Chapter 17- The Exchange Teachers Program

Temari stared at her brother as if he had grown another head. He couldn't possibly be serious about what he just said. Gaara only looked up from his papers momentarily to see her shocked expression. Kankuro was smirking in the corner.

"What?" Temari finally found her voice to ask.

"You're in charge of the Teacher Exchange program." Gaara repeated not looking up.

"Explain."

"Suna and Konoha will be exchanging three of their ninjas that will teach each other's academy students basic Tai-jutsu, nin-jutsu and gen-jutsu." he answered now looking at her. "It will only be the basics and will spot out those that are particularly inclined to which field."

"So you mean like how?"

"We are only doing the classes that will be graduating this year. Both classes will be mixed then split into three. Each group will be rotated with the three teachers every day so that each one will have two classes a day."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"You will be the supervisor. You will be the one to ensure that everything goes smoothly. They will report to you which students excel in which area and which are below average and even which utterly fail."

"I see." she said thinking it over. Who would have ever thought Suna would be sharing it's teachers? No hidden village would have the balls to do it but here were Konoha and Suna doing just that.

"That will be your duty for the next three weeks until you have to travel to Konoha again." Gaara said reaching for a new paper from his stack.

"Do you know who Konoha will be sending?" Temari asked and now Kankuro watched her carefully. Gaara looked up at her again.

"Jinta Hikari, Sasuke Uchiha and Rock Lee."

"Lee!" she exclaimed "Are you sure you want him teaching young impressionable kids?"

"No," Gaara answered truthfully "but he among the best."

"Don't worry Temari," Kankuro said finally deciding to join the conversation. "He won't be there for the first week or so you'll be getting a substitute that will hopefully leave a lasting impression that won't be changed by Lee's... enthusiasm."

"Ok but isn't this the first mission Sasuke will be having outside of Konoha?" Temari asked sitting in one of the chairs before Gaara's desk.

"Yes actually." Gaara said casually. "You are to keep an eye on him as well. They should be here in four days."

"So I don't actually have to teach anyone?"

"No."

"I wish I got easy missions like that." Kankuro grumbled scratching his chin in thought. "Yea I never get a mission like that."

"Would you like a D-rank?" Gaara asked.

"No!" Kankuro said instantly, shaking his head. He smiled at Gaara. "I'm good."

"I insist."

"I just remembered! I need to perfect that new poison I'm working on." Kankuro said moving towards the door and slipping out. Temari laughed lightly at her brothers.

"I doubt anybody wants a D-rank Gaara." she told the red head. He shrugged slightly with a small grunt.

"He whines." he said. She raised a brow at him. "He's always bored and never wants to do paperwork. You at least help a little." he then turned wide teal eyes on her. "Plus you feed me."

"Aww and here I thought you hated when I feed you." she said reaching across to gently pull his cheek. He stared blankly back at her.

"Don't you have a mission to prepare for?"

"I have three days, don't I?" she smiled at him. "For those three days you'll have me to feed you and take care of you to a fault."

"Wonderful." was the sarcastic response.

XXXXX

True to her duty, Temari stood patiently at the gate awaiting the arrival of the Konoha team. She had been waiting for almost two hours already. The guards nearby were beginning to wonder what she was doing there. Truth was she didn't have anything else to do. Gaara literally threw her out of his office and Kankuro was busy. The girls were busy too. What better way to pass time than to wait for people who were supposed to be there a hour ago. Luckily she had a very good imagination and awesome skills. A few passers-by were left wondering where such random breezes came from. They were none the wiser.

She was just about to call it quits for the day when one of the guards announced the arrival of the teachers from Konoha.

'About time.' she thought staring through the gate at the incoming travellers that were still at a distance. She walked away to stop a random ninja passing by.

"Tell the Kazekage that they have arrived."

"Anything else?" the Chunin asked and Temari shook her head. The Chunin was off in an instant. There were perks to being the Kazekage's sister. It meant you were respected and you got good missions... some times. It was being an ambassador that sucks. The traveling got tiring, the paperwork was tiring, and the politics was tiring. It was only recently that things were doing better but it was still tiring.

"Temari!" Temari looked up at the shout. Her face almost lit up when she recognised who it was. She smiled at the group just passing through the gate. She must have spaced out; they were already past the guards.

"Hey Kiba." she said before greeting Akamaru as well by ruffling his fur. She turned to greet the other two. "Sasuke." she greeted him and he nodded to her. She turned to the final arrival, a tall, dark haired fellow. "You must be Jinta Hikari. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Temari-sama." he said with a smile and a bow. Temari smiled graciously as she watched Kiba roll his eyes at the dramatics.

"No need for that. Just call me Temari. I'm in charge of the Teacher Exchange Program and I'd like to know what you are doing here." Temari said looking pointedly at Kiba. He grinned cheekily at her as he dipped into his shuriken pouch.

"Lee was out on a mission and it won't be done until the few weeks." he answered handing her a scroll addressed to the supervisor of the program. She skimmed it quickly. It said pretty much what Kiba said along with a small apology for the inconvenience.

"Okay then, well follow me." Temari said finally. She led them away and towards their accommodations. "You guys will be working with the academy students. The classes will be split in to three and you will all be teaching simultaneously. After your lesson you'll switch the students around. You'll only have two classes a day because they're little and the lessons might be a little stressing for them. I can only guess you plan to work them hard.

"Yes."

"Not too much." Kiba said and they all turned questioning gazes on him. He grinned back. "Have sympathy they're going to be trained by Lee after I'm gone. It will be stressing, don't get me wrong, but not Gai and Lee's level of stressing."

"Understandable but don't go easy on them." Temari conceded. They stopped before a small apartment and Temari turned to them. "This is where you will be staying. Just go in and tell them you're from Konoha and you were sent here. They have a place ready for you. Be ready for seven tomorrow."

"Thank you for your kind accommodations Temari-sama." Jinta said as they began walking to the door. She could tell Kiba was rolling his eyes again. She'd admit the guy looked like he was sucking up to her.

"By the way Temari, where's Sanji?" Kiba asked suddenly turned back to her. The others continued without him, not that he minded.

"We had a stressing workout this morning so he's at home resting for a while." Temari answered as Kiba moved to stand before her.

"Oh, just wondering. We haven't seen him in a while." Kiba said speaking for both himself and Akamaru. "Or you really. Are you well?"

"Aww, you actually sound like you care." Temari said smiling at him. He rolled his eyes. He was doing that a lot today.

"Who says I don't?" he said before shaking his head. "I'll see you later."

"Really? You're gonna sneak in again?" Temari asked putting a hand on her hip.

"It's my Suna ritual now." he told her with a wave before slipping into the building. Every night for at least a week? The guy had nothing to do, Temari concluded. He poked his head through the door. "You look beautiful by the way."

"Shut up and go away." she retorted with a glare and he disappeared with a laugh. He really had nothing to do. He actually came back to tease her. What the hell? Calling her beautiful in the middle of the street, in broad daylight, out loud. Was he nuts?

"Temari are you ok? You're pink." Kankuro asked. Temari looked at him shocked. She couldn't possibly have been blushing, right?

"What are you doing here?" she asked getting over her initial shock.

"I was walking past and saw you just standing here." he answered visually examining her. She seemed a little flustered but otherwise fine. "Are you ok?"

"Um. Seeing the Konoha nins reminded me of my boo for a moment." she told him and she could see his brow furrow even under all the face paint. It was too far from the truth.

"Well that was a long moment." he commented after a long pause. "Be careful. Don't just zone out like that. It's not healthy."

"Yea. Sure." Temari said smiling at him. The smile soon became a teasing grin. "You love me. You care for me. You really love me."

"Shut up. You're my sister, I'm supposed to care. I'm leaving." he said and left before Temari had a chance to comment.

"Yea. He loves me." she muttered to herself with a smile. Now she had other things to do like report to Gaara and maybe help him with paperwork and make sure he ate something. She also had to go get Sanji since he should be done resting by now.

XXXXX

"It's official. Kids are trouble." Jinta commented darkly. The three Konoha nins had just returned from their first lessons and Jinta already looked slightly stressed. Kiba and Sasuke on the other hand looked perfectly fine.

"You gotta get them to respect you." Kiba advised and Jinta gave him a look. They were both seated on a bench near the training grounds where they had their classes. Sasuke was standing just close enough to be considered a part of the group. "You gotta show why you're here. Show that you got the power and strength to wipe all of them flat on their back in one go."

"So threaten them?"

"Or give them a healthy dose of killing intent." Kiba answered with a shrug. He was content to just run his hands through the fur of Akamaru's big head that was resting on his legs.

"I find that works very well." Sasuke offered. The two stared at him for a minute.

"No normal person would oppose you anyway." Kiba stated blankly and Jinta nodded in agreement. Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly in irritation.

"So you used intimidation?" Jinta asked returning to their conversation.

"Nope. I'm just a very likeable person." Kiba replied honestly.

"Ok… how does that help me?" Jinta asked and Kiba shrugged.

"Be yourself. The respect will come when you prove your knowledge and extensive use of nin-jutsu." Kiba reassured patting him on the back with a smile. Jinta gave him a doubtful look.

"You guys have such charisma." he groaned.

"It's not charisma it's damn good looks," Kiba told him with a devilish grin. Jinta was unimpressed. He was good looking too but people didn't immediately respect him like they did the other two. "But then maybe it is charisma too. Having an actual personality draws people."

"So I don't have a personality?"

"Yes, well no... No you don't really have one. You're very normal." Kiba told him and Sasuke had to resist rolling his eyes. Why were they even having this conversation? Why was he interested in this the why of it all?

Jinta looked thoughtful for a moment. His next statement was cut off by the call of an approaching figure. Akamaru raised his head off its resting place to greet the little golden ball that wasn't as little as he used to be. Said puppy was barrelling straight at them happily.

"Hey Sanji." Kiba greeted the puppy when he was free from Akamaru. He lifted the puppy onto his legs. "Wow, you're growing fast!"

"That's a cute little dog Temari-sama." Jinta commented when Temari got to them. She smiled at him after greeting Sasuke with the usual nod.

"Yea. He is."

"He's getting big fast." Kiba commented as he tickled Sanji. "It's possible that his parents or a parent was a big dog."

"Does that mean he'll end up being the size of Akamaru?" Temari asked wide eyed in horror. She'd have to buy a house if he ever got that big. "Akamaru is one huge dog."

Kiba laughed. "I doubt it. Akamaru is like that for a reason."

"What's the reason?" Temari asked and Kiba looked away from Sanji to look up at her.

"That's a secret." he grinned back. She shot him a playful glare before addressing all of them.

"How was your first lesson guys?"

XXXXXX

Temari knelt beside the swearing convulsing body. She wasn't sure if she should touch him. Worry and fear were drawn on her face. She didn't know what to do. He had been fine only a minute ago and now he was on the floor in extreme pain. He didn't even have a scratch. She called the aid of a passing ninja through the door of her apartment building's lobby.

"Call Kiba Inuzuka."