EDIT: The first chapter has be edited and resubmitted all pretty and easier to read now, thanks to Tsuki Yuuki and sasukesfang, my wonderful betas. Thank you guys, so much for helping me! 3
Since I've become like, obsessed with Naruto, especially the Sand Siblings, I decided to write my own oneshot. (which has now turned into a two-shot, due to popular demand, xD)
I've always hated how Yashamaru betrayed Gaara like that. And I figured that even though Temari and Kankuro acted like they despised Gaara, Temari is smart enough to know why her brother came out so emotionally screwed. It was never Gaara's fault.
Plot: Temari tells her Uncle how much she blames him. She blames him for turning Gaara into what he is. She blames him for being bitter about his sister's death. She blames him for trying to kill her baby brother. It's his entire fault, and she lets him know.
Disclaimer: Dude. You kidding? If I owned it, all of those boys (and some of those girls) would be chained to the end of my bed. Only thing I got at the end of my bed right now is my kitty.
The sand blew across the land as dusk approached. The village's graveyard was more sand than grass, and dead grass at that. Crumbling tombstones were sprinkled throughout the designated area at the edge of Sunagakure. It was a cool evening, and the only sound in the graveyard was the soft howl of the wind racing by.
Temari rarely visited her mother's grave. She had never bothered to attend her father's funeral, and as for her uncle….
That's where she had ended up. Hugging herself, she had stood in front of a slab of stone, worn from the sand brushing against it for the past several years. Temari's eyes were narrowed, her jaw set hard. The stone only had his first name, Yashamaru, his birth and death dates. Since he had failed to carry out the Fourth Kazekage's orders, her angry father had barely cared enough to give Yashamaru a decent burial. There hadn't been a funeral, or even a memorial. They had just buried him and left.
"Even that was too much," Temari said coldly to the stone. "He should have just tossed your body into the desert for the jackals." She knew that she was being disrespectful, venomously wishing her uncle a different burial. She supposed that she was grateful and pleased that he hadn't even been buried next to the beloved sister that he had willingly killed and died for. Served him right.
"This is all your fault you know," Temari spat bitterly. She swallowed, glaring at the tombstone. She could feel hot anger rising inside of her, and the hatred that Gaara must feel all the time.
"It's your fault Gaara is like this. You tricked him…you led him to believe he was a monster. Even more than Father or the rest of the village." At her sides, Temari's hands curled into tight fists.
"You let him believe you loved him. And you never did. It was bad enough the rest of his family shunned him…you….because of Mother…" Temari's voice quivered slightly, and her eyes were squinting, as if holding back tears.
"You blamed a guiltless baby for Mother's death. It was never Gaara's fault; it was because of you that we blamed him. It was Father who killed Mother in the end. He placed that monster in Gaara. Mother blamed Father, so why did you blame Gaara?" Her voice was rising in anger, spitting harsh, venomous words at her deceased uncle.
"He never asked for any of this. All he wanted was to be normal, for people to love him. He thought you loved him…and you didn't. You broke his heart when you were his only hope." Her fists started to shake at her sides as she started to noticeably tremble.
"You lied to him." Temari's voice cracked. "You lied to him about loving him. You lied to him about Mother. She cursed the village…she cursed Father…but she never resented Gaara. She loved him; even though she died, she loved her unborn son." Temari broke into a dry sob, and her legs slowly crumbled under her. She collapsed in front of the tombstone, shoulders sagging, looking defeated.
"It's your fault me and Kankuro were scared of him, that we shunned him. You and Father told us to hate him. I just wanted a baby brother…you gave me a monster in the form of a little innocent child. I wanted to love Gaara, and play with him like a baby brother and sister should play together. I never wanted to fear and hate him. I never…" Temari's voice broke again, and she let out another dry, racking sob. "I never wanted him to hate me. It ripped my heart each time to hear that he didn't care about us, he didn't think of us as his siblings. We're the only family that loves him. I still love him – but you made him hate and resent us. You…"
Temari's fists clenched the sand, and she brought them up to fling it at her uncle's grave. "You took my baby brother away from me! You took my family away!" she screamed, her voice shattering with dry sobs.
There were a few moments of silence as Temari breathed, regaining her composure. Finally she lifted her head and glared hatefully at the stone.
"I hate you." She swallowed and raised her voice again. "I hate you, and I hate Father. I hate myself. I should have known better. I should have…" Temari trailed off, knowing what she should have done was too late to make any difference.
"I hope you're rotting in hell next to Father," she spat. Her fists clenched again, and it took all of her strength to resist smashing the tombstone to dust. She swallowed and then slowly reached out her hand to drag her fingers against the engraved name.
"You should have had the name 'self-loving carnage'," Temari sneered. "Didn't care about anybody else, tried to assassinate a little boy…but not even you are worthy enough for such a horrible name." She clenched her fingers, and drew her nails down the stone, letting her arm fall back to her side.
"Well, I love Gaara. And I'm treating him like I should have all of his life: like my little brother, like a human. I've lost 13 years where I should have been doing that, thanks to you and Father. But I hope you can see how much I love him, how much Kankuro loves him, and how much the VILLAGE loves him. They're accepting him now; he's not a monster.
"And I if I could laugh in your face, I would. He's the Kazekage now. Even what you tried to do failed. Look at where he is now. He's better than Father; he's always been better than you," Temari snapped.
She wrapped her arms around herself again, hugging tightly. Still on her knees, the only sound in the dark cold night was the wind howling across the sand dunes. The dried tear streaks on her face were the only evidence of how upset she had been, her now-stoic face looking directly at the tombstone.
She was faintly aware of the fact, amidst all the regretting and reminiscing about the past she was doing, that she ought to return home soon. Kankuro would be waiting impatiently in the kitchen, demanding to know where she had gone—specifically, with WHOM— what she had done, and that she make him something to eat.
Gaara would be in the doorway as usual, arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed, silently reiterating Kankuro's questions. Even though it had been a year since his fight with Naruto, and it was true that he had changed for the best, he was still easily angered and distrusting. If her answer didn't please him, everything in their house was sure to be destroyed. Again. And Temari suspected – no, KNEW – that if she was honest and said Yashamaru's grave, Gaara would go ballistic. Kankuro had mentioned his name once, right before the chunin exams. It had taken everything Baki and Temari had to keep him from murdering his older brother, and that had just been a casual mentioning. Yes, things were different now – but Temari wasn't about to risk it.
With a sigh, she rose to her feet, brushing sand off of her legs and rear. She scowled down at the gravestone. "See you in hell, Uncle," she spat as a goodbye. She turned on her heel and strode away, making her way back home.
Unknown to her, an eye made of sand hovered for a few more seconds behind a nearby gravestone before disintegrating and returning to a redheaded boy leaning against a towering tombstone of the first Kazekage some distance away. His hand dropped away from his face and folded against his chest as he narrowed his eyes, looking to the side as he watched Temari disappear back into the lights at the edge of the village.
Uncrossing his ankles, he shoved himself off the tree trunk with a foot and disappeared in a whirlwind of sand.
Okay, so yah….I totally winged it on the ending. I got to the end of Temari's ranting, and didn't know where to go from there.
So please review, leave comments how much you liked it, what could have been done better (but please be polite, I don't respond well to meanies.) (I'm not sure if this is horribly OCC or not) and take a handful of gummie bears on your way out.