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Previously...
I pulled on new shirt and pair of pants with lots of groaning from aching muscles, then walked out with my chin up, I refused to let anything get me down.
"Hello Temari." Shikamaru looked up calmly from a chair, I stopped, turned and stomped off, damned if I was going to talk to the fucker.
"Temari." He said sounding exasperated, I continued walking and heard his footsteps following me.
"Wait, Tema." He jogged to catch up. "Well I'll be damned, the reappearance of forceful Shikamaru." I spun and hissed, angrily. Three years of built up anger just waiting to be released.
"I apologize. I realize that all of this must've been very hard for you." Shikamaru said, inclining his head a little.
"Oh fuck your small little mind," I said, faking sympathy, "You think it was merely very hard? You've got another thing coming. Childbirth in itself is hard! Two years of raising a child practically alone is something you cannot possible fathom."
"I realize that. But two years of living with Ino is pretty hard in itself, especially when I know that every night at 1 right after I've 'gone to sleep' she leaves on 'an errand' of 'great importance'. Nothing is perfect, some of us just have it worse that others, you namely." Shikamaru frowned, then shook his head.
"I was planning to move here even before I knew about Satomi, and for all I knew you'd moved away years ago to escape me."
I sighed and rubbed my face, anger disappearing as quickly as a puddle in the hot sun.
"Alright. I'll give you one day to truly understand. Look after Satomi for a whole day and then we can talk." I delivered my ultimatum and Shikamaru stared at me with an open mouth.
End of chapter
Now...
I had to crawl out of bed in the morning with my leg still screaming at me, I'd gotten a good three hours of sleep the night before, so I needed more. But Satomi was dance practically on my head to get me to wake up, so I finally cracked my eyes open and groaned. Then I got up.
Then the previous day's events came rushing back to me. Shikamaru. Satomi. Alcohol. In that order, Satomi was, of course petulant about the fact that she had to go with Shikamaru and I was angry with him for driving me to make stupid threats, so I had left Satomi with her Uncle Gaara and her 'Unka Kanko' (she had never liked Kankuro's name) then I went to a local Sunagakure bar and got myself drunk, to be quite honest it was all too much.
Then I came back and picked up Satomi, put her to bed and dropped off to sleep. Alcohol doesn't effect me as much as I want it too, the best I can hope for is to get mildly buzzed.
So I woke up this morning with a headache that was anything but fixed by my lovely daughter yelling in my ear incessantly.
I got dressed slowly and then helped Satomi dress in one of her beautiful dresses. Satomi chirped happily in my ear the whole walk to the Kazekage office, where Shikamaru had agreed to meet us. I walked up the flights of stairs struggling with the impulse to run quickly away.
Finally we were at the door to the office and I pause for a moment, took a deep breath and opened the door, even though every last nerve in my body was screaming no, run away!
I blinked once, and then blinked again, then I regained my sense of self and I shouted at my brother in anger. "Gaara! Let him down." I demanded, sounding exactly like the old bitch of a mother I told myself I'd never become.
Gaara glanced over at me and then reluctantly let Shikamaru down; sand dispersed about the room and blew softly out the window. Shikamaru dropped to his knees with a gurgling noise of a breath. I closed my eyes and counted to ten to stop myself from yelling at the two ignorant males.
Shikamaru took and moment to breath until he got up, my younger brother was still glaring at him and I found myself thanking the deities that looks couldn't kill. "Nice to see you, Temari." Shikamaru croaked and Gaara glanced at him with a murderous look of contempt.
"Hello." I replied simply with a lot of misgivings bouncing around in my head, I sent Gaara a murderous look to rival the one he had sent Shikamaru. Suddenly a pair of hands pinched my skin through the skirt I was wearing. I leapt forward and few steps and glanced back at Satomi. "Ouch, don't pinch please." I frowned at her, but she looked at me with such a scared expression that my own face softened.
"Its okay, sweety." I said after a moment, then she glanced back at Shikamaru and I frowned. Then I tried to sidestep to put her in front of me to introduce them, but my daughter ducked out from behind me and ran over to hide behind her Uncle. I glared at my brother, who suddenly had a look of extreme innocence.
"Satomi." I said warningly and Gaara raised his eyebrows. "I can perfectly understand her hate of Shikamaru." My brother protested when I glared at him. "Yes. But we all have to do things we don't like." I snapped, bringing up my hands to try and rub away a headache that was building up.
Shikamaru took a hesitant step forward and I whipped around to glare at him. "You stay where you are." I nearly shouted, fed up. Satomi peeked out at me, her eyes filled with tears. I sighed and walked over, crouching down near my brother's leg. "Satomi, sweety. You should get to know your Shikamaru-otou-san." I stiffly said the formal words without feeling.
"But…I don't wanna." Satomi wailed, a sudden change from her behavior this morning when she woke me up with her overflowing excitement. "Yes, I know sweety. But go with him this one day, and then judge whether or not you like him, hmm?" I reasoned with her and she sniffed up her tears, then she thought about what I'd said for a moment.
Finally my daughter nodded and carefully stepped out from behind Gaara, but she looked ready to run and hide behind my brother again at any moment. I stood up and started biting my lip in worry, Shikamaru looked shaken by the whole experience and I almost smirked at his horrified expression. I wanted to shout, ha! This is what it's been like for the past two years!
Satomi took another stepped forward, and another step forward until she was closer to Shikamaru. Then he crouched down to her level and they stared at each other for a few moments.
"I'll go with you. But only for today and only if your nice, otherwise I'll get Uncle Gaara and Unka Kanko." Satomi shook her tiny finger at Shikamaru and pouted. Shikamaru scratched his head and solemnly held out his pinkie, Satomi, seemingly satisfied by this turn of events held out her own finger and they pinkie swore.
I blinked and glanced at my brother, gauging his reaction to all this. He looked at my daughter with a protective glance, then at Shikamaru with a murderous glance, then he looked at me with a soft, carefully glance. Finally he walked back over to his desk and sat back down, presumably to finish the paperwork he'd been working on when Shikamaru had shown up.
I was satisfied that Satomi would be fine so I said my goodbyes and hugged my daughter, then I left to go sleep some more.
Shikamaru P.O.V.
I glanced at my daughter and scratched my head; we were walking down a dusty Suna road. It was odd to see Satomi, because she looked like Temari and me both, it was confusing for my mind. I was still shocked that I have a two-year-old daughter that I never knew about and I was somewhat angry as well.
"So…what would you like to do?" I asked nervously, slouching into my normal stride. "Could you slow down Shikamaru-san?" My daughter asked, tottering along on her short legs, trying to keep up with me. I frowned at the polite suffix and slowed down.
"I would like to go to the park! If that is okay with Shikamaru-san?" Satomi said happily, then faltered and trailed off with a question.
"Yes that is fine with me." I said, still brooding over her use of language. Satomi smiled up at me and I smiled back and felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. We walked in silence to the park, then I asked my daughter what she would like me to call her, she paused for a moment then replied. "Just Satomi is fine." Quietly. "What would you like to be called?" she asked after another moment and I paused.
"Just Shikamaru is fine." I replied carefully and she smiled up at me. Then she ran off to play on the swing set. I smiled as I watched her climb on the slide and monkey bars. After a little while she returned to the bench that I was patiently waiting at, she grinned at me and I smiled in return.
Then I realized that I hardly knew anything about my daughter. "So, Satomi. How about you tell me a little more about yourself and I tell you little more about myself?" I asked and she nodded happily.
My daughter sat down on the bench next to me and I grinned at her. "My full name is Shikali Satomi and my favorite colour is white, like clouds. My birthday is the forth of September and I like clouds." My daughter stopped talking and looked up at me expectantly. I was floored by the fact that Temari had named her with a first name starting with Shika, like my family's tradition, I was amazed that she had remembered about it.
"Oh, er. My full name is Shikamaru Nara and my favorite food is Mackeral. My birthday is September twenty-second and I like clouds too!" I replied carefully then I got into the spirit of it and got excited. My daughter smiled and me and I felt happy.
"How come you married Ino?" Satomi asked and I paused, unsure of how to answer.
End of chapter
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