I usually specialize in Angst, but occasionally I fall into a really sappy mood, where I go all cheesy children's cartoon on my readers and start gushing about the beauty of friendship and all that… You have been warned.

Inheritance

After living in Konoha for so long, Temari thought she should have been immune to the instances of culture shock that had originally plagued her on a regular basis. She knew the man and woman standing beside her both felt the same way—though it had taken her a while to understand why Konoha-born Sai could relate. But all three of them—she, Sai, and Karui—were all a little in awe of their children, who were totally unaware that they were doing anything remarkable.

The current Ino-Shika-Cho trio had remained in the clearing where they held their daily teamwork exercises. Well, it was a little misleading to call them daily exercises. In truth, life sometimes got in the way of training schedules, but Ino pushed to get them together as often as possible. (Even now, after the session had officially ended, she had pulled Choji and Shikamaru aside to discuss strategy and next week's lesson—to various degrees of boredom from the two men.) As a result, even though they'd only been in the academy for about a year, their teamwork was leaps and bounds ahead of some of the freshly made genin teams. But, given how much complaining they often had to deal with beforehand, (from Shikadai and Chocho anyway; Inojin knew better) it never ceased to surprise Temari that they didn't all disperse immediately afterwards.

But no, the boys each had their handheld games out in front of them, Chocho leaning one arm on each of their shoulders, eyes swinging between screens. This activity required only minimal conversation, and Temari would not have found anything all that striking about it if not for their postures.

The three were sitting what should have been uncomfortably close, but they didn't seem to notice, appearing impossibly relaxed. And perhaps this could have been chalked up to how absorbed they were in those damn games, except this was the way they acted all the time.

Temari had lost track of the number of times she'd walked into a room and found Chocho or Inojin there, sometimes with her own son in tow, sometimes not. And she knew this probably shouldn't be so strange. The three had been raised together, literally since birth. And she knew Shikadai spent an equal amount of time in the homes of the other two. Still… it unnerved her a bit to know they were all comfortable enough to just walk into each other's houses without feeling the need to wait for an invitation or announce their presence. Even on their best days, she and her flesh-and-blood brothers had never been like this.

Temari decided that perhaps it was just an Ino-Shika-Cho thing, derived from being a Konoha thing, of course. Those Leaf Village ninja always had had a reputation for being a little more touchy-feely than the rest of the world.

She'd tried explaining it to Shikamaru, but… Well, there was a reason she considered him the dumbest genius she'd ever met. He'd responded to her concerns with a blank stare, and she'd fought to reassure herself that she was not being unreasonable. Even her husband was not quite this close to his own team mates, and she figured Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were the most valid comparison she could ask for.

Temari had learned long ago there were some things that could not be done justice with words. And if no one else was concerned, that was good enough for her.

With the softest of sighs, she straightened up, uncrossing her arms. It was about time she rounded up her husband and son and got them home for dinner. She knew Shikamaru couldn't be counted on to cut Ino off himself. She narrowed her eyes as Shikadai glanced up ever so subtly, saw her coming, and ducked a little further behind his game. Temari allowed the corner of her mouth to pull up into a smirk. Wrong move, kid…

…

Karui did not take her eyes off her daughter as the other woman stalked toward the trio, her lips pursed. In truth, she was a little grateful to Temari for being the one to break them up.

She never used to be discomforted by the children's bizarre closeness. In fact, she'd accepted easily that this was just the way things were between the three clans. She'd always thought it was nice, in a distant sort of way. It had been Chocho who'd brought this comfortable acceptance to an abrupt, screeching halt.

"Bye, Mom!" she'd called so casually over her shoulder one day, already on her way out the door. "I'm off to see my boys! We're gonna go get ice cream."

Something about this had stopped Karui in her tracks, registering subconsciously before she'd even felt the dread build up in the pit of her stomach. But when it had hit, the reason behind this feeling had been obvious. Chocho's choice of words had been decidedly… unsettling.

Her boys… Implying that she held some inherent claim on them. Meaning they, in turn, held some claim on her. A right to her that she had previously only associated with Choji and herself.

In the space of a second, her unease had turned to horror. She didn't have to spend any time wondering which boys her daughter had been referring to. (Her daughter, Karui's mind had hastened to assert.) She wasn't blind. Karui had always been aware of the connection between her daughter and the Nara and Yamanaka heirs. She'd always been fond of the boys. She'd certainly never felt threatened by them before.

And since that day, she hadn't been able to unsee this claim they had on each other. Even now, watching her daughter trust the boys to support her weight without complaint—as if they didn't even register her touch—it was so obvious it unsettled her. Karui brought her thumb up to her lips, chewing absently on her fingernail. Chocho seemed unbothered when Temari called—dragged—Shikadai away. She removed her arms from both boys' shoulders and got to her feet herself.

Karui continued to observe her daughter as she walked over, feeling like she was still missing something. And the feeling very nearly drove her insane. She'd never had the patience for mysteries.

"Are you heading out too?" Sai asked pleasantly beside her. In truth, she'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Looks like it," Chocho answered for her. "Later, Uncle Sai!"

And just like that, the answer clicked into place, feeling equally obvious. Uncle… Of course. How had she not seen it before? After all, she had always seen Shikadai and Inojin as her own nephews, in an adopted sense. That would make the three cousins, in a manner of speaking. And everyone knew cousins could sometimes be even closer than siblings. Yes. It all made sense again.

There was a new spring in her step as she led her daughter over to where her husband still stood with his team mates—his adopted cousins, to keep that analogy going. Already, her mind had moved on to pondering where they should go for dinner that night. Barbecue was always a worthy choice… And she felt like celebrating.

…

Only Sai was struck with a bit of melancholia upon seeing the trio break up for the day. He knew they wouldn't be apart for long, but to Sai, it was a little sad every time. He wondered sometimes if Temari and Karui realized what a beautiful thing they'd been welcomed into.

Sai knew his son had inherited a wonderful gift the day he'd been born. A bond passed down and strengthened with every generation. (And Sai considered himself to be something of an expert on bonds at this point.) Inojin would never have to struggle the way that he had, and for that, Sai was truly grateful.

He watched as his son finally finished the level and stood up. He had not moved as his friends left, utterly confident in the knowledge that they would return to him before long. Sai felt his heart warm at the sight, a frequent sensation these days.

His son gave him an odd look as he drew closer. Perhaps he was smiling too fondly for the situation at hand? Ino had informed him that he was often guilty of this where their son was involved.

Ino… He felt a new flood of warmth as he turned to look over at his wife, who was breaking apart from her own Shika-Cho companions to join him. Even his wife didn't truly understand the gift she'd given him the day they'd gotten married, welcoming him into her clan and this wonderful, longstanding bond.

Because Sai, Temari, and Karui were not just the spouses of the previous generation's trio. They were honorary Ino-Shika-Cho members, possessing their own connection. And it was a bond Sai would treasure for the rest of his days.

Review please!

I don't own Naruto.

Angst-ridden mind that I have, I almost ended this with a little section about Choza on his deathbed, looking forward to having lived his life and finally getting to reunite with his own trio… And then some logical part of my mind went—You just wrote the sappiest one-shot ever, you can't kill the mood with something like that! Maybe that's a fic for another time…

Also, I'm reasonably pleased with the way Karui's section came out. I feel like I don't know her all that well, and we're given very little as to how Choji and Karui got together, so… I just played her as being very straightforward, viewing things in a simple light. Like I said, I think it came out fairly well. Thank you for reading!