Frostbitten Sand (Naruto Fanfic)

Breaking the Ice

The way Temari spoke to Rasa made the auburn haired man want to grind his teeth together in frustration, his mind remembering the time when his sandy haired daughter wouldn't speak to him in such a manner. The man's hands gripped the crutches tightly in his hands, Rasa's mind racing to take in the implications of everything Temari said. His eldest need not actually say the words, but the auburn haired man knew his daughter wished to make it clear he wasn't wanted, let alone needed.

Rasa's teeth finally ground together. "Seriously. As I told her, I'm aware that I've not been the best parent, but letting Gaara sleep in there with her? He's like what, fourteen after all, almost fifteen. Even if there are plans already for Christmas, that doesn't mean we can't try to be a family. I'd argue the point if I weren't so damn tired right now. They're still my children."

The negative thoughts stopped when Rasa arrived at the hallway, his brown eyes taking in the fact Gaara stood their waiting for him. The forth kazekage's youngest child seemed to obviously be upset about something, and Rasa felt a tightening at his throat. "Knowing Gaara, this is likely even harder on him then it is for any of us. He's still so small for his age."

"Gaara..." Rasa felt his throat loosen to call out the boy's name, the lids of his eyes loosen slightly, letting the man know a bit of his worry was starting to show through even though the forth knew better then to show off his emotions. Gaara looked up, his sea foam green eyes widening in surprise, his mouth opening to say something, only for the young teen to look away. "Didn't your sister ask you to go to her room?"

Exasperation set in as Gaara attempted to hold a conversation with the auburn haired man, his eyes darting all over the place, the teens body movements indicating how uncomfortable the conversation was making him, and Rasa repeated his question, only for the answer to hang on his youngest child's tongue, the eyes widening in panic, as if he thought the answer would be bad. Gaara disappeared, and Rasa turned to his room, Baki following close behind.

Rasa reached up a hand, waving Baki away, letting him know things would be fine. For a moment he thought the man was going to tell him that the new kazekage had taken over the room, which made logical sense, as the house had passed down through each Kazekage. The auburn haired man shook his head. "No, the house passed down through each kazekage as the kazekage position has only been passed down through this family line."

The thought of the kazekage line passing onto another family jumped into the man's head, but Rasa brushed it off. "Outside of Temari, I can't see the position being passed down."

The door opened, and Rasa's brown eyes widened at how clean the place seemed, his mind at first thinking someone had taken the time to prepare the room for him, but then he remembered that Temari mentioned something about not expecting the forth back as soon, and in fact she seemed rather ticked. The auburn haired man looked around, his dark eyes taking in the entire room, noting the few changes.

The most obvious change was the teddy bear settled in the middle of the bed, staring off at nothing. The pillows were arranged neatly on either side of the bear, and everything was lined up symmetrical. At the foot of the bed were a set of Gaara's night clothes ready for use. Rasa found himself rubbing the back of his neck, knowing exactly who would do something like that. His dark eyes slid over to the window, picking up the cacti all in a nice neat row, organized from tallest to shortest. "Gaara..."

Rasa let out a sigh, taking noting the things he'd left out prior to leaving on the mission which would send him into a coma were still out, but someone had arranged them so they were nice, and neat. The man moved his hand over to the nightstand to see if Gaara had found the pictures kept in the drawer, as well as the other things he'd rather the fourteen year old not find, but then shook his head knowing he wouldn't want to know if Gaara found those things, or the things hidden under the bed.