Chapter 93
The door of the Nara residence opens with a thump.
Yoshino enters the foyer, removes her sandals and puts them inside the cabinet near the door. She then goes to her and Shikaku's room, changes her somber black yukata to something less dark and comfortable. Without missing a beat, she collects the dirtied clothes and others into the laundry bin.
Frowning at the only half-filled basket, she determinedly marches towards the bed, removing its covers, the blanket and the pillow cases and throwing them into the bin. Those items were only replaced last night but they need to be change already.
Next, she inspects the guest rooms, deeming the curtains and cover sheets dirty and adding the items to her bin. Then, she visits Temari's room, her strides, unhesitating. The knowledge that she was forbidden to enter makes her huff under her breath as she collects the curtains, towels and sheets. She can do whatever she wants, no one can forbid her in her own home.
Briskly, she does the laundry, using an uncharacteristic generous amount of soap and scrubbing the fabrics with her undue strength. And when she's done, she squeezes and twists the pieces of linen too tightly to remove the excess water. Finally, with purposeful steps, she carries her heavy load of laundered sheets and clothes towards the clothesline, but then her steps suddenly come to a halt. She pauses at the exact area where Kamaru offered to carry her load of laundry before.
Of course, she blatantly refused his offer of help then. She didn't need it.
…But this time, he's the one that needs help.
Yoshino shakes her head, pushing the thought that continues to pester her all day. Taking a determined step then another towards the clothesline, she focuses on the tasks at hand.
But before she can reach her self-imposed destination, she slams down her pail of laundered clothes and hurriedly removes her apron and uncaring, throws the piece of miniscule clothing to the ground.
Not wasting another second, she strides towards the gate, leaving the Nara estate and the wet laundry behind.
—o0o—
The door of the cabin, deep in the Nara clan forests, creaks open.
"Kamaru, I know you're here," calls the kunoichi, her eyes scanning the place. Everything is as it should be, no dishes on the sink and the door leading to the bedroom is closed.
Not bothering to be silent anymore, she strides to the bedroom door, slamming it open. The word, "Ass," ready to be spit out, dies down on her lips as she stares at the empty bedroom.
"God damn it!" Temari scowls in frustration, she is almost sure she will find him here but then the bed is made up, not a sign of recent occupation. She's running out of ideas where to find that stupid ass.
"What are you doing here?" suddenly, a voice speaks to her back.
Temari swivels around, so quickly, that she bangs her elbow on the doorknob. "Fuck," she swears in pain.
"If you're here to ask me to leave—" Shikamaru's face hardens, "—I'm not going. Not yet."
Temari hears the anger in his words, scrutinizing his blank face, it dawns to her that he meant that… she's there to ask him to leave Konoha, not just the cabin, in disgrace. "You don't think that I…" Words fail Temari as she realizes that Kamaru thinks she's in cahoots with those that accuses him that he killed Asuma.
God damn it! Temari inwardly curses. All of these isIno's fault—again! If that bitch didn't come forward and stood beside him at the grave, she—his wife—would have come forward then.
Taking deep, calming breaths, she tries to reign in her temper but still, she fails to sound civil, as she snaps, "You didn't kill him!"
Shikamaru can only stare at her, unable to easily believe what he has just heard.
Kamaru stares at her as if she just announces that she has lost her mind. So defensively, Temari snarls, "The people gives you too much credit."
"So the only reason you think I didn't do it is because you don't believe I could defeat Asuma," Shikamaru concludes tonelessly, not letting his acute disappointment show.
"That and—"
"Go home," utters Shikamaru, turning his back, clearly dismissing Temari, not wanting to hear what she's about to say, "before people taints you with the same brush they use on me for being here."
Gritting her teeth, wanting to thump Kamaru in the head for trying to protect her from those simple minded accusers, but instead she just strides faster to reach his side before he can exit the cabin door. "Will you listen?! I said, 'and' and I meant this," she rasps, waiving a piece of paper.
Shikamaru finally stops on his tracks and gradually reaches for the folded note.
The message is a re-written copy of Gaara's letter to Kamaru. She had memorized what was in the missive before she threw it at that post office thrash bin in a show of a wife's disinterest in her husband's extra marital affairs. Hopefully, her acting had convinced those that needed to be convinced…
The message says:
The woman you paid slumbers on my bed, subdued by might.
Under the sickle moon, a drop of iron snuffs the light.
-G
"It's a warning, isn't it?" Temari mutters, watching as Kamaru scans the missive.
Shikamaru appears to have not heard her.
"The woman you paid for refers to what?" Temari asks accusingly. "And why would Gaara let her slept on his bed?"
Shikamaru, a frown appearing on his forehead, replies, "She's my spy. Gaara must have meant he's hiding her in his room and that she's hurt."
Of course, Temari already suspects it's not a prostitute but still his confirmation makes that little tightness in her chest go away. "And 'Under the sickle moon, a drop of iron snuffs the light' means what?" she questions, her tone a lot calmer.
Instead of answering, Shikamaru asks in a sharp voice,"When did you get this?"
"An hour or so after you left with Asuma," retorts Temari. "You didn't answer my question. What does the second line means?"
"'Under the sickle moon' refers to the enemy's sickle-shaped weapon and 'a drop of iron snuffs the light' refers to how the enemy's jutsu works. He just needs a drop of blood to make someone's eyes close forever," answers Shikamaru, an angry edge to his voice.
Silence stretches in the room as both keenly remember that Asuma's dead. He's dead.
"Damn!" Shikamaru suddenly snaps, tearing the missive into tinier pieces. "This is useless!"
"No, not entirely," Temari utters quietly. Meeting his gaze, she admits, "Kakashi saw that message too. He knew it was a warning."
"So?"
"That letter exonerated you in Kakashi's eyes," explains Temari. "Which is a good thing since I'm actually here to tell you that the Hokage has ordered you to join Kakashi's team which is tasked to go after Asuma's killer. At least, now, you don't have to worry that a Konoha jounin will slit your throat."
—o0o—
About to pull open her drawer, Lady Tsunade, with her hand still on the handle, raises her head to look up when with a quick knock followed immediately by the door opening, Yoshino barges into her office.
Remaining seated behind her desk, Lady Tsunade proceeds in opening her drawer as Yoshino approaches her table. Taking out a bottle of sake and two cups, the hokage then gestures for Yoshino to sit down. The small bottle is tipped to fill the two cups. One cup is offered to the other woman while the other cup touches the kage's lips.
Yoshino ignores the proffered cup, visibly restraining herself, waiting for the hokage to finish her drink. As soon as the blonde woman wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, Yoshino spats, "How could you allow it?"
"Allow what, Yoshino?" Lady Tsunade fills her cup again.
"You just stood there while they prosecute him! You could have said something to defend him," reproaches Yoshino.
"You could have done the same," mentions Lady Tsunade, meeting the other woman's accusing eyes, "but you didn't."
"I am his mother!" growls Yoshino, only to immediately add, quite sullenly, "I mean I'm his mother-in-law, people would just think that I'm being biased."
"You care more for the people's opinion?" Lady Tsunade asks, "What about Shikamaru? What do you think he will think if you have stood up for him?"
"I'll tell you what he'll think!" Yoshino retorts, "He'll think of it as nothing! It'll mean nothing to him!"
"You're wrong."
"That boy doesn't care!" Yoshino rasps adamantly, her body shaking in agitation. "He doesn't care at all what I think of him. My opinion of him doesn't matter! Remember he claimed he raped Temari to me! TO ME!"
Heaving a deep breath, then another, Yoshino continues, "I'm doing this because... because…I know that stupid boy doesn't care about what others think of him. He won't do anything to defend himself!"
Lady Tsunade scrutinizes the other kunoichi. "I'm glad that you now care—"
"I don't." Yoshino's eyes sharpen, knowing what Lady Tsunade is about to say. "This mark against him, will mark Temari's reputation too. He can leave, return back to Suna but Temari can't. She'll be left to face the people's wrath."
"So you don't want him wrongfully accused for that reason only?"
"Yes. Of course."
"I see," Lady Tsunade replies as she reaches for the stacks of paper in front of her, clearly dismissing the other woman.
Yoshino frowns. "Well?"
Lady Tsunade peruses a document then signs it before taking another one from the stack then another then another.
Yoshino crosses her arms on her chest, a blatant show that she's waiting patiently.
It's only after the seventh document is scrutinized to its last detail that finally the Hokage deems to reply, "What you're asking me to do—I have already done it. I have already ordered a team to clear Shikamaru's name."
"You could have told me that earlier."
Lady Tsunade leans back on her chair, her eyes piercing as she looks straight at Yoshino. "If I did, you wouldn't have faced the idea that you are hurt that Shikamaru treats your opinion just like he treats the opinion of others, like it's nothing."
"That's absurd," counters Yoshino, meeting the older woman's eyes only to drop hers first. Hastily, she bends at the waist towards Lady Tsunade. "I'm leaving. Thank you for your time." Straightening up, she hurries to leave the room.
"Why can't you accept Shikamaru as your son?" Lady Tsunade questions before Yoshino reaches the door.
Yoshino swivels around, staunchly facing again the older woman. "You will never understand because you're not a mother."
"When I first held Temari all those years ago, I felt like a mother," negates Lady Tsunade. "She looked like how I imagined my own baby would be—blonde and beautiful," she continues, a slight smile softening her lips in remembrance. "I did what I did because like you I felt it. I felt the need to protect her like she was my own even when she was not. So never tell me that I don't understand on the grounds that I'm not a mother. Because like me, you're not Temari's mother either."
Yoshino, her shoulders tense and her face turns furious, and yet her lips remain clamped close.
Lady Tsunade, hearing the harshness of her own words, turns contrite but still she continues, "Shikamaru, he's your son. You're his mother and you're right…I'll never understand why you can't accept him."
Yoshino gazes almost sadly at the older woman judging her. The Hokage simply fails to realize that if she starts to care for that boy, she'll want things that she can never have. Then she will regret not having those things until it taints everything that she has right now.
"You might have save Temari from certain death, but that doesn't make you a mother." Yoshino replies, her tone, amazingly, is calm as if she has accepted some truth. "Because a mother is someone that is there—always—for her child. I wasn't there for the whole of Shikamaru's life, so how can you say that I am his mother?"
"Almost nineteen years is not the whole of Shikamaru's life, you can still—"
"No." Yoshino shakes her head quite adamantly.
"Shikamaru might die trying to clear the Sabaku's—no the Nara's name," proclaims Lady Tsunade as she watches Yoshino's face. But the other kunoichi's expression remains impassive. With a sigh, Tsunade adds, "Let's just hope you won't regret your obstinacy."
"I—won't," Yoshino answers with a hesitation that is almost unapparent. Nodding her head, she then opens the door and leaves the Hokage's office.
TBC
~4 4,6,25 14, 8 18 14AF P9 9 14~