Temari was enjoying her dessert with delicious abandon. Shikamaru's stomach quivered as she licked the crème caramel off his skin. It had started accidentally, believe it or not, when Shikamaru had brought home some purin for a small treat.
Not being familiar with the 'proper' way to eat purin, Temari had spilled some of the sticky stuff down the front of her robe. Shikamaru had grinned and deliberately held out his dessert and poured the rest of it down her cleavage.
Temari had huffed and started to get angry until she realized that Shikamaru fully intended to clean her up. He pulled the ties of her robe lose, letting the sides fall down to frame her well-toned curves. He'd winked and leaned forward, "I've never had purin this way before, you are so clever to think of it, Temari."
She'd grinned at his foolishness, then the grin faded as she sighed with pleasure. His tongue swept over her rapidly heating skin, making occasional forays down to the tips of her breasts. What had followed had been both delightful and fun.
All too soon, she was clean. But she was still wanting, and judging by the tenting in his pants, he was wanting too. So she'd returned the favor, taking the last two purin cups, pouring them over his abdomen.
It was as she was enjoying him, that the message came.
Shikamaru's mouth was slack, his eyes closed as his wife tended him so lovingly. Her tongue had traced a small trail of sticky crème caramel down to the waistband of his pants, when he became aware of the sound of a messenger bird, calling out loudly.
He frowned and looked to the open window to see the bird staring at him, then calling again. Temari, lost in what she was doing, took a moment before realizing something was up.
The blond kunoichi looked irritated as she looked at the window. "Tsunade better not be calling you in for anything now!"
Shikamaru shook his head, "That's not her signal." He told her, his eyes shining with denied lust and confusion.
Temari was about to throw some wind and knock the bird out of the window when she remembered the 'deal' she'd made with the front gate guards. "SHIT!" She hollered and sat up, looking a bit wild eyed.
"Temari?" Shikamaru queried his new wife. "Is Tsunade calling you in, again?"
"No!" But the blond was hurrying around the room, grabbing clothing and throwing things on as fast as she could. "That's the signal I got the guards to send me when Gaara returned from his rescue mission."
"Oh." Satisfied, Shikamaru relaxed until he realized that Temari wasn't relaxing. She looked so tense she almost seemed brittle. "What's wrong?"
"Get dressed!" She threw a net shirt at him. "We have to hurry!"
Shikamaru tossed the shirt to the floor. "Why? You said that Gaara is going to marry Kiba's sister, Hana. And Baki is getting married to that Aburame girl. Your brother will be in the Leaf Village for a while at least. We have plenty off time." He paused a moment as he watched her scurry around getting dressed. She even tossed him another net shirt, which he promptly dumped on the floor next to the first one.
"We don't have time! I have to see Gaara before he goes back to his apartment!" She turned a baleful look on him. "You're not dressed!" She yelled and went to his closet and pulled out a shirt for him, throwing it to him. "This is important!"
Shikamaru held up the third net shirt and casually dropped it on top of the first two, all while she watched. "This is our honeymoon. The only one we will ever get. Come back to bed, we'll visit your troublesome family in the morning."
Temari's face turned red in her anger as she went to his closet and pulled out all of his shirts, net and otherwise. She turned and threw them on top of him. "Find one. Put it on. And make sure you like it because you'll be buried in it if you're not ready by the time I get my sandals on."
"You won't kill me." Shikamaru stated with easy confidence, shoving most of the shirts off of him, and onto the floor.
Temari eyed him with cold disdain. "No, but I will cut you off."
Shikamura stopped in the middle of dropping yet another shirt and stared at her unbelieving, but something in her eyes let him know she wasn't kidding around. He swallowed, the tent in his pants subsiding just a bit at the very thought. "This is a nice shirt." He said of the one he was holding, not even bothering to look at it.
Temari looked smug as she put on her sandals.
o.O.o.O.o.O
"The man's passed out." Tsume told both Gaara and Hana as they fed the nin-dogs a late meal. "I don't know why Inoichi is here, or where Kiba is though."
Hana nodded. "Probably with Ino."
Both mother and daughter gave each other an amused glance and went about their business. "Want to sit down, Gaara? Join us at the table for a quick snack?" Tsume asked lazily.
Gaara scowled with deep menace. He hadn't been able to sit comfortably ever since his bout with the Haimaru triplets the other night. The Kazekage gathered his dignity about himself like a cloak, and ignored her completely.
This only served to delight Tsume, who cackled with humor and handed him a cup of sake. "Here. Here's to you and Hana and a strong, fruitful marriage."
Gaara's dark mood lightened as he sensed the sincerity in the older kunoichi's words. He took the cup and drank to such a toast.
He was about to thank her when they all heard the knock on the door. "It's getting a bit late, who's calling now?"
Tsume and Hana both answered without looking up. "Your sister and her husband."
He quirked an odd look at them, wondering when he'd get used to their strong sense of smell. It irritated him a bit to know they knew who was at the door before he could recognize his own sister's chakra signature.
Temari and Shikamaru entered the kitchen, looking a bit stunned. The young man pointed behind him, "I knew your nin-dog could speak, Inuzuka-sama. But he just opened the door for us."
Tsume nodded. "Be honored, he doesn't do that for just anyone."
"She's Gaara's family." Kuromaru sniffed and wandered over to sit beside Tsume.
"Oh." Temari's mouth fell open a bit, before she remembered herself and offered more formalized greetings, even including the dogs.
"Temari?" Gaara sighed wearily. "It's late, and shouldn't you be on your honeymoon?"
"Yes." Shikamaru said, then grunted as Temari's sharp elbow found his ribs.
"I have to speak with you Gaara, family stuff." She said, with an apologetic smile to the Inuzukas.
Gaara rubbed his eyes and thought about the conversation he'd had with Hana about how he'd been treating his sister. He'd promised himself that he would take the time to talk with her some more, let her know he cared. But right now, he was hurting and tired.
"Can it wait?" Gaara mumbled. "I can meet with you for breakfast, spend the whole day or whatever. Whatever you need."
Temari paused, her eyes widening a bit. "Oh, well, that's fine Gaara. But …wait, you're standing a bit oddly."
Hana bit back a small laugh. "He had a small …incident."
Shikamaru looked back and forth between Hana's amusement and Gaara's flushed face. He sensed a story here.
"Never mind. Tell me what you need." Gaara said, desperate to turn the subject, shifting a bit to ease the soreness.
"If this is private family stuff, we can go into the other room." Hana offered, even though Tsume looked like she wasn't going to budge.
"You are family." Gaara told her simply, then widened his gaze to include Tsume who looked surprised, but also a bit pleased. "Now, what is it?"
Everyone stared at Temari, even Shikamaru, as they waited for her to explain her strange behavior.
Temari went a bit red as she struggled with where to begin.
"Oh, just spit it out girl. Gaara got himself bit on the ass, it can't be any worse than that." Tsume said evilly.
Sand wrapped around Tsume's foot and gave her a yank, making her stumble but she didn't fall. Gaara's look though, promised stronger retribution at a later time. Tsume just winked at him, strangely she was learning to like this young man. She hadn't expected that.
"Bitten?" Temari mused, then looked at all the nin-dogs in the room, noting that three of them dropped down a bit as their tails sank an inch or two toward the ground.
"Wait, stop. I don't want to know."
"I do." Shikamaru said, grinning from ear to ear.
Temari whacked him on the back of the head, causing him to grimace and frown up at her.
"The Leaf Elder Council is sore about losing the Inuzuka bloodline."
Temari's words caused different reactions. Gaara shrugged, while Hana looked saddened. Tsume actually growled. Shikamaru waited, he knew this wasn't all of it, not with the way his wife had been acting lately. He just wished she'd felt she could share her worries with him.
"They have no choice." The Inuzuka clan leader informed them. "As I explained to Gaara while we were away, our clan has the legal right to relocate as our mating rituals dictate."
"They know. But they've put pressure on the Hokage to get some promises from you all. Like that Tsume won't move to Suna, and that they have Kiba's word in writing that he won't move to Suna either." Temari continued, noting that Gaara merely looked thoughtful.
Tsume stopped and considered the matter. Hana nodded. "It makes sense, that keeps some Inuzukas here in the Leaf village. And if I don't have a daughter, while Kiba does, the main line could revert back here eventually."
Kuromaru gave a doggy sigh. "It's not out of the question, Tsume. You've not been considering moving and neither has Kiba."
Tsume sighed, reluctant to be reasonable. "Yah, yah. But I hate being told what to do."
"What else?" But it wasn't Gaara or the Inuzukas who asked, it was Shikamaru. "You've been edgy lately. And that's not enough for what I've been feeling from you. So, what else?"
Temari gave him a dirty look. "They want access to a bloodline, just like Suna is getting the Inuzuka bloodline. The elders want the puppet ninja trait."
Shikamaru caught his breath, but he was the only one who got it right away.
Gaara shrugged. "I've already signed your wedding contracts. You're married too. I can't seal away your bloodline gifts now."
Hana was the next to catch on, her eyes going wide as she turned to look warily at her mother, and then to Gaara.
"It's not Temari they want to keep, is it?" Tsume mused coldly, seeing the alarmed look in her daughter's gaze.
Gaara looked at them all, taking a moment for the unfathomable to register. "No. They've already got one member of my family, they can't have both."
Temari sighed and grabbed one of Gaara's hands. He looked down at the casual touch in surprise. Before he'd changed, she never would have done such. "The Hokage-sama guessed your answer and she decided to go straight to Kankuro. She felt that if she convinced him to stay, you might permit it."
Gaara shook his head, the very idea appalling.
"He said it wasn't his decision to make."
Gaara grunted in satisfaction, something tight inside him starting to loosen. "Thank you for telling me. Warning me of the council's intentions. I'll take care of it, I promise."
Temari tightened her grip, pulling his eyes back to hers. "Taking care of it, that's exactly what I don't want you to do."
The red-headed shinobi stared at his sister in disbelief, as did everyone else. "You want me to convince him to stay here just so I can get married in peace? Trade my own brother?"
"No!" Temari gasped. "No. Gaara, that's not what I mean. I want you to stay out of it. I want you to let Kankuro make up his own mind whether to stay here or not."
"Take family out of the equation." Shikamaru breathed and sighed, not sure how this was going to go over.
Hana looked at the blond, reading her distress easily. "Do you want Kankuro to stay here? With you?"
"Yes. No. I don't know." Temari said, shaking her head. "Yes, for me I'd say yes. For Gaara, I'd say no. But what's best for Kankuro?"
Hana shook her head. "I want him at Suna. I'll admit, I like him."
Tsume shook her head. "I'll admit, as a Leaf shinobi, the thought of gaining access to the puppet ninja line is intriguing."
"He'll say no." Gaara said, feeling more uncertain than he sounded.
"Yes, he will say no." Temari agreed. "For you, he'd say no. But they've made him an offer here. Tsunade is offering him a house free and clear. Gaara? It was a workshop in the back, a huge one. It's filled with a puppet master's wet dreams. Woods and tools and metals and gadgets and all that stuff he's always wanted."
"I can give him that." Gaara said gruffly, Hana nodded her agreement.
Temari nodded. "I know. I know you would. That's not what I'm asking."
"She wants you to step out of the equation." Shikamaru spoke up slowly. "She wants both you and she to not be a part of his decision. That whatever Kankuro decides is going to be alright with both of you."
"What he said." Temari sighed, her shoulders slumping a bit to hear it spelled out like that.
"Why?" Tsume asked curiously, but not unkindly.
Temari thought her words over very carefully before she continued. "You didn't see him after you were taken, Gaara. He chased after you all on his own and nearly died. While you were gone, he ...it tore him up. And when I got betrothed to Shikamaru he threw one hellacious tantrum. It took him over six months to forgive me."
Tsume nodded in understanding, though Gaara still looked perplexed. "Kankuro cares deeply for you both. To ask him to choose between you two would be like tearing him apart."
"What she said." Temari nodded. "I want both of us to assure him that we're still a family no matter where he chooses to live. Suna or Leaf, it's only a three day journey either way. Neither of us will really 'lose' him. So I want a truce and a pact."
"Not to influence his decision, yah I got that." Gaara looked away for a moment. "I don't know if I can do it. I don't want him to leave."
"Do you care for him?" Temari asked pointedly. After he gave a brief nod, she looked her youngest brother in the eye. "Then you'll do this."
Gaara swallowed his desire to tell her off, because he knew she was right. He glanced over at Hana who shrugged at him, telling him that she'd back his call either way. "Fine. It's his decision. But I will let him know he can have a workspace in Suna as well."
Temari grinned, relief making her dizzy.
"Besides, why should I have an opinion on any of this? I'm only the Kazekage after all, hardly important at all."
Shikamaru and Temari watched, puzzled, as Hana and Tsume dissolved into laughter.
o.O.o.O.o.O
It was very late when Gaara finally returned to his guest apartment. No one was awake, and that suited him fine. He got ready for bed, and climbed in between the sheets. He was having a hard time falling asleep though, tired as he was.
His nightmares had eased a lot since he'd first arrived at Konoha, that wasn't the problem. Gaara was a back sleeper, but his ass hurt too much. He groaned as he lay on his stomach trying to court sleep.
Baki turned over and went back to sleep, ignoring the fact that the Kazekage had returned. He didn't want to speak with him just yet. Gaara wasn't going to be happy once he outlined what the Leaf village wanted from him.
Kankuro wasn't there. He'd slipped out a bit earlier and had been wandering the streets of the Leaf village almost at random. Thinking.
He'd 'just happened' to be near the hospital when Sakura's shift ended. The puppeteer had watched her from the rooftops as she'd made her way home, but hadn't joined her. He wasn't even sure why.
It wasn't until the light flicked out in her bedroom that he'd turned away, heading back to his own bed. Still thinking.
o.O.o.O.o.O
Baki was up early as usual. What wasn't usual was having to wait for Gaara, before the Akatsuki, the red-head hadn't slept much. Consequently, Baki had usually found Gaara already awake. Not since the removal of Shukaku though, and that was a good thing.
"Morning." Gaara said, yawning as he slid into a chair at the table, wincing a bit at his soreness. He poked through the contents of the take-out boxes Baki had picked up for them all.
Baki grunted and drank his tea. "Depends."
"On what?" His Kazekage giving him a shuttered look. "On the fact that you've gone and gotten engaged? Or that someone's trying to steal Kankuro from us?"
The older shinobi sighed and sat down. "Someone beat me to it, I see. Although, you look calmer than I would have anticipated."
"Not on the inside, I assure you."
Baki nodded in understanding. "He was out later than you, I don't know when he'll be getting up."
"Right about …now." Gaara said, a wicked gleam in his pale-jade eyes as a 'thunk' and a muffled shout came from Kankuro's bedroom.
"Damn it, Gaara!" Came the roar from the puppeteer, followed by the stomping of his feet as he made his way to the kitchen.
Gaara watched his brother as he grumpily poured himself some tea and slumped into a chair beside him. "There's sand in my bed from where you yanked me out of a great dream. And I hit my head on the floor, too."
"Poor readiness." Baki intoned without sympathy. "Losing your touch, Kankuro?"
"Bah." The puppet shinobi sneered and drank his tea.
"Gaara knows." Baki said after a few moments.
Kankuro put down his tea cup and looked at his brother. "So? What are you going to tell them?"
"That depends." Gaara said, his stomach knotting up a bit although it didn't show in his expression.
"On what? Don't tell me you'd seriously consider leaving me in this backwater town." Kankuro sneered, but worry still lit his dark eyes.
"It's your decision. They asked you to stay, not me."
"You're the Kazekage, it's your decision." Kankuro frowned, reaching for a couple of the pancakes. Apparently his appetite was fine, Gaara mused wondering just what it would take to affect the brunette's ability to eat.
"Glad someone remembers a Kazekage is important." The red-head muttered, drawing looks from the other two. "No. I've decided to let you decide. But don't let that workshop they're offering you be part of it, I'll build you one in Suna if you want."
Kankuro grinned widely. "I told them that too!"
Gaara answered his grin with a small smile of his own. Kankuro wouldn't leave him.
"I decided to put you and Temari in a room and let you fight it out between you. Winner gets to keep me." He said before biting into his pancake.
Gaara snorted and Baki choked on his breakfast at that announcement.
"Wouldn't that be the loser is forced to keep you?" Baki told him with a sneer.
Gaara though just looked at Kankuro and sighed. "Temari's right. You have to make this decision based on what you want. You won't lose either of us no matter where you live."
"What are you saying?" Kankuro put his food down, suddenly very serious. "You don't want me to stay in Suna?"
"No! I mean yes. I want to keep you with me, that's a given." Gaara reassured him. "But I want you to erase both Temari and myself from this decision. Look it over very carefully, but don't factor either of us into it. Then tell me what you want, and I'll make it happen."
Kankuro stared at him, unable to speak.
Gaara got up and eyed Baki, who got up to join him. They left quietly, leaving a stunned and very unsure puppeteer to his own thoughts.
As they left though, something shook Kankuro out of himself. "Wait. Are you limping?"
Gaara blushed, ignored him and stalked out of the apartment the best he could.
o.O.o.O.o.O
It was much later in the day, early evening actually, when Kankuro again approached Gaara who was working at his desk.
"You had a chance to look over Baki's wedding contracts?" He said, avoiding the larger question.
Gaara nodded as Kankuro leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "They're all in order, signed them earlier. Can't believe the old goat is getting married though."
"Heh." Kankuro agreed, still not meeting his brother's eyes. "I'm staying."
Gaara licked his suddenly dry lips. "Here? Or in Suna."
Kankuro held his breath a moment, then looked at Gaara. "Here."
Gaara's hand trembled a bit, but he pulled back so his brother wouldn't notice. "Why? Is it Sakura?"
The puppeteer gave a wicked smile, "No. Though I see you're well informed. I could continue seeing her even if I went back to Suna, no matter what she thinks. I might even be able to convince her to take a position in the hospital there. Although, I don't know that she'd agree."
"Not sex. Not family. What else is there?" Gaara probed, wondering if it was him somehow. Had he pushed his brother away?
"Respect." Came the surprising response.
"The hell?" Gaara sputtered. "I respect you!" Now, he added to himself. It hadn't always been that way he remembered regretfully.
"Not you." Kankuro flashed him a quick, but humorless grin. "Suna."
"No one in Suna would dare disrespect you." Gaara growled low.
Kankuro frowned and sighed. "Exactly. They wouldn't dare form a negative opinion of the Kazekage's brother. I don't want people to look up to me only because of you. See, when I was the Fourth's son no one respected me or my abilities."
"He's no longer the Kazekage."
"I know." Kankuro said quietly. "Now, it's almost worse. The same people who put me down before are singing my praises now that you're in power. The same people, Gaara."
"Sycophants." Gaara sneered disdainfully.
The older brother nodded sadly. "It's not just them, though. Every woman I've ever dated in Suna wanted something. Not from me, but from the Kazekage. Father or you, it doesn't matter. Everyone who wanted to be my 'friend' I've had to treat with the same suspicions. I'll always be in the shadow of the Kazekage's office if I stay there."
"And here?"
"I'm just me." Kankuro's eyes gleamed a bit as he made his point. One it had taken him all day to realize why things were so different here. Why people looked at him differently. "Here they want me because of what I can do. Here the women don't see me as a path to someone else. Here, they still remember the power of a true ninja puppeteer."
Gaara nodded, a lump in his throat that he didn't dare acknowledge.
"I'll tell you what you told me while I was angry with Temari. It's only a three day journey from here to Suna."
"I won't even miss you." Gaara said, lying.
Kankuro nodded. "I'll be back in Suna visiting and driving you nuts before you know it."
Unwilling to continue the maudlin conversation, Gaara coughed and looked back down at his paperwork although it was a sham. "Now that you're staying here, you going to be seeing more of a certain pink-haired kunoichi?"
Kankuro thought about her promise not to date anyone else while he was still in the Leaf village. He laughed outright. "All I want to see is the look on her face when I tell her I'm not leaving."
Gaara's look was curious. "Really?"
"But what I really want to know …" Kankuro voice trailed off with a sly grin.
"Yes?" Gaara asked, suddenly feeling edgy.
"Is why you were limping."
o.O.o.O.o.O
Okay, wrapping up very quickly. One more chapter and the epilogue to go. I think I'm depressed it's almost over.
I need love. REVIEW please.
