She opened the door handle of his office and was ready to go inside. Kankuro's han held the door shut.
She sighed and glared at her brother, "Your in my way."
Kankuro ignored her glare and still held the door shut with his hand. He spoke, "What do you plan to prove?"
She didn't say anything to him and tried to push him away from blocking the door.
Kankuro didn't budge. He just sighed, "Gaara and I aren't kids anymore, you don't need to act tough."
She simply glared harder at him, "What's an act?"
He answers, "You acting like you have no fears. It's okay to have fears, sis. People care about you, don't push them away."
She was annoyed when she first heard those words come out of Shikamaru's mouth. So hearing that come from her own brother made her more furious at him.
She snaps, "Shikamaru said those exact words."
He shrugs and absent mindedly added, "Well maybe he's right, Temari. Don't push the people that care about you. 'Cause then you'll have nobody."
She pushed him again and Kankuro sighed as he stopped fighting her. There was no getting through to her at times. When she's determined, she's determined.
She was greeted by her brother sitting at his desk and doing paperwork. He looked up from the deskwork and and saw her.
He looked at her confused and asked, "Temari? What are you doing here?"
She asks him, "Are you busy?"
He sets his paperwork aside for the moment and looks at him, "Just paperwork at the moment but it can wait."
She didn't say anything to him and just close to him and pulled her youngest brother in a huge. Tears were slowly streaming down her face and she cried, "I'm sorry."
He sat there in his chair confused at her words. His sister rarely cried and when she did it was only when she would get upset. He hugged her back and patted her back.
He asks her in a confused tone. Temari isn't one for showing affection to people. She often keeps to herself, so something was bothering her deeply, "What are you sorry for?"
She mumbled softly as she was still crying, "For being an awful sister."
"No. If anything I should be sorry."
"For what?"
"For being an awful brother. Brothers shouldn't try to kill their older sisters."
"Gaara…"
Gaara stood up from his seat and just looked at Temari. He hugged her more and now he was starting to cry.
He said through his tears, "No. If anything I should be sorry."
She sniffled, "For?"
"All my life I wanted to be loved," he said as he pointed to kanji of love on his forehead, "I wanted to be loved so much that I even marked myself, but I would always push away the two that loved me the most."
If Gaara was trying to stop her from crying, it didn't work. Temari wanted to cry more at his word but she just started at him and listened to him talk.
"You and Kankuro are the greatest siblings anyone could ever ask for. I was awful to the both of you when we were kids."
She's touch by his words and she goes back to crying and hugs him back equally as tight and close.
"I know that you still fear me since the day that Baki made us spar."
She breaks from the hug and just looks at him. Unable of what to say, she just stands there in front of him.
"Little fears you, Temari. Your strong and a very capable. But…" his voice weakens and trails off at the last part.
She narrowed her eyes and wants him to finish. "But what?"
He sighs and wipes his tears from earlier, "You still fear me like I'm still the monster from our childhood. That pains me the most and makes me feel awful."
She wants to cry more but she stops herself, "Gaara…"
Gaara looks into her eyes and grabs her shoulders. He practically pleads, "But I'm not that monster anymore. Be happy Temari, you have your baby brother back and he plans on staying."
She cries back, "It's easier said than done. You don't have that memory ingrained in your mind."
He frowns and looks away, "If I could take all of what I did, I would in a heartbeat."
A voice says in a brash tone, "But you can't, it's called the past for a reason."
The two break from the hug and turn and see the voice is Kankuro's. He stands there with his arms crossed.
He looks at Gaara, "You can't let your past define you, Gaara. It can help shape you become but it's not you. Your in charge of your life."
Gaara smiles, "That's profound, coming from you Kankuro."
He smirks and looks at Temari. He teases as he notices her tear stained face, "And you call me emotional, sis."
She rolls her eyes and playfully punches him in the shoulder. She retorts back in an equally playful and teasing manner, "As anyone told you that it's rude to eavesdrop?"
He shrugs his shoulders with the smirk still on his face, "Yeah, you do. But that doesn't stop me."
She can't help to smile as she crosses her arms. Kankuro smiles as he pulls his two siblings in a group hug. They hug him back each with a smile back.
Gaara starts to tear up and mumbles, "Thank you. For never giving up on me."
Kankuro snorts, "If we did that then we would be doing the opposite of what mom wanted."
Gaara shoots back, "Would she get angry as Temari gets?"
Kankuro laughs a bit, "That's a good question, probably. I don't know."
She tenses up a bit when he mentions their mother. She just smiles more and hugs the two tighter. She speaks, "I love you both."
"We love you too, sis." spoke the two in unison.
Her brothers are the only family that she has left. It would be selfish of her to hate them still after they gotten so close after all these years.