Fic: Home
Title: Home (alt. title: Changes)
Pairings/Characters: Sand Sibs, tiny mention of Shikamaru. Temari-centric.
Word Count: 840
Rating: G.
Special notes: ...badfic?
Temari never thought she had a "home".
When she was a child, and she spent her days in her room studying or out practicing with her fan to avoid seeing her father or the "monster" everyone said her brother was. She never really thought she had a "home" to come back to. There was a place where she lived. A place she lived where her "family" also happened to live, but not a "home". A "home" was where people who loved you resided, where you felt safe and warm and protected. The place she lived didn't fit that criteria. Her brothers barely looked at her; her father always resented her for being the first born (first born female), and she felt no modicum of safety there. Not with her "family". Her brother never slept, and from what she was told he had a demon soul (Temari could never tell by looking at him. She thought he looked like any other normal little kid). A few times, in his youth, she could have sworn she felt him watching her as she slept. Not blinking, not even breathing, just... standing there. Watching her.
Kankuro joked maybe he was plotting to kill her. Temari chased him with a frying pan for half an hour. Mostly for insulting their little brother, but partly because a small piece of her believed him.
And her father did nothing to make her feel safe. He was willing to send people to kill his very own son; what was to stop him from having her killed? And she had no sand to protect her. She wasn't invincible like Gaara. She was just... Temari. Just normal.
And then the changes began.
They came fast, then slow at the same time. The first change was when their father died. Though none of them admitted it at the time, they felt as if a collective weight had been lifted off of them. A weight they never noticed was there before. But somehow, when they were together, the air felt lighter. They could breathe easier, without fear of separation. All starting with a simple thank you.
That was the first change.
Then they made Chuunin, then Jounin. They took the exams together, just like the first time, but this time something felt different. Their chemistry was different. Their reactions to each other's presence was different. They were different. They flowed together, like siblings should. They could feel each other there. They knew how they failed the first time. They weren't a team then. But as the weight lifted, their bond grew stronger. They became a team. They became a family.
That was the second change.
Then Gaara became Kazekage. Though later the siblings and the elders would all claim the decision was made after thorough consideration and thought, it was more of an instant, overnight sort of thing. The village, without proper support was disintegrating, and though people feared the "demon", they also trusted its strength. For even as the siblings grew, Gaara grew even more. His change was the most drastic, and people noticed. People trusted him. People trusted them.
That was the third change.
None of them had realized it yet.
The most drastic changes were over, but the subtler ones were just beginning. Over time, they began to hold conversations. They laughed. When the walls came down, when the weight was lifted, they finally were free to talk about the things they couldn't. Before the changes.
As it turned out, Gaara wasn't plotting her death while he watched her sleep. He was simply... watching her sleep. He did it because it was the only way he could think of to spend time together. He was trying to become closer. Once or twice, he even considered crawling into bed with her so he could pretend to sleep, like a normal child. When he told her, Temari scoffed and told him she always thought he was a normal child.
Two nights later, the great and powerful "demon" was curled up against his big sisters side, pretending to sleep.
Without her knowledge, Temari began to compare the place she lived to a home again. People who loved her lived there. She felt safe, and warm.
Without her knowledge, she had become part of a family.
It was on her fourth mission as a Jounin that she finally let it become real. She was to trail a fugitive from Amegakure all the way to Konohagakure, but was caught and eventually just ended up killing the bastard. However, she sustained numerous injuries in the process and was finally found two days later on the forest floor by a squad of Konoha chuunin Gaara had called for after his worry finally got the better of him. A tall, lanky figure rushed up to her with a fervor and bent over the instant he saw her wounds. With frantic, worry-filled beady brown eyes, he asked her what she needed. Through bloody cuts and broken bones, the sand kunoichi smiled.
"Would you mind taking me home, crybaby?"
Pairings/Characters: Sand Sibs, tiny mention of Shikamaru. Temari-centric.
Word Count: 840
Rating: G.
Special notes: ...badfic?
Temari never thought she had a "home".
When she was a child, and she spent her days in her room studying or out practicing with her fan to avoid seeing her father or the "monster" everyone said her brother was. She never really thought she had a "home" to come back to. There was a place where she lived. A place she lived where her "family" also happened to live, but not a "home". A "home" was where people who loved you resided, where you felt safe and warm and protected. The place she lived didn't fit that criteria. Her brothers barely looked at her; her father always resented her for being the first born (first born female), and she felt no modicum of safety there. Not with her "family". Her brother never slept, and from what she was told he had a demon soul (Temari could never tell by looking at him. She thought he looked like any other normal little kid). A few times, in his youth, she could have sworn she felt him watching her as she slept. Not blinking, not even breathing, just... standing there. Watching her.
Kankuro joked maybe he was plotting to kill her. Temari chased him with a frying pan for half an hour. Mostly for insulting their little brother, but partly because a small piece of her believed him.
And her father did nothing to make her feel safe. He was willing to send people to kill his very own son; what was to stop him from having her killed? And she had no sand to protect her. She wasn't invincible like Gaara. She was just... Temari. Just normal.
And then the changes began.
They came fast, then slow at the same time. The first change was when their father died. Though none of them admitted it at the time, they felt as if a collective weight had been lifted off of them. A weight they never noticed was there before. But somehow, when they were together, the air felt lighter. They could breathe easier, without fear of separation. All starting with a simple thank you.
That was the first change.
Then they made Chuunin, then Jounin. They took the exams together, just like the first time, but this time something felt different. Their chemistry was different. Their reactions to each other's presence was different. They were different. They flowed together, like siblings should. They could feel each other there. They knew how they failed the first time. They weren't a team then. But as the weight lifted, their bond grew stronger. They became a team. They became a family.
That was the second change.
Then Gaara became Kazekage. Though later the siblings and the elders would all claim the decision was made after thorough consideration and thought, it was more of an instant, overnight sort of thing. The village, without proper support was disintegrating, and though people feared the "demon", they also trusted its strength. For even as the siblings grew, Gaara grew even more. His change was the most drastic, and people noticed. People trusted him. People trusted them.
That was the third change.
None of them had realized it yet.
The most drastic changes were over, but the subtler ones were just beginning. Over time, they began to hold conversations. They laughed. When the walls came down, when the weight was lifted, they finally were free to talk about the things they couldn't. Before the changes.
As it turned out, Gaara wasn't plotting her death while he watched her sleep. He was simply... watching her sleep. He did it because it was the only way he could think of to spend time together. He was trying to become closer. Once or twice, he even considered crawling into bed with her so he could pretend to sleep, like a normal child. When he told her, Temari scoffed and told him she always thought he was a normal child.
Two nights later, the great and powerful "demon" was curled up against his big sisters side, pretending to sleep.
Without her knowledge, Temari began to compare the place she lived to a home again. People who loved her lived there. She felt safe, and warm.
Without her knowledge, she had become part of a family.
It was on her fourth mission as a Jounin that she finally let it become real. She was to trail a fugitive from Amegakure all the way to Konohagakure, but was caught and eventually just ended up killing the bastard. However, she sustained numerous injuries in the process and was finally found two days later on the forest floor by a squad of Konoha chuunin Gaara had called for after his worry finally got the better of him. A tall, lanky figure rushed up to her with a fervor and bent over the instant he saw her wounds. With frantic, worry-filled beady brown eyes, he asked her what she needed. Through bloody cuts and broken bones, the sand kunoichi smiled.
"Would you mind taking me home, crybaby?"