Chapter VIII: Because were Siblings
"You must either be very brave or extremely foolish for coming back here," Mitokado Homura said softly as he overlooked the once prosperous Leaf village. Many buildings were still in shambles while the normally loud, busy streets of Konoha were eerily quiet, as villagers moved soundlessly.
"Sunagakure has declared it surrender to Konohagakure. I have come for negotiations—"
"What makes you think we'll take that," Utatane Konaru interrupted. "Our village was destroyed, countless lives have been lost and our leader has been murdered."
"With all due respects, I deeply apologize for everything that has occurred. This was all a part of Orochimaru's doing. He impersonated our Kazekage and led the invasion of Konohagakure. We found the Kazekage's rotten corpse in a ditch, and have come into realization that we were too careless. Our only desire now is to return to peace with your nation."
Konaru sighed, before thinking deeply. "We have witnessed many battles and have seen our village become repaired only to be destroyed again. We are too old to be fighting in wars and simply too tired."
"Sarutobi was our leader as well as our formal teammate," Homura responded. "He took a liking to peace... and we have too," he smiled. "Very well... we shall be willing to discuss negotiate after the memorial service."
Baki bowed deeply. "Thank you... I-I have a personal request from you. My students... my students were captured during the retreat. I humbly ask their release."
-----
"Gaara."
Temari and Kankurou stood frozen on the second floor, simply watching Gaara. A few minutes ago both of them had been fighting for their lives, but Gaara had just come along and swiped away the ANBU as though they were nothing but ants.
The boy walked slowly in the middle of the room, his footsteps leaving a trial in the sand. He doesn't even have a scratch on him, Kankurou thought noticing his pale flawless skin. The blood stains, bruises, cuts, bandages, all were gone. Even the damage from that Uchiha's jutsu was gone. It was as if nothing had happened.
That boy lying in the forest, covered in blood and sweat, and on the brim of consciousness didn't exist. Perhaps seeing Gaara defeated was just some strange dream because he looked just as distant and powerful as before.
Coming back from his thoughts, Kankurou jumped down of the railing to what used to be the bottom floor. Sand littered the entire room almost making it seem as though the desert had been stored in here.
"Are you alright?" Kankurou asked, as he felt Temari leap right beside him.
He didn't say anything, but walked passed him, and placed both his palms on the sandy floor, there was a soft hissing as the sand started to produce the large gourd that Gaara wore so infamously on his back. "It cracked," he stated examining the rough surface.
"Well... It kinda fell," Temari said smiling sheepishly at him, but Gaara didn't look like he was in the mood for any humor.
He continued to stare at the deep crack, making both Temari and Kankurou uneasy for having dropped it. Maybe the sand would come lashing at them, and burying them alongside the fallen ANBU. But several minutes passed, and still they were in one piece. Instead of a death threat, Gaara busied himself with securing the gourd onto his back. He stood easily—not at all minding that an extra fifty pounds were added onto his shoulders—and began to walk pass both of them not stopping until he reached the end of the room.
He inspected the inscriptions for a moment, still not speaking to either of them. And then he lifted his left hand in front, rushing tons and tons of sand to gather around, forming into an enormous blob. Gaara closed his fist, causing the sand to mount higher and higher into the air, forming a heavy cudgel. He pushed a pale hand towards the wall, and in a split second there was an earsplitting noise, followed by clouds of white dust. The sand pulled back, quickly revealing a long, ugly crack on the once smooth wall. Another four tries and a large hole was produce, the sand spilling into the next room and becoming still.
"Let's go," he said walking through the opening. Nodding in agreement, Kankurou and Temari walked behind him.
A few more tumbled walls later and the pale blue sky started to come to view, although the blue wasn't as bright as it used to be. It broaden gray, marking the entire site gloomy and rather depressing. Though the sky wasn't the problem at the moment.
"Who the hell creates a prison overtop some freaking volcano!" Kankurou thought out loud gazing out to the bubbling lava.
Like any other prison, it was set on an isolated island, however unlike any other prison it was surrounded by red molted lava. A flatten dirt road lead to the edge of the cliff showing that there must be some sort of drawbridge to get to the other side.
"A very smart person," Temari noted. Even if prisoners somehow got pass the guards there was still the problem of actually leaving. The distance between the two edges was so far apart that not even a skilled shinobi could leap across. The only option they had left was to lower the bridge, but that no doubt would lead to more conflict. Temari sighed, touching her hastily wrapped wounded arm, and suddenly feeling very tired.
Studying the landscape, Gaara reached behind his gourd, pulling out a handful of sand. He blew on it, an invisible wind blowing that handful of sand across one edge to another.
A minute passed then, in complete silence with the hurling of molted lava and the quick heartbeats of both Kankurou and Temari. Neither of them asked Gaara what he was doing, for fear of his wrath. And then there was a loud, crisp snap, like the sound of a twig snapping in the dark.
Gradually the boulders that overlooked the cliffs began to break off, breaking into large chunks, but quickly gathering into fine dust. Before long, particles reached him, floating in front as though awaiting some type of orders. He flattened his hands as though he was straightening a piece of paper and in no time at all Temari and Kankurou could see a steady thin bridge of sand that reached from their point to the other side.
Finished with his bridge making, Gaara placed a step on the sandy bridge, easily as though he wasn't standing fifty feet high from a sea of molted lava, rather a small pond. He took three steps before he stopped and turned back to them.
"Well?"
"Y-yeah," Kankurou stuttered. He glanced at Temari, noticing her wide teal eyes trail down the bridge.
"Don't you think there's another way?" She glanced down, noticing the bubbling lava splatter some lava a few feet. Her face paled
A thin string of sand connected two cliff sides together, too thin that it almost could have been considered tightrope walking. One faulty move and it was a long, long tumble down into a fire, crispy death.
"Well what other choice do we have?" he answered, sounding scared. He grabbed her hand. "We'll done tightrope walking before," he said trying to comfort her, but still having a hard time shaking that fear off his voice.
"Yeah," Temari answered, remembering their early training with Baki. The whole exercise was to gather chakra at the bottom of their feet, kind of that whole tree climbing exercise she'd seen a couple of Leafs doing, except their method was probably a lot safer. A thin wire was connected from one canyon to another, and as students they were required to safety get across. The thought of failing this exercise never occurred, since it meant a nasty fall 10 foot drop with many broken bones.
Concentrating chakra to the sole of their feet, and taking a step forward on the sandy bridge they were reacquainted with that basic exercise they had learned so long ago. For a while things seemed to be going well, and they were almost halfway through when an unexpected quake rushed across the bridge. Kankurou gripped her hand tightly.
"Gaara?" she said looking up at him. What if he was getting bored of waiting for them and just wanted his sand back? And knowing Gaara, he would let them fall down to their death, just to get what he wanted.
Both took another step, and again that same quaking rushed again. And then out of a blue, there was a 'swoosh' as a kunai was being torn, snipping out a bit of her blonde hair.
"Some prisoners have escaped!"
"Pull the bridge down!" someone yelled from the side they just came from. There was a clatter of footsteps as guards quickly rushed to the scene.
"Shit! Why now?" Kankurou swore having realized the enemy standing behind them. He knew they guards were bound to figure out about their escape—bringing down walls wasn't that easy to ignore—but he didn't think they would start attacking them when they stood helpless fifty feet from a top of a bridge. Taking out Karasu wasn't a good option either because of his little chakra left and he seriously doubt Temari could do much more with that wounded arm of hers.
"We gotta hurry—" Temari began but then stopped, hearing the release of weapons behind her. She closed her eyes, already anticipating the sharp kunai stabbing her flesh and the sudden velocity throw her off her feet and falling down, down to a certain death. She gripped Kankurou's hand tighter, accepting what was to happen.
But the kunai made an odd noise as though it had crashed into a wall. She glanced behind her, noticing a wide wall of sand behind them, shielding then from any attacks, and allowing them to continue walking. There was muffling sounds from the other side of the wall as the guards tried to bring it down.
Gaara stood on the other side of the cliff, a hand in front of him with fingers spread evenly out. Gaara would never do anything like this, Temari thought realizing that he voluntarily saved them. Was… was Gaara changing? Not only this, but everything so far. Everything from the time he buried those ANBU, he hadn't treated them hostile in any way; rather he was helping them get through this. She felt a tug on her hand, and quickly pushed away her thoughts, focusing instead on getting to the other side.
They took a leap as soon as they were close enough. At once the bridge and wall of sand started to dissolve, the many guards strangely absent. Gaara turned, about to head off and as usual expecting them to follow. He took a leap to a boulder, but didn't see the wave of kunai that fell down from the sky.
"Gaara!" Temari and Kankurou called out surprisingly and quickly rushing towards him. They no more took a few paces when there was a loud thud of something colliding with the earth.
Clank!
The wooden bridge echoed loudly from being drawn down soon a sprint of green vested guards approaching them quickly.
Particles of sand subsided, falling into the ground and dropping down kunai after kunai into the floor. The sand had formed a shield, despite the sudden attack, and had carefully wrapped around its master immediately protecting him from harm.
"No way!" a guard muttered more to himself. "He didn't even do any seals!"
"Hit him again!" another one yelled to the squad. They dug into their pouches and each produced a weapon, all of then throwing kunai simultaneously. Another thick shield of sand grew from the ground, immediately blocking the attack. The kunai stuck on the wall before the sand started to retreat back into the ground dropping a small gathering of metal onto the ground.
Another movement of hands and the sand widen, sweeping towards the six guards that attacked him. They screamed out, thrashing about as the sand threw them over the edge of the cliff into a drop of lava, almost like a broom throwing dirt out the door. And then the sand flew back, innocently awaiting orders. More were crossing that wooden bridge, attacking them with hatred for their fallen comrades.
"Wait Gaara, I think we should—" Kankurou began but was fallen on deaf ears as Gaara moved his palm in his ever-so-famous ninjutsu. Fighting an entire prison was clearly not in their best interest, sure Gaara could take care of himself, but he and Temari were barely hanging on.
Sabaku Kyū!
Sand roared towards the guards quickly yanking them from their feet and suspending them a few feet from the floor. The fine textures of sand gripped human flesh tightly until there was the sickening sound of broken human bones. Cries never escaped from their mouth, simply because the sand was suffocating them, and there was no way to cry. The sand dropped to the floor, not showing any remains, since the four men had become just like the sand. There was that same smell of blood in the air.
Another squad approached the bridge, prepared to fight, but the sand began acting once again, and they all jumped back in fear. It rose to the air, like a monstrous tidal wave, and crashed down into the center of the drawn out wooden bridge. A deep crunch echoed loudly in the air as the enormous weight and speed of the sand effectively ripped the bridge in shreds. Fragments of wood fell down into the lava below them.
"You'll never get away with this! You monster!" another guard yelled out, angrily but stranded in that blotch of land.
Gaara walked away, taking a glance at both Temari and Kankurou before turning away.
He's not going to fight? Kankurou thought noticing how Gaara had withdrawn from a future fight. By destroying the bridge, guards wouldn't be able to follow them. He was definitely acting different.
Neither one of them said a word as Gaara continued to lead the way. In all honestly, Temari and Kankurou had no idea where they were heading, but then again this was usually the case when they were doing missions. Gaara lead and they were forced to follow; if he said they weren't stopping, then they weren't stopping; if he said he didn't like that plan, then it was thrown out the window. Since Gaara became part of their team, they were forced to do everything he said because they much favored their lives.
The land started to change as they went deeper and deeper to the unknown until the rocky plains were far away from them. By the time Gaara stopped to look at his surrounds, Temari and Kankurou already knew were they were at.
"We really got this far?" Temari said astonish how far they had gone. High into the sky, the Sand shinobi stood atop a carefully carved mountain, looking down the large village of Konoha, standing on the monuments of the previous Hokages. When they first came to the village they saw the large booming of businesses, the laughter of children, and the happy chattering of people, but now the Leaf village was in shambles. Buildings and roads were destroyed with debris littering the roads. There were no cheerful movements from before, but more like a solemn silence that befell on the entire village. There were repairs being done, of course, but still it would be a long time for the village to go back to its prosperity. Temari moved her gaze to the large red arena that looked the worst. It was that very same arena they stood a few weeks ago where they had to prove themselves in order to become shinobi. Funny that the Chuunin Exams only happened two weeks ago, when the entire memory seemed to have happened years ago.
That's it I give up. A sort of anger began to bubble towards her, remembering her humiliating defeat. It was out of pity that Nara surrender, not out of a lack of chakra, and that excuse was just plain derogated. She bit her lip, turning her head from the arena.
"They must be having the memorial," Kankurou thought out loud, moving his gaze to a small gathering to the far left. A crowd of black objects stood on the rooftop from below as the villagers of Konoha gave their respects to their fallen warriors. "We should get going," Temari said, beginning to walk away. "With most of the village in the memorial, then it'll be easy for us to go out undetected." Kankurou nodded, following her, but then stopped as he realized Gaara was not in front, leading them like usual. He stood quiet still, silently taking in the village.
"There are fewer of them."
"Well, we were just in war with them," Kankurou answered.
Gaara continued to stare off into the crumbled village, but then he turned and silently landed on a stepping stone of the mountain that headed into the village. But then something strange happened. Something they hadn't experience within their own village for a very long time.
Rain drizzled on the ground.
"It's rain?" Temari asked feeling the cool droplets land on her body. She smiled, cupping her hands to collect the droplets of rain.
To any other person, rain might have been a nuisance after all it did interfere with normal activities. But as desert dwellers, they treated rain as a miraculous phenomenon. It only rained twice in the harsh desert and it wasn't this soft drizzling water, it was the heart-stricken thunderstorms that banged loudly across the gray sky sending the entire village in fear.
This is a good sign, Kankurou thought. He didn't even mind that the water was ruining his face paint, but just listened to the pitter patter of the rain. The rain was bringing in a new hope that they would somehow get through this.
-----
The enormous gates of Konoha were shut tightly. But as though that wasn't enough, shinobi had to take turns watching for any intrusion.
"Everything sure is quiet," Izumo muttered to himself, waiting for his fellow comrade, as he returned from break. "The Hokage's death really has upset everyone." The sky above seemed to echo the village's thoughts as it continued to rain softly, like a crying child. He closed his eyes, feeling more than exhausted these pass few days than his entire shinobi life. These pass few days were filled with apprehension, thus the council had assigned all shinobi to missions, giving them only a day's break before handing them more work. As he lay in his musing, a strong wind came out of nowhere. He blocked his face with his arm as the winds started to pick up even more sped knocking him onto the floor. But just like that it suddenly died out.
"Don't tell me you're that exhausted," Kotestu asked standing behind him. He looked at his comrade questioning, briefly wondering why he was lying on the wet, muddy ground in the middle of the road.
"Some wind threw..." he said standing up. "Uh... Never mind…" he finished. He probably slipped off the wet pavement or something. There could have been no way a wind was that strong.
"Hey, the gate was opened," Kotetsu said frowning at the carelessness of his comrade. "Someone could have gotten in."
"Huh? I could have sworn it was closed!" Turning to shut the gates, Izumo noticed the gates were slightly ajar not completely opened but enough for a person to go through. "Actually it looks like someone could have gotten out," he said thoughtfully. The leaves of a tree shuffled off in the distance. His eyes widen as he realized that wasn't an animal. "Kotetsu, Look!"
"What? I don't see anything."
"Look over there! On top of that tree!"
He gasped as he saw a small blur of red, before it sped away. "Get... Ibiki... there's been some trouble in the prison."
-----
"This got infected," Kankurou sighed after examining the wound. The wound was at least seven inches long colored into a sickly green. Pus was emitting from the wound, giving off a foul odor. Her muscle seemed to have split in two. He touched her forehead feeling the heated glow.
"You got wet, too. That could lower your immune system, just as bad as that infection." For three hours they had been traveling nonstop through the thick forests of Konoha. The village was far away from them and there hadn't been any pursuers, as of yet. Darkness was falling, and they certainly didn't want to be walking around in the dark. Gaara was silently looking off in the side, observing the interaction between the two.
"At least the poison is gone; I was more worried about that."
"What about your hands?" she asked noticing that they were in shreds and bent at odd angles.
"Don't worry about it," he stood up, wiping dirt from his pants. "I'll go start a fire. Just stay here and take it easy, 'kay?"
"Okay. Don't go too far," she called out as he started to retreat. He lifted his hand behind him to reassure her, and then disappeared.
Temari shivered, feeling cold and sick. Her tired eyes looked up, but just as quickly went back down. Gaara was sitting in front of a tree, watching her, which was odd, since he never took an interest in her before. She tried rubbing her hands, but the cool air was quickly taking any warmth away from her. It was during this time that she didn't like to be near Gaara, even thought there was no full moon tonight. Ever since that day: when she first came eye to eye with Shukaku, when she heard the demon's cruel laughter, and felt his terrifying wrath. Never in a million years will she forget that awful memory, and maybe that's why she feared Gaara the most out of all people. Because she still remembered his true powers and being in the mercy of such an evil creature.
Temari, Kankurou I'm sorry. She still couldn't get that out of her head. Gaara only apologized out of obligation when he didn't want to attract a lot of attention, like when he apologized to those kids Kankurou was messing around with. It wasn't a real apology, just a bunch of words to fool the enemy. But this time… The way he had said it… It sounded as though he was truly sorry about everything he had done. About causing all the distress and violence he had done to them over the years. He sincerely apologized on his own free will. Pushing away that awful memory, she looked up at him, clearing her throat.
"Um… Gaara… thanks for helping us back there."
"Your hand is shaking," Gaara observed.
"Oh, must be this fever," Temari said meekly.
His green eyes stared at her so carefully that goose bumps began to break out on her skin. He was examining her again. "Temari, you are the oldest. Do you remember when we first meet?"
"Oh sorry," she said embarrassed. The first time Baki and introduced Gaara to her and Kankurou, she had gone off in a nervous ramble. It wasn't until he said, 'Shut up or I'll kill you," that she finally shut her trap. Gaara was probably trying to tell her that again.
"Your hand was shaking then," Gaara clarified. She looked up at him, slightly surprised that he would remember something like that two years ago. "I thought I saw you before. I just don't remember where," he said thoughtfully.
Of course, Gaara had just turned five years old when they first encountered him. "Well… that's because you came with Yashumaru to the Kazekage's palace," Temari answered already feeling the old memories come rushing through.
Gaara frowned. "Tell me."
Temari looked at him stunned at his request. She tried to find her voice but found herself shaking.
"Do you hear a sound?" Temari asked after hearing a faint crack. Carefully she approached her window, noticing the large crack on the glass window. If she didn't know any better it seemed as though it was stretching wider.
"Tell me," he repeated.
CRACK!
"Y-you came to do some training with Kazekage-sama."
Out of nowhere the window completely shattered spewing sharp glasses all over the room. Reflexively she brought her arms to cover her face, and felt the sharp glass ripped through her flesh.
"Go on," he said listening attentively.
"Um… you were so shy… always carrying a brown bear."
More and more sand started to appear, carefully being molded by the howling wind. Finally after a few minutes the storm blew itself out and Temari stood in front of a large round shaped cocoon.
"We played jump rope all day…"
"Gaara… what are you doing?" the seven-year-old asked fearfully. She slowly approached the cocoon and hesitantly touched the sand cocoon, but quickly drew her hand back as small droplets of blood started to fall from her finger.
"Kankurou kept whining because he wanted to spend time playing with his new toy."
"Gaara?" Temari softly whispering stepping back towards her door. The sand inside started to shift rapidly until a yellow star-shaped eye stared eerily at her.
"But I told him I was older and that he has to listen to me…"
"I'm FREE!" It yelled out spraying the particles of sand aside, sending a strong gush of both wind and sand completely.
She looked up at him and forced a smile, finding feeling. "And you…"
"Wait!" she cried out to the retreating figure, and then she froze saw that golden star-shaped eye staring back at her. It was as though her brain shut down and she did the only thing she could. She screamed. She screamed and screamed until tears started falling from her green teal eyes. Wrapping her arms around herself, she collapsed on the floor and continued to scream until she could no longer feel her voice.
"…you were all happy… because you didn't know you had siblings..."
She closed her eyes, suddenly finding it much harder to talk. "And then… you left… too early in the morning… so we couldn't say bye…ugh…" she moaned losing whatever strength she had left. Darkness covered her vision and she all together loss her balance, falling backwards. A small dust of sand caught her from touching the forest floor. Taking her into his arms, Gaara stared down at her closed eyes, still examining her. "Your hand was shaking," he whispered, touching her cheek, feeling heat emitting from her. "Even as a child you feared me, and because of this fear I can't form any bonds with you."
There was a soft thud in front of him as Kankurou came back from gathering wood. His face contorted to anger as he saw Gaara holding Temari.
"Get away from her!" Kankurou yelled, dashing to Temari. His breathing became heavy as the inevitable thoughts came into mind, hands forming into fist and back arched ready for battle. He scooped her in his arms, quickly feeling her heated body. Her breathing was coming irregular and sweat was gathering in her brow. "Temari…" he whispered gently laying her on the forest floor.
Gaara watched as Kankurou quickly started a fire and boiled some water. With the hot water, he slowly soaked Temari's arm hoping it would kill the bacteria. Retrieving the needle that had been boiling in the small pot, he applied the wound with the few anesthetics he was able to swipe back in the prison. As carefully as he could he started to stitch the split flesh together. Temari winced slightly from the prickling sensation but was still deeply asleep. It took over an hour to finally finish treating the wound, but still Temari wasn't looking any better. Putting a cool cloth on Temari's forehead, Kankurou could only hope the high fever would come down.
"Temari," he whispered brushing away her blonde bangs. "Hang in there."
He felt completely helpless watching his sister's quiet pale face. Temari had never been sick before and seeing her like this brought him a strange sort of uneasiness.
A few minutes passed before he started to treat his wounds. His left hand had turned into a dull blue from having doing puppetry when his fingers weren't healed properly. He knew the bone needed to be properly set, but the only thing he could do now was wrap it tightly. And this red blood clot symbolized the physical torture that he had to endure for just following orders. Memories of the interrogation came back as he still felt a dull ache in his fingernail, the crushing sensation of the thumbnail destroyed the bones from the inside, and Ibiki's mind tricks to get the information he wanted. He knew then he never wanted to feel that again, that crushing blow when someone tells you that important person is gone. Never again, he thought, remembering that old promise he had made long ago when they just moved in with Baki, and he had clutched that rusted kunai tightly, promising to be strong.
Kankurou lifted his head to the darken sky briefly wondering how all the events happened in just one day. This morning he was impersonating a Leaf prison guard now he was staring off in the darkening sky on the outskirts of Konoha. The fire provided a silhouette of Gaara sitting up on a nearby branch gazing at the starlit sky. If it hadn't been for Gaara then they probably wouldn't have made it so far; and he still accused him of harming Temari. It wasn't that far of an accusation, since Gaara threaten them all the time. But that still brought him some guilt. He sighed and jumped on the tree branch.
"Hey Gaara," Kankurou began awkwardly not used to talking to him. "I-I didn't mean to yell at you or anything. I'm just worried over Temari."
There was a moment's silence, as Gaara continued to stare off. "You thought I killed her," he answered still staring off.
Kankurou didn't answer. Another minutes passed with the grasshoppers chirping off in the distance.
"Kankurou?"
"Yeah."
"Do you love Temari?"
"W-what?" the question got him so off guard he neared tripped over his feet. "Um… well… um… what's with the question anyway?" he sputtered a tint of red appearing over his painted face. He turned his head quickly trying not to act—although he was—uncomfortable about the question. Obviously he loved Temari, but he just wasn't the type to say so out loud.
"For the first time, I saw real anger in your eyes. You we're willing to stand up to me," Gaara observed. I won't let you hurt those people important to me….
"Uzumaki Naruto showed me that love can make you stronger," he said softly. "He was just like me." They saved me form the hell of being alone… the hell of being alone… they acknowledged my existence… that's why they're all important to me…
"Temari was telling me about the first time we met. In spite of what Temari says, I know something bad must have happened. I couldn't form bonds, then, because of the monster within me. She fears me just like you fear me.
Kankurou paused clearly remembering the frighten event so long ago.
"When we became a team, I remembered both of you, but I don't know from where. I was thinking that maybe, maybe there was some time when you didn't see the monster in me. This event, this early childhood, must have been significant if you continue to sustain all the abuse I've put you through. But I was wrong, both of you have feared me even as a child. Then what is it? If it was not in our childhood then what—what is it that makes both of you stay beside me?"
Kankurou sighed, thinking carefully before picking his next words. "Gaara, ever since Baki introduced us two years ago you straight out told us you'd kill us. While we were in that prison, Temari and I decided to go looking for you... We're not exactly on the friendliest terms, but we still… care about you, Gaara. I'm not going to deny it. Something bad did happen; and it's not easy putting those memories aside." He shut his eyes, remembering the terror of that night and that terrible feeling of being weak and unable to protect Temari when she needed it.
"But why? I am a monster. Why did you continue along side me? Why didn't you leave me rotting in the forest? Why didn't you leave me behind in that prison? I've treated you no better than the enemy. It was the perfect opportunity to get rid of me. You love Temari, not me, why do you bother with me?"
"You're our little brother," Kankurou answered, looking at him.
For the first time Gaara finally looked at him a questioning look in his eyes. "I mean, sure siblings get on each other nerves, but still they have to look out for each other. You apologized. That's good enough from all the hell you've put us through."
Gaara stared at Kankurou. How can something so simple answer so many complex questions?
"That's it?"
"That's it."
The entire prison was actually Konoha Strict Correctional Facility in the anime filler episode 142. See fillers are good for something?
Edited January 16, 2008
--Mel