"I forgot about my birthday, I've been so busy with paperwork and my duties as Kazekage ..I.. I completely forgot my own birthday" Gaara was finishing his sentence when.. he was genuinely surprised by the waiters who brought out the cake Temari had requested. Gaara was blushing, a little embarrassed but was smiling his rare smile that Temari and Kankuro were privileged to see.

Gaara hadn't always been the best behaved brother, since he was corrupted at a young age and was always isolated from his siblings, Temari in particular.

- -memory flashback- -

Kankuro had been allowed to be around Gaara but most times he knew Kankuro was scared of him because of the rumours he heard from the local children of the village. When Gaara tried a few times to reach his older brother only sometimes would he succeed to do so and would be undeniably happy. They would simply play together, silently side by side at the playground by the palace.

On one occasion when they were a little older Kankuro caught Gaara trying to steal a piece of jewellery. When Kankuro asked Gaara about it Gaara told him he wanted to give the necklace to Kankuro to give to Temari as a peace offering. He believed his father's words that Temari never wanted to see him, because he killed her mother and she wanted to kill him herself. In spite of this he wanted to reach her, desperately he did.

Kankuro acted as the older brother for the first time and felt really good about being the middle child, he apologized to the store keeper and handed over his entire allowance for this little piece of jewellery that had such an emotional impact on Gaara. As he returned to Gaara, he looked at the pendant. It really was just a simple piece, nothing special. He saw the aqua butterfly and then saw a tiny red hearts on the wings and an inscription that read "Forever". Gaara's eyes lit up instantly when he saw his brother with the pendant, however unknown to Kankuro this was the last time he would see his brother Gaara with such genuine kindness, for years to come.

As they walked towards the palace where they all lived, Gaara asked Kankuro why Temari was never allowed to spend time with him to which Kankuro had no answer. He never saw his sister either; she never wanted to leave her room. He was saddened by the fact he really didn't know much about her himself, although he remembered seeing her, only once.

Two years ago he had just turned five years old and the day had begun like every other day and Kankuro had returned from pre-school, as he walked inside the palace putting his bag away in the hallway he saw her. She was trying to run towards him. "K-Kankuro" was all he could hear, her voice was unfamiliar to him because he had never heard or see her before and why was she crying?

He has stood in place motionless, he didn't know what was what and before he could reach out to her she was snatched away by their father and taken away, her sobbing eventually fading into nothingness. He never understood what had happened but that image of her stained his mind.

Kankuro decided not to share this even with Gaara fearing it could upset him as he realized they had made it home. Gaara wanted to go meet up with their uncle Yashamaru made Kankuro pinky swear to give the necklace to Temari himself and to tell her it was from her brothers Gaara and Kankuro. He headed towards the front gate and that's when he saw her. His sister was sitting by her closed bedroom window staring at the sky. He ran inside and up the stairs and all the way down the long hallway to her bedroom door.

Trying to catch his breath he asked for permission to enter her room.

"s-STAY AWAY!" was all he heard from her.

Kankuro was surprised at her reaction. He felt angry and decided to fulfil the promise he had made Gaara, regardless of how Temari was treating him.

Kankuro let himself in and was a little startled to find the lights off and the sight of Temari on the floor huddled in the corner. She had drawn the curtain across messily leaving a small gap that let the moonlight peek through, did she like this darkness? He closed the door and noticed through the small gap, a lock on her window and wondered why that was there.

"Temari-chan, I'm sorry to enter your room without your permission but I wante...no I was asked to give you this little gift, it's from me and Gaara and we want you to know we are here when you need us".

He put the unwrapped pendant on her bed and turned to leave when he heard Temari let out a tiny almost unheard sob. Kankuro stopped suddenly, then turned and walked all the way towards her. He leaned down to her on the ground and pulled her into an embrace.

It happened without him thinking or even knowing what he was doing, when he heard Temari crying so weakly something inside of him snapped. He didn't care that this was a sister he hardly knew, he didn't care that she never seemed to bother with him or Gaara, he didn't care about her until that second.

When Kankuro had hugged her he felt she was skin and bones and he heard a chain rattling, he looked back to the floor to see that Temari's ankle was chained to the floor and only had enough chain to move to her window and back to her space on the floor by her bed. She had been trying to hide the chain from Kankuro but what for reason he wondered to himself.

Kankuro was confused; surely this wasn't what his own father would do this his own child?

"Thank you." Temari spoke weakly; her messy hair down covered every bit of her face.

"You must leave me now..father will be coming"

When Kankuro reached in closer to Temari he gently brushed away her hair only to be shocked to see that Temari didn't look anything like he remembered her to be. She was not only undernourished but she was bruised all over her face and had crusted lips and her eyes were near to lifeless, only a tiny sparkle of this girl remained and Kankuro felt the guilt of being the only brother who didn't seem to have any difficulties being himself.

"Where's the key Temari-chan?" he asked Temari placing his hands on her hollow shoulders.

"Please hide now..Daddy's here"

At that moment the door was opened and Kankuro for the first time in his life, was frozen still, petrified with fear.

- - end - -

As Gaara blew out all the candles Kankuro asked him again what he wanted for his birthday present.

"I want to see our allies in Konoha with you and Temari and I want us to watch the Eclipse together".

Temari was stunned "Uh. Okay."

Kankuro looked like such a fool with his mouth wide open and his piece of cake that he had forked up into his spoon dropped onto the plate. Hysterical Temari, Gaara and Kankuro laughed themselves silly until they were reminded to act appropriately within the restaurant.

"Oops, sorry" Kankuro apologized on their behalf.

"So it's been decided then? We're visiting Konoha together?" Gaara asked with determination in his voice. Temari and Kankuro nodded their heads simultaneously agreeing at the same time.

"We're leaving first thing tomorrow and we'll reach Konoha by Friday morning."

Temari found herself wondering what that lazy boy Nara had been up to. They had gotten closer to each other over the years and Shikamaru had become somewhat important to her and she wasn't sure why but she was thinking about him more frequently and it truth it annoyed her. She quickly deserted her pondering and paid for the dinner and walked home side by side with her siblings, hand in hand.