Another chapter is here for your reading enjoyment. This chapter will be a cute one on top of some... drama? Not sure if that's what you call it, but a conflict kind of happens... I'll just let you guys read it for yourself, but a certain character comes back in this chapter.

Enjoy

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Naruto walked into the living room and smiled at his son. He was going to be one year old tomorrow. He couldn't believe how big he's gotten, and how smart the kid turned out to be. The little boy looked up from the page he was coloring on. "Hi, mama."

"Hey, baby," he said as he walked up and looked down at the paper. All he saw was a bunch of scribbles, but knew there had to be some meaning behind them. "What are you drawing?"

"Mama," Shikadai said as he held up the paper.

"You're drawing me?" Naruto asked, then smiled. "I look good."

Shikadai snickered and went back to scribbling on the paper.

"Hey. We need to go get a few more things for your birthday party tomorrow."

Shikadai looked up at him and cocked his head. "Bir... bir..." he frowned.

"Birthday," Naruto repeated, stressing the 'th' sound. Shikadai had picked up a few more words, just like Yoshino said he would, but he only said words that he could pronounce correctly.

"Bir-th-day," Shikadai said.

"That's it! You got it," Naruto said happily.

Shikadai beamed. "Birthday," he said again, as if he didn't want to forget how to say it, then frowned. "What birthday?"

Naruto chuckled. His son may be able to say words after figuring them out, but he still has a lot of work to do on sentence structure. "A birthday is a special day. It is the day you were brought into this world."

Shikadai just looked at him confused.

"I guess it's a little hard to explain to you right now," Naruto said, then put his hand on his chin and thought. "I know. A birthday is a special day that we celebrate you being here. We have a party."

"Par-ty?" Shikadai asked.

Naruto chuckled. Everything about birthdays and parties were completely new for Shikadai, so he had no idea how to explain it to someone without them actually knowing a little bit. "Sorry. I'm not really good at explaining this. Your dad is a lot better at this stuff."

Shikadai still looked at him confused.

Naruto smiled and held out his hand. "Come on."

Shikadai took Naruto's hand and stood up, following his mother to the door, then got their shoes on and headed out. Shikadai jumped up and down as they walked, never letting go of Naruto's hand, and Naruto just chuckled at him.

They stopped by a few shops and got a couple more things for the party, then started to make their way to Yoshino's where the party was going to be held, but froze when he saw a woman walking toward them. His breathing quickened and he quickly scooped Shikadai up in his arms, confusing the poor boy.

"Mama?" Shikadai asked, fear in his voice at the way Naruto was acting.

"You," the woman said as she and the leaf shinobi he didn't recognize stopped in front of him.

"Temari," Naruto said and took a step back. "What are you doing here?" He knew that the Leaf and Sand villages were on better terms now that they were allies, but he still didn't like the idea of the woman that hurt Shikamaru being in the village.

Temari looked from him to Shikadai, and he tried to turn so that he was blocking her view, but it didn't work out so well. "Is that..."

"That's none of your business. Why are you here?" he demanded again.

Temari just stared at Shikadai, and Naruto was actually surprised to see a sad look cross her face. "I'm here to deliver a message to your hokage," she finally said. "Can I..." she started and took a step, raising her hand toward them.

"No! Stay away from him," Naruto said as he backed away.

"Mama?" Shikadai asked again.

Naruto looked down and saw that the boy was close to tears. He was scaring his baby. He looked back at Temari. "Just stay away from him and Shikamaru. Do what you came here to do, and leave." He didn't wait for her to reply and walked past her, not looking back as he headed for the Nara compound.

He ran the rest of the way there, so by the time he got to the house, he was panting. He sat Shikadai on the ground, but the boy wouldn't let go of his neck, so he knelt down. "I'm sorry, Shikadai. I didn't mean to scare you."

Shikadai finally let go and looked up at his mother. "Who?"

Naruto wasn't sure how to answer the boy's question. He didn't want to lie to the boy, but he couldn't exactly say that she was his real mother. "Nobody you need to worry about right now. Come on, Mima is waiting for us."

Shikadai didn't look convinced at Naruto's answer, but the boy nodded and took Naruto's hand as the man stood up.

Naruto was on edge the rest of the day, and Shikadai was quieter than usual because of it. Yoshino asked Naruto what was wrong, and when he told her, she was a bit aggravated herself that the woman was in the village.

Naruto looked around the kitchen and saw that everything was prepped for tomorrow, and as he was double checking to make sure there were enough plates and cups, he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped.

"Whoa, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Shikamaru said.

Naruto let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. "No. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit on edge."

"A bit?" Shikamaru asked, crossing his arms.

"Ok. A lot on edge, but how could I not be with Temari in the village," Naruto replied.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "Temari?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Shikadai and I ran into her while we were out finishing our shopping for the party tomorrow."

"She saw Shikadai?" he asked, now a bit worried himself.

"Yeah," the blonde replied guiltily. "I didn't see her until she was pretty much in front of me, by then it was too late."

"Did she try anything?" Shikamaru asked, anger now creeping up in his voice.

"She tried to reach out for him, but I backed away from her and got out of there as quickly as I could."

"Good."

"I don't understand why Granny Tsunade would let her in the village after everything she did."

Shikamaru pulled Naruto into a hug. "I don't either, but as long as she stays away from us, it'll be fine."

Naruto just tightened his grip.

Shikamaru helped Naruto finish up, then they grabbed Shikadai, who fell asleep on the couch, and headed home.

The next morning, Naruto walked into Shikadai's room and saw that the boy was already up. He was standing in his crib and smiled when he saw his mother walk in. "Mama!" he said and raised his arms.

Naruto got him out, and kissed the side of his head. "Happy birthday, Dai." He changed his diaper, put on fresh clothes, then headed out to the kitchen to start breakfast, setting Shikadai in his highchair. He grabbed some cereal and dumped some on the tray for Shikadai to eat, then turned and whipped up some pancakes for him and Shikamaru.

"Morning," Shikamaru said with a yawn as he walked in.

"Dada!" Shikadai cried out.

Naruto turned and smiled as the man kissed the top of Shikadai's head, then walked up to him. "Morning," Naruto said, then kissed Shikamaru.

"Birthday!" Shikadai yelled.

Shikamaru turned to the boy. "Happy birthday, little fawn."

"Go ahead and get the plates out. The pancakes are almost done," Naruto said as he turned to finish the food.

Shikamaru did just that, and sat down to eat. After breakfast, Naruto and Shikamaru got dressed, grabbed the few presents they had for Shikadai, and headed out. Shikadai kept looking at the presents.

"Dada, what?" the little boy asked as he pointed at the red thing in his father's arms.

"These are your birthday presents. You'll open them later when we get to your grandparent's house," Shikamaru said.

"Open?"

"Later," Shikamaru said again. "You have to wait."

Shikadai just stared at the presents, stumbling as he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. If Naruto didn't have a hold of his hand, he would have face planted the ground several times already.

They made it to the Nara compound and Naruto helped Yoshino finish setting up the food for the party, while Shikamaru and Shikaku set up the decorations in the living room.

"Mama, Mama," Shikadai called out as he ran into the kitchen.

Naruto turned and saw that Shikadai had a big red balloon in his hand. He knelt down and smiled. "That's a pretty big balloon you've got there."

"Ba-lloon," Shikadai said and looked up at the floating thing above his head.

"He's never seen a balloon yet, has he?" Yoshino asked.

"Nope. He's going to be experiencing a lot of firsts today," Naruto said as he stood back up. "Go on back to the living room with your father."

Shikadai ran back to the living room, watching the balloon as he did.

"You appreciate the small things when you have a kid," Naruto said.

"Yeah. They see things in a way we adults don't anymore. It's always refreshing to see," Yoshino agreed.

Another hour, and the guests had arrived. Team Asuma was there, along with teams Kurenai and Gai, Kakashi and Sai showed up, but he wasn't too surprised Sakura didn't, and even Tsunade and Shizune ended up stopping by. There was a couple of Nara children Shikadai's age that showed up with their mothers as well. They drank and ate the snacks that were prepared and everyone wished Shikadai a happy birthday.

Naruto smiled at seeing the smile on Shikadai's face. He wasn't used to this many people being around to play with him, and he was loving the attention. As he was standing in the doorway of the living room, he was the first to hear the knock at the door. He walked over and opened it, but then a frown crossed his face. "What the heck are you doing here?" he yelled.

Temari stood there, looking a bit nervous. "I, uh, I was hoping I could see Shikadai."

"How do you know his name?" Naruto asked, his fists clenched at his side.

"Naruto, who's at the..." Shikamaru started, but froze when he saw Temari. "Temari?"

Temari looked away, but took a deep breath and turned back to look Shikamaru in the eyes. "Hey."

"Don't 'hey' him. You don't belong here. Get out!" Naruto said.

"Look, I don't want to cause any problems," Temari said. "I just want to see him."

"No way. I told you to stay away from him and Shikamaru," Naruto said.

"Is there a problem here?" Shikaku asked as he walked up behind them.

Naruto turned and saw that everyone was either looking at them from the living room, or standing there behind them. "Granny, why the heck is she still here?"

"She's waiting on a response from me, you brat," Tsuande said as she walked up to the door. "Temari, I told you not to come near them. What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see Shikadai. I never really got a chance to see him after he was born. He's my son too. I have a right..."

"You have no rights here!" Naruto interrupted. "You raped Shikamaru, forced him to knock you up, and then tried to pass him off as some one else's kid. What right do you have to claim him as your son?"

Temari actually took a step back during that and looked down sadly. "I know what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry." She looked back up at him, tears in her eyes. "But I fell in love with him too. At first I hated the kid, wanted nothing to do with him, but I was ordered to conceive that child to get the power of the Nara clan in the sand village. I hated it, but as the pregnancy went on, I fell in love with him. Every kick, every movement I felt... Please, just let me see him once." The tears were now falling from her eyes.

Naruto stared at her as guilt washed over him and he looked to Shikamaru. "Shika?" he asked, now uncertain what they should do. He looked down when he felt something on his leg and saw Shikadai peeking around his leg. He looked back up at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru glared at the woman in front of him for a few seconds. "You will not introduce yourself as his mother, and you will not say anything about what you are. You are a friend of the family and that's it," he said coldly.

Temari smiled at him then looked down at the boy hiding behind Naruto's leg. She knelt down so she was eye level with him. "Hey, Shikadai."

Shikadai looked up at his mother uncertainly.

Naruto knelt down and put his hand on Shikadai's back, pushing him gently forward, but making sure he didn't get too close to Temari.

"Hi," Temari said again with a smile.

"Hi," Shikadai said, but pushed himself back into his mother's chest.

Temari reached into her bag and pulled out a small, wrapped present. "Happy birthday," she said as she held it out to him.

Shikadai looked over at his mother, who just nodded. He stepped forward and took the present, then quickly stepped back.

Naruto looked up and saw Shikamaru glaring at her, then looked back at Temari. "What is it?"

"It's just a small toy that can only be found in Suna. I promise, it's not dangerous," Temari explained.

"That's why you came," Shikamaru said. "You knew today was his birthday."

Temari stood up and nodded. "I told you, I fell in love with him before he was even born. I'm not just going to forget him because you don't want me to see him."

"Mama, who?" Shikadai said as he pointed at Temari.

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru again, then back at his son. "Dai, this is Temari."

Temari took a step closer and knelt down again. "It's nice to meet you, Shikadai. I'm... a friend of your father's."

Shikadai looked up at Shikamaru, who forced a smile on his face, before he looked back at the woman in front of him.

"C-can I have a hug?" she asked as she held her hands out a bit.

Shikadai stepped back further into his mother's chest and shook his head. "No," he said.

Temari's smile wavered a bit, and lowered her hands. "It's ok. I understand. I shouldn't have asked. You don't know me afterall." A tear slipped down her cheek.

Shikadai stared at the woman then looked back at his mother. "Mama, why cry?"

"Oh, I'm not crying, Shikadai. I just got something in my eye," Temari said as she wiped her eyes and stood up. "It was really nice meeting you, Shikadai." She turned and walked away from the house.

Shikadai stared at the woman then turned and wrapped one of his arms around Naruto's neck, who then picked him up as he stood up. He looked down and saw that Shikadai still had the present in his hand.

"Come on. Let's go back in," Yoshino said as she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Everyone went back into the living room, but the atmosphere completely changed. Everyone tried to be happy for Shikadai, who was laughing again thanks to Kakashi and Gai, but they could all tell that Naruto and Shikamaru were no longer in the mood to party.

Naruto and Shikamaru, of course, pushed down their feelings when Shikadai ran up to them, smiling and pointing at the cake. "Cake, dada," he said as he gently hit both of Shikamaru's knees.

"Alright, little fawn," Shikamaru replied with a smile.

"He's been begging to try it since we made it yesterday," Naruto said with a chuckle as he and Shikamaru took each of Shikadai's hands and led him to a chair and table that they got just for him.

Shikadai looked excited as he watched his mother bring over the smash cake and sat it down in front of him, just out of the boy's reach.

"Hands up, Dai," Naruto said as he started to raise the boy's shirt. "We don't want you getting cake all over your shirt."

The little boy raised his arms and let his mother take off his shirt, then reached out with both hands and did a grab motion with both. "Please, mama."

Naruto smiled. He was really glad that manner words were one of the first words they taught him. "Ok, baby. Eat up," he said as he pushed the small cake forward.

Shikadai stared at the cake for a moment, then stuck his fingers in it. He made a face and pulled his fingers out, then stuck them in his mouth. His eyes went wide and he stuck his fingers in the cake again, pulling a big chunk off and smashing it into his face.

Everyone laughed at the sight and watched as Shikadai slowly devoured the cake, and made a huge mess in the process.

"Well, it's a good thing we decided to put the tarp under the table," Shikaku said.

Yoshino was frowning as she watched her grandson. "Yes, but Naruto, you should have taken off his pants too."

Naruto looked under the table and saw that Shikadai had cake and icing smeared all over his pants. "Oops."

Shikamaru walked up to them and handed the three of them a plate of cake. "It's fine. I'm sure they'll wash out."

"Yeah, but it will be a lot more troublesome," Shikaku said.

Everyone ate their own pieces of cake as they continued to watch Shikadai. He got about halfway through his cake when he turned to Naruto, cake covered hands held out. "Mama, bath."

Naruto laughed as he and Yoshino walked over. "Did you enjoy your cake, Dai?" Naruto asked as he tried to clean the boy up a bit.

Shikadai nodded happily, the cake still all over his face. "Yeah!"

Naruto carefully picked Shikadai up, trying not to get cake and icing all over himself, and Yoshino followed him to the bathroom to clean the boy up.

Once they finished that, Shikadai opened his gifts, and soon everyone was saying their goodbyes.

The four remaining adults cleaned up the house while Shikadai played with some of his new toys, and when they were finished, they all sat down in the living room, Shikamaru calling out how troublesome birthdays were.

Shikadai walked over to Naruto, his new deer plush that Asuma got for him tucked under his arm, and rubbed his eyes before trying to climb up into Naruto's lap.

"You've had a long day," Naruto said as he picked the boy up and held him close. "Did you have fun?"

Shikadai yawned and laid his head on Naruto's chest, but nodded and closed his eyes, snuggling the deer doll a little closer.

"You should head home and get him to bed," Yoshino said.

Shikamaru and Naruto said their goodbyes and headed home.

NNNNNNNNNN

Naruto yawned as he walked down the street. He got up before either of his boys and wanted to start making breakfast, but realized that they were out of some stuff, so he decided to get dressed, quietly telling Shikamaru he was heading out, still not sure if his boyfriend really heard him, then headed out.

He looked around to find the store he was looking for, but before he could make his way there, he spotted a familiar blonde haired woman sitting at a tea shop. He frowned, but then realized that the anger he felt yesterday wasn't there. He remembered the hurt look when Shikadai refused to give her a hug, and he looked at her sadly.

"Temari?" he asked as he walked into the tea shop.

Temari whipped her head around, eyes wide, then relaxed and glared at him. "What? You want to yell at me again? You already stole my son, what more can you take from me?"

Naruto was a little hurt at her words. She wasn't wrong. He kind of did steal her son. He took him away as soon as he got her to Kakashi and the others, and Shikadai was calling him mother. "Look. I won't apologize for taking Shikadai away from you," he said, knowing that even though he felt guilty about it, that was the truth. "You did that to yourself when you raped Shikamaru. Did you really think we wouldn't have figured it out eventually?"

Temari looked back at her tea that she had sitting on the table, and Naruto moved over to sit across from her. "I knew that when he got older, or even when he started going on missions that he would be found out, but I never expected him to get taken from me right after he was born."

"I've been curious. Why were you out in the forest like that when you were so close to your due date?"

Temari just stared into her tea and gave a half hearted laugh. "I was going for a walk."

Naruto frowned at her. "A walk?"

Temari looked up at him, a scowl on her face. "What does it matter what I was doing? I made the mistake, you found me, end of story."

He sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get anything from her. They sat there in silence, Temari going back to just staring at her tea, and Naruto looking at the table, glancing up every once in a while to look at her. "Shikadai loved his gift," he suddenly said.

Temari looked up at him and smiled. "I thought you two would've just thrown it away as soon as you got back in the house," she admitted.

Naruto frowned again. "We wouldn't have done that," he countered. "Yeah, we were cautious when he opened it, but when we saw it really was some toy, we just moved on. He kept picking it up and trying to figure it out." He chuckled. "Shikamaru had to take it away from him at one point so he would focus on the other presents."

Temari smiled and looked back at her tea. It was a genuine smile. "I'm glad he liked it. I actually got it for him a few weeks before he was born." She looked up at him again. "I had heard that Shikamaru was some kind of genius, and was curious if Shikadai would end up like that too. That toy is a kind of puzzle game. It's meant for older kids, but I just couldn't help but get it."

"How did you know Shikadai's name? I know I didn't say it when we met the day before," Naruto asked.

"Your hokage told me. She told me to stay away from you, Shikamaru, and Shikadai if I knew what was good for me, but I volunteered for this mission because it fell on Shikadai's birthday. I couldn't just not see him."

Naruto studied Temari's face. He didn't see any malice or lies at all, but then, he'd never really been that good at seeing them, but his gut was telling him that she was telling the truth.

"After they moved me to my holding cell, I would constantly beg them to let me see him, but they refused. Kept telling me, 'The boy is not your concern.' I was still a mess from the pregnancy, but I knew it wasn't just from that. I... I was devastated that you took him from me."

Naruto felt bad for her, but stayed quiet. He could tell that she needed to get this out.

"I didn't have the best childhood, and growing up, I was always told to push down my emotions. I could never truly love anyone, because there was no one I could truly love. Even now, I don't have the best relationship with my brothers or father. I really thought," she said as she placed her hand on her stomach, "that I would finally have someone I could love unconditionally, and that the little child that was growing inside me would love me."

Naruto looked down. He understood how she felt. "I'm sorry that I took that away from you," he said quietly. "I know what it's like to want that."

Temari wiped at her eyes. "Well, you've all made it very clear that I will never get that," she said as she stood up. "I need to go. I have to get back to my village."

Naruto watched her as she walked out, guilt flooding him again. He stood up, headed to the store, bought his groceries, and headed home. Shikamaru greeted him from the couch when he got home, but he kind of just brushed it off as he walked into the kitchen. His mind was racing.

He continued to think about the woman he had hurt, even through breakfast, and as he was washing the dishes, he felt Shikamaru wrap his arms around his waist and lean his chin on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Naruto?" the dark haired man asked. "You've been quiet all morning."

Naruto stared at the dish in his hand. "Did we do the right thing yesterday?" he asked.

"What do you mean? I'd say his birthday was a success."

"No," the blonde said and finally looked up at him. "I meant with Temari. Should we have turned her away like that?"

Shikamaru stood up, a frown on his face. "What do you mean? She shouldn't have been there. She had..."

"But we did take Shikadai away from her."

"What is with you? Why are you suddenly defending her?"

"I'm not defending her, Shikamaru, I just..."

"You want her to have Shikadai?" he said, raising his voice a bit.

"No. Of course not," Naruto said, a bit aggravated himself.

Shikamaru frowned. "Then why are you even worried about this?"

Naruto looked down. "Just forget I said anything," he said as he turned back to the sink.

"Naruto," Shikamaru sighed out as he grabbed Naruto's arm and turned him back around. "Talk to me. What happened that made you think about this?"

Naruto looked to the side. "I saw her this morning. I talked with her for a minute, and..." He looked back up at Shikamaru. "She was hurting, Shikamaru. I saw it. She was really upset by what we did yesterday. When Shikadai refused to approach her, I saw the hurt look on her face. She..." He looked down. "She told me that she had hoped Shikadai could be someone she could finally love, and would love her back. And we took that away."

Shikamaru pulled Naruto into his arms, and Naruto just tightened his arms around him, his head on Shikamaru's shoulder. "We did the right thing, Naruto."

"I know, but... it bothers me that I am putting her in the same situation that I went through for years. I know what it's like to want to love and be loved in return," Naruto said, then looked up at him. "I got lucky with you."

"So what are you suggesting?"

Naruto laid his head back on Shikamaru's shoulder. "I don't know. I just feel really bad."

Shikamaru just stood there, holding the blonde as long as he needed.

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Well, there it is. I hope I didn't make Temari too OC... I tried to still capture her personality, but I also think that even she would be a bit emotional after having her kid taken away. Let me know what you thought in a review and I'll see you in the next chapter.