A/N: Well, this is now my second ShikaTema story. For some reason, I decided to post this the same day as my other one. Something about this one just seems to be missing to me, though, that makes me like it less than the other one.
Title: Of Names
Summary: Some things just never change.ShikaTema
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rating: T
Disclaimer: As much as I love Naruto, sadly it is not mine.
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Sabakuno Temari. That was her full name. No middle name, nothing fancy. That was it.
When Sabakuno Temari married Nara Shikamaru, she refused to change to change her name to Nara. Twenty-one years of her life were devoted to the Sabakuno name, and she wasn't ready to give that up just yet.
Temari came to a conclusion; since she would be the one moving to Konoha and into Shikamaru's house, she would be able to keep her name. Either that, or Temari would continue to live in Suna, so Shikamaru didn't exactly have much of a choice but to accept.
Almost two years into the marriage, Temari was pregnant. When she finally started showing at six and a half months, the entire village was shocked. Konoha's citizens hadn't even known the two were a couple, let alone married. Some villagers, outraged that Shikamaru was sleeping with one of the 'sand dogs,' decided to go as far as killing Temari.
They got the chance one month later, with her being almost eight months pregnant and Shikamaru out on a mission. They thought she would be defenseless. Even with as much pain as it caused her body, she used her fan to kill every one of the Konoha bastards. Exhausted and wounded, she fell to the ground unconscious.
And that; two days later, is how Shikamaru found Temari- sprawled out on the floor with dead bodies all around her. Breathing heavily and with a fever, he rushed her to the hospital.
There the doctors decided with the best intentions for both the mother and child to have a cesarean section.
It wasn't until nine days after the surgery did Temari finally wake from her temporary a coma. With Shikamaru at her side, she saw her child for the first time. It was a girl, just as Shikamaru had wanted. 'A girl first then a boy,' he always told her. Together, they named her Yukiro. Nara Yukiro.
Unfortunately for Shikamaru, they never had another child. Temari had never really wanted children to begin with. She always thought that she would end up treating her child the same way she had treated Gaara. And even though she never treated Yukiro that way, she didn't want to take her chances again.
Temari was content, as was Shikamaru. And a week before Shikamaru went on his final mission; she changed her name to Nara Temari, more for his sake then her's.
His back; walking out of those tall Konoha gates; was the last she had ever seen of him.
As she traces her fingers over the tombstones in the cemetery, without even looking she can tell which one is his. His headstone; and his headstone alone reads Nara Shikamaru.
The same exact day Shikamaru's body went into the ground; she changed her name back to Sabakuno Temari.
Some things just never change.
A/N: Well, there it is, all spiffy and everything. I hope you enjoyed this. I wrote this in about an hour, so I can't expect much from it. Tell me anything you like or dislike about this fic via review. Thanks!