Hello everyone! Turns out that I wasn't as free as I thought I'd be, because guess whose English teacher happened to pick me for practicing my Senior Project tomorrow? Me. And guess what else? I haven't really worked on it because of AP Tests, so that means I'm working my butt off to be prepared.
However, I think I've deserved a convenient distraction, so I decided to do a short little oneshot in honor of Mother's Day. This is to all you mothers out there! (and mine, if she knew about this)
Temari carefully knelt in the harsh, desert sand and stared at her mother's gravestone. Even the dead aren't able to escape the sand, she thought wryly to herself. She brushed aside some dust that had settled on the grave and traced her mother's name fondly.
She had the greater memory of her mother than any of her brothers, since she was with her for three years before Gaara was born. All Temari could remember about her was that she was very beautiful and had this air about in her everything she did. In one way, the kunoichi was jealous of the way her mother was able to be a "true" girl so freely, something the blonde had never mastered. Not that she really wanted those skills anyway. Who wanted to be frail and weak, having nothing to do but pamper yourself and try to impress the boys? She shuddered as she thought of those two kunoichi from Konoha, Ino and Sakura. She would commit seppuku if she ever turned out like that.
At least Konoha women weren't entirely useless; that Tenten girl was pretty good. Not as good as her though, and she was in a bad mood and wanted to scare those Konoha wimps out of their skins so she had defeated the girl quickly. Now that the relationships between the two villages were smoothed out and she was now the ambassador between them, maybe she could hang out with her sometime. Tenten was a good friend candidate.
Anyway, the point was that she loved her mother very much. After her death, Temari could do nothing but cry and wail in her bedroom with a picture of her and her mother dancing. Temari was in her mothers arms and they had been twirling around in the living room to no music at all, when her uncle Yashamaru laughed and told them to hold still while he took their picture. It was a very fond memory.
At first, she didn't know what to think of her youngest brother. She knew that mothers could die when giving birth, but the way Yashamaru, her father, and the rest of the village acted, it was obvious it was no ordinary death. However, she vowed to love the baby in honor of her mother, despite her father and Yashamaru's warnings.
Temari had spent a couple months by Gaara's bedside, staring at his beautiful eyes and whispering to him, telling him how much she loved him and how beautiful he was. She would tell him everything she could about their mother, using it as a way to deal with the grief herself and try to let the baby know what the mother he would never meet was like.
She wanted to rock him to sleep so badly, but Yashamaru had sternly ordered her not to do so, and her father had slapped her on one occasion when he caught her singing a lullaby during the day. Gaara was just a few weeks old and Temari was confused as to why their youngest brother never seemed to sleep, so she decided that she would try and help him. It was one of the rare occasions that their father was home, and he was absolutely livid when he saw her with Gaara on the rocking chair. He slapped Temari so hard she almost fell out of the chair and he snatched Gaara out of her arms somewhat gently and thrust him in Yashamaru's arms, firmly reprimanding their uncle for allowing something like that to happen.
Then their father left without a word, and it was then that Temari and Kankurou began to hate their father. Sweet, little, almost two year old Kankurou hugged his sister tightly while she sobbed and Yashamaru soothingly dried her tears and held up a wet towel to the welt that wouldn't disappear for the next two days. A wailing and forgotten Gaara was placed in a far room so they wouldn't hear him.
Even though she knew something very bad would happen to Gaara if he was allowed to sleep, it was then that Temari decided to visit him at night and just be with him, since Yashamaru never really let them be together during the day after that. She also used those visits as a way to silently spite her father, in anger at how he had treated her. Once Kankurou was old enough to keep secrets, she would bring him along and they would both be with their brother, taking turns to hold him and play silently.
When Gaara got old enough to talk and walk, they ceased their nightly visits, and would just play with him whenever they could, until That Night. Although she didn't entirely feel this way, the death of Yashamaru followed so closely behind their mother's death was just too much for the young girl to handle so she sided with her father and brother with their hatred of the youngest boy. To fuel her anger she began to blame Gaara for their mother's death, and it was with that loathing and terror at what he was capable of that kept them apart for the next six years.
Now she no longer blamed her brother for their mother's death, and was astonished at the realization of how her mother had held so much contempt for their village when she died, but in hindsight, she was dying for the sake of the village to subject her child to a lifetime of hatred, so Temari figured it was justified.
Bringing herself to the present, Temari carefully laid the arrangement of red carnations she had picked out for her mother. Red was her favorite color, a deep red. Temari had never told Gaara this, but Yashamaru had confided in her right after their mother's death and Gaara's birth that after their mother had declared her undying hatred for the village, she had smiled at Gaara and said, "What beautiful hair. My baby has such beautiful hair," as her last dying breath.
A single tear ran down her cheek and Temari wiped it aside angrily. Tears meant you were weak. Tears were a foolish weakness attributed to women. She had done very well for the past couple of years, hardening her expression and becoming an excellent kunoichi. Yet sadly, there were just some things she couldn't prevent.
Whoever made women have more sensitive tear ducts needs to die, she vowed. Finally in control, Temari slightly adjusted where the carnations were laid and offered a silent prayer to her mother before standing up. She dusted off the bottom of her kimono (somewhat traditional and red) and walked back to the Kazekage mansion.
She had no idea what Kankurou or Gaara were doing right now. Usually Kankurou would visit their mother's grave as well, but it was always at a different time than her. Gaara . . . well, she didn't know what he did, even though he was changed now with the removal of that monster Shukaku. From what he had shared with her, Shukaku had warped his mind and made him believe that it was his mother. Her brother most likely drowning himself in paperwork to forget the accursed holiday in his mind.
However, as she opened the door, she was met with an unexpected surprise.
"Happy Mother's Day, Temari!" her two brothers exclaimed enthusiastically. Well, one was enthusiastic, the other was mellow with a slight smile on his face.
"Bu—wha . . . what are you guys talking about?" Temari was incredibly confused as her eyes were practically assaulted with a rainbow of carnations that were (surprisingly) nicely arranged throughout the living room and kitchen. Her two brothers stood next to each other, dressed in simple black tunics, and Kankurou wasn't wearing his purple "war paint."
"What did you do to the house?"
Kankurou looked slightly hurt. "We decorated it for you! We even cleaned up the mess while you were gone."
"But . . . this is Mother's Day. Why are you doing this?" Temari was still unsure of what her brothers were trying to do.
"It's because you are our mother," Gaara interjected, slightly apprehensive. "You . . . you were the one who took care of us, fed us, and protected us, just like a real mother."
"And disciplined us like any mother," Kankurou muttered under his breath.
Temari was absolutely amazed, to say the least. Sure, she had taken care of her brothers like they said, but she never thought she made that much of a difference. They always had Yashamaru to take care of them, and then once he died, Baki was appointed to take care of them, even though by that age they were all pretty capable to watch themselves. Did they really feel that way about her?
"And that's not all," Kankurou said proudly, straightening up while Gaara did the same (slightly). "Wait right there."
And so, Temari waited by the door, gazing at all the beautiful carnations and touched by how much work it probably took for them to put them up. And they also cleaned the house, better than she could have thought possible. Kankurou almost never did any housework, and Gaara would pull rank on her by saying he had important Kazekage business to attend to, but he helped sometimes, more than Kankurou did. For a moment she wondered if they hired a cleaning maid, but upon closer inspection discovered a piece of purple cloth from Kankurou puppets and a few grains of Gaara's sand.
"Surprise!" Temari glanced up sharply, and her mouth fell open. Gaara and Kankurou were displaying a decent-sized cake that had a drawing made out of icing that was, undoubtedly, supposed to be her. The cake-her was a face shot and had four, scraggly yellow pigtails, the tips of a purple dress, brown eyes, and an almost childishly drawn face. Sticking in the top right hand corner was also a fan that was opened as widely as it could be while still being attached to the cake. Underneath the picture were the words, "Our Mother."
Unwelcome tears stung at her eyes and Temari croaked, "Looks like your drawing ability hasn't improved much since the academy." Gaara appeared slightly alarmed at her tears while Kankurou grinned warmly.
"Hey, this is the one time of the year you're allowed to cry," he teased as he slung a brotherly arm around her after he and Gaara set the cake down. Temari made a noise that was a cross between a sob and a smirk then lightly punched him.
"We also have a present for you," Gaara said quietly, holding out a package.
"Yeah, and a tissue box," Kankurou chuckled as he tossed one at her. Temari glared at him but took one out anyway and dabbed at her eyes.
She carefully opened the box and pulled out a beautifully decorated ball. It appeared to be made of sand and silk, with intricate patterns and vibrant colors. As she turned it over in her hands, she realized that all the purple patterns were a combination of Kankurou's past face designs, and that there was an assortment of small, red kanji's for Love.
"You guys made this?" she asked incredulously.
They both nodded, pleased with her reaction. "I made the base with hardened sand," Gaara began.
"And then I did all the designs—" Kankurou added, pointing to himself.
"Then I added the kanji," Gaara finished, also slightly proud of his work.
Temari took an extra minute to inspect the present, then set it down gingerly and enveloped both of her brothers in the biggest hug she had ever given.
"Thank you so much," she sobbed, unable to stop herself any longer. They both patted her on the back, Gaara somewhat awkwardly.
"We really do mean it," Kankurou said firmly, looking her in the eyes when she pulled away.
"We don't know where we'd be without you," Gaara assured her, flashing her a rare, genuine smile.
"And I don't know where I'd be without you two," she said truthfully.
They stood there for a few more seconds, until Kankurou coughed uncomfortably. "Well, I think it's time to eat that cake. I'm starving! What took you so long anyway?"
That night, Temari took a long time trying to find the best place to display her mother's day present, then finally settled on the nightstand next to her bed. She placed the ball inbetween a large vase filled with at least one carnation of every color her brothers had found for her, and the framed picture of her and her mother, dancing together all those years ago.
Okay, this took a lot more work than I originally thought! At first I tried to research how they celebrated Mother's Day in Japan, and all I was really able to get was that it was very important, carnations are the most popular flowers sold, and children make pictures entitled, "My Mother" and then enter them into contests. I tried to incorporate the last part by having Kankurou and Gaara create that cake.
Other than that, I didn't know what else to do. I apologize if I somehow offended anyone by portraying an inadequate Japanese Mother's Day! How did I do with Temari? I'll admit that I don't usually write her, but she's a great character and I wanted to try my hand at her.
Also, the present they gave Temari is an actual temari, which is a type of ball that Japanese mothers made for their children to play with. The closest thing that resembles it today is a rubber band ball that is carefully crafted with pieces of a kimono or silk. It is said that they represent deep friendship, loyalty, good luck, and bestow happiness.