.:Some years later:.
"SHIKAMARU! GET IN HERE!" Ino yelled.
"Whipped, man," said Chouji as Shikamaru (ignoring him) practically ran for his wife's room.
"Yeah?" he asked Ino.
"I want a glass of water and that woman CANNOT bring it. She's practically dead on her feet. No help at all." Ino pointed at the nurse who'd come to help her out during her bedrest.
The poor woman was out like a light, snoring, pink hair rising up in front of her nose as she breathed in and out. How did she stay asleep? One look at the woman sprawled on the bed, blonde ponytail slightly messy, told him exactly how.
"I think you wore her out, Ino."
"I DON'T CARE! I'M THIRSTY!"
Shikamaru ran for the glass of water and ran back.
"Here," he said, handing it to her.
"Thank you... You're so sweet," said Ino, pulling him down to her level for a kiss.
Chouji, walking in, chuckling. They let go, embarrassed.
"Hey, Chouji," said Shikamaru and, finding his feet absolutely fascinating, tried to hide the blush.
"Relax... It's just me."
Ino slumped back. "All I do is lie here," she whined. "I hate it."
Shikamaru sighed. "Only a couple more weeks," he said.
"Yeah, and then we'll have a baby!" cried Ino happily.
"Yeah, and I'll get less sleep than I normally do," muttered Shikamaru. Ino pulled him down and smacked him.
"You know you wanted the baby," she said.
Shikamaru winced. She realized she'd just embarrassed him, and decided to do it some more. "Sorry, Shika, but I think you should own up to the fact that you want a little girl."
"I want a boy..."
"No, you don't."
"Not with you around! She'd turn into your mini-me! I've met your mother!"
"Yes, and what fun that was..." muttered Ino. She stage-whispered to Chouji, "He's just too embarrassed to admit it." She sighed. "But he is secretly dying for it to be a girl."
Shikamaru said nothing. Sakura woke up.
"Thanks for letting me sleep, Ino," she said gratefully.
"You're welcome," said Ino. She jumped, seemingly startled by something. "Now, you two go along," she said sweetly, shoving the men toward the door. Sakura, looking at her questioningly, received a glare from Ino.
Sakura jumped. "NO WAY!" Shikamaru and Chouji listened from outside.
"Yup," said Ino nervously. Shikamaru was itching to barge back in, but knew he'd have to face the wrath of Ino if he did.
"Do you want him here?" asked Sakura.
"Yes," said Ino immediately.
"Chouji?"
"Um... I don't know..." Ino was pausing to think. "Sure, why not. But make them both stand over HERE." Shikamaru guessed, and correctly so, that this meant over by her head. But he wasn't sure why it would.
Shikamaru really didn't know what was going on, but sensed that it was probably not going to be good.
Later on, he would still be debating whether it was good or not.
For a long, long while.
.:Several hours later:.
Their eardrums hurt (from the screaming). Their hands hurt (from telling her to squeeze them when something hurt). Their heads hurt (from everything that had happened). For Ino, pretty much everything hurt.
But they were happy, Ino lying happily at the front of the bed, sniffling and holding a small bundle that she relinquished only to Sakura, and only once, for the usual checkup.
The mother and father were arguing.
"Chouji."
"Thanks, Shikamaru..."
"Inoichi."
"Chouji."
"Inoichi."
"Chouji!"
"INOICHI!" The still unnamed baby started to cry. Ino patted it and made sure it was happy again, while Chouji stated his views on the subject.
"It's okay, Shikamaru... If she wants to name him after her dad, that's fine."
"Well..." Shikamaru had really wanted to name his kid after Chouji, his best friend, but... Ino usually got her way, and he didn't mind that. Second son, then.
"Inoichi!"
"Okay, fine. Inoichi. Our second son will be named Chouji."
Also it was big points with the in-laws. The kid looked like a Yamanaka, anyway.
"Okay!"
"It's more than fair."
Chouji was grinning. "Thanks, guys."
Shikamaru shrugged. Ino beamed. "Here, you can hold him now," she said to Shikamaru.
Shikamaru took the baby into his arms.
"Hey," he said quietly. "Your troublesome mother finally gave you to me, huh. You look like her. So we named you after her dad. Hi, Inoichi. Sounds like a girl's name. Geez. Troublesome, having a son with a girl's name..." The baby stared up at him tranquilly with large blue eyes.
"That's weird, he's so calm around you, Shikamaru. I would think that he would like to be held by Ino first, considering she's his mom and all..."
"I'm good with kids. Plus, his mother is troublesome, and she was yelling in his ear. Wasn't she, troublesome little Inoichi?"
Ino glared at him.
"Don't call my baby troublesome! And that had better not be his first word, either, or I swear I will make that grounds for divorce."
"Why not? That's what my first word was."
Ino gaped at him. "You're lying."
"No. They say I didn't talk until the day I turned four. I tripped and hit my head on something, and I said 'troublesome'. It's a lame story. But true."
An awkward silence followed, interrupted by the occasional cooing of baby Inoichi. Finally, though, it was fully broken by Ino, as most silences were.
"Someone ought to call my parents."
"Yeah, I'll get to that," said Chouji. "Where's the phone and their number?"
"Oh, I know," said Sakura. "I'll help. You two can handle a baby, right? Supergenius and mother?"
She left.
Ino stared at Shikamaru, suddenly unsure.
"Shikamaru," she asked, "What are we going to do if we can't handle a baby? What if we mess up?"
"We won't mess up," said Shikamaru, although he was a little nervous as well. "Like she said. I'm a supergenius. And you're the mom. We'll do fine."
Ino lay back, exhausted. "I hope you're right, Shikamaru..."
"I'm never wrong..."
The End (or the beginning, depending on how you look at things)
I just wrote this... I'm not sure if it takes away from the previous one or not, but... whatever. Let me know if you liked it, and I'll leave it up, but if everyone who bothers to review thinks it takes away or whatever, I'll take it down, and maybe post it up as a sequel or something. It can pretty much stand on its own.
Please review. :D