Chapter 344: Tête-à-tête

n. a private conversation between two people.

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Kagome startled awake when she felt the spark of a familiar aura barrel in her direction. Kagome fell off the sofa in her haste to meet Temari at the doorway. Kagome's heart hammered in her chest, tears gathered in her eyes as she threw open Gaara's front door so that Temari's momentum would carry her into the house and Kagome's outstretched arms.

"Temari!" cried out Kagome, tears leaking down her face as she tightened her hold on her friend. Relief washed over Kagome as she was finally able to quiet all the worries that speculated if something had happened to Temari which was why her brothers barely mentioned her. Gaara had assuaged most of her worries the night before, but there had still been a niggling doubt.

"No one told me!" exclaimed Temari, "or rather they did, but I didn't understand what they were saying until I got here and talked with Gaara!"

Kagome squeezed Temari closer before stepping back.

"I… I didn't know where you were, and I was too afraid to ask," confessed Kagome, as she gently wiped the tears from both their eyes. This statement broke the ice as Temari and Kagome spent the day catching up.

Temari leaned on the counter, watching Kagome stir in miso to a spoonful of broth. Temari allowed her eyes to drift up to Kagome's face, comparing the girl of her memories to the one before her. Temari felt a strange sense of nostalgia wash over her along with a fleeting sense of loss. Her childhood friend was the exact same as she remembered, down to humming as she cooked. Temari in the meantime had changed and evolved. She had been shaped by the trauma from the last five years, including a war. At once Temari felt grateful that Kagome hadn't been touched by the bloodshed of the last many years, intermingled with a sense of remorse that Kagome was stuck in a world of changed individuals without an idea of what caused it.

"You're staying with Gaara, huh? Why not go back to living with Baki?" questioned Temari.

"Baki has a one-bedroom apartment, and Gaara asked," shrugged Kagome with a grin.

"Have you gotten used to having this empty house all to yourself," teased Temari.

"Unless they're on mission, Kankuro is over for breakfast, Baki for lunch, and all three are home by dinner. So, it never really feels lonely."

"So…" began Temari uncertainly as she and Kagome settled a leisurely pace around Gaara's greenhouse. They had retreated after Baki had returned to the Kazekage's office with a warning that Gaara would be late tonight due to a Council Meeting. They seemed to have finally caught up on Temari's life and the last month and a half of Kagome's return.

"Hmm?" wordlessly questioned Kagome as she crouched beside a nearly blooming Cactus, delicate fingers ghosting over uncurled petals reverently.

"What are you going to do now?" cautiously asked Temari. Kagome froze but hadn't turned her attention from the Cactus. Before leaving, Kagome had always seemed to have a mission that drove her, whether it was learning about their ways, working in the mission office, or taking care of her and her siblings Kagome always seemed to have something to do. But now, Kagome seemed adrift.

"I…," gulped Kagome, "I don't know."

"Well, I happen to know a certain Hokage that would be very interested in learning about your seals," suggested Temari with a smile. In fact, Kakashi had been obsessed with Kagome's seals for years trying to replicate it, always gently ribbing Temari for more information.

Kagome perked up curiously.

"I'd be happy to send you back to Konoha with a stack of seals, but Temari," began Kagome, a glint in her eyes that reminded Temari of the girl from her past, "I was wondering…"

"Yes?" prompted Temari as Kagome turned her full attention to her companion. Kagome bit her lip and seemed to glance around tentatively.

"Last night, Gaara was telling me about the war," began Kagome, her speech halted as though she wasn't sure how to say her next statement, "he said that Shukaku-sama was taken from him. But… what happened to Shukaku-sama at the end of the war?"

Temari startled, blinking curiously back at Kagome. Gaara had told her all of that? Gaara was not one to discuss himself or his experiences, only Baki and sometimes Kankuro had managed to get Gaara to talk about himself ever.

"He did? Did you have to bribe him with more plants," joked a mystified Temari. Kagome laughed, only adding to Temari's incredulousness.

"He offered to answer my questions last night," explained Kagome with a joyful smile while gratitude sparkled in her clear blue eyes, "So Shukaku-sama?"

"Oh, right," blinked Temari answering Kagome while thinking, Gaara must trust Kagome a lot.

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