Disclaimer: Naruto and its story, characters and setting belong to their respective owners.
Chapter I: The Failed Mission
"I think its safe enough for us to stop," Kankurou spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. Temari took a quick glance behind her before nodding in agreement. They jumped among another tree branch before landing perfectly on the ground.
Night was falling in the wild forests of Konoha, and considering that this was their first time in Fire Country, the likelihood on staying on track in the dark was rather slim.
And right now they couldn't afford to get lost.
Gently, Kankurou set the unconscious Gaara onto the ground, staring at him for a moment before Temari's voice awoke him from his thoughts. He responded something to her, before turning away and walking in the opposite direction. "I'll set up camp, you treat Gaara's wounds."
"Be careful and don't go too far!" she called out; and then in a flash, Kankurou was gone.
Temari began to untie the robes that held the massive gourd on her youngest brother's back. When she attempted to pick it up, though, she found the massive weight unbearable, despite having been used to carrying her enormous fan. She struggled a bit, but was able to place the gourd beside her fan.
Pulling out a small first aid kit from her pouch, she began to clean the dry blood stains scattered on Gaara's forehead, but then paused as she briefly touched the 'Ai' kanji carved in his forehead, a strange fear settling over her.
What if he awoke angrily, yelling to be left alone and threatening to kill her? After all she still remembered how he violently shoved her aside again, just so she would stop shut up and let him fight that Uchiha boy.
She awaited for any form of reaction, but five minutes passed without him stirring. Five minutes passed without him stirring, so she continued.
A complete minute passed without him stirring, so Temari figured that it was safe enough to treat the wound on his head.
I guess this is the only time Gaara'll need me, she thought to herself.
Who would have thought something like this would have happened?
Months and months were spent on the preparations, the best shinobi were picked, alliances were formed; everything was set in motion for the invasion of Konoha. The council had send in their final votes and it was finally declared, about a month ago that Sand would be forming an alliance with Sound for a common purpose. Most of the Sand shinobi she was around with had laughed off that those Leafies were nothing but, lazy, carefree ninja with no talent whatsoever. They didn't have to worry about their never-ending battle against Mother Nature.
They didn't have to worry about the blazing sun and sandstorms.
They didn't have to worry whether there'll be enough crops for food.
They didn't have to worry about the hundreds and hundreds that were unemployed.
They didn't value water.
No. What did they worry about? Feelings and sided rivalry.
And she found herself agreeing with the other Sand shinobi that yes, Konoha was nothing but wimps that held silly grudges against each other.
But as the proctor declared Gaara's and Lee's match to begin, and as she saw that green-spandex boy moving throughout the arena so quickly that even the sand had trouble keeping up. And as that boy delivered a scratch onto Gaara's cheek and continued to throw Gaara around the room, she thought that maybe Konoha didn't quite fit into its stereotype. But that thought was thrown away because Gaara would never lose and she wouldn't lose either.
So why, was it again, that she lost her match against that Nara kid? The proctor announced that she was the winner, but she knew better than that. The only reason why he had given up was because he was simply too lazy to finish her off.
But that was only the beginning. Gaara had gotten seriously wounded, Kankurou was half dead, and now they, Suna's Best, The Kazekage's Children, and a carrier of Shukaku were defeated by Konoha lazy, carefree, emotional ninjas?
"Blood! It's blood! I'm bleeding!" Gaara had cried out in hysteria, scaring her to the very core.
And it was at that moment that she finally realized it was truly a mistake to underestimate them.
A pair of feet dropped to the ground, and she looked up to see Kankurou carrying a small bundle of wood. He gathered some stones into a circle, and placed the wood neatly into the circle. He looked up at her noticing the troubled look on her face. "Still thinking about it?"
"I can't believe we lost. I mean everyone was practically saying Leafs were nothing, but big talk."
"Yeah," Kankurou said, taking out matches and lighting one up. "Guess you shouldn't believe everything you hear."
A small fire was finally made bringing a small sense of comfort in this chaotic world.
"Man, Baki's probably gonna kill us for suddenly disappearing like that," Kankurou groaned, shoving another stick into the fire.
"He'll understand," Temari pitched in. "We took Konoha way too lightly. I mean even Shukaku was defeated."
"Shukaku?" the puppet master asked shock spread throughout his painted face, but it was quickly replaced with fear. "It came out?"
"Remember when we saw it transforming during the finals. Well, that Uchiha boy eventually caught up with me, and I guess Gaara lost control, but it started to transform again until it became its true form."
He quickly dashed to her side, placing a hand onto her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
She looked up at him, her eyes wild as if waking up from a terrifying nightmare. She shook her head, gently brushing him aide. "Of course, I'm alright,"
"No," he said shaking his head, "Are you alright?" he asked again. He wasn't asking about her physical state. To any other person it would have seemed like the same question asked, but Temari knew what her brother was asking. Having grown up close because of their father insensitivity towards them, they had their own language that only they could understand.
"Yeah, I'm alright," she said nodding, even though she couldn't stop her hands from shaking.
"Damn, I'm sorry I couldn't be there Temari," he said looking down at the forest floor, "But that fucking bug boy had me out cold," anger rising in his voice.
"Kankurou, don't worry about it. I told you I'm alright," she said putting a hand on his shoulder. "It was a long time ago." He looked up at her, seeing a genuine smile on her face.
"If you say so," he said shrugging. He looked at once more before turning his head towards Gaara, unconsciously curling his hands into fist. He walked back to his unfinished work, realizing how he wasn't there when he was needed.
Temari looked back at the unconscious form of Gaara, still her fear evident that Gaara would yell at her, or perhaps Shukaku would come bursting out, but within a minute of waiting she figured it was nothing but her imagination that was making the situation even more difficult. Carefully Temari lifted his red head slightly, pulling on the ends of the black shirt that he was wearing. Despite the dark shade of his shirt, she still could see even more blood stains underneath. She fiddling slightly trying to take his shirt off, half scared that he would wake up angrily, but since nothing happened she finally pulled it off.
Examining his chest, the blonde kunoichi saw small bruises on his milky white skin, however perhaps what stood out most was the large wound on his shoulder. It had turned an ugly sort of deep brownish colour. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was a sever burn. But based on the wound she was slightly surprised that it was not a regular burn caused by heat, but rather from something that was… electrical? Concern spread on her face at seeing the wound, it really must have been painful.
Cleansing it with water for a few minutes, she applied a bit of ointment to the wound. He winced slightly, but other than that remained motionless..
"Kankurou, we're going to have to move quickly. Gaara has a third degree burn, the longer it isn't probably treated the more chance of an infection."
"As soon as the sun rises tomorrow morning, were out of here," he said, treating his own wounds as well. And then several minutes later he asked in a small voice. "Do you think he'll be okay?"
"I think so…" Temari said uneasily.
It was odd, but this was the first time either of them was worry about Gaara. Most of the time they would worry for his sanity, but more than often they tried to ignore Gaara's strange muttering and get out of his way. Perhaps, it was because this was the first time he had ever been wounded, or perhaps it was because he had apologized to them. Either way, there was that tiny feeling within them that Gaara would be alright.
They probably should have left him, rotting deep in the forest, that's what any other person would have done. But they just couldn't.
It took another hour to finish treating each of their wounds. Temari had small bruises and burns on her arms; however Kankurou had a bit more extent wounds, namely insect bits all over his arms. His fingers looked completely terrible; apparently the insects had managed to bite them until they were raw red. It would take weeks for the skin to grow back and it would take even longer for use Karasu. When everyone was treated, Temari sat by the fire and took a sip of water from what remained in her canteen.
"Get some sleep Kankurou, I'll keep watch," she said, looking at the fire.
"Huh?" he said not expecting her to be keeping watch.
"Get some sleep," she repeated.
"What about you?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Besides you've been carrying Gaara all day. You must be tired."
"But Temari…"
"Look Kankurou, I'm your older sister so I'm supposed to take care of both of you and Gaara…. If anything happens I'll wake you, 'kay? Just get some sleep," she said giving him a smile to ease him worry.
"Alright," he gave in lying right across from the unconscious Gaara. "I've set traps so we'll know if anyone's approaching," he said pulling off his hat to reveal his brownish locks. "Don't stay up the entire night? Wake me up around midnight."
"Yeah, yeah, I can keep watch you know" she said watching her brother lying down, within a minute Kankurou was fast asleep.
"Good night, guys," Temari said looking at her brothers, thinking this would be the only time she would see them like this.
She didn't realize someone else was watching.