Blanc-hiver: HOLIDAY!!! Woohoo! Thank you Lupita for the review. I wonder if you could review in real profile so I can private message you Um, so I try figuring up funny things in this new chap. Btw, I guess this story ain't ShikaTema anymore =.=' I mean, it'll be still ShikaTema but I will focus on the Sabaku family, I think. The title's Three Siblings, no? Hey, I know there're people marking Story Alert for this story. Rather, it's better if ya guys give a comment 'bout it. I accept question, opinion, suggestion, or even criticism (smells like challenge *lick lips*).

Inner H: You're wasting times on your story dude.

Blanc-hiver: Sorry. Here it goes!

Chapter 3: Another pine cone

"We're fighting dreamers! Takami wo mezashite. Fighting Dreamers! Narifuri kamawazu! ---"

The read-head panda laid on his bed's wall, intently watching the other boy singing "Go". Raising his voice, the blonde strummed his guitar in perfect beat. After he was finished, he stood from the chair, bowing his head in thanks. Gaara clapped his hands.

"Bravo." He smiled.

Naruto blushed at his simple comment and scratched his whisker cheek. He felt awkward. Gaara could read his mind and tapped the empty space beside him, allowing Naruto to sit. Swiftly, he placed his guitar and jumped to the bed.

The blond panted, "I am so nervous!!!"

"I can see that."

"I'm going to perform it in front of 200 people next Friday!"

"I know. You've practiced hard. I bet you can you can do it. Good luck."

Groaning, Naruto rolled on the bed like worm in heat. To this time, Gaara seemed unusually uninterested; instead he meandered in his own mind, not noticing his beloved fox. Naruto realized this.

"Something bothering you?" he asked.

The red-head blinked and hugged his knees as he looked at the other boy. "Nothing."

The boy laughed lightly, forming his foxy eyes, "I know you Gaara. Spill it."

The sand boy thought inertly before staring at his friend in deep gaze. Emotionlessly, he explained all the weird behavior his sister had done. If a person had just met Gaara for even 2 months, he would not recognize the anxiety in his eyes. As Temari thought, Naruto was an exception. Naruto felt a barrier of apprehension pushing him in Gaara's eyes. Though Gaara's words were short and simple, Naruto had to cut them and gently stroke his shoulder.

Both of them ceased in silence, waiting for the barrier to diminish.

Then Gaara inhaled leisurely, "I'm fine", and exhaled.

"Good." Naruto smiled.

There was a complete silence.

The blond made a move. "Since when did it start?" he hesitated, "Your sister's behavior."

"Since two days ago"

"Hn…" The boy wondered.

Before he opened his mouth for suggestion, the eldest sister ran through the door, panting. She grinned the widest. Gaara could hardly blink at the sight. Yesterday she was a total sullen, now everything about her was sunshine.

"Dinner's ready!!!" His oldest sister smirked. Seeing Naruto, she added, "Ara! You're here, Naruto! How 'bout joining us dinner?"

The young boy tilted his head, precisely, raising his brow, at Gaara of course. Gaara shrugged. This was pretty confusing on Naruto, especially about the offer. Temari never invited Nauto to a dinner, family dinner. Unsure with the bright offer, he shook his head at his friend's dearest sister. The ponytail woman pouted. Naruto was bad at this. Feeling guilty, he nodded with his foxy grin, "I mean, Sure!" and put in more politeness, "That is so nice of you, Temari-nee. Thank you!"

"Nice." The cheerful woman smiled at his comments.

Suddenly, a switch turned on in Temari's head. With a devious smile, she briskly walked over her brother and hissed, "How about letting your boyfriend sleepover tonight?" in a seductive voice, "In your room of course"

Steam coming out of his ears, Gaara blushed and ready to react. Unfortunately for Gaara, Temari ran out already, hurrying them to go down. Naruto was clueless about Gaara's rare blush, but instead he pulled his arm and led him to the dining room.

There the whole Sabaku family and Naruto sat. One handing over the food, one groaned impatiently, while the other two sat in intimacy. All bliss of happiness was back. Tonight's dinner was crocket, fresh vegetable, and miso soup. As all the food was handed, Temari watched them nervously, waiting for the reaction of the hard dish she had made. Remember, made not bought.

The three took the crockets and gulped it ravenously (except Gaara). Temari could hardly open her eyes until Naruto and Kankuro's voice beamed.

"UUUMAAAIIII!!!!"

The chef cleared her ears. Duo noisy were in the house. Well, she still couldn't hide her contentment. Last, she scrutinized Gaara meticulously. Gaara was no stupid, he felt the look poking him to talk. He smiled imperceptibly.

"Taste great."

She could not hold back anymore.

"Ufufufu!!!" The woman laughed in victory. The three stared at her disbeliefly, Kankuro's crocket fell from his chopsticks.

Realizing how embarrassing her act was, the woman sat down, pretending the embarrassment never occur. Too bad this act resulted in and awkward situation. Until long, the guest coughed and spoke, "I, I wonder. You seem so joyful today, Temari-nee. Something good happening back then?"

The pigtails choked her drink, leaving the other patting her back to calm the coughs. After all the commotion, Temari, again, grinned the widest.

"No," she replied, "Something wonderful happened."

~O~

The three sat in awe. Temari had just told them everything in detail from when Yashamaru told her about her restaurant and how she was introduced to "Ino-shika-cho" so-called restaurant. The only one smiling was Temari, until silence broke out.

"That's amazing, Tema-nee!" the blond boy chirruped, followed by Kankuro's similar comments.

Temari responded in shy laugh, Kankuro also began to join the conversation. They were all in light discussion of how lucky she was. Maybe she was made to retire, but "Ino-Shika-Cho" was something. It was the biggest yakiniku restaurant in town. As they chatted, Gaara gloomed.

"Why?" he asked in a low voice.

The woman asked back confusingly. "Why what?"

Suddenly Gaara glared, "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Temari gasped. Certainly, she knew that what Gaara mean was why she didn't share her problems with her family. She wanted to, but couldn't. She said so.

"I…I can't. I don't want to worry you guys."

Gaara almost lost control of anger but Naruto gripped his wrist. Instead, he rolled his eyes almost invisibly, "But you worry us sister."

She gasped, taken aback by her brother's words. He was right. She had never thought that her brothers were also anxious. Moreover, he called her…sister. It was a very rare occasion, yet comforting. She was touched, very. Slowly, her tears began falling down, followed by sobs. Temari realized that everyone was staring at her. Burried in shame, she covered her eyes, wiping her tears and tried to stop her hiccups. It had been so long for her to cry that much. It struck her that she had kept her feeling too much by herself. Unusual with the situation, Gaara felt awkward at handling her sister; Naruto came to rescue.

He whispered to Gaara's ear, "Hug."

So Gaara did. Comforted by Gaara's warmth, she let everything out. Kankuro wasn't just looking, he jumped at both of them while shouting 'I love you sis!'. On the other hand, Naruto watched them lovingly and slowly escaped from the three siblings before Gaara called, "Naruto."

Naruto peeked from his soldier by the call and he saw the siblings offering him to join the hug. Why not?

"Stay over tonight." Gaara looked into Naruto's eyes.

Again, why not?

After being held for so long, Temari spoke up, "I'm glad" she gazed upon her family (including Naruto), "that I have people that love me."

The night ended in memorable family love.

~O~

"I'm going!" Cheerfully Temari shouted, ready for Ino-Shika-Cho challenge.

All the family members nodded and said goodbye (Naruto now was included to the family).

This was the first day of her work; Temari would not let her guard down. She went out much earlier.

Slowing her bicycle, she snatched her tortoise's food box and walked to the edge of the river. She hummed happily while she was pouring down a handful of tortoise's food to the river. The river lured a small wave as if showing her gratitude. Temari smiled. Then she checked her digital watch to see how many minutes left. It took only one minute to the restaurant from the river and she still had ten minutes before her assign time. So she stood, watching the fishes and tortoises eating voraciously.

The breeze was calm and the sky was pallid orange with violet blue mixture. So peaceful, goaded her to take a nap. She decided to lie down for a moment. There she slowly relaxed her spine on the grass. But rather than relax, she felt a something like log on her head. Afraid of mysterious item, she stood up to see what the actual thing she was sleeping on was.

It shaped like a porcupine, no, a pineapple. Pineapple? It seemed that she was having a déjà vu. The sleeping bastard.

In five seconds interval, he yawned and rubbed his eyes, and then slowly stood, leaving Temari sat angrily.

"Ah…I slept well…" was all he said, and went.

Now that's déjà vu.

"Hold it!" The brunette shouted.

The lazy boy turned. This time, there was a slight difference in the déjà vu.

"Troublesome woman/pine cone!" The two gaped in harmony. In harmony meant at the same time, not in harmony.

Temari's pissed-off glare turned into evil smile, giving the other boy creep. She laughed maniacally, "Khukhukhu…" and smirked at the boy, "We still haven't solved our last time rendezvous right, Mr. Pine-kun."

Shoot, the boy thought.

"I'm afraid there is no problem back then." The boy laughed nervously. Temari smirked more. Shoot.

Quickly he got up and dashed. Dashed as fast as a lazy man could do. Oh, no you won't, Temari thought. She rode her bycicle and chased after the problematic guy. She had totally forgotten about her work until the boy entered the still-close restaurant. Now Temari was the one cursing under her breath. She parked her bike and surged to the restaurant. The boy might be a thief!

Breathing messily, she checked out the surveillance to see a pineapple. Good, she targeted one behind the kitchen's door. She bolted and caught the boy's hem. Satisfied, she grabbed his shoulder to knock him out with her karate move. But…was it just her or the boy get bigger…taller…and…oh shoot.

"Uwooh! Temari-chan, what are you doing!" The old man shrieked. Not shriek in a feminine way of course, it was manly.

Temari, realizing that this man was the owner, quickly let go of him and bowed several times, also cleaning his messy blouse. The long-haired and fatty watched in perplexity.

This was the first day of work. Nice job, Temari.

"I deeply apologize! I mistook you for--ah!!!" She cut her sentence as a mini-owner stood beside the ponytailed owner. "You!" She shouted.

The lazy boy was surprised and hid behind the man.

The tall ponytailed hair inspected them in bewilderment. First, he spoke to the boy. "Oi, Shikamaru, you know Temari-chan?"

The boy shook his head repeatedly, "No way I know this crazy woman! She tripped on me twice while I was sleeping and she blamed me for all of it!"

Temari, again, couldn't hold back. She pulled the hem of her shirt and pulled the boy behind the man and hit his head. "Blame you say? You were sleeping in the middle of the pavement and at the edge of the river! Is that a unusual place to sleep!?"

The trio Ino-Shika-Cho sighed at this. Looks like they will have both cat and dog in the restaurant. How troublesome.

Umai: Delicious

Tema-nee: (older) Sister Temari. Kinda hard to explain. I decided that Naruto would call her Tema-nee. Hehe…

Blanc-hiver: I have gone to Japan so I know exactly what I'm talking about (the river, tortoise, yakiniku restaurant, etc.). The location of this story is Osaka, specifically Ibaraki. It is such a nice place where the major transportation is bicycle.

Hope this chap satisfied enough. Review please!