Shikamaru punched the wall.

"Shikamaru," Yoshino said. She was holding Koji, rocking him back and forth and rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. "That's not going to help anyone."

Shikamaru turned around and sighed in frustration. "I should be out there," he said as he walked to the doorway.

"And do what? You know Kento isn't going to be there anymore and you know Temari would want you to be here to protect Koji," Yoshino said.

"Mommy," Koji said, a new set of tears falling from his eyes. "Mommy, mommy, mommy."

"Shhhh," Yoshino said, rocking him and rubbing his back again.

Shikamaru looked over to Koji sadly. He walked over and knelt down in front of Koji and Yoshino. "I will get her back, Koji, I promise."

Koji looked at Shikamaru. "You promised you'd protect us. You lied," Koji said and buried his face back into Yoshino's shirt.

Shikamaru looked down and placed a hand on Koji's back. "I know. I'm sorry," he said then looked back at the boy, "but I promise I will get her back, no matter what."

Koji turned his head to look at Shikamaru's face. He studied Shikamaru's face for a few seconds. "Promise?"

"I swear," Shikamaru said.

Koji laid his head back down on Yoshino's chest and nodded. "I believe you."

Shikamaru smiled.

They heard the door open and Shikamaru got up and practically ran to the doorway. He saw his father walk in and close the door.

Shikaku looked up and saw his son staring at him. "They were gone by the time we got there, but we have tracking ninja searching for them."

"We have to find her, dad," Shikamaru said as he walked closer to his dad so Koji wouldn't over hear.

"We will, but according to the Kazekage's information on this guy, he's good at hiding his tracks," Shikaku said. The two walked back to the living room, Koji sitting on Yoshino's lap waiting expectantly.

"Mommy?" Koji asked hopefully. Yoshino saw the look on Shikaku's face and wrapped her arms around Koji, pulling him into her embrace. "Mommy," Koji said again and started crying again.

Shikamaru took one last look at Koji and turned and headed up the stairs to his room.

When Koji saw that Shikamaru was no longer in the room, he panicked and started pushing Yoshino's arms away. "Maru."

Yoshino released him and watched as Koji ran out of the room. She got up and followed Koji up the stairs, followed by Shikaku, and watched as Koji ran down the hall, looking in each room until he found Shikamaru.

"Maru!" Koji said as he ran into the room.

Shikamaru looked up a bit surprised to see Koji running toward him, but picked the little boy up and pulled him close to him. "I'm sorry, Koji," Shikamaru said.

Koji just clung to Shikamaru.

NNNNNNNNNNN

Shikamaru opened his eyes and immediately looked toward the window to see that it was dark outside. 'I must have fallen asleep.' He looked down and saw that Koji was fast asleep, his head laying on Shikamaru's chest and his tiny fists clenched around the fabric of his vest. He looked over to his bedroom door and saw that there was still light coming from the downstairs, so he knew his parents were still up, but now he wasn't sure how to get up without waking Koji.

'Troublesome.'

He tried to carefully peel Koji's fists off his vest, but that only made Koji clench his fists tighter around the material. He sighed and tried again, this time successfully removing the tiny hands away from the vest and gently moved Koji's head down to the bed. He slowly moved to the edge of the bed and got up, pulling a blanket over Koji before he walked to the door and down the stairs.

"Shikamaru," Yoshino said as she saw her son walk down the stairs. "Koji still asleep?"

"Yeah, though I almost woke him trying to separate him from my vest," Shikamaru said. He then looked in the living room. "Where's dad?"

"The shinobi that were tracking Temari came back, but they lost her trail," Yoshino explained.

Shikamaru sighed. "Do they have any idea where he would take her?"

Yoshino shook her head. "I don't know. Your father went to the Hokage's office to try and figure that out." Shikamaru nodded and took a step toward the door, but Yoshino grabbed his wrist. "Shikamaru, you need to stay here in case Koji wakes up."

"Mom..." Shikamaru started.

"No," Yoshino said sternly. Shikamaru turned to face her. "You're the only one Koji trusts right now. When he saw you left the room earlier, he immediately went to find you."

"But he was letting you comfort him," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, but you were also still in the room. If you had left to try and go after Temari, he would've run off, or at least tried to, and I wouldn't have been able to calm him down. You're the next closest person that he feels safe with."

"Ok, I get it," Shikamaru said. "I won't leave the house." He turned and walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

NNNNNNNNNNNN

It had been almost a week since Temari went missing, and they were no closer to finding her. Koji was sticking to Shikamaru like glue and wouldn't let him out of his sight at all. Tsunade had taken Shikamaru off the mission roster so that he could stay with Koji until they had found Temari.

Yoshino walked into the living room and saw Shikamaru asleep on the couch with Koji sleeping on top of him, Shikamaru's hand draped over Koji's back and smiled. Shikaku walked up behind her and smiled too. "Shikaku, we need to find Temari."

Shikaku placed his arm around his wife. "We will. Lady Tsunade said that they might have found a clue to where Temari is."

Yoshino turned to her husband. "Really?"

"Yes, but they haven't found anything yet."

She looked back over to her son. "Have you heard anything from Temari's brothers?"

"Lady Tsunade said that they were going to come get Koji in the next couple days," Shikaku replied.

"I'm not sure if Koji will want to go with them."

"They're his uncles. He's known them a lot longer than he's known Shikamaru."

"Yes, but look how close he's gotten with Shikamaru," she said and turned to Shikaku. "He loves Shikamaru, and Temari told me that she's never seen him get so comfortable with anyone before."

"We'll just have to see what happens when..." Shikaku started, but stopped when he heard a knock on the door. Shikaku walked over to the door and opened it. "Kazekage?"

"Hello, Shikaku," Gaara said.

"We've come to get Koji," Kankuro said.

"Come in," Shikaku said as he stepped aside for the two men to enter.

As the neared the living room, Yoshino bowed her head. "It's good to see you again, Lord Kazekage."

"Please, there is no need to be so formal," Gaara said with a small smile. "You may call me Gaara when we are here."

Yoshino smiled. "Would you two like anything?"

"Water if you don't mind," Kankuro said. "I'm parched."

"For me as well," Gaara agreed.

Yoshino nodded and walked off to the kitchen.

The two sand shinobi walked into the living room and saw Koji sleeping on Shikamaru's stomach.

"He's stuck to Shikamaru like glue since Temari was taken," Shikaku said as he walked past them. He went over and carefully picked Koji up, making Shikamaru jerk awake. "Sorry, son. Gaara and Kankuro are her to pick Koji up."

Shikamaru looked over to the two and frowned. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Shikamaru," Gaara said.

"Yeah, you had to make a tough decision, and I know Temari wanted you to choose Koji over her," Kankuro reassured him.

"I know," Shikamaru said as he stood up and placed his hand on the back of Koji's head. "I just..."

"You have done all that you can," Gaara said.

"Not everything," Shikamaru said still focusing on Koji.

"Hey, you had a responsibility to look out for Koji," Kankuro said.

"And you know that Koji would have never let you go after her. He panicked every time you left the room without him knowing," Shikaku said.

"Maru?" Koji said as he lifted his head off of Shikaku's shoulder.

"I'm here, buddy," Shikamaru reassured him.

Koji turned toward Shikamaru and reached out for him, leaning so fast he almost fell out of Shikaku's arms.

Shikamaru took Koji in his arms and Koji wrapped his arms around Shikamaru's neck. He looked over and finally noticed his uncles standing there. "Ungle Gaara. Ungle Ganguro." He looked behind them. "Mommy?"

Everyone looked at him sadly as Gaara walked over to him. "I'm sorry, Koji. We still haven't found you mom yet."

Tears welled up in Koji's eyes. "Want mommy," he said and buried his face in Shikamaru's shirt.

"I know," Gaara said rubbing the boy's back.

"We can't stay too long," Kankuro reminded Gaara.

"Yes, I know," Gaara said and started to grab Koji from Shikamaru.

"NO!" Koji yelled and wrapped his arms tighter around Shikamaru's neck.

"Hey, come on, Koji. It's your uncle Gaara," Shikamaru said.

"No. No go. Stay with Maru," Koji said not looking at anyone.

The men looked at each other. "This could be a problem," Shikaku stated.

Shikamaru sat back down on the couch and pulled Koji away from him enough to look at him. "Why don't you want to go with your uncles?"

"I stay with you, Maru. Mommy not find me if I not with you," Koji said.

Yoshino walked in with a tray of drinks and a plate of cookies. "Your mommy will always find you, Koji," she said as she sat the tray down on the side table.

Gaara and Kankuro thanked her before grabbing a glass of water. "Yeah, your mom will know your safe with us, kiddo," Kankuro said and bit into a cookie.

Yoshino sat next to Shikamaru on the couch and handed Koji a cookie, who took it and looked at her. "She will?"

"Yes," Yoshino said and reached her hand out to cup his face. "A mother will always find her child, no matter where they are."

Koji laid his head on Shikamaru's chest and slowly ate the cookie. "No. Not leave."

"If we try to force him to go with us, he will only throw a fit," Kankuro said. He sat his now empty glass on the side table and turned and walked to the doorway.

"Where are you going?" Gaara asked.

"Well, if the kid doesn't want to go with us, then I'm gonna go out and look for Temari," Kankuro said turning to look at Shikaku. "Where are you looking at the moment?"

Shikaku walked toward him. "I'll head there with you." They then both walked out of the living room and out the front door.

"What will you do?" Shikamaru asked Gaara.

"I think I will go to Lady Tsunade's office and help where I can," Gaara said turning to leave.

"You don't have to get back to the village?" Yoshino asked.

"Yeah, Kankuro said you guys couldn't stay long. Didn't that mean you had to get back to Suna?" Shikamaru agreed.

"I do, but I am going to see if I can be more help here," Gaara said before he disappeared around the corner.

Shikamaru and Yoshino looked down at Koji. "Looks like you'll have more downtime," Yoshino said.

"Yeah."

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Temari opened her eyes and saw Kento getting dressed. She tried to move her hands, but the cold steel around her wrists prevented her from doing so.

"So you're awake," Kento said with a smile. He pulled the shirt over his head and walked over to her. He leaned down and kissed her, chuckling when she turned her head away from him. "A whole week and you still try to resist me?" he asked.

"I will never give in to you," Temari bit back.

"I think you will," Kento stood as he straightened up. "Because soon we'll be a family."

Temari's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm finally going to get our son away from that Leaf Shinobi," he said as he walked towards the door.

"No, leave him out of this," Temari yelled as she tried to free her wrists from the chains again.

Kento opened the door, but looked back at her. "I think it's time Koji met his father."

"NO!"

NNNNNNNNNNNNN

Shikamaru walked downstairs and saw Koji coloring at the kitchen table, Yoshino mixing something in the bowl next to him, and smiled. "What you drawing, kiddo?"

"Maru!" Koji yelled and jumped down from his chair. He ran over to Shikamaru and grabbed his legs.

"I saw him awake when I went past your room and somehow managed to get him to come downstairs with me so he didn't wake you," Yoshino said as she stood up from her chair and dumped the contents of the bowl into a pan.

Koji grabbed Shikamaru's hand and pulled him over to the table. Koji smiled when he saw Shikamaru sit down and got back in his chair and continued coloring. "Maru, you color with me?"

"Sure," Shikamaru said and grabbed a blank piece of paper and a crayon. "What should I draw?"

Koji smiled wider. "Deer."

"Deer, huh? Ok." Shikamaru started drawing on the paper then stopped when he saw Koji go back to his drawing. He saw several stick figures on the paper. "Who you drawing?"

Koji pointed to the small stick figure in the middle. "That's me," the blonde stick figure on the right, "that's mommy," the stick figure on the left, "that's you," and swiped his figure over all the others, "and Ungle Gaara, Ungle Ganguro, Yoshino, and Shigagu."

"You got the whole gang in there, huh?" Shikamaru smiled, but frowned when he looked at the blonde stick figure.

The lead that they thought they had on Temari turned out to be a bust and they were now back to square one again. 'Are we ever going to find you?'

"Maru?" Koji asked worried.

Shikamaru smiled again and ruffled Koji's hair. "You're doing a great job. Your mom's gonna love it when she gets back."

Koji frowned at the mention of his mom. "Will mommy ever gome home?"

Yoshino looked over at Shikamaru and Koji sadly then stuck the pan in the oven.

Shikamaru didn't know what to tell him anymore. He was starting to loose hope that they would ever find Temari. It had already been over a week since she disappeared, and the more their leads fell through, the more they were afraid that she was gone forever. "We're trying to get her back."

Koji looked sadly back at his picture, then continued to draw on it.

"Say, why don't you and Shikamaru go to the park today, Koji?" Yoshino said trying to cheer the boy up.

Koji looked up to her and smiled. "Yeah." He looked over to Shikamaru. "Please, Maru?"

"Yeah, but we have to get dressed first," he said as he stood up.

"Yay!" Koji yelled, jumped down from his chair, and ran to the stairs.

"Koji! No running in the house!" Yoshino yelled.

"Sorry," Koji said as he made his way up the stairs.

NNNNNNNNNNNNN

Ino walked past the park and smiled at the happy kids playing. She then spotted a familiar black ponytail. "Shikamaru," she called to him as she walked over to him.

Shikamaru turned and smiled. "Hey, Ino."

"Distracting Koji from missing Temari again?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said a bit sadly.

"Hey, we'll find her," she tried to reassure him.

"What if we don't, Ino? What if Temari is gone?" he asked as he looked toward Koji.

"Then you'll take care of Koji and raise him the way she would want him to be raised," Ino said as she looked over at Koji who was running around chasing a few kids.

"Is it really ok for me to take care of him?"

"What kind of question is that?" she asked looking back at him with a glare. "You're great with Koji."

"Yeah, but his home is in Suna. He should be with Gaara and Kankuro."

"If that was true, then he would've gone back with them when they came to pick him up." She placed a hand on his leg, which caused Shikamaru to look at her. "He wants to be with you, Shikamaru. He sees you as his dad."

"I'm not his dad, Ino. I'm not even related to him."

"So you don't love him?" Ino asked as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't say that." He looked back at Koji. "I do love him, more than I ever thought I would."

Ino smiled and lowered her arms. "Temari would be so happy to hear you say that."

Shikamaru looked over at her and smiled.

"Maru, I'm hungry," Koji said as he walked up to them.

"I'm getting that way too," Shikamaru said as he stood up. "What would you like?"

"Ice cream!" Koji said as he grabbed Shikamaru's hand. They walked toward town, Ino following beside them.

"Sorry, real food first, then ice cream," Shikamaru said.

"How about barbecue?" Ino suggested. "I can go find Choji and Asuma Sensei and we can all eat together."

"They're probably busy," Shikamaru said.

"No, actually Choji said he was free today, and I saw Asuma Sensei come back from a mission a little while ago."

"What do you say, Koji? Want some barbecue?" Shikamaru asked looking down at the little boy.

"Yeah," Koji said happily.

"Great. You two go on ahead and grab a table and I'll go find Choji and Asuma Sensei," Ino said and ran off before another word could be said.

Shikamaru and Koji made their way to the barbecue restaurant and found a table. Not long after, Ino, Choji, and Asuma were sitting down with them.

"Hey, Koji," Choji said as he sat down across from the boy.

"Hi, Choji," Koji replied. He looked over at Asuma. "Who are you?"

"Koji, this is Asuma. He used to be Choji, Ino, and my sensei when we were younger," Shikamaru explained.

"Oh. Hi, Asuma."

"Hello, Koji. It's nice to finally meet you," Asuma replied with a smile.

"I'm really surprised he hasn't seen you yet, Asuma Sensei," Ino said as she placed some meet on the grill.

"I've been out on missions a lot lately, so haven't had a chance to meet him," Asuma said.

"You haven't heard anything while you were out, have you?" Shikamaru asked.

Asuma frowned. "No, I'm sorry."

"Maru, I'm hungry," Koji said.

"Ok, here, I think these are done," Shikamaru said as he pulled a few pieces of meet off the grill and laid them on the plate in front of Koji.

"Thang you," Koji said and picked up a piece of meet, blew on it, then shoved it in his mouth. "Mmmmm."

The three adults laughed and dug into their meal as well.

NNNNNNNNNNN

Shikamaru laid Koji down in the bed and covered him up. He left the room, turning the light out as he went, and headed down the stair. He sighed as he sat down on the couch next to his father.

"Long day?" Shikaku asked amused at how tired Shikamaru was.

"Yeah." He turned to look at his dad. "Was I ever that energetic?"

Shikaku chuckled. "Not as bad as Koji, but you had your days."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch. "What happens if we don't find Temari?"

Shikaku looked over at his son. "Huh?"

Shikamaru looked over at him. "Koji didn't want to go with Gaara and Kankuro the other day, but he can't stay here, right?"

"His home is in Suna," Shikaku said, "but I think he sees you as more than just a friend now."

Shikamaru looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I kind of picked that up too."

"Didn't Temari say something about this all started when you filled out some kind of application that Koji made?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Yeah, his Daddy Application."

"Do you want him to stay with you?"

Shikamaru looked back at his father and lifted his head off the couch. "Yeah, but I know that Gaara and Kankuro would want him to be with them."

"So you would force Koji to go live somewhere he doesn't want to be?"

"That's why I don't know what to do. I want him to stay here, but I don't want to take him from Gaara and Kankuro."

Shikaku placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "I think you have better contact Gaara and talk with him about this."

"But if we do that, then that means we're pretty much giving up on Temari ever coming back."

"I think we both know that the chance of finding her are getting slimmer. We've looked non-stop for her since her disappearance, and we haven't been able to find a reliable lead that pans out. I think it's safe to say..."

Shikamaru looked at his father when he stopped. "What?"

Shikaku stood up. "Someone's in the house."

"What?" Shikamaru stood up and looked toward the stairs. "Koji." He dashed off to his room, Shikaku following behind, and burst through his bedroom door. He looked to the bed, but saw that it was empty, then looked at the man at the window holding a sleeping Koji. "Kento," he said angrily as he pulled a kuni from his weapons pouch.

Kento smiled at him then quickly jumped out the window.

Shikaku ran toward the window and jumped out, Shikamaru close behind. They ran through the forest, Kento in clear view.

"He's not getting away," Shikamaru said and sped up his pace.

No matter how fast he ran, the Nara men could not catch up to Kento. They stopped in a clearing and looked around. "Where is he?" Shikamaru asked panting.

"I don't sense his chakra anywhere."

Shikamaru walked over to a tree at the edge of the clearing. "No!" he said as he punched the tree and feel to his knees. "No."

Shikaku walked up to him and placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. He looked around the area. "I know where they are."

Shikamaru looked up at his dad surprised. "What?" He stood up. "How? Where are they?"

"Take a look around," Shikaku said.

Shikamaru looked around the area. He couldn't figure out what his dad was talking about, but then he spotted it. A small shimmer was floating in the air.

"This is how he's evaded us for so long."

"A cloaking jutsu," Shikamaru stated.

"Not only that, but also a barrier that allows objects to pass right through it unless they know the hand sign to get in," Shikaku added.

Shikamaru walked over to the shimmer. "How can we get in?" He looked back at his dad.

"We have to get back to the village," Shikaku said. "Now that we know where his is, we need the one person that can get through this barrier."

Shikamaru looked back at the shimmer one last time then followed his father back to the village.

---------------------

Hope that didn't seem like a weird way to find Temari. It is dark out in the last part. I think in my head I saw it as day time, but Shikamaru just put Koji to bed, so... hopefully it plays out well. Let me know in a comment if you saw it as dark or light in your mind while reading it.

See you in the next chapter