Mother of the year
The only thing she remember feeling was heartbreak.
Chapter 4
Things looked better the next morning. It was the first day of the Chunin exam and for once, Temari found herself looking forward to the challenge. Anything that could distract her from her brooding thoughts was welcomed at this point. She quickly woke Ga-chan and helped him dress. She set off for the exam building with the sleepy boy tottering behind her.
Along the way, she met Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei," she greeted. She watched as his eye roamed to Ga-chan who gave a big yawn. Kakashi offered his arms to the boy and Ga-chan eagerly accepted, no longer wanting to walk. Settling the boy on his hip, Kakashi followed Temari. Soon, Ga-chan was asleep again, his head lolling on Kakashi's shoulder.
To her surprise, Kakashi offered to watch the boy during the exam. Temari gave him a suspicious look. She consented a moment later. She needed to find a place for him anyhow while she proctored. Kakashi was a suppose genius. The man should be able to watch one child without incident.
Temari gently woke Ga-chan up to let him know she was leaving. "I have to go to work, alright? I want you to stay with Kakashi-sensei."
The boy grew teary eyed. "I want to go with Okaa-san," he sniffed. He tried to wriggle out of Kakashi's embrace and reached for her. She couldn't be quite sure, but she have sworn she heard Kakashi muttered Momma's boy underneath his breath. She gave the jounin a warning look. She turned her attention back to the whining child.
"Okaa-san, I mean, I, have to work and you can't come," Temari patted his head. "I'll be back soon to pick you up, alright?"
"Do you promise?"
"Yes." Without thinking about it, she leaned forward and kissed Ga-chan on the forehead and left.
"Yo. Want to see a trick?" she heard Kakashi asked. She heard a poof and a delighted squeal.
"You have a very interesting child." A young, dark hair woman wearing the Hidden Rain headband remarked. She joined Temari as they walked into the building. Scowling, Temari hoped the woman would get the hint and leave her be. People were just nosy these days.
"Is that the father?"
"No. Excuse me," Temari was curt. There was no pretense at all at being polite. The Hidden Rain shinobi seemed a bit miffed at the rebuke. Ignoring the burning glaze the woman threw at her back, Temari made her way to the floor where the proctors were gathering. Inside the room, forty-five proctors in all, coming from every village, were lounging around. Most were chatting boisterously. She headed towards where the four main proctors were.
The main proctor from the Hidden Leaf didn't bother disguising his interest. Chewing on a senbon, the jounin offered her a charming smile. He introduced himself as Genma of the Hidden Leaf. Other proctors started to follow his example.
Temari didn't bother remembering any of their names. Instead, she turned her attention to the Hokage who began their meeting. The Hokage seemed quite bored standing up there reciting all the rules, reminding them, here she threw a hard look at the land of Mist proctors, of protocols. She emphasized on what they can do, but more importantly what they can't do and merrily went on her way the moment she came to the end of her speech.
"I guess I'm up first," the Hidden Leaf jounin said. He gathered his proctors and left. Curious, Temari followed the other testers to another room where they could observe the candidates unseen. Almost immediately, she picked Naruto from the crowd. His orange suit, while much more tamed then the one he wore years ago, still shone like a beacon in the mist of somber grays, blacks, and browns. Sakura was next to him and Sai, their newest member, was on the other side. Both Naruto and Sakura's faces were sullen. Temari wondered if they were remembering the last time they took the chunin exam. The one where a different dark hair boy was by their side.
"We have some good candidates this year," the tester from the Hidden Fire said.
"All we have to do is weed out the losers," the tester from the Hidden Sound agreed. Bored, Temari watched as the Hidden Leaf jounin moved his hands rapidly, already beginning the exam. The next thing the candidates knew, they were in an open field with senbons raining down at them in torrents from the sky. Dodge. Weave. Skip. Hop. The Hidden Leaf jounin standing in the front seemed to take great pleasure in watching the hopping and dancing of the candidates as they tried to avoid be hit. The proctors standing out to the side were silent. They watched as the examinees tried to dodge the oncoming needles. When one candidate went down, they teleported in and grabbed the fallen and teleported out. Instant failure.
Looking at Team Yamato, Temari raised an eyebrow when she noticed they were standing still, a great feat for Naruto. They were content, watching from their safe area in a bubble-like shield, created by Sakura's chakra. It allowed the fallen Senbon to fall harmlessly around them. Like a raindrop falling around an umbrella.
Other teams, noticing Team Yamato strategy, tried to copy. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have Sakura's chakra controlling abilities. Either their shields were too weak sending the senbon right through, or their shields were too strong, creating a magnetic field that attracted Senbon instead of deflecting them. As much as the pink hair girl annoyed her, Temari did give credit where it was due.
"Alright, Sakura-chan!" Naruto crowed.
Temari rolled her eyes.
"Interesting!"
Looking at the what caused one of the tester to exclaimed, Temari watched as a ninja from the Hidden Rain, using Taijustu, moved faster than the eye could see, randomly grabbing senbons from the sky and tossing it over her shoulder as if it was nothing.
Temari thought she looked familiar. That women was that annoying nin from earlier that asked if Kakashi was Ga-chan father.
"Very good," one of the tester noted.
"Isn't there something a little off about her?" another asked. That questions was met by shrugs.
One and a half hour passed before a whistle blew signaling the end of the first exam.
"My turn tomorrow," the tester from the Hidden Sound rubbed his hand gleefully.
With that, all the proctors were dismissed for the day. Adjusting the fan on her back, Temari walked out of the building and frowned when she noticed Kakashi and Ga-chan crouched on the ground. With their backs to her, she couldn't see what they were doing. She had a bad feeling.
"What's going on?" she asked. She watched as two guilty expressions looked up at her. She heard a small, meowing sound and peered over their shoulder to see a small cat looking calmly up. When it spoke, Temari almost face faulted.
"Temari-san," the cat greeted. His tone was friendly and polite.
"Umino-san?" She stared at the brown furred kitten. When the cat nodded his head, Temari turned to Ga-chan who looked as if he would rather be anywhere else but here.
"My fault," Kakashi spoke up. "I was teaching him some ninjutsu. It... went slightly out of hand."
"I'm sorry, Okaa-san!" Ga-chan threw himself into her arms. "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei!"
"It's alright," Umino-san said. He tried to reassure the boy. "I've always wanted to know what it was like to be a cat."
"You do?" Ga-chan lifted his head, sniffing.
The cat nodded. There was a strange expression on his face. It took Temari a moment to realized that Umino was trying to give the boy a smile. It was probably the kind of smile that must have comforted all the pre-genin he had to teach.
With an abrupt poof, Umino Iruka was back to the way he was before. "No harm," he tried to assure Temari.
"Either way, I apologize for the trouble," Temari bowed. She made Ga-chan bowed as well. "Thank you for taking care of Ga-chan, Kakashi-sensei. Good-bye." She moved away quickly.
"Bye!" Ga-chan waved to the men merrily as he ran after his mother. "Okaa-san. Are you mad?"
"No," Temari sighed. At least no one got hurt. "What were you trying to do?"
"Henge," he said. He gave her a big goofy smile. "Kakashi-sensei said that Naruto Onichan was really good at it. Do you think he'd teach me?"
Temari remembered Naruto's sexy no jutsu and didn't answer.
"I can do another trick, want to see?" Ga-chan stopped in the middle of the street. He bowed his head down and concentrated. Temari stopped as well, curious to see what the boy was going to do. When he lifted his head, the sharingan in his eyes whirled madly as he stared at his mother.
"It doesn't hurt anymore!" he beamed.
Temari gave a little jump and quickly pushed his head down. By that time, it was too late. A group of passersby had already noticed. Whispers of "Uchiha" traveled quickly. Grabbing Ga-chan in her arms, she took off to her apartment, not resting or taking a breather. She only allowed herself to stop when she closed the door and quickly ward it and the apartment. She slid to the ground with her back against the door.
"Okaa-san?" Ga-chan asked.
"It's a good trick," she tried to sound happy for him. "Can you turned it off?"
"Yep," the boy bowed his head. When it came up, Temari was relieved to see Ga-chan's bright brown eyes again.
"Gaara," she spoke seriously. She grabbed the boy and looked him in the eyes. "Promise me you won't do that trick anymore."
"Why?"
"Because…" Temari was at a loss for words. Suddenly, she realized why she desperately wanted to keep it a secret. "Some people might want to take you away from me." If Ga-chan is a Uchiha, there was no way Konoha would willingly let her leave with him.
"Take me away from you?" Ga-chan sounded horrified.
"Yes. Promise you won't do it again?"
"I promise," he said solemnly.
"Good."
Temari quickly got up from the floor. "Come on, I'll try to make dinner." She didn't think she could stand another one of Konoha's public scrutiny. They were going to have to eat in.
Later, Mother and Son looked at the quivering black mess on their plates.
"Okaa-san. What's this?"
"Mac and Cheese."
Ga-chan poked. He took a bite and made a funny face. To his credit though, he said nothing as he ate. Temari grimaced and ate her own share. They washed the dishes and went to bed hungry that night.
Later, something woke her, jolting her from sleep into awareness. A pair of red sharingan eyes stared at her from across the room. She sleepily thought that it was Gaara and told him to go to bed. The moment her head laid itself back on the pillow, her eyes sprung opened. She reached for the kunai she had hidden under her pillow. Before her hands could even touch her weapon, Temari felt a heavy body pin her to the bed. Two hands were at her throat, preventing her from screaming. When the moonlight shifted, she was finally able to get a good clear look at Uchiha Sasuke's face as he peered down at her. He leaned to whisper in her ear.
"Take the boy and leave."
"Why?" she managed to choke out.
"Orochimaru."
Then he vanished as if he was never there. Sitting up, Temari rubbed her aching neck. She wouldn't be surprised to see bruises in the shape of his hand print in the morning. Pissed, she got up from bed. She was a jounin. The boy never made it pass genin before he deflected. How could she have not sense his presence? Quickly heading for Ga-chan room, she breathed with relief to see him still snuggled in and happily dreaming.
Take the boy and leave, Uchiha said. She could still hear him whispering in her ear. Temari shuddered.
"Ga-chan. Wake up. It's time to go."
"Where are we going, Okaa-san?" he looked up from his bed as she raced around, throwing his things in his bag.
"Home. Get dress," she said. Yes. She would feel better when they were back in Suna. Racing to her own room, Temari hasty packed. Once she was back in Suna, she write a letter to the Hokage explaining her hasty departure.
The sun hadn't risen yet. The morning air was still cold and breezy. It was a good thing she made Ga-chan put on a jacket before they left. They traveled quickly and quietly through the deserted streets of the market.
"Okaa-san?"
Looking down, she noticed how scared and frighten he looked. He picked up on her anxious mood. Taking his hand, Temari gave him a reassuring smile as they turned around a corner.
"Going somewhere?"
The shinobi from the Hidden Rain was leaning nonchalantly on the wall of a nearby shop.
"Just taking a breath of fresh air," Temari said. The irritation shone through in her voice.
"With your things?" The shinobi questioned. A small smirk was on her lips. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you're skipping town."
"We're going back to Suna," Ga-chan piped up. Temari hushed him.
The shinobi just laughed. "How about I do you a favor, Sand-nin? Let me take the boy off your hands."
Temari's eyes narrowed. She moved Ga-chan behind her as the Shinobi moved towards them. Her eyes opened in horror. "Orochimaru." She recognized those snake-like eyes anywhere.
"Do you have any idea who that boy really is?"
Temari backed up another step as Ga-chan whimpered behind her.
"I never thought I'll see this day, to be honest. To think I finally get to see what a Uchiha and Namikaze child would look like."
Looking around, Temari desperately wanted to see if any other Shinobi were around. When she saw none, she cursed. The security in this village was non-existent. It had to be if someone like Orochimaru could infiltrate it a second time.
"Akatsuki," Orochimaru continued. "Did you know they performed experiments on humans?"
"What kind of experiment?" Keep him talking, distract him, it was almost sunrise. A shinobi or two were bound to come along. Until then, Temari had to keep Orochimaru occupied .
"They took abandoned children and injected them with the DNA of different Hokages, hoping to recreate their powers and abilities." Orochimaru seemed to enjoy the look on her face. "Out of sixty only one lived. I believe you already know Yamato." Orochimaru stared at Ga-chan. "Then, there this child. He's special."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Temari demanded to know.
Orochimaru smiled widely at Ga-chan. "Not only does he have fourth hokage's blood flowing through his veins, he has Uchiha Madara's DNA as well. Interesting combination, don't you think? A lot of other children died before this one took. I'm curious as to how he came into your care."
"I don't know what you're talking about. This is my son," Temari spat out.
"Come now. We know that's not true," Orochimaru said. He looked smug. "Going by age, you had the child at what? Eleven?"
"Twelve," Temari retorted. She watched in satisfaction as his face turned red with anger.
"Enough of this," he strolled forward. He ripped Temari away from Ga-chan. Almost like she was some insignificant insect, he threw her through the wooden wall of a nearby restaurant. The foundation shook as she sailed through and her body rammed into the chairs and tables in her path.
Temari groaned when her body finally stopped. The impact left her with several broken ribs. Her left shoulder was dislocated. Her wrist, trying to break her fall, was sprained and twisted rather awkwardly. Temari coughed as she breathed in the settling dust.
"Okaa-san!"
Gritting her teeth, Temari forced herself to rise. She staggered to the hole she had made with her body. Grabbing her fan from her back, she opened it. She saw through blurred vision that Orochimaru was looming over a frighten Gaara.
She spat blood onto her fan. "You bastard," she sneered. She lifted her fan with her right hand and despite her shoulder's protest, she sent her summon after him. She darted forward and grabbed Ga-chan as Orochimaru busied himself with Kamatari.
Temari didn't stay for the outcome. She teleported them as far as she could and ran. It was only a couple of blocks, but every step that took her and Ga-chan away from Orochimaru made her feel better. Up ahead, she could see the Hokage tower. It was the last hope she had. Tsunade had faced Orochimaru before. Ga-chan... if she could just get Ga-chan to the Hokage, then he should be safe.
Temari hoisted him into her only working arm in order to move faster. She had to mournfully ditched her fan to get rid of the excess weight as she leaped from one rooftop to the next. Her muscles ached and the pain from her ribs made her eyes sting, but she never faltered. She could feel Orochimaru's chakra behind her. Apparently, the crazed man didn't care if the village knew he was there. All he saw was the boy he wanted to possess.
A child who had the DNA of Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage, and Uchiha Madara, the first and rumored to be the most powerful Sharingan user, Temari tried not to scare Ga-chan as she embraced him tightly.
"Holy!" Somebody's curse rang out in the air. Poofing onto nearby rooftops, dozens of Shinobis who felt the nasty and powerful chakra had came to investigate. They reacted quickly throwing themselves between Temari and Orochimaru.
Some Anbu members were in the fray as well.
An alarm shrilled over the sleeping town.
Leaping onto that last rooftop, Temari sent chakra to her feet as she propelled for the tower. She braced herself as she smashed through the window. She shielded Ga-chan, taking most of the blows herself, as they rolled onto the floor.
"What's going on here?"
Temari looked up at the Fifth Hokage, who was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and frowning.
"Orochimaru!" Temari got to her feet. "He's coming! He's after Gaara!"
Ga-chan, confused, began to wail. Instinctively, she leaped out of the way when a large snake crashed through the walls, separating her from the Tsunade. On the snake's back, Orochimaru glared down.
"I want the child," he rasped.
Temari moved desperately back as his bony hands reached for her. He was knocked off his snake by a vicious kick from Tsunade however.
"Are you aright?" Right at her side, Shikamaru appeared. His headband was on backwards. His chunin vest was buttoned wrong and his hair was loose and not tied back in its usual ponytail. He had woken in a hurry, obviously, and Temari almost hugged him from sheer joy.
Her joy was short-lived when the body of Tsunade came burling into Shikamaru, knocking both shinobi back. Orochimaru had reached them and grabbed onto Ga-chan shirt, trying to yank him from Temari's arms.
"Let go you foolish girl," he snarled. She sneered back. With one hand, she grasped a kunai and aimed it at his heart. It never connected. With her hasty movement, Orochimaru was able to yank Ga-chan out of her grasp and tossed her away, making her barrel back into Tsunade and Shikamaru, knocking them down again.
"Okaa-san!"
Ga-chan looked so terrified in Orochimaru gasp. "I won't need Uchiha Sasuke anymore, it seems." He turned away to depart.
"Gaara!" Temari screamed. She watched as Orochimaru got right back up on his Snake. In the blink of an eye, Ga-chan disappeared from his arms and reappeared in the arms of someone new on the scene.
Eyes whirling madly with the sharingan, Uchiha Sasuke stared stonily up at his former mentor.