The Sand Meets the Light (A Naruto fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Crossing Paths

        Temari, Kankuro, Kei and Makoto were walking out of a ramen shop after having their meals. After a whole day of exhaustion, it was good to fill their stomachs with some food. They walked past a stream of water, almost like a river, flowing through the village, with bridges built to cross along the water. As they walked over a bridge, Kankuro looked around in amazement.

"I'm impressed this place can run well under the circumstances. Food's not that bad either," Kankuro commented.

"You'd be surprised, face paint," Makoto responded with a blasé tone. Kankuro glared at her, annoyed at being nicknamed.

"You're one to talk," he replied, referring to her face markings which she had as well.

"Hey, at least these are permanent. Much better than this stuff on your face anyway," she responded while wiping away some of the paint on Kankuro's face with a finger, to which he brushed her off aggressively.

"Hey, stop that!" He snapped, irritated. Makoto just laughed in amusement, which angered Kankuro even more. But she ignored his reaction and wrapped her arm around him. For some reason, this made him blush, much to his embarrassment.

"You're a funny guy," she remarked with a low voice near his face. Somehow it felt both flirtatious and threatening to Kankuro, and he gulped in fear. She turned to Kei and Temari at their back. "Hey, we're gonna go drinking. Wanna come along?"

"Wait, what?" Kankuro yelled, wondering what the heck Makoto was doing but couldn't find the words to reject her offer.

"Makoto," Kei practically groaned. He shook his head, rolling his eyes and sighing in defeat. "You know what, go ahead. I'm heading back to the hospital." Makoto nodded and snorted a laughter, as she dragged poor Kankuro away after crossing the bridge. Temari stared after them as Kei walked the opposite direction from them. He stopped in his tracks and noticed that she looked a little concerned.

"Don't worry, she's unpredictable... but harmless. For the most part," he reassured her. Temari didn't feel any better from his words, but she had to take it for what it is and shrugged it off, following Kei.

"My brother does have a point," Temari said as she walked side by side with Kei. "A place operating underground would struggle to run, at least more than a regular village on the surface."

"Over the years we found a way to function. The council send officers to acquire supplies once a week. For a small village like this, it would be enough," Kei explained. "There's a water pool that provides us with water supply. As you can see from the holes everywhere, there's ventilation. We grow what we can at a fertile spot in the cave. Some villagers like to go there for some sunlight as well. They're allowed to go to the surface, but only within a perimeter. Only those who are authorized can travel beyond to get supplies like food, medicine, and others."

"How long have you been living here?" She asked.

"My whole life," Kei answered.

"Honestly?" Temari remarked, feeling sceptical.

"Do you think it's impossible?" Kei responded. Temari realized that he sounded a little defensive.

"No, it's just interesting, that's all," she answered, avoiding any conflict. "I've been wondering, how long has this village existed?"

"From what I know, over a hundred years," Kei answered. "I don't know much about the other places on the surface, only from what I read from the collection of books and documents in the library. Although, I have heard of your Sand Village."

"Have you ever went to the surface?" Temari inquired once more.

"Of course, several times. For scouting and security purposes. But we don't go too far. And Makoto's not fond of going above," he explained with an ominous tone.

"Why?" Temari raised her eyebrow, puzzled.

"She dislikes the sunlight," he answered. Temari didn't know whether it was a joke or an actual reason, but she nodded anyway.

"Papa!"

A tiny female voice yelled in front of them as both Temari and Kei turned towards the direction. Kei's serious face suddenly brightened up. Temari looked at who was in front of them carefully. A woman, similar age to Kei was holding a toddler in her arms, a girl presumably and another girl, slightly older, maybe around four or five years old was running towards them, waving her arms in the air with a wide smile on her face.

"My Mei Mei," Kei greeted the girl as he held out his arms to the girl. He caught her and hugged her as he lifted her up, spun her around and put her down. Temari stared at them as she heard the girl giggling and couldn't help but smile warmly at the sight of his family. The woman, presumably his wife, with the toddler in her arms walked up, with a tired but kind expression on her face.

"Out late, dear?" she greeted as Kei kissed her on the cheek. He scrunched his face playfully at the toddler as he cupped her face in his hands gently and rubbed his palm all over her hair.

"I'll be home soon," Kei told her softly. Her eyes shifted to Temari who was standing nearby and she gave her a suspicious look.

"Who is this?" She asked in a colder voice. Temari was a bit startled by the confrontation.

"She and her brothers fell down from the surface. We found them in the tunnels," Kei calmly explained before Temari could answer. "They're from the Sand Village. Her brother is injured so I'm escorting her back to the hospital."

"Hey!" the little girl called out to Temari and she looked down at her, who seemed curious and stared behind her. "What's that?" Temari glanced and noticed that she was pointing at her fan. She took it out and showed it off.

"It's a fan. A huge one," She opened it up and it expanded in size. "I can use it to make strong wind and even tornadoes."

"Really?" The girl asked curiously, even feeling impressed.

"I can fly on it too. Like a bird," Temari playfully answered.

"Wow! What's a bird?" Her response baffled Temari, but she assumed it was because she was too young to know what it was.

"If you want to, we can ride on my fan and I'll show you," she jokingly suggested.

"Yay!!!" Mei cheered, waving her hands about and ran around the adults. The woman however, seemed worried and grabbed her daughter's hand.

"Maybe later, honey. It's getting late," she told her. She turned to Temari, with a less hostile look. "Nice to meet you," she uttered reluctantly as she kissed Kei goodbye and left with the two girls., Kei turned to Temari with an apologetic look as they continued to walk back to the hospital.

"That was my wife and daughters. Sorry... people here aren't used to outsiders," Kei explained, feeling apologetic.

"Understandable," Temari waved her hand to brush it off. Kei suddenly cracked a smile on his face, shifting his eyes at her.

"You're good with kids," he commented.

"Well, I am the oldest among my siblings. And I teach the kids at the school in my village sometimes, so that probably helped too," she explained, half sighing when she thought about the times she had to endure the many types of kids' shenanigans in school.

"You're married?" The question had her slightly flustered.

"What? No! I mean, not yet... I guess," Temari frantically answered but tried to calm down at the end.

"Is there anyone special?" Kei inquired. Upon hearing that question, Temari could only think of one person in mind, which made her feel both annoyed and embarrassed. Still, she couldn't help but smile in amusement when she thought about him.

"Just a troublesome idiot."