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Chapter III: Temari

CRASH!

Temari watched the drink slide down the peach colored wall before turning her attention to the now shattered glass on the floor. She put her hands on her head and sat in silence in front of a small coffee table that occupied a corner of her room. He was gone. He was finally gone, but it lacked the finality that she hoped for.

She was certain that she would feel different about this. She was certain that she would feel relieved, happy, or in the very least the knot in her stomach whenever he was in her thought process would leave. Now, the feeling was worse. She felt empty. As if Orochimaru pulled the floor from underneath her and left her to fall. Temari chuckled to herself.

"What am I doing? I almost started crying. Since when was the last time I cried? Probably when Mom died." Temari shifted her focus back to the broken pieces of glass on the floor. She sighed deeply.

"I guess I should clean that up." Temari pushed herself away from the table and walked over to the giant mess that she made. Temper was always a weak point for Temari. She was sure she got that from her father. He was never the most patient person, especially when it came to training. His training regimes were always rough saying that "as the Kazekage's child you should be powerful." He did not accept failure or a lackadaisical performance on the training field. A bright spot though was the fan that she bore in battle was commissioned to be made by her father saying that the fan was fitting for her and that a great warrior from Sunagakure's past wielded a similar weapon to perfection. He was right; the weapon soon became a part of her.

Still, that didn't make her feel as though she should be sad over her father's untimely death. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as she dumped the glass and wet rag into the trash can. Staring at the room, one thing was clear, it was clean. Not a thing was disorganized or out of place.

Temari rolled her eyes at herself; she was such a neat freak, yet another trait of her father. He never had things in disarray, and instilled in her that everything had its place. However, when she looked in the mirror, all she saw was her mother, Karura.

The facial features and the eyes were clearly from her mother. Her personality was clearly from her father. Temari shrugged. "That's how it's supposed to be, right? Everyone shares traits from both parents." Her eyes narrowed. Temari loved her mother deeply. She remembered every day going out and growing different plants with her mother, something that she continues to this day. A small smile showed as she turned toward the window where two small shrubs in a plain clay pot rested. She walked over and stared at the plants for a moment, thinking of all the good moments with her mother.

Still, as with everything else, her father prevented her from being completely happy with every memory of her mother. She thought back to just before Gaara was born. When she was younger, she used to be nosy and listen to her parents conversations through the door. On occasion, the door would be cracked so she could see. Unfortunately this was the one time she wished she minded her own business.

"You WILL give birth to the Shukaku." The Kazekage's voice was rough, catching his wife off-guard. She bit her lip before screaming back.

"This is our CHILD! You can't do something like this. You can't curse our son to share the same fate as you." Karura pointed an accusing finger at another man standing beside the Kazekage. He was old, the wrinkles on his face scrunched up even more as he glared at the accusing finger before releasing a dry, hacking cough that showed that he didn't have much time left alive.

"Your son must become a Jinchuriki. It is the rule that the Jinchuriki must be someone of close relation to the Kazekage and his family. His son is the perfect candidate. Karura placed a protective hand on her growing belly.

"No! He doesn't want that. Gaara doesn't want that. Please don't do it," Karura's voice became more frantic. She turned to the older woman on the other side of the Kazekage. "Lady Chiyo, please, help me. Don't do this to him. Seal it inside me."

Chiyo shifted her eyes to the floor. "That's not possible." She said in a voice barely audible. "It must be a child. It's for the village. Please try to understand."

"Understand? I understand that Gaara means nothing to you except to be used as a tool." Karura looked at her husband's cold eyes and saw no wavering in them. "Please," she mumbled as she stepped backwards, cornering herself into the far right corner of the room, the hand never leaving her baby. The look of fear in her eyes was a look that Temari would never forget as long as she lived.

"Don't make this difficult," the Jinchuriki said as the two men walked slowly toward her. "I have already resigned to my fate; you should do the same." Chiyo began making hand signs as a strange chakra began surrounding her entire body.

Tears began streaking down Karura's eyes. "Please don't do this," she mumbled. "Please!" Karura yelled.

Temari ran at that point with the sound of his mother's sobs ringing in her ears.

She had to fight back tears now. Nothing hurts more than to watch your mother suffer at the hands of your father. It made it even worse when she died later. She can never forgive him for that. Ever since that point, Temari became a mother to Kankuro. She knew that she needed to be. She started becoming a bit more bossy, a bit more demanding, a bit more concerned with her brother's well-being. Just overall more motherly. They certainly weren't going to find love from their father. Temari tried as hard as she could to get closer to Gaara. At first, she made some connections with him, but she was always, always intimidated of him. Overtime, that fear became so overwhelming that she simply shunned Gaara all-together. Soon she saw something change in Gaara. Something so terrible that it warped him completely. The sand became his mother, and her brother became a murderer. It got so bad that their father had to kill his son.

Temari grit her teeth together. Not simply in hate of her father's actions, but the fact that she was so afraid to approach Gaara. In fact, she still was. Everything about him makes her uneasy, and she still remains on her guard around him. She thought about how Gaara had changed after that Uzumaki kid beat him. She was still in disbelief that he lost, and even more in disbelief that Gaara apologized. Apologizing was the last thing he expected Gaara to do.

"I hope that this change is real. I can't stay on-guard like this forever." As much as she wanted to believe, she couldn't shake what Kankuro said:

"I can't believe you find it so easy to forgive him, Temari. He's a monster. One wrong move, and you're dead. Do you honestly expect me to forgive him because he said 'I'm sorry' after getting his butt handed to him by that Uzumaki kid? No. Brother or not, I know what he really is. It's time for you to wake up and see that too."

Kankuro was right to an extent. Temari has not forgiven him yet, however, she wants to try to repair the shattered relationship. Is it possible? Probably not, but it was worth hoping.

"Yeah right. If that happens, I'll go to Konoha and find that kid and kiss his feet and crown him Hokage or whatever he was babbling about." It was true. She wanted three of them together, because in all honesty all they had was each other.

She looked out the window and stared at the sandstorm outside. It was getting pretty bad outside. A part of her was wondering if Gaara was causing it.


A/N: Sorry for the long layoff College is rough. Anyway, here is the third chapter. This section is for Temari. Gaara is next. So let me know your thoughts. Leave a review and let me know what you like or don't like. It gives me incentive not to go on a year-long hiatus again. Until next time.