So here we are again guys, I hope each and everyone of you are enjoying the story so far. I'm thinking 6 more chapters, idk.

Here it is..

Shikamaru stared at the blonde curled up by his side. His right arm was under her head and had started to go numb, but he didn't dare move her. With his left hand he caressed her from shoulder to hip, his fingers sliding over the distinguishable lump that resided there. Their child rested comfortably between the two, stomach to stomach. He caressed the skin of her abdomen, acknowledging how the tawny muscles of her youth had seemed to dissipate. He didn't mind that she hadn't shown her stomach anymore, he didn't even mind that it wasn't going to be flat. He wasn't so vain as to expect her to keep her lean shape, she was going to be a mother after all. He suddenly wished that he could speak telepathically, he wanted to tell his baby so many things. He wondered if Ino already had. Does she speak to it? Does she sing and tell it about her day? Shikamaru shook his head with a smile, but it was short lived. Ino whimpered in her slumber, causing the shadow user to retract his hand. He looked up at her face to make sure she was still sleeping and when her eyes didn't open, he knew that she was.

"I wonder when they will approach her.." He thought to himself, not really noticing that he had whispered it aloud.

He knew why they had come to him first, they expected him to give up. It was true that Shikamaru was a slacker. He was lazy, inconsiderate, sexist, selfish, and easily dissuaded from troublesome things. They must've thought they could scare him out of it, but even though he had stood up to them they kept coming back. Everyday his mother begged him to leave Ino, everyday he told her no. Shikamaru knew that it was harder for Ino, she had taken to staying inside the house. She couldn't stand the disapproval of her mother so she closed the flower shop. He knew it was hard for her to have to suffer through the silence, to ignore her own mothers' persistent knocks at their door. It had been two months since their suprise meeting in Naruto's office and what had first started as an uproar had yet to die down. In his attempt to sheild her from their families he had decided to move into her apartment above the flowershop. It helped to keep them at bay, he could be the one to deal with them when they came around to bother her(but it didn't stop them when he was at work). He tried to reason with his mother, to tell her that it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Even Choji had tried to convince his own family that it didnt matter. Ino's stomach was growing to accustom their child, but it didn't seem to faze their families. Why couldn't they except that it was something that couldn't be reversed? It was too late for Ino to give the baby up, too late for their disapproval. Shikamaru unconsciously pulled the blonde closer to his chest, trying to protect her from his thoughts. He would have to go to work at the academy soon, but he didn't want to get out of bed.

He kissed her forehead when he finally decided to get ready, and he whispered for her to have a good day before he walked out the door.

To his surprise no one was waiting for him when he exited, but he made sure to lock it securely before starting off. Shikamaru stuck his hands deep into his pockets and sighed heavily, his thoughts swirling around his mind restlessly.

Ino opened her eyes shortly after he closed the door, frowning when she noticed the empty side of the bed. She stretched her arms and legs out expecting to feel the coldness of the sheets, but they were still warm. She smiled as she turned to the clock, Shikamaru had left an hour late for work. Heaving her leg over the side of the bed she made her way to the bathroom, running her fingers through her dirty hair. She grimaced at her reflexion before turning away to get into the tub.

For what seemed like hours she laid in the half filled tub until the water grew cold, and even then she sunk deeper. Only her eyes were above the water, and her growing belly peaked up at her. She smiled underwater, and the bitter taste of soap filled her mouth. She immediately sat up sputtering and climbed out of the frigid water.

Ino stroked her tummy as she admired it in the mirror. Five months pregnant. She turned to the left and the right, admiring the bump that peaked out from under her training clothes. She had promised Sakura that she would come see her a few days ago, something about a check up at the hospital. With a smile and a toss of her hair she grabbed her purse and headed out of the Flowershop. Inside Ino was in turmoil, she didn't want to see the occasional disdainful glance of one of her clan members, or the shocked faces of her fellow rookie nine friends. Subconsciously she placed a protective hand over her stomach to shield her child from the piercing eyes of the villagers.

She could hear their whispering voices as she walked past:

"What a tramp."

"I wonder who the father is?"

"I always knew she would be the first of our generation to get knocked up."

She could feel the anger rising up inside of her, and she clutched her purse close to her chest, her eyes focused on the looming tower of the hospital. They didn't know anything, they were ignorant and she didn't need to explain herself to them. With a speed which left her panting she waddled towards the hospital doors. When she entered she waved politely to the receptionist, who for her sake had suppressed the look of utter surprise only to mask it with excitement.

"Goodmorning Ino-san!" The girl piped as she stood, walking around the counter to give her a once-over, twice. "You're ...you're pregnant!"

Suddenly the buzzing noise of busy doctors and complaining patients seemed to stop, and Ino glanced down at her toes with a blush.

"Yes I am." She replied quietly, jolting in surprise when she felt the cool touch of the receptionists hand. Ino frowned with annoyance but quickly replaced it witha smile instead. The girl in front of her pulled her hand back in shock when she felt something push against her hand.

"I hate to just run but I really need to-"

She was cut off by the loud voice of the Hokage, and she winced when a heavy arm was slung around her shoulder.

"Ino-chan what brings you to the hospital?" Naruto boomed while walking her away from the onlookers, his big bright smile never fading even when they rounded the corner.

Ino shirked out from under his arm with a blush, and straightened her top.

"Thanks for helping me out there." She mumbled as she bowed slightly. She didn't know why she was being so formal, she had known Naruto all her life before he became Hokage. But even though she had known him, she knew they were never on the best terms. She had never given him the time of day, never given him a chance. She glanced over at his grinning face and couldn't help but smile too.

"That Shikamaru sure is a lucky guy, I keep telling Sakura-chan that we should-"

His voice was cut off suddenly by the pink haired nurse herself as she walked out of one of the rooms, effectively hitting Naruto in the face with the door. Ino's eyebrows raised sky high as Naruto let a yelp out in pain, grumbling under his breath about beastly strength and intuition. Sakura seemed to ignore him though and she turned to Ino after giving the Hokage an uninterested glance.

"You're fine Naruto, stop whining." Sakura said and she embraced Ino, who felt like she was trying to hug Sakura with a ball between them (which she supposed she really was doing).

"How are my little nieces and nephews doing today?" The pink haired nin asked as she pulled up Ino's shirt, to which the blonde was horrified.

"W-What? Nieces? Nephews!" She exclaimed as she pulled her shirt down, trying to ignore the blush that had adorned Naruto's face.

Sakura blinked up at Ino innocently and shrugged, "Did I say that?" She waved her hand dismissively, "Maybe I just saw it wrong."

Ino felt her heart beating harshly against her chest, and she clutched her shirt tightly as she followed Sakura to the examination room.

Meanwhile no one noticed that Naruto had followed them, and he sat down beside the examination chair, bending over to look at a bottle of strange looking gel that was sat on a small cart. Ino looked tenatively at Naruto, then to Sakura, then back at Naruto.

"Shouldn't this be private?" Ino asked as Sakura forced her to lay down with a gentle but firm shove to the shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as she pulled up Ino's shirt and pressed her fingertips to her stomach.

"I-I mean why is Naruto in here?"

The pinkette seemed to absorb the words rather slowly before she turned to the blonde whisker-faced man.

"I don't know." She said softly before turning back to Ino. "Why are you here?"

Naruto straightened and beamed down at Ino before replying, his tanned hand slipping into her pale one, "Well I got curious after what Sakura-chan said back there, and as the Hokage I have the authority to go wherever I want."

Ino looked up at him with scowl and squeezed his hand hard, rolling her eyes. "You're really something." Ino said as she reached up to push her bangs out of her face.

Sakura asked them to please be quiet as she focused her chakra into her hands, and they began to glow green as she slid her fingers over Ino's swollen stomach. Her eyes were closed but Ino could see them flicking around underneath her painted eyelids, and she bit her lip nervously when they fluttered open. For a long time Sakura sat there with a blank look on her face, before she looked over at Ino with a smile.

"Two." She said as she pulled her hands from her stomach, and Naruto gave a happy shout.

"I've gotta go tell Shikamaru!" He howled as he shot off of his stool, he gently slid his hand out of Ino's with a smile. "I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

Ino started to object but it was too late, the blonde shinobi had already slammed the door behind him. She stared at the door for a long time in shock, and a little bit in fear- two? Two children? How were they going to raise two? She had only thought about there ever being one, and had never even gave two a thought. It wasn't common in her family to have twins, and she silently cursed Shikamaru as she turned to her pink haired friend.

"I didn't even notice that there were two signatures." She said ashamedly, glancing down at her stomach with a sigh.

"I can understand that," Sakura said as she turned around to grab her clipboard." I could hardly tell them apart myself, their chakra networks are identical."

Ino's eyebrows knitted together as she placed a hand on her stomach and focused her chakra into her fingertips. It took her a few minutes, but when she finally felt it she gave out another long sigh.

"It's strange that their networks are exactly the same," Sakura said as she turned. " Usually even identical twins have slight alterations of their chakra flow, but your babies are exactly alike," She handed Ino a slip of paper so that she could get a refill on her prenatal vitamins."I wonder if they will come out looking identical as well."

Ino peered up at her friend as she slid off of the examination chair, straightening her clothes with uneasy hands.

"Me too."

Shikamaru sat with his palm resting against his cheek, and his elbow resting on his bent knee. He leaned back against the trunk of a tree as he watched his students run around throwing toy shiruken and kunai at each other. They were playing a game of ninja dodge ball, where whoever gets hit with a kunai is dead and can't play for the rest of the recess (and they didn't even use a ball..ever). He sighed as he stretched his limbs, glancing at the watch on his wrist. There were only ten minutes left till they headed inside, and he was ready to just be at home with Ino. He was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he didn't notice the man who sat down beside him until he cleared his throat.

Beside Shikamaru, Naruto grinned like a child. His eyes crinkled until they looked like they were closed.

"Two." The Hokage said, giving the shadow nin a thumbs up.

"Two?" Shikamaru repeated, his eyebrows knitting up to form a knot on his forehead.

After a long silence Naruto looked over at him, intense blue eyes meeting dull charcoal ones. There was an expression on the kyuubi containers' face that he couldn't quite understand, and he was about to repeat himself before he was answered..

"Yep, that's how many kids you're going to have."

Shikamaru stared at him blankly for the longest time. It took five minutes before Naruto felt his face fall, and even then the man before him said nothing.

"Sh-Shikamaru?" Naruto stuttered, waving his hand in front of his friends' face. " Oi! Nara! Wake up! You're having twins I said!" Naruto shouted out, taking hold of Shikamaru's shoulders and shaking him roughly.

Shikamaru felt like the world was spinning when he was finally released, and he looked at Naruto in disbelief before shaking his head. He didn't know where the information came from, how did Naruto know something like that? To sat he was shocked would be an understatement, but he wasn't disappointed or angry...just..taken off guard. He looked back towards his class to see them all staring at him.

'Naruto must've been playing a joke.' Shikamaru said as he shook his head, smiling to himself. Naruto sure was a convencing joker, Shikamaru was almost fooled.

"Troublesome." He muttered under his breath as he stood up and walked back towards the school, naruto hot on his heels.

"Is that all you're going to say? This is great!" Naruto exclaimed as he put a hand to Shikamaru's shoulder. "You should go see her! I bet just seeing her face will make you realize how real this is!"

Naruto took of running towards Shikamaru's class and told them to all go inside because he was going to take over for their sensei. Before Naruto closed the door he turned to Shikamaru with a bright smile, "Go now Shikamaru! That's an order from your Hokage- Believe it!"

Shikamaru stared at the door as it slammed closed, and stood there for a long moment before flicking his eyes down to check his watch. There was only twenty minutes left of class, how much damage could Naruto do?

As Shikamaru walked down the street he felt a sense of urgency in the pit of his stomach. He picked up his pace until he was practically flying, and he had to jump onto the rooftops to avoid running over the villagers that meandered into the street. His face was stretched into a smile, but he could feel the panic gripping his heart. Twins? How were they going to take care of two? Shikamaru didn't even know if he could handle one yet..

I'm sorry if this was a bit silly, but I've been wanting to add interaction with other characters, and who else to add than the Hokage himself? If this seems rushed I also apologize...tell me what you think in a review...

Btw, let me know if you saw any errors! :)