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Balancing his daughter’s tiny body in one hand was barely an effort for a shinobi of his caliber, leaving his other hand free to pluck at the little feet kicking idly near his face. Shikamaru held her closer and caught one toe between two of his fingers.
“You have the tiniest little parts,” he informed her. “How did you get to be this tiny? I mean, I know you’re mom’s not all that big and I’m not exactly a tree myself but this is just ridiculous.”
Shigeko offered an intelligent rebuttal in the form of spit bubbles spilling out one side of her mouth. It was a good point, well made, so Shikamaru answered with a solemn nod and brought her little body back up to rest against his chest where he’d been cradling her after a failed attempt at napping. He might have trained his body to fall asleep as quickly as any proud Nara should be able to but Shigeko was born with her mother’s energy. Why sleep when the world around her was still no new and interesting, full of so many things to discover?
Vertical now, his daughter buried her cheeks in his shirt to wipe the spit from her face and began chewing on the cotton. She was quite fond of chewing things. Shikamaru watched her gum at a patch just below his collar and tried to decide if he couldn’t wait for her to grow out of this phase or if he hoped it would last forever. As disgusting as it was to have his possessions constantly covered in baby saliva there was just something so magical about everything this tiny human did. Even in the midst of a temper tantrum with her face cherry red and little fists battering futilely at his shoulder she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life.
Except, of course, his wife. Sometimes it was still hard to believe these two beautiful women belonged to him. He resolved never to say such things to either of them. The gods only knew how badly it would inflate their egos to know just how tightly he was wound around their fingers.
“I’m back!” Sakura’s voice followed only a moment after the click of their front door opening. “Sorry I took so long, the corner store didn’t have any diapers so I had to scoot down to the marketplace instead.”
“S’alright. We entertained ourselves, didn’t we Shigeko?”
Their daughter gurgled around her mouthful of shirt.
“What a troublesome pair of women I have in my life,” he muttered quietly. Not quietly enough, apparently, earning himself an absent swat on the shoulder as his wife passed him by to set down the supplies she’d run out for over an hour ago. It was hard to remember the last time he’d seen her so absentminded as to forget diapers of all things during her last shopping run.
“Neither of us is anywhere near as much trouble as your son,” Sakura told him.
How can he cause trouble when all he does is sleep?” Shikamaru turned to flash her a grin. “Just like his old man.”
The words had barely left his mouth when their three year old son came toddling in to the room with one hand rubbing sleepily at his eye. Now there was a child who had never skimped on an afternoon nap. Shikadai stopped just past the doorway to let out a yawn that nearly split his face in half. When he was able to open his eyes again he blinked back and forth between his two parents, considering both options in his typical serious manner, then pattered across to Sakura with both arms held out. Sakura swept him up on to her hip where he nodded once and then promptly fell back asleep.
“What a troublesome pair of sleepy men I have in my life,” she mourned with a touch of humor.
“Having regrets?” Shikamaru teased.
It was a question he really didn’t need to ask, one he already knew the answer to even before she rolled her eyes. Their relationship had always been strong but from the day they finally talked about having kids it felt like things had changed in the best possible way. Sure they had gotten married a year or so later, more to shut up the elders of his clan than anything else, but it was that day which finally cemented the fact that they would both spend the rest of their lives together. Nothing could have made either of them happier. Shikamaru pitied the men who had to question whether their partners were truly happy; he could see the happiness growing every day plainly in Sakura’s face, the love in her eyes that grew deeper and deeper every time she looked at the children they had made together.
Giving in to her fate as a mobile napping station led Sakura to carefully flop down on the couch next to where her husband and daughter had been lounging since she left. Shikadai snoozed on, undisturbed by the movement. Not much had ever really disturbed him once he fell asleep.
“Think we should have another one?”
“Seriously?” Gently sitting up so as not to jostle Shigeko, Shikamaru blinked rapidly at his partner. “Another one? Like, another kid? Didn’t we just have this one?” Sakura laughed and reached out with her free hand to play with their daughter’s bubblegum curls.
“Yeah, I know. Is it such a crazy idea? Both of us were only children and, I don’t know, didn’t you ever wish there was someone there to play with you? I just think it would be nice to have a big family.”
Shikamaru looked down at his son, his daughter, the woman he loved, and heaved a sigh that carried the weight of the world.
“That sounds exhausting,” he said.
“Well, yeah, but-”
“But worth it.” By the way she froze only to beam at him Shikamaru knew that he had finished the argument she’d been about to make. That was just one of the reasons they worked so well together, always on the same page when it came to the important things. “So. A big family, huh? We’ve talked about something like that before. I think you just want a horde of minions that you can foist a bunch of chores on to when they get older.”
His wife laughed, quiet and carefree. “Oh of course, what else are kids for?”
There was really no answer for that but to lean over and take her lips in a soft kiss, one hand cradling the back of his daughter’s head and the heart in his chest so full of love he felt ready to burst. If there was one thing he’d learned as a father, however, it was that there would always be room for more love.