Chapter 10: The X-Men

"Those bandits did what?" asked Kankuro as he dropped his fork onto his plate.

Everyone except Matsuri was gathered around the dining room table eating their breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon while Izuka and Gaara gave them the latest update of the accursed bandits.

"They burned down a village that was located along the trade route between Suna and Kiri. No one was killed, but there were a few that were wounded." said Gaara as he dropped a piece of his bacon into his mouth.

"What are you guys going to do?" asked Naruto as he wolfed down his waffles.

"We're not going to do anything until we discuss it with the council at today's meeting later." said Izuka as she took a bite of her scrambled eggs.

"Those bandits are twisted. I wonder what they want." commented Shikamaru as he took a bite of his food.

"Who knows?" asked Temari.

Suddenly, the faint sound of keys jingling and a door being swung open and then closed with a sharp thud was heard throughout the room.

"Hey guys!" exclaimed Matsuri as she entered the room and took a seat next to Hinata at the table.

"Matsuri, when did you get a key to our house?" asked Gaara as he raised an invisible eyebrow at his student.

"Kankuro gave it to me. He said it would be more convenient" answered Matsuri as she swiped a bacon strip from Kankuro's plate and swiftly ate it.

Kankuro nervously looked at Izuka, Temari, and Kankuro.

"We'll talk about this later." said Temari with a frown.

"Anyway, I came with today's edition of the Suna Times." said Matsuri as she revealed the newspaper and laid it out on the table. She opened it to reveal the poll page.

The results were as followed: Gaara as Sesshomaru received 30% of the vote, Naruto as Inuyasha and Izuka as Rin both got 20% of the vote, Hinata as Kagome got 10% of the vote, Kankuro as Miroku and Matsuri as Sango each got 7% of the vote, and Temari as Kagura and Shikamaru as Naraku both got 3% of the vote.

"Looks like the citizens of Suna really do not like the bad guys of Inuyasha." commented Shikamaru as he ate a slice of bacon.

"Apparently" agreed Temari with a scowl. She turned to Gaara. "Congrats little brother, you won again."

"Thank you sis. Now what is today's costume theme?" asked Gaara as he crossed his arms.

"Nothing gets by you brother." said Temari as she took out a slip of paper from her pajama shirt's pocket.

Temari looked around the table before speaking again. "I have decided to move away from anime themes for a while to another place for costume inspiration. Marvel comics to be exact."

"Where's this going?" questioned Kankuro as he eyed his sister.

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is that today, we are going to dress up like some of the members of the X-Men." said Temari with a clap of her hand.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Naruto with a grin.

Temari turned to her young redheaded brother.

"Gaara, you will be Cyclops, the guy that can shoot red beams out of his eyes." said Temari with a grin.

"Does that mean I have to wear that weird eye visor all day?" asked Gaara.

Temari shook her head yes.

"Aw crap." said Gaara with a shrug. Everyone got a good chuckle out of that one.

"Hinata, you will be Jean Grey, but as her Phoenix form." said Temari as she looked at the Hyuga.

"That's . . . different." commented Hinata.

"Well, at least we will know whether you look good with red hair or not." added Matsuri.

"Good point." said Hinata.

"Izuka, you'll be Emma Frost, the telepath with the icy cold demeanor." said Temari.

"Hold up. Am I going to have to wear another risqué outfit?" asked Izuka as she crossed her arms.

"Not really, unless you don't mind showing a little bit of your cleavage for today." said Temari as she pointed to Izuka's full chest. It wasn't as big as Temari's, but it was big enough to be noticeable by the public.

"Temari, remember, we're all still under the age of 18." said Gaara as he looked at his sister.

"Don't be acting so responsible and coy, Gaara. We all know that you've actually been liking the fact I've been putting Izuka in these semi risqué costumes these past few days." said Temari with a smirk.

Gaara said nothing, but his face actually blushed a slight shade of red.

"Sis, I think you're right." said Kankuro with a smirk which made Gaara blush an even deeper shade of red.

"Why do you torture them so much?" asked Naruto as he looked at the two elder Sand Siblings.

"Because it's fun." said Kankuro. "Why don't you join in Naruto."

"Unlike you, I know when I am outmatched. Besides, if I even try to torment Izuka at least once, she'll burn my ramen supply." said Naruto as he leaned back into his chair and seni Izuka a wayward look.

Temari only shook her head before turning to Kankuro.

"Kankuro, you will be Beast."

"Sweet, chicks dig the blue fur." said Kankuro as he fist pumped in the air.

"Really?" asked an irked Matsuri as she stared at the puppeteer with cold eyes.

"Nothing sweetheart. I didn't mean what I said." said a slightly scared Kankuro.

"You better have." mumbled Matsuri as she looked away from him.

"Are you two done with your little dispute?" asked Shikamaru as he looked at the two.

"Just ignore us." said Matsuri as she looked at Kankuro with annoyed eyes.

"Matsuri, you will be Shadowcat, the girl that can walk through inanimate objects."

"Perfect." said Matsuri with a grin.

Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged unsure looks with each other as soon as they saw Matsuri's grinned.

"Naruto, you will be Wolverine."

"I can do that." said Naruto with a shrug.

"Shikamaru, you will be Gambit." said Temari with a smile.

"Oh great. I get to be the guy that can manipulate kinetic energy and use playing cards as a weapon and speak with a Cajun accent." said Shikamaru as he finished his orange juice.

"You can already manipulate shadows, so that shouldn't be hard for you to pull off." said Kankuro with a smirk.

"You are seriously not helping." commented Shikamaru as he closed his eyes.

"Who are you going to be Temari?" asked Hinata as she looked at the wind mistress.

"I'm going to be Rogue." said Temari with a smirk.

"You do know that means you're stuck wearing gloves all day and cannot have any physical contact with anyone else right?" asked Izuka as she raised a blonde eyebrow at the elder girl.

"Oh shittttttttttttttttt." whined Temari.

"Someone can't touch Shika." said Naruto with a laugh.

"Oh shut up!" exclaimed Temari. "The costumes are all on the table in the living room. Grab the one you're assigned and get ready. We'll meet at the front door within the hour before we leave out for the day."

Everyone nodded their heads and put away their dishes before walking out to the living room to get their costumes and get ready for the fourth day of the festival.

50 minutes later

Gaara was the first to finish getting ready for the day and was currently waiting for the others. He was wearing a yellow and dark blue body suit that even covered his red hair with matching boots. The visor was already on his face.

Gaara groaned and looked at his reflection in a nearby mirror. Thanks to his visor, his vision was colored ruby red.

"This is going to get annoying before the day is even over." complained Gaara as he turned to the door.

"How so?" asked Izuka as she walked down the stairs.

"Well considering that my vision is the color of rubies, it's going to be one red day for me." said Gaara as he turned to the blonde girl. His jaw almost dropped, again.

Izuka's long blonde hair was out of its braids and cascaded down her back. She was wearing an ice white long sleeved crop top that showed her bare shoulders and slight cleavage that also had a sown in icy white cape and matching icy white gloves. She also wore a pair of icy white pants with matching boots. In order to match with the rest of her costume, her amulet shifted from its purple flower for to its ice form, an ice blue I shaped crystal.

"Izuka?" questioned Gaara as he took a step forward.

"Call me Emma." said Izuka as she walked closer to the redhead. "What do you think?"

"You are so going to give your fan boys nosebleeds when they see you in this costume." commented Gaara as he looked over Izuka.

"So much head trauma, so little time." said Izuka with a shrug. "As for you, with the visor and your hair being covered, you almost look unrecognizable."

"I do?" asked Gaara.

Izuka shook her head yes. "The only thing that could indicate that you are you is the fact that the kanji on your head is still slightly showing."

"I see." said Gaara as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"See what?" asked Kankuro as he walked down the stairs.

"That Gaara looks almost unrecognizable in his costume and damn Kankuro you are so blue!" exclaimed Izuka as she looked at the puppeteer.

Gaara turned to look at his brother and commented. "Well look at that, I see red and you are blue."

Kankuro was dressed in a blue body suit covered in blue fur. He wore dark blue and yellow pants and no shoes. His chest was bare except for the body suit covering it. He wore blue face paint that covered his whole face. He also wore a blue wig with matching blue side burns.

"Ah, Emma, Cyclops, I see that you two are already ready for today's council meeting." commented Kankuro as he walked over to the two.

"So are you Hank. Tell me, what's better, math or science?" asked Izuka as she crossed her arms.

"I'm going to have to go with math. It is the root of knowledge after all." said Kankuro with a shrug.

"Please don't tell me that Dr. Hank is saying math related again." whined Matsuri as she joined the others.

Matsuri was wearing a yellow and dark blue body suit with matching yellow gloves and boots and a red belt with the X-Men logo as its buckle. She was also wearing a shoulder length brunette wig.

"You may learn something from my intellect if you just listen to me Shadowcat." said Kankuro with a grin.

"Whatever." commented Matsuri as she looked away from him.

"What's going on in here?" asked Naruto as he walked in to the foyer, followed by Hinata.

Naruto was wearing the full yellow and blue suit and mask with retractable claws. There was some black hair peeking out from under his mask, indicating that he was wearing a black wig. He also had some slight fake stubble along his jawline.

Hinata was wearing a green body suit with a yellow belt, gloves, and boots. She was also wearing a bright orange red wig.

"Beast and Shadowcat are having a math dispute." said Gaara as he looked at the two. "So that's what you look like with red hair Jean."

"It's a totally different look for me." said Hinata as she looked at the ground.

"Just be glad it's just for the day." said Izuka as she looked at the door.

"Quick question, who's the better telepath?" asked Kankuro with a smirk.

"Me!" exclaimed Izuka and Hinata in unison. They both looked at each other in surprise before scowling at each other.

"Thanks a lot Hank. You got them mad at each other, again." said Naruto with a groan.

"Once you ask two telepaths who is better between the two, then it's all down here from there." said Gaara with a sigh.

"Why are you guys even arguing about who is better. I'm better than all of you." said Temari as she joined the others.

Temari was dressed in a yellow and green body suit with a brown leather jacket on top. She was also wearing a long brown and white wig over her hair.

"And why do you say that Rogue?" asked Shikamaru in a very good Cajun accent.

Shikamary was wearing a shoulder length brunette wig, a purple shirt, black pants, light gray boots, and a long brown trench coat. He held a pack of playing cards in one hand and a silver rod in the other.

"My mutant ability is absorbing the abilities and memories of others and using them as my own." said Temari bluntly.

"Yep, she got us beat." said Matsuri as she opened the door and walked out the house. The others followed suit.

End of chapter 10

A/n: Please review.

All X-Men references belong to Marvel.

Birthday Reminder: Tomorrow is Bleach's own Shukuro Tsukishima's birthday, February 4.