Bozenjishitsu
Ah... gomen! It took me a while... I was really busy pursuing educational things! (There's a really hot guy in my history class!)
I hope this is worth it... although I know it is short. Qulaity over quantity, people!
Kyuubi: What quality...?
BTW, here's the answers to the poles on who your favorite couple is:
Gaara&Rynn: 2
Kankurou&Kyu: 0
Temari&Shikamaru: 1
Here's a new one for you, as a sort of one-sided competition between me n KNK:
Who's your favorite?
Kyu
Rynn
Or both
No, KNK, you can't vote... I was just curious
Chapter Twelve: Fukigen
Naruto grinned hugely, toweling off his hair. "That was pretty fun, wasn't it?"
Kankurou shot him a glare, straightening his blue Kazekage robes. "Yeah. Fun." (Kyuubi: Note the sarcasm)
"We should do it again!" the blond said, pulling on his black shirt. "Before I go home, anyway."
"When are you leaving?" Kankurou asked, dragging a brush through his hair.
"Well, I want to see Gaara wake up and not be a rapid demon squirrel," Naruto answered, grinning hugely at his own reflection as he tied his Konoha head-protector across his forehead.
"I see." Dammit, why, Gaara?! Kankurou butted Naruto out of the way, looking at his reflection and smoothing his hair into a ponytail.
"Hey!" Naruto glared at him Naruto-style. "I was here first!"
"Technically, since I've been using these baths longer, I was here first," Kankurou rebuked, trapping his long hair in the ponytail holder he had had around his wrist. "Plus, I'm the only one out of the three guys who uses the mirror, so, yeah."
Naruto jutted his chin out. "That's because girls love checking their hair in the mirror."
Twitch. "I AM NOT A GIRL, OK?!"
In the girls' changing room, Kyu grinned, pressing her ear against the wall between the changing rooms. When she heard Naruto screaming in pain, however, she hit the wall with her fist and shouted, "Knock it off, you guys!"
Instantly, there was silence.
Kyu smirked and continued toweling off her hair. (A/N: Oh, how she wallows in the power I give her...)
When Kankurou is finally done with his hair...
Naruto examined the bump protruding out of the back of his head with his fingers, wincing. "You didn't have to hit me that hard!"
Kankurou smirked, adjusting his hat. "It's your fault for being a pest."
"Whatever. Let's just get Kyu and go, I'm still hungry." Naruto crossed his arms behind his head and scowled at the door Kyu would soon be coming out of.
Kankurou shrugged, sitting down on a stone bench outside the baths, crossing his arms.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, uncrossing his arms from behind his head.
"Getting comfortable. It takes the girls a half hour to get done with their hair." Kankurou leaned back against the wall behind him, starring at the dark sky. "We're gonna have a storm soon..."
"A storm? You mean you guys actually get rain?" Naruto looked at the sky for signs of rain clouds, but saw none.
"Not that kind of storm, although, yes we do. We get rain at night, when it's cool enough. But that's not the kind I'm talking about," Kankurou answered, standing up and crossing to the door to the girl's dressing room. Pounding his fist on it, he called, "Kyu, hurry it up, I think we're gonna have a storm soon!"
"Ok!"
"What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, raised an eyebrow.
"You'll see," Kankurou answered as Kyu opened the door and came out, her hair still slightly damp. "Let's go."
Konoha
Rynn sighed slightly, starring out over the sky. It was rare to find her sitting still, unless it was to do what she was doing right now; sitting on a padded porch chair on said porch, watching stars. It was during this time that she liked to think.
"Hey."
Correction, Rynn thought, annoyed. It's the time I like to be alone. But she smiled all the same at Yashi, indicating the chair next to hers, which he took. He didn't say anything, just sat there with one hand posed before his face. Rynn wondered what he was doing until a bug landed on his finger. There was a moment of silence before he said, "Chuimaru's going to be ok."
"How do you know?" she asked as the bug flew away. "You only just got here."
"My bug told me," he said simply.
Rynn suppressed an "Eww!" Kyu may be used to Yashi and his disgusting ways, just like Kiba was used to Shino and his disgusting ways, but Rynn had not spent long missions with Aburames, so she was very much grossed out by their disgusting ways. But she had always thought Yashi was pretty nice, and often wondered how he could be such good friends with a brat like her brother. Then again, Yashi and Chuimaru had been in the same cell (said cell terminated when Kyu left Konoha) so maybe it was Yashi's job to be slightly concerned about the state of Chuimaru's health, if he was concerned at all. Or, maybe...
"Yashi, are you gay?" she asked, not even batting an eye.
Yashi raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Just wondering," she said innocently, curling her legs under her.
Yashi sighed and shook his head. "No. I'm not gay."
"And how am I gonna know that for sure?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Because I dated Kyu for a week when we were in the academy. You can ask her, if you want."
"Ok, I will." Rynn whipped out her cell phone.
Yashi remained politely silent as she hit the speed dial for Kyu's cell phone.
Ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Kyu-kun, it's me!"
"Hey, Rynn, what's up?"
"Did you really go out with Yashi when you were in the academy?"
"Uh... I think so. Why?"
"Because I asked him if he was gay and he said no and I asked how I would know that and he said because he dated you for a week when you two were in the academy," Rynn said in one breath.
"...I see. Well, he isn't gay, just so's you know," Kyu said, after a moment during which she figured out what the hell Rynn had just said. "But anyway, I have to go. We're expecting a sand storm any time."
"Oh, ok. Stay inside," Rynn suggested. "Tell Gaara I love him."
"Ok."
Click.
"Ok, well, you're not gay," Rynn informed Yashi, pocketing her phone.
"I knew that."
Sand
"You mean we're going to be stuck in a sand storm?!" Naruto shouted, pulling at his hair.
"We're inside now, the sand can't get us," Kyu reassured him, setting her phone on the table the nurses had set in the middle of what was now only Gaara's ward. "The rest of the villagers will be ok, they know when to expect a storm."
"How do you know?" Naruto asked, suspicious.
"Because I've been living in the Sand village for over a year, now," Kyu answered, dealing the deck of cards she had shuffled while talking to Rynn.
"After you've been here for a while, you know what to expect," Kankurou informed Naruto, taking his cards.
"What are we playing?" Temari asked, taking her cards, as well.
"Feudal wars," Kyu answered, taking the remaining pile of cards after Naruto took his. (A/N: This is an actual card game I play all the time. You should try it. It's pretty fun.)
"What's Feudal wars?" Naruto asked, looking at his cards.
"It's a game Chuimaru, Yashi and I used to play at night on missions, with our sensei," Kyu answered. "You need to have four or more people, in order to play, because there are four places you can get. The lowest card in the deck is a 3. The highest is the joker. The Ace comes after the King, and the 2 comes after the Ace, and so on. You follow?"
Naruto nodded, looking at his cards.
"If you have pairs of cards, like, say, three twos, or two threes, that's good. You can play the pairs, and the person after you will have to play the same number of pairs in a higher card, or they can pass their turn to the next person. Pairs are also good because it helps you get rid of cards. The person who runs out of cards first becomes the King. The person who runs out next becomes Queen. The person who runs out of cards next becomes Surf, and the last one is Dirt. If you have more then four people playing, the people who finish between the Queen and the Surf become the Ladies in Waiting. After everyone has run out of cards, we deal another one. After you get your new cards, if you're Dirt, you give the King your two highest cards, and they give you their two lowest cards. And if you're Surf, you give the Queen your highest card and they give you any card they want to. Ok?"
Naruto nodded again. Kankurou and Temari, having heard all this already, were sorting their cards into pairs.
"We'll play a round first, so you get the hang of it," Kyu said, sorting her cards, as well. "It's good if you sort your pairs together and put all your cards in order so you can get them easily."
"Ok." Naruto just starred at his cards.
Kyu started the round by putting down a three. Kankurou, who was next to her, played a four, and Temari, who was next to him, played double fives. Then it was Naruto's turn.
"Pass."
Double sixes from Kyu.
Double sevens from Kankurou.
Double tens from Temari.
"Pass."
Triple Jacks from Kyu.
"Pass."
Triple Queens from Temari.
"Pass."
Four Kings from Kyu.
"Pass."
"Pass."
"Pass."
Kyu grinned, taking the pile of cards in the middle of the table and putting it next to her. "If no one can play anything, the cards get picked up and we start over," she explained to Naruto, who nodded, glaring at his cards.
Kyu started the next round by putting down two threes.
Three fours from Kankurou.
Three eights from Temari.
"Pass."
"Pass."
"Pass."
Temari smirked, clearing the tables and putting the cards next to her, putting down her last card, a three. "I'm out."
"So, she's King?" Naruto asked, starring down at the 13 cards he had yet to touch.
"Yup." Temari leaned back on her chair.
Naruto grinned, finally putting down a five.
Kyu put down a six, which was her last card. "I'm out. And I'm Queen."
Kankurou sighed. "Why am I always last?" he asked, putting down double sevens.
"Pass."
"Because you suck at this game," Temari answered.
"Shut up," Kankurou snapped, gathering the small pile of cards and putting it next to him, then putting down four Twos.
"Pass."
Kankurou gathered the cards again and put down his last cards, double Jokers. "I'm out."
"So I'm Dirt?" Naruto whined.
"Yep." Temari grinned at him as everyone got up and switched places, Temari at the head of the table, with Kyu on her right, Kankurou across from her, and Naruto on her left. "Kyu deals because she's faster."
The four of them played a few more rounds, during which the roles of King and Queen were passed between Kyu and Temari, and Kankurou stayed at Surf, and Naruto stayed as Dirt.
"Why do I have to give her my cards?" Naruto whined, giving Kyu, who was currently King, his double Jokers.
"Because women rule over men," she answered, giving him a three and a four.
"No, they don't!" Naruto shouted.
"In this household, yeah they do," Kankurou corrected, giving Temari his highest card. "Besides, your Hokage is a woman, get used to it."
Naruto grumbled angrily, and began sorting his cards. Said grumbling could be discerned, with the words, "Baka Obaa-san" popping up every now and then.
"Actually, it's a nice change from when Shikamaru, Gaara and Rynn play," Kankurou said with a shrug as Kyu put down double Fours. "Shikamaru's always King, Kyu or Temari is always Queen, Rynn's always a Lady in Waiting, Gaara's always Surf, and I'm always Dirt."
"Except that one time when there was a revolution," Temari pointed out, playing double Fives.
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"When Dirt runs out of cards before the King does," Kyu answered. "Kankurou actually had a couple of triples, so he won, and Shikamaru became dirt, Temari became Surf, Rynn and I stayed as Ladies, Gaara became Queen, and Kankurou became King. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. No one ever wins when Shikamaru's around."
"That's not true, Gaara was King once," Temari pointed out as Kankurou played double Sixes. "The first time we played, Gaara was King."
"Oh, yeah..." Kyu put down triple Eights. "But that was only because Shikamaru was figuring out the game."
"Man, this is boring," Naruto whined. "I don't have any triples, only one double, and the highest card I have is a Jack!"
"Don't be such a sore loser."
"Yeah, just because-Who said that?" Temari asked suddenly.
Kankurou turned around. "Hey, Gaara!"
Instantly, everyone turned around, except Temari, who was facing Gaara's bed.
Gaara gave them a slight grin, holding a hand to his forehead. "I'm hungry."
A/N: YAY! GAARA WOKE UP!!! FINALLY, THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!! Took him six frickin' chapters, BUT HE'S AWAKE!!!!
By the way... H-R was trying to draw Kyu and Rynn (I forget why...) and she was like, "I don't know what they look like." So, I'm gonna describe em again, soon...
K.N.K, pwease to not kill widdle SNG if she messes up on Rynn!