Love Through Negotiation «COMPLETED»

Chapter 11

Temari woke up to the sound of horses plodding through sandy dirt and the rough discourse of a group of people surrounding them on all sides. Above her was a beige tarp spread over thin rods of wood and her back was against soft, yet thin cushions. There was little feeling of jostling, but she could still tell that she was moving. At realizing that she felt constricted, Temari noticed that she was covered in white bandages nearly head to toe.

"Are you awake?" Came a rough voice to her side.

It was familiar enough that she didn't startle at the sound of it. Looking over, she saw Naruto leaned against the wall and bobbing to the beat and time of their carriage. He was shirtless with a few patches of bandages taped to his skin, but uncovered otherwise. More than anything, it was his face that caught her attention. His look of sadness and disappointment looked like it was etched in stone.

She sat up and stared at her hands, or, the bandages which covered them. "Yeah," she whispered, worried her voice would crack if she spoke even a little louder. "Where are we?"

He blinked, the only movement his face looked capable of creating. "A… cart. We're on our way to Sunagakure."

Temari blinked. The voices outside the cart sounded like they were from the other members of the contract, but their words were distorted by the cart. She couldn't hear anything. Temari looked at him more closely. He was sitting in a bed similar to hers and only covered by a thin sheet. "How long have you been awake?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. An hour, maybe?"

She looked back to her hands. She didn't feel hurt or numb or anything, so why was she covered in bandages? There had been bad burns before, she knew that much for sure, but it looked like they were gone now, or at the very least, they weren't hurting anymore. "So then… it all really happened."

His lips turned pursed and his eyes clenched. "I…" His voice cracked. "I'm so sorry," he barely whispered with an anguished lilt. "I… I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough. I… I couldn't save him."

Temari continued to stare at her hands while Naruto started to break down, sobbing uncontrollably. She could see through his balled-up hands that tears raced down his cheeks in tracts that he hadn't bothered wiping before. This wasn't his first breakdown. It might not be his last.

Using her sore and cramped muscles, Temari cringed a little bit as she nudged her way towards him. She grabbed one of his fists in both her hands and held it there. She didn't say anything for a few seconds and just held him, tried her best to comfort him. "It's… it's not your fault," she whispered, fearing that if she used her full voice that it would crack too and she would break down as well. "It's not your fault," she whispered again and again.

The sobbing turned into full-blown crying. He grabbed her hands with his and leaned his forehead against her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he said. "It's all my fault."

She slipped her arms around his chest and let him lean against her. He was heavier than she thought and his tears were making her shoulder wet. He was crying so much. It was almost like his brother had died.

'And perhaps he was,' Temari thought darkly. They had been brothers-in-law for a few days before he died. But even so, Naruto and Gaara hadn't truly spent much time together. How could her shoulder be so wet from someone who barely even knew Gaara? And more to the point, why weren't her cheeks wet?

She closed her eyes and hooked her chin over his neck. Why wasn't the world easier to make sense of? Why did bad things happen?

00000000

Three days ago, night

"Not only has this union turned out to be a shitshow and your village nearly destroyed, but you blatantly lied to everyone! That kid doesn't have any control over his tailed beast. Hell, he hasn't even talked to it! What the hell have you been teaching him!" Ai's chest shuddered with indignation and his cheeks were flushed with rage as he vented his anger the only way he knew how to those in front of him.