Dilly-Dally Days

As always, it was a hot, slow day in Suna. Gaara and his team of ANBU were just returning from an urgent meeting in Konoha. The redhead was, at least internally, glad to be back to his familiar office and the equally familiar dry heat of his homeland. The masked group behind him all disappeared, leaving the Kazekage to run on his own as he approached the familiar tower of power.

Everything was so familiar.

Everything was so boring.

He pushed open the doors to his office and crossed the room toward his desk. The doors behind him slowly started to close, but it was a thud against their shared front that made the redhead peer calmly over his shoulder. It was his brother and sister, standing side by side and holding open the doors. Behind them were two ANBU poised and ready to do…well, they weren't quite sure yet, but they were ready. Gaara let out a slight groan as he turned around, his eyes closed now.

What could they possibly want? Were they going to ask about the meeting? It was very simple: Tsunade called him in to make sure that their written and verbal contracts were still as tight as ever. It was a trip that almost seemed unnecessary, but from the almost panicked state that the blonde had ran things earlier that day, Gaara didn't dare to demean her, even in his thoughts.

He noticed that, even as he thought about what he would say in his mind, his siblings hadn't moved. Now he was slightly irritated, but he didn't let it show on his face. He did, however, tap one finger on his left forearm and let out a very ragged "Well?".

"Oh!" Kankuro said, perking up as though he had fallen into a trance. He looked over to Temari, who took a few steps forward.

"Gaara. We've been noticing your behavior lately."

It would have been at this moment that Gaara would have raised an eyebrow at her. "You have?" he asked slowly, almost suspiciously.

The ANBU, who almost relaxed and left them to talk, noticed this tone and stood up straight, immediately. Now they were alert and knew that they were there to simply pull the siblings out of the room if their Kage's tone or demeanor slopped downward further.

"We haven't been watching you or anything. Don't worry," Kankuro's nonchalant tone rang out.

Gaara chanced a glance over to his older brother only to see that he had rested against the door to Gaara's left. After noting that for only a second, Gaara looked back to the blonde before him.

"Of course we haven't," she added to Kankuro's statement as the redhead looked towards Kankuro, "but from what we have noticed, you've been acting differently."

"How so?" Gaara asked, unfurling his arms and walking around his desk to go sit behind it.

"We've noticed that you've been…tired." She chose the word carefully even though it was the only one that fit.

Gaara paused. He stood to the left of his desk with his back facing the others. His right hand was grazing the smooth edge of his desk. Just as it, it remained frozen, fingertips barely touching the wooden surface. Temari continued on after a few seconds of seeing him so suddenly still. What was it that she had said? Moving past this thought, she pressed on.

"We're not saying that you're doing bad at your job or that you're doing too much, but you're not giving yourself a break. You don't have to worry about staying up all the time, doing all of this work…"

"If I don't do it, who will?" Gaara asked, still in his same statuesque position.

"…you do have people here who know how to do even the basic of tasks. It's not up to you to do every single minute thing though," Temari continued, seemingly ignoring his question.

"Temari," the ragged voice said firmly, but the redhead's body relaxed now.

However, it was Temari who tensed up only slightly, but defiantly. Her voice was still wary as she responded with "Yes?"

"If I do not do these things, then tell me…" He slowly walked and sat down in his chair. His eyes were closed as he spoke. When he leaned his head against the back of the chair, he opened his eyes. The fatigue was more evident now "…who will?"

"A-ah." Temari stepped back.

His sudden persona changed right before her. It was like watching him deflate. He wasn't usually so open with his well-being, especially non-verbally, so to see him like this was shocking. Kankuro pushed away from the door and walked to stand beside her. The ANBU had taken their leave at the sight of their Kage's current state.

"Right now, don't worry about those things. Only for now. Temari and I are here for a reason. Regardless of us being your brother and sister, you didn't have to give us these positions."

Gaara gave him something of an ironic look.

"You didn't have to give us anything, and you know that better than I can tell you," Kankuro said more firmly, challenging that look.

After a moment of pondering this, Gaara's face relaxed again. Once again, he seemed weary, but thankfully, his siblings knew that this was wear and tear from work and not from life as it previously was. Kankuro continued.

"Now, it is because we have these positions that we know who is useful and who is not useful when talking about the people who work for and under you." Kankuro gave something of a smirk. "You'd be surprised at how many useful people you have wanting to do more than what they have to do now. The faith that you put in the current hard workers you have don't seem to be enough to keep them going. They're not asking for more money, but they're asking for less tasks accompanying you."

Gaara's urge to give Kankuro another look was growing.

"It's not the ANBU. Don't worry," he said again to the redhead. "They know what their purpose is. I mean the lesser people. The other shinobi who do delivery, who carry your scrolls, things like that." At this point, Kankuro began walking closer toward Gaara's desk. "Now I'll admit, you have some handy workers, but…" He placed his right hand on top of the desk, a few scattered papers and some writing utensils. He placed the back of his left hand on his curved hip while leaning forward. "…you've got to admit that they won't be so handy if they end up as work ragged as you."

Gaara stared at him before looking towards the ceiling. At first, he began to think about the workers that he had employed in the Tower, then he thought about everything that had happened today before narrowing it down to what had just occurred here in his office. He was thinking for a while. He knew because he felt as though he were transcending into an out-of-body state and that he was separating from his conscious body like someone pulling a cotton ball apart between their hands. Somewhere in the midst of thinking and being pulled apart by astral hands, he had closed his eyes. Watching him, Kankuro and Temari had thought he had fallen asleep, which caused them to talk amongst each other and in hushed yet astonished tones.

"What do you propose that I do?" Gaara's gravelly voice came out.

His siblings both looked toward him at the same time, seeing that he was still with his eyes closed and arms resting on the arms of the chair. They waited for a moment before Gaara's eyes opened slowly.

"Well, we propose that you take a break," Temari said with a smirk, mirrored only by Kankuro's.

For the second time today, Gaara felt the deep urge to raise an eyebrow he did not have.

"A break?"

"Come on. Get up," Kankuro said energetically as he and Temari both circled the desk from opposite sides. Gaara moved his eyes to look at both of them in turn before looking straight ahead again. "We'll show you."

They both came to his sides and pulled him up by his arms. The redhead couldn't stop himself from sighing as he was pulled up by his traitorous kin. He knew that he wouldn't enjoy this, but he had no other obligations for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't even mid-afternoon yet. It was still quite early in the day.

For him, this meant that this make his day or break his spirit. Either way, he had no choice but to go where his keepers were taking him.