Shikamaru sat like a monkey on the branch of a tree.
He was crouched, on his tip-toes, his arm wobbling between his legs and his gaze was completely lost in the emptiness. Hi seyes should’ve been scrutinizing the great mountains of sand of Suna, but he didn’t see them. Random noises came from down below his perch, but he didn’t hear them. All that he focused on were voices in his head. Memories. Discussions. A fantastic mess of past events and spoken things. They were like a skipping record, making a fuss in his mind. He couldn’t even relax by thinking about something deep.
He felt stupid. Very weak indeed. He had been in this situation before ! Normally a man gets freaked out for his first child. But for his second ?! Lame ! It shouldn’t scare him so much ! Even his little Hatsune, precious little thing, had had more sense then him. “ Don’t be so fidgety, dada ! " she’d said “ Aren’t you happy for little brother ? I’m happy ! Very happy ! See ? " And she’d pulled her lips to make her smile wider. He grinned, thinking of her funny kid face.
But a grin wasn’t a smile, even less a laugh. He couldn’t go see Temari with that face ! It was like someone had died rather than he was having a kid. It just couldn’t do ! If only Hatsune was there, he could’ve distracted his mind. But she stayed in Konoha.
Enough’s enough, he gave himself a little slap to wake up, hopped down his branch, and once on the ground, let his legs bear him wherever they chose. They took him a pretty long way, past the sand dunes and to the market alley. It was more lively, there. Shika started to feel a bit more at ease. Like he could let his fear drown in the mass of people. Careless attitude, but he couldn’t help it if he was so phlegmatic. Suddenly, he didn’t look where he was walking and smashed into a person.

- “ Oooooh god ! Sorry ! I’m so sorry, I didn’t watch my step…”
He’d bumped into a young girl with a basket. She dust herself off and got up.
- “ It’s alright.” She answered “ No harm done.”

As she faced Shika, he froze a second. The girl had short blond hair, with big blue eyes and she had malice written all over her. He was shocked with the resemblance.
She looks so much like Naruto… he thought.
Now he remembered Naruto’s reaction to the news of his second child. He’d first pitied him, saying his days of fun were definitely over. Then he’d changed point of view completely, out of the blue, he’d started valorising Shika’s qualities as a father, in his amused tone. Finally, he’d quickly mentioned how great it would be to have one of his own, before becoming good old Naruto again, and nearly forgetting Shika’d even said anything. Shika liked that about him, his disturbing craziness, his happy nonchalance. It happened the girl sounded a bit like that too. She was just a kid, but she sounded so witty.

- “ Where you running, big boy ?” she asked, picking up her basket.
- “ I’m not running…”
- “ Fine. Where you going, then ?”
- “ Uh…nowhere particular.”

She eyed him strangely.

- “ Guessing your not the talkative kind, hey ?”
- “ Guessed right.”
- “ That’s okay.” She smiled. “ You’re not from around here, are you ?”
- “ Not exactly, no. I’m from Konoha. My wife’s from here.”
- “ Konoha ! Wow ! I was there, once ! I thought it was…god, lovely, really ! Not like here, it gets boring… Anyway, what brings you far away from your green forests to our dry lands ?”
- “ Well…soon, I’m having a son…”

He stopped, paralysed. I’m having a son. The words echoed in his head. He’d brushed the wound with his fingertip. That was it ! It had to be it ! A son is very different from a daughter to a father. Where the daughter is some sort of treasure to cherish and protect most of all, the son…is a little man. A boy. A mini him. Most of Hatsune’s essential education, he will have to leave to Temari. Whereas this to-be boy…will be his to bring up into a man. He, the father, will be the one to understand his mind better than anyone. He will be teaching him tricks and secrets ‘only for boys’. He will be the one his son will run to if ever he gets picked on one day. At that moment, he will be the one to teach how to fight and be strong. To be a man. It made his very bones shake, so much responsibility ahead. But nearly simultaneously, a different feeling invaded him. Warm and appeasing, he felt unbounded love for this new-born boy. His boy. His accomplice. His friend. His smaller half. He stared at the girl with shinny eyes.

- “ S-sorry…” he said clumsily “ I…got a feeling…I really have to go !”
- “ Oh ! Go, go ! It must be it ! Don’t let me keep you waiting !”
- “ T-thanks…okay ! I’ll go ! Uh…what’s your name ?”

She chuckled.

- “ Himeki. Now, piss off, will you ?! You’ll miss it all !”

He didn’t ask for more and sprung off.

He arrived breathless at the hospital. He didn’t realize how much he’d walked, and his legs ached terribly. Though, they still had to bring him up a flight of stairs, where Temari’s room was. He stared at the window, from below. He’d spotted it coming here, in case she’d needed to give him a quick sign. As he gazed, a piercing cry echoed in the halls inside the hospital. Oh God ! It started !
He zoomed like a madman passed the staff and reached the 4th floor in no time. When he got to the door, a chubby little nurse blocked the entrance very firmly, saying he had nothing to do here.

- “ But it’s my wife ! It’s my child, there !”
- “ I’m sorry, sir. You just can’t !”
- “ Oh ! Let me through, you hag !”

He regretted very fast to have peeped. Apparently, he didn’t remember the details of Hatsune’s birth, the gore it could look like ! A dashing look was enough to make him sick and turn back to the hall.

- “ I warned you !” squeaked the nurse.

He was about to get in an argument with the strength he had left when in the middle of the deafening cries of pain, Temari roared out :

- “ SHIKAMARU NARA ! TAKE A GOOD LOOK, ‘CAUSE YOU WON’T BE SEEING IT IN A B***DY LONG TIME, YOU HEAR ?!! AAAAAAAAH !!!!! IF YOU COME BUT ONE STEP CLOSE TO ME, I SWEAR, IT’LL BE YOUR LAST !”

From green, he went to white, and he cowardly went to sit on a chair a few metres away. Self-preservation. Gee, she’s fierce sometimes….

- “ Can I come in ?”

The cries had stopped an hour ago, the staff had cleared out, so he dared popping his anxious face through the door-frame. He was reassured when he saw Temari holding the tiny baby lovingly with such a tender expression.

- “ Hey, you !” she murmured “ Come say hello, you goofy guy.”

She forgives quickly, at least… he thought.
Again, he couldn’t compare Hatsune’s birth to this moment. Of course it’d been one of the happiest days of his life, but the tiny creature Temari held snuggled in her arms was like a dream. He was all curled up, all pink, a little patch of golden hair stuck to his brow. He slept, his eyes were closed but Shika guessed they’d be blue as well.

- “ We have to name him.” Temari whispered.
- “ Huh ?”

Shika’s heart had crumbled to soft mush and he was in a secondary state because of the joy.

- “ I said : we have to name this little guy ! Got any ideas ?”
- “ Well…not right now. You ?”
- “ I made it a hobby.” She answered proudly. “ While I was waiting, I looked all around me to see poetic things that would be there when he’s born, that we can name him after. So far, I’ve got Koaku, means “amber”. I dunno why, I thought he was going to have red hair. Then there’s Kaede.”
- “ That’s nice…”
- “ Ain’t it ? It means “ maple”. Just look at that amazing maple tree outside ! So ? You like it ? Else, there’s Sora…”
- “ Uh ! That’s girlish !”

As he said that, it hit him. He had a vision of the little girl in the market. Her malicious face, her strong attitude… Hime…

- “ Hiko…”
- “ What ?”
- “ Let’s call him Hikomaru.”

Temari looked perplexly down at her baby. She saw his calm face and his hair like a halo on his round head. Then he slowly opened an eye. It was blue – like Shika’d guessed – and very deep, and it seemed to have already seen everything in the world. She smiled.

- “ Hikomaru… “ prince”…of course !”
- “ Good, isn’t it ?”
- “ Our little prince. Perfect.”


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