The Fox Sage

Ch. 25 : Surprise

Many years passed as the village was being rebuilt, Yoshino welcomed Ray into her home with open arms, since Ray didn't have any funding for her own place. Many of their friends even paired up, including Hinata and Naruto who were the first to get married. After the war Tsunade decided she had enough of the Hokage roll and it was passed to Kakashi, since Shizune her assistant followed her on her endeavors, Shikamaru stepped up. He told her to meet him at the barbeque place where they shared their first meal with Ino, Choji and Asuma. It had been rebuilt in the same location and looked the same as well, they were one of the few places that kept their old fashion looks. Ray walked there with Ino, "so how long have you and Shikamaru been together now?" Ino clasped her hands behind her back, "well...its been about four years" Ray smiled at the thought, "four years" Ino looked up at the sky, "you two have been together longer than any of us" she looked to Ray with a big smile, "yea" Ray smiled thinking back on hers and Shikamaru's time together.

When they reached the barbeque place Shikamaru was already there with all their close friends, Ino of course, Sai, Choji, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Lee, Tenten, Temari, Kankuro, Sauske and Garra were there even though Sauske was busy with secret missions and Garra was busy with Kazekage business. "Wow what a get together" Ray smiled ecstatically, she sat at the head of the table since it was the only seat left, she had Shikamaru on one side of her and Naruto at the other, everybody else was scattered in the seats around the table sitting next to their spouse while Garra sat at the other side of the table across from Ray. "I feel so inadequate taking the head of the table" she blushed, "come on enjoy it" Ino joked a few seats away. "What's the occasion, its been a long time since we have all been together like this" Ray looked down the table noting everybody there. "A reunion! As a signature of our youth!" Lee yelled, Ray looked at him taken aback, "Lee shut up" Tenten sat him back down annoyed, "why didn't I know about it till now" Ray laughed, "It's more of a celebration, that called for a reunion" Shino spoke quietly. "For what?" Ray looked around, "Hinata is pregnant" Naruto blushed holding Hinata close, "What!" Ray stood up, "that's great news!" Shikamaru took Ray's wrist sitting her back down. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Ray looked at him suspiciously, "nobody knew, I asked everybody to get together to announce it" Naruto laughed uncomfortably. 'There not telling me something, nobody else was excited about this' she looked around analyzing everybody, 'crap she's going to figure it out, damn it she asks to many questions, what a drag' Shikamaru rubbed his forehead. "What's wrong?" Ray placed her hand on top of Shikamaru's that had been resting on the table, "oh, I was just thinking, we should order our food" he held his hand up waving down the server. 'Something is defiantly up' she thought looking at Shikamaru questionably, 'he's planned something, so I'll let him have it...for now.' After they ordered they talked amongst themselves 'I need to wait, the more time I give her, the less she will think about it' Shikamaru thought to himself as he kept himself in the conversation. They continued their conversation through dinner and desert, 'I suppose that was all it was' Ray thought to herself as she nibbled on her cake.

After everybody had finished their desserts everybody was talking idly, 'I can't draw attention, she wouldn't like all attention on her' Shikamaru sighed as his heart began to beat faster. "Ray" Shikamaru leaned towards her grabbing her attention away from Naruto, Naruto looked at Shikamaru with a big smile before he caught Shikamaru's eyes with his own, causing him to look away continuing a conversation with Hinata. "Yes?" Ray smiled at him, Shikamaru shifted in his seat uncomfortably, not saying anything for a moment. "Are you ok?" Ray took her hands in his on top of the table, Shikamaru turned his hands to dominate her hands with his own, "yes, I'm fine" he chuckled softly. Ray looked to him eagerly, Shikamaru looked deep into her eyes, Ray returned this look. She was so fixated on him she didn't realized everybody looking at them. "Will you marry me?" he said softly, Ray gasped, she was so shocked she didn't speak for a few seconds, Shikamaru sat there eagerly awaiting an answer. Naruto finally kicked Ray softly under the table breaking her fixation. She shook her head glancing at Naruto for no more than a second bringing her attention back to Shikamaru, "of course" she spoke softly smiling sweetly at him. Shikamaru could hardly contain his excitement, he pulled a box out of his pocket handing it to her, she opened it and gasped, "my father left it for me, to give specifically to you" Shikamaru laughed. Ray took the ring out of its resting spot in the box, Shikamaru took it from her placing it on her finger. He then stood up pulling Ray up with him kissing her passionately. "Woho!" Ino jumped up yelling "finally" Sakura sighed. Ray and Shikamaru broke their kiss, Ray turned to the group having teared up while Shikamaru held her close by her waist. "All of you suck" she laughed pointed to everybody one by one, they returned her criticism with laughter. "Wait so are you really pregnant" she turned to Hinata whipping her cheeks, "yes I am actually pregnant" she laughed softly. "I can't believe you didn't catch on" Shikamaru looked to Ray rubbing the back of his head. "Well I knew something was up but I didn't know you were going to propose" she smiled up at him, "then my efforts weren't in vein" he smiled back at her. That queued the time for everybody to part their separate ways, Garra and his siblings took up a room to stay in for the night while everybody else returned to their own homes.

Ray and Shikamaru were walking around for a moment till Ray realized they were heading in the direction of the Nara forest. "Where are we going, isn't your house that way?" Ray pointed in a direction they weren't heading, "no" he forced his hands in his pockets. Ray looked at him in confusion, 'am I lost?' she scratched her head. "You will see soon" he smiled pulling one hand out of his pocket to take her hand, Ray continued to look at him confused, "don't you think I've had enough surprises for today?" she complained as she took his hand, "no" he shook his head, Ray scoffed impatiently. Shikamaru stopped them at a house near the Nara forest, "Here we are" he smiled as he walked up to the house, "where are we?" she asked following him. "Our home" he pulled a key out of his pocket, "our..." Ray smiled, "our home!" she jumped up hugging him around his neck, "we have our own home?" she released him still holding him, "we do, I wanted to surprise you after dinner" he opened the door pulling her inside. "What if I had said no?" she smirked playfully as she sat down to pull her shoes off, "I knew you would say yes" he laughed sitting to pull his shoes off as well, "oh really" she leaned close to him poking his chest. "I like to believe I know you well enough" he poked her back, "If that is the case then why didn't you ask earlier" Ray looked at him accusingly, "well uh..." he rubbed the back of his head, "yea that's what I thought" she jumped on him pushing him to the floor. "Do you want to take a look?" he asked laughing with her, "of course" she jumped up looking around. As she walked around looking through the house she found there was four bedrooms, three bathrooms including a personal bathroom in the master suite, an office and of course the living area, kitchen and dining area. They were all joined together by some doorways inside but mostly by pathways surrounding the outside of the house. There was also a lovely garden area right off the house and a training area on the opposite side of the house. "Why do we need so much room?" Ray smiled as she found herself back in the foyer area, "for growth" he smiled, "growth?" Ray tilted her head in confusion. "Yea" he wrapped his arms around her waist, "we have an office for obvious reasons, our own bedroom, a room for our shogi battles" he smirked at her, then two more rooms for growth" he continued to be vague in his explanation, "what do you mean by growth?" she placed her hands on his chest, "children" he leaned his forehead on hers, Rays eyes widened. "Children" her eyes softened just before she closed them. "I do have a question" she backed away still in his arms, "what is it?" he asked slightly concerned, "why is there no furniture" she looked around at the empty house. "Oh, well" he rubbed the back of his head, "I know how particular you are so I thought we would furniture shop together, I just brought the bed over from my mom's house so we had somewhere to sleep" he laughed. "I see, you do know me then" she laughed with him. "So, I can take a bath in our new house, right?" she backed away a little still in his arms, "yea" he nodded. Ray then walked to the bathroom adjoining their room, Shikamaru followed her but stopped laying on the bed in the room. He heard the water begin to run, he glanced up seeing her silhouette through the paned door as she undressed, he squirmed in the bed at the thought of her naked body.