I do not own any part of Naruto. I do not make a profit writing this, this is just to entertain :D
"…will be here within the next 3 days."
Snapping back into the conversation, Temari looked across the desk to stare at her younger brother with a somewhat blank look on her face.
"I expect both of you to greet them and treat them accordingly. They'll be staying for 3 months initially, and if it goes well will stay longer." Gaara droned in his monotone deep voice.
Kankuro groaned from the seat next to her, "You want us to babysit them? Can't you give us a more serious mission?"
"You will do this mission; they are our allies and need to be treated with the highest respect." Came the calm reply.
"Well who is it anyway? And how many ambassadors does Konoha need to send?" Resigned to his fate Kankuro slouched down farther in his seat.
"Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto."
With a laugh Kankuro bounced to an upright position in his seat, "Why didn't you say that sooner? I've been looking for a reason to get to Konoha and see Sakura for week."
There was a slight gleam in his eye when Gaara responded, "I figured you would appreciate that, which is why she was requested."
Grinning from ear to ear Kankuro stood, "I knew there was a reason they made you Kazekage."
"Mmm. You may think of this as an extended visit with your girlfriend, but remember that she is here in a diplomatic capacity first," Gaara warned with a look to his brother. "There is a scroll with information about what their duties will be waiting for you outside."
With a snappy salute Kankuro strapped his puppet to his back while heading for the door.
"Now that he's been made happy, you can tell me what has had you so distracted and quiet lately." Looking up from the paper he had just signed Gaara stared straight into his sisters face.
So much for hiding things
Sighing softly Temari turned slightly to look out the window at the setting sun.
Should I tell him what I've been feeling lately?
Making a decision she said, "I don't know. I can't seem to focus for long lately. I couldn't tell you why."
"This is why I put you both on escort detail. Use this time to figure it out. I won't send you out of the village on missions this way. The only thing I ask in return is that you at least keep Kankuro marginally in line too."
Smirking softly Temari nodded, "I'll do my best."
"Good. Now get out of here so I can get back to this nonsense that the counsel seems to think I give a shit about." With a somewhat put out look Gaara shifted pages around.
Chuckling softly at the almost pouty look on his face Temari left the office, grabbing her information scroll on the way out before making her way down to the village.
~O~
Deciding a walk would do her some good Temari slowly made her way from the Kazekage's office.
She hadn't been completely honest with her brother, even though it still hit her at odd moments that she could even have a remotely personal conversation with him.
With a slight shake of her head at how far things had come from their younger days Temari's thoughts shifted to just what had her acting far beyond the norm.
Over the last several weeks, months really, she seemed to be more restless and…..on edge. Not so much that she felt something bad would happen. No now that the hidden villages were rid of Akatsuki things were generally much calmer.
It was more of a sense that she got that change was coming, and try as she might, if that change would be a good or bad thing was beyond her understanding. One thing was curtain; she knew it had to do with her feelings. More specifically, her feelings for a fellow blond that was making his way towards her village even now.
Huffing slightly at the riot of emotions just the thought brought her, Temari found that her wandering had brought her to an elevated park that overlooked the market. Deciding that it was as good a place as any to think Temari sat, watching the activity down below her.
Observing the way the civilians bustled about making their purchases, she thought back to try and trace just when things began to change.
~O~
(flashback)
"The one thing I can say about being the go between for my brother and the Hokage, it has me in better shape than I've been in months," Temari puffed as she sprinted the final miles left on her latest journey from her home to their ally.
I really hope that there are at least a couple people here to get some drinks with and relax for a while.
Wanting to know as soon as possible if there would be any celebrations tonight, Temari pumped chakra into her legs to gain more speed. Upon reaching the huge gates of Konoha, she handed over her paperwork for verification.
"What is it with villages and formalities?" Temari asked the now familiar guard, "You'd think I wasn't just here 2 months ago with the way papers have to be checked."
Smirking somewhat at the mild annoyance he could hear in the tone, the guard accepted the papers, "Ah, you know how it is with the elders, traditions traditions traditions."
Temari grinned wide at that and shifted to lean on against the wall to wait out the formalities. Before she could get comfortable though there was a shout from behind her.
"Temari!"
Glancing back she was dumbfounded to see a smiling and waving Naruto making his way towards her. But not just any Naruto, this one was almost unrecognizable when compared to the Naruto from her teenage years.
Gone was almost any trace of orange, although lines of the bright color could be seen going down the arms of his jacket. Somewhat loose fitting pants covered his legs, just tight enough to tell that they were well developed. The jacket flapped open to reveal a form fitting black shirt that gave her pause.
This is Naruto? Her surprised mind asked.
In the time that she had been observing him…well…ogling him was a better term, Naruto had reached her followed closely by Sakura and Sai.
"Hey Temari-chan! On official business I take it?" With a cheerful grin, Naruto stood before her with his hands in his pockets.
It was enough to snap her out of her daze and she quickly said her hellos. "Hai, I'm here to pass along some info. I was actually hoping to see some of you guys here, it seems the last couple years we've just kept managing to miss each other."
Even more enthused to be home again with the prospect of catching up with a long missed friend, Sakura said brightly, "Hey yeah, I think a lot of us are home in the next few days. It would be great to have a couple nights to hang with the group."
"That sounds like the best plan I've heard in a while. So hey I guess you gotta head to the tower. We'll come with you since we have to turn in our reports." Naruto said as he checked in with the guard at the gate.
Looking up after being handed her papers Temari stared into the bright face, "Sounds good."
They made their way to the tower, Naruto and Sai bantered back and forth good naturedly about the mission they had just been on as Sakura filled Temari in on some of what had been happening in the village.
"Well since the bottomless pit that is Naruto can usually be found at the ramen stand, a lot of the guys have been meeting up there and surprise of surprise Chouji hit it off very well with Ayame, the daughter of the owner," Sakura crinkled her nose at Naruto when he looked at her with a mock glare for her comment.
"Wait, isn't she a year or two older than me?" Temari asked in wonder. She herself was 3 years older than the ninja around her.
"It would seem that Chouji enjoys the company of older women," Sai pointed out in his monotone voice, although there was a slight gleam in his eyes.
With an exasperated sigh Sakura rolled her eyes, "No matter the age difference, they're rather adorable together."
Temari swung her arm to link it with that of her fellow female, "Either way I can't wait to see everyone."
By this time, they had made it to the doors of the office of the Hokage and they greeted Shizune who waved them into the office.
When the doors opened they could hear grumbling from behind the stack of papers sitting on the desk that dominated the room.
Tsunade, upon hearing the door open leaned to the side with a look of relief for the distraction from the paperwork in front of her.
"Oh, good Temari you made it in excellent time as usual. And you three are back a day early."
"Piece of cake Baa-chan," Naruto said with a mile wide grin at the twitch that the title got.
"Brat. Well Temari as you can see I'm more swamped than usual with all this junk so it will take me a bit longer than usual to read and write a response," The Hokage said as she shoved the papers to the side so that she could see the ninja before her without craning her neck.
"There's no rush Hokage-sama, it will give me a chance to relax a bit and see some familiar faces."
"Good, great. Since you three are here you can play escort to the visiting dignitary. Although, Sai a may be able to use you for a solo mission soon."
Sai bowed slightly, "Of course Hokage-sama."
"Right then, break time is over, I need to get as much of this out of here as I can, Shizune hide the damned sake again and I won't get it back until this is mostly cleared. So much for the power of the Hokage," Tsunade frowned at the papers as the young ninja hustled out of the room before laughing.
Once outside Naruto rubbed his hands together, "Alright, we'll all get settled and ready for tonight. Temari you'll be staying at the hotel you guys usually use right?" Receiving the nod he continued, "Ok, Sakura how about you get word out about tonight and see about the where. When we know I can come pick you up Temari and we'll get the party started."
Unable to control it, Temari felt her body heat up with the thought of her fellow blond alone with her at her hotel, even if it was just to pick her up.
Covering with a firm nod of agreement, Temari missed the speculative looks coming her way from two directions.
~later that night~
As she finished getting dress after taking a shower, Temari could not seem to get the changes that the blond had gone through out of her mind.
He's still his cheerful self, but, he's mature with it. And Kami has he gotten hot.
When the knock came at her hotel door, Temari almost nervously checked her pouch to make sure she had everything then went to answer, opening the door to see the very same hottie that she'd been thinking about.
"Hey! Looks like the place everyone picked is one of the newer lounge type bars that opened up so we should have a lot of fun."
Stepping out and closing the door behind her Temari turned to him, "Thanks. Tonight will be a lot of fun."
As they walked down to street level to begin the trek to the bar they were surrounded by a surprisingly comfortable silence.
Out on the street they walked companionable together for a few minutes before Naruto opened the conversation.
"It's been some time since we've seen each other. How have you been?"
Sliding her right arm behind her to grip the bicep of the left Temari deliberately slowed her steps so they could talk a little longer.
"I've been well. Doing missions, helping in the village where I can, training. You know, the usual."
With a chuckle Naruto stretched his arms up then moved his hands to the back of his head.
"Yeah it's been great to be able to relax. To go on missions without worrying that someone is out there wanting the Kyuubi."
That caught her attention.
Looking up at him, the fact that she had to look up to see him astonishing enough, she studied his profile.
"That's surprising." She went on to explain seeing his questioning look, "You never seemed to be worried about them, you always just seemed determined to bring them down. I guess I really just saw you as a fearless person."
Smiling cheekily at her Naruto said, "I am fearless! They only worried me a little."
Chuckling at his antics Temari shook her head and replied, "Come on fearless, let's go get those drinks."
When they reached the gathering spot it was to see that everyone was there and taking up an entire corner of the lounge. Greetings were passed all around as Naruto pulled out a chair for her and they squeezed into a space at the end of one of the tables next to Hinata and Shino. Temari took note of how closely the two sat and catching the shy girl's eye she raised a brow in question. Hinata blushed with a glance at her companion before nodding in confirmation at Temari.
Settling back and a contented sigh Temari let eyes wander around at the people who sat with here. There were Chouji and his "older woman" Ayame sharing some wings, Neji and Tenten sat focused on a discussion with Lee but she noticed the way they brushed hands occasionally.
Glancing around she realized that everyone was a part of a couple….well….almost everyone. Sakura was here alone, although that was due to her other half being in Suna and not that she didn't have one. There was Lee by himself, but then it would be difficult to find someone to match the very enthusiastic ninja. And Naruto, well Temari couldn't really remember ever hearing about him being with someone.
She came out of her musing when a glass was pressed into her hand. Taking it she looked up to smile at Naruto, "Thanks. Hey guys this next one is on me."
A cheer went up at that as everyone toasted.
Almost an hour passed with Temari chatting with everyone around her and Naruto in particular. When she felt him tense slightly and lean back in his seat she looked up at him in question. His face had gone blank, very uncharacteristic of him.
"Shika, Ino! About time you two got here." Kiba said, waving the pair over to their corner.
Temari flinched mentally for a moment before turning her head to watch her ex walk up to the table with his arm clasped by Ino.
Yes this isn't awkward.
Gearing herself up Temari smiled at the pair, "Hey guys long time no see."
Ino shifted slightly from her place beside the lazy ninja, "Temari, it's good to see you. In town for long?"
Nope. Not at all awkward.
"A couple days. Hello Shikamaru. You're looking well."
Shika dropped into the first available chair he saw, pulling a distracted Ino, who hadn't let go of his arm, with him into the seat beside his. "Yeah you too."
Her duty done, Temari turned back to continue her conversation with Naruto, only to realize that he was deep in discussion with Neji. She frowned slightly when she saw the forced cheer on his face. He had turned himself minutely away from her, not enough to be rude but enough to send a subtle message.
Unsure about what had happened to get such a reaction, or just what she felt about it, Temari turned to join the conversation with Hinata and Sakura.
She missed the quick glanced that Naruto gave before he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something to her, just then he heard Shikamaru's voice and with a shake of his head turned back to Neji.
(end flashback)
Now that she knew he was going to be here for an extended time, she could honestly say that he was the reason for her distracted behavior lately.
The real question was; what was she going to do about it?
~O~
Early in the morning on the second day the message came that two ninja sporting the Konoha symbol were a few miles out of the gate of the village.
Having geared herself up ever since hearing the news, Temari thought she was better prepared to see the man that had her mind so scattered. She set out to find Kankuro so they could wait with the guards at the wall.
Heading down the hall from her room she knocked on the door that lead to Kankuro's and without waiting for a response to her knock opened it.
"Kuro let's go. Naruto and Sakura will be at the gates soon, we need to be there."
"Shit already? Alright I'm coming." He hurried to wrap his puppet after having been cleaning it all morning.
As they made their way through the village Temari asked the question that had been on her mind since the day before.
"Kuro how do you keep up a relationship with Sakura? I mean it can't be easy, you sometimes go a month or more without seeing her."
Kankuro scratched his head while he contemplated his answer. "It's not easy. Actually it's pretty damn hard at times. We've argued several times. More so it's on my part, I mean; she could have any number of guys that would be there. Even if it is another ninja, between missions there's at least that time together. But with me; well I can't just go to her like that."
Frowning in thought, he looked up at the sky. "I guess it's really a matter of knowing that we care enough about each other to try and make it work. And if you repeat this to anyone, I'll know how they found out." He said with a mock glare.
When she didn't laugh or even smirk at his last statement he lifted a brow and watched her closely. "Why do you ask anyway?"
Responding quickly she said, "No real reason. Just curious I guess. Anyway come on, you know they run pretty fast. We need to get to the wall soon."
As he watched her speed up, Kankuro's brows lowered.
Hmm. I'll have to look into that later.
With that thought he increased his pace to catch up with his sister.
~O~
They had only been at the gate for 10 minutes when they saw two figures in the distance. When the guard on top of the wall confirmed that it was indeed the delegates Temari took a steadying breath and stood next to her eager brother.
"We've been together for three years now, but I think the next six months will be about the same amount of time that we've been able to spend together in those three years." Kankuro grinned at the prospect.
Temari couldn't help but smile at her brother; he almost seemed like a little boy at Christmas. It was almost surreal the changes that being with Sakura had made in him. He was still the arrogant know it all, but he was much more relaxed….content with his life really. Temari could only hope to have that some day.
In her musing she didn't notice the pair coming closer to where they stood. That is until she heard Sakura shout and run up to her brother.
"Kankuro! I was hoping you'd be here and not on a mission when we arrived." Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close.
"You're stuck with me for sure for the next couple weeks, Pink. We get to play host for you and fox boy over there." Kankuro replied before giving her a smacking kiss.
"Yeah, yeah. It's good to see you too. Be careful with them kisses Sakura, you'll end up with paint everywhere." Naruto grinned, extending his hand to shake Kankuro's. He perked up when he saw Temari standing next to the gate.
Wrapping his arm around her shoulders by way of greeting, he presented the paperwork to the guard and began making his way through the gate.
"So Temari-chan, how have you been doing? It's been a few months since I saw you in Konoha."
Trying fiercely not to blush at his close proximity she could only say, "I've been good. I was pretty glad to hear that the delegates were familiar faces."
"Yeah Baa-chan thought it would be a good idea for Sakura to work with another hospital and different medic-nins. And she thought I might learn a few things about being a Kage from Gaara." He said with a sparkle in his eye.
"Learn to be a Kage? Does that mean you'll be her successor?" Temari asked with wonder.
"It's not a sure thing, but if I can prove myself to the counsel in the next year or two I very well may."
"Naruto that's great. I know Gaara will help you too." Temari couldn't help but grin with pride for her friend.
By now they'd arrived at the tower and made their way up to see her brother.
Barely bothering to knock Naruto pushed the door to Gaara's office open, ignoring the squawking of the secretary behind him.
"Well that's a good way to start your training." Temari couldn't help but smirk up at her fellow blond.
Looking somewhat sheepish, Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Hehe. Guess it's easy to see why I need it huh?" He looked back to see Sakura and Kankuro coming up behind them, shaking their heads over the blonds entrance.
Turning back to face the office, Naruto walked forward and wrapped Gaara in a brotherly bear hug.
"It's good to see you too Naruto." Was all that Gaara said.
After waving the four ninja before him into seats, Gaara sat behind his desk and outlined what their responsibilities would be.
"You will be here officially acting as representatives of the medical and administrative branches of Konoha. You will both have these first two weeks to acclimate yourselves to Suna. After this time Sakura you will begin working with Kimi-san, the director of the medic-nin program in the hospital. Naruto you will begin working with me as an assistant and consultant. I gave my word to Tsunade-dono that I would whip you into shape." There was an amused gleam in his eye as he said this.
Rolling his eyes at yet another reminder of his need to reform Naruto settled back into his seat.
"I have made an apartment available to you both. It's spacious enough for you to be comfortable, even more so since I'm sure one of you will not spend all that much time there."
Kankuro grinned hugely from his seat, reaching over to grab Sakura's hand. She blushed slightly at the thought that the Kazekage knew about her sex life.
Smirking at the reaction, Gaara continued. "Temari, Kankuro please take them to the apartment and help them settle in. There is an official welcoming ceremony and dinner planned for tonight so rest up and be ready at 7 tonight."
With the dismissal the four ninjas stood and bowed before leaving the office and exiting the building.
Once outside they decided to head to the apartment first to drop off the Konoha shinobi's bags and let them get the travel grim off before relaxing and getting ready for tonight.
The building they would be staying in was only a couple blocks away from the tower and they made it there in minutes. Temari and Kankuro stayed in the roomy living room to wait for their two friends to get ready.
Kankuro thoughtfully watched his sister look out the window from his seat on the sofa. When he heard the showers going from down the hall he finally spoke up, "Is he what's had you out of it lately?"
When she turned towards her brother, she caught the knowing look on his face. With a sigh she wandered over to sit across from him. "In a word….yeah. I guess while I was over in Konoha for that last mission is started. It took me until right after Gaara told us about them coming to actually realize it though."
Sitting forward Kankuro replied, "Hey this is great. He's a good guy. But for some reason it seems like you're having trouble with it."
Temari cocked her head to the side, "You've gotten pretty perceptive. When did this happen?" Waving off his scrunched face she listened to make sure the showers were still running. "I can feel any way I want to, but it's something completely different when it comes to how he feels." She thought back to the way her time in Konoha ended, she hadn't seen much of Naruto after the night at the lounge. His greeting and attitude since this morning confusing her even more. It was almost as if those hours hadn't happened at all, but she had the emotions to prove it wasn't a dream.
She made a mental note to get some answers out of the blond the first chance she could.
Not knowing what to say to that Kankuro only nodded, "You know I'm here if you need to talk sis. Just…spare me the intimate details. I really don't need any mental images."
Temari was unable to hold back a chuckle at his mock shudder, but she didn't forget to through a pillow at his head for his remark.