Temari and Gaara

[desertinsomniac]

Who: Sabaku Temari & Gaara
When: A few days ago~
Where: The cafe where Temari works (and wears that sexy little uniform<3) 
What: Gaara goes to the cafe to get something to eat, since he and Kankurou's appartment is pretty empty. He and Temari have an awkward conversation.

Gaara: There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to eat at the apartment Gaara shared with his brother, Kankurou. The dillema could be easily solved though, since he knew Temari worked at a restaurant. He looked up at the sign above the front door before he went inside. Maybe he should have waited for Kankurou to see if he wanted to go too...
Nah. He was on his own, as far as Gaara was concerned.
With that, he pushed the door open and trodded inside, keeping his eyes peeled for his sister.

Temari: Temari was rollingher wrists around in back, nodding to another waitress who sighed and started punching keys to ring in someone's total.  "Some kid just walked in, and Hoshio hasn't picked him up yet."

She knew a plea when she heard one.  "I'll take care of him," she said simply.  "Can't be too much trouble, right?"

Prhaps.  But Temari was finding she could often be wrong - or else, staring down familiar faces.  "Gaara?  What are you doing here?"

Gaara: Gaara gazed up at her with a dull expression on his pale face. "Kankurou is out," he said, "And there's nothing to eat at the apartment, so I thought I'd come here."
He looked down at her frilly dress. The idea that Temari was working at maid cafe was strangely funny, considering how gruff she could be sometimes.

Temari: Temari ignored the fact her little borther was seeing her in perhaps one of the most embarrassing outfits she owned in favor of snorting and grabbing a menu.  "Over this way, then."  She shook her head.

"When did you last eat, anyway?"

Gaara: Gaara frowned thoughtfully. That was a good question, since the days just blurred together for him.
"Uh...Probably yesterday," he said as he followed her, "I don't keep track."

Temari: Temari frowned.  "You're horrible! Don't either one of you know how to cook?"  Redundant question - but -

"I bet neither of you have bothered to clean up after yourselves."  She set the menu down at a two-person booth.

Gaara: Gaara plopped down onto a bench and shrugged carelessly. "I clean up stuff when it gets too out of control. It really hasn't gotten that way yet," he said as he picked up the menu.
"As for your question about cooking...Do you really trust Kankurou to cook anything?" The same could be said for himself, but of course, he had a bit too much pride to include himself in that.

Temari: "About as much as I trust you to cook," she said smoothly.  "I swear, I should just move in to make sure you two eat half-way consistently."  Her pad of paper and pen came out of her mini-apron.  "What can I get you?"  No junkfood.  She'd be editing the order, at that.
Gaara: "Hm..." He skimmed the menu for a moment before pointing haphazardly at a sandwich without really reading the description. It was a childish habit that he had not bothered to try and break.
"I want that but if it has tomatoes, they better not be on it. I hate them."

Temari: "That a no to ketchup as well?"  She eyed the sandwhich he had chosen, somewhat askance.  Did he really want... that?  "Are you... certain, Gaara?"

Gaara: "Yeah. I said that's what I wanted, didn't I?" he said, "And yeah, no ketchup. That stuff's gross too." Gaara closed the menu and held it out to Temari to take.

Temari: Temari took it tentatively, and shook her head.  "Incorrigable," she muttered, walking away to place his order, as well as grab him what she thought he should be drinking.  Which.  Was milk.  Or lemonade.

She just hoped he really liked the Sunday Surprise - with that much variety of meat, and the stuffed peppers...

Gaara: Gaara immediately pulled a napkin out of the dispenser on the table when Temari walked away. He smoothed it out on the table top and started folding it into a clumsy little origami hat. He was bored and not to mention tired, so he needed something to keep him occupied.

Temari: Temari returned, setting down the cool glass by Gaara's makeshift origami.  "It's work better if you used the backs of your nails to run the creses," she said helpfully.  Or attempting to be helpful.  "Sandwhich should be out in five, at most."

Gaara: "That's fine. I'm not in a hurry," he said, crumpling his little creation. "Oh, would you...uh...help me out with something later?" It was a rare thing indeed for Gaara to ask anyone about anything...but he figured Temari would be the more responsible one when it came to questions about homework.

Temari: Temari raised her eyebrow, but smiled despite herself.  Gaara?  Asking... her?  Of course she'd love to help her baby brother!  Not.  That she'd put it that way to him.  "Certainly.  If you don't mind eating with your big sis, my shift's over in about half an hour.  Sticking around that long?"

Gaara: "I can, yeah," Gaara replied, feeling a little awkward about just blurting out that question. He shrunk back a little, although he WAS glad he'd asked her and not Kankurou...

Temari: Temari flashed him an unrestrained, thoughtful grin as she slipped away, stopping by her other tables to talk with the people and make sure all was as should be.  Walking off with a few finished plates, she set them down and saw Gaara's order was ready.  Ringing in her own, she returned to his table.

"Just as you ordered.  No tomatoes... Or ketchup."  Just lots and lots of... other things.

Gaara: Well, that's what he got for not paying attention. Gaara stared at it for a moment before turning his gaze to Temari.
"It's not as bad as it could've been, I guess," he said, "So do you like your, er, uniform?" He had to ask. It was so unlike her that it made him quite curious to hear what she thought of it.

Temari: Temari coughed slightly.  "We're petitioning to get a longer skirt, but I've seen worse."  She didn't particularly like it, but that was somewhat apparent with her stiffness when she wasn't moving.  "What do you make of it?"

Gaara: Gaara reached over without asking and lifted up the skirt a little, to see the petty coat underneath it.
"It looks like something in one of those porn things Kankurou watches," he said, "So I'm not sure I like it all that much."

Temari: Not even her brother could get away with touching, actively touching, her skirt.  She slapped at his hand, frowning.

"Pray to god you never grow a libido," she said, moving away.  Her order shuld be ready soon, and she didn't feel like finding out if Gaara would retaliate in turn.

Gaara: A libido? Gaara was not even sure if he knew what that was. It was a little embarrassing to be ignorant of that sort of thing and be in high school but it was not like he got around.
Instead of pondering the sexual fantasies of his older brother or what a libido was, he started eating the sandwich. It was...weird tasting, but he was so hungry he'd eat just about anything.

Temari: Temari sat back down some-time later, apron off now.  She was officialy off-duty, even a few minutes early.  "How can you eat that?" she asked in curious disgust.  "There must be seven types of meat in that thing."  Including, but not limited to, squid, chicken, and salami.

Gaara: Gaara shrugged. "It's food and I was starving," he said simply, "I'd eat just about anything when I'm hungry. Just not tomatoes. Or anpan. That stuff is nasty too."
That was one of the many things he did not understand about girls. They were so picky when it came to food.

Temari: "I will never understand you," she said simply, her own charbroiled fish with creamy shitake sauce more to her liking.

She'd never understand how some people could eat near everything.  It just sounded... dangerous.

Gaara: Gaara gave a thoughtful look to his sandwich. Come to think of it, it was a little odd looking...and tasting. Oh well.
"I don't think I'll ever understand you, either."

Temari:  "Then agree to disagree."  She began to eat, not so  much daintily, as elegantly.

Which means she looked boring doing it.  Or else fascinating, given her garb.

Gaara: "Ok, I agree," Gaara said, deciding not to push that any further.
"What's to do for fun around here? This place is really boring." Change of subject was always a good idea.

Temari: "Depends what you consider fun, brother dearest," she said sardonically, eyeing him in mild curiousity.

Gaara: Gaara frowned thoughtfully. "Hm. I don't know, actually," he said lamely, "I never really thought about what I like to do."

Temari: "Makes it awfully hard for me to suggest anything, then, doesn't it?"  She let the point drop.  "Any idea, at all, on what passions you might have?"

Gaara: "Uh...I like making things," Gaara said, picking at the remains of his sandwich, "Like sand castles and stuff." That was probably why he'd chosen a sculpting class. It was the only thing he was decent at.

Temari: Temari eyes her brother with a look of amused befuddlement.  Sometimes, he felt like a small child to her, for his lack of what she took to be granted knowledge.  Other times, he acted even older than her father.  It was saddening, and maddening.  "I know a good beach around here you might enjoy.  You could even show me how to build one of those things."

Gaara: Gaara's lips twitched into what was his version of a smile, which meant it was not terribly obvious that he was smiling at all. "I'd like that," he said, "You might even like it too. I don't know about Kankurou though..."

Temari: "Let him bring his laptop.  I'm sure he can entertain himself."  A not so subtle jab at Kankurou's pornography habits... and also without promising any females to be parading around mostly nude on the beach.

Gaara: "Yeah, he's pretty good at that," Gaara snorted. He really did not understand Kankurou's fascination with women. They were all bossy and whiney. Temari was not so much whiney but she definitely fit being a bitch on occasion.

Temari: On more than one occasion.  "He's not the only one," Temari said dismissively, though she idly wondered about her youngest brother.  Would he ever?  DId he have a sexuality?  Or an orientation?  She decided it was better not to think about right now.

Gaara: Gaara gave her a curious look. "Huh? So you like porn too?" he asked. Never in his life would he have pegged Temari for something like that. It just didn't seem like her.

Temari: Temari paused with her fork half-way in her mouth.  "...Yes - wait, no, Gaara, not-" she closed her eyes.  "I was implying he's not the only male who watches pornography. Not... anything else."

Gaara: "Oh, uh huh," Gaara said skeptically. He was not too sure if he believed her or not, but then again, Temari was pretty mature. He doubted she gave in to such petty fantasies too easily.

Temari: No, hers were elaborate.  If she had any.  Temari was more likely to work herself into exhaustion dancing to her desires than inventing reason to do so inside the bedroom.

Gaara: Gaara stared at her silently. It was pointless to try and figure out what she liked since he was more or less ignorant in the ways of sex...and whenever he would ask Kankurou, the older boy would just grunt and tell him to leave him alone.
"So...have you ever done it then?"

Temari: Temari coughed.  Wait, what was Gaara - two?  No, she had to be fair.  Most people always wanted to know these things - most people also didn't ask them.  "That," she said simply, "Is none of your business."

Gaara: Gaara made a disappointed sneer. Why didn't anyone ever tell him about that sort of thing? It was kind of irritating.

"Fine. Maybe I'll ask Kankurou..."

Temari: "Have fun.  I'm sure he'll be more open to idle conversation on sex lives in public places than I am."

Gaara: Gaara shrugged. "He probably won't talk about it either," he said, "But that's ok. I guess I'll figure it all out on my own."

Temari: Temari snorted.  "Try asking me again sometime when we're not surrounded by people I will see again, quite likely."

Gaara: "Yeah, yeah," Gaara said, waving her off, "I'll just ask you later then."

Maybe no one wanted to talk to him about it because they didn't want him to know.

Temari: Which might be right.  Because secretly, everyone feared Gaara turning into a sexually deviant predatorial horn-ball.  Or they didn't.  One never knew.  Temari snorted.  "Right."

Gaara: An awkward silence ensued. He hated it when he just assumed things like that. It never led to good things.

Temari: Temari finally broke it.  "Why the sudden curiousity?"

Gaara: "I don't know," Gaara said honestly, "I guess I just want to know about it, since now's a good time." He did not have much of a reason, beside the fact that he had been curious about it for a short while now.

Temari: "Now is a good time?"  She snorted.  "You have a strange way of picking 'good' - you done?"

Gaara: "Done? Oh, yeah," Gaara said. He decided not to push the sex conversation any further since it just seemed to be going nowhere.

Temari: Temari nodded, and stood to take their plates back to the washers.  On her return, she looked slightly more dressed on top - given that her jacket was on - and looked down at him.  "Ready to go?"

Gaara: Gaara nodded and got out of the booth. "I heard about what happened to your apartment," he said as they walked toward the door. "You don't have any enemies or something who'd do that, do you?"

Temari: "None that I know of," she replied thoughtfully, "Unless someone from one of the upcoming competitions...?  I don't know why they would, but that's the only thing I can see."  She sighed.  "It's stupid.  Annoying.  Troubling."

Gaara: "Girls from dance stuff?" Gaara asked. He really was not too familiar with the things that Temari did. It was not a priority of his...but now that he was around her again, it was hard not to be interested in what she was doing.

Temari: "Yes," she said.  "There is an a mature competition coming up next month, and I suppose a few of them are on edge.  Still, it's an individual competition.  Unless several girls got together to do this..."

Gaara: "They travel in packs?" Girls were becoming even more of an enigma to Gaara. Sure, he bullied people on occasion, but never anything like trashing their apartments.

Temari: "When they want to get something done, they do.  So do boys."  She sighed.  "It's annoying either way."

Gaara: "Yeah it is," Gaara said, "People that do that think they've got something to prove but they really don't." He did bad things too but he really was not trying to show anyone anything. It just happened.

Temari: Temari was aware of this, or rather, Gaara's specifics on it. "People do many srange things in the name of proving their worth."

Gaara: "That's what this school is all about, in my opinion," Gaara said, even though Temari had not asked his opinion. "Everybody's just trying to prove to everyone else that they've got talent."

Temari: "Is that what you're doing?" she asked.  "Trying to prove you excel at something?  Or are you beyond proving?"  Curious, but not condescending.

Gaara: Gaara sighed and slipped his hands into the pockets on his uniform jacket.

"Considering the fact that I've been told I'm useless my whole life, I suppose I am trying to prove that I can actually do something," he said frankly.

Temari: "You're here," she said simply.  "You've already proved one man I know wrong."

Gaara: He did not have to ask about who she was talking about.

"It's not good enough to just be here though," Gaara said, "I want to make him eat his words..." He looked down to the sidewalk. Temari and Kankurou had had a fairly normal childhood from what he gathered. Now all he wanted was to show his family that he was not the black sheep weirdo. But it was starting to seem impossible.

Temari: Temari watched Gaara with a frown.  She wanted to reach out to him, but it had always been hard for her to navigate just how to do so.  She settled for reaching out and tousseling his hair.  They had all suffered in different ways under their father, but Gaara had always suffered most.  When she was younger, Temari had never known what to do.  Even now, she felt at a loss half the time.  The other half she felt useless.  "You will.  You're my brother, aren't you?"  She grinned, something honestly warm, and honestly sad, for she realized she'd never smiled at him often enough.

She never smiled at anyone in her family... Often enough.

Gaara: The rare sign of affection came as a surprise to Gaara. It really was not something he was used to and whenever it did occur, he was never sure how to react.

"I guess I have a lot to live up to," he said with a slight shrug. It was hard to appear careless about all this; it was really very important to him.

Temari: "You'll be fine," Temari offered, her smile gentling.  "If you ever need help with anything, I'm right here, you know?"  She felt... awkward.  Why hadn't she done more before?

Gaara: "Uh...Yeah," Gaara mumbled. This was all making him feel a little uneasy, which he knew was not a good thing. During times of uneasiness, the other...people, for lack of a better word, liked to take over. That, in his mind, was why Temari and Kankurou had distanced themselves from him.

"Why're you doing this all of the sudden?" Maybe if he could just find out now, the feeling would pass and nothing would happen.

Temari: "Because I've been a royally absent ass of a sister for the last two years, and you deserve better than that."  And because she needed to start dealing with Gaara as who he was, and not as who she wished he hadn't been.  If wishes were horses, Japan would have taken over China with mounts to spare.

Gaara: Gaara's throat was unusually dry. It was hard to speak after hearing Temari's confession.

"You've been here though...I can't expect you to try and do anything when we live far apart," he said slowly, trying regain some sort of sense of normalcy.

Temari: She waved her hand, a bit flushed in embarrassment due to her own honesty.  "We're in the same town, now.  This island isn't that big," she said, attempting to keep her tone light.

Gaara: Gaara scratched the back of his head, ruffling his already messy hair up even more.

"Then...I guess we may as well try to get along," he said. The uneasiness was passing. Good. He hardly wanted that to happen now.

Temari: "May as well," Temari agreed.  Then the thought that had bugged her earlier came back.  "Though really... Why the sudden onslaught of sex questions?"

Gaara: Gaara bit his lip. "I was just curious. I'm not a little kid anymore," he said, "You know...puberty and all. I just don't know what to think of any of it and no one's explaining anything..."

Temari: "What did you want explained?"  Temari had to admit it was a subject she wasn't entirely comfortable with, but then again, only Jiraiya seemed to be.

Gaara: "Everything," Gaara said flatly, "But if you really don't want to talk about it, I'll just find someone else to ask." He was sick of being left in the dark. It was annoying and strangely embarrassing.

Temari: "I can only tell you what I know.  Whether that will be enough..." she trailed off with a shrug.

Gaara: "Anything's better than nothing," Gaara said. Even if Temari only told him a small amount, he'd listen. It was not that he was becoming a sex-obsessed teenager...it was just honest curiosity.