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Temari never thought she would ever make a good wife, nor a good mother. She in fact never imagined she would ever settle down, or get married. Partly because she was like a sandstorm ; wild, hazardous and unpredictable. Never bound nor chained by the invisible strings of traditional relationships. She did not think that sort of lifestyle would suit her or more accurately, she did not think she would ever suit that lifestyle.
Could you imagine Temari with a man, walking hand in hand outside? Buying a house together, having children, getting a cat then a dog? Her dear husband would make her breakfast in bed? Then they would argue about the house’s mortgage and then she would nag him for getting home too late and he would complain about her, calling her a pain in the ass? All while drinking tea and being secretly blissfully comfortable in this dull routine?
That would never work.
No, Temari needed more from life than that. She needed the danger, the threats, the constant fear that her dear desert was, the menace that she was one step away from dehydration, disorienting terrain, extremely deadly creatures waiting to bite on whoever dared to approach them and that was without the already suffocating heat and the threat of sneaky enemies.
Then, there was the fact that she had spent a great deal of her life fighting to stay alive, scared to death from her own family; her overbearing, controlling father or her insane monster of a brother. Things got better of course, Gaara was a saint; he would not even hurt a fly provided said fly did not intend to tear down the village. He was still socially awkward, but nothing that would make Temari sleep with a kunai in one hand and her fan in the other, like in the good old days. And her father...Well, she forgave him for his crimes and hoped he was in a better place.
Shikamaru and Temari did not do a whole lot of walking hand in hand. In fact, if the whole village did not specifically know that they were married, they probably could pass off as work colleagues. They did not have to buy a house, Shikamaru was the head of the Nara clan so there was no mortgage to argue over. She often did nag him because he was getting home too late, mainly because she missed him dearly during the day and wished to spent more time with him between their busy schedules, not that she would ever tell him that. He complains about her alright, calling her a troublesome pain in the ass, but not too much, she would threaten to beat him to death with his own leg otherwise but deep down, he was very grateful to have her as his wife; he told her about it sometimes then she called him a corny crybaby while smiling fondly.
Shikadai would often join them on the porch to complain about everything while he called the whole universe a drag. Temari thought he was too much like his father and she smiled fondly as she reached a hand to twist a lock of his hair from his ponytail around her finger. She hummed just enough so he knew she was listening, even though she barely did, too busy looking at both her son and husband. She wanted to pull both of them into a tight hug, as they were, mid-conversation. She had this strange wave of affection towards them sometimes. It made her feel corny, sappy and weak. She never really acted upon it though.
She could see Shikamaru looking into the distance as something seemed to be moving around in the bushes; a deer had probably come to greet them, because they could not have gotten a cat or a dog, no, it had to be huge hoofed ruminant animals with antlers growing out from their heads. It had to be original.
She knew he was listening to their son with more interest than she had anyway. He was a very good father, he always took Shikadai seriously even when their son was just complaining about Boruto’s dumb stunt during the afternoon break.
Temari would never have thought that would be her life a few years prior.
The wave of affection came back and Temari needed to get busy until it passed. She got up to her feet and walked towards the kitchen. She came back into the porch a few minutes later with a plate; it had a kettle and three cups. They were still talking about Boruto’s joke as she filled one of the cups with tea; something about sewer water in Shino’s coffee. She crouched down next to Shikamaru, putting one hand on his shoulder, to stabilize herself and stretching her arm to hand him his cup.
He did not even look at her, or acknowledged her, simply took the cup with one hand, murmuring a quick “Thank you, Tem”, before slightly turning his head, and placing a quick kiss to her knuckles, on the hand that was on his shoulder and shifting his attention back to Shikadai’s rant.
Her hand trembled slightly as she moved it away.
How she wished he had just ignored her but he would not, he would never. It was just so natural to him. He was just so naturally nice and kind and oozing love and affection all the time. She could not even throw an insult at him this time, or at least call him a corny crybaby to spite him, and also to hide her irritation as to how embarrassingly undeserving of all of this she felt.
She filled Shikadai’s cup and just placed it right next to him, she thought he did not notice her while in this highly important debate, but she heard him throw a “Thanks, mom”, between two troublesomes.
Temari took her own filled cup, and retreated to the kitchen, she sat in a chair right in front of them, so she could still see them from her seat. She left her cup on the kitchen table and put a hand under her chin letting her head rest on her palm. Temari crossed her legs under the table as she just watched her husband and son talk.
HER husband and HER son.
There , that wave of affection came again. Damned emotions. And Damned Shikamaru and Shikadai, they were too cute to be allowed to just chill in the porch in front of her.
Temari thought of going over there and nagging one of them, or both of them for something they did not do yet, just so they can do something else and stop being adorable and making her feel like the sappy crybaby she was not.
Her husband was a bad influence on her.
Wild, hazardous and unpredictable? She was still all of that. Temari had just discovered a fondness for knuckle kisses and affectionate expressions of gratitude that was all.
How did it even come to this? Was she so weak to leave everything behind for a lazy smile, an embarrassed look with a hand to the neck and absolutely no fear to show emotions?
Temari could see both of them starting to laugh at something.
Yes, yes you totally are weak for all of this .
That was too much, she got up, banging both hands on the table in the process, getting both of their attentions to her.
“Shikamaru, you forgot to turn on the washing machine again,” she said, looking very pointedly at him, her arms crossed bellow her chest, “you have ten minutes before you do that or else, I beat you using your own son.” She left the kitchen as Shikadai started complaining about having nothing to do with any of that.
Stupid, STUPID waves of affection.
Temari always thought she would make a lousy housewife. She was not specifically bad at anything domestic but she was a fighter, a warrior, a ninja. She could be an assassin, a sneaky spy, a thief even, but hardly a housewife. It was not what she had been trained for and she was not made for the job.
Luckily, Shikamaru knew her enough not to expect her to become something she was not. And he did not want her to be anything she did not want to be. That was why she loved him so much.
Truth be told, she had never really thought about it, even after getting married, even when she got Shikadai. She thought she was doing a decent job at being present enough for her husband and child, while being an efficient ninja and ambassador.
She did feel like a juggler sometimes, but you are always a professional juggler when you are a woman in the ninja world. You do so many different things, sometimes at the same time while being expected to do well in most of them with the constant comment to humble you or drag you down. Temari thought that ninja women were the most amazing of them all.
The idea first came to her mind when Shikadai was about two. He learned to speak and walk rather quickly, but he was highly annoying with food. Anything that could not be gulped down was a huge no to him.
She thought it was because he was too lazy to actually chew on the food.
Stupid Shikamaru’s genes.
She came back rather late from a mission and she knew that Shikamaru would not be home either. He had something important to deal with along with Lord Rokudaime. Shikadai had been spending the day with his grandmother, and the nights with his father.
Temari went straight to Yoshino, eager to see her dumb baby. He probably cried four times because he fell. He always cried so much when he fell.
Yoshino opened the door with Shikadai in her arms and the baby instinctively launched himself towards his mother’s arms upon seeing her, “Did you miss me, baby?”
“I ate a peach!” Declared Shikadai in response, feeling very proud of himself.
“He...Did?” Temari head turned slightly towards Yoshino who was nodding happily.
Temari felt a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach. That was the first time her baby had ever eaten anything solid and she was too busy sending someone flying kilometres away while protecting a group of genin to see it.
She might have cried that night while holding her sleeping baby. She did feel very silly afterwards.
Temari then learned how to better deal with all the aspects of her life and just like that, the idea left her mind completely.
She could still remember a day where she had ambassador duties in Suna in the morning, a random genin team in great difficulty to assist at lunch, an assassination to conduct right after, Shikadai to fetch from the Academy in the afternoon, dinner to make before eight, and Shikamaru to cuddle at night because he was overworked and needed some love.
Ninja women were truly amazing.
So Temari thought she was fulfilling her role well enough and she never thought she would consider spending more time at home, even less so becoming a stay-at-home mother, until a certain day.
Temari could still not fully grasp how exactly a routine Kage meeting could lead Shikamaru to nearly lose his arm. Well she did know, she was present at something similar once. But these were peaceful times. Was her husband getting so rusty that he could not sense someone sneaking up on him?
That was why she would sometimes ask him to join her to train a bit, he was getting old and rusty and was not training half enough as a Shinobi of his class and status should. Not that he had the extra time to do that, she knew that of course, she was just too worried and angry to care.
She did not even know why she was so angry, but she sure was livid. She nearly destroyed their house’s front door while getting inside, hastily taking off her shoes as she marched towards their shared bedroom.
There he was, sleeping, and that alone made her blood boil.
He was in there sleeping while she had nearly lost her hair of worry.
She approached him slowly. He was looking positively miserable. Were his eyebags always so prominent and so dark? She told him repeatedly he was working too much.
His left arm was sprawled on a pillow right against his side, completely bandaged. How he could be so careless with his hands while knowing he needed them to perform his go to technique was beyond her.
Anger started raising up again inside her.
Temari walked towards her side of the bed, dropping her fan right next to it before climbing on top. The ruckus seemed to have woken Shikamaru up as she could hear him slightly shift.
She just sat there, in the middle of the bed, knowing full well that he was awake but too lazy to open his eyes.
“How did this happen?”, she asked simply.
He took several seconds before answering, “Didn’t sense him. Hit me with a Katon to the arm.”
She wanted to rip what was left of his arm and beat him with it to see if he would sense that . Instead, she just sighed, and slowly approached him, laying down on her side right next to him, so she could still look up at his face. He shifted his arm from under his head, and waved it around wanting her to get closer. She took him up on his offer, and rested her head in the crook of his arm as he closed it around her.
“I am fine, Tem, don’t worry”, he said, as if he was answering a question she had yet to ask.
She lifted up her head, to look at him, not that he was opening his eyes “Who said I was worrying?”
“I know you,” he embraced her with more strength, and Temari nuzzled in his arm, closing her eyes.
She felt like crying and she was not one to cry. She would not cry.
Damned emotions. When did she get like this?
She felt sad that Shikamaru was hurt, angry that he was getting weak and rusty, mad that he was not complaining about it and above all, she felt unbelievably guilty for not having been present for him when he needed her to be.
“I should have been here”, Temari broke the silence, which made Shikamaru finally open his eyes shifting his gaze in her direction.
“Why? You were in a total different country, doing perfectly well with your mission I assume”, he shrugged and then winced, that would remind him to shrug with a single shoulder with the state of his left arm, “it wouldn’t have changed much anyway.”
That did not sound convincing enough to Temari. She got to know that her husband got his whole arm burned ten minutes before waltzing home. She was away for a week and this had happened three days ago.
“I could have been your emotional support.”
That got her a snort, “Support? Maybe. Emotional? Not so sure about that.”
She smacked his torso, strategically avoiding the left side, she was mean, not evil.
“You troublesome woman,” he said as he shifted his head, placing a lingering kiss on her forehead, “now let me sleep, I feel like trash.”
“You sure look like it.”
She did not annoy him further, he did need to rest, if not for the burned arm, let it be for the dark eyebags.
“Mom? Are you home?”
Shikadai had just gotten home, bruised, and hurt, and looking miserable, and, not that he would ever admit that, very much wanting his mother to be around.
He knew she would not be, she had ambassador duties that week and would not be around for a few days at least, but it was almost a habit to call for his mother when he was bleeding from somewhere.
When did training get so heated? This was all a drag. He did not even want to train to start with, Inojin and ChoCho were being annoying and he complied. Boruto had to join in of course, then it got more like a battle royale than a training session.
And his mom was not home to top it all off.
Some days were just bad.
Shikadai went straight for the bathroom cabinet, knowing that there was something in the first aid box there to use to stop his bleeding chin. Which one was it again? Why did he doze off when his mother was explaining this, now he had to read the actual thing.
Troublesome.
“I sure hope you weren’t planning on using that one on your wound.”
His mother’s voice instantly filled him with happiness, the day was not so troublesome it seemed. Not that he would tell her that, he was not a kid who needed his mother anymore.
He reached for the second bottle of whatever the hell that was, and dragged himself towards his mother, who was leaning on the door frame, arms crossed. He just stretched his arm to hand her the bottle.
She rolled her eyes and took it from his hand before crouching down.
“How did this happen?”
He shrugged and did not answer, flailing a hand. He watched as she started taking cottons and pads out of the box and wondered, “why are you even home?”
“Well, preventing you from using swelling and arthritis medicine on a wound,” she responded absent-mindedly, too busy looking for band-aids, “I thought we already went over what to use if you’re wounded?”
He loved his mother dearly, and was glad she was home, but he was not ready for the nagging he felt was coming up.
“Lift up your chin,” she had a damp cotton in hand and was looking at his chin with a frown, “it’s not very deep. Might burn a bit.”
No, it burned a lot, it made him wince and he wanted to swat her hand away from his face. She would kill him if he did though. Moreover, he was not a kid, he would not cry from some weird smelling stingy liquid, even less so in front of his mother.
Well at least he hoped not to cry.
She secured his chin with a band-aid and flew a hand towards his bleeding knees. He sat down on the bathroom floor and popped up both knees for his mother to inspect.
“Boruto always makes training a drag,” he hoped this provided explanation enough for his condition. Temari hummed in response, ready to patch up the rest.
She was not the best at anything healing related, but feeling secure in the knowledge that her son would live another night with the work she had done on him, she smiled fondly at him and reached to ruffle his hair.
Shikadai moved his head away, swatting at the air and getting up, “isn’t that like, Dad’s thing?”
By then, Temari had cleaned up everything and put the first aid box back in the cabinet, “Yeah, that’s definitely your father’s thing. Here is mine though,” she walked over to him, grabbed each side of his head with her hands, and slightly bended while pulling him up to plant a kiss on his forehead.
That was even worse than the hair ruffling, “Mom, stop it. I am not a baby anymore!” he declared yanking his face away from her hands and pushing his mother away.
She let him go with a chuckle, “you will always be my baby.”
“You’re corny, mom and very troublesome,” he responded with a shrug, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand to wipe away any hint of a kiss.
Temari saw him exit the bathroom as she stood there, smiling to herself, secretly glad that she was present for her son when he needed her.
“I thought you wouldn’t be home for a few days,” declared flatly Shikamaru as he got home to a Temari looking cheekily at him, leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed.
“Got home earlier than expected. Dinner is ready,” she said as she watched him take off his shoes and jacket letting it hang at the entrance. He had intended to walk past her and go towards the kitchen but he was quickly stopped in his tracks as Temari had grabbed his arm. She slightly pulled him towards her before planting a quick kiss on his cheek, “Welcome home.”
And then she was gone, walked towards the kitchen as he stood there, a hand to his cheek. She was unusually in a good mood and Shikamaru did not know if he should have been glad or slightly worried. Temari was never in a good mood after a mission. She was often tired and angry, never like that.
Then again, who was he not to enjoy the nice Temari? He enjoyed angry Temari too though. He enjoyed any Temari actually.
This one was cute, and she did not often let herself be.
Shikamaru decided that there was nothing to worry about, and proceeded to get inside his home.
After dinner, Shikamaru let himself sink in a warm bath. He forgot his pack of cigarettes though and he was too lazy to go get them now that he was already in the water. He could get Shikadai to get it for him?
Ah no .
He was already asleep. How a kid could sleep so much was beyond him. Where did he get that from? He did get beat up pretty bad, something about a battle with friends that resulted in an open chin and bleeding knees.
Temari was a huge no. She already did not like him smoking inside the house. She tolerated it in the porch or in the garden.
The house would stink, she would say.
So no cigarettes.
There goes one of the three pleasurable things in the house.
Troublesome .
Shikamaru was too busy thinking about whether Naruto had signed the third paper starting from last in the folder he handed him that afternoon to notice that Temari had slipped inside their bathroom. Was it even the engineering project he handed him? He had both the project and a note from Shino threatening to commit seppuku if Naruto did not get his kid sorted in hands. Shikamaru guessed that receiving his note signed by the Hokage would not make Shino feel any better.
“That’s probably how you got your arm wrecked the other time,” stated simply Temari as she walked towards the bathtub, her hands on her hips with a playful smile on her lips and a daring gleam in her eyes.
“If you were the assassin they chose to sent, I would have just let you wreck whatever you want in me,” Shikamaru had his elbow popped on the bathtub’s side as he let his chin rest on his hand.
Temari chuckled and shook her head, stopping right next to the bathtub and crouching down, at eye level with her husband, “You get even more sentimental with age,” she reached over to fiddle with a lock of his hair; it was still tied in his signature ponytail and damp, “did you wash your hair?”
He sighed, “not yet, I was trying to remember whether I gave the right folder for Naruto to sign.”
“You’re naked in the bath while I play with your hair, the last thing I want to think about is Naruto and folders to sign,” she had intended this to sound serious but she had a playful smile on her lips that was there despite her best effort not to smile.
“Fair,” he declared simply, “care to join?” asked Shikamaru, waving a hand around.
“No,”
Now that was disappointing.
“I will wash your hair though. Otherwise you will still be in here in a few hours,”
Not that disappointing it seemed.
“Move away,” she slightly pushed his shoulder forward as she said so, allowing herself to step inside the warm water of the tub. The water reached her knees, but she had been wearing her short purple kimono so she did not get wet yet. She let herself sit on the edge of the tub, right where Shikamaru’s head had been few minutes prior.
“Lean back,” Temari was gesturing to the space between her knees.
“You know I like that spot,” he heard her snort as he complied, letting his head rest between her legs. She tugged at his tie to let his hair down.
“I will get you wet,” he sighed as Temari gestured to the shower head, too far to reach it, he still complied though.
“I don’t mind,” she carefully splashed his hair with water, letting one hand rest on his forehead as a barrier for the water, so that he did not get anything in his eyes, “The thing with wetness is that it dries just as easily.”
He chuckled lightly, and turned his head, planting a kiss on her inner thigh, “not always,” he murmured against her skin.
She slightly pulled his hair, “stop being naughty and hand me the shampoo over there.” He did as he was told, not without a sigh.
They did not talk much after that. Shikamaru could feel himself drifting off to sleep as his wife drew light circles with her fingers on his shampooed head.
He broke the silence eventually, “You’re in a good mood.”
“Yeah,” she responded, massaging his neck, “Shikadai wrecked his chin and knees today.”
“Always knew you would end up wishing for his imminent death and suffering.”
She pulled his hair again, with slightly more strength this time. He winced but did not pull away.
“He called for me as soon as he got home, and I was here to assist him.”
Shikamaru hummed in response. He knew what she was getting at. For some reason, Temari had been convinced these days that she had been missing important events. When did it start again? The day he got his arm burned. Maybe even before that, she was not one to talk about these things.
He thought it was silly of course. She did not need to do less missions or to be more at home. He suspected she would not even be fulfilled with such lifestyle. She had already given up so much for him, he did not want her to try to fit into a lifestyle that did not suit her just to baby Shikadai and him around. He thought Temari to be perfect doing what she liked to do and she liked being a walking hazard to society.
He would not have her any other way. He would tell her about it later that night, when they were both in bed, ready to go to sleep. She would call him a sappy crybaby of course and he would hum in agreement.
For now, he would have a bath nap as Temari moved from his neck to rubbing his shoulders.
“I really don’t deserve you, Tem,”
She heard him whisper that, right before he drifted to sleep on her thigh. It made her stop her motion with a light gasp.
He was too deep in sleep to hear her murmur back, “me neither.”
Ino thought that the day had been the most uneventful in a while which was odd, there was always some drama happening in the flower shop.
Not even a single marital quarrel? No guilty looking boyfriends asking her what flowers to pick to apologize? Even Sakura had been too busy in the hospital these days to pass by for tea so Ino could complain about her on-and-off husband and brag about her own very much present and loving husband, not that Sakura ever complained. She was a saint who had a strong sense of marital solidarity.
Whatever, Ino would complain in her stead, she was good at that.
Ino was heading out to water the flowers outside when she saw a familiar blond with four ponytails in the crowd.
“Temari!” she exclaimed, waving at her to get her attention.
For some reason, Temari seemed surprised to see her, which was odd, the Yamanaka flower shop never really upped and moved around town. Ino guessed her friend did not really know where she was headed.
Temari walked towards her with a smile.
“Heading home?” Asked Ino curisouly, “Wanna get some tea inside? I am bored. I would have left Inojin deal with the shop, but he is at the Academy. I’m stuck here.”
Seeing hesitation in Temari’s eyes, Ino added, “I have dango and roasted chestnuts.”
Sold.
Temari nodded with a sigh, before smiling and joining Ino inside the shop.
Ino disappeared in the back shop before coming back with a tea set and a plate of dango and chestnuts.
She set everything on a small table inside the shop, right next to the counter, “Were you shopping?” she asked, sitting on the chair, handing Temari a cup of tea.
Temari gladly accepted it, “No. Hokage office.”
“Shikamaru doesn’t work today.” Ino responded instantly.
She knew for a fact that Shikamaru did not work on that day, they were supposed to grab a bite with Chôji later, “You have a new mission?”
Temari sipped her tea, thinking a bit before answering.
What were the odds of Ino spilling something to Shikamaru if she told her about it? She decided the best course of action would be to simply ask.
“If I tell you what I was doing, will you tell Shikamaru about it?”
Ino motioned a stop with her hand, and put back her teacup on the table. She then planted her elbow on the table and pulled two fingers up.
“If you’re having an affair, I’m telling him, he deserves to know,” one finger went down, “if you’re doing something that would consciously harm you or him, I’m telling. Anything else I can keep.”
Temari thought it to be very sweet of Ino. She was a trusted friend to Shikamaru. She proved that all the time.
“None of that,” declared Temari fleeing a hand, “quite the opposite.”
That got Ino’s interest. She put both elbows on the table, and planted her head on her hands with a cheeky smile. She hummed for her to continue.
“I asked to be put on less missions. You know…Like, twice or three times a month or something is fine, more is just too much. I’m keeping my ambassador duties though.”
For some reason, that surprised Ino more than the likeliness of an affair between Temari and Naruto or of going to a possibly dangerous mission without telling Shikamaru about it. She choked on her own spit and reached for her teacup to make it pass.
“Did Shikamaru tell you to do this?” Asked Ino rubbing her throat.
Temari shrugged, “does Shikamaru ever order me around?”
No. He would not. Not his type. Moreover, Temari would kill him if he did anyway and he would be buried somewhere in the Nara forest. Ino would probably be in the search team.
Definitely not a situation she wanted to be in.
Ino was about to ask what brought such a drastic decision, but Temari took a deep breath and started talking before she had the opportunity to ask, “I just...I feel like I’m missing a lot of things these days. Shikamaru got his arm burned a few months ago and I wasn’t even around. I won’t even get into Shikadai because up until last week I barely knew what he was doing at the Academy.”
Ino’s gaze softened. She worked two full time jobs. When she was not in the HQ, she would be in the flower shop. No one has ever said that being a woman in the ninja world was easy. Ino herself had had similar struggles. However, Ino was glad that both her jobs were in the village. She might have missed some important dates once or twice but most of the time, she was a run away from her family. It would take her about ten minutes to drop everything and go to them if they needed her to be there.
“Shikamaru has made enough sacrifices, for me, for Shikadai and even the village” continued Temari, looking down on her teacup, slightly chewing on her bottom lip, “this was not even the life he had wanted you know.”
Ino could still remember Shikamaru going on and on about how troublesome it would be to have anything other than a nice civilian normal looking wife and two kids, be a standard ninja with little responsibility, and spend his time looking at clouds and chilling. He was definitely far from that dream.
“I’m not nice. I have never been nice to anyone in particular, not even to Shikamaru,” Temari had brought her hands on the table, and was slightly chewing her cuticles. Ino guessed that Temari was talking more to herself than to her, and she let her talk, whatever it was, Temari needed to get it out of her system “I’m the one who insisted on Shikadai being an only child. I pushed so many responsibilities on him. Heck, if it were up to me, he would be Hokage and he would be damn amazing at it.”
Temari allowed herself to lean back in her chair, letting her head fall back, staring at the ceiling, “he hasn’t had the time to watch the clouds since…Well I don’t even remember,” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Shikamaru is, well...Doing better when I am around to tell him to get back in line or to get home earlier. Who else would smack some sense into him? Shikadai too, not that he would admit it.”
Yeah , Ino told herself internally, wonder where he got that from .
Temari straightened her back and crossed her arms on the table, looking straight into Ino’s eyes, “what I mean is that, if me going on less missions makes his life a tad bit easier, then I’m willing to compromise. That’s what marriage is about.”
Ino chuckled lightly, shaking her head. She could not have picked a better wife for Shikamaru if she tried.
“If you’re laughing at me, I’m wrecking your shop,” deadpanned Temari, not in the least bit amused by any of that.
Ino frantically waved both hands and shook her head. Temari was not one for empty threats, “I was just thinking that Shikamaru is a lucky guy. That’s all.”
Just then, a couple made their way inside the shop. Ino welcomed them from afar, offering them a smile. They seemed content just looking at the pretty flowers.
Temari took it as a signal to leave, she got up from her seat, “I should get going,” she gestured towards the table, “thank you for the tea, and...Everything else too.”
Ino shrugged with a smile and slightly bended her head, “You’re welcome to talk about anything any time!”
Temari then offered her the warmest smile she had ever seen on her, and turned around to leave the shop.
Ino thought that if she had not been happily married to the best man on earth, she might have considered an affair with Temari then.
“I know I don’t work today, but you have to sign this. It’s an emergency, I will deliver it later,” declared Shikamaru bursting into the Hokage’s office with a piece of paper in hand.
Naruto was somewhere under a dozen piles of paperwork that he would probably take the week to finish. Well...Thinking about it, there would be even more paperwork by the end of the week. Shikamaru sighed, he had to enjoy his day off while he could, because he could feel that tomorrow would be one hell of a day at the office.
“Sure,” Naruto had raised his arm so Shikamaru could locate him in that mess. He handed him the piece of paper and Naruto studied it quickly before waving it back at him, “why do I need to sign a formal apology to Shino?”
Shikamaru shrugged, “long story.”
Naruto complied, he needed to apologize to Shino apparently. He would have to trust his advisor on that one.
Shikamaru took the paper back and was on his way out before being called back by Naruto, “your wife dropped by earlier.”
Now that was curious. She was definitely not there for him as she knew he had been home the whole morning.
“Asked me to pull her off some missions. Doesn’t wanna work as much apparently.”
She was still on with that? He thought she had moved on. She did not have to be home any more than she already was.
“Why did she do that?”
Shikamaru was talking to himself more than he was asking Naruto but the latter still heard him, he sighed, “you know I love giving pep talks and speeches on friendship and love. I would gladly add mariage counselling to my resume but I physically cannot do that anymore,” he said, gesturing towards the piles of paperwork on his desk, “you’re gonna have to figure this one out on your own.”
Shikamaru felt as though he had opened something he should not have opened.
He excused himself, walking straight towards the Academy, Shino’s letter in hand as he left Naruto finish his job for the day.
Ino’s day went back to being very boring. When did Inojin get off the Academy again? Where was her husband anyway?
She briefly wondered if Temari had went back home. She wondered if she was feeling any better. Temari was not one to talk about her feelings so Ino guessed she needed that girl talk moment.
When did Sakura get off of work? She would go and gloat about Sai.
Why can’t anything interesting ever happen? The only event of the day had been cancelled. Chôji had food poisoning. Nothing severe, he did not even need to go to the hospital for once. Karui was taking care of him at home. She found the time to drop by and tell her about it.
Sweet thing.
Ino heard someone come inside the shop and was about to welcome them but she quickly realized it was Shikamaru.
“Hey,” she greeted, “I already know about cancelling this afternoon’s meal.”
Shikamaru shrugged and walked inside the shop, hands in pockets.
“I need flowers,” he started bringing a hand to his neck, looking somewhat embarrassed, “for Tem,” he added.
Ino raised an eyebrow, Shikamaru only gets flower when he screwed up, “what did you do?” She crossed her arms and looked pointedly at him.
Temari was a saint. A violent and mean one who not only could kill you but would do so upon demand, but a saint nonetheless.
Whatever it was, she had established was his fault.
“Nothing. Why do you women assume men undoubtedly did something bad?”
“Because you often do.”
Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes, he walked towards the chair next to the counter, right where Temari had been a few hours before and let himself sink into it.
“Did you know Temari wanted to go on less missions? Naruto just told me about it.”
Ino shrugged. Not a yes, but definitely not a no. She would not lie to Shikamaru, but she would not betray Temari’s trust either. She went to sit on the other chair.
“Why would she even do that? She has already done enough,” Shikamaru brought a hand to his eyes and started massaging his eyelids, “she left her whole country, her brothers, her life behind for me and I don’t deserve any of this.”
What in the dumb couple is this , thought Ino. She was starting to get very much impatient with this undeserving of the other crap. She could not relate to these shenanigans. Sai and her appreciated and loved each other openly and never failed to remind the other how grateful they were. Life was complicated enough as it was. There was no need to add melodrama.
“And I never asked her to do any of this, she just did. I would have been content living in Suna. I would have been content if she remained there and just dropped by once a month to check on me.”
He was getting ridiculous, but Ino thought it was sort of cute so she just smiled at him.
He looked way more flustered while talking than Temari.
She got up then, with a sigh and went straight to the counter to prepare a bouquet for him as he continued his rant, “She is a good mother and a perfect wife and I don’t deserve half the sacrifices she made to make it work.”
Ino thought she might add some Hydrangea to the bouquet. She hummed while nodding, just to signal to him that she was listening.
Red roses too probably.
Temari had been enjoying a warm cup of tea on the porch. She had been sitting there, on her knees since they finished dinner occasionally glancing towards the flower bouquet in the vase on the kitchen table. She made a mental note to get a gift to Ino sometime during that week.
There was a nice breeze in the air, not too cold but highly pleasing. There was some movement in the bushes. A deer was probably around to check on them before going to sleep, or maybe not. They did seem to enjoy the night.
Shikamaru was getting Shikadai sorted before bed. He was already eight but still needed someone to constantly nag him to get in the bath, and then to get out of the bath before sleeping inside it and drowning or something. It happened before already.
Not a while after, she could hear Shikamaru’s steps getting close.
“He’s in bed?” She asked simply, putting her cup in front of her.
He hummed, sitting on her right. He then yawned and waved a hand at her lap. She nodded.
Shikamaru laid on his back and let his head rest on her thighs, “told you I really like this spot.”
He pinched her thigh at the same time as she pulled his hair.
They both chuckled.
Disgustingly cute domesticity.
Several minutes of silence passed, before Shikamaru sighed. That surprised her, she thought he had already drifted to sleep.
“Naruto told me about your visit today,”
Of course he would. She knew he would but she thought he would tell him tomorrow if he had not forgotten about it by then.
“Tem, I never asked you to do that for me.” Shikamaru had opened his eyes, and was looking straight at her, frowning. She returned his gaze and did not say anything for a few seconds, then she sighed and shrugged.
“Don’t be full of yourself. I didn’t do that for you, I did it for me,” Temari leaned back, supporting herself by placing her hands on each side.
“You want to stop being the hazardous, dangerous, unpredictable sandstorm of a ninja you are to what? Play house ?”
Temari shook her head looking straight in front of her at the moving bushes, “No, I will always be a hazardous, dangerous, unpredictable sandstorm of a ninja,” it was hard to pull instances of sincerity out of Temari so she had Shikamaru’s full attention, “you taught me that actually, indirectly anyway. I can be a dangerous ninja, your wife and a mother at the same time. I am not so insecure in my own independence and strength as a woman to feel like my wings have been clipped off just because I want to be slightly more present for my family, I am not a fifteen years old teen anymore. I am lacking balance between ninja, ambassador, mother and wife, Shikamaru. I can do whatever I please, whenever I please and what I want to do right now is to have balance between all of what I am, for myself first, but also for my family. I am not going off duty, or retiring early, I am just getting balance.”
Shikamaru hummed and nodded in response. He popped himself up on his elbows and reached a hand behind Temari’s head which got her to shift her gaze back down at him. He leaned up his head just as he pushed hers down, landing a soft kiss on her lips which she gladly returned with more strength than she had intended.
She pulled back with a smile just as Shikamaru whispered, “you have no idea how much I love you, Tem.”
She hummed but did not say it back. She did not say it often, she had other ways of saying that and Shikamaru did not mind it in the least bit. He was confident that she loved him more than anyone, she proved that every single day in a new way. That day was no exception.
It was a while later that they heard someone walk towards them, which they assumed to only be Shikadai.
“It is odd that you’re not yet asleep,” Temari turned towards her son, her husband still napping on her thigh.
“Can I join?”
He would never admit it in a million years, but Temari knew it. Shikadai’s favourite place on earth was on the porch with his parents.
Temari nodded, and gestured for him to come.
He laid on his side, on his mother’s left, and rested his head on her lap.
Temari looked down at her boys sleeping on her lap with a tender smile.
They looked so identical with their eyes closed.
She reached down, and pulled their ponytails.
Shikamaru did not budge, used to this sort of abuse. Shikadai however, winced, and shot up, both hands grabbing his ponytail, looking pointedly at his mother with accusing eyes.
“Get back down,” she said simply, her gaze on the darkness of the garden.
Shikadai huffed and obeyed. Why was his mother so weird?
“What was that even for?” He asked as he went back to resting on her lap, still protecting his ponytail with his hands.
Temari threw a quick glance at Shikamaru, only to find a slight smile on his lips.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling too.
“ Wave of affection ,” she said with a shrug.