Chapter Text
Temari had her first periods at a rather usual age. She was thirteen and nearly had a heart attack when she woke up in the morning to bloody sheets.
She knew what it was. They learned about it in kunoichi initiation.
What she didn’t know was that later that day, the Kazekage would be calling her to his office, escorted by a jounin ranked ninja and their housekeeper, with whom she had shared the news that very morning.
Suna’s leader had grabbed her by the shoulders and told her something she would never forget.
“Always remember the order, Temari. You’re a Sand kunoichi and your Kazekage’s tool first. My daughter second. Your brothers’ sister third and Temari last.”
It haunted her decades later.
***
The rooftop of the Sand village’s patrolling domes was one of the best spots to peacefully watch the sunset.
Well, it was Temari’s favourite.
They were located on top of the great sand walls that hid the village. There weren’t enough shinobi to actually do the patrolling and it was far.
Far from home.
Far from the Kazekage.
Far from the sand monster.
Despite the appealing view, Temari did not care all that much for it. She was laying on the sandy surface, with her arms crossed behind her head.
Deep in thoughts.
Reflecting.
Invading the Leaf was one heck of a shit plan.
Not that she would say that to the Kazekage. She was a kunoichi of the Sand. She would jump to her death if he ordered her to.
But it was objectively a very loosely calculated plan.
Way too vengeful.
Not constructed enough.
“Knew you’d be here,” she heard the very familiar voice approaching her.
It was never too far from Kankurou though.
Temari simply closed her eyes, ignoring his presence and continued her pondering. She could hear him drag himself towards her before letting himself sit down right next to her.
Peering open one of her eyes, she noticed his tall straight back as he gazed straight at the sunset.
She closed her eyes again, making a mental note of checking out what he had been eating to grow that much taller than her in the span of like...Few months.
Ugh, puberty...
They sat in silence for several minutes, until Temari cleared her throat.
“It’s a shit plan,”
Kankurou simply hummed in acknowledgment but kept staring at the sun setting in the horizon.
“It sure ain’t a good one,” he started and then followed by a shrug, “we don’t have other options anyway,”
“Yeah well,” Temari pushed herself up from the ground into a seating position next to her brother, “I think we can do something that doesn’t involve an alliance with a notably known treacherous terrorist,”
Kankurou gave her no indication that he had heard what she had said and simply leaned slightly back, supporting himself with his palms on the sandy ground as he let his head fall back.
“I passed by that sweets shop we liked when we were kids,”
Temari always felt a slight pang of hurt every time her brother said that. He had just turned fourteen. He was a kid. He was just not allowed to be.
Just like she was.
“I should go check it out for nostalgia’s sake sometime,” she said in a whisper.
Kankurou shook his head, “you can’t. It closed down. Do you know why?” His gaze was still fixated on the garish coloured sky.
Temari thought it had probably closed down for the same reason most shops were closing. Suna was completely impoverished.
Why the heck would you keep a sweets shop when you had no customers and barely enough to buy semolina and flour for bread.
Some did not even have enough for water.
His sister did not answer, and simply let her chin rest on her popped up knees.
“He’s awaiting judgment in the dungeons,”
That took her aback, enough for her to throw a questioning gaze towards her brother with a scrunched up face and furrowed eyebrows.
She remembered the owner. He was a nice and funny guy with a sweet little family and the most gentle and loving wife she knew. Not really the criminal type.
“He killed his wife,”
She snapped her head in his direction, outraged, “why the heck did he-”
“She left legal documents. She agreed to it,”
His wife agreed to getting killed by her husband? What sort of trash thriller novel was that?
“One of their kids was nearly dying of hunger, the rest were famished. They both agreed that one of them should die and be fed to the kids,”
Temari was about to spring up on her feet from outrage.
How could a sane person knowingly let their children partake in cannibalising their own parent thinking they were having some sort of roasted animal.
But her shock quickly died out.
No one was really sane in Suna.
She wasn’t either.
And really, could she blame them?
She knew how hard it was to see your loved ones slowly dying from lacking a fundamental human need.
She’d roast her own leg if it meant Kankurou would not be starving.
Temari shifted her gaze back to the sunset.
She could hear Kankurou let himself lay on the ground, crossing his arms on his chest.
“If you ever end up starving sis’, I am officially allowing you to eat me,”
She furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly taking into consideration what he had said.
“Nah, won’t be necessary. We can do something else,”
“Like what?” He peered open one of his eyes.
She shrugged, and threw herself back on the ground, next to her brother. Turning her head to the side to face him, she offered him a slight smile, “we catch some lost guy in the desert and roast him instead,”
He looked at her for several seconds in all seriousness, before letting out a laugh, “Yeah well, hit me up when your plan doesn’t involve cannibalism,”
Kankurou stretched out his arm and Temari took it as an invitation to get closer. She let her head rest on her brother’s shoulder and closed her eyes.
“We don’t really have a choice, do we?”
He let out a deep breath and closed up his arm around his sister.
“Did we ever?”
Temari closed her eyes as hard as she could, feeling the tingling sensation in them. She sniffled and bit the inside of her cheek.
Did they ever indeed….
***
Temari was angry.
The people of the Leaf were so damned carefree. Children were out playing until late, couples were holding hands, old ladies were doing their morning shopping at the local market. It was all disgusting.
And she knew Kankurou was too. She figured as much when she saw him lash out at a random kid that dumped into him.
He hated kids of course but not enough to throw hands with them cuz’ they happened to be there.
The blond kid was super annoying though.
But yeah, Kankurou was being a drama queen and for once, Temari was glad the portable monster turned up.
When she reached the inn Konoha had appointed them, she found Kankurou sitting cross legged on the wooden floor, polishing Karasu for the upcoming exam.
She threw a quick glance around, slightly panicking as she noticed the beast was not around.
“Where is…”
Kankurou cut her off with a wave of his hand towards the adjacent room, still focusing on Karasu.
She let out a deep breath. They were supposed to be keeping an eye on him. The last thing they needed was for him to go rampage and screw up the plan.
The Kazekage would have their heads.
Temari could almost see his disappointed gaze cast on her while he would shaking his head and tutting disapprovingly.
“Where were you?” asked her brother as he checked if the projectile were well poison coated.
She shrugged, setting her fan on the floor, “walking around. The Leaf sucks. People look so fragile. We could start the assault right now and annihilate most of them. They look like they could offer us dango as a gift for putting our kunais on their throats,”
Kankurou let out a heh sound, followed by a smirk, “looks like this will be easier than expected,”
Temari encircled her brother, and let herself sit down behind him, letting her back rest against his.
“They seem happy though,” she murmured with her head leaning back on him.
“They seem weak,” he insisted with a shrug.
Temari slightly nodded, “you know what? I’m glad we grew up in Suna. At least we look intimidating.”
“And we’re strong. The dark haired kid threw rocks at me. A ninja throwing rocks,” he let out a mocking laugh.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “the cute guy,”
Kankurou threw a sneer at her, “the cute kid, you cradle robber,”
She shrugged nonchalantly, “he can’t be that younger than us. Do I hear you admitting he was cute?”
With a very unimpressed look on his face, Kankurou jabbed at his sister with his right shoulder.
“You into romance now or something?” He said with furrowed eyebrows, noticing one of the kunai in Karasu was not at all sharp.
Temari let out a long hum, pondering on his question.
She never really cared for all of that. She sometimes heard girls her age talk about their crushes, but she could never really relate.
Something to do with the monster little brother, the dead mother, the psychologically abusive father, the overall hunger, poverty, pressure and deadly missions in deadly heat full of deadly creatures.
Moreover, before being a woman, she was a Sand kunoichi, a tool for the Kazekage.
She couldn’t really up and decide to get into romance, as Kankurou was saying. Not if she was not ordered to.
Not that she minded.
Temari was very proud of being a Sand kunoichi and she would be even more proud if she were of some use to the Kazekage.
After careful consideration, Temari shook her head, “nope’, I will leave that to you,”
He let out a humourless laugh, “hard pass,”
The two siblings fell silent. Probably both reflecting on their discovery of the Leaf.
Temari was telling herself that being born in a village like the Leaf would be boring and uneventful. It would have made her lazy. She wasn’t even sure she would have been a kunoichi if she had been born there.
Moreover, the laughing, the singing, the calm. It was all so peacefully disgusting.
No, she was glad for the rough desert and the heat. She was glad it had toughened her up and made her strong, impassible and independent.
But Temari was still so so angry.
How could kids carelessly run in the streets?
How could people buy actual fruits in the market?
How could everyone walk around without slightly glancing behind them, in case of a sneak attack?
And more importantly, how could one village have so much and the other so little?
Temari briefly wondered if Kankurou had been thinking the same thing but judging by the slight crease between his eyebrows and the tantrum with the kids that afternoon, she thought he probably did.
It would take both of them years to figure out that their anger was nothing more than utter jealousy at never having had the eighth of what the basic Leaf citizen had.
***
Temari would never change a thing about Kankurou, but she did think he was getting more and more reckless.
Why would he ever try to order that monster around….
She would never admit it, but right there and then, in the Death Forest, Temari was scared shitless. She didn’t really care if he killed her. But he couldn’t harm Kankurou. He wouldn’t….
Kankurou was pretty much what made her want to wake up in the morning.
So you bet that as soon as they were alone in the exam tower, she gave him the hearing of his life.
“Why the heck would you ever do that?” She was beyond mad. Regardless of the fact that he would have killed Kankurou without a second thought, making him angry before he needed to be would just throw the mission into the fireplace, “is this the best time you chose to have a respect your older brother moment? You could have died!”
Kankurou did not seem to care one bit as he leaned on the wall crossing his arms, “well I’m not. So calm down, Tem”
Temari was not convinced with his retort and was still looking highly furious with a hand on her fan, ready to hit him with it until he bled and the concept of not meddling with the beast got well into his mind.
He shrugged then rolled his eyes at her glaring, “I guess sometimes I just wish he was back at being, you know….My little brother,”
With that, Kankurou pushed himself away from the wall, on his way to wander around in the tower.
Temari watched him silently leave, feeling her anger tone down little by little.
She understood him so well. Unlike him however, she had since long dropped that hope.
What good would it do to think about when they were kids, and he was nothing but sweetness. When they used to play around with the sand and ask him to build them sand sculptures.
It was all before the beast took over.
Before Yashamaru.
Before the Kazekage ordered them to keep their distances. And Temari was a kunoichi of the Sand above all. She would always follow the Kazekage’s orders.
Kankurou was never that good with orders though. He still hoped.
Temari thought it was his only weakness.
***
Surprisingly, it seemed like Konoha’s genin were not all a bunch of imbeciles. The Uchiha guy was good, the blond kid had guts and that white eyed angry kid seemed strong enough. Some of them were straight up clowns though.
The blonde girl and the pink haired girl fighting over a guy made her die of cringe and instantly lose interest in that Sasuke kid.
The girl she fought was utterly irrelevant.
Ugh, and that shadow kid won by taking three steps back and making that girl hit her head on the wall.
She guessed at least that one had some merit.
Still ridiculous though.
Then, the penultimate fight came.
In her fifteen years of existence, Temari had never been scared for Gaara’s safety, until that day.
And she didn’t know what scared her more; the fact that the Leaf had some random genin that were capable of breeching Suna’s ultimate weapon’s shield or that she was scared shitless of something happening to Gaara.
Not because of the mission. But solemnly because he would have been harmed.
And then it hit her that somehow, she too, was holding some hope.
She too had a weakness.
***
Gaara was holding by a thread. He had apparently gone and murdered one of the sound alliance guys in cold blood according to Baki.
The day of the final chunin exams seemed so far when there was a ticking time bomb under their roof.
Temari could not wait for that day to finally come. Then they would be done with this.
Done with Konoha.
And she could go back to Suna and lay on the rooftop of the domes. Kankurou would join her as he usually did when he got bored. They would both be looking at a new Suna, where no one would be famished or dehydrated.
She would kill each and every Leaf citizen for that dream.
And the Kazekage would be so proud of her.
That damned Uchiha Sasuke was nowhere to be found, Gaara was going into more frenzies and the match between the Hyūga and the blond kid took ages. Needless to say, nothing was going according to plan.
Once Kankurou and the insect guy’s match came around. He and his sister exchanged a knowing look.
One of them had to give up to speed it up.
And Kankurou knew damned well that it would not be her. Not against the head-hitting-wall clown.
At least the Aburame kid had some talent. The audience may understand why he would be giving up.
Moreover, her fight will only last few minutes. The strength discrepancy between her and the shadow kid was obvious.
It was all very logical.
Until it absolutely was not.
Temari won. Just as expected.
But she also very blatantly, lost.
She knew that she was strong, smart and way more qualified than her opponent. The squeaky kid had zero stamina and the strength of a dying dog. He only won in the preliminary round because he was a quick thinker and his opponent was a joke.
Just how did he win?
Against her!
How?!
Temari would have the time to dwell on her fight with the shadow kid some other time because things got heated very quickly.
One second, Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke were fighting, the other, the assault on Konoha had started.
Worst? Gaara was going in a frenzy, again.
Suna and Konoha ninja were fighting all around them. Baki had taken up on stalling the examinator.
Kankurou and her had to take Gaara away, heal him, let him gather more chakra and launch him to wreck havoc in the Leaf village.
Simple enough if not for Uchiha damned Sasuke and his bunch of baboons of friends who decided to follow them.
***
Temari had lost against the shadow kid. She had also been tricked by Uchiha and then Gaara kicked her so hard on her stomach, she could feel herself slowly drifting off into unconsciousness.
She wanted to cry. She had never felt so useless.
What would the Kazekage say?
He would be so disappointed by how weak she had been, how useless she was to him during the Konoha crush.
Would he express his disappointment?
Would he tell her he didn’t need her anymore?
Would he get rid of her?
The last thing she saw before drifting into unconsciousness was the disappointed face of her father as an overwhelming sense of guilt overcame her.
The death match between Gaara, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto was traumatizing to say the least. Gaara was out to kill and even the Uchiha couldn’t face him.
But as it seemed, that Naruto kid had more strength than anticipated and enough trauma to challenge Gaara.
That day, Temari heard few words that changed her life forever. Perhaps even more so than her father’s words.
“Temari, Kankurou...I am sorry.”
And did those few words shatter her world completely.
***
The funerals for the Kazekage were swiftly settled.
He would not be missed by most Sand citizens.
Suna’s elders were also experts at making it seem that everything going on in Suna was strictly his fault and now that he was dead, everything would be all sweetness and light.
They obviously forgot to mention that they fully supported the assault on Konoha plan. They also did not mention the fact that Konoha Crush did in fact put pressure on the Wind’s Daimyo and that he had been sending resources since their return.
History will remember their father as the cruel man that led Suna to its doom.
After the funerals, Temari found herself sitting on top of the patrolling domes, her feet dangling over the edge.
She had not been there for a few minutes when she heard the familiar thud.
“You know this is my secret place,”
Kankurou shrugged and flailed a dismissive hand, “technically,” he started as he sat down right next to her, “I discovered this spot first,”
He let some minutes pass to gather his thoughts and then finally asked, “how are you feeling?”
Temari shrugged, her eyes still fixated on the horizon, “Gaara seems to be doing better. He dozes off a lot though. And, well...Baki told me the Elders will be ruling as Kazekage as they decide what to do next. Suna is…”
“I asked how you were, Tem…,” he cut, with an insisting look.
She turned her head to face him, and gave him an impassible look for several minutes, not letting out any emotion.
After a while, Kankurou could see his sister’s nose slowly scrunching up. She started biting her lip, hard and she furrowed her eyebrows. Soon, his sister’s teal eyes got glassy.
Kankurou had seen Temari cry a few times when they were kids, but as a series of light sobs started escaping her lips and she let her head drop on his shoulder, Kankurou felt a shiver run down his spine.
He saw her cry before. He saw her panicked. He saw her scared.
But he had never, ever seen her so lost.
Between her sobs, Kankurou made out some of the phrases she had been saying,“I don’t know what to do,” his hand instinctively came to squeeze her closer to him, “I don’t know who I am,”
He tutted, letting his head drop on hers, not really sure of what to say himself.
“Don’t say that. You’re Temari of the Sand. Always have been, always will be,” he tried to take the most reassuring tone he could manage.
Temari sniffled, and brought up her hand to rub her nose with the hem of her robe, “no, Kankurou. You don’t understand,” she brought up her other hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, “I am the Kazekage’s tool first and his daughter second. That’s who I am. That’s how I function. That’s how I’ve always been. And now…,” she stopped to rub at her eyes again as tears threatened to come out again, “there is no Kazekage, father is no more!”
Temari moved her head away from her brother’s shoulders to look at him with a devastating gaze, teal eyes puffy and teary, “if I can’t be any of those, what am I supposed to be, Kankurou?”
Her brother was at loss of words. He had barely had the time to gather his thoughts and his mind was still fixated on his sister’s unusual disoriented expression.
He sighed deeply.
Kankurou felt like he was the least adequate for this sort of conversation.
Firstly, because he was not very good with words and second, because while they had very similar experiences, Kankurou was not at all feeling the same things. If anything, he was relieved.
The old man could fuck off for all he cared. That Orochimaru had done a solid to the family. He’d pay him lunch if he ever met him.
But he was not an idiot. Temari had been the closest to their father.
While he had never really cared for shining in his father’s eyes, Temari had always been looking for his approval.
She often told him that he was weak for still holding hope that Gaara would one day go back to being their little brother but he never dared to tell her that she was holding the same hopeless wish for their father.
And as it turned out, Gaara did manage to get better. He was healing.
But their father? He probably died disappointed in his children.
Kankurou cleared his throat and shifted to grab Temari by her shoulders, giving her a slight but firm shake, “You’re Temari, and you will always be Temari above all. Temari is a strong kunoichi of the Sand who follows orders but she is still Temari regardless. Don’t you dare forget that. So you’re going to stop fucking sobbing, and go back to being the baddest bitch the desert has ever seen,”
She shook her head, “You don’t get it! I don’t know how to act, I don’t…”
“Don’t give me that shit,” he said, giving her another firm shake, “If anything, this whole shitshow taught us that everything is possible. You’ve always defined your worth by how father saw you; if he said you were brilliant, you felt like the most confident bitch this land had to offer but if he said he was disappointed in you, you could drown in your own guilt. Time to be your own person, Tem. Time to woman up.”
***
Once they reached back their house, they were both surprised to find Gaara calmly sitting crossed armed in the living room’s sofa.
It was still hard for them to be in the same room as their little brother without somehow feeling panicked or scared.
But they were trying.
And while Gaara had the people’s skill of a broken chair, he always did his best to excuse himself of whatever space his siblings were at, probably not to make them feel uncomfortable with his presence.
This time too, as soon as he noticed them, Gaara was about to spring up from the couch and go anywhere where they weren’t.
Before he could do that, Kankurou flailed a hand and lazily walked towards him, “you don’t need to disappear from our field of vision whenever we’re around you, you know,”
He threw himself on the couch next to him, “I, for one, don’t really mind as long as you’re not threatening to kill me or something,”
Touchy subject and way too soon for the jokes, but Kankurou wasn’t one to talk around things.
Gaara just slightly let his head drop, looking at his lap holding the same expressionless features, “I am sorry…”
His brother gestured vaguely, “yeah, you already said that. Tem?”
Temari had been standing in the middle of the living room since the whole antics started. She was still feeling slightly dizzy from all the sobbing and the turmoil of emotions that was going through her at that moment.
She took a few steps towards her brothers.
Temari would be lying if she said that she was not still very much scared of Gaara. Every time she would somehow find herself in his presence, an overwhelming sense of panic and anxiety overcame her. It was suffocating and it always made her feel like throwing up.
But she was willing to try.
Gaara was trying his damned hardest.
And Kankurou...Well Kankurou probably did not even need to try. For all he cared there was no imminent death threats under the roof anymore so he was content with whatever at that point.
Temari sat down on the other side of Gaara and she could not help but feel that the situation was very bizarre to say the least. A month ago, she had nearly had a panic attack when Kankurou had another argument with Gaara and the later was about to go into a manic mode and let the beast take over him right there in the inn. And now? They were all sitting together on the couch.
Picture perfect family.
After several minutes of silence, Gaara cleared his throat, “can I ask a favour from you?” He asked, still looking down at his lap.
Temari and Kankurou glanced towards each other, before both of them shrugged with a nod and an agreeing hum.
Gaara stretched his arms on either of his sides and held up his hands, “could you hold my hands?”
Kankurou shot up an eyebrow, but instantly took his little brother’s hand, “the trip to Konoha turned you soft. Next you’ll put flowers everywhere in the house,”
Gaara gave a slight squeeze to his brother’s hand and then shifted his head to gaze at his sister.
Temari was hesitant. She already had trouble managing her fear when he was around so she did not really know if she was ready for casual touching.
However, when she looked into his eyes, Temari truly did not see the spectre of the demon she had been fearing for years. All she saw, was the eyes of the child that was building sand sculptures with her and she could never refuse to hold that kid’s hand.
With a slight smile and a firm nod, Temari reached to grab her baby brother’s hand, surprised at the lack of panic in her heart.
Gaara brought his arms on his lap and dropped down his head to look at their joined hands.
Kankurou and Temari slightly shifted their heads to peer at him only to find on his heavily expressionless face, the faint trace of a light smile.
Kankurou had let him have his moment for a few minutes before wiggling his hand away, “yeah, I’m really not the holding hands type. Makes me feel hella silly. I’m a holding shoulder sort of guy,”
To illustrate, Kankurou brought his arm up to let it drape over Gaara’s shoulder and slightly brought his brother closer to him.
Although not visible on his face, Gaara was very much confused by the gesture. Still trying to establish if he had something against it or if he did not mind it.
He quickly decided that he found it sort of reassuring in some way.
“The fuck is that thing?” Asked Kankurou suddenly, pointing a the pot decorating the low table.
“A cactus,” Gaara always answered in very short and direct phrases.
“Duh, I can see that. The heck is it doing here?”
“I got it. I thought it was pretty,”
Temari scrunched up her nose, “are you going to take up gardening?”
Gaara turned towards his sister, still impassible as ever, “I like cacti,”
Kankurou shrugged, “Well...Harmless hobby and for once that you actually have a hobby. It could have been, I don’t know, sweaty feet or something,”
“Is that a common hobby?”
Temari let go of Gaara hand to swat at her very not funny brother, “no, it’s not. Don’t listen to anything he says,”
To Gaara’s greatest surprise, Temari very slowly took back his hand in her own, giving him a little squeeze.
He still did not know how to manage his feelings and barely understood most of them but he briefly wondered why his eyes were slightly burning him as his nose was tingling and something in his chest had been squeezing him hard ever since his siblings had sat down next to him.
Curious feelings, really.
***
Now that everything had slightly calmed down in her life, Temari had finally the time to ponder about something highly important.
How the fuck did that shadow kid manage to trick her like that?
Sitting on the counter, Temari was going on and on about one of her favourite subjects lately.
“I mean, I am most definitely stronger. How could he do that to me?!”
Kankurou who was trying to make lunch, would literally rather face his dead father than have that conversation again, let out an exasperated breath, “by making a makeshift balloon with his jacket. You saw it, I saw it and even Gaara saw it,”
Their little brother had been sitting on the kitchen’s chair, intensively looking at a new cactus he had gotten, as if waiting for it to grow a pair of arms, “I do not remember much of anything….”
Kankurou flailed a dismissive hand, “never mind Gaara then. You got overconfident and he got you. Take it as a lesson, train more, and tone down the arrogance,”
He dodged a head swat by taking a few steps back to set a plate of food in front of Gaara on the table, “you eat,” he pointed at the plate and then brought up his hand to ruffle his brother’s hair.
“Oh, thank you,” he answered, setting aside his cactus.
Kankurou gave a pleading look to his sister, “I’m just putting this out there, but maybe there is something else bothering you about this?”
Temari quickly shook her head, “no, there isn’t,” she answered too quicker than she wanted, “I’m just wondering…”
Well, there wasn’t nothing, but she wouldn’t call it something.
Aside from the fact that she had been completely humiliated and given the opportunity she would most definitely get back at him for that, she was still a kunoichi. She was confident but knew herself not to be invincible either…
What was tormenting her was that he had her. He had her, completely at his mercy. But he let her go.
Because he deemed it useless to fight.
Which was a shit ass excuse to her because he could have taken a rock from the ground and thrown it at her. She would have mimicked by grabbing air and he’d have her out of field from a concussion in a minute.
But no. He knew he did not need to prove that he had won by actually winning.
And that made her blood boil.
***
The flow of missions had been consistent. The Daimyo, who was still very much scared of some other coup, did not delegate missions to other villages.
Things were starting to flourish in Suna. Well sort of, nothing really flourishes in a deadly heat.
Except Gaara’s succulents apparently. Those have been holding on pretty great.
Surprisingly, a peace treaty was signed between Suna and Konoha. Temari thought that the village was even dumber than she thought.
It was the most logical decision. Both villages suffered greatly from the attack and had a common goal. Peace was the best decision.
However, Suna would have never accepted a peace offer from a village that had attempted to murder its Kazekage not a few months prior. Weakened or not.
It worked well for Suna, so Temari was not about to complain about it.
The three siblings were on rest duty after having completed a rather dangerous mission the day prior when they were summoned back in front of the Council for another mission.
Temari still found it weird to follow orders as a kunoichi from a delegation of Elders and high ranked jounin rather than one single leading figure.
She thought it seemed quite fair though, diplomatically speaking, to have several representatives rather than a single person.
She never voiced her diplomatic opinions though, especially not since Gaara had told them that he was planning on becoming the next Kazekage.
It was honestly both incredulous and utterly hilarious.
But hey, it would work well for everyone.
In Suna, the Kazekage title was hereditary.
The Council would never appoint her as the Kazekage. She could be useful for potential alliances. Moreover, she was quite sure the elder fucks would not want a woman to lead the village. Not that she wanted to anyway.
Kankurou would rather fist fight the one tailed demon than be stuck in an office signing paperwork for eternity and the Council did not like him. They thought he didn’t have the personality to be Kazekage, and honestly, Temari would not disagree with that.
The last time he had a disagreement with one of the Council members, he accidentally pushed him down the stairs. The old man was still walking around, holding his poor back and mumbled curses every-time Kankurou was around.
Conflict resolution was not his strongest suit.
Gaara however had mellowed down considerably. He was genuinely always trying to assist the villagers if they needed help. And, he always gave insightful opinions during Council meetings. He was basically harmless until provoked. And that was a good quality for being Kazekage.
Temari tried to support him the best she could and truly wished he would manage to gain the recognition he deserved soon.
“Your mission will be rather simple,” started Baki, clearing his throat, “some of our allies from Konoha are in dire need of help close to the borders. The Leaf’s forces being occupied with reparations, they need our manpower,”
Noticing Temari’s raised eyebrow, Baki nodded and added for good measures, “...and womanpower,”
She huffed a breath at him with a nod.
Baki shrugged and went on, “one of the genin in Konoha; Uchiha Sasuke, has left with Orochimaru’s team. He is on his way to desert the village and a team of four genin and a chunin leader was sent to retrieve him,”
That took the three of them aback. Well, Gaara’s expression did not change, but his left, non-existent eyebrow twitched slightly, so Temari assumed he was surprised.
The kid did seem highly emo and weirdly entitled and mean, but even Gaara didn’t do that. Especially not following a renowned terrorist that had very recently caused a ruckus in his own village.
Uchiha had gone nuts and Temari did not even understand why Konoha would send a team to retrieve him. That was high treason in Suna’s book. They would have sent a team to annihilate you and bring back your head for proof.
But no, itty-bitty Leaf village did things peacefully in the world of turnips and daisies.
Heh, fragile fucks.
Gaara cleared his throat, to bring the attention to him and his usual calm and detached voice, he asked something that had been on his mind for a short while, “Who are the genin that has been sent?”
Konoha must be deep in shit to be sending a bunch of kids behind Uchiha.
Then again, maybe the Orochimaru’s disciples thing had only been noticed after they were sent. That would explain needing Suna as backup.
“Let me check,” Baki ruffled as some documents before retrieving a scroll with Konoha’s crest on it, “Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chôji. They are all in the team of chunin Nara Shikamaru,”
Upon hearing the names, Kankurou instantly felt a strange atmosphere around him. He glanced to his left towards Gaara and as expressionless as he was, Kankurou could see him getting fired up. He was pretty sure they had lost their little brother as soon as the first name had been mentioned.
Kankurou would not even be surprised if he went home some day to find Gaara planning the creation of a new Uzumaki Naruto fan-club where he would be president.
He turned his gaze to his left and all he noticed was his sister with a wickedsmile.
Kankurou slightly elbowed her, “Tem’?”
Still looking slight ahead, he heard her say, “I’ll show him how to actually fight without giving up . I’ll fuck him up,”
Kankurou deeply sighed. He had a hunch both his siblings were going straight ahead for that first and last names mentioned and he would be stuck with the three others.
He hoped two of them were already dead or something…
***
That was the best mission Temari could have had in months.
She was going to humiliate him, just like he did to her in the chunin exam.
Temari would not just be saving his ass, she would also be showing him how trash his skills were compared to hers. Makeshift jacket balloons could only get you so far in a real fight.
He would be seeing how stronger she was.
And true to her world, she decimated the Nara’s opponent. And the forest at that, just for good measure. To highlight her strength.
Ending everything with a broad smile.
“Pretty cool, heh?”
***
According to their mission’s guidelines, the Sand Siblings had to escort the team back to Konoha before getting back home.
That was an order and Temari was a Sand kunoichi who followed orders.
However, she didn’t understand what made her follow them to the hospital and even stay with Nara as he waited for his teammates.
She could have gone and wandered off like Kankurou who probably went discovering new foods. Or, be like Gaara and diligently start her mission report. Or brood in a corner while watching plants. Whatever Gaara did when he was alone, really.
But Nara boy just seemed off to her. She couldn’t really pinpoint why or how, but she felt like he was acting sort of bizarre.
So it was her good sense that made her stand by him until the hospital’s waiting room.
As she was sitting in front of him, she quickly figured that Nara was feeling down and depressed, probably guilty too because he was the mission’s leader. He had been fidgeting since they arrived and she found id downright ridiculous.
How could anyone be a good ninja if they fell into despair every time a mission went south? They could not afford to lose to their emotions because someone died during a mission. That was like ninja 101; emotions’ control.
Temari thought that Nara was at the image of Konoha; emotional, fragile and far too sensitive to be a ninja but somewhat courageous and trusting enough to be good at what they did.
“I’m not cut out to be a shinobi,”
Scratch that.
Temari tutted. That was just disappointing.
She greatly overestimated this guy.
He was a pipsqueak but he had the merit of being smart. He would not have had her in the chunin exam otherwise. But the first slightly bumpy road and he gives up?
The fuck?
If Temari had given up at the first obstacle she would have dropped the kunoichi title by the time she was seven and was ordered to stay away from Gaara.
She could see he was hurting, but she did not have it in her to console him. If he truly felt that desperate after his first real mission went south, then yeah, he was right. He really was not cut out to be a shinobi.
Then he upped and left.
Ridiculous excuse of a shinobi, thought Temari with a shrug.
She did not notice that a man had been standing around the corner all that time. Temari did not have a clear view of him but she could hear him shake some sense into the Nara.
He was harsh, but he was right.
Whether he was on board or not, his friends would continue being shinobi. They would not die under his command, they would just die under somebody else’s.
Better try to be the best team leader and do his best to avoid that it ever happened.
Not that Temari could fathom the strong sense of empathy towards team members. They signed up to being shinobi. She would not have felt responsible for their death.
She truly believed that even if her brothers went to their doom during a mission, she would not be that impacted by it. It was their job to put their lives on the line.
And then, something Temari never expected to witness happened. The Nara guy started crying upon hearing that his comrades were alright.
Actually crying.
A team leader crying for his comrades.
Temari was so baffled, she ended up being the last one to leave the hospital…
Or so she thought.
As she got up, she quickly glanced around the corner to find the man that had previously talked to Nara, still standing there with crossed arms.
A single look at him made her grasp that they were related in some way. It was like someone copy pasted them.
The Nara clan must have some very strong genes.
“Is Konoha keeping an eye on me or something?” She was looking straight ahead, not bothering to look at the man.
He had a raspy, low voice that sounded like he had just woken up, “I was actually just reflecting on my son’s behaviour….,’
Oh, so he was his father.
“...the Leaf fully trusts Suna,”
Temari gave a slight nod with an approving hum. She took a few steps away before slowly turning to face the man, giving him a hard look.
“You’re a good father,”
The man seemed slightly confused. She had just witness him basically slapping his son with some very hard truths.
He never really felt like a good father, but he was proud of his son and he hoped that accounted for something.
The man shrugged, and stuffed his hands in his pocket, taking his leave towards the right corridor, “I don’t know about that…,”
Seeing him leave, Temari gave another nod, reiterating what she had previously stated, “You are a good father,”
The man paused for a second, then slightly nodded before disappearing in the hallway.
***
That night in their appointed inn, Temari let herself sit crossed legged on the balcony next to Kankurou, who was sipping some weird purple drink he got from the market.
“When was the last time you cried?” she blurted out of nowhere.
Kankurou, used to bizarre inquiries, simply shrugged as he sipped his drink, “don’t remember. You?”
She flailed a dismissive hand, “father’s funeral, and before that, I don’t know. Probably the day you stole my pet lizard and grilled it,”
“For my defence, I didn’t know it was a pet. I just thought I found a cool snack in the house,”
Temari took several seconds of contemplation before asking again, “have you ever cried for subordinates, or teammates?”
Kankurou raised an inquisitive eyebrow, “like fuck I would. I didn’t force them to become shinobi. They make you sign a shit-ton of paperwork to make sure you know the risks,” he gestured vaguely around him, “I’d probably feel down for a bit if they were cool or strong, but I wouldn’t blame myself or something,” he elbowed his sister, feeling slightly worried, “why? Have you been crying cuz’ the Hyūga and the other fat guy are in the hospital?”
She gave him a disgusted look, “I don’t give a fuck about them,”
Kankurou nodded, and took a sip of his beverage, “as you should,”
Temari sighed deeply. Part of her wanted to tell Kankurou everything that had happened with Nara at the hospital. The giving-up, the disappointment and the crying. But, Temari also felt like she shouldn’t say anything about that. It was as if it was not her place to tell.
And for some reason, she felt like that whole ordeal was supposed to stay between them.
“Do you think father was ever proud of me?” She asked after a while.
Kankurou still had trouble navigating conversations where their father was involved. They both had different ways to deal with it and he quickly figured that throwing around jokes about the dead man was not doing it for Temari.
He settled for sincerity, “probably not,” then, with his gaze on the busy street, he reached with his hand to tug at one of her pigtails, “but I am,”
Temari let out a snort followed by a shake of her head.
She could live with that…
***
It seemed her fate was just linked with Nara because he was the one assigned to see them off at Konoha’s gate.
She didn’t mind him as much as she did before.
He picked himself up and was ready to go forward.
Temari could respect that at least.
The Sand Siblings took several steps before Temari decided that she felt in a cheeky mood.
“We’ll help again if you anything else happens,” she started, “Right? Mr. Crybaby,” and then she offered him the cheekiest smile she could manage as she heard his:
“That’s why women are troublesome,”
They had not walked a mile when Temari felt someone pull at her pigtail.
She threw a threatening glare in Kankurou’s direction, who was innocently looking straight ahead with a smirk.
“What was it with the gate flirting?”
Temari snorted and flailed a dismissive hand with a side smile, “as if I would flirt with that kid,”
He dramatically flew both his hands in the air, “I witnessed flirty banter. With smiles and inside jokes no one but you guys got. Isn’t that right, Gaara?”
Their little sibling simply shrugged, feeling disconnected from the discussion, “I think I know what flirting is but I don’t think I know what it entails…”
Kankurou threw his arm around his brother’s shoulder, “have you been reading that book I gave you on feelings and emotions?”
He nodded, “I did,”
Ruffling his hair, he gave him a loving swat on the neck, “good boy!”
Gaara shifted his head to face his brother, and Kankurou assumed the look he was giving him was supposed to be a glare. He looked as impassible as ever though.
“Point is; Temari was flirting with the shadow kid,”
She did not get angry because she knew Kankurou was talking shit. She was absolutely not flirting with that guy.
She did find him interesting though and he had gone up a couple notches in her esteem.
He was a good guy and an aspiring shinobi.
A bit less self-doubt and overall laziness and he would do great things some day.
She was sure of that.