5She had just finished strapping her battle gear on as she felt her stomach flip again. She stealthily proceeded to run and lock herself in the bathroom for the third time this morning. 'Well...I guess this proves it' She thought glumly to herself. 'Shikamaru and I are going to have to have a talk after I do this mission.' She silently counted how many days she'd been sick in the mornings, "Twenty." She murmured...Pregnant...She couldn't even think that it had finally happened after three years with him. She sent up a silent prayer in thanks to Kama that Shikamaru was so smart that he overlooked the obvious things and that he was such a deep sleeper.
After her stomach settled she rinsed her mouth out and snuck into their bedroom. She crawled across the bed and brushed his hair off his cheek; "Shika!" She whispered causing him to stir slowly and rollover, his deep brown eyes blinking sleepily. "Mmph..." He murmured, "I forgot you were leaving on a mission this morning." She nodded and leaned down kissing his lips tenderly before speaking softly, "When I get back we need to talk over dinner..."
"Ughh...Temari, you know I hate it when you leave a mystery behind. It's always so bothersome." He groaned in annoyance. "That's why I do it!" She chirped playfully before rising and walking to the door. "I'll see you tonight, I love you Shika." She uttered before leaving and hurrying toward the Hokage building.
As she left Shikamaru felt a pang of anxiety. He just felt as if something was off. "Troublesome woman.." He muttered before ignoring the feeling, rolling over and returning to sleep. They would talk over dinner and he would await her return as he always did. Perhaps he should buy her some cherry blossoms...They were her favorite flower after all.
She received her mission, it was grunt work, delivering some Jutsu scrolls to the Hidden Mist; If she hurried she could be home by late afternoon. The blonde ran from the gates of Konohagakure after signing out at its gates, and leaping into the tree branches running toward the Mist.
She ran for three hours without so much as a sighting of anyone else so she allowed her mind to wander which is something she had never done before. She wondered is she would bear Shikamaru a son or a daughter, who the child would resemble and other random pregnancy thoughts. She snapped out of her daydreaming as the snare tightened around her throat. Her footing slipped off the branch she had run on.
As she dangled struggling for air she saw a figure approach. The cloak...Akatsuki...It wiped away all doubt about who was responsible. The figure removed his hat revealing the man who had kidnapped her brother, Deidara, formerly of Iwagakure. The edges of her vision began to blur and turn black as she gasped for breath, images of Shikamaru floating through the blackness in the corners of her eyes. Deidara looked up at her as her body began to go limp. He whined petulantly, "Well that wasn't who we wanted, uhn!" As everything finally started to go black she heard him call out; "Tobi! You idiot! Get over here and cut down this body, Uhn!"
Her last vision before everything truly went black was her and Shikamaru kissing on their wedding day, how happy they were...Her final thought...
'I'm so sorry Shika...'
Shikamaru had gone about his normal daily routine but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He decided a good game of Shogi would ease his mind so he played most of the afternoon away with the Hokage. When he finally set off for home, he stopped at the Yamanaka Flower Shop picking up a dozen Desert Roses and a branch of Cherry Blossoms. He tried to think of some plausible excuse why he was so late as he knew Temari would hand him his balls for it. He paused outside their apartment door taking a deep breath and sighing before gripping the handle and turning it.
...Click...
'Still locked?' He thought, 'How odd...' He draws his keys and opens the door going into the dark living room. "T-Temari...?" He calls out hesitantly. his voice seems to echo in the dark place as he sets the flowers on the counter. 'Maybe she was so tired she went to bed...' He thought warily. No. That wasn't like her at all! He rushed through their apartment flipping on every light desperately searching for her and finding her absolutely gone and the place absolutely empty.
'Something is wrong...Severely wrong...' His mind screamed in alarm. He ran from the apartment to the Villages entrance gates and scanned the sign in sheet finding she had never returned from her mission. As strong as his urge to go search for her was; He rushed instead to the Hokage building informing Lady Tsunade of the situation. She made the decision to wait until dawn broke to send out a search party. He disagreed with the decision but he was in no place to speak out. He spent all night pacing their apartment expecting her to come in the door at any moment.
She never did...
As the sun began to rise he rushed to the gates to await the others. Checking his watch every few seconds he grew more impatient. 'What is taking so long?! This is my wife's life!' He screamed in his mind. The team; which consisted of Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzaka, and himself, finally straggled in. Shikamaru led the team at a killer pace for a good part of the morning. They ran in a line formation; Shikamaru in the center, Choji on his left and Kiba on his right. They stopped for a little while to plot their course when a subtle breeze began to blow; Kiba raised his head and sniffed the air discreetly. Kiba looked over at Choji with a warning look, "I'll be right back...I smell something off..." He said delicately. Shikamaru was so wrapped up in his thoughts he only grunted in response and didn't notice Choji moving closer to him.
Kiba smelled blood and a lot of it. He leaped up on a tree branch and ran after the smell with his nose in the air. He leaped back down on to the ground skidding to a stop. 'I am close.' He thought grimly. He realized he was crouched in a strange shadow; Slowly he looked up.He found her...
Shikamaru was pissed. "Kiba!" He shouted as he and Choji searched. "Where are you, you dirty mutt!" They finally caught sight of him crouching. they ran to his side, "Kiba?! What is it? What's wrong?" Shikamaru demanded, thinking Kiba had been attacked. He finally noticed the unusual shadow and slowly looked up. Shikamaru's eyes grew extremely wide as he sank to his knees, grief overwhelming his voice; "T-T-TEMARI?!" He wailed brokenly.
There, hanging in mid-air strung up in a cross-like fashion between two trees with wire was her body. A Kunai knife was shoved into her heart up to its handle. The entire front of her body was covered in blood, there was also a pool of it on the ground beneath where she was hanging. Two tiny trails of blood were at each corner of her mouth indicating she had been alive when she was stabbed. Shikamaru ran toward her dropping to his knees before her as if she were an ascending Goddess and he a devout worshipper. A heart wrenching, gutteral cry escaped from deep in his chest as tears began to pour from his eyes.
Choji and Kiba were both choking back tears as they cut the wires from her wrists and respectfully lowered Temari to the ground. Choji leaped down from his tree and folded her arm across her chest, he began to lift her up but Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulder.
Choji stared at Shikamaru...
This was not his smart, lifelong best friend...This was a robot wearing Shikamaru's skin
...A man broken...