And here begins a story of hate, fatal and forbidden love, and a horrible feeling of betrayl. And, above all else, forgiveness?

Sand Sibling Truth

Many people believed that the three sand siblings were all the children of the last Kazekage. However Temari actually had no blood relation at all. When Kankurou was merely a six month old baby, playing at home with his small toy puppet in the middle of November, his mother had been killed while on an A-Rank mission. Of course, at that age, this didn't mean much to him, especially since he was mostly bottle fed and rarely got to spend time with her.

It wasn't long after this – January, in fact – that the Kazekage remarried. (Many expected a previous affair). This new woman in Kankurou's life already had a seventeen month old daughter. Temari. Even at a young age, these two, new siblings often got into quarrels, none too soft on the physical damage that they could cause. Even so, they never truly hated each other.

Also, Temari's mother wasn't a ninja, which meant she spent much more time at home than Kankurou's birth mother had. Emphasized by the fact that he was also now a little older, Kankurou grew more attached to this loving woman, not taking long to start calling her 'mommy.'

One year after the new marriage of the Kazekage, disaster struck this family when the Kazekage's second wife died, this time by giving birth to a demon disguised as a child. Unlike before when his birth mother had died, Kankurou understood what had happened, Temari even more so. For the longest time they both hated this newest addition to their family.

Though he was bound to both by blood – Kankurou through his father and Temari through her mother – this child never experienced the love that he so desperately needed. Kankurou and Temari often sought each other as a refuge; as they witnessed the terror of his childhood unravel. There was nothing they could do but watch, scared to reach out a comforting hand, as the demon child grew up in lonely hate, becoming what he is today. Gaara of the Desert.

But he's not the problem.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The thing that riled Kankurou up the most was that Temari always seemed to forget that they weren't actually brother and sister. She was always making him do stuff for her and pushed him around – and not in the cute smiles kind of way – just like a sister who believed that no matter how much she bugged him, her brother would never, truly hate or hurt her.

Which, of course, he thought to himself, I won't. He sighed. Why can't she ever bug Gaara instead? Then he smirked at the obvious answer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kankurou!" Temari's sharp yell came through the kitchen into the dinning room, where Kankurou was eating breakfast.

"What do you want now?" he growled as he was about to bite into his toast, dropping it back onto his plate in a huff.

Temari strode into the dinning room, hands on her hips. "This time you'd better to remember to feed my plant! I don't want to come back again to find it half dead."

Kankurou rolled his eyes. "Well if it didn't attempt to bite my hand off whenever I tried to feed it, I might feel more obliged."

Temari glared at him.

"Alright, alright, I'll risk loosing hands for your stupid plant," Kankurou said as he thought of the giant, carnivorous plant in the hallway upstairs. Temari narrowed her eyes at him, and then left the room, seemingly satisfied.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temari fumed as she thought of going back to Konoha. She had spent a great deal of time there these past few months due to the preparations for the upcoming chuunin exam. Each month consisted of normally one or two weeks in Konoha and then the remaining two or three back home. The constant traveling was getting, dare she say it, tiresome, and it was making time seem incredibly shorter as she had something to await almost every week.

Though the travel and lost time had its regrets, the real problem was the lazy ass she had to spend most of her time with while she was there. And there was nothing she could do about it. She grimaced as she remembered the loud-mouthed Naruto accuse them of being on a date once. She had said she would never date a guy like him, which held every ounce of truth. He was getting even worse off late, becoming, if possible, even lazier, and talking less and less. It was aggravating!

She supposed she could just not go, perhaps send someone else in her place. But she knew that would be taken as an insult by the whole village. Also, she wouldn't be able to properly explain everything to someone else in the short time before she had to leave.

She could request to have someone else to work with… But the Fifth Hokage would find that rude, along with the fact that there was no one else for the job. Temari sighed, picking up her rucksack and leaving her room to head downstairs. Once she stepped out the front door into the blazing sunlight, she realized how much she missed the green and shade of Konoha. She decided to use this for motivation as she headed to the gates of Suna.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Troublesome. Nothing but troublesome.

Shikamaru lay on his bed, his hands tucked under his head, one leg bent with its knee in the air, the other leg laid out flat. He glanced at the crowd of stars outside the open window, finding it impossible to sleep. It felt like only yesterday that the damned kunoichi had shoved him down the stairs of his own house in her hurry to leave the village. It had left him with a headache and a sore body, with bruises to show.

And now sleep escaped him, knowing that his two weeks of escape were about to end tomorrow morning. Not only would she be arriving early, but he was the one that had to get up two hours before to be sure he was there to meet her. The arrival of her, as unfortunate as that fact was by itself, also meant more work on behalf of these troublesome Chuunin exams that were to begin within three weeks. He wondered if that meant one long stay, or two short ones, for the kunoichi from Suna. He hoped it would be the short ones.

Sighing in frustration, he turned onto his side, his sheets twisting with him. With one arm propped behind his head, he closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was late. Three hours late, in fact, as it was already one in the afternoon.

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru sighed. She's probably taking her time on purpose. That would suit me fine if I didn't have to be the one waiting for her. He sat down on a rock with a groan, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ten minutes later, he saw someone approaching on the road leading from Konoha. Finally, Shikamaru thought as he squinted into the distance. He could only make out the outline of the person striding slowly towards the gates, but he knew it was her from the giant fan strapped to her back.

A minute or two later, the kunoichi reached Shikamaru and stopped. She stood with her arms folded across her chest and her weight on one hip. She wasn't looking at him. She hadn't even glanced at him the whole time.

Shikamaru, who had been watching her approach, squinted up at Temari from his place on the rock. He put his hands on his knees and stood up with a groan. Putting his hands in his pockets and standing beside her in his usual slouch, he knew that making a sly comment about her timing would only result with her snapping something back at him. That would just be too troublesome, so he let it go.

Without a word, or even a glance at each other, they headed into the bustling streets of Konoha. Shikamaru had learnt to keep his mouth shut around her unless absolutely necessary. He didn't see the point in getting into an argument with such a woman. His lack of words seemed to irritate her, but that was just the way he liked it.

Even if Temari wouldn't snap at him when he spoke, he didn't see the point in long conversation. Or conversation at all, for that matter. Topics for conversations often involved talking about something recent that you did that the listener could care less about. Most people ended up bragging, seeking pity or attention, or they're just plain annoying. Topics, such as how successful your last mission was in a way that explains every detail of it, would be bragging, and talking about how you lost a leg in the process would be seeking the pity or attention. And, of course, there was the topic of going on and on about you're favorite hobby non-stop, which is just plain annoying unless you can find someone with the same hobby. Shikamaru and Temari definitely didn't have any of the same hobbies. So all in all, conversation was pointless.

They reached the building with the small office inside where Anko kept the information and papers on the Chuunin exams. There objective for this week was to go over all the genin that were supposed to be participating, and sending messages to their village to remind and confirm. Then they had to set up the right amount of lodgings for whoever was coming. All were troublesome and boring tasks that he'd rather not do, but at least it would be over soon. Anko, naturally, was no help at all. She was, if possible, lazier than Shikamaru.

He sighed as he stepped into the office, Temari following behind him. "Ano…" Shikamaru began. "Are you going back to Suna for a week after this, or will you be staying all three weeks until it begins?"

"Well wouldn't you just love it if I went home for a week?" Temari shot at him.

"Whoa, calm down. I was just asking."

"From the way you asked, you might as well of shouted that you didn't want me here," she said, shuffling through the piles of paper.

Shikamaru groaned. "Just never mind," he said. This is exactly why I don't talk to her. "Troublesome woman," he muttered. Temari's head snapped round and looked at him properly for the first time since arriving. She was glaring at him. Shikamaru lifted his arm as he looked away, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shikamaru had finally managed to finish up the required paperwork for the day and was headed to the park to watch clouds on the hill. He stopped just before turning a corner as he heard his name in someone else's conversation.

"Shikamaru is so unmotivated," he heard Anko talking. "I'm sorry you had to be stuck with him. I can just imagine the tension between you two."

"Yeah, well," Temari sighed. "At least I get a lot of time to think. Every where else I go there's too much going on to get a thought to myself. Though it would be nice if he tried conversation every once in a while."

Shikamaru leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, listening to the conversation around the corner. At Temari's last comment, he made a what-the-fuck face. Yeah, because that's my fault, he thought.

"It's like," she went on, "Every time he says something, it has a hidden message of how he doesn't want me around."

Anko laughed, and Shikamaru could picture the grin on her face. "Yeah, that's Shikamaru for you. Have you ever tried starting a conversation yourself?"

"Well, I gave up because he would always ignore me. Not even a look of acknowledgement that he heard me," Temari answered with a huff.

"Well, don't take it too personally. We both know he'd rather watch clouds than do paperwork." Shikamaru could hear the smile in her voice.

That Anko; either too happy, or too angry… Either way she's scary and loud.

"It's not that I really care about conversation with that lazy ass, anyway," Temari said as if in defense. "I don't give a damn what he thinks. But if we have to be stuck with each other so much, it wouldn't hurt to be civil."

Yeah, because us not getting along is all my fault, Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Anko chuckled. "Yeah, not to mention he probably leaves all the work for you to do."

"He's not you Anko," Temari smirked. "He does what he's supposed to. Although, not without complaint."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at this sudden defense from Temari on his behalf.

Anko grinned sheepishly. "I guess you're right. Well, I'll see you around. Good luck with the lazy ass."

"Hmph." Shikamaru harrumphed at the same time as Temari, so neither Anko nor Temari heard him. He slunk into the shadows and jumped to the roof as Anko walked past. Glancing down to the street where they had talked, he saw that Temari was already gone.

Troublesome woman. Maybe if you didn't blame everything on me and tried being civil yourself, we wouldn't find each other's company so aggravating. And maybe if you hadn't pushed me down the stairs… Shikamaru grimaced as he remembered the last time she had left.

Temari had come looking for him at his house to let him know she was heading back home and asking if there was anything else left for her to sort out. Luckily, there hate for each other didn't stop them from doing their work properly. His mother had told her he was up in his room, so she went up to find him. He had already been heading out of it when she got up the stairs.

He had asked what she wanted. She had told him she was leaving and Shikamaru had cut her off at that and said it was about time. She had flipped out and started yelling at him, saying that she had come to ask if he needed her to finish anything up and that he was an ignorant, lazy ass. He had said she was being a troublesome, hot-tempered bitch under his breath, and the next thing he knew he had been grabbed by the collar and thrown down the stairs.

I suppose I deserved it. Normally I'm smart enough to avoid something as troublesome as an argument with a bossy kunoichi. But no, he sighed. I had to say what I thought out loud.

Shikamaru jumped down to the street below and continued to the park.

Author's Notes: Next chapter: Attack In The Night
-Atty