A/N: I listed this as a Shika-Tema Chapter, because frankly, it is…
But at least I'm nice and warned people in the summary, one chapter only folks...it's not like Shika will ever be completely out of this story anyways.
Thank You to shannny2k & Shubaltz Crazist for reviewing.
Look What You've Done Now Genius
It was mid-morning when Tsunade called Team 10 into her office. She looked slightly annoyed. "A contingent arrived from Suna this early morning. They wish to talk to part of the contingent we sent there in August. I suspect you don't necessarily want word of your extra activities while there getting out, Ino; since your choice of clothing does nothing to hide your condition, even if you aren't that far along. I suggest all of you sit along side me at the table."
They followed their Hokage's order and sat at her left hand in order Ino-Shika-Cho.
"I can tell you this much, for whatever reason your Team was singled out." The Hokage frowned, "You are not currently welcome in Suna."
"What did we do wrong?" Shikamaru looked like he'd been stabbed in the heart. Well, maybe it was since his first thoughts, on this being told this was a group from Suna, were of Temari.
"Blame me Shika," Ino put a hand on his shoulder, "I was the argumentative bitch who kept spouting off." She had her own thoughts of Kankurou to deal with; I wouldn't be surprised if he was partially behind this, the other person she found suspect was of course the Kazekage himself.
"Such confessions," Tsunade studied them for a moment then turned her glance to her assistant who was waiting by the door, "Shizune, please get our guests."
Shizune left the room and returned shortly thereafter with 3 Sunagakure ninja, one of whom Shikamaru let out an elated sigh of relief to see was Temari. His excitement was short lived, as she didn't look his way. She walked between the other two almost like she was a prisoner, staring only at the floor ahead of her. Further more she was dressed in a fashion that was not in her normal way, she still had a cloak over what she was wearing, and her movements seemed slightly off. True, it was early in January …
Something's wrong, Shikamaru kept looking at her, but what?
One of the guards stepped forward with a letter and presented it to the Hokage. "From the Kazekage," he said simply bowing his head to acknowledge her. Then he stepped backward to reclaim his position at Temari's right hand side.
Godaime opened it and read it aloud: "The Suna guards here are to bear witness actions of our allied village of Konoha as we send our lost child, Temari, to you in disgrace. We ask you to take her in and give her one opportunity to lay claim to what is already hers. If refused, she must go with these guards again and they will know what needs to be done."
She put down the letter arching her eyebrow in curiosity at the display before her. "Well that was cryptic, is there anything else?" she turned to guards, no response; Temari's head remained bowed, face giving no indication of her mood.
The Hokage then looked to the three that sat along side her.
Ino thought that there was something very wrong with the scene before them. If Temari
is here with such a grim sounding missive, shouldn't Kankurou be here by her side? Regardless of what her instincts told her, she did not want to draw attention to herself by speaking out.
However, it was very obvious that Shikamaru had something he wanted to say. His body was tensed as he stared at the woman who stood as if trapped before him. He looked at his leader with a hint a pleading in his eyes, as trained he was just waiting to be given leave to speak. She nodded, "Very well, Shikamaru, as you will."
He didn't hesitate; he walked out around the table and moved to kneel about a yard away from Temari, between the two guards. They put their arms out and prevented him from going closer. He turned to the first of them, "Whatever her crime, I wish to share her blame." Then he looked to the other, "I will take her punishment if you will allow it." He glanced back briefly at his Hokage, giving her a brief nod, then turned back toward the flaxen haired woman before him. "However, I will not allow you to take her away from here." He looked up at her and was rewarded when she met his gaze. "Although I don't fully understand what is going on here, but I do not want to be parted from you, not today, not ever again. Stay with me Temari, be my wife."
Her voice sounded strangely fragile, "Then I claim what is already mine." But the soft smile that crossed Temari's face implied that this was what this was all about. One of the guards gestured for Shika to get up off the floor, but prevented him from coming ay closer just yet. Temari raised her head to look to the Hokage, "If you will honor us by uniting us before this small assembly, then my guard will consider their mission completed." Other than the motion of her head she gave no other movement.
"This is an unusual request," Tsunade looked over Temari. There has to be something more that still has not been explained from the original message: what was the disgrace?
"But I will respect it since that is what Shikamaru wishes as well."
He nodded his consent, "Very much so, Godaime-sama"
Tsunade walked over to stand between them. She held out her hands to them, Shikamaru gave her one of his hands readily, but Temari hesitated for a moment, then one hand slid from beneath the cloak, while her other hand seemed to be holding the cloak closed. That answers that, Tsunade looked her over; she also caught movement back at the table. Ino was whispering something to Chouji, he'd moved to the seat next to her. His jaw seemed to drop, he looked back over at Shikamaru and Temari, and then to Ino again… so, she must have figured it out as well. "It is the wish of these two to be united in marriage. I am not big on formalities or speeches, but I believe Shikamaru has already expressed the depth of his dedication to Temari. Temari, do you have anything you wish to say?"
"My wish is the same as his; I wish to share my life with him." Temari looked to Shikamaru with a hint of a tender smile; it seemed strangely becoming on her.
"Then I will declare the two of you as one." She put their hands together in her own. "You, Nara Shikamaru and you, Sabaku no Temari, are hereby husband and wife, I will make sure all the proper public declarations and paperwork are completed." Tsunade smirked. Now let's see if our genius has figured it out.
As Shikamaru moved toward her, Temari in one swift, fluid motion wrapped the cloak around them both. They started their kiss, but then as Shikamaru seemed to tighten his embrace he paused.
No, he hadn't guessed what this set up was hiding. Tsunade shook her head.
Shikamaru looked at Temari's face with a look of wonder. She gave him a strange little smirk in return. He pulled back the cloak so he could look at her. The slight soft curve to her body revealed that she, like Ino, was a little more than four months along in her pregnancy.
"Told you so," Ino said softly to Chouji.
"Sorry, I couldn't say anything." Temari looked at Shika almost shyly, "but I had to know that you wanted me for me, and not because of a sense of obligation to the child."
"After all this time, you had doubts?" He wrapped his arms around her.
"Not really," she shrugged, "it's more because the guard will take word back to Suna. The elders will want to know that if they are to lose a jonin to another village, she will be well cared for."
In an uncharacteristically energetic moment he picked her up and spun around with her in his arms declaring "Cared for, cherished, honored, you are everything to me and more." He then smiled at the guards, "Witness this!"
Temari laughed almost giddily in his embrace. All in all it seemed a pretty strange show to the Hokage.
When he set her down tilting his head to find her lips again, this time they lingered at it a little longer.
Finally, when she had thought it had gone on long enough, Tsunade cleared her throat to get their attention. "We have an honor guard who would like to take a report back to Sunagakure and the Kazekage. If you have any personal messages, I suggest you put them in writing now."
Ino watched as Temari started to write something she knew was going to Kankurou. For a moment she considered revealing her situation and seeing if the guard would take her with them. Then she decided against it, she had too many other attachments here to risk on the small chance that Kankurou had changed his mind. She admired Temari's courage in coming here to start a new life, but knew she would never risk such a thing. The more she thought about it the more she knew it was right for Temari; she and Shika seemed to have the fates entwining their lives for about eight years now. How could almost three weeks of wild sex possibly be compared to that? Did she really feel she knew anything about Kankurou, especially in light of the way they'd treated each other in public. Not to mention what he'd done their last evening together. I can't risk that, definitely not with the baby. She bent her head forward over the table and clenched her hands behind her neck.
"Ino," Chouji whispered, "you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, fine," she half grunted at him.
"You better start to look it before the Hokage notices," he put his hand on her back and rubbed it gently. "Come on, you can do it."
She unfolded her hands, raised her head up and rested it on her left palm and regarded him. "Who do you think you are my mother?" she glared.
"That's my girl," he chuckled.
"You pat me on the head and you're dead meat."
When Temari and Shikamaru had completed their letter and sealed it, the Hokage presented it to the guard. "Shizune, please provide an escort for them back to the gate for me."
Shizune bowed then proceeded to carry out her assigned duty.
The Hokage smiled, "Well that was an interesting way to start the day." She turned back toward the table. "So do you want to come over here and congratulate your teammate?" Chouji started to stand immediately, but Ino hesitated. "Come on Ino, let her see your little souvenir from Sunagakure."
Ino glared at Tsunade, but she stood up.
Temari gasped with genuine surprise, then she made the dread comment, "She said souvenir of Suna, does that mean you met the father there? Is it anyone I know?"
"Can't say," Ino answered in a non-committal way. While she walked around the table she flicked a brief glare at Shika that held her usual threat of 'Say one word and I'll make your life a living hell.'
"You can…" Temari started.
Ino cut her off, "I don't want talk about it, just leave it at that."
"Okay, I'll accept that." Temari regarded her cautiously, "At least we have a couple of things in common, I guess we'll just have to get to know each other better while we're off the active duty roster."
"Shika, you can tell her," Ino looked at him.
"Tell me what?" Temari raised an eyebrow at her husband.
"Ino's not off duty yet." Shikamaru shrugged, "Our team's specialty is low risk; in fact her current condition provides a better cover for her 'out of body experiences' than some of the other things we've tried. As long as the Hokage feels Ino's healthy enough to travel at reasonable speed, and as long as her jutsu doesn't seem to overstress her, we're going out on missions."
"I'm jealous," she looked at Ino, "because the down time is already proving to be strange to me. I mean I'd figured this might happen to me someday, but now that it's here I don't know where things go next."
"At least you've got Shikamaru," Ino muttered.
"Ino, you've got your family, friends and a village you've grown up in." Tsunade put her hand on her shoulder. "Think about it: Temari is starting from scratch at a very stressful time. I want you all to help her settle in, get to know your circle of friends better. You are all dismissed."
They walked out together. "So I guess it's time for you to go home and introduce your parents to your wife." Chouji patted Shikamaru on the back.
"Yeah, that's such a strange concept:" he replied, "get a summons to see the Hokage, come home with a pregnant bride." He looked at Temari then slid his arm around her.
"Yeah, I'm sure your parent's initial expressions will be a shocked as mine were when I told them I was pregnant." Ino smirked, "My dad really was pissed, he practically wanted to march on Suna and drag the guy back here." But, you can't drag someone back when your daughter won't name names…
"You know, I'm still going to be wondering if I know who your baby's father is." Temari looked at Ino again as they walked along.
"It's better that you don't," Ino looked back at her. "All I can tell you is it started off as an enjoyable adventure, then suddenly about two-thirds of the way through our stay it turned completely around. He just started telling me get out, go home, he was cruel. I can't risk that he find out after the way he treated me when I last saw him." She shuddered, "Forget I even said this much." In reality Ino decided it was better to stop talking so she wouldn't start crying again, that was happening too much at home. Then again it could just be her hormones getting all out of whack.
"Very well, we'll leave it like this." Temari agreed, she then turned back to Shikamaru, "At least you know why my messages suddenly stopped."
"Yeah, there is that," he beamed, "but now I can send a message to you anytime I want." He stopped to kiss her again.
When they parted from Ino and Chouji, Temari quietly said to Shikamaru, "Besides the Kazekage not wanting you to know so you could be tested, there was another reason for my messages stopping."
"Oh?" Shikamaru looked at her; obviously she had waited for them to be alone to share this part.
"The Sunagakure elders were reluctant to lose me. They were very thorough, before they let me come here."
"Yeah, the three month lapse of information definitely had me worried. At least the messages I sent weren't returned so it gave me some hope." He frowned, "So, what did they put you through?"
"When I first discovered my condition, I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd been properly prepared the night we went all the way. So, I can only suspect that we slipped up a little in the library." She regarded him with slight embarrassment. "So when the medical staff found out, someone betrayed that confidence and the 'powers that be' got involved. They asked me who the father was and told them straight out. Some of them did not want to believe that I would have chosen 'someone like you' when there were so many 'better choices' for me in Suna."
She looked up, "They ran a list of every man who had been on a mission with me within a two month span. It was so humiliating; they asked me and them if we'd been intimate. Some of them were away on long term missions, so they waited until they got back. That's what really got to me: My word wasn't good enough. Neither was Kankurou's, he backed me every step of the way, telling them about my history with you. I think I'm grateful to be away from Sunagakure after all this, although I'm going to miss my brother. He really encouraged me that it was best I make a new life here."
"I'm just glad they let you go." He held her.
"I'm glad Ino kept hidden behind the desk until my guards were gone. The way the Village Elders behaved makes me wonder if they'd gotten word that one of their men had impregnated a Konoha woman they might have demanded her in trade for me." She shuddered. "Sometimes I think my men of my village can act like such barbarians."
If you only knew, Shikamaru thought.
Temari still kept the cloak wrapped around her as they walked along the street together. There was no point in starting gossip that might get to Shikamaru's parents before they got to the house. As they arrived at the door he said, "Now all we've got to do is hope they're both here, I'd hate to run through all this twice."
"You're going to have to anyways," Temari's teal eyes lit with amusement, "unless you expect Ino and Chouji to tell all your friends the news."
"Ino's probably out looking for people to tell even as we speak." He sighed. His hand opened the door slowly.
The sound of his mother's voice at harpy pitch carried though the air.
"They're both here." He turned his gaze back to Temari, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
"If I could survive Gaara during his Shukaku years, this should be nothing." There was a smug edge in her voice.
That's very true; she could easily be a match for my mother. He regarded the formidable woman who was now his wife. This will be quite the first impression. He stepped in leading Temari through the entrance hallway. A bemused expression crossed his lips as he noticed she'd kept the cloak wrapped around her. "Hey, I'm back."
His parents came into the room he and Temari had just entered. His mother, Yoshino took in what was in front of her with a curious expression, and to Shikamaru's surprise, silence. His father, Shikaku, on the other hand was the one who spoke, "Does this mean that the Hokage's summons was for a mission sending you off to Sunagakure?"
"No," Shikamaru said, "the first mission objective has been completed. However, I guess we have a new mission: apartment hunting. Mother, Father, I would like to introduce Temari, your daughter-in-law."
"You're saying that you just got a summons from the Hokage to get married?" His mother looked stunned, "and to a woman from Suna?" Then she turned a more scrutinizing gaze at the blonde who stood enveloped in a cape beside her son.
"Not just any woman," Shikaku had a strange smile; he was already recalling the talk he'd had with his son in September. "these two have quite a history. So what else happened?"
"It may be best if we sat down, it's a long story." Temari smirked at her husband then turned to her in-laws.
"If things went according to plan, my sister is probably a married woman by now." Kankurou shifted to rest on his side on the rose colored satin of the sheets that covered the overly pillow strewn bed. He was still dressed in his street clothes, unpainted face regarding his companion with a tired seeming expression.
The woman lying across from him pushed a reddish brown strand of hair out of her eyes. The rest of it was spread in a long loose wave behind her. She wore a short spaghetti-strapped dress made of dark green silk. She was younger than him by a few years. "So you're spending you hard earned money to stay the night to talk about your sister this time, Twi…"
His fingers settled against her lips, "You're one of the few who knows my real identity here. Please use my name when you speak to me, Bara."
"Kankurou, it's not my place to question the clientele, but why me? Why are you spending the money to come here and make me your confidant again?" Though her tone was serious her gray-green eyes seemed bemused. "There has to be someone you trust more than me."
"Trust yes, but they would offer advice; I don't want advice, only someone to talk to."
"And a place to sleep that isn't your room, but none of the other services we offer." She then lay back, resting her head against a silvery pillow. The rose and silver color scheme was her choice. All the woman of Akachouchin no Kyuuden had some say in the décor of their 'visiting' rooms. She smiled; he was the only one of her clients who would abbreviate her 'professional' name of Barahanataba so it sounded like a more normal name. When he'd done this in November to talk about a woman he knew he'd deliberately hurt, it had taken her completely by surprise. But after the last two days, just lying here and listening seems like the best assignment ever. When he gets done speaking about his sister maybe he'll talk a little more about 'his regret'. That might be interesting. She turned her eyes back to regard him, "Then get it out of your system; Bara will listen."
Whenever Shikamaru was away from Temari's side during those next few days, he would debate it over and over again. Do I tell her or don't I? If I tell Temari that Kankurou is the father of Ino's child, then I have to tell her what her brother did to Ino. He remembered the look on his teammate's face that night: Like something broken. No, I don't know if I can put Ino through that again, just yet. As much as I feel Temari should know, how can I tell her without making him sound like a monster?
Ino followed the Hokage's orders three nights later when she set up the next mom's night out with Sakura and Hinata. She brought Temari with her. The traditional dinner discussion lately had been in part a primer on parenting for Ino so it worked out for Temari as well. Afterwards, Ino insisted that they all introduce their new 'sister' from Suna to Karaoke. At first, Temari didn't understand its charms, but when she saw Sakura, who had earned her respect so many years ago saving Kankurou's life, get up and belt out a song with no fear (although in mediocre style), she gave in and gave it a try. The four of them had a great time encouraging and competing with each other for hours.
A/N: Yes, everybody does Karaoke.
Oh, and because I didn't mention it last time she was mentioned: Barahanataba (Bara – rose, Hanataba – bouquet). Well, I thought it was a good alias for a 'professional'.
And speaking of 'Bara', I just posted some portraits of her, Satou Chisa & Matsumura Arika on DeviantArt. If you want to check them go to my profile, I have provided links there.
