Some Time Later…

"Almost there!" Lee said leading a group of genin escorts as they brought Shikamaru, Temari, and Shikami towards the Suna entrance.

It had been a few months since she's last seen her brothers and a year since she'd last seen her homeland. Shikamaru had brought the family to Suna for the festival just as he had promised. This will be her first time in Suna since she has become a mother and the first time Shikami has been to her second home.

"Hey!" Temari looked up to see a group at the entrance, waiting for them. As she got closer, she began recognizing the faces. Among them were her brothers, the girls, and to her surprise, Kaoru.

"Hi everyone! Wow, didn't expect a welcoming party." Temari said

"Of course! Even though you live in Konoha now, this is still your home you know." Kankuro said, giving his sister a hug.

"How was your journey? I hope traveling with Shikami wasn't too much trouble." Gaara asked

"No, it wasn't too bad; she seemed to enjoy it for the most part." Temari gestured towards Shikami, who was currently strapped to her father's chest, staring at the new environment in awe.

Shikamaru unstrapped his daughter and handed her to Gaara. He may not have said anything but Shikamaru could tell he wanted to hold her.

Gaara took Shikami into his arms. The two shared a silent stare before Shikami let out a giggle and patted his face. Gaara smiled and let out a slight blush at the acceptance given by his niece.

"Awww…So cute!" Matsuri said breaking the silence

"What is? Temari's baby or Gaara?" Sari teased in which caused Matsuri's face to become redder than the Suna's hot sun. "T-Th-The baby ofcourse!"

The rest of the group laughed aside from Gaara, who was still distracted by Shikami.

"So anyways, as great as this gathering is, I'm sorry to remind you Gaara, that you left your meeting early." Kankuro said

"Oh…Yeah…I'm sorry Temari, Shikamaru, I have to go back to that." Everyone could hear the slight disappointment in Gaara's voice as he handed Shikami to Kankuro, who gladly took her into his arms.

"Hey Matsuri, when you're done blushing, escort Gaara to his meeting would ya? And Sari, you can escort Lee and his team to their quarters. I have a niece to spoil." Kankuro directed before turning his attention to Shikami.

"Hey cutie! I got so much planned for you and me. First place, the puppet studio."

"Hey! Don't you dare scar my daughter with your creepy dolls!" Temari called out in protest

"Too late! Just because she's your daughter doesn't mean she has a life destined to wielding a large fan and manipulating shadows!" he said before taking off with Shikami

"I'll follow them. I'm sure you and Kaoru have some stuff to catch up on." Shikamaru took a few steps closer, leaning in until his forehead met hers. "He's been looking like a nervous wreck since we got here. Go on and talk to him before he pissed himself and I'll meet you at the house. Ok?"

Temari whispered a soft "Ok". She too, wanted to straighten a few things out with Kaoru.

Shikamaru quickly placed a kiss on Temari's forehead, perhaps out of affection or perhaps it was to let Kaoru know that Temari is off limits to him, before tailing Kankuro.

Temari turned to face Kaoru. Shikamaru was right, he did look like a nervous wreck. She let out a sigh, walked up to Kaoru, and looked at him in the eye.

"Um….er…I…Hi?" Kaoru had a whole greeting planned out prior to her arrival. But upon seeing her and her new family, his mind went blank. Having her stare at him like this doesn't help, especially since they're finally alone.

Finally getting fed up with his increased awkwardness, Temari slapped him across the cheek. "Snap out of it! What the hell is wrong with you? Stop acting like you're gonna wet yourself." She knows he is probably still nervous about them, but still, that should not be an excuse. This was not the Kaoru she knew.

"Relax, Shikamaru understands that there's nothing between us. So he won't kill you."

"Hehe…Ok…Sorry…" Kaoru rubbed the soreness out of his cheek while he gathered himself and his thoughts. "Um…Congratulations. Your daughter is beautiful."

"Thank you. Congratulations to you too. I heard you've been promoted to elite bodyguard of the Kazekage."

"Thanks, well, after one of the Kazekage's guards went on long term leave then decided to step down from the post, the position opened up. And since I had experience being part of a royal guard, the Kazekage offered me the job."

Temari knew full well that the person he was talking about was her. "Well, good to know I helped you get a position. Make sure you don't screw it up."

"Hehe…I'll try my best. But I'll gladly step aside if you want your job back." He said quickly

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. I'm fine where I am now."

"So…I take it that you're happy with where your life is going?"

Temari knew where this conversation was going and she didn't like it. "Yes. Yes I am."

Kaoru smiled "That's good. Good to hear…"

Temari sensed a slight pain in his voice, she had really hoped she could avoid going back to this, but it looked like she had no choice. "Look Kaoru, what we once had together was great, something I will forever cherish, but that is now in the past. You have to let it go."

Seeing how he flinched at her words, she knew she hit the nail in the exact spot. Realizing how harsh she probably sounded, she took a deep breath before continuing. "I know letting go and moving on is easier said than done, trust me, I know that better than you think I do. If you continue to hold on to the past, you're never going to be able to move forward and that will only lead to heart break. So stop clinging on to our past and move on with your life ok? Don't wait for me. While I can't say anything about the future, as of now, I'm truly happy with where my life is. And while Shikamaru and I don't plan on getting married anytime soon, I don't see myself parting ways with him."

She could tell Kaoru was crushed by what she said but she knew he had to hear it from her.

"Ok," he said softly before pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry Temari. I'm so so sorry. I'm sorry I ever left you. I'm sorry for not coming back for you. And I'm sorry I can't let you go so easily."

"Don't be. Life just happens that way sometimes. It hurts but we just have to learn to let go. Life is too damn short to hold on to things like this." She was very hesitant on hugging him back, afraid of giving him the wrong idea.

"I'll try. But you will always hold a special place in my heart." Kaoru said

"You too." She briefly returned the hug before gently pushing him off of her.

"Ok, time for me to go check on my daughter. Don't want her to be influenced any more by Kankuro's tendencies than she already has."

"Oh alright, I guess I should be getting back to my post." He started to leave before stopping in his tracks.

"Temari? Thank you."

Temari was confused by what he meant by 'thank you' but she decided to shake it off and head to her house.

Once there, she was greeted to a view of Shikamaru simply lounging on the couch and Kankuro stringing Shikami with his puppet jutsu.

"Kankuro! What the hell are you doing!? She's a person, NOT one of your dolls! And YOU Shikamaru, why didn't you stop him?" She a furious at the two men in front of her. They are 2 of the most important men in her life and THIS was how they treated a baby? A part of their own flesh and blood?

Shikamaru shugged, "Hey, I tried but Kankuro assured me that he had no intentions of putting her in any danger and she seems to be enjoying it. Sooo I figured might as well let Kankuro humor her for some time.

Temari was speechless, she looked at Shikami and she did indeed look like she was enjoying being able to walk. So she gave up the argument and went to sit next to Shikamaru.

She watched Kankuro intereact with Shikami intently, looking for any signs of distress from her daughter, but saw none.

Now that she thought about it, Kankuro really seemed to have stepped up and embrace his role as an uncle. As someone who said he hated kids, he certainly wasn't showing it. If someone told her this was the picture she would walk into one day, she would've thought they've gone bonkers. But here it is.

Then again, her life hasn't turned out the way she planned in the past year or so. But still, it wasn't bad. In fact, thinking back, despite all the obstacles she had to overcome, all the changes and all the adjustments she had to make with her life, it has been pretty damn good. And it was all thanks to Shikamaru and Shikami. They had helped her fill in the empty void she didn't even know she was missing.

She watched as Kankuro had Shikami 'walk' over to her and Shikamaru. She smiled at her precious little girl, who started babbling and burst into a giggling fit.

Temari picked the giggling girl up and hugged her tightly. She thought back to the question Kaoru had asked her and thought about the answer she gave him and then looked at Shikami in the eyes.

"You ok?" Shikamaru asked

"Um, yeah…I am." She placed Shikami on the floor and watched as she crawled back to Kankuro.

Temari smiled. Yes, indeed. She was happy.

The End.

And Done! Sooo anyone still here? Hehehe

Finally came up with an ending that I was satisfied with, I hope you guys are too. Thank you all for sticking with me all this time, putting up with my slow updating and constant errors in the writing. I hope the story was enjoyable for you guys as it was or me writing it. I know this isn't quite the direction the canon story took but I did start this before the series ended and I wanted to complete it the way I had planned.

As for what's next; I'm probably going to start an Ouran story that I have in mind, so keep an eye out for that in a few months? I don't have another Shikatema story idea just yet, but it's not out of the question for the future.

Anyways, thanks again for those of you who stuck with me, followed the story, and left nice comments. Even you silent readers, thanks for taking the time out of your lives to read it! I'll see you in my next story!