Hihi, minna! I'm back with chapter 4 of Final Fairytale. Please enjoy! I loved the reviews I got, thank you to Mr. Cereal and AdiosPistola. This chapter is dedicated to you two.
My Final Fairytale
Chapter 4: Memories
Nine years passed, and I grew into a young woman. I was trained as a kunoichi; the top kunoichi in Suna, now. Along with Kankuro and Gaara, who had grown more distant over the years, I strived to meet my father's standards. The consequences were ones none of us wanted to face.
Together but alone, we learned to work in perfect synchronization with each other. We knew the movements of each other like the back of our own hands. Then we were given a new challenge, which we were especially trained for. Under the fading sky of that desert land, we set out on a journey that would change our lives forever; and the lives of countless others.
(&)
The Chuunin Exams weren't difficult at all for the three of us, the sand siblings. Our team was invincible, but in the end being invincible was never enough. As we put our plan into action I could see that it wasn't going to work. I smiled at the thought.
Just to prove that man wrong, just once, and to thwart his plans…the thought thrilled me to the bone. I watched Gaara, restless in the night, and I could see his longing. He was still a child, like the rest of us, and he was still my baby brother. I approached him silently, but with inhuman-like senses Gaara realized my presence before I even reached him.
"Temari, what do you want?" he asked coldly. I shivered even in the warm night of Konoha. I walked towards Gaara and sat down next to him, on the windowsill.
"What do you think about?" I asked apprehensively. "When everyone else is sleeping?"
Gaara stared at me, confused by my question. "Why would you want to know?" I shrugged my shoulder, looking out towards the stars.
"Just wondering," I told him quietly. "I'm your older sister, you know. I have a right to worry about such things."
"Then…" Gaara began, also staring out at the stars. "What do you dream about?" It was my turn to be surprised.
"What do you mean?" I asked him, puzzled.
Gaara looked at me knowingly. "You always…turn a lot, when you sleep. And sometimes you have a painful look on your face. What are you dreaming about, then?"
"Ahaha," I laughed weakly. "I didn't think you'd notice something like that. I…don't know."
"Then I don't know what I think about," Gaara muttered cleverly. I sighed. A question for a question; it was plenty fair.
"I dream about a tree," I whispered. "Something is always running after me, but then – I come to a clearing in the forest I'm running through, and there's a tree. It always bursts into flames the second I touch it. Now it's your turn; what do you think about?"
Gaara looked at me with those child-like eyes, filled with pain. I made a choking sound and forced myself to look back at him, strongly. "Everything. What I'm going to do tomorrow, who I might kill…I also think about you and Kankuro." My eyes widened in surprise. "And how…you really aren't my sister. Because…I hate you." My heart broke into a thousand pieces right then, and I looked away from him.
"Well, I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning, Gaara," I said in a monotone voice. Shutting the door to my hotel room behind me, I sighed and fell onto my bed tiredly.
(&)
Mother, where are you now? Someday we'll meet again, I know, but if you were here right now, things wouldn't be going this way. All that I want – all that I want is to understand him. My memories continue to hold be back, keeping me from loving again. I'm trying, I really am, but with this I might give up. That's what I'm afraid of.