AUTHORS NOTE:
I will take request for side notes throughout the main story, if there's a moment you feel like you've missed, let me know in either the reviews of by dropping me a note. I make no promises, but I'll consider every prompt ^.^
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Side notes to
Hidden Feelings, Hidden Lives
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Addition to Chapters 28 & 35; He Is My Friend & A Day In The Life Of A Busy Hokage
Drabble title: Your Son Told Me Something… Interesting
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"So..." Tsunade didn't look up as she shuffled the papers around, "Your son told me something rather interesting the other day..."
Shikaku almost chocked on his first sip of coffee, setting the cup back down, he regarded the woman in front of him warily, "Really?"
She didn't respond at first, restacking the files in order of importance, "After Kakashi woke up, I went to get Shikamaru, right?"
"Yes..." He was immediately on guard - there were a number of things Shikamaru could've said after all.
"Because Kakashi only wanted to talk to him."
Shikaku frowned, "I know Tsunade! Get to the point already, will you?"
She looked up, one eyebrow quirked, surprised amusement on her face, "The point, Shikaku? The point is that I'm not even sure if I should be telling you any of this..."
He sighed, "Then don't start talking about it in the first place!"
"Hmm, you're probably right. If he hasn't told you yet, he probably will soon enough. He apparently just wanted to make me understand that he could understand what Kakashi's going through, not that he actually can, but..."
"Ah," The Nara sighed again, leaning back in his chair. His tone was soft as he slowly started to relax again, "You mean to say he came out to you, that he told you he's gay."
Tsunade smiled softly at the man before her, "Yes, he did. So he told you too? Does Yoshino know?"
"He told me... Asked Kakashi to be there, that's when..." He sighed, rubbing his face with his palms, "I asked the guy if it was the same with him and he... Collapsed. He just stared ahead. I've seen shinobi break before, Tsunade, and I was not about to let my son get his first experience with that by seeing his friend break down, not to mention the fact that the boy was already so scared to begin with..."
"I can only imagine," She said softly.
"Yeah... Anyway, Yoshino... I told her last night, when you went to check up on them. She was... Less than pleased to find out Shikamaru was staying over there, but..." He bit his lip, "She's okay with it, I guess..."
"He didn't want to tell her himself?" Tsunade's tone was surprised, "You'd think that telling his mother would be easier –"
"It's not. Yoshino can be difficult to deal with sometimes," He smiled wearily, "The two don't actually get along very well... They're too much alike, I think. Add to that that the woman still thinks she can scold him like she did when he was a little boy, and..." He sighed, "I knew he'd never have the heart to tell her himself, so I offered to do it for him."
"I see... But don't most people assume he's more like you? I know I did..."
"On the surface, yes. He also has the same kind of tactical analysis as I do, though that's probably largely because I trained him since he was old enough to crawl. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll find Yoshino. The same sort if persistence, the same unrelenting willpower. They're both like dogs with a bone when they want something. Determined. That's why I've never been able to really stand up to her," He smiled sheepishly, "With Shikamaru it's different because he's my son, my responsibility."
"And your heir..." Her tone was soft, "And he's not going to produce his own, Shikaku, have you thought about that?"
"I have, and he still might. On the other hand, if he marries a woman, he still might not. We would have had more kids if it hadn't been so... Difficult for Yoshino..."
Tsunade nodded in sympathy, "It was dangerous for her, wasn't it?"
"Yeah... Literally everything that could go wrong... Just having Shikamaru damn near killed her. So the doctors said..." He sighed, "Anyway, we made sure there would be no more pregnancies," A sad smile pulled on the corners of his mouth, "That's probably why she's always hovering over the boy..."
Tsunade smiled back, "What did she say when you told her?"
"Not much, she cried for almost half the night though..."
The blonde blinked, "And you still say she's okay with it?!"
A deep sigh escaped the man, and he took a small sip of his coffee before replying in a soft tone, "She mostly cried because things are probably going to be a lot more difficult for him if he... Well, as a gay man, a gay shinobi. And because he'd been so scared to tell us about it," He flashed her an embarrassed smile, "I cried about that too... Anyway, she feels he's fled the house until things quiet down again and no amount of explaining is going to convince her otherwise. I don't know... Maybe she's right, you know?"
"Maybe... I wouldn't blame him if he did. But Shikaku, it's not so strange that you would cry over something like that, you know..."
"I know..." He rubbed in his tired eyes, "Tsunade, can we just get to work here? I have another meeting at nine, and before that I need to drink about another gallon of coffee if I'm going to stay awake long enough to deal with the vagueness that is ANBU black ops..."