Hello everyone!

I'm soooo sorry about the lack of updates, but another one, the second part of this chapter, will be up soon (this time I mean it)

STOP LAUGHING LUCY!

Okay, people, please check out 'Kazoku' (Family), it's going to be a lot better than this, and a lot longer! Here's the summary:

An avenger, two jinchuuriki, a man who holds a fragment of the Kyuubi's soul, the woman who softened the heart of a demon, and two girls who really should even exist. This is gonna be one hell of a ride! Timetravel. Pairings inside.

Tess

Gaara stared down at the slip of paper in his hand, a strange feeling akin to anger and confusion fizzing in him. With a scowl he set it beside the now sorted and signed papers, he had finished them last night after sending a fidgety and distracted Temari to bed, she was making more work for him, not less. There were, it seemed, up sides to being an insomniac, such as being able to finish more work, so that he had more free time during the day.

He glared at the paper, as though hoping it would disappear and replace itself with his sister, so that he could finish the new pile of paperwork that she'd delivered with the note a few hours ago.

Gaara,

I've got some errands to run. I'll be busy for the rest of the day probably, if you really need me (and no, help for paperwork doesn't count) send someone. See you later.

Love,

Temari

She'd abandoned him, left him to deal with the, almost literally, mountains of paperwork, alone. This was definitely not his day…

Temari felt slightly guilty for leaving Gaara with all the paperwork, but quickly squashed that, after all, this was very important, at least to her. Her heart swelled with anticipation, though good or bad, she wasn't sure. How much had her younger friend changed? Would she be the same, childish, playful, innocent, spontaneous, gentle, sensitive, yet falsely clueless girl she'd known? Or would she be completely changed by her training? Would she even want to see Temari again? Or would she simply smile politely and make excuses?

The blonde sighed exasperatedly, standing there wondering wasn't going to get anything done. She let her knuckles fall on the wooden door, then drew her hand back slightly and knocked again, three times, rapidly. There was silence on the other side of the Suna-based Hikari-main house for a moment, then the sound of footsteps. The door clicked open and a rather short man with blonde hair was revealed. His lips were set in a calming, gentle smile, and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners.

"And who might you be, miss?" he asked in a soft, yet powerful voice.

"Gomen, I didn't mean to disturb you," Temari apologised, bowing slightly. "My name is Temari. I was looking for someone, a friend."

The man frowned for a moment, then brightened.

"Ah, Temari, I do recall that my daughter, Rini had a friend by that name when we lived here a few years ago," he smiled again, and Temari could see where Rini had gotten her gentle, calming smile from. "I assume you're looking for her?"

"Hai," the blonde kunoichi smiled back. "Ano, its Hiroshi-san, ne?"

"Hai," the man nodded agreeably. "I'm sorry, but Rini left about an hour ago."

"Oh…" Temari felt her heart slip a few inches. "Do you know where she went? Or when she'll be back?"

"Gomen nasai," he shook his head regretfully. "Demo her friend, Taro-kun, should be at the hospital at the moment, he may know."

"Arigato," she was about to bow again, but he stopped her.

"There's no need," he told her. "If you're a friend of Rin-chan's, there's no need for formalities."

She thanked him again, and left, the door closing as she turned. Now to find 'Taro-kun', while she didn't have a description, she did have a name, and that was all she needed to find him in the hospital.

About ten minutes later she found herself in front of the hospital, squinting slightly against the glare from the white walls. She grimaced. Didn't those idiots know that you did not paint something white in a desert? It just blinds the person looking at it…

She stepped into the cool waiting foyer, and glanced around. She located the front desk and strode confidently up to it. The brunette at the desk looked up with a smile and greeted her.

"Hello Temari-san! I do hope that you're here on business, and that you're not ill."

"Luckily, it's the former," Temari grinned back. "I'm looking for someone called Taro."

"Ah! Taro-kun," the girl at the front desk blushed a little. "He's-."

"Right here," a deep voice said from just behind Temari.

The blonde Jounin jumped and spun around. She instantly knew why the girl at the desk had blushed. He was incredibly good-looking. Chestnut hair fell about his head, about the same length as Gaara's, his grey eyes watched her calmly, though amusement danced in the stormy irises. His skin was tanned, and lean muscles were visible through his white t-shirt.

"You were looking for me?" he asked.

"H-hai," she replied, "I'm looking for Rini, have you seen her?"

"Ah, Rin-chan," the boy smiled radiantly. "She was here about half an hour ago."

"Do you know where she went?" Temari asked.

"May I ask you something?" he asked.

"Uh, okay?"

"Why are you looking for her?"

"We were… are… well, we knew each other before she moved," Temari wondered if she should refer to their friendship in past or present tense.

"Oh," the brunette boy smiled again, "I think she went to get ice-cream."

"Thank you, Taro-san!" she said, then brushed past him and headed for the door.

The blonde Jounin hurried through the streets, Rin would be there, she knew it, that ice-cream shop they'd always gone to as kids. She felt as though she was going too fast, faster than was humanly possible, but dismissed it, she knew it was just her mind stressing over what was coming, and stuffing up her perception of time, speed and distance.

She spotted Kankuro up ahead, talking to a girl who managed to reach his mid-to-upper chest, and was wearing his kitty-eared hat, which looked like it had been either pulled on hastily, or simply dropped on her head, as it was lopsided. She looked around, and sighed in defeat, it seemed she'd been wrong, but she walked over to Kankuro, after all, two people searching would find her quicker than one.

"Oi, Kankuro!" she called when she was a few metres away, still walking closer.

The boy tipped his head slightly to look at her, and the girl spun around, bright, sapphire orbs wide. Temari froze. The girl froze.

"Pfft, should have known you'd show up like that," Temari muttered.

"Temari!?" Rini gasped, more to herself than the other.

They stood at opposite sides of the court, blue eyes, of such different shades, locked. Kankuro, for once, shut up, and let them have their moment. Rini slowly lowered her eyes, crumbling under Temari's gaze. The older of the two stepped closer… closer…

Rini felt the hope that had grown at the sight of her friend's delighted eyes die abruptly; the lack of reaction was enough to tell her that Temari was at least a little bitter. She bit back tears, and fiddled with her bracelet, guilt pangs aching in her stomach. She was vaguely aware of Temari moving, walking; but she wasn't even in the same world any longer, rather, lost in her memories and regrets.

Abruptly, she was snapped from her world. She blinked in shock. She could hear Temari's rapid heartbeat, and feel her breaths, choked and uneven. The soft, sandy-vanilla scent that was uniquely Temari filled her nose. Rini blinked away tears, and wrapped her arms around the taller girl, sobbing laughter escaping her lips.

"D-damn you," Rini managed to say. "You're st-still taller."

"Heh…" was the raspy reply. "You're still short."

Rini choked with both laughter and tears, and buried her face in Temari's shoulder; shaking slightly. Her hands gripped the back of Temari's shirt, and her lips pulled themselves into a trembling grin.

Kankuro smiled to himself; he had missed Rini, that was for sure, and he knew that Temari had too, that much was obvious. It had been good to talk to her again, to hear her voice, see her eyes and smile, to once again smell the gentle fuchsia scent that followed her. He had mentally burned the feeling of her hug into his memory, and the trilling laughter.

He watched his sister, who was usually calm and emotionless in public (with a few exceptions involving some annoying boys), embrace the smaller, younger teen, who neither had seen since she'd moved nearly seven years previously. He could tell both were crying, and was glad for their sake that most people were indoors due to the heat of the midday sun.

After a few tear-filled minutes the two pulled back, and Rini grinned shakily up at the blonde kunoichi.

"Missed you," she said quietly.

"Baka," Temari hit her gently on the head. "Ice-cream?"

"Uh-huh," the smile she gave the elder of the two was slightly watery, but heartfelt. "We can catch up!"

Temari smiled back, the tears already gone from her eyes, though said eyes were tinted pink from crying.

"Cookies and cream?"

"You know me too well."

"No, you're just predictable."

"OI!"

The banter continued; Kankuro found it amazing that the two could fall back into such a close relationship (he covered his nose to prevent the girls seeing his nosebleed at this) after such a long time apart. The girls were already at the counter, ordering what looked like three ice-creams; cookies and cream, boysenberry, and chocolate (1). He sat at one of the shaded tables, absently toying with a small puppet he brought with him; usually he used it to carry messages or some such, but it was also something to keep him occupied when he was bored.

Rini was still wearing his hat; she looked cute, and she'd grown up a lot.

"Here you go, Pinocchio," Rini handed him the ice-cream and sat in one of the other seats at the table.

She looked blissful as she devoured her ice-cream; savouring the flavour.

"I've told you," he sighed, taking his hat back. "Pi-."

"Pinocchio is a puppet, not a puppeteer," Rini interrupted. "I know; I've been told a thousand times, yet I still do it, what does that tell you?"

"That you're forgetful?"

Glare.

"That you don't give a damn?"

Nod.

They continued to chat meaninglessly, but eventually the conversation was steered towards their positions in the ninja world, and their lives while they were separated.

"Well, Kankuro and I are Jounin now," Temari explained as they relaxed lazily under the umbrella, having finished their ice-cream. "We all took the Chuunin exams about three years ago, but only a boy from Konoha became a Chuunin then."

"Geez, Temari," Rini teased. "Beaten by someone (theoretically) younger than you!"

"Oh shut up!" the blonde grumbled, smiling nonetheless. "What about you?"

"Well, after I moved I met my sensei, Jin," her blue eyes were closed as the spoke. "And I was put onto a two-man team with Taro; he lives here in Suna now. Jin was strict, and tough, but we learned a lot very quickly; honestly, I think my chakra grew twice its size in the first two months."

"After about, um, I think it was six months, Jin-sensei decided that we were advancing too well for her to be able to teach us both and have us both reach our highest potential; so we were split up, I stayed with Jin-sensei, while Taro went to work with Ritsuko-sensei. About… three and a half years later, I was able to take the Silver Exams; I failed the first one, but passed the second one. Then, a few months ago, I took the Gold Exams for the… fourth time, and passed this time."

"Geez, Chibi-chan," Kankuro laughed. "How did you fail three times?"

"Shut up baka," the medic growled. "It's hard, okay?"

"Oh really?" he asked, half teasing.

"Yes," she glared. "First you've got to do a paper test. Then you're put in an illusion world that feeds off your chakra, then you have to diagnose, treat and heal a series of patients; each of which is harder than the last. The last part of the test… you have a choice between two people, and you can only save one; they're both precious people… so it tests your ability to remain calm in any situation."

"But you'd know it was an illusion," Kankuro pointed out, "So you wouldn't really freak out that much."

"Wrong, part of the genjutsu is that it plants memories of how you came to be in that situation, so it seems like it's actually happening," Rini replied.

Kankuro was surprised, he had no idea what the medic's exams were like, well, until now; he hadn't expected them to be like that, they were similar to the Chuunin, or even Jounin exams. He'd never thought that being a medic was easy, not by a long shot, but he'd never thought that it would be as hard as it seemed now.

"Hey," Rini spoke up, her eyes suddenly alight with realisation. "You didn't tell me what happened to Gaara…"

Sorta-cliffie, but we all know what's gonna happen! Hope you liked, will have another chapter up ASAP, writer's block permitting.

Review!

Tess