.
.
And nobody told her, nobody told her
That the war was already over
So she raised her sword and kept fighting
Fighting for the land that left her to die
.
.
Hourglass
Chapter 2: Apocryphal
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Tenten opened her eyes groggily and was assaulted by blinding brightness. It took her a few seconds to remember that she was in Suna, and her mind automatically replayed the events of the night before. She had run like the devil was after her, caused an alarm at the border, met up with Temari, and reported to Gaara. Yawning, Tenten stretched out her hands and legs, trying to shake out the soreness she felt all over her body. She fought the urge to slap herself for her stupidity.
Tenten sat up and rubbed her eyes. She noted disapprovingly that she was still in her shinobi uniform and that she was still a mess. A mess that had probably been taken to new heights in her sleep. I need to get it together, she thought, standing up and surveying her surroundings. She was in a big room. It was as big as her entire apartment― kitchen, living room and all. The bed itself was bigger than her entire bathroom and Tenten thought that said enough about the place. There was a tall dresser with drawers in the right corner of the room, facing a full-length mirror standing against the opposite wall. The mirror was standing next to the doorway that led out into the hallway. There was a fireplace in the left corner, surrounded by two big, comfortable-looking armchairs. The bed was in the center, opposite a big set of windows that faced the direction of the rising sun. There was another door beside the bed to the left which Tenten assumed to be the bathroom.
She had never been inside a room so luxurious. The only thing Tenten found somewhat odd was the cold, rough, hard floor. It seemed to be made up of solidified sand. Probably a sand village thing, she thought as she made her way into the bathroom.
.
Tenten was digging through her backpack in frustration, covered only in a towel and looking for something to wear. Why the hell did I pack all this stuff? she thought angrily, pulling out a stuffed panda bear that Neji had given her two years ago and a broken music box. She made a mental note to thank Lee for taking out as much of the useless stuff as he could before she went all mental-patient on him. Tenten heaved up her bag and turned it over, spilling its contents onto her bed. She repacked the necessities, mainly her sleeping bag, extra scrolls, bandages, and first-aid kit before zipping up the bag and shoving it unceremoniously under her bed. She began to sort out what was left into four piles: junk, not junk, useless clothes, and useful clothes.
Panda bear, junk… Music box, junk… gloves, useless… extra hair ties, definitely not junk… underwear, extremely useful…
When she was finished sorting everything out, she opened the dresser and all of the drawers before walking back to the bed and messily dropping each sorted pile into their different compartments. She stuffed all of the useless items― the stuffed animal, music box, make-up, books, etc.― down at the very bottom drawer and the useless clothing― a formal dress, a bikini, winter wear, etc.― in the drawer above it.
I had no idea I was so distracted, Tenten mused, surveying the two piles of what she'd deemed "useful" things left on her bed. In the end she chose to wear her black shorts― thank goodness she brought them― and a white cami under an orange sleeveless hoodie. She had been debating as to whether or not she should wear her extra shinobi outfit, but then decided that the long pants and sleeves may become too much considering the blistering Suna heat. Not to mention, she'd be stuck inside what was sure to be a sweltering hot watch tower all day. Tenten put on her thigh holsters for her two small scrolls and slung the big one over her back. She had a fleeting image of Gaara's sand gourd and noted the odd similarity in which they carried their weapons.
Tenten was busy putting up her nearly-dry hair into its customary odango when the sound of light footsteps caught her attention. Her trained ears had picked up on the silent sound and she knew immediately it was headed for her room. Tenten walked up to the full-length mirror and studied her reflection. She didn't look like a mess anymore; that was a plus. She held back from performing a girlish twist in front of the mirror. Tenten had always wanted to wear her current outfit in Konoha during the summer but resisted since she didn't want to look like Naruto's twin.
By the time Tenten had decided to forego wearing her forehead protector, the footsteps had reached her door and stopped, followed by two rapid knocks. She hastened to open it and was not surprised to see a tall, sandy-blonde girl in familiar shinobi gear standing before her.
"Wow. You clean up nice," Temari teased, a slight grin on her lips. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you kidnapped that animal from last night."
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks," she replied dryly.
The blonde smirked. "Come on, I'll show you around. You'll be staying here for a month, after all."
Tenten closed the door behind her, adjusting the strap of her big scroll. "So which one of these three rooms is yours?" Tenten asked off-handedly. She didn't really care, but thought that it would probably be useful to know for future reference.
Temari stopped walking all of a sudden. "Actually, I was wondering about that," she mused, turning to face the brunette.
"Huh? You don't know which room is your own?" Tenten asked in disbelief.
"No, dummy," said Temari, ignoring the glare she was receiving, "I meant that it's really strange you were given a room in here. I was expecting you to be roomed next to me, not Gaara."
It was Tenten's turn to still. "Wait…" she said slowly, "I could've sworn you just said that―"
"Yeah, Gaara's room is that one in front of yours," Temari cut in, pointing to it. "I'm guessing whoever brought you here was a real idiot."
"Wait," Tenten exclaimed nervously, "I'll just repack my stuff and you can switch me into another room right?"
"Why?"
Both girls turned their heads to the owner of the low voice and Temari dropped her hand immediately. The door to his room was open by a margin and Gaara was staring directly at Tenten from behind it. She bit her lip. Oops…
"W-well," she stammered, not really knowing what to say. The same familiar wave of intimidation from the night before was back. She had blamed it on the fatigue then, but there was no excuse for it now. Still, Tenten refused to back down from his gaze. She stared right back at him and decided with all her might that she was going to answer the question instead of just standing there like an incoherent idiot.
"Um, Temari implied that you might not like it if I stayed here," she responded hastily. It sounded like an excuse.
Temari's eyes widened at the sound of her name and she rounded on the younger girl. "Now wait a minute―!"
"You can stay there," Gaara said, stepping out of his room and closing the door behind him. It was a simple phrase, but Tenten felt like he was issuing an order. All she could do was nod and mutter a short thanks. Both she and Temari watched as he walked past them and out of the hallway, no doubt to return to his office.
When he was gone, Temari rubbed her neck and frowned. "Well, that was unexpected…"
"It was," said Tenten mildly, placing her hands on her hips. "He really has changed, hasn't he?"
Temari gave her a genuine smile. "Yes, for the better… Now come on, you have guard duty to get to."
Tenten's face fell and her demeanor changed almost immediately. "Can't you just kill me instead?" she pleaded, already tortured by the idea of sitting around on her ass doing nothing for hours.
"Are you asking for a replay of what happened during the Chunin Exams?" teased Temari, leading the way out.
Tenten's face heated. "Hey! I'm stronger now you know― I bet I could kick your ass!"
"Yeah, whatever."
They bickered throughout the building and all the way to the north tower.
.
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It was as every bit boring as she imagined it would be. Tenten sat back on her chair atop the north tower and sighed. It was a tall, narrow, circular structure, about twelve feet in diameter and completely roof-less. Temari had given her the schedule; for the first half of the month, Tenten was to be stationed at the north tower from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon and for the second half of the month, she would be switching to the west tower for the graveyard shift, which was from twelve in the morning to six in the morning.
Tenten groaned loudly. "WHY ME?" she yelled, comforted by the knowledge that there was absolutely nobody in her immediate vicinity. At least in Konoha there had been two to a tower, which meant that there was company and someone to actually talk to. But this… thiswas completely torture to Tenten. Not only was she by her lonesome, but she was cooped up in a small, cramped space which meant that there was no chance of passing the time by training.
Well this technically proves it, she thought sourly, Suna really is short on ninjas…
She stood up and began to do thirty sets of push-ups for what seemed like the twelfth time. She was really starting to feel like Lee. A sudden thought crossed her mind and she bit her tongue to keep from laughing.
Should I…? she thought, hesitating. She looked all around her to confirm that she was alone. Heck, there's no one to witness this anyway…
Tenten took a deep breath and proclaimed in her loudest, most Lee-ish voice, "GAI-SENSEI! I shall do three hundred push-ups and if I fail, I shall run five hundred laps around the village!"
"Isn't that overdoing it?"
"AH―!" Tenten yelped, scrambling up to her feet. She turned around to face a familiar puppet, and behind it stood Kankuro. He was grinning at her, face paint and all.
"Are you on guard duty or what?" he joked, laughing.
"Shut up!" Tenten said huffily, turning red partly from embarrassment and partly from anger at being caught unaware. "Hiding your presence behind a puppet, of course I didn't detect you!"
"No, no, don't let me interrupt your interesting training…"
Tenten glared. "What do you want?"
Kankuro smirked. "Hey, chill out. I just got back from a mission and Temari told me that you were here so I decided to stop by. I even brought you some lunch, see?"
He held out a bag as a peace offering and Tenten's expression softened. "Oh, fine. Any company is good company at this point. Guess I can't complain."
"Geez… lighten up, will you…"
He put the bag down and they sat around it, rummaging inside for their lunch. They ate in comfortable silence before Tenten let curiosity get the better of her. "So what kind of mission were you on?" she asked casually, bringing her second sandwich up to her lips.
Kankuro shrugged, not seeming too interested in the topic. "Eh. You know. Basic intel-gathering stuff."
Tenten plowed on determinedly. "So why is Suna short on ninjas?"
At this, Kankuro raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Where'd you get that from?"
"I'm here from another village to do guard duty. For a month," Tenten deadpanned.
The puppet-master scratched his head. "Yeah, that's a valid point… I wonder myself…"
Tenten narrowed her eyes at him, trying to detect a lie. She was sorely disappointed to see utter confusion on his face. "I guess only the Kazekage knows," she said with a sigh, lowering her body to lie on the hard floor of the tower. She watched the clouds drifting slowly and wondered if Shikamaru was doing the same somewhere out there… wherever he was at the moment.
"Maybe I'll ask Gaara," Kankuro said, pulling out a flask of juice and drinking straight from it. He offered it to Tenten and she gratefully accepted. The Suna heat was no joke. "But didn't your Hokage tell you?"
Tenten shook her head. "Nope, nothing. Something's going on, and I really want to know what."
"Hell, I would too if I had to do guard duty for a month."
They lapsed into a companionable silence before another issue popped up in Tenten's mind. "Gaara, no, the Kazekage sure has changed much, huh?"
"…Yeah…"
Tenten turned her head lazily to watch the older boy. He too had decided to lie down and watch the clouds with her. "You know, there was a time when he never even considered looking at me as a brother… But now― I don't know how to explain it exactly…"
"Now it's like he can't get enough?" suggested Tenten.
Kankuro snickered. "Nah, not exactly, but I guess― I guess it's like he's trying to turn back time to make up for missing out on it, you know?"
She turned her head back to the sky and was silent for a while. "He…" Tenten hesitated slightly before continuing. She didn't know why she felt the need to admit this, and to Kankuro of all people. "He scares me a little."
She saw the puppet-master sitting up from the corner of her eye and bit her lip. "It's not about his past or that I think he'll hurt me. Hmmm… I can't actually explain this too clearly either…" she trailed off, hoping to end it there, but she could feel Kankuro's eyes on her, waiting for her to continue.
"It's like when he looks at me, he can see everything that I'm made of."
Tenten blinked, surprised. Where did that come from? she wondered. The words had burst out of her mouth without her really thinking about them. She didn't even know she had an answer until she spoke it just now.
She chanced a glance at the older boy and found his face to be relaxed. "Well, I guess that's understandable. I never thought myself that Gaara could actually be the kind to understand people's pain… but then again, maybe it's that Uzumaki kid who rubbed off on him."
Tenten smiled at the mention of Naruto. He'd already influenced so many people; Neji, Lee, Hinata, Gaara, Sakura… the list was never-ending. "Naruto can really make his speeches."
"Yeah, no kidding," said Kankuro, smirking, "The kid should make a book."
Tenten laughed. "Right? Anyway, how have you been? I don't think I've seen you in years."
It was Kankuro's turn to laugh. "You only ask me this now? Interrogation first, greetings second huh?"
"Pretty much."
"Well you know, this and that," said Kankuro off-handedly. "I mean, a lot has happened, right? It's been both calmer and busier at the same time after that war."
Tenten frowned, not knowing which war he was referring to that was over. As far as Tenten was concerned, the Akatsuki was far from finished. "Which war are you talking about?"
Kankuro looked equally confused now. "What are you talking about?"
Tenten opened her mouth to retort, when a strong gust of wind alerted them both to another presence. They sat up and whirled around to find Temari standing casually on the edge of the tower, her hands on her hips. "Kankuro, Gaara wants to see you for a moment," she said without preamble.
"Ah…"
Tenten watched with disappointment as Kankuro cleaned up their lunch and stowed his puppet under his arm. He stood and smiled down at Tenten. "I guess I should go see what he wants. Maybe I'll ask him about that ninja shortage for you. See ya!"
"Uh, bye―"
He leaped off the side of the building and bounded off in a sprint. Temari was about to follow when Tenten stood and whined, "Temari, can't you keep me company for a little while? It's so boring!"
The blonde smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Tenten. He wants to see me too. Something urgent, he said. I'll pick you up later."
Tenten watched as the older girl followed her brother's lead and groaned.
"Great… Fantastic… And I still have three more hours of wasting my life away before I'm free."
And that's just for today, her inner mocked, You still have twenty-nine days to go, sweetie.
Tenten fought the urge to scream.
.
"…Eight-hundred-ninety-six… eight-hundred-ninety-seven… eight-hundred-ninety-eight… eight-hundred-ninety-nine…. nine-hundred…" Tenten was counting with a flourish.
For a lack of anything better to do, she had summoned out her weapons little by little from the big scroll and re-arranged them, polished them, put them in alphabetical order, preference order, and height order. Presently, she was counting all of the kunai she had in the big scroll and little scrolls combined. There was more than an hour left in her shift and she was dying.
What I'd give to perform my Heavenly Chain of Destruction technique, Tenten mused, fighting the urge to stretch out and accidentally injure herself. The stupid tower was not big enough to accommodate her entire weapon supply. I deserve a big freaking medal when this stupid mission is over…
Tenten sighed heavily. She knew that she was sighing a lot lately, but it was a necessity given her current situation. "Why does my life suck?" she moaned, leaning to look out of tower gloomily. The ground was six hundred feet below her, and Tenten had a weird, sickening desire to know how it would feel if she were to fall from her current perch.
Ah, suicidal already, Ten-chan? came her inner.
Shut up, bitch, Tenten thought, feeling thoroughly insane. She really was going crazy from doing this job.
Tenten picked up a kunai and lazily tossed it at the ground below her. She watched as it fell and hit solidly at the visible crack she had aimed at. Tenten picked up another kunai, her mind wandering to the sand siblings.
I wonder what was so urgent…she mused. Tenten hated to be kept in the dark. If there was one thing she absolutely despised more than anything else, it was not knowing something that everyone else knew about. Well, that and someone lying to her. She hated lies and people who spout them. She just could not stand it… especially when the liar happened to be someone she cared about very much.
Long brown hair and pale white-eyes flashed in her memory and Tenten closed her eyes at the painful tugging in her chest.
Oh, Neji… just when did we drift apart?
Even as she asked herself this question, another memory was rapidly floating up to the surface and Tenten allowed herself to indulge the flashback.
.
Where… am I?
That was her first thought.
Her eyelids were heavy― so heavy― she couldn't understand why she was having so much trouble opening them. She could feel her arms at her sides and tried to move them. They felt heavy also.
As her blurry vision cleared, Tenten found herself in a dark room that was not her own, lying in a hard bed that was also not her own. Her mind was sluggish, and she knew immediately that she was under the influence of drugs because everything was so hazy. It would explain why it was so damn difficult to think and move and see and hear.
A faint beeping noise made itself known to her, but Tenten couldn't move her head to see what it was. It took her a few minutes to finally open her eyes fully, but the battle of keeping them open waged on. There was a window to the left of her, and underneath the window was a bedstead full of flowers. It seemed to be around five or six in the morning, because the dark was getting lighter and lighter. Tenten recognized it at once as the start of a brand new day.
Her mind was slowly waking up with her senses. Once more, Tenten tried to move her arms with very little success. Anger and sheer strength of will forced Tenten to keep trying. She wanted to know what the hell was going on. Was she in some kind of jutsu? Genjustu, perhaps?
But no… if that were so, then where was her attacker?
Tenten struggled some more until she felt her fingers twitch. The strenuous effort almost knocked her out unconscious but she would not allow it. Tenten was only vaguely aware of some kind of loud alarm that had been triggered upon the slight movement as she tried once more to move the entire length of her arms. Was this some kind of enemy trap? Did they put some kind of jutsu on her to alert them when she woke up?
Her eyelids were desperately trying to close again, but Tenten fought against them. She needed to know where the hell she was―
Suddenly there was a flash of long blonde hair at her side. Tsunade-sama! Finally, Tenten knew where she was. How could she not have known? Of course that's where she'd be― the Konoha Hospital.
The flood of memories came back to her in a single, sudden burst― Team Guy had been on a mission, they had been ambushed and captured. Neji and Gai-sensei found a way to escape, and then―
Then they were running away, and she had been at the rear, as usual. She turned to look back at the enemy just in time to see the leader throw something in her direction―
She was getting ready to leap out of the way, when she realized that Neji was running directly in front of her. Tenten immediately knew two things; one, there was no way in hell she'd move, because two, the aim of the weapon coincided with Neji's blind spot. She remembered closing her eyes and readying herself for the blow―
She was back at the hospital again and there was another person with Tsunade-sama now.
But all of a sudden Tenten had no more strength to fight her eyelids from closing, and so she willfully succumbed to the exhaustion.
.
She was sitting alone with her weapons under the blistering Suna heat.
Tenten frowned as she pulled her mind away from her thoughts. She hated to remember that memory of waking up in the hospital a year ago. Tsunade had told her that she'd been asleep for almost two whole days. Everything about the memory gave her chills somehow.
But wait… thought Tenten, Could it be that Neji's acting this way because of that incident? Did he blame himself for what happened to me? Is that why he's doing this?
She had thought of this theory numerous times and had even confronted Neji directly about it. It was just so like him to do so.
But no matter what theory she came up with for their floundering relationship, his answer was always the same; "No Tenten, that's not it."
Tenten was not convinced. Their relationship had never been the same afterwards. She was completely positive that Neji's distance stemmed from not being able to protect her― he blamed himself for every little thing that happened to her― and that his ANBU obsession was most likely fueled by his desire to become stronger. Tenten admired that about him; she'd always had.
With a wilting feeling, Tenten realized that she still had hope. Her very last hope came from Shizune's comforting words.
"Maybe you guys just need some time apart. Think of this mission as a sort of mental vacation. I'm sure that Neji will see just how much he's taking you for granted sometime during the month you're gone."
Yes, she still had hope, and Tenten absolutely hated herself for it. Even after all he's done to me this past year… he's treated me like crap...
Tenten balled her fists in anger, but gasped and loosened her grip at the unknown pain. There was a clatter of metal dropping to the floor. She brought up her blood-soaked hand to her face and was surprised to find a large, angry gash across her open palm.
What kind of idiot forgets that she's holding a kunai? the evil inner mocked.
Oh God, shut up, please, Tenten thought, whether to her inner or just to her sanity in general, she wasn't sure. How was it that even when Neji wasn't around physically, he could still hurt her? Tenten glared at the oozing gash and cursed her lack of bandages. She was probably the only person in recorded history who had suffered accidental self-inflicted damage during guard duty. That in itself was worthy enough to place her a spot in the top five bumble-head ninjas of the year.
She was just about to wipe the blood off on the back of one of her scrolls when a hand full of bandages was thrust under her nose. "Here."
A low, quiet voice. Tenten's eyes followed the hand to its arm, and the arm to the shoulder, neck, then face.
Blue-green eyes. Shocking red hair.
Gaara.
"Gaa― I mean, Kazekage-sama," Tenten hastened to do a little bow, forcing herself not to jump out of her wits and scream. "What brings you out here?"
He studied her face. "I have been here for a long, long time."
Tenten froze. How long had she been daydreaming? And what was worse― the Kazekage himself had arrived to see her completely out of it, and completely not doing what she was supposed to be doing, which was watching the border. Even more, Gaara had said "long, long time." Not only had be been standing there for a "long time," but he'd been standing there for a "long, long time," and Tenten knew that the repetition of the word "long" would not have been necessary for the quiet Kazekage to use unless he had indeed been standing there for a "long, long time." Tenten bit her lip and wondered if he was going to reprimand her. Would Gaara really send her back to her village? Everyone would know that she'd been a failure. At guard duty, no less.
She was thinking too much about this. But really, didn't she want to be free from this torture anyway?
"Oh, I-I see…" she stammered awkwardly. That's great, Tenten, that's real great. Nothing like smooth talking to soften him up.
Shut up!
"Here," Gaara repeated, still holding out the bandages. Tenten took them slowly from his hands and bowed her head nervously.
"Thanks…"
He watched as she wrapped them around her bloody palm before turning away and leaning slightly out of the tower to look down at the ground below. Tenten followed his gaze and gasped, her heart sinking.
There, in perfect kanji, was the word "Ai" written out in a big, bold, kunai formation. Tenten turned her head to look over her shoulder and wanted to die when she saw that more than half of her hundreds of kunai had disappeared― proof that it was her own unconscious doing. Great, not only had the Kazekage witnessed her daydreaming, but he had also witnessed her playing with kunai. She wanted to throw herself down the stupid tower.
What kind of idiot would spell words with kunai anyway? her inner sneered snidely. Actually, what kind of moron would do something and not even be aware of it?
Tenten could not bring herself to face Gaara, knowing that the very same kanji was written on the left side of his forehead. She could feel her face burning― and it wasn't because of the heat.
Out of all the words… Out of all the words I could've chosen… Why does it have to be that one?
Gaara allowed her to indulge in deep mental anguish for a while, saying nothing for the longest time. Tenten was in the middle of mentally writing out her entire list of "other words she could've chosen instead" when he decided to speak.
"Your shift ended half an hour ago…"
Tenten's head snapped up against her will to look at him, uncomprehending. Hold on, she thought, did he just say that my shift ended half an hour ago? It took a few seconds for Tenten to process his words and confirm what he said. She looked at the sky. The sun had moved. Her jaw dropped.
"Wait… You mean to say… that I was here for an extra half hour?" Tenten had not meant to end the sentence with a shriek, but she was so angry with herself that she was seriously thinking about walking barefoot all over her sharp, pointy weapons.
Gaara's reaction was no reaction, which wasn't surprising. He turned away from her. "It seems you were preoccupied."
At this, Tenten blushed and inclined her head in shame. "I am sorry, Kazekage-sama. It will not happen again."
He shook his head, as if to say that he didn't care. They lapsed into another awkward silence and Tenten took the opportunity to clean up her mess. She leaned out of the tower and stretched out her hands, sending chakra strings to pull the kunai out from the ground below her and shooting them back up to where she was standing. When she pulled the last of them up, she began rapidly dumping them back inside her scrolls. All this time, Gaara stood and watched her.
Tenten placed her little scrolls back inside her thigh holsters and took her time heaving up the big one. She knew that she was just stalling to avoid another weird silence she didn't know how to fill once she was all packed up and ready.
Thankfully, he decided to speak again and Tenten suppressed the urge to sigh with relief. "Do you know why you are here?"
So he was going to lecture her, she thought with dismay. "Yes, Kazekage-sama," Tenten replied in her most subdued tone, "I am here to watch over your borders."
He didn't say anything, just looked at her. Tenten flushed. "And I'm very, very sorry for not doing my job," she added.
"I sent Temari and Kankuro to Konoha."
Tenten blinked at the sudden, random topic change. "You sent― huh? Why?"
"So I am picking you up in Temari's place," he continued, ignoring her question.
Tenten narrowed her eyes at him, no longer caring if she was being rude. There was definitely something going on that she didn't know about. She could just feel it. What the hell was going on? Suna was short on ninjas, Konoha was short on ninjas, yet both villages kept sending ninjas back and forth to one another… and what about that war Kankuro was talking about earlier?
However, Tenten knew better than to ask. Instead, she settled on saying stiffly, "It's not necessary, Kazekage-sama. I could've found the compound myself."
Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes. Okay, so maybe she was being a bit more than rude. But still― Tenten hated being in the dark. She couldn't stand it.
"While you are in Suna, you are my responsibility," he deadpanned. His voice was the usual, low, quiet sound, but there was a touch of coldness in it that made Tenten want to shiver despite the blazing heat.
They had a silent staring competition before Tenten relented and lowered her gaze with a very reluctant, "Yes, Kazekage-sama."
She kept pulling faces at his back as he led the way out of the watch tower.
That doesn't explain why you couldn't have just sent one of your subordinates to get me.
.
.
The darkness was falling rapidly as they ran through the thicket of the forest, just having crossed the border where sand and land met. Kankuro was lagging slightly behind Temari by two branches and he struggled to increase his speed.
"Geez, what's the hurry for?" Kankuro barked at his sister.
"Gaara said to hurry," was the only reply from the blonde kunoichi.
"Well, yeah, but still―"
"Just keep the mission in your head!"
Kankuro glared at her back. She could get so worked up sometimes. His mind wandered to the current mission at hand as he thought about the meeting he had had with his brother and sister a few hours earlier.
.
"Go to Konoha."
It was a simple command, but there seemed to be no reason behind it. The Kazekage sat behind his desk; his gloomy office was shut away from any sunlight by the black curtains shielding the windows.
"Why?"
"What for?"
Kankuro and Temari exchanged communicative glances but kept silent. They stared patiently at their younger brother, but he seemed lost in his thoughts. There was a blue folder in front of him, which they recognized at once. Gaara had been reading and carrying the same report with him everywhere for the past few days.
Gaara's eyes scanned the paper in front of him again. There was no need to read it anymore; he had memorized the thing by heart.
Temari was about to speak again when Gaara seemed to snap back to his senses. "It's time I received an explanation," he said quietly. Once more, his siblings exchanged curious glances but said nothing.
"A week ago, I received a most unusual request…" Gaara said softly. He was staring straight ahead, but his voice seemed to come from far away. "Do you remember the time when that leaf kunoichi―what's her name?"
"Shizune," Temari replied automatically. She knew what day Gaara was talking about.
"Yes, her," the redhead continued, "the Hokage's proxy― that time she came here, approximately one week ago…"
Temari and Kankuro stilled in anticipation. They had been wondering about the private meeting for days afterward, but Gaara had not enlightened them with any information regarding what it had been about. Was he finally going to tell them?
"She pleaded with me, under her Hokage's orders, to hide one of their shinobi away in this village."
Gaara looked at them, but there was something they just weren't getting. Temari and Kankuro waited, confused.
"For a month."
At this, the sand siblings stared at each other. Kankuro was the first to find his voice. "Wait… But isn't Tenten―" he began.
"Do you mean to say that this entire guard duty thing was a farce?" Temari cut in; her face was all business.
Gaara shook his head. "It seems this Tenten has no idea why she is being kept here, other than what she had been told."
Temari frowned. "So her Hokage lied to her? And what about you, Gaara? Why don't you know anything?"
He stood suddenly and Temari stopped herself from backing away a step. "The proxy said they were desperate, that the girl needed to leave as soon as possible," Gaara said, his voice mysteriously relaxed despite the hardness of his stare, "but that there would be no danger in keeping her here."
Now Kankuro and Temari were just plain confused. "You mean to say that there are no enemies following her, that she isn't in any immediate danger, that she herself isn't a danger, and that she isn't here to spy on us… yet for some unknown reason, it is absolutely necessary for her to hide away from her village for a month?" Temari said, her voice heavy with skepticism.
Gaara nodded. "Basically."
"I don't believe it," said Temari at once. "Let's send her back."
Gaara and Temari stared at each other while Kankuro fidgeted with his hoodie.
"Here," Gaara thrust the blue folder at her and Temari reacted just in time to catch it before the papers scattered. She looked at Gaara before opening it up to read it, with Kankuro peering over her shoulder.
"T-this is…"
"I was told that they'd give me a proper explanation after the girl arrived," Gaara cut in, surveying his siblings' reactions carefully, "that they needed to secure her move first."
Temari and Kankuro were frozen on the spot. It was as if they had been paralyzed by the document before them.
"Go to Konoha," Gaara repeated.
The command seemed to break the spell and Temari shut the blue folder with a snap. Kankuro let out a low whistle.
"And don't return until you have every last detail regarding this matter."
.
.
.
And when she fell, she felt proud to die
Proud to die for the land that would call her a hero
Not knowing that she gave her life away
For nothing, because no one would remember her.
.
.
End Chapter 2.