Sweet, Innocent Hinata-Chan (COMPLETE!!!!!)

(THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE REVIEWS and Spartan, thanks, I'd be honored to call you a friend! Thanks again for all the reviews and for being so sweet! Keep fighting the good fight and I'll be updating soon again! Thank you all!!!)

"Daddy...? Daddy...?" the voice whispered.

The man beneath the blankets groaned as he felt the small, weighty being on his stomach lightly bounce up and down.

"Daddy...!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened and he sat up, nearly throwing the child backwards in the process. He grabbed him before he fell off of the bed. The little boy smiled a little bit and jumped off the bed, wearing a black kimono with a green belt around the waist.

"Daddy, don't forget! You promised you'd train with me!"

Shikamaru groaned a little bit with a nod. He felt like he was waking up out of a dream, but everything in reality seemed to be in place. He wondered how long he'd been sleeping. He swung his legs over the side of bed, realizing he was back to wearing a pair of black boxer shorts of which the little brown-haired boy proceeded to pull on.

"C'moooon, daddy...you're being so troublesome!"

Shikamaru could only chuckle a little as he put his hand on top of the kid's brown hair that had been combed back to a certain point, while a bushel of wild hair was kept behind the 'barrier' of a black headband. He could smell breakfast cooking and like he'd done the past two mornings, he picked the child up on his back and headed downstairs. He instantly saw Temari, wearing a pink kimono, her hair braided down the middle of her back with the end flared and held by a pink ribbon. She turned and smiled at him.

"Finally, you're awake, Shika-Kun."

Shikamaru sat down at his place at the table with a small sigh. It had only been about two days since he'd 'woken up', obviously feeling as if everything that happened with Naruto, Neji and Sasuke never happened. When he came to, he was laying in bed beside Temari who took the liberty of slapping him when he yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?!" While they hadn't been married, they had two kids: the belly-jumper of his son, Tojimaru and...

"DADDY'S AWAKE!"

Shikamaru turned around, quickly picking up the noisy and excited other half of the brother-sister duo. Aiko was only a year old than Tojimaru, but she was smart as a whip, though, she had yet to match her father's wits in Shogi, but what could you expect? The girl was five while Toji was only four. Aiko had beautiful black hair like Shikamaru, however, it was short and choppy, and she wore a ribbon in her hair that matched the color of her all green kimono with a black belt around her waist.

"Daddy, I wanna play shogi!"

"No! Daddy is training with me!" Toji yelled from his place at the table.

Shikamaru set the girl down and sighed.

"You kids are so..."

"YOU'RE TROUBLESOME!" the kids laughed.

Shikamaru was caught off guard when both kids bum-rushed him, tackling him to the floor. He enjoyed the feeling of playing with kids and he couldn't have imagined Temari more mellowed out after having kids, but she was still a bad-ass girl that everyone loved and respected. Temari could only laugh as she set the breakfast on the table. Shikamaru sat at the table with his family and began eating right away. Temari's cooking was just as good as ever, but in his quiet moments, he wondered how he got to where he was. According to Temari, when he returned from the mission to Yukigure, he'd been badly injured. But that only felt like exactly two days ago...When he'd first awoken up. He had no complaints, however...He had two amazing kids, a beautiful wife and a great life. He trained with Toji and Aiko all day and tucked them in a night. The feelings of fatherhood filled his heart with joy, but it didn't exactly ease the uncertainty he was feeling.

"Shikamaru? Is something wrong? You've barely touched your food..." Temari stated from across the table.

"Huh? Oh..."

He continued to eat in silence, looking up at Temari once more. His eyes widened a little he realized something: She wasn't wearing the earring he'd given her before he'd left.

"Temari, what happened to my...?"

"Hmm?"

He pondered the question, all the while reaching for his left earlobe. Sure enough, there wasn't an earring, much less a hole, however his right ear was peirced. He wondered why he hadn't realized it before, but he chalked it up to becoming a father all of a sudden. He shook his head with a sigh, trying to shake away both the thoughts and the piercing headache that had been plaguing him ever since he'd woken up two days ago. Stress, maybe? He could sometimes hear someone calling his name, but he didn't recognize the voice. Why bother? Maybe he'd go see Tsunade about his headache...

"Papa?"

"Hmm?"

He looked at Aiko who gazed at him with concern.

"Are you okay, papa?"

He leaned over, petting her soft, black hair.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

He helped Temari clean up after breakfast and headed into the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing his head in pain. He just wished it would stop, but it hadn't. Temari came in a few minutes later and sat beside him.

"Shika-Kun, what is it?"

"I've just been getting these really, really bad headaches, Temari..." he strained.

"It's probably from you smoking too much."

"Probably...Where are the little demons at?"

"Aiko was playing shogi when I last checked while Tojimaru was sleeping on the veranda out back."

She looked at him, noticing his pained look. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him to her ample chest. He could hear her heartbeat and somehow, it was very soothing. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gave a small yawn, finding his eyes heavy.

"Temari..."

"Are you happy, Shika-Kun?"

He nodded against her chest and slowly closed his eyes.

"I am..."

She smiled and stroked the top of his head.

"Then, that's all you need to be concerned with. Just relax and rest."

Shikamaru felt his body become relaxed as she whispered the words to him, but could faintly smell cigarettes on Temari. When did she start smoking, he wondered...? He didn't care. All he could focus on was her heartbeat and her gentle words. They were married and he had everything he'd wanted...To him, as he drifted off to sleep, that was all he needed.