My father died three months ago. I don't really care, because I never really knew him. He was never around, too busy being the mayor of Suna. Truthfully, life was better when he was busy, he was an asshole whenever he was around. But, at the very least, he gave me and my brothers, Kankuro and Gaara, a place to sleep (usually) and money for food. That asshole had to go and die, and now we don't have either. See, most parents have the decency to give their children their money in their will, but no, my father completely and utterly fucked all three of us over by giving all his money away to a political ally.

So now, I'm stuck having to support my two younger brothers. We have no money, and honestly, I was so scared. But things have worked out in the past three months. Gaara and Kankuro both have retained their place in Suna's Academy. Baki is their guardian now, making sure they come home and have food. Me? I got into Konoha's most elite academy with a full scholarship. I didn't want to leave my brothers in Suna, but I had two jobs waiting for me in Konoha, and an education that will land me a better job later. I sent out my cover letter and resume about a month ago to Ichiraku Ramen and the Yamanaka Flower Shop. I heard back from the two places just a few weeks ago, they both hired me. I was quite proud of myself. You learn to do that when you don't have parents to do it for you.

Our father dying felt strange, not because I'd miss him, but because we were in such a high social class, him being a successful politician and all, then all of a sudden, we were regarded as nothing. Just orphans with no money. Plenty of people didn't like our father, so no one was particularly keen on helping us, except people like Baki.

But I don't really care about a social class, I just need to get my brothers and myself through our education, so they can have a chance at a good life. Kankuro is an amazing artist, his puppets are creepy, but they're incredibly detailed and interesting. And they have a cult following back in Suna. Gaara, on the other hand, needs more support. A reason I got a job is to pay for his medical bills. But any sort of job is worth Gaara not having to deal with psychosis. He suffered terribly from psychotic episodes while our father was alive, and the guilt he had because of it ate him up, making an insomniac of him. It put quite a damper on our relationship, and ruined his childhood. But Gaara has been getting better. He now has ambitions to go into politics as well. I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to help him achieve his dreams.

Leaving my brothers was difficult. None of us are good at expressing our emotions, but I could tell we were all sad to be split up. Even if our goodbye could be summed up with awkward waves and sad smiles. I would miss those idiots, I hope Baki would force them to send me letters, Gaara would probably do it on his own, though. Funny how something that's supposed to be a tragedy, my father's death, made my brothers and I closer. I feel bad for saying this, but in a way, I feel like it was a good tradeoff. I don't think there are a lot of things in the world that I would take in exchange for my brothers. Maybe peace in this crazy, half allied, feudal world. Yeah, that'd be nice.

The journey to Konoha wasn't too bad, three days on the train. I got some sleep and tried to get accustomed to all the trees and life that the forest provided. Nothing like the desert I was from. The people on the train were unusually nice. People back in Suna were too suspicious of each other to be nice to strangers, we all just minded our own business. I looked down at my acceptance letter. It had an address on it for the Nara Compound, some kid in it was assigned by the school to be my guide while in Konoha, help me get assimilated. He sent me the most hilarious letter:

Dear Temari,

I'm mostly writing this because my mom's looking over and is going to have my head if I do not look busy. This whole thing is a total drag and I suspect you are going to be troublesome because you're a girl. Well my mom is also forcing me to ask you to watch clouds with me or play shougi. I have no idea why. You probably will leave Konoha in like a week because my mother is such a harpy.

Then, in a completely different script:

My mother is a wonderful, hospitable person, I was simply joking. I have no respect for my elders. I sure do hope you have a safe and easy travel. We have been informed by the school of your father's recent passing, and I give you my condolences. I can't imagine how you must be feeling, but we'll try and make it as nice as possible for you, in this time of grieving. On a logistical note, I have attached a piece of paper with the address of our compound in case of an emergency.

Love,

Then, back to the original script:

FROM,

Shikamaru.

ps. sorry about your dad.

I got quite a kick out of that. I wouldn't be living with their family, the school provided boarding for orphans and foreigners, which was a minority of the school's population. They'd just be showing me around.

I'd never admit something so embarrassing to anyone, but I was getting kind of nervous. I kept rehearsing how I would greet my guide's family, how I would act on my first day of school. I thought about how people would be likely to treat me. I had the whole sexy foreigner thing going on for me. But would the students in Konoha know about my father and his corruption? Then I even thought of all that feminine crap that I secretly loved. How was I going to style my hair? Would I wear my black kimono? Would I let everyone know that I'm the bitchy type from the start? I decided to a) wear my hair in the four ponytails, that's the only way it's manageable b) wear my black kimono, Temari, you fool, you hardly own anything else and c) I'd act natural, but to be frank, I knew someone would piss me off before lunch and the whole world would know that Temari no Sabaku was the cruelest bitch on the block. And not sorry about it.

The three day train ride was over quickly enough. Once I landed on the platform, I wobbled a bit, not used to balancing on still ground. The environment was so different. For starters, I was freaking cold. And the air wasn't dry, it felt slightly more humid (which was probably going to be a problem for my hair but I'd burn that bridge once I got to it). Welcoming signs in every language popped out everywhere, and even the customer service employees were smiling. Why was everyone smiling here? Don't they know that student debt is higher than ever and lives can be turned upside down by the simplest things? Okay, that wasn't fair. I was just bitter that my entire life had changed and it felt like I had no control over it. So I was pretty annoyed at all the smiles, it was like they were mocking me. I went to the lower part of the train to grab my trunk. It was kind of humbling, packing it. My entire life: my wardrobe, notebooks, old letters, photographs, trinkets, tessen etc. all packed into one trunk. And it wasn't even that big. I could haul it all the way to the Nara compound by myself. Which I would have had to do whether I could or not. I looked at a map on the wall and at the address on the mail again. I silently cursed seeing that I was going to have to haul my trunk two miles. But complaining wasn't going to make the house any closer to the station, so I just waltzed out of the place, half dragging my trunk behind me, on my way to the Nara house.