Chapter 125
Chiyo jumps from one place to another trying to evade the shadows rising from the ground trying to immobilize her. There are also orange clothed clones—lots of them—that appear trying to box her in. There are also kunais that fly towards her and disappear then appear again as scalpel blades from a different direction and a large hand trying to capture her.
Chiyo knows that the boy's strategy is to tire her out. Catching her breath, she directs her puppets and concentrates them towards Shikamaru. The puppet's weapons dripping with a different kind of poison that will work even with Shikamaru's mask on, as long as it's able to puncture his skin. The other nins fall back to help Shikamaru evade the simultaneous attacks on him.
Chiyo shouldn't lose her focus here or she wouldn't be able to achieve her objective.
She's old, true, but she's still capable. She won't be defeated here. She has an arsenal of poisons and weapons. She can successfully take Shikadai and then she can redeem herself.
—oOo—
These are memories...of a kid who yearns for acknowledgment. And even with people around him, he appears all alone.
"Ino? Did you find it?" Temari asks. They are at a safe distance from the fight so as Chiyo won't detect Ino's intrusion into her mind.
"I can't find it," Ino admits. "I'll try again."
Temari nods her head. Her friend has greatly improved her skill that she doesn't need to touch the target's head to reach her subconsciousness but in this instance maybe they need to get closer to Chiyo. But the old woman has more tricks up her sleeves. Shikamaru and the others must be able to restrain Chiyo first before Ino can approach her. But that is proving more difficult. With as little as half of a millimeter of wrong move, Shikamaru, Naruto, Choji and the two Suna nins might get hit by the puppets' poisoned weapons.
Furthermore, the jutsus that Shikamaru and the others can use are severely limited. Those that can produce too much heat are not to be utilized and that includes the rasengan. The puppets may successfully remove any of their mask at anytime.
Temari wants to shout at Shikamaru to make it fast but that would give her and Ino's rocky hiding place away and the puppets may turn on them. Shikamaru still hasn't been telepathically informed by Ino that Shikadai has been poisoned. The only information Shikamaru and the others have receive is that Chiyo needs to be caught...alive.
The fact that Ino needs to concentrate hard on her given task, staying put is the best strategy for Temari and Ino for now.
Temari can't allow her emotions free reign or she will lose control and they will lose their advantage. She can only order Ino to hurry.
"Damn it! We need the antidote!" Temarirasps quietly at Ino. The decision to wait for the others to accomplish their task making her feel useless...but then, never again would she lay Shikadai on the ground, unprotected, just for her to be able to join in the fight. The last time she did it, Chiyo got a hold of her son that easily. "My baby—" Temari's voice trails away as she looks at the infant. Shikadai looks like he's just sleeping. He isn't breathing but his body is still warm.
—oOo—
The baby sleeps a lot. And only cries when he's hungry for his bottle or when he's uncomfortable in his soiled diapers.
Then at the early age of two years, the boy can write his name starting with a big, squiggly letter S, showing his genius early on.
Then at three, he starts to ask a lot of questions. Why is the sand hot? Why is the sky always blue? What are trees? Where is his mother? What is his father like? Does he look like him? Is he like his father?
He is then given a puppet to shut him up. He is finally told that both his parents are dead. He doesn't believe that at first but…
He celebrates his fourth birthday still without them.
If his father and mother are still alive...they aren't searching for him hard enough.
It's better that they are dead...rather than continue thinking they're still alive and have simply abandoned him.
So when he turns five, he stops asking irrelevant questions.
As he grows older, he starts learning the basics about what his guardian claims to be his father's jutsu and of course, poisons. He's a real genius for starting to grasp the complexities of mixing non lethal ingredients to create something lethal.
The person who adopted him often looks at him fondly. As a student, the boy is like a sponge that just soaks up everything he is taught from the manipulation of puppets to the basic of poison making.
The little boy isn't a jinchuriki. But he's almost perfect. When he turns six, he is told that the reason why his parents are dead is because they were killed by a Konoha shinobi...then what's left of his laid-back nature starts to disappear for good.
And with further training, the boy does grow up into a strategist, a highly capable shinobi that plans to crush Konoha and the rest of the other villages.
However, the boy, Sasori, before he died he never fully accomplished his plans. His guardian, the one who adopted him, his grandmother Chiyo...her memories of him is full of regret, for the boy never fulfilled any of his wishes either.
—oOo—
"Chiyo actually blames herself," Ino suddenly shouts towards Shikamaru in his mind.
Shikamaru hears Ino's words.
Not us? Shikamaru thinks to himself. We are the ones who killed Sasori and yet...
Just moments ago, he had said to the old woman, "Of course, all these...for revenge, because of Sasori."
But Chiyo's answer was, "Eeek wrong! I thought Sasori is dead for years when you and Gaara killed him."
So the old woman truly didn't blame them...then why?
Naruto suddenly asks the old woman, showing he received the same telepathic message from Ino. "Why do you blame yourself? Sasori didn't die when he was just a kid. He was fed, clothed and —"
Chiyo is taken aback. They have taken something precious from her. They must know that. It has taken years...and she has done a lot of planning already and worked so hard. Of course, she doesn't blame herself. She blames them. And for this, her goal of acquiring Shikadai shouldn't be hard.
"Stop blaming yourself, dattebayo," Naruto utters with conviction. "You did the best you could for your grandson."
Chiyo shakes her head, adamantly, about to forcefully deny Naruto's words. Sasori's wish to meet his parents were never realized. His father, his mother were killed. It wasn't her fault that Sasori ended up all alone and that he died all alone.
Her grandson must have died the way he lived...unhappy and unloved. But she loves him...but he probably didn't know that. She had taught him well about poisons, puppets, strategies and revenge but not about love.
Finally, Chiyo stops shaking her head sideways. "He wasn't loved," she answers Naruto. "If he ever felt he was loved...I wonder what path he would have taken," she admits sadly.
"Then what are you doing?" Naruto asks. "All this to take a child from his parents. You are depriving him of—"
"I took his mother as well," Chiyo replies defensively, her puppets clacking, warning of an attack. "He will grow up knowing love and he will be better than Sasori. When I took Sasori in, I had in mind to teach him about revenge for what your village did to his parents. This time, it's different. Shikadai won't have that. He will have his mother and me. He won't be alone."
"You mean you won't be alone," retorts Shikamaru. "Tell me...when are you planning to poison Temari? When Shikadai can fend for himself? Or earlier, when he is big enough not to depend on his mother's milk?"
"I don't know. I haven't planned that far ahead," the old woman retorts back.
"You have developed a highly complicated poison in your arsenal and you tell us you haven't planned that far ahead?" Shikamaru scoffs.
"I know poisons. When I get the formulation wrong, I can re-try again and again. Babies are different...there's no re-do button. So I planned to see how it goes." Chiyo admits, raising her head high defensively but just as suddenly her voice grows quiet as she continues. Her puppets stops clacking that even when her voice has grown softer, it can still be heard. "I thought…if I can have your baby...I can do better than before, I can re-do my past sins. I never intended to harm him."
"LIAR!" Temari shouts, coming out of her hiding place. "Look at him! Look at Shikadai! Look at what you accomplished!"
"Temari?" Shikamaru looks at the unmoving body of his child. He looks so tiny and fragile cradled in his mother's arms. "He isn't….Shikadai, isn't..."
"Where is the antidote?" rasps Temari. "Give me the antidote...or I swear to God, I will kill you in the most painful way I know."
"There is no antidote," the old woman answers, shoulders more stooped now, staring at the baby in Temari's arms, unresponding to his environment, not even a tiny squeak of displeasure for being clutched so tightly.
"You're lying!" shouts Temari. "Just give us the antidote!"
Chiyo shakes her head sideways. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I thought—you would honor your promise not to run away. And I also thought mothers who love their children wouldn't take unnecessary risks. I warned you that the cave was rigged."
Temari recoils as if she is hit.
"Damn you, old woman!" swears Shikamaru. "My wife did the best she could to protect our son."
"As soon as I put on Shikadai's mask, I knew it was too loose. I have no choice but to—" Temari swivels her gaze towards Shikamaru then towards the Suna nin. "He knows his way in and out of the cave, doesn't he, Shikamaru? I have another choice, only I didn't know."
Chiyo notices the dawning guilt written in Temari's face. The younger woman now knows her pain.
Shikamaru approaches Temari and looks into her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I don't blame you."
"I should have known there was a reason he was there. I should have known you have a plan," rambles Temari.
Shikamaru reaches for Temari to hug her but Temari pushes him away.
Temari walks towards Chiyo, her baby in her arms, approaching the old woman even when her puppets still armed surrounds her.
"Please, I beg you, the antidote," appeals Temari. Her hot tears slowly sliding down her face as she can't fight off their release. Her anguish already choking her but she can't give up just yet. "We don't have much time, please."
"Even if I have the antidote..it wouldn't work for such a tiny body."
Shikamaru watches his wife. Her head bent as her body trembles with her crying. He hasn't seen Temari like this before. He never thought he would. He is aware that if Shikadai dies...his wife is good as gone too. He will lose them both.
Shikamaru then grabs a kunai dropped by a puppet, the poison at the tip still glistening on the side untouched by the ground. His feet then takes him closer to Chiyo then he offers the kunai to the old woman. "You can kill me. Just...please save my son," he utters.
—oOo—
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A/N: ...I'd love to hear what you guys think.