Fight for Family
By: Missysillivan
Summary: Because the last time she told someone to "shut the f-up", it ended with the man winding up in the hospital and she on probation for a month. Sand Sib fic.
Rated: T for language
A/N: So in my attempt to get back into the Naruto-relm, I decided to go back and look at some of the old stuff I wrote and post what I thought was okay enough for someone other than myself to read, haha. This was written about a year ago and I just never got around to uploading it. Don't be shocked if its OOC. Also, I have no idea if other countries have ANBU, or if they do, what they call them, so for the sake of my sanity, they will just be called ANBU in this story. Let me know what you think! (And ignore any mistakes.)
Even though so much had changed over the years – two years to be exact – she still heard the murmurs coming from the citizens – they were always acting as if they knew everything. They really didn't. They knew nothing for that matter. Was it just the way of human – to gossip, put people down, hurt others? So when she heard the particularly bad, she turned on her heel and high tailed it out of the area – because the last time she told someone to "shut the fuck up", it ended with the man winding up in the hospital and she on probation for a month.
But today was a bad day.
She had just returned from a botched mission that left two of her team mates in critical condition and another unable to ever walk again – she was lucky, only a broken wrist and three cracked ribs. She would later be told it had something to do with survivor's guilt that put her in such a bad mood. She just called it a bunch of psychological crap.
She had gotten into a fight with her younger brother, Kankuro, – again – and it ended with her storming out of the house in a fit of rage while he threatened to burn everything she ever loved – funny enough, when she mentioned if he was willing to burn Gaara, he'd said yes, which the younger man then reacted to by keeping his sand shield up for the rest of the day.
Her fan was getting repaired and she was banned from training until her ribs healed.
Oh, and when she actually arrived home from this botched mission that had set off the chain of events, she found her beloved cat – though really it was her neighbor's, she's just taken care of it since she and her brothers moved into the mediocre apartment – dead. Died of old age – but really though, it was like twenty human years.
So, when she was walking through the main town market, cooling down from her fight and the death of her – neighbor's – cat, it wasn't a surprise when she snapped at the sound of someone talking bad about her brother – again.
"What did you say?" She hissed.
"Oh! Temari-san! I didn't see you there." The woman laughed, waving off the elder sister's murderous aura resonating from her person.
"I asked you a question." She stomped her foot, effectively getting the woman's attention.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about." The woman laughed and began to walk away.
Temari counted to ten in her head – a technique that had helped her control her anger towards her brothers in the past – and before she even made it to three, she let out a snarl. "Screw it."
The woman didn't have time to react before her back was slammed into the side of a building and Temari had her around the shirt collar, pressing her up so her feet barely touched the ground. Almost instantly, a woman and man – both civilian – who had been shopping with the woman pressed to the wall, grabbed a wrist each and tried to pry the kunoichi off of the older woman. Little it did them; they were going against a shinobi.
"Who the fuck do you think you are? You don't know my brother! You don't know what my family has gone through! What the fuck do you know about what goes on in our lives?" Guilt pounded into her, almost taking her breath away. She remembered how horrible of a sister she had been in the past – especially to her baby brother – and, maybe in her own mind, taking out her anger on the woman for talking such filth about her family was her own mental way of repenting for the grief that she had caused in her mind.
The woman couldn't respond, she was horror struck. The man to Temari's right gripped her wrist even harder. "Let her go! She can't breathe!"
"What would you say if I started talking shit about your family to everyone? You do realize you're bad mouthing your Kazekage, right? Fucking bitch! Learn some manners!" Temari screamed, finally releasing the woman. "Maybe next time you should get the facts straight before you open that mouth of yours."
And she stormed off.
She wandered around the village for almost an hour before she felt that she was calm enough to return home. When she arrived, however, there was already three ANBU waiting at the house with a worried looking Kankuro. She wasn't surprised; in fact, the only thing that surprised her was that the ANBU hadn't tracked her down while she was wandering around. She had known that the woman would report the assault. The civilians may be frightened by Gaara and his family, but they definitely knew how to tattle on them to the officials.
"Temari…" Kankuro looked anxious as she approached the porch that led to the apartment door.
"Sabaku no Temari. Come with us." One of the ANBU commanded.
She didn't respond, just turned on her heel and followed the three men to the Kage mansion. The ANBU left the moment the door opened and she stepped inside the office that held her baby brother. For a long time she just stood in the middle of the room, watching the floor with fascination while Gaara stared out the large window and out into the horizon. She flinched when he finally spoke. His voice tired and upset.
"Why this time, Temari? What made you snap this time?"
She didn't reply and he turned to look at her. She didn't meet his sea foam gaze, just watched the floor, almost wishing that she had just let the comments slide and headed on home like she had been doing. She didn't even react when she felt Gaara's hard stare burning into the top of her head.
"Well?"
"Just tell me what my punishment is this time and we can both move on." She spoke softly, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
"Not until you tell me why."
Temari's shoulders dropped and it seemed like all tension left her body, leaving her looking tired and worn. "Can I just go home and sleep? I've had a bad day. We can discuss this in the morning." She unconsciously placed a tentative hand over her chest as a particularly deep breath sent a shock of pain through her.
Gaara remained silent, taking a seat behind his desk, and watched her. "What did the woman say to make you shove her up against a wall?"
The eldest sibling didn't make a move to respond. After a moment, she took a seat as well and finally looked up to meet her brother's gaze. "She said that a village being run by a monster was only destined to fall. She said that our entire family was a disgrace to the village because of what happened two years ago at the Chunin Exams in Konoha. That the entire attack failed because of us…" She drifted off, eyes flickering back to the floor and away from her brother's face. "Just a bunch of lies that I should have ignored. Now, what is my punishment this time?"
Gaara watched as his sister gripped the arm of the chair she was seated in and let out a shaky breath. "Two week suspension, until your ribs are healed. Another two weeks of C rank missions. That's all."
Temari nodded and left without another word. When she arrived home, she went straight to the kitchen, cooking the night's supper without a word. Kankuro watched her warily, unsure if he should say something or not, before finally giving up and settling down on the couch with his many tools and puppet parts. Gaara arrived not much later, just as the food was being served, and settled himself at the table as Temari set out the food. They ate in silence, and after wards, went back to their tasks – Kankuro fixing his puppets, Gaara finishing his paperwork, and Temari cleaning up the mess left in the kitchen before heading to bed.
Tomorrow would be a new day.
Maybe she could find a way to repent for herself then. Until that time, however, she would just care and fight for her family.