Frostbitten Sand (Naruto Fanfic)

Christmas Grouch

The young Kazekage's breath pulled tight, head turned away trying to avoid looking her in the eye. His body relaxed, and one hand rested on top of one of the knee of one leg which stood up. The pillow dropped back down to the ground. "Kankuro started it."

His head turned slightly back as he heard Temari approach him, and he felt her sit down in front of him. "Gaara." His sea foam colored eyes darted away in an attempt to try and ignore her. "Gaara, look me in the eye."

Reluctantly he turned his head to look at her, but he still found himself unable to look his sister in the eye. His lips pushed together, and he knew he couldn't avoid hearing what she wanted to say.

"Gaara, did you go and see father?" Temari knelt down in front of him, and she spoke in a soft voice.

The young Kazekage couldn't open his mouth. "She's not happy."

"You promised that you wouldn't go and see him." One of Temari's soft hands reached out to touch Gaara's, but his mouth remained glued shut. "You can't avoid this conversation, otouto." Gaara's eyes looked up at her finally, and she repeated her question. "So, did you go see father?"

The corners of Gaara's mouth twisted down. "I didn't go to see him."

"You didn't go and see him?" Kankuro's voice rose again. The sound of the middle siblings footsteps pounding over made Gaara back off slightly, and fall over backwards. His brother quickly dropped to the floor to straddle Gaara, and his hands went to grab the front of the younger teens clothing. "You went and saw him! I over heard some people talking about how you went!"

Temari tugged at Kankuro, pulling the puppet ninja off his feet. "Knock it off! It's Christmas time, and family is supposed to get along with each other." Gaara opened his mouth, but Temari glared at him. "We're not going to go there. I'm going to ask again Gaara. Did you see father?"

"That's a different question." Gaara continued to lean on the palm of his hands. "No, I didn't go see father. Yes, I did see him."

Kankuro let out a gurgling sound, and his finger rose up to point at his younger brother. Temari held up her hand. "You know that you've got to be careful how you word your questions to him."

"I'm not the one who asked him if he went!"

"I was very upfront with you that I saw him."

"That isn't the point!"

"Then what is!"

Temari let out a sigh. "Let's start off with the fact you promised you wouldn't go and see father."

"I didn't though."

"If that were true, then how come you saw him? The entire floor's on lock down so people won't run into him."

"I took him a cactus." Gaara watched as silence fell over the room. Temari's mouth twisted up in confusion, and he tilted his head. "Did I say something wrong? That is the proper social custom for when someone is in the hospital, to bring them a gift of some time."

Kankuro folded his arms. "Except you used it as an excuse to go and see him, so you wouldn't get in trouble with us for breaking your promise."

Gaara's eyes widened, and then he looked away. Temari however let out a deep sigh. "Kankuro..."

"We made him promise for his own good! He could have gotten killed!"

The young Kazekage's sand moved towards a pillow, and pulled it towards him. He flipped the pillow up with his hands, and snapped it into Kankuro's face causing his brother to let out a muffled reply. His mouth twitched, and Temari cleared her voice. "Enough. Both of you."

"He's just pissed because he got caught in a lie!"

Gaara picked up another pillow, but Temari placed her hand on the item. "Enough. Use your words instead of pillows Gaara, though pillows at least don't hurt people."

The red haired shinobi blinked a couple of times, and then looked Kankuro in the eye. "Why did you have to go and ruin it?"

"Ruin it?" Kankuro's voice strained. "Ruined what? That man's a complete bastard!" Gaara's eyes widened at this reaction, and his mouth twisted down into frown. "Don't! Don't you dare give me that look!" The puppet ninja stood up, his hands clenching at his sides. "That does it! I seriously can't deal with this! Just, don't go near that jerk again Gaara!"

Gaara watched as Kankuro stormed off. His head then turned to Temari. "Did I do something wrong? He seems to be really mad at me."

Temari's eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't exactly say he's mad at you, or disappointed either. I think he's more mad at himself then anything. He really is worried about you getting hurt again."

"Yeah, but..." Gaara's sea foam colored eyes turned away, and he looked at the floor.

"You said something about Kankuro messing things up. What did he mean?"

"I was happy."

His older sister's eyes widened. "Happy? How so?"

"I talked to father about cacti."

Temari let out a sigh, and held up one finger. "Here's what I think Kankuro would think about that."

"Do I really want to know?"

"No, but you're going to be a good outou-chan and listen to your big sis, got it?" The looking away told Temari that he would listen even though he didn't want to. "I think Kankuro would say something like, well, did you stop and think about why father stopped and listened to you?"

"He was glad to see me?"

"Gaara, father didn't call you."

"He thought I was dead." Gaara didn't hear a response from Temari, so he continued. His eyes looked away. "I apologized to him."

His sister's soft hands touched his face, and gently lifted his chin to look him in the eye. "Gaara, don't you ever apologize for being alive. If he couldn't tell you something like that..." Temari took a deep breath. "Please. Don't go visit him again."

"We talk about cacti."

"You and your cacti." Temari looked at the ground. "You likely did most, if not all of the talking."

"He asked me about the cactus I brought him."

"Did he even listen to what you had to say?"

"Don't know. He asked how I was doing. Said something about me having a growth spurt over a couple of months. He thinks I need a hair cut, and told me to ask you..."

"You don't need a hair cut. You're perfectly fine with the way you are." Temari clenched her pant legs. "This is where the conversation is going to end. You're not to go see him, you're not to go to the place at all. We'll think about how to deal with this situation when he's out."

Gaara looked away. "I'll keep my promise to the point he asks for me."

"If he asks for you, you're not going to know, as I'm going to pass onto Baki the fact you're not to know."

"Yeah, but..." The teen's head darted up, but looked back down upon seeing the hurt in Temari's eye.

"But what?"

"They're saying it's wrong that we're not visiting him."

"Then don't listen to him. You're busy with your duties as Kazekage, so you actually have a logical reason as to why you've not been visiting him."