Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden
Their feet dragged with each step. Looking at eachother they knew what had to be done.
"You guys go home, I got this." Naruto said to Sauske and Choji, who were so disheartened by it all just nodded their heads and trudged off. Here was Naruto standing outside Yamanaka Flowers, mat night. He sighed and sat down on a bench just a few feet away and thought about what he was going to say. "Fuck Shikamaru!" He cursed out his name. He knew that as soon as he told Ino, he had to endure the wrath of Kakashi, and tell him everything, which probably would get him labeled as a 'deserter'.
"No point in stretching this out, I suppose," Naruto said while strecthing and heading toward the stairs that led to Ino's apartment.
He knocked three times and waited. He secretly hoped that no one would come to the door, just so he wouldn't have to go through with this. Once he heard the footsteps getting louder, he did just that, as he quickly paced himself towards the end of the hallway, and peeking to see if anyone would come outside. To his surprise the footsteps stopped at the door, but it never opened. "Probably saw that no one was there through the peephole."
Walking away as quietly as he could, he managed to leave the building and roam the dark streets, alone. Something hit him however, and he got the urge to at least inform Sakura of what transpired.
He knocked four times this time, and waited. She answered with squinting eyes and a look of exhaustion. "Is that you, Naruto?" It took her a second to process the significance of him being back. "Quick come in!"
Sitting in her tiny dining room, she blurted out the million dollar question. "Did you find him?"
Much to his chagrin, he smiled coyly and said "No. But we do know where he is."
Sakura was in silence as she thought about saying something but then thought against it.
Naruto continued. "He's in Suna, with you guessed it.."
"Temari."
"Yup. Don't ask me how, or when, but what I do know is that he's gone off the deep end. But, I assure you, him being in Suna is great! All I have to do is send a letter to Gaara and he'll take care of him until he's back to being our genius friend, that we all know and love."
"But he's with Temari. You know his ex?"
"Don't take this the wrong way Sakura, but who knows? Maybe Shikamaru really needs this for his confidence and to just bring him back to reality. Besides we're not in Suna, we don't know what's going on. For all we know, he could be making puppets with Kankuro."
"Kankuro, huh?"
"Look just don't tell Ino. We'll have him back within a month or two"
"What do you expect to say to her when she sees you?"
"Easy. We misplaced him."
"I hate you so fucking much right now."
Meanwhile in Suna
Shikamaru had awakened to the sounds of condors in the sky. He straightened up and looked around the room. Turning to the clock, he saw it was 10:32 AM. He made his way out if bed and proceeded towards what appeared to be a balcony. Opening its doors was breathtaking as he saw Suna before him. It took him a second to realize where he was, until he made the connection that he was in the Kazekage' Living Quarters. "I don't even remember Temari taking me home last night", he said and shrugged his shoulders.
He walked downstairs to a large kitchen. He saw chefs whipping up omelettes and waffles and wondered why Kakashi never allowed this kind of luxury for his home and office.
"Good morning."
Shikamaru turned around to see Temari and wondered how exactly did they end up here.
"Shall we go?" Said Temari.
"Go where?"
"To the hospital of course! Don't you remember? You promised me you'll accompany me to get my vitamins."
"Vitamins? What for? Can't you get that at any drugstore?"
"How wasted were you last night?"
"I got wasted?!"
"Shhh. Let's step outside for a second."
Shikamaru nervously walked with her outside to a wooden patio. They both laid down on the hammock that was built not too long ago.
Temari took a look and began to speak
"Shikamaru, I'm pregnant."
His whole body became weightless as he felt the saliva build in his mouth.
Temari continued
"Obviously it's not your child, but I kinda...sorta thought...that maybe"
"Maybe what?" He said very hesitantly.
"Well you need help, and I need help right now. You know, in terms of raising this child. So I figured you could stay for a bit?"
His whole world was frozen. He went back and looked at every important moment in his life.
"You say it as though the child is already going to come in a few weeks. You're not even showing!" Shikamaru closed his mouth with his own hands, realizing what he just said.
"Temari, I'm so-"
Temari slowly stood up from the hammock and with her back to Shikamaru, proceeded.
"You really have forgotten all about me, haven't you? How long ago did I tell you that? seven months ago?"
"Eight actually."
Shikamaru remembered the pain Temari had gone through. For months she would have bled and for months she wouldn't. Then eventually, she stopped altogether. They have a shared memory of the gynecologist telling Temari she couldn't have children. The relationship had already soured at that point, but they both clinged on to the last few moments of their relationship out of pure fear. Fear that Temari wasn't going to live the life she wanted, with Shikamaru fearing that leaving her especially under these circumstances would have been detrimental to Temari and to a bit of himself.
"When...when did you agree to it?" Asked Shikamaru.
"About seven months ago. I did it as a surprise, for you, for us. But well, you know how the rest of that story goes. I always know you wanted a kid and I wanted to give you one badly, so I found a surrogate."
Shikamaru sat in silence, stunned.
Temari, fighting back tears of disappointment, began to sell the idea to Shikamaru with her now broken voice.
"Shika, you should really have seen it! I was at the sperm bank and the donor I got was just like you."
Shikamaru sat there looking at the sky, trying his best to process this.
"And- and he was tall! And..*croak* and handsome, and..and he said he was smart." Temari couldn't continue as she began to weep.
"Why aren't yo- you saying something?"
He continued to look at the sky.
"Answer me!" She lashed out, and quickly went back inside the house. She tried to cover her tears by going up the stairs quickly.
Shikamaru finally let out a breath of relief once she left. He thought and calculated about the possible locations he could go with the remaining Ryo he had left. "I always wanted to go back to the Land of Iron", he thought. He imagined the sheer awkwardness of telling Temari he had to go. He always cared and still holds a place in his heart for that girl, but this was too much for him to handle all at once. How was he going to help raise a child, when he was still one? He thought about the heartbreak of leaving another girl in another village, especially when they needed him most. "So fucking troublesome", he thought. Looking at the sky he remembered what he had done to Ino as well as his mom. He wasn't becoming a man, he was regressing. But he thought, if he could do this one thing, then maybe, just maybe, he would make his mom and hopefully Ino, proud. He returned back inside the house and quietly walked up the stairs. He still eas able to here Temari crying from her room. Pausing for a brief second outside her door, he opened it.
"Let's go. The drugstore closes at 3 today." He said,...smiling.
A/N: What do you guys think? Thought I would catch you guys off-guard! Anyways, everything is great on my part, can't complain about anything. I hope everything is good with all you guys. Like I've said before, don't be afraid to leave a recommendation or review! You guys are awesome. And oh! I just remembered, I'm doing a little appreciation letter for a friend who means alot to me, and k don't know if I should write in the form of a case study (ex: the subject has blossomed throughout these four years I have known them) or a more traditional approach. Help would be appreciated. Thanks!
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