Chapter 10 Part 2

I woke up the next morning back in my tent. I started at the walls, trying to remember what all had happened last night. I remembered quickly my nightmare, my stupid run though the forest, and falling asleep next to Gaara at the fireside. I gave a small, sad smile and got up, feeling the pain flow though my ankle in throbbing waves. I winced for minute, then got up and made my way out of my tent.

Like usual, the three siblings were already awake and sitting by the fire, drinking their small cup of tea while they all sat silently. I made my way over to them, giving a small, bleak smile as Kankuro handed me a cup of tea.

"Well, it may take us a little longer to get back since it rained pretty badly during part of the night. We should get going before any cranky people make any more 'comments'." He said, staring directly at Gaara.

Gaara just threw him an icy look and decided not to say anything, which was of course the wisest decision he could make. Temari just shook her head and muttered something about boys being worse than girls on their 'happy' week, but then she was gone to tidy up her tent. I put my cup down on the ground beside me and went to tidy up my stuff as well. After the tents were packed up, we set off down the path back to the Sand.

I walked beside Temari, who watched her two brothers with her judgmental eyes. Kankuro walked in the center of our group, eying Gaara's back with unusual paranoia. Gaara, of course, was oblivious to all of us as he walked at his brisk pace. I had a feeling that this all had to do with what had happened last night at the fireside and our little talk in Konoha.

"Hey, Temari?" I asked quietly.

"What?" She asked somewhat irritably as she turned back around to face me.

"I was just wondering what happened last night after I went to bed. Everyone seems pretty.. unhappy."

"Oh, that." She said, rolling her eyes. "Well, you left and then Kankuro just exploded on Gaara. He just went up and picked him up by the collar and stared at him, and he was really pissed off. Gaara just looked at him, and Kankuro said, 'If you ever make her cry again, I'll break your neck, no matter what the heck Esther is going to do to me when she finds out. How dare you insult her when she did nothing wrong.'"

"Really?" I squeaked, looking between the two brothers. Uh oh. Was I causing some sparks between the two of them or what? Oh merde..

She nodded her head. "I finally had to break the two of them apart, and Kankuro just stared back at Gaara and was like ' You know things are different now that she's back. Some pretending that you can push her away like a piece of clothing and hide away in that shell you've been living in all your life and get up and act like a man before she's gone for good.' Gaara of course, just sat there, and finally told me to leave because I would be cranky if I didn't get to sleep soon. Whatever you are to them is a puzzle to me, and it's bothering me."

"Yeah.. Sorry." I said, casting my eyes downward.

"It's not your fault. How could you know that the two of them were having a problem? They're guys and they'll get over it soon enough." She said, patting me on the shoulder.

Ha. I did know the reason why they were fighting, and the reason was me. If they got over it soon enough, it would be a miracle. Since it was so deep, though, I had a feeling that the sparks between them wouldn't die out that quickly.

We continued to walk, and the weather continued to get hotter as we approached the desert land. I felt the pain throb through my ankle from time to time, but I learned to ignore it, because I was in mood to be in anymore pain. As we were walking in the mid afternoon, I was sweating pretty badly, and I started to feel a little faint. I thought about stopping, but decided to keep on moving. My legs had other ideas though. I finally crumpled with a wave of pain from my leg and I fell to the ground with a small thud.

Temari turned back slightly, thinking that I had hit a small rock with my foot or something, but realized that I was sitting on the ground, breathing loudly and holding my leg. She ran back to me, and crouched down beside me, her eyes holding sparks of worry.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked, reaching to feel my forehead.

I shook my head, because I felt like I couldn't speak. My stomach started to churn and I spewed my lunch all across the path behind me. My ankle was throbbing and my throat felt parched. Temari just held my shoulders to steady me, as she called to her brothers.

"Hey guys, we need to stop! Esther's not well." She called loudly, making both guys turn their head quickly.

Kankuro rushed over to where we were sitting on the path and squatted beside Temari. He took one look at me and shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he picked me up like a bag of straw and mover me to a tree not far from the path.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, looking me over with a frown.

"Yeah. I just got light headed and had to sit down for a second." I said, trying to get up.

"Not so fast." He said, making me relax against the tree again. "We're not in any rush. Just take a breather. Why didn't you just tell one of us that you weren't feeling well?"

"It was all of a sudden. My leg started hurting-" I stopped myself short, realizing that I had said too much.

Temari and him both looked down at my legs and Temari took off both of my boots. They finally saw that my left ankle was bandaged and they both turned their head back to Gaara, who was standing right behind Temari, his arms crossed.

"What?" He asked, staring back at his siblings.

Kankuro got up. "You. Did you do this to her?"

"Hardly." He replied, keeping his steady gaze on cat man. "She's a natural klutz, so she-"

"Don't give me this crap!" Kankuro said, clutching his tunic. "You did do this! Why of all the low down things you could do to her while we were asleep, I'd-"

"Stop!" I cried, making both of them stop in their tracks. "It really was my fault. I went to the bathroom last night and I tipped over a tree root and sprained my ankle. I was lucky that Gaara was up to help me bandage it up. Please, stop fighting."

It wasn't the entire truth, but it was enough to prove that Gaara didn't hurt me. I really didn't want anyone to know about my little nightmare and my run through the forest. I just wanted everything to be fine and happy again.

Kankuro just stared at me for a minute, then let go of Gaara. Gaara just looked at me for a second, then took a few steps back as Kankuro got closer to me. Whatever he was thinking, he had the wise idea to keep it for himself.

"I believe you, but if he really does anything to hurt you, just let me know, and I'll be there in a second to whoop his little prideful butt."

"Gaara would never do anything to hurt me. He's not the monster you think that he is." I said coldly.

Temari just stared at me, then at Kankuro, then back at Gaara. She was thinking about how all the pieces of the puzzle came together, but in the end, she just sighed and got up from her spot in the grass. If she did figure it out, hooray for her, but it still wouldn't fix anything.

"Pick her up, Kankuro. We need to be on our way so that we can set up camp at a good spot." She said as she walked off.

He just nodded and gave a sigh. "Well, come on."

After I was situated on Kankuro's back, we set off again. I felt like such a baby, having to be carried around on someone's back. I just laid my head against his back and just watched the scenery pass by at a slow pace.

"Hey, Kankuro." I said, as we passed through a small clearing.

"What? You not feeling well again?" He asked, slowing his pace down some more.

"No, it's not that. I feel fine." I said. "It's just.. thanks for sticking up for me."

"It's nothing." He said casually. "Gaara has no right to be insulting you like that while you just sit there helplessly. You didn't even do anything wrong, and he needs to learn a few manners about how to treat women."

"I don't think that's the problem." I said quietly. "I know something is wrong with him, and this is the way that he's dealing with it. I just wish.. there was a way that I could stop him before he-"

"He does something stupid?" Kankuro said, interrupting me. "Hopefully, you won't have to, because he should have enough brains to know on his own."

"Yeah." I said, trying to sound convinced. "I guess that you're right."

AN: By Boggy, I think this will be my longest chappie yet. There's at least two more parts, so bear with me. Please review and a cookie would be nice(Ahem, Selene98). thanks!