Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Nine Long Months ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Nine Long Months

A Temari-Shikamaru Story

Chapter One: Revelations

Temari's heart was beating in her throat as she walked down the stark hallway that led to the Kazekage's office. She kept rearranging her sweaty palms on the mission scroll her brother had left in her room for her. She felt lightheaded and her stomach was churning (although that might be morning sickness, Temari thought bitterly); she would have to turn the mission down and explain why.

She found herself before the plain wooden door long before she wanted to. A fresh wave of nausea swept through her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Temari steeled herself and turned the doorknob.

Inside the room, Gaara sat behind a small wooden desk, half obscured by a small mountain of paperwork and Kankuro draped himself across one of the chairs, his hood lying on his stomach as he ran his hand through his rumpled hair. Both brothers looked up when Temari entered the room. Gaara saw the scroll clasped in his sister's hands and looked up at her expectantly.

“Shouldn't you be on your mission?” he asked. Temari mumbled something, not looking up at the Kazekage. “What?” he asked impatiently.

“I can't do it,” she said, shoving the scroll at her youngest brother.

“Why not?” Gaara demanded. Kankuro looked at his sister oddly; Temari never turned down missions.

Temari could feel beads of perspiration forming on her forehead. She looked from Gaara's face to Kankuro's, and then back to Gaara's. It would be had enough having one of them know. “Can I talk to you alone?” she asked the redheaded brother.

“No,” Gaara snapped, starting to get angry. He had enough work to do without his sister deciding to decline A-rank missions. “Either spit it out now, or get started on your job.”

Seeing that the Kazekage was getting annoyed, Temari had no choice but to spit it out, as he so elegantly put it.

“I—” Temari's words got caught in her throat. The girl tried again. “I'm pregnant.”

Complete silence fell over the three siblings. Kankuro was staring at his sister with bulging eyes and his mouth agape. Gaara was giving her a look as though she might be kidding. Temari couldn't bring her eyes up to meet her brothers', and so she kept her gaze firmly on her toes.

Kankuro finally broke the silence by exclaiming “What?” Temari continued to stare at her sandals. “Who's the father?” he asked in his typical nosy way.

“Shut up,” Gaara snapped at his brother before turning his attention to the blonde girl. “You are dismissed,” Gaara-speak for get out. Temari bowed her head, turned on her heel, and left the room as quickly as she could.

Temari walked down the hall as calmly as she could and went into the first female washroom that she found, where she promptly threw up.

Temari was wrapped snuggly in her blankets, her back to the door. The curtains were drawn tight against the midday sun and the air conditioner was working double time.

Temari's green eyes were puffy, red, and out of tears, her throat was burning like the fires of hell, and her stomach felt like it had been scraped clean.

There was a soft knock at the door, but the girl ignored it. The door opened with a creak and Kankuro cautiously entered the room, a glass of cold water in his hand.

“Temari?” he called softly, “Are you awake?” His sister grunted in reply. Kankuro ventured deeper into the depths of the girl's room, sitting down on the bed beside her and handing the water to her as she sat up.

“Thanks,” she said hoarsely and gulped the icy cold liquid down.

“Are you okay?” Kankuro asked rubbing Temari's back. Temari looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Right, stupid question.” There was a long awkward pause. “Does he know?” Kankuro finally asked. Temari shook her head no. “Are you going to tell him?” Temari bit her lip and didn't look at her brother. “You should tell him,” Kankuro pressed on, “If I were in his sandals, I'd want to know.”

“There's really no point,” Temari said heavily, “He'd probably just find the whole thing too troublesome.”

It took a minute for the word to sink in. “Oh, no,” Kankuro said in a half disgusted voice, “Him?” The girl nodded her head. “How long have—”

“It only happened once,” Temari cut him off, “When I was in Konoha five weeks ago.”

“I don't believe this,” Kankuro muttered, pulling off his hood and running his hands through his hair.

“Try being on my end of it,” Temari countered, “I'm the one with the short end of the stick. It wasn't a one night stand,” Temari continued, “At least, I don't think it was. We talk a lot when I go there. We tried writing letters, but he was too lazy to write back.”

Kankuro gritted his teeth. “I'm going to kill him.”

Temari gave her brother a severe look. “Kankuro, I swear, I you tell a single person, even—no, especially Gaara, I will take my fan to you.”

Shikamaru stood before the Fifth Hokage, his usual expression of distaste evident on his face. He had been summoned for a special mission; it sounded troublesome.

Tsunade handed the chuunin a scroll and gave the sixteen-year-old a penetrating glare. “You're services have been specially requested by the Kazekage. You are to travel to Sunagakure and remain there until you are no longer needed. Understood?”

Shikamaru nodded his head, took the scroll and left the room.

It sounded very troublesome.

Shikamaru traveled through forest, to scrubland, to desert with nothing to define one day from the next. He had to admit that it felt good to travel alone, without pesky students making comments and remarks at every turn. The only bad thing was the knowledge that ahead of him waited Suna, and with it, some very troublesome work.

The walls of the city came into view on the third day, around noon. After showing his pass to the guards at the gate and getting directions to the Kazekage's office, Shikamaru strolled slowly down the streets of the Hidden Sand Village, enjoying the quiet of the deserted streets.

Of course, they were empty for a reason. The sun was at its height, beating down upon the Konoha chuunin, making him liven his pace to reach the Kazekage's building faster. Finding his way through the narrow hallways of the building, Shikamaru found the door labeled “Kazekage-sama.” He knocked and heard a voice tell him to enter.

The second the door swung open, Shikamaru found himself enveloped in sand, squeezing the breath out of his lungs.

“Gaara, stop!” a voice cried. The sand stopped moving, and then dropped away, leaving Shikamaru to bend double, choking in air. However, this moment was short lived, because a second later, two strong hands grabbed onto the collar of the boy's shirt and slammed him against a wall.

“I'm going to kill you, you bastard!” Kankuro shouted, slamming Shikamaru against the wall again for good measure.

“What the hell is going on?” a female voice demanded. Temari (luckily for Shikamaru) had just shown up bring her brothers some lunch and had walked in just before the maiming could begin. She caught sight of the unfortunate victim, and her heart skipped a beat. But being pregnant, her mood shifted faster than a traffic light. Her furious gaze fell on the older of her two brothers.

“I didn't tell him,” Kankuro jerked his head back towards Gaara, who was standing in front of his desk with a murderous look in his eyes, “He just knew.”

Temari clenched her teeth and threw the two neatly wrapped lunches at Kankuro's chest. She took Shikamaru's hand and roughly led him out of the building.

Once they were out on the street, Temari dropped the boy's hand and stormed off in the direction of her home. Still suffering from his original shock, he began to chase after the blonde haired girl. He caught her arm and spun her around. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, still angry.

“I was summoned,” Shikamaru defended himself, “By your darling little brother. Speaking of which, what the hell was that all about?”

Temari's anger subsided and was replaced by a sinking feeling in her stomach. She turned and continued on her way, Shikamaru trailing her like a lost puppy. The mansion was not far from the Kazekage's office, and the two reached it in no time. Temari opened the door and led the dark haired shinobi into the living room.

“There is something we need to talk about,” she said with a defeated tone in her voice.