Conflicted
**Background** This is set in the timeframe of the Naruto Shippuden Movie: Inheritors of the Will of Fire. (post Asuma's death, pre-fourth shinobi world war initiated by Madara) A rogue shinobi declares war on all nations claiming he is representing Konoha, which causes all nations to prepare to attack Konoha. Gaara appears to be assassinated when going to meet with Tsunade secretly, which leads to further confusion and questioning of Konoha's motives. Forces from Suna and Konoha are on opposite sides of a large canyon at the boundary between the land of fire and the land of wind with weapons trained on one another.
Additional note: musume means daughter in Japanese.
Temari stood like a statue looking across the chasm to the Konoha forces on the other side. The kunoichi recognized the legendary sannin, Lady Tsunade, who stood out in the open on the other side. The woman was insane or suicidal for leaving herself so vulnerable. Temari could hear Shizune screaming for the Hokage to please take shelter. Temari narrowed her eyes when Tsunade met her gaze. The four pigtail wearing kunoichi's face was dark and expressionless, her eyes were hard. The Hokage's were soft and almost pleading with Temari, as if she wished to communicate across the divide between them.
"Temari, why don't you go and rest for a while?" Kankuro spoke quietly as he warily watched his older sister from where he stood beside her. "We know how hard this has to be on you. Let Baki and I handle this for now."
"I'm fine. Loyalty to Suna has always come first, this isn't hard," she snapped back, turning to look at the black clad puppeteer. Kankuro visibly shuddered under her gaze. Temari's eyes, they were dead as if she no longer felt any emotions at all. He had only seen eyes like that before once, Gaara when the Shukaku had been in control.
"We don't have any information on Gaara's actual status," Baki said softly so only the three of them could hear. Their mentor had been standing behind them, but now he walked up beside the sand siblings. "We know there was an avalanche and have been unable to contact him. That does not mean that the Leaf village caused it or intended to do him harm," the elder Sunan stated looking down at the wind mistress from his height. Temari simply snorted in response. The blonde folded her hands on top of the large iron fan she had stood on end in front of her.
"We shall hold until they make the first move," Temari spoke with ice in her voice as she looked to the shinobi from the Leaf. "Have weapons trained on Tsunade as long as she remains willing to make herself such an easy target. Let me know as soon as the Anbu return with their report of the avalanche site."
"Oneesan, Gaara had said we were doing this for show. He had no intention of actually attacking Konoha," growled Kankuro. "He said that if we did not appear ready to attack, other nations would assume we were in league with Konoha and prepare to attack us. Gaara's intentions were to assist the Leaf in capturing or killing the rogue shinobi."
"Well, those intentions were before he was killed," hissed Temari through gritted teeth.
"You don't actually believe that they assassinated him," Kankuro said as more of a statement than a question.
"I don't know what to believe anymore," Temari said as she looked up to the clouds in the sky with a vacant expression on her face. Clouds were the last thing she wanted to see because they reminded her of him. The man she never should have wanted and probably could never have.
Kankuro grabbed her left hand which caused the kunoichi to flinch and focus back on him. The purple streaks around Kankuro's eyes made them appear even more enraged as he shoved her hand towards her face. Temari looked at the ring on her finger with a pained expression on her face. "Gaara and I have been in negotiations for months concerning your dowry, wedding, and marriage to the Nara. I don't think that was all just a part of some big master plan to attack Suna and assassinate Gaara," the puppeteer whispered with fury lacing every word. "Gaara and Tsunade have been going rounds over who gets to keep the two of you for the longest amount of time each year since neither one is willing to lose their own shinobi completely to the other," the puppeteer almost yelled. "Suna and Konoha were to be bound by a blood tie stronger than any peace treaty could ever be."
"It was all a dream, Kankuro," Temari answered looking away knowing she lacked conviction saying it. She sounded more like a woman broken and that's not what she wanted to be. She needed to be a fierce and determined general of the Sunan army right now. Gaara had left her in command because he knew she would not foolishly attack without cause. She had been confident and even a little cocky when he left, but she never expected that Gaara would not return. Temari did not anticipate facing off against many people she had grown to know and call her friends. This was going to destroy her. The blonde sighed, "It was wishful thinking on Shikamaru's and my part, we knew better deep down. We dared to hope anyway. It was foolish."
Baki cleared his voice which caused the two siblings to look over at him. "I do not want to speak beyond my station, but my impression has been the same as Kankuro's. There was too much arguing and heated debate over your marriage for it to have been part of some elaborate ruse. There were several council members in both Suna and Konoha that were very vocal against it, but they were outnumbered."
"The Naras are geniuses, I may have been a pawn from the very start," Temari said flatly trying to sound logical and emotionless.
Kankuro and Baki stood with their mouths agape, they wanted to argue but found it difficult to counter her point. The two nodded their heads apologetically to the blonde tactician, hoping that she was wrong.
"I hope you do not genuinely think that, musume," the shadows around them said as they began to gather into a mass. The mass bended and evolved into a cloaked man wearing a turban, just like the rest of the shinobi from Suna.
"What business do you have here?" the blonde kunoichi snapped obviously recognizing the voice.
"Tsunade sends me to be your hostage as a good will gesture until this situation is resolved," the shrouded man spoke softly as he bowed.
"Shikaku, I appreciate the gesture from your Hokage," Temari answered slowly looking at him warily. "Sending me her primary tactician and strategist does reinforce that she has no intention to start a war. You realize we will be taking you into custody and interrogating you," the wind mistress stated trying to appear impartial.
The hood on Shikaku's cloak drifted back enough that they could see his nose and mouth. "Yes," he answered simply.
"Kankuro, you take command while I take him to be restrained," the blonde barked as she walked over to the cloaked figure. She looked across the canyon to Tsunade who was watching and nodded in acceptance. The legendary sannin let out a breath she had apparently been holding and uncrossed her arms. "Baki, assemble the interrogation squad," the wind mistress told her childhood mentor.
"Is that truly necessary?" Baki whispered coming up shoulder to shoulder with the kunoichi.
"Yes," she simply answered striding away with Shikaku's arm in her right hand. The jonin captain of the Leaf followed the wind mistress obediently.
Temari made it a few steps before there was a loud popping sound of something large being summoned behind her. She spun quickly keeping a firm hold on Shikaku's arm, swinging him around her to face back from the direction they came. There appeared Jiraiya on the back of a large toad that was straddling the canyon from side to side.
"Hold it right there! Members of the Hidden Sand village, your Kazekage is perfectly fine!" the white haired sage yelled as he stood on one leg and gestured dramatically with both arms. "He gave this to me as proof for you," shouted the legendary sannin as he pulled a small pouch from inside his vest. He slipped open the bag and flung sand into the air. The sand formed a series of symbols that only Temari would recognize.
"That was the Kazekage-sama's sign to temporarily cease fire and simply hold our ground!" yelled Temari with ferocity in her voice. "No one is to initiate any kind of attack, am I clear?"
The Sunan army responded, "Yes, ma'am" in unison as Temari felt her knees slightly weaken.
Gaara was alive, so her body was flooded with many emotions all at once. Relief was the foremost, but a rapid release of pent up stress and anxiety left her feeling drained. Suna was not going to war against Konoha, her brother was not killed by people she considered her friends, but the seed of uncertainty and doubt had now been planted. Temari had been sure of her future before today, but that was now gone. The reality of the unpredictable nature of shinobi alliances had been shoved to the forefront of her mind.
Shikaku wrapped an arm around Temari's shoulders, which appeared to everyone else to be a gesture of happiness for the news of Gaara's safety. Temari knew it was actually to steady her so she didn't appear weak in front of her own troops since her legs felt like they were no longer going to support her own weight.
"Shikamaru is leading a team to make sure everything is resolved with the rogue shinobi one way or another," the elder Nara said quietly with his head bowed so no one would be able to see his lips move in the shadows. "He will personally see that Konoha is cleared in this matter."
Temari's emerald eyes looked up into the shadows of the cloak with confliction in them. The kunoichi unfortunately could not really turn off all of her emotions with the flip of a switch like it had appeared. She could deceive most people, but there was no fooling Shikaku. The fear and concern she had had for Gaara only moments before shifted to her fiancé.
"One thing at a time," he answered as if reading her mind. "Shikamaru will be fine. Suna and Konoha will still be allies. We will deal with everything else later, but this is not going to change our plans as far as adding you to our family. You won't get away from us that easily," the elder shadow user joked trying to lighten the mood.
Temari couldn't manage a smile, so she simply looked to the cloud filled sky as they waited.
This little short was inspired by a conversation with SasoDeiLover/Thinkette. It isn't as complete as I would like, but I really shouldn't start a third ongoing story. OK, back to working on Love at War and Shinobi and Sonnets. Thank you all for reading!