I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to update! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Previously…

"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.

Now… Shikamaru's P.O.V

"Well…"-I paused and scratched my head, trying to figure out how to answer my child-"You know how sometimes your Mom wants you to do something, and you don't want to, but you do it anyway, to please your Mom?"

Satomi smiled and I felt incredibly guilty for missing the first few years of her life. "Yes!" Satomi said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I nodded thoughtfully as I considered how to finish explaining myself to my two-year-old daughter.

"My Mom really, really wanted me to marry Ino. So I felt that I had to, even though I really didn't want to." I smiled somewhat sadly and Satomi scrunched up her face, considering this new information.

After a moment she commented with another hard question. "Okay. But then why didn't you tell Mom?" Satomi asked, her young face glaring up at me with protective anger in her eyes. I paused for a moment and considered what to say in response to her question.

A slight breeze blew by and Satomi sat, staring at me in questioning annoyance until I answered her. "Well…You've got to understand, Satomi, that your mother had already left Konoha by the time I was engaged and I was angry that she had abandoned me…so…I guess I just made a mistake."

I tried to explain and Satomi glanced at me, mistrust lingering in her eyes. "I don't think you deserved to feel abandoned." She said after a moment and I fiddled with a piece of grass for a moment. "Well, now I know that I didn't deserve to be angry, but at the time I was angry and I wasn't thinking how your mother was feeling."

There was another long moment of silence. "Alright. That's fair. Can we go do something else now, Shikamaru?" My daughter smiled and it seemed that I'd passed the interrogation so far.

"Would you like to go get ice cream?" I asked and Satomi smiled at me. "Alright Shikamaru." She replied happily walking along next to me, I had to constantly remember that her legs were shorter than mine or she'd fall behind.

We got ice cream and then went and watched the clouds for a while, and I found out that Satomi was extremely smart, as well as well-spoken.

As the sun began to set, we trudged back to the Kazekage building. Satomi had decided that I could hold her hand while we walked along, 'to keep us from getting separated' she said.

Temari was standing in the lobby, tapping her foot on the ground in an annoyed manner. I sighed a little at her mistrust of me, Satomi dropped my hand and ran to her mother. As our daughter gripped Temari's skirt, I raised a hand in greeting as Temari looked as vaguely annoyed as always.

Temari P.O.V

Satomi pinched my leg and she enveloped me in a hug, at least she didn't seem extremely scarred from spending the day with Shikamaru. I crouched down to talk with my daughter, ignoring Shikarmaru completely.

"How was your day, sweetie? Did your Shikarmaru-otou-san treat you well?" I asked and Satomi nodded looking slightly mischievous. "We had a great time." Shikamaru commented and I glanced up, glaring at him for a moment before turning my attention back to my daughter.

"We got to look at the clouds!" Satomi grinned at me and gave Shikamaru a thumbs up. I suddenly felt exhausted as my long day caught up with me. "Temari?" Shikamaru said hesitantly and I stood up, dusting my skirts off as Satomi snuggled into my leg.

"Could we meet to talk sometime?" Shikamaru asked with a lazy half-grin on his face. I stiffened, annoyed at the man. "Satomi, why don't you go visit Uncle Gaara? Tell him I'll be back in a few hours." I said with a sigh and Satomi nodded vigorously before running up the stairs.

"Shouldn't you make sure she gets to Gaara?" Shikamaru asked and I just shot him a droll look. "I suppose you know best." He added with a shrug. "You bet I know best." I said sharply and Shikamaru recoiled a little at my words.

"Alright, where do you want to go?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose between two fingers as I felt my headache returning. Shikamaru shrugged quietly and I sighed. "Alright, follow me." I said, walking towards my favorite restaurant as I realized how hungry I was.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked and Shikamaru cleared his throat. "I have every intention of staying in Suna for…well…ever. But I just want to discuss how we are going to share Satomi. Because I know that my dad would like to meet her…and I think that she should know her grandparents." Shikamaru said nervously and I paused for a moment and spun to face him.

"Let's get one thing clear. I. Have. Not. Forgiven. You. You are still a mean bastard to me, until you prove otherwise." I commented, then I spun on my heel and continued walking at a faster pace, trying to ignore the hurt look one Shikamaru's face.

I felt bad for saying those words, but I was thinking them and he needed to here how angry I was with him still. We walked in silence as Shikamaru tried to keep himself from getting angry, I could tell because the vein in his neck was really well defined, like it was whenever he got angry.

We sat down in the restaurant and ordered; then finally I broke the silence. "I'm not against Satomi spending some time with you and your parents. But if you can't take her to Konoha without me, I don't trust you that much." I said, narrowing my eyes at the man who looked annoyed with me.

We ate in silence and when we were done we got down to business, talking about when Satomi could spend time with the Nara's.

"You can spend the day with her twice a week if you wish, just not Wednesday's, because every Wednesday Gaara and Kankuro take her for 'Unka time'." I said. Leaving no room for argument. "Could I take her to see my parents some time soon? I know that it's short notice, but I really think she would be good for my parents. You can come if you want to. My mom doesn't leave Konoha, so that is out of the question." Shikamaru said and I growled, annoyed that I might have to face his parents again.

"Alright. How about the Saturday after next?" I said, remembering that I didn't have anything else to do that day. "But I'm not staying over at your parents' house." I said sharply. I knew very well that the Nara's didn't like me, and I didn't want Satomi to see that too much.

"Deal." Shikamaru said and we shook hands. Then I paid for our meal and we left. We only got part of the way home when we found ourselves surrounded by a group of thugs.

"Give us your money." The one said and the sentiment was echoed around the ring. I growled; I really didn't have the patients for this today. "No." I said and Shikamaru whispered, "Maybe we should just give them some money." I didn't even qualify his comment with words; I just shot him a look.

The men converged and the battle began…

Cliffy! I hope everyone liked that chapter and thank you to everyone who reviewed, your comments gave me the impetuous to write this.

Reviews are the only payment a FanFiction author receives, please grant me a few.

~WhenTheBloodMoonDies