I posted it faster than I thought. I hope you will like it, and as always if you see any mistakes please tell me ^^.
Chapter 5 :
Cactus Street was a place where the three children had never been before. It was a street full of old shops that served mostly for civilians. The people present were astonished when they saw three young people running, but all knew who they were, who their father was, and what would happen to those who touched only one of their hair. Besides, nobody dared to approach them for fear of seeing ANBU ninjas.
Temari and her brothers did not pay attention to the inhabitants who were circulating around them. Their eyes inspected each of the signs in search of the one they needed.
"There!" Kankuro cried, pointing to an old, dark blue amphora sign on which one could more or less read, in fact less than more, the word "oasis."
''We enter?'' Gaara suggested.
''We enter.'' Temari confirmed.
She opened the door, and entered the shop, followed by her brothers right behind her. The shop was almost dark, only a few fine rays of sun pierced through the small windows. None of the three Sabaku were reassured, the youngest of the three clung to the shirt of his big brother to give himself courage. The latter was no more confident than he was, but tried not to show it, and their eldest, posted in front, watched everything, ready to detect the slightest danger.
"Good afternoon" an old man said, teleporting himself in front of them.
The siblings uttered a cry of fear under the shock of surprise, and it amused the man who gently mocked them.
"Dad!" a feminine voice exclaimed as she entered the room from what appeared to be the back room.
The children turned their eyes towards her. She must have been between thirty and forty years old was of normal size for a woman, pale complexion, like the vast majority of the inhabitants of the country, short and platinum blonde hair, the eyes of a lovely light blue, a nose and lips thin. These were covered with dark red lipstick. What intrigued them and made them detail her so thoroughly was the tattoo in the form of two clear blue strokes on each of her cheeks.
"If we can not laugh anymore" the man commented as he went behind the counter.
When he passed in front of the light, the three Sabaku No saw that he also had the same marks on his cheeks but they were a darker blue.
''They are only children, you did not have to frighten them" she retorted.
"In my day we knew how to have fun, all the jokes with did with Chiyo," he remembered nostalgically.
''You know Grandma Chiyo?'' Kankuro intervened.
''If I know the old Chiyo, you're kidding me kid, I was one of her team mates."
The little brown boy's eyes glittered, he wanted to ask him so many questions about the woman he admired so much, almost as much as he admired Sasori. He restrained himself, they did not have time, they had an enigma to solve, and their sensei would not grant them the slightest second of delay.
"That intrigues you, doesn't it," the woman remarked, noticing how Temari and Gaara stared at her.
They nodded positively, it was not the first time they met someone with a tattoo at that part of the body, but on the other hand it was the first time they had in front of them two people with the same tattoo but of two different hues.
"These marks are the trademarks of the blue shinobis, they darken over time, the darker they are the older the ninja who wears them is," she explained, lowering herself to their level.
Gaara put his hand on the woman's right cheek and gently caressed the two blue strokes, they were soft, he did not feel any difference with the virgin skin.
"Excuse us for the inconvenience, but would you have something for us, like an envelope that Akasuna no Sasori would have entrusted to you?" Temari inquired.
She did not want to be rude, but the clock was ticking and there was no need to hang around. It was out of the question that they fail, out of the question that they disappoint their teacher. She could never stand in front of him if they did not succeed in this treasure hunt.
"Indeed, he gave us an envelope to to hand deliver to his three students'', confirmed the adult female."
She then turned to her father, who opened a drawer in front of him and pulled out a small envelope similar to the one the scorpion had given them before disappearing. Gaara moved closer to him and took it from the blue ninja's hand. He thanked him shyly, then returned to his elders. All three of them bowed respectfully, then withdrew from the shop.
"I'll have to come back here one day," Kankuro promised himself, "I have questions for this man.''
"If you want, if you want but for now focus on the new clue we are going to discover," his sister reminded him.
The youngest of the siblings, removed the piece of paper from its envelope which contained five small cards on which were inscribed the words: "Belladonna", "Moreau grass", "Datura, "Oleander" and "Mistletoe".
"Here we go to gardening now," the little blonde sighed.
"Too easy," cried the middle child.
The only girl in the trio folded her arms in front of her chest, and stamped her foot. Obviously her younger brother knew something that she did not know and it displeased her greatly.
"Go on, give us the answer, mister the genius," she urged.
"Oh, the great Temari, usually a real miss-I-know-it-all, would not have the answer," he chuckled.
She gave him a look so cold that he felt that the outside temperature had suddenly dropped sharply.
"Don't argue please,'' begged them their youngest by coming between them.
He was right, the time was not for settling scores. It was not a competition, they were not playing against each other, but together. They were a team, siblings who would always support each other no matter what.
"What's the answer to this riddle?" She asked.
"They are all poisonous plants, they are even deadly, the puppeteer shinobis sometimes use them in liquid form as a poison on their puppets or in the form of gas," the brown informed them.
Temari had to admit that she was impressed and proud of Kankuro's knowledge on the subject. It was doing them a great favor, now Gaara and she knew what the common point of these five plants was.
"You are very smart Kankuro, congratulations!" the other boy complimented him.
A gleam of satisfaction and pleasure appeared in his eyes, his sister and he were always delighted to hear this kind of compliment from the last born Sabaku No. They were his models, the people he was trying to imitate , with their father whom Gaara saw as a hero. Their little brother was a shy boy, who often doubted himself, and who dared not go to others. Besides, he had only one friend named Mikoshi, well if he did not count the two groupies who were constantly turning around him; Matsuri and Sari. Groupies that Temari chased away regularly, she had a holy horror of girls like them.
"So we have to go to the hospital," the demon carrier said.
"I think so," his brother agreed.
"Me not,'' the only girl of the group contradicts.
"No, and why not?" "You would not go there to be heal you?" her brown brother questioned.
"Of course I would, but think, you said yourself that these plants were used as poison and that it is the remedy of a poison?''
"An antidote," he replied. "Temari for pity's sake don't tell me you are thinking what I am thinking," he hoped.
Gaara tilted his head to the left, not understanding his older brother's reaction.
"Unfortunately for you I think that so, frankly the hospital is the last resort, but before going there we must use plants with medicinal properties and the best place to buy is the herbalism,'' she affirmed.
"You're joking, it's at the other end of town, in Shiitake Street," he recalled.
"We are going to see Mr. and Mrs. Nozaki," Gaara said happily.
Their mother Karura, a fervent follower of herbal medicine, had often taken them to this shop when they had been sick. So it was a familiar place, not far from home. However, at that moment, they were in the "low" city east of their village, and the stall was in the "upper" city on the west side, in other words, the opposite of the position they occupied.
"We do not have a second to lose, we have to leave now," Temari said.
''Here go again to run all around Suna, I hope that Sasori-sensei's reward is worth it!" her brother groaned as he ran too.
"I'm sure Sasori-sensei would not make us do it for nothing," the other boy claimed.
All three ran without stopping, the training at their school, plus those with their sensei, and those they had imposed themselves alone bore fruit. They were not too breathless, and were less tired than they expected. Soon the neighborhoods of the upper city were in sight, and they felt at home again. These alleys were their playground since their birth, they could have walked there with their eyes closed. They passed their house, and were tempted to stop there to make a surprise visit to their mother, but had to give it up. They were on mission, they could not afford any distractions.
The shop was soon in sight, and they accelerated their race, they were eager to discover the third clue. They were relieved when they realized that the store was empty, it made their job easier and saved them some time.
"Hello ... Oh, but who do I see, would not it be the little Sabaku No!" a rather mature female voice exclaimed.
''Emiko-san," Gaara said, getting closer to her.
He loved the old woman who he considered a second grandmother, with Chiyo. Their biological grandparents were all four dead a few years before the birth of Temari, none of the three had known them and had found affection elsewhere. She took him in her arms, and kissed him tenderly before resting him. She repeated the same gesture with the other two children.
"What can I do for you today?" She asked them.
"We would like to know if you would have an envelope for us?" the demon bearer asked.
"Why should I have one?''
"Our teacher Sasori made us a sort of treasure hunt and in the last envelope were five names of poisonous plants, so we assumed that the best cure for this kind of plants was an antidote," the brunette said.
"So you naturally thought of our shop," she realized.
"That's it," Temari confirmed.
"You are not the children of your parents for nothing," she commented with an amused smile.
"That means we were right!" Gaara guessed.
She slipped her hand into her kimono and took out an envelope similar to the ones they had had until now. Kankuro recognized that their sister had a good reasoning. The little blonde took it and thanked her.
"Do you want a cake before you leave?" the manager of the shop proposed.
They were almost at the door, and the two male members turned to the only girl. In the absence of an adult of their family, it was her, as the eldest, who had the responsibility to make those kinds of decisions. She was going to tell them no, they had eaten well at midday, they did not need this cake.
''We can Temari ?'' Gaara asked with a beaten dog's gaze.
Her other brother did not make his task easier with his hands clasped in prayer, imploring her to accept.
"Okay, but only one," she gasped in a long sigh.
''Yippee !'' Her cadets cried delighted.
Firmness would be obviously for another day. She also headed to the retired kunoichi, and took one of the delicious cakes that were the old lady specialities. Her cadets had already bitten into their cake, big bright stars in their eyes and a huge smile on their face. She did not regret having accepted, seeing them thus. She just hoped that this moment of weakness would not cost them too much.