[Roleplay Log]
Characters: desertinsomniac (Gaara) and barely_winded (Temari)
What: Temari stops by her brother's to leave them a note of sorts, and stays when Gaara requests an opportunity to speak with her.
When: Friday Afternoon/Evening.
Notes: *gives cheesy thumbs up and runs to airplane*
Temari fingered the thin envelope in her jacket-pocket, bent as it was. There was a slight chill in the air, and she was to be off later tonight - she had to be in the town over for the festival by request before morning.
Hesitating, she shook off an imagined sense of estrangement as she knocked on her brother's door. Hopefully one of them would be home. She figured if she slipped the envelope under the door, like as not, they'd never find it. Especially not before tomorrow.
Gaara opened the door, blinking up at her tiredly. "Temari...What is it?" he asked as he moved aside to let her in.
It had been a little while since he had seen her, since he had tried to pull away from the bonds he had been forming.
She slipped by him. "Just stopping by to drop something off," she said non-chalantly, though she looked over at him in curiousity. "I need a reason to stop by here, eh? Ah, what brothers I have."
"No...I just didn't know you'd be coming over," Gaara said, "I was er...sleeping." He was not sure how he'd managed it, but that was what he'd been doing. It was probably because he'd been so drained he could not keep himself awake with his own distracting thoughts.
"But what did you bring?"
"Tickets," she replied absently, "I'm sorry I woke you up." That was counterproductive to health, for him. In her mind, at least.
Gaara shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, "What are the tickets for?" It was a little embarrassing to have admitted that...but Temari was really the only person Gaara felt he could trust.
"For the train," she said absently, pulling the envelope out of her pocket. "There's a festival the town over, back on the other side of the bridge. I thought you might enjoy it."
"Oh..." Gaara had almost forgotten about the festival. He eyed the tickets for a moment before looking back up at her. "Thanks..." It was about at that point when he realized that he was glad she had shown up. "Uh...Temari, can I talk to you about something?"
She perked up, meeting his eyes. She was fairly certain this was a good sign. "Of course, Gaara," she said demurely, smiling with an affability that seemed genuine, and was more-so than normally. Here she could genuinely care. Outside was riskier.
Gaara swallowed uneasily. "You told me the other day about er...experimenting with relationships," he began, "So I uh....I did that." He could not bring himself to look at her. He felt way too awkward to meet her gaze.
She raised her eyebrow, temporarily glad he wasn't looking at her. He certainly wasn't patient, was he? "I see," she said, her voice gentle and cajoling. "And...?"
"And I think I messed up," Gaara said quietly. He did not want Temari to be ashamed of him, especially since she had taken the time to help him already.
He just looked so uncertain of himself that Temari had reached out and ruffled hi hair with a snort of laughter before she'd so much as thought about it. "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. Care to tell me about it?"
"Yeah..." Gaara led her further inside and sat down on the floor, since he really hated the couch Kankurou had "purchased."
"An other student came over here the other day to say hello or something...and he just started kissing me." It sounded strange to his ears. Perhaps he was not wording it right.
Temari sat herself cross-legged facing him. As he continued speaking, she looked at him curiously. "Did this... other student ask you if you wanted to kiss?"
Gaara frowned as he recalled what happened the first time he met Haku.
"No...I don't think so. We just started doing it. I didn't tell him to stop," he said, "Until he opened his eyes and he pushed me away. I don't know what happened."
Temari looked thoughtful, curious, but restraining herself. "I am not so sure something 'happened' as much as I am sure he," and that was one interesting revelation, "came to a sort of realization. You say he pushed you away, when he initiated contact, after his eyes opened?" Well... She was a version of technical in her mind. There was something missing here.
"Yeah. I don't know why he did it," Gaara said, "It was like he thought I was gross or something." He trailed his fingers along the carpet. At least Temari was not asking a lot of embarrassing questions.
No," she said sharply, looking at Gaara, "He wouldn't have come on to you if he thought you were 'gross' in the first place." She looked serious. "Based on what you've told me, I.. I think he was not... exactly thinking about you, expressly. To push away? It sounds like he was surprised... As if he was seeing someone different in his mind's eye and when he saw with his real eyes, you were there - and not who he expected." She said all of this gently, feeling out if there was anything more that he wasn't telling her.
Gaara looked up at her for a moment before turning his gaze away. Of course Haku was thinking of someone else. That only made sense.
"I like him though...I just don't know what I should do..." he said, "I'm not ready for the things that he wants."
"If he gives a damn about you, he should respect that," Temari siad bluntly, deciding not to couch it otherwise. "You shouldn't give in, that's what you should do. Considering, Gaara, that... well, they don't say the best relationships start off as friendships for no reason. Just... slow down. You don't have to run into what most teenagers have been dabbling with since elementary school just because you've decided to start opening yourself up to the world. I don't," she added, "Want to see you get needlessly hurt."
Gaara was surprised by that statement. He and Temari had been getting closer, but he had definitely not expected that. "I'm trying to be careful," he said, "But sometimes, I think I get in over my head." This was a sign of how much their relationship had changed. Before, he never would've uttered a word to her about anything.
She smiled wryly at that admission. "Don't we all?" It was rhetorical. "You're learning, Gaara - and you will get in over your head, and you will get hurt, but that's part of living. You can't be afraid of that, or of messing up. Can't ever know if you're getting better if you haven't been worse," she said pragmatically, watching him.
Temari's words made all too much sense. He nodded and looked up at her, this time he did not falter.
"I don't want to be afraid anymore," he said, "But there are still things that I need to get over if I want to be anything to anyone." Gaara hoped Temari knew what he was talking about. His other personalities would definitely get in the way of friendships...
"Friends aren't conditional," she replied softly, "On your part, or theirs. We can work with you, Gaara, when you're ready for us." Her use of the broad term allowed for more than just herself and Kankurou. Still. The change would have to be concretely cemented in Gaara himself. They couldn't mold him - and she didn't want to.
"I know I need your help," Gaara said, "But I've been hesitant to ask for it for a long time..." He was ashamed to admit that just as they had been scared of him, he had been scared of them.
Temari offered a tentative smile. In all honestly, she rarely felt the urge to smile - at least not out of some inner expression of joy. Yet she'd learned better masks to wear to let others stay at ease in a world where a young woman's jaded eyes were a cold, unwelcome reminder of what the world sacrificed heedlessly. "You're asking now. That," she said, voice carrying a confidence she mostly felt, "Is the important, relevant thing."
Relief was beginning to spread through Gaara's mind. Temari was being so...accepting lately. He did not know why she had started being this way but at the moment, he was not sure if it was a good idea to ask. It did not seem appropriate.
"I want to be able to help you and Kankurou too..."
"You already are," she said brightly. "You're coming out." Of his shell, she meant.
"That's not it though," Gaara said, "I want to be able to do things the way you do for me. You know, help you with problems and stuff." He blushed slightly out of embarrassment; there was not much he had to offer.
"Well, kid, just hang around and help me pull bloody guys out of van's and I'll call it more than even." She smirked (in a good natured fashion) and winked.
A small smile formed on Gaara's lips. "It's a deal then," he said. He did not want to become completely dependent on Temari. Somehow, he got a feeling that she would only get annoyed by that.
Temari looked shocked, and then burst out laughing. "Goddamn, I wish I had a camera! That was priceless!" She didn't explain herself, instead pulling Gaara into a hug. "You should smile more often. Makes you passingly cute." Tease.
Gaara's eyes widened out of pure surprise. "If this is what happens every time I smile, I don't think I will," he said, his own sad attempt at humor. He put his arms around Temari regardless. Hugs were affectionate, weren't they?
"You're right," she said in mock seriousness. "Can't have you going and getting some big head and thinking your some sort of stud. We don't need another Kankurou."
"Kankurou has it easy though," Gaara said, "Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to be him." He did not want to drag Temari down, so he immediately added, "I can't get into porn anyway."
Temari snorted. "Porn is so damn unrealistic. Though if you lack that much imagination..." She trailed off with a shrug.
"If you don't have imagination...?" Gaara frowned at her curiosly. Temari did not talk about that sort of thing on a regular basis.
"If you can't invent your own fantasies," she said blithly. "Of course, men have been shown to be more visually orientated anyhow... Helps sell things, doesn't it? Can't say I don't use it myself, but really..." She coughed, trailing off.
Gaara thought about that for a moment. "So that's why guys like porn and girls like those stupid romance novels," he said. Suddenly, that made so much more sense.
Temari snorted. "More or less. Though I'd argue the idea of being romanced holds a certain appeal over the flower-sex that goes on in those things."
Gaara frowned. "Flower-sex? What're you talking about?" he asked. Porn and romance novels were pretty much mysteries to him.
She coughed. "The words they use... 'Throbbing member' and 'flower' to describe... gentials... it's just strange. Anyone calls my anything a flower and I will kindly inform them otherwise." Kindly sounded anything but.
Gaara had never heard anything like that before. "That's...weird," he said, "How could people find that attractive?" He thought it was all really stupid. No wonder Jiraiya was so...odd. He wrote those kinds of things.
She snorted. "Find what attractive? The language?"
"Yeah. Flower genitals or throbbing member or...anything else," Gaara said, feeling weird just saying them out loud.
She shrugged. "Maybe if you need to romanticise what the hell a penis or a vagina looks like. Slang doesn't exactly need to make a great deal of sense."
"Sounds kind of dumb to me," Gaara said, "Like the names of Kankurou's movies. 'Conqueror of the Venus Mound' That kind of thing."
Temari snickered and composed herself. "Well," she said, "Wouldn't want to go messing with some man with that name, shall I?" She shook her head. "People don't generally like to stare at sex and call it sex. Especially not in our society, as perverse as it is." Why were they discussing this again?
"Huh..." Gaara did not know why every time he spoke with Temari, no matter what it was about, it resulted in a conversation about sex. It was really kind of strange.
He coughed awkwardly.
"So yes. That festival I was talking about..." She was so hesitant to say anything more on it.
"Yeah...You're going to be dancing at it, right?" Gaara asked. He was very relieved for a change in subject. All this talk about sex was just...not good, he thought.
"Yes," she said, waving her hand like it was a small matter. "For a bit of it."
"I've never seen you dance," Gaara said, "Are you good at it?" It was kind of a silly question, but he asked it anyway. After all, his father had never let him go to any of her performances.
Just as her father had nevre gone to her performances. "There are better," she said mildly.
Frankly, she knew she was good - and the word potential was used around her with real weight - but she didn't care to state that fact. Sometimes, it felt hollow. She didn't only dance, but her musical accomplishments were often marginalized.
"I don't think so," Gaara said, "The other girls who dance here suck."
So maybe that was a generalized statement, but Gaara did think Temari was the best--even if he had not seen her do it.
She snorted, touched, but unwilling to admit to it. It was a blind-puppy enthusiasm, snapping at butterflies and saying they were terrible beasties come to get him. "Not here, Gaara - in Nippon as a whole. Though I wouldn't dismiss that Sakura girl. She at least bothers to show to class." A small smile.
"Sakura?" Gaara realized he did not know any of the people his siblings knew. Although her name seemed familiar. "Either way, I bet you could beat her in a competition."
Temari shrugged. "Likely... If it came down to that."
"Do you think Sakura was one of the ones who trashed your apartment?" Gaara asked. If she was, he'd have to do something about that.
"Goodie two-shoes?" Temari obviously was kind in her names. She snorted. "No. Frankly, I have a good guess, and they aren't local." She shrugged.
"Oh. Good," Gaara said, looking away from her. "I still don't like the fact that they did that though."
"Bright side," she offered caustically, "I'll kick their asses and they'll have to live with losing - and knowing I know what they did."
"That's better than nothing, I guess." Gaara would not be satisfied with just beating them in a competition, but he supposed that was where he and his sister were different.
Frankly, Temari wanted to literally kick their asses, but that was probably simply not wise. "Yes," she said tightly. Fuck. She hated people most the time.
Gaara noticed that tone in her voice. "Temari, do you ever even want to hurt anyone?" he asked cautiously. He wondered if he was the only one in the family who had seemed to pick up their father's violent tendencies.
She held silent for a moment. "I hate it," was her only answer. She remembered too clearly how her father changed from one moment to the next. The thought of being like that? No, she wasn't keen on it. She was not one to back down... but she'd forced herself to learn, on the exaggerated fear of ever turning out similar to her father.
Maybe that's why she ran so hard from Gaara, years past. Maybe.
"Oh..." Gaara wanted to kick himself for even asking such a question. "Sorry." Kankurou seemed normal too. He'd often thought it was not 'fair' that his older siblings seemed to have no problems. Even now he felt that way from time to time.
Gaara hated his father. But when he looked in the mirror, that was the man he saw staring back at him.
"Don't be. No one wants to admit to their bad sides." An ironic smile, awknowledging his own case in point. "Just as no one wants to repeat their parent's mistakes - and you won't." She wasn't sure why she added the last.
"I hope not," Gaara said. He already hated it when he hurt Temari or Kankurou. Anyone else would be too much to handle.
"So...do you expect me and Kankurou to come to the festival?" That seemed like safe ground.
"Oh, hardly," she said breezily. "Just if nothing else was happening this weekend, and you were caught up on homework, and bored, and willing to travel a bit, see the world, so on."
Gaara snorted a laugh. "See the world? It's just over the bridge," he said, "But maybe I'll come. I want to see you do what you're good at."
She shrugged noncommitally. "There will be other times." Temari didn't know if she wanted anyone to come - no one ever had, that she knew of - and she was even less sure about asking over something that she wasn't sure she really wanted.
So she shrugged it off.
"But isn't this something that's important to you?" Gaara asked. If it were him, he would want Temari and Kankurou to both be there.
"Honestly?" she asked him.
Gaara nodded. "Yeah, honestly. Isn't it important?"
She cracked a smile which didn't reach her eyes. In fact, if anything, she tensed. "More-so than anything in the world... Professionally speaking," she clarified.
"All right then," Gaara said, "I'm going to the festival." If dancing was that important to Temari, then there was no way he'd miss any more of her performances.
For a moment, she couldn't speak. Then, in a half grin, not looking toward him, she mumured, "Thanks." It was enough.
What: Temari stops by her brother's to leave them a note of sorts, and stays when Gaara requests an opportunity to speak with her.
When: Friday Afternoon/Evening.
Notes: *gives cheesy thumbs up and runs to airplane*
Temari fingered the thin envelope in her jacket-pocket, bent as it was. There was a slight chill in the air, and she was to be off later tonight - she had to be in the town over for the festival by request before morning.
Hesitating, she shook off an imagined sense of estrangement as she knocked on her brother's door. Hopefully one of them would be home. She figured if she slipped the envelope under the door, like as not, they'd never find it. Especially not before tomorrow.
Gaara opened the door, blinking up at her tiredly. "Temari...What is it?" he asked as he moved aside to let her in.
It had been a little while since he had seen her, since he had tried to pull away from the bonds he had been forming.
She slipped by him. "Just stopping by to drop something off," she said non-chalantly, though she looked over at him in curiousity. "I need a reason to stop by here, eh? Ah, what brothers I have."
"No...I just didn't know you'd be coming over," Gaara said, "I was er...sleeping." He was not sure how he'd managed it, but that was what he'd been doing. It was probably because he'd been so drained he could not keep himself awake with his own distracting thoughts.
"But what did you bring?"
"Tickets," she replied absently, "I'm sorry I woke you up." That was counterproductive to health, for him. In her mind, at least.
Gaara shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, "What are the tickets for?" It was a little embarrassing to have admitted that...but Temari was really the only person Gaara felt he could trust.
"For the train," she said absently, pulling the envelope out of her pocket. "There's a festival the town over, back on the other side of the bridge. I thought you might enjoy it."
"Oh..." Gaara had almost forgotten about the festival. He eyed the tickets for a moment before looking back up at her. "Thanks..." It was about at that point when he realized that he was glad she had shown up. "Uh...Temari, can I talk to you about something?"
She perked up, meeting his eyes. She was fairly certain this was a good sign. "Of course, Gaara," she said demurely, smiling with an affability that seemed genuine, and was more-so than normally. Here she could genuinely care. Outside was riskier.
Gaara swallowed uneasily. "You told me the other day about er...experimenting with relationships," he began, "So I uh....I did that." He could not bring himself to look at her. He felt way too awkward to meet her gaze.
She raised her eyebrow, temporarily glad he wasn't looking at her. He certainly wasn't patient, was he? "I see," she said, her voice gentle and cajoling. "And...?"
"And I think I messed up," Gaara said quietly. He did not want Temari to be ashamed of him, especially since she had taken the time to help him already.
He just looked so uncertain of himself that Temari had reached out and ruffled hi hair with a snort of laughter before she'd so much as thought about it. "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. Care to tell me about it?"
"Yeah..." Gaara led her further inside and sat down on the floor, since he really hated the couch Kankurou had "purchased."
"An other student came over here the other day to say hello or something...and he just started kissing me." It sounded strange to his ears. Perhaps he was not wording it right.
Temari sat herself cross-legged facing him. As he continued speaking, she looked at him curiously. "Did this... other student ask you if you wanted to kiss?"
Gaara frowned as he recalled what happened the first time he met Haku.
"No...I don't think so. We just started doing it. I didn't tell him to stop," he said, "Until he opened his eyes and he pushed me away. I don't know what happened."
Temari looked thoughtful, curious, but restraining herself. "I am not so sure something 'happened' as much as I am sure he," and that was one interesting revelation, "came to a sort of realization. You say he pushed you away, when he initiated contact, after his eyes opened?" Well... She was a version of technical in her mind. There was something missing here.
"Yeah. I don't know why he did it," Gaara said, "It was like he thought I was gross or something." He trailed his fingers along the carpet. At least Temari was not asking a lot of embarrassing questions.
No," she said sharply, looking at Gaara, "He wouldn't have come on to you if he thought you were 'gross' in the first place." She looked serious. "Based on what you've told me, I.. I think he was not... exactly thinking about you, expressly. To push away? It sounds like he was surprised... As if he was seeing someone different in his mind's eye and when he saw with his real eyes, you were there - and not who he expected." She said all of this gently, feeling out if there was anything more that he wasn't telling her.
Gaara looked up at her for a moment before turning his gaze away. Of course Haku was thinking of someone else. That only made sense.
"I like him though...I just don't know what I should do..." he said, "I'm not ready for the things that he wants."
"If he gives a damn about you, he should respect that," Temari siad bluntly, deciding not to couch it otherwise. "You shouldn't give in, that's what you should do. Considering, Gaara, that... well, they don't say the best relationships start off as friendships for no reason. Just... slow down. You don't have to run into what most teenagers have been dabbling with since elementary school just because you've decided to start opening yourself up to the world. I don't," she added, "Want to see you get needlessly hurt."
Gaara was surprised by that statement. He and Temari had been getting closer, but he had definitely not expected that. "I'm trying to be careful," he said, "But sometimes, I think I get in over my head." This was a sign of how much their relationship had changed. Before, he never would've uttered a word to her about anything.
She smiled wryly at that admission. "Don't we all?" It was rhetorical. "You're learning, Gaara - and you will get in over your head, and you will get hurt, but that's part of living. You can't be afraid of that, or of messing up. Can't ever know if you're getting better if you haven't been worse," she said pragmatically, watching him.
Temari's words made all too much sense. He nodded and looked up at her, this time he did not falter.
"I don't want to be afraid anymore," he said, "But there are still things that I need to get over if I want to be anything to anyone." Gaara hoped Temari knew what he was talking about. His other personalities would definitely get in the way of friendships...
"Friends aren't conditional," she replied softly, "On your part, or theirs. We can work with you, Gaara, when you're ready for us." Her use of the broad term allowed for more than just herself and Kankurou. Still. The change would have to be concretely cemented in Gaara himself. They couldn't mold him - and she didn't want to.
"I know I need your help," Gaara said, "But I've been hesitant to ask for it for a long time..." He was ashamed to admit that just as they had been scared of him, he had been scared of them.
Temari offered a tentative smile. In all honestly, she rarely felt the urge to smile - at least not out of some inner expression of joy. Yet she'd learned better masks to wear to let others stay at ease in a world where a young woman's jaded eyes were a cold, unwelcome reminder of what the world sacrificed heedlessly. "You're asking now. That," she said, voice carrying a confidence she mostly felt, "Is the important, relevant thing."
Relief was beginning to spread through Gaara's mind. Temari was being so...accepting lately. He did not know why she had started being this way but at the moment, he was not sure if it was a good idea to ask. It did not seem appropriate.
"I want to be able to help you and Kankurou too..."
"You already are," she said brightly. "You're coming out." Of his shell, she meant.
"That's not it though," Gaara said, "I want to be able to do things the way you do for me. You know, help you with problems and stuff." He blushed slightly out of embarrassment; there was not much he had to offer.
"Well, kid, just hang around and help me pull bloody guys out of van's and I'll call it more than even." She smirked (in a good natured fashion) and winked.
A small smile formed on Gaara's lips. "It's a deal then," he said. He did not want to become completely dependent on Temari. Somehow, he got a feeling that she would only get annoyed by that.
Temari looked shocked, and then burst out laughing. "Goddamn, I wish I had a camera! That was priceless!" She didn't explain herself, instead pulling Gaara into a hug. "You should smile more often. Makes you passingly cute." Tease.
Gaara's eyes widened out of pure surprise. "If this is what happens every time I smile, I don't think I will," he said, his own sad attempt at humor. He put his arms around Temari regardless. Hugs were affectionate, weren't they?
"You're right," she said in mock seriousness. "Can't have you going and getting some big head and thinking your some sort of stud. We don't need another Kankurou."
"Kankurou has it easy though," Gaara said, "Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to be him." He did not want to drag Temari down, so he immediately added, "I can't get into porn anyway."
Temari snorted. "Porn is so damn unrealistic. Though if you lack that much imagination..." She trailed off with a shrug.
"If you don't have imagination...?" Gaara frowned at her curiosly. Temari did not talk about that sort of thing on a regular basis.
"If you can't invent your own fantasies," she said blithly. "Of course, men have been shown to be more visually orientated anyhow... Helps sell things, doesn't it? Can't say I don't use it myself, but really..." She coughed, trailing off.
Gaara thought about that for a moment. "So that's why guys like porn and girls like those stupid romance novels," he said. Suddenly, that made so much more sense.
Temari snorted. "More or less. Though I'd argue the idea of being romanced holds a certain appeal over the flower-sex that goes on in those things."
Gaara frowned. "Flower-sex? What're you talking about?" he asked. Porn and romance novels were pretty much mysteries to him.
She coughed. "The words they use... 'Throbbing member' and 'flower' to describe... gentials... it's just strange. Anyone calls my anything a flower and I will kindly inform them otherwise." Kindly sounded anything but.
Gaara had never heard anything like that before. "That's...weird," he said, "How could people find that attractive?" He thought it was all really stupid. No wonder Jiraiya was so...odd. He wrote those kinds of things.
She snorted. "Find what attractive? The language?"
"Yeah. Flower genitals or throbbing member or...anything else," Gaara said, feeling weird just saying them out loud.
She shrugged. "Maybe if you need to romanticise what the hell a penis or a vagina looks like. Slang doesn't exactly need to make a great deal of sense."
"Sounds kind of dumb to me," Gaara said, "Like the names of Kankurou's movies. 'Conqueror of the Venus Mound' That kind of thing."
Temari snickered and composed herself. "Well," she said, "Wouldn't want to go messing with some man with that name, shall I?" She shook her head. "People don't generally like to stare at sex and call it sex. Especially not in our society, as perverse as it is." Why were they discussing this again?
"Huh..." Gaara did not know why every time he spoke with Temari, no matter what it was about, it resulted in a conversation about sex. It was really kind of strange.
He coughed awkwardly.
"So yes. That festival I was talking about..." She was so hesitant to say anything more on it.
"Yeah...You're going to be dancing at it, right?" Gaara asked. He was very relieved for a change in subject. All this talk about sex was just...not good, he thought.
"Yes," she said, waving her hand like it was a small matter. "For a bit of it."
"I've never seen you dance," Gaara said, "Are you good at it?" It was kind of a silly question, but he asked it anyway. After all, his father had never let him go to any of her performances.
Just as her father had nevre gone to her performances. "There are better," she said mildly.
Frankly, she knew she was good - and the word potential was used around her with real weight - but she didn't care to state that fact. Sometimes, it felt hollow. She didn't only dance, but her musical accomplishments were often marginalized.
"I don't think so," Gaara said, "The other girls who dance here suck."
So maybe that was a generalized statement, but Gaara did think Temari was the best--even if he had not seen her do it.
She snorted, touched, but unwilling to admit to it. It was a blind-puppy enthusiasm, snapping at butterflies and saying they were terrible beasties come to get him. "Not here, Gaara - in Nippon as a whole. Though I wouldn't dismiss that Sakura girl. She at least bothers to show to class." A small smile.
"Sakura?" Gaara realized he did not know any of the people his siblings knew. Although her name seemed familiar. "Either way, I bet you could beat her in a competition."
Temari shrugged. "Likely... If it came down to that."
"Do you think Sakura was one of the ones who trashed your apartment?" Gaara asked. If she was, he'd have to do something about that.
"Goodie two-shoes?" Temari obviously was kind in her names. She snorted. "No. Frankly, I have a good guess, and they aren't local." She shrugged.
"Oh. Good," Gaara said, looking away from her. "I still don't like the fact that they did that though."
"Bright side," she offered caustically, "I'll kick their asses and they'll have to live with losing - and knowing I know what they did."
"That's better than nothing, I guess." Gaara would not be satisfied with just beating them in a competition, but he supposed that was where he and his sister were different.
Frankly, Temari wanted to literally kick their asses, but that was probably simply not wise. "Yes," she said tightly. Fuck. She hated people most the time.
Gaara noticed that tone in her voice. "Temari, do you ever even want to hurt anyone?" he asked cautiously. He wondered if he was the only one in the family who had seemed to pick up their father's violent tendencies.
She held silent for a moment. "I hate it," was her only answer. She remembered too clearly how her father changed from one moment to the next. The thought of being like that? No, she wasn't keen on it. She was not one to back down... but she'd forced herself to learn, on the exaggerated fear of ever turning out similar to her father.
Maybe that's why she ran so hard from Gaara, years past. Maybe.
"Oh..." Gaara wanted to kick himself for even asking such a question. "Sorry." Kankurou seemed normal too. He'd often thought it was not 'fair' that his older siblings seemed to have no problems. Even now he felt that way from time to time.
Gaara hated his father. But when he looked in the mirror, that was the man he saw staring back at him.
"Don't be. No one wants to admit to their bad sides." An ironic smile, awknowledging his own case in point. "Just as no one wants to repeat their parent's mistakes - and you won't." She wasn't sure why she added the last.
"I hope not," Gaara said. He already hated it when he hurt Temari or Kankurou. Anyone else would be too much to handle.
"So...do you expect me and Kankurou to come to the festival?" That seemed like safe ground.
"Oh, hardly," she said breezily. "Just if nothing else was happening this weekend, and you were caught up on homework, and bored, and willing to travel a bit, see the world, so on."
Gaara snorted a laugh. "See the world? It's just over the bridge," he said, "But maybe I'll come. I want to see you do what you're good at."
She shrugged noncommitally. "There will be other times." Temari didn't know if she wanted anyone to come - no one ever had, that she knew of - and she was even less sure about asking over something that she wasn't sure she really wanted.
So she shrugged it off.
"But isn't this something that's important to you?" Gaara asked. If it were him, he would want Temari and Kankurou to both be there.
"Honestly?" she asked him.
Gaara nodded. "Yeah, honestly. Isn't it important?"
She cracked a smile which didn't reach her eyes. In fact, if anything, she tensed. "More-so than anything in the world... Professionally speaking," she clarified.
"All right then," Gaara said, "I'm going to the festival." If dancing was that important to Temari, then there was no way he'd miss any more of her performances.
For a moment, she couldn't speak. Then, in a half grin, not looking toward him, she mumured, "Thanks." It was enough.