Characters: Gaara, Kankuro, Temari
Summary: "The damn Kazekage should not be sleeping with a bear!"
Pairings: None
Author's Note: I've always wondered what became of that poor old teddy bear.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"This is so stupid."
Temari puts her finger to her lips as she tries to hush the elder of her two brothers. It doesn't do much good.
Kankuro gesticulates wildly through the thick door left slightly ajar, face stamped all over with indignation in place of the usual thick purple paint. Though the lights inside have been dimmed, he knows Temari can see the scene clearly. He can't comprehend how she can be so calm about this, her tanned face smooth and even, not even lightly touched with disquiet.
"He's too old for this." Though Gaara, even with the Shukaku gone, is still a chronic insomniac, he does, about once every three nights or so, lay down to go to sleep, which he's doing right now. Perfectly good excuse for Temari to be shushing him (Gaara actually needs sleep these days, if not nearly as much as most people), but Kankuro would still like to get his point across.
At this point, it becomes clear to Temari that her brother is not going to lower his voice, so she grabs him by the crook of his elbow and drags him down the hall until they're safely out of earshot. "I don't see what the problem is." Her voice is low but clinical, her eyes sparking with irritation. "Why do you care?"
"Because the damn Kazekage should not be sleeping with a bear!"
There. He's said it. And Kankuro's beginning to regret that he ever unearthed that old teddy bear from the vast unknown of the attic and stitched it back to new again. It really is so stupid.
Temari, older, sensible Temari, pinches her nose between her eyes and closes said eyes tight. A long-suffering sigh makes Kankuro's blood boil. "Again. I don't really get what the big problem is. Yes, fifteen is a little too old to be sleeping with a bear, but who's going to know besides us? It could be worse."
"I think it's bad enough," Kankuro asserts, scowling. "He's fifteen and the Kazekage. He sure as hell doesn't need to be sleeping with a teddy bear!"
Temari finally loses her temper just a little bit at this, craning her neck around to make sure none of the servants are eavesdropping again before turning her attention back to her brother. Her full lip curls as she speaks, hissing, "Look. Gaara never got to be a child. You know that. And he won't be able to be one now. Let him have this, at least."
She walks off, black yukata swirling angrily around her ankles, taking a storm cloud with her. Kankuro watches her go, silent.
The door to Gaara's room seems heavier than before, as Kankuro rests his hand upon the wood. His little brother is sprawled on the sheets; it's hot enough (the air conditioning is constantly going on the fritz in the Kazekage's compound) that he's kicked off the sheets and is sleeping with the window open, exposed to the cool night air. The smell of sweat and sand wafts from the darkened room, carried on the night breeze.
Kankuro licks his dry lips, turning his head in the opposite direction, before stealing one last look at his brother and closing the door behind him.
Yeah, he thinks he can handle it.
It's only a bear, after all.