I am sorry. English is not my mother tongue and in the rush I may have made some mistakes.
Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.
Chapter Seven
SHIKA
"Well, you've certainly gotten yourself into a pickle this time" Grams said as she slid a cup of coffee across the counter of her diner, The Chatterbox. A town staple on Main Street downtown, The Chatterbox was a hub of food, friends, and gossip, just as Grams liked.
She tucked a strand of hot-pink hair behind her ear and greeted a couple by name as they walked in the door.
"Poor girl" she muttered as she gave them a little wave. "She thinks they're destined for the wall. Watch, she'll choose the table closest to it."
I swiveled on my stool a few degrees and snorted as she did exactly what Grams predicted.
"How did you know?"
"They've been together about a year, and she's bringing him in at least once a week. Shea, table fourteen looks a little low on coffee" she whispered to the waitress closest to me.
The longer I'd been gone from Konoha, the harder it was to recognize people. The wall, though? That never changed. Sure, names got added, but the meaning was the same. It ran the back length of the diner and was pretty much the precursor to Facebook. For the last forty years, couples had carved their names into the wood, declaring their love. Part of it had been annihilated by the fire almost eleven years ago, but that hadn't stopped Grams from rebuilding with the scraps that had survived. It was sappy and more than a little outdated, but when I saw Sasuke and Sakura's names carved together, even I could admit it had its charm. Well, until some jilted wife came in with a pocketknife, or in Amity Gunderson's case, an actual mini torch.
Nothing quite said your relationship status had changed like an angry ex-lover with a tiny blowtorch. I could still see the burn marks from here.
"Now stop avoiding my question, Shika." She quirked an eyebrow at me.
"You didn't ask a question."
"You know what I meant! What are you going to do about those babies? About Temari?" She stared me down like I was eleven again.
"There's nothing I can do about either. Those boys are under the control of the county. I don't get to make choices for them. And as for Temari…" I sighed and took a long swallow of my coffee, hoping she'd let it drop.
"And what? You can't fight for them?"
Of course she didn't let it drop. She was now the eighth person to know the truth about Temari and me, but she had yet to give me her opinion on the matter.
"Grams, there are bigger forces at work here." Forces like the county… and Naruto. "And we both know it's only a matter of time before I do something to piss Temari off anyways."
I excelled at that. We were just in this little bubble of time where we were working together toward the same goal. Hell, it had been five days since I'd walked into my ready-made family, and we hadn't killed each other yet, or even gotten into a fight, which was a miracle. Probably because you're both too exhausted to fight.
She leaned over and smacked the side of my head lightly.
"Maybe that will knock some of the sense back into you. That girl has been moon-eyed over you since she was eight, and let me tell you, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Temari Uzumaki."
More than a few heads turned toward us. This would be all over town in the next hour.
"You don't think I know that?" I whispered in hopes she'd take the hint. "Temari is…Temari."
"Oh, you mean beautiful, smart, kind, good with kids, and..."
"And Naruto's little sister."
Grams tilted her head.
"You're telling me that's what's keeping you from..."
Mrs. Paulson leaned close enough to smell my coffee, and Grams shot her a glare. You had to be fucking kidding me. That was why I'd moved to California. The busybodies, lack of privacy, and the town's need to weigh in on everything.
"Besides, I'm not exactly the marrying type," I told Grams.
Marriage meant trust and faith, and I was pretty damned spectacular at shoving people away who got too close. I was never going to put myself in a position to get decimated by a woman the way Dad had been.
The bell chimed, and the subject of our conversation walked in. Her hair was down, curling just beneath her breasts in long blond waves, and she looked every bit the preschool teacher in a blue skirt and white sweater set.
I wanted to peel it off her body.
Awesome, now "Hot for Teacher" was going to be stuck in my head all damn day.
She glanced around the diner until her worried eyes found mine. I was off my stool and striding toward her before she could say a word. There was a panic in her eyes I'd only seen once before, the day they'd evacuated us for the Konoha Mountain Fire.
"Temari?" My hands landed on her shoulders.
Five fucking steps. Is that too much to ask? My conscience rolled its eyes.
"We have to get to the courthouse. Shizune just called. They're about to decide where to place the boys." She looked up at me with complete trust, like I could make this all better, like I was someone worthy of that kind of faith.
I wasn't, but in that second, I wanted to be.
"I don't understand. She just told us last night that the Pendridges didn't want to foster. Aren't they out of options?"
I dropped my hands before I did something stupid, like pull her closer.
"I don't know..."
"Are you two talking about the Clark boys?" Mrs. Paulson asked.
We looked around the diner to find that ninety-five percent of the eyes were on us.
"They are," Grams confirmed, coming around the counter.
"I overheard Judge Sanderbilt saying that they were going to have to separate them and ship them to Gunnison, or worse, out of the county." Mrs. Paulson shook her head. "Such a shame."
Okay, at this moment, living in a small town was pretty phenomenal from the standpoint of available information but shitty in our lack of ability to care for the boys.
Damn it, they couldn't separate them.
"They can't separate them! Denki can't handle that!" Temari voiced my very thoughts, glanced around us, no doubt noting we had everyone's attention, then grabbed my hand and marched back toward the kitchen, hauling me behind her.
"I've only been waiting twenty years to see that," Mrs. Paulson muttered. "Pay up."
I swung my head toward Grams, but she was too busy handing over cash to Mrs. Paulson.
Seriously?
The kitchen door swung open, and I followed Temari to the back office. I flipped the light switch as the door shut behind us.
"What are we going to do?" she asked, folding her arms under her breasts and staring up at me with raised eyebrows.
That was one of the reasons Temari had always intrigued me. She never took anything lying down. Except when you walked away from her on prom night.
I sat back on the edge of the wooden desk and gripped the trim.
"What would you like to do?"
She started pacing, making sharp, fast turns in the small space.
"What I want…I can't tell you what I want, because then you'll feel obligated to go along with it. And you'll say you're not obligated, but we both know you are. That's how you always are with me, doing things you don't want to do so that you can be the good guy..."
"I'm not the good guy."
Anything but, and there was an entire diner out there who could testify to that.
"Kind of like that little kiss we don't talk about, not that you even remember it. I'm always forcing you into things you don't want, and this can't be one of those times because it's not just our lives we're messing around with..."
"I'm sorry, you think I don't remember that kiss?"
The same fucking kiss that haunted my dreams so frequently I could reenact it right now without missing a single detail? What the actual hell?
"You were drunk off your ass later that night, and anyway, no time to debate that." She waved me off. "I know you don't like me..."
"Don't like you?" My voice rose.
Was she even living on the same planet?
"And I'm just Naruto's annoying little sister, or your little sister, whatever." She threw her hands out.
"My… I do not see you as a damn sister!"
"Will you shut up and let me finish?" She spun and put her fists on her hips as if I were the one who'd just insulted her. "The point is that I can't tell you what I want. You have to tell me first. Otherwise, I'll just think you're telling me what I want to hear because you're my brother's best friend and you feel obligated to help me for Naruto's sake."
If it weren't for that shot of fear in her eyes, or the ticking time bomb we were sitting on, I would have shown her exactly what I wanted. On this fucking desk. But she was right, this wasn't about us right now. It was about the two little boys who slept down the hall at my house. The ones who depended on us to keep their world as routine as it could be considering it had just turned topsy turvy on them.
"They can't separate them," I said softly.
"I agree." Her voice dropped to match mine in tone.
Denki would have a full-on meltdown if he was separated from Hoki, and no one else knew all of Hoks's little quirks. If they took them to Gunnison, or out of the county, they'd be with strangers, split up, and miles away from anyone they knew. But without the Pendridges to foster them…
"Let's keep them." I blurted out before I thought about the ramifications, or the time commitment, or anything that would scare me off like the selfish asshole I generally was. "Let's go fight to keep them. We can make it work until they figure out what's going on with their dad, or whatever. If Shizune agreed to us keeping them for the week, I can't see why they wouldn't let us do it a little longer. I can't live with myself knowing we allowed them to be separated and shipped off to strangers."
Temari was in my arms before I finished the last word. I gave myself that moment, tunneling one hand through her hair and splaying my other over her back as I held her tight. Seeing as this was my second hug this week, I had to assume all I had to do to get some affection from Temari was offer her kids.
"We have to go," she said, breaking our embrace and heading for the door.
I beat her to it, holding it open for her. Three women fell back on their asses as the door swung open, and there were at least ten of the diner patrons in the kitchen, relaxing against the various counters, pretending they hadn't been listening.
Fucking. Small. Towns.
"Okay, will someone at least tell me what time they're on the docket for?" I asked the small crowd.
"One p.m.," Grams called out "You have ten minutes. Let's go. Temari, I called over to the school and told Summer Weston that you'd be gone the rest of the afternoon."
"Thank you!" Temari answered as we wove through the crowd.
Grams met us at the kitchen door. She'd ditched her Chatterbox apron, revealing her slacks and Tardis T-shirt.
"Let's go."
"You're coming too?"
A rush of relief hit me. Grams was a force to be reckoned with in the town. She controlled more information than the mayor.
"We all are!" Mrs. Paulson answered from behind us.
"Seriously?" I whispered to Temari.
"You're going to need all the support you can get," Mr. Madera added, following us through the doors. "You didn't pull Judge Sanderbilt."
"Oh no." Temari stopped so suddenly I had to brace my hands on her arms to keep from mowing her over.
Grams took a deep breath and fidgeted with her wedding set that hung from her necklace. Grandpa had been dead twenty-four years, but she never took it off.
"Please tell me we didn't…" My fist clenched. "You pulled Judge Stone."
"And you're sure about this?" Shizune asked as we stood outside the courtroom.
The small crowd of spectators hung back, giving us a shred of privacy.
"Absolutely," I answered. "Those boys have already been through hell. If we can make it even a little easier on them, then we're in."
"You'll let us, right?" Temari asked.
"Let you what?" Mrs. Dean asked as she came out of the courtroom with a woman about our age with red hair and a black skirt suit.
"Oh, good, you're both here. Maggie, Shika and Temari have agreed to foster the boys. We won't have to send them out of the county," Shizune told her.
"Really?" Mrs. Dean's eyebrows shot up. "I mean, you've taken excellent care of them for these past few days, but you're talking about a much larger commitment. Plus, you'll have to go through the training..."
"We understand. We just want to know if we'd be allowed to do it for longer than an emergency placement," Temari rushed.
"Faith?" Shizune asked the other woman.
Faith glanced at her watch.
"We have exactly three minutes," she said with a deep southern drawl "I'm Faith Simmons, and I've been appointed as the boys' guardian ad litem. That means that while Mr. Baxter will be representing the best interest of DSS, I represent the best interest of Denki and Hoki."
The vise that had gripped my chest for the last few days eased up just a little. The boys had someone legally in their corner.
"I'm Shika Nara, and this is Temari Uzumaki." We both reached out and shook her hand. "We'd really like to continue fostering the boys until you can find their father."
This wasn't forever. We were just a bandage on a hemorrhaging wound.
"For how long?" she asked, her sweet tone at odds with her careful appraisal of us.
"As long as it takes" Temari answered. "We know you're trying to find Nolan, and that reunification with the biological family is always the first priority. We just want to give them somewhere stable and safe while DSS is facilitating that. I'm Denki's preschool teacher, so I know him incredibly well, and we've gotten to know Hoki in the past few days. We adore the boys, and we'll do whatever it takes to keep them together." Her chin rose a good inch as she met Faith's stare.
A small smile crossed the lawyer's face, as if she recognized another woman who wouldn't back down.
"Okay, well, we'd better get in there. Let's see how this goes." We followed her to the double doors that led to the courtroom "By the way, you guys are a super cute couple. How long have you been together?"
Oh, shit.
"We've known each other our entire lives" Temari answered smoothly "I can't honestly remember a time in my life where I wasn't following Shika around."
"Well, if that's not just the sweetest thing! Thank you" she said as I held the door open and the ladies swept through. "Oh, and turn off your phones. This judge is a real stickler for that."
As long as it takes. That was probably, what? Another month at most? How hard could it be to locate Nolan Clark? A month was doable. I just had to keep my mind and hands off Temari.
Naruto was going to be pissed.
The courtroom was an all too familiar sight. The single aisle split it in two, with long wooden benches and huge windows that let in natural light. It was beautiful, now that I was twenty-seven. Maybe a little too grand, too John Grisham for such a small town, but definitely a piece of art. It had been terrifying at sixteen, when I'd parked the sheriff's car in the gym. Not much better at seventeen, when I'd stolen the goats from the McPherson ranch and left them to graze in Principal Montoya's office. This was one of the only buildings that hadn't burned to the ground.
Temari took my hand, sending a jolt of awareness up my spine. Her fingers trembled almost imperceptivity, and I wrapped mine around hers as we walked down the carpeted aisle.
"You two sit here." Faith motioned to the first row of spectator seats as she walked through the swinging wooden gate that housed four different tables. Shizune sat at the front table with Mrs. Dean and Evan Baxter, who was easily edging toward retirement.
"Scoot" Grams ordered, and I did so.
She edged past me, sitting on my left while Temari took the spot to my right. I turned off my phone and looked around the room to see at least thirty people filling the other benches. I was half tempted to check Facebook to see if someone had created an event or something.
"Full house" Kiba muttered as he squeezed into the bench behind us with Sasuke and Sakura. Temari's hand fell away from mine.
"Sakura!" Temari turned and hugged her. "What are you doing here?"
"Let me see if I can get this right." She looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Mrs. Paulson called Mrs. Yakushi, who then called Kiba, who then told Sasuke, who told me. Ino's on the way."
"Holy game of telephone." Temari leaned back. "I'm glad you're all here."
"Quick," Sasuke handed me a wad of fabric.
A tie.
"Thanks," I said quickly as I flipped up the collar of my button-down shirt and tied the fastest knot in my life.
"All rise, the Honorable Judge Stone presiding," the bailiff called out.
Apparently, Tommy Shreiner still held the job.
We stood as Gemma walked in, his robes doing nothing to cover his ego. He climbed up to the bench, and we got the all-clear to sit. He surveyed the courtroom and leaned toward his microphone.
"Am I missing something? Since when does a family court matter warrant a higher attendance than town council meetings?"
Mr. Baxter stood up, pushing his spectacles to the top of his nose.
"Our apologies. The town heard that we were lacking foster parents for the minors —Denki and Hoki Clark—and came to show their support and even volunteer so the boys won't have to be separated. They're the children of a Konoha Fire widow, Your Honor." He finished with an apologetic shrug.
Baxter may as well have brought God himself down by invoking Tayuya's status as a Konoha widow. Exceptions were always made in this town. Period. Gemma sighed.
"They can stay while placement is determined, but anything else isn't for public dissemination." His eyes swept the room, locking on to Temari, then me. He looked away quickly. "Mr. Monroe, are you ready?" he asked the other lawyer.
"Yes, Your Honor." The forty-something man stood, adjusting his tie. "I'm representing the interests of Nolan Clark until such time as he can make his wishes known."
"Noted," Gemma said. "Mr. Baxter?"
"Sir, our circumstances have changed as of this morning. We will no longer need to send the boys outside Konoha, as suitable foster parents have stepped forward to take responsibility for the boys."
"I see." Gemma shuffled a file on his bench. "And who might they be?"
"Temari Uzumaki and Shika Nara." Shizune stood tall as Mrs. Dean joined her.
"And you find them to be acceptable foster parents?" His tone indicated he certainly didn't.
My stomach pitched. Were all my mistakes about to bite me in the ass?
Temari's hand found mine, interlacing our fingers, and I gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"We do. They passed a home study, and their home is more than appropriate. They both have suitable employment that allows for the care of the boys, and they're willing to take the required classes to be certified foster parents."
"Is that so?" Gemma turned his icy stare on Temari, and my skin prickled, heat racing through my veins.
Keep control.
Losing my temper had never gone well for me in this room.
"It is, Your Honor. They've been caring for the boys since their mother's death, and we feel it's in the boys' best interest to stay in their routine, and within their community."
"And what do you think, Ms. Simmons?"
Faith stood.
"Your Honor, I have no objections to the boys remaining in the care of Ms. Uzumaki and Mr. Nara. Having only received the case this morning, I haven't had time to interview the boys, but for now, staying in their community, with people who care for them daily, as Ms. Uzumaki does as Denki's teacher, is in their best interest." She sat, her back straight, and threw us a smile.
I exhaled in relief.
"Well, I'm not sure it is in their best interest" Gemma stated.
My blood turned to ice.
"I'm sorry?" Mr. Baxter questioned "You disagree?"
"I do" Gemma looked straight at Temari, who had gone stiff next to me. "As I know the prospective foster mother quite well, I can say that she has never expressed interest in motherhood, or in any form of long-term commitment. Add to it that the couple isn't in any way committed to each other, and I'm not sure how we can, in good conscience, leave these already- traumatized boys in their unstable care."
Don't slaughter the judge.
I repeated the phrase in my head until I could breathe through the white-hot rage flooding my muscles with adrenaline. No one got to attack Temari. Ever.
A murmur went through the courtroom, and Sakura's hand reached forward to rest on Temari's shoulder.
"With all due respect, Your Honor" Mr. Baxter said, breaking the pin- drop silence, "it's the responsibility of DSS to certify the worthiness of foster parents, and our team finds them more than appropriate."
"Really?" Gemma arched a snotty brow "An unmarried couple living in an arrangement that over half our town wouldn't approve of."
I jolted forward, only to find a hand on each of my shoulders, keeping me in my seat. Sasuke and Kiba.
An arrangement?
For fuck's sake, he made it sound like we were in the middle of some torrid affair. Even if we were, that was none of his damn business.
"We find them acceptable," Mr. Baxter said slowly, enunciating each word.
"As the judge presiding over this case, I don't see how it would serve the boys' best interest to be kept in an uncertain, unstable situation. There is no legal commitment between the parties in question. That might not disqualify them from being foster parents, but it certainly doesn't make them the right parents for this case."
Grams hands fidgeted with the clasp of her necklace.
"Because they're not married," Shizune clarified.
"Because they're not bound to each other in any way. They could break up tomorrow, which, given the parties in question, is highly likely. That's not a stable environment for these boys."
Cool metal landed in my open palm, and I looked down to see Grams closing my fist. "Do what it takes, Shika. Don't you let those boys get separated." Her command was only loud enough for me to hear.
I didn't need to see what she'd given me. I already knew.
"Shika?" Temari's eyes were wide with fear and anger that, for once, wasn't aimed at me.
"How far are you willing to go for them?" I whispered.
The skin between her eyebrows puckered.
"As far as it takes. He's not going to ruin those boys just because he's pissed at me."
"Your Honor, I understand your burden, but the status of their relationship is a private one," Evan urged.
Hell yeah, it was. Small town or not, this was out of line.
I knew how to stop it. I knew how to keep the boys.I didn't know what Temari would say.
My heart pounded, blood roaring through my head as I opened Temari's hand.
"I'm not the one who insisted this case be a town event, counselor," Judge Stone droned on.
I slid the ring home. Before I could look, or be swayed by her reaction, I stood.
"Your Honor, if I could speak, we can solve this issue right now." Your Dick-headedness.
He didn't even answer, simply tilted his head and stared me down like I was beneath him. I grinned. This was the only chance I'd ever have to say this, and damn if I wasn't going to revel in it.
"We haven't spread the news yet, but Temari and I are engaged."
The courtroom erupted in murmured excitement.
"I'm sorry?" Gemma exclaimed, his eyes bigger than his gavel.
I looked down to Temari, her attention glued to my grandmother's engagement ring. I slipped the wedding band and Grams's chain into my pants pocket and waited while my stomach tied itself into knots.
Slowly, Temari brought her gaze to mine. That look cut through the thousand layers of bullshit and armor I'd piled on since her prom night. Those wide, blinking eyes and parted lips made this moment as true as it could possibly be…without being real.
"What do you say, Temari Evelyn Uzumaki? Want to stand up here and say you're going to marry me?" I whispered.
My stomach careened as she stared a second longer. Was this what it felt like to really propose? A chaotic, gut- churning fear she was going to say no wrapped its spiny claws around my heart and squeezed.
The confusion in her eyes softened as she stood up, leaned against my side, and lifted her hand, letting the light catch the antique diamond-encrusted band that housed a perfect one-carat solitaire.
"I'm going to marry Shika Nara," she said to me before turning her radiant smile loose on the courtroom.
"Like I said, we're engaged."
Naruto was going to fucking kill me.