Title: SecondLife

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto. Applies for all chapters.

Summary: Temari wanted to slap, shake, and scream at the girl in front of her. Lies; nothing but lies. Gaara couldn't have... Yet, how could Temari deny the girl's claim when the proof was staring her in the face with familiar sea foam eyes. Post Manga. Gaa/Oc

Chapter: Naruto

Ten years to the day; the day that Gaara had died protecting Suna. Seven since the council forced Gaara to seal the Shukaku demon back inside his body.

That had been a mistake.

Temari remembered with heartache the panicked look on her brother's face as he confessed that he couldn't control the beast anymore. Gaara feared that the absence from his body had made the sand spirit stronger. He was constantly struggling internally with Shukaku for possession of his mind, and after a year his efforts were proving to be a losing battle. For the first time in his life Gaara told her and Kankuro that he loved them; only to disappear from Suna the next day.

The council formed a search team made of elite ANBU members to find him, but days turned to weeks; weeks into months. After a year Suna could no longer afford to continue without a Kage and declared the young red headed leader to be dead. They mourned the loss with a traditional memorial service and began the process of inaugurating a new Kazekage to replace Gaara once and for all. With a new leader in place, Suna moved on leaving Gaara and his mysterious disappearance forgotten in the past.

Temari alone refused to give up hope. Even with the sand village's council members telling her to give up searching she held onto the hope that he was still out there waiting for her to find him.

Five more years past. Five years was a long time to keep retracing the same dead ends over and over again; even for someone as stubborn as Temari. With no new leads she felt Gaara slipping further and further away from her grasp. Fear crept into her thoughts that with the next sunset he might be gone forever.

Seven years to the day Temari sat overlooking the sand city from the Kazekage tower as she had seen Gaara do so many times before. So many times she had come to this spot hoping to find some kind of insight or peace of mind that would lead her to her brother, yet nothing had produced results. Seven years was a long time to search for someone that didn't want to be found.

She shielded her eyes with her arm as the blinding rays of sun climbed over the tall outer wall and shed light over the golden buildings below. It marked a new day; another year without finding Gaara. She didn't want to admit it, but she was starting to believe the Council might be right. Gaara was gone; she had to let him go.

Ten years to the day, Temari acknowledged for the second time in her life that her brother had died.

OooOooO

"Excuse me, but I was told to file a report with a Sabaku no Temari?"

Temari stopped flipping through the large pile of papers on her desk at the sound of her name. Glancing up toward her office doorway she saw a young amber haired girl with light green eyes waiting for a response. The blond woman smiled warmly and gestured at the chairs between them. "I'm Temari, please take a seat."

Temari watched closely as the girl moved with ballerina like grace to one of the open seats. She noted that the girl's attire—while still fitting for desert living—was foreign to Suna. The girl's slight accent also gave that fact away.

The Kunoichi folded her hands in her lap as she relaxed in her chair studying the stranger in front of her. "Baki sends new Shinobi students in my direction; You're a little old to be applying for the academy so I'm assuming you have a young child?"

The girl didn't hesitate before answering, "My son. He'll be five next month. "

Temari nodded in confirmation while taking out a registration form and asking a few basic questions. "Name?"

"Mine or my son's?"

Temari tapped her pen on the desk. "Let's start with you."

"Oshiro Kiyoko."

"Oshiro Kiyoko." repeated the wind user. "Are you or any direct family members a resident of Suna?"

"No."

The blond noted that on the form before asking a follow up question. "Okay, are you from a neighboring Shinobi village?"

"No. I come from a small tribe residing on the western coast of the Land of Wind where Shinobi do not exist."

Temari looked up from her pen and paper confused. "I'm sorry, but if Shinobi don't exist in your tribe then why would you think your son would be accepted into our academy?"

The girl, Kiyoko, blushed and turned her gaze towards a window next to Temari's desk. "I believe his father was a Suna Shinobi."

"Believe?" Temari clarified.

The foreign girl nodded while her cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "I don't know for sure . . . He just showed up one day and didn't want to talk much about his past. He left just as suddenly."

Temari put down her pen and leaned across the desk to place a hand on Kiyoko's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Men can be so fickle sometimes. If you tell me his name I can look him up and punish him for you."

Kiyoko shook her head her native accent thick as she rushed her words. "You misunderstand. He didn't leave me because he wanted to he..." the girl paused momentarily to wipe away a stray tear in the corner of her eye. "He died before I gave birth."

Temari felt a pull at one of her heartstrings. She knew all to well how life could be so unfair sometimes. She tried hard not to picture a certain face as she listened to the girl continue. "I've learned to manage, though. Even if I wanted to be sad I couldn't. My son-he is such a handful. Always managing to get involved in the most unusual things." The girl shook her head and smiled as she recalled a memory. "Just last week, as we were traveling, he had a group of Konoha Shinobi in a fit because they thought he was a missing nin. They finally let us be after I talked to their leader for a bit. He was very nice to me, even made sure my son and I made it here safe. Makes me wonder what his father had been like as a child...if he was just as troublesome..." The girl trailed off still smiling and staring out the window deep in thought.

Temari couldn't help but smile a bit too as realization hit her. Naruto—she knew it had to be him since he had shown up unannounced not too long ago—had gone out of his way to make sure this girl and her son made it safely to Suna. Gaara had always told her that Naruto was a hopeless romantic at heart and the girl sitting at her desk was quite pretty. Naruto was a busy man now-a-days, with a village to run and all; but even so something about this girl had him drop everything that he had been doing.

Love at first sight, Gaara would have called it.

Temari knew her grin had changed to a sad smile; Gaara would have liked her. The green eyed girl was sweet, pretty, polite, and somehow she just knew that Gaara would have been head over heals. Her brother would never had admitted it but he was a hopeless romantic at heart as well. Temari wondered what the girl would have thought of her brother. Would she have given him a chance despite his past? Would she be like all the others who only saw him for his title?

Would she have loved Gaara back?

No, Temari thought. Gaara wouldn't have had a chance against Naruto, given what he used to be.

He would have been happy for the two, though. Even if it hurt him.

"I'm so sorry!" The sudden exclamation forced Temari away from her thoughts and made her jump in her seat a bit. Kiyoko's eyes were wide open and her face was flushed with red splotchy spots making her even more adorable if possible. "This is supposed to be an interview and here I am rambling on about my son! I'm so embarrassed."

Temari smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. It's good to be proud of you son and I've learned all I need to know."

The Suna Kunoichi gathered up the papers on her desk and put them in order to summit to the council later.

"So does that mean my son will be able to join the academy?" Kiyoko was leaning on the edge of her seat, hope filling her bright eyes. Temari noticed for the first time how young the girl truly looked and wondered how old she had been when she had her son. No more than twenty she would have bet.

"Unfortunately, that's not my decision to make. You have to have a hearing with the council first, and then the Kazekage has to approve. I see no reason why they would refuse." Temari added when she saw a flicker of fear flash across the girl's face. "We can go now if you like."

She grabbed her things and stood to her feet. Kiyoko following suite. "Yes, that would be nice. The sooner the better. My son has a habit of wandering and getting into trouble, one of the reasons I want him in school; I'm hoping that it will teach him discipline. Right now he is playing with the nice Shinobi I told you about earlier so I'm not too worried. He seemed like he could handle a lot."

The blond smiled at the thought of Naruto playing with the small boy. It had been years since she had seen the leaf ninja but she wasn't surprised at all that Naruto had a knack with children; he was almost like one himself. As she and Kiyoko walked into the hallway she couldn't help but think that maybe the younger girl should have looked into the Konoha academy instead. Temari had a feeling that it would save a certain Hokage a lot of traveling in the nearby future.

OooOooO

The council had finished meeting for the day when Temari and Kiyoko had arrived and had ushered them right in for a private hearing. Just as Temari thought, Kiyoko had won the hearts of the council instantly. The red haired girl had seemed a bit shy at first in front of the roomful of diplomats, but when someone inquired about her son she had lighted up and gone off on a story much like the one she had told in Temari's office.

"He can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but he's a good boy. Always trying to be helpful anyway he can." Kiyoko was sitting across from the Kazekage, hands folded in her lap, her long amber colored hair draped neatly over her left shoulder.

The Kazekage, who had until this moment been reading Temari's notes, chose to finally contribute to the conversation. "It says here that the reason you came to Suna was because you believed the boy's father to be a Suna Shinobi. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir." Kiyoko sunk just the smallest amount in her seat. Temari was starting to notice that whenever the boy's father was in question the girl seemed a bit hesitant, nervous almost.

"Did he say he was from Suna?" The brown haired Kazekage took a sip of his tea and Temari smiled at him before doing the same. She could tell by the way that he was only half paying attention that he was bored out of his mind, but if he didn't ask these questions he would hear about it from the council later.

Kiyoko shook her head before answering. "No. He never said he was a Shinobi at all, actually, but it was kind of obvious when Naruto was born."

Temari couldn't stop the coughing fit that erupted after choking on the hot liquid. She wasn't the one who got to inquired about the choice of naming though.

"Naruto!" shouted the Kazekage before recomposing himself. In a much calmer voice he added, "Why would you want to name your child that?"

Kiyoko wasn't stupid, she knew something was up and spoke slowly while Temari watched the wheels turn in the girl's head. "I...didn't...my husband...he was dead set on the name...said it meant a lot to him...after he died I wanted to honor his wish." Kiyoko captured Temari's gaze. "The Konoha nin I traveled here with thought it was funny, but he didn't say why."

"I bet he did." Temari said with sarcasm. Something was bothering her but she couldn't figure it out just yet. Now that she was thinking about it she realized that Naruto hadn't mentioned anything about the girl or her son. Why wouldn't he mention meeting a child who shared his name to her? It wasn't like Naruto was that popular of a name, meaning 'fishcake' and all.

"How was it obvious that your...husband" the Kazekage seemed to linger on that word. "was from Suna after he had died? Why not another village?"

Like Konoha, thought Temari. She was sure she wasn't the only one with that thought either. When this meeting was over she was going to have a long talk with the blond haired Hokage about giving a bit of a heads up next time. Her tongue was starting to sting from burning it on her tea earlier.

The younger girl had begun fiddling with her hands as she talked at a slightly fast paced speed. "Well at first I wasn't sure, but when he started controlling the sand—"

The sound of glass shattering on the floor was heard before Temari realized that she had dropped her teacup.

"Sand!" shouted the Kazekage no longer caring about his composure as he slammed his hands on the thick oak table. It had been imported from the leaf village as a treaty gift many years ago but that seemed so unimportant at the moment. "You said that Naruto—your son—can control sand!"

Kiyoko's head was barely above the edge of the table she had sunk so low in her seat. She looked worried and confused but she nodded an affirmation regardless. Temari wanted to feel sorry for the girl but was in shock herself. She knew that what Kiyoko had said should mean something to her but wasn't able to fit the pieces together yet.

Murmurs traveled around the table as the council members talked among themselves. Finally, the Kazekage sat back in his seat and ran a hand through his short brown hair. With his eyes close he asked a question that was barely above a whisper, but still heard clearly as the occupants of the room went silent. "Was your husband's name Gaara?"

Temari held her breath as everything around her turned into a silent movie. That had been it; that had been what was causing her inner panic. If the girl said yes to the Kazekage's question than that meant that Gaara was dead, because her husband was dead. The sand Kunoichi closed her eyes and prayed that the last bit of hope she had for her brother being alive somewhere out in the dessert wasn't about to be squashed.

"Gaara?" repeated the foreign girl. "You mean Sabaku no Gaara? The fifth Kazekage?" Temari opened her eyes and released a long breath as Kiyoko began to laugh out loud. "You honestly thought that I was married to the sand demon himself?"

Temari and a few others cringed a bit at the girl's choice of words. She was sure that Kiyoko meant no ill will—it was a well known nickname after all—but the the girl had no idea how hurtful that name had been for her youngest brother growing up. Not many did.

Still, it seemed that the room of council members had relaxed when Kiyoko laughed again. "Is that what had you acting so strangely? No, no, no, no, no. I've never met the fifth; I've never even been to Suna before now. I don't even know how you got that idea!"

The Kazekage smiled. "Of course. It was silly, and I know you won't understand, but there were so many signs that made me hope for a moment..." he trailed off before adding, "He was my brother you know."

Temari watched as the small girl reached across the table and covered her surviving brother's larger hand in two of her own. "For what it's worth, I know what it's like to lose a brother as well."

That was information that Temari had not known. To have lost a brother and a husband at such a young age—and this girl wasn't even from a hidden village—yet she didn't seem sad. The blond wondered what her secret was for dealing with the pain.

A knock came from the door and the familiar face of a blond haired, blue eyed, Konoha nin peeked his head in the room.

The Kazekage smiled and waved the younger Hokage in. "Naruto-sama! Please join us!"

Naruto stepped in the room hesitantly, slowly looking over the faces at the table. "I'm afraid I'm here for a personal matter so I won't be staying long, Kankuro-sama." His eyes stopped on the red head and he moved closer. Temari almost laughed as he attempted to whisper in her ear loud enough for the room to hear. Some things never changed and Naruto was one of them. "Umm...would you never speak to me again if I said I lost him..."

Kiyoko groaned. "No, it was bound to happen. Where did you last see him?"

"We were—" before Naruto could finish he was interrupted by one of the council woman screaming and pointed at an open window.

Temari turned to see what the threat was and felt as if she were having a flashback to her childhood. Wearing a white long sleeve tunic and beige pants was her youngest brother—alive and well. He was standing upside down (something he seemed to be rather fond of) in the window, his arms folded across his chest, and his shaggy crimson colored hair hanging down. His blue-green eyes found her and he grinned and waved. Sand rose and caressed her cheek. She didn't realize that her mouth had moved until she heard the whisper that escaped her mouth. "Gaara."

Vaguely Temari realized that Kiyoko was shouting another name. "Naruto! What did I tell you about climbing buildings? You get down from there this instant!"

Temari blinked and noticed two important things that she had missed. One, the Gaara in front of her couldn't be any older than five—her brother would be twenty-five by now. Two, this Gaara didn't have a kanji on his forehead. As she watched the boy jump from the window and run into Kiyoko's arms she brought her hand to her mouth and gasped out loud. "Oh, my God."

As the boy wriggled from his mother's grasp to the floor, Kankuro jumped over the table and pushed Kiyoko against the wall by her shoulders angrily shouting, "What was your husband's name!"

Kiyoko seemed horrified at the sudden outburst of the Kazekage and couldn't form any words that made sense. The miniature Gaara didn't seem to like the fact that his mother was being man-handled and tried to take justice into his own hands.

"Let go!" he screamed as his sand flew at the Kazekage causing small cuts on his arms and face. Kankuro dropped Kiyoko and backed off as her son placed himself in between the two. Temari would have thought the smaller boy heroic if she hadn't been in such shock.

Kankuro caught Temari's eye and spoke a firm order. "Lock her up. I don't know what's going on but I want her contained until I do. The boy too; use tranquilizers if you have to. I don't know what he's capable of yet."

"What! No!" Cried Kiyoko as an ANBU member shot the boy with a dart gun. The miniature Gaara rose his arm and sand in a last attempted to fight back before falling to the ground like a seasoned drunk.

Crying, Kiyoko spoke to Kankuro as she picked her son up from the ground. "I don't understand! What did I do?"

His face took on a hard look that he only used when entering battle. It was the look of a Kage and even if Gaara hadn't gone missing years ago, Temari knew that Kankuro would have eventually stood next to their brother as a fellow leader of

Suna.

"You're going to stand there! And lie to my face about never meeting Gaara! When the splitting image is right here?" Kankuro bent over and pulled the boy out of her arms. An ANBU grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides before she could lash out at the brown haired Kazekage . Angrily he added, "If this is some kind of sick assassination attempt I swear I will make you suffer. I have many ways you know."

The girl step back as far as the guards would let her shaking her head back and forth. "You Suna people are crazy. I'm NOT lying when I say I've never met Sabaku no Gaara. And Naruto looks like my HUSBAND! Like Shukaku! Ask the Hokage! He's seen the picture!"

Temari turned her attention to the blond haired Hokage whom had been standing silently by the doorway since the chaos began. He was staring out the window with a nostalgic expression on his face that seemed odd for the former known hyperactive leaf ninja. It just proved to show how much someone could change in just a few years. Surely, it hadn't been that long since she had last seen him.

Naruto focused his gaze on Kankuro and nodded. "She's telling the truth, she knew her husband as Shukaku."

"Shukaku," Temari's eyes widened with alarm. "Does that mean?"

He smiled wistfully before continuing, "I think this conversation would be best over ramen."

OooOooO

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fans computer crashed again. spent all of black friday looking for a new laptop. oh! and guess who didn't back up any of her files? this person-

#Ieffinghatecomputers!