Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of the Naruto universe. I just like bastardizing them :D

It was a bright, hot, redundant day in Sunagakure. Gaara, having recovered from the death and everything, was walking through the village to attend a meeting with the council, his siblings flanking him on either side.

Suddenly, Kankuro came to a stop, making his brother and sister halt as well to see what the problem was.

"Hey, Kankuro, what's the hold up?" Temari asked, mildly annoyed. As one of Sunakagure's chief diplomats, she had to make sure Gaara got to the meeting on time. Or she would probably be flogged.

Gaara said nothing, but crossed his arms in a manner that could mean anything from 'yes, what is it?' to 'I wanna boogie down on a Saturday night!'

The puppet-user stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I was just thinking about, y'know, everything that happened last week. And how you,"

He nodded towards Gaara.

"Don't treat me like the scum on your shoe anymore. Scum that you wanted to kill. Painfully."

Temari groaned. She was sure this was going to take a while.

"So, the thing is..."

Kankuro rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess what I'm trying to say... is that you're my brother and stuff, so I guess I'm glad you're not dead."

"Kankuro..." the young Kazekage gasped, as tears shone in his eyes. This was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him.

"Gaara." Kankuro thickly replied, suddenly just as emotional.

"KANKURO!!" Gaara exclaimed.

"GAARA!!" Kankuro yelled back.

With that, the two brothers threw themselves at one another in a manly, brotherly embrace, clinging to one another and sobbing their hearts out... in a manly way, of course. There was a magnificent sunset, despite it being around ten o'clock in the morning, and a tsunami wave rose and descended just right behind them, despite Sunagakure being in the middle of desert, and everything was sparkly. Really, really sparkly.

For what seemed to be forever and a day, Temari stared, slack jawed, at her brothers' display of emotion. Eventually, she managed to compose herself, placing her hands on her hips in a defeated fashion.

"...and now to see my therapist." The Kunoichi sighed, turning away from her family's newfound discovery of the "Brotherly Love(TM)".

"I'll walk you there." Shikamaru said resignedly.

"How'd you get here?" The wind user asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in Konoha right now?"

"Plot device." The young Nara replied.

Temari could only shrug in compliance as the two continued to walk away from the scene. "Fair enough. Makes as much sense as anything else right now."

Meanwhile, amongst the cries of 'Ototo!' and 'Onii-chan!', two spandex-clad Shinobi, teacher and student, watched the spectacle before them, dumbfounded.

"They stole our shtick, Gai-Sensei." Lee bemoaned.

"I know, Lee." Maito Gai replied, manly tears coursing down his face. "I know."

A/N: This is a dedication to all fans of Gaara and Kankuro, especially in terms of their character development over the timeskip. When I love something, I have to poke fun at it, so please don't take this fic the wrong way.

And also a shout-out goes to Ariel-D and Darkhelmetj, for their multiple Gaara and Kankuro fics, which show some of the best character portrayal and development I've ever seen for them. Love your stories, guys!

Also, it is my absolute (wet)dream, for this to be made into a comic. Or just a fanart of the "climactic scene". I'd do it myself if I hadn't come from a long line of painfully inept drawers :P