Chapter Text
It all went down after a mission in Amegakure. The village hidden by rain.
It had long been feared that the village's groundwater resources had been running low but Temari had been doing work with Suna's Resource Management's geologists to map and determine areas that are likely to have untapped aquifers.
It was a long process, too long for them to afford to pull out the Kazekage, or teams of jounin no matter how guilty it made her brother feel that he couldn’t be a part of every single village project.
Gaara had put himself through a lot to get into office and Temari knows that though he doesn’t regret it, he had hopes that his role in protecting the village would be little bit more hands-on. Instead, he spends most of his time in meetings arguing with old hacks about useless, empty politics. Old hacks who at one time had been using those routine meetings to discuss the new and improved methods of killing the village’s child jinjuriki.
Ways of killing her little brother.
----------- Sometime before the War but a little after Gaara donned the Kage Cap
“You should get rid of them, Gaara,” she pushed, “They’re only a couple of years from a heart attack anyway, you’re being naive thinking that just because you had some big journey of self-reflection and a whole character development arc that all the other motherfucking assholes you meet will too,” Temari sneered across a kitchen counter from her youngest brother.
“But they won’t,” she said flatly, “they are old shinobi who spent the first half of their life taking advantage of others and they will spend the second half doing the same until they drop in their grave.”
Temari grimaced, remembering the arguments she often had with Gaara over the topic.
Gaara had stiffened and answered in the softened voice that he had adopted after everything with the chunin exams happened. It never failed to remind Temari just how young her brother was. He may have been suited in flowy robes. He may be a leader of one of the five villages but her was just 16. Still a kid.
Hell, she had been barely 19 for that argument.
“I know that Temari.” he sighed, “despite what you and Kankuro think I’m not clinging onto some false hope that the people on the council will change but it would be worse for me to replace them.”
“They have been in these positions for decades before Father was Kazekage or even a respected shinobi. If I were to replace them, they would still have that power. At least with them on the council, we can keep an eye on them,” he finished in an exhausted voice, the bags under his eyes darkened by chronic insomnia and the never-ending stress from Kazekage responsibilities.
--------------------------------
She knew that he had been right, but it didn’t change the fact that the old leaders were as crooked as their ever-aging features. The simple fact that those people had been in those cushy positions of power for all those years left a bad taste in her mouth. Even though they were able to get rid of them eventually after some strategic promotions of people who were better fit for the position and respected after their roles in the war, they still had to send off the elder council with retirement sums. God, she hated fucking politics.
That being said.
Temari did actually enjoy some politics, in moderation. And in the form of diplomatic missions. But maybe she was biased since she was dating not one but two ninjas from a different village. But who can say for sure, you know?
She had made it a routine to take on as many missions in Konoha as possible when she had just been nursing crushes on two of the Leaf nin. Which actually led her and her two siblings to this mission to the waves and coincidentally landing not one but two sweethearts.
She hadn’t been expecting to run into the Mizukage in Konoha when she and Tenten had been in the middle of a rematch of their fight in the Chunin preliminaries. The fuinjutsu master approached her as she was walking back to the inn she had been staying at. It had been a long day of playing nice with Konoha officials and discussing the performances and positive results of co-opted missions between the two villages.
Though she often complained about the overly nice and teeth-rotting politeness that many of the Konoha officials had adopted when working with nin from other villages she was presently surprised by the more relaxed and genuine welcome of the team she was given to work and discuss mission reports with.
After a short meeting with the Tsunade for a quick welcome, Temari was moved to a conference room where Tsunade’s assistant had helped her find and organize reports while the jonin tasked with reviewing them with her were being summoned. She and Shizune had easily fallen into a fun discussion, or gossip session really on their respective kages.
At first, they had been sharing all the little quirks about their boss and little brother before it turned into Shizune praising the Lady Tsunade for all the extra hard work she put in to improve the village despite the constant backlash she got from the village elders who didn’t like the changes she was making. She had been insistent on the fact that Tsunade didn’t get the recognition she deserved for what an amazing person she was and Temari had a sneaking suspicion that Shizune appreciated Tsunade much more than the common folk.
Temari couldn’t fault her for it. Despite being aware of the Hokage's age and use of restorative ninjutsu to keep herself young. Temari had to admit that she was beautiful and had a personality that quickly endeared you to her as much as it intimidated you.
Love was already on her mind by the time the meetings ended and images of leaf shinobi with spiky hair and buns flitted through her head.
She was more than a little surprised when one of them approached her first. Temari was flustered and may have been a bit of an asshole when Tenten propositioned her with a little repeat of their chunin match.
------------------------- 3 years ago
“I promise I’ve improved over the years,” Tenten challenged with a stupidly charming smirk.
“Please, if you wanted to go on another fun little trip to the hospital, all you had to do is ask BunBun,” the sand nin replied, smiling back, “why wait to get to the training grounds.”
What the fuck Temari. Yeah, bringing up the fact that you almost broke this girl’s back once (and not in a fun way) before helping manage a large-scale attack on her village is a great way to endear herself to the kunoichi. The threatening part was an especially nice touch considering the fact that she was currently on a mission to find and discuss ways to improve the Sungakures relationship with Konoha. And BunBun? Really? Fuck. Kankuro was right. She was like a fucking brat on a playground pulling on their crush’s pigtails because she couldn’t flirt to save her life.
She had done the same thing to the Shadow nin when he had shown her around the village the other day. Shikamaru had invited her to come to eat with him and his team and she had shrugged him off, despite having nothing better to do. She had wanted to go and hadn’t fallen asleep until the early morning after the incident, regretting all the stupid shit that came out of her mouth.
She hoped she hadn’t put the Nara kid off too much. Then again thinking about the fact that she was also mooning over another Konoha nin, maybe it was better that she wasn’t spending any time with him. Not because she was planning on pursuing Tenten over him. No, no, no. The only viable option she saw in this whole thing, was completely avoiding the both of them. Even if she did try, how was she going to explain that she had gone soft for another person rather than just one of them? What if the Fuinjustu Kunochi didn’t even like women?
Then, even if by some miracle she was able to manage a relationship with just one them, how would that work with her in Sunagakure and them all the way over here in Konoha, which again, was a village that they had not finished fostering a good relationship with.
Either way, she probably fucked everything up with this nin. After bringing up their chunin battle and her little sadistic moment, where she had purposely tried to hurt and possibly cripple them. Yeah, great job.
Temari remembers the fight clearly. Especially the satisfying crack of the leaf ninja’s back after moving her fan under the nin’s falling body. There was no reason she did it other than the fact that she wanted to hurt them, and she hated herself for it. But the worst part was that she still felt partially satisfied with the fight. Proud of herself for winning. Proud of herself for being able to decimate her opponent. And she hadn’t changed all that much since then. Sure she would never do something like that again to the leaf nin or someone else during a match but the Suna ninja was still ruthless on missions.
Temari likes to reassure herself that real missions were different. Causing pain was just one of the parts of a ninja’s work but the extra step of sadism that Temari and Kankuro sometimes fell into when fighting sometimes caused Temari to contemplate talking to someone but the Sungakure didn’t have a lot of those types of professionals like the Konoha did with the Yamanaka clan. Therapy and mental health weren't exactly something the village could afford to fund at the moment.
Maybe she could ask the Yamanaka on Shikamaru’s team. She hadn’t interacted with her in length but she would feel more comfortable asking her than asking any of the people she was working with on this mission. The representative of a newly allied village that is trying to improve relations after a large conflict, asking the village diplomats, chosen to work with her, for help with her mental health, lack of natural empathy, and violent inclinations probably wouldn’t be a good look.
Probably a better look than whatever fuck she was doing now though. Why the fuck did she say that.
“Well,” Tenten’s voice broke through her panicked inner monologue, “I wouldn’t mind a nice trip to the hospital after a good match,” the charming smirk never leaving her face. The kunoichi leaned her arms over the small fence post that she must have walked up to and leaned her body towards Temari with a playful glint in her eye, “I’ll even hold your hand the whole way there, so you don’t feel sol bad about losing.”
Temari’s heart was doing little gay skips. They were flirting, right? Was she flirting with her? Or were they just play-bickering? Spending time almost exclusively with Kankuro and only more recently Gaara, Temari didn’t have many friends growing up.
She had been jealous of the other kids who had sleepovers and playdates with their friends, concepts she was unfamiliar with having become a ninja early in life and avoided like a plague during her early childhood because of her relation to the Demon of the Sand.
Sure she slept next to others, but those were all on missions where one had to take turns resting. The talk usually consisted only of planning, and everybody was on alert in case they were attacked or had to move quickly. It wasn’t until recently that she had started to make friends, but as adults people aren’t as quick to open their lives to new people, already having built their social circle. No one came up to you, grabbed your hand, and claimed you as their friend as they did as children.
To be clear, Temari was certainly friendly with a lot of people, but the only true friends she had were Mara, the grocer’s daughter who Temari is pretty sure just pity-befriended her after seeing her struggle to pick out vegetables that she clearly didn't know how to cook, and Rui, a jonin who is posted at the east border and who she happened to strike a conversation with, which ended up evolving into hanging out and training together during their free time.
She learned quickly with Mara that friends could be very physically affectionate. She wasn’t unused to touch, or anything. She and Kankuro often spent nights cuddled up on the couch and each other’s bed when neither of them wanted to be alone but that was Kankuro. The two of them had been joined at the hip since Kankuro was born and they were very openly affectionate with each other when no one was around. Their father being as emotionally absent as he was physically distant left the two of them very close as they simultaneously became callous to others and learned not to depend on others.
It was a weird mix. They never became codependent, happy to do things, and spend large amounts of time away from each other. Sometimes going days without talking just for one of them to wander into the other's room to talk about something that happened that day.
There was this unshakable trust between the two. Kankuro had come-out first to Temari, long before they were even sure about it themself. They’d always been interested in feminine makeup and outfits, having played with a collection of dolls that had been given to Temari as a gift long before they’d had started to play with puppets. Even now, adding to the collection with hand-made dolls made in spare time.
Kankuro hadn’t even been slightly scared telling her. In addition to that, the phrase ‘coming out’ didn’t really match the situation all that well since they weren’t really coming out. Kankuro had just been talking,about something Temari couldn’t remember now, lying on the living room floor when they had asked her a question.
“What’s it like being a girl,” the puppeteer asked looking up at her while fiddling with what she assumed was a doll joint.
Temari had paused for a moment before answering. She wasn’t surprised by the question, she and Kankuro liked talking about the philosophical parts of life and they didn’t really keep anything from each other but she didn’t really know what to say.
Kankuro already knew all the shit that bothered her when it came to society’s view of women. Both of them liked to read adventure books, and Tenten had gone on long rants on the depiction of women and how they were damsels in distress, romantic interests with no personality, and how even the books with supposedly strong female characters lacked any emotion, belittled other female characters for not being as “strong” as them and were only allowed to have masculine features and supposed “personality traits” if they were villains.
And in real life, women were often dismissed in high positions, outside of the medical field. Which was seen as a woman’s study for some reason? Women are caretakers, it comes naturally for them? Motherfucking idiots.
“Periods and misogyny,” Temari replies, knowing that makeup, skirts, and having a kind nature was sure as hell not the defining or inherent qualities of a woman. She was evidence to that.
Kankuro seemed to mull over the answer for a second before asking another question.
“What about the people in the South District?” the 13 year-old said, shifting the doll on the floor popping it's elbow into it's place.
Temari knew the people her sibling was talking about. She hadn’t actually met any of them but she knew of them by word alone. People often talked about the South District and all the deviants that roamed the streets at night.
Not like prostitutes or anything. Not that there wasn’t any prostitution in Suna. It wasn’t legal but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t available.
There was a huge issue within their village with sex trafficking. Refugees from the smaller lands around the Sand came to Sunagakure in search of a better future, and because the trip to Konoha was too far. Families who couldn’t afford homes for themselves and were forced to work for almost nothing for horrible people just because they could offer housing. Some worked hard in warehouses while others have to entertain men just to earn any type of living. It was a fucked up truth in Suna and there was little being done about it.
The situation of the South District was different though. Men who entertained other men for fun. Women doing things with other women. Men dressed and dolled up in makeup and woman dresses. Women in suits and buzzed hair, kissing and all over other women. Temari knew that they weren’t normal or like other people, but she always thought it was weird how much more disdain other Suna people had for the South District than the people who were forcing others into exploitative sex work.
“What about the people in the South District,” she replied carefully, not really sure what Kankuro was getting at.
Kankuro seemed a little miffed about her responding with a question to their question but didn’t say anything about it.
“You know, the men who consi--think they’re women? You always talk about how stupid it is that certain personality traits, skills, and stuff like that are called "woman things" or "man things" for no reason because of the whole, you know, the thing you always say. A cat can’t act like a dog because it's a cat and everything it does is like a cat,” he tried to explain awkwardly, “even if it barks.” Temari knows that Kankuro has a very clear view of Temari’s view of gender roles, the two of them not abiding by them in the slightest. Temari’s encouragement of Kankuro’s interest in makeup and dolls attest to that. As do her lackluster cooking skills, which is the primary reason why she usually was the one to clean dishes and sweep the house. Kankuro being the main chef of the two and in charge of laundry.
Temari also remembers the exact conversation he’s talking about with the cat and dog thing. She winced at the weird analogy knowing how weak it was but shrugs it off knowing that it got across what she was trying to say. That and she was like 13 herself when she said it. She had been reading the next book in the Shinobi Calling series by Kezuki Rei, a very popular author whose newest book she had been excited to read after the last book had ended with the hero’s death and his daughter deciding to honor her father by entering into a Shinobi life and picking up his mantle. It was going great until it wasn't. She had burst into Kankuro’s room halfway through the book to rant. It wasn’t wholly a bad book but she hated the way Kezuki had chosen to portray the main character.
Anytime she made any sort of accomplishment she would inner monologue to say that the reason she was able to be so strong and overcome trials was that she imitated her father and had had his support from beyond the grave. That her ability to fight and make good decisions was because she acted as the strong man in her memory, and that was what allowed her to overcome her faults of being a weak emotional woman.
How the fuck did ‘acting’ like a man allow her to decimate a battlefield of enemy nin, and she trained for years how could she be weak? Is being born a woman a fault? How the fuck is a single woman carrying on her father’s work still attributed as an accomplishment of men? She was also described as having very masculine features as if the very fact that some mistaken her for a man that made her more suitable as a warrior of her village. That’s when the whole cat-dog analogy came in. Nothing a person or animal did, could be unnatural because if they were doing it than it was something they were always capable of. It wasn’t all that strong of comparison but 11 year-old Kankuro got the point so that’s all that really mattered. It was a very annoying ordeal, especially because Temari was too invested to quit reading halfway through.
Kankuro paused for a long moment before asking the next question, “Do you think that men can be women,” Kuro stopped to rephrase, “or like you know woman being born with the wrong parts, but not the wrong parts really but-- different parts?”
Temari was actually a little surprised Kankuro was the one talking about this. Her younger sibling had always been quick to harp on others for anything that could be made fun of. The young doll enthusiant had been born a bully. Then again she wasn’t much different so she wasn’t really in any position to judge. But this did surprise her. She thought about it for a moment, “I guess so,” she chose to say because it would make sense that at least one man would be born with the wrong organs, and the same thing goes for a woman. Temari always had the logic that if something can happen, then it probably will.
Kankuro's mood seemed to brighten up before almost immediately becoming serious again and looked up at her and told her something that she was sure they just figured out themself. “I don’t think I’m a man.”
That threw her for a loop just for a second, as she gaped at Kankuro. She didn’t respond to her younger sibling immediately which seemed to make Kankuro a little nervous.
Temari knew that whatever she said next was going to be very important to Kankuro. They’ve been mean and cruel to each other in the past, saying things they regret to each other but they’ve been quick to forgive. Not apologize, or course, they were both the proud sort but they’d be back to talking to each other less than a day later already forgetting what they had been arguing about. But this. This was different, and she was going to have to be careful with her next words. These next words had to be thoughtful.
“Well you were always kind of a bitch,” were the words that came out instead.
Kankuro seemed stunned before they glared at their dumbass sister before huffing out a laugh, “Yeah,” they countered, “A bad bitch.”
Their smile softens as they look at her, “It's a family thing apparently.”
She smiled with them. Good. She thought she had fucked up the moment there for a bit.
Temari looks at them seriously after that, “Do you,” she starts unsure if she should ask, “Do you want me to call you sister.”
They looked surprised, but their face quickly fell back to a smile.
“What like ‘Sister come here’, ‘Sister Kankuro’ ‘Sis check this out,” they said mockingly, “it’s not like you were calling me brother Kankuro before. Yeah no.”
“Actually I don’t mind being you know your brother,” they said rubbing the back of their neck, “or you know being a ‘he’ really, I just don’t want to be a man, you know. I mean I wouldn’t mind being your sister either or being ‘she’. I’m not a woman but I’m not a man. Or I don't know--I think I like being both.”
Temari nodded, “Then I guess I got myself a sister.”
Kankuro smiled back.
It was about half a year later that she told her new sister about her liking boys and girls.
All Kuro said was “same.”
Her coming out to Mara was a lot different. Her new friendship with the storekeeper's kid was scaringly different than what she thought it would be like. Mara had quickly pulled her in and asked about her deepest darkest secrets while lounging on Temari like a pillow only two weeks after they had become friends. It had been a big shock for her. She had thought that Mara was coming onto her and had accidentally came out, apologizing and trying to explain she didn’t really see Mara like that.
Mara was surprised and had felt a little bad after the whole thing, having thought she accidentally led Temari on but Temari had been quick to explain her lack of experience with friends and wasn’t aware that people who just started hanging out were comfortable with platonically cuddling on couches. Mara had laughed a little at that, playing off the awkwardness of the situation well and didn’t even question Temari’s sexuality and that had been the start of the Sand nin’s first real friendship.
Now, with only a little experience with friendships under her belt and zero experience in romance, Temari didn’t know how to respond to TenTen but accepting her invitation seemed like a good place to start, right?
In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions in her life because it solved a culmination of Temari and Sand villages problems. After the Mizukage approached her and TenTen, after the end of their, honestly exhilarating fight on a village training ground. And after Temari awkwardly ended up asking TenTen out while they rested on the grass. The Amegakure Leader appeared from almost nowhere as Temari had been waiting for Tenten’s reply and struck up a conversation, Temari guessed in hopes of fostering a positive relationship between the two nations.
The Rain village being home to an abundance of highly qualified specialists on all things water and Temari’si village struggling with the lack of accessible water sources or atleast the finding them she took up the Kage’s offer to lunch. The Mizukage had offered to take her to lunch the day after which she had quickly refused and then apologized for refusing, embarrassed that she had actually refused a village leader but she had asked Tenten out to lunch at that time.
The kunoichi technically hadn’t said yes and was currently, awkwardly waiting to the side of them but she was clinging onto the hope that she was just waiting for the Kage to leave, and not that her silence no.
The Mizu--Mei, “please call me Mei,” didn’t seem at all offended and offered to meet for breakfast instead. Temari accepted and they said their goodbyes and Mei went to attend to the other responsibilities.
Her stress of talking to a Kage (Gaara not really counting) quickly melted away and the stress of currently waiting for her crush's answer to her date proposition quickly started to claw up her throat.
She said yes.
She said YES!
-----------------------------
The next day changed her life.
She had met the Mizukage in the late early morning. Which directly ended with her meeting Shikamaru and Ino who were out picking up supplies for their teammate's birthday that was today at the place Mei had chosen for breakfast to discuss mission arrangements. Something about a specialty barbeque-flavored cake that the Akimichi would like. An Amegakure development team was manufacturing nin hydration pills that would allow Shinobi to carry larger amounts of water without the added weight and in environments where water is scarce using micro inscribed fuinjutsu. The idea was very appealing to a Suna nin who had, more than once, pushed herself through missions with a dry throat and understood the fear of dying thirsty.
Getting invited to a birthday party was not something she planned for, but she hadn’t planned to meet up with the Mizukage a day ago or go on a date with a leaf nin, so things change.
She turned down the invitation because of her date with TenTen, knowing she couldn’t make both. She felt guilty telling the shadow nin about her date. Especially when he had asked her to go with him, not just to the event. You know like a date.
Shikamaru a little startled by her admission and seemed to fluster. He quickly apologized and left with his teammate which had actually hurt a little, to be honest but she was being greedy wanting to be with both Tenten and Shikamaru. They deserved better than that.
She ended up telling TenTen about the party. The kunoichi had admitted that she had planned to go before but didn’t want to miss their date. Temari’s heart skipped at the fact. Tenten had chosen her and it made her ridiculously happy.
They went to the party in the end. It was nice to mingle and talk to the other leaf ninjas even if many of them were very openly surprised that she was there. Considering the fact that the last interaction she had with many of them was the Sand’s invasion of Lead, they were surprisingly very polite and even nice at times. Lee had been quick to congratulate Tenten on scoring a date with her and raved about the beauty of the power of youth. He had far too much energy. Temari had no idea what her brother saw in him. She was pleasantly surprised though when Lee asked her about Gaara, The rather loud ninja getting all shy when inquiring about how he was doing as the newly appointed Kazekage. Guess the crush wasn’t one-sided. It was actually kind of sweet how much he cared.
Temari decided he was alright.
The sand nin didn’t prepare to run into her other spiky-haired crush. It wasn’t too awkward, and Shikamaru had congratulated them. He had been saying something about relationships being a drag, and Temari could see how his eyes went to hers for a second before he moved on to other topics. He and Tenten seemed to already be good friends, which she should have expected. The whole group of lead nin seemed to run together. She was happy that Shikamaru and Tenten got along and that he wasn’t treating her differently for being with Temari.
If anything, it was almost too much for her. Watching both people she liked laughing and talking with her. It made her so happy. The snarky comments Tenten gave, poking and prodding at Shikamaru as he griped about how tiring everything was. It was that feeling in her chest, jumping around that she couldn’t tell was excitement or stress that made her say the next thing.
“Sorry I couldn’t go to the party as your date,” she pushed out in one breath.
Shikamaru jumped and stared at her with large eyes, surprised at what she said. Tenten was surprised too her eyes darting back and forth between the two. Did she fuck up again?
“It’s fine,” Shikamaru awkwardly replied, looking at Tenten as much as he did Temari as he said it, “I didn’t know that, you know, liked someone else.”
“I didn’t,” she admitted honestly her eyes immediately darting to Tenten who looked hurt.
“Wait, no, fuck,” she tried to amend what she said, “not like that, Tenten.”
She took in a deep breath, already freaking out pretty sure she already messed everything up but it was too late and she needed to explain.
“Being completely honest, I might have had a crush on the both of you,” she confessed, “I didn’t really have a plan to pursue you two or anything. Pining in silence was going to be my got-to choice but then Shikamaru offered to eat with him and his team. Which I really regret refusing and you,” she gestured to Tenten.
“You asked me for a rematch, and I was freaking out because I wasn’t sure if we were flirting or not. I risked it and asked you out. You said yes which made me ecstatic but then Shikamaru asked me to go to the party with him when we ran into each other this morning and I really wanted to say yes because I’m selfish,” her voice becoming ragged, having not paused for breath, “and I’m not really good at feelings, on managing them, or keeping them down to one person.”
She looked directly at Tenten, “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely.
“I probably ruined our date, and I’ll understand if you don’t want a repeat, but I didn’t want to lie to Shikamaru.”
Neither Tenten nor Shikamaru had said anything as she talked, only standing and processing what she was saying. Both of their cheeks were tinted red. Tenten was the first to say anything.
“That’s fine,” she said coming up to grasp Temari’s hand and bringing it up close to her, “I get it. You don’t have to feel guilty.”
Shikamaru spoke up too, “Yeah no,” he was still blushing, “It’s not a big deal. I’m happy for you and Tenten. Thanks though, for saying something. I thought I was making up everything in my head.”
Temari laughed at that, “what you couldn’t tell my snide comments and rough exterior weren't signals.”
Tenten joined in with a smile, “I don’t know, I have hospital-release papers, and bruises from yesterday’s match that says physically fighting is your ultimate love language.”
The sand nin’s face heated up and she knew they both could probably see how hard she was blushing but she knew that Tenten was right. She hadn’t felt happier than she had when she had been battling against the leaf nin.
It was also pretty telling that she developed crushes on both of the people she was pitted against during the exams. If Shikamaru and Tenten’s laughs were anything to go by, they probably knew too.
“You know,” Shikamaru said, getting their attention.
He looked a little embarrassed and nervous about whatever he was planning to say.
“This may sound stupid,” he admitted, “but I wouldn’t mind going on a date with Temari, you know,” he paused trying to find the right words before settling on just, “later.”
It sounded more like a question.
“Later?” Tenten tilted her head.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall like he often did, resting on any surface he could, even vertical ones. The tension in his shoulders made it clear that he wasn’t
currently relaxed, though, at the moment.
“You know,” he shrugged in a very Nara manner, “when you aren’t on a date with her.”
Tenten looked as stunned as Temari probably did at the moment. Tenten crossed her arms over her chest looking at Shikamaru for a long moment, considering his words carefully before smiling the same way as she did the other day when she had asked Temari to a rematch.
“I think that could work,” she looked at the Sand nin, and Shikamaru sighed, the tension immediately leaving his body.
Temari’s mind still hadn’t caught up with anything that had been said at the last minute.
“You mean like the both of you,” she gaped at the both of them.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes as if he hadn’t just propositioned something life-changing, “Love triangles are such a drag.”
“Well this isn’t really a love triangle, it's just me with you two,” she pointed out.
She couldn’t believe this, “And you both are okay with this.”
The two took a moment to look at each other, both of them with annoyingly calm and relaxed faces, and just nodded.
Temari stood there for a moment just processing until finally straightening up and swinging her hands onto her hips and looking at the both of them.
Her mouth curled into her trademark smile, which Kankuro always pointed out looked much more like a sneer.
“Well who knew that the leaf nin were a bunch of masochists, dating the first people who beat them up,” her voice dripping with fake sweetness, “I’m even more surprised BunBun that you’re also okay with sharing with Spiky over there.”
They both looked at her incredulously before smiling back at her.
“You know, now that you say that I’m pretty sure that’s how everybody in this village gets together,” Tenten acknowledged with a huff, “Ino and Sakura. I think Naruto and Sasuke were secretly soft for each other before they both left the village. Lee and Gaara. It might just be a Konoha tradition.”
Shikamaru tilted his head in what she assumed was contemplation rather than agreement.
He let out a long sigh, “Relationships are a drag."
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She told Kankuro when she got back, about what happened. Her conversation with the Mizukage was the last thing she brought up, despite it probably being the most important. They laughed so hard it took them a couple of minutes to stop crying while trying to grt it out of their system. Baki was beyond confused. And Gaara was just absolutely ecstatic about the whole thing. All three of the sand siblings were hopeless romantics but Gaara was the only one who didn’t try to hide it. He had been nursing a crush on the green jumpsuit ever since the kid had so overenthusiastically befriended him after the failed rescue mission of Sasuke Uchiha. Baki was going to have a heart attack around a year later when Kankuro would tell them about his budding relationship with the Inuzuka dog nin.
Temari actually liked Kiba a lot, but maybe she was biased since she just liked playing with the cute little ninja mutt, that was no longer the little pup it was in the chunin exams. Sure she had seen Akamaru during her time in Konoha during the party and around the village but her and Kiba didn't interact much. She hadn’t noticed how much the dog changed until Kankuro had started to bring their boyfriend to Suna. The pup was fully grown and weighed almost as much as she did. Temari had always wanted a pet and she made it her responsibility to steal the dog away from her sister’s boyfriend whenever she had the chance.
Now, almost four years later, after many hardships, battles and a war that they barely won, Temari is happy in her permanent role as the Suna's head of diplomacy and international matters. She spent months in the Leaf and her two partners took any mission that lead them to her village. It was hard and sometimes they spent to much time away from each other but it worked. Gaara was 20 now, still a young kazekage but well established after his leadership in the war and his leaf ninja boyfriend has basically moved into the Sand. Kankuro, out of the three of them, spent the most time in the Leaf at a time. She and her fiance split their time pretty 50/50 between their homes. Happy to co-opt missions for either of their kages. When in Suna, Kankuro acted as an active jonin operative and council to Gaara while Kiba takes missions with the Suna nin.
It was just a simple diplomatic mission that the sand siblings decided to go on together. Like old times. They coming back from an overall relaxing stay in the Rain village, spending only the first of the four-day stay discussing trade agreements that have been in place since Temari and Mei’s discussion all that time ago. A little over three years from the war against Madara, after the allied villages successfully stopped him from bringing a crazed Goddess back to life. All of them, in ongoing healthy relationships with leaf nins, and having a collection of friends and found-family from different nations, is when it happens.
Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara get jumped by a group of rogue nin, and have to retreat to an abandoned shrine to regroup where they accidentally activate an old relic engraved with a jutsu in a language long forgotten. They are blinded by a bright light and are thrown like rag dolls with a deafening boom. They get sent to a place they thought they’d never see again and have to face people that they had never thought they’d see again all while trying to find a way home.
When others come to look for them, and the Suna nins mess with jutsus they don’t understand many of their friends find themselves in trouble themselves.
So much for a rescue mission.