Sometimes. NO INCEST!!! Sickos.
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Sometimes, Kankuro was Gaara's older brother. Sometimes. He would hug him and calm him when he made a mistake. A fatal mistake. For someone else.
"Ne… Gaara." An eleven year old Kankuro sat up in bed.
"I… I didn't meant to!" Wept the boy who stood in his doorway.
"Shh… it's alright, mate. It's okay. Promise."
"I didn-"He covered the boy's quivering lips.
"Shh… I know you didn't mean to…"
The sobbing boy clutched his nightshirt, tears streaming down his pale, broken face as he let his Onii-chan hold him tight.
"Shh…" Kankuro whispered, rubbing his back soothingly.
Othertimes, Kankuro was just another worthless human to Gaara. Othertimes.
"I've never thought of you as my siblings…"
Sometimes, these words would hurt Kankuro. Othertimes, Kankuro would shake them off.
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Sometimes, Gaara would love Kankuro. He would look after him like a brother, and in return received brotherly affection. Kankuro was Gaara's rock, when he broke.
14 year old Kankuro huddled down in his blankets, cringing with each whimper from his smaller brother in the bed next to him. He was on sentry duty, watching over his younger brother on one of his nighttime visits to his bed. Contrary to popular belief, Gaara did sleep. Once a month. Only in the presence of Kankuro. Each of these nights, Kankuro would lie awake, tortured by the sounds of his Otouto's nightmares.
Nightmares that he couldn't protect him from.
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Sometimes, Kankuro would see fear in his brother's eyes. Gaara was afraid of him. He was scared of the powers that Kankuro had… the power of love. He was afraid that he, who Gaara secretly considered a precious person, would turn on him and betray him as Kankuro had learnt Yashamaru had done.
But Kankuro never would.
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Sometimes, Gaara would listen to Kankuro's consoling, his lectures, his thoughts, his attitude, his feelings. Sometimes, Gaara would even volunteer his own thoughts, or feelings. Their conversations were one sided.
But Kankuro loved them.
Kankuro would console his brother, especially at full moon, when Shukaku was restless. He would hold his brother, until he inexplicably and unexplainably went to sleep. Infallibly, every month, in Kankuro's arms, and ONLY Kankuro's' arms, he would go to sleep.
The only time he was ever able to.
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Sometimes, Kankuro could see that Gaara hated him. He hated him sometimes because of the freedom he experienced that his younger brother could not, free of the glares and the hates and the conspiracy. For the way that Kankuro could act however he wanted and no one treated him any different. He was jealous, envious. He would hate him for all the things that he has that Gaara never will. He wants what Kankuro has, and is. He wants to be free. He is just a little child, caught up in the task of an adult.
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Sometimes, Temari would suspect that her brothers were closer than she knew. They were unable to love each other openly. They were trapped by the 'expectations' of Kage children, to be solitary, independent, uncaring. Such affections of siblings were taboo. They were brothers. They were secret.
They were the secret brothers.