I love Shikamaru, and he is one of my absolute favorites from Naruto (Sending some Gaara love out there too!), but I had to make my poor baby sad *sob!* But don't worry, I'll make him happy!

The room was dark, night having long ago overtaken the world and casting everything into shadows and mystery. The large king bed held one sleeping form, the other side laying untouched and barren, waiting for someone to come and claim it and to lay beside the lone figure that was sprawled out on his stomach, arms disappearing under his pillow as he snored lightly. There was a single picture frame the side table of the empty side of the bed, and on the other was a handful of messily but sweetly made knickknacks and a kunai cleverly hidden from view, though it stayed easily accessible to the sleeping man.

The door to the room slowly opened, the light from the hall blazing a clear path through the room and over the bed, highlighting the muscular and lightly scarred expanse of the man's bare back.

A small figure stepped quietly into the room, hesitating a few feet away from the bed. Sniffling, the tiny form rubbed her face and whimpered. "Daddy..." She whispered, voice strangled by her tears. Shikamaru, who had been aware of every movement since the child entered the room, shot fully awake at his daughter's pleading voice.

He shoved himself up to his elbows, his straight black hair, usually restrained at the back of his head, falling in a tumble to his muscular shoulders. His face no longer held its usual lazy expression, though his face was heavy from sleep.

His slitted eyes were aware and sharp as he tried to figure out what danger had forced his child to run to him for safety. The blankets had slid down to his waist during sleep, revealing every inch of his bare chest and back, the muscles sculpted to keep up with the demanding rigors of his job. His boxers had slipped low on his hips, hidden under the blankets, and it was all that his pajamas consisted of.

To anyone else, Shikamaru would have been a sexy, delicious piece of man candy, sleepily tumbled and oh so wonderful, but to six year old Kyoko he just looked like her father, strong, steady, dependable, and everything she needed right in that crisis filled moment.

"Kyoko, what's wrong?" It had been nearly half a year since the last time Kyoko had crawled into his bed in the middle of the night, and she had certainly never done it before while crying.

Kyoko whimpered again, a pitiful and lost sound that had Shikamaru automatically sitting up and reaching out for his girl. She stumbled quickly over to him, crawling up over the bed to sit in his lap, wrapped in the strength of his arms.

Shikamaru let her get over the worst of her crying, knowing he wouldn't be able to get any straight answers from her when she was choking over her tears. He rubbed soothing circles over her back, a habit he had picked up when she had been just a baby and had refused to sleep unless he had been sitting beside her crib, comforting her fears and worries with his touch.

Her tears burned red hot rivers down his hard chest and he wondered -not for the first time- if she ever wished that she had something softer, someone who had curves that naturally comforted. But he guessed that in their situation they couldn't really be picky.

Finally her sobs died down and Shikamaru leaned back against headboard, knowing that it would all go more smoothly if he just let her get it out herself. There were a few more minutes of sniffling before Kyoko leaned her head against her father's chest, her ear just over the steady beat of his heart, and sighed.

"Daddy... are you disappointed with me?" Shikamaru blinked at the odd question, shoving some stray strands of hair out of his face.

"No. What made you think that?" The small girl curled up against him tighter, hugging her arms closer to her as she felt her eyes filling with tears again.

"I... I heard s-some people t-talking, and t-they said how y-you must be disappointed b-because I'm not a genius l-like you." She said, the tears quickly causing her throat to close and making her stutter over her words.

Shikamaru carefully lifted her face to him and wiped her tears away, studying her for a few moments so he could try and see what these strangers apparently found fault in.

It was true that she wasn't astoundingly smart like he was -her intelligence simply settling for higher than average- but she was still a smart girl, one who showed the promise of being one of the few women in the history of the Nara clan to use the shadow techniques. She also showed the promise of being a very pretty girl when she grew up, even if she favored him greatly.

Her black eyes were wide and deep like her mother's had been though, even if the color was different, and her black hair was soft and straight. Her face -though holding a childish roundness- looked to lean towards angular, and he had to wonder if more and more of her mother would show and balance out everything of him that he saw in her as she grew.

She was perfection, and Shikamaru couldn't see where those narrow minded idiots had seen anything wrong with her.

"Kyoko, I could never be disappointed with you because of something as troublesome as that. I don't care about how smart you are." Kyoko sniffled again, though her tears were quickly becoming a mere memory.

"R-Really? But, both you and Grandpa are geniuses."

Shikamaru stared down at his daughter blandly. "Yes, and who are you going to believe? Some random people on the street or your genius father?"

Kyoko giggled and snuggled into her father, the time she had been up crying quickly catching up with her.

"Daddy..."

"Hmm?"

"They said it was why mom left." Shikamaru stiffened at the words, his eyes automatically moving to the gold band that weighed down his left hand.

"What?"

"They said," She yawned, eyes drifting closed as she began to fall away. "That Mom left because I wasn't smart enough for her. Can I sleep with you?" She asked, easily trusting her father's word that these people had nothing worth wile to say. Shikamaru's hand fisted in the sheet as he nodded, trying to control the anger boiling inside of him.

It took a few moments for them to get settled and just as Kyoko was about to slip away Shikamaru's low voice cut through the air, his fury easily hidden beneath a facade of calm.

"Your mother left because it was her job as a ninja, not because she ever felt anything other than love for you." But how could he ever truly get his daughter to understand the feelings of a woman she just vaguely remembered? How could he ever get her to understand that sometimes ninjas left and just never came back?

How could he get her to understand something that he himself had trouble comprehending at times?

"Okay, Daddy." She whispered, curling into his side and trusting him to keep her monsters at bay. After all, this was her father, a powerful ninja who could do anything, be anything. A ninja that was so amazing the monsters got scared at even the thought of him. With these thoughts in her head she fell asleep with a smile on her face, happy and safe.

And Shikamaru lay there for nearly an hour afterward, staring at the ring as if it and the vows it carried were a curse, releasing a poison that was slowly destroying what he loved.

Though he never once tried to fool himself into thinking that he could ever take it off.

Gasp! A child! (Actually, two)

Gasp! Missing wife!

Never fear, dearly beloved, I have it planned! Yes, this is kind of dropping you into the middle, but I swear I already have it done in my head! This is just what came out first, and I think it's a pretty good way to start. You know, suspenseful and everything (Please don't hurt me ;-;).

But it will all be fully explained later on, I swear. Though there will be more tidbits like this before that (Really, I'm sorry).