Killing Time
Chapter Thirteen: Sandstorm
By Kaori

There was a terrible sandstorm outside so everyone who wasn't essential to guard duty stayed indoors. The siblings had not been assigned to any village duties today so they were quite happily enjoying the impromptu holiday.

Kankuro walked into the living room to see Gina lying on her stomach on the rug reading a magazine. Her back was to the door and she did not seem to hear when the cat-suited young man had entered. Looking over to the left Temari was reclined on the sofa, her hair the only thing that had given away her location. Enjoying the relaxing vibe in the room he paced in steadily and confidently. Once he was within the line of site of the other two occupants any greeting he may have had died in his throat and he recoiled in shock as both girls' faces were covered in a disgusting green slime.

"GAH!" he yelped intelligently. Temari cracked an eye open as apparently she had been dozing and Gina quirked an eyebrow at him. "What is that horrible crap on your faces?"

"As opposed to the horrible crap that's usually on yours?" Gina quipped dryly. While Gina did keep her promise not to play any more practical jokes on Kankuro, that did not prevent her from making jokes at his expense, rattling off bad puns, or other forms of verbal shenanigans whenever she had the opportunity.

Kankuro glared at her. "It's a beauty mask; makes your skin soft and radiant. With this harsh desert climate my skin was drying out and that's just not sexy."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his older sister. "And what's your excuse?"

"I'm a woman too, I don't need an excuse." Temari replied dryly. "It's not like I get the opportunity to lie around and pamper myself every day. Since we can't go anywhere until the sandstorm subsides I'm going to use this opportunity to be good to myself."

Gina sat up and stretched her arms above her head, wincing as the movement aggravated the partially healed knife wound in her back. The medic-nins had managed to heal most of the wound but because her teke worked against their healing chakra, they hadn't been able to close the wound completely. As it stood, she'd have to wait for it to heal the rest of the way naturally. "Anyway, did you want something?" she asked Kankuro.

"I was just wondering where everybody was. Gaara's out in the courtyard training..."

"He's outside in that?" Gina interrupted. Kankuro rolled his eyes.

"It's impossible for Gaara to get hurt in a sandstorm. In fact the idea of him even being touched by it is laughable."

"Right. I keep forgetting he's got that demon stuck in his head." Kankuro's eyes actually softened at the comment.

"And I still can't get over how easily you do forget."

"Wilful ignorance and selective memory have saved me from many a sleepless night." she took on a prayerful pose. "Oh spirits of stupidity thank you for shielding this humble one from the terrors and evils of reality!" Both of the Suna shinobi rolled their eyes at that. "Anyway, I'm going to wash this stuff off." she affected a rasping voice and a strange accent neither of the Sabaku siblings recognized. "Talk amongst yourselves, I'll give you a topic: the current Hokage is neither a hooker nor a shadow. Discuss (1)!" And she pranced out of the room.

Dinner time rolled around and Gaara had returned indoors yet the sandstorm continued to rage on. At the rate it was going it appeared that they would have to dig out the entire village when it finally subsided. These thoughts were far from everyone's mind as they enjoyed a meal of plain white rice, fried fish fillets, and tofu soup. Gina, who hated tofu altogether, forwent the soup and instead slathered her rice and fish with ketchup, mixed it up in her bowl and ate it with gusto (2).

"How can you eat that?" Kankuro muttered in disgust.

"What? It's all going the same place anyway and I like how it tastes." shrugged Gina. "Don't knock it until you try it."

"I'll pass...Gaara what are you doing?" Everyone turned to look at the red-head to see him mixing a small amount of rice and fish with ketchup, before taking a tentative bite. No one's eyes left him as he chewed, his eyes looking up at the ceiling briefly in speculation before he swallowed. A beat. Gaara grabbed some more rice and fish and poured on the ketchup much to the delight of Gina. "GAARA! T...TEMARI?" His sister had decided to try it as well, and while she didn't make a frantic grab for the ketchup bottle she did concede that the combination was actually kind of tasty.

Kankuro sighed, before finally giving in. He mixed a little of the rice and fish together just as his younger brother had done, dabbed on some ketchup, and took a bite. His eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, this ain't half bad." Gina looked smug.

"Oh, by the way Temari is there anywhere in the village that sells gloves?" the wild card asked the blonde.

"Hmm, aside from gardening gloves the only other gloves I've seen are only sold in the shinobi outfitter shops. Why?"

"Mine are starting to wear thin." she held up her hand. Temari nodded, noticing that she was beginning to see the girl's skin through the material. "I just need to find a decent pair so I can replace these."

"I thought you said those gloves were specially made to keep you from petrifying people by accident." Temari pointed out. "How is buying a regular pair going to help with that?"

"It's not that the gloves are made specially, but they are treated with PTFE."

"What the heck is PTFE?" Her siblings also stopped eating to listen having never heard that term before.

"Polytetrafluoroethylene (3)." Gina "clarified" only to get more befuddled looks. "Just know that it's the only thing that I can't petrify (4) and the inside of my gloves are lined with it."

"And just where are you going to get this miracle substance?" Kankuro snorted.

"Let's just say I know a girl who knows a guy who has access to a chemistry lab so advanced it'd make your head a'splode; then again he doesn't exactly need a laboratory for that..."

"Riiiight."

"But I still need gloves first."

"I'll take you shopping tomorrow." Temari said.

"Thanks! Now, what's for dessert?"

1) Seriously discuss this.

2) This is one of my favourite comfort foods.

3) Better known to the rest of the world as Teflon.

4) I don't know much about chemistry but from what I understand petrifaction is what happens when a living thing is converted into stone by being infused with silica. Silica can be dissolved with hydrofluoric acid which is where we get fluorine. Fluorine is one of the chemicals used to make PTFE and since it contains this substance it might be able to stave off the effect of petrifaction. Chemistry students correct me if I'm wrong.