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The Longest Road

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Chapter 7. The delay

Her thoughts racing, Temari quickened her pace. She had to get to the village as fast as she could, and hopefully go back even faster. Kankurō was left alone with the girl, who promised to take care of him. Temari warned the girl - Matsuri was her name - not to hurt him if she didn't want to die a slow, painful death. Actually, the girl didn't look like she was able to hurt a fly, but it's always better to state certain things bluntly. Matsuri was positively white after the warning, and she swore to do her best to help Kankurō during Temari's hopefully short absence.

Temari wouldn't leave her brother in the stranger's hands if not for the whole story the girl had told them both. According to her words, she had been kidnapped from her house, and left in the desert without any reason. She had no parents, no family at all, so nobody would care if she disappeared. She had been an Academy student for a time being, but they kicked her out because she couldn't continue the ninja training due to her fear of weapons, and probably violence in general. A failed existence, one could say. She insisted she had no idea why they carried her off. The only thing she knew was that she had been asleep in her bed, and when she woke up from the deep, dreamless slumber, with her head aching badly, she found herself in the middle of the desert. Terrified, she fought the ties binding her hands and ankles, to no avail. Finally, she panicked and began to scream, only to find out that the noises lured the monster.

Temari clenched her fists with anger. If it was not for Gaara's whim, the girl would be dead by now. Another innocent victim, actually a civilian. Not that Gaara would care that he was killing innocent people. It wouldn't be much difference to him. However, with Temari it was a different story. As a captain of her team, she had been assigned a secret mission from one of the councilmen. He said that there were numerous spies trying to infiltrate Suna because of its increasing weakness. Other countries and hidden villages sought a way to destroy Suna. Once caught, the spies were interrogated, and sentenced to death by Gaara's hands. Temari didn't particularly like such a mission but in the end it was Gaara who was to deal with the spies, and crush them with his sand. For that, Temari didn't argue nor ask any questions.

Until now.

Matsuri's story cast a new light on so-called mission. Temari simply couldn't believe that the council would throw an orphan's life away for some stupid reason, while they were supposed to protect it. She had known before that Jōseki was a cruel, heartless bastard, but this? It was just too much. He might be a councilman and Temari might be a ninja but she wouldn't participate in murdering innocent people for a reason she didn't even know, period.

She was going to demand explanations. Only she doubted anyone would give them to her. She wasn't even certain she would escape the village unscathed after she would ask the Kazekage about the sacrifices he decided to make. But still, she couldn't just leave it as it was...

Even lost in her thoughts, the kunoichi wouldn't overlook the change in the air. Immediately developing the goosebumps, she instinctively came to a halt, fighting the urge to raise her hands in a defensive gesture, when Gaara blocked her way.

"H—hey Gaara," she greeted him, forcing a smile onto her lips in a parody of a sibling fondness. "What is it?"

Of course, he didn't reply, scrutinizing her until she frowned slightly.

"What is it?" she repeated, careful to erase any impatience from her voice because she knew it would piss him off if he realized she was being impatient with him. "Do you want anything?"

He nodded slowly, his look almost thoughtful, when he stepped up closer. Temari sighed mentally, and waited. He went even closer, making her shift uncomfortably when he entered her personal space.

"I was wondering," he uttered quietly, glancing at her from under his eyelashes. On anyone else that look might seem shy but Gaara wasn't anyone else.

Temari swallowed when she realized he was in one of those moods she hated the most. Even if he addressed her, he didn't actually talk to her. He was talking to himself, just as usual. Only this time he wanted to do that in front of an audience. Damn him to the deepest hell - as if he already wasn't - for choosing this particular morning to pester her.

"Yes?" she probed, trying to look interested but not prying. Caring but not possessive. Hell if she knew that she managed not to anger him but she couldn't stay silent, either, because it would annoy him even more. "You were wondering...?"

"Where is it coming from?" he growled lowly, his eyes narrowing, when he grabbed the top of her shirt. "Are you doing this to me?"

Temari broke out in a cold sweat. Her hands trembling, and her mind blurred for an instant with a pure terror, she asked herself if she was out of luck, finally. Gaara spared the girl but what if he was going to take his sister's life instead?

I don't know what you're talking about, she wanted to say, only she couldn't. One could never admit to Gaara they didn't knew what he was talking about. That is, if they wanted to survive.

"I'm not... doing anything to you," she said hesitantly because she couldn't make up any better answer at the moment. Gaara's expression instantly changed, from calm and pensive to ominous and hateful. He gripped her shirt tighter, and she had to lean forward a bit, cringing inwardly at the unwelcome closeness of that... something. But still, she didn't try to fight his grasp off. Until she didn't act aggressive, there was still a hope for her. At least she hoped so.

"Temari..." he seethed, seizing her arm with his other hand, and tugging at her shirt vehemently, as if he wanted to rip it apart. "You..."

Temari's heart almost leapt out from her chest as the fabric burst with the horrible noise. Immediately, she shoved Gaara away, stumbling backwards yet not losing her balance.

"What are you...?" she blurted out, one of her palms keeping her torn shirt together, the other sneaking back instinctively till she felt the folds of her fan under her fingertips. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't do that!"

Gaara hissed under his breath, watching his wrists curiously. Temari didn't realize at first what it was that caught his interest but then it came to her that the sand didn't react to her doings. It meant it must have realized her intention was not to hurt Gaara, not even for an instant. And Gaara realized it, too. His gaze slowly wandered to her face, then it dropped to her hand, which was still tightly holding on her ruined shirt. Temari took a few steps back, her hand stuck firmly to her fan even if she didn't channel her chakra through it yet.

"i am your sister," she admonished him but the effect was lost because her voice broke during the stupid, pointless explanation. Sister or not, he couldn't do that to anyone. "You can't do that," she repeated.

The redhead furrowed slightly, clenching his fists reflexively, and then relaxing them.

"You are... what?" he murmured indifferently, walking towards her.

"You sister," she repeated before she used Shunshin no Jutsu. She stopped between the high dunes, her fan ready, its three moons clearly visible, while she prepared to release the best and the last Ōkamaitachi in her life. Her heart hammered wildly, almost choking her, when she thought that she was so dead now. She did more forbidden things during the last few minutes than she did in her entire life. First, she pushed Gaara away, and if it wasn't bad enough, she yelled at him. She yelled at Sabaku no Gaara!

What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't do that! Those were words one should never utter to him, at least if they wanted to live longer than a few minutes.

Yes, she was so very dead.

The end of chapter 7.

The next chapter: The fate