A/N: Ok so i wasn't intending to stay away for two weeks. But I have a new system now! Like now, I've already written chapter ten, but I will not post it until I write finish chapter eleven. That way I will stay effecient! So here's the new version of chapter 9, hope you would prefer this.


Hurting

Like all children, Kankurou hated being scolded by his father.

But unlike them, Kankurou also hated being praised.

"Excellent, Kankurou. You may leave now," the Kazekage ordered, a hint of excitement laced in his tone. Kankurou shivered inwardly as he recalled the last time he heard his father talk like that. He bowed, before turning to leave. As he opened the door however, his curiosity got the better of him.

"Kazekage-sama, why do you need the records of the Raion clan?"

Kankurou kept his eyes on the door handle, pretending to admire its brilliant design even though he knew his father was already staring at him with narrowed eyes. He wanted to know however, after peeking through the records and finding Houseki Raion's name within the section "Private and Confidential".

Temari had mentioned that Seki's real name was Houseki, that morning after she left to help him collect some weapons for Karasu. She took almost 3 hours too...

"Nani? Are you interested, Kankurou?"

"Iie, I'm just wondering."

"Hn. Well, if you must know..."

Now that you talk like that, I don't.

"...They are going to be important for the future of Sunagakure."

Kankurou turned to look at the Kazekage, noticing for the first time that his father was actually smiling.

That can't be good, Kankurou thought. He frowned, bowing again and leaving the room.

-

"Seki, you need to eat."

"Go away."

"Seki, please. It pains me to see you like this."

He must have laser eyes then, since the door is closed.

Shut up!

Seki curled into a ball as her uncle tried again to get her to come out and eat. She gripped her blanket and bit her lip, trying to prevent her tears from falling.

"Seki, listen. It was not that bad..."

"Not that bad? NOT THAT BAD?!"

"Seki calm down!"

"I train so hard to improve my stamina, and when I finally achieve it, what do I do?! I GO INSANE!"

"Seki, please!"

"No! Just leave me alone!" Seki screamed and jumped out of her bed. She picked up the lamp on her bedside table and threw it towards the wall, causing it to smash in pieces. Dropping to her knees, Seki gripped her brown hair, the orange dye having lost it's effects after 3 days. Her tears started to fall.

"Keimyou-san, I didn't wa-want to kill..."

But I sa-said they deser-deserved it," Seki hugged herself, choking and stumbling over her words as her tears fell non-stop.

"It's alright. You didn't kill anyone, the men were injured, but they'll live."

"But now they'll hate me! They'll hate me, and want to drive me away!" Seki exclaimed, her teary, red eyes looking over to the door. It was only a few moments later she realized the last voice belonged to a female.

"Then don't care about their hate."

Seki pulled the door open and saw Temari smiling gently at her. Unable to stop herself, Seki collapsed into her arms while sobbing uncontrollably. Keimyou sighed with relief and walked back to the kitchen, giving the two girls some privacy. The older girl made soothing noises, just like what her mother would do whenever the Kazekage was too fierce to Temari, too expectant of her. Seki soon calmed down until her sobbing became hiccups.

"When Gaara was born, I used to do this to Kankurou, you know?"

"..." Seki dried her tears with Temari's shirt, but did not look up.

"Because our okaasan died, 'sacrificed' herself according to the Kazekage," Seki heard the sarcasm in Temari's voice and sat up to face her. Temari continued as she held Seki steady, "So Kankurou had to rely on his older sister – me," Temari grinned, but it disappeared as Seki waited to hear the rest of her story.

"People hated us even though we two didn't do anything but watch our okaasan curse this village up till the last moment of her life. We lost most of our friends, because their parents hated Gaara and wouldn't let their children be with his siblings."

"Temari, I..."

"Shush, I'm talking," Temari scolded jokingly. Seki fell silent and let out a soft laugh. Temari took a deep breath and went on, "As a result, the two of us, Kankurou and I, were influenced by the villagers and detested Gaara as well. He was indirectly the cause of our misery anyway, so it wasn't hard."

But one day I saw Gaara crying. My sad younger brother was hurting, he needed help, and I wanted to help him. I had to help him, because who could he turn to if not his own family? But by the time I decided to help, he had already let hate run his life. But I tried, still trying, and will always try. Because I knew the truth"

Temari squeezed Seki's hand as the blond gave her a reassuring smile.

"What I really want to say, is that it doesn't matter if they hate you. Just focus on what you know is true," Seki's eyes widened. She averted her eyes to the ground and looked at her hands, the same hands that killed innocent lives.

"You didn't want to hurt them. You want to be a shinobi, and what do shinobis do?"

Seki turned her hands over and suddenly saw them in a different light. She cocked her head to one side and saw them training to perfect taijutsu moves, performing seals for a hard jutsu.

...But no matter what, I wanted to be a shinobi, so that people would see that I could be good."

"Shinobis... help people. They are the good guys and..."

Temari waited.

... And they never give up."

"Just like you?"

"... Just like us," Seki finished. She looked at Temari and smiled, who returned with a playful grin, just like always. Seki hugged her tightly, thankful for having met someone like her, and for relieving the pain in her heart, even if it was just a little.

Just a little, Ki-chan. But it's a start.

Yes, Seki thought positively. Temari stood up and pulled Seki along with her.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat. Then we'll go train."

"Hai!" Seki nodded and the two girls walked to the dining table where Keimyou had already laid two servings of warm soup.

I'm still hurting, but yes...

"Ittadakimasu!" Temari and Seki yelled out and giggled.

...it's a start.

-

"I don't see the need to make a fool of myself, even if I like cats."

"Cats have nothing to do with it, and I am not making a fool of myself!"

"You're wearing a cat-eared head dress and do not look like fool? Right, makes sense."

Temari watched her brother and friend continue to argue ever since the two girls finished their training. After two hours of windy battles, Temari had assumed Seki was too tired to even walk, let alone have a squabble with Kankurou, who had come by to find Temari.

"Did you use your wind to blow Sunagakure away? I don't see anyone."

"Are you sure it's not because of your silly face paint? I mean, that could scare kids away."

Apparently not, Temari thought, amused.

"What about your hair? It looks like it exploded."

"Kids are probably scared you'll take their dolls away!"

"Your wind must have blown your brain to the Land of Fire!"

"You play with toys!"

"You play with nothing!"

"Stupid freak!"

"Ugly baka!"

"Okay, okay! Relax, you two!"

Kankurou and Seki looked at Temari, before realizing both of them had gone into attack stance at the last remarks.

Well, at least he doesn't seem so uncomfortable around me anymore, Seki thought as she kept her kunai.

Well, she doesn't seem too bad, Kankurou thought, releasing his grip on Karasu's bandages.

The trio finally arrived behind the Kazekage mansion, where a large, beige colored house sat peacefully. Seki had been invited to dinner by Temari and after a quick call at Keimyou's place to inform him, Seki had followed the two siblings back to their home.

I wonder if Gaara's already home, Seki thought apprehensively and imitated Temari as she took off her sandals before walking in.

"Alright, so what would you like for dinner, Seki-chan?"

"You're not cooking, are you?" Seki smirked at Kankurou's horrified expression. Temari didn't seem to notice as she opened the fridge, but was cut off before she could confirm Kankurou's worst fear.

"Be-Because I haven't tried Seki's cooking yet!"

"Oh, right! Keimyou said you learned a few skills from him. Maybe you can cook tonight, Seki-chan!"

"Hai, then," Seki agreed, trying to contain her laughter as Kankurou heaved a sigh of relief. Temari saw it and, although not knowing why he was sighing, gave him a whack on the head anyway.

-

Gaara came back to a delightful aroma of home cooked food, something he had not smelled in, well, never. Walking in, he saw Kankurou yelling at someone in the kitchen.

"Just because you can cook, doesn't mean you can take your time!"

"Would you rather I get Temari to help?" A familiar voice tingled Gaara's senses as worry flashed in Kankurou's face.

"Like I said, take all the time you want!" Kankurou finally yelled and turned to see Gaara raising an invisible eyebrow.

"Oh, hey. Seki is cooking today," Kankurou quickly stated and played with his fork.

Seki?

"Dinner is served!" Temari yelled and walked out with a steaming pot of something, Seki right behind her, giggling. Gaara's teal colored eyes widened as Seki burst out in laughter at Temari whacking Kankurou to the other side of the room when he tried to look inside the pot. It was hard to imagine the same girl nearly killed him, and was now laughing happily at Kankurou and Temari's childish antics.

"Gaara! Welcome back!" Seki turned towards Gaara at Temari's voice, and smiled shyly as Gaara continued to gaze intently at her. She quickly took a seat beside Kankurou, where the red head, coincidentally, always sat opposite from, beside Temari. The two of them kept quiet as Temari spooned out the contents of the pot into smaller bowls and placed them in front of Seki and Gaara.

"Ittadakimasu!" Kankurou exclaimed before devouring the 'stew', as Temari called it, knowing it would be ten times better than Temari's cooking.

"Ittadakimasu," Temari said with less vigor once she noticed Gaara and Seki's silence, but ate heartily anyway.

"This is really good, Seki!"

"Arigatou," Seki thanked softly and raised her head. Gaara was staring at the brownish stew with no obvious signs of moving, so Seki decided to start first.

"Ittadakimasu!"

"Ittadakimasu."

Temari and Kankurou stopped their loud slurping and stared at Gaara and Seki, who had said the polite greeting at the same time. They were more shocked at the fact Gaara had actually said it, unlike previous times when he just ate without saying.

Seki didn't realize it was such a huge deal and started to eat, until she looked up to see Temari and Kankurou still gaping at them.

"What's wro..."

"Eat or I'll kill you."

Seki watched the two quickly revert back to devouring mode and turned to see Gaara eating his stew slowly. Grinning, Seki ate her meal in comfortable silence.

-

Gaara leaped up onto the roof and was greeted with giggles, the sound making his heart pound as he found the source of them sitting on the edge of the roof.

"Do you have to end everything with a death threat?"

Without waiting for a reply, Seki laughed again, earning herself nothing more than Gaara's silence. He sat himself down beside her and the two watched the moon rise higher into the sky, casting an eerie glow on the roof tops of the village.

Seki had said good bye earlier that evening, but decided to meet Gaara after they exchanged glances at the door. No words were spoken, but somehow Seki felt like he wanted to tell her something.

And he did.

"Seki, I want to tell you..."

Seki turned towards the pair of ocean eyes, feeling herself getting sucked into them...

-


A/N: Ah, and here's a cliffhanger. Haha, don't worry, I don't have a writer's block and even with the new school year starting, I'm very, very, very bored. SO I have time to do this stuff before the homework pile comes in. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!

-JE