Story 2: The Night Before

Summary: The night before the Chuunin exam main matches, Temari looks ahead to the coming battle, and wonders if she should obey her orders.

Genre: Drama/General

AN: I've always liked Temari, and she always seemed to be slightly at odds with the idea of attacking Konoha, so I decided to explore her thoughts on the matter. I hope she isn't OOC. At the end is a short preview summary of 'You've got to hide your love away,' the next in the series. Enjoy… and please review… even to say you think it's rubbish. If anyone has any ideas for 'Ticket to Ride' could you send some inspiration my way... so far I'm drawing a blank.

The Night Before

Temari sat on the windowsill staring blankly out of the window. Behind her, she could hear Kankurou still fiddling with Karasu. He had been oiling joints and sharpening weapons for hours. Her fan, leaning against the wall beside her, had been polished to a brilliant shine. They were filling time.

It was already dark outside. Gaara was out there somewhere, doing whatever he did in the hours when normal people slept. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Oi, Temari… do you know where I put the bandages?" Kankurou said. She turned her head towards him and gestured at the door to the room where they slept.

"In one of the cupboards," she said, her gaze immediately returning to the streets below the balcony. They were starting to clear, people returning to their beds to get a good night's sleep before the next day's excitement. Little do they know, she thought. Behind her, Kankurou gave a loud yawn, stretching out his arms.

"Well," he said, placing the bandages on the table beside his puppet. "I'm off to bed." Temari glanced sideways under half-closed eyelids and nodded.

"Sleep well," she said.

"You shouldn't stay out here too long," Kankurou said, looking at her for a long moment. He was frowning at her. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't look at him.

"Aa," she replied. "I'll go to bed in a little while."

"Don't forget to close the window when you do," he said, turning and sliding the door to their bedroom open.

"I won't," she muttered. She didn't think he had heard her, though. The door slid shut behind him, and she could hear the muffled noises of him getting out the sleeping mats and blankets from the cupboards that lined the room.

How can he sleep at a time like this? She asked herself, as she gazed out of the open window at the streets of the village below.

She wasn't concerned about her first match, of course. All she had to do was watch his shadow and let her fan take care of the rest. While her opponent certainly wasn't stupid, she didn't see anything to worry about in his one useful technique.

Part of her was concerned for Kankurou. Aburame Shino had shown off some disturbing techniques in his preliminary match, along with considerable skill in forward planning and strategy. While she was sure that her- very capable- sibling would be able to defeat him, she wasn't sure that he could do it without getting hurt, or without using up a lot of chakra.

An even larger part of her was worried about Gaara. She had heard great things about the Uchiha, and maybe he would provide a challenge for her psychotic younger brother. Everyone in Konoha seemed to have high hopes for the dark-haired boy; even those who knew the state of Gaara's last opponent.

Temari had been to see the Konoha Genin, Rock Lee, in hospital. He was the only person she had ever seen that had broken through Gaara's sand with nothing more than speed and strength. She had a certain amount of admiration for the way that he had fought without giving up, against a far stronger opponent. For the first time ever, Gaara had actually looked worried in battle.

She hadn't even made it through the door. Seeing him, sitting in his hospital bed looking so dejected, weak, defeated, she hadn't felt it right for her to go in to see him.

Tomorrow Gaara would be facing an opponent that was Konoha's number-one rookie Genin. Someone that was almost certainly better, and stronger, than the boy that had given Gaara his first real challenge. Granted, what they had seen of Uchiha Sasuke in the preliminary matches had not been particularly special… although his use of taijutsu had been clever. But Konoha's number-one had to have something more than that up his sleeve. Temari wasn't so much worried about the outcome of the battle; rather she was concerned about what would happen to Gaara's state of mind during it.

Every time the Uchiha's name had been mentioned, Gaara's ears had pricked up. He was excited about this battle. He wanted blood. That worried Temari. Her already unstable brother was being fed an opponent that might be able to do him damage. She dreaded the outcome.

And yet, that was still not her greatest worry. The matches were, after all, just a pre-show for them. The main event would be the Sand's betrayal of Konoha.

Tomorrow they would be at war with this village.

Temari's eyes slid closed again, and she sighed, turning away from the window. Karasu stared at her accusingly from where Kankurou had left him. She ignored the creepy-looking three eyed puppet and walked towards the door of the bedroom. Inside, she could hear Kankurou snoring gently. He was always a heavy sleeper, even on missions.

She slid the window closed and left the room, walking slowly down the stairs and out into the night.

The streets were nearly empty now. It was late. She knew she should be trying to sleep, but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to. A walk might tire her out a bit, and maybe the fresh air would clear her head.

Why do we have to do this? Temari thought to herself. She didn't want a war. She didn't want to fight Konoha. It wasn't that she had a special attachment to them. But she knew what the alliance had cost both sides. The third Hokage and the third Kazekage had sweat blood to find an arrangement that both of them could agree to.

Now Kazekage-sama, her father, was breaking it, and for what? For some half-baked promises offered by the leader of the Sound village. For power he supposed he could gain by taking over Konoha's business. Did he care about the people who would be involved? The ninja, on both sides, who would fight, and die. And did he care that the leader of the Sound village was an S-class criminal with a massive grudge against Konoha, and little or no loyalty towards the Sand village? A ninja whose strength rivalled the Kazekage's, and who would betray them as soon as look at them.

Are you blind, father?

Of course it wasn't Temari's place to question the Kazekage's wisdom. And yet she wanted to. She wanted to stand up and say 'This is wrong.'

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Temari whirled around to face the man that had accosted her. It was a Konoha Jounin, though one that she didn't recognise, leaning against the wall at the side of the road. In her distraction she hadn't even noticed him. He wore his forehead protector on backwards over his head and he had an acupuncture needle in his mouth, used like a toothpick, but the uniform was the same as the others all wore.

"Who are you?" she demanded, trying to keep her tone even and not show the shock that his sudden appearance had caused.

"Shiranui Genma. The examiner for the main matches tomorrow." Her eyes widened slightly.

"Oh," she whispered, then she looked up, saying, "I… I couldn't sleep." She forced a smile, trying to seem light. "I'm too excited." Genma didn't seem convinced that the look on her face was one of excitement, but he nodded at her.

"You should go home. It's not wise for you to be out this late," he said. She nodded.

"I'll go now," she replied.

As she walked back the way she had come, she could feel his eyes on her back, watching her. She returned to the rooms that had been allocated to her and her brothers for their stay in Konoha, and when she was inside, she looked out of the window. There was no sign of the Konoha Jounin. Temari let out a deep sigh.

She went into the bedroom, opening and closing the door as quietly as she could so as not to disturb Kankurou. He had laid out her sleeping mat for her, and she gratefully lay down on it, wrapping the blanket around herself and closing her eyes.

I could ignore the orders. I could warn Konoha. I could go and see the Hokage now, and tell him what I know… Temari halted that train of thought, knowing that whatever she wanted was irrelevant. Her father had commanded her to fight. She had orders. She wouldn't betray her village, her family, everything she knew. While she did not want to fight, she would have to trust her father's wisdom and hope against hope that everything would turn out all right.

She could console herself that her participation, or lack thereof, would have little impact on the battle anyway. Even while she thought this she knew it didn't matter, even if it was true. But perhaps it was enough to calm her troubled mind, because she soon drifted into the silent world of sleep.

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Story 3: 'You've got to hide your love away': Neji used to hate her, but now he can't stop thinking about her. Is the gap between main house and branch house too large to ever be bridged? (Hyuugacest)