Dinner was fantastic. Someone had recently taken the time to barbeque some chicken over an open flame, as well as toss a nice fresh salad. There were boiled beans and herbal smashed potatos. For dessert there was sweet bread, slices of apples and pineapples. The kitchen smelled wonderful.
Sakura stood in the doorway and watched as Temari set the table and arranged the food there. Kankuro watched eagerly from his seat while Gaara finished stirring the pitcher of tea at Temari's request and tasted from the spoon to be sure it was right. Gaara brought the tea to the table and seated himself. Sakura thought silently that she'd never imagined the guy could do such a normal, everyday thing. Her previous memories of him had been violent or confusing; she never did know quite what to think when she learned he'd been made Kazekage.
"Well, come on, Sakura. Have a seat! Dinner's going to get cold.." Temari stated as she set the table for a fourth person.
They were unusual people, Sakura admitted. As much as she loved Temari, Kankuro was perverse and a little creepy, which was tolerable. Gaara was still more than a bit unnerving. Despite that, they did look like a family, and Sakura felt very out of place
Temari had found her way over to Sakura, and began nudging her over toward the table.
"Here, this is your seat. Make yourself at home, no need to be nervous." Temari continued until Sakura sat down between Kankuro and Gaara. Kankuro even reached over to push her chair in behind her, grinning broadly, "Welcome," he said. We're all mad here, Sakura thought that would have been an appropriate followup.
The table was a small, round, but ornate in that it was hand carved around the edges. Sakura would never have given a second thought to sitting close at a table with any of the Konoha 11 or her mentors. But the sand siblings were a different story entirely.
"There! Isn't this great! I'm so glad to have another female in the house!" Temari settled across from Sakura and lifted a bowl of beans, serving herself before passing the bowl to Kankuro, who followed suit. Temari smiled vividly over at Sakura, "You'll love the food. Kankuro actually roasted the meat for us. I tossed the salad and made the vegetables. The market had fresh things this evening, new vendors came in. I couldn't help myself.." Temari continued to explain the meal, describing some special herbs she'd gotten for vegetables and how womanly she felt to have such a fabulous meal on the table.
Sakura intercepted a bowl from Kankuro, spooning herself a small portion of beans, then hesitating before handing the bowl off to Gaara, who seemed to refuse to look directly at her, unlike before. Sakura wondered if he was as uncomfortable as her, but quickly disregarded that thought, somehow believing that nervousness wasn't something that Gaara was capable of.
The bowl of potatos found its way into Sakura's hands, and she allowed herself a bit more of one of her favorite vegetables, which smelled wonderful. She passed off the bowl of potatos, glancing to Gaara again, who seemed most interested in his plate, his brow area still creased at the center.
Idly Sakura wondered if he was annoyed at her presence. She felt as though she'd invaded his personal space somehow more than once already, on the balcony, and now here at his dinner table. Sakura felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks as the cool bowl of salad landed in her hands. She looked to Kankuro, who already somehow had a mouthfull of food. Temari swatted him with a napkin, "Have some manners! We DO have a guest, Kankuro!" She huffed.
"No, no. It's okay. Please be natural." Sakura couldn't help but grin at Kankuro, who had his arms up in a defensive position against Temari. He swallowed his food and grinned again, "I can't help it! I'm a growing boy. I'm starved!" He joked. Temari scowled. Gaara didn't react whatsoever, and Sakura felt like slumping far down into her chair.
She allowed herself to take some of the salad, which thankfully had a variety of vegetables. Sakura loved a good green salad, and was relieved to find that it wasn't impossible to obtain such a thing in Suna.
"It's a gorgeous evening." Temari noted, distracting Sakura from her thoughts a moment. "If you're feeling up to taking a stroll around Suna, you should feel welcome to, Sakura. It's more lively during the first half of the evening. It's just better for the merchants at night, too. Anything outdoor related doesn't generally go on during the sunlit hours- too hot." Temari nodded.
Kankuro had stood and taken to slicing the chicken apart at the center of the table. He prodded at the roasted bird with a fork and offered Temari some dark meat, which she accepted with delight. He served himself a slice of dark meat and settled back into his chair with a grimace, reaching for his left thigh and rubbing his hand across it with a hiss, which immediately alerted Sakura.
"Are you injured..?" Sakura leaned over, naturally inquisitive about anything that she might be able to assist with. Healing jutsu was not just her specialty, it had become one of the things she loved about life.
Kankuro shook his head, "Oh, I pulled a muscle or something while on a mission a few days ago,. It always gets more sore before it gets better, though. I'll probably not even feel it in a few days and be good as new."
Sakura shook her head, "I'd like to take a look at it after we eat, if that's okay." She smiled. "I'll bet we can have that feeling good as new by the morning."
"You don't have to do anything like that, Sakura. It's just a muscle." Kankuro smiled, enjoying the attention, and the idea of more of it. But he was not used to a healer being so readily available, and it somehow seemed like he'd be taking advantage of Sakura if he said yes.
"Oh, please. It's nothing at all, I'm sure. Besides, you've invited me into your home. Let me help as I can. Please?" Sakura turned on the charm, Kankuro relented.
"Thank you, Sakura! It's going to be just wonderful with you around, I know it!" Temari beamed.
Sakura suddenly felt watched, and a sudden shift in the chakra to her left became apparent. She felt her skin tingle as she blushed once again upon realizing she'd been holding the salad bowl the whole time. She turned her head gently to glance over at Gaara, and just as she thought, he'd been staring directly at her. His arms extended as he reached for the salad bowl, bearing an expression Sakura didn't fully understand, though she felt it leaned towards anger. Was he angry over the salad bowl being held up? That would be absurd, right?
Sakura swallowed nothingness quietly and offered Gaara the bowl of salad. He accepted it, eyes locking with her own, pools of strange shades of blue, depths that one could easily drown in. She felt warm fingers brush her own as the bowl was taken from her, and it felt as though his fingertips tugged her toward him almost purposefully. His expression again seemed to morph into something Sakura didn't understand for a split second before he inclined his head and broke the gaze abruptly.
Sakura retracted her hands and clasped them together tightly in her lap, beneath the table and out of view. Gaara served himself salad with tongs. Kankuro had taken to shovelling food into his mouth, but had paused, while Temari sat glancing between Sakura and Gaara, having bitten a slice of chicken in half and forgotten to chew; it seemed everyone noticed the awkward exchanges between Sakura and the Kazekage.
Temari wasn't the ambassador for Suna for no reason; her uncanny ability to deal with difficult social situations made her the ideal candidate. Her reaction was normal for someone of her position.
"Oh, Sakura!" She exclaimed, "You must try the dark meat! It's succulent!"
"My mistake. I forgot to serve you." Kankuro snapped into action in an attempt to assist his sister in making the situation less tense. However, his attempt failed as he reached for the serving utensil and missed. Gaara's reflex had beaten the puppeteer's out, as the redheaded male snapped the serving fork away from Kankuro's reach. Kankuro immediately yielded to Gaara and settled back into his seat and stared across the table, wide-eyed in response to the abrupt interruption from his brother.
Gaara stabbed at the meat and served himself a generous slice of white meat chicken. Sakura continued to sit very still, while Temari raised a brow in question toward her brother, Gaara.
Three out of four dinner attendees would agree, the next move was most unexpected.
Gaara paused, then served a slice of dark meat onto Sakura's plate, followed by a slice of white meat, which was his preferred. He settled the fork back onto the platter and looked to Sakura, who seemed lost.
Gaara began to separate the cut of chicken on his own plate, "I prefer the light meat." He stated simply.
Is that small talk? Sakura couldn't help but wonder. Feeling it best to turn her attention to Gaara and play along, she responded, "Mine, too." She wasn't lying, actually. She reached for the light meat and took a bite, settling down a bit with the flavorful food.
"Oh, wow. That is good." Sakura hadn't realized how hungry she was, and she began working away at the provided meal. Temari beamed over and Kankuro, who smiled back. They looked to Gaara, who nodded his approval, and continued with his own meal.
The rest of the meal went with little incident. Sakura tried to clear her own plates from the table, but Temari would have none of it, and shoved her out of the kitchen and into the sitting room, where Kankuro had settled on one very large, plush sofa. He propped up his leg and settled back with a sigh of relief.
Sakura found herself hovering over Kankuro like a mother hen, and Kankuro stared up at Sakura with a smirk, "I guess you're here for my check-up, huh Nurse?" He joked, always a jovial man.
"But of course! This won't hurt a bit, I promise" Sakura laughed lightly as Kankuro moved to roll up his baggy pant leg and expose the area just above his knee. There was a bruise, Sakura could tell, a terrible swelling black and purple bruise that looked much like Kankuro had collided with someone's bat. Without questioning his earlier explanation, Sakura placed both hands over the wound and closed her eyes. Kankuro tensed for a moment, then waited for what he assumed was the inevitable pain that doctors never are truly honest about. However, much to his surprise, there wasn't pain, but warmth, and relief. The bruise was almost unnoticeable when Sakura removed her hands and settled against the armrest of the sofa with a smile, "See! I told you it wouldn't hurt a bit!"
Kankuro inspected his leg, running his hand across the previously bruised area in awe. "You're something else, you know that? I'm impressed." He concluded.
"You're easily impressed. I'm second only to Tsunade, you know." Sakura nodded, "Let me know if you get any more pulled muscles." She emphasized the last part, knowing full well his injury was from some sort of combat. If he'd been proud of it, he would have been more honest about it. Either way, the damage was healed and Sakura felt fantastic to have been of some help to the hospitable sand siblings already.
The clanking and clattering noises from the kitchen were indication that Temari continually cleaned the dinnertime mess, and even Gaara had evacuated from the offending room. He stood just inside the sitting room, observing the interchanges between Kankuro and Sakura, and somehow feeling increasingly displeased with the entire situation.
Kankuro didn't have the social inhibitions that Gaara did. Somehow, this time it seemed to matter a little bit more whether or not Gaara could hold the attention of this particular woman. Gaara felt himself become annoyed with the ease that Kankuro communicated with Sakura, and the happiness they seemed to experience from the interchanges. Gaara sipped at his tea silently as he watched Sakura slide her hands across Kankuro's thigh, and that familiar light of flowing chakra seemed to illuminate her features. Gaara remembered that from an encounter with her before, those healing hands, that warm tingling, those concerned eyes. He felt what he knew to be a tinge of jealousy, as he remembered it from childhood.
This felt slightly different, however, and he couldn't quite precisely place the feeling. All he knew was that Sakura had been in his house for not even a single day and nothing was the same, and that he did not enjoy watching her interactions alone with Kankuro.