It's the final meeting between the village hidden in the Sand and the village hidden in Sound before the plan shall commence. It takes place in Suna, and the foreign ninja are not staying long. Just one night, anything more could attract attention. Temari is not particularly concerned about all this diplomacy. She's just the Kazekage's daughter after all and she's just meant to sit there and be pleasant and, because she's a ninja, slightly intimidating.
She is more concerned about Gaara, because he's her duty this morning, but her youngest brother seems unusually polite. It seems that not even the presence of these strong ninja is enough to stir Shukaku for the time being, and she is grateful. It gives her time to watch her surroundings as well. To watch the visiting ninja.
The one in the pale, long sleeved shirt attracts her attention regularly. It's not that she caught him coughing up blood at one point, but the way he carries himself, as if even though he is be sick he is still stronger than anyone he might be expected to face. Temari likes that, because she can see that there is truth mingled with his pride.
At dinner she is seated between her brothers, and her father has made a request (given her a polite order that is) for them to be nice and make small talk with the guests. She smiles at her luck, finding her seated opposite Kimimaro, who sits between an irritated redhead and a dark-haired beauty who seem to possess little brains, but enough grace to be able to speak to Gaara without angering him. In the middle of the meal Temari slips out of her shoes and decides to challenge her visitor.
His posture stiffens slightly as her foot brushes by his leg. A quick glance to his left and Temari watches him rule out Tayuya, busy in conversation with Kankuro, and the pale green eyes turn to her. She smiles innocently and repeats it. It's a game she's played with Kankuro a lot, not like this but different. If I do this, will you stop me? I can take this further than you.
They never play it with Gaara, because he takes everything too far.
A small smile creeps onto his pale lips and Kimimaro makes a kind comment about the food. Temari wonders briefly if she's gone too far, but soon an unshod foot brushes by her own and Kankuro watches her through his eyelashes.
After the meal they leave together, it's Kankuro's turn to watch Gaara, and in the small indoor garden they take the game further. Strength is intoxicating, and she can practically smell his, and she wants it for her own.
---
While Temari is used to full force and the big picture, Kankuro has always been one for delicacy and the finer details. He knows how important this meeting of the villages is, he knows how important they, as children of the Kazekage, are in this meeting. It is not just being pleasant, it is about making sacrifices. Such as not reacting aggressively when being called a shithead by Tayuya during dinner. Such as swallowing his pride and merely shrug it off. Such as finding something in the girl that reminds him of someone he cares about, so he won't lash out (the shape of her eyes and the long, dark eyelashes reminds him of Temari, he decides).
Kankuro notices what his sister is doing, notices the reaction from Tayuya while Temari only has eyes for Kimimaro, and he just about restrains himself from kicking her under the table. What is pleasing one guest is angering another, and Temari is all about the present and nothing about the consequences.
Gaara has been well-behaved, looking like the most polite, well-behaved twelve year old boy in all of Suna throughout the meal, though Kankuro is aware of how the insipid conversation must be grating on the thin nerves. But Gaara makes a good impression and the demon within never once seems to bother with what is going on. Perhaps that is why those yellow catlike eyes kept returning to him throughout dinner, Kankuro reasons. The village hidden in Sound is practically made up by children alone, and those hungry eyes.
After dinner Tayuya swears to him, at him, and just in general as Kimimaro and Temari go and find a quiet spot together. Her language seems to affect Gaara worse than Kin's dull conversation and so Kankuro makes polite excuses, which are unnecessary because Tayuya doesn't care about diplomacy at all, and ushers Gaara with him for a little privacy at the edge of town. There they watch the dunes in silence for a while, an hour and a half maybe, and Gaara says nothing, and so Kankuro says nothing either.
Their peaceful silence is ended as the sound of the crunching of sand underneath shoes comes closer and closer to them. Somehow Kankuro knows before he turns around that it will be Orochimaru, and he knows what requests he will make, and that it's Kankuro's responsibility to make sure Gaara doesn't fly into a murderous rage and kill their ally village's very leader.
"It is a beautiful city," he says at first, neutral but with hungry eyes roaming over his little brother's pale skin.
"Gaara," Kankuro says calmly with as much kindness and gentleness as possible. "Could you go and tell Baki that I'll take his shift instead?"
His brother remains oblivious to what is going on, doesn't seem to even take in the way that the Sound ninja is watching him. The two watch as the boy walks away calmly, the great gourd seeming almost as large as the small boy. When he is out of sight the older ninja looks at Kankuro, amused, but Kankuro wonders if it isn't critically as well. He isn't as pretty as his brother.
He isn't sure what to say, never having been put in a situation like this in the past, and not being trained in the art of seduction like the kunoichi. He musters up a smile and says the only thing that he can think of.
"Please come with me, Orochimaru-sama."
The other ninja seems to sense his unease, his unwillingness, and his need to perform his duty, and he chuckles. There's something sinister in that very sound, but Kankuro refuses to react and merely leads the way until they have walked all the way to his room in silence. Orochimaru doesn't seem displeased, just amused, as Kankuro opens the door and lets the older man inside. It's clear that the sound ninja doesn't expect an attempt on his life, for he merely watches as Kankuro takes off his hat and reluctantly removes the paint from his face.
He feels naked already.
---
Gaara interrupts them, and the two reluctantly move apart. Kimimaro excuses himself and, as if sensing the possible danger that is Gaara, retreats from the garden. Inside Temari fumes, but she bites her tongue and counters Gaara's question of Baki's whereabouts with one about Kankuro's.
Her brother doesn't know, nor does he seem interested.
She goes with him, feeling like a mother way before her time, noticing that Tayuya is nowhere in sight either. It's getting dark already, and she knows it will get cold quick. That's the way it works in the desert, and so when she finally finds Baki and hands Gaara over to him she heads back to the garden, feeling slightly uneasy.
Diplomacy or no, the whole city is at an edge once the sun sets and the darkness offers its shelter to unseen killers. But Orochimaru has not brought an army with him, only a select few individuals, not enough to pose a true threat to the village. Except, she knows, they are some of his very best. The way Kimimaro moves, smells, tastes, touches, it tells her that he's a killer, and like her he values strength. He wouldn't let that Tayuya act like she does if she wasn't strong.
After a quick search Temari concludes that she can't find Kimimaro anywhere, and she reluctantly admits defeat. Orochimaru would have sent for him, she knows, and decides to call it a night, not wishing to spend more time in the company of Zaku and Kin and their like.
Temari slips into her room and before she has even locked her door and secured the alarms she knows where Tayuya is. The walls in Suna aren't thin, but they aren't thick enough to completely dull muffled cries, and for the first time Temari regrets having her brother's room right next to her own. The rhythmic thumping annoys her, because she's alone herself, and out there Kimimaro is all strength and he's not sharing it with her. But it lulls her to sleep quickly, because she really is tired from all the niceties.
In the morning the Sound ninja leave and nothing is said of what could have been. All Temari knows is that Kankuro is positively miserable for weeks afterwards, though he won't say a word about it, not even to her. So she swears that if she ever gets a chance she'll make that bitch pay. Anyone who leaves her brother miserable was going to face her.
---
After the attack they learn of their father's death. They get to see his body, and Temari knows that what attracted her so is what killed her father. She swears never to let her feelings get in the way of a mission again, but she takes an immense pleasure in quickly and smoothly killing Tayuya, all the same. One good blow and she's dead, and she feels that she's done her duty as a sister.
Kankuro says nothing when Temari tells her who she fought, and he lets her believe what she wants to believe. It's for the best, anyway, the most diplomatic solution.