Frostbitten Sand
Breaking the Ice
The way Temari spoke to Rasa made the auburn haired man want to grind his teeth together in frustration, his mind remembering the time when his sandy haired daughter wouldn't speak to him in such a manner. The man's hands gripped the crutches tightly in his hands, Rasa's mind racing to take in the implications of everything Temari said. His eldest need not actually say the words, but the auburn haired man knew his daughter wished to make it clear he wasn't wanted, let alone needed.
Rasa's teeth finally ground together. "Seriously. As I told her, I'm aware that I've not been the best parent, but letting Gaara sleep in there with her? He's like what, fourteen after all, almost fifteen. Even if there are plans already for Christmas, that doesn't mean we can't try to be a family. I'd argue the point if I weren't so damn tired right now. They're still my children."
The negative thoughts stopped when Rasa arrived at the hallway, his brown eyes taking in the fact Gaara stood their waiting for him. The forth kazekage's youngest child seemed to obviously be upset about something, and Rasa felt a tightening at his throat. "Knowing Gaara, this is likely even harder on him then it is for any of us. He's still so small for his age."
"Gaara..." Rasa felt his throat loosen to call out the boy's name, the lids of his eyes loosen slightly, letting the man know a bit of his worry was starting to show through even though the forth knew better then to show off his emotions. Gaara looked up, his sea foam green eyes widening in surprise, his mouth opening to say something, only for the young teen to look away. "Didn't your sister ask you to go to her room?"
Exasperation set in as Gaara attempted to hold a conversation with the auburn haired man, his eyes darting all over the place, the teens body movements indicating how uncomfortable the conversation was making him, and Rasa repeated his question, only for the answer to hang on his youngest child's tongue, the eyes widening in panic, as if he thought the answer would be bad. Gaara disappeared, and Rasa turned to his room, Baki following close behind.
Rasa reached up a hand, waving Baki away, letting him know things would be fine. For a moment he thought the man was going to tell him that the new kazekage had taken over the room, which made logical sense, as the house had passed down through each Kazekage. The auburn haired man shook his head. "No, the house passed down through each kazekage as the kazekage position has only been passed down through this family line."
The thought of the kazekage line passing onto another family jumped into the man's head, but Rasa brushed it off. "Outside of Temari, I can't see the position being passed down."
The door opened, and Rasa's brown eyes widened at how clean the place seemed, his mind at first thinking someone had taken the time to prepare the room for him, but then he remembered that Temari mentioned something about not expecting the forth back as soon, and in fact she seemed rather ticked. The auburn haired man looked around, his dark eyes taking in the entire room, noting the few changes.
The most obvious change was the teddy bear settled in the middle of the bed, staring off at nothing. The pillows were arranged neatly on either side of the bear, and everything was lined up symmetrical. At the foot of the bed were a set of Gaara's night clothes ready for use. Rasa found himself rubbing the back of his neck, knowing exactly who would do something like that. His dark eyes slid over to the window, picking up the cacti all in a nice neat row, organized from tallest to shortest. "Gaara..."
Rasa let out a sigh, taking noting the things he'd left out prior to leaving on the mission which would send him into a coma were still out, but someone had arranged them so they were nice, and neat. The man moved his hand over to the nightstand to see if Gaara had found the pictures kept in the drawer, as well as the other things he'd rather the fourteen year old not find, but then shook his head knowing he wouldn't want to know if Gaara found those things, or the things hidden under the bed.
The auburn haired man hobbled over to the drawers, wondering what changed there. One crutch leaned against the man's side, his hand reaching out to slide open the drawer. Rasa shook his head noting that Gaara had placed a few of his belongings in the drawer, but not many. Oddly enough, while all of the auburn haired man's clothes seemed to be there, they'd also been rearranged, as if someone had worn them, or done something else with them. In particular his mourning clothes had been moved over to Gaara's small pile.
Shaking his head, Rasa headed over to the bathroom, and found his youngest had moved things into there as well, but had proceeded to straighten everything out into an orderly manner. "What is going through that child's mind?" The man's mind fluttered to the conversation he just had with Temari, Rasa's finger pushing Gaara's toothbrush to the side. "I believe the point she was trying to make was that being with her made Gaara feel more comfortable, but that doesn't quite explain all of this."
The man shook his head, to tired to change clothes, let alone shower, and Rasa found himself hobbling over to the bed to sit down on the edge. The man noted the cacti again, and the man let out a sigh. "I guess cacti is better then him trying to reorganize everything to my office to his liking. Not sure what I'm going to do with him messing with my things." Rasa closed his eyes and flopped down. "It feels like it makes him comfortable, but this is Gaara I'm thinking of. What kind of comfort could my things bring him, when he hates my guts?"
The auburn man drifted asleep, lying across the bed sideways with no covers, only waking when Rasa felt something pulling at his cheeks. The fourth's eyes snapped open, and found himself nearly having a heart attack upon seeing his youngest staring down at him. After a few seconds Rasa realized Gaara had been the one pulling at his cheeks. "Gaara, what are you doing?"
"You wouldn't wake up." The fourteen year old let go of his father's cheeks, and then stood up, his eyes drifting off somewhere.
Rasa began to sit up, letting out a groan as he did so. "He's lost focus again. I never could get him to focus on anything, except for that damn blood lust of his." The man's brown eyes narrowed, realizing he didn't feel any kind of blood lust coming off his youngest, no urge to kill. A headache began to sit in, and one hand reached up to brush auburn locks away from his eyes. It was then he caught sight of Gaara messing with the crutches. "Gaara?"
The auburn haired teen's sea foam green eyes blinked a couple of times. "Yes."
"What are you doing now?" Rasa let his hands rest in front of him, wondering exactly what Gaara was thinking.
The fourteen year old simply held up one of the crutches, allowing the crutch to hang from his fingers, a smile on his face.
The auburn haired man stared at his youngest, but then narrowed his eyes. "Gaara, I could have gotten those myself."
Gaara's eyes blinked a couple of times, the smile falling from his face. The auburn haired teen still held out the crutches, before turning his head. "I'm hungry."
Rasa stared at the fourteen year old, one of his auburn eyebrows shooting up as Gaara disappeared from the room. The man pushed his lips together, and lifted himself up, wincing at the pain racking his body, wishing he had time to take a shower. He moved through the hall on his crutches, noticing how early the day was. Upon arriving in the kitchen the auburn man saw the young teen sitting at the kitchen table, waiting. "So, you only woke me up because you're hungry Gaara?"
"You're hungry?"
The forth stopped short, almost losing his balance on the crutches, not at all sure what Gaara was getting at. Rasa hobbled over to the table, thinking about sitting down due to the pain. His brown eyes drifted over to Gaara, and he hobbled over to counter, prepping a rice porridge and bacon, setting aside some eggs for his own meal.
"You could have asked Temari to make you something."
"It's not that."
Rasa felt his mouth press together, wondering why he never could figure out what Gaara was thinking. A bowl of porridge soon came to sit in front of the fourteen year old, and a plate of bacon on the side. The auburn haired man watched his son's sea foam green eyes drift over to the eggs, and Rasa's brown eyes looked over, and then back to see the fourteen year old looking at the eggs in a very determined manner. Rasa would have folded his arms across his chest if it weren't for the crutches. "Gaara, you hate eggs."
"I'll eat them."
One of Rasa's auburn eyebrow rose up. "You'll eat eggs if I make them for you?"
The man shook his head, but soon had a plate of eggs in front of Gaara, and sat down with his own food. He watched as Gaara worked at the porridge and bacon, but didn't touch the eggs. Rasa shook his head, and started into his own food as Gaara began to hum a holiday tune, making the situation even more strange. The auburn haired man looked up, thinking to ask Gaara to stop in time to see Gaara stick a piece of egg in his mouth.
"Great. He's going to spit it out. Dealt with that enough when he was younger, which is why I only ever made him certain foods." Rasa chewed his own food, his brown eyes narrowed waiting for Gaara to spit the food out, but instead saw the fourteen year old swallow, and then take another bite. The auburn haired man's eyes widened at the site, and the corners of his mouth began to twist up into a smile.
"You!"
Hearing Kankuro's voice quickly made the smile leave, and also stopped Gaara from humming, a fork of egg almost in the auburn haired teen's mouth as he stared after his brother.
"Seriously! What the hell are you doing here!"
"It's my house, my home Kankuro." Rasa tilted his head, his jaw tensing up as he looked at his rebellious son. Already Kankuro's face was painted, and the brown haired teen was dressed in his regalia. The auburn haired man narrowed his eyes. "Why are you wearing your makeup at the breakfast table?"
Instead of replying, Kankuro choose to leave the house, slamming the door after him. Rasa turned his head back to Gaara, his body and head both aching in a manner which rather annoyed him. Gaara began to pick at his food, and the auburn haired man opened his mouth to try and say something to encourage the young teen. "Eat, Gaara."
Gaara's utensils clattered to the plate. "I lost my appetite."
Rasa felt his throat tighten, himself having lost his own appetite due to the way his two youngest were acting. "What a waste of food." A tense silence fell over the room, and for some reason the auburn haired man decided to look Gaara in the eye, only to see that the young teen was upset. "I mean..."
The auburn haired fourteen year old simply stood up, leaving the room in a much quieter fashion then his brother had. Temari soon came down, her indigo eyes drawn to the place Gaara was sitting. "Did you cook something for Gaara?"
"And he refused to eat it." Rasa stubbornly poked his own food, another sickening silence filling the room.
"By chance you didn't speak to Gaara in that manner?" Temari's comment made the man look up. "You said something wrong, didn't you."
The man sighed, leaning back in the chair with his arms folded. "And what if I did?"
Temari's eyes narrowed. "Please don't try my patience. I'm not a child anymore. I know you're hiding something, and I don't appreciate the fact you are."
Rasa's dark eyes narrowed, his fingers tapping at his elbow. "Temari..."
"Don't."
"I may have said something about how I didn't like the fact he wasn't eating all of his food."
"I tell him that all the time, but I don't get a negative reaction from him. What did you say?"
Rasa's lips pushed together, and he looked his daughter in the eye. "Look, I'd rather not say. All you need to know Temari is that I said the wrong thing to him again."
"Really?" The sandy blond female slammed her hands down onto the table, his lips pushed together as he watched her. "Or are you just telling me you said something wrong to get me off your case? Something's bothering you, but I don't think it's because you're honestly sorry."
"What happened to your promise to Gaara?" Rasa flinched, the look Temari gave him being one very much like the one Karura gave him, and he rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes darted to the table. "I probably came across as caring more about the waste of food then the fact Gaara wasn't eating."
A silence fell over the room, Temari's arms crossing her chest. "Which was it then?"
The auburn haired man looked away. "Gaara was actually eating eggs."
"What..." A chair scrapped on the floor. "I honestly don't get you. I'd ask if you care about Gaara or not, but even if you were to say yes, I wouldn't believe you."
Rasa let the room remain silent, letting the words tumble over in his head thinking about the situation carefully. His brown eyes looked Temari in the eye, her indigo eyes still filled with ire at his actions. "You didn't ask if I care about you or Kankuro."
"Wrong answer."
The auburn haired man gripped the table, his knuckles turning white. His daughter looked like Karura, but they were not the same person, so speaking to Temari with the same familiarity felt wrong. His voice became stern. "Look, you may look like your mother, but you aren't her. Things I would discuss with her, I'm not going to discuss with you."
"Mother?" Temari's tone of voice tightened, her indigo colored eyes. "I wonder how she would think of the way you've treated Gaara?"
The knuckles became whiter as the color drained from Rasa's face. "Temari..."
"You're the one who brought mother up. She was a sacrifice, wasn't she?"
"Stop..."
"Gaara's just a tool for the village to use."
"Enough!" Rasa attempted to stand up, only for his legs to instantly give out underneath him, making him crash to the floor. Temari didn't attempt to help him back up, not that the auburn haired man would want his daughters help, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the disdain. He managed to pull himself into the chair, Rasa's entire body aching.
"I think I'll go elsewhere to eat. I don't get why mother married you." Temari stood up, and the twinkle in her eye, almost as if she were glad Rasa crashed to the floor like he had.
"I honestly don't know either, alright!" The words came out of Rasa's mouth, and he found himself wishing he could take them back.