Chapter 16
“……Is that?----Is that Rasa’s daughter?”
They both looked at each other after hearing Neji’s question. Temari’s head buried to Shikamaru’s shoulder, trying to hide her face from the man in front of the door while Shikamaru wrapped her in a blanket. They stayed silent, looking for the right word to say after getting caught about their secret affair inside the camp.
“Shikamaru, we need to talk outside! Get out! NOW!” Neji yelled and then slammed the door.
He stood up to face him and to tell the truth but Temari grab his arm to stop him. He turns around and glanced at her worried eyes, his heart felt sad after seeing them but he needs to do the right thing. Anytime soon, their relationship will be revealed and for now, this is the only option they got to speak about it.
“Don’t worry….everything is going to be fine” Shikamaru said, trying to comfort her. He grabbed her hands once more and kissed them before walking outside of their room.
When he reached outside, he saw Neji looking down on the grass ground that was now covered in snow with both hands on his waist. A heavy sigh escaped from his mouth before walking towards his friend.
“Neji…You need to—” he spoke
Before he finished his words Neji walked fast towards him with rage in his eyes and pinned him to the wall.
“Did you fuck the princess!?” He angrily asked while gripping his collar so tight it almost chokes him.
Shikamaru didn’t answer, he just stared at him with fear in his eyes. Looking for the right word to say that he did fuck the princess.
“How many times!?” he followed
Shikamaru still stayed quiet, his breath becomes heavy while trying to remove Neji’s grip from his collar.
“Once? Twice? Or more than that? Huh? How many times Shikamaru!? Answer me!” He throws him to the ground in his anger and Shikamaru accepted all of it, waiting for Neji to calm down so he could explain himself.
“I trusted you! I told you to keep an eye on the princess…..not to defile her!”
“What happened to your fucking rules!? Are you this fucking stupid now huh?”
“Do you want to break another war!? From Suna? Have you thought about what Rasa will do if he finds this out!?”
“I don’t want to have another war Shikamaru! I’m tired of fighting! We don’t need another war after this!”
His hands touched the cold grass that was mixed with snow while in a kneeling position and his eyes focused on the ground trying to avoid Neji’s stare. He glanced to his right side, there were young samurai from Neji’s army that was positioned beside him, assisting him in every command that he’ll make.
“Shikamaru?” a gentle and soft voice echoed from their left side. His heart sank after seeing Temari walk outside of their room. She knotted her obi to secure her kimono while walking towards them.
Neji turns his head to his young samurais and commanded them “Aoka! Jiro! Restrain the princess!”
The two young samurais walked towards Temari and starts grabbing her arms. She was able to block them by doing some defensive moves that he learned from Lee. Shikamaru immediately stood up in an attempt to stop them.
“Stop!” he shouted
Neji saw his two samurais struggling to restrain the princess so he called another one.
“Daichi!” he yelled and the other samurai walked in front of Temari and then pulled his katana. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to defend herself now as she didn’t have her katana with her. The sharp blade positioned to her neck which made her feet freeze to the ground. After that, the two other samurais were able to restrain her to the ground.
Shikamaru panicked after seeing them. He walked to the samurai next to him and stole his katana, the young samurai was startled after he did that and wasn’t able to retrieve his blade from Shikamaru.
He walked towards them to stop the three samurai from restraining his lover, he could hear her struggling voice and whimpers from pain which made his blood boil.
“I said STOP!” his voice becomes louder and visibly angry.
Before he reached her location, Neji stopped him by pulling his katana and positioned it to his neck.
“Don’t interrupt Shikamaru. You have already done your part; I’ll handle the rest” he glared at him with furrowed brows.
Shikamaru gripped his katana and sways it to Neji’s blade so hard it stumbled to the ground. They both looked at his katana on the ground, it broke into two. Neji was now defenseless as Shikamaru’s sword was now on his neck.
“Don’t you fucking wield your sword on my neck! One wrong move and I’m not going to think twice about cutting your head……Now, do what I say. Release her” his voice stiffens while staring at him.
Neji was the Master of aikido, he can defend himself without using any sword but this time he cannot do it. He could feel the cold blade on his neck kissing his skin, and a little drop of blood runs down his neck which confirmed that Shikamaru was not joking, that he's going to cut his head if he did a wrong move. Because of this, Neji raised both of his hands in a sign of surrender.
“Release her” he commanded and the three samurai loosened their grip on the princess. Temari stood up after that and runs towards Shikamaru, he embraced her in return while his other hand was still positioned on Neji’s neck.
“You need to go home in Suna, princess. Your father wanted you to return! Immediately! Now!” Neji said while staring at Temari.
“I’m not going to leave nor follow any of you! I’m going to fight in this war” She yelled
He chuckled “They’re right, you’re a fucking stubborn!”
“You heard her, she’s not going to leave” Shikamaru said
“Send that message to my father, since you’re good at that. I’m going to face him when we reached Ouza island and not in Suna, tell him that I’m joining them in war” Temari felt brave after saying those words especially when Shikamaru was beside her, she felt like everything is possible when she was with him.
“Suite yourself princess. I hope you enjoy this fucking war!” he mockingly said and Shikamaru starts to remove his katana from his neck. Neji and his troop left the two lovers in their location and Shikamaru embraced her tightly after that.
“Are you alright?” he whispered to her ears
She nodded in return “Yeah”
“Let’s go inside now, we might catch a cold” He said while glancing up and saw that snow was starting to fall down.
Neji reached his room and grabbed the pen and paper immediately. He wrote a letter to the Kazekage about his daughter. Everything that happened earlier and every word from the princess's mouth he quoted them in his letter.
He’s a perfectionist, everything should be organized and executed according to plan. He grew up in a household where everyone expected him to be the best, everything should be perfect, and there was no room for mistakes. Bearing the last name of Hyuga is both a blessing and a curse. He's the type of person who displayed his superiority complex in order to hide his low self-esteem. This is the reason why he did all of these things, he wanted to be right all the time.
He rolled the paper and attached it to his hawk, a messenger bird to deliver his letter to Kumogakure where the Kazekage resides. In three days, the Kages will leave the village and starts to travel to Ouza island. He wasn’t sure what will happen after sending his message but one thing he knows, that he was doing the right thing, to tell the truth.
The messenger hawk flew and reached Kumogakure after two days. Rasa and his sons were having tea at the table outside of their rooms. The hawk clawed the empty chair beside Gaara and Rasa noticed the rolled paper that the bird was carrying. He leaned closer to it and starts removing the paper from the messenger hawk.
Gaara and Kankuro looked at each other while Rasa was reading the letter.
The kazekage’s eyes were in bloodshot and his jaws clenched after reading the letter. He crumpled the paper and throws it to the ground in rage, he then storms out from their table where Gaara and Kankuro left with confusion on their face. The two brothers were puzzled by their father’s reaction.
Kankuro picked up the crumpled paper on the ground and starts reading it, Gaara stand beside him and peeked at the paper. They were both shocked by what they just read.