Chapter 11: Temari's Decision
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The sun was dipping over the horizon, and a shadow could be found standing on a tree, close to his residency.
He was waiting for something to happen.
Shikamaru fidgeted with the lighter in his hand, opening and closing it. His gaze absentmindedly moved to the location of a particular opened window, it was his mother's studies. He waited, half expectant, for he knew his mother had been writing a letter.
Realizing he might be there for a while, he stopped fidgeting with the lighter, and he settled down on the branch, bringing one knee to his chest.
Shikamaru slowly lifted his gaze towards the setting sun and stared at it through half-lidded eyes. The sunset, which was supposed to be a beautiful phenomenon, faded into the background as his thoughts became too dark. As it stood, he had finally received a reply from Temari. It was hard not to wonder exactly where he went wrong.
Consequently, the hurt in his heart would pulse and as if seeking comfort, his mind going as far as to picture another woman's smile; it had become his favorite defense mechanism during these times. Hinata's shy smile and lavender eyes lingered in his memories, with a twinkle of interest with every gaze he had sent her way.
Recalling a worrisome memory, his brows furrowed, for that memory also came with baggage in the form of Shino and Kiba, as they threatened him to stay away while posing the question he never dared to ask himself.
"Intellectual dishonesty, huh," Shikamaru muttered to himself, recalling something that was said to him by Shino after he had walked her home.
His hand went to the bandages around his neck wound, before lowering it back down to rest on his knee. Shikamaru had to give Kiba some props for coming up with all kinds of creative ways to end Shikamaru's life, should he lay a finger on Hinata.
Now that he thought about it, he had not bothered to address any of the accusations that were made against him, in regard to Hinata. His silence, back then, had probably been mistaken for an admission of guilt. However, it's not that Shikamaru Nara considered himself guilty, he felt stunned over Kiba's stupidity in revealing himself and believing Shikamaru couldn't break free from his claws.
The situation de-escalated slightly when he captured Kiba's shadow and removed himself from his grasp, dusting himself and adjusting his collar. He had ignored the wound Kiba had inflicted while maintaining a gaze of disinterest, as if unbothered. It had been easy to figure out the identity of Kiba's partner after he had carefully studied the masked Anbu standing far back.
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"Aburame," Shikamaru had called out, voicing his theory while cracking into a sarcastic chuckle.
"Nara, would you kindly let go of my friend?" The Anbu said calmly, but there was a hint of disdain behind the tone of his voice as he approached the scene, stopping once he was next to his friend. "And Kiba, please tone it down and put your mask back on,"
"Oi, what happened to a united front? Don't side with this dude!" Kiba gestured in exasperation, once Shikamaru was no longer in control of his movements.
"Losing your emotions over something like this, aren't you supposed to be a shinobi?" Shikamaru tilted his head and continued to point out all of Kiba's mistakes, as he compared him to a hot-headed genin, hoping that it would be taken as constructive criticism, but his comment wasn't well received.
"This is not a conversation we should be having here. Let's move elsewhere," Shino had said, cutting Kiba off.
The three stopped in the middle of a forest, away from civilization, with each settling on their branch under a humongous tree. Shikamaru had already come up with potential strategies for defending himself if it ever came to that.
He had relaxed into a slouch once he perceived no danger would be coming his way.
"So what exactly am I being accused of here?" Shikamaru finally asked.
Shino explained how Hinata was considered to be inexperienced in her leadership position, and everyone seemed to want to win her favor. She lived in a world that was surrounded by politics, and they understood that she needed to be protected from people trying to take advantage of her. From their perspective people like Temari, Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Yoshino were all viewed as potential threats to Hinata.
And that is when Shino spoke the words that had haunted him since then.
"What are your intentions with Hinata? And let's not be intellectually dishonest. It is not friendship that you seek,"
Shikamaru had deflected the question with sarcasm, as he was distracted by the belief that there was something to be said about how extremely protective Hinata's teammates were. It was weird. It was creepy. It was questionable, obsessive even. He didn't voice any of this out loud, wanting to remain as diplomatic as possible.
Shino glanced over to Kiba as if giving him the platform to speak.
"Hinata doesn't need your friendship, do you understand?" He had taken off his mask to glare at him under the scrutiny of the moon. "Temari should be enough for you," He said while spitting to the side.
Shikamaru merely let out a lazy humming sound, not realizing a rejection letter awaited at home, from Temari. Kiba had been trying to get some kind of reaction out of him, but it had not work because at the time he believed he was not seeking anything outside of friendship.
Instead of replying, Shikamaru had absentmindedly touched the wounds on his neck realizing the bleeding had stopped. He just wanted to go home and treat the wound before it got infected.
Hinata's friend parted without sparing Shikamaru another glance, but their words had stuck to him since then.
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The sound of his mother's voice snapped him out of his long musings. Yoshino's arm reached outside the window, a messenger bird resting on her wrist. She released it, so that it may fly back to its owner, Hinata.
Once enough time had passed, he leaped in the air and disappeared, reappearing near the small target.
The unsuspected creature got trapped, in midair, inside a cage that he had created with his own shadow. He wasn't in a hurry when he called the shadow back to him, allowing it to slowly disperse, leaving a very stressed little animal in his hands.
Remembering who the owner of the small thing was, Shikamaru brought the creature close to him and apologized. Once the bird was calmed, Shikamaru wasted no time in removing the letter from the small cylinder container, breaking the family seal, knowing that he could always reseal it later.
"Of course," Shikamaru said to himself, as if astonished by the revelation inside its content. "So that's what you're up to, mother..." He resealed the letter and pushed it back inside the cylinder container, before releasing the messenger bird back to its owner.
Kiba and Shino had been right to be worried. What if Hinata ends up gaining too much support from disingenuous players looking for excuses to start a violent revolution?
What would happen if Hinata's plan fails?
What if she's asked to step down due to her radical point of view?
Several assimilation ran through his head as Shikamaru entered his home, walked down the halls, and opened the door, using too much force.
His mother stopped what she was doing as he entered her study room. She glanced up once he settled across from her.
"It seems you've put me in a very uncomfortable and compromising position as the Hokage's advisor," Shikamaru said while doing his best not to show any emotions. "How long do you plan to manipulate Hinata-san for?" The collapse of the Hyuga clan would create a huge dent in the village as a whole. He couldn't let his mother continue writing letters like these.
Her eyes hinted that she understood right away what her son was talking about. There was no use in hiding it anymore. A shadow fell over her eyes as she bowed her head slightly.
"The Hokage asked you to spy on me, didn't he?" Yoshino leaned an elbow on her desk and turned her head away, as she glanced longingly outside the window. "No matter, it makes no difference if I stop. A few weeks ago she lacked a clear motive and a clear vision, but as it stands that's no longer the case. There's no changing her mind now. The fire inside of her burns brightly."
"And what does that vision look like to you?" Even while knowing the answer, Shikamaru just wanted verbal confirmation all the same.
"We talked about it the other night, remember...?"
There was subdued anger behind his gaze. Shikamaru didn't know what to make of his mother's cunningness. It seems like she envisioned a future in which their shadows can move and see beyond 360 degrees.
"Don't give me that look, Shika. It's for the future of our clan." Her eyes briefly moved to the bandages around his neck. There was a story there that Shikamaru refused to tell. She frowned. "Come, let's change those bandages around you."
"No need, I got it." He said while gesturing no with his hands.
"If you say so," She said while sitting back down.
Something occurred to Shikamaru as he was leaving. He hadn't told his mother just yet, and it seemed like a very bad time to even reveal it...
"About Temari," He stopped by the door, slightly turning back to look at his mother. "She decided to stay in Suna, indefinitely."
"I'm sorry to hear that…" The casual shrug and look of indifference, as he walked away, broke Yoshino's heart.
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Since young, Hinata was always encouraged to train until her body collapsed. The same kind of mentoring applied even when she had been conditioned to take over her position of power.
She would work until she dropped.
Her nose was red and stuffy. Her mind felt like it was melting at the sight of numbers or kanjis. Even though the doctor had stated she should rest, Hinata was conditioned to work through it, even as her fever had reached its highest.
All for the sake of her clan and productivity.
The sound of the thunderstorm in the background helped soothe her a bit, and keep her somewhat focused.
Hinata paused to adjust the wool blanket around herself, as she thought about her sister. She was happy for Hanabi. She deserves the opportunity to broaden her experiences. The world was vast. However, accepting Sakura's invitation to Suna didn't come without consequences. Hinata had to reschedule her entire three months to account for Hanabi being gone so long.
Fundraises, conventions, and events of that nature were Hinata's least favorite things. She was going to miss her sister, even more, when she was no longer around for those things.
She had written to the Lord Kazekage in advance, asking that he take care of Hanabi's well-being. If needed, he had her permission to use any method necessary for discipline. Her delirium got the best of her as she wrote those dramatic words. She only hoped her request didn't make her come across as a violent person.
It was too late to take it back.
After getting a slight amount of work done, Hinata allowed herself to finally give in to exhaustion, she rested her head over her desk, with half of her body now laying over a mountain of scrolls that needed to be sent. Maybe she'll do that tomorrow...
She closed her eyes and groaned, letting her mind go to places.
Her birthday was just around the corner, and she had planned nothing special for it. She would be spending it alone, with just their father, since Hanabi would be in Suna by then.
For once, Hinata wished she would have voiced her real thoughts. She didn't want to be alone after all. But what if she got up and left everything to go and visit her sister for her birthday?
What does Christmas look like in Suna, anyway? Suna's kind of far isn't it..?
As Hinata's thoughts continued to stray away from deviation, Temari's name came to mind. She couldn't think about Temari without feeling guilty. In fact, she tried not to think about her most the time. Yet here she was, wondering how things were going between Temari and the Hokage's advisor.
Does she write to him every day?
Does Shikamaru read it with a smile?
In her hazy state of mind, it somehow took less than a millisecond to distract herself with images of him. His lingering gaze, flirtatious smiles, and relaxing energy. It would be nice if he could carry her to bed right now since she could barely move a muscle. Inside the fantasy she had instantly created, she was a single, ordinary girl of no particular background or affiliation, being lifted and carried by a childhood friend named Shikamaru.
The real one was never a childhood friend, just someone who existed in the background. Yet here he was, living rent-free inside her head while taking up a tremendous amount of space in which Naruto used to once occupy.
Naruto, now there's a nostalgic name.
She tried not to linger on how disturbing her thoughts had been as a young girl, terrifying even. Hinata was left with an unpleasant feeling inside, a staleness she couldn't get over. She still remembered the feelings she felt, and the thought process behind it.
It was all or nothing.
Be with Naruto, or die without him.
As a child and up until the war, she had a toxic one-sided relationship with masochism, and the desire to live and die for him. After Neji's passing, not much had changed. But she was forced to see Naruto as a real person and quickly disavowed the idea of him being her light. He had crossed the line, accepting her first kiss and taking more, only to claim that he didn't mean anything by it.
Empty actions. All meaningless in the end. A waste of time, especially since she was engaged, and from the looks of things, it was still unclear what Shikamaru's status truly was.
In all her delirium, Hinata believed she had come to some sort of epiphany. She wiped away a single renegade that escaped her eye and vaguely wondered if her fiancé was also the same way.
Could Shikamaru be the same way?
No, perhaps all men were the same way.
She suddenly felt like she was being suffocated.
Flashes of thunder illuminated the evergreen garden located outside. Her attention shifted back to her surroundings.
Why did she leave the windows open? Hinata thought to herself while using the remainder of her strength to lift herself off the floor to close them shut as to not the rain inside. She stayed there for a moment, leaning against the window frame, watching as several guards performed their nightly perimeter checks around the mansion.
"I was supposed to meet Uchiha-san today around this time, wasn't I?" She mused out loud while staring at her reflection. Hinata thanked her past self for canceling the meeting with the Uchiha, as she felt like she wasn't in any condition for any of that.
When the next flash of thunder came, it lit up the garden once more, revealing a masked figure standing in the middle of it all. Hinata didn't blink, nor did she react. Her fever must've reached an all-time high, since hallucinations were starting to kick in. There was no way that was Sasuke Uchiha.
Hinata turned away from the window, deciding to finally go to bed to rest. She paused on her first step and adjusted the wool blanket tighter around her frame for the sake of modesty. Hallucination or not, she wasn't sure how to react when she heard the tapping on the window.
Walking back towards the window, she opened it and was greeted with a scroll that had essentially been shoved into her hands.
"Anbu-san," Since he was real, it meant he casually waltzed into her home, uninvited. "Putting my entire surveillance under an illusion," She shook her head. "This is not what we agreed upon when I hired you… " Still, she held the report close to her, hoping that the intel contained enough fire and ammunition to end it all.
"You went and got yourself sick. I say things changed,"
Why did he take deadlines so seriously? She frowned.
"Always in a hurry," By now, that phrase had been cemented when speaking to him.
"Says the person working herself to death," He replied from outside her window, half expecting a retort.
The mere thought of entertaining their banter made her feel dizzy. But she didn't want him to see her that way, so she waited for him to leave first.
When Sasuke finally paid real attention to her, it became obvious that she was leaning against the window for support and balance. She looked exhausted. Her hair in a disheveled mess rolled into two buns.
Sasuke replied to her random inquiries as he had gotten used to them by now.
"Hmm…" She said with much contemplation, one hand reached out from under her wool blanket, getting drenched in the rain, just to confirm something. So he stayed dry by manipulating the space and time around him. Does the Uchiha's power know no bounds?
"Hands off, Hyuga," When he peeled her hand, Sasuke deduced there was some truth to his earlier comment about working herself to death. Her skin felt like he had come into contact with a fiery anvil, enough to instantly burn his cold hand like some sort of furnace.
Was she dying?
"Move aside. I'm coming in," He had said, finally releasing her hand with urgency.
At the time, following instructions became easier than questioning him.
"Where are you going…? " She weakly called out, knowing he had become familiar with her entire home as he had been assigned as a spy.
"I'm getting you some help," Sasuke called out. She watched him disappear outside her office, and into the hallways while blending in as a staff member.
"No!" What had she just done? She quickly began to follow, using the walls as crutches to get around the room. But she collapsed halfway.
Hinata rolled onto her back, forgetting modesty, as she panted heavily, her face too red to high her condition.
"Hinata-sama!" Came to a gasp from the door. Hinata's worst fear was personified. One of her overprotective maids had been alerted. That meant no more hiding and sneaking out to go work. "I was tucked away in bed for the night, but something compelled me to come to check on you. I had this gut feeling, and I knew something was wrong!"
The maid didn't acknowledge the Anbu as he reentered the room. Sasuke stood to the side, rinnegan and sharingan active. His eyes followed the maid collecting the blanket from the floor to cover Hinata up.
"She can't see you…" Hinata said through her delirium. "Are you even real?"
"You'll find out when you wake up," Maybe he wasn't real. The Sasuke she was used to didn't normally smirk in such a playful manner.
That's right, the scroll. Hinata clung to the scroll even as she was pulled off the floor by the maid.
"What? Why are you taking your work with you when you should be resting?" The maid said while shaking her head. She snaked an arm around Hinata, helping her balance as they both walked. "You're going to an early grave at this rate." She chastised her as they both headed towards the hallway.
"Thank you…" Hinata said, over her shoulder, to the Anbu.
"Don't thank me for doing just the bare minimum," She didn't know what Sasuke had meant at the time. "Later,"
The next thing she knew, Hinata was in her bed, with a cold towel on her forehead, as a display of medicine and pills materialized next to her night table.
"I'll be back to check on you. Just get some rest, Hinata-sama," The maid's voice came from the door.
Hinata closed her eyes when the lights went off and felt comfort in knowing the scroll was underneath her pillow. Hopefully, the fever will be gone by tomorrow, and she'll get to read it first thing in the morning.
Should this fever clear soon, she would be able to cook Hanabi and her team some lunches to take with them on their trip to Suna. It felt like the last time she stepped into a kitchen was over a year ago.
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N/A: Edited: 4-16-21, grammar. Be happy, stay safe, be kind, stay sane!
Edited: 9-24-21
Edited: 12-5-21 Touched up a little
Edited: 9-8-22 Grammar and title