Ch.2: Unusual Human
Temari rested her arms on the windowsill, peering down at the events outdoors; it was relatively calm and quiet.
"Temari?"
She turned slightly. "Yeah, Gaara?"
Her youngest brother hesitated. "Are you…alright?"
She wished then she could smile, just to reassure him. But after all these years, it's no longer a matter of trying not to smile – she doesn't even remember how to smile anymore. "Just thinking. I'm fine."
"You're lying." He muttered.
"Maybe, a little." She sighed. "I haven't been 'fine' in a really long time, Gaara. I'm as fine as is normal for me."
He looked sadly at her. "I suppose." He paused. "I remember when you used to smile." He mused calmly. "Sometimes, I think I imagined it."
Temari looks in bemusement at her youngest brother. "I didn't think you all noticed me back then."
"Back then, you didn't notice us." Gaara corrected calmly.
She faltered. "I'm sorry." She apologized quietly and draws her attention back to the figures outside the window, "It's just…back then, you guys seemed like such freaks. I was much happier being away, and then…"
"The curse." He finished for her.
"Yeah." She closed her eyes, "And then you guys were too busy with your own things to really…" she paused. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too." He said quietly.
"Hey, Temari!" Kankurou walked into the room, his voice echoing boisterously off the walls. "You got another one."
She scowled. "So much for a moment of peace."
"I hope this one's funnier than the last." Kankurou grumbled. "He doesn't look like much."
"They never do." Temari mumblesd. "Just send him in. Maybe he'll be intelligent enough to repent."
Temari took her usual seat on the floor and waits for the newest human. He follows in after Kankurou, hands deep in his pockets, eyes half closed. He's rather scrawny and has thin
eyebrows. His eyes are beady, skin pale even for a human, and he seems more asleep than awake. She dislikes him instantly.
Kankurou exits as he usually does during the explanation, Gaara following after him after giving the newcomer a long hard look. "I think I like this one, Temari." Gaara mentioned as he made his way out of the room. "Shame, really."
Temari scoffed. She sits quietly on the floor, waiting patiently for him to speak – after all, the humans really do enjoy having the first word. But this man simply raises his head slightly and looks at her in mild amusement. His beady eyes trace her wings, her clothes, and her scowl. She feels like a zoo animal on display. "Well?" she snaps at him rather annoyed.
"Well, what?"
"What do you want?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He asked eyebrow raised.
"You want a wish." She snapped crossly.
"More like need. But, yes, that's what I came for." He inclined his head as if to gain a better look of her, "You're really not what I expected. Tales have been greatly exaggerated."
She stiffened. "What does that mean?"
"You look tiny. Fragile. Nothing like you should."
Temari is baffled by his careless conversation. If his object is to make her smile, he's certainly going about it the wrong way. He's getting on her nerves already and his time hadn't even begun. "Before you waste any more energy," she muttered condescendingly, "I really suggest you leave. You won't make me smile."
"Well, since I won't be leaving, I guess we'll see."
Deeply annoyed, Temari pulls out the limp flower from her pocket. It's wilted and quiet in her hands. "You get three days. If you do not make me smile by the end of those three days, you will die." She looks up at him, eyes hard and dangerous, "Do you really want to risk that for whatever petty wish it is you have up your sleeve?"
He contemplates her carefully, almost as if intrigued. Finally, after a long stretch of silence, he speaks, "When does my time begin?"
She's baffled again to say for sure. He hasn't mentioned anything about definitely making her smile. He isn't cocky or over confident. In fact, he seems anything but sure of himself. Absently she wonders if he's doing this as a suicide attempt. "At sundown. The three-day time period ends on the third day's sundown as well." She sighed. "You have until sundown to repent. If you do not retract your request before then, your fate is sealed." She's said the words so many times, she could mutter the chant in her sleep.
"Rather uncreative, wouldn't you say?" He muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"The way you tell people that they've signed their life to the devil. It's uncreative." He explained listlessly, "You can find much more intriguing ways to tell them that they've just about killed themselves. Certainly more interesting ways to tell the story."
She stares blankly at him. What kind of human is he? "Y-You…" She shook her head, he just wasn't worth it. "Our house will serve as yours while you decide, and if you choose to attempt making me smile it will serve as yours for the last days of your life."
He smirked. "Well, that's a bit more colorful, now isn't it?"
She scowled. "I'm serious, human; go back to where you came from. It's in your better interests to do so."
"I appreciate the warning, but, you see, I don't take orders from a woman – fairy or human." With that last statement, he steps outside the room, "Seeing how this is as good as my home, I'm going to go take a nap. Pretend to mull over the idea of going back home. You know, all that nonsense."
True to his word, the man did indeed take up camp at one of their couches as if were the most ordinary thing in the world.
--
"Well, he certainly made himself welcome." Kankurou muttered dryly as he looked at the man's sleeping form.
Temari frowned and headed to the kitchen. "He's an odd one."
"What makes you say that?" This time, Gaara, questioned.
She runs over the encounter in her mind. "He doesn't act like most humans. It's rather peculiar. He seems almost…" she hesitated.
"Almost what?" Kankurou presses as he takes a bright bumpy blue fruit from the crystal bowl in the kitchen. He chews it slowly awaiting her response.
Temari too takes a fruit – hers shaped tubular in a very dark pink hue. She turns it in her hand, thinking it over. "Fairy-like." She finally confesses. "He seems almost fairy-like."
"How so?" Gaara asked casting the human a analytical glance.
"Carefree, unaware and yet perfectly aware, chiding," she paused, "intelligent."
Kankurou looked at her in worry, eyes pierced with questions. "What makes you think that?"
She shrugs, "Something in his eyes."
Kankurou rolls his eyes at her. "You've been doing this for too long. You're starting to sound barmy."
"Oh, shut up." She grumbled.
--
A soon as the sun set, she was ready for the human to come find her and try his luck. After an hour, she got curious and wandered around the house looking for him. Maybe the human got lost. He can't have been stupid enough to just leave; she told him if he didn't repent to her before sundown that the challenge would be in effect. "Kankurou! Gaara!"
Both her brothers appear immediately before her. "Yeah?" Kankurou grumbled.
"Where's the human?"
Gaara's brow furrowed. "He isn't with you?"
"No."
The redhead shrugged, "The last I saw he was on the couch."
"Where is that idiot?" She grumbled, clearly annoyed.
Kankurou shrugged. "Don't know, but this has the makings of an interesting joke." He grinned, "Let's find him."
Two hours of fruitless searching later, Temari was ready to claim he'd ran away. Even Kankurou was convinced the human had departed.
"What an idiot!" Temari grumbled, heading up to her room. "He left, and now he's going to die all because he didn't repent." She kicked the door to her room open ready to collapse on her bed. She would've collapsed on it too if there wasn't somebody already in it. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
The human on her bed stirred. "What does it look like?" He mumbled into the pillow. "I'm sleeping. If you would stop yelling it would make it a lot easier."
Temari felt the strong urge to bash his head in. "You realize your three days have started?" She snapped in confusion and anger.
"Yeah. So?" He muttered lifting his head just enough to look at her.
"Most people tend to get started right away." She explained crossly.
"Why would I do that?" He drawled. "You don't get any sleep that way and neither do I. I'll start when I'm rested. Can't think when I'm tired."
"You're on my bed." She pointed out crossly.
"You said this was as good as my home." He mumbled before turning his back to her and snuggling into the blankets.
"NOT MY BED!" She screamed.
"Well, you should've been more specific." He yawned. "Now, shut up. I'm trying to sleep."
Temari's eyebrow twitched. This human was damnably annoying.
A/N: Sorry about taking so long to update. I, uh...sort of forgot this story... I kinda got distracted by a manga/anime I discovered (Soul Eater) and haven't done anything else but that for the past three days. -whoops!- It just reallly caught my interest.
So anyway, as apology, I'll attempt to update the next chapter on Monday.
