My Big Fat Ninja Wedding
Chapter 14
Tayuya looked over at her new husband and laughed. Shikamaru was gracelessly sprawled naked across the bed, too lazy to bother covering himself, he had simply fallen asleep. She resisted the urge to slap his backside to try to wake him, she just smiled and pulled the covers around him, then pulled him close.
...
Yoshino stood silently in Shikamaru's old room. It was almost empty now, Kidoumaru had moved all of Shika's things he'd bothered to take, as Shikamaru and Shikato were too lazy to move the boxes themselves.
"Strange, isn't it?" Shikato said softly.
Yoshino nodded, "I knew this day had to come, but I thought, with him being almost as lazy as you, I thought he'd refuse to leave." She put an arm around her husband, who held her close, "In a few days Kidoumaru is going to be gone too, and we'll be alone."
"It's not like they're moving to Takigakure or something," He said softly, "You'll be able to walk over and nag to your heart's content whenever you feel the urge." They both laughed softly.
"Kidoumaru's family is supposed to arrive today, at about seven PM. Do you think his parents will come?"
Shikato shook his head sadly, "From what I've heard . . ." he sighed, "We're his parents now. We can't replace his birth parents, and it will hurt him, being rejected, but we have to do what we can for him."
...
Shinigami stared in fury at the being in front of him.
Asshur held a sword in his right hand, and intended to put it to use. It would have been funny had it not been so openly disrespectful.
"So, God of Death, do you fear to fight me?" Asshur stroked his long, plaited beard.
The caverns of hell filled with a low, hideous sound, the laughter of the Shinigami, "I have not fought another god in many, many years, but I have always won." Shinigami pulled a long, terrible sword from the air, Asshur rushed forward, swinging his blade with expert precision at his opponent, "Your rule is at an end! I am a warrior god! You prey upon the dead like a ghoul! I founded an empire from nothing!"
Shinigami blocked the blow, straining against Asshur's physical might. "Perhaps you were a warrior, once, but now you are no more than a demon with delusions of grandeur." Shinigami let loose a terrible kick, striking Asshur in the right side, sending him flying across the cavern and crashing into a wall, "As I recall, the Assyrians had no knowledge of the Eastern Martial Arts . . ." He smiled coldly, "And they were destroyed by the Babylonians so thoroughly that archaeologists denied they even existed for centuries."
Asshur lept back to his feet, wiping a small stream of blood from his lower lip, "I wonder where you will go when I've killed you. Is there a lower Hell than this?" Shinigami did not reply, instead launching his own attack, crossing swords with the fallen god. Asshur lept back, out of striking distance. If brute force wouldn't work . . .
He began to chant, calling upon the dark forces for aid.
"I grow weary of this, Asshur, if you intend to sully this battle with magic, then you leave me no choice." He held up his lantern, his eternal trap, and captured the demon within. "Pathetic." He sighed, then turned to see the crowd that had gathered to watch the battle, noting that the one called Eiichiro was furiously writing a record of what had transpired in a large book.
De Infernalis Historium. The History of Hell.
He laughed and returned to his place, bearing his newest toy with him.
...
As Shikamaru walked through the door to the Super Burger, all the guys, except Jirobou, stood and cheered.
Shikamaru blushed bright red and shook his head, "Lay off, you troublesome perverts."
"That's right," Jirobou said, "Gentlemen don't discuss these things."
"Who ever said we were gentlemen, " Ukon laughed, "We want all the details!" A shadow wrapped itself around the twin's mouth, and everyone else went back to their lunches, seeing that Shikamaru wasn't talking. Kidoumaru laughed and waved him over to the table he was sharing with Zaku, Dosu and an obscenely grinning Naruto.
"Don't give me that look, Naruto!"
Everyone went silent as Tayuya walked into the restaurant, "Move your #!, Whiskers!" She pushed Naruto out of the way and slid her own chair next to Shikamaru's.
"What are you looking at, you #! Windbag?"
"Nothing!" Zaku squeaked, then looked away.
"See," She put an arm around Shikamaru, "You have to be #! Assertive to get what you want!"
Shikamaru smiled, "'Good things come to those who wait' always worked for me."
"Yeah, but they come faster if you're assertive!"
"What if I'd decided two years ago to marry Temari?"
Tayuya's eyes widened, "Okay, so sometimes waiting is good . . ." She stroked his hair, "I'll go order us some lunch."
...
The guards at the gate stood slack-jawed as the two new arrivals came into view, they did not recognize the pale, sad-looking man to the right, but the pale, sad-looking man to the left was none other than . . .
"Uchiha Itachi!"
The guard took a battle stance while waving for his partner to fetch help.
Itachi walked over and stood directly in front of the guard, "I've come to surrender. I'm ready for whatever punishment is judged fit for my crimes."
...
Kidoumaru and the others stood on the platform as the train pulled into the station, carrying members of the Naraku clan, "You've never met my family, have ya' Babe?" Kidoumaru slung an arm around Sakura's shoulders,
"I've met Eiji and his parents . . ."
Kidoumaru grinned as the first Naraku emerged from the train. He was an odd sight, a teenage boy gaudily dressed and wearing enough jewelry and make-up to stand out in a drag-queen convention.
"Hey, Eickichi!" Eickichi gave an odd smile and stepped aside as another figure emerged. Kidoumaru gasped loudly, and Sakura turned to see his dark features pale, his eyes locked on the figure walking toward him.
"M-mom?" He ran forward and threw his arms around her, "I . . ." He started to sob, his whole body shaking from the force of emotion. Keiko put her arms around him, visibly shaken. She hadn't expected such a reaction, to be honest, she'd tried to avoid just this, but the bond was too strong, seeing her son again brought back all of the good memories and washed away the anger and resentment.
Sakura stood dumbly nearby, watching as Kidoumaru wept. She reached up and wiped the tears that were flowing from her own eyes.
Maybe things will be alright . . .
...
To be continued...