Chapter 2
What did she think of him? He dreaded imagining it. To the rest of the world he was an influential leader, a powerful ninja, a force to be respected or feared… To her he was probably still just a child; a half-grown shinobi who had shot up through the ranks and now strutted around with the adults as if he belonged there; a teenage boy with bad dreams who needed to be coddled and coaxed to be able to sleep. Did she know how he felt? He feared she might. After all, she specialized in knowing that kind of thing. Yet if she did, then she was ignoring his attachment to her. Did she really feel nothing in return?
"Are you sure you don't wish to take more men, Kazekage-sama?"
It was about the fifth time Gaara had heard that question today. "My siblings will be fine," he replied coldly, ushering the small crowd of officials away, "The request was to take an escort of no more than two, as usual, and there is no one I work with better than Kankurou and Temari."
"But Kazekage-sama…"
"No buts!" Kankurou strode out of the doorway to the administration tower, adjusting his heavy burden of puppet scrolls. He was an established master of the puppet fighting techniques by now, a skill honed in Suna that was not to be underestimated, as many long-dead enemies had learned to their peril. "Gaara hardly needs any protecting after all – or did you think that had changed?" Something about the stern look in his eyes sent them scurrying back into the tower like apologetic little mice.
"Temari is waiting by the village gates," Kankurou informed his younger brother, as he checked some of the straps on its shoulders. "There were some reports she wanted to go over with some of the guards or something. To confirm security conditions, I think."
"And I thought I had just heard you say I didn't need such special arrangements," Gaara sighed, briefly adjusting his gourd and re-checking his pack more out of habit than necessity.
Kankurou shrugged. "You don't," he replied, turning to his brother, "But you know Temari. She's our sister. She worries."
Gaara nodded, striding out towards the gates in the confident knowledge that Kankurou would be beside him. "It always pays to be prudent, I suppose," he iterated with the sophisticated tone of someone displaying a world of patience with his older sister, but then he only did so because he trusted her judgement implicitly.
"Hn," Kankurou concurred in much the same tone, falling into step at Gaara's side. There was no rivalry between them, nor had there ever been. Gaara was in command and Kankurou supported him, with the greatest of affection, from the side. This was odd, because the muscular brunette was without question the elder of the two. With an age gap of two years, he even looked much more the man beside his sixteen-year-old brother. Still Gaara just seemed to have a knack for being in command. He was a natural-born leader, both able to control others through fear – as he had done for many years in their childhood – or, as he had proven in recent years, through inspiring extreme respect and loyalty. People naturally flocked to him these days and people many, many years his senior looked up to him for guidance, not just Kankurou. "So another meeting of the five Kages, huh?" the elder brother continued jovially, "Think there'll be anything interesting to discuss?"
Gaara narrowed his eyes. "We're at war," he retorted grimly, "There's always something important to discuss."
"You don't have to remind me!" Kankurou laughed, slapping his brother's shoulder lightheartedly, as they turned into a familiar sandy side street that served as a convenient shortcut, "We've been working our butts off for ages. It's not like we've been home five minutes and we're already off again. I'm just grateful it's not another battle."
"The current lull in the fighting worries me," Gaara confided, jerking off his brother's hand and facing him with a sombre expression, "It makes me wonder what Madara is planning."
"Spoken like a true Commander General," Kankurou sighed, rolling his eyes towards the sky, "I can see you're going to be a lot of fun on this journey. I'm worried too – more than just worried – but standing around brooding won't help either. Best we can do is keep ourselves prepared and ready for anything – and let's hope you and the other Kages come with something at this meeting."
"Let's hope," Gaara agreed, turning away from his brother. Despite the heavy, laden feeling in his heart, there was something of a smile tugging at his features and he didn't want Kankurou to notice it. "You also speak like a true squad leader, which reminds me that I should put Temari in any position requiring more independent thought."
"You little git," Kankurou snarled, playfully swiping the air over his brother's red hair. Gaara not only made no attempt to dodge this, he didn't even alter his footing, but there was a blatant grin on his face when he turned back to face his brother.
It was returned with interest. "So where's this place we're going to?" Kankurou demanded as they drew level with the gate.
"The Mind country," snapped a feminine voice ahead of them. Temari emerged, a small speck from the shadows of the colossal stone village walls, energetically waving a half opened scroll at her brothers. "Seriously Kankurou! Do you ever bother to prepare for a mission?"
"Only when I don't have you to do it for me," Kankurou replied smugly, and oddly truthfully, folding his arms and grinning at her. He then had to duck to avoid the scroll she hurled at him.
Straightening her black kimono and her frizzy blonde hair in its usual assortment of four short ponytails, she mustered up a semblance of dignity as she eyed the older of her two brothers with mounting vexation. Gaara merely glanced impassively at the pair of them, and settled himself against a nearby house as he waited for them to finish their dispute; apparently idly counting birds in the sky.
"The Mind country," she enlightened him coolly, folding her own arms, "Is a ninja country not far from the Water country, consisting of a group of tightly entwined islands and promontory from the nearby continent. Traditionally they were allies of sorts, but relationships became a little strained in recent years, especially during the purge of ninja blood clans. The Mind prides itself on its long lineage of historical blood limit jutsus; the Water, as you know, nearly eradicated all of its own."
Kankuro nodded. "I remember that," he straightened up, "So you say they have a Hidden Village? Is it any good with all those blood jutsus?"
Gaara shifted. His attention suddenly shifted back to the conversation in front of him and he gave his sister a meaningful look. She caught his expression and nodded briefly.
"More than good," she told Kankurou, "Although they maintain reasonable relations with the powerful Water country, they have a long history of war with some of their lesser neighbours and, frankly, they nearly eradicated them. Their only real rival is the island that makes up the Steel and Granite country, with which they've had a long series of bitter wars. At the moment though, they're at peace and have been for over five years now."
"So why the hell are we going to a bunch of military, testy and yet apparently still peaceful islands in the first place?" Kankurou groaned, shaking his head and scratching his scalp, "It's flippin' miles away!"
"Because we've seen some evidence of Akatsuki activity in that area and the five Kages wish to combine to investigate," Gaara informed him, kicking off from his wall and starting off through the long canyon-like gully that made the entrance and exit to Suna village. "We'll be heading towards the Hidden Mind village and hopefully from there arrange a meeting closer to the actual scene of inquiry. Understood?"
"Sure," Kankurou replied as he and Temari fell into step behind Gaara. "Probable wild goose chase in the middle of nowhere with the five most powerful shinobi in existence. Got it."