AN: Not a Coldplay songfic, but I do love Coldplay, lol.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. If I did Neji would be alive and making babies with Tenten.

A Sky Full Of Stars

The weather was fantastic in Konoha this time of year. It was warm, but not hot, and the clouds were always well shaped and fascinating to watch. These were ideal conditions for a certain lazy Nara.

On a rooftop laid said man with his hands folded behind his head and eyes half lidded. He was so busy a majority of the time, but he managed to land the day off for the first time in who knows when and he couldn't think of a better way to spend his day than to lounge right here without a worry or care.

If only it really were that simple, however.

He had it set in his mind that he would let it all go today and focus on himself, but that just wouldn't happen. In a weeks' time he would be leading a small team to Suna to deliver deer antlers and other medicinal materials to the village's healers. The mission itself was not considered dangerous. He wasn't worried about that. He was worried about her…

Temari of the Sand. This shit was going to be awkward as hell. That much was unavoidable. He liked her. She liked him…He knew that was true, however their last encounter was…inappropriate? He wasn't sure that that would be the correct way to define what happened between them, but nothing else seemed as accurate.

They had misinterpreted each other's intentions. She had believed he wanted more from her and tried to remedy the ill-perceived notion, and he ran from the situation instead of resolving it, and had it not caught him off guard he wouldn't have needed to gracelessly escape from the position he found himself in.

Kami, how she must have felt, and he was still fucking up. He was a man for goodness sake. Why would he run from that? He didn't know. She didn't even seem nervous. Why did he always look like a wimp around her? Why did she affect him like this? He nearly never lost his cool, but as of lately he felt his insides twisting in knots every time he saw her. It was so unlike him to be this stressed out over a woman.

He wished his dad or Asuma were still here to give him advice. He sighed, thoroughly discontent by this point. He needed a break from this kind of thinking. Who could he visit? Choji was out on a mission. Naruto was just married and enjoying his honeymoon and he wouldn't interrupt that. Kiba, Shino, and Lee were also gone on a mission, not that they were at the top of his list in the first place. He refused to visit any female acquaintance, especially Ino. She knew him too well and talking about his problems with another girl didn't sit well with him.

He supposed he was out of luck. He'd visit his mom instead. She'd berate him about moving back to the Nara compound since he was the official head since his father's death, and he would ignore the request, telling her he just wasn't ready. His argumentative mother would at least distract him from his self-loathing pattern of thoughts.

Getting to his feet, Shikamaru started off toward his childhood home, gearing himself up for the onslaught of demands his mother would have for him.

A short while later he arrived, his mother greeting him more affectionately than he expected.

"My son, it's good to see you…" she told him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Hi, Mom," he returned, taken aback. "It hasn't been that long since I've been up here. You miss me that much?" he asked nervously.

Her eyes narrowed, her typical character shining through. "Of course I do. I used to see you nearly every day. Now I see you once a week if I am lucky. It's lonely up here without you."

He felt a pang of guilt in his chest. That's why she always reminded him he was the head of the clan. It wasn't even about duty. She was tired of being up here by herself.

"I'm sorry, Mom..." He pondered for a moment about how to fix that, but only one solution came to mind. "My lease ends in four months. I'll move back in around that time. Is that okay?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yes! You have a duty you've been neglecting." She turned on her heel and walked off towards the kitchen. Shikamaru smirked, knowing what she really meant.

"When will you give me a grandchild, Shikamaru?" she demanded. That derailed his self-assurance.

He paled. "What?!"

"You have a duty to produce an heir. It doesn't have to be right away, but you should be thinking about it," she tells him as if the subject was typical for everyday conversation between a mother and son.

"Mom! I don't even have a girlfriend!" he yelped.

He wanted to return to the rooftop. He should have known better.

"Who was that girl you brought here that one time? I liked her. Why would you bring a girl here if she wasn't your girlfriend? Why would you want for us to meet if you had no intention of beginning a relationship with her?" Yoshino questioned, her forehead creasing with annoyance.

"I-I wanted to, but I-I screwed it up. That ship has sailed," he replied, avoiding his mother's gaze. Yoshino quirked an eyebrow, curious about what her son could have possibly done. When he didn't elaborate, she sighed, frustrated.

"What did you do, Shikamaru?"

He looked down; this was the last person he wanted to talk to about this. "Well?" She asked sharply, her impatience growing.

"I ran away," he replied, dejectedly. "From what? You are a shinobi and you ran from a relationship of all things?" She grumbled. "I guess it makes sense a little, given the nature of the line of work, but ultimately the hardest part falls on the woman, anyway. She'd be raising the children, birthing the children, carrying the children, cleaning and cooking, and everything that falls into those categories." Yoshino reached into a high cupboard, pulling out ingredients to make lunch.

Shikamaru considered the assumptions his mother made. Temari was not that type of woman to begin with, but the relationship was not what he feared. If he remained silent, his mother would assume she was correct, and that could hold either positive or negative consequences for him depending on her mood, or complete chance really.

"I didn't run from the relationship itself, Mom…" He paused. "I ran from a situation, and I didn't try to fix the consequences."

She was cutting vegetables but finished the slice she was working on and stopped to look up at him. "What situation would that be?"

Pink stained his cheeks. He couldn't deal with this. He dropped his gaze, shuffled to the kitchen table, and attempted to change the subject. "Can I help you with anything while I am here? Need any maintenance work done or help with the deer?"

"Nice try, my son. I can't help if you don't tell me what happened. You can be smart and still be an idiot. Don't be an idiot. Let your mother help." She began to chop again. He huffed, this was far too troublesome, but he relented.

"We had been on many dates already, and I don't know what I did, but she thought…I wanted something else from her. I just…I don't know. I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't expecting that." The blush spread to his ears, he'd never spoke to his mother about anything close to this before.

The Nara woman understood, and chuckled a little, surprising her son who looked at her incredulously.

"You remind me of your dad so much. He was a nervous wreck too when the time came. He tried to run too, but I wasn't having any of that. We talked it out. I know it's different with her. It's easy to avoid someone who lives in a whole other part of the world." She looked up from her cutting board to make eye contact with her boy. "It's normal to react that way, even for men, but if you give up on her I am going to whoop your ass."

Shikamaru gulped, but appreciated his mother's words. His own father was a wimp about sex at first. That both grossed him out and made him feel better.

"We were also married first. Imagine your father trying to avoid me on our wedding night. I'd prefer you be married first too, but I know times have changed and that's probably not reasonable anymore," she added, grinning at the humorous memory.

"Now, I did need some help around the house and with the deer. The fawns need to be checked on. It's been a week since I have seen some of them and…." She rambled on about a multitude of tasks she expected him to complete for her, but as the list grew, Shikamaru some how felt a weight was lifted. He had always respected his father as a shinobi, but as a man he always believed his dad was a total push-over for his mom, and he never understood it until his affections for Temari grew in his own heart. Then he wanted to be happy with her like his mother and father had been with each other.

That last night with Temari he was so upset with himself because he didn't live up to his expectations for himself and he had based them on his parent's relationship. Now those expectations didn't seem very realistic and that made him feel loads better.

"Shikamaru, I'll remind you again in case you weren't listening the first time: don't let that girl go," Yoshino chimed, drawing him out of his musings.

"I won't, but I haven't talked to her since she was last here. That was about a month and a half ago. I don't know what to even say," he stated, once again wearing a dismal expression.

"That's easy. Apologize. Admit you were wrong for avoiding her and tell her why you acted the way you did. If you want a happy relationship to begin with, you need to be open with her. If your actions affected how she sees herself accept a punch to the jaw because you'd deserve it. That's all you can do. Now go do those things I asked. Lunch will be ready in a half hour."

He began towards the door. He never expected his mom to have the solution to his problem, but he was sure glad she did.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Woooooo my first multi-chapter fic! This won't be an exceptionally long story, probably 3-4 chapters around the same length as this one. Anywho, please read and review. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed my other stories. Your positive feedback means the world to me!