Chapter 43: Confronting Elders Pt. 2

"No, your mother did not know."

The silence was absolutely deafening as the elder's fateful words settled into the collective subconsciousness of everyone in the room. Neither Lady Nishimura nor Baki could muster up the gumption to look unaffected by Chiyo's words, their faces textbook examples of visible disbelief.

The Anbu was of a similar mind to them, their masks thankfully hiding their varying reactions from the rest of the room's occupants.

Despite their own reactions to the bombshell, the adults in the room could not reflect on their own emotions for long, not when they had three burgeoning-on-volatile teenagers and their upturned emotions to deal with.

Kankuro's eyes were wide with shock, his lips slightly agape and trembling as he struggled to find the words to say, his mind an absolute mess of thoughts and emotions that failed to form into some semblance of clarity.

Temari was the most visibly angry of the siblings. Though her royal training had long taught her to hide her emotions behind a regal mask, all those teachings threatened to leave her as she held in her growing temper, wanting to lash out despite the fact her reaction would and could undermine her in the eyes of the elders in the room.

And then there was Gaara, the one whose reaction everyone feared the most.

The redhead looked at Chiyo with no emotion in his eyes, his face a blank slate as he continued to digest the news. Though Gaara was known as the least emotional of the siblings, that knowledge was not enough to settle everyone else's nerves, especially when he had a very temperamental occupant sealed within his body.

Said temperamental occupant was now the only one daring to speak to him now.

Uhm . . . Gaara? Shukaku started, his tone not sounding as amused as the redhead expected it to be. You good?

"I just found out that my shitty excuse of a father didn't bother to tell my mother that he planned to seal you into me before I was even out of the womb."

For once, Shukaku winced as Gaara spoke to him with a voice so cold and detached that it would make the arctic kingdoms look like a perfect place for a summer holiday. "Do you honestly expect me to feel any good at this moment in time?"

Yeah, I should have known that was a terrible question to ask. . . Still though, can't beat a tanuki for trying.

"Speaking of trying, shouldn't you be trying to break free of our seal right about now?" Gaara asked, sounding like he almost welcomed such a development, which only got the red flags waving in the tailed beast's sandy head. "My mind is so messed up right now I'm shocked you haven't tried to make your exit yet."

Are you actually trying to encourage me to BREAK FREE?!

"I am not trying to encourage you. . . I'm just expecting a result that you have long bragged about since I could understand words."

Well, look at how predictable I've gotten over the years. Shukaku's grumbled reply was laced with sarcasm, but he did not sound too annoyed by the redhead's inquiry. And do you really expect me to have any success busting out of here after the Fire Queen revamped the seal?

"Did you even bother to try?"

Twice, actually. Shukaku easily admitted, much to Gaara's surprise. And I was thrown back with absolute ease both times. The seal really is no joke now. . . Which means I am stuck here until you're dead.

"Well that's nice to know," Gaara's indifferent reply likely wouldn't go over well with the tanuki, but he couldn't really find it in himself to care at the moment. "And you're not even going to try to influence me into doing something malicious here?"

Not with this reworked seal in place . . . The Fire Queen really knows her fuinjutsu. The One Tails conceded, shaking his head. Besides, what's the fun in trying to influence you when you already know it's coming.

"So, you are calling yourself predictable then. . ."

DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH YOU BLASTED FLESHBAG!

"There's the Shukaku I remember."

YOU WERE TESTING ME?!

"I was just checking to make sure you were you," Gaara mused as he watched his sister pinch the bridge of her nose to calm herself. "You wouldn't have even bothered to question me about what I just heard. You would have just started escaping, not paused to show, well, concern."

I'm a tanuki of many surprises Gaara. . . Was all Shukaku said. Plus, like I said before, I already tried to escape, TWICE . . . No dice. I'm stuck here for the long haul, whether we like it or not.

"Considering what we'll be up against in the years to come, it's probably for the best." The redhead conceded, easily remembering the lengthy conversation he and the Fire Twins had with their tailed beasts earlier. ". . . Our mother never knew, hmm."

The cold tone of Gaara's voice immediately grabbed everyone's attention, and all eyes went to the redhead as he continued to look at Elder Chiyo with a gaze that could melt steel if it ever were capable of such power.

To the old woman's credit, she didn't flinch at such a look, meeting him eye to eye as the room waited for someone to speak.

"That is what I said, Prince Gaara," Elder Chiyo reminded him, shaking her head. "I was unaware that she was unaware of the plans until I stepped into the maternity ward myself."

"Did you even bother to voice a protest when you realized what was going on?" Kankuro managed to ask as Temari's eyes narrowed even further at the older woman.

"We all know that there is no use trying to change your father's mind once it's firmly made up," Chiyo was quick to say, her tone carrying none of its usual bite. "He swore everyone in that room to secrecy. . . With the amount of stress such news could bring to your mother, your father was not going to risk any unwelcome news reaching her ears. He went as far to declare that death would be the punishment for anyone who disobeyed that order."

"Gaara was a premature birth, and premature births are always risky," Temari grumbled as she looked off to the side, completely missing the concerned look Kankuro shot her way. "Mother would only be in further distress if she ever found out that the old man had planned to seal the most dangerous creature in the land in her youngest child before he could even take his first breath."

"Exactly. . ." Lady Chiyo nodded. "It was high risk all around, but it was still possible, and that possibility was all the king needed to go through with the plan."

"And where was Uncle Yashamaru in all this?" Kankuro asked, glaring at the old woman. "He was one of Father's right hand men before things soured between them. Did he know what was going to happen?"

"Your uncle wasn't even in the village when your mother entered her labors," Lady Nishimura admitted, all eyes suddenly turning to her. "He was sent on a diplomatic expedition to one of the smaller kingdoms the day before Queen Karura went into labor. . . He returned three days after her passing."

"What convenient timing. . ." Temari grumbled. "The old man likely sent him away so that he would not interfere with what was to come . . . I wouldn't put it past him to make sure the guards at the village border were put on high alert for an early return just in case."

"Your father tends to be thorough when it comes to actions like those," Chiyo agreed, shaking her head. "He was willing to make sure no stone was left unturned if that would increase the chances of a successful sealing."

"But not everything could go as smoothly as he hoped," Kankuro mused. "After all, if everything had gone as intended, you wouldn't have been the one to do the sealing in the first place, Elder Chiyo."

"Hmm, I can't argue against that one." The old woman agreed, nodding at the young puppeteer. ". . . But in the end, what's the point of threatening people to keep their silence, when the subject at the center of it all eventually figures it out herself?"

"Mother figured it out?"

"The plans became explicitly obvious once Shukaku's teakettle was wheeled into the room," Chiyo was quick to clarify Kankuro as she leaned back in her seat. "The glare she sent the King once she realized what was happening would easily chill lesser men to their very bones."

"Hmm, I would not want to be on the other end of that look," Kankuro mused, trying hard not to imagine how that exchange went. "And mother . . ?"

"Queen Karura was a woman of strong principles, and if she knew what her husband planned to do, she would have fought against it tooth and nail. . . Sealing Shukaku into any of you was an idea that never sat well with her, which was all the more reason why your father kept his plans a secret from her till it was too late for her to really retaliate or refute them."

"He didn't want her to change his mind in any way," Temari summarized, shaking her head in disbelief. "He either feared mother that much, or he was too much of a coward to tell her the truth."

"If I have to be honest with you, I think it's a mixture of both," The old woman declared, grimacing. "Despite her vehement opposition, your mother knew that she would only be fighting a losing battle, so she focused her energy on the labor itself."

"Did our father even bother to calculate the risks that such a sealing would bring?" Temari asks, her anger having only lessened slightly since the conversation began.

"He did, and as we all know, he still went ahead with it anyway," Chiyo was quick to say. ". . . And the risks were high."

"He knew that our mother would die in the end, didn't he?"

The pressure within the room rocketed almost immediately as the cold words left the young redhead's mouth. Most grew tense as they awaited Gaara's next move, but the young prince simply kept his expression perfectly still as he stared Chiyo down.

". . . He knew that there was a high possibility that she would pass on before the day was out," The old woman conceded after some hesitation.

"Not even the high possibility of losing his wife and the mother of his children was enough to sway our father's mind." Temari grumbled, resisting the urge to bash her fist against her armrest. ". . . And yet it would be considered quite petty of me to deny the man a proper state funeral due to his previous actions, correct Baki?"

"It would definitely make the tongues wag amongst the more gossip-conscious, your grace," The turban-wearing jonin admitted as he looked over at his young charge. "But technically, even if the rest of the council hounded you about it, you still would have the final say in what happens to your father's body."

"It's not like the old man can really argue against you at this point," Kankuro was quick to say as he cracked his knuckles. ". . . Unless he decided to write it down in a will he stored away somewhere."

"Ah hell . . . I completely forgot about the possibility of a will," Temari grumbled as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Baki, did the old man ever mention his will by any chance?"

"It's pretty much tradition for the monarch to have a last will and testament written during their first year of ruling, updating it at the end of each following year," The jonin explained, crossing his arms. "Your father definitely has one, and he has always been keen to update it if needed whenever the time came . . . Where he keeps it though, you will have to look in his personal office for that. Not even I know where he exactly put it in there."

"Great," Kankuro grumbled as he looked over at his sister. "Father's will could either be the key to ensuring your reign. . ."

". . . Or the dagger that ends it before it could fully begin," Temari concluded as she got out of her seat. "Those that oppose my reign will put up a fight until the details of this will become public knowledge, and some may not even stop even after that."

"You are going to face opposition no matter what you do, your grace," Lady Nishimura was quick to say in return. "And it's what you do in the face of such opposition that will define your reign."

"And no matter what I do, there'll always be someone out there to criticize it," Temari conceded as she looked off to the side. ". . . Such is the life of a woman in power. . . Was the King's office secured before you all came here?"

"I personally saw to it," Chiyo admitted, nodding slightly. "Ebisu and I not only put seals on the doors and windows, but it is also guarded by our most trusted men. No one gets in or out without our say so."

"Good . . ." Temari breathed as she started moving toward the door. "We've heard enough for tonight. We will talk again in the morning."

A/N: Please review!