Disclaimer: HAHAHAHA  (ok enough of that….)  I do not own Naruto.  Naruto: thank god!

Thoughts of Confused People

"Yashamaru, this is my friend Je-jeza-Jezzy,"

Jezebel stood in the doorway, blood ran in rivets down her lips and chin.  It dripped down her chest and off the tips of her fingers like small rivers.  It stained her black dress even darker, but soon that would dry and the dress would appear as faded as it always looked.  She lifted a stained hand to her face and attempted to wipe away the sticky liquid, but only succeeded in smudging it all over her cheeks.

Gaara stared, confused.  Jezzy seemed so happy now.  But it wasn't right…  No, it wasn't.  Yashamaru told him, blood meant pain, pain meant hurt, and hurt was bad.  But how could someone who looked so happy be hurting?  Was it wrong to be happy if it hurt someone?  That was it, Jezzy hurt someone.  This Jezzy, she wouldn't want to play with him…

Yashamaru's hands shook.  He wanted to regain his control, if only his legs would stop shaking.  His hand drifted to his shuriken holster.

"Temari, Temari, go to your room," he croaked.  She nodded.  Suddenly the silence snapped.  Yashsamaru moved lightening fast, but not fast enough.  Temari couldn't see more then rush of movement. 

Gaara saw, he didn't want this, no, not at all.  He pressed his face into the fuzzy bear.  The problem was he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted right now.  He knew he wanted to be like the boys at the academy. Like Kankuro.  Jealousy burned within him.

"Stop," whispered Gaara.  Yashamaru froze in motion.  Jezzy has grabbed his shuriken hand; she bent it around behind him and poked it into the back of his neck.  Yashamaru's eyes went wide with surprise and with the feeling of pulsating chakra that felt to powerful to be real.  He gulped, but here it was, emitting off of a teenage girl that had walked into his front hallway, plain as day.

Jezzy caught sight of the mirror.

"I know I look unpresentable, but the way you acted, that was just ridiculous,"

"Stop," said Gaara again.  Jezzy looked at him, and then at Yashamaru, whose legs were shaking.

"I wasn't here to kill you, I've already eaten," Jezzy stated, matter of factly.  "Gaara invited me over,"   Jezzy released Yashamaru, who scrambled away to nurse his injured dignity.  Temari breathed again.

"Gaara, please explain yourself," Gaara explained

"I met Jezzy on a walk, she hurted, I think….  I told her you could help.  But she needs clothes too,"

Yashamaru nodded slowly. 

"Ok, we'll get Jezzy cleaned up,"

"Jezzy you can stay!"  Gaara's thin lips slid into a smile.  Jezzy nodded, she leaned against the wall, suddenly weak and drained.  She felt nauseous; her chakra slid away like water through a skive.  And if anything scared her, it was that.  Her chakra being beyond her control.  She couldn't pull it back.  Her side throbbed again.

"Temari, I'm going to make some coffee…  expresso…" Yashamaru poked the little girl forward.  "Take Jezzy to the bathroom," Temari nodded mutely.

"Come on then,"

Water felt good.  It washed the drying blood from her skin and hair.  It relaxed her and made her feel normal again, and with that feeling came curiosity.    Temari sat by the tub and helped.

"Tell me about your family kid.  What's it like?"  The idea of being so emotionally bound to people disgusted her.  Jezebel had never been inside someone private house before, not that she remembered anyway.  She assumed someone must have given her that dress thought. 

"Well," squeaked Temari, she grabbed a fluffy green towel from the linen closet.  "I'm eight.  I have two brothers, Kankuro; you don't know him, and Gaara.  Is Gaara your friend?  Because he doesn't have any friends,"

Author: Thinking of Gollum, "you don't have any friends…  Nobody likes you…! 

"No, we just met,"

"Oh," Temari started out babbling from nervousness, but now she had settled into the "handmaiden mode".  "Anyway, we live with our uncle Yashamaru and Daddy.  Daddy is a Kazekage. "

"Aha…  That was a boy?  I had myself convinced he was a woman," Jezzy rose from the tub, leaving a pink puddle behind, and dried herself.  "Run and get my clothes, girl," Temari did as she was told.  Five minutes later she came back with a large forest green kimono.

"Where's my dress?"

"Yashamaru said the one you were wearing was inappropriate.  He found mommies pregnancy kimono in his closet.  It's so pretty,"  Temari fingered the green silk.  "Anyway, he said to come out when you're decent,"

Jezzy wandered into the kitchen ten minutes later.  Her damp hair hung in a frizzy wave down her back.  Temari had clumsily tied the pink obi into a knot.  Temari slipped through the doorway behind Jezzy.  She marched over to the stove and began dishing out a disgusting smelling dinner.  Probably vegetables and the like, thought Jezzy.

A cup of cold black coffee and Gaara sat at the table.

"Hold still, Kankuro!"  A little boy, dressed in black, twisted to get free of Yashamaru's vice grip.  The boy winced repeatedly.  "This… Is why…  We don't throw… cactuses at people!"  Yashamaru seethed.

Blood ran freely from the little boy's hand.  Almost a dozen steely looking spikes stuck out of it.  Yashamaru painstakingly tied to pluck these out of raw puffy skin.  It would have been an easy task, if only Kankuro would stop wriggling.

"But he insulted Gaara and our family!  I only threw it at him!"   Heat rose in Jezebel's stomach at the sight of warm blood.  She pushed the feeling away.  After all she had just eaten.  Women should watch their weight.  Kankuro was weird, Jezebel decided.  Something was happening, but she could quite put her nail through what.

"Yeah," Temari added.  "I bet he has more pins in him then Kankuro.  My brother has good aim!"

The boy's tattooed face contorted in PAIN!  That was it…. Pain, he must be having pain.  Now she understood. 

Then Kankuro noticed Jezzy.  He froze (Yashamaru seized the instant and plucked out the rest of the darts).  This boy seemed more curious then afraid.

"Kankuro, that is my friend Jezzy.  Jezzy that is my big brother Kankuro.  He's usually louder," Gaara introduced them.  Kankuro nodded solemnly and made a mental note to stay away from this girl who made him think of an older Gaara.

"You're done Kankuro.  Go eat, and don't wreck that bandage," said Yashamaru.  Temari handed plates of food to the boys.  Then the three of them sat down at the label, legs dangling above the floor.

"Your turn?" asked Yashamaru tentatively.  "That is…  If you still want to..,"

"No, I do, I wouldn't have stayed otherwise," she rubbed her left side.

"What hurts?"

"I hoped you could tell me,"

"Um….  Well…"  Yashamaru's cheeks turned pink.  Gaara watched with interest. 

"He wants you to take off your clothes," Gaara explained.  "He needs to see your body," Yashamaru's cheeks darkened.

"Oh, well, if it's that you wanted you could have just said so, dunce," Jezzy untied her obi; the kimono flopped to her feet.  She kicked it aside.  Yashamaru blushed crimson at this supreme lack of modesty and looked away.  The children watched unabashed.  "Well, my patience is rather limited, the only reason you aren't dead yet is because Gaara said you could help me," The man gulped.  He lifted his eyes to her body.

The first thing that caught his eye was a large purple bruise.  Huge as bruises go.  It spread from just below her left breast to her hip.  Jezzy winced when she moved it.

"Don't move please," Jezzy nodded.  Gently Yashamaru placed his hands on her side.  She backed up like a frightened horse.  Human touch was unheard of!  "Please hold still.  I'm trying to figure out what this is from."  The man explained.  Absorbed in the work some of the color receded from his cheeks.  Yashamaru ran his fingers over her stomach.

"This is from a jutsu, miss.  Did you tangle with someone?"

"Yes, and he'll be dead next time I see him.  Just do what you have to do,"

A quick smile graced Yashamaru's face.  So, there existed someone who could face off with this chakra monster and live to tell the tale.  Yashamaru poured his chakra into his hands.  "Tell me how this feels,"

"Sharp, like lightening!  AUG!"  

"It's alright,"

"What is this?!"  Her face contorted as he pushed down on a particularly tender spot.  Yashamaru did a double take.  She's like Gaara, the bruise is not as bad as it looks but it hurts her as much as slamming into a brick wall hurts me, because she's never felt pain!    

"Do you mean to say you do not know what pain is?"

"I did not say that!" Jezzy roared.  So it was pain, Jezzy was feeling pain, she chided herself for being idiot enough to get hurt in the first place.  The thought repulsed her as well as intensified her hate for Watcher.

A cool feeling, like water settled through the purple marks, the color lightened.  Yashamaru shook out his hands.

"You can put the kimono back on now," Jezzy retrieved it and slid it over her shoulders. 

CRASH!  Temari dropped a dish in the sink.  It shattered. 

"She can't just wear that," the girl protested.

"Temari!  Don't drop dishes!"  Yashamaru slapped a hand to his forehead.  He ran over to clean up the shattered glass.

"And why not?  Suppose I kill you and go out like this anyway?"  Jezzy taunted.  Temari's mouth snapped shut.

"Don't kill her Jezzy, she's my family," Gaara spoke softly, but the words came through loud and clear.  Jezzy glowered for a moment.  Then she swept from the room, the tension that had been building went with her.

Yashamaru collapsed into a chair, a glass covered rag swinging from his hand.

"Temari, go find your mothers clothes.  Jezebel needs as bra, panties, and probably a brush as well…  If someone could convince her to put them on.  Oh, and shoes.  Here's the key," Yashamaru handed Temari a large brass key to a room that had been closed for five years.  Kankuro gaped.  "I'll do the dishes.  Gaara, please go find your friend,"

The room had been locked since Temari was three.  It had been their mother's room.  Temari barely remembered it, Kankuro couldn't at all.

Kankuro padded in first.  His footprints fallowed him across the wooden floor.

"It smells weird in here," he said.  Temari sniffed.

"No, it smells like mother," Sweet, but sickly.  That shut Kankuro up. 

They pulled open draws and closets.  Everywhere little tornadoes of dust fallowed.  Everything remained as it had been five years ago.  Dried rose petals lay scattered about a vase of dead stalks on the nightstand.  The one window, next to the bed had the shades drawn, but through the shades tiny silvers of light made the floating dust shine.  Even Kankuro was enchanted.  It felt like their mother never left, or maybe she went on vacation.

Temari stared at the various trinkets and jewelry that cluttered the two dressers.  Pieces of crystal sparkled when the dim light hit them.  Temari picked up a picture frame and rubbed the dust away.  She couldn't quite make out who was in it, but…

"Ewwww!  Gross!"  Kankuro broke the silence.

"What?!"  Temari dropped the picture, which clacked down on an unsuspecting spider.  Kankuro held up a yellowing, very frilly bra.

"Look what I found!"

"Kankuro!"  Temari slapped the back of his head.  She grabbed the offending object from him and shook it out.  "Be serious,"

"I am," He was being quite reverent as seven year old boys go.  He took a deep breath.  "This is Gaara's fault you know," he whispered.  Temari stared at him.  How had he known?

Just then the door swung open.  Jezebel marched in with Gaara trailing along behind her.

TBC HAHAHA

I want to know about Kankuro.  Does everyone really hate him?  Would you people mind if I put him in the Story much more in the future?

Anyway, here's the usual:  May all reviewers be hailed until they can't stand it any longer.  A round of muffins for everyone, on me!

Naito Kiseki- I cannot believe you keep coming back for more of my senseless drivel, but, if you keep reviewing I'll keep coming back with more.

Mandy- thanks, if u liked it so much though…  do me a favor?  Read past the first chapter.

DarkWarrior- thankyou- come again, please!

If anyone has any questions, comments, or even flames about this story I encourage you to please, please review. I would love to make my writing better so constructive criticism is always helpful.