Hey guys. Here's another chapter for you all. This one is on the shorter side too, but this one was just too cute to pair with any other event. Hope you still enjoy it even though it is on the shorter side.

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Four months had passed, and Shikadai was now 7 months old. He was sitting up on his own, and was starting to eat baby food now, and he was crawling all over the place. He was ecstatic when the boy first called him "Mama" and it seemed to be his new favorite word. He didn't really say anything else, even though Shikamaru had been trying to get him to say "Dada" for a while now. Naruto could tell that Shikamaru was a bit upset that he wasn't saying it, so Naruto had decided to try and coax the boy to say it.

"Ok, Shikadai. Say dada. Da da," Naruto said as he stressed the syllables.

"Mama!" Shikadai cried out, then stuck the block he was playing with in his mouth.

Naruto sighed as Yoshino walked in the room. They were visiting Yoshino while Shikamaru was on a mission. "Still can't get him to say it?" she asked as she handed Naruto a cup of tea, then sat down on the couch.

Shikadai saw this and immediately crawled over to try and grab it, but Naruto just held it out of the boy's reach. "No. Why won't he say it?"

"Children are funny things. They do what they want, and don't like listening to their parents."

"Was Shikamaru ever like that?"

"Oh yeah," Yoshino said. "That boy absolutely refused to crawl. No matter how much Shikaku or I tried to coax him into it, that boy just wouldn't have it."

"What happened?" Naruto asked as Shikadai flung his block around. It escaped from the boy's grip and it flew at Naruto's head, but his shinobi reflexes let him catch it before it hit him, and he handed it back.

"One day, he just got up and started crawling, as if he had been doing it for years."

"Really?"

"Yep," she replied as Shikadai decided to crawl onto her lap. She picked the boy up and kissed his cheek before sitting him on her knee. "Shikadai will say it when he's ready. I'm sure he'll do just like his father, and say it out of nowhere."

"I just feel bad. Shika acts like it's fine, but I can tell he's upset that Shikadai hasn't said it yet."

Shikadai squealed and threw his block at Naruto. "Mama!"

Naruto caught the block easily, but decided a wooden block wasn't the best thing for the boy to be throwing, so he grabbed a small rubber ball instead and handed it to the boy.

Shikadai frowned at the ball, pushed it away, and reached out for his block.

"Shikadai, the block's to hard for you to throw around. If you want to throw something, throw this," Naruto said as he held the ball up to the boy again.

The boy glared at the ball. "No!" he cried out and pushed the ball away again.

Naruto sat there shocked, and Yoshino just laughed. "I told you. He's like his father. He's probably going to be saying a few more words before he even turns one."

Shikadai squirmed to get out of his grandmother's grip, and the woman complied and sat the boy on the ground. He then crawled over to his block and proceeded to put it in his mouth.

"So he now knows how to say no, but still refuses to say dada," Naruto summed up then sighed.

"Careful, his next word may be troublesome," Yoshino warned. "That son of mine loves to say that word, just like his father."

"Did Shikamaru say it at this age too?"

"Yep. Had Shikaku rolling on the floor when he said it too."

"Now that I would've liked seeing," Naruto said with a smile. He just couldn't imagine Shikaku rolling on the ground in laughter.

"Mama!" Shikadai said and flung the block at him.

"Shikadai! What did I say about throwing this," he said sternly as he caught the block.

Shikadai looked at Naruto shocked, but then his face twisted and he let out a loud wail.

Naruto sighed and picked up his son. "I'm sorry, Shikadai. I didn't mean to yell." He handed the block back to the boy. "Just don't go throwing it again."

Yoshino smiled at him. "You make a great mother, Naruto."

Naruto blushed, but smiled back. "Thanks, Yoshino."

"So, have you two decided on a date yet?" she asked. They finally told Shikaku and Yoshino about the proposal a few weeks ago, but also said that they hadn't decided on when they were going to actually marry.

Naruto shook his head. "No. We're thinking we want to wait until Shikadai gets a little older."

"That's understandable. They can be a handful during long ceremonies at this age," Yoshino said. "But you'll make sure to tell me when you have, right?"

Naruto chuckled. "Trust me. You'll be the first to know."

Yoshino seemed satisfied with that and got up. "I'm going to go make us some lunch. Is there anything specific you want?"

"No. Anything's fine with me."

Shikadai squirmed out of his lap and crawled over to his other blocks. He placed the block he had in his hand on top of another, then sat down and looked at it. He grabbed another block and tried to place it on top of the other two, but the small tower fell and he frowned.

Naruto laughed and crawled over to sit next to the boy. "Here. Let me help." He stacked the blocks a little straighter, and when Shikadai placed the third block on the other two, it stayed.

Shikadai looked up at Naruto and smiled, making Naruto's heart melt just a little, then turned and tried to place a fourth block on the tower, but again the tower toppled over. He gave the blocks an aggravated look, but then determination set in.

He and Naruto built up the blocks several times, and Naruto was really impressed when Shikadai finally figured out how to stack them straight enough by himself so they didn't topple over. When he had the tower six blocks high, he turned to Naruto and smiled, clapping his hands.

"Good job, Shikadai," Naruto beamed at him. "Wait til your dad sees."

After lunch, Naruto took Shikadai outside for a while. The boy was always amazed at the grass, and absolutely loved to roll around in it. He found a few stones and decided to stack them just like he did his blocks, Naruto laughing when the boy got confused on why they didn't want to stay.

"These are a little different from your block, Dai. They have a smoother texture to them," he said and then grabbed the boy's hand and gently ran the boy's fingers over the stone. "This makes them a little harder to stack."

Shikadai stared at the stone, his face twisted in wide eyed wonder, then grabbed the stone from Naruto's open palm and tried again to stack them. When they fell for the fourth time, he glared at the rock and threw it.

"Whoa, little fawn. Hold your fire."

Naruto looked up and saw Shikaku walking towards them.

"Papa!" Shikadai cried out and held out his arms.

Shikaku laughed at Naruto's shocked face as he picked the little boy up. "Shikamaru's not going to be very happy about that," the man said.

Naruto stood up, brushing off the back of his pants. "He's going to be so upset."

"Listen here, little fawn," Shikaku said, gaining Shikadai's attention. "If you're going to start saying Papa, then you need to start calling your father dada."

"I doubt that will work, Shikaku. I've been trying for days to get him to say it."

"We'll see. Shikadai's smarter than you think," Shikaku said.

They walked back to the house, and the two men played with Shikadai on the floor for the rest of the afternoon.

"Mom, is Naruto here?" Shikamaru asked as he walked in.

"Hey, Shika," Naruto said as he walked around the corner. "Welcome back."

Shikamaru smiled and pulled Naruto into his arms for a kiss, but then looked down when he felt something tugging on his pants. "Hey, little fawn," he said as he picked the boy up.

"Dada!" Shikadai called out and wrapped his arms around Shikamaru's neck.

Both of them just stared at Shikadai.

"Huh. It really worked," Naruto said.

Shikamaru looked over at him. "What worked?"

"Well, your dad just told him to start calling you dada. I've been trying for days to get him to do that, but it took your father only once."

Shikamaru laughed and they walked into the living room.

"Welcome home, son. How was the mission?" Shikaku asked.

Yoshino put her book down and smiled at him.

"It went ok. It was only a C-rank, so it wasn't that bad," Shikamaru said as he sat down next to his father, Naruto sitting next to him, and placing Shikadai in his lap.

Shikadai looked around at the four as Shikamaru and Shikaku talked, but then his gaze stopped on Yoshino and he frowned.

"What's wrong, Dai?" Naruto asked as he noticed the boy just frowning at Yoshino.

That got everyone else's attention. "You have a problem with your grandmother?" Shikamaru asked.

Shikadai looked up at his father, then over at Naruto. "Mama," he said as he pointed to him, then turned and pointed at Shikamaru. "Dada." He then turned and pointed to Shikaku. "Papa." He finally turned and pointed to Yoshino, but then looked back at his father.

Shikamaru just smiled. "He doesn't know what to call mom," he summarized.

Shikadai looked back at Yoshino, that same frown on his face again.

"Well, it makes sense," Yoshino said. "He already calls Naruto mama, so calling me that would just get confusing for him.

"You think that's why he wasn't calling Shikamaru dada? Because he was trying to figure out what to call Yoshino?" Naruto asked.

"It's possible," Shikaku said.

Naruto looked down and thought about an easy word for Yoshino. "What about... Mima?"

Shikadai looked over at Naruto. "Mi...ma," he said, testing the word out in his mouth. He then looked back at Yoshino. "Mima."

Yoshino smiled at the boy. "Perfect."

"Mima. Mima," Shikadai said happily as he clapped.

Everyone laughed. "Well, I guess that solves that," Shikaku said.

Shikaku and Shikamaru went back to their talk, and after a while, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Shikadai headed home. Shikadai fell asleep on his father's shoulder, and Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's hand. "So, what prompted dad to say that to Shikadai?"

Naruto looked over at him. "Huh?"

Shikamaru looked over. "Shikadai calling me dada."

"Oh," Naruto said, then rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile. "Shikadai called him papa when Shikaku approached him earlier. When I said you'd be upset about it, Shikaku told Shikadai that if he was going to start calling your dad papa then he needed to start calling you dada. I didn't think it would work, but then Shikadai did call you dada."

"I see," Shikamaru said with a slight frown.

"I knew you'd be upset," Naruto said, worried. "I really did try to get him to call you dada, ya know?"

Shikamaru smiled at him. "I know, Naruto. I'm not upset. I think you were right though. I think maybe he was just trying to figure out want to call mom before he said it."

"So why did he suddenly call Shikaku papa?"

"Maybe it was his way of asking for help?" Shikamaru suggested. "I mean, you kept telling him to call me dada, somewhere along the line he figured out papa for dad, but coming up with a name for mom was a lot harder for him. I mean, papa could have come from the 'pa' in grandpa, but grandma has 'ma' in it and he already calls you mama."

"Oh. That does make sense," Naruto said. He looked at Shikadai and smiled. "He's going to be a genius like you if he's already thinking about things like that at 7 months."

Shikamaru chuckled. "Yeah. It does run in the family."

Naruto just sighed and laid his head on Shikamaru's shoulder as they continued walking. 'I wonder if our kid will be a genius too,' he wondered, his hand unconsciously going to his stomach.

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Well, what did you think? I loved this chapter so much. Let me know what you thought in a review, and I'll see you in the next chapter.