Temari’s Choice

Summary: Tsunade received a request from the Counsel of Wind that Temari no longer be a hostage and sent to Suna to become the Godame Kazekage. What will Temari do? Can Shikamaru and her love survive? R&R to find out[contains ShikaTema

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! IN ADDITION, THE PLOT WAS DIRVED FROM THE ‘A Mother’s Love’ UNIVERSE! THE BEGINNING OF THIS ONE-SHOT BELONGS TO Lord of the Land of Fire-sama, TO WHOM I GIVE 95 CREDIT!!!!

Claimer: I OWN this IDEA, my ‘Hello Kitty’ shirt, and my black fuzzy slippers.

WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SHIKAxTEMA, CLICK THE ‘BACK’ BUTTON NOW!

AND NOW, ON WITH THE SHOW! …er, FANFIC!!

Temari and Shikamaru stood in the Hokage’s office. They held hands and she
looked at him nervously, but they said nothing. It had been more than four
years since she’d come to Konoha as a hostage. In that time what had started
as a simple infatuation had become something so much more. She loved him. She
loved him completely and with her whole heart. Even his annoying complaints
and smart-ass comments made her smile. And what made it truly amazing was that
he loved her as well. Konoha had become home, Shikamaru had become home, and
she was happy. But she was ninja, and in a ninja’s world there were more
important things than happiness.

Tsunade eyed her contemplatively and carefully. She happened to like the
young woman as well as the young man standing before her. Personally she would
have liked to have seem them be happy. But her duties as Hokage far outweighed
her personal wants.

“As you know,” Tsunade spoke. “Sulamon has died and he has left you
being named as his successor. The Council of Wind has sent me a formal request
that you be released from your position of hostage so that you can return home
and become Kazekage.” Tsunade leaned back in her chair; her eyes never left
Temari’s. “The Council has offered to send anyone else I choose to name to
take your place here. I will not do that. If you wish to go Temari, you may
and no one will have to become a hostage in your place. But should you accept
the Council requires that you must marry a member of the local nobility within
one year of assuming office.” She did not bother to spell things out any
further. The two of them understood. “When I told you of this yester day you
asked for one day to think it over have you come to decision?”

Temari took a deep breath and looked over at the man she loved. In a quiet
but determined voice she answered. “I would gladly accept the honor of being
made Kazekage, even if it means I would have to leave Konoha and
Shikamaru-kun...but I would want to be the Kazekage all the same, to try and
restore Suna its former glory!”

Shikamaru said nothing, she’d already told him her decision and he’d
already to argue her out of it. Even though he knew her decision was the right
one who couldn’t be quite selfless enough to just let her go without at
least trying to convince her to put her happiness ahead of the greater good.
Temari would never tell him just how close he’d come to doing just that.

Tsunade simply nodded. With Temari as Kazekage good relations between their
villages were assured for a generation. “Good, your escort is waiting for
you they will take you back to Suna for your coronation. Congratulations.”

“Thank you Hokage-sama.” She answered in a voice that threatened to
crack.”

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At the gates her escort waited. She’d said her final goodbyes to everyone.
She would really miss Yoshino, Kushina, Naruto, and Alysa. Shikamaru was at
her side he’d insisted on walking her to the gates. He’d not said two
words to her since leaving the Nara home for the final time.

“This isn’t goodbye you know, Kage’s do travel and I’ll invite you to
come to Suna for special events.”

“Great,” Shikamaru said in a dead voice. “I can be there for your
wedding.”

She sent him a hurt look. “Shikamaru-kun, please understand why I’m doing
this! I love you so much I would give my life for yours. But if I can help my
people how can I be so selfish as to put my own happiness before theirs?”

He looked at her and the tears were leaking down his face. “I understand
Temari-chan; it’s just like sacrificing the queen in a game of shogi. But
just because I understand it doesn’t mean I can bear it.” He reached out
and pulled her into his arms one final time. He kissed her as passionately as
he could. She wrapped her own arms around him returned the kiss with equal
devotion.

When he pulled back his dark eyes looked into green ones that were just as
teary as his own. “When I am an old man getting ready to die before my wife
and surrounded by a bunch of troublesome grandchildren you will still be my
troublesome woman.” He whispered to her.

Reaching up she touched his cheek and gently wiped his tears. “When I
breathe my last breath I will remember the man I love, and it will be your
face I see. You will always be my lazy ninja.”

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Temari did not look back as she went. She focused on the road ahead and on all
the good she would do. Even through her tears she could still see the way
ahead.

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When she arrived in Suna, she was surprised at how much it had flourished over the past four years, but ‘time heals all wounds’ as the saying goes. Temari was glad to be back home, but she missed Shikamaru immensely. Her reception was, if not what she had expected, touching. Every person in Suna had turned up to welcome her, the one who was the true heir to the title of Godame Kazekage.

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The manor in which she had grown up was still as she remembered it. Grand, huge, and in all ways befitting to the richest family in Suna, as well as the home of the Kazekage and his children.

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Temari’s room was still as she remembered it. The big four-poster canopy bed with black silk sheets, the two black and red dressers, the dark red walls, and the black, rose printed curtains that hung at the two bay windows on either side of her bed. As she unpacked her things, the room began to feel less alien and more as she remembered it.

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After about two hours or so, Temari took a red satin nightgown out of her closet and climbed into bed.

She had a meeting with the Counsel in the morning, so, she reasoned, she had to get a good night sleep.

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The next morning, the meeting passed faster than she thought it would, and so at about noon, Temari set out to get reacquainted with her home village. As she was eating lunch, Temari noticed that people were looking at her and whispering to their friends, probably wondering why the Kazekage-to-be would eat at this simple dango shop.

When she had finished her meal, Temari exited the dango shop, and began walking down the high street. If Temari came up to a crowd, it would part like a river, and when she was clear of it, the people would come back together, as if nothing had happened. At about three o’clock, Temari was considering going back home, ‘home’ she still had to get used to calling the Kazekage mansion home again, when, who should she meet, but her old best friend, Urusai Ossama?

Urusai was about a year or two older than she was, but he and Temari had been best friends since she was about four or so and has stayed close friends up until she was sent to Konoha as a hostage.

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Twenty Years Later……………

It had been twenty years now, since Temari had been chosen as Sulamon’s successor and had been made Godame Kazekage.

Twenty years since Temari had married Urusai Ossama.

Nineteen years since Temari had given birth to her first child Tsubaki, Shikamaru’s bastard daughter.

Fifteen years since Temari had given birth to her first son, Urusai’s this time, Manabe, the one she had chosen as her successor.

Twelve years since Temari had had her second daughter, Sunako.

And six years since Temari had learned that she had only about six and a half years to live.

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During the twenty years since Temari was made Kazekage, Suna had, as Temari said she would in Tsunade’s office all those long years ago, risen to its former glory.

Sometimes, during long nights, Temari would find herself sitting on her window seat, looking up at the moon and thinking, no hoping, that Shikamaru was looking at it, too. Urusai knew that, although he and Temari were married and had grown very fond of each other, like a bother and sister, she would always love Shikamaru Nara.

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Before she left, Temari had made painfully sure that Manabe was made Kazekage. She was now on her way to Konoha, where she intended to make her final resting place. Tsubaki was traveling with Temari, because she was the liaison between Suna and Konoha, so Urusai wasn’t too worried.

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Once they reached Konoha Temari immediately ran, as much as she could, into Shikamaru’s arms, she had sent a letter ahead to tell Naruto that she was coming and whom she would like to be her escort.

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That night, Temari and Shikamaru were laying in his bed, (dressed you perverts!) regardless of the fact that she was a married woman, talking quietly. Temari had told him about her sickness, and he had told her that he had missed her every moment of every day since she left.

Before they fell asleep that night, these were the words they exchanged:

“I love you, you troublesome woman.”

“And I love you, my lazy ninja.”

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The next morning, Ossama Temari, former Kazekage of Suna, and Nara Shikamaru, the lazy-ass jounin of the Leaf village, were found dead in his home.

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At the funeral, Urusai, he had come to pay his respects to his wife, remarked:

“Even in the twenty years that we were married, I knew that she never stopped loving him, that lazy ninja she always talked about.”

Finally, a love denied so long ago, had finally been requited.

(A/N: Did you like? I hope you did! And, to clarify, Shika committed suicide when he found Temari dead. Until next time, Ja ne my lovely readers!

Sincerely,

Temari Sabaku Nara.

P.S. OMG! THIS IS ALMOST TWELVE PAGES LONG! Yay for me!)