Chapter one, Too good to be true.
Gaara groans, gripping the cold steel handrail watching his knuckles turn white, wincing as the ship jolts again.
"Hey, Gaara, you ok?"
He glances up, Tamari's standing at the end of the corridor, silhouetted against the bright stark light coming from the open door. One hand against the wall the other on her hip, eyebrows furrowed in concern
"Gaara?" she steps towards him, her shoes clacking on the polished oak floor, "polished oak… Who puts POLISHED floors on a boat? Are they TRYING to kill us?" Gaara blinks, shaking his head and focusing back of Temari, who's now peering at his face in concern
"Gaara are you-"
"Yes, Temari, I'm fine"
He cuts her off not really wanting this conversation to go on any longer than it has too.
"What-" she blinks at him looking mildly confused "what were you doing?"
He frowns, not entirely sure what to tell her, the truth doesn't seem like such a great idea, telling her he feels sick will just make her fuss, and that is not something he's willing to put up with.
"Nothing" he says lamely, she doesn't look impressed "I fell, and caught myself on the hand rail, I was just getting my balance back, and then you walked in"
"You're an awful liar Gaara"
He sighs heavily "I am, aren't I"
"Yes, now tell me what's wrong!" Her voice is stern, but he knows she's not annoyed with him, just concerned.
"It-it's nothing really, I just… I guess boats don't agree with me" he stares at the floor, feeling his face turn red. Temari's reaction is not the one he expected, to be honest he wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected, except that being laughed at was NOT it.
"Oh Gaara, Gaara I'm sorry" she gasps through her laughter "It's not funny, really it's not I-" she breaks off, grinning guiltily at her brother before composing herself
"I'm sorry, Gaara, why don't you go and lie down or something? I'll get you some water" Gaara supresses a groan, he almost preferred it when she was laughing at him, almost.
"No, Temari, it's fine, being below deck's only making me feel worse any way" she frowns at him, concern furrowing her brows
"Gaara-"
"Please Temari, don't fuss OK?" he holds her gaze, giving her a faint smile, after a second she sighs and smiles back
"Sorry, habit" she flashes him a grin "well, I'll see ya later then, try not to throw up on any of my things, yeah?"
~Two weeks ago~
The room is dark, and empty, the only light coming from a small gas burner set on the only piece of furniture a large round polished oak table in the centre. Two dark, cloaked figures sit whilst a third stands, around the table. All three wear long black cloaks, and simplistic animal masks fashioned from painted white wood, similar to those worn by ANBU black ops agents. The standing man's is the most striking, a tiger(or possibly a ferocious tabby cat, but, most likely a tiger), most of the face white, but the stripes are blood red.
"I suppose you all know why you're here?" Tiger says, his voice low, the other two, one supporting a monkey mask and the other a badger turn to meet his gaze. He sighs, realizing they want him to spell it out for them.
"The mission" he's met with black stares, not that stares can be anything else when you're wearing a mask, but still, again he sighs "it's the perfect opportunity to deal with… Our little problem, if you see what I mean"
He chuckles dryly as the other two begin to catch on, Badger smiles slyly under his mask
"I know a man, someone who always opposed making him kage, he'd do the job for us"
"Excellent, make sure it can't be traced back to us"
"Of course, I'm not that careless!"
"Good, I'll leave the rest of the preparations to you then, you know I dislike, getting my hands dirty" he speaks slowly his voice low, dangerous, Tiger is not someone you cross and expect to live to tell the tale.