Temari and Kankuro sat around their room bored now that all they had been doing for the past four and a half weeks was train or do nothing at all. Tomorrow was the final exams but tonight was the festival so the whole town had been awake and alive since early this morning. What surprised (and frightened) the two was the screams that erupted from next door to their room and one of the screams was very familiar.
Umi's.
They rushed towards the room and they tried opening the door but noticed it was locked. "Umi-san! What's wrong?" It was as if Kankuro's yell had gone unheard when she screamed again but this time she yelled afterwards, "Chibi-kun! Stop being a baby and get your ass over here!" The two siblings looked at each other dumbfound and flinched when they heard a vase being thrown at the wall near the door. "Get away from me!" What could she possibly doing to Gaara that it would make him scream at her in sheer terror?
The two were suddenly scared and backed away to the opposite wall and sat down, close enough to hear them yelling. "Ahh! I swear!" Umi yelled and grunted; her body landed on something hard. "GET OFF ME UMI!" Nails scrapped on the wooden floor and the siblings silently declared that was Gaara who was being dragged across the floor. "Ha! Now that I got your shirt off are you going to take your pants off or should I do that for you?" Gaara growled and threw something again, this time sounding more heavy then a vase.
"Fine! Have it your way!" Sounds of crashes and cloth tearing were heard outside and after a few seconds everything went quiet that is until Umi cooed, "Aww, Chibi-kuuun, look at you!" Temari and Kankuro looked over at each other but they quickly looked over to the door when they heard teeth snap and Umi yelp. "Hey baka! Watch it!" All they heard was Gaara growling back and the lock unclick. "Now listen to me Gaara-kun, stay in that for just a few hours and I promise you will never have to wear it again ok?"
Gaara's growling intensified but even if it sounded menacing Umi just giggled and opened the door. She seemed surprised to see the two siblings sitting against the wall but they were more surprised at her appearance. The front of kimono was ripped in all sorts of places and her hair looked as if it had gone through a sandstorm and survived. "Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Kankuro gulped loudly when he peeked inside the room. Everything was a mess.
The bed was turned sideways and the curtain was barely hanging, some of the wood on the floor was ripped off and there was water splattered all over the floor. "W-what happened?" Temari questioned as she too looked into the room. Umi looked at them and then smiled as if she had just won a gold medal for something. "Tell Baki-sensei that Gaara and I will not be training today. We will be attending the festival later on tonight" Her smile turned smug as she turned and walked away. As the two looked away from her they approached the room again this time the image wasn't something they were used to.
On the wall opposite of them, Gaara sat at the corner where the shadows covered his body and had his knees pressed against his chest, his bare toes peeking out from the light coming from window. "Hey G-gaara, you ok?" Gaara glared at the two who stood by the door and sand appeared from his broken gourd. It quickly turned into a wave of sand as it made its way towards them. Kankuro closed the door and they both ran into their rooms panting heavily.
"I swear I don't know who's crazier: Gaara or Umi?"
/愛\
"Do…Not…Touch…Me" I let out an angry sigh and leaned on the building. "Gaara-kun, you can't hide from people forever. What happened this morning is not going to waste so you are coming with me whether you like to or not" I said in a low voice, almost as if I were talking to a spooked animal except this was no animal, this was my best friend. I could hear him growling even though all I could see were his eyes.
"Whatever gave you the idea that I want to come to a festival?" I ran a hand through my hair that, for once, was out of its buns and was let loose. "Well, I thought we could do something different for a change, just this once… Please" I widen my eyes the best I could and pouted my lips. A flash of green blurred and next thing I knew Gaara's face was centimeters from mine, lips were in their usual line but his eyes showed me another story. "One hour and then we leave" I grinned and hugged him quickly, pulling him out of the dark alley and into the mob of people.
"You better hold on to me chibi-kun" I winked at him as I saw his eyes widen the slightest bit. The streets were adorned with lights and booths were set up each selling a different thing. Children ran past them with sparklers, yelling and giggling without a care in the world. "I wish Suna had festivals like this" I mumbled to myself. Sunagakure was not as active as Konohagakure and surely didn't have festivals like the ones here.
Throughout the whole year there was about three in total and those I had visited with my mother while Gaara followed us throughout the whole thing on the roofs. Most of the festivals in Suna were boring but here in Konoha it was… different. Everything just felt so alive and to have my best friend here alongside with me was a new experience. In just a few, short minutes I was holding a large pack of popcorn and a large green giraffe, Gaara (which I had to beg for him to do) held on to a pink and purple raccoon and two medium sized packs of cotton candy. "How did you get all of this in such a short time?"
I grinned over my shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it, why don't you just take the advantage tonight that you're actually taller than me eh?" I laughed at the expression he put. One thing that definitely annoyed him was our height issue. Like any man he always declared that he needed to be the taller one because he was the man to which I always countered saying I was two years older than him and girls always mature faster than boys.
In both mental and physical states.
"Bring in another Ojii-san!" An unmistakable voice yelled out. "Hey Gaara-kun, wait here ok?" I put the items on the bench and quickly moved towards the voice. "Hey! I knew it was you!" His blonde head stopped bobbing and when he turned around and grinned, a ramen noodle was laying on his cheek. "Hey Onee-chan!" Naruto greeted me with a wave and said, "Do you like the festival so far?" He turned around and continued eating his ramen not yet waiting on me to reply. I sat on the little chair next to him and shook my head when the cook asked me if I wanted ramen.
"I love it so far! Even better, I actually got Gaara-kun to come with me" I said happily but noticed when I said Gaara's name Naruto had stopped eating and was just staring at his bowl. "Him huh? Because of him, Bushy Brows might never be a shinobi again" My eyes lowered to the counter, suddenly finding a fasination with the yellow colored desk. "I will say that Gaara-kun was out of line when he fought Lee but were still working on his control" Naruto glared into the bowl for a few seconds and continued eating and made a small shrug. "Whatever, your the one with him, I'd be careful if I were you" I smiled at the blonde and gave him a side hug.
"Thanks Chibi-kun but if you saw Gaara-kun now his image has changed greatly. It's not every day you see Sabaku no Gaara holding a bright colored, smiling racoon" I said as I walked out of the small restraunt, smiling when I heard him laughing. My smiled widen when I reached where Gaara was. He sat on the bench with his arms crossed angrily against his chest and a glare was set on my poor Giraffe. "What's wrong?" His eyes moved over to me then to the oddly colored doll. "Why would they make this animal green when that's not its actual color?" I laughed and patted his head, making the loose tendrils even wilder then they normally were.
"Who cares Gaara-kun? Just enjoy the day!" I grabbed our stuff and pulled him up. We made our way through the crowd of people, gliding easily past them and moved to a more secluded place where there were few people scattered. "This should be ok" I placed the stuffed animals next to me and sat down under a tree, Gaara decided that leaning against the tree was better then sitting on the ground. "The fireworks about to start so as soon as they finish I promise we can leave" I opened the bag of popcorn and for a few minutes we enjoyed silence and the crunch of popcorn.
That is until he asked something totally random.
"What are they doing?" I looked up from my popcorn bag and looked around trying to see what he meant. "Who?" He grabbed the top of my head and turned it around until I could barely make out two figures in the distance. "Ooh their kissing" He put his arm back against his chest and asked, "What is that?" Was he really asking this? I placed more popcorn in my mouth, thinking over how to explain this to him. "Well, kissing is what you do when, for example, you have a girlfriend" He continued to stare at the couple.
"Why would they do it though? It looks horrible" He said with no emotion whatsoever. "It's not horrible" I popped in more popcorn. "Have you done it before?" I looked to the side because I knew my cheeks were heating up. "No..." I shifted my foot. It was true though because none of the men in the village attracted me and the closest thing to kissing a guy that I ever got was when I kissed Gaara's cheek once when he was crying.
"Exactly, you wouldn't know then" I rubbed my eyes and looked up at him; a small glare went his ways. "What's with the sudden questions? If you're going to ask anyone it should be a guy. Go ask Kankuro" Gaara peered down at me and said, "I could care less what that idiot tells me. At least from you I know it's true" Knowing I couldn't get mad I just sighed and left it at that.
That is, until he asked again.
"Do friends kiss?" My palm hit my forehead at his questions. "Not... directly as their doing. Technically, I've kissed you multiple times" I grabbed one of the cotton candy bags and ripped it open, placing the sugary candy on my tongue. "So friends can't kiss like that but at the same time they can?" I shook my head and said, "Ok your making this more complicated than it really is. Look," I took his face into my hands and kissed his cheeks quickly, "that is a friend kiss alright? But what couples do is," I looked at his lips really fast and placed mine on his for just a few short seconds and then I looked back at him again, noticing how tense his lips were, "they kiss on the lips. Got it?"
He nodded and looked up, not talking for the rest of the night and that's when the fireworks began. The first one ripped into the air in colors of blue and pink, the next two were the Konoha symbol and a small diagram of the village. The next one was my personal favorite. Five Konoha symbols, four Suna symbols, and one Sound symbol glittered high in the air and I could hear the sounds of some of the villagers cheering, probably from having the most genins taking the final exam. Finished with my bag I stood and stretched, kind of sad the festival had ended. "Alright, lets pick everything up and head back to the hotel because I am tired and in need of another shower" I took hold of my giraffe and grabbed the other cotton candy bag. "Wait, can we buy souvenirs? I promised Okaa-san I would bring her something"
I said as we walked into the now almost empty streets. I hardly saw him nod but I just walked into the first store that was opened and began searching. I soon had everything I needed for not only my Okaa-san but for everyone in the team as well. I bought her a small doll that was playing a little toy piano, for Kankuro a small candy dispenser in the shape of a puppet and to take the candy out you need to pump its arms up and down. For Temari I bought a Japanese thread ball which had the same design her fan had.
"Did you get everything?" I nodded and showed him the bags. "Oh wait!" I yelled out quickly, remembering the last thing we had to do. I grabbed the first person on the street and asked, "Excuse me sir but could you take a picture of my friend and me?" The old man nodded and took the camera. "Come on Gaara-kun!" I placed the bags on the floor and jumped on his back, putting my fingers in his mouth and stretching so that it looked like a grin and made my own grin. "1, 2...3" The flash from the camera blinded me for a second but I quickly thanked the man and got the bags.
We arrived at the hotel and Gaara had disappeared some time ago so I climbed up the stairs on to the fourth floor and opened Kankuro and Temari's door. "Hey guys! I'm back!" The two looked towards me and noticed all the bags I carried in my arms. "Did you go on a shopping spree?" I looked over the bags for a second, doing a quick mental note, and then grinned as I made eye contact with them. "Actually, almost all of these things are for you guys" Their expressions were hilarious when I placed the bags on the table, taking out the things that were for them.
"I didn't forget about you guys" I laughed and let them inspect their things. "We'll I'm going to go take a shower and sleep. Tomorrow is a big day!" I turned and walked out of their room and into my shared room. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" I asked quietly. "Why wouldn't I be?" Shrugging I let the kimono fall to the floor and picked the maroon shirt off the bed. "I just have a bad feeling about it that's all" I walked into the bathroom, leaving him to his own thoughts while mine were just starting to form on the surface on my mind.
A/N: Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while but I had actually lost faith in this story until I received a review and felt like writing more haha so here you go, six pages for you guys! :D Now, in one of the reviews a reader commented that Umi was a Mary Sue and if I could just point you guys towards chapter 8 and if you just skimmed it a little, tell me, wasn't there something odd? Also in chapter 9? So you see, Umi is in fact NOT a Mary Sue but all will be explained soon about her :) Thank you and hoped you enjoyed it!