Chapter 40: Hidden Dreams
"Just a little heads up. When you walk by the waiting area, Gaara's going to be in a bit of a mood."
"Mood?" I quietly ask myself as I sneak one look at the middle sibling as he moves toward his set. "Now what kind of mood could Gaara possibly be in?"
When I reached the waiting area, I got my answer, somewhat.
Gaara was the first person that I noticed. Dressed in a red plaid shirt, loose blue jeans, sturdy looking boots, and a generous amount of soot, if he were placed in a real life mine right now, he definitely wouldn't look out of place. He was standing about a foot away from the largest couch, and though I could only see his profile, I could tell that the soot placed on his face was designed in a way that would enhance his looks and not detract from them.
It was also in that moment that I realized that he was actively ignoring the one other person there with him, his own sister. Since she was assigned the disco ball, it wasn't hard to imagine that Temari was going to get a disco-themed outfit for her shoot, and sure enough, Kotetsu and Izumo did not disappoint.
Temari was dressed in a red, skintight jumpsuit with bell bottomed pants, white platform boots, and a red and black headband wrapped just above her hairline. Her makeup was natural on her smirking face, looking quite amused as her younger brother continued to not acknowledge her.
Something tells me that this happens a lot between the two of them.
"Um, what's going on here?" I couldn't help but ask as Gaara seemingly stiffened at my words. "Are you two okay?"
"Oh, I'm just peachy," Temari tells me, her smirk becoming a smile as she turned to me. "Kankuro and I were just trying to have a civil conversation with our brother here, but as you can see, Gaara here is being a bit difficult."
"No thanks to you two," The redhead grumbles as he continues to look at the wall.
"So, did Kankuro say anything to you on his way to set?" Temari asks, as if she already knew what the answer could be.
"Well, he did say that Gaara was in a bit of a mood. . ."
"He's not wrong!" Temari cuts in, ignoring the glare her brother was shooting her when he finally turned around. "Gaara's not someone that yells or screams when he's pissed. . . He's more like a cat. He'll ignore you, and glare at you, and occasionally hiss at you, but he's not going to throw an angry tirade at you. Give him some time to get through his mood and he'll be fine."
"Good to know. . ?" I say as the redhead took a deep breath. "Are you going to be okay Gaara?"
"I'll be fine. . . Still debating if I should hiss at you or not." He grumbled directing the last bit to Temari as he finally sat down on the couch's armrest, careful to not smudge up his seat. "Sometimes I wonder how I ended up with siblings like you and Kankuro. . ."
"Hey! We can't choose what families we were born into!" Temari was quick to point out as she poked her brother. "Besides, teasing the younger siblings is a perennial part of being an older sibling. . . If we had a sibling that came after you, trust me, you would understand us better."
"Oh, so that's it huh?" I ask. "You and Kankuro were teasing Gaara again? What's the reason this time?"
"Do I really need a reason though?" Temari asks as Gaara's face suddenly pales slightly. I narrowed my eyes slightly, giving her the hint that I wasn't amused by her question. ". . . Okay, okay, I'll spill. Kankuro and I were teasing Gaara because we found out about something that happened to him just recently."
"Just happened recently?" I ask, looking back in my memory to figure it out. The only thing that I could think of that could cause Gaara to get any teasing was the dream he had last night, so I tried that. ". . . Does this involve the dream you had last night?"
And Gaara's face gets even paler, somehow.
"You hit the nail right on the head Izuka!" Temari gleeful says, which was shocking to me since I didn't take her for someone capable of sounding so gleeful in the first place. "Would you like to know what it's about?"
"Don't you dare!" Gaara literally growls as he glared daggers at his sister, somehow keeping all the emotion off his face to focus it in his voice. He was definitely annoyed by his sister's antics, and I likely wouldn't be helping matters if I said yes to her question . . . But I was still curious to know though. . .
. . . Nah, I can't do it to him.
"The offer sounds nice and all, but I'm gonna have to decline." I finally say as I start moving toward the exit.
"Are you sure?" Temari teases, her hand coming onto my shoulder to stop me in my tracks. "I think you'll be quite interested in what I have to say if you give me the chance."
"Oh, I'm sure you would love that," I say as I looked over my shoulder to see Temari's hopeful gaze and Gaara's pensive one. "But what you have to say sounds like it's primarily Gaara's business, and if he doesn't want to say anything yet, then you shouldn't either."
"Are you really sure?" Temari asks once more, almost pleading with me to say yes.
"I'm sure." I say, hopefully in a tone that finally gets through to her. It seems to do the trick, her head nodding in acceptance as she returned to the couch. I didn't bother to see Gaara's reaction, but I did overhear Temari say You're so lucky as I stepped out of the room. . . So, yeah, there's that.
After wiping off the makeup and switching out my clothes, I joined the other models who were done with their shoots in a side room where all the catering was held. After picking up a bento box from off the main table, I sat down at the table where Hinata was sitting. Shino, Sasuke, and a couple of the assistants were also in the room, but they were spread out at various other tables.
"Oh Izuka, how was your shoot?" She asks me as she looks up from her rice ball.
"I think I did pretty well," I say as I set my box down on the table. "Kakashi said that my main issue was that my eyes were a little too narrow for a few of the shots, but other than that, I don't think I did that bad."
"I see. I only asked because you seem a little too in your head when you walked into the room." She tells me before biting into her food, taking the time to savor her bite before swallowing. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Well, Kankuro and Temari have been teasing Gaara about some dream he had last night. Somehow, they managed to find out what it's all about, and Temari tried to tell me about it before I came up here. . ."
"And Gaara absolutely doesn't want what he dreamed made public?"
"That's exactly right." I say as I opened my box, smiling in satisfaction as I looked down at the noodles and beef that awaited me inside. "I didn't let Temari tell me the details though."
"You didn't?"
"Nah; it was Gaara's business, and he obviously didn't want the details to be known by everyone, so I didn't give Temari the satisfaction of telling me anything about it," I say as I separated my chopsticks. "He already has enough to deal with if his siblings know the details about it. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to add to the misery."
"Hmm, that is very thoughtful of you Izuka . . . But still, it makes me wonder."
"Wonder about what Hinata?"
"Well, are you even remotely curious as to why Temari wanted to tell you specifically?" She suggests after finishing the last of her rice ball. "Maybe this is a hint that Gaara's dream was about you?!"
I couldn't help but look up when I heard that, but after giving it a moment, I had to admit that Hinata was making a viable point. Temari was really eager to tell me the details of Gaara's dream, and the redhead was quite eager for me not to hear it. . .
"Hello ladies!" Kankuro suddenly says, slipping into the empty seat next to me with a big grin on his face, most likely because he no longer had to wear that sweater anymore. "Am I interrupting something here?"
"Oh, hi Kankuro, and no, you're not interrupting much," Hinata tells him as I dug my chopsticks into my noodles. "Izuka and I were just talking about you and Temari teasing Gaara. . . Must you go after the man's dreams?
"Hey! Teasing siblings is a normal thing families do!" Kankuro said right back, not missing a beat as he looked at me. "I'm sure you and Naruto have had your moments Izuka."
"Well, I did just make my brother look like a sad clown with markers days ago," I say, smirking at the memory. "Wait a sec! Hinata, do you have any siblings?"
"Only my younger sister Hanabi," She says, her face a little somber. "She's one of the biggest reasons I'm doing this competition."
"Oh, she encouraged you to audition?" Kankuro asked.
"She's probably the biggest You Wanna Be On Top? fan in my family," Hinata admits, perking up slightly. "She's followed every competition since she was able to understand it and plans to try out once she's eligible. . . I miss her."
"I don't blame you for that . . . It's not easy being away from the ones you love for so long," I say, remembering all those that were waiting back home, wishing Naruto and I luck. "But hey, as long as you stay focused and keep working hard, it'll be worth it."
"Izuka's right. . . At the very least, not winning the title isn't the end of the world. Plenty of past contestants have gone on to have great years without winning this competition," Kankuro adds. "At the very least, this competition can be a steppingstone for bigger and better things, but only if you work for it."
"Well, that's a very insightful thing for you to say Kankuro," I say, mildly shocked that such words came out of him.
"Hey! I may not be a brainiac like my sister, but I have my moments," He grumbles as he starts to dig into his food. "So, what exactly were you two talking about before I got here?"
"No comment."
A/N: Please review!