Bozenjishitsu
Chapter Eighteen: Announcements
The next day, all the people of the Sand were gathered before the temple, for Kazekage-sama had called them there for an important announcement. They were unsure as to what the content of this announcement could be, but they weren't very nervous, as they fully trusted their Kazekage. Now, if only he would show up.
There was much enthusiastic applause when he did, to which he nodded, causing them all to shut up.
"I have several important announcements for you all," he called over them from the balcony over-looking the crowd. "The first of which is that we shall have a visitor from Konoha village coming to us on Saturday for a two-week visit. He is a friend of Kyu's, and I trust you will all make him feel welcome."
There was a murmur of agreement. All the people in the village had grown fond of their permanent local Leaf ninjas, including Kyu, and had no problem with having more of them, if they were friends of Kyu's. (A/N: DIE, EVIL ELDER PERSON THING! -stabs him with her pencil-)
"The second announcement is that construction on the new orphanage has been completed, and foster parents are encouraged to bring their charges there next week, when all is prepared. If you wish to wait longer, please inform Gaara, who will be in charge of the orphanage."
"Why Gaara?" called one villager.
"That leads me to my next announcement," Kankurou answered. "Several days ago, we had a visitor from Konoha, named Uzumaki Naruto, who assisted myself and the village elders in the permanent sealing of the Shukaku. Gaara will be returning to us at the end of the week as a free citizen of our village."
If the villagers had cheered from Kankurou's arrival, it was nothing to the noise they made now. They jumped and cheered and screamed their rejoice. Gaara, in his ward across town, smiled slightly at the noise, playing a game of solitaire on his lap-table.
When the noise subsided, Kankurou continued. "However, that leads me to another announcement, which you all should expect."
They grew instantly still, unsure of what Kazekage-sama meant.
"Gaara will be very weak for some time, due to the sealing's toll on his body, and I know several of you still hold a grudge towards him." Kazekage-sama took this time to glare down at them, causing they to shift uncomfortable. "Therefore, I must warn you. If any harm comes to my brother after this, I shall personally kill the people responsible. Understood?"
There was a murmur of acknowledgement, and Kankurou sighed. "You all are dismissed."
Kankurou sighed wearily, going back into the shadows of the temple, where Temari and Kyu were waiting for him.
"Were the death threats really necessary?" Temari asked, giving him an incredulous look.
"I've found that they work better then just asking nicely," he said tiredly, sitting down at his desk.
The next morning
Kyu sighed, sitting up in bed; she glanced at the place next to her groggily. As usual, at this time of day, the place was empty; the sound of running water could be heard from their bathroom.
She pushed the covers off and stood up, but instantly regretted it. A wave of dizziness threatened to swallow her, and a gurgling, rising feeling grew in her stomach. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she burst into the bathroom, ignoring Kankurou as he peeked out from behind the shower curtain, as she ducked her head over the toilet.
"Are you ok?" he asked when she was finished, turning off the shower and pulling on his bathrobe.
"I feel sick..." She turned red eyes on him, and was about to say something else when she suddenly ducked her head again.
Kankurou gave her a look of pity, moving to sit behind her, rubbing her back while she threw up (though carefully avoiding watching it). After a few moments, she'd gathered enough breath to speak again, but only got half the word out.
"Crrrr...."
"...Henh?" 'Crrrr' was not part of Kankurou's vocabulary.
"Crrrr...!" She gave him a pleading look.
"I can't understand what you're saying!"
"Crr--" She stopped, ducking her head again.
After she was done barfing and was properly placed in bed with a large plastic box before her (in case), she explained to Kankurou, in great detail, what "Crrrr" meant.
"I need Saltine crackers, you baka! How hard is that to understand?!" she snapped, giving him the death glare.
"Um... quite alot, actually... I mean, there's 'crunch,' 'crack,' 'cram'--" She cut him off as he began ticking off words on his fingers.
"Ok, ok, I get it! There's alot of words! Oh, my god, I feel horrible..." She groaned and laid her head back. "Listen, just... get me something really salty, and buy some saltines while you're out, ok?"
He nodded, giving her a comforting kiss on the forehead. "Feel better soon, ok?"
When he got to work that day, Kankurou spent most of his time researching exactly why Kyu could be sick. After all, she was in perfect shape (he knew for a fact) and ate healthy (Rabbit food, he thought to himself, turning the page), and always excersized whenever she got the chance. So how could she be sick?
"What's that?" his assistant, Watase asked, coming in with a book of records.
"Hmm." Kankurou continued scanning the pages.
"'101 Ways To Recognize Illness In A Ninja'?" Watase read, lifting the book ever so slightly off the desk so he could read the title. "Who's sick?"
"Kyu's been acting sick lately," Kankurou answered, not taking his eyes off the page.
"Kyu-san? Sick? Isn't she, like, a health nut?" Watase asked, disbelieving. "I mean that in the nicest way possible," he added quickly when Kankurou shot him a look.
"She was fine last night and afternoon, but in the mornings, she's been staying in bed for hours and complaining if I even touch a blanket."
"Hmm..." Watase thought for a few minutes. "Do you guys ever use protection when you...?"
"We tried, but she didn't like it," Kankurou answered. "Besides, we're engaged, it doesn't matter if...." He trailed off.
Watase gave him a knowing smile.
"Oh shit."
Meanwhile
Temari yawned hugely, starring off into the distance. She and her students were on a mission shoveling sand out of a newly constructed house that had suffered damage during the sand storm. It was incredibly boring, and she had fallen asleep twice, since she wasn't required to do any work. But if she had, she would have probably fallen asleep even faster.
"Temari-sensei!" shouted one of her students, a very loud, black-haired boy named Yami who was very Naruto-ish. "Why don't you have to do any work!?"
"You are getting paid," she reminded him, sitting on the pile of sand outside the house.
"Yeah, so?! You could be getting paid, too!" Yami shouted, looking ready to whack her with his shovel.
"I don't need that kind of money," she said, sounding bored. Picking up a handful of sand, she let it trickle through her fingers while her girl student, Kuki, rebuked Yami.
"Don't tell Temari-sensei what to do!" Kuki snapped. "She's the boss!"
Temari grinned slightly. Kuki had always liked her, and Temari had always liked Kuki, who worked with fans, since Temari was her idol. The girl showed great promise, as did all of Temari's students. Her other student, a sullen boy named Hyo, was very Sasuke-like. (Except that he has a family and was an only child.) Actually, she mused, the whole team was like Kakashi's team, except that Kuki didn't have a hair-raising crush on Hyo. And, none of them got along. Yami always accused Kuki of being a kiss-up and a bossy bitch, and Kuki always accused Hyo of being an ice bitch, and Hyo accused them both of being annoying. Which they could be. All of them got on Temari's nerves, even Kuki at times, and she usually ended the day with warning them that if they didn't shut the hell up, she would beat them senseless with her fan. But of course, they always acted like a team when it counted. They had a knack of blending their strengths together to over-power even her, which could be annoying at times, but oh well.
"Will both of you shut up and work? The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to our daily lives," Hyo snapped, shoveling sand into the pile.
Yami grumbled angrily, but went back to shoveling sand. "Meiwaki."
"Kikei," Hyo countered.
"Hey, hey, that's enough," Temari called, before Yami could put his shovel through Hyo's head.
Kuki sighed heavily, and shoveled sand. "Why can you guys just act mature?"
"Oh, like you're mature!?" Yami shouted, turning on his other teammate.
Temari rolled her eyes as the two of them engaged in a battle of words, though they did not stop shoveling sand once. They sounded like her and Kankurou. "Guys..."
"We don't need you telling us what to do, bossy!" Yami shouted at Kuki.
"We don't need your loud mouth!"
"We don't need you being a kiss-up!"
"We don't need you whining all the time!"
"I don't need either of you!"
"SHUT UP, HYO!"
A temper vein popped out in Temari's forehead.
"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP!"
"I CAN TELL YOU WHATEVER I WANT!"
"SEE?! YOU'RE BOSSY!"
"GUYS" Temari shouted, standing up.
Instantly, the argument stopped.
"Temari-sensei looks scary," Yami whimpered, clutching his shovel.
Temari glared down at them. "All of you need to shut up and do your work! If I hear another word out of any of you, I'll take the money for this trip and have Kazekage-sama give you the baby-sitting mission!"
"Ok, Temari-sensei!"
The work was completed in five minutes.
Meanwhile, in Konoha...
"Yo!"
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screamed, pointing at Kakashi, who was perched in a tree, waving gleefully.
"This morning I found a little girl who couldn't find a brick road, so I had to help her," Kakashi explained.
"LIAR!" Sakura and Inner-Sakura shrieked. Since Naruto was absent, she felt it her duty to make up for his noise.
Sasuke just scoffed.
"Today, because Naruto is still visiting Gaara in the Sand village, we shall simply train," Kakashi said, taking out his dirty novel.
"Fine," Sasuke said, pushing himself off the rock he was leaning on.
Sakura sighed with longing as Sasuke began to warm up. He is so showing off for us! Inner-Sakura cried with glee.
"OHAYO!"
Sasuke made no effort to cover his groan.
"Hey, Naruto," Kakashi called, his nose still in his book. "Had a nice trip?"
"Yup!" Naruto grinned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Why are you late?" Sakura asked, frowning. Naruto was never late.
"'Cause Kankurou made a law saying that, because of deadly sun rays or whatever, so we walked all night." Naruto yawned.
"Why would Kankurou make a law?" Kakashi asked, looking up.
"Because he's the Kazekage of his village," Naruto and Sakura supplied at the same time (A/N: Sakura knows because she's Kyu's best friend).
Sasuke scoffed. "How did he get the job?"
"I dunno," Naruto said with a shrug. "He has really girly hair now, though. It's longer then yours, Sasuke!"
Sasuke scowled, fingering the small ponytail at the nape of his neck.
"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted at Naruto.
Naruto, used to this by now, just rolled his eyes. Then, pulling Sakura aside while Sasuke gathered chakra to practice his Chidori, he asked quietly, "Is it true Hinata likes me?"
Sakura faltered (How the hell could a dimwit like him figure it out?!), then raised an eyebrow coyly. "Why do you ask?"
Naruto shrugged. "Because Kyu asked me about girls, and mentioned her."
Sakura smirked, crossing her arms. "Got analyzed, did you?"
Naruto curled his lip. "Why am I the only one who doesn't know what that is?!"
Sakura shrugged. "Because you're dense?"
Naruto glared at her.
Sakura glared at him.
Sasuke glared at the world.
Kakashi... well... he was in his happy place.
Later...
"I don't wanna!" Naruto whined, as Sakura pushed him towards the Hyuuga mansion, Sasuke following at a leisurely pace.
"I don't care!" Sakura was relentless, while Sasuke chuckled behind them.
"Shut up, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as they slowly made their way up the walk to the front door.
Sasuke just "hmm"-ed.
Sakura rolled her eyes, knocking on the front door of the Hyuuga mansion. "Come on, Naruto," she ordered, pulling him forward as the door opened.
And the young fox boy came face to face with...
Neji.