Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.

Chapter Four

SHIKA

I couldn't help but laugh. what the hell else was I supposed to do when Temari Uzumaki ran from my kitchen, soaked in puke, after wrangling two kids that most definitely did not belong to me?

He's my brother's best friend.

That's how Temari had introduced me… Damn, I hated when she felt the need to remind me she was Naruto's sister. I was well-fucking-aware of who she was and why I'd never get to touch her again.

The miraculously clean baby immediately gave me a drooling grin. Cute kid. Hoki, that's what the other boy called him. The older boy with the huge brown eyes looked up at me and narrowed his gaze.

"Denki, right?"

Time to break that ice. I'd never really been around kids, but they couldn't be that much different than adults, right? Small humans. Just had to talk to them.

"That's my brother. Hoki is mine. Kind of Miss Uzumaki's too, but all mine." Denki glared at me with a healthy dose of skepticism, like I was going to drop the squirming baby.

Territorial. Okay, I could work with a mini-alpha pup.

"Cool. I like him. Why don't you show me what he likes to do while Temari showers some of his stink off her?"

Denki tilted his head, clearly judging me.

"Can you make him a bottle?"

I had zero idea what to do with a baby and this kid knew it, like he was equipped with some kind of radar that told him I was a complete rookie.

"Can you show me?" I asked. "And do you think maybe we should give him a minute before he upchucks that too?"

Denki sighed and nodded once.

"We'll watch Paw Patrol…after you put a shirt on." He went up on his tiptoes and retrieved my sweater from the counter.

Okay, then.

"All right, but it's going to take me a second to work the TV," I said, setting my clothes on the back of the couch. "It's new."

And upgraded from the model I had in California.

"It's already on. Miss Uzumaki took care of us," Denki said, rolling his eyes, but led the way.

Guess he'd begrudgingly accepted me into his pack.

"Gotcha. Now I need somewhere to put you down," I told Hoki as I looked over my living room.

The couches were a little smaller than I'd pictured when ordering them with the decorator, but they fit well. The built-in bookcases turned out great too. From what little I'd seen of the house, everything was exactly as our Facetime final walk-through had shown. But how safe was it for a baby? At what age did they start sticking shit into power outlets? How fast could they crawl, anyway?

"You're not going to run away on me, are you?" I asked the baby.

Temari would murder me if something happened while she was showering.

"He can't walk yet. His jumper is there," Denki told me, pointing to something that looked like a baby-torture device.

"And he likes that?" Now it was my turn to be skeptical.

Denki looked at me as if I was quite possibly the stupidest adult on the planet. When it came to kids, I might have agreed with him.

"Right." I threaded Hoki's chubby legs through the holes, and he immediately babbled and jumped, jiggling the whole frame and the toys attached to it "It doesn't look stable."

"He's fine." Denki stepped in between Hoki and me.

"And on that note, I'm going to clean up our little mess. You cool in here?"

He nodded, and I took off for the kitchen, throwing on my T-shirt but leaving my sweater on the couch. Usually when I walked into this kind of disaster, I'd had a hell of a night to justify it. Dropping down to the cabinet under the sink, I muttered a curse. No paper towels. No cleaning supplies. Nothing… Because I hadn't moved in yet.

Right.

The buyers for my California house had bought the thing completely furnished, so every personal item I owned was in the bed of my truck. Ten minutes and some ruined kitchen towels later, the floor was as clean as it was going to get until I purchased a mop. Or hired a maid. Yeah, the maid was more likely.

What was Temari doing with two kids? Babysitting? When she texted last night, I figured she'd just needed a place to crash, and I'd thought it would be funny to surprise her this morning since I was already on my way. Hell, maybe part of me had been craving the sight of her. And fine, maybe that's why I'd insisted Melinda and I get on the road super early this morning…from our separate hotel rooms. The second Melinda had started hinting last month at wanting something more serious, I'd taken the benefits portion of our friendship off the table, so it wasn't like we were together, or ever had been. But I was self-aware enough to know I'd only brought Melinda in, instead of driving her straight to Crested Butte, to help build a much-needed wall between Temari and me. Then she'd lost her mind and I'd…delegated, leaving me alone with Temari.

I lifted Hoki from his jumper and gave his butt a quick whiff to make sure he didn't explode from the other end too. Merciful God, he was still clean. I wasn't even sure how to change a diaper... or where Temari had them. Denki sat on the loveseat, but when I took the sofa, settling the baby under my arm next to me, Denki moved over, sitting on the other side of his brother like I couldn't be trusted with Sir Pukes-A-Lot. He then handed Hoki some kind of chew toy and sat back into the cushions, dishing up the side-eye as I pulled my sweater on. It was like the kid knew I'd only taken it off to fuck with Temari, and he didn't approve. Guess he wasn't territorial over just his brother.

Get in line, kid.

"So, you're hanging out with Temari?" I asked him, wondering if he knew just what the hell was going on around here, because I didn't.

"She's my teacher, but she brought us here last night."

Well, that sounded ominous.

"Okay," I said, noting the way he tensed. "Did you have a bad day yesterday?"

He sucked in a shaky breath and his lip trembled for the smallest of seconds, making me wish I hadn't asked. Whatever it was, this kid was not okay.

"My mama had an accident. She died."

Holy shit.

I froze momentarily, my mind drawing a blank on anything I could say to this kid that wouldn't be too much or not enough. Mom had walked out when I was a few years older than him, and it had cut me to the bone, but she hadn't died. That level of pain didn't come until Dad was killed, and there hadn't been any words that could have helped back then.

"I'm so sorry. You must hurt a whole lot."

I don't know how I got the words out around the lump of my own memories in my throat. I'd felt completely abandoned back then. Even Grams hadn't been able to fill the hole, and I'd been sixteen. This kid was, what? Four, maybe five?

He looked up at me with tears swimming in his eyes, pursed his little lips, and nodded. Then he put his arm around Hoki, pulling him from under my arm and against his side even as he swiped at his tears with the back of his other hand like they were a nuisance.

Fuck, my heart broke for this kid. For both of them.

"I don't know exactly what you're going through. No one does, but my dad died," I said quietly. "I was older than you, but I remember how bad it hurt. Kind of makes you feel lost."

Denki nodded again, his lower lip puffed out as he blinked back tears. Fuck, even my eyes were starting to water. I forced that shit back with a hard swallow and cleared my throat.

"It's good that Hoki has you. Then he won't feel so lost."

Denki leaned his cheek on the top of Hoki's nearly bald head and focused on the cartoon.

Conversation over.

Where the hell was their dad? Who was their dad? How did Temari end up with them? Where were they going to end up? At least I'd had Grams when Dad died, but it looked like these two were on their own.

Three short knocks sounded at the front door, interrupting the barrage of questions in my head.

"Come in!" I called out, knowing it had to be Sasuke. I'd texted him on my way in, not realizing what I was walking into.

I heard the door open and shut.

"This wasn't quite what I meant when I said, 'Let's have a planning session.' I didn't think you'd drive in or anything," Sasuke said as he walked into the great room. A wrinkle formed between his dark eyes, his head tilting to the side as he saw me on the couch with both boys. "Where the hell is Temari? Did you scare her off already?"

Sakura came in beside him, then smacked his chest with the back of her hand even as she stopped short.

"Sasuke Uchiha, don't swear in front of kids."

"Like they haven't already heard worse if they're sitting with Shika," Sasuke muttered, and I would have laughed if Sakura hadn't shot him a go-to-hell look.

They'd been back together for eight months and engaged for all of six weeks, but it was only a matter of time before there were little Uchiha babies running around. My guess was they'd have dark hair like their dad and stubborn streaks like both their parents.

"They have not heard worse. I've been on my best behavior, and Temari is scrubbing puke off."

"Hey, Denki," Sakura said with a smile as she sat down next to him. "Remember me from last night?"

He nodded.

"Want to fill me in?" I asked Sakura. "Because I didn't exactly get details from Temari before I sent her off to shower."

Which I was not thinking about. At all. Not even in the slightest.

"Maybe she's already done. Give me the baby and go find out" Sakura said, wiggling her fingers with an excited glint in her eyes.

Sasuke was in trouble.

I handed over Sir Pukes-A-Lot with the warning of his morning activities, and he babbled, smiling for Sakura. Damn, that kid was cute when he wasn't projectile vomiting his breakfast all over Temari's tits.

Don't even think about that word in combination with Temari.

Yeah, like that was going to happen. Thank God Naruto couldn't read thoughts, or I would have been dead a decade ago.

I told Denki he could trust Sasuke and Sakura, before sprinting up the steps and knocking on my bedroom door. When she didn't answer, I went in slowly, cracking the door and calling out her name. No answer. I peeked to make sure the bathroom door was shut before I came in fully. The shower was still running full blast, so I sprawled out across the king-size bed as the exhaustion of driving caught up with me. The decorator had done a good job in here. The furniture was all dark wood, nearly black, which was nice against the light-gray walls. The whole room had a very comfortable yet still guylike feel.

Funny that Temari was the first person to spend the night in this house. She was also the first person in my shower... Naked... About thirty feet away.

Shit. Now my dick was reminding me of the same facts. Like I needed his fucking opinion.

As if on cue, the shower cut off.

"Hey, I'm in here," I warned her loudly. "I just didn't want you to come out…naked or anything."

Liar.

"Thanks, I'd rather spare us both that embarrassment," she answered through the door.

Embarrassment? She had nothing to be shy over.

I rubbed my hands over my eyes. I'd been in the same house as her for what, twenty minutes? She'd been covered in puke with a baby on her hip, and I still thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

You always want what you can't have.

She opened the bathroom door and came out dressed in jeans and a blue V-neck shirt, toweling off her long blond hair.

"Hey."

I patted the bed next to me in response, but she shook her head and leaned against the doorframe. I hadn't given her much reason to want to be close in the last couple years, so I couldn't blame her there.

"On a scale of one to ten, how pissed are you?" she asked, her hands gripping the towel.

"Not pissed. Confused. Why don't you clue me in on what's going on?" I suggested as I sat up. The altitude was already getting to my head. I needed to chug some water.

She sighed and rested the back of her head against the doorframe.

"I don't know where to start."

"You're Denki's teacher," I prodded her.

"Yes," she answered with a soft smile. "He's such a good kid and he's had it so rough."

"Yeah, I caught on to that. His mom died yesterday?" My chest went tight just thinking about his tears.

She nodded.

"They're Tayuya Clark's kids."

"Shit. She never really did come back from losing Clint. Drugs?" I guessed.

Tayuya had been the youngest widow from the fire, and her spiral had been deep, hard, and unrecoverable.

"Car accident, but it sounds like she was under the influence of something. The Pendridges are the only foster family in Konoha..."

I blanched.

"They've got to be a hundred. How are they going to care for Sir Pukes-A-Lot?"

"Hoki," she corrected with another smile, this one hitting me like a line drive to the stomach. "His name is Hoki, or Hoks, and yeah, that was the same thing I said to Shizune yesterday. Besides, they're on vacation for the week, so it was either watch the boys get shipped to Gunnison and separated, or I take them for the week."

"Just the week?" I could have collapsed in relief. It was one thing to have a few days of child-induced insanity, and quite another for Temari to take on that kind of responsibility on a permanent basis, especially in my house, but… "Then what? Where's their family?"

"Shizune's hoping Nolan, their biological father, will surface for the funeral, or some other family member will step up." She wrapped her arms around herself, and I fought the urge to add mine to hers.

"And where the hell has he been all this time?" I snapped.

Fathers weren't supposed to walk away. Women, maybe... I knew that one firsthand—but never a father. Not when his children needed protecting.

"He walked out early in Tayuya's pregnancy with Hoki. He didn't want another kid. Honestly, he wasn't around much when it was just Denki." She shook her head. "I've had him in preschool for two years and I've only met Nolan once or twice."

"Fuck." I let out a long breath and ran my hands over my hair, lacing my fingers behind my neck. "I've never wanted kids, but I couldn't imagine walking out on them."

I wasn't even responsible enough to own a dog, let alone have kids.

"Because you never would," she said softly, her eyes going liquid.

My chest went tight. That might have been the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me.

She cleared her throat.

"Anyway, I'm so sorry about the house. I've been at Naruto's for a couple weeks while they're renovating my apartment. Big flood."

"Yeah, I knew that. Naruto told me. So, you texted me?"

She must have been desperate. For the past seven years, our communications had been limited to simple civilities whenever I'd been in town. If I wanted to see her, I made sure it was "accidental." If I wanted to take her lunch, I put the thought in Naruto's head so it was his idea.

She cringed.

"I'm seriously so sorry. I couldn't think of anywhere else, and Sakura suggested here because you weren't supposed to be back for another month. And I'm sorry about Melinda. She seemed…nice, and I can see why you'd like her. And really sorry about the puke and the mess... "

"Stop," I interrupted her babble, standing up but not moving toward her. I tried like hell to keep five steps between us at all times. It stopped things like accidental kisses from happening. Or intentional ones. "Temari, this is just a house. Four walls and a roof. You're family. As for Melinda, we were really just friends. We lived on the same street in L.A., and like I said earlier, she asked to come along for the ride so she could visit her sister. I'll say it again, you're family. Family trumps all."

Her smile shook slightly.

"Thanks. I'll get that mess cleaned up and we'll be out of your hair."

"I already cleaned it up." I folded my arms across my chest. "And where the hell are you going to take them?"

"You did? Uh, thanks." She was wringing the shit out of that towel. "I…I don't know where we'll go. Shizune is supposed to be here this afternoon to do a quick check that they're in an approved home, and it's not like we have groceries or anything, and it's not even my house." She rubbed her hand over her face and sucked in a deep breath. "What did I do? I had no business taking them, not like this. But I didn't want them getting separated, or going to strangers, not after everything... I still don't. And I know they're not technically hotshot family, but Tayuya was one of us, and we take care of our own. That means Denki and Hoki too. We both know what it's like to lose a parent."

She'd said we. My heartbeat stuttered.

Fuck.

I wasn't going to shove her out with two little kids and nowhere to go. Especially those kids. Their mom was a Konoha Fire widow, and their situation hit a little too close to home for me to just wash my hands of it. It was only a week or so. I could keep my hands to myself for that long. Besides, Naruto wasn't due home for another week or two from what he'd last texted me, which drastically cut that complication.

"What were you going to do before I came home?" I asked.

She met my eyes for a heartbeat before looking away.

"Grocery shop this morning and ask the girls for help getting everything else set up so I could pass the home study and get the home approved by Shizune."

"Fine, then we'll do that. We'll get the house approved."

I broke my own five-step rule, crossing to her and gently pulling her hand from her face. The towel hit the floor.

"It's not just the house, Shika, it's the home." The pulse in her wrist jumped under my thumb.

"Come on, I'm not that bad. I haven't moved in the kegerater, or the Vegas hookers..."

"Yet," she mumbled.

I caught my laugh before it slipped out and gave her a serious look.

"I'm not kidding. It's a week, right?"

"Give or take," she answered quietly. "Funeral is Tuesday, so they're hoping the boys will be with family or placed by Friday."

The word "placed" didn't sit well with me. They were kids, tiny little helpless guys, and baggage was the last thing they needed to be treated like.

"You're staying here. All of you. There's plenty of rooms, and the boys could probably use a little bit of stability after yesterday. They don't need to get bounced around."

"Shika, that's really nice of you, but you're a silk sheets kind of guy... and yes, I looked and they are messy, puking, rambunctious kids."

"One, silk sheets aren't hard to wash. It's a water temperature thing." My thumbs stroked the soft skin of her inner wrist. "And two, no buts." I watched her weighing pros and cons in her mind. Her expressions had always been so easy to read. "Look, Temari, the last I saw of my mom was when I was what, ten?"

"Yeah."

She'd know, she'd been there afterward, hugging me with little arms and a heart bigger than her whole body.

"Right. When Dad died, Grams stepped in to raise me. As horrid as that time was…for all of us…I had her. If I hadn't, I have no clue where I would have gone. I would have been as lost as those two boys."

"We would have taken you."

She looked up at me, and I sucked in a breath as her turquoise eyes hit me hard enough to knock the wind out of me. I nodded once, incapable of words until I swallowed back the giant ball of unwelcome warm feelings that comment brought to the surface.

"Right. Well, I'm telling you that this is their place for now. We're their people for the week."

Before I could prepare myself, she launched into my arms, hers looping around my neck as her face pressed lightly into my neck.

"Thank you, Shika."

My arms slowly closed around her and, unable to stop myself, I held her close as her feet dangled off the ground. She smelled like some kind of fruity shampoo, summer days, and home. She felt like every unspoken dream and ignored fantasy.

Damn, I'd forgotten how perfectly she fit in my arms, the way holding her made me feel powerful and terrifyingly vulnerable at the same time.

"Are you sure?" she asked against my throat.

I rubbed my chin across her wet hair, the strands getting caught in my scruff.

"I've never been so sure about anything in my life."

Those boys weren't getting split up.

We stood there for a second, both absorbing what we'd just decided.

"Shika?" she asked quietly.

"Temari?" I needed to put her down. Needed to step away. "You're not always an asshole, do you know that?"

I laughed.

"Yeah, well, just don't tell anyone."

"I like this version of you." Her arms tightened around my neck, and I flinched.

Like was dangerous. It was everything I'd avoided these last seven years when it came to Temari. Aloof, insolent, cocky. Those had been my weapons. Go figure she'd strip them away in the first half hour we lived under the same roof.

Shit. I lived with Temari Uzumaki.

Separate bedrooms. Separate beds. Separate lives. One week.

Yeah…I could do this. Right.