A/N: So I've come to realize that everyone is doing the exact same story as I'm working on. Their own versions, of course, but future same aspect life thing. Oh well. I've had this in my head for over a year now so I need to focus on it or I'll never be finished.

I have one more story focusing on the beginning part and then I'll move on to the other Naruto characters and bring their lives to light.

Enjoy!

Beginning Pt. 2

Temari laid supine as she stared at her ceiling in deep contemplation, trying to process what was just horrifyingly discovered only moments ago. It was then that she found out that she was, in fact, pregnant and since then her mind had been racing nonstop with nervous and persistent thoughts, tearing her psyche in a multitude of directions. Temari had faced many unfathomable obstacles in the lifetime. Starting from the moment her mother died and she found that the Kazekage, her father, had placed Shukaku into her youngest brother, which turned him into the terrifying psychopath she feared as a child. After that she had worked incredibly hard: long hours of training, studying, and building relations, to get where she was now and all of her long years of work feels like it's a piece of paper to be blown away by this unforeseen gale storm.

In one of the very rare and few moments in her life Temari felt her thoughts completely halted, scarcely able to wrap her mind around the fact that she now had a thing growing inside her and that Shikamaru put it there.

"Kami, what am I going to do?" Temari whined out as she grabbed a near by pillow to cover her face miserably.

"I can't have this thing," Temari thought inwardly. " Gaara's too important for this to happen. The Kazekage's sister getting knocked up while working as a liaison to Konoha is not good for his image. He's worked even harder than me to change the way everyone views him for me to screw it up…

This is all his fault. None of this would have happened if it weren't for him. Lazy Bastard, I'm going to kill him when I see him next…"

Temari pulled away the pillow and took the deep breath she was holding. With her free hand she moved in gently over the lower section of her stomach. She couldn't abort it. It didn't do anything wrong and it wouldn't be fair. She could always give it away to someone else but that didn't feel right to her either. She didn't love the thing in her but she couldn't help but feel an odd sense of protectiveness over it.

"What would Shikamaru think?" She thought.

"Kami… I have to tell him."

A knock came at the door.

"Temari? It's Gaara. How are you feeling?"

"… Physically? Better I suppose."

"Good. Don't worry about dinner Kankuro's taking your shift. He says it will be done in about thirty minutes."

"… Okay."

"Do you need anything?"

"… Not right now."

Forty minutes later Temari exited her room to find both Gaara and Kankuro sitting at the table eating dinner. The two of them stopped eating and turned to face her as she entered the dining room.

"There's-" Kankuro began.

"I need to take some time off." Temari blurted out before the conversation went anywhere else.

Both of her brothers looked at her with doe eyes. Kankuro turned to Gaara silently while he watched her silently.

"Why?"

"Well, I haven't taken any time off since mid last year. I'm about due for a break anyways."

"That's true. But we're in the middle of an important negotiation. Can this wait a few more months?"

Temari looked to think for a short moment before shaking her head in disagreement. "I'm sorry, it really can't. I only need two weeks and I'll be back."

"What are you wanting to do? Is it because you've been feeling ill?" Kankuro asked.

"I want to go to Konoha. Just for a little while. I need to do something."

"Konoha? Why? You were just there a few months ago?"

"I'm sorry Kankuro but it's personal. I'll tell you about it when I get back." She turned her attention back to Gaara who was studying her. "Well Gaara, can I leave?"

"I won't lie to you Temari. We need you here. But if you need to go to Konoha of course you can go. I'll set everything up for you tomorrow. When would you like to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. Early. The sooner I leave the sooner I can come back and continue work."

"So soon?" Kankuro complained. "Why won't you tell us why you're wanting to leave so unexpectedly?"

"That's fine. We'll make all of the arrangements."

Kankuro irritably sighed as he went back to eating his rice. Temari silently sat herself at the table and scooped out her own plate of rice. "Thank you Gaara."

Early the next morning, before the sun was out, Temari grabbed her pack that she organized late last night, ready to leave for her three-day journey to Konoha. After securing the pack and her weapon scrolls to her lower back she made a quick scan over her room, mumbling a quick checklist under her breath so she wouldn't leave anything behind. After reassuring herself that she had everything she needed she placed her hand gently and awkwardly over her lower abdomen and spoke softly, looking down.

"Okay… Lets go tell your daddy." She said nervously, and with that Temari turned and left her home.

Being still dark outside Temari left her house and the streets where still relatively empty as she made her way to the village entrance. The guards at the front gate gave her a respectful node as she made her way past them into the Suna desert but didn't question her any.

Temari walked in outwardly silence as she made her way closer to the River Country that separated the Wind and Fire, though her inner thoughts were quickly thinking of strategies of how she was going to break the news. Suna was still visible when the sun began to rise, but so far she was making good distance. She allowed herself to take a minute and enjoy the sunrise for a bit. This is one of the things she always loved to see in the mornings. It was always so breathtaking beautiful, she thought as she watched the burnt landscape with the sun that was quietly etching itself into the horizon, casting stretching shadows across the uneven ground. Suna's sunrise was simply one of the most beautiful things to be seen on this earth and is even featured on many postcards from here. It felt good to focus on something else for a moment and enjoyed the moment but after her short break Temari once again pressing forward.

Hours later the temperature had greatly increased as midday was passing and Temari had gratefully reached a small village where she could refill her water skin. Normally she would take right off again feeling fine but she was currently extremely fatigued and had to rest under one of the few trees that could be found in the village. Though they were thankfully becoming more common the closer she got the border. She put her head between her knees and took large, deep breathes as she tried to catch her breath.

"Ugh, I'm not even to the River Country and I already feel like I can't take another step. What's wrong with me?" A few breathes later, "Oh yeah, pregnancy sucks."

After an unusually long trip filled with many needed but unwanted breaks due to fatigue, bathroom breaks, and sudden spouts of nausea, late into the night of day four Temari finally walked through the gates of Konoha. Due to being later into the year the air was much more frigid than the usual climate when she visits which was unfortunate. She stopped by the guard booth where Kotetsu and Izumo were, not surprisingly, managing. They did give her surprised looks to see her during this season but didn't offer any hassle while she got her visa checked.

She went directly to Shikamaru's apartment afterwards. Amusingly, he only got the place by her off handed comment that when she visited she would like to have more privacy then when they were cooped up in his room at his parent's house. Now she was there, standing in front of the door taking a moment to collect herself. Her stomach began to twist into knots with the thought of doing this but at the same time feeling overwhelming excited to be with him again even if everything was going to change, for better or worse.

Taking a deep breath Temari unlocked the door and entered the apartment. It hadn't changed a bit from the last time she was there. The apartment was very neat due to his mother's frequent visits, aside from the few objects out here and there, but it probably wasn't too difficult to keep house when he barely had anything in it aside from the bare necessities of a house. She made a beeline straight for the bedroom and quietly opened the door and entered. She saw Shikamaru lying on his stomach, with his head facing away. His loose hair was draped all over the place messily, it was very cute and she couldn't keep the heavy smile from her face to see him again.

She sat down her bag and weapon scrolls and placed them next to his dresser and then began to undress herself, tossing her clothes into the hamper by his bathroom door. Quietly she opened up the top dresser and pulled out one of his t-shirts and slid it on, followed by pulling out her hair ties and letting her down loose. She was still dirty from the days of traveling but she was tired so she could have cared less. Temari pulled back the covers and slid into the bed next to Shikamaru who seemed to not even notice. It wasn't until she was settled that Shikamaru moved over and wrapped his arm around her, pulling himself closer. He placed a soft, warm kiss on her shoulder before falling back to sleep with Temari following close behind.

Temari blinked her eyes slowly open and stretched largely, sprawling herself across the bed. She felt where Shikamaru was last night but after a quick glance around the room she found him not to be there. Letting out an annoyed huff she sat up in bed and groggily rubbed her face.

"Where did he go?" Temari thought as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She made her way to the living room where she found him sitting on the couch playing shogi… with himself. The moment she walked in he turned and gave her one of his lopsided grin and went up to meet her.

"Morning," he said as he cupped her face in his hand and gave her a deep kiss. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing in these parts. I haven't heard anything."

Temari shrugged. "Just passing through, and you're a free hotel."

"Glad I'm so useful. Well, I might as well offer you some breakfast then. There's some rice and nori in the kitchen."

"Actually," she sudden said, placing her hand on his shoulder, before he could turn and leave. Temari sighed and looked away. "Can we talk first?"

Shikamaru looked concerned about her sullen tone and nodded. "Of course."

She walked past him and sat uncomfortably on the couch. Shikamaru sat next to her and waited for her to continue. Temari sighed as she dry washed her hands, trying very hard to avoid the hard gaze that he watched her with. After a few awkward moments she was finally able to gather the courage that was rarely in short supply and talked.

"I'm not really sure how to begin. The whole way here I went over countless ways but I never could decide on any one. I guess there's not really a right way to tell you this but it's something I have to… Shikamaru I-"

"Are you breaking up with me?" He suddenly asked.

"What?" Temari locked us with him and saw him staring at her with fear filled doe eyes. "No! Kami, that's what it sounded like. I'm sorry. I'm so bad at this." She watched as he relaxed a little but she had him seriously on his nerves and knew she had to break the news soon before she gave him some sort of mental complex. "Shikamaru… I'm," she dropped her voice to a new whisper and lowered her eyes, "pregnant."

There was a long pause on the other end, though she knew he heard her. "What?" She heard him ask, shaking.

Temari looked forcibly in his eyes and stated much more forcibly, "I'm pregnant. Shikamaru, you're going to be a father…. I thought you should know."

"Oh," was all Shikamaru said as he turned from Temari and began to intensely stare at the floor in silence. Temari couldn't even begin to imagine just how many thoughts were running through his head at the moment and decided it was best to let him be for now.

After a few more minutes of silence Temari couldn't take anymore and decidedly had to speak. "What are we going to do?" She asked softly.

Shikamaru sighed but turned to her. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm having the baby. Past that… I don't know."

Shikamaru nodded and both were silent a while longer before Shikamaru spoke up. "Marry me?"

Did she hear him right? She couldn't have. "What?"

Shikamaru looked squarely into her eyes. "Temari will you marry me"

"No!" Snapped Temari, annoyed.

"What? Why?" He asked, genuinely surprised.

"I'm not going to marry you just because I'm pregnant. Idiot!"

"Well, marry because you want to then."

"Listen Shikamaru, I know you can plan things out far in advance more than most likely any other person out there but I'm not going to agree to marry you based on a decision you made less then five minutes ago!"

"Is that what this is about? Geez woman, wait a second." Shikamaru shot up from the couch and left the fuming Temari waiting while he went to his room for some unknown reason. Not a moment later he returned and sat back down and offered a small ring in his hand.

"What's that?"

"It's my mom's engagement ring… Well technically it was my great grandmother's engagement ring, same thing. But I'd like you to have it now."

"How long have you had that?"

He smiled softly, "A while now. You should have seen my mother's face when I asked for it. Priceless. I've been waiting for the right time to do this. Now's as good a time as any."

Temari looked at him, eyebrows knitted, trying to process the current moment. "Why?"

"Why now?"

"No. Why would you want to marry me?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Shikamaru said, smirking, taking her hand in his. "Temari, you are the most amazing woman I've ever met. Your intellect and strategic mind is extraordinary sharp. You challenge me and I admire you for that. You're extremely frightening and intimidating, which is unnervingly a huge turn on for me, but you can also be very kind and generous to the ones you care about. You are the most confusing woman I've ever met and by far the most troublesome. I could go on for a while with all the reasons that I want to marry you but the simplest reason is that I've loved you since I was a kid and I'm too lazy to put this much emotional effort into anyone else but you."

"I liked how most of those were not flattering terms at all," Temari deadpanned.

"They're all apart of your charm… Plus, we're having a baby together. I want to raise it together."

"It wouldn't be easy, you know, and I'm not just talking about the being married and having a kid part. Have you thought about all the red tape we would have to cross to even do this?"

"Of course I have. Don't worry about that I'll have it all covered."

"Well aren't we a cocky bas-"

"Will you marry me or not?"

Temari stared at her lover intently before giving him one of her rare, toothy grins. "Okay."

"Okay?" Shikamaru repeated, also sharing a big smile.

"I said okay," repeated as she let Shikamaru put the ring on her appropriate finger, it fit surprisingly well. Shikamaru leaned in to kiss his new fiancée but she quickly pushed him gently away. "Hold up there Crybaby. We still have a lot to discuss not just about getting married but where we're going to live, telling my brothers your parents, and we really need to have a long discussion about this baby."

"Or," Shikamaru said as he pulled Temari onto his lap and whispered huskily into her ear. Temari's face went deep red with what was whispered to her and began to breath deeply.

"I guess we could do that first," she quickly said as she smashed her lips onto his and pushed him back on the couch.