A/N: Wow FFN sure improved, there's this image manager! So excited about using it. Aw it's my long time wish to have a drawing done for this fic ~hint hint~ hope there would be someone…
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Chapter 51
Eighteen years ago...
"That is not my child," the Kazekage declared.
Lady Tsunade looked at the beautiful baby girl cradled in her arms, remembering Karura's frightened eyes as she begged her to protect her child if it's a female. Without speaking, Tsunade again offered the sleeping baby to her father.
The Kazekage didn't even glance at the infant instead he raised furious eyes towards Lady Tsunade. "Kill it," he rasped.
Lady Tsunade frowned. The day before, the wife of the Kazekage confided in her that she feared for her still unborn child. The Kazekage was looking forward too much to having a son, that Karura was afraid to disappoint him. To disappoint the Kazekage meant death in Suna.
And now, with the baby being a girl, Tsunade found out that Karura's fears were well grounded. Tsunade could only reply sharply, "May I remind you that you are not in Suna."
The Kazekage, taken aback by the vicious tone of the Konoha medic, remembered who he was talking to. Lady Tsunade is not a mere medic but also the granddaughter of the First Hokage. He realized belatedly he had to do the killing himself. Extending his hands, he commanded, "Give it to me I will eradicate it myself."
"I won't allow you to kill her."
"Silence!" the Kazekage suddenly shouted. Then taking a tight reign of his temper, he tried to speak calmly, sounding much more threatening, "Maybe you have forgotten, Lady Tsunade, that that thing is my child and as such I have every right to do as I please."
"And you, Lord Kazekage, have forgotten about my reputation in Konoha. I have never delivered a dead baby before. To seemingly start now with the Kazekage's daughter no less would mean war between our villages."
The Kazekage paused as he himself recognized the implications of his own daughter's death in Konoha. If Suna found out that it was Tsunade, the legendary healer, who delivered the Kazekage's child and failed to keep it alive, his people would suspect it was a murderous machination on the part of Konoha. Tsunade is right, the child couldn't die here. It would mean war and Suna, he had to admit, is not ready to fight Konoha just yet. Konoha it was rumoured has its own jinchuriki. Suna has too but the host body could barely contain it.
"Then I will do it in Suna," the Kazekage had decided, outstretching his hands again to receive the baby.
Lady Tsunade ignored the Kazekage's gesture; holding the baby bundled securely in her arms, she drawled out, "Your people will think that your blood is weak if your daughter suddenly just dies because of some unknown disease."
"I don't owe anyone an explanation of how she died."
"Provide them with an explanation or not, they will speculate. Either your people will believe that your daughter suddenly contracted a very deadly disease and slowly, painfully dies. However, with this conclusion, people will soon suspect that your genes are frail." Tsunade's lips moved in a sneer. "Another possibility is that they will believe she has been murdered. This is more plausible and something people will not question. I even think this is what you should do; hire a killer to do her and start the rumour yourself about her assassination. Only beware of those that will wonder if their Kazekage is too weak, he can't even protect his own family."
"I told you I will kill her myself," the Kazekage snarled. "And I will let my people know who did it!"
Tsunade laughed harshly. "Yes, that's the only way you could kill Temari, by having your own hands publicly tainted with her blood."
"Temari?"
Tsunade glared, furious at the Kazekage. He had made it impossible for Karura to tell him about her choice of name for their child. Instead, it was to her that Karura admitted that if she has a daughter, she would like to name her Temari. And it was after revealing all that that Karura begged her that in case the medic in Suna was right and she has a daughter, she pleaded with Tsunade to protect her daughter, Temari, at all cost.
Karura even disclosed to Tsunade how she used the Sunan medic's fear of the Kazekage to manipulate the medic into reporting to the Kazekage what he wanted to hear—that he has a son— saving Temari from induced abortion. Once Temari is born, Karura proclaimed that the threat to her daughter's life would be greater. Tsunade realized now that the young mother really knew what her husband is capable of and that she was fighting for her daughter's life. Tsunade remembered how Karura had reached for her hands and beseeched her to promise that she would do anything to save Temari's life.
But Tsunade did not promise Karura anything.
"It's a beautiful name. Good luck in killing Temari. Better do it soon before her mother and the people of Suna grow attached and condemn you in murdering her," Tsunade spat.
"Karura already understands and the Sunan people will see it as a sacrifice that needs to be done."
Lady Tsunade raised a brow. "You sound unconvinced."
Duly mocked, the Kazekage grew livid. He growled, "No one will stop me! I will do it!"
But Lady Tsunade only gave the angry Kazekage a dismissive look. With the baby still in her arms she turned and strode towards the door that would lead to the hospital aisle which would then lead to the room where Kurara is sleeping.
When Tsunade reached the door, though, she pivoted around to face the Kazekage. "You don't have to unless—"
The Kazekage, still fuming, barked, "Unless what?"
"—unless you take home a son instead of a daughter."
The Kazekage stared. It is a brilliant plan but it could be a trap or a ploy that would take years to unravel… a ploy that could work to his advantage.
Lady Tsunade shrugged. "If you're not interested…"
"Alright, I'm interested."
Lady Tsunade gazed down at the baby with blonde hair just like hers before speaking, "The Naras will soon be having a son."
The Kazekage remembered the man he saw in the Jounin tournament just days ago, the shinobi who could bend his opponents' will with his shadows.
And before Tsunade could finally turn the doorknob to leave the room with his daughter, the Kazekage uttered with finality, "Do it then."
Tsunade nodded her head before she opened the door, leaving a satisfied Kazekage behind. She then proceeded onto the hospital aisle and entered not Karura's room still carrying the baby that she could easily mistake as her own daughter, sleeping peacefully in her arms.
TBC
~6/17/11AF~
A/N: Reviews, reactions…avatar? ~shameless I know~