A/N: Final Chapter! Thanks to all who have read, reviewed or made this story a favorite. It's one of mine for sure. In the previous chapter Shikamaru had gone off to strategize...little does he know that some old friends are doing the same thing for him.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing in this story.

Chapter 6: Shikaku

Nara Shikaku nodded to the bartender as he sat down on "his stool" between Akimichi Chouza and Yamanaka Inoichi. The pair shared a conspiratorial look behind Shikaku's back while he took a long pull on his sake.

"Well brother," Inoichi clapped Shikaku on the back. "My lovely Asuka tells me that Yoshino was in recently buying more cabbage roses since she'd exhausted my supply of daffodils. I take it the Ambassador was over for dinner again?"

Chouza snickered.

"Who's actually courting that girl? Shikamaru or Yoshino?"

"I'd say Yoshino's courting her for Shikamaru." Inoichi smirked. "Really Shikaku, is your son so lazy that his mother has to do his courting for him?"

"My son may very well be lazy, but he's also a Nara male. Once he figures out that he has feelings for her, he'll figure out a way to win her." Shikaku motioned the bartender for another drink. "I just hope he quits complaining long enough to realize what's clear as day to everyone else."

"Well," Chouza said. "At least he notices her. I've seen the way he looks at her when they're together. He definently notices."

"As does the girl," Inoichi brushed his long blonde ponytail off his shoulder. "But what seems inevitable to everyone else will never happen unless Shikamaru makes the first move. That girl is the daughter of one Kazekage, the sister to another, an Ambassador, not to mention a Jonin in her own right. To be even slightly worthy of her, your son will have to become a Jonin. There's nothing else for it."

"You're going to have to take that boy aside and have a few words with him." Chouza finished, motioning the bartender.

Shikaku set down his drink and stroked his beard. He remembered watching his son battle the sand kunoichi during the Chunin Exam. He'd seen his son almost motivated to win, simply because she wasn't going to be easy to beat. He thought about all the times since then that the two had interacted. How just the idea of the girl coming to dinner caused him to take some initiative and buy flowers without Yoshino having to nag him. How he glowed around her, at least until Yoshino embarrassed him. How whenever she was back in Suna there was less of a "spring" to his slouch. There was definently something there. But his friends were right. It was high time he had a talk with that boy. Right after one more drink.

o-o-o

Shikaku spotted his son lying flat on his back in the meadow staring at the clouds. His eyes were open, and his expression showed that he was thinking hard about something. To break the ice of what would probably be a long lecture, Shikaku decided to have a little fun.

"Kagemane no Jutsu!" He whispered fiercely. Then grinned widely as his son was forced upright into dancing a jig.

"Aaaaaah! What the hell?!"

Shikaku roared with laughter.

"Dad?!"

"Surely my lazy son isn't laying here mooning over some troublesome woman?"

"What?" Shikamaru was wide-eyed. "It's not like that! I wasn't mooning! I was...I was thinking." He ended weakly.

Shikaku realized he'd managed to fluster his son and released the shadow possession technique.

Shikamaru glared at his father and made to stomp off, but Shikaku grabbed his son's arm.

"We both know you're not a girl, so no running off and pouting like one. I'm here because it's time you set about becoming a man for real. Starting with becoming a Jonin. You talk about one day having a wife and two children. That goal is unattainable as a Chunin unless you live with your mother and I forever. That's not going to happen. I don't need two headstrong women in my household, and no woman worth her family name will marry a man of a lower rank."

He released his hold on Shikamaru's arm. The boy wasn't going anywhere. He hadn't even crossed his arms or rolled his eyes yet.

"Now, pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you. This is probably the most important thing I can teach you aside from Jutsus." Shikaku took a deep breath and looked his son square in the eyes.

"You won't truly be a man until you learn how to own your feelings. If what you're feeling for that girl is anything close to love, even the slightest inkling, then you'd better own it. I've heard you call her troublesome, but another man will call her a keeper. If you don't realize that for yourself, then you deserve nothing better than one of those silly girls who make everyone's skin crawl." He paused. "Now, I say this with as much love as a father can have for a son. If you bring home one of those silly girls, I will lose all respect for you. You will have proven yourself to be lazy beyond all expectation, and you will end up miserable with someone like that. You are a Nara man, we may not be the most motivated when it comes to normal everyday things. But when it comes to love," he smiled. "When it comes to love, if it isn't full of fire, then it isn't worth anything. I don't want you to miss out on that fire."

The father and son stared stonily at eachother for a full minute. They both knew which "her" Shikaku had been referring to.

"She left this morning, and won't be back until the Chunin Exams. As troublesome as it is, I will take everything you've said into consideration."

Shikaku's face broke into a huge grin, and he wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders.

"Thoughts like those are best mulled over with a sake in your hand. Just don't tell your mother!"

o-o-oOWARIo-o-o