Chapter Three: Chatting with Evil

Temari raised her eyes to stare at the man in front of her, her anger only fuming. The doors were shut behind herself, locking her into a large, almost empty room with a wide bay window at the back. She had always found it ironic that Gaara, who used to despise sunshine and preferred the comfort of shadows, would request such a room. Of course, it was beautiful with rich-coloured walls and wooden floors, but she had never expected the redhead to take a liking to this particular room.

A small chuckle left Fumio's lips as he turned from the bay window to face her. "Good afternoon, Temari."

The blonde woman marched right up to the desk, which now separated her from the shinobi. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes as she coolly said, "Fumio. It has been quite a long time."

"Much too long, indeed," he chuckled. Vainly, he sat upon the seat behind the desk, taking obvious pride in stealing Gaara's place. "What can I do for you?"

Temari took a few seconds to study him. He had dirty blonde hair, which was slightly greasy at the roots, and cold grey eyes. He was just barely overweight, yet was tall enough so he could pull off the extra pounds. His face had a permanent sneer etched onto it, as though he was used to feeling superior to everyone.

"No need to play games with me, Fumio," she grumbled, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "The only reason I'm not caving your head in right now is because I have no idea where my brother is. Fortunately, you do; so you're going to be a nice boy and tell me where he is." The last statement wasn't a demand, but an order. Her eyes flashed menacingly as she moved her hands to her slender hips.

The boy chuckled. "Easy, Jewel. Remember who you're addressing."

She rolled her eyes. "Who might that be?"

Fumio also stood up, his eyes gleaming with the greed of power. "I am Kazekage of Suna now."

"And you thought I would care?" Temari suddenly roared, slamming her fist down onto the desk. "I lived for my entire life with Kazekages, do you really think that I'm going to be intimidated just because you stole that title?"

"I'd be much happier if you would use the word 'earned', Temari. I worked hard all my life to earn this; when all your brother did was to inherit it out of fear. Everybody was terrified of him; no one would've denied him the position."

Temari growled, hating to hear her brother being degraded so easily by such a man. "He did earn it. When he accepted the title, it was to attempt changing the village's image of him! Do not speak of my brother as though he's a monster! He's a much better man than you ever will be!"

Fumio chuckled again, stepping around the desk. He stood directly in front of her, the sneer never leaving his face as he raised his arms. "What do you want me to do, Temari? You're surely here for another reason than to whine, am I correct?"

"Watch your tongue or I swear I'll cut it out," she replied, her eyes blazing dangerously. "I want you to release my brother and let him come back home. We'll even leave you the title of Kazekage for now if you agree."

"I accept."

Temari blinked, suddenly confused. She took a step back and bristled defensively. "I assume you want something back in return."

"Of course I do. You know me so well, Jewel!" he sneered, obviously enjoying the sight of her frustration. "I will let your brother return home unscathed and I will tell the crowd whatever you want. I'll even hold a press conference and let him speak to defend himself if he wishes, but in return, I expect quite a lot. I want to know his exact location no matter what. You will allow a guard to live at your home and my patrol will be scouting your house regularly."

"Done deal," Temari nodded, a smirk covering her face.

But Fumio raised a hand. "I'm not done, Temari. I also request an assistant. Someone who will help me do some tasks, someone whom I'll rely on. A pretty assistant, if you understand my meaning."

Her mouth gaped slightly, before she burst into mocking laughter. "You want me to work for you?"

"Yes, I do," he said as he extended his hand towards her. "You will be my messenger, mostly. Since you know the town more than anyone else, plus you are used to working under Kazekage orders, you would be a perfect choice. Fair exchange for your brother's liberty, no?"

Temari stared at the extended hand with disgust. She had absolutely no intention in working for him, but if it would save Gaara's life...

Looking away, she reached over and grasped his hand. "Done. Lead me to him."

The loud creaking woke up the redhead as a surge of light filled his dim room. He raised his turquoise eyes to meet marine-hued orbs staring solemnly at him.

"Get up," Temari said, her voice raspy. "Let's get out of here."

Gaara obliged, the muscles in his legs cramped from the hours spent without moving an inch. He wordlessly slid out of his tiny prison and, squinting, stared at Temari inquisitively.

His older sister didn't even give him an explanation as she turned around. Her footsteps were quiet on the cold stone and he could hear the guards upstairs chattering aimlessly. Every single inmate was silent. There was a great price to pay for disturbances in this side of the jail.

"We need to get you back home for now," Temari finally spoke as they reached the stairs. "Then we'll discuss what to do. There'll be a guard permanently at our home; he should be there right now. Let's just hope Kankuro didn't massacre the poor man."

They managed to slip out of the building unnoticed- after all, Gaara did know every single nook and cranny of the Kazekage office building.

The pair was walking through a quiet alleyway when Gaara reached over to grab her wrist. She stopped and stared at him curiously. Usually, if he wanted her attention, he'd call her name. Never before did he physically touch her to talk to her.

"I'm not unintelligent, Temari," he said. "I know that my release had some consequences. We might not be able to talk alone for a while, so tell me what happened. What did you trade in order to free me?"

Temari stared into her little brother's eyes, unsure of what to reply. She was tempted to lie and invent a story, but knew that she couldn't do so without flinching. Not to Gaara, and definitely not under these kinds of situations. "I have to work for him. I guess he just wanted power, Gaara. Now he has it, he'll just bask into it for a while. Don't worry; I'm certain the villagers don't hate you. They might even request you back."

The redhead looked away, unsure of what to answer. It was true that most of Suna had begun to accept his rapid raise to power, but to think that they would actually ask for him?

He doubted it.

His grip on Temari's wrist tightened as he narrowed his eyes. "I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to, sister."

A small smile painted itself on the blonde's lips. This was surely the closest she could ever get to a declaration of brotherly love from him, and it warmed her to think that he meant what he had said. Gaara never spoke meaningless words.

"I promise you I won't," she smiled warmly, putting her free hand over his.

Rapidly, the redhead retreated, still not quite used to retorting to physical contact to portray feelings. He took the lead and they arrived at their room rather quickly. After unlocking the door, the siblings slid inside and headed to the living room, where Kankuro was waiting. Another shinobi was also seated across from them and was smirking victoriously.

As they entered, Temari halted and stared disbelievingly as Gaara remained emotionless. Shaking her head, she softly said, "No way."

"Oh yeah," Kankuro retorted, rolling his eyes in the process. "This is who will be watching over our home as of today."

Chokichi smirked at them from his position on the chair.

A/N: Hello people,

Well, I have good and bad news... Yes, you got a chapter early, because (yay) I got a laptop. We cleaned out the computer tech back room and found some old laptops... We asked the teacher if we could have them, and he said okay. I'm really happy! Yay! It only has 10Gb in the hard drive, an hour and a half of battery time, and has like 100 mb of RAM... XD But it has WordPerfect, so I'm just typing away when I have time.

On a more sombre tone, I had a phone call yesterday morning... My grandfather passed away after years of battling cancer. When I mean 'years', I mean like… fifteen years approximately. He'd been more severely attacked over the last year, but now it's over. So R.I.P grandpapa... This chapter's for you.

Reviews would be lovely... But if you don't want, then the important thing is that you read! So thank you.

Take care!