Temari found herself pulled into a meeting with Gaara and the Suna council. Kankuro was on a mission out of the village, so he was lucky enough to miss this one.
"I called this council meeting today because Gaara's 19 now. We need to prepare for a future where we may not have a Kazekage and in that case, we will need an heir." Ikanago began, jumping straight into the meat of it. Only 19 and they're already thinking of his death.
"We've decided to start find you a husband, Temari." Temari was gobsmacked. How is it that they were just talking about Gaara needing an heir, but the responsibility was being dropped on her?
Despite the anger bubbling inside her, she could still focus her mind on strategy at a time like this. "Gaara and I had been discussing an exchange program with Konoha that'll strengthen our alliance. It may require me to spend a lot of time in the leaf village." Gaara tilted his head a bit, meeting her eyes in question.
"That's irrelevant to the progress of our village. We've already solidified our alliance before and after the war." Goza stated.
"Seeing as Konoha is the wealthiest of our allies, it will do us well to further develop relationships with them. Much of our natural resources come from trade with them and as we're we're lagging far behind in our efforts to rebuild areas that were destroyed during the war, we would benefit from encouraging faster, cheaper trade with them. I believe focusing connections through our youth could encourage Konoha leaders to feel closer to the progress of Suna, right Baki?" Temari directed her attention towards Baki.
Baki had been her and her sibling's sensei for years and he'd have overheard conversations here and there from the three of them about their disinterest in rushing into certainly procreative duties that the village would eventually push onto them. He also had a lot of weight with the council, so maybe he could sway the perspective of the other 8 council members in her favor. "Yes, Ebizo and I have been talking about pursuing a stronger connection with Konoha for that very reason. Sending instructors and genin to their village could be a great way to ease into that."
Ebizo nodded his agreement silently.
"I am willing to take that into consideration, but losing talent to Konoha does not sound like a rational choice," Goza replied.
"Actually, Goza-sama, we would be looking to have instructors from Konoha train students here as well as bring some of their genin to be instructed," Temari responded quickly, looking at Gaara and nodding. He also nodded, staying silent as he'd only heard her briefly speak of this plan. He did not expect her to go forward with it so soon and imagined it would be a longer planning period before bringing it up with the elders.
Despite the pushback, Temari was relieved that she steered the conversation in a different direction.
"But what about our village's secret jutsus and confidential information?" Goza brought up another point.
Temari responded, "this would just be a proof of concept. Genin level ninja don't have access to this sort of information and if we only have one or two instructors, we'd be able to keep an eye on them easily. Not to mention, things are different now since the war has ended."
"Our original purpose for this meeting has been completely derailed." Ikanago interrupted, only to be cut off by Baki who added, "I think this would be an interesting opportunity to ally further with Konoha and I don't see as much risk as reward in giving it a chance. The final decision, of course, would have to come from Konoha."
"Great! I can send a message to them as soon as possible to draw up plans. I'm sure Kakashi will be affable to the idea." Gaara began, "Regarding Temari's betrothal, we should let her focus her energy on establishing a secure supply route between our nation and Konoha for now. We shall then take this opportunity to compile a list of potential bridegrooms for her to choose from." Everyone nodded in agreement and Gaara adjourned the meeting.
"So you're temporarily moving to Konoha?" Gaara was walking beside Temari, both of them aiming for the Kazekage's chambers.
While it was a victory that she wouldn't be forced into a bunch of boring dates with whoever the village elders could find for her, she was angry that she had to resort to being pushed out of her home to do it. Ever since the end of the war, Temari could control her already volatile emotions even less. She couldn't tell what sort of emotional spiral was coming on-whether she'd be up into the early hours of the morning fervently planning for her presentation to convince Konoha to implement her plan or if she'd be spending the next few days in bed, mulling over her forced decision.
No matter how tumultuous her emotions were, dragging her back and forth like a buoy being knocked against the ocean waves, she could handle it. She'd been this way since early childhood, riding the waves freely, letting it either propel her into extreme productivity or drag her into a period of lethargy. But her moods were never long-lasting, so they were never a big deal.
"I guess I have to decide whether I want to or not. It's the lesser of two evils here." She rolled her eyes.
"You don't have to… What if I go through the process of betrothal." She gave Gaara a look that screamed yeah right. He was only just learning how to have familial and platonic relationships, she didn't want to overwhelm him with romance as well. On the other hand, she knew if she didn't take up his offer, she'd resent him for her decision. It was a lose/lose scenario. Sometimes, sacrificing herself for Kankuro and Gaara felt like the big sisterly thing to do, but that did not stop her from feeling like if she did not have the duty of big sister, practically mother, thrust upon her at such a young age, she would be able to live her own life.
She always felt guilty for that line of thinking, so she shook it off. "You're such a sweety, Gaara. Don't let anyone tell her otherwise." She gave him a soft punch on the arm and he traded it for a small affectionate smile.
It was 3 in the morning when Kankuro, having just returned from his mission, walked into the Kazekage's chambers. Gaara's head was rolled back against one shoulder as he slept peacefully, but Temari was furiously writing and looking over her proposal for the village exchange program. She even considered jobs other than ninja that could benefit from something like this.
"Why are you up so late? Thought I'd stop by to make sure Gaara got in bed since he's always falling asleep in here." For such a slacker, Kankuro could be a considerate brother every once in a while. They all had a bad habit of staying up into the wee hours of the night for various reasons. Unlike his hard-at-work siblings, Kankuro would be up chasing some sexual experience.
"Avoiding an arranged marriage," Temari murmured, brushing his question off. He gave a confused look to the top of her head, not able to draw the connection between the two. She knew this. "Maybe you should take on the task of producing an heir to the Kazekage."
"Noooo thank you. Sex is for pleasure, not making babies." Kankuro laughed.
Temari rolled her eyes at her silly younger brother, but then tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders in agreement. "You're not wrong."
"Ew, I don't wanna know about your sexual conquests."
"Oh, but you'll tell me about yours?"
"Yes, cause you're a princess."
"Don't call me that, ass"
"Don't call me that, bitch." Temari squinted her eyes at him. How was it that she had two vastly different brothers for siblings? "Bitch" wasn't even in Gaara's vocabulary. And he definitely never talked about sex. In fact, he hadn't had a crush on anyone. For a while, she considered him going on and on about Naruto being something akin to a crush, but then she realized he didn't have the notion of a crush in his mind. Naruto was the friend he'd always longed for in school. His development was so arrested that he was practically still looking for playmates and developing his social skills.
Kankuro, on the other hand, always knew how to use his position as the Kazekage's son and as a shinobi to gain friendships and eventually sexual relationships.
"So, you're avoiding arranged marriage so you can fuck that shadow boy of yours?" Kankuro waggled his eyebrows.
"I thought you didn't want to hear about my sexual exploits."
"I don't. I just wanna get a rise out of you." He said, smirking mischievously.
"You already know it ended more than half a year ago."
"And yet, you're always whispering his name in your sleep. Pineapple head, oh, pineapple head." Temari picked up a paperweight and threw it in the direction of his big ass head, which he gracefully dodged. It crashed into the wall behind him, making a loud bang.
Gaara shot up, awakened by the sound.
"Morning, sweetheart." Kankuro greeted Gaara with more of his raucous laughter. That's something he and Temari had in common. When they laughed or smile, everyone would hear and see it.
"Goodmorning, Kankuro." Gaara responded with a yawn. Temari loved seeing this. Considering where they came from, it warmed her heart to see them all interact so easily and pseudo-lovingly.
"So what's this about an arranged marriage?" Kankuro asked Gaara.
"Ikanago wanted Temari to produce an heir for the next in line. But Temari convinced them to let her move to Konoha to start a program which will strengthen our relationship with Konoha." Gaara was stretching and wide awake as if the 3 hours of sleep he got was refreshing. Considering he'd experienced major insomnia that never allowed him to get into the REM sleep cycle, even naps were amazingly refreshing for him after Shukaku left his body.
"Oh, so that program is you scurrying your way into shadow boy's bed then? Great way to form alliances." He winked at his sister.
"What do you mean? How can being in someone's bed better two villages alliances" Gaara asked, innocent as ever. Personally, sleeping of any kind was so delightful that he figured maybe that'd actually be a way to achieve anything.
"Nevermind, Gaara," Temari gave Kankuro a look that said let the boy learn about these things on his own time.
"I'd say I'm going to miss you, sis, but we barely see each other between all of our duties anyway." Kankuro walked towards the door, yawning, but then stopped at the exit. "Gaara, Temari, get some sleep."
Temari gave Kankuro a "don't tell me what to do" glare as Gaara followed his brother out.
Being in Konoha wasn't the worst plan. Of all the hidden villages, she felt most at home there.
A/N Thank you so much for reading! Where do you see this story heading?
Thank you to tsukuy0mi47 for beta reading!