Plans
Shikamaru surveyed the quartermaster's store with displeasure. He was taking inventory, preparing to requisition what was needed for the upcoming chuunin exams and noted that the entire supply of exploding tags was nearly gone. A stray note or two fluttered to the floor and he bent to retrieve them.
The slender Nara man sighed, he'd seen some of the younger genin out horsing around in the evenings making impromptu fireworks displays out of the tags. He realized it was almost a right of passage, he and Chouji had done the same thing back when they were kids but still he'd have to nag them about it. It was one thing to use a few of them for such pranks but to severely deplete the supply to this point was inconveniencing a lot of shinobi who might legitimately need them on missions.
He mentally ran down the list of genin suspects and then added their respective sensei's to the list of those he'd have to gently remind, or nag, about respect for property. Shikamaru added Konohamaru's name to the list for good measure. Even though the teenager was a chuunin by now and getting a little old for such childish antics, Shikamaru had a suspicion that he may have helped himself to more tags than were technically necessary for his latest missions.
Nagging.
It was a skill Shikamaru had become rather adept at lately.
The irony was not lost on him.
Since taking over responsibilities for administering the chuunin exams he'd found he had to nag the senseis to ready their students, the proctors to actually commit to showing up for their assigned time slots, his dad to even commit to assigning him jounin to be used as proctors in the first place. And Tsunade. She was the worst. There was an inordinate amount of inter-village paperwork that needed to be in place each year prior to the exams. All she needed to do was to sign the damned things and yet she never managed to get around to it. Shikamaru wondered how Shizune put up with the woman on a day-to-day basis.
What had seemed like an easy job at first that would get him out of a lot of off-site missions had turned into more work than he had imagined.
But it did have its upside, he mused as he continued on down the aisles completing his inventory. The job did, as expected, keep him in the village for the most part. And given the current...mission...that he was assisting Hinata with that was a good thing.
He...worried about Hinata. He nagged her, too. He nagged her to take greater care for her own safety. Shikamaru felt that she didn't see all the potential dangers that he did.
The biggest threat to her that he anticipated at the moment came from her clan itself. There was no predicting what the fallout from the elder's proposal to Hyuuga would be. He had played out several scenarios in his mind, but the number of variables made it exponentially complex.
Hyuuga Hiashi was the most likely to be offended. It was one thing to tell your daughter her entire life that she was worthless. It was another to actually have the village leaders agree with you - to essentially tell the man 'we concur - you have raised an ineffective leader.'
The council was agreeing with his assessment of his younger daughter's skills, but the unspoken subtext was that Hiashi had failed when it came to Hinata. Shikamaru recognized Hiashi Hyuuga as a prideful man and it was just not possible to assess how he would handle this.
Then there were the additional Main and Branch family subgroups within the clan itself to deal with. How might this play out with them? The Main family would probably go along with Hiashi's position whatever that turned out to be. And Koharu seemed to have a relationship with some of Hinata's elderly aunts, one in particular that she thought would be inclined to view this in Hinata's favor. She felt the woman would be influential over Hiashi himself. But even if Hiashi accepted the situation, how would the Branch family react? Rebellion against the Main family had simmered under the surface for years. Would they see this 'use' of the Main family's control over Byakuugan as the ultimate betrayal? Employing a Main family member with unrestricted use of the technique to re-spawn a second clan while keeping the Branch family subservient with the Caged Bird Seal?
So far things had proceeded acceptably. Shikamaru wasn't involved in the Hyuuga negotiations directly but he was kept informed by Tsunade. Not unexpectedly, Hiashi had bristled - torn between the elders agreement with his preference for Hanabi and their tacit implication that he had failed with Hinata. But to her credit, Koharu had been spot on in her assessment of her elderly Hyuuga friend's opinion on the matter. And apparently the old woman carried quite some clout within the Hyuuga clan. Hiashi may have chafed and sulked but ultimately he had gone along with it and in effect 'sold' his daughter to the dormant Uchiha clan.
Clan leadership may have been on board but that only widened the circle of people who knew. The general population of Hyuuga had yet to be informed, as had the general population of Konoha. Shikamaru felt as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop when the Branch family found out.
To top it off, all this was only a portion of it. There were also still the medical realities to take into account. Over the last few weeks Shikamaru had learned more about the female reproductive cycle than he really needed to know.
The gist of which was Hinata was trying to get pregnant.
Today.
He found that he liked the quiet sanctuary of his storeroom even more. This was all extraordinarily complex. With Shogi you had a fixed number of pieces on the board with a defined set of moves. Human beings could do anything.
Shikamaru met with Kurenai and Hinata in the early evening at Kurenai's house. Hinata had been alternating spending her time between there and her own apartment. The three of them sat outside and had tea while watching Kurenai's son playing in the back yard.
"So, err, how are you?" Shikamaru asked awkwardly.
Hinata blushed and smiled. "I am fine, Shikamaru, thank you."
Shikamaru shot Kurenai a look almost as if he were asking for confirmation. "Yes, Shikamaru, she's fine", the kunoichi assured him. "We came back here and I even made her take a nap, too."
"Okay, well...that's good...I suppose. And er...how did it go?" he stumbled over his words.
Hinata looked bewildered. "As I said, Shikamaru, I am fine. You don't need to be concerned." She still looked puzzled.
He coughed and cleared his throat. "What I mean, is...ummm...are you pregnant?"
Hinata and Kurenai both laughed. "She won't know that for a few days, Shikamaru," Kurenai explained while Hinata sipped her tea with a smile. "Both of you," she looked at Hinata too, "need to be a little patient." She said this with mock sternness in her voice.
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata agreed, amused to to see Shikamaru as anxious to know the outcome as she had been just a few hours earlier.
"Oh, right," Shikamaru said. "Well, um...can she walk? I mean take a walk?"
Hinata's smile was wide and happy with amusement. "Of course I can, Shikamaru. I won't break you know."
"You two run along," Kurenai rose from her seat gathering the cups to clear the table. "Hinata, are you staying here tonight? Or back at your apartment?"
"I want her to come back here, tonight," Shikamaru answered then apologized. "Sorry, Hinata, I just don't want you to go back to your apartment alone from now on."
"Of course, Shikamaru. Whatever you think is best," Hinata answered. She had asked her friend for his advice and it was obvious this was weighing heavily on him. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing specifically, it's just that I want you, us, to all be as prepared as we can be," he answered.
The two kunoichi nodded in agreement and then Shikamaru and Hinata left assuring Kurenai that they would be back before midnight.
Shikamaru led Hinata through town to the edge of the village proper where it bordered with the Nara clan lands.
"Where are we going, Shikamaru?" Hinata asked him, curious but still trusting in his judgment.
"I want to discuss some alternatives with you about your living arrangements," he answered her. "I know you have your own place and that you're also always welcome at Kurenai's, but there are some other factors I want you to consider."
The two of them departed the village walking at first but then Hinata reminded him, "Shikamaru, I'm happy to walk but if it's a good distance away we could go a little faster, you know. I am still a shinobi."
"Right," he agreed somewhat embarrassed. "You're sure it's okay?"
Hinata grinned and reassured him one more time. "Yes, Shikamaru, I am sure it's okay."
With that the two of them whisked lightly through the treetops over the Nara lands, Shikamaru still leading at a fairly easy pace but Hinata didn't say anything else, not wanting to fluster him further. She found his concern actually kind of sweet.
Soon they came to a little cabin very remote from any other structures they had passed. Shikamaru led her inside. It was small but comfortably furnished. And it obviously appeared to be smack in the middle of his clan's homeland.
"It's a research cabin," he explained. "There are some particular botanical specimens that are most abundant in this part of our forest. It's owned by the main research center of the Nara labs but not used this time of year, only in the spring when the flowers bloom. No one who is not Nara is going to get here without someone from Nara knowing about it. It's remote but defensible."
Hinata nodded and looked around the place. It was rustic but still welcoming. Obviously with a good store of provisions someone could live here comfortably for quite a period of time. "It's nice, Shikamaru. I could stay here but...do you really think I need too?"
Shikamaru considered his answer. "The biggest unknown right now is going to be the people's reactions as the news gets out assuming you do get..." he motioned at her middle.
"Pregnant?" she supplied helpfully.
"Yes. Assuming that. It wouldn't be permanent but I'd just feel that you were more secure between the time news gets out and when things settle down and people accept it. My biggest problem in arranging your security is going to be people. The fewer that are around the better. And if the ones that are around are the ones you and I trust implicitly and only those ones then I'll feel better still. There's this place and... one other option."
Detecting the hesitation in his voice Hinata looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. "What's the other one?"
"Come with me," he instructed holding the door open for her and then closing it firmly behind him as they left. He seemed unusually solemn to Hinata.
They picked up their path again and continued at the light brisk pace from earlier through the treetops. But they angled sharply after they crested a ridge and Shikamaru called back to her. "Nara clan lands bordered Uchiha along this stretch of the forest. The entire compound is accessible but from the rear. I don't know if you would consider it but...lore and taboo would keep the curious and the casually disgruntled away. You could come and go via my clan's lands and no one would really realize that these buildings were once again occupied. And after all... they essentially belong to you now."
Up ahead in the distance as the trees cleared, Hinata could see the buildings coming into view. In the deepening twilight it had a forlorn air of emptiness about it that even the remote little cabin didn't have. The two of them stopped at the edge where the forest met the first streets of the Uchiha compound.
Hinata looked up and down the streets and then started walking down one past the first dilapidated shops that led into the village.
"I remember coming here as a child," she whispered. "My mother was friends with Sasuke's mother. She would bring us here to play with him sometimes."
"Yeah, me too," Shikamaru joined her, their footsteps echoing softly on the deserted cobblestone streets. His hands were shoved into his flak vest pockets. "Mostly we went to Choiji's but sometimes we'd come here to visit."
"We got dango there," Hinata pointed at one of the little shops near the edge of the lake they were passing. "And green tea ice cream here," she pointed at a second shop.
Shikamaru didn't say anything just let her walk to wherever her feet would carry her. They crossed over a bridge and down a few small residential side streets and Hinata paused in front of one particular house. "And Sasuke lived...here," she whispered.
"Yeah," was all he could manage to add as the two of them stood silently on the street searching their childhood memories for glimpses of their long-lost friend and his family.
Shikamaru studied Hinata's face - her eyes brimmed with tears but at the same time she seemed composed. "If it's too much, Hinata," he said to reassure her, "you've always got the cabin. Or you can stay at your apartment or Kurenai's place. I just wanted you to know what your options are and the advantages of the ones you might not have considered."
"No. It's not too much. It's all so sad, but... not too much," she wiped her eyes and then stepped up onto the porch of Sasuke's house, her hand on one post as she continued. "You're right of course. Either or both would be good choices for their remoteness, their defensibility. I...thank you...for showing them to me. But I'll decide later. Tonight we should go back to Kurenai's."
Shikamaru just nodded. There was a familiar tone in her voice when she addressed him and he wondered where he'd heard it before. Then he remembered, she sounded like Tsunade did when she addressed his dad.