The Unbearable Weight of Sand - NaruGaa

Temari

Author's Note

This chapter took me a little longer to proof than I had thought, ended up doing a ton of edits on it. I think it feels a little better now. Still, I am pretty proud of myself for getting this done around a full work schedule (yay!)

Reviews always serve to inspire, and thank you for all that you have left me. :D

Naruto

My hair tickled my forehead as it moved in the breeze. It was cool, comfortable. I hurt, but it wasn't too bad, for once. Tolerable. I didn't want to move. Breeze? My eyes shot open as I realized I was not in the relative safety of the library. Where was I? How did I get here?

A woman stood next to the bed that I was laying in, a look of complete disbelief on her face. Her eyes were like Gaara's but slightly darker, less haunted. How long had she been standing there? "Temari?"

"Finally, you're awake. Have me undergo this stupid seal, then pass out immediately without telling me what in the heck is going on. Not even like I can take you to the hospital to have you looked over." She waved her hand behind her towards the door, "Your little goon you brought along won't tell me what is going on either. Why all of a sudden you look like that, he won't say who he is and-"

A familiar voice interrupted from out of view, "Be quiet, you are irritating me. How is he?" Neji appeared in the doorway, still wearing his glasses. Personally, I thought his voice and dark hair was a giveaway, but he had also been dead for nearly twenty years so Neji might not be the first guess when it came to trying to identify him.

"Which is it, be quiet or tell you what I think?" She smirked at him, and continued when she received a silent glare in response, "Besides, how exactly am I supposed to know?" She pointed at me, "Awake, he is awake, what more you want? I am not exactly a doctor here."

I snickered at her response. It was always obvious where she had come from. All three of them had terrible tempers, Kankuro and Temari being the closest in personality if one considered Gaara just tended to go from annoyingly reserved to being angry in a split second when he needed to be, there wasn't really an in between the two. I rested my hand on my lower stomach, cupping the bump that was there. Tiny. It had to be so tiny right now. I wondered if the child would inherit that temper. Probably. From what I had been told, my own mother had quite the temper and to be honest, I really wasn't a whole lot better either, especially when I was a kid. I vaguely remembered being referred to 'the one who rushes in and barks first' or something like that. I had been a bit angry at the time to know if I remembered what they had said back then was true or not. Bastards. They had killed him.

Gaara. He was dead, even then. I swallowed. No, I wasn't going to think about that. He was alive now, very much alive. Alive enough to have helped spark new life.

Neji groaned. "Naruto, you will be the one to tell her, I am not your lackey. I am here to help, but I think I have done enough. I can't help it, this woman is simple and far too vulgar for my tastes. At least with you awake I no longer have to put up with this. Naruto, you are on your own. Forgive me." Neji brought his hand to his chest, formed the two finger sign and vanished.

I gasped as I was flooded with a sense of calm and warmth when he left. He was back inside my mind, waiting to come out again when the time was right. I could feel it. He left himself a way out without me, I could feel him. It was kinda weird.

"Who in the hell was that?" Temari's voice rose, "What in the hell is going on? I demand-"

"That was Neji." I emphasized the words as I sat up gingerly. My body felt raw. Not as bad as before I had passed out, but still pretty gone.