Betrothal R, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer should probably go here, but I don't see the point. You all know what they look like by now. If it makes you feel any better though, just imagine the Disclaimer from another fanfic here.

It's been a long time in coming.

But it's finally here.

Note: Since a few people have commented on this: This fic begins just AFTER the Chuunin exam, but BEFORE Naruto goes off to find Tsunade. Hope that clears it up.

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The re-write of Betrothal... AKA...

BETROTHAL R.

A Naruto Fanfic rewrite by Lackey H
... Yes, the guy who wrote the original one.
And no, I'm not going to father your babies.
So please, don't ask that anymore.

Chapter one – 'Diplomacy'

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The high council of the Sand were, in all honesty, little more than a collection of old fossils who probably should have died years ago. Most of the time they kept to themselves as a combination of outright laziness and general animosity usually made sure they didn't meet up very often.

Naturally they all claimed that the reason they didn't meet up was because they were all in 'well deserved retirement'.

Like the elder of her two brothers, as well as the majority of the Sand shinobi who had to put up with these old duffers, Temari didn't really hold much respect for the council. Oh, sure, there was her Grandmother, Kaguya in the council too. She wasn't quite as bad as the rest but just being the mother of her father was enough to make Temari hate her. Besides, she still remembered how her grandmother always looked abnormally happy whenever it was the anniversary of when Temari's mother had died... Natural causes her ass! Temari was certain the old crone had somehow caused her mother's death directly, most likely in order to let her father go ahead with marrying Gaara's mother. Not that she'd lasted all that long either... Unlike Kankuro, who had been a little too young at the time, the eldest of the Sand siblings vaguely remembered both her own and Gaara's mothers, even if they were mere blurs in her memory. Kankuro and Gaara didn't even have that.

Pity... Gaara's mother had seemed like quite a nice person actually. If it hadn't been for everything, Temari half felt that she could have got on with the woman that her uncle, Yashamaru, had spent so much time describing to them along with her and Kankuro's birth mother. Gaara's coming had ruined that possibility, but Temari didn't particularly hold it against her half-brother. It wasn't his choice to have been created after all.

An elbow in the ribs, courtesy of Kankuro, brought Temari back from her thoughts and into the real world.

"-n't let them think of us as weak!" Choked out one council member, an aged man who looked like he'd be better off in a crypt than in this ceremonial meeting room.

The room was probably the most important room in the entirety of the Sand village. At a first glance it was a moderate sized somewhat rounded room, dominated by a large circular table made of some kind of dark wood that was supposedly one of the few artifacts dating back to the founding of the village. Around the table sat the various council members, most of whom were busy yelling well-worn phrases and propaganda-like mottos at each other. Sooner or later they would get to the point, although as far as everyone else in the room – all of who were standing opposite a wedge of the table where no-one was sitting – 'later' seemed to be the option that the council were opting for. Behind the council members were statues of the previous Kazekage, Temari reckoned that they had been put there to inspire future generations. A lot like the carved cliffside in Konoha... except they couldn't do that here as, unlike the Leaf, such carvings would have been worn away by constant sandstorms years ago.

Temari and her two brothers stood between the council table and a group of Jounin who were probably there just to guard the door. That said, they could have been there to ensure that Gaara didn't suddenly go and massacre the entire Suna council although, right now, it looked like they would probably help him if he tried. Fortunately for the council, Gaara was looking somewhat saner than normal today. Granted, since he'd lost that fight back in Konoha he hadn't been anywhere near as crazy as before, but there were still times when the evil Gaara surfaced, something which terrified both Kankuro and Temari... although they would never admit it out loud.

"The honor of the Sand has been tarnished." Stated a second councilman, slightly younger than most of his companions at the table. "Whether we are weak or strong, what does it matter? No-one will hire shinobi from a dishonorable source."

To his right at the table a slightly older, though not by much, woman nodded her head in agreement. "Thanks to the actions of certain individuals, our ninja were duped, duped I say, into entering a small scale war with those of the Leaf." She began, her voice dry and croaking, "This was a major blow to our credibility as shinobi also. How are we to project the image of a strong and competent village when the powers of the world have seen the blunder we have made?"

"But our Kage was replaced!" Choked out the woman Temari knew as her grandmother. "If we cannot put our trust in our leader, who can we trust?"

"That is exactly our point Kaguya!" Declared the youngest council member, even as he stood up and slammed his hands flat upon the table. "To have our leader, the most important man in the village, replaced under our very noses! How can we even hope to salvage our dignity over such a disgraceful lack of observation?"

Over where she was standing, flanked by her two siblings, Temari groaned inwardly. The council had been at this for hours now and, to be quite frank, she was getting tired of the whole damn thing. She, Kankuro and Gaara had been called into the room almost two hours ago... only minutes after they had entered, Kaguya had begun a tirade that set off a major argument.

Suddenly Temari narrowed her eyes slightly. There was something serious going on here. Now that she was thinking about it, every time it seemed like the rest of the council had come to the end of an argument and were ready to explain why the three siblings were present, Kaguya went and started another one. Evidently there was something that her grandmother didn't want happening, and she seemed to be doing her best to run a form of delaying action. Unfortunately it seemed to be working once again, as now the council were in yet another all-out argument and had completely ignored the presence of the three siblings.

Sighing to herself, the Kunoichi idly glanced around the room. As she did so she picked at a few loose threads on her dress, the same one she'd worn to the chuunin exams those five short weeks ago. Idly she wondered if, to make up for the sheer annoyance of having to stand throughout this stupid meeting, she should go buy herself something new to wear. She could do with it too, a recent growth spurt over the past month had left her almost an inch taller and just a little too big for most of her outfits. Maybe, while she was out, she could go get a treatment at her usual hairdressers, go the whole hog as it were, really treat herself to make up for this accursed meeting. After a few moments of fuming, Temari glanced to either side, wondering how her brothers were faring. On her left Kankuro seemed to be doing just as badly as she was, worse maybe. She noted that other than yet another makeup design, he too was wearing the same clothes he wore to the exam. Then again, most of his wardrobe looked exactly the same anyway, black bodysuit after black bodysuit. She knew he liked the outfit because of how functionally useful it was but... really... wearing nothing else was going maybe a little too far. Giving up on Kankuro for now, the Kunoichi looked at her other brother, Gaara, who stood to her right, as rigid and emotionless as ever. He too wore the same clothes except he wasn't really. What he was wearing was, well, sand. Sand shaped like clothes and colored with chakra, his armor of sand no less. It made sense though, most of the council were of the 'kill the monster' camp when it came to how they thought about Gaara, coming in with extra protection was simply a precaution on his part. For a moment Temari thought she saw a flicker of irritation in his eyes but, as soon as she looked again it was gone.

Fighting back the urge to grin, the elder sibling began looking for what she thought was... ah, yes. There it was, a tiny pool of sand creeping along behind the council members. It had been moving rather slowly and was clinging against the normally rather dusty area where the walls met the floor. In fact, if she hadn't been looking for the movement specifically she probably wouldn't have even noticed it was there at all. Glancing back to her half-brother, Temari was rewarded with the merest twitch of a smirk present on Gaara's features. Evidently he was just as annoyed at the constant arguing as she was... more so most likely as Gaara rarely got annoyed in anything less than full measures.

"That is why we, the Sand, must make amends with the Leaf!" The most recent argument seemed to be winding down as this most recent statement from some old woman Temari vaguely recognized sounded particularly final. "By making amends, as Saizo-san has already explained, we can at least purge ourselves of some of the dishonor that currently burdens us."

"Furthermore," Continued the youngest councilman, taking over from the old woman. "By cementing a relationship with Konoha, Stone may be persuaded to turn away from us. You of all people, Kaguya, should know just how much the Stone wish to expand their territories." He sighed then and, for a moment, Temari was sure that he had shot everyone who was waiting an apologetic glance. "And Kaguya, before you even start another argument, I will point out to everyone the fact that we have a number of smaller countries between us and Stone is not going to dissuade them should they wish to invade."

"Hn. Thank you for that observation Saizo-san," Spoke up the woman to his right. "Which brings us right back to the very beginning. We need the help, or at least the goodwill, of the Leaf if we wish to survive. And as much as you don't like it Kaguya, head of the council or not, there is nothing you can do to deny this fact."

The crone known as Kaguya seemed to swell up, ready to deliver another tirade of verbal diarrhea in order to divert the course of the discussion yet again. Unfortunately she would never get to speak as, the moment she opened her mouth, Gaara struck. The sand that had been crawling along the walls suddenly shot towards the woman and quickly engulfed her from the mouth down. Naturally the remaining council members shot out of their seats in terror and the Jounin at the doors made a vague movement towards the three siblings. Jounin they may have been, but suicidal they were not.

"You will be silent." Stated the red-headed genin. "Or you will die."

Temari actually looked shocked at this, and was quick to turn on her half-brother. "Gaara!" She half-screamed, "You can't just kill our grandmother!"

Gaara blinked and looked at her in silence for a moment before, eventually, responding. "Why not?"

The two elder siblings seemed to consider this for a moment. "You know, Temari, he does have a point..." Began Kankuro, who privately thought that if Gaara went though with his threat then he'd be doing the world a favor. It was with no real surprise that Temari found herself nodding in agreement with her brother, much to their grandmothers chagrin. "And anyway," continued the puppeteer, "If she dies we'd get to leave even faster."

"Well... " The eldest sibling pondered this for a moment before shaking her head. "No... I'm sure there's still some use for her and she is technically family." Glancing down at her youngest brother, Temari waved her hand dismissively. "Let her go." She stated, then paused for a moment. "After the meeting is over." She added at last.

Gaara didn't so much as twitch in response, but he complied with Temari's directions. That, of everything that had happened since the chuunin exam, was one of the more shocking changes about Gaara. Sure occasionally he'd flip out and kill someone whilst on a mission, but even then he had limited himself to mission targets and enemy shinobi. Before he killed anyone else he would seek Kankuro or Temari, usually the latter, for permission to execute. Even more surprisingly he actually listened when they told him not to kill. It was, all in all, a slight change for the better... even though it was still somewhat unnerving every time he actually asked. Sort of like holding a live explosion tag, everything seemed fine now but there was always the knowledge that sooner or later it was going to explode in your hand...

It took a short while to convince everyone else present that, no, Gaara was not going to kill them all and that if they wished to keep things that way, then they should hurry up an explain just why they'd bought the three siblings to the meeting in the first place. There was much muttering amongst the council members... well, council members minus two at least. One was currently being gagged by Gaara and a second had, in a rare burst of speed, dived out a window the moment the boy had struck. Currently he was being escorted to the nearest medical facility to deal with numerous broken bones since the tower of the Kazekage was, if nothing else, very tall and the meeting room they were in just happened to be at the top of it.

"Achem... well, ah..." Stumbled the youngest council member, whom Temari recalled being referred to as 'Saizo' by his peers. "Yes, yes, the reason we called you here. Today. Here today. Yes. The reason." He looked nervous and, if the blonde kunoichi was correct, he was more nervous about what he was going to say than about being permanently silenced by Gaara. Obviously, then, what he was going to say was not going to be particularly well received by herself and her brothers.

"Get to the point Saizo-san!" half-shrieked one elderly councilman, "Before he kills us all!"

"Ah! Yes! The reason!" Saizo was starting to babble now, evidently stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. "A-as you have no doubt, uhm, inferred from our... discussion... the Sand has lost much of both our... our honor and our strength due to the failed... ah... invasion." The poor man looked helplessly at one old councilwoman for a moment. She sighed and, evidently having a clearer head than her companions, took over the speaking.

"It is our intent, then, to try and reclaim some of what we have lost. Unfortunately this will not be possible alone, especially with the Stone breathing down our necks from across the borders of their allied countries." The woman paused then, and rested her elbows on the table in order to then rest her chin on her hands. "Over the course of the years we have not exactly made many friends amongst the other countries. In fact, with the exception of the shinobi-less River country, we have no official allies at all." She sighed slightly, "Mostly this is your father's fault even though Kaguya-" Here she shot an acidic glare at the currently bound woman, "- constantly blames it on everyone else. As a result of this, the Sand is in a position where we face invasion while in a weakened state. We need allies, those who may make the Stone think twice before attempting military action... If you have studied your history you know the only candidate for this."

"The Leaf." Stated Gaara suddenly, surprising both Temari and Kankuro.

The woman said nothing, but nodded sagely.

"So," Began Kankuro, "We need the ally with the Leaf so that they can scare the Stone off? Seems kinda stupid if you ask me... Why the hell would they bother after we tried to wipe 'em out?"

"... Because we have something they want." Temari whispered, a vague sense of doom infringing on her mind. "Or, at least, we have something we can bribe them with."

"Ah, intelligent as always Temari." Replied the old woman, "But you are only right to an extent. Giving in to demands and bribery, while both traditional ways of apologizing and restoring lost honor are, unfortunately, simply not enough in this case. For a start there is nothing the Leaf demands of us aside from assistance in regards to the extermination of the Sound – a task we would have wanted to undertake anyway – and we have very little that they cannot obtain on their own that we can bribe them with."

"Except..." Continued Temari, "There must be something, or else you wouldn't be telling us this."

"Except..." Echoed the woman. "Indeed. There is one other course of action we could take. Such has not been tried since the end of very end of the war between the Leaf and the Stone. Though I heard that instance ended in tragedy, we are approaching this from a position of... tentative neutrality, not outright hostility. Thus we believe this action will not end in the same manner."

Kankuro, the only one of the three siblings to have any real interest in both history and drama, gasped in shock. "You..." He stammered, "You can't mean...? Raioujii? The lightning prince?" Next to him Temari blinked, vaguely recognizing the name of a play which had been somewhat popular back when she was at the academy. Unlike Kankuro, she had mostly ignored it's existence as she didn't care much for the theater. It was then that she became aware of Kankuro staring at her in horror before turning to the old woman and then back again.

"What?" She demanded, suddenly filled with both a feeling of anger and intense worry. Kankuro shrank away from her, not wanting to look her in the eye for some reason.

"They..." He began, his voice barely a whisper. "They're going to... to send you away." Glancing over at the council table, Kankuro saw the old woman confirm his fears with a sharp nod. When he looked back at his siblings he was met with Temari's look of confusion and what appeared to be some interest from Gaara. "The Raioujii..." Explained the middle sibling, his voice low. "It's all about a marriage... how the Stone tried to apologize to the Leaf about starting the war which they lost..."

Things began to shape in Temari's mind as she listened to him go over the main points of the story, a story which involved all the things a good play required – love, hate, treachery and copious amounts of death. To be honest, the picture forming was not one that Temari particularly liked, especially since it appeared to involve her being married off to some pathetic shinobi from an overly idealistic village like Konoha.

"- thats how it ends see?" Finished Kankuro, who had continued despite the fact that his sister's eyes had glazed over half-way through. Well, at least Gaara had seemed interested in the tale somewhat, and more than a few of the Jounin at the door appeared to have been engrossed in the story too. "Though it's rumored that Shizuko survived the attack and was merely kidnapped back by the Stone for some reason."

"Hn." Snorted Saizo from his position at the council table. "Either way, thanks to that treachery the war between the Leaf and the Stone was extended by two years. Then no less than a year after that the Leaf was further decimated by the Kyuubi." His mouth curled up into a bitter smirk. "Yet despite such tragedy they still somehow managed to remain one of the most powerful Shinobi powers in the world. Such determination is something we want... No, something we need on our side should war break out between us and the Stone."

"Which is why, Temari," Muttered the old woman from earlier, "As the only daughter of the Kazekage, you have been selected to, as it were, play the part of Shizuko in this arrangement. As in the Raiojii play, your engagement to one of the leaf-nin will cement our agreement for peace as well as provide some small leverage in arranging a true alliance."

"We can only hope, however," Stated a final councilwoman – one who had not spoken until now - "That this shall not end in the same tragedy as the play." She sighed and looked directly at Temari, her eyes oddly soft when compared to her peers. "It is not as bad as it seems... even though you will no longer be considered a kunoichi of the Sand, you will still be considered one of our people. Should anything... untoward happen, you will be welcomed back." Though unspoken, everyone knew that this statement really ended with the words 'if you survive'.

A short while later Temari stumbled out of the meeting room and began to make her way down the Kazekage tower in what appeared to be a half-dazed state. Following just behind, Kankuro watched over her with some worry, vaguely afraid of what she might do. While Gaara was technically the insane one in the family, it wasn't like the other two siblings weren't prone to the occasional bout of random violence. Unlike his sister however, Kankuro didn't particularly bother to deny that occasionally he could be almost as bad as Gaara was on a good day. As such he was well aware of the sorts of things Temari might be prone to doing as soon as her current state of denial and confusion was replaced with anger it the situation. Heck, one good kamaitachi in a crowded area and the village could be looking at a body count in the double digits easily. All in all, Kankuro thought it would probably be a good idea to get her home quickly. Maybe even pump her full of the cactus-wine he'd managed to smuggle past everyone who reckoned he was still too young to drink, at the very least it would hopefully make her more willing to fall asleep without killing anyone.

"O...oy, Temari, this way huh?" He grumbled, directing Temari towards the service entrance to the tower, a direction which wasn't likely to be filled with civilians wanting to hire any shinobi. Privately he swore at his half-brother, who had stayed behind to make some kind of request of the council and had even gone as far as ordering the two siblings to leave so they wouldn't hear what it was. Kankuro was hoping that Gaara's request involved abandoning the exceptionally stupid idea of sending his sister off to be married to some punk from Konoha.

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Looking up at the star above, Temari sighed to herself and tried to ignore the bumping and rocking motions of the cart she was riding on. As carts went it wasn't very impressive, just a wooden box on wheels being pulled by two camels – the traditional beast of burden in the desert. Along the inside walls of the cart were two wooden planks which served as seats and, as right now, makeshift beds for those riding inside. The only light came from the stars and a few glass-covered oil lamps mounted up next to where the cart's driver sat.

Other than the non-shinobi driver, the only people riding in the cart were Temari and her younger brother Gaara. The former was lying down on her 'bed' in a vague effort to catch some rest, whilst the latter – who had no need of rest – was sitting watching her. Every so often the two heard the faint tapping of a jounin approaching the cart and smacking their hands against it's sides – an old trick that was useful for ensuring that the cart they were escorting was real and not an illusion formed by a hostile party in order to lead the escort off.

"How long?" The girl asked at last, seemingly at random. On the other side of the cart Gaara grunted in response, causing Temari to sigh again. "Since we started traveling." She added.

Gaara glanced up at the sky for a moment, then looked at his sister. "Seven hours." he replied, "Thirty hours until the exchange." There was a pause before the red-head, in a slightly quieter tone, spoke again. "Are you going to try to fight again?" he asked. Though his voice sounded as dead as usual, Temari couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be the faintest hint of emotion there, though she couldn't quite guess what it was meant to be.

Rolling onto her side, facing away from her half-brother, the kunoichi muttered to herself for a few moments before replying. "No." She grumbled, "I'm not that eager to be chased down again. 'specially not in the dark. Besides, where would I go? Even if I got back home they'd just send me out again – in chains probably."

"You could become missing-nin." Gaara pointed out, only to have Temari snort in annoyance.

"No way in hell." She growled, "A little freedom now in exchange for spending all my life being chased down? That doesn't sound like a good deal to me," The Kunoichi grunted then, as a particularly fierce bumping of the cart threatened to knock her off the 'bed' she lay on. "It'd be an even worse deal if they accept you as a hunter-nin – don't think I didn't see the paperwork. Doing administration duty for the last week was a pain in the ass, but I never expected to see your and Kankuro's files come up for that."

"You saw. I see." Temari ground her teeth in annoyance at her half-brother's reply. Hunter-nin duty was dangerous and usually restricted to upper level chuunin at the lowest. Temari was pretty certain that it was only because of Gaara's... reputation... that he and Kankuro had even got as far as getting the required paperwork together, let alone having it reach even the lowest administrative levels.

"Why," Began the young woman, her curiosity winning out over her irritation for the moment. "Why did you apply anyway? You and Kankuro... It doesn't make sense, you're both too smart to jump in on something like that without having a reason." There was silence for quite a while, long enough to make Temari slightly nervous at what the answer was going to be. Had she been looking at her sibling, rather than facing away from him, she would have noticed that Gaara seemed to be conflicted about something – though unless one knew him well it was probably impossible to tell. Eventually, though, he had an answer.

"It is... required." He whispered, "Hunter, medic, teacher and warrior. All four are required. So I shall be all four, beginning with hunter."

Temari blinked and rolled over onto her back before shooting a glance at her sibling. "Required?" She questioned, "Required for what?"

Gaara met his sisters gaze. "Sit up," He stated after a moment. "Please." He added almost as an afterthought. Somewhat surprised that Gaara had actually said 'please' rather than just ordering her as he normally would, Temari sat up and looked her half-brother in the eye, practically daring him to explain himself. "Article fourteen," began the red-head, as if he were reciting from a book, "of the third decree of the first Kazekage – Shodaime Kousuke Ichigo – states that all following Kage candidates must possess a working knowledge of the four important pillars of shinobi society."

"The teachers who train the next generation of shinobi, the medics who treat the wounds of shinobi, the hunters who enforce the laws of shinobi and finally the shinobi who fight for the ideals of their village." Continued Temari, cutting her brother off. "His decrees were only one of the first things we were taught at the academy, though I don't see what... relevance... it..." She trailed off, the meaning behind Gaara's speech suddenly becoming clear in her head. "You..." She began.

The boy known as Gaara, keeper of the demon Shukaku, smiled what was possibly his first real smile since Yashamaru had died trying to kill him. "I will become Kazekage." He declared, "I... have found a new reason for existence. One that... that feels better than my old one. I... I was shown a new way to live, to protect people who are... precious... to me."

"Then," Whispered Temari as she lay back down onto the rough bed. "I guess it was a good idea to slip that paperwork into the accepted folder, huh?"

This time it was Gaara's turn to be surprised, though the only visible indication of this was a slight widening of his eyes. "You... did that?" He stated. "I did not know."

"Yeah, well, it's not like they can take it back or anything. If they question it then old Dezaki will either have to say he accepted it, or admit to drinking himself unconscious on duty and letting me do his work for him." The kunoichi snorted in irritation at the memory of doing someone else's work, "Do me a favor, if you do manage to become Kazekage, demote the fat bastard or something, he really doesn't deserve the position and you know he only got it by toadying up to... well, you know who."

"I see." Came the only reply. "I will bear that in mind."

"So... why begin with hunter anyway? Teacher or medic is easier since all you gotta do is... oh... right." Temari grimaced slightly as she cut herself off before she said something stupid. It was really rather obvious why Gaara would begin as a hunter-nin, the paths of the medic and the teacher required him to be around other people, people who currently hated him. "... promise me you'll send pictures." She said at last, "You know, when you get around to being a teacher... I wanna see what kind of brats they'll dump on you."

"Very well." Stated her half-brother, before muttering something which sounded suspiciously like 'when it snows in Suna', a common phrase which basically meant that it was never going to happen. Evidently he'd taken to emulating one or two of Kankuro's rebellious habits... While such a thing wasn't exactly a good change, it was still better than his previous emotionless image. Inwardly Temari shuddered at this since now she was leaving, Kankuro was likely to get somewhat more bold with his bad habits... sooner or later her brother was going to leave some of his porn collection out where Gaara would find it and... and...

Actually, she wasn't sure how Gaara would react to one of Kankuro's girly magazines, though she felt somewhat annoyed that she wouldn't be there to see what happened. Well... as long as Gaara didn't end up turning into some kind of super-pervert or something the kunoichi supposed that she'd be able to live with it.

'Whatever..." Temari mumbled as she made herself comfortable, deciding that she wasn't in the mood to try and continue conversation with Gaara anymore. "Wake me up when we stop for food, 'kay?"

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"Hm." It had been over a day and a half since the tiny group of shinobi, and one cart, had left the boundaries of Suna village and it was almost time for the group to meet up with what would be a similar group from Konoha.

"What?" Temari mumbled, from where she lay on her front, idly scanning through a slim book of poetry. "You say something Gaara?"

"No." The red-head stated after a moment. "I... have something to say yet... I cannot think of words which fit."

That caught Temari's interest and also appeared to provide a welcome distraction from the knowledge that, in what was probably no more than an hour, she was going to be handed off to a bunch of leaf-nin and, worse, married to one later. "Really?" She asked, closing her book and moving around into a sitting position opposite her half-brother. "Use words which don't fit then, I guess I can help you make sense of it." For several long moments Gaara merely stared at her, Temari growing progressively more impatient every second as she waited for him to say something. "Look," She began at last before Gaara cut her off even as she started speaking.

"I will miss you."

Temari blinked in shock. Such a statement was one that she'd never considered Gaara making, ever. "You what?" she breathed, her voice quiet.

"I will miss you. You will be gone. I will... not see you." Though he wasn't usually prone to thinking to himself, Gaara privately wondered if everything to do with emotions was this... confusing. "I... do not... do not like that I will not see you. I..." He paused, wondering how to phrase what he was going to say next. "You... you are one of my... one of my precious people." Funny, it had hurt when he had said that, though it wasn't the kind of hurting he was used to. In fact it seemed to be a nice hurting, kind of like the same feeling he had felt when he had stared into Naruto's eyes moments after his defeat during the Chuunin exam. Back then he had been in pain all over, physical, mental and emotional. He had been terrified as Naruto inched his way towards him and then... then... then he understood. He saw his own pain reflected in Naruto's eyes and he knew. He knew that Naruto was just like him, that he was not alone, that there were others like him in the world.

That moment was one Gaara regarded as the happiest moments of his life, despite all the pain he had been in there had been an overwhelming feeling of relief as if a great pressure, that of loneliness and anger, had been removed from where it threatened to burst inside him.

Right now the feeling he had was similar to that. It hurt that he was saying goodbye to his sister, even though he had only really seen her as something more than a target of flesh and blood for a short while. Yet, even as it hurt, it was a good feeling to be able to admit that she was precious to him now, something he could not do before, it was... proof that he was no longer a mindless monster.

"Gaara..." Whispered his sister, shocked almost beyond words. "... you don't know how much that means to me," she admitted at last, even as she felt her own tears begin to run down her face. Without warning Gaara suddenly leaned forwards and wiped at her tears with one finger before pulling back and staring at his finger in confusion.

"You... are crying." He ventured at last, "Did... did I make you upset?"

Suddenly he felt himself go flying backwards, his barrier of sand rising up behind him in order to cushion his impact against the side of the cart. His senses and mind, at the moment of impact, had shot into full battle readiness in order to analyze the situation at incredible speed.. Even then it took him several moments to work out what had happened and, more importantly, why his barrier hadn't stopped the impact.

Glancing down, Gaara slowly became aware of the fact that his sister was embracing him, her arms wrapped around his waist and her head buried against his chest. Given the fact that he could feel his shirt grow damp, she was evidently crying more than before. Still working at high speeds, Gaara's mind flicked through every memory he had in order to work out what the heck was going on. Eventually it found a match in some obscure play that Yashamaru had taken him to see once, long ago. Temari wasn't crying because she was sad! She was crying tears of happiness!

Well, no. Actually, now that he thought about it in light of his epiphany, Temari had been crying tears of happiness. Now she really was crying tears of sadness because... because... He had no idea. This whole 'emotion' thing was new to him after all and he really had no idea what was going through his sister's mind. After all, he had just said that he was going to... miss... her...

Gaara stiffened slightly in Temari's embrace, causing the older girl to pull away slightly and look up at him. "I..." She whispered, only now realizing what she had just done. "I didn't mean..." She began, pulling away from her brother in fear of what he would do. Showing emotion was one thing, but actual physical contact? She had no idea at all how Gaara would react to something like that.

"Wait." The boy's voice was soft, but firm enough to cause Temari to freeze up. "I... Think... I understand." Gaara whispered, much to his sister's confusion. "This... This is all... strange. New. Confusing. But... this, I think I understand." his arms reached out and then paused for several moments before hesitantly wrapping themselves around his sister's shoulders. "I... will miss you." He stated as he gently hugged his sister for what was the first time in his life.

To say that Temari was speechless would be an understatement. Never in a million years would she have expected Gaara to give her a hug. Heck, now that she thought about it, it was practically a miracle that his sand barrier hadn't prevented her from hugging him first. As she leaned back into her brother, returning the hug, she felt the slight tenseness of his muscles against her arms. This, unlike the sudden stiffening of shock moments ago, was a forced tenseness bought on by extreme concentration. 'He... he must be holding the barrier back by will alone!' She realized with no small amount of surprise, 'It that's so then... Did he... No... He couldn't have... He seemed so shocked when I... Unless... Maybe... Maybe...'

"Gaara..." She whispered. "... Thank you... Thank you for... for..." She sniffled slightly, her tears soaking Gaara's tunic. "... I'm glad you... you can finally have precious people."

Gaara, for his part, merely remained silent.

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Since the hug, the journey had been made in silence. Neither Temari nor Gaara spoke to the other as each was caught up in personal thoughts. Gaara was trying to focus on every detail of his sister, trying to commit them all to memory as somewhere, deep inside, there was a fear that he may forget one of his two precious people. Temari, on the other hand, was mentally reviewing every eligible male shinobi from Konoha. Given that age didn't mean much to politically motivated marriages she was worried that she would end up being engaged to some guy old enough to be her father. If that wasn't the case, then she was afraid of being given to some creepy clan like the Inuzuka or the Aburame. She hated dogs and the less said about her feeling on the subject of insects the better.

The exchange drew closer, arrived and passed.

To Temari it seemed sort of... anticlimactic. One moment she had been on a cart with her things, her brother and an escort of sand-nin the next she was on the same cart with her things and an escort of leaf-nin. The short period between the two, where documents were handed over and countless tests and precautionary measures were taken, hadn't really seemed to register in her mind. The only memory she seemed to have of the exchange was that of Gaara turning away from her and joining the sand escort as they went to return to their village.

Their village.

It seemed weird to think of it that way, 'their village' instead of 'her village', but it was something she knew she was going to have to get used to eventually. 'Gaara's village', 'Kankuro's village' ... but not her village. Her thoughts must have been visible on her face, for it wasn't long before one the the escorts – Jounin all by the looks of it – gave her a sidelong glance.

"Worried?" he asked, moving closer to the side of the cart. He looked vaguely familiar and it took Temari a few moments to place him as one of the examiners at the chuunin exam.

"Didn't you used to have a senbon glued to your mouth?." She asked without thinking. Suddenly realizing what she had said the sandy-haired girl's eyes widened in panic, that was most definitely not a good conversation opener! The Jounin, however, merely chuckled to himself at her expression.

"Ha! That's gotta be the best insult yet!" He laughed out louder then and grinned at Temari, around him a few of his comrades were also chuckling or snickering to themselves at Temari's reaction to the jounin. "So I guess you're gonna want a few questions answered, right?" he asked, his voice calming into a lazy drawl, "I can't tell you anythin' confidential... you'll have to wait until we arrive for that, but I guess you can ask a few things if you want."

"... Do you know who..." Temari began, before trailing off. "No... that's probably confidential, right?" she asked, and muttered to herself in irritation when the Jounin nodded. "What's the response to this? Or haven't they told anyone about it yet?"

The Jounin frowned in thought, "Don't think the civilians know, but I think most Jounin and a few Chuunin were told." Scratching at his cheek the blonde-haired jounin tried to remember the reaction of his colleagues. "There's them that remember the whole 'Raiouji' fiasco..." He blinked as Temari nodded in remembrance of Kankuro's storytelling, "oh... you know that story huh? Well, most that remember aren't convinced this is gonna work too well... Everyone else is holding their own views back, though I guess the kids and civilians might not be too happy about it when they find out."

"... I'm not going to live out the week am I?" Temari asked, her voice shaking slightly. "I know how political prisoners end up..." Death had always been a possibility in her life as a kunoichi but, to her, it had always been a distant one – even given the fact that Gaara was just as likely to kill her as an enemy was. Now that it seemed to be getting a lot closer she was, for want of a better term, getting scared. "There must be hundreds who'd be happy to have me killed..." And in the midst of an 'enemy' village with near unlimited opponents, her skills wouldn't be worth a damn in the end.

The blonde Jounin frowned, causing Temari to desperately search her memories for a name to put with his face, "Well... Me and the guys are supposed to keep an eye on you for the first week or two... After that... I can't say for sure."

After a while the Jounin spoke up again, his voice low and conspiratorial. "Make friends with the brat." he stated. "If anyone can keep you safe from the mob, the brat probably can. He's... he's had practice at that sort of thing."

Temari wanted to ask who 'the brat' was, but the Jounin had vanished.

Well... she would probably find out when she got there.

Hopefully.

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"Temari-san... Temari-san..." The voice that woke her wasn't too insistent, but it was coupled with a hand – a guy's since it was far too big to be a girl's – on her shoulder that was shaking her with every word.

"Gwuh? Piss off 'kuro... I'ma not making breakfast yet..." She mumbled, the sleep clouding her mind. If she were actually conscious enough to realize her condition she would be berating herself for being in such a deep sleep that it took physical contact to wake her up – in the rather dangerous political climate of her village it wasn't very healthy to sleep so deeply.

Mostly because those that did had a tendency to never wake up again.

"Ah... Temari-san? Temari-san... it's time for you to wake up now." The voice returned, a little more insistent this time. It was also accompanied by rougher shaking – this time done with two hands.

"Muh...? I said not yet..." Grumbled the sleepy blonde, "Go play with yer... " She paused as previously dormant parts of her memory decided to wake up and inform the rest of her meager consciousness of the fact that she wasn't at home anymore. "... buh?" Opening her eyes a fraction, then immediately slamming them shut due to the bright light of the room she was in, Temari's began taking stock of her situation even as her brain began shifting up to full power.

One: She was apparently sleeping in a bed of some kind, a soft one at that, which meant she definitely wasn't at home since all they had there were futons and a futon could never be as soft as what she lay on right now.

Two: She was wearing her sleeping gear, a pair of silk trousers and a similar shirt. This fact told her that, wherever she was, she was 'safe' - for a given value of 'safe' at least. Combined with the fact that she wasn't at home – the only place she ever usually considered 'safe' – this meant that she was in friendly territory of some kind.

And the only place which was both on somewhat friendly terms and strong enough to repel anyone who would want to attack her was... oh... yes... Konoha. They had arrived late last night and she'd practically thrown herself into the bed she had been offered – as well as resolved that she was never, ever, going to sleep in a wagon again.

"Guh... I'm up..." She muttered, even as her waker shook her again. "I'm up..." Opening her eyes again, and thankfully not being blinded by the morning light, Temari started blinking the sleep away from her eyes. After a few moments her vision went from a post-sleep haze to the gloriously clear vision she usually possessed.

Unfortunately, this resulted in her getting an eyeful of an upside-down image of a half-naked woman surrounded by an orange border. A quick glance around confirmed that the object, lying on her bead next to where her head lay, was one of the infamous 'Icha Icha' books. For a few moments there was silence until, with a rather embaressed coughing from whoever it was that stood nearby, the slim book was moved out of her line of sight.

"... I hope, " She growled, "You have a damn good reason for reading... that... while I was sleeping."

"Well, achem, I'm sure a... Kunoichi of your... caliber... can understand how boring guard duty gets." Came the reply. Now that she was awake and paying attention, Temari was aware that it was coming from an older, black clad, man. His only defining feature seemed to be a pair of sunglasses he wore. Temari got the feeling that, whoever he was, he wasn't all that happy with her presence... hell, her existence even. Still, his reason was... understandable, if a little contemptible. Really, reading smut whilst on serious guard duty? That was no way for a shinobi to behave. Still... getting pissy over the matter, at this moment, was probably not the best course of action.

"Fine, whatever." She snarled, pulling herself up into a sitting position on the bed, glad that her sleeping gear had been specifically chosen to be completely concealing in every way. "I suppose there's a reason I'm being woken up too?"

"..." The man was silent for a few moments. "It is almost noon." he finally stated. Though his voice seemed to be fairly neutral, Temari thought she could detect a trace of disgust in his tone. Whether it was aimed at the idea of a Kunoichi sleeping until noon, or at her personally, she couldn't tell. Either way, she really couldn't care less.

"I see." She mumbled, "Fine then, given your insistence at waking me up am I correct in assuming that I'm to be presented before your elders today?" Shaking her head, the blonde kunoichi sighed to herself. There was, after all, no real point in delaying the inevitable and, to be honest, if she had to go present herself she would rather look good than look half-asleep. "Fine, fine... Now if I can have a little privacy?"

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If there was one thing that the elders of Suna and Konoha had in common, it was that they all liked the sounds of their own voices. Ever since she had arrived at the council room, after getting dressed of course, Temari had been subjected to one long-winded speech after another. Fortunately, unlike back at her village, this council room actually had seats for the guests. Unfortunately this meant that instead of her feet going numb from standing, another part of her was going numb from having been sitting still for the past... three, four hours? Something like that at least, Temari's sense of time wasn't too good here as all the little indications of current time that she was used to using in the desert didn't exist out here in the forests of the fire country. All she had to go on was her body clock... which unfortunately was being completely drowned out by her stomaches cries for some sort of food.

Damn the bastard, Ebisu she thought his name was, the moment Temari had been ready he had dragged her along to the council chambers. Dammit! She had wanted to grab a bite to eat first - but the uptight git had refused and given her an impromptu lecture on the impoliteness of being late to an official summons.

Needless to say, his lecture had made them ten minutes late, an act which had resulted in an extra speech from the elders on the same subject. As far as Temari was concerned, those ten minutes could have been better spent having something to eat, even if it was just a snackfood or something. Hell, a cup ramen would have been fine, even though the stuff – which she had been forced to practically live on during the chuunin exams - tasted like wet cardboard as far as she could tell. At the rate this meeting was going she'd probably die of starvation before it ended. Admittedly, though, the mental image of the council members trying to marry her skeletal corpse off to someone was pretty funny... Morbid perhaps, but funny nonetheless.

Ah well, she was pretty sure no-one here would appreciate her somewhat dark sense of humor, most of these leaf-nin seemed to be so... uptight about that sort of thing.

"-stood, but we must all be aware of the implications surrounding such a political marriage," Moaned one particularly sour looking elder who Temari vaguely recalled had been referred to as 'Hokuten' a few times already. "Especially since showing such strengthened ties with another village may prompt a more militaristic village, such as the Stone, into action. As it is only our previous victory over them, and their fear of a repeat of such, is what is keeping them out of-" The man's voice cut off as a door at the back of the room practically slammed open. "... Kakashi." He continued, looking over Temari's head at the figure in the doorway. "So good of you to join us at last."

"Just as well you weren't talking about anything vital then." Came the reply from behind her, the voice sounding decidedly unfriendly. The elder, Hokuten frowned in anger, though from what Temari could see of the other elders, it looked like they were agreeing, or at least sympathetic, with Kakashi. Evidently there was some sort of... history... here, one which most likely involved the man she vaguely remembered as being the teacher of the prick, the loudmouth and the wussy girl. Sharingan Kakashi, the man who had copied over a thousand jutsu... hell, who hadn't heard of him? He was one of the few Shinobi who had risen to a position approaching legendary in several ninja countries, others included the three Konoha Sannin, the Devil Zabuza and a few others.

He was also sitting down next to her.

Temari risked a glance at the older man and was somewhat surprised to find his one visible eye looking at her with what seemed to be a happy expression, a far cry from what she had assumed it would be given his unfriendly voice a few moments ago.

"Yo." He stated, with much blandness. Temari, like so many others before her, got the distinct first impression that Kakashi was more than a little... strange. For a start he had practically insulted one of the elders – an act which, back home, only Gaara could get away with without the fear of some sort of retribution. Then again... the infamous Sharingan Kakashi was supposedly one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi, second only to the previous Hokages, the three Konoha Sannin and one or two missing-nin. It wasn't too unlikely that his reputation and ability meant he was too valuable to the village to be punished for petty insults. "Pleased to meet you ..." He began, then faltered, "You know, I don't think I ever caught your family name."

"Don't have one." Temari muttered back, "We don't work the same way you do back in Wind country."

Kakashi merely shrugged slightly, "Ah," he replied. "Well, it's not like I'm an expert on other countries..."

The kunoichi merely raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not an idiot..." She hissed, ignoring the sharp look from the elder that was currently addressing the room at large. "You probably know more about my own country than I do, Sharingan Kakashi."To her surprise the man's one visibly happy eye seemed to get even happier, most likely at the fact that she knew who he was. The man may have been... dopey... but she could see that he had at least a modest ego.

"Now if our guest of honor has finished her babbling," Stated a female elder as she stood up, which earned her a smoldering glare from where Temari sat, not that she took any notice of it of course. "We now move onto the main topic of our meeting. We all know what is going on, why and with who. The only question that remains is – does anyone have any objections?"

There was a faint murmuring from a number of people in the room, but other than that no-one seemed to be objecting at all. Frowning to herself Temari hesitantly raised her hand, well aware of the fact that doing so now made her the focus of everyones attention.

"Are you done?" She asked, "I want to go get something to eat before you send me off to meet whichever idiot you fossils have decided to stick me with." Around her almost everyone gasped in shock at her blunt, and insulting, words. Idly she noted that Kakashi didn't seem to be one of them... if anything he looked even more amused than he had been before.

The head of the elders... actually, most of the elders seemed to be having a collective fit of apoplexy at her words. The woman who had asked for objectors physically drew back, "Have you no respect?" She hissed as she did so.

"Not really." Replied the Kunoichi, in a matter-of-fact tone. "I don't expect to live out the week, so why should I care what you think about my manners?"

"She has a point," Murmured Kakashi, an act which earned him a series of glare from the elders, "If you'll excuse me, I shall escort our guest to meet her husband-to-be." Standing and making his way towards the exit at the back of the room, the famed copy ninja paused and glanced back at the elders, "After a round of Dango perhaps." He quipped, before motioning for Temari to follow and quickly ducking out of the room. While he and most other jounin ninja were quite happy to irritate the council – who didn't have any official power over them, as both jounin and anbu reported only to the Hokage – they did know that going too far could result in a caution.

... Not that he cared, but it was best not to borrow more trouble than he felt was worth it.

Behind him, Temari also made her way quickly out of the room, wondering why a jounin such as Kakashi was able to get away with such actions. Back home the council was all powerful and wouldn't have hesitated to fine or imprison him for disrespect... here, it seemed, they didn't hold quite as much power. Whether this was a good thing or not, the kunoichi had no idea.

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Bleh, Dango. Not exactly one of Temari's favorite foods, in fact it was pretty high on the list of foods she didn't like... right after cup ramen and fried desert fox. The sauce was always too sticky, too sweet, too salty... or a combination of all three. The dumplings... ugh, she was so not going to get used to rice being a staple diet out here – the Wind country didn't really have the land for rice, so their staples were mostly wheat and barley. Give her some nice stone baked rolls dipped in spicy sauce and she would be happy...

Unfortunately the Fire country didn't grow much wheat, was far too wet for any of the desert spices she liked and, worse, they didn't even have proper coffee!

Waking up without proper coffee? The kind that was as thick as treacle and strong enough to eat through most wood surfaces? That was not the sort of thing a civilized person did, especially not Temari! Even Gaara knew well enough to stay away if she didn't get her coffee... or, at least, he knew well enough not to specifically get in her way... her brother never usually hung around in the early mornings anyway. Kankuro, on the other hand, had obviously been born stupid as he hadn't learned about such yet, as countless fan-induced bruises could attest to.

"... Where are we going?" She asked at last, having grown tired of following quietly behind Kakashi. Well, that and she had finished chewing on her stick of Dango – it might have tasted bad, but food was still food and she wasn't the sort to simply waste it. Looking around Temari noted that the area they were in seemed... reasonable. Apartment buildings of various sizes were situated here, indicating that the people living here were either middle class civilians or some of the lower class ninja, the kind that came from a family of civilians or had been orphans at one time. This was definitely not the sort of area anyone affiliated with a major clan would be likely to live. "We're better not be heading to your place." She grumbled when Kakashi merely shrugged his shoulders in response. "I've heard about you Sharingan Kakashi – the second most famous pervert in Konoha."

Her guide paused, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Awww..." he mock-whined, "Only the second most famous? Jiraiya-sama spends so much time away from the village he really shouldn't be counted you know..." Behind him, Temari scowled, one eyebrow twitching slightly in irritation. Kakashi, she had quickly discovered while they had eaten together earlier, was quite possibly the most insufferable person she had ever met. It was like he got some perverse pleasure out of irritating other people... Then again, given his position as second most famous pervert... he probably did. "You don't have much of a sense of humor, do you?" Questioned the jounin after a few moments silence, "... Guess not. Fine, fine, we're heading to where your husband-to-be lives, he's not from one of the big clans so he lives around here... Since you probably should know, he's an orphan too – part of the reason he got picked for the job I suspect."

"An orphan huh? That's not so bad." In honesty, Temari couldn't care less who it was now that she knew it wasn't going to be that freak with the bugs from the exam. Ugh... she could slice a man in two without blinking but even thinking about insects still made her shiver in disgust and fear. Hardly surprising if one knew the reasons behind her fear of the little multi-legged freaks of nature. "No parents to complain about the arrangement, right? Your council can just push the poor sap around as they liked, correct?"

Her guide sighed, turning to lead her down a smaller street. "Pretty much... They don't have control over us jounin here, but anyone less is fair game to them." Eventually the two came to a stop at a particular apartment building, this one looking to be somewhat smaller and more run-down than it's neighbors. After glancing around for a moment, Kakashi cautiously opened one of several small metal mailboxes mounted next to what looked to be an absurdly heavy door. There was silence as he skimmed through the small wad of letters he extracted he did it quickly, though Temari noticed that he was separating them into two piles – one of which he promptly slipped into a pouch on his vest. For a moment it struck Temari as strange that he'd put them in his vest, normally she would have expected a person to stuff such things in a trouser pocket or something – not in an armored vest pocket.

Then again, she was aware that some shinobi did get progressively more paranoid as they went on in life... and the famous Sharingan Kakashi was probably considered a vital assassination target by a good portion of the world... It wouldn't be too unusual for him to be overly paranoid at times.

"Huh, paranoid much?" She murmured, scowling when she got nothing more than a happy-looking face from Kakashi in response. "... nevermind." The kunoichi sighed and pushed at the door, a little confused as to why it didn't seem to be locked. Then again, if all the apartments inside had lockable doors then it wouldn't need to be. "Lets... lets go get this over with." She was surprised to find that, once inside, the place looked... well... it looked a lot better on the outside, that was for sure. The inside appeared to have been the subject of a small invasion – which was quite possible given the recent attack on the village – but this seemed to be far more damage than she would have expected to see from such. It was only when the two reached the third floor that Temari noticed the fact that all the apartments they had passed either had open doors or, in some cases, no doors at all. A quick peek in on the way past confirmed that they were all empty and had evidently been that way for a long time given the amount of dust on the floors.

"Only one person lives here." Stated the copy-ninja, answering her question before she had even asked. "He owns the whole building, has done since birth almost as no-one else was willing to live in the same building as him." The silver-haired jounin turned to lead Temari up yet another flight of stairs even as he grunted in annoyance. "People are short-sighted," he murmured, "seeing what they want to see and nothing else."

Temari paused and frowned in confusion. That... that actually sounded kind of familiar... It didn't quite make sense in her mind yet, but Kakashi's words had bought this feeling of familiarity down upon her. Now if she could only work out why...

A lound bang drew her out of her thoughts. He guide has stopped at the only closed door she'd seen in the building and has slammed his hand against it in a loud knocking action. A second, third, and eventually a fourth followed it. Kakashi was about to hit the door a fifth time when he paused mid-knock and, looking happy – or at least as happy a man with only one eye with which to convey emotions could be – lowered his arm just as the door opened.

"Oi! What the hell do you wa-" Yelled an angry voice, a voice that Temari vaguely recognized, despite it's owner being hidden by Kakashi's body. "-Ah! Kakashi-sensei! Wh-What do you want? You said it was a day off today!" She was pretty sure the owner of that voice had been at the chuunin exam... though she was having a little trouble placing it to a face. That boy with the dog maybe? He seemed the kind to live in a dump like this, she hoped not – she'd never got along with animals very well. Perhaps that fat kid... no... no, he was part of a known clan wasn't he? No way would he be living here.

... Actually... now that she thought about it, there was only one person who it could be...

"I'd like to introduce you to someone now," Stated Kakashi, a little louder than needed. Obviously he'd noticed that Temari wasn't paying as much attention as she should have been. As the jounin stepped to one side, eyes of sky blue met eyes of green slate.

"Uzumaki Naruto? Meet your wife-to-be... ah..." The man gave Temari a quick glance, then smiled. "... one... Kamakaze no Temari."

Chapter one ENDED

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Authors Notes:

IT IS DONE. At last. At long, long, long... long, long long... long, long, long, long, long, long last.

Betrothal Rewrite chapter one is DONE. And, if you can read this, also posted. Woooo!

Firstly, before I get any complaints, no, 'Kamakaze no Temari' is not a mistake. NOT A MISTAKE. If you read carefully, much earlier on Temari mentions that in suna they don't name themselves the same as others do. This is merely one of many cultural differences between the countries that I'm gonna be exploring in part throughout Betrothal... 'cuz lets face it, Temari is going to be having some serious culture shock in places here.

And so you know, Kamakaze no Temari should mean something like 'Temari of the Scything Winds' ... or something like that anyway, it's also an obvious pun on 'Kamikaze' or Divine Wind. So... now you know.

Those of you who had read the original should have noted a few differences in events – those are intended (obviously) since this version has been better planned those changes are to make later things more entertaining... You may also have noticed how freaking huge this chapter is . ; expect others like it. Ehehehe... hopefully not with 3+ years waiting times though XD

Anyway, for now enjoy... while I let my fingers regain feeling. Wooo...

LackeyH, dancing the night away to the sound of Tayuya's sweet music... and Shikamaru's screaming.

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But first: Betrothal O ... .Omake that is. A little side series parodying things in Betrothal... Kinda like that 'Yakitate Gohan' parody that showed up a few times in the 'Yakitate! Japan!' manga. It has NO, repeat NO effect whatsoever on the main story of Betrothal – it's just for fun. XD

Betrothal O – Chapter One,

Finally... We're getting rid of her.

"And, in conclusion we must say that..." The elder droned on, as he had done for the past several hours. "... with regards to the seventeenth paragraph of law eighteen, subsection B, there is to be..." He paused, looking down at the cycloptic jounin sitting in front of him. A jounin who had been waving his arms for the past several hours. "... What is it Kakashi? You don't need to go to the bathroom again do you?"

"Ah..." Responded the copy-nin, "No... it's a little worse than that." He motioned to the Sand kunoichi slumped in the chair next to him. "She's... uh... Dead... of hunger I think."

"Again? Danzou, this is the third genin you've killed this week." Grumbled an old woman from the elders table. "You really ought to to learn when your speeches have been going on for too long."

"So," Spoke up another, "Er... what do we do now? They're not going to like this over in Suna, are they?"

"No Tachi, no they are not. I suppose we'll just have to send them a cart full of money in compensation." Replied the woman, who then paused and considered something. "And a girl, gotta keep this marriage thing going – since we killed theirs I suppose it's only fair that we send one of ours instead."

"But who Ouka? Who can we send?"

Danzo cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention. "How about... The Yamanaka girl? We have, after all, been looking for a way to get rid of her ever since... the incident."

The elders, as one, shuddered in horror. 'The Incident", as it was called, had been a thing of such pure, unadulterated terror that each knew they would never forget it for as long as they would live. "I thought," Stated the elder known as Tachi, "That we would never, ever, bring that up again. Poor Sakuraga still can't hear properly since that incident..."

"That windbag needed it" muttered another man, Douzo, recalling the elder in question and his habit of ordering others for no other reason then hear himself speak. "Though it's a pity Yumi still has nightmares about shellfish because of that..."

There was silence for a few moments.

"Well," stated the woman, Ouka, "If it gets her out of the village forever... then I'm all for it."

Within a few short hours a vote had been cast, arrangements had been made, and the order had been sent out.

Yamanaka Ino was to be sent to Suna... Gagged and in chains for preference – though anything that would keep her from talking long enough for the Suna council to agree to having her married off to someone in Suna would be acceptable too.

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Betrothal O – To be continued! After the next chapter of Betrothal R!