I own nothing.

Temari snarls in frustration and Gaara puts a hand on her shoulder, all the while handing over a much-welcome canteen. She takes a deep gulp of the water and tries against to get up from the pallet prepared for her.

"Temari." Gaara catches her at the crook of her elbow when she threatens to topple over. His tone is distinctly chiding, something that sounds about as wrong on Gaara as eyebrows. "The medic—" he nods to Sakura, who has been watching Temari's fruitless struggles with a mixture of amusement and disapproval "—says that you'll be back on your feet by tomorrow morning. You can wait until then." Thanks to the miracles of medical ninjutsu as practiced by a talented medic, Temari's recovery period has been taken down from several weeks to just a matter of twelve hours or so; it does nothing to alleviate her frustration.

It's always now, isn't it? With a heavy sigh, Temari sits back down on the pallet, frowning down at the ground.

The battle was all but over, so of course that had to be the time that Temari's leg got broken, in the aftermath. It wasn't even a dignified injury either, even if she had been told the break was clean; she'd gotten caught in a trap set prior to the battle and the resulting shouts of pain could probably be heard back in Kaze no Kuni. In her defense, it was only the second time Temari had ever had a broken bone; she wasn't used enough to the feeling yet for it not to hurt like Hell.

Given that the fighting has all but worn out as the shadows grow long across the desolate landscape, the forces have for now pulled back to a position of relative safety, waiting for the fighting to pick up again. At least Temari's little accident was conveniently timed, if nothing else; she was immediately carted off the battlefield.

Picking up the canteen in her hands, Temari takes a few more deep swigs, wetting her throat and her cracked, dry lips. She honestly doesn't care if the water tastes tinny from being in Gaara's canteen for God knows how long; she's thirsty enough that it doesn't matter.

In Suna, when a group of nin four or more go on long-term missions out into the desert, one of them will always be assigned to carry a pack filled with full water bottles. When the bottles are emptied into the canteens they are kept in the pack so that if the nin stop upon an oasis or a well they can fill them up again. Temari has always appreciated the logic but she never thought she would appreciate water so much until now.

"Kazekage-sama!" Someone calls for Gaara from outside the tent and, without another word, he sweeps to his feet and disappears beyond the flap, his silhouette soon vanishing from sight.

"So… Gaara-kun hasn't had any more health issues since we last spoke?" Sakura is folding freshly cleaned linens and packing them away into a brown footlocker, her fingers spreading out across the cloth and her eyes half-closed from the fatigue of looking after the wounded all day.

Grateful to have something to talk about, Temari shakes her head. "No. He's still an insomniac of the worst kind, but that's to be expected and he's handling it pretty well. Other than that, there's nothing." Which is a miracle in itself, at least if you ask Temari and probably Sakura as well. Being dead and then brought back to life isn't exactly something that sounds like it would lend itself to good health, even if Gaara is the only person known to have experienced such a thing.

Sakura's mouth twitches in a smile she doesn't seem to entirely feel. "That's good."

Well, there was that one time… Temari bites back a laugh as she remembers something. "Well, Gaara did get his first sunburn about two months ago." At Sakura's raised eyebrows, she elaborates. "Gaara never got sunburns when he had the Shukaku, the demon protecting him from all physical harm and all. He could go out into the desert for literally days on end and he'd come back as pale as he was when he left. As he discovered—" this time, Temari can't restrain a snicker, thinking about what Gaara had looked like "—that doesn't happen anymore. I guess it's true; redheads really don't tan at all."

In truth, it had been pretty amusing. Gaara, having never been sun burnt before, spent a great deal of time in the bathroom picking away the flaking skin even though everyone was telling him not to. He has since learned to cover up better when going out into the desert and holds a new place for hatred in his heart as regards to the sun.

"And came out just as pale beneath, I'm guessing?" Sakura ducks her head to hide another smile, this time a rueful one. "I tried tanning once with baby oil when I was eleven; I couldn't take hot baths for a week, and was still fair-skinned when the sunburn finally went away."

Temari nods, staring at the opposite end of the canvas tent. "Sakura-san…" Levity has evaporated from her face like dew off a cactus "…I'm not complaining or anything, but what are you doing here? Aren't there more serious injuries for you to be treating than a broken leg?"

The young Leaf medic shrugs, packing away the last of the linens and sitting on top of the now-closed footlocker, across the tent from Temari. "Not at the moment, no." A shadow passes over her face. "They usually take longer to get here; you have to be careful with those sorts of casualties."

Reasonable enough.

"Besides…" As if told not to say any more by some unseen force, Sakura falls silent, twisting a kunai in her hands as Temari has often see abstracted shinobi do.

Only one reason I can think of. Oh boy, here we go again. "Sakura-san, if it's because of my "connections"—" Temari snorts indelicately "—that I'm getting immediate treatment, you might as well say so."

Sakura blushes and nods. "You'll find that among the shinobi with non-life-threatening wounds, the jonin are getting treatment first because they can contribute more to the engagements, but yes, your status does have a lot to do with it. If something were to happen to a member of the Kazekage's family, it could have a negative impact on Sunagakure's willingness to cooperate with the alliance."

As I thought. "No need to worry," Temari answers briskly. "I doubt Gaara would withdraw his support just because one of his siblings was injured or killed—this is war and people die in war; Gaara knows that. I'm pretty used to this sort of treatment too," she adds more quietly. "Though I have to admit, I'm more used to the reason being "Kazekage's daughter" than "Kazekage's sister"."

Satisfied with this, Sakura falls back to silence and Temari starts to think to herself, a pensive frown unfolding over her face.

She's sure that one of the kages resurrected earlier in the day was her father; he looked too much like him to be anyone else and there was the presence of the gold dust, to boot. The gold dust technique is instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever seen the Yondaime fight; there's no one else it could have been.

Frankly, that troubles Temari.

Gaara was talking with their father, though Temari couldn't tell what about. She was too far away from them to hear and she wasn't exactly standing at a good angle, not one that allowed her clear sight of either her youngest brother or her father. To tell the truth, Temari had other things to worry about at the time; she couldn't afford to focus too much on the family reunion happening a ways off.

Anyone with sense knows that Gaara has little reason to love his father. Though he no longer has the Shukaku to act as an impetus towards mental instability, Temari knows her brother well enough to know that he is more than capable of going on a rampage by himself and that if he did there's very little that could stop him. The fact that he apparently didn't do so earlier today is just a showcase of how much his self-control has grown over the years.

It must have been one interesting conversation, regardless. Now that she thinks about it, Temari can't help what exactly they were talking about, if it was anything other than the traditional insults shot at each other before going into battle. I can't think about much Gaara would have to say to our Dad, to be honest. So what were they talking about?

After a good five minutes of pondering, wondering, worrying, Gaara comes back into the tent, looking just as calm as when he left it, adjusting his collar. "Sakura-san." Sakura looks up when he calls her name, frowning. "You're wanted outside; they've started bringing in the more serious casualties."

Face paling, Sakura springs to her feet. "Right, thank you." She goes out to join the other medics.

Once Sakura leaves, Gaara retakes his sitting position beside his sister, who raises an eyebrow at him. "What was that about?"

When Gaara hesitates to answer, Temari rolls her eyes and shoves him in the shoulder. "Your secrets are safe with me, I assure you."

The young Kazekage nods. "The Tsuchikage sent a messenger; he's bringing his group back here for medical treatment and supplies."

"Makes sense."

They fall to silence and Temari continues to stew through curious thoughts. What does a father and his son who have always been at odds say to each other when the former returns from the dead? Not only an interesting conversation, but a painfully awkward one as well, to be sure.

Temari shoots a glance at Gaara. He's staring off into space, appearing abstracted.

Here goes.

"So…" For a moment Gaara doesn't seem to hear her; Temari keeps going only after her younger brother turns his pale green eyes on her "…you talked to Dad during the fight, didn't you?"

Gaara stiffens and his eyes dart to the hard-packed earth. Sakura comes tearing back in briefly, hefting the footlocker full of linens as though it's made of air; they've been tearing them up to use as bandages for a while now, given that gauze is more expensive. After a moment and the pink-haired blur has left, he nods wordlessly.

Ignoring the twinges in her leg, Temari narrows her eyes, brow creasing. "And what did you say?"

Gaara remains silent. Discomfort is clearly etched into his pale features. Well, he is silent, until he turns to Temari with an odd, unreadable expression on his face, and asks, "Temari, what do you know about Suna's ANBU?"

Given that Gaara's never shown that much interest in his village's ANBU before, Temari can't help but find this an out-of-character request. "Why? I mean…" Her voice trails off as something occurs to her. "Gaara?" Temari's voice is sharp. "What did he tell you?"

"…"

"I won't tell you anything about ANBU until you tell me what our father told you while he was still in this world."

Temari can't remember the last time she saw Gaara scrunch up his face like he does now. He looks like any other teenage boy who's been told something terrible and doesn't know how to handle it or talk about it. That's a bit absurd, but Temari's been exposed to some pretty absurd things lately as regards to her youngest sibling, so she's learned a wider range of tolerance and expectations.

Still, it's startling, not to mention disconcerting.

"Where do I start?" Barely audible, Gaara's voice is surprisingly steady for the way his lip twitches. Instead of meeting his sister's eyes his gaze is focused on Temari's hands, both of which are braced on top of her legs. "Well, for a first, apparently our mother really did love me and didn't give me the name 'Gaara' out of hatred. Next, Yashamaru was a member of ANBU, he didn't really hate me either, and our father just told him to tell me that he did and that Okaasan hated me to test my control over the Shukaku."

What?

For a long moment, Temari can only stare at him, gaping. No one can have a more stunned expression than her to match Gaara's contorted face. Finally, her tongue comes unknotted. "What the Hell?" she exclaims in a choked voice.

A soft sound that seems for all the world to be some grotesque combination of a laugh and a gag meets this. "That was about my reaction too."

"Are you sure he wasn't saying it just to mess with your head?" she points out. Temari hasn't seen her father fight often enough to know if mental manipulation was something he was into, but you never know and the Yondaime always was good with words. In battle, any advantage that can be gained will be gained.

"I don't see why; there was no point." Gaara's voice is small; as quiet as usual, but still small. "He was caught when he said these things; I had already won. There was nothing to be gained by saying these things to me."

Well, I suppose this is definitely something worthy of getting Gaara shaken out of his normal demeanor. Fighting back the urge to hide her face in her hands, Temari goes over the bases. "Well, that thing about Kaasan doesn't surprise me at all; I never believed what Yashamaru said about her," she declares firmly. In truth, it had never made sense to Temari that Karura hated Gaara; from what little she remembers of Karura, she wasn't a woman inclined to attach hate to someone who didn't deserve it.

For the first time, Gaara shows an expression other than the lost look he's displayed: indignation. "What? Why didn't you tell me?" Gaara frowns and the oddly peevish note in his voice leaves Temari restraining a high-pitched giggle.

Soon, Temari's humored face fades to something more serious. "Painful subject for you. Didn't seem right to bring it up. Besides, I had no proof of it, and Kaasan's dead; it's not like she can tell us herself."

The younger of the two siblings nods, and Temari watches, suddenly concerned, as Gaara slumps a little, the slight curvature of his spine seeming more pronounced than usual. "I can't believe Yashamaru was in ANBU," Gaara mumbles. "He seemed so… so unthreatening."

At this, Temari can only reach forward and put a hand on Gaara's shoulder; he pulls a look of bewilderment at the sudden human contact and she bites back a grimace, remembering the all but feral child of their youth. "Again," she points out gently, "it doesn't surprise me that much. Don't look at me like that, Gaara. You're not stupid; you were a jinchuuriki, the son of the Kazekage and a small child at that. This made you an instant target for kidnapping and assassination, if not by the other villages than by our own people. Do you honestly think they were going to leave you in the hands of an incompetent chunin?"

"True," he admits reluctantly. "But his rank is listed as chunin on the record."

Wondering why on earth Gaara would be looking at Yashamaru's records in the first place, Temari answers. "It wouldn't be; Suna ANBU keep their status strictly on the QT, since they're a pretty tantalizing target for assassination themselves."

Thanks to her status both as the Kazekage's sister and as his bodyguard, Temari has over the past year learned more about her village's ANBU Black Op.s than she ever thought she would know or ever particularly wanted to know; she had felt the need to read up on Suna's elite in case it ever became relevant to Gaara's defense. Mostly, her observations have come to the conclusion that ANBU is a singularly twisted organization, but Temari can't help but admire it on some level. They did their homework and tied up all loose ends, and the result is a highly efficient, devastatingly effective combat force.

Gaara pulls a face—funny, he's been doing that a lot lately; where his default demeanor is one of imperturbable calm, anyone would think him easily excitable if they were just now meeting him. "So anyone could be in ANBU and I wouldn't know. The genin who runs D-rank missions all day could be in ANBU and I would never know. Temari, that's a huge security risk."

Once more, big sister has an answer. "Well, not just anyone, Gaara." Gaara raises a hairless eyebrow and Temari sighs, tapping her forehead with her index and middle finger. "Since you asked about ANBU, I'll tell you what I know. Answering your first question, not just anyone can be called to serve in ANBU. You have to be of sound body and have no major health issues—sound mind doesn't matter to them nearly as much. Obviously you have to be a shinobi. Also, ANBU can not recruit a member of the Kazekage's immediate family; if they could do that they would have called Kankuro by now and we both know it.

"You don't have to worry about it being a security risk, Gaara. Part of ANBU conditioning is instilling an unflinching, unquestioning loyalty to the Kazekage. They answer to you and you alone. By the time they're done with their trainees, if you were to tell one of them to kill themselves they wouldn't even ask why; all they'd do is ask you how you want it done."

For the first time Gaara shows a face familiar to Temari—that of slight, reserved disapproval. "I don't think I like that."

That figures. For all that he's the leader of a hidden village and the military governor of a militarized nation and that he's more than willing to die for his people and his country, Gaara still doesn't particularly relish the idea of having people willing to die for him without question. He still heads all the most dangerous missions himself, at least the ones not degrading to his position as Kazekage, over the objections of the advisory council.

The young kunoichi snorts. "I didn't think you would, but that's how it is. The ANBU don't use their names, at least not in public; they use code names connected to their mask. Also, among the ANBU, when a new commander is appointed they are to present themselves to the Kazekage, or they do so when a new Kazekage is appointed; the ANBU commander is the only one whose identity the Kazekage is privy to."

Gaara nods. "I remember; he came the day after I was appointed."

"Right. The ANBU commander may on occasion come to you to inform you of new recruitment, but he only does so as a courtesy. He doesn't have to tell you anything." Temari drains the canteen before continuing, using the break as a tool to gather her thoughts to her. "For another thing, recruitment is compulsory. If you are called, you can not object."

Now Gaara can't help but look a little troubled. "What about the ones that do?" he asks, brow furrowed. Adding age to his face he looks a lot like their father did whenever Gaara showed signs of being under the Shukaku's influence as a child.

"They change their minds." The finality in Temari's voice is unmistakable.

Silent, Gaara gives himself time for all of this to sink in. All the while, Temari looks at him warily, getting the distinct sense that he's putting together the resolve to do something potentially very stupid. While Kankuro is better known for being "the stupid one" of the Sand Siblings, Gaara definitely has his moments too.

"Temari…" A carefully controlled mask appears where Gaara's face is supposed to be. "Do the ANBU keep any written records?"

Here it comes. Temari would rather not answer, knowing it can't be for anything good, but considering she doesn't know where Gaara's going with this yet, she doesn't see that she has much choice. "Officially, no."

The 'but' in that statement is clearly visible. "And unofficially?"

She shrugs helplessly. "Unofficially… Unofficially, you know they have to, for medical purposes if nothing else." Green eyes narrow and Temari's lips thin. "Listen, Gaara. There are rumors. Supposedly, there is supposed to be a room in the basement of ANBU headquarters. It's three floors down from the surface and past every sort of trap and alarm device known to man, plus some that aren't known. And that's if you can get past the ANBU operatives assigned to guard the place. And that's if you even know where ANBU headquarters is."

At that, Gaara has the air of a man who's made up his mind, and this is where Temari knows she's said too much. Oh no. "Gaara… Please tell me you're not planning what I think you're planning."

He doesn't answer.

"Oh brother." That settles it. He's every bit as crazy as he used to be. He just doesn't channel his craziness towards bloody rampages anymore. "Well I guess I know what we're doing when we get back to Suna," Temari sighs.

"You don't have to get involved," Gaara points out all too reasonably. "If the ANBU answer to me then theoretically all I have to do is ask. If they resist, I'll force the issue."

Knowing she's going to regret this, Temari shakes her head, an incredulous little smile starting to spill over her lips. "No. It'll be fun. Horrible idea, but still fun. Brother-sister bonding time, so don't tell Kankuro."

Another shout of "Kazekage-sama!" comes from beyond the tent and Gaara has to get up and leave. When he's gone, the smile slides off of Temari's face water off of duck feathers.

Before today, she would have given anything to be home in Suna as soon as possible. But for this, she can almost hope the war never ends, so she won't have the opportunity.