Our Live Are Made In These Small Hours

I was going to work on my angsty one-shot fics, but I got caught by a lovely song that prompted this beauty. The song is called Little Wonders by Rob Thomas and I think you'll all enjoy the peek into the future this will give you!

Enjoy!

Let it slide

Let your troubles fall behind you

Let it shine

Until you feel it all around you

And I don't mind

If it's me you need to turn to

We'll get by

It's the heart that really matters in the end

Our lives are made

In these small hours

These little wonders

These twists and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These small hours still remain

(Shikamaru's POV)

Even after all these year, Shikamaru cannot believe how lucky he's gotten. He still can't believe how his life has changed, how it has lightened in spite of the darkness that has tried to steal the happiness he's worked so hard to gain. He closes his eyes to the sound of children laughing and screaming as they play with one of their uncles and Zack roars playfully as he chases after the gathering of friends, cousins and siblings. Shikamaru smiles gently, his lips just barely tipping up in a peaceful expression of contentment. He had never seen himself coming this far in his life, but he can't deny that he's glad to have reached this point in time.

He laughs softly as he remembers… He's thirty-seven… Again. The last time he'd been this again, his world had ended. And now… It's like all those years of fighting, of grief, regret and loneliness had been nothing more than a way of making everything in his all that much more precious.

The sound of his Oyaji's rusty laughter and his kaa-san's boisterous laugh makes him turn to look at them. Yoshino, white beginning to streak through her raven black hair and laugh lines creasing at the corners of her eyes, is playing with her namesake -his daughter, her second granddaughter- Yoshiko. Shikaku is just chuckling as he watches two of the beloved ladies who make his life brighter. His own hair is beginning to grey at the temples and his own laugh lines dig deeper than his wife's, but neither have let their age slow them down. If anything, their age has made them all the more determined to spend as much time with their loved ones as possible.

He knows that one day they will no longer be part of this world. The thought makes an ache bloom in his chest. But the ache is a tender one, because he knows that they will not be separated forever. The Lifestream will reunite them again… Just as it had somehow managed to turn back time to reunite him with a world -and family- he'd forgotten.

And how lucky is he? To have both sides of his family here with him now? To have his blood family and the family he'd chosen with him now? He closes his eyes as warmth fills his chest, an up-welling of pure happiness that he doesn't even try to hold back. He couldn't even if he wanted to, not with the carefree sounds of his family ringing out around him.

Arms wrap around his waist from behind, a chin rests on his right shoulder and a voice murmurs reverently, "You're eyes are glowing again."

Shikamaru can't help the smile that crosses his face at both the voice and the words and he quietly returns, "I'm happy. How could I not be when I have my whole family here and we're at peace? How could I not be when I have you and our kids and a home that is ours?"

The other man releases a pleased, thoughtful hum before he purrs, "A rare confession from you, love. What's gotten you into such a contemplative mood?"

Shikamaru tilts his head back, not yet looking at his husband. Instead, he looks up at the blue, blue sky. "Today's the day I died in a past that will never occur. I was lost and alone and then… I wasn't, not anymore. I had a mother, a father, a Clan. Things I'd never had before. At least, not that I could remember.

"Eventually, I had brothers and friends and teachers who became family. And then...there you were. The one person I never knew that I'd need or that would open up a part of me that I thought was too damaged to ever allow another person into. I probably would have never known how loving someone so completely could feel if you hadn't been so determined to make me see that you wanted me for all that I was and all that I am. Including all my faults and quirks.

"And how lucky does a person have to be to get a second chance at not just learning how to live, but learning how to love? And learning how to be loved without thinking that they have to repay that love with anything but returned love and devotion?"

Shikamaru twists and the arms around his waist loosen briefly before he is pulled close and he slides his hands into long, dark brown hair as he stare up into tender, loving pale eyes with a gentle, besotted smile. A smile that he's only given one person in his entire life. "You have made this life so much more than I had ever imagined it could be. I know it would have never happened if I hadn't died in another life, but every moment with you is a blessing I thank the Goddess for everyday. Everyday I give thanks for the children we have and the joy they bring to our lives."

His smile widens, his eyes softening to the same molten shade of golden amber that had the other man falling head over heels in love. "Hyūga Neji, I love you. Always and forever. Until the end of time itself and beyond."

Ending Notes: So anyone got cavities from this? I think I did.

This peek into the future is a long, long, ways ahead of us, but Hyo|Shikamaru kinda latched onto the song and wouldn't stop clamoring for a happy, fluffy moment and so this got created.

Have fun flailing like crazy! XD