Chapter 55
Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, Shizune carrying Tonton, Naruto and Kamaru all decide to part ways as soon as they reach the gigantic Konoha gate. The two Sanins and Shizune go directly to the Hokage tower while the two young male shinobis are left behind with Naruto doing a 360 degrees turn, happily pointing to some of the nearest establishments and gesturing towards the direction of Konoha's spring and the Ichiraku ramen stall to Kamaru.
"Oi, Naruto! We thought you won't make it!" Kotetso, a Konoha chunin that wears a bandage strapped across the bridge of his nose, shouts from his guard post just inside the large wooden gate, catching the blonde nin's wandering attention.
"Dattebayo we made good time," Naruto answers, wearing a huge grin as he approaches his acquaintances' post with Kamaru silently trailing after him.
Kotetso's partner, Izumo, smiles his greeting. "All foreign delegates have already arrived. I think you only have time for a quick shower before it starts."
"Eh? Isn't the wedding later this afternoon?" Naruto asks, puzzled.
"They changed the time and moved it a bit earlier," Izumo, unbothered by his brown hair covering his right eye, replies while Kotetso nods his head in the background, a teasing expression on his face obviously directed towards Naruto.
Fuck! Shikamaru's hands start to sweat. He has now less time to formalize his plan. "Temari?" Shikamaru then chips in.
Kotetso turns his head towards Naruto's companion, finally taking notice of the young man whose dark hair frames his face and drapes down to his shoulder blades. He wears a plain black shirt and black pants, a great camouflage at night. His choice of clothes suggests that he's a shinobi and the fact that he knows Naruto and Temari supports it although he doesn't wear any forehead protector. Kotetso grumbles an answer, "She already left her home," before realizing that maybe he's giving away vital information when Izumo discreetly nudges his leg under the table. After all, Naruto could have revealed that information to his travel companion but choose not to.
Shikamaru tips his head, acknowledging the information. Temari has already left her home and is now at the place where she will be married to Sasuke, the man she loves.
—o0o—
Naruto rushes to his home not wanting to attend the wedding smelling like he just came from a bloody battle. Shikamaru, after discretely asking directions from Naruto, allows the orange-clad nin to go ahead and change.
Shikamaru finds the building where most of the people of Konoha visit for worship. It is easy to spot since the entrance is decorated with lots and lots of pink cherry blossoms and the guests are queuing in line with their invitations.
Security is tight but Shikamaru is able to distract the guards by creating a commotion with his shadow. One of the guards reliably investigates, directed at the opposite direction where Shikamaru actually is, while the remaining two scrutinized each guest closely. Leaving Shikamaru to use his shadow to pick up one of the unguarded windows' lock and is able to enter undetected.
Blending with the guests already inside, camouflage as Naruto, Shikamaru searches for the bride's dressing room and he finds it finally when a familiar blonde opens a door from the inside.
Shikamaru, hastily hiding in the corner, watches as Ino halfway out, halfway still inside the room, teases the person—the bride— concealed inside, "I guess your childhood dream finally comes true today! Lucky you! …But really poor Sasuke."
Shikamaru isn't able to hear the bride's reply for Ino suddenly yanks the door close and runs for safety, her childish laughter following her as she turns a corner and disappears from sight. If Shikamaru needs proof that the bride is Temari, Ino has just unwittingly provided it.
The blonde has just announced, 'I guess your childhood dream finally comes true today!' to the bride.
…That time when Shikamaru stayed here in Konoha and accompanied Temari, together with Ino and Choji, to catch a herd of deer for their medicinal horns, Ino had revealed to him something important about Temari.Yeah, he remembers clearly Ino's gossipy intel about her friend back then…'She already has Sasuke in her eyes. Have him in her sight even when we were just kids!' the blonde had divulged about Temari and was totally adamant about it.
Shikamaru has absolutely no reason not to believe Temari's teammate.
'I guess your childhood dream finally comes true today!' …'…Have him in her sight even when we were just kids!' Ino's girly voice keeps repeating inside his head.
With a troublesome emotion tightening his chest, Shikamaru strides towards the closed door, undetected by anyone, but as soon as he reaches for the door knob, his outstretched hand hesitates. He contemplates silently the door and allows his transformation jutsu to wear off while he convinces a part of himself that whatever he's doing needs to be done.
After a while, Shikamaru, fisting his hand to knock on the door finally ready to face Temari, is suddenly interrupted by a cold voice addressing his back.
"What do you want?" the unfriendly voice queries.
Shikamaru brings down his hand back to his pocket and turns around to face Sasuke. "I'm just gonna ask her about something."
"I didn't know that you know her." Sasuke's eyes turn glacial as he stares at the unwelcomed wedding crasher, the foreign shinobi he saw only once before following Temari.
Shikamaru takes a steadying breath, showing no signs of his inward struggle to remain unaffected. The prick just wants to pretend that Temari doesn't know him when he must have seen them together that day. True, he was several paces away from Temari but still... "She knows me well enough..." Shikamaru pauses, not helping it, he gives a knowing smirk as he continues, "…enough that the child could be mine."
Sasuke's eyes lost its coldness instead the dark orbs now smoulder with fury, as he bares his teeth in a growl. Then his right hand starts to glow with blue light that emits crackling sounds like charging electricity.
When abruptly, the door to the bridal room opens from the inside. "Sasuke, I hear your—What are you doing?"questions the at-first-cheerful but now irate pink haired girl from doorway. She wears a kimono typically worn by brides of traditional families and a suspicious glower directed at the bolts of light sparking from Sasuke's hand. "You're not planning on ruining my—our day, are you?" she accuses.
Shikamaru catches a glimpse from the corner of his eye that of the bride-attired, pink haired girl-woman. From her voice alone, he has already established one significant fact—she is not Temari. "You are not Temari," Shikamaru states the obvious in his surprise.
"Huh?...Who are you?" the girl asks, sounding bewildered. After all, Temari's blonde, she's pink haired, of course she's not Temari... Oh wait does this mean some unknown person just crashed her wedding, looking for Temari?
"Don't you know him, Sakura? He claims that he knows you quite well," Sasuke harshly mentions, biting each word as he faces his bride; his chidori still glowing from his hand, openly challenging the pink-haired girl into protecting the other man.
Wait…what? Sakura looks at Sasuke. Is he jealous? Pursing her lips tight, Sakura tries hard not to break into a smile.
"Where's Temari?" Shikamaru glances at what he knows to be the bride then at her offended groom but the relief is so that he can't just feel embarrassed.
"In Suna," a new but familiar voice answers; his unhurried footsteps taking him closer and closer towards the group while his gaze impassively scrutinizes the couple and the third man. Finally near them, he tips his head, making his red hair move softly calling attention to the tattoo on his forehead. "Kamaru-niisan," he greets the third man.
"Gaara," Shikamaru mutters as his mind searches for possible reasons why his youngest brother is in Konoha.
While Sakura bows her head slightly, respectfully acknowledging the new arrival and addressing his unspoken question, as she hastily clarifies, "I really don't understand what happened here, Sabaku-san…Sasuke uhm I think you better explain why you are about to attack our guest's brother—the Kazekage's son too. That's not polite. But of course you know that and once you explain the circumstances to us we will understand why. So yes explain it to us please."
Not polite? Sasuke's lips tighten in an unrepentant line, showing his displeasure at Sakura in which Sakura's only reply is to smile sweetly at him, still urging him to clear himself. He answers her with one of his chilly stares while he fizzles out his chidori. Resuming his cold, arrogant mask back on, Sasuke turns his attention towards the dark haired person he saw more than a month ago dubiously following Temari. Sakura just asked him to explain. Explain what? Why he almost ended up killing Temari's apparent stalker and probably—almost— starting a war between Suna and Konoha?
Sasuke doesn't care to explain. He doesn't care to hear the stalker's explanations either, not that there was any forthcoming. He simply doesn't give a shit about other people's problem. Temari can protect herself. He, Uchiha Sasuke is getting married today to Haruno Sakura. The thought makes Sasuke reach for his collar to loosen it and notices that the V of his own white kimono, partnered with a blue trouser-like hakama tied around his waist, is wide enough for him to actually breathe comfortably.
Clearly, the dark haired Suna shinobi has a case of mistaken identity. It would have been a very deadly mistake and not to mention bloody and bloody hilarious but at the moment, it's just a nuisance. If the asshole wants answers, he'll give him one. "Temari left for an unknown mission one-two weeks ago. She hasn't returned since," Sasuke dispassionately imparts.
"Sasuke, you make that sound as if Temari's in danger," Sakura rushes to reassure, wanting to appease the Kazekage's dark haired son. "Look she's all right. According to Ino—according to my friend and Temari's teammate— Temari's involved in a big hush-hush mission in Suna like your brother said but she's okay since Yoshino-san, that's Temari's mother, Yoshino-san receives a package enclosed with something that Temari owns as proof that she's alive every three days."
"You shouldn't give that kind of information to outsiders," Shikamaru warns, "particularly to shinobis of Suna."
"But I thought the mission is with Suna that's why I thought you care about…" Sakura trails off, glancing from the dark-haired Suna shinobi, to his red-haired brother and then to her fiancée and noticing finally that the dark-haired one watches surreptitiously his own brother from the corner of his eye, while his brother seems to coldly observe Sasuke and Sasuke, Sasuke is glowering at the dark haired nin. Eventually, however, Sasuke transfers his attention to her, silently condemning her too for revealing a little too much. Dropping her gaze, Sakura stutters guiltily, "Err—yes."
Shikamaru nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders as he accepts Sakura's answer. It's already too late anyway; Gaara now has the information about Temari –and him—that he would undoubtedly report to their father. Shikamaru just has to make sure the information doesn't reach its destination.
It's hard to believe that Gaara would agree to be sent here to spy for the Kazekage but still Shikamaru should have foreseen that move by his father. While the one wherein Temari would return to Suna with her adopted parents' consent, that, Shikamaru would never guess.
Troublesome woman. What the hell is she up to? And Gaara. How much does he actually knows?
…Damn it! What has transpired while he was gone?
TBC
—o0o—
~7 19 11AF~
~U 8 18 12~
A/N: dJk'.'DJBlossom, this is the spoiler I offered to give you…ages ago.
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