Naruto informed them worriedly.
"No, she's been working hard all week. I don't want to be any trouble." Temari spoke up hastily.
"Don't worry, she's worried about you and wanted me to call as soon as we found you." Naruto replied to her kindly.
He gave her a quick call and updated her on the situation when he felt one of his shadow clones disappear so they could inform him of how close the other shinobi were to them. They weren't far now and the other Naruto's were giving chase but the shinobi were relentless and weren't afraid to kill.
"Shikamaru, we need to move they're almost here." Naruto said urgently, activating his Kyubi mode.
Shikamaru picked Temari up as gently as he could and quickly followed Naruto towards the village, his heart clenching painfully when Temari screamed loudly in pain.
"Don't worry about me you cry baby, I'll be fine." Temari huffed sternly but she gave him a smile when she was sure Naruto couldn't see her.
"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru whispered to her affectionately as he ran with a worried smile.
When they neared the entrance to the village Naruto stopped. "Sakura-Chan's waiting for you at the hospital; I'll try and stop these guys from getting to you.
"No Naruto! We can't just leave you here!" Temari said firmly.
"It's okay, Sakura-Chan sent Sasuke over." Naruto replied, they turned quickly when they heard Sasuke clear his throat behind them. When Sakura found out she was pregnant a month ago, he promised to stay in the village with her until the baby was born.
"You should go to the hospital now, we'll handle this." Sasuke told them, walking over to stand with Naruto.
"Thanks Naruto, Sasuke." Shikamaru said before running towards the hospital.
When they entered the hospital Temari was screaming again, louder than before as the pressure became more intense.
"Quickly, this way." Sakura said leading them towards another room and waiting for Shikamaru to place Temari gently on the bed. "I thought I told you no more stress and plenty of bed-rest." Sakura joked lightly as she focused her chakra into her hand and began to scan the health of the baby.
"Sorry for the trouble." Temari replied weakly. Her hair was sticking to her forehead as a sheen of sweat shone on her face; Shikamaru brushed the hair out of her eyes and kissed her on the forehead.
Temari reached for Shikamaru's hand and smiled with excited eyes. "We're going to meet him soon." She whispered quietly.
Shikamaru nodded, knowing she would make fun of him if he said anything because his voice would have sounded emotional and he swallowed the lump in his throat.
"He's completely healthy...and you should be able to push very soon as your contractions are becoming more frequent." Sakura informed them sounding surprised at her second statement.
"Really?" Shikamaru asked surprised as he was sure that it would have taken a lot longer.
"Yep, she's almost 10 centimetres so she should be able to deliver soon." Sakura said with an eager smile. Sakura turned to one of the nurses and told them to get the necessary equipment ready for Temari's delivery, as well as some pain medication.
"Are you ready?" Shikamaru asked Temari quietly, absently stroking her hand with his thumb.
"I think so...I just can't wait to meet him." Temari said drowsily, she squeezed Shikamaru's hand tightly in pain as she felt another contraction.
"Okay Temari, I want you to push now. Work with the contractions." Sakura told her soothingly, looking up at her occasionally to encourage her as she was positioned at the bottom of the bed.
"You can do it Temari. You're a troublesome woman but you are so strong and I know you can do this." Shikamaru whispered his encouragement to her as she looked into his eyes desperately while she groaned with the effort. "Breathe Temari." He added to her as she was breathing too fast with the effort.
"Okay you can stop now Temari, we'll wait for the next contraction and start again okay?"Sakura told her reassuringly.
"We're almost there okay." Shikamaru told her, reminding her that he was there for her.
Another few contractions and both Shikamaru and Sakura were saying encouraging words to her as she did her best to push their son into the world.
Temari sobbed in relief when she heard the tiny cry. "You did it! I love you, thank you so much." Shikamaru told her with tears going down his face.
Sakura had quickly cleaned the baby and showed Shikamaru how to cut the umbilical cord. She wrapped a blanket around their baby and placed him in Temari's arms, she then smiled softly before leaving the couple alone in the room with their child.
"He's so beautiful." Temari said quietly, staring at their son in a dazed sense of awe.
"He has your eyes." Shikamaru mused affectionately, he had his arm around his wife and he reached his pinky finger towards his son's hand, smiling when he felt their child grip his finger tightly. "What do you think we should call him?" He asked her quietly.
"Shikadai." Temari replied simply.
"Really?" Shikamaru asked her in a surprised tone.
"Please, I know how much your InoShikaCho team means to you and your family. I've been thinking about it for a while and I just feel like he's always been Shikadai to me." Temari told him matter of factly.
"Thank you." Shikamaru said gratefully, kissing the top of her head.
"Would you like to hold him?" Temari asked him with a sleepy smile.
"Yes please." Shikamaru responded before reaching over to carefully lift Shikadai from her arms. A tear openly fell down his cheek as his child quietly looked up at his father with eyes so much like his mother's. "Welcome to the world Shikadai." He said quietly.
"You're such a cry baby." Temari teased as she admired her husband holding their child.
Before Shikamaru could reply the door opened and Yoshino entered with a nurse worriedly following her.
"Temari, Shikamaru I was so wo...You had the baby." Yoshino exclaimed emotionally as she walked in, ignoring the nurse who was protesting that she should be in bed resting.
"Mom, meet Shikadai." Shikamaru told her gently.
"He's so beautiful." Yoshino said tenderly. "Your father would have been so proud of you Shikamaru." Yoshino added as a tear slid down her cheek.
"Would you like to hold him?" Temari asked her, noticing that her husband didn't seem to be in any hurry to let his child go.
"I would love to." Yoshino replied opening her arms waiting to receive the child that her son delicately place in her arms.
"You should rest now Temari, we'll still be here when you wake up." Shikamaru told her gently.
Temari sleepily nodded, looking towards Shikadai in his grandmother's arms and wondered how her own mother would have reacted, she closed her eyes with a small smile as she knew her mother probably would have cried and loved her grandson from the moment she laid eyes on him, she soon fell asleep, leaning her head on Shikamaru's shoulder.
Naruto opened the door to his house quietly, feeling accomplished. The three shinobi were in custody and the Kazekage and his advisor would be in the village by morning to interrogate the men for abducting their sister. They had been informed of their sister's well-being but Naruto decided not to tell Gaara that their sister was having the baby in case Shikamaru and Temari wanted to keep it as a surprise.
Taking off his shoes and jacket, he carefully walked through the dark living room, he startled when he saw the light turn on and a guilty looking Naruto and a mildly pissed off Hinata was standing at the entrance of their bedroom.
"I thought I told you to give her the note this time!" Naruto said exasperatedly to the Clone Naruto.
"He did but I think you are missing the point, when you go out on missions, leave a note. Don't leave a clone holding a note." Hinata said tiredly.
"I'm sorry Hinata; I just didn't want to wake you. You haven't been sleeping well so I wanted to take the night shifts to help you sleep better, at least by leaving the clone he could take care Boruto without waking you." Naruto explained guiltily, taking a few steps towards his wife.
"I understand it's just as soon as I remotely stirred the Clone shoved the note in my face." Hinata said grumpily.
Naruto gave his clone a look and the clone disappeared. "I'm sorry." Naruto said gently as he carefully pulled her into a hug, earning him a sleepy smile.
"It's okay, how is Temari-San?" Hinata whispered as they entered their bedroom and she didn't want to risk waking their baby.
"She's okay, the stress of the whole ordeal caused her to have the baby early; she's in the hospital now." Naruto whispered back, climbing into bed and snuggling into his wife.
"I hope she tries her best." Hinata replied before giving her a husband a sleepy kiss and cuddling into him as sleep began to drag her under.
Gaara and Kankuro arrived at the entrance to Konoha, running towards the Hokage tower and ignoring the confused villagers as they passed.
"Come in." Kakashi answered when they knocked the door.
"Hokage, where is Temari and those men who took her?" Gaara asked as urgently as he could while still being respectful, Kankuro standing impassively behind him but there was a spark of concern in his eyes.
"Firstly Kazekage, Temari-San is fine, she managed to outsmart her captors and escaped by herself, she's in the hospital right now...You may want to visit her first." Kakashi replied with a happy gleam in his eyes that Gaara didn't want to question. "Secondly, Naruto and Sasuke managed to stop the three Shinobi from recapturing her and they have been locked up in the prison cells downstairs but they can be dealt with later. I really think you should see Temari-San first." Kakashi insisted.
"Are you sure she isn't hurt?" Gaara asked, trying to mask his concern for his Onee-San.
"See for yourself." Kakashi replied calmly. Gaara looked at Kankuro and they both ran towards the hospital, the nurse's jaw dropped when she saw them as clearly they didn't think the Kazekage would arrive from Suna that fast, he must have been running all night.
"We're here to see Nara Temari. Is she here?" Gaara asked calmly.
"Hai, follow me please." The nurse replied before standing up to escort them to Temari's room. The nurse knocked on the door and Shikamaru opened the door gently, surprise obvious on his face when he noticed his brother in laws standing there.
"Is Temari okay?..." Gaara asked before looking over and noticing Temari holding her baby.
"We're uncles? I thought that wasn't supposed to happen for another two weeks?" Kankuro asked confused but a grin slowly spread across his face as he walked towards Temari and gave her a hug.
"Temari was under so much stress last night, it triggered her labour." Shikamaru explained carefully as Temari was still dazed but grateful to see her brothers.
"Gaara, would you like to hold him?" Temari asked her youngest brother, noticing that he hadn't said a word since he noticed his nephew.
"I'm not sure." Gaara replied, his expression almost shy.
"Come here." Temari said gently. Gaara slowly walked towards her, his arms rigidly by his side as he didn't know what to do. "Hold him the way I'm doing it, remember to support his head with your hand as well." Temari explained, carefully depositing Shikadai into Gaara's arms, at first Gaara stood so still he was almost like a statue as he was terrified of dropping the baby but he soon relaxed when he saw Shikadai eyes blink open sleepily.
"His eyes are just like our mothers and yours Onee-San." Gaara said in surprise, Kankuro walked over quickly to inspect this for himself and smiled softly when he noticed.
When Shikadai began to fuss, Gaara worriedly made a mobile and shapes out of sand and spun it slowly over Shikadai's head, the child quieted; mesmerised by the shapes. Temari smiled, admiring the view of her family; she was blissfully unaware that Shikamaru was staring at her with a loving expression.
'Thank you Temari...For everything.' Shikamaru thought to himself.
