Book One- The Enemy

Chapter 25

Two Months Ago
The border of Fire and Wind

Kankuro had taken to a leisurely walk down the quiet border of Sand and Leaf, Temari had been in Suna for a few days now and in his boredom, he'd taken to keeping up with the patrol reports for her. Despite her thanking him for the help, he knew she'd just redo it later in secret, she would keep it hidden away from him, as usual, probably to save a bruised ego on his part for messing something up on the papers, not really his strong suit anyway.

His sister was weird that way, she praised and scolded him in one sentence, only a skill she seemed to possess, not that he cared to hear her nagging half the time, to familiar with it after this long. That was always how they were, she teased or chided him, and he got mad and the same went the other way around, they had just made a habit of it since they were younger watching each other's backs when no one else would, not that Suna didn't already admire them on their efforts in the war, at least most of them.

Always so composed, yet so angry, to Kankuro she was just a calm before a storm, ready to strike when things got out of hand. Until Gaara changed after returning from the Leaf, then she seemed to soften, a new appreciation for the two formed, at least to their eyes only and much to his annoyance at her need to mother them, though not as kind as most mothers when she yelled.

His brother's unexpected transformation ten years ago fueling her to protect them fiercely and without an ounce of fear, just like when they were young kids, well before Gaara scared them. Even though secretly he and Gaara always watched her back to keep her safe, that secret kept between brothers, probably because she'd go off and talk about how she doesn't need protection and all that. This was why she took to the front anyways, her intentions to redeem their clan, the royal Subakuno name, after his father was killed and the Leaf Sanin took over that brought a lot of mixed feeling in Suna, and betrayals.

In the few days she was back home in the village, a meeting with the council taking her away from the front, he'd already stopped three brawls, and a guy, to drunk on sake, who had been streaking from falling off a cliff, great times when your captain was gone, the chaos of her absence making him laugh, and wondering how she did it all so effortlessly. He heard something about planning an attack on the Leaf and he'd been curious to keep the border watched in the time being, not that the Leaf's commander would do much against them, seeing as that lazy bastard usually retreated before anything good could come from the battle.

He'd been wondered now, for a year or so, why the two captains seemed to stop the fights before they got out of hand, but he knew better than to question Temari's word, her command, she'd just tell him to mind his business, which he did, most of the time.
Even he had to admit the peaceful times, as much as you could get during a war, were nice, like back when he and Temari had returned from their retaking of Bara, three years ago, she really changed up there, more calm he would have thought, if he didn't know her so well.

With a sigh he ignored thinking further on he glanced around, the cool breeze from the Leaf's Forest mixing with the hot air of the desert in between the ravine, the water from the river rushing below an afterthought, although he did feel like taking a nap now it was so calm and serene around him.

Temari would be back soon anyways and whatever the council decided was their next move she'd follow the order, her duty to her people her second priority, with him and Gaara being her first of course, to protect them above all like she always promised, even after everything that happened with his brother.

Temari was once a rebellious child like he was, they had been kids after all and kids always disobeyed, but something happened to her when she was about nine, she never spoke against their fathers' orders after that, and she never spoke about it to him, but he figured it out, it had to do with Gaara and the night he killed a man, the details never revealed to them until Gara told them their father had tried killing him numerous times over the years. That night wasn't a pleasant one he liked to remember as the demon they had feared was released, that memory pushed down with the others, besides Gaara had more than redeemed himself over the years so the past was the past, he always told him.