The first part of Sand Sibs Adventures!

Follow Gaara and his siblings on their own adventures during the filler arcs and time skip of the series. After the first Chuunin exams, they will go through personal journeys, new missions and trails, and all while Gaara follows the path to earning the village's trust and respect and finally becoming Kazekage.

This first episode takes place right after the chunin exams. Gaara gets over the whole "love only myself" thing, and Kankuro and Temari are right there supporting him because they're good older siblings.


Adventures of the Sand Siblings!

Episode 1: Getting Over Angst

They failed their mission, even though it was a fraudulent one anyway. They failed the Chunin Exam, but they could care less. Being Genin or Chunin did not matter to them. They were the sand siblings.

Temari and Kankuro had took Gaara and fled Konoha after the battles. They were all injured so they found a place to rest for a while. Gaara had not said a word since they left. 'I'm sorry,' was the last thing he said. Since then he just looked at the ground while in deep thought. If Temari and Kankuro didn't know better, they would have thought he went into a depression. They could tell that something had changed in him.

"H-hey Gaara," Temari said as she approached him carefully, there was still a chance that he could snap again. He was sitting up against a tree and made no move. "I'm going to check that wound on your shoulder, is that okay?"

He said nothing, but shifted his position slightly as she kneeled down next to him with some gauze ready to rap it up. Kankuro leaned over Temari's shoulder to see what she was doing, "Geez, that Sasuke's Chidori sure ripped him up, is that even going to heal right?" he asked as Temari pulled away the sleeve of his shirt and wiped away some of the blood.

Gaara's blood, now that's something she thought she would never see. "It should be fine." She finished rapping up his shoulder and pulled away. She was no medic, but that would have to do.

"Hey what about his forehead?" Kankuro asked, "Shouldn't you wrap that too? It might get infected once we hit the desert and sand and dirt gets in it."

Temari nodded and took some more gauze and rapped it around his head a couple times to cover the spot where Naruto had slammed his own head into Gaara's. "Okay, there that should be good, how are you feeling?" she asked.

Gaara remained silent, stood up, and walked west. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other. It seemed he wanted to go home. They had to admit, they were worried about him. They could see what happened to him physically, that alone had never happened to him and was a new experience, but there was also whatever was happening mentally… and with the sand demon inside him, Shukaku. They were unaware that Shukaku was staying silent as well.

They reached the Sand village after the long walk there. They did not bother to report in just yet. Who would they report to anyway? The Kazekage… their father was dead. They went straight home and parted into their bedrooms in silence.

Kankuro's room was next to Temari's and through the wall he could hear her sniff a few times as she cried softly, it didn't last long, but it was still hard on him to know how she felt.

The next day they all went to the hospital to get checked out and reported to the council. Gaara got new bandages and then they left the medical center to go to the council meeting room.

"Gaara was defeated?" The Jonin had questioned in disbelief, barely believing his eyes and ears, "By who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara had not said a word until then and Temari and Kankuro exchanged a quick glance.

"I see…" The elder stood up, "That is all, you three can go home now, there will not be any missions for a while… And I think it would be good if you had extra time to mourn your father's death," he explained.

"Every well," Temari stood up, "Let's go." The three left to return home. As soon as they stepped outside, Gaara disappeared in his sand, it was the best way to avoid people. On the way back, people stopped the two to pay their respects or make other comments concerning the Kazekage's passing. Temari and Kankuro did their best to accept their gestures with simple a 'thank you' and a reassuring smile. The entire village seemed lost now. It will take some time to recover from everything that had happened.

Once they got home they checked to see if Gaara was there. He was meditating in his room, which meant that they had to be extra quiet to not disturb what little rest he is capable of getting.

Gaara went downstairs hours later, it was late at night by then so he thought his brother and sister would have gone to bed. Instead he found them sitting in the living room. He was curious as to what they were doing so he stepped farther into the room. They noticed his presence and motioned for him to join them. Gaara was surprised by this but excepted the invite due to that curiosity.

"What is this?" Gaara asked seeing a bunch of books around them and on the floor.

"They're our pictures," Temari said, "Here look, it's Mom," she smiled and handed him an album. He took it cautiously, as if it might blow up in his face, but in his experience, it just might have.

He looked through it and was confused when he saw a young girl, then a teenager, then he realized it was their mother's past when he finally recognized the later pictures. He came to the very last picture in the book when he realized that his siblings were sitting next to him, looking over his shoulder.

"This is our only family picture with all of us," Temari said.

Kankuro pointed to each person in the picture, "That's Dad, Uncle, Mom, Temari, me, and then you," he pointed to Karura's pregnant belly.

Gaara's head titled to the side, revealing interest. "No demon…" he muttered.

"Yeah, Dad wasn't quite a complete douche yet," Kankuro chuckled.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Just because," Temari smiled, "But I think this is a little more interesting," she said teasingly.

Kankuro jumped up and almost tackled her, "No, not those!"

"That's right, baby pictures!" Temari confirmed, "What's the matter Kankuro, are you embarrassed?" she taunted as she played keep away.

Watching his sibling's antics, Gaara felt a small smile trying to creep up to his face so he disappeared in his sand and appeared in his room again.

'What's wrong with you?' Shukaku finally spoke after staying silent since the battle in Konoha. The demon's pride had took a hard blow losing to such a person, a kid at that. Shukaku was aware that he lost Gaara as willing medium, his influence on the red-head was greatly diminished. Even though the demon was inside Gaara, Shukaku did not understand why losing that one battle against some other demon-boy could change things so much.

'Me? What's wrong with you? You lost too,' Gaara retorted. He really did not feel like dealing with Shukaku right now, just when he was feeling a trace of normality. Shukaku snarled angrily but retreated without a fuss. Gaara clutched his head with one hand because of the headache that was made itself known. Deciding that he needed some air, he appeared on the roof of their home.

"This is the life, ain't it?" Kankuro said suddenly, as he hopped onto the roof as well. "Can I sit here?" he asked and Gaara made no move to stop him so he sat down and leaned back to watch the night sky.

They sat there in silence for what seemed like hours before Gaara thought that he had waited long enough. "What are you doing here?" he asked the older boy.

"I think the question is, what are YOU doing here?" Kankuro said pointing at him without looking but he was also smiling.

"I asked first," Gaara said irritably.

"I'm here do find out why you are here," Kankuro said simply. Gaara was silent, keeping his temper in check. "Well? Don't you have an answer or do you not even know?"

"Of course I know."

"Then tell me, unless you're afraid."

"I am not afraid."

"Oh that's right, you aren't scared of anything, you're Gaara of the Desert after all," Kankuro said still watching the sky.

Gaara gritted his teeth, "You're being annoying Kankuro, I want to be alone."

"I know, so why haven't you threatened to kill me yet?"

Gaara froze. Kankuro was right, he hadn't yet, but why? "Because," Gaara retorted.

"Because…" Kankuro urged him to continue, this time he sat up again and looked straight at him.

He paused, he thought he knew the answer but was that really it? "Because… I've…"

"Because you've changed," Kankuro finished and confirmed at the same time. "I can tell, Temari too. Who knew someone finally beating you would cause that."

Gaara had calmed down again and leaned back to look at the sky, "You're right," he admitted.

"Gotta be right once in a while," Kankuro chuckled.

There was a quiet thump behind them and they both looked to see Temari joining them. "Hey, what's going on?" she asked in her usual confident manner.

Kankuro groaned, "I still can't believe I lost to that bug dude!"

Temari groaned as well, "At least that guy looked like he could be strong, I lost to the laziest shinobi on the planet!"

"Heh," Gaara started, "I lost to the number one loudest, most unpredictable, hyperactive, knuckle headed ninja…" he dropped his head, his siblings laughed slightly before they dropped their heads as well.

"It's official," Kankuro started, "We are now the band of losers…"

"We've been slacking too much!" Temari declared, "We need to train, we can't let those leaf losers show us up!"

"Yeah!" Kankuro agreed. They both looked to Gaara, who finally nodded in his own agreement.

"I will get stronger, much stronger, and all by using my own strength," Gaara said.

"I'm sure you will," Kankuro nodded, "We all will."

"Hey Gaara," Temari started, "Remember that if you ever need help, even because of Shukaku, tell us, or even Baki, we all want to make things better too."

"Why?"

Kankuro snorted, "We aren't going to hold anything against you if you make the effort you say you will. "

"And besides," Temari said, "You're our little brother."

Gaara looked at them, his two older siblings, and he realized that they were smiling… and at him. Finally, Gaara nodded, "Of course," he said while silently promising that he would learn to suppress the demon within him, so he can rely on his own strength. He promised that he would somehow repent for his sins.

His battle with the blonde-haired ninja, Naruto Uzumaki, had changed his perceptive. He learned that fighting for himself would not make him any stronger, if he fights for what he cares about he would become much stronger and make up for the things he had done. He knew that even starting now, at such a young age, that he will have a ways to go. Such a goal is going to take all his attention and determination.

He was going to put his power to use, so that someday, there would never be another person like him, a lonely suffering soul that might never find a glimmer of hope. This was a new beginning and he was not going to waste it. Glancing over at his siblings one more time then looking over the entire village, he knew exactly what he was going to fight for.


I hope you found this interesting and that you will continue to read as more humor, bromance, and skill develops. Reviews would be very helpful on any chapter. Thanks for reading.