Disclaimer: I own only this story.

"Yeah I'll be there in a few?, don't inform the hokage until I arrive, no need to cause panic."

"Dad what's going on?" Shikamaru could see the frustration that sat on his fathers face.

Shikaku signed. "Another dead deer, this time it seemed to be a lot closer to the border, I'm not sure what the hell is going on but it's becoming really annoying." Shikaku leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"Any clue as to why this may be happening, I mean this is like the 3rd deer this month."

"Your guess is as good as mines son, your mother thinks it may be another deer causing trouble."

Shikamaru scoffed. "Come on dad. Do you actually believe there's a rabid deer running around the forest eating other deer?" Shikamaru yawned. "Could've just eaten a bad batch of berries or something, sometimes it's hard to predict what those damn deer be thinking sometimes."

Shikaku raised to his feet and grabbed his vest and proceeded to the door.

"You know son. This will be your responsibility one day, if you want to lead this clan at some point, try growing up a little." And with that being said Shikaku closed the door behind him.

Shikamaru stayed silent. He never had a choice to make the decision for himself to run the entire clan, it just seemed like too much work for the boy. Why spend his entire life dealing with constant stress and work? Just to suffer the same sad ass life that his father lives.

Shikamaru layed on the couch. "Forget that I'd rather watch clouds and not deal with any of this crap, too much of a burden."

"You know he has a point"

Temari made her way downstairs and sat on the love seat next to shikamaru. She began to put her shoes on.

"Please spare me the lecture right now, I would rather talk about something more appealing at the moment"

Temari finished tying the knot on her shoes and signed. "Im only telling you this because I love you, Shikamaru you cannot live your live carrying this nonchalant attitude you have"

Shikamaru stared at the ceiling. There wasn't much emotion on his face, there was just this really deep and concentrated look he had almost as if he was trying to shoot beams out of his eyes.

She signed and stood up. "We're not children anymore, it's okay to have fun and lay back sometimes but at the end of the day we're still shinobi and still have duties to attend to."

Shikamru rolled his head over and looked at Temari in the eyes.

"Then why are you here?"

Temari began to become annoyed. She understands that this is a sensitive topic for shikamaru but he doesn't have to be an ass about it. Regardless she wants what's best for him and the future of his clan but something is holding him back.

"You know your father has a lot of faith in you and he can see the potential you have to become a great leader for the Nara clan. We all make mistakes but it's how we learn from them and overcome it that really matter."

He remained silent.

Temari walked over to him and grabbed his cheek. "Whatever it is that's stopping you from taking those steps forward please let it go for me. I want what's best for you but you have to want it for yourself."

And with that Temari proceeded out the front door leaving the boy behind stuck with emotions racing in his head.

………………………………………………………………………..

Temari walked down the road she couldn't help but wonder what brung her brothers to the leaf so unexpectedly. Yeah Naruto's wedding is coming but usually Gaara checks in before he plans a trip to the village.

She continued to make her way to the hokage's office. It was a gorgeous day the sky was sunny and full of clouds with a cool breeze.

"Hey Temari!"

Temari looked behind her to see Sakura carrying a few bags full of flowers and herbs. She could see the Yamanaka symbol.

"Hey Sakura. What's with all the bags?"

"Oh I've been working on developing some new food pills and remedies that works twice as fast as before with little to no side effects, I'm actually on my way to give Kakashi a demo"

"That's pretty cool, I'm headed that way too, we can walk there together." Temari couldn't help but admire Sakura's dedication to helping others and always looking to produce the best results.

"You know I seen your brothers today too."

"Really?"

"Yeah we had a chance to catch up at Ino's flower shop. The entire time Kankuro was trying to hit on Ino"

Temari signed "My brother is an idiot and I use to think it was an act but now I'm for sure that he's a moron."

Sakura laughed "Yeah Ino said a man shouldn't play with puppets after the age of 16 it's kind of creepy. Gaara seemed to be doing really good btw he said he had some important matters to discuss with Kakashi. Any clue.?"

Temari shrugged her shoulders. "I'm actually not sure maybe to bring me back home to suna but I haven't talked to Gaara in months but if it was something important I'm sure he would inform me"

Sakura just stared at Temari for a second. "Well hows Shikamaru? I know you guys had that big fuss not too long ago."

"He's okay I guess. Just has a lot of growing up to do."

"Well that's all men Temari. Even Sasuke, I understand that's he's an introvert but he never wants to do anything because he seems to just hate being around people like grow up."

They stood in front of the hokage's building.

" I don't know Sakura it just seems like it's something that's holding him back, I feel like something has him shackled down. I just don't know what it could be."

Sakura thought to herself for a moment. "Well I heard that the akatsuki member he blew up is still alive"

Temari frowned her face and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean he's still alive? How can he be alive if he was blown to pieces."

"Supposedly he's immortal and word is that shikamaru visits the burial site frequently"

Temari shook her head and nodded. "Let's just go inside and finish this discussion later."