Tiny Hands

One word

A New Start? Maybe so!

...

Special thanks to all my reviewers:

CanadianKickshipper, The Clawed Butterfly, 'Guest', nufze, sad little monkey, and Ursy101.

You're all so great and I'm glad that you're all enjoying my story.

Two months ago

...

He walked them down to the lobby, leaning against the door that would let them outside. He had called a taxi for them a few minutes before, and exchanged numbers with Ino. The taxi company had said it would be half an hour before he could get a guy over there, because of the weather. Shikamaru caught her smiling at him, and he could feel his blush rising, but he smiled back. It was kind of strange to be so comfortable with each other after all that time, but for some reason it didn't feel bad at all.

"I could ride with you," Shikamaru suddenly said, looking out the window at the storm that had finally decided to hit. "I don't want you being in this weather by yourself."

Ino smiled, but shook her head. "We've been just fine so far Shikamaru."

Well that stung a little. A lot. Shikamaru scowled and held the handle to the door so tightly it hurt, his knuckles turning white.

'But that was before.' He thought to himself, looking down at Mizuumi who played with his loose shoe strings. He smiled down at her, but an aching filled his chest. He had missed so much these past two years of her life. She would turn three in january(it was early october), and who was he? How could he say: Hey sweetie I'm your dad you never met! How could he hold her, or kiss her little forehead like he suddenly wanted to? He bit his lip when she looked up at him with big brown eyes, he was a stranger to her. Just some man that smelled like donuts. He was still looking down at her, and he decided to squat to be on her level.

"Mizuumi." He said quietly, his throat suddenly burning. He didn't really know what he wanted to say to her. He wanted to apologize to her, he wanted to tell her he was going to be there for her from now on. He wanted to say so many things, but he couldn't...she wouldn't understand them if he did. She looked so cute when she glanced up at him, her little hands slipping off of his shoe strings. She didn't speak, but he knew she would listen.

"How would you like it if I came and brought you some donuts one day?"

The tiny girl nodded her head shyly while he glanced up at Ino to see her smiling, and then they were gone. He carried Mizuumi to the taxi and waved as both of the blondes turned to say goodbye, yet again, from the back seat window. Shikamaru's heart was heavy as he made his way back to the elevator..

...

He was in the middle of class when his phone began to vibrate in his pocket, and he fished it out with fumbling fingers. He immediately opened the message and was surprised to see Ino's name.

We are free today if you want to meet at the park.

Shikamaru smiled, his thumbs moving over the keys quickly.

I'm in class right now but I can meet you in thirty minutes, are you guys hungry?

He restlessly tapped his fingers against his desk, laying his phone down on his thigh. It would be his twentieth time to see them since they left in the taxi, and he remembered that he had promised Mizuumi donuts (because that became their thing to do, she always expected donuts when they saw each other). Shikamaru didn't want to ever forget his promise he made to her, he didn't ever want to be that dad.

His phone vibrated a few minutes later, and his grin almost cracked his face.

Mizuumi says she wants donuts.

Shikamaru was in the middle of texting her back when he heard the sound of a ruler hitting a desk, and he looked up to see his teacher staring up at him from across the room.

"Anything you want to share?"

Shikamaru apologized and stuffed his phone in his pocket after sending her a quick message.

I wouldn't dare to forget them.

...

He heard them before he saw them, they were laughing loudly as they spun around in circles. Mizuumi was bundled up from head to toe, but Ino only wore a sweater and a scarf with her blue jeans tucked into tall, brown, fuzzy boots. It was now early december and it was colder than ever. He smiled as he spotted them, holding up the donuts and a cardboard drink holder. He brought Mizuumi some juice (what kind of kid didn't like apple juice?), but for Ino and himself he brought two steaming cups of coffee. He was surprised when Mizuumi ran up and hugged his legs, and she laughed happily when he handed her the donuts.

"What do you say Mizuumi?" Ino called from where Mizuumi had left her, the little girl looked up at him with the cutest grin.

"Thanth yeww!"

"You're welcome." Shikamaru smiled down at her and ruffled her hat on her head, before looking up to see Ino walking toward him. Her hands were stuffed in her pockets, her hair blowing crazily in the wind. He didn't know if the redness on her cheeks was from the cold, or if she was blushing. He would never admit the reason for his own redness though..but.. his cheeks had always felt warm with her around.

He handed her one of the cups of coffee, and their fingers brushed as she accepted it. The spark was there again, he wondered if she had felt it too.

"Thank you! I thought I would freeze out here!" She said as she took a sip, steam blew out of her nose when she exhaled. "This is good coffee."

He nodded silently and continued to look at her. She was beautiful today, just like everyday (but today she glowed). He didn't know how to explain it, but he had to avert his eyes because it almost hurt to look at her.

'I could've had this everyday.'

He looked down to see Mizuumi sitting on the ground enjoying her donuts, and a strange feeling of guilt grew in his gut. He tried to shake it off as he pulled the apple juice box out of the carrier, he handed it to Ino.

"I hope she likes it." He shrugged as she took it, but something in her smile made him want to take it back.

"She is allergic..it makes her swell up like a balloon." Ino's quiet voice informed him as she stuck it in her purse anyways. "I brought her some water..but thank you for thinking of her."

Shikamaru felt like the biggest asshole in the world. What if he had given it to her? He couldn't believe she was allergic to something so...innocent. How could such a common thing like apples do that to someone? He should have called Ino, but how was he to know? Up until two moths ago he didnt even know Mizuumi existed. He scowled down at his coffee, before following Ino's gaze to the young girl. She had started to make a snow man, with little pieces of donuts for the eyes. Shikamaru couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips, and he bent down.

"Do you want me to show you how to make a real one?"

Mizuumi smiled up at him and nodded her head, and he stood up. When he began to walk away he felt her small hand glide into his, and he looked down in shock. She had never in the other nineteen times he was around her - ever - touched him. She had never tried to hold his hand, or even to walk by him. The only time they touched was when he carried her, and usually she was asleep. So why did such a tiny hand make his heart beat so fast? Why did he feel like his face was going to break under his smile? He looked away from her and kept walking, a hard lump forming in his throat.

He bent down not too far from where they had previously stood and slipped his hand from hers (reluctantly), and he began to roll up a small mound of snow. The mound grew into a ball that grew and grew and grew until it was a big mound. He watched her eyes crinkle with a smile, her face lighting up as she tried to make her own.

"That's good!" He said laughing, looking at her little mound that looked nothing like his.

She didn't seem to believe him, but she smiled and laughed a little too. He helped her pack the snow onto his and pretty soon they had a Mizuumi sized snow man with donut eyes and twig arms.

He couldn't help but smile whenever she would talk, the little gap between her front teeth caused her to lisp and she had the cutest voice. He wondered if being with her like this everyday would get boring, but he knew it wouldn't. She had a wild imagination about dinosaurs, fairies, princesses, and monsters that spent their time lurking in the trees, and the expressions she would make made his heart feel like it was going to burst in his chest. Was that what pride felt like? Was he proud to have such an amazingly cute daughter? A daughter he had just met two months ago? He didn't know, but he liked the way it felt.

After two long hours of making snow men and having a tiny snowball fight (which Ino had declined because it would, in quote, 'mess up her hair'), it felt like it was finally time to go home. But before they could go their seperate ways Mizuumi had ran to him and was clinging to his leg, crying for him to please come home with them. He looked up at Ino and shrugged.

"Im not busy if it's okay to you."

Ino looked like she was unsure for a moment, but she told him it would be alright. Shikamaru felt nervous when they were walking away from the park, he had never been to her house before. All the other times they had met were other places: somewhere like the park or at a restaurant.

With his one hand preoccupied by a wiggling mass of giggles, he had his attention full: Skipping when she told him to skip, hopping over icy puddles on sidewalks, avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk that she claimed would break her mommy's back. He didn't seem to notice how Ino hung back away from them, her arms self consciously crossed over her chest. She had a small smile on her face, and she laughed when Shikamaru pretended that he was going to slip on a patch of ice.

"The apartment is here!" She called to them when they kept walking, and Shikamaru turned around with rosey cheeks.

He apologized and picked Mizuumi up, slinging her up onto his shoulders as they entered the building. Ino's apartment complex didn't have a working elevator (she told him it had been out of order for months), and she lived on the seventh floor out of ten. As they climbed the stairs Mizuumi started to fall asleep, and he carefully pulled her off of his shoulders to carry her in his arms.

He smiled at Ino, and when they reached her door he was kind of surprized. Her apartment was nothing like his, in fact, it was huge. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms with a large living room and dining area, the kitchen was average size, but what amazed him were the toys, drawings, and children's clothes that littered the home. Ino's apologetic look made his smile grow, and she guided him to Mizuumi's bedroom. He laid her down as gently as he could without waking her, and he and Ino slipped from the room quietly. They left the door slightly ajar before walking down the short hallway to the livingroom. He denied her offer for a drink, but sat on her couch and looked around. Her livingroom was decorated in grey tones: with a dark grey modern looking futon-couch, red pillows adding a splash of color. A red arm chair sat to the left (a white pillow resting to one side), and a strangely shaped white chair to the right (which sported a grey pillow). There was a round-edged glass table in the center, and a large TV mounted on the wall. Shikamaru didn't know what Ino did to afford all of her fancy things, but she must've had a high paying job.

He looked up at her as she walked by him, sitting on the other side of the couch- hugging the edge. He felt kind of put off by that jesture.. because well... they had a child together and they had known each other practically all of their lives. Was she afraid he would give her cooties? Or did she just not want to be near him? He took a discreet sniff of himself and found that he didn't smell like anything other than his cologne. He felt a scowl tugging at his lips but he tried hide it, instead he tried to make conversation.

"So what do you do?" Shikamaru asked quietly, his eyes taking another perusal of her home.

She smiled at him softly from behind her tea cup and set it down before she spoke.

"I'm a physical therapist and masoose."

Shikamaru's eyebrows shot up to his hairline but he nodded. "Oh wow." he said while scratching his chin.

Ino's soft laughter filled the room and he was almost hypnotized by it.

"Not what you expected?" She asked as she adjusted herself on her side of the couch, her legs curling up around her side.

"Well...I thought you said you wanted to be a psychiatrist or something...isn't that what you used to want?"

He watched her eyes grow cloudy, and she sat her mug down. "I used to want a lot of things."

Shikamaru suddenly felt like the conversation was going to a dark place, and he didn't want the easy feelings from before to fade away. He always seemed to say or ask the wrong thing, and he always seemed to hurt her feelings. He didn't know why he kept bringing up the past, it was probably because he hadn't let go of it. Everytime they met since the first day- he always seemed to say something wrong. Why couldn't he do anything right by her? He had misunderstood her when they were younger..he knew that, but why wouldn't she let him in? Why did she insist on keeping this distance between them? Why wouldn't she just tell him what she wanted him to do? She knew he would do anything for her, that he always would have.

Caught in his thoughts he didn't realize that he had turned toward her, but when his eyes focused he was leaning over her(his hands on either side of her head, somehow she had come to be on her back). Her eyes were large and glistening, her lips were parted just slightly, and he felt his head dipping down to kiss her. Then it was happening- their arms were tangled around each other, and their lips were locked. He hadn't planned on kissing her when he had met her earlier, but he had to say that it didn't disappoint him. When they pulled back for air they were both gasping and red faced, and he wanted to dip back in for more but Mizuumi had woken up and walked in on them. He felt himself being pushed violently back when the sound of her feet pitter pattering down the hall alarmed the woman in his arms, and he landed on his bottom (on the floor) with a huff.

The giggling little girl didn't seem to notice the exchange, and so it was even more shocking to Shikamaru when she jumped ontop of him laughing. Immediately his arms were around her and he was laughing too, but he could feel Ino's wary eyes. He knew that he had probably messed things up with her, that he shouldn't have kissed her, but...she had kissed him back hadn't she? And it had felt great..hadn't it?

When Mizuumi started pulling on his arms and asking him to play dollies with her Ino spoke up, and although her voice was gentle.. her words hurt Shikamaru.

"I think Nara-san is tired Mizuumi, you should tell him goodbye."

The little girl beside him began to pout, shouting that she didn't want him to leave.

"I want nawa-than to thay wif me mommy!" She cried, holding onto his arm tightly. "He can theep in my woom!"

He looked down at her with a frown, but he understood. Ino needed her space, he could give her space.

"I can't do that Mizuumi, mommy is right...I should go."

His little girl cried and threw herself at the floor, and Shikamaru was shocked at how upset she was. She had gone from being so happy to so sad in just seconds. He looked over at Ino in confusion, and frowned when she picked up her daughter angrily.

"Say goodbye." She said through gritted teeth as she adjusted the child on her hip.

Mizuumi began to cry harder, and she reached out for Shikamaru while begging him not to go. He could feel the stinging in his own eyes, and he had to blink and look away from her. He didn't want to leave, he wasn't tired. He felt like a child, and he wanted to tell her he could stay longer, but he didn't have to.

"Alright." He heard Ino's loud sigh as she patted their daughter's back."He can stay for dinner, but after we eat he has to leave, got it?"

He smiled as Mizuumi thrusted herself at him, and he caught her and spun her around in the air. "How about those dollies?" He asked, setting her back down on the ground.

With one final glance at Ino, Shikamaru found himself being pulled to Mizuumi's room by his finger, and he loved the way she giggled when she opened the door..

...

"Otay." She said while handing him a big teddy bear. "Yew tan be my daddy and I be yews baby." She smiled up at him with her gap tooth grin, and how could he say no?

They started out by playing with the teddy bears but soon she grew tired of dolls, and she decided that they should play real house. So first, she made him build a tent out of blankets (this was their house). Then, she made him get inside with her (which he could only sit under and barely move in), she made him hold her, rock her, and sing her lullabies. It made his heart ache whenever she would call him daddy, and he felt like he wanted her to always call him that...not just when they played house.

Suddenly, in the middle of his lullaby - twinkle twinkle little star (which he was butchering) - her little hands were on his face, caressing his beard and cheeks. It happened in slow motion to Shikamaru and he promised he would never forget it: She leaned in and kissed his cheek and she told him she wanted to be friends forever. How did she even know big words like forever? Did she even know what that meant? What made him so special that she couldn't stand to see him go? He tried to talk around the lump in his throat but nothing wanted to come out.

"Do yew want to be my fwend too?" She asked quietly, looking up at him with those soft little eyes.

He could feel the stinging in his eyes. He wanted to say yes! Yes he would be her friend forever! He would play dollies and house, he would take her to the park, but none of that stuff would came out, so Shikamaru simply nodded his head. Her smile lit up the room, but they were yanked out of the moment by Ino shouting at them from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready!"

In a flash Mizuumi tore down the tent and had him running down the hall.

"Shit by me daddy!" She shouted excitedly, and Shikamaru's face turned red as Ino spun around.

He didn't know if Ino was shocked by her calling him daddy, or that when she said sit it sounded like a bad word. He hurriedly sat beside Mizuumi and Ino turned back to the counter where she fixed the plates.

Ino's face was still red when they ate dinner, and she wouldn't look up at Shikamaru. Was it because of the kiss earlier? Shikamaru cleared his throat loudly in hopes of gaining her attention, but no dice. He scowled and twirled the noodles around his chopsticks before popping them in his mouth. He hadn't had a traditional meal in a long time, and it was refreshing to eat something other than instant ramen - even if it was still a noodle dish. Looking to his side he watch Mizuumi struggle with her chopsticks, and he leaned over to help her.

"Hold them like this Mizu." He said, his big hands folding over hers as he placed the chopsticks back into her fingers.

"Otay!" She beamed at him as the utensils became more manageable.

He didn't let go of her hand for a moment as he admired them. They were so small and fragile, it was a wonder she could even pick anything up. When he pulled his own larger hands away from hers and looked over at Ino, whose face was unreadable, he smiled.

"This is really great." He said, leaning back and running a hand over his stomach.

He watched Ino's face scrunch up as she smiled, but she bowed slightly in her seat. "Ahh, you don't have to say something like that, I'm sure it is average."

Shimamaru shook his head, and he took a drink of the tea she had poured for him.

"No I'm serious..It's better than what I usually eat." He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Usually I eat ramen...sometimes not even cooked."

Ino's eyes widened and she suddenly hit the table top angrily. "Shikamaru!"

"Im on a budget!" His laughter became quieter and he put his hands up in defense. "Besides, I work odd hours. Sometimes I don't have time to cook and study and work all at the same time..but I eat at the café everyday...so don't worry."

Ino didn't say much more on the matter besides that it was unhealthy for a man of his size and activity to eat so little. Then she went into a rant about how he should take better care of himself, and he just couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

...

They talked until dinner was gone and the plates were washed and dried, and when it came time for him to go he helped Ino put Mizuumi to bed. They said goodnight, and Shikamaru was sad that Mizuumi didn't call him daddy again. When they walked away from her room, closing the door, Ino stopped at the entrance with her hand on the knob. She seemed to be indecisive about something, but just when he was going to ask her- she suddenly flung herself into his arms. His lips met hers and their teeth clacked together, and in that moment he could almost smell the spring flowers and the mustiness of that little blue tent. And then she was pulling back with a blush and she wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"I'm not usually like this.." She whispers, and it makes Shikamaru chuckle.

"You've always been like this," He says huskily and suddenly he is pushing her up against the door and her arms are around him. "But I like it." and then their lips are crashing together and their bodies are melting into a swirl of limbs, but they try to stay quiet because their daughter is in the next room.

He is surprised when the door locks behind Ino's body and her voice is barely a whisper, "Do you want to stay the night?"

And how could he say no to her when she asks him that with those big blue eyes and those pouty lips?

Sooooo my readers...satisfied? I think I abuse the coma...I'm just saying xD. Anyways I hope you enjoy it. If there are any mistakes please don't hesitate to mention them.

Leave a review please!

Next chapter will be up soon!