Hi everyone! I know I have been out for an extremely long time. A lot has changed in my life and honestly my writing was in the backburner but I'm glad to be continuing on. I don't like leaving things unfinished. Here is the next chapter. Again, I'm really sorry for leaving you all hanging. Don't worry, I'll upload again real soon. Give this story a few more chapters. Next one is pretty cute so stick around

Chapter 35: Making Sense

Tsunade opened the door to her office and walked in. There were two other people in the office.

"Gaara? Temari? What are you guys doing here?" Kankuro asked shocked. Gaara, who was at the time drinking tea, put his cup down and turned to look at his brother

"Good afternoon brother, I haven't seen you in a while either. How have you been?" Gaara replied sarcastically.

"We got here yesterday you idiot." Temari added.

"I apologize, that would be our doing. They appear to have recently awakened." Tsunade responded.

"You arrived yesterday? Just how long were we out for?" Chieko asked.

"4 days. I injected you with a long tern sleeping formula." Sakura added rather gladly.

"Good Afternoon to you too, Chieko." Gaara interjected.

"Good afternoon." She responded before turning her attention to Sakura. "Why was that needed? Seriously what in Kami's name is going on here?" Chieko was irritated already, looking for answers and only coming up with more questions.

"You still haven't figured it out by now? My my Lady Tsunade you truly have a gifted generation of shinobi here." Gaara praised.

"We do try our best." She replied.

Gaara turned to look at the pair and smirked at the two. This was very uncharacteristic of the Kazekage. He sighed before speaking again.

"Where do I begin? Well, I should start from the beginning. It all began after my capture. Kankuro wasn't doing well. He was in a 'bad boys' state you could say. I needed to change that as he is my right hand man as well as my brother. During that same time, many villages, including the leaf, were proposing to strengthen alliances with the sand. Somehow, though I still don't understand how, they had heard of Chieko's time keeping ability. This made me worry for her safety. The amount of damage that can be caused to the Sand if Chieko were to be kidnapped by enemy shinobi is unfathomable. So I had to do two things, tame my beloved brother as well as protect an important asset of the sand."

'Tame? He makes me sound like an animal.' Kankuro thought scowling.

"That is when I thought of the research mission in regards to Sasori that I had been meaning to arrange with the leaf. It was the basis of my ultimate plan, a way that nobody could figure out what I was thinking of doing. During the mission, Kankuro could begin to act a little more responsibly while Chieko was protected my Kankuro, myself, and Temari. It was a way for the three of us to unconsciously get closer to her without her knowledge."

"Lord Gaara, may I remind you once again that I am a shinobi capable of protecting myself?"

"May I remind you of the Akatsuki kidnapping, again?" Gaara countered. Chieko looked to the side as Gaara continued.

"As the mission went on things went according to plan, Kankuro started taking his work more seriously and efficiently while Chieko was guarded at all times not just from outside danger, but also from pranks and others in the village."

Chieko thought back as Gaara spoke. The pranks and name calling did lessen as time went on.

"Everything was going according to plan, even here in Konoha, That is, until Kankuro came back after leaving Chieko her for 5 months."

Kankuro and Chieko cringed at the same time, not wanting to recall that time.

"What I didn't expect was for Kankuro to becoming an idiot and then Chieko actually staying here. Though she said it had nothing to do with her decision, I still hold that part of the reason she stayed was because for Kankuro's stupidity which angered her so."

Chieko sighed and reached out for Kankuro's hand which caught him by surprise. She held her head down and didn't open her eyes to make contact with him. She gave his hand a slight squeeze, reassuring him of the situation. This didn't go unnoticed by Gaara, but he made no comment of it.

"I thought everything I had put to work had gone down the drain by then. Chieko had reverted back to her old ways and Kankuro had become worse than before. But then Chieko was kidnapped by the Akatsuki, which for some reason was the trigger for Kankuro's motivation to return and go on the rescues mission."

'After you gave him the letter you'd been keeping form him for so long.' Chieko thought bitterly.

"Though unexpected, it did help my plan develop more than I had thought. I was relieved when Chieko was rescued, but was slightly wary of what would happen if when she woke up in Sunagakure. The first week was understandably rough. During the second week, Kankuro 'broke the ice' you could say and it seemed as if things were returning to normal in the relationship. Everything flourished from there. Eventually, Chieko asked to return to Sunagakure, which is as we expected." Gaara turned to look at Tsunade who nodded.

"It seems that the endgame has already happened as everything looks like it went according to my plan. What I didn't expect was for everything to go so smoothly." Gaara finished staring at the grasped hands in front of him. Chieko followed Gaara's gaze until she reached its location, to which she let go of Kankuro's hand swiftly. Kankuro looked at his brother curiously.

"Just what was is this 'endgame' you're talking about?"

"I think Chieko figured out the first part with the "arrest warrant" looking like something Naruto Uzumaki would write."

Chieko thought about all the events that transpired. "So, it was all a lie?! None of it was real?!" She asked shocked. Gaara simply nodded.

"So you let your brother get food poisoned and gave instructions not to feed him?!"

"I just told Tsunade to disable him for a while."

"And that green bottle thing in my apartment?"

"It's a light toxin that makes you drowsy after a few hours after inhaled, it was a precaution in case we weren't able to sedate you. Shino was given the antidote after giving it to me." Replied Sakura gladly.

"But what was all this madness for?! Why trap us in a cave?!" Kankuro had had it just as much as Chieko.

"Shouldn't it be obvious by now what the Kazekage has been trying to do all this time? He did all of this to set you two up." Shino pointed out the obvious.

The pair looked at each other and back at Gaara "What?! You set us up?! Why?!" They exclaimed in unison. Gaara closed his eyes and covered his ear at the volume to their yell.

"That is something I will speak with you privately once we are done here. Tsunade, is there anything you would like to be taken care of at this time?"

"Yes, there is." She said cunningly. She opened a drawer on her desk and took out a large stack of papers. "This is everything Chieko must complete to finish her transfer back to Sunagakure. Please fill this out and give it back as soon as possible." She smiled as she handed the papers to Chieko. Chieko took them and skimmed through them a bit.

"I will return these to you in the morning." She said without lifting her gaze. Sakura looked at her in awe.

"Are you sure? That's a lot of paperwork."

"I've had more. Are we done here? Kankuro is going to pass out soon." She said, ready to leave after a very long day.

"Yes, you may leave. Enjoy your stay in our village."

"I will be leaving in the morning, but Temari will stay in my place until Kankuro and Chieko have finished everything." Gaara said before leaving.

"Very well."

Everyone exited the room. Sakura looked at the 'couple' which eyed Gaara angrily. She got nervous and decided it was time to leave the party.

"W-well I still have to finish a few things at the hospital. S-see you around." She said before running off.

"I have to head home too." Shino said simply before walking away. This left the sand siblings, Chieko, and Shikamaru to walk to Chieko's apartment.

"What a drag. I thought you guys would've figured everything out by now."

"Gaara didn't tell anyone of this plan, not even me." Temari confessed.

"You didn't know?" Chieko asked shocked.

"Not a clue. I knew he was up to something, but he never revealed anything to me."

"If I had you would've meddled in their affairs."

"Of course I would've."

"But what did you gain from all of this? I still don't get it?"

"I don't like repeating myself Kankuro, I will speak about this to the two of you in private. I don't think you'd like anyone to be there when the conversation gets awkward."

"…Just how awkward are things going to get? Is everything really as big as you're making it seem Gaara?"

"Maybe not to others, but I know how you get when anything is spoken about your personal life, so it is more out of courtesy. Now, shall we order something to eat Chieko? It is your house."

"If you will be paying, then by all means order what you'd like Lord Kazekage." Chieko replied, still peeved by the shroud of mystery on all of this. They stopped by a local restaurant and ordered take out and brought it to the apartment. Temari and Shikamaru parted ways with them, taking this opportunity to go on a date, to which Gaara reluctantly approved. Kankuro got something extra and ate it along the way at Chieko's insistence. All she wanted to do was ease her mind and have her questions answered, and the walk to her apartment could not feel longer than it did now.

When they got to their destination, they went to the dining table and settled in, Gaara sitting in front of the newly formed couple. Chieko took a few bites before deciding she'd waited enough.

"Gaara please, enough with the waiting game."

Gaara looked up, continuing to chew. He knew she was getting impatient with the waiting and should've started talking, but seeing the two of them in the state of impatience almost made him want to drag it out, but he knew he'd stalled long enough. He exhaled and pushed his plate to the side, accepting the fact that after all his explaining he wouldn't be hungry anymore.

"Fair enough. Now that I've been exposed as matchmaker."

"You seem to be enjoying your self-title too much." Kankuro added a little inquisitively. Gaara ignored his comment.

"It was all really for my personal gain. I am the Kazekage, but I am also a brother, a younger brother who is always concerned about his siblings. I never stop to worry if Kankuro and Temari are okay whenever they go on missions. Kankuro was seriously concerning me since he has such a high position, but I was also concerned that he might harm himself if he continued towards… whatever path he was going, for lack of better word."

"Hmph" Chieko crossed her arms and turned her head to the side avoiding eye contact. She remembered when she looked into Sakura's mind to all the different marks on Kankuro's arms.

"What is it?" Kankuro asked.

"Nothing, I'll tell you some other time." She said calmly. She put that though aside, she was still bitter towards that incident.

"As I was saying, I was concerned. I didn't know how to give my brother the help he needed. Aside from that I began to take an interest on the research division due to the council pestering me about how the new head of department was not a good candidate. Initially it was just to pleas the council. I have to admit though, you caught my attention for being a peculiar individual. Klutzy and pranked almost daily and yet no reaction from her. In a way, it reminded me of Kankuro. I almost pitied you for not saying something back to anyone and keeping to yourself." He would never admit he was interested in her in more than one way, not yet at least.

"Eventually I thought maybe I could keep him occupied for a while with a mission, in comes your research mission. It was surprisingly working well. The original goal was for Kankuro to focus on something instead of going out every night and… messing around, while also giving you someone to interact with. Knowing Kankuro's annoying demeanor, I knew eventually, somehow, it would get you to open up to someone, which it did.

My plan was working perfectly, but I had to think of the future. Eventually, the mission would end, and I didn't know if the two of you would revert to your former ways, something that not just the village, but I could not afford. So I decided to take everything to the next level, a risky, but potentially successful decision. I must say that I am very happy it worked out. I would've thought that eventually, Chieko would have figured everything out, but I guess I was wrong, thankfully."

"So, all of this, wasn't for just your personal gain?" Kankuro asked.

"Kankuro, I can't be such a selfish individual."

"…Well, thank you or your explanation. I really don't know what else to say on the matter though." Chieko confessed.

"That will suffice. I just that one thing from both of you."

Chieko and Kankuro looked up at the same time.

"For all that is good and holy, control your hormones and think before either of you act on your emotions. I don't want to walk in on the two of you one day and find you in bed unclothed." He said, remembering the time he and Temari returned from a meeting after 2 ½ weeks to find them in the same bed (chapter 31).

Chieko and Kankuro's faces turned red at what Gaara was implying. Gaara looked at the two of them questioningly.

"What. Has it already happened?" He asked nonchalantly.

"No!" They replied in unison.

"It's just a little awkward what you are implying." Chieko answered, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Yeah not like she's letting anyone down there anytime soon." Kankuro joked, earning himself a punch on the arm from Chieko.

"That's not something you say out in the open it's embarrassing."

"What, that you're scared of spending an amazing night with me or that you still have your v-cards?" Kankuro teased.

"Kankuro stop it!" Chieko stood up ready to stomp away when he grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Hold on I'm sorry, I was out of line. Forgive me?" Kankuro asked. Gaara was a bit shocked to see his brother not only asking for forgiveness, but to see him being so… gentle. He didn't think he had that in him. Chieko looked at his pleading face, sighed and sat back down.

"Don't do that again."

"I won't, I promise."

Gaara felt out of place. He had to admit that the scene was pretty nice to witness, but he felt the two needed some time to themselves.

"Well then, I'm going to my guest apartment now. I need to get ready for my return. I have a feeling you two would like some time alone, so I will see you both in the morning." He didn't wait for a reply and just left, closing the front door behind him before sighing in satisfaction. Mission accomplished.