The council is still wary, the villagers paint Gaara as an invincible weapon, and Gaara himself doesn't like to talk back, so Temari and Kankuro end up standing up for Gaara. They find a new shared purpose in making sure Gaara isn't being used. They talk back to the council when Gaara gets sent on too dangerous missions. As orphans, and as shinobi, they no longer have the time to personally observe Gaara's meals, so Kankuro tastes Gaara's food. Temari worries, but Kankuro insists that he needs to build his poison immunity anyway and this is perfect training. So Temari relents and trusts him. Temari spies on the council when she's not out on a mission, wishing she had a better ability for the job. She needs to keep tabs on their plans about Gaara.
Every once in a while, Temari and Kankuro still have nightmares about Gaara's Shukaku transformation. One will wake up panting in the middle of the night to find that the other has already come to them. It's not real anymore. They're safe from Gaara now. They're finally free to be a family, all three of them. In the morning, Gaara finds Temari asleep on Kankuro's floor, both of them with tear streaked cheeks.
After Gaara becomes Kazekage, Temari and Kankuro meet without him. They both cry. In theory no sand shinobi would dare to asassinate the Kazekage, but all of the previous Kazekage were murdered. Temari doesn't really believe in superstitions, but the Kazekage seat really is cursed. Kankuro tries to keep his cool and fails. They talk for hours, reminiscing and crying and planning. They will do everything they can to break the curse.
They failed to prevent the curse, but maybe the curse has broken. Gaara is back in Suna, safe and sound and undead. They hug for hours silently. Then comes night, and Gaara needs to sleep, but visions haunt him and Temari and Kankuro must be there to chase them away. They take turns comforting their baby brother back to sleep. The task their mother or father should have had, 15 years ago.
Temari tries to help Kankuro move on from the past. Kankuro resembles Rasa now more than ever, and his guilt over Gaara's death drives him to sleepless nights and spilled face paint all over the floor. Temari cleans it up. He is Kankuro, her brother. She loves him more than she hates their father.
Kankuro worries that Temari is taking on too much. She doesn't cry, but she sits in the moonlight thinking about how while her brothers were dying, she was oblivious in Konoha. Kankuro tells her it wasn't her fault. In fact, it was possible the enemy had chosen that day precisely because she was in Konoha on business. She couldn't have stopped it. None of them had expected such an absurd assassination-kidnapping.
Despite how crazy their lives are, Temari and Kankuro still hang out. Casually. Not to talk about Gaara, or to worry. Just stopping by each other's rooms, Kankuro teasing Temari about Shikamaru and Temari teasing Kankuro about his hookups. Just ordinary things. They laugh together, and smile. They're finally thriving, in the uneventful moments they've waited so long for.