4 Years Later

Temari was tired. She just got back from a meeting in Konoha that took much longer than anticipated. Now all she wanted to do was take a long bath and got to bed.

She already talked with Gaara, who was now the Kazekage of the Suna, and was now on her way home. She stopped by a couple of the market stalls to get something for supper, then continued on her way.

She walked in the house and straight to the kitchen to put the food away. It was still morning, so she had plenty of time to rest before she had to make dinner.

"Mommy!"

Temari turned and saw a small, blonde haired boy running toward her. She smiled and sat the bags on the counter, then knelt down and opened her arms wide. "Hey, Koji."

Koji plowed into Temari, nearly knocking her over, and snuggled into her chest. "I missed you, mommy."

Temari wrapped her arms around him and picked him up. "I missed you, too." She sat Koji on the edge of the counter. She saw Matsuri walk in the kitchen from the corner of her eye, but didn't turn away from Koji. "Were you good for Matsuri and your uncles while I was gone?"

Koji nodded. "Yeah. I was very good."

"Oh really," Temari said glancing up at Matsuri. "Is he telling the truth, Matsuri?"

Matsuri smiled and walked closer. "Yeah, he was really good, but he did cry himself to sleep the last couple nights because he missed you."

Temari looked down at Koji sadly. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I wasn't planning on being gone that long."

Koji lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Temari the best he could. "Don't go again."

Temari wrapped her arms around him. "I wish I could promise you that, but it's my duty." Koji buried his head even more in Temari's chest. "But I will promise that it won't happen again for a while. Will that be good enough?"

Koji lifted his head and smiled. "Yeah."

Temari smiled, kissed him on the top of his head, and put him back on the floor. "Good. Now, why don't you help me put the food away and then we can go play."

"Yeah!" Koji said jumping up and down.

"Guess I'll head out then," Matsuri said.

"Thanks again for helping Gaara and Kankuro watch him. I shudder to think what would happen if he was alone with those two."

Matsuri laughed. "It was no problem at all. Let me know if you need any more help."

"I will," Temari said. She turned to Koji. "Say goodbye to Matsuri, Koji."

Koji ran up to Matsuri and plowed into her legs, wrapping his arms around them. "Bye, bye."

Matsuri placed a hand on the back of Koji's head and smiled. "See ya, Kiddo."

Koji ran back over to his mother and he and Temari started putting away the food as Matsuri left.

Once they got everything put away, Temari picked Koji up and took him to his room. She sat him down on the ground and he instantly ran towards his toy chest and pulled out several different toys. Temari smiled and sat down on the floor at the end of Koji's bed and leaned back against the bed.

Koji brought toy after toy to Temari and they played with one for a few minutes before Koji decided to play with another.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Gaara walked into the house expecting to smell food, but the only thing he smelled was the mustiness of the house. 'I'll have to open the windows later.' He walked down the hall to Temari's room, but didn't see her there. He knew she was home because Matsuri stopped by the office to see him not long after Temari had reported in.

He frowned and turned to head down the hall again. He walked over to Koji's room, and saw Koji playing with his building blocks. When he saw Temari, he smiled.

Temari was leaned up against the foot of Koji's bed, head cocked in what he thought would be an uncomfortable position, and a blanket draped over her. It made the sight even cuter when he saw the teddy bear laying on top of her. She looked like a peaceful child sleeping.

Koji sensed his uncle and looked over at him. He gave Gaara a big smile. "Hi."

Gaara walked into the room and over to Koji. "Hello, Koji." He knelt down in front of Koji and placed his hand on Koji's head and ruffled his sandy blonde hair."

"Mommy fell asleep," Koji said.

"I see that. She must've been tired from her journey to and from Konoha," Gaara replied.

"Ungle Gaara, I'm hungry," Koji said.

"I am too," Gaara replied. "How about we wake your mommy and get her to make us some food."

Koji nodded, stood up, and went over to Temari. "Mommy, I'm hungry. Get up," he said as he shook Temari.

Temari stirred, taking in a deep breath and opened her eyes. She looked around and saw Koji and Gaara looking at her. Her eyes went wide when she saw Gaara and looked over to the window to see that it was now completely dark outside. She threw off the blanket and looked back at Gaara. "I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep. I'll have dinner made soon."

Gaara stood up. "It's fine. You don't have to rush."

"But I'm Hungry," Koji whined.

Temari stood up. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Come on, let's go make dinner," she said holding out her hand.

Koji smiled and took Temari's hand, and the three left the room.

NNNNNNNNNNNNN

A couple weeks later, Temari walked into Koji's room and saw him drawing something on the floor. "What you up to munchkin."

"I'm writing," Koji said as he looked up at her.

"Oh? What're you writing?" Temari asked as she walked over to him. She knelt down and looked at the piece of paper on the floor.

"Daddy appligation," Koji said excitedly.

Temari looked at him surprised. "What?"

Koji lifted the paper up and showed it to Temari. "See?"

Temari looked at it and saw that "Dabby Aplikashon" Was written on half the page. Right below it she saw a question that read, "FavRit koloR?"

Temari took the paper in her hand and flipped it around to look at the back. "Pla with me?" "giv me brothr?" and "Wil U luv me anb mommy?"

"Why are you making this?" Temari asked.

"I want a daddy lige Roba does," Koji said a little sadly.

"Roba? You mean that boy you play with at the park?" Temari asked.

Koji nodded. "He said his daddy is fun. Why don't I have a daddy?"

Temari sat the paper on the ground and pulled Koji into her arms and hugged him. Before she could answer him, however, Kankuro walked in.

"Hey, Temari, Gaara needs you in his office. I'll watch Koji for a few minutes."

Temari looked down at Koji, who looked back at her sadly. "We'll talk about this later, sweetie." She sat Koji on the ground next to her, stood up, and walked to the door. Before she left the room, she took one more look at Koji and saw him staring at her sadly. Temari looked away guiltily and left for the office.

When she got there, she saw Gaara writing on some document. "You wanted to see me?"

Gaara looked up at her. "Yes. Come in." Temari walked in and closed the door behind her. "Shikamaru is here..."

"What?" Temari exclaimed, cutting Gaara off. "Why's he here?"

Gaara glared. "I was about to tell you."

Temari blushed. "Sorry."

Gaara's expression softened and he continued. "He's here because Lady Tsunade has a favor to ask and she didn't want to take a chance of an enemy finding out about the requested favor."

"Ok, but why is he here? She could've sent anyone."

"She sent Shikamaru specifically because, like you, he is the agreed representative of Konoha."

"So because he is my escort, she chose him to deliver the message," Temari said a little annoyed.

Gaara smiled. "Perhaps, but any case, I want you to be his escort while he is here. He said he just wanted to go to the hotel and relax for the rest of today, so I just had a shinobi show him the way. Tomorrow you will be his official escort."

"Alright," Temari said.

"Does he know about Koji?"

"No," Temari said. "I could never find a way to tell him."

Gaara raised what would've been an eyebrow if he had any. "Is it really that hard?"

Temari blushed again. "It's not something you just say to someone that's not family and doesn't even live in the same village."

"But I thought you liked him? Wouldn't that be reason enough?"

Temari's face went more red. "I never said I liked that lazy bum," she defended herself.

"I'm not stupid, Temari," Gaara said. "And even Kankuro can see that you have feelings for him."

Temari looked away. "Ok, fine, but I have no idea if he even likes me back." She looked back at him. "And besides, he thinks everything is way to troublesome, especially kids. If I told him about Koji, he would never want to be with me."

"You don't know that."

"Gaara, I've spent the last three or so years as the representative for this village, visiting Konoha many times for meetings and the chunin exams with that lazy butt as my escort every time. I think I've figured him out by now."

Gaara opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped by Kankuro busting through the door. "Temari! We have a problem!"

Temari turned to look at him. "What's wrong?" And where's Koji?"

"That's the problem," Kankuro said.

"What?!" Temari asked panicking a bit.

"I don't know how, but Koji managed to get out of the house. I just went to the bathroom and when I came back out, he was nowhere in the house. When I went past the front door, it was wide open."

"Did you look for him?" Temari asked.

"There's no way I'd find him in this huge village by myself, that's why I came straight here."

Temari rushed past Kankuro and Gaara stood up and headed for the door. "We'll split up and look for him. I'll us my sand to search from the air."

Kankuro nodded and they both headed out.

NNNNNNNNNNNNN

Shikamaru walked down the street, a yawn escaping his mouth. 'Man, why couldn't I sleep? I'm tired enough to, but for some reason I just couldn't. What a drag.' He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Mommy."

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked around. 'That sounded like a kid crying.' He searched for the source of the crying and finally spotted a small child curled up next to one of the buildings. He walked over to the kid. "Hey, you ok, kid?"

The child looked up at Shikamaru and Shikamaru could've sworn he was looking into Temari's face. 'That's impossible. She doesn't have a kid.'

"I gan't find my mommy," the boy said.

Shikamaru knelt down in front of him. "Where did you last see her?"

"At home," the boy said.

"Where's your home?"

The boy looked around and Shikamaru could tell the kid was getting more scared. "I don't know."

"Alright, calm down. We'll find your mom," Shikamaru said as reassuring as he could. He really didn't want to deal with a hysterically crying child. Crying children were bad enough. Shikamaru stood up and reached out to the boy. "Come on, let's go find her."

The boy looked up at Shikamaru, his fear now directed at Shikamaru. "NO!"

Shikamaru raised both his hands. "Whoa, calm down. I'm only trying to help you." He saw the boy look at Shikamaru's clothes and Shikamaru sighed, lowering his hands. "It's because you don't recognize my clothes, isn't it?"

The boy nodded. "I don't know you."

Shikamaru knelt back down. "My name's Shikamaru Nara. I'm a shinobi from Konoha."

"Gonoha?" the boy asked.

"Konoha," Shikamaru said again. "It's a village that's actually an ally with your village."

"Ally?"

Shikamaru sighed in frustration knowing he was only confusing the boy. "Your village is friends with my village."

"Oh," the boy said finally understanding.

"Yeah, so I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"

"Goji."

"Goji?" Shikamaru asked.

"NO! Go... Go..." the boy stopped clearly frustrated.

Shikamaru looked down trying to remember if the boy had problems saying other words. "Koji?"

The boy smiled and nodded. "Yeah!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Koji. Do you remember my name?"

"Shigamaru?" Koji asked unsure.

"Yeah, only it's ShiKamaru," Shikamaru replied stressing the "K" sound.

"Shigamaru," Koji said again.

"Close enough," Shikamaru said giving up. "So, will you let me help you now?"

Koji looked at Shikamaru still hesitant.

"Guess you still don't trust me. That's a good thing I guess. Would you at least let me take you to the Kazekage. He'll be able to help you find your mom."

Koji shook his head again, making Shikamaru sigh in frustration. He knew he couldn't just leave Koji here, but if he tried to take Koji anywhere, Koji would just scream and cry, making a scene that could get him into a lot of trouble. "Ok, what's your mom's name? I can find someone around here that can either find her or go get someone you will trust to take you to her."

"It's mommy," Koji said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"No, I mean what do other people call her?" Shikamaru said a little annoyed.

Koji looked down in thought then back up at Shikamaru. "Temari."

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Temari," Koji said again aggravated that Shikamaru wasn't listening the first time.

"That's... It's really Temari?" As in the Kazekage's sister?" Shikamaru asked not believing the boy.

"Ungle Gaara," Koji said happily.

Shikamaru turned away from Koji, putting his hand on his head. "No way."

Koji stared at Shikamaru confused at his response.

Shikamaru finally turned back to Koji. "Listen, kid, I know your mom. We're really good friends actually. I'm also friends with both of your uncles, although I wouldn't say Kankuro and I are the best of friends."

Koji was surprised when Shikamaru said Kankuro's name when he never mentioned that uncle. "You know Ungle Ganguro?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "I told you, I know both your uncles and your mom."

Koji stared at Shikamaru for a minute then stood up. "Will you tage me to mommy?" Koji asked still a little hesitant.

Shikamaru smiled. "Yeah, or if you want, I'll take you straight to Gaara."

Koji nodded and walked over to Shikamaru. He stared at Shikamaru again for a few seconds then took Shikamaru's hand.

Shikamaru looked down at Koji surprised, but smiled and they walked off toward the Kazekage's building.

After a few minutes of walking, Gaara landed in front of them. "Koji."

"Ungle Gaara!" Koji exclaimed, let go of Shikamaru's hand, and ran to Gaara.

Gaara placed a hand on Koji's back and lifted his other hand and sent sand in two different directions. He then looked at Shikamaru. "What are you doing with him? I thought you were resting at the hotel?"

"I was, but I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk to see if that would help. That's when I ran into Koji."

"I see," Gaara said.

They heard two people arrive and saw Temari and Kankuro standing next to Gaara.

"Koji!" Temari said and rushed forward and wrapped Koji in a hug.

"Mommy!" Koji said as he let his mom smother him.

Temari pulled back and looked at Koji seriously. "Koji, why did you run away from the house? You know you're not supposed to leave the house without one of us. You had us worried sick."

Koji looked like he was about to cry. "I'm sorry."

Temari sighed and pulled Koji in for another hug. "It's ok. Just don't ever do that again, ok?"

Koji nodded against Temari's chest.

Temari looked up at Gaara. "Thank you."

"It wasn't me that found him," Gaara said.

Temari looked over at Shikamaru and her eyes went wide. "You found him?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said.

Temari stood up, keeping a hand on Koji, who kept his arms around Temari's leg. She bowed. "Thank you for finding him."

"It's fine," Shikamaru replied, "but why didn't you tell me about him?"

Temari went rigid and stood back up straight. "I... I wasn't sure how to tell you," she said looking away from him.

"You could've just said you had a kid," Shikamaru said. "Who's the kid's father anyway," he asked a bit upset.

"No one," Temari said and picked Koji up. "He doesn't have a dad."

Koji looked at his mother sad again. "Why?"

Temari's eyes went wide. She had forgotten about their conversation before Gaara called her to his office. "Uh... You see..."

"The guy was a jerk that hurt your mommy very badly, so we didn't want him around anymore," Kankuro suddenly said.

Temari looked at him very grateful.

"So he's a bad guy?" Koji asked.

"Yes," Gaara said. "He was a very bad guy and we didn't want him around you so that he could hurt you too."

"Oh," Koji said. He laid his head on Temari's shoulder. "I'm glad he's not here."

Temari smiled. She turned back to Shikamaru. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but now you know."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. He turned around and started heading back to the hotel.

"Hey! Where you going, Nara?" Kankuro asked.

Shikamaru stopped and turned around. "Back to the hotel. I told Gaara I wanted to rest, and if you don't want to be my escort, Temari, I'll understand." He turned back around and continued walking.

Temari watched him go, her heart breaking. She turned and walked in the opposite direction, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall."

"Mommy?"

She looked down at Koji, who was looking at her confused. "I'm ok, sweetie."

"He a bad man?" Koji asked.

Temari stopped and looked at him. "What? No. Shikamaru is not a bad man." She took in a deep breath and smiled at her son. "He's just like that, lazy and always wants to sleep. Never wanting to do anything."

"Lazy?" Koji asked not understanding.

"Yeah, lazy," Temari said and kept walking.

No one said anything else the entire walk home.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNN

The next day, Shikamaru yawned as he went to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to find a guy standing there. "Uh, yes?"

"Shikamaru Nara?" the guy asked.

"Yeah."

"My name is Bokuma. I'll be your escort for the remainder of your stay."

Shikamaru frowned. "Ok. Come on in. Give me a few minutes to get ready."

Bokuma nodded and walked in. Once Shikamaru was ready, Bokuma escorted him around the village, showing him the market place, training grounds, and the other places Shikamaru just didn't care about.

"Is there any where specific you would like to see, sir?" Bokuma asked.

'I'm not some tourist.' "Where's Temari's place?" Shikamaru asked.

Bokuma's eyes went wide. "Why?"

"Because she's the only one I know here besides the Kazekage and Kankuro," Shikamaru said a little annoyed.

"Uh... ok," Bokuma said and they headed toward Temari's house. When they got there, Bokuma stopped at the front gate. "There it is."

"Thanks," Shikamaru said and started to open the gate.

"What are you doing?" Bokuma asked grabbing Shikamaru's arm.

"Going to see my friend. Why do you have orders to keep me away from here?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well, no, but you can't just drop by unannounced," Bokuma said.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Shikamaru said shaking off Bokuma's grip and opening the gate. "And if she doesn't want me here, I'll go back to the hotel."

Bokuma was silent and watched Shikamaru walk up to the door.

Shikamaru took in a deep breath and knocked. The door opened and Temari was surprised to see him there. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Temari asked.

"I was tired of playing tourist," Shikamaru said pointing back at Bokuma. "So, I thought I'd drop by."

"Oh. Uh... Come on in," Temari finally said and opened the door the rest of the way.

Shikamaru looked back at Bokuma and waved before he walked into the house.

"Mommy, I don't know," Koji said running up to them.

"Ok. Why don't you take a break? You remember Shikamaru from yesterday, right?" Temari said.

Koji looked up at Shikamaru and smiled. "Yeah. He brought me to Ungle Gaara."

"Yeah, and he's going to be hanging out with us for a little while," Temari said.

"If that's ok with you," Shikamaru said.

"It's ogay," Koji said.

"Good," Temari said. "Why don't you show Shikamaru to the living room and I'll go get some snacks."

"Yay!" Koji exclaimed and grabbed Shikamaru's hand and drug him into the living room.

Temari laughed at Shikamaru's reaction. She shook her head and headed to the kitchen. When she came back to the living room, she noticed that Koji had brought several of his favorite toys into the room and was showing them to Shikamaru. She brought in the plate of cookies and milk on a tray and sat them down on the coffee table.

"Googies!" Koji yelled and rushed up to the table. He grabbed two cookies and bit into one and held the other one out to Shikamaru. "Want one?" he asked around a mouth full of cookie.

Shikamaru got up off the floor and walked over to the table. "Thanks," he said as he took the cookie from Koji and sat down on the couch next to Temari.

Koji nodded, grabbed another cookie off the plate, and went back over to his blocks.

"I hope he didn't annoy you too much," Temari said.

Shikamaru looked at her confused. "Why would he annoy me?"

"Because he's a kid," Temari said. "I know you don't like kids, so..."

"I never said I didn't like kids," Shikamaru said cutting her off.

"Maybe not outright, but you do call them troublesome and act like you despise them."

"I call you troublesome all the time," Shikamaru said. He bit into the cookie. "And I don't despise them... These are really good."

"Thanks," Temari said a bit confused. "Then why do you always avoid them?"

Shikamaru took another bite of the cookie. "I didn't think you wanted to be bothered by them. I've seen several visitors look down at kids because they're running around in the streets unsupervised. I know how strict you and your village are, so I didn't want you getting upset at them, or hitting me with that huge fan."

"Honestly, every time I saw a kid in your village, it made me think of Koji," Temari said looking at Koji.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked.

"I was raped," Temari said quietly.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "Oh man, I'm so sorry. I..."

"It's fine," Temari said. "It was four years ago. I'm ok now."

"Does Koji ever remind you of it?"

"All the time," she said, "but I love Koji and would never give him up. I've never seen that man again, so I just try to forget it."

"It can't be easy though."

Temari looked back at him. "It's not so bad now. Time really does heal. In a few more years, I may not remember it at all."

"Maru, come play with me," Koji said suddenly coming up to Shikamaru and pulling on his hand.

Shikamaru threw the last bite of his cookie into his mouth and stood up. He let Koji drag him over to the toy cars Koji had out.

Temari watched the two play for quite a while. She was seeing a side of Shikamaru that she didn't even know existed, and not once did Shikamaru complain about spending time with Koji.

NNNNNNNNNN

A few days later, Gaara had finally gathered the information Lady Tsunade had asked for, so it was time for Shikamaru to head back to Konoha.

"Why do you have to go?" Koji asked. He, Temari, and Gaara were all at the gate seeing Shikamaru off.

"Because I have to go back to my village," Shikamaru said as he ruffled Koji's hair. "But I'm sure I'll see you soon."

"You gome bag tomorrow?" Koji asked.

"Koji," Temari said sternly.

"It's alright," Shikamaru said with a smile. "I'm afraid it'll be a little longer than that. You see, my village is three days from yours, so it will take me three days just to get to my village."

"Oh," Koji said sadly and laid his head on his mom's shoulder.

"Be careful," Temari said.

"I will," Shikamaru replied. He turned to Gaara. "Thank you for letting me stay in your village."

"You are welcome any time," Gaara said.

Shikamaru nodded and turned to leave. Gaara turned and headed back to his office, but Temari and Koji watched Shikamaru until he disappeared into the distance.

"Maru gome bag?" Koji asked Temari.

"He said he would, didn't he?" Koji nodded. "Then he will. He's a man of his word."

"Man of his word?"

"It means he does what he says he's going to do," Temari explained.

"Oh," Koji said.

Temari kissed her son and headed back home.

The next day, Temari was in Koji's room picking up his toys while Gaara distracted Koji in the living room. She picked up what had to be the twentieth toy car and sighed. 'I really need to get rid of some of these toys.' She threw the car in the toy box and turned to see another pile of toys sitting next to Koji's small desk. She smiled as she walked over to it, remembering how happy Koji was that he could now be like Uncle Gaara.

She started to reach down to pick up the toys, but something caught her eye. She noticed a piece of paper on the desk and realized it was the daddy application. She frowned at the memory of how sad Koji was, but then realized there was other writing on the page than Koji's.

The other words were written good, so she knew Koji didn't write them, and why would either one of her brothers hurt Koji by filling it out. She flipped the paper over to see if the person wrote their name on it, but all she saw were the questions and answers.

She lowered the paper and tried to figure out who else could've done it, then her eyes went wide. 'The only other people that came into the house after Koji made this was Matsuri and Shika... No way!'

She looked back at the paper and read it. "Favorite color? Dark green. Play with me? Of course. Give me brother? Maybe. Will you love me and mommy?" Temari stopped when she read this answer. Two words that she never expected to see. Already do.

Temari backed up and sat on Koji's bed, still staring at those two words. 'Is this for real? Did Shikamaru really write this?' She stood up and walked quickly down the hall and into the living room. "Koji."

Koji turned to his mother and smiled. "You play with us now?"

Temari walked over to him and knelt down. "Koji, did you show Shikamaru the application you made?" she said completely ignoring his question.

"No," Koji answered.

Temari looked back at the paper in her hand.

"What application?" Gaara asked.

Temari looked up at him. "He made a daddy application a few days ago."

"Why are you asking Koji if he showed it to Shikamaru?" Gaara asked.

"Because the questions on here are answered, and besides you, me, and Kankuro, Matsuri and Shikamaru are the only ones that have been in this house to answer them," Temari replied.

"Someone answered my appligation?" Koji asked excitedly and took the paper from Temari. He looked at the black words next to his. "Yay! Someone wants to be my daddy!" he said jumping up and down. He stopped jumping and focused his attention on Temari. "Who? Who? Was it Maru?"

Temari looked at his eager face. "I don't know. He didn't put his name on it, but..."

"But?" Koji asked eagerly.

"But he's the only one I can think of that would've been able to," Temari finished.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Koji said jumping around the living room. "Daddy Maru! Daddy Maru!" He kept repeating his chant as he jumped around.

Gaara watched Koji jump around then turned to Temari. "What are you going to do?"

Temari turned to Gaara. "I have no idea." She looked back at Koji who was now talking excitedly to his stuffed bear. "I don't want to upset him, but I don't even know if Shikamaru was serious or just did this as a joke."

"Why would it be a joke?" Gaara asked.

Temari looked back at Gaara. "I-I don't know."

"I don't see Shikamaru as a person that would joke about something like this," Gaara said.

Temari looked down in thought. "But I just can't figure out why he would do this." She looked back up. "He has never once made any indication that he liked me in that way, and he is always saying how he hates troublesome situations. Koji's not even his kid. Why would he want to put himself in the troublesome situation of dealing with my kid? He..."

"Temari," Gaara said sternly.

Temari blinked. "What?"

Gaara nodded to tell her to look behind her.

Temari turned around and saw Koji looking at her with tears in his eyes. "Koji..."

"Maru not like me?" Koji said squeezing his teddy bear tightly.

"Koji..." Temari tried and reached out to him, but Koji started crying and ran down the hall. "Koji, wait." She got up and followed him to his room where she found him on his bed, crying into his pillow.

She walked over to the bed and sat down. She reached over and rubbed his back. "I'm sorry, Koji. I didn't mean to upset you."

Koji turned his red face toward her. "Why Maru not like me?"

"He does like you. I... What I said in the living room was just me being scared," Temari said.

Koji sat up and wiped his eyes on his arm. "Sgared?" Temari pulled him into her lap and wrapped her arms around him. "But mommy never gets sgared."

Temari smiled. "I wish that was true, but everyone gets scared every once in a while."

"Even Ungle Gaara and Ungle Gangaruo?"

"Yes, even your uncles," Temari replied.

"But why?" Koji asked.

"That's just how it is. Everyone gets scared. It's the way of nature."

"No, why you sgared, mommy?"

Temari looked at him unsure how to say it. "Uh... Well, I... I like Shikamaru, you know, as more than just a friend, but for so long, he never showed me that he liked me back. Now that I have possible proof that he does, I'm not sure how to handle it."

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Why?"

Temari kissed the top of his head. "You'll understand when you're older."

"I want to under stand now," Koji said.

Temari sighed and sat him down on the bed, then got up. "Sorry, but it's not really a conversation for kids."

Koji pouted and crossed his arms.

"Nope. Not gonna work," Temari said. She placed a hand on his head and Koji relaxed and looked at her. "Listen, don't worry about it, ok?"

"But I want a daddy," Koji said.

"I know, and I hope someday I can give you one, but right now, it's just you and me."

"Ok," Koji said sadly.

"Temari."

Temari turned and saw Gaara in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"I have to go to the office," Gaara said.

"Ok, we'll see you tonight," Temari replied.

Gaara nodded and left.

Temari turned back to Koji. "How about we go to the park?"

"Yeah!" Koji exclaimed, jumped off the bed, and ran out of the room.

"Koji, no running in the house," Temari said sternly and followed him.

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Hope you enjoyed this one, and want to leave a comment below. Let me know what you think of this.

See you in the next chapter.