"Hello."
"Hello."
I stared evenly at the tall girl with a massive fan who was considering me seriously.
"Is this her?" She asked Kankuro, not taking her eyes off my face.
"Who else would it be? Idiot." I didn't see her move, but suddenly she was right beside me, her fan slightly open and at Kankuro's throat.
"Who's an idiot?!" She asked quietly but pointedly, then grinned at me, "I'm Temari. Nice to meet you!" With her free hand, she shook my bemused hand. I recovered quickly,
"I'm...Youko... Is he ok?" Kankuro had his eyes closed in some kind of prayer as the razor-sharp edge of the fan hovered around his neck.
"Oh, him? He's fine. Who would think that their own sister would hurt them like that?" She smiled sweetly at Kankuro, before snapping her fan shut. Her brother breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at me pityingly,
"She's all yours." Before she could retaliate, he had disappeared from the room. I scratched my head,
"So... what do we do?"
"The usual." She sat on a wooden chair, and without any further explanation from her, I looked around the room; fairly spartan, with a desk, chair (currently occupied with the slightly unpredictable ninja), bed and a chest of drawers.
"Whose room is this?"
"Yours."
"Huh."
We stayed in silence for a few minutes, and I finally threw myself down on the bed,
"Thank Kami! I haven't had a bed in about a fortnight! Man, it's so soft!" She raised an eyebrow at me, "What? I like beds!" I answered and sat up to look at her properly, "Could you elaborate a bit more, please. What are we supposed to do?"
"Well, generally, I look after the person I'm guarding until they get on my nerves so much that I get the urge to seriously hurt them, then my brother takes them away from me." She said, her voice honey-sweet. I nodded slowly,
"So you're speaking as little as possible hoping I will too, so that we don't get on each others' nerves as quickly!" She nodded, "Right. Well... Nope, sorry, that doesn't cut it with me."
"What?!"
"I'm not spending all of my time with a person who barely speaks. Anyway, you're interesting. I don't think you'll get on my nerves."
"It's not you I'm worried about."
"Oh, don't say that. Everyone loves me!"
"Really." She said unenthusiastically.
"Hey! I don't like the way you said that! Let me guess."
She looked at me out of the corner of her eyes,
"What?"
"Ah, so you're interested now?"
"..."
"Is that not answering questions a family thing?" She gave me a confused look, "So, I'm guessing. You're being all big and mean and uncaring... you're waiting for something... no, someone in particular, and you don't want to be stuck with a 24/7 person right now 'cause you might miss him."
The edge of the fan was beside my cheek before I knew what was happening, "Hey, you are good with that thing! Just don't wave it around needlessly, please." It didn't move, "You could have just asked! I won't stop you seeing anyone you want to see. I might even watch-"
She hit me round the head with the blunt end of her weapon and I hissed as she withdrew it,
"Don't be so smart."
I forgot the pain,
"I'm right, aren't I? I am!" She blushed and I suddenly didn't think that this whole thing was going to be all that bad at all. "So, tell me, who is he?"
She sat back down in her chair,
"No-one."
"Ah. They always are. No-one gets around a lot." She threw me a look, and I could see she was trying not to smile. "It doesn't matter. You don't have to tell me."
"Ah-... um... thank you?"
"It's nothing. I get to meet him though, right? You'll tell me who he is when we see him."
"Wait! Why are you being so friendly?" She was suddenly so suspicious. I sighed over-theatrically.
"Why are you being so unfriendly? I only need surveillance because of your stupid council and because I have absolutely no evidence that I'm not going to kill you all. Obviously. Other than that, I'm just a normal girl."
"Really. So I guess the council didn't make a good first impression on you."
"Hah. Bunch of species-ist old men."
"Species-ist? Oh, right. Can I say something?"
"Duh."
"It might be kind of rude but... you don't look like you're half a demon."
I raised my eyes,
"That's because you haven't seen me... at night!" I hissed for effect, and she gaped,
"Do you... really-"
"-No! Don't be a fool. This is just my natural form. It's just maybe a bit more... fluid than yours."
"What?!"
"I mean, I can maybe change my form a little bit, just a little, sometimes. Takes loads of chakra though, dries me right up. In case you hadn't noticed, it's also slightly easier to move around in the human world looking, you know, human."
She nodded and we went back to silence. Then she looked back at me, her eyes softer and suddenly she seemed just that little bit nicer.
"Sorry. Sorry, can we just start again?"
"Uh-huh. I'm Youko."
"I'm Temari"
"Right. Can I have food now please?"
"Huh?"
"The only food you people gave me was very quickly thrown up again by yours truly, and I'd actually quite like not to die of starvation."
"Oh, right. Well, I was about to eat something anyway, come with me."
As I followed her out of the room I smiled to myself. Looked like this would be kind of fun, after all. Seemed the ninja of the Sand had some serious personality quirks, and that just made it all incredibly exciting. Not that I'm thinking of the Kazekage when I say that. No, why would that guy float into my mind when I think of the word 'exciting'? Of course not.
Five bowls of ramen later, and I was sprawled into my chair, feeling like I was going to explode at any minute. Temari watched me in awe,
"I've never seen anyone eat that much- actually, I have, but he's different... How?"
"Go without food for half a month. Suddenly it's surprisingly easy."
I looked out of the window and into the busy market street. Temari had seen my wistful expression as I peeked out of the main building and decided that I might as well have a little tour round the village.
"So what do you think?" She asked with pride, "What do you think of the village?"
"Sandy." I replied, worrying that if I spoke too much the food might take that as an opportunity to come back out again.
"Hey!"
"What?! It is!"
She looked like she was about to argue, but my logic was flawless, and she snorted,
"But that's like saying that where you grew up is 'mountainy'."
"Well, it is."
"I can see you're a literary genius."
I raised my eyebrow at her just as a jounin appeared next to our table. He bowed hastily to Temari, fixed me with a worried look before doing the same to me, and turned back to my new friend,
"The Kazekage requests the presence of the.. um...-"
"-Merger." I helpfully butted in, and he nodded in a panicked way,
"Right, the Merger... in his office, now."
Temari nodded curtly and he vanished again.
"Aw man, I was only just there!"
"Oh, it's not like you're an important source of information about a serious threat to the village or anything."
"You know, you're unexpectedly sarcastic." I commented as we got up from our table.
"Why's it unexpected?" She asked, a smile playing round her lips, and I shook my head, smiling,
"I guess I always thought ninja would be more serious, is all."
"Oh, you need to meet this guy from the Leaf, wears a mask all the time, reads naughty books..." I laughed delightedly as we began the climb up the steep roads to the main offices, my mood lightening almost imperceptibly as I contemplated the thought of seeing the Kazekage again so soon.
And there it is. Happy days. Offering cookies didn't exactly seem to work, so now I'll bake some virtual caramel shortbread. Don't make me eat it all on my own in a reviewless binge. The cyber me will get fat. ^.^