A Night To Remember
Hi! Thank you all so much for your reviews! This chappie has alotta lemony goodness! . Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't be putting any lemons, and technically, I'm not. .' Don't really have alot to say now except...REVIEW!!
Chapter Four: Awaken
Kankurou sat on his bed, the lights out except for the American Christmas lights he had taped over the shelf around his bed. He starred out the window, still waiting for Kyu to come back. Sighing deeply, he lay back on a pile of pillows, his hands behind his back, starring out of the window at the Crescent moon. It had been two days since the party and Kyu's kiss, and he found himself missing her every minute of every waking day.
Ever since he was a kid ... well, actually ever since Gaara was born, people ran away from Kankurou, just because he had been related to Gaara. Then, when he was ten, he met Yamiko, a transfer student from some other village. They had gotten along fine, because she hadn't known about Gaara, and Kankurou had really liked her. Then, one day, Gaara had scared her by attacking her friends with the sand when they had been playing outside. After that, Yamiko had wanted nothing to do with him. Kankurou grimaced slightly; he had hated Gaara so much then, and, deep in his heart, he still did. It wasn't something he could easily let go of. He hadn't found it easy to like anyone after that; he didn't want to get hurt again because of Gaara. Gaara ruined his life in more ways then one.
But Kyu was different, he thought suddenly. She liked you before she knew Gaara was your brother. And she had said so herself, she didn't care if you were related to Gaara. He couldn't help but smile to himself.
Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door, and, noticing he had left it unlocked again, he got up to slam it in whoever-disturb-him's face. When he reached the door and yanked it open, he faltered. "Kyu-chan."
She smiled up at him, her blue eyes filled with desire as she pulled him down to her level, kissing him deeply. He sighed slightly against her full lips and pulled her to him, closing the door so they could get some privacy; Temari had made it very clear that their house was G-rated when Gaara was around. Her cool hands traced up his bare arms (he having changed for bed, wearing only his pajama bottoms again), leaving a trail of fire behind. He felt her push him down roughly, straddling his waist and leaning down to lick his ear. He felt himself shudder; that just felt nasty! He jerked his head away and she paused, unsure for a minute, before kissing him firmly on the lips, as if by means of apology. He readily accepted, running his hands across the bottom of her shirt before they found the edge and snaked their way to her bare skin. The fireworks came back, but as they did, he felt something else.
An Illusion.
Sitting upright, he pushed her off him with a lot of force. "Who are you?" he growled, his fingers itching for Karasu.
In a burst of smoke, a taller girl with a blonde pigtail sat before him, looking annoyed. "How did you know it was me?" she said coldly.
"You're horrible at disguising your Illusions," he snapped. "You're the girl from the other night; Kyu's friend."
"Yamanaka Ino," she said proudly.
"Why did you do this?" he growled, his fingers entwining with the ribbons encasing Karasu.
Ino's eyes flicked to the puppet, but she said stubbornly, "You shouldn't be with her!"
"Oh?" he said coldly, the top of Karasu's head coming into view. "And I suppose you think you're the better choice? Here's a hint; I don't have back-stabbers attractive."
Ino bit her lip, but continued. "She only likes you for your face!"
"And before I came to that dance, you acted like I was a freak of nature," he said coldly. "If anyone likes me for my face, it's you." Standing up, he opened the door. "Get out."
"But—"
"Get out or I'll sic Gaara on you!"
She didn't need to be told twice. Kankurou smirked to himself. Maybe having a psychopathic brother wasn't a bad thing after all.
The next day
Kankurou mumbled to himself as he crawled out of bed and nearly ran into the wall in a comatose state of mind. Sighing and pulling on his robe, he dragged himself down the hall and to the stairs, but, finding it too energy-consuming to take it one step at a time, allowed himself to simply drop down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.
From the kitchen, Temari sighed. "Looks like he stayed up late again," she said, to Gaara over her shoulder from where he was eating a [insert fruit here].
Kankurou groaned to himself, dragging himself over to the table and slumping over it. Gaara starred at him for a moment before kicking a chair over to slide beneath his brother.
Kankurou groaned his thanks and slumped over the chair, folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them.
"Rough night?" Temari asked, putting a bowl and a box of Cocoa Puffs in front of him. "I don't see how, it's not like you got any action."
"Action?" Gaara asked innocently.
"Oh, I got some, alright," Kankurou mumbled, grabbing at the Cocoa Puffs and pulling them on the table next to the bowl.
"Really?" Temari asked, turning around.
"Yep." He picked up the milk and this time, poured it in the bowl.
"Kyu came home?" Temari sat herself down between her brothers with a plate of eggs.
"Nope." Kankurou picked up his spoon and started shoveling air into his mouth. "Ino came over disguised as Kyu."
"Really?"
"Yep." He sighed and gave up on the cereal. "She tried to get me to—"
"You didn't, did you?" Temari interrupted at once.
"No!" Kankurou's head shot up. "I'm not stupid, I saw the Chakra Illusion!"
"What was Ino trying to get Kankurou to do?" Gaara asked, but once again, was ignored.
"How far did you get?" Temari asked keenly.
"Pervert," Kankurou mumbled, holding his bowl of milk at the edge of the table and brushing the cereal in it.
"I just want to know!"
"We were just making out, that's all," he said coolly, stirring his cereal. "Then I saw the illusion and kicked her out."
"Good job," Temari said as the phone rang.
Kankurou and Temari both looked at the phone, then at each other. Smirking, the two lunged over the table to get to the phone hanging on the wall, and ended up colliding in mid-lung. A scuffle shortly followed.
"You don't have anyone who would be calling you!" Temari shouted, landing a well aimed kicked to his head and jumping up to get the phone.
"I might!" he shouted, grabbing her ankles and pulling her back. "Who cares if that Konoha brat wants to call you?!"
"I care! And his name is Shikamaru! He has a nice name, so say it right! Shi-ka-mar-u!"
"Hello, Sand-nin residence."
Kankurou and Temari froze, and looked up at the phone. Gaara glared down at them, the phone off the hook and on his ear.
"NO!" both shouted, jumping up, only to be blocked by a shield of sand.
"Hello, Sakura. What do you want?" they heard Gaara asked. "It's pointless to want to talk to him ... I know that, don't talk to me like I'm stupid ... Uchiha was weak, I had no other choice ... Shut up or I'll squish you." They heard the phone smack down on the receiver as the sand shield melted away.
"Who was that?" Temari asked, picking up the phone, as if whoever had been on the other line would still be connected.
"Sakura."
"What did she want?"
"Kankurou."
Temari turned to look at Kankurou, who shrugged. "I'm beginning to think losing the hood was a bad idea," she said thoughtfully, before hanging up.
"It's your fault," he muttered, going back to his cereal.
Later
Kankurou tossed himself on the sofa and grabbed the remote, turning it on. As he had suspected, he had absolutely nothing to do except make sure Gaara stayed in the house while Temari was out. He had no idea what she did when she was out, and, quite frankly, he had no desire to.
Brrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggg.
Dammit, he was gonna KILL that machine! He groaned and dragged himself up off the sofa and mentally pulled himself over to the phone and picked it up.
"Hello?" he mumbled, leaning against the counter.
"Hi, Kankurou, it's Sakura!"
Groan. "What do you want?"
"Um ... Did Ino go over your house last night?" She sounded nervous.
"Yes."
"Um ... I told her not to."
"Ok." What did she want, an award?
"I tried to stop her, too."
"Obviously not hard enough," he said coldly. Hang up! he ordered himself.
"She didn't ... um ... try anything, did she?"
"What do you think?"
"Oh..." She got points for sounding genuinely sorry. Lets give her one point, shall we?
"Look, I gotta go, I have to baby-sit my psychopathic, serial killer of a brother. Bye." He slammed the phone down.
"Do you always insult people behind their backs?"
Kankurou whirled around. Gaara glared at him from where he stood at the foot of the stairs.
"G-Gaara..." Kankurou grinned weakly. Oh shit.
"Is that all you think I am?"
"Um ... N-no..."
"Don't lie. You always stutter when you lie."
Mental note to self: Make sure you never stutter again.
"N-no, I don't." Nice job, spaz.
Gaara made a sound sort of between a scoff and a growl and turned on his heel, heading back up the stairs.
Kankurou breathed a sigh of relief, before Gaara turned around and said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Kankurou's head shot up. "For what?"
"Yamiko."
Kankurou nearly fell over. "You ... heard us?"
"Were you trying to be quiet?"
Oh, yeah. It was a screaming death match.
"I won't let it hurt her," Gaara mumbled, before going back upstairs.
Kankurou faltered. Did he mean Kyu?
Go after him, you idiot! said the voice in his head. Go tell him it's ok! GO!
His feet started up the stairs, but where stopped by a knock at the door. It wasn't like Gaara was going anywhere, he decided, going over to the door to open it.
"Hi, Kankurou-chan!" said Kyu, hugging him around the waist.
Kankurou paused, making sure there was no chakra Illusions at work, before hugging her back. He sighed against her soft hair. He had to tell her about Ino; he knew for a fact Ino wasn't going to tell her ... WHY DID THE HARD THINGS HAVE TO BE HIS PROBLEM ALL THE TIME?!
"Um ... Kyu?" He bit his lip. This was gonna be really hard. He pulled her inside and closed the door, making sure Gaara wasn't on the stairs again. "I have to talk to you ... About Ino."
"Ino-chan?" She looked up at him, her large, blue eyes captivating him for a split second before he nodded. "What about her?"
"Um..." He sighed and steered her over to sit on the couch. (This more for his benefit then hers.) Sitting down next to her, he pulled her legs across his leg and put his arms on them to keep her form jumping up if she got angry, which he knew she would.
"Is everything ok?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern as she gently stroked his hair.
"Um ... No," he answered truthfully, making her delicate eyebrows go up. "Last night, wile you were gone, Ino came over."
"Ok ... And?"
"Well ... she was disguised as you." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye; he saw her face instantly tense up.
"And?"
"And, well ... you know..."
"You kissed her?" She didn't sound angry (THANK GOD!); instead, she sounded and looked hurt.
"Well ... she was disguised as you," he mumbled. "And I didn't see the Illusion until a couple minutes later."
"What did she say when you found out?" Coldness was creeping over her voice; he had a feeling all warmth for Ino had left her.
Kankurou chewed his lip. "She said ... that I shouldn't be with you."
Kyu's eyes widened. "She said that?!" She made to stand up, but he kept her down with his arms on her legs.
"Um ... Yeah," he said, most of his energy being focused on keeping her in a seated position. "But I said no and kicked her out." He turned to look at her again, and, to his surprise, saw her eyes welling up with tears. "Wha...?"
"I can't believe she would do that!" she whimpered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "She was my best friend!"
Kankurou felt his heart wrench as he pulled her over to sit on his lap. He knew trying to cheer her up was useless, but he wanted to make her feel better. Holding her tight, he kissed her lips, cheeks, and eyes, kissing away the tears as they fell. He felt her arms go around his neck, her fingers entwining with his hair. He kissed her again where her shoulder met with her neck, then slowly kissed his way down her collarbone to press his lips against the hollow of her throat. He felt her cool hands work their way between them to work his shirt up his chest. He broke away from her quickly and raised his arms, allowed her to pull his shirt of his head before he kissed her again, this time more passionately, his hands (which, to his annoyance, were trembling) trailing down her back.
"Oh my god, will you get a room?"
Kankurou broke the kiss again, and looked over his shoulder, annoyed. Temari and Shikamaru stood in the doorway, Temari looking annoyed and Shikamaru looking embarrassed. "Get a life, Temari."
"Whatever you too little love birds are planning, you can do up in your room," Temari snapped, tossing her keys on the table and crossing the room to the fridge. "What'll you do if Gaara comes down here?"
"Tell him to go back upstairs," Kankurou said simply, standing up and setting Kyu on the floor. She didn't look at all embarrassed, just a little disappointed. He had to admit, he was, too. "He's fourteen, he should know by now the forces of nature can override the senses. Besides, he's got a girlfriend, doesn't he?"
"He does?" Temari raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah; that Rynn girl from the dance."
"Oh ... poor Gaara," Kyu mumbled, tossing Kankurou's shirt over the back of the sofa, obviously having no intention of letting him replace it. "I've known her for a long time. She's sweet and all, but she's just ... loud."
"Like Kiba," Shikamaru said in a long-suffering voice.
"Yep." Kyu sighed. "But Gaara must like her."
Temari shrugged. "I guess."
Kankurou rolled his eyes at her. "Come on, Kyu," he said, taking her hand and leading her upstairs, avoiding Temari's wink.
Once in the second-floor hallway, they started down the hall to Kankurou's room, which was the last one, when a door to their right opened, and Gaara poked his head out. "Don't be loud," he said coldly, totally unaware of exactly what those three words could mean if he knew what they were planning. He had, of course, simply meant that he didn't want them to have their music too loud, or some such nonsense.
"Hey, Kyu!" Rynn called over Gaara's shoulder at the two blushing Nins.
"Hey, Rynn," Kyu said, grinning a bit. "Don't you two be loud, either." Winking at Rynn, she followed Kankurou to his room.
"Whoa..." She looked around. Temari's statement of it being 'messy' was an understatement. It was a large room, but he had crammed a lot of stuff in it. On the shelves above his bed, he had several scrolls, bandages, and a few manga. Over the head of the bed were Christmas lights, which were plugged in, casting a sort of half-lighted orange glow over the room. In one corner, he had his two puppets, unwrapped, their arms and legs strewn across each other. Screws, bolts, tools, cans of oil and clothes were around them, arranged somewhat neatly in piles of size, type and use. The bed was another story. There wasn't really a designated place to put your head; there were pillows all over the mattress (it was really a futon) and an entanglement of blankets. It was a large bed, and looked really comfortable, despite the tangle. Amongst the blankets there was an occasional magazine or Manga, some opened, the covers facing up, as if he had not quite finished with them, but had gotten bored with them. Hanging on the walls were posters of a few bands (Of course, there had to be Disturbed up there; I'm in love with them!) and some children's marionettes (Is that spelled right?). She saw one that looked sort of like a badger, but more like a raccoon. (It's the Shukaku! Tribute to KageNoKatana! Thank you gift for letting me use Rynn!)
Kankurou followed her gaze from where he was tossing some clothes in the closet. "That's one of my first puppets my dad gave me," he said, going over and picking it up off the nail it was rested on. "You wanna try?"
"Sure," she said, taking it and looking at the controls. Instead of the wooden board most puppets had, it had a small wooden ring attached to the end of each of the strings. There were ten of them in all, two on each of the limbs. "How's, um ... How's it work?"
"Oh..." It had never occurred to the well-experienced puppeteer that someone couldn't figure out what was so simple to him. (It doesn't happen that often, you see.) "You slip your fingers in the rings, and twitch them to move it."
"Oh..." She put her fingers in the rings, which were labeled "R1," "R2," "R3," and so on, to show which hand and which finger to put the ring on. Once each of the rings was in place, she moved her fingers slightly, and, to her utmost joy, the puppet's legs moved in a walking motion. "Look, I did it!"
"Good job." She felt him lean over her from behind and kiss her throat lovingly. She leaned her head slightly to the side, giving him better access. To show his appreciation, he moved his hands to wrap around her waist, pulling her against him. "Now, where were we?" he said in a hoarse whisper, turning her around and taking the puppet off her fingers.
(A/N: He-he-he-he, me so bad. Lol. Lotsa fluffinesses! Lol. If you want a continuation of the nice lil THING Kankurou and Kyu had going, ask me in a review and I'll email it to you. Lol. Again, TY to KageNoKatana for letting me use Rynn. Sorry she's not more of a major character! Maybe in later chappies! . -)