A Flame in the Desert

-2-

Brotherly Advice

"He'll kill the man," Kankurou said.

Temari nodded, "And probably everyone else as well." She had just finished explaining the situation of Kaen, and the horse masters' inability to catch him and begin his training, to her other brother, along with the fact that she had agreed to go with Shinbou when he broke the news to Gaara.

Kankurou and Temari walked along the street in silence for a little while before it was finally broken by the girl, "You need to be there too." She said flatly.

"I…wait…what?! Me?! You're kidding right?"

Temari stopped walking, and turned to face her brother with her hands on her hips, "No, I'm not kidding Kankurou! This is very serious! You know how attached Gaara is to that stupid horse!"

"I know that, but what I don't know is why I have to be there when that horse master tells him that his horse is a psycho!"

"You have to go because I have to go!" Temari said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, and she was annoyed that he didn't understand it from the beginning.

Kankuro held up his hands defensively, "Hey, you wouldn't have to be there either if you hadn't promised that guy that you would. This is your problem, not mine, sis."

The sand kunoichi crossed her arms over her chest, "C'mon Kankurou! I really need you right now! It's not very nice that you decide to just leave me on my own for this."

Kankurou sent an evil smirk his sister's way, "Who said I was trying to be nice? You asked me for something, I refused, it's not rocket science, Temari!"

Temari's face was full of agitation as she none-too-gently punched her brother in the shoulder. She continued walking with her eyes on the ground before her feet, thinking at a fast pace; she only had that night to think of something to say to Gaara that would back up the young horse master and convince her brother not to kill him.

"Aha! I've got it!" Kankurou suddenly exclaimed, making his sister nearly jump out of her skin as she was jostled out of her deep thoughts.

The blond smacked her brother's shoulder again, "You've got what?"

"The solution to the horse problem!"

"Alright, what is it then?"

Kankurou went on excitedly, obviously proud of his superior problem-solving skills, "We can get a horse master in from a different village!"

Temari waited a few seconds, expecting him to continue. When he didn't she replied, "Is that all? Well that's just brilliant Kankurou, let's just tell every other village that our horse masters can't even handle one problematic colt, I'm sure they'll think the world of us after that!"

Kankurou rolled his eyes at his sister's dramatics. "No, dumb-dumb, we're not gonna tell all of the other villages…we're only looking for horse masters. In fact, I have just the one in mind…"

Temari hoped that her brother knew what he was talking about; she would feel immensely stupid if she made this suggestion to Gaara and it turned out to be purposeless because this supposed "great horse master" that Kankurou went on about didn't even really exist. She had a feeling that her brother would be more incensed if he was told that his horse could not be trained, but then told that they knew of someone who could train it, and was finally told that said person didn't actually exist and the horse had to be gotten rid of. If she managed to make it out of that maelstrom of the Kazekage's fury, she would definitely kill Kankurou in the most malicious and terrible way she knew.