Archive of Our Own

Temari was a strong, emancipated young woman. She never asked for anyone’s help or assistance unless she was on the verge of death or mental breakdown. She was content dealing with her issues on her own. She would rather be the person assisting than the one needing assistance.

Shikamaru loved her as she was; he loved her strength of character and how nothing fazed her. He loved how reliable and dependable she was. He was pretty sure he would not even be alive if not for her solid support of him.

He did wish that she would ask him to help her carry some of the weigh she was bearing. Especially the five pounds she was carrying around in her womb.

Temari’s daily struggle since about two months had been putting on and pulling off her shoes and socks. Shikamaru would always find her on the couch, a chair or even the floor, bending her legs and feet around in awkward positions to do it on her own. She obviously could not reach her feet with her baby bump.

At first, she used clones to do it for her, but it took her way too much energy. Most of her chakra was already being absorbed by their unborn child.

Shikamaru would always automatically reach down to help her but she would move her feet and shoes away, “I can do it on my own,” she would say glaring at him.

When she would get fed up and exhausted from all the bending and moving around of her legs and arms, she would throw a defeated look at Shikamaru and mumble a, “Can’t reach,” while averting his gaze.

She had mostly moved on from the trying to decline his help phase over the weeks. He truly did not understand why she did not just ask him to do it for in the first place. Shikamaru would always sigh deeply every time he caught her that way. He would head towards her and without saying a word, slide her shoes on her feet.
She did not object and accepted his assistance most of the time which puzzled him even more. If she did not mind it why was she not asking for it?

Then again, that was very typical of Temari. This whole not reaching her own feet issue was probably making her feel feeble and weak.

It was straight up idiotic to Shikamaru. They had created a human together and she was carrying it for them for months. Her whole body was changing and shifting to accommodate their child. Bearing a few mood swings and helping her through some daily matters would never equate to what she was doing for them. Of course he would help her put on her shoes. He would even carry her around the village in his arms if she did not want to wear the damned shoes if he must.

Shikamaru could remember a time when he was a kid where he found most women troublesome and useless. He grew out of that childish thinking a long time ago. But his admiration for women shot up with his wife’s pregnancy.
Or maybe it was just his admiration for Temari.
He could not be sure.

Temari was walking around, in a mundane way, going on with her daily routine, carrying a whole damned human inside of her. And more than that, her body was making it grow and protecting it until the day it was ready.

It baffled him to no point.  

Temari was acting as if it were the most natural thing ever. Well, he logically could comprehend that it was the most natural thing ever. But Temari was completely not fazed by the whole pregnancy thing. She treated it in the same way she would think about what they were having for dinner.

Oh, I think we have leftover rice. Oof, the baby just kicked me in the ribs. Maybe we can make those crispy rice thingies, do you remember the recipe?

And then she would just head towards the bookshelf, looking for the crispy rice recipe completely brushing off that an unborn human she was shielding inside of her, kicked her in the ribs.

Sometimes, Temari and him would be sitting on the porch, enjoying a cup of warm tea and he would just be intensely looking at her baby bump. Temari was talking about a cactus book Gaara had sent her, not even glancing down towards her stomach.
Shikamaru was amazed. If he had been carrying their child, he would not do anything other than just look at it. No talk, no sleep, no work, no other activity other than pure awe and bewilderment at what his body would be creating. And there she was, talking about cactus flowers.

Temari had suddenly stopped her cacti antics as a small smile appeared on her lips. He knew that face too well. She was glowing, even more so than usual. Even her eyes would be smiling in those moments. Shikamaru could feel butterflies in his stomach every time it happened.
She slowly brought her hand, settling it on her bump, moving it around lightly, as if she were looking for something.

“Did the baby move?” Asked Shikamaru, bending down to inspect her stomach in awe.

“Yes, little baby is awake,” she smiled brightly with a gleam in her eyes.

Temari kept moving her hand around but their child was lazy. She could feel it move but she wanted to see some poking.

She started doing the thing, as Shikamaru called it.

See, when Temari was sure that their child was awake, she would slightly tap with her index finger on the side of her belly for few seconds and then suddenly move her hand away. Not a moment later, a poking limb could be seen through the fabric of her dress. And then with the same finger, she would draw gentle circles on the poking bit and their baby would slowly retract what Shikamaru assumed to be a little foot.
He could watch her do that all day and never get bored.

Strange feelings and emotions were creating a turmoil inside of Shikamaru. Not able to contain his amazement and thrill inside of him anymore, he reached to cup Temari’s cheeks with both hands. He placed a gentle kiss to her lips that Temari returned gladly.
She got used to these surprise kisses. Shikamaru had been doing that a lot since she started showing.

“Do it again,” he drew back with a lazy smile and a loving look in his eyes.

Temari let out a deep breath before starting to chuckle, “Last time I did that too much, you cried, Shikamaru.”

He shrugged, flailing a hand while gazing down at her belly back again, “Living up to my nickname.”

She slightly shook her head with a loving smile, “You sappy crybaby.”

Shikamaru hummed in agreement and reached with his hand to copy her movement. It never worked when he did it. In fact, it never worked when anybody did it. It had to be Temari or else their baby would not budge.

Temari grabbed her husband’s hand and pulled it slightly away. She started tapping again with her index on the side of her belly. Before the baby could kick, she brought back his hand where she thought the baby would poke. Not a second later, Shikamaru could feel a slight movement bellow his palm.
He slowly closed his eyes, wanting to savour the moment for a bit. There was a warm, fuzzy feeling in his heart.

“What was I saying about the cacti again?”

Shikamaru kept his eyes closed and his hand on her little bump. He could not care less about the damned cacti.

Shikamaru was checking the last folders before leaving.
He was supposed to attend a meeting in Kumo regarding some trading business between their villages. Shikamaru was always hard-working, he had a goal to achieve after all. True peace had yet to be achieved and Naruto was not Hokage yet so he had a long way to go.
This time however, he was slightly less thrilled to leave.

Even Lord Rokudaime apologized for making him overlook the meeting. He was supposed to go himself, but there was another trading business issue with Suna to deal with. This meeting would be held in Konoha. He had to stay behind to oversee it.

Lord Rokudaime did not trust anybody else but Shikamaru to complete the task of the Kumo affair.
While he was glad the Hokage was putting so much trust in him, he was not sure about leaving his eight months pregnant wife behind for a week.

Temari had just waved off his worries and told him to go do his work with a shrug. She did not seem concerned about anything.

Shikamaru begrudgingly accepted the mission after making sure that his wife would be alright without him.
He was slightly reassured to know that both Kankuro and Gaara would be present for the whole week where he would not be there as they were attending Konoha’s meeting.
He also made his mother promise to drop by at least once a day to check on his pregnant wife.

Temari was looking very much not amused and bored by his worried antics.

“Yeah, and don’t forget to ask Sakura to drop by and spoon feed me, Ino to tuck me in bed and Lord Rokudaime to come by and help me put on my shoes since I can’t reach,” she said sarcastically as he was pulling everything that was on the top shelves in the kitchen on the counter so she would not need to reach up for anything.

Shikamaru had not thought about that, who would help her put on her shoes?
Temari trusted her brothers but he did not know for sure if she would ask them for help.

“If you feel even slightly bad, go directly to my mother, alright Tem? Promise me you will go to her if anything happens,” Shikamaru had joined his hands in a praying motion and was giving her a look full of worry and anxiety.

Temari rolled her eyes with a sigh, “Okay, I will.”

Shikamaru was not usually worried about anything but he turned out to be real pain in the ass since she had started showing. She was anxious too of course, but more so about the birth and the health of the baby than about reaching for the pack of noodles in the top cupboard.

She sighed deeply, wondering how she would be taking care of two dumb crybabies instead of one.

Shikamaru checked one last time his inventory before heading towards the door, confident that he had not forgotten any important folder needed for the meeting.
He soon found his wife sprawled on the floor by the door. She was twisting her legs around in the floor and she tried to bend down towards her feet, her sandal in hand.

Shikamaru sighed, and walked towards her with slouched shoulders before crouching down at her feet. He simply extended his arm towards her, bending his fingers back and forth then pointing at the shoe in her hand.
Temari rolled her eyes with a grunt before throwing her shoe at him. He caught it with an exasperated sigh and a very unimpressed look.
His wife averted his gaze while clicking her tongue. She leaned slightly back, supporting herself with her palms on the wooden floor.

“Could have done it alone,”

“By noon maybe, yeah,” he responded with a shrug as he finished helping her with her shoes.

She wanted to pinch his arm or pull his hair, but if she were able to reach it, she would not have needed help putting on her shoes in the first place.

Shikamaru got up to his feet and then extended both arms towards his wife. Temari wanted to tell him that she could get up on her own but she quickly remembered that she was to meet her brothers in the Hokage office in less than an hour. She had no time for a rolling on the floor session.
Damned baby was making her life difficult before it was even born.

She conceded with a sigh and reached for his hands. Shikamaru heaved her up and then slightly pulled her towards him. He then slowly put his arms around her for a gentle embrace. Temari had to still herself by gripping strongly at his flak jacket.

She heard him murmur in her neck, “Please tell me you will be alright, Tem.”

Temari let out an exasperated grunt, slightly pushing him back, “I am pregnant, not dying. Go already!” She motioned towards the door, her anger raising up.

Shikamaru sighed and flew up both hands in a defeated manner, “Don’t forget to ask your brothers to help you put on your shoes,”

“Sure,” she shrugged. She would ask. But only if she was not able to do it after an hour. Or maybe two.

Shikamaru was absolutely not convinced that his wife would ever ask for help but he had already taken matters into his own hands. He left a note to Kankuro in a spot where Shikamaru knew his brother-in-law would head to as soon as he had arrived in the Leaf village.

Temari had walked with Shikamaru to the Konoha gates and waved him goodbye, brushing off his twentieth “will you be alright?” in the process. She then wobbled towards the Hokage building, ready to greet her brothers.

By the time she had reached it, she was already dead tired and slightly out of breath. It was as if her quota of physical activity for the day had reached its limit.
She had only walked less than an hour.
Not too long ago, she could run to Suna with no resting time in two days and a half.

Damned baby.
It kicked her strongly in the ribs as soon as that thought had crossed her mind.
Damned bad tempered baby.

Kankuro had been sitting comfortably on a bench, right by the Hokage building. His lips cracked up into his signature side grin as his sister came into his field of vision. He pulled up his arm towards her, holding a plastic cup with a pink drink and a whole lot of whipped cream.

“I got a limited edition Sakura Blossom Cream Frappuccino,” he waved his drink around, looking very pleased with himself. He did not even bother actually greeting his older sister.

He then pulled up his other arm towards her, holding some sort of note.

“And shadow boy says you can’t reach your feet!”

She would kill Shikamaru once he was back.
That got her another kick in the ribs.

Temari glared down at her own belly.
Stupid baby; not even born and already taking its father’s side.

Gaara thought that his sister was purposefully trying to annoy him for something he had done to her but had forgotten about it. He had been peacefully reading his book on pruning cactus but had not been able to concentrate on a single word since more than ten minutes.

Temari was bumping into everything as she walked from the living room to heaven knows where in the house. She had walked that path three times already. The sound of doors and cupboards opening and shutting was echoing soundly as she made her way to the living room.

He noticed that each time she came, she was holding a thick blanket, staking three of them on the coffee table.

Temari then exited the room a forth time, her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor. She came back quickly enough, wobbling a little, placing a hand to the wall to right herself before walking towards Gaara.

She let herself sink on the couch beside him.

“It gets chilly at night,” she motioned towards the blankets on the table, seeming sort of out of breath.

Gaara felt slightly guilty for thinking she was walking around to annoy him and only hummed with a slight smile before shifting his attention back to his book.

Temari settled in the couch for some minutes, before slightly bending forward.

From the corner of his eye, Gaara could see her bend her leg to the side as she attempted to reach her foot, her round belly keeping her from moving freely.

She huffed in annoyance before throwing herself back, sinking into the couch as she crossed her arms on her belly holding a pair of fuzzy socks firmly in her hand.

Gaara closed his book and slowly set it on the coffee table.

“Do you need help?”

“No,” Temari shrugged, tightly grasping the socks.

Gaara’s insisting gaze was fixed on her for several minutes before she conceited with an annoyed huff. He was worse than Kankuro with his intense stares. At least Kankuro would eventually crack a smile. Gaara would just look at you, insistingly, for hours if you let him, until you ended up conceding or fleeing.

Still looking down at her belly, she handed him her fluffy socks before flailing a hand to her feet, “I can’t even see my feet, let alone bend down to reach them and put anything on them.”

Her brother grabbed her socks with a slight smile as he got up from his seat to crouch down in front of her.

“You guys playing Beauty and the Beast?” Kankuro had barged into the living room with a large grin, probably coming in from the kitchen’s porch.

“I think you mean Cinderella,” said Gaara as he finished pulling up the fuzzy socks.

Kankuro shrugged, heading towards them, throwing himself on Temari’s left.

Gaara got up to his feet with a smile and nod to his sister which she returned with a grin. He seated himself back beside her again and grabbed his book, opening it on where he had left off.

“Where were you?” Temari’s question was aimed at Kankuro as she let her head drop on his shoulder.

“Training,” he explained before contorting his face into a pained expression, “then I got lost on the way home. Had to come running on the roofs. How can they get anywhere with so many trees around? Everything looks alike!”

Both his siblings hummed with a nod. It was way easier to navigate in Suna. No enormous trees and gardens that made everything look alike.

Shikamaru would argue that everything looked alike in Suna too and that you would get lost and die of dehydration while adding that statistically speaking, you are way more likely to get lost in the desert, but he was a crybaby and a drama queen, so his opinion did not matter.

After a long silence, Gaara suddenly closed his book with a thud, his head snapping towards his brother.

“Who is Beauty and who is the Beast?”

It was then Temari’s turn to shift towards her brother, bringing a hand to her hip with squinted eyes.

“Yeah, Kankuro. Who is who?”

“Erm,” Kankuro was looking frantically from one sibling to the other, “I think I’m gonna go sleep,”

Their brother jumped up from the couch and bolted out from the living room before they could get a chance to say anything.

Temari then slowly turned towards her baby brother with a sly smile, “Objectively speaking, you’re the Beast, Gaara.”

He only shrugged, opening back his book.

“I beg to differ.”

Temari squinted her eyes at him, slightly shaking her head, incredulous, “You quite literally carried a beast inside of you.”

Gaara turned to look at her with a blank expression, “Yes, past tense. You are currently carrying another human being inside of you,” he gestured towards her belly with his book, “You are basically an outer space creature right now. Two humans packed in one.”

Hum, well that was a way of seeing things.

Temari kept looking at him for several minutes with a thoughtful look and pursed lips as she thought this through.

Then with a shrug, she let herself sink back on the couch, “Yup, you can have this one, Gaara. You’re Beauty.”

There was a slight smile on Gaara’s lips as he shifted closed to his sister, letting his head drop on her shoulder, still eyeing his book.

He was Beauty.

The week went by quickly enough. Gaara and Kankuro were mostly off during the day as they were primarily in Konoha for business. Kankuro often came back sipping some new overpriced colourful drink while Gaara had gotten a total of seven heat tolerant plants, for each empty night stand and table in their house back in Suna.
Yoshino diligently dropped by once a day, often carrying boxes full of food or yet another baby clothing with a deer and whole lot of green.

For most of the day however, Temari was alone. She did not feel like going out much. It was mainly because that would require putting on shoes and the baby had sucked the energy out of her so she had no strength to squirm around on the floor to put them on.

Moreover, she had started feeling light cramps in her stomach since a day or two. Not strong enough to rush to the hospital, but still, if worst came and she started getting contractions a month too early, it better not happen when she was alone in the streets.

Her brothers always came back before it got too late though.

“You know, if I ever get tired of being a ninja or Gaara’s bodyguard, I might consider this career plan,”

Kankuro was on the floor, sitting cross legged by the couch, holding Temari’s foot, inspecting his work. He had finished painting her foot toenails dark purple and was quite proud of how it turned out.

“You always did my nails better than me,” she wiggled her toes as she continued reading her book while resting her head on the couch.

“Heh, I do the very same face paint every day. I am obviously a top-tier nail tech,” he smiled smugly, reaching for her other foot, “stop wiggling your toes, you will ruin my art.”

Gaara came back to the living room from the kitchen, holding a cup of tea as he made his way towards them. He stopped to eye Kankuro on the floor for a while, who was far too concentrated on his artwork, before sitting next to his sister.

“I feel like we spent the whole week on this couch,” he declared taking a sip from his tea.

“This couch has been my home since I got pregnant. It’s the only spot that doesn’t hurt my back,”

The couch might even have even been where her pregnancy started in the first place, but her brothers did not need to know that. Well, Gaara didn’t, he was too pure, she didn’t care for Kankuro though.

Temari straightened herself and arched her back to crack it with a painful moan. She then put down her book flat on her swollen belly.

For some reason, Gaara thought the act to be unbelievably cute; how the book was totally holding on her belly was adorable. He instinctively reached his hand towards her belly, but then stopped mid-way, looking up at his sister with a questioning gaze in his eyes. Temari nodded swiftly with a hum.

“Do the thing first. I want to feel the baby move,”

Temari and her baby brother spent a good fifteen minutes tapping on her belly. The baby had probably gotten annoyed by the interruption as Temari had received a kick in the ribs, followed by a painful cramp, so they had to stop their little game. Gaara kept his hand gently on her belly though.

Kankuro was nearly finished painting his sister’s nails. He had thrown several glances at his siblings with a slight smile. It was very much adorable.

He remembered clearly when Temari had first gotten to know about her pregnancy and instantly made her way to Suna. Poor Shikamaru was at loss for a week, wondering why his wife had left with only an hour notice. Temari got a panic attack, all of Gaara’s anxieties resurfaced and Kankuro was left to deal with both of them.

It ended up fine though. They all cried together while laying on the roof of the Kazekage building. Temari insisted she had sand in her eyes while Gaara said he had sand allergies.

Well, family trauma, what can you do?

He cleared his throat, “Do you have a lighter shade of this?” Kankuro had the dark purple nail polish in his hand and had stacked it on top of Temari’s book, on her belly.

“Probably in the cupboard in my bedroom’s bathroom. Why?”

He heaved himself up on his feet, making his way out of the living room, “I wanna try galaxy patterns,”

As soon as Kankuro had left, Temari winced slightly, painfully drawing her breath as she bended forward. Gaara, who still had his hand on her belly, felt a strong pressure under his palm. Instantly worrying, he set his cup of tea on the table, bringing a hand on his sister’s belly and another on her shoulder.

“Is it painful? Should we head to the hospital?”

Temari flailed a hand in a dismissive motion. She sank back in the couch, a painful expression still drawn on her features.

Feeling worried and powerless, Gaara reached to take the book and nail polish off from her swollen belly and set them on the table.

As soon as he did that, Temari launched up on her feet with a loud grunt of pain, grabbing her belly with both hands.
Gaara felt his heart sink down. Was she going to give birth?

Temari started breathing soundly and painfully, occasionally grunting in misery. She tried to take a step forward, but she wobbled slightly. Gaara quickly grabbed her arm, righting her with a hand to her back.

“W-we need to go,” Temari let her head fall back as she continued drawing painful breaths.

Gaara blanched. In fact, his vision had started to slightly darken. He agreed to pregnant-sitting, not birth-giving. He still had a strong childbirth trauma and was a step away from fainting.

By then Kankuro had idly gotten back into the living room while whistling. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he witnessed the scenery. He quickly ran towards his sister, holding her from arm and back as Gaara was.

“You okay, sis’? We heading to the hospital?”

Temari’s face was all scrunched up and was unable to answer him from the pain. She just slightly nodded and Kankuro started to slowly guide her towards the house’s door.

Gaara had moved his hands from his sister and had marched quickly ahead towards the door, reaching it before his siblings had even made three steps.

“Where are you even going?” Asked Kankuro loudly with an incredulous quizzical look.

“To the hospital.”

“On your own?”

Gaara then quickly went back towards them, holding his sister’s arm, “No, we should all go.”

In reality, Gaara had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He felt like his mind had wandered away from his body and he could not think straight.

“Temari, put on your shoes. We are leaving,” Declared Gaara as he opened the front door.

Between two painful gasps, Temari could only manage a faint, “...Can’t reach.”

“Oh. Right,”

Gaara grabbed the first pair of shoes in the way and crouched down to help his sister put them on. Kankuro was holding her tight all along, making sure that she would not wobble or fall down.

In his state, Gaara did not notice that the shoes he had put on Temari were way too large to be hers. Her feet were basically threatening to come out from them with each step she took. She wanted to tell that to her brothers, but she just gave up as another wave of painful cramps overcame her.

Kankuro briefly toyed with the idea of asking Gaara to just lift their sister up with sand but he was too afraid he would confuse that with his sand coffin considering he looked like a panicked mess.

They would be going to the hospital for a whole other reason then.

They were halfway to the hospital when Gaara stopped suddenly. He was looking even paler than usual and his vision started to blur.

“I am going to throw up,” he declared, wobbling slightly.

Kankuro snapped his head at him with a glare. He raised up a threatening index towards his baby brother, “No. You won’t. Come on, bro’, you fought a damn war, you can do this.”

He could deal with wars just fine. Childbirth was on a whole other level. Even thinking about his own birth still gave him crippling anxiety at times.

Kankuro could see his brother slightly wobble. Suddenly, Gaara just straight up lost himself to his panic and anxiety, falling directly on the floor with a loud thud.

His brother just stood there staring at him for a few seconds before letting out the loudest annoyed grunt that has ever been uttered.

“Are you fucking kidding me?! Tem, can you stand alone for a while?”

She nodded swiftly, her face still scrunched up. The pain had slightly worn off. She could still feel a very uncomfortable pressure in her belly but agonizing cramps had given space to some sort of soreness.

Kankuro crouched down, grabbing his brother from his stomach and lifting him up. He was holding him firmly under his arm. Gaara’s arms and feet dangled around as they swiftly walked towards the hospital.

The receptionist had seen a lot of unbelievable things happen in the hospital hall but she never thought she would ever witness a tall man dressed in black holding a pregnant woman with shoes that were comically too large for her under one arm, and the unconscious Kazekage himself, lifted up under his other arm.

The siblings were instantly approached by three nurses.

“She is probably giving birth, I don’t know. She just felt intense pain a few minutes ago. Now I think she is better though. Here,” Kankuro summarized the situation as briefly as he could while helping his sister walk towards the nurses.

Kankuro was told to wait in the hall as a doctor would be there to update them in a little while.

True to their word, Sakura, quickly came towards them. She smiled as she slightly bended her head to greet them.

“Is Lord Kazekage alright?”

Sakura gestured vaguely to the red mess Kankuro had been holding under his arm for the last hour or so.

“I am fine. Kankuro, put me down,” Gaara’s voice sounded raspy and very weak somehow.

His brother quickly dropped him. His reflexes had not quite kicked in yet and he fell flat on the floor.

“We don’t care about him for now. How’s Temari?”

“Erm,” Sakura did not know whether she should give a hand to the Kazekage who was heaving himself up on his feet or just ignore everything that she witnessed and blame it on sibling antics.

She went with the latter, “She is not giving birth, it was just a false alarm of sort. It may happen sometimes. We will be keeping her for the night just in case but she is totally fine and alright. She is not feeling any pain and she can leave tomorrow morning. You can go to her room if you want. It’s at the back of the hall, on the left,” she offered them a warm smile.

Gaara then nodded and slightly bended his head with gratitude. He crossed his arms and turned towards Kankuro before shrugging nonchalantly at him with a blank expression, “You see, Kankuro. There was nothing to worry about,”

Kankuro was looking so incredulous and outraged that his words were stuck in his throat. His mouth was slightly parted from disbelief as he gasped at his brother. He wasn’t the one who fainted from fear.

Gaara shrugged again and ignored his brother’s look before walking past Sakura, heading towards his sister’s room.

He managed to take a total of five steps before his feet gave away and he fell to the floor again.

“Erm,” Started Sakura, slightly unsure of what to do, “Do you want us to…” She cut herself, waving slightly towards the red mess on the floor.

“Yeah,” nodded Kankuro with a grin, “He doesn’t do well with childbirth. He has a bad experience with the whole being born thing. If you could deal with him, I gotta send word to the brother-in-law,”

Sakura headed towards the Kazekage on the floor, before motioning to some nurses to come and help.
Things like this were what made her seriously consider taking her newborn baby daughter and follow Sasuke to go wander the world.

Shikamaru swiftly headed towards his wife’s hospital room. He had barged in into the hospital hall a few minutes prior out of breath and in a complete sweaty mess of worry and panic. He never thought he could run as fast as he had during that night.

Sakura had been leaving the hospital at the same time as he came in and quickly reassured him and explained what had happened. She heard him let out a breath that might have been stuck in his throat for the whole night.

Shikamaru did not even need to reach the room as he found Temari walking slowly towards him. She had a hand on her hip to support her back and another one on the lower part of her belly. She flashed a tired, smug smile with a little wink as soon as he came into her field of vision.

He lazily smiled back at her with a hand on the back of his neck, feeling his breathing going back to normal. Sakura could attempt to reassure him all she wanted, but he needed to see his wife’s smug smile to completely confirm that she was not in danger.

He dropped his hand and walked towards her, letting his hand linger on her lower back.

“I’m never leaving you alone pregnant, you know that?”

She chuckled lightly, dropping her head on his shoulder, “Well I am not keen on other pregnancies for the moment anyway,”

He hummed, placing a gentle kiss on top of her head, “What are you doing here?”

Temari stopped walked. It seemed she was holding a paper on the hand that had previously been on her belly. She handed it to him before continuing her walk.

“Apparently our baby is in a sort of weird rush; not coming anytime soon but will probably be born a week or two before the due date,” She raised her eyebrows towards the paper her husband was holding, “Sakura gave me that. Apparently I have to walk,”

Shikamaru quickly went through what was written on the paper. It seemed like Temari needed to do some activities in the following days. Nothing major; walking, stretching, yoga and drink some herbals mixes and vitamins.

“Point number three says we should engage in sexual activities,” he said with a side smile, waving the paper in front of her eyes.

Temari snatched the paper from his hands with a chuckle, “Yeah well, that would be too troublesome to coordinate,” she said using his favourite catch-word.

He smiled lightly, dropping down his head. He suddenly eyed her feet curiously, noticing that his wife had been walking bare feet the whole time.

He looked at her quizzically, “Tem, where are your shoes?”

Temari attempted to drop down her head to see her feet only to remember that she could not with her swollen belly right under her nose, “Erm, Gaara was all panicked when we left yesterday and made me wear your shoes instead of mine,” she shrugged with a sigh, “I still tried to put them on though, but you know,” she flew a hand towards her feet, “Can’t really reach,”

Temari took a turn towards the left as Shikamaru followed her, his hand still lingering on her back.

“Kankuro went back home to fetch my shoes though. He is in Gaara’s room,”

“Gaara’s room?” asked Shikamaru, shooting up an eyebrow.

Temari had reached forward to open a door as soon as he had asked that question.

He quickly got the answer to his question. Gaara was sprawled on the hospital bed with a drip attached to his wrist. Kankuro on the other hand was sitting by the small table, he had placed what seemed like a caramel coffee on the night stand, drinking it handlessly through a straw. He seemed to be very concentrated on painting his nails.

“Gaara,” started Temari, bringing her hands to her hips with a serious look, “Stop the theatrics and put your jacket on. We’re leaving,”

The Kazekage turned his head towards his brother, “Kankuro, would you please get me my jacket. I cannot reach it,” he gestured at the red garment sitting at the edge of the bed.

Kankuro looked up with a shrug, taking another sip from his drink, “I can’t. I am attempting galaxy patterns,” he waved his hand by his brother’s eyes to illustrate, “I can’t reach for shit until it’s dry.”

Shikamaru felt even more tired after witnessing the siblings’ antics. He sighed deeply before turning his head towards Temari, “You’ve got one hell of a weird family, you know that?”

The three siblings all hummed in agreement with a nod and then all responded in unison, “It’s the family trauma.”

"Also," started Temari elbowing him slightly, "you're part of it," she said, in reference to her family.

Shikamaru hummed while lazily nodding. He liked to think he was the sane one in the bunch.
He left his wife's side to go grab her shoes from the floor and Gaara's jacket from the bed. As it seemed, he was also the only one who could in fact, reach for anything at all.