A/N: I just read Intertwining Fate. Sure I had read this as I made the chapters before but this time is my first time reading this for reading. It feels...weird that I wrote this. I think writers who read their stories after years and years could relate to that.
So yes with great boredom comes great responsibility. I'm pretty sure I quote that wrong. So, let's do this. I could always blame covid if this doesn't end well.
—oOo—
Chapter 1...11
Temari...her name is Temari.
And she's going to love her like her own flesh and blood.
Tsunade looked at the baby girl. Nobody would suspect that the blonde infant is not hers... If she leaves Konoha now, if she travels to a place where no one knows her, if she adopts a younger face, no one would know. No one would ever suspect that the beautiful blonde baby girl is not hers, that she isn't the real mother, that she did not give birth to her.
Yes, Tsunade plans on going away, far away from Konoha. She will take the infant Temari and her secrets with her.
—oOo—
Shikaku ran all the way to the hospital from the arena where he was supposed to participate in the Jounin exam. He just learned his wife was in labor. He could always re-take the Jounin test again. Being there for his wife and kid were more important.
He arrived, panting.
Yoshino was crying.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to come sooner," Shikaku said, approaching his wife lying on her hospital bed.
Yoshino kept on weeping, tears falling sideways as she lay on the bed facing the door, facing the newly arrived Shikaku. She was waiting for him to arrive.
Shikaku's eyes moved to look at Yoshino's stomach. It was way smaller than before. "The baby—" he asked, fear lacing his voice.
Yoshino's gaze met Shikaku's, her eyes twin pools of pain. "I woke up and then Lady Tsunade told me that my—our baby is in a critical condition. She—he—I don't even know, Lady Tsunade did not say if our baby is a boy or a girl. But Shikaku...Lady Tsunade did say the baby may not live." Yoshino cried in earnest, her shoulders shaking. "I'm so sorry. It was my fault. I slipped down the stairs. I should not have hurried going down. I should have hold on the handrails but I did not. I wasn't careful enough. I'm so sorry. I hurt our baby."
"Shh," Shikaku mumbled on Yoshino's hair as he embraced her, bent down. His own tears were hidden. He knew that he should prepare for the worst. Yoshino never cries and yet, her tears fell down, unabated. Yoshino's tears were proof enough that things were so bad. "Ssh, it'll be alright. You'll see," he lied through his teeth.
—oOo—
Tsunade saw the weeping couple, hug...and she couldn't do it. She had sinned enough, depriving the Nara of their own son...She can't deprived them, a child.
Yes, she will leave Konoha. There's no forgiving what she did. But she will leave the infant Temari behind. The Nara's are not the infant's parents either but they need her more than Tsunade needs someone to shower her love on.
—oOo—
"Oh thank you. Thank you. Oh how can we thank you, lady Tsunade, for saving our baby?" Yoshino asked Tsunade, clasping the older woman's hands tightly.
Tsunade squeezed Yoshino's hand. "I would be honored if you would allow me to pick this beautiful child's name."
Shikaku started to mumble, "But—," then he saw his kid, sleeping in her enclosed see through basket. She looked so tiny and reddish and wrinkled and so very fragile. And even now, even with the danger passed, tubes were still attached to her small body connected to monitors that beep in a regular pattern. They almost lost her if not for the medic. Yes, Nara Shikaku's kid should be named Shikamari as with tradition but..."What name would you want for her, Lady Tsunade?"
Lady Tsunade smiled. "Temari. I want her name to be Temari."
"Te-ma-ri," Shikaku said it slowly. Trying the sound on his tongue as he looked at the infant. "Yes, it's a good name. Temari which means highly valued and cherished gift. This child is indeed to us...our most cherished gift. Yes, Lady Tsunade, I—" Shikaku glanced at his wife who nodded her head towards him, agreed, "I and my wife shall name her Temari."
—oOo—
"Otosan, okasan, its time!" Shikamaru's shout is loud enough that it reaches the room in the opposite end of the Nara's residence.
Yoshino grips Shikaku's hand, trembling, as she remembers the darkest moments of her life—that time almost twenty years ago when she gave birth. Temari may not be her real child...but the danger to her life was real when she was born. They were just too grateful at the time that she was alive, they thought nothing of her still sparse and yet pale coloured hair.
"What if something goes wrong?" Yoshino asks. "What if my grandchild is just like his mother?"
"Then that will be great," smiles Shikaku.
"Temari was so small, so fragile then. She was barely bigger than your own hand." Yoshino's grip tightens on Shikaku's hand. "It's not yet time. Just like her mother, our grandchild will be premature. Tell Kamaru, it's not yet time."
"Shh, this time it will be different," declares Shikaku, comforting Yoshino, this time telling no lies. "This time, our grandchild will be born healthy and strong. He or she—Shikamaru is convinced it's a she—will appear perfect."
"I hope the baby is a boy," replies Yoshino fervently. "I decided I won't regret missing on his father's early years but...I want the new baby to look just like his father so I can watch him grow up and imagine Shikamaru's..."
"Then it will be a boy," Shikaku pronounces. "Lady Tsunade will make sure it's a boy."
"Don't even say that as a joke!" snaps Yoshino, her fears forgotten.
"Well hurry up then. We better go to the hospital fast to make sure that this time we bring home the right Nara." Shikaku answers back, rising up from the bed. "Although we did take home a Nara all those years ago."
"Nara Temari, yes that's her proper name," replies Yoshino, rising from the bed fast and reaching for a change of clothes. "Do you think they brought Temari's bag?"
"Why don't you bring one just in case they forgot?"
"If your son is just like you...he probably did not forget anything. Now, let's go. I'm excited to meet my grandchild."
—oOo—
"I don't even have slippers," Temari, half laughing-half accusing, utters. "You literally just carried me here minus my slippers. No extra clothes for me and no clothes for our baby."
"Tch," mumbles Shikamaru. "I'll get your bag and slippers when Okasan and Oyaji get here."
"You aren't leaving my side, ass," growls Temari, suddenly alarmed.
"I won't be gone long. As you say the bag is ready. I'll just grab it. You won't notice I'm gone."
"I'll notice you're gone. Don't you dare leave. I might have this baby while you're gone and I won't have that."
"But—"
"Here." Yoshino offers the bag to Shikamaru. She and Shikaku just arrive in Temari's hospital room and even before they entered, they already hear the brewing argument outside the door.
"Thank you," replies Shikamaru, gratefully reaching for the bag and immediately rummaging through it, looking for slippers. "Aha!" he grunts when he finds the pair.
"You're welcome, my son," Yoshino replies with a smile. Good thing she remembers that Shikaku is maybe a genius at tactics but with practical day to day stuffs...he's quite unreliable. "What did Lady Tsunade say?" she asks as Shikamaru bends down to place the slippers underneath Temari's hospital bed before he straightens to sit down on Temari's bed, clasping her hand.
"We haven't seen Lady Tsunade yet. But someone already came and checked Temari and she said...it'll be hours and hours yet," mumbles Shikamaru.
"Hmm you want us to stay with Temari while you get some rest, son?" Shikaku offers. The boy looks dead on his feet. Working non-stop in Suna to get home sooner then a three day travel to Konoha then a rice only dinner then this. "We'll watch over her while you get some sleep."
"Thanks for the offer, oyaji, but I want to be here with Temari. You guys can go home. We'll send someone to fetch you when the time is near," declares Shikamaru, still holding Temari's hand.
"I'll let him sleep on my bed, otosan," reassures Temari. "It's still night time. Go home."
"But—" Yoshino opens her mouth but Shikaku interrupts her.
"The kids want to be alone for a while, Yoshino."
"I can see that," retorts Yoshino. "Very well. Kamaru, I'm trusting you to take care of Temari. We'll be back later."
—oOo—
~7 2,4,5 20~