Chapter 107

But she's not just Yoshino and Shikaku's daughter, she's also a mother to her unborn child who will need its father soon.

Temari won't allow herself and her child to be caught between her parents and Shikamaru. Never!

She will convince Yoshino and Shikamaru that they should learn how to co-exist with each other if they want to see her and the baby safe. She will make sure they understand that they will never see her again and her kid if they don't agree…

She clenches her teeth in her resolve. This is a fight she won't lose.

Her limp grasp of Shikamaru's hand tightens as she drags him faster towards home.

—o0o—

Shikamaru and Temari are at the foyer, removing their shoes then putting on their indoor slippers when Yoshino bursts in on them.

Temari stands upright, moving forward in front of Shikamaru, a conscious protective gesture. Face carved with determination, she growls at her own mother, "He's staying for good here in this house. If you disagree to that—if you want him to go back to Suna, I'll go to him there once the baby is born. And if he doesn't agree to that out of respect to a stupid agreement I swear I'll disappear—"

Shikamaru interrupts Temari. "I'm home," he drawls, addressing Yoshino.

"Welcome home," Yoshino replies, turning around, gesturing for them to follow her inside the house.

Wait, what? Did her mother just said 'Welcome home'…She couldn't have. Her mother would not say those words lightly.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Temari scowls at Yoshino's back as she wonders at what is currently happening. "Didn't you taunted me that you and Shikamaru had an understanding?!"

Shikamaru calls out at Yoshino, "You told her about our agreement?"

"Not all of it," answers Yoshino, still walking forward, knowing the two are following her into the living room.

"Kasan, you made me believe Shikamaru's not returning back—ever!"

Yoshino now reaches the living room. She ignores Temari, while gesturing at Shikamaru to sit down. "Would you like some tea?" she asks the obviously tired young man as he does her bidding and sits on her sofa—while she not bothers to hide the fact that she's drinking in his appearance, from his unkempt, untied hair to his face that looks so much like her Shikaku to his sweat stained clothes to his quite muddy feet. "You want to eat first or take a bath?"

"O-ka-san" Temari intones warningly, "What's happening here?"

"Don't make a fuss, Temari," admonishes Yoshino, "Now, go get your husband something to drink."

"So you made Temari believe I'm not coming back here?" Shikamaru asks, a brow quirking in question at Yoshino before turning towards his wife, his tone, a bit annoyed, "And you believed it. What happened to 'I'll trust you and what we have'?"

"No, don't blame Temari," Yoshino tells Shikamaru. "I just told her what she needed to know. And that was that you and I agreed that once the threat to your kid is gone you'll leave permanently."

"You didn't tell her about the curtains?" Shikamaru questions.

"Of course, I didn't," utters Yoshino defensively. "When I asked her what she's going do about you being gone for so long, she said she wouldn't do anything. Really, she didn't deserve to know about the curtains."

"Kasan, really!" Temari stomps her foot in frustration before swiveling to glower at Shikamaru, pointedly blaming him for her answer to Yoshino's inquiry just a couple of nights ago. "What's this nonsense about curtains?"

"Tch, you'd know if only you asked your mother what I got in exchanged for my promise that I'd stay away once I knew you and the baby are safe," drawls Shikamaru, bothered that Temari could think he wouldn't come back.

"No, ass, I didn't bother to ask what you got in exchange!" yells Temari, fuming mad as the switch to her temper is lighted by Shikamaru's reproachful words against her. "Because in the first place how could you promise such a thing, is beyond me!"

Shikamaru sighs heavily, defeated by the fact that he's the one to be blamed that Temari believes the worst. "Come on woman, at the time, all I knew is I love you so much and that I wanted you to be happy when everything's over."

Temari swivels, ignoring Shikamaru's words to transfer her fiery eyes towards Yoshino. "Kasan, after what you had revealed to me, how did you expect me to react? Did you thought that I would be implying that I would go after him, that I would be chasing after him to Suna to profess my love?! It's now clear that, that's what you wanted to hear that night, right?"

"Tema—"

Temari interrupts Yoshino, "How could I tell you something like that when I'm reeling from the shock that that ass could promised something so... I'm so mad with the realization that he chose his honor over me and his kid," she spats. "So if I said, I wouldn't do anything about it, could you really blame me?"

Feeling contrite, Yoshino approaches Temari, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. "I—I should have tried to see it from your point of view. At the time, I was getting tired of waiting for Shikamaru to come home and I knew you were too. I told you about the agreement so you would do something about his absence—so I wouldn't have to—but you said you wouldn't do anything. And then the next night, when you didn't go the patio to wait for him—it made me realize that you really mean it, you wouldn't do anything and that made me angrier with you."

Yoshino rubs Temari's hand. "I'm sorry, baby. I should have told you everything then."

"It's okay," grumbles Temari. Mollified by the fact that Yoshino finally admits that she was waiting for Shikamaru to return home too. Those milk drinks that her kasan mixed for her were just an excuse so she could join her in the patio. She should have realized that if she wasn't so worried about the ass—really, she couldn't stay angry with her mother but it's a different matter with the man she married. "It's all that ass' fault!"

With all five fingers pointing towards himself, Shikamaru asks, "All my fault?"

"Yes." Glowers Temari.

Yoshino shakes her head forcefully. "It's not Shikamaru's fault, Temari. It's mine. I should have…" Still gripping her daughter's hand, Yoshino's eyes turn repentant. She doesn't need to say that all these should have not happened if she has accepted Shikamaru right at the start.

Yoshino continues, "What Shikamaru asked in exchange wasn't much but it showed how much he valued you and his time with you—short it might have seem at the time."

"So what did he asked for?" Temari demands finally, "And what the hell had the curtains got to do with it?"

Shikamaru, highly aware that his answer better be something that Temari wants to hear or he's going to be quite unforgiven by the woman, speaks slowly, weighing in his words, "I made the deal to make sure, I had a place in this house I could be with you without coming to clash with your mother over some selfish actions I knew I was going to commit because I couldn't help myself. I wanted—a haven—a place where I could be with you and that I could do whatever I wanted with you. Our bedroom became that place. So in exchanged for my promise that I would leave once we're sure you're safe, your mother agreed that she couldn't come inside our bedroom no matter what."

"Okay. Go on." Temari murmurs, tone softer, remembering some of Shikamaru's selfish acts in their bedroom—and how she enjoyed them.

"Remember that night we made love, there were no curtains?" Upon seeing Temari nodding her head, Shikamaru continues, "You revealed then that Yoshino took our bedroom curtains but I was so hot for you the information just flew out of my head. Until there I was in Suna, tied up with political shit helping Gaara assume his position and wanting nothing more but to come home to you and because you love me, I knew I will come home to you no matter what Yoshino says, and then that was when it hit me."

Temari's eyes widen as she realizes herself what Shikamaru realized belatedly. "Of course, kasan couldn't have removed the curtains without entering our room. She made sure you would notice that she went inside our room—she had all the curtains laundered so I couldn't replace them. She was blatantly breaking off the agreement."

"Yes." Shikamaru dips his head in agreement, a smile spreading on his lips.

"Still you should have told me about the agreement, ass," snaps Temari. "If you did then I too would have known that you and kasan had settled your differences."

Shikamaru's smile is wiped off. "Tch, woman, when you didn't love me, it didn't matter, right? Then when you told me you love me, I couldn't just spill it out and certainly not when you were so against me going back to Suna."

"Ugh so now it's my fault for you not telling me?!" shouts Temari. "What about that last night together? You jerk, you could have told me then that you have this stupid agreement about me with your own mother!"

"Yes, of course, if not for the fact that you were the one begging for it that night I would have ruined the moment and told you then and there," retorts Shikamaru.

"I was not begging for it!" hisses Temari, her cheeks reddening as she turns to look at her mother, embarrassed to realize that the older woman is still there and that they have completely forgotten that she is. "He was the one who—"

"Temari, I'm not interested in the details of your sex life," Yoshino cuts in, speaking in a clipped voice, before moving to leave the living room. "I'll prepare something for him to eat. You prepare his bath."

—o0o—

~4 15, 6 14, 8 14 15 AF P 11 22 15~

A/N: Did anybody thought of the significance of the curtains? Anyone?