Chapter 4

The explosion was massive. Fire and debris rained all around Hinata as she rolled from her back unto her stomach, coughing up blood as she did so. She looked around to find Temari's mangled corpse only a few feet away. Using the last bit of her strength, she crawled toward her lover, taking one of Temari's hand's in her own as tears streamed down her face.

Hinata's cold body suddenly warmed as she held Temari's hand. She knew she was dying. The sheer force of the massive blast was enough to cause internal bleeding. She didn't fight it. She welcomed Death's cold embrace. She didn't know if there was an afterlife. She only hoped that if there was, Temari would be there waiting for her on the other side. As Hinata's eyes closed she saw a large, hooded figure running towards them, screaming. She couldn't make out the words, she could barely see through the tears and rubble, but she knew it was Kankuro.

"TEMARI-CHAN?! HINATA-CHAN?!" Kankuro fell to his knees next to their bodies. He felt something in the pit of his stomach that radiated up through his entire torso, pulsating right behind his eyes. He wanted so badly to cry, but he choked the tears back, using his shirt to cover their bodies.

"Kankuro-sama?" The voice belonged to one of Kankuro' s men, but the leader was too distraught to determine whom. "What are we to do?"

Kankuro looked around as everything seemingly moved in slow motion. Debris was still falling from the sky. Several bodies lay among the wreckage. Women, men, residents for Sunagakure. His sister, her lover.

Fire reigned from above as Kankuro made his way to the explosion's origin point. He recognized the powder burns on the ground immediately as black gun power, a powerful accelerant that was rare in Sunagakure. His guess was a paper was the trigger, after it erupted, the black powder was enough to cause the massive explosion he had witnessed.

"Kankuro-sama," the voice came again, and Kankuro still couldn't bring himself to see who had created it. "What do you wish us to do?"

"Locate any survivors." Kankuro instructed, unsure of himself as smoke billowed in his face. "Help the injured as fast as possible. Afterward gather the bodies. Take them to the morgue, the Kazekage should be here soon." Something told Kankuro he was wrong. The explosion had been large enough to catch his attention, so Gaara had to of already known about it. If he were to come, he would have been on site already.

"Nobody has seen seen Lord Kazekage since yesterday," the voice informed Kankuro. "He may be on a mission, or currently in another land."

That was rubbish, and Kankuro knew it. Gaara would have requested Temari and his own company had he been leaving Sunagakure. Something else was going on. Something Kankuro needed to find answers to. He needed to find his brother, he needed to tell Gaara about their sister. "Do as instructed, I will go locate my brother." Kankuro said before he took off.

So many things raced through his mind as he made his way to the Kazekage's mansion. Temari. Kankuro could still remember the night as though it were just the last. Him and Temari, sitting alone as they had a drink together after the failure in Konohagakure.

"We can't blame ourselves, Kankuro-kun," Temari reminded him, taking a swig of the sake she had bought for them earlier that day. "That mission was doomed a failure from the start, we were lucky to have made it out with our lives."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Kankuro relented as he to the bottle Temari offered him. He took another long gulp of the alcohol before continuing. "Still bites, ya know?"

"What are we to do?" Temari hadn't even wanted to attempt the mission in the first place. Sunagakure was strong, but their people hadn't been fighting form themselves. They had been fighting for Orochimaru and his reign of terror. They'd been fighting for a mad man on his hunt for immortality.

"Nothing, I guess," Kankuro shrugged, taking his puppet off his back, setting it next to them as they looked out across the skyline of Sunagakure. From the roof of the Kazekage's mansion, everything seemed so small, so far away. It was as though nothing mattered at this height, and Kankuro loved it.

"Kankuro, there's something I want to tell you, but I am unaware of how you would react." Temari said in a shy tone, pushing her pointer fingers together as she blushed a bit. This caught Kankuro's attention. His sister was never shy about anything, she was the most outspoken one on their team. "You have to promise me you won't laugh or tell Gaara-kun. It is a secret I am currently only entrusting to you. It is not exactly something I wish to be public knowledge quite yet, do you understand?"

She may have been acting different from her usual self, but she was the same old Temari. Anytime she needed anything, or had a secret that was so large she couldn't hold in herself, she came to Kankuro. Be it the fact they were siblings, or that she was just naturally at ease around Kankuro, he never knew, but he was always there when his sister needed an ear to talk off. "You have my word," Kankuro reassured her.

"During the Chunin exams, while we were in Konohagakure, I realized something about myself..." Temari trailed off. It must have been something big that she wouldn't just spit it out right away.

"Go on," Kankuro hated pushing so had, but in the current situation, it seemed to be needed.

"I don't want to die alone like so many other shinobi." Temari stated, casting a glance at her brother. "I'm not talking about you and Gaara-kun, either. I want something more. Something unique. I want something I have never truly felt before. I want to be loved. I want to try loving and being with someone. I want to try to be romantic..."

"That's understandable," Kankuro shrugged, taking another drink, assuming that was the end to her confession.

"...with a girl." This shocked Kankuro to the point he choked upon the alcohol he was drinking. He'd prepared himself for a lot of things, but his sister coming out of the closet to him was certainly not one of them. He'd always known his sister to be a tomboy, but had never considered the possibility of her wanting to bed one of her own sex.

"What?" Kankuro asked once he'd regained his composure. "Just to clarify, you want to be in a relationship with a girl, like yourself?"When Temari only nodded in response, Kankuro pressed onward. "Like, kiss, touch, sleep with? You want to do all these things with a female?" Temari nodded again. "Where is all of this coming from, Temari-chan?"

"It was during the match with Tenten-chan. Even during the fight my body kept having the burning urge to not fight," Temari explained as best she could, but she didn't know whether Kankuro was understanding her. "I kinda wanted to kiss her."

"OK, so you like Tenten-chan? So you're a lesbian?" Kankuro concluded, finishing off the bottle of sake.

"Not...exactly..." Temari said, confusing her brother even more so than he had already been. "I'm still into guys too, and, well, Tenten-chan wasn't the only girl who made me feel that way..."

Kankuro laid back on the roof covering his face with his hands. "So you're a whore."

That caused Temari to slap him in the stomach with all her might. "Gee, thanks a whole fucking lot Kankuro-kun, you ass. I'm trying to be honest with you and you go and say some stupid shit like that?! Go to hell," and with that Temari jumped off the roof, leaving Kankuro cringing in pain.

That stupid girl was always acting wild. After that night he'd found out that she'd found Akiza and had a little fun of their own, but now... now Temari's body lie in the street, bloodied and burned. 'Somebody is going to pay with their life!' Kankuro thought to himself.

Kankuro was almost to the Kazekage's mansion when something in the corner of his eye. He stopped and turned to see what appeared to be a giant cyclone of wind, ripping up the former Kazekage's mansion at the other end of the village. Kankuro only knew of two wind users in all of Suna that could create such massive hurricanes, but Temari was dead. That could only mean... 'RIN-CHAN!'

Kankuro ran across the rooftops as fast as his feet and chakra would carry him. By the time he arrived at his destination the funnel had already evaporated. He saw bodies all around torn apart by what he only assumed was the Jutsu he'd witnessed prior. Then he saw her. "Rin-chan!"

Kankuro ran over to her, scooping her up in his arms. "RIN-CHAN, WAKE UP! RIN-CHAN!" Kankuro felt so weak, so helpless as he held the girl close to him. He wasn't a medical expert, he was a puppet master.

Kankuro watched closely as Rin's eyes slowly fluttered open. Relief washed over him seeing the girl's green irises through half-lidded eyes. "Oh, thank Kami you're all right," Kankuro said, holding her tightly, openly weeping.

"I'm fine, Kankuro-kun." Rin said, tears streaming down her face. She then pushed herself from his embrace, staring at the ground. He could tell something was causing her to falter.

"Rin-chan, do you know who these men are?" Kankuro asked, staring deep into her eyes.

Rin looked around at the forty mutilated bodies that lie scattered on the ground. All of them were torn to shreds with cuts and gashes only wind-style justu could make. She looked down at her hands, wallowing in sorrow, she'd defeated all forty by herself, and she'd come out unscathed. Gathering up all of her courage, she looked back into Kankuro's eyes with tears in her own. "They're the men who killed Gaara-kun..."

Kankuro's shock was evident as he fell to his knees, crying hysterically. First his sister, and now his brother. How could somebody be so happy one day, then lose everything they cared for the next? It wasn't fair.

"Kankuro-kun..." Rin's small voice was so sympathetic, watching as he punched the ground and wept. She was trying to let him know he wasn't alone, but it wasn't working. He knew.

Kankuro had lost all that had been dear to him. He watched the blood fly, but didn't care. He took all his anger and frustration out of the sand in front of him, pounding his fist into it over and over and over until Rin moved her hand into his.

Kankuro spun into Rin, weeping against her stomach as she ran her fingers through his hair. He was lost. He was alone. Even Rin's comforting touches weren't enough to soothe the ache now felt inside. He needed something, anything, to give him reason to continue living.