Warning: Some swearing and violence. But you should expect that, it's rated T after all.
Life In Suna
2 years after the Kyuubi attack
Temari blinked slowly, as she came out of her sleep. She sat up and looked at the sunlight streaming through her window before it fully clicked in her brain. When she noticed, she scrambled out of bed and noticed how large everything was. As it fully sunk in she let out a high pitched squeal of delight. There were footsteps outside her door and it was suddenly thrown open to reveal her uncle with Gaara hiding behind his legs.
"Temari what's wrong?" Yashamaru asked as he searched her room for intruders with his eyes. Temari smiled a wide smile at Gaara and answered,
"Nothing's wrong oji-san." Gaara smiled tentatively back at his sister and her smile grew bigger. She bounded up to him and he shrank back slightly.
"Good morning baby brother." Temari sang to him and kissed him on the forehead where his tattoo had been in the future.
"Is there something wrong Temari? You've never been this nice to Gaara before." Yashamaru said, confused. Temari stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes. 'There's something not quite right here,' she thought but shook it off.
"Why wouldn't I be nice to my baby brother? Apart from you and otou-san telling me to stay away." Temari said innocently trying to provoke a reaction from him. He avoided her eyes and suddenly started moving towards the door.
"I really should get breakfast ready. Come on Gaara." Yashamaru called to a confused Gaara but Temari said, again with apparent innocence,
"Do you want to go play ball Gaara? Gaara looked at her with longing.
"I've never played ball before." He said wistfully and Temari smiled at him.
"First time for everything. And since it's your first time I'll piggy back you."
"Piggy back?" Gaara asked, once again confused. Temari sighed, turned around and bent down.
"Now get on my back, put your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist." Gaara did so. "And now up we go!" Temari called as they went down the corridor to Kankuro's bedroom. Temari put Gaara down to bang on the door, before picking him up again, this time in her arms.
"Kankuro! Time to get up!" Temari shouted and felt a thrill of happiness as she hugged Gaara. Even after Naruto and Matsuri Gaara had not been big on the physical contact. But Temari aimed to change all that and when Kankuro showed himself, she impulsively hugged him as well.
"Mari? What's going on?" Kankuro asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes in a very child-like manner.
"Mari." Temari muttered to herself before nodding decisively. "I like it. That can be my nickname!" Kankuro and Gaara stared at her.
"Really? 'Cause you shouted at me when I used it before." Kankuro said, very confused while Gaara fiddled with Temari's hair
"That was before. Now I like it. So cat-chan and panda-chan you can call me Mari if you like." Temari decided and Kankuro wrinkled his nose.
"Why am I cat-chan when you're just Mari?" Kankuro whined and Temari answered,
"One cause I came up with it and two because it suits you. Don't worry I'll call you otouto in public."
"Mari?" Came a whisper from her shoulder and she and Kankuro turned their attention to Gaara.
"Yeah sweetie?" Temari asked and when Gaara pointed to himself, Temari instantly got what he wanted to know. "Yeah you're panda-chan and baby brother. Those are your nicknames."
Temari froze as she felt Yashamaru's chakra signature approach. The two boys picked up on her tension and wondered what it was about. A moment later, Yashamaru stuck his head around the corner and Temari's grip on Gaara tightened. In the future Gaara had given them a brief overview of what turned him into the killer they had known but Temari had always suspected there was more because 'otou-san sent Yashamaru to kill me' did not describe the complete change in Gaara's attitude. Also it explained why she felt wary around Yashamaru. But now she knew not to trust Yashamaru with Gaara.
"There you are Gaara, I was looking for you. Come and help me make breakfast." Yashamaru motioned to Gaara as if he expected him to follow. For a minute Gaara was going to follow like he always did but then Temari squeezed him tighter and Kankuro whispered,
"Otouto?" to him as if he understood the choice Gaara would have to make here. Gaara made his choice.
"Ball." He whispered to Temari who beamed back at him.
"What did you say Gaara?" Yashamaru asked, confused by what was going on. Temari turned to face him.
"Gaara said he's coming to play ball with Kankuro and I." She then spun round and leading Kankuro by then hand, she walked outside, triumphant with her small victory.
Outside they spent most of the morning playing ball and when Yashamaru called them for lunch Temari gave a piggy back to Kankuro this time while Gaara trailed beside her, looking up at his siblings in wonder.
In the afternoon Yashamaru said that they should get out of the house and the garden and told them to go to the park. Gaara was a bit wary of this but Kankuro and Temari encouraged him and bribed him with the promise of more ball.
"So what should we play? Should we play piggy in the middle? Or hide and seek?" Temari questioned her brothers as they made their way to the park, Temari holding her brothers' hands while Gaara clutched the ball in his other hand.
"I don't like the park." Gaara said quietly and Temari looked at him with a concerned expression.
"Why don't you like the park baby brother?"
"Because the mean people are there." He replied and looked up at Temari with painful eyes that made Temari's heart clench. She stopped and gave Gaara a swift, if tight, hug.
"Well this time I'm here too and I can beat the mean people." Temari sounded exactly like a mother reassuring her son which was most likely why Gaara smiled and accepted it. Temari stood up, grabbed Kankuro's hand and started headed for the park again. At the park were children of all ages, ranging from 2 to 12. They were all playing and laughing on the playground but when they saw the Kazekage's children, namely Gaara they stopped and stared. Temari however ignored them and walked on with Gaara and Kankuro to a part of the park near the cliff face and set up a game of piggy in the middle. The children watched them do this but as Gaara used the sand to get the ball they all collectively flinched.
"Hey no fair! He's got the sand on his side." Kankuro whined to Temari who smiled at him.
"And you have height. Now you're even." Kankuro thought about this and then accepted it and went to the middle. After this the children went back to playing albeit they kept one eye on the trio all the time.
Eventually even Temari got tired of the constant tension and gathered her brothers together. They walked slowly back to the house and watched as the sky around them got darker and the stars coming out.
"I love the stars." Temari commented out the blue and sought to explain herself even though her brothers didn't ask. "They're just so peaceful. Also I heard a story once that stars are the souls of the dead watching over us." Kankuro and Gaara looked at the stars too with quiet solemnity and a faintly wistful air.
They spent rest of the day playing an old board game Temari had found and when they went to bed, Temari hugged and kissed Kankuro and Gaara before retiring.
But this would not be the last time they saw each other that night. Gaara, to save him from falling asleep was reading in the library when he heard it. A choking sound that was muffled by the walls. He followed the sound to its source and ended up at Temari's door where Kankuro was waiting for him.
"Should we go in?" Kankuro whispered to Gaara who shrugged. However when a loud cry came they both swept into the room without a second thought. In the room they saw the small figure of Temari twisting and turning on the bed.
"Temari!" Kankuro cried in alarm while Gaara ran up and launched himself onto Temari's bed. He was more scared than he ever remembered being and his fear and confusion at what was happening choked him so his voice came out high and terrified when he said,
"Mari, please wake up. Mari, wake up!"
"Boys? What is going on? What are you doing in Temari's room?" Yashamaru entered the room by saying and both Kankuro and Gaara sighed in relief when they saw him.
"Yashamaru! Temari won't wake up and we don't know what to do!" Kankuro said concernedly and Yashamaru examined Temari with a frown.
"She's just having a nightmare. I think you boys should get back to bed. It's going to be less confusing to her if there isn't as many people here." Gaara and Kankuro stared at Yashamaru in surprise but when he made a shooing motion they left without question. After all he was the adult and he knew best. After they were gone Yashamaru examined Temari. "This isn't good for you Temari. We should get you to a psychiatrist as soon as possible." After he told her this, he set about trying to wake her up. However as Temari's eyes opened and connected with his, he was unprepared for the rage that filled her eyes.
"MURDERER!" She shrieked before punching his jaw up and making him fly into the corner of the room. Temari scanned the room quickly and then hurled herself out of bed and out the door trying to find Kankuro and Gaara. She did not have to go far, they were round the next corner having heard her scream when they were on their way to their bedrooms.
"Oh thank goodness." Temari muttered as she drew them into a bone-breaking hug. "I was so worried that something had happened to you." It was plainly obvious that Kankuro and Gaara did not know what to do and so Kankuro just mimicked her actions earlier and rubbed her back making soothing sounds while Gaara stroked her hair. Breaking up this tender scene was Yashamaru who stumbled round the corner clutching his jaw.
"Temari I really think that was unnecessary." Yashamaru said and a flash of blind panic came into her eyes before she managed to clamp down on the emotions still raw from her nightmare.
"It was unnecessary, I agree. I was just worried about Gaara and Kankuro since the nightmare was about them." Yashamaru nodded understandingly.
"Okay. Do you two want to sleep in Temari's bed with her?" He asked Kankuro and Gaara who nodded. Yashamaru led them back to Temari's room with Temari staring in surprise at his back. She did not realise how Yashamaru could be this nice. But then again she and Kankuro had never accepted Gaara while he was alive and maybe that just compacted Yashamaru's view of the fact that Gaara should be taken out if even his own siblings feared him. But Temari cut herself off from this morbid train of thought and settled down into bed, positioning Kankuro against the wall and then Gaara next with her on the side of the bed facing the door. As Yashamaru tucked them in Temari smiled up at him and at that moment Yashamaru realised how old Temari's eyes looked and it scared him. He left quickly after that and Temari watched Kankuro fall asleep and Gaara fall into a meditative trance, before she finally slipping off to sleep.
Next day
"But I don't need to see a doctor, I'm not sick." Temari protested as Yashamaru pulled her along, even though she was quite sure that she wasn't going to see a medical doctor but a five year old would not know that, even an unusually mature five year old which Temari was pretending to be.
"Well this isn't a doctor that will look after your body, this doctor will help you with your nightmares so just try and talk to him please?" Temari nodded sullenly and Yashamaru smiled before ruffling her hair and walking off.
"I don't want to see no stupid shrink. This is definitely not what I expected." Temari muttered as she marched into the psychiatrist's office.
"Hello Temari, I'm Dr. Ito but you can just call me Ito-san." The middle aged man said as Temari stepped into the office.
"Okay Ito-san." Temari answered demurely. She could almost see the cogs turning in his mind, 'Willing to obey authority, check.'
"Now Temari-chan I've heard from your ojii-san that you have disturbing nightmares about your brothers." Dr. Ito said and waited.
"That is correct Ito-san." Temari confirmed.
"Would you like to tell me what happens in these nightmares?"
"No Ito-san." Dr. Ito blinked in surprise.
"Are you sure Temari-chan?" He made sure that she was understood what she was saying.
"Yes Ito-san." Temari said getting blanker and more monotone by the minute.
"Okay how do you feel towards your brothers?" Ito tried to try another tack.
"I love them." Temari's simple summary of her feelings again left Ito gaping and he started scribbling down onto his clipboard which he had picked up at the beginning of the questioning.
"Well how would you feel if you lost them?" Ito probed.
"I would feel devastated." Temari gave another simple answer seeing how much the short answers were annoying him.
"Anything else?" Ito asked and Temari narrowed her eyes at him. She saw what he was doing and tried to warn him off.
"Well if they were taken from me by people I knew or even enemy ninja then I would feel rage until I avenged them." Ito gulped nervously at Temari's calm answers.
"Well I think I have everything I need so you can leave." Temari smiled at this and exited the room.
"Thank goodness that's over." Temari muttered as she walked calmly out of the building and then jumped onto a nearby roof and travelling that way after she got outside.
At home she looked around for Gaara and Kankuro but they seemed to be strangely absent. Temari closed her eyes and tried to pick up their chakra signatures. She sensed three flickering chakra signatures by the training grounds and as she recognised two of them, she started making her way to the training grounds as fast as possible. When she got there, she saw a seemingly innocent scene, Yashamaru talking to Gaara and Kankuro solemnly but as she masked her chakra and performed a cloaking jutsu, the talk revealed its sinister intentions.
"Now Temari had to go to a special doctor today because something has gone wrong in her brain to make her act like not herself." Yashamaru was explaining to the boys.
"So that means everything Temari has been telling us..?" Kankuro asked Yashamaru.
"Is not true. And your father feels that it would be better if you were kept separate." Yashamaru said firmly. Gaara and Kankuro looked sad and confused.
"But I don't want to." Gaara said quietly. "I want to stay with onee-chan and nii-san." Kankuro looked surprised but then nodded vigorously. The watching Temari felt her eyes swell with moisture at their loyalty.
"But you will kill her. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow but you will. Can you live with the fact that you killed one of the people that accepted you?" Gaara looked sick and uneasy. Yashamaru with an air of triumph, it seemed to the watching Temari, turned to Kankuro. "And Kankuro. Could you live with Gaara even though he could kill you at any time?" Kankuro hesitated and this was enough for Yashamaru. And also for Temari.
"Why hello Oji-san." She greeted with a heavy lacing of sarcasm and all three of them jumped. "What were you talking about with my little brothers?" The possessive tone in Temari's voice was put there to warn Yashamaru off.
"Ah hello Temari, how did your visit to the doctor go?" he tried to ask nonchalantly.
"It went fine, considering I had nothing wrong with me and him continually insinuating that I did was very annoying." Temari said coolly and Yashamaru blinked at the mature language.
"But Temari even you have to admit that those types of nightmares are not usual for a kid your age." He tried to persuade her.
"Every kid goes through some kind of nightmare. The only problem is that my nightmare was a little more intense than usual but with my childhood that doesn't seem so unusual." Temari answered back with and then turned to Gaara and Kankuro. "Hey guys do you want to go somewhere else and talk?" Gaara and Kankuro nodded slowly. "Come on then." And then she offered her hand to both of them and they disappeared into a whirl of sand.
4 years after the Kyuubi attack
A year later Temari was glad to see that Yashamaru was slowly losing his influence on Gaara, while Gaara still cared for him he now turned to Temari when he had a problem or even when he wanted to play. And if Temari was happy about this because now she saw her brother laugh and smile which even though he did this in the other timeline Temari had always been too afraid of him even before The Incident (which is what she and Kankuro had nicknamed whatever had happened to Gaara that turned him) to actually appreciate it. Now what worried Temari was the planning Yashamaru and her father seemed to do together, and how she had very sneaky suspicion that it was about Gaara. When her father called the three of them into his office her worries heightened causing her to step in front of Gaara and Kankuro slightly and face her father side on so she could watch him and the door at the same time. Yashamaru, who had spent a lot of time with them over the past year, noticed this but put it down as Temari's behaviour that had developed over the last year. The Kazekage however did not notice this and carried on with what he had been planning to say,
"I have called all three of you in here to inform you that you will start your shinobi training soon. Of course this will be taught at different levels for all of you so you two, Kankuro and Temari will be taught by your sensei Baki, while I will oversee Gaara's training. "Gaara and Kankuro looked horrified but Temari's face had fallen into the familiar lines that had served her so well after the year.
"That will be okay," She started and her brothers switched to stare at her in horror, "on one condition," the confident smirk on her father's face faded. He had thought when he got Temari on his side then persuading the other two, especially Gaara, would be easy.
"What?" He growled out.
"The training will be at different times so we can observe the others training and if necessary interfere." Temari stated in a calm voice and she almost heard her brothers exhale and move closer to her.
"No that will not work." The Kazekage said icily as he glared at his daughter who met his stare with an unwavering one of her own.
"Then we'll just have to train on our own, or maybe we can all train with this Baki person." Temari shrugged as if she did not care where the training came from. Her father glared at her and she could almost see the cogs turning in his mind.
"Fine. You can all train with Baki in the morning and then I will train Gaara in the afternoon while you observe." He bit out, clearly unhappy with the agreement.
"That is fine." Temari answered, smiling sweetly. "Oh and otou-sama? You might want to work on controlling your emotions. It's one of the shinobi rules after all." With that she swung round and ushered her brothers out the room but not before she heard a rush of cloth and Gaara's sand had risen up to the back of her. He had swung round and was glaring heatedly (or as heatedly as a four year old could) at his father who had lifted a kunai in attack.
"You don't hurt her! You don't even touch her!" Temari smirked slightly to herself before turning to her father.
"Don't even think about hurting them either Kazekage-sama." She said mockingly before leading Kankuro and Gaara out. When they had reached the house with Gaara and Kankuro trying to talk several times and her hushing them, she swung round and gave the two of them a bone-crunching hug.
"Mari! Can't breathe!" Kankuro gasped out while Gaara was hugging back enthusiastically. She released and then bent down slightly so she was at their eye level.
"You two were the best. You let me handle it and thank you Gaara for you helped and don't think I didn't see you glaring at otou-sama Kankuro, which just reinforced Gaara's threat." Kankuro and Gaara grinned at her widely but they quickly turned to worried looks when they saw her tears.
"Mari? You okay?" Gaara asked reaching a hand up to stroke her hair while Kankuro patted her on the knee.
"Yeah baby brother I'm fine." Temari said, grinning again and they smiling uncertainly back at her. "Hey I know, why don't we go visit a friend of mine?" Temari stood up and started swiping the tears away off her face.
"Sure, come on otouto." Kankuro said decisively and Temari took both brothers hand in hand.
Across town the door swung open as soon as Temari knocked on it. A brunette civilian woman opened the door and was quickly checking herself before she looked up. When she saw who was standing at her door she stumbled back and the colour fled from her face.
"Hello, did you have a daughter Matsuri recently? She's about 2 years old." Temari said cheerily as if she had not seen this but Gaara and Kankuro looked confused at this reception. The woman nodded and Temari continued, " Good, cause she's my friend and she said that she lived here. May we see her?" Temari asked politely but now that the woman was over her shock she looked mildly confused.
"Mat-chan doesn't talk yet." She said quietly and Temari nodded her head thoughtfully.
"Can we still see her please?" The woman just dazedly opened the door wider and Temari walked in to where she remembered where the sitting room was. There was a small brunette toddler sitting on a rug in the middle of the floor who grinned up at them as they approached.
"Hi Mattie-chan you don't remember but I remember you." Temari whispered to her as she sat down in front of her.
"Are you sure this is okay Mari? The woman at the door looked at me with the same eyes as the villagers." Gaara told her upset and outside Matsuri's mother held her breath as she waited for the answer.
"Yeah it's fine. Besides after she spends some time with you and knows what a sweet boy you are I'm sure she'll love you." Temari smiled to herself as she felt Matsuri's mother slight chakra of a civilian spike in shame before she headed to the kitchen. "Besides we need to meet new people outside our family like Matsuri here." Here Temari picked up Matsuri and put her in her lap so she could face Gaara and Kankuro. She giggled and tried to grab Kankuro's cat ears.
"I've never seen a baby this close before." Kankuro said in awe as he held his finger up to Matsuri and she tried to grab it.
"Why don't you try Gaara?" Temari asked when she saw it was obvious that he wanted to touch the small child but was holding back.
"But what if I hurt her?" Gaara whispered looking fearful.
"You won't but just in case that Shukaku rebels I'm here too and you won't hurt her." Temari tried to reassure him but Gaara looked more terrified.
"But what if I hurt you too?" He asked, petrified at this new development. This was an old fear that Yashamaru had created 2 years ago and Temari used the same argument that she used back then.
"You won't. I'm stronger that the demon. Look, just hold a finger up." Gaara did so and Matsuri clasped it tightly and gurgled. Gaara's expression turned to wonder as he realised that nothing bad was happening.
"Wow." He said softly to himself. Matsuri's mother that came in looked horrified at seeing the 'Demon of the Village' touching her precious only child but Temari's glare silenced her before she voiced her thoughts and she set the tea set down.
"So what is your name?" Temari asked confidently, the smile on her face completely eradicating the glare that was there before.
"M..my name is Yumi." Matsuri's mother stuttered.
"You have a very nice daughter." Kankuro said, trying to put her at ease. Yumi smiled briefly at him and relaxed slightly.
"Yes she is, isn't she Gaara?"
"She's so small. Was I ever this small?" Gaara asked Temari in wonder. Temari nodded and beamed widely.
"Yep, in fact you were even tinier when you were born." Temari answered and even Yumi smiled when Gaara smiled at Matsuri.
"Mari we have to go otherwise we'll be late for dinner." Kankuro said and Temari hurriedly stood up when she saw the time. She handed Matsuri to Yumi and hustled her brothers out the door.
"Thanks for having us over!" She called back even though she was well aware that she had forced her and her brothers in there with no consent from Yumi.
6 years after the Kyuubi attack
"Mari! Mari! Baki-sensei taught us a new jutsu! He taught Gaara this jutsu called 'Sand Coffin' and he taught me how to outfit my puppet with poison!" Kankuro burst into the kitchen where Temari was along with Gaara right behind him.
"That's great otouto." Temari said as she turned away from her instructor, who was teaching her the skills so she could survive in enemy territory. On the list at the moment was cooking and it was boring Temari stiff, considering she had learnt it all before, but a mature vocabulary she could explain away with lots of reading, perfect skill at cooking when she had done no practical before she could not.
"And Mari I was really good at the 'Sand Coffin'." Gaara told Temari quietly as she bent down to hear him.
"That's brilliant baby brother." Temari whispered back and Gaara gave one of his bright smiles that he only did for her and Kankuro. Temari then turned her body to include both her brothers and then asked them, "So everything went okay today? No one bothered you and you got on with Baki-sensei?" Her boys nodded and then Gaara said with a mischievous smile,
"Except for when ani called Baki-sensei, 'a big idiot who couldn't tell a puppet from a kunai'."
"Kankuro! You didn't." Temari said, looking shocked but inside all she felt was amusement. Back in the original timeline Kankuro had been a bit of a prankster before he became a bully to try and get their father's attention. The bullying earned him far more praise since the Kazekage though for 'acting like a shinobi' so Kankuro continued with it. Temari tried to stop her brother but he was not going to listen to his big sister when his father told him what he was doing was right. Temari lost what some of the respect she had for her father, and then lost it all when she found out what he had done to Gaara after the chunnin exams. In this timeline he was listening more to Temari than his father and this was only an improvement in Temari's eyes.
"Well he was being stupid saying that we had to do some more training when it was time to meet you so I just told him off a little bit. And since Gaara agreed with me we were allowed to go home to you." Kankuro explained in the righteous way that only young children have and Temari smiled at the sight.
"Well okay but tomorrow I'm coming with you and you can apologize to sensei because you could have put in a better way than that. And then we will spend an extra hour at training because we'll all be together. Is that okay with you two?" Temari asked and the boys nodded.
"Well can you make us more of those blankets then?" Kankuro asked hopefully and Temari rolled her eyes. Every since she had made some home-made blankets for Gaara and Kankuro, so they would have something comforting to hold onto (since their father was not so good at the gift-giving) when she was not there, they had been obsessed with them and they both carried them on their person, Gaara in his gourd and Kankuro in the bandages that held his main puppet, Karasu. However since Temari would do anything to make her brothers happy she just sighed and nodded.
"Thank you onee-chan." Kankuro said and both he and Gaara hugged her before running off to their bedrooms to change for the formal dinner they were having with their father tonight.
"You treat them like your children." Temari's instructor commented and Temari tensed up. She had forgotten that her instructor was still there.
"Well without a biological mother I'm the nearest thing they have." Temari answered before rising slowly and facing her sensei with a neutral expression on her face. The instructor looked at her with an inscrutable expression and then nodded.
"In that case I pity anyone who tries to hurt them." The instructor said before turning back to the counter to start packing up.
"I don't. If they try and hurt them, then whatever I do to them they brought on themselves." Temari got in the last word before she exited the kitchen.
That evening
"You have all become very powerful especially you Gaara. Soon you should be entered into the village's academy where your brother and sister are now enrolled." The Kazekage said to his children as they sat eating.
"Yes otou-sama." Temari answered as per usual. Kankuro and Gaara especially seemed to withdraw into themselves in presence of their father.
"And Gaara you shall start doing private lessons with me again." The man sat calmly eating as if he had not dropped a bombshell. Temari froze in horror while Kankuro choked and Gaara narrowed his eyes at his father. The last attempt at private lessons had not gone well.
Flashback
"You have to work harder Gaara." His father shouted harshly at him and Gaara started shaking in terror. Kankuro and Temari had been restrained hours ago to stop them interfering. The Kazekage looked in disgust down at his youngest son before a movement out the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head to see Temari throwing off the jounin who tried to stop her in her desperation to get to Gaara. An idea formed in his mind and he turned to Gaara with a smirk. Gaara flinched at the sight.
"Or maybe you're not motivated enough." He said and then disappeared. Temari, who had frozen at what he had said to Gaara, noticed that his feet had turned their way before he disappeared. With this thought she finally broke free of the people restraining her and leapt in front of Kankuro. All Gaara saw was the kunai heading directly to his sister's unprotected back.
"NO!" He cried in horror and the sand reacted to his emotion and raced across the floor to intercept the kunai. The Kazekage looked pleased with this turn of event, or at least he did until Gaara turned to him with vicious cruelness in his eyes. "You tried to kill her! You don't hurt them! I told you that a year ago." The sand started rising up around Gaara and the jounins started to head towards him to try and protect the Kazekage but Temari was faster than them all.
"Hey Gaara." She called as she placed Kankuro down and started stroking Gaara's hair to try and calm him down.
"I warned him Mari, I told him he could not hurt you or Kankuro yet he still did." Gaara's voice was deeper and with a chill Temari recognised Shukaku's voice behind Gaara's voice. It seemed the demon was taking advantage of Gaara's protectiveness towards his siblings to fulfil his killing instinct.
"Yes I know. And he was stupid but you stopped him and Kankuro and I are both all right. So you can relax." Temari said soothingly and Kankuro joined in with trying to calm their brother.
"Yeah no one got hurt and I'm sure otou-sama won't do it again." As one the siblings turned to look at their father.
"Well otou-sama?" Temari asked. "You won't attack us anymore?"
"I wasn't really going to attack you, I was just trying to get Gaara to access his innate abilities." Their father said.
"Still waiting." Temari sing songed and he nodded.
"I won't try to hurt you then."
"I don't trust you." Gaara narrowed his eyes at his father. "I won't be coming to private lessons anymore." He said and then walked out the room with his siblings trailing him.
Flashback
"I don't want to." Gaara spoke and his father glared at him.
"You have no choice. It's either that or your brother and sister could accidently get hurt on a mission and medical help could not come fast enough."
"Are you threatening us?" Temari demanded, and then narrowed her eyes at her father. "He said no. Gaara, Kankuro have you finished?" She said standing and Kankuro and Gaara copied her. "Then let's go." They left the room leaving the Kazekage stewing over the matter.
Midnight
Gaara looked up from the book he was reading in the library when he heard a noise, rather like the creak of a door. "Who's there?" He called out and a figure came out from the shadows. Gaara relaxed and said, "Oh it's you Temari, I thought you were asleep." He jerked back in shock as Temari threw three kunai at him and a wave of sand came up. "Temari, onee-chan what are you doing?" Gaara cried as Temari came at him.
"I've come to kill you Gaara. You're an abomination and have to be stopped." She said confidently and Gaara fell backwards where he started backing away from the approaching Temari.
"Temari why are you doing this? I thought you said you'll always protect me." He said and unnoticed silent tears started flowing down his cheeks.
"Ha!" Temari said scornfully. "I'm meant to protect my little brothers so I tried to treat you like my little brother but inside I've always hated you and wanted you to die. Finally I got tired of otou-sama wasting his time with killing you so I decided to do it myself. It was easy when I gained your trust." Gaara just stared at her in disbelief.
"You're wrong!" He cried desperately. "NO!" Another wave of sand came up as Temari threw more weapons at him. Suddenly the loud crashes against the library door came into focus as Kankuro and Temari burst into the room. They just stared in shock at the counterfeit Temari who stared back at them. However as Gaara glanced from the attacking Temari's eyes and the Temari at the door's eyes he made a quick realisation.
"Who are you?" He called desperately and the frozen Temari finally got over her shock that they had manufactured her face to kill Gaara and ran across to stand in front of Gaara, dragging Kankuro with her. She pulled out a kunai that had been strapped to her thigh under the nightgown.
"That's a very good question. Now take off that false face before I kill you." The false Temari laughed.
"Why do you still protect him? He's a monster, a demon."
"No he is not! Shukaku is a demon. Gaara the person is not." Temari said firmly.
"Why do you still protect him?" The false Temari asked as if genuinely curious of her answer.
"Because he is my little brother and I'm his big sister. I'm supposed to protect him because that's what family does." Temari answered and Kankuro nodded in agreement while Gaara looked at her in amazement. The false Temari laughed again and was surrounded by smoke as the henge dropped and it revealed Yashamaru. Temari looked sickened while her brothers looked horrified.
"You won't kill me. After all family is everything." Yashamaru gloated and Temari was filled with rage that even after showing him that Gaara was not a monster, he still tried to kill him and while wearing her face. Temari disappeared and then reappeared in front of Yashamaru and made a downward slice with her kunai. Since Yashamaru was not expecting an nine-year-old to have the speed or the nerve to kill him, he looked horribly confused as he bled out of his jugular and then collapsed on the floor.
"But traitors are scum of the Earth." Temari spat at him before turning round to face her brothers slowly. They were staring at her horrified but when Temari walked up to them they did not flinch away. "Are you both okay?" Temari asked her voice slightly hoarse. She had not meant to do this, to kill in front of them and at such a young age.
"Mari are you okay?" Was the first thing Kankuro asked. "This guy at the Academy told me that sometimes the first kill is sometimes the hardest."
"Yeah and since it was Yashamaru." Gaara stopped her and was unable to go on. Temari smiled tearfully at them and then she quickly sliced the palms of their hands. Kankuro looked confused but Gaara looked in amazed at the blood. Temari sliced her own palm before grabbing their hurt hands.
"Let's make a pact okay?" Kankuro and Gaara nodded. "Let's make a pact that we will never betray each other and that we will always be there for each other. Combining our blood," Here Temari clasped their cut hands together. "Makes it a blood pact. Do you both agree to this?" Again they nodded. "From now on we share blood and a even deeper bond than siblings. We're a team, we're family. Let's never forget that, swear?"
"Swear." They both answered together and Temari sobbed as she hugged them to her tightly. She was crying because Yashamaru died again, the fact that she was the one that killed him and the relief she felt that Gaara and Kankuro were still alive and Gaara still had not killed anyone.
Next morning
"YOU'RE GONNA WHAT?!" Temari shrieked at her father who winced at her loud voice.
"It would be safer for you if Gaara was removed from the home, after all he has killed someone and he could do it to you next. He's unstable at the moment." He replied and Temari breathed deeply trying to force away the urge to hurl several sharp, pointy objects at her father. Attacking the Kazekage is never a good idea.
"But Gaara did not kill him, I did!" She said forcefully and the Kazekage looked surprised.
"You killed him? But you're only nine." He commented, surprise evident in his voice.
"And Gaara's only six. Plus now that Yashamaru is not here you have no one to look after him and I highly doubt Gaara will go with you." She said scornfully.
"But Gaara is a monster." He protested and Temari finally lost it. She spun round to face him and glared at him.
"Listen you arrogant son-of-a-bitch, Gaara is not a monster, he's your son and my brother. And if you come near him or Kankuro ever again with the intent of harm or to say something that will cause emotional harm, I will rip your fucking head off. Are we clear?" Her father, in shock over the killing intent she radiated, could only nod dumbly. Temari put down her fist, which she had brought up to emphasise her point, said, "Then we have no problem." She then turned and skipped off to see her brothers.
They were looking in confusion and shock at the shinobi, putting Gaara's things in boxes and carrying them away. Temari coughed loudly to get everyone's attention.
"Change of plan. Gaara's staying right here." She said confidently.
"But Kazekage-sama told us to move his stuff." A confused jounin said.
"And if you don't put it down right now, then you won't care anymore about the Kage's orders because you'll be dead." Temari replied in a cheerful tone and most of the jounins put down the boxes.
"Yeah right like a little girl could do that." One guffawed and Temari appeared in front of him with a kunai pointed at his stomach.
"Your point?" Temari asked and he paled before exiting the room with his colleagues. She turned to her brothers.
"Okay ignore my example there, you can't get anywhere by threatening people okay, so don't do it unless it's a mission." They both nodded and Temari smiled at the trust they still had in her even after last night, even if Gaara was a little more stoic than usual and Kankuro a little quieter. She averted The Incident and that was what mattered.
8 years after the Kyuubi attack
"Gaara what have you done?" Temari questioned as she saw the dead body at his feet with a few traces of the sand being removed from it. He looked up in shock and then stepped in front of the body as if trying to hide a shameful secret.
"I'm sorry 'Mari, please don't be mad." Gaara said quietly and Temari's face softened slightly.
"I'm not mad but why did you kill him? We did not have any mission." She asked quickly stepping towards him.
"Okaa-san told me to and I know how you felt about 'kaa-san." Gaara muttered and Temari looked shocked.
"Where's okaa-san?" She asked urgently and her worse fears were confirmed when Gaara tapped his head. She raised her eyes and saw the familiar 'love' kanji tattooed to his forehead. "How did you get that Gaara?" Temari asked, her eyes looking horrified and Gaara finally picked up that something was wrong.
"I'm sorry 'Mari but okaa-san told me to do it to show the blood pact more strongly." Gaara said innocently and Temari gritted her teeth at how easily Shukaku used her actions against her. She was about to speak when Gaara frowned.
"Now she wants me to kill you. But I don't understand why, you're my sister." Gaara said more to himself than to her and Temari held her breath in rage. How dare that thing try to mess with Gaara?
"Gaara listen to me." Gaara's attention snapped to her and Temari continued talking in a firm voice. "That voice inside your head is not okaa-san, it's the demon sealed inside you Shukaku. Don't listen to that voice okay Gaara?" Gaara nodded slowly.
"Okay Mari I trust you." He answered confidently. Temari smiled at him and then drew him into a hug.
"Thank you Gaara." She whispered to him and Gaara's arms tightened around her.
"So you're not mad about the kanji?" He asked nervously and Temari shook her head.
"No I'm not mad. I just know that must have hurt so I'm sorry about that." She then kissed the tattoo, letting him know that she truly accepted it. But still that tattoo became a reminder that she failed to protect Gaara once and she could easily fail again.
Later that day, Temari was making a sandwich for herself when Kankuro and Gaara marched into the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" She asked, picking up the mood instantly.
"We've got a mission, an A-Ranked one. It's an assassination." Temari sucked in her breath at Kankuro's flat voice and cursed her father to the pits of hell.
"But we're all way too young, why does he want us to go?" She asked him and Kankuro cast a side glance at Gaara who noticed and replied,
"He wants to try me out." Scratch that, the darkest, murkiest, most revolting pits known to man or demon for their father.
"He's a bastard." Temari uttered before falling silent, trying to think things over. If they went that meant that they would be called up on more and more, but if they did not go, then there was a possibility that they would not be able to go to the Chunnin exams. It was a lose; lose situation. Temari heaved a sigh of defeat. "We'll go." Kankuro and Gaara looked momentarily surprised but not as much as she thought they would be. It seemed like it was not only them that were becoming easier to read.
I'm so sorry that this is so horribly late, I mean it's been over two months! But in those two months I've started school and the work is crushing me. Along with the extra-curricular activities I'm meant to be doing to get into university and job-hunting. I was going to add more to this but I decided that if I added anymore I would hate it and it wouldn't get posted.
Thanks to all the people who reviewed:
kateshay, starlightscribe, Filthy Mushi, Kawaii Chibi-kun.
And thanks to all the people who favourited me and put me on alert!
kateshay, writingmaniac, MewIchigo Sasusaku, Kawaii Chibi-kun, (favourites) wert1990, tokokizora, starlightscribe, TimTam's rule, Silver Shadowbreeze, , MeiLeeD, Kyuubi Shiori-Chan, Booklover13.
Now to finish off this hugely long author's note I just want to say when you review (because I know you're all going to review since reviews are love) please tell me which parts were your favourites and which parts you didn't like, or were confused about. This will help me become a better writer and hopefully you'll get some enjoyment out of it too. So pretty please?
P.S I learnt that ane is another term for 'big sister' and ani another term for 'big brother' but I mostly used the ones that are widely used here so it didn't confuse people even more. Plus I'm not sure I'm even right so until I speak Japanese I will probably use the more common terms.
P.P.S Please tell me if I get any facts wrong.