Blind Sight (COTK Book 1)

Chapter 12: A Grim Truth

Temari shook her head as she turned away from the Kazekage Mansion. Following Naruto and her brother out onto the street, she carefully shut the gate behind them. Kankuro, however, was still staring through the gate at the mansion doors.

"Can you see him, Naruto?" Kankuro whispered.

Naruto shook his head.

"The Echolocation Jutsu cannot pierce through windows. If he is following us, then you would be able to see him easier than I could."

Kankuro bit his lip, studying the front of their home again for any glimpse of his little brother. While he couldn't prove that Gaara was following them to the Academy every day, he knew it was true. It would only be a matter of time before Gaara felt the urge to kill at the wrong time, and started a murderous rampage in the Academy.

"Let's get going," Temari urged, and Kankuro reluctantly turned away.

"Just... keep an eye out, will you?" Kankuro entreated. Naruto nodded.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, the streets barren of life.

"Why do you think he's acting like this?" Kankuro suddenly asked for the hundredth time in the past several weeks.

Temari groaned.

"I don't know, Kankuro, perhaps he's trying to just spend more time around his family?" She replied, clearly communicating her annoyance.

Kankuro didn't seem to notice.

"But that's not like Gaara at all." Kankuro countered before turning to Naruto, who was quietly staring off into the distance. "Didn't Gaara try to kill you like, three times?"

"Hai."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Then why do you read books in the living room with him? Aren't you afraid that he's going to try again? I don't know how he's fail-"

"Kankuro!" Temari interrupted, glaring at her younger brother.

Kankuro looked at his sister sheepishly and turned to Naruto, "I'm sorry. I promised to not bring that up again."

Naruto didn't answer.

Temari sighed internally as Kankuro finally let the matter drop. It was all Kankuro talked about now, ever since Gaara had started spending an abnormal amount of time in the mansion. Personally, it didn't really bother her. In the past, Gaara rarely spent more than five minutes at home a month, if that. It had always caused her to wonder where Gaara slept when he wasn't in his containment cell or at home.

Though, to be honest, Gaara doesn't actually sleep, Temari thought sadly. Every time she thought about what Gaara must be going through every day, it made her want to find him and hug him. Though, she knew he would never accept it.

So, she'd resolved to treat Gaara like anyone else, and didn't specifically try to talk to him or bother him. It worked out because he usually spent most of his time in his room, which she never entered, or sitting in the living room. Out of the three of them, Naruto spent the most time around Gaara, which she had not expected.

For the first week, she'd believed, just as much as Kankuro, that Gaara was going to attempt to kill Naruto. Rasa had reassured her that a team of Suna Elite had been stationed in the Mansion, and all could neutralize Gaara should he try something. But nothing had happened.

She hadn't expressed it openly to anyone, but she was happy that Gaara was spending time around them all, even if he rarely said anything.

As they reached the edge of the dead zone, the area around the Kazekage Mansion that civilians avoided like the plague, Temari turned to look back the way they'd come. Kankuro noticed and looked at her curiously. She shook her head.