Wind of Truth & Sands of Change

Jounin Status

073. Am I Asking Too Much?

She was disappointed. At the very least. She was officially a Jounin and it was like no one cared. When she told her brothers, their reactions were…less enthusiastic than she'd expected.

"Baki told me." Gaara had said.

"Okay." Kankuro had grumbled, not even looking up from his newest puppet.

It was…unsettling. It was like they had expected it; so her achieving the rank wasn't a matter of importance. Temari herself had known she would do it. How could she not become Jounin? But the fact that no one had congratulated her, not even a little bit, upset her. She was never one for fancy words or encouragement, but…all she wanted was one word. One word would suffice.

'Congratulations'.

Was that too much to ask?

074. Are you Happy?

Kankuro leaned against the kitchen counter and watched his sister chop vegetables. "Turns out I made Jounin."

Temari paused and grinned. She hugged him enthusiastically. "I'm so happy for you!"

Kankuro squirmed out of the embrace. "Too much love, sis."

Temari rolled her eyes. "You are so weird."

She always made a big deal out of everything. She always did everything for them. For him and for Gaara. He sometimes worried if she ever did anything of herself. "Hey, Temari?"

She was chopping again, "Yeah?"

"Are you…happy?"

"What makes you think otherwise? I'm fine." She smiled. "You worry too much." She paused and turned to look at him. "You're okay, right?" She was worried.

"I'm good. Just worried about you, Tem."

"You don't need to. I'm a 'bitch', remember?"

He smiled. "Do you want to go out to eat instead? So you don't have to cook?"

"You tell me. How do you want to celebrate?"

075. More Like Them

The house was a complete mess. Kankuro contemplated cleaning it, but decided against it. He wasn't in a good enough mood to do something he didn't like to do. In fact he was in a terrible mood.

Kankuro didn't regret becoming Jounin. He was proud. But on those few occasions that he failed a mission he was filled with deep disgust. In all honesty he considered himself the weakest of his siblings; even though Temari assured him constantly she was the weakest.

That wasn't true.

Being the weakest didn't really bother him; because even though he felt that he was the weakest of the three he was still very strong. Yet…when he failed a mission, he sometimes wished he were stronger. Wished he were more like his siblings.

076. My Congrats

"Tsunade tells me you made Jounin." Shikamaru said suddenly, his eyes focused on the clouds. "Congratulations. I figured a loud, bossy woman like you would make it."

She smirked, "Do you always insult someone when congratulating them?"

"Insult?" He looked at her. "It's the truth. You're a loud and bossy woman."

"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend. You've no idea how to talk to women."

"Meh."

Temari smiled. The long anticipated congratulations. Not from whom she expected it, but she was glad for the recognition nonetheless. "Well?" She demanded. "Aren't you supposed to be escorting me to someone? Just like a man to spend the whole day talking nonsense."

"I'm going, I'm going." He muttered. "Troublesome woman."

A/N: …No comment.