.
The First Shifting Grains
CADEL
CHAPTER 7
"Alright, that's enough you two, you can take a rest." Baki announced.
Both Temari and Kankuro huffed as they remain facing each other with their weapons of choice still at the ready, dust still settling around them in swirling clouds.
Kankuro lost twice and Temari lost twice, it was a draw.
Their sensei observe impassively as the pair fought it out and came to the conclusion that Temari and Kankuro knew each other offensive and defensive attacks too well, it was hard to gain an upper hand when they knew each other inside and out.
For Temari, it was frustrating being constantly attacked by Kankuro's charka wire and strings, her brother played sneakier than she did.
Kankuro on the other hand knew most of his sister's wind jutsu, but the sheer force of her attacks kept escalating against him.
"A draw again huh?" Temari commented while folding her war fan.
"Damn," Kankuro cursed while spitting the sand from mouth. "Hey sensei, can't I spar with you?"
The jounin turned to the young ninja. "Not until you've found a way to break through Temari's wind barriers."
"My puppets aren't made to resist that kind of force so directly; in the end I spend most of my time dodging." Kankuro explained.
"Then maybe that's something you should focus on. Your puppets are versatile purely due to their adaptable nature, as weapons, they can be upgraded and changed as you wish, which will always be an advantage over any kunai or shuriken." Baki elaborated. "And Temari you almost fell for his trap near the end but Kankuro's puppets couldn't evade your wind techniques that focuses on wide ranges, they simply aren't fast enough to evade your attacks."
Temari slipped her fan over her back and sighed.
"It doesn't matter if he can dodge my attacks or not, we always reach a draw when we have all-out ninjutsu battles." She brushed away the remaining dirt of her clothes, "Both Kankuro and I are long range fighters so we can only do so much fighting each other. Kankuro is stronger physically but I'm better in close combat so we cancel each other out again."
Baki nodded. "Then you'll have to have to deviate from each other. I expect both of you to begin enhancing whatever skills you specialise in but also find ways to play off each other strengths and weaknesses."
"Just wanna beat Temari the next time around, especially with a couple of upgrades I have in mind for Crow." Kankuro added as he pulled himself up from his previous sitting position and packing his puppet away.
"Not like you could," scoffed the blonde kunoichi. "Besides beating me isn't your main objective, like Baki-Sensei said, in battle you'll be my ally and I'll have to know your strengths and weaknesses to be able to fight smoothly alongside you, not against you."
"She's correct Kankuro, besides you can only control one puppet at a time, isn't that something you should be working on?" Baki added.
The young ninja grumbled something under his breath but nodded. "Yeah, I suppose."
The older jounin gave Gaara a quick glance and found him to be still seated in the same place a few metres away.
Baki had been taking note of Gaara's increasing turn ups to their training sessions. Temari and Kankuro also couldn't ignore the intense presence of their youngest brother, sitting silent and still for hours without twitching a muscle.
He was like their personal gargoyle.
Despite the talk of teamwork, it was never something that could be truly implemented into the Sand Sibling Team, due to the fact that their third teammate didn't understand the notion of teamwork. The fact that Gaara had even agreed to be placed within a team at all was nothing short of a small miracle.
Working with a Jinchuuriki was like working with a live fuse dangling over water. Eventually something will ignite the jinchuuriki's temper which will spark oblivion for all of them. All you could do was hope it'll be quick.
No doubt his puzzling behaviour was odder than usual and caused great discomfort. Baki on the other hand just kept a close eye on the boy, but he did no more than that.
"That'll be all for now." Baki began to walk away but stopped to inform them some news. "By the way, there will be some dignitaries visiting Suna today, I advise you to keep yourself well behaved and serve out your duties obediently. The Kazekage has important matters that need to be taken care of in the next two days, so it's vital nothing implicates his negotiations." The Jounin gave a quick glance towards Gaara.
Both Temari and Kankuro nodded. "Yes Sir."
"Good, you're dismissed for the day."
Both siblings quickly made their way in the opposite directions which was quickly followed by their sensei. But before Baki completely left the training ground he turned to Gaara and decided to test his luck.
"Gaara…" the Jinchuuriki turned his eyes towards his sensei. "Perhaps you should join in next time."
Nothing was said after that and student and teacher parted ways.
III
"I don't see why we have to do this…aren't there servants for these kind of things?" Kankuro grumbled distastefully as he watched the three noble sons speak briefly with their father and the Kazekage. "For god's sake, I'm a ninja, I should be training, not babysitting a bunch of stuck up nobles."
Temari couldn't agree more but decided she had to be the voice of reason.
"We're ninja, but unfortunately we're also the Kazekage's children and with that come our duties as hosts to visiting nobles and our stand as a proxy for father in political and social occasions. It's a bore but it can't be avoided."
"Fine," Kankuro crossed his arms petulantly. "But why do we have to be their tour guides when someone else can do it…better yet, when they can do it themselves?"
Temari sighed. "Look, all we have to do is show them a few sights and keep them preoccupied until father finishes negotiations."
Kankuro rolled his eyes and decided to mull over some knew designs for his puppets as they waited.
Both siblings had been hoping that they could spend their day off doing what they wanted after their morning session with Baki-Sensei. Unfortunately both of them had been summoned and informed that they'd be playing as companions and hosts to the three sons of the visiting noble from the south, both were not happy but knew that this was an unavoidable duty they had to perform. It was imperative that they didn't disappoint their father with something so simple.
It was only a few moments later that the visiting noble and his three sons approached the silently waiting siblings.
Temari and Kankuro gave a polite and formal bow to the nobles.
"Welcome to Sunagakure, we're glad you could visit us and we hope your stay here is will be comfortable." Temari greeted.
The four nobles bowed politely back and the father of the boys gave a critical look to both the siblings. "I hope you can show my sons your village for the remainder of the day. The Kazekage spoke of his children and what capable young ninjas they are." With a polite smile but a strong stare, he nodded once more. "I hope he is not wrong."
Kankuro picked up the silent threat behind the words but ignored it and nodded his head.
He was already hating it.
The noble gestured to the oldest of his sons who was a little older than Temari. "My oldest son is Tor."
A handsome young man bowed politely once more, his flowing robes and traditional long hat reflected vibrant silk blue in the sun. His face remained polite as he stared at the two siblings impassively.
"My second is Abu."
Another boy in equally fancy robes bowed and pushed up thin glasses up his nose bridge. He was rather prim looking and his clothes seemed to be perfectly pressed and wrapped over his body. He looked about fourteen years old.
The noble then turned to his youngest who looked about ten and moved him forward. "And this is my youngest son Rue."
The youngest gave a quick bow which was less controlled than his older siblings but he still remained poised and polite.
"I hope you will do well to look out for them as they explore your village." The noble stated with a smile. "Now, I must leave and continue our meeting, the Kazekage is waiting."
All three sons nodded as their father turned to leave and disappeared into the meeting hall.
There was a moment afterwards where nothing was said and Temari and Kankuro stared silently at the noble sons. Seeing as all the introductions were out of the way Temari thought it was best for them to begin. So far the three boys seemed compliant and quiet but the Sand Siblings realised that was not the case.
As soon as they left the main Kage Building, Temari found the oldest – Tor – suddenly removing his long hat and throwing it gracelessly at the blonde kunoichi. Temari caught on reflex but the condescending look Tor had suddenly subjected her too made her stop in her track.
"Carry my things," the oldest noble ordered like he expected no protest and threw his outer over-robe at her without bothering to look up. "And don't get them dirty."
"Wha –! I'm not carrying your clothes!" Temari growled. "I might be your tour guide for the day but ain't no maid, you got that?" she glared fiercely at the boy who was only a year older than her.
"I'm sorry but that's exactly what you are if I say so." He answered with a pompous sniff. "After all, you're female, that's what you useful for right? Submissive help and support."
Kankuro's eyebrows hit his hairline in disbelief.
For a moment Temari didn't know what to do with the sudden rage that stuck itself in her throat. Her fingers itched to carve her initials into his face with her kunai.
"Did you just call me a submissive female?"
The young man just raised a slender, aggravatingly long eyebrow and countered, "Do have problems hearing as well?"
Kankuro couldn't comprehend Tor's audacity. It was almost impressive how quickly he lost his sister's favour. The bastard didn't know how temperamental his sister could be, maybe he just didn't care. But he was definitely exploiting the fact that both Temari and Kankuro couldn't do a damn thing due to the delicate political nature of their meeting.
"Hey, carrying your own damn things. We don't give a fucking rat's ass about whether they get dirty or not. You've got arms, use them." Kankuro defended his sister.
The second son known as Abu snorted at the puppeteers comment and snidely remarked, "Huh, such language brother…they clearly have no manner these…desert barbarians." The boy pushed up his glasses while raising his chin up as he scanned Kankuro down like he was a vermin under his shoe. "And they're painfully unintelligent from what I can see."
Kankuro growled. "In a moment you won't be able to see at all. So keep talking."
The pairs of siblings stared at each other with varying degrees of disgust and contempt for a few moments till Temari gave a deep breath. She glared viciously at the sexist bastard and pasted a painfully forced smile.
"Alright, let's just get this damn thing over with." Temari gritted out. The kunoichi who was still clutching onto Tor's robes tucked them under her arm and began to turn around. "I'll just show you to your damn sleeping quarters, we'll start from there."
The two noble brothers turned their nose upwards and brushed rudely pass both Kankuro and Temari and walked ahead of them like they knew where they were going. Kankuro clutched onto his kunai with a dangerous need to cut something. Temari was feeling no different. But both sand siblings gave each other despairing looks when the two noble boys kept rudely pushing people out of the way, not a single shred of common courtesy in sight.
It was going to be a long day.
It only took them a few minutes to show the two boys the building where most of the visiting politicians and noble guests stayed overnight. Of course Tor couldn't help but comment on the lack of tasteful décor and Abu just kept mentioning how filthy everything was.
"Does everything have dust and dirt on it? I can barely find a decent place to walk let alone sleep." The middle son – Abu – drawled out distastefully as they walked around their temporary living quarters. "Doesn't anyone clean here?"
Temari gave then a flat look. "We live in a desert, of course there's dirt."
Abu sniffed looking unimpressed. "Yeah shows how smart your people are, who would want to live in the middle of dry desert anyway?"
Tor scoffed and glanced at Temari who was leaning against the wall with a disinterested look. "No, it seems this is the perfect environment for these common folk. I think they like it this way."
Kankuro rolled up his fists. "If you hate it so much then go sleep outside."
It was then that the youngest son – Rue – picked up a vase and smashed it on the floor. The sound of broken porcelain echoed painfully in the silence that followed.
The littlest noble kid just stared at the broken pieces with an abstract sort of fascination then looked up at the two sand siblings and gave a deceptively innocent smile. "Whoops…that wasn't expensive was it?"
The older two brothers snickered underneath there long robes sleeves.
"What the hell did you do brat!?" Kankuro growled as he stomped over to the little kid. "You don't go breaking other people's things!"
"It was an accident." The young boy answered simply.
"Accident my ass! You broke that on purpose you little inbred." The puppeteer grabbed Rue by his robes and continued to growl.
"I suggest you let go of our brother or we might just tell our father that you've been physically violent." Abu slyly commented while pushing his glasses up his nose bridge. "I can only imagine what that could do to the delicate negotiations the Kazekage has obviously been planning. Don't want to tell daddy that you've been misbehaving right?"
Kankuro baulked at the audacity of Abu's threat and practically flew of the handle. But before he could, Temari quickly held up her hand to stop him from going any further.
"Don't bother Kankuro." She gave the two boys an acidic look. "They won't be here much longer anyways."
III
Gaara had placed a lot of faith in the hope that eventually he'd find a way to get back to his timeline.
After all he couldn't stay here. This wasn't where he belonged and the very idea that his people were somewhere, without their leader, in the middle of a losing war, practically had Gaara wringing his hands with worry. The guilt of unintentionally abandoning his duty as Kazekage made the jinchuuriki pay acute attention to the present Sunagakure. Subconsciously, maybe he was trying to make up for his absence in the original timeline.
That was how Gaara came to sneaking about in the central building.
The russet haired genin walked into the Kage building, ignoring the surreptitious glances thrown his way and headed to where the meeting was taking place.
Gaara decided he would investigate.
The room his father and the noble of the South were currently being occupied in wasn't guarded, but there were seals in place that restricted anyone from entering. That didn't matter, Gaara knew the office well.
The genin extended some of his sand into the old closed-off vents that were no longer in use and used his chakra to extend his hearing like he did in the Chūnin exams with his eyes.
It took a moment of steady breathing for Gaara to not react to the low and commanding voice which he recognised belonged to his late father.
He had forgotten what the man's voice sounded like but couldn't quite place whether he missed his father or not.
Gaara's relationship with the Fourth Kazekage was complex at best. From wanting his father's love and attention when he was younger, to wanting his blood when he grew older, Gaara never liked to dwell on the man very much. The Fourth was never much of parent to Gaara, but the jinchuuriki acknowledged that his father had been placed in a difficult position in regards to his duty to his village and his duty to his family. It was not always easy to pick one over the other.
Kage's did not have that luxury. Gaara only understood that when he became one.
As Gaara grew older and realised that the world didn't always consist of straight answers, he had come to accept that his father did love him…it was abstract and incredibly distant but he did. And so did his mother. It was a shame that Gaara only found out after his father died.
It was strange to know, that the man that caused the most powerful rifts and impact on his life was sitting just on the other side of the wall.
Shaking his thoughts away, the young genin listened into their conversation.
Turns out it was a simple contracted arrangement for the city in south to split their loyalties to both Sunagakure and Konohagakure in equal shares.
Ninjas would be hired-out for their services and in return, the village gets a steady flow of money from the commissioners. This was the how all hidden villages functioned.
Gaara was aware that Suna's financial and economic status was plummeting, especially when clients began to turn towards Konoha for ninja support after the third shinobi war. It didn't do Suna's relationship with the Village of the Leaf any favours, which was only held onto by a weak treaty.
Gaara stopped eavesdropping and turn away with a sigh.
It was because of the delicate nature of Suna's military and economic status that had reduced his father into teaming up with Oto in the first place. Resentment had grown towards Konoha, festering like a rotting wound lathered in salt when they kept losing client after client.
So many reasons, so many catalysts that made the future that Gaara knew come to existence.
The idea of mucking around with the flow of things greatly frightened Gaara as he realised being in the past was something akin to dancing on a floor of glass, dangling sixty metres in the air. Something was bound to break.
"Gaara, what are you doing here?"
The jinchuuriki quickly glanced over to the side and saw Baki-sensei standing with a stack of folders in his hands. The older man gave an inquisitive stare as Gaara stood oddly near the door of the meeting room. The jounin spied a slither of sand hover lightly around Gaara's toes but it quickly disappeared.
"Was there something you wanted?" the question came out a little awkward. "It's probably not best for you to be here at the mo – "
The door to the meeting room opened and the Kazekage and the noble from the South strolled calmly out only to find Gaara and Baki in their way.
"Baki-san you retrieved the documents that I needed?" asked the Kazekage in a low, even voice.
Baki quickly bowed towards both of them and answered. "Yes sir, I'll be leaving them on your table." He glanced over to the jinchuuriki who was standing with his eyes trained solely on his father.
The Kazekage moved his eyes towards his youngest son. The child was still staring at him with unnerving intensity. "Gaara."
The boy shifted his glance towards the man next to his father and nodded absently to both of them and none of them at the same time.
"Ah, so this must be your other son Kazekage-sama." The noble patriarch gave a quick look over and gave a polite bow to the boy. "He is almost the same age as my youngest son, Rue."
The Kazekage looked calm but Baki could see that he was beginning to feel uncomfortable by the close proximity the noble was breaching towards Gaara. "Yes, I believe Gaara is a year older than yours."
"So young and already and ninja in his own right, you must be proud of all your children." The noble added with a polite tone.
Baki noted that the air around had turned stifling and uncomfortable but for once it wasn't because of Gaara.
The Kazekage took some of the folders from Baki's arm and nodded with a simple, "Yes."
The noble watched the red-haired boy with a little bit of curiosity. It didn't escape his notice that the child wasn't with his siblings this morning and that he was probably the jinchuuriki he had been informed about before he arrived to Suna.
The Noble didn't exactly understand these hidden villages but he knew enough that the boy was considered a weapon. Looking at the small child now, the noble found himself staring at pale dew coloured eyes that bore into his own without the slightest hint of interest in return.
How curious that this 'weapon' he had heard of was so small and a lot more subdue than he had expected from the brief description he was given about the boy. He was half expecting horns and fangs from the way his guards talked about him with such fear.
Without a note of warning, sand flew up and shot towards the noble's head.
Instantly both the Kazekage and Baki had their hands drew out their weapons while sorting out their minds from the sudden change of events.
Baki didn't know what he was particularly expecting but his guess about Gaara's next move tilted towards homicide more often than not. But it only took a moment to realise that nothing had happened. The noble was still standing unharmed next to the Kazekage.
A clump of hovering sand was fisted into a small ball next to the noble's ear. Gaara slowly retracted the sand away from the noble's head then slowly opened it, revealing a small insect cocooned in the middle.
Baki blinked at the creature. It was a wasp.
The noble who was a little alarmed by the abrupt movement of the sand slowly relaxed then turned to Gaara with unexplained gratitude.
"Arigato." His words were genuinely thankful. "I'm highly allergic to wasp and bee stings, it's a good thing the boy caught it."
Gaara paid no attention to the man and quickly released the creature through an open portal in the hallway. Without acknowledging any of them the genin slowly walked pass Baki, the noble and his father and left them watching his back as he walked away.
The Kazekage's eyes lingered a second longer on his son's retreating figure and turned back into his office.
III
For the last couple of hours, Temari and Kankuro had to endure the three noble brothers and their planet sized egos.
Tor was handsome, but that about as far as anything appealing about him went.
He had a superiority complex so extreme it bordered on the ludicrous. His disregard anything that didn't affect him directly, asides from his brothers and seemed to have a particularly strong dislike towards Temari and her less-than-docile, no-nonsense personality. Tor also took it as a personal offence that Temari didn't react positively to his attractiveness – in his opinion. She barely noticed his appearance and found nothing remotely appealing about him face.
If anything, she remarked that Tor was a 'particularly hideous breed of mutt that she wouldn't sell to the devil to wipe his ass on'.
The hate between them was deliciously mutual.
Abu was a little nerdy 'know-it-all' according to Kankuro. He had a compulsive need to find faults and flaws in everything under the sun. He was impossible to please and was crazy about hygiene and a lot of his comments were directed towards Kankuro more often than not. He made no attempt to hide his disdain for their lack of wealth as well.
Kankuro marvel at his level of pain tolerance – because being around both Tor and Abu was definitely a form of psychological torture.
Perhaps the most horrible thing about the day was that their last source of horror. The youngest noble son.
Rue was a nightmare.
He was the epitome of how horrible a child could be – uncontrollable, cheeky, two-faced and sadistically craved attention in the worst ways possible. Rue was chaos wrapped in silk robes on crack.
Temari had to apologize to several angry villagers for their missing vegetables, their misplaced vases and broken merchandises. Some of the owners of the food stalls found their batches of pastries and dried fruit covered in dirt and sometimes even worms. Kankuro and Temari didn't even know how Rue was doing half the pranks, but it became a second job to keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour.
Of course the siblings didn't expect Tor and Abu to stop their youngest brother, in fact they indirectly supported his delinquency by laughing at his behaviour and snickering at Temari and Kankuro's ever increasing irritation.
By the time it was afternoon, Kankuro had developed a nervous tick on his forehead and Temari was reciting the ninja academy rule book backwards in order to stay calm.
They were by no means pushovers, but there wasn't much they could do except handle damage control. And as much Kankuro wanted to stab them with his kunai, he knew that would be a political 'no-no'. But they were reaching their limit.
"I'm hungry, go get food." Tor ordered as he picked the dirt out of his fingernails.
Neither Temari nor Kankuro moved.
They both gave him a look dripping with so much disdain, that it could rival Gaara's bitchface. They dared him to ask again.
Unfortunately he did.
"Hurry and do as you're told, you're here to aid us, so do your jobs ninja."
The last word was dripping with derision and mockery.
Kankuro suddenly went still.
Temari eyed her brother wearily.
He then went over to a stall of bread rolls, picked up two and inspected them with absurd concentration.
The puppeteer squeezed it, feeling its girth and hardness and after a moment he nodded, satisfied with what he found.
Then with violent force, he promptly pelted both rolls at Tor's head.
Tor found his left eye being suddenly pushed back into his sockets by hard bit of bread and then stumbled when the other hit his nose.
The face-painted genin scowled. "There's your food your highness! The next one's going up your –"
"Kankuro!" Temari hissed despite the fact that she wasn't overly upset by his behaviour.
"If you're hungry go eat the bread off the ground." Kankuro crossed his arms and scowled. "I've seen missing-nin more 'noble' than you three. You guys are a joke."
Tor stood up from his previous hunch and brushed away the bread crumbs from his cheek. He stared coldly at the two genin before him, his face going red and his words coming out in an indignant squeak.
"You really want to spoil your father's plans that badly?" he gave a low laugh. "Keep at what you're doing and we'll see how far your precious Suna will get with this treaty. I'll make sure you and your precious village won't get a single commissioner from our city, I can only imagine how disappointed your father will be."
Kankuro was still seething but a small trickle of worry began to invade his wall of anger.
The Kazekage had stressed the importance of always maintaining a civil and polite façade in front official guest, no matter how irritating or condescending they could be. He had been trained for this, but his temper always tore away his reason.
With clenched fists Kankuro snarled at Tor and gritted out, "You wouldn't jeopardise your own father's plans."
Tor snorted. "My father has less to lose than yours. The Kazekage needs this more than we do, we hold all the cards, and you don't."
Temari watched with tension and knew what the boy said was half true. Being the oldest, Temari had become aware that Suna wasn't as prosperous as it used to be and she knew her father had been trying to establish Sunagakure back on the map.
She wished for the day to end, the way she wished for rain.
Temari placed a firm hand on her brother's shoulder and gripped it tight.
"Enough of this." The kunoichi looked over at the other two boys and put on a neutral façade. "If you're hungry, you'll be served with proper care back in your living quarters. The servants of our house are more than adequate to meet your every need." She glanced over to her brother who was still gritting his teeth. "This tour is over."
Tor and Abu turned up their noses at the same time but seemed pleased with the outcome of the argument.
Temari knew that they couldn't risk ruining their father plans and they couldn't take the noble brother's bait, they were ninja, they were better than that.
But it seemed her plans to endure this for the sake of their father came crashing down when Abu pushed up his glasses and said, "Where's Rue?"
All four of them glanced around them and found that the youngest noble son was indeed missing.
For the first time, Kankuro and Temari witnessed Tor and Abu actually shift from arrogant to genuine concern. Abu glanced at the stalls and shelters to see if Rue was hiding and Tor called out his brother's name repeatedly.
The sand sibling also helped but only because a missing Rue meant they had no idea what kind of trouble the little devil-spawn might cause.
One minute later, their search came to an abrupt end when they heard him scream.
All four of them ran towards the corner street and found that they didn't need to search for Rue anymore.
The small boy was lying on the dirt floor completely still and motionless. A small trickle of blood ran slowly down his brow, speckling his robes with crimson stains that looked garish on white silk.
But Kankuro and Temari practically ignored the prone boy and blanched as they noticed a thin cloud of sand hovering over his body, like a blanket of gold, each grain grazing lighting against his skin.
Rue was laying at the feet of none other than Suna's Jinchuuriki, Sabaku no Gaara.
.
A/N: I apologize for the late update, I've been ill for the last few weeks. But through watery eyes and an impressive amount of snot-covered tissue, I dug out this chapter for you guys. Thank you for being so patient.
The names of the noble brothers: Tor – Abu – Rue is derived from 'toraburu' which is the Japanese way of pronouncing the English word 'trouble'.
Yours utterly faithfully,
CADEL
[EDITED – 4 APRIL 2015]