Title says it all. Well, not really, since it's not technically seeing...Anyways, I was originally going to have a scene like this in the oneshot before this but that one ended up going a different way so it ended up here in the next one. The Kazekage finally makes his appearance in this one. I'm not entirely sure of his personality so I gave him as little speaking and actions as I could to try and keep him in-character, though it's hard to know if it worked since I don't exactly know how he is when he's acutally in-character. Hopefully I managed.

The Monster Appears

To say Temari was nervous was an understatement. She was completely terrified.

She, Gaara, and Kankuro had always wanted to see what the world outside Suna was like, so the night before they had snuck out. It wasn't easy for three children to sneak past all the guards, but somehow they had managed. Or maybe they had just gotten lucky. But either way, they had managed to make it to the world outside Suna. It was...sandy. There was sand everywhere, sand, sand, and more sand. It was certainly not what Temari or her brothers had been expecting. But it was still the outside world, and they had enjoyed every moment of being there.

Until one of their father's close body guards had found them. And as soon as they were brought back to their home, they were ordered to see their father right away.

Their father had never been much of a father. At least their mother, or what Temari could remember of her, was kind, loving, and understanding. Their father was none of those things. He was cold, cruel, and heartless. He gave them all beatings on regular occasions, especially Temari for not being able to control their 'bad behaviour', as well as the fact that she was the oldest. Though Temari suspected he gave at least almost as many beatings to Gaara in private. He had always harboured a strong hatred for her poor little brother that she could not understand.

But maybe it had something to do with the time Gaara had nearly been killed almost a year ago...

"Kazekage, I have brought your children like you asked," the man escorting them said.

"...Enter."

The man opened the door and ushered the three in, before closing it behind him. "Thank you, Lord Kazekage," he said, bowing in respect.

Temari and her brothers sat before the Kazekage, their father. She could feel herself shaking with fear, but she forced herself to look up at him. He was dressed in his usual Kazekage attire, blue and white robes with a hat to match, and his face almost completely hidden except for his eyes. He stared at the three of them in turn, before his gaze rested on Temari.

"Why did you allow your younger brothers to go outside of Suna?"

Temari winced. His voice was quiet, but she knew it was just the calm before the storm.

"They wanted to see the outside world...we all did." Much as her brothers, or rather just Kankuro, could annoy her at times, she wouldn't blame it all on them. Even if she was the oldest, and therefore to blame for any decisions her brothers made according to their father, she knew he would beat them brutally for it being their choice. Though there was also the chance she would be beaten twice as hard for blaming it on them.

But that didn't matter, because she had taken the blame, even if it was in the form of all of them being at fault. That meant her father would most likely only beat her, maybe her brothers just a little, which meant they were safe and she would take the beatings meant for them. She wasn't willing to let their father hurt her little brothers, even if it meant she had to be injured for their sake.

"...I see." Their father's answer was short. Meaning talking time was over, and he would get on with the beatings. Or hopefully just beating.

It was silent for one moment, two, three...Then out of nowhere Temari was struck. The Kazekage had moved so fast no one would have realized he had moved at all had it not been for Temari's now red cheek where he had struck her. She placed her hand over the wound gingerly, trying not to look like it bothered her so her brothers wouldn't worry. But it made no difference; she had been struck, and they had seen it.

While Kankuro thankfully remained silent, Gaara spoke up in Temari's defence. "You have no right to hit Temari like that!"

What on earth was Gaara thinking? Standing up against their father like that, he would be beaten for sure! Temari couldn't stand the thought of her brother being injured like that, so she quickly intervened. "He didn't mean that, Father, he was only—"

"Silence!"

The command was hissed, almost unable to be heard, but as soon as it had escaped the Kazekage's lips everything in the room seemed to stand still. Daring to look up at her father, Temari could see he was fuming. She quickly looked down again, afraid he might kill her simply by glaring.

"How dare you speak to the Kazekage like that?" the guard demanded in a strained whisper. His fingers inched toward his katana. "For such an unforgivable crime, the only suitable punishment—IS DEATH!"

The guard charged at Gaara too quickly for Temari to react. But there was no need; Gaara's sand protected him from the blow. It slowly spiralled up the katana, getting a good grip on it, as Gaara stood up.

"The only one who will die here...is you."

After Gaara finished his statement, Temari saw something horrible, much worse than the look she had seen in her youngest brother's eyes a year before. The sand began to form around Gaara, and his face took on a more beast-like form. With his strangely yellow eyes, he looked like some kind of monster...

In one, cruel blow it was all over. Gaara crushed the man, and his body fell limply to the ground. He didn't get up again.

Gaara reverted to his normal form, and left the room without a word. Temari could only stare in shock. That...thing...was her brother?

No...it wasn't. In some way she knew that whoever or whatever the thing that looked like Gaara was, it certainly wasn't her brother. Somehow the appearance of that creature had signified her brother was gone...Disappeared to somewhere she could never hope to reach...

One of her brothers was gone. And she would do everything in her power to make sure that monster never took her other brother.

Her mother had died, her father was a heartless man, and her youngest brother had disappeared.

Kankuro was all she had left.