The only things that count are those that we don't know.
Ja, this title is far too long, so the 'official' title of the fanfic is "Things we don't know can hurt." Meh.
Set just before the chuunin exams. A little AU making, because it would probably change the events of the chuunin exams. But meh, I don't go that far.
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"Worthless child! You let that demon escape! He killed four of my good ninjas! You and your brother are absolutely-" Temari yelped at a kick to her side. "The most useless beings on the planet! I am disgraced to call you my children!" With a last kick to her stomach, the Yondaime Kazekage left his eldest child lying passed out and injured on the floor.
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Kankuro lay trembling in the bedroom next door to his sister. Damn Gaara! Why did he have to sneak off and do that! It wasn't Temari's fault! Kankuro shuddered with every yelp of pain from his sister. Damn himself! Why did he have to be too weak to stop their father! He was scared, he knew, that he would receive the same treatment. Selfish bastard. Damn Father! Why did he keep doing this to her!?!?! Kankuro's eyes closed, tears rolling down his face.
He was a puppet master, for god's sake! And yet… taking down two hundred S-class nin seemed easy in comparison to standing up to the Kazekage.
God, he was so weak.
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Discusting filth. Thought the Kazekage. Weak, useless child. He turned and left her room, nose wrinkled in disgust at the spattering of blood on his robes. The demon was there, leaning against the wall next to her door. It lifted its' head, gazing at him flatly. The sand shifted restlessly at his feet, but he knew he wouldn't use it. The Kazekage swiftly turned and strode down the hall to his study, feeling the gaze of it boring into him all the way.
As soon as the study door shut, Gaara – AKA it – entered Temari's room, shutting the door behind him.
He gently unzipped her top…
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A Fourteen year old Temari was sobbing heartily into her bedspread. She had just woken up to find herself placed neatly under her duvet, her wounds cleaned, all this presumably done by the help. The blood was gone from the floor, just like it always was, nothing remained to tell of the abuse inflicted upon her last night. It was best forgotten, she thought bitterly. Temari held the only evidence of it, beaten into her skin. She sighed, trying, and failing, to clear her eyes of tears. Time to get up and pretend that life was fine, time to get up and act normal.
Neither she or Kankuro could fight against the Kazekage. If they did, their sibling would get hurt too. Temari accepted her fate for fear of him hurting Kankuro. Hurting Gaara was out of the question; it wasn't possible.
Temari sighed. That's what it came down to, Love. She would rather suffer than have Kankuro suffer as well, or in her place. It just so happened that it was Temari getting abused, as she was the one who was most 'unruly.' "At least Kankuro can still be tamed, if you are tethered." He had said.
Downstairs, she found Kankuro sitting at the table, eating some porridge that he had obviously made.
He noticed her entrance and smirked up at her. "I made some breakfast, Tem, 'coz it seemed you weren't going to get out of bed anytime soon."
She could see the pain in his eyes that he was trying and failing to hide.
Act normal. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Whatever, hope it's more edible than that spaghetti…"
Kankuro grimaced, "I burn one thing one time…" He muttered.
In the process of grabbing a bowl for food, Temari noticed an abnormality against the wall next to her.
She shrieked and dropped the bowl, which promptly smashed into pieces.
"Gaara!" She gasped. "S-sorry, didn't notice you." Damn. He's quiet. She thought, internally twitching her eyebrows. She tried to surreptitiously move away from the creepy boy.
Aforementioned boy raised his head from the floor he had been staring at, staring at her flatly, with those deep, pupil less green eyes. He probably could be quite attractive, thought Temari, if only he smiled.
Or at least didn't frown.
"Want some food, Gaara?" Asked Kankuro. More out of fear, and trying to break the tension.
The jinchuuriki stared at Temari for a second longer, before switching his gaze to the middle child.
"No." He rasped, turning and heading for the door. To be honest, thought Temari, Gaara always looked a little drunk. Not in the sense of no balance, just the fact he's always so damn slow and… out-of-it.
She joined her oldest brother at the table, sharing a shivering glance with Kankuro. Neither of them particularly liked Gaara or his death threats. Not to mention, by the look in Kankuro's eyes, he blamed Gaara for what had happened last night.
No… nothing had happened last night, nothing at all.
"Well," sighed Kankuro, standing "we'd better get ready. We have a B ranked mission with Baki in an hour, and we leave for the Chuunin exams at the end of the week. That means training." He grimaced at the thought. Kankuro preferred lounging than training.
"Yea," sighed Temari, standing too.
They both left for their respective rooms.
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Kankuro flopped down on the lounge. "Man, I'm buggered. What a stupid mission."
Temari sank onto the armchair next to him, groaning. She agreed with Kankuro. Who sends three chuunins on a B rank mission to kill two B-classed missing-nin? Ouch, she grimaced, I think I opened a few cuts.
It was then she noticed something missing. Not that said thing could really ever feel like it was NOT missing, even if it wasn't. (Hehe, sort that one out!)*
"Where's Gaara?" She asked, looking around.
Kankuro's head snapped up and growled. "He better not be out there kil-… er… doing stuff that he shouldn't" As his head sank back against the cushions. Temari grimaced. He obviously didn't want her getting – er – told off.
"Erm… wanna play Go?" Asked Temari awkwardly.
"Hmmm? Oh, yea, sure. Come on, we'll play in my room. It's too damn creepy down here." Eyeing the front door as though Gaara could burst through at any moment. He probably could. She noticed he didn't want to use her room, even though that's where the board was.
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"Hah! I win again!" Shouted Temari gleefully while Kankuro groaned. "That's six to me, two to you!" Temari made a small victory pose.
"Hey! I would have won more often if I didn't feel like beating a girl was a …" He trailed off, face paling, looking at the door.
The Kazekage stood glaring at his two eldest children. Not that he considered them so.
"Didn't either of you think it was odd that only two of your three team mates returned home?" Hissed the evil man. "Did either of you ever wonder where Gaara had gone?"
Temari made a stuttering noise. "Well… we assumed… he…"
"I'll tell you where he went!" Roared the enraged Kage. He went to the house of my right hand ninja and slaughtered him! He killed a very powerful and important man, vital to the running of this village!"
Yea, coz he was the one that was keeping you from killing everyone you don't like. Thought Kankuro rebelliously.
"You can't even keep the thing within your watch! Worthless children!" He hissed, raising a fist. Kankuro dived in front of Temari.
"Kankuro!"
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Breathe, ouch. Breathe, ouch. Breathe, ouch…
Kankuro exhaled. Ouch. He must have at least broken a few ribs. Ouch. He moaned silently. How weak could he get? Damn, so much for being the bad ass puppeteer.
His eyes flickered open. Ouch. One of them was swollen. There was a quiet cough to his right. Turning his head, he found Temari asleep – no, unconscious –next to him in his queen sized bed. How did they get up here? Huh, probably the help. At least he couldn't see too many injuries on Temari. Seeing his Neesan so… weak…. Kankuro shuddered.
It was then that he realized he had his shirt off, and that his stomach seemed to have something resting on it.
Wincing at the effort to look down… Kankuro gaped. And stared… Uh oh….
"Temari!" He hissed. Elbowing his sister gently.
"gnugh…." Her head suddenly snapped up. "Kankuro! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly, rubbing her neck.
Kankuro pressed a finger to his lips frantically, pointing at his stomach.
Temari gaped.
"Well…" She choked.
On Kankuro's stomach lay Gaara.
Fast asleep.
He was lying on the extreme edge of the bed, his head resting on him, as though he had been kneeling and had collapsed. There was a line of blood across his face where he had laid against one of his cuts. Had he been staring at the blood? Kankuro shuddered.
Not a good idea, as it turned out, because Gaara's eyes clenched and he shifted, feeling the movement.
Kankuro and Temari held their breath.
But thankfully Gaara relaxed.
"Should he be asleep?" Asked Kankuro.
"Well…" Said Temari, edging gently out of bed – Gaara was in a position of falling off, and neither wanted the insomniac demon being woken up by being knocked out of bed. Not going to be a good idea. For them – "He isn't chakra drained enough for that… thing to come out… so… I suppose it's okay." She winced as her foot touched the cold floor. It was obviously late at night.
Temari reached her youngest brother, bending quietly over him.
She frowned. "What's he doing here?" She murmered.
"Don't know, just get me out of her!" He panicked, not wanting to have Gaara wake up with such proximity to the hated touch.
"er… okay…" She grimaced, not particularly wanting to touch a sleeping demon.
Her hands gently – timidly – placed their selves under the red-haired boys' head, lifting it enough for Kankuro to wiggle out from underneath.
"Phew…" Gasped Kankuro, hands on knees. He was interrupted by a tap to the arm. Temari.
"Look…" Temari whispered, pointing at Gaara's hand. In it was a bloodstained cloth.
Both siblings had the same thought. What, was he saving the blood for later or something? Both shuddered.
Once again, not a good idea. Temari realized - too late - that she was still holding Gaara's head.
"Hn…" He shifted. Temari and Kankuro both flattened themselves against the wall. Could they make it to the door?
To their horror, Gaara tried to roll to his left, resulting on him landing on his back on the floor. Slightly dazed, Gaara frowned, as though he was trying to remember in what room he was in.
He probably was.
He then noticed the presence of his siblings, trying very hard to become part of the wall.
He stared at them. They blinked. He stared at them. They blinked. He stared at them, frowning. They shuddered.
Then, suddenly, his expression became one of horror. He flinched, flying to his feet. He looked like he was deciding whether or not to flee to the door or use sand teleport.
"Gaara!" Shrieked Temari.
There was a trail of blood running down his arm.
Sure, you may say. He was just lying in the room with two bleeding relatives, some probably got on him. But that was not what it looked like.
The trail was coming from underneath his shirt.
The abnormally thin boy looked, if possible, more horrified. He had apparently made up his mind about fleeing, because he turned towards the door, other hand moving to cover the blood…
Only to be held back by a strong hand.
"Temari!..." Hissed Kankuro. She had not just grabbed a homicidal 12 year old by the wrist.
The sand that followed Gaara everywhere hissed angrily. "Let go!" He glared at her.
"No." She retorted, glaring right back at him. Oh, Temari was SO in for it! Sweated Kankuro. Damn he's thin Thought Temari.
Gaara looked, if anything, confused, and… dare she say it… a little scared. He probably had never had anyone glare back at him before.
He opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Temari pressing him against her chest.
Kankuro looked at Gaara's shocked face over Temari's shoulder, too horrified to move.
Before either of them could react, Temari had grabbed a kunai and had slit Gaara's shirt all the way down the back.
For a moment, the ripping of cloth hung in the air.
Then a muffled scream.
"Temari!" Yelled Kankuro. What had the bastard done to her?
But Temari, who appeared to be fine, instead grabbed her youngest brother by the shoulder and whirled him around, pushing him easily towards the bed.
"Face down!" She hissed, shoving the boy onto the covers. He's TOO thin. She thought miserably, her female maternal instinct despairing at the underfed and unhealthy looking boy, noting how easily it was to push him.
To everyone's surprise, Gaara obliged, looking like a scared six year old.
Kankuro peered around Temari, as much to make sure Temari was alive as to see what was going on.
"Tse…" Kankuro gagged. Gaara's back was hideously disfigured, covered in scars, cuts, sores, things that looked like kunai marks and whip lashes. They were new, old, large, small, and a few were extremely recent, still bleeding.
Kankuro gagged again, this time out of revulsion. Someone was… someone was hurting his… otouto! (-.- nice change of heart, there.)
And he had a pretty damn good idea of whom.
"Gaara…" Temari was patting his head. He was shaking. She bent down to look at his face. "We're not going to hurt you." She reassured.
Gaara relaxed and instead opted to become confused.
"Now," she said comfortingly, still rubbing his ruffled red hair. "Who did this? Was it father?" She said the word coldly.
The boy still lying on the bed opened his mouth to speak, a look of utter confusion still on his face. It was almost funny, one of the things that Kankuro and Temari feared the most, scared as hell by them.
"… No." He said finally. Temari frowned in confusion, but Gaara wasn't done. "It was the Kazekage."
"…Ah." Was all Temari could say. It was not lost on her that Gaara refused to call him 'father.'
She turned her attention back to the scars, rubbing her thumb lightly against a raw red scar.
Kankuro came and joined her, squatting next to the bed, by Gaara's head, trying not to jostle his chest. No bones were broken, but damn, they hurt!
"How long?" Kankuro demanded, eyes boring into the green ones.
Gaara shifted nervously. He didn't like this kind of scrutiny.
He mumbled something.
"What?" Prompted Kankuro.
"Six." He muttered again.
Temari joined in, rubbing his hair again, "Six what? Weeks, days, months? What?" Both the siblings assumed his answer would be six months, as that had been the time when they had started being… subjected… to such favoritism.
Gaara mumbled something again, eyes closing as Temari rubbed her hands through his hair.
"Didn't catch that again." Said Kankuro exasperatedly.
Gaara opened his eyes to stare at him. "…Since I was six."
He evaluated their flabbergasted, confused and skeptical expressions, and decided to elaborate.
"Or I could have been five." He remarked, eyes closing again. Temari's hands continued their work at this point, having stopped when he said his last statement. "Father said that I was getting out of control… he said that every beast needs taming." He sighed. "He said that I was a failure… and other things. But then he realized that it wasn't working, and I didn't care about it, or the fact that he kept sending assassins like Yashamaru after me-"
"What!" Shrieked both Temari and Kankuro simultaneously, Temari smashing her knee into the bed frame.
Gaara's eyes were wide open now. "I… I thought you knew what happened to Yashimaru…" He trailed off guiltily.
"He… what… you… Yashamaru… tried to… you know…" Kankuro's choking trailed off.
"Hn." Sighed Gaara, closing his eyes again. He did look extremely tired, thought Temari.
"Sixty four… so far…" Mumbled the boy.
"Sixty four… tried to…" Temari trailed off this time, enraged.
"Hn. The Kazekage's advisor was the last, as you probably know. He annoyed the Kazekage, so father gave him the mission." He sighed. " Mission 127592. Status: ongoing. Designation: To destroy or otherwise incapacitate the demon container of Shukaku, using any method deemed necessary to the acceptant of this mission. Mission attempts: 64. Accepted by: Yashamaru, Ryokou Asakura, Haiti Nedaime, Kyon Jyanisii…
Gaara's voice trailed on monotionously… listing every single person ever to try and kill him, while his siblings sat in horror and immovable disgust.
"Fath- erm – the Kazekage just told us you… killed them."
"Oh, I did. But not before they tried to kill me." Nodded Gaara.
"I mean, he never mentioned… anything about… this…" Kankuro was horrified.
Gaara noticed. "Gomen…" he whispered, flinching away from them.
Fully aware this was probably the longest conversation either of them had ever had with Gaara, and not wanting him to think that he was scaring them or that it was a pointless one, therefore thwarting any chance of him talking so much again, Temari was quick to reassure.
"No… we just can't believe that he'd try something like that! I mean, I know he's evil and all, but that's…" She shuddered
"By the way, Gaara," said Kankuro, closing one eye as he sat down on the floor. "How did it work? I mean, how did… yanno, not get stopped by the sand." He gestured helplessly at his injuries.
Gaara glanced slowly down to somewhere near his back, before referring his gaze to Kankuro.
"It said that it wasn't going to protect him from me, as punishment for helping you."
Kankuro frowned, "It?"
Gaara slowly pointed to his head. Kankuro sweatdropped. "Ah…"
But the last part of the statement was not lost on Temari.
"'helping you?' What…" Her eyes widened. "You! That was you! Every time… afterwards… I was always tucked in bed, and my wounds were looked after…"
Gaara looked away, a slight blush tinging his cheeks.
"Aww… little Gaara's blushing!" Chuckled Kankuro, abandoning all pretences.
This only succeeded in making Gaara blush harder.
"You were looking after our wounds again, weren't you," said Temari, glancing towards the blood soaked cloth that had been in his hands. "But you… fell asleep."
"Hn… using healing juutsus on both of you was… more draining than expected…" He closed his eyes again.
"You know healing juutsus?" Asked Kankuro, interested.
"A few." Came the mumbled reply.
"Then why haven't you used them on yourself?" Demanded Temari, angry.
Gaara looked worried again. "Should I have?"
"Of course!" Yelled Temari. Gaara flinched. "You should have looked after yourself, too!"
"Hn." Gaara's eyes closed again.
"You should have, jan." Agreed Kankuro.
"Hn." Said Gaara again.
"You're tired…" Teased Kankuro.
"…No, 'm not." Sighed Gaara.
"Yes you are…" One eye closed.
Gaara seemed to have deemed it too much effort to reply.
"Well, if you're going to sleep, at least move away from the edge." Commented Temari, noting once again his close proximity to the edge.
"Hn…" Said Gaara, shifting slightly, weakly trying to get his arms in a position to push himself up. His eyes remained closed.
"Oh, don't move… here." Said Temari worriedly, giving into her maternal instinct, Gaara was going to injure himself further. She placed her one hand under Gaara's chest, turning him over, his head flopping gently, then slid one hand under his neck, the other under his knees.
"Geez, Gaara, you're far too light!" She exclaimed. She was hardly half as heavy as her fan. She carried him around to the other side of the bed, slipping him under the duvet. He hardly shifted.
"Hm, where am I going to sleep, jan?" Inquired Kankuro, smirking, as his bed was now occupied.
"Oh… I'll move." Gaara's eyes snapped open and he went to get up.
"Hey, no, I was kidding! Stay there." He pushed him gently back down.
"Anyway, I know where you can sleep," Said Temari. She dragged Kankuro to the other side of the bed and pushed him into it. "Scoot," she commanded, getting in after him.
"Temari!" Kankuro groaned. But he moved into the middle.
"What? We can all fit!" Temari laughed.
Kankuro also noticed there was a slight look of humor on Gaara's face as well. A happy humor. One that said he didn't mind that he was sharing a bed with his siblings.
He liked it.
"Whatever…" Yawned Kankuro. "Night, guys."
"Night, tubby." Yea, that was soooo said by Gaara. (Sarcasm sarcasm.)
"Oi!"
Temari sniggered.
It was quiet for a while, then Temari asked something she had been wondering for a while. "Hey Gaara?" Hoping he was still awake.
"Hn?" He murmured, sleepy.
"You were trying to say something before, something about you not caring about assassins, or something…"
"Hn… yea… I was going to say sorry."
"Huh? Sorry for what?" Temari Asked, sitting up to look at him over Kankuro. His green eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.
"Sorry that he's hurting you. It is my fault."
"Hn? No it's not!" Kankuro interrupted this time. "He only… er… hurts us because you kill people, and you only kill people to keep alive. I'd rather be hurt than you be dead."
"… Really?" Asked Gaara, turning his eyes to Kankuro in bewilderment. He suddenly looked quite at peace. But then he frowned and shook his head. "No… he is only hurting you because I don't care about him hurting me, I only care about him hurting you. He only hurts me now if I help you. He said compassion is a sign of weakness, or something…"
"…Well… it's nice to know you don't want us hurt." Smiled Temari. The smile slid off her face quickly. "But… Does that mean he… hurt you… today? Because you were… looking after us?" Temari looked extremely worried.
"Hn…" Nodded Gaara, eyes closing. They knew that this time, he had finally fallen asleep.
Both siblings processed the thought that their little brother was being tortured in their unconscious presence, every single time he tried to do something good. The disgusted expressions were unanimous on their faces. That's what it came down to, thought Temari, Love. To care for someone so deeply that every hurt inflicted on them, was also inflicted upon you, she unknowingly quoted something Gaara would say in the near future. She shuddered. The worst kind of torture, one that you yourself can't feel.
"We're going to stand up to the bastard from now on." Said Kankuro confidently. "If not just for us, then for him." Both siblings had bonded with their younger brother today, and they felt they owed it to him to protect him.
There was another silence, in which Temari stayed in her sitting position. Then,
"He's kinda cute, ne?" Asked Kankuro, one eye closed, as he watched his younger brother's thing chest move up and down.
"Hai." She giggled. Then, with an afterthought, she said, "He has really nice hair, fluffy and smooth…" She sighed dreamily.
"Nothing like yours then, Tem?" Teased Kankuro.
"Hey!"
After a pause…
"Hey, he does!"
They both took it in turns to pat his beautiful red locks.
And with that, Temari and Kankuro went to sleep.
With a monster in their bed.
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Ja, random story, ne? (Lol, three languages in once sentence! :) Not a v. happy story. :( But I like it! Sorry if it's a bit like my other "There's no cost to love" Story. But I like this one better. More depth. Review for questions, responses and if I have gotten anything majorly wrong, stuff spelling. I'm in Australia, we do things differently, and in style.
Oh, Btw, I don't think that the sand sibs are weak or whatnot, I mean, they could probably kick Kazebastardkage's butt, but I'm really trying to show the fact that they all care for each other, how if they stand up to him, someone they love will get hurt.
Obviously, I hate Yondaime Kazekage. Teme.
Cookies for the best response.
*That basically means: It looks like it was missing, even if it wasn't.