Temari sighed as she looked out the extravagant carriage she was riding in. Carefully crafted with loving detail, the gold laced cart would not have looked out of place carrying a Daimyo, and certainly had the amenities within to suggest that it was a ride meant for someone of excessive tastes. But for all its beauty, Temari could not help but feel that it was just a pretty cage bringing her to a prison that was to become her new life.
As the only daughter to the now deceased Kazekage, she had lived knowing that one day she would be used as a bargaining chip because of her status in the village, either as a hostage or a wife in a political marriage. Yet now that the time came and her village had summoned her to do her duty to protect her home, she could not help the feelings of bitterness that welled within her ample bosom. She had dutifully served her village, sacrificing blood and tears in service since she was a child. Yet here she was, being bartered away as little more than cattle in order to appease the rage of a village that her own had wronged.
In a way, what made it worst was the fact that it wasn't even really Suna that had attacked Konoha, but rather Orochimaru who had tricked her village into going to war by assassinating her father and taking his place as the head of the village. That was what pissed her off the most. She had been adamant in her protests against the war with Konoha, but her voice had swayed little on the council who had all been poisoned by the imposter's honeyed promises of victory and glory in their alliance with Sound. Even if they had won, most likely they would have simply received a kunai in the back in thanks as they were annexed by the newly formed sound village.
The silk cloth that covered the window facing the sun parted slightly, revealing the redheaded figure of her half-brother floating next to her. Temari examined her baby brother closely as he stared back dispassionately. He had changed since the failed invasion of Konoha. Gaara had always held a steely gaze of homicidal bloodthirstiness even when he was seemingly passive and calm in posture. Murder happened on a regular basis around the host of the one tailed raccoon, the stench of death emanating from the boy in a faint odor that Temari had always been able to detect even if others denied it.
He held life with little regard, seeing others as meat and flesh that could be crushed as easily as one would swat an annoying pest, and Temari and Kankuro had been no different. For whatever reason, Gaara had always been more prone to listening to Temari than anyone else which was what gave her voice such tremendous sway in her village. Nobody wanted to piss off the one person who might be able to save them from Gaara. Though she had never abused her limited authority over Gaara, no one doubted that if she asked him to kill someone he would do so in a heartbeat. People had respected her out of fear of her brother, something that had annoyed her, but she had nonetheless capitalized on it. Shinobi were pragmatic like that.
But since his defeat at the hands of a Konoha shinobi, Gaara had become much tamer. He no walked about radiating bloodlust and madness, and in the two months since the end of the short battle at Konoha no one in the village had mysteriously disappeared. Sadly, that was a new record for Suna.
"Sister," the redhead said in his familiar monotone.
"What is it Gaara?" she asked. Her brother rarely spoke unless he had to, which made this a rather unusual occurrence.
"You are troubled."
The kunoichi couldn't help but chuckle derisively at the monumental understatement. "It is my duty."
Her brother's stare did not waver and after a moment he spoke.
"But you do not wish to carry it out."
Sighing Temari turned her head away. "No, but our village needs this. If it will prevent Suna from being destroyed, I will do what I must."
Silence reigned between the two siblings, broken only by the soft clip clop of the horse pulling the carriage and the turning of the wagon wheel.
"Sister, if you do not wish to do this than you do not have to."
Chuckling slightly at the seemingly simplistic thought process of her brother, Temari couldn't help but wonder at how Gaara viewed the world. The boy had grown up with little affection after their uncle had been sent to assassinate him as a child, and his contact with humans had mostly been in regards to killing rather than relationship building. She and Kankuro had known of their half-brother but had had little contact with him until they were put together as a team, and by then Gaara was already lost in his hatred of the world and all those who lived in it.
"It's not that simple Gaara," she said gently.
"It is that simple," he insisted flatly, his unwavering gaze never leaving her face.
"What would you have me do?" she asked amused. "Even if I ran the shinobi guarding me would catch up quickly and I would find myself handed over regardless, except perhaps with less dignity."
"They cannot catch you if they're dead," he stated flatly.
Eyes widened slightly at her brother's casual pronouncement, Temari couldn't help but shiver slightly. Gaara may have changed, but there was still no doubt in her mind that if he wanted to he could carry out that task with little effort. An entire squad of Anbu would stand little chance against the host if it came down to a fight, let alone if Gaara struck first.
"It's ok Gaara," she said carefully. "If it wasn't Konoha it would have been some other village. I've always known this day would come, I just didn't expect it to be so soon I suppose. I'm ok with it."
Her brother gave her a long searching look before nodding slowly and vanishing in a cloud of sand. The cloth covering fell back into place and Temari smiled sadly. It was odd how she felt more comfortable with the old homicidal Gaara than this new alien person who she couldn't really get a read on anymore. And now she would never get the chance to get to know this new Gaara.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the cloth pushed aside once more, this time showing the face of her other younger brother.
"Did my ears deceive me or did Gaara just offer to murder everyone here so that you don't have to get hitched?"
Laughing slightly, Temari smiled at her other sibling. Kankuro could be a bit of an asshole sometimes, but he could always make her laugh with a well-placed snide comment or dry remark when he put his mind to it.
"Something like that. Tempting, but I had to turn him down. Good of the village and all that." She raised her hand up in a mock enthusiastic fist pump.
"I guess this confirms once and for all people's fear that Gaara would kill on your command," snickered Kankuro. "A lot of people are worried about how he's gonna act once you're gone. The beast will be off the leash and all that."
"It's not like he ever did what I said," Temari scoffed. "Compared to the number of times he ignored me, I'm pretty sure the few times he did listen was insignificant, and probably on a whim anyways."
"Yeah well I'm pretty sure no one else ever got him to spare someone because they asked," Kankuro chortled. "He'd have probably buried me in the sand as well if I did!"
The two siblings shared another laugh together. It went to say how dysfunctional their relationship was that they were laughing at the fact that a member of their family had no problems killing them. As there merriment died, a solemn silence fell between them. They rode in peace for a while before Kankuro spoke again.
"I'm gonna miss you sis," he said gruffly. The Sabaku family was not prone to emotions, let alone discussing them out in the open.
"Me or my cooking?" Temari teased.
"Your cooking of course!" he shot back with a playful sneer. "Nothing else you're much good for. That and serving as a distraction so I can run if Gaara ever feels homicidal and there's no other victims around."
Laugh softly, Temari turned her head away.
"I'm going to miss you too," she said quietly. "Try not to get killed by Gaara while I'm away alright?"
"You make it sound like you'll be coming back," her brother said sadly.
Turning her head away at the slight unexpected wave of emotion rushing through her at his words, Temari blinked back the sting in her eyes. She wasn't ever going to go back to her home. One last mission as a kunoichi for Suna, and her fate would be bound to the side of some man she didn't know.
"Who knows, maybe I'll convince my husband to move back to Suna with me," she said after she got herself under control.
"What, so he can live with Gaara hovering over his shoulder?" laughed Kankuro. "No sane man would agree to that!"
"I think he'd be more weirded out by my brother who wears more make-up than I do," she teased.
"For the last time," sighed her brother, "its war paint!"
Laughing at the familiar exasperated expression on his face, Temari drank in the image of her second youngest brother. They had never been particularly close, but they had got along well enough as far as siblings went. Perhaps better than most since they had shared a very real fear of being murdered in their sleep by their third sibling, and that desire to live had been a bonding factor. Codependency for survival had a way of forging strong relationships.
Kankuro gave one last shake of his head and let the cloth fall back into place, leaving Temari alone to her thoughts once more. Here she was, a beautiful 17 year old woman reaching the prime of her youth about to be sold off to some wrinkly old official whose importance was probably only outweighed by the girth of his waist. She grimaced at the unbidden image of some faceless old man groping her as he prepared to have his way with her body. It may have been her duty as a wife to see to his needs in bed, but that was the one aspect of her rather dark future she least looked forward to. Maybe she should have just gone and offered her virginity to the first handsome man she came across after she found out about the marriage deal.
'Seventeen years old and I haven't even had my first kiss,' she thought wistfully.
She had always been pretty, but as she grew older those childish good looks had morphed into a feral beauty that turned heads wherever she went. Of course, when they caught sight of who they were ogling, people in Suna quickly turned to look away in case Gaara was nearby. Chuckling slightly at the thought of forcing a man to sleep with her with the threat of sending Gaara after him if he didn't, Temari shook with silent laughter. There was a catch 22 if she ever heard of one; don't do it and Gaara would kill them, do it and Gaara would kill them anyways if he found out.
Entertained by her dark thoughts, Temari allowed the gentle rocking of the cart lull her into a fitful sleep. She'd find out what life had in store for her soon enough. Hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as she imagined, but she wasn't going to hold her breath. Life was a bitch like that.