Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. If I did, Kankurou would be the star of Naruto, and Sasuke wouldn't be so damned emo.
Also, this is just my version of it, I have no idea how Kankurou's childhood was canon-wise. But eh, it's fun making him the target of bullies.
Piggy, Piggy.
"Father! Kankurou's calling me names again!" Temari came running into her father's office, crossing her arms huffily as her brother followed her, glaring.
"I am not! She's lying, Kazekage-sama."
Running his hand through his hair, the Kazekage groaned and dropped his pen, looking at them with his fingertips placed together. He did that when he was trying to remain calm, "What's going on?"
"He called me an idiot, and said that I was a bad shinobi."
"I did not!"
"Did too, Piggy!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Enough! I'm trying to work; I don't have time for this. Aren't you two supposed to be at the academy?"
Letting out annoyed noises, both of them left the room, racing each other to the entrance, pushing and shoving the whole way. When they got there, Temari in the lead, they grabbed their stuff and left, making a bolt in the direction of the school.
The two siblings raced each other again, and again, Temari won. But only because Kankurou had slowed to a walk when he saw his sister's friends waiting for her. They always gave him hell, and Temari never helped him when they started. In fact, she joined in, and was usually the main antagonist.
"Hey look! It's Piggy!"
Piggy was a name Temari had given him not long ago, because of his nose. He hated it, and was often pushed to the verge of tears when people got really nasty with the pig jokes. He didn't look or act like a pig, no matter what they said. At least, that's what his father had muttered distractedly when Kankurou told him about it. It was also because of Temari that he had no friends, she pitted everyone against him, making it look like fun to tease him.
But, he couldn't bring himself to hate her, because she was only like this in public, and a lot of the time at home (if she wasn't in a mood) she was nice to him. Well, as nice as any of them could be. But she seemed to forget that whenever they stepped out of the house.
"Hey Piggy, gonna cry again?"
Kankurou clenched his fists and glared, walking again and keeping his eyes forward. He'd just walk past them, and go inside. Alas, they had different plans. The group moved in front of him, including Temari. The group consisted mostly of eight-year-old girls, but there were a few boys, and some were different ages. It didn't surprise him, though, how nasty they could be.
"It's rude to ignore people, you know."
"Yeah!"
"Shut up, Temari…"
All they did was laugh. It's all the ever did when he said anything in his defense. Well, looked like he was just going to have to take it.
"Come on, you lot. Inside."
Or not. He sighed and hurried past them, frowning and glancing over his shoulder when Temari called him.
"Hey, Piggy! Don't forget, we're going to the playground after, all of us, so don't be late or you're walking there on your own!"
He didn't reply, just started jogging, then disappeared into the building, leaving Temari to turn back to her friends, and laugh. She never saw what she did or said as mean, it just came out. It couldn't bother Kankurou THAT much.
Later that day, the sun was starting to sink out of view behind the buildings, and some of the kids were kicking a ball around. The playground was full, as it usually was on Fridays. Temari sat on a swing, kicking her legs absently.
"Are you ok, Temari?"
Next to her sat a small girl with long brown hair, pulled into pigtails, and olive skin. She swung lightly, eyes on her friend, her mouth slightly open, showing a gap where she'd recently lost a tooth.
"Yeah…it's just…it's nearly time to go home, and Kankurou's not here yet."
"Maybe he decided to just go home."
"Yeah…that makes sense."
There was a short silence then Temari looked up again, glancing towards the entrance to the playground hopefully, but found no messy-haired boy there.
"We're gonna go home now! Bye Temari, bye Lirena." They both waved as the kids started leaving, laughing and joking with each other, tossing the ball back and forth, and shouting their farewells as they all went their separate ways.
"I'm gonna go too. Father will be mad if I'm gone too long."
"Ok. I'm gonna wait here a little longer, in case Kankurou comes."
"Ok. Bye."
"Bye."
So, she waited. And waited. And waited some more. She was there for almost two hours, before she hopped off the swing and went home. He was probably already there. Oh, was he going to get it. That little brat, making her wait there all that time for him.
But when she got home, Kankurou's shoes weren't by the door, and when she asked where he was, everyone said they thought he'd been with her. When it finally caught on to the adults that Kankurou was missing, everyone went to look for him.
In the confusion, Temari saw Gaara look in to see what was happening, his bear clutched in his hands. It was worth a try. She moved over to him, hesitantly, and kept her distance, "Have you seen Kankurou?"
She was surprised when he nodded, "Ages ago, he was near the edge of the village."
Temari didn't get to reply, when someone else spoke up, and she turned. It was Baki. He frowned, and questioned Gaara some more, but Temari didn't stay to listen. She slipped out of the house, intent on helping. He'd probably just fallen asleep somewhere. He was always doing stupid stuff like that. He never took anything seriously.
Kankurou sat up on the ridge overlooking the Hidden Sand village. It had taken him the better part of nearly five hours to get up there, and he was still wheezing slightly from the effort. He could only use up so much chakra in the climb, and had had to do without for the last part. It wasn't easy, but he was where he wanted to be, far from the others, and it was worth it. He planned on going further, but he needed to rest.
Before heading here, he'd taken a detour home and snuck in to pack his things. Gaara had caught him on his way out, and he pleaded with him to make up something if someone asked where he'd gone. He didn't know if he would or not, but he'd be long gone before any found out he'd already left.
"Lord Kankurou."
The boy jumped and turned, then bit his lip and turned forward again, hunching his shoulders. Ok, so his plan hadn't worked out how he'd imagined, he'd already been caught…
Baki didn't move any closer, just stood there, a few meters behind him with his arms crossed, "I hope you weren't planning on going anywhere. The Kazekage would not be happy."
Kankurou pulled his shoulders further up, as if trying to hide.
"Knowing him, he'd send shinobi to every village to demand your return."
It took a moment for Kankurou to get what he was saying, but when he did, he turned, frowning, "He'd think someone took me?"
"He is already of the mind that you've been kidnapped, but he's remaining surprisingly level-headed about this, as there is no proof yet that you've even left the village. Come, we're going back."
The man left no room for argument, and Kankurou had no choice but to stand up and pull his bag onto his shoulders, holding out a hand for Baki to take a hold off, looking down at his feet. He was either ashamed he'd done this, or ashamed he'd gotten caught, it was hard to tell. Baki chuckled at this childish behavior, but didn't take his hand. He knew Kankurou was doing it out of habit. Someone would take his hand when he'd done something wrong to keep him from running off, as he was want to do, but Baki knew he wouldn't. Not this time.
"No. Let's just walk. You can tell me why you ran off."
Oh, man…he was going to look like an idiot. But, Kankurou just sighed and nodded dejectedly, walking beside Baki with his arms crossed.
"So?"
There was a short silence, then Kankurou turned his head away before talking, "Temari was picking on me…"
"That's all?"
"No, that's not all!" He turned back, glaring, "They're always doing it, the lot of them! And it's her fault, I never had any of these problems before SHE started calling me names and making fun of me!"
"Shinobis aren't supposed to let emotions sway their decisions."
"I don't care! I'm just…ugh. Why doesn't anyone get it? Kazekage never even listens when I tell him, Temari just doesn't care, and now all you do is tell me that I'm not supposed to do stupid stuff!" Kankurou kicked at the dirt, his fists balled, "Why do they even pick on me! How am I different from everyone else?"
"You aren't," Baki answered patiently, "Your brother, HE is different. You just don't stand up to them, so they find it easier to pick on you. You may be under the impression that ignoring fights will make them go away, but that's not true. It just makes you seem vulnerable."
"But, I thought you said about the shinobi, and emotions…"
"I did. But there is a difference between letting emotions take over, and standing up for yourself. You don't need to be emotional to defend yourself, do you? In fact, you can't be, or it won't work out the way you want it to."
Kankurou blinked up at him; mouth slightly agape in both confusion and mild curiosity. He didn't say anything though, wanting to hear what else he had to say.
"When you just turn the other cheek and walk away, it makes it obvious they're getting to you, and that you want to be away from them, so they keep targeting you. I'd say kids are cruel, but they have to learn it from somewhere, so it wouldn't be fair to pin the blame on them alone."
"So…I should be mean back?"
Baki's mouth twitched a bit, and he chuckled again, "No, that would make you as bad as them. Be the bigger man, and come up with a better comeback."
Kankurou laughed, looking forward again, and shifting his back, "I can do that."
"I know you can. You're clever, a lot more clever than a lot of the kids there. They always say the same thing, don't they?"
"Pretty much."
"Then come up with something they have no comeback for. Which shouldn't be that hard, if they can't think up original insults. What do they call you?"
"Piggy…they used to call me Big nose, but that kinda got lame."
"Piggy sounds pretty stupid too."
"Yeah, it does. Guess they aren't clever…"
Kankurou was grinning now, his eyes shut, reminding Baki vaguely of a cat. A cat that caught a particularly juicy mouse and was toying with it. He had a feeling Kankurou was going to be very vindictive when he next saw those kids, despite what they said. Well, whatever worked.
"We should hurry. Your father won't remain calm for much longer."
Kankurou nodded and started running, heading down the long way towards the village, with Baki keeping a steady pace beside him.
R&R, yeah.
If anything seems a bit off, it's because I'm not used to Naruto fandom yet x3 Sorry.
