Chapter 100
As he walks the streets of Konoha, with one arm swinging the picnic basket, while the other clasping the roses to his chest, Temari walks beside him, every now and then her hand would slip through the crook of his arm bearing the bouquet, usually to pull him to her desired path.
After a couple of minutes of walking through alleyways, veering off a chosen path just because it gets crowded by people, Shikamaru sighs, "What are we doing?"
"Showing people I'm with you," Temari answers while ignoring a younger shinobi and his companion who upon crossing their path, give them a polite nod.
Shikamaru gives a backward glance at the two shinobis who leave in haste the alleyway. "Then why are we avoiding them?"
Temari just snaps, "Are we?"
"Yes." Yes, they are—No, actually just her. Shikamaru notices the curt nods to plain snubbing that Temari keeps on bestowing to anyone that can't be helped but crossed their path. Him being with her, he doesn't know whether to smile and apologize for her sake or to just follow her lead.
But he has already observed that in Konoha when someone smiles at you in greeting—it's customary to smile back. For him, since smiling takes effort, he just nods his head to anyone they passed by, hoping they don't notice his wife's dour expression.
His answer makes Temari snorts. Marching ahead, she does not bother with a reply.
Tch, now, that dour expression of hers is even directed at him. "Are we fighting?" Shikamaru asks Temari's back.
Temari just continues to walk, knowing Shikamaru will follow her. She leads him through town until the establishments finally thin out to give way to the open space of the cemetery. And when Shikamaru realizes where they are, he calls out Temari's name, walking faster to reach her side. Gazing into her eyes, she nods her head.
Putting down the picnic basket, Shikamaru approaches Asuma's headstone.
He now understands, the flowers aren't actually for Temari. But still…taking one rose from the bouquet, he gives that rose to his wife. Temari accepts it, smiling at him while her eyes seem to shimmer with moisture.
Shikamaru then leans down towards Asuma's grave to put down the red blood roses. It is a good choice of flowers. "Thank you, sensei, for everything," he whispers as he straightens.
Temari stands closer to Shikamaru in front of Asuma's grave. "The last time you were here, I wanted to stand beside you while all those people prosecuted you," she mutters quietly, apologizing. "I would have—"
"You don't need to explain," interrupts Shikamaru. He now understands why she's aloof at the people back there at the town.
Temari shakes her head. "This is important. So listen, alright."
Shikamaru nods his head.
Temari takes a deep breath then she cups her palms over her mouth before she yells quite loudly to their surroundings, "I TRUST YOU, KAMARU!"
Shikamaru grabs Temari, trying to put his hand over her mouth—but even so, it's already too late. "Tch, woman, everybody heard that. Even the dead."
"Good," says Temari, satisfied.
It's so blatantly obvious to Shikamaru now. Temari wants her people—the people of Konoha—to accept him but at the same time she hates her own people for wrongly accusing him of killing Asuma.
And even though, those same people are showing signs that they have heard of what he had done to avenge Asuma and are coming around, Temari can't forgive them easily.
A while back, when he asked what they were doing, she answered, 'Showing people I'm with you.'
To her way of thinking, that's important.
'Then why are we avoiding them?' he questioned.Then, he didn't understand why she didn't bother to answer him, choosing instead to walk ahead of him in a huff. Now, armed with the nagging feeling he has as to the why, he somewhat understands—the troublesome woman is sulking in his behalf.
With that thought, he can't help but smile. "Their opinions of me doesn't matter, Temari—"
Suddenly, Shikamaru's head swivels towards someone shouting his name, the urgency in the familiar voice of the new arrival, obvious even in the distance. "I wonder what it is," Shikamaru mutters, moving to approach the older shinobi, a sudden premonition coldly pricking his spine, quickly wiping the smile from his face.
—o0o—
Kakashi proffers a ball of crumpled paper to Kamaru and the piece of string used to tie it to the leg of the messenger bird.
Reaching for it, Shikamaru quickly unravels the paper, expecting some sort of message written on the note, only to find a small piece of rock tucked inside.
"That's all the message contained," Kakashi utters, perplexed as to the meaning of the rock.
"Do you know how much this thing weigh?" Shikamaru asks.
Kakashi answers, "Four grams." It was one of the last things he checked after discovering that no jutsu could make any message reappear on the blank paper.
"Four," Shikamaru mumbles, almost to himself. "The number four."
"What does that mean?" Temari questions, watching Shikamaru as he grips the rock. His air of disquiet worries her.
"The number four…it means death," Shikamaru replies with a voice devoid of emotion, "But it doesn't say whose."
"But it'simpossible for the Kazekage to know this early that you had disposed of Hidan. It couldn't be a warning of retribution." Temari grunts, "So in what context are we going to interpret that damn message?"
"It's not impossible for the Kazekage to know that I, Kankuro and Gaara—"Suddenly, Shikamaru's hands grab the sides of his head, almost like visibly trying to block his unwanted thoughts from entering into his brain. "Oh God, no!"
"No, what?!" Temari asks, fear for Kankuru and Gaara—her brothers—lacing her voice.
"Dad must have found out that Gaara and Kankuro are helping me and—"
"NO!" shouts Temari, forcefully interrupting Shikamaru. "The Kazekage couldn't possibly do what you're implying, ass!"
"If he can exchange his own daughter, if he can plant a bijuu inside his own son," snaps Shikamaru in response. "What makes you think he can't kill one of his own children?"
Temari shakes her head, still disbelieving.
Shikamaru fights to remain calm but his voice cracks as he utters, "I have to go back to Suna. I have to find out what happened."
Kakashi nods his head in understanding while Temari shakes hers. "No," she growls. "Let's wait for more news. We don't know how dangerous Suna is right now. For all we know the kazekage has prepared a trap, hiring more men like Hidan."
"I have to go now. You know I do," states Shikamaru, gently cupping Temari's face with his trembling hands. Looking straight into her murky blue-green eyes, trying to convey his desperation to her while Kakashi stands close by, watching them. "If they are your brothers, you wouldn't hesitate to do the same."
Temari's eyes sharpen. They are her brothers. She slaps the hands that hold her face immobile.
"At least we know, one is still alive—the one who sent me this message." Shikamaru says persistently, "We have to find out what happened. I have to go back to Suna."
"Then bring some men with you," rasps Temari. With her pregnant, the frustration that she can't come with him showing in her voice.
"Tch, I'm still considered a Suna nin, Temari. If I'm accompanied by a bunch of Konoha nins," explains Shikamaru, "that would appear like Konoha is waging a war if we get caught sneaking into Suna. Politically, that move would create more problems."
"He's right, Temari." Kakashi agrees with Kamaru, earning a sharp glare from the kunoichi. "And given the secrecy of the message, whoever sent it wanted the whole thing to be hushed."
"Don't patronize me, I know that!" scowls Temari, her mind racing, grasping at ways to make sure Shikamaru stays safe.
"I'm going alone, Temari."
Temari shakes her head. "No," she growls adamantly, only to pause, taking a calming breath to continue in a more steady tone, "I said, let's wait for more information."
"Right now, I have the advantage of that message," argues Shikamaru, "Our enemies couldn't possibly know I was informed. They are not expecting me."
"That letter could be a fucking trap!" yells Temari. It's so obvious that it's a trap, why can't they see it.
"I don't have the time to argue right now," grunts Shikamaru. Facing Temari, with his eyes shining with a determined light, he adds, "You know, I really have to go now." Without waiting for reply, he turns to nod at Kakashi before he leaves, his stride getting faster and faster as he goes.
"Damn you, asshole!" Temari shouts at Shikamaru's back, throwing the rose he has given her in his direction. Her chest heaves, her fists clench at her sides as she seethes; her words were just ignored by that asshole.
Kakashi moves, walking away only to stop as he leans down to pick up the single stemmed rose on the ground. Gently, he dusts off the dirt that clings to the red petals then offers it back to Temari.
"You noticed it, right?" Temari asks, still ignoring the proffered flower. "You heard Kamaru accusing the Kazekage of exchanging his own daughter for a son."
"Yes, but…" Kakashi looks at the direction of the place where he once found and shared a bath with an old man. "I already heard about it before from Jiraiya."
"That's why you keep on pestering me publicly about signing your Icha Icha book," grumbles Temari, "It's to help propagate the myth that I married someone who can absorb my jutsu through sex."
Kakashi's eyes close in half-crescent, smiling impishly at her. "Except for the truth, it was the only way to explain away Kamaru's ability to manipulate the shadows."
"He only has that ability and his brain—"
"Don't forget, Kamaru fought Hidan alone and won," Kakashi interrupts, "He'll be alright."
Temari, watching Shikamaru before he totally disappears from her view, doesn't bother to face the older shinobi. "This time, it's different. Kamaru has to get through not just one shinobi but an entire army of them before he could confront the Kazekage—the man who raised him up." Finally, turning to face Kakashi, with her expression grave, she finally snatches from him the flower that was given to her just moment ago by the man that she stupidly loves. "Even if Kamaru succeeds against the army and reaches Rasa—how can he fight the man he has for years considered as his own father?"
"Hmn."
Words become unnecessary. Whether Shikamaru defeats the Kazekage or not, the results will be the same, Shikamaru will still lose.
The wind gently whips their hair as the silence lengthened.
After a while, Kakashi says, "Let's go."
"You go ahead. If I see Kamaru at home, packing, I'll just try to stop him again. I'll wait here until I'm sure he's gone," replies Temari.
A million thoughts races through her mind. If that ass is correct, she already lost a brother without getting to know him much, much, much better. So how can she lose Shikamaru…the man she has gotten to know more than any man out there?
—o0o—
~2 14, 3 8 15, 4 4 15AF P 4 19 15~
A/N: Oh gawd, finally this chapter is done. So sorry for the slow updates. So busy earning money, so exhausted (and hungry) when I get home. Aw don't you just love summer…
Hope you review, guys…It's what I look forward to after the end of a hectic day.