Chapter: Gaara's Grow House

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Enjoy~

Dear Starface,

I met a girl named Karma. No, she's not a bitch. We're actually starting to become friends.

Stay sexy~,

Kira

Nobody rescued me from my restraints.

Temari and Kankuro were still in a sour mood in the morning and thus I was left with my hands tied behind my back and a gag over my mouth. For obvious reasons, I was in a sour mood myself. All I could do was sit on the couch and mutter curses.

My "captors" were sitting at the island drinking Gaara's coffee stash. The morning people didn't get their rest last night. Being the reason for their current states, I got no mercy.

"Meh mughhh meh muh ma mok mow" That translates to 'Can you take the gag off now?'

"Sorry, I'm too tired to hear anything." Kankuro growled.

"You got off easy. Don't push it. You might be blown into another dimension." Temari threatened, giving me a stern glare. It's not that bad. I only got amnesia. Wait, that sucks. Never mind.

So, I remained in place staring at the hallway. I sat there for a while, silently pleading for help. Maybe Gaara will save me…

Gaara did show up, but when he did, he looked even worse than Temari and Kankuro. His eyes were half closed and there were more dark smears under his eyes. He was walking like a zombie, so much that I was genuinely concerned about his well being.

His eyes blinked open when he saw me.

"Temari… Kankuro… Why is Kira tied up?" Gaara wondered, snapping out of his trance, if not only foor an instant.

"It's her punishment for keeping us up." Kankuro replied before taking a chug of his coffee.

"How did she manage that…?" Gaara asked, puzzled. Well, not everyone sleeps like a log…

"She was in a fit of giggles last night." Temari explained.

"She was punished for laughing…" Gaara concluded in a tone that clearly said 'Really, you punished someone for laughing? That should be a crime.'

Gaara saved me, untying the crushing ninja knots expertly.

"Thanks. You're my favorite." I stated, rubbing my wrists.

"Shortcake, you're such a suck up." Kankuro whined, using my hated nickname.

"I'll tell you where the best brownies ever are. Do we have a truce?" I attempted to make a deal.

"Are they that good?" Temari asked, surprised that I would try such a small bargain.

"They are happiness itself." I chirped.

"…Fine." Temari and Kankuro sighed, content to let the matter drop and continuing to lazily sip at their coffee.

I decided to eat breakfast, choosing a box of cereal called Frooty Toots. I need some sugary goodness to fully wake up, though everyone else is suffering worse than me. I can't complain, because in the case of the morning people, it's my fault. Not to mention, Gaara looks like he's about to fall over and die.

My devouring of the Frooty Toots cereal at the island was interrupted by a loud sigh from Gaara, as he stared at his empty coffee stash in the cupboard above the fridge. "We're out of coffee."

Temari and Kankuro shared a glance. They had drunk the last of Gaara's coffee. Karma's a bitch, huh?

…Sorry, Karma…

"Where's this store, the one with the brownies?" Gaara asked, his gaze on me.

Temari peered over next to me as well as Kankuro on the other side of her.

"It's south of the kazekage tower, to the left of the training grounds we were at last night." I answered between spoonfuls of cereal.

"Does it have coffee?" Gaara asked.

"Yes."

"I'm heading there before work." Gaara decided, closing the cupboard.

"We're all going." Temari stated. "Kankuro and I want brownies. Kira, you might as well lead us there."

I did lead them there. I just didn't expect there to be so many distractions.

Gaara has a serious case of insomnia. I realized this when he almost face planted into a pole. (Kankuro saved him.)

It continued when he almost stepped in dog crap. (Temari pulled him back.)

I was certain when he started sleepwalking during ninja rush hour. And by rush hour I mean ninja's racing to work, in all directions.

"Gaara?" Kankuro asked, worried.

"..."

"Be quiet, you can't wake up someone who's sleepwalking." Temari harshly scolded.

"Maybe we should try leading him to the bench over there?" I suggested, pointing towards a bench beside the walkway.

"I'm still up." Gaara assured.

…?

"Your eyes are almost completely closed." Temari stated.

"Are you sure, you don't want to rest?" Kankuro questioned.

"You look dead. Zombie dead." I exaggerated before I stopped him from tripping over a curb. I'm not even a ninja and my coordination is better than his at the moment.

Gaara gave in. It seemed as though he had finally realized that he was incapable of taking another step. He lied down on the bench, falling asleep in seconds.

"Does he do this often?" I asked, amazed at Gaara sleeping without a twitch, as if savouring every moment of it.

"More than you think." Kankuro replied, grimacing.

"Maybe we should try sleeping medication." Temari suggested.

"Good idea." I inputted.

"He won't go for it." Kankuro argued, opposing us as if we were lunatics.

I can agree with being a lunatic, but I must be correct if Temari is on my side. There were no sharpies in her room to affect her with their disastrous fumes.

"Why not?" I wondered aloud.

"Assassination attempts." He blanked.

"It's hard to imagine that happening." Temari countered.

"Yeah." I sided with Temari.

"Well… Gaara's childhood was… difficult. This resulted in problems which resulted in enemies."

"If you're that worried about medicine here, I'll send a letter to Tsunade. I doubt the previous hokage would attempt to assassinate Gaara. " Temari reasoned.

"That's… better…" settled Kankuro.

Temari and I shared a triumphant smile. We had won.

What did we do while Gaara rested?

We made sure nobody bothered Gaara for a couple of hours and stopped some twelve-year old ninja boy from poking his eye out with a meter long stick. Yeah, Gaara isn't a cyclops. I have no sweet clue where I got that reference. Ask my brain. It won't answer me.

It went like this:

"Hey kid, watch where you're going with that stick!" Kankuro warned as the rascal whirled his stick around like a Jedi. That stick was pointy. It could have skewered us all.

"Like I care." Oh no, you didn't.

"Oh, you don't care! I'd watch my back, kid!"

Kankuro had fire whirling in his eyes. I just stood there beside Gaara to give him some useless protection, and watched everything burn.

…Well, maybe not burn, but you get what I mean.

"Shut up!" Temari said boldly while gripping her fan. "I'll make you if you don't."

"Yeah, right." the kid not so wisely replied.

Temari blasted the said brat ten feet in the air. Don't ever bullshit Temari. You will fear for your life.

She then lowered him down roughly, but just enough to scare him, and the kid ran off in fear of Temari's wrath, bawling all the way.

"Please stop, you're louder than the ninjas on road rage. Gaara might wake up." I begged uneasily.

I jinxed it, and Gaara woke up demanding for coffee.

The bell on the bakery door jingled as we walked into Karma's families' bakery. I was dive bombed by an overjoyed Karma, giving me a tight squeeze. "You came back!"

"Yeah, I told you I would. I brought friends as well." I said, motioning to the others.

Karma's face paled a little at her other guests who were standing awkwardly at the door, but she was quick to recover, taking out a yellow notepad and smiley pen. "Alright, I'll take your orders. It's on the house, seeing as you came with Kira."

"Gaara, you go first." I suggested. He still doesn't look completely alive, and it doesn't help the situation with Karma at all.

"I'll have an extra-large dark coffee." he rightfully grumbled.

Everyone else ordered brownies and vanilla milkshakes. The brownies were pre-prepared, so we didn't have to wait that long.

Karma was the last one to join us, sitting at the head of the table. Temari and I sat on one side and Kankuro and Gaara sat on the other, and because our food was heaven, we all ate like wolves. That excludes Gaara who was too busy sipping out of his coffee mountain of a mug.

"So, how is it?" Karma asked, eager to please.

"Bliss," I replied, liking my lips.

"The coffee's good." Gaara assured.

"You're talented." Temari complimented.

"It was heaven, Angel Cake." Kankuro praised, completely disregarding the hilarity of Karma's nickname.

I coughed, and almost snorted my milkshake out of my nose. We have another victim of stripper deeming.

Karma blushed scarlet, startled, and let out a nervous giggle. We think alike. "Uh… that name doesn't really suit me."

"What are you talking about? You're an angel who makes sweet food." Aww…

Karma blushed even more, not even bothering to respond due to over flattery. Smooth recovery, but my nickname explication even fits the bill for a stripper stage name. Karma got the better deal. I'm just short and easy to deal with. Why couldn't it have been short and sweet?

…Wait, that's worse.

"See you soon." I said to Karma, giving her a friendly squeeze.

"Thanks for the food." Temari thanked, kindly.

"I'll be back sometime." Kankuro mentioned.

Gaara dropped a few coins on the counter before politely thanking Karma.

"There's no need for that." Karma said, being the generous person that she is.

"We all enjoyed the meal. If you won't accept pay, consider it a tip."

"Ah…" Karma was caught for words.

We left for the day's work at ninja speed, rushing due to Gaara's two hour nap.

It was laundry day. I would be spending this fine afternoon making sure nobody would smell like crap.

To be honest, I didn't like this chore very much. Much time was spent tossing dirty underwear into the washer with barbecue tongs. I would rather be giving the dishes their daily bubble bath.

When I had finally finished (Temari's clothes from her floor hamper took hours to clean.), it was evening and the sand siblings would be arriving for supper in an hour.

I made tacos. Fuck dessert, I'm watching a movie.

Observing the stack of movies under the TV, I discovered that horror movies were a favorite in this house. Being in the mood for a good scare, I was okay with that and pulled out a movie called Run from My Fun.

I ignored my urge to make numerous puns at the name.

On cue, the door opened, revealing the siblings.

"Welcome back, I made tacos." I welcomed, sliding the DVD into the DVD player.

"Smells good." Kankuro said, noticing the smell of hard work and pain. (The Damn knife cut me instead of the lettuce.)

"Watching a movie?" Temari inquired.

"I'm in the mood for a good scare. I hope you don't mind."

"We don't mind." Gaara assured.

"Does anyone want to join me?" I could use some company.

Everybody accepted my offer, cramming on the coach with their taco filled plates. I sat on the edge beside Gaara. Kankuro was on his other side and Temari was on the other edge.

We had dimmed the lights in an effort to enhance the scare.

It worked, at least on Kankuro and me. Temari only flinched a few times, only gasping at the jump scares. Gaara didn't flinch at all. He only looked slightly surprised at the jump scares. Kankuro almost pissed his pants quite a few times. Temari kept telling him to stop being such a wuss and was rather annoyed at Kankuro and would smack him whenever he almost cut her circulation off. In the early parts of the movie, he even got a taco in the face.

In my opinion, this wasn't the scariest horror movie ever. It was made when a pink skinned clown with razor teeth came to kill a stupid girl in a house of mirrors.

When the clown came into view, it screamed "HERE'S KANKY!"

I died inside, dropping to the floor and clutching my sides. Gaara and Temari looked at me as if I was as insane as Kanky. The real Kanky screamed like a six year old girl that broke her doll, making me laugh even more, tears flowing down my face.

Best horror movie ever.

Temari let me in on a secret while I was flipping pancakes in the morning.

Kankuro had left and Gaara was sleeping… I hope.

"Kira, listen. You're in on my plan, right? We need to help Gaara as soon as possible." No shit.

"Of course, what's on your mind?" I urged her to continue.

"I sent a letter to Tsunade, the previous hokage. However, it will take time for the medicine to arrive here."

"Okay."

"So I made something for him, a bit of powder to put in his food. I'm not an expert, but I know what poison plants look like. I want you to slip about a teaspoon of it into his supper. Do we have a deal?"

I pondered for a moment. To drug or not to drug? "Deal."

Let's shoot him up. Operation drug the kazekage is in business.

"Good. You won't have to use it for a while yet, but I didn't know if I would get a chance to ask you while Kankuro was around. The pouch is hidden in the teabag jar."

Gaara came from the hallway, zombie-like as usual. Nobody would dare ask 'How did you sleep?'

"What were you talking about?" Gaara asked, hopefully having not heard anything.

"Oh, nothing." Temari lied skillfully. Don't worry, Gaara. We're just planning on how we're going to drug you.

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow, but didn't press further. He instead, went to his coffee hoard and made himself a heaping mug. The mug was twice the size of a normal mug, further proving his major caffeine addiction.

Temari and Kankuro had convinced the council to let Gaara have a few days off due to their worries about his health. They wanted me to make sure that Gaara didn't head off to work.

I was determined to help, yet I wasn't sure what I could do to help him. Even though I have been with the siblings for a few days now, I still had much to learn about them.

"I'll be heading out in a few minutes. Gaara, I convinced the council to let you have time off until your insomnia is taken care of." Temari informed Gaara of her plans for him.

"Even if I'm not there, there will still be things that have to be done." Gaara sighed, making me feel tiniest bit bad for him.

"Kankuro and I will take care of things the best we can while you're off." she assured, having it all planned out.

Gaara looked a bit conflicted for a moment, as if he didn't know if he should push further or not. "Very well then, let me know if there is anything you're unsure of. I'll tell you what needs to be done."

I would have to stay with Gaara for the day, though I'm not complaining. Like I said yesterday morning, Gaara is my favorite. He doesn't decide 'Hey, Kira won't shut the hell up with her laughing. We should tie her up and gag her.' Gaara would just smirk at my antics and help me drug myself to avoid the situation.

When was done with the pancakes, we all ate together at the island. (Kankuro had gone off early to get a head start on some of Gaara's kazekage stuff. He had to get himself some cereal for breakfast. The morning people aren't waking me up.)

Temari then went off to join Kankuro, leaving Gaara and I sipping coffee together.

"Good coffee?" I asked, breaking the ice.

"My favorite."

"Cheers?" I said, smiling while holding out my mug.

He smirked, clinking his monster mug against my mini mug. "Cheers."

We both sipped our coffee.

"So what would you like to do today?"

"I might go to the balcony."

"I'll go with you."

"You will?"

"Why not?"

We exchanged a smirk.

"What are we doing on the balcony?" I asked.

"You'll see."

Gaara and I were on the balcony. There were cactus plants lining the picket railing in pots. And because we live in sunny Suna, it was hot as hell up there. I'm going to be a baked potato.

Gaara walked over to a large square planter and picked it up, coming back to me. He placed it near a wide wooden storage bin. Gaara opened the bin and pulled out a small packet.

"Are we gardening?" I asked.

"Cacti."

"One of your hobbies?"

He nodded. I never would have guessed…

"It's a nice hobby." I decided. "I can't remember many of mine. I like to write, but the rest… I don't know of."

It can be boring when you aren't even sure of your hobbies. Luckily, I can at least remember one. Though, maybe I could enjoy this hobby as well?

Gaara sat next to the planter. I sat next to him, curious. I want to grow some and throw them at Kankuro, starting the attack of the killer cacti. Nah, I'm kidding…

"Can I plant one?"

He held out the pack. "You can plant more than one if you like."

I smiled and accepted the offer, digging out three marble sized seeds.

"Thanks."

Gaara took some seeds out, holding them in his palm.

"So, what do we do? I don't think I've ever done this before."

"Watch."

He used his thumb to jab a hole on his side of the planter, nudging it in gently. I attempted to copy him, poking my own thumb in the earth and slipping the seed in.

"It has to be further down." Gaara corrected, lightly pressing my finger to nudge the seed.

"Okay." I replied a bit surprised at the sudden contact.

Gaara pushed some dirt over the hole, covering the seed.

I copied him. In the end, we had planted eight cacti together, Gaara correcting me if I didn't push the seed deep enough.

"Gaara?"

He looked up from his work.

"I've been wondering… Do you name them?"

"Them?"

"Do you name your cacti?" I clarified.

"No, I don't think I've ever named them."

"They need names." I declared, pensively looking at the cacti around me.

He gave me a questioning look.

"We should give them names, any ideas?" I continued.

"You can name them if you like. I don't have any names in mind." Gaara encouraged. His expression held mild curiosity.

I smiled gleefully, getting up and heading to the ledge where Gaara's grown cacti were and pointed to the tallest one with an arm anchoring off the side. "This one's Old Spike."

Gaara widened his eyes, amazed by my weirdness. I don't blame him. I'm pretty high up on the crazy scale.

I pointed to Old Spike's neighbor, a shrunken bulb-like plant with tuffs on the top and said "And here's Little Fluff."

Gaara smirked, amused.

"This one's Cactapus." I said, pointing to a medium sized cactus with numerous branches veering off of it.

Gaara held his smirk, waiting for me to continue.

"And this one…" I continued, pointing to a huge tower of a cactus with almost impossibly bigger spikes. "… is Prick."

"The names suit them." He remarked.

"Yeah, I would hate to fall on Prick." I said, walking over to Gaara who was still sitting by our newly planted cacti. "That would be overdone acupuncture."

"It would." he agreed.

I smiled, pleased.

"It isn't good to be out in the sun for too long at this time of day. We should go in." Gaara reasoned.

I agreed. The other thing I had learned up here was that the desert is the world's largest toaster oven. It has no mercy.

"Finished already?" I asked Temari and Kankuro when I opened the apartment door.

They were lounging on the coach, watching a show called Ninja Skillz. I had absolutely no interest in that particular show. I can't use chakra. I'm no ninja wizard.

"It never ends." Temari sighed, holding up a brick of paperwork for Gaara and I to see.

"How do you do this all day?" Kankuro groaned.

"I just use whatever time I don't use sleeping to finish it." Gaara replied, as if it was a completely logical thing to do. It was in a sense, but it wasn't in favor of his health.

I gave Gaara a worried glance. It isn't my place to lecture him, but I can feel for a fellow human.

"Not anymore you won't." Temari ordered sternly, but calmly, turning to face Gaara.

"You shouldn't have to be up all night. You already have trouble sleeping. Nothing should hinder it." Kankuro stated.

"Okay. I understand, but how will it all be done?" Gaara pushed.

Temari scrunched her face, seemingly pensive. "The council."

"Yeah." Kankuro inputted. "You know how they are. They're probably forking their work onto you." Lazy bastards.

"No. All the work is a part of my kazekage duties." Sorry, bastards.

"We'll figure something out." Kankuro assured. "In the meantime, welcome home. What were you two up to?"

Temari looked as if she wanted to continue, but chose otherwise, continuing to mark on her papers while giving half her attention to the TV. Kankuro did the same. If Temari was going down in a flood of paperwork, so was Kankuro. It was a miracle that Gaara didn't drown.

"Well, I'll make supper, any suggestions?" I asked, hoping to ease the tension in the room.

Temari gave a sly smirk. It was time to take care of business.

"Can we have chocolate chip pancakes?" Kankuro asked. I like that idea. Breakfast for supper is my favorite kind of supper.

"I have no problem with that, any objections?"

Nobody objected. Pancakes it is.

I went to work, making sure to smack Kankuro in the butt with the spatula when he tried to eat the chocolate chips. (He got me back with the extra spatula. Kanky the clown is a not so scary clown to be around, but with Spanky Kanky, you should run like hell. I did until Temari bitch spanked him with her fan.)

However, I didn't forget my mission, making sure to put a teaspoon of Temari's sleeping medicine in Gaara's pancakes when Gaara and Kankuro weren't looking.

When I finished, we all sat at the table to eat our pancake supper, whip cream and all. To be honest, I think we skipped supper and went to dessert.

We were about halfway through our meal when the medicine kicked in. Gaara slumped forward, his faced cushioned by his creamy pancake pillow; mission complete.

"Wow, he must be really tired today." Kankuro inferred, amazed.

"He wouldn't have slept at all if we didn't drug him." Temari explained, taking credit for her work and giving me a high five. She had a smug look on her face, rubbing in her victory.

That's right, Kankuro, there's no reason to wait on drugging him.

"You didn't…" he started.

"There's nothing a little bit of elephant tranquilizer can't solve."

Gaara woke up the next morning to discover that he had fallen asleep on his pancake. He looked so well rested; I don't think he even cared about looking like demon Santa. (Santa with black eyeliner does not work.)

So when Gaara woke up, he declared "I slept." in awe.

"It's a Christmas miracle." I declared while sipping my tea next to him.

Kankuro gave a whoop from down the hall. Temari simply smirked knowingly at Gaara from the opposite end of the table.

Gaara… well, drank a lot less coffee that morning. He even used an average mug.

A/N: How was it? Reviews are love~

Next Chapter: Things that are Hard