A/N: For Cody and Mjess15… for last December's reviews.
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Chapter 68
"Choza told me you went to their place this afternoon," Shikaku speaks, addressing his daughter who is seated on his left side on the dining table.
Temari just continues to pick at her food, ignoring her father.
Yoshino glances at her husband across the table, raising a questioning brow at Shikaku's stern tone. Swivelling her attention towards Temari, her daughter seems to be angry. While the boy seated on her husband's right side continues to eat quietly.
"Temari?" Shikaku reiterates sharply.
"Yes." Temari puts her chopsticks on the table, beside her bowl of rice. "What do you want to know? Why I smashed their door?" Temari looks venomously at Shikamaru. "Why don't you ask that ass?"
Shikamaru, his own chopsticks halting midway towards his mouth, raises surprised eyes to gaze at the blonde woman. "I don't understand."
"EXACTLY THE POINT, YOU DON'T!" Temari slams her palms down on the table as she glowers fiercely at Shikamaru. "But that doesn't stop you from filling in the gaps anyway."
Shikamaru frowns. "I really don't—"
"Temari, that's enough," Shikaku commands softly. "If Kamaru doesn't know what you accuse him of then—"
"So now you're siding with your son," Yoshino suddenly rasps, interrupting Shikaku. "You haven't heard Temari's side yet but you're already ready to dismiss that she's the wronged party."
"I am not siding with Kamaru…But he wasn't there when your daughter broke Choza's door," Shikaku mutters, somewhat trying to placate his wife.
"See, now, she's just my daughter," snarls Yoshino, picking at Shikaku's choice of word.
"Woman, you know I didn't mean it like that. Stop putting words in my mouth," the man positioned at the head of the table, grumbles.
Shikamaru opts to eat, extending his chopsticks to pick a mackerel fillet from the main dish while Temari, pointedly watching him, glares furiously, his obvious lack of concern grating on her nerves.
"I can't believe you could still eat," Temari hisses at the man seated from across her as her parents continue arguing.
"It's my first time to eat this meal. I think I like it," Shikamaru replies, "However, it's not my first time to share a table with people that argue. You have eaten together with Kankuro. You know that your brother is especially loud even then."
All of a sudden, both Yoshino and Shikaku stop talking to look at Shikamaru.
"Temari's brother?" Yoshino echoes testily, glaring at Shikamaru. "Temari doesn't have a brother."
"Kasan," Temari groans from her seat, sounding exasperated. Is her mother still pretending that nothing's change? "I do have a brother—two in fact. One is stupidly loyal while the other is dangerously quiet at times. I haven't decided yet if I like them." Spying Yoshino's relieved look at her words, Temari adds, "Kamaru can keep the other since I only like the youngest," Temari discloses, waiting with almost an abated breath for her kasan's reply.
She and her mother have only skidded over the topic since she arrived from Suna with a husband in tow. Bringing everything out in the open now may still not be a good idea.
While Shikamaru, taken aback by Temari's admission that she likes Gaara, mumbles deliberately, "People are usually scared of Gaara."
"He's my little brother, why shouldn't I not like him, ass?" growls Temari.
Shikamaru shrugs. "Because he's a jinchuriki."
"Oh that," Temari responds, offhandedly.
"Your brother is a jinchuriki?" Shikaku questions Temari, astounded. "So your father didn't stop with the birth switch. He actually implanted a monster—"
"My brother is not a monster," remarks Shikamaru, curtly.
"I didn't say he is, son. I'm merely stating that the Kazekage also implanted a bijuu, a tailed beast, in his own child. If he could do that, there's no saying what he's capable of doing to his own grandchild," Shikaku explains, the insight of his words striking fear on everyone at the table.
The younger man can only simply nod his head at his father.
Whereas Yoshino seeks Temari's hand which rests on top of the table, grasping and squeezing it with her own. "Don't worry, we won't let anything happen. It's our grandchild too."
"Thanks, kasan."
After a while, Shikamaru mutters, "Thanks for the meal," breaking the despondent silence that has settled over the dining room with the mention of the Kazekage and the reminder that the powerful kage probably has a diabolical plan for the unborn child.
Yoshino merely ignores Shikamaru as she continues to clasps Temari's hand. The young man then pushes his chair out from under the table and starts to stand, ready to leave the table.
"Kamaru, join me on the porch. Let's play shogi," Shikaku offers. Then standing up himself, he purposefully swivels around to face Temari, addressing her quite firmly, "Next time, you're angry with Kamaru, just break our own door; saves me the effort since I'll just have your husband fix it."
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Temari tightens her hold on her mother's hand as the older woman makes a move to stand up to clear the table after her father and Shikamaru left.
"We need to talk, okasan," Temari speaks softly. She has finally decided to do it; that reassurance given by her mother a while back about the little one shows that she's finally ready to listen to her.
Yoshino pulls her hand out of Temari's grasps. "We don't."
"The baby…"
"What about it?" Yoshino stacks the dishes, banging the bowls together.
Temari's eyes plea with her mother. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you first."
"You're sorry you didn't tell me but not sorry you're pregnant," Yoshino mutters, irately.
Temari meets Yoshino's piercing eyes. Defensively, she admits, "I want this baby."
"Fair enough," Yoshino raps as she continues to collect the dishes and the glasses, piling the used dinnerware together haphazardly.
"About the father—"
"I don't want to listen."
"Kasan." Temari stands up, taking the dishes from her mother's hands and putting them back on the table before grasping Yoshino's freed hands, holding them again tightly with her own. "You love me, don't you?"
Yoshino stares at her daughter. Finally, returning Temari's clasp, she growls, "Of course, I do, Temari. Don't ever, ever doubt that!"
Temari's lips curve up into a smile. "Okasan, I have never doubt it. And you know how much I care for you and otosan, right?"
Yoshino nods her head. Her eyes have certain sheen on them. "I know."
"So kasan, listen. The way you treat Shikamaru— your son, the father of my kid— makes me feel like shit. It's precisely because I know what a great mother you are that I feel guilty every time you snub Shikamaru as if he, he has not appeared in front of your eyes."
Yoshino now see, just like what that boy asserted, Temari feels guilty about her role in the past, no matter how unintentional her part was in it. Driven by misplaced guilt, her daughter is trying to recompense him. And just another form of repayment, her daughter wants Kamaru and her to be close.
In a way, Yoshino understands Temari but…
"He said he raped you," the older woman snaps, the look in her eyes is replaced by anger and antagonism. "Now, you're pregnant and hastily married."
Temari mouths the word, "Rape?" in surprise.Not even acknowledging with a denial her mother's claim that Shikamaru admitted that he forced her. Instead Temari scowls, indignantly, "And you believe him?"
"Of course not!" Yoshino retorts acidly. "But that boy, he just sets my teeth on edge!"
"I know what you mean." Temari twists her lips scornfully. Rape. He told Yoshino he raped her? "Sometimes I think he says the wrong things intentionally for a reason." To annoy the hell out of me, she adds to herself.
"Honestly, that boy makes me so mad!" Yoshino snarls then slowly her brows furrow and her face transforms into one of consternation, as she asks out loud, "So what could be his reason to claim such a preposterous thing?"
Temari appears to rationally consider Yoshino's question before she answers, "Maybe he wants you to remain angry with him."
Yoshino suspects the same thing but instead of agreeing verbally, she scrutinizes Temari's expression carefully before tersely, she replies, "Why would he do that?"
Temari shrugs her shoulders. "For the same reason why he doesn't even want to try to win you over."
Yoshino snorts. "As if he could."
"He's your real son," Temari enunciates each word, her tone dripping with frustration.
"And you're my daughter," is Yoshino's snappy rejoinder.
Gradually, Temari's face lightens up. "Yes, now I'm a real Nara."
Yoshino's forehead knits into a speculating frown. "Did you marry him for that reason?"
"Of course not!" Temari retorts.
Yoshino size up her daughter. The young woman's forceful repudiation of her charge of marrying to acquire the Nara's name seems to be genuine. So why did she marry him?
"Do you like him, Temari?" Yoshino enquires suddenly. Then appearing determined, she proclaims resolutely, "Only if you like him would I treat him better."
"Kaasan!" Temari gasps, obviously taken aback by her mother's ultimatum.
"So do you?"
"I—no—I don't know."
Yoshino picks up the dishes from the table as she declares, "You can only order me to treat him nicely when you do."
"Kaasan, why are you doing this?" Temari tries to grapple with the unexpected turn of events. It's way too inconceivable! Yoshino is the last person she would have expected to stipulate such a thing.
"BECAUSE YOUR MARRIAGE IS A SHAM, TEMARI!" roars Yoshino, banging the dishes back on the table. "I'm not going to start liking Shikamaru until I'm sure he can stay."
The room turns awfully quiet. Only the chirps of moths outside coming in from the open windows and the rotor of the overhead fan can be heard in the uncomfortable silence.
It is after a while before Temari finally utters, faintly, "Kaasan, if I like him then won't that guarantee that I'll end up being the loser."
"If you like him, Temari that will guarantee you'll fight for him and your marriage. Then your union will become real."
"Kaasan, it won't work if I'm the only one—"
Yoshino smiles reassuringly. "Baby, if you want to, you can bring that boy to his knees."
Temari snorts derisively at her mother's words. The asshole on his knees, imagine that.
Sure she wants him on his knees but only to ask for her forgiveness. But she won't forgive him ever. The stupid ass readily believes the worst about her just because someone he thought reliable—Ino— said something. He has already determined what kind of woman she is. If he could think that she sleeps around, she wonders what other misdeed she's supposed to have done that he could come up with. That bastard!
Yoshino, seeing the flash of resentment on Temari's face, sighs. She's the last person that would force her daughter. Shrugging her yukata-clad shoulders, she speaks matter-of-fact, "That boy got his father, and you have me."
Dissatisfied with her mother's words, Temari shakes her head. "Kaasan, I will feel better if you'll just stop pointedly ignoring him. I already grew up cared for by you. It's time you do that for him too."
"I already told you, if you want me to treat him better then learn to love him first," Yoshino utters dismissively. Carrying the dishes with her she steps towards the direction of the kitchen.
Temari is left standing at the dining table. After a few long seconds of indecision, she runs after her mother, grabbing an arm to stop the older woman. "Okay fine. I love him. There. Just do what I say then and—and next time, Kamaru thanks you for the meal, ask him what food he likes and say you'll prepare it for him. After you're done with laundry, if he again offers to carry it for you, say yes. If he asks a question, simply answer. Treat him like you have treated me. Deal?"
"I don't know if you mean it or not."
"I mean it." Temari's eyes, however, won't meet that of her mother's.
This time, Yoshino is the one that shakes her head at her daughter, still unbelieving. She briskly removes Temari's hand that's stopping her on her way to the kitchen.
"You lie horribly, Temari," Yoshino declares as she walks away.
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~12 9,16 12 AF P 2 15 13~