Hey, this story was originally written by my friend RidingOnASilverWind but she has given it over to me to finish so I can't promise that I'll update regularly but I will when I can. The first three chapters are her original writing chapter four and beyond will be my own.
I have however done some editing.
Plus, disclaimer, these characters are not of my creation, I just borrow them from time to time. And I make make absolute squat from my writings. Besides my own self enjoyment.
Kankuro walked up to the mailbox with a mug of coffee in his hand and clothed only in a robe and his boxer shorts, his hair not yet combed as he bent down to retrieve the newspaper that was sticking out of the mailbox. Grabbing it and taking a drink of his coffee he spluttered.
It was god-awful; Temari must have made it today. Gaara was probably sleeping off the aftereffects of his bachelor party the other night. He and the pink-haired chick from Konoha had finally gotten hitched and were going to tie the knot in a couple of months. Sakura, Temari had told him, had one hell of a bachelorette party that night as well. One that made Gaara's pale in comparison.
Kankuro walked back to the house muttering something about how he was going to miss Gaara's coffee making skills once he moved to the small house in the area right in the middle of the two-shinobi cities. Sakura worked at the hospital at Kohona and Kankuro and Gaara both knew that no matter how much she loved Gaara there was no way she was giving up her job at the hospital. And Gaara being Kazekage could not give up his position in the Sand. The only difference between the two's normal lives would be that Sakura could no longer go on seduction missions. Kankuro couldn't blame his brother for that. He wouldn't want his woman to have to draw another man to her bed either. And the fact that Gaara was the leader of Suna or the Village Hidden in the Sand probably had something to do about it too. It would not look good to have the wife of a Village leader go out and sell her body for her village's gain unless absolutely necessary. And if Gaara himself was around to make sure perverted men's hands stayed off of Sakura's person.
Gaara had named him best man and that meant he had to follow his brother around to wine tastings and bakeries that he and Sakura were trying to see which one they liked the most. Sakura's maid of honor was some brunette that Kankuro had yet to meet. All he knew was that Sakura hadn't chosen the blond-haired bimbo that she'd hung out with a lot when they were all teens. He shuddered at the thought of having to sit next to her at the reception for even the few minutes that were required. So for that Kankuro was eternally grateful.
Once inside the house he dumped his coffee in the sink and rinsed it out before setting his cup on the counter. Going to the fridge he pulled it open and sighed when he saw that his bear had been replaced by Temari with her so called healthy brand of Budlight Lime. Grabbing one anyway he stood, cracked it open and took a long chug and swallowed with an annoyed look on his face before bending back down and checking the expiration date on the box. This junk expired more than two weeks ago. No wonder it tasted like shit.
Taking another drink anyway, Kankuro closed the door and carried his bad beer with him back to his room. He was just about to close his door when Gaara stumbled out of his own room across the hall. Apparently he had a hangover. Opening his door, Kankuro sighed grabbing the Tylenol off his dresser before turning to Gaara and handing him the bottle and telling him that it was an early wedding present.
Gaara rolled his eyes and opened the container popped out about three of the pills, before throwing them back and swallowing.
"Hey Kankuro, I got a cake thing or another that I need to go to with Sakura. It's at her friend Tenten's bakery. She had to work today so she suggested that Sakura come over to give a few cakes a try. I hear she makes a killer chocolate cake. You up to coming with?" Gaara smiled here, "I know for a fact that most of the girls who work there are single, so who knows maybe you can hook up with one of them."
Kankuro scanned his memory to put a picture to the name but drew a blank before he recalled that Sakura's maid of honor was named Tenten. So rather pleased with himself over remembering this little tidbit of information Kankuro replied, "Yeah, sure I'll go. Where's it at and what time?"
Gaara yawned before replying, "It's in Kohona and it's at four so you got about an hour to get ready to go and that should give us enough time to drive to Konoha and get there in time."
"Alright that's fine. But Gaara, word of warning don't drink the coffee or the beer. One's burnt and the other is stale as hell." Gaara nodded his thanks as he walked into the kitchen but stopped when Kankuro added, "Oh, and what time did you get home last night?"
Gaara turned and pondered for a bit before shrugging and saying," I'd say about four in the morning and I had paperwork I needed to get done so I went to bed about..." he looked at the clock, "about an hour and a half ago. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, just curious" Kankuro said over his shoulder before closing his bedroom door. Effectively cutting off the conversation. Going over to his dresser Kankuro opened his top drawer and pulled out a pair of black sweats with the same color sweatshirt before he put them on, however, he thought for a second before throwing the sweats back in the drawer and went to his closet and took out a pair of black leather pants with a loose graphic tee with the Pink Floyd logo on it also black. Picking up his paint from the bedside-table, he dipped his fingers in and drew his lines out of habit. Grabbing his hood and throwing it on, he went to the restroom, brushed his teeth and looked in the mirror and grabbed his smokes from the counter before taking a small bag to put the butts in, in his back pocket. With a turn, Kankuro lit up grabbing his lighter from the top of the toilet. If the coffee was going to taste like dog shit then he was going to have a smoke. Then his door opened and Temari poked her head in and glared at him.
Taking a drag he blew smoke in her direction. Her lip screwed up, as did her nose. "Nasty habit," she muttered. He gave her the bird and she closed the door. Taking another drag Kankuro put out his cigarette and put it back in the box. He knew Temari hated that he smoked but well, he hated her coffee. SO hey, as far as he was concerned, they were even. Rolling his pack up in his sleeve Kankuro came out of his room flipping off the fan.
Going into the living room and plopping himself down on the couch, Kankuro picked up the remote and just to piss his sister off, switched it to the porn channel. He watched for all of five seconds before shivering and changing it to the news. Gay porn. That made him shudder. Some of his buddies were gay but that didn't mean that he wanted to watch them screw their boyfriends at night.
Temari walked out of the kitchen sighing with pleasure as she took a drink of coffee. Kankuro stared. How she could like that shit was beyond him. That is until Gaara come out of the kitchen as well with his own mug in his hand. Shit. Gaara must have made a fresh pot and gotten rid of the mud that Temari called coffee that she had made. Feeling lazy, Kankuro called out, "Hey Gaara, bring me a cup will ya?" With a roll of his eyes Gaara went into the kitchen and brought back a cup and tossed it to Kankuro. Kankuro sighed and said, "I meant for the cup to have coffee in it. Asshole."
"Get it yourself, Lazy Ass." Gaara replied back.
Standing Kankuro strode into the kitchen and poured himself a mug of coffee. Taking a precautionary sip he sighed with pleasure as the taste of freshly grinded coffee-bean coffee touched his tongue. Going to stand by the doorway that was now barren, as Gaara had retreated back to his room and Temari was sprawled on the Laz-E-Boy next to the couch.
As he finished his cup of coffee he asked Temari, "So how have you and deer boy been doing?"
Temari glared at him again before opening her mouth and saying, "We're doing fine. He's on a mission that's all."
"So has he finally asked you to marry him yet? I hope so. It's going to be great having the house completely to myself. Hell, I could walk around in my boxers again and not to mention smoke somewhere outside my room."
Temari scowled and muttered, "No, he hasn't so hold off your joy till then."
Kankuro smirked, "Guess I'll have to prod pineapple head in the right direction then."
"You will do no such thing!" Temari almost shouted. Kankuro swore he could almost see the little flames in her eyes. So with a shrug he shut up. After about ten minutes Gaara made his reappearance and asked Kankuro as he buttoned up his shirt "You ready to go?"
Kankuro again shrugged, "Yeah."
"You look fancy today." Temari called from the chair.
"We're going to Kohona to Tenten's bakery. Sakura wants to try some of the cakes there."
"Didn't she choose a cake last week?" Temari asked.
"Yeah but still she hasn't made a permanent decision. And Tenten has been gone on a mission for the past month. Assassination I think? Besides," Gaara shrugged. "It's not like we're going to do this twice."
Ah how sweet." Kankuro said his voice dripping sarcasm. "Now can the romantic talk till after you and Sakura are within earshot of each other?"
With an eye roll that would have done Shikamaru proud and a shrug Gaara fired back, "It could. But it won't. Got to practice you know."
Kankuro shook his head, "Whatever, man." before going back into the kitchen and placing his twice used mug in the dishwasher. Going back out to the living room, he saw Gaara puling on his loafers or his old-man shoes as Kankuro had dubbed them. With a snort Kankuro bent down and grabbed his combat boots from the doorway before sitting opposite Temari and putting them on in the other chair.
After he finished lacing up his boots, Kankuro stood as Gaara picked up his house keys and wallet from beside him. Sliding them into his pockets he flipped Temari a twenty.
"Order a pizza for dinner tonight. Make sure it's no veggie overload that the ones that are in the freezer."
"Will do," Temari said not looking up from the television, which showed a man taking a woman into his arms in a show Kankuro believed to be called 'All My Children'. Kankuro led the way out of the house and to Gaara's truck. Konoha was a five-hour drive and a ten-hour walk. Well more like a run really. But knowing the lovebirds they'd take three hours to try almost everything in the bloody bakery before finally leaving. And he for one wanted to get back before one in the morning. He wasn't the one getting married after all.
Gaara tossed him the keys and got in the passenger's side. Kankuro jumped in and slammed the door shut. He put the key in the ignition and started the truck and with a roar they took off towards Konoha and a very sweet surprise.
Thank you for reading and please leave a review. :)