"Shikadai! Go to your father!"

Temari calls for her son who is in fact napping, she didn't expect anything else and she is right. As much as she wants her son to rest, Shikamaru has been planning on visiting his father's grave for quite a while now.

"Haaaaai!" at least Shikadai listens well, even though he is still half a sleep he will always listen to his mother and that makes Temari's life much easier. Temari hears Shikadai footsteps from the front porch, she's been cleaning up the shogi boards and pieces from the living room. Shikadai looks at his mother.

"Kaa-chan are you not going with me?"

"Go without me, I'll just finish cleaning this,"

"Do you need help?" Shikadai asks his mother, expecting to prolong his stay in the house, as much as he respects his father, it's 2 pm and it is very hot outside.

"No, your father is already there, bring the foods I pack and go eat with him, I'll be there shortly," Temari knows her son and she knows he just wants to stay home, she wants to but she can't.

"Wakatta, I'm going then!" Shikadai went and grab the bentos and waves at his mother as he passed through the door and outside. As soon as he steps outside, heat is what he felt. He's already melting.

There are a lot of graves in the cemetery and for shinobis who died in service they are buried in the Hero Cemetery, it's close to the Hokage's memorial. Being in a family of shinobis, Shikadai always visit the Hero Cemetery, he didn't go there as much when he was a kid but when he became a shinobi, he became aware of it, his father didn't go there often as well. But today seems like a special day since his father has been planning this.

"Oyaji are you seriously going to just stand there? In the heat?" Shikadai approaches his father with the bento in his hand.

"Oh Shikadai! Good thing you're here," Shikamaru looks at his son and noticed how hot it must be to walk in the middle of the afternoon just by the looks of his son's face.

"Go pay some respect and we'll go in a shaded area," Shikamaru said in mercy of his son. Shikadai quickly go in front of his father and prayed in his grandfather's grave. As soon as Shikadai finished, Shikamaru walked under the tree in the cemetery, still close to his father's grave, Shikadai follows.

"Oyaji, why did we go here in the middle of the day?" Shikadai asks his father as he sits down, appreciating the shade given by the big tree.

"Today is your Oji-chan's birthday," Shikamaru said which caught Shikadai off guard.

"Really? You didn't said it earlier I should've put it in my prayers,"

"Many shinobi don't really celebrate their birthdays, your ji-chan was one of them," Shikamaru stated which ease Shikadai's guilt of not knowing the date of his ji-chan's birthday.

"Oyaji uhm… what was… Oji-chan like?" Shikamaru sits down beside his son and he thinks of a way explain his father's legacy.

"As you heard a lot of people say, he is a great man, the greatest man for me," Shikamaru looks at the clouds, funny that he used to do this all the time as a kid, sometimes his father would go with him and sometimes he would fetch him as he stared at it for too long. Shikadai looks at clouds as well, listening closely what his father is about to say. Shikamaru rarely comes home so this quality time for Shikadai is important.

"You know I used to look at the clouds when I was a kid, I was very lazy, maybe lazier than you,"

"Yeah Kaa-chan say that all the time," Shikamaru pouts at his son's statement. He did promise his wife to help at home.

"Hey don't be mean," Shikamaru acted hurt and Shikadai laugh at his father. They start to open their bentos and eat.

"As I was saying, your ji-chan? Was the smartest of them all," pride evident in Shikamaru's voice as he say those words.

"He was also a master of shadow technique and one of the strongest in our clan, he was very supportive of me when I was your age," Shikamaru smiled as he reminiscence the past. Good old times.

"Well, you are too," Shikadai said as he eat. Shikamaru smiled at his son, is he really doing what his father was doing?

"You actually look like your Oji-chan Shikadai,"

"Oyaji, we all look the same,"

"Yes, but you remind me of him, calm and strategic,"

"I think you're the same Oyaji,"

"You think so? I never beat him in shoji though," Shikamaru laugh at the thought, he wished to beat his father but he never got the chance.

"What?! Really? He's that good?!" Shikadai is shocked by his father's confession. He can't believe someone can beat his father in shoji.

"Yeah, he's that good," Shikamaru said. Am I good too Oyaji? Shikamaru can't help but think what he's father would think if he was alive.

"He does seem like a great man Oyaji, as well as a great father to you, but I can say those words back to you as well," Shikamaru looked at his son, it may not look like it, but he knows he's son is showing his gratitude towards him.

"You think so? That's good then," both of them went back to eating, Shikamaru would look at the clouds from time to time. He knows his father is looking at them right now.

Oyaji, I have a son now too,

I've been a Hokage's advisor since Kakashi-sensei became Hokage,

I've been good,

Sometimes I think you're talking to me through my son, he's a good son,

Did you feel the same with me as well?

Am I like you now? Maybe not, but I try to,

Be good to us Oyaji, I miss you.