Birthday Trouble
[I don't own Naruto. This story was made last 10-28-06. It was uploaded in NarutoForums then. Did minor editing in terms of grammar today (07.22.12) & posting it in FF. ENJOY!]
It was Temari's birthday, the brassy wind wielder of the Wind Country. Her siblings the Kazakage, Gaara to friends and close acquaintance, and Kankuro, the puppet master had ensured that they would be prepared for the said event by getting her gifts.
Kankuro handed her a gaily wrapped package at breakfast, which she accepted." What's inside? Make-up? Is it just like the brand that you wear?" Temari commented. "For the nth time I don't wear make-up! I wear Kabuki paint." Kankuro huffed his chest while saying this. "Right", she replied with slight sarcasm in her voice, although she was secretly thrilled at the thought of receiving make-up. Temari was never the girly-girl type, having been doing high level missions with her siblings since she was young, she never really placed any importance or thought into her physical appearance. As long as she was comfortable that was it. Nobody she knew kept their hair in a 4-part ponytail. However since she became the Kazekage's ambassador bouts of insecurity would come and go on how she looked, it was especially heightened when she had to visit their alliance the Hidden Leaf Village.
Temari opened Kankuro's gifts and found a music box and inside it were a select choice of make-up which would highlight the features of the Sand Village's Dessert Flower. When Temari found the box's content, she had to contain herself from squealing and commented "Oh…Kabuki paint!" and looked at Kankuro flashing a grin which she tried to mask as a smirk. Kankuro however detected her grin and said "Well, I thought it might be of use in your dignitary visits, especially to the Hidden Leaf Village". Temari faced his brother with one eyebrow raised and said "Are you implying that I am ugly?" her voice becoming shrill with each word.
Before Kankuro could give his reply, Gaara, who had been watching the whole banter decided to speak up and stop the potential slaughter of his brother. "Temari", Kankuro and Temari turned to Gaara, "here I made you these". The Kazekage then placed 3 glass figurines he made by controlling and molding sand in front of her. Kankuro, grateful for the distraction made a beeline for the door for a hasty retreat, before stepping out though, he turned around and said "Temari, you're welcome" immediately stepping out of the dinning room after saying this, not before he saw a hint of a smile.
Temari turned her attention back to the figurines Gaara made. The first figurine had Kankuro's likeness it even had a puppet slung across its back. The second figurine was unmistakably Gaara; it had the love kanji on the forehead and the sand gourd. The third figurine was what caught her attention; she studied it for the longest time. It had its hair in a high ponytail that made it look like a pineapple top, its hands were shoved into his pants pocket and it even sported a bored expression which seemed to say "Troublesome". Temari looked at his brother and saw that he was already at the door "I thought you might want to bring something special in your travels", Gaara said with his own version of a smile.
She stayed at the table and looked at her gifts; she understood the underlying messages in her siblings' gifts. Kankuro saw through her tough girl act and knew that at times she just needed to be vain and take time for herself. Meanwhile, Gaara's present spoke volumes of how much he knew her sister and this was definitely a big leap from the old Gaara. Temari knew that this was their way of expressing gentle emotions, emotions they were all uncomfortable in revealing. Heck, she herself resorted to her violent ways to show how much she cared for them. She picked up the third figurine and made it catch the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Is this a sign that he understands and accepts my feelings for a certain Shougi playing, lazy genius, Leaf Shinobi?" she mused.