Temari would be an excellent mother.

Shikamaru blinked and gave his head a slight shake. The thought had emerged from nowhere it seemed, but looking at the scene in front of him, it wasn't hard to see where it had come from. The Sand Siblings had come to Konoha for some diplomatic function, and Temari has agreed to babysit the child of a high official. Shikamaru laid his head back on his hands. She babysat the infant, and he babysat her, even if she would have attacked him if he phrased it that way.

When she volunteered for the chore, Shikamary had expected she would have complained for awhile about it, or else just left the child in its sleep basket and not bothered with it. Subtlty wasn't Temari's strong suit and he had never seen any indication that she liked children at all. But, his mind reminded him, he had been wrong, and it was almost refreshing to see this new side. They had traveled together many times, but this was her first time to be... delicate?

The baby was fussing, propped up in her lap. It had rejected its bottle, and seemed bent on causing a bit of strife. Temari, who refused to tolerate weakness in others, was serene, eyes half shut, bouncing the baby lightly. When she stopped for a moment to pick up a spit-up cloth, the child erupted into screaming, which faded again as she began to bounce. Shikamaru snickered a little.

"He doesn't like to be still?" He asked, his first attempt at conversation since Temari had earlier given him a rather frightening explanation of why the milk in the bottle was oddly colored. The diplomat's wife was no beauty, and the thought of milk from.... ugh. Troublesome. Temari this time gave a slight shrug, adjusting the child to a higher seated position.

"Colic. The bouncing makes his stomach hurt less." She explained. The child seemed to be proof of the sucess of this manuver, its whimpers turned to soft babbling noises. Shikamaru assumed this was a good sound.

"Oh." He yawned and Temari hid thin-veiled amusement. "You babysit much?"

"No." She answered. "I did when i was younger. It was a good excuse to get away from the bickering." She slowed the bouncing as the baby was nodding off.

"Babies that little?" Shikamaru asked.

"Younger. Once a four day old newborn, although the mother stayed. She just needed the sleep." Temari laughed softly at the thought. She gently laid the baby in the basket to sleep and went to a sink in the corner to wash her hands. Shikamaru watched her, and she gave a shrug and smiled.

"Why? Havn't you?"

"No." He answered. "I really havn't been around many infants. I'm and only child, and I really had no interest." Temari gave a dismissive wave at him and smoothed her clothes.

"Two baby brothers, remember? I don't remember when Kankuro was born. I wasn't quite a year old then. But I remember Gaara." She giggled. "He was so tiny, i used to steal him from his wetnurse."

Shikamaru found himself oddly interested in this, if only for the image of the feared Gaara as a tiny thing. Temari lightly rocked the basket back and forth when the child began to stir. Shikamaru waited, but she didn't seem to have anymore to say. They sat in a comfortable silence for awhile.

"So, do you want kids?" He finally asked her.

"Maybe. Maybe a boy and a girl. Two boys fight a lot, and two girls bicker. One of each would be nice."

Shikamaru felt something warn bubbling up, somewhere in his chest.

Troublesome.