[fic] Routine Observations
Title: Routine Observations
Characters: Matsuri, Sari, Temari
Genre: Humour/Friendship
Rating: T
Summary: Temari retrieves Matsuri and Sari after a mission gone wrong.
Temari finds them huddled in a cave. She'd gone looking for them when they hadn't reported back when they were supposed to. Her brothers got as close to begging as they would ever manage and she'd caved. Perhaps she was softer than she'd realised.
They're almost indistinguishable in the low light. Normally she'd be able to tell them apart by the length of their hair but apparently Sari'd cut hers for the mission and neither were wearing their headbands.
When they'd noticed her, they'd sprung into battle stances before relaxing as they identified her. That eases some of her concern. If they were well enough to do that, they should be well enough to return with her.
They come over to her gingerly. Matsuri's limping and her jouhyou is a ragged bundle barely clinging to her belt. The bit that she can see of Sari's fukiya over her shoulder looks battered and the girl herself is covered in scratches. The pouch at her waist containing fukibari seems almost empty. She'd probably used most of them up in the escape.
Matsuri slings an arm over Sari's shoulder wordlessly as they make their way out of the cave.
-----------------------------------------
They're two hours away from Suna when they finally look like they're willing to talk.
"So," Temari drawls, "Mind telling me what exactly you were doing that had my brothers so worked up?"
They both seem surprised by that.
"You didn't ask?" Sari questions.
"Once I'd agreed to go find you two, they practically shoved me out the door," she grumbles.
Matsuri giggles a bit at the image and she glares at her.
"Ah, it was a simple information-gathering mission in Bird Country but Iwa showed up half-way through. We got recognised and chased back past the border with Rain," Sari informs her.
She considers this briefly.
"Parallel to the Rain border or did you actually cross it?"
Matsuri speaks up now to distract herself from her injured leg.
"We tried to stay away from it but it was dark and we had trouble remembering its exact position. Probably not though."
"Good."
The leader of Rain is an almost complete unknown but one thing they do know is that intruders don't tend to last long. This lack of knowledge irritates her brother, she knows, as Rain has a long history of instability which tends to spill over into neighbouring countries. It's been quiet for over a decade but no one trusts that it won't flare up again.
------------------------------------
Her brothers are very pointedly not waiting at the gate for them and she doesn't bother hiding her smirk at that.
A medic-nin takes charge of Matsuri while she and Sari go and give their report to Gaara.
He listens impassively but she'd noticed the initial alarm in his eyes when Matsuri wasn't with them.
Afterwards, Kankuro appears out of nowhere to whisk Sari away, saying something about a rare plant finally flowering.
She resists the urge to grin this time but they're so very transparent to her though.
Characters: Matsuri, Sari, Temari
Genre: Humour/Friendship
Rating: T
Summary: Temari retrieves Matsuri and Sari after a mission gone wrong.
Temari finds them huddled in a cave. She'd gone looking for them when they hadn't reported back when they were supposed to. Her brothers got as close to begging as they would ever manage and she'd caved. Perhaps she was softer than she'd realised.
They're almost indistinguishable in the low light. Normally she'd be able to tell them apart by the length of their hair but apparently Sari'd cut hers for the mission and neither were wearing their headbands.
When they'd noticed her, they'd sprung into battle stances before relaxing as they identified her. That eases some of her concern. If they were well enough to do that, they should be well enough to return with her.
They come over to her gingerly. Matsuri's limping and her jouhyou is a ragged bundle barely clinging to her belt. The bit that she can see of Sari's fukiya over her shoulder looks battered and the girl herself is covered in scratches. The pouch at her waist containing fukibari seems almost empty. She'd probably used most of them up in the escape.
Matsuri slings an arm over Sari's shoulder wordlessly as they make their way out of the cave.
-----------------------------------------
They're two hours away from Suna when they finally look like they're willing to talk.
"So," Temari drawls, "Mind telling me what exactly you were doing that had my brothers so worked up?"
They both seem surprised by that.
"You didn't ask?" Sari questions.
"Once I'd agreed to go find you two, they practically shoved me out the door," she grumbles.
Matsuri giggles a bit at the image and she glares at her.
"Ah, it was a simple information-gathering mission in Bird Country but Iwa showed up half-way through. We got recognised and chased back past the border with Rain," Sari informs her.
She considers this briefly.
"Parallel to the Rain border or did you actually cross it?"
Matsuri speaks up now to distract herself from her injured leg.
"We tried to stay away from it but it was dark and we had trouble remembering its exact position. Probably not though."
"Good."
The leader of Rain is an almost complete unknown but one thing they do know is that intruders don't tend to last long. This lack of knowledge irritates her brother, she knows, as Rain has a long history of instability which tends to spill over into neighbouring countries. It's been quiet for over a decade but no one trusts that it won't flare up again.
------------------------------------
Her brothers are very pointedly not waiting at the gate for them and she doesn't bother hiding her smirk at that.
A medic-nin takes charge of Matsuri while she and Sari go and give their report to Gaara.
He listens impassively but she'd noticed the initial alarm in his eyes when Matsuri wasn't with them.
Afterwards, Kankuro appears out of nowhere to whisk Sari away, saying something about a rare plant finally flowering.
She resists the urge to grin this time but they're so very transparent to her though.