Temari had lost track of how many times she had walked up and down the hall outside of the Hokage's office. She was glad that no one else had walked past and seen her. They would have thought she was crazy, pacing around.
It was a wonder that her feet hadn't left an imprint in the floor.
The man behind the door must have sensed her and she was sure he questioning why she didn't just come in. Although, the present Hokage was a shrewd man so he probably already knew why she was here. Temari wasn't enjoying this but she had made a promise to her husband, to her doctor and to herself.
Placing her hand on the door knob she sighed and closed her eyes, steeling herself for this conversation.
"I'm doing this for you," she muttered to her stomach.
Once she opened the door, she was momentarily distracted from her goal. There were papers strewn everywhere, some were even blowing in the wind. A couple boxes of take out littered the desk. She thought back to her own brother's office in Suna and how Gaara always kept everything so neat and orderly.
She realized that being Hokage was a stressful job but how was this village functioning when the he worked in a place like this?
"Temari," he greeted her, "I'm glad you've finally decided to come in."
His face was covered up, save for his nose and one eye, but she could hear the smile in his tone. Her eyes squinted at him as she tried to push down her embarrassment.
"This office is a disaster," she snapped before she could stop herself.
Temari was never one to disrespect her elders and definitely not a Hokage at that, but she was on edge right now. The man in front of her sighed and looked around the space in obvious disdain.
"Your observational skills serve you well but I have a hunch that you didn't come here to critique my cleaning abilities."
Yes, she couldn't allow herself to get distracted. She might just run out of here without saying anything. Just get it over with, she thought, it will be like ripping off a band aid.
"I apologize for being rude."
"Not at all," he was just like everyone else, equating all bursts of anger to hormones.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat, in an attempt to bring his eyes up to her face and not her midsection. "I know that I've already been taken off of active duty."
That was a given. All kunoichi immediately stopped taking missions when they were pregnant. "I've spoken with Sakura and, I'm sorry in advance if this inconveniences you, but she would like for me to take leave from my duties as ambassador as well." Kakashi merely nodded his head. The whole thing suddenly felt oddly anti-climatic. Perhaps he hadn't heard her.
"That would be all the work that I'm doing right now."
"Of course, you should listen to your doctor," he agreed, shuffling through some papers.
"But t-this is so short notice," she stuttered, "I can still perform those duties while you're looking for someone."
"Temari," he stopped her, "with all due respect, I can think of two people right now who would probably have my head if I let you continue as is. Finding someone to replace you will be a lot less troublesome than having Shikamaru and Sakura breathing down my neck."
Temari hung her head in shame. She wasn't very surprised that her husband had gone behind her back to talk with him about this.
"And even if it were a hassle," he continued, "I would be happy to do it."
She looked up at the other man with surprise. He wasn't anything like her teacher back in Suna.
The kids he taught, which were no longer children, were truly like his family. And Temari was taken aback at first by how close he was with Shikamaru's team. She had been told that, after Asuma died, Kakashi had taken over as a sort of make-shift leader.
The Hokage really was fond of the children in that generation.
"Uh, well, thank you," was all she could get out as she felt a lump rising in her throat. Why was she so emotional about this?
"It won't be too much longer will it?"
"Huh?"
His question caught her off guard. She hadn't expected to engage in idle small talk. He pointed to her stomach.
"Oh, yeah, I guess so, three more months."
"I'm surprised Shikamaru was okay with you working this long."
"Believe me," she shot him a wry smile, "he wasn't happy about it. But it's not like he could do anything."
He let out a chuckle.
It was very like Shikamaru, he thought, to end up with a woman so headstrong.
"Well, I'm glad that you two have reached a consensus." Temari bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. Now that it was done, she still had no idea what she was going to do with all of this free time.
"Thank you again," she bowed her head slightly before taking her leave. Once out in the hall, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
It was done. Now what?
Shikamaru was out on a mission with Naruto. As the future Hokage, the energetic blonde had a lot to learn about the responsibilities that came with running a village and, as his future advisor, Shikamaru accompanied him.
It wasn't supposed to be a very long mission, only a couple of days. With Hinata due any day now, Naruto was adamant about staying close by. And Shikamaru worried ceaselessly about her even when he was at home, so he was even less pleased with the idea of leaving. Being alone wasn't anything new to her so she had done her best to ease his concerns
On her way back home, she stopped to pick up dinner, making sure to pick up some dango as she'd been craving it.
She got a little more than she herself could eat in case Yoshino stopped by. Before he left, Shikamaru had enlisted a group of people to stop by and check in on her.
The whole idea seemed silly to her. Their friends would have stopped by even if he hadn't said anything. Nonetheless, the people he had depended on and Temari's own promise to visit the Hokage and take leave from work were the sole reasons he had accepted the mission in the first place.
It was strange coming back to an empty house, eating with no one sitting across from her at the table, sleeping alone.
Well, she wasn't entirely alone. Temari was slightly comforted by the fluttering in her stomach. As much as she didn't like to admit it, she was occasionally victim to her hormones and they sure did make life a lot more difficult.
Shikamaru had gone away on missions since they'd been married but she could never remember missing him so much.
If she kept thinking about it and moped around, he would be able to tell something was up the minute he got back. Temari had to distract herself. She couldn't cry.
Suna turned Konoha's cruelest kunoichi had to remain strong, even if she didn't feel it.
Curled up in the fetal position on his side of the bed, she certainly didn't look like the picture of strength.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that Temari's heart leapt out of her chest when the mattress suddenly dipped. It took everything in her not to scream at the sudden intrusion.
When she twisted around and saw him she didn't know whether to pull him into an embrace or a choke hold.
Her heart was still beating frantically so she did neither. Shikamaru almost laughed at her expression before realizing how truly terrified she had been.
"Sorry, I thought you would have heard me come in."
"Why would you think that?" she snapped, getting control over her voice once more. "I was almost asleep." Not really, but that excuse sounded a lot better than 'I was having a pity party'. "Besides, you weren't supposed to be back for another couple of days. How would I know it was you?"
"Alright, alright," he scratched the back of his neck, a habit he had never grown out of, "I get it. Our mission was shorter than expected so we just decided to come back."
Translation, we slaved as hard as we could to finish early so we could come back faster.
"I was doing perfectly fine here," she attested, which was a complete contradiction to what she was feeling moments ago. He sized her up with his eyes, not buying a single word of it. Why hadn't she married someone with an IQ below 170?
"Hmm, so that's why you're sleeping here instead of there," he pointed to her side of the bed. Temari felt her face grow warm at being caught red handed. Her nerves were causing the baby to move around a lot more than usual. She rubbed her stomach, which instantly pulled his eyes from her face to her hands.
"There was a draft on my side." She heard him chuckle, his focus still on her middle.
"Okay," he relinquished, although both of them knew she was lying. His hands eagerly joined hers to press against the extended skin. His eyes widened as he felt the strength and frequency of the kicks. "Whoa, he's really moving. Doesn't that hurt?"
"Not really," she rhythmically stroked, trying to soothe the baby. "He's probably just reacting like this because you almost gave me a heart attack."
"Oh, sorry," he at least had the decency to look sheepish. She knew it wouldn't take long for the kicking to settle down. Now that he was here, Temari felt the most relaxed she had in days.
"I went to see Kakashi today," she stated while he climbed into bed.
"And?" This was the sort of thing he'd usually be interested in talking about but he was already yawning. Temari could see how exhausted he was now.
"It went well."
"Good," he practically slurred the word. She envied his ability to fall asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Even if sleep wouldn't take her as fast, she curled up next to him and grabbed his arm to wrap it around her side. His light snoring comforted her and Temari found herself closing her own eyes.