I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO STOP BEING SO SCARED ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT WASN'T FAMILIAR

Kaiko stared at her reflection and frowned, finally paying attention to the DIY haircut she had given herself when Sasuke has grabbed her hair. Almost all the strands at least went to her shoulders but her hair looked terrible, uneven, and no longer covered the scars that marred her face. She sighed and went to her bags and pulled out the black under armor that she usually wore with her ANBU uniform and pulled it on, leaving the mask around her neck until she planned to leave the house.

Finding a purple t-shirt, she pulled it on before pulling on a pair of tan cargo pants. Knowing that she wasn't going to be left alone and that one of the sand siblings would be with her at all times, she opted not to grab her weapons since it was supposed to be a vacation anyway. Grabbing her wallet and shoes, she left Gaara's room and smelt something burning. Dashing downstairs, Kaiko frowned seeing Temari in the kitchen while Kankuro was sitting on the living room floor with pieces of his puppet around him.

"Is it dead yet?" Kaiko called towards the kitchen and Kankuro grinned as he looked up at her.

"This is normal," Kankuro whisper-yelled and a spatula appeared flying from the kitchen and hit him in the head.

"You poor things, how have you survived?" She frowned, entering the kitchen and saw a blackened mess in a pan that Temari had pulled out of the oven. "Seriously, don't tell me you live off a diet of ash?"

"Sadly, she's still better than me," Kankuro sighed as he came into the kitchen and stood besides Kaiko. "At least nothing is ever on fire when she cooks. Most times we go out."

"Shut it, Kankuro!" Temari snapped.

"Out, both of you," Kaiko chuckled as she grabbed Temari's arm and pushed both her and Kankuro towards the living room. "Honestly, even Naruto cooks better than you when he's not making ramen."

"Harsh," Kankuro chuckled and Kaiko heard an impact and glanced around the corner to see him holding the back of his head and Temari holding a rolled up magazine.

Kaiko shook her head as she scrapped the black ash that Temari had attempted to cook into the trash and tossed the pan in the sink before going though all the cupboards to see what she could make. Grabbing the rice, she got the rice maker going before pulling several sirloin steaks out of the fridge. Finding bell peppers, onions, peas, carrots, and mini corn, she pulled those out as well and immediately started chipping everything up and slicing the steaks into thin strips.

Tossing the meat into a pan with some oil, she found some seasonings and sprinkled some into the pan to infuse into the meat. Once the meat was done, she added the vegetables and felt eyes watching her. Looking behind her, she saw both the sand siblings she had kicked out watching her, practically drooling.

"If you're going to just stand there, you can set the table," Kaiko chuckled and they immediately got to work and she noticed that they only set three places. "Where's Gaara?"

"He's already in the office," Kankuro spoke as Temari started serving the rice into bowls since the rice maker had finished cooking.

"Did he eat?"

"No, he usually doesn't eat until his secretary buys him lunch. Last time, we tried to bring him something that Temari managed not to turn to ash, he used his sand to strangle us," Kankuro chuckled as he sat down out of the way.

"That's going to change," Kaiko frowned as Temari brought over the three plates and she served the stir fry, making sure to leave enough for Gaara. "I'm going to take him some of this before you show me around."

"That's if you haven't poisoned us," Kankuro chuckled and she smacked the back of his head as she helped Temari bring the plates back and sat down, handing Kankuro his serving.

"Eat your breakfast. I have never made it a habit to eat ash. If it burns, I throw it out," Kaiko spoke as she grabbed her chopsticks. Kankuro and Temari hesitantly took a bite before their eyes widened and Kankuro looked like he was going to cry. "Dude, seriously…?"

"You are never leaving us," Kankuro exclaimed. "I don't care what anyone says, you are not going back!"

"A little over the top, don't'cha think?" Kaiko chuckled as she dig into her own meal. "So who's my jailer today?"

"Kankuro is," Temari spoke, finishing first and started making a bento box with the remaining stir fry and rice. "I'll clean up but then I am meeting up with some friends."

"The irony," Kaiko laughed, finishing her own food and placed the dishes in the sink.

"Please don't leave us, Kaiko!" Kankuro cried as he suddenly hugged her from behind. "We should surely die from hunger I you do."

"Just punch him, it's what I do," Temari chuckled as she placed the bento box in a bag and handed it to Kaiko. "Breakfast was amazing, thank you."

"Yes, thank you!" Kankuro sung as he finally let go of her and dashed out of the room.

"Did I just create a monster?" Kaiko frowned as she listened to the puppeteer humming in the other room.

"Possibly. Go enjoy yourself, if you don't kill him first."

"Nah, it's amusing. Have a good day, I'll see you later," Kaiko spoke as she went back to the living room where Kankuro had finished putting his mummy-wrapped puppet onto his back. "Shall we head out?"

"Yeah, I got to pick up a few things for my puppets and I kind of want to see Gaara's reaction to your food," he grinned as he pulled on his cat hood and she pulled up her mask before heading out the door. "Why you wearing that?"

"Because I don't like people staring and my hair is no longer able to hide the scars. I got comfortable around you guys but I don't know anyone here."

"That makes sense. Now that I look at it, your hair…"

"I know, it's terrible," Kaiko groaned. "Tip for thought, don't try cutting your hair with a kunai."

"Could have told you that," he laughed. "Sakura and Ino did it back when we were going though the chunin exams."

"Ugh. After we visit Gaara, you're taking me to get it fixed."

"But…"

"We can go where you want after but I need my hair fixed. And if you complain, I won't make you food," Kaiko grinned and saw his shoulders slump as he walked beside her.

"Fine."

"Thank you," she hummed as they reached the Kazekage tower and stepped inside where it was cooler.

"Morning Kankuro," a girl with mousy brown hair smiled as she sat at the main desk.

"Morning Matsuri. Is he busy?" Kankuro asked.

"He's always busy, you know that," she smiled, "but you can go up. I think he was expecting you at some point this morning."

"Thanks," he spoke before guiding Kaiko up the stairs.

"So which one does she like? You or Gaara?" Kaiko asked and watched with amusement as he missed the last stair and fell face first. Laughing, she hurried down the hallway. "I'll meet you in there."

She knocked on the double doors and heard Gaara give the okay to enter. Glancing to where Kankuro was still lying on the floor, she grinned and entered the office. After making sure no one was in the room besides Gaara, she pulled her mask down and placed the bento box right on top of his paperwork.

"I heard that you didn't eat this morning," she smiled as she sat on the chair in front of the desk. "How have you and Kankuro managed to stay alive with Temari's cooking?"

"She try to cook again?"

"Yeah," Kaiko groaned as she scratched her cheek. "Kicked her out of the kitchen as soon as I came downstairs."

"You cooked…?"

"Mhm, enjoy. Kankuro is now threatening to keep me a prisoner and saying I'm not allowed to leave." Kaiko smirked seeing his surprise at that and turned his focus to the bento box in front of him as Kankuro finally came into the room. "Took you long enough, you okay there Kankuro?"

"If I get a black eye, I'm blaming you," he mumbled as he sat beside her.

"I'll take that blame because it was funny. Wait, do you have a crush on her? Is that why you tripped when I had asked about her?" Kaiko grinned and saw his red face darken. "Why haven't you asked her out yet?"

"Because of the question you had asked."

"Don't be so scared," she mused as she glanced at Gaara as he took a bite of the stir fry and his body stiffened.

"Right?" Kankuro grinned. "We can't let her go back now."

"She's not a prisoner, Kankuro," Gaara spoke after a moment. "Thank you Kaiko. It is delicious."

"You're welcome."

A/N: It has been a long time since I looked at this story and I apologize. Constantly creating stories doesn't help either. Going back, I noticed that all of this story was written in first person and tried to write this chapter in that format as well but couldn't so this story will most likely remain in third person.