This was inspired by listening to a bit too much Three Days Grace over the Memorial weekend, not to mention, watching a lot of Evalegion (sp?) AMVs. And from watching a movie in U.S. History class.

Usual disclaimer upon not owning Naruto and what not.

Enjoy the angst.

"Men plan. God laughs." – Iron-Jawed Angels

----

"T-Temari-san."

Blood-shot teal eyes refused to release their visual hold on the five gray body bags in front of them. A hand was loosely covered over a prettily colored red mouth, enhanced from the blood flowing freely from under the teeth that had crushed open the fragile skin on the lips. It flowed down the chin and onto the ground, creating a gritty mixture of blood and sand.

"Kazekage-sama would like a word with you."

The darkened rims of her eyelids finally closed down upon the teal orbs, giving them a prolonged rest that they needed.

Her last words to her fallen comrades were whispered, like a prayer, before she got up and turned her back on what remained of them. Without a word to the uneasy messenger, her feet took up the usual path towards the towering Kazekage building in the middle of Suna.

----

She had just returned from a mission that had not gone as well as she had wanted. Not with the death of her own people. A lone mine had unexpectedly triggered several more of its buddies when the team was silently passing through a grassy field in Grass Country, exposing the entire team an unexpected mine field attack.

Only a fallen comrade had saved her in the mess, as she had accidentally tripped over a fallen corpse during the confusion. Instead of landing on the dangerously exposed soft earth, by instinct, she had twisted her body in mid-air and landed instead on a Suna corpse.

She was horrified and angered at the slaughter of her team. More and more countries were resulting in using machinery in military use, instead of the traditional nin, "hide-and-seek" method. They said it was the future of the entire nin world.

Bullshit.

Her voice wavered at first when she cried out to her team, wanting to know their status. The sound of silence and only the slight whistling of the wind through the tall accursed grass met her ears. Eyes had widened in horror, when the realization had dawned onto her that she was the sole survivor.

She was alone.

Her mind reeled with panic as she looked about her in exasperation. Not because of the feeling. This wasn't a foreign feeling. Of course, she knew what this had meant. Everyone else was dead. Gone onto the other world. Left for good. Except for the mortal remains of their time on earth.

But this wasn't supposed to happen.

She couldn't help but look down at the corpse that had accursedly saved her, when she would have been more than happy to die with her comrades. The red blood from the exit wound on the dead body slowly and steadily continued to allow excess amounts of blood to seep through. Strewn everywhere onto the ground, grotesque entanglements of inner organs completed the misshapen display of human life.

Unwanted tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood on her face and chest.

----

"What the hell do you want? I just got back."

The "ai" tattoo on the Kazekage's forehead rose further up as his brows raised in question at the hostility of his sister. Brushing his fingers over the laid out scroll in front of him, his gaze stopped at the words "unexpected" and "bloody". After a moment, he raised his eyes in the direction of Temari.

"This is protocol. While your memory is fresh, I need as much details I can get."

Teal eyes wearily met with the lighter colored green eyes of her brother, internally begging him not to commence the usual questioning.

Then again, no one could hear a silent plea.

"You wrote this report?"

Temari dropped her gaze and chose to stare at the scroll on the desk. "Yeah."

"Where?"

"In the hospital of Rice Country."

"Where you were recovering?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"What?" Temari's own brows rose in a confused expression.

"It says in the concluding remarks on the mission that you would like to request a mission to complete the previously failed one."

Silence.

"There's no why. It's the correct course of action. The target hasn't been destroyed yet, there's still time." The weariness on Temari's face turned instantly into a cold hard impassive face. "Assuming that you'll review it and approve."

"I'll take it into consideration and then reassign this for another team." Pale fingers rolled up the scroll and tied it up. He placed it amongst the other failed missions in the basket that was next to his desk. The numbers weren't many, but they weren't few either. "You're dismissed."

"I want the mission."

"No." He had expected this request as soon as he had heard the mission had failed and that the entire squad had wiped out. Once was enough. Seeing Temari in this rare deranged state after a mission had signified that the mission was impossible to complete with only Jounin-ranked nins. ANBUs were needed at the very least, and a different route.

Just not Temari again.

"Gaara. I want the mission." A step was taken towards the desk.

"Denied."

Both faces looked at each other impassively, silently, yet intently trying to dominate over one another.

A decade ago, Temari would have never even dared to look at her brother in this way. Nor would Gaara have even glanced her way, only if needed to make a threat. Both had come to an understanding that Temari was the older sibling and should be obeyed. However, Gaara was still the Kazekage.

"I need the mission, Gaara. I want to finish this."

"No. This will be assigned to another squad leader. At the moment, rest is what you need the most, Temari."

Blood-stained hands slammed down upon the desk, shaking the contents upon the surface.

"I don't need any rest! I want to kill the fucking bastards responsible for this! They killed them all!" Her screams were broken by ragged breathing and sporadic coughing.

Gaara stood up quickly to assist his sister, who had now fallen down onto the floor. Kneeling next to her body, he raised her head onto his knees, quickly taking an account of her stats in pulse as she writhed in his grip. "Temari. You need rest."

"Let me go, Gaara," she rasped out in a shaky whisper. "I'm fine." A soiled hand batted away the hand that was on her neck. After a moment's pause, Temari opened her cracked and broken lips.

"Gaara…they killed them all. Without even confronting them…those fucking cowards. They didn't know what was coming…the blood…there was so much…I never saw an entire team eliminated so quickly and I…I couldn't do anything…"

Black painted nails encrusted with dirt and grime gripped Gaara's white overcoat, as powerful sobs shook the kunoichi's body as she released herself onto her brother. Unsure of what to do, seeing his usually emotionally strong sister breaking down left him with no notion of a reasonable action. This was usually in Kankurou's field of expertise.

Tentatively at first, Gaara slowly placed a hand on Temari's exposed back and gently patted her. The sobs did not cease at the contact of his hand, but the volume of them lessened greatly to just the sounds of her ragged breathing against his chest.

He gently pried Temari's hands off of him and with the hand on her back, pushed her upright into a sitting position. Murmuring the names of the guards outside, he ordered them to take his sister to the hospital and to be placed in a room to recover.

With a slight glance at his sister's now slumbering form, he added that Sabaku no Temari was to be kept under tight surveillance. If there were any abnormalities or attempts to escape, they were to be reported to him, immediately.

After the guards had left, Gaara stood motionlessly in the middle of the room.

Revenge. Blood. Kill.

The words no longer excited him. Shukaku's absence, Naruto's enlightenment had taught him as much.

For his sister to use those words was disturbing. Yet, it was the perfect image of the human spirit being manipulated so easily by emotions, actions, and images. It wasn't fair that fate had control over their entire lives. When to die, when to live. Nor the events in their lives. When they'll fall, and when they'll rise.

There was no warning.

There was no signs.

And the Gods keep on laughing.

----

Yes, I know it's angsty and crap, but hey, shit really does happen in nin lives.