Lucky (or, "Go to bed, Temari")
A/N: my response to all those sand-cest fics that are out there. Okay, sure, if you can make it work, it's cute, but all in all… how likely is it? My answer: not very damn. So this is my reason (the only reason I can see) why the Sand-sybs would ever, ever sleep together.
Even if the mission had gone perfectly… well, Temari brushed the thought away, since it hadn't and there was nothing left to do but pick up the pieces – the many, squishy, bloody pieces and move on. Bloodbaths and Gaara weren't exactly mutually inclusive – not anymore at least – but the former still did seem to end up in the same vicinity as the latter, and Temari usually counted it a success when she and Kankurou weren't victims of either.
And at least this time, it hadn't been Gaara who started it.
Somehow – and couldn't you just hear the cynicism in her voice – she didn't the nin Konoha had sent over for the joint mission were quite as capable as she was at picking up the pieces and moving on. The Yamanaka girl's quiet breakdown, as she stared into nothing was an indication if nothing else.
Somehow more Konoha nin had survived the encounter, and most of them, along with most of the Sand nin who had survived were securing the perimeter, preferring to have their own quiet breakdowns in the safety of isolation. Temari alone was left with the Yamanaka, the fat boy, and the Nara.
Honestly, Temari thought resentfully, watching the Nara roll over in his sleep, and the Yamanaka's very much awake body clutch at him until he rolled back over, to be encompassed by the warmth of their little huddle, it wasn't as if any of her teammates died. This is why everyone's so sure women can't be ninja.
She determinedly ignored the little flips her stomach was still giving her every time she remembered the wet squelch of human tissue being pulped by sand. And the squeal of razor wire not quite sharp enough to cut through bone. The quick thu-thump of limbs hitting the ground in quick succ- Temari scorched her tongue on the stomach settling tea she had brewed earlier, knowing at least a few of the survivors would need it later, herself included.
She breathed deeply, through her mouth, trying to cleanse her nose of the iron taste of blood, and chased bile back with another swig.
Yamanaka broke the silence, with "That's not really ladylike, you know."
Of course Temari knew. Temari just had no time or inclination to be ladylike. Trying to be ladylike around Gaara is like… trying to wash clothes in the middle of a sand storm: there isn't likely to be anyone close enough to care, and really, you have much bigger worries than a bit of dirt on your clothes.
"And those kinds of teas are extremely fattening. It's all the additives they put in," Ino continued, voice shaking.
Temari, knowing that everyone dealt with difficult missions in different ways, and knowing, too, that she wasn't really being fair to lash out, growled, "Want some?"
She wasn't quite surprised when Yamanaka murmured "yes, please", and began the complicated process of extricating herself from her teammates – one of whom clang, and the other of whom was currently gravitating toward the nearest heat source. Temari watched in amusement.
Eventually the girl got out, and joined her at the fire. She cast a glance behind her, and a small smile tugged at her lips. Temari's own lips were already spreading into an amused grin at the sight of the Nara curling in to the much greater heat of the fat boy's body, and the fat boy squeezing Nara like a teddy bear, one arm draped across the boy's chest, and the other… doing the same, but from a different direction – when had the fat boy gotten his arm under Nara?
Temari's head was tilted just slightly to the side, trying to figure the logistics of that, when once again Yamanaka broke the silence. For a girl who'd only been able to say 'His mind is filthy' from the – particularly bloody – end of the mission until a few minutes ago, it seemed remarkable.
"I'm lucky," she said, and Temari's usually steady hands shook as she passed over a bamboo stalk of tea. She did not want to have this conversation – not since Kankurou's watch shift wouldn't be over for another half hour, and hers would begin at the same time. Yes, the Yamanaka was lucky that she had the time to seek comfort from her teammates, but there was no need to rub it in Temari's face.
"Oh?" she said, trying to convey by way of her tone of voice that this was a subject that should be dropped faster than an active exploding tag. Alternatively, it should be dropped faster than the life expectancy of a bowl of ramen – any kind of ramen – when Naruto is in the vicinity.
Unfortunately, Yamanaka didn't seem to pick up the clue. "Yes," she said. "I'm the only girl in my year who can do this. Sakura can't, since Sasuke's gone, and Naruto's… well, Naruto. Hinata can't, just because… well, she's clan heir, you know how it is,"
Oh, and didn't Temari know it. Cute how Yamanaka was trying not to mention how precarious the Hyuuga's position as clan heir was, while still trying to use it as a major reason why she would never dare sleep even in the same room as her teammates - much less the same bed – no matter how hard or soul-destroying the mission had been.
"Even Tenten," the Yamanaka said. "Lee doesn't come back to the village until very, very late, and her father still hasn't forgiven, well" she stopped, falling to silence. She didn't need to say more. Clan rivalries could ruin even the best matched teams, and if Temari was remembering the girl's clan history – ferreted out by Kabuto before Konoha found out he was a spy and Orochimaru before anyone knew it was him – correctly, her father's brother had been on a team with one of the Hyuuga. He'd died, too, because Hyuuga… Kosamu wasn't it? had had to decide which partner to save, and Tenten's uncle hadn't been that lucky.
"My parents are all best friends," Ino said. "And it's not like any of us are interested in each other. I like my men thinner than Chouji and buffer than Shikamaru. So no one cares where we sleep." For a few minutes she and Temari said nothing, simply sipping tea while their stomachs settled. "I suppose things are different in Sand."
Ino had no room to throw stones, so Temari didn't feel too bad about admitting a weakness. "Not really. If Kankurou were here, I'd be doing the same thing. We usually do. It's only when,"
Temari's head jerked up. Gaara was coming back. She poured more tea into a third bamboo stalk - not that Gaara would need the stomach soothing effect – but he was trying to act more like an actual brother, so Temari supposed she should probably try too.
"Tea?" she offered, as Ino asked "It's only when what?" and then paled, seeing who she was offering the tea to.
Gaara nodded, taking it from her. Yamanaka sat in shaky silence, and Temari supposed she shouldn't be angry at her for it. It wasn't like Gaara hadn't once had that effect on her.
"Yamanaka," she snapped, and Ino's eyes gratefully tore away from Gaara's face. "Go back to bed."
She nodded, hesitantly turning away and made herself room between Nara and the fat boy. She'd said his name was Chouji, hadn't she? Gaara was watching her too, the space between where his eyebrows should have been crinkling with the force of his thinking. Temari waited. Whatever it was, it would come out soon enough. For some reason, he never asked Kankurou those things he didn't understand.
"I'll take over your watch."
Temari blinked, not having expected that. Gaara never slept, true, but he'd always found watch duty boring, and he'd already been on watch for nearly half the night… so… Gaara's eyes were still riveted on the sleeping duo, and the huddled female form between them.
Temari took a private moment for her mind to break under the knowledge that Gaara – her little brother and for so many years, her little monster – knew she and Kankurou had often hugged each other tightly in the middle of the night, just to know that someone in their family, other than themselves, wasn't homicidally insane. Likely, he had always known.
When she said nothing, and didn't move, Gaara's gaze flickered to her. "Temari," he said. "Go to bed," and she nodded, setting down the bamboo stalk, and walking slowly to her bed roll.
She lay down on top, but didn't actually sleep until who knew how long later, when Kankurou tugged his bedroll over to hers.
"He knows," she muttered, as one of his arms flopped down to rest over her stomach, and the dark shape of his head flipped to regard her.
"I got that, yeah," he muttered. "We're not dead yet, so I don't think he cares," he said. "And it's not like anyone's gonna think we're doing anything but sleep together. Definite benefit to teammating your siblings," he yawned. His words were slurred, and his hand patted her side. "Go to bed, Temari."