The Sand Meets the Light (A Naruto fanfiction)

Chapter 7: Confrontation

        The next morning, Gaara dressed up, buttoning up his coat as he got ready to leave. His head wounds were mostly healed up. His ankle felt better too, though there was a slight pain still lingering around. He was waiting for the arrivals of his siblings by the window, staring at the view of the village.

"Temari, I'm telling you, that woman is crazy," Gaara heard Kankuro's voice as he and Temari walked in. He turned to face his siblings, wondering what they were talking about.

"You're exaggerating. 'Sucking you dry'? You guys were probably drunk," Temari responded with a blasé tone.

"I was this close to getting bitten by her. And you saw that she has sharp teeth!" Kankuro was getting agitated. Gaara narrowed his eyes, curious but too tired to deal with it at the moment.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"That lunatic, Makoto. You guys better not leave me alone with her again," Kankuro shuddered, looking a little traumatized.

"Yuka did mention something about her," Gaara said, prompting Kankuro to give Temari a knowing look. "But it's probably just a joke," Gaara brushed it off, wanting to move on from the subject. Kankuro dropped his shoulders in disappointment. "Anyway, we're meeting them after this. I'm seeing them and their council about forming an alliance with them."

"You sure you want to, Gaara? We barely know anything about them," Kankuro piped in.

"It's just an idea. Let's see if something can come out from it," he promptly replied, walking out the door, with Temari and Kankuro following him.

As they walked out the entrance, the three siblings looked around, observing the village. There were people walking about, doing their business. Some that passed by stared at them with both suspicious and curious looks on their faces.

"I feel so welcomed already," Kankuro sarcastically remarked.

"Come on, we'd probably do the same," Temari refuted, being annoyed with Kankuro's negative attitude. She turned to Gaara.

"Gaara, where should we meet them?" She asked him. Gaara remained silent and was slowly frowning. After a few seconds, he responded.

"I... forgot to ask," he answered, feeling embarrassed. Temari and Kankuro paused for a moment, before slapping their foreheads in frustration. Temari sighed, not wanting to dwell on it any further.

"Right... Let's just try to look for one of them. They should be around somewhere," she suggested. Gaara nodded in agreement and they walked off.

They went through the village, turning their heads left and right to look for the familiar faces. Most of the villagers stared at them with curiosity as they went about their daily lives. But mostly, they didn't seem hostile and just ignored them. Gaara finally approached some of them and asked where they would find the village leader. Most didn't want to answer because they didn't want to talk to these new people, but one or two pointed them in a general direction, which didn't help much either.

After a while, they finally found a familiar face. Makoto was hanging out by the river eating some bread. She looked up and noticed the trio. She gave them a toothy smile as usual, but seemed as if she wanted to ignore them afterwards. They walked up towards her, with Kankuro approaching first.

"What are you doing loitering around? Don't you have a job to do? Or... what is it that you do here exactly?" Kankuro remarked half-jokingly, still feeling bitter from the previous night. Makoto didn't seem to like his response and scowled.

"What do you want?" She asked with a sharp tone. Gaara walked up to her, which made Makoto feel surprised.

"Where can we find Yuka?" He asked, which immediately made Makoto feel apprehensive.