Love Child

A Shikatema Fanfic

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line

Ch-10

We walked quietly and quickly through the village towards Shikamaru's parents house. The only thing he asked on the way there was how I liked Kurenai.

"She nice and I enjoyed talking to her."

"Well that's good, it sounded like you two hit it off pretty well."

I nodded and then we continued walking in silence. That was the thing I liked about Shikamaru. He didn't babble on about nothing, when he said something there was a point to it, there was no mindless chatter with him.

We walked about five more minutes and then we were greeted by a large door that led into the Nara compound. Shikamaru muttered something quietly and then the doors opened for us. He led me through the compound to a small house in the back corner. He walked up the steps and grabbed my hand. I gave him a 'WTF?' look. Then he whispered to me quietly,

"We're a couple, remember!"

I nodded and then he knocked on the door. It's not like I had forgotten we were a couple, but I'd imagined that Shikamaru wasn't one for public displays of affection. But if holding hands made us look like more of a couple, whatever.

It only took a few moments for the door to be opened, seeing as we were expected to visit. The door was opened by a man who looked shockingly similar to Shikamaru. I assumed it was his father. The man, Shikamaru's father was taller than Shikamaru, but not by much. He had the same black hair pulled back into the same kind of pony tail. His eyes almost were identical to Shikamaru's, they both looked like hawks eyes. The man had a scar running across his face. He smiled and said,

"Come on in."

I stepped in first followed by Shikamaru. The man held out his hand to me and said,

"I am Shikaku Nara, Shikamaru's father."

I took his hand and shook and replied,

"Temari Sabaku."

"It's nice to meet you. Are you crazy?"

I laughed slightly and said,

"I sure hope not."

He smiled as Shikamaru took off my jacket and hung it up. I smiled back at the man and he led us to a dining room. When we got there, Shikamaru being a chivalrous bastard pulled the chair out for me. I rolled my eyes at him as I sat down.

"Not a fan of chivalry Miss. Sabaku?" asked Shikaku.

"Just Temari please. Chivalry is nice occasionally, but when it's done constantly I find it annoying and a waste of time."

Shikamaru's father smiled and replied,

"Spoken like a true ninja."

I smiled and glanced at Shikamaru as he sat down beside me. Shikaku then asked,

"How many weeks are you then?"

I shot an accusing glance at my fiancé. He shrugged and said,

"He guessed. He is just as smart as you or me."

Wait did Shikamaru call me smart in comparison to him. Was that meant to be a subtle compliment? Well even if it wasn't I was going to take it as one.

"Seven," I said, answering Shikaku.

"Seven, what?" asked a woman as she walked in the room carrying a dish of food.

"Seven months," said Shikamaru quickly. "It's how long we have been dating."

I glanced at my fiancé; so he told his father, but not his mother? When was he going to tell her? I hope he did soon, because if he said she was scary, then perhaps it'd be wiser to tell her sooner than later.

"I see," said the woman. "Oh forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's mother."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. As you know your son can be such a slacker sometimes. My name is Temari Sabaku," I replied.

This time it was Shikamaru that shot a look at me. I smiled and then asked,

"Do you need help in the kitchen?"

"Oh no," she said. "You are guest; you should stay here and talk with Shikaku."

"I am more than willing to help," I said.

"Just sit out here and chat dear. Dinner's almost finished anyways."

Yoshino put down the plate of food she was holding, and then left the room for the kitchen. Then Shikamaru said,

"See I told you so Dad."

"I hope you're right," he replied.

"What am I missing?" I asked.

"My son has the intent to tell his mother about the bundle of joy tonight. Because Yoshino already likes you, he thinks he is going to get off easier than he normally would. Again, I hope he is right," said Shikaku.

"So you're using me to save yourself from a lecture," I said turning to Shikamaru.

"If you'd ever been given a lecture by my mother, you'd use you as leverage too."

"He does have a point," said his father.

"Hmm, is it really that bad?" I asked.

Both of them nodded their heads vigorously. Apparently it is that bad. Well we'd just have to wait and see.

"So I see you said yes," said Shikaku, looking at the ring on my finger.

"Yup," I replied informally.

"It's nice that it fits so well. Shikamaru was lucky that he didn't have to get it sized. I did when I proposed to his mother," he said.

"Too small or too big?" I asked.

"Too big," he said. "Then I got a lecture from Yoshino, about self-esteem of women and why it is better to get something the right size, or to not get something at all."

"Well I can see that," I said. "If it's too big, then it's like they think you're fat and-"

"If it's too small, then you lose confidence because you aren't as small as they think you are," said Yoshino, finishing my thoughts.

"Exactly," I said.

She and I smiled together. The males in the room eyed us with slight caution, like they were expecting a lecture from one of us. Yoshino set down another plate of food and then left to get another.

"Well it seems I underestimated the similarities between you and my mother," said Shikamaru with a smile.

I returned the smile and said,

"It' the bonds of estrogens. You'd never understand."

"Males do actually have est-"

"Estrogens, yes they do. Just like females have testosterone, but the amounts of each are different in each gender," I replied.

"That's true. But when you say the bonds of estrogens you refer to the connections between females, but not males and females. Which is a false fact because males also have estrogens," replied Shikamaru.

"It's a saying Shika. You should not analyze something so trivial so heavily. It was only said to convey the point that females naturally understand each other better than a male can understand a female," I responded.

"But trivial things can be the difference in an outcome of a mission."

"Well we aren't on a mission, unless you call having dinner with your parents a mission?"

Shikaku suddenly burst out into hearty laughter. Both me and Shikamaru were startled by the randomness of his father's laughter.

"Well you have the bickering of a married couple down," said Shikaku after he had calmed down a bit.

Both Shikamaru and I eyed Shikaku, as if he had fallen off his rocker.

"We weren't bickering," said Shikamaru.

"We were simply discussing Shikamaru's problem with over-analyzing a simple phrase," I finished.

"I don't have a problem."

I patted my fiancé on his head and said,

"That's what you think. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

Shikaku started laughing again. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and muttered 'troublesome woman'. I found myself smiling at the situation.

"What's so funny?" asked Yoshino as she walked in for the third time and set down a dish.

This time Shikamaru's mother joined us at the table. Shikaku replied to his wife,

"They are just like we were when we were there age."

"Hmm, I see. You were quite reckless and insensitive at that age. I sure hope Shikamaru is not the same as you were," replied Yoshino.

"I doubt I am anything like Dad was at twenty-five," replied Shikamaru.

"How would you know?" I asked him. "It's not like you were alive to see it."

"That's a lie. I was seven when my Dad was twenty-five," replied Shikamaru.

"Really?" I asked.

Shikaku nodded and said,

"I knocked Yoshino up when I was eighteen. Then we got married and raised Shikamaru."

I glanced at Shikamaru as to say, 'Like Father, Like Son'. He met my eyes and returned the glance with, 'Oh Shutup!'. Our silent conversation was interrupt by his mother.

"Don't use the words 'knocked up' Shikaku! It makes it sound worse than it actually was," she scolded, hitting him on the head with a fan that she had pulled out of nowhere.

"Yes, yes," he said quietly while rubbing his head.

"Temari, please help yourself to the food," said Yoshino.

I nodded and started to portion things out onto my plate. That's when Yoshino asked about my parents.

"I'd love to meet them," she said.

"I'm sorry that really isn't possible," I replied.

"And why is that?"

"They are both dead," I answered.

I saw both of Shikamaru's parents tense. Then Yoshino said,

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I replied. "I never really knew my mother and my father never had much time for me anyways."

Both of Shikamaru's parents were still filled with tension. Shikamaru tried to diffuse the situation.

"But you do have two brothers," he pointed out.

Yoshino's eyes lit up with the change of subject. She asked then,

"You have two siblings?"

I nodded,

"Yes. I have two younger brothers, Kankuro and Gaara."

"Gaara as in the Kazekage of Suna?" asked Shikaku.

"Yes, he is my youngest brother," I answered.

"How old were you when your mother died?" asked Yoshino all of the sudden.

"Four," I replied. "She died giving birth to Gaara."

She nodded and then the room filled with an awkward silence. Then it was Shikaku's turn to try and diffuse the situation.

"So how old are you Temari?"

Poor Shikaku didn't even see the fan coming down on his head. Yoshino then said sharply,

"You never ask a woman her age!"

"Yes, yes," he said. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

I smiled and replied,

"I just turned twenty-seven two months ago."

Shikaku rubbed his head and said to his son,

"Good going! You got yourself an older woman!"

Shikaku really needed to lay off the comments. His poor head was feeling the abuse; especially when the fan came down on his head again. I couldn't help but smile.

Dinner went on pretty smoothly after that. There were only two comments that earned fan-smacks from Yoshino after that.

After we were done eating I wanted to help Yoshino with the dishes, but she refused to let guests do housework. I sighed and let Yoshino have it her way. I was just trying to be polite, even though I was quite tired. I was up pretty early throwing up my guts this morning.

Yoshino brought out tea for us and some biscuits and cookies. The tea was lavender and smelt quite nice, the biscuits smelt as if they were freshly cooked, and the cookies smelt as if they were intended to nauseate me.

I tried to contain my stomach; I had done so well through the whole night. I didn't really want to throw up the nice meal that Yoshino had made for us.

I am pretty sure Shikamaru recognized the look in my eyes that said I was about to be sick. He whispered directions in my ear. I quickly excused myself and went in search of the nearest bathroom.

I was relieved when I finally made it to the toilet. Well the feeling of throwing up the contents of your stomach was not relieving, but the fact that I made it almost 7 hours without throwing up.

I made sure I closed and locked the door before I allowed myself to lose my cookies. Yoshino walking in on me getting sick would not be good.

I sat on the ground in front of the toilet for about five minutes when a knock came upon the door.

"Open up," said Shikamaru.

I managed to unlock the door in between hurls. Shikamaru came in. He grabbed a cloth and dampened it with water he came over to me and wiped the sweat beads off if face. By the time I had finished throwing up I had an audience outside the bathroom door.

I flushed the toilet and rinsed out my mouth as Yoshino asked,

"Was it food poisoning?"

I shook my head.

"Do you have the flu?"

I shook my head.

"Do you have a cold?"

I shook my head and walked over to stand by Shikamaru. I leaned on him for support. Throwing up took up the last of my energy, I was now completely exhausted.

"Is it morning sickness?" she asked.

I nodded and put my head on Shikamaru's shoulder. I almost fell asleep while still standing. I did actually end up falling asleep standing. I was that tired. I was physically and mentally exhausted. Shikamaru would have to deal with his mom on his own cause I was bowing out.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Temari fell asleep on my shoulder, while still standing. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow she managed. I scooped her up into my arms and asked,

"Is there somewhere I can put her?"

"Your old room still has a bed in it," said my Dad.

I nodded and then took Temari up to old room. I carefully laid her on the bed so she wouldn't be woken. Then I gently covered her with a quilt and walked down stairs to speak with my parents.

I sat down in the living room across from my parents like I had earlier that day. I started with an apology.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean for you to find out like that."

"When did you plan on telling us?" asked my mom.

"Tonight, but seeing as Temari's morning sickness showed up again, you found out without me really needing to tell you."

She nodded and then smiled. I was mentally preparing myself for a lecture, when my mother said the most surprising thing.

"I am proud of you."

"What?" I asked shocked.

"Its pardon me, but you heard me. I am proud of you. You did the right thing, proposing marriage, not abandoning your unborn child."

I looked at her completely dumbfounded. My mother replied,

"So what your child was an accident? It's obvious you two get along and could manage to raise a child," the look remained on my face. "You're not eighteen like we were Shikamaru; you're twenty-five and can handle it."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I reopened them and asked my mother,

"So you aren't mad at me? You aren't going to give me a lecture on responsibility?"

"I could if you'd like, but Shikamaru, you are one of the smartest people in Konaha, and you would have thought through this situation and made hundreds of different outcomes. You'll be fine," said my mother.

"Ok, so no lecture?"

"No lecture," said his mother while shaking her head.

"Ok."

"So how many weeks is she?" asked his mother.

"Seven, almost eight," I replied.

"So when you were talking about seven ..."

"He was talking about the baby," said my father.

My mother nodded and then said,

"I had bad morning sickness myself. I will have to see if any of the remedies I know could help Temari."

"She has bracelets and lozenges to help get rid of the nausea," I replied. "Tonight she was wearing the bracelets. But either the cookies or the biscuits nauseated her."

My mother nodded and replied,

"I will talk to her when she wakes up. She looks exhausted. Both of you are welcome to stay for the night. It'd be best if you didn't wake up a sleeping pregnant woman, especially when she's on the verge of a mood swing week."

I nodded and said,

"Thank-you for reacting so calmly. Now if you'd excuse me, I would like to go check on her."

It was my Dad who said,

"Off you go then."

The sentence seemed to have a double meaning. Off I go to see Temari and off I go to have a family and a wife. I think my Dad intended both meanings to be meant because he gave me a small sad smile. He was sad that his little boy was growing up.

AN:/ So I realize I made Shikaku a little more lovely then his character is supposed to be, but whatever.

I am going away for two weeks so when I don't update, it's because I lack internet access.

Next Chapter
Off to Suna!

But anyways
Spaz out!