Chapter 20

In the morning, Kankuro was pleased to find his father temporarily alone with him at the breakfast table. "I guess we beat everybody else out," he said, sitting down beside his father.

Yondaime nodded. "By a few minutes, at least."

"So who is staying with who in Konoha?" Kankuro asked.

His father blushed slightly. "Same arrangement. I know it's not ideal for…"
Kankuro grinned. "That's okay. There's always the journey back."

His father blushed more brightly.

Kankuro took his father's hand and squeezed it. "I'm looking forward to it." He knew his father would know what he meant, even if he didn't spell it out. He was looking forward to the wedding. Even if it was secret, it was very exciting. They would own each other, they would have an exclusive relationship on paper, they would get the thrill of exchanging trinkets.

Once the whole group gathered, they ate breakfast and set off for Konoha.

If they traveled all day, they should get to the village of Matsubara, which was only two hours away from Konoha. They could stop there and rest for the night, and then reach Konoha in the morning. It was always about a three day trip from Suna to Konoha, but of course it could be made in less time by using the correct routes through Rivers and traveling without rest – something Kankuro had heard of experienced jonin doing when it was an emergency.

Today, they walked down the trade road running through Konoha's countryside, taking in the verdant pastures and lush forests around them. Temari and Gaara walked with Baki in front, Kankuro and Basa on either side of his father in the middle, and Aio and Josei took up the rear.

"This is very different than Suna," Basa remarked. "It's refreshing."

"No stopping for midday," Kankuro added. "It doesn't get hot enough around here."

"A breeze that doesn't want to rip your face off," Yondaime said, grinning.

Kankuro and Basa laughed.

So did Aio. "That's our Kazekage. Always one with a way for words."

That reminded Kankuro that his father was supposed to be writing every day in a journal. He hoped his father had brought it. Writing was one of his major coping mechanisms. Kankuro didn't want his father to let stress get the better of him during this journey.

Yondaime chuckled. "It's nothing. Eloquence is part of my job description. If I couldn't put words together the way I need to, the Council would walk all over me."

"That's true," Aio muttered. "Man, what is with those guys anyway? You'd think they'd all lose their jobs for trying to kill you."

"They didn't try to kill me," Yondaime objected. "It was an accident. There was no way they could know that they were collaborating with Orochimaru."

"If they did their research, they would've," Aio muttered, clearly cranky about it.

Kankuro didn't blame him. Not only would Aio have lost the person he was assigned to protect, Aio and Josei had a personal attachment to Yondaime, and his siblings and him. And it was insulting that none of the Council members had even offered to resign after that political disaster. Instead, they'd opted to pretend like nothing had happened.

Of course, Jiraiya would probably say that was for the better, since they needed the political stability…. But still, it sucked. Kankuro scowled to himself.

"Please, no one get upset about this subject," Yondaime said. "Let's just put what happened last month behind us until it's ancient history. I am alive and well, so that is all you need focus on."

Kankuro sighed. "You're right. It's just –"

"Not fair," Yondaime said. "I know. But you can't change people like that; unfair people will always be unfair."

"What you can do is correct for them," Baki said. "Like forming a separate disciplinary committee to handle issues of corruption within the Council."

"Ah, you must have been speaking with your father about it," Yondaime said wryly.

Kankuro perked up. "His father? That sounds like a great idea. I don't see why we don't have a permanent disciplinary body to handle corruption like that. I mean, we can't let the Council get away with it."

"My father is a security guard in the village," Baki said.

"He's still going, being a few years younger than me," Basa said wryly. "I doubt that Bashi will retire from service any time soon. He's too much of a warhorse."

"An important security guard, in fact," Yondaime said. "Bashi-san is a patrol captain and an interrogator."

"Oh," Kankuro said. "So his job is kind of secret, then."

"The details are," Yondaime agreed. "But I can tell you this much without a breach of security: He's very good. He's good at what he does and he always gets the job done." He looked at Baki. "In fact, if I were to form a disciplinary body to handle political corruption, I would make your father the head of it."

"People are going to accuse you of favoritism," Basa said, grinning.

"It'll be true," Yondaime retorted, grinning back. "And no one can stop me. Favoritism isn't a crime when one's favoritism is based on the skill and loyalty of one's people. It's natural to promote people like you and your family into positions of power. I need people I can trust, people who are good at their jobs and who have no ulterior agenda."

"We might have an ulterior agenda," Basa said.

"Like what?" Yondaime asked, looking amused.

Basa's grin widened. "We love you."

Yondaime blushed.

Temari saw this and giggled. "Made him blush," she teased, singsong.

"Cut it out," Yondaime protested mildly.

Temari just grinned. "Hehe."

xXx

They stopped in the village of Obana for lunch, which was a cheerful combination of rice balls and yakisoba at a casual dining restaurant. This village was much like the one at the border, except it had no bodies of water near it, and there were not as many trees. It was mostly farmland. The outstanding feature about it was the flower fields. According to a plaque they'd passed by on the way into the village, the flowers of Obana were celebrated in a festival every April. They'd missed the festival by months, it being the beginning of August now, but Kankuro tucked that fact away in the back of his head, like he did all other festivals he'd heard of. Festivals fascinated him. Each village had its own unique festivals, even if it was a national holiday.

After lunch, they left, not staying long. Up ahead in the distance, the road snaked into the trees and disappeared. That was a good sign. The last leg of the journey to Konoha was always through a dense forest. Konoha was nestled away in one of the largest forests in the Five Great Shinobi Nations. It encompassed the land in all directions, making forest travel necessary if one wanted to go to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

In an hour, they reached the trees. Cool shadows fell across the path. It seemed inviting and peaceful within the forest, but as a ninja, Kankuro was wary of any place with a lot of shadows. The effect was less severe during cloudy days. During sunny days like this, to him at least, the forests of Fire seemed ominous.

But Baki, Temari, and Gaara didn't falter, so Kankuro supposed he couldn't afford to, either. They walked as a group underneath the boughs of ancient trees. As they fell completely under the shadow of the trees, everyone fell silent. Being from the desert, the trees made Kankuro feel closed in and intimidated. They were hundreds, if not thousands, of years old, covered with moss, towering up so high that their leaves blotted out the sky in all directions. It was like being indoors outdoors. A greenhouse made by nature, but that which blocked out the sun instead of letting it in.

Kankuro was glad for the thinner spots they encountered, that let in the rays of the bright afternoon sun. Those glades were pleasant, especially the ones around streams. If the whole forest was like that, Kankuro wouldn't mind it so much.

But the bottom line was, he just didn't associate forests with good things.

Finally, after a couple hours of traveling in silence, Temari grew brave enough to talk. "So…some forest, huh?"

Gaara grunted.

"Yeah, it's something, alright," Kankuro said. "Like creepy."

Temari snorted.

"I see your point, and raise you goose pimples," Baki said.

Kankuro grinned at that. He noticed Baki seemed like an expert at breaking the tension. In that way, his sensei and Jiraiya were alike. "Yeah, man…" He rubbed his arms, only half faking it.

Yondaime chuckled gently. "The lay of the land is unfamiliar to you. That is all it is."

"I know," Kankuro said. He sighed. "But how come Konoha gets to hold so many Chunin Exams compared to other countries?"

"They're in the middle," Yondaime said. "The Land of Fire is a natural meeting point because it possesses a border with all the countries that made up the Great Nations."

Kankuro had never really thought about it before, but he could understand that geography would play a part. "Oh. I guess so."

"Just be glad it's not Kumo," Temari said.

Kankuro made a face. "Yeah, that's true." Not only would they have to travel a lot further, but Kumo ninja were notorious for being…well, a little crazy. And aloof. And big. Everyone there was the size of Baki and Basa.

"Yeah, just be glad it's lily-ass Konoha," Temari said blithely.

Baki burst out laughing. "Temari!"

"I don't think their Forest of Death is so lily-ass," Kankuro grumbled.

Temari laughed and flapped her hand. "Aw, come on, it could've been like Kiri." She put on a gravelly voice. "You must kill to survive." She grinned. "They could've just put us in an arena together to begin with and told us to kill each other."

Kankuro snorted. "Okay, okay." He glanced at their father, amused. "They say I'm melodramatic. Maybe Temari should have been the puppet master."

"Being a puppet master is about chakra, not how melodramatic you are," Aio said. He grinned. "We have to learn the melodrama part."

"Which you have done well," Josei said.

Aio grabbed Josei's arm, schoolgirl style. "Thank you, Jo-kun!"

Josei huffed and looked embarrassed, but he didn't try to reclaim his arm. Wise move. Kankuro knew from experience that the more one tried to escape from Aio, the more he hounded you. It was amusing, most of the time.

Now that everyone was talking and laughing, the forest wasn't so scary.

Kankuro just wished he had this kind of support all the time. And in the end, he would be in the arena facing Shino alone.

Not that that bothers me, he reminded himself. I have a strategy, and I'll stick to it.

But, man, he hated bugs. And he was faced up against a guy who had bugs living in him. How gross was that? And some bugs ate wood. What if the guy could, like, round up some extra bugs to chew Karasu up?

He stopped himself abruptly, horrified. He'd die if Karasu died. Karasu was more than a puppet. He was a family heirloom. Karasu had belonged to his maternal grandfather first, and Karasu had been there the entire time Kankuro had been growing up. That was practically fourteen years of friendship.

I'm making something out of nothing. I don't know what's going to happen. But I've got a plan, and I'm going to win, because I have to. It's a matter of pride. I'm not going to let some Konoha punk with bugs up his ass beat me. I'm a Sabaku. And I'm Kankuro. Kankuro was the name of one of the most powerful puppet masters from Suna's past. He was not going to do his name an injustice. His mother named him this for a reason, and he was going to live up to it.