A/N: This chapter was getting a bit long so, a two-parter it is!
Shikadai stood in front a pair of old golden oak doors. Shikadai didn't know much about what was on the other side. All he knew was that it was closed off after his uncles' renovated the house. Therefore it was off limits.
He had approximately 10 minutes before his Uncle Gaara woke up, 30 before Kankuro was awake as well. The real issue was Baki and his Dad, both were early risers and hardly made any noise.
Pressing his ear against the door he listened for a sound... Nothing.
Curiosity was getting a hold of him. He looked around anxiously. He was still by himself. Shikadai tried to turn the doorknob to no avail. It was locked. He huffed in frustration.
All his planning for nothing, he even woke up before anyone else. Glancing at his small wristwatch he saw 3 minutes have gone by.
'That leaves me with four minutes to open the door and three minutes to get back to my room before Uncle Gaara finds me.'
His small hands attempted to turn the knob again, as if it magically unlocked on its own. He frowned as the door refused to open for him. There were no mats, no vase, no paintings, nothing that could possibly hide a key of sorts.
"Come on, open. I wanna know what's inside." Of course the door ignored his wishes. That's when he glanced down at his watch. Four minutes left, not enough time to look around. He'd have to wait another time to explore.
"I'll be back for you." He told the door before leaving.
Shikadai walked quietly on his way back to his room. His fuzzy socks soften his footsteps as he tiptoes down the hall.
'Almost there.' He thought has he reached the living quarters of the Kazekage home. Just ahead of him was his room, the forest green door welcomed him.
"Going somewhere?" Busted
Dai's body stopped on it's own. No longer was his hand reaching for the doorknob instead he found his body turning around against his will.
"Um hi Dad." Shikadai said nervously as his father released his shadow.
"You're up unusually early, mind telling me why?"
Shikadai grinned, "I saw a desert mouse! It looked lost so I helped it get back outside." The lie rolled expertly off his tongue. He would never admit to practicing for hours.
Shikamaru looked at his son, the boy was giving the biggest puppy eyes he could muster. Shikamaru sighed, he couldn't be mad at those eyes. He knew it was dangerous for Shikadai to wonder off alone but the boy was in the Kazekage Mansion he was safe here. He couldn't help but to chuckle.
"Well Mr. Mouse-rescuer, since you're already up, why don't get changed for the day and join us for breakfast." He gave the boy a pat on the back. Shikadai nodded and was about to turn to his room when he stopped.
"Wait, why are you up so early?"
Shikamaru smiled, "Well once your Uncle Naruto becomes Hokage, I'll officially be his personal advisor. Right now I'm working as the Kazekage's advisor while we're here. Now hurry up, I hear Baki is making his famous pancakes."
With that Shikamaru watched as his son ran towards his door, slamming the door behind him. Nobody can resist Baki's pancakes, nobody.
•••
'Heaven.' Shikadai thought to himself as he bit into his breakfast. To him the only better cook than his mother was his grandfather.
"Baki-jiji, are you sure can't come live in Konoha with us. Our house is really big, and you can have your own room and you can cook pancakes whenever you want."
The whole table smiled as Shikadai listed off several reason why Baki should leave Suna for Konoha exclusively to make pancakes. Breakfast was a peaceful affair for the family. Baki, Gaara and Shikamaru would comment about their work while Kankuro and Shikadai would talk about who knows what.
"So Uncle Kankuro what we doing today?"
Kankuro blew the boy a raspberry and chuckled. "Well I still need to finish some last minute paperwork, your dad and Gaara got Kage business and Baki... what are you doing again Baki?"
Baki looked up from his cup of coffee, "Border Patrol, I'm meeting with your mother there for a bit. We had reports of bandits causing trouble for outlying villages."
Shikadai pouted, "Then what am I going to do?"
"Well we could leave you with Matsuri?"
"But I already stayed her and Matsuri thinks Uncle Kankuro is a pervert, whatever that this."
Shikamaru snickered as Kankuro choked on his coffee.
"Well she's not wrong." Gaara muttered.
"Hey!"
*knock knock*
All four adults stared at each other.
Baki was the first to get up, "I'll get it."
Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at Gaara, who just blinked back slowly in response.
'Expecting company.'
'No.'
Kankuro stared at his brothers, he hid his frown behind a hash brown. All three waited to a move while Shikadai was completely oblivious to it all.
"Well come on in." Baki's voice came from the foyer. They all sighed in relief as two familiar figures appeared at the dinning room.
"Well look who it is. Freeloader." Kankuro said.
Hisoki laughed, "Freeloader? I pay my bills excuse you, at least I'm not a pervert. Matsuri said she caught you peeping near the bathhouses."
Gaara whipped his head at Kankuro and glared.
It was Shikamaru's turn to speak. "So Hisoki what brings you around."
Hisoki ran his hand through his platinum hair and grinned as he spotted a certain Nara boy. "Well I did manage to hear that our little Prince has returned to us."
Shikadai's eyes brightened. "That's me! That's what they call me!" He said excitedly.
"Certainly young prince."
"Oh, Dad can I play with Hisoki today? Can I? Pleeaassee." The young boy batted his brilliant teal eyes. All the adults gulped, the boy was using his ultimate weapon; puppy eyes. Shikamaru looked at Suna Brothers for backup but they avoided looking at him. 'Traitors' he thought. "Don't ask me, for all I know Gaara and Hisoki have meeting or something."
Before Shikadai could protest Hisoki spoke up. "Actually today's my day off, I don't mind looking after him, how bad can he be?" He said as he ruffled the boy's hair.
Kankuro and Gaara shrugged, "Hisoki is one our closest ally within the Suna government-"
"-Better him than those old geezers." Gaara and Kankuro said at the same time. This time it was Baki who glared at Kankuro.
Shikadai looked back and forth between his uncles and Hisoki. "So can I?"
Hisoki flashed him a grin, "As long as your family is okay with it."
So just like that Shikadai and Hisoki headed out the house together.
"Shikadai wait!" Both Hisoki and Dai turned to see Shikamaru running out the front door towards them.
"Your mother would kill me if you left with out taking this with you." With that Shikamaru bit his thumb and slammed his palm on to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Hisoki and Shikadai watched as smoke puffed, into existence.
"Kamatari!" Shikadai began to clap his hand excitedly.
The weasel took a moment to take in his surroundings. Back in Suna, back to arid air and soft sand. "If it isn't my young Master, back in Suna are we?" Kamatari ran up Shikadai's side and curled around his neck. "I'll keep my eye on the boy, Nara. My mistress would be very displeased should any harm befall on the boy." He said, his single eye trained on Hisoki.
Shikamaru nodded, "Thank you Kamatari. Shikadai have fun, and try not to be too troublesome to Hisoki." He waved as Hisoki and Shikadai left into the market place.
"Why am I not surprised that your idea of a fun place is the Library?" Hisoki couldn't help but to chuckle as Shikadai was greeted by the librarians in the front desk.
"Mama says books are very important, they take you places, and besides I can't reach the books on the top shelf. Or the really old ones in the back, you need a special card for those. I'm a counsel member might have one." Dai said as a matter of fact.
Hisoki put his hand over heart in a joking matter. Kamatari sneered, "You walked right into the kid's trap."
"And you need me to get clearance to some of the higher ranking book?"
Shikadai nodded eagerly. "Mama says once I'm a bit older she'll start teaching more about Suna stuff, but I don't have time for that! I need to know now if I ever want to catch to Mama and Dad." He motioned Hisoki to come close and whispered in his ear. "They're geniuses."
Hisoki smiled, "Well Mr. Genius where to?" Shikadai pouted and closed his eyes. "Hmm... I want to learn abbouuttt... well, what were mama and my uncles like when they were younger." Hisoki and Kamatari cringed the same time.
"What about your gramps?" Kamatari interjected.
"Baki-jiji?"
Hisoki shook his head. "I think the rat means your biological grandfather, kid."
It had been a few weeks since the end of the war. While Gaara was more than grateful that Suna hadn't suffered to the extent some of the other villages had. He still couldn't get his mind off a certain interaction.
"You've surpassed me… I entrust the village to you now… Gaara…"
He couldn't help but to frown as he remembered the words his father said to him. There he stood, in front of Rasa's old bedroom. Baki and Kankuro had it sealed off after he died. He took a deep breath as he opened the door.
The sun barely peaked into the dusty old room. Sand covered the furniture. But other than that Gaara felt like he stepped back in time. He was only ever allowed there a handful of times as kid. The felt heavy, he was having trouble breathing.
Gaara walked over to the cabinets and draws, all decorated with dust covered photo frames.
Carefully he picked one up and dusted off the frame. In the picture a man happily stood next to his wife, on top if his shoulders was a little girl with sandy brown hair. Gaara's heart began to tighten. He placed it back and picked up another. This time the man was standing next to the woman who in a hospital bed. She looked tired, but happy. In her arms a little baby. The man was smiling, widely.
Gaara felt a sense of sadness wash over him as he relived his father's life through he photos. His mother, Temari and even baby Kankuro were all there behind the glass. But he was no where to be found.
He heard the door close behind him.
"I was hoping you wouldn't be here."
"Temari, please I just needed to see what he was like."
Temari looked sad, she sighed as she walked past Gaara towards a bookcase. She pulled several books and placed them on the bed. "Feel free to look at them, Father kept them hidden after you lost control. I think he felt guilty, and tried to convince himself he was doing the right thing. What are you trying to do Gaara? He's dead, he can't redeem himself." Temari said plainly as she exited the room.
Gaara thought for a moment before answering. "Naruto helped me redeem myself If I can receive a second chance then so can Father." He waited, he expected her to lash out like Kankuro but to his surprise Temari smiled at him
"I'm proud of you Gaara." The she disappeared behind the door.
Gaara looked down at the books Temari pulled from the bookcase. They were old and worn. The front one of the book were covered in a brilliant golden lettering. The number 3 shun beautifully. He tried to even his breathing, Gaara's hands shook as he opened the first book.
'Here goes nothing.'
••••
For the first time in forever Gaara cried. Somewhere inside him a young boy cried, he cried for a family he never had, for a father that was never around. But mostly important he cried for the family he had now. How wonderful it was to finally belong somewhere. So much as changed since he was a lonely little boy, now he had a family and he was willing to do anything to keep them safe.
A/N: Thank you thank you so much for all the lovely comments. I never thought this story would any traction. But here we are! I'll try to post more chapters as soon as I can. And before I forget my other Shikadai-centric fic "Little Brother" is officially completed! As always feel free to like, comments are always appreciated. As a side note, I do wish Temari's summon was used more often, so I decided to have him as Nara-Kaze family summon.