Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Will you hold still?" Chiyo snapped as she dabbed the purple paint on Kankuro's face; the eleven-year-old wriggled as she swirled it on him.
"It itches."
"It's a status symbol," Chiyo corrected primly. "It shows that you're a full puppeteer of the Murasaki sect. You should be proud."
Kankuro twitched uncomfortably as he sat on the stone ground in Chiyo and Ebizo's house. "I guess so," he agreed reluctantly.
"Good. It'll grow on you." Kankuro gave her a horrified look, and Chiyo laughed. "Not like that. Get your sister to help you put it on if you have any trouble. How are your siblings, anyway?"
Kankuro looked surprised, and for good reason; his puppetry master hardly ever asked about his family. She always avoided that topic like the plague, for some reason. "Okay. Temari's figured out how to hit people with that fan of hers." He touched the back of his head gingerly.
"So that's where that goose egg came from. She's fine, I'm guessing." Chiyo stiffened, and her voice lowered a little. "And your brother?"
Kankuro bit his lip, and shifted his shoulders. "Gaara is Gaara. Crazy and terrifying; we don't talk much."
Chiyo nodded, and said nothing. For some reason, the knowledge seemed to make her older.
Kankuro was aware that it had been Chiyo who had sealed the Shukaku into Gaara nine years ago, and it always made him wonder if he should hate her for it. Temari certainly didn't think much of the Akasuna elder and she had given Kankuro a real ear-full before he had started learning puppetry under Chiyo a year and a half ago. Personally, Kankuro just wondered if Chiyo ever regretted it.
Looking at Chiyo, Kankuro figured that maybe she did.
Chiyo snapped back to reality. "Away with you." She swatted good-naturedly at him. "Go home."
Kankuro went home, scratching at the paint as he went.