Of course Baki will be proud. He, maybe more than anyone other than - him, Gaara instinctively flinches away - has wanted to see Gaara soften and become human. Kankuro... the thought of Kankuro being pleased and proud of him is another new one, stranger even than Temari. But not displeasing, not at all.

Gaara wants his siblings to like him. That is a new feeling, but the tastes Temari has given him have whetted his appetite for a familial relation.

And their father...

Gaara hears that omission. Temari isn't venturing to speak of their father's feelings. But even if he never looks at Gaara as a son, perhaps he'll start to see him as a shinobi. That, at least, would be better.

"I hope you all will be," he admits quietly. "I want to be... a part." A part, not apart. The very slight wordplay is poigniant. His gaze moves toward Suna, an almost unseen shadow in the night, and then back to Temari. As always, his eyes are piercing, but more often now there is no aggression in them.