Happy Birthday Kankuro.
Kankuro arrived back in Suna, reported in and immediately returned home for a sleep. It was six o'clock in the morning and the sun had just risen. He let himself in, believing that Temari and Gaara would still be asleep. So he was surprised to find them sitting at the table in the kitchen.
"Hey guys, I'm home."
"Kankuro! You're home early!" Temari cried out, jumping out of her seat. Gaara, simply raised a hand and waved.
'Okay, yeah, nice to see you too. I'm going to bed now." And he took himself off to his room for a good ten hours rest.
When he woke up the house was quiet. That wasn't really surprising. At four in the afternoon, Gaara was usually in his office and Temari would be out training or doing whatever it was that twenty year old Suna Jounin sisters do at four in the afternoon. Kankuro couldn't really care less. He was hungry.
He stumbled through the house towards the kitchen, yawning, stretching and occasionally scratching. He was in an old pair of track pants and an old t-shirt. No shoes, no hood, no face paint. (VERY DAGGY!)
He wandered into the kitchen, pulled out the carton of milk and drank straight from it, even knowing that should Temari catch him, he would be toast. Speaking of toast, that sounds good for breakfast.
He wandered back upstairs ten minutes later to take a shower and face the day.
"Okay, coast is clear!"
"Hurry up!"
"No, put that there."
"Come on, he won't take that long in there!"
"Actually, Kankuro takes a long time in the shower."
"Gaara will you help out, instead of just standing there." Insert death glare. "Please?"
"Alright. Everything's in position. Move it guys!"
"This is such a drag."
"Get a move on Lazy-ass!" Gasp "Oh, sorry Hinata!"
"Naruto, you BAKA. What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Hey, it was Kiba's idea!"
"That was OUR idea, you moron!"
"Cut it out, you two!"
"He's coming."
"SHHHHH!"
Kankuro walked back downstairs, fully clothed and ready to go out. He had to hand in his report. Pretty standard mission. No problems. He walked through the house again, but this time, something caught his attention.
"Uh Gaara, shouldn't you be in your office?"
"No."
"Okay." Kankuro sized up his little brother. He was standing outside the family training room, arms crossed, leaning almost nonchalantly on the wall next to the door. But the thing about being anywhere nonchalantly is that it's usually a tip off to something suspicious.
"So… What's going on?"
"SURPRISE!" The door flew open and all of his friends fell out, grinning and clapping (and falling over and being squashed as others fell on top of them.) Temari stepped over the top of Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru, who had ended up on the floor, and gave her brother a small hug.
"Happy birthday, Kanky!"
Kankuro looked over Temari's shoulder to see Gaara smirking up at him.
"Aw, you guys! You didn't have to do this!"
"Alright, you heard the man! Pack it up! Move it! Move it!" Temari turned back into the room, starting to herd up the guests. They just laughed.
So the party started.
In attendance were, of course, the Konoha twelve (with Sai and not Sasuke), as well as a few of the Sand ninjas, including Matsuri and Sari. They mingled for a while until Ino decided that the party wasn't moving along very well and turned on some music. Pretty soon the whole room was full of noise and movement. Except for a small area towards the back where Kankuro was receiving gifts.
"Here. Take this one first!" Naruto pushed forward to deliver his gift. Kiba stood right behind him, an evil smirk on his face. Kankuro took the small box and ripped it open.
"Uh, thanks guys. What am I supposed to do with it?"
"Well, it's like a good luck charm! For the getting the ladies!" Naruto grinned.
"I don't get it."
Kiba leaned down and whispered in his ear. A look of understanding crossed Kankuro's face and, with Kiba's help, he set up the "lucky charm" just as Ino waltzed up to give her present.
"Here you are Kankuro!" She said, handing him a long rectangular box and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Kankuro accepted the gift with a smirk, while Kiba and Naruto shared a high-five. Sakura then appeared and hit the two of them over the head.
"It's May, you idiots. Mistletoe is for Christmas!"
"Ino didn't mind!" Kiba pointed out from his place on the floor. Ino shrugged. Kankuro leered at Sakura.
"So do I get a present from you?"
Sakura turned around and walked away, eyebrow twitching and muttering to herself, "Must not hit the birthday boy!".
Team Gai emerged from the crowd and handed over their gift. Kankuro excitedly ripped into it, because it was so big, but his excitement soon faded.
"Just what I've always wanted." He groaned, pulling out a green jumpsuit.
"I knew you would like it, oh youthful Kankuro!" Rock Lee proclaimed, before being shunted to the side.
"He insisted." Said Tenten, producing a similar sized package from behind her back. "This is the real one."
Again he ripped into the present only to be disappointed. This time it was two pairs of long pants and two long sleeved shirts in an off white colour, with a long brown overcoat. He held them up and looked at Neji and Tenten, as if asking what they were thinking. Tenten shrugged.
"Your clothes don't fit. We figured you needed some new ones, instead of wearing clothes from your childhood."
"And the color of these ones will be much more beneficial in the desert climate." Neji added. Kankuro looked from one to the other, then down at the clothes in his lap.
"Thanks so much, guys." He said sarcastically. He was about to walk away from them when they shrugged and wandered off and Shino walked up.
"I didn't bring you a gift." He said, with his mildly creepy voice.
"Okay, fine then."
"But I would be willing to fight you again. Our last match did end in a draw."
"Alright! Let's go then! Right here, right now!"
"I'm afraid that is not possible."
"Why?"
"We were told not to fight at this party. But sunrise tomorrow, in the arena, will suit me perfectly."
"You're on!" They shook hands on it and Shino walked away.
There were a few of the normal ninja gifts: new kunai, shuriken, some pieces for his puppets. He finally remembered he hadn't opened Ino's gift, and found she had given him a new set of face paints with a note that stated "Purple is NOT your color. Try one of the dark blues or greens." While he was puzzling this, he received a shock in the form of a slap on the bum.
"What the HELL!" He cried, turning around to find a pleasantly smiling face. "Dude, that was…"
"Sai, I said the shoulder, not the butt!"
"But my book said…"
"Trust me, guys do not slap other guys' backsides!" Naruto pushed the clueless boy away before Kankuro could murder him. But it didn't stop Sai from calling over his shoulder, "It's a lovely hat!", causing Kankuro to cringe.
"I'm feeling very emasculated right now."
"Don't worry about it. It'll fade."
Kankuro turned to find Shikamaru, Choji and Hinata standing behind him. His glance passed straight over the top of the two guys and landed on Hinata.
"So pretty lady, do I get a kiss from you or what? It is my birthday."
Hinata blushed and Choji stopped shoveling chips into his mouth long enough to growl menacingly at him, stepping slightly in front of Hinata. Shikamaru shook his head.
"This is such a drag." Then he pulled a scroll from one of his pockets and a small package from another. "These are for you."
"What's in the package?"
"There are some antidotes and some soldier pills." Hinata spoke up from around Choji.
"The scroll is just a scroll." Choji said before ushering Hinata away from Kankuro's leering eyes.
"How is that a good present? "Just a scroll"" Kankuro grumbled.
"If you don't want it…" Shikamaru began, but Kankuro snatched it out of his hand.
"Thanks." Shikamaru shrugged and wandered off.
"Greedy as always." Kankuro whipped round to find Sakura standing there, one hand on her hip.
"Well sweetheart, who could resist?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She huffed and was about to walk away again when a slim girl with long, brown hair ran up and grabbed Kankuro's arm. She stretched up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, blushed, whispered a happy birthday and ran away again. He grinned as he watched her race over to Matsuri who was standing close to Gaara on the other side of the room.
"Thanks Sari!" He called before turning back to Sakura. "So, how 'bout it then?"
She sighed, "I'm probably going to regret this…" And she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. She pulled back to see a frown on Kankuro's face. "What?"
"That's not enough!"
"Are you kidding me? She got away with it!"
"Yeah, but she's younger, and you're a visiting ninja and it's my birthday and I just told you it's not enough from you." He replied smugly.
"Do I have to remind you that I saved your life?" She growled.
"Do I have to remind you who my brother is?" He smirked in response.
"Fine!" She leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the lips but soon found herself in his arms and holding on for dear life as he dipped her.
"This is better!" He smirked again, before swooping down and collecting a very in-depth kiss. He stood her up and released her, grinning cheekily because the whole room had stopped and was watching them. She stood there, mouth opening and closing but no words coming out, face slowly turning bright red.
"Whoa! You go, Brother!" Yelled Kiba from across the room. This was met with a spattering of claps and catcalls, with Sakura still unable to say anything.
"Impressive, wasn't it?" Kankuro whispered in her ear.
"KANKURO! YOU PERVERT!" Temari screamed as she rushed toward him, fan already out and swinging, because birthday boy or not, she was gonna belt him one!
He took off for his life until they both found themselves halted by sand. Gaara stepped up between them, completely unaffected by the glares he was receiving from the various girls around the room.
"Temari, don't hit him."
"But, Gaara…"
"I said don't hit him."
"Fine."
He released the sand and Temari put her fan away. Gaara turned to Kankuro.
"Happy Birthday Brother, I just saved your life."
"Thanks Gaara." He said shakily, "Best gift ever!"