Kankurou is totally the punching bag. Anywhere. I really don't think there's anyone in that show that makes a better punching bag than Puppet-boy. Well…except for maybe Tobi. But Tobi is a good boy, and Kankurou's…not?
And it's the first time any of the siblings refer to their father as "Daddy". I'd like to say that's significant somehow…but I really don't know why I decided to have Temari say "Daddy". Oh well. If any of you have any better ideas, feel free to let me know.
A Quiet Mind
A Declaration of War
Kankurou was in his room, running lines and peering at his facial expressions in the mirror, trying to get it just right, when Temari slammed the door open, livid.
"Kankurou, you butthole! I can't concentrate on helping Gaara with you running lines like that! He was very upset after school today! You should be more concerned!"
Kankurou could not find it in him to feel that angry over the situation. Or concerned. All he knew was that he'd never even tried acting before and he was going to be trying out for Shakespeare, something most people trained for years for before they got good at it. "Temari, I'm trying out for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. You know how hard Shakespeare is, right? Well, I met this girl…and…"
She stifled a laugh. "You met a girl!? Who is she, Kankurou!? I'll bet she's that nerd Shiho!"
"No. It's Hana. The girl who always stars in the school plays."
Temari's jaw dropped. "Hana!? But she's…she's gorgeous! How'd a girl like that take interest in a dork like you!? Besides, you're too young for her! She's a senior and you're just a sophomore!"
He flushed. "I…I made her laugh…"
Temari jut rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just…go out to the park and practice your lines. I'm trying to avoid having to bring it to Daddy's attention that Gaara threw up after school. He'll probably set up an appointment with that terrible shrink again and Gaara will have to go through more unnecessary therapy!"
"That therapy was not unnecessary! Gaara already has terrible nightmares, but after that whole kidnapping he started having night terrors! What the hell do you mean–unnecessary therapy!? Gaara's fucked up, Temari! Even more than you or I will ever realize! I say let Dad find out! Gaara's not ready to stop the therapy yet!"
There was a noise from the hallway and both siblings turned to see Gaara staring directly at them, eyes glowering. He turned his head, stalking off down the stairs to go get a granola bar from the top of the fridge.
Temari looked back at Kankurou, eyes narrowing. She shoved him hard, and he fell backwards onto the bed. She stormed out of the room, following their little brother. "I take that back, Kankurou. You're a fucktard."
He yelled back at her. "Hey! You were talking about him behind his back, too!"
––––––––––––––––––
Kankurou stomped out of the house, off toward the park near where they lived. He hated walking by that park, because those annoying brats would be there, loitering. They thought that's what cool kids did, but they were completely wrong. All they wound up doing was stand around and look like little spoiled brats…and yell names at him.
He had heard one of them was related to the president of the school board, and also to one of the teachers at school, but he had yet to see any proof.
He stormed over to the swings, pulling out the script he'd picked up after class. He didn't know who to try out for. He thought Puck was pretty cool, but he wasn't witty enough to play the part of Puck. Nor was he popular enough. It was a well-known fact that all the lead roles were taken by the popular kids, even if they did a crappy job.
"Hey, look! It's the Cat in the Hat!"
He swore, looking up to see the three little snots running up to him. One of them–the leader–tackled him, sending the swing flying back. It swung back around, nearly missing the kid as he ducked underneath the moving projectile. Kankurou was caught off guard, and he wound up flying off, hitting flat on the ground, loose dirt going up his nose and the little shreds of wood cutting up his face.
He glared, standing and getting as much of the crap out of his nose as he could, dusting himself off in the process. "What the hell, you little brat! I said to leave me alone!"
The boy straightened the goggles on his forehead, pointing at him. "Oh ho! But you're on our turf now, Cat-boy!"
Kankurou groaned, putting his hands on his hips. "This is a public park, you little brat."
The kid struck a pose. "I'm not a little brat! My name's Konohamaru, and you've just crossed the wrong person! Me and my squad, Konohamaru Corps., are gonna whoop your ass for trespassing!"
Kankurou tossed him a look, rolling his eyes. "Oh, like a bunch of middle-schoolers are gonna kick my ass. Are you three even in middle school?" He walked over to the leader, shoving him on the ground. "You're not even fit to talk to me, kid."
Konohamaru fell on his rump, shooting the older boy a look. "You'll pay for that, you jerk!"
Kankurou just smirked. "What, you're going to go rat me out to your grandpa? He can do jackshit to me. I go to a public school. That means I have to go there unless I do enough damage at school." He looked around, taking in his surroundings, before he looked back at the kid. "Looks like the school's nowhere to be seen, kid. I'm not going to get expelled at all." He smirked, putting his hands on his hips. He looked at the other two–a girl with some sort of weird double-beehive thing going on and a kid with glasses who looked like his nose was encrusted with a thick layer of snot. He chuckled. "Wow. Compared to your friends, you really are an angel, aren't you?"
The younger boy swore, getting up and throwing himself at Kankurou. "Don't you dare talk bad about my friends, you jerk!"
He collided with Kankurou, who didn't even budge. Kankurou shrugged. "Sorry kid. You're just not strong enough."
Something hit him in the back of the head and he winced, turning around at the culprit. "Was that a rock!? Who the hell threw that!?"
Sasuke Uchiha stared back at him, only half-amused. He had another rock in his other hand. "Keep it down. This is a public park. You're disturbing the peace. And beating up children? I take it you're one of those types that gets bullied at school so they have to find someone smaller to bully to make themselves feel more adequate…"
He glared. "Oh, if it isn't the younger Uchiha sibling… What happened? Did your Mommy forget to set your place at the dinner table so you threw a tantrum and ran away from home?"
His taunt was met with another rock, one that hit him in the eye this time. He doubled backward, swearing a blue streak. Sasuke walked over, flipping out a lighter. He grabbed the older boy by his collar, looking him the eye. "I'd hate to see a burn on that pale skin of yours…" He ignited the flame, and held it up to Kankurou's face. "Tell your piece of shit brother if he doesn't show up to my fight at lunch tomorrow, I'll just meet him back at his house after school and fight him there."
He turned around, putting the lighter away and walking off down the street. Kankurou stared at the boy, his jaw slowly dropping. Sasuke Uchiha was a flippin'…pyro!? What the hell! He totally didn't act like the type at school, what with his standing school record and whatnot. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought the boy'd be hanging out with his sister. What the hell else was Sasuke hiding? Was he some kind of closet-Sex Pistols freak?
The three kids took the distraction to their advantage and kicked him in the back of the knees. He went careening forward, his legs giving out on him, and his face hit the wood shavings and dirt head-on again. Konohamaru spit on him, and his friends soon did the same–the snot-nosed one actually taking off that beanie of his and hacking up a loogie into his hair.
The three stepped away, the girl giggling. "That was so much fun! I've been wanting to beat up on the Cat in the Hat ever since he started walking by the park!"
––––––––––––––––––
Temari was sitting at the table, staring across it at her brother, who was munching on a granola bar. She sighed, leaning over and putting her hand over his. "Gaara…" He recoiled, a sick look making its way to his face, and she sighed, drawing her hand back. "Gaara…you know me and Kankurou just worry about you, you know… We just…we want to know what happened during school to make you so upset…"
He stared at her for a long time, and she looked back at the table, feeling a knot worm its way into her stomach. "Gaara, you know you can tell us. We'd never do anything to hurt you. And Dad only took you to that therapist because he felt it was necessary. But…I know it must hurt ever since your friend's grandmother moved away because of the…well, the…er…" She looked back at him, hoping to see a reaction, because she was unwilling to have to bring that back up again.
He just stared at her with a placid look on his face, dusting the crumbs off his fingers.
Her patience was starting to wear thin, and she grabbed his wrist, hard. "Gaara. Tell me what happened. I'm sick of this silent act. Dad spoils you too much, and now you feel you have every right to be babied. Look, Gaara, you can't just ignore your problems and hope they'll go away! So you tell me what the hell is wrong right now."
Kankurou walked in, taking a spot at the table. "I had a run-in with Sasuke Uchiha." Gaara's face turned to him, his breathing speeding up at the sight of his brother's black eye and scratched up face. He looked back at Temari, but his sister was looking to their brother. Kankurou's eyes narrowed. "Apparently him and Gaara have a fight scheduled at lunch tomorrow."
Temari's jaw dropped, and she squeezed the youngest's wrist, turning to him, anger etched into her features. "You got into a fight with Sasuke Uchiha!? No wonder you refused to say anything! What are you thinking, Gaara!? You were always so quiet, but now you're going to go fight Sasuke!? What did you say to him!?"
His head started to pound, and he ripped his hand away from Temari. He gave a low grunt and stormed up to his room. "I have a head-ache."
His older siblings watched him go before they turned to each other. Temari sighed, deciding she could only break up the fight when it started…or somehow convince Sasuke not to fight her little brother. She glanced at Kankurou, suddenly noticing how much of a mess he was. "What the hell happened to you? Did Sasuke do it to you?"
Kankurou's cheeks tinged pink and he nodded his head slowly. "W-Well yeah."
Temari smirked. "It was those kids who hang around the park, wasn't it? You got beat up by a bunch of kids, Kankurou. That's even sadder than pathetic…"
Kankurou puffed his chest out. "Hey! Sasuke caught me off guard! He pulled out a lighter and threatened to burn me with it!"
Her eyebrows rose. "Sasuke's a badass? That I didn't expect. I can see what Sakura sees in him… I always thought he was a bit of a stuck-up brat, only worse than Gaara." She took off the hat, spotting the wad of snot in his hair. She stifled a laugh. "It seems they gave you a loogie, Kankurou."
He reached back, running his hand through his auburn hair. He felt it and immediately gave a look of disgust. "Oh man! They totally did! I'm going to kill those kids! This means war, damn it! Konohamaru and his little posse are going down!"
She chuckled, standing up and picking up Gaara's trash to throw it away. "Waging war on a bunch of kids? I'd love to see how this plays out."
There was a long, long pause, until Kankurou propped his head in his hands, looking at his sister. His face was solemn, contemplating, but most of all…relieved. "You'll never guess who I ran into on the way back home…"
Temari looked at him, smiling, knowing what he was playing at. "There's no way I'm going to guess who. Just tell me who it is, Kankurou."
He just raised his eyebrows, staring intensely in her eyes. "Starts school on Thursday."
Temari put a hand to her lips, her eyes widening. "Wait…you don't mean…"
He nodded his head. "The very same." They both gave a collective sigh of relief.
–––––––––––––––––––
Gaara stared at his ceiling, his eyes barely closed. His head was pounding so hard, he could barely keep himself from screaming at the top of his lungs. His siblings would worry if they knew how often his head-aches occurred. It wasn't like they would know–they happened at night, usually, in time with the waxing and waning of the moon. It was always twice as bad near full moons, and according to his calendar, there was one tomorrow.
So Sasuke had challenged him to a fight, eh? He hadn't started it, he knew that, but if there was one thing he wouldn't do, it was back down. As much as he wanted to deny it and run off, he had to finish it. After all, Kankurou looked a mess. Had Sasuke really done that to his brother? He wanted to make him pay, to make him see that he was messing with the wrong person.
He moaned again as another wave of pain shot over his head, and he rolled over, burying himself into his pillow.
He wasn't sure he could do it. The last time he'd gotten into a fight, he nearly killed that kid… He didn't want to hurt people, but they just kept pushing and pushing and pushing! Couldn't they see how much he was suffering!? The more they pushed, the more it pushed him to retaliate, and it broke him every single time…
He put his hands over his eyes and bit his lip, drawing blood. He really wished Matsuri still lived next door.
