Here's the fourth chapter. I meant to update sooner, but I had to mend a prom dress for a friend of mine this week, and time just got away from me. I hope that you all are nejoying this story. I promise the writing and grammar get better. Not so sure about the spelling though =]
4
"We're back!" Temari announced as she and Akki entered the hotel room. Each girl was holding four shopping bags. Three for themselves and one each for Gaara and Kankuro. Who thinks to pack formal stuff for the Chunin Exams?
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?!" screamed Baki. "I come back to find Kankuro asleep, Gaara talking to the sand AGAIN, and you two are completely MIA!" He was practically hyperventilating. It was kinda funny.
"Calm down," said Temari dismissively. "We heard about the dance and went to get dresses and stuff. Oh, and I've got a date so we're going." They ran into Shikamaru on their way back from the dress shop. All it had taken was a slight bit of violent persuasion (cough, seduction) from Temari for the poor lazy Shika to say yes.
"I give up," muttered Baki with a shake of his head. Turning to the female redhead he said, "Akki, congratulations. You are now part of the only four-man squad for the exams. I explained it to the hokage and everything is fine. No shut up everyone, I'm going to sleep." He walked to his room and slammed the door.
"Spoil sport," said Akki sticking out her tongue. Turning to Kankuro and Gaara she squealed, "We got you some stuff too! "
"When is this thing anyway?" demanded Kankuro as he crossed his arms. He eyed the bags dubiously.
"Friday night!" said Akki happily. She placed her bags down gently on the sofa. "Tomorrow evening!"
"Goddamnit," he muttered. "Fine. Hand me the stupid tux, I'll go put it on." He grabbed a bag from Temari and stormed off into his room to change.
"No," Gaara growled when they went to hand him his bag. "I'm not going."
"But if you don't go, I'll have to go with Kankuro," whined Akki. In a different, more contemplative tone she added, "Then again, maybe I could go with this Neji Hyuuga guy I met this morning."
Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Fine." He took the bag and made a wall of sand to change behind. The sand went back into his gourd and revealed… A smexy Gaara in black pants, black dress shirt, and his hair slightly rumpled.
"Whoa Gaara," Temari gaped, stunned. "You look… hott."
"Shut up," he snapped. He shot her a glare, which was ignored.
Kankuro walked out in his clothes and was about to start complaining. Then he saw Gaara. Speechless doesn't even begin to describe how Kankuro felt. "Knew this was a bad idea," he finally managed.
"What do you mean? Gaara looks great," said Akki defensively.
"Exactly. He looks better than I do," sighed Kankuro, shaking his head. "What has the world come to?" He walked back to his room feigning rejection.
"Oooh," called Temari jokingly, "Kankuro is jealous of Gaara!"
"Aren't you two going to try yours on?" asked Gaara, who had already changed back.
"Nope, you'll just have to wait to see them like everyone else," said Akki, sticking out her tongue.
"I have the weirdest sisters EVER," muttered Gaara.
Finally, the time for the dance came. Temari and Akki had been getting ready since that morning, washing their hair, doing their make up, and finally getting in their dresses to accessorize.
"Come on girls!" yelled Kankuro from the living room. "You're the only ones who wanted to go to this thing, and you're making us late!"
"Coming!" they called down the hall. The sisters had decided to make it kind of a presentation to show off their dresses. Temari came first. She was wearing a long black dress with a slit up to her navel on the left side and a pair of black boots that went up to her mid-calf.
"MY EYES!" yelled Kankuro, throwing his hands up to his eyes and pretending to die. "Kidding Temari. You actually don't look too bad."
"Personally, I think you look like a slut," Gaara interjected, trying to hide a smile.
"If you think I look bad, wait 'til you see Akki," said Temari, sticking out her tongue. "Come on out Akki!"
Akki walked down the hall and silence overtook the room. She was wearing only a skimpy black corset and a black micro-mini skirt. Black leather stiletto boots went up to her mid-thigh and black lace gloves that came all the way up to her elbows. Her entire midriff was exposed. Her long red hair cascaded down her back. A red rose was pinned at the top of the corset accentuating her cleavage, and another was on a tight black choker around her neck. The whole thing screamed 'STRIPPER'.
"Akki?" asked Kankuro, finally regaining his voice. Try as he might, he could not stop staring.
Gaara couldn't stop staring either. He had flushed almost as red as his hair, and his mouth was slightly open.
"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE IN THAT!!!" yelled Kankuro. "As your older brother, I will allow it. Temari, Gaara, back me up here."
Temari snorted so as to say, 'As if.' "I think it looks good. You're overreacting Kankuro. What's the harm in her outfit?"
"SHE LOOKS LIKE A STRIPPER!"
"She looks fine Kankuro. If you've got it, flaunt it. And Akki's DEFINITELY got it."
"Shut up you two," Gaara finally snapped. He didn't have a problem with it, but then again, he wasn't exactly thinking as a 'brother' at that moment.
"What do you think Gaara?" asked Temari. "You think she looks good, right?"
What he wanted to say, which was something along the lines of 'I want that to pop out of my birthday cake next year', didn't seem entirely appropriate in present company. So he settled on, "She looks great."
"Am I all alone?" whimpered Kankuro pathetically. Realizing he was outnumbered, Kankuro bowed his head in defeat. "Fine, whatever. She can go."
"Like you would have been able to stop me," Akki said winking at him as they walked out the door.
Short Gaara POV
What did she mean 'Wait 'til you see Akki?' I wondered. The soft padding of heels on carpet interrupted my thoughts. I looked up expecting to see Akki in a long dress like Temari's. Man was I wrong.
My Akki had transformed into a goddess again. A tight black leather corset, which covered less than it showed, stood out against her pale skin and merely made the fact that Akki had ample bosom even more apparent. A tiny black leather skirt, small even by micro-mini standards, showed off her long legs. All that, accompanied by the black stiletto boots she was wearing that went up to her mid-thigh, made her look more like a fallen angel sent just for me than my 'twin'. But there was even more. Black lace gloves went up to her elbows. A red rose was pinned expertly to accentuate her cleavage, and another one was on a tight broad black choker above the hollow of her throat. My favorite part though was her hair. It was let loose to drag behind her like a cape of blood.
Morbid? Maybe. But who was I to care? She was all dressed up to go to a dance, and I was the lucky man getting to be her escort.
NOT GAARA POV
"Hurry up guys!" Akki called behind her. Temari had gone to meet Shikamaru already, so it was just Gaara, Kankuro, and Akki.
"HEY! AKKI!" yelled Sakura from up ahead. She was walking with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Hey Sakura," she replied, catching up with them. When Naruto and Sasuke saw her, they started to drool. Gaara and Kankuro weren't far behind her; not that they bore any love toward the others, but Akki was their…friend? Sister? They were protective of her, that's all they knew.
"YOU'RE THOSE WEIRDOS FROM YESTERDAY!" yelled Naruto, pointing at Akki and Gaara.
"Brilliant Naruto," Sakura retorted sarcastically, hitting him on the head. "This is Akki and her brothers Gaara and Kankuro. Be nice."
"I assume this is the squad that you're on?" asked Akki as they kept walking.
"Yep. Our sensei is late, as usual. Nice dress by the way. But I thought you said you wanted something classic that DIDN'T scream stripper," Sakura said playfully.
"I did," sighed Akki. "But sadly all they had left in black was leather and lace. So I thought, why not?"
"It looks good on you," Sakura complemented with a sincere smile. "Where's Temari?" she asked puzzled, noticing for the first time that the older blonde wasn't there.
"Met up with Shikamaru already," Shaara replied, an evil grin on her face.
"So they are going together?"
"Yep."
"Did we miss something here?" asked Sasuke calmly. Naruto bobbed his head in agreement. "When did you all get buddy buddy, and what possessed Shikamaru to do something like go to this stupid dance? It's way to 'bothersome' for him."
"I saw Akki and Temari at the dress shop yesterday, and since they're all brother and sister on their squad, I suggested Temari ask Shikamaru to the dance. And Akki had already met him and Neji in the compound lobby, so it seemed kinda convenient," explained Sakura. Shaking her head she continued, "Honestly, you two really need to keep up. Shikamaru IS lazy. Far too lazy to argue with a pretty girl holding a ginormous fan."
"Poor Shika," laughed Naruto. Up ahead of them was a female figure in a blue and black dress. "Hey, there's Hinata! Later guys!" He ran up to greet the shy girl.
"Hinata," mumbled Shaara, thinking hard. "She's the heir to the Hyuga clan, right?"
"How do you know all this?" asked Sakura, amazed.
"I've lived in the desert, literally, for the last ten or so years. The winds pick up all kinds of interesting things. I knew when the Uchiha clan was slaughtered," Sasuke tensed, but no one noticed, "when the hokage's grandson was born, even when some idiot defaced the hokage monuments," she listed. The wind carried information to her from far and wide. Akki never thought that she would actually meet the people she heard about.
"That was Naruto," laughed Sakura. "Look, here we are!"
"Ah, there you are," said a voice from behind them. Every one turned around and to their surprise it was the Hokage himself, along with Kakashi.
"Lord hokage," said Sakura startled.
"Hello Sakura, Sasuke," he smiled. Looking at Akki, Gaara, and Kankuro he said, "You must be the Sand Village shinobi. It's very unusual for there to be four members in a squad, excluding their sensei."
"We are sorry for the inconvenience-" began Akki with her head bowed, but the Hokage interjected before she could finish.
"It's not a problem, just unusual. Though I guess not, considering who you are," he said with a strange look in his eyes.
Naruto and Temari appeared out of nowhere. "Who are they? What's so special 'bout them?" asked Naruto with his usual tact.
"They are the Kazekage's own children." Inserts dramatic pause. "The twins are Akki and Gaara of the Desert," the hokage said pointing to them. "Kankuro the Puppet Master," he pointed to Kankuro, "And Temari who is an extraordinary strategist."
"YOU ARE THE KAZEKAGE'S OWN KIDS?!?!" demanded Naruto.
"Cat's out of the bag now," muttered Temari. "Yeah, but we weren't raised together. Gaara and Akki's mother isn't Kankuro's or mine. We're only paternally related."
"Honored Children of the Kazekage," said Kakashi, nodding at them. To team 7 he ordered "Come on guys. We have to go get arranged in a line for the entrance thingy."
"I love your technical terminology Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto sarcastically. They leaf genin walked away, following Kakashi as he made some half-assed excuse as to why he was late.
"We're last in the line, so we've got some time to kill," Temari informed them. "How come you all get titles and I'm 'an extraordinary strategist'?" she blurted suddenly. "I mean, Akki and Gaara can make sand castles and Kankuro is a boy who's allowed to play with dolls. So what? Why don't I get a title?"
"They're not dolls, they're deadly puppets of doom with advanced weaponry! At least call them action figures, not dolls!" exploded Kankuro.
"Sand coffin," said Gaara shortly. It was an explanation and a threat all in one!
"I lived in the desert for ten years on my chakra alone," Akki said with a simple shrug of her shoulders.
"Forget I asked," muttered Temari.
Something on the wind suddenly floated past Akki's ear. "She'll be here. The one with that wind demon, she never strays far from the one sealed with Shukaku. And then it will probably take all fifty of us to take 'em out."
"Are we taking them both out? Tonight after the dance?" another voice asked timidly. Akki could tell he was scared. "I mean, one is bad enough."
"No, the kazekage only wants her killed. Something about that driving the other one insane and destroying everything," the first voice said.
"Well, this isn't good," said Akki, her heart beating so fast it felt like she would explode. She swayed a little on her feet. Gaara reached out caught her before she could fall.
"What is it Akki?" asked Temari, reaching her hand up to feel Akki's forehead for a fever.
"Are you ok? You look even paler than usual," said Kankuro, worry saturating his voice.
Gaara simply glared at her. "You were wind listening again, weren't you?" She nodded weakly. "I've told you before-"
"The kazekage has sent a group of shinobi to kill me," she said quietly.
Finally, a plot in sight...