Title; End Table.

"I don't understand!" Kankuro moaned as he and his two siblings sat outside a strange cart labeled 'Chokai's Spiritual Stand'. "He should be open by now!"

They had found the stand a few hours ago and found that it was closed. That was reasonable because it was still in the wee hours of the morning, so they decided to patiently wait until the stand opened. Gaara was being strangely apathetic recently and Kankuro and Temari weren't about to argue with that, but they couldn't help but wonder when he temper would kick in and he'd start one of his famous random warpaths.

Temari sighed and looked up at Kankuro who had begun to pace. It was long past the time when the stand should have opened, and all three of them could vouch for the fact that there was movement inside the cart.

Even though Temari had suggested they leave and forget about it on many different occasions, Kankuro was being adamant about it. And maybe the reason why Gaara was allowing all of this to go down was because he had a secret curiosity for the cart and maybe even… a secret wish?

It was time for Temari to take over, even though Kankuro assured her that he had everything under control.

"Well, Kankuro, you're the one who has been standing outside his stand while pounding on the door screaming about how you have a complaint and you want to return his product." she pointed out. "If I was a small business owner, I don't think I'd open either."

"What do you propose I do?" Kankuro said with a frown.

"I'll show you." Said Temari as she stood up, adjusted her collar and then delicately tapped on the wooden shades that kept them out. "Excuse me, but I would like to make a purchase!"

Faster than any of them could blink, the wooden shades sprang up and Chokai was sitting there with his hands folded and a huge smile plastered on his face.

"How may I help you, young lady?" Chokai said pleasantly as he spun the sign around that said 'Closed' and had it read 'Open'.

"There." Said Temari to Kankuro. "You see?"

"Whatever." Kankuro grumbled as he stood up and fished through his pockets for the other crystal. They had discovered one had gone missing a little earlier, but Kankuro didn't really mind all that much since he had a second one AND he didn't want Gaara or Temari to somehow get a hold of one and make a ridiculous wish. Not like HIM anyway.

"Can we hurry this up?" Gaara said, wanting to get to the explanation more quickly.

"Yes!" said Kankuro as he put the crystal on Chokai's table.

"Oh!" said Chokai. "How strange! I do not recall selling you a crystal! And I remember EVERY sale I make! I never forget a face!"

"You didn't!" said Kankuro. "We live in the Sand Village and you sent us three by mail for free."

"Ah yes." Said Chokai, nodding his head with satisfaction. "One of my more brilliant ideas."

"It wasn't BRILLIANT!" Kankuro protested. "You didn't give us fair warning or explain how to undo anything or any consequences!"

Chokai gave a heavy sigh. "But it worked." He said. "It got you to travel to this village and buy more products."

"Who ever said I was going to buy more products?" said Kankuro.

"She did." Said Chokai, pointing at Temari.

"I was just saying that so you'd come out." Temari explained.

"Oh." Said Chokai, looking a little disappointed. He made a move for the 'Closed' sign again, but Temari slammed her hand down on it. Kankuro was going to ask his questions so they could leave.

Chokai knew he had been beaten.

He looked back at Kankuro. "Well?" he said, leaning back and getting comfortable, bracing himself for familiar complaints. "What did you come all the way here for?"

"Well," Kankuro started. "I made a wish and it suddenly came undone. I think it was because the crystal broke."

"Okay." Said Chokai. "I know all this already. And?"

"Um…" Kankuro said slowly, suddenly realizing that he didn't really have a good reason to be there. "Well, I just don't think you should be selling these to people! They're dangerous!"

"EVERYTHING is dangerous!" said Chokai. "A feather could be dangerous if someone was deathly ticklish. Cereal could be dangerous if someone is allergic to that particular brand. A squirrel could be dangerous if it had rabies. A pair of shoes could be dangerous if—"

"I get it!" Kankuro interrupted.

"Kankuro, PLEASE tell me you had a reason to come here other than to just stare down this old man." Temari said, slapping her forehead.

"Er…" Kankuro stuttered.

"You could have sent him a letter." Gaara said.

"Miss!" said Chokai, turning all his attention to Temari. "I take it you are the eldest of the three, and certainly the most responsible."

"Yeah, you could say that." Temari said, crossing her arms and shooting a glare at Kankuro.

"A tough life it is." Chokai said woefully. "I know exactly how you feel. I myself had two older sisters and four younger brothers and a younger sister."

Temari stared at him. "How is that AT ALL like my situation?"

"That's not the point!" said Chokai. "The point is that I FEEL for you! And there's also help!"

"Don't listen to him, Temari." Said Kankuro. "He's just trying to sell you stuff."

"I know that, Kankuro." Said Temari. "I'm not stupid."

"I have no need to sell you anything!" said Chokai, picking the Butterfly Crystal off the table that Kankuro had put down and putting it in Temari's hands. "You already have one of your own. Just say the magic words and all your problems will be erased!"

"Are you suggesting that I wish away my two younger brothers?" Temari said skeptically.

Gaara's eye twitched in a very enraged fashion and barely suppressed the urge to end the old man's life right then and there. Kankuro gasped in a very animated way, and he almost slapped his cheeks in surprise but held it back at the last second because he didn't want to be beaten up by people who were more manly and macho than he was.

"Of COURSE not!" said Chokai, not evoking the reaction he had hoped for. "You could simply wish someone else to be in your place, and for you to have a more wonderful life!"

"Hm…" said Temari.

"Temari!" said Kankuro dramatically. "How can you actually be considering that!"

"Oh Kankuro." Said Temari. "YOU made the wish that I had Gaara's curse."

"I didn't purposely make that wish." Said Kankuro. "I only wished that Gaara didn't have his curse. And hey! I thought you said you didn't believe me! What's with this all of a sudden?"

"Well…" Temari said slowly. "Maybe I'm inclined to believe you…"

"Since when!" Kankuro demanded.

"Now that I know what I want to wish for." Temari smiled.

"Oh happy day!" said Chokai excitedly. "I can't wait to have another satisfied customer!"

"I wasn't satisfied!" said Kankuro.

"THAT WAS A FIRST!" Chokai lied, scoffing at Kankuro. Kankuro got temporarily depressed that, out of everyone who bought the crystal, he was the first one to fail at his wish.

"Very well." Said Temari. "I wish…" She sighed, almost as if momentarily second guessing herself. But then she reevaluated. "I wish I had been born into a DIFFERENT family!"

Everything suddenly went black. After a moment, Temari realized that she was in a lying down position.

She sat up, finding she had been lying down in bed.

She looked around in the darkness.

What a weird dream!

Kankuro had dragged them to Konoha village to talk to some strange guy who claimed he could make wishes come true. She flung her covers off herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed. As she stepped forward, she stumbled over an end table, which was strange, because there definitely had never been an end table there before.

She collected herself and got to the light and flicked it on. She reached for the doorknob and then paused, turning around to look at the room again only to find that it was completely different. There was absolutely nothing in the right place, not even the shape of the room. Even her PAJAMAS were different!

"What…?" Temari said nervously, looking around frantically. That's when she caught sight of the Butterfly Crystal sitting on the dresser. She picked it up and sat back down on the bed.

Maybe it WASN'T a dream…

She stood up again and went to the door, opening it a little bit, and putting the Crystal back on the table. She poked her head outside the room and looked around. She knew it was morning, but the house was still dark, and all its residents asleep.

"Hello?" she said quietly.

When she got no immediate response, she knew that a quick search and establishment of position was in order.

Temari tiptoed down the hallway, and could hear movement downstairs, like someone was cooking. Instead of making her way down the stairs, she pushed a door open and found herself in a bathroom, looking at a reflection in the mirror that didn't belong to her.

Her hair was down a dark brown color, and much shorter. Her face was formed completely differently. She slowly touched the side of her face and flinched when she found it was hers.

Her hand dropped back down to her side. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Then, abruptly, she let out a bloodcurdling scream; dramatically put the back of her hand to her forehead and fainting.

The next thing she saw was the ceiling of the room that was not hers as she lay in the bed that was not hers.

Her very first reaction was, once again, a screech of horror.

Not much of her scream escaped her before there was a hand over her mouth. She took a deep breath and rationally nodded her head, and the hand leaned away from her.

She sat up and was just about to let out another terrified scream when she saw who was sitting next to her bed on the end table she had tripped over before. Had she been chewing gum, she would have swallowed it. Had she been carrying anything, she would have dropped it. Had she any sense to her, she would have said, "What are you doing here?"

Instead, she only gaped.

"Sh—Shi—Shikamaru?" she finally managed to spit out.

Shikamaru was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking like he was trying to go to sleep in such an insane position. He WAS still wearing his pajamas after all. He opened one eye and looked at Temari who appeared as discombobulated as Grumpy Bear with his diaper on his head and his bottle in backwards.

"Yes Te—Te—Temari?" he said with one raised eyebrow.

"Don't make fun of me!" she said angrily. "What are you doing here!"

"Well," Shikamaru said, standing up. "Dad's on a mission and Mom didn't want to burn the toast."

He went to the door as if everything was perfectly normal and all right.

"Stop!" Temari yelled, pushing the covers off herself and getting up. She ran over to him, and gave a sigh of relief that at least she was taller than he was. "What's going on?"

"You tell me." Shikamaru said. "I woke up to the serenade of your shriek of terror, and then to Mom yelling at me from downstairs to find out what was going on."

Temari looked at the Crystal out of the corner of her eye.

Shikamaru noticed Temari's eyes wandering, so gave an annoyed sigh.

"Whatever…" he said. "I'm going back to bed. It's too early to be awake."

Temari looked at Shikamaru long and hard, and was tempted to look at the clock. And she did, to find that it was almost eleven o'clock. By the time she turned back to Shikamaru, he was already on his way back to his own room.

She put her hands on her hips and was unable to say anything for a minute.

So she walked by Shikamaru's room, the bathroom, and another room and was at the top of the stairs. Slowly, she descended and could smell breakfast being made.

She rounded the corner and saw a woman with an apron on working at the stove.

"Oh, good morning, Temari." Said the woman, looking over her shoulder. "Will you give me a hand?"

"With what?" Temari asked.

"Making breakfast." The woman replied. "Your father should be returning from his mission any minute now and I wanted to have everything ready for him!"

"My father?" Temari repeated in disbelief.

"Yes." The woman said, wiping her hands on her apron. "Are you feeling all right? You took quite a fall earlier. Were you sleepwalking?"

"Wait…my father?" Temari said, trying to backtrack a bit.

That's when the sound of the front door opening traveled into the kitchen.

"He's home!" said the woman excitedly as she ran into the other room, yelling, "Don't let the toast burn!" back to Temari.

Temari watched through the doorway as the woman leapt into the arms of a man who had just walked in the house. They hugged and kissed as if they hadn't seen each other for months.

"SHIKAMARU!" the woman suddenly screamed up the stairs. "GET DOWN HERE! YOUR FATHER'S HOME!"

And then all of her attention was once again back on the man.

"Look who got up early just to welcome you home!" the woman said as she led the man back into the kitchen.

"Morning, Temari." Said the man as he opened his arms to hug Temari who could only watch him in horror. He didn't seem to mind as he grabbed her and gave her a big hug. Temari held her breath because he smelled bad.

"The toast!" the woman exclaimed suddenly as she popped the toaster and woed over the fact that the toast was burnt on one side, which caused the strange smelly man to let go of Temari.

There was the patter of feet coming down the stairs, not particularly fast, but a certain speed to them as well. Shikamaru rounded the corner and went right to his dad.

"Welcome back," he said.

The man, who was apparently Shikamaru's father, ruffled Shikamaru's hair, which was already rather disheveled after just waking up.

"Finally!" said the woman as she put in more bread to make her toast. "We can eat as a family again after such a long time! We missed you SO much, dear."

"I should hope so." Said Shikamaru's father as he started looking around in the cabinets for something.

Shikamaru's mother's face fell. "What are you looking for, darling? Honeybunch? Sweetpie?"

Temari raised an eyebrow. Was she naming off foods or pet names?

"Oh, nothing really…" Shikamaru's father replied as he continued searching.

"There's no alcohol in the house." Said Shikamaru's mother.

"I wasn't looking for THAT…" But it was quite obvious that he had been.

"I can't believe you!" said Shikamaru's mother, sounding whiny. "You've been away for months and the first thing you think of when you get home is what you're going to drink!"

"That's not true!" protested Shikamaru's father.

"Yes it is and you know it!" yelled Shikamaru's mother as she ran out of the room in tears and sprinted up the stairs.

Temari gasped and waited for Shikamaru and his dad to go upstairs to comfort her.

"Typical." Said the father. "I come home and she's IMMEDIATELY on my case."

"Imagine how it's been for ME." Shikamaru said.

The two of them sat down at the table in unison.

"Hey!" said Temari. "Aren't you going to go and apologize? She was so excited about you coming home!"

"She'll cool off." Said Shikamaru's father. "Come sit down and talk to me. I hear someone is in the finals for the chuunin exam."

"That would be Temari." Said Shikamaru.

"Well…I…" Temari started, not really understanding much of anything anymore. She went over and sat down next to Shikamaru's father.

"Well, I guess my favorite daughter is finally stepping up to the plate." Said Shikamaru's dad as he leaned back in his chair. "You'll soon wear the same shoes of your old man."

Temari blinked. "You mean…you?" she said.

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Of course I meant me." He said. "Unless you have another father somewhere that you're not telling me about."

"As a matter of fact—" Temari began.

"Temari had an accident this morning." Shikamaru interrupted. "She was sleepwalking and she fell over and hit her head on the side of the bathtub."

"That's not—!" Temari started but then she stopped when she realized that that had actually happened.

"Oh." Said the dad. "Up to early?"

"Yeah…" Shikamaru answered for her.

"Stop speaking for me!" Temari said.

Shikamaru threw a glare her way.

"Anyway…" continued the dad. "Shikamaru, maybe you could train with Temari to help get her ready for the exam. I have faith that my little girl will do just fine, but you can never be too careful."

Temari slammed her head on the table. "Don't call me that!" she said.

Shikamaru and his father both stared at her with wide eyes.

"Well, I guess you're at that age now where you'll be embarrassed even to be seen with your father…" sighed the man who claimed to have relations with her.

"Stop!" Temari said angrily. "You're not my father!"

The two men in the room looked at each other, and then back at Temari.

Finally, the father stood up. "I'll go upstairs and see if I can talk to your mother yet." He said to the two younger ones. "You two get dressed and start training… and that's not a request."

Shikamaru frowned. "Why am I being punished?" he said under his breath, but the father just ignored him. When he left the room, Shikamaru looked at Temari. "What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" Temari said with quite an edge to her voice.

"Lashing out at Dad like that." Shikamaru said as if she was stupid, which she kind of was being by his standards.

"That man is NOT my dad." Temari said.

"And what exactly am I to you?" Shikamaru asked. "Not your brother?"

Temari's mouth fell to the floor that Shikamaru would even SUGGEST something like that. "Of course not!" she said.

"Yeah, yeah…" Shikamaru said, deciding not to let Temari's strange behavior bother him. "I'm going to go get dressed. You should too."

He got up, stretched his arms and yawned. Then he left the room, making his way to the stairs. Temari stood there fuming for a minute that Shikamaru would rudely turn his back to her and leave the room, so she went to the bottom of the stairs.

"SHIKAMARU!" she yelled.

He turned around and looked at her.

"You're NOT my brother." She said.

"Uh huh." Said Shikamaru.

"You're NOT!" Temari said persistently.

"Okay, Temari." He said. "I'm not. Are you happy now?"

"No, but slightly more content than I was before!" Temari said truthfully, crossing her arms and pouting childishly.

Shikamaru shook his head, rolled his eyes and did various other things to show how irritated it was with Temari. Then he continued to tromp up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him.

"I wished for a NORMAL family!" Temari said angrily. "This family is FAR from normal!"

Wait…had she said normal? Or had she said different?

Disregarding what she said all together, that sort of specifics shouldn't have affected her. WHY had she been born into THIS family! Why not just a next door neighbor in the Sand Village? Why did it have to be Shikamaru's stupid family? He was a whiner and annoying! Plus, he was a weak man and Temari just couldn't STAND weak men.

She ran up the stairs, past the master bedroom, past the bathroom, past Shikamaru's room and into the room that she had been told was hers. She opened the door and grabbed the crystal and, as she turned around, tripped over the same end table.

"Damn end table!" Temari yelled, picking it right up off the floor and throwing it across the room. One of the legs got stuck in the wall, creating a nice, clean hole.

And also quite a loud banging sound.

Shikamaru's parents were quick to open the door without knocking.

"What's going on in here?" Shikamaru's father demanded, seeing the end table halfway in the wall. "What is that? Temari, what did you do?"

"Um…nothing!" Temari said, standing up quickly and hiding the crystal behind her back. "I was just…um… moving furniture around!"

"Why so VIOLENTLY?" said Shikamaru's mother, looking depressed with the situation.

"I wanted…uh… a window there…" Temari answered hesitantly.

"Temari, are you sure you're feeling all right?" the mother asked. "Maybe you hit your head harder than you thought!"

"I didn't!" said Temari. "I'm fine! Now I have to get changed!"

She promptly pushed the two of them out of her room and closed the door behind them, standing up against it so they couldn't potentially open it again. Though we all know they would have been able to if they tried, but it's not like they're trying.

Temari gave a heavy sigh and looked at the crystal. This family certainly wasn't NORMAL. And even if it was, it's not like she'd EVER be able to get accustomed to it. Besides, even though it seemed completely crazy, she kind of missed Gaara and Kankuro…

She looked around in the closet for something to wear, only to be vastly disappointed with her choices. Bland colors sat on the shelves, mostly in dark green, brown or black. She dressed herself and looked in the mirror with a frown. With her hair as short as it was, all she could do was put it up in a ponytail.

She got awfully upset when she looked in the mirror after finishing with her hair and finding that she looked like Shikamaru. A GIRL Shikamaru.

After whining and complaining to herself for an unnecessarily long time, Temari began searching for her fan, just in case someone tried to make her do something she didn't want to do, like train with Shikamaru. When she failed at finding her weapon of mass destruction, she became distraught at the mere thought that maybe, as Nara Temari, she didn't train in the way of the fan.

She grabbed the Butterfly Crystal and went down the stairs, feeling self-conscious about her ridiculous outfit and lack of fan.

"It's about time." Said Shikamaru who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Girls take FOREVER to get changed."

"Excuse me." Said Temari sarcastically.

"Well?" said Shikamaru, sounding a bit impatient. "Let's get this over with."

"I don't feel much like training right now." Temari said, trying to walk by him.

"Neither do I but Dad says we have to." Shikamaru reminded her, getting in her way.

"He's not my dad so I don't have to do what he says." Temari said defiantly as she pushed Shikamaru out of the way.

Shikamaru, unprepared for the minor attack, stumbled backwards a bit and regained his balance. "Fine." Said Shikamaru. "It's not like I care if you pass the chuunin exam. You can just go on coasting on D and C rank missions forever."

"I don't appreciate your tone!" said Temari.

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where I'll be." Said Shikamaru as he opened the front door and walked quickly away.

Temari shook her head, annoyed that the exchange they had just had certainly made them seem like actually siblings.

After Shikamaru's little speech, Temari knew that she had to put everything right again. She didn't want to break the crystal inside Shikamaru's house because that would just be rude, so she opened up the door and stepped out onto the front porch.

"Stupid Kankuro!" she said angrily. "Why didn't you warn me better about what would happen!"

Of course, she wasn't about to admit that Kankuro had given her plenty fair warning.

She looked at the crystal. It didn't SEEM all that special. It had a pretty butterfly inside of it, but other than that it looked cheaply made. Who would have known that the magic would be this effective? Then again, what if this was all a dream too and Kankuro's stupid declarations that he obviously made up were just forcing her mind to wander as she slept?

Besides, she had made the wish partially because she didn't want to have any little brothers. Granted, Shikamaru's at least a little saner than Kankuro and a LOT saner than Gaara… but she had grown up with those two for almost her whole life, and only now she was feeling bad about dropping them like a bad habit when given the first opportunity.

It was time to set things right!

She threw the crystal down the front walk and it made impact, exploding into tiny pieces that shined in the light.

Temari suddenly jerked awake. She found herself moving on the Ninja Express once again. Kankuro was sitting next to her with a pout on his face and Gaara was sitting across from her with his fixed glare on his face.

"Hey…" she said, looking out the window. "It was all a dream! Completely! We haven't even gotten to Konoha yet!"

Kankuro and Gaara looked at her.

"This is all your fault, Kankuro!" she whined, slumping in her seat.

"What are you talking about, Temari?" said Kankuro. "We spent all night at Konoha."

"What?" said Temari, looking at him with a surprised expression.

"We went to the Spiritual Stand, got no answers and then left." Kankuro said. "And now we're on the way home."

"But I…" Temari started. "But I was…"

Kankuro stopped. "Did you…make a wish?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"I…" Temari started, but then she forced a laugh. "Yeah right, Kankuro!" she said. "I'm not childish like you!"

"Hey!" said Kankuro.

"I was just dreaming the whole time!" Temari said, looking back out the window again. "Don't bother me anymore, will you?"

"Fine!" said Kankuro, crossing his arms and feeling awfully stupid.

Gaara shook his head and looked away from his older siblings. "When standing up next to those two…" Gaara thought. "I could be considered the normal one."

In silence, the siblings of the sand traveled back to their home village.