Betrothal
A Naruto Fanfiction
Chapter 1 - Fiancé
"What do you want me to do?" questioned a female voice, it's words echoing off of the bizarre carvings and statues that filled the council chamber. The speaker was a blonde haired girl, clad in a rather badly fitting dusky brown jacket and thin body-netting. Whilst the outfit looked impractical and rather badly co-ordinated it was, perhaps, amongst the best clothing choices to wear in this hellish place.
This place being situated more or less in the middle of a small desert, surrounded by miles upon miles of lifeless sand-filled wastelands and constantly suffering from baking hot days and icicle cold nights. Learning to use chakra to heat one's own body was a simple thing, learning to use chakra to keep cool however, was not. Thus it was that the denizens of the village of Hidden Sand often wore clothing which was chosen primarily to keep themselves relatively cool rather than for looks or comfort.
Around the girl was a semicircular table, the flat edge facing her and the other side populated with various elder council members. The council had been the ones to run the village after the discovery of the Kazekage's death, of course they would have to choose a suitable replacement but as of yet none had been deemed suitable.
"The honour of the sand has been tarnished," began one elderly man – obviously he had been a ninja in his youth as he had around his neck a strip of cloth with a small metal plate bearing an engraving of an hourglass upon it. It was, in fact, a ninja head-protector, something that only Ninja were allowed to possess.
To his right a slightly younger, though not by much, woman nodded her head in agreement. "Thanks to the actions of certain individuals, our ninja were duped into entering a small scale war with those from the Hidden Leaf village," She began, her voice dry and croaking, "As a result, we have been forced to re- negotiate the peace agreements between our two villages."
The girl blinked in astonishment, everyone knew about the peace agreements that had existed before the attack on the Leaf, but in the village of hidden Sand it was practically taboo to even mention their existence. For someone as respected as a council member to speak of them was, well, it was unheard of! Fortunately, a few of the council members noticed her shock and nodded silently, finally one of them raised a hand and cut the speaking woman off – much to her annoyance.
"Fellow council, I see we are fast losing our audience with this talk, perhaps it would be wiser to just tell young Temari what we expect of her and leave it at that." He stated, nodding towards the lone girl as he did so.
Temari bowed her head slightly in thanks, the speaker who had just cut a way though what could have been hours of talk was the head of the council himself. "Please," The young Sand-nin began, "I am a ninja of the Sand, it does not matter what the reasons are – if you have a task for me then I shall perform it dutifully."
The council head nodded at Temari's words. "A highly commendable attitude. Very well then, Temari, in essence we of the Sand have come to an agreement with the Leaf. In a, how shall we put this, a gesture of promise we have agreed to unite a few aspects of both villages." The head paused from his speech and looked up at the sky through the large skylight mounted in the ceiling. Finally he spoke once again. "In short, Temari, we have agreed to setting up a possible marriage between a Sand-nin and a Leaf-nin."
'That was it,' thought Temari, she had expected that some sort of peace gesture would come about as soon as she heard mention of peace agreements but for it to be something like this...
A small, tiny part of Temari's mind suddenly turned around and shot a question to her general consciousness. 'Why am I here?' The majority of her mind pondered over the question for a moment before coming up with an answer that was, in Temari's eyes, not good. Her eyes widened slightly at the realisation of the implications, an act the did not go unnoticed by many members of the council
"Ah, I see that you understand. However, Temari, there is a little more to it but, unfortunately, it is something that has not yet been completely agreed upon so I cannot tell you about it yet." Stated the head, looking around at the rest of the council for a few moments before finally staring at Temari with a piercing gaze. "You leave in two days Temari, two days."
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Temari wasn't entirely too sure what she did for the first few hours after she had been dismissed by the council, her body had been running on automatic whilst her mind continued to reel in shock. When she did start paying attention to her surroundings she was rather unworried about finding herself in the villages largest hot spring bath-house. Mentally she thanked the first Kazekage for deciding to found the village in an area filled with hot – and some rather cool - springs.
After booking a locker and making her way into one of the small changing rooms Temari quickly changed into a light smock of the sort that most of the female villagers liked wearing when they bathed. Mostly they wore it because after the bathing was done, it prevented sand from sticking to their damp skin when they went to get dried and changed.
It wasn't long until she was sitting, soaking in one of the slightly cooler pools of spring-fed water. Silently washing the tension she felt away.
"Why did they pick me?" She whispered, staring at the small artificial waterfall through which the spring water entered the pool. The Hidden Sand village was particularly proud of it's bath-houses, and tended towards making them more ornamental than they should really be. Then again, it wasn't like they had much else they could decorate that wouldn't be wrecked when the next sandstorm swept though.
Unfortunately, there was no answer to her question beyond the gentle sound of the miniature waterfall in action.
Eventually a thought wormed it's way into her mind. 'I'm going to miss this when I'm gone'
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Packing, that was something Temari found easy. After all, it wasn't like she had a lot of possessions really, only a few sets of clothes, some materials to repair her fan and a small chest full of scrolls and smaller weapons – like kunai for instance. Of course, it helped that Kankuro had decided to help out with the packing. Not that Temari had given him any real option of saying 'no' to her request for assistance of course.
"So..." began the slightly younger puppet-using ninja, his voice slightly hollow and rather irritated. "Gonna get married to a Leaf-nin huh?" It was quite, quite easy to see that he didn't particularly approve of the idea. "Any idea which one?"
Temari quickly stuffed her last few items of clothing into a reasonable sized travelling trunk before turning to her brother. "No, it'll probably be that Uchiha boy though – or maybe the Hyuuga one. Both of those belong to families big enough to be worth something in a political marriage like this."
Kankuro snorted in distaste, the Hyuuga guy had been – in his view – nothing more than a strong ninja with a stick up his rear. He hated people who thought they were beyond the reach of others like that. Well... Gaara was beyond the reach of others, but he never made an issue of it – not that he made an issue of anything really. "Hey, for all you know they might want to hook you up with the guy who beat you in the exam – chika-something wasn't it?"
"Shikamaru," Corrected the older girl, as she slammed the trunk's lid shut and locked it. "He wouldn't be so bad I guess, he's intelligent, that's more than I can say for most of the other Leaf-nin."
"Well, look at it this way," started Kankuro, as he continued to neatly arrange Temari's scrolls in order to make sure they didn't get damaged in transit. "At worst, you could end up with that ugly fat guy – or the bug guy, Shino or whatever his name was." He smirked as Temari recoiled from him in disgust. It was a secret known only to her closest family that Temari was, in fact, scared of insects.
"Ugh! Don't even suggest something like that!" She half-shrieked, shuddering in remembrance of the sight of all those bugs crawling over the leaf-nin's skin. "I think I'd kill myself before having to live with, let alone marry, someone like him!"
Kankuro nodded, Temari probably would kill herself rather than live with the bug using ninja. At that moment a particularly nasty thought crept into his mind. "Temari?" he asked cautiously. "You will be coming back eventually, right?" not that he would miss her, not at all, she'd been gone for long periods on missions before but... She'd always come back from those mission. Life without Temari would be... well, Kankuro didn't much like the idea of it. Especially if it meant that he'd be alone with Gaara – granted Gaara had become more, well, more human recently but still. Gaara was still frightening. Temari looked at her younger brother for a moment and bowed her head. "I..." She began, her voice slightly choked. "I don't know." A tear rolled down her cheek, eventually falling from her face to splash against the dusty floor of her room. She'd always known that eventually those she knew would leave - through death most likely, but she knew that no matter what happened she'd always be one of the Sand. "K-Kankuro... they..." She gulped and lifted her head to stare, with tear filled eyes, at her brother. "They said I won't be part of the Sand anymore!"
Kankuro gasped in shock. To all those ninja who lived, worked and died here the Sand was everything. Their honour was the honour of the Sand, the Sand was their family – their homes – their lives. To be removed from the Sand, for whatever reason was.. well, it was unthinkable! Even the few missing- nin the village had were still considered part of the Sand, albeit in a rather dishonourable way but still...
"Temari..." he whispered, his voice barely a sigh. Shuffling forwards he opened his arms and enveloped his sister in an awkward embrace. Sand-nin rarely showed their emotions, and it was rarer still that they needed emotional support but, this was his sister, and Kankuro knew that this had hit her hard. "Even if you leave the Sand, even if you become on of the Leaf, I'll... I'll always know you to be my sister."
Yes, that was a good line, he'd heard it in one of the plays he often went to watch – hell, he'd had to act that line with his puppet in a puppet-play he'd helped put on when he was younger. It had gone down rather well actually, Sand villagers were quite fond of watching a good play or similar entertainment when the sandstorms outside were too strong for anyone to be in.
The blonde-haired ninja girl sniffed a few times before pulling free of Kankuro's rough hug. "Th-thankyou..." She sniffed, as she wiped away most of her tears with the back of her hand. "I... I'm going to miss you brother."
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There were no real farewells when Temari left the village, escorted by a trio of Jounin to make sure she didn't shirk her duty, as well as Gaara who had, strangely enough, declared that he would go along also. There was nothing particularly special about any of the three Jounin, other than the fact that they looked incredibly nervous. Then again, everyone looked nervous when Gaara was around, including his sister Temari and his brother Kankuro though they usually didn't get quite as nervous as everyone else.
At the entrance to the village only Kankuro stood there to wave his sister off, not expecting to see her anytime soon – if ever again. Temari felt stung by this lack of affection, but then, most of the village held a slight grudge towards her and Kankuro – believing that if they had done their job properly then the Sand would have buried the Leaf instead of failing and losing their honour.
The five of them – Gaara, herself and three Jounin, were travelling by a camel-driven cart rather than on foot as they normally would. This was mostly because they had to take Temari's belongings along with them, whilst this would not normally have been a problem, it would have slowed them down enough to miss the time-scale they had been set. After all, they were only going half-way. Once they had reached the pre-arranged meeting point Temari and her belongings would be neatly passed over to an escort of Leaf-nin, who would then take her the rest of the way to the Leaf village.
Temari sighed and looked back at the dwindling shape of Hidden Sand village that was now quite far back in the distance. Would she ever set her eyes upon the glorious shape of her home ever again?
Somehow, she didn't think that she would.
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A hand gently shook her, rousing her from the light doze she had fallen into. The rocking motion of the cart was unfamiliar to her and it had quickly led her into a dreamless slumber. Blinking her eyes a few times to clear away the spots she turned her head in the direction of the shaking and blinked once more. Gaara sat, cross legged, next to her on the cart – his hand pulling back from where he had been shaking her by the arm.
"Sister." He stated, which promptly bought Temari into full consciousness quicker than any shaking could have done. Gaara never called her sister, it was always 'you' or 'Temari' never 'sister'. "Wake up. I will speak with you." Ah... now this was more like the old Gaara, he made orders and demands, nothing else. Still, Temari couldn't say that she was unhappy with her brothers recent nudging into the realms of social behaviour, it was, after all, a definite improvement.
"Whu-"Temari groaned, pulling herself into a sitting position and suddenly feeling how stiff and sore her muscles were. She'd rather be in the Leaf village than on this cart – at least there she'd get to sleep in a decent bed. "What do you want to speak about?" She asked, before stretching out in a vast yawn.
"You... will be gone soon." Began Gaara, who was obviously treading on unfamiliar mental and social grounds. "I... will be... upset when you go."
That made Temari blink. "You mean, you'll miss me?" She asked, eyeing her brother warily. Just because Gaara was somewhat nicer now, didn't mean that he wasn't just as likely to go completely crazy as he had done many times in the past.
Gaara stared at her with an unblinking gaze. "Yes." He stated simply, "I will... miss you."
Moving slowly, so as not to startle Gaara, Temari carefully gave her brother a hug, one that was forced and incredibly tense, but a hug all the same. "Thankyou..." She whispered, "From you, that means... that means so much to me."
"Why?" came the immediate response. "Why should that bring you such... happiness?"
Temari had expected a question of that sort and already knew what she was going to say. "I makes me happy because... because, if you miss me when I'm gone, then it means you care about me." Suddenly she felt Gaara's hands brush against her back and she knew that Gaara was, in a simple and childlike way, giving her his best attempt at a hug in return. "Gaara," whispered the elder girl. "I'll... I'll miss you too." She whispered, her eyes feeling slightly damp as she held back a few tears.
Gaara, of course, said nothing. Suddenly, the cart shuddered to a stop and the two let go of each other, shuffling back before one of the Jounin escort looked in on them. There was a sudden bang on the side of the cart, and one of the escort declared in a loud voice that they had arrived.
Quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Temari swung herself off the back end of the cart. Glancing around she noted that they were in a small clearing full of tall, spiky grass. These clearings were usually what divided the deserts from the greener plant-filled environments. Gaara followed her off of the cart and glared at the three Leaf Jounin who had come to meet them.
Temari could feel the open hostility in the air, both sides being ready for expected treachery. After a few moments, however, the Sand-nin backed away, turned and started to leave.
Gaara glared at the Leaf-nin for a few moments longer then turned to Temari. "Goodbye." He stated, before turning to follow the three Sand-nin who had bought them this far.
Closing her eyes, Temari took a deep calming breath before she addressed the Leaf-nin. "Well?" She asked, placing one hand on her hip and glaring at the people from the village she was probably going to be stuck in for the rest of her life. "If I'm going to get engaged, I at least want to do it before I'm an old crone."
One of the Jounin snorted and mumbled something that, although not something Temari had bothered to listen to, was probably insulting. Still, whatever he said it had apparently amused his two comrades, as they smirked slightly after he said it.
Insults aside, the trip from the meeting point to the leaf village went by a lot quicker than Temari had expected, in fact, it was noon on the second day of travel that they came within sight of the gigantic front gates of the village.
With a deep groaning creak, the two log gates swung open to admit the cart, Temari and the Jounin escort.
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Temari stood in the centre of the hall, a long table in front of her. Behind the table were the council of Leaf elders. Much like their Sand village counterparts they were mostly a collection of old ninja and the heads of families who had lived in the village for as long as anyone could remember.
"Ahhhh..." Sighed one of the council members, "So this is they young lass the Sand have sent to prove they will uphold their agreement for peace." Temari shifted uncomfortably under the combined gazes of the elders. Being sized up for her worth as a ninja was one thing, she could handle that, but being sized up for her worth as a female – as a possible wife for someone – now, that was unnerving.
"Yes sir." She replied, just managing to keep a note of steel and resistance in her voice. A faint swishing sound alerted her to the fact that someone had entered the room from behind her. It took a lot of self control not to turn to see who it was, years of expecting attacks from behind trying to make her turn to face whomever it was that could be a possible attacker.
"Ah," Started a second elder, "So good of you to show up Iruka, I understand you had a little difficulty with your class?" The elder chuckled slightly, a dry and mirth-filled chuckle. The new arrival stepped up beside Temari and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes noting that she herself was looking at him the same way.
"Y-yes Elder, young Konohamaru decided to try and lead the children in an open rebellion over lack of candy at lunchtime." Stated Iruka, more than slightly nervous at being in front of some of the most influential members of the village. He was vaguely puzzled why the girl was there though – especially since he didn't recognise her as being from the village.
Temari examined the other man, Iruka, and memorised his features. Since he had not yet acted in anger or disgust at her presence she decided that he either didn't know she was Sand, or he didn't care if she was or not. Either way, he'd make a useful ally against the tide of hatred most of the villagers she'd met so far seemed to be a part of.
"Achem... well, yes, anyway," One of the female elders was waving the others chuckling into silence as she took over control the meeting. "Iruka, we, the village council, have called you here in a matter regarding one of your previous students – one that, perhaps, you know better than anyone else in the village. If Kakashi were here then-"There was another swishing sound as the door opened, causing the elder to cut off her sentence and retreat into a disapproving silence.
"Yo." Temari recognised that voice, it was the voice of that grey-haired Jounin who'd been the teacher of the Uchiha boy. So, if he was here then it probably meant she was going to get engaged to the last member of the Uchiha clan – a smart move for the village, as reviving that clan would have great benefits.
"Kakashi." The female council member whispered In a low voice filled with annoyance. "So good of you to join us."
Kakashi stepped up between Temari and Iruka, completely ignoring the council speaker. In a lazy sort of way he looked Temari over and nodded to himself. "Ah, you're that Sand girl." He noted, "I never expected to see you here again." He added after a moments thought.
"Hatake Kakashi, Will you please pay attention." Demanded the female council member, before being quieted by the head councilman.
"Let them talk, I expect Kakashi knows why she's here, and no doubt she knows why she's here. In fact, all we really need to do is talk to Iruka about it – perhaps we should retire to the back room and discuss it in private." He suggested, nodding over to the back room. Almost all hidden villages had a similar room, one which was protected by various normal and abnormal methods in order to prevent anyone from hearing what went on inside. The other council members nodded in agreement and, after a few moments, stood up and began filing out to the protected room. "Coming Iruka?" Asked the head councilman, motioning for the Chuunin to follow them.
Once they all had left the room, the door shut tight, leaving Kakashi and Temari alone.
"Well..." began the Jounin, "Well, well, well." He smiled and pulled up a chair from the side of the room. "Sit down, you don't have to stand up for me you know."
Temari nodded warily and pulled up a chair of her own, seating herself on the edge, a position better suited to making a quick escape should she need to. Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow at the action but said nothing about it. In fact, he seemed to be counting down to something. "Three... two... one..." He counted, then glanced towards the door to the protected room.
"WHAAAAAAAT!?" Iruka's yell was of such intense volume that the two, Temari and Kakashi, could hear it quite clearly from where they sat. Kakashi nodded to himself a few times and Temari could have sworn he was smirking under that mask of his. After a few moments, however, he sobered up and looked at Temari.
"So, they picked you huh?" he asked, leaning back on his chair. "Stupid move really, since most of the village recognises you, I'll bet everyone you've seen so far hasn't acted very well to you, have they?"
Temari shook her head, not wanting to speak and show any weakness in her voice to this near-legendary ninja. It was only after she'd returned to the Sand village that she'd discovered the grey-haired man was the famous copy- ninja Kakashi himself.
"Pffff, ignore 'em." Started the selfsame copy-ninja, "You were just following the commands of your Kazekage, it's not your fault no-one knew he was a fake. After all, even your villages Jounin were fooled – as was our Hokage."
The ex-Sand-nin remained silent, an act which caused Kakashi to frown in worry. Before he could say anything about it, however, the door to the back room opened, letting Iruka stomp out – annoyance clearly painted across his features. The Chuunin glared at Kakashi for a few second before glaring at Temari.
"... of all the people they could have asked you to go with..." he grumbled, "Why did they have to pick him?" Sighing, the scarred man ducked his head slightly before looking back at Temari – this time without a glare. "Come on," he muttered, "I suppose I should take you to your new..." Iruka all but choked on the next word, "... Fiancée."
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The house, Temari decided, was rather clean, oh there were the odd pots of instant food scattered around the kitchen, but it was obvious that they'd only been there a short while – possibly from supper the day before or something. In one room there was a set of scrolls opened and spread out on the floor, but those that weren't opened had been stacked up in one corner – not the best way to store them, but Temari could see that there were no scroll-shelves to properly store them in.
The ninja girl pondered over this information, obviously the owner of this house cared enough about it to keep it tidy, but seemed to ignore or was unaware of many things that would have been more efficient.
Somehow, that didn't sound like the Uchiha boy. In fact, the house had a sort of manic energy to it, as if the cleaner had been hyperactive when he'd cleaned up.
"Oi!" There was a shout of annoyance from near the front of the house, obviously the owner had returned. "What's everyone doing in my hou- Ah! Iruka Sensei!" The voice changed topics quickly, without pause for breath or thought. "Did you come to give me my shopping money?"
'Shopping money?' Temari blinked, if this Iruka was giving the owner of this house money to shop with, than it was likely that Iruka was his father – or at least his guardian. But then why would the copy-ninja be here unless...
It was with a slow certainty that Temari realised that there had been another male ninja in the copy-ninja's group. The same ninja who had shown incredible power and determination in all parts of the Chuunin exam.
"I... have something to tell you." Iruka's voice echoed through the house, "There's someone here you have to meet."
Temari could hear footsteps now, several pairs in fact, with sudden clarity she knew who her new fiancée was.
The door to the room slammed open as a blonde haired boy kicked it open – as if he did it everyday. The boy, upon seeing Temari, froze mid-kick and suddenly jumped backwards, pointing at the ex-Sand-nin.
"What the hell is she doing here!?" He demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the girl, what was her name again? Heck, he was sure he'd heard her name before. 'Well,' he decided, 'It doesn't matter because she's not gonna be here long!
Standing a few heads taller than the leaf villages number one hyperactive Ninja was said Ninja's first teacher, Iruka. The older man sighed, reaching up with one hand to rub at the scar across his nose – a common sign that he was truly concerned and worried about something.
"That," he said, "Is your fiancé."
Chapter 1 – Ended.
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Authors notes :
Wheeee. ^.^ My first Naruto ficcie, it was originally going to be some little sappy thing about what happened when Gaara, Temari and Kankuro returned to Sand village but... uh... it sorta grew. Then I re-wrote the first part and made it into this x.x
Anyway, uhm, the next chapter is going ahead – slowly – but it'll get to you eventually. (at time of uploading this, I've hit 3000 words, and I don't even feel that I'm a third of the way done yet x.x )
- lackey H, over and out.
A Naruto Fanfiction
Chapter 1 - Fiancé
"What do you want me to do?" questioned a female voice, it's words echoing off of the bizarre carvings and statues that filled the council chamber. The speaker was a blonde haired girl, clad in a rather badly fitting dusky brown jacket and thin body-netting. Whilst the outfit looked impractical and rather badly co-ordinated it was, perhaps, amongst the best clothing choices to wear in this hellish place.
This place being situated more or less in the middle of a small desert, surrounded by miles upon miles of lifeless sand-filled wastelands and constantly suffering from baking hot days and icicle cold nights. Learning to use chakra to heat one's own body was a simple thing, learning to use chakra to keep cool however, was not. Thus it was that the denizens of the village of Hidden Sand often wore clothing which was chosen primarily to keep themselves relatively cool rather than for looks or comfort.
Around the girl was a semicircular table, the flat edge facing her and the other side populated with various elder council members. The council had been the ones to run the village after the discovery of the Kazekage's death, of course they would have to choose a suitable replacement but as of yet none had been deemed suitable.
"The honour of the sand has been tarnished," began one elderly man – obviously he had been a ninja in his youth as he had around his neck a strip of cloth with a small metal plate bearing an engraving of an hourglass upon it. It was, in fact, a ninja head-protector, something that only Ninja were allowed to possess.
To his right a slightly younger, though not by much, woman nodded her head in agreement. "Thanks to the actions of certain individuals, our ninja were duped into entering a small scale war with those from the Hidden Leaf village," She began, her voice dry and croaking, "As a result, we have been forced to re- negotiate the peace agreements between our two villages."
The girl blinked in astonishment, everyone knew about the peace agreements that had existed before the attack on the Leaf, but in the village of hidden Sand it was practically taboo to even mention their existence. For someone as respected as a council member to speak of them was, well, it was unheard of! Fortunately, a few of the council members noticed her shock and nodded silently, finally one of them raised a hand and cut the speaking woman off – much to her annoyance.
"Fellow council, I see we are fast losing our audience with this talk, perhaps it would be wiser to just tell young Temari what we expect of her and leave it at that." He stated, nodding towards the lone girl as he did so.
Temari bowed her head slightly in thanks, the speaker who had just cut a way though what could have been hours of talk was the head of the council himself. "Please," The young Sand-nin began, "I am a ninja of the Sand, it does not matter what the reasons are – if you have a task for me then I shall perform it dutifully."
The council head nodded at Temari's words. "A highly commendable attitude. Very well then, Temari, in essence we of the Sand have come to an agreement with the Leaf. In a, how shall we put this, a gesture of promise we have agreed to unite a few aspects of both villages." The head paused from his speech and looked up at the sky through the large skylight mounted in the ceiling. Finally he spoke once again. "In short, Temari, we have agreed to setting up a possible marriage between a Sand-nin and a Leaf-nin."
'That was it,' thought Temari, she had expected that some sort of peace gesture would come about as soon as she heard mention of peace agreements but for it to be something like this...
A small, tiny part of Temari's mind suddenly turned around and shot a question to her general consciousness. 'Why am I here?' The majority of her mind pondered over the question for a moment before coming up with an answer that was, in Temari's eyes, not good. Her eyes widened slightly at the realisation of the implications, an act the did not go unnoticed by many members of the council
"Ah, I see that you understand. However, Temari, there is a little more to it but, unfortunately, it is something that has not yet been completely agreed upon so I cannot tell you about it yet." Stated the head, looking around at the rest of the council for a few moments before finally staring at Temari with a piercing gaze. "You leave in two days Temari, two days."
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Temari wasn't entirely too sure what she did for the first few hours after she had been dismissed by the council, her body had been running on automatic whilst her mind continued to reel in shock. When she did start paying attention to her surroundings she was rather unworried about finding herself in the villages largest hot spring bath-house. Mentally she thanked the first Kazekage for deciding to found the village in an area filled with hot – and some rather cool - springs.
After booking a locker and making her way into one of the small changing rooms Temari quickly changed into a light smock of the sort that most of the female villagers liked wearing when they bathed. Mostly they wore it because after the bathing was done, it prevented sand from sticking to their damp skin when they went to get dried and changed.
It wasn't long until she was sitting, soaking in one of the slightly cooler pools of spring-fed water. Silently washing the tension she felt away.
"Why did they pick me?" She whispered, staring at the small artificial waterfall through which the spring water entered the pool. The Hidden Sand village was particularly proud of it's bath-houses, and tended towards making them more ornamental than they should really be. Then again, it wasn't like they had much else they could decorate that wouldn't be wrecked when the next sandstorm swept though.
Unfortunately, there was no answer to her question beyond the gentle sound of the miniature waterfall in action.
Eventually a thought wormed it's way into her mind. 'I'm going to miss this when I'm gone'
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Packing, that was something Temari found easy. After all, it wasn't like she had a lot of possessions really, only a few sets of clothes, some materials to repair her fan and a small chest full of scrolls and smaller weapons – like kunai for instance. Of course, it helped that Kankuro had decided to help out with the packing. Not that Temari had given him any real option of saying 'no' to her request for assistance of course.
"So..." began the slightly younger puppet-using ninja, his voice slightly hollow and rather irritated. "Gonna get married to a Leaf-nin huh?" It was quite, quite easy to see that he didn't particularly approve of the idea. "Any idea which one?"
Temari quickly stuffed her last few items of clothing into a reasonable sized travelling trunk before turning to her brother. "No, it'll probably be that Uchiha boy though – or maybe the Hyuuga one. Both of those belong to families big enough to be worth something in a political marriage like this."
Kankuro snorted in distaste, the Hyuuga guy had been – in his view – nothing more than a strong ninja with a stick up his rear. He hated people who thought they were beyond the reach of others like that. Well... Gaara was beyond the reach of others, but he never made an issue of it – not that he made an issue of anything really. "Hey, for all you know they might want to hook you up with the guy who beat you in the exam – chika-something wasn't it?"
"Shikamaru," Corrected the older girl, as she slammed the trunk's lid shut and locked it. "He wouldn't be so bad I guess, he's intelligent, that's more than I can say for most of the other Leaf-nin."
"Well, look at it this way," started Kankuro, as he continued to neatly arrange Temari's scrolls in order to make sure they didn't get damaged in transit. "At worst, you could end up with that ugly fat guy – or the bug guy, Shino or whatever his name was." He smirked as Temari recoiled from him in disgust. It was a secret known only to her closest family that Temari was, in fact, scared of insects.
"Ugh! Don't even suggest something like that!" She half-shrieked, shuddering in remembrance of the sight of all those bugs crawling over the leaf-nin's skin. "I think I'd kill myself before having to live with, let alone marry, someone like him!"
Kankuro nodded, Temari probably would kill herself rather than live with the bug using ninja. At that moment a particularly nasty thought crept into his mind. "Temari?" he asked cautiously. "You will be coming back eventually, right?" not that he would miss her, not at all, she'd been gone for long periods on missions before but... She'd always come back from those mission. Life without Temari would be... well, Kankuro didn't much like the idea of it. Especially if it meant that he'd be alone with Gaara – granted Gaara had become more, well, more human recently but still. Gaara was still frightening. Temari looked at her younger brother for a moment and bowed her head. "I..." She began, her voice slightly choked. "I don't know." A tear rolled down her cheek, eventually falling from her face to splash against the dusty floor of her room. She'd always known that eventually those she knew would leave - through death most likely, but she knew that no matter what happened she'd always be one of the Sand. "K-Kankuro... they..." She gulped and lifted her head to stare, with tear filled eyes, at her brother. "They said I won't be part of the Sand anymore!"
Kankuro gasped in shock. To all those ninja who lived, worked and died here the Sand was everything. Their honour was the honour of the Sand, the Sand was their family – their homes – their lives. To be removed from the Sand, for whatever reason was.. well, it was unthinkable! Even the few missing- nin the village had were still considered part of the Sand, albeit in a rather dishonourable way but still...
"Temari..." he whispered, his voice barely a sigh. Shuffling forwards he opened his arms and enveloped his sister in an awkward embrace. Sand-nin rarely showed their emotions, and it was rarer still that they needed emotional support but, this was his sister, and Kankuro knew that this had hit her hard. "Even if you leave the Sand, even if you become on of the Leaf, I'll... I'll always know you to be my sister."
Yes, that was a good line, he'd heard it in one of the plays he often went to watch – hell, he'd had to act that line with his puppet in a puppet-play he'd helped put on when he was younger. It had gone down rather well actually, Sand villagers were quite fond of watching a good play or similar entertainment when the sandstorms outside were too strong for anyone to be in.
The blonde-haired ninja girl sniffed a few times before pulling free of Kankuro's rough hug. "Th-thankyou..." She sniffed, as she wiped away most of her tears with the back of her hand. "I... I'm going to miss you brother."
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There were no real farewells when Temari left the village, escorted by a trio of Jounin to make sure she didn't shirk her duty, as well as Gaara who had, strangely enough, declared that he would go along also. There was nothing particularly special about any of the three Jounin, other than the fact that they looked incredibly nervous. Then again, everyone looked nervous when Gaara was around, including his sister Temari and his brother Kankuro though they usually didn't get quite as nervous as everyone else.
At the entrance to the village only Kankuro stood there to wave his sister off, not expecting to see her anytime soon – if ever again. Temari felt stung by this lack of affection, but then, most of the village held a slight grudge towards her and Kankuro – believing that if they had done their job properly then the Sand would have buried the Leaf instead of failing and losing their honour.
The five of them – Gaara, herself and three Jounin, were travelling by a camel-driven cart rather than on foot as they normally would. This was mostly because they had to take Temari's belongings along with them, whilst this would not normally have been a problem, it would have slowed them down enough to miss the time-scale they had been set. After all, they were only going half-way. Once they had reached the pre-arranged meeting point Temari and her belongings would be neatly passed over to an escort of Leaf-nin, who would then take her the rest of the way to the Leaf village.
Temari sighed and looked back at the dwindling shape of Hidden Sand village that was now quite far back in the distance. Would she ever set her eyes upon the glorious shape of her home ever again?
Somehow, she didn't think that she would.
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A hand gently shook her, rousing her from the light doze she had fallen into. The rocking motion of the cart was unfamiliar to her and it had quickly led her into a dreamless slumber. Blinking her eyes a few times to clear away the spots she turned her head in the direction of the shaking and blinked once more. Gaara sat, cross legged, next to her on the cart – his hand pulling back from where he had been shaking her by the arm.
"Sister." He stated, which promptly bought Temari into full consciousness quicker than any shaking could have done. Gaara never called her sister, it was always 'you' or 'Temari' never 'sister'. "Wake up. I will speak with you." Ah... now this was more like the old Gaara, he made orders and demands, nothing else. Still, Temari couldn't say that she was unhappy with her brothers recent nudging into the realms of social behaviour, it was, after all, a definite improvement.
"Whu-"Temari groaned, pulling herself into a sitting position and suddenly feeling how stiff and sore her muscles were. She'd rather be in the Leaf village than on this cart – at least there she'd get to sleep in a decent bed. "What do you want to speak about?" She asked, before stretching out in a vast yawn.
"You... will be gone soon." Began Gaara, who was obviously treading on unfamiliar mental and social grounds. "I... will be... upset when you go."
That made Temari blink. "You mean, you'll miss me?" She asked, eyeing her brother warily. Just because Gaara was somewhat nicer now, didn't mean that he wasn't just as likely to go completely crazy as he had done many times in the past.
Gaara stared at her with an unblinking gaze. "Yes." He stated simply, "I will... miss you."
Moving slowly, so as not to startle Gaara, Temari carefully gave her brother a hug, one that was forced and incredibly tense, but a hug all the same. "Thankyou..." She whispered, "From you, that means... that means so much to me."
"Why?" came the immediate response. "Why should that bring you such... happiness?"
Temari had expected a question of that sort and already knew what she was going to say. "I makes me happy because... because, if you miss me when I'm gone, then it means you care about me." Suddenly she felt Gaara's hands brush against her back and she knew that Gaara was, in a simple and childlike way, giving her his best attempt at a hug in return. "Gaara," whispered the elder girl. "I'll... I'll miss you too." She whispered, her eyes feeling slightly damp as she held back a few tears.
Gaara, of course, said nothing. Suddenly, the cart shuddered to a stop and the two let go of each other, shuffling back before one of the Jounin escort looked in on them. There was a sudden bang on the side of the cart, and one of the escort declared in a loud voice that they had arrived.
Quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Temari swung herself off the back end of the cart. Glancing around she noted that they were in a small clearing full of tall, spiky grass. These clearings were usually what divided the deserts from the greener plant-filled environments. Gaara followed her off of the cart and glared at the three Leaf Jounin who had come to meet them.
Temari could feel the open hostility in the air, both sides being ready for expected treachery. After a few moments, however, the Sand-nin backed away, turned and started to leave.
Gaara glared at the Leaf-nin for a few moments longer then turned to Temari. "Goodbye." He stated, before turning to follow the three Sand-nin who had bought them this far.
Closing her eyes, Temari took a deep calming breath before she addressed the Leaf-nin. "Well?" She asked, placing one hand on her hip and glaring at the people from the village she was probably going to be stuck in for the rest of her life. "If I'm going to get engaged, I at least want to do it before I'm an old crone."
One of the Jounin snorted and mumbled something that, although not something Temari had bothered to listen to, was probably insulting. Still, whatever he said it had apparently amused his two comrades, as they smirked slightly after he said it.
Insults aside, the trip from the meeting point to the leaf village went by a lot quicker than Temari had expected, in fact, it was noon on the second day of travel that they came within sight of the gigantic front gates of the village.
With a deep groaning creak, the two log gates swung open to admit the cart, Temari and the Jounin escort.
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Temari stood in the centre of the hall, a long table in front of her. Behind the table were the council of Leaf elders. Much like their Sand village counterparts they were mostly a collection of old ninja and the heads of families who had lived in the village for as long as anyone could remember.
"Ahhhh..." Sighed one of the council members, "So this is they young lass the Sand have sent to prove they will uphold their agreement for peace." Temari shifted uncomfortably under the combined gazes of the elders. Being sized up for her worth as a ninja was one thing, she could handle that, but being sized up for her worth as a female – as a possible wife for someone – now, that was unnerving.
"Yes sir." She replied, just managing to keep a note of steel and resistance in her voice. A faint swishing sound alerted her to the fact that someone had entered the room from behind her. It took a lot of self control not to turn to see who it was, years of expecting attacks from behind trying to make her turn to face whomever it was that could be a possible attacker.
"Ah," Started a second elder, "So good of you to show up Iruka, I understand you had a little difficulty with your class?" The elder chuckled slightly, a dry and mirth-filled chuckle. The new arrival stepped up beside Temari and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes noting that she herself was looking at him the same way.
"Y-yes Elder, young Konohamaru decided to try and lead the children in an open rebellion over lack of candy at lunchtime." Stated Iruka, more than slightly nervous at being in front of some of the most influential members of the village. He was vaguely puzzled why the girl was there though – especially since he didn't recognise her as being from the village.
Temari examined the other man, Iruka, and memorised his features. Since he had not yet acted in anger or disgust at her presence she decided that he either didn't know she was Sand, or he didn't care if she was or not. Either way, he'd make a useful ally against the tide of hatred most of the villagers she'd met so far seemed to be a part of.
"Achem... well, yes, anyway," One of the female elders was waving the others chuckling into silence as she took over control the meeting. "Iruka, we, the village council, have called you here in a matter regarding one of your previous students – one that, perhaps, you know better than anyone else in the village. If Kakashi were here then-"There was another swishing sound as the door opened, causing the elder to cut off her sentence and retreat into a disapproving silence.
"Yo." Temari recognised that voice, it was the voice of that grey-haired Jounin who'd been the teacher of the Uchiha boy. So, if he was here then it probably meant she was going to get engaged to the last member of the Uchiha clan – a smart move for the village, as reviving that clan would have great benefits.
"Kakashi." The female council member whispered In a low voice filled with annoyance. "So good of you to join us."
Kakashi stepped up between Temari and Iruka, completely ignoring the council speaker. In a lazy sort of way he looked Temari over and nodded to himself. "Ah, you're that Sand girl." He noted, "I never expected to see you here again." He added after a moments thought.
"Hatake Kakashi, Will you please pay attention." Demanded the female council member, before being quieted by the head councilman.
"Let them talk, I expect Kakashi knows why she's here, and no doubt she knows why she's here. In fact, all we really need to do is talk to Iruka about it – perhaps we should retire to the back room and discuss it in private." He suggested, nodding over to the back room. Almost all hidden villages had a similar room, one which was protected by various normal and abnormal methods in order to prevent anyone from hearing what went on inside. The other council members nodded in agreement and, after a few moments, stood up and began filing out to the protected room. "Coming Iruka?" Asked the head councilman, motioning for the Chuunin to follow them.
Once they all had left the room, the door shut tight, leaving Kakashi and Temari alone.
"Well..." began the Jounin, "Well, well, well." He smiled and pulled up a chair from the side of the room. "Sit down, you don't have to stand up for me you know."
Temari nodded warily and pulled up a chair of her own, seating herself on the edge, a position better suited to making a quick escape should she need to. Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow at the action but said nothing about it. In fact, he seemed to be counting down to something. "Three... two... one..." He counted, then glanced towards the door to the protected room.
"WHAAAAAAAT!?" Iruka's yell was of such intense volume that the two, Temari and Kakashi, could hear it quite clearly from where they sat. Kakashi nodded to himself a few times and Temari could have sworn he was smirking under that mask of his. After a few moments, however, he sobered up and looked at Temari.
"So, they picked you huh?" he asked, leaning back on his chair. "Stupid move really, since most of the village recognises you, I'll bet everyone you've seen so far hasn't acted very well to you, have they?"
Temari shook her head, not wanting to speak and show any weakness in her voice to this near-legendary ninja. It was only after she'd returned to the Sand village that she'd discovered the grey-haired man was the famous copy- ninja Kakashi himself.
"Pffff, ignore 'em." Started the selfsame copy-ninja, "You were just following the commands of your Kazekage, it's not your fault no-one knew he was a fake. After all, even your villages Jounin were fooled – as was our Hokage."
The ex-Sand-nin remained silent, an act which caused Kakashi to frown in worry. Before he could say anything about it, however, the door to the back room opened, letting Iruka stomp out – annoyance clearly painted across his features. The Chuunin glared at Kakashi for a few second before glaring at Temari.
"... of all the people they could have asked you to go with..." he grumbled, "Why did they have to pick him?" Sighing, the scarred man ducked his head slightly before looking back at Temari – this time without a glare. "Come on," he muttered, "I suppose I should take you to your new..." Iruka all but choked on the next word, "... Fiancée."
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The house, Temari decided, was rather clean, oh there were the odd pots of instant food scattered around the kitchen, but it was obvious that they'd only been there a short while – possibly from supper the day before or something. In one room there was a set of scrolls opened and spread out on the floor, but those that weren't opened had been stacked up in one corner – not the best way to store them, but Temari could see that there were no scroll-shelves to properly store them in.
The ninja girl pondered over this information, obviously the owner of this house cared enough about it to keep it tidy, but seemed to ignore or was unaware of many things that would have been more efficient.
Somehow, that didn't sound like the Uchiha boy. In fact, the house had a sort of manic energy to it, as if the cleaner had been hyperactive when he'd cleaned up.
"Oi!" There was a shout of annoyance from near the front of the house, obviously the owner had returned. "What's everyone doing in my hou- Ah! Iruka Sensei!" The voice changed topics quickly, without pause for breath or thought. "Did you come to give me my shopping money?"
'Shopping money?' Temari blinked, if this Iruka was giving the owner of this house money to shop with, than it was likely that Iruka was his father – or at least his guardian. But then why would the copy-ninja be here unless...
It was with a slow certainty that Temari realised that there had been another male ninja in the copy-ninja's group. The same ninja who had shown incredible power and determination in all parts of the Chuunin exam.
"I... have something to tell you." Iruka's voice echoed through the house, "There's someone here you have to meet."
Temari could hear footsteps now, several pairs in fact, with sudden clarity she knew who her new fiancée was.
The door to the room slammed open as a blonde haired boy kicked it open – as if he did it everyday. The boy, upon seeing Temari, froze mid-kick and suddenly jumped backwards, pointing at the ex-Sand-nin.
"What the hell is she doing here!?" He demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the girl, what was her name again? Heck, he was sure he'd heard her name before. 'Well,' he decided, 'It doesn't matter because she's not gonna be here long!
Standing a few heads taller than the leaf villages number one hyperactive Ninja was said Ninja's first teacher, Iruka. The older man sighed, reaching up with one hand to rub at the scar across his nose – a common sign that he was truly concerned and worried about something.
"That," he said, "Is your fiancé."
Chapter 1 – Ended.
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Authors notes :
Wheeee. ^.^ My first Naruto ficcie, it was originally going to be some little sappy thing about what happened when Gaara, Temari and Kankuro returned to Sand village but... uh... it sorta grew. Then I re-wrote the first part and made it into this x.x
Anyway, uhm, the next chapter is going ahead – slowly – but it'll get to you eventually. (at time of uploading this, I've hit 3000 words, and I don't even feel that I'm a third of the way done yet x.x )
- lackey H, over and out.