[ShikaTema] The Thirty Day Challenge

Day 16: Looking Back

"If we could sneak away...," started the Nara genius.

"Yeah," whispered Temari back. "If this keeps going on, the whole village will hear it, and it would go on for days again," muttered her tiredly.

In an attempt to go, Naruto removed his gazes away from his wife, then onto the Nara couple. "Hey, Shikamaru!"

The male, including his partner, stopped from going further.

"What happened to "marriage life is troublesome", huh?" Teased his friend more.

Shikamaru was pretty certain he had his thoughts kept in him. With Naruto knowing such a secret, the male's eyes grew in surprise. "When... H-How did you know about that?"

Confused, Temari kept moving her hues from Naruto, then to her husband, then to Hinata. It went on in such a pattern whilst following their conversation. The female definitely was clueless of what had been happening.

"Ah, that?" Reconfirmed Naruto. "From Ino," he uttered next. "She told me not to tell...," sapphire hues moved onto his wife who had been tugging his sleeve to stop him from going. He had seen the image of Hinata, facial expression was worried.

The Byakugan princess shook her head once, telling her husband not to continue, for he already was spilling out other people's secrets, not to mention that it was made out in the public.

"Yeah, Shikadai. Did you know about that?" Called Boruto. "Your father dreamt of him and your mother together about how troublesome marriage is. Can you believe that?!"

Uninterested, which more likely was avoiding the issue to pull himself away from danger again, Shikadai responded none.

"Hah!" Scoffed Boruto. "I don't know what happened, though. He said marriage is a pain in the ass, but he got married, anyways. I don't get adults."

Hinata walked over to her son and placed both of her hands over his shoulders; Himawari climbed on her father's shoulders to be carried this time. "Boruto... What did I tell you about people older than you?"

"Respect, onii-chan! It's respect!" Interrupted Himawari, giggling.

In guilt, the little blonde turned away. "I know that!" Then, he returned his gazes towards his mother. "I'm sorry, mom."

Such little situation the young Uzumaki had made Naruto form a smile on his lips; Boruto, despite his attitude, still has grown well enough to at least get himself to apologise to his mother.

"So, going back to--" The hokage's words had been put in an abrupt stop when Shikamaru, Temari and Shikadai were already gone. "Where did they go...?"

---

"What was that about?" Asked Temari in utmost confusion.

"Don't mind them. Naruto's just--" As the pineapple-haired man turned to his wife, certainly it wasn't a calming presence she had. "W-Well, they're talking about the Infinite Tsukuyomi. I had a dream with you in it, looking at my father, Shikaku, and mother, Yoshino, talking about mission and dinner. The other ones were Azuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei taking care of their child, Mirai. And then, there were you and me, agreeing that marriage indeed is a pain."

"How do you find it so far?" The woman questioned in curiosity. "Because if you really find it troublesome, you won't get dinner."

Shikadai shuddered at the thought, passing his father a stare as if telling him to be careful of his words. Knowing his mother doesn't buldge on everything she'd say, this surely was a difficult moment for both him and his father.

Shikamaru secretly motioned for Shikadai to go out of the room which he openly obeyed by saying, "I'll be going to my room to play for a bit, mom, dad."

"Uh... N-Not really that troublesome..."

Shit. I did say it was troublesome! Partly, but still is...!

Shikadai, who was sitting on the stairs and intentionally eavesdropping whilst playing his game, shook his head in disappointment. "Great. We're not getting dinner tonight. Thanks, dad."

"Is that so?" Eyes comically squinted in annoyance, Temari prepared to make another remark.

That's it. I'm sorry, Shikadai.

"I get you," responded the female blonde.

"...Huh?"

"Every marriage can be a pain. Situation-wise, of course. However, it still is up to the couple if they're going to make their relationship troublesome or not," remarked the kunoichi. "But you're still not going to get dinner tonight."

"B-But, Temari...," began the ninja. He wanted her decision to change for the sake of his son.

Yet, the female only turned back to her husband, smiling. "I'm just kidding. I'll go prepare now," Temari shifted her body away from him to make her way to the kitchen when a pair of manly arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

"Can I help you out?"

Temari slightly looked over her shoulder to see a glimpse of her partner, right palm landing on her husband's wrapped arms. "Are you that hungry? Even doing this. It's so unusual."

"Yeah. Since I'm mostly away because of my duties, I wasn't able to do things like this. Let me spend time with you, Temari," explained the genius.

"Yeah, sure. If you're insisting that much," ended his wife.

Shikamaru removed his left arm from her waist, and formed a thumbs up at their backs, but made sure his significant other didn't notice it at all.

This assured Shikadai, who had been peeking at his parents, that he would be having dinner this time. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, upon then resuming his gameplay.

(A/N: I apologise if Hinata called Shikamaru and Temari differently (and if I indeed did, tell me so through PM so I could change them as soon as possible). My knowledge in Naruto is vague, so if you helped me, I'll credit you! I used the "-kun" suffix for Shikamaru because it's the standard honorific for males their age (and I could recall Hinata addressing Naruto and Kiba with "-kun"), and "-san" for Temari being the suffix used generally.)